in corona virus scientists race to find a vaccine to stop the epidemic plus the environmental damage of drilling for oil in the republic of congo counting the cost on al-jazeera. 0. hello i'm maryam namazie you're watching the news hour live from london coming up the global number of coronavirus cases reaches a major milestone as many as 100000 people could have been infected. virus testing kits are delivered to a cruise ship off the california coast on the mainland billions of dollars and made available to fight the outbreak also coming up this hour in an easy calm in northern syria almost 24 hours after a cease fire came into effect in a province and mysteriously gas attacks triggered deadly reprisals in zambia the

president blames community leaders for inciting the violence. in schools the west indies cricket team a hits form in sri lanka the reigning world champion of have secured a t 20 series 3. we start with the corona virus outbreak in the number of cases worldwide is now believed to have reached 100000 italy has the highest number of deaths outside of china and the continuing spread of the virus across the globe is beginning to test diplomatic relations japan and south korea are engaged in a tit for tat battle over travel restrictions which is angered the world health organization the european union held an emergency meeting to agree solidarity among its 27 nations off to france germany and other countries blocks exports of

protective equipment and concerns over a worldwide recession continue to weigh on financial markets stocks are falling and emergency interest rate cuts have been in force in the united states canada and australia journal now brings us the latest. the global infection total since the start of the corona virus outbreak has by some counts passed the 100000 mark while there are positive signs in the slowing rate of infections in china and south korea elsewhere it's speeding up iran recorded a dramatic rise of a 1000 new cases in the 24 hours since thursday with your 30 said to be preparing travel restrictions between cities to add to widespread school closures and bans on public gatherings the world health organization said rapidly rising numbers are a sign of a more efficient government response any country in the face when epidemic when it looks for cases will find them. and if we call that a bad thing it is it's

a sad thing for the people who have the disease but it's much better that we understand the extent of the problem so we commend the move towards a more aggressive target of surveillance and we hope that that will lead to the kind of control measures that can help push this virus but among the more than 3300 lives lost around the world so far most have been among the elderly whose less efficient immune systems make it hard to fight off the virus. in france where new infections jumped by 200 on friday president emanuel visited a retirement facility. i'm asking all fellow citizens to act responsibly to make this sacrifice i know it is sometimes heartbreaking but we must avoid visiting our elders as much as possible the european union with its open borders is proving a haven for the spread of coronavirus italy remains the worst affected country but germany's catching up across europe a tiny vatican city has reported its 1st case as has serbia and in britain prime

minister boris johnson has announced a 50 $1000000.00 investment into vaccine research and faster testing methods early signs of the virus continue to spring up in africa and the middle east cameroon and senegal join nigeria and south africa in registering their 1st cases this week that is the head of the un's will program sounded a stop warning if coronavirus continues or create panic around the world and there's an economic downturn i've been telling the european leaders and leaders around the world you don't have enough money set aside to address the needs in africa east africa west africa and the middle east right now and if there's a neck an economic downturn on top of the economic downturn that exists now in syria and lebanon it absolutely could be a catastrophe i mean absolute devastation and there was more bad news for the airline industry already operating on tight margins with losses across the industry

from travel restrictions of canceled bookings estimated to top $100000000000.00 the german carrier lufthansa announced plans to scale back up to 50 percent of its services worldwide others may suit follows suit. al-jazeera. meanwhile more deaths have been reported from the virus and iran with a 1000 new cases in the space of 24 hours saying basra is in the capital tac raanan says authorities are considering using force to stop travel between cities the public health ministry spokesman said that the public is not listening to government guidance or government advice not to travel and move around freely he said that the reason that schools and universities and other institutions were shut were so that people would stay at home to limit the spread of the virus during the occupation period but he said people continue to travel and he suggested that the government may start using force to compel people not to move in between cities he

didn't elaborate what that would be but we already know that there are checkpoints military and police checkpoints between major cities on major highways to try and control the flow of people to try and stem the flow of this virus as it transfers across the country major tourist sites are now saying they will not accept travelers from anywhere around the country or obviously from outside the country and this is a time of holiday the persian new year is coming up so this was a very big development friday prayers remain closed and if you walk around on the streets you can see firefighting and health units in the full chemical gear in full protective gear spraying in disinfecting city streets what you see when you look up from those streets that are being disinfected is that in many areas life is going on as normal now there are 2 things really to consider here the country the has been suffering greatly economically and so people feel that despite the threat of

this virus they can't stay home they have to go out to have to participate however they can in the economy or at least what's left of it after sanctions to try and keep earning some money they simply can't stay at home. well corona virus test kits have been delivered to a cruise ship barred from returning to port in san francisco sampling kits were airlifted by helicopter to the grand princess which will be kept off shore until all passengers and crew have been tested for the infection at least 35 people of the more than 3 and a half 1000 on board of reported flu like symptoms the ship has been linked to 2 cases of a virus from an earlier voyage the grand princess had been jus to return to san francisco on wednesday. well the united states is now dealing with more than $200.00 cases of the virus across 18 states president donald trump has signed off on an $8000000000.00 emergency funding bill to support the country's efforts to contain the virus mike hanna has more on this now from washington. congress was relatively quick to pass this bill making the merchants the funding available it

was a bipartisan bill that went through congress both houses within 48 hours or signed by president trump in the course of this morning now it is a significant bill in that it will provide some $3000000000.00 for attempts to find a vaccine to the virus that will provide some $2000000000.00 to the federal agencies that are in the frontline of combating did so certainly it is a very public indication of the depth of concern particularly among members of congress attempting to assure their constituents but once again the questions remain about how many people are being tested now the c.d.c. the center for disease control is simply not providing sufficient statistics at the moment according to many observers this is creates an issue in terms of knowing how many people are actually being tested the trumpet ministrations says it's going to be testing people in the millions but the availability of the test kits themselves

would indicate that this figure is more like the thousands rather than tens or hundreds of thousands that the trumpet ministration says are going to be tested so if more this you can see to amish and out here he's a senior scholar at the john hopkins university center for health security joins us live from pittsburgh now i just want to pick up on the point that mike hanna was making there about the thousands of cruise ship passengers stranded off the coast of san francisco while they go through a process of testing how concerned are you about the the testing capacity or the slow rollout of diagnostic testing. it's been a major problem united states and it's really refrained us from actually being able to understand what spread is going on in this country and we all suspect that there is communities great going on in many states in the fact is that our tests tests are not in the hands of doctors that there are strict testing protocols that have made it very difficult to get a handle on this and i think when we see more cases diagnosed it's going to add to

the panic because our people are going to be surprised by it but it should be no surprise and we really need to get diagnostic testing scaled up in the hands of doctors how do we do that. it's going to take a lot of effort we're going to have to keep increasing the ability of our state health labs to to do testing the commercial labs are starting to be engaged and we're also going to have testing kits that are emit available commercially going through the process of getting approved by the f.d.a. this is going to take some time it's probably going to be weeks before we get the us where we needed to be in terms of testing that we should be able to test for this just the way we can test for influenza. but of course it's not just the u.s. testing capacity is also some concern in italy in iran i mean these are all big countries i guess what all this means is that we just don't have an accurate grasp on the number of cases or where the virus could be spreading to next right and we've seen countries like south korea for example which had to drive through

testing really be able to go out there in test as many people as they possibly could and what happened there was the case fatality ratio felt as the report 6 so i think that gives us really important actionable information knowing how many mild cases are out there it really helps us right size the outbreak response and it really gives the public some kind of estimate on how to think about this in terms of the risks in their lives and what risk this poses remind us of what we know about the mode of transmission because we've now passed the 100000 milestone of cases i mean that is just an estimate just remind us what we know about how the virus is spreading. so this virus efficiently spreads through the respiratory route so that means coughs and sneezes and the droplets that come out of your mouth or your nose that travel for about 6 feet and then fall to the ground so it spreads in a manner similar to influenza you can also be spread from services but that's probably not the main thrust of transmission it's really person to person transmission and it does it efficiently so that 100000 number is

a underestimate because we are not testing mild cases routinely so there are more cases out there than that 100000 that are confirmed and the problem with that is that even i mean gosh you might have mild symptoms or you might not have any symptoms but you're still passing it on right people that are more symptomatic are more contagious those with mild symptoms there's some debate whether how contagious they are in those with no symptoms at all there's a lot of debate over whether or not they're very contagious maybe they are contagious towards the end of their incubation period just before symptoms appear but that's still not what's the thrust of this outbreak transmission it's really the symptomatic people who are copping into these ng the household contacts of cases that we're seeing this transmission occur and so it's that you have to be close to someone who is coughing and sneezing but of course if someone then coughs on themselves or on their hands and touches something then it can be passed that way as well how do we know we have information about how long the virus lives on

surfaces so you can look at lab studies and you may see that that the virus is present for several days but remember that those are lab studies that have certain control environments with certain knew the radiation exposure certain humidity certain temperature which may not reflect that what goes on in normal life so i would say from hours to maybe a day or so you will find this virus viable on a surface but it's not necessarily going to be the main way that people are getting this but it is important to wash your hands a lot touch your face last and to clean surfaces that are common touch surfaces handrails door knobs desks. right so containment doesn't appear to be working what then is the alternative is this something that people just have to get used to it will it will become endemic there will be millions of infections and it'll be as as common as the flu is that the scenario that's likely that what we're going to subpoena that this is going to be a virus that becomes seasonal that it becomes something that we're going to have to

cope with until there is. to be sort of a new normal just like 2901 n one influenza that virus became one of our seasonal flu viruses so containment was never really possible for a virus of this tide and you really need to come to the point where we think about mitigating this working on getting our hospitals repaired increasing diagnostic testing back some develop an anti-viral are all. those approaches that we need to do moving forward as the containment is not going to be feasible it's going to eat up a lot of our precious resources thank you for your analysis on this appreciate it amicia dahlia from the john hopkins university center for health security there thank you of course there's been a financial impact from all of this in the markets not least on crude oil prices they have plunged more than 5 percent as talks over a cut in production due to the current virus outbreak of ended without any agreement russia is refusing to support the cup land by the oil cartel opec arguing

that it's too early to predict the impact of the outbreak on a global energy demand but members say action is needed as measures to stop the virus have dampened global economic activity and oil demand russia is not a member of the group but it has allied with opec for some 4 years now to help prop up oil prices. you're watching the news hour live from london much more still ahead dozens killed after shots are fired up a memorial service in afghanistan's capital kabul also we'll tell you about the farmers who say their livelihood is under threat from one of the largest down projects in the world and then later on in sports and pick test of any missing some key participants santa will have that story and more. the kremlin says russia's president vladimir putin has assured the syrian president bashar last that the ceasefire deal with turkey will stabilize the situation in

syria ziggler province a fragile call appears to be holding in the last rebel held province of almost 24 hours after it came into effect in russia declared the pause in fighting off the negotiations in moscow the 2 governments are supporting opposing sides in the conflict the number of casualties have been escalating in recent weeks have been some reports of sporadic fighting in southern parts of the province but that but no major clashes well despite many syrians say that they think it's unlikely the ceasefire will last. you know it's almost supposed to believe there's a truce if i'm listening to the sound of jets and call me when there's no real truce no one moderate but then what i'm not a too hopeful regarding the agreement i'm not expecting anything from it those people don't respect any commitments. regarding the agreement we don't feel it's all reassured we didn't meet our aspirations and desires we're going to hold because there have been many agreements that the regime hasn't respected and it won't respect this one either so in terms of the territory at stake in this

ceasefire agreement rival forces in syria been fighting for control of the key m. 4 and m. 5 highways for several months the town of sarky was at the center of this fighting because whoever controls it has access to both most always and gains crucial military and economic advantages from that the m. 4 m. 5 link aleppo with the capital damascus in the south and then latakia in the west the red areas the map of our car under the control of the government those in green are opposition territory and this is the joint security corridor that turkey and russia have agreed to establish either side of the m 4 to prevent the syrian army from moving north confrontations between rebels and government troops will also be prevented by that and also ensures the protection of turkish forces so that's a key part of the agreement actually bar has been monitoring develops from the turkish city of un taqiyya and says some opposition groups are not happy with the terms of the agreement. the rebels were hoping that. with the backing of turkey

they would be able to regain those areas. as a norm and morlock and the strategic city of set up that didn't happen in this explains their frustration over the terms of the agreement signed between turkey and russia but look it says in general this is this was a good agreement because it will protect the borders it will protect the turkish army operating in the it will pave the way for the resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since the start of the syrian government offensive in december and it will also pave the way for more cooperation with the joint patrols between the russians and the turks in the in 2 weeks from now on both sides of the highway in 4 but then we have to wait and see to what to what level can the turks and the russians bring their cooperation as far as live is concerned that would be indicative of whether this is fire will continue to hold

or will collapse of the 2 parties have signed is if the bass of those deals collapse with the syrian army decided it was about time to move forward to retake the strategic city of because it is the rebels the last major stronghold in syria. well on the diplomatic front the u.s. has blocked a u.n. security council statement supporting the cease fire an edge led russia had urged the 15 member council to endorse the trees but the u.s. called the move premature christianson amy has more on this from the u.n. . russia share details of the ceasefire agreement with security council members behind closed doors but given the history of this conflict no one was ready to celebrate it just yet russia's ambassador was hoping to get a statement formally welcoming the deal but past agreements to end the conflict as have fallen through. but.

the. main thing the commitments to the political but there is not that still does not exempt for being good measure to contact the u.s. secretary of state mike pale was at the united nations but had nothing to say when asked about the deal we're told by diplomats that the united states opposed the statement as premature other countries raised objections as well here's the united kingdom's ambassador who said it was a helpful development but there are a lot of questions about how it will work in practice who will monitor it what is happening in west of aleppo and critically has syrian government formally signed up and will the syrian government be following the provisions of the cease fire we're also told that russia was not willing to negotiate on the wording of the statement which made no mention of the dire humanitarian situation facing about a 1000000 civilians in the area the security council will continue to monitor the

situation. well refugees and migrants at the border between turkey and greece have been caught between volleys of tear gas as riot police from both sides try to keep them away tens of thousands of people have been trying to cross into greece since last week when turkey declared its borders with the e.u. open greece as those trying to enter a doing so illegally and police have been using tear gas and water cannon to push them back a 1000 turkish police officers have also been deployed to try and stop the migrants and refugees from advancing. or the e.u. stop diplomats criticize turkey's actions as a political game and urge the migrants and refugees not to be misled. don't go to the border. bullish not over mission one tells you i jus can't go because of all those old when you can go freely to reroof to greece or to cyprus that's not a void situation in which you could be in danger avoid discoloration of the crisis

avoid moving to a closed door but please don't tell people that they can go because it's not true. well that you're going to aim is at a makeshift camp in adair ne on turkey's border with greece and has been speaking to people there about their experiences. we're at the a during a bus station it's one of the places where refugees and migrants have been congregating as they try to determine what to do next you can see people have managed to set up tents they're burrowed in blankets trying to stay warm there are camp fires here it's been a week since turkey opened its borders and it's been a tough week for the people we've been speaking to they have said they've been cold hungry we've spoken to many people who managed to make it across the border into greece only to be deported back to turkey and they have shared stories of cruelty people such as the man we're about to tell you about says that the greek police

have mistreated them we spoke to an iranian amputee who says when he crossed over the border into greece the greek police fired warning shots into the air he was a unable to run his friends did police found him he says they beat him severely and threaten to confiscate his prosthetic leg now the turkish government has deployed $1000.00 members of its special police forces to the river region border with greece the turkish government says this is an attempt to prevent the greek government from pushing back migrants into turkey and turkey says it's also a way to try to minimize what it describes as the poor treatment of vulnerable people here and a possible violation of international law all in all the new spanish coast guards have rescued dozens of refugees and migrants from the atlantic ocean 46 men and 2 children were rescued from flimsy it's

a mile off the coast of gran canaria flying off the north african coast the canary islands have seen a shop rise in the now and then in the arrival of migrants as patrols in the mediterranean tighten access to the country's un estimates 20000 people have died trying to cross to europe from north africa since 2014. news from afghanistan today the afghan media saying i still was behind an attack in the capital kabul that killed at least 30 people the head of the country's peace council was giving a speech when shots were fired senior politician abdullah abdullah was there but he escaped unhurt it's the 1st major attack since the taliban signed a deal with the united states to reduce violence and begin the withdrawal of u.s. troops on the abdel-hamid has more from combo this was a very long standoff between the afghan security forces and attackers that were holed up in a nearby building which was under construction that's actually where they base themselves to launch the attack on this memorial service but you know the attack

started at $1120.00 kabul time and it was over about 5 pm so that shows you how long it lasted you had to bring in afghan security forces you had to bring in foreign forces it was quite a situation and it happened south of kabul in an area this predominantly. which is a shia minority living here in afghanistan which has come under attack a lot of times over the past years. oh after a period of relative calm anti-government protesters have returned to the streets of chile this week with mounting anger over rising inequality demonstrators say presence of yera has done little to address that demands for social reform well last america is a lucy in human joins us live now from santiago and it certainly does look like a lively crowd behind you see what's brought the people back onto the streets now.

absolutely there are several 1000 free for about i can't really count because it's up it just goes on and on but they are gathering here for the 1st friday of march why it is significant because march it's the main protest state in the country people are getting on for it and they could come in large a number of them and i mean i'm sorry let me get this guy out of the way and and where they are here to show the government to send a message that marches back to students 5 people back at work from that summer holidays here in chile and they are not going to ease up they're going to remain on the streets to demand the structural reforms that began in this i mean uprising if you like in this country on the 18th of october and it wasn't really that it had died down somewhat but let's remind our viewers that over the last few weeks for example there have been vandals out on the streets looting burning buses other more

and i think if you like protesters have been putting up barricades and setting fire to some buildings and clashes with police i think in us we know that we have seen a lot of riot police around this area and they have been using tear gas and the streets that are against it is that right now these people are easily waiting for a group that became famous during the struggle against the finnish a dictatorship. to say the building just father here what. kind of a. again they are calling for an aid for low salary. or rather a request for there to be free and quality education health care the same things i've been asking for for a long time but they're going to send the message that there can't. be activism it's going to continue that they haven't become higher even though it's

been now 5 months. thank you very much our latin america is have you seen humans are in a way a protest and once again raising thousands of people on the streets of santiago this point. as well still ahead for you on the program we're looking at why dozens of displaced rango are in myanmar and now facing criminal charges and prison sentences also record record numbers of women in world politics but could the revolution be slowing down and then later in sport england aim to find the perfect balance out of that latest 6 nations rugby match. hello and welcome to international weather forecast let's start in europe we've got some mild conditions across eastern areas still moscow up at 12 degrees average

this time of year should be about one i care also several degrees above average may want it across more western areas still looking brown southall another frontal system pushing in towards u.k. bringing some heavy rain to parts of southern ireland meanwhile fine conditions largely across much of spain the wind having died down as well been very windy here in places over the last few days as a move of all cost through into sunday and see that rain sweeping on through the u.k. into the channel coastline there france. scenarios seeing some fine weather conditions vienna there sunshine and 9 rome should be generally fine with a mix of 15 but it still remains on subtle around some of these balkan states with the risk indeed in places snow let's move into north and central parts of africa so iran the gulf of guinea region lots of showers coming through over the next few days a 6th and all the way from lagos nigeria to freetown in sierra leone but also notice the winds pretty much cooler conditions along the coast of north africa we've seen

a big drop in temperatures for tonight for tripoli and that is going to extend in towards benghazi as we head through sunday with highs of just 19. march on al-jazeera after there also going on the nation witness brings a new film this time from africa for international women's day as yemen's more enters its 5th year al-jazeera looks at the humanitarian crisis caused by the saudi led invasion studio b. unscripted brings a fresh approach to discussing contentious issues and finding common solutions. everything you need to know about the karuna virus outbreak al-jazeera brings you the daily updates from around the mountain. the listening posts dissect the world's media how they operate and the way they. cover story. march on al-jazeera.

to al-jazeera we talk about 2 of the biggest problems facing and they are the endemic corruption. we listen so if you replace china's enemy a little more with a not really than yours we meet with global news makers and tweak about the stories that matter just 0. welcome back you're watching the news hour live from london a look at the headlines number of coronavirus cases worldwide is believed to have reached 100000 with italy now having the 2nd highest number of deaths. crude oil prices of plunged more than 5 percent as talks between opec and russia over a cut in production due to the outbreak has ended without any agreement. and

a fragile cease fire in syria's last rebel held province of it live appears to be holding most 24 hours after it came into effect. or more now on the current a virus outbreak at least 16 people have tested positive for the virus in palestine a state of emergency was declared in the occupied west bank on thursday now the israeli army has sealed off the city of bethlehem to try to contain the outbreak but abram has more. bethlehem had its best tourist season on record last year now all reservations are being canceled. many people believe the city to be where jesus was born and it draws tourists from around the world but just weeks before easter several person in workers at the hotel have tested positive for the corona virus and the israeli military has shot bethlehem off stopping people coming in or out al-jazeera reach some of those stuck inside can you tell us a bit more about the situation in bethlehem where you want to go and asked. not to

be on the culture. because you know if you give a. small study over what might. go out. palestine's mean to us the traction is the church of the nativity believed by many to be the birthplace of jesus. it's also been closed off by the palestinian tourism ministry. of defense said. today that it was sterilized inclusive that when people come back after 14 days everything will be safe we're taking precautions for the health of the people so of course this shouldn't be any panic the main reason we're doing this is because the bar spreads so we need to protect people and keep them safe the palestinian authority has also shut down the occupied west bank for a month in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus schools and public spaces

of also been closed conferences and other public events counselled and people's movements between city limited to only those that are strictly necessary in the city of jericho people protested against the government decision to treat all infected patients in a center there they blocked roads and called on the government to keep people who are ill where they already are this void officials telling them just because some people are stocking up on food water and cleaning supplies out of fear that this shutdown will go on for some time some say they're starting to panic the survey well just the occupied west bank. thousands of people suspected of having the virus have been in quarantine meanwhile both imposed and voluntary health officials are hoping isolation to help stop the spread of the disease is many people wait out the current area they are sharing the experience of doing so online. explains.

it's a waiting game carl goldman has been in corn teen at a hospital in the u.s. since leaving the diamond princess cruise ship in japan he has documented his journey on his blog his most popular post was when he announced that he had tested positive for the corona virus it's been viewed more than $42000.00 times worse sometimes worse the street here and then here for only about 8 hours later if you're fever after that it was strange feeling well for church i think it's definitely do you hide they're going to call and explore this they were pumping me up with trying to i've been through every color of the rainbow catering to change myself hydrated today his doctor handed him yet another post it note the plus sign tells him he tested positive for corona again it's been more than 30 days carl's wife was recently released from corn teen even though she tested negative he says

she was threatened when she returned home the spread of corona virus has also led to racist attacks earlier this week jonathan mock a student from singapore was being in london on facebook he said he remembered them yelling something about the coronavirus before punching him in the face. another headline tells the story of a chinese woman attacked in the netherlands. in vietnam the government is taking a social approach to tackling the virus. this video went viral and has been turned into a popular dance on the social platform tick tocks. the world health organization lists hand-washing as the number one way to stop the respiratory illness from spreading quarantine is another. look at the government is telling people basically not to go anywhere actually you know my yeah i mean we're basically sort of locked in our house i mean my you know my job is bend i'm

a college professor i'm not teaching right now they just they just cancel class the next 2 weeks my kids are in kindergarten that's also been canceled so we're basically just stuck in the house for those in corn teen the psychological impact can take a toll. mentally and emotionally draining. to them not to walk into getting saying and trying not to get lusting over you know it's and so it's ok to be ok. and it's been a lot of. 5 days and you know it's not possible to stay and play as far. as for karl he'll have to stay in quarantine until he recovers and gets a note from his doctor that clears him to go home harding al-jazeera. a policeman has been killed in tunisia when 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the united states embassy in the capital tunis witnesses said the attackers triggered

the explosion as they approached the embassy's main gate on a motorbike 6 people were also injured including 5 police officers but no claims of responsibility behind this last summer i still said it was behind a series of blasts that struck tunis over the course of a week including one near the french embassy that killed a policeman. now zambian president i go along who has confirmed that more than 50 people have been killed in a recent spate of reprisal attacks that began in december in an address to the parliament he blamed some community and church leaders for inciting the killings reprisals following a series of attacks in which gangs use poisonous gas to target their victims leaving the monk conscious for me to miller is in johannesburg and says that many people believe these attacks a connected to ritual killings. it really is a strange event that has really caused the police to be concerned in that it seems as if they are gangs going around parts of zambia and these attacks have spread

using a poisonous gas or some sort of chemical gas which police haven't identified but using that gas in public places schools and the homes to cause people to lose consciousness become dizzy and while police haven't established a clear motive speculation in zambia is that these attacks appear to be connected to what people are saying are ritual killings where the reason these gangs are attacking these public spaces and attacking people is because they want to mobilize them perhaps to attack them for their body parts for ritual killings now the police have said they are investigating the army is also being deployed to certain areas in zambia to ensure that they're kept safe and there aren't any further attacks but what's happened is that people they have taken matters into their own hands and have been a number of violent mob just as attacks against people suspected to be responsible

for these chemical gas attacks almost a quarter of all members of parliament worldwide and now women according to the latest figures published by the international parliamentary union this is the highest figure since records began but they do warn that the pace of change is slowing in 2019 women accounted for 24.9 percent of parliamentarians across the world including 21 national leaders that's up from 11.3 percent 25 years ago 4 nations have 50 percent or more women in parliament cuba bolivia and the united arab emirates while pacific nations come out worst with an average of under 20 percent and no women parliamentarians at all in micronesia papa new guinea and vanuatu. as his acting director the united nations development programs genda team joins us now from new york via skype so this is the highest figure since records began in terms of the numbers of parliamentarians worldwide that a women but you must be disappointed that the pace of change is slowing. definitely

what we know more and we recently launched a report indicating that in these areas where women access to basic needs like education like montana much as we do we have highest t.v. programs about the new areas where well we can hire power and power and hire or to eat provide more benefits are great dismiss taters too we may lack in economics or politics that big obvious beacon or. 100 tool reach the question of women parliamentarians not the same as female heads of state or female world leaders there has been women leaders nonetheless in many countries around the world though not in the united states generally speaking do we still have a problem with women in power. let me give you one number and it's very

interesting we men amanda we molt we want to elections and we won't have this end right but we only have 10 female heads of the government so why are we doubled since 1985 number of women in platinum and you still not a now at the top of the pyramid if you want to call it like that is when the. program is harder definitely one of the circumstances or the context that gen you generally see when women manage to break through that glass ceiling. can you beat me just tell me about the sort of circumstances 6 that we've seen work in all the examples that we've seen in mileage to progress to break through the glass ceiling to actually go from a senior position in politics to taking the reins of government. work we

know you used for septa in that what did work and i have quarter loans that actually might be mesures on the one hand. you seen in countries that aren't reaching pari 2 or approaching parity in parliament even union local levels and ease because they have got a little bases and this is some correlation that we can clearly see i give you an example in tunisia john democracy they have one of the most progress we punished on partly to loans and they have to their 48 percent of women in moneys peabody duties in local councils while the local level is by kyra one of their harder to to reach thank you very much. as acting director the united nations development programs gender. thank you now to me and mine dozens of rango including children have been charged with not possessing identity documents they fled

a recent upsurge in violence in iraq and state where the muslim group is the majority of the population so as louis has more now from hill a goat just outside the capital young gone where their cases will be heard. in the 1st 2 months of this year alone more than $200.00 have been arrested for not having identification documents and for traveling illegally around 70 of those cases will be heard in they grew on the outskirts of yang gone 12 brought to court on friday the myanmar government does not consider the rohingya as citizens even though many of them have lived in this country for generations and they face increasing government restrictions keep claiming like ok bacon trouble freely there's no restriction are all but in reality in the government produces the real meat and it is extremely restricted rights advocate unlikely any of the rango will

be acquitted and they could face the sentence of up to 2 years in prison. so that's why we escaped they were hanged mainly muslim minority who live in rakhine and it was in the northern part of the state where the myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown in 2017 driving nearly 3 quarters of a 1000000 into bangladesh the un has accused it of carrying out the campaign with genocidal intent the myanmar government denies and says it was a do the job summit response to attacks carried out by working right. now the situation that is even worse off the fighting between the myanmar military and the our economy intensified starting with january last year they are not on the very top you say they're fighting for more autonomy on behalf of the rakhine and not the ethnic minority mainly buddhists who make up the majority in rakhine state the rohingya who already live under apartheid like conditions without access to public

health care education being caught in the crossfire and many are desperate to escape. rights workers fear that many will turn to human traffickers now over the years there have been many attempts by groups of running get to leave by boat on dangerous journey didn't climb to brussels boats have capsized people have drowned somehow taken on overland routes through thailand and into malaysia that have been instances where they were kept in jungle camps along the border until their friends or relatives could pay a ransom many died of disease and starvation now even when they managed to escape myanmar rights groups say many are at risk of exploitation some sold into the sex trade or as indentured neighborhoods for the writing god there is no easy the way they can choose to stay and face persecution or the threat of more violence or they can try to escape but risking their lives. so that only news out.

people are dying every every minute every day the 1st woman to run a hospital in war told syria tells us why she has little hope the situation and live will improve. and then in sport we'll hear from the table tennis player hoping coronavirus doesn't stop us from making and then make history.

you're the iraqi and. the 1st syrian woman to run a hospital in the country is urging the international community to stop the fighting in at least province doctor a money by law worked in the besieged enclave of eastern ghouta for 3 years until

she and her staff were forced to evacuate how work is now the subject of an oscar nominated documentary undocks mani is touring europe to raise awareness about what's happening in northwest syria that reports. the how or when documentary the cave follows pediatrician dr armani nor her she runs an underground hospital in eastern guta before the enclave fell to the syrian regime into an 80. dedicated exhausted and at times terrified staff battle to save lives as russian backed syrian forces relentlessly area i was after it all for us well after the bomb being in and we were in a hospital it's our gift of bonding with some laughs we held and that's make us inquirers us to continue but a lot of the children we couldn't help them

a lot of them died because of a lot of them died in the chemical that at the time in 28 the head of the united nations called eastern ghouta under the bombing hell on earth i think it was like that it was very dangerous way is the securing this everywhere and it's visually in 20 a team before we. leave in the last month they started to bomb every 2nd they did install their own doctor money also faced another challenge she battled prejudice for men believed a woman should be in charge of running a hospital and. how did that feel there you are saving lives and then you have men say a woman's place is in the home it's really frustrating it's make me very angry but i insist to stay and to insist to sex it also because i will a brawl there that women can do maybe like the men already better than them in. the

cave was nominated for an oscar through the spotlight on dr armani she's using it to campaign for an end to the humanitarian crisis in the northwestern syrian province of idlib intensified bombing at the area by syrian and russian. forces in recent weeks has killed hundreds of people and left millions in desperate need only not optimistic and i think a lot of children are not optimistic we need international community to pressure on them to stop killing people and you know that the situation now in its catastrophe situation people are dying every every minute every day off to paris dr armani will visit other european capitals to urge governments and people not to ignore the millions of syrian civilians particularly children trapped in what seems like an endless war. al-jazeera. time for the sports news now santa is in doha. thank you very much maria my reigning

t 20 world champions the west indies that have hit form in sri lanka a powerful batting display by andrew russell helped his country to a 2 nil a series victory both teams are building up to this year's a walk up in australia and a richardson reports. this match brought together the last 2 t 20 world champions from the start it was the west indies dominating against hosts sri lanka trying to win the world title in 2014 but much experience has left their team since then while west indies all rounded wine bravo is a veteran of 2 world cup winning campaigns i could partnership between to sarra pereira and dawson shane aka push the home team towards respectability i. try to finish top 1556 i the west indies batting line up is full of power brendan king got their

reply moving was. before andre russell stepped up to the plate he smashed an unbeaten foresee from just 14 balls. his effort included 6 sixes the 2 the windies winning by 7 wickets with 3 overs to spare to also security signal series victory i much bigger prize is on offer at the world cup in australia i stopped in outside and the richardson which is. one of the n.f.l.'s most promising young players has been tarsa with the criminal possession of a weapon when in williams that was arrested the as he was about to board a flight to at the new york airport he 22 year old will appear in court later this month police say the new york jets player didn't have the correct permit for a pistol that was in his carry on bag. the u.s.a.'s women's that world

cup winning team are looking good ahead of their bid for limpid gold they beat england in the she believes cup in florida this was the 1st time the 2 sides had met since last year's world cup semifinals christian press and collier lloyd scored in the 2nd home to give the u.s. a 2 nil victory the win extends that team u.s.a.'s unbeaten run to 29 games. i mean to be honest everything this year is a preparation for the olympics so. i mean for me personally obviously it's another opportunity to keep building this year i'm on a little bit slower bill than everybody else being much older than everybody else and having come a long way off last year but i felt like. i had a good performance all the way through qualifiers it is preparing for a weekend of top level football matches without spectators to jus to coronavirus there will still be fans at english premier league fixtures

a but there won't be any pre-game handshakes between the place. we trust the things they tell us so that's what we do know how to take so no one checks the muskets of the most coaches and if there are some from our club some additional things to do these people sit together the whole week and think about what they can do to decrease the probability to get infected. the 6 nations championship has already felt the impact of course on a virus 2 matches that have been postponed including saturday's fixture between arland and italy in the inverses wells is going ahead to england's 2nd in the table behind france all wells off 4th having lost 2 of 3 matches. it's going to be hugely contestable it's going to be highly chaotic and it's going to be physical and it's something that we look forward to and and we and we cherish and put on top

of that we're playing at home and it's important for us to to play well in front of our fans and i think and we're also the high because around the fixture in a sometimes it's hard to. get away from the echoes of what's sad and what should be and how you should do it but also don't forget we know a lot about each other each other as well you know what if you guys play in england in pick or going ises insists the idea of counseling at this year's games that due to cornell virus hasn't been discussed and one veteran athlete is hoping tokyo can deliver on that promise at 57 and is set to become the oldest table tennis player over to compete to aston a lympics originally from shanghai moved to luxembourg 3 decades ago and now represents the european country. nobody no one can go on what's going to happen i hope not i hope everything goes smooth the worst for me may be postponed

if i can do only unpick i think it's called for everybody and i'll know where you are difficult time i hope everybody in the stands. space gave possibility. but all was not entirely normal at the latest test event in tokyo. and her fine work. in progress but. rather than elite athletes take him caught the lympics sports climbing venue was instead tested alibi games officials no fans were in attendance either officially the impacts are still on track to saw in july the 24th. and that's all for mandy about to marry him and her and thanks very much donna that wraps up the news hour i will see you in a couple of minutes with a full ballistic news round up the top stories for sure.

al jazeera well charts remarkable refugee journeys from the treacherous path of sudanese singer emmanuel jal to climb the scale us no child soldiers among the 16 people that music is the place where you become my child this is where i can get to the london designer from sierra leone creating play this is the one thing that i know that god has gifted me with a hard drive from home music and fashion on al-jazeera when the news breaks the word up or was altered with the ins of getting more police on the presentation and

economic development when people need to be heard but leadership world where the potential for verifiable bar of weeks before the public would pose a danger al-jazeera has teams on the ground the syrian army says determined to defeat the rebels and continues advanced was this is a good day to bring you more award winning documentaries and life means. i was raised in france. these are my grandparents. these are my parents and this is mean. by them both isis and the us of. the 2nd of a 2 part epic tale of a remarkable simon. the father the son and the jihad cartoon on al-jazeera. holding the powerful to

account as we examine the us his role in the world on al-jazeera. the global number of corona virus cases reaches a major milestone as many as 100000 people could have been infected virus testing kits are delivered to a cruise ship off the california coast on the mainland billions of dollars and made available to fight the outbreak. hello i maryam namazie are watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program and an easy calm in northern syria 24 hours after a cease fire came into effect in a province. and mysterious gas attacks.