we. are going to. 0. hello there i'm the star and this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the white house ousts 2 officials who testified against donald trump 2 days after the president's impeachment acquittal. people closes in on bernie sanders as 7 democratic contenders face off in a debate in new hampshire and head of tuesday's primary. dozens of coronavirus cases and a cruise ship off the coast of japan we speak to a quarantined passenger on board. the medical centers very busy right now because apparently other passengers who have been pointing out reported that they have. and

turkey deploys troops and tanks to syria's last rebel stronghold as pro-government forces claim a crucial town. now donald trump is being accused of seeking revenge after removing 2 officials who testified against him at the impeachment trial the firings come just 2 days after trump was acquitted by the republican majority senate gordon songs and was the u.s. ambassador to the european union while attendant colonel alexander venkman had been the top ukraine expert in the national security council both officials testified to a house committee about the president's efforts to pressure ukraine 10 best against his political rival joe biden. had said he wanted alexander vandeman gone. well i'm not happy with them if they go supposed to be happy with the bomb not

they'll make that decision you'll be hearing they'll make a decision now the top democratic senator chuck schumer was quick to respond to the news on 2 s a he said the pentagon assured me that patriots and whistleblowers like to attend and conall been and will be protected any reprisals against him while others who came forward to tell the truth a wrong and should be seen for what they are an extension of president trumps cover up well here's a reminder a new tenant colonel benton told the us house last november i was concerned by the call what i heard was inappropriate and i reported my concerns to mr eisenberg it is improper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen and a political opponent i was also clear that if you crane pursued an investigation it was also clear that if you create pursued an investigation into the 2016 elections the bidens and it would be interpreted as a partisan play this would undoubtedly result in ukraine losing bipartisan support

undermining u.s. national security in advancing russia's strategic objectives in the region while gordon sunderland's the fired u.s. ambassador to the e.u. had confirmed that trump held up aid to ukraine to press it to investigate his political rivals i know that members of this committee frequently frame these complicated issues in the form of a simple question was there a quid pro quo as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes. and now the former u.s. national security advisor john bolton is accusing the white house of suppressing his unpublished book the national security council sent a letter to bolton's lawyer on friday expressing concerns that the manuscript contains classified information which bolton denies the book reportedly contains allegations that trump suspended military aid to ukraine to force it to investigate his rivals while bolton was sacked by trump back in september just before the

complaint by an anonymous whistleblower was made public well let's get more on this now from andy gallagher who is in washington d.c. for us and it really does seem like president trump is cleaning house and also he feels that he's been given the permission to do that. you know this really feels like retribution i don't think anyone can really doubt that these were 2 key witnesses in his impeachment hearings both men very critical of president trump's handling of military aid to ukraine both men were subpoenaed so they had to appear before these hearings they were doing what they thought was right but one trump official senior adviser was said to have said tonight that this sends out a clear message that not backing the commander in chief will not be tolerated and that is a clear message from the president perhaps no surprise that lieutenant colonel alexander bin was dismissed today

a scorcher from the white house by security officials along with his twin brother a lawyer for the national security agency as well not sure why that happened it's been known that when it was going to get moved or reassigned he's been telling that to friends that he was expecting that but gordon sunland is someone that was very close to president trump but one time he gave a $1000000.00 to his inauguration committee it was then seen as his appointment to the ambassador of the european union was because of that donation and he was said to have had the president's number person number on speed dial all that changed after the explosive testimony before those impeachment hearings but this does send out a clear message and something of a dangerous message as well that if you cross president trump he will lieutenant colonel been a lawyer has said in the last few hours exact his revenge for how all of these firings going down over there in d.c. i can only imagine the outrage from democrats what for instance has the pentagon had to say about it all. well the pentagon hasn't commented but people like adam

schiff of said look lieutenant colonel alexander villain is a recipient of the purple heart he served his country with honor he showed courage in doing what he thought was right and this is his reward so there is outrage from the democrats clearly they have a right to feel that way but on the other hand president trump feels completely vindicated remember we had the miller inquiry for 2 years nothing really came out of that now is there had the impeachment trial in which president president trump was backed by his own party in the senate and acquitted so he now feels free to do these things and he can do them as commander in chief the problem is it sends a pretty dangerous message from the president of the united states that if you cross me i will have my revenge and the question is now who is next there is talk that his chief of staff mick mulvaney may be out pretty soon that's not been confirmed yet but there may be other names on a potential list that the president has he said to want to clean the pipes out post

the impeachment trial so the real question now is who's next indeed and you got together his watching all of those happenings for us in washington d.c. thank you randi well sticking with us politics and democrats in the united states are trying to move on from the chaos and delay surrounding the iowa caucus results as they debate and you have said ahead of tuesday's primary there now the 7 leading candidates are currently going head to head in manchester opinion polls in the states so that people but it is closing in on bernie sanders 38 year old boy he says has voted from being the mayor of a small city to finishing marginally ahead of sunday's in the iowa caucus the military a veteran with a centrist platform is the 1st openly gay presidential hopeful well bernie sanders was only 0 point one percent behind in iowa the 78 year old has strong grassroots support from the left ahead of this debate he attacked rivals for taking support from wealthy donors. when reading some headlines from newspapers

about pete would you. be bored a jerk most exclusive billionaire donors of any democrat votes that was from forbes the hill big board a judge tops billionaire donor list while senator elizabeth warren who's also from the left of the posse finished said in iowa she has been struggling to shake off criticism about how to fund medicare for all plan and also seeking to recover from the slump is former vice president joe biden who finished 4th and iowa but he is seen by many senior democrats as the person who could be donald trump and. well let's dig into this with lincoln met so he's a us political analyst and also an associate with sap scholar at columbia university and he joins us live now from cooperstown in new york so i think in this debate is underway right now and will be covering all of the details of that the coming hours but so far despite bernie's on his calling for unity and trying to be trump the candidates do appear to be trying to land body blows on each other. well

this is a primary so they have to go after each other but bernie i think is standing this debate very well he's been solid a to his base he's not moving voters towards him he's letting it be close but sharpie will be judged and joe biden like that kind of centrist lady while consolidating is base so this is what primaries like this is what this debate is like for a lot of these candidates new hampshire is do or die if well but you're going to break in the top 4 here she's out of this race if ward finishes a distant 3rd again she's a very bad shape and if biden isn't very close to the top he's really reeling so there's a lot of stake here for these candidates going into new hampshire lincoln so much of the discussion seems to have shifted to electability so is the democratic nomination process now about who can beat trump rather than about policy or ideology. to a great extent this democratic nomination process at least from the perspective of democratic voters ordinary democratic voters has always been about who can be trump the problem is that there's no real working theory as to who can be true of

everybody can make their own argument so it's very hard to know but it is argument is a moderate a centrist inexperienced person can be trump for some radical reason that appeal to moderates in the party bertie's i'm joking bernie's is you know a radical who can really mobilize new voters and that appears to the left so electability is at the center but it's also not so much of the center because it's really just a proxy for how people feel about the candidates to begin so let's talk about the 2 current front runners then going into this debate sondos and bush has it's sound as a saying that he he believes that he'll get 10 out from younger voters and if that happens national he thinks he would be a trump what do you make of that. well when we speak about turnout for democrats we want to say we want to have you know extra big turnout to win an election on the democratic side the people that make up that are not young voters they're african-american voters of all ages so the real question if you want to be honest about mobilizing the base it's which of these candidates can mobilize

african-american numbers in obama like numbers rather than hillary clinton like numbers and i don't see that any candidate really can make that argument compellingly they want to make it a little bit but nobody could really make it compellingly we have heard you know if there's exciting in american politics what do you call people who say they're going to win by mobilizing young voters we call them losers now bertie's trying to disprove that and thus far in the primary he has disproved that the going into the general you know the question is how can he bring every american voters in detroit which is in michigan which is in a key state or build up in from sylvania that's going to be to keep watching and he may be able do that by balancing the ticket but on his own it's a tough sell well you're talking about bringing people out obama in on those people it is as is the one who seems to be trying to style himself like obama and he'd be the youngest candidate ever if he won the nomination and so a number of the others tonight at the debate have been questioning his lack of experience do you think that has voters as wary.

hello. that question again i'm so sorry lincoln i think we lost you there for a minute i was just asking if bush has aids because he's so young and he's that ca it's he would be the youngest candidate if he won the nomination and does that have those as worried in terms of his experience. it does have voters a little bit worried a lot of voters i talk to particularly voters over 60 just feel he's too young now that doesn't mean that they won't vote for him against donald trump but it does it will mean that as you get into later primaries they will take a longer look at biden and the guy we haven't talked about at all who is looming outside this debate stage with all the money and who has run more ads in the major stand any of these candidates is michael bloomberg and if i'm in if a voter is choosing which kind of competence marc qualified may or do i choose you know that may help they may look at bloomberg rather than blue to judge particularly if they're concerned about age and experience so well spent and our

new york city is a little bit bigger south bend indiana and that will help bloomberg to saw well speaking of experience i do want to come back to joe biden because his whole campaign has been about his experience and his electability allegedly that coming in 4th in iowa and now going into new hampshire could this be the beginning of the end i say he's also been doing a bit of a bomb a name dropping tonight to try to remind people of west he's from that is this is this the beginning of the end to him. perhaps i mean joe biden had was a very respected senator for you know more than 30 years and was in my view a very very effective vice president but he's run for president twice before this and has done poorly both times he's not good at running for president and people were concerned about going into this this election if he does if you finishes a distant 3rd or distant 4th this time if he's not within 6 or 7 points of who to judge oh and bernie you will see that kind of centrist moderate wing of the party casting around and you will see support going to boo to judge and again not to

forget bloomberg now the candidate who we haven't really talked about here is elizabeth warren who is in an interesting place here because you know she is also from a neighboring state where moms in massachusetts both neighbor new hampshire but elizabeth warren you know she did a decent 3rd but not a great 3rd place but she's emerging here as the compromise candidate everybody can live with elizabeth warren but the problem is voters are rank ordering their vote or it's only voting for one candidate gee maybe everyone 2nd choice here and indeed in some respects the strongest party in terms of the strongest candidate terms of bring the party together but her road to the nomination is going to be very tough especially if bernie beats her in all of the 1st 4 states which is frankly very likely to happen link and i also do want to talk about impeachment i mean that's already come up at the debates tonight and i say that biden got everyone up on their feet to give the attendant kind of been going to standing by basin how do you think the impeachment proceedings have affected the standing safe on the democratic field. well i don't well they've done 2 things they have lobel as the base the base

is even more angry and they have put real fear into democrats that wow if this impeachment just happened in a straight party line in his poll numbers actually got a slight bump lastly he's a more formidable general election candidate being trump than we have thought so what that does is it underscores the need for the electability question i would just add one more thing here donald trump tom sawyer in this debate said trouble running the con and the and we did a business person who can talk about the economy he's half right trump will run on the economy but you're not going to be trumped by talking about the economy you're going to be trumped by changing the subject because swing voters will be saying i like the economy but i concerned about his his prime anality is corruption and i'm also concerned about issues like health care but more importantly guns and the environment so those are the small issues that can swing the right you know the key boaters in the key states and for that reason there is some concern that bernie sanders whose campaign boils down to things have been going well for

a decade but we need to radically remake the american economy may not appeal so much to swing voters so in that sense impeachment may slightly hurt bernie but this is just beginning and i suspect by the time we get into mart super tuesday and beyond we will be talking about impeachment much anymore because they'll be in the rearview window and will rear view mirror and will be on to whatever the next. trump related scan donor or news story is or controversy is indeed linking meant to . the rest speaking to us from cape astounding all thank you for joining us on out . thank you for having me enjoy the rest the debate. we'll be bringing you lots more on that debate and there's also plenty ahead the election that could change the face of irish politics we look ahead to saturday's vote. and then support the former pakistan cricket he has been sentenced to jail for spot fixing peta has a story.

about china's government is struggling to stop the spread of the coronavirus with $86.00 more people reported dead overnight the majority of those in a province now across china at least $722.00 people have now died and the world health organization is warning of a severe disruption to global medical supplies there's also widespread anger over the death of a doctor who 1st sounded the alarm about the outbreak back in december adrian brown reports from hong kong these are some of the last poignant images of. a doctor who was punished for daring to tell the truth now he's died from the virus very 1st won't colleagues about late last year. to maybe he'll be remembered as a chinese here. or there through the culture i deeply regret his death and feel sincerely sorry for him we need to see if the influence of his death can one copy anything and i hope he did not die and for. your for you here he

left us when we needed him to fight the virus and he was a victim of the virus too he was unfairly criticized because of his work so we feel very sad and regretful. saltation for he showed a responsible attitude toward society and he is honest and faithful so i think the whole society should reflect on those. on social media the grief and outrage is more profound is it that hard for the government to admit it's wrong a doctor had to die twice that's a national humiliation and the eyes of the people are clear his death is the top trending topic on china's micro-blogging site way below one of the most popular hashtags before being deleted was we want freedom of speech lee had been in the front line of this crisis falling sick from the virus while treating patients his death was confirmed on the website of one hospital on friday morning leader after

all rescue efforts said the statement we express our deep condolence as did an official from china's national health commission and now he's in the national your national health commission extends our sincere condolences and respect to the family and wife of dr lee when young we know that for medical workers on the frontline they sacrifice their own family life to contribute to this battle against a virus the society needs to care more about our medical workers. in december leader has sought to share information about his concerns only to be investigated by police who accused him of spreading rumors lee's passing highlights the huge risks taken by frontline doctors and nurses to treat patients a situation made worse by overcrowded hospitals and an acute shortage of beds the government appears to be listening it's dispatched a team of anticorruption investigators to hand to its words listen to the concerns of the public and in china today there's no shortage of people with opinions about

the doctor and the way he was treated. the virus is spread across china with cases also emerging in 2 dozen countries 2 cruise ships carrying thousands of holidaymakers have been placed under quarantine in hong kong and japan as doctors test all on board for infection and another ship currently in the south china sea has been refused entry by japan south korea and the philippines in china the growing public outrage will worry their leadership as it threatens to create what they fear most social unrest adrian brown al jazeera hong kong our sara clark joins us live now from hong kong sara. begins in huntsville talk us through how all of this is going to be managed. well these new quarantine restrictions were invoked at midnight about 10 or so hours ago and what they are is

basically any travelers from mainland china will have to go into quarantine isolation for up to 14 days or 14 days now there has been some criticism that they won't work it'll be hard to monitor simply because it while it's being called mandatory isolation these people are actually putting themselves in their own homes in their own hotels so clearly those mainland travelers will be basically told having all sharing time with other family members those family members can then go out in the public so this criticism about whether or not it will work simply because it'll be hard to monitor the hong kong government has said if this is breached these people or those travelers will face a hefty fine $2500.00 fine as well as potentially 6 months in prison now we spoke to a large number of travel group of travelers last night who was simply that came in before these quarantine restrictions were invoked on simply because they said they were scared they left financial a few days ago because they want to get away from the fear of catching this virus and they also said it was very difficult to exist in china under these

circumstances they talked about the fact that they were sharing their apartment a small apartment with a large group of family members one family member could go out every 2 days to get food and supplies so we have seen a large number of people come through from mainland china before these quarantine restrictions were imposed overnight and certainly we expect the numbers potentially to go down as a result but but they do start today which is saturday so as sara we also heard there from adrian about the anger that's being directed at the chinese government and the possibility of discontent at some point turning into unrest what's the mood like on the streets of hong kong this morning. well we spoke to a large number of people overnight and the smalling talking about the fact that they are angry about dr lee's death and simply because he was ignored and there was a case of the government in china being accused of negligence that he with regards to the feeling here there's been a large group of number one health workers but the public wanting the borders close

fully not just a partial closes where we are there are 3 still entry points from mainland china into hong kong and we've got the airport we've got the shins in checkpoint we've also got the macau jew highbridge. hong kong has been basically an easy expects a point for the mainland travelers to escape china if they do want to flee or the fear of catching this virus as a result of hong kong as being the 1st point of 1st destination for these troubles so there's been anger on the streets here about the the the open borders to mainland china but today these restrictions are imposed and potentially that my kind of see a decline in numbers of travelers coming from mainland china sarah clarke there for us and hong kong thanks very much there well meanwhile more than 3000 passengers and crew are stuck on board a cruise ship in the japanese homma the diamond princess ship has now 61 confirmed cases of the virus matthew smith is one of the passengers who doesn't have the virus that is under quarantine and he's on board that ship i spoke to him earlier

about his experience there. it's hard to speak to anyone else other than us because the korean team we are all instructed to stay in our own cabin my you know the people from the interior cabins then allowed there's on deck and they may have had a chance to interact although they've been instructed to say a metre apart from each other so it's hard to read the. the mood of other passengers without a contact with them i see you know some people are very worried on the internet and social media but we're we're fairly confident that the the current team is going to work in that we will be allowed to leave at the end of 14. how much information are you getting from authorities and from the of the crew on board that how are they looking off to you. in terms of information there was some concern early on that that the captain was not reporting this week maybe as frequently as he could have

but he appeared to recognize that a fairly quickly and it's increased the information that we're being provided we had a 1st announcement today and he reassured says that he's providing the information from the health officials as soon as he can in terms of being served in our cabin we service meals 3 times a day the crew comes by and knocks on the door they are fully masks and gloves and so that's the sense of the only contact they're not allowed to come in the cabins and we're not allowed to go out i understand that you are being asked to take your own temperature how is everyone managing with trying to monitor their own health. well apparently it seems to be working so yes we were given their monitors and the captain asked us to check our temperature several times a day part of the announcement that he just made was that the medical center is very busy right now because apparently other passengers who have been in quarantine

have reported that they have a high temperature it was i believe 30. 7.5 centigrade what's the threshold so apparently it is working that they're identifying possibly other cases that are just becoming symptomatic now well we have been seeing the number of cases rise on board the cruise ship way eula and i understand that w.h.r. then takes the come back to 0 so every time there's a new infection the 14 day quarantine period starts again so do you have any idea when you're going to be able to actually leave the ship. well we haven't received any information along those lines yesterday for the captain informed us that according to the japanese health officials that absent further development we would be allowed to go on february 19th if the quarantine is doing what it's intended to do is keep everybody separate from when it was instituted on wednesday morning the fact that additional cases are developing is likely from should be from infection

that occurred or the korean team and we're hopeful that they're not resetting every time they discover one which would seem to be a little bit of an overreaction given the the nature of the quarantine but frankly we recognize that anything could happen at this point we're hopeful to get off on the 19th but are open to the possibilities of 20 might be extended for the cause on friday salaamed joins us live now from yes a hama port city with these number of confirmed cases increasing what are we now hearing from with our team. just an hour ago we heard from the minister from the health ministry in japan that 3 more people have said before that if the virus those passengers apparently out of it still on board of the ship the ship has left. just behind me here and went to the arctic ocean to get to create fresh water and get by last thoughts at all so. she was

expected to come back tomorrow morning at 7 japan local time but the just an hour after the ship lift left just from here we heard from the health ministry about that for the new infections on board of the ship so we don't know how they are they going to get them to hospitals are they going to send both where is the ship to. take them to hospitals in yokohama our other adjustment robin says or maybe they will wait until the ship comes back. now we hear also that. dozen of medical. workers doctors nurses from the self-defense forces on board of the ship they're helping in taking care of the health of the passengers there so maybe they would get all of this for the more passengers until they. come back again until the ship comes back again tomorrow morning as you can imagine it's very frustrating it's very nice but it's well for the passengers they were boarding on very luxurious

cruise ship and now they are in a semi prison yesterday when this ship was looking here we saw a flag waving its flag written on it's that there is a lack of medicine and many people they are expressing their that i stand there also feeling anxious about this but at the same time lift the 1st group infection in japan and authorities are observing the situation very carefully because the case of the ship could be a great example of understanding how the. infection is spreading. health minister. he is now investigating the bastards of the infection and they're making little investigation about how all of the soldiers who have got the virus how did they get get this virus and at the same time some health experts here in japan are warning of i would think that half of the secondary virus infections have been during the in cuban sea billiards so taking into consideration that there are still

over $3600.00 people on board of the ship we could hear of more infections during the coming days indeed fadi phelim of air on the ground for us in yokohama thanks very much heidi. still ahead on al-jazeera the brazilians forced to beg for food off a major cutbacks on the nation's flagship well fast. and a big upset from miami osaka and japan's fed cup tie with spain pisa has those details. hello winter proper finally arrived in japan particularly hard and there is still snow showers falling this mass here but that obviously can fast as they were still be there i think during saturday in fact some stir much just catch the east coast

of the korean peninsula temperatures where they should be subzero sapporo about 11 in tokyo and if you're east of the mountains the sun is out in japan now further west it's old ice and qualities warmed up considerably 10 degrees in beijing fire of of where it should be still manas dein hop in from shore was welcomed on this cloud down the southwest corner of china allowing itself to bring some rain in but not much this time it's sunny for the most part not necessarily in hong kong there is still in the central southern philippines in a big mass and so in borneo and indonesia but for forecast accuracy you probably want to say the biggest shower is going to be in the west coast of sumatra not so many further east a good part of java though shari isn't really prone to huge downpours in the next day or so although when you get to bali that's quite possible will be the case now we still go unusual rain you know disher it's been there for the last 3 days will

be there for the next 2. from. the latest news as it breaks down the president has just finished reading down to the end of the transitional period but it's just begun with details coverage due in studies that show that around 30 percent of people in conflict so unlikely to suffer from some form of mental illness from around the world the government here has said only essential workers will return to the others not for another week at least. a conflict that is now considered to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis how many would not all have to die behind this horrible stop these harnesses on are really for sale an investigation into how billions of euros are made from supplying arms to saudi arabia a leader of the coalition fighting a war in the south the case is interesting to watch the amounts of money involved

yemen war profiteers on al-jazeera. well again i missed on a reminder about top stories this hour the fallout from donald trump's impeachment trial continues with the firing of 2 key witnesses gordon sometimes the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. is the latest to be removed just hours after ukraine ex-pats lieutenant colonel alexander was exist out of the white house. u.s. democratic presidential hopefuls are currently holding a debate ahead of the new hampshire primary on tuesday the key topics covered so

far include firing the u.s. assassination of iranian come on a custom sort of. china's government is struggling to stop the spread of the corona virus with $86.00 more people reported dead overnight the majority of those include a province across china at least $722.00 people have now died. turkish vehicles and tanks have entered into a province and northwest and syria the last rebel held region it's in response to an advance by syrian government forces who have already taken a 3rd of the province and are now seeking to march on the regional capital but as sin and cos the early reports turkey is determined to stop that. syrian government forces in the suburbs of surat camp hours before distributed town well after fierce fighting with the syrian rebel defenders. so racket sits at the junction of 2 major highways and was seen as

a major obstacle in regaining control of the province one 3rd of which is now under syrian government control. turkey has warned put the mask his forces to back off no arkie unfortunately the syrian regime does not believe in political process and thinks peace can only be possible by a military solution and i have to say they are wrong about this they have stepped up their aggression turkey has 12 military observation posts positioned around the globe the escalation zone agreed with russia and iran in 2017 but 9 of them have been surrounded by advancing syrian government forces to protect and stop the advance troop yes stablished for more post which ended up in direct clashes between the turkish and syrian army's solve little mission with our focus on the missed you know culture get tax responded to within the scope of such offense from now on any kind of attack will be responded to appropriately and observation post will

continue their duties the syrian government has intensified its attacks since last november and backed by russia has targeted civilians this for a good and new way of a migration with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the violence in the 9 year long civil war in syria that was aware that this place could find refuge but it live citizen is now under threat as the syrian government forces captured so rocket and just 7 kilometers away soon after solo al-jazeera northwestern syria. israeli forces have shot another palestinian dead in the occupied west bank the 5th in 48 hours a funeral procession has been held for one of the victims a palestinian policeman who was killed in jenin on thursday he was in uniform at the station when he was killed during raids by israeli forces they were seizing c.c.t.v. footage related to a car running. iraq's most powerful shia cleric has called for security forces to

protect antigovernment protesters their grand ayatollah ali al sistani is intervention follows weeks of violence in baghdad and southern iraq iraq's human rights commission says nearly 550 iraqis have been killed since the protests began back in october a 20 year old british woman who joined i still has lost the 1st stage of her appeal against the u.k. government's decision to strip her of citizenship sameem a bag and was found in a syrian refugee camp last year she was 15 when she left the u.k. 5 years ago international law makes it illegal to take away citizenship if it leaves a person status but a tribunal ruled that vegans bangladeshi heritage means that she can turn there instead for citizenship regional elections are just under way in india's capital region of delhi it's seen as a major test for prime minister narendra modi's ruling party amid mass protests

against the new citizenship law and recent violence at university in the capital you're watching live pictures right now of those polls opening our correspondent in india elizabeth pradhan has more. polls opened at 7 am local time in delhi to time chief minister. and has a common man party are expected to be reelected but the country's 2 main political parties the bought of the the party of prime minister in the day the morty and the congress party have been campaigning extensively the election is taking place after the biggest protest against the b j p government since it was 1st elected 6 years ago after the government passed the citizenship amendment act in december which fast track citizenship to minorities from 3 neighboring countries but excludes muslims the b.j. he has campaigned on this issue criticize and protest is in fact to be j.p. politicians were banned from campaigning the 1st because he likened protesters to

break hosts and murderers and said that they wanted to india into a muslim country the 2nd because he said protestors should be shot and just days after they made those remarks there were 3 shooting incidents against protesters in new delhi in one week now kejriwal has campaigned on his usual platforms on development education health care and that is something that resonated with voters in the past has common man party want to historic 67 out of 70 seats in the last state elections in 2015 the results of the election will be out on february 11th and they will be a key indication of whether the b j p's politics and campaign have worked. catalonia as regional leader wants the spanish government to agree on a date for an independence referendum kim torah says the pulse towards the region

secession is absolutely irreversible and that catalonia will be independent he met with spanish prime minister and boss lerner on thursday sanchez rejects any push for independence but a. agreeing to hold talks with catalonia to determine the future of the region. i believe that the people of catalonia never. needed an order to preach independence and that this is not about pressing a button if. we have had evidence of people and their family sacrifices to achieve this goal of freedom i believe that has really why didn't independence and therefore i trust that the independence of. now ireland is the fastest growing economy in the european union but it faces a range of issues from rising homelessness to a failing health care system saturday's general election begins in

a few hours and polls are predicting major changes in the political landscape. there's going to skin tent on the streets of dublin people are struggling with soaring house prices a crumbling health service and the spiralling cost of childcare for generations i wish politics has been dominated by 2 centrist parties the ruling family. and the largest opposition beautiful many now see them as being part of the problem. far a change in our. 100 cheers. for change they make and they don't hear any of them so we don't expect in this time when all we can do is hope and we need to get down to business very quickly ireland's prime minister and leader. has presided over a period of cultural transformation is the country's 1st openly gay leader. is the socially conservative in traditionally catholic countries legalize same sex

marriage and abortion also tough breaks in negotiations with neighboring britain but he's also been accused of a lack of political vision and a failing to confront concerns home. finger on the pulse of bragg's of for a while and he's actually done quite a good job of it there needs to be a heavier emphasis on i suppose the important issues housing you know health care education things that he hasn't really been so so good on for the 1st time in modern irish history opinion polls are predicting a shift in power away from the 2 traditional parties towards left wing nationalist chim fein i think you know they put housing and health care at the heart of their campaign they also want to referendum on irish unification within 5 years northern ireland's part of the u.k. during the conflict in northern ireland the party was regarded as the political wing of the republican paramilitary group the ira 3 and a half 1000 people died in the violence that ended 20 years ago she fein says it's

time to move on this is about the future you know if we keep continue to look in the past we'll get nowhere this is about the future the future generations and and the children today as to what kind of society what kind of contrie day will and can live and this is where it has been gaining ground poaching support from other political parties and attracting an entirely new generation of 1st time voters with promises to solve some of ireland's biggest problems health care housing and homelessness ireland's political landscape is changing no party is expected to win the election out right coalition building is inevitable new partnerships could emerge as age old political distinctions fade leave parker al-jazeera. french president has called on his european counterparts to discuss the role that france is nuclear also in the continent security seeking a surge in european defense spending and says french nuclear weapons serve as

a deterrent against enemy attacks like iran has previously called on his european allies to stop relying on the united states for defense. malawi's electoral commission has asked a court to suspend its an element of last year's presidential election results now that's all for president peace unusual reka launched an appeal against the constitutional court ruling saying that the findings were grossly biased against him earlier in the week the court ordered new elections within 150 days citing widespread voting irregularities and rescuers in zimbabwe say they've ended the search of a collapsed shouted gold mine 2 people who were mining illegally are confirmed dead and their bodies have been retrieved the mine shaft caved in on wednesday say they can't be sure how many people were underground at the time of the collapse now botswana has held an auction for the rights to hunt elephants for the 1st time since lifting a ban last year 7 hunting packages were auctioned in the capital gaborone each

package includes the right to hunt and kill 10 elephants the government says commercial hunting will bring in income but conservationists say that it could encourage poaching. brazil's rightwing government has been slowing down the flagship anti-poverty program also familiar that was launched by former president trade at a silva the number of beneficiaries and families admitted for benefits has been drastically cut and that's meant a huge waiting list and for a struggle to survive john heilemann has more from rio de janeiro. at the end of the road outside of real de janeiro powerless in gauging a weary daily struggle to make up for a laugh today we had nothing to eat i had to wait and ask a women to help us we had no fit yesterday a pastor and my husband asked some fishermen nearby to get him something from their catch until 3 months ago they received cash from the government the programs called

bolsa familia the family bag it was only about $40.00 a month but it helped keep them afloat now for them and about a 1000000 other brazilians that benefits been stopped the number of families newly admitted to the program has also plummeted to a fraction of those accepted before it's meant a ballooning waiting list of hof a 1000000 people sell it 58 to none employed is among them she says she's been given the runaround since she tried to join up last to guest no thank you they say the authorities don't care they push me from one place to another like a pingpong ball. both of them is help millions of brazilians it's the government's flagship anti-poverty program but it's a been having problems 5 years now and this is just the latest setback it started when the leftist thing government stopped adjusting payouts to keep up with inflation now the current administration has again hit what was a successful and cheap and the poverty to their very important at the same time you

know reached about what one quarter of the of the brazilian population the very very poor is very well parg and the money goes to women go through children with conditionalities and costs very little food costs are going to point 4 percent of the g.d.p. so you basically brazil did a sort of fiscal adjustment on the poor. recipients not just present survival that future is now on hold. but. my children have big dreams the eldest wants to join the army he was training and trying out for a football club but we had to withdraw him we couldn't afford his transport. the government says it's just real denies him to improve the program millions awaiting john homan out to see the real degenerate now scientists are warning that

bumblebees across europe and north america face mass extinction a new study blames climate change for the drastic decline and warns that this threatens food cultivation and says europe's bumble bee population fell by 17 percent between the 20th and 21st century while they dropped by 46 percent during the same time in north america bumblebees play a key role in pollinating crops including fruits nuts and vegetables. now the south korean film parasite's has emerged as a surprise contender at the academy awards this weekend a dark comedy that's already what won the palme d'or at cannes it's been nominated for 6 oscars and creating best picture and as robert reich reports from south korea its strong social message has proved a big draw there at the box office. that i was honestly since its release last year parasite has had south korea talking mostly about the social injustice of a younger generation not able to better themselves no matter how hard they study

and work. it's becoming harder to imagine improving your social status as generally accepted within our generation. because i found nothing to be fascinated about it equality problem it's been here for a long time kind of exaggeration in the movie the movie focuses on a poor family living in a basement who tricked their way into the service of a much richer family with darkly comic consequences. i don't think in the region people are that stupid but suspend your disbelief for the duration of the movie and parasite becomes an in florida fable about the struggles of the have nots all too painfully aware of the comforts enjoyed by the haves that they're living alongside it's a thing what resonates not only here but also in a world with

a widening wealth gap that gap is no better illustrated than girl young one of the last shanty areas of seoul starkly contrast with the towers of neighboring. the brashly opulent district parodied in global fame by gangnam style displaced poor families when it was developed many of whom moved to korea and you know scrape together a. having doing the mean the old jobs that gangnam needs much as in parasite i think it was very realistic in the way that it portrayed our society especially in korea and further development threatens to move these residents again locked in an ongoing battle with the government for proper compensation. as south korea has developed it has become easier for the rich to earn more money and while it has become more difficult for the poor to make a living it's an issue that has to be resolved. from its comic opening parasite

quickly descends into in the car tragedy in their own struggle the people of korea hoping for a far happier ending rob mcbride al-jazeera soul. well still ahead on al-jazeera islands look to their captain for inspiration and rugby's 6 nations pay to have more on their clash with whales. the island of sardinia a famously a delay khalid a spot. less well known as a proving ground for. investigating claims that years of military training and arms testing triggered cancer and birth defects amid the local population. secret sardinia people in power on al-jazeera.

the exclusive undercover report that captured a peaceful protest group history put down by the military they seem to be testing the ministry the standing over there with their guns ready this seems as if the start of the crackdown is happening. there's. no way almost almost 10 years on what has changed rewind inside me in ma the crackdown on al-jazeera. all. the. time to support his pisa. thank you very much former pakistan cricket

a nasa jump ship has been sentenced to 17 months in prison by a u.k. court for his part in a spot fixing scandal the 30 year old added method along with 2 other defendants to conspiring to bribe fellow players in a t 20 match in dubai in february 27th seen batsmen were asked to avoid scoring runs from susan balls in return for money jumpsuit has already been banned from cricket for 10 years by the pakistan cricket board it was a good day on the field for pakistan's current cricket team on the opening day of one of test and roll pin the bangladesh were bowled out for 233 shaheen afridi with a 5 wicket haul for the hosts muhammad was the only man to go past the half century for the tourists he contributed a knock of 63. but also known as coach k. city and insists they are heading in the right direction despite

a shock exit in the spanish cup and a cloud over the future of star player in the n.l. messi the build up to thursday's defeat at athletic bilbao was preceded by a public spat between messi and boss of sporting director eric abbey del macy's contract does allow him to leave at the end of the season for free but one of his former coaches pep guardiola does not think he will move away from the no cap player commercial no humanistic. that is my wish. so i'm not going to talk about the players for the club. but as a someone knows him or not been asked about signing him i'm going to ask you where you think he might play for another european side ever or whether that's just past alone i think he's going to finish his career. israel folau as controversial return to rugby league has been delayed he has been left out of the catalan dragons squad for sunday's season opening match at wakefield the french club did not say why but

flowers fitness was in question it has been 8 months since he was sacked by australia's rugby union for posting homophobic comments on social media. defending 6 nations champions wales face a student taste of their title credentials in the 2nd round of matches the grand slam wins take on ireland in dublin on saturday coming to use it's a great place to come play. play rugby in a tournament game in particular when we had a. mixed bag over recent years a few friendlies will much whatever we call them but tonight here it's louis who to trust you know in the international stage so he will be on the front foot or as for ireland well they labored it a victory against scotland in their opening match of the championship last weekend the team were hoping to give their fans a more inspiring performance this time around at the of the stadium you don't have

big moments in the game that get the crowd up for it and get them in on us. the way the game started last week scott and probably on the ascendancy from from the 1st sort of 56 minutes. so if you can flip better on this weekend and get up a spear gun scotland welcome their old rivals england some murrayfield in edinburgh on saturday in their 1st home game of the tournaments they are looking to retain the cull cuts a cup for 3rd season in a row. we can't stand back and admire england for too long they have got some crack in individual players call it say that. they're not and i will cup final 4 for mufon. while class team is going to take us to be our best but if you lay him out there to come over there is i want. as for england who are still smarting from their opening day defeat of france in paris and the team are all ready for the reception they'll receive from the scottish crowd the bus and stuff and the

reaction of the scottish players when that one and seeing the crowd and how much it means that one appears is is definitely something to acknowledge and it's definitely you can't really ignore the pressure on us as loud as murrayfield is one of tennis's greatest rivalries produced a record breaking occasion in south africa on friday roger federer and rafael nadal took part in a one off charity event in cape town watched 550000 fans phèdre one in 3 sets elsewhere in the faded cup they was an embarrassing defeat for naomi x.-acto on friday former world number one ross toward number 78 song sort of told no in japan's qualifying time with spain losing 663 spain lead the tie to no after the opening day singles ok more sports news later we'll see you ben. and that's it for main styles it's a bit sammy will be in the chair next keep in. place

. so i bring on al-jazeera. and the tension with the u.s. and protests over a plane down to iran's harlem entry election will be held on february 23rd parties to syria explores the face of india's religious minorities on the prime minister modis can the. us voters get that chance to weigh in on the 2020 lection al-jazeera will have comprehensive coverage a new series looks at how female scientists across the globe are opening doors for other women to pursue careers in science and after 5 years of civil war could bitter rivals agree a peace deal to revive africa's youngest nation. separate on al-jazeera. in japan thousands of men and women are vanishing without a trace. investigates why people engineer their own disappearance and.

al-jazeera. to al-jazeera we talk about 2 of the biggest problems facing and they are the endemic corruption and we listen so if you put place china as an enemy of the words and that's really that yours we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter just 0. culture a dance thrives here every day generations of tibetans continue to embrace and detail their cultural heritage it's a reminder of who they are and whether. this is a suburb of the capital new delhi tibet so the refugees here since 964. have been defined as migrants are not refugees because india hasn't signed up to the 1951 un convention on refugees so tibetans here have been able to access the indian welfare system so they become self-sufficient starting

a business says and looking for work independently but for some it's not enough. the white house ousts 2 officials who testified against donald trump 2 days after the president's speech went to quote all. i'm sam is a band this is al jazeera live from coming up. to judge closes in on bernie sanders 7 democratic contenders face off in a debate in new hampshire and head of tuesday's primary. dozens of coronavirus cases.