face. the u.s. releases an intelligence report that says the saudi crown prince approved an operation to capture or killed journalist jamal has. false and unacceptable saudi arabia rejects washington's report and says it's taken steps against people behind the killing. i'm about this in this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up use any means necessary to take action against them. a stunning defiance me amar's ambassador to the u.n.

urges the international community to act against the coup and restore democracy. more than 300 nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by on demand the 2nd such incident in as many weeks. so i think crown prince mohammed bin someone approved the operation to capture or kill journalists. that's according to a long awaited u.s. intelligence report it details how the crown prince's absolute control of the kingdom's intelligence operations would have made it nearly impossible for the mission to go ahead without his approval 76 people from saudi arabia have now been banned from entering the u.s. the so-called ban targets people who have threatened or assaulted journalists and activists on behalf of foreign governments. we now have in place

a new policy that applies not just to saudi arabia but across the board and it gives us i think and a greater ability to deter the kinds of egregious actions that were taken against him and against other dissidents opponents. and others speaking out or their families going forward. and that i hope will be in some small measure. of an important legacy noticeably missing from that list is the crown prince himself agnes kalama the u.n. official investigating a question which is death has odes washington to order new sanctions directly targeting bin sell them saudi arabia has rejected the reports calling it unjustified and inaccurate we have maintains the killers were a rogue group and says it's done all it can to punishment well alan fischer is live for us now in washington d.c.

allan the biden administration has been saying of course that it wants to recalibrate its relationship with saudi arabia and we heard secretary of state and the blinken say earlier on that this was a 1st step. here's the report 4 pages that's all we get the cia not giving details on how it obtained the information that led it to conclude with a great degree of certainty that 100 been someone was behind the killing what we do know is that they had intercepted phone calls and also that relied very much on what the turkish intelligence services provided which was recordings of actually inside the consulate itself you remember that it was a top of the 2nd 2018 that jamal khashoggi went to the consulate in istanbul the intention to pick up paperwork for a forthcoming marriage he never a marriage to live again the report says that it was mohammed bin selman who saw him as such a threat to the kingdom that he wanted any steps to be taken up to and including violence to silence and that appears what happened no on the campaign trail joe

biden said he was going to turn so dear arabia into a pariah state he said that he would take action against muhammad bin some and there was criticism of the trumpet ministration for not confronting mohammed bin some and in fact inviting him to the white house sitting in the oval office they talked about arm sales and it was that that donald trump said he didn't want to jeopardize by confronting mohammed bin solomon also he needed saudi help inside the middle east for confronting iran and he didn't want to upset that delicate balance but no joe biden is freezing out mohammed bin selman dealing directly with the king but what is interesting is that like the old proverb says there's many a slip between cup and lip there's also a lot of difference between campaigning for the white house and actually being in the white house don't trump came under criticism for not taking direct action against muhammad bin solomon himself all the action we've heard from the biden in ministration in the last few hours there's no direct action against mohamed been

summoned himself there's going to be a lot of attention paid isn't there alan to what the by the administration does next in terms of its overall dealings with saudi arabia you mentioned of course the weapons sales that have been agreed on to the trunk administration i believe but they are currently being reviewed at the moment. exactly tony blinken says this is about recalibrating the entire relationship and that includes weapons sales as well he was it pains to say that the relationship between the united states and saudi arabia is bigger than just one man and certainly there's been bumps in the road between the u.s. and the saudis in the past go back 50 years 973 and the oil crisis when saudi arabia essentially embargoed oil coming to the u.s. go back to 911 and 15 of the hijackers there came from saudi arabia and of course there was a killing of jamal khashoggi who is a sody citizen but also a u.s. resident and a columnist for perhaps the most famous newspaper in the united states the washington post so when tony blinken says he wants to see

a recalibration he's going to be under pressure as is joe biden from a number of democrats who say they want to see direct action against muhammad bin salman because the report points directly at his involvement and they say that his denials of involvement simply are not credible allen thanks very much that information talking to us from washington d.c. i want to bring in richard such as he's professor of the lecture at the department of political science george washington university he's joining us from washington d.c. it's good to have you with us on al-jazeera so the u.s. intelligence report links the crown prince to the killing. and yet the u.s. doesn't sanction them what does that tell us about the reality of u.s. policy when it comes to saudi arabia. well it's a realist policy and it's a practical policy and what and the idea is that banning a leader of a nation state and yes technically mohammed bin solomon is defense minister but the

fact the leader of saudi arabia under his father keeps on want but but the implications of banning him. from entering this country are profound we really need saudi arabia at so many different levels in terms of prosecuting american farm out of the sea in the middle east so that what this suggests is that the president biden who. has some of his key officials such as jake sullivan is tony. tony. blinken are centrists in their thinking what this suggests is that joe biden is treading carefully always with the option in mind of being able to ratchet up those sanctions should certain national interests as he perceive them not be

achieved is there any sense of that the u.s. is keen to have this report the issuing of this report a sense they draw a line under this issue so it can move forward with its recalibration if you like of its relationship with saudi arabia or is it looking do you think it other ways of proving that it still has a degree of credibility when it comes to bringing down responsibility or of our. allocating responsibility for these actions. well you know the alliance game is a is a difficult game and in the case of the united states and saudi arabia you've had confrontation over the few shows the killing of human rights violations in yemen and what joe biden has to do is balance national interests of the united states in the region that includes threats from iran primarily so that the saudis and the

israelis are key players even though they're not of of officially allies or they've been working together for many years because their national interests coincide in terms of of what's to unfold here now remember in international relations issue areas are related and the other thing that president biden has to deal with which is intrinsically bound up with this is the new iteration of the joint comprehensive plan of action and if he treads too happily it's conceivable that the israelis and the saudis my present the biden administration with some very hard to achieve demands with regards to how the americans will be engaging the iranians in this new iteration of the iranian agreement so this is something that president biden has to think about in addition he has to think about the prospect that saudi

arabia like turkey might fall 'd into the arms more deeply of with russia and china in terms of arms sales and the problem is with regards to iran if the rains perceive what they consider to be a fundamental rift between the united states and saudi arabia it could them in bold in them further in terms of their own militia activities in syria we just had an attack by u.s. forces. against the iranian backed militias and syria just the other day again so these issues are interrelated and one really has to use strategic foresight to determine the degree that there will be ripple effect from one set of actions over your own to other issue areas really good to get your thoughts on this richard chester we appreciate it thank you very much indeed thank you was a mile high shows its fiance how to seizing his was waiting outside the saudi

consulate in istanbul the day he was murdered after the report was released she tweeted this image of him with the words hash tag justice for them all iran's government is strongly condemning american airstrikes in syria describing them as illegal aggression the earlier on friday the united states launched air raids in syria targeting facilities used by iranian backed militias the main target was the im i'm ali military base near i'll become all that's close to syria's border with iraq the pentagon says the operation was in response to recent attacks against american personnel in iraq to try to. make an impact on these groups and their ability to conduct. future attacks. and. and to to send a very clear signal. that the united states is going to protect its people and it's

going to protect our interests instead protect those of our. of our partners in the region. so this was these targets were chosen carefully very deliberately and struck in exactly the same manner me a muslim boss added to the united nations has appealed to the international community to use any means necessary to take action against the country's military diplomatic editor james bays reports from the u.n. headquarters in new york. it was a dramatic moment in the u.n. general assembly whole the ambassador of me using his speech to speak out strongly against the events in his own country and your mom military has become that if this don't feel threat for myanmar as the polity and civilised society his voice was trembling as he continued and strong support from the international community is imperative for the people of myanmar. in hour 5 against the military

regime. as he finished his speech he gave a 3 hoping good saluting a message of defiance that's become a trademark gesture of the protesters in his country other ambassadors praised him brisk courageous stand for a long on the brand new u.s. ambassador linda thomas greene failed in her 1st full day in her job we urge every member state here today to use any channel available to tell the me or my military that violence against the people of myanmar will not be tolerated together we all show the people of myanmar that the world is watching we hear them and we stand with them at the un special envoy christine shauna bergen and has been trying to visit myanmar but she said permission for the trip has not been granted regrettably the current regime has so far asked me to almost all end these. it seems they want

to continue making. arrests and have been forcing people to testify against him and east is cruel and inhuman. such a powerful session in the general assembly now puts pressure on the part of the un that has real teeth the security council has a couch and it is worth remembering one of the permanent members of the council is china it has veto power and the chinese ambassador in the general assembly meeting said that his country largely sees the situation in myanmar as an internal matter james bays out 0 of the united nations still had a knowledge of 0 president joe biden visits texas to handle his 1st natural disaster as millions remain without clean water following a historic winter storm plus a victory for sri lanka's muslim community after the government reverses its policy on cremations for covert 19 victims.

hello once again we've got some very heavy rain pushing into the deep south of the us over the next couple of days that could cause some localized flooding all associated with this weather system here just moving through just teasing out of louisiana rolling up towards tennessee towards the middle and 6 days virginia seeing some heavy rain northern flank of that into new england eastern parts of canada we're looking at snow but to the south of that some rain and it will be heavy at times particular as we go on through sunday see how that wetter weather runs right across tennessee kentucky pushing all the way up towards new york and into d.c. projects guys behind some snow just around the lakes we got some snow over towards . right state the snow once again spilling into what western parts of canada into

the pacific northwest just around washington state so we have got a lot of dry weather across the western side of the u.s. and last a dry weather typical secured part of the caribbean some lovely tropical sunshine for the most part a lead some showers just gathering around the east and islands as we go through sas day showers pushing through parts of getting into the dominican republic and he might just catch a shower or 2 into jamaica by the time we come to sunday elsewhere across the region some showers for central america. but. the politics of division have pushed india into the grip of a historical reckoning i'm afraid to be crossing on my neck you mean to me i'm pretty good where do these ideas come from the tragedy of what human lives how much we've tried to sanitize getting it was poor a happy family on the court and join me on fishtown series on the final part of my

journey when i jus become a target of the hindu 1st policy in search of india's soul on al-jazeera. more charges here remind of our top stories this hour a newly declassified u.s. report says saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin someone approved a plan to capture or kill the saudi journalist and some alpha shows you the u.s. is imposing a travel ban and $76.00 saudis involved in threatening dissidents. saudi arabia says it completely rejects the report and is warning against any measures that infringe on its sovereignty or judicial system we had maintains the killers were

a roll group it says relations with the us remain strong. as a massacre to the un has called on world leaders to do everything they can to protect his people from the country's army protest against the coup on february 1st continue to spread nationwide. the democrat controlled house of representatives is set to push through president biden's $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus aid package includes direct payments of $1400.00 to most americans but it will not and include include an increase in the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour that was blocked by senate officials in the years since the coronavirus has taken hold it stalled much of the economy and killed half a 1000000 americans another 2417 deaths were reported on thursday alone president biden is in texas so week after the state was battered by a deadly winter storm is he speaking after touring an emergency operations center

at a food bank in houston at least 2 dozen people were killed after subzero temperatures left millions of people without power or water for days biden approved emergency federal funds for the texas state the state leadership has come under criticism for its handling of the crisis. the federal emergency management could fema is friday millions of gallons of water and millions of meals direct assistance on insured homeowners to repair the damage burst pipes caused to millions of homes across the state the public assistance that comes with disaster declaration ensures that bears and county officials can find shelter for folks in need and keep them safe and warm this is in addition to the more than 125000 blankets female has also made available to storm victims so children and families don't go to sleep cold well how does the

cost was life for us in hoost and so what else is the president been saying. all right the focus of president biden's visit this morning was on the storm recovery effort here in texas but his remarks that he just completed at the stadium behind me were focused on that other. great crisis that is be falling taxes as much as that of the other states in the u.s. which of course is coded and the president's remarks that he just wrapped up were about the vaccine distribution efforts here and around the country this stadium is a site where 6000 doses a day are being distributed and biden said that the distribution pays has rapidly ramped up since he's taken off this that the average of 6000000 doses of vaccine being dissed going into arms prior to him taking office and now has now expanded to 12 percent and he said for those americans the age. old

age. old most vulnerable to cope at 19 that nearly 50 per cent of those older americans have relieved at least one dose of recoding vaccine these remarks coming on the heels of other good news on the program which is that the f d a's advisory panel has given its green light to the 3rd and latest vaccine in the u.s. this one manufactured by johnson and johnson and it notably only requires one dose not the chew of the previous vaccines that have been approved and it can be delivered in less cold environments making its distribution largest sickleave easier of president biden said that as soon as the f.d.a. gives its final emergency operation which is expected to happen in just days time he said he would do everything within his effort to rapidly expand this tribunal

that 3rd vaccine which includes the emergency orders he's already issued. danny the number of people getting those that means allowing retired doctors and nurses to deliver those shots into our as well. as how to joke kushal bring us up to date on president biden's visit to texas a week after the state was battered by a deadly winter storm i'm talking of course about the spread of covert 19 and the vaccination program heidi was talking to us from houston heidi thank you very much former u.s. president donald trump said to be the keynote speaker at this weekend's conservative political action conference the former president's eldest son donald trump jr took the stage on the 1st day of the conference. is an annual meeting of conservative activists and politicians from across america discuss what direction the republican party should take to trump's 2nd impeachment trial i'm looking forward to sunday

i imagine. i have magic it will not be what we call a low energy speech. and i assure you that it will solidify donald trump and all of your feelings about the bugger movement as the future of the republican party. united states has joined to russia in calling for restraint in armenia as its prime minister faces pressure to resign opponents of nickell passion young are protesting in the capital get a vote and demanding that he steps down he's rejected calls to quit and fired his military chief accusing the army of attempting a coup rushing and has faced protests since losing the war with neighboring azerbaijan last year over the disputed region of nagorno-karabakh robin fussier walker has more from yet of on. this is an avenue this is the heart of government in yet about over to my right we've got the problem and you can see

a security presence outside. this way you've got the constitutional court and the highly beyond the crowds the presidential administration so the opposition that are here now that they've camped here they shut down the street making their mark they want. the prime minister of armenia and his government to step down. that. it's nothing for nicko past unions reputation may have been critically damaged by the way he handled the war with azerbaijan over the going to care about people here think that he gave away too much in this peace deal that he managed to agree with azerbaijan mediated by russia in which a media fared so badly having lost so much territory surrounding the golan karabakh and so when the military dogs lost i don't think that the leader who has lost the war has any place in the government he should resign and let the people to decide

what's a good teacher and worried about the future of my country because we leave in tragic times we are in a very bad situation. this challenge to the compassion years of 30 has been given. remain to. now that all the senior army generals say they too were here it is government to resign. this is no a battle of wills between little passion who believes he still has hope you know supporting. for the reforms that he wants to carry through or the crowds assembled here who believe that it's time for him to go. the u.k. supreme court has ruled that a woman who ran away as a teenager to join eisel should not be allowed to return to britain to fight for citizenship shamima big room left london with 2 school friends at the age of 15 and married an i saw fighter she was stripped of her british citizenship on national

security grounds after being discovered in a refugee camp and 2019 the u.k. government has argued begum is bangladeshi by descent so she can live there more than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped in northwest nigeria and happened in the state as an fatah gunmen arrived at night shooting sporadically at this school complex and then took the girls into the bush on a dangerous is in the nigerian capital abuja with the latest. i must've operation is underway involving ground troops as well as with the support of local vigilantes who know the terrain is under way in i don't tend to be and the porter surrounding that community as officials say that they want to make sure that before sunset the at least rescue these students 317 of them or pinpoint the exact location before they abductors move farther away from the community also today shortly after the abduction government officials attempted to go to join get to assess the situation

civilian officials actually and they were typed in among them of course in the convoy wired journalists who went to cover the story and eventually some of them were. injured in the attack you know these calls to question the latest abduction calls to question these him for a state government. program or project to negotiate with bae and it's to convince them to submit their arms or surrender their arms only yesterday just hours before the kidnapping a group of these so-called banded submit to or surrender their weapons and ammunition to the police and government officials in goose i was in for a state and then this abduction happened we this is coming just 9 days after a number of students were also taken from another boarding school boarding school in they bring niger state 9 days after that is no word as to when that will be who so this is becoming more and more complex as security forces struggle to deal with

the situation it looks like a quote when you ask many nigerians they will tell you that it looks like this quarter forces are not able to deal with the situation and there is fear spreading in the land as this criminal activity is spread farther inland from the northwest down to the center of the country and don't stop. trying because government says it will no longer force muslims and christians to crewmates the remains of family members who died from covert 19 the government had faced pressure from the organization of islamic cooperation the u.n. and pakistan's government to reverse the policy introduced almost to give the go button smith reports. it's hard enough losing a loved one to covert nineteen's but in sri lanka muslims and christians who have died during the pandemic have been forcibly chromate it against the beliefs of their relatives the policy was introduced last april after british monks said burials could infect the groundwater with the corona virus the world health organization says there's no risk of this instead of providing them in the form

that the parents of a 20 day old baby that died of the virus were among those denied the chance to bury their child 5 or program the boy you know when we called the hospital they said the baby had died only then did the doctor say the p.c.r. test was positive so we can't give you the body they said there were rules brought in another commission can be done even without my signature but they went ahead and did as they wished. more than $450.00 people have died of covert 19 in sri lanka more than half were muslim even though they make up just 10 percent of the population community leaders say people fear seeking treatment and being cremated if they die activists say the government's reversal of policy happened only because of a request from pakistan's prime minister imran calm and criticism from the un human rights council you know like this war really was sold off the policy has made us to a thing seen london citizens can get only get their rights now this enshrining our

constitution my only true. international press there is no may even to quote we went to supreme court review and almost any judicial process possible nothing changed drank his health ministry gave no reason for the decision to reverse the ban but on twitter pakistan's prime minister thanked his sri lankan counterparts burnet smith al jazeera. my. this is all it is even these are the top stories the newly declassified us report says saudi arabia's crown prince muhammad bin sultan approved a plan to capture or killed saudi journalist. saudi arabia's rejecting the findings the u.s. .