voters in niger head to the polls this hour with the president seeking a second term, but his main rival is behind bars. welcome. you're watching al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha. also in the next 30 minutes. victories for donald trump and hillary clinton in the race for the white house. a trail of destruction after a severe cyclone moved through the island of fiji. five people have been killed. we look at how the stress of the

economic crisis in greece is reviving an old tradition our stop story, voting in niger's election is about to begin. nearly 7 million people are registered to vote. the outgoing president is hoping to secure a second five-year term. he has been widely condemned for clamping down on political descent and failing to deal with security threats from neighboring countries. let's look at some of the front runners. issoufou is seeking a new term. he is up against the main opposition leader oumarou. the former president is also in the running. he was the first democratically elected president of niger.

the most controversial is the former prime minister who is currently in prison of allegations of trialled trafficking. our correspondent is in the capital joining us live this hour. can a prisoner, somebody who is behind bars, really beat the president? >> reporter: it depends on who you ask. his supporters tell you that he has gained more popularity just because he is behind bars. they say he was already popular but now he is more so. if you talk to the other side, the government side, they say this man has just been given a lot of publicity and that he actually is wanted for justice, wanted in pursuit for a crime that here is punishable by imprisonment. by the way, let me clarify that he is not the main rival, he is

one of the rivals because we have him described as more popular and charismatic and is a former prime minister and he is the main opposition to the president prime minister. he has a degree according to people here and he is not in jail. the problem with the election is that first the beginning of the democratic process in niger in 1993, there have been disruptions because of coups. so it is the beginning of an election where there has been no election that was decided in the first round until now. now the president says he will win in the first round. the opposition says if he wins it is going to be a precedent and they don't think it natural

and they don't see it happening because of the so many parties, so many coalitions and they will say they are ready apparently to save that this election has been rigged if he declares that has won in the first round so many people who will be casting a vote today, tens of thousands we understand, don't even have an id card. how will that work? >> reporter: i don't know, but what i know is if they don't have papers, they are likely to be prevented from voting, but let me tell you this. until now what you see behind me here is one of the voting stations and until now we haven't seen any voters coming, even the ballot boxes are not here yet, even though the program says that the voting should start at 8 o'clock g.m. t, local time sorry, which is now as we speak.

it is five minutes after the dead lean and we don't see any voters coming, almost no voters coming. the people you see there are the organisers. we have seen some representatives of the different parties coming, i think three or four comings here to be present. we understand that there is a lot of foreign observers in the country. we have seen many of them, but we haven't seen them arriving here. nor the ballot boxes arriving. so it is a slow beginning and they have the difficulties of this. this operation or this process kick-starting yet thank you for that. from one election to another it has been a big night for the race in the white house. voters have meant that jeb bush has out. donald trump got over a third of

the votes and cemented his position as the front runner. marco rubio won a close contest for second place over ted cruz. hillary clinton narrowly won the caucus in nevada. she won with 52% of the votes. that was a close-run race. >> reporter: for donald trump back to back wins, first new hampshire and now south carolina. >> there is nothing easy about running for president. it is tough, it is nasty, mean, vicious. it's beautiful. when you win it is beautiful. >> reporter: if this was a goodnight for the billionaire businessman, it was an awful night for jeb bush. he campaigned with his mum and bror and used the family name. he stepped out of the race >> the people have spoken and i really respect their decision. so tonight i am suspending my

campaign. yes, yes ch. >> reporter: south carolina is an important and significant stop in this campaign. although the republican party here remains older, whiter and male, the state itself is very diverse and the trump campaign will be if they win here, there's nowhere in the u.s. where necessity can't win. ted cruz-- they can't win. ted cruz is to be more wins. the person that the party establishment will back especially now that jeb bush has gone. >> it has been a long road. many good people on this campaign. many whom would have been a front runner. now practically speaking it is down to three and i know our campaign gives us the best chance not just to come together

or to unify our party but to unify our country and to grow this movement. >> reporter: a win for hillary clinton, but the lynching she enjoyed almost wiped her out. in her victory speech she raised issues. >> we are not a single-issue country. we need more than a plan for the big bang, the middle-class needs a raise and we need more jobs. >> let's put this thing away and let's make america greatly again. >> reporter: many thought donald trump candidacy was a joke and he would disappear. he is now the republican front runner and he can't stop smiling bill schneider is a visiting

professor and says the fight for the conservative nomination is still far from over >> the democratic establishment is breathing easier with hillary clinton the front runner and the republicans are in a flap about what they do about donald trump. he was saved by african-american voters. they were with obama and now she is with hillary clinton. without that, she really would not have won nevada and that will be a problem for sanders as the campaign continues because there are a lot of states with minority voters who don't seem to be interested in sanders. republicans are in a defiant mood. that's what donald trump sells. he defys everybody, the establishment of the republican party, the press, he defies commonsense sometimes, the pope, but there are a lot of

republican voters out there who are in a defiant mood. donald trump is winning with about a third of the vote, but he has got a split opposition against him. the theory is that if one of them gets out, the other may become the anti-trump. some of those voters could go to trump and the polls show he is ahead right now and his performance in south carolina can only help. then he will be on a path to a nomination. he won a big victory in new hampshire, which is a north-eastern state and he won in south carolina which is a conservative southern states. two different states and he won them both police in the u.s. state of michigan has detained two people. in relation to six killings in

kalam azoo. bashar al-assad said any truce will come with conditions on a ceasefire. he said turkey should not exploit any break in hostilities. from the opposition sides, it is said any troops might come with guarantees from russia and iran. it is ready for a contemporary ceasefire with russia stops air strikes. on the ground syrian forces are pushing forward to aleppo. government troops have taken control of a major power plant supplying electricity to aleppo city. live now to the turkey syria border. what do you make of that speech from bashar al-assad? >> reporter: his statements are really different to the ones he made a few days ago. he said there can be no ceasefire until "all terrorists

lay council their arms". he was criticized by his backer for not being in step with russia's diplomatic efforts. at the end russia and the syrian government have been accused of pursuing a military solution to this conflict and not the political settlement. now we're hearing the syrian president say a ceasefire is possible. the terrorist groups to not exploit, they don't get more weapons from turkey. his statement coming hours after the opposition saying they would be ready for a temporary truce that could be renewable, but, of course, the two attached conditions, saying that russia should stop its bombing campaigns, sieges on communities should be lifted. these are among their demands. we understand the modalities to start a ceasefire have not been

started. it is a complex operation simply because there is no international agreement on who is a terrorist and who is not in syria. that is why the opposition is now requesting that the al-qaeda linked al-nusra front is included in a possible truce because it would, in its belief, not give russia any pretext to bomb moderate rebels on the grounds the military advances in aleppo seem to be continuing apace. >> reporter: yes. there are many front lines across syria and aleppo and the front line you are mention possessing is the one against i.s.i.l. the syrian government and its allies are advancing towardsisise stronghold in the west of the country. - the east of the country. the syrian army is proposing from the east of aleppo and

another province. there are a few companies before reaching the borders, but this clearly is a message from the syrian led alliance to the u.s. led coalition alliance that we will not give up the rest of the country because they heard statements from saudi arabia, turkey saying they're ready to support any ground operation against i.s.i.l. in syria, so a clear message from them. there are many front lines like i mentioned in latakia, aleppo. pressure is being put on the opposition and it has been three weeks and still the government has not had the objective of reaching the turkish border australia has offered to help fiji recover after cyclone winston brought winds of more than 320 km/h. at least five people died.

>> reporter: heavy rains and winds continue to sweech across fiji. it is the worst to hit the island and now it has passed. >> it has affected the whole of the country. a state of natural disaster has been announced. a national wide curfew curfew has been in force. buildings are flimsy and many may not have stood up to the powerful winds. it is what it looks like from space. it shows the eye of the cyclone right over the south pacific. it is now heading west away from more than on 300 low-lying islands scattered across the ocean: land has been dumped onto the land which means crops have dn badged. >> rains that have been experienced in some parts was

really destructive winds, especially one of the islands in the northern group. boats and ships in the path of the cyclone may still be within danger. boats and ships within 50 kilometers of the storm have been told to check in regularly h many have done frantic preparatio preparations. >> there are big queues on the at ms. >> reporter: if the winds ease enough on sundays, government planes will fly over the islands to assess the impact and carry anyone needing medical help to hospitals and people will have to start repairing the damage still to come here on al jazeera, poor nutrition and poverty killing children in

pakistan. zimbabwe plan to seize lands. ze lands.

top stories on al jazeera. the polls have just opened in niger's presidential election where over 7 million people are registered to vote. the present president hopes to continue with another five-year

term. ben carson has won narrowly. donald trump received support in the deep south. jeb bush announced a suspension after a poor showing in south carolina. bashar al-assad says a ceasefire is possible but rebels must have a ceasefire. government troops have taken control of a major power plant supplying electricity to aleppo city at least five people have died in protests over caste-based privileges in india. people are demanding more state benefits. india's constitution have affirmative action to help people in castes discriminated against. the protesters want to be added

to that. more than 150 children have died in southern pakistan this year because of mall knew transcription and disease. a lot of health facilities, poor nutrition and poverty contributing to the problem. >> reporter: she hasn't in enough food and now she is in hospital. these children are lucky to have made it to the only civil hospital in this town. thousands of others didn't. every year hundreds of malnourished children die in pakistan because of water born and other diseases. a lack of facilities and scattered population leads to a high mortality rate. >> translation: we have no facilities there or doctors. we had to borrow money to pay for the fee to reach this hospital. >> translation: there are no

medical facilities apart from a dispensary. >> reporter: the government says more deaths are being reported because more people are coming to the hospitals. it has announced more vacancies for doctors. doctors' preference to work in cities mean there are not enough. >> translation: many of the posts have been announced and we are in the process of hiring them. >> reporter: many babies dies of being premature and underweight. mothers need to be healthier and training needs to be given to nurses who are delivering babies in villages. some say local customs have to change in order to save lives. people here marry their daughters at an early age.

most women have children every year. in addition to that there is poverty. both mother and child don't get enough nutrition to stay healthy. for hundreds of years these people have been the same. they want a better life for their children >> translation: we have no roads water or electricity, no government hospitals. what should we do? >> reporter: back at the hospital these children are getting some treatment, but many say until attitudes and facilities change drastically, they face a risky future it is more than a decade since mugabe launched a land program that saw farm taken away from white farmers and given to black farmers. now they're hoping to lease lands from white farmers. >> reporter: helen mitchell has

been farming here nor decades. she is one of the few hundred white farmers left. she is constantly worried that she will be kicked off the farm. >> it's like living on a knife edge because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow or next week. if you want to go further forward with your projects, then you don't know that it's going to - you're going to achieve what you want to do and if it's still going to be there to reap the rewards >> reporter: she could soon have some form of security. the government now says it will issue 99-year leases to whites who are providing a service to the community and working well with the locals. this is the only commercial run hatchery in the province selling around 100,000 chicks a week. before the reform there were

around 4,000 white commercial farmers. the union says there are about 400 white farmers in zimbabwe but some are not farming all their original lands. most of it was seized during lanld reform. some farmers say issuing leases won't revive the stagnant agricultural sector. >> it has been given to people in the civil servants. they work on the weekdays and go back to their farms. they're not producing anything, yet we're faced with starvation. there's a lot of the land lying derelict, a lot of ownership to be sorted out. there are irrigation facilities are not functioning at this stage. all this is part and parcel of the land reform program which needs to be addressed >> reporter: lands ownership is a sensitive issue that causes racial tensions. most farmers bit from land reform don't have leases. it used to be called the bread

basket of africa. it could help the economy grow again britain will vote on whether to remain within the european union on june 23. david cameron will be campaigning to stay within a reformed e.u. and it is regarded as one of the biggest decisions. >> i think the referendum is a good idea because it gives people a chance with something that affects their nation's sovereign ultimately, on their personal freedom. i think the refer edge p endumb is a good idea. i don't know which way i would vote >> people are saying they're doing their jobs well. we are still with the e.u. if we go out of the e.u. who knows. >> many people come here and do

nothing. >> i think anything is better together. like, countries united is always better than - i feel people have this idea that the u.k. is better than every other country in the e.u. greece has hay history of absorbing cultural elements from both the east and the west. one eastern tradition that has remained for two millennia has remained. the habit of clicking the beads. >> reporter: the museum here has barely a wall that isn't covered in amber beads. it's not just the variety of hughes in this tree resin that fascinates, but the warm r warmth and music. >> translation: a person has a dialogue with it. it is a personal meditation that

brings them close to his worries and his heart with his preoccupations. it is a companion and a tool to help him focus. it is not to do with god or anything external, but one oneself. >> reporter: those qualities have led greeks back to the beads in trying times. this chain of shops has seen sales to greeks jump by 30%. >> translation: we ech seen younger people come into the habit. >> reporter: people find all sorts of ways to relieve their stress, fingerering sing regrets, turning key chains or tinkering with their mobile phones. they can start at $200 and run into the thousands. >> reporter: they go back to prayer beads. people adeveloped them but in modern greets the el ij yous

significance is lost. it is a device for secular meditation and stress relief. >> reporter: they have put this to the ultimate test of sol attitude. >> translation: i started use it regularly. before that i was a seaman and we used it to pass the time. >> reporter: both the cigarette and the kombooly was a symbol which was seized upon showing women challenging that. in this film in which a wealthy single woman serenades the men who run her companies. ultimately it is not about gender politics or wealth or health. it is about isolation from the distractions of the world and in a world ever more distraction

its appeal is growing more news and comment for you whenever you want it on the website, including the run for the u.s. presidency. aljazeera.com >> oh, this is so great! >> um hmm. >> annie! >> it is a video that is extremely personal. >> our fears are dancing between us. >> yeah? >> a woman's private pain examined for scientific research. >> it's so healing. >> instead of holding us down. >> she's on one of america's most popular party drugs. forget what you've heard about "molly", "x" or "mdma". >> it makes you feel euphoric, happiness, love.