course for a 4th term in office. we've been following breaking news out of tanzania for the past hour where the vice president announced the death of president john mica foully at the age of 61 he had not been seen in public for more than 2 weeks and speculation was rife that he was seriously ill after contracting covert 19 he was a vocal coronavirus skeptic who'd been criticised for doing little to protect his people from the virus al-jazeera catherine sawyer now looks back at his life. soon after taking office in 215 president john palmer before he made a name for himself across tanzania as a leader committed to fulfilling his promises of reform many people called him the bulldozer because of his no nonsense approach to fighting corruption and wasteful spending which had plagued the country for decades he made it his mission to cut down on civil service expenses and boost infrastructure projects including the development of a really different cities while many tanzanian see mughal flee as a popular leader who tried to help the poor and bring economic stability he's critics accuse him of being a populist dictator. to change civil liberty lows and presided over a government using heavy handed tactics to cut tail freedom of expression the media political opposition and the l g b t community has also faced international criticism for how he has handled the coronavirus pandemic his government refused to put in place world health organization particles refused to release statistics of the disease or to start a vaccination program instead asking tanzania's to pray and use law called preventive remedies. a checkered legacy some will remember him as a symbol of consistency and decisiveness others say he's decisions affected the very essence of tanzania's democracy and in the middle of a pandemic the health of its people. or we're now joined by catherine so who's in nairobi in neighboring kenya and there have been repeated denials that. was ill at all or that have contracted covert 19 he himself was a herring was a well known covert 1000 denier what is the government saying about the cause of death. well the vice presidents almost to lou who made this announcement this evening and basically what she said is that he died of heart complications present michael fully has had issues for quite a while she says that he's had issues with his heart for the last 10 years or so she says that he was 1st hospitalized on the 6th of march adams and a hospital in the capital doretta lum he seems to be getting better so he was discharged but he after a few days and then he got worse and was admitted again on the 14th of march he says he then died early this afternoon this is definitely devastating news to many tanzania's who are watching that announcement by doesn't entirely come as a surprise as you mentioned there has been a lot of speculation for the last 3 or so weeks when he went missing in action back in february anyone who knows president michael fully knows that he likes his public appearances he likes to go and open government projects and things like that he never misses church appearances every sunday he goes to church for the last 3 sundays he has been going to charge causing you know a lot of speculation a lot of us and satiny in tanzania people asking where is the president how he's how we part we had a repeatedly from the leader of the opposition to listen i think that the government must come out clean to say where he is there was a lot of speculation as well as you mentioned that he had contracted comet 19 but the government has refuted that and the vice president was a categorical thing that he died of complications so now a 14 day mourning period has been declared but like i said i think they feel a sense of shock a lot of tanzania's still trying to process the news and he had received criticism his whole approach soko over 19 insisting that his country was totally free of the disease discouraging protection like face masks how is the pandemic affected tanzania. i mean you're right from the very start president michael fully sais that you know downplayed the threat of coronavirus in tanzania and he said that he's government used to make public statistics of coronavirus in the country he has been criticised by the w.h.o. he has been criticised inside and outside of the country as well about how his government has handled this disease he has told people to pray and use local remedies he refused to impose a lockdown in other countries was he refused to impose measures coronavirus measures like you know wearing masks the social distancing and things like that and he says that the neons are going to be protected by god and he arch them to pray and to go about their businesses and so on he also refused to have accidents imported to the country saying that it will not work so a lot of criticism really and you know marion in the last few weeks really though we have seen more and more people in tanzania getting ill when you go to hospital though they say that it's risperidone issues within government officials including the for the finance minister who recently a was sick people think coronavirus of the hospital saying it's required 3 issues we in february the leader of a position of the autonomous state of zanzibar unsafe to reformat died of coronavirus and we've hired from the catholic church of the you know the chairman of the air peace corps paul a conference on march the 3rd said that more than 25 priests 60 sisters and other religious leaders died of coronavirus and asking people to take this disease very seriously so i mean i think right now the government might rethink its strategy going forward especially as we're seeing more and more people falling ill. people are saying that. well contracted coronavirus as well but it's important to note again that the vice president the government is going to have denied this and they've got the president has died of heart complications thank you from nairobi catherine sawyer thanks catherine well in all the top stories this hour the pan american health organization has warned that brazil has a very high rate of covert 1000 transmission in all of its regions on wednesday the country registered 90303 new cases over 90000 new cases its highest daily infection on the yes this comes a day after it reported its deadliest experience with the virus 2841 coated related deaths more people have died from the virus in brazil last week than any other country hospital beds in nearly full in more than half of its states alpha when a zation called on the government to do more for its people. in rio de janeiro and is told me that the country's health systems are really struggling in both the wealthy and the poor states. and some followed which is brazil's largest richest state there were over 80 people that died in line waiting for a bed in intensive care units so it's no longer just an issue of money now switches in the north and the amazon region it's a poor state it's something that has spread to the whole country and that's what really is keeping people worried not only in brazil but in neighboring countries as well countries that have borders with brazil so they're worried that this that the virus and its new variants can spread easily if nothing is being done and up doesn't present. for example is still against iraq and curfew he says that states that have taken these measures governors are acting as dictators he says the vaccine should be the solution. so today he also changed his health minister we're having before health health minister in brazil since the pandemic began a year ago but many here say that if the command leader of the country does not change his point of view or or his plans it doesn't matter if you keep changing health ministers because there is no cord unaided effort in the country to fight the pandemic when hundreds of millions of europeans could be able to travel around the continent from this summer if an apple nest shows they've been vaccinated proposed by the e.u. commission pos will allow freedom of movement to continue from june but some nations think the plan is too slow and the world health organization has been critical because much of the world is far behind in terms of vaccinations they say don't make a reports from ballen. almost sunny parisienne morning partly casual but walks his dog has recently been vaccinated and has the badge to prove it but he would welcome something more official. a covered 19 health pass would allow us to travel to get back a little bit of freedom by june those wishes will be a reality because the european commission plans a digital green pass which all e.u. residents would have on a smart phone proving they have either been vaccinated recently recovered from covert or had a negative test with this digital certificate we aim to help member states reinstate the freedom of movement in a safe responsible and trusted manner but for some e.u. leaders that goes neither far nor fast enough we want to but we don't want to wait for implementation by the robber will take the 1st steps on the national level the health minister will give a news conference on thursday outlining the necessary legal basis to introduce green stick it in austria as early as april many in the tourism industry welcomed the e.u. proposal as a. vaccine certificate is essential to make travel easier and it's important that it's digital because only a digital certificate makes it easier to check in at airports it's no good if there's big queues and lots of bits of paper on the flipside the world health organization is urging caution the requirement for certification of vaccination as a requirement for international travel is not justified as rexx a nation is not widely enough where level and is in equitably distributed throughout the world having a certificate on a smart phone is clearly going to transform the way people travel across the e.u. but in order to work as a proof of vaccination the person must 1st have been vaccinated and so far at least comparatively few europeans have been dominant came al-jazeera. or the european union meanwhile is trying to ban exports of curving 1000 vaccines to person because of a lack of deliveries from astra zeneca. it is hard to explain to our citizen why vaccines produced in the european union are going to other countries that are also producing vaccines but hardly nothing is coming back to the european union who are still waiting for doses to come from the u.k. so this is an invitation to show us that there are also doses from the u.k. coming to the european union so that we have reciprocity if the situation does not change we will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine producing countries dependent on their level of openness. exit polls from the netherlands election show that prime minister mata is strengthening his party's position in the 150 seat parliament it's the 1st major european election since the start of the coronavirus pandemic here's how the numbers are looking right now versus people's party for freedom and democracy the v.v. de appears to want the greatest number of seats at 35 the center left bloc the de 66 party is the most improved winning an extra 8 seats to make it a 2nd best performer gets a build as party for freedom the pv is projected to lose 3 seats and being up with 17 overall. bos'n is a counting station and sam joins us live now what are we going to get this result can from step. well officially only on friday but these exit polls and then add lines are quite reliable except for the fact that now because of the growing up and i made lots of photos i had the opportunity to vote by mail the ones above 70 years old and they are not included in these exit polls but i can safely say that these polls are very reliable so now we can actually conclude that the prime minister margaret and his favorite a party has won the elections and the prime minister actually came out just a few minutes ago. to claim his victory and to be congratulated but he didn't sound too happy actually too optimistic and that's quite interesting because it was surprisingly the 2nd largest party d.c. 6 led by a woman seeking a former u.n. diplomat who has actually challenge the prime minister saying i want to become the 1st female prime minister in the netherlands there's never been a female prime minister here and now of course he feels that he really has to deal with her she's the 2nd largest party and tomorrow coalition talks will start and it's going to be much more complicated maybe than he had expected he actually won because he has been leading the country through this crisis a grown up and i'm an old odin allan's hasn't done so well but a lot of voters failed it's not a good time for change but the vote for the 66 shows that there is a significant group in the netherlands who dusts one change so this makes it a lot more complicated for mark wrote to who's now in in the government for more than 10 years then he might have expected he's quite a survivor isn't a housing managed to do this after a child benefit scandal and bit of unrest or frustration there in the netherlands in relation to the pandemic and restrictions and lockdown. yeah well here's a nickname is a tough loan market basically every year scandal that happened sort of doesn't seem to stick to him it's not only the child care benefit scandal which really affected tens of thousands of families in the netherlands also earthquakes in the north of the country a lot of other stuff but it seems that he sort of always manages sort of 2 to get away from it because he sort of admits his guilt very easily sort of plays along and so someone is described him as some kind of robber prime minister who sort of bows and leans towards everyone and sort of gets away with it is sort of sticks in the middle and that's what he's now also been been doing in this growing up and that makes and that's why it's very interesting to watch his communication style as well but as i saw him just a few minutes ago he looked like a bit of a different prime minister than we've seen in the last couple of weeks when he was very optimistic right well nonetheless on course for a 4th term in office thank you very much step in amsterdam. and watching out as they are live from london well still ahead on the program face to face for the 1st time joe biden's team prepares to meet top level chinese diplomats. the u.s. tells my brains not to come as republicans accuse biden ministration of fueling the surge in unaccompanied children crossing the border. how i once again welcome to another look at the international forecast we have seen some very heavy rainfall into parts of queensland recently some big downpours record breaking rain for some you can see we have got these weather systems just hauled ring around that eastern side of australia small very heavy rain this week i want through the next couple of days so for treats creek 216 millimeters to frank coming here 24 hours but take a look at iraq still to be confirmed but over hof a meter of rainfall coming down in 24 hours record breaking rainfall and those records go back to 1928 hoffer that rainfall fell in just 6 hours so that has led to flash flooding and river flooding as well further heavy showers into the good parts of queensland pushing up towards the pilbara we'll see some more wet weather into that eastern side of australia down towards the sunshine coast the gold coast little further south to see more heavy showers there lingering across eastern parts of new south wales and again we could see some flooding here some parts could see 100 to $200.00 millimeters of rain over the next couple of days further north we've got more rain pushing in across central parts of china that was slide its way out into the open waters actually heading towards the far south of japan but for the time being is fine and dry with plenty of warm sunshine into the weekend. but. it's one of the wealthy. most powerful and dangerous criminal enterprises central to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people and behind the deaths of many more exceptional access to some of its key flay is reveals the inner workings of an organization tellingly known to many as the blood alliance inside this in a low a cartel part one of a key part investigation people in power on al-jazeera. the the way. to. welcome back our main stories now. tanzania as president john mica foody has died at the age of 61 a vocal covert skeptic he hadn't been seen in public for more than 2 weeks and there was widespread speculation he was seriously ill after contracting the virus. the pan american health organization has warned that brazil now has a very high rate of covert transmission in all of its regions on wednesday the country reported at 90303 new cases its highest daily infection number yet and another 2600 deaths. on the european union has proposed a coronavirus asked for scheme to help ease travel restrictions within the blog the digital green to difficult would provide proof that travelers have been vaccinated . now the u.s. secretaries of state and defense are in south korea on the 2nd stop of their asia tour secretary of state and lincoln open the press seoul to join the u.s. in keeping china's aggression in check and addressing north korea's human rights violations the country's defense minister has also pledged to work together to resolve north korea's nuclear threat in the past hour the north korean news agency reported that the us have tried to make contact several times but any attempts would be ignored until what it called hostile policies such as military drills was dropped. the u.s. or ok alliance which has been stuck for service over 70 years remains poor it is the linchpin of peace security and prosperity we're now with the phrase. a free and open door pacific region and across the world. well the top u.s. and chinese diplomats and you see me in alaska for 2 days of high level talks from thursday is the 1st face to face meeting between officials from the 2 countries since the biden administration took office and it comes in the middle of well we've seen deteriorating diplomatic relations as get more diplomatic at as a change of pace who is in anchorage alaska so u.s. officials hosting this meeting on u.s. soil what is their approach then to this big at this encounter with their chinese counterparts. the chinese have wanted to speak since the beginning of the biden administration the us have been waiting i think they were waiting to see some things change with within the u.s. with regard to that stimulus bill with regard to covert 19 and vaccinations so they were in a position of strength when they met the chinese they have them coming here to alaska the u.s. secretary of state is coming on his way back from asia so that explains the choice of this most northerly u.s. destination for this meeting both sides want to improve their relationship the problem is though that both sides have very different views on different issues state out of the blinking is explained it this way he says the new administration wants to deal with things on a case by case basis they know there are issues where they're going to really disagree for example human rights in china though we get the issue of taiwan the south china sea the issue of hong kong there are other issues where they know they're going to be competitors and that's particularly trade the main issue for the trumpet ministration and the global economy of course because these are the 2 most powerful economic nations on earth but they also are hoping that there are issues where they can work much more closely together climate change is the number one issue but there are also various global and regional issues afghanistan for example and another important one that's being discussed right now as the u.s. secretary of state and defense secretary of binge touring asia that's north korea and james these statements from north korea about what we're being dismissive of us are they chose to open up some sort of dialogue how much can we read into that we know diplomacy with north korea's always been quite volatile are they just they perhaps more of a printed talking then the statement suggests. it's not clear because remember the talks with regard to the trumpet ministration of north korea went absolutely nowhere yes we had 3 meetings involving the u.s. president and the north korean leader unprecedented meetings and president of diplomacy and absolutely no achievements to show for it north korea after that diplomacy has given up none of its nuclear program what's whatsoever we know that the by doing ministration has been trying to make contact with the north koreans in recent weeks we know that some of those contacts were made through what's known as the new york channel remember the 2 countries don't have to promote it relations but they both have missions embassies at the united nations in new york so that's where some diplomacy has been done in the past north korea now confirming that the multiple attempts but they say though this is a cheap trick for wasting time north korea's state television saying north korea will respond to power with power but it would respond to goodwill with goodwill it says for now the bide with an instruction is continuing what it says is a lunatic policy of threats and demands for denuclearization. thank you very much our diplomatic editor james bays in anchorage alaska while the head of u.s. homeland security has pushed back against republican criticism as he was questioned by house committee over a surge of migrants at the mexican border landreau america has said his department is working around the clock to manage the situation president joe biden's a ministration is struggling to accommodate a growing number of children crossing the border alone alan fisher has more now from washington. there's an increasing number of people turning up trying to get into the u.s. through the southern border that's put president joe biden on the defensive didn't have to say quite clearly don't come yes i can say quite clearly don't come and we're in the process of getting set up don't leave your town or city or community on capitol hill members of congress question the new homeland security secretary he recently went to the border to see the situation for himself republican see the surge is coming because the biden ministration threw out several trump immigration policies are irresponsible radical and their actions by this administration we are seeing an aesthetic crisis unfold during a pandemic the situation at the border continues to get worse every day and at what action or even proper acknowledgement of the severity of the situation president biden has stopped border will construction ended the policy that means refugees must stay in mexico will applying for asylum and while most migrants are still being turned away unaccompanied children are being allowed in a 100 my office has been homeland security secretary for just over a month he refuses to say there's a crisis at the border he says the trying to fix a problem created by 4 years of trump policies a crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9 year old child out of the hands of his or her parents and separate that family to deter future migration that to me is a humanitarian crisis and what the president has committed to and what i am committed to and execute is to ensure that we have an immigration system that works and that migration to our country is safe orderly and humane. the hearing didn't just concentrate on immigration it will only feel like that during his evidence the secretary said the biggest threat to the us wasn't at the border but it came from domestic terrorism it was he said the most persistent and lethal threat to the whole money and resources will be moved to deal with that immediately alan fischer here on capitol hill. a man miles most powerful but it's monks association has called on the military to end its violent crackdown the government appointed organization accused an armed minority of torturing and killing innocent civilians or the $180.00 pro-democracy protesters have been killed by security forces since last month's co protests have continued across the country though with reports of police firing bullets in the city of yangon on wednesday. south africa zoo nuking is currently being buried in a secret private ceremony the burial will be followed by a statement loyal service on thursday came goodwills where the theme died last week at the age of $72.00 for me to mina was unknown goma as his body made his final journey to his palace. the king will be laid to rest in a ceremony glory in the early hours of thursday morning when the ceremony will be private the only men will participate and what is king with him is a good tradition is that his place of period will be remade secrets this is based on royal traditional zulu custom it's important that he's going to place remains private as to avoid any concerns around potential witchcraft and also around any potential succession battles we don't expect that to be the case with regard to the king goodwills will a teeny the big stick if expected there will be a smooth transition for the people here have come to pay their respects. these are just a few of the. areas that will be present outside and around the palace through the evening and into the early hours of those the morning. a recap of the main stories this hour now tanzania's vice president has announced the death of president john mica foody at the age of 61 he died from heart disease but he hadn't been seen in public for more than 2 weeks and there was widespread speculation he was seriously ill after contracting the coronavirus. he was a vocal covert skeptic who'd been criticized for doing little to protect his people from the virus now the pan american health organization is one that brazil has a very high right.

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