started throwing stones at letting off fireworks police on horseback moved in riyadh. i mean his prime minister rallies his supporters and accuses the military attempt to force him from. but i'm glad this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up facebook bandsmen miles military everett's use of deadly force against protesters is the gentle supporters fight with demonstrators. a step closer to approval u.s. regulators say that johnson and johnson single days corona virus vaccine is safe and effective. and ecological disaster on the israeli coast but an oil tanker

company is denying responsibility. so we begin with warnings of an attempted coup in armenia prime minister nicola has fired his military chief and the army called for his resignation he says that call amounted to a coup attempt and is urging his supporters to gather in the capital yerevan and we can see passion yet out on the streets right now taking to the streets of the capital way he called on his supporters to join let's meet to reinforce their walkers' joins us now from from tbilisi so robin what's your sense of what's happening here things seem to be getting more and more tense the pm calling for protesters their opposition the opposition saying it's his last chance to resign. i think mr passion yearns reaction today is characteristic of of his personality

you know just when it comes to this political situation in armenia he's his senses that he's always had to rely on the armenian public who overwhelmingly backed him. in this revolution it took place in armenia the velvet revolution back in 2018 he came to power with a mandate to reform armenia and so when he had this letter calling on him to resign his decision was to go on the offensive and state that this looks like a military coup we're not seeing military convoys converging on the capital or anything like that at the moment but the fact that it was signed by 36 senior military commanders doesn't mean kate that he has lost the support of the armed

forces but an attempt to. take power away from his depression and his elected government would be unprecedented for the republic of of armenia the reason i think he's gone to this extent is yes he's he's tenured does hang in the balance at the moment because there have been weeks now of anti-government protests over his handling of the war in nagorno-karabakh against us and by john but what's next now needs to play out is and as far as he's concerned is required is to see whether or not the armenian public are going to allow something like a military coup to happen to this prime minister and his government if they still in the end are willing to back his depression yann over the future of. the governing armenia despite the fact that he has become. far less popular due to the

handling of the war you know when they go to come back with which was disastrous for our media because he came to power passion and came to power in a landslide election the big question now is just how much support he has i guess is what it just comes down to. yeah we're seeing crowds of people joining him on the streets of the capital yerevan he's marching through the streets with his megaphone just a trademark signature of the past union and. he is in many ways a populist leader he talks to people he talks to the public on his facebook live. broadcasts and i think that's where he feels safest is trying to surround himself with the armenian public because he does have enemies he has a lot of political enemies and these are the people who and now perhaps see this

would see this is an opportunity to to finally unseat him but the opinion polls would suggest that they may be no more popular than than he is so then of course we have to think about other factors whether it's moscow is going to back mr passion yann or stay out of the way and not get involved it has stated that this is an internal affair for armenia. this depression that wasn't perhaps the choice leader for armenia. mr putin did not approve let's say of mr passion because of his reformist pro democratic or most liberal credentials mr putin would would like someone else he could do would be easier to do business with you know media but past union since the war has certainly shown that he's willing to do everything he can to keep russia happy

armenia to pen so much on russia now for its security and its for stability going forward after that war with with azerbaijan over the course of care about which i mean i lost so much territory and so many young men. robin takes the timing robin 1st it was speaking just from tbilisi let's get a sense of how things are right now on the streets of your abound in armenia we can speak to. him down ian who joins us on the phone line from van tell us what you're seeing what you're hearing and what the mood is like. i can see is marching with his supporters in the very center of. the thickness of come. from. the republic where. hustings to walk around only off one question. jordan only. another thing i think is

that he saw. what the team will like to show to the public that his family here has no plans to leave or to escape or something. and he called cultural people together in the republic of get on. 4 pm local time. and he's talking to all called supporter like he's very. professional by will by doing. like doing crawley's. blah. i think the wall. and some people join join him but as far as i see not many supporters right now. say a rule that is simply see on the streets in the pictures that we're looking at right now behind passion yun and around him all the supporters of him is there

any sign of the opposition. no deal posting from the. 3 pm other square of your long where are. for maybe a little the 2 are literally in a parking lot before well and if these parallel rallies go ahead how concerned do you think people might be that things may escalate things could get more tense and there may be some violence as a possible generally trash in the. east bay we're not talking to mark and me to meet each other in that. i hope it will be able to pay for anything you know tension certainly in the we can see that from looking at these pitches as question what's in the streets of your event that's up or down in preacher thank you very much well i mean he has experience political

type in recent years opposition leader and he called question and was elected prime minister by parliament as we were discussing in may 2018 after leading weeks of mass protest against the ruling party in december he called a snap election to remove the republican party majority in parliament his step alliance won an overwhelming majority the republicans won those seats promised to maintain a media strategic alliance with russia but if a school's for his resignation in december 2020 agreeing to a moscow brokered ceasefire with azerbaijan let's speak to richard gere argus in who's the director of the regional study center which is an independent think tank in iran joins us from there via skype richard so what's your sense of where this is heading how dangerous this is becoming. i'm a little more worried then both your correspondents 1st of all we see a rather dangerous escalation in the preexisting political crisis and there are 2

specific significant drivers that raise can stir one is the on precedented intervention of the armed forces into the political arena and the chief of staff who was recently dismissed with 3 dogs and senior military officers is both on precedent that and whitely unexpected this only tends to bolster the political opposition which has been largely marginal because it's discredited and rather run popular due to its affiliation with the former government the 2nd driver that raises concerns is the prime minister's response in many ways he's diminishing the institutions of democracy by parallel rallies like calling on supporters

to go into the streets this undermines his own legitimacy and moves the government farther away from the one natural role way to resolve the crisis new elections it is so you have the situation extraordinary situation we have an unpopular opposition yet a country which is infuriated by the leader that was voted in in a landslide election and then on the sidelines you have russia of course what they planned all of this. well on the one hand you're quite right the prime minister is increasingly in danger because of the lack of accountability in the unexpected loss in the war but russia is actually in a very precarious position as military patron its partner in our media the armed forces is now politicize but at the same time for a russian president to question me on prime minister represents

a trophy very much within russian control much more so serbia and submissive to moscow and in the wake of the velvet revolution it is better for putin to continue backing a weak and what loyal subservient government rather than risk a more dangerous temptation to back a rival so you have the situation whereby the military coup for the prime minister's resignation the prime minister responded by saying and that's an attempted coup and sacked the head of the armed forces. but there's not been any further reaction yet from the military how do you think they might play it well i'm a little bit confident in this regard civil military relations in armenia is largely stable and well entrenched this politicization of the armed forces is very much the exception not the rule and we see no sawing of troop deployment or

movement and i generally think that there is less and less a big danger of an outright coup as the hours go by it's a big cool they for the military to cool for the prime minister's resignation do it wouldn't just been done on a whim there must been some calculation behind it with perhaps some connection with the opposition. well to be even more skewed skeptical is part of the reason or motivation is to obscure and to hide the military shore corruption within the armed forces and the other way and we are by the military leadership during the war and to shift the blame if you will. richard appreciate that thank you for your analysis that's richard there i guess in a direct to the recent study center. well facebook says it

has been minimal its military from using its platforms the social media giant says it's a necessary response to the military coup and the violent crackdown on protesters there is a heavy police presence and young some munches have been arrested at least 3 protesters to be killed in weeks of rallies denouncing the coup and demanding the release of the elected leader. has the latest from across the border in the thai capital of bangkok. will be some pressure because so many people in myanmar get information news from facebook this is part of the reason part of the reason for this is because it was a closed off nation for decades and then once the internet connections and data lines were introduced social media became a platform for news for a lot of people in myanmar so there's a heavy reliance on facebook and other platforms so in that respect it will be a hit to the myanmar military for them trying to get out information that they want to now it's interesting a couple weeks back 2 weeks back just

a just 7 days after the coup took place facebook took some action against the military even back then not the full on ban that we're seeing today on thursday but back then they limited the amount of information that could be seen put out by the medium our military and its entities so they this is i guess you could look at it as a 2nd step so they're citing again misinformation which they did the 1st time that 1st step but then also now they're saying because of human rights violations that they are taking they are banning all sites for the military itself and then any entity that's directly connected to it so a further step. still ahead here now deserve china's president declares victory in eradicating poverty the criteria for that plane being questioned. ecuador's police released dramatic video from inside prisons where they're struggling to bring gang runs under control.

it's time for the perfect gentlemen. sponsored point qatar airways how they're the ranks last of really gathered across central parts of china and that west the weather will slide towards southern areas of japan as we go through the next day or so this little disturbance here that's creeping further research quite an active one actually it's got some topical moisture mixed in so some heavy downpours could bring some localized flooding and certainly cooler temperatures in shanghai no higher than around 10 degrees celsius on friday that wetter weather running across q shoot big downpours here again a risk of some localized flooding and that will continue to make its way further east which as we go through sas save the high ground and increase avalanche risk temperatures down in recent valleys for tokyo at around 9 degrees celsius but still not faring too badly getting up into the low teens f. a soul and also for beijing next weather system

a wintry one that will feed in for the 2nd half of the weekend we've got some wintry weather moving across northern parts of pakistan at the moment northern areas of india again an increased avalanche risk here as a result of that will haul at around $28.00 celsius to be a few showers just around the pool into bhutan few showers too down towards the southern peninsula of india but for most as you can see it stays dry and fine and temperatures picking up most places getting into the low thirty's. sponsible qatar airways the politics of division have pushed india into the grip of a historical reckoning i'm afraid because i'm not on the minority of military hardware and trade where do these ideas come from the tragedy of more lives how much we've tried to send the clothes getting to school work a happy family over the course of joining me august last year on the final part of my journey when i to become

a target of the hindu 1st policy in such of india seoul on al-jazeera. how to get your what she had to 0 her mind of our top stories and i mean as prime minister is accused as armed forces of an attempted coup patching the un has 5 his military chief after the army called for his resignation is taken to the streets of the capital where he called on his supporters to join him with the opposition plans a counter-rally of their own in the coming hours. facebook says it's banned him in mars' military from using his platform social media giant says it's a necessary response to this month's coup and the violent crime. trials of

johnson and johnson's one shot covert $900.00 vaccine have shown it's highly effective against severe cases the product is also proving effective against new variants unlike the pfizer buying taken that need to be stored at very low temperatures this one can be kept in a standard fridge that's yet to be approved for use at least so will the smith is a professor of emerging infectious diseases at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine and based on the vaccines effectiveness in the trials she is confident that it will be approved for much its use in the coming day it is a vaccine that uses a similar platform as the as in a chaotic scene it uses now do you know very specter and the what is new about this next event that is that they are proposing it as a single dose the vaccine. the efficacy so the effectiveness against protecting against a modern disease is about 69 percent and against severe disease about 85 percent so

it is it is really good news and we have another tool at hand to fight it oh sex scenes against cultivate but also against many other pathogens are actually to dos or some has even trudeau's vaccines and just such a nose of the jensen or johnson and johnson is also investigating a 2 dollars benjamin so that's another trial ongoing with the 2 dose regimen the results of which we will know in a few months time and then we will know whether to dose is better than one dose but i think it's reassuring that we can't go out with that one dose and then we can still look later whether a 2nd dose is needed as opposed to ensure a longer duration of protection but most importantly is to have an immediate and almost every year protection after a single dose and that's why we now need to we need to go out and get the vaccines in as many arms as possible well to syria has spoken to

a woman who was abducted from a bus in nigeria she was released along with 52 others last week after being taken in need just that she says the group beat them up and forced them to walk barefoot for 50 kilometers unless a nigeria is facing a kidnapping crisis with threats from both armed groups and criminal gangs addresses in the states with more in the details from the victim. she said there was little clean water for them to drink and there was no shelter virtually there was sleeping under trees open to the elements and she said in their conversation the exchanges with the bandits they showed they felt the bundy's felt disappointed abandoned and even betrayed by government across nigeria this said during the electioneering campaigns there were promises to look after them to actually provide them with the basic necessities of life and yet the government would need to own that and that's making them small so angry and in fact they also blame security forces of attacking their communities killing innocent people who had nothing to do

with banditry and that's why some of them have taken arms against this state so it's a warning development for these victims and they will counter the experiences in fact how doing experiences in the hands of the bandits they said these people were and and they promised to execute them every single day that they said unless the government pays up they will execute to. kidnap victims every day until when the government decides to pay are we not such and whether the government paid up to get them released or not but the government insisted that it's not paying ransom money just not paid ransom nigerians are wondering how then could the bandits who have taken up i guess the state will relieve their victims so easily. a funeral is underway tomorrow for the italian ambassador killed in an attack in the democratic republic of congo and shoes de luca actor matthew and his bodyguard were traveling in a united nations convoy when a group of men opened fire the driver was also killed the government blames hutu

rebels for the attack the f.t.l. armed group denies the allegation. india and pakistan have agreed to halt fighting along their disputed border in kashmir been several exchanges of gunfire in recent months the 2 sides also agreed to more diplomacy to avoid further violence tension has been high since india revoked the autonomy of indian ministers kashmir in august 2019 both countries claim the entire region but control it in parts. china's president has declared a complete victory in his government's campaign to stamp out poverty she's. really in beijing marking the country's accomplishments but many have questioned the authenticity of government figures and whether the initiative sustainable tribute has more now from. at a ceremony in beijing xi jinping on it those who played key roles in china's fight to end extreme poverty nationwide the president says 770000000 people have been

lifted out of poverty over the past 40 years and for the 2nd time since december hailed the achievement as a victory for the communist party. 832 counties and 812-8000 villages have been removed from the poverty list the audio stuff of eradicating extreme poverty has been fulfilled and we have created a novel miracle that i will go down in history and the extreme poverty has been a key goal of xi jinping his government since he came to power in 20123000000 communist party officials to give an targets for improving living standards in rural communities they were tasked with going door to door to document incomes in poor households beijing then poured billions of dollars into the building of new harms schools factories and roads it's a textbook case on how to get people out of poverty and i think getting people out of poverty is perhaps the more single important thing that any state can do to

advance its social economic progress the united nations has been trying to reduce extreme poverty around the world and china says it's achievement covers more than 70 percent of the un's goal but it's a benchmark for poverty a daily income of $2.30 it's below the world bank status the high income countries critics of the initiative say it's unsustainable with many villages relying on government support to prop up newly founded industries and some people have been unable to adapt. besides jobs while others have complained of forced relocations this is a much needed win for the chinese government and it comes at a crucial time pushing to revive the economy following the pandemic and why it's marking 100 years since the founding of the communist party she didn't pull is hoping this milestone will strengthen loyalty to the party as well as it's just a mistake as it's linked to training al-jazeera. israel has stopped the sale

of local fish after an oil spill along its coast and that of southern lebanon a greek company denies one of its oil tankers human over health is responsible managers say the vessel is now in spain and has no deficiencies israel's action parts authorities describe this bill as one of the worst ecological ecological disasters on record $55.00 tons of tar so far been cleaned up or force it is in west jerusalem and he says israeli authorities want to do extra testing to ensure the fish is safe to eat. they want to make sure that potentially soluble materials haven't drifted through into the food chain and could therefore cause harm to human health as well we've seen these extraordinary pictures of just the sheer amount of tar that has washed up along this vast stretch of coastline is really swimmers and surfers and beachgoers have been told to stay away while this cleanup continues a lot of the beaches are now looking cleaner but there is quite

a lot of this material still intermingled with the sand and more difficult it's it's to get the or oil and tar out from the rock era areas and the reefs along the shoreline too and then they're also being shown pictures of contaminated oil covered turtles there was a whale that washed up on the beach near the port city of ashdod exactly a week ago which is when these concerns 1st were raised and there are worries about what happens when there is a migration of birdlife from africa in the south heading up towards europe in just a few weeks time that the contamination could spill over into those birds as well so this is a major ecological disaster and one that could last for some time. please and i could also write serve again broken up between gangs in a prison in the city of quark you be this week has seen the worst prison violence in the country's history with at least 79 people killed police released a video showing special units entering some of the prisons jerking the rugs you're

about miley has this report even if it was. her. how many of her friends confronted by flames and prisoners on the loose. ecuadorian special forces stormed a maximum security prison in the country's south. i prefer. people they shout at the inmates to get on the ground. and fight a gas in a bid to bring the riot under control. what people really. prepared for people in makes a scene covering themselves from the choking fumes all those arrested oh there's a chase a some of the prisoners attempt a jailbreak. for this dramatic video was released the day after riots broke out in

3 presence within these walls rival gangs of turned on each other's in the battle for power in the district some fought with how made weapons all the news reports leap ahead that. dozens of people have been killed over at the brandenburg the police the military remain stationed outside while a kid let a cool guy and cuenca there are frequent riots and violence and acquittals prison system but this is so far been the deadliest was i want my son out because he could get killed he also which is what the hand to my of a dead no my son is aust me to get him out because they want to kill him cut i don't know anything about my son i was sent a message yesterday on the phone. we always use this to communicate and it said only we are locked up that's it i sent another message but i didn't receive a response many worried that their loved ones remain in danger with dan disputes regularly spilling into by the influence the person in the. north has money out to

syria. so this is al jazeera these are the top stories and armenia's prime minister has accused his armed forces of an attempted coup nicole passion u.n. has fired his military chief after the army called for his resignation he's taken to the streets of the capital where he called on his supporters to join him but the opposition plans a counter-rally of their own in the coming hours robin frosty walker has the latest now from tbilisi. dismissed. the head.