al jazeera. and. voting for a new president in the republic of congo the incumbent hoops to extend his 36 year rule to leading opposition candidate is hospitalized with 90. this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the palestinian authority begins its covert 19 vaccine rollout after receiving more than 60000 doses through the international kovacs. more violence in man march 20 kook protests continue

un's top official echoes calls for sanctions against the military leadership. plus enjoying a taste of freedom in taiwan where a thriving economy is bucking the global trend. so voters in the republic of congo choosing the next president in an election that could see the current one extend his state almost 40 years then sasuke new guy so is one of the world's longest leaders and is widely expected to stamp out 7 people are vying for the top job but some opposition candidates are either in jail or are boycotting the poll the internet has been shut down and there are concerns a vote is not transparent one candidate to get a breeze puff fake who's in hospital cave at 19 is aging people to get out and vote . my dick i'm part i'm in

a difficult situation i am fighting jet i demand that you rise up and go vote for change fight don't give up the fight to rise up please do this for me that's enough american webb who has more from a polling station in brazil at this polling station which is in a school in the capital brazzaville just a small handful of people here who have come to vote and one of the things that analysts anticipated with this election is a low turnout because they say that many people here in congo don't feel that there's really a chance of any change we were in this same polling station a few days before when soldiers were voting ahead of the election and this whole schoolyard was full of hundreds of soldiers lining up waiting their phones a vote the difference is striking soldiers are visible today but out on the streets of the city as are the police the roads are closed people are only around allowed to move around on foot also the internet has been switched off now the government

spokesman told us that they did this during the last election because they had information that it was going to be an armed insurrection but rights groups say that the government does this simply to try and hide what it's doing and they say that's just one of many problems with this election is that there were problems with the electoral register problems with the voting process but it's even before all of that began because key opposition candidates are in jail because rights activists are targeted with the rest and so on they say there just isn't adequate freedom of speech of democratic space to have a meaningful election at all. well and your own gumbo is a political analyst on the republic of congo and lives in exile in france and he says the opposition has been stifled but they were able to be heard during the election campaign. the opposition is very weak because there has been killing repression exile for some some people also the. opposition is weak but.

remain strong and is trying to to overcome the resultant repression just being the election is a way to have a mistake heard from the population because without the elections you don't have time to address to people you don't even have access to public media but with relation we were able to see many opposing being her own of a national t.v. which are only our pen every 5 years for the elections countries every in-depth front of a train trader and also the people who are political of china so we must tackle that and also there is an ongoing what i can say. cultural and political crisis in the country the value of the country has been inverted so when you are a crew when you are still or when you are robber you go down in the country

iraqi but when you try to do your best and walk very good you are at their lowest level of a society with the psyche is a very in crisis and there is also used this problem of the political prisoner so we need to have a kind of global discussion amongst congolese people in congress to talk about those prices of adept and also security. for all israel continues with one of the world's forces vax a vaccine campaigns palestine is only just begun its rollout to the journal of western you know authorities president ma. it was the 1st shot next it is medical people over the age of 75 and those with serious illnesses health authority received more than 60000 vaccine doses on wednesday through the international which

helps poor countries need abraham has more now from ramallah. the health ministry. and then those who. finish their treatment before. that many palestinians have been waiting for. and it comes at a really difficult time because never. been to the medical centers we're standing in front of a. city where we've been seeing tens of people. waiting to get. someone even under 75 and they were trying to negotiate their way in to get.

member that we're talking about. they're not going to be in. the ministry saying that they're prioritizing those but many do not trust the palestinian authority they've received before. some of these. so many. make sure that everyone who has a relative old and wonderful that they would get. or countries across europe reimposing lot of the continent grapples with the infections but many people are protesting against the restrictions and calling for them to be lifted. a 3rd wave of covert 19 is forcing new lock downs to spread across europe but with the restrictions comes resentment and resistance to the new rooms.

in germany police used 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. and i consider corona virus 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 $5000.00 protesters gathered in the town of elite still to demand an end to cave it restrictions which have shut restaurants and other public places for months i mean because we want our lives back we want to live we want to live in a democratic led 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. but 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 high. secretary had to ease their wounds and allow peaceful protests. but some global health experts say that would be a mistake right now what we need is continued restrictions as it isn't just 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 to die warning from the german health minister that there aren't enough accedes in europe to prevent a 3rd wave and despite these demonstrations it appears tighter measures are on the way victoria al-jazeera is brave another violent day and meanwhile 3 more protesters were killed and others critically injured on sunday the military's increased use of violence doesn't stop the demonstration is against the last month for the people of mandalay held a rally at dawn to minimize the risk of confrontation with security forces about 100 doctors nurses medical students and farmers as they all lined up on a main road to chant slogans and i said nations made more representative so the

people want to the un to impose sanctions and send peacekeepers to stop the violence. has more now from bangkok. those protests in mandalay that took place at the crack of dawn this morning again because the protesters wanted to minimize the risk of confrontation we've heard in the last hour or so that there has been further confrontation and mandalay in the. districts around 159th 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 of one wounded so far but a lot of protesters appear to be trapped in that area it's a developing situation them information is very hard to get out of the moment also because mobile internet service is

a 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 those protests go ahead earlier and now closing in on the protesters elsewhere we've seen lots of other protests going on and money were in so again the 2nd region the smalling the security services crackdown on the protests there one fe town t. confirmed from a head shot 2 others in critical condition and 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. still ahead here in of 0 heavy rain batters parts of the string these new south wales and what's being called a want to 100 years event. 9 lives cut short in one day families of activists killed by security forces in the philippines call for just.

it's time for the perfect gentleman the winter sponsored plan qatar airways a spell of wet weather is on its way through japan at least and this is the head of the storm system which on winds like that the cold air is to the north of it it's a little complex it's got more than one center but it's going in that direction so all the weather proper the rain the snow is on its way out there will be some snow one monday still left in sapporo possibly even in the rest of our condo and to the north of that but then uses some takes over and the wind direction changes not true throughout all of china in the korean peninsula coming up more from a southerly direction and turning this like this so temperatures rising were up to 18 even 20 in beijing and beijing's air quality because of what swept through that storm system has improved markedly it was actually shown is good just recently may

not stay that way but the general trend to find is whether showers the top of the building slowly warming southern part of china once more this is active that a significant thunderstorms snow or titan where it's still cold it afghanistan the hindu kush for example brazil moving slowly east was turning over the air much improved the quality in new delhi certainly got 3 days coming up a lot of rain or thunderstorms and that does tend to improve things it won't necessarily stay that good there and the rest of india mostly dry. qatar airways they are most hardcore. after egypt's revolution that passion turned into something much bigger.

on al-jazeera world. i don't get you watching how does your every month the top stories this hour and voters in the republic of congo are choosing a president 7 people running for the top job and then it says in days so it's expected to extend his 36 years in power some opposition candidates they're either in jail or the fuse to stand. palestine has begun its covert 19 vaccine rollout to the general public health authorities receive more than 60000 vaccine days on

wednesday through the international kovacs scheme that helps poor countries. they meet more at least 3 more protesters have been killed in others critically injured militaries are violent crackdown hasn't stopped the protests that people at mandalay rally that told to minimize any confrontation with security forces. parts of the astray in state of new south wales are experiencing some of the worst flooding in decades the house was seen floating down a river near the northern coast many in the region have been told to evacuate their homes and it's rental rain continues people evacuating sydney's outer suburbs. fs and foremost priority is to save lives save as many properties as possible but also to give people enough warning of what's occurring and i appreciate in parts of the need and north prostrations which are experiencing what he won here event has been sustained damage to infrastructure has been sustained damage to how people communicate and move around and i just want to say to everybody in new south wales is experiencing that fear and that anxiety that after all it's with you and we'll

get a sense to you as soon as we can we're told him how as a senior meteorologist at the australia purer meteorology and he explains what's behind the heavy rain. very dangerous a significant flooding event on 40 across the 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 any time soon i'll be off house a massive accusations and the main dav city where we get dab had to basically be stilled overnight and so i personally like a situation there right now across northern australia there is a tropical lawyer sitting just over the normal process within australia that's driving a lot of tropical moisture into central parts of australia and there is a warning out every grain full across the northern territory and as you say this is the australian interior so this is the desert reality of potential flooding over the next few days and this is just the systems i should have moved into eastern

parts of australia over the coming 24 to 48 hours and this will link up with the system across new south wales and basically create a multi-state a couple 1000 kilometer long right under storm band on monday and tuesday and these could be great some of that flooding because it's nice to have say some incredible totals over the last couple of days since those are the highest so we have cities 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 one is how we get into wednesday we could see up to one meter of rain to some new south wales so it is going to be quite a beach and national. so the arabia's state backed oil company says its profits nearly half in 2020 m. blames the slide in global prices during the pandemic aramco has made $49000000000.00 in profits that's a 44 percent drop the company's seen its annual profits fall every year since they were 1st announced a 2018 oil prices have rallied in recent months to prepare pandemic levels after

they hit a critical loan april last year. is an international oil economist and he says saudi aramco is fortunes are turning around despite the drop in profits. the current improvement in the prices will help call as saudi arabia and also the economy as. obscene it's in the balance. and naturally we have seen the most impressive is in prices from 30 barrels in the 1st of december of last year m m to each of our 16 down their numbers in the bell today at $65.00 i have that last is a great improvement. which leaves you with the current high as. i

go to class steel in 2020 where their prices collapse under the plan she does of course salad as well as i'm going to. produce a does need prayers are approaching eat it then have to look them too many objects however this practice is helping them at least for the time being using. and feeling gad any budget. that has covered $1000.00 wrecks much of the global economy many countries of plunged into their worst recessions in decades but brought reports taiwan not only managed to buck the trend it's expecting further growth this year. restaurants and stores are for 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 small island so close to the pandemic source in neighboring mainland china looked grim. i met it here taiwan where we experienced certain downturn where our counter staff were 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 economies 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 a lot of job opportunities especially high tech industries because that the government policy is trying to encourage it also 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 we're 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 live here is normal 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. the families of 9 people killed in a single day by state forces in the philippines are calling for justice they say their loved ones were peaceful activists targeted earlier this month for criticizing the government the police say they were communist rebels who resisted arrest and they can use the story now from manila it was the worst day for activists in the philippines in recent years on march 7th in a series of operations conducted by state forces resulted in the deaths of 9 activists in several parts of the southern loose on reaching across the aisle in the saloon that 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 by what. they say you have weapons we don't even have money for food

we are dependent aid after our house was there were stated by a typhoon less 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 there was a friend and colleague of melvin was also killed he lived across the street people here tell us it was around 4 30 in the morning when they heard a group of armed men forced their way inside mark leese 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 2 were the couple child to meet the evangelista and they're here live on the least they're from but on this

province both were killed by police just meters away from their son and on sunday and in targum unity grieved the death of money as unshorn 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 burying all of them the president then. 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 were outspoken critics of the government. dog and al jazeera manila. protests have been held in atlanta in georgia against the rise in violence targeting asian americans the rally follows a mass shooting in the city killed 8 people including 6 women of asian descent the gunman 21 year old robert long is facing murder charges. we are. less. than willing. and the way. it. was. was. was.

low low. low he. was beat. we. believe. it was. choose a parliamentary election in israel will be the fall off into year as an opinion poll suggests there will be no clear winner in a tight race prime minister netanyahu is trying new strategy he surprised many by publicly courting palestinian israeli voters a group he previously store is a threat to its electoral success high force that has more. is not the 1st time benjamin netanyahu is focused on israel's palestinian citizens during an election campaign and 2015 he tried to boost right wing turnout by warning of quote arabs coming to the polls in droves and 29000 facebook suspended

a chat vote on his account which said our politicians wanted to quote annihilate us all this time the message is very different get out. and i've been aware that even at that account pain video presents palestinian israelis supporting a prime minister who among other things is pledging to address the number one issue . a surge in violent crime sparking protests against. the israeli police the failing to tackle it i mean who you really mean i'm committed to bringing in into the violence and the crime in your communities this is a national assignment it touches each and every one of you and your children. in the northern city of haifa friday night jar is reopening his restaurant after months of coded $1000.00 in forced closure for him netanyahu is pitch is missing the mark he's a hypocrite if we say this 20 times it's not enough they don't want any alliance with arabs they never have they'll never give us our rights the same goes for the

customers we spoke to even those who become frustrated by the palestinian israeli parliamentary block and so see un and dad i'm not entirely happy with the air parties because they haven't been working properly socially speaking things have been deteriorating especially the violence if you expect benjamin netanyahu to experience a sudden warm embrace from a group of voters that he spent previous elections casting is a threat to the prospects of a right wing government what he's looking for is just the tiniest slice enough voters to help him gain that extra one or 2 seats that could prove crucial to his chances of forming a coalition for activists and analyst jeffrey fara that means improving on the 10000 palestinian israeli votes netanyahu is likud got last time of 660000 votes cast more and more voters actually. support the forty's and listen lists for. these so i don't expect

a really big. supporter of that you know on the likud but still he can get potentially one. he may also benefit from a split in the joint list palestinian israeli grouping the breakaway united arab list says it may work with netanyahu after the election. however that plays out one broader change is emerging in recent polling a growing acceptance of the political legitimacy of a sector of society for so long kept at arm's length harry force it out just era haifa israel. so this is our deserve these are the top stories and polls have opened in the republic of congo's presidential election. is expected to extend his 36 years in power some opposition candidates are either in jail or have refused to stand american weapons the latest now.