sponsible. field and for me the the polls good because a renowned for their courage on the far. east finds out what it takes to join the elite brigade. on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. watching the news hour live from coming up in the next 60 minutes escaping killing and great fighting in central african republic forces tens of thousands to flee to neighboring countries we have an exclusive report from a remote region in congo. they're exposed to. malaria and

everybody here says that there's hardly any food to eat or clean water to drink. mass testing and quarantine centers in hong kong and china as infection sought beijing is urging people to scale back on travel ahead of the lunar new year holiday. taiwan says multiple chinese military planes have flowed into its defense and for a 2nd day as the u.s. says its commitment to the island is rock solid. and repatriating indonesia is still in the cultural heritage financial problems and 19 affect plans to bring back artifacts from the netherlands. and the biggest star in mixed martial arts conor mcgregor suffers a shock to see that you have see an. american fighter dustin. the irishman with a. second round the biggest winner. for.

the u.n. refugee agency says more than 100000 people have now fled the recent violence in central african republic to neighboring countries foreign forces supporting the government of the c.a.r. have been battling with a coalition of armed groups since last month's most of the refugees have been forced to find shelter in remote border regions of democratic republic of congo al-jazeera is melcombe web got exclusive access to one area where refugees say there's hardly any food to eat or clean water to drink. killing looting and rape by fighters from armed groups in the central african republic sent tens of thousands of villages on the run many of them of crossed the river. dugout canoes on the other side is a relative safety in villages in the democratic republic of congo only accessible by boat we went to look for them with the un refugee agency. and we

found them. in their thousands sheltering in villages along the river bank. our arrival drew a crowd people here say they've been waiting for help since they arrived here last week they lined up hoping we brought it. and more keep coming. others go back to retrieve possessions from their homes or crops from their farms. that's what to leave home or tried. and she came back with nothing to see. the rebels attacked our village last week we had a lot of gunfire they destroyed everything they raped and they kidnapped some of them we didn't see exactly what happened because we have to run. violence escalated since elections last month which political opposition says were rigged the armed groups say the government must go. about 2 thirds of the country including most of

its gold and diamond mines the armed groups now control the villages that we can see just over there on the other side of the river people who live on this side say they can hear gunfire when they're fighting this is one of the homes of one of the usual residents of the village of song biloela it's basic the villages being completely overrun its population is fallen by about 20 times of the new arrivals those lucky enough to have a mosquito net sleeping on the way out in the open many others have just built basic structures made of branches and leaves they're exposed to. malaria and everybody here says there's hardly any food to eat or clean water to drink. people told us everything whatever edible plants they can find in the bush. the local office of the u.n. refugee agency says it doesn't have funds for the new arrivals are supposed to treat them with dignity and so let me. and i'm going up on the world i mean.

i want to see their promises but. it's not safe to go home but without help they can't relocate and settle here in congo they're wondering how long they'll be stuck here. after a few hours we had to leave people here desperately hoping somebody will soon come back and help malcolm webb. song democratic republic of congo. the number of people from central african republic seeking safety in neighboring countries has soared since december's disputed election already 100000 people are displaced within their own country and another 100000 have been forced to seek shelter elsewhere and that number is expected to rise almost 5000 people travel to cameroon and an equal number have gone to chad 400 people travel to the republic of congo but the vast majority that's 90000 people have crossed the democratic

republic of congo where they're facing an uncertain future liz is a country representative for u.n.h.c.r. in the d.r. see she says the refugees are in a vulnerable position. that and more than a close to 90000 now is to mitigate the authorities we can classify as quite desperate because one the physical location in which this refugees have a right is very vast they are in 3 provinces and they are basically very very difficult to reach secondly didn't come emotionally depleted some of them this is not the 1st time they're crossing into the d.r. see those who even left let last year have found themselves again been to again been displaced so emotionally in a very very hard position also in terms of their. peculiar

needs food water sanitation slippin and. science rippin and at the moon because we have we're still relook at in assistance from kinshasa and from but only to the dislocation and whether find themselves in 3 provinces and the host community that normally would assist them were the 1st responders that themselves and buried in a precarious situation and when that's it where. mass testing is underway in hong kong for thousands of people in neighborhoods sealed off due to a corona virus outbreak the city is struggling to contain an upsurge in cases over recent weeks there is similar concern in mainland china as the country is seeing its biggest wave of infections there since march sarah clarke reports from hong kong. health authorities have sealed off hong kong's densely packed district of

jordan after a surge in infections those living in around $150.00 buildings had been forbidden to leave their homes in a 48 hour mandatory lockdown the sewage systems in several blocks have also been contaminated with high concentrations of the virus found in movie samples this part of callan is home to many elderly and poor residents living in small and subdivided flats the district accounts for half of the new transmissions recorded i've the last week are actually. we should have a complete. all. pro trial goes all 4 of fortnight what of all this today mandatory lockdown in hong kong is the 1st but it's not expected to be the last but the chinese new year holiday just weeks away the government is tightening restrictions to avoid another spike in tysons as families gather for the biggest annual celebration chinese new year is the most

important family holiday large celebrations have been impacted by surging cases on the mainland mad recovered tests are ongoing in chanche and city in the north of china residents in who by province surrounding beijing as well as those living in julian and helen jang province have been forced into another lockdown temporary crying team facilities are being built to cope with the highest number of infections since march last year. millions of people in mainland china would normally travel across the country to see their families over this holiday break for a 2nd year in a row chinese new year plans are under threat with the government advising its citizens to stay home sarah clarke al-jazeera hong kong. israel is expected to suspend air travel for 2 weeks to prevent the new covert 19 varian from crossing its borders under the proposals that are being considered by the government only international air passengers with special permits would be allowed to leave or enter the country israel started to see

a promising drop in the number of cases it's locked and set to expire at the end of this month sorry force it is our correspondent joining us live here on the news from west jerusalem harry hi there why is this move necessary. well it stems from a conversation that benjamin of. late on saturday night with city house officials and ministers judging the potential danger to the vaccine rollout which of course here in israel has been the fastest in the world if too many new strains are allowed to get in and start to spread among the population already they say that among the new cases some 30 to 40 percent of those appear to be the u.k. identified variant and with other strains that could be more resistant to tasha lee the vaccine they want to try to ensure that doesn't happen there is i think as well some political calculation here too it's just on saturday that finally there was

the enforcement of a requirement for people to have a negative coronavirus test 72 hours within 72 hours of flying in to israel that's something that the government has been criticized over not imposing long before now and there have been country explanations as to why that hasn't happened so getting tougher at the border potentially has some political benefit for benjamin netanyahu as well as at the same time a lot of the new infections coming in and i don't mean least are happening in the ultra-orthodox community where the lockdown hasn't been nearly as well observed to the extent it is being observed across the country and indeed we've seen some clashes in 3 cities on sunday between natural docs protesters and police trying to enforce the law this is another way to potentially try and stop infections getting into that community to the same extent without the politically risky thing. really cracking down on a community whose political leaders he needs his coalition and what's the latest on

the infection right. the infection rate is as of yesterday saturday when there are fewer tests on the jewish sabbath than injuring the rest of the week it's still hovering around 8 percent that is down from 9 even 10 percent that it was to the beginning of last week the real numbers are down as well from over 10000 new cases a day to just 2 and a half hours and on saturday but that is as i say that's not really representative concern a few tests are done on saturday that the key thing is that the rate is down death rates as well appear to be going down pretty significantly vaccine is being rolled out now to 2 and a half 1000000 of israel's $9000000.00 population so pushing under 30 percent of those nearly a 1000000 of those that had their 2nd doses on the pfizer vaccine and one report that came out from one of the leading health providers here on saturday suggested that after that 2nd dose just 2 days after that 2nd those we're seeing

a 60 percent reduction in cases so there are encouraging signs coming from the vaccine program and the government is very keen to make sure that that's not threatened by too much new type of virus new variants mutations getting into the book nation thanks a lot harry force of the reporting live for the news from west jerusalem. taiwan says several chinese military aircraft event as it says space for a 2nd day the island's defense ministry has reported that a total of 15 chinese aircraft including 12 fighter jets and to the southwestern corner of its defense identification zone and it's the 2nd day in a road chinese warplanes conducted what taipei is describing as an incursion into its airspace the u.s. state department has called on china to stop exerting what it calls military diplomatic and economic pressure on taiwan it comes as a u.s. aircraft carrier group present at the south china sea on a mission to promote what the u.s. military called freedom of the seas. 11 miners have been rescued in china's

northeast after being trapped underground for 2 weeks they were among 22 people caught in a blast in a gold mine in the province of shan dong at least one miner is known to have died or the condition of the others is unknown nor a burden many reports. blindfolded after 2 weeks in the dark but no doubt grateful to be alive this is the moment a gold miner was pulled up in a basket after being trapped hundreds of meters below ground he's part of the 5th group to be rescued in east china shandong province 7 miners were able to walk to the ambulances others were clearly exhausted from the ordeal rescue teams say they had pulled up the people in better condition 1st. the critical case comes before the light one which is the principle of mine accident rescue so the severe ones have been pulled up 1st and the following are in better physical and psychological conditions but the hard work isn't over with more still trapped. and animation

shows what happened at last deposited massive amounts of rubble in the shaft then began the complex process of rescuing the men a handwritten note from the miners was hoisted above ground using a metal cable brads stop trying to reach us rescuers lower down food and medical supplies are kind of the rescuers checked the miners to see if they had any injuries and covered their eyes for protection generally speaking the rescue operation proceeded faster than expected after lifting all the trapped miners discovered will go on with the search for the other missing miners so the safety of mine is in china has improved in the past few years following a government campaign that's after hitting a peak of $5000.00 deaths in 2003 but what went wrong in this mine is yet to be determined nor about a manly al-jazeera. lots more ground still to cover for you here on the news hour

including these stories while low income workers in the u.k. say they don't have enough financial support to self isolate all the countries and locked up. well for change in tunisia demonstrators say they're fed up with broken promises eruption of poverty and they want the government out. and in sports 3 of the biggest superstars in the n.b.a. come together to hold off the miami heat action from the n.b.a. coming up later on this. bipartisan group of u.s. politicians will be discussing president biden's $1.00 trillion dollars stimulus bill it aims at providing a lifeline to the american economy and whether the bill can be approved by congress is seen as an early test for mr biden's hopes for bipartisan behavior across the

political divide direct relief accounts for about one trillion of the bill among the key points is another round of direct payments this time 1400 dollars for $400000000000.00 will go towards bolstering the covert $1000.00 response that includes spending for national vaccination program expanding testing and increasing public health jobs another $130000000000.00 will be put aside to help schools to reopen safely a portion will also go to college is bearing the brunt of a major shift towards distance learning let's talk to scott lucas professor of american studies at university of birmingham he joins us on skype from the u.k. scott welcome back to the news hour $1400.00 per person last time around they couldn't agree on whether it should be a $1000.00 but now they've upped it by $400.00 what's going on there. well what happens is the essential background is in january and sort of a rare moment of bipartisanship just before donald trump left office leading

democrats and republicans notably the senate majority leader at that time it's mcconnell agreed on $600.00 per week to americans as part of a $900000000000.00 coronavirus rescue package but we always knew that was going to be an interim package joe biden always said you have to be much larger there's got to be much more done economically as well as to contain the virus and thus the $1.00 trillion dollar american rescue plan that's on the table now that includes as you noted and increase which goes up to 2000 pounds $2000.00 as a one off payment to every american but has much more as you described you know these vital measures regarding vaccines and contain coronavirus support for states and cities support for the unemployed who will lose their benefits because funding will run out and that's the vital question we know that biden ministration wants to do this we know the democrats want to do this but will mitch mcconnell the senate

majority now the senate minority leader work with them weekly obstruct these efforts surely the time has been and gone skulk when any american politician can be seen to not be working with the u.s. president of whichever political you ok we've got a democrat we've got joe biden we know that we covered the inauguration this time last week but the reality is 25000000 in fact it's 400000 dead if mitch mcconnell starts playing politics with this his star is going to sink pretty quickly surely. well i agree with you if we're looking at pandemic we're looking at economics and we're looking at just humanity but here we're looking at politics and so mitch mcconnell who during the obama administration said he would make the administration a one term administration and blocked almost everything for the last 6 to 7 years of that 8 year term. he had said in the past he would make this administration

a one term ministration now this is where we are now does he immediately from the start take that political risk you're talking about and say that his political fortune about republicans is greater or does he actually say now look you're absolutely right if we stand in the way of this we'll take the blame we'll take the blame as the death toll reaches 500000 by the end of february i think what mcconnell might be damn going on is a mediately or we can blame the biden ministration for not being attractive enough and i think probably the longer term game is here that mcconnell last for concessions he'll ask for some type of quid pro quo for putting through and supporting the promise tax which my question is is what's the trade off that allows the biden people for ok we saw in the run up to the inauguration and the jury in the inauguration and immediately after the inauguration mr biden saying very clearly the pushback against coronavirus in the united states is being pushed and driven by the administration by the white house by politicians in washington

very easy to say that but the states seem to have been left on their own piecemeal to fight back against cove it particularly in the last kind of 23 dying months of the last administration mr trump when he was in the white house how easy is it from a practical from a practical stance to get that pushed back refocused coming out of washington instead all coming out of all the individual state capitals. first you're absolutely right to deny the core issue the reason why we have more than 25000000 cases in the united states the reason why we have this death toll which is now almost 420000 is because the federal government would not coordinate under truck with the state and local communities joe biden has signaled did so on the very 1st day last week when he was not rated with executive orders is we're going to work with you so he has appointed a coronavirus task force and

a specific coordinator just science to work with the states and with the cities but here's the kicker that coordination needs money and cents in march of last year mitch mcconnell has held out against any type of monetary assistance to states and cities saying oh they'll just spend it on other things the democrats will waste the money now is the critical point will washington not just provide ministration for republicans as well as democrats work where the states in the cities will those local communities be hostage not only to the pandemic but also to politics one last question please scott the trump trial has been delayed until february the logic being we don't want the practicalities of that in the senate to bump into the administration's locking down of how we fight coronavirus we don't want those 2 things coming together as political dynamics within capitol hill literally within

capitol hill but from what you're saying it seems to me as if the political games that people at mitch mcconnell might be about stop playing will actually end up bumping into the trump trial in february. i think mitch mcconnell may be looking at a trade off which includes limiting the trump trial to be honest with you because here's one reason why the trial was delayed until february 8th it was to give more time not only for you know the trump people to make their defense but because we have yet more evidence coming out of the extent of donald trump trying to overturn the election this weekend we have discovered that he wanted to fire the acting attorney general put in a loyalist to say to declare through the justice department that the election was fraudulent that was only stopped because the senior leadership of the justice department threatened to resign on mass we have the capitol attack we are trying to pressure on state officials we have trump attempting to fire people within the

federal government so he could block joe biden from becoming president how much more evidence are we going to see even before february 8th that's why i think the democrats are not unhappy to see this slight delay in the trial beginning ok we must leave it there scott always good to get your insight on u.s. politics here on the news out scott lucas in birmingham in the u k. well staying in europe the s.n.p. the scottish national party has revealed plans to hold what it calls its own legal referendum on leaving the u.k. nicholas sturgeon at 1st minister says they will push ahead with a 2nd boat after the pandemic if the british prime minister johnson refuses to grant one himself that says new polls reported in a british newspaper the sunday times show 50 percent of scottish voters do want a referendum and a large majority of all u.k. voters expect scotland to become independent within the next 10 years well those same polls show just over half of voters in northern ireland also want a referendum this time on irish unification this sometimes goes on to say 48

percent of northern irish voters believe there will be a united ireland within a decade we spoke to you in mclean professor of politics the university of oxford he says this explains what's behind renewed support for independence across the u.k. this is what you might call a game of chicken between prime minister barak's johnson and 1st minister nicolas sturgeon each is waiting to see if the other one will blink 1st and. first minister sturgeon actually is being very cautious about trying to ensure that the referendum that she wants to hold after the scottish election in may has a sound legal basis this is because she is looking over her shoulder at what happened in spain and catalonia a few years ago where the council and government held a referendum which the spanish government said was illegal the reason she is shaking in the globe now is that she is trying to prepare the ground by publishing

a bill before the scottish parliament election which is in may so that's the timetable that determines her as to the argument that being put forward by the u.k. government that there was a referendum in 2014 which voted no and that's. that she has quite a strong argument against that which is that in that referendum those who wanted scotland to stay in the u.k. said only by voting no can you stay in the european union well the scots voted no and now they're no longer in the european union so she's entitled to say things have changed the dangers from prime minister johnston that he can go on saying no to a referendum. in fact i think from his point of view there is more danger in the situation in ireland than there is in the situation in scotland the idea of irish unification

which was completely inconceivable until i would think the last 12 months is now moving rapidly up the agenda there and the disruption to trade and every day life in northern ireland that has occurred since breaks it i think is pushing people there towards the idea of irish unification that one will be more difficult for him to stop time here whether his role. temperatures in the levant are slowly rising the wind strength in the sham argument of the gulf is droppings attempt to rise a little bit more in doha be on notice precious little else happening throughout the arabian peninsula through iran and most of turkey it's sunshine by day and maybe chilly nights for some western turkey a bit differently going to change taking place here moving slowly is what it is going to affect the weather in the van to top beirut up to 70 degrees you'll notice now has go south of the equator where the active weather has been the cyclon elouise which has made landfall basically left this sort of stuff widespread

flooding in central was a big bear area in particular had some wind damage with gusts in excess of 140 kilometers per hour that you can't see this thing anymore but it's this massive cloud here and given that rain is the main problem once these things come and generates big thunderstorms and in the kruger national park hail was a result you see that table tennis balls as i think coming down very quickly and for sunday monday and tuesday this whole area is to risk of yet more of them monday specifically is going to be still south mozambican eastern side all south africa on tuesday it spreads further west into botswana. still to come here. it's been lying dormant for decades so why is the philippines thinking about reviving this nuclear power plant. no problem. great form in the absence of

details later on the news are. calm and you're not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women when no topic is off the table there was in the last allow child marriage to happen legally these are basically archaic walls off in the jet minds and legal one is pedophile. online jumping to the quick section and. the stream on out is there when the news breaks the next few days personal security forces have been deployed to hit me. like this one when people to be. have to be fulfilled by the government and. the. state. has teams on the ground this is the insurrection that president trump is accused of

fueling to bring blue documentaries and light news. i've. i've. i've come back updating your headlines so far here on the news out an upsurge in violence in central african republic is forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter in neighboring countries the un refugee agency is warning the needs of those displaced are growing. taiwan is reporting that several chinese military planes have entered its a space for a 2nd day earlier the u.s. wants what it called beijing's attempts to intimidate the island threaten regional peace. mass testing is underway in hong kong for thousands of people in

neighborhoods sealed off juice when you operate with 19 there are similar concerns in mainland china which seeing as big a surge of infections there since march. the u.k. vaccination rates is speeding up through the country struggling to keep infections down some senior ministers are demanding tougher penalties for those who disobey lockdown rules but others are calling for new policies to address people in casual jobs there are fears low income workers don't have enough financial support to self isolate his journal. laura is among tens of thousands of food delivery riders considered critical workers out and about despite the coronavirus lockdown i only had what. i currently have i think they pull it out of my account it does feel like a moral decision. is specially now with peak time winter and often time is when we have most deliveries and when we are off it most rewards as well she admits that

it's common among her fellow riders to bend the rules sometimes the widespread sort of attitude is if it's not going to happen i'm not going to pass it on or i'm not carrying it. it's probably like sweeping under the rug in favor of your own personal life instead of really considering the global situation. government discussions reportedly underway about whether to offer fixed payments to anyone required to self isolate only serve to highlight what many say is an abject failure of test trace and isolate measures that the prime minister once promised would be world beating it seems britain's pandemic never stops breaking new ground highest death numbers record hospital admissions even its own deadly variant and while the vaccine rollout is currently the most advanced in the world the current lockdown is also projected to be the longest one yet this in part is why recent government research shows that only 17 percent of people with symptoms are

coming forward to be tested and just 11 percent of people actually self isolate when asked to do so by n.h.s. test and trace in many cases these are the lowest paid who can't afford not to go to work. there is no point in testing unless you can get people to self isolate because that's where you stop transmission we now know and actually we've known for months and months that the very people who are the most exposed to this virus who are those on the frontline and low paid for example like care workers who can't afford to sell isolate and literally they are in that really difficult position where they have to choose between self isolation and putting food on the table so laura is not alone among society's least well off the cleaners carers and supermarket workers short of being physically ill herself she says if told to self

isolate she'll instead go on delivering food to british doorsteps she has no choice joho al-jazeera london the italian government says it's considering legal action against vaccine makers astra zeneca 1st announced plans to cut its supply to the european union the company has reduced its offering by 60 percent for the 1st quarter of the year blaming production problems it is a major setback for the blocks banks the nation program last week pfizer said it would delay its shipments of the vaccine for up to a month. thousands of people have joined protests convoys across brazil calling for the president also now to be impeached over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic they're also angry about a vaccination program being delayed in states a lockdown is being imposed as of monday as hospitals in the capital manassas remain overwhelmed by a surge in infections monica reports now from rio de janeiro all right there you

know you hear her say. my god is among the lucky few in my knows the cause of the worst of it thank god i am much better after a lot of work and physiotherapy it is called me a lot of hospitals in the largest city of the brazilian amazon have no room and oxygen is scarce 2 new strains of the corona virus have only made things worse my family and. we were told to treat him at home because they have no capacity to receive more patients there's also a lack of oxygen tanks for patients and the court those awful. many have died of suffocation but his modest children were able to see their 60 year old father by improvising in emergency care unit in his home they bought an oxygen cylinder on the black market and hired physiotherapists to help him breathe oh my dear it's a war with no gunshots but there are fatal victims the federal government and other

states have helped my mouse and other cities of the amazon a state by sending oxygen tanks and vaccines indigenous people in remote villages have received the 1st shots of the chinese corona back vaccine. corruption has put in operation in the amazon a state on hold health professionals the elderly people considered to be more vulnerable should have been vaccinated 1st but there are again for some people like me. businessmen have managed to skirt the law in. brazil has the world's 2nd largest cove in 1000 death toll but it was late to start inoculation when it finally did a week ago there weren't enough vaccines to go around. 2000000 doses of oxford's astra zeneca vaccine have only just arrived from india. the

thousands of brazilians took to the streets to protest against the government's handling of the pandemic treaty what the people want a vaccine for everyone people want emergency support people want bolton are out brazil's president datable scenario has always downplayed the virus he's once more doubted the efficiency of the vaccines that infections are also growing in big cities like some paolo and rio de janeiro some bubbles governor is imposing new restrictions to stop them from spreading monica al-jazeera rio de janeiro. has reappointed shakes up. as prime minister resigned along with his cabinet last week during a standoff with paul a month after 38 m.p.'s back to request to question him on constitutional affairs including his choice of ministers in me as i asked the prime minister to nominate a new cabinet. to new zealand government has extended on night time curfew and ban

gatherings until february 14th to cope with 19 pandemic but it hasn't stopped hundreds of people in several cities protesting against repression unemployment and poverty saw to kill that reports. the people want to bring down the regime of a child that 1st emerged a decade ago has made a comeback on the very same streets what's news is just one revolution on folded. despite it bringing political change people in the capital tunis and several other cities are angry thousands have once again been protesting demanding further economic social and political reforms better living conditions and an end to police brutality that is the better team if you go to protests you will die if you go to school you will die there is always police repression and yet we haven't seen their presence when there are murders fests rape and terrorism. you know i look at the

end of the half i believe i will demand that the politicians have mercy on this country we're tired of the incompetence of their lies and robberies leave we want this country to stand up again we've had enough yes yes even. some of this week's demonstrations has turned violent with security forces responding with tear gas and water cannons. activists say more than $1000.00 people including minors have been detained or charged with theft and vandalism of the young men who marched the past few days must be released this is our demand and we will not give up they can say that they can suppress us with the police but we are not afraid of the police or the public prosecutor. to mishear faces severe economic problems made worse by the pandemic than a 3rd of its youth are on employed with some even trying to migrate. to europe in a national address on tuesday to see him prime minister his german machine she

tried to calm the situation and i know why and when i am well aware that there is anger and frustration in many areas i know that the economic and social situation is a crisis deepened back over $1000.00 your voices heard and your anger is a legitimate it is my role and that of the government to work towards their demands and make the dream of to near 0 come true. the government has announced a ban on gatherings until mid february and extended a nighttime curfew because a growing number of corona virus cases and even deaths but many are defying not to demand change so high it at. one of the world's most wanted man accused of running asia's biggest crime syndicates has been arrested in the netherlands sealed the walk was taken in by dutch police on a request from australia the united nations office on drugs and crime says is believed to be the head of

a multi-billion dollar heroin and methamphetamine operation. the philippines is looking to revive a dormant nuclear power plant to solve its energy crisis could reduce soaring power prices by up to 70 percent. went to the facility in bhutan she sent us this report . entering the philippines only nuclear power plant is like a step back in time the but the nuclear power plant was built in the seventy's and was the 1st in south east asia but it never opened it was marked bald and past presidents were hesitant to recommission it because it was a reminder they say of the excesses of former president ford in the markets his regime but the country's electricity prices are among the highest in southeast asia partly because it's dependence now on imported fossil fuels that means the average filipina family spends between 10 to 20 percent of their monthly income in a lecture city philippines has for decades now been avoided as an investment

destination in southeast asia 'd because. electricity has either been expensive or in short supply and unreliable philippine president rodrigo the turkey has ordered his officials to look into the possibility of including nuclear power into the country's energy mix and a possible revival of the baton nuclear power plant it tells the whole world we're ready for a nuclear b and p p s 3 sister plants that have been running for over 30 years x sat. there in slovenia in brazil and in south korea but what people forget is that no nuclear plant in the world operates without the blessings of the international atomic energy agency the watchdog it is quite clear that some parts of the nuclear power plant are aging but regulators here tell us all it needs is a few years and an estimated $1200000000.00 of commissioning and it will be as good

as brand new. but there are also those in government who see that but the and nuclear power plant belongs to a bygone era there's a big push back or nuclear technology now you get a jump start the bad which is all it embroiled in controversy we don't want to start our nuclear program in the wrong for you want to start in the right for environmental activists also believe that the government should focus on producing clean energy instead like wind and solar but whether but to and will be recommissioned by president or d. good at their day or not one thing they say is for sure the energy crisis in the country is a social justice issue and one that may worsen if there is no investment in the country's energy system to get al-jazeera but on province northern philippines voters are heading to the polls in portugal's presidential elections as the country deals that highest cope with 19 infection rate to date 2000 extra polling stations

opened in an effort to prevent crowding during lockdown the country has the world's highest 7 day average of new cases and deaths per capita the government's refused calls to delay the vote in the constitution to be changed there being 3 decades of political instability in kyrgyzstan since the breakup of the soviet union one area that has been greatly affected is the health sector al-jazeera child stratford went to a clinic in the northern district where doctors are struggling to treats young patients . the uk sue rehabilitation center in northern kyrgyzstan was built by the soviets in the 1950 s. to treat polio victims. in outreach children suffering from a neurological condition the doctors say could be prevented pregnant mothers receive basic health care. but not something often not available to many women forced to rely on what experts say is

a struggling government health sector stuck in the past. 7 year old as easily has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth it's a neurological disorder that affects a person's ability to move maintain balance and speak her mom brings you here to the center for physio and voice their plea every few months as easy clearly enjoys it mom says she's improving it isn't just. previously she couldn't talk sit down or eat but this therapy is helping and she can now even play with her sister our lives are beginning to improve with a city is on shockingly basic proof experts say of years of government neglect but around $3000.00 children come from all over the country every year for treatment for cerebral palsy. despite lacking basic modern equipment and few professionally trained staff the center has built up a reputation for being the best in the country in treating children with cerebral

palsy. it was constructed over a hot spring because of the therapeutic qualities of the water. shaman and then cut their off drives his son is law 8 hours from the capital bishkek to get the hydro and physical therapy he needs. his condition does not affect could need to function like intelligence he can be treated but not cured janet as a cough will graduate this year with a degree in i.t. he's been receiving treatment here for almost 20 years and staff say he is proof that despite the difficulties they face success can be achieved. i want to be a good auntie specialist and work for a big company that's my pliant he says it's hard work constantly trying to improve yourself but you have to and that's my advice. the head doctor he says there's not

enough government money to offer basic medicine and visit men's let alone more specialized treatments that some of the children need to put in the suitcase that they do we have difficulties i believe the government is trying to help us to provide free treatment but it has to fund every sphere of the health sector it can't just focus on us. the challenges are immense for as ease of a family and a stall for the to santa but with the care and sarah p. she needs there is every reason she should live a long and fulfilling life charles trafford al-jazeera norton could the storm. still to come here on al-jazeera the sports news will have more on what could be in store for this mixed martial arts star who just suffered a shock to feet. february

on al-jazeera i'm restricted access to iran's nuclear program is about to end will u.s. president joe biden overturn from sanctions and help rebuild relations al-jazeera sets out on a journey to the heart of what it means to be a true supporter of the beautiful game the us has the highest covered 1000 count in the world the new administration has promised to turn that around we'll have extensive coverage the big picture reveals how a perfect storm of events in 2020 exposed the truth about race at the heart of the united states and as president joe biden inbox and his 1st month in the white house we'll bring you the latest developments escape attempts to repair global relationships february on al-jazeera feels and formidable the polls good kids are renowned for their courage on the final. one i want to east finds out what it tikes to join the a labor guy. on al-jazeera. the

op . for more than 300 years the netherlands colonized what is now modern day indonesia and took thousands of cultural and religious artifacts after years of negotiations the dutch government returned some of them last year and uneasy historians want more to be returned but say it's a long and a complicated process as jessica washington now reports from jakarta. this dagger is called the christian indonesia it's made from gold and is covered in precious stones it's one of $1500.00 items returned last year for more than 300 years dutch colonizers occupied what is now indonesia they stole thousands of

precious cultural and religious artifacts and took them to the netherlands. after years of negotiation the artifacts were finally handed back the 1st time such a large collection has been returned to indonesia it includes this shield used by the dayak people in cali mountain hundreds of years ago decorated with the hair of their enemies. but you know god i think that i am it shows that as a colonized country we had our historical culture and this is important for future generations to understand. getting these items back took 6 years of planning and putting them on display was delayed due to the outbreak of covert 19 the dutch government offered to return more than $12000.00 artifacts in total the indonesian authorities chose to select only a small percentage of them indonesian historians say some items should remain in the netherlands so that indonesian culture can be experienced there too but there

are also financial reasons. and with a meal we don't want to museum to become a warehouse by taking items which are not important it would just add to our maintenance costs because all artifacts need special care this manuscript for example contains instructions for protecting against witchcraft it needs to be stored at 25 degrees so that it isn't damaged by humidity there are thousands of indonesian artifacts still in dutch museums and authorities hope to eventually bring more for them home but it's a long and complicated process and historians say they'll need to carefully curated items that are returned those of great interest are the ones that reveal more about the country's past. when it when they got it and it's you know many of our items are related to dog or free they add to our understanding of the many ethnic groups in indonesia which we did not have before in october a dutch commission on colonial collections recommended its government return items

taken from former colonies that include these diamond which once belonged to the sultan of punjab muhsin and used to be 70 carats it was violently seized by dutch troops who are bullish the sultanate and sent the rough diamond back to the netherlands to be conned into this rectangular 36 karat jam. if something belongs to indonesia they should return it to indonesia but the repatriation of such a valuable item is complicated the descendants of the sultan say it should be given to them and not to the government jessica washington al-jazeera to come to time for sports is far better thank you so much the biggest star in mixed martial arts khana mcgregor has suffered a shock to seats by american fighter dust and korea a of the latest u.f.c. event and it was a 32 year old irishman who dominated the fight from the opening bell of the summing blow came in the 2nd round when corey

a the underdog in this match up mcgregor with a tactical knockout because of the biggest win of his career for mcgregor who was retired from the sport 3 times already it was the 1st knockout loss of his 13 year career he's a pro man and at the respect we're one in one maybe we have to do it again you know but. i'm just happy man i'm i'm happy in the place i you know like i say over again i'm happy with him and i see the mirror and this fight is great this win is great just wasn't as comfortable as i needed to be and i mean it's the inactivity and that's it but these things are still in full and you know the idea here today if you put in the time in here you know the echoes here nancy i used. to do it often come back and that's it and that's what i would do. earlier i spoke to m.m.a. journalist john mark and he believes that even despite the loss my cracker will be back for more he certainly doesn't need to compete anymore the guys put a lot of money away that made it a ton of cash in his fighting career especially the floyd mayweather fight for

those that need to but man after the fight you could see it burning in and he was he was up there talking about the things that had gone wrong and what he needs to correct and how to fix it at the q.b. backing up the q.b. back with kind of renewed focus and renewed energy he actually said that we know he thinks one of the problems with him this time was the long extended layoff so maybe we even see him fighting more frequently so i'm i'm covered side to see but what happens with connor moving forward you know to me it's interesting where you put kind of a greater history always say you know if you were to write a book about the history of the u.s.c. you couldn't not have a chapter about chrono mcgregor i mean he's that important to the growth and he is one of the most fantastic fighters in the history of the sport and it is rise was amazing but you know i don't think he's a pound for pound great as at the moment you know he didn't have that long legacy that the last thing you know record of title defense is i think what you have to have sustained dominance over extended period time to really establish yourself as one of the all time greats and and he never did that but that didn't change his impact on the sport it didn't change what he meant to the growth of it i mean he

really turned a lot of eyeballs onto the sport that they didn't know about it before and what he's done for himself as is pretty amazing that every day in the australia tennis association of arranged to turn men exclusively for players unable to leave their rooms during quarantine ahead of the australian open the china mental star on february 3rd and the day before the grand slam which begins on feb 8th organizers say they're doing everything they can to help competitors prepare 72 players are currently confined to their hotel rooms after positive coronavirus cases were detected on their flights to melting. football now and in spain real madrid were in impressive form on saturdays they beat alibis 41 were recovered from their shock spanish cup exit karim benzema scored twice on the night to keep around 4 points adrift of leaders let it go broncos are missing their head coaches in 18 sedan who is self isolating after testing positive for cope with 19 liverpool face majesty

united for the 2nd time in a week on sunday as the 2 rivals meet in the f.a. cup of 4th round the reds were held to a goal is drawn the premier league at old trafford last week liverpool have won just one in their last 6 and all competitions their manager says they're ready to turn their poor form around. so what direction one is you keep going exactly on the same level because if you go with. the other one it gets a little bit less so in a moment it feels like it's a lot less and that's what be obama's have to change we are not. like he said be doing just because we drive. we are really ready for the flight we were ready for the battle won him. the brooklyn nets blew away the competition holding off miami heat and a hard fought n.b.a. win on saturday and that's had their big 3 superstars playing come and drown scored 31 points by kyrie irving added 28 james harden finished with 12 points as brooklyn

overcame miami 100 282124. and $22000000.00 pick champion chloe cam is back competing after win at winning after a 2 year break this victory in snowboarding half pipe comes after the 28 year old american took time out from the sport to go to university the event in switzerland was her 1st world cup competitions says a 2019 chemist now building up to the defense of her title at the 2022 beijing olympics. so excited you know that like 30 min away in the brain is just so nerve racking. but i was visualizing over and over. and i was arguing that my coach doesn't think so that definitely was a saying positive the whole time which i really being told. ok and that is all your support for now peter back to you thank you very much you're watching al-jazeera

that was the news hour we're back in a couple of minutes to 30 minutes of al-jazeera world news hopefully we'll see that . when all that seems to matter is the headline and always 2 sides to a story when narratives and counter narratives obscure reality the leader on the one hand the enemy is openly there on the other hand the listening post strips away the spin what kind of reporting if you can see on the ground misinformation is right lays bare the bias a lot of people believe things because they want to believe that a done covers the uncomfortable truths do you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war listening post on al-jazeera. london is one of the most important cities in the world and the citizens made here have an impact right around the globe and so here at al-jazeera we will show you the true impact of those decisions

on people then how it affects their every day that. we are free to put them on and to really gauge their stories because we know that all this is interested not just in the mainstream news but also the more hidden stories from parts of the world that often go under reported. when a parent loses their child to a terminal illness. they often feel that they've taken on the weight of the world. but mr huang is determined to find out what caused his daughter's death and brought him such heartache. the story of a committed parent turned activist a father's protest part of the viewfinder asia's series on al-jazeera. examining the impact of today's headlines it didn't matter you're rich or poor what your religion is you are battling this and you're staring at it in the face and you're dealing with it setting the agenda for tomorrow's discussions that are on

all the capitol hill international filmmakers and world class journalists bring programs to inform and inspire you each and in one of us ever the responsibility to change those things place for them. on al-jazeera. escaping killing looting and great fighting in central african republic forces tens of thousands to flee to neighboring countries we have an exclusive report from a remote congolese region. again i'm peter dhabi you're watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up a nightmare for 11 miners spent 2 weeks trapped underground in china but for several others the op.