>> the future of great britain. >> we will govern as a party of one nation. one united kingdom. >> david cameron promises to unite the u.k. but scotland may pull that apart. ve day. 70 years after the victory in europe, america pays the price to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. breaking down barriers. >> open the walls open the doors to the outside.

>> acclaimed iranian artist talks about building bridges between iran and the u.s. let the music play. >> our job is to play what the people want to hear. >> in the philippines leaving local artists struggling to catch listeners ears. good evening, this is al jazeera america. i'm libby casey. >> and i'm antonio mora. we begin tonight in the u.k. where prime minister david cameron is pledging unity and a greater britain after he and his conservative party pulled off a stunning victory in the general election, secured 330 houses last night half of the houses houses -- over half the house he in parliament. >> before the vote, it was suggested the vote would be very close but securing a

surprisingly easy victory. >> cameron says he is already working on a new approach to the european union. >> dana lewis joins us from london. preelection predicted a close vote it certainly didn't turn out that way. what happened? >> it sure didn't. 11 election polls said the conservatives and labor would virtually tie on election day. not even close. opposition parties marched confidently on, into utter defeat, all except the tories led by david cameron which scored a majority government. even britain's prime minister was skeptical at first, when exit polls suggested he was way out in front. but david cameron's conservatives defied the odds.

>> i have just seen her majesty the queen and i will now form a coalition government. i am proud to lead the first conservative government in 40 years and i want to thank all those who worked to hard to make it a success. >> in every preelection poll labor and conservatives were only 1% apart? so what happened? why did all conservatives sunlt suddenly vote? because david cam ran convinced them unbelievable stability. >> they would rather be right than out of power. >> we haven't made the gairns we wanted in england. >> labor liter ed miliband not known for his car i charisma,

resigned. >> this now brings our country to a very perilous point in our history where grievance and fear combine to drive our different communities apart. >> reporter: perilous he said noting the scottish national party swept elections in scotland with an agenda to hold another independence referendum. cameron ran on the promise to hold a confidence vote of england's entrance to the european union. >> liberal democrats as the best time he had we know what it's like especially with the conservative party to govern with a small majority. it means that the extreme right of his party the euro-skeptic right who want england out of

the european union the worry that the tail would wag the dog. >> a new conservative leader would take over running the country, the worry stirring more uncertainty into a not so predictable election triumph. major concerns about britain in the eu and scotland, in the u.k for cameron as he starts this new term as prime minister. >> how soon can cameron form his new government? >> he's already started today. he named a number of cabinet ministers and he'll do that next week and then traditionally they have the queen's speech in parliament which will essentially lay out their agenda in the next year. no doubt that will get through because cameron has the majority to vote it through. >> thank you david. >> the founding member of the

ukip party also a former advisor to margaret thatcher. always good to have you with us john. >> thank you for asking me. >> i assume you were stunned by the tory victory. >> i was. there were a lot of undecided when i talked to people in england who were canvassing. a lot of undecided and in the end they were terrified of the thought of socialism the extreme socialism of miliband and the combined socialism and they hem radged hemorrhaged into the scechts. conservatives. i don't want to decry david cameron, i think he did well, very well. >> do you think labor is going to have to move back to the

center like it was in the days of tony blair that it went too far left this time around? >> yes, i do. i think tony blair was not only more centrist but extremely clever in the way he sold socialism. it fooled most people and i was in the house of commons with him for the number of years, very very bright, very clever man and he did a great job for the labor party. >> we just heard in dana lew ition's piece we heard dick klegg worried about driving apart, almost all the seats of in scotland. does this all risk or increase the risk of seeing a disunited kingdom in the future with scotland wales and northern ireland becoming their own countries? >> well, i think certainly it increases the risk of an independent scotland. no doubt in my mind.

it will be interesting in watching the debates in the house of commons why should you an snp member of the house of commons with your own parliament devolved in scotland, decide issues in england? this is going to heat up and force thoughts of devolution, and i think david cameron would not only be thrilled to get rid of 56 seats but build on devolution. >> your party ukip was the third highest vote getter and ukip wants out. will britain stay or go from the eu? >> i think david cameron is basically pro-europe and he promised a referendum in the last parliament but he ratted on

that cast iron guarantee i think he will now have to give a referendum this time but it will not be a clean referendum in switzerland where the government plays neutral. this will be called a dirty referendum where the government will pour in thousands of pounds into advertising and help europe into more tens of millions of pounds in swaying the vote. i think actually it will be swayed in favor of staying in europe because people will be terrified, just as they were terrified of socialism, they will be terrified leaving the european union by propaganda and keeping britain locked into this increasingly socialist new soaf soviet european union. >> are you dissatisfied that

united kingdom gave itself only one seat? >> we got 4 million votes and only one seat. but in the european parliament which is on proportional representation we are now the largest british party in the european parliament. i wasn't disappointed actually, the vote held up. we were only polling 13% and that's what delivered. so i'm greatly encouraged that the supporters of ukipp are extremely loyal. they didn't hemorrhage to the conservative party, this is the thatcherrite wing, it didn't go back home it stayed in ukipp. i think for future it is going to spell a very strong ukipp party. i hope the party is sensible to

select nigel fa rfersa rvetion goodefarrage, withouthim we are doomed. >> thank you. >> before the attack saudi planes dropped leaf lets, the attacks focused on houthi command centers. hamp response to houthi shelling of saudi's frontier towns earl yers this week. meantime kennel saudi arabia says it will temporarily halt air strikes on the houthis tonight, announcing the five day ceasefire friday in paris along u.s. secretary of state john kerry, could be extended if the houthi rebels stop their advances in yemen. >> the ceasefire will end should the houthis or their allies not live up to the agreements contained in this issue.

the -- this is i believe a chance for the houthis to show that they care about their people and that they care about the yemeni people. >> u.s. and saudi officials say they are working with the you united nations to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered across yemen during the temporary ceasefire. >> the stage is now set for next week's meeting between president obama and the six nation he of the gulf cooperation council. secretary of state john kerry met with the gcc on friday, saying the parties are trying to flesh out a new set of security initiatives. the gulf states are concerned about fallout of the potential nuclear deal between the united states and iran. chopper went down in northern pakistan friday killing seven people including the ambassadors from norway and the philippines. pakistan's foreign secretary denied claims by the pakistani taliban that they shot down the

helicopter. >> the technical failure and unfortunately accidents do happen. yes, we are very sad, very very sad and grieved but accidents are accidents and we would not allow any terrorists to make political mileage out of this. it is not in order. >> pakistan's prime minister noaz sharif has compressed condolences for be crash. 800 people died when a boat went down in the mediterranean al jazeera stefanie dekker has more from sicily. >> reporter: you can still make out parts of the ship despite the murky waters what you can't see are the bloated drowned bodies of hundreds of people trapped inside. the italian navy has released these images. they won't release the footage

of many dead. but all will be crucial in investigating what happened on april 18th. >> translator: we have found many bodies. it is impossible to say exactly how many. the majority are inside the bottom part of the boat but it does add up to what the survivors have told us that there were around 800 people on the boat. >> reporter: only 28 people survived the accident, two of them are in custody. the boat collided with a merchant ship coming to their rescue and in the ensuing panic the boat capsized. a robot has been gathering vital information from the boat which lies 370 meters below the surface. now returning to fort and investigators will be scrutinizing the footage. question is whether the migrants were locked inside giving them

absolutely no chance of survival once the boat went down. the italian prime minister matteo renzi has said the italian government will do everything to recover the bodies. stefanie dekker, al jazeera renzi. >> spanish police discovered an eight-year-old boy in luggage which occurred during x ray. spanish authorities arrested the woman and the boy's father trying to smug him into the country. scottish national party's suck what it could mean to colt land's future. >> burundi and what the united states is proposing to do to stop the election.

>> in context tonight scottish national party won in scotland by a landslide. 56 of 59 seats. the scottish national party is now the biggest scottish party in the british parliament. >> barnaby fliches with the story. >> she wasn't even -- phillips with the story. >> astonishing victory that has sent shock waves across the united kingdom and even beyond. all that's sweeping the labor party out of scotland. >> it's not something that's happened overnight or the referendum although that's accelerated the process. labor has failed to heed repeated warnings but what we're seeing today is scotland putting its trust in snp to make scotland's voice heard, and be a

voice for progressive politics. and that's what we intend to do. >> for some in the party which has such deep roots in scotland these past 100 years there was gallows humor but others must wonder where had their party can ever -- whether their party can ever recover. >> it's not an easy one to explain. as far as i can make out the scottish public which for decades were happy to support a labor party that strongly opposed nationalism and independence, now believe independence is the most important priority. >> reporter: so are we now bound to see another referendum on whether scotland should leave the united kingdom? >> i think it's not inevitable but it's highly likely and came a result of today's general election. i don't think the april tide in the smp leadership is to have

another referendum but until they see goals that quickly put over 50% i don't think they risk a second defeat. >> reporter: even in his moment of triumph david cameron will know that he has to listen to the voices of the scottish nationalists. more power to be deevolved devolved to scott land. heading in different directions, two very different countries. barnaby phillips, al jazeera glas gowglasgow. >> today i spoke to john tongue. >> the rise of the scottish national party and scottish

separatism, is really a problem for david cameron. he wants to keep the union intact. he gave the scots a referendum last year where they very narrowly said no to independence. they would like another referendum at some point to try and revisit the issue. david kahn rom win try to riz theresistthe issues. they are likely to be at odds for the next five years. david cameron what he's going to try and do is also restrict the powers of the mps who were elected in the last 24 hours. he's going to try restrict their powrgs on voting on english measures, and that could further pull apart the different components of the eurnd kingdom whether we'll have four parts of

united kingdom of gland scotland wales and northern ireland. >> he pledged to give them more power, see how that pans out. what has this for the tories, the conservative party are they leaning more to the left, more to the right? >> i think initially on david cameron he needed to modernize the party and he took them to the left, he modernized the party. but then because some of his conservative back benchers didn't like that he had to check that process. i think david cameron is a person of the right. he's pretty good at winning elections, he's already proved that. this is last general election that david cameron will fight whilst he'll serve the full five year term he's not going to be running in the next five year election. much of the next five years will

be spent jostling for position who will replace david cameron. on the other side you've seen a whole spate of resignations of party leaders. unprecedented for three parties to resign within three hours of one another. >> dig into that what does that say? >> first of all it shows the problems within the labor party. this was demoralizing for labor party. they felt they were very much in the game, at the end of the election they certainly didn't anticipate the big defeat that has come. so ed miliband resigned almost immediately thereafter. right and the left of the labor party, mick klegg has resigned, in disarray to eight m.ps from 57, a party at near collapse collapse who would want to be the next leader of the liberal democrats?

you are basically presiding over the burial of the body as it were. and then you had the resignation also of nigel ferrage of the u.k. independence party and he is very much associated with that party he in effect was that party. it would be interesting to see where ukip goes from here. he is in a relatively stable position in the next five years but the problems are left and center of british politics for labor and the liberal democrats and then there's the issue of who's going to be the next leader of ukip. so we're in a period of real turmoil in british politics. >> john tongue, joining us from university of manchester, thank you. >> suffering sanctions for those responsible for violence in

burundi. u.s. ambassador samantha power at least 13 have been killed in the demonstrations, and the cause of the unrest, president nickdecision to run for reelection. >> we. >> the president of burundi made it official, he signed the papers indicating he will run again. presidents in burundi are normally limited to two terms. >> the u.n. refugee agency say as many as 50,000 people have left the country and even when they cross the borders the

refugees say they don't feel safe. >> the enemies we are running from can find us here and harm us. >> burundi has a history of violence pitting a hutu majority against the. >> guatemala's supreme court voted that this co-reject against prosecution. >> coming up 70 years after the vic why the specter of war still haunts europe. >> and the generation of gang violence still plaguing the city.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. >> and i'm libby casey. coming up this half hour of international news we take you inside one of south africa's deadliest neighborhoods. we have an exclusive interview with a gang leader. >> also a culture clash over music in the philippines and competition from the west. >> first a look at headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. the pentagon has increased threat of military activity across the u.s. the pentagon says the increase was not triggered by a specific event but a generally heightened event, including an atechnical on a carton contest in texas. >> and loretta lynch's department of justice

investigation of baltimore's police department. the serious erosion between police and the african american community. thousands of police officers gather today to say good-bye to a fallen new york city police department. brian moore died yesterday two days after he was shot in the head. william brat ton post posthumously promoted him to detective. >> nations that fought in world war ii are marking victory in europe day. >> may 8th 1945 was a day that germany's surrender officially went into effect. leaders of the german government gathered at the reitstag building, still marked with graffiti marked 70 years ago.

>> the motorcade to the arc de triomphe. germany invaded france in 1940. >> in the united states a major show of world war ii air power flew over the nation's capital. 56 vintage airplanes including the last flying b-29 bomber flew in formation just 1,000 feet over the national mall. president obama urged to keep striving for values today of freedom democracy and human rights. >> let's stand united with our allies in europe and beyond on behalf our common values. freedom, security, democracy human rights, and the rule of law, around the world. and against bigotry and hatred in all their forms. so that we give meaning to that pledge, never forget, never again.

>> ukrainian president petro poroshenko used the occasion to remember those killed in the country's current conflict. according to the united nations nearly 7,000 ukrainian civilians died during this conflict. ukraine was part of the soviet union, during world war two. >> 70th anniversary is being promoted 50 crème li as part of glory and sacrifice. as rory challands reports. >> in 1941, age just 16, galina enlisted as a night witch what germans call the soif air soviet air forces ail female. every year when victory day

comes, fewer and fewer of her comrades appear. she is a rarity, victory over the nazis has assumed almost sacred importance. >> translator: we celebrate this anniversary like never before. if you compare the photo of last year with today we have many more people who have turned up this year. children grandchildren great grandchildren with portraits of their relatives. they remember love and honor. >> reporter: victory day celebrations have been held all over moscow this week. even in the skies above it. on wednesday helicopter enthusiasts toed patriotic flags through the spring sunshine . of course this is the much, much more than celebratary helicopter rides and war veterans. it is a very useful political event. after night fall the capital streets have echoed to the streets of marching soldiers and rumbling tanks. this is no coup or crack down

but practice for saturday's military parade on red square. most westerners are shunning the event and russia has been hit with sanctions because of the standoff over ukraine. a vision mighty respected and unified. >> russia is playing its game in the world against other players against other collapse of players and whatever happens you have to support it because good fans do so. >> reporter: a sign of that is the popularity of the orange and black st. george's ribbon used on military medals since czarist times, more controversial in the west, that's suits the kremlin

just fine. by promoting the nation's genuine gratitude for the vast sacrifices made 70 years ago it can prepare russians for lesser sacrifices faced for more current conflicts. rory challands, al jazeera america, moscow. >> we are joined by associate professor of international affairs. welcome. >> thank you. >> what do you see as the intended purpose of president putin's ve day celebration? >> 70 it was a very big victory and the soviet union, it is a very appropriate celebration. it is unfortunate that it came at the time when putin is fighting a small little war in ukraine. and so those countries that were on the same side, 70 years ago now are being divided. and no western leader in fact is

coming to moscow to celebrate a mutual victory, this is one of those ironies of history tragedies of history there. >> we see the chinese president xi jinping what does that symbolize? >> it symbolizes that russia is not alone. this of course is very transparent and very obvious those who fought with russia, fought with 70 years ago shunning the celebration. so vladimir putin needs to bring other people to say well, i'm still the leader, with not all the leaders together, not the west. >> do you see completelies of past celebrations? this is a very significant day for russian culture. >> it is a very significant day of russian culture. russia does celebrate victories in a big big way because it's never just about the victory.

it's also the threat to anybody who wants to come in and take russia over and russians are always prepared that somebody play do that. so it is in some ways a preparation to show that what we were before, we can still be again. and we will be victorious at any cost. >> 70 years on how significant is this date to russians who lost family members the country certainly had significant casualties. is it still resonating? >> it is just but more so because of ukraine. i mean it is a very important anniversary, 50 years i remember i was there and 50 years was a very big event and very important event and russia was no longer a soviet union was really very wonderful. skit anniversary was very big in 2005, putin wabs was considered a world leader and everybody came.

this year it's much more against the backdrop of the enemies that russia may need to face again. >> you see these visuals already of giant tanks stuck in the street, we're expecting to see thousands of troops marching in this parade. does it give you an ironic sense of russia's future versus russia's past? >> well, russia doesn't have the future. as many say russia's everything in russia's presence is about the past, it barely has that. apparently now only 16, a very small number but it is the largest number since the end of the soviet union. and it is appropriate to have one or two or three big tanks. here not so much bust in moscow it was a big joke a big story one of those big tanks apparently better than anything

the united states would ever have, actually broke down in the street. it is a symbol or annal gory an aligory of what was in the reality. >> planning to detonate the bombs on sunday now to northeast nigeria where a school came under attack. five students were wounded by gun fire and another 45 were wounded. boko haram is suspected of carrying out the attack a year after it attacked a school. another bomb exploded in a dormitory. the fate of the attackers is unflown at this point. south africa's murder rate has dropped nationwide except in

capetown where drug gangs are battling over territory and disinscitizens are caught in the cross fire. al jazeera's sue tur turton has the story. >> smoking crystal plet in meth in a toilet. cape flats area of capetown. roland is a gang leader. he believes taking and selling drugs is the only life possible here. >> the young boy his dream ask being a drug dealer, they don't have money to go to school, school fees, there's no food at home they take for the scapegoat. >> reporter: but there's a price for this drug fueled world. nicole was hit by a bullet in a

gun fight between gangs. >> you can ask the kids here, they can't play that side and that side, they just play here. >> reporter: their gang leader believes the government doesn't care about being mixed race or the colored communities as they called themselves and have allowed their neighborhood to become a ghetto. >> you see whatever is the government now us our color same old that's a different day. because there are all model in our place that took the gangsters for their models. >> the drugs trade is everywhere here. it's the main employer. it can put food on the table when no one else will. according to a recent report the police are as explicit in this economy as the gangs are.

>> it's well-known that the gangs are able to corrupt public security officials. >> he says the way to stop this spiral is to stop them seeing the street gangs as surrogate families by strengthening the family unit. the murder rate across south africa is decreasing. in the cape flats it is rising as these young men fight over territory and drug profits. many have not left the flats. many won't make it to anywhere else. sue turton, cape flats area of capetown. >> treating dr. ian c-losier, they found the ebola virus living if one of his eyes.

the virus even changed his eye color from blue to green. the virus is able to survive because the human eyes are not inconnected to our immune system. >> and the color has now gone back to normal. >> absolutely amazing. >> helping to bridge the distance between u.s. and iran. and one of iraq's most notorious voices speaks out about become a u.s. citizen.

>> violent protests broke out in northwestern iran following the mysterious death of a kurdish woman. in the town of mahabad where the 25-year-old fell to her death. accusing a security guard of the hotel of trying to rape the woman saying she jumped to her death trying to escape. several people were reported injured. >> in our off the radar segment

tonight, iranian born shire rvetionnreenneshad. >> provide a revealing look at her photographs and films. al jazeera's erica pitzi has more. >> reporter: haunting stark and lyrical. the images created by artist shire rvetionn nashant has been explored around the world focusing mostly on women in her native iran. in a 2010 ted talk she reflected on her work. >> any journey as an artist started from a very, very personal place. i did not start to make social commentary about my country. >> the daughter of a doctor, nashat left to study art at berkeley. the revolution of 1979 made it

impossible to return and she made her home in new york city. it wasn't until 1990 that she traveled back for a family visit. iran'siran'siran transformation shocked her. >> the women of iran seemed to embody the political transformation. in a way by studying a woman you can follow structure and the ideology of the country. >> she also began to create films. like women without men based on a banned novel by a fellow iranian. it earned her a win for best director at the venice film festival. nashat said she made it in part to remind western audiences of her country's stolen past. >> asking them to return to their history and look at themselves before they were so

islamiislamicizeed. in theislamicized. >> women's without men is the waystarting matching each of her works with the historical context that inspired it. taking audiences along on an extraordinary artistic journey. erica pitzi, al jazeera. >> and shi rkshireen nishat joins us. >> thank you. >> three historic moments that brought us to where we are today. what message do you want to send? >> i think it's interesting to have an artist interpretation of history in a way that it's completely different from a

diplomat or politician. and i think it's important for people to see an artist work that interprets history from a very personal perspective. >> you didn't set out to do social commentary but it's almost impossible i would say to not do social commentary about a country where politics have determined its history in such a powerful way over that period of time. your work has been described as subversively candid. you can't go back, you would be concerned over your safety. >> there is a common saying that every iranian artist is political in one way or another. every subject you choose is very often problematic. i've never interested to point fingers or be biased, but i've been interested in raising very important questions. >> let me ask you the politics and political questions. most of your family is still in iran we saw iranians

celebrating when the nuclear framework deal was agreed to. do you think that's because they want an opening to the west or because they want sanctions to go away? >> i think it is a combination. of course i will not speak on behalf of the government but on behalf of the people of iran, my family included, first and foremost they want peace in their country. the animosity goes so far back. the sanctions and economic issues have been really problematic. particularly as far as i know the medical system has been chancing. so i think it's a combination of two, psychologically iranian people want to open the walls open the doors to the outside. and they have not been able to travel. people of iran have not been able to return, go back. there are multiple reasons and

i'm optimistic. >> do you think we will see any kind of normalized relations with the west any time in the future given we hear the yoats ayatollahs and the hard liners saying america is the great satan? >> whether they like it or not they are aware that the majorities of iranians will open relations with the u.s. and they are not any longer able to be the only representative of the country of iran. from the reaction of the people you see in the street when the negotiations began and so the government cannot block that. i really feel that they have no other options. but move afford with this process. >> do you hope your work can have an impact on that? >> artists are not biased and artists don't have an agenda. but to move people, to insist of people whether western or iranian to look at things a

different perspective both emotionally and rationally, if my work can do anything it just touches on a lot of intersections and asks people to take another look. >> shireen nishat, it's a pleasure to have you. your composition runs from september 18 to 20. >> thank you. >> artists everywhere struggling to be heard. >> but now filipino musicians overwhelmed from american are music. get a lift from an unexpected source.

>> just more than a week after launch, the wayward progress spacecraft likely disintegrated after entering the earth's

atmosphere. progress was carrying six tons of supplies but failed to dock with the international space station. it's believed to have burned up in the atmosphere. there have been no reports of fragments spotted. >> on the global view segment we look at how papers react to are world news arounds the globe. dire long term consequences for the marine environment and fisheries in the region. >> the israeli newspaper haritz, offers sharp criticism of benjamin netanyahu april new administration. calling it the the worst most

hazardous governments ever established in israel. paper writes hezbollah support for the assad regime isn't good for lebanon and could further destabilize syria. every country in the area, creating strange allies. >> lebanon has massive problems with refugees from syria and also trade approximate because border crossings have been compromised. musicians in the philippines are supporting a new law that they hope will protect them from western domination, now the government is stepping in to help them. marga ortiguez. >> something from owl city. >> these djs host one of the most popular radio shows in the philippines. like other mainstream programs it's in english and features

american pop music. if they don't play four songs an hour they would be punished. >> it's pretty hard to film. >> as filipinos are there isn't much local music that sells. >> a remaining prevalent notion that if it's foreign it must be better. western music is played so much here that only a quarter of music royalties go to local composers. the majority goes to foreign artists. but this doesn't mean local musicians aren't out there. they just get a lack of support from music promoters. some of them want to see stronger government measures to protect home grown music and are pushing for a law that will give radio station tax incentives to create locally produced songs.

>> we will also benefit. >> but legislation can't guarantee local artists and audience. >> not something you can dictate to your listeners. you can try to -- you can try to influence them, but in the end we can try but the final decision is with the public. >> these artists are singing about putting country first. and they hope that eventually, law or not the country will learn to favor them, ahead of others. marla ortiguez. al jazeera. >> now he is singing president obama's praises, tony harris sat down with him for this sunday's episode of "talk to al jazeera". >> i've been aware and glad obama won the election because it's bringing all the racial

tension that's riddled this country to the forefront. i've watched the republican party absolutely make a mockery of themselves, the hatred and racism that is absolutely bubbling over. i've recently become an american citizen myself and this is a very nice introduction to the future, let's hope it's not a future but definitely a future. there's obviously a police problem here, and whenever a situation like that is developed it's coming from way up top. that's not ground roots stuff. somebody's manipulating that happen. >> you believe that? >> oh yeah, i'm an obama man. >> you can see more of john lydon aka johnny rotten. on saturday.

>> thanks for watching, marianna is next. i'll see you again in an hour. on "america tonight". the shocking story of the homeless on capitol hill, and in the halls of power. also tonight: convicted at an early age and locked up for life.