still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been trying to escape. again says as raised assad by the taking of benjamin netanyahu a term or pick challenge any gallants. now welcome to al-jazeera live from my headquarters in doha with the parana also ahead reports that gun fire as being g.'s to break up an anti-government demonstration and. in an unprecedented move the u.s. . revolutionary guard a terrorist organization and a hong kong court convicts nine leaders of the pro-democracy on the ground of

protest five years ago. israelis have begun voting to decide benjamin netanyahu another term as prime minister has main challenge of any guns is just ahead in the polls or shortly we'll go live to our correspondent stephanie deca in west jerusalem but first this report from harry fawcett. on the last day of campaigning benjamin netanyahu turned to a familiar closing argument the mortal danger facing his likud party's right wing government. will be ours very late at the moment we are behind a few seats lapping gats are leading the only way to close the gap and ensure with certainty about the could will form the next government that have a big we could bring all the people. who says israel needs him but only he could have won victories such as last month's us endorsement that israeli sovereignty over the occupied golan heights. he's also made

a last minute promise to impose sovereignty over in other words an exterior israel to every illegal settlement in the occupied west bank all but killing off any still lingering hopes of a two state solution. he's gone back on similar pre-election pledges before so this time does he mean it seems like this is an election ploy but. we're in uncharted territory in this election and with the indictments. likely to come soon after the election it's possible that in the coalition to go afterwards he may be held to to those calls by far the right wing party the attorney general's decision to indict the prime minister pending hearings on three corruption cases has had little impact on opinion polls but ultra right nationalists could seek a high price for supporting a prime minister who wants to stay in office while fighting a criminal case a price such as settlement annexation his main opponent wants to make such questions academic by beating netanyahu at the ballot box benny gantz made his own

final appeal for votes on monday. we're going to serve them the voters from the right and the left and all the citizens of israel we are going to win this. the former army chief has been attacking netanyahu on security policy criticizing his attempts to pacify the crisis in gaza by making deals with hamas. guns supports the trunk decision on the occupied golan heights but he's denounced netanyahu settlement annexation plan as irresponsible in the midst of an election campaign his own blue and white party advocates a continued israeli military presence in the occupied west bank itself a red line for palestinian leaders along with preserving large illegal settlements at the same time the party argues for a regionally and globally supported peace agreement without specifically endorsing a two state solution but there is more to this election than its main players netanyahu and dance there are thirty nine parties taking part with several just above or just below the three point two five percent share of the vote required for

a place in the israeli parliament the knesset that means a relatively small number of votes could radically reshape the policies and the makeup of israel's next government israeli soldiers have been among the first a vote but their ballots will be among the last to be counted the not jew in until thursday this election is so finely poised that everyone might have to wait until then for a clear cut final result are a force that al-jazeera westerners and i ha sponsored every decade is joining us live from west jerusalem now stephanie is the fact that this is such a tight race likely to get people out in large numbers what are we expecting today . one of the polls have been open for about an hour now we've been seeing a trickle of people arrive where we are also driving here earlier just after seven o'clock when the polls opened already seeing people queuing up at the polling stations but again i think as you heard harris report would have to wait and see what this day brings the israeli media saying that these are the most difficult

elections to predict in twenty three years what we know it is certainly the hottest race the biggest challenge to prime minister benjamin netanyahu in a decade in ten years it is of course his fourth term. as prime minister and his challenger by the guns of the blue and white party the polls predicting that he could have a majority but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to israeli politics it still means if that happens if the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu could form a government the bigger question is this having spoken to people here over the past couple of weeks it really is about corruption the corruption indictments hanging over the heads of prime minister benazir benjamin netanyahu and whether israelis care about that whether it is dented his support enough he is someone who's played up his security card he has no dismissed curity that he is the man the only man to leave israel forward so again you've been seeing people arrive here at the polling station is a couple of rooms while they be going into the hall it's their vote and i think as you heard there harris package difficult to predict an exciting race for sure we're

going to have to wait and see how the day and stephanie what about the minority palestinian israeli population and what they care about in this election you've been talking to them in recent days all those bowing calls by the prime minister to annex the west bank get them out to vote how did they feel about this election. that was a lot of people will tell you that that is election rhetoric here on the eve of these hotly contested polls but the same time there is no denying that this country has moved further and further to the right this government has moved further and further to the right and there is a concern that the tools of the prime minister is held to try and form a coalition with other right wing parties that hold a far more extreme as some people will say gender is a concern when it comes to issues like democracy if you talk about the palestinian israeli population they are twenty percent of the population in israel and they will tell you concerns about rules cost recently like the nation state law which

basically says that israel is a country and self-determination for the jewish people only they feel rejected they say that there's a lot of racist rhetoric against them there's a big question mark about them today a lot of talk about boycott but really we were told. to people who are there on both sides again if there is a boycott many people will tell you that will play into the hands of benjamin netanyahu the politics it's almost like a game of numbers elizabeth it's going to be very difficult is going to be a lot of political and that still doesn't mean that at the end of today we're going to expect first polls coming out around ten pm when the polls do close predictions doesn't mean that we're going to know what's going to happen in the days to come stephanie thank you very much for that for now at a stephanie deca live from west jerusalem just an hour after the polls have opened thank you. now there's been heavy gunfire and saddam's capital card thrown where protesters accuse security forces of trying to break up a mass we have unconfirmed reports of protesters entering the naval and military

headquarters only it some soldiers was saying protecting demonstrators protesters say one person has died. has more now on what's happened in the past twenty four hours a. day saying they're here to stay thousands of protesters gathered for a third night outside beyond these headquarters in the capital what. they're calling on president obama did but she had to resign i'm one of the military's help in forming a transitional government. earlier on monday security forces fired shots in the air and tear gas in an attempt to disperse it demonstrates. one soldier was killed and several protesters injured. activists say the soldiers were for the first time helping shield demonstrators from police soldiers were also seen handing out water to the protesters.

oh. all the you still are waiting. for. the protesters anticipate being here for a while and have set up. make shift first aid facility people from different religious backgrounds have joined the rummies to. the scenes all reminiscent of the arab spring demonstration eight years ago in sudan's neighbor egypt sudan's been in a state of emergency since february after a government crackdown failed to stop the demonstrations. the president in bashir has also the ruling national congress party to help bring stability back to the country. the government insists change can come through the ballot box but it's the people on the streets insists they want change now so the height of al-jazeera. now in an unprecedented move don't trump has designated

iran's revolutionary guard a foreign terrorist organization and is the first time that washington has taken such a step with all of another country's military roselyn jordan has more from washington d.c. . iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps or i r g c one hundred twenty five thousand troops strong is joining sixty seven others on the us as foreign terrorist organization list the secretary of state says the i.r.g.c. is a fundamental threat to u.s. national security the urgency masquerade as a legitimate military organization but not of us should be formed. it regularly violates the laws of armed conflict it plans organize and executes terror campaigns all around the world the i.r.g.c. is already a specially designated global terrorist organization but this is the first time the us has put a government agency on its foreign terrorist organization list the top administration

says the i.r.g.c. actively destabilizes other middle eastern countries from supporting the syrian government in its civil war to helping hezbollah undermine lebanon's government to sending advisors guns and money to who the fighters in yemen the question for the trumpet ministration why do this now. we're taking an entirely new approach to this of significant sort of sustained maximum economic pressure to deny the i.r.g.c. and the iranian regime of the revenue that it needs to conduct its foreign policy the trumpet ministration says there are other reasons to put the i.r.g.c. on the list it plots attacks on opponents and other countries and uses money from both state run and private businesses to fund its operations and give safe haven to al qaida operatives a former u.s. official says targeting the i.r.g.c. is understandable but could backfire on the trumpet ministration iran as it is not

doing well. and there is significant unrest within the country you know but the ayatollah and his government can make a credible claim that that this hardship is the fault of the united states and the early reaction from town it's now declaring the u.s. military in the middle east a terrorist organization and the iranian foreign minister says donald trump is trying to throw tuesday's parliamentary elections in israel quote another misguided election eve gift to netanyahu another dangerous u.s. misadventure in the region u.s. officials say it's important to hold on to account for its human rights abuses at home and its disruptive behavior abroad but it's not clear that other countries are going to join in with the u.s. as it steps up its efforts to isolate iran rosalyn jordan al-jazeera the state department. to hong kong now where nine a pro-democracy campaigners have been found guilty for their part in the mass

protests of twenty fourteen they were charged under colonial era laws of conspiring causing and instigating public nuisance. the movements of hundreds of thousands of people protest million votes in the central business district a block for two months as people called for open elections for the city's leader sarah clarke has more on the verdict from hong kong. all nine people before the court today who are associated with the occupy hong kong movement back in twenty four to have been found guilty of one of the charges at least one of the charges for their role in these protests the most high profile of the three founders of the occupied hong kong movement have been found guilty of one charge conspiracy to commit a public nuisance where yet to hear the sentence of the court resume again this afternoon the prosecution has long argued that this group applied a key role in committee or inciting public nuisance by creating these strict blockades would shut down parts of central hong kong up around seventy nine days

a back in twenty fourteen through twenty fifteen it's certainly not good news for the pro-democracy movement we've had a number of other student leaders who associated with the demonstrations they've already served jail time including joshua one night in law and alex child we've also had a number of pro-democracy lawmakers would be disqualified for their association with this group we're seeing tougher penalties imposed on activists and this will certainly inside will trigger accusations that this is yet another step by beijing encroaching on hong kong's simular thomas status and certainly restricting hong kong civil liberties and freedom of expression still ahead on the ballot in the un secretary general calls on the us want to stop even military operations and a major defeat for colombia's president and his push to alter a twenty sixteenth peace treaty with top rebels.

out of the river is a still high in the southwest of iran but from the point of view of forecast rain the news is relatively good this cloud certain contains rain but it's moving eastward so yes there are some provinces still to get some pretty heavy downpours but not many as shouty seems fossil around the plain of eastern iraq and running across the border into iran but not to do any significant harm in afghanistan that's probably considered useful rain and back towards levant quite looking weather twenty three in beirut much the same down towards northern egypt and northern sadi as well with the sun in the sky little bit cooler wouldn't change come wednesday we're dropping three or four degrees even more than that but inland in iraq as dr we warming up to thirty three in baghdad and the cloud further south you see here remnants of the last system could bring a thunderstorm or two in the very quiet environment of central saudi and bahrain

qatar for example quite from the point of view of not much wind to move things around humidity is high clouds in the sky showers are always a possibility and big showers are returning to the eastern side of south africa once again cause of the town across into southern mozambique for the next two days . on counting the cost this week libya's wealth has pitted east against west we take a look at the war economy how a conflict with russian backed fighters has hurt ukraine's most important economic region but white international investors are betting on the bodie with india's elections counting the cost on al-jazeera.

the taliban is on al jazeera and these are our top stories people have begun voting on israel's parliamentary elections benjamin netanyahu is a into when a record fifth term in office he faces a strong challenge from you and white party. there's been heavy gunfire in sudan's capital khartoum with protesters accuse security forces of trying to break up a mass we have confirmed reports of protesters entering the naval and military headquarters earlier some soldiers of the same protecting demonstrators protesters say one person has died. the u.s.

has added iran's revolutionary guard to its so-called terror list it's the first time that washington has attached such a label to another country's armed forces iran's responded by giving the u.s. military the same designation. the un secretary-general has condemned an attack on libya's main airport and terrorists called for an immediate halt to all military operations forces more toward the half that carried out the airstrike in tripoli eastern suburbs the attacks damaged my think the airport which is run by the un backed government all flights have been suspended a spokesman for half as they were targeting military aircraft that the wall had reports from tripoli. main airport. east to deceive attacked by warplanes on the orders of the warlord have to international passengers be evacuated. libya's hold on the

southern edge of the capital tripoli is also under attack forces allied to the u.s. and the government have to repeal have to visit vance. we can't accept military rule in libya. that's why we've come to tripoli to defend the city. here and the city is disused the airport forces loyal to the backed government say that they are in full control and have to as forces have pulled back but as they clash is still ongoing fear is rising that civil other neighborhoods will be affected. the u.n. is repeating calls for a truce it says thousands of civilians have fled the area i think the first message we need to pass united states is the full implementation of the my italian troops to allow the civilians and the wounded to be evacuated from. the city and to avoid any further military action and then to further military escalation and the

return to the political negotiations and the political track. strikes were launched by both the us and back to government and have to his forces at the weekend the u.s. has joined demands from other g seven countries for hafter to hold his office. but analysts doubt the u.s. demand this statement from the secretary of state where we are. trying to see the capital we call a hot streak and. action behind this statement if you will drew of u.s. forces or relocation of us also from tripoli to go elsewhere this does not look like an administration that is committed to the protection of searches government. libya has been divided between two competing governments for the past five years the administration in tripoli is bad by the united nations the other in the eastern city of tobruk by have to remember usually. one of the libyan armies tarsus to

protect libyan constitution which guarantees and protects the nation's institutions on the citizens the libyan army is moving towards tripoli with one goal which is to free it from the armed militias. i have to this forces say they are fighting terrorists to groups in the capital but then offensive is also about money and whole controls libya's central bank and its oil companies based in the capital. tripoli. the u.s. state department is blocking sixteen saudi citizens from entering the country over the murder of a journalist. than a who's accused of masterminding casualties killing on the orders of crown prince mohammed bin selma on while relations where the saudi arabia are also in the spotlight and person where billions of dollars worth of weapons sales will come under discussion on tuesday lawyers for human rights groups will argue that the sales violate the your case export policies and the baba reports

from london. the war in yemen has unquestionably punished the civilian population beyond belief now a group of campaigning organizations is trying on appeal to prevent the british government from supplying weapons to a key player in the conflict i. since the war started four years ago the u.k.'s licensed around six point five billion dollars worth of arms sales to saudi arabia . as well as precision guided bombs in the nation's it's typhoon a tornado for integers made in supplied by british firm systems but most importantly it supplies personnel to maintain and train saudi personnel to operate them and just last week the dispatches program interviewed former personnel they said that if if they weren't there in saudi arabia the air force would stop flying british planes within seven to fourteen days at the most in twenty seven c. the u.k.

high court ruled the government could keep licensing arms sales to riyadh but last year after saudi journalist was murdered by saudi agents in the country's culture in istanbul germany suspended arms sales to saudi arabia. abia it recently extended that ban and now campaigners say it's time for britain to take similar steps at the heart of the case is the arms trade treaty which says the government cannot license arms sales if there's a clear risk the items involved might be used for a serious violation of international humanitarian law now the u.k. government has told our jazeera we operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and keep our defense exports to saudi arabia under careful and continual review all export license applications are assessed on a case by case basis against the consolidated e.u. or national arms export licensing criteria taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application we will not grant a license if to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria for the main group

bringing the appeal the u.k. is simply ignoring the facts on the ground time and again we've heard from the safety regime that it supposedly taking every precaution to ensure it's not killing civilians and yet the bombings of funerals continue the bombings of weddings continue the bombing of school buses continue we have seen sites which should have been days of celebration turned into massacres we've seen family homes destroyed trouble and yet of a while the arm sales of continues as the deadly airstrikes continue in yemen and with millions facing desperate poverty largely because of the ongoing fighting a win for the campaigners could create an important precedent. here a london qatar has far more say it's against banks and luxembourg saudi arabia and the united arab emirates accusing them of currency manipulation it says the three banks cause billions of dollars of damage to its economy by weakening its currency the cases filed in london new york accuse the banks of devising the plan for

a boycott against cathay and june twenty seventeen saudi arabia that. egypt imposed an economic blockade on a copout. now russia and turkey are to start a joint patrols to secure the last rebel stronghold in syria the day or so edler province was announced in moscow during a visit by turkey's president both countries also a traitor their determination to go ahead with the missile defense deal which is angering the americans stepped last in reports from moscow. it was their third meeting in three months put in and read chapter you editor one stressed how strong their relationship has become the turkish president traveled to moscow with a large business delegation but it was one deal that dominated the meeting his controversial purchase of russia's s four hundred state of the on missile defense system just a week ago u.s.

vice president mike pence wanted that turkey could lose its nato membership if it goes ahead with the deal meanwhile in return the u.s. has suspended turkey's pitches of after thirty five fighter jets the u.s. has been fiercely against the deal because it says the as four hundred system which is one of the world's most powerful defenses dems could be a threat at zero one reassured the russians there's no need to worry. we have already created this four hundred roadmap the mistery steps down everything is finished if after that someone comes out with the recommendations to abandon it and won't recognize our opinion if we have already signed an agreement of course we will continue to move forward this is our sovereign right. both leaders spoke at length about syria and announce a new approach to control violence in the. armed groups like higher. russia recently complained that turkey had failed to live up to its promise that it

would control rebel groups in the province as agreed in such a last year. we are in principle creating a joint patrol to have a patrol from two sides we haven't managed to create a monitoring center years but i'm sure we will do it yes the movement in this direction isn't going as fast as we'd wished but there is movement and as i said before in my statement all the terrorist centers must be liquidated and that's what we were aiming for would then add a one have found an ally in each other in their determination to stand up to the united states but on other major issues like the long term solution for syria still some significant differences step fastened al-jazeera moscow and is working harder has announced as political manifesto before the world's largest election starts on thursday is promising improve national security and social programs while doing more to fight corruption it's also targeting women voters with promises of what it

called female empowerment promise and that in their more days seeking reelection but faces opposition from day of the congress party the colombian congress has rejected as president evander his attempt to alter part of the peace treaty signed with far rebels three years ago do they want the changes to a special tribunal set up to try to form a foreign rebels for war crimes protestors accuse the president of jeopardizing the peace deal to end five decades of conflict. has more from the capital both with the . this was a major defeat for president. and his qualifications probably the biggest since the beginning is government now presidents do care ran on changing the peace deal that was signed almost three years ago. the government the previous president juan manuel santos and fire rebels about to the jury. the parties in congress decided against it supporting the

veto even sentries parties that were voting with the government coalition decided in this case to turn their back on the president saying that the colombia needs to move forward and not reopen debate that have been already settled in the past that they think that this is the best deal for colombian it's necessary to implement peace deal and to move forward to the opposition parties also insisted that for jam the president's veto was unconstitutional since this deal had already been approved by congress and then graphics fied by the country's constitutional court now the president even duke it will most likely sign the law governing the peace tribunal that he was trying to veto but police stations close to him are saying

that while they might have lost a battle they will continue fighting for changes to a deal that they don't believe is the best option for colombia and you can find that story and the rest of the day's news on our web site at al-jazeera dot com it is coming meeting with those massive demonstrations and capital. and again i was the problem and how with the headlines on. zero people have been voting on israel's part of entry elections prime minister benjamin netanyahu is aiming to win a record fifth term in office faces a strong challenge from former military chief benny gantz. heavy gunfire has been heard in sudan's capital lissa cutie forces have been trying to break up a three day mass at the army headquarters of the army has allowed a protest is to enter the headquarters to protect them from gunfire and tear gas

fired by security forces one the protests to has reportedly been killed and a number of. demonstrators are demanding the resignation of president omar al bashir and hong kong mine pro-democracy campaigners have been found guilty for their part in the umbrella protests of twenty fourteen they were charged on the colonial era roles of conspiring causing and instigating public nuisance because more from hong kong there are a number of charges are associated with the nine people who before the court today here in hong kong the most high profile of the three founders of the my public company but. three have been found guilty on one charge which is conspiracy to commit public nuisance and two of those founders have been getting your team of incitement to commit public nuisance and all three have been found not guilty on the third charge the other six have been found guilty of the last two charges you are yet to hear the sentence. the u.s. has added iran's revolutionary guard to its so-called terror list it is the first

time that washington has attached such a label to another country's armed forces iran's responded by giving the u.s. military at the same designation the un secretary general has called for an immediate halt to all military operations in libya. comes after the main airport in tripoli was shut down following airstrikes by warlord a half those forces the colombian congress has rejected president iran do case attempt to alter part of the peace treaty signed with fox rebels three years ago took a wanted changes to a special tribunal set up to try former rebels rebels for war crimes the protesters accuse the president of jeopardizing the peace deal to end five decades of conflict counting the cost does next. in. australia or the us the in we.

dollars will be. a rich and diverse culture explored through its music istanbul songs of the city zero. hello i'm adrian said again this is counting the cost of al-jazeera a weekly look at the world of business and economics this week a war economy a divided nation two central banks and debt piling up libya's wealth has pitted the east against the west. also this week our conflict with russian backed fighters has hurt you craves most important economic region plus we find out why one of india's most trusted economists has cast doubt on the nation's economic growth.