what should americans be thinking and doing right now to be a bad idea they don't care about their work is all they care about is making money china is not going to be left out of the calling for the bloated defense budget to be cut the bottom line on us politics and policies america the world. war 2. al-jazeera. this is a news hour on al-jazeera i'm fully back to go live from our world headquarters in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes. a crackdown on myanmar's on tycoon protesters thousands of people defying rubber bullets tear

gas and arrests to rally against the military jump to. the stage is set for donald trump's historic 2nd impeachment trial the former u.s. presidents noirs insists he's not guilty of inciting an insurrection also this hour a world health organization team in china holds out the theory covered 19 was leaks from a lab but says it still hasn't determined which animal it came from. i'm elizabeth cohen i'm in northern india where rescuers are attempting to free dozens of people trapped in a tunnel since a catastrophic flood ripped through this mountainous region. montana how much were the sport has by munich reached the final of the club world cup plus england's cricketers wrap up a huge victory over india to take a one real lead in the series. thank

you very much for joining us police in myanmar cracking down on demonstrations against the military which seize power from the democratic democratically elected government a week ago thousands of people have been rallying nationwide for a 4th straight day despite new rules by the military to curb the growing civil disobedience movement despite a global outcry on the deposed civilian leader is still under house arrest scott hina begins our coverage with this report from neighboring thailand. facing live ammunition fire rubber bullets tear gas and more water cannon the addict who protesters defied a van and headed out to the streets in their thousands for a 4th straight day but the military junta has barred any gathering of more than 5 people and imposed a curfew in many areas from 8 pm to 4 am. undeterred and determined from many walks of life the protesters still came out i was here and if the civil disobedience

movement accelerates in the country as a whole the government machinery will start not only the lawyers i hope all the people will join the movement we must not lose a new is a joy except we must win that is why we are on the street now. in yangon police prepared for the protesters in the early hours there were 2 main areas in myanmar's largest city where they gathered by city hall and a large intersection near the university of yangon. in the country's 2nd largest city mentally thousands of protesters face water cannon and at least 27 people were arrested international condemnation of the coup has grown over the last few days new zealand the 1st country to go a step further new zealand is suspending all high level political and military contacts with main man. midsomer has also directed that new zealand's i'd program to mean my should not include projects that are delivered with all benefit the

military government we've also agreed to implement a travel ban to be formalized in the coming week on me i'm as military leaders. further international action is expected after a request by britain and the e.u. the united nations human rights council to hold a special session on the february 1st coup and all that's been happening in myanmar since scotland al-jazeera earlier i spoke to chris sidoti who's a co-author of their reports the economic interests of the myanmar military is also a former member of the un international independent fact finding mission on myanmar he says economic sanctions may be one of the few ways foreign countries can influence the military. the military has always been interested in maximising the income of the individual generals of the talk and more broadly funding military operations they take around 12 to 13 percent of the state budget in in the end so there's a lot of money going into the military from the state budget but they increase that

they increase they take through all of these business enterprises and they're enriching themselves through it with sanctions are important because the military feels the pressure of economic isolation there's no doubt about that and so the decision announced last week by the japanese company kiran to withdraw from a joint venture with the military in may in mass lodges brewery is a very important decision kiran had previously stopped paying dividends to the military and now as announced it will withdraw from the joint venture this kind of pressure is absolutely essential at this time now that the military has retaken control it is tightening the pressure is mounting and the pressure is on the military directly and on its partners to cut off the dollars to cut off supplies there are very few ways in which we can influence events in manama but what is happening at the moment is a tragedy and the very least we can do is to stop funding the military

war let's now bring in our way in who is the executive director of the burma human rights network is via skype from london thank you very much for joining us so it we're seeing this growing protest movement in myanmar a lot of defiance of ultimately what are the protesters trying to achieve is it to return to the past agreements between the military and civilian government or is says something else that they want to see happen now. what we want the people asking is to abolish the 2008 constitution because this is the constitution was drafted by the military in order to maintain the power into their grip so we will never get any developed german democracy as long as the military controlled of our own so we want gen democracy we don't we don't want we don't we don't like that to the constitution we want to abolish just draw in constitution and we want the federal government you know all the equal rights for all the minorities and ethnic

minorities religious minorities new zealand so far is the only country to be warning and you have to be seen to take action against the military other western countries have condemned of course a school the un i have nations also but they haven't yet taken strong measures it's been more than a week now since a school what do you make of that are you disappointed by this lack of strong action so far from the international community. we are we are constantly a book airing in international community to take serious action against a military specially the target sanction economic interest of the military such as the companies and their cronies so it is important that the international community need to take immediate steps to take the action against the military because if this if it is this the step has been taken the military will realize that in the long term they are going to be suffer because they are relying on this economic

their businesses and their companies on their cronies so one of these the sanctions imposed on the entities and this is the key. for them to do rely upon upon this so the international community immediately took to take action now and that people are expecting the international community because the asean countries and european union and the u.s. and u.k. and people so have people having great hope on the international community and we urge them to stand up with the people of burma this time does see protest movement want to see. return as a leader there's been a lot of criticism of her outside of myanmar forced because of her lack of what is seen as a lack of action on the issue on the right in a crisis do the people of myanmar want her back in power. jordi people want her to do to lead but there are some mixed feeling now because as long as 2008

constitution exist we never have any german democracy so i think this is the key factor even on some of that you also want to try you know to to change so she she will definitely agree with this with this point and that's why everyone is asking to abolish the 2008 of this constitution to finish their military rule in burma and to have the federal government thank you very much mr cow when for speaking to us cowan is executive director of the burma human rights network joining us there from london thank you very much for your time also. and there's lots more ahead on this al-jazeera news hour including hong kong's highest court denies bail to media tycoon jim eli who faces charges under beijing's national security law. betting big on bitcoin tesla invest $1500000000.00 in the digital currency with plans to accept it as a payment and we look at $1.00 of the fastest growing sports in the world paddle is coming up later with some of.

the and. it is a historic day in the united states says donald trump becomes the 1st former president to face an impeachment trial in the senate proceedings will kick off later on tuesday both sides will present their cases over the next few days present from former president trump is accused of inciting an insurrection on capitol hill which left 5 people dead he says the lection was stolen from him and his supporters to march on congress for ceding 2nd term joe biden's electoral college when where then suspended and politicians were evacuated or hacked to hide trying to deny he incited the attack they're also arguing it's unconstitutional to hold a trial for a former president will be speaking to our white house correspondent kimberly how kit with a view from the biden administration but 1st we go to. on capitol hill for us so day one of the 2nd impeachment trial of donald trump heidi what are we to expect

today. fully today we'll hear arguments in the afternoon on the constitutionality of this impeachment trial essentially trump's lawyers are trying to get this thing dismissed before the case is even argued they say that the plain language of the u.s. constitution which says a president if convicted would be removed from office they say that would be impossible in this case because trump has already left office and because of that and. ability thus this entire thing is illegal while the impeachment managers the house democrats presenting the case against trim say that argument is ludicrous they say this is why in the case of a former president the constitution offers the remedy that if he is convicted he would be disqualified may be disqualified from holding office in the future and they also argue that were this case to be just dismissed without the are without

the merits even argued that this was such a dangerous precedent that future leaders of this country could do whatever they wanted to in the few remaining last days while in office and get away with it with impunity so that those arguments will be hashed out this afternoon there will be a simple majority vote at the end of the day on whether or not senators agree that this trial is constitutional and we have a pretty good idea of how that will end up because just 2 weeks ago there was a very similar vote in the preceding up to this trial in which republicans failed to get this case dismissed the vote was 45 to 55 and in fact 5 republicans joined with democrats to continue with this trial after this we are expecting 4 days or so of arguments on the actually than the actual article of impeachment against which is charging him with inciting in insurrection democrats say that his

continued false statements that the election had been stolen from him and then a speech that directly preceded the rioting here in january 6th in which the president told his crowd of supporters to fight like hell to march to the capitol to stop the certification of joe biden's when democratic impeach managers say though those that's the evidence of his guilt but i spoke with a former attorney of president trump from his last impeachment who says not only is this trial in his view unconstitutional but that trump also did not incite violence because his speech should be protected by the 1st amendment. i don't think the words as charged in the impeachment article go fight like hell can be you know seen as 10 time out to a cold to buy a. horse won't be discussed until and if senators agree that this trial is

constitutional then after the arguments are hashed out though the question of whether or not there will be witnesses called upon that could drastically extend the trial but where it stands now fully is we're looking at perhaps a week long for this trial to unfold much shorter than the last impeachment trial that lasted $21.00 days in the trial portion and then of course at the end of this all will be that vote whether or not to convict and we know the likelihood of that happening with short require 17 republican senators to cross the aisle to convict trump well that likelihood is very slim thank you for that castro life or is there on capitol hill and so how is the biden administration viewing all this let's salt all white house correspondent kimberly hockett also in washington can be president biden seems to want to stay out of the fray. yes running in the completely opposite direction would be the best way to describe the white house's approach to what's happening on capitol hill the white house has taken great pains to say repeatedly

as reporters have pestered not just the president but also the white house press secretary to say that he is busy working on the agenda for the american people and that he is working very hard to provide relief in terms of kovac in the number of people that are still out of work still struggling to put food on the table this is something that the white house press corps has been eagerly trying to get a reaction from for days but the white house will not budge they say that the president will not be watching these proceedings that he's really focused on the agenda and the policy goals and in many ways this distraction that is happening on capitol hill and that is how the white house has basically characterized it is hurting joe biden's agenda so he really wants to get this done as quickly as possible there's no upside for him commenting on this because what it when the senate is focused on this trial they're not focused on passing covert relief and

they're also not focused on confirming the remainder of his cabinet including the attorney general maire gardaland so this is something that the white house is eager to see put behind the american people and the other thing that the joe biden is trying to do with his presidency is restore dignity and statesman like approach and so weighing in on this and commenting on it is certainly not going to meet that end state so the white house the sting hands off again the white house press secretary john psaki says that joe biden won't be watching this proceeding when it happens on capitol hill that he was on capitol hill for 36 years as a senator and now he's going to leave the senate and the makeup of the senate to handle this on its own while he focuses on his own goals helping the american people and uniting a very divided america all right candy thank you very. it is our white house correspondent let's discuss this further now with john rana han who's the co-founder of punchbowl news his eyes from washington very good to have you with us

john so the proper lines in this 2nd impeachment will be much easier to follow i think than the origin of the 1st impeachment just one county but convicting donald trump will be a lot harder right what are your expectations. well i think it's going to be very difficult to have a conviction or trump we were you know a test vote in this case as your correspondent mentioned whether or not the trial is actually constitutional 45 republicans voted against that you'd have to get 17 republicans to vote to convict trump assuming all the democrats did so it's hard to see where there will be a conviction a truck i think you'll see a lot of republicans do crying is behavior criticizing what he said but saying that doesn't rise to the level of. impeachment and you know that there are problems with the case and that you know they don't want to censure no former president your he

left office but will they be more republicans in your view making a shift when it comes to the vote today on the constitutionality on the of this trial whether or not trump can go ahead and being ph. you know i don't think that'll change at all we have 5 republicans crossed across the aisle and vote with democrats last time i think if you had voted 2 weeks ago on this issue to change now i think would jeopardize you you know would you take a real political hit and unless there's been some drastic argument made in the last 2 weeks that i'm not aware of i don't see anybody changing their votes today so what what sort of evidence are you expecting the democrats house managers will be providing to prove their case is of course are not on social media and the videos and so on but will that be sufficient i think dan to will be the center of their case they'll be able to show trump's speech from january 6th he was he did

a speech down by the white house and then of course part of that crowd who left the white house left the speech where he you georget is exhorted his followers to fight like hell and you know he called on vice president my parents to block the certification of joe biden's election electoral college victory and you know they're going to show that speech they're going to show i think a lot of videos and interviews with lighters who claim they were inspired by trump they're doing what trump told them to do i think there's a whole history of statements trust me before the election that it was going to be a fraud and then after the election he had months of statement so i think there's going to be a lot of evidence saying that you know trump attack the integrity election trump exhorted his followers to take some kind of action whether or not that was a violent attack on the capital that will be the question senators have to decide john what is it that that's at stake who is it on trial to many is it donald

trump or the republican party as a whole. i think there is you know i think it's a good question i think there's a little elements of both i think there was a lot of republicans who echo trumps a line about a for general election following election day and i think they thought this was a politically savvy move they were sticking with trump they were going to appeal to his followers especially those who want to you know run for president 20 twentieth's or somewhere down the line and i thought they i think they thought there was not a huge price to pay for but as you can see after 2 months of these statements and and you know really inflammatory comment by the president and his supporters are cross the country that target of violence that the you know the his rhetoric didn't matter it you know well they're not trying to blame for the senate to decide but i do think if you talk to democrats and you talk a lot of you know independent americans across the country they they were very you

know they're very upset about what happened on january 6th they see this is a 911 scale event an attack on democracy so i think the country has been you know watching this very closely what it means you know can you contest an election but not use that kind of rhetoric and i think that you know what we've seen since since a little since this attack is that there's been a real backlash for the part thank you thank you very much for talking to us john about this john brennan is the co-founder of punchbowl news joining us from washington d.c. and of course we'll have extended coverage here on out of his ear at the site of donald trump's 2nd impeachment trial beginning at 1800 hours g.m.t. and we hope you join us then. into other world news now and a team of experts investigating the origins of covert 19 in china has dismissed the theory it was engineered the world health organization researchers have been in the chinese city of juan after months of delay to find out how the virus spread to

humans and what caused it as speak to hong kong for a so sorry tellus more about what the w.h.o. team have said about their findings so far. well these are the much anticipated preliminary findings by the w.h.o. china joint commission that spent the last month or so. investing the investigating they the origin of the corona virus. and some of the early findings that have made in this press conference which i should say only finished in the last hour or so it was quite lengthy they say they do believe it originated from animals bats and penguins of course have always been the main suspects but what they say now is that they need to investigate other species in those other species suggestions that there's a hospice it debility of cats and monks have also been sold at those markets would hand they also investigate whether the virus was spread on frozen packaging it has long been a claim made by china that the virus can be sprayed on the surface of the food

packaging that's now going to be part of this investigation they also expand the investigation beyond will hand this was always the point of interest being the epicenter of this outbreak back in december 29 but they're saying the product supplied within one hand within some of those markets and other markets in the city have come from elsewhere across china and that will be investigated they're also saying that all the claims that the there was a leak from that bio safety lab the state run by a safety lab in we've had they signed the chance of that is extremely likely and the chinese representative on the w.h.o. joint china mission he believes that he certainly stated in this press conference that he doesn't believe there were early cases of the infection prix the 1st time it was reported which was back in december 31st 2019 and here's what one of those representatives had to say a short time ago at that press conference in were. terms of understanding what happened in the early days in december 2019. did we did we

change dramatically the picture we had before hence i don't think so. did we improve our understanding did we. details to that story absolutely we did not. find evidence of large rates of that could be related to teasers of could 90 prior to december 90 or elsewhere. but this has been a highly politicized visit by at the world health organization and i should say the critics of long accuse china of basically not sharing the early information i had of the extent of the outbreak back in december 29th in it also that china's been accused of not sharing the scientific data internationally now the w.h.o. in this press conference said that all access and requests for interview interviews were granted but this is the 1st stage of what we do believe will be

a very long investigation the w.h.o. said it could take years before the conclusions and the identity of the origin of this outbreak which has now killed more than 2300000 people is identified sara thank you very much for that hong kong well i want to bring in now dr julian tang who is a clinical virally just at the university of less ses via skype from there thank you very much for joining us dr so the w.h.o. team dismissing the this idea that a war. was the origin of the virus your thoughts on that for us is that credible. well you know none of us really believe that theory that's a really outstanding outline theory that most of us believe that it's a zoonotic infections that came from animal reservoir somewhere into humans but exactly from when exactly when is unclear there was an initial thought that the market was where it happened but now the findings of suggest it's happened

elsewhere and when there's an outbreak it will have more of it some time later members of the team have absolute to rein in expectations is there anything at all that struck us significant in what they said today in determining the origins of the virus. well i think the finding that the minimal samples from will hand were negative and also some songs from the area were negative that was interesting is that means that many of originated elsewhere and transmitted to intermediate host animal hosts elsewhere before communes of humans and spreading amongst people who have so really they have a wide net in both the animal and human populations you were asking from right there there is uncertainty of course about several aspects of the cove in 1000 origin story that the scientists including yourself are trying hard to unravel including which species species pass it on to human why is it important to know that which species pass it on to humans. one thing is important to know of

controlling certain infections from that reservoir like we knew about in 2003 for the sars 2003 outbreaks so knowing that was one know where it was and know how it transmitted to humans is of course of the future control of sort of similar viruses but it doesn't really affect what we do know with occurrence he wouldn't version of the crown of ours thank you so much doctor for speaking to us about this dr julian tang is a viral exists at the university of leicester joining us ever thank you very much for your time. let's get an update on the wild weather now here's rob. it is really cold at the moment in the northern plains states and in central canada in fact we had that one to minus fifty's in the yukon but coming closer to where more people it's still really cold from the rockies right across to missouri and kansas down to minus 16 minus 9 and as around the bottom is real cold that any

weather is being steered rain or snow depending on low temperatures of course and it snow developing out of the ohio valley to eventually reach new york as an example most likely on thursday is not a lot in this but there's a development taking place the cold is leaking says little rock smacks only 230 suggests that where you get this meeting of as you know happens here you get the moisture in the water coming in from the gulf the cold coming time from below and these could be pretty poky thunderstorms i'm not sure if there's a tornado potential but it would not surprise you we have seen them after all this month and the last far south quite a weather throughout the gulf in the caribbean the trade winds are blowing like shares in likely in the lesser antilles temperature wise is a nice 31 in kingston and in havana the on shore breeze from nicaragua costa rica and panama now just bringing a few light showers not the persistent grey of a couple of weeks ago or rather pleasant really. rob thank you very much for that still ahead on the news hour micro finance gone wrong we take

a look at why nigeria's government is planning to take legal action against thousands of rice mom is colombia gives legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented venezuelan refugees and migrants and it's hordes rafael nadal starts his 21st grand slam title the australian open details later in the show with simon to stay with this. plan. frank assessment you got leagues on the ground in the canaries what is the situation there is only one doctor and one nurse for 2200 people and in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines. inside story on al-jazeera. this thing to say it's time for a different approach so let's leave them closely to the headlines join me as i take on the dismantle the misconceptions and meet the contradictions are marc lamont

hill and it's time to get up for the latest news as it breaks human rights groups are questioning why people are taken to this isolation centers and the treatment they receive. with detailed coverage beyond groups now control the villages that we can see on the other side of the river people who live on this side they can be come. from around the world months after the eruption they say their heart is back to normal. the of the the e the one. you're watching the news hour on al-jazeera with me fully back to our in mind of our top

stories warning shots have been fired in myanmar's capital as the military rocks down on type 2 protesters who've been rallying for a 4th straight day at least 27 people have been arrested proceedings for the 2nd impeachment trial of donald trump will begin in the u.s. senate's major this tuesday the former president is accused of inciting an insurrection on the capitol hill building which left 5 people dead his lawyers deny the charge and a team of experts investigating the origins of covert $1000.00 in china has dismissed the theory it was engineered the world health organization researchers concluded it was extremely unlikely the virus leaks from my lobby mohan but was likely to have jumped from animals to humans. hong kong sought court has denied bail to media tycoon jimmy lie he's accused of fraud and conspiring with foreign forces under beijing's national security law which critics say crushes dissent and opposition did it upon and reports from all. he is the highest profile figure i

rested so far for breaching hong kong's new national security law. jimmy lies bail case at the final court of appeal is the 1st real challenge to the wide ranging law which was imposed by beijing 7 months ago. the media tycoon and billionaire faces a number of charges for his pro to mock you see activity at the allegation of collusion with foreign forces a violation of the national security law is the most serious and could get him life in prison if it took the court less than 10 minutes to hand down a ruling denying him bail according to legal experts the decision underlines that hong kong now has 2 legal systems the highly respected common law procedures and the guidelines set for the national security law in this particular case of jimmy lies. is to call into question is whether what used to be a presumption of bail applies to

a nest those security laws lawyer alan young is a former legislative counselor and the chairman of the pro-democracy civic party he says the ruling has now set a precedent for bail conditions for national security cases 1st of all you have to ask the question whether there are sufficient evidence for the court to conclude that and it kills if allowed out on bail or what. continue to commit less of the good you'll often. after this 1st date you'll then come to the 2nd state which applies the normal usual criminal procedure laws nice legal team to the case to the court of final appeal after a decision by local court to grant bail in december was challenged overturned by the department of justice it is the 1st national security case to reach the final court of appeal the chief justice ruled that law in his legal team can challenge

the bill decision but not to the courts of final appeal the case will have to be handled by a court that will have to consider how the court defined the parameters for bail under the national security law. to be lies legal team says it will be filing a new application to get the 73 year old back home before his national security trial which begins in april may be gopalan auxerre of hong kong. to india now where rescue workers are trying to locate 197 people still missing 48 hours after a glacier collapse triggering flash floods a 2nd look at the area worse affected the collapse of part of the nunda david cause water levels to rise in nearby river as a michigan power project was 1st to face the full force of the floods the entire site was destroyed debris from that project damaged energy plants downstream the state run top of on hydroelectric plant suffered major damage so let's take

a look now at where rescuers are trying to find survivors this is a tunnel where more than 30 workers are trapped the under construction tunnel was designed to connect the hydro project to the other side of the valley nearly 2 kilometers of the tunnel was built before the flood the tunnel was meant to carry water and divert river flow to an underground powerhouse now has a rough map of the actual tunnel itself. at this point is where rescuers are digging through there about 110 meters in there the 2 locations where they believe workers may be trapped one say digby on 180 meters they should be able to find abt pockets where they may be survivors there's one particular spot in the tunnel where crews are pinning their hopes rescuers say anyone stuck here would have the best chance of still being alive al-jazeera as it is a random is at the side of those rescue efforts in top of on and has since update.

we are at the tunnel where hundreds of rescue workers are continuing this search for around 35 people who were working in the tunnel when it flooded on sunday a rescue was worked throughout monday night they say one of the biggest challenges is the amount of mud and slush that's inside the 2 and a half kilometer long tunnel they've been able to enter about a couple of 100 meters and but they say any time they clear the 4 to 6 feet of mud and slush more as falling in from the inside they haven't been able to establish communication yet with anyone inside the tunnel they say that that could be because it is 2 and a half kilometers long and they might not be any cell phone signal they're worried that workers could be suffering from hypothermia with temperatures dropping to below 0 degrees at night now away from here there is a humanitarian mission going on to deliver food rations to people in around 13 villages who have been cut off after bridges were washed away this latest disaster

in has led to many people many environmentalists questioning why these hydro power plants and these dams continue to be built in the himalayas which is known as a very ecologically fragile sensitive region they say that they should not have been built here protests in the past have managed to stop other dams from being constructed but despite that there are around 50. dams and power plants including those under construction in this region and at that are cut. the run has begun its mass vaccination program using the russian developed sputnik. seen frontline health workers as the 1st to receive the job iran's the worst affected country in the middle east with nearly 60000 over 1000 deaths reports from tehran. that was. about a 10th of a shot of hope after nearly a year of despair iran is now officially on the path to vaccinating millions of

people against cope with 19. the 1st shipment of 10000 doses of the russian me sputnik vaccine arrived in the country on thursday and on tuesday about 1000 health care workers were inoculated parson and mikey the health minister son was the 1st person to get the job. considering all the efforts by a medical personnel enough to sing what my father and gone through and how much pressure he was under i decided it was my duty to do this and the smallest contribution i could make to our fight against the spiers. 430000 frontline workers across the country will also receive the shot iran has purchased 2000000 doses of sputnik back scene and the rest we delivered by the end of the month. despite severe economic sanctions imposed by the u.s. on iran's banking sector iran has so far purchased another 16800000 vaccines from

other countries including china and india will more to my and bush on i get a box anybody think people should know that when we import a vaccine officials trust it and it will be beneficial for everyone this vaccine and other domestic vaccines will help keep people safe we hope to enter a new phase from this moment in the fight against covert 94 in december officials began human trials of the khobar cat vaccine the country's 1st domestically developed shot 56 volunteers are waiting to get their 2nd dose a 2nd home made vaccine is due to be tested on people with iran is the worst affected country in the middle east with nearly 60000 covert 1000 deaths and almost 1500000 people infected much like the rest of the world people here are tired of all the restrictions and economic hardships that this pandemic has brought with it but many say that if they see officials getting the vaccine they imported or do the best it ones there are much more likely to trust them and join the mass vaccination

program and officials say they hope to end up program by early next year. dosage of al-jazeera attack on. the united states is investigating honduras is president juan orlando at monday's according to a court filing it doesn't specify what her nanda is being investigated for but last month u.s. prosecutors filed motions accusing him of flooding the u.s. with cocaine and referred to him as a coconspirator in accepting bribes from drug traffickers and unders denies having any ties to drug cartels john homan is following events from mexico city. but this is the 1st time that he's been directly signaled that he's being investigated by the united states it's not however the 1st time he's been implicated in the same case but and. he was quoted in court documents as saying he wanted to shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos referring to the americans as well someone

else said that he'd said back in 2019 his own brother was convicted of drug trafficking so there's been a lot of rumors and a lot of controversy swirling around one orlando and on this for some time now the country that he presides over honduras is 157180 countries in the corruption perception index of transparency international so i think a lot of people in that country that we've obviously visited many times are going to be surprised by this tool they've seen the rule of law in that country continually undercut by this administration itself and by politicians in general in the country now what there is an implication here for is not just one ally in the one on this but also for the new u.s. president joe biden because he rolled out he said he was going to have a $1000000000.00 plan in central america to tackle the root causes of migration the violence the economic situation and corruption now the question is going to be how

is he going to do that in partnership because that's the plan with a government like the one of one orlando and then there's the u.s. federal prosecutors now are investigating for corruption that's going to be really tricky for the new president as he tries to cut the causes of migration off at the root opposition politicians in haiti have named their own president in an effort to drive out income bench of anomalies shows that miss anjaana we who has been selected as the new leader is the oldest judge in the country supreme court the opposition says presently is his 5 year term expired on sunday but murray says he still has another year in office. colombia is to grant protective legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugees and migrants from venezuela the temporary measure will make them eligible to apply for 10 year residency permits colombia has long been the most popular destination for venezuelans fleeing the economic and political crisis and home close to a 1000000 are thought to be living in the country without proper papers. to nigeria

now if thousands of farmers could be taken to court for failing to repay loans designed to boost rice production and reduce food imports more than a 1000000 farmers were given cash and tools but many are now refusing to make repayments putting the scheme at risk of collapse. reports from our in northern nigeria are one and of course one of the line we're going to watch as closely as time hands prepared you probably feel so a new crop a few metres away other workers tend to shoot my going to sort of nigeria's major rice produces with hundreds of hectares of land dedicated to growing rice is a serious thomas like you are benefiting from a government lewinski to boost domestic production which as a scheme faces risks farmers are. guys circuses. now. i have no obligated to mention that i thought.

you were giving them. and then to be a tenant you know they are. what i've. been to i think. it's a $34.00 member farmers corporate and says they weren't taught there have anything back at them with junkies that if it was made clear to us that it's a loan we'd have known how to approach it we didn't apply for it so i can tell you that we won't pay back a dime not all of it was money we consider it is gifts or assistance after all we see politicians take public funds with no accountability. the so-called a couple risky encourages promises small holdings to produce a variety of commodities and to connect produces with the process but 5 years after the program was introduced nigeria still import foods the scheme was meant to produce in excess sister interview team an estimated $600000000.00 has been

provided to more than a 1000000 farmers to boost rice production critics of the process say it's corrupt and lacks transparency they accuse government officials and politicians of hijacking a scheme that could now collapse because of a failure to pay back their loans an estimated 40 percent of those who've received money the field or refused to fully repay some officials say that's often understandable though very slow but one can understand that for one reason or the other something this task and this look especially the last time we had a flood so you can imagine our farmers lost a whole lot. africa's most populous nation has $34000000.00 hectares of out of the land but only 33 percent is under production this country of more than $200000000.00 people imports much of what it eats agricultural experts say that's because farming technology is out of date and if the government doesn't encourage

mechanization. nothing will change. al-jazeera are going. and still ahead on. the final of the club well kept here in qatar that's next thanks for spits on.

the end the way to welcome back tesla has bet big on bitcoin the cryptocurrency as had a record price of $44000.00 a unit after the automaker invested $1500000000.00 the says says it will soon begin

accepting payments in the digital currency given it is on to has more from new york . the bitcoin craze has reached new heights thanks to tesla the announcement by the electric car company that had bought $1500000000.00 worth of the cyber currency and may start accepting it as payment drove the bitcoin price soaring at $1.00 point monday up more than 14 percent to over $44000.00 per unit tesla announced a move in their annual company report and said buying bitcoin was all part of a larger strategy to diversify in alternative assets but tesla is a product of its flamboyant founder eve on musk recently named the world's wealthiest person musk has long boasted of bitcoins promise he often uses his twitter platform with more than 45000000 followers to promote not only bitcoin but other little known cyber currencies the big corn price jump was welcome news for

new york for owner patrick hughes after 30 years in the business he's selling up last month putting not just one but both of his new york city bars on the market the price $25.00 bitcoins or $800.00 a ferry i'm another crypto currency in what would be the 1st crypto currency only restaurant sale in the u.s. i have a lot of faith in crypto currency because if you offered me right now $100000.00 in crypto currency i don't even care bitcoin the theory and one of the other major crypto currency or $100000.00 u.s. dollars i know in 5 years the crypto currency is going to be worth far more than the dollars most investment banks have ignored bitcoin saying that it's too risky because it's mostly unregulated but attitudes appear to be changing there's talk of

wall street perhaps starting an investment fund backed by big. coin as early as later this year if it's approved by government regulators and there's a lot of money at stake as early as last month the total value of all cyber currencies reached over $1.00 trillion dollars gabriel's on i'll just you know new york. times as santa thank you very much to a fully well let's start with crickets and england have wrapped up a huge victory over india in the 1st test in chennai command and that's it from the wickets early on day 5 and the momentum stayed with the visiting team captain bhatt kohli led the fight for india with 72 but they were eventually all out 492 in one by 227 runs and they go up one nil in the 4th match series are now 16 matches in

a row away from home after their wins in south africa and that sri lanka. set benchmarks something to work from. still so i'm assuming that there is we. get excites me quite as well as you have. extremely. rough and adults chase for 21st grand slam title has started in the emphatic manno with a straight sets win in his opening match at the australian open the spaniard dropped out of the a.t.p. cup last week after struggling with a back problem but the world number 2 showed no signs of injury in this match he overcame his serbian opponent last go to share in straight sets to reach round 2 and us have the only one only won the australian open back in 2009. and it was an easy day's work for the women's number one ashley barty the home favorite enjoyed

a double bagel when over danka of a nature which means that she didn't use a single game he only took her 45 minutes to ease into the 2nd round a 2 time champion victoria azarenka has been knocked out in the 1st round by 60 that jessica was good at it while russian was well short in her of her best in this match and appeared to be struggling with the warm weather in australia as our anchor also told the press the 14 days quarantine took its toll on her something that you know maybe we just didn't know what to do or maybe it was not enough time you know i can sit here and cons of plate for a long period of time but. it was a feeling prepared for leno but also going into a grand slam. or at tournaments like ok i'll have to do the best i can with what i have. turning champions if he can and got off to a very nervous start and her title defense the american was in tears before how

much against local wildcard most atheists can was broken twice in the 1st said but she quickly recovered to beat the australian in straight sets 7564. occur in a virus lockdowns have meant a huge reduction in the amount of sport played worldwide sweden's unique approach to the pandemic a has had the opposite effect in the game of paddle the traditionally spanish and latin american sport that has taken off in the scandinavian country with the famous invests is recording huge profits in 2020 poor weise reports. it's lunchtime in sweden on the courts in melbourne and helsingborg fully booked most sports of struggle during the pandemic but paddle has bucked the trend with sweden's relatively few restrictions meaning that 2020 was its best year yet this

place to open up between 20142015 so that it was really easy to get times when it was completely out and in the last 2 years has been absolutely booming. is the sport on everyone's lips and it's insane $450.00 new courts were built around the country last year and bookings hit the $1000000.00 mark 5 times higher than in 2018 . footballers including zlatan abraham of it have invested in paddle and recorded instant profits former tennis world number 4 be a common is involved in p.d.l. group now the sport's biggest operates a worldwide the top men's players these days with a different racquet daniel vin doll and call knute son although paddle is so dominated by spain and argentina that the 2 best swedish men are at number 142 and 147 in the world. being in spain that it's like it's football than it's power and then it's basketball but sweden have been developing really fast and we

see the x.x. the same thing happening so you know it's still at the amateur level that the sport is really thriving the basics are easy to pick up especially when there's the chance to learn from the best straight off the bat the swedish pottle thing has become so strong it's now attracting players and coaches from spain meaning even beginners can get a top level one on one training. it's a give and take relationship for spanish players like world number 87 jose carlos gasp are being in sweden gives him the chance to up his game here now to politics like rowing a lot here and there are like measurable quantities for players i cannot assume they're facing trainings because you know spain i was one of the mess and here we have 3 i and i and there was the luck of luck down in sweden has helped the sport thrive here once the pandemic ends it should mean puddle gets

a relaunch in the rest of the world as well paul aris al-jazeera malmo sweden. although if you have and ask it was the star of the show as by munich cruise into the final of the club world cup here in qatar european champions beat african champions and actually 2 new understandings final given task is bored of both goals in front of $12000.00 fans at the ahmed banally stadium which is one of the venues for next year's world cup now ahead into the final to play the champions to get us from mexico. the international i'm picking miti says comments made by head of the tokyo games about women are totally inappropriate 83 year old york's year old mori said last week that meetings involving women last longer because they talk too much or he's apologized but there have been calls for his resignation.

about 390 volunteers have quit because they were upset about you shearer maurice remarks and are unwilling to cooperate with the games i think this is very serious in order to hold the games we need to make efforts to regain trust and to have the event to deliver the message of diversity and harmony i mean. in n.b.a. le bron james that led the l.a. lakers to their 5th that win in a row here wrapped up his 3rd triple double of the season against the alcohol man city thunder with 28 points the lakers won it by 7 points in overtime. and that's it for me for early santa thank you very much for that. now mary mary wilson a founding member of the popular 1960 s. group the so frames has died at the age of 76. the end. was. the end you can't harry love were 2 of the supreme spigots motown hits while sun

sang alongside diana ross and 4 and a lot who were always a known as i mix. for this news hour on al-jazeera do stay with us so i'll be back with more news in just a few minutes. the at . jump into the street there is a lot going on in this. global community when i don't have all the misinformation i think we are more afraid than we are aware be part of the debate don't ever take anybody's one word because there's always a difference when no topic is off the table we have been disconnected from our land we have been disconnected from who we are who would love to he could be part of today's discussion this stream on out is the era. when the going gets tough money bank called slum dwellers are forced to borrow.

she may be kinder than your average money lender. she may have more patience. but make no mistake. she means business. friendly loan shark college of the viewfinder asia series on al-jazeera. these men are survivors of covert 1946 year old is a limousine driver is the only one here who needed to go to hospital when he became ill in early march with. some balance boarding in november so deep it is a 34 year old driver kotori family and he tested positive my body is good it will always. be health officials say the rate of new infections has slowed the goal here is to conduct a broad serving to better understand transmission and asymptomatic cases which in turn could help policy decisions in the future so it would be easy for us to inform

the decision making on a what to do next the goal now is to increase testing and contact trees that. the government provides free testing and medical treatment for those who need it while campaigns to raise awareness continue. last. a crackdown on myanmar's on tycoon protesters thousands of people defying rubber bullets tear gas and the rest to rally against a military age into. the act. you're watching al-jazeera live from doha with me for you back to be.