the actual numbers could be much higher than advertised researchers say that huge gaps in testing capacity that the government is now trying to close extrapolate that across the country and the spread of corona virus appears far wider than anyone. protests in russia as opposition leader alexina valley's jailed for more than 2 years world leaders demand his immediate release. jordan this is out of iraq now live from doha also coming up. the 1st

major protest in near ma against the military coup a civilian leader and something she has put under house of cards. u.s. president joe biden signs 3 executive orders rolling back donald trump's hardline immigration policies and amazon's founder jeff bezos is stepping down as c.e.o. that's latest quarterly profits it's $7000000000.00. but we begin in russia where opposition leader and president putin's most for medical critical xtina valley has been sent back to jail he's been sentenced to more than 2 years in prison for violating probation terms by traveling to germany to lifesaving treatment after he was poisoned with a nerve agent his lawyers say they'll appeal the conviction the u.s. britain germany and the e.u. are all calling for his immediate release well security has been stepped up in the

capital moscow more than 900 people have been detained as nadal his supporters gathered to protest against the ruling well we'll have an update from moscow but 1st here's charley angelou. once again alexina valley is paying a high price for his criticism of the kremlin as a court sentenced him to $3.00 and a half years the judge found the valley guilty of breaking probation failing to report to russian police over an embezzlement charge the fact he was in hospital in berlin was not accepted the valley was there recovering from nerve agent poisoning he alleges was carried out by the russian state the kremlin critic drew a heart on the glass in court for his wife and asked his supporters to protest. the aim of this hearing is to scare a great number of people it works this way jail want to scare millions. i hope that this hearing will be interpreted by people as a signal that they have to be more scared it's not

a demonstration of power the national guards of russia this cage they are a demonstration of weakness you can't jail hundreds of thousands and millions. of us outside the court a major show of force from police rounding up and detaining of only supporters who call not only for his release but for the release of russia from putin's rule no one you saw in this pretty deal this is total lawlessness you can think whatever you want about alexina valmy as a politician but the problem is that if such high profile people can be arrested in a live television broadcast without a reason it means that people like you and i are known people they can do whatever they want to us the margin of this trial is a sham like many other trials in russia this is a politically motivated case he was poisoned in russia but that crime is not under investigation he returned to russia and they have jailed him straight away everything these going on has nothing to do with justice. after days of nationwide

rallies detention centers are overflowing and despite the threat of new sanctions from the west the kremlin has shrugged off criticism from the u.s. in europe and continues to deny that the valley was ever poisoned you don't see it in the marsh we've still not had an answer for on what basis the swedish military made their conclusion that mr novelli was poisoned by an agent from the group. in the last 10 years nirvana has been jailed more than 10 times many working for his anti corruption network have now been detained and his spokeswoman is under house arrest but his lawyers promise to appeal against his verdict while he asks people in and outside russia to continue putting pressure on putin charlie angela is there but the police crackdown on the valmy supporters has been swift as alexandra gold ford reports from moscow well today the security was wrong and the court building behind me but also the surrounding area and they were not letting anyone

in who doesn't believe here they were also detaining people that were coming straight out of the metro stations so preventing any kind of fraud is they were detaining people for looking suspicious in the sense that they might be protesting for. the moment the verdict came in so seized the ones that are still. not detained they called for his supporters to come to the center of moscow the center of moscow is now completely sealed actually the police started gathering there hours before the verdict was announced and they now shut it down completely some people that tried to approach the appointed spot which is a very close to the kremlin it's a square that is a joint meant to the right square they started detaining these people the same situation is in another city of russia the city where from some petersburg where

there is also a hundreds of police in gauged in preventing any kind of protest happening tonight . well as he mentioned there's been global outrage against the verdict u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken called for the immediate and unconditional release of the valley and his supporters u.k. foreign secretary dominic robb described the court ruling as perverse and the german chancellor angela merkel said violence against peaceful demonstrators must stop let's bring in richard white sees an expert on russia at the white distraught global consultancy and joins us live from washington d.c. richard said alexina valley's said to the court that look putin come to arrest the entire country so what do you make of this prison because it's not likely to silence him about the is it you know but i think they are the kremlin is following a strategy that we've seen in bello roofs and other places. of protest against kremlin backed candidates or the kremlin itself in this case which is to try and.

let week in the opposition let it play itself out with some protests that basically pick off their leaders one by one so by bringing putting him in jail for a couple years that doesn't totally silence time he still has his you tube channel presumably his wife and others will remain active but their thinking probably is they can basically weaken their opposition anough so that while it means widespread it doesn't represent a systemic threat to the regime yeah i mean in the valley and supporters of cool for yet more demonstrations what does a jail term mean for the protest movement going forward is it likely to get stronger because those protests have spread right across the country. right so short term that the kremlin strategy is clearly failed trying to kill him and then underestimating his willingness to come back and accept the jail term has really

made him very popular made him a martyr exposed all people into people's anger corruption and so on but again their strategy is probably just to going to resist these protests was some forceful but let them play out and then presume that in a couple months now and so on that this will die out as it's been incurring indel rusin elsewhere so i think that's their strategy just to accept some short term increase in opposition in the expectation that long term they will keep it marginalized and richard what is of all of this name then putin himself i mean he's failed to silence in the valley the protests to spread across the comfortable sort of political impact is this having on the president. well you would think that this particular approach of nadal me calling him you having a slogan putin as a thief for exposing all his wealth is going to be much more effective in setting him right putin then some other opposition which has been more based on subsumed

policy differences and so on and so but he is shown himself very patient very calculating trying to use others such in this case the courts to pursue his and so i suspect that he also thinks that he can basically just withstand the current protests and story may not to keep killers of power which includes the security forces the heads of the large national corporations his political party and so on. richard just a final thought to you i mean look there's been strong international condemnation of on these poisoning now we have this jailed so what more pressure can the international community bring on putin in particular the new u.s. administration under president biden right i think that the clinton administration is just as soon as the biden ministration said it's not going to be any improvement

any near term proven in russia u.s. relations so they've accepted that criticism that's something that they can just that's going to occur and they'll just they can deal with it but there are some new ideas about how the make the sanctions more effective than a volley team itself so offering lists of names of people or sanction that they think of big skate that perhaps rounds of sanctions that are very close to the president so in theory if you can get enough of putin's close allies close partners concerned about their future wealth about their future status then they might choose to remove him from power and put someone else then but that's you know that's that's it's very difficult to foresee richard was thank you very much indeed for talking to al-jazeera and. now the u.s. has classified the military takeover in myanmar as a coup and that means washington could look for ways to impose tougher sanctions on the generals who seized power on monday for the 1st time in min miles largest city young gone there's been widespread protests against the removal of the chief who is

now under house arrest ahead of me and me the man who now runs the country says the deposing of suchi was inevitable from younger his early fall. a day after a coup in myanmar soldiers on the street a stark reminder of the new military regime. in yangon banks and shops reopened as the city seemed to be quietly returning to normal but the mood among the people here seemed low as they digested what had happened. when i heard the news i couldn't believe it i'm sad i'm sad for the people i feel pain in my heart i think people are going to face trouble i would. rather i can't even eat or sleep we are not strong enough to do something back to them we don't have power they seize the power because they have guns we hear nothing. on monday the military detained the factory leader aung san suu kyi and other prominent political figures

since the arrests some regional ministers and lawmakers have been released. in a country where she and her and now tea party remain extremely popular winning a landslide victory in november elections this coup will undoubtedly be unwanted by many but always people are men and women. even children don't want to return to military rule you know and they hate even the thought of it you know very found of it or even want it but what can they do. the n l d party has released a statement tribute it on sansa chief calling for the people to protest against the military's actions. all the voters who gave their buck into his in the 2020 general election should follow us on through cheeze instructions to carry out civil disobedience. that call has been widely shared across social media here on the streets of yangon it seems like business as usual but overall it's company now

voices of dissent are starting to be happy. the n l d is calling for the immediate release of those who have been arrested a party spokesperson says suchi is in good health. and as the sun goes down the sons of resistance can be heard in the city. people striking pans and drums from their balconies and sound in their car hands all in protest against a military coup ali file young gone al-jazeera. the un security council held a meeting on the developments in myanmar but stopped short of taking immediate action are diplomatic. reports. the u.n. security council met in closed session but they couldn't agree a statement condemning what's happened in myanmar in recent days they heard from the u.n. special envoy christina shriner berg and she told them that and son suchi had been

moved from the place that she's been detained in to house arrest the spokes person for the u.n. secretary general though said that was still an acceptable and as a 1st step all detainees needed to be released the special envoy said given the apparent commitment by the military to safeguard the rule of law following the november 8th elections these turn of events was surprising and shocking the current president of the security council the british ambassador said that discussions will continue in the coming days there's been widespread concern among and across the international community i heard those concerns very clearly among my colleagues this morning and we welcome the role of regional partners including s.c.n. to resolve this crisis the key to the next steps on myanmar depend on one permanent member of the u.n. security council china in the meeting i'm told to the chinese representative was playing for time and diplomats say china has not yet shown its hand. amazon

boss jeff bezos has announced he's stepping down as c.e.o. later this year he set to become executive chairman where he plans to focus on new products and initiatives bezos leaves his post on a high note as the company posted quarterly sales a more than $100000000000.00 for the 1st time and they just see the head of amazon web services stepping up to run the company. time for a short break here not just when we come back donald trump's noire say the senate has no authority to try him we'll hear his argument. and japan extends its coronavirus state of emergency but says the delay tenanted some will go ahead one of the happens on stainless.

and i'm sure you're aware of the big winter storm is one where through the the east coast of the states this is what happened during daylight hours on tuesday central park a lot of snow the wind did pick up i think temperate we could call it there's a conditions time square you may be used to that picture but not necessarily with the snow you know there weren't that many people out and about certainly traffic wise and the most the snow is going to go spend most of the night and then wednesday up in canada but there's a backwash cold wind and that's going to feel pretty rope on the other side of the u.s. and in western canada you still got that big storm coming of the pacific bringing snow to the mountains very easily and rain sea level but in new york it's going to be a raw day on wednesday significant wind chill temperatures a 2 but it's quite a strong when the wind dies out on thursday they get a southerly so it slowly warms up with a bit of cold rain to come with it this is wednesday's picture then and it's the snow really this to focus in the west running through the cascades more especially

in the rockies and eventually will come to the plains and you're developing a winter storm here which makes itself pretty well shown during says take significant snow for the midwest again rain a bit further south the junction not too stormy and new yorks in the sun. it's 10 years since revolutions across the arab world challenge the power. but how did these leaders rise to their positions the principle of the before is dictation is to be patient they played the game very carefully and how did they stay in control of the common frame amongst the arabic states is is incredible will to survive the arab awakening absolute power. on a jersey. welcome

back a quick amount of our top stories here on the al-jazeera the russian opposition leader lexan abound he has been sent back to jail and spend more than 2 years in prison for violating terms of his parole by traveling to germany for lifesaving treatment after he was poisoned by a nerve agent. while hundreds of the mounties supporters were detained as they gather to protest against the ruling that u.s. britain germany and the e.u. all calling for his immediate release and they've been public displays of anger against the military coup in the ne and ma people in the nation's largest city young gone banging pots to protest against the overthrow of elected leader and sons in chief she's not a new moved into house arrest. now u.s. president joe biden has signed a series of executive orders aimed at reversing donald trump's hardline immigration

policies they included creation of a task force to reunite hundreds of children separated from their families under trumped 0 tolerance policy that will be a review of the asylum process at the border with mexico alan fischer joins us live now from washington d.c. alan so tell us a bit more then about these executive orders and how much are they about reversing donald trump's hard line immigration policies. well the 3 executive orders these build on the ones that he signed on day one you'll remember that he helped the so-called dreamers children who've been brought here by parents who are undocumented migrants who knew no other life than being here in the united states and also when he overturned the what became known as the muslim but on the ban on predominantly muslim countries people coming in from noise know what he's turning his attention to is essentially what's been going on at the us mexico border you remember that donald trump put in place as 0 tolerance policy that led to

a number of families being separated from one another hundreds of families that were affected by that he's now going to set up a task force which will be led by the new homeland security secretary just confirmed in the last few hours and he will see if he can try and put those families back together again there is a difficulty they don't know exactly how many they're talking about hundreds but really the figure they're not entirely sure of and they're not entirely sure where all these family members are so that is a big job that has to be taken care of they're also looking again at the policy of those coming to the united states seeking asylum you'll remember that don't trump cut the numbers of asylum seekers quite radically also those who want to become new citizens and also those who are pursuing green cards the right to work here in the united states now the president says this isn't about making a law by executive order this is about overturning policies which he considered unfair described by his own press secretary as

a moral. this is about how america is safer stronger more prosperous now we have a fair orderly and you main legal immigration system and with the 1st action today. we're going to work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally not figuratively ripped children from the honors of their families their mothers and fathers at the border and with no plan none whatsoever to reunify the children are still in custody and and their parents the 2nd action addresses the root causes of our migration to our southern border and a further action of the 3rd order i'm going to be signing orders a full review of the previous administration's harmful and counterproductive immigration policies basically cross border and alan biden's team isn't done with immigration just yet so what more can we expect to see rolled out. well we're told

there's going to be a few more executive orders one thing that they're going to look at is the fact that a number of families are currently staying in camps in mexico they have applied for permission to come to the united states but because of the policies put in place by the trumpet ministration they weren't allowed into the country to wait for their court hearings the distinct camps in mexico they came not just from mexico but of course from all over central america there's also going to be a push by the biden campaign for a comprehensive immigration reform bill he talked about this day one he wants to see it in the next couple of months apparently they've been working on it behind the scenes that's part of the review that's ongoing what can they present to congress that would be acceptable there but one of the things that the biden administration has said they would like to see is a pathway to citizenship for those undocumented migrants who currently in the united states know the figures on those are somewhere between 12000000 and 21000000

and while their support among democrats there are many republicans who see that simply is not going to fly with them they don't want to see that happen they wouldn't be able to sell it to their constituencies and the point as well in many cases that donald trump was as popular as he was is because of his hard line stance on immigration so that we're going to see what comes from the bite the ministration but it's clear that joe biden isn't done with immigration yet all right alan fischer live for us there in washington d.c. allan thank you well 2 more biden cabinet appointees have been confirmed by the u.s. senate and 100 new york has just been sworn in as secretary of homeland security is the 1st latino and the 1st immigrant to hold the position in your class is expected to play a central role in biden's attempts to reverse some immigration restrictions imposed by donald trump and earlier people to judge was confirmed as transportation secretary he's the 1st openly gay member of the u.s. cabinet a former presidential contender will be leading white house efforts to increase

spending on infrastructure. meanwhile the impeachment case against donald trump has been set in motion at the senate democrats who drafted the charges have accused him of endangering the lives of all members of congress by inciting his supporters to storm capitol hill trump's legal team says the senate lacks the authority to try him now that he's no longer president. has more from washington d.c. on the charges being presented by the democrats. their argument is that what we saw here on capitol hill on january the 6th was the culmination of a campaign by a dog from. out all costs a campaign that began even before the election he was already priming his supporters to not accept potentially the results of the election following the election he didn't receive the results he wanted he began trying to overturn those results and failed as a result there he summoned his supporters to the capital according to democratic house managers may use a very memorable phrase that he someone demob to washington exhorted them into

a frenzy and aimed them like a looted cannon down pennsylvania avenue and we saw the riot here on capitol hill as a result as far as the the defense argument that it's simply on constitutional to impeach a former president but democrats say that cannot be true because the constitution says a president has to be held accountable from the 1st day of his presidency to the last day of his presidency there can't be a january exception that is you can't impeach a president in january because in a few weeks they're going to be handing over power anyway because if there was such an exception then surely other leaders would be encouraged to try to hold on to power in january as well because they would be held accountable by congress so that's the that's the argument from the democrat house members. scientists say a covert 19 variant detected in the u.k. has further mutated in a way that could help if they vaccines tests show the changes are similar to those

seen in the more contagious south africa and brazil there in the u.k. is tightening measures to control the spread of new strains with more testing and tougher travel restrictions. there huge amount of work with the scientists and the pharmaceutical industry to add to develop a modified vaccine should they be necessary and we're also monitoring the results of that to understand the intricacies of the existing vaccines against the variance of concern meanwhile a new study has found the oxford astra zeneca vaccine remains effective for longer than previously thought trial research shows 76 percent efficiency against infection for 3 months after a single dose it was also better at fighting the virus when a 2nd dose was given more than 12 weeks after the 1st it comes in the same day french authorities approved its use but only for people under 65 and russia sputnik

the vaccine has been found to be nearly 92 percent effective in protecting against corona virus that's according to peer reviewed results from it stage 3 trials published by the lancet it's also been found to be safe and of a complete protection against hospitalization and death the vaccines been approved by 15 countries. palestinians in the occupied west bank had begun receiving the russian sputnik the vaccine and health workers were among the 1st to get the jobs after a batch of 2000 doses arrived from israel more international shipments are expected within days rights groups have put pressure on israel to ensure palestinians get access to a vaccine meanwhile in israel more than 3000000 people have received their 1st dose of the coronavirus vaccine the health ministry found that point 3 percent of israelis reported side effects says the symptoms were similar to those often experienced after most other vaccines. the organizers of the tokyo olympics say the event will happen later this year regardless of the pandemic the games are

supposed to start in just under 6 months time earlier on tuesday japan's prime minister extended a state of emergency in tokyo and 9 other regions from months to curb infections out of the restaurants movie reports. well it all wanted that's been the question surrounding the tokyo 2020 unpacks already postponed by yet because of the pandemic i think one of the biggest questions of course is whether or not it's safe to bring about a 1000000 spectators expects to to one of the most densely populated cities in the world during a pandemic and i think what you need to do is think about you know 20 years from now how will history remember this moment well we look back at tokyo 2021 and say boy that was a big mistake that was out a super spreader event on tuesday tokyo 2020 president you she remarked he was adamant the games will go ahead in july. he will hold the games regardless of how the coronavirus situation looks we need to go beyond our discussions of whether to

hold or not and discuss how to hold it. organizers and the international olympic committee are due to announce this week the measures against coronavirus failed put in place to ensure the safety of athletes and officials but public enthusiasm for hosting the games is waning in 2 polls conducted in japan last month 80 percent of respondents say the tokyo olympics should be canceled or postponed japan itself is battling a rise in new coronavirus cases the government has just extended a state of emergency in tokyo and other regions for another month but it is keen for the games to go ahead saying it won't be a symbol of human victory against the pen damage organizing one of the world's largest sporting events is difficult enough pulling that off during a pandemic would be a big challenge and most likely a high risk one florence louis al-jazeera the u.s.

based ski company has carried out a 2nd test flight of its prototype rocket being developed to take humans to mars well things were going well until it tried to land the company says the test was an overall success because of the data it was able to collect starship is designed to transport people deep into space than ever before and possibly take a 100 people at a time. to have a quick check of the top stories here on al-jazeera russian opposition leader alexina valmy has been sent back to jail he'll spend more than 2 years in prison for violating terms of his parole by traveling to germany for a life saving treatment after he was poisoned by a nerve agent his lawyers will appeal his conviction unders of the valley supporters were detained as they gather to protest against the ruling the u.s. britain germany and the e.u. are all calling for his immediate release. had been public displays of anger

against the military coup in may and people in the nation's.