anti voting love, the department of justice will do so with a voting rights division. and my request is doubling to sign an enforcement rights through another organization of announcement plans to stay vigilant and challenge these odious laws. and the courts in texas for example, republic, your lead state legislature wants to allow. 5 partnership paul watches, to intimidate voters in imperiled and impartial. paul worked there on voters, died further and be able to be in a position where they wonder who watching them and intimidate, to wait longer to vote, to drive a hell of a lot, excuse me, a long way to get to vote. they want to make it so hard, inconvenient that their hope people don't vote at all. that's what this is about. this year, 17 days of an actor. not just propose,

but an active 28 new lot to make it harder for americans vote. not to mention catch this nearly $400.00 additional bill. republican members of the state legislatures are trying to pass 21st century. jim crow salt is real. it's relented. we're going to challenge it vigorously. while while this water sol against voting rights is not unprecedented, is taking on a new and literally pernicious orders. it's no longer just about who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible voters to vote about who gets to count the vote. who gets the count, whether or not your vote counted and all about moving from independent election

administrators who work for the people to polarize, state legislatures and partners in active work for political parties. to me, this is simple, this is election. subversion is the most dangerous threat to voting in the integrity of free and fair elections in our history. never before to decide who gets to count count what vote count some, some lead state legislators want to make it harder for you to vote. and if you vote, they want to be able to tell your vote doesn't count for any reason they make up. they want the ability to reject the final count and ignore the world. the people, if they're preferred, candidate loses and they're trying not only targeting people of color or targeting voters of all races and backgrounds with

a simple target who did not vote for that. that's the target. so constantly. i mean, really i, it's hard to it's hard to declare just how critical this is. it's simply unconscionable. we've got to show up or election system address the threats. alexis aversion not just from abroad, which i spent time with talking about but from home, from home was asked those who represented at the federal state local level. will you deny the will of the people? will you ignore their voices that are you on the side of truth or line factor fiction, justice or injustice? democracy or talker? see that's what it's coming down was bringing me grabbed the most important thing we have to do to 44 to coalition. americans are very background in political party,

the advocates, the students, the faces, the labor leaders, the business executives. and raise the urgency of this moment. because as much as people know there's going around with the election process, i don't think that most people think this is about who gets to count would vote counts literally not figuratively. you vote for certain electors. the vote for somebody for president state legislature comes along in their proposal. nation. we don't like those, like we're going to point other electors going to the other guy or other women. because here's the deal. in 2020 the marker she was put to a test 1st by the pandemic. then by a desperate attempt to deny the reality results election,

then by violent and deadly insurrection on the capital, the citizen of our democracy. i'm a really long time in public life. i thought i've seen it all or most of it all, but i never thought i'd see that for real. in spite of what you see on television, you saw the senator said, it was just the day is the capital. yes. people visiting the capital folks. but we met the test because the extraordinary courage of election officials, many of them republicans, our court system knows brave capitol police officer because of them democracy held close. it came. i mean for real. how close came we're going to face another chest in 2022, a new way, one president, voter suppression and ra, sustained election subversion. we have to pair now. as i said, tommy, again,

no matter what, you can never stop the american people from voting. they will decide the power must always be with the people. that's why just like we didn't 2020 we have to pay for 2022. will engage in order to educate voters about the changing laws. register them the vote, and then get the vote out. will encourage people to run for office themselves at every level will be asking my republican friends in congress in states and cities and county to stand up for god's sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election in the sacred right to vote. you know, whether stopping horn interferes elections or the spread of this information from

with any we have to work together. vice president harrison. i will make it clear that there's real peril and making ra power up rather than the idea of liberty. the centerpiece of the common life founders understood this. the women of seneca falls, understood this, the brave and really put soldiers. so rights movement understood this. so must we. this isn't about democrats or republicans. it's learn about who we are as americans . is that basic? it's about the kind of country we want today, a kind of country we want for our children and grandchildren mora and quite frankly, the whole world is watching. those

not being sentimental. i'm not preaching you. i'm just giving you a straight promise. i would always do lay things out on the line of honor your trust with trust. so hear me clearly. there is a holding assault taking place in america today, an attempt to suppress and subvert right to vote unfair free election and assault on democracy. an assault on liberty sold on who we are, who we are america for make no mistake, boys emerges or fear peddlers of why are threatening the very foundation of our country. gives me no pleasure to say this. i never thought my entire current ever had to say when i swore a note to you, me to gone to preserve, protect,

and defend the constitution. that's a notion forms of sacred trust up to defend, nor against all french vote, foreign and domestic. you're wanting 0 and you as president joe biden, speaking in philadelphia, the protection of people's rights vote. it is a subject that has once again split us politics right down the middle and it comes as fellow democrat, politicians from texas have left that state for washington. d. c, in a bid to stop a republican lead bill, which would restrict access to voting while our white house correspondent, kimberly how kit is in philadelphia for us the following the story and listening they were to present bite and he was very strong language, didn't he? kimberly, he spoke about this being an attack when americans voting rights, that it's taking a new pernicious form and that the whole world was watching and

a fault on democracy and liberty. this is the issue that is personal for us president joe, by the in the and the symbolism is great. the fact that he has come here to the birthplace of american democracy right behind me is the building. notice independence hall. this is where the constitution and the declaration of independence that created the united states really, as we know it, that's where it was debated and signed into law. and so this is why he has come here because what he's saying is that all of what the american forefathers stood for, what they believe in he says is under assault. and in fact, joe biden says that when he took the oath as president of the united states to protect the united states from threat foreign and domestic, he perceived this as being one of those threats that there is an assault taking

place in various legislatures around the united states, namely conservative lead was that he says, are suppressing not just people's right to vote, but particularly disproportionately affecting voters of color. so the president, outlining, there are a number of measures that are in the works in order to try and preserve some of these voting rights to measures in the u. s. congress. that right now, all urging support for that, but also talking about what he is doing as a president executive order signed several weeks ago, put in place some money. and funding is the department of justice to see that every one of the states and their laws are challenged by the federal government in order to make sure that the federal laws to protect discriminatory voting practices. that those are not being implemented. you heard there that he doubled the size of the civil rights division. and he also added federal funding in order to fight these at

the state level because the system of government in the united states has very strong states rights. and so that is what is necessary to undo much of them. the other thing that is necessary is if voters do not like these laws that are being implemented, they have to put in place new legislatures. and so we're talking about why that is also important. why people need to be engaged in local politics in order to enact the change that he is talking about. but the us president, making a very powerful message there and he's doing it. i missed a lot of pressure, very quickly barbara. he was elected joe biden because of the support of voters of color for saying, look at our voting rights are under assault. what are you doing about it? this is the beginning of what we expect to be a substantial campaign by the white house to try and deliver on that promise. and kimberly the focus right now is specifically on the state of texas because republicans there of introduced a bill and just explain to us what is behind the accusation at this bill would

restrict access to voting. how would i do so? well the president talked about it in his speech just now especially, and it's not just texas, it's a, it's a handful of states, a probably more than it doesn't. i'd have to double check. but essentially what we saw in 2020 was expanded opportunities for people to vote. this allowed, in fact, democrats to win the white house through mail in voting for example. there were more ways, more options. republicans don't like that because they had their voters turn up at the ballot. physically drop their ballot in and have them counted. they want to keep that system. democrats won't be expanded system. that's really what this given take is about. joe biden is advocating that there should be many ways for people to vote. it doesn't matter to the method, but he says that people should be able to cast their ballots. shouldn't be

difficult. you heard him talk there that he said, alleging that republicans in texas, but all around the united states are making it so difficult. the people just won't bother. and that's what he's concerned about. he wants to make it easier, make it free. so the people are able to cast their ballot and that's what this debate is about. that's what's happening in texas right now. and very quickly, those legislatures in texas, they have left the state. they have the democrats who are in the minority and that legislature have left the state have gone to washington d. c. where we now know they're going to meet with comma le harris, the vice president. she has been tasked with overlooking voting rights and ensuring that integrity. she's going to be meeting with both legislators, but the governor of texas is threatening to wrestle. very legislatures, legislators rather bring them back to texas and say, look at, you got a vote, you got to vote on this. and ultimately they know that the outcome will be the republicans will win that battle. that's why they're pressing for the vote. that's why the democrats have left because they want to try and stop what they say are

restrictive laws preventing and making it harder for people to vote in the state of texas and just proportionately their lives. this will affect photos of color. kimberly, how can our white house correspondent speaking to us from philadelphia where joe biden has just been speaking as well? kimberly, thank you. i at least 72 people have been killed in days of riots and losing across south africa and other 800 people have been arrested. what started as unrest over the arrest, the former president jacob zoom, has turned into protests against poverty and inequality. is some of the worst violence that south africa has seen since before. the end of a partake, the military has been deployed to assist the countries overwhelmed police force cobra. 1900 vaccination campaigns are now suspended in some areas at a time of

a devastating outbreak. jacob zoom, a foundation says that peace and stability is directly linked to him being released from jail. we knew when we locked down again, this was bound to happen because the longer you leave the people hungry, the events would take place and i don't think it's only about the whole economy and what's happening on the i think people are generally hungry. the jobs that are being lost at the moment, i'm going to exacerbate the situation and we don't need this to see people shops and businesses being gutted. yes, people are hungry today, but tomorrow they'll be more unemployment, more paid, more suffering in a nation that is trying to recover and rebuild itself. or much of the violence is happening in 2 provinces. dow pang is the most populous provence and includes the largest city johannesburg. at least 10 people died in the stan, pete, and a shopping mall in sweaters,

in alexandra town shape and elsewhere along the outskirts of the johannesburg area, crowds have been losing businesses. the violence started last week came quite quite zulu natal jacobs rumors, home province, state and provincial officials say that 26 people have died in the unrest. they're there mostly during stampedes or for me to miller. has this update now from alexandra. the township in johannesburg were much of that looting has been taking place. it certainly is come at this point in the day we saw massive looting earlier in the day and police trying to repel those people from stores behind us. and it is come, i think also because we have military police and soldiers deployed here. now they went early in the day, but i also think they possibly isn't anything left in the stores to loot. there has been concern around the slow response of the police and they really have struggled to manage,

trying to quell these protests and the looting that's taken place in the day. the policeman, as the victim, that he spoke to south african saying that he believed that the law enforcement agencies here would be able to handle what's been happening. they have intelligence on the ground and they're confident that police and now soldiers and military police can get a group of things. but it really hasn't been the case much of the day. and i suppose they may be relying on the presence of soldiers to maintain some level of calm. there has been debate around incitement of violence and who is responsible for that. when jacob zoom was arrested in the days leading up to their that they were these kind of threats. if is arrested, if he's jailed, we will take to the streets. we will defend him at all costs. we also heard from his son edward zoom. i said he was prepared to die for his fall. the police would not take him away, but we know he was imprisoned on wednesday night. and by friday we saw some of

these riots begin. there really is concern around who is responsible behind some of the reaction why it's happening. we also know that it has moved to some extent into issues around poverty and inequality, especially in areas like that's an exam dra, that's one of the poor it's townships in to handle the bug where there are certain areas that people don't have flushing, toilets, electricity running water, they've protested for years around these issues. they all problems with service delivery. they're unhappy with the government go to cuba now the country has restricted access to social media, and the messaging apps are made widespread anti government protests that according to a u. k. based monitoring group, thousands of cubans marched through havana and santiago on sunday to protest against cuba is economic crisis and handling of the pandemic. with many calling for an end, the communist rule police have been out in force after the demonstrations with cuba,

the president accusing the us and cuban americans of spurring on the protest. read, lindsey is the cheaper base during the list with the belly of the beast, which is an independent media organization covering us tube relations. he says, the situation appears calm at the moment. president spoke for quite a long time. he addressed a lot of concerns, even acknowledged dissatisfaction of people and the fact that it existed. but he attributed the problems that they were angry about to us, which are without doubt have had a major impact, especially in recent years. embargoes been around for 60 years, but under trump, those sanctions intensified and they've continued until now even before cove, it cube was economic crisis when covert had things have gotten even worse. it's been a couple of days since the protest things seem to become now. the internet's been very spotty. many people have don't have access to it. and so it's hard to know

what might happen next. for now, the streets are calm. the cuban governance cures the u. s. government of being behind social media campaign that spark the process. the foreign minister will be speaking later today and it's expected he might present evidence of, of this so far. the evidence has been very spotty as far as that goes. yeah, and right now we're, we're waiting to see what, what comes next that the protests were unprecedented. so we're in uncharted territory here. a catastrophic fire that ripped through october 19 isolation ward in the iraqi city of nasiriyah has killed at least 92 people. faulty wiring had sparked an explosion in an oxygen tank. another tragic accident in a medical system that was once the n. v of the middle east. but iraq now spends only a fraction of its money on health in 2019 only 2.5 percent of the $106500000000.00 budget was allocated to the health ministry that amounts to $161.00 per citizen.

each year on average, far less than its poorer neighbors, like jordan and lebanon. that means there's only $1.00 hospital beds per $1000.00 people. and point 283 doctors for the same amount of time they make is pushing a struggling system close to collapse. more than 17000 people have died from corona virus in iraq and in the city. a shocked relatives are still looking for traces of their loved ones in what remains of the al hussein hospital. we're going to hear from a, with a bit of a heat in the city in a moment. first though, this report from gillian wolf. this was the all who st hospital in southern iraq. now, much of it burned to the ground. these wards were set up for corona virus. patients . they only opened 3 months ago to help cope with the pandemic. the charred remains of victims are carried out in body lags, but families continued to search the debris for any trace of their loved ones. what

would you like? the front door was burning and the back door was closed, so people were not able to get out. we managed to take some people out, they suffer from critical conditions and the rest of them burnt and died. this was a scene as a fire tor, through the hospital fire, cruise tackling the flames. the have all of the appellate animal, as well as what happened tonight at the same hospital is the catastrophe market, but i'm a little, it's a tragedy to slip. let me speak, which is the rock has to suffer anguish and calamity. the anguish turned into anger with protesters taking to the street and setting fire to police vehicles. iraq's prime minister held an emergency meeting on

tuesday and ordered an investigation. but mourners blame the government for miss management and neglect. this is the 2nd time a big fire has cause death and destruction in a hospital in a rock in recent months, claiming the lives of corona virus. patients in april, more than 80 people died when an oxygen tank exploded and sparked a blaze at this hospital in baghdad. health official say that could have been the cause of this fire too. but that doesn't help relieve the pain for those family and friends suffering here today to move al jazeera. but the vivid heat has been down at the sight of the fire, where investigations are underway. in the 3 hes officials say that they are holding emergency meetings and forensic teams are also still trying to identify the rest of the buddies. about 39 buddies have been identified dozens,

others are still under recognition that processed by the forensic teams. we met the victims found this here. there are people who cannot find their loved ones . like i said, dozens of buddies are body parts the. they can be easily identified. another man we met, it's a way to go. he lost 5 of his family members, 3 cove and 900 patients, and the others were either visitors or those who rushed to try to save the relatives. to grand fighters say they have seized a major town in an offensive in ethiopia. their spokesman says, the town of riah was taken after federal and mara forces withdrew. it's the most intense fighting scene since they captured the regional capital mecca late last month. while the us human rights counselors passed the resolution expressing deep concern about abuses and t, great. it's calling for

a withdrawal of every trans troops, which it says are making the conflict even worse. if he has rejected the resolution while every tray, which is a member of the council, voted against it. nearly humiliate has been displaced since the conflict began. elf, missouri is the un refugee agencies assistance. high commissioner, he's been visiting refugee council across the border. and sedan were tens of thousands of people are seeking shelter to the people who need help in the in the c o. p. right now it is access. it is that the authorities which control the area provide the provide access. i am low income to me and in the to refugee comes that we have here today. but we do have, we do have access to, to, to, to refugees, to the $40000.00, also refugees who have crossed the border. the security situation is unfortunately deteriorating so,

so we know that there could be an increase number of people crossing the border. i made reference to the 40000 people who are in to camps, but in addition to that we have about 8000 people who are still into trends. it comes to the border there yet, and village it. these are the 2 locations. so as a whole, we have close to 50000 people who are now incident with that number girl. it's possible. would they return if the situation allowed their return? they would of course, he turn, but for the time being, what we're doing is to is to be ready for any possible in flux with the partners with which we are working. and so then he's government, which has been very welcoming as being protest cindy occupied with bank after israel denied a request by jailed palestinian activist highly that gerard, to attend her daughter's funeral. the

demonstrators gathered outside of the prison near him and led demanding jet out of release to sentence finishes. in 2 months, she was detained in 2019 for alleged membership of a band group. her daughter was 1st one and died of a sudden heart attack on sunday. neither ibrahim was at that funeral, informal activists, politicians, feminists, and people from all walks of life have gathered and came here today to show solidarity with the rod family. the father sam has been left all alone in this. his wife has been in this really prison for almost the past 2 years. is really has denied many requests to release the job, to, to bid her daughter the final farewells or even not the body inside the prison. so the mother can see. so for one last time,

he blamed for requesting the permit for her to attend the funeral. she told us, there is no way they'd let her out. they have no humanity and no respect for those . it's not rare for israel to deny such humanitarian requests. this is why the house on tv decided as a just for the broadcast some of the funeral. so she can see it in her prison over the years when we've been talking to many palestinian prisoners who were released from prison, they would say that the hardest moments, even though for those who spent years and years in jail. the hardest moments where, when they couldn't be with their loved ones in their final days or attend their funeral olympic teams from all over the world are now arriving at the athlete village in the japanese capital co q. the newly constructed complex for house, more than 11000 asking who will live under a cove in 1900 restrictions throughout the games,

which start in 9 days time. athletes will be subjected to daily corona, virus tests and masks will be mandatory. took you is under a state of emergency following arise and infections and public opinion is sharply divided on whether the games should actually go ahead. you can find out more about the olympics and everything else that we've been covering here. and i'll just say we're on our website. there it is. the address al jazeera dot com ah and now the top stories on al jazeera, at least 72 people have been killed in dave of riots and losing across south africa . another 800 people have been arrested. what started as unrest over the arrest, the former president, jacob juma, has now turned into protests against poverty and inequality. it's some of the worst violence the south africa has seen since before the end.