president in a popular television series he may soon be playing the part for real that's. great . legs and always a. new life begins a normal life life without the corruption without bribes without anything like this life in a new country a country have much. to learn ski will go into the second round runoff in april against incumbent president the confectionery business owner petro poroshenko who seems to have lost public trust over his broken promises to end the separatist war in the east and wipe away the stain of official corruption he says because you know thank you for not returning to the soviet union you know for the last five compared five so it was for ukraine the chocolate billionaire versus the comedy king we'll be watching the second round closely as will the european union ukraine is stuck in

the middle geographically divided by conflict its economy in the doldrums and anticorruption reforms failing to take hold neither candidate has ready answers. back at h.q. and this man former finance minister alexander downer look could provide the experience the candidate lacks something like an act of blind faith though isn't it to support a man with no political background or experience whatsoever why should people do. well that's a good question right is it just maybe because they trust him more than the alternatives that's it. and they. blindly want to actually saying that we don't want. a continuation of foreign forces you know with what we don't want people don't trust running the country so this is the shiny new look of politics in ukraine and younger voters in particular will surely have many hard to like to five all of them is immense his promise to tell you everything even if he

so far made only the vaguest suggestions about how he plans to do that will have to change fast as voters' minds become far more focused in the second round. of. a weather update next year and i was here then new zealand's prime minister in china but a decision not to use faraway technologies of the country's five g. mobile network hangs over her visit. out of sight of the times of japan as a new imperial era is about just. hello again well this i do want to start here across north asia we have seen a mix of clouds and rain across parts of japan but out here across northeastern china really without looking too bad at all over the next few days for beijing is

going to be an eighteen degree day and things are actually going to get better by the time we get towards wednesday still quite clear across much of the region the clouds going to stay down here towards the south so by the time we end the day on wednesday beijing how about twenty one degrees in pyongyang we do expect to see about twelve degrees there well plenty of rain across central china over the next few days and for hong kong the rain is going to be ending for you did see a lot of low clouds and some rain in your forecast so here on tuesday looking a little better but a little bit cooler twenty two degrees for joe is going to be a very nice day at eighteen degrees with plenty of sunshine in the forecast but that is all going to end by the time we do wednesday more rain coming into play there over here towards taipei we do expect to see some windy conditions you with the temperature twenty five and then across another part of the philippines we do expect to see plenty of rain over the next few days temperatures into the low thirty's there over here towards the parts of vietnam rain is going to be ending but for bangkok the rain is going to be a big problem here on tuesday getting a little bit better by the time we get to wednesday and for kuala lumpur it is

going to be a cloudy day at thirty four. nothing .

again this is al jazeera let's remind you of the main news this hour turkey's election chief says the opposition is in the lead in istanbul's mayoral race an account that's been described as too close to call but the result in the capital ankara is now under appeal. protesters went back on the streets of algeria's capital hours after a caretaker government was named local media is reporting that eighty two year old president of the disease beautifully is preparing to quit. and a woman accused of murdering the half brother of north korea's leader will be freed from a lazy in prison next month on t. hong was sentenced for a lesser charge of causing hers but she'll be released soon for time served. rescuers are struggling to reach villages in the poll cut off by severe of a severe thunderstorm at least thirty one people were killed but that number is expected to rise as emergency workers reach the remote districts of and pasta buildings collapse a bus was blown off the road and cars overturned in the storm helicopters are

expected to join the recovery operation once the weather improves. it was like a ball of fire a huge ball of fire it was around seven pm or eight pm and we hadn't eaten food as we were going to eat that huge ball of fire appeared live to trees bridges houses and destroyed everything some twelve or thirteen people were killed and about seven others were injured new zealand's prime minister is making her first official visit to china where she's expected to tackle some sensitive issues to send the governments rejected a bit by the chinese company while way to install new zealand's five g. network away was turned down on national security grounds following the lead of the us and its western allies but china is new zealand's biggest trading partner so the prime minister something of a fine line to tread on his ear as adrian brown reports that beijing. well the fact that jews and arden is here in beijing just over two weeks since the mosque

killings in christchurch is i think a measure of the importance she places on new zealand's relations with china it will be though just the briefest of visits one day and one night on monday morning she stood in the great hall of the people to be officially welcome to china by the country's premier league she's going to be discussing trade issues essential with him she wants to upgrade new zealand's current free trade agreement that was signed back in two thousand and eight at the moment two way trade between these two countries stands at almost nineteen billion dollars but there are tricky areas for her to negotiate there are challenges for her on this trip china of course is upset that its giant telecoms company while away is being banned from participating in new zealand's five g. network china wants new zealand to reconsider that ban but of course the united states are saying that if new zealand were to do that then washington might not be

prepared to share intelligence with new zealand in the future because new zealand is part of the five eyes intelligence alliance that involves canada australia new zealand britain and the united states so in a way new zealand finds itself caught in a sense between this deepening friction between china and the united states right now and then of course there's you of human rights in the aftermath of the christ church killings jews and arden has made ill treatment of muslims and other ethnic minorities part of the country's foreign policy and human rights groups are hoping that she will build on that momentum and raise the issue of what's happening in shin jangle human rights groups say that essentially more than a million ethnic muslim we girls are being held in reeducation camps china calls them vocational training centers but of course raising an issue. this with china's leaders always brings a typical response and that is we do not allow other countries to interfere in our

internal affairs israel has lifted its ban on palestinians fishing off the coast of gaza the decision is part of a cease fire deal between israel and hamas the agreement which was mediated by egypt includes expanding the fishing zone along the mediterranean coast israel reopened two main crossings on sunday following a weekend of palestinian processed on the border zero spotted jump jhoom reports now from gaza. this was supposed to be a day that would bring a renewed sense of optimism to fishermen here in gaza instead it's been disappointing that's because of the weather it's been raining heavily it's very cloudy it's windy now this was supposed to bring a new sense of hope to gaza fishermen today because today for the first time in years gaza fishermen will be allowed to in some parts off the gaza coast go up to fifteen nautical miles off the coast to fish that's a huge boost to the fishing industry here it's also the first time since last week

that they've been allowed back into the water by israeli authorities now the gaza fishermen that have gathered here this morning some of them went out earlier a few boats but they came back in because of the bad weather and many of the people assembled here say they need to be able to go back into the water there's approximately four thousand fishermen here in gaza this is one of the few viable industries here this is one of the few ways in which people in gaza are able to make money so it's extremely necessary but the fishermen that are here are saying it's great that they will be able to go back into the water they are hopeful that this means they will be able to continue to go out into the water and fish but at the same time they also say that they still need equipment they still need more equipment to be able to come into gaza for their boats so that they can fish more so they can bring in more fish make more money for their families for their children there is a cautious sense of optimism in gaza the past few days these egyptian led

mediation talks between hamas other palestinian factions in israel they really seem to be on a positive track there's been no final deal that's been reached yet but the fact that gaza fishermen are now going to be able to go back into the water once the weather clears that is giving people here a renewed sense of optimism that hopefully in the days ahead things will continue to improve at least twenty people have died after a bus caught fire in peru the blaze began at the bus stop which drives a banned from using because it's next to an illegal fuel stall and the ocean sea service is a blaming an engine electrical fault for the fire near the capital lima. but as well as president nicolas maduro has announced plans to ration electricity for a month while the nationwide power cuts continue the announcement was greeted by demonstrations against the regular cuts were just to say the widespread electricity blackouts are making their lives even worse on top of food and medicine shortages

and hyper inflation experts say the national electricity grid is poorly maintained and needs investment less in america is that we see a neumann as the latest from caracas. as you can see much of caracas is in darkness at this hour president nicolas maduro in a pre-taped address told the news whalen's that the country had again been attacked by what he called saboteurs in an electromagnetic attack he called it on friday and on saturday making it impossible for authorities to try to normalize the supply of electricity throughout the country he again did not provide any evidence of these attacks but he did say that they will be a thirty day period at least of power rationing to try to normalize the electrical grid good throughout the country and he also said that public services would only work until two pm every day schools will also continue to be closed one of the worst things about all this of course is that people don't have water you need to have electricity to make water pumps work and so people are getting desperate and

this has led to a lot of protests certainly here in the capital on sunday people came out in the afternoon they were shot at by some pro-government supporters called police. people were injured but then later in the night all over in many parts at least of the capital people went out onto the streets again blocking roads burning tires putting up different barricades and banging on pots and pans demanding water and electricity so there is growing concern that this is going to raise not just the level of tension but of violence here in venezuela president maduro is in fact calling on his supporters to take to every single street in the country to quote ensure the peace while the opposition is now calling for venezuelans to go out and protest all over the country starting on monday when the political and economic turmoil has forced more than three million venezuelans to look for a better life abroad and for some it's been the final journey of

a summer m.p.'s he reports from a colombian city of real hardcore where one woman is ensuring that the dead are given a proper burial. sagna been moved this is bearing the body of. who fled venezuela but passed away just days after arriving in colombia. she's a retired forensic doctor with a lifelong mission caring for the destitute dead in this area of northern colombia saving them from a communal grave. i think this is god's purpose for my life we're all the same when we die and we all deserve a decent burial. granddaughter says they had left search of medicine to treat her grandmother's diabetes the drugs she needed have become hard to find at home they didn't have money to pay for a place to sleep let alone foot the five hundred dollars bill needed once the worst happened but i came out when. i was just hoping my grandmother could live

a few more years but it didn't work out that way. sonia started bearing people illegally two decades ago in this unused plot owned by the city in two thousand and seven she convinced the tory to recognise it as an official cemetery called people like us for many years most of the bodies sonya recovered were victims of b.s. fifty year long internal civil conflict but that it's changed since two thousand and seventeen since then practically all the people barrie is here have been poor venezuelan migrants. given the hardship they suffer more and more arrive looking for a better life many are sick when they get here i just help them when they're gone sonja does most of the work on her own paying out of her own pocket and goes from town to town in a pickup truck wherever there's a body to recover. other times relatives bring the caskets to the cemetery

like me. whose son didn't survive childbirth. which will look at us and i'm very grateful to google for that. i don't know what we would have done without her then settle says she needs help with her mission but she will continue regardless so when it bowling is with this humanitarian crisis underway i feel great satisfaction being able to help it brings me inner peace sometimes we forget that human beings are happier giving than receiving whatever the cost and what she gives is a lasting memory of those who died in some peace of mind for those who are left behind. japan has announced the name of its next imperial era by wop right translates as order or auspicious well while means peaceful harmony it begins in a month when the new emperor takes the throne kanade on iraq this railway contains

the meaning that culture is born and nurtured as the people who appear to flee care about each other ever knew my commitment to pioneer a new era that will be filled with hope with the selection of a new era name i sincerely hope this new era will be widely accepted by people of japan and deeply rooted in japanese people's lives. is a fellow at japan's temple university he told us more about how the decision is made and what it means it's actually quite a lengthy detailed process with quite a lot of significance in the name itself the prime minister has indicated if you can give a loose translation for what radio would mean that people's hearts coming together in a beautiful way which will give rise to and nurture culture which i think after all is quite a fitting. descriptive of what is happening today in the conservative era shinzo object and need liberal democratic party were approaching now the

seventy seventh month. tenure as prime minister and what's quite ironic is that he's been averaging about fifty percent approval rating by the japanese voters which is highly unusual on top of that one has to take him to act is conservatism and his ability to hold onto power. it's quite a contrast actually from the past thirty years which was rather a bumpy ride forward to last decades a declining stock market declining real estate prices and political uncertainty all of which seems to have turned around in the. it is good to have you with us hello adrian finnegan here in doha the top stories this hour on al-jazeera turkey's election chief says the opposition is in the lead

in istanbul's mayoral race account that's been described as too close to call the results of the capital ankara is now under appeal. today is a big day when justice was served. we deserved what we got with a legitimate votes of uncle or people. on the loser today is. the uk party candidate has been a reshuffle of the cabinets in algeria it's an attempt by the government to satisfy protesters who are demanding political change in the country protests as well back out on the streets of the capital though the caretaker government was named local media is reporting that eighty two year old president of the disease beautifully is preparing to quit a woman accused of murdering the half brother of north korea's leader will be freed from. prison next month on the hong was sentenced for a lesser charge of causing hurt but she'll be released soon for time served rescuers are struggling to reach villages in the poll cut off by

a severe thunderstorm at least thirty one people were killed that was expected to rise as emergency workers reach the remote districts of bottle and passer helicopters are expected to join the recovery operation once the weather improves. it was like a ball of fire a huge ball of fire it was around seven pm or eight pm and we hadn't eaten food as we were going to eat that huge ball of fire appeared live to trees bridges houses and destroyed everything some twelve or thirteen people were killed and about seven others were injured at least twenty people died when a bus caught fire in peru the blaze began at a bus stop which drivers a banned from using because it's next to an illegal fuel store. early results from ukraine show a comedian has won the first round of the presidential election laws mia selenski says that it's a major step towards victory his numbers a fall short of an absolute majority he'll face current president that's reported shango in a runoff photos on april twenty first and there's the headlines

a lot more news fear here on al-jazeera after today's inside story next. a president a comedian and a survivor ukraine votes for a new leader whoever wins inherits a conflict in the east and the ailing economy and a tense standoff with russia over crimea so who will ukrainians choose to lead them through the next five years this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program i'm typical paul and now ukrainians are voting for a new president thirty nine people are running as candidates but when you see a choice between three main candidates there's the president petro poroshenko who's hoping to get another five year term he's seen the conflict with the separatists in the east of the country grinds on despite a cease fire agreement he's failed to reverse russia's annexation of crimea and he's also been blamed for the corruption that persists the survivor is yulia timoshenko a former prime minister who is spectacular fall from grace but her to a prison sentence then there's a comedian a lot of the lenski he's an actor with no political experience but he does play the president on a popular t.v. series john hall has this report. this is the unexpected from drama in the race to become ukraine's next president that will give me as

a linsky is an actor and comedian whose campaign appearances are stand up comedy act. what he lacks in actual policy or political experience he makes up for with his on screen persona in a popular television series he's a teacher who blows the whistle on corruption suddenly finding himself yes president of ukraine that's. great. he's famous for one thing young people see him as an anti establishment outsider figure which they like and responding. and. i like was a personality but it seems even he isn't sure if he can be president or not we don't know we just want to believe that he's a better option previous presidents with businessmen politicians and lawyers maybe a comedian can make a difference. many feel the political unknown zelinsky could hardly do

worse than the current president petro poroshenko he came to power after russia's annexation of crimea vowing to end the war in the east and sweep away corruption the billionaire confectionery king here immortalized in bullet casings and his own sweet and chocolate wrappers has bowed to pressure from the international monetary fund raising utility prices that hurt the poor and he's in a circle he's implicated in allegedly corrupt weapons purchases. if you see corruption i think we should talk about this that's why reason all of these. paintings this is a conversation with president bush and first of all and if he will be elected for the second time i hope that it will make him to sink of all what kind of place in the history he wants to to get. also in the running after two

decades in politics and three years in prison is former prime minister yulia timoshenko many of her supporters at a final rally in central kiev were bussed in from the countryside drawn by a pledge to consume a gas prices the focus of this election is the economy. promises being made about the war that's the toxic question for all the candidates no one has also learned a lot has. no one wants to take responsibility for five years of war after a people's rebellion against russian influence and corruption and ukraine is a country that seems stuck unsure now which way to turn toward a hole in kiev for inside story. and we can bring in our panel joining us from kiev on skype is alexy her on he's a professor of comparative politics at kipp academy in moscow we have dmitri babich political analyst at racine. news agency and the london lit give oregon russian and

eastern europe analyst at market welcome you all of you welcome to the program great to have you on this is going to be a very interesting and quite a dynamic discussion i hope let me start with you mr her we have quite a very defeat of candidates running in the selection and particularly our top three that we've outlined our our correspondent joe hotline just now what would you say is the main issue that is driving the voters here that will influence how they choose their president. well i can definitely tell about zat but it seems to me first of all when i read talking about presidential elections in ukraine we need to understand it we are not a presidential it but it's a mixed system and the presidential elections we will have alimentary elections so we will have to listen to government was a prime minister and president used to go exist was

a problem it insists sense president cannot monopolized by our in ukraine as a cabins in belarus or in russia when some other cunt so presidential actions are definitely ordered but zahn we are to wait for as a result overfull element elections to see what the final configuration of political will have in place second i would like to stress that in ukraine elections are always democratic so it's very difficult to predict who will win. my certain point in every single depends on civil do left or was the opinion of the ukrainian people and finally i would say as it runs this campaign. orbital abrar us an agenda that has variable chances so all the main city candidates in favor or europe or moving closer to us if we analyze insists remain gendered it so for president but of centers the main success is that ukraine survive ukraine survive

after it was ours and for beauty when their russian aggression started it started it was an obsession of grainy as it was the konami blockade ok was america and i didn't say i'm going to interrupt you there i i just wanted to quit they talk about the issue that is driving the voters we will go into the nitty gritty of these elections and speak about that event to our candidates yeah i think it's even brave because i'd like to get every once in the forest and then you can if you're into ok ok if you're would like to generalize source the main topic. what a nice disaster dog is social economic situation and says a dog is fighting excellent ok thank you we will now move on to mr babbage can you tell us how moscow views these elections and do they have any preference on which direction it would go well with more score the problem is that the whole

spectrum all political thought that political life in ukraine that used to be sympathetic towards russia you know that by joe reagents the communist by their. all of these political groups were bache basically banned after their initial boat revolution of my done in two thousand and fourteen so right now there is no candidate that would be absolutely acceptable that would be friendly towards russia during this election all three main candidates that were just mentioned they all proclaimed their intention to move your brain towards nato and russia said very clearly a few years ago that this is a red line that russia will not allow your brain to join nato because that would mean ne to me silas will be three or two minute distance from moscow this is something that russia views the surete line as for the issues of this election i

think the most important issue is war and peace but i don't think it's going to be decided at this election because mr poroshenko and his friends in the ukrainian parliament basically they introduced the so-called deal q patient law which proclaim saraj an aggressor and which makes it very difficult to feel that means agreements on peace in the east of ukraine because the means can dream and sprit supposed amnesty for the rebels and the special status for their russian speaking territories in the east of ukraine none of that just possible under this new ukrainian law and of course none of that is possible under the changes to the constitution that. make or ukraine oriented towards nato and the second issue easy point to me here i think the legacy of mr parrish anchor is just tragic because ukraine was promised prosperity and the european is

a nation in two thousand and fourteen the result is that now ukraine is officially the poorest nation in europe it went even further down you know that gave all of the poorest nations in. europe oft at mr poroshenko introduce your so-called reforms with your soul quote younger and foremost most of the who cracked up to be corrupt so i agree with alexy corruption is a very important issue but unfortunately if the situation with corruption in ukraine only worsened after victoriano which was violently almost up from boeing by them i don't revolutionaries ok thanks for that let me hold on to ms give oregon give oregon first given first can we talk about the view from europe and does see europe have any will whoever when have any influence on how europe interacts with ukraine. from the european or western perspective it is is very

important that the new ukrainian authorities both president and newly elected parliament which is and his bait is to take place by the end of this year to remain on the europe plan tick integration part economically speaking this means ukraine a tiering to the i.m.f. reform road map. regardless the populist rhetorical regardless to pledges of faffing household gas price tariffs this is simply no way that ukraine could deal with its challenges economic challenges by turning its back on that reform past it's simply not feasible at this stage so from the european perspective to ensure a political stability and economic stability it is important effectively to keep the status quo at worst but at best they're hoping for

a candidate who will also deal with the corruption issues indeed and that's certainly something i want to look into a little later in this program including the economy but let's talk about the candidates specifically mr her on we have two veteran candidates a comedian who has no defined policies no experience and yet is very popular what kind of a message does that send and why is that. yes first of all i am now in a very difficult situation because i think i need to hear what the russian call except who is that i am presenting grass which is kremlin propaganda russia is aggressed russia is waging war against ukraine russia annexed crimea and russia is not a let that all democracy which is to cheat to teach us this democratic rules of the games and how to conduct elections so first the well i would like to stress that we . have free elections and there are different gander.