you to do it is the winter because the river is lower than your in the summer months these charming little yellow flags you can see cannot look much they were around $50.00 grand. his release vote in there for the election in just 2 years seen as a referendum on prime minister binyamin it's now. you're watching al-jazeera live from doha with me fully back to bow also ahead russia lenses support to china in condemning west's and sanctions on beijing over human rights abuses of we called muslims at least 7 people were killed in

a massive fire that's devastated able hang a refugee camp in bangladesh plus. an equally gaijin east industry which is being his by some of the worst floods in decades. so israelis are heading to the polls to vote in their 4th election in just 2 years hoping it will end the political deadlock in the country the vote is being overshadowed by prime minister benjamin netanyahu corruption cases the economy and the coronavirus pandemic it's now formed a short lived and tense unity government with former rival benny gantz last year it collapsed in december after a disagreement over the country's budget as ring in a name who's live outside a polling station in west jerusalem so israelis voting for the 4th time in just 2 years natasha how motivated are they. well i've been

speaking to voters this morning let me set the scene for you we're outside of a school that's become a polling station and in accordance with israeli guidelines you can see that parties this is the coup party right behind me are set up right out in front and then right here behind me is the entryway to the polling station as i said i've been speaking to voters this morning and a couple of sentiments keep popping up and that is fear and a lack of hope the general consensus among pollsters and analysts it appears voters is that the status quo will remain in this election this is a referendum on prime minister benjamin netanyahu he is expected to prevail but when i say he is expected to prevail what i mean is he will not get that magic 61 seats in the knesset that is needed to form a government outright it's expected he'll get about 30 maybe $33.00 seats and then

once again as he's had to do in previous elections have to cobble together a coalition as we've seen in the 3 previous elections that coalition has been so wobbly it has not made it to a 4 year term as you say it's all about the numbers and being able to form a coalition government elections this time again being described as the referendum on prime minister netanyahu what is different this time round. well there are a number of factors bear in mind that prime minister netanyahu is the 1st sitting prime minister to face corruption trials he will face 3 on bribery fraud and breach of trust one of those trials has been postponed until next month but this time things are different because he is facing a stiff challenge from within the right and among former allies one of those former allies is benny gantz he is actually currently in the coalition government with

netanyahu he's an alternate prime minister and a current defense minister he is campaigning on against netanyahu aggressively and the fact that he's facing corruption charges he is actively trying to squash any kind of law in the knesset that would allow the netanyahu to avoid prosecution you also have gideon saar he is a former likud defector who started his own party and is campaigning on by critiquing netanyahu is character he says that netanyahu has placed his own personal interests above those of israel and that might explain why for the 1st time netanyahu is courting the israeli i'm sorry the palestinian israeli vote in the past he has tried to boost voter turnout among the right say things like the arabs are being driven to the polls in droves he's also said that if anyone voted

for a party other than likud it would mean a coalition that had arab parties now palestinian israelis may be amenable to this message to these overtures 10000 of them voted for likud in the last election the palestinian israeli vote represents 20 percent and there is a feeling that perhaps it's time to move out off the sidelines and into the political process and become more of an influential. presence in israeli politics natasha thank you very much for that natasha good name my forest say in west chose from. in other news russia has expressed support for china after weston powers impose sanctions on beijing over human rights abuses in john the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov says the sanctions are unacceptable the united states the european union u.k. and canada impose measures against chinese officials for human rights abuses

against weak or muslims or measures prompted immediate retaliation from beijing gabriel is under reports from washington. 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 wiggers in northwest china that use foreign policy chief says the sanctions are meant to engage beijing in dialogue rather than changes policies another. concerned china is against the blind eye and these measures that will next unacceptable. there will be no change in debian union

determination to defend human rights and to respond to city is that your nation abuses as he said it respective where they are going it 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 weekers 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 under former president donald trump the u.s. 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 coalition of other countries in 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 sin job 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 that's not speak to that or any you in beijing for us so that china china reacting angrily to the sanctions what more are we hearing and seeing from beijing. beijing is definitely angry they've just summoned the e.u. ambassador to china to complain about these sanctions immediately china issued a statement criticizing the european union for interfering in china's domestic affairs saying that these sanctions were based on lies and that china reserves the right to impose further actions if the u.s. doesn't back down now these sanctions that china has imposed these are supercool sanctions are a little bit expanded compared to what the e.u. did the e.u. targeted for individuals in china in addition to a number of government bodies china impose sanctions on 10 individuals who are members of the e.u. parliament and their families as well as a democracy and human rights organization now this is going to have ramifications

for the relationship between the e.u. and china china overtook the u.s. last year as the biggest trading partner of the e.u. and it took a few years it was finalized at the end of last year a comprehensive investment treaty between the 2 parties now this is yet to be ratified by the european union because some member states had reservations about china's human rights record although the years says that this is supposed to start a dialogue with china it's unlikely to do survey jim has already interpreted this as very much a hostile signal because beijing maintains that human rights are not human rights violations are not taking place and that these are not reeducation camps but locational training centers designed to improve the economic lives of those injured john thank you for that katrina you live for us there in beijing. myanmar's leadership has expressed regret at the loss of lives in the ongoing

protests against last month's school airplane union has imposed sanctions on the gentilesse for a significant action yet the us has also announced i definitely measures to punish the general for their violent crackdown on protesters attash about one 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 fed pretty cool and the joint 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 gentle leader men on crime all direct financial support from our development system through 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 the simple reasons that the you know 11 or so general of the

individuals that have been a single out for a targeted sanctions they keep their assets in places like china or singable 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 the recognize the military attash 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. still ahead on al-jazeera torture and unfair trials we speak to syrian refugees who describe the

abusive enjoyed in lebanon. and we'll tell you about one palestinian family was able to cast a vote in 2 different elections. now just a little colder many would like for what is now spring in europe and that's largely because the still air coming in from the north are normally breezes or ways code is coming up against well effectively the black sea the adriatic in the gene where that stops you tend to get a lot of snow falling out of the air that's exactly what's happening there's a little bit of snow still a bit further north in austria or ukraine basically to some followers but still talking about single figure high temperatures on tuesday but know what's happening in london 13 degrees a southwesterly process up to 30 we will see

a general rise in temperature not in severe stuck in not rather overcast and and snowy zones v.r.s. for a couple of days yet even 3 days this is the picture for wednesday still you've got snow down the southeast of of europe crossing into turkey but the temperatures on the rise across european play will get into the teens quite happily in vienna for example although not as early into friday is all the work of the spring sun nothing else and this is the opposite just watch ankara this is the picture of turkey on tuesday the blue is rain the wind and the winds are fairly obvious it's pretty stormy picture running into the levant as well and once a snow really sets in ankara drops to only one degree. frank assessments the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure is that a fair assessment it would be

a catastrophic failure to waste valuable informed opinions should we be buying it course ultimately it will be sovereigns and governments who are buying this that is the direction this is all headed in-depth analysis of the day school open headlines inside story on a 0. the one. you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour israelis are voting in their 4th election in just 2 years it's been a largely seen as a referendum on prime minister benjamin netanyahu the campaign has been dominated by the corruption cases against same the economy and the coronavirus pandemic

russia and china say western sanctions against beijing are unacceptable and have warned against politicizing human rights issues the us the e.u. the u.k. and canada have imposed sanctions on chinese officials for human rights abuses. and myanmar's military has held a media briefing expressing regret at the loss of lives in the ongoing protests against last month's military coup this comes a day after the european union impose sanctions on the top. palestinian voters will also have their voice heard for the 1st time in 15 years or electing a new parliament in may need abraham spoke to one palestinian family who can actually 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 that 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 jamal is allowed to live with his family in israel but he's not an israeli citizen he can only cast ballots in palestinian polls 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 lands and 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 put up posters like he and the leaders of the palestinian authority can change so little in the reality of the occupation back of the hand than household oblast says the determination of palestinian israelis to have their say is the only way to make a difference. 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. left bank. a year after india mounts a nationwide draw down kovac 1000 cases are surging again the country recorded more than 40000 new infections in the last 24 hours in many states social distancing advised and mask wearing was being ignored the health ministry is warning that huge crowds gathering for a hindu festival could lead to

a further spike in cases as spring in india correspondent elizabeth cohen who's in new delhi for so india facing the prospect of a 2nd wave of coffee 1000 lives just how bad is the situation right now. folly well the situation in india right now is the worst it's been in about 4 months for the western state of maharashtra very much leading the rise in case there is something like $26000.00 or more than half of the 40000 new infections reported on monday from maharashtra and just a handful of states account for 80 percent of the number of cases in the country the worst affected states along the maharashtra punjab karnataka and. now here in delhi cases have doubled since last week though they are still in the high hundreds around 800 today and not the 10s of thousands like in maharashtra in neighboring hard cases have gone up 4 times as much as they were just 3 weeks ago

and to put that overall rise in context the number of infections in india had fallen from a peak of nearly 100000 cases a day in september to an average of 10000 a day in early february but this monday after a month of cases rising steadily with the highest number of cases in 4 months. and so with that the restrictions are returning in many parts of the country with the government of health experts saying that the rise in cases is because people aren't following code 19 protocols we have in maharashtra the 2nd district who are numbered to go under a complete lockdown with the districts have been. straightest saying the cases are rising because of the large scale movement of people that lockdown is necessary to break the chain of transmission maharashtra's health minister is saying that unless people swallow close in 1000 protocols the entire state which is india's wealthiest and home to the financial capital i will go under complete lockdown because health

minister is saying this is the beginning of the 2nd wave of the coronavirus of the country and that everyone must cooperate to avoid the kind of situation we saw in the country last year with many places running out of running out of hospital beds and so restrictions are coming back and in the same time vaccinations are continuing around 48000000 people have been vaccinated so far but the government is running behind us on sched jewel to inoculate 300000000 people in the 1st 6 months of this year thank you very much for the illicit run of lifeforce there in new delhi. south korea's president has received a dills of asters and has called the virus vaccine in the 1st lady kim jong so got their shot together around 680000 medical workers and critically ill people have been vaccinated in south korea since february. 2 bangladesh now where at least 7 people have been killed and thousands left homeless after a major fire at

a rohingya refugee camp it tore through a camp in cox's bazaar and raise hundreds of tens leaving thousands of people without shelter health centers and other facilities have also been destroyed let's get an update from our correspondent on your charger who is in dhaka so time there really sad situation for these running of refugees do we know any more about how this fire started and what's happening to to the people who've been left homeless. well let me just bring you some update i mean there was a 2nd wave of fire actually last night around 11 pm and it took the fire so i was involuntary to put that fire out to 1 am in the morning today an absolute devastating situation save the children in a statement yesterday said that nearly 80000 people could be adversely affected a lot of the learning center rather informal schools clinics and health centers were destroyed there this is probably one of the was tragedy that took place in one

of the the largest refugee camps not a lot of this people took shelter among family members and friends because there is no particular shelter to actually rehab alleviate any of this people during any tragic incident like this so right now on voluntary basis people are taking in those who are left homeless majority of the population among the wreckage in those camps are children and they're traumatized by this incident and this is not the 1st time in may last year there was a major fire destroying at least 500 hot january this year at least nearly a 1000 hearts were destroyed in a fire nobody still know the exact cause of the fire but it is likely from cooking gas cylinder these are known as gasoline less which are highly combustible for each family they're given one so it's possibly from one of those and when the hot easily catches fire there are more reports coming and people are still missing will have

to save the number of dead increases as time goes by thank you 5 daytime. dhaka. australian authorities are warning they may need to order more evacuations as heavy rains continue across the east coast hundreds of people have been rescued and thousands more evacuated in the state of new south wales is the worst flooding in decades with several places declared national disaster areas emergency services say as many as 54000 people could be displaced mykola gauges in town northwest of sydney where she's been speaking to those affected. cool heavy rain continues to fall across huge areas of eastern australia that are already under water harm scholars 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 under water as well as points and the entire town town is cut off by these brutal is

here is one of its residents pull pull thank you for joining us how you feeling where is your house. near what's happening with pay town it's blocked off everyone . shops in that. you know so some residents are still in peak town but they can't get out. of fuel for friends who are stuck there i'm all spiked on this morning and they stuck in there and i said. how well the community how is the community feeling is there enough food in there for everyone thinks. they're going to. get it in a few days it's all american. 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 true state not until wednesday rains are expected to ways but the government says the that doesn't mean the danger will go away with rivers still expected to rise. a message national is accusing lebanese security officials of violating international human rights laws in their treatment of detained syrian refugees the group says it has documented cruel and abusive trait mentoring going from torture to unfair trial . 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 in what rights groups call a violation of international law and we believe that the $26.00 cases we document represent why did. hundreds of syrian refugees 2012 and the syrian refugees regard. and they have come it will not be treated fairly and 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 the refugees having. i trust the sick not just the risk of being interrogated by police but security by the commission's officers that's what happened to many who complain about discrimination and harassment plus an international 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 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 senekal their beirut. again i'm fully back to bill with the headlines on al-jazeera israelis have voting in their 4th election in just 2 years it's largely seen as a referendum on prime minister benjamin netanyahu the campaign has been dominated by at corruption cases the economy and the coronavirus pandemic that name has more from jove's the general consensus among pollsters and analysts and it appears voters is that the status quo will remain in this election the.