ready. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu claims victory even though no clear winner emerges in the nation's 4th election in 2 years. hello i'm down jordan this is down to 0 live from doha also coming up. furious brazilians bang pots and pans to vent their anger against the president jebel tomorrow has covered 900 daily deaths past 3000 for the 1st time. concerns of a press freedoms in hong kong as a prominent journalist goes on trial for the 1st time since beijing's national security though. this is not it should not be

a partisan issue this is an american issue it will save lives american. president joe biden calls and i divided congress to act on gun control after america's 2nd shooting in less than a week. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is touting a great victory in the nation's 4th election in just 2 years that's despite exit polls suggesting there's no clear winner show netanyahu likud party has won between 31 and 33 seats are a force that reports from western recent. at its start benjamin netanyahu election campaign was all about bringing israel back to life through 1000 vaccines by the time it finished the message it boiled down to one phrase 2 more seats repeatedly telling his supporters he was within touching distance of the 61 needed 3 majority

coalition welcomes up the good old bill it's the largest gap between 2 leading parties in israel in the last dozen years. there is a large majority within the people of israel and with this but you already in the knesset who believe in our principles if possible and needed to set up a stable government in israel a fair government i reach out to all members of the cabinet who believe in these principles i won't rule out anyone i expect them to do the same. the taliban it was styling himself as a netanyahu alternative the question now is whether his yamuna parties 7 or 8 seats will be enough to get netanyahu over the finish line there's no reason why we should go to fit election. they must come to nothing we want to be part of the government we accept the results of this. and form a right of center a government that could aggressively pursue the opportunities we have ahead of us earlier election day itself had been hot and hazy a running tally of ballots cast suggesting the lowest turnout in years netanyahu

crisscrossed the country to squeeze out every last vote warning his core voters that turnout was particularly bad in his likud strongholds i. think. but it was in palestinian israeli areas where the floor seemed most severe the mainly arab joint list with 15 seats in the previous parliament is projected now to have as few as 8 of the splitting into the smaller group failing to get into the parliament at all. meanwhile the far right religious zionist alliance promoted by netanyahu and featuring an advocate of removing disloyal arabs from the country outperformed expectations opposition leader yeah i love peed says relying on their seats would create a homophobic racist illiberal government and one that would shield netanyahu from his corruption trial i mean. i think we can have a good reason to be proud of the way we handled ourselves and even a bigger reason for the results were brought at the moment to netanyahu doesn't have 61 seat but the change bloc. the exit polls have already changed several times

since the 1st release coronavirus voting and counting pro. the cold could delay the official count until friday benjamin netanyahu has claimed victory before only to have it dashed away this time he does have some options perhaps a campaign to try to peel away defect as from other right wing parties israelis in 4 elections now have delivered almost identical verdicts and again it's over to the political dealmakers to try to find a way out of the gridlock all right was it i'll just 0 west jerusalem. wasabi yousef as a member of the palestine liberation organization he says israeli voters choice for the extreme right hurts the prospects of peace that the moment it is clear that the most extreme and the extreme right and those who deny the rights of the palestinian people in trying to run off the palestinian cause the ones who are winning these elections therefore i don't think there is a chance for peace in this region in the presence of those parties who deny the rights of the palestinian people but stephen souness's

a professor of politics at the university of san francisco he thinks a 5th consecutive election is quite possible because of the divisions within the right. now in tears once again despite many premature obituaries that netanyahu will somehow be able to cobble together a working coalition and it's just quite quite amazing that to see israel that you know for its 1st 30 years of existence was overwhelmingly controlled by a center left coalition their mouthes self after the social democratic parties in western europe it is so firmly in the hands of such a right wing and corrupt a political figure as netanyahu and he is already the longest serving prime minister in the country's history and looks like it may be still longer due to the fact that there are once again the next you know those come on top but still

a long distance from an absolute $61.00 seat majority that this is going to be another yet another. kind of shaky coalition government and we may once again see people going back to the polls because i mean that their overall right we're dressed in israel is very strong and very concerning you know the labor party i mentioned which dominate israel for years only got like they're only going to get 7 seats but within the right there are such divisions both among those who are you know you know seen as you know as a very corrupt figure but also among those are the most extreme elements and those who might be a tad more moderate. brazil has recorded its highest number of corona virus deaths since the beginning of the pandemic more than 3200 people died from carbon 1000 on tuesday brazil's been

reporting the world's highest daily number of deaths now for weeks doctors believe a local variant of the virus is causing a rise in infections and deaths hospitals are pushed to breaking point and supplies of medical oxygen are running out. and brazilians are firas their government's response to the pandemic nationwide people banged pots and pans to show their anger against the president jabil tomorrow during his short address on television he's long been opposed to lock downs and mosque mandates citing concerns over the impact on the economy view truth should rule the virus has a rifle and it is being confronted by ice and it will soon pass our life must go on and jobs should be kept the life lee who family should be kept and should return to normality. what dr judy upon say is an epidemiologist in sao paolo he says president both responses one of the main reasons why brazil is in this crisis. he carries a lot of responsibility to be to be very honest he not only diminished and. didn't

respect the pandemic as it should have but he also stimulated people and he tried to push unproven cures and he still says that masks some work and that the lock down won't make the virus go away so he's very much responsible for the situation we're in now we are seeing a call apps of the health system all throughout the country all of this happening at the same time as we have a new variant of p one being disseminated across the country we 3 all exist and data scientists as a whole have been predicting that if something was not done in time we would see increase in numbers but we are of course very saddened to see those predictions come true we have reached as was said in the piece over $3000.00 deaths deaths for the 1st time in the been demick and

a 12 percent increase from the last record which was last tuesday tuesday of last week so we are now bracing ourselves for what might be the hardest week in the entire pandemic. staying in brazil in the supreme court has ruled that former president luis inacio lula da silva was not treated impartially in a series of corruption investigations justice comment assia reversed to earlier position to tip the court's 5 judge panel in lunas favor it means the court is likely to throw out evidence and corruption cases against him strengthening his potential candidacy for next year's election against president jacques bowles and i want to tell you not to have reports from rio de janeiro that. this is an represents a victory for former president lula da silva and paves the way for his candidacy in the 2022 presidential elections he now can run against a far right president right. now lou i was a front runner in the 28 team presidential elections but he was banned from running

because he was tried and convicted and imprisoned by a judge. and the supreme court now says has been saying all along that he the trial was not fair because the judge was. biased he did not act impartially and rumor has been saying this because morrow after the trial went on to become president. justice minister so in a certain way now is feeling vindicated now this does not mean that he is free of all corruption charges there are still corruption charges against him what this means is that this particular trial was not fair. press freedom is in the spotlight again in hong kong the veteran journalist from its public broadcaster is on trial for investigating police misconduct choying has pleaded not guilty she's accused of

making false statements to get data she used in a documentary hong kong was once a bastion of press freedom in asia but a sunk to 80th place in the world press freedom index. pro-democracy media tycoon jimmy lai was arrested last year and has been in jail ever since police raided the news room of his publication apple day the last summer radio television hong kong suspended hong kong's oldest a to rickles show headline after accusations of insulting the police and in january pro-democracy website chronicles was blocked these moves of unsettled some international news organizations the new york times moved its asia digital hub and a 3rd of its hong kong stuff to the south korean capital seoul where tom grundy is editor in chief and co-founder of hong kong free press he says china's new security law is affecting journalists in hong kong on a daily basis. last year the pro-democracy apple daily news room was rated as weighty as well as the new york times that had worked as a work visa denial and media tycoon jimmy lie is behind bars at the moment awaiting

trial and security law this broadcast r t h k has suddenly been cursed in the firing line along with apple daily the local according to the b.b.c. . as you say one show's been pulled from the air for allegedly mocking the lace but also this month patrick lean who is a government bureaucrat with no media experience was installed as the broadcasting chief 3 senior staffers quit around then and he has said that he will be reviewing all programming before it goes out for it as and we've already seen a new show. x. which is featuring a pro-democracy veteran but we ourselves have also been scrambling to react to this . well it's meant to be the 1st economy in the world open for business but you know whether it's small companies like ourselves or or media mega let's you know like new york times there are almost weekly discussions of to how to react to this new atmosphere they've moved stuff out of here 'd. and we've also moved stuff to

a private office we've thought legal and business advice we've had training on what to do you know in raids but i think for a lot of the smaller outlets i've been speaking to in ourselves the sense is that we need to just keep calm and carry on prepare for the worst hope for the best and hope that it doesn't come that we have to choose between hong kong and pre-press. time for a short break here al-jazeera when we come back an apology from colombia's government but that's not enough for the journalist who was kidnapped tortured and raped while covering the civil war. scotland's 1st minister looks to the future and that potential 2nd independence referendum after clearing an inquiry or not stay with us . how very much

a game of 2 hobson terms of the weather across the middle east at the moment it's 5 enjoy a warm and sunny across southern parts of the region but plenty of cloud and plenty of snow too across northern parts for say temperatures in ankara struggling to get to 3 degrees celsius something like a 10 degree drop of the sort of values that we saw earlier on in the week has some blustery showers to moving in across the eastern side of the mediterranean sweeping across cyprus into lebanon see some of that west weather just easing across into northern parts of syria and increasingly turning to snow in the process quite a brisk wind into southern areas of iraq northern parts of saudi arabia and that's going to get pushed over towards the gulf as we go on through thursday temperatures here in doha falling back around 5 degrees to high for around 29 celsius by thursday but at least it should be lossy dry and sunny old lifted just a sad always a possibility south of that fire and drive also hazy sunshine the hazy sunshine stretches down across the whole of africa where it is generally set for somalia for

we got a few showers there just around the valley of cool so showers pushing up towards the gulf of guinea for south africa is generally fine and try cape town with a high of 30. mixing the traditional with the mountain nobody knew what to expect ignoring cause divides the only thing which generated their voice the music great music blaring through the speakers wielding the power of music to turn up the volume on india's social injustices when i saw the performance i was like wow and shake things out we went on stage or some to the board of stage or something else witness causeless collective on al-jazeera.

welcome back it took him out of our top stories this hour israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he's won a great victory in the nation's 4th election in 2 years that's despite exit polls suggesting there's no clear winner show netanyahu is we could party as one between 31 and 33 seats. more than 3000 people have died of covert 9000 in brazil in a single day for the 1st time since the pandemic began cases and deaths have been searching for weeks and public anger is increasingly turning on the president holds an hour and a veteran hong kong journalist on trial after investigating alleged police misconduct in 2019 choi's accused of making false statements to get data she used in a documentary she's pleaded not guilty to. south korea says north korea fired 2 cruise

missiles on sunday the confirmation follows reports in american media that the launches came after pyongyang declined to engage with president joe biden's of ministration as officials are playing down the missile test saying biden is still open to dialogue with north korea in the united states senate democrats are planning a vote on expanded gun control measures after the nation's 2nd mass shooting in a week on monday 10 people including a police officer was shot dead in boulder colorado president joe biden has called for bipartisan action on gun control but republicans are pushing back mike hanna has more now from washington d.c. flags that government buildings once again fly at half staff on the president's orders just as they did a week ago following a national in atlanta among the 10 killed in boulder colorado was a 51 year old police officer eric talley his fellow officers and citizens paid tribute to his body was taken to the morgue gun violence is a pandemic within

a pandemic. we know about 50000000 guns were sold in the last year many of them to people who live in states that don't require a background check or training or permit. and the president has called for a bipartisan push to institute stronger gun controls we can ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines in this country once again i got that done when i was a senator it passed it was law for the longest time and brought down these mass killings we should do it again 2 bulls making it more difficult to buy a gun have been passed in the house of representatives in recent weeks but they are likely to face strong opposition when brought to the senate for years democrats have pushed for action to stop this killing with commonsense reform that will save lives for years we've been blocked by republican leaders and their special interests now we can act and we will the divisions remained on sharp display

in the senate judiciary committee session on gun control should chill before the shootings in recent days thoughts and prayers are not enough and yet thoughts and prayers is all we have heard from my colleagues on the other side thoughts and prayers must lead to action i agree it is time for us to do something and every time there's a shooting we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders. the legislation that's been passed in the house falls far short of the president's call for a ban on automatic weapons and high capacity magazines it proposes extending the background check period from 3 to 10 days get given rid of this cruel republican opposition to

any form of gun control even this moderate measure is unlikely to get the 60 votes needed in the senate to become law since mike hanna al-jazeera washington the yemeni military says who think rebels have been launching attacks on its positions in the southwest of the country the army at this footage showing a number of hooty vehicles burning after they were targeted by saudi erotic coalition forces that follow saudi arabia's proposal for a nationwide cease fire in yemen but who the say doesn't go far enough results from the republic of congo election show the incumbent president will extend his 36 years in power going to receive more than 88 percent of the vote and the result widely expected by analysts the main opposition party boycotted the vote because of concerns about its safety and credibility sources closest rival. died of covered 19 just hours after polls closed. scotland's 1st minister nicolas sturgeon has been

criticised by a parliamentary inquiry into her handling of sexual assault allegations against her predecessor but she'll season a separate independent inquiry that cleared her of serious wrongdoing that may give her the momentum she needs to force another independence referendum on a whole reports now from edinburgh. cleared of breaking the ministerial code by an independent inquiry nicholas sturgeon said her focus was on the pandemic. the one you don't want from the country going into law with the almost 10000 families across the country who've lost a loved one to the coronavirus and in a moment of reflection on the anniversary of lock down the 1st minister later said she looked forward to a new beginning the toxic atmosphere that has infected this team but in recent months will give we i hope to the finish of an election and i hope that the fish here will bring with it a regular and positive debate not just about personalities but about the caned of

country we want to be the scottish national party is hoping the parliamentary election in 6 weeks time will deliver an outright majority pointing the way to independents and beyond let's create a roadmap that allows us as we committed corporate. independence referendum to be able to have that discussion and the concrete in the present the scottish parliament having the opportunity to get back into europe but the unseemly breakdown in relations between sturgeon and hope as party leader alex salmond over the scottish government's mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations may have dented s.n.p. hopes and some voters may take a dim view of the finding by a parliamentary committee that sturgeon gave misleading evidence probably. not running it. was. that's not

a lot to do if they want to. make the difference between the. majority. is the urgent talks have been going to drink. and. so a majority for the scottish national party is by no means guaranteed but it is vital for the independents because the prime minister boris johnson has ruled out granting scotland another referendum so soon after the 1st in 2014 but a big win for the s.n.p. would be a powerful electoral mandate but westminster may find hard to ignore exonerated but not entirely blemished nicholas sturgeon survived a vote of no confidence called by johnson's conservatives the opposition here in scotland as the election campaign begins this week there's little more they can do to stop a journal al-jazeera edinburgh. the colombian government has asked for forgiveness

for its role in the case of a journalist who was kidnapped tortured and raped while reporting on the civil war tuesday was the final day of hearings on the international trial the victim says the government apology is not enough from petty reports. it took the colombian government 20 years to recognize part of the state's responsibility in the case of jeanette bhadoria the colombian journalist was abducted tortured and raped while investigating arm trafficking network between paramilitaries and colombian say to fish tales in 2000. in the name of the colombia state i recognize our international responsibility for the failings of the judicial system but did not realize or worth the pain all of us to get in for the victim and i offer an apology to jeanette for the damage it caused. pain for 2 decades to bring her attackers to justice for her the government's acknowledgement

is another slap in the face. this is a case where part of the evidence has been lost where my mother and i have constantly been threatened witnesses have been threatened and killed and were to this day those who threaten me say i will be raped again a full apology requires recognizing that these cases are not investigate it all and the states offers no support to women who suffered the worst possible violence. but the year was kidnapped in front of police officers on may 25th 2000 by a group of right wing paramilitaries outside a prison in bogota and then tortured and raped for 16 hours before being abandoned on the side of a road she says prison guards and the police were involved and then army general and the police chief were behind the attack among others her captors at the time told her the assault was a direct message to the press and. the case is long blagden colombia's. justice system well bill has become the symbol of all women and journalists fighting

against impunity in the country that is going. to tax on journalists and women continues just like 20 years ago impunity remains hire the 98 percent in these cases so it's very difficult to believe the state when it says it's committed in the fight on crimes against journalists and women when clearly it is not the case these are not failings of particular moment in time they are structural back. they did 3 former paramilitaries have been convicted for the attack recently but none of the masterminds in now the case reached the interim american court for human rights the court's decision which is definitive unappealable is expected in november and could set a precedent for thousands of journalists and victims of sexual violence hoping to see justice prevail alison that. they're not

a state says it stands by the philippines in a maritime dispute with china the philippines is urging beijing to recall more than 200 boats but it said were spotted near the spratly islands in the south china sea presence is also raising concerns about possible conflicts of a fishing rights. reports now from the philippines capital manila. the philippine defense chief calls their deployment a provocative action and a violation of the country's maritime rights the military released photos of chinese ships mord at whitson reef it says the vessels are well within the exclusive economic zone of the philippines the country has launched a diplomatic protest against china the chinese embassy says these vessels were not part of any maritime militia but fishing boats taking shelter jurong rough seas the philippine military has rejected that explanation whitson refits claimed by the

philippines china and vietnam it is that eastern most part of the spratleys group of islands there are very large. and the number of. these ready by militia. or. employed and that's basically. inability to make it appear nonmilitary but actually under the control of the military. in china they look like mission rest but the holes are being. made. and they're designed for i mean in 2016 the philippines filed a landmark case against china at the hague the ruling declared china's 9 deaths claim as invalid a decision china rejects the spite international condemnation china continues its

reclamation and expansion of many areas in the south china sea setting up maritime patrols and airships on disputed islands and reefs tension has been rising in the area for years. philippine president through the go to to has refused to assert the landmark ruling and taken a softer approach to dealing with beijing but this critics say you. too often and too much in exchange for promises of grants and projects that remain largely fulfilled the presence of a chinese armada also means that the philippines stand to lose another critical fishing ground this is similar to what happened in 2012 when china took control of scarborough seoul and in their region where one 3rd of the global trade passes through each year there is little doubt that the south china sea will be even next security flashpoint. now

a massive container ship has blocked the suez canal in both directions it's unclear however green's container ship became stuck tugboat spend much of tuesday trying to move it tankers carrying saudi russian and american oil now waiting on both ends of the waterway which connects europe to asia. time for a quick check of the top stories here on al-jazeera israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he's won a great victory in the nation's 4th election in 2 years that's despite exit polls suggesting there's no clear winner they show netanyahu is likud party has won between 31 and 33 seats. it's the largest gap between 2 leading parties in israel in the last dozen years we're coming out of a covert war and israel is the champion in vaccinations there is a large majority within the people of israel and with this pejorative the knesset who believe it or.