through the significance of the status of west bengal. states including west bengal these are huge huge problems is in the age of every one of the over 30 states that there are and voting has been in phases so certain parts of the states have voted in west bengal we've seen that as well over this 6 week period however as we come up to the final vote on the 19th of may it seemed that the j.-p. supporters brought in and those living in west bengal were supporting i'm in charge the president of the party was brought in to talk to the masses clashed with the state's own indigenous support as you might say from the to them all congress led by month she's another name and a face to look out for when it comes to the vote count on the 20 election commission very worried about these clashes wanted to you might say kill them before they actually get started i've decided to stop all painting by the end of the day which is 1630 g.m.t. 2200 hours local time this isn't your e 8 to the opposition parties because the rental mode is supposed to speak on t

cup is the capital of west bengal state and fiji was the point a lot of money and resources could get. here in new delhi the b j p holding a protest after what happened in kolkata west bengal is a critical battleground state for the party because they fared poorly there in the last election in 2014 b j p leaders say this silent protest is their effort to counter what they claim is a threat to democracy in west bengal lodge but if someone sorts of the region the fact that he's beaten up. all the media people as a threat or not actually the whole thing one color. but no matter what political parties say about the state of democracy here the people of west bengal will decide this weekend which ones will speak for them scotland al-jazeera new delhi. the french president a new zealand prime minister have launched a global pledge to get tech companies to combat violent web content the christ church call comes in response to attacks in the city in march when a gunman opened fire at 2 mosques killing $51.00 people and partner reports in paris at the elise a palace the french president a new z

was leading a campaign for 8 when violence broke out of the groups such as the capital of west bengal state and b.g. was the point i walked with money and resources into its campaign here in new delhi the b j p holding a protest after what happened in kolkata west bengal is a critical battleground state for the party because they fared poorly there in the last election in 2014 b j p leaders say this silent protest is their effort to counter what they claim is a threat to democracy in west bengal lodged but if someone's or somebody just the fact that he's beaten the. odds the fall of media people who was attacked are not at that point then how can one call it. but no matter what political parties say about the state of democracy here the people of west bengal will decide this weekend which ones will speak for them scotland al-jazeera new delhi. police in bangladesh shot dead 2 suspected rohingya human traffickers outside a refugee camp in the southeast earlier this week with ortiz intercepted more than 100 refugees about to make the journey to malaysia by boat and there she officials s

yes i mean while we may be focusing on you and west bengal there are 7 states and one union territory and in sunday's voting what we're looking at an area of northern india really is going to the polls from the west we have punjab then we move east towards bigger which is sort of north central delhi and above that him child pradesh if you then move more east you have purchased pradesh and west bengal and right up into the northeast you have bihar as well there are 59 constituencies maybe over as many as 100100 1000000. available to vote in these particular today's particular vote and therefore the stakes are very high 59 seats is a lot 59 constituencies and it could just tip the balance in what has been a very close run election it's not the way that we've seen in the people that we've been talking to a jury in our election coverage that seemed very one sided 5 years ago when we saw the b.g.p. head to power the congress and the opposition parties are certainly making a real game of this whole election this time around right with an update from baron our c.n.n. jeff thank you. australi

the cities in the state of west bengal. scott hunter reports. thousands marching on the streets of kolkata these people are denouncing the violence the played out on their streets just the night before between supporters of opposing political party. this is not the culture of bengal we are ashamed of this. the culture of hooliganism and courted by the political parties. all political parties have co-existed. i am a former student political parties are destroying what educational institution we are protesting against this we are not part of any political party we don't want any political party to hijack or whatever political protest the chief of the ruling baath party john to a party. was leading a campaign freight car when violence broke out of the. cut is the capital of the west bank and the b.g. is the point a lot of money resources it gets. here in new delhi the b j p holding a protest after what happened in kolkata west bengal is a critical battleground state for the party because they fared poorly there in the last election in 2014 b j p le

well today already the cycle has reached the state of west bengal india as i mentioned and as a test proceeded been continuously weakening in the first six hours off it made landfall yesterday it was extremely but as the time passes it is being downgraded to. categories there is heavy rain investing goal and this wind but it is no not at all as damaging as it was yesterday however both parties have said that people must be careful and must not get complacent because. often they could still be crossing one hundred one we just bought and of course it is now expected to be even the bottom of the ocean which also has to make sure that its own people are not impacted by. thanks so much for joining us appreciate that update. this weekend marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the opening of the channel tunnel that established a truly groundbreaking rail link between england and france beneath the english channel hailed as a feat of engineering it took more than thirteen thousand workers from both sides to realize their vision dating back to new poll when it's the longest undersea tunnel in

also in india and repast through west bengal and to make its way to bangladesh but as of progresses it is weakening ok so it is weakening but but still weakening adelie across the area talk us through the extent but damage well definitely of the damage is silvio we already are seeing images of of communication poles and telephone pole is falling houses have suffered damage and all serious as severely inundated already central authorities have put out warnings saying that even while the storm is weakening the speeds of the wind are over one hundred kilometer spahr are still so vested in the should not take it should not to expect for this to be an easy and easy easy day coming forward and damage the true extent of it actually when we become clear once the inundating water has receded but already that the estimates are that insult structure has been there every week it. also argues coped. well that is one thing on which the central authorities have done very well india's national disaster response force is one of the largest in the world and the indian army and the indian. the indian

but no matter what political parties say about the state of democracy here the people of west bengal will decide this weekend which ones will speak for them scotland al-jazeera new delhi. police in bangladesh 0 shot dead 2 suspected raping a human traffickers outside a refugee camp in the southeast earlier this week authorities intercepted more than 100 refugees about to make the journey to malaysia by boat agnivesh efficiencies say traffickers atomic in the 740000 rangar who fled a brutal military crackdown in minot. alabama has passed the street just a portion or in the u.s. by outlawing the procedure in almost all cases legislation which was passed by $25.00 male senators makes it a crime to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy the only exception being when a woman's health is at serious risk so it is in missouri also debating in your bush and bill it's similar to laws in mississippi kentucky ohio and georgia that ban abortion once a heartbeat is detected over or abortion rights have been restricted in 16 u.s. states so far this year and the gallagher report was no modal

in the last week were sporadic clashes between rival supporters so much so that for example in west bengal that offers as many as 42 seats the ruling t.m.c. the trinamool congress who is the majority party in that state were fighting b.g.p. supporters the election commission got very worried earlier this week and they halted all campaigning 24 hours before it was supposed to we're getting reports of sporadic clashes. as well. so we wait to hear a little bit more about that but this is the final stage everybody's very tired politicians and public alike they want this election to be over but they also want to make sure that they're the winners yeah and on the issue of clashes in past elections there have been incidents of violence so how peaceful has this 6 week long process. i think in general to read it's been a very peaceful election campaign it's also been a very peaceful election process but these sporadic clashes do happen and they happen on geographical grounds or religious grounds and political biases and we've seen these historically and indeed this is nothing new but on this partic

of india's parliamentary elections the election commission ordered campaigning in the state of west bengal wrapped up a day early after violence at a rally on tuesday more than 900000000 people are eligible to vote over a 6 week period across the country the last round is on sunday may 19th prime minister narendra modi is hoping for a 2nd term al-jazeera sahara raman is in the city of daraa nasi in the more than stages which are pradesh. electioneering is drawing to a close in india's general election the 7th and final phase of voting will be conducted on sunday of the 19th and here environ i see the incumbent prime minister hoping to retain his seat however the big political guns from across the spectrum in this city hoping to unseat him priyanka gandhi was 24 hours ago trying to drum up support thousands of people followed her convoy through the city. to the major regional state parties led by. 2 potential people from the parties of the s.p. and the b.s.p. may well become linchpins in a future coalition government issues of corruption unemployment communalism of albeit at the forefront b

the strong so i cloud is expected to move north through and weaken as it hits west bengal and my colleague state it will then head to bangladesh a big concern is coastal storm surges and resultant flooding about a million people have been evacuated india's navy air force and disaster response force are on standby. airports and schools were closed before the storm hit funny is the most serious cyclon for the region in twenty years in one nine hundred ninety nine a super cycle and devastated and killed ten thousand people across the state. the coast of a state is prone to cycle and storm surge and tsunamis in banquets and shelters have been built over the last seven years before he will be the first test of how they stand up to one powerful cycle. got harder al-jazeera new delhi. south korea says pyongyang has carried out a weapons test off its eastern coast the south korean defense ministry says it has detected the launch of several short range missiles and is our correspondent in the south korean capital seoul a great deal of confusion rob about what's been lost how many have been lost and

over in west bengal all the campaigning itself ended on thursday evening 24 hours before it should have because there was sporadic violence between rival supporters it was suggested that b j p supporters and the trinamool congress led by a man to join the banner g her supporters are at odds with each other the election commission quite concerned about song going violence and they decided to end officially their campaigning on thursday evening so between these 2 states you might say a lot depends and so at the start of this 6 week process national security that was seen to be the main issue that was dominating the discourse and that led to a drumming up of nationalistic fervor didn't it but what about the fundamental issue of india with more than a 1000000000 people overwhelmingly poor and rural. indeed yes that the issues certainly why didn't we had a huge issue to monetise ation the removal of big 501000 back in 2016 that decimated the rural economy farmers do not deal with plastic credit cards banks are quite far away for them and they've never really dealt in that sort of scenario so

direction and it currently is around 20 km left, but it will cross over the state boundary into west bengalit's probably going to get close to calcutta, and probably travelled to the northwest but the wind is still strong, it's been over land for 16 hours and get the winds are still about hundred 50 km an hour, and containing some of its strength because it's been travelling close to the coast so it is able to feed off of the warm waters and we are still seeing the strong wind. the torrential rain that we saw, that crane collapsing and why largest cities, that had 250 mm of rain, up to 1200 gmt, but it's still raining and the status have not fully come in but we are looking at 300 mm rain, maybe more than that in some areas, so rain, maybe more than that in some areas, so there is a threat of severe flooding. quite some severe conditions to come. how regular are cyclones in this time of year? conditions to come. how regular are cyclones in this time of year7m conditions to come. how regular are cyclones in this time of year? it is something that we see at this time of year, before the monso

the strong so i clone is expected to move north through and weaken as it hits west bengal and my colleague states it will then had to bangladesh. a big concern as coastal storm surges and resultant flooding about a million people have been evacuated india's navy air force and disaster response force are on standby for. airports and schools were closed before the storm hit funny is the most serious cyclon for the region in twenty years in one nine hundred ninety nine a super cycle devastated and killed ten thousand people across the state. the coast of a state is prone to cycle and storm surge and tsunamis in banquets and shelters have been built over the last seven years before he will be the first test of how they stand up to an hour full cycle. got harder al-jazeera new delhi kevin trenberth is a senior scientist at the u.s. national center for atmospheric research and he thinks climate change is the more powerful song. this is the time of year of course in in the indian ocean where there is quite a lot of cycling activity normally and then there's another peak an even stronger peak from

to get people out of the storm's way is expected to cost significant destruction in odisha and west bengal when it makes landfall the cyc known as a worst storm to hit the region in decades kyra gleg reports. these families aren't taking any chances they are leaving their towns and villages as cycloid funny approaches india's east coast odisha state has deployed teams of emergency workers to set up shelters in schools and government buildings trying to record the pregnant women. in the world. because more. or less in the human. habitation. i mean the people there i don't think for all the millions of things they need in the rehabilitation center at the railway station in the town of putting tourists are queuing to leave extra trains and buses are running to take them somewhere safer. when a previous cycle hit back then we stayed in the hotel we would get to steve this time with the government wouldn't let us the hotel loos also wanted us to leave being forced to go. because this is a unicycle funny move towards a low lying bangladesh threatening hundreds of thousands of refugees from me in

very close to the border with india, close to the state of west bengal.y rainfall here but significantly reduced wind speed. while we have been driving here we haven't seen any evidence of their being any sort of large—scale devastation, the kind that we have seen devastation, the kind that we have seenin devastation, the kind that we have seen in the indian .we . we know that the worst seems to be over and that it does seem to be now going from a deep depression to a depression which would mean rainfall hasn't —— as it moves further north. all of the areas that it was meant to pass through and is passing through our densely populated areas, of course there is a big fear that there would be damage here as well. hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated and put in cyclone shelters. bangladesh also has a big coastline and there were fears of storm surges which means that waves, 45 feet higher than they normally are, were expected along the coastline. —— from four to five feet. some areas by the coast there seems to have been destruction but not somethi

which should be entirely impartial but going back to your reference to violence, in the state of west bengaltle between the bjp and the state's ruling party, the tmc, a left—wing socialist party, the chief minister in west bengal and narendra modi have been going at each other in the last few weeks, there there has been widespread violence and the campaign was brought to an early close this week, the tmc and the congress party accused the election commission of being biased, they said they brought it forward to end campaigning a day early so that narendra modi could stage a huge selection relic and that would then stop any other parties campaigning on that final day so the legacy, i've heard lots of people here site that think they are most concerned about is this identity politics, that india has increasingly begun to appear, certainly a private dinner parties and cafe is, about identity politics, which caste or religion you are from, this was not a common conversation in any meaningful way even ten yea rs conversation in any meaningful way even ten years ago, now people are saying that now

in west bengal, trains were chained to the tracks as the state's rail network was closed down, causingrt, everyone hoping to travel was out of luck with every flight cancelled. i'm going to ranchi. so now our flight has been cancelled so we have to stay here with two children. i need to go to delhi and start my preparations for my exams but i'm not able to catch flight today and even i'm not able to book flight for tomorrow, day after tomorrow and 3—4 days ahead. fani, one of the biggest storms to come out of the bay of bengal in the past decade, made landfall in puri before heading north—east towards kolkata and moving on to bangladesh. more than a million people were evacuated from the low—lying coastal areas. and this is why. winds of 125mph have ripped down trees and torn roofs of buildings. electricity poles have been toppled and windows blown out. weather forecasters say fani is weakening but still poses a major threat as it heads to bangladesh. officials in india say their mass evacuation efforts appear to have been successful and now their attention will turn to assessing the t

shaft and west bengal the psycho is the worst storm to hit the region in decades there speak to jacky khurana who is a journalist base you know joins us via skype tell us about the situation right now what kind of preparations have been made ahead of this storm. i don't and eight in indian die cycle so need to learn math not fully and that's time when she goes out on one hundred seventy five kilometers per hour and it is expected that to go up to two hundred kilometers per hour for almost an hour now. the storm is at forty and destruction is still contending that this will continue for another three four hours at least and in the afternoon a bit faster the other poster districts of all descend gradually move on to west bengal and then to bangladesh but as of now for me is going massive destruction on the coastal part of what is a member or the site is a very high point for an area and in last six years that i've been told major cyclops but this one tony is believed to be variously via something. not as big as what's happened in nine hundred ninety nine but this open cycle happened whe

over in west bengal all the campaigning itself ended on thursday evening 24 hours before it should have because there were. as sporadic violence between rival supporters it was suggested that b j p supporters and the trinamool congress led by a month to join the banner g her supporters were at odds with each other the election commission quite concerned about song going violence and they decided to end officially the campaigning on thursday evening so between these 2 states you might say.

the strong side close expected to move north through and weaken as it hits west bengal and my colleague state event head to bangladesh. a big concern as coastal storm surges and resultant flooding about a million people have been evacuated india's navy air force and disaster response force are on standby. airports and schools were closed before the storm hit funny is the most serious cyclon for the region in twenty years in one nine hundred ninety nine a super cycle and devastated and killed ten thousand people across the state. the coast of state is prone to cycle and storm surge and tsunamis embankments and shelters have been built over the last seven years before he will be the first test of how they stand up to a powerful cycle. got harder al-jazeera new delhi kevin trenberth there's a senior scientist at the u.s. national center for atmospheric research and he thinks climate change is leading to more powerful cycles. this is the time of year of course in in the indian ocean where there is quite a lot of cycling activity normally and then there's another peak an even stronger peak f

you have all seen what's been happening in west bengal the criminals of the ruling t.m.c. have made the state into a living hell the type of oil that has spread across this region is a stain on democracy. as the campaign into india's weeks long general election and many are now looking forward to the final days of voting but some here wonder if democracy is reputation has already been damaged. and we will bring in seville rommany joining us from the northern city. so as you're saying in your report campaigning is about that and talk us through what's at stake in this election. indeed yes campaigning certainly is about 20 in the next few minutes 16. in a few moments time here of course in the 7 states on the one union territory that are voting for the $59.00 seats to be decided for the lok sabha and most of the vote change is happening in northern india the states of punjab and kunda bihar. west bengal where the prime minister was speaking less than 24 hours ago to not see here british or to pradesh hands over about 80 seats to the lok sabha over this election the 7 phases

of india's parliamentary elections the election commission ordered campaigning in the state of west bengal be wrapped up a day early after violence around the on choose say more than 900000000 people are eligible to vote over a 6 week period across the country the last train to is on sunday may 19th prime minister narendra modi is hoping for a 2nd term also here raman is in the city of daraa nasi in the northern states off the top british. electioneering is drawing to a close in india's general election the 7th and final phase of voting will be conducted on sunday of the 19th and here environ r c be incumbent prime minister narendra modi will be hoping to retain his seat however the big political guns from across the spectrum have been in this city hoping to unseat him priyanka gandhi was 24 hours ago trying to drum up support thousands of people followed her convoy through the city. we saw 2 major regional state parties led by akhilesh yadav and mayawati to potential people from the parties of the s.p. and the b.s.p. that may well become linchpins in a future coalition government issues o

for example in the state of west bengal, a politically important state, the congress is fighting withfferent parts of india. some people prefer here stability over a coalition experiment. but it's not in every place in india, it's not in some states, especially the southern states, the bjp did not do very well. they did not have a proper organisational structure and many other southern states, and also bjp for a long time or seem more like a northern indian northern indian states like the deprivation more like a northern indian northern indian states and they were usually popular, it took time for them to establish their own identity in the southern part, for example in that state of karnataka, they were in power and in the election today the results show they won the most number of seats there. where as in other states, there are very strong regional parties and their regional parties, they have their own identities for example like in the state of tamil nadu, the parties talking about the dravidian ideology and their own ideology and the pride in their own culture and language. it's

in india a caliber to the ruling party the b j p was targeted in the opposition ruled state of west bengal almost 60 seats are up for grabs on sunday including those in the capital new delhi more than 100000000 people across 7 states were eligible to vote the 1st round of voting on may the 19th and counting will take place on the 23rd. well one of the candidates running on sundays a self-styled ultra nationalist hindu she's got a ticket from the b j p but what makes progress campaign unusual is that she's facing terrorism charges stop the reports from both. is a 1st time candidate running for parliament in the central indian city of bhopal. under the ruling. party or b j p banner she the party the prime minister and then there are modi have centered their campaigns on hindu nationalism. but also has passed last year terrorism charges laid against her as a suspect in the $2008.00 mosque bombing that killed 6 people she's out on bail due to poor health. visiting a hindu temple for a cleansing ceremony she adamantly maintains her innocence in the case and points to the opposition although the

it's early morning in west bengal it's not the district politics here is a festival. it's dominated by the ruling t.m.c. alternate one congress spotty. and the start of the show here is the party's. she quit a prestigious job as president. j.p. morgan in london in two thousand and eight. return to india and plunged into politics fulfilling alone killed three. when i was a kid then you asked me what i wanted to become because i never said. i was i want to be on the i want to be in a position to make millions more throws been doing that as an elected local for the last four years. she's now i'm a seat in the national parliament there's little doubt about who's in charge here she's angry about the change in the don't the former investment banker is a rest site in indian politics still largely a boys' club she draws curious crowds mainly women in these rural parts but the forty two year old who's also a national spokesperson for her party dismisses any questions about her gender and politics. as a politician i don't think. i think the very use that on women's issues if yo

seats now pulling in all across the country like i said was lost the peaceful but in the state of west bengal there have been reports of violence of course there are massive security deployments all across the country $60000.00 security personnel were manning new delhi alone and now we have one face to go including be aborting in the crucial seat a bargain to see which prime minister naji in the more the will be fighting him south and another 11 because we will know who the next prime minister of the country will be. this election is seen very much as a referendum on prime minister narendra modi he's a very controversial leader how will he do. prime some range more of the is definitely controversial his critics have alleged that he has actually divided the country and supported the rising hindu nationalist rhetorical that we've seen all across and that he has not delivered on his promises of promoting development however he's also seen as a unifying force for b.g.p. supporters who still and i can and people all across the country who may not like we do does have told reporters that we may not

heavily all across the state of what a shock and now the psyche one is moving into the state of west bengal because today areas have been heavily inundated but in fact some of the loss of life that has been deported because i could because the falling communication is falling telephone calls train stop playing over buildings being impacted the construction of the houses not being study enough now i have to draw combat of them to the last . that hit or to stop in one thousand nine hundred ninety two decades ago two decades india has actually for a fact that its response system when it comes to human cost the stem two thousand like it's a loss back in ninety nine but when it comes to infrastructure costs. india has moved that edge of the slowly it has committed more recently to improving this city and it's often visited infrastructure because with global warming extreme weather events so enough to ease are becoming more frequent but given also one are just the processes all building up infrastructure is the door to head it's going to be a tough on foot into. the mission just for speaking to u

the wilting has been peaceful but it is worth noting that in the state in the eastern state on west bengal's there have been sporadic reports of violence there were reports of violence today as well there was reporting in some of the states because of allegations of tampering and some of the electronic voting machines have also malfunction but largely the expectation is that the that the mandate that will come through form these 6 weeks will be accepted and that the elections have over all gone all fairly small. just in about 10 or 15 seconds or so is it possible to make predictions about who else might have won in these elections. well the national sport for the last few months has been to make predictions exit polls have already started coming out but i would say it's best to wait for 4 more days the expectation is no means more the is likely to do it on behalf of the head of a coalition government but surprises can come across in an election so we should read one of the boarders. thanks so much. to austria now where it's been announced that snap elections will be held in early september p

damaged heavily all across the state to what a shock and now the cycling is moving into the state of west bengal the cost of us have been heavily in on they did but in fact some of the loss of life that has been deported because i could because of falling communication boards falling telephone poles train stop playing mobile buildings being impacted the construction of the houses not being studied enough now i have to draw combat as i'm doing the last super cycle on that to hit or to stop in one thousand nine hundred ninety two decades ago two decades india has actually pull back to its response system when it comes to human cost the dems housing like it's a loss back in ninety nine but when it comes to infrastructure costs india has moved that edge of the slowly top committed more recent to improving design in the end that's often visited infrastructure because with global warming extreme weather events e.w. ease are becoming more frequent but given how slow an arduous the process is of building up infrastructure is the draw to head it's going to be tough on foot into . speaking to us from delh

a progress as it's expected to weaken and it's heading to was another indian steve the state of west bengal all the time for it happened on the southern coast of the state of what they saw and really mentioning pasta was bottom of the spot because at that point of time an emissions one hundred million people are going to be affected by this cycle and how how in the affected regions been preparing for this scale of event. well central authorities have already evacuated one million people from call serious and it is worth noting that while the lawsuit was like no one was in one thousand nine hundred nine in the region that's two decades ago the region is not unfamiliar with these kinds of weather conditions in the past as well people have been evacuated and casualties have been brought down as a result india has one of the largest national disaster relief forces in the world and the indian army as well as the air force is on standby the navy and coast guard are already already on the ground trying to help people and to ensure that the need for rescue operations can go on smoothly for food and

. >> the strong cyclone is expected to move north and weaken as it hits west bengal and it will heado bangladesh. is coastal storm surges and resulting flooding. one million people have been evacuated. response forcend are on standby. airports and schools were closed before the storm hit. in 1999, a super cyclone devastated the area and killed 10,000 people across the state. to cyclones prone storm surge and tsunami's. and bank mince and shelters have been built over the last seven years. there will be the first test of how they stand up to a powerful cyclone. al jazeera, new delhi. generalthe director says the government had time to plan its response thanks to early warnings. >> preparation started well in advance, partially because the indian meteorological department gave us a very good lead time the predictions. we almost got a week by which we knew all that, the wind speed at landing as a time of lending. that gave us the scope to prepare and i think the preparations were well done in advance and the federal government also gave disaster relief funds to concerned states of what

that they might not be able to hang on to so many have got there on a state not too far away in west bengal it's run mainly by the t.n.c. they call the trinamool congress their leaders mum the ballot she does not like narendra modi and she's made that very clear over many many years now in recent days and in the last few days you would have seen or heard as our viewers have here on al-jazeera that there have been sporadic clashes between b j p supporters and t.m.c. supporters as the b j p leaders went into that state to try and drum up support for their electoral bid there are over 40 seats available in west bengal they're voting today but only. 2 of them in the last election so they're still trying to make inroads there it's obviously an affront to the t.m.c. small sporadic clashes there the election commission stopped campaigning 24 hours before it was supposed to on thursday night that caused a huge for or amongst the opposition parties because the election commission allowed the prime minister to speak in the state before election campaigning was halted once and for all at the moment sm

cause significant destruction in addition of west bengal when it makes landfall in the coming hours now it's the worst storm to hit the area in decades and currently has winds in excess of two hundred fifty kilometers now almost the equivalent of a category five hurricane carla has more. these families aren't taking any chances believing their towns and villages as cycloid funny approaches india's east coast odisha state has deployed teams of emergency workers to set up shelters in schools and government buildings. the pregnant women. are particularly the world people and that's the whole system because they're. just trying to lessen the human casualties so that we're going. off your help people there i don't think for all the millions of things they need in the habitations and at the railway station in the town of pretty tourists are queuing to leave extra trains and buses are running to take them somewhere safer. if you were in hurry when a previous cycle hit back then we stayed in the hotel we wanted to stay this time but the government wouldn't let us the hotel owners also wanted th

marathon election with just one day to go until campaigning wraps up the last leg of the vote in west bengal campaigning was ordered to finish a day early after several incidents of violence in the state where 100 supporters of prime minister narendra modi's party were arrested after clashes with opposition supporters on tuesday. one of india's major election topics has been health care modi as ambitious medicare plan was aimed at solving problems for the poor but many say the system is experiencing a slow and challenging start for the 500000000 people it's supposed to help it's got highly reports new delhi. akash has a brain tumor he's travelled with his family from a pradesh state to get specialized care in new delhi. but he and his family don't have the money for this 2nd round of treatment like millions of others they are not poor enough to qualify for the universal health care program launched last year known as mody care. they only have benefits from india's national health care system and that does not cover all expenses the president about the other but at the time the doctor said th

arrival of science load forney the storm is expected to cause significant destruction in addition west bengal and it makes landfall in the coming hours with winds in excess of two hundred fifty kilometers an hour a vietnamese woman accused of killing the half brother could north korean leader kim jong un has been released from prison though on the whole was the final suspect in the murder of a kim jong il she spent two years in jail after being accused of poisoning him in twenty seventeen. u.s. congressional hearing has been forced to speak to an empty chair after the attorney general william barr refused to sit in it house speaker nancy pelosi earlier accused barr of committing a crime by misleading congress about the special counsel's report at least four people including children have been killed by syrian government airstrikes on a rebel held area in northwestern province schools and residential neighborhoods in the town of conspirator were hit in what the u.n. describes as the worst barrel bombing campaign in italy in fifteen minutes those were the headlines and back to the al-jazeera ne

storm has now moved north of the state of west bengal and is expected to hit bangladesh in the coming hours they two million people. to shelters. to the reports. with one hundred eighty kilometer per hour winds cyclon funny slammed ashore in the distinct eastern media thanks. when he first made landfall friday morning near the coastal city of footy a holy place for hindus i'm telling them that when the rain has stopped since early morning it's a very strong storm the trees have been uprooted roads are closed there is no electricity the rain has caused my house to flood or give up at that because this is worse than the one thousand nine hundred nine storm i feel scared to be at home or to go outside i fear we might be blown away if we go out a big concern is coastal storm surges and resultant flooding about a million people have been evacuated india's navy air force and disaster response force are on standby. airports and schools were closed before the storm hit funny is the most serious cyclon for the region in twenty years in one nine hundred ninety nine a super cycle and devastated

the strong side clone is expected to move north through and weaken as it hits west bengal and my colleague states it will then head to bangladesh. a big concern as coastal storm surges and resultant flooding about a million people have been evacuated india's navy air force and disaster response force are on standby for. cost every year so we are really suffering due to this the government offices have advised as not to venture out into the sea since the access to the sea a closed boats and crowds are getting destroyed in this. airports and schools were closed before the storm hit funny is the most serious like loan for the region in twenty years in one nine hundred ninety nine a super cycle and devastated and killed ten thousand people across the state. the coast of state is prone to cycle and storm surge and tsunamis in banquets and shelters have been built over the last seven years before he will be the first test of how they stand up to an hour full cycle. got harder al-jazeera new delhi. not i. directed general for the national disaster response force he says they did everything they c

evacuated ahead of the storm survival after a significant destruction west forecast you know and west bengal. now venezuela's president nicolas maduro has appeared on long side his top generals in a show of strength days after a failed attempt to overthrow him at the same time one of the main opposition figures says he still thinks the military will act against the door of all the no baseball from the safety of the gates of the spanish ambassador his official residence in caracas he and his family took refuge day on friday soon after his appearance alongside opposition leader who. why dell and as well as top court has issued an arrest warrant for us. i want to say to all of my brothers and sisters in venezuela and around the world we are not going to rest we are not going to rest for one single moment we are not going to rest under any circumstance from the challenge and promise we've taken on which is to end the user patient. al-jazeera he has been following developments from the colombia venezuela border. a major display of loyalty live on television. on thursday to the image of president

shot and hundreds of flights and trains canceled the storm that moved north passing the state of west bengal before reaching bangladesh early two million people there have been moved to shelters in india more than a million people across the state of addition were forced to evacuate their homes bonnie has left a trail of destruction uprooted trees and snapped power lines also at least eight people have been killed all the indian navy and coast guard do remain on high alert scott heiler has the latest from new delhi. even though this powerful cycling has lost most of its punch there's a lot of concern about these communities in eastern india they were hit particularly i know this is a state where it came ashore on friday morning there are certain communities that have been completely cut off now they're not too concerned officials here state officials and federal officials are not too concerned about human casualties in those areas because of this nasty of evacuation that started before the cycle came ashore over a million people were moved what they're focused on right now is the infrastruct

in india a candidate of the ruling party the b j p was targeted in the opposition ruled state of west bengal almost 60 seats were up for grabs on sunday including those in the capital new delhi more than 100000000 people across 7 states were unable to vote over a 6 week period the last round is on may the 19th and counting will take place on the 23rd. well one of the candidates running on sunday is a self-styled ultra nationalist hindu she's got a ticket from the b j p it but what. campaign on the usual is that she's facing terrorism charges scott highly reports from bhopal. prague is a 1st time candidate running for parliament in the central indian city of bhopal under the ruling. party or b j p banner she the party the prime minister and then there are modi have centered their campaigns on hindu nationalism. but also has passed last year terrorism charges laid against her as a suspect in the $2008.00 mosque bombing that killed 6 people she's out on bail due to poor health. visiting a hindu temple for a cleansing ceremony she adamantly maintains her innocence in the case and points to the o

it's about to cross over the state boundary into west bengal and is probably going to get really closeata, actually. it'll probably just travel to the north—west but the winds are still strong, it's been overland for 16 hours but the winds are still gusting at about 150km/h and i think it's been able to maintain some of its strength. because it's been travelling so close to the coast and it's still been able to feed off the warm waters of the bay of bengal. the winds are just half the story — the other is the torrential rain. chris fawkes. and you can keep up to date with the progress of cyclone fon —ee and you can keep up to date with the progress of cyclone foni on our website. there are details on all the damage on the east coast of india, plus the latest weather charts. let's bring you some breaking news now. north korea has launched a short—range missile, according to south korea's joint chief of staff. the missile was launched from wonsan near the hodo peninsula in the east of the state. the missile was heading eastwards but there's no information about what happened to it. that

it's about to cross over the state boundary into west bengal and is probably going to get really closetually. it'll probably just travel to the north—west but the winds are still strong, it's been overland for 16 hours but the winds are still gusting at about 150km/h and i think it's been able to maintain some of its strength. because it's been travelling so close to the coast and it's still been able to feed off the warm waters of the bay of bengal. the winds are just half the story — the other is the torrential rain. let's get some of the day's other news. the world health organization says more than a thousand people have now died from the ebola outbreak in the democratic republic of the congo. violence in the region is making it hard to control the spread of the disease. a number of rebel groups are active in eastern congo and there is deep mistrust of health workers. the bangladesh foreign minister says if the british—born teenager who went to syria join islamic state enters his country, she would be executed. dr abdul momen said there was no question of giving her bangladeshi cit

you have all seen what's been happening in west bengal the criminals of the ruling t.m.c. have made the state into a living hell the type of oil that has spread across this region is a stain on democracy. as the campaigning for india's weeks long general election and many are now looking forward to the final phase of voting but some here wonder if democracy is reputation has already been damaged. and we will bring in seville rommany joining us from the northern city. as you're saying in your report campaigning is about and talk us through what's at stake in this election. indeed yes campaigning certainly is about 20 in the next few minutes. in a few moments time here of course in the 7 states on the one union territory that voting for the 59.

got states of bihar pradesh that's in the center of the country where bhopal is you've also got west bengalit's been a contentious state in the past few days it's been violence that was adopted they actually stopped campaigning 24 hours earlier the election commission so a great deal of excitement certainly for this final say and i think people here generally as we've been speaking to them as they are coming in relieved it's their turn and a great deal of excitement where you've been. nothing as well.