it's southern parts of nigeria could see some very heavy rain over the next day or so heavy showers right into the heart of africa them because of what the weather into the eastern cape that's making its way further east for the weekend. calls for a swift replacement for tanzania's president john michael foley has died at the age of 61. player watching al-jazeera live from doha with me for you that he will also coming up the u.s. secretary of state is in south korea as one of his 1st official trip abroad antony jenkins says all options are open in dealing with north korea brazil reports

another record covered 19 deaths of more than 2600 in one day health services are on the verge of collapse and the dutch prime minister mark water stays in power in europe's 1st major election since the start of the core of our spending. thank you for joining us a political we shuffle is on the cards in tanzania after the death of president john michael 40 he was 61 and the government says he was suffering from heart disease but there's been speculation he had coded 19 vice presidents on yes one who haasan is the likely successor until the next election and 2025 under schapelle reports. thank you for the good job the last time john pomfret maggie fully was seen in public he was carrying out official duties and not wearing a mask not long into his 2nd term in office he suddenly vanished from public sight

after 3 weeks of speculation came the announcement from vice president samuel haasan on state television. we lost our leader president of the republic of tanzania the owner. who parted this life from heart complications in hospital in dar es salaam. rumors have been swirling that megaphone had sought treatment for covert 19 largely fed by opposition leader to lease to and kenyan media the government denied the reports and arrested at least 4 people who speculated about his health on social media the majority of you when you told his government no one wears a mask including me it proves that there is no corona virus and god loves this nation president maggie foully was more than a coronavirus skeptic his government stop sharing data with the world health organization last year and declared tanzania covert free divine intervention the official tally still stands at $500.00 in 9 cases and $21.00 deaths all these

months later he displayed a disregard for health advice focusing on prayer and local remedies while also claiming the vaccines were dangerous this true condemnation from the w.h.o. and the roman catholic church. to dial had turned into policy for a nation of 60000000 what we have that the ministry has no plans to receive vaccines for 19 which are already in use in other countries the w.h.o. has repeatedly asked the government to adopt preventative measures such as wearing face masks to start reporting cases and to share data foreign embassies began warning of a significant increase in the number of kobe 1000 cases that could overwhelm tanzania's limited hospital capacity in late february maggie farley finally began to change his tone warming to the idea of wearing locally made face masks that was just days before a shocking press conference from his finance minister for the congo which was called to address rumors that he had died of corona virus. tanzania has refused to join the codex program which has delivered millions of doses to $22.00 african

countries it will be up to some haasan to decide whether it remains an outlier when it comes to protecting its population and that of neighboring countries. al-jazeera . while an opposition leader is calling for john michael foley's deputy to be sewn in a soon as possible vice president some yes a new hot sun will make history as the 1st female president of tanzania she has one on the island of zanzibar way her assent within the governing c.c.m. party began between 202010 she had many ferial posts in the government then became a member of parliament in the national assembly representing as a constituency in 2010 present 40 chose her as vice president when he won his 1st term in 2015 as bring in our correspondent catherine sawyer who is in nairobi kenya neighboring in neighboring tanzania of course so tanzania is this morning waking up to the news of their president's death catherine tell us 1st about the reactions.

yes this is devastating news to me kindly and they're in shock it's all they're talking about people who basses individuals of transporters that go about their business as they start their day today but it doesn't and tiny come as a surprise president marcus lee went missing in actually laid bare beery. anyone who knows the president knows that he likes his public appearances he likes talking to the public he likes passionately launching development projects and social projects that he has that have become part of huge legacy in she loves to go to try to win people so he missing this thing and the reason a lot of concerns there was a lot of uncertainty in tanzania people asking where is the president our is his how. is rumors and speculation were rife that he had passed on that many had been silent and the last evening where vice president. salute who

announced that she had died of heart complications are in the evening so right now raises a lot of shock that the constitution says there is a 21 morning. tanzanians i think still trying to process this news because president monthly despite all the criticism against him was an enigma and he was well locked in tanzania especially by people in the grassroots people in markets equal in villages and so on a 21 day mourning period you say catherine what happens there politically next mag when he had just been re-elected to a new term after after the recent elections new elections aren't a deal until 2025 high quickly can we expect his replacement to be sworn it. well the constitution is very clear and higher than you and others wrong about the

constitution before the constitution and what the constitution says is that the vice president that right now. absolutely who is to take over those duties as president for the remainder and that of the term so that until 2025 so that means that she is to be sworn in in the coming days last week and we're hearing that will a lot of just will and you know power. just also power because what she needs to do now once she's sworn in appoint a by spread in the lot of people who are justly for that position but the constitution protects her and she's going to be sworn in in the coming days and what people are really looking to add is to see how she's going to handle the coronavirus and then if the president has been criticized widely about how he handled that is ease how he's got it has been handling the disease but when reason

we that we have seen more and more people dying of coronavirus more and more people be hospitalized when you go into hospital when each of them not is given is responding retore of problems we've seen government officials calling sick some of them dying. and now there mention about the finance minister. you know opposition leader in as i view but died of coronal from religious leaders who are saying that dads of their clergy have died i have wanted sick our congregation to take precautions they are going to very interesting go forward to see what stance she's going to take and if she's going to have been a change of policy or how the government is handling this disease indeed will be interesting to see if there's a change in the coronavirus sas strategy in tanzania catherine soy in nairobi. thank you very much for that now on to other world news and a boss with afghan government employees on board has been targeted in

a bombing in kabul at least 3 people have been killed and another 11 wounded so far no group has claimed responsibility and 9 members of afghanistan's security forces have died in a helicopter crash it went down in base so district in wardak province there a force helicopter was shot at while landing u.s. secretary of state down to the bank in has china to use its tremendous influence on north korea to abandon its nuclear program he and the u.s. defense secretary have been meeting south korean leaders in seoul president joe biden is pushing to restore america's alliances in asia in the face of growing challenges from north korea and china we also discussed trying to we are clear eyed about beijing's consistent failure to ok its commitments and we spoke about how visions aggressive and before china behavior are challenging the stability security prosperity in the pacific region. beijing's actions make forging

a common approach among our allies and our port at a time when we're seeing a rollback of democracy and human rights around the world including in burma where the military is attempting to overturn the results of a democratic election by greedy oppressing peaceful protesters it is more important than ever that we are we stand together for the values for the interests that unite us in while the u.s. sends out korea have signed a joint statement saying their alliance has been met has never been more important rob mcbride has details from seoul. as expected it reconfirms the commitments to this alliance between south korea and the united states and alliance which is the statement said it was forged in blood on the battlefield 70 years ago during the years of the korean war there was also emphasis on north korea as we expected both the united states and south korea committing themselves to the denuclearization of

north korea but without going into too much details differences do remain between south korea and the u.s. on how exactly that could or should ever be achieved their words emphasis on also on restoring the relations with these 2 traditional allies in northeast asia both south korea and japan all of this mission has been about resetting very important relationships also doing some repair work on the relationship between south korea and japan itself which has become quite frayed in recent times when it comes to china there was no actual reference to china by name in the statement that causes problems here in south korea because we are from seoul has a much closer relationship with beijing but there were references about the need to respect international law about the need to keep an open and free indo-pacific this is a veiled reference of course to their claims that china is making aggressive territorial

demands in the south china and east china seas but certainly in the press conference that followed blinken secretary state blinken did not hold back once more in condemnation of what the u.s. sees as coercive and aggressive behavior from china itself. brazil is facing the worst health care crisis in its history with corona virus cases forcing the system to the brink of collapse on wednesday it reported more than $90000.00 new infections for the 1st time brazilian media say on average more than 2000 people dying every day when i came back every force from rio de janeiro the after day brazil keeps beating its own tragic record health experts say that today in brazil there's a kuvasz 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 is 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 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 demoting century of his paraguayan which brazil was 'd $60000.00 people during 6 years we would be taking a chance right now of losing the equivalent number in a single month 30 days 'd scientists and doctors have been calling for

a national lockdown as the only way to stop the virus and its new variance from spreading out of control brazil's richest state some power is under curfew of 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 mostly 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 thing changed you know you've got

a 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 a 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 soul the new minister is just those spokesman for the president or nothing changes substantially the growing number of covert 19 related deaths is having an impact on president playable from out of popularity a recent poll shows that 56 percent of brazilians fame has mishandled the pandemic meineke an arc of al-jazeera readmission arrow. to the head on al-jazeera bullied

and traumatized by teachers accusations of dress code intolerance in indonesia. for a drive to much of western europe over the next couple of days because god and i speak a. area of high pressure just not getting its way in round area of high for the meantime we are still running a few showers down the north sea it's a cool direction mostly wind so we'll see cool who had just taken down into central policy for selves just 7 celsius full of vienna say the single figures you get the idea some wintry flowers as well sliding down swards rumania wet weather there are still in place just around southern parts of italy and greece but over towards the west is now warm 14 celsius madrid not too bad 14 celsius in glasgow absolutely fantastic yes it does cool off a little as we go on into friday but more in the west sunshine and the light winds

really will feel quite pleasant small wintry flowers coming into those central parts just around the czech republic austria switzerland still seeing some snow showers will continue to central areas that came mistral continues to filter its way down into that western side of the medics right in the still a few shows over towards turkey at this stage will crash to see some showers just running into the far north of africa as you go on through the next day i would say 15 celsius in ounces 16 celsius in chino is but over to a siesta side of the continent the car with the top temperature of 23 degrees. from the al-jazeera london broke out to people in thoughtful conversation and many whenever you talk about race or race and that people act with no haste and no limitation our society has structural racism built into any season of studio to be

unscripted line spots convenient blind spots some aspects of our history basis have been different types of prejudice coming soon on al-jazeera. hmm well the. old the the dog. you are chain algis there are live from doha a reminder of our top stories this hour as sam yes a new high sign is set to become tanzania's 1st female president after the death of president john mark foley he has died at the age of 61 from reported heart failure . more than 2000 people are dying from covered 900 every day in brazil where the

health system is on the brink of collapse there were a record 90000 new infections on wednesday and the u.s. secretary of state says all options are on the table to get north korea to abandon nuclear weapons speaking in seoul antony blinken added that china has a critical role to play. the u.s. has sanctioned an additional $24.00 chinese and hong kong officials over beijing's continuing crackdown on political freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory it made the announcement as the secretary of state was preparing to meet his chinese counterparts in alaska late on thursday this will be the 1st such discussion since the biden administration took office our diplomatic editor james phase has more from anchorage. this is clearly going to be a very important meeting between the 2 most powerful countries or the 1st high level meeting of the top foreign affairs officials taking place here in alaska

where the u.s. secretary of state will be returning from asia the u.s. say that this is a meeting all their territory their terms both sides want to try and improve the relationship because there have been some living talking about the idea of a new cold war the u.n. secretary general warning of a great fracture between these 2 countries u.s. secretary of state blinken says that their relations with china will now be on a case by case basis they know that we're going to be added. it's or is on some issues they know that they're going to continue to object to human rights abuses by china with regard to the we goes about the situation in hong kong with regard to taiwan and the south china sea on other issues they're going to be competitors these are the 2 most powerful economic nations on earth but they're hoping there will be issues where they can work together for example climate change is the most important one but there are other international and regional issues for example

afghanistan for example the current crisis after the coup in myanmar russia has recalled its u.s. ambassador to president joe biden said moscow would pay a price for election meddling a u.s. intelligence or a 4 shows evidence that russia try to help former president donald trump secure a 2nd 10 it also accuse iran of seeking to have joe biden brain vote loss in jordan reports from washington 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 that 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. myanmar's military has charged the country's ambassador to the united nations with high treason john paul 2 and was fired a day after speaking at the un general assembly last month where he called for help to remove the army from power the u.n. says 149 people have been killed since the coup while the assistance association for political prisoners says the toll is much higher let's bring in scott who is following developments in myanmar for us from neighboring thailand is live from bangkok so scott finally the response from the military in yen mark to his defiant

u.n. ambassador what will these charges mean soil. obviously you know this is something that really became an early symbol of the protest movement the civil disobedience movement in myanmar when they had their united nations ambassador speak out against the jones and their actions in front of a general assembly at the united nations a special general assembly to deal with the situation to discuss the situation in myanmar he came out there as you mentioned folly and denounced the junk and actually said that the international community needed to put pressure on the german to because of what it was doing so it is because of that speech that the announcement came in a state run newspaper in myanmar that he has been charged with high treason it cited that he did not follow orders or directives tying it directly to that speech at the united nations obviously this is part of the movement of those who are

outside of the country now he is still outside of the country so you know we were talking about dr sasaki who is a representative of the of the democratically elected leaders who have been ousted he is a representative for them overseas he was also charged with high treason just a couple of days ago so you have these 2 profiled treason charges but both of these gentlemen are outside of myanmar so clearly it's a symbol a symbolic move by the judge to to charge them with high treason maybe as a threat to others out there who might do something similar dr sasaki dismissed them immediately and actually called it a badge of honor so it'll be interesting to see what the response is from the former u.n. ambassador weeks to come former because after that speech on the 26th of february the day after he was fired by the justice so it'll be interesting to see how he comes out if he continues to really be vocal about what's happening in the m.r.i. i can imagine he will be but again this move coming from the john to just come in the last 24 hours again it was published in a state run newspaper in myanmar thank you for that update scott hide and live for

us and bangkok. to the netherlands now a prime minister mako to has claimed an overwhelming victory in part of entry elections they were the 1st major vote in europe since the start of the pandemic attash about reports from amsterdam ears to exit poll have a lot of the 1st results confirmed what most people in the netherlands expected mark return has done it again the dutch prime minister's lead is in toronto party to victory for a 4th time in a general election that. were to promised photo stability in a campaign that was dominated by the coronavirus pandemic with the country under a nighttime curfew there were no victory party folds in them and have given me the my party and the federal party an overwhelming young voter 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 field is conceded that the health crisis it overshadowed all other issues including immigration but shared it concerns about health care and it was a lot of promise about health care in the netherlands as well the bill also concerned about the normal routine life you know not only the economy but also indeed islam immigration hilda's party lost seats and slipped a 3rd place behind the centrist d $66.00 policy 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 is way more than they had in older polls during the past months and it's probably be course their leadership it's got 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 $6060.00 special days margaret a high. proved that he is a political survivor he's been elected despite some criticism of his handling 6 of the coronavirus pandemic and 2 months ago he and his whole government resigned over child benefit scandal but in the end dr voters chose continuity i gave him another chance. al-jazeera i'm still. not to indonesia where activists say rising religious intolerance is having an effect on schools according to human rights watch female students are under growing pressure to idea to religious dress codes jessica washington has a story from jakarta. in wissam ultra in the city of padang this public school is at the center of a debate about religious freedom in indonesia after administrators trying to force a christian student to wear a headscarf. her story went viral when her father posted it on social media.

teaches at the school deny forcing students but say they simply encourage them to where it goodnight differently than read anything but this is how we protect our female students because we don't know what could happen on the streets. the controversy has prompted the indonesian government to ban public schools from forcing religious dress codes on students regardless of their religion. human rights observers say is not an isolated incident a breach of religious freedom freedom of expression privacy depressin fresh orbital a report by human rights watch says young women of all faiths here face harassment and threats from teaches they try to force them to wear what's called a jewel which covers the head neck and chest. indonesia's religious affairs minister says there is no reason to infringe upon the freedom of another person in

the name of religion indonesia's national motto is unity in diversity but human rights observers say they're concerned about rising religious intolerance and its presence in schools the report says the impact on female students who experienced trauma diety and depression as a result of this intolerance must be taken seriously. in the region of chamas in west java we win says her teachers threatened to fail her if she didn't oblige and wear a headscarf her family is part of a religious minority called sun the we would. people of all religion should be able to go to school without being forced to wear it it's a poster right. human rights watch says it's not only religious minorities experiencing the scrutiny but muslim girls too. just atheist

says teachers and some students pressured her every day was upset but the more the more they said you have to think if your parents they have paid for your schooling your life then you feel sorry that they will suffer later in the afterlife. she ended up moving to a private school. religious leaders say the government should not ban schools from enforcing religious dress codes but that was the. s.t.'s m.b.a. students in elementary and middle school they are not yet able to choose they have to get used to something but human rights groups say the ban on enforcing religious and higher in schools is just the beginning and more must be done to protect in didn't just diversity just to washington al-jazeera jakarta. you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our main stories 21 days of mourning have been declared.