bassa, they're trying to frighten the people to leave it to go somewhere else. the truth is that it got nowhere else to go. so if you missed it online, catch it here with me sound gartman on al jazeera. ah, a democratic transition put to the test, the eager vote who's in the gambia joined the queue to elect their next president. ah, hello barbara sarah, this is al jazeera alive from london, also coming up. the french president visits saudi arabia, saying he worked with gulf states the end, the diplomatic ra, with lebanon, also coming up. i'm for me to mila as a vaccination since a into hannah's. but as the south african government is trying to drive up

vaccinations amidst a 4th wave of coven 19 and growing concerns around the army con variance. and back where it belongs. a religious icon returns to its home in the pool for decades after it was stolen and taken to the us. ah, boats are being counted in the gun vs presidential election. it's the 1st time since former president ja, janice, fled the country after 22 years and power and it's being seen as a test of the transition to democracy incumbent president obama barrow is seeking another term, but he faces 5 rivals, including his former political mentor. ok, when did was reports that from the capital bunch old president, adam a bottle arrives to cast his vote aware that in this tightly contested election,

there could be surprises. but the president and his supporters are counting only divided opposition to achieve victory. or i am the improvement of support we just want. everybody knows not even you did. you ever want to be doing that either you borrow is challenged by the leading architects of the coalition. but ended the victory of his predecessor, yada jamie 5 years ago. they also voted and i confident of women. when i went to say that i have got my lot and i didn't know it does to god, what is it to him? this election is significant in many aspects, from the record number of candidates to the nearly a 1000000 people who are registered to vote. sir, man boss, as the difference between the 2016 election and this one is clear if feeling of fear was there. but this one has no feeling of fear for my own on that

for my own observation and doesn't mean anything for you as a voter. yeah, it means something. yes. because then somebody, if he had it got into settings, which is not in line with his own desire for 1st time for to howard to me it's a dream come true. it's been nice wooden pretty since then. the goal since i was adela, i wanted to vote because he did rooting. i feel like i said 14140 as in all previous elections since 947, a unique system is used traditional models along with a drum and bell inside. this could be the last time the mobile system of voting is used, the gambia with a list of candidates going it's becoming increasingly expensive to produce ballot boxes for each candidate. and in all of the countries, 1503, the election commission once the paper ballots in the next vote. because the system

that a software country for more than half a century is no longer sustainable. turn out across the country was impressive. and the process like and the peaceful people are enjoying greater freedom the you know, the scene develop of elections as a means to piece because that was very canopies love in but also love the result of the election is expected within 24 hours of poles closing on saturday night degrees al jazeera by june, the gambia security forces in molly have been sent to the scene of an ambush in which at least 31 people were killed. on friday, women and children were aboard a truck which gunman sprayed with bullets and set on fire. near the town of multi leaders of the transitional government are vowing to do everything necessary to catch the attackers in the rest of the hill region where attacks linked to iso and al qaeda are common. neither group have claimed responsibility for this attack is

yogi, his prime minister has called on young people fighting for the t gray people's liberation front to surrender, and not take part in a war without a goal. fighting is now reported to be limited to an area between the towns of batty and dca. the government says it's making progress in is captured, more towns, state media reporting the t p l f has lost all of its positions inside the are far region. but the rebels leader has denied his troops of withdrawing and is called the government claims war propaganda of ally r. v. in war there is progress and regression. this is the nature of war. the recite that we have seized, and others that we've evacuated. and within the framework of the strategy that we set, we withdrew from some positions and we re deployed. this is not because of military pressures changing these positions was our decision. friends present,

manuel micron is in saudi arabia where he has joined the phone call. that's been hailed as an important 1st step towards resolving a rift between the kingdom and the lebanon. but con, met, crown prince. ma hm had been sell man, and the leaders also spoke with lebanon's prime minister. it's the 1st such communications in saudi arabia of the gulf. countries and lebanon became locked in a diplomatic dispute. on friday, lebanon's information minister resigned, hoping to ease the dispute. inflamed by comments he made about the war in yemen, that g, but me, kathy underlined. the importance of the call was micron and been cell man. he is in a hoarder with more from beirut. there is no doubt the new page has been opened and the relationship between lebanon and saudi arabia, a phone conversation between the saudi crown, prince, mohammedan, and the lebanese prime minister. and as she mattie, of course, the french president cro mediated. and so it really help bring about this,

this development is the 1st time and saudi official speaks to me since he was appointed prime minister in september. it really is a change in strategy and policy on behalf of the our policy has been for us. it is useless to engage with a government that is controlled by the iraqi and back has the law, and the government is dominated by has the law along with its allies. so now the crown prince, speaking to the prime minister of lebanon, the prime minister of lebanon, tweeting that this is a new beginning is, will help revive relations with a fraternal a brother of brother brotherly relations. because we have to remember golf arab states, where the traditional allies of lebanon, we talk about this latest crisis that led to saudi arabia and several gulf states severing diplomatic relations with, with lebanon. that the relationship has been strained for years from what saudi arabia percy's is. the iranian control and domination over 11 he's politic. so

a 1st step has been taken saudi arabia now showing that it is willing to engage at least what the prime minister. but it's too early to say whether or not the relationship as it used to be will be restored. ah, despite the growing reach of the oma called strain of the corona virus, the world health organization says no deaths has been reported so far. but in south africa, the oma calling delta strains are fueling a force wave with the government. now scaling up with facts, a nation campaign for me, the miller reports from johannesburg. this is one of a few 100 vaccination centers in the halting province in south africa. and how ting has been hardest hit by the rise in coven, 19 infections, between 70 and 80 percent of new infections across of africa in this province alone . and that is why authorities are saying that people need to get out and get

vaccinated. there has been some level of vaccine hesitancy, about 42 percent of people who are eligible for a vaccine have actually taken that up. but that number dropped to about 36 percent for people who have taken up 2 doses, who are fully vaccinated. the government has set up a number of drives, door to door awareness campaigns, trying to create awareness around why the vaccine is important, especially because so little is known around the army kron variance. and the greatest concern there is just how easily it spreads. and that is being reflected in the spike in numbers that south africa is experiencing. one area of concern, while hospitalizations of people has remained relatively low, a number of young children under the age of 5 are having to be admitted to hospital . now becoming ill after contracting cove at 19 this recruiting the number of students $12.00 to $0.17, it was open to to that each group

a month or so ago that have come in now for, for the vaccinations coming in with the parents coming in as families so there has been that we have seen an optical number off infected the kids at the surrounding schools over years. so i think parents are exercising portia a week ago this vaccination center had about 50 or 60 people coming through every day. and now that number has doubled, so that is encouraging for people trying to make sure that sub africans are getting vaccinated. but we've also been to several vaccination centers in this province. some entirely empty, some with people trickling through and others more busy. so there's still an issue around vaccine hesitancy, but certainly a significant proportion of the sub african population has been spooked by this new ami kron variant. and more people are coming out to get a job. the former queen of the netherlands, queen beatrix has tested positive to coven 19 that dutch royal information service released the news. shortly after thousands of people marched us through the city of

utrecht to protest against corona virus locked on measures. the government introduced tight restrictions a week ago on top of an existing partial lock down. the country has been reporting record cases of coven 90 recent demonstrations of turned violent in the netherlands . but this march was held without incident and australia to is facing resistance from a section of people who don't want to get vaccinated. thousands have been protesting in rallies, both for and against the coven vaccines. more cases of the on the con variant are being detected across the country. gillian wolf reports ah, calling for their freedom in melbourne. large clusters of people on the streets of one of the shrill is biggest cities waving the flags of many countries. demonstrators who now call us truly a home demand, a reopening of their communities, but oppose a mandatory vaccine host teacher for 30 odd ease. and vaccination was always of

a voluntary thing for parents and kids to make it all strictly heedless. just so we had to just learn to live with this and get all the things we can't just came. locking us down, you know, just because there's a new varian, they'll always be in your various field. john doesn't realize is the freedom. jose with certain social responsibility. oh, really i would largely close at borders when the corona virus and m and began is now dealing with an outbreak of the army chrome variant. the new emergency is further testing government efforts to boost the economy. following cove had lockdown, i expect us to see further spray communities spread within australia and other parts of the world, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing because it will give us a lot of opportunity teeth to understand how this barrier works in highly vaccinated. countries in the state of victoria, where full vaccination has become mandatory to access most things,

it is the unvaccinated who make up the majority of people in hospital with cove it . but most australians are in support of vaccine jobs. with nearly 90 percent of everyone over 16 being fully vaccinated. at the moment there's lots of anger. i'm after this coven prices. and i think it's being directed at the wrong side. we're seeing, you know, health care workers being a talks no books up workers and it's really important. i think that we say actually the majority of us did support these health restrictions that saved millions of people's lives. and the majority of us actually do stand in social solidarity with each others. i for a country whose cove rates pale in comparison to other developed nations. for these australians, the time to return to normal is long overdue. gillian wolf, al jazeera, still to come on al jazeera, we can explain why ukraine might not have enough coal to powers through the winter

. plus political protests in venezuela anger after a court case and the run over needing a position. ah hello there. let's start in australia. we've seen some extreme heat affect northern western and central areas that heat wave bringing temperatures up close to 40 degrees in land. now the heat is going to continue lots of hot and dry conditions for perf this week, but down in the south, it's a different story. we've got a cold front bringing showers in some chilly mornings here. by the time we get into monday that will have cleared, but the showers in storms pick up once again for queensland and new south wales. so for sidney, we do get a break from the wet weather, but it is going to get rather stormy again from choose day. we look at the 3 day

the, the temperature will recover, but those thunderstorms roll in on tuesday. now when we look to new zealand, it's very wet in the west. we've got that orange warning for heavy rain. for the south island. it's going to sweep further north, knocking a lot of the warmth out of christ church and look at that. drop that 15 degrees is going to feel rather cold by the time we get into monday and the rain picks up for the north island. now we had to se asia, the rain picks up once again for parts of indo china. you can see it pulling into vietnam and cambodia, so it's going to intensify some of those showers across bornea central pots of java and will be wet and windy for eastern areas of the philippines. that your update. ah, whether it's cute and cuddly, feel or stray, lieth wild and ferocious in bangladesh. birth rise redress is the balance between endangered wild life and then noisy neighbors that seem to burn

forest right there. and there's nothing between the target. how, but i'm a human habitat learning to live together on al jazeera, how many people here have seen a tiger mug bigger? oh, really? ah, ah, reminder now the top stories on al jazeera votes are being counted and again vs presidential election. it's being seen as a taste of the transition to democracy incumbent president obama barrow is seeking another term, but faces 5 rivals. french president, manuel m a crohn has joined a phone call that's been hailed as an important 1st step towards healing

a rift between saudi arabia. and lebanon, a chrome mit chrome principal has been some mom and the leaders spoke with lebanon's prime minister, nat geo, in the tech world health organization says no, that's from the on the con variances. the corona virus have been reported so far. governments around the world are stepping up there. inoculation the us says iran has back tracked on compromises it made and talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. but the but that washington will push on with its diplomatic efforts. a senior state department official says the wealthy iran is asking for more concessions. it may be an opening position. she had, perchance he has more from washington dc. you might be thinking of these, these talks in vienna there on the rocks. the us is going to walk out and storm, i'm sorry. lincoln suggested they already did on friday, which was going to belied by what everyone else was saying. who was the talks. but in fact, when you, when you talk and listen to this background briefing by an anonymous to you state

department official, we had a very different turn. it was a real commitment to the talks. yes, he said, the iranians came to these talks. they read that got all the compromises that already been made. they made no new constructive proposals. i just asked for more from us and so on. but what kept on coming out from this, this official was a commitment to the tools. yes, there may be some dramatic activities. you wouldn't rule that out, but it was that we will carry. busy on carry on talking while emphasizing that, even as the u. s. is talking, they do have the punishing sanctions on iran, which is greatest such humanitarian problems for the country. so i'd like to try and short circuit the, the sense from the near columns. and in fact, just of the, the, the mainstream democratic body that the, by maybe being soft on iran though you think you just saw them the know we're making them suffer. we're making the people of our software, but we want to talk at the same time,

even if they're being in trans. and russia has stopped exporting coal to ukraine, saying it has too much domestic demand this year. well, key of depends on moscow for the resource. the whole power, it's electricity stations, and ukraine as long accused russia of using its vast energy resources as a weapon. now there are fears about black houses when 2 temperatures drop. char stratford reports now from threats in eastern ukraine. home line close to the front line in eastern ukraine. mines, such as this one, have helped fuel industry and the don bass region and across what was the soviet union for over a century. but ukraine remains dependent on russia to meet its energy needs, especially coal, which is vital for fueling ukrainian pow stations in 2014 pro russia, separatists seized control of the majority of the mines. further depleting, ukraine's access to call decades of neglect means much of the mines infrastructure

is close to collapse the bottle. do you know if it's your thought, the equipment we have is from 958, lack of investment and government? negligence is one of the reasons why we face a shortage that things could be difficult this winter. another problem is that russia caught ukraine's coal supply last month. russia has recently stopped exporting coal to ukraine, saying that there's just too much domestic internal demand for the natural resource . some analysts are describing this is nothing short of blackmail. an effort by russia to weapon allies, it's false natural resources as a means of putting pressure on ukraine. and it's not just cold that russia is using to try and control the grain. these a gas pipelines similar to those that transport russian gas across ukraine to

europe. europe relies on russia around 35 percent of its energy needs. and ukraine gets paid transit fees, which were around 2000000000 dollars last year. but those days on nearly over the non stream to pipeline, which is expected to be opperation next year, bypasses ukraine. instead, transporting gas from russia to germany under the baltic sea, russia trying to divide europe prostrate, better energy relations was different states separately rather than with then go the european union from your perspective, this means that russia will. ready have has free to this to belie station in between more actively germany has warned russia not to use its gas exports as a weapon, but has been criticized by other european states and ukraine for exposing here to

more economic pressure from moscow. so i always say russia's aim of trying to keep ukraine in spear of influence is impossible. it is simply not possible to have that sort of control away our neighbors. we've all with investing huge resources, military as well as economy. because in the end, as i seized on gracie, i think it moscow and age to modify its age because very simply not really winter is just beginning yet is so worried about the potential electricity blackouts that it's been forced to start importing coal from as far away as the us and colombia, so analysts say economic, an energy pressure from russia will continue, because the more ukraine talks about future nato and e. u. membership of all moscow sees red chance dr. al jazeera tourists, eastern ukraine. at least one person has died and dozens injured in the eruption of

mount scenario. the tallest volcano on the indonesian island of java, huge clouds of smoke and ash, of covered areas and the east of a province. authorities are carrying out evacuation efforts with some people, reportedly trapped and buildings. a major road and bridge connecting the island with nearby cities were damaged the volcano last of opted in january. ports of northern peru have been hit by devastating floods just 5 days after it was struck by a magnitude $7.00 earthquake, an overflowing river in the who bound the province calls the severe mud slides on already damaged roads. people are now recovering and salvage in what's left of their homes. local officials reach the area by helicopter to deliver aid. brazilians have been protesting against president j. edible seattle. in sao paolo there calling for him to be impeached, or scenario is the subject of a supreme court investigation. after claiming covet,

19 vaccines may increase the chances of contracting aids. he is already facing a separate inquiry into his handling of the pandemic in venezuela, an opposition leader. one why though, has joined protests in the state of readiness following the announcement of an election. people are angry after the supreme court cancel the state governors race with the opposition can that it in the need? why those says what's happened is an example of a lack of a rule of law. the court has ordered new elections to be held in january. your city civil with more agreement, the state of buddy next birth please of the late revolutionary press into charlie's . he said the center of a new dispute between venice will as government and be a position. it is here where the chavez family has been ruling for over 20 years with the late president's brother at any chavez in charge of governor. but as the votes were being tallied after, last month's contested governor's race,

this will bring court disqualified opposition candidate. freddy super delano alleging pending investigations and said the election should be scrapped and held again for me. working with these in the early hours of the morning, the supreme court of justice set a date for a new electoral contest for january 9th. however, the day that all that as well as were waiting for next year was the election to choose the president of the republic or recall referendum. you must the governorship of states on the range rover in november's elections. venezuela socialist party won in 19 provinces. the opposition in only 3, your position was divided in many states across the country. buddy ness, the heart of the will, chavez revolution is once the government cannot afford to lose the european union of serve the elections for the 1st time in 15 years. and in a preliminary report said that even louis improvements had been made. the elections

happened with no independent judicial oversight or election. law enforcement. as in chavez, announced who was stepping down after the electron scandal. boyer put us in that a mirror, lucia. i present my resignation from office effective as of a company in order to facilitate this transition process until the elections proposed by the highest court of the republic over take place. now, all the eyes were muddiness and the positions capacity to unite to defeat the ruling party in the new vote set for january, the whole will be dug annually. say it's a little fight that count in the struggle for democracy. the law that one know in dollar lloyd boss you, the only way out is by we can the regime and that is achieved where you can get strength out of them. the situation and bring us generates this more more a conflict with in the regime in there and do that. you have to participate in elections in force them to expose themselves. venezuela has been struggling through

a political and economic crisis for years. the elections where for many a path to which dialogue, but the see to wait. anybody ness exposes the enormous challenges, steed ahead. betty's, i will, i'll just cedar people in the pool of hell, the ceremony to welcome the return of an idol that was stolen. nearly 40 years ago, the statue of 2 hindu gods was in a u. s. museum, an investigation by the f. b. i resulted in the return on saturday, from the at the limbo of reports from patton, the peoples of political botton waited a long time for this to catch a glimpse of their long lost and much loved. idle. the 12th century sat u of luxury with worshipped with centuries before it disappeared from the town in 1984. i guess we were sad when the day she we worship disappeared. we're happy to get it back in the years later,

it is back where it belonged. to statue was briefly seen at sotheby's auction house in new york in the early ninety's before vanishing again. it then reappeared at the dallas museum of art in texas artist and researcher joy davis bought it in an online image 36 years ago. since then. she's been working with nepali heritage activist and f b i. agents to ensure it's returned to me. it feels like a bit of like a bit of justice in the world and also just to, oh, wonderful happiness to see that she had returned and actually back in worship again in the original tempo. and it's, it's the dream. it's a dream come true for many of us. oh, students conducted religious right before reinstating the statue in a train. we haven't thought about square a unique world heritage site. in the past, dozens of monday that is venerated eighties have disappeared from here into private and museum collections abroad. what may be optics of art for many had deep cultural

and spiritual significance for generations of nepalese. the 19 eighties and nineties saw the plunder of bronze de teeth and stone sculptures from gut monday's valley region. 2 important books, the gods and leaving the country and stolen images of the upon have painstakingly documented more than 200 missing artifacts. the books raised awareness about the 5th and trafficking in cultural heritage. heritage activists say there is increasing pressure on western collectors and museums to return upon stolen treasures around with when they see how we worship and take care of our deities. i'm sure people will be happy to return them when they release what they haven't stolen, they must feel guilty while only a small percentage of napoleon stolen idols have found their way home. activist welcomed this happy homecoming as the start of a positive trend from yet the limbo edges. eda gutman do a total solar eclipse has brought complete darkness to antarctica. the i. c

continent. usually experiences. continual daylight from around mid october until early april. but the eclipse for rare and darkness, for a few minutes, for a total eclipse to take place the sun moon, and the earth must all be in a direct line. a partial eclipse could also be seen in other parts of the southern hemisphere. ah, in our reminder of the top stories on al jazeera votes are being counted and began b as presidential election. it's being seen as the past of the transition to democracy incumbent president obama barrow is seeking another term, but faces 5 rifles. ask me the addresses more now from the capital banjo. the turner was really, really important, talked to our gumby importer. he will tell you.