informed opinions, there was a need for the army federal government to take action to really facilitate a pig, right. in depth analysis of the dates, global headlines inside story on al jazeera, ah, the gambia counts votes cost us marbles after a presidential election seems attested democracy in the west african company. ah, laura adrian said again, this is al 0 alive from doha. also coming up, visiting saudi arabia, the french president says that he'll work with gulf countries to resolve the diplomatic crisis with lebanon. south africa works the scale of vaccinations as the oma comin delta variance dr. a 4th wave of code 19 infections. at

a welcome home ceremony, decades in the making for a centuries old idol that was stolen from the pole ah, early result, so expected on sunday after gambia. this voted in election seen as a test for its transition to democracy. turned out was high as people decided if president adama barrow deserves another to i'll to 0 ahmed address reports from the capital banjo. president adam a bottle arrives to cast his vote. aware that been 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 john present to support this one. everybody knows not even knowledgeable, is you remember, we're going to be doing the early barrel is challenged by the leading architects of

the coalition. but ended the victory of ice per desa ya. 5 years ago. they also voted and i confident of women. when i want to say that i have gotten my work and hummed in there, 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 registered to vote. sir man boss, as the difference between the 2016 election and this one is clear. the feeling of fear was there. but this one has no feeling of fear. for my own honest that from my own observation and doesn't mean anything for you as a voter. yeah, it means something. yes, because then somebody fee at it got to settings which is not in line with his own desire for 1st time voter howard, demi, it's

a dream come true. you've been either wanting for the 1st time since i was adela. i wanted to vote because he did rooting. feel like i said, 14140. as in all previous elections since 1947, a unique system is used traditional marbles along with a drum and bell inside. this could be the last time the marble system of voting is used in the gambia with a list of candidates going, it's becoming increasingly expensive to produce ballard boxes for each candidate. and in all of the countries, 1500 colon bazzi. the election commission wants to adopt paper ballots in the next vote, because the system that a sockless country for more than half a century is no longer sustainable. turned out across the country was impressive, and the process largely peaceful. people are enjoying greater freedom. they, you know, they have seen the value of elections as a means to piece because gamers,

our so, you know, very canopies love in, but also love me that the result of the election is expected within 24 hours of paul's closing. on saturday night, ahmed edris al jazeera by jewel, the gambia security force has been deployed the central molly after 31 people were killed in an ambush. a truck was sprayed with bullets and settled fire near the town of multi women and children are among the victims. central. molly's become one of the most violent areas in the fight against armed groups linked iso and al qaeda . if he appears prime minister has called on young people fighting for the to gray people's liberation front to surrender, and not take part in what he called a war without a goal. fighting is now said to be limited to areas between the towns of batty and dca. the government says that it's making progress and has captured more towns from the rebels, but it's been fighting for more than a year. but their leader denies that his troops withdrawing and says that the

government's engaged in war propaganda of this. and i ivy in war, there is progress and regression. this is the nature of war. there a site 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, we deployed. this is not because of military pressures changing these positions with our decision. france and saudi arabia have held a joint phone call with lebanon, and was seen as a significant gesture in resolving a diplomatic crisis. the call was made as french president of mariama crawl, visited saudi arabia, after trips to the u. e. and cutoff, the kingdom and other gulf states withdrew the ambassadors from beirut last month, angered by a government minister who criticized the saudi. let war in yemen. the minister resigned on friday. i'll just arizona hata in beirut reports on the background to the rift. 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 mohammed, and the lebanese prime minister. and as he matter of course, the french president, the rama, crawl mediated. and so it really helped bring about this, this development. it is the 1st time a 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 irregular 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 gulf 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. but the relationship has been strained for years from what saudi arabia percy's is. the iranian control and domination over 11 east politics. so our 1st step has been taken to 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. saudi arabia and france also the see the joint statement calling on lebanon's leaders to work on comprehensive reforms. they want action on corruption, finance, energy and border control. emmanuel mccormick, mohammed and san also agreed to work on a humanitarian plan for lebanon's people. it's grinding. economic crisis has left 3 quarters of the population in poverty. with

the number of new daily cove at 19 cases in south africa has nearly quadrupled in just 4 days. more than 16000 infections were recorded on saturday compared with 4300 on tuesday. it's on the scoring concerns about the contagious most of the new over kong variant, which is driving south africa's 4th wave from johannesburg. from it, miller explains how the government is responding by encouraging more vaccinations while avoiding another lockdown. this is one of a few 100 vaccination centers in the housing 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 drops 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 having to be admitted to hospital now becoming ill off to contracting cove. at 19 this week we've seen a number of students 12 to 17 since it was open to that age group a month or so ago that has come in now for, for the vaccinations coming in with the parents coming in as families. so there has been that we haven't even uptick in a number of infected

a kids at the surrounding schools over years where i think parents are exercising kotia 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 swooped by this new army con variant. and more people are coming out to get a job. more than 15 european countries of confirmed cases of the omicron variable, but best persistent opposition to the reintroduction of measures to slow rising cobit 19 infections. thousands marched peacefully through the dutch city of tract. the government imposed a partial lockdown 3 weeks ago and since tightened it to the case numbers being at

their highest since the pandemic began. will it's a similarly start picture in germany which supported the mother. 64000 infections on saturday. outgoing chancellor, anglo merkel made this appeal to those resisting vaccinations she proposed to leave leave office does digging along. please allow me to day to say one last time. what is of the utmost importance to me these days. we are in a 4th wave of the pandemic in a very serious situation. in some parts of the country, you can only describe it as dramatic overfilled intensive care units, severely ill. people who have to be flown across germany to get the care they need to go for a little bit. that is why i appeal to you again urgently and take the malicious virus seriously. right now, the new omicron variant seems to be more infectious than the previous ones. get yourself vaccinated. it doesn't matter if it is a 1st shot or a booster. every vaccine helps. australia has

a section of the population that's refusing cobit 19 vaccinations to. they were put actual, they were out rather for more protests on saturday, facing off with wives, as julian 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 house teacher for 30 odd ease. and vaccination was always of a voluntary team for parents and kids to make it all strategic heaters, just so we have just learned to live with this and get all the things my conscious cape locking us down. you know, just because there's a new variance that might be in your variance, if you're the person who realizes the freedom jones, with certain social responsibilities, yes, mr alia, which largely closes,

borders when the corona virus pandemic began, is now dealing with an outbreak of the omi chrome variant, the new emergency is further testing government efforts to boost the economy. following covey locked down. i expect us to see further sprayed communities spread within australia in 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 were full vaccination has become mandatory to access most things. it is the on vaccinated 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 crisis. and i think it's being directed at the wrong side. we're seeing, you know, health care workers being a talks, you know, books up workers and it's the 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 other for a country whose coven rates pale in comparison to other develop nation for these restrictions, the time to return to normal is long overdue. gillian wolf, how does the weather update? thanks to 0, then russia accused of weaponized its energy resources to put more pressure on ukraine amount accuse of blasphemy as beaten to death in pakistan, the 5 minutes a quarter of a day of shame. ah hello there. let's have a look at the weather across north america,

and we've seen some exceptional heat for this time of year across large areas of the us on a significant lack of snow in places like colorado. for example, there's more snow in hawaii than it is in denver. instead we've got drought conditions persisting here, but temperatures are going to come down thanks to a weather system. it's going to slam, once again into west, in areas of canada is a bit of a low in that. but look at that a winter storm is going to pull in once again. by the time we get into monday, we're going to see significant snow in british columbia, some of the rain edging down into washington. so it's going to be wet for seattle at the beginning of next week. now a lot of that system is going to push across the southern parts of canada. we are going to see the wind pick up as well. and with that we will have blizzards blown across towards the mid west. we're going to see the snow pick up as well across the eastern parts of canada towards the maritimes. very wet across that south east corner of the u. s. now, new york has seen some dry a days,

but it is gonna get very wet indeed with possible snow. by the time we get to choose day and the temperature will dip right down. now we had to central america. it's rather dry from northern parts of mexico, but it's weather in south. ah. the corona virus pandemic has altered modern society as governments have grappled with soaring cases, contact, tracing, and huge data collections are causing concern amongst civil rights activists. people in power investigates the ever increasing powers of governments and businesses as they access peoples most personal data and asks, what is being done to regulate the flow of sensitive information under the cover of coven on a jessina? lou

ah. hello again. this is al jazeera. let's remind you of the main news. the saw early results were expected on sunday, after gambia. this voted in the election seen as a test for its transition to democracy. turn up was high, as people decided if president adama barrow deserves on the term france and saudi arabia have held a joint phone call with lebanon, and won't seen as a significant gesture. in resolving a diplomatic crisis, gulf states withdrew ambassadors from bay route last month. after a government minister criticized the saudi lead war in yemen, the south african government is working to scale up cove at 19 vaccinations that you all mccord variant is driving another wave of infections with the number of new data cases delete quadrupling in just 4 days. the u. s. says that

iran is back tracked on compromises that it made and talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, but insist that washington will push on with diplomacy. a senior state department official says that it's unacceptable that iran is building up nuclear capability for leverage. obviously, russia paternity reports for washington. you might be thinking of these, these talks in vienna, they're on the rocks, but 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 that the talks? but in fact, when you, when you talked 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 tools. yes, you said the iranians came to these talks, they renamed 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 capital coming out from this, this official, was a commitment to the tools. yes,

there may be some dramatic activities that you wouldn't rule that out, but it was that we will carry 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 live up 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 said, you know, he's assured them, no, no, 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 transit security forces a shot and killed a palestinian man who police say stamped and israeli before attempting to attack officers. it happened just outside the damascus gate and occupied east jerusalem. video appears to show his ready police pointing that guns of paramedics, preventing them from treating the palestinian israeli starting victim, was treated as now at hospital. there was scuffles and fighting between

palestinians and israeli police. shortly after the attack. i'm serious harry force, it has more from the scene. well, please say that this was a stop being attack. they released cctv video of a policy. the man walking across the crossing behind his here and then being followed by an orthodox, his railey man, the policy and turned and started striking the ultra orthodox man. it was impossible to see from those images whether or exactly what he had in his hand. but please say that this was a stabbing the man, then confronted is ready, security forces. he was shot and fell to the ground as what took place. after that though, which is provoked such outraged, especially among palestinian social media, they continued to fire at him from several meters away as he lay almost motionless on the ground. now these really prime minister natalie bennett, has praised the security forces, saying that they acted with speed and did what was expected of them. however,

one of his own ministers, this is a broad coalition government, a left wing minister, a palestinian israeli himself has expressed concern call from investigation, said the police should only fire to save life, not to take life. and there are calls from the opposition saying that this was an extra judicial killing. huge numbers of people have joined the latest protests and serbia against new laws, the environmental se, let foreign companies exploit local resources. they blocked bridges and motor ways in belgrade and cities across the country. the government's opponents accused of making it harder for people to protest against high polluting projects, or making it easier for private land to be acquired. russia stopped exporting coal to ukraine, saying that it means to cover high demand at home. ukraine depends on russian cold . keep its lights on that as long accused as neighbor of using energy as a weapon. al jazeera st. charles strafford reports from tourette's in eastern ukraine. whole mind close to the front line in eastern ukraine mines,

such as this one that helped fuel industry in the don bus region and across what was the soviet union, the over century. but ukraine remains dependent on russia to meet its energy needs, especially coal, which is vital for fueling ukrainian power stations into 1014 pro russia, separatists seized control of the majority of the mines. further depleted ukraine's access to call. decades of neglect means much of the mines infrastructure is close to collapse. the, about all the new north is 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 vast natural resources as a means of putting pressure on ukraine. and it's not just cold that russia is using to try and control your 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 these, which were around 2000000000 dollars last year for 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, onto the baltic sea. russia trying to lead to divide europe for russia,

a better energy relations. ready 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 do the belie station in the queen, 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 kiev to more economic pressure for moscow. so analysts say, russia's aim of trying to keep ukraine in expire of influence is impossible. it is simply not possible to have that sort of control away our neighbors. we've all, with the investing huge resources military as well as economy because in be and as i see on russia, i think it moscow and age to modify. it's james, because we're 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 columbia. so let's say economic. an energy pressure from russia will continue, because the more ukraine talks about future nato and e u membership. the more moscow sees red, charles rabbit al jazeera tor esque eastern ukraine. pakistani police and the factory workers killed that manager, set his body on fire after accusing him of blasphemy. prime minister in ron con is describing it as horrific. more than a 150 people have been arrested. come, i'll hide a report from his lung about shock waves and condemnation across august on even the religious right. leadership has criticize what it said was indeed an act of injustice. when factory worker in an industrial down in seattle court took mattered

into their own hands, killing their lunk and manager. after he told them that they should clean up the factory. he apparently, according to the board, tried to remove some stick from the machinery red inspection. what to do, and i thought it was a strong reaction from the factory worker to our tag, the manager, then a mob lynched him, and his body was burned. soon other protector also came on. the said, the police force, of course, were not able to control the situation. the country's prime minister said that the nation head bowed in shame over this incident, have called for an inquiry and exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the horrible act and that industrial down buckets on foreign minister also said that the incident will indeed be investigated. 150 people have already been arrested. an investigation that underway, which of course being overseen by the countries prime minister, mister brown han,

him says that his whalen, opposition leader, one quite oh, has joined protest to the state about in us where an election was an old, the supreme court cancel the state governance race, which was being one vinyl position candidate. whatever says that it shows the free and fair elections on possible in that way. le georgia, as i've ordered a new election be held in january worshippers in the pol, have held a ceremony to welcome the return of an idol of the stolen almost 40 years ago. the statue of 2 hindu gods was in a usb z in an investigation by the f. b. i resulted in its return on saturday, on the other limber reports now from the people of political button waited a long time for this to catch a glimpse of their long lost and much loved idol. the 12th century sat you of luxembourg with worshipped for centuries before it disappeared from the town in

1984. we were sad when the day she worship disappeared. we're happy to get back to you later. it is back where it belonged to statue was briefly seen at sotheby's auction house in new york in the early nineties before vanishing again. it then reappeared at the data, the museum of art and texas artist and researcher joy davis potted it in an online image. 36 years ago since then, she's been working with napoleon, heritage, activist, and f b i. agents to ensure the return to nepal. it feels like a bit of like a bit of justice in the world. and also just as a 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, for many of us custodians conducted religious rights before reinstating the statue in its trying women thought about square a unesco world heritage site. in the past, dozens of cut monday valley's venerated babies have disappeared from here into

private and museum collections abroad. what may be objects about for many had deep cultural and spiritual significance for generations of napoleon. the 19 eighties and nineties thought the plunder of bronze de teeth and stones culture from gut mandate 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 adamus about the theft and trafficking in the cultural heritage. heritage activists say there is increasing pressure on western collectors and museums to return to pass stolen treasures or is it it almost 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 menopause stolen items have found their way home. activists welcomed this happy homecoming as the start of the positive trend,

remy at the limbo edges. eda gutman to a total solar eclipse has turned day light into darkness and antarctica. the icey continent was the only place on the planet where the spectacular phenomenon could be seen. it's summer time in antarctica, the moment that it sees continuous daylight from mid october until early april, the eclipse changed that at least for a few minutes. ah, it is good to have you with us. hello, adrian. so they got here and so how the headlines and al jazeera, early results were expected on sunday, after grampians voted in an election seen as a test for its transition to democracy. turnout was high, as people decided if president adama barrow deserves another term ahmed address reports from the capital banjo. the tunnel was really, really impressive. talk to, ah, gambling.