sponsored by a qatar airways. india beauty 3000000 people have been excluded from the least of 3 to. one i won a speech the family's life to live a long. this is al jazeera. hello again i'm peter darby you're watching the news hour live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the russian opposition leader alexina barny is to stay in jail in moscow court has rejected his appeal ahead of next week's trial for violating parole. a team of scientists from the world health organization prepares to begin a long awaited investigation into how covert 19 began in china.

pakistan's top court upholds the acquittal of a man convicted in the murder of the wall street journalist daniel pearl. also ahead love overcoming barriers how the elderly in italy a connecting with their family and friends during the pandemic. and eyepieces them for the sport along the bosses say it would not be irresponsible to hold the tokyo games in july and i.o.c. president thomas but insists a plan for every possible scenario is being put together and it's a question of how not if the olympics will happen. let's get going with the news hour for you the latest developments out of russia a court in moscow today ordering that president vladimir putin's most prominent critic alexina should stay in jail he was arrested 10 days ago soon after returning

from germany where he was being treated for poisoning an attack in a valley blamed on putin but denied by the kremlin the valley appeared in court via video link and said he's being denied proper access to his lawyer and. i understand my rights and i want to draw the attention of the court to the fact that since i was detained i've not had a single opportunity to meet with my lawyers in private not to. single one. well i'm working several friends and allies of the valley including his own brother were taken into custody the police raided their offices and apartments ahead of planned protests xandra go for is live for us in moscow and xander just take us through what's happened in the court that. well today what happened is that the original court rejected the appeal of me and he's a legal team so he's to remain in prison till the main hearing in this

case and that actually where he's facing the years in jail for allegedly violating his probation now he didn't they long for a judge to make this decision he was delivered or eating some then minutes and then he came up that he has to stay where he is enough time to himself didn't apparently have any hopes that it will be difference is. going away he said well i knew this is going to happen everything was very clear to me before this a hearing even started during the hearing his lawyers and the himself stated that he didn't have proper access to his lawyers that the hearing was held in the police station so there was no proper independence of the judiciary that was there there were also said to begin with the warrant for his arrest and that's also his arrests were not according to the law that the prison authorities knew where he is because

they were informed by proper channels about his whereabouts and why he is in germany now he had the right to speak during this process during this hearing and he used it to deliver a political speech to the deliver a political message and towards the morals of his supporters in essence he said that he is not surprised by the lack of law. in his case he's only surprised by how far it goes how far a laws do not apply to him or of violating that other when it comes to him he also said that the whole idea behind this is to scare him to scare his supporters to scare basically anyone that objects and then he said that repeated rather what is the main message and that is that he is not afraid and then no one else should be he pointed out how many people went to the streets and also expressed support for

everybody that was arrested detained or otherwise suffered from the process that happened on saturday now immediately after the judge again with the verdict the appeals and calls for a next broadest worried nude with a new mostly stating that you know what to do and this is the only way to. have his rights and to be released alexandra thank you very much alexandra gold for the in moscow now to syria zain bazarov he looks back now or deal since his return from germany after he did recover from an attempted poisoning. 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 russian police raided of only moscow apartment and detained his brother all look. the also raided the apartment where his wife lives.

they broke my door in and they're 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 him preach a display 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 vollies 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 genetics 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. let's talk now to rachel danvers she's the deputy director for europe and central asia for human rights watch she joins us from new york rachel then but can novell me get a fair trial next week. we can always hope for a fair trial but i have to say that the past does not bode well for us or for

a fair trial for him next week the very fact that he's in custody now that they've kept him in custody while awaiting what's basically decision on whether he should be put in jail for a previously politically motivated. case against him i think that already bodes very very badly he should not be in jail now and should not be in jail as a result of next week the later proceedings ok is it significant for you and your organization that the russian authorities seem to be utilizing multiple areas of allegations of criminality or in one particular case with the trial next week him breaching a parole order going back 2014 but also to do with his brother friends and family being detained because the authorities apparently raided different forms of accommodation apartments that kind of thing looking for evidence of criminality quote when it came to a lack of social distancing when people were protesting on the streets. well i

think you've made it quite clear peter that this is an all out front. against against alexander valley and his supporters and and also people who came out in the streets to protest not just his detention but also to air just their their general grievances with about about corruption or like they've they have they really they have spared no effort to undermine and to undermine the law to. intimidate protesters to i mean they arrested record numbers of people on our on saturday and and you know one of them 3700 people and in moscow alone there are 1600 cases going forward administrative cases so i think this is an all i think that that there is an all out front against against. the person who is now russia's main opposition political opposition voice we got

a new u.s. opposition we heard that sound bite from anthony blinken here on the news are sending a very strong signal to let me put it in but realistically whether it's a new u.s. administration or not what's the point in effect the russian president the kremlin they put on your defenders they put on ear muffs they simply don't listen to people like mr blinken if he says something that they don't want to hear whether or not the kremlin is going to listen to something that they don't want to hear is we that is predictable there's still a question about doing the right thing and the right thing is to speak out ok right here is to the right thing is to show the distance between russia russia's our human rights obligations and and that's and its conduct ok we will leave it there thank you so much for joining us rachel demba from new york human rights watch really appreciate your insight here on this story.

the team from the world health organization has started its investigation into the origins of the corona virus pandemic they've ended a 2 week hotel quarantine and and in china they'll be interviewing people from research institutes hospitals and the so-called wet market the seafood market linked to the initial outbreak katrina you reports now from new hampshire. after 2 weeks of being confined to the hotel rooms of the world health organization research team beginning their investigation on their mission to find out as much as possible about how the current virus outbreak began. leaving quarantine. spoke to al jazeera about the immense job ahead. try and get a good. finding starting here in.

primary on additional studies. trying to you know aggregate everything there is to learn from this initial phase of the mc but more than one year after the beginning of the outbreak experts say the team spines would be limited and discovering the pandemics exact origin will be difficult. i think realistically what we're looking at. is a narrowing. of. options include exploring the theory the virus was 1st transmitted from a wild animal such as a bat and that it 1st circulated in. a research is also planning a visit here institute a. chinese scientists have. included. former

president. the chinese government has dismissed the claim and has raised questions about the what conducted a u.s. military lab fort detrick in maryland which was shut down in july 21000 information about the early days of the carver 1000. but. it's been transparent without him in the panda we have no intention to misguide public judgment or the w.h.o. to work on these marian could mince feels positive about their investigation and has this message for the public the geisha and this will take a long time. and. because that's how science works it really will take a long time don't expect us to step out and say ok so now we can tell you exactly what happened because that will not be the case. and china has been criticized for not doing enough to prevent the virus from spreading the team members say their

goal is not to point blame but to find evidence to help fight the pandemic between e.u. how to 0100. 1 person has died and 200 others have been injured in a night of violence in the northern lebanese city of tripoli now these pictures do appear to show security forces using live ammunition to disperse dozens of protesters police say they were responding to hand grenades thrown by demonstrators there's anger at a lockdown which many say has made lebanon's economic crisis even worse. across central and south america the pandemic is going from bad to worse health services in brazil peru and power quite a struggling to manage the crisis as a 2nd wave hits the region. explains. these are photographs of doctors who died of covert 19 a memorial outside proves medical college in lima honors more than 260 doctors who have died from the virus. it's led to

a strike with medics calling on the government for better working conditions and supplies without them they fear more doctors and patients will die we may cause and what do you know. 23 of my doctors have died 80 percent of them were specialists both young and old have passed away my hospital is difficult to reach you can only get there by plane or boat if i need. oxygen it won't arrive in time. countries in central and south america are tackling a 2nd wave of the virus but the 1st one never ended a new strain of the virus has been detected in the brazilian state of amazonas and now colombia has announced 5 prescriptions both already ordering tell us so for a period of 30 days passenger flights from colombia to brazil and from brazil to colombia will be suspended. more than 220000 brazilians have died of coven 19 in this hospital in the city of men else medical staff are already tackling the new

variant scientists believe it's powering an increase in new infections by up to 40 percent there is st cortez of all as you beds in many brazilian students from the northern regions of the amazon to the south of the border or are being used to treat the patients. in parts of quite amala medical staff stepped out of hospitals to set up testing centers in popular markets out of 250 cova test an average of 40 people test positive every day would be as a simple point as we know your situation seems a bit gallus i think the measures in place aren't strong enough the government needs to be more strict about it. but in a continent where much of the economy depends on mobility and street vendors many fear things will get worse before they get better. this is the young al-jazeera. argentina's president. says the pandemic has revealed divisions in the continent

speaking in chile on his 1st foreign trip since taking office fernandez called for unity he didn't walk etc i'm really going to dinner and i will never hearing that 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 health in what's happening with the purchasing of vaccines where each one of us runs in a hurry to solve a problem and if we had all been united everything would have been easier. plenty more ahead here in the news for you including these stories the government in greece wants to put police officers inside university campuses but students think otherwise. we'll look at how small businesses in the u.k. are adapting to the reality of brics it. and pakistan have taken control of the 1st test against south africa is here with all the action in about 30 minutes.

pakistan's supreme court has upheld an earlier decision to release a man convicted then acquitted of murdering wall street journal reporter daniel pearl in 2002 judges dismissed efforts by daniel pearl's family and the pakistani government to keep british born mad omar saeed sheikh in jail so shake could receive the death penalty but was acquitted of pearl's murder last year his lawyer says he should be released immediately and these people should not have risen even for one. to get. their life. right yet this market. has been this did indeed. without them having to make you any money. jessica says. well the murder of daniel pearl has been in the courts for nearly 20 years now

pearl was a reporter for the wall street journal he went missing in karachi in january of 2002 while doing research on armed fighters in pakistan about one month later a graphic video showing the beheading of pearl was delivered to the u.s. consulate in karachi british born ahmed omar saeed sheikh was sentenced to death that summer he was accused of masterminding the murder he was acquitted last year but was kept in prison during. appeal proceedings let's go live now to kemal high and he's in islamabad for us here on the news just explain to us how the cool reached its decision today. when apparently through our family granted the government then where you had a fight and then fail again the equate there by the spending high calling and the province self sandbagging a printer. and. large territory. and

there's. great omar shaykh was a way to have them are dead. 78 in jan. where they equate the against the war then the supreme court and the government of patently want to convince a court because they're going forward. particularly and what it meant all for omar shake and. by the court we're going to. go in there to remember ben generates 2 members decided to continue with the enforcement of their lives announced by the i think the high court one day standing judge now. saying that he. the only option left for damage to fire and you think they should

be changed. to be viewed however he's. gone for years and die because it would be the same bench which would be heading back toward the fact that this particular. has surprised many and that's gone that been condemnation even from the committee to protect journalists c p j which has come out saying that they were strong evidence and. disappointing and it's maybe. worth remembering isn't it kemal that the world was a different place in 2002 pakistan was a different country than the events of 911 had happened in 2001 that the bush administration in washington was pursuing osama bin laden and he eventually of course was found to be alive and living in pakistan. 911 and the optics surrounding the killing of mr pearl it was compelling around the world

and good growth coming paling as you mentioned. that you were integrity gone into of the way avenger what happened in. the end they. all showed up baghdad and the us there didn't rain here in new york taking place many of these banned outward. running away from. congregating and got argued they were banned by the government and really being hunted by the us go doing what wall or guys come down on him killing it made headlines around a warranty were near order and they were trapped and then he would decapitated body was found in a shallow grave and of course guarded the border tension but extraordinary circumstances prevailing in prague gone particularly from the security angle. thank

you very much come on to the reporting live from islamabad. well the man in charge of america's foreign policy says one of the top priorities of the new biden ministration will be how to handle iran in his 1st press briefings ins taking office the u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken said washington wants to return to the 2050 nuclear deal was done from pulled out of in 20 teen but mr blinken 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 probably lost are 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 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 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 iran's foreign minister zarif has tweeted in response to mr blinken saying this the u.s. violated the iran deal and caused harm to its population through reimposed sanctions so if says tehran 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 failure towards iran. and the u.s. sends temporarily frozen arms sales to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates the secretary of state mr blinken says it's not unusual for new administrations to review pending arms sales in the final hours of the presidency his administration had agreed to sell 50 f. 35 fighter jets to the u.a.e. the iraqi ambassador to washington says they're working closely with the new biden

ministration towards peace and stability in the middle east. 3 months since the conflict in ethiopia is to agree a region triggered across border humanitarian crisis aid groups are still calling for assistance the international red cross is urging more funding to reach vulnerable people aid groups lost access to the region of tikrit in november after federal forces launched an offensive against rebel regional forces thousands are thought to have died with nearly 50000 refugees fleeing to neighboring sudan last week the un reported a high number of rapes into grey soldiers are accused of sexually assaulting internally displaced people in exchange for basic commodities the u.n. also estimates nearly $2300000.00 people or nearly half of the population of gray is at risk of starvation and in need of emergency food aid mohammed atta explains the logistics of delivering aid from nairobi. they can in some areas but they can't

in most parts because fighting is still going on to go by people's liberation front militias who've been fighting if you appear in federal forces have tunde into our good will outwit of sorts going in the small of bombs and cutting out attacks against federal forces as well as government installations in different parts of the to great region and that is why they cannot gain access to most parts of the think about it of course even before the conflict began there was hundreds of thousands of people who. needed to be fed on top of the thousands upon thousands of editor and refugees who've been living in that particular we didn't so there's so many layers to this humanitarian problem and on top of that. i see as your fish also held the press conference today mentioned that most of the medical centers and hospitals in the region have been looted 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 it. so the arabia has begun deporting thousands of ethiopian migrants detained in the kingdom these pictures show the 1st batch of nearly $300.00 men arriving and they made the dangerous trip across the horn of africa through yemen and into saudi arabia looking for work you see opiates as it hopes to repatriate at least 1000 workers every week from a total of 40000 migrants time here whether his efforts. hello there was say some lively weather across southeastern parts of the united states you can see this by the cloud here that brought the tornado crossed northern parts of florida on this cold front things squatting down now the main weather action is further west we have another area of low pressure which has been pushing in across the pacific northwest across a good part of california and it has led to some disruptions some flooding

widespread flooding here heavy rain and some snow said the snow over the high ground by the heavy rain moving down across the burn scars of the hills of california has led to some mudslides and as you can see some disruption and the power outages as well and people evacuated from their homes this study is disturbed as we go on through the next couple of days actually more weather coming in across the good parts of california more snow there over the sierra nevada is pushing across a good part of the rockies well weather to just pushing into the pacific with west pushing across into that western side of canada but the central and eastern parts of the u.s. in from the eastern parts of canada generally try it's going to be cold baiji temperatures struggling to get to highs of around minus 2 celsius crisp sunshine there for new york but notice that snow pushing of the rockies will turn very wet as it moves across the central plains. still to come here on the news hour like the date another example violation of human rights and human rights although here in

poland thousands of people descend on the polish capital after a court imposes a near total ban on abortion. and the $1000000.00 member how an image of the u.s. senator bernie sanders is being used to feed needy families in his home state of vermont. and the shock in the premier league is man united lose at home to the boston team that's coming up with peter in sports in about 20 minutes. it's america's worst kept secret cracked open in 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 keeping white a supreme and black in its place the race for america coming soon on

a. al-jazeera as investigative unit goes undercover tracking down an international organized crime network. i want to. go back to exposing direct links to corruption at the highest level of the bangladesh government. to make sure. that al-jazeera investigations all the prime minister's men.

welcome back you're watching me on to syria news are your top stories so far today a court in russia today denying the opposition leader alexina brownie's appeal to be released from jail the valley was arrested last week when he returned from germany where he was being treated for poisoning. a team from the world health organization has started its investigation into the origins of the corona virus pandemic after months of delays they ended their 2 week hotel quarantine in new and china will be interviewing a range of people over the coming days and weeks. the supreme court in pakistan has ordered the release of a man convicted then acquitted in the murder of the wall street journal journalist daniel pearl judges dismissed the appeals against the release of british born us made omar saying each. to europe now a frankfurt court in germany has sentenced the man who killed a politician in 2019 to life in prison luka was a prominent voice in favor of accepting refugees and migrants stefan ernst had

already admitted killing him ahead of the court's verdict today he shot the christian democrat politician side his own home life to pearl and our correspondent dominic kane this was really vicious dominic the man was shot in the head at point blank range. this is a case which shocked many people around this country the murder of a popular german center right poppy a politician who had been advocating for pro immigration and advocating in favor of receiving refugees into the community the man who killed him who the court has decided it murdered him well this person had admitted the killing but in very different types of evidence being given had changed his story time and again but the courts in reaching its verdict and then passing sentence said that it believed that this was a man from the far right that this was

a known neo nazi the court had been told that the police had been aware of this individual stefan ounces that he has far right views it's also worth making the point here that mr lucas has himself said that he had received threats to his life had received all sorts of different comments to him by people from the far right once his views about immigration had become clear and now as i say this case really shocked germany and has provoked many different politicians to wonder about the safety of people like mr looka given the danger that they now believe that they face the interesting thing about this is that mr mr ounce to the defendant has been sentenced to life in prison with certainly he will go to prison for 15 years and the court decided that the nature of his crime the far right element the extremist element of his crime means that he will have to serve more than just a minimum of 15 years before any hope of being paroled dominick thank you very much

dominick kane there reporting from berlin. well across the border in poland protests there as tough new restrictions on abortion came into affects women's groups estimate hundreds of thousands of women already do go abroad to terminate pregnancies and that number will rise leah haunting explains. 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 was done she will go back to the say nothing 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. here and i want us to have our 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 off to bear 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.

editor in chief a visit grad insight a political magazine he joins us on skype from warsaw. why does the polish government want to turn the clock back on this issue. little governments the government already decided about running this change in mid 2000 plenty today we only see the ripple effect of the process they initiated in poland there was a so-called abortion consensus between the liberal progressive forces and the conservative forces many many years with the case in fact but i mean all the others are a whole and that's the trouble with them and that mic election time where the government was not doing so well as surely as it as they want it now hounds now there are scandals that they decided to open up to the far right in the hopes of the far right have them the have

a process that ultimately east leading to a ban on abortion so this was countering to the far right in order to repair. the damage image on that on the in their own constituents but the reality is if one kind of drills down into any countries that have gone down a similar road all this kind of legislation does is push abortion underground then what happens is the women's lives are endangered because they're having illegal botched jobs done by people who are not properly qualified or are not registered to be doctors to carry out this kind of process. that is correct the government is still unsure what to do with it how the 90 how can start it doesn't have made you know how to end it how to provide its signalize humane

and serve the you know human rights regulations that are regulations and solutions are there are core knowing of course this was done as a human rights international currently a youth laws that the constitutional prohibition on rule are you know and such that would mean as you describe pretty much torture on on the women for those who are absolutely now there is a easy way out and there are troops to other countries of the new words any nation of abortion is possible to goes for not the affluent in out around that also i counsel many of the p.a.'s but there is lots of people from families that predominantly vote for p.a.'s the government on those we don't we do not have such an option does this expose perhaps or is there a sense there where you are that this exposes perhaps a flaw in the cement that binds the european union together because this is one of

a very small list of a short list of issues that are decided and legislated over by individual e.u. member state governments so in this particular case what you're saying if a government wants to be seen to be tilting to the right it can try to reverse the clock and go back to the bad old days the 1950 s. the 1960 s. instead of moving up to or living up to a standard as deployed and utilized by other e.u. more liberal countries member states of the european union. when we have to remember that several members of the european union have been little i think or should last only barely simply going to sample of ireland we also have to look at the case of malta but indeed as you just pointed out the friend is thought it's liberalization so it's opening up for a little decision of people interested in the process and and case to case basis

rather than having them down the throat we're bound all sorts about the kind of procedure and medical procedure so totally and in fact yes. it is doing a counter-clockwise process you're in many ways it is also. it is also doing so when you know your party or you know of any job. to be in you know in a conflict with the european union there is this is ultimately i think terminal a fair fall in however there are other international organizations like the united nations for instance a response to the calls from women rights defender who are raising that issue of of the regulation that may in fact mean. torture

ok we have to leave it there wojciech schilsky really good to get the opinion of somebody so close to this compelling story it's an important story thank you for helping us to explain it for check in warsaw. after a long quiet period the u.k. seaports to france and belgium are expected to get back to normal this week but businesses are watching anxiously having to battle through new export paperwork brought in after and because of brics that for some it may mean saying farewell to their biggest market jonah hole reports from dover encamped. it's been a bad 12 months for covert hit retail and hospitality were complete grocery or for green grocery through both through goods through the delicatessen bread from fantastic bakery down to folkestone but for small and medium sized businesses like this one importing stock from the e.u. what lies ahead is also uncertain thanks to brics it would talk about small businesses who then have to digest through these great trade deals between between

states right i think of course here we are the economic end of it so that clarity can my business apps actually survive through the realities and then for us we're fortunate we can look at other sources we can look around to see well. we can no longer get a french briefer i can say because the cop price point doesn't give an opportunity to an english we said there were opportunities from fresh produce to fine wine importers and exporters alike the reality of britain's breakup with its largest market is becoming clear the light switched on and it dawned on us that actually this was going to be a quick fix this wasn't going to go away all of a sudden the cheshire cheese company has shelved investment plans to cope with previously growing sales to e.u. consumers the search is on for alternatives one door closes another one opens we already shipped to the u.s. and canada we could probably stand a heck of a lot less and maybe fill that up by chasing chasing business in other parts of the

world and effectively leave you completely innocently out of the equation that sounding the main choke point for trade is here dove where print. have been made for a new border checks and not far away vast lorry parks have been created in anticipation of long delays a month since the u.k. trade deal was struck and several weeks since it came into effect and most of the queues in congestion have been down to cope with 19 drivers having to be tested before they make their way to france the absolute volumes of trade have been fairly low business is making use of stockpiled supplies but as those supplies begin to dwindle the expectation is that perhaps within days something like normal volumes of trade will resume likely causing further delays and adding to the difficulties faced by businesses and entrepreneurs attempting to navigate complex customs systems fees and paperwork where once there was mutually beneficial frictionless

trade across the channel in some cases now the brakes are being applied general whole al-jazeera dover. israel has extradited a former australian school principal who's facing sexual assault charges mel khalifa has fought against her extradition in israeli court since 2014 before losing an appeal at the supreme court she faces $74.00 charges including rape involving girls at an ultra orthodox jewish school she ran and meldon who holds israeli citizenship fled australia in 2008 when the accusations emerged at least 53 people have been killed when a bus collided with a truck in western cameroon the truck was carrying flammable liquids 29 others were injured cameron's transport minister has now ordered an investigation. firefighters in argentina's north are struggling to contain fires destroying large areas of forest for a 3rd day the area affected in rio negro province nearly doubled on weapons day now

$11000.00 have been destroyed the cause of the fire is not yet known but 2020 was the country's dry instance if teenie is. still to come here on the al jazeera news hour 2 of n.b.a.'s top teams meet in what's many think could be a preview of the season's final that's coming up in sport with peter when we come back.

welcome back u.s.

senator bernie sanders is raising millions of dollars for charity using a popular mean of him and his mittens comes at a time when millions of americans are struggling to put food on the table and the chapelle picks up the story. the senator from vermont became the unlikeliest of fashion icons at the inauguration by wearing woolly mittens made from repurpose sweaters and recycled plastic bottles made by school teacher i was just trying to keep warm trying to pay attention to what was going on within hours the image of bernie sanders was everywhere repurposed into days of hilarious content on social media with the senator appearing in major films historical moments and even the al-jazeera newsroom chairman sanders merchandise quickly sold out his political action committee has raised $1800000.00 for area charities including meals on wheels an organization that delivers food to senior citizens who live alone to be king was inspired to make a doll of the senator it fetched 40000 dollars on

e bay it's very inspiring like how i no matter your political views one of his main goals is to help people how can you not like somebody who wants to donate you meals on wheels you know anything so he inspired me to do the same thing 50000000 americans including one in 4 children are food insecure demand on food pantries has spiked during the pandemic so any effort to feed the hungry is certainly welcome at a time where help is needed more than ever and al-jazeera. time for your international sports news here's peter thank you peter tokyo olympic organizers say their main partners have raised no doubts or objections about hosting the games in july and that includes the international olympic committee and the sporting federations involved in the games the i.o.c. yesterday insisted that holding the games would not be irresponsible and that it's a question of how not if they will take place they expect to release a playbook soon to explain how they plan to get thousands of athletes to compete

safely. i'm sure after talking with everyone and asking them about their thoughts the i.o.c. president thomas back told us that no one from anywhere raise questions or objections and everyone wants to make the tokyo games a success. so organizers are defiant to spite the majority of japan's public being in favor of another postponement all calling it off altogether they've been speaking to the huff post stratus waldron who explains how difficult it would be to cancel the olympics at this stage. i don't think anyone wants to call these off because of the money and reuters had a report this morning that insurers would lose $2.00 to $3000000000.00 if the olympics are canceled tokyo and japan have already spent upwards of $15000000000.00 on the olympics probably more than that when it's all said and done i don't think anyone wants to be responsible for making this decision because of the money involved but at the same time the i.o.c.

the organizers and in japan and every national epic committee involved in this has a responsibility to the people of japan and to the rest of the world to ensure that this can be done safely and if it can to not do it because ultimately at the end of the day it's not worth it if if it can't be done safely and at this point and it's still pretty hard to conceive of a way that it can be done safely. without massive gains in vaccinations and huge drops in the number of cases in japan and other parts of the world some of the australian open tennis players who have spent 14 days confined to the hotel rooms are going to have to wait a bit longer a total of $960.00 players coaches and stuff of being in full lockdown because of positive covered $1000.00 cases on their flights the 1st group was released a few hours ago but it could take until sunday afternoon for the rest to follow and so far being 8 positive cases a link to the tournament which starts on february 8th. so football then there was

a shock in the english premier league title contenders manchester united beason at home but the bottom team sheffield united won $21.00 with goals from brian and all of a berth was only the 2nd when all season and 1st at old trafford in 48 years and just united to run beaten in 16 last chance to retain top spot and it means rivals manchester city are top by one point with the game in hand. the boys have been absolutely terrific for the last few months and they've been really really consistent high performance level. tonight was i would like to. you know hit those levels and when you don't in the premier league you don't get results thomas to call the 1st game is chelsea head coach finished in a goal of draw with wolves the german took over from frank lampard on tuesday but despite his players making 820 passes more than any other team in the game this season they couldn't find the net he was happy with what he saw. from now

on a starting point and we will absolutely focus on our strengths and the qualities that we absolutely have and we will build a team that nobody wants to play against. as this is the challenge. was to challenge for me to do this as fast as possible what i saw today i was very very pleased and from from here we can reconstruct pakistan are on top of the 1st cricket test against south africa in karate hosts blitzed 70 runs in less than an hour on the 3rd morning after stan would finish on $378.00 all out for an overall lead of $15088.00 and markram led the fight back to south africa he managed 74 before falling to. the south africans were 1874 for a lead of just 29 at the close of play. former president bill clinton was among those to speak at the funeral of baseball great hank aaron the former atlanta braves star died on friday at the age of 86 he famously defied

a racist death threats on his way to breaking babe ruth's home run record in 174 a record which stood for 33 years aaron remains 2nd on the all time list behind barry bonds hank aaron's greatness as a baseball player was. just a part of the ordinary fabric of american life you know spring would come on the trees are more awesome the bird richer. in here and we begin to worry 100 pictures in the n.b.a. the current champions los angeles lakers were beaten by the philadelphia 76 ers on wednesday in a matchup some of thinking could be a preview of the season's finals the lakers playing in blue here could not avoid defeat despite the best efforts of le bron james a closely contested game finishing with a late basket from the 76 ers 107106 the final score. elsewhere le bron's old team the cleveland cavaliers were on the winning side

against the detroit pistons column 16 scoring 29 points while alex drummond andre drummond had 23 points and 16 rebounds cavaliers snapping a 2 game losing streak with a 120 to 107 win. french sailor yannick best event has been declared the winner of the van de globe around the world race he was actually not the 1st across the finish line but was awarded a time bonus for his role in rescuing a fellow competitor whose boat sank and to take that into account he completed the race faster than anyone else singlehandedly sailing around the world in 80 days 13 hours 59 minutes and 46 seconds it was only you are over 30 she declared it's wid you come from total so the cheated the celebrations these lights people ahead despite the complicated situation with 19 it's a joy and it's not sunk in yet it's all the child's dream come true. we'll leave it there for the whole sport later peter peter thanks very much italy has the world's 2nd oldest population and europe's 2nd highest coronavirus death toll so many

elderly people social distancing means being isolated from their families for a long time especially for those in care homes staff director reports however from avellino in southern italy some have come up with a new idea that bring affection and touch back after nearly a year of distance. who am i asked his mother might. be. i'm luigi he reminds her it's all a little overwhelming. with the mask is the fuel in the plastic bag she's difficult. 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 aspect father and daughter kiss for only the 2nd time in a year plus a burger flipper for a little posh she tells him everything passes didn't do her posture to the rest of them of their anger 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 gatherings with grandparents often at the very center. here if you will my dream is to hug or my relatives again to have company to see

happiness for a spall to be together. vaccination 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 sayed 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 i will feel iraq even worse stephanie decker al-jazeera avellino in

southern italy. 30 minutes of news for you when we come back. ok calm and make sure 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 dads often legitimize them legal one is pedophile and on arrow online jumping to the comments section and the team to be part of the discussion this stream on out is the era in american people have finally for poking around here as i see it one america is off balance or will become more dangerous the world is looking at us with a mixture of sadness and maybe. with the election behind us will the republican

party dump truck fuel weekly take on us politics and society that the bottom of. the state is on the cusp of a new chapter of its history. after the us on the telephone signed an agreement to pave the way for the withdrawal of international troops. the high cost was paid to get to this point. over the past few years the us has increasingly conducted its part of the war from the sky with more bombs dropped last year than any other year in the past decade. but with that came a rise in civilian casualties. this is all accidents do happen mistakes do happen and that this is about owning our mistakes says about saying sorry in this about accountability in the in the last the only count award for families we interviewed not receiving adult humans from the u.s. left without closure. they told us that they so look what happened to their loved ones was a crime. and they want justice and answers something warts who also do not.

prank assessments you go on the ground in the canaries what is the situation there's only one doctor and one nurse for 2200 people and in-depth analysis. of the days global headlines. inside story on al-jazeera. the russian opposition leader alexina need to remain in jail until his trial next week for a parole violation.