desperate situation of the indian government set up a new commission to monitor sources of pollution across 5 known for d. the state's health experts and environmentalists and been warning for months that the easing of the lockdown would lead to an increase in pollution and the impact that would have on those because of the 19. this is al jazeera. alone keep it al this is the news our live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes another mass abduction at a school in nigeria dozens are injured and on the number of people are missing and feared kidnapped. using their cars to drive home their message and who could protest as in me and

mark ignore military warnings and continue demonstrating for a return to democracy. if the virus is a model spread like wildfire in the global shall salt box would be. great again and again the u.n. secretary general calls for a global vaccination plan and urges g. 20 nations to lead the effort. millions in the u.s. state of texas are without power for a 3rd day it's electrical grid crumbles amid freezing weather. and is for a fellow dells bid so when it's 21st grand slam title is over and the dow was beaten in 5 sets of the australian open by stephanus it's a pass of greece. a rescue operation is underway in nigeria to find schoolboys and staff it kidnaps.

those wounded when gunmen attacked the school that could lead to statehood taken to hospital ontario's president has condemned the mass abduction no group has claimed responsibility for the attack yes i'm at it just as now live from up and what more do we know do we know exactly how many students are missing. when basically it's difficult because there are so many numbers going round 1st the government in niger state says 27 people have been kidnapped and that again a few hours later that number went up to 42 now when i jesus spoke to an official earlier today he said in this school with 1000 student population. a census was conducted this morning and that 280 students who are missing what is not clear was whether these students were taken all of them were taken by the abductors or some of them might have run away from the school and actually sitting

at home and not coming back to school so the situation is a bit confusing right now but what people believe is that the number of the state government is giving is far much lower than what actually happened these operations of the operations conducted by the bandits as the efficiency of call them happened since last night and it went well into the early hours of today so he eats it's impossible according to some people to say that only a few dozen students were taken in that operation so a lot of people are going with the fact that maybe 280 maybe more have been taken from that school remember the same situation happened a few months back in connecticut in a state the home state of the president when hundreds of students were taken from a boat school in the in the town. the initial report we got was that only $35.00 students were taken but later only it went to $100.00 and that later it came out to be that more than $300.00 students even up to 600 students what taken from that

school remember also chibok in 2014 we were told only a few dozen girls were taken from that school eventually it turned out the 276 girls were taken from that school hundreds of more than 100 of them are still missing and the government for the moment is sending its security operatives there to coordinate with local authorities to see how to rescue these children we spoke to an official earlier today who said that yes the location of the abductors have been identified and what is the problem the dilemma now is how to approach this situation because they believe that with the high number of captives in there under their control it's difficult to conduct a successful operation without resulting in casualties on the part of the students so that's what they're waiting now but in fact the nigerian government is saying that they have directed all security chiefs to ensure that the students have been rescued. but it just live for us covering developments from the jet thank you

as some had mentioned the incident comes 2 months off the gunman invaded a school in katsina state kidnapping more than 300 students 110 girls were kidnapped in your state and 201-8270 girls kidnapped from neighboring borno state in 2014 the cat part of a wider problem africa's largest economy is in recession of of the coronavirus pandemic and falling oil prices that's dampened poverty and the disadvantaged north in the northwest heavily armed men have been kidnapped and students and demanding ransoms than the northeast security forces a struggling to deal with attacks by the armed group boko haram. well soon i'm on holiday is a security analyst and journalist in nigeria he joins us now from lagos by scott thank you for your time what should we make of the timing of this attack i'm wondering if the government has been trying to get a hold on security could this perhaps be

a reaction to that. certainly the. reaction to that and a couple of or there are you know dynamics in play here don't forget that in nigeria there's a totally absent absence of look at government administration which has become very difficult for the locals to have anyone to run to another to say here is that there is also of course the border that surrounding most parts of that area if you look at what is happening internationally and like in places like shot in cairo in especially in southern cameron this countries have not been able to hold the security military on the slots for too long to help push back the bandits and that because they are on man border positions we have seen in niger and lot of people have actually come into the country and they guy support of the head and of course

that now the new name for then are bandits is that just a week before that happened some travelers who kidnapped on the roads and the bandits where. 4 or 500 media narrative some what people are saying here is that if that's the come up base that's for the bandits because governments and individuals have all over the time been paying ransom to these bandits when the f.b.i. kidnaps it's bs that's so that making it so difficult for anyone to put a finger on the wet this is coming from but from now the numbers egypt said no one knows the exact number of those kidnapped but the security have moved again which is what people have been saying bay should have done before now keep in mind this style that been using to kidnap children from schools as well one wonders why

we haven't actually be proactive instead. every time this is about ransoms as you say calling it a business for want of a better word that then clamping down on these kidnappings must be a very difficult task in trying to tackle the root of the cause why people are driven to carry out these sorts of kidnappings. but thing here is that quality is why and of course lack of fire you know for pat source of livelihood for the people the governor of good in a state also in niger is not in reach and i got that if i had said that once upon a time head there whose. business is to head cattle and now make a big money from just kidnapped in an individual so it becomes so difficult for you to now make him go back to he's legal trait so i think poverty is key here

and of course ferocity of niger has brought that and laurie infiltration into the country has also of course keep in mind also that the prices in the league which has actually given rise to our light and small weapons coming into nigeria is also not far from what nigeria is dealing with are the momentum so all of these are and are on the plate for the country to handle so or what we're looking at a situation whereby the new security chiefs will try as much as possible to be more private taif change such as and their work reject what they have inherited from the last security chiefs so that this whole arc it has become almost like a culture people wake up and children at take in india hundreds will stop i have to leave it at a time thank you so much for joining us here on the news hour swim on i there

a security analyst in nigeria. the detention of me and miles austin leader is said to end on wednesday but there's no sign that he will be free but testers are increasing pressure on the military to release some gathered in central had gone and cause traffic jams to try and get their message across it's called high level facts. in a creative move by antic who protesters in years gone many pretend that their cars have broken down in the city center parking in the middle of streets and on bridges an act of civil disobedience to vent their anger at the military for overthrowing the government but also to make it difficult for security forces to move around the city as protesters gather for another day of rallies calls for the broken down car campaign came soon after the internet blackout was lifted at 9 am local time the 3rd straight nighttime blackout the campaign called off late morning to make way for this thousands of people gathering in the suv they put go to area of yangon

right next to city hall. the protest was announced late tuesday after the joint a spokesman said that the military did not stage a coup when it overthrew the civilian government led by on song suchi adding to that news that a 2nd charge has been filed against suchi the not going to tarry told the public that aung san suu kyi would appear in court on february 17th but they change it to get media attention we assume that the military has done to stop us so they can fire one more shot against her to sister reason we out on the street again. and those on the streets on tuesday in the southern township of me faced rubber bullets and tear gas fired by security forces the protesters gathered to call for the release of a detained school principal who had been taking part in the civil disobedience movement since the coup on february 1st hundreds of people have been arrested back in yangon the punk rock band rebel riot does more than just play music it also fronts the organization food not bombs delivering hundreds of food boxes each week

to those in need they've been busy since the coup and say out by well i mean people are in trouble the economy is descending into darkness people cannot sleep at night can't even eat and getting threatened there are people across generations. you have no fear that is why we have to oppose the gentle. and more and more people are showing up to show that growing opposition but the judge appears to be ignoring that instead further justifying its takeover and arresting more people who are organizing or even just taking part in the movement to counter its coup scott heiler al-jazeera. the man whose story influenced the hollywood film hotel rwanda has gone on trial in the country's capital kigali paul rusesabagina a pedant caught on 9 challenges including murder armed robbery belonging to a terrorist organization he was praised for his role in saving the lives of more

than 1000 people during the rwandan genocide and they fell out with the government his family and lawyers say he was abducted of a c.s. and brought back to rwanda illegally the trial has been adjourned to february 26th . and more ahead on the news our including. south africa kicks off its delayed vaccination program and the president is among the 1st to get a vaccine that's yet to be approved. remembering the cost of freedom 10 years after the start of the revolution that toppled libya's longtime leader. in sports an unforgettable night in barcelona for this world cup winning striker is here with that story. the u.n. secretary general has called on wealthy nations to lead a global vaccination effort and tony harris warned the pandemic will last longer of coronaviruses allowed to spread like wildfire and poor countries a diplomatic editor james bays joins us live from the united nations in new york

james tell us more about this warning from the 6 general well this is a special meeting of the u.n. security council that is underway now on covert 19 and i think there is broad agreement that there is potentially a problem going forward that the rich countries are vaccinating people but many other parts of the world are not and you're never going to get rid of covert 19 if you have it spreading in some parts of the world and potentially mutating and potentially in the future making vaccines not work this meeting was called by the u.k. that's the current president of the security council they are proposing now a resolution to try and call for cease fires in conflict zones around the world to get people in those conflict zones vaccinated the 1st speaker as you say was the u.n. secretary general and tonio good terrorists and the figures he quoted were really striking yet progress on vaccination as has been widely an event and fans

just fan countries ever admit is that it's 75 percent of all covered in $1000.00 vaccines meanwhile more than 130 countries have not received a single gold. and those affected by conflict and insecurity are dead but people are risks of being left behind and another striking statistic came from the secretary general from the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies speaking at the security council meeting less than one percent of covert $1000.00 vaccine so far globally have been administered in the $32.00 countries currently facing the most severe humanitarian crises the un secretary general is proposing now be an emergency task force set up to come up with a global vaccination plan he's going to give the un's full support to that he thinks because finance is needed the best body to do this is the g 20 and he's

hoping that the g 7 meeting the 7 most important countries in the g 20 in terms of their economic power can start leading efforts to that end they have a meeting on friday james bays at the united nations thank you. south africa's president has been vaccinated has the country begins its covered 19 inoculation program on wednesday after some delays so opposed to receive the johnson and johnson jab which has not been approved for emergency use a single dose vaccine is being given to health care workers as part of a research study earlier this month the government suspended the rollout of astra zeneca. from the. far east. health. watch the.

beast the box is a very. straightforward process. take this. so that all of this. for me to bella is in johannesburg she says the government is trying to tackle misinformation about johnson and johnson back saying it is a one shot vaccine and that certainly suits the south african government at this point and that the original rollout was delayed and added been astra zeneca which was the vaccine at the time there would have been a a 2 shot process over a couple of weeks in this particular case now with johnson and johnson they're allowed to perhaps speed up that process given that it's already been delayed that this vaccine center in soweto just outside of johannesburg at least 28 people health workers have been vaccinated today one of the 1st groups in this province of halting but earlier we did see the initial vaccination some of the 1st in the

country take place in cape town and that is when the president's a remark was on and a couple of ministers were vaccinated they say this is very much around a lengthy fears given that there are many south africans who are skeptical about this vaccine process one it was delayed there appears to be a lot of misinformation a lot of fake news affecting how people view the vaccine and whether or not they'll register south africa saying at this point it's a voluntary registration as is the case with the health workers we saw here earlier but the president would want to assure south africans that the vaccine. there's nothing wrong with it to that it's here in south africa to save lives the u.k. is launching the wilds 1st human challenge trial in which healthy volunteers will be given crowd of us 90 volunteers between 18 and 30 years old will be exposed to the disease and observed in a controlled environment the aim is to help scientists better understand the

effects of covert 19 and a whole joins us now live from london and john i believe you're outside the hospital in london where the trial will be taking place. yes this is the royal free hospital in north london where in about a month's time we're told the u.k. will become the 1st country in the world to hold a human challenge trial so-called using coded 19 injecting the virus itself into live healthy young volunteers initially to look at the way the virus interacts with the human body with the immune system to look to get the earliest stages of infection and then of course later on to introduce candidate vaccines candidate therapeutics and treatments and see how they interact with the virus the initial trial will have a very specific purpose in addition and that is to come up with a minimum dose of the virus required to produce an infection in a healthy individual that it would be giving people any more than the minimum for

obvious reasons so they will be putting 90 people in a secure environment inside this hospital here specifically designed to contain the virus the call is going out for volunteers aged between 18 and 30 they will be very carefully medically screened to ensure they don't have a health profile that makes them liable to the worst effects of covert 90 the virus will be squirted up their nose in the tiniest quantities 1st and then gradually increased until all of that sample group have achieved an infection and scientists will then have their minimum dose required before moving on to look at later trials as i said involving future vaccines and treatments. we still don't know is no john or beyond those initial aims of the trial this is about helping us live with covered 19 in the long term right so so how. yes that's absolutely right i mean that back in october when they 1st started

looking for ethical approval for these sorts of trials critics said look we've already got vaccines coming online we've got therapeutics coming online is there enough reason to justify taking the risk of submitting people to this virus there's no guarantee that people will not suffer undue effects after all but remember that was before we saw these mutations arrive 1st the u.k. mutation then the south african so-called coded variant and the realisation that these mutations will continue that the vaccines and drugs that work today may not be the vaccines and drugs that work tomorrow so this is a vital tool that will enable scientists help us to live with coded long term by giving them a much speedier much more efficient way of trialing new drugs and putting those drugs into development and looking at things critically like how the virus transmits how it actually transmits and therefore how to stop transmission how for instance it might really infect people and how to stop that ok thanks for that

update there john holl live from london. japan has started its mass vaccination campaign against carver 19 and spanning 2 elk $4000000.00 people by the end of march it's a critical time with less than 6 months before tokyo is due to host the olympic games which were of course delayed by a year because of the virus or the fright as follows. trailing other developed nations and many of its asian neighbors by many weeks finally japan is rolling out its vaccines the 1st people to get the pfizer jab are thousands of health workers often criticised for failing to use the latest technology in controlling the outbreak japan is now using a popular online messaging service to centralize the vaccination booking system but a lack of specialized syringes means millions of doses could be wasted sifter sure since the vaccines are very valuable the government is working to procure more

special for engines that can extract thicks doses from. contributing to the delayed rollout has been the requirement for extensive testing of the vaccine in a country that historically has a mistrust of mass vaccination campaigns. the vaccine was developed so quickly so it scares me to think about it side effects and its effectiveness. over concerns but i'll get through it becomes available japan has imposed strict border controls which it believes has helped in keeping the outbreak under control so many here are worried about the prospect of hosting the upcoming summer olympics so opening up the borders and green people from all over the world where there are various different strains of the virus does not seem like an inspired idea here to a lot of public health officials and the public at large but the government is determined

they will go ahead at the end of july although big questions remain over what form they will take last year the government was also determined right up until they pulled the plug so i think you know sometime later in march we'll have a better idea they are going to proceed. but you know really deal lympics has lurched from one crisis to another scandal the latest scandal has been the resignation of former olympic committee president yes sure oh morry over sexist remarks he made earlier this month the government is hoping a successful vaccination campaign can help turn around the fortunes of its ill fated games mcbride al-jazeera. gaza has received its 1st 2000 coronavirus vaccine doses after israel approved the shipment delivery of the russian made spot that doses were delayed by israeli authorities on tuesday israel has been heavily

criticized for excluding gaza and the occupied territories from its rapid vaccine roll ups. a rare winter storm across the southern united states across the southern united states has left millions of people without power for a 3rd day and anger is mounting of the worst affected states texas where the electrical grid collapsed under the weight of freezing temperatures and the sudden rise of dalt. blanketed with snow and glazed with ice homes in texas are burning this part of the united states isn't used to freezing the winter storm has created chaos electricity grids have failed leaving millions of people without power in dangerously cold temperatures we lost power yesterday morning. the houses are getting real cold like around 2 o'clock and then you got all the blankets we try to all sleep together to keep us warm come to cars to keep

our phones charged. and then today when we got up there was no water. a family of 4 died in a house fire near houston while using their fireplace to keep warm hospitals have been overwhelmed by hundreds of people suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning and hundreds of thousands have been advised to boil water after treatment plants went down and it's not just texas that's affected. emergencies have been declared in several states across the central and southern u.s. . the storm brought under snow and tornadoes including one in north carolina that killed several people president joe biden is promising additional emergency resources the extreme weather can be traced to a massive arctic air that's normally near the north pole occasionally the system is disrupted sending freezing temperatures south but it's reported to be happening more often and scientists are looking into whether climate change is to blame

events like this highlight the country's vulnerabilities. at least get the car away on. going to cost tens of damages unless we start investing in resilience measures which you know may seem expensive now. save money in the longer run. the governor of texas has called for an investigation into why service has failed and for the state's power grid to be improved in the meantime millions will endure another night without power and the cold isn't expected to ease up until the weekend alexandra byers al-jazeera. syria has been struck by a major snowstorm that's causing traffic chaos heavy starfall has blanketed the capital and several neighboring provinces roads are blocked and universities have postponed examinations a cold front has also impacted on the chips in libya. so it's come on

al-jazeera. cashing in refusing to pay out why a major grocery chain closed to its stores in long beach california. the struggle to reach hundreds of bodies believed to be traps and a boat that capsized in democratic republic of congo. and its force will hear from the 2 time of the big chap eunice's japan will be luck on that side of tokyo games are to take place. it's all change again in what has been quite well the thrasher arabia already this stormy weather in the eastern med has produced snow in greece and in turkey this is wednesday's forecast the strong winds rain in northern egypt rain in the levant snow in lebanese manton's jerusalem axis 6 heavy snow in turkey ahead of it is

a line east current just see here where you've got suddenly winds coming up to 31 and the northwest is behind which will change the temperature dramatically as that line goes south it's a cold front you get sundays to me you tend to get a bit of sand ahead and possibly a sandstorm behind as wind changes so q.h. 20 might be accompanied by a bit dust but given the amount of rain probably not then this is nice sunny area but still not warm and even 8 degrees in jerusalem and then into a for example then the change comes down to bahrain and qatar which is $22.00 is the max when change to a northwesterly sunder storms and possibly send with it afterwards more active weather in mozambique not where you want it but they are is quite possibly the receiver of strong winds and rain during wednesday maputo dry air that of the over mortar circulation starts again which will probably talk back into so sudden mozambique.

the. greatest challenge because of all the. koran the koran. now the whole word of. a course of a minister of keenest. a european judge tasked with imposing nor a new order and a trial row testing the nose of a new uniformed nation. witness. highway on al-jazeera.

the all. the all the all. you're watching al-jazeera reminder of our top stories this hour an unknown number of people are fed kidnapped or missing in nigeria after an armed group attacked the schools the knowledge of state several wounded students were taken to hospital. u.n. secretary general has called on wealthy nations to lead a global vaccination effort because harris warns the pandemic will last longer of coronaviruses allowed to spread like wildfire in 4 countries. millions of the usa of texas are without power for a 3rd day as its electrical grid failed an unusually freezing weather 21 people

have been killed across the country the extreme weather for cut is forecast to continue until the weekend. libyans are marking the 10th anniversary of the start of the revolution that toppled leader moammar gadhafi fires also doused the are going head to libya's internationally recognized government was among those paying tribute tripoli's martyr square the revolution sparked fighting between gadhafi forces and libyan rebels but earlier this month rival factions agreed to an interim usually government until elections in december our trainer has this report from the former rebel stronghold of this rafa. with reuters libya's 3rd largest city it's also one of the main sources of military power in western libya rebels from misrata played an important role in the revolution that toppled longtime leader warmer of gadhafi in 2011 according to administrators at this memorial museum more than $5000.00 men were killed during the 8 month revolution more than 30 percent of them

came from misrata. i mean we made this museum to remember those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom family members of those who were killed come to see pictures of their relatives and remember them as heroes the valley has an job or a memorial museum is named after an al-jazeera cameraman who was killed in eastern libya while covering the revolution in 2011 it tells a story of victory and triumph these statues were brought back from good death is compound after rebel forces capture tripoli. people here in the city of misrata will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary to the revolution they say that their fight in 2011 was for freedom and democracy but they also know all too well but cost of war here those who died while fighting to deaf is forces are remembered their pictures fill the walls. 10 years on people bring their kids here to teach

them about the conflict. february 17th means a lot to us libyans especially here in the misrata it means freedom and democracy abroad my kids here to show them the picture of my nephew and to teach them that freedom comes at a cost medical is an engineer he lost a leg in 2011 fighting get deaf ears forces but despite his injuries he's now open this helps or and works as a personal trainer pull out and not. be donated in 2011 libyans express themselves and rose up against a dictator we want a democratic state the situation now isn't how we hoped it would be but it will take time after 42 years under gadhafi it is normal that we are where we are we hope things will get better 10 years after the revolution and this month's political settlement among libya's warring sides there are hopes the fighting may and a libya could be on track to becoming a democratic state now that trainer al jazeera misrata. nato defense ministers are

holding their 1st meeting since u.s. president joe biden took office there expects to focus on nato as missions in iraq and afghanistan says the biden administration reviews donald trump's peace deal with the taliban that includes withdrawing troops by the 1st that's going to talk about the who's joining us live from paris how serious is this review of that taliban peace deal. well the u.s. are certainly saying that it is serious and that they are reviewing this deal that was made between the administration of the former u.s. president donald trump and the taliban now the taliban have certainly been upping the pressure on the u.s. in recent days to hold their part of the deal as they see it and that is to oversee a withdrawal of international forces from afghanistan by the end of april but we understand as you say that the biden administration is reviewing that deal now

afghanistan is certainly on the table at this nato meeting of defense ministers the 1st since the new u.s. administration came to the white house what. the secretary general of nato has said is that he wants to discuss the situation of the international forces in afghanistan there are about 9000 troops international troops about nearly a 3rd of them are from the united states however stoltenberg says as far as he is concerned that it is not the time to withdraw these forces he says that he doesn't want afghanistan to become what he calls a haven for international terrorists he say that is why we are there to stop that we also heard from the german defense minister who very much on the same lines said that this was not the time that had been enough progress in afghan peace talks to withdraw troops at this moment and how nato is funded is also on the agenda what more can you tell us on that front. yes installed

the secretary general of nato saying that he would like member states to reconsider funding in a way to boost their defense budgets now what he is saying is that this would be important to promote what he calls burden sharing so basically sharing the cost of some deployments of certain military exercises more fairly amongst the member states is interesting of course because under donald trump it was $1.00 of the former president yes president's main gripes he felt that the u.s. was simply was simply funding to too much of nato defense budget if you want to put it that way and he had asked other european member states to put in more money if you want to say it like that now stoltenberg are saying that he will ask defense ministers to review their budgets to try them for joint military exercises and things like that also on the table during this 2 day video conference they will

discuss russia china turkey all countries that are seen as causing some concerns to nato russian try to china salzberg says are increasingly using normal rules based behavior he said turkey a nato member but not always behaving in a way that is seen as compatible with the alliance told by also saying that nato needs to look at some modern challenges things like climate change and cyber security. are out of sure be checking back in with you natasha about that thank you . u.s. president joe biden has visited wisconsin to promote his $1.00 trillion dollars relief plan was concert was one of the key states in his presidential victory has been hit hard by covert $9100.00 reports from milwaukee. president joe biden went on a whistle stop tour to pitches $1.00 trillion dollars covert relief player.

it is estimated that if you we passed this bill alone will create 7000000 jobs this year 7000000 jobs this year 1st stop milwaukee in a state reeling economically from the pandemic bigger is better now not spend less $33.00. when the focus brothers construction company became the general contractors for the democratic national convention it was a corporate coup when the pandemic forced the convention to go virtual the democrats cancelled the contract and that's about how 2020 went here in wisconsin last year was a rough year so we're looking forward to 2021 and out we have the vaccine and everything else i would hope it s. and jobs open up and some opportunities definitely open to other way for small companies like ourselves they're hoping for a better economic climate with a new president who campaigned in wisconsin promising to help minority businesses

now joe biden is making his 1st official visit and outside of the washington area here in part to make good on that promise wisconsin lies near the center of the midwest a train ride away from american marketplaces from coast to coast. it exports manufactured goods agriculture and like many rest belt cities across the united states has lost factories and jobs to the ravages of the pandemic would depend like any other state you know things went downhill so as a result what we saw in 2020 specially and the 2nd quarter and 3rd quarter of 2020 is that the economy was doing pretty bad biden is rallying americans to pressure congress to pass his plan much as president obama did for his health care plan at the beginning of his term. the next stop on president biden's coded 19 relief road tour is michigan where he plans to tour of pfizer plant on thursday where they make

and distribute the vaccine that gives him an opportunity to talk about what his administration is doing to combat the virus and ask americans to support his plan to spend another $1.00 trillion dollars to do that. for wisconsin businesses biden's visit is a start they appreciate the high profile attention of the president at the dawn of his term but judge him by his success in turning around the state's flagging a commie john hendren 0 milwaukee. long beach in southern california is one of the places worst hit by cars 19 of us the city was one of the 1st to propose heroes that's extra wages for essential workers like supermarket stuff but what happened next spot. in january the long beach city council passed an ordinance requiring a 4 month 4 dollar an hour pay boost for employees of large grocery store chains they called it hero pay for essential workers often overlooked during the pandemic

we look at it was very clear a group of your workers iraqi with more. protection i'm going to be probably were they deserve or they weren't expecting the backlash the state's grocery association filed suit to block the extra pay and kroger $1.00 of the us as biggest supermarket chains abruptly announced it would close to long beach stores leaving 200 employees jobs in doubt eric cortez has worked for kroger for 14 years he showed us a letter sent to employees is the advice you of our company's decision to close and perm we terminate the entirety of the operations of business and economic reasons include the economic cost mandated by the long beach ordinance what shocked employees and politicians is that grocery chains made enormous profits last year

had $19.00 restrictions on restaurants meant more people bought food to cook at home big grocery chains kroger in particular are rolling in money kroger is a real standout so kroger in the 1st 3 quarters of 2020 when you look at their net earnings their total profits they have doubled their profit compared to 2019 so they earned an additional $1300000000.00 in profits that's an astonishing growth and if you figured kroger would share some of that bonanza with its workers guess again by and large the companies have not passed these windfall profits and to their workers who it is important to note that grocery and retail workers typically earn very low wages cortez and his coworkers are. pointed and in grief well i just think they're being greedy the california grocers association says its members have had to buy protective equipment or p. p. e. they have not considered all of the expenses that we have to pay if the long beach

mayor robert garcia says it's simply a matter of fairness they deserve a few extra bucks just for a few months to help them but workers may get the last word more and more california cities have approved or are in the process of approving hero pay including los angeles oakland irvine and san jose rob reynolds al jazeera long beach california. japan's ruling party says it wants female members to attend k. meetings but only if they are told the liberal democratic party's chief says they should act as observers and submit their opinions off to the meeting earlier this month ahead of tokyo and then picks resigned following of his remarks that women are annoying for talking too much in meetings but most of all human then today it's important for the female lawmakers to fully understand what kind of discussions are

happening not only in each political case but also in the party directors meeting and the general council so letting them take a look it's what it's all about. well you know i see a different i think the united i think people in japan are finally aware of the problems that women can participate in society at the same level as men but by letting women attend the meeting as observers without the right to speak would make it look like women are participating with the same rights as men i feel like this is cheating to manipulate people's feelings and i am not there are a must but i think this is unacceptable because it's been 20 or 30 years since the idea of gender equal society was brought up but women are still in such a position are participating in politics only as observers. rescue teams in the democratic republic of congo say they're struggling to reach the bodies of those who died when an overcrowded boat capsized at least 75 people or not have drowned on the vessel sank in the congo river on sunday night but hundreds of others are still missing as brian reports. the wreckage of the boxer lima lies close to shore

on the congo river on the surface it's all broken wood and discarded the longings it's what lies beneath that rescue and recovery workers are focusing on. the majority of bodies are still in the boat because most of the passengers were killed as there was sleeping on different levels we need to break the boat apart we don't have the capacity to do more we need help. the vessel went down on sunday province it had left the capital kinshasa and was headed for dhaka about 700 kilometers up river double bind. them with everything happened so fast as the boat broke up deep in the river the passengers all panicked inside the boat making the situation worse and the owner couldn't do anything to control the situation the boat was overloaded with passengers and merchandise. it's those about $700.00 people were on board the boat about half were able to make it assure the congolese minister for humanitarian

affairs stephen byock he says the boat was travelling at night which is against the law he's called for all those responsible to be held accountable but those at the scene say they have more pressing needs to be managed. we haven't received any help from authorities to deal with the situation we have bodies under this boat in the river but there's no way to remove them even the local rescue team are asking for money before getting the water to remove the bodies where we get the money from. shipwrecks are frequent here with boats often dilemma day sit and overloaded and many passengers unable to swim after 142 people were killed in a sinking and 29 tame president félix just a kid he announced that all on board should wear life jackets but that is routinely ignored. brian al jazeera. the global sea we did destry is

rapidly expanding however in australia the result has largely untapped that could be about to change gauge reports from the coast of new south wales. these flasks a field with different species of sea weight all unique to astronomy wynberg has been studying how to unlock their potential as new super foods with proven benefits not only for the environment but also the body we're inventing it as we go because it's new to australia the systems the food and then taking people that just ate pasta with say within it and that will benefit you and benefits the environment. she's open to strike 1st factory making food grade products from a domestic species of grain same weight carbon dioxide is captured from a need by weight refinery to help the sea weight grow its then process to make health products in food like musically and pasta many of our chronic lifestyle

disorders like diabetes mental deficiencies and inflammatory disorders could be addressed by adding say way back into the diet it could also help with wound healing seaweed extracts from the fama being used to print human tissue with 3 d. technology with the hope of eventually creating official skin. we've just opened the lid and there's a whole treasure trove of possibilities that we can exploit that this is a new industry this is the beginnings of a new industry in australia so weight is being used around the world for centuries but as an industry in australia it's largely untapped now research is all looking at everything from feeding cattle it's a way to reduce emissions to making plastics of course all plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but the difference that they waited just how efficient it is it growing much faster than trees doesn't need fertilizer all freshwater and at the time have a long span. making it an appealing option to permanently capture carbon on

a significant scale to tackle climate change. putting a price on. and it would really help a lot of the in the strays that i kind of starting to emerge that are trying to increase how much carbon we capture out of the atmosphere but processing carbon is like contain cheese issue in a way coal mines is still being expanded. believes c wait holds the answers to many of the world's climate challenges gauge al-jazeera south coast new south wales still ahead on al-jazeera in sports a day of upsets at the australian open as home favorites and while the soft as a shock defeat.

time now the sport is adding thank you so much came over offended elsbeth's when a 21st grand slam title is over the dow has been knocked out of the australian open by stuff on a sits a pass of grace and it wasn't the only upset in melbourne as a whole mark reports. it's been a day of shocks at the australian open rafael nadal looked to be on course for the semifinals taking the 1st 2 sets as he faced 5th seed stefana still to pass the greek however with stage one of the fight banks of the tournament. to pass pulled one set back via tie break before winning the 4th 64 to level things that 2 sets all. and then after more than 4 hours on court to the

22 year old pulled off the unthinkable winning the decider $75.00 to book a showdown with danny medvedev in the last 4. city i'm speechless have no words to describe where it just happened on board. my tennis because of herself . medvedev booked his spot in the men's semi's with a straight sets victory over russian compactor it on live. medvedev has never won a major before but he's looking an ominous form the 25 year old who's only been taken beyond 3 sets once at this year's tournament. women's world number one australia's ashley barty is probably asking herself how things went so horribly wrong in melbourne having won the 1st set against 25th seed carolina over 61 she looked on course for the semifinals. but things went steadily downhill she lost the

2nd 63 with her opponent taking a medical timeout to during the sit. barty looked a shadow over the player that dominated early on she finished with $37.00 unforced errors losing the decide to $62.00 to crash out of her home grand slam the sun will come up tomorrow where we go back to work again you're either winning or you're learning and i think today is a massive learning curve so may 22nd seed jennifer brady is into the last 4 after beating fellow american jessica in 3 sets. she now goes on to face barty's conquer over with the much set to be played with fans as melbourne's coronavirus lockdown is set to be over by then so will malik al-jazeera. now unpick organizers say the roll outs of the covered $1000.00 vaccine in japan is another positive sign

that the games will take place later on this year much of the japanese public remain skeptical about hosting the event 80 percent of those polled in a recent survey were in favor of cancellation or another possible moment in south shore them to committee is still hoping many athletes will have been vaccinated are the time the games start in july we have asked the national limpy committees to look at the situation in their countries to approach there are relevant or 3 season while obviously respecting fully the order of priority that are established by the governments but to ensure that there is an information whether the delegations could be part of vaccination prior to the games or not. well to examine him pick a triathlon champion alister brownlee is hoping to get one last shot at winning a medal at the games the 32 year old britain says organizers need some 14 to go there why though if these olympics are to go ahead as planned i don't think it be

right to call it off now you know i think. and there were nodding operatives in tokyo doing absolutely right they now have the well when eyes like it's on and keep going keep going in yes hopefully you know hopefully they've got a they're going to have a bit of look i guess what i'm saying is unfortunately there is a little bit look at meriton that they need ok and up a start for paris on jamal's they stunned bassline a 41 in the 1st leg of their champions league round of 16 sign the french well cup winner scoring a hat trick in spain becoming only the 3rd player in cinema history to score a hat trick against bassa good night for liverpool as well they beat rb leipzig sunil in their 1st leg game mohamed salah and saadi omani with goals in that one this match taking place in budapest hungary because liverpool weren't able to travel to germany due to covert restrictions. it would be less to prepare which is a lot about that it's a tricky thing but we did well played

a good game deserved to win i think. force them to make mistakes well south african batsman 50 plus c. has retired from test cricket the 36 year old former captain says he wants to focus his attention on t 20 s. with the world cup coming up later on this year is another see 20 world cup scheduled for 2020 as well he scored 10 centuries during his career averaging just over 40 and the brooklyn nets pulled off a record breaking comeback to beat the phoenix suns 128-2124 the nets did have a couple of key players missing kevin durant's and courier were both out with injury is instead left to james holmes who inspired the biggest halftime comeback in the history of the franchise as they recovered from a 21 point deficit when the guy was. ok more for me in a couple of hours but that is how your sports is the king fans thank you for that

and. and that is they are there news hour don't go away though i'll be back in just a moment with plenty more of the day's news with these. jump into the story there is a lot going on in this and julian global community when i talk about the misinformation i think we all want to feed the hungry and 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 too little to keep the new be part of

today's discussion this dream on out is there. in india identity politics on the rise what we're seeing is the construction of budget cuts and loads of new ones of the across the country and as a dark side is you do see the grit from his office and i just team up to him to fix it to something more like the team i didn't see of the british today i meet with victims of violence and discover what life is like for minorities in the country join me on my journey in search of india's soul on al-jazeera. the river narin flows through the coldest region of kyrgyzstan the temperatures here could drop to 20 degrees below 0 this time of year but the driving snow and bitter winter conditions on 2 enough to keep these men from working on the ice and in the freezing water because the river nari contains gold men from villages along the

river be panning for gold in the serri of the centuries the best time of year to do it is the winter because the river is lower than your in the summer months these tiny little yellow flanks you can see on don't look much they were around $50.00 a gram. another mass abduction at a school in nigeria dozens injured an unknown number of people a mystic fear kidnaps. and to bell this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. if the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in the global sol sob parts of it it trades again and again. the u.n. secretary general.