al-jazeera. where you're watching al-jazeera let's say can i life and see the white house for us president joe biden is speaking of americans we want to step closer to extending unemployment benefits for millions of americans are shortly going to loosen or one step closer to helping millions of americans feed their families the keeper roof over their head we're one step closer to getting our kids safely back in school are one step closer to getting the state and local governments the money they need to

prevent massive layoffs for essential workers now now the middle moves the united states senate where hope will receive quick action. we have no time to waste if we act now decisively quickly and boldly we can finally get ahead of this virus we can finally get our economy moving again and the people of this country have suffered far too much for too long we need to relieve that suffering the american rescue plan does just that it relieves the suffering and it's time to act i thank you all for being preachy but. well a short statement there from president joe biden speaking as the house of representatives in the united states passes a 1 point one trillion dollar coverts relief package that. still has to go through the senate so let's get more now from al-jazeera is patty cole hain she joins us now live from washington d.c.

patty $1.00 trillion dollars worth of relief that's going through the house it does have to go through the senate now which is very finely divided a given that splits between republicans and democrats how likely would you say it is to pass. i'd say it's pretty likely that one to point out that that was pretty brief and to the point from the president but he's trying to keep the pressure up on the u.s. senate because this is a very popular bill if you ask republicans democrats independents poll it across the board shows people want this to pass it might help the benefits of the parliamentarian in the senate said that they can't include include an increase in the minimum wage to $15.00 a. scuse me $15.00 an hour over the next couple of years because 2 democrats senator said that they were opposed to that provision would they have voted to take the entire point 9 trillion dollar just because of that it's not clear but this does make it easier if they are to pull that out that speaker pelosi nancy pelosi

the speaker of the house said that she thinks it will pass the house the house without the 15 dollar minimum wage although it's a very slim margin she can't really afford to lose any members senators are giving up though they're going to try to figure out a way to increase the wage one way they're talking about is basically saying any employer large employer who doesn't pay that minimum wage is going to face increased federal taxes so they're trying to work out the procedure in the senate but we do expect that this will pass in the weeks ahead but again it's going to be tight every single democratic senator needs to stay onboard with vice president cobble harris breaking the top. of course the people who this bill is supposed to be helping or the american public has to be said are her saying right now with the states of affairs over in the united states imagine this this bill does pass the senate so how soon do you think it will be before average everyday americans start to feel the relief that this bill is designed to provide. pretty

pretty quickly the $1400.00 plus additional money for each child that you have if you have children that can be sent out direct deposit right into your bank account if you file your federal taxes that way for others who don't get it a check at all take a little bit longer the biggest impact though is going to be on the 10 percent of the country that is unemployed right now that's the unofficial number but that's what economists think that it's basically at millions of americans this will increase their unemployment benefit to $400.00 a week and that will last until august so they'll have that comfort of state of mind of knowing they have that cushion that will last through the summer to when most experts think the economy will be turning the corner as more and more millions of americans get back to native it's also going to really help schools this is what the administration is facing the most criticism over because many most students are not in school they're learning virtually the center for disease control says they

carry open safely but it's going to cost them they need to increase the ventilation systems improve the air filters get more space to students aren't sitting on top of each other all of that costs money so that money's going to be a little bit slower to go out the door depending on how they distribute it the possible biggest impact though is going to be in this money for states and cities so the way states and cities are fund their government is through taxes people are spending money they're not necessarily going to restaurants so those budgets have been hit very hard so we've seen all across the country republican led democratic led independent lead all of these cities and states saying look we're going to have to fire essential workers the only way to make up the shortfall because unlike the federal government most states they have to balance their budget so what you're going to see is firefighters are fired police officers are fired and that is going to be a huge difference for local economies. joining us live from washington d.c.

thank you very much. less than 24 hours ago more 2 and myanmar's ambassador to the un urged the world to use any means necessary to end a military coup that overthrew a democratically elected government in doing that men are state t.v. says he betrayed the country and no he's been fired for what he said on friday with his voice quivering with emotion the defiant diplomat told the u.n. general assembly that he's speaking for the osa government of aung san suu kyi near my military has become the existential threat for myanmar as the polity and civilized society now is not the time for the international community to tolerate the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by myanmar military the international community must ensure that who has no place in the modern world as bound by the u.n.

secretary general in that regard we the committee representing our. duly are the united nations the united nations security council an international community that aspired to build peaceful and civilized society to use any means necessary to take action against the myanmar military and to prove i served and security for the people of myanmar well let's cross live now to our diplomatic editor james bays who reported on those developments from the united nations james how do you think the international community are likely to react to his sacking. well the military door say that they have fired him does that mean he is no longer the ambassador here in new york that is not entirely clear at this stage it's worth reminding you that the other strong speech we heard 24 hours ago was from the u.n.

special envoy christine chrono bergan or she made a strong speech and she is the official representative of the secretary general in that speech she said that no other countries should recognize the current regime run by the military so if that is the case and the secretary general is encouraging other countries to not recognize the military regime then they shouldn't one assumes they recognize the decisions of the military regime of the firing of their ambassador this i think is going to end up as quite a drawn out affair assuming the ambassador wishes to stay in the united states and we assume he won't want to go back to me and mar because of possible reprisals against him even though he's been officially withdrawn we don't know what will happen with regard to the other diplomats that work for him at the mission the myanmar mission that's a mission to the united nations is effectively a little embassy that deals just with the u.n.

what will happen i think is if he says he's staying and he's still the legitimate representative of the real government in myanmar whose leaders are currently in jail that it will go to a complicated procedure of the general assembly something called the credentials committee that has 9 members on it it currently interestingly has the u.s. russia and china among those members and they will have to decide what to do and if they can't reach a decision or go to the full membership of the general assembly so it is possible and i think you know not clear that he will lose his job it's possible he might stay certainly that's what happened 10 years ago with regard to libya. the bastard defected and said that gadhafi was no longer the legitimate ruler and he stayed in post as the ambassador of the opposition which they said at the time was the digital government of libya it will be a long drawn out process but an interesting one because it may well be the 1st

stage in setting up some sort of regime it was some sort of government in exile while the military say they're in charge inside the country and it's a very complicated picture there jayne's what do you think is likely to happen see the former ambassador is he planning to speak again. we don't know we don't know and it's very hard to get in touch with him. certainly we have been trying since the coup so now almost a month to get in touch with people at the mission the mission to the united nations and no one answers the phone there but i think from speaking to other suitors who have spoken to him they say he was well aware of what he was doing he was well aware of the possible repercussions he has i'm told his immediate family with him in new york but of course he has other relatives cousins and brothers and

others in myanmar and he knew there was a risk it's certainly a risk of reprisals that i raised with the spokes person for the secretary general at a news conference 24 hours ago and he said that no one should be held accountable with any sort of negative repercussions for political views and certainly not relatives of the person that has those views ok james bays there breyer's ups's a from the united nations in new york james thank you. well inside myanmar security forces have intensified their crackdown on and c.q. protesters on saturday across the country troops chase protesters through the streets and used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowds demonstrators are refusing to back down they're demanding the release of the elected leader aung san suu kyi who's been detained since the military seized power earlier this month

20 chang reports. police in the amman southern city of daraa way employing more aggressive tactics to disperse protesters. advancing behind the cover of their riot shields they fired tear gas into the crowd forcing people back into the city's small alleyways. in yangon on more aggression to from the early morning on saturday security forces occupied areas the protesters had claimed as their own charging forward they pursued protesters relentlessly throughout the day those who didn't flee were detained not just protesters several journalists were also arrested. but the mood on the streets remains defiant behind improvised barricades to keep the police at bay and the protesters happy to see their cause raised so publicly at the united nations a call on the online we got so much encouragement to protest by seeing me and mars'

ambassador to the u.n. that's why we're protesting with lots of energy and as much effort as we can have we feel so thankful and got so much courage to see that the u.n. representative stands with us while we're trying to protest and get our state councilor and president released. and memo 2nd city mendeley protest when led by monks in this majority but this nation it's regarded as to boo to attack a member of the clergy but myanmar's military has shown in the past it has no qualms about cracking down on monks and it's unlikely these protesters will find sanctuary behind their saffron robes tony chang al jazeera. in armenia the president is refusing to fire the top army general even though the prime minister has publicly called for his dismissal he called and had urged the president to fire the general after accusing the military of an attempted can question yan has face growing coals to step down since november that's from protest to say he betrayed

the country by ceding land to end a 6 week war with azerbaijan of an foreseeable corrupt points from yerevan it is definitely a sign that supports from the political institutions is waning in our media and the prime minister and the opposition who know. every every day of late calling for his resignation said that this was a victory of sorts for them and they even say now that they're hoping that the police and the other security services will join the armed services in calling for the call pressure resignation that of course would be a major development because it looks as if all the political institutions to round the prime minister's office are i'm standing in front of that promises office now if all of them are lining up to call for him to go it looks as if the situation

because it is becoming pretty on tenable the nickel question yet. still to come on al-jazeera ethiopia's military is accused of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the ukraine we can. i see units in the occupied west bank are running out of beds and contagious strains of coronavirus need to rise in infections. it's time for the perfect jenny. sponsored plan qatar airways. the all weather is set fair for japan over the next couple of days nice big area of high pressure acting as a lid on the atmosphere keeping it quiet and calm then so here we have got some western weather active weather sliding across northern parts of chart of this cold

front sinks further south was a some snow on that there's something to watch out for that a fetus way back into beijing just over a week i remember got up to 27 celsius in beijing but have changed now as we go on through sunday and indeed into monday with that system coming through some heavier rain to just easing across the yellow sea and this system when it gathers it becomes a lot more active as we go on through monday with some heavier rain moving across the korean peninsula big downpours say that could lead to some localized flooding i think we are likely to see some disruption into north korea into the far east of russia as well as we go through the next day or so all the time especially fun in try in japan 17 celsius in tokyo so some more spring like weather coming through here plenty of sunshine plenty of sunshine too across much of south asia one of 2 showers still in place across the far north of india but they are petering out a chance of some wetter whether they're over towards nepal and again that's making its way further east with a boot on seeing some wetter weather as we go on through the next couple of days.

qatar airways. the coronavirus has affected every. corner of the world. people in power look back to the early days of the pandemic and examines where the air is and delaney's of the world health organization may have made the global spread of the virus inevitable so they go there to steal it. i didn't say there's no. human teeth in in transmission chronicle of a pandemic people in power on al-jazeera. my. this is

al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour here on mars military has far of the country's ambassador to the u.n. after he made a defiant appeal to the general assembly on friday cure move to an urge the united nations to use any means necessary to ends the month long military coup. armenia's president serzh refusing to fire the country's top general even though the prime minister has publicly called for his dismissal nichol passion cues the military of an attempted coup. u.s. president joe biden's $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus aid package has been passed in the house of representatives that includes direct payments of $1400.00 to most americans. dozens of students kidnapped from a secondary school in nigeria last week are being released they've arrived in mina in central nigeria gunmen rated kogarah school in these arab states taking 27 students some of their relatives and staff members one of the students was shots

and killed but the fates of $317.00 schoolgirls kidnapped on friday is still unknown gunmen raided their school town of jan gave billions on forest state they say they have information that the girls have been moved to a nearby forest for the trees is in a butcher and has the latest on both mass abductions. the release of the students and members of staff as well as family members came after 10 days of intense negotiations between government officials and the armed men who held the students for at least 10 days now and it's also 10 days of intense tension anger and frustration on the part of members of the school community and the entire community who felt that the government wasn't doing enough to get the children released now government said it was not going to pay any ransom for the release of the students but we also understood that the gunman who abducted the students

demanded the release of at least 6 of their members held in police custody we're not sure at this moment whether the ransom has been paid and members of the armed group of also being released now the release of these students came just i was or even at least a day after another set of students 317 goes who have been taken from a boarding school in north west and some for a state now there are questions being raised as to how they will talk to 100 of the rise in cases of kidnapping banditry in the north as well as the central parts of nigeria many people believe that being run some to free hostages has resulted in the rise in cases of abductions as well as criminality in the northern part of nigeria as well as the central parts of the country a lot of people are questioning the rationale of the go shooting with people they town just criminals who i say were said to be emboldened by enron someone who goes issues between them and government officials. if you open officials are being

accused of carrying out a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in the region of to grey allegations so in a us government supports reports obtained by the york times and says fine to see back prime minister moving from time to time pushing out to graham's and seizing intimidation and violence. if european launched a military campaign against a close regional government and its solid fighters in the both sites have been accused of atrocities william davidson this international crisis group's ethiopia researcher he says the conflict is field tensions about land rights. during the early stages of the war. the federal forces intervened in the west integrate they were accompanied by forces from the neighboring region including some irregular militia that was part of the military campaign to oust the greys regional

government but many of those am horrified actions also have the intention of reclaiming what they see as an horror land in west integrate and these reports indicate that there has been significant the population of to grey and from those areas in in western degree but much of this is being under covered under reported so far because of the lack of access to those degree and who have fled and we believe huge numbers into central to quit as the federation which has an ethnic or multi national character was created in the 1990 s. regional states was created and it's at that point that the un horace say they were depopulated from these areas in western ukraine so was the areas formally been part of a region ever since some horrific actions politicians activists have always said that this is rightfully. land and that partly explains some of the events that we've

seen over the past few months in these areas well separately on the center national says hundreds of civilians were massacred by eritrean soldiers in acts and integrate back in the rights group has released a report that says the killings could amount to a crime against humanity here's mark unless. eritrean an ethiopian forces began their attack on the town of back with indiscriminate shelling according to rights group amnesty international. it's released these videos and the report it says on the 28th of november last year to grain militia and civilians tried to fight back. some of them armed with only sticks and stones attacking eritrean soldiers on this hill it says the militia failed and the reprisals were brutal. according to dozens of testimonies amnesty says

eritrean troops came into the town and executed hundreds of civilian men and teenage boys this video shows the body of one of them. one behind. eritrea's government didn't respond to our requests for comment it has previously denied its troops were in ethiopia ethiopia's government in a statement question the accuracy of amnesty sources and said it was committed to undertake investigations. in early november prime minister had sent federal forces into the to gray region he said it was a law enforcement operation to topple the thick gray and people's liberation front that dominated politics and military for nearly 3 decades before abby came to

power. when government troops took control of the regional capital abby declared the operations over but the rippin reports of low level fighting ever since. research is a disease satellite images taken last week show hundreds of structures destroyed by fire in the town of key jet fuel a return to stability is it work in progress but there is no doubt the situation keeps improving along to be at the warmth of human thought and operations except for a few pocket areas where there is sporadic shooting by this are imminent. access to the conflict areas has been heavily restricted information about what happened into gray in recent months steadily seeps out and with it a growing number of reports of atrocities by all sides malcolm webb

al-jazeera. the. new zealand's biggest city is going into lockdown for 7 days prime minister just into our durance at the restrictions will begin on sunday schools and non-essential shops will close and travel in and out of auckland will be restricted. palestine's health ministry says hospital intensive care units around 95 percent for when the occupied west bank the government has announced new restrictions but they don't include a 2 week walk zone recommended by the health minister schools and universities will go back to teaching online the nighttime curfew will be in place new strains 1st identified in the u.k. and south africa are spreading fast. that children were once ranked among some of the world's happiest but since the coronavirus pandemic and increasing number are suffering depression mental health experts say they've seen

a sharp rise in calls to suicide prevention helplines stepped arson reports. for 20 years old paper government god and life has become a struggle the theater student suffers from loneliness and panic attacks especially since the dutch government imposed a nighttime curfew for studies are all online and she lost a part time job due to the lockdown i also saw that anxious. because guess ferreted precious or just had trouble with school and getting out of bed. and rare have to care for yourself like the whole thing. and can't really go outside it just gets worse and worse and worse the parents of 14 year old the pain saw their son changing from an energetic positive teenager into a liturgical child who started experimenting with drugs out of boredom the pain died in january of a tragic accident when he used drugs in a small tent and suffered carbon monoxide poisoning his parents believe lockdown

measures led to their son's risky behavior he started to look for things that the otherwise wouldn't have looked for probably growing will be much more engaged with his friends risk always forward in the will be between his death and the burial i was sitting next to his body every morning and i realized this is a this is a bunch of potentiality which is lying here which is just become dead. it hurts me so much that this is what we do with the use to stay active but pain had turned his room into a small gym his parents say the government should have been more focused on the impact the lockdown has had on young people because i feel that as very little compassion for young. young people there's often a finger pointing at them you just want to have a party and you don't care about the elder people and i find that very that hurts my heart. because i see that my boys are struggling by telling their

story but parents parents hope the government will look for more creative ways to keep young people mentally healthy growing up an adult and long man children had a good chance to be among the happiest in the world but a continuous lockdown has changed that schools have been closed since early december and there's a fairly huge impact on the mental health of children and teenagers and their impact that could last for a long time according to experts and won't simply be solved by going back to class in the netherlands people with suicidal thoughts can call the suicide prevention line 113 it's into start of the pandemic the number of calls and chats has increased by 30 percent nearly 80 percent of the callers are below the age of 30 especially the younger people. have lost their confidence their self-confidence and confidence in other people which is significance compared to before so far the number of suicides has not increased something the helpline contributes to the listening ear they can offer better has also found support with therapy after

a month on a waiting list but local leaders say the government should do more so young people can meet each other in a safe way only then dutch children and teenagers may score high on the happiness index again step fasten al-jazeera amsterdam. where a funeral has been held for a 100 year olds who became famous for his school $1000.00 efforts last year captain sir tom moore raised more than $45000000.00 for a charity supporting the u.k.'s national health service he did it by walking 100 laps of his garzon just before his 100th birthday and was knighted by the queen for his efforts the centenarian died after contracts in covert 19 and you money and. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines.