>> fear stalks where the official death toll from covid-19 has now passed 200,000. hello. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, u.s. investigators break -- raided the new york apartment of rudy giuliani over his business dealings with ukraine. >> who's at the heart of it? the prime minister, major sleeze sitting there. >> boris johnson under growing pressure with renovations to his downy suite flat and reports of

callus comments. >> and clashes in colombia as protesters defy a ban on gatherings to rally against tax reforms. india has reported another record number of coronavirus deaths. a devastating second wave continues to overwhelm health facilities. another 3293 fatalities reported on wednesday pushing the official death toll past 200,000. it is the fourth country to reach that mark, but experts fear the true number is actually far higher. the past 24 hours also brought more than 360,000 cases, the world's largest single day total yet, taking india's overall

infection since the pandemic began to nearly 18 million. the world health organization says in the past week india accounted for 38% of the world's 5 million cases. elizabeth peron reports from new delhi. >> after failing to find help in medical facilities, family members of covid-19 patients run to a tent outside the temple on the outskirts of delhi. volunteers are providing oxygen for free, driving long distances. >> we are providing auction for all india. to all japur and all over the nearby cities. >> family members of patients, too, have traveled for hours to bring them here. >> 2 and a half hours for me to commute from my place and come

here for this oxygen. so, i have to give it to her. no matter how much time it takes. >> india is seeing shortages not only of oxygen but of hospital beds, diagnostic tests, and vaccines. vaccination centers in the worst affected state ran out of doses again on wednesday. sh they are telling us injections aren't available as vaccines have not arrived. i registered to come here three days ago, all the way -- i only found out after coming here there is no proper information. they tell us to call in number and come back in the morning. >> the world health organization says the low rate of vaccination is one of the reasons for india's surge in cases. the u.s. is sending raw material so india can manufacture more of its own vaccines and many countries are sending oxygen and other medical supplies. while crematorium's workday at and night to keep up with demand, mass cremations have

become the norm. the crematorium behind me has been working from 6:00 a.m. itll midnight. but because it does not have enough pyres to cremate the bodies, they have to build 20 in the path next to us and now these 50 in this open space. those who have lost family members say they went to the same struggle to cremate their loved ones as they did to find them a hospital bed when they were a live. >> neighboring pakistan reported a new daily record of 201 deaths on wednesday. there have been more than 5000 new infections with the rate of people testing positive rising above 10%. the rate of people dying from the virus has also risen above 2%. officials say health care facilities are at risk of being overwhelmed with oxygen and ventilators in short supply. soldiers have been deployed to enforce restrictions in cities

with high infection rates. we have more from islamabad. >> there is a constitutional clause in the pakistain constitution that says the civilian governmenni can call in the military in times of emergency. inll aid of the civil administration which is exactly what has happened. 16 major cities in pakistan have now got troops fanning out to ensure that people continue to observe the, wearing masks, closing shops on time. the military of course is also ready for any other contingency, given the fact that the situation across the border in india is getting from bad to worse. pakistan, of course, has to be very careful, because last time, during the ramadan holidays last year when the pandemic -- the country decided to.

relax the rules. this time the government is not taking any chances and they have elaborate plans to close down major cities, the provinces. there will be no inter provincial communication transport. there will be no intercity transport. people would be advised to stay-at-home, to have a simple event. the interior minister has closed all tourist spots. which can act as super-spreader's. so the country indeed taking this very seriously. we are told that the medical facilities are stretched, up to 70% of the ventilators and the oxygen supply, oxygen beds are already taken. and pakistan cannot afford a spike the likes of which india is confronting right now. >> brazil continues to report high daily covid numbers with

another 3163 deaths in the past 24 hours and 80,000 new infections. the new coronavirus variant is suspected to be driving high infections in peru and chile, despite tough measures. the c.37 strain believed to have begun in per has spread to several latin american countries. scientists have not officially linked to the latest surge to the variant but with infections defying chile's vaccine rollout, many fury could be responsible. -- fear it could be responsible. ♪ u.s. federal investigators have raided the manhattan apartment of former lawyer rudy giuliani, seizing electronic devices. prosecutors are looking into junie orleans -- rudy

giuliani's at dealing with ukraine that included an investigation into joe biden. he's also facing ethci charges over h efforts to overturn trump'sc loss in last year's election. >> any american, whether you are red or blue, should be extremely disturbed by what happened here today. by the continued politicization of the. justice department.this is disgusting . this is absolutely absurd. it' the continued politicalization of the justice department that we have seen. it has to stop. if this can happen to the former president's lawyer, this is cap -- this can happen to any american. >> we have more on the investigation. >> it shows that the federal investigators are closing in on rudy giuliani. their investigation into him, that has been going on for more than two years, is advancing and advancing significantly. also, four federal investigators, two raid a home

such as this of a suspect, they need to get permission from a judge in order to get that permission they need to show the judge that they have a reasonable amount of evidence that the person, the suspect committed a serious crime. so, clearly, they have been able to convince a judge, because they clearly got the authorization to carry out this raid. doj and any federal agents are not commenting at all about this raid. but the new york times and others are reporting from sources that federal agents confiscated several electronic devices from giuliani's home and we're also finding out late wednesday now that there are raids of associates of rudy giuliani outside of new york. two in particular. two lawyer's associates of him have confirmed their offices were raided wednesday afternoon as well. so, clearly, this is closing in

on rudy giuliani, this investigation by federal efficiency - officials that is traced back to his ties to ukraine. >> staying in the u.s., just under three hours, the president joe biden is due to give his first speech to a joint session of congress. he is expected to use it to outline his america families plan. the $1.8 trillion package will have a focus on education and childcare with a call for free preschool and community college. biden is expected to push politicians to take a harder stance against china, while stressing the importance of investing in america to compete there with the world's second-largest economy. all of this comes, of course, and the eve of his 100th day in office. let's go live to our white house correspondent. what can we expect from joe biden tonight? kimberly: we have got some excerpts of his speech.

in it, he will talk about how he inherited a nation in crisis, but he believes he is turning peril into possibility. to that end, he will be touting a number of his big spending packages, not only the infrastructure plan, which will be financed by taxing corporations but also that family plan you mentioned, that for the first time could see direct payments to families in the lower and middle classes, as swell as - - as well as free community college, the first two years of post secondary education. he believes the way to do this is through taxing the highest income earners in america to help those in the working class. in addition to this, he is going to essentially sell the message that he believes there is a bigger role for government in, people's lives that big government works. also he will sell the message that he believes democracy worked. as well, this is sort of going to be the thrust of his message.

that he believes there is reason for optimism and, even as we are still in the midst of a pandemic, he will tout some of the successes he has made on that front with respect to vaccinations. and more than half of american now with at least one shot in their arm. >> kimberly, bringing the country together after four years of trump was a big ask for president biden. so, how do you think he is going to address that tonight? kimberly: well, what we know is that already this is something that's not going to be well received from a lot of conservatives. we have some excerpts from the top republican that gives the rebuttal speech, if you will, from tim scott, the only african-american in the u.s. senate. what he is going to say is that, just remember, guys, it was all this vaccine success, it came because of donald trump. and. operation warp speed that's where the vaccines were developed.

you inherited that, too. another message she is going to say is that, and this is true. before the pandemic there were historically low unemployment and the united states and this included workers of color. that he believes the answer is not the big government spending programs, but what conservatives believe is that it is americans that can build back. that history under donald trump showed that. that's the message that is going to be sent by republican tim scott. so, when it comes to unity it still appears, from the excerpts, that america remains divided, at least on capitol hill. >> the latest from capitol hill. thank you. still to come in this half hour, south africa's president admits the amc could have done more to stop corruption while jacob zuma was the leader. and -- >> i'm simone in iraq's desert close to the border with saudi arabiaere nomadic tribes are struggling to cope with the

effects of climate change. ♪ >> we are going to change up the weather patterns for australia. tropical queensland, where we have been dealing with some of this drenching rain. just some scattered showers in the forecast for thursday but largely dry for many errors. juxtapose that to what is coming on in western australia where this area has been largely dry for the last several weeks. a frontal system will push on. conditions will deteriorate, and temperatures will drop. perth, 18 degrees the high for you on friday take you to asia where we have been dealing with heavy showers to the southern areas of china. that's al started to scoot away and is plaguing areas of japan. a wet forecast for tokyo. you can see the path, a month's

worth of rain in just one day. an indication of just how much moisture is being rained out. but by friday, look at this. the system is out toward the pacific. it is, indeed, quick moving. just some showers hanging around for shanghai on friday. 29 degrees. but otheise, china mostly dry. let me show you the three day forecast for tokyo and get you up to speed there. there is that bout of wet weather by thursday. friday rain at times but by saturday we are into a mixture of sun and clouds. temperatures above average. ♪ >> a tale of two presidents. venezuelan military defectives. american mercenaries. and a bizarre yet audacious attempt -- at regime change in the bo

liverian republic of venezuela. people in power, the belly of piglets on al jazeera. ♪ ♪ >> welcome back. here is a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. india has reported another record number of coronavirus deaths. another 3000 fatalities reported on wednesday pushing its official covid death toll past 200,000. neighboring pakistan meanwhile reported a new daily record of 201 deaths on wednesday. officials say health care facilities are at risk of being

overwhelmed. the u.s. federal investigators have raided the apartment of donald trump's a former lawyer rudy giuliani's dealings in ukraine. thousands of colombians notified covid-19 restrictions and marched through the streets of bogotá to protest against the president's proposed tax hikes. there were clashes with police in some parts as protesters pressing ahead with a rally despite a government -- plea to postponed. they had widespread protests in 2019 but they dialed down during the pandemic. we have more now from bogotá. >> clashes broke out between protesters and the police here in the capital of bogota at the end of a massive day of protests across colombia. some protesters started throwing rocks at the police.

the police responded with stun grenades and teargas, dispersing a massive crowd. tens of thousands of people took to the streets here in bogotá. and a number of cities across colombia against a tax reform proposed by the government that would raise taxes on many basic items. people in colombia are angry. they are tired. they have been greatly affected by the pandemic. and the idea of having to pay more taxes was just the last straw for many of them. it is important to say that most of the day was peaceful here in the capital bogotá. clashes were at the end of these demonstrations. there were other clashes in the city of cali, and the mayor there decided to impose a curfew, starting at 1 p.m. local.

the mayor of bogotá also decided that she will stop all bus services at 5 p.m. and is asking people to go back home. now, people took to the streets despite the fact that both the national government and local governments have asked people not to demonstrate, not to protest, given the fact that we are in the middle of a third wa ve of covid-19 infections in the country. hospitals are close to collapse. people felt that they needed to come out and protest. given the shear numbers of people that protested today, many are asking of this will be the beginning of a new season of social upheaval in the country. >> preruvian police have evicted thousands of people squatting on the outskirts of lima. police fired tear gas on squatters -- when they fought back. setting fire and throwing rocks.

people move to the hillside claiming the land had been untouched for 65 years. lima is ringed by irregular segments -- settlements that have grown up because of the lack of affordable housing. the situation has been made worse by the impact of pandemic restrictions on peru's economy. a child died, an infant. just six months old. >> how is it possible that other peruvians can order our killings because they want a piece of land? we don't have anywhere to live. this pandemic has left us on the floor. we don't have any money to pay rent. at least relocate us. don't push us out like this. >> the u.s. state of north carolina will not release the bodycam video showing the police killing of andrew brown, jr. a court has ruled that releasing the video may jeopardize ongoing investigations and the impartiality in any future case. there has been another night of

protests in elizabeth city over his death. an independent autopsy showed he was shot in the back of the head. his family says he was no threat to police, as he was trying to flee. the fbi has opened a federal civil-rights investigation. three white men have been charged with hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of african-american arbery. the 25-year-old was shot while jogging in february last year at his death sparked a nationwide outcry after a video of the shooting went viral. the trial date for gregory -- and his son travis and william bryan is yet to be set. all three men already faced murder charges. german police have detained a woman after four people were found dead in a hospital. police were called to -- the clinic, specialist center for orthopedic disorders, in the eastern town of pottstown

wednesday night. officer say that four deaths were caused by violence, and the fifth person is seriously injured. an investigation has been launched into the u.k. prime minister boris johnson and how he funded renovations to his apartment in downing street. the uk's political spending watchdog says it has reasonable grounds to suspect an offense had been -- may have been committed. this follows allegations of government cronyism. paul brennan reports from westminster. >> downing street, the very heart of boris johnson's government is in turmoil. among the stream of damaging leaks and revolutions, -- and revelations, the questions of how the renovations were paid for. made front-page news. it is been alleged that johnson first try to get wealthy supporters to pay for the work. then his political party loaned him the money. if so, that should've been made

public. >> theprime minister -- >> electoral commission is now involved and at prime minister's question, the opposition labour party smelled blood. who initially, prime minister, initially is the keyword here, paid for the redecoration of his downing street flint? >> minister, i think i have answered this question several time. and the answer is, that i have covered the cost. i have met the requirements i have been advised to meet in full. >> what do we get from this prime minister, dodgy contracts, jobs for their mates and cash for access, and whose at the heart of it the prime minister, major sleeze sitting there. >> again and again johnson would not clarify who had paid the initial invoice. repeating only that he personally had cover the costs. regional and local elections are just a week away.

and opinion polling suggests the controversies are starting to affect voter sentiment. >> again, you are getting a pattern where seth -- at some point his credibility as prime minister will evaporate. and you, people wwill ask if you want somebody with that abject moral character as prime minister? >> at the core of this crisis is a bitter dispute between boris johnson and this man -- his former closest advisor, dominik cummings. donny street accused cummings of being the source of many of the recent damaging leaks. cummings rebutted that publishing an exclusive blog that can prove his former boss fell far below the required standards of competence and integrity. boris johnson owes much of his political success to a remarkable teflon like quality. the ability to survive controversies which would've brought down all lesser contemporary politicians. it is all must as if different

rules apply to this prime minister. but that does not mean the rules do not exist. in this electoral commission, there is a watchdog prepared to apply them. paul brennan, al jazeera, westminster. >> northern islands first minister is resigning after calls within her party for her leadership caucus. azshe says she will step down as party leader on may 20. -- may 28th. critics blame foster for the trade barrier between, the irish sea, known as the northern island protocol which was agreed as part of the u.k.'s exit from the e.u. south africa's president has told a corruption inquiry involving his predecessor that the governing an partyc should have done more to prevent grift. the capture inquiry is looking at occasions that former president jacob zuma allowed

members of the controversial group to family to secure a government contract and influence policy. -- the gupta family. the deputy preston -testified the deputy president said he would not-make excuses but he did not name zuma. the president has faced opposition from within his own party over how to deal with corruption and those accused of it. >> we must acknowledge that the issue of state capture was a matter of great political contestation within the anc. differences over whether state capture existed, exist, and what should be done about it contributed to divisions within the executive committee and other anc structures. >> apollo 11 pilot michael collins who owes -- who was on t he first manned mission has died at the age of 90.

unlike his crewmates neil armstrong and buzz aldrin, collins never actually set foot on moon. he flew the module above. he died on wednesday after a battle with cancer. his family said mike always face the challengexxxúúúúúóóóóóóóó??ñ

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