black roses and red dresses parts of the viewfinder asia series on al-jazeera. be the hero in the world. a confidential un report accuses donald trump's ally erik prince of sending mercenaries and weapons to libyan war holy fast on. a log in the now with the world news on al jazeera live from doha also coming up. america is back trans-atlantic alliance is back u.s. president joe biden in his 1st address to world leaders promises to mend it frayed

alliances save the iran nuclear deal and take on russia and china. security forces in miramar fire tear gas and mandalay is nationwide and he could protests enter a 3rd week. and heavy rain triggers severe flash floods in the indonesian capital jakarta forcing hundreds to leave their homes. others there has seen parts of a confidential u.n. report which finds donald trump's ally and private security contractor erik prince violated an arms embargo on libya the report to the security council reveals how prince and foreign mercenaries and weapons to war holy 429 team when he was fighting against the internationally recognized government in tripoli kristen

salumi reports from washington d.c. . erik prince is best known as the founder of blackwater security a private contractor whose employees were implicated in the killing of 17 iraqi civilians in 2007 he's also a prominent supporter of former president donald trump and brother to former education secretary betsy devadasi. but it's his role in a malicious assault on the internationally recognized government video in 2019 that's now a question al-jazeera has seen excerpts of a 121 page report submitted to the u.n. security council and 1st reported by the new york times alleging prince help supply a trove of weapons including attack helicopters to the military's commander khalifa haftar are in violation of a u.n. arms embargo on libya it also alleges he deployed a force of foreign mercenaries to help attack was condemned by u.s.

secretary of state mike pompei oh this won't be resolved through force of arms it's just no way that's going to take place we there's a un process we've been part of that and i have tars been part of that we urge them to have started stand down move back to the negotiating table so that we can get a political resolution in libya the day after pompei are made that statement president trump made a phone call to have to are raising eyebrows in the ire of some members of congress an official readout of the call said that the president quote recognized field-marshal hafter significant role in fighting terrorism and securing libya's oil resources and the 2 discussed a shared vision for libya's transition to a stable democratic political system what many saw as a contradiction of official u.s. policy. the u.n. report raises a question not only of whether or not a close associate of the president violated an international arms embargo but also

whether or not the president himself was complicit in defying a stated u.s. policy kristen salumi al-jazeera washington. on a senate committee is the founder and director of the study institute a public policy think tank in libya he says governments often use mercenary groups line close run by erik prince to be able to deny any involvement in conflicts. using these you know merchants of war as they're called there's an aspect of deniability that one can use to stay an arm's length from you know a war when they don't want to be said when you can't for the public reasons and an obvious and legal reasons you can't be involved in complicit people like eric prince's currency go right up and the real aspect here as we've seen with russia and the bagnall group and how they've been deployed in several theaters including libya is that they offer a beautiful eerie and in fact disastrous kind of deniability to any government you

can write refuse that you have any knowledge of what is going on you could refuse that you have any of the leaders but we know that erik prince has a relationship with donald trump we also know the his sister betsy the boats had a relationship with donald trump we know that you have been to preserve an inn in russia the head of the veil a group has a close relationship with villepin and he was put in chef we also know that they have very very close encounters and it worked at one time or over the last several years they've had meetings on behalf of their countries like like the united arab or. no i think there are 2 major questions they're being left behind so what degree the tramp helped facilitate this war alongside erik prince and more importantly whether or not erik prince and the prince was toward meeting with russian wagner's group messages in libya and has helped them establish a foothold in libya in the way that he helped the united arab emirates establish a foothold into because there was american weaponry and russian weaponry that

passing through it's a man's it's mad it's mad the think that the degree to which this has repercussions beyond libya. america will well closely with its allies that the klan message sent by president joe biden things seems determined to break away from donald trump's america 1st policies in his 1st speech on the world stage at the g. 7 and nick security conference biden proclaimed america is back as our white house correspondent complete help but it's not about pushing re. we sat on the past 4 years u.s. president joe biden addressed to global conferences with world leaders on friday but delivered one clear message forget the america 1st policies of his predecessor america is back the transatlantic alliance is back i know i know the past few years of strain and tested our transatlantic relationship but the united states is determined determined to reengage with europe. biden made

clear he believes solutions to global threats must be collaborative during the virtual gathering of the g. 7 and later the munich security conference leaders conferred about share threats posed by china iran and russia. to move you down the future it is very important that we develop a common transatlantic russia agenda which on the one hand makes cooperative offers but on the other hand clearly identifies differences and i can only agree with the american president on the question of what makes a strong strong european union unfortunately russia is not working on this at the moment on the issue of climate change biden underscored he believes the planet faces an excess stench will threat even as the united states has officially rejoined the paris climate accord envoy john kerry apologized for his precious time last pledge the united states will do all it can to meet emission reduction targets

he urged others to do the same what we do or don't do in the coming months and years will make all the difference as biden repudiated the nationalist approach of his predecessor donald trump he had knowledge the challenges to preserve democracy remain both inside and outside the united states democracy doesn't happen by action we have to defend it fight for it strengthen renew it we have to prove that our model isn't a relic of history. it's the single best way to revitalize the promise of our future the global conferences were an opportunity for president biden to lay out his foreign policy agenda and chart a new course with european leaders while reassuring them that the era of trump style diplomacy has ended can't really help at al-jazeera washington

protests against me and miles military have entered their 3rd week around a 1000 people gathered in the largest city and gone to demand the release of deposed leader aung san suu kyi and a return to civilian rule someone holding photos of a 20 year old woman who died on friday after being injured in the protests she was shot in the head last week when police tried to disperse a crowd in the capital not people. similar demonstrations have taken place in the northern city of the cina of people joined despite reports of police using force to arrest protest is earlier this week several people were wounded by rubber bullets and nighttime raids. tony chang joins us live now from bangkok tony so protest is the continuing to turn out then why haven't these reports now of clashes what more do we know. we understand the last couple of hours in the central miramar city of mandalay on the protests there was taking place in the

docks on the edge of the irrawaddy river the security forces both police and army fired tear gas at a large crowd that had gathered in order to disperse them those protests had happened apparently quite spontaneously when the army went in to try and get the dock workers back to work they've been taking part in the civil disobedience movement that spread across myanmar at the moment these dogs are very important to the irrawaddy is huge water cause running through the country and clearly the fact that so many people have not been working there is a major problem for the author or it is they appear to fired their reports and several people were injured. pictures after the vans show people examining the the use canisters and they do appear to be. tear gas but some come seems to return and i think it's a sign that these protests are going on this wasn't even the 1st pro the only

protest happening in mandalay but there was an even larger protest in the center of the city today they're happening in the far north in kitchen state and large protests in downtown young gone today although we understand there the protesters feel there isn't the same kind of tense atmosphere we're seeing in other parts of the country ok thank you for that out there tony chang covering developments from bangkok. in thailand prime minister prayers channel chair and 9 members of his cabinet have survived a no confidence vote they were accused of mismanaging excuse me with managing the economy poor handling of the pandemic rights abuse allegations of corruption it's the 2nd no confidence for the previous government has faced since taking office in 2019 time pro-democracy groups are rallying outside parliament demanding his resignation and a reform of the more narky. has been severe flooding in indonesia's capital jakarta triggered by heavy rainfall up to 180 centimeters of

rain was recorded in some areas it's said to have affected at least 24000 residents hundreds of people have been sent to evacuation shelters nearby jessica washington is one of the affected areas in jakarta. this is the 1st time jakarta has experienced severe widespread flooding. it's something that this community and is well accustomed to experience with this flooding for many years now police and search and rescue operations are working to try and assist people who are trying to leave their homes and also there are teams here to assist people with salvaging what's left of their belongings these are some of the evacuees that police have assisted here already we've seen people being fetched on boats and being brought back to evacuation centers there are at least 26 evacuation centers helping hundreds of people around you contra but many others have so much to say at their

homes seeking shelter on the 2nd story of the house all just sitting on the roof and waiting for these floodwaters to recede obvious modern times he said the 1st flooding started at 9 pm the water was not that much i tried to clear it but the ring kept coming into to yeah and now it is still a big flood for this community in these floods is something that they're accustomed to the children here even enjoy playing in the floodwaters as you can see the certainly not afraid of these floods and it's something that is a bit of fun for them but scientists and environmental groups say that continents need to take this issue seriously and that it shouldn't be normalised how the government often says that these floods are primarily the result of heavy rain and that's not wrong but scientists say that people need to consider the other reasons that this city experiences such as frequent flooding apart from heavy rain and some of those reasons include over extraction of ground water and too much development

not enough green spaces and some of the methods that scientists say the government could use to make these floods less serious including river normalisation scientists say these methods haven't been taken seriously and that the government has been more. focus on the that except these bills rather than the practicalities of diminishing flood risk here in jakarta they say that this city will face severe flooding in the future if nothing is done. to afghanistan now where 2 people have been killed in explosions in the capital kabul police say 2 improvised explosive devices were used in the attacks no one has claimed responsibility at least 70 people have lost their lives in similar incidents in the past month including journalists activists and with more news of attacks in afghanistan the u.s. says there's no decision yet on its troop withdrawal defense secretary noid alston says more progress is needed in the peace negotiations clearly the violence is too

high right now and more progress needs to be let these to be made in the afghan led negotiations. and so i urge all parties to choose the path towards peace no violence must decrease now. i told our allies that no matter what the outcome of our review the united states will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdraw from afghanistan that puts their forces or the alliances reputation at risk. at this time no decisions about our future force posture have been made. in the meantime current missions will continue and of course commanders have the right and the responsibility to defend themselves in their afghan partners against attack. as we move forward in our review we will consult with our nato allies our resolute support partners and of course the

government of afghanistan and there will be no surprises we will consult each other . and consult together and and the site together and act together. according mosco has upheld crime and critic alexina belize prison sentence but it has shortened his term by 1.5 months earlier this month he was sentenced to nearly 3 years for violating his parole while he was in germany because every from poisoning. still ahead on al-jazeera. brazil's president wants to relax gun laws saying it'll bring crime down and safety advocates strongly disagree. and images of mas from oz perseverance rover sends the 1st ever color pictures for bedtime is.

how we have got flooding concerns in indonesia or cowshed have seen that's on the news recently we've got some flooding concerns for a good part of philippines where this trouble sidelined making its way in here but for to casa where we have got to varying amounts of rainfall but at the observatory $95.00 millimeters of rain in 24 hours and over the last 5 days $262.00 millimeters of rain the average for the entire month of february which is the wettest month of the year around $310.00 millimeters so that is a significant portion of the monthly average rainfall inevitably there has been a widespread flooding thousands evacuated from their homes and it has caused major disruption across a good part of java we have seen a good deal of western weather here then across much of indonesia but the heavy

showers just start to just pull away from jakarta as you go on through the next couple days never really too far away but they are going to get further cause for concern further north course concerned with that western weather making its way across central and southern parts of the philippines over the next couple of days some heavy rains to moving across northern parts of australia still some showers of jewels eastern side of the country in the process of pulling away from the east coast. on counting the cost of the prosperous president we delve into just how wealthy plot america person is at a time when the rest of russia isn't back plus the rise of main stops where there's plenty of money to be made and almost none of it is about the core business. counting the cost on al-jazeera. reason just on the differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it we'll bring you the news and

current affairs that matter to you. there are reminder of our top stories this hour al-jazeera has gained access to parts of a confidential u.n. report which finds that blackwater founder erik prince violated in arms about go on libya says prince said weapons to war holy for hostile. protests against me and mass military coups have entered a 3rd week around a 1000 people gathered in the largest city in jenin all while in mandalay there are reports of tear gas being fired. has been severe flooding in intimations capital

jakarta triggered by heavy rainfall evacuations are underway up to 180 centimeters of rain was reported in some areas around 24000 people have been affected. the u.s. and other wealthy nations accused of hoarding vaccines have promised to put more money into ensuring developing countries obtain doses the e.u. is pledging $1200000000.00 to the vaccine alliance kovacs the u.s. says it will put in $4000000000.00 so whole reports under pressure from the united nations and the world health organization g 7 leaders promise to step up their efforts to make vaccines available worldwide make sure everybody gets all the back teeth that they only hold you can through this game only the city police already announced that i believe the case strongly strongly supported ahead of the virtual meeting chaired by britain's prime minister the u.n. said just 10 countries accounted for 3 quarters of the entire global vaccine

rollout $130.00 countries have not received a single dose the w.h.o. has warned of a catastrophic moral failure that will be paid for with lives and livelihoods among the world's poorest. vaccine equities not just the right thing to do it's also the smart thing to do $37.00 pledges of funding and future vaccine donations have been welcomed but countries like india and south africa want to share access to vaccine patents what we're calling for ari forms in the how patents are in their words in this case we because this should be a people's votes in as many countries as possible we have the capacity to be able to produce. for them so this we carried starting with africa his wait for liftoff from the rich countries is not going to end the epidemic only

france and germany have considered making some of their own vaccine stocks available to developing countries now the french president has suggested donating up to 5 percent of existing supply he has support from the german chancellor says among them to come from different immuno of august i stressed in my intervention that the pandemic is not beaten and till all people in the world have been vaccinated i don't mention after a bit infant the g 7 pledges of progress so campaigners but not enough joe to hold al-jazeera. millions of people in texas don't have clean drinking water and hundreds of thousands are still without power the southern u.s. station's been punched into chaos by a rare winter storm john hendren reports from chicago. frigid texas is trading power problems for water was this past week has been an enormous challenge maybe unlike any chance that you've ever dealt with before has been far too burdensome

for the lives of all those affected. we're working around the clock and we will continue to work around the clock to address to meet your needs and challenges after days of rare freezing temperatures blanketed the 2nd largest state in the u.s. power stations are all back on line that after unusually high demand led to rolling blackouts transmission lines taken down by ice still have left nearly 200000 without power but now texans face a new crisis 7000000 people a quarter of the state or being asked to boil their water if they have it at all because the cold weather has left broken pipes and taken water treatment plants offline san antonio faces fire and ice as frozen fire hydrants forced firefighters to truckee and water flowing crews battling flames at an apartment complex haven't

been able to get a workout weeklong. now everything that we have in there it's got grocery store shelves are largely bare leaving residents lined up in their cars for food and water president joe biden says he's declaring the entire state the disaster zone i talked to the federal emergency management agency fema the administrator. of the saf community going to ask him to accelerate our response and request for quote it's a different decoration a major disaster declaration the president says he hopes to visit the lone star state next week here in chicago where the northern end of the weather system that struck texas about 1500 kilometers north of dallas but you coddle is used to weather like this it's water and power transmission systems are hardened for the routine cold weather that strikes every winter texas hasn't seen a storm system like this in 35 years and it's clear its system simply weren't up to the task. there is hope sustained temperatures above freezing beginning saturday

john hendren al-jazeera chicago. brazil is relaxing its gun ownership rules critics say it could increase in violence but supporters argue they need greater protection of reports from rio de janeiro. inspired in broad daylight and in the middle of the night bullets flying over slums every day violence in rio de janeiro that's filmed by people on the spot and shared by thousands on a where is the shoot out the app was created by physics teacher myself and 3 friends. imus to help people avoid being on the wrong place at the wrong time by informing them what parts of the city dangerous. the president should be able so now to says the best way of reducing crime in brazil is to arm more people. he's

just taken measures to make weapons and ammunition more widely available in a country that has one of the world's largest number of homicides. it's a promise he made to his voters but one that has sparked outrage among gun control campaigners they say brazil has weak gun control policies and dismantling them will make violence worse but it's not only that is that also president bush will not allow is in a sense. a lot of the rhetoric of former president truck when it comes to incite is more loyal supporters but in the caves in brazil i also this categories that this decrease benefits the gun owners collectors shooters hunters to actually be only inside in case for example there is an election fraud in brazil in 2022 also not a has been and still is loyal to trump who has not condemned the attack by the

former u.s. president supporters on capitol hill january and many here fear the same could happen in brazil in 2 years if both is not reelected. owns a shooting club and imports weapons is winnable so now to supporters who say human rights groups are exaggerating or form a biased margin more drama series of abattoirs is brazil the country with the highest number of homicides probably but how many of these crimes were committed with legally registered firearms do we have a record number of police killings maybe but we also have a record. dead policeman if many are killed many are dead well that means it's war . but sheesh there is a teacher in the poor neighborhoods of rio de janeiro he's been a victim of violence and has seen children abandon school to take up arms and

follow the local drug lord. the only solution is to invest in education and equal opportunities while there is in the quality there is no way out except dodging stray bullets brazil appears increasingly divided with no common ground between those who believe guns will reduce violence and those who fear it will put democracy at risk. of al-jazeera rio de janeiro. it's only been on the red planet for a day but masses perseverance rather is already sending back these health color photos it's on a mission to collect samples from the surface which nasa hopes will one day be analyzed here on earth has our brands. this is the 1st ever color picture from a world more than 54000000 kilometers beyond ours it's one of several sent from perseverance is a ray of cameras this one shows the rover being lowered down by cables to its

martian landing spot from the delivery space vehicle. nasa scientists say the rover came through its action packed landing thursday in fine form and happy to say that the rover is doing great and healthy on the surface of mars and continues to be highly highly functional and then just an exhilarating this shot shows one of the rovers heavy duty wheels that it will use to explore the red dust of just 0 crater for signs of extinct ancient life but perseverance won't be making tracks right away 1st engineers will perform system checks update its software and test some of its instruments like a robotic arm and a microphone in a month or so ingenuity the drone attached to the rover will take its 1st flight this rover is an epic effort it it represents. 8 years

of hundreds of engineers at the laboratory thousands around the world a total of over 4 pounds and human years of investment. and already a detail in this picture has caught scientists attention that rock on the left the one that looks like a hunk of swiss cheese and there are a number of different geological processes that can make holes in iraq like that and so the science team is now thinking about what this might be and one of the questions we'll ask 1st is whether these rocks represent a volcanic or sedimentary origin and both of those would be equally exciting to the team ultimately perseverance may dig up evidence that life existed on mars at some point in the ancient past that could be a sign that life is widespread in our solar system our galaxy and the far flung reaches of the universe and that we are not alone robert oulds al-jazeera los

angeles.