dana lewis has this story from ukraine. >> well john, mr.oroshenko said at his new conference today, that he intends to deal with violence in the ukraine. but no civilized country will deal with terrorists, athat's what he calls separatists in ukraine, and it sets the stage for a very long and drawn out conflict in ukraine. if there's any doubt that a war is being fought in eastern ukraine, that evaporated today. add dawn separatists had shut down flights. and the ukrainian army brought out its heavy guns in attempt to retake it. strafing, explosions and dpun fair rocked -- gun fire rocked the area. separatists fought back. in kyiv, there was angry response from the president elect, billionaire petro poroshenko. >> the same why like somalian -- way like somalian pirates. they want to control the situation there, calle so-called bandit state. >> for those he called murderers bandits and killers, poroshenko vowed no respite. in moscow, russian foreign minister sergey lavrov says, ukraine's new president will be recognized. >> but what to do wi

dana lewis joins us from kiev. if the polls are correct, and this is a landslide victory for the man known as the chocolate king. what has petero poroshenko done to capture the mind and heart of so many ukrainians? >> you have to look in general the way this election has been approached. they know political turmoil is not able to go on, with the east being torn about. in many ways, petero poroshenko is someone who is palatable to the voters. he represents a lot of things that have been here, in terms of the economic union with europe, his ability that they believe he can stand up strongly, proudly and take on russia, and deal with the insecurity. when the early exit polls came out, it's clear the choice that they made - 55.9% in one exit poll in terms of voters that rallied behind him. another giving him 57%. his nearest rival had 12%. it was a landslide victory. he stood up and declared himself to be the new president here, and promised, i guess, three things - quickly - he'll move close to europe quickly, he will

dana lewis joins us from kiev. fill us in on the key players for tomorrow's election. >> well, at the beginning it was a long lists, 21 candidates running for president. four or five were taken seriously. giulio tiera schenko was one, forker prime minister gaoled by president viktor yanukovych. you have mr dobkin, a former governor in the east. he doesn't resonate well with voters. the front runner is petro porau schenko. >> in a kiev suburb the truck blares a message. on the eve of the election his supporters and polls say the 48-year-old has history in the bag. on the last day of the campaign, meeting with foreign minister, porushenko talking like a leader. he is the candiman, the king of chocolate stores and factories. one like the wealthy businessmen seem so have built his empire in an honest and transparent way. >> crisscrossing the country, he has it all. he said he will turp the country towards european prosperity. security - he'll rebuild the army to deal with russian separatists. amnesty for some, not all.

dana lewis joins us from kiev. there has been security concerns, especially in the east where the voting process has been disrupted, sometimes violently. what happened? >> well, john henry, it has gone pretty much as everyone expected in eastern ukraine, not as everyone hoped for. that means that the gunman, the separatists were largely successful in closing a lot of polling stations. some of the initial figures from the government here is that seven out of 22 polling stations were only open in donetsk, and two out of 12 in lugansk. they were able to harass people at gunpoint, threaten people and took some of the voting boxes out of one polling station and destroyed them. threw a hand grenade in another. foreign journalist came under attack. a french journalist wounded in the leg at a checkpoint. we are told that an italian journalist near slovyansk was fired upon at a check point and he died. ukranian officials will say look, that is a small area of ukraine. somewhere around 7% of voter turn out much the rest of t

dana lewis reports from ukraine. >> reporter: john he said at his news conference that he intends toeal with violence here, that he will deal with the violence in eastern ukraine, but he said no civilized country will negotiate with terrorists, that's what he calls the separatists in eastern ukraine, and that appears to be setting the stage for a very long drownout conflict. with explosions and heavy gunfire at the donetsk airport. at dawn separatists shut down flights. and the ukrainian army brought out its heavy guns in order to overtake it. a bomb was dropped on or near separatists. in kiev there was an angry response from the billionaire. during the news conference, he launched his verbal assault on armed separatists, comparing them to somalian pirates. >> they are the same way as somalian pirates. >> reporter: he offered amnesty to those who put down their weapons, but for those he called murders, he vowed no negotiation. he said he would meet with the russians in mid-june to discuss the east. hah the annexation, what he called fever. sergei lavrov said the election will be reco

as dana lewis reports, more is happening in kiev. >> reporter: in this kiev subject this truck blares a message "give a gift to ukraine, elect petero poroshenko, don't elect criminals", his supporters and polls say the 48-year-old has victory in the bag. on the last day of the campaign petero poroshenko already talking like ukraine's leader. he's the candyman, the king of chocolate stores and factories, who unlike many businessmen seem to have built the empire in an honest and transparent way. crisscrossing the country, he promised it all. saying he will rebuild the economy and turn ukraine away from russia. and security - he'll rebuild the army to deal with separatists who refuse to lay down lessons. he tells us amnesty for some, not all. >> we have talks with people in the street, the terrorists. >> people are on the street on the east. we are willing to have a talk. people with their arms - not. >> petero poroshenko has somehow emerged unscathed from a lopping history of politics, a former minister. when the violent demonstrations broke out in kiev, he was one of the first official

for more, bring in dana lewis live in kiev. dana, it's just past 1:00 a.m. the election is hours away. what is the atmosphere like there on the ground? are people confid he want that they do, in fact, know which way this election is going to swing? >> reporter: well, morgan, it certainly depends upon where you are on the ground. i mean i think when you look at eastern ukraine, separatists continue to try to sabotage the election out there. to a large degree, they seem to be having some success. they continued attacks on ukrainian army checkpoints, pulled polling box out of a polling station in donetsk today and destroyed them election workers are talking about intimidation. the interior ministry is saying that of the 34 electoral districts in that area, that probably only about half of them are going to be able to be open tomorrow. we are actually hearing some reports from russian media today saying that there was an attack in slovyansk on foreign journalists, an italian journalist and his translator were hit by gunfire. they may be dead. we are trying to ge

dana lewis has the latest from kiev. >> reporter: in a kiev suburb the campaign truck blares a message "give a gift to ukraine, elect petero poroshenko, don't elect criminals", on the eve of the presidential election, his supporters and polls say the 48-year-old has victory in the bag. on the last day of the campaign, he talked like ukraine's elected leader. >> russia lost the battle for supporting terrorists. >> reporter: he's the candiman, the king of chocolate stores and factories. unlike many he seems to have built his empire in an honest and transparent way. crisscrossing the country, he promised it all. he says he'll rebuild the economy, turning ukraine towards russia. and security - he'll rebuild the army to deal with russian separatists who refuse to lay down their weapons, he tells us amnesty for some, but not all. >> we'll have talks with people in the streets. >> people are on the street on the east, and we are willing to have a talk. people with arms - not. >> petero poroshenko is somehow emerging unscathed from a history of politics. he's a government minister including tr

. >>> joining us from ukraine's capital is dana lewis. what does the election mean not only for the people of ukraine, but for their future? . >> reporter: it's a good question. i think they are asking themselves. it's interesting. look at the square behind me. no one was jumping up and down and celebrating. there was no euphoria. i think people are tired, fed up and are worried about the country being torn apart. because of that they took it seriously, going out in the big numbers to the polling stations. i was at a school in kiev, a two-storey school. people waited two hours. they jammed the hallways and polling registration area, waiting a long time for a chance to elect a new president because they believe it is the promise of the future, the only way to get the country working again. i followed a young man here in february. he was wounded, shot, nearly died. he went to the polls station and voted because he believes it is the promise of a new future for his country. >> reporter: this 25-year-old man has learnt to walk again. he's luc

. >> joining us live from kiev, dana lewis. >>> it's a big electoral weekend in egypt where voters are choosing a new president. retired military chief abdul fatah al-sisi is leading the polls, saying the ties with the u.s. will get stronger once the elections are over. he led an ore throughof mohamed mursi last july. since then he has imprisoned hundreds of muslim brotherhood, which is where we find three al jazeera journalists spending 148th day in gale garm elliot rodgers -- gaol, peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed are accused of conspiring with the outlawed muslim brotherhood. their trial has been adjourned one more time until june 1st. columbia is holding a presidential election tomorrow. it's a high-stakes election filled with political drama. none of the capped dates are expected to -- candidates are expected to win more than 50% of the votes. we have the latest. >>> from the political right to the left, none of the five candidates competing for the presidency has overwhelming support. plus, there is one candidate who is not on the ballot. the one for whom poet

dana lewis live in kiev. pleasure to have you. >>> in syria, at least 30 people are dead after a mortar attack in the southern city of dera. syrian state t.v. says over 200 people were wounded during the attack on an election rally. the pro-government campaign was meeting ahead of presidential elections being held next month, and that's a vote that many believe will give president bashar al-assad a third term. he script's campaigning wrapped up ahead of next week's presidential elections there. former tammy chief el pave asisi is expected to win. he overthrew mohammed morsi last july. >> colombia will vote for its next president. poles suggest the current president is neck and neck with the current try he's finance chief. he promised better peace talks with rebels. >>> in south africa, jacob zuma has been sworn in for his second term and his party, the african national congress won a slightly reduced majority. this is the 5th election since the end of apartheid. zuma meeting with other african leaders focused

. >> aljazeera's dana lewis in kiev and ukraine. breaking news, shots fired at the airport in donetsk. we will follow that will story and bring you more news as it warrants. >> the the heat will be on for some of you in parts of the country this memorial day weekend, but not everyone gets to enjoy the sunshine, some of you looking at stormy weather. for more, we turn to he knee deon. >> we're starting with the hot side of things. across the southwest, we could use the moisture, but that's not what we're going to see here. we have high pressure dominating, keeping us on the dry side. we are on the backside of that upper level load we have been tracking throughout the weekend. very slow moving storm system does understand bring wet weather our way. we expect triple digits through wednesday. by wednesday, throws to 110 and then we'll see numbers drop to more seasonal level it is, to mid and upper 90's, but not much in the way of rain. we'll get a little bit of moisture, maybe an overnight shower thursday into friday. that will be thank