polls open in republic of congo's presidential election but the leading opposition candidate submitted to hospital with cave at 90. 8 on the clock this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up more violence in min mars protests continue the un's top official echoes calls for sanctions against the military leadership. coronavirus restrictions trigger resistance across europe

as countries brace for another wave of infections. and thousands are ordered to evacuate as a strain is most populous state experiences its worst flooding in decades. so the polls have opened for republic of congo's presidential election dennis is gay so is it widely expected to extend his 36 years in power internet algis have been reported ahead of the poll some opposition candidates are either in jail or have refused to stand another candidate to give police perfect is hospitalized with covert 19 but he has people to vote. and should compartment. my deck i'm partly it's i'm in a difficult situation i'm fighting death i demand that you guys open go vote for change fight don't give up the fight rise up please do this for me let's wait to

be standing by for us in brownsville and malcolm how things develop in what kind of numbers using turning up. we're at a polling station in a school in the capital brother bill and the numbers so far seem very low just a tiny number of people you think coming in here i think many of them are government supporters that's the mayor just leaving in his car there but otherwise very low numbers and it's a matter of the per polling stations within the city but we were at this same polling station just a few days before when soldiers voted ahead of the election and this whole schoolyard was full of them hundreds of them the difference today is striking but not many people are critical of the electoral process here in congo people don't really like to talk about politics or the election on the street they're scared to but one of the few institutions that has been critical of the electoral process is the catholic church they've now been blocked from monitoring the polls but we did

speak to a couple of the church leaders about this let's take a look at that story. not many people openly criticize the electoral process in the republic of congo the catholic church is one of the few institutions that have father felicity him of only been arrested twice because of his activism he was meant to be part of a team observing sunday's presidential election but he told us all church observers have been blocked from monitoring the polls as well about peace and democracy. on paper it is a democracy since 1901 but in reality with such behaviors we need to question ourselves if we really are in a democracy when i say. president queso has ruled for most of the last 40 years and he's campaigned to stay on there are many campaign posters. another one here another one.

the opposition candidate like this one when we try and interview people on camera out on the street. specially if it's anything to do with politics. across the congo river from brazzaville is kinshasa the capital of the neighboring democratic republic of congo. where the catholic church also played a role in campaigning for elections to be held 3 years ago many of the protest with violently put down. reverend a ali was involved in that campaign he met in training church leaders on elections in brazzaville before they were banned from observing what do those voices if you might be with is there are ignored. the choice of today's voice everything on the brazzaville side of the river is much more tightly controlled soldiers already voted ahead of sunday's election activists say their polls were not transparent the

president of the electoral commission who's also the chief justice insisted the republic of congo is a democracy. absolutely if not you would not be here interviewing the president of the electoral commission if not there would be verbal criticisms made against the president of the electoral commission. says he's monitored elections for more than 10 years before being blocked. and the churches were some of the only election observers here that anyone thought might be critical of irregularities in sunday's poll. since early in the morning the internet here has been turned off and the roads are closed there are soldiers and police on the street people are only allowed to move around on foot now as you mentioned before we saw the story there one of the opposition candidates calendula is reportedly sick we've covered he released the video message calling on his supporters to go out and vote from

a hospital bed with an oxygen mask now before the internet went off some of his supporters had already started speculating that he had been poisoned by the government distrust of the government runs deep here so there's certainly a risk of that inflaming tensions if he's perceived to have been harmed there's a risk of inflaming tensions among his supporters in the back ongoing region of the country where he comes from so we'll be monitoring that in a day in the hours ahead although it's not very easy to monitor it because the internet is still entirely switched off by malcolm speech later thanks for the time being malcolm webber in brazzaville. violence continues in miramar as 3 more protesters were killed and others critically injured on sunday the increased use of violence by the military has not stopped the demonstrations though people amandla held the dawn rally on sunday to minimize the risk of confrontation with security

forces about 100 doctors nurses medical students pharmacists they all lined up on a main road to chant slogans and winds mean ma representative. says people want the un to impose sanctions and to send peacekeepers to stop the violence let's cross now to tony cheney who's standing by for us in bangkok monitoring the situation in myanmar and any further reports of fatalities coming through. but you mentioned those protests in mandalay that took place at the crack of dawn this morning again because the protesters want to minimize the risk of confrontation we've heard in the last hour or so. there has been further confrontation in in the pin lower district around 107th and 59th street the area apparently was surrounded by security services not just police but armored vehicles as well and since then residents have been seeing a lot of black smoke rising there saying that some of the barricades the protesters

have put on the streets but also houses have been set on fire and they're hearing a lot of gunshots we've got confirmation one wounded so far but a lot of protesters appear to be trapped in that area it's a developing situation room information is very hard to get out of the moment also because mobile internet services are down and what sort of wife i.x.'s people can get is very patchy too. but it does appear that the security services having let. protests go ahead earlier and now closing in on the protesters elsewhere we've seen lots of other protests going on in money watch and so again this region this morning the security service is cranky. and protest one fe town t. confirmed from the head shot 2 others in critical condition and then again we are seeing lots of people in these protests being killed with and injured with head shots which suggests the use of army snipers as we've seen in many places as the

security services have cracked down but protesters are still going on there out in term of the city also in saigon region in man state and other areas despite these tactics people are still willing to go out on the streets and still willing to show their objections to the military government also in mandalay today we've seen railway workers packing up their belongings from their government housing because they're going on strike effectively while they have been on strike for some time they're moving out they had been pressured by the security services to go back to work they're choosing instead to move out of their homes but to continue to support the campaign of civil disobedience. or attorney thanks for that reporting from bangkok on the troubling situation in minimal. countries across europe are returning to lock downs as the continent grapples with

a surge in corona virus infections but many people are protesting against the restrictions and calling for them to be lifted for torah game as this. 3rd wave of covert 19 is forcing new lockdowns to spread across europe but with the restrictions comes resentment and resistance to the new rooms. in germany police seized water cannon and pepper spray to disperse and he looked down protestors in the city of castle chancellor angela merkel has wound new restrictions will likely be imposed with cases of the virus rising exponentially but protesters say the measures such as the closing of non-essential shops hotels restaurants and gyms are a threat to their freedom. i consider coronavirus to be a serious disease just like the flu but to make a pandemic out of it as we are experiencing now with many restrictions on our basic rights i don't think that's justified. in neighboring switzerland more than 5000

protesters gathered in the town of elite still to demand an end to cave age restrictions which have shut restaurants and other public places for months i mean because we want our life back we want to live we want to live in a democratic and we want our children to be free and safe elsewhere in europe more and he looked down protest on saturday from bulgaria to remain in serbia to croatia it was obvious that i'm here because i'm fed up with the lies coming from ignorant people is not only in croatia it's across the world they want to force us to stay in our houses and not to go out not to breed not to work not to eat what they want from us to crawl on the floor enough is enough. in the u.k. dozens of antelope down protesters were arrested on saturday as campaign has defied police. warnings a march through central london under current restrictions it's unlawful for groups

to gather to protest these demonstrators want those rules changed as to more than 60 m.p.'s who signed a letter to the home secretary to ease the wounds and allow peaceful protests. but some global health experts say that would be a mistake right now what we need is continued restrictions on hesitant to say that because i know that it's not a popular position but we need to continue a few more months with these restrictions and we need to scale up x nation much much more rapidly which means we need to increase manufacturing vaccines there's frustration with the slow rollout of vaccines in the european union and a dire warning from the german health minister that there aren't enough vaccines in europe to prevent a 3rd wave and despite these demonstrations it appears tighter measures are on the way victoria gate and be al jazeera. still ahead here on al-jazeera harsh terrain

in remote villages how america's largest state of alaska has managed to become a leader in vaccination rates. plus a taste of life in taiwan where a thriving economy is bucking the global trend. it's time for the perfect janet. sponsored play qatar airways. that assad is getting slowly stronger going to proper spring so it's disappointing to see the clouds do tumbling in from the north which is always a cold direction and over time you have that and you have a thing called a cold front of the single temperatures are going to drop again it's certainly cold enough still for some snow to fall through germany czech republic poland and the baltic states and it's falling steadily in heavily to the south that will last over code a came down but i think it will tend to die out in the next few days no be as slow

or be it painfully slow rise in temperature and bertie represents that 8 to 9 degrees until tuesday beyond that i think we'll see the teens start to show throughout the plain of europe but in the immediate future used to we got potentially damaging winds down the road valley and the border blowing across the northern croatian coast both of which can cause actual physical damage and a massive amount of stairs to it for most of the balkans maybe to cut paste in ops and eventually ever cross into was turkey as well with a strong wind running down towards northern libya and the story actually in north africa with winds in the involved well sandstorms quite likely through libya and then northern egypt on monday and probably to choose day as well. sponsored paul qatar airways talking to al-jazeera we are can you tell me what the government you represent is now illegitimate and we listen we do not sell

the fence material to any country the year old conflict in yemen we meet with the global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al-jazeera and what's most important to me is talking to people understanding what they are going through and hear it out to see it are we believe everyone has a story worth hearing. but again you're watching al-jazeera and one of our top stories this hour and polls have opened in the republic of congo's presidential election president and they need to negate so is expected to extend his 36 years in power some opposition candidates are either in jail or have fused to stand. it miramar at least 3 more

protesters have been killed and others critically injured the increased use of violence by the militants into that has not stopped the protests people in mandalay held a dollar rally to minimize the risk of confrontation with security forces. protests have been held across europe calling for covert 900 traditions to be lifted it is the continent struggles to cope with another rise in infections many countries are returning to look down. police in brazil's largest city of star power a breaking up a legal parties to try and slow the advance of covert 90 curfews have been imposed in several major cities to prevent to the spread of a local variant is helping drive a surge in infections in 24 hours brazil ridge said more than $79000.00 cases in close to $2500.00 deaths. so the situation is getting worse in other parts of latin america chile is reporting infection rates close to record highs last seen in june that's despite most of the nation being under a strict lockdown and argentina has imposed restrictions and is short of vaccines.

is when one has errors and has more on the situation. 79000 new infections in the last 24 hours that brings the number of infections up to nearly 12002400 deaths that brings that up 229-2000 deaths the i.c.u. beds in the brazilian hospitals breaking point to 95 percent occupancy in rio de janeiro a similar situation around the country hence these measures by the author it is in rio de janeiro to close the b. is there also stopping buses coming into the city bringing tourists to those beaches they've done that before the question now is whether they will police it whether they will stop people massing on the beaches they also have to put up with the president of the country job also not all encouraging people to go to the beaches and take in the sun and he's saying that's a good idea so they can soak in victim in d.

which will allow them to fight the cove in 1000 virus so that is a problem always in brazil you have the national authorities led by the president telling people to go back to work ignore the measures not where moffats and then you have city councils state governors trying to fight against the virus telling people to stay indoors and not work so a difficult situation there as the numbers continue to rise. a sort of emergency and curfew had been imposed in the u.s. city of miami beach after a large crowds gathered over spring break without following social distancing rules the mayor describe the situation as out of control police struggle to break up parties in restaurants and on the streets from saturday everybody must stay indoors between 8 pm and 6 am and businesses are restricted areas they will be closed. it's emeritus largest state but alaska sparsely populated and known for its harsh terrain some villages are only accessible by boat or by plane yet it is being hailed as

a vaccine success story nearly 40 percent of its people have received at least one dose and alaska is the 1st u.s. state to offer the jobs to everybody from the age of 16 diplomatic it's a change of pace reports now from encourage. with an outside temperature of minus 15 degrees celsius this is a drive through vaccination center in anchorage the biggest city in alaska the u.s. because of its wealth and power has vaccinated a higher percentage of people than most countries in this state which is more than 1700000 square kilometers is the largest state in the union has done better than nearly anywhere else in the nation we are very fortunate alaska that we have actually been able to open eligibility up to everyone 16 and above at this point how did you get to that point it has been an incredible effort throughout the state in a lot of incredible collaboration with our local and state partners those receiving

the vaccine seem appreciative of the state cephus they've taken very seriously from the onset because of the native population and the potential for that outlying communities in the native villages to be decimated by the all. the bad virus and we've seen things like this happen before so they're taking it very seriously which is great 1000 percent of people here have been fully vaccinated and already life is returning to a kind of normality with restaurants retailers and sports facilities all back open for business the figures for alaska are amazing this state has vaccinated a far larger percentage than most us states and just compare this possibly populated state with many countries for example alaska has vaccinated more people than nigeria a country with a population of over 200000000 people a real achievement for the health care workers in a state with 800000 residents but at the same time clearly an indictment of the way

vaccines have been distributed globally james pays al-jazeera anchorage. well hundreds of people protested in the u.s. city of atlanta over violence against asian americans the rally on saturday was prompted off to 8 people including 6 women of asian descent were killed by a white gunman 21 year old robert aaron long is facing murder charges. we are. less. than willing. to listen. and the way. he.

was. that was. the only way. he was no you eat. only. that families. the families of 9 people killed in a single day by state forces in the philippines earlier this month according to justice they say their loved ones were peaceful activists targeted for criticizing the government police say they were coming as rebels who resisted arrest 2 men and they're going has more from manila. it was the worst day for activists in the philippines in recent years on march 7th a series of operations conducted by state forces resulted in the deaths of 9 activists in several parts of the southern loose on region rosalee in the saloon douglas says she was asleep with her husband melvin the sick go and their children

when police force their way into their home melvin sands she says was behind his head it was an act of surrender she says but melvin was still shot several times my body well that's what they say we have weapons we don't even have money for food we are dependent aide after our house was there was stated by 8 a fool unless the same or they stripped us of our humanity and our dignity have you no heart no conscience you kill us like animals because we join release markley because lho was a friend and colleague of melvin was also killed he lived across the street people here tell us it was a wrong 4 30 in the morning when they heard a group of armed men forced their way inside mark lee's house they say they heard his family pushed out of the house before markley was shot several times right here . their home is abandoned now and in the other parts of result province poor boy

and pull on the crews were cousins who advocated for the rights of indigenous peoples they were killed the same way among those killed to where the couple shyly me they have on the lease and they're here live on the lease they're from baton this province both were killed by police just meters away from their son and dog sunday and in targum unity grieved the death of money as in sean was a known labor rights organizer for many years. the police say all of the victims were killed because they resisted arrest and that led to what they call an armed encounter but rights groups here say this narrative has long been used by police since its so-called drug war began in 2016 the government has ordered an investigation into the killings burial of the president. the order of the president was correct kill kill kill if your enemy has

a gun to be shot and killed it is not the way elation under international humanitarian law if a soldier fires at an i'm gone minister but this is there a distinction between activist and variables of course there is a human rights activist say those who died had one thing in common they were freedom fighters who were outspoken critics of the government. duggan al jazeera manila. and saudi arabia's state back to oil company says its profits nearly hobden 2020 blame in the slide in global prices during the pandemic saudi aramco pay sort of 44 percent drop in profits and down to 40 $9000000000.00 company has seen its annual profits for every year since they were 1st announced in 2018 oil prices have rallied in recent months to prepare endemic levels after they fell to a critical in april last year. parts of the a strait in state of new south wales are experiencing some of their worst flooding

in decades house was seen floating down a river near the northern coast and many in the region have fled their homes in this trench of rain continues people are evacuating cities to suburbs john howard's a senior meteorologist at the australia bureau of meteorology and he explains what's causing these heavy rains very dangerous a significant flooding event on 40 of course is in new south wales and including the biggest city of sydney are we have seen 2 wrencher right over the last number of days and at least 4 major flood warnings out covering a lot of western sydney and on for to the right is going to stop anytime soon has a massive isolations and the main dav dab had to basically be stilled overnight and so i. situation there right now across northern australia there is a tropical low sitting just over northern possible within australia that's driving a lot of tropical moisture into central parts of australia and there is a warning out rainfall across the northern territory and as you say this is the

astrarium interior so this is the desert we are seeing a potential for flooding over the next few days and this just the systems i should have move into eastern parts of australia over the coming 24 to 48 hours and this is a link up with the system across new south wales and basically create a multi-state a couple 1000 kilometers long right now under storm band on monday and tuesday and this could be right some of the. same so incredible totals over the last couple of days since there is in the highest who we have seen is 860 millimeters that's about 34 inches of rain in just over 3 days so not surprisingly we are seeing these really major floods and how we get into wednesday we could see up to one meter of writing to some new south wales so it is going to be quite a beach and national. as covered 19 wrecks much of the global economy many countries have plunged into the worst recessions in decades but rob mcbride now reports taiwan not only managed to but the trend it expecting further growth this

year. restaurants and stores are full shopping districts busy with people out spending it all points to an economy enjoying its own mini boom while much of the world is still mired in a pandemic gloom just a year ago as countries were quickly closing borders because of the spreading coronavirus prospects for this more law and so close to the pandemic source in neighboring mainland china looked grim. i met you here taiwan where we experienced certain downturn where our counter software like a minus 4 percent g.d.p. of course instead taiwan grew its economy by more than 3 percent last year growing faster than mainland china for the 1st time in decades with 5 percent growth predicted for this year successes due in part to the economy's reliance on semiconductor chip production which has boomed during the pandemic but it's

underpinned by early and decisive public health measures that have created a safe haven that's encourage companies to relocate from the mainland in line with government policy there clearly are a lot of job opportunities especially high tech industries because their government policies are trying to encourage it always are high tech. back to taiwan then there were the taiwanese living overseas returning to avoid the effects of the pandemic elsewhere i have a lot of friends that came back from new york from california a lot of part of the world so our decision to come back was for safety or for the freedom because we can you know still have a normal life here while. young chief how is a real estate agent from chicago now doing business remotely online from taiwan it means dealing with a 12 hour time difference but it keeps him earning money that he spends in taiwan

u.k. you know be with your family you can take the public transportation and. what he like so many people here largely enjoying the kind of normal but for much of the rest of the world is still a memory problem bride al-jazeera. so this is the answer these are the top stories and polls have opened in the republican congress presidential election then this is going so is expected to extend his 36 years in power the main opposition candidate to get these perfect who's hospitalized covert 19 has urged people to vote malcolm webb has the latest now from brazzaville and one of the things that a lot of people we've spoken to here over the last week have anticipated is a low turnout because a lot of people feel that this election doesn't.