The way the difficulties facing rescuers in northwestern kenya after dozens are killed in landslides and breathing new life into the worlds coral reefs how the Pacific Waters of palau have become a big can of hope. Im joined again with the sport as crowned asian champions and down to wilder defends his heavyweight boxing title with yet another devastating knockout to win as we match in the 14th enough they can. Become please welcome to the news hour a Record Number of voters have had their say in hong kongs district elections with less than an hour and a half before those polls close about 2 thirds of eligible voters have cast their ballot thats more than 2 and a half 1000000 people the elections follow months of violent protests against the pro beijing government well get an update from bride whos standing by in hong kong shortly but 1st this report from sarah clarke. As polls open to the people lined up around 4000000 who are registered to vote in hong kongs District Council elections after months of citywide on rest the people want their voices heard i chose after your busy partner a friend i think tonight is. That hes pressuring nowadays in all his friends and everyone the change you have to vote on you can have different opinions isnt it what is important for you to see this show what your. Candidates will face off in 18 districts with 452 seats up for grabs parties currently hold the majority and District Councils but anger against a government could a road they support for the 1st time the prodemocracy camp has candidates running in every seat past few months i cant sleep the young people just want to us will just thank us for a 4. 11 the government given the chance to live by that its very simple problem prodemocracy activists joshua wong was disqualified for running in this election he cast his ballot urging others to do the same if they urge to stop Police Brutality call for free action is high but im sure but everybodys caught. Well we still have to actually police have been deployed to monitor the polling booths to months of bonding clashes the citys lady has called for calm on sunday as the which we are facing an extremely challenging a situation in all the nice thing this year is elections but i feel is to say that with the concerted efforts of all the positives including our laws over 30. 00 to settle so many things what change a day we should have a relatively peaceful and calm and foreign country to conduct these actions such as the post i kept my bear the brunt of public anger but analysts say its unlikely the post. Moxy parties will secure a majority i expect the democrats maybe get a number of extra seats but it will be very difficult for them to really get an overall majority the district elections are normally a low key affair with campaigns focusing on local issues like garbage collection and bus routes but its the only election in hong kong which is decided by direct suffrage and a small group of District Councillors play a crucial role sitting on an Election Committee which chooses the cities next later the protests were initially triggered by opposition to an extradition bill which would have allowed fugitives in hong kong to be sent to the mainland for trial but its now a wider Antigovernment Movement opposed to chinas tightening grip on the former british colony after months of often violent clashes the citys 30000. 00 Strong Police force is on duty for the 1st time in the history of district elections whatever the result of this one its unlikely to stop further unrest sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong. War correspondent to robert broad has been following the vote through the day of course the sun has rob lets just talk about the numbers that certain sources are saying have voted i mean Record Numbers phenomenal numbers really in terms of those that have turned out to cast their ballots. Thats right well into sunday evening here so hale and the polls are still open theyre open for another hour and a half or so but as you mentioned there we are in record breaking territory as of an hour and a half ago Something Like 2600000 people out of 4000000 people who had registered that in itself is a record those people have now voted and that turns out to a turnout of 63 percent now that compares with the previous District Council elections of 4 years ago when 47 percent of people voted but it also is bigger than the other most recent record turnout and that was for a Legislative Council election thats hong kongs Mini Parliament that was a more substantial vote that was 3 years ago when 58 percent of the electorate turned out to vote so this 63 percent is already above that it is a record and some people are predicting that by the time the polls close Something Like 70 percent of the of the electorate will have turned out for this and youve got to remember this is District Council elections for District Councils these are committees of people who will as was mentioned there in the report be dealing with things like Street Lighting the locations of bus stops and so on but of course this is far more than just a local election this is a whole populous that has been fired up politically and highly politicized over these months of unrest and it does seem as you say theyve been fired up a certain demographic of people have made sure that their. That they had registered for this vote so there will be of course that analysis along with the fact that there will be significant gains and losses 1st specific parties. Thats right hundreds of thousands of young people in particular had made sure they registered for this vote will be voting for the 1st time in previous District Council elections given the nature of local Council Politics things like ameena teas and services and bus timetables you would only and normally find the older generation who tend to be a bit more conservative voting in these elections so a lot of the District Council seats that are up for grabs are controlled by the pro establishment pro beijing party so they are the ones that have the most to lose in this they are expecting to make losses they were really remains to be seen just how many seats or how many gains will be made by the prodemocracy camp because of course that then will give them some sort of credibility they will point to this is being this is hong kong people going out and supporting the general aims of this protest movement and it remains to be seen of course whether that is going to have any play not only with the government here in hong kong but also in beijing so well of course as the clock ticks away to those polling booths closing down of course will come back to you rob rob a bride there for us in hong kong lets head over to africa now. Is holding its president ial election against a backdrop of years of political instability president jose and many are seeking reelection after a 1st term marred by infighting and claims of corruption but russia faces strong opposition including 2 of the former prime ministers he fired during 5 years in office there have been 9 coups and attempted coups in the past 4 decades nicholas haq reports from the capital to south. People come to nurse clementina to talk about their aches and pains but there is something that keeps coming up in her consultations politics is making people anxious. And so she tells them theres only one way to deal with it its to vote in this president ial election. Its as if politicians forgot about us and what they do actually affects us once they come into office they completely forget about the people they are meant to represent. The santos is disappointed with the president as in mario vosh whos running for reelection he said he would put the country back to work instead elected officials squabbled threatening each other unable to pass laws or approve budgets the government stopped paying teachers and nurses some to us who was left without pay for 10 months her clinic has no Running Water it had no electricity until the charity installed solar panels. To get treatment people come to a hospital run by the west african soldiers stationed here as part of a stabilizing force because of the political deadlock. Treatment and drugs are free this is an effort to win hearts and minds because president ial candidates have been critical of the presence of foreign soldiers in their country voters have 12 candidates to choose from each of them promising the end of the political deadlock that has been paralyzing this country for so long its a promise thats been made before and so among those that are taking part in the vote most of them are 1st time voters they want to see a change in the political culture and the new president that will bring them jobs. But you brewer has a masters degree in Political Science in a country where half of the population doesnt know how to read and write and yet he couldnt find a job now he works as a caretaker in an empty building site sleeping on a concrete floor. It is you mediating employing people to have gone through this i sleep on the floor i am not sure why i bother to study what is this country done for me its a feeling shared by many there is no quick remedy to get to be so i was problems but for a nurse still santos expressing yourself can help alleviate the pain and perhaps bring change. Well as less than 4 hours of voting to go and going to lets get the very latest for correspondent that nicholas. So i am at a polling station just in the old city of the so and i just want to show you how transparent the vote is taking place this is the booth where people cast their vote and here you have the Election Officials making sure the tally is going well and people who are about to vote and behind me over here are the election observers of the different Political Parties and the candidates among them is i used. To. Know youre youre a 1st time voter as well and youre following this election for candidate domingos. Youve been observing the vote since this morning tell me how has it been. Like normal we can say that way. We had a lot of people. They arrived a little earlier before 7 we started voting at 7 am so devoted started with the president of the table and all the members and then the observers and then we can start receiving population and so as far as youve seen as it been transparent free and fair yes yes very transparent because the person that wants to vote comes here with his selection car and we check if the person is on the list because all the people that. Voted in march. Has the right to vote for president ial and so tell us have you voted for this election and this is your 1st election what do you hoping from this election yes its my 1st election for the president ial. And what i really hope is that my candidate. Will win this. Election because i think is the most credible candidate that we have what is it that young. People want from this from this boat. What i can say personally is i know a lot of. Young people from Guinea Bissau that are brought in all over the world that would like to come back to their country. To work and leave because they like it but they cannot come because the country does doesnt offer what they need like basic things. Schools hospitals this kind of thing so its a bit complicated to. Live in a country that you have everything the confort and stability you know friends everything and then you have to come here you dont have but im sure that once we have all these basic seems here in guineabissau. 50 percent off again in the cellar that are around the world will come back so a lot of analysts sometimes describe this country going to be so you can treat as a failed state which you make of that fail safe because its been 46 years that we have had in dependency but it has and the law so much thats why so we had a lot of political problems here is not a dangerous country because we are people but we have this instability. Side they all want the power to. This is the biggest problem of our country i said to well they thank you very much now just a few hours to go before the end of the vote and weve been following this campaign for the past week its been its sometimes this campaign has felt like a carnival weve seen people come out many young voters come out and its been really fully transparent as a matter of fact just a few minutes before this broadcast across the road one of the main candidates pereira walk through and i asked him how confident he feels ahead of the vote hes a frontrunner and said yes im pretty confident that its all going to go well now hes up against 12 other candidates they are the outsider. All of this will make for an interesting election come 717100 when people will start counting the vote back to you so thanks very much nic of course will come back to call so we have a clear idea who has won the president ial vote thank you. Still ahead here on the aljazeera news hour a small passenger plane crashes into a house in area in eastern democratic republic of congo well have an update on that also its valuable seen checked off by Illegal Fishing but theres hope of saving more sharks but the sanctuary in the west pacific. And well tell you about a purpose elevations in brazil that are being 38 years in the making thats all of the chair in support. Rescue efforts are underway in northwestern kenya after flooding and landslides at least 36 people have been killed but the full scale of the disaster is still unclear rescue operations have been delayed because flooding has cut off roads and bridges in the area peter is Communications Manager the kenyan red cross he gave us an update of the recovery operation what is happening news now is that our teams on the ground are are going through the village trying to find if any people may still be stuck in the debris where are still alive or casualties to be able to rescue them actually working with government because that the government has set up an Emergency Rescue center in nairobi which. Team in fact as they speak now our head of Disaster Response is in that meeting they are discussing how to coordinate their efforts better and on the ground our regional manager in that region is working closely with the county government or fire with backcourt and theyre you know county commissioner contra commissioner of the affected areas so those efforts have been quite knitted jointly with government and other agencies you are aware that yesterday the president sent the armed forces rescue teams so these are mighty edge in the effort that is going on on the ground its not just the kenyan red cross. A passenger plane has crashed in eastern democratic republic of congo the number of bodies have been recovered from a densely populated area of goma where the plane came down soon after takeoff people on the ground are believed to be amongst the dead al jazeera producer or carney roun joins me now on the phone from goma ellen just tell us what you can tell us what you can see right now. What we have right now is just the last announcement from saying that the number. 4 of dead does risen to 26 this time the 6. Craft running number of 20 people. Inside the. Plane thats meant to run a bit. Just in the order people to see the commish corporation we have right now and authorities are now seeing the end of this touching now clear information details on discretion to decide. As youve been speaking to people in and around the area of the crash site what have they been telling you about what they saw what they heard. Yeah people around just saying. The pilot was like youre trying to manage how to. After a very loud sound which was. And ive been talking to the core point. Of pointing one of our sources that this craft was just coming back from them attain it and the engine of this aircraft was changed and today. For this new engine probably some things went wrong with this engine this will be called from in the coming hours by your duties and also the regulation authorities or airport of goma here this is what we have for now so far indeed we can see members of the public and also rescue teams trying to get to the bodies and the wreckage of the plane as they remove bits and pieces away from the crash site how we use the old and difficult or how easy or difficult has it been for the Emergency Services to get to this very densely part densely located part of goma it was a very difficult task because you are just one of 6 people come to defend. The right now saying it was. Clearly just crushed and this is one of the. Really the place where people are selling their market and everything and they have been trying to get back their buddy from their deployment as it was already on fire it was very difficult for the car for example to access. So they are just like it was equal to why they could not save anyone not everyone was safe from the plane struck 4 because of the difficult situation of the location of the area. Or for that update of course well continue to follow events in goma with you alan carney our producer there from aljazeera. Next to iraq and Security Forces there opened fire on antigovernment protesters in basra killing at least 3 people they were dispersing crowds near the main port or on course are protesters burned tires to block main roads across the city more than 70 others were injured. Well earlier Security Forces killed 3 protesters in the Southern City of nasiriya dozens of others were wounded at least 320 people have been killed in demonstrations across iraq since early last month theyre angry over corruption high unemployment and poor Public Services. Zeidan canady is a middle east analyst and a contributor to open democracy joins me here in doha good to have you with us on the program sir i mean the violence continues be it in banter and other areas but the frustration remains nationwide and the