they played the game very carefully. did they stay in control the common feeling amongst the arabic states is is incredible will to survive the arab awakening absolute power. russian opposition leader alexina volumnia appears in court to appeal a decision to keep him in jail ahead of this trial next week. i'm on inside this is al jazeera life and also coming up. a team from the w.h.o. emergence for hotel quarantine and we come to investigate origins of covert 19.

course in pakistan upholds a decision to free the man convicted then quit said of the murder of the american journalist daniel. students in greece are angry as a proposal to put police officers in universities to cut down in violent crime. let's begin in russia where opposition leader alexina addressing a course in moscow in an appeal hearing you can see live pictures there he is asking to be released from jail ahead of his trial next week we can speak to our correspondent alexander godfrey to his lawyer in moscow so this is going on live what can we expect from court today. well what is happening today is that it's a no one is bill hearing he is as you said appealing the decision of the court to

be in custody for 30 days this happened immediately when he landed in russia he was arrested now the grounds of his appeal is that they are claiming that the whole decision was unlawful and that there was no independence of court secured since the court was in a police station and the prosecuting side was a russian police the outcome of today's appeal can be that the appeal is of course dismissed and he remains in detention being in prison or did he change to a house arrest or all together that he released until he is named hearing and now that he's be people that support of i need they're having this secret hope that it might be house arrest and this would they say mean that the power of people on the streets is real and that in a sense they want on the other hand this can also diminish if it happens numbers of

people for the next brought this which is scheduled to for these sunday the russian government in a very tricky position here alexandra on the one hand. they can't really. do what he wants but they also know that he has a lot of support within the country. well yes yes indeed and what they're doing at this point is they're trying to downplay his role and how many people actually support him we heard today from the spokesperson of russian president that said that basically it's on sociologists to determine why are people dissatisfied so much that they protest on the streets the official line is that there were not so many people if you compare it to how many people support of law they may have put in the other line is that

this a position and supporters of the violin are trying to hide behind children saying that there were many children on these rallies so minors which actually was not the case most of the people by far were above 18 so they're trying to it's one thing that to downplay it and they're quoting the law they're saying. broke the law he violated his parole and it is not a political thing it is the method of russian laws and everybody should abide by that so this is how they're trying to handle this situation at this moment but also by making other people scared to with the numerous house searches the lives are also charging people for violating disease control norms for coming to the rally that isn't sanctioned or calling for other people to come through directly alexander got for their 1st live in moscow many thanks.

well i went to a place and raided of omni's offices on the homes of his relatives associates saying he has the latest. opposition leader alexina valise supporters have been protesting for weeks with thousands arrested across the country on wednesday police turned their attention to his friends and family the russian police raided nirvana's moscow apartment and detained his brother oleg. they also raided the apartment where his wife lives. they broke my door in and then not letting in my lawyer. and we just to see what we see that a series of raids on members of the anti corruption foundation were launched today it's a clear improved a disk by relation of the right of the fence as a lawyer i can see that you yes rights are violated as well as rights of those who are deprived of lawyers. alexina volleys personal doctor was also

a target honest as you have us so you have a continue to play the piano as police raided her home was. empty kremlin sentiment has rarely been this public during president vladimir putin's time in power no volley analysts say will be looking to make the most of it . which is george x. you know what what alexei nobody wants to do now is to prepare for a situation when he and the main opposition leader can become a real contender for power. in washington president joe biden's new secretary of state was straightforward in his assessment as i say we have a deep concern for mr involve the safety and security and the larger point is that. his voice is the voice of many many many russians and it should be heard not. by russia's political opposition is likely to face tougher

resistance if anti-government protests keep pace but with a new president in the white house they have a powerful new ally on the global stage zain bus ravi al-jazeera. to the chinese city of where investigators from the world health organization have ended their hotel quarantine and began the task of finding out how the pandemic started interviewing people from research institutes hospitals and that seafood market linked to the initial outbreak a long delayed inquiry tell us out some months of negotiations between beijing and the w.h.o. . there is katrina you reports now from. well they're being said that plan for the next few weeks is yet to be finalized but since they arrived in china 2 weeks ago they've already been in gauged in frank discussions with their chinese counterparts

and others involved in the management of the outbreak here in han they've got a mammoth task ahead of them they're investigating a lot of theories and among them is one that covered 901st originated in a wild animal potentially a bat secondly they're also going to go into the 100 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 where former us u.s. president donald trump alleged 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 are that beijing has been tartly controlling any information any doctor around the outbreak and there is a lot of skepticism as 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 persis it's going to take a while and they need to be patient for us to have any conclusive findings on the court of ours. pakistan's supreme court has upheld an earlier decision to release a man convicted then acquitted of murdering the wall street journal reporter daniel pearl back in 2002 judges dismissed efforts by daniel pearl's family and the pakistan government to keep. the jail. has a story from islam about. her go government go. by our board. they pulled their trip reports which you see behind me this is a country a fake and up finally deciding all part of the idea of the appeal of salt water

against the equator all fall march a car along with other very complicated it should be remembered to go march a quarter of a thing very dense and dense for the murder of daniel pearl back in 2002 he would send james stewart dead along with other people for direct involvement and murder by the antiterrorist called however in a surprise move the high court and that province known as the stand i called a great day to him and there's accomplices of diet gets 10 times dog that approximates garland and the supreme court that took the dog holding the acquittal or indeed a disappointment because we've also been hearing that the lawyers representing danielle's bugs family had died for the 1st time omar shaykh haggard make a judge had a minor role what that minor role was no one knows but the g 8 retired before the

court that he had engaged a role and the departure of danielle's body back in 2002. let's get more on this we can speak to show as prachi was a political analyst and current affairs commentates a joins us from many thanks for speaking to us what's your reaction to this but it didn't come as a surprise. i know that as a surprise because in bugis town this decision was a made by the high code they get it now the supreme court acquitted him and it's not a surprise and the public the general public they are not to be keen not to be interested in this case but for the state of pakistan for the government of pakistan this is going to be depicted challenge especially when we have a new administration in the united states and in the very beginning i guess than has this diplomatic challenge crisis because the u.s.

is very sensitive about this case and the family and the u.s. government were keen to do or had this man convicted indeed they were keen as to how why do you think we got to this point. i can't comment on that and i think no one can because we do not know what kind of evidence was put before the high court which is a provisional caught in the promise of same and the businesses that the read the decision to quit him and then the but recently government of sin along with the family of daniel byrd in the country's highest court that is the supreme court in islamabad and today we have this decision in pakistan we have political systems saw a need permission of government of say in the last a peek independently and the supreme court and boards for that battle in

pakistan are independent and when bennett is supreme court decides on something it's very difficult to change that decision the family and the provisional government can go all fired because he should but they will have to go to the scene go to the same supreme court review its own decision and what happens now to ahmed omar saeed shaikh is the essential step for a doesn't return to the u.k. which is where he's a citizen from. actually he was sent free by the previous decision of the high court but then the government as i said provincial government is you know they had a bargain and it exercised their boller and they detained him but 90 days and during that time they appealed to the supreme god so that was an executive order by

the british government otherwise the court had set him free now that he is acquitted again i don't know what the federal government would do what action would they do if he is sent back to a little karate which is the capital of say the progress is we have to see what would be the action of the syrian government permission government. this is what the central government is doing and then the us government takes this up with the governor of pakistan on diplomatic level which we we says it is going to happen to be my bet is the there is a you know there's a thought that the e.u. was dumb it was to try gave there'd be charges of murder it would be a lot of this has to be seen and i think if the go u.s. government works diplomatic pressure bottled the government of pakistan and then

maybe find a body through to do to have this machine you know someone suddenly became it be able to keep him behind the parts ok many thanks for your thoughts. speaking to us there from salah so hard on al jazeera. if iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the j c p a way the united states would do the same thing the new us secretary of state says the door is open for an american return to the nuclear deal but only if iran meets the terms of the original agreement. and love overcoming barriers how the elderly in italy connecting with their family and friends during the and.

it's time for the perfect gentlemen. sponsored play qatar airways. how i we've got to return to some wintry weather for to pan over the next couple of days things look a little more mobile a little more active little area of low pressure swirling away into the sea of japan and that'll just drive its way towards honshu towards will cause a significant snowfall disruptive snow could see some very heavy amounts coming through hip to cause that western side of honshu into hokkaido sheltered by the mountains not too bad in tokyo to around 10 celsius on friday come saturday well similar conditions more snow fall coming through dry weather comes back in behind temperatures will start to just not 5 celsius therefore so getting up to around 7 celsius in beijing further south as long as you drive across much of china or actually in hong kong gets up to around 19 degrees as so the temperature we can expect in northern pakistan a whole around 19 celsius still that persistent fog and smoke lurking around the

northern plains of in the more orange warnings in force here want to see showers into eastern parts of india maybe down towards double madi you might catch a shower or 2 in here that western weather just sliding across sri lanka as we go on through saturday could cause a little bit of localized flooding across northern parts of the country. sponsible qatar airways. i really didn't bad things would i be able to forgive somebody like me a convicted war criminal seeks out the survivors of a prison camp to apologize for the crimes of his past i just can't get even better i showing for. the unforgiven a witness documentary on al-jazeera my old team ask a vet. that outlet next. week

. or. you're watching al-jazeera mind of our top stories this hour russian opposition leader alex in a volley is addressed of course in moscow to ask for his release from jail ahead of his trial next week of all he was arrested last week when he returned from germany where he was being treated for poisoning. a team from the world health organization has ended its 2 week hotel quarantine in hand china will now begin investigating the origins of the corona virus pandemic up to months delayed. pakistan's supreme court has ordered the release of a man convicted then acquitted in the murder of wall street journal journalist daniel pearl judges dismissed the appeals against the release of the british born

ahmed omar saeed shaykh. 3 months into conflict in ethiopia's 2 grey region triggered across the border humanitarian crisis aid groups are still calling for assistance the international red cross is urging for more funding to reach vulnerable people. aid groups lost access to the region back in november after federal troops launched an offensive against rebel regional forces thousands of people thought to have died with nearly 50000 refugees fleeing to neighboring sudan last week the un reported that a high number of rapes into grey soldiers of sexually assaulting into me displaced people in exchange for just basic commodities or the un also estimates nearly 2300000 people or nearly half of to graze population is now at risk of starvation and in need of emergency food aid. bahama mohammad adore explains in

a just sticks of delivering aid from nairobi. very common in some areas but they can't in most parts because fighting is still going on to gripe people's liberation front militias who've been fighting if you appear in federal forces have tunde into our good will out of sorts going in the small of bombs and cutting out of talks against the federal forces as well as government is to elections in different parts of the to grey region and that is why they cannot gain access to most parts of the thick of a vigil of course even before the conflict began there were hundreds of thousands of people who were. who needed to be fed on top of a lot of the thousands upon thousands of the 3 and refugees who've been living in that particular region. there's so many layers to these humanitarian problem and on

top of that the ice is your fish also have a press conference today and mentioned that most of the medical centers on hospitals in the degree region have been looted the during the conflict and even in the past few weeks something that is making life even more bearable for the people who are still stuck in the thick of a region. 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 and his 1st press briefings since taking office u.s. secretary of state antony blinken said washington wants to return to the 2050 nuclear deal which donald trump pulled out of that lincoln has called on iran to act 1st 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 and then we would use that as a platform to build with our allies and partners what we called

a longer and stronger agreement and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with iran but we are a long ways from that point around it 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 in time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations so we're not we're not there yet to say the least there's shihab rattansi at the state department with the latest. it's really unclear what the biden position is on the one hand lincoln always begins with a statement that the u.s. and iran will return to full compliance this will then be used as a platform to address other issues but then he always goes into a great deal of detail about how it will take such a long time to assess iran's compliance but what is the assumption there with a timetable that so that means only iran has to come into compliance and then the

u.s. will decide whether it will come into compliance meaning it will lift the sanctions what is that really what was supposed to be on the table it was the u.s. that broke international law that walked out of the iran nuclear deal unilaterally it was the e.u. for that matter who then began breaking all the rules of the day as well iran kept to it and then only in the last year or so then you know began enriching uranium a little further is the u.s. really saying that iran has to remove its only bargaining chip of enriching to 20 percent enriched uranium and then the u.s. will decide whether it will lift the punishing economic sanctions is that realistic is that what blinken and the other biden foreign policy team members really think given this is their own baby they're the people who negotiated this from the 1st place this was the deal that they sold to the world as the best deal possible do they not believe it's possible anymore which is really unclear we do know that the by the administration is under a lot of pressure from the gulf nations and israel israel's a great ally has been confirmed today and by keeps on saying we'll get

unconditional aid whatever but it's still a little bit opaque even though blinken kept saying today that he was all about transparency and clarity around foreign minister zarif has tweeted in response to blank saying the u.s. violated the iran deal and cause harm to its population through reimpose sanctions sorry of says to her and she had been abiding by the deal and had sought remedial measures he goes on to say the country will never forget what he called trump's maximum play it words iran. citizen grayson protesting against a bill that would create a new branch of the police for university campuses the government says the force is needed to fight violent crime in greek investing john psaropoulos reports from athens. if the government has its way student protests like this could become a thing of the post a new bill would ban noise pollution and political banners in universities it would

also introduce a campus police empowered to arrest and charge those considered troublemakers and disciplinary boards with power to suspend or expel students the government says too much crime goes unpunished on campuses where faculty members have been attacked or bricked into their offices and students have been raped but these students disagree with that guy and this whole discussion about insecurity and how you have to teach is not based in reality if you look at police statistics the crimes committed on campuses are negligible what where really afraid of is what's in the bill the sanctity of university campuses goes back to 973 when the military dictatorship then ruling greece used the army and police to crush a student protest here at the athens polytechnic although no one was hurt on the campus an estimated 3 dozen people were killed on the night of the operation and

the following days in 1902 police were forbidden to enter campuses but anarchist groups often took advantage of this to escape the rest after confrontations with police police community was abused in other ways police recovered this expensive equipment stolen by intruders from the athens polytechnic to be sold on the black market. when it came to power in 2019 the conservative new democracy government allowed police on to campuses at will as it was just that. even in the lab the only thing the government is achieving is to irritate an already vexed society and a student body that is anxious about its future and is giving the kiss of life to extremists specifically the leftwing syria's opposition so to start a cat and mouse game on university campuses we don't need this tension the government decided to tighten campus security last october after 8 assailants held a university rector hostage in his office and called for

a return to immunity from policing the main problem is created by from people who come from outside the university students so i strongly believe that 90 percent of the problem is going to be sold we think to the doctrine of the checking of the people who enter the universe the building students are protesting against the the government has the votes it needs in parliament but the students are claiming the streets jumpstart ople us athens. as the world's 2nd oldest population and europe 2nd highest coronavirus death toll many elderly people stifled distancing means being isolated from their families for a long time especially those living in homes but the stuff needs reports from avellino in southern italy some has come up with an idea that is bringing affection and touched off to almost a year of distance. who am i asked

his mother might. be. i'm luigi he reminds her it's all a little overwhelming much carry with him ask is the fuel in the plastic barrier she has difficulty recognizing. 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 closest 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 father and daughter kiss for only the 2nd time in a year plus a burger flipper over for a little posh she tells him everything passes didn't do her past 2 of them going to figure 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 gathering. with grandparents often at the very center for you if you will my dream is to hug all my relatives again to have company to see happiness for us all to be together the vaccination campaign is underway with the elderly due to be inoculated after 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 all 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 is out there these are the top stories right.