coronavirus pandemic up front mark lamont hill cut through the headlines to challenge conventional wisdom hope for the future the ivory coast to coast to the polls for its column entry elections. march on al-jazeera. ready. 0. 00 on our intake of this is the honors their news hour live from london coming up. the delivery which marks the beginning of a not just vaccination operation in history ghana is the 1st to benefit from the un's kovacs program. a message of defiance continues to sound from the streets of me and mark as the minute trip wanted

foreign minister flies to thailand for crisis talks. the un human rights chief accuses sri lanka of systematically ignoring rights abuses during the civil war a claim the government calls unjustified. and sorting out the u.s. postal service and the agency be safe from years of financial hardship and a problem with public trust i'm john ashe with the sports rory mcilroy has spoken of his relief that tiger woods's car crash one of the fatal a 15 time major champion is recovering in hospital after having surgery to repair a serious leg injury. nearly a year after the corona virus outbreak was declared a pandemic the race to vaccinate the world's poorest people against covert 19 is finally accelerating the world health organization says its kovacs program is the

largest vaccination operation in history and the 1st 600000 doses for master zeneca have been delivered to ghana which has reported nearly 600 deaths around half of which were in the last 2 months alone meanwhile regulators in the us say johnson and johnson's single dose vaccine is safe confirming that it's around 66 percent effective overall in preventing moderate to severe coded 19 trials suggests it could also be 88 percent effective against. asymptomatic infection and chile is streaking ahead of its latin american neighbors and probably the world managing to not create more than 3000000 people this month and the government wants to vaccinate the whole country by june more on that story in a moment but 1st here's our hearts report on the un's kovacs scheme finally taking off. even back seem to ensure that people from less wealthy countries are protected against covert 19 is being hailed as a historic moment. the rival of $600000.00 from india marks the beginning of

a massive campaign that will see more than $2000000000.00 doses delivered to several developing countries across different continents this cause not programs about equity and certainly derek if you follow the vaccination going on around the planet so far it's only citizens from the let the say the better off countries that have benefited from this and from today we're bringing equity gone the plants inoculate around 20 percent of its population in the 1st phase of its campaign but it's still not enough and the government says it's working on securing more doses. almost $2500000.00 people worldwide have died from corona virus so far rich countries have been able to buy far more vaccines in poorer ones and while kovacs has managed to raise $6000000000.00 in needs at least another 2000000000 to meet its targets the 2021 this is only financed now so we can reach in 1002 countries the most vulnerable population the older citizens the health workers

people with school mobility you know but we need much more taxes and financing so we can vaccinate everybody just like if you walk in the rich world countries receive the lifesaving vaccines next we'll include some of the poorest countries in the world including haiti democratic republic of congo and afghanistan where the kovacs program will cover 20 percent of its $38000000.00 population the global race for doses has met the high income countries can more easily do deals with vaccine manufacturers than low income ones so the world health organization and you see off urging those companies to prioritize contracts with kovacs and ensure fair distribution worldwide so far 200 term 1000000 marks have been globally. but half of those are in just 2 countries and a 2 person are just 10 countries more than $200.00 countries are

you 2 arguments that a single goes. after a year of disruptions due to the pandemic there's hope that this is the beginning of the parts recovery for those most affected and those that some most vulnerable sort of height of jazeera were reported earlier the trials of the johnson and johnson corona virus vaccine had shown it was safe and let's quickly take a look at why the vaccine is being observed so closely on like most in 1000 maxine's this one only needs one dose which could help speed up inoculation campaigns it can also be stored in a fridge unlike the vaccines from pfizer and medina which need to be kept out for cold temperatures that also makes it much easier to transport in rural areas and underdeveloped countries. tom frieden is the former director of the centers for disease provide control and prevention in the u.s. and is now c.e.o. of resolve to save lives and illness action that rises government's own health campaigns he joins us by skype from new york thanks very much indeed for being with

us what you've seen what do you make of the johnson and johnson vaccine so far was very encouraging what we're seeing is a variety of vaccine approaches that all seem to work well and i think we can get bound up too much in this that 70 or 80 or 90 percent what we're seeing so far in the data is very effective control of serious illness and death now the big unknown is the variants and whether any vaccine escape variants will become common and problematic but right now i would say the moment it's your turn for a vaccine get one get the 1st one you can but at the same time we do have to address equity act with heat within countries where we're seeing much lower vaccination rates for example in black and hispanic populations in the united states and equity globally as your piece just showed and part of that means funding

kovacs but part of it probably also means scaling up global manufacturing figuring out ways perhaps with m r n a technology to fund technology platforms in low and middle income countries that will be regional public goods this is a fundamental concept that is very important not just for the code pandemic but for future health threats as well yeah because on that point i noticed that johnson and johnson to be fewer days is likely to be available than anticipate and that seems to be an issue with a couple of the other vaccines as well what what is that the bottleneck what causes the problem with that. well vaccine manufacturing is not simple it needs to be done very carefully because you're giving hundreds of millions of doses to people who are healthy so you really can't afford even the slightest risk and the stringency of safety measures has to be at the very highest level what's intriguing about m r n a technology is that the barrier to entry may be lower it may be easier to start an

m.r.i. a factory in a new place or repurposed existing factory than it might be to create one of the vector vaccines the astra zeneca oxford or the jane j. are both vectored back scenes but whatever the technology we need to expand manufacturing in lower income countries around the world and do that as a public good so that when vaccines are produced they'll be available regionally whether that's africa or the middle east latin america or east asia or south asia they're all areas where we could see much more vaccine manufacturing not just for code but for the next threat as well and the m.r. in a technology is so promising that there may be many other uses for it as well and what how quickly do you see the vaccines making a difference in terms of bringing the pandemic under control is a bit of emphasis being put on the outside how quickly do you think it'll it'll have that effect. well don't let down your guard that's the 1st thing to say in the us we're already seeing an impact in nursing homes where 80 percent plus of the

residents have been vaccinated we're seeing many cured deaths in nursing homes already so for the protection of the most vulnerable vaccinating those groups could have a relatively rapid impact but to get to the end of the pen demick is going to require much more vaccination all over the world because it's not going to be over for the world until it's over everywhere in the world uncontrolled spread anywhere is a risk everywhere that's why the axion equity is so important vaccine aqua access is so important that's also why we need to double down on masking up and reducing in newer contacts with others these are fundamental measures that can drive the curve down and as cases get down to a more manageable level do a better job of stopping clusters from spreading dr tom friedman thank you very much indeed for taking time to talk to senators here thank you thank you well cheney has now vaccinated people in all the countries in africa combined and his

good will from one to america at a tennesseean human in santiago cinesias government managed to achieve this. some say it was a miracle others say it really does show that the government decided to really put its energy its political will its money as well as its know how when dealing with businesses and particularly with international law board tories to good use and that's exactly what apparently president save us campaign yet who was a billionaire businessman before he was a politician ordered the health ministry to do vaccinations are being our people are rather are being inoculated all over the country as i speak in schools in municipalities like the one behind me i've already had my 1st jab with a very strict calendar who goes 1st next that cetera and it's moving along very smoothly but the key here seems to be the fact that the government decided very early on to make contact with the board stories that were that were investigating

the possibility of creating vaccines signed contracts with specialized lawyers very airtight contracts from what i understand also allowed to lead to be used to some of the clinical trials for those laborde tori's and those willing to pay for the vaccines upfront so the combination of all that plus a very efficient system for actually inoculating people here in the field seems to be really doing the trick and by the end of march we understand that the plan is to have $5000000.00 people in our collated out of a country of 18000000 in the whole rest of the country as you mentioned by the end of june and in terms of the want to region know we've had a briefing from the pan american health organization there's concern that infection rates are rising and in some parts of latin america. yes they have been overall going down a bit compared to the peak to the high point but i say a bit because it's at the most an average of 10 percent and that's really not

a lot considering just how widespread and how tough these infections have been where we're seeing a new hot spots around the amazon area the tri border as it's called between peru colombia and brazil and in that area which is very remote has very little access to health care hospitals etc mainly rivers connect towns and cities we've seen an upsurge in infections brule while infections of the on down somewhat there's an acute shortage of oxygen for example chile has been sending a merchant he shipments of oxygen now to peru and to neighboring ecuador over the last couple of weeks so it's certainly. it's certainly much too soon to say that latin america is out of the woods particularly because of the slowness of getting vaccinations wired to put for the massive population. thank you very much indeed. a normal approach to promoting the coronavirus vaccine is proving successful in one u.s. city rather than using large sports stadiums authorities in philadelphia have chosen

smaller community centers gabriel is under looks at what's led to the unusual approach. earlier this month at levi's stadium in san francisco home to the 40 niners professional football team was opened and people weren't celebrating touchdowns right in real life but instead cofa 1900 vaccinations health officials transformed the stadium into a giant vaccination site and expect to be able to administer up to 15000 shots a day far more than can be done daily at a hospital pharmacy or community center so far 7 n.f.l. stadiums have been opened as mass spec's nation sites all over the country with more next month the n.f.l. has told president joe biden all $32.00 stadiums are available but notably one city has taken a different approach this is lincoln financial field home to the philadelphia

eagles football team it's a huge distillery inside seats for more than 67000 people and over 170 different private suites and outside more than 22000 parking spots in theory this is the perfect place for a mass vaccination site however the city of philadelphia has said no thanks in january philadelphia teamed up with a start up company run by a college student with no medical qualifications to administer vaccines at a mass vaccination site it was plagued by accusations of mismanagement and fraud and shut down 3 weeks after it opened to stanford when you look at these vials of the down of vaccine. what is it represent to you. live the. city officials have since redoubled efforts to take vaccines to neighborhoods with people like dr a list stanford the founder of black doctors couvade 19 consortium. black

people in philadelphia make up 44 percent of the population and over 50 percent of the covert deaths but in the early stages only made up 10 percent of those being vaccinated that's gone up considerably to over 20 percent we're not there yet at all and so that's why it needs to continue these vaccination efforts in these communities and we want to go to them there are so many places that are set up that are not easily accessible or that people perceive as barriers to get vaccinated and so we want to be the way we always were going to the people city officials say they might use the stadium in the future but will need a lot more doses of the vaccine to make it work if we were to set up one of the states that lincoln financial field the only way we could do it only we could support it is to pull those out of the community out of those pharmacies out of

those community health centers and that's not something we're willing to do at this point for a city bucking the trend of mega vaccination sites saying bigger isn't necessarily better with getting the shots to those who need them the most keep rosendo. that would. seem to come on the news out of vaccine rollout says speeding up through southeast asia malaysia and vietnam among the latest to start their campaigns. under outside a lebanese court as families fear and to government activists can be executed for terrorism. and india's cricketers take control of the 3rd test against england that's coming up in sport. as minute she pointed foreign minister is in thailand for talks put on this month's coup as part of regional efforts to resolve the crisis which began when the army

seized power on the 1st of february protests has continued to demand the release of elected leader. scott hardly has moved from bangkok. anti kook protesters gathered in front of the indonesian embassy in yangon calling for regional involvement as tensions grow across me and mark. this as the military appointed foreign minister visited bangkok for crisis talks meeting his thai and indonesian counterparts as well as thailand's prime minister pay a general job that's all part of stepped up efforts by the regional group of nations called aussie on to find a way out of the crisis following the february 1st coup and i'm not going to be as a man must i just didn't like to see on countries not to recognise the cue government if they do recognise it the will be average it is reported to be planning to send of pictures to monitor a new b.n. more election promised by the general but the protesters are urging them to recognise the november polling that put their deposed leaders including on song

suchi in office. one group earlier organized a protest at the bangkok indonesian embassy calling an aussie on to get more involved we asked. to decide between the military 100 wish oppressed people right now the side of the people which is trying to protest as they can to lead. we will be. in a tree again this is not the 1st time that just to has reached out to thailand since the coup about a week after the takeover myanmar's military leader min on length sent a letter to the thai prime minister asking for help on the democratic process and. a former military chief also rose to power by overthrowing a democratically elected government in 2014 he stayed in office after 82001000 political rivals called it badly flawed. so while the protesters are maintaining

their pace of protests and strikes they are also stepping up pressure on regional players to engage with the crisis al-jazeera bangkok. there are grave concerns for a group of ringer refugees adrift in the andaman sea with no food or water about 90 people including children are in board rights group the arak and project says at least 8 have died the boat left southern bangladesh about 10 days ago and experienced engine failure is now somewhere in the andaman sea which is part of the indian ocean and bounded by coastlines in myanmar and thailand but the un does not know its exact location within 1000000 ring the refugees living in crowded camps in bangladesh assume a cartoon and her family live in cox's bazaar the world's largest refugee camp a 25 year old son is on board the missing death vessel after work and i said how is my son is my son eating is he getting treatment i have been told that my son did

not carry any medicine he only took 4 liters of water with him is my son alive i don't know if anything happens to him or if he is hungry joe biden is expected to speak to saudi arabia's king solomon soon before the publication of a u.s. government report on the murder of journalist. it would be biden's 1st conversation as president with a saudi leader a classified intelligence report is widely believed to implicate the king's son crown prince mohammed bin sandman in herschel g.'s killing the trumpet ministration refused to release it. to speak to my hannah in washington d.c. might we know that call is going to go ahead but we're clear on when that will be understand. indeed know we have been told that the call will happen but we haven't been told when it is going to happen just the same as the release of that confidential report from the cia which will be interest will be released through the department of national intelligence once again the indication is that that will

be made public but we do not know the exact timings on it certainly this is an issue which will have a men's impact on the relations between the u.s. and saudi arabia but president biden has made very clear that his administration is going to watch his spokespeople say is recalibrate the relationship with saudi arabia which the trumpet ministration was a very close a very friendly one it's going to be different under this administration this is what the press secretary jennifer psaki had to say the president is taking a fresh approach to how he engages with foreign leaders around the world and different from the prior administration and that means he will not hold back and he will speak out when there are concerns he has about human rights abuses about. the lack of freedom of speech or the lack of freedom of media and expression or any concerns he has at the same time we have a long relationship with saudi arabia they are being attacked in the region and

that is certainly an area where we continue to work with them on but i expect we'll have more to say when we get the release of that report now redacted version of that cia report was released to some members of congress and they expressed shock at the contents all indications are that the crown prince mohammed bin solomon is involved in the killing of jamal khashoggi this was something that a u.n. investigator also put in a report back in june 29th team so the release of this report along with a conversation between president biden and the saudi king likely to be significant in terms of u.s. saudi arabian relationships mike hanna thank you very much. the fight for justice has failed in sri lanka 12 years after the end of a brutal civil war that's according to the un's human rights chief who's released a report accusing the government of ignoring victims and failing to hold perpetrators accountable schrank his government has hit back denying allegations

that it discriminates against minorities when it smith reports. only 12 years after the end of sri lanka's civil war the pain is still hold for those who sons and daughters and husbands disappeared. this was a protest earlier this month they want answers accountability and justice but aren't getting any because the united nations human rights council says the highest levels of sri lanka's government is in denial about past crimes this base course in a society and that and the media which have grown significantly is now rapidly shrinking the independence on the sorry but human rights commission of. the national police commission another key warning as mean diddly eroded by the recently adopted prentiss constitutional amendment the. president got a bye rajapaksa was defense secretary at the end of the civil war is brother

mahinda was president 100000 people were killed in the 26 year long war between tamil separatists and the government both sides are accused of crimes including murder and torture. and now the u.n. says minority groups are facing more discrimination this protest in february was a rare combined march of muslims and tumbles with a long list of complaints including trying to get education in the tamil language and oppressive police surveillance of muslim lanka's government rejects all the allegations made in the report including claims he uses divisive rhetoric. constitutional guarantees as i mentioned before fundamental rights of all the citizens. and anyone can canvas under the fundamental right and our whole 3 longer in the last few years as well as today. we have all our programs economic social law and the many official programs

all are equally enjoyed and implemented from the not to the scout leader not the raja's son was taken away by the military at the end of the war she's no idea what happened to him but he's convinced he's still alone her story is the same for thousands of other families and in the border that the on the level of what we see now is that they're trying to make is fed up and stop the protests so we can trust them we will have to go to the international community to get our children back as we have realized that there is no point going to the government here the un's high commissioner for human rights has urged member states to consider prosecuting alleged crimes in sri lanka to try and get answers for the thousands of people like leila bernard smith al-jazeera. security has been stepped up outside a military court in beirut where $32.00 anti-government activists are standing

trial accused of terrorism is the 1st time the charges been leveled against a protester an offense that carries the death sentence sent her to reports from beirut. it's been nearly a month since an alley saw her son she waits for news outside the military tribunals where ali is among dozens of men facing trial on terrorism charges birth of dirty alert those charges can carry the death penalty and are seen as an escalation in the ongoing conflict between the state and the people. in need they mean to shed heavy yet they're accusing our sons of being terrorists they are the terrorists they stole the people's money they are responsible for the explosion of that they report our children are nationalists not them the defendants are alleged to have thrown molotov cocktails at security forces and burned down a melissa polity building during protests in the northern city of tripoli last month the demonstrations were held to demand the government compensation during

a strict coronavirus lockdown that worse than living conditions for the poor. one protester was shot in the back during the unrest his family and activists want to know why no charges have been brought against those responsible for killing him the most of these almost a really special man to tell you who was monitored was killed by these men they know who fired the shot and they're not telling us lawyers have criticized the use of a military court to try the defendants and say they have been obstructed from seeing them they also say the young men were interrogated without lawyers being present and described the charges as unlawful arbitrary and a form of oppression this escalation that has 3 reasons for us 1st is to put the stigma on the protestors mainly in tripoli that they are terrorists 2nd is to put the fear factor of this protest is not to hit the streets again and 3rd is like to put the pressure on the investigation judge not 3 of the detainees human rights

groups say terrorism charges should be used for serious political crimes and not acts of public disorder. repression is increased in the 11 on some said nation. my protest movement began more than a year ago security forces have been accused of using excessive and unlawful force against the demonstrators. lengthy pretrial the tensions prosecutions with limited rights to appeal interrogations without the presence of a lawyer and beatings have all been documented warnings that free speech and assembly are at risk are not new for many the dwindling numbers of those who continue to speak out is a testament of that reality. beirut was in one of the lead dog coverage of last year's devastating blast in beirut which killed more than 200 people there is reporting of the explosion has won an award from the royal television society in the u.k.

for best breaking news coverage they would ceremony was held virtually but the r.t.s. has tweeted the result calling it a journalistic tour de force. this is news after london still ahead. a deadly year for migrants and more deaths in the mediterranean i mean warnings human traffickers are getting harder to track. a landmark ruling in germany where former syrian secret police officer has been sentenced to prison. and one of the corona virus outbreak in the french rugby squad for sunday's 6 nations came to scotland to be cancelled after in sport. however the weather's looking pretty good across a good policy if europe at the moment lost the clear skies into central and southern possible more cloud further north as you can see we have got these areas

of cloud of rain he said weather systems just rolling in across the top of the area of high pressure which is currently just across central parts but it's a model direction with the winds coming in from the south westerly direction here we are looking at temperatures getting up to around 1920 celsius the northern parts of germany so pretty typical a weather system a weakening weather feature which will run into that area of high pressure just rolling down across the southeast of england through east anglia just pushing its way down across the low countries for northern parts of france as you go on into friday that will continue to sink its way further south which across a good parts of germany getting stretched out in the process but there will be some rain pushing across southern parts of poland right down across the czech republic and on into the alps so we'll see some rain turning to snow here south of that it stays fine and try and. warming up in moscow temperatures getting up to around 5 degrees celsius and at long last we seem fine weather meanwhile across a good possible of northern africa we've got

a few showers down towards the gulf of guinea with the weather making its way towards lagos. among the lower castes delegates also known as untouchables sit at the very bottom of the hindu hierarchy they perform the lowliest tasks such as manually cleaning sewers often with no protective clothing or breathing apparatus give all sing right or is a dollar and a lawyer he's taking us to meet some members of the delegate community some of whom he represents carla benvar galas family a cleaners her husband was poisoned in a sewer 4 years ago 2 of her 3 sons now do the same work despite protections under the constitution delegates or untouchables are treated as outcasts many dullards have escaped their predicament by converting to other faiths such as islam or christianity the b.g.p.

controlled state of what the british has prepared an anti conversion law under which religious conversion would require permission from a state official human rights groups say the law is aimed at keeping delegates in their place. we're going to run to the top stories here now jazeera garner has become the 1st country to receive coronavirus vaccines through the international kovacs scheme. says arrived in the capital accra on wednesday and chile is streaking ahead of other latin american countries. more than 3000000 people this month. me and mas military appointed foreign minister is in thailand for talks following this round

screw it's part of regional efforts to try to resolve the crisis just as in myanmar continue to demand the release of elected leader and some suchi. under biden is expected to speak to saudi arabia's king solomon soon before the publication of a u.s. government report on the murder of. a classified intelligence report as why do you believe to implicate the king's son crown prince mohammed bin sound man in trees killing. malaysia is the latest country in southeast asia to begin vaccinating people against covert 19 while in vietnam more than 100000 doses arrived for the planned rollout there jessica washington takes a look at inoculation campaigns in the region. at a health clinic in the city of which are giant the lasers prime minister kicks off his country's corona virus that seen campaign the southeast asian nation plans to vaccinate 80 percent of its population of 32000000 by makes year. in neighboring

indonesia one of the world's largest mosques thousands of religious leaders are being vaccinated this week in jakarta using the vaccine developed by chinese pharmaceuticals manufacturer a sign of ike. the dr is part of the push to encourage more engine nations to accept the vaccine. have a target of 17000000 public workers a religious leaders and 21000000 elderly people hopefully the 2nd phase will be finished by the end of june indonesia is the worst affected country in southeast asia with more than 35000 confirmed deaths thailand will start vaccinating priority groups including health workers this week using the same sign of a vaccine the country has received 200000 doses more will arrive next month the day. i thank china for sending us the 1st batch of vaccines this month the vaccines will keep arriving as planned the philippines is yet to start its vaccine

rollout and its labor department has sparked anger suggesting it was open to allowing more nurses to work in foreign countries in exchange for vaccines from europe when we 1st. read and heard about it we are sad then we were heard of the brain as if we are like an object not by the bank we did but see and vietnam has been praised as one of the world's best performers in handling the virus and now it's received its 1st shipment of vaccines it will be hoping that it will continue when it starts rolling them out next month jessica washington al-jazeera jakarta and he's $41.00 minder and straunge when their boat capsized in the central mediterranean at the weekend the united nations says they were among at least 120 people who left war ravaged libya on the 18th of february to try to reach europe during a capsize 2 days later and rescuers took the survivors to the italian town of port

to impede ok the missing include 3 children one body was recovered this is the 2nd bag breaking the silence one made in 21. bringing the number of missing some 860 people that's why you are nice you are and i you i am jointly are calling european states to raise you when strengthen europe's search and rescue. spanish police say they've arrested a group of suspected human traffickers who transported more than $200.00 people to the canary islands without any safety jackets food or water and 9 year old boy was among people who died during the december and january things from africa but he's charged the 13 men and one woman with favoring illegal migration 6 were also accused of involuntary manslaughter but aged between $19.45 or

2021 is already shaping up to be a deadly year for migrants while the pandemic is also driven human trafficking underground making it harder to find and support survivors around $160.00 people have died while trying to make their way to europe this year according to u.n. agencies and not all those who make it manage to stay only this week the international arena zation for migration so the around $3600.00 will return to libya just this year where rights groups have warned of dire living conditions and the pandemic is making it harder to police human traffickers around 25000000 people worldwide are estimated to be victims of trafficking a trade worth 150000000000 dollars a year many who've lost their jobs have been driven into forced labor or sexual exploitation when i speak to those in borland a senior regional migrant protection and assistance specialist for central america she joins us from san jose in costa rica tell us a little bit about the effect of the pandemic has had in particular on on illegal

migration. well learned what we see in any kind of crisis is that human trafficking is impacted both ongoing trafficking patterns become worse as well as there is new space for traffickers to adapt to the situation and take advantage of people so we're already beginning to see this in some parts of the world in the pen demick so adapting in what way. for example in some places we've heard from our law enforcement partners that clubs that they have on their radar that they know to be spaces of sex trafficking for example are offering delivery in 2 residences so this kind of adaptation of cases of exploitation we're also seeing increased activity in online spaces it's increased attempts to reach out to children in particular through not only social media but also spaces like play station you tube anywhere you can be connected to the internet and we know many of our children are more

connected than ever these days and i would say children are once most vulnerable person been in this or situation. we do think so and some of the studies that i am has been in this in the western hemisphere for example show us that youth in particular are quite vulnerable because they may be searching for a way to help their families as the impact of that and then that makes people more vulnerable and people are trying to survive many years are saying when we survey them that they will take risks that they would be willing to try to find a job even if they don't know much about what's being offered and what about the the traffic is themselves how they avoiding being caught i mean what what kind of message are they taking now that they didn't take the fore. i think it's important to remember that our law enforcement partners our frontline officers are just as impacted by the pen demick as all of us in our professions and our jobs and our families so we're finding that sometimes the response has been postponed for example rates have been postponed as law enforcement is forced to respond to the

pandemic instead of to intelligence of trafficking i do think that there is an effort to continue all of our lifesaving assistance to human trafficking victims as they're found as well as all the investigation but it's quite a lot to do in the middle of a global pandemic and given all that what we would you say the priority needs to be to try and reduce the figures of people who end up dying or or in da straits because of it the kind of trafficking we've seen when we need to get support to our counter trafficking actors and we need to make sure that all the humanitarian work that we're doing on the ground is linked to the counter trafficking system so anytime that we are responding to the emergencies caused by the pandemic in all different contexts those people need to know how to activate the specialized actors of trafficking because trafficking we know is going on in the midst of this humanitarian crisis rosenborg and thank you very much indeed for childress thank you my pleasure

a german court has handed out the world's 1st prosecution for a state sponsored torture by the syrian government a former intelligence officer has been sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail for crimes against humanity event it gives hope to thousands of syrians in germany who say they were tortured by president bashar assad's government done that cain reports from but in. 10 years ago a yacht guardian was working for the syrian intelligence services now he's starting a lengthy prison sentence in germany the prosecution saying that in 2011 he knowingly brought dozens of protesters to a notorious jail outside damascus to be tortured his defense lawyer said he feared being punished himself if he refused to carry out his orders the court in corpulence rejected that convicting him and jailing him for 4 and a half years this is this estimate this is the 1st step the road to justice is long

and one of the goals is to bring bashar al assad and his inner circle before a court this is a relief but it's also not the end it's only the beginning. this is the 1st trial of alleged atrocities carried out by the forces of president bashar assad as such lawyers for the victims in this case hope it will set a precedent. this is what's important is we have a verdict the crimes by the assad government embassy could prisons crimes against humanity this is the 1st verdict worldwide. a view that seems to be shared by many in government in berlin another element that distinguishes this case is that the german justice system has prosecuted convicted and punished a known german who's the victims were not german for crimes that were committed outside germany. in doing so prosecutors have invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction for such serious crimes for. trials outside syria are

a glimmer of hope but also a clear signal to victims that we and the international community recognize it's an issue which not only concerns germany but many of our partners to signal to victims is that justice will be done they yet algarve it stood trial alongside another former member of the outside forces both men had left syria and come to germany as refugees the 2nd man. was a senior intelligence officer in 2011 he's accused of multiple murder rape torture and other serious offenses he denies the charges and his case continues dominic kane al-jazeera perlin but as well as expelling the european union's ambassador after the block impose sanctions on 19 officials the venezuelan foreign minister has handed is about to brianna a notice declaring her persona non-grata telling her she has 72 hours to leave the country you know to get out so says he was left no option calling the decision to

impose sanctions aggressive and disrespectful of international law the e.u. had frozen the official's assets and banned them from traveling to the bloc accusing them of undermining democracy and violating human rights. ferguson erupted across new share after opposition need to run declared the narron he won the election presidential election police have clashed with was man supporters in the capital niamey but provisional results have announced the former interior minister moment as soon as the winner with more than 55 percent of the vote and actual officials say it was man one around 44 percent which he's dismissed as a fraud at the elections had been presented as the 1st democratic transition in nisha which the u.n. says is the world's poorest nation. a once beloved u.s. national postal service is dying a slow death that's according to the man in charge postmaster general noise to joy

as told to make those in congress that the service needs urgent government help has become notorious for long delays and has lost the trust of many americans under there's one issue ports when lori cash of new york took a job with the u.s. postal service 22 years ago it was for the security of a government job and a chance to work closely with the public to be able to service the public and do something that i know is helping people every day just always better known to me but lately she's been hearing more complaints from customers dealing with delayed mail who have met some american acted in one city and it takes 3 or 4 or 5 days to get to the next city over only 38 percent of 1st class mail was delivered on time in late december according to postal service court filings that means everything from medications to bill payments are arriving late and it's a problem that persists people have got their bills delayed and they've sent them

to it companies are utilities companies utilities are charging late fees. small businesses that once depended on the u.s. postal service to ship products are also suffering marilyn boutique owner fares on jagger says many of the gift orders she received before christmas weren't delivered in time even pathway past the holidays we would get e-mails where is my gift that it received the big get delivered to the recipient she now uses private shipping carriers though they're more expensive the u.s. postal service lost more than $9000000000.00 in business in 2020 but the delivery delays that drove away some customers will likely improve after the agency's long running money troubles will be harder to tackle because its costs routinely exceed its revenues the man tasked with finding

a solution is postmaster general lewis to joy a trunk mega donor who implemented cuts to the postal service at the height of the pandemic and in the lead up to last november's mail in voting the joys latest plans for the agency reportedly include reducing services for local mail and raising postage rates by nearly 10 percent we can do so much more for our communities than what we do now so if he's not willing to look outside of what we currently do if he just wants to cut what we have and turn it into a business then he does not belong in the postal service because you can't run the service with that closed minded attitude everyone agrees the u.s. postal service cannot continue on its current footing but the visions for how to help the d.n.c. defer even as most believe the service is worth saving heidi joe castro al-jazeera washington. facebook has pledged to invest at least $1000000000.00 in the news industry over the next 3 years just days after causing outrage by banning news

content in australia the social media company has now restored australian news pages after winning concessions from the government over a proposed law that would make tech giants pay for content the weeklong blackout also ended up blocking government accounts and code $19.00 information pages on facebook the temporary ban shocked the global news industry german officials say they've seized a record amount of cocaine the largest ever found in europe 16 metric tons were found in containers that arrived in hamburg from paraguay customs officials say it's also one of the biggest single seizures worldwide another $7.00 metric tons were found in belgium and a suspect has been arrested in the netherlands authorities in hamburg say the total street value amounts to several $1000000000.00. still to come on al-jazeera we'll have the latest on tiger woods' condition after his car crash in los angeles as coming up in school gym.

his gym thank you daryn police in los angeles have confirmed that tiger woods will not face criminal charges following his cock crash in california on tuesday morning they've also reiterated that he was not to him pedal the time of the accident david stakes reports. a close up look at toggle woods's car reveals the severity of the accident which left him with severe injuries to both legs his lower right limb took the brunt of the impact and needed lengthy surgery with doctors using pins and rods

to stabilize the damage woods was travelling at speed and in a touristy dangerous stretch of road in los angeles he hits a curb then a tree before rolling several times police say the 45 year old was conscious when they arrived and showed no signs of being impaired he needed to be pried from the vehicle with an axe he didn't seem concerned about his injuries at the time which is not uncommon in traffic collision is many times people tend to be in shock i will say that it's very fortunate that mr woods was able to come out of this alive you for. would have been on his way to give private golf lessons to celebrities for the 2nd day running this was him alongside basketball legend wayne wade the day before the accident he not played himself since december when he appeared with his son charlie in a father son tournament the latest in a long line of back surgeries has kept him out since then but just a few days ago he spoke about his recovery and hopes of competing at the masters in april still in the gym still doing. the monday stuff that you have to do

for rehab you know the little things and before and so gravitating towards something before tiger is one of the most famous sports stars in history and well wishes have come in from the world of entertainment politics and of course from fellow golfers. many of who grew up watching him compete in his prime and i'm sick to my stomach manager so these are. just workers kids you know through the struggle woods was famously involved in another road accident back in 2009 outside his home in florida and incident which ended up exposing his extramarital affairs and brought an end to his golden boy image in 2017 he was arrested on a dui offense after being found asleep at the wheel with several painkillers in his system as he struggled to cope with kaurna injuries good several are for me still he managed to overcome these challenges and in 2019 at the age of 43 he won the

masters is widely considered one of the greatest comebacks in sports but given the severity of his latest injuries this doubt he will ever reach the same heights or even play again 45 years old he's gone through a number of surgeries. but i think the 1st time you come to on this is is is the end of a career coming it is faster than we realize time will tell what impact this accident will have a nice golfing future for now he said to be awake responsive and recovering in hospital david stokes al-jazeera fellow a major champion a rowing macrorie is just relieved at what survived the accident and gave this response what we think there are tentacle is possible. he's not supra you know i mean. you know he's a human being at the end of the day and you know he's already been through so much so. i just there is i think everyone should just be grateful that he's here that he's alive. his kids have lost their dad that's that's the most important thing

golf is so far from the from the equation right no that's not even on the map that this point. he's a transcendent human being he's iconic he's everything that just look at the way the world has responded. and i mean the world. and i his impact. is is is profound his impact is perpetual. and we're excited to to help him overcome his injuries to help him recover the international olympic committee has named brisbane as the preferred candidate to host the 2032 and then pick games the australian city one hour and to talks with bid organizers or they i.o.c. president thomas back car a fight that no final decision has been made as a fish as it impacts the president of tokyo 2020 remains optimistic that they'll be

going ahead as planned despite continued worries about cave in 19 and no public support in the house country the games a scheduled to begin in july but before that the torch relay starts next month in northeastern japan she will not reveal to the goal hold lights our way that's the concept of the relay we would like to embody that slogan we would like to have an immaculately prepared start the situation is tough but so many people have high hopes and expectations for the tokyo 2020 games i'm heartened by that. american hurdler grant holloway will compete at this summer's games all being well in his preparations are going very well indeed he's breaking the indoor 60 meter hurdles world record by 100th of a 2nd docking a time of 7.29 seconds at a meeting in bitter it that beats the previous record set by britain's coming jackson which stood for $27.00 is. and it is full time in this evening's last 16 at champions league size a tally inside atlanta they had

a player sent off to 17 minutes of their game with round madrid and they haue it out right up until 84 minutes but madrid snuck it out the end says no no that i can tell you they did sneak it at the end one though. got back their home leg against manchester city is being played in hungary rather than germany due to crave a travel restrictions and city have extended their winning streak they've now won 19 games in a row because they beat the german opposition to no thanks to goals from banaras silva and jay z's to cricket an england already in trouble in the test against india england won the toss and chose to bat 1st on day one to 112 all out only 4 players that reach double figures the once again a struggling against the spin bowlers the series is tied at 10 but india in control of this 99 for 3 in response is a day not match being played at the world's largest cricket venue in a renderer stadium in ahmedabad it can hold up 211-0000 but only 55000 for this

bench because of the 1000 restrictions. just to ready. go to florida ready. rugby's 6 nations game between france and scotland is happening on sunday that's despite a current of ours outbreak in the french squad 10 players and 3 members of staff including the head coach tested positive but tournament organizers have decided to proceed with this weekend's game in paris france the top of the standings after winning by the back games and that is all of your sport for me thanks very much indeed and that's it for me at the moment so in meantime you can always catch up on our website the address for that is out there dot com and you can watch it by clicking on the orange life icon. as it took me on 10 if the news hour i'll be back

in a moment with another full run of the day's news thanks for watching. the politics of division have pushed india into the grip of a historical reckoning i am afraid because i know on the minorities i mean to be afraid but where do these ideas come from the tragedy of more lives how much we've tried to send a close getting to school a happy family knew all along both to join me on this now see you on the final part

of my journey when i jus become a target of the hindu 1st policy in search of india so. when the news breaks or would be considered a job how can i suppose when people need to be heard. and the story told to us for going on just this way with me and riots to start over with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports we want to get d.h. to be the face that you start but not a place for you and it al-jazeera has teams on the ground but climate change is changing all about right to bring you more award winning documentaries and life needs. stage is set and it's time for a different approach one that is going to challenge the way you think on the ask me questions now always do host of the next season of the show that's got no space for sale but only to have it be so let's leave simplicity to the headlines join me as i take on the last dismantle the misconceptions and debate the contradictions. are

marc lamont hill and it's time to get out from right here on al-jazeera. we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the wound so no matter where you will be in the news and current affairs that matter to you never forget. the delivery that marks the beginning of the largest vaccination operation in history goannas the 1st to benefit from the un's kovacs program. of his own desire and live from london also coming up. a message of defiance continues to sound from the streets of me in ma as the military pointed out foreign minister tries to time.