you see the grid from his off the majesty of the fish into something more like the team i didn't see of the british but i meet with victims of violence and discover would life is like for minorities in the country join me on my journey in search of india's soul on al-jazeera. security forces crack down on anti cooper testers in mandalay at least 2 people killed by live fire. again i may very unforgiving this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up a confidential un report accuses former u.s. president donald trump's ally erik prince of breaking an arms embargo and

supporting libya ball of khalifa haftar plus. i'm just a washington into contact with severe flooding has forced hundreds from their homes . in the last ties of coronavirus marking the end of a once thriving indigenous community in brazil's alice. there's been a dramatic escalation of violence against protesters and security forces have killed 2 people in the 2nd largest city of mandalay the european union has condemned the violence and called for a meeting to discuss a response tony check has the latest. shots ring out as protesters in mandalay flee from the police and water cannon tear gas and sling shots also used to disperse the crowd casualties taken from the scene by ambulance

as the security services attempt to break strikes that have shut down shipyards on the air what the river in the capital naypyidaw marches commemorated the death of a 20 year old student shot in the head during a demonstration last week determination amongst those present that they would continue to march against the military coup despite the danger until the civilian government is restored. and now there are possibilities of many more people dying and we ourselves can even know whether we will die or not but we need to fight until the end regardless of our lives in order to succeed and that is only after we get rid of this military dictatorship downtown young gone through the largest crowds despite a police cordon around the soon go to the crowds just move down the road chanting for the release of aung san suu kyi remains under military detention there's a campaign of civil disobedience starts to impact transport and banking systems across myanmar some feel they have nothing to lose i was young people have

their dreams 29000 was a year of development and 2020 there was coronavirus and we were all thinking about the future but everything is gone now everything we were hoping for is going to be destroyed that's why more people are joining the protests than in the past in kitchen stays in the far north the tense standoff between protesters and police this is one of the areas where the military has struggled for years to suppress ethnic unrest but now there's news men most diverse ethnic groups have signed a nationwide ceasefire to unite in opposition to military rule tony chang al jazeera. al-jazeera has seen parts of a confidential u.n. report which finds donald. trump's ally and private security contract to erik prince violated an arms embargo on libya the report to the security council reveals how prince sent foreign mercenaries and weapons to warlord khalifa haftar in 2019 when he was fighting against the internationally recognized government in tripoli

as kristen salumi reports now from washington. 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 divide us. 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 u.n. process we've been part of that and a half stars 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 huffed are 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 international arms embargo but also of whether or not the president himself was complicit in defying a stated u.s. policy kristen salumi al-jazeera washington more from others there was not a trader who's in the libyan city of misrata he says that ordinary libyans are hopeful that the new american a ministration will be on their side. it isn't really clear how much of this specific operation was completed by blackwater but there have been reports that date back to 2017 which suggests that blackwater was coordinating with have to when he was cementing his power base in eastern libya the reports suggest that blackwater supplied unpiloted air tractor attack planes which bombed neighborhoods in eastern libya which helps solidify his power there before he began making his

move towards the west in 2011 the u.s. played an integral part to support rebel forces to topple moammar gadhafi through nato through nato airstrikes later on the u.s. helped forces loyal to the government of national court especially here in misrata to fight against i saw when they took a foothold in the city of sirte so the u.s. has always been seen as a a beacon of hope and democracy and to help that help libyans in their fight to a democratic state and they were they felt a bit betrayed and disappointed when president trump made that phone call with khalifa haftar now that president joe biden has been elected president that hope is sort of been reignited sort of been sparked believing that the u.s. may now once again. come and help libyans in their fight for democratic and civilian state so the feeling the feeling here among libyans is that one of hope

that the the americans will come back and help libyans fight for their civilian state which they you know they they expressed that they won in 2011. a court in moscow us up held kremlin critic alexina prison sentence but it's shortened his term by 6 weeks the vollies been sentenced to nearly 3 years for violating his parole while he was in germany recovering after being poisoned thousands of his supporters support arrested during protests. today's verdict was expected for us we consider it unlawful nothing is changed all the arguments made in the court in the 1st instance they got rejected them and they got rejected now the only thing is that the court didn't take into account a month and a half of house arrest they did that now that. within the last few minutes the valley has been found guilty of slander these are live pictures from the courtroom

he was accused of defaming a world war 2 veteran avani says the charge is an attempt to smear his reputation prosecutors have asked the court to find him any $13000.00. there's been severe flooding in indonesia as capital triggered by heavy rainfall and some parts homes were submerged by up to 2 metres of water suburbs to the east of jakarta the worst affected with city officials saying that more than a 1000 people were forced to seek shelter jessica washington is at one of the worst affected areas of the city. she counter is the world's fastest sinking city every monsoon season is a reminder of the worsening crisis as large parts of the city are once again submerged in jakarta's east thousands of people were moved to safety as floodwaters reached up to 1.8 meters high in some areas. rescue is in police works together to help people escape. and she said that the water in my home is still chest high all

my belongings got flooded i try to put them somewhere higher but then last night the water also went higher the indonesian capital is home to about $10000000.00 people and thousands are now without power many here are so accustomed to this recurring disaster they choose to wait it out on balconies and roofs flooding is an annual event here in jakarta heard something that this community in the east a car is well accustomed to but this year many communities which have never experienced severe flooding before are doing so for the 1st time and scientists age a card is local governments must act faster to save this sinking city. in the relatively affluent area of command people told al-jazeera they have never experienced such severe flooding jakarta's governor on the spot weighed in and says local authorities are working swiftly to assist everyone but she sent home without

a main top priority is to make sure the people are safe we don't want to see any casualties and we've prepared evacuation centers for people who were affected by the 2 rachel ray. but this crisis is about more than just a. again experts have criticised the governor for failing to act and for blaming the rain when there are other factors contributing to the floods we've been normalisation projects have been delayed and scaled back despite experts saying they would help ease the annual flooding and excessive ground water extraction and the destruction of adequate green spaces in the city is sinking at an even faster rate. carter has an obligation to fix its drainage and completely filled all malaysian projects this is to increase the function and capacity of the rivers to contain the rainfall without causing floods. forced from their homes without their toys it's not the 1st time these children have played in flood waters and it likely won't be the last as thousands of indonesians are forced to leave their homes and

belongings once again many are asking what it would take for the authorities to act jessica washington al-jazeera jakarta a ferry loaded with passengers and vehicles is listing dangerously it into the sea as west common town. officials say that they're still checking to make sure all passengers were rescues. there's been no reports of any deaths high waves have been blamed for the accident. thailand's prime minister. and 9 members of his cabinet of survived a no confidence vote they were accused of mismanaging the economy poor handling of the pandemic human rights abuses and corruption it's the 2nd no confidence vote the pilots governments faced since taking office and 29 team meanwhile thai pro-democracy groups have rallied outside parliament demanding the prime minister's

resignation and for the motorcade to be reformed thousands of police officers were on standby ahead of the protest authorities have recently been cracking down on those who speak out against the wall family. a weather update next here on al-jazeera then power outages food shortages and now a new crisis for texas thrown into chaos by a rare winter storm. tens of thousands of lives are in danger in afghanistan as fighting with the taliban escalates we'll tell you. it's time for the perfect jenny. sponsored point qatar airways. springs bursting very nicely now across the good parts of east asia so some loss of pleasant sunshine coming through was attempted getting up to 21 celsius in tokyo

just 70 in found hot woman off to across the korean peninsula 15 degrees a little further west get up to 80 in beijing and a bit of fair weather cloud around here but bright skies as we go on through monday quite as warm but in light winds still feel quite pleasant to ourselves is that the solace well it's warmer in tokyo with a high of around 12 so 22 degrees the further north we have got some rain sleet and snow into northern parts of honshu easing up into the chance of want to see showers too into southern parts of china chance of wanted to showers too into southern parts of india over the next day or so much of india is settled and fine but some heavier downpours down towards dashed was done will not it could see some localized flooding in here so certainly something to watch out for over the next couple of days just a little further west which as we go on through monday and shoes day so a chance of showers just coming into carola sri lanka also with a chance of seeing some showers from a small problems continue across the northern plains we do have

a westerly disturbance across the far north of pakistan just drifting into the far north of india. sponsored by qatar airways romania's ancient forests some of europe's most pristine they are crucial for our society and crucial for battle against a climate crisis but illegal logging by a ruthless to the mafia is destroying both the landscape and people's lives being in the way and there is our dark. violence killing whistleblowers amidst claims of corruption and the role of powerful multinationals people in power investigates rumania rape of the forest on al-jazeera.

again this is al jazeera let's remind you of the main news this hour 2 people have been killed as police tried to break up protests in the 2nd largest city they turned live fire on the crowd of mandalay demonstrations against the machine code of continued around the country. al-jazeera has gained access to parts of a confidential u.n. report which finds the blackwater founder erik prince violated an arms embargo on libya that says the prince sent weapons to the warlord khalifa haftar. has been severe flooding in its uneasy as capital jakarta triggered by heavy rainfall in some parts it was for submerged by up to 2 meters of. u.s. president joe biden has declared a major disaster in texas power is slowly returning there but millions of people still don't have access to clean drinking water after a rare winter storm this week the declaration would open up broader federal money

for immediate and long term recovery efforts a presidential visit to the states is planned for the coming days and the freezing temperatures also played a part of the hotel going up in flames in texas they also might explain clear system was working because of frozen water pipes in the city of killeen the hotel has a full occupancy of the fire started with many people staying there because they didn't have power or water in the of the homes one guest was treated for minor burns it's not clear what started the blaze. let's go live now to washington and xeres mike hanna is there can tell us more mike about this this declaration of a major disaster in texas what will it mean for the state. what it means that they are huge amount of federal funds will be released to the people of texas basically individuals or businesses can. the federal emergency management agency for funds to rebuild homes to repair businesses so it's

a massive amount of federal funds that has now been released and is available as relief within texas but certainly this may just be the beginning of something else president biden during his campaign use the slogan pulled back bitter he has been contemplating a 2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill which would cover the whole of the nation now this is something that he would need to get through congress and he would want to do it on a bipartisan basis not texas is a strongly republican state and what is happening in texas may well be the benchmark for what president biden attempts to do in terms of and not only repairing but rebuilding the infrastructure throughout the united states who will the money go to the president has released michael.

well the way it works is that individuals or businesses will put in requests for loans or funding from fema some state structures as well may also apply for some kind of financial relief so it's a widespread and very complicated process that is just the beginning of the tempting to repair what has happened in texas in recent weeks but one must point out as well is that texas is unique in the u.s. states in that it is energy self-sufficient at the clear that self as such it has no federal electricity grid for example the electricity grid in texas is that run by the state so therefore the federal government had no real influence or impact on the electrical failures that have plagued texas in the recent days so this is an issue being discussed very seriously in washington about the real blame at this particular point lies with the governance in texas because there is no pedal

involvement certainly not with regard to the electricity grid that being said federal government quite clearly wanting to get involved hence the declaration of a major disaster in texas and the release of federal funds to help rebuild that shattered infrastructure in that state of 0 as mike hanna reporting live from washington many thanks. there's been more violence in afghanistan despite a months long peace process between the government and taliban leaders the intense fighting in the southern province of kandahar the star reached the outskirts of its main city putting tens of thousands of afghan lives at risk. contraflow as more from kabul here in rural kandahar the war has barely stopped since it started nearly 20 years ago. but now it's coming closer to the main city afghanistan 2nd largest after the capital kabul heavy fighting between government

forces and the taliban is now only 8 kilometers away from kandahar city. was mines in fast the roads while the taliban destroys others some politicians warn if security continues to deteriorate it could be a matter of time before the government loses control or as i see in the last movements of taliban where the are focusing a lot on come to her in as i know the are inviting their fighters from a different part of afghanistan to kandahar and it will be difficult after months for afghan government to continue war the main hospital is full of those who've been wounded with one coming after the other every day thousands are displaced from their homes because of the heavy fighting and look for refuge in flimsy tent cities jungle when you could have such a lift our homes in

a situation with some men just escaped from the fighting in the families the women and children lived behind after the fighting stopped for a little while the men came back in risk you take kids and families all their belongings will live behind. according to government officials at least 20000 families have been displaced in kandahar province since november most of them are farmers they left their fields and cannot go back the situation is no better inside kandahar city people say there is no business because of the increasing violence and targeted killings because if the law is the central government supports the security forces i don't think that the taliban will go forward in. kandahar is the birthplace of the taliban and it's politically significant for the group it's also a strategic province and a geo political gateway to kabul and the broader region as spokesman of the ministry of defense told al-jazeera but a few months back the afghan security forces stopped

a major taliban plot to attack kandahar he says that if the armed is planning another similar offensive the afghan army is fully prepared to fight back a piece that for now seems to remain out over everyone's reach. kabul the italian coast guard has launched a rescue operational for a boat carrying at least 50 migrants capsized off the coast of lampedusa emergency crews rushed to bring people to safety shortly after it happened near the island's southern coast dozens of been rescued so far but the coast guard says that 5 to 10 people are missing a helicopter has been deployed to help find survivors. russian scientists have confirmed the world's 1st case of transmission of a highly contagious strain of bird flu to humans 7 workers were infected during an outbreak of the age 5 and $8.00 bird flu strain of poultry farm in southern russia in december scientists believe that it's not transmissible from person to person

moscow has alerted the world health organization. health care workers in bolivia have gone on strike demanding that the government repeal the new health emergency law which parents strikes during the pandemic allows foreign stuff to be hired bolivia's health union says the law is unconstitutional and restricts the rights to protest. argentina's health minister has resigned after reports that his friend was able to skip the line for a covert 19 vaccine the government only just began as only just begun an ocular 18 people above the age of 70 prioritizing health care workers before that. the last male member of the once thriving indigenous community in brazil's amazon has died of covert 19 it spells the end of the junior people as a distinct ethnic group and a study of the report stuff and want us out as it's just the latest in a long history of loss for indigenous peoples. the last

shelter the last few more warriors. 86 year old are more in iraq are has died from the cockpit 19 virus at a hospital in northwestern brazil his passing marks the end of the people the humor indigenous community which once numbered around 15000. is survived by his 3 daughters but they've had to marry into another community because there were no male partners left in their own but our lord i write it for all of us for the indigenous people for those who fought to defend the rights of indigenous communities the loss of a whole people cannot be measured it's a huge loss for all the indigenous people of brazil. several 1000000 indigenous inhabitants of what is now the brazilian amazon when the 1st european settlers arrived here more than 500 years ago the disappearance of the yuma is just the

latest tragedy in a catalogue of disease deforestation land theft the massacres follow for that no more here many indigenous people are dying in brazil many many because we have what we call a government genocide of ethno side and we hold them responsible for these deaths a report out this week says the covered $1000.00 pandemic has only made the situation worse that many governments including brazil's a using the crisis is not unity to disregard social environmental safeguards to further erode the rights of indigenous people the extent. of the. urgency to enter. sure you know it's a rant very very tricky it's going to turn each productive agricultural around. the report says many governments have criminalized indigenous human rights defenders and facilitated the threatened use of violence against them i'm now program 19 even

more so up to the point where do you through your reggie if this is a case of crimes against humanity. or not. some of the regional authorities in brazil have made efforts to reach and vaccinate people in remote difficult to access communities but critics say they've been hampered by a government that has never taken the pandemic seriously and this is started that shows little regard for its original inhabitants. the less action is taken as you will not be the last indigenous community to disappear or. the real to 01 osiris. activists in mexico are accusing the government there of trying to centralize power by controlling information itself the president under as manuel lopez obrador said that he'd scrap the publicly funded but autonomous freedom of information institute john holmes reports from mexico city. the former

president's secret white mansion and a government scam to defraud the poor and vulnerable just 2 seismic investigations in mexico city that were helped by the country's publicly funded the autonomous transparency institution. or to go on what to one of the. if this institution didn't exist none of these investigations which have proved wide ranging corruption would have been possible. it was yes but now the president wants to scrap the institution through which citizens can request government documents he's reasons one it's expensive to it's ineffective and 3 it's politically motivated. all of these organs were created just for simulation they cost a lot of money the public money the people's money. and his companion and as a companion his commission announced actually the transparency in situ costs 0.01

percent of the national budget by them that's $100.00 times less than the government spends on the armed forces and it hasn't as the president said look the release of government files it doesn't have that power you can only ask authorities for documents they can refuse. lopez obrador spokesman says it often hasn't asked hard enough why not give it more teeth then i put to him but he sees another solution will get him what we want is a law that forces the government to make contracts public and be transparent that has teeth so that the judicial power can force the government to open up certain information so it would be the same us now but without the need for this committee of 10 people who make decisions without transparency or efficiency. that idea from the president's office would hand most of the power and regulating information directly to the federal government all the judiciary which is closely linked to it

and free speech activists say there's an all vs pro. and that it's basically like picking the referee for a football match from the home to the list to defeat they say scrapping an autonomous counterweight to the government big mistake we believe that these will be a. great regression in terms of human rights the institution was there we saw that of a civil society effort and decent efforts are trying to enforce or to strengthen the democratization process in mexico when he says x units so the question remains why doesn't the government want to improve the transparency institute rather than putting more power into its own hands john homan how does it or mexico city. it is good to be with us holloway dreams i think a.