with. world health organization inspectors prepared to begin their long awaited study into how the corona virus outbreak began in china. on patrol peru deploys its military to block migrants from ecuador in an attempt to contain the spread of coronaviruses. i money inside this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up.

thousands of women in poland push back against tough new restrictions on abortion. and love overcoming barriers how the elderly in italy at connecting with their family and friends during the pandemic. we begin in wu hand china where a team from the world health organization is getting to work to investigate the origins of the corona virus pandemic they have ended their 2 we quarantine will soon interview people from research institutes hospitals and the seafood market linked to the initial outbreak a long delayed inquiry comes after months of negotiations let's go straight to katrina you who is live in. katrina what are we expecting from the w.h. team in the next few days. well they have a hit show said their plan for the next few weeks is yet to be finalized but since

they arrived in china 2 weeks ago they've already been gauged in frank discussions with their chinese counterparts and others involved in the management of the outbreak here in holland they've got a mammoth task ahead of them they're investigating a lot of theories and among them is one that covers 19 1st originated in a wild animal potentially a bat secondly they're also going to go into the $100.00 black market where the 1st cluster of the current virus was 1st identified and see how the virus might have spread from there and also they're going to check out the institute. which is the lab for me eunice u.s. president donald trump alleged that 19 allegedly leaked from all those months ago or now of course the team is going to face a lot of challenges 1st of all it's been more than a year since this outbreak 1st started and many people believe that much of the key evidence may no longer exist and also we do know that beijing has the entirely

controlling any information any doctor around the outbreak and there is a lot of skepticism most to whether they will be able to fully cooperate with the world health organization but the team members that we have spoken to say that it's early days but they are quite positive about going forward but they do mention that the public should be warned that this is a long process it's going to take a while and they need to be patient for us to have any conclusive findings on the. one of ours i'm katrina the pandemic is still a sensitive issue in china isn't it even though they've come to grips with the crisis to a certain extent. that's right so the numbers here are largely controlled and for the most part life has mostly resumed in terms of normal life but it's all very sensitive issue here and we really can't downplay the importance of this world health organization mission here in china this is important for the chinese government politically it's really it's chance to show at the international community that they are willing to be open and transparent terms

of cooperation with this investigation but although they have been very loud about promoting the scientific voices other voices in the chinese community have in fact been silenced particularly family members of those people who were lost during those early days of the pandemic have to listen to this sound bite from this man who lost his father during his those early days of the outbreak early last year. you were one. our group for relatives has been monitored by chinese authorities all the time why did they forcibly demolish this shows that they are very nervous they're afraid that these families will get in touch with the w.h.o. experts. i always think that it's been one year since the coronavirus outbreak and a one year period is more than sufficient to change a race and destroyed many things but i still believe that the many people who lost their lives will not be raised their ironclad proof. while

many people here move on a very proud of how the chinese government have handled the outbreak the junk high as we just heard is among many people who are also still very angry about what happened there still developing says and there's still also blaming the government actually even suing the government for what they say was a lack of transparency that led to the deaths of their loved ones but they've had a social media group where they've been able to support each other and make plans they've had that now banned which really underscores the sensitivity of this and how the chinese government is really trying to manage the narrative around the corner virus while the world health organization i think in china katrina you there 1st live in many thanks. vietnam is reporting a new outbreak of corona virus off to nearly 2 months health officials fear a wider outbreak of the recording $82.00 new cases in the north on thursday that's the 1st community transmission of the virus and weeks and the largest since the pandemic began armed forces in peru have tightened border security to prevent

mostly venezuelan migrants from crossing over they say they're trying to stop the spread of coronavirus series of reports from when is there is. peruvian armed forces on their way to the border with a quota it's the latest move by people's government to prevent mostly vinous when my gran's from entering the country and potentially bringing coronavirus with them is there for us is that set up for our borders are closed to sanitary raisins and what we have to do is to make sure that any passage that takes place is lawful. but it's been a challenge to close the border completely since early january the 2 countries have detected and destroyed 11 routes used to cross illegally. we are deploying our military police across the border to assist our people so that the virus is not carried the virus goes with those who migrate all illegal border crossings are to be shut down but who has

a reason to be concerned the number of covert infections has increased dramatically in recent weeks. this is a daily seen in this and then nation which has already reached more than a 1000000 cases it is one of the worst affected countries in the region and that money even though we are going through a period of terror we are unsafe we go out in public with great insecurity we come to the hospital and there's a line we wait for hours and hours i think the government needs to take note for the health minister to come to hospitals look at the people there are children and elderly inside hospitals are struggling to cope with the increasing infections and that's why president francisco saturday's week announced a told her lockdown of the capital and 9 other regions were given a bit of over there's a medical i think we've got 2 or 3 very difficult weeks ahead because we don't have any more physical space to treat patients we don't have beds in intensive care so we won't have places for all those who are sick in the coming days it's certain that the number of deaths will go up

a lot which is difficult because we're seeing more young people dying than in the 1st wave. 2 has lagged behind other countries in efforts to ensure vaccines for its citizens the ouster of one precedent and the rest ignition of another one in 2020 has had a huge impact on how this country has handled govt 19 access to the vaccine is a major challenge in latin america right now even though governments from argentina chile and others say they have secured doses of the vaccine massive vaccination may be months away there is simply not enough vaccines in the region right now and that's a problem for governments in the region who are trying to prepare for what's coming next. ok let's just return to china we've got some live pictures coming in of the team from the what the world health organization they're about to start an

investigation into the origins of the corona virus demick we were just listening to our correspondent in woo her and so the investigator is waiting for them to just come out of the hotel where they've had 2 weeks of hotel quarantine before they can begin looking into what exactly was the starts off that corona virus pandemic they expected to interview people from research institutes as well as hospitals return to that seafood markets which of course was linked to the initial outbreak of that corona virus pandemic it's been a very long delayed inquiry nearly a year since the beginning of that pandemic these live pictures just coming in we're waiting for those investigators from w.h.o. to begin the investigation we can see that that's

a bust i believe that's coming out about us over there live pictures from china the bus just leaving the hotel where investigators have ended their 2 week hotel quarantine. moving on argentina's president alberta fan and is says the pandemic has revealed divisions in the continent speaking in chile on his 1st foreign trip since taking office fernandez called for unity if you democracy your medical opinion i will never hear you know that we have to make latin america an integrated region because we are now seeing what the disintegration of the region means we are seeing it and what's happening in public in what's happening with the purchasing of black fields where each one of us runs in a hurry to solve a problem if we had all been united everything would have been easier there's been a night of violence in the lebanese city of tripoli. these pictures

appear to show security forces using live ammunition to disperse dozens of protesters police say there were spawning to hand grenades thrown by demonstrators more than 80 people were injured as a lockdown which many say has made lebanon's economic crisis even worse. the most open process in poland as tough new restrictions on abortions come into effect women's groups estimate hundreds of thousands of women already go abroad to 10 in a pregnancy and that now that number will rise reports. during a winter night in warsaw hundreds of protesters came out to the streets to tell the government that they think its stance on abortion is wrong as usual governments are the sane enough is enough we demands on the dairy from you we demand solidarity. was on wednesday night poland's new abortion law went into immediate effect banning

terminations of pregnancies with fetal abnormalities abortions will now only be allowed in cases of rape and incest or if the mother's life is at risk doctors performing illegal abortions will face jail time. right now i want us to have basic rights the right to decide to buy our bodies the right to decide what we want to do and if we want to bear children and in what circumstances to have children i do not want to get pregnant one day and see my child die of this thought horrifies me. the ruling led to weeks of much larger nationwide protests in october because of this the conservative law and justice party delayed its implementation of the law the abortion law is in line with other policies from the right wing party since taking office in 2015 it has also ended state funding for n.v. trophyless ation was this predominantly catholic country now has one of the most

conservative laws on abortion in europe there are fewer than 2000 legal abortions every year but women's groups estimate that an additional $200000.00 women either abort illegally or abroad leah harding al-jazeera. a court in moscow will hear russian opposition leader alexina appeal to be released from prison on wednesday police raided his offices the home of his relatives and associates the opposition leader was arrested last week when he returned from germany where he was being treated for poisoning is accused of violating previous parole restrictions. the man in charge of america's foreign policy says one of the top priorities of the new biden administration will be how to handle iran in his 1st press briefing since taking office u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken said washington wants to return to the 2050 nuclear deal which don't trump cold outof but blinken called on iran to act 1st

reports. the new u.s. secretary of state once again pledged to rejoin the joint c.p.u. or iran nuclear deal president biden has been break clear in saying that if iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the j.c. v.o.a. the united states would do the same thing. but there is still a great deal of ambiguity about the new administration's approach sometimes officials around biden appear to be saying the administration will rejoin the j.c. as it was with no change lifting the u.s. is crippling economic sanctions concomitantly with iran's return to compliance while leaving open the option of follow on deals to address other issues of concern that did seem to be what lincoln said on wednesday but at other times they suggest the u.s. will use its economic leverage to strike a tough a deal before it lift sanctions we are a long ways from that point iran is out of compliance on

a number of fronts and it would take some time should it make the decision to do so for it to come back into compliance and time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations both blinken and biden have repeatedly pledged unconditional military aid to israel and that the u.s. embassy will remain in jerusalem despite the occupation and it's clear that the israeli government understands biden will be a close ally and. we are in front of the era of a new american administration that is friendly to israel and we will know how to start a correct strategic dialogue in the near future we will use all the tools available to us politically economically intelligence and security. but some wonder if the israeli government is concerned about exactly where the bike ministrations stands they have the very real prospect the united states and iran if you mean to go she said a very high level these are things that the israelis are trying to grapple with and they're doing so by in my view really trumpeting

a threat from iran that has not changed in the past ever. iran meanwhile continues to reiterate that it will return to compliance with iran nuclear deal once the signatories decide they really are prepared to abide by the agreement if they rejoin the deal will do so as well and for an entire year we kept going forward this way but we've always said as soon as you return to the deal will return to full compliance the next hour. in the meantime the biden ministration are sending conflicting signals even on tuesday sending a b. $52.00 bomber on a round trip from the u.s. to the gulf in a show of force aimed at iran used by the trumpet administration several times in the dying days of its presidency she abrahams the old user of the state department . still ahead on al-jazeera how the u.s. . deals to sell arms to saudi arabia u.a.e. . china prepares for a massive military drill at a time when tensions with taiwan and the u.s. already.

how the weather is looking much moderate cross western parts of europe as we go through the next couple days also a cloud tumbling in from the atlantic and that's going to bring that much milder air into many pos particularly down to the southwest says squatter is colder if it was central areas but we have still got some levy still just around the black sea pushing up towards that's eastern side of europe we have got the mild air then it's down towards the southwest temps getting up to 18 celsius in madrid to be about 10 at this time of year for the north winds intense in london and paris don't to bad at all but is it bumps into the cold read looking at but some places the snow around the out surround the baltic states realities the side of europe the mild i will continue to push its way in that across spain

a push who should be lossy try and find heavy extra go through the next couple of days but the west the weather will continue to push its way into northern parts bringing with it a risk of flooding for some pushing across france and heavy rain here easing into germany snow there around the outside snow in the leading edge of that which aggression make its way into poland and the czech republic and some out west of weather into central areas of the med will just laugh along the coastal shows of algeria pushing across a. northern parts of asia a brisk wind south of that is fine and dry and staying very warm to the gulf of guinea. it's america's worst kept secrets cracked open the time of a pandemic exposed in the time of trump through the turmoil of 2020 the big picture traces a century of racial injustice to reveal how philanthropy politics and economics preserve structural inequality keep the white

a supreme and black in its place the race for america coming soon on a jazeera. it watching al-jazeera our minds of our top stories this hour a team from the world health organization have ended their 2 week hotel quarantine and china they will now begin investigating the origins of the corona virus pandemic after months of july. more than 80 people have been injured in a 3rd night of violence in the lebanese city of tripoli sango over knocked down which many say has made the country's economic crisis even worse. the new us

actually of state antony blinken says the u.s. will rejoin the nuclear deal with iran wants to iran has returned to compliance with its commitments. and the united states has temporarily frozen arms sales to saudi arabia and the u.a.e. secretary of state blinken says it's not unusual for a new administration's to review pending on. sales in the final hours of don't presidency his administration had agreed to sell 50 f. 35 fighter jets to the u.a.e. you ease them back to washington says they're working closely with the new ministration towards peace and stability in the middle east william lawrence is professor of international relations at the american university he thinks the sales of the u.s. will likely go through. well there's sort of 2 stories here one is that it is entirely normal as the administration is saying to review such weapons sales when

a new administration comes in with its own usual is all of these public statements and all of this turmoil including tweets by senators you know and all and all the brouhaha around it that that's quite a typical it's very likely that he sails will go through but it's the way in which the children ministration hastily went through a whole bunch of quid pro quos relating to the abraham accords and other he actions at the end of the ministration created a circumstance by which he even if the democrats and the vitamins trishna agree with the arms sales there's a kind of bitter taste in their mouth about the way in which trump went about it and that's really what's under review and so what happened last year in the year before is the murder of. the war in yemen sort of into one issue at the level of the senate and there was a lot of comments by senators about what you think you can trust saudi arabia can't trust yemen and much as much as that was as much directed at the trunk

administration and their relationship with those countries as any human countries were doing and then what happened after that is they got $55.00 votes in the senate $55.00 votes against the arm sales but they needed 60 votes to break the filibuster and that's still about the same ratio in the senate so if it came up for another congressional review the sales would go through again but the opposition to the conduct of the war and you met and world's greatest humanitarian catastrophe is something the senate's going to continue to raise the alarm bells about. china is due to start a large scale military exercise in the disputed waters of the south china sea it comes at a time of increased tension with taiwan is wrong with pride. that's an air force base in the south of taiwan fighter jets practice for an incursion towards the island by military planes from nearby mainland china jets have been scrambling for real more often as china has stepped up its military patrols most recently last

weekend it seems to be beijing's reminder that it will always regard taiwan as part of china and its prepared to take it back by force if necessary wellman we make no promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the option to use all necessary measures our position has been consistent and will not change taiwan's president saying when inspecting her military's preparedness she says the island is ready for any aggression to war from last year our radar stations have detected incursions by nearly 2000 chinese military aircraft and over 400 military vessels we drive them away in a timely manner and secured our maritime an airspace. increased activity across the taiwan strait comes as the u.s. conducts a so-called freedom of navigation exercise sending an aircraft carrier group into the nearby south china sea angering beijing which regards it as largely its own

during the recent turbulent years of the trumpet ministration taiwan has often been caught in the middle of strained relations between china and the us and the new biden administration might not mean an end to that turbulence i also believe that president trump was right in taking a tougher approach to china i disagree very much with the way that he want to about it in a number of areas but the basic principle was the right one the major players in east asia geopolitics are embarking on a new era but bringing with them the same tensions from the last one of the bride al-jazeera. least 53 people have been killed after a bus collided with a truck in west cameroon the truck was carrying flammable liquid 29 others injured cameron's transport minister little did investigation. italy as well 2nd oldest

population on europe's 2nd highest coronavirus death toll for many elderly people social distancing means being isolated from their families for long periods of time especially those in care homes stephanie decker reports from avellino southern israeli some of come up with an idea that is bringing affection and touch back after almost a year of distance. who am i asked his mother might have you. i'm luigi he reminds her it's all a little overwhelming. with the mask is the fuel in the plastic bag shows the if you go to these but the least she did recognize me after a few minutes. this is the 1st so-called hug bubble in southern italy plastic divides them and yet it's the close as they've been able to get to each other in almost a year

a simple touch once taken for granted is now everything. in between family visits everything gets sanitized a new reality it's still hard to get used to this structure gets moved around these villages to the homes for the elderly there are 4 with around 200 residents and this is so everyone gets a chance to hold and to feel and to somehow still physically touch their loved ones something that's been so terribly missed during this pandemic threat i think father and daughter kiss for only the 2nd time in a year laughter. it will pass she tells him everything passes didn't though her posture to the most of them of their own opinion these are emotional moments it's been a long lonely year for many. italy has the 2nd highest population in the world and one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in europe at more than $80000.00 so far it's also a culture of large family gatherings with grandparents often at the very center.

if you will my dream is to hug or my relatives again to have company to see happiness for a spall to be together. backs nation campaign is underway with the elderly due to be inoculated off to health workers and those involved in this hug bubble project in the villages outside of naples say it started just a few days before christmas and believe it will have. to remain in place for a while longer but see on the vaccine isn't a magic potion and you are not immediately immune and so we will still have weeks probably months ahead of us in which you will need to maintain all of these protective measures and so this room will continue to be an opportunity for relatives to be able to get close to their loved ones. touch even through plastic has become so very precious these days. i want to go home my dear pleads with her son he tells her not to cry this pandemic has made the pain of

loneliness and what we're feeling there are even worse stephanie decker al-jazeera avellino in southern italy. this may be heartbreaking the u.s. stock market is in shock after shares in a failing company have soared in value videogame retailer game stop has been losing money for years but a group of online traders have linked up to force the price to skyrocket and situational investors who sold says they didn't own a rock bottom prices on happy and not having to buy them back for much more money must insulate me as a story. game stop a videogame retailer was in trouble even before the coronavirus pandemic hit suffering hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and closing hundreds of brick and mortar stores as gamers increasingly made their purchases online but none of that has stopped its stock from skyrocketing in value spurred on by individual

investors posting on the reddit page wall street bets started by jamie rosen ski and what we're seeing here is the result of having massive influx of retail traders who don't care about fundamentals never really have cared about fundamentals they cared about the short term moves so in theory in the short term anything is possible i mean the price is set based on supply and demand and at this point anyone who's just buying up the stocks is further putting pressure to raise the price institutional investors had bet against game stop shorting the stock to make a profit but reddit investors rallied against them buying the stock on mass this increased the price and created a so-called short squeeze where hedge funds were forced by the rising stocks to avoid massive losses further pushing up game stop shares after losing hundreds of millions of dollars institutional investors like andrew left of citron research have admitted defeat and walked away analysts warn this is

a dangerous game the stock is pushed up what usually it's a little like a ponzi scheme because if you're a last person old in those years under 60. dollars this year you got a dollars and now it's treated. well you just got. the last part of the train you lost a lot of money game stop express and stand for tame it but many day traders appear willing to take the risk now propping up other struggling companies like the amc theater chain and black berry threatening wall street institutions and prompting calls for reform of a market increasingly seen as out of touch with main street kristen salumi al jazeera new york. this is down as there are these are your top stories the team from the world health organization of the.