but before the privatised to spoke. you have all seen what's been happening in west bengal the criminals of the ruling t.m.c. have made the state into a living hell the type of oil that has spread across this region is a stain on democracy. as the campaign into india's weeks long general election and many are now looking forward to the final days of voting but some here wonder if democracy is reputation has already been damaged. and we will bring in seville rommany joining us from the northern city. so as you're saying in your report campaigning is about that and talk us through what's at stake in this election. indeed yes campaigning certainly is about 20 in the next few minutes 16. in a few moments time here of course in the 7 states on the one union territory that are voting for the $59.00 seats to be decided for the lok sabha and most of the vote

change is happening in northern india the states of punjab and kunda bihar. west bengal where the prime minister was speaking less than 24 hours ago to not see here british or to pradesh hands over about 80 seats to the lok sabha over this election the 7 phases to gradually allow those constituencies to vote over 900000000 people estimated to be eligible to vote in this general election the largest number ever and of course there's a lot at stake there's a lot at stake for the beach a p they want to retain power is a lot of stake for the indian national congress they want to improve on that shameful performance of the 2014 election they're hoping to do well under the guidance of the so in terms of the seats in the constituencies it's all up for grabs on sunday the 19th when voting begins in the last phase of this general

election and. for the prime minister narendra modi you're in his strongholds how's it looking for him this time around so well. well just as you came to me we have the prime minister alongside his president speaking in new delhi right now talking about this particular election being the top is that the b j p has ever had to fight they are confident the people are still with them and they think they are still going to retain power this is still ongoing but you have to remember the veyron i think here in uttar pradesh is the prime minister's parliamentary seat and he's only fighting the one seat in this election now in the days leading up to this final phase we've had the big guns of the big parties arriving you saw there of the s.p. who i spoke to just what less than 24 hours ago we had priyanka gandhi she is the daughter and granddaughter of former indian prime minister's a brother as well gandhi they head the indian national congress and she's been here

drumming up support for the local candidates hoping that they can put a dent into the majority that you. got here because the big story really is is how will he retain the seat and if he does retain the seat by what majority there is a feeling here at the moment across india that the b.g.p. will not get the absolute majority they got in 2014 the bigger question is how many seats or which party will get the greatest number of seats and who will be asked to form a coalition if that is the final case on may the 23rd when those votes are counted so a lot at stake in terms of reputation and in terms of future. party cohesiveness certainly wouldn't be j.p. and certainly for congress because you ever fails to win this general election big questions are going to be asked about their leadership including the one promoting the writer for the time being so how raman with an update from veron us and thank

you still ahead. al jazeera 10 years after sri lanka's civil war read it for bringing hope to young people struggling with the shadows of the past and qatar unveils its 1st stadium built for the world cup in good time for 1922. hello the weather set barack ross the good parts of north asia set of the case into japan a clear skies at the moment we have got somewhere to weather some cloudy skies just easing out of the sea the east china sea running over towards the korean peninsula so some wet weather just coming back into q sure as we go on through the weekend south korea also seen some clouds and rain 23 celsius for so while the heavy rain will make its way further east coast but starting to die out as we go on through

sunday ahead of that much of honshu generally try to clear out there just hugging the east coast of japan temperatures around $22.00 degrees celsius never eastern parts of china some rather wet weather in the forecast pretty down towards the southeast and conus may be right once again coming back into hong kong saw the lee winds coming in is the 31 celsius is warm right where you have the upper touch as we go on through sunday say 22 degrees or so 32 degrees at that stage but what's the weather the right into the heart of china gradually pushing over towards shanghai which will see temperatures touching 30 celsius getting up to thirty's across southeast asia as usual a lot so showers malaysia seeing the bulk of showers but wanted to be downpours to into north and the media. in a 2 part series. observes the lives of 2. over

20 years. where insights into circumstances that shaped lives it and the rapidly changing world. 20 years of me continues with good morning groups in india on al-jazeera. hello again the top stories on al-jazeera this hour the troops on sudan's rapid support forces have tried to remove barricades put in place by protesters outside the army headquarters but they eventually gave more demonstrations are expected in

part. president donald trump has announced his plans to overhaul the u.s. immigration system the changes would strongly favor a skilled migrants and make it more difficult for non english speakers and asylum seekers iran's foreign minister says practical steps are needed to save the nuclear deal from collapse zarif once countries to open their markets to iran despite u.s. sanctions he's in china which is part of the 2015 agreement. going back to our top story on. speak to them he's a research associate at the faculty of law and social sciences and so was university of london joining us here though. thanks very much for being with us on al-jazeera so we're saying troops from saddam's rapid support forces have been trying to remove barricades that the protesters had been had set up why would the r.s.s. be involved at this particular point taking into consideration the human rights

watch has accused them in the past of committing war crimes. pretty clear that you know. you have to do this kind of thing because actually that you probably have. to do. the other thing and be possible for a little to come to right now the ones actually that contorting court to speak you know they that's why. the from time to time i'm sure they show you know some sort of you know power here and there because deep down actually they don't decide you know city enough sure to continue to build on the demonstration to continue because they're not actually willing for a year and get out of civilian rule and some sort of struggle and you know the difference is you know divisions within the council military council itself between those who want to actually to hand over you know. you know poets you know to civilians government and those who actually they don't want it to be any kind of you know post because he made the hit of that up

a support his very clear that if that is so you know civilian government controlled the decision a political decision a military decision that needs you know by automobile going to be out of fuel so what does this mean for the protest movement you say that they're clearly trying to send a message to the protesters. i mean they're very clear and they're very good about you know removing you know the because even you know you know the mystery because i sure don't see that you know with the continuation of demonstration that means actually the airport is going to be very limited and that actually in the future that miss actually they're not going to be imposed anymore and that's very dangerous for them because it could be actually you know wanted by the i.c.c. . for many crimes that he committed actually in that forest and also if the country is so forth right now and do you know government was actually to up to any kind of peace in that for something and then him it is going to be sticker for that because actually i'm part of the problem not part of the solution what do you think is

going to happen with the talks because now we are at a stalemate where the talks have been suspended for 72 hours that announcement made yesterday they are meant to resume in 48 hours how likely is it that they actually do resume. it's going to resume because there is some pressure from outside the country the a you still you know putting pressure on the military council international community. europe. you know putting a lot of pressure on the council british council to hand over to civilians so there is some pressure on them you know to resume talks and they want to be you know flexible and they want to be appear that actually that responding to the. major sticking points isn't there and that is the make up of the new sovereign council that's been the toughest part of the negotiations between both groups do you do you see them coming closer. to one of these things but both of them this year you know the forces for freedom and even the council they said that. you know agreement you know are you know the transitional government but this is going to be

a big problem because some of that with the counts and recounts that they don't actually the council to be. they want actually the council to be. authorized to be headed by one of the military maybe and the other so there is a good about that that is not something that the protesters will agree no not the protests that they want you know council to be controlled by civilians and to be hit or survey civilians and to be just like ceremony of rather than you know how the in a crowd or something like that but somebody actually putting pressure on the council itself but at a concert it seems that you know to control more power and to be to more power because for them it's very important that you know the twitter that is to continue in yemen to continue in some other place there are some civilian government that's going to be very difficult because right now there is actually a deal that is troops from yemen ok thank you very much for your analysis. in britain crossed party talks to strike

a compromise on prime minister to resume. the labor leader jeremy discussions have gone as far as they can their 2 sides have tried for weeks to. the country's exit from the. march 29. until october 31st. joining us from london to tell us. how to say about the breakdown of talks. well he sent a letter to the prime minister and we've had 6 weeks of talks since april between the leader of the opposition jeremy corbin his team and the prime minister's team in the hope of trying to find some common ground so as to achieve a parliamentary majority that has proved so elusive so far to actually get the brics it legislation passed through parliament it's had 3 attempts it's failed on all 3 attempts what he said in his letter after now 6 weeks of talks mr coben was that the increasing weakness and instability all of your government means there

cannot be confidence in securing and securing whatever might be agreed between us what he's saying there is that the prime minister's days are effectively numbered it's highly unlikely that you will still be the prime minister come the summer time so what is the point frankly in making an agreement with you which might be torn up and thrown away by whoever becomes your successor the next prime minister the next conservative leader he said without can significant changes we will continue to oppose the government's deal not a huge amount of surprise after say from either side of the house of the political divide many conservatives felt that the prime minister was willing to face closely towards labor as far as their demands for a permanent customs union fellow that betrayed the spirit of bracks it's as regards free trade with other countries and many labor people are also rather unhappy that jeremy corbyn would be seen to be facilitating

a tory bracks it and thereby alienating a large number of the tory faith of the labor faithful all right paul brennan thank you. brazil's president has this miss huge protests over education saying their politically motivated demonstrators were. funding cuts speaking while visiting the u.s. said the demonstrations were hijacked by his create assessor's supporters who don't care about education. education is in bad shape i'd rather not have to cut or limit any funding anywhere but that's the reality if i don't do it i have to answer to the fiscal responsibility and i could even have to face you meant and i believe no one wants this in brazil one of the world's top rugby union players has had his contract terminated by his country after an investigation into homophobic comments he made on social media israel folau was officially sacked by rugby

australia on friday after a panel found him guilty of breaching the team's code of conduct for who is an ultra conservative christian posted on instagram last month that awaited homosexuals and drunks among other centers it means australia will be without their best player at the world cup in japan for 72 hours to appeal a correspondent. the latest from melbourne. this was the harshest punishment the rugby australia could hand out they could have gone for a suspension instead the time the nation of israel fell out of contract what they have said is that as a very well paid employee israel folau duty not just to play rugby but to represent the values of rugby australia those inclusiveness of welcoming people into the game by sending out what he knew would be a very controversial tweet with broad implications israel folau was breaching his contract so that he could rip it off the case that has been hugely controversial here in australia many people saying this not as an employment to speech but as

a matter of freedom of speech and israel folau himself a suggested he may take this much higher possibly all the way to this country's supreme court qatar has unveiled a newly built world cup stadium the 2nd of 8 planned venues for football showpiece events in 2022 joining us roscoe was there. if this is a taste of what fans can expect at the world cup in 2022 in cattle impressed a dazzling opening ceremony in the state's 1st purpose built stadium you know what crunk and keen to demonstrate its global appeal organizers of the tournament invited international legends to watch the show it's it's amazing when you look at also the stadium it's very close to the to the players it's got a great feel to it and actually feels like you it will come it's not a single loss and talk about an i.p.o. it's a stadium that compares to the santiago bernabéu it's a marvelous stadium it's good for the public and good for the players. know what

christiane is set to host $40000.00 fans for games up to the quarterfinals and the me cup final was a sell out. the late architect zaha hadid was influenced by traditional arabian doused when she designed it but as well as not to the past cathles latest stadium also features state of the art technology one of the coolest things about our what christie idea is the air conditioning system and maybe in the high thirty's outside but in here it's in the low twenty's and that's because the whole stadium is a condition right up through the seat down to the pit. the fans did you form a spanish international shabby over room sendoff though as he played one of his last muchas before retiring from the game previous president jannie him and tino was also in the crowd alongside the mayor of cattle he's been pushing for an expanded 2022 world cup which would see the country's neighbors share hosting

rights despite the blockade cats are must be hoping they've done enough to change his mind joining al-jazeera cattle. where you can find much more information by heading to our website al-jazeera. hello again the top stories on al-jazeera this hour troops from saddam's rapid support forces have tried to remove barricades but replaced by protesters outside the army headquarters but they eventually gave more demonstrations are expected in order to her mother though explains why the protesters want to keep the pressure on saddam's military rulers. people are governing governing not just for friday prayers which they observed to go but in this quiet also for what they're calling a must rally to to impose even more pressure on the transitional military konsole

to start talks which they had suspended because they had accused the protesters of brokering this thread's where the protesters are saying is that we were. if the kurds and but it could be put on the streets we have lifted a checkpoint with. everything is. supposed to be we've listened to you demand it's now time to talk iran's foreign minister says practical steps are needed to save the nuclear deal from collapse mohammad javad zarif once countries to open their markets to iran in spite of u.s. sanctions is in china which is part of the 2015 agreement and the top buyer of iranian oil president donald trump has announced his plans to overhaul the u.s. immigration system the changes would strongly favor a skilled migrants and make it more difficult for a non english speakers and asylum seekers in britain cross party talks to strike

a compromise on prime minister to resume a deal have failed labor leader jeremy corbin says discussions have gone as far as they can sides have tried for weeks to agree on terms for the country's exit from the e.u. britain was due to leave on march 29th of brecht's it has been delayed until october 31st. these how do you eat coalition says it's investigating what it calls the possibility of an accidental air strike in the yemeni capital sanaa on thursday the coalition insists it was targeting who is the military positions but residential neighborhoods were also bombed. brazil's president has dismissed mass protest by students and professors saying they were politically motivated demonstrators launched the largest protest yet against president joe you're balsa now on wednesday over education spending cuts also narrow says the protests were hijacked by supporters of jailed former president. those are the headlines on

al-jazeera faultlines is coming up next stay with us. hi just all right i meant months or as a human rights activist in the united arab emirates. i interviewed him 2 years ago shortly after he'd received strange text messages with suspicious links the text was spoken about some secrets related to the torture the united arab emirates they tell us that most of them for me to click on the name of the u.a.e.

have bought a powerful spyware called pegasus that can break into almost any smartphone i want to target opens an attached link at the bottom line to the government to your is to monitor activist and certain individuals open trista the. one source is now serving a 10 year prison sentence in the u.a.e. for publicly criticizing this government. not only learned people in general but that would also cause some people to be killed or. assassinated in. this case was the 1st detected hack of its kind. in the last 4 years pegasus has been used against activists and journalists around the world. in this episode of faultlines reinvestigate how governments are using pegasus to turn their critic cell phones into the hole to move tools of surveillance.

in 2015 pegasus showed up in mexico. among the 2 dozen targets was mexico's most famous investigative journalist carmen. team it just revealed a major corruption scandal involving the president at the time in reeky opinion yet of. the story shocked the nation and soon our stock you felt the backlash. that bit of us young escaped again that night of me getting this money to us. 2 months after the revelations and her teenage son started getting strange text messages with enticing links. but on this same as them inside his.

i love the. media who got of on the. job. i'll get people there goes i doubt. there is a right to work. get us out of it as a woman. you know they look at the enemy they left on. this last 4 and there's a nice combine you know pretty says that on about us cyber security researchers in canada determine there are a sticky and her son emilio had been targeted with pegasus at the time emilio was a 16 year old high school student studying in the us was supposed look at this up with a in the in the in there they know her but there is a going on not only saying they are not in the upper case that he will grow. no escaping stevie could be an alice of all of those right you and i would have it up

my your when those soon to be said is the only style or nature i mean that intimacy eva one and i mean that would be all that osa bought us of at the level of gas in being able to get our own alone is in the. study of the me whole get ill is doesn't get in beside i love my little part of anatomy. to find out more about the use of pegasus in mexico we came to our 3 d. the digital rights group that has helped shed light on the cyber attacks here how many pegasus infections have you found in mexico. we know that at least 30 people have been targeted in that and those where human rights defenders journalists politicians even international investigators but we know from the contract that has been made public is that mexico acquired that really to effect $500.00 targets so we know that there probably were. many many many more targets. because this is the creation of an israeli spy ware company called in a so group. the mexican attorney

general's office recently disclosed his contracts within a soaker from 2016 in 2017. to show the office had paid at least $32000000.00 for pegasus have you seen anything like this when it comes to surveillance on this scale. we have seen other types of malware we have seen some cases here and there we haven't seen the scale of the use we don't model we're too less powerful as these 1. 1 of the things that makes pegasus so powerful is that it can access information on a phone before it can be encrypted. encrypted protects the user's privacy by securing the data on a device. lots of authorities for legitimate and illegitimate purposes want to be able to crack by looking at the devices before that information is encrypted in the 1st place. i guess is takes total control of phone they can get access to pictures

chats the contact lens the can open the mike open the camera with the you know dissing it records everything you type. in a soaker it says it only contracts with governments and law enforcement agencies to buy criminals and terrorists. and that their technology has helped thwart terror attacks and save thousands of lives but they won't say how some of the people that seem targeted clearly they're not suspects what why would they target them the government was trying to silence them he was trying to make them not resist. acts and by tomorrow rights violations corruption lies and when a target is particularly difficult to target they call to your immediate circle so in no ways an attack on all sides.

in a so group says that it can remotely cut off a client's access to pegasus if they abuse it but more had to report it in mexico after the pegasus scandal blew up in. 2017 in the state of sinaloa home to one of mexico's most powerful drug cartels javier valdez was gunned down just blocks from his office. he was a reporter payments for his unflinching coverage of narco violence here. not fake tan. i am anti. us and i know that our but our set. brazil the tree owner is the widow of valdez she's a journalist and activist and son a lower. risk companion as man. must. be when they hear more of them and bail christan last seen to somebody yes he and quite a pawn a home here at the dollar store it could have. been. just

days after the shooting triana got strange text messages that included links. ferris's on me that this you natalie here whether this. is the messiah made here for one of these years this was a game that i read in the link here is a bit early b. i t. l. y. so that's hiding with the actual late this is sent to and this is so specific to you. john one candle for. release here on. this side up ahead way komisar nasional they simply that. the feet. join us but immediate access some. gas. here at the supply at the scales get

hammered if you can and don't says miss andy we are neither. to evolve as his colleagues at the cinema were based newspaper rio dos say also received pegasus affected links within days of the murder. andres heriot was one of them. why do you think you were targeted. illegal we have opinion which up but he supporters were there in how we have borderline things are maybe at the goodwill geisel. then inform us your little star that will handle in the door there at home on the shoulders of our media sources must have guns quite a lot of meals i must put us up that import them is to have a good start in the maybe at the mint those boys that i see not but. why would they need to secretly illegally surveil your phone is the implication that they think

you didn't tell the truth or you're holding something back and this is a still making course in the just cause s.k. up and admit this one inexpert governess know conformant back the name best yes you are correct that he was not yet up and seem politicizing there all that most wanted but it will stop when the as i said. i don't which was the as this was a lesson that both of you had to fight on before only many ups do you worry about more the authorities or the narcos. so no solos no are you there and that it. is more you davey in there must. also make a good kick we have to say they are. 2 men were arrested a year after the murder but the mastermind was never apprehended. 99 percent of crimes against journalists go unpunished in mexico. it's unknown if paul does get a similar message just before his death his killers took his phone and laptop. do

you think your photos tapped now. just like a me and how about i thought my statement that better does man never ask can i see . sense as they send data mail said either. in 2017 under pressure from the public the mexican attorney general's office launched a criminal investigation into the hacking of journalists and activists. this is the same agency that bought pegasus so far no one has been held accountable. earlier this year the mexican government claimed that it no longer uses pegasus. the 1st people to discover what pegasus is and does were researchers at citizen lab a digital rights group at the university of toronto. they investigate abuses of pegasus worldwide one of the biggest selling points of this stuff is that it's

wickedly hard to find there's a cat and mouse game. they hide we seek they were able to associate the links that were sent to months or are sticky and are signed triana in many others within a so groups servers. the 1st time that we learn about pegasus about this or get in touch and says listen i think i'm being targeted again. what was special about it was different well this one caught our attention in part because it was about his mobile phone hacking and i phone is a much larger technical lift and we realized that we were looking at a chain of i phone 0 days so these are vulnerabilities that even apple didn't know about at the time they could be used to remotely in fact in penetrate that device and implant a piece of malware on it and they really find scott railton and his colleague bill maher check have investigated abuses of pegasus since 2016.