al jazeera. and. all that a week after school boys were taken from a school in nigeria gunmen kidnapped 300 girls in the northwest of the country. alive adrian forget this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.s. launches air strikes targeting iranian backed militias in syria the defense department says it's in response to attacks on american personnel. brazil's

hospitals are pushed back towards crisis levels i want the government describes as an extra contagious variant of covert 19. at least 11 people are killed during a jailbreak in haiti the gang leader is among the inmates who escaped. to begin there with that breaking news out of northwestern nigeria where more than $300.00 schoolgirls have been kidnapped it happened in some far a state gunmen arrived at night shooting sporadically and took the girls into the bush let's go live now to mina in central nigeria al-jazeera as of addresses that tell us more about what happened a bit. like you said in the introduction the gunman arrived shortly after midnight and operate it for at least an hour after that. more

than 300 goes into the bushes and disappeared i spoke to the police public relations officer in the past hour and he told me that they are on their way through the to john gave me why the incident happened meanwhile at the school we were able to get in touch with a local or said offenses it's going to be undertaken they will then with me publicly and i was told to get around the figures that they're walking with in terms of the numbers of students abducted and this is actually an all girls school at random and the number of abduction. really confined is far much that one we witness in chibok about in 2014 that's close to 7 years ago and right now we spoke to the police public relations officer showed a while ago and he said they are trying to reach out to the communities and also

see what they can do to solving this situation in terms of chasing after the bandits and. getting that goes back how about this is a state that has prided itself in negotiating with the bad news yesterday some bandits or group of men submitted their weapons and then early this morning we had this incident in jenin gave me so it's a very dicey situation i look to people are questioning the rationale behind negotiating with criminals like this which will embolden them in terms of money getting money from the government also themselves and conducting more daring attacks we are currently in may now where for 10 days now parents are missing more than 2 dozen children the number is yet to be ascertained the government insists that 27 students have been taken but a lot of people are saying that the numbers quite high as and that so up to now the negotiation process between the i just had government and the bandits is still stalemated so it's

a difficult situation dealing with this right as we speak now would be now you know security forces the military and the police out all of a strange thing with so many fires in so many places in britain. al jazeera is ahmed address reporting live from mina in central nigeria on the many farms. the u.s. has launched and strikes in syria targeting facilities used by iranian backed militias the main target was the military base. close to syria's border with iraq the pentagon says that it was in response to recent attacks against american personnel in iraq. with. the target that we were there we know we. were property that that target was being you. know sorry shia militia. that conducted destroy. hezbollah and sayyid shahada 2 of the targets of militias that part of the popular mobilization of forces on the brother of shia

groups formed in 2014 to 5 i saw in iraq that he has ball all hizbollah brigades was set up more than 10 years earlier in 2003 during the iraq war its fighters attacked u.s. and coalition forces and. other was founded in 2013 like the hezbollah brigades it conducts operations in both syria and iraq let's get more on this now for months irresistible to full team is with us live from baghdad summer where does this put iraq in terms of its relationships with both the u.s. and iran. well the u.s. strikes came in response to the attacks on iraqi soil but they were not carried out on iraqi soil and that will definitely put less strain on u.s. iraq relations and it is quite a significant departure from the trump administration's because they used to

regularly target these armed groups on iraqi soil one of those attacks in december 2019 then led to an escalation between the u.s. and iran on the iraqis farland drew widespread condemnation from iraq's government which accused the united states of not respecting the country's sovereignty so the fact that the biden administration decided to target groups in syria and not iraq will definitely not to draw the same kind of reaction from the iraqi government but any response to those attacks will most likely happen here in iraq we were expecting that those armed groups that were targeted will perhaps respond through additional rocket attacks on american targets here and that will have to wait and see how the biden administration will react with it there will be further escalation and of course the other question is whether those strikes were really

effective what are they in fact targeted the groups that are believed to be responsible for the latest rocket attacks in particular on a u.s. base in that a bill which killed one american excuse me one a contractor that was working for the u.s. led coalition some analysts say that the group responsible for that attack was in fact a cyber hug and that the group that claimed responsibility for it a very unknown group called the guardians of the blood is in fact just a front for us and that is not the group that was started targeted or mentioned in these latest attacks in syria so it is questionable there are doubts whether do strikes were in fact effective in terms of deterring these armed groups and we have to wait and see what their reaction will be here in iraq. some out of 14 reporting live from baghdad so out of many thanks this job i have not spoken with saudi

arabia's king solomon by phone ahead of the release of a u.s. intelligence report on the murder of the journalist. the declassified report is widely expected to implicate saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon in casualties death to leaders also discussed security in the region and the efforts to end the war in yemen president by biden highlighted washington's common commitment to help riyadh defend itself against iranian backed hooty rebels brazil is struggling to contain its corona virus outbreak the death toll there has now passed 250000 the 2nd highest in the world a vaccination campaign is on the way but a new wave of infections is leaving the health system on the verge of collapse what i can to keep freeport from rio. here is hope in this case the only an indigenous really for you when members of the small to keep what i need tried have received the 2nd dose of the couvade 19 vaccine. we have seen

so many people die with this disease i do not want that for my people they were 1st in line to be inoculated together with the elderly considered to be more at risk but they are the lucky few. brazil could have backs unaided 15 percent of the population by now instead of merely 4 percent we haven't because president will narrow still downplays the pandemic sets a bad example by scorning social distancing and delays the acquisition of vaccines the situation today is worse than a year ago when we recorded the 1st covert 1000 case we're now facing a peak of deaths and hospitalizations. in one year more than a quarter of a 1000000 brazilians have lost their lives to the pandemic and hospitals in several states are on the verge of collapse forcing governors and mayors to impose new

restrictions but you guessed it some have taken extreme measures by shutting down all comers the city of baghdad are quiete in the state of so looks like a ghost town there were addition arab inoculation campaign was temporarily suspended because there weren't enough vaccines but the fact that infections are on the rise does not keep people from ignoring basic safety rules while brazil boasts the 2nd largest proven 1000 death toll in the world football fans still celebrate their team's victory out in the streets and without masks monica al-jazeera rio de janeiro at least 11 people have been killed in a prison break in haiti a police officer detention center director are among the dead witnesses say they saw a heavily armed man shooting a prison guards 4 inmates started to run america reports.

armed police around the prison just outside the capital port au prince where several inmates managed to flee among them was on old joseph who's been described as one of haiti's most notorious gang leaders he's believed to have led the escape which began on thursday several prisoners have been recaptured others were killed in the process. since he had already entered the yard he was supposed to be restrained they should not have killed him there are many children and adults here in the yard they could be shot too you can see the bullets in the wall he was not supposed to be killed in my private home. one escapee was shot in the back serving a murder sentence he was in the prison hospital when he says he noticed others taking off and decided to join them. please help me go to the hospital i was in the dispensary when other prisoners started running away from the prison so i did the

same but now i've taken 2 bullets. this isn't the 1st time in mates have escaped from the high security hard to book a prison 300 managed to get out and 2014. haitian authorities are yet to confirm how many prisoners escaped this time but they say they're confident of getting the situation back under control america 3. european leaders are holding virtual meetings for a 2nd day this time with a focus on security naser chief u.n. stoltenberg opened the summit by laying out the top defense priorities facing the alliance. for nato the main tall school during this some time demick has been to make sure that the health crisis doesn't. turn into a security crisis because so the threats we are faced with a day before that make they are still there russia's aggressive actions

more brutal forms of terrorism sophisticated cyber attacks the rise of china and the security implications over time it should change so no country or continent to come face these challenges alone a weather update next here on out 0 ben mammals military disperses and t. coop protesters showing no sign of easing i'll. find out what activists are doing about waves a plastic washing up on a beach in rio de janeiro. how i once again would say more very heavy rain into indonesia recently and particularly into java he was saying well another 94 millimeters of rain coming through here and we're going to see those heavy downpours continuing through

indonesia just not in a little further east which is we go on through the next couple of days see that wet weather never really too far away further north it's a scattering of showers up towards the philippines some sunshine in between but the shot was there nevertheless quite widespread showers there now across a good part told borneo the malay pensions looking. into indochina although one or 2 shot shows is pushing down into southern parts of vietnam maybe also into cambodia some shop showers across the far north of australia more heavy rain coming through here you have in the next couple days the west the weather will be associated with this area of low pressure just off the coast of cannes. there was say some very heavy showers sandal circulation developing little area of low pressure just sinking a little further south which sounds a little so say some pretty wet weather causing wet weather that say winter that eastern quarter of new south wales up to kept was a northeast that just north of sydney start to push a little further east was just recall on through sunday temperatures recovering in the process

a high then of 29. for . more than a year after the coby 19 pandemic began its origins remain. 101 ace makes the scientists trying to trace the virus from the animal kingdom to humans on how does the. algae. every.

again this is al jazeera let's remind you of the main news this hour more than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped in some far state in northwestern nigeria it's the 2nd abduction in just over a week. the u.s. has carried out as strikes in syria targeting facilities used by iranian backed fighters the pentagon says it's in response to recent attacks against american personnel in iraq brazil's health minister says his country is facing a variant of the corona virus that's 3 times will contagious but other strains that want to cause well are says that it's threatening to overwhelm hospitals. police used a stun grenades to disperse protesters in myanmar as demonstrations against a military coup on february 1st show no sign of slowing. people fled from the lines of riot police in the end on so father been no reports of injuries but several protesters were detained that

a model release of the elected leader aung san suu kyi and a return to democracy the global pressure on the military is also mounting the world bank has announced that it stopped all payments requested after the coup scott hyper is following developments from bangkok and says the pressure on the last military from both inside and outside the country isn't easing elf. we've seen sanctions being imposed we've seen some private companies sever ties with companies and entities tied to me and most military so this is that kind of external pressure in international pressure that's being applied to the military in there. and what's been happening since their detain leaders that took place right after the coup took place on february 1st there are international calls for them to be released as well so that's kind of the external pressure internal pressure and that's the protesters and they're continuing with their movement on the streets across myanmar we've been seeing a lot of it in yangon the numbers are

a little bit smaller than we've seen the last couple of days i'm hearing from from some people on the ground feeding us information as well as the mandalay we know they've come out as well and then even way down in the south there is a student group a teacher's group i should say that has come out and has protested one thing that we need to know in and gone overnight a section of the city neighborhood of the city there was a fairly severe crackdown by the police because there was a bit of a dustup because the military appointed local councillor was put into place the residents there didn't like that so there was a bit of a standoff some flash bang grenades were sent out by the police but it sounds like there were no major injuries after that but right now yes some people still coming out to the streets we're also getting word on the streets of yangon there are a lot of. blockages by the police by riot police but then also by their vehicles so there's less excess ability around the city in yangon right now. south korea is launching its covert vaccination campaign of what officials are calling the 1st

step in returning to normal life the 1st says of astra zeneca vaccine is being given to nursing home workers and patients a 200 percent sees across the country on saturday tens of thousands of health care workers in corona virus treatment clinics will also start receiving the job. hong kong has also started vaccinations the territory's government to dos the chinese made site of a vaccine before trial results were published it's also received this from pfizer of astra zeneca but people can choose between the 3 low enthusiasm for the chinese made vaccine could be perceived as anti mainland sentiment sarah clarke is in hong kong with more on the vaccination drive that. well this is the 1st day of this mass vaccination rollout we've been at a couple of the community vaccination centers this morning and we now know that 70000 people have signed up the next 2 weeks to have. and that's fully booked 1000000 the sun about germs that doses the arrived last friday today is the 1st

time the public has been given access that's friday that includes the essential workers will be getting out says the elderly as well as the cross transport workers across the border transport workers as well as teaches now the government is hoping to issue around $2500.00 per day and to vaccinate at least to 70 percent of hong kong's population which is about 7 and a half 1000000 people prevents a nation tots will be made available 2020 1000000 doses to try and the entire population to sign in fact was the 1st one to be made available that's of course the chinese manufacturer the vice manufacturer it was fast tracked as was the pfizer one by the government in what was called an emergency response now the the fine someone has actually been delayed and we also have the center which have no arrival date as yet but i should state that the hong kong rollout of these vaccinations has been quite delayed when you compare it to other developed cities across asia and we should note that the mine and got access to their vaccination of their vaccine last july the rest of across have been told that they would be able

to include plans to increase the minimum wage as part of a coronavirus relief bill the senate parliamentarian who enforces the senate's rules so the wage increase doesn't fit complicated regulations that govern budget bills democrats want to increase it from the current $7.25 an hour to 15 dollars by 2025 years republicans say that's too high or. the united states has joined russia in calling for restraint in all media as its prime minister faces pressure to resign opponents of the coal push indian of set up camp outside parliament demanding that he step down he has rejected calls to quit that is accusing the government of attempting a coup machine ian has been a criticised for concessions that he said to made in ending the conflict in the borno color buck. waves of waste. choked with plastic bottles bags of toys it's having

a devastating impact on brazil's marine life. reports. rio de janeiro's iconic copacabana beach is well known for its white sands and pristine tropical coastline. but these images certainly would be on holiday postcards just 20 kilometers along the coast in south beach marine biologists recorder gomez describes waves of rubbish lapping the beaches as a tsunami of trash if. this is a crime it's not just a crime against the city of rio de janeiro it's a crime against the population of rio de janeiro this evil that we do to the ocean is a global crime some of it is easy to recognize most of it points out is single use plastic the effect on marine life is evident that. there are

$8000000.00 tonnes of plastic that reach the ocean each year suffocating marine life and threatening the existence of man on the planet. a similar wave of trash hit brazil's beaches in january the environmental group institute tomorrow bano says 80 percent of this was caused by heavy rain pushing rubbish into the city's drainage system and then out directly to sea it's estimated around 325000 tons of plastic is thrown into the atlantic ocean from brazil every year this is affecting marine life and beaches and about 100000 rio de janeiro's state with present both scenarios poor record and environmental protection activists such as take it on themselves to spread awareness and call for individuals to drop. consumption. out of thier shrine because government has passed laws allowing people who have died because of covert time team to be buried under previous rules

they had to be cremated that caused the outcry especially among muslims for services have been held protests rather than held this week to demand an end to forced cremations nelf amanda's in colombo and says this is a victory for families of corona virus victims. the gaffer notification comes almost as a bolt from the blue the most obvious sort of place to announce it when all eyes were on sri lanka was that the united nations human rights council sessions on wednesday but this guy's a certification coming live tonight has been quite a surprise and it shows that the government has conceded allowing burial or cremation as the gathering says was these affectively mean is that all 4 big 19 victims especially the muslim and the christian population for whom cremation has been an issue which came out you had to read

a centrally form that the would go ahead with in terms of final rights now as much as we heard prime minister mine the rajapaksa on the 10th of february tell hollywood that they hoped to allow burials the huge kind of reaction from the government which basically backtracked from his announcement give everybody the impression that the rajapaksa government was not going ahead with that permission to allow burial of corvids $1000.00 victims they said that it's up to the experts and there's a lot of sort of backtracking but this announcement here on thursday night obviously comes at a time when sri lanka is facing a lot of pressure the united nations human rights council and its needs as many friends as it can get now obviously in terms of islamic countries we did hear quite a few of this from a country speak in support of sri lanka but within less support was also reference

to the issue of areas so these are all sort of interconnected there are lots of lair upon layers of the centrally negotiations and wranglings and behind the scene agenda but at the end of the day for all those families of victims of covered 19 percent. something that has. go ahead with the right. to. form a u.s. gymnastics coach john get out has taken his own life it happened after he was charged with crimes against young gymnasts that include sexual assault and human trafficking get a tour as head coach of the 2012 u.s. women's olympic team for years he worked closely with disgraced team doctor. pleaded guilty to sexually abusing female gymnasts 3 years ago. song about hardships of the communism has gone viral in cuba something that would have been on

the hurdles when federal fidel castro was in power some of the country's biggest music stars collaborated on the project list say that it's proof times are changing so is a bow reports. a song that talks about the need for change in cuba. it's an anti-communist messages sung by a well known cuban in miami and have an ad. where. it talks about the failures of the government and the hardships faced by the people of the caribbean island for the past 62 years. the song is called homeland and life he changes the old slogan of. your homeland and death. a symbol offered el castor's 1957 leftist revolution people and i listening.

has always had a very clear message now ancestors fought for our independence and it's always been a slogan that has characterized and represented us petrea veda also represents me because it speaks of the reality that cubans ordinary cubans are going through political tension has been on the rise in cuba after a rapper from the movement and opposition group was detained for insulting up police officer since then artists from around the country have started to demand political reforms. is part of a movement and thankful for the support it's hard because one of if those huge artists were able to connect and chant for the people and tell us people here we can also get together and fight it's known that a song can touch the deeper sense ability of the beast we. so thankful they are people who come from keepers reality and the fact that they put their talent and

fame to help people here shows we can unite. the island's economy has deteriorated in the past year and the lack of tourists because of covert 19 has forced the government to devalue the currency for the 1st time since it came to power in 1059 the government blames crippling u.s. sanctions for the economic slump but it's even gone on national television to attack the song homeland and life accusing the artists of being envoys of the cia they're feeling that they're weak they're feely that they're not receiving this board that they always below around the 'd just in their actions you know the government the cuban government has always said that they are supported by the by your view of the people but when you hear many people saying it is sung. with a political message opals it to the government right now we have been very

years on the same situation that idea doesn't exist anymore. than exists anymore we don't have a leader we don't have an idea that people are even in the same situation i like you said they did not go out they didn't have the same conditions. conditions that for now the government has been unable to improve so when artists express themselves politically that can motivate other cubans who until now have not dared speak up. and. this is al jazeera avery and fitting in with you here in doha the headline is more than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped in some far off states in north western nigeria it's the 2nd.