even caldecott story isn't what can make a difference. tanzania's president john mica foley has died a man criticized for his denial of the coronavirus pandemic. by the way that i'm come all santamaria here in doha with the world news from al jazeera brazil is reporting a record number of corona virus infections as one of the world's worst hit countries struggles with its deadliest phase of the pandemic also the exit polls in the netherlands suggest prime minister mark root is conservative party is on course to form the ruling coalition and a push to restore alliances with an eye on north korea u.s. secretary of state and defense meet their counterparts in south korea.

so tanzania's president john mica fully has died at the age of 61 he hadn't been seen in public since february and there had been speculation about his ill health vice president son you're sort of who has confirmed the newest announcing his death in a televised address. thomas cuticle mockable citizens today on this date march 17th 2021 that 6 in the evening we lost our leader president of the republic of tanzania the honorable to join palm bay jaysus michael feely departed this life from heart complications in hospital in dar es salaam. margraf really was one of africa's most prominent deniers of covert 19 in fact last year he said tanzania had eradicated the disease through national prayer. takes a look back at his life. soon after taking office in 2015 president john

palmer mughal fully made a name for himself across tanzania as a leader committed to fulfilling his promises of reform many people called him the bulldozer because of his no nonsense approach to fighting corruption and wasteful spending which had plagued the country for decades he made it his mission to cut down on civil service expenses and boost infrastructure projects including the development of a really different cities while many tanzanians see mughal flee as a popular leader who tried to help the poor and bring economic stability he's critics accuse him of being a populist dictator who changed civil liberty lows and presided over a government using heavy handed tactics to curtail freedom of expression the media political opposition and the l g b t community has also faced international criticism for how he has handled the coronavirus pandemic his government refused to put in place world health

organization particles refused to release statistics of the disease or to start a vaccination program instead asking tanzania's to pray and use law called preventive remedies. a checkered legacy some will remember him as a symbol of consistency and decisiveness others say he's decisions affected the very essence of tanzania's democracy and in the middle of a pandemic the health of its people catherine soy al-jazeera. or tanzania constitution says the mice president then must serve the rest of the 5 year term if the president can't carry out their duties so often is likely successor is the vice president's son. if she takes the reins how sun will make history as the 1st female president of tanzania born in the autonomous island of zanzibar where a sense within the ruling c.c.m. party began between $22010.00 she held ministerial posts in the zanzibar government

and then became a member of parliament in tanzania's national assembly representing his hands of a constituency that was in 2010 and then 2015 when president michel fully won his 1st term he selected out on to become his vice president she is expected to take a celestial thora tarion approach then predicts a. 3rd place to welcome robin sanders to al-jazeera former u.s. ambassador to nigeria the republic of congo and also former africa director at the white house national security council ambassador thank you for joining us from washington today why don't we start actually with the vice president and likely successor a fascinating character not someone who very much about but someone who is very it seems highly regarded as far as education her or her approach to governing. yes you know 1st of all i want to extend my condolences to the country attends in the athens certainly the madam doing international women's month taking the reins

is the 4th african woman sitting african woman that will be president of an african nation she is unique and not only she will be president but she will also be head of government as well as head of state which is different than the other 3 african women presidents that we mentioned earlier from the bone todo and ethiopia so her role in for this year and for the country tanzania it's going to be critical not only from the health perspective and rather she's going to pivot because it be the scene that the late president had and she has brings their own views into the table on how to not only reengage back on the coby challenges that the country has been gates back with 0 in terms of providing stats to one coded tend in the on the other country in the world the size in north korea that has not done that and hasn't done it since april 20. 1 to be able 'd to get that scene's in to even begin the infrastructure and start to set up to have

a coldly vaccine program i think that's 1st and foremost that people are going to look for her to do particularly the international community but i think chance in the it's a lot politically. can i just jump in there just jump in there was talking about the carbon side of things sort of sounds like. you know perversely and i say this with all the respect in the world to the light president but actually this might be an opportunity his death might provide an opportunity for the country with regards to code. that's what i was saying that they may he may pivot completely from his position on foley and do some of the things that i was outlining you know we don't we don't get vaccines and look at it maxine campaign look at the structure of health infrastructure and how they can handle it i think that a lot of us some hoping that she will do that that she will make that to get very different from the position that from the president does the light president fully is is the covert situation just because it is so acute does that form

a very big part of his legacy because as i read about the type of leader he was he was very much an anticorruption he was he was program infrastructure he did a lot of positive things for tanzania yes i think that in the current scenario it does look that that will be a big part of his legacy but in the end i think that tanzania will look to their new leadership to sort of give them some guiding light yes he did a lot of positive things on infrastructure on fighting corruption certainly on agriculture but the issue on cohen i think it's a big one and it's a big one with additional speculation whether or not. you know he succumb to that himself which is still i think a question that's quite ramped it not only just in tanzania but certainly a large in that in the east africa region and elsewhere. how. beloved was he member just talking to our correspondent

a little earlier in the aging and she was saying that you know even though people knew he was in health it will probably come as a big shock to them and will take a bit of processing. yeah i think the other addicts part that is he died or passed away 30 days to the day that the vice president of the semi-autonomous region in zanzibar passed away of officially of coping on february 17th and so i think the country's taken a big emotional hit and not only of course with the media passing of the late president but certainly just 30 days ago they have the passing of another leader on the island the island of zanzibar who fiercely did pass away of cook it so i think emotionally it's a really big hit for the country the question is to look to the leadership of madame haasan and as i say and you know there was a lot of hope now and it's you make it completely on code which would be good news and then whether or not she will continue some of his legacies on fighting corruption on infrastructure development on agriculture but they also have her own

vision and how to lead tanzania that was a democratic same work unless our craddick there and then the by the sleeve he may become toy the end of his last term in the beginning of this election term it started on october 20th 2020 s are up and sound is joining us from washington we thank you very much for your time i place it on to other news brazil facing the worst health care crisis in its history with coronavirus cases forcing the system to the brink of collapse the state reported more than 90000 new infections for the 1st time recently in media site on average more than 2000 people are now dying every day this report is from monaco you not have. day after day brazil keeps beating its own tragic record health experts say that today in brazil there's a kuki death about every 2 minutes like this family of 3 or this 43 year old health

care worker the hamas their lives who are waiting in line for a vacancy in an intensive care unit brazil's couvade 19 observatory says the country's facing the worst health care system collapse in all of its history coronavirus units in almost all of brazil's $27.00 states are at or above 80 percent capacity and the situation could get much worse as winter approaches in the southern hemisphere and we may have it in this month of march alone $60000.00 that is would be equivalent to the largest loss of human life prior to the pandemic in the only major award 'd to brazil got involved in making century of his paraguayan which brazil lost 'd $60000.00 people during 6 years we would be they can chance right now of losing the equivalent number in

a single month 30 days 'd scientists and doctors have been calling for a national walk down as the only way to stop the virus and its new variants from spreading out of control brazil's richest state some power is under curfew a presidential aide will so narrow has repeatedly criticised safety measures that have any negative impact on the economy and has accused governors of acting like dictators. facing pressure from allies in congress are not a fired his 3rd health minister general it was too close william and his need cardiologist. to take his place. on wednesday both men were brazil's leading health institution few coolies showing a united front in announcing the 1st batch of 500000 locally made astra zeneca vaccines the promise to deliver 6000000 doses every week but with will so narrow

still in overall charge scientists are skeptical in change you know you've got any incompetent general coming out and you've got 'd a cardiologist a has no experience in handling a pandemic. who has already said that he's just going to of being to obey orders from the president who has no clue what to do he's completely lost rather he's playing on the side of 'd the virus in brazil by making suggestions of drugs that don't work by being against them use a mask against lockdowns so the new minister is just those spokesman for the president so nothing changes substantially the growing number of covert 19 related deaths is having an impact on president trainable for a matter of popularity a recent poll shows that 56 percent of resilience faith has mishandled the pandemic meineke an arc of culture sarah revisionary. prime minister mark rota has claimed

victory in the netherlands parliamentary elections europe's 1st major vote since the start of the pandemic. has a report from amsterdam. ears to exit poll have a plan for the 1st results confirmed what most people in the netherlands expected mark return has done it again the dutch prime minister's lead a center right party to victory for a 4th time in a general election that. were to promised voters stability in a campaign that was dominated by the coronavirus pandemic with the country under a nighttime curfew there were no victory party votes on them and have given me my party and the federal party an overwhelming vote of confidence and it is humbling. it's also forcing us to work do everything we can to make a success out of it voting was spread over 3 days and special polling stations was set up to allow for social distancing more than $16000.00 people have died of

covert in the netherlands since the start of the pandemic far right leader good fielders conceded that the health crisis it overshadowed all other issues including immigration the shadow of concerns about health care it was a lot of promise about health care in the netherlands as well the also concerned about the normal routine life you know not only the economy but also indeed. immigration hilda's party lost seats and slipped a 3rd place behind the centrist d $66.00 party led by foreign trade minister a secret colleague this analyst says it was one of the election nights unexpected turns which is a huge surprise and also a day it is way more than they had in older polls during the past months and it's probably because their leadership it has been doing very well in all the debates has been a big surprise this campaign so i think this has drawn a lot of photos to the 6060 special days margaret a has proved that he is

a political survivor he's been elected despite some criticism of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and 2 months ago he and his whole government resigned over a child benefit scandal but in the end doctors voters chose continuity i gave him another chance. al-jazeera i'm still. north korea's 1st foreign minister says pyongyang will ignore washington's offer for dialogue until it stops its quite hostile policies that statement came just hours before this meeting that's actually happening right now between the u.s. secretaries of state and defense and their south korean counterparts it's anthony blinken and lloyd alston's 1st overseas trip since joe biden took office mcbride is in seoul now to bring us up to date with what's happening and what's on the schedule for today. that's right that joint session is underway as soon as it concludes we are expecting statements a communique and then

a briefing to the press where we can expect to hear similar kind of messages that we've heard throughout this trip there may well be words directed against china once more with allegations of coercion and aggression in this part of the world but obviously there will be a particular emphasis on the recommitment of these allies to the denuclearization of north korea the we will also hear i'm sure that the alliance between the u.s. and south korea remains as strong as ever part of this reason for this mission of course is to reset and restore traditional alliances and we'll have evidence of that with the signing of the cost sharing agreement for the hosting of u.s. forces here in south korea some $28000.00 personnel that south korea contributes towards this is an agreement that was held up for months even years under the trumpet ministration with donald trump demanding that south korea along with other allies pay far more for hosting us forces that cause an awful lot of resentment here in the fact that with the biden ministration they have an agreement is taken

as real solid evidence of a return to the by the u.s. to traditional values and traditional ways of dealing with its friends and allies speaking of which statements on north korea in fact there were some yesterday and now more from the north koreans. no question about the timing there. that's right these are from chase on here she is the 1st vice foreign minister with particular responsibility for the u.s. relationship really saying very bluntly there can be no dialogue while the u.s. as she puts it continues hostility towards towards north korea now this is the 1st official confirmation from north korea that as the u.s. has pointed out they have been trying to reach out for weeks now to open up dialogue with north korea north korea by this statement says yes we got those requests and simply decided to ignore them it seems that's not to say that north korea is not following closely what the biden administration is formulating its new

policy towards dealing with p.r. yang chase says that they will be following what she calls all of the ill deeds of this new administration moving forward in its attitude to north korea saying that it will match force with force but goodwill with goodwill so really leaving it very much up to the u.s. to come up with the next step mcbride in seoul more from him in the coming hours. and still ahead on al-jazeera police charge a white gunman with killing 8 people in atlanta georgia 6 among them were women of asian descent and iraq is struggling to feed their families as politicians bickering over the national budget. it's time for the perfect. sponsored point qatar airways

how i once again the weather set fair across japan and the cherry blossoms starting to come out nicely now it's going to stay fine and dry for the most part over the next diode say well so weather will be a little further south and west was so shocked by this band of cloud this stationary weather front juicing rain across central parts of china to run over towards shanghai as we go on into thursday japan stay fine enjoy 18 celsius not too bad but have an 18 in seoul as well cools off a little as we go on friday for turkey but it warms up a touch in so i'm going to say some rain sleet and snow moving towards beijing hopefully that will help to clean the air here after a recent sandstorm heavy showers continue across central parts of china down towards the south is largely fine and dry not dry weather stretches down across much of in the china philippines not too bad over the next day or 2 but familiar malaysia and also into indonesia you can expect to see the usual seasonal showers coming in from time to time wanted to showers making the way towards flying through as we go on through thursday before much of south asia south that lost the fine and

settled it will be a few showers some of the wintry in nature around the foothills of the himalayas little westerly disturbance starting to push its way out of afghanistan into northern parts of pakistan and india. from the al-jazeera london broke out to people in thoughtful conversation generally whenever you talk about race of people. with no host and no limitation our society has structural racism built into any season of studio to be unscripted blindspots to being imply. some aspects of our history and racism and different types of prejudice coming soon on al-jazeera.

top stories this hour on al-jazeera tanzania's president john mica fully has died at the age of 61 africa's most prominent coronavirus skeptic hadn't been seen in public since february and there was speculation about his health governesses died from heart failure brazil's record of its highest number of new coverage 19 infections since the pandemic began 19000 cases registered on. recently made a say on average more than 2000 people are dying every day. and dutch prime minister mark kuta has claimed victory in the parliamentary elections the exit polls put his conservative party on course to become the largest in the lower house . russia has recalled its u.s. ambassador after president joe biden said moscow would quote pay a price for election meddling biden also called russian president vladimir putin

a killer the u.s. intelligence report released on tuesday said there is evidence russia trying to help former president don't try to win a 2nd term and it did also accuse iran of seeking to help joe biden when the same photo was in jordan has more from washington d.c. . it's certainly a moment where the americans are also having a close look at their relationship with russia even though the bite ministration has argued that china is perhaps its number one foreign policy concern there is concern from the ministration about russia's intentions as well the president gave an exclusive interview to a.b.c. news in which he was asked whether he thought vladimir putin the russian president was quote a killer and the president agreed with that assessment when he was asked well what's going to be done about that the president went on to say that russia and the entire world would understand very soon but what we've already seen from this

administration is the willingness to use sanctions and other forms of political pressure in order to try to get moscow to change its ways to change its behavior and in particular to not commit human rights abuses but if u.s. homeland security is pushed back against criticism as he was questioned by a house committee over an increase of refugees and migrants at the mexican border by the ministration is struggling to accommodate a growing number of children crossing the border alone well from an official. there's an increasing number of people turning up trying to get into the us through the southern border that's put president joe biden on the defensive do you have to say quite clearly don't come yes i can say quite clearly don't come and we're in the process of getting set up don't leave your town or city or community on capitol hill members of congress question the new homeland security secretary he recently

went to the border to see the situation for himself republican see the surge is coming because the biden ministration threw out several trump immigration policies are irresponsible radical and their actions by this administration we are seeing an aesthetic crisis unfold during a pandemic the situation at the border continues to get worse every day and at what action or even proper acknowledgement of the severity of the situation president biden has stopped border will construction ended the policy that means refugees must stay in mexico will applying for asylum and while most migrants are still being turned away unaccompanied children are being allowed in a 100 my office has been homeland security secretary for just over a month he refuses to say there's a crisis at the border he says the trying to fix a problem created by 4 years of trump policies a crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9 year old child out of the hands of his or her parents and separate that family

to deter future migration that to me is a humanitarian crisis and what the president has committed to and what i am committed to and execute is to ensure that we have an immigration system that works and that migration to our country is safe orderly and humane. the hearing didn't just concentrate on immigration it will be felt like that during his evidence the secretary said the biggest threat to the us wasn't at the border but it came from domestic terrorism it was he said the most persistent and lethal threat to the whole month and resources were being moved to deal with that immediately alan fischer al jazeera on capitol hill. the man accused of attacking 3 mass in the u.s. city of atlanta has been charged with 8 counts of 6 of the victims in tuesday's killings were women of asian descent and is

a cancer in our reports. still little is known about the 8 victims killed in the atlanta asian spa shootings only that 6 were asian women police would not say wednesday whether they had worked at the spas but did say that the suspect 21 year old robert aaron long had targeted the businesses he does claim that it was not racially motivated he apparently has an issue what he considers a sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to to. to go to these places and into temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate police say long has confessed to the shootings and is scheduled to appear in court on thursday atlanta's mayor says there is no evidence the spas were cover for sex work we certainly will not begin to blame victims and as far as we know in atlanta these are illegally operating businesses experts say the stereotype of asian

spas doubling as brothels is another facet of the anti asian racism growing in the united states the group stop a.p.i. hate formed in response to the rise in xena phobia since coded has collected nearly $3800.00 reports of hate incidents toward asian americans in the past year i think there is a lot of fear and trepidation right now and you know you. we've seen it over the past few months to you for us seeing our elder being attacked certainly folks are scared some communities have formed citizen patrols in response to the uptick in random violence against asians and they've expressed anger at law enforcement refusal in some cases to call the attacks hate crimes police in atlanta say they've yet to decide whether to use the label for this week's killings we've received a number of calls about is this a hate crime we're still early in this investigation whatever the motivation here

i'm going to be very sharp. very. very concerned because you know speaking. to trial you can feel you near to. the right number one think you can be very very strong. president biden says the f.b.i. and the department of justice are involved in the investigation. castro al-jazeera washington. on iraq's parliament is expected to hold discussions soon on a formal budget after years of deadlock but hopes of passing a budget are slim even the huge deficit and iraqis are really struggling a summer reports. most of us to provide for his 8 member family. it's worth ferrying passengers inside baghdad's impoverished southern city begins at 4 am being the eldest son he left school with his father couldn't find a job as iraq's government debates the annual budget must if i can barely provide 2

meals a day he says life is becoming more difficult due to the pandemic and dire state of the economy i should have been me i wanted them and i don't have hope the islamic parties share. news all of them are corrupt they destroy the country the whole region stands against iraq whether it saudi arabia or iran in a few years things will be worse will be jobless dying of hunger. after $46.00 meetings in 6 sessions over several years iraq's parliament has yet to agree on a budget sources say funds for public projects and government expenditure have been severely reduced for the 1st time since the us led invasion of iraq in 2003 the government has devalued the by 23 percent to reduce pressure on public finances the economy relies on oil and in addition to a weakened government there are major differences between baghdad and the northern kurdish region over oil revenue sharing the economy spiral downwards is being worsened by political wrangling and perceived foreign influence in decision making

. economists warn of catastrophic failure unless drastic measures are taken. to. the budget is not different from past budgets no real programs no drastic changes in social affairs nothing concrete to solve iraq's chronic crises like joblessness poverty and lack of services those taking part in budget negotiations blame the slow progress on divisions and corruption. for real reforms we need strong government with control on resources and the capability to implement laws we have corruption and many s.p.x. in the spot we're trying to pass a law to control and fight corruption. businessmen such as some have heard it all before he used to be able to sell one car a day now he sells one of the.