u.s. south korea military exercises are suspended and saudi arabia stops issuing visas for religious travel amid growing to run a virus concerns. because of all we've done the risk to the american people we made very low meanwhile the u.s. president donald trump defies medical experts and downplays the risk of the virus spreading throughout america. to watch al-jazeera life from headquarters in doha and the navigator also ahead hindus on muslims bery their loved ones in india some of the worst writing in

decades leaves at least 27 people dead. thousands of people turned out to welcome the return of cameroon's opposition leader. and she was once atop the world of tennis one of the richest female athletes in history earning millions on and off the court for real sharp over the tyrant's. hello the united states and south korea have indefinitely postponed joint military exercises as a result of the corona virus outbreak south korea has recorded its highest number of cases in a single day so far pushing the total number of people in fact it's almost 16 hundreds and in the middle east saudi arabia has announced it's temporarily halting visas for both on the pilgrimage as well as for people coming in from affected countries iraq has closed schools universities and by. public gatherings as well as

flights from several countries qatar has ordered the evacuation of cattery and kuwaiti citizens from iran due to the spread of infections there and in the us presidents arnold trump is appointed vice president mike pence to lead the response against corona virus outbreak in an hour long press conference trump downplayed any criticism of his handling of the issue and in europe france has recorded its 2nd death while italy has confirmed its 12th and a man who returned to brazil after visiting italy has become latin america's 1st case globally more than 81000 cases of corona virus have been recorded in 44 countries and territories let's get an update from robin wright he's joining us from so with more on the developments from south korea and the confirmation that the u.s. and south korea are calling off their joint military exercises rob. that's

right there i think there was a growing expectation here that this would be made that it would be postponed at least i think it would have been strange if they hadn't called off these exercises given this is a government that's advising its own people to avoid crowds it can hardly then stage war games that bring together thousands of soldiers especially as the u.s. military is now recording its 1st case of coronavirus one of its servicemen on a base down in daegu which is the center of this outbreak has been confirmed with there have been a number of quarantine restrictions and restricted access announced a number of bases across south korea meanwhile the south korean government is having to deal with a growing number of countries and territories totaling 40 now that have imposed travel restrictions on south korea and in some cases the foreign ministry is appealing against that urging countries to reconsider the south korean case being

that look we are completely transparent about these about these number of cases that we are recording here yes we have a very serious outbreak but we have resort and we have medical resources that we are applying to it taking all the sort of preventative measures that we should be taking we are being completely upfront with the world and it does seem from south korea's perspective that its people when it comes to some countries imposing harsh restrictions they are being unfairly stigmatized but how worried are authorities over there and having recorded their highest number of cases in a single day so far. it is we're in $334.00 that is the biggest incremental step that we have seen so far taking the total to as you as you mentioned nearly $1600.00 and we are told by the epidemiologist in the experts to expect further big increases especially as they work through these members of the changi church of jesus which is regarded

by many as a sect slightly secretive but there has thousands of members who need to be tested and as they are being tested they are coming back the ones who are reporting flu like symptoms with a very high rate of infection of something like 80 percent of those being tested and they're still 7500 more members of this church who have been identified for follow up testing meanwhile the government is putting more resources around daegu this center the center of the outbreak in the southeast of the country we are hearing an extra 500 medical personnel are now working down there i don't so that the medical personnel the medical chiefs in charge of this operation are now prioritizing they have to accept that you are never going to hospitalize all of these hundreds of new cases and around half of the people who are identified with the coronavirus and especially if they have mild symptoms will have to be treated

at home as all of these special wards and hospitals gradually fill up with more patients all right rob thank you meanwhile north korea is continuing to strengthen measures to fight the virus or cross border traffic has been halted when the 2 largest concentrations of the virus either side of it's in china and south korea north korea has yet to report any cases but state media have hinted that an uncertain number of people have been quarantined after showing symptoms or kimberly while our correspondents is at the white house with more on how the u.s. is responding to the virus. seeking to reassure an increasingly nervous american public u.s. president donald trump made a rare appearance in the white house briefing room to downplay the threat of coronavirus the risk to the american people remains very low trump the klein told point to so-called corona virus czar as some lawmakers in the u.s.

have urged instead naming vice president mike pence as the point person to lead the u.s. response to the growing outrage we're doing really well and mike is going to be in georgia and mike will report back to me top public health officials are warning americans to prepare for more corona virus infections in the united states the degree of risk has the potential to change quickly and we can expect to see more cases in the united states the trajectory of what we're looking at over the weeks and months ahead is very uncertain but even with those warnings trump continued to contradict the message of career health professionals with his all i don't think it's inevitable probably will it possibly will it could be at a very small level or could be at a larger level whatever happens with totally prepared the contradictions have left americans looking to local officials for guy gets across the country state and

local leaders are seeking to calm fears in atlanta we'll be ready for whatever comes in iowa things have been changing and even in america's most populated city new york in the case of hong kong iran italy japan singapore south korea taiwan thailand it just stands to reason that anyone coming in needs to be screened and they have symptoms they need to be quarantined in 28 in the trunk white house shut down the office previously dedicated to preparing for global epidemics claims that's had no impact on response but critics in congress disagree this is she. what he's doing is late. too late name and hopefully we can make up for the loss of time trumps also defending the 2500000000 requests are from congress to fight coronavirus even as some embers of congress say it's not nearly enough and we're getting far more than what we asked for and i guess the best thing to do is take it

we'll take it president trump also told reporters the united states is rapidly developing a coronavirus vaccine but top public health officials say such a vaccine is still more than a year away can really help get al-jazeera the white house. well the 2 most affected regions in italy's north are under a lockdown where some 50000 people live there are increasingly worried but are trying to stay positive mohammad joe reports from milan. in less than a week life in the small town of lingle has completely changed the corona virus outbreak in northern italy slumbered the region is what did it forcing checkpoints to go up and keeping residents from getting out. since we're barred from accessing areas under quarantine as we speak to volunteer medic marco on skype. he worries

about what will happen next but also tries to stay calm ready. i don't live alone so every time i go back home i think about it because maybe i've been in contact with someone that has it but i'm without symptoms and we're constantly checked. marco says he doesn't want to diminish the gravity of the crisis but he also likes looking on the bright side and tells us there are surprising benefits to living under lockdown. it's beautiful because you see kids playing in the streets the way it was many years ago during the days of our parents and grandparents there was much more lighthearted in this. just up the road from cars that lingo is the town of put on you're considered the center of the outbreak because the 1st locally transmitted coronavirus case was detected there that all the audio protea runs a residential facility for patients with mental and physical disabilities he tells the staff at the center doing all they can to keep the situation calm and to ensure

the compound remains free of the virus. the residents understand this is a special situation and they've adapted to it without getting too anxious even our patients who fall along the autism spectrum and usually have the most difficult time accepting changes to the routines they have accepted that this is an unusual situation. here in the regional capital an hour's drive away the anxiety is also evident as public spaces remain far quieter than usual for days italian government officials have been urging citizens not to panic the people under quarantine we've been speaking to are heeding that advice as corona virus cases in the country continue to rise they find themselves growing more concerned but they say they're doing their utmost to remain calm. and along. the high is death toll outside china has been in iran where 19 people have died more than 130 are infected including the deputy health minister zambia's ravi isn't to her on. during

a weekly cabinet meeting iranian president hassan rouhani struck an optimistic tone saying that the reports about containing the coronavirus in iran are promising a taskforce set up earlier this week by the president including senior members of the government and armed forces he said are making gains in controlling the spread of the disease something that has become a major public health crisis here in the country he also addressed public concerns about whether or not the information coming from officials could actually be trusted this after a member of parliament representing the city of home where the 1st case was detected said the number of cases and deaths from this virus are far higher than official figures reported by the government here's what the president had to say about that and i have no i mean. i emphasize that we don't manipulate the figures we know the increase no decrease them nor do we exaggerate or downplayed him i've told the health ministry to announce any figures they have this is

a plot we see today in foreign propaganda recently a high ranking u.s. official made a comment about coronavirus in iran that themselves are dealing with the flu 16000 died because of that the cea but they don't talk about it and now they are turning their attention to corona virus in iran earlier this week president hassan rouhani also said that the situation in the country could begin to normalize as early as saturday just a matter of days now but during a briefing by the spokesman for the country's health ministry he said that government officials are expecting the number of corona virus cases in iran to go up in coming days still had on al-jazeera a borough in the u.s. becomes the latest soon after mass shooting. the man who wants to win the white house but was late to join the race we'll look at the challenges facing mike bloomberg that's coming up.

welcome back we've got quite unsettled weather across the levant on the arabian peninsula the moment now the west weather system moving through skimmers really quite nasty conditions and to run has been very cold temperatures just the north of freezing and wind's blowing quite considerably we've still got some snow around as well further south we've had strong winds here in doha visibilities not being very good and certainly not seen much the way of sunshine the winds blow in the flanks quite strongly into this frontal system continue move its way through the rest of the peninsula so we got a strong wind blowing through the course of thursday may well on the other side of the peninsula we got rather see light winds down through the red sea so fine in mecca highs of 33 and then as i move the forecast through to friday we should find that the wind just easing down a little bit still not particularly warm sunny 23 is a mix window as long as the wind drops it shouldn't feel too bad q.h.

you look at my some of 22 moving into eastern parts of africa unsettled here we've got trough of low pressure bringing showers in here so expect further heavy downpours over the next 24 hours and that continues then through into friday heading into more southern parts of africa are looking more unsettled here now with some heavy rain expected particular across the eastern cape. when they're online like probably look up and get one of the worst graphs to make your review about. or if you join us on sat there's a difference between diversity and inclusion and overseas sometimes isn't always sincere based is a dialogue sanctions on the ways in which they were applied to iran are an act of warfare everyone has a voice we as a society that is simply to get to blame need to sit down and listen join the global conversation on now to 0.

the. hell are we going to talk still and all just are all united states and south korea help us bone joint military exercises as a result of the corona virus outbreak south korea has just reported its highest number of cases in a single day so far pushing the total number of people infected to almost $1600.00 . the us president donald trump says his country is ready for any potential outbreak of coronavirus that the u.s. would suspend would spend whatever is appropriate to combat the illness cumple so appointed vice president mike pence to manage the country's response. at least 5

people have been killed in a mass shooting in the us city of milwaukee the attack took place at the headquarters of the mall some coors brewing company police are saying the shooter is dead shepparton c. has more on how the incident played out. so you know after 2 o'clock in the afternoon the walky police arrived at the sprawling. brewery and corporate offices where referrals and people work and there they found the body of a 51 year old man i'm walking dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and 5 others also killed all employees of the company no injured were found several hours later the left of the governor of wisconsin the men to gun violence in his state this is the 11th nashua in our state is 2004 and i especially want to thank the 1st responders who so bravely are still responding to this situation i would offer my condolences to the families of the coworkers of everybody involved but i also will issue a call

a challenge because we should accept this this is not the way things should be and we should never grow comfortable in the face of these repeated tragedies all across america and especially right here at home we have a duty to act we have to be more responsible and as we often see a mass shooting this one is already factoring into the national debate over gun violence in the united states the democratic presidential candidates saying that they will tackle the problem if they were to become president something we can hear more of i'm sure in the summertime when the democratic national convention is held in milwaukee however if the pos isn't going to go by what normally happens is we hear a lot of debate a lot of how i'm drinking but in fact gun sales tend to spike for a mass shooting as potential gun owners got worried about more regulation india's prime minister narendra modi has called for calm after 4 days of violence in new delhi at least 27 people have lost their lives and more than 200 light injured in hospitals there's now anger over the decision to transfer the capital's 3rd highest

ranking judge after he criticized both the central and state governments as well as the local police force tony brooklier reports from delhi. after the street battle subsided wednesday was a. day hindus and muslims mourn the loss of loved ones after some of the worst violence delhi has suffered in decades this is the funeral of mohammad for can a father of 2 who was killed when the violence began a few days ago he was on the way to shops to buy food for his kids. i received a call saying that my brother has been shot i couldn't believe it i was with him an hour earlier i rushed to the hospital but i found that he was already dead he doesn't know who was responsible. signs of the community hindus and muslims have suffered outside the morgue of the state run hospital relatives await the completion of post-mortem examination zone victims so they can take the bodies for cremation or burial. this man says his nephew died from

a bullet to the neck he says it was fired by a muslim. but when he was pressed he says he never witnessed the killing was the violence stopped after a group of muslim women were persuaded to abandon their city in protest that have blocked a busy road and angered hindu nationalists and the government sent in paramilitary forces and rapid reaction units to reopen the suburbs. the death toll is rising and hundreds of injured people are being treated in 3 local hospitals many of the dead are said to have died from bullet wounds it's not clear who was responsible. there was a physical cost to these of the scarred remains of muslim owned businesses in cardwell nagar in northeast delhi some people have lost everything the major violence may have stopped at least for now but it's been so damaging the question

is how long will it take communities both muslim and hindu to heal and how can they ever fully restore trust lawyers have started the legal process for those who were sponsible for inciting the violence to face just. yes the protests against the new citizenship law which started in december were joined by people from all religions of minorities across india there is a concern now that hindu nationalists may try and turn this into a religious issue i am seriously concerned about it this is the players from very this entire movement is going to be given a religious shape which is in fact not after 3 days of silence prime minister narendra modi sent out a tweet calling for calm and for peace and harmony to be restored the streets are quiet but the death toll is expected to rise and the repercussions of what happened here are likely to affect not just the capital but also the whole of india tony

berkeley al-jazeera delhi. thousands of people have gathered in cameroon for the return of the opposition leader maurice canto has been mostly out of the country since his release from jail last year his return comes at a time when one human rights group accuse the president of ordering the killing of more than 20 people including children nicholas reports the 10s of thousands chant goodbye president called bia come to is coming and here he is was cameron's opposition leader maurice come to his back after spending time in the us in france he was sent to prison when he claimed victory during the last presidential elections he's an outspoken critic of president paul bia where the age of 87 has been in power since 1982 i am the best in everything in his power to massacre us so he can stay in power but we will not give in his time to bring and then to hatred violence and war and to turn a page for peace. with

a 1000000 displaced and more than 3000 killed since 2016 human rights groups blame both armed separatist and security forces for the violence and displacement of people in the english speaking regions of cameroon human rights watch believes the rapid intervention battalion backed by ethnic full on the militias are behind the latest attack the elite force trained and managed by former israeli navy commandos shot 13 children then burned their homes with their parents and children inside the government 1st called it collateral damage then denied being involved. the killings went deliberate and were aimed at punishing the population suspected off harboring and collaborating with the separatists ringback. while friends may be cameroon's closest ally the relationship is changing because of this violence on sunday cameroonian political refugee in france stopped president and then you had to ask him about the situation in the country the french president admitted to putting

pressure on president. we are seeing that the situation is deteriorating and i will call him so that the intolerable situation seizes. the seriousness of. the governing party has just won the majority of the seats in local elections boycotted by the opposition the government says it's working for unity and peace but there is mounting opposition both from abroad and in the country defining b. as 36 year long rule over cameroon nicholas hawke al-jazeera. the un security council. on the diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in libya chris what the german foreign minister had to say afterwards. the european union has agreed to set up a mission and that our next foreign ministers meeting in brussels hopefully will decide exactly what that mission would look like and then we'll have a basis to work out what the consequences could be for those who continue to violate the arms embargo because there have to be consequences and regardless of

what they look like there are a lot of tools to work with it's just the 1st step in raising the political pressure with the aim of preventing any further violation of the arms embargo if that keeps happening anyway then we in the european union will have to talk about what the consequences look like. in the united states the excuse me senator bernie sanders may be leading the democratic race for the presidential nomination but the former new york city mayor mike bloomberg is going after him with billions of dollars and an unconventional campaign strategy bloomberg is trying to chip away at sanders leads kristen salumi reports. amid a crowded field of democrats mike bloomberg is positioning himself as the electable moderate in for oil to party front runner bernie sanders i don't think there's any chance of the senator beating president trump you don't start out by saying i've got 160000000 people i'm going to take away the insurance plan that they love the

former mayor of new york got into the race late skipping early voting states he instead poured millions of dollars into an ad campaign focused on super tuesday was the most delegates are up for grabs mike would get it done a power play fitting a man who made billions in finance and communications mike bloomberg doesn't seem to be the traditional. knocking on the doors meeting people campaign or if you look at his his 3 campaigns for mayor in new york city he followed very much the same strategy that he's following now spending tons and tons of money on a good afternoon i'm a volunteer for the mike bloomberg for president campaign how are you today sir in just a few short months mike bloomberg opened 150 campaign offices all around the country like this one hired $2400.00 south 1st and spent more than $400000000.00 that's more than all of his democratic rivals combined and more than president trump spent

get elected in 2016. but bloomberg faces stiff opposition from the party's activist base including those in minority communities who are subject to his administration's aggressive and according to a judge unconstitutional policing tactics for which bloomberg has since apologized bloomberg says responses or the lack thereof to some of the critical questions that come his way still sort of reek of a billionaire. if we can call it that sort of shifting policies to from republican to independent to now and democrat. makes a few people suspicious i'm a volunteer with the mike bloomberg campaign how are you bloomberg supporters argue he's a unifier is really that moderate who will look at the issues and look at what is best for everybody the majority i really have the gender on climate change the

environment i gun control i think these are things that need to happen now but when it comes to their nominee democrats now seem more divided than ever christine salumi al jazeera new york the former world number one maria sharapova says she's retiring the tennis star leaves as one of the richest female athletes in history earning millions on and off the court as paul reese reports the yen for the 5 time grand slam champion began with a failed drugs tests. from her breakout season at the age of 17 to have 50 grand slam title 10 years later maria sharapova was one of the few true superstars on the women's circuit. sharp over shown as a youngster despite the emerging dominance of serena williams whom she beat in the 2004 wimbledon final there in suing rivalry meaning the american and her sister venus had some genuine competition for their hall of titles. born in the soviet era

russia but crafting her talents in florida a worldwide appeal sparked maria mania among fans on the media. but after becoming one of the select group of players to clinch a career slam of all 4 major titles her tilt at the 2nd australian open crown in 2016 ended in scandal sharp over testing positive for mel dhoni and the debate included on the bombed list at the start of that year i know though with this i. i face consequences and. i don't want to end my career this way and i really hope that i will be given another chance to play this game she did get another chance but only after a 15 month or so had cast out from her place in tennessee's golden generation just shy of 3 years on it's proved impossible to recoiled form a glories and reputation but 11 years straight as forbes highest paid female

athlete means she goes out with career earnings of $325000000.00 as injuries finally take their toll on a player who will hope brilliance is remembered more than her late to mistakes. all aris al-jazeera. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera the united states and south korea have misspoken joint military exercises as a result of the corona virus outbreak south korea has just recorded its highest number of cases in a single day so far pushing the total number of people infected to almost 1600 while mcbride has more from south korea's capital seoul. there's been growing expectations here that these exercises would have to be postponed and now we've had confirmation of it if anything it would have been strange if they had gone ahead

hosted by a government which is telling its own people to avoid crowds do stage exercises that bring thousands of soldiers together so they have been postponed we had yesterday the 1st confirmed case of a u.s. service personnel getting the coronavirus and we have various quarantine provisions in place of the number of bases military bases in south korea the u.s. president on the tram says his country is ready for any outbreak of coronavirus he added that the u.s. would spend whatever is appropriate to combat the onus trump also appointed vice president mike pence to manage the country's response countries in the middle east are bringing in strict new measures to combat the spread of the virus saudi arabia is temporarily holding visas for the pilgrimage known as the on the and for tourists coming in from affected places at least 5 people have been killed in a mass shooting in the usa to milwaukee the attack took place at the headquarters of the most and coors brewing company the indian government has replaced

a judge who was hearing cases related to violence in new delhi high court justice s. money door had ordered police to investigate leaders from prime minister narendra modi's hindu nationalist party the b j p for inciting attacks against muslims at least 27 people have been killed and more than 1200 are being treated in hospitals following violence over controversial citizenship law. thousands of people have gathered in cameroon for the return of the opposition leader and human rights group has accused president maurice canto of ordering the killing of more than 20 people those are the headlines on al-jazeera more news coming up after the stream. the race for the white house has begun. to see 4 states have. to face trial. to have to continue to stick to the 2020 u.s.

interaction. just. josh rushing and you're in the stream panic about the corona virus outbreak is fueling a global rise in anti asian sentiment but is covert 19 really to blame for people's racism tell us what you think in our live chat or on twitter. cross the world chinese people and those of general east asian descent are reporting a spike in verbal and physical attacks let's take a look at some of those incidents in italy which is see the big outbreak in coronavirus cases this week there's been violence abuse and harassment one filipino man was attacked in a market.