things just to be. this has been the invisible weapon of the syrian dictatorship for some time is a call to compete better to die than continue to be sure really to infiltrate. the disappeared of syria on al-jazeera. a worrying trend in nigeria 10 days off to school boys were abducted gunmen kidnapped more than $300.00 girls. a dream for him this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.s. launches and strikes on iranian backed groups in syria in response to attacks on american plus now. global pressure grows against

myanmar as a military coup. and what activists are doing about waves of plastic that's washing up on a beach in rio de janeiro. we begin then in northwestern nigeria where more than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped it happened in the state of some fatah gunmen arrived at night shooting sporadically and took the girls into the bush on just series of address reports from middle in central nigeria. the gunmen arrived shortly after midnight and operated for at least an hour. they heard it 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 to the. to join gave me why the incident happened meanwhile at the school we were able to get in touch with. a

sense as it's currently being undertaken they will probably and i was told to get around the figures they are walking away in terms of the numbers of students abducted and this is actually an all girls school and the number of abduction if really confirm. 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 office i showed a while ago and he said they are trying to reach out to the communities and also see what they can do to salvage the situation in terms of facing up to the bandits and. the goes back however this is a state that has prided itself in negotiating with the. some bandits all.

submitted their weapons and then early this morning we heard this incident so it's a very dicey situation kidnappings an increasingly common tactic used by armed groups and criminal gangs cross nigeria just over a week ago come up ducted 42 people including 27 students from a secondary school in niger states in december more than 300 pupils were taken during a raid at a school in katsina states boko haram claimed responsibility 110 girls were taken in yobe a states in 201-8270 girls were abducted from neighboring borno states in 2014 this incident true international attention nigeria's could crisis. the united states military has launched and strikes in syria targeting facilities used by iranian backed militias the main target was the military base near al book a model that's close to the syria border with iraq the pentagon says the operation

was in response to recent attacks against american personnel in iraq. with. the target that we were there we know we. were property but that target was being you. know sorry shia militia. conducted destroy. hezbollah and sayyid al shahada 2 of the targeted militias that part of what's known as the popular mobilization of forces on brother of shia groups formed in 2014 the fight i saw in iraq with u.s. support his bar or his beloved brigades was set up more than 10 years earlier in 2003 during the iraq war its fighters attacked u.s. and coalition forces and khateeb side was founded in 2013 like hezbollah brigades it conducts operations in both syria and iraq let's go live now to baghdad of a serious amount of 14 is there for

a similar how does this attack in syria affect u.s. iraq relations. well this was the 1st time the vide an administration responded to attacks on american interests here in iraq and that reaction was closely watched by the iraqi government and the public in general to try to discern what the biden administration's policy would be to war with iraq and also towards iran here in the region now compared to the trump administration the response was relatively measured we've heard the secretary of defense say that the aim was to deescalate the overall situation in iraq and syria and the approach stands in contrast to the tribe trump administration's policy let's remember that the previous u.s. government regularly targeted iranian backed armed groups in iraq and it did so

unilaterally without consulting the iraqi government and without consulting other foreign nations that form part of the u.s. led coalition to fight eisel here in iraq putting those partner nations often in a very awkward position it's not a department of defense has said that it did consult other coalition members and that those strikes were carried out with their knowledge but the question that remains is whether that response was actually effective in targeting the groups that were responsible for the latest attacks especially the one on the u.s. the u.s. military base in the below the u.s. strikes appear to have killed at least one member of the type of bullet which is a group that is often accused by the united states of targeting its interests in iraq but some analysts would argue that it was in fact a different armed group that was behind the latest attack so what remains to be seen now is how those armed groups will react whether they will once again step up

rocket attacks on u.s. interests here and we'll have to see what the reaction of the biden administration will be then sort of halting reporting live there from baghdad about a body thanks dude. but one couple. of policy analysis of the arab center for research and policy studies and doha he says that the u.s. is reminding iran that attacking washington's interests can carry a painful cost i think the artist is once you sure that your money is because over the last few weeks actually they hung in. allies in iraq has increased at that against the us interests them both in in edibility in the north of iraq in good design and also in none of that so the americans the president the iranians might be actually seeing them very much as much weaker than that it has been so they wanted this time and actually do what they are news that if you keep actually

abducting our interest we are bought enough and strong enough to be done here but i think on the other hand americans did not want to spoil any chances for there is something of negotiations with they on ian's so this is why that that was very limited in fact in school by the been done point was merely in my being and it was me in a message to iran that don't just us on this we got into it and we can already tell you can't be both of them that that was very limited in scope and also don't forget that the way that back against american interests took place in iraq that indonesian actually took place in syria and for me. the americans the one on one hand not to go walk out the government or put it in a very awkward position these are the the brought the iranian militia in iraq and also on the other hand they don't want to risk it with the iranians on iraq their

territories. reports that several people have been killed in a suicide car bombing in afghanistan it happened in august district in kandahar province the target was an army checkpoint. joe biden has spoken with saudi arabia's king solomon by phone ahead of the release of a u.s. intelligence report on the murder of the saudi journalist. but the classified report is widely expected to implicate saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon the leaders also discussed security in the region and efforts to end the war in yemen president biden highlighted the united states' commitment to helping defend saudi arabia against iranian backed hoofy rebels amnesty international says that a massacre of civilians during last year's conflict in ethiopia's tikrit region could amount to a crime against humanity a report by the rights group says that soldiers from eritrea systematically killed hundreds of people in the city of axum in november 8th year of his government says

that its human rights commission is investigating crimes during the conflict opposition presidential candidates in somalia have postponed a protest over delayed elections after reaching a last minute deal with the government officials have pledged to investigate a protest last week in which at least 5 people were killed by security forces and it has been growing over a political deadlock that still aid presidential and parliamentary polls president mohammed of the lucky muhammad's term in office expired on february 8th the opposition says that it no longer recognizes him as president. police have used stun grenades to disperse protesters in myanmar as demonstrations against a february military coup showed no sign of slowing. people fled from lines of riot police and young gone so far there's been no reports of injuries but several protesters were detained demanding the release of elected

leader aung san suu kyi and the response democracy and global pressure on the military is also mounting the world bank has announced that it stopped all payments requested by the government since the coup it's called haida is monitoring developments from bangkok he says the confrontation happened at one of the younger ones made into sections. that's where the protesters usually have started their gatherings you know the last 3 weeks plus that we've seen them come out that's where a lot of those images that we were just showing came from where the lines of riot police and the use of stun grenades the groups has to be said are a little bit smaller today than we've seen in previous days but obviously that didn't stop the police from trying to break them up to try to prevent them from even really forming in 2 larger groups you know stun grenades were used now this came after a night of late night one neighborhood of yangon that also saw a kind of police dispersal like this kind of a heavy hand by the police that is because in a neighborhood the residents were upset because the military appointed

a local councillor for that neighborhood so that kind of flared things up so that might have been part of the reason why we saw a little bit more of a stronger stance by the police today on the streets of yangon also we have found out that. japanese journalist was detained by the police he was able to contact one of his colleagues as he was being detained around midday myanmar time he said he said it was ok but that's the 1st german foreign journalist we know has been detained by police it's the 2nd foreigner to be detained since the coup on february 1st and australian man was detained weeks ago who was an advisor to on song suchi we'll get a weather update thanks to i was a 0 then hong kong roll sounds it's 19 an occupation campaign with some from options also will the public still choose to go with china's faxing. but. maybe as president that he's his prime minister i'm sorry rather he says supporters

this pressure grows for him to resign about how he ended the conflict with azerbaijan. time for the perfect jenny. sponsored point cut some ways how i was saying some rather heavy rain pushing across central and eastern areas of china recently this area cloud just starting to push way out a little disturbance here fading that very wet weather rain and cooler air as well running across the far south of key issue clearing through and as we go on through the next couple of days places that should be largely dry for japan although the temperature is well down on the recent rally is but still getting up into double figures over the next hour so i said not too bad this is a little area of high pressure so it will be settled and fine follow those winds around to that east inside of china

a little on shore breeze here some wetter weather coming in now the band of cloud and rain snow in the northern flank moving across northern parts of china holding the temperatures down in beijing just 4 degrees celsius as we go on through the weekend we got some wintry weather too of course the fall north of india will be possible to start to see some shabby rain to add some snow that's snow gathering around the foothills of the himalayas and showers there into nepal and a few showers there into bhutan but for much of india it looks like dry bits and pieces of fair weather clap or you may just catch a shower or 2 down towards the far south of the country trying to say want to see showers as well but for the most part it's fine dry and sunny. sponsored paul qatar airways the politics of division have pushed india into the grip of a historical reckoning i am afraid to be closing on the one on achieving a pretty good where do these ideas come from the tragedy of more lives how much

we've tried to set a place getting to school a happy family all along both of joining me on fishtown fears on the final part of my journey when i to become a target of the hindu 1st policy in search of india's soul on al-jazeera. black. color again this is al jazeera let's remind you of the bad news the song more than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped in some far a state in northwestern nigeria it's the 2nd abduction in just over a week. the u.s. has carried out asterix in syria targeting facilities used by iranian backed faces the pentagon says that it's in response to recent attacks against american

personnel in iraq. and the world bank to stop payments to mail mosque governments which were requested following the february 1st coup the banks president says that it's taking a cautious approach of the payments for existing projects will continue protests continue demanding the return to democracy. thousands of people have received a coded 19 vaccine in hong kong on the 1st day of a mass rollouts they were given a choice of 3 jobs but the chinese developed site of ak is facing extra scrutiny after it was organized before clinical trial results were published sarah clarke reports from. day one the vaccination rollout and community clinics are booked down 70000 people have signed up to receive the job over the next 2 weeks the elderly disabled and essential workers are 1st in line and also of up i've been very

cooperative go and i feel safe after taking the vaccine because i can protect myself and protect my family as well we have been expecting the best scene for a long time. and i am really happy to have the. the government has purchased 22 and a half 1000000 doses of covert 19 vaccines from pharmaceutical companies pfizer side of back and astra zeneca people can choose which vaccine they receive so far only the chinese manufactured side of back has been made available to the public in the 1st step of this inoculation campaign across the territory it will not be the only answer to the problem and also it will take some time before the. unity will be reached so like 70 percent of the population it will be the 1st step to basically having normal economic activity and all. of the infection control measures that the chinese developed vaccine has faced extra scrutiny in

hong kong its manufacturer was exempted from having to release the 3rd phase clinical trial results despite that the government fast tracked its introduction study it met the safety requirements specified under an emergency response their film is your concern most important africa. because in all the applicants. from dr serious only up all. this is surely many people have deposit now about that this mass vaccination program will be rolled out over the next 6 months the pfizer version of the job to arrive on saturday but the real test will be the uptake of the chinese developed vaccine which critics suggest will be able. of and. which remains. home. because government has passed laws allowing people who died due to covert 19

to be buried instead of cremated under previous rules they had to be cremated of course an outcry especially within the country's muslim minority protests were held this week to demand an end to the forced cremations mel fernandez is in colombo and says that that's a victory for families of corona virus victims. the gossip 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 at the united nations human rights council sessions on wednesday but this gathering notification coming late tonight has been quite a surprise and it shows that the government has conceded allowing burial or cremation as the gas says what this affected me means is that all will be 19 victims especially the muslim and the christian population for whom cremation has been an issue with him now as to which essentially form that

he would go ahead with in terms of final right now as much as we heard prime minister by him the rajapaksa on the 10th of february tell parliament that they hope to allow 'd 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 covert 19 victims they said that it's up to the experts and there was 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 at the united nations human rights council and it 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 that support was also reference

to the issue of burials so these are all sort of interconnected there are a lot of layer upon layer of essential in negotiations and wranglings and behind the scenes agendas but at the end of the day for all those families of victims of covert 19 it's essentially something. that has been sort of a victory for them they can now go ahead with the rights that the youth to and essentially want to for their loved ones european leaders holding virtual meetings for a 2nd day this time with a focus on security nato chief and stoltenberg opened the summit by laying out the top defense priorities facing the alliance for nato the main tall school during this upon them a cause being to make sure that. the health crisis doesn't. turn into a security crisis because so the threats we are faced with the 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 climate change so no country or continent to come face these challenges alone european council president shall michel said that he was optimistic about a renewed relationship between europe and the united states. 2 played in place a key role in but he didn't in north america and europe we share the same team attracted to values we have come unstuck to interest and i'm totally convinced they knew by then i mean the station offer us a unique opportunity to we knew these 2 aren't incidentally traits and plenty to lines between europe and the united states the u.k. supreme court has ruled that a woman who ran away as a teenager to join ice or should not be allowed to return to britain to fight for

citizenship show me the begum left london with the 2 school friends at the age of 15 american eisel fighter she was stripped of her british citizenship on national security grounds after being discovered in a refugee camp in 2019 the u.k. government as argued the bigamous bangladeshi by descent so could live there at least 11 people have been killed in a prison break in haiti including a police officer at a detention center director witnesses say they saw heavily armed men shooting a prison guards before inmates started to run america child reports. armed police around the prison just outside the capital port au prince where several inmates managed to flee among them was on the joseph has been described as one of haiti's most notorious gang leader if 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 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 prison 300 managed to get out and 2014. haitian authorities are yet to confirm how many person escaped this time but they say they're confident of getting the situation back under control america 3.

the united states has joined russia in calling for restraint in armenia as its prime minister faces pressure to resign opponents of nickel to shimmy and have set up camp outside parliament demanding that he step down he's rejected course of course and fired his military chief accusing the army of attempting a coup but shinnie and has faced process since losing last year's war with neighboring azerbaijan over the disputed region of nagorno-karabakh. and this takes a look at his wise to power and declining popularity. thank you for talking points last year was the conflict with azerbaijan raija. smith sat down with armenian prime minister nicola president of violence because the end of the interview you asked him this question do you worry for your own popularity that if you mishandle this conflict if it doesn't go your way then you yourself are going to suffer in

your position of prime minister. or you see i reached the position of the prime minister not to defend my popularity but. to serve the national interests of my country and my people and to defend the dreams of people in my country so along this path absolutely not interested in my person that's just as well armenia lost the war and passion popularity diminish though it was just 2 years ago the scenes of pressure basking crowds adulation as he became prime minister ahmed different political age then he was the man of the moments of former journalist and opposition politician who the end of march 28th seen launched a protest organization called might step. in his camera t. shirts and cap came across as an every man antidote to the perceived cynicism and

corruption of armenia's ruling elite 2 term president says sarkozy and was trying to continue his really by becoming prime minister the crowds were determined to stop him the so-called velvet revolution. from power and after 2 elections in may 28th russian ian replaced him but governing armenia isn't easy besides its entrenched domestic problems and was also taking on armenia's fraught regional relationships in october 2020 the stalled peace talks with azerbaijan over nagorno-karabakh collapsed armed and assisted by turkey as a by john went on a devastating offensive to stave off a complete rout prussian eon accepted a humiliating russian brokered ceasefire giving up swathes of formally armenian controlled territory it cost him huge political capital and opened a rift between his government and the military. this is the end of the velvet

revolution machine made very clear in his speech that he said this is the end of velvet what that means and what comes after is anyone's guess there is a lot of unstability in the country after the war that ended in november of 2020 the opposition has been calling for his resignation not long ago he was the figurehead of a more democratic and equitable armenia. political future hangs in the balance. waves of ways to been washing up on the shores of rio de janeiro leaving beaches choked with plastic bottles bags and toys it's having a devastating impact on brazil's marine life as reports. rio de janeiro's iconic copacabana beach is well known for its white and pristine tropical coastline. but these images certainly would be on holiday postcard.

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. 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 bando 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 from brazil every year this is affecting marine life and beaches in about 100 the rio de janeiro state with president jay both scenarios poor record of environmental protection activists such as goma take it on themselves to spread awareness and call for individuals to drop plastic consumption. out to 0. 0 here in the headlines more than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped in some far a state in northwest nigeria it's the 2nd abduction in just over a week not a 0 salad address reports. in central nigeria are very poor from locals we've

spoken to this morning the gunmen arrived shortly after.