think. al-jazeera. you're watching the news hour live from headquarters and i'm dead you know coming up in the next 60 minutes. a police crackdown on me and mars protesters thousands ignore it ban on gatherings to condemn last week's military coup. donald trump on trial the former president's impeachment moves to the u.s.

senate where politicians will decide if he's guilty of inciting an insurrection. i'm elizabeth brown i'm in northern india where best cubans are attempting to free dozens of people trapped in a tunnel since a catastrophic flood ripped through this mountainous region. an international team of experts and rules out the theory covered $1000.00 leaked from a lab but say it's still not known which animal it came from and i'm sort of hydrogen sports as a file not darwin's as anything much if you're straight open and england's cricketers racked up a huge victory over india to take the lead in the series. hello welcome to the news hour police in myanmar are stepping up their crackdown on protests against last week's military coup they fired tear gas and water cannon on

crowds who've been rallying nationwide for a 4th straight day the protesters are defying a new military rules aimed at curbing the escalating civil disobedience movements and this. a global outcry see that supposed civilian leader remains under house arrest scott hyla reports from bangkok. facing live ammunition fire rubber bullets tear gas and more water cannon the antic 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 no use i hope all the people will join the movement we must not lose a no is

a joy except we must win. 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 mandalay 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 the main man. midsomer hoosiers all started to react to that new zealand's i program to mean mass 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 and the coming week on me i'm as military leader is.

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. well let's take a look at how the military has used its business activities to strengthen its rule over the country a united nations report points to more than 140 companies that are owned or controlled by me and mars military the list includes banks mining conglomerates construction firms and even gas and water companies their businesses are closely linked to state owned enterprises and large private firms and together they constitute a huge slice of me and mars economy krista doty is a co-author of the report the economic interests of the me and mara military 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 may 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 largest 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. 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. well the stage is set for former u.s. president donald trump's impeachment trial in just a few hours the senate will begin proceedings which will decide whether trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection so he's accused of urging his supporters to march on the capitol building last month that's where congress was meeting to confirm joe biden's victory in the presidential election which trump insists was stolen from him the riots ended in the deaths of 5 people now trump is the only former president to face trial and his lawyers argue that makes the proceedings unconstitutional if convicted however he could be barred from ever running for

office later on tuesday senators will be voting on whether the trial should go ahead and when approved both sides will make their case that's over the coming days shortly we'll cross to our white house correspondent kimberly halkett for more on what president joe biden has been saying about trump's impeachment trial but 1st let's bring in heidi jocasta joining us from capitol hill so heidi the constitutional argument is what's going to be on full display today on day one just talk us through what we expect to see. sure this is an effort to rain on the behalf of trump's lawyers to get this trial dismissed really before the merits are even argued they argue that this entire to endeavor is unconstitutional and as evidence they point to the precise wording of the u.s. constitution that says an impeach president if convicted quote shall be removed from office and terms attorneys say because trump is already out of office and there's no way he shall be removed and so there's no way this is constitutional

that is their rationale now the democrats who are serving as impeachment managers they say that argument is ludicrous and they say the constitution offers this further remedy in the case of a former president being tried which is disqualification from holding future office will expect those arguments to be hashed out over course of 4 hours starting this afternoon the end of the evening with a simple majority vote to the senators asking which side they agree with whether or not this trial is constitutional this was foreshadowed 2 weeks ago when senators really answer the same question and a simple majority said that this trial should proceed that it is constitutional so we expect them to repeat that vote don't we then will we start to see the real arguments regarding the article of impeachment which democrats accuse trump of inciting insurrection. we fight we fight like hell

and if you don't fight like you're not going to have a country anymore those were some of donald trump last words on january 6th moments before a violent mob fired up by his false claims that the election had been stolen broke into the u.s. capitol and tried to stop congress from making joe biden's win official for rioters and a police officer died in the attack 2 more officers later died by suicide the grounds for this impeachment are deeply deeply troubling and if the united states senate acquits donald truong this round it's essentially a green light for future presidents to try to overthrow elections close to the end of their terms house democrats bring the charges against alleged intentionally with his supporters into a frenzy inciting an insurrection trumps attorneys say the trial is unconstitutional because he's no longer in office and that the former president's

speech was protected by the 1st amendment robert ray defended trump during his 1st impeachment i don't think the words as charged in the impeachment article go fight like hell can be you know seen as chance amount to a call to violence 45 of 50 republicans in the senate try to dismiss the trial on grounds that it is unconstitutional they failed but the early vote showed republicans are now falling back in line behind the former president and the likelihood of convicting trump is slim the impeachment managers will nevertheless try to present an emotionally charged case forcing senators to relive the hours they spent powering for their lives inside the capitol fearing american democracy was on the verge of collapse. and the trials structure as it stands now we expect for this to last at least 4 or 5 days but then comes the big question of whether or

not impeaching managers will ask for witnesses if they do and if the senate agrees then this thing could be extended much longer but at this point it appears that both parties are interested in wrapping this trial of as soon as possible and of course the final hurdle will be that vote of whether or not to convict trump it would take 17 republicans to cross the aisle to convict the former president which is unlikely to happen and to remember this is not a trial just about trump's guilt or innocence this is about politics this is the senators who will have to weigh whether or not their verdict on trump will impact their own grasps on power all right heidi thank you so much we'll speak to you later on let's bring in our white house correspondent kelly halakhic she's joining us from washington d.c. to talk about the president's strategy can really when it comes to the trump and future intro what have we heard from joe biden. well what we've heard from joe biden but more specifically from his white house communications team is that this

is a white house focused on the future not the past in many ways this is a distraction from the policy goals of joe biden as long as the senate is embroiled in a trial dealing with the matters of the former president it cannot deal with the matters of the current president namely getting his $1.00 trillion dollars coded relief package through the congress and also it doesn't allow for the senate to confirm months members of his cabinet including the attorney general so this is a problem for the white house they want to see it wrap up as quickly as possible they also know that given the fact that joe biden was in the senate for many years himself 36 in fact this is something that is a largely political in some respects that the senators have already made their minds up and so the white house is looking for this to be done as quickly as possible now in terms of joe biden specifically he has really shied away from

commenting on what he thinks he should come should be how the senator should vote but he has been very clear about why he believes that donald trump was unfit for office that's why he ran and what he said and as well he has also been very clear that he believes donald trump erratic behavior has led to why he believes that donald trump should no longer receive intelligence briefings as past presidents currently do so this is something that we think is going to be a part of me there looks like my telephone is giving me some sort of hot tip but the bottom line in all of this is that the white house says joe biden isn't going to be watching this he's focused on taking care of the american public he wants to bring back statesman like approach to the white house. not sort of the political side show that we've seen for the last 4 years. so this is a white house squarely focused on the future not the past all right kimberly and

i'm sure you'll keep us across any tips that you may get for the time being thanks so much for that update from washington thank you really we'll speak to you later let's speak to richard painter who is a former associate counsel for the president in the white house counsel's office and he also served during the george w. bush administration is joining us from st paul minnesota thanks so much for your time with us on al-jazeera so what we're going to see today is trump's legal team really focusing on this issue of whether this trial is constitutional or not 1st of all does that argument hold any water for you. well i don't think sell and the reason why they're making that argument is that their underlying case on the merits is off so let's just focus on that 1st the case on the merits imagine years ago a southern mayor who addressed a crowd of angry whites and who falsely accused a black man of a crime and then so go marched peacefully to that man's house and fight and then the man were to be killed would not that mayor be an accessory to the crime. what

can we say when the president of the united states and gauges in similar conduct and yet what we're seeing is that the president former president and his supporters are going to do exactly what was done in those instances many years ago in the south the united states when we have violence inspired by public officials they're going to pack the jury and get an acquittal the strategy now is to claim that this trial is unconstitutional that a former president cannot be try in impeachment when he was impeached during his presidency by the house of representatives the senate has already and 876 tried a former secretary of war belknap who resigned in order to avoid is a basement trial in the senate and the senate decided it had jurisdiction of course yes belknap was acquitted in 1976 because he had it up political allies in the senate to secure the one 3rd of the senate required to get an acquittal and

unfortunately i see here a grave danger that the republicans and the senate will not stand up for the constitution will not stand up for their future of the republican party that i was a member of 30 years until i saw donald trump tear apart what is your what is a long one to acquit what is your feeling on whether or not there said be witnesses in this trial because this is an issue that still hasn't been settled. there should be witnesses and we went through this with the last impeachment trial when later at mcconnell the republican leader in the senate made sure there were no witnesses there was only rhetoric on the floor of the senate and deranged law professors defending donald trump's right in that case to use the government of ukraine to investigate his opponent joe biden this time around the democrats do control the senate and the 1st thing they must do is make sure there are witnesses they should

also enforce subpoenas this needs to be slowed down so we can gather the evidence of what donald trump knew about that angry mob and how dangerous they were and i can assure you that if we get that evidence we will see that this president very very likely committed a serious crime of inciting sedation and violence and should be convicted and disqualified from ever serving in public office again here's the thing though at the end of the day really comes down to an issue of numbers so in a matter of how many republicans side with the democrats to vote to convict the former president i mean how many republican senators do you think are actually open to conviction. that's up to the republican senators to decide it will take 17 right to convict donald trump and the question is to 17 republicans care enough about the future of the republican party and the united states to stand up for what is right

and this has nothing to do with being a liberal or a conservative one can be a staunch conservative on all the issues across the board and yet not embrace and refuse to embrace the totalitarianism the violence that donald trump has a spy oust during his term in office and particularly at the very end and this is a question about the future of the republican party do we want to have a conservative party in the united states that really stands up for conservative principles and for liberty and for limited government not in asm and we'll see what those senators decide yeah we well ok for the time being richard painter we thank you very much for speaking to us from st paul minnesota thank you and now we'll also have extended coverage of the start of donald trump's impeachment trial right here on al-jazeera at 800 hours g.m.t. that's in less than 3 hours time. and you are the news hour on al-jazeera here's

what's coming up hong kong highest court denies bail to the most high profile activist charged under beijing's national security law. we look at one of the fastest growing sports in the world cattle that's coming up in our sports bulletin . but 1st rescue workers in india are trying to locate 197 people still missing more than 48 hours after a glacier collapsed triggering flash floods let's just take a look at the worst affected area the collapse of part of the glacier caused the water levels to rise in nearby rivers the risky going up power project was 1st to face the force of the floods the entire site was destroyed and every from that project damaged energy plans downstream that includes the state run top of an

hydroelectric plant which also suffered major damage and this right there is the tunnel where more than 30 workers are trapped it was under construction and meant to connect the hydro project to the other side of the valley and was meant to carry water and divert river flow to an underground powerhouse where nearly 2 kilometers of the tunnel was built before the floods. and take a look at this this is a rough map of the actual tunnel itself this points is where rescuers are digging through sludge there are about 110 meters and there are 2 locations where they believe workers may be trapped once they dig beyond 180 meters they should be able to find air pockets where there may be survivors but there is one critical or spot in the tunnel where crews are pinning their hopes rescuers say anyone stuck here would have the best chance of still being alive here's elizabeth cohen and she has more from the site of those rescue efforts and top of on. 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 that icon 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. instructed but despite that there are around 50 dams and power plants including those under construction in this region and at that i pad and. all that seem 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 han to find out just how the virus spread to humans in terms of understanding what happened in the early days in december 2019 did we did we change dramatically the picture we had before hand i don't think so

did we improve our understanding did we add details to that story absolutely we did not. find evidence of large outbreaks of that could be related to cases of covered 19 prior to december of $94.00 it's where sarah clarke has more on the teams findings. well these are the much anticipated preliminary findings by the w.h.o. china joint commission that spent the last month or so on investing the investigating the the origin of the corona virus outbreak they do believe it originated from animals bats and penguins of course have always been the main suspects that what they're saying now is that they need to investigate other species in those other species suggestions that there's a high susceptibility of cats and monks have also been sold those markets and they also expand the investigation beyond will have and this was always the point of

interest being the epicenter of this outbreak back in december 29th but they're saying the product supplied within will hand within some of those markets and other markets in the city have come from elsewhere across china and that will be investigated 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 29 and 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 travelers entering the u.k. who fail to quarantine who fail to follow courts in rules that is could face up to

10 years in prison and they could also be looking at heavy fines of up to $13000.00 under the latest rules residents returning from $33.00 countries listed as coburn $1000.00 hotspots will have to spend 10 days in designated quarantine hotels and for those looking to book according to hotel room they will be able to do so online from thursday. hong kong's top court has denied bail to media tycoon jimmy lai he is accused of fraud and conspiring with foreign forces under beijing's national security law which critics say crush of dissent opposition difficult hollande reports from hong kong. he is the highest profile figure i rested so far for breaching hong kong's new national security law to me lies bail case of 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 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 the issue 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 an excuse if i allowed out on bail or not. continue to commit that of the

office after this 1st date you will then come to the 2nd stage which applies the normal usual criminal procedure laws nice legal team to the case to the court a final appeal after a decision by a lower 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 and his legal team can challenge the bail decision but not at the court a 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 if you go pollen auxerre or hong kong. a thai court has

denied bail to 4 pro-democracy activists charged with defaming the monarchy the group could face up to 15 years in prison over the past year tens of thousands of people have protested against government corruption they've also denounced what they say is the royal family's excessive influence on politics authorities have increasingly resorted to legal action to crackdown on those who speak out against the monarchy. still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour. nearly a 1000000 venezuelan refugees and migrants will soon have rights to live and work in colombia we'll have a live report coming up right after the break. and micro finance gonna walk around with take a look at why nigeria's government is planning to take legal action against thousands of rice farmers in sport rafael nadal starts his 21st grand slam title

class at the australian open details with sorrow a little later in this hour. the chanels picked up his blowing steadily down the gulf now and there is cloud around but there's not much coming out of the sky wanted to showers in fact is even been snow or rare event just north of the capital of yemen and the rain showers like we divert all thunderstorms likely to be developed in here otherwise it's quieter as rabia versa turkey and iran the last the snow or as was through afghanistan is leaving for the founders of pakistan temperature wise we've been on the high side and we are still in beirut at 21 and down in the valley of the kings looks was it 29 in least in the levant that's probably edging down little bit we could get numb shore breeze on wednesday or indeed thursday but the show keeps blowing still

a particular dusty brown but it is quite brisk and it will only ease a little i think in the next day or so the heavy rain in southern africa is focusing temporarily in madagascar this is season though of course there's also a good line you can see from the rift valley right way back to you know maybe and back to skeleton coast and at least for the time being near luanda again that's a little bit early season brave rangoli but it's the all the same but madagascar is probably the focus was thunderstorms in the capital forecast for the next 3 days if you're in south africa you might get a rogue share of the office. there but it's actually a fairly dry picture. of . the it's one of the most recognized sites around the world saying for support from far and wide but for the fans back home it's more than just a football club and he wants his policy should be left out of football you know doesn't know about football is new on politics and this is you stop one of. the

passion and the politics of liverpool f.c. the defiant giant. part of the fans who make football series on al-jazeera. examining the impact of today's headlines it didn't matter you're rich or poor what your religion is you are battling this and i mean you're staring at it in the face and you're dealing with it setting the agenda for tomorrow's discussions was it a coup unfolding on capitol hill international filmmakers and world class journalists bring programs to inform and inspire you each and every one of us in the responsibility to change out 1st place for them to get out on al-jazeera. the roof.

hello again the top stories of the al-jazeera news hour police in myanmar are stepping up their crackdown on protests against last week's military coup and they fired tear gas and water cannon crowds have been rallying nationwide for a 4th straight day of proceedings for donald trump's 2nd impeachment trial will begin in the u.s. senate later on tuesday he's accused of inciting an insurrection at capitol hill which left 5 people dead his lawyers deny the charge. the world health organization scene is investigating the origins of covert 1000 in china and is saying it's unlikely the virus leaked from a lab experts believe it may have jumped to humans from an animal. now a diplomatic rift between the european union and russia is widening as the blocks foreign affairs chief warns of possible sanctions against moscow just a barrage latest comments come after he visited russia last week to ask for the

release of opposition politician alexei navalny russia has been trying to divide us . to divide. they have issued sheet a new green and you know. they haven't succeeded if i did not. this seemed to be a clear objective you may visit we should not change into destruction it is no intention on the russian site doing gaging a constructive discussion if we address human rights and political freedom and it's also butler is following the story for us is joining us from paris over oh and it also is facing some tough criticism from parliamentarians today one of the what did they say. yes jersey brow was talking in the european parliament about his trip to moscow last week and he actually faced a barrage of criticism from several members of the european parliament m.e.p.

really said that this visit by burrell had been humiliating for the european union that was a controversial visit some any piece said that bro should never visited moscow at a time when alexina valmy the kremlin critic had been arrested and subsequently jailed they said that that sort of anti democratic backdrop wasn't the time for brawl to be going it's in a way they just surmising moscow are so many pieces also saying that burrell at simply fail to stand up for e.u. values during a presser with his counterpart sergei lavrov from russia sergey lavrov saying that the e.u. was an unreliable partner so many pieces at the burrell should at that point of condemned comments they also say that he did very little to speak publicly about russia's position in ukraine that the e.u. of course is not aligned with so some very harsh criticism for burrell in fact more

than 80 any piece of actually signed an open letter to the head of the e.u. commission calling for burrell's resignation they say that he totally misjudged the situation and he should never visited moscow at this time and how did burrell de-fund his visit to moscow. well burrell defended his visit to moscow by saying that it was very important that the european union continues to have a very open and frank dialogue with russia and then that can only really be done he said in person that is why he decided to do it even though he accepted that many of his colleagues in the european union disagreed with that he said that even though it was clear to hear him that the leadership in russia was using all thora tarion. principles in order to rule its people he said that it was clear that russia was

being anti democratic in many all of the measures that is carrying out in the way that is ruling he said it was important for the people of russia that the e.u. dozens of bandon them because many people in russia of course he said wanted democracy they wanted to be close to the barrel said that he was disappointed in what he had seen in russia that he felt that russia was not acting in a way aligned with the values and that is why he said he would be calling for e.u. member states to consider sanctions in the future on russia ok natasha butler thank you so much for that update from paris. now colombia grounds protective legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugees and migrants from venezuela the temporary measure will make them eligible to apply for a 10 year residency permits years of political and economic turmoil in venezuela have forced around $5000000.00 people to flee in what's been called one of the

largest refugee crises in modern history most have sought refuge within south america illegally crossing borders often traveling on foot without knowing their final destination colombia has long been the top destination for venezuelan refugees and migrants hosting about 1800000 but many have traveled even further to peru ecuador brazil and chile. we have reporters in 2 of the countries affected by the flow of those refugees from venezuela the seiu newman is in chile will be speaking to her in just a few minutes but 1st let's go to see who is joining us from colombia. tell us more about who exactly will benefit from this announcement by colombia. yes there in all the nice weather and migrants in that country will benefit by this situation the almost 1000000 of them that have no papers working for him only in

the country once they register they will be able to look for a formal job be able to access the benefits of social benefits in the country will be able to send their kids to school to university to try and certify whatever their professional education level was in venezuela for the people who do have already some form. or legal papers here in the country they will be able to extend it to 10 years instead of just 2 years which was their situation until today this decision is a story in many ways it's surprising to many these been this way than migrants because till now the government of colombia had resisted the idea of offering food legal status fearing that this will entice even more of an

a swell and student of their country and move to colombia but presenting this decision the president of colombia said it was time to act the pandemic has a lot to do with it the conditions of many of these migrants warse and doing during their pandemic so was one level humanitarian and also quite practical because it was necessary for the government to know who these people are what they can do what their needs are to better. essentially have a better social and humanitarian and even security policy in the country and you've spoken to some venezuelan refugees what have they been telling you. yes we're in front of one of many actually in our migration centers here in the capital some of them know about the news there said that they thought it was the

most important news of their lives one lady told me that she cried when she heard that. making the announcement that she said that she was a nurse back home and said that for the last couple of years you've been. living by selling coffee on the streets showed she hoped that this meant that she can now register and try to be a nurse year improve her conditions roughly also 2 percent some of their family members decided to go back to venezuela because of the pandemic some of them weren't able to continue to pay for their rooms here in the capital book that they're saying that this might help them now bring the rest of their family here and just improve their conditions so they're extremely happy about ok sandra thank you very much so that is the situation over in bogota colombia let's now turn to the situation in chile because that's where thousands of mostly venezuelan migrants

have entered through the andean border with bolivia and they've gathered in the town of call chani it's almost 4000 meters above sea level outnumbered residents say they've been overrun by migrants seeking food shelter and warm clothes in the hostile environment and at least 2 people are known to have died making the illegal crossing through the us a common desert and the andes mountains that's where you'll find our line america editor of the sea and human she's joining us from the town of cool china in chile so the see what is happening there with the thousands of migrants who have been crossing the desert to get into chinny and where you are. this is probably one of the most inhospitable places in the world for migrants who are penniless to cross over into any country and arrived. chani where we are right now which is practically a desert outpost there's only electricity here 4 hours a day you can see many of these migrants behind me now as many as 60000 have

crossed over from the bolivian border which is only about 500 meters in front of me but they've been crossing through to through illegal passage ways which are absolutely difficult and sometimes deadly using coyotes basically traffickers to get through to avoid the army and the police and by the time they get here they're sick they're suffering from hypothermia the altitude sickness and of course hunger there's very little food here the united nations migration program has given them some help occasionally but it's mostly for the children who are suffering tremendously in the daytime from the heat here which is suffocating and as soon as it starts to get dark it goes below 0 so these are really terrible conditions you can see some people here sort of gathering in different places around here while the locals have not been very welcoming because they say they've been absolutely invaded at no i now it numbered by the venezuelan migrants who are being taken to the nearest city 2200 rather and 70 kilometers from here to the city

of a keek it into a sanitary hostel as it's called where they will have to spend 14 days to test them for cold at 19 but unlike in colombia we've just talked to the foreign minister of chile will visited here about a half an hour ago and he confirmed to us to al jazeera that they will not be given residency status on the contrary anybody he says who came into chile through a little illegal crossings will be expelled from chile so this is very bad news for these people who have already had a terrible time just getting here yeah ok lucy thank you very much for that update from culture in chile let's talk about the situation with daniel garcia pena who's the former high commissioner for peace of colombia he's joining us from. bogota thank you so much for speaking to us on al-jazeera so as we've been reporting colombia is now set to grant protective legal status to venezuela migrants in the country but this is very contrary to what other countries are doing like chile for

example as we were just hearing from lucien newman so what do you think is behind colombia's decision. our apologies we seem to be having audio trouble with daniel garcia penya apologies mr pena if you can hear us will move away from that just we may try and fix the audio issue with him we'll move on and tell you about nigeria because thousands of farmers could be taken to courts for failing to repay loans provided in an attempt 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 of my duties reports from our google. make and watch as closely as time hands prepared to fuel so i knew crop

a few meters away other workers tend to shoot by going to see one of nigeria's major rice produces with hundreds of hectares of land dedicated to growing rice is a serious thomas like him are benefiting from a government lewinski to boost domestic production which this scheme faces risks. now. i. thought. you were giving them. and then to be a tenant you know they are. what. the 34 member farmers corporate and says they weren't told there have anything back . if it was made clear to us that it's a loan we have 9 house approaches 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 systems after all we see politicians take public funds with no accountability. the so-called i could borrow a scheme encourages thomas a small holdings to produce a variety of commodities and to connect produces with the process but 5 years after the program was introduced nigeria's to leave port 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 the loans. an estimated 40 percent of those who've received money the failed or refuse to fully repay some officials say that's often understandable. but one can understand that for one

reason the other. task on this 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 hectares of land but only 33 percent is under production this country of more than 200000000 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 greece al-jazeera article so just a moment ago we were telling you about of the decision by colombia to grant protective legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugees and migrants from venezuela will try once again with our my guest daniel garcia who's the colombian former high commissioner for joining us from bogota thanks once again for your time so what is your reaction to this decision by colombia and what do you

think is behind it. well 1st of all it's because quite significant and it was a surprise for many reasons on one hand the o.b.'s has a history of like other countries of latin america like argentina brazil even but this one a. very closed to immigration we've had very few immigrants historically it will be on the contrary accord will be a test to expel migrants of brothers close to 10 percent of color music live. out of the country so this policy to open the the door of immigration to to the venezuelans is quite historic secondly because it's a reversal from the discourse of the government just recently. when when they were marches and protests it will be the government would stigmatize of it as well and include all be as instigators when the the government just a couple weeks ago announced the vaccination. program for covert 19 the

venezuelan immigrants were excluded so it's quite significant that the change and i think it has something to do with what the your reporter alexander was saying there's practical matters that the than the number the sheer number of. immigrants in google bia. are is necessary for the government to know who they are where they are but i think there's also been a pressure from politically in include b.-a and it's a bold move on the part of a president to get to finally respond to the cause that it made over the last few months to the open the door to these immigrants certainly colombia will be looking for international help. yes i think that there will of the. element as the president do to talk about is how this is an international phenomenon cannot be not only has as as was reported

a large number of errors but many of those that go to places like chile where the you are now reporting on probably passed passed through total b.s. so there is a need to do to and in fact it was with the presence of the united nations commissioner for refugees that this announcement was made but nevertheless as you have pointed out it's quite different from the policies in other places of latin america and we hope that this move on the part of of coral beyond will motivate a broader regional response to a grave humanitarian crisis do you expect more venezuelans to migrate to colombia as a result of this decision. it's possible i think that the fact is in the last months because of the. many had you treat your develops well and

it's possible that now with this measure some of that will will come back but one of the the elements of the measure is that it establishes that only those that come into gold will be legally will be able to. save take advantage of the benefits of this program but the hope is that vs their will could there will probably be a flow but that they will be regularized they will be in many ways legally covered by the by this measure are rights i thank you so much for speaking to us from about that time daniel garcia pena thank you. what you do is are let's get an update on the sports news now with sara thanks a lot during well we'll start with news that's just been coming in we've heard that investigators have concluded that the pilot in the helicopter crash that killed basketball star kobe bryant last year flew through crowds illegally now as a result hours obiang likely came disorientated just before the crash in los

angeles in january last year he told air traffic controllers the aircraft was climbing out of heavy clouds when in fact it was descending immediately before flying into a hillside that all 9 people on board were killed including bryant and his 13 year old daughter giana now moving on to tennis the rafael nadal's chase for a 21st grand slam the start of a comfortable win in his opening match at the australian open the spaniard dropped out of the a.t.p. cup last week are struggling with a back problem but the world number 2 showed no signs of injury as he overcame his serbian opponent laszlo gera in straight sets to reach round 2 the da has only won the australian open once back in 2009 and he wasn't the only banished player to impress in melbourne on tuesday 17 year old carlos a cause is being tipped as the next rafa he won his opening match making him the youngest man to win at a major just 7 years across trained as an adult in the build up to the tournament.

he has all the ingredients to be to become a great champion then is all about how much you are able door to improve in the next couple of years. and then that. the bend on how much you will be able to improve that will make the difference on you going to be very good but if you are going to be very good going to be an amazing champion. and it was an easy day's work for the women's number one ashley barty the home favorite enjoyed a double bagel win over sanka covenants which means she didn't lose a single game it's only took her 45 minutes to ease into the 2nd round. now krone virus lockdowns of meant a huge reduction in the amount of sport played worldwide but sweden's unique approach the pandemic has had the opposite effect on the game handle a sport traditionally popular in spain and latin america or east has this report.

it's lunchtime in sweden and the courts in melbourne and helsingborg are fully booked most sports have struggled 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 it was really easy to get times when it was completely out and 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 spear 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. 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 that it's possible but sweden have been developing really fast and we see the accepts the same thing happening so you know it's still at the amateur level of 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 their physical training is because in a span it was one of the best 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. england's creators are wrapped up a huge victory over indian the 1st test in chennai jimmy anderson took some key wickets early on day 5 and the mentum stayed with the visiting team captain wright's kali led the fight for india with 72 but they were all out 492 england won by 227 runs and they go one nil up in the 4 match series they've now won 6 matches in a row away from home after wins in south africa and sri lanka. set and got something to work for. so. there is we.

mean by those words we've got the. international olympic committee says comments made by head of the tokyo games about women are totally inappropriate it's 3 year old yorkshire mori said last week that meetings involving women last longer because i quote talked too much apologized but there have been calls for his resignation. you cannot take and you have 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 and 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. well that soyuz full for now but i'll be back later that's when we'll see you sarah thank you so much

and thanks for watching the news hour on al-jazeera we'll have much more news coming your way on the other side off the break see you then by. al-jazeera world goes to morocco to meet 5 would be film directors doing whatever it takes to succeed the soldier or write the script and i'm often the cameraman the photo engine here and the boom operator not the route to fame and fortune can be a rocky one juggling the demands of family life with their passion for filmmaking

i'll become a great film director and my mother will be proud of filmmakers and shoved up a clone al-jazeera. what should americans be thinking and doing right now it should be about ideas 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 fact on the world. from london is one of the most important cities in the world and decisions made here have an impact around the globe and so here it out just here at we will show you the true impact of those decisions on people but how it affects their everyday that. we are free to put them on air and to really engage this is because we know that all audience is interested not just in the mainstream news but also the more hidden stories from parts of the world that often go under reported.

be the hero world needs right down. wash. the world. a crackdown on me and mars and teco protesters thousands of people defy rubber bullets tear gas and arrests to rally against the military. is out is there a live from doha i'm dead you know bill gates also coming up the stage is set for donald trump's historic 2nd impeachment trial his lawyers insists his not guilty offense.