their predicament by converting to other faiths such as islam or christianity to be g.o.p. controlled state of the 2 predation has prepared an anti conversion law under which religious conversion would require permission from a state official human rights groups say the law is aimed at keeping delegates in that place. the u.s. e.u. britain and canada sanctioned chinese officials for human rights abuses in. retaliation from beijing. hello i'm daryn jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up polls open in israel's 4th general election in 2 years but challenges remain for benjamin netanyahu to win enough votes for a stable governing coalition. thousands of bringing the refugees are homeless again

after a devastating fire ripped through their camp in bangladesh plus. gaijin east of the strain which is being his by some of the worst floods in decades. states the european union the u.k. and canada have sanctioned chinese officials and a regional security force for human rights abuses against wigan muslims and other minorities the measures prompted immediate retaliation from beijing gabler's on the reports. a message from western powers to beijing stop the human rights abuses against ethnic and religious minorities or there will be a price to pay a cordon aided set of sanctions from the united states european union britain and canada against several chinese officials who are now subjected to a travel ban and asset freeze for their alleged role in human rights abuses against

muslim leaders in northwest china that use foreign policy chief says the sanctions are meant to engage beijing in dialogue rather than changes fallacies in other areas concerned china is against the blind eye and these measures that will the next unacceptable. there will be no change in due to being union determination to defend human rights and to respond to city is that your nation abuses as they said it respective where they commit it infuriated beijing who almost immediately issued retaliatory sanctions of their own against several european politicians they said were spreading lies and misinformation china has repeatedly denied human rights abuses are perpetrated against religious and ethnic minorities but u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken said china is guilty of genocide against we

hears and the sanctions come just days after contentious meetings between chinese and american officials in alaska but on monday the white house said the sanctions are not a direct reaction to the alaska meetings obviously that's was are in reaction to. what we felt were serious human rights abuses i obviously the europeans felt this as well against members of john's ethnic and religious minority groups and no meeting would change our concerns related to that and we took action as you noted in unity with the united kingdom canada. in the european union who also acted against human rights abusers in connection with these atrocities. you know this demonstrates our ongoing commitment to work laterally to advance respect for human rights and we continue to have great concerns about china's crimes against humanity and genocide and leaders in john under former president donald trump the us took a unilateral approach to all things china that has clearly now changed under

president joe biden the way to do this is certainly not to do it unilaterally but to do it with a coalition of other countries and this is the 1st time that the united states has worked together with its allies the e.u. and canada and the u.k. to jointly slap sanctions on china and it is a signal that there are many countries that find china's policies in synch out to be unacceptable reprehensible they are violations of human rights and china has to start rethinking its approach the sanctions are largely symbolic and on their own likely won't be nearly enough to change beijing's behavior but with china set to host the winter olympics next year the sanctions do mark a shift of western powers returning to speaking to beijing with one voice when it

comes to human rights and now tensions could escalate gabriel is on doe. washington well katrina you joins us live now from beijing katrina so china reacting there with fury to these sanctions what will we seeing and hearing now from beijing. well if you mean the chinese foreign ministry condemned this these acts and also chinese state media come down be heavy heavily critical of the e.u. and what it says is interfering in china's internal affairs they jean has said that this is based on lies and disinformation and as we just heard in that story it quickly slapped on its own reciprocal sanctions but it expanded them somewhat so the e.u. targeted 4 individuals here in china as well as a number of government bodies but the chinese reciprocal sanctions target 10 individuals including their families and these are members of the e.u. parliament as well as 4 organizations including

a democracy and human rights think tack now this is definitely going to have ramifications for china's relationship with the e.u. china or of the took the u.s. is the largest trading partner last year and birthday parties were in the middle of finalizing a comprehensive investment treaty now this was yet to be approved by the e.u. some member states had concerns precisely about china's human rights record and the e.u. says that they want this to start a dialogue with china but it's unlikely to do that china is likely to see this as a hostile act because china has always maintained that there are no human rights abuses taking place in john and it says what many consider to be reeducation camps well it calls lawyers for creation or training centers which they say are designed to improve the economic opportunities of the wages engine john a trader just toss sensitive is china to international pressure over human rights and is this round likely them to escalate even further do you think. we'll

have to watch that closely the last time we saw this kind of concerted effort from europe was back in 1989 after the chenin square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters here in beijing we had the european council at the time slap on sanctions on china as well as the u.s. and those were quite damaging to china at the time because be after meant that 30 years ago china was quite a different country much weaker politically and economically but still there are sanctions seem to have very little or no influence on china's behavior internally so now that china is much more powerful the 2nd largest country 2nd largest economy in the world it's difficult to say how those those sanctions might play a role in influencing china's behavior and in fact they jing has said that it will double down and protect what it considers its core interests what it does seem to be influencing though is china's behavior geo politically as the west seems to work

together as a bloc to pressure china on its human rights china seems to be reaching out to its own allies this week president xi jinping reached out to north korea right now we have the russian foreign minister in beijing having talks with china's foreign minister and china's foreign minister one has just announced that he will over the next week take a trip to saudi arabia armaan the u.a.e. turkey and iran search china seems to be working behind the scenes on creating its oren bloc to counter what it says are unfair western sections katrina thank you. well the e.u. is also imposing sanctions on officials in me and markets the blocks 1st significant action yet against the genter since last month's military coup the u.s. has also announced of the measures to punish the generals for their violent crackdown on protesters tasha butler has more from paris. hundreds of people protested in the coastal city of die away in myanmar as demonstrations continued in parts of the country against the fabric and the giant is increasingly brutal

crackdown the demonstrations came as e.u. foreign ministers in process announced sanctions on 11 military officials in myanmar linked to the coup and ongoing violence in the country among them didn't a leader many on crying all direct financial support from our development assistance to the government reform programs is great held some rights campaigners said the impact of the sanctions would be limited it cannot make a difference for simple reasons that the you know 11 or so general of the individuals that have been single out for a targeted sanctions they keep their assets in places like china or singapore banks in you know in southeast asia and you know so therefore if we really want to have any impact on the military and its behavior the e.u.

should seriously look at you know de recognizing military attash age across as european union countries. the sanctions against the military officials in myanmar clearly won't be enough to end the violence but after weeks of only condemning the coup and calling for democracy the ease decision to finally act since a powerful message especially batla al jazeera paris now polls have opened in israel's 4th general election in 2 years the votes being dominated prime minister benjamin netanyahu is corruption cases the economy and the pandemic when the touch of a name is live outside a polling station in west jerusalem but israel has been in political limbo for the last 2 years so is this election likely to break the deadlock. according to veteran pollsters and analysts likely not make no mistake this election the 4th in 2 years is

a referendum on israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu one analyst is taking a rather dim view saying that this election will only be a prelude to a 5th election later on this year i'll get into that because it's an issue of numbers and being able to form a coalition but bear in mind that benjamin netanyahu is a masterful politician he is the country's longest serving prime minister served 2 terms this term began in 2009 he is also the 1st sitting israeli prime minister to be indicted he is facing 3 trials on a corruption charges charges he say are an attempted coup his trial resumes next month now even though netanyahu and his likud party are expected to a bass the biggest number of votes this election round we're only talking about 30 maybe 33 seats in the knesset and according to israel's multi-party system party

needs 61 seats in the knesset out of 120 to form a government that is not only something netanyahu as masterful as he is has not been able to accomplish that's something no party has ever been able to accomplish in israel and perhaps in the future may cause a reckoning regarding the system in israel but what's happened over the last several years simply is that even though netanyahu has been able to his party has been able to amass enough votes he has formed a very wobbly coalitions that have not been able to make it to the 4 year term now one of the things that analysts are looking at we're in a pandemic and they're saying they're curious about just how much people will be motivated to go to the polls when the polls opened a short time ago there were people crowded outside waiting to get. when during the last election voter participation was quite high it was 71 per cent bear in mind though that in this election there has also been

a lot of anger directed at netanyahu in recent weeks thousands of people protested outside of his house and there's a feeling that while that may bode motivate the anti netanyahu camp it may also motivate his supporters are right to natasha going to him line 1st from west jerusalem to show thank you. saudi arabia has opposing a nationwide cease fire in yemen nearly 6 years after its military intervention began the plan would include a resumption of political talks to end the war which has resulted in the world's worst humanitarian crisis but the rebels say riyadh proposal doesn't go far enough charlotte bannister ports you know an element here from riyadh and saudi arabia's political and military elite came a proposal they want to end the war in yemen and they had some carrots for the who thinks we will do all we can to put the necessary pressure on the who these to accept and to come to the negotiating table and to lay down arms because we believe

that a stop to the fighting and a focus on a political solution is the only way forward. this is her day to pause held by the who think he's done the blockade by the saudi coalition meaning most fuel and food imports are not getting through. this is santa international airport how'd by the who thinks but has not seen regular commercial flights since 2015 the saudi government is proposing to ease the blockade on her data ports and allow some flights to resume at some a airports to that new political negotiations and a nationwide un supervised cease fire. to fees quickly rejected the proposal stating the opening of ports and airports is a humanitarian right and not a bargaining chip on. what is demanded is 1st to lift the blockade and allow the entry of oil derivatives and that is when we will begin to talk about

a cease fire we are ready for that we have offered several initiatives to stop the war aggression and sending drones a ballistic missiles to saudi arabia these are demands. u.s. president joe biden has rescinded support for saadi arabia in yemen and reversed a decision to label the who thinks as terrorists he pointed to the leader king as a special envoy to yemen who renewed. talks with stakeholders the u.s. proposed a ceasefire last week which the wheaties rejected saying riyadh must 1st lift its see any a blockade. american will to in the conflict is high and yet it seems the prospect of peace may be fueling the war we have seen in seriousness illusions. are also going to be us so it knows us that it seems that both partners are weird know they're coming to be or might be coming to an end. and they are trying to. have. on the ground in order to have negotiations but. now 6 years into

the war neither side wants to lose and yet as they fight to win yemenis are dying every day succumbing to war to disease to famine shelob ellis al jazeera lots more to come here in al-jazeera including traumatized shoppers scramble for safety after a shooting at a crowded supermarket in the u.s. we'll hear from one of the survivors and syrian refugees tell us about abuse they've been facing in lebanon as rights groups accuse security forces of violating human rights more than state. winds drop has become quiet in the arabian peninsula largely because the active weather is pretty obviously the events of mediterranean and that's affecting north

east africa this orange pole is are the dust or light sinuses sorrow and might even be come something that sounds storm and accompanying that on shore breeze means beirut is gots least 2 days of showers well thunderstorms and they're really better when say the temp has dropped about 16 degrees or just below where you should be really this is wednesday's pictures the on shore breeze by this time much of the dust has dispersed are going to know in society and the rain has been replaced by stirring turkey anchors dropped 14 degrees when that happened and that's they would head across funnels in syria and iraq in the mountainous areas beyond that it remains quiet but it is particularly hot in kuwait at $41.00 degrees that drops a little bit all across a day full roll on thursday as you can see it's just drops x. now the weather is much quieter than it was the most part in southern africa because the seasonal rains are going north little areas of sun the storm running through mozambique more building on the western side or south africa or surprised me maybe in namibia but cape town is the one to watch if you want

a bit of late summer early winter want there to last until thursday at least. on counting the cost murray draggy save the euro but can he turn around italy's struggling economy plus can all rich libya's unified government unite the war told he's done west including the country to central banks and chile rethinks china's investment counting the cost on al-jazeera. be the hero of the world right. washing.

welcome back to promote about top stories here this hour the u.s. e.u. u.k. and canada have imposed coordinated sanctions on chinese officials and a regional security force for human rights abuses against the weakest china has retaliated with its own sunshines on e.u. individuals and entities and the european union has also announced sanctions on 11 officials in me and my leader of the military jointer it's in response to last month's coup and the violent crackdown on protesters. the polls have just opened in israel's for the lection in 2 years the vote has been dominated by prime minister benjamin netanyahu corruption cases the economy and the coronavirus one demick. palestinian voters will also have their voice heard for the 1st time in 15 years they are electing a new parliament in may need to abraham spoke to one palestinian family who can vote in 2 different elections. for this palestinian family 2 upcoming elections are

producing 2 very different reactions i've let him down like her husband to malice palestinian but unlike him she's also a citizen of israel she can take part in the country's polls on tuesday and while she doesn't expect real change she says voting is a duty in the end of the up there's a lot of how the heck if i give up this right then i've given the others the chance to decide on my future the political decision follows the majority and if i didn't vote how can i complain later demand is allowed to live with his family in israel but he's not an israeli citizen he can only cast ballots in palestinian tolls in the occupied west bank and gaza and he did get that chance in may the long overdue parliamentary elections are the 1st in 15 years however you want to be voting which had the vote we're not going to win this battle in the me in my vote doesn't make a difference the same people will stay in power regardless of the faces of

palestinian officials may change but their policies are the same israel has the upper hand here when it comes to the occupied territory. according to pollsters jamal's opinion is not popular among most palestinians we've got the impression by the. way that palestinians are looking positively. at the fact that israel is having elections and that the palestinian public at large miss. election when it comes to elections in israel palestinians worry that no matter who wins the country's leaders will continue to control the lantern lives of palestinians israeli settlers living in the heart of the west bank can put up election campaign posters and have a say in their future but palestinians living in the same area. and their leaders in the palestinian authority can change so little in the reality of the depletion back of the hand that household i bless says the determination of

palestinian israelis to have their say is the only way to make a difference both of us as a citizen i know that israel is working for its own benefit it's far fetched to assume that israel can say about us as a palestinian minority so let's start showing that we have a president change doesn't happen in a day jamal has never voted in his life and had no will cast her 4th ballot in 2 years they may disagree politically but both share the hope for a better future for their children but he manages the. west bank amnesty international is accusing lebanese security authorities are violating international human rights laws in the treatment of detained syrian refugees the group says it has documented cruel and abusive treatment ranging from torture to unfair trials so has more now from beirut. lebanon is home to more than

a 1000000 syrians some live in refugee camps others have integrated in communities many are scared to speak in what they see as an unwelcoming country hundreds have been arbitrarily detained on terrorism related charges over the years and what rights groups call a violation of international law i mean the 26 cases we document represent why did . hundreds of syrian refugees 2012 and history and refugees we got on this and they have come it should be treated should have access to trial and should not be subjected to torture during interrogation the report documents violations described as cool abusive and discriminatory detainees speak of beatings at times with metal sticks and electric cables torture during interrogation or detention that involved being hanged upside down 2 of the survivors were aged 15

and 16 years old at the time they also described the harsh conditions like being forced to stand for 3 days handcuffed and blindfolded and having to beg to go to the toilet and for water 2 women were also mistreated and sexually harassed and verbally assaulted during the tension. amnesty international says the lebanese authorities have so far not responded to its findings but it's not the 1st time they've been accused of mistreating syrians. measures in place make it hard for refugees to move around and work it also makes them vulnerable and with more than 75 percent of refugees not having that i trust the sick that puts them at risk of being interrogated by police by security by you know i'm going to just officers that's what happened to many who complain about discrimination and harassment 1st and they're sure in detention the military intelligence slapped me when he knew i was syrian while questioning me about my documents i feel the way

they treat us is deliberate to force us to leave many live in fear and this is sort of the syrian refugee is exposed to all kinds of violations to the extent that if he is beaten he can't even report it to the regime here is the same as the one in syria. those in power in lebanon are close to the authorities in the syrian capital damascus leading some to accuse them of being driven by political motives and treating refugees as a security threat senator their beirut. at least 10 people have been killed in a shooting at a supermarket in the u.s. state of colorado police in boulder city say an injured suspect is now in custody one officer was among those killed witnesses say they heard multiple gunshots at a shop around 3 pm local time. we were there. and got very. very very very hard when.

they would. we were listening in there. and then there was a very right. several people are feared to have died in a major fire during a refugee camp in bangladesh tore through carney camp in cox's bazaar and raised hundreds of tents moving thousands of people without shelter health centers and other facilities have also been destroyed. and when i don't have any idea where my children and wife are where are my children a wife i'm alone now i was unable to salvage anything from my home. it's been an hour was not flies still burning it maybe more than a 1000 children is there have been burnt down many people have died 2 elderly people were able to get half of the show says elderly people suffered the most hundreds of people have been rescued and thousands more evacuated as severe

flooding hits parts of eastern australia the state of new south wales is battling the worst floods in decades with some places declared natural disaster areas and with heavy rain expected to continue until wednesday emergency services say as many as 54000 people could be displaced nicolette gauges in town northwest of sydney where she's been speaking to those affected. well hippie ryan continues to fall across huge areas of eastern australia that are already underwater horror skulls and livestock washed away or caught off in some of the worst floods in decades in a stroller and it's still a dangerous situation for many people in this area trucks and cars are underwater as well as points and the entire tell me people town is cut off by these flood waters here is one of its residents pull pull thank you for joining us how you feeling where is your house for one year what's happening with pay town it's

blocked off clever $1.00 and we just hope the shops in that. plant hopefully will be wrong and had to border state again you know so some residents are still in p. town but i can't get out and i can't have fuel for friends who are stuck there i'm all spiked on this morning and they stuck in there and they said they had seen the other guy. the crimea how well the community how is the community feeling is there enough food in there for everyone thinks i should last thing. in my head they're going to i can't get it in a few days it's all about if the water goes down to nothing the rain stopped. absolutely it's an ever changing situation i hope you'll be ok but many areas have been declared disaster zones now and thousands more people who are yet to evacuate

are on standby as the water that keeps on coming down but there is some relief on tuesday not to wednesday rains are expected to ways but the government says this that doesn't mean the danger will go away with rivers still expected to rise. germany is set to enter a 5 day lockdown over easter as new code 900 cases surge only essential shops will be allowed to open and they'll be strict limits on gatherings the lockdown will be in place from april 1st. pressure is growing on hospitals in venezuela because of a new variant of corona virus that originated in brazil the number of deaths is increasing and more patients are being taken to hospital the treatment has prompted president nicolas maduro to extend quarantine measures and in brazil president j. bolton arrow has used his birthday celebrations to renew his attacks on coronavirus restrictions while bolton are over seen wearing

a mask many of his supporters weren't. these long argued the economic damage caused by lockdowns is worse than the virus itself. and south korea's president has received a dose of astra zeneca coronavirus vaccine moon j in 1st lady came junk soup got their shot together around 680000 medical workers and critically ill people have been vaccinated in the country. by time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera the u.s. and several other countries have imposed coordinated sanctions on chinese officials for human rights abuses against the we go minority group beijing immediately hit back with its own sanctions on e.u. individuals and entities rather than change its policies and. i.