the cultures across the world so much of what we've been using calendars that matter to you. the u.s. says the taliban has agreed to a 7 day reduction in violence which could lead to a u.s. troop withdrawal from afghanistan. hello i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program china reveals that 6 medical staff of died and more than 1700 have been infected with the new coronavirus this is the city of one enters its 4th week on the coronavirus locked out with residents keeping their distance as they queue for food is. also a syrian military helicopter is shot down as fighting displaces thousands more

people in a province bus. i think it's time to stop the tweeting and. read criticism from one of president trump's most loyal left hands is it a risky rebuke or part of a damage limitation exercise. welcome to the program our top story the u.s. is saying that it's reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a senior administration official told reporters the week long pact is very specific covers all afghan forces and if successful could lead to a more permanent deal it follows protracted negotiations in doha and a meeting between the u.s. secretary of state might pay 0 and the afghan president bush afghani at the munich

security conference earlier on friday at least 8 people were killed in afghanistan in an ad strike let's cross now to jonah hall who's at the munich security conference where that announcement was made 1st of all jonah what do we know about this agreement. well it's been coming for quite some time now talk to been going on as you mentioned there for over a year not directly between the parties but us in 2 major is clearly. field progress had been made in recent days mike pompei of the secretary of state said as much on his way here to munich he would have had time here in munich along with marcus for the defense secretary to brief ashraf ghani the afghan president who's also here some details still to be worked out we don't have a formal announcement date or indeed a time when this 7 day period would come into effect as you mentioned we understand the details are very specific it is to apply nationwide across afghanistan to. roadside bombs suicide bombs rocket attacks on afghan forces if this

period of 7 days passes with a significant reduction of violence within within 10 days talks would be shed yule to start between the afghan government and the taliban directly and other parties on the ground other political parties and so on to wardes a comprehensive peace agreement including the withdrawal of u.s. forces who've been on the ground in afghanistan to forget for 19 years now having gone in just after 911 so a hugely significant potentially significant moment this no official response yet from the afghan government they and others would likely be treating this with some caution they haven't had direct contact with the taliban as yet and frankly the taliban don't have to refute form in this department. yeah and on that point joe or are they likely to keep their side of the bargain. well analysts have been saying that you know something like this would be the

ultimate and crucial test of taliban cohesion kamandi an organization in other words where the taliban commanders have the ability to control the rank and file to issue an order like this to reduce violence in such specific terms and for it to be carried out remember they had a peace deal on the table last september to be signed it was to be signed at camp david on the eve of that signing the taliban launched attacks on afghan and nato forces and donald trump called the whole thing off well the u.s. president now very keen to see a deal done before us the president to let the elections at the end of this year to see a withdrawal of u.s. forces before that time but as i say this period of 7 days of a reduction of violence will be absolutely crucial in determining whether that ultimate goal could be reached but also in determining simply whether the taliban as an organization as a group could be trusted to do any sort of complement comprehensive peace deal at all thank you very much from the munich security conference china.

china is stepping up its war against the new coronavirus imposing a 14 day self quarantine on anyone returning to beijing and punishment for those who refuse it's also revealed the toll the outbreak has taken on health workers confirming that so far 1716 have been infected and 6 have died but the world health organization says there's been a rapid falloff in diagnoses in the past 2 weeks there are now more than 47000 confirmed coronavirus cases in china around 16000 of them in who bay province 1380. one people have died across china including one in hong kong meanwhile outside china 505 people have been positively diagnosed with the virus in 24 different countries 2 people have died one in the philippines and one in japan

where the world health organization is sending more experts to a province to add to this stuff already there they say they're taking a closer look at cases of health care workers contract a meal this. understanding is the cases among workers peeped in the 3rd and 4th week of january and there's been a rapid falloff in the number of cases that were occurred in and health workers in the last 2 weeks this may reflect increased levels of training increased levels of protection and also increased levels of awareness remember this outbreak has com expanded very quickly in an unsuspecting health system so we also need to look at how many of those home workers were exposed or knowingly within a clinical environment adrian brown has more from hong kong now on the growing concerns over the shortage of protective equipment for health workers. a number of doctors and nurses have been putting messages on social media complaining about the fact that they don't have adequate protective clothing so i think it's fair to

assume that those who have become infected those who have died have so because they haven't had the correct protective gear now china's government concedes there is a shortage of this protective clothing and of course it underscores just how vulnerable frontline medical workers are in china right now the world health organization has got more experts arriving at the epicenter today and over the weekend to supplement the team that arrived there a few days ago the w.h.o. is also saying and this is i guess a grain of good news that the rate of infections outside of who by province don't appear to be rising as dramatically as they were during the past few weeks when president xi jinping urged transparency in mid january suddenly it was gangbusters with the state controlled media they were all over this story covering

all the angles that has now changed because they're not touching on the negative they are accentuating very much the positive showing pictures of people who have recovered leaving hospital and also in the last 24 hours showing more pictures of soldiers and volunteers arriving in will hand there has been a mass mobilization of people and it has in many ways echoes of the maoi era this is what president xi jinping has called a people's war against you know the devil's virus on the chinese that he will hunt is entering its 4th week under lockdown since it was identified as the source of the outbreak journalists are restricted from traveling to the city belges there as obtained pictures from a resident chat nearby katrina new reports from beijing. empty streets and an increasingly empty fridge there are plenty of vegetables but not much meat for the one family's next meal during the coronavirus lockdown speaking via video

call from who day one she told us his family was doing its best not to panic when we go home with this infection liquid all over our bodies you know we go out we wear masks we don't know if we go out we come back with a virus stuck in our clothes so with this in fact every day he lives in ching meant a city neighboring will hunt the epicenter of the virus outbreak for 3 weeks the family's been ordered to stay indoors movement is increasingly restricted once every 3 days one family member is allowed to leave the house to pick up groceries supplies and a limited shop to stand in lines one meter apart waiting to enter. it's been almost a month since one saw his daughters who are staying with relatives in southeast china is that i feel relieved that my wife and daughters are not me who by now we

chat online every day they're doing ok just worry about me the vast majority of confirmed coronavirus cases more than 50000 are in a province. patients have been sharing videos and social media of life inside makeshift hospitals and quarantine sentence at least 1700 medical staff are among the infected. elsewhere in china people taking any chances. wanks in hopes leaders will learn their lesson from the outbreak. at the beginning nobody paid enough attention everyone thought it was under control until it was too late. and looks forward to life under lockdown coming to an end. al-jazeera aging. now to developments in syria a government helicopter has been shot down in the country's northwest state media is reporting that all crew members were killed it's not clear who was responsible

for it but rebels say they shot it down government forces are trying to retake the last remaining held rebel areas. came as most civilians were forced to flee from makeshift camps near turkey's border the u.n. says more than 830000 people have now fled in the past 2 months and living in desperate conditions with temperatures dropping below 0 in recent days there are few supplies to help them cope with the cold is that the turkey syria border and says the syrian government is blaming turkey for the shooting down of the aircraft . the helicopter was taking part in a major government offensive to take over areas on the west and ask. the government managed to retake some villages from the rebels and crucial military bases when the helicopter was shot down the rubble so they were the ones who opened fire on the helicopter however government sources say that the syrian government

sources people are fearful with them their supporters all insist that this is the work of turkish military office post operating in this comes as the turkish military is sending more reinforcement into living different parts of the province to try to hold the advance of the syrian government which says it's just a matter of time before it takes over the whole territory including in libya which is the rebels' last stronghold in syria about 140000 syrians fled their homes over the last 4 days and they are now on the border with turkey joining the almost 1000000 people stranded on the border area we're talking about a huge number of people and the international aid agencies are grappling with how to deal with this situation we're talking about areas with near military operations where the government is on the move to take over rebel territories as a very delicate situation we've been talking to activists and basically they say

it's already a tragic humanitarian situation. so i have for you on the program the hunt for mexico's missing family searching for the afghans desperately for scraps. and a record high temperature recorded in antarctica is it a one off phenomenon or the tip of the ice man. hello again welcome back to international weather forecast where we are watching what is happening here in the atlantic this is storm dennis you can see it very well on our satellite image here is the area of low pressure right there just to the southwest of iceland in iceland is being affected by the storm as well with blizzard like conditions very windy visibility coming down also a lot of snow across much of that area tomorrow though it's going to be parts of

ireland as well as the u.k. getting in on the winds getting in on the rain as well as a system begins to push a little bit more over here towards the east very heavy rain expected across much of the area that means we're going to be seeing as we go through the weekend delays cancellations on the ground on the rails as well as in the air so watch your flights if you are traveling as we go towards sunday we do expect to see more of the same heavy rain also extends up here across parts of denmark as well as into southern scandinavia if you want to see some good weather over here but over the next few days particularly over here towards the a central and eastern part of europe warsaw is looking quite nice temperatures are on their way up starting on saturday at 5 but plenty of sun as we go towards monday and here across northern africa we do expect to see some clouds across much of algeria as well as into libya with ghazi with a temperature and 17. if

you were looking at this from the outside you would really wonder what was going on but what is just gross is a religion that they have an in-depth exploration of global capitalism and our obsession with economic growth this is still the center of capitalism there is no limit i view myself as a capital artist we are trying to break through the world smaller and smaller we don't want to be set realistic in the world we would rather have a fantasy growing pains on al-jazeera. watching al-jazeera live from london i look at the headlines now the u.s.

says it's reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a senior official told reporters the weeklong pact is very specific covers all afghan forces and if successful could lead to a more minute deal china is imposing a 14 day quarantine period for anyone returning to beijing as it steps up the fight against a new coronavirus it's also revealed that more than 700 health workers have been infected and 6 have died since the outbreak began and a syrian government helicopter has been shot down in the country's northwest state media is reporting that all crew members were killed rebels claim to have shot it down but syria is blaming turkey. well yemen's whose the rebels have withdrawn a threat to tax international aid to the war torn country yemen is in the grips of the world's worst humanitarian crisis with about 80 percent of the population relying on outside assistance a group which has controlled much of yemen including capital sanaa since 2014 had

said it would impose a 2 percent levy on humanitarian aid but a u.n. official says the who have now agreed to drop the demands. thousands of algerians have taken to the streets to mark the 1st anniversary of the start of the country's pro-democracy movement. they say nothing has changed since president abdelaziz bouteflika was ousted from power last april after 20 years as leader the protesters have been demonstrating every friday demanding a total overhaul of the ruling elite an end to corruption and the military's it withdrawal from politics. to shows usually it's always the same demands the old leave and we all become better people the dusty's have to be free so i don't have the courage you know the dream of course we went out these friday because they haven't responded to any of our demands there were 2 gangs in the canyon power similar to the one in jail and the even more dangerous they have to leave because

algerian people didn't vote the majority of algerian people didn't vote. in those are so full are simply are go out to protest for a simple reason that we've not yet reached the goals set by albert evolution of changing the fundamental foundations of our republic. u.s. president donald trump has dismissed his attorney general's criticism of his tweets calling for reduced prison sentence for his clothes. william criticised for his attacks on prosecutors the judge and jurors in the trial of his former adviser john responded with a defiant tweet outlining his powers as president he said that while bad confirmed he never asked him to intervene in any criminal cases he did have the legal right to do so i had said the president's criticism of the department of justice made it impossible to do his job. to have public statements and tweets made about the department about or people in the department or men and women

here about cases pending in the department and about judges before whom we have cases. make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the in the department that we're doing our work with integrity. our white house correspondent kimberly halkett says balls remarks might have been part of an orchestrated move to maintain the integrity of the department of justice. it's enormously surprising it's very rare public criticism from one of the president's biggest defenders and so that's what makes it so on usual because donald trump is a president that while he doesn't offer it he demands loyalty we've seen others in his cabinet who have sort of broken ranks eventually quietly being dismissed sometimes not so quietly the former attorney general jeff sessions also the former chief of staff john kelly so there's a lot of speculation in washington right now about why william barr might be doing

this is it to protect his own reputation were simply left to speculate but there is some thinking that perhaps this was coordinated and calculated given the fact that william barr has seen the departure of 4 attorneys from the department of justice that he oversees as a result of that stone case and whether or not there's concern that more attorneys might leave and what that could do to the integrity of the department a gang of armed men stormed a court building in honduras killing at least 3 police offices and freeing one of the country's most infamous gang nita's about 20 gunman raided the building in the city of progresso and freed alexander mendoza one of the most senior leaders of the m s 13 gang he was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for illicit association a money laundering wonderous as president has offered a reward of $85000.00 u.s. dollars for information that leads to his capture. well government is in mexico

being accused of giving only hof hostage supports to families of people killed in the drug cartel wall and his money a rapper now reports from poza rica heartbroken families say they are forced to rely on volunteers to search for the remains of their relatives buried in secret graves. a search party has assembled on the grounds of a catholic church in vera cruz most of the volunteers of the family members of missing persons mission wide more than 60000 people have disappeared since the start of the war on drugs in 2006 most are believed to be the big domes of criminal gangs or corrupt authorities there in recent years it's become commonplace for the families of the disappeared to participate in organized searches for possible clandestine gravesites. the recent discovery of a human bone fragment in this field means other human remains could be hidden nearby. might yet that is traveled nearly 2000 kilometers from her

home in sonora to join the search. well joe this is one of. the sometimes for a family member being given just a small piece of bone can make them feel better because that's their family that fragment can mean some months parents or children can finally have peace. false alarms are not uncommon. but a few volunteers like gotta have gotten quite good at spotting clues. he says he can't remember exactly how many bodies have helped to uncover in that time i mean yes nobody knew the families of the missing that have learned and are now teaching the government how to conduct a search these families don't have forensics training but we're the ones finding the bodies this should be an embarrassment to the mexican government. there are fishel observers and police keeping watch over the search brigade but it's the volunteers digging holes and sifting through the soil that seem to be doing most of

the work. one of the most common things that we've heard from members of the search brigade is that it's the mexican government that should be out here in the heat and the sun searching for human remains and if it is a come back again this is the 5th time a national brigade has gathered for this kind of search and it's the largest one to date. by the end of the day authorities arrived to examine the scene and determine whether or not this site will be counted among the more than 600 clint destine graves discovered in better coups in recent years. up a little. bit a cruise. at least 20 people reported dead after an attack on a village in central mali $28.00 people are also said to be missing from the village of and the region more than $100.00 people were killed in the same village last month an ethnic doggone militia is accused of carrying out both attacks in a region that's been hit by widespread ethnic violence since 2012. now the

biggest outbreak of locusts to east africa in decades is continuing its sweep through the region the storms of insects have been destroying crops in kenya somalia uganda and tanzania efforts to control the infestation have so far not been affective there are fears the locusts will multiply even further united nations is appealing for help to prevent a food crisis in the region cressman is a senior locust forecaster and describe to me what it was a lie when a locust form hits just try to imagine if you're a farmer in the field and you're looking towards a horizon and you see a cloud and you're growing outgrew culture that relies on rainfall so you're probably pretty happy about that cloud because you think it's going to nourish your crops however when that cloud moves closer to you you realise it's not a cloud for a rain but it's a cloud of insects and this is what the farmer typically can see will see a swarm of desert locusts coming into his or her field early in the morning and by by midday perhaps that swarm has eaten the entirety of this field and this

represents of course you know the farmer's livelihood not only for this year but probably for next year as well so it's a very scary factor is a very scary feeling in fact now the current locust situation in the horn of africa it's the worst in a quarter of a century in somalia and in ethiopia and it's the worst in more than 70 years and kenya. a new record high temperature has been recorded in antarctica for the 2nd time in a week almost 21 degrees celsius was recorded for the 1st time ever drastic increases prompting fears of crime and stability in the region or about a man who points. the polar desert of antarctica is the coldest place on earth but its northern peninsula is among the fastest warming regions in the world brazilian scientists on say more island off the coast of the peninsula say they've

never seen a temperature as high and not touch. $20.00 degrees celsius exceeds 20 degrees for the 1st time the island's temperature is a usually follower ranging between minus $21.00 and $1.00 degree celsius but scientists warn there's not enough data to predict whether it's just an unusual summer weather event the record appears to be likely associated with what we call a regional fire an event a rapid warming of air coming down a slope a mountain scientists say warming temperatures have course 9 out of 10 places in the region to shrink we know that the ice sheet is beginning to lose mass that's me means it's not saying and it no order is contributing to say the rise and it's doing that with the next generation right and we expect that to continue to the southwest the same or island is the pine island glacier. their european space agency satellite images show an iceberg breaking off this week it measures more

than 300 square kilometers that's almost the size of multi before it shatters into pieces climate scientists mock drinkwater says the daily data stream reveals the dramatic pace at which climate is re defining the face of antarctica he's among many scientists who warn global warming could melt ice sheets across the south pole . the paris climate our quote signed by $196.00 nations in 2015 aim to limit global warming to one and a half to greece rise by the end of the century but many fear the damage already done may be irreversible. out as there are indonesia's mount merapi one of the world's most active volcanoes is erupted for the 1st time in a decade while kaner shot clouds of ash 2000 meters into the sky covering an area

of 10 square kilometers government to set up a 3 kilometer exclusion zone around the crater. last major eruption 2010 killed more than 300 people that don't appear to be any casualties this time. the entire border france is equivalent of the oscars these are awards has resigned amid criticism over its 12 nominations for a run and polanski's latest film polish french director is wanted in the united states for the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl in the 1970 s. the decision to include polanski's an officer and a spy in the list of nominations that to hundreds of actors producers and directors calling for the awards to reform in an open letter these are awards judged to be held on the 28th of february. or french president ammonia micron's candidate for mayor of paris has quit the race off to a compromising sex video was leaked on social media benjamin overvote said he had been targeted by vile attacks it was also alleged he sent sexual images to

a woman who is not his wife. the draw is a major setback for the party leaving it without a mayoral candidate for next month's elections a russian dissident artist claims to be behind and said he wanted to expose where those hypocrisy. on the. euro when i mounted my candidacy for mayor of paris i knew the harshness of political life for more than a year now my family not been subjected to defamatory statement the law is anonymous attacks to be a relation of private conversations that were stolen and desperate with this tournament has affected me based mostly her diaries i love as if that wasn't enough yesterday a new stage was crossed a website and social networks have relayed by all accounts of my private life our family does not deserve to this nobody deep down inside should ever have to suffer such a boy. running english football champions manchester city have been banned from european competition for too here is for breaking financial rules set by the european

governing body away for city are in breach of financial fair play rules designed to force clubs to run is businesses and not to be overreliant on rich owners clubs accused of disguising cash injections from their own as as the sponsorships they intend to appeal. quick look at the headlines this hour now the united states says that it's reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a senior administration official said that if the weeklong back to successful it could lead to a more permanent deal it follows negotiations in doha and a meeting between the u.s. secretary of state might on the defense secretary mark s. but in afghanistan's president ashraf ghani at the munich security conference china is imposing a 14 day quarantine period for anyone returning to beijing is it stepped up the

fight against the coronavirus the death toll in china is now at 1300 $81.00 with 2 deaths outside the country the outbreak is taking a toll on health workers as well more than $1700.00 have been infected and 6 have died while the health organization is saying that it's taking a closer look at the health care worker cases particularly bronzer standing is the cases amongst the workers pete and the 3rd and 4th week of january and there's been a rapid falloff in the number of cases that were occurred in and health workers in the last 2 weeks this may reflect increased levels of training increased levels of protection and also increased levels of awareness remember there's a prick has called expanded very quickly and unsuspecting health system so we also need to look at how many of those home workers were exposed or knowingly within a clinical environment a syrian government helicopter has been shot down in the country's northwest state media is reporting that all crew members were killed it's not clear who was

responsible but rebels say they shot it down but syria is blaming turkey government forces have been trying to retake the last remaining rebel stronghold. and u.s. president donald trump says he has the legal right to interfere in criminal cases after his own attorney general william buckley to sized him for his attacks on prosecutors the judge and jurors in the trial of his former advisor roger stone responding in a tweet trump said that while bad confirm trumpet never asked him to intervene in any criminal cases trump said he did have the legal right to do so. is coming up next looking at political reforms taking place in ethiopia. after that about half an hour's time i see that.

is bali want to cozy up to their own little bow these far right hindu nationalist government are lost 2 of the indian film industry is best known creative figures. i've made the house with the indian government targeting of minorities demonstrations against their in the road these increasingly authoritarian rule have sprung up across india so why is bollywood being so silent india's powerful film industry afraid of modi and the b j p all off screen going to java after a director of the haitian pub but 1st ethiopian prime minister ahmed won the nobel peace prize in 2019 for ending a decades long conflict with eritrea at.