because the. israelis head to the polls for the 4th time in just 2 years in any election seen as a referendum on prime minister binyamin netanyahu. i'm fully back to boyer watching al-jazeera live from doha also ahead russia supports china in condemning western sanctions on beijing over its alleged abuse of waco muslims. at least 7 people were killed in a major fire at

a rohingya refugee camp in bangladesh and thousands are ordered to evacuate their homes in australia as it grapples with some of the worst flooding in decades. israelis are voting in a 4th election in just 2 years according to some opinion polls find minister binyamin netanyahu and his likud party remain popular despite the corruption cases against him and the struggling economy as a result of the coronavirus pandemic the question now is will he be able to secure a majority in parliament or like previous elections be at the mercy of a coalition that could see the country mired in more political instability as being in a tasha go name who is outside a polling station in west jerusalem for us as a 1st of all how motivated are israelis to vote in another election.

yeah and there's definitely a sense of deja vu and lack of hope that nothing that anything other than the status quo will be the outcome in this election bear in mind that more than half of israelis polled recently said that they want prime minister benjamin ment netanyahu out of office and yet it's expected veteran pollsters and analysts believe that netanyahu and his likud party will amass the largest amount of seats in the knesset they probably will not get a majority and that is why i've been seeing all of this turmoil the number to form a government in israel is 61 seats in the knesset no one has ever been able to amass that number of seats hence the need for a formation of a coalition government the question now foley is as masterful of a politician as israel's longest serving prime minister is even he has not been

able to amass that large number of votes he's alienated former allies and members from within the right and now he's facing stiff competition and a big question mark in suspense and perhaps the only suspense today is is who will he if he is prevails as expected form a coalition with or can he even who's expected to be next now his biggest challenger and what is different about this election that tosh. well there are a couple of things that are different about this election i should mention that with the pandemic looming it's really unclear how high voter turnout will be a veteran pollster says he expects it to be lower than last time last time it was 71 percent participation but we've been talking to voters and many of them even ones who have turned out to vote again have mentioned feeling a lack of hope that there will be much change not a new direction at least those who are opposing netanyahu in this election look the

biggest opponent he has and it's widely expected that he is not a real contender to be prime minister is a man by the name of yere pete he is a member of the centrist yes a tea party this is the future party and again he has momentum but it's not believe that he can come close to getting the number of votes that they like cooed party is expected to get as i mentioned this time around netanyahu is suffering from lack of support within the right and that might explain why he has been courting palestinian israeli voters they represent 20 percent of the population in the last election 10000 of them voted for likud it's a market departure for a man who has used the quote threat of the era vote to boost his support

and turned out in the right he said in the past to try to scare far right voters that arabs were being bused to the polls in droves he warned his far right supporters that any vote for a party other than they cood would mean a coalition with arab parties and there is a sense that some in the palestinian israeli community might be amenable to netanyahu overtures and that is because for years they been sidelined and there are some believe that it's time to step off of the sidelines and into the political process and have some influence that atia thank you very much for that name rainforest say in west jerusalem. in other news russia and china say western sanctions against beijing are unacceptable and have warned against politicizing human rights the united states the european union u.k. and canada have imposed measures against chinese officials for what they say are

human rights abuses against legal muslims in change on the measure has prompted immediate retaliation from beijing gabriel is under way for some 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 acorn a good 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 the use foreign policy chief says the sanctions are meant to engage beijing in dialogue rather than changes policies and address our legitimate concern and china is against a blind eye and these measures that will annex an acceptable. there will be no change in due to fear in union determination to defend human

rights and to respond to city is that your nation abuses as they said it respective or where they could 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 same sions 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 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 and singe out to be unacceptable reprehensible they are violations of human rights and 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. gabriels.

washington katrin e.u. has more reaction from beijing they've just summoned the e.u. ambassador to china to complain about these easier 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 of the years says that this is supposed to start a dialogue with china it's unlikely to do so beijing 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 in that these are not reeducation camps but work ational training centers designed to improve the economic lives of those ancient junge. the european union has also impose sanctions on 11 individuals laying to the core in myanmar and the crackdown on protests the u.s. announced additional measures to punish generals for their roles in crushing dissent on mars military leadership has said it regrets the loss of life natasha but last war. hundreds of people protested in the coastal city of die away in

myanmar as demonstrations continued in parts of the country against the fed and the joint is increasingly brutal crackdown the demonstrations came as the 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 generals and individuals that have been a single out for a targeted sanctions they keep their assets in places like china or singapore banks in you know in southeast asia and there 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 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. still ahead on al-jazeera i will tell you about the out of this planned space junk. it's time for the perfect gentlemen. sponsored point at ways

how the weather's looking glossy fied in try to cross much of here put them i would be to have high pressure still very much in shock she said not on the warm side but a lot of fine and settled weather coming through rather area of high pressure the reason it is a little cold is because the winds are coming in from a general northwesterly or a northerly direction and that cooler air is diving right down into that southeastern corner of europe areas of low pressure here bringing in fair bit of rain sleet and snow into some wet weather there into grace 3 some snow which remain here as well notably the snow there into the far eastern side of here but i would swear central and western policy is fine it rises with a lovely weather is and some sunshine 13 celsius in london double figures there for glasgow there will be some rain just coming in across into western policies coffin as we go on through choose the south's the pleasant weather continues all the way down across spain and portugal and that sets a warm up nicely into madrid for around 21 celsius on wednesday afternoon 12 celsius there in london less out west the weather coming in across scotland making

its way it's more the palace of england by this stage still a few wintry showers down towards the southeast some wet weather there and some brisk winds across the eastern side of the mediterranean a few showers across the far north the chin isha and also northern areas of libya. she. jumped into the stream there is a lot going on in this. global community when i talk about the misinformation i think we are more afraid than we are aware be part of the debate john edwards we could be buddies one word because there's always a difference when no topic is off the table we have been disconnected from our land we have been disconnected from who we are and would love to hear the new in each week be part of today's discussion the stream on out is there. the.

this is al jazeera live from doha a recap of our top stories israelis are voting in their 4th election in 2 years it's widely seen as a referendum on prime minister benjamin netanyahu the campaign has been dominated by his corruption cases the economy and the coronavirus pandemic russia and china say western sanctions against beijing are unacceptable and have warned against politicizing human rice the u.s. e.u. u.k. and canada have sanctions chinese officials for alleged rights abuses in shing john . and myanmar's military leadership has expressed regret at the loss of lives in the protests against last month's military coup this comes a day after the european union impose sanctions on the joint town and on this story let's speak to forswear who is monitoring the situation in myanmar from kuala

lumpur florence the military has been speaking in the past hour tell us more about what they've said. right so the military has released a fatality count saying more than 160 people have died since the coup on 1st of february largely as a result of the protests and the military's heavy handed tactics in dispersing the protesters now the military spokesman said in a televised news conference that the military expressed regret at the loss of life of civilians but there's no indication that it's ready to roll back the tactics it's been using to stop these protests from going on it also said that there has been a loss of life of people dying with coke at 19 because the hospitals were unable to treat them as we all know the doctors were one of the 1st to take part in a civil disobedience movement and presumably because of this people with illnesses

have not been able to get the treatment that they need there is no indication however that the it's protests are going to stop or that the military is going to change that tactic in deep in dealing with these protests and new accusations florence against. that's right now the military appears to be. trying to perhaps change public opinion about how sun suchi is viewed and we've seen this happening throughout the weeks since the coup took place on the 1st of february initially they said that she was guilty of possessing illegal walkie talkies and of contravening export import laws and then they said she had broken the laws on covert and on gatherings and covert 19 and on gatherings and then about 10 days ago they said ship been guilty of corruption of receiving bribes now at this military press conference what they did was they added

video off the yangon former chief minister saying that he had passed money to her and he had also given other gifts of silk and gold bars to her that's the evidence that they are now in presenting in public hoping to turn the tide of public opinion against aung sun suu kyi now on top of that they also showed a video of the mayor of naypyidaw alleging that her party the national league of democracy had committed electoral fraud by inventing voters including in one township tripling the number of voters there now if you remember one of the reasons or main reason that the military side to do for ford for conducting the coup is because they believed that the election last year had been carried out in fraud in the carried out and i hear is that they are just trying to shore up their case in carrying out this coup whether or not people believe what the military is saying is

completely it another matter completely florence thank you very much for that foreign story live in kuala lumpur. saudi arabia is proposing a nationwide cease fire in yemen nearly 6 years after its military intervention began the plan includes a resumption of talks to end the war that's led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis at home the rebels say of riyadh proposal doesn't go far enough details and i limit 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 date of pause held by the who theses but under 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 port and allow some flights to resume at sana airport to that new political negotiations and a nationwide un supervised cease fire. the romberg who thinks quickly rejected the proposal stating the opening of ports and airports is a humanitarian right and not a bargaining chip on mobile more. 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 is a special in. boy to yemen here in new talks with stakeholders the u.s. proposed a ceasefire last week which the who these rejected saying riyadh must 1st lift it 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 not both authors are aware they're coming to be or might be coming to an end. they are trying to. have. on the ground in order to have negotiations but you. know 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 shela bellus al-jazeera

as running has covered the crisis in yemen for a 6th sense of this saudi initiative to end the crisis in yemen is attracting a lot of attention what does it signal and what's new in this initiative if anything. well for you what is significant about this initiative is that almost 6 years after the start of the saudi military campaign against. these in yemen that is the realisation that there will be no winner in this particular war because if you remember back in 2015 the stated goals of the saudi campaign was basically to. reinstate the government of a little muscle handy and also to guarantee the these are pulling out from the sun and laying down their weapons that didn't happen on the contrary what is happening on the ground is that we're seeing the who these further increasing their political

and military influence across across the country this could be the moment where the whole things and the saudis would come together and start talking about how to move forward the hope he said that they are opposed to this deal but i think they saw an opening there and this is why yesterday they started to up the stakes. for more political gains in the future right and the whole fees as you say so far as saying this is not enough what exactly do they want and who's got the upper hand right now in 2018 enduring the stockholm agreement this was exactly the same spirit that was prevailing to pave the way for a ceasefire that allowed the hertha's to pull out from her data city and to is the restrictions of the flights into sunnah that the saudis said no we would like to see more concessions now the saudis are saying you know what we think there is a potential for a concession to her these are saying why no the reason why they're saying though is

because they are gaining ground in they're moving all the way towards thais and they're trying to take over it which is the last bastion for the internationally recognized government of the ball so hard now with this sort of that the ground is tilting towards them they are saying to the saudis no this is not what we want we want more concessions from you and we want an international recognition that's where the whatever happens in the future we are the ones who will have the upper hand as far as the future of yemen is concerned i think this could be doable in the near future because with the americans by the pressure of the saudis we are likely to see the houthi the saudis sitting together in the near future along with another nation's top envoy to try to find a way however this is a problem with the 2015 they were talking just about the need to get some concessions on the who these by yemenite 2015 does not exist anymore it is about to disintegrate with the southern part of the current of the country insisting on

breaking away from the north so if the international community comes together along with assad is to more to decide to fix the problems i don't think that will be doable in the near future thank you very much for that. at least 7 people have been killed and thousands left homeless after a major fire a refugee camp in bangladesh it's what through the camp in cox's bazaar hundreds of tents were burnt down leaving sounds of people without shelter health centers and other facilities have also been destroyed chantry has this update from dhaka for there was a 2nd wave of fire actually last night around 11 pm and it took the fire service and volunteers to put that fire out till 1 am in the morning today 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 or rather informal schools clinics and health centers

were destroyed this is probably one of the worst tragedy that took place in one of the the largest refugee camp now a lot of these people took shelter among family members and friends because there is no particular shelter to actually we have military any of these 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 refugees in those camps are children and they're traumatized by this incident this is not the 1st time in may last year there was a major fire destroying at least $500.00 january this year at least nearly a 1000 houses 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 l.p.g. gas still in there which are highly combustible. it's families are given one so it's possibly from one of those and when the heart is really catches fire there are

more reports coming and people are still missing will have to save the number of that increase as time goes by authorities in australia are warning they may need to order more people to evacuate ahead. rain sweeps the east coast thousands have already been told to leave their homes and hundreds rescued in the state of new south wales it's the worst flooding in decades with natural disasters declared in several areas emergency services say as many as 54000 people could be displaced gauges in a town northwest of sydney where she's been speaking to those affect it. well 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 point and the entire town people town is cut off by these flood which is

here is one of its residents pull pull thank you for joining us how you feeling where is your house and. yet what's happening with paint town it's blocked off everyone. in that. you know so some residents are still in p. town but they can't get out. of fuel for friends who are stuck there i'm all spike in. there and. how well the community how is the community feeling is there enough food in there for everyone thinks. they're going to if they can't get it in a few days it's all a medical. 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 gemini's said to enter a 5 day knock down over easter as new coronavirus cases say on essential shops will be allowed to open and they'll be strict limits on gatherings the place from april 1st. at least 10 people have been killed in a shooting at a supermarket in the u.s. state of colorado police in boulder city c.n.n. say an injured suspect is now in custody one officer was among those killed. british mission to show how space junk can be removed from the earth this orbit has

blasted into the cosmos on board a russian rocket the soyuz rockets kongo includes a satellite that captures debris and another which will act as a dummy piece of space junk if the experiment is successful then it's hoped it will become a commercial salvage venture we're expecting about $10000.00 satellites or more to be launched in the next decade so that's a huge growth in the amount of traffic and congestion that we're expecting to see in space which is going to mean that satellite operators are going to have to deal with potential potential conjunctions potential collisions and also you know increasing amount of space debris that is going to be broken up there is hard waste . the air. clear again i'm fully back to go with the headlines on al-jazeera israelis are voting in there for the election in just 2 years it's largely seen as a referendum on prime min.