so the truth and empower people through knowledge. from the world's most populated region. in-depth stories from across asia and this is. culture and conflict in politics when i went east on al-jazeera. america remembers more than half a 1000000 people killed by covert 19 the united states worst health crisis in over a century on the other side of the atlantic the vaccination rollout helps lead england out of lockdown boris johnson reveals his roadmap. hello i'm barbara sarah this is al jazeera live from london also coming up an

italian diplomat among 3 killed in an attack on a u.n. convoy in the democratic republic of congo. me and maurice public display of defiance hundreds of thousands of resists the military's warning and their protests . we begin in the united states which is the record more than half a 1000000 deaths from cope with 19 for many it's an unimaginable statistic and a brutal reminder of the coronaviruses reach into people's lives in all corners of the country.

in the nation's capital bells are tolling 500 times in memory of those killed during the pandemic america's best count amounts to around the face of all coronavirus fatalities in the world despite being home to just 4 percent of the earth's population it's been a little over a year since the country recorded its 1st death from the disease more than 28000000 people in the u.s. have been infected since then. let's go to kristen. washington d.c. kristen obviously a. figure half a 1000000 dead tell us a little bit about how the nation's leaders will be marking this awful moment. well you heard the church bells that have begun to rung out in commemoration of this grim milestone

a half 1000000 coated related deaths in the united states president joe biden will be gathering at the white house this evening in about an hour's time with his wife jill biden his vice president and the 2nd gentleman for a moment of silence he's also ordered that flags around the nation at federal buildings and public buildings be flown at half staff for the next 5 days and he issued a proclamation as well and he points out that more people have died now in the united states from the coronavirus then from world war one world war 2 and the vietnam war combined it is a very stark reminder of the toll that this is taken on the united states but in the words of the president it is necessary as a nation to remember them so that we can begin to heal to unite and find purpose as one nation to defeat the pandemic so joe biden sounding

a message of hope looking forward even as he remembers those who have been lost and kristen when we talk about looking forward over the vaccination rollout has been so far of the sort of success the president promised to have 100000000 people vaccinated in this 1st 100 days is he on track to meet that goal. so this vaccination in the united states has picked up since december they're now vaccinating $1800000.00 people per day that's about $63000000.00 doses in total that have been delivered some 13 percent of americans have received at least one dose and president biden is now $33.00 days in office so he does appear to be on track to meet that goal but there's still a lot of people waiting to get their vaccination and many of the doses that have

been delivered to states have yet to get to the people only about 80 percent of the available doses have actually been injected into people's arms so there remains issues that need to be addressed we also had bad weather in the last week affecting much of the southwest that held up vaccination efforts there the administration does say that they expect to be back on track later this week with that but the issue is that different states have different methods of distribution some rely on hospitals some rely on pharmacies there's many combinations of the way things are being done and of course the demand for the vaccine the manufacturers are still struggling to keep up with with the demand but in terms of meeting his goal the president does seem to be on track christine salumi with the latest from washington d.c. as the country marks 500000 coronavirus that's kristen thank you. well

meanwhile on the other side of the atlantic in england could see an end to most coronavirus restrictions by the end of june as part of changes to measures that start next month prime minister boris johnson has laid out a cautious and he says hopefully and reversible plan to lift pandemic restrictions but it could all come to a halt if infection rates rise or vaccinations i delayed neve barker of reports from london the long road out of long will be gradual and cautious a decision the government said was based upon data rather than pressure to set dates nearly a year after this pandemic began this unparalleled national effort whose decisively shifted the odds in our favor so that we no longer have to rely simply on lockdowns and restricting your behavior and putting our lives on hold but with every day that

goes by this program of vaccination is creating a shield around the entire population the government's 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 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. from 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 astra zeneca vaccines use in the u.k. can reduce hospital admissions 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 but the number of people still receiving hospital treatment remains worryingly. when you look at number of people in hospital with coded in the u.k. again you can see there is a significant 4 that is continuing but the rates are still high and they're only slightly below the height of the 1st peak we had last year 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 one 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 are 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 neve barker al-jazeera london. well the 1st though says of corona virus vaccine have been administered in gaza it marks the start of a vaccination program prioritizing health care workers and people with long term illnesses 20000 doses of the russian made sputnik vaccine arrived from the united arab emirates on sunday israel had been criticized for delaying deliveries through its territory. and south africa has vaccinated more than $15300.00 health care

workers in less than a week since rolling out its covert $1000.00 vaccination campaign it's the 1st country to administer the johnson and johnson vaccine which has not yet been approved for emergency use data shows it's nearly 60 percent effective against the corona virus variant that was 1st identified in south africa. tributes are being paid to italy's ambassador to the democratic republic of congo who was killed while traveling in a u.n. convoy look at them as you know his bodyguard and his driver died in an ambush near the vital national park israelis president has branded it a cowardly attack catherine soy reports from nairobi. who are on a mission to ritu eloff to providence to visitors can speak up from one of the many

world food problem projects supports in the democratic republic of congo the journey ended here in the virunga national park several kilometers from the provincial capital they tally an ambassador his bodyguard and their driver were killed in a crossfire between park rangers and gunmen during the number on several other people what agent. we aren't debates in all the relevant institutions to get the truth the soonest possible about this cowardly attack that these 2 servants of the state of have suffered from and lost their lives. but beyond the shock of what has happened questions will be asked as to why the convoy did not have a un national police or army escort in such a dangerous area your thorazine north keep saying not aware embassador was in town he ses it had been clear that actually without escorts the location of this attack

is almost exactly the same place where 2 british tourists were kidnapped in may 2018 so it's kind of a real evidence of this long standing security lapse in the region it was also very close to where 6 were in the guards were killed in the last month this is a fast major attack on a big u.n. organization like the deputy if be but the park is steaming with rebels who target gave ranges civilians and other convoys to steal kidnap and demand ransom the security problem however goes beyond this part of in the war than 70 rebel groups control much of eastern democratic republic of congo extorting villages and attacking their homes at will in beni north of goma many thousands of people including u.n. and government soldiers have been killed and more displaced by the allied democratic forces rebel groups hundreds of thousands of soldiers are on the ground battling different armed groups but with limited success we're looking at

a kind of longstanding funding issue for the for the congolese army in that area a lack of kind of security planning as well as strategy when it comes to trying to combat the armed groups who operate in that area. obviously the u.n. peacekeeping force that has been operational for a good number of years has a lot to answer for with regards to insecurity in that area. many congolese in this area live in constant fear hoping but not confident the forces that have struggled to keep the rebels yes will want to succeed catherine soy al-jazeera. november. is a senior advisor for africa at the international republican institute he says the region is dangerous for both visitors and residents and traveling to those areas it's never safe overall you never know every time you drive down the road you're

rolling the dice for who's behind the wheel not have been a proliferation of militias in that region a lot of groups but also just a lot of bandits who are taking advantage of the instability in the in the region this means that the populations all the time in places like be people are killed every night in this leap around you have people sitting up ambushes to get ransom. kidnappers in one j. area have released 53 people seized from a bus last week the passengers including 20 women and 9 children were taken by an armed gang in the share state the government also says it's nearing a deal for the release of dozens of school children who were abducted in a separate incident last week well just as are many dresses in nigeria's capital abroad he says there is criticism over the way the government is handling the rise of kidnappings. another concern for many nigerians have been following developments

up north while 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 has negotiated safe passage for the perpetrators of the crime whichever way nigerians are concerned that granting access or freedom of posse to criminals who kidnapped you know some nigerians or innocent people will encourage others to come into the trade again probably thinking that they could be good they could they could be lucky ones secondly paying ransom could also encourage more people into the crime and embolden them to attack or even we are to carry out more dangerous missions in the future so these this are some of the concerns nigerians are having with a current situation in the country why kidnapping is on the rice. still ahead here on al-jazeera another blow for boeing an engine emergency causes the manufacturer

to seek the grounding up some aircraft and it's out of this world that nasa releases a dramatic video of its rover landing on mines. we got more heavy showers across northern parts of australia since a big downpours recently with some sundry showers there rumbling away across northern territory where the 2 were to the cape york peninsula some lightly showers into the eastern side of new south wales temperatures struggling in the southeast no higher than around 19 celsius with a southerly or south westerly wind for melbourne the war is on the other side of the ditch we've got some heavy rain making its way into the south all a bit ahead of that so it's absolutely fabulous question 31 degrees celsius that

what the weather will make its way through start to peter out for wednesday but still hanging on to the east and amounts of water to central areas but too bad in oakland at around 25 degrees back over into was is fine in trifle central pass but eastern areas we'll still see some lively showers up towards the north warm sunshine there for perth for temperatures touching the mid thirty's once again we've had some warmth recently into japan had tokyo's been getting up into the low twenty's recently but cool way over the next couple of days hints of a wintry weather returning here with some snow into that western side of honshu some snow there in sioux a good part of cada temperatures struggle to reach 11 degrees celsius in tokyo for wednesday. to make a change. change a life goal the path of a country challenge the accepted truth if you want to create something to break you

can remold it up to turn the status quo and fight injustice. to. move south to school dogs will witness documentaries about photo perception on al-jazeera. the e. the a. reminder now of the top stories on al-jazeera more than half a 1000000 people have been killed by covert 19 in the united states the world's highest coronavirus test it's also got a face of all coronavirus fatalities in the world despite the us being home to just

4 percent of the earth's population. more coronavirus restrictions could be lifted in england by the end of june under new plans revealed by the prime minister boris johnson in the 1st phase schools will reopen in 2 people from separate households will be allowed to meet outside from march. tributes are pouring in for bassett or to the democratic republic of congo after he died during an ambush on a u.n. convoy look at that as you know was killed along with his italian bodyguard and congolese driver interview don't get national park. hundreds of thousands of people have defied military warnings and protested across me and shutting down businesses as part of a general strike against this. it's been 3 weeks since the army seized power and detained hundreds of people including the popular democratic leader and. tony

reports from bangkok. from the air men miles 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. 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 teenager's i 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 has 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 crackdown on last using force there were many and day arrests 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 was no good. today 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 regardless 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 wide boulevards were designed 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've already died in the protests for the military and protesters both standing their ground real concern as more violence to come tony chang al jazeera.

the united nations is calling for the immediate rescue of almost 100 range of refugees stranded at sea with no food at least 8 are believed to have died their last known location was just off the andaman islands in the bay of think goal they have reportedly set sail from the coxes bazaar refugee camp in bangladesh about 10 days ago but a 1000000 range of refugees have been living in the camp after sea persecution in me and mine well tanveer chadri reports 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 send out an appeal to raise by other enduring a camp is the name is mr shiloh and was stranded in the middle of the sea and on the man 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 on mar as well as bangladesh who takes lots of money from these people to take them in those countries but never usually succeed now bangladesh navy and cause got i way out of this the keep an eye but the government has a very very strong attitude of taking back any more rowing us. the u.s. says it not only wants to return to the iran nuclear deal but it wants the strengthen and they extend it however iran has made a new threat on sunday the un's nuclear watchdog struck an interim deal to allow inspectors restricted access to it rein in nuclear facilities u.s.

secretary of state anthony blinken said that was a greater risk of regional instability if the deal wasn't fully restored but iran's supreme leader has appeared on television saying his country megan ritu rein him up to 60 percent purity now the 2015 deal caps it to just under 4 percent the united states remains committed to ensuring that iran never acquires a nuclear weapon diplomacy is the best path to achieve that goal president biden has said if iran comes back into strict appliance with a j c p o a the united states is prepared to do the same working with allies and partners we will also seek to lengthen the strength of the j c p o a and address other areas of concern including iran's destabilizing regional behavior and ballistic missile development and politicization well our white house correspondent kimberly halkett says that joe biden and donald trump actually have

similar positions on the iran nuclear deal just different strategies. the white house press secretary has really been reiterating the positions of the secretary of state and their european allies and and that is that they believe iran is not in compliance with the terms of the agreement so in that way they're not much different in terms of the perspective from an administration as the trumpet administration where they differ in terms of how they move forward is approach and it's very clear that this is an administration that wants to move forward with diplomacy the foundation of their wrong policy so what we've heard from the white house press secretary is that is the view that they believe that they can move forward and that they are awaiting a response now from iran that iran needs to reply to the european allies about whether or not it's willing to at least sit down and have a discussion the white house says this should no way be sort of perceived as nuclear talks but instead just

a discussion on the pathway forward as you heard the secretary of state there he said he was to lengthen and strengthen the agreement from 2015 and what he means by that is again what the white house under donald trump believes is that there were other actions that iran was involved with destabilizing the broader region there is the concern about american hostages still being detained all of these issues need to be worked out and so that's what the white house is hoping to do hoping to sit down through their channels as they call it and have these initial discussions again demanding full compliance ultimately as the end state or goal for on the part of iran. boeing has asked they are lines worldwide to ground some of its 777 airliners after the engine on one partially disintegrated in midair on saturday an investigation is now taking place into what caused the incident which rained down they bring in the u.s.

state of colorado john hendren has more now from chicago where boeing is based. for boeing a firey flight leads to another plane grounding in a 2 year corporate spiral more than $100.00 boeing triple 7 aircraft with a specific type of pratt and whitney engine have been pulled out of service after an exploding engine on united flight 328 over the skies of colorado led to an emergency u.-turn barrier never ever to get out of required. to feel ready to part of a deal with in the us federal aviation regulators have demanded stepped up inspections of the engine type that rained down on a home a soccer pitch in streets of colorado. before the plane landed remarkably with no injuries inside or outside of the plane. aviation experts blame hollow engine blades that apparently broke off and started the fire it not only blew

through the case and blew through the column but actually penetrated the fuselage damaging the fuselage the wing and blowing out a window causing a deep pressurization that led boeing managers in chicago to call for the global grounding of a limited number of 770 seven's that had been flying only from the u.s. japan and south korea the u.s. federal aviation administration is now investigating whether the fan blades failed because they were damaged and that damage went undetected in routine inspection or whether there was a manufacturing flaw that led to the explosion that could mean wider problems. analysts say this engine failure is less catastrophic for boeing than the flight control problems found to have caused 2 crashes that killed 346 passengers in grounded then brand new 737 max aircraft for nearly 2 years it's just now returning to service this is the kind of thing which happens from time to time with highly stressed modern machinery

a fault which hadn't been detected before suddenly makes itself known and everything is frozen for a while while an inspection takes place to try and correct this is not a total systemic fault like the max problem was still after the grounding of a max plane that was expected to be the company's most lucrative and a pandemic which kept millions of passengers on the ground the $770.00 seven's problems mark another black eye for an already battered company john hendren al-jazeera chicago. the u.s. space agency nasa has released its 1st footage of the perseverance rover landing on the surface of mars it's the 1st time a mars landing has been captured on video the craft was lowered gently into the red planet's surface on thursday by the sky crane lander it's already sent by pictures from the surface and is expect that the start exploring its new home by the end of

the month. where perseverance also sent back the 1st ever ordeal recording from mars so this for the 1st time is what it sounds like on the red planet. now the top stories on al-jazeera more than half a 1000000 people have been killed by covert 1000 in the us that's the world's highest coronavirus death toll it's also around a 5th of all coronavirus fatalities in the world despite being home to just 4 percent of the earth's population it's been a little over a year since the country recorded its 1st test from the disease war than 28000000 people in the u.s. have been infected since then well chris.