corruption and the rule of powerful. people in power investigates. it's the far east on al-jazeera. be the hero world. 2 former politicians from the central african republic face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the international criminal court. you're watching al-jazeera life from a headquarters in doha. so coming up i mean mars military promises to hand over power after elections but it denies curing out a coup and insists it had no choice but to seize power vaccines on hold israel

prevents 2000 doses of the coronavirus shots being delivered to the gaza strip a winter storm sweeps through parts of the u.s. bringing record subzero temperatures traffic headaches and leaving millions in the dark. fellow thanks for joining us 2 former militia leaders facing trial at the hague have pleaded not guilty to charges of war crimes committed in the central african republic tom and patrice edward and guy so in our world leaders of a mostly christian movement there are cues that coordinating targeted violence towards muslims when muslim seleka rebels overthrew the government this was the moment the court laid out the charges. so nice criminally responsible under defiler we most. want. facilitating the commission of the crimes us set

out in the french arches by 18 of 18 and otherwise assisting in their commission or to contribute in any other way to the commission of those crimes by a group of persons acting with a calm purpose so this was the 1st day let's bring in stop passengers joining us from the hague so just talk to us a little bit more about the case and as i'm saying it's a 1st stay how long are proceedings expected to take yes this is the 1st day and it will take a long time before this trial will finish this week the 1st 4 days will be just simply laying out the case and then in a month from now the evidence will be presented to process one of the prosecutor just mentioned he has $600.00 documents and there's also hundreds of witnesses that will be questions of course we're talking about the crimes that allegedly have been committed by 2 senior leaders of this. movement they both pleaded not guilty but

they're facing 21 and 32 accounts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case that was very clearly detailed how do you see attacks were taking place against a muslim minority in the capital bangui but also in other places where people were murdered displaced millions have been displaced because of the conflict that happened in 20132014 as we speak the same similar violence is happening in central african republic again and so many say this core this very destroy is very important to show that what people have been committing violence in years ago that they won't be there won't be any impunity also for those who are doing the same at the moment. instead just tell us how the i.c.c. became involved in the central african republic and in this case in particular.

yes these men have been brought to the i.c.c. around 3 or 4 years ago one of them a politician he was a lawmaker and he was actually arrested when he was started shooting in parliament during a presidential election that he was brought to the i.c.c. and has followed him a little later both prominent politicians and for the i.c.c. does a very important case because they had also dealt with another case earlier of violence that happened in 2003 in the central african republic that case was the end to divert it was acquittal so it is a lot at stake here also for the court that they will have some kind of verdict here because as we know the i.c.c. doesn't have enough or at least not much of a guilty verdict soldiers also this pressure on the prosecutors to come up with a very solid case the defense of course and also the 2 suspects have been

maintaining their innocence from the start that they were arrested ok step thank you so much for that update from the hague was nasty to hans de marie who is the central africa senior analyst of the international crisis group is joining us from nairobi kenya thanks for your time as this trial begins today is that we're just saying it's likely to go on for a month what will you be looking out for. well the 1st let's see if the prosecutor and i says you know we have enough evidence. to convict those people on. that point because from your point of people in bunky those 2 people are already condemned already culprit of all of those opposition that is the common feelings of the late. in the capitana or even into not a western battle of. so if we have those 2 people are released for example or not

that end of the process or the prosecutions doesn't. send in bigoted sic not to some of those people on the ground the justice quarter at. the communities and. public society what we're also looking for is how 'd to really does the militia react to these prosecutions with debby's care of i.c.c. therefore improve the behaviors limited trustees that are committing against the population of conventionally deciding that the only way for them to remain safe is to continue to connectivity and i must. dance in order to protect those 2 things that we will be looking. for us i.c.t. and this is not the 1st trial the i think he has taken on in regards to the central

african republic in fact it's the 2nd what do you make of that. well. only shows that the international justice is gradually. i mean risen use interests on some truck or republic my past those 2. kind of very dedicated would be deficient in the country particularly in the capital and they did not western about the contrary. some people. might score so i was there 2 weeks ago. believe that they could have been nominated 3 out inside inside but we did not want to try to be most all of this coming out cold but about us 'd who doubt given the level of corruption and insider contrary on the fact that many people end up buying big send off the just. don't international

money all right thank you so much for speaking to us from nairobi and giving us your analysis oh man mars military has denied carrying out a coup and pledged again to hold elections next year a spokesman for the armed forces says they had no choice but to seize power moments later the lawyer of the deposed leader aung san suu kyi said the military had filed additional charges against her that's as protests across me and more enter their 11 day their gopalan is following developments from hong kong so did we hear anything new from the military. we didn't really hear anti anything new most of what they said was predictable the military spokesman justified the takeover from the civilian government saying that the elections were fraudulent they also accused the protestors of escalating violence against the police but gave no evidence of it and they also but they did not mention the

security forces crackdown and the using of fire against protesters when it came to the deposed leader on song suchi they just said that they would abide by the constitution and he as you said there her lawyer lawyers did say that police have leveled another charge at her now if you recall she was arrested on february 1st for apparently importing illegal communication devices that is 6 walkie talkies and this latest charge is called a violation of the national disaster law which apparently relates to cope with 19 regulations during campaigning for those november elections now the military spokesman did also mention the concerns about the internet there have been several shutdowns and blackout saying that are are trying to put to bed speculation about china and china's involvement saying that me and mark did not need help from

china to set up its own version of a fire wall saying that they have enough technicians of their own who could do it but deny that it would be imminent now the shutdowns of the internet is of particular concern to the protesters mainly due to the fact that when it happens is usually when there is increased harassment and arrest of the protesters and activists rights and thank you for that update from hong kong. the palestinian authority says that israel has stopped 2000 coronavirus vaccines being delivered into the gaza strip the 1st those of the sputnik vaccine were 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 israel for not providing vaccines to palestinians living under israeli occupation in the west bank and the proceeds of gaza strip has more from west. 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 could 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 right wing israeli members of the knesset arguing on a number of grounds that the vaccine 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 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 still ahead on al jazeera a race against time health of already scramble to respond to a new ebola outbreak in gaming and we'll take a look at why chad is the point extra military forces to a volatile border region. it's

time for the perfect gentleman. sponsored point qatar airways the head of a big storm system which you can see developing is nice and mature and how that's business conditions of a cycling island just gone out of or will be going out of her car it is still windy and snowy i think for wednesday and that's true throughout honshu and the weather conditions these temperatures just a bit below orbit but freezing give ideal but very heavy wet snow not good for skiing very good revelent cheese and that snow is quite possible way back in the yellow sea so will be some i think for the edges at least of south korea temperature was we are subzero during wednesday but we come above during thirty's that cold spell which we have brought cold weather down throughout china is on its way out in fact forecast to shanghai proves the point by friday read to 16 and by saturday back up to 20 still called lights but not freezing nights there's a bit of action happening in the skies above india

a bit of cloud and rain developing nagpur east was into a dish of the northeast monsoon isn't really there anymore surat but when he shows that in sri lanka nor is there much change the weather in the northern plains a few showers are trying to break out but delhi isn't included so delhi in particular with poor chorus he of course starts the day and often ends the day in fog sometimes it's shallow sometimes not but it's always there. sponsible qatar airways its america's worst kept secret cracked open in the time of a pandemic exposed in the time of trump through the turmoil of 2020 the big picture traces a century of racial injustice to reveal how philanthropy politics and economics preserve structural inequality keeping white a supreme and black in its place a race for america part 2 on a jazzier.

hello again the top stories on al-jazeera 2 former militia leaders have just pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial for war crimes committed in the central african republic. so now are accused of targeting muslims in a campaign of torture murder and rape from 2013 to 2014 both men deny the charge to . be unwise military has denied carrying out a coup in pledged again to hold elections next year a spokesman for the on forces says they had no choice but to seize power in protest against the military takeover and now in their 11th day. the palestinian authority

says israel has stopped 2000 coronavirus vaccines being delivered to the gaza strip the 1st doses were supposed to be given out on shoes day more than 2000000 palestinians living in the gaza strip are yet to receive any inoculations. the world health organization says much needed ebola vaccines are on their way to guinea the stockpile is being flown in from geneva and the us country is trying to track down anyone who had contact with those infected 5 people have died and 10 others have symptoms reports and a car and. is back fear of the virus is spreading to the capital and. they. continue to feel really surprised given the current situation gave me the names are struggling with the pandemic and now with the paula it will be a real disaster the country's learned borders are sealed an emergency team made up

of the world health organization doctors without borders and government health workers were dispatched to the region of corrie after a nurse died of the virus in late january. in fact and we are. thinking through. several people attending the infected nurses funeral contracted the virus some have since died with more than $200.00 close contacts health authorities fear many more could be unknowingly carrying a bulla the virus spreads easily through bodily fluids and triggers fever vomiting and diarrhea eventually causing organ failure and death. people are nervous the governor of korea is calling for calm in 2013 an outbreak detected in the same region spread to neighboring countries infecting over 20000 people half of them

died from the virus blood samples of infected patients have been sent for testing at the institute in neighboring senegal inside this building our researchers sequencing a sample of the virus the idea here is to try to understand which strain of a bull we're dealing with in the current outbreak in guinea and whether the newly developed vaccine will successfully contain this new epidemic there are currently $7000.00 doses of the vaccine available globally none of them are in west africa the vaccines need to be stored at minus 80 degrees celsius and transported to guinea's remote in tropical regions where power is in short supply for health authorities it is for now a race against time to trace and isolate contact cases before it's too late nicholas hawk al-jazeera the car. the french president will join choose the regional leaders summit via video link presidents of the g.

5 nations. are meeting as armed groups have increased their attacks france has deployed thousands of soldiers to back local troops but is preparing to reduce its presence. it will send $1200.00 soldiers to the volatile border areas france intervened in northern mali in january 23rd scene that was after fighters returned from libya hoping to make an independent states they were soon joined by al-qaeda affiliated groups that took cities in the north of the country 5100 french soldiers are now deployed across the south with another 14000 un peacekeeping troops in mali they're fighting a variety of armed groups linked to al qaeda and i saw the violence has been costly the u.n. mission has its most expensive and riskiest with 150 peacekeepers killed and 6000 people died last year in the fighting and 2000000 people in the region were

displaced that's. who's the head of the sad program at the institute for security studies she's joining us from thanks for your time with us on al-jazeera so france as we've been reporting expected to announce a troop drawdown what impact is that going to have on the military operations on the ground. well this is yet to be seen of course well if the french authorities confirmed this expected drawdown of their military footprint in the region this would leave. hellion armies with a lot more responsibility to ensure the security of the populations then sounds now what we have seen from the past few years is that local armies still have. important capacity gaps that your. city building and training and equipment have not sufficiently field so there are concerns about whether or not

this would be the ideal time for 'd the french troops to to start withdrawing even if progressively at a time when local armies. are another mother and can you still hear me are at apology yes. you know we seem to be having a few audio connections about let me let me just keep trying with you look you were talking about the french drawdown and despite the french intervention what we've seen is that 2020 the year 2020 was in fact the deadliest year in the sahara region since 2812 so what do you think the french strategy and micron strategy has actually achieved. absolutely last year was the deadliest for civilians in the region and this raises serious concerns about the current strategy not just the french strategy but the strategy that's being used by

all stakeholders involved including the including south states themselves so on the one hand we do have french authorities insisting on the fact that they have achieved some tactical gains or even strategic gains by getting out of the picture some of the leaders of by and the extremist groups but what we see is that. the loss of those leaders have not kept these groups from remaining extremely by told there was very recently an attack by by an extremist groups on forces in the central part of malley almost as a demonstration that losing their leaders does that mean that they will become less of a threat whatever out reports that some sad leaders where you are for example in mali and in bourke in a fast so are there reportedly wanting to negotiate with armed groups this is

something by the way that france has said should not be on the agenda at the summit is this something that you're going to be looking out for and do you think that is the correct strategy going forward. well it's definitely something we will be looking. out to. so talking with armed groups is not actually actually a new thing either in the sahara or anywhere in the road really. the way in wage 2015 peace agreements was reached in mali was precisely by the state and gauging in talks with some of the armed groups now what would be new this time around is for states to start talking with groups that are considered to be terrorist groups. the rationale around these possible it will do should have the that train is that those groups are actually composed of nationals not foreigners and that although they're

using terrorist. ways of action and modes of operation. they really are supporting some form of political. much beige in a project so what is it and whether or not this dialogue can happen is something we will be carefully following up on what's what will be interesting to follow up on as well is the evolution of sad how states pratinas on this question of whether or not to engage in dialogue with by an extremist group so france has been extremely extremely firmly opposed to to these for several years. some other westron countries seem to have less of a tree no position so it will be interesting to see how this develops here and we'll be watching out for that for the time being thank you so much our now alarm

on iran for speaking to us from ali thank you. now dozens of spanish police have stormed a university and arrest that a rap artist who barricaded himself in to avoid prison 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 of restrictions on free speech australia's prime minister scott morrison has apologized to a woman who says she was raped in the parliament building 2 years ago former government staffer brittany hagan's says the attack was carried out by a colleague in the defense minister's office morrison has promised an investigation into the government's workplace culture i mean that should not have happened. and i do apologize that shouldn't happen that's one of i suspect many persis issues that stiff the 1st one by hyper dignified and ensure that those improvements are mine

but at the end of the. i want to make sure that any young woman with me in this place is a cipher as possible just as i would like my own daughters if i ever chose to go down that path or in whatever work place that i would work in that i could have that confidence of this i feel as a father i could have that confidence of sight u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi has announced plans to form an independent commission to investigate last month's assault on capitol hill she says it will be modeled on the commission established after the $911.00 attacks and will report on the facts and causes of the violence on january the 6th in which 5 people died several republicans have expressed support for an independent investigation henry olsen is a senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center in washington he says the findings will be seen as credible because the commission won't be partisan. the important thing of the 911 model speaker pelosi is proposing is that it is 5050

bipartisan by neither party and it is headed by extremely important former or current appointed or official has left that officials from both sides so it's something that gives a finding extreme credibility and i think purpose 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 in the evidence over how responsible president is for the riots that occurred and i think there's arguments on all sides of this for getting to the truth about this republicans are on happy with trump would love to be able to find more evidence as senator bill passes being one of the 7 republicans who voted for can be acting president because the more people find out the likelier republicans will be to be on my side democrats of course would like to find out this but the trump 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 who was in

charge of capitol security did or did not do to protect them and their stabs from the possibility of a riot so there's a happy political convergence of interest over establishing the sides can find something they want. a massive winter storm has been pummeling much of. southern states causing chaos in a region on used to freezing conditions gabriel is on the 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. a little 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 north 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 3. 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 barreling 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 on doe. we hawk in new jersey. hello again the head.