that's. a military coup and me and maher army general say they're seizing power for a year alleging fraud in last year's elections. this is al jazeera live from the headquarters and. also coming up the de facto leader and other political leaders are detained her party is calling for protests. as military says the power has been transferred to the commander in chief general men on flying. also ahead al jazeera investigation uncovers

a criminal network colluding with bangladeshi security forces and profiting from links with the prime minister. thanks for joining us we begin in myanmar where the military has seized power and declared a state of emergency the democratically elected leader. has been detained along with other senior politicians from the ruling party her party is calling on the people to protest against the coup we'll get more from shortly she's one of the few western journalists based in me and maher but 1st here's. myanmar was supposed to mark an exercise in democracy on monday but instead the military rounded up the nation's democratically elected leadership including on song suchi it then announced a coup on military run t.v. token the name of the state of emergency is in effect nationwide and the generation

of the state of emergency is set to one year military chief men on playing now rules the country monday was to be the 1st session of a new parliament after on songs to cheese party the national league for democracy one a landslide victory in november. recently the army made accusations of election fraud and tension between the civilian government and the military increased last week when a general refused to rule out the possibility of a coup but everybody there like this member of parliament and all the leaders and military critics were taken into detention before dawn this is our worst nightmare quite clearly this is the myanmar military scrapping the democratic experiment you know you're talking about a party that won a landslide election truly a landslide election and all of the sudden we have. the we have the president and other top people. under detention and

a state of emergency manufactured by the military to justify your long seizure of power there's a growing list of nations expressing concern over the situation in myanmar as well as the united nations the u.s. state department has called on the military to release all those who have been detained australia's prime minister says his country is keeping a close watch. rather disturbing. developments i'm aware of those troubling reports in the foreign minister has been following the the banks in myanmar have shut due to poor internet connection and not knowing what might come next people are stocking up on supplies it's got hardly al-jazeera so let's take a closer look at the general who is now in charge of men on klang took over the military in 2011 the same year mean maher began undergoing major political changes under a power sharing agreement the military has had a major say in defense on border affairs it's also guaranteed 25 percent of seats

in parliament has been credited for his part in critical national security decisions such as cease fire agreements with armed ethnic groups but 2 years ago he was sanctioned by the u.s. for his role in a military crackdown on rohingya muslims that led to more than 730000 people fleeing to neighboring bangladesh and in recent interviews with local media. said he'd be open to entering politics once he steps away from the military let's bring in allie is one of the few western journalists to be based in myanmar she's joining us from yangon so why is it that the military to this particular point saying that it already had significant power and a few days ago the military seemed to walk back the idea of staging a military coup. well that's really the key question they already have a huge amount of power a lot of people are skeptical about the idea that it's all the rumors they've built at least you wouldn't happen because it just doesn't make much logical sense they already have

a huge amount of power they have key positions in the ministry they have a key sway over. the government they have a influence in parliament and they're in a pretty comfortable position financially as well they've got the business interests and so on so you know under this current constitution the military as it was designed the military very comfortable and this was a constitution written by the military i was written by the former military government and they spent years writing it then years implementing it and so i think what is quite important to remember is that the military have never been keen to get rid of the constitution but what we heard last week was on wednesday men on lang said that at some point if the constitution wasn't being followed that it should be abolished now i think the way that that was interpreted by the international community and by a lot of them or observers was that this could be

a coup and so when when the military on saturday retracted that and said all his comments were misconstrued will follow the law that was also seen as a kind of a culling back of the coup rumors but actually i think what it might have been is is a pulling back of the almost the insults to the constitution the idea that he would get rid of the constitution would be very upsetting to the former generals the old guard people like dan choi the former dictator to whom minimum lying is reportedly still beholden and he's he was handpicked by by a man on line was handpicked by the way to take over so he definitely. is his creature or you know sort of set me allied with him. and so perhaps that retraction shouldn't be seen as a retraction of a threat of a cougar attraction of the threat of a ball to abolish the constitution perhaps what they were saying there is that we will follow the law and what they are doing is trying to justify this military

takeover through constitutional law and they're saying well this is article 417 of the constitution allows a military takeover and that's how they're trying to justify it but of course that doesn't take into account the fact that that handover has to be done hand over power to the military has to be done or initiated by the president who the former president until today was when me and he's an n l d chosen president of a member of the n o d for many years and he obviously would never have done that so what they did is 3 in the morning they arrested that president then the vice president who is a military appointee became acting president and then he enacted that constitution so they're trying to say that it's lawful but obviously that very 1st step doesn't seem to have any legal justification ok allie fowler reporting from yangon thank you. elizabeth parana is across the border in india's capital new delhi with

reaction from there. they released a statement saying that they are noting the developments with deep concern that india has been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in myanmar and that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld that they're monitoring the situation very closely while india has support for the democratic process it's also maintained very close ties with the. military because of its security concerns in the north east various armed groups in the northeastern states have had bases in myanmar over the past few decades and for that reason india is army has worked really closely with the myanmar's military to put pressure on those groups they conduct many joint operations as well as that india has always seen maintaining close contacts with me i must powerful military as a way to balance china's influence in the country and that's just one of the reasons why india has never criticized me i must handling of the red cross the

violence against the hanger which led to tens of thousands fleeing the country into india analysts here are saying that this is not what india wants to see that this is the last thing in fact that india would want to see is a we can do me on my on its border and of course we can myanmar that might give that might sort of fall into the clutches of china being pressured to do china's bidding in the region katrina used in beijing with reaction from china. well china's foreign ministry has released a quite brief statement in response to what's happening in myanmar its it said that china hopes that all sides could properly manage their differences under the constitution and legal framework and uphold stability beijing also described itself as a good friendly neighbor to myanmar and said it was watching closely and waiting to see how things develop to that so quite a muted statement no criticism whatsoever china has tended to take

a noninterference approach to these matters and most importantly beijing seems to be concerned about stability the stability in myanmar and if things should escalate how that might affect the greatest stability of the asia region but of course man ma is very close to china relies on china economically is the biggest trading partner 2nd largest source of foreign direct investment what is true is that the military will certainly need backing going forward especially if any other into international players place any economic sanctions on myanmar on the military beijing's economic support will be a sort of lifeline for military going forward it certainly hasn't commented on that directly but it's watching very closely the main thing for beijing is ensuring that its own interests of very well protected and they're also going to be watching and waiting to see whether this transition office china any other opportunity to expand

its influence in the region to the state department has also reacted saying the united states opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede me in mars' democratic transition and we'll take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed we're monitoring the situation closely and stand with the people of burma who have already endured so much in their quest for democracy and our white house correspondent kimberly hoggett has more from washington d.c. . well i think that these are very strong words coming from the state department it is calling for the release of the civilian leader it says it is watching these events with grave concern and alarm and is also calling for the respect of the will of the people for those elections on november 8th so it's very clear that this white house that is just really into its 2nd full week is facing a significant test in terms of how to respond that says that it stands with the

people in their aspirations for democracy and that the military must reverse actions it's also essential he threatened to take further action if that does not happen the white house press secretary gentz psaki saying very clearly that there will be consequences that there is a time to act and that time is now still ahead i'll just throw the 1st batch of vaccines arrive in south africa as it battles a 2nd wave of coverage $1000.00 driven by a more contagious variant a bail hearing in hong kong for jimmy guide and media tycoon charged with violating beijing's national security law. it's time for the perfect gentleman who went on sponsored point qatar airways

their way doesn't go by any means for the sydney smell of a difference in the air at the moment over the korean peninsula parts of china and japan rain came up rain's going away and the cold replaces what's temporarily mildest this is choose days for cuts now would he have so it's cold enough for a bit more snow in home share with subzero in so then we go above freezing up to plus 2 in the breeze from the south so yellow sea and once again got some snow well the high ground and home shoe or hawk however so represents a flip flop nature of this plus 2 to minus 2 and then back up to 7 degrees in the southwest breeze by friday now the rainy season is still of course going strongly in malaysia and indonesia but the focus is definitely down the western side of borneo then when the winds come together through java and all points east was poppea new guinea rain is not really the thing in india at the moment a few showers on the east of the delta and in strykers be quite sherry there's

a hint there was something happening for the knoll snow showers in the north of pakistan the finals of in the year certainly cold here and that might well end up steering the atmosphere producing sun storms in new delhi on thursday and friday improving the air quality. sponsible qatar airways. welcome to doha from every one of us. even those working quietly behind the scenes. so you can relax and enjoy the perfect break in your journey back. and when you leave with a smile we know la day's work is done qatar airways welcome to our home.

hello again the top stories on 00 mean mars military has seized power and. other officials. hold elections after a year when a state of emergency has expired to take over comes after the military alleged widespread voter fraud in november's election. parties are urging people to reject the coup and protest there is heavy military presence in major streets throughout me and more communication lines have been disrupted following them in the trees take over. there's been widespread international condemnation of the coup the u.n. is calling it a serious blow to democratic reforms all the european union is calling for the outcome of recent elections to be respected. the general now in charge of me and

was sanctioned by the u.s. 2 years ago over human rights abuses against rohingya muslims in 2017 the military launched a crackdown against armed group in the western state of rakhine the rohingya say their homes were set on fire by the military and buddhist militias more than 730000 refugees fled violence rape and torture to neighboring bangladesh the un described the operation as textbook ethnic cleansing and today urging the global community to help restore democracy in may and mar at any cost but officials in bangladesh have called for peace and stability in me and mar but this coup has cast doubts over the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees living in cox's bazar sound has more from the capital dhaka. well the 1st official reaction was from the foreign minister he said it really doesn't matter who is in power the repatriation agreement must be followed through now the foreign ministry itself send out

a press release saying that it hopes that the constitutional arrangement and the democratic process will be upheld in myanmar although i spoke to some official off the record they're still concerned that think that my military might take a hardline approach it need to be saving concept that has been recent trilateral meeting between china bangladesh and myanmar china is a very close ally of bangladesh it has been trying to influence china to exert pressure on me and mark to start their repatriation process and there was some progress there was going to be another meeting in director general level of foreign office about the country to start the process. on my side that it won't be anytime soon. till june or july not that whole thing might just fall apart because they will be too busy with domestic politics right now there's been interesting reaction from the camp i spoke to a lot of the rowing a leaders as well as some community people i know they're happy actually they said that she is behind. rather detention they said she has been

a big failure for us she gave us a lot of hope we even voted for so many of us during 2015 election but she let us down it was during her time that janet genocide in their trusted it took place they're not very happy with the military because the military has been the key from sixty's onwards to systematically. crack down on joining us and deal them move on to other news now on the plane carrying south africa's 1st 1000000 coronavirus vaccine doses from astra zeneca has arrived here looking at. the latest pictures in fact out of johannesburg the country is battling a 2nd wave of infections driven by more contagious variant 1st identified there there's been concern over the effects of the vaccine. against the mutation south africa is the worst hit country on the continent with almost one and a half 1000000 cases that more than 44000 deaths. johannesburg she explained some

of the challenges south africa faces in its 1st vaccine rollout it's. well i would imagine that arrival of the 1st batch of vaccines in south africa has come to the relief of millions of south africans who up till now have been very uncertain about what happens in terms of a vaccination rollout the government has been criticized for being slow to start in terms of procuring those vaccines and also a rollout but now $1000000.00 doses of that astra zeneca vaccine has arrived in south africa a further 500000 are expected to arrive later this month and we understand given the information the government has given out that the immediate focus will be to vaccinate health workers those on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic but if it's if the government's looking at using it about $1500000.00 vaccines or doses rather they are probably only going to manage to effectively vaccinate around

$750000.00 health workers but some of the other challenges so far is also that of storage there's just 6 we know that the astra zeneca a vax back scene is one that is more suitable for south africa and the continent at large given that it needs to watch the cities of about $2.00 to $3.00 degrees celcius we also know that south africa has secured a total of perhaps $42000000.00 vaccines some of them coming from pfizer for example and that requires a minus 70 degree storage facilities the just examine issue confidence and some of the challenges that have been presented to the government in getting people on board with this rollout process drugmaker pfizer has pledged an additional 75000000 vaccines to the european union for the 2nd quarter that brings the total number of doses for the block this year to 600000000 according to european commission president ursula long delay in vaccine rollout has been slower than hoped in part due to supply issues

a small loan scheme designed to help street vendors in india cope with cope with 19 . caused huge controversy there been allegations of corruption mismanagement and nepotism imran khan has war. it was supposed to be one of the indian government's flagship coded 19 relief packages the plan was simple help the poorest street vendors stay on their feet and offer them small loans to help them get through the pandemic the street vendors are in some ways the beating heart of the economy with little or no expenses they sell their wares from the street at a price india's poorest can afford without the many in the country would go hungry and the venues themselves broke the prime minister narendra modi was involved in the creation of the scheme and lent it his name the microphone was $138.00 us dollars to be paid back over a year at a low interest rate however many of the vulnerable street vendors didn't qualify and i don't know why. i never got a loan and if she doesn't she doesn't eat. the local bodies i'm not approving

the papers that can get us the loan the other organization helping us and fill in forms but most of them all being rejected all forms will loan approval just being projected please are unlikely to change much are even saying of the national street vendors association says corruption and nepotism also blame so the people who are not bringing to the street when things they have also been given them in their word to show that large numbers of people are getting low and the government hailing the scheme as a success with one politician from the governing be j.p. applauding modi's efforts. this is a very ambitious scheme of prime minister modi and the scheme is basically for the very poorest sections of the society you must have seen during the lockdown all the handcart vendors or those who sell things on the streets were greatly affected to the point that they completely lost their means of livelihood. but for street

vendors like the occasional hero it's far from a success. i tried many times i even submitted all the papers i always got the same reply from bank officers that it's in process and will be done but i never got the loan if i would have gotten the loan then i would not have faced problems i would have done my business in a better way for now in the street vendors get by as best they can and hope that government will make good on its pledge to help me and them get through the pandemic imran khan says or police in new delhi have dug trenches and laid razor wire across roads to stop protesting farmers entering the city as india's finance minister delivered the annual budget in parliament farmers have been demonstrating for months against cultural laws they say will devastate their livelihoods and favor big corporations last week tens of thousands bring spiric aides on the outskirts of the capital and occupied a major landmark just there as investigative unit has uncovered

a criminal network colluding with the security forces of bangladesh and profiting from powerful links with the country's prime minister the investigation found evidence that generalizes who's the head of the bangladesh army helped criminals to evade justice and make money from state wealth or and has this exclusive report. generalised heads of the bank to show me a man appointed by prime minister sheikh hasina to defend the country. follows the general to malaysia and discover that he's also guarding his own secret . waiting for him is his brother harry cellmate he's a convicted murderer and an international fugitive from a notorious dukkha crime gang banger desh police put him on their most wanted list another brother is also there joseph was on death row but freed after he was pardoned by president abdul hamid in 2080. we then tracked down the

4th armored brother anis us with how reese he's on the run after fleeing a conviction for the same killing of a political activist mr for rahman in takar back in 1996 the men get a diplomatic escort from the bangladesh high commission their bond was shake a scene or began when the brothers worked as her bodyguards in the 1990 s. in a convert he recorded call general as he says the prime minister recently praised the loyalty of the brothers while speaking to prominent members of her ruling party. haris has been in hiding for 20 years protected by the general before he was part of a crime gang on the streets of dhaka now he says he can exert influence over state

institutions. going up and. down. play nothing that point for nothing. we found harrys in hungary where he runs numerous businesses under a false identity he tells our undercover source that he has shaikh has seen a support. because it took 7200000 to go to the 1st of them but little thing. that anyone can think of that there. is a hurry so also acts as a middleman for business deals in bangladesh. the man on the left is her son's business associate they think they're talking to a fund manager in london who wants to invest millions in the bangladesh hotel to do so this is really because he. usually is.

spatially. but the meeting is a sting set up by al jazeera is investigative unit. and. his son says he takes 20 percent from every deal. this is. basically. he's. there because mr levy everything. out is here invited all those involved including prime minister shaikh a senior and general as he's ahmed to respond to its findings none did so we'll thought on al-jazeera well you can watch the full investigation of the prime minister as men on al-jazeera 20100 hours g.m.t. . the u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken says the biden administration is considering new sanctions against north korea and other actions against russia he told u.s. media that washington is looking at responding to russia's crackdown on protesters

as well as election meddling blinken says he's deeply disturbed by the crackdown on those demanding the release of jailed opposition leader. germany is demanding russia immediately release the jailed opposition leader it's the 1st time berlin has spoken out on the matter of on the was detained when he returned from germany after receiving treatment for a poisoning you lawmakers are urging berlin to cancel a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline from russia because of these arrests hong kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist jimmy lai will remain in jail while judges consider his bail application the 73 year old is accused of conspiring with foreign forces under china's sweeping national security law in a hearing on monday government lawyers argued those charged under the law should be held in custody if you go holland was outside the court in hong kong she has more on the background of this case. this case in particular to sell great interest to

beijing it's a very sensitive case and it's also the 1st national security law case to reach the final court of appeal now he was granted bail on december 23rd already but due to noises from beijing mostly in the form of state media commenting on how hong kong's courts were not well versed in the national security law and hong kong's national security the department of justice brought that case back to the courts on december 31st and he was returned to jail jimmy lie as the media mogul and one of the most high profile pro-democracy activists it's a very strong international tie this case is set to set it's said to set a precedent for national security law cases in hong kong law was imposed by beijing on july 1st it's very vague and seen as draconian and it seem to have many moving

goalposts so lawyers here and prosecutors here are still said to be finding their way and this particular case is set to be able to define certain parameters for all parts national security law more and more cases are expected to be brought to prosecution in the future. and hello again here's a check of the headlines on al-jazeera mean mars military has seized power and detained civilian leader. and other officials it says it will hold elections after a year when a state of emergency has expired the takeover comes after the military alleged widespread voter fraud in november's election on science and cheese party is urging people to reject the coup and protest there is heavy military presence in major streets throughout me in mar.