that's culture and conflict and politics one on one east on al-jazeera. boldin untold stories from asia and the pacific on the. 0. hello there i'm mr this is the news hour live from our headquarters here and coming up in the next 60 minutes italy's ambassador to democratic republic of congo is killed in an attack on a u.n. convoy in the east. was sitting down to what i believe is a one way to freedom. prime minister barak johnson announces the easing of coronavirus restrictions that includes reopening schools and allowing some outdoor

activities. thousands join a nationwide strike across despite a chilling message from the military that confrontation could cost more lives. and joe biden's nominee for u.s. attorney general merrick garland faces his confirmation hearing he was lost tonight the opportunity for a supreme court seat by republicans and 2016. i'm devon ash with sports and 5 more players in the french rugby squad have tested positive for corona virus that's now 10 in total putting sunday's 6 nations mattress scotland in doubt. president has denounced what he calls a cowardly attack on the italian ambassador to democratic republic of congo who was killed. after his u.n.

convoy was ambushed look at an us here died along with a bodyguard and driver after an attack in a park in the east no group has claimed responsibility but dozens of armed groups operate in that area and park rangers have repeatedly been targeted as soon as he was traveling in a world food program convoy when they were ambushed in a statement the w.s.p. expressed its deepest sympathy and condolences to the family colleagues and friends of the 3 people killed today in an attack on a delegation traveling on a field visit in the east of the d.l.c. the attack which occurred on a road that had previously been cleared for travel without security escorts well it is foreign minister luigi to meyer has promised to find those responsible for this attack or be in the appraisal the full our closeness and our thoughts go 1st of all to the families i am returning to italy i am leaving the council of foreign affairs to meet with the prime minister and to get down to work we are activating all the relevant institutions to get to the truth as soon as possible about this cowardly

attack that these 2 servants on this stage of ours have suffered and lost their lives at the same time we have already taken steps to bring the bodies back to italy as soon as possible catherine soy is following the story for us from the kenyan capital nairobi she says the regional governor told al jazeera that security forces were not informed about the italian investors visit. this is event happened around $815.00 g.m.t. and the convoy was heading to a place called ritu. to visit a school feeding program eataly is one of the biggest funders of the w.s.p. and it's not uncommon to see individuals and country representatives of to visit some of the areas where they support the mission there now we have spoken to the governor of north who says that their talk happened not far away from goma which is the provisional capital of north kivu he says that the war caught up the convoy was

caught up in quote in the crossfire between the room wouldn't. wardens and the gunmen during that bush but he also says that the team was not accompanied by escort from the un peacekeeping mission or from the national army or police as well he says that the police were not even aware that the ambassador a was in town or that there was a mission to choose because it's a constance's like this involving such high profile dignitaries what the police do once informed is that they provide their own special protection units to accompany the dignitaries on their deployment this did not happen by the w.s.p. there saying that they had been cleared to use that road without police without security.

now british prime minister johnson has laid out a cautious and irreversible plan to lift pandemic restrictions schools will reopen and 2 people from separate households will now be allowed to meet outside from march 8th more than 17000000 britons have now had at least one dose of a covert 1000 vaccine we've aka reports now from london. the long road out of lockdown will be gradual and cautious a decision the government said was based upon data rather than pressure to set dates we cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that debilitate our economy our physical and mental well being of the life chances of our children and that is why it is so crucial that this roadmap should be cautious but also reversible we're setting out what i hope and believe is a one way road to freedom. the government now confirmed all schools will reopen for

all children on march the 8th many have already adapted to continue teaching the children of essential workers throughout the pandemic students and staff at this school have regular lateral flow tests on the school's premises this looks set to continue when the rest of the children return after the reopening of schools allowing people to have more social contacts will be a priority. for march the 29th up to 6 people or 2 households can meet outside including in private gardens this is when the stay at home order is expected to be lifted the move follows encouraging new data indicating the pfizer and oxford vaccines used in the u.k. can reduce hospital emissions by as much as 94 percent the u.k. is hoping its lead in the vaccination campaign will allow it to recover faster than other countries. further stages for england several weeks apart include the reopening of non-essential shops and the face return of people to pubs and

restaurants hit hard by months of closures the reopening of hotels and hairdressers will follow but the prospect of foreign travel or summer holidays seems some way off the easing of restrictions can only move to the next phase providing for criteria have been met that previous measures do not in any way affect the vaccine rollout that there isn't suddenly an increase in infection rates or the national health service isn't adversely affected by any of these previous changes and lastly if there is any concern a tour about the possible impact of any new variance more than 17000000 people have received at least warm dose of a covert 19 vaccine infection rates are falling quickly across the country with an 80 percent drop in cases in the capital. cases of the south african variant of also shrinking but after months of disruptive on office trick sions the last thing anyone wants is for a taste of normality to be suddenly taken away. joins me now from london

talking about schools reopening in your port they're huge step and johnson is now saying life could return to some kind of normal by the summer i mean that's even by his own admission pretty ambitious. it's extremely ambitious and as you could probably tell by boris johnson's tone that he's being extremely cautious because the government knows that they can't get this wrong as i mentioned there have been over the past few months all now an office trick sions in january children were rushed back to school with great fanfare only to be sent home the following day over growing concerns about the south african variant those concerns have very much diminished through serge testing in various different parts of the country where the south african strain sprang up the government now say that they are on top of that and that strain is now shrinking there is no chance of that becoming a dominant strain in the country which is a bold in the government to give them the confidence to allow children to return

but there's going to be an awful lot of groundwork that many schools will have to put into place to make sure that anybody was are safe we spent time at a school in west london that has a 1000 people one major entrance so all good and well having lunch will flow test to see whether the children of essential workers are ok but imagine scaling that up at any significant number it's a herculean task ahead of many schools but nevertheless a right of lights with the government's timetable suggesting that by june the 21st the most restrictions will be out of the way and need 1st johnson has criticised very heavily for the way that his government handled this pandemic but the vaccination rollout has been going really well and today's announcement reflects that has he managed to claw back some credibility here. i think 45 to say that he has i think most people have been absolutely startled about how quickly

it organized the vaccine rollout has been across the country and that's probably largely to do with how quickly the u.k. together with the united states jumped at the chance to preorder millions of millions of doses of the vaccine that was of course helped by the fact that the oxford astra zeneca job was developed here in the u.k. but subsequently the government's been able to reach its own targets of vaccinating more than 50000000 people by the middle of february the figure at the moment is above 70000000 and the plan is that by the end of july every adult in the country will be offered at least warm dose of the vaccine the only snag has been trying to get members of the black asian minority ethnic community who have been statistically much more hesitant to get the job getting them on board to make sure that most people vaccinated as quickly as possible we've known for some time of course of the best route out of this pandemic is

a vaccine and the uptake has been significant to boris johnson wants to capitalize on that and that means he can't screw up the process of returning this country back to normal needs baka there with all the latest for us from london thanks so much names. when it was mentioning the us more people have now died there have been 19 than in both wild wars and yet non combined and sound preaching half a 1000000 deaths that's a staggering off in just one year that teens are being rolled out but in some states they're still in short supply more than 28000000 people in the us have now tested positive for the virus. it's just it's terrible it is historic we haven't seen anything even close to this for well over 100 years since the 1918 pandemic of influenza it's something that is stunning when you look at the numbers almost unbelievable but it's true if this is a devastating pandemic and its story people will be talking about this decades and

decades and decades from now well the 1st doses of the coven $1000.00 vaccine have now been administered in gaza that marks the start of a vaccination program rolling out to health care workers and people with long term illnesses 20000 doses arrived from the united arab emirates on sunday israel has been heavily criticized for excluding gaza and the occupied territory from its rapid vaccine roll out of the doors to israel's shops and more the engines are opening again but only to those who have been vaccinated against private 19 now to get in people need a green pass and that's raising concerns about the potential for discrimination how a force that reports from lester's. after 5 months west jerusalem's y.m.c.a. gym is open again as israel emerges further from its latest and potentially last lockdown but it's a selective reopening only those with the so-called green pass on paper or proving

full vaccination against a recovery from covert 19 can come in to work out i am so happy to be back here i love this place and i've been working out for better now in 20 minutes said hartley feel fantastic not all gyms are reopening some sight difficulties in persuading staff to get the vaccine some doubt they'll have enough vaccinated customers to make a profit we believe that this is best for the community in general and specifically for our members it has its challenges because it's a load of work that too is really usually we do not have but i believe that with time it's things will become easier israel is relying on the fire as a bone tech vaccine as its ticket back to normality with nearly half the population having had at least one jab health ministry figures released on saturday suggest it's about 99 percent effective in preventing serious illness and death 2 weeks after the 2nd dose younger more vaccine reluctant israelis are being enticed with free snacks and drinks but some epidemiologists say

a highly protected older population may just have to live alongside a less protected or younger group where the virus could continue to thrive for the prime minister whose campaign for next month's election leans heavily on his back to life message the green pass is crucial so that. you can get your green pass and head to the gym and other sporting and cultural events. his government will soon be running a giant social experiment by distinguishing some say discriminating between those who have and have not been vaccinated i think. it's extremely dangerous you colonel . divide between 2 population if there is a good medical reason. so for example if someone was exposed to. someone infected and he is vaccinated you don't need to state all that's ok that's a medical decision. it's

a balancing act that will be examined closely by other countries with lockdown weary populations desperate for a taste of their old lives democracy is not infringing on other people and making them ill so if somebody doesn't want to so let them stay in their house is real good it strikes a nation head start in part by volunteering to be a giant live to the vaccines effectiveness for now it's also running a country sized test on how to use it harry force of al-jazeera west jerusalem. on tanzania's president has now admitted that corona virus is a problem in his country john mcafee made those comments following the funeral of a senior politician who had the virus the president declared tanzania coronavirus free last may and said the cogia 1000 could be defeated by prayer or authorities have blames pneumonia for a recent rise in deaths but a number of tanzanians travelling overseas have tested positive malcolm webb is following developments from nairobi in neighboring kenya. the government hasn't

published any data since april last year in terms of covert cases but there has been reports reports from residents of increase in hospitalizations and deaths from what is described as pneumonia and our president john mcafee last year said that the pandemic had been defeated using the power of prayer so there weren't any official government measures to try and prevent the spread of disease this came under much criticism from the world health organization from tanzania is catholic church as well as political opposition and now it looks like president john mica foully has finally he did these calls he's announced on sunday that tanzania's should take precautions and that they should even wear mosques although he said that they should only wear tanzanian made mosques as he said foreign mosques may not be safe and this also follows skepticism coming from president moshe fairly about vaccines tanzania hasn't ordered any covert vaccines which would be available

to the government and to the country on international health care schemes today oman's health minister said it was considering suspending flights from tanzania after nearly one in 5 travelers from tanzania tested positive for covert 19 and also in thailand health authorities there just announced their 1st case of the new highly contagious south african a variant they said that case was found in a tired man who had traveled from tanzania as well so it seems that the tanzania in outbreak of the pandemic is being picked up in other countries even if it's not being acknowledged fully acknowledged and picked up. hospital now the south african very and south africa has now vaccinated more than $15300.00 health care workers in less than a week since running out its vaccination campaign there it's a fast country in the wild to administer doses from johnson and johnson which have not yet been approved for emergency use data shows it's nearly 60. percent

effective against those more contagious strains of the virus 1st identified in south africa but the name of doe karim is an epidemiologist and author cochairman of south africa's ministerial advisory committee on covert 19 he explained why the johnson and johnson think shot back saying could be the most suitable choice for south africa so it's really important that we have to select vaccines on the basis that 2 we have some evidence that they would be or likely to be effective against the 5 all one y.e.v. to bury and have a fire on y.b. to vary and has changes certain nutation that enable it to escape normal immunity so for example individuals who've been previously infected by it in the 1st wave by variants that were present at the time may no longer be protected against the fatal one and why the 2 because of its ability to escape immune responses so it is quite important in this particular instance that the johnson and

johnson vaccine had actually been tested in south african conditions and so we know that it is effective against the 51 y. v 2000000000 and that it's if you can see for the diseases around 57 percent and for severe disease and hospitalization is around 85 percent so based on that deserves a good choice also it's a it's a it's a single shot vaccine which makes it look just equally more simpler strategy to implement. well there is a plenty more ahead for you this news hour including iran reduces access to its nuclear facilities we'll have the reaction from both terror on and washington. boeing grounds and some of its planes after an engine caught fire in the u.s. . and novak djokovic turns on his critics off to what he's called one of the toughest grand slam tournament wins of his career that's coming up with gemma and.

a round supremely to has warned that it could boost uranium enrichment up to 60 percent if needed and says tehran will never yield its one merican pressure over its nuclear development ayatollah ali khamenei made those comments in the wake of a new agreement with the un's nuclear watchdog that deal allows inspectors to continue monitoring terror on nuclear facilities for up to 3 months but there will be less access and no more snuff inspections the i.a.e.a. chief traveled to iran this past weekend where he met foreign minister job and zarif for talks iran has been gradually breaching the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal ever since the u.s. withdrew and reimposed sanctions and 2018 as a bank has more now with the reaction from tehran. parliamentarians today were discussing the budget but they stopped that to vote on this latest deal between

iran and the i.a.e.a. that many of them believe that that's in breach of the legislation that the parliament passed last year and they referred the matter specifically president hassan rouhani to the judiciary day believe that he's acted illegally that this deal is against the legislation many of them have said that this deal between. iran has violated the rights of the iranian people others have said that it's against the spirit of the not just nation also there's of saying that the number of inspectors i.a.e.a. inspectors and inspections remains the same now what this demonstrates is that the difficulty that president hassan rouhani faces domestically this is a parliament that was voted in last year many of those people in the parliament are opposed to the 2015 nuclear deal and want to talk for a stance against the united states and the i.a.e.a. on the other hand president hassan rouhani is trying not to completely shut the door in terms of discussions and negotiations with the united states and the european 3 france germany and the u.k.

let's get the perspective now from washington d.c. our white house correspondent candy how transfer that can be biden has pretty clearly signaled just how he plans to move forward with iran does this give him a bit of a space to get some of that done. well the latest word from the white house press secretary jim psaki who is currently holding her white house press briefing is that the goal of the united states is to prevent iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and the way that the biden ministration believes it can achieve that is through diplomacy but the feeling here in the united states is right now iran is a long way from compliance in terms of its international obligations so what the united states says and what jen psaki said just moments ago is that the united states is waiting for iran to reply to the europeans about whether or not they're willing to have a conversation this is not nuclear talks but if 1st initial step in terms of diplomatic discussion no such secretary of state and city blinken was speaking

earlier today a few hours ago at a un disarmament conference and what he said is that the goal here is to get iran. agreement to limit its nuclear program to lengthen and strengthen it in other words there are some concerns about compliance from the u.s. standpoint there's also some concern about iran's destabilizing behavior in the broader region so the feeling is this in order to achieve these goals is to sit down and have a conversation that 1st initial step in diplomatic discussion house correspondent in washington d.c. thanks so much kimberly now iraq's military says at least 2 rockets hit baghdad's green zone on monday and the fortified district that hosts foreign embassies and government buildings no casualties have been reported that area is regularly targeted by groups that the u.s. says a backed by iran now huge crowds of protesters have defied the risk of violence to

march and towns and cities across me and ma they are denouncing the military career despite a recent crackdown that sought to protest as shot dead thousands still into the call for a nationwide strike tony chang reports. from the air men must southern city of daraa way appears completely jammed thousands of protesters blocking streets in the city center they march despite a warning from the military that lives will be lost if the protests continue and you know seem the thinly veiled threat came in a statement read out on state t.v. on sunday night he blamed the weekend's violence on an emotional teenage is am but on the ground there is no mistaking the demonstrators message they won't accept the military coup and calls for the release of the country's democratic leader aung san suu kyi who's been held by the military in isolation since the beginning of the month. cross the country tensions remain high. we were holding

a sit in protests and the police cracked down on us using force there were many and they are arrest many protesters. a general strike is being widely observed shutting banks and businesses and bringing transport systems to a halt. and despite the short term impact many feel that's the most effective way to make the military back down i you know the good day to day is a day for countrywide protest we do not want to stay under the control of a military dictatorship so we came here to join the protest goddess of the salaries we make nothing will happen my salary is cut but if we stay under the control of a military dictatorship we will become less like. even in the capital naypyidaw a city whose. design for the military to maintain control civil servants took to the streets. but the protesters have no illusions about the dangers they face this

candlelit vigil held to commemorate those who have already died in the protests with the military and protesters both standing their ground real concern as more bombs to come tony ching al jazeera. still ahead here on al-jazeera. 10 years on a new zealand has been many victims across chatter. as new zealand i understand is an offense to massive head teacher 20 cricket appearing gemma will be here with all the action for you it's course. how i once again we have got some rain in the forecast to parts of the middle east not too much to speak of you see this in leiria cloud just coming out of saudi arabia pushing over towards iran some patchy rain

a possibility into northern parts of saudi arabia just linking back towards the sinai peninsula israel palestinian territories could seal it with that weather over the next couple of days and when she whether they're just around the caucasus pushing up towards turkmenistan the chance of one of 2 showers wintry in nature across northern parts of afghanistan and then these may become a little more widespread as we go on through wednesday northern iran seeing some of that wintry weather as well still a few showers into central and northern parts of saudi arabia and down towards the southern end of the red sea you might catch a shower or 2 to that western side of yemen as shots of wanted to show is to its essential areas of ethiopia maturity of the showers that are going to be along the rift valley that eastern side of africa heavy rain just making its way back into northern parts of madagascar as we go through chews day and wednesday possibility some localized flooding as a result of that heavy showers too went to botswana namibia seeing some showers

that eastern side of south africa still a little unsettled but some pleasant warmth between. mt vesuvius is one of the most dangerous active volcanoes in the world. but not everyone feels living in its shadow. but good food for thought isn't there or something like magic about this if you assume that people who don't live in the. world goes to the red zone near naples. to understand this unusual love of. living with a volcano on al-jazeera. in syria thousands have disappeared without a trace. forcibly taken from their family right here in the most terrible thing in syria used to be. this has been the invisible

weapon of the syrian dictatorship you got for sometimes the talk you can think better too dark to continue to be sure to torture. the disappeared of syria. hello again i'm the stars here today and let's remind you about top stories here this hour it's a reason bassa to the democratic republic of congo has died after a u.n. convoy he was traveling in was ambushed look at an answer was killed along with a bodyguard and driver at least president has denounced what he calls a cowardly attack. british prime minister barak's johnson has laid out his plan to

lift pandemic restrictions schools are due to reopen and 2 people from separate households will now be allowed to meet outside starting on march 8th. more people have now died in the us of private 19 than in both world wars and vietnam combined it's now approaching half a 1000000 deaths a staggering loss in just one year. well boeing now says it's grounded all triple 7 planes fitted with the same model of engine that exploded during a flight in the u.s. on saturday the engine suffered a catastrophic failure soon after taking off from denver littering suburbs with falling debris kristensen amy has. this frightening scene onboard a united airlines passenger flight has led to the grounding of some boeing 777 aircraft around the globe large pieces of the plane's pratt and whitney p w 4000 engine fell over the suburbs of denver colorado shortly after take off the

plane landed safely and no one was hurt but u.s. regulators quickly stepped in to investigate and on sunday the federal aviation administration issued an emergency directive calling for stepped up inspections focusing on the engines fan blades united announced it would voluntarily and temporarily remove $24.00 of its 777 from use saying safety was their highest priority it has another $28.00 of the planes in storage it's yet another setback for boeing the u.s. aerospace manufacturers $737.00 max only recently returned to flight after being grounded for 20 months due to to fail crashes in less than a year and more trouble for united which like other airlines has seen a drastic reduction in travelers due to the coronavirus pandemic. other than

united airlines in the united states the f.a.a. says the pratt and whitney engines are only used in south korea and japan the investigation is continuing kristen salumi al-jazeera well we can now speak to alison stewart allen she's a specialist on international marketing and branding and is also c.e.o. of the fam international marketing partners she joins us now from london alison so it does seem that in this particular instance this was an engine failure right but it was on a boeing plane and given boeing's track record the public spirit presumably much less likely to make that distinction or be particular for giving him. well there's no reason they should be particularly forgiving because when you buy a ticket on a flight your expectation is that you're going to get to your destination. in a relatively short amount of time without delays or emergency landings and so you

know you can imagine now that passengers around the globe will be even more concerned about what model of flight or plane their aircraft will be on who's engines are on the aircraft is that prepping with the is a rolls royce is it somebody else so we have now got a flying public who are going to be increasingly concerned by this and we're watching these pictures i mean of the fire and in the end they look pretty terrifying and i understand there was another engine incident fairly similar to this one back in 2018 how is boeing now viewed when it comes to addressing faults. well isn't it interesting i mean the 1st thing we know about a crisis. when a company is in a situation like boeing is right now the key thing you must do is communicate so you need to be seeing the c.e.o. who should be on this program with you describing what remedial action they will be

taking what they will do to ensure that this won't happen again and so you know it's incumbent on any brand whether it's an airline or food product or a luxury good whoever it is whatever it is they must be communicating to their various stakeholders it's imperative because all of us are going to be asking questions now about should we even take a flight on a boeing jet maybe we should take a flight with you know from air bus or some other manufacturer and not boeing as well as customers reporting there they say that the scandal around the boeing 737 max planes they are now back in the air have they managed to win back some trust a toll well it's a too early to tell because people most people are traveling you know this pandemic has meant that there are lockdown still throughout europe through the middle east

around the globe and so we won't really know the answer to that until restrictions are lifted i think later in the year or perhaps september october time onward we'll be able to definitely see whether passengers of returning or not but more importantly whether they're being discriminating and asking what model and make of jet am i going to be on that's going to really tell us quite a lot as a moving beyond the question that the public trust let me ask you how is boeing being viewed within the industry itself. well of course you know all of the other airline parts manufacturers and of course air bus and other jet component suppliers are watching this with a bit of trepidation because of course they are going to be concerned that they are also at risk could they be named in lawsuits because of course people will

go to litigation in order to try to resolve the fact that they didn't make a wedding or because of this emergency there were some other knock on effects that must be compensated and so there will be a general nervousness i think that can all be overcome however if you may reassure the public especially and employees and the airports that you have that all under control so reassurance is absolutely critical but the more important thing is the culture of the business and we need to know that the culture of the business does not put speed ahead of safety alison stewart alan that the c.e.o. of the fam international marketing partners speaking to us from london great to new insights here on out there thanks for being with us allison well as i mentioned before the number of people who have now died in the u.s. from cova 1000 is creeping very close to half

a 1000000 that's almost double the next west affected country brazil u.s. president joe biden has made tackling this pandemic his priority and creating buying enough vaccines to inoculate the population but has also said that his predecessor didn't do his job we now speak to julie fisher she's an associate professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at georgetown university she joins us now from washington d.c. julie i remember back in march last year when all of this is really kicking off tony found she was warning that the u.s. could see as many as 200000 deaths and at the time even that was a shocking number now we're approaching half a 1000000 so if things really got much worse than expected. i think that none of us could have predicted at this time that we would be doing this unfortunate and grim milestone at this point in time so at that time the projection that we would hit 240000 cases even with strict mitigation measures seemed unbelievable but now we've seen. with an even approach from state to state and with some challenges in getting

people to adhere to some of that measures that we now know can be effective in slowness but of disease that. the spread the macos how to impact that none of us would have predicted and that has been truly heartbreaking for many families but we have judy seen a relatively sharp drop in infection and deaths over the last few weeks by my understanding given the amount of vaccines they've been rolled out so far and the lag vaccine impact this downward trend isn't actually down to that so what's behind it what we're seeing is the good news of a decline from those very high surge levels that we saw in the wake of the holidays in the u.s. in december and january so the good news is that travel has returned to normal that presumably individuals have seen the impact of this disease on their communities and on individuals could be very devastating that they're taking the precautions more seriously and that they have been using the measures that they can take like

masking and distancing to protect themselves or protect others so the good news is we are seeing that decline from that to put into perspective we're seeing a decline from a very high peak well as you're reporting news hour we've been seeing the u.k. of vaccines across the atlantic very successfully and it seems that the easing of restrictions there that we've just had announced is partly down to that i imagine that watching from across the sea you're hoping that the u.s. will follow suit. well i think what we're seeing now is that the rate of new cases with the original lineage is so as could be 2 it's falling and it's beginning to fall in europe and in the u.s. we're beginning to see more and more guidance from the u.s. cities see here in the u.s. that offers. good strong guardrails for decision makers at the local level on opening school safely and starting to take some action to make sure that education and other essential essential functions of life can can begin to resume at the same

time we see that there are barriers emerging of that mean that we can't just drop our discipline that we have to remember that those measures that we can take to prevent the spread of the 19 we have to be disciplined about taking intil we can get the vaccines rolled out to everyone and then go back to something more like our normal lives and i wanted to ask her exactly about that journey how much of these new variants throw in a spanner and things we're hearing room is a worry is of attention on another way if it is there the possibility of that. certainly some of these variants are showing very concerning patterns that they are more transmissible and that with with more cases we have increased risks of serious disease and death so they could certainly reverse this trend we're seeing a decline in cases in the u.s. and around the world that so the again the good news the silver lining is that the measures that we already know how to take like using masks of avoiding crowds good

good ventilation indoors and keeping distance those are effective against the transmission of the variance as well so no new discoveries are required we just need to get the vaccines rolled out as efficiently and quickly as possible because they do provide protection even though they may be less affected look at some of the variants they still provide protection and they still can help prevent the spread of. all of the the lineages including these various variants or problem but we know what to do to stop that from spreading and it has already been a very dark winter julie fisher there an associate research professor from georgetown university thanks for being with us great to get your thoughts again here on out. thank you so much now u.s. president joe biden's attorney general nominee has promised to prosecute those who attacked capitol hill last month merrick garland made that pledge during his 2 day

confirmation hearing before the senate judiciary committee he also promised to double the justice department's efforts to provide equal justice for all to prioritize civil rights and also to combat domestic terrorism chevra tansey is following that hearing for us on capitol hill. it took 5 years but finally america and had his hearing at the senate judiciary committee and he showed himself to be a remarkably uncontroversial pick for attorney general despite the controversy of his failed nomination to the supreme court the house by positive support he will be confirmed and he said the 1st order of business will be the investigation into the john to the 6 uprising here on capitol hill but i intend to give the career prosecutors who are working on this manner 247 all the resources they could possibly require to do this and at the same time intend to make sure that we look more broadly just to look at. where this is coming from what

other groups there might be that that could be is the same problem in the future throughout his testimony it was notable how often the term white supremacy came up it's no casually discussed in the halls of congress following the unprecedented protests of last summer under the banner of black lives matter and you can also see why they go it was keen to emphasize its civil rights background because he doesn't have one i don't fact joe biden had promised civil rights groups in early january that his nominee for attorney general would have a civil rights but background joe biden broke that promise so go and was very keen to emphasize that he's aware of systemic racism within the justice system and he would investigate it and attempt to eradicate it well now the u.s. supreme court's has allowed the release of donald trump's tax records to prosecute is that ruling is a blow for the former president or his for to keep those documents from the new york district attorney's office is being investigated by hush money payments and

other financial transactions his former attorney michael cohen allege that trump paid $130000.00 to keep an extramarital affair private. well the united nations has called for the immediate rescue of dozens of ranger refugees stranded at sea they reportedly set sail from cox's bazar refugee camp in bangladesh around 11 days ago now there are human rights initiative says at least 90 people on board that fires and they've run out of supplies several of them have dion's they lost no no occasion was just northeast of the andaman islands a few 100 contests off the myanmar. tundra chattering is following the story for us from the bangladeshi capital dhaka well the latest we know this is coming from the rowing a human rights group in new delhi which is confirmed by our al-jazeera bureau in delhi now they have been in touch with some of the rowing in the boat they say the indian navy has come across and they are giving them relief and emergency material

they have not been rescued per se but they are providing them with all the provisional help we also spoke to one of the refugee whose brother is in the boat he has turned out in a pill to raise by other enduring i can't his name is mr shiloh was stranded in the middle of the sea and on the money he said please tell the international community that we need to be rescued and given shelter somewhere we've been a drip little over 10 days now and things are really bad the heavy active area for traffickers from me and maher as well as bangladesh who take lots of money from these people to take them in those countries but never usually succeed now bangladesh navy and cause god is i wear of this the keep an eye but the government has a very very strong attitude of taking back any more running us. now 53 kidnapping victims in nigeria have been released after the group was abducted from a bus last week the people including 20 women and 9 children were taken by an armed

group a night just stays that's all as the government is a deal for the release of dozens of school children who were also abducted last week in a separate incident. has more now from a bridge or he says this criticism over the way that the government's handling the rise and kidnappings another concern for many nigerians have been following developments up north where the kidnapping is becoming more like big business is the process of securing the release of victims it's either the government is paying ransom or present a gucci it is safe passage for the perpetrators of the crime whichever way nigerians are concerned that granting access or freedom of passage to criminals who kidnapped innocent nigerians or innocent people will encourage others to come into the trade again probably thinking that they could be good they could be they could be like the us these ones secondly. could also encourage more people into the crime and embolden them to a target or even we are to carry out more dangerous missions in the future as

louise these are some of the concerns nigerians are having with the current situation in the country where the kidnapping is on the rights of people in new zealand have paused to remember the victims of an earthquake that struck the country's 2nd biggest city a decade ago thousands joined a service at the national earthquake one more island christchurch 10 years after the tremor that killed 185 people a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit along a previously unknown fault running directly under the city 170000 things were destroyed or damaged these quake and aftershocks affected people in complete and to various ways. the toll could not have been more significant and daily reminders made it harder a fractured landscape after shocks struggling friends and neighbors and children with deep and unseen sky. 10 years on the all the people still living

their daily lives with a long shadow of that day charlotte the last reports now on just how those and christchurch are recovering after a decade. it was a tuesday lunchtime on a sunny summer's day in christchurch in tim sickens a city that had taken 150 years to build it was unrecognizable. the shallow magnitude $6.00 earthquake shared the facades of dozens of structures it completely leveled the pyne gould and canterbury television buildings those were where the majority of the $185.00 deaths would be tallied once risk your operations turned recovery we may well be witnessing new zealand stock to stay. c c new zealand was in mourning but in christchurch there was no time the tears the central

city was cordoned off in case of aftershocks there would be more than $20000.00 power water and sewerage mains were ruptured across the city people needed a place to sleep the 10s of thousands of homes were badly damaged or destroyed. if it wasn't the earthquake that broke them the silt that follows did across one 3rd of the city it bubbled up through new cracks in some places more than a meter deep. or district hassled notice that she was. subtle and then for years parking spot some weeds flourished where progress did not resilience the city government and insurers were at all its negotiating house a rebuilt and at what cost 70 percent of buildings were eventually demolished he zealand's government bought out others pitching it as a chance to entirely redesign its 2nd biggest city more than $30000000000.00 and

a decade later. is returning. we've come a long way and we still got some but i really do feel like as a city we've turned a corner others still grieve for the lost heritage if you knew the city beforehand and you love the architecture it's really sad to walk around and remember what was there and the things that have changed i think we we did take down too many old buildings but people did fight for one the city's cathedral a crumbling ruin for nearly a decade is finally being restored completion is expected in 2027 i think if you see significant because it will be one of the final pieces in the fix to put in course to give the people here in the. first city called christchurch its cathedral essential to its identity and that's not something its people could let go shelob alice. well still ahead here on out

as they are on the way in support of gemma injury a blow to real madrid ahead of the champion's league match against atlanta.

welcome back it is now time for sports and his gemma. thank you to start it the current of our sat right in front says 6 nations rugby camp is getting worse with 5 more players testing positive captain shah all of all among those new cases as now 10 players in total with the virus as well as the head coach believes the team

massively depleted ahead of sunday's match with scotland which could now be in doubt france lead the 6 nations standings after 2 wins from say the australian i've been told i'm and direct says a limpet games organizers come out a lot from that one how to keep competitors safe craig tiley says the slam has laid out a blueprint for other major sporting events taking place during the pandemic meanwhile the champion at no fat joke of it says his 9th win in melbourne was one of the most challenging of his career. medvedev in the final was criticised before the tournament of his list of foreign team demands for players in hot lockdown he was also accused of exaggerating a stomach injury in his round match low number one admits the criticism huts and has likened the whole experience to a roller coaster ride learned a lot of lessons learned a lot of things you know. about myself and about. everything that was going on in the last 56 weeks. but i think that everything that was

happening on and off the court 'd makes makes this victory even even better and even sweeter to another major champion in the tiger woods who isn't sure when he'll play golf again in the last few weeks woods has had his 5th back operation there's no timetable for his return but does he think he'll be ready for the masters in april. i don't know if so. to get there 1st you know i do a lot of a lot of space on you know most of our surgeons and my doctors my therapist and the concern that i do i do it correctly and this is only back i got so much more work for wiggle room left or japanese who. will compete in the olympic qualifiers in a pro after recovering from leukemia she won bronze in a fast $100.00 metres butterfly event since she was diagnosed 2 years ago the 20 year old will compete at the country's only qualifying race for the rescheduled

games in july but at the moment she's just over 2 seconds outside of the time to make the team from madrid will be without top scorer karen benz i'm up for that champions league last 16 match with as alonso on wednesday the strike is still recovering from the ankle injury which kept him out of saturday's win against route via the lives of just 11 senior outfield players fit for the 1st leg against the italian side the city rivals athletic a budget have arrived in bucharest ahead of their round of 16 game with chelsea the match had to be new used to remain here because of travel restrictions preventing visits his from the u.k. entering spain and all anyone see fit to travel for their home leg german side abi leipsic had to host liverpool in hungary for the same reason so now you've been hearing all about how the u.k. will ease current virus restrictions and that means fans could be back in stadiums for the final weekend of the premier league season the government to run a series of pilot events in april and if successful up to $10000.00 people will be

allowed in stadiums for sporting events but not before the 17th of may that means there'll be no supporters at wembley for the f.a. cup final which is 2 days before the fans could go and see the conclusion of the premier league season the following weekend. kimmie reichen is preparing for his 19th season in formula one but he's not too sure how is out for him a car will handle a new rule changes in the sport reichen and teammate and. see we're in poland as the teen officially launched that new call the season opening australian grand prix was perspiring to juge the pandemic so the 1st race will be in bahrain next month and reichen isn't fazed by the prospect of another if it disruptions. thing cannot be similar to what we had last year so it's it's it's the new normal. it's just different but that it all worked out ok because there's a bit more quiet that the tracks are less people but the thing generally you know

everybody's more used to it that it works ok we can go racing everybody is try to stay as safe as we can so far as paperwork and. new zealand have thrashed australia in the 1st of 5 t 20 cricket internationals the 2 teams that were in christchurch for the opening games to series 7 conway while he was the star of the show he was in his unbeaten 99 off 59 balls out the kiwis post 184 of 5 in response australia ca lasted to 19 for 4 and they never recovered from that site it was the pick of the bowlers so he was full for 28 all out for 131 as new zealand won comprehensively by 53 runs the 2nd match is on thursday in dire need and that is always fought for now i'll be back with more a little bit later. thanks very much jim now remember you can always find much more

on our website they just have that is out is there a dot com that's the best news out there about us there and. in india identity politics on the rise what we're seeing is the construction of budget cuts and loads of the across the country and as a dockside is we do see the grit from his office will not just keep up to him 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 reaches 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 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 syria for 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. from the world's most populated region. and untold stories from across asia and the pacific. discover

the current events. diverse cultures. and conflict in politics. when i went east on al-jazeera. an italian diplomat among 3 killed in an attack on a u.n. convoy in the democratic republic of congo. hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up the vaccination rollout helps lead england out of lockdown boris johnson reveals his roadmap to me and maurice public display of the fi and sundry ads.