narrative the media will miss the true story no topic is off the table why in the world would we humanize an individual domestic terrorists if this was an illegal occupation of a country what they're doing is they're removing or just a store in this in the street where a global audience becomes a global community on al-jazeera. at least 28 people are reportedly killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern israel. watching all just their ally from the headquarters of the haim de you know brigades are also heads on hold what would have been palestine's 1st elections of 15 years

our press bone thomas describes the decision as a coup. brazil becomes the 2nd country to surpass 400000 over 1000 deaths and health officials are warning of more gruesome days ahead. president joe biden hits the road to promote his plan to rebuild the u.s. economy is he marks 100 days in office. hello we begin with breaking news in regarding reports that at least 28 people have been killed in a stampede in northern israel take a look at these pictures from mounds meron where people had gathered for a religious holiday harry faso is joining us on the phone from us theresa lim harry what are you hearing about this incident. well that it is extremely serious and modest scale incident one that the. a minister of israel has called

a terrible tragedy it took place after midnight we understand there are some diversion reports as to exactly how it happened some reports that there was a collapse of a stand the reports talking about a roof collapse but the most current reporting seems just that it was in fact a stampede that the. videos are emerging of one area where people were trying to get out with police blocked an exit that had been preceded by people videoing what looked like a buckling roof or support structure above them it seemed to be swaying so that could give some indication as to what took place but this is an extremely large scale event estimated $100000.00 people with even as things were planned they were very very tightly packed together so once this problem started to emerge it got worse it seems much more quickly and also the kind of overcrowding at the event

prevented or at least delayed attempts to try to get people out and to get medical attention to them so once the issue began it seems that the sheer numbers and when literally the weight of numbers made it worse very quickly and made it more difficult to try to get help and harry what more do we know about why people were gathering there and about the religious festival. well that this is a festival of luck beaumaris it is one that is related to a 2nd century. religious figure of a rabbi and part of jewish mysticism this is a festival that that sort of celebrates the end of a period of solemnity around this time of the jewish calendar and one way across israel people will light bonfires and and celebrate this sites mount meron up in the northern galilee is where this madness is believed to be buried

there is a year round imminent residential facility that near his tomb and at this time of year of course that attracts a huge number of largely ultra orthodox jews to come and celebrate over several days and there were images of a stage set up big stands big steeply rate stands and very very tightly packed crowds as i say have estimated around 100000 people that had already been concerns about the potential coronavirus spreading potential of this event. given that the vaccination. numbers a somewhat less within the ultra-orthodox mean to them they are within the israeli community more generally it's obviously the safety concern to be entirely overtaken by a very different kind of a tragedy is the prime minister put it ok harry thank you so much for that update. on palestine 1st parliamentary elections in 15 years have been postponed they were

due to take place next month president mahmoud abbas decided to postpone the polls because of of this new israel over voting in occupied east jerusalem the opposition hamas has rejected the palestinian authorities decision calling it a coup. donovan were some are the. we call on the international community to continue putting pressure on israel to stop its provocative action against palestinian national rights and to respect agreements that has signed including the palestinian right to vote in east jerusalem the european stance on the seems to have changed europe said hold elections will support you so we plan to wear is that now we will continue working on policy national unity put an end to our division and reconcile for god's sake i plead with you to hold a peaceful resistance where is the national unity on this. let's go to brian get to this is a senior fellow at the center for american progress is joining us from because that's in maryland thanks for speaking to us are you surprised by this postponement

no not really there were signals that these elections weren't going to move according to plan on this date in part because it logistical challenges also the covert endemic and then big questions about east jerusalem and the fact that israelis palestinians didn't agree on the modalities for holding elections there so the decision doesn't surprise me and then you add to a fact that. the dialogue between hamas and us was not moving in a constructive space in recent days so it's not a surprise you but disappointing i think for many palestinians were looking for something different here and this will be welcomed however by israel and the united states where you are because according to some media reports they believe that the results of the election should they take place will not favor. and. want to buy himself some time. well i don't know about israel but i know here in the united states the issue of the palestinian elections is probably late 30 s on the list so

i don't know that there was actually a clear view here in the united states quite frankly about holding these elections i think there are many people like me who wish that the palestinian people actually had stronger representation from their leaders and i think the decision that of the way that this decision went down in the fact that 3 and a half months ago an election was called parties were registered in and then all of a sudden things were pulled back but p.a. is a worrisome sign about their own internal governance but my main point you're the u.s. side is that i actually don't think that there was a well the sighted view on whether these elections were good or not and or will precede it and i don't think it's as high of a priority as as other issues are but the u.s. would have been worried if hamas were to make gains in these elections and that the house prospects have been threatened by splinter factions within the group this is something that worries the united states is it not but i suppose so but again

relative to previous areas when you look at president biden's 1st few months in office these really palestinian issue is not really registered compared to saudi arabia yemen and then certainly iran so possibly but it's really would depend you're asking me a hypothetical question about how the elections that were just canceled might have happened and i don't know what the purpose of that actually inquiry is what do you think how do you think this is going to impact basts himself i mean will he pay a political price for this for a perspiring election that's due to take place in less than a month's time. i think it's hard for a leader to pay a political price when peace not really accountable to the people when i lived in palestine and i traveled there recently regularly what i hear is that people are just discontent especially a new generation about an old generation including abbas that have been an you know the power for decades so i suppose that his already declining political legitimacy

will continue to climb but it doesn't really so the main problem that most post in ian ordinary postings face which is they want you to take leadership and whether it's about the hamas or something different they're just i think tired of seeing the old guard there ok brian can tell us thanks so much for speaking to us from maryland rachel your time thank you great to be with you. now brazil is marking another bleak milestone in the current virus pandemic author of the number of deaths past 400008 quarter of those fatalities were recorded this month brazil is only the 2nd country after the u.s. to reach that figure. well the numbers also show an increase in the deaths of babies and children under the age of 10 monika an account reports from rio de janeiro. behind a store

a haven for children there's no school and a huge patio with new when unusual toys this abandoned factory at the entrance of real sold a slum has become their playground during the pandemic its walls shield them from the traffic and violence outside but offer little protection from covert 19 or you know since the pandemic began in march of 2020 until last february 47000 babies and children under the age of 10 have been hospitalized with the virus and 2100 have died vital strategies and in joe specialized in public health has released data showing an explosion of deaths among children and babies in brazil. as against the near brazilian variant is partly responsible because it has a larger viral load than the original one and has more capacity to affect the young but poverty and inequality also play a big part in this strategy and almost all babies who died are poor and black.

brazil also accounts for half of the world's maternal deaths by qubit 19. runs a workshop for pregnant women and single mothers in the proceedings. and apollo was part of her group last december she gave birth to a healthy boy. but shortly after turning 2 months old to stopped eating because he had difficulty breathing his mother told us she took him to the hospital twice but was sent back home the 3rd time he was hospitalized but died soon afterwards of acute respiratory syndrome in thrown we assume the crisis in children is common and can develop into pneumonia but it's usually cured if you get medical attention in time now this is the 1st case i've seen for it to evolve so rapidly and result in death. doctors say the number of couvade 1000 deaths in children is still small

compared to those among the elderly and people with preexisting conditions but he can no longer be ignored specially in brazil where the pandemic is still out of control with health congress has launched an inquiry to investigate the government's handling of the pandemic and its responsibility in the deaths of $400000.00 people now for the 1st time a tribute will be paid to the children many had thought would be spared from the virus a group of mothers moved this carpet a reminder that at least 2000 of brazil's victims were younger than 9 years old meineke an i.q. of all just 0 rio de janeiro. coronavirus cases and deaths across india have reached a new high as the country grapples with a devastating 2nd wave thursday saw more than 3600 fatalities and nearly 380000 new cases spite of all the millions of people turned out to vote for regional elections in west bengal sparking fears the state may become the new epicenter.

still ahead on al jazeera. trouble at the border between kurdistan and tajikistan a conflict over water leaves several dad in. south africa's president spends another day testifying and a correction inquiry. it's time for the perfect gentleman. sponsored point at ways hello those rains that have been plaguing areas of japan are now starting to slide off to the pacific but we've got another bout of moisture coming so let me break down those details 1st for that 1st system is out toward the pacific but still some heavy rains for northern areas of japan in the forecast on friday so let me take

you to saturday now we see this disturbance in the sea of japan it's going to fling moisture on to honshu so tokyo your forecast over the next few days once again becoming unsettled and what well as we go to southeast asia we've really seen those heavy spells of what weather for indochina rate through into somalia and across borneo that continues friday and into the weekend for india were seen severe storms at times bubble up towards southern portions of the country strong storms for sri lanka as well still hanging on to that high heat for northern areas including new delhi some unusual weather we've been dealing with for areas of the middle east look what it has done into mecca i'm saying it's unusual because it's dropping re not just in the mountains in yemen but also over low ground as well and that will continue for saturday. sponsible

at wace. from inside the walls of a west african prison comes home. a chance to create to express emotion and take the 1st steps towards rehabilitation. or announcing choreography shares his passion for the darkness inspiring prisoners to perform and to reach beyond the ill deeds of the past and the confines of that present the dance of thieves a witness documentary on al-jazeera. board. hello again the top stories on al-jazeera this hour at least 28 people have been

killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern israel it happened in mounds meron where people have gathered for the holiday. palestinian president mahmoud abbas says his phone call them entry elections scheduled for next month cited a dispute with israel over voting in occupied east jerusalem has rejected the decision calling it a coup. brazil has become the 2nd country to surpass 400000 deaths related to cope with 19 after the us health officials warn the daily told her of remain high due to a slow vaccinations and loose social restrictions. here as president joe biden is in the state of georgia where he held a driving rally to mark his 100th day in office reflecting on his address to congress that they before he talented what his administration has achieved so far he also echoed his promises to invest trillions in jobs infrastructure and

education. joe about 100 days to tell you i've never been more optimistic about the future of america america is on the move again we're choosing hope over fair truth over lives light over darkness ever work we're working to get we're dreaming again we're discovering again we're leading the world again i just read the marker speaker deliver for the people. has more from washington d.c. . well he's got to sell his vision of america to the american people and that's essentially what he started to do this evening with this rally in duluth georgia he just wrapped up his rally there in the last half hour or so biden really just repeated a lot of the same things that he said in his address to congress 24 hours ago but just a bit of a shorter version of it but he was essentially trying to sell his vision of america

to the american people and that's why he went to the state of georgia make no mistake that was not by coincidence the state of georgia was critical in this last election because as you might recall it was 2 senate runoff races in georgia that were both won by the democrats that essentially gave control of the senate to the democratic party divided senate 5050 but democrats essentially control it because a come a harris vice president is a type breaking vote so this is what he was trying to do he's got a big vision for america that he laid out to congress the night before and now he was out there basically trying to tell the american people and specifically people in georgia get behind this plan push your senators push your congress people to support this because i need your help getting this through congress police in kurdistan are reporting a renewal of gunfire on their southern border with the turks than just hours after

a cease fire agreement. at least 6 people have been killing cautious since wednesday the heaviest fighting between the nations in years the border is the spirited and the violence broke out at a water reservoir that both countries claim as their own let's bring in steve swerdlow he's a human rights lawyer and focuses on central asia and is currently associate professor of human rights at the university of southern california he's joining us from los angeles hi there thanks for your time with us on al-jazeera so as we're saying the 2 countries have been locked in border disputes for many years but why do you think that they have heightened their attentions and recent months. well it is the worst escalation that we've seen in a long time and it seems to come down to both sides seem intent on marking their territory you have the security services into g. christan which are famously nontransparent to jiko stand a very authoritarian state and then you have also the border guards gear to stand

increasingly coming to blows we see some video of arms being distributed population so we have some really worrying signs that the negotiation process of completely broken down there's a lot of hot rhetoric going going back and forth and unfortunately as you said deaths the worst we've seen in years. the conflict is apparently over water is that what it's mainly about or are there other online underlying issues here. this is one of the last undefined frontiers in the post so we have region in central asia when you look at this part of the map this is the verdana valley where it was bacchus 10 to g. can stand in kyrgyzstan all sort of tangle around one another it's a very complicated ethnic conflicts of course you know you can't place blame on the fact that there are no clear geographic markers between the borders between the securities and the tajik side so that that's just sort of geographic confusion you could say there's also tend to be upstream on the water on the rivers and have

better access typically to water. downstream access so bet less or access to water and these are fundamental rights but you know in addition to those things you have to periphery southern kyrgyzstan and northern to stand there are just about as far as you can possibly get away from the capital cities of each of those countries and i think the residents of those areas those border communities are in economically depressed regions and they do not feel heard or respected very much by the central capitals so who can play a role in mediating this crisis we've heard from was back a stot of course a neighbor of both countries saying calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities. and of course that positive was back to stand aside a change in its foreign policy in the last 5 years and they are also engaged in negotiating their own border with kyrgyzstan and that's going much better than than what's happening between kyrgyzstan and stan but i think 1st and foremost the obligation is on both sides bishkek in kyrgyzstan. to stand to respect the human

rights obligations they both have to provide access to water to their residence and arable land those rights of both sides those legitimate interests have to be recognized the rhetoric has to be damp down we may see however though that there will be discussions of regional players like the organization for security and cooperation in europe and perhaps the un being invited to play some role in mediating a peace and if these fundamental rights that you mention continue to be violated are you worried that this could escalate into a wider conflict it's incredibly worrying as as you said 6 deaths in 24 hours a lot of videos going viral of crowds in southern jurist and demanding more weapons and so it is absolutely incumbent on the leaders the president to gee could stand a moment we are mourning the president of kyrgyzstan severe just have to sit down now and tamp down the rhetoric and make sure that their local civil society the

border communities in these regions that are primarily affected have a voice and there should be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and i thank you so much for speaking to us on this issue thank you. in the news years governments has any group found guilty of causing violence in the west proper region will be considered a terrorist organization it says the move is in line with current counter-terrorism laws and an effort to boost security in the area there has been an increase in fighting between the military and separatist groups with the top general killed on sunday. south africa's president says there was nothing sinister about funding for his $27000.00 political campaign cyril ramaphosa testified in an inquiry investigating corruption in state owned government companies he was jacob zuma as deputy during the peak of the graft and admitted more could have been done to prevent it i mean similar reports from johannesburg president says the highest

ranking official to testify at an ongoing inquiry into corruption in south africa many blame well oppose us own party the african national congress for much of the graft which according to reports runs into billions of dollars over several years much of the looting is alleged to have taken place when rome opposes preaches says a jacob zuma was president zuma resigned in 2018 has been there cognition of. my lais of corruption. with powers of state. military to mine its resources dispense to me. and all that and we've accepted that in the past that. that has resulted in an i. believe you and type behavior you must refuse to return to testify at inquiry saying he's been

vilified it's alleged that zuma is relationship with a business family led to the abuse of state owned enterprises and influence the appointment of officials to serve their business interests and that corruption filtered through the ranks of the a.n.c. . we've seen the price that is being paid by the people as a whole. deprived of group service delivery because the resource is being herded laundered the a.n.c. is lost support in recent years and many had hoped that remark who was deputy president at the time would explain what he did to try to stop corruption but some argue he was not questioned hard enough and instead responded strategically the n.c.a.a. is going to have some gains as a profit from this exercise. there are

no further losses that jacob zuma could suffer. and also i think that if the commission does its work well it was sadness spotlight on those structural issues in the air and sea that will show that a leopard cannot change its spots from up north as promised to fight corruption in south africa but his success is hinged on the party he leads rooting out corruption within its own ranks for me to malign al-jazeera janice but. aid groups are warning that oxygen supplies are running dangerously low in some hospitals in syria the international rescue committee says clinics in the rebel controlled northeast also don't have enough to cope with $1000.00 testing kits more than 15000 cases have been detected in the region and half of all tests are coming back positive. health care experts and appall are warning the capital katmandu scene similar to

neighboring india infections are rising and hospital beds are filling up with new restrictions being imposed officials say the situation is under control but many residents aren't taking any chances limbo reports. empty streets in the past capital as a 2 week lockdown is imposed to limit the spread of corona virus it's the 2nd wave to hit the country infections have surged and more than half are in the capital. but i'd sort of hospitals are seeing more cases in a shorter span of time the 2nd wave is more potent with more young people and children infected as health workers struggle to contain the growing number of patients experts fear that thousands may have caught the mutant variant strains emerging out of neighboring india thousands of workers from nepal have left their jobs in indian cities with 1000 is spiraling out of control they're arriving here in nepalese towns by the border and that's creating

a major health crisis. it's like a mini india with the situation was similar in the capital which has a dense population would be difficult to cope with the existing health infrastructure more than 3 100000 people in nepal have got call that 1990 percent have recovered over $3000.00 people have died as daily cases experts warn that the epidemic could overwhelm nepal's fragile health system if the country is unable to break the chain of transmission in time and hold health authorities have repeatedly appeals to the public to wear masks avoid crowds and to maintain social distance but recent political rallies and religious festivals have helped fuel the spread of the disease thousands rush to the capital after the lockdown was announced i am not sure i'm waiting at the bus stop for a seat out of cotman do it's crowded the situation is difficult i'd rather be back in my village where i can make ends meet. health authorities. could spread the

virus in villages across nepal. the situation has grown or spreading and cases of life thing but i archiving our efforts to. launch the vaccination campaign in january giving doses from india and china to nearly 2000000 people but with a population of 20000000 and limited access to that seems now paul would have to seek support from the international community to prevent the epidemic from spiraling out of control. from italy book. a graveyard for a coronavirus victims in the capital bangui that could soon run out of space because of the recent spike in deaths local media report the number of boroughs more than tripled between the end of january in the 1st half of april graveyard keeper say they're digging out more plots in anticipation of more bodies. hundreds of coronavirus victims are buried here and we've prepared many graves and

so many people are dying now every day 15 or 20 bodies come into this graveyard for burial and thousands of people are dying turkey has entered its 1st full lockdown of the pandemic amid a surgeon infections and deaths people stocked up on groceries and left cities before 3 weeks of restrictions took effect on thursday residents will have to stay at home except for essential needs the government had previously imposed partial lockdowns or weekend curfews to reduce the economic impact. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera a 38 people have been killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern israel it happened in mount meron where people had gathered for a holiday. but i'm not going there the teams finished writing really corresponds to the site of the current iraq ratings.