every 2 years something to invest a profit of want. to the last drop. of caracas so the battlefields around i would get to the truth and the power people through. the promise to hand over power. to carrying out a coup insisting they had no choice but to seize power. also coming up a call for an independent commission to investigate the attack on the u.s. capitol the house speaker wants to get to the truth of what happened. a winter

storm sweeps through parts of the u.s. bringing record subzero temperatures. in the dark. a royal rock why the spanish monarchy is insulted by the lyrics of an artist sentenced to jail. hello thanks for joining us me and more as the military has denied carrying out a coup pledges once again to hold elections next year speaking just moments ago a spokesman for the armed forces says they had no choice but to seize power since protests across me and our enter of their 11th day armored vehicles on soldiers have been deployed across the country and officials cut off the internet for a 2nd night in a row bring in scott hyla who is monitoring the situation from the thai capital bangkok so would have to read into what the military had to say scott.

that in well there's really not that much new that's being said in this that the military hadn't already kind of gotten across over the last couple of weeks either through statements or or issuing certain laws and rules but bottom line is they're saying that they had to do what they did and they said that that's why they had to take over the government because the elections were fraudulent back in november they also went a bit further and said that the protesters are inciting violence and actually pressuring civil servants for not of to not go to work so they're taking a little bit further not putting a little bit more of the blame on the protesters for what's been happening during the civil disobedience movement that we've seen really grow steadily over the last 2 weeks plus since the coup and then obviously these mass demonstrations we've seen in about the last 11 days running now so but it's interesting to see that they're actually coming out and kind of pushing back a little bit you know we've you know we haven't really heard or had a press conference like this since the coup we had some announcements come out but

this is a full fledged press conference what's also interesting this is in the capital neighborhood or that some of the. local journalists the boycotted this because they don't see the military as the legitimate government there so obviously this is going to be something that you know once the news comes out in what's the these lines come out that they will be reported but bottom line from the military government saying that they did what they had to do they said they still are going to hold elections they said at the very beginning of the coup and that they will continue with the peace talks that they've been that they've been engaged in for for years with the ethnic armies inside of myanmar so what they're trying to do is paint the picture that we had to do what we did because of this fraudulent election but we're going to continue marching forward with what myanmar was was all about and obviously that's going to get quite a big of a pushback from the protesters still out on the streets right now even while this press conference is going on scott and we will obviously be watching out to see how

the protesters react to what the military have to say and how they take their movement forward. exactly yes and one thing that's interesting with the movement something we're seeing today and it's becoming a little bit more of a pattern with them is this is something that was addressed in the press conference they are going after and focusing on areas where these civil servants operate you know it's interesting when you look at last week the civil servants in the capital they put or they were one of the biggest groups that 1st came out and start participating in these walkouts in these protests what we're seeing in young gone the largest city that the protesters have been staging outside the the central bank they're focused on that because they want central bank operations to cease to slow down because they know if they do that that means the military governments won't be able to go forward with its operations so you have this kind of behind the scenes

trying to stymie things by by the protesters against the military so it's interesting to see how that is working because of the what we heard from the press conference but they're still out there right now trying to actually literally trying to get some of the workers who go into were going into the central bank offices to join their cause scott hi thank you so much for that update from bangkok were only is a visiting scholar at queen mary university of london international state crime initiative he explains what could be behind the military's increasingly heavy handed tactics. it's a sign that the military is threatened by the protests and by the protesters i think the military is probably surprised at the injured of the protestors think the military's expectation was that as with previous coups in me and ma they could arrest the civilian leadership of the country and that then that would be

difficulties organizing opposition to the coup this is different the protesters have a diversified leadership. much more difficult to take out just by arresting even i mean the arrested 400 but the protests still getting organized i think the military are concerned that these protests continue in the long term and that's why we've seen such draconian changes to the whole test is that they risk 20 years in jail for calling a coup. is not something that the protesters i think are going to accept that they've made their decision to protest the coup and they know what the military is like in me and not many people in myanmar of seen the military i mean 60 years of military dictatorship in that country is the lived experience of many people in me and they don't want to go back to that but they know what the military is like and this is what they expect the military to do so protesters have made the decision

before they turn out on the straights to put their bodies on the line and to put their liberty on the line this for them i think is a fight for their country's future and for freedom. he was house speaker nancy pelosi has announced plans to form an independent commission to investigate last month's assaults on capitol hill she says it will be modeled on the commission established after the $911.00 attacks pelosi says it will report on the facts and cause of the violence on january the 6th which 5 people died several republicans have expressed support for an independent investigation henry olsen has a senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center in washington d.c. he says the findings will be seen as credible because the commission won't be partisan the important thing is the 911 model that this speaker pelosi is proposing is that it is 5050 bipartisan controlled by neither party and it is headed by extremely important former or current of 3 did or officials elected officials from

both sides so it's something that gives it binding extreme credibility and i think your piece of this would be to go in and find what house managers in the impeachment trial either couldn't or wouldn't produce which is clear and they have evidence over how responsible president trump is for the riots that occurred in warsaw i think there's arguments on all sides of this for getting to the truth about this republicans who are unhappy with trump would love to be able to find more evidence as senator bill passes being one of the 7 republicans who voted for victim president trump he said the more people find out the likelier republicans will be to be on my side democrats of course would like find out this but the truth people also would like to find out what the truth is in part because it will also enable them to investigate what this house speaker was in charge of capitol security did or did not do to protect them in their stands from the possibility of a riot so there's

a happy political convergence of interest over establishing this that all sides can find something that we're looking at. the u.s. secretary of state says he has reached out to the prime minister of kurdistan regional government in iraq anthony blinken has pledged his support for an investigation following the killing of 13 turkish hostages president has accused the us of supporting kurdish fighters after it issued a statement that stopped short of blaming them for the killings so because of all the reports from istanbul. back home to bury the 13 turkish police and ministry personnel had been discovered in a cave in northern iraq on sunday turkey says they had been abducted and executed by fighters on the kurdistan workers party or p.k. k. during combat operations. but turkey's anger for the killings wasn't just reacted group and he says you know to

syria now there is a statement made by the united states it's a joke would you not supposed to stand against the terrorist the p.k. k a y p g in the p why do you clearly support them and stand behind the picket k. is listed as a terrorist organization not only by turkey but the us and the e.u. the us condemned the killings if responsibility lay with the fi k k. if we work together with you. if we are to continue our unity in the world and nato the new will act sincerely towards us then you will stand with us not with the terrorists. unclear it was over the angered by washington support of kurdish fighters in neighboring syria turkey claims the group known as wife the chief is organically tied to the p.k. and the name difference is just a branding effort to legitimize the organization in the fight against feisal.

infuriated by washington statement on the iraq killings to accuse some of the u.s. ambassador to iraq and later to accuse foreign minister spoke for the 1st time with his new u.s. counterpart to deplane can according to readouts blinken is said to have affirmed that p.k. k. was to blame and that to emphasize the importance of thereby literally relationship and interests in countering terrorism but the differences between longstanding belise remain as a nato ally angara wants washington to pick a side either turkey or the p.k. k. and a syrian based wipe e.g. but in january incoming us secretary of state under in a blink an echo is not acting like an ally because of his purchase of a russian air defense system and said the us would reveal if further sanctions are required unless one side compromises the dispute between nato is to biggest army is

made out and soon see an amp a solo al-jazeera stumble child says it will send $1200.00 soldiers to the volatile border areas between malines ehrenbergii to fast so leaders from africa region have been meeting at a summit to discuss just how to tackle armed groups in the area the french president emmanuel mccall will join the summit by video link on tuesday france has deployed thousands of soldiers to back local troops but is preparing to reduce its presence. still ahead on al-jazeera 15000000 people within 2 months mexico targets the elderly in the 2nd phase of its national vaccination drive. argentina's beef industry feels the heat why the pandemic is being blamed for a drop in consumption. it's

time for the perfect gentleman the weather sponsored plan qatar airways the deep freeze it's been sitting over much of europe for a couple of weeks is being pushed and i want to get it still by atlantic weather but it's got this far that's yesterday's front says halfway through poland this is today's one even to a storm wind and rain for the british isles below countries the rise in temperature has reached that far so warsaw still subzero burley's now above freezing and the real cold is being squeezed south a result of this which means turkey in greece and vulgar area are getting it and it's been quite bad from the north to the south of greece it's been described as the worst snow in 12 years many people have lost power as a result of that it is ongoing beach buggies no longer on the beach and they're back on the streets and they used to get through the snow that generally speaking the weather is looking fine for most of europe the sun is replacing anything else temperatures slowly but he so you rising it's windy wet in the low countries and in

france but the concentration of described as pretty bad weather is down for the blacks in the gene indeed throughout today as a storm warning for the arms of the gene there's plenty of snow to come for turkey there is rain to come to live and and also northern egypt which is where it stays throughout wednesday and quite possibly thursday. sponsible qatar airways jump into the story there is a lot going on in this and julian and global community when i thought of 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 good enough to hear from you in the to be part of today's discussion this streamed on out is there a. well

again the top stories on al-jazeera our military has denied carrying out a coup once again to hold elections next year the spokesman for the armed forces says they had no choice but to seize power. across the country enter their 11th day u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi has announced plans to form an independent commission to investigate last month's assaults on capitol hill she says it would report on the facts on causes of the attack in which 5 people died. and $1200.00 soldiers to the volatile border areas between. leaders from africa region have been meeting at

a summit to discuss how to tackle armed groups in the area. the palestinian authority says that israel has stopped 2000 coronavirus vaccines being delivered to the gaza strip the 1st dose of the sputnik vaccine were supposed to be give it was supposed to be given out on tuesday more than 2000000 palestinians living in the gaza strip are yet to receive any inoculations human rights groups have criticized for not providing vaccines to palestinians living under israeli occupation in the west bank and the besieged gaza strip is joining us now from west jerusalem so you're saying israel has banned the entry of around 2000 doses into the gaza strip why is that harry. well they're not saying they say so far that the decision has yet to be made that's the official lot that's the line coming from officials it's a decision for the national security council's affectively one can say it's

a decision for the prime minister benjamin netanyahu the p.a. as you say says that it made this shipment it was sent it out towards the west bank checkpoint and it was stopped by israeli security officials there was a debate in the israeli parliament the knesset on monday about this issue with a right wing israeli members of the knesset arguing on a number of grounds that the vaccines should not be shipped to gaza one argument made was that because hamas which controls the gaza strip is holding 2 israeli civilians who crossed into the strip in recent years and also the remains of 2 israeli soldiers that there should be no vaccines handed over until those remains in those people are returned another a arguing that these vaccines would not go to health workers but speculated they would go to senior hamas officials now as far as members of the largely palestinian israeli joint list are concerned this is withholding essential health care from an

occupied population and therefore a war crime it's worth remembering that inside gaza already it's estimated some 9 percent at least of the population have been infected with the virus at one point in december some 45 percent of tests were coming back positive now the numbers have been going down a bit since but gaza has an extremely overstretched and very rickety health system these vaccines are very much needed and so one can only expect that there will be increasing amount of international pressure the longer israel does not have these vaccines are given how much criticism israel has already enjoyed for giving such a small number just a couple of 1000 so far vaccines to the palestinian authority itself in the occupied west bank and harry i met star of the international criticism that israel has faced for not sharing vaccine supplies with the palestinians it's carrying out one of the world's fastest vaccination campaigns per capita for its own citizens.

that's right i mean if the differential is very stark if you think about just what happened yesterday the latest figures from yesterday 156000 vaccinations carried out within israel we're talking about 2000 that are being prevented from being transferred from the west bank to gaza and israel has it is likely to pass the 4000000 mark in terms of one dose and in terms of 2 doses already more than 2600000 israelis have had both those is of the vaccine so that is a very significant proportion some 43 percent of the entire population having had at least one dose more if you took if you think about the eligible populations it's only 16 up who are eligible for the vaccine and israel is basing its whole emergence from the pandemic from the multiple lockdowns we've had on the success of this program the rates of vaccination are starting to go up again

a little bit and from sunday the plan is to start reopening things such as malls and hotels stores and potentially sporting and cultural facilities as well and the idea is to have a green passport system where the who have had the vaccine will be allowed entrance to these sorts of facilities those who haven't word b. and so again israel very much in the forefront on that front as well in terms of how that will play out but the real question and something that was debated as well in the parliament yesterday was whether israel had a self interest in inoculating the population of the occupied west bank or at least significant proportion of it because of the numbers who come in to work inside israel every day one argument was that well we don't have that relationship with god and so there isn't the same self interested argument to hand those vaccinations over to the gaza strip ok harry foster thank you so much for that update from west jerusalem. a 2nd round of vaccinations is being administered in mexico's capital

health officials and to inoculate 15000000 elderly people within 2 months when you are up all the reports from mexico city. accuser long outside vaccination centers in the outskirts of the mexican capital on monday health officials rolled out the 2nd phase of mexico's national inoculation program. i feel happy after receiving the vaccine i'm glad they brought us the vexing. they say that with the vaccine hopefully we can control the pandemic because too many of our poor brothers and sisters have left us. after weeks of delays some 8 170000 doses astra zeneca cope with 1000 vaccine arrived in the mexican capital over the weekend restarting the country stalled next a nation efforts you look at all you start with. what we are witnessing today is the arrival of the 1st test resentment of vaccines developed with oxford's that

were produced in india from mexico this shipment is very important because it will let us accelerate our vaccination drive as was ordered by the president. mexico's military has been mobilized to deliver new doses of the vaccine to all 32 mexican states. that of mexico is nearing 2000000 confirmed cases and ranks 3rd in the world in cope with 1000 deaths the latest shipments of vaccines or arriving at a critical time jack. city ending health officials have got the vaccine they arrived in the morning and they will continue arriving on tuesday and they won't stop arriving and national immunization plan won't stop as we have said there's preference for the elderly. while the 2nd phase of the backs a nation program will focus on the elderly and frontline health workers the government has also placed top priority on rural areas where rates of transmission are relatively low many health policy experts say this is the wrong strategy.

adding that the government should be focused on inoculation efforts in densely populated cities were authorities continue to struggle to curb contagion. mexico's vaccination program began in december of last year since then mexico's president has said the government intends to vaccinate the entire population that's more than 126000000 people by march of 2022 bundled up a low al-jazeera mexico city an investigation has been launched and peru and to why nearly $500.00 people including many government officials were secretly vaccinated ahead of health workers the former president martin vickery has apologized after it was revealed that he and his wife received injections in october on sunday at the foreign minister resigned after it emerged she had also been given a secret. well british is a major part of traditional origin tying cuisine but its consumption has dropped to an all time low and that's being partly blamed on the economic impact of the

pandemic there is about reports from one of cyrus. green before ours is part of argentina's tradition lone wolf is proud of what his family has achieved there are experts in preparing the traditional or barbecue the grilling method used by the or skilled horse men who roamed argentina the region in the 18th and 19th centuries all of them dated all along the plaza so here we are proud to say this is a restaurant that feeds everyone all social causes those who have money and those who don't but things have changed it's becoming more and more expensive those who come have less money that endemic has forced restaurants like this $1.00 to adapt its working at 30 percent of its capacity what complicates the situation even more is that beef is becoming more expensive in a country where people are used to eating meat nearly every day latest reports show that beef consumption has dropped to an all time low or about 50 kilos a person

a year half the amount consumed in the 1950 s. one of the recent is a changing eating abbots but there is more. played a crucial role in argentina culture this type of father was i part of people in life but in the past year the price of you have increased around 70 percent because of inflation an increase of exports and that's why the government is putting together a plan that aims to review the price of certain. due to rising prices cows were taken last year to graceland instead of being fattened with corn they slowed down before duction and reduced the supply experts in the area fear government intervention to control the prices. back in 2008 government restrictions to prevent a rise in prices ended with a loss of around 20 percent of argentina's cattle herd. i think it's

a political action trying to reduce the price of beef we explored only 3 percent of what we consume if the government tries to act on your ficta not on the causes which is the rise in prices of almost everything in the country. he said butcher who was forced to adapt her shop and sell other products she says the increase in the price of beef makes it difficult for her business to thrive. in the most we've had a 40 percent decrease in the sales of beef mostly because of price not everyone can pay for beef people were used to eating at all the time but that's not the case now by selling chicken and other parties so that we can get our sales up beef going sumption is a reflection of argentina's economy and that's one of the reasons why the government wants to guarantee people have access to it. but failed policies of the past may end up hurting the sector that has made argentinian beef famous worldwide

that is i will just. to democracy activists in hong kong have pleaded guilty to organizing an illegal assembly in $2197.00 others denied the charges including media tycoon jimmy lie and martin lee who is known as hong kong's father of democracy the trials are related to a demonstration in august 29000 in games beijing's influence rally drew nearly 2000000 people critics say the charges are proof the government is ruling through fear. that wherever. they are problem or whomever go. 2 wrong. the rule of law won't go wrong. a major winter storm has swept through much of the u.s. brought rare snow to some southern states causing chaos in regions not used to freezing conditions gabriel these are reports from new jersey. for much of the southern

united states it was a once in a generation winter storm. heavy snow fall and icy roads conjured up disastrous driving conditions across at least 20 states several of them declaring states of emergency in texas record low temperatures way below freezing brought the electricity grid to its knees at one point more than 2000000 customers there lost power many caught up in intentional outages designed to ease the strain on the system we have experienced probably 5 or 6 rolling blackouts at about 45 minutes and i know that there are some neighborhoods around here that have them up without power since about 4 am even southern texas more accustomed to hurricanes got a rare sight of snow this was the scene in bel-air a suburb of houston and in san antonio home to the alamo

a famous historical site here's what it looked like there. too far but you never think you see the day and so you got snow coming down like this according to the national weather service at least 150000000 americans are in the storm's path and unusually wide band of frigid air creeping slowly across the country other states bearing the brunt of it happened oklahoma where it's caused near white out conditions on the roads. and more carolina where freezing rain felled trees along highways further north in chicago there are more used to this kind of weather at this time of the year but even here they're bracing for more than 30 centimeters of snow by the time the storm passes through the new york city region has already seen its highest snowfall totals in years but the storm that's sweeping through the rest of the country is now. barely north and

about to hit here leaving tens of millions of other americans in the northeast of the country bracing for the next one that also could include sleet and hail gabriels andro. we hawk in new jersey. dozens of spanish police have stormed the university and arrested a rap artist who barricaded himself inside to avoid prison problem ha cell was sentenced to 9 months in jail for insulting the monarchy and glorifying so-called terrorism he wants the law under which he was convicted to be scrapped the case led the government to announce some easing up for struction is on free speech. keller again the headlines on al-jazeera manned mars the military has denied carrying out a coup and again pledge the whole.