a vote on friday will decide if blatter gets a fifth term at fifa's president lawrence lee reports from the headquarters of fifa in zurich. >> reporter: if you ever been on the moon since tuesday night you would be forgiven for thinking the opening ceremony of the fifa congress in zurich was nothing but happy. global football's governing body organized a party with music and dancing. but not even sefolosha blatter could admit that everything was fine. >> actions of individuals bring shame and humiliation on football. >> reporter: not for the first time he said fifa would recover with him in charge. after all, he was not to blame. >> we, or i cannot monitor everyone all of the time.

. >>> still to come on al jazeera >> i'm lawrence lee in the skies over lithuania, as russia increases rhetoric to the threat over the baltic states. >>> and mexico opens up a new front in its war against drug gangs. ♪ is there such a thing as a sure thing in business? some say buy gold. others say buy soybeans. i say, buy comcast business internet. unlike internet providers that slow down when traffic picks up, you get speed you can rely on. it's a safe bet. like a gold-plated soybean. reliably fast internet starts at $69.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. [beeping] ooo come on everybody, i think this is my grandson. [lip syncing] ♪little girl you look so lonesome oh my goodness. ♪i see you are feeling blue ♪come on over to my place ♪hey girl ♪we're having a party happy birthday, grandma! ♪we'll be swinging ♪dancing and singing ♪baby come on over tonight ♪ >>> a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. fighters of the islamic state of iraq and the levant say they are now in full control of palmyra, and u.s. president barack obama says he doesn't think the fight a

lawrence lee reports from london. >> david cameron still in downing street and still prime minister. his conservative party confounded every single one of the polls and won a small majority. that allowed him to tell the queen he can now form a government. weeks of negotiations ended up before lurch time. >> as i said in the small hours of this morning we will govern as a party of one nation, one united kingdom. north to southeast to west. >> it was primarily a disaster for the main labour party and ed milibrand. now searches for a new identity and a new leader too. >> britain needs a strong labour party. now it's time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party. >> the liberal democrats were also decimated it's leader, nick clegg kept his seats but he too resigned from the party. leerd nigel farag failed to get elected so he became the third party leader to go. not in the wildest dreams quite this well for them, not only do they have a mandate which allows them a free rein to continue their economic program they have effectively neutralized all their political threa

as lawrence lee reports it's because foreign investors are buying up a lot of the property. >> on the banks of the river thames this isn't catering for people like policemen or nurse he. a one bedroom flat here costs over $1 million and most of it's already sold. the new american embassy will be here. the developers have gone out of the way to market this entire area not to londoners but to wealthy foreign investors. the vision is temping. an investor could install his girl frind ingirlfriend in his flat, or rent it or leave it empty. >> the center of london trooct attracts foreign investors. >> this woman has lived here for 20 years she helps victims of domestic violence. but if a wrecking ball comes here she'll be out. she could not afford it. >> small towns or wherever we can find it. because at the moment what they offer us we cannot afford to live in london anymore. >> developers have taken their road shows to investors in plagues he like singapore mumbai beijing who can charge thousands a month for rent. all over london the cranes move in. they protest but the noise of investmen

lawrence lee al jazeera, london. >> coming up next on al jazeera america getting kids to read. small communities in colombia are doing everything they can to inspire children to pick up a book. >> columbia's national book fair is paying tribute to gabriel garcia marquez a year after his death. but the author made not have inspired the love of reading in his country. >> the guest country at this year's national book fair is animationnal one. the enchanted place infedded by garcia marquez, who died a year ago. >> it's a nation of territory that resembles crib i caribbean and latin america. it resemble it's our wildest dreams. >> the literary landscape made famous by 100 years of solitude and aims to connect colombians to books. books. >> it's like in colombia there are few readers. they have worked to increase readership but still half of the population do not read books. >> books are expensive and are considered a luxury item. the government response has been to build public libraries and provide free access to books computers and technology. 104 new libraries have been built in

lawrence lee, al jazeera. old ohs tools have been discovered in kenya, opening up an intriguing question. the stone tools are 3.3 million years old this means they predate the emergence of modern human beings. it is forcing anthropologists into a bit of a rethink because it is always been thought humans only started making tools around 800,000 years later. the latest on everything we are covering on our website the address for that is aljazeera.com.

lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: it's a drill, but the intention is real enough.ots have 15 minutes from the alarms sounding to take to the skies. they will scramble for real 150 times last year to shadow russian aircraft over the baltic. the current lead nation in this nato mission is norway backed up by the italians. this is all about reassuring the tiny baltic states that they won't let the russians do to them what they did to ukraine. >> we show them our presence by being up there and -- and show them that we're nearby and we're on alert. we are airborne within 15 minutes, and basically show of force, and show them that we are here. >> reporter: lithuania looks at east, but the government is bringing back the draft to build the army. they have been warning about a ground invasion as well as an air war. as well as having russia to the east is the russian enclave of kalenigrad to the west. so as well as calling on nato to defend its skies, this country, and latvia has now formally asked a standing nato army of 3,000. that's a real test of nato's stated commitmen

. >> reporter: let's go live now to lawrence lee who is at westminster in london lawrence as i mentioned the latest count, the conservatives just one seat away from an overall majority. this wasn't at all the picture that the polls were telling us would be prevalent at this point today today. >> no, not at all and, in fact even though they have not got an actual majority they will do it in a minute and majority of 3-6 and effect a majority anyway because members of parliament from northern ireland do not take the seats up it has been an extraordinarily unexpected and successful night to the conservative party could conceivably imagined as you say no polling at all the campaign predicted this what we were told was going to happen is a messy new politicians with the different parties and as i said earlier on the whole thing was over by the time effectively by the time people were going to work this morning and almost on every level things have worked out perfectly for david cameron and not only does he have majority to continue their economic program as they want to every siningle of his o

the other great difference of course as lawrence lee was mentioning in his report is the great surget we have seen of the smp. now 56 seats here in westminster, and all but three seats in the whole of scotland so mr. cameron has been quick to say he is the prime minister for the whole of the u.k. but people are already predicting there are going to be tensioned over this issue in the next few years. >> let's talk about the changing relationship and the deals he might have to do with members of his own party. it was in the manifesto, and that is an in-out referendum on britain's place in the european union. he can do not get away from it now. and there are those people in his party who might find it a lot easier to twist his arm now on the way it is all run and worded than before. >> exactly. and i think if we could get out of it he probably would. he had made it clear that he wants the u.k. to remain in the e.u. he wants to renegotiate some of the duties of the u.k. and some of the rules it has bound be immigration being one of them. but certainly he doesn'ting want the u.k. out of t

. >> i am lawrence lee in the skies other lithuania as nato increases the rhetoric over the russian threat, so the baltic states. to the east of the city. >> in the an bar. >> in other news, in chili at least one student has been seriously injured during an antigovernment protest. the demonstrations came as she delivered her annual state of the nation speech. al jazeera latin american editor has more. riot police and protestors have been playing cat and mouse for hours now. even as the president was delivering her state of the nation address. a mixture of students trade union leaders and representatives are just about every organization that's dissatisfied with the way the government is handling things came out to protest. riot police in far gear far outnumbers the demonstrators who refused to back down, clearly in the mood for a fight. >> violent clashes during an annual address have become almost a tradition. but this year, the atmosphere is even more charged. exactly one weeing ago, there was a protest here, and as demonstrators were scribbleling graffiti, the man living in the apartmen

lawrence lee has more. >> reporter: the queen's speech.sterity here but pomp and ceremony by the bucket load. she arrive to outline what her new government plans to accomplish. and the prime minister now has a gift of an opportunity to refrain the u.k. and its relationship with europe is at the heart of it all. >> the e.u. has changed a great deal since 1975. we have a new strategy. the bill in this queen's speech makes clear the referendum must take place by 2017. >> reporter: the idea is to first of all make life a lot more uncomfortable for people who are here. and secondly that people will send messages back through their own grapevines and networks they will be reporting to their friends and relatives that you have a tough time when you come to the u.k. and you might want to think about whether you are going to bother. >> reporter: others also want out of the human rights act. they say foreign-looking criminals have more rights than british citizens. of course the anti-european right-wing would argue that things like this, reducing ri

lawrence lee, al jazeera london. >> two more people have been killed during political violence. protestor has been on the streets for who two weeks. demonstrating against the president to run for a third term which they say is illegal. however, a court this weal ruled that they could seek a new term in office. al jazeera reports from the capitol. soldiers have been out on the streets of bujumbura. since the second day of protests. the army says it is supporting the police, but the soldiers have not joined in the violence, and the protestors like them. >> the soldiers are always protecting us when these policeman shoot at us. >> we thank the soldiers and we thank their commander. he should deploy more soldiers on the streets. >> that protest was then broken up. police fired tear gas and guns this time, nobody was injured. the probing fors say a lot of the people in police uniforms aren't policeman but members of the ruling party youth wing. and the protestors say the much more likely to shoot them with guns but they say as long as the soldiers are out from the streets too then th

lawrence lee reports from london. they are having some work zone on it's a good time for it the civil servants work goes on hold when they try to gets elected. who will become the leading diplomate, and will other countries sit up and take notice. >> there is no real surprise that foreign policy hasn't played much of a role during this campaign, as usual it's mostly been about the economy. but there is a question about the extent to which the two main parties here continue to have a big strategic vision for the u.k.'s place in the world, and indeed the extent to with the rest of the world values the u.k.'s opinion on many of these things. >> consider some of the biggest issues in the middle east. both labor and the parties have ended up opposing an iranian backs government, while supporting an iranian backed government in baghdad. the supporters help get rid of gaddafi but neither it nor the labor party anticipated that revolutions usually lead to an exodus and the doors to people like syrian refugees remain closed. t

. >>> going to lawrence lee outside the parliament and this is not the scenario expected and not what polls were all pointing to. >> reporter: no absolutely not, 100% poperr -- polar opposite and when you look at last night when the poles shut everybody, i mean absolutely everybody following the election had been working on the given assumption this would be a very decisive outcome and not days but weeks of negotiating between different parties to form some sort of coalition government and might put a new program at risk would the queen speech happen on the 27th of may and all that thing and it's 5 past 10:00 in the morning and it's all over and we can say with certainty david cameron will be the new prime minister because there is noelle material arithmetic with any other possibility so he is off to see the queen in 2 1/2 hours to ask her permission to form a new government and that is exactly what is going to happen. the question as you say arises how could everybody have got it so wrong and what prompted all the undecided voters to go with a conservative party in the end and they s

crossing over to lawrence lee joining us from zurich. confirmation, lawrence, that sepp blatter is going to speak over the next hour. if he does, what is he expected to say? >> reporter: well, it sounds like the plot is thicken to go a bit to be honest of the last lastest information sounds like he's not go he go to speak at this medical conference as he was supposed to. clearly he said have you ever nullvirtually nothing yesterday apart from his spokesman suggesting all the extraordinary things that happened yesterday were a bad day for football but a good day for fifa. everybody else thought it was a very good day for football and a very bad day for fifa. sepp blatter and everybody else has now had the night to reflect on what it all means. there are reports now saying he will not give the speech this morning separately it's been reported that the swiss police investigating the allegations of corruption around the 2018 and 222 world cup have his asked blatter not to sleeve switzerland which means they want to speak to him as well. it e

ago has canceled a speaking engagement in zurich where he was supposed to speak crossing over to lawrence lee is joining us from zurich, there was an official statement read on his behalf as to why he didn't attend that conference and why he didn't speak. but what are we to make of his absence? >> reporter: yeah, that's the question isn't it. where is sepp blatterthing at all. it was a very short statement at the end of the day. and his official spokesman tried to push a line early on that said this extraordinary investigation in to historic corruption was a bat day for football but a good day for fifa. well outside zurich and outside fifa there are very, very many people that say exactly the opposite. it was a very good day for football and an absolutely awful day for fifa. it seems to me as of right now it's five past 10 clock in the morning and the opening ceremony of this congress is supposed to be at 5:00 zurich time. these next few hours i think will be crucial in determining what exactly sepp blatter and fifa are going to do in response to this. blatter hasn't turned up to this vents,

lawrence lee, al jazerra london. >>> the pianist and conductor has take own another challenge as charlieela reports from london. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: they arethough the keys look like they have for hundreds of years the sound they produce is slightly different. pianist and compose erden el has played on stein way pianos all his life. but this is the first one with his name on it. it's inspired by the piano used by the 19th century hungarian composter franz list, he tried it and wanted to combine its sound with the power of the modern piano. from the outside it looks like a modern concert grand piano. but inside are where the differences lie, you can see how the string run in straight lines reactor that angles and that creates the different sound a much warmer sound closer to what composers would have had almost 200 years ago. daniel is considered the worlds greater musician and as a conductor he's tried to build bridges through miss i can, with his orchestra of palestinian and israeli musicians. and he's reportedly condemned israel's occupation of gas and the west bank. even when describing

party that looked over england a bit more perhaps they would not have eukip to worry about now lawrence lee, eastern england. >>> and now the u.s. city of baltimore lifted the city wide curfew in place since the death of a man injured in police custody and al jazeera john hendron cents this update. >> reporter: there is relief in baltimore now that the curfew has been lifted, that is a curfew that has been in place since tuesday on a nightly basis officials have been assessing that to determine whether they could lift it there have been a number of people arrested for violating that curfew and apparently things have calmed down enough that now people can continue to go out after 10 p.m. for the first time in several days that is after an order by the mayor of baltimore. but there have been dramatic changes in the city at that time, hundreds of millions of damage were done to the city according to larry hogan the governor of maryland and 200 businesses lost entirely the governor says. the mood in the city transformed and the safety atmosphere transformed after days including rye riots after

lawrence lee reports from spain where about a million britains live. >> reporter: it's still quiet inittle town, but soon enough the bars and restaurants will be full of european sun seekers. but getting on, half the population is british. in the bar we found some of them putting the world to rights and there is plenty wrong with the u.k. >> people from. [ inaudible ] people are barredderring out in camps. do they apply to move to australia? no. can they move anywhere in europe? yes. where do they want to go. >> britain. >> yes. >> and to be fair, probably so would i. wouldn't you? >> reporter: over the road dean shows us his contribution to spain. he founded a charity which other british people here can contribute to. the money goes to the spanish poor. this he says, helps define the difference between the right and the wrong sort of migrants. an immigrant is someone who takes and an ex-pat is someone who goes to somewhere else and gives a little bit back, is that what you mean? >> that tends to be the perception of most of the people that i know locally yes. yeah, it is. >> reporter

lawrence lee, al jazerra london. >>> the u.s.barack obama has planned to shields nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation about has been dealt another blow. a federal appeals court has back aid temporary hold impose booed a lower court. 26 states have challenged obama's executive order. the white house says it's essential to function a broken immigration system. >>> we all know what a piano sounds like, but how about something radically different? the pianist and conduct door daniel has unveiled a new type of piano to take to the stage worldwide. charlie angela reports from london. >> reporter: theythough the keys like they have for hundreds of years, the sound they produce is lightly different. pianist and compose erden el has played on stein way pianos all his life. but this is the first one with his name on it. it's inspired by the piano used by the 19th century hungarian composer franz list, he tried it and wanted to combine its sounds with the power of the modern piano. from the outside it looks like a moder

as lawrence lee reports. >> on the banks of the river thames a new quarter of london rises into the sky. there is an acute shortage of property in the capital. a one bedroom flat here costs over $1 million and most of it's already sold. market this entire area not to londoners but to wealthy foreign investors. the vision is tempting. an investor could install his girlfriend in a plant he might rent it or leave it empty. the whole district is irrelevant to 99% of people who live in london. >> the center tends oattract investors, from russia or middle easterners middle to upper class who are investing for their pensions for their children. >> down the road, developers have their eye on another lucrative plot, isan has lived here for 20 years. she spends her time helping victims of domestic violence. if the wrecking ball is here she'll be out of london because there is no way she could afford it. >> they are forcing us to go to the outskirts some other small towns or wherever we can find it. because at the moment what they are offering us, we can nod afford to live in london anymore. >> re

let's go to lawrence lee outside parliament.ell us what kind of mud they have been throwing around. >> reporter: it's extraordinary, lauren the questions are being raised about the nature of democracy frankly. remember how it is supposed to work here. 650 parliamentary seats in the house of commons, if a party wants to form a government it has to get a majority. that 326 seats in parliament and then they can go to the queen and say we want to form a government and she says fine off you go. but that's why the scottish national party has become such a problem for the prime minister david cameron, because they have had such a successful campaign. none of the two big parties can form a coalition government without their support. and david cameron doesn't want that to happen because they want independence. he and his supporters have now come close to suggesting that the threat from the scottish nationalist is such that the future of the united kingdom that it would be better to exclude them from power even if it might mean a minority

lawrence lee has this report it is a trillion, but the intention is real enough. they have 15 minutes to take to the skies they were scrambled for real 150 time tousled doe russian aircrafts over the baltics. the current lead nation in this mission is norway, backed up in lithuania by the italians, this they say is all about reassuring the tiny baltic states that they won't let the russians do to them what they did to ukraine. we show them our presence. and show them they are nearby, and on alert we are air born within 50 minutes and there's basically -- a show of force and show them that we are here. >> the trains carrying oil and russian troops pass straight through. lithuania, the fields surrounded. >> as well as calling on nato to defend the skies the country with latvia, has now formally requested a standing nato army of 3,000. that's a real test of nato stated commitment. 20 protect these countries. >> the process will continue on the ground, lit be good. >> of course the russians say this is hysterical scare among questions. we were refused an interview wit

lawrence lee reports from lithuania. >> it's a drill but the intention is real enough. bloop bloop bloop bloop. >> the pilots have 15 minutes to take to the quite. they were scrambled for real 150 times last year for shadow russian aircraft over the baltics. the nato mission is norway, backed up by the italians. this they say is all about reassuring the tiny baltic states that they won't let the russians do to them what they did to ukraine. we show our presence, we show presence by being up there and show them that we are nearby, and that we are on alert. we are airborne within 15 minutes and there's basically a show of force and show them that we're here. >> lithuania looks at ease, but is bolstering its army. the military here has been warned about ground invasion as well as an air war should they fight in the countryside to protect the capitol. >> as well as russia to the east, there's the russian enclave to the west. the trains carrying oil and russian troops pass straight through it. lithuania feels surrounded. as well as calling on nato to defend its skies this co

lawrence lee al jazeera. in london. >> 15 million people suffer a stroke each year. it is a major cause of disability worldwide. but those fortunate enough to have access to rehabilitation can itit can be a slow and frustrating process. that's why in london a team has brought robots to help. >> eight years ago amanda suffered a stroke. she managed to relearn how to walk but never regained full use of her arm or hand. she's now undergoing a treatment where she uses robots to relearn movements. >> your mind is taking off the arm but you still have to use the arm. so the machine actually guides you through the program and it's the lovely feeling because naturally you can maneuver it in the way that your left hand works. >> the team says that 500 repetitions of a movement is needed in each session to make lasting change. the robots allow them to achieve this in a more focused way. >> by doing a high number of repetitions we get dose and intensity. we know from animal studies that you need hundreds of reputations repetitions in order to get those benefits. >> the hand and

. >>> lawrence lee is outside the house of parliament, and so, what happened this? this is not the scenario were telling us that we would be facing this morning. >>> no, in the for a single second and, you know, in the normal run of things, the way politics has worked. if the result of the election laws would win by a majority of one, you would think it was unconvincing result. but this hasn't been like any sort of normal collection and all opinion for weeks every single opinion poll said that neither the conservatives nor the labor party would not get a majority and britain is heading into the then known. >>> it could not possibly have been more wrong. it makes you wonder what was wrong with all those opinion polls. and what was it that changed people's minds and convince he them that the conservative message was better. >>> was it, they were the only party that could stop the scottish national lists or was it the much more simple message that they were drumming into people's head. day off-day through this entire campaign that they are the only people, who can look

lawrence lee, al jazeera in london. >> still ahead how robots are helping stroke victory learn human movements. >> the world relay championships. >> there is a serious medical side of sport today. >> the death of an athlete from sudden cardiac arrest, danny jones dying after collapsing sunday was in a league one game. the 29-year-old had scored more than 1,000 points in 150 appearances, had been capped 12 times by wales. deaths like this are rare. two out of 21,000 will suffer cardiac arrest. there have been high profile incidents on the football pitch. gregory murton died in hospital after collapsing at a match in belgium. in 2003, another died in the federations cup. in 2004, an athlete survived after a collapse. medics were able to save him even though his heart stopped beating for 78 minutes. >> the official cardiologist at the london olympics in 2012 joins us, great to have you with us. it seems to be a rare thing for a young man or woman to die like this but is it more likely to happen if they're playing sports? >> very much so. sudden death is rare, but if someone's got a hear

general election it appears to be one of the tight ohs run in a nation al jazeera lawrence lee reports. >> the cold weather on polling day and voters turned out by the millions to exercise their choice. the polling stations over at breakfast time, pubs, even a care home came for the day places where people could put a cross in the box. >> this is the party leaders turned out early for their votes. the prime minister in his country side constituency. the labor leader for the north. in the town, and as well the scottish national party leader. the u.k. independent party leader by the seaside the leader of the greens in london. and many others too. so here are the numbers. 650 seats in the parliament, for a party to gain the confident of the house needs a simple majority, half that number plus one seat. the wee date on the calendar is may the 20 second, the queens speech, and a new program. >> turn outs were said to be brisk in many places perhaps suggesting it may be higher than the last vote, when two-thirds exercise it is choice. the country already has 90% of the world's heroin, the go

and lawrence lee is live for us in london, so how is this looking, lawrence?rter: yes, it's interesting, jane because they said the european council meeting in brussels last week that the ship could pick up hundreds and hundreds of people out of the sea and helicopters with radar that can scan the waters and quite insistent they would only do this if none of the people would try to seek asylum in the uk and it's not a foreign policy story for the uk as a domestic immigration story and it is interesting though financial times here which is a pretty serious publication said the other day that in its opinion it was pretty shameful how smaller role foreign policy has played in this election less really than in living memory and you may say fair enough no votes for parties in foreign affair but uk is in the security council and ga and you might think reasonably that those who occupy westminster think election is a good time for them to say something meaningful about the state of the world. the foreign and common wealth office in london having some work done and it'

lawrence lee reports. . >> david cameron still and downing street and still prime minister. his conservative party confounding every one of the polls and won a small majority, that allowed him to tell the queen he can now form the government. an election that was supposed to involve weeks of coalition negotiations ended over lunchtime. >> as i said in the small hours of the morning we'll governor as a party of one nation, one united kingdom. that means insuring this recovery reaches all parts of our country from north to south to east to west. [applause] >> it was primarily a disaster for the main labor opposition and it's leader, failure to gain english seats and the near wipe out in scotland. the labour party now faces another search for a new identify and a new leader soon. >> britain needs a strong labour party. britain needs a labour party that can rebuild after this defeat so they can have a government that stands for working people again. now it's time for someone else to take over the party. >> nor did the independent party break through. he failed to get elected so

lawrence lee in london. >> david cameron still on 1 downing street. that allowed him to tell the queen he can now form a government. an election that was supposed to involve weeks of coalition negotiations ended up over by lunch time. >> as i said in the small hours of this morning we will govern as a party of one nation, one united kingdom. that means ensured this recovery reaches all parts of our country, from north to south from east to west. >> it was primary a disaster for the main labour administration, labour party now faces another search for a new identity and a new leader too. >> britain needs a strong labor party. britain needs a labor part that can rebuild after this defeat so we can have a government that standings up for working people again. and now it's time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this country. >> the liberal democrats were also decimated. its leader nick clegg kept his seat but he too resigned. leader nigel farag became the third party leader to go. not in their wildest dreams could the conservative party h

lawrence lee, al jazeera, in london. >>> all right now for some fun and sport here is andy. >> we don't or pacquiao. >> we are done with that. >> mcillroy won in san francisco for the first time in his career and beating gary in the final four and two and he had earlier beaten jim in the semi final. not quite the perfect day of mcillroy and a late match on saturday and here is a mention of the fight and many gave up tickets for the pacquiao and mayweather fight and a fifth title at the u.s. open next month. >> really gives me some momentum and feel like the confidence has been there and feel like my game was very close. even at the masters but to get a win was huge especially in this stretch to get a within before the u.s. open and it would be nice to win this event as well. >> reporter: hit back at the club's critics as the london team celebrate a fifth league title and saying he is happy to acknowledge those who say the team are boring and ill disciplined and beat crystal palace on sunday to wrap up the title with three games to spare and it's the first league title since his return t

lawrence lee, al jazeera, eastern england. >>> it's five years since presidential elections in belarusee eu complained loudly when a wave of detentions and restrictions followed the vote and recently we have seen peace talks between the west and the human rights have quieted down and on monday the u.n. will discuss the country's rights record for minsk, here is rory. >> reporter: if they come at all the letters from her husband arrive ten days or more after they were sent she is sure someone else has already read them. nicholas stood against the president in the 2010 elections. now he is in a penal colony arrested after demonstrations protesting what interfacial monitors said was a deeply flawed vote. >> translator: i don't have optimistic expectations. but every minute i hope for a miracle and liberalization that is for sure, the legal changes of the last five years make it impossible to hold lawful demonstrations or any manifestation of democratic thought and he will never allow the events of 2010 ever again. >> reporter: the human right situation here is repeatedly criticized by grou

foreign policy has been ignored and lawrence lee knows why. >> having work done on foreign and commonwealthfice, and it's a good time for it during the elections. >> it's mostly been about the economy. but there is a question about the extent to which the two main parties here continue to have a strategic vision for the u.k.'s place in the world and the extent to which the rest of the world values the u.k.'s opinion on many of these things. consider some of the biggest issues in the middle east. both labor and conservative parties oppose an iranian-backed government. government. conservatives wouldn't offer a single politician to interview. the labour party had this to say about its own record. >> many people talk very fondly under tony blair and gordon brown. some do mention the iraq war as a positive role. you might be surprised. but certainly britain's role. >> if isil is still such a threat why is the u.k. stinking its army and yet spending $150 billion on nuclear weapons. these things have become a gift to insurgent parties particularly in scotland. >> i'm sure an s & p contingent is l

correspondent lawrence lee. >> north london very wealthy and very liberal. in this era of coalition politics some labor supporters don't like the idea of their party doing deals with those who would chop down the united kingdom. >> would you vote labor if they didn't have to get the support of the scottish nationalists. >> yes. >> but you wouldn't want to deal with the scottish nationalists. >> you hit the nail on the head. >> forcing the together the different parties is like mixes apples and oranges and that could be very messy. there, there are no mathematics that would allow the conservative party to form a coalition that would give them the coalition but the labour party cooed if could if they gain the support of the scottish nationalists. the scottish enemy holding the leavers of power. >> opponents are taking to the airwaves arguing that the public would prefer a government that will keep the u.k. together even if it can't get a majority. so that's what gives what they claim a moral high ground he still has to have a healthy number of mps. but senior

more now from lawrence lee who is in central london. >> reporter: election day in the u.k.or broadcast journalists contend to be somewhat of an out of body experience. from the point in time when the polls open until the point in time when they shut you can't say anything at all, which might be construed at potentially influencing the way they vote. it is very much like a court case, when a jury retires you are not allowed to say anything at all. so it restricts things like when the polls open and when they shut how many are edgeable to vote and all of that but when the polls shut it all goes back out in the open. there are exit polls then it will become later on exactly who has done well and who has done badly. these ruling don't apply to other sorts of media. twitter for example and social media are unregulated and so are the newspapers. and the newspapers are full of advice on how they think people should vote and yet if i told you what the newspapers are saying, i would be breaking the law. so no doubt people see this as ak ramonous but here people see it as sack row sa

lawrence lee al jazeera. >> he says that seth's role in expanding the game outside of europe has helped him garner support. >> extraordinary global rise, popularity which can is behind these astonishing numbers but it is the poison fruit of the success of the game. and while the game is growing and distributing revenue there seems to be enough reason for countries in developing world especially africa can and asia, to keep voting for hill. ten in my mind, the big sadness of the subjectuation is the lack of alternatives to blatter as a proud european, i would love to see europe enganging with the other consistent innocents because there is a justified fear uh-oh in the rest of the world, if you let them back in again there will only be the european clubs treat the world cup with the champions of various continue can innocents with a certain to represent the national teams in africa or in south america, and so on. what i think at the moment is there's a real need, for europe to come uhl with an alternative program and which persuades enough of the membership of 209. tins the scandal broke

lawrence lee reports now from the headquarters of fifa, zurich. >> reporter: if you have been on theoon since tuesday night you would be forgiven for thinking the opening if fifa congress in europe was nothing but happy. they organized a party with music and dancing but not even sepp blatter could admit that everything was fine. >>> this hat brought shame on football and demands action and change from us all. >> reporter: but for the first time he said fifa would recover with him in charge. after all, he was not to blame. >> we, or i cannot monitor everyone all of the time f people want to do wrong. they will try to other hide it. >> reporter: his refusal to step down comes in the face of criticism from many, many quarters. this was the uefa delegation from europe arriving for an emergency meeting which demanded blatter go. their preferred candidate prince hussein of jordan will stand in opposition though it's not clear if he can get enough votes against the loyal support blatter enjoys in place says like africa and asia. >> look at the democracy. the democracy of the most number tha

let's go live to lawrence lee who is in westminster.u are on tight restrictions within those boundaries. what can you tell us? >> it's a nice day. i can tell you that much. it has been very sunny in london and across the u.k. 45 million or more people across the u.k. are eligible to vote. the polls opened at breakfast time. there was a steady turnout reported all over the place. really no major problems reported. a technical glitch or hiccup which might lead to a recount, but not very much. all of the party leaders turned out. david cameron in the middle of the country, the labor party leader further north. the green leader was in london and the snp leader up in scotland as well. they all posed for photographers and cast their votes too. tonight in less than five hour's time, they can release themselves from the state of suspended animation when the polls close at 2100 gmt and then start to talk about the election properly. there will be exit polls then which will give the first clear indication even before the results come in. >> lawre

. >>> lawrence lee. >>> the north korea hasn't come close to taking steps to slow its nuclear weaponsde his comments, on reports that they test fired a missile, and he condemned the move and called for an end to it. and this was when he was in the capital, and meeting the president there. >>> we don't have him. dozens of people are being killed in a landslide in columbia heavy rains caused the river to burst its banks and brought a landslide down and 39 people died and the search is underway for those people who are missing as result. >>> thousands of minors, have gone on an indefinite strike and strengthen the labor laws, and, taking part, demanding the repeal of a law which makes it easier to fire employees and they want the use of contractors restricted. and they are the third producer of silver, and copper. >>> there are some who believe that writing down insecurities may encourage people to overcome their greatest fears, in the project, in west virginia, they are invited to do that, it's called the courage war. >>> it's nothing more than a simple blackboard, transformed into what

lawrence lee has this report from zurich. ♪ >> reporter: if you have been on the moon since tuesday night have probably assumed the opening ceremony of fifa was nothing but happy. the governing body its president looking as relaxed as relaxed can be. but not even sepp blatter could admit that everything was fine. >> actions of individuals if proven bring shame and humiliation on football and demand action and change from us all. we or i, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. if people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it. >> reporter: blatter's refusal to step down comes in the face of unprecedented criticism from many many quarters. this was the uefa delegation from europe arriving for an emergency meeting which demanded that blatter go. they prefer the prince of jordan will stand in opposition though it's not at all clear if he could get enough votes against the loyal support blatter enjoys in places like africa and asia. >> i know what is his strategy. his strategy is to bring all of the congresses to have some speakers in the room to convince the people you know as usual

lawrence lee, al jazeera malaysia. >> for decades ethnic have been persecute which had doesn't consider them as citizens but some have managed to escape and find better lives. as wayne reports and new zealand. these mention and their families have come a long way. they escaped 20 years ago. they were granting residency in new zealand but the people they left behind are never far from their thoughts. >> it is like they are living in the open space no rights to study. >> if they had stayed in their hometown, this is where they would likely be. with four of their brothers and sisters in camps. since 2012, more than 100,000 people mainly muslims have been forced from their houses. because of attacks led by buddhists and comfort go back home. >> there's been tension for decades but the issue has hit the headlines again because of a new wave of refugees escaping in boating and earlier this month researchers from the memorial holocaust museum went and found what they termed early warning signs of genocide. >> we are talking about the 1948 convention, u. convention on again side, and what talks

lawrence lee, al jazeera. >> amnesty international says qatar has not done enough to improve conditionspromised to do more for it's work force who are helping the country prepare for the 2022 world cup, but they say there has been no significance advances. >> there is a range of abuses that workers are facing. mostly it has to do with their relationship to their employers. ten in many cases are people who are not being paid for months at a time, they don't even have enough money to buy food or water and they have to rely on charity. people who are also living in very poor accommodations that doesn't comply with rules on accommodation for workers. and also people who are being forced to work eventually, because their employer is threatening them with with holding the passports and refusing them to kind of let them leave the country. and what we have seen is that the changes that have happened is the electronic payment system has been announced. it hasn't been introduced yet, so we still have to see what happens. there's a six month period from february, so by the end of the summer, we sh

tarnished and lacking the glamour it had a half a century ago and like britain they have given up on lawrence leew at least 13 people have been injured during demonstrations in jerusalem, israeli jews of the origin accuse the police of brutality and of discriminating against black people in israel and we report. >> reporter: they came out in their hundreds, mostly israeli jews or ethiopia origin and angry at what they say was police brutality against a black israeli soldier and more than a dozen people were hurt when scuffles broke out with the police. >> glas the police brutality. the police is acting with force against us. >> reporter: in an incident last week an israeli or ethiopia decent was allegedly assaulted by immigration officers who thought he was illegal immigrant and this video sparked outrage on social media and policemen were seen beating a soldier and shows a policeman pushing him to the ground after he didn't initially obey the policeman's order and tries to help the colleague and the issue of immigrants in israel stirred controversy for many years and deliberate policies has 50%

a vote on friday will decide if blatter gets a fifth term at fifa's president lawrence lee reports fromeadquarters of fifa in zurich. >> reporter: if you ever been on the moon since tuesday night you would be forgiven for thinking the opening ceremony of the fifa congress in zurich was nothing but happy. global football's governing body organized a party with music and dancing. but not even sefolosha blatter could admit that everything was fine. >> actions of individuals bring shame and humiliation on football. >> reporter: not for the first time he said fifa would recover with him in charge. after all, he was not to blame. >> we, or i cannot monitor everyone all of the time. if people want to do wrong they will also try to hide it. >> reporter: but his refusal to step down comes in the face of unprecedented criticism from many many quarters. this was the uefa delegation from europe arriving for an emergency meeting which demanded that blatter go. their preferred candidate prince ali ben hussein of jordan will stand in opposition, though it's not at all clear if he could get enough vote

lawrence lee, al jazerra london. >>> now the pianist and conductor daniel has built a reputation of noty music but his political engagement of he formed an orchestra including knew i thinks from a rail and pal stain vinnie territories. now taken on another challenge at charlie angela reports from london. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: though the keys look like they have for hundreds of years the sound they produce is slightly different. pianist and compose erden el has played on stein way pianos all his life. but this is the first one with his name on it. it's inspired by the piano used by the 19th century hungarian composer franz list little he tried it and wanted to combine its sounds with the power of the modern piano. from the outside it looks like a modern concert grand piano. but inside is where the differences lie, you can see how the strings lie it creates a much warmer sound closer to what composeers would have had almost 200 years ago. cancel cards the world after the great all around musician and as an conductor he's tried to build bridges through music with his orchestra of israel and i p

and as lawrence lee reports it's an issue, that has taken center table, with voters, who have migratedtill quiet and soon enough the bars and restaurants will be full of europeans and half population here is, british, and, the bar know found some of them and plenty wrong with the u.k. >>> people from romania and under camps, and they move to australia, no. >>> can they move anywhere in europe? >>> yes. >>> where do they want to go? >>> britain. >>> yes. >>> they want to go to britain and, to be fair, so would i. >>> but, wouldn't you. >>> over the road, dean shows us his contribution to spain and he found the contribution, and the money goes to the spanish port and this he says, helps define the difference between the rights and the wrong sort of my grants. and, a immigrant is someone who takes the next place and somewhere else, and gives them back and that sends to be the perception of most of the people that i know locally. >>> none of these people would regard themselves as racesism, rather that the sections, and frustrations and miss placed priorities and range and that comes from

lawrence lee thinks he knows why. >> the foreign and commonwealth office in london is having work done it. it's a good time for it as politicians try to get themselves elected. but who will be the leading diplomats and will the country sit up and take notice? foreign policy has not played much of a role during this election campaign as usual. it's mostly been about the economy. >> both labor and the conservative party have opposed an iranian backed company in damascus while supporting an iranian-backed government in baghdad. it helps to get rid of gaddafi in libya but neither it nor the labour party. they have this to stay about their own party. >> many people talk about the roll of the series of international crisis under tony blair and gordon brown. some do mention iraq war as a positive role. >> other policies confuse voters too. if isil is a threat why is the u.k. shrinking it's arm and spending $100 billion on nuclear weapons. i'm sure that an snp is large enough to influence different thinking can help free the labour party or so many people in the labour party from their recent

lawrence lee, al jazeera lodgedlondon. >> sir thank you so much for joining us here on al jazeera. >> thank you barbara. >> i want to remind people, ukip i am assuming an in and out referendum and the british people themselves and not just the establishment who are going to have a say in the matter? >> the last sentence is where a sting in the tail is, if it were a clean referendum that the swiss used to have, where the government ministers are not able to campaign or produce advertising cash to push their case i would be very pleased. but i suspect this is going to be a very dirty referendum that government money government ministers will be using statements to push their point of view. already yesterday the guardian was leaked by mistake by the bank of gland a statement how it was going to terrifying the british people how hugely costly it would be be to leave and the european union will pump tons of money into it, and the choice of words will be critical, whether it's binding or not binding and they will be choosing whether something is good announced or not. >> forgive me for inte