from tragedy of how much you try to set it. it was a happy family. join me on dish now see you on the final part of my journey when i do become a target of the hindu 1st policy in search of india's soul an al-jazeera 'd. the us gives emergency approval to a 3rd 19 vaccine the one dose johnson and johnson jab is expected to bolster efforts in fighting the pandemic. and brazil's president threatens to cut emergency aid to states imposing locked up. malcolm i'm peter dobby you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here and also coming up. violence spirals in yemen's merry

provinces government forces trying to save their last stronghold in the center of the country from who's the rebels. paying for his defiance mean mars u.n. ambassador is fired by the military jointer for denouncing the coup and calling it a betrayal. we begin with some welcome news in the development of the fight against covert 19 the u.s. has approved the johnson and johnson vaccine it's the country's 3rd and its 1st single dose 100000000 doses will be supplied to the u.s. by the end of june the u.k. the e.u. and canada also have orders in their regulators need to approve it and 500000000 doses have been promised to less wealthy countries through the kovacs it has a lower rate of stopping infection. other vaccines but it's thought to be effective

against more contagious strains and the company says it has a 100 percent effectiveness rate in stopping hospitalizations and deaths gabriel is on the house the latest developments from washington the big difference with the johnson and johnson vaccine is it is only one shot to get and then be vaccinated that's different from the moderna and pfizer vaccines which both take 2 different shots spaced out about 20 to 30 days apart also the johnson and johnson vaccine does not need to be stored or transported at freezing temperatures so that will make it easier to move around and get out to places and into the arms of people that need it as you know the pfizer and moderna vaccines both need to be kept in complicated freezing storage temperatures bottom line though is is that health officials here in the u.s. say all the vaccines do the job. the f.d.a.

has just announced emergency use authorization of us 3rd a back seat for americans this one made by ensign also did call johnson and johnson it's all the same but this is really good news that means we have the opportunity for even more people to get immunized as soon as possible against terrible pandemic early on saturday the house of representatives passed joe biden's 1.9 trillion dollar coated relief package it now goes on to the senate where it will be perhaps met with some resistance from many many republicans however the bill as a whole is very positively by most americans and by almost all democrats it would call for many things but primarily a one time payment of more than a $1000.00 to all americans it would extend unemployment benefits as well as put money into schools and local governments to meet shortfalls as well it will now go

to the senate and on saturday this is what joe biden had to say to senators as they approach a vote on this bill. now now the mill moves the united states senate where i 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 relieve the suffering and it's time to act i thank you all for being 14th that is the date that millions of americans could potentially lose some of their unemployment benefits unless this plan is passed so democrats feel they have about 2 weeks to try to work out an agreement with the republicans in the senate to get this on joe biden's desk for possible signature well don't is

a vaccine experts and a junk professor at the university of michigan earlier we discussed the significance of this latest development. so a good news because this is a direct scene and as you know i'm never on the nose we have a great issue in distribution and of training these vaccines that for vaccine they think people so having a 3rd one is a good relief and and it's going to be. added value and it's also it's one immunization one in jail one injection on the oral will be on your way so until now we don't know whether we need to say 2nd immunization or not and why and for this vaccine too but definitely there is a an ongoing clinical trial at the in the u.s. for evaluating to immunizations and set of 20 minute session to see whether you can up the efficacy from the 66. neighborhood to the 90 percent neighborhood

like everybody else many people are asking this question you know how come you know when immunization and 66 percent because we are somehow spoiled with the 95 percent the ficus say this vaccine for one immunization you were a. prevented hospitalisation know severe disease after. in the vaccine a group which means that even though you may have some symptoms you would never to get you are not going to get into the hospital and to be serious to conditions that's number one number 2 is that also that sort of a major problem which is the logistics of wanting people back to get the 2nd immunization and this is the only vaccine that is indicated for one immunization. the brazilian president julia bolton r.-o. has threatened to pull emergency aid for any states reintroducing locked arms he

says any governor who destroys jobs won't want to limit any support from the central government also narrow 1000 himself has been strongly against most restrictions he's often dismissed the dangers even though more than a quarter of a 1000000 people have died in brazil. it was you know yes you know this emergency aid will come for a few more months and from now on governors who close down the states and governors who destroyed jobs will have to provide for their own emergency. ecuador's health minister has resigned after it was revealed that several members of his family jumped the queue to receive qubit 19 vaccines juan carlos of our loss is the 3rd health minister in south america to go following similar scandals and through and argentina daniel slimer reports now from buenos ira's. the battle to control the colored 1000 pandemic in latin america is under way but is being hindered by patchy deliveries of the vaccine and scandals in the government with the task of organizing the vaccination programs here. the latest is the

ecuadoran health minister one caller survive yours ensuring that his family was given preferential treatment all the more committed we have all committed era's this is a pandemic that has taught us the importance of recognising them. last month as the vaccines arrived in ecuador a country one of the highest per capita death rates in the region he said they would firstly be given to the most vulnerable. for that persona for the people who are on the front line medical staff and also people over 65 years old. many of them are still waiting for the former minister has fled the country. a similar scandal emerged earlier in peru when it was revealed that at least 2 ministers and a former president were among the 500 people to be immunized weeks before the rest of the population. and in argentina a few days later the health minister hin is going to sell his garcia resigned when

it came to light he devoted friends and colleagues to receive what had been called the ip vaccines. his replacement call of distorted he has since tested positive for covered 19 and this. elph isolating. supplies from a number of sources continue to arrive this 1st batch of nearly 200000 doses landing in europe why from the chinese soon as that of oratory. and 40 tons of oxygen donated by chile to prove with supplies of run dangerously no. such protests against handling of the pandemic are increasingly common is when on saturday in one osiris he said that if he entered they give it to the president and the vice president then ok but they shouldn't vaccinate the deputies of the ministers that's no good i'm almost saying one message on from i've got inside information from independent media that the pandemic doesn't exist it's just tests that are full of the holy. war they're angry with the government some still believe

the pandemics is a hoax but others are against the vaccine or whatever else people feel their impatience to put the pandemic behind frustrated by the slow pace of the vaccination programs confused by contradictory information and i angered by corruption in their governments the road towards normality is still fraught with obstacles that i was trying there are just here i want to cyrus. new zealand's biggest city or clint is in lockdown after a new case of covert 19 was found there is being confirmed as the more contagious variant 1st identified in the u.k. schools and non-essential shops are shut while all but essential travel in and out the city is banned the rest of the country is still under a slightly lower level of restriction including a limit on the size of public gatherings new zealand has avoided a high number of infections by banning most foreigners and quickly imposing strict measures when community cases emerge. we have think they've been without loss of

life i covered 19 for some time but that is still the primary reason we take the strict short end shot from asia's covered kills people just recently we saw the united states market devastating milestone in tombs of the scale of lives lost in the country we must never lose sight of the reason we take these images it is to save our people's lives and to save their livelihoods let's bring in dr michael baker he's a professor of public health at the university of otago he's also a member of the new zealand government covert response advisory board he joins us from willing to michael baker welcome to al-jazeera locking down an entire city because of one case is that the right way to go. yes this is the model that new zealand's followed as part of its elimination strategy and it has been very

effective at minimizing the number of cases and you see in a number of d.s. it's also been very good karma because we've had very little time and a lot over the last year are we saying this case of the u.k. variant somehow managed to get into the country from the u.k. or is that just a label that we're applying to this particular case. well our main defense now is of course a very tight border quarantine system so to come into new zealand and we're still having more than $10000.00 people a month coming in through our border facilities but people spend 2 weeks in quarantine and have 2 or 3 cope with shifts before the allowed into the country but this system is good but it's not perfect and we have had the art ok tional small outbreaks look to the border and we assume that this current outbreak which

now includes 14 cases is related to the border somehow every case new zealand has its genome sequence examined and this cluster is a work cases of the one seed and. miriam's and that maybe we know there is more transmissible than in previous. of the virus is this another display if you will of how clever this virus is at some levels in as much as it can attach itself to somebody who in effect becomes a carrier they may or may not get sick they then go through a quarantine and a testing system they go through quarantine no symptoms nothing wrong they get tested no symptoms nothing wrong and then once they're out of quarantine they start shedding coronavirus. this possible actually what happens war often is that someone in one of these in my queue facilities that's managed by

social quantity facilities they are hotels designed for quantity they perform quite well but there are over our 2000 staff who work in those facilities they can become infected as well they have tested negative only but of course the army's human era can happen and this is happened also in the strain in other countries that are a managing quantity process so it is a challenge but the system is sustainable and we are very confident that this upgrade will be controlled with really a high level of testing and our contact tracing system which works very well now dr baker when you see your quite confident about the system how long until do you think the new zealand government takes the decision to ease restrictions perhaps ever so slightly if only to get the economy moving again. is what the model here

has been these very short sharp lock downs and i would say were offensive in days will be a reassessment and we might be in come back down to the aleut levels too little too in the index one again and it being out dominant state i mean if you really have to use it to move out these are loopholes and a little 3 is a stay at home order so it is it does have a very important dampening effect on the local economy in auckland and so no one wants to sustain this for very large but that said the positive feature of the elimination approach is that you are tune to life as usual quite rapidly after these outbreaks of controlled ok we have to leave it there dr michael baker thanks very much for joining us thanks for coming on from wellington in new zealand good to talk to the. thank you. still to come on this program donald trump is not the president anymore but his influence still looms large over republicans of the

conservative political action conference. armenia's political crisis deepens as the president refuses in order to dismiss the army's chief of staff we'll have reaction from europe. it's time for the perfect gentlemen. sponsored point qatar airways hello once again we've got a few showers in the forecast for the middle east over the next couple of days but it really is just a few by and large it looks fine and dry northern parts of saudi arabia could catch a lot shower or 2 years ago on through sunday those showers creeping up into southern areas of iraq furthermore we got some wet weather perhaps some wintry weather just around the caucasus for a time that a slide towards the caspian sea as we go on through monday night is the chance of wanted to showers there into kuwait easing across into iran winds will die down

here in doha so some pleasant sunshine temperatures at around $22.00 celsius and that pleasant sunshine stretches across the gulf of aden as the central parts of africa well really it is going to be down towards madagascar got some very heavy showers showers that into a good part of tans and there are some heavy downpours a possibility but we're still looking at some very heavy showers in and around zambia and zimbabwe that's where the focus of the main heavy rate is over the next few days that could cause some localized flooding certainly want to keep an eye on rash of showers there into central and eastern parts of south africa for a time when picking up in cape town could increase the fire risk here still we're focusing on the showers further north. at ways. these things are sick and it's time for a different approach one that is going to challenge the way you think on asking me questions now is the new host of the next season of the show that's got no space

for sound bites only comedy so let's leave simplicity to the headlines join me as i take on the lies dismantle the misconceptions and debate the contradiction. i'm mark lamont hill and it's time to get up front right here on al-jazeera. welcome back to something the top stories for you so far this half hour u.s. regulators have approved the johnson and johnson vaccine for emergency use its 1st single shot option it's around 66 percent effective at preventing the illness and a 100 percent effective in preventing hospitalization ecuador's health minister has

quit after it was found several people connected to him jumped the queue to receive early doses of vaccine is the 3rd south american health minister to go following similar scales using as big a city or bronze in lockdown today offering in case of courage 19 is found in the community schools and non-essential shops shut while all but essential travel in and out of the city is being bad. we're getting reports from ian maher of a violent crackdown on protesters there are reports of police using tear gas live fire and water cannon in several places including young gone they've arrested dozens of people students and other demonstrators supporter on to the streets to demand the end of the military coup myanmar's un ambassador meanwhile has been sacked for denouncing the military coup he made an emotional appeal to the un general assembly on friday urging the international community to quote use any means necessary to restore democracy myanmar military has this down

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 can committed by myanmar military the international community must ensure that has no place in the modern world as bound by in the un secretary-general in that regard we the committee representing our c.r.p. are the united nations the united nations security council and international community that aspired to build peaceful and civilized global society to use any means necessary to take action against them are military and to prove by thursday and security for the people of myanmar. diplomatic at its james bays says it is unclear if the ambassador will actually step down. well the ambassador would have

known what was at stake when he made those words he would of very carefully judge that he knew the the possible repercussions against his family he knew that the military would try to sack him and recall him the big question now is is he going to go is he going to give up his job or is he going to say that he is the legitimate representative of the people of myanmar and of the rulers of the country who are currently jailed it's worth reminding you that at the same general assembly session the special envoy the secretary-general special envoy on myanmar christine seana bergen said it's important the international community does not lend legitimacy or recognition to this regime so will they recognize the decision of the regime to sack the ambassador i'm sure that the military will now strand send a new ambassador that will reflect their views but which one is the united

nations going to recognize it will go to a rather obscure body part of the general assembly known as the credentials committee if there is a dispute it has 9 members interestingly among those 9 members of the u.s. is one as are china and russia which of made the point that this is largely an internal affair they will come up with a recommendation and then it will go to the general assembly for a vote so it's although the military is saying they've sacked the ambassador is not a tall clear whether he'll be losing his job or after a protective fight will actually stay in the job. saudi arabia says it's intercepted on thwarted several borne assaults by the rebels in yemen targeting the capital riyadh and other southern cities the attacks come as a new offensive escalates in the yemeni province of married inshallah ballasts. saudi arabia into 6 rockets over riyadh on saturday night were very rough to go after the omaha saudi state media say they came from yemen fired by hoofy rebels

several explosive laden drones targeted other southern saudi cities. the attack came as who the rebels pushed forward in the northern yemeni province of merab. they launched an offensive against the saudi backed yemeni government here in early february excess a day was the most violent day yet many fear front is one of the hottest war fronts since the beginning of the aggression on yemen this has been the situation since the beginning and except for a small period. after more than 6 years of war the who these more merit because it's the yemeni government's nost northern bestie and to capture it could bolster the who thinks at the negotiating table this is a very critical battle making place it looks like both sides would like to be in a stronger bargaining position and. these thoughts the problem of course

is that these short term gains there. could actually derailing you these francis' launched by the new u.s. administration. the yemeni government has issued urgent coups for the huth east to stop their offensive they warn of a humanitarian catastrophe merab is already home to the largest concentration of displaced yemenis and he's to make his 2000000 people. still the government is fighting back on saturday they reported killing 350 who the fight is in just the. cobra benefits a suicide mission. when the yemeni government urges them into the fighting it's not a sign of weakness we make these calls out of responsibility but regarding the fighting forces were fewer numbers and they were defeated. but revenge is hard to swallow when you're starving for 2 thirds of the population some 20000000 people

food is what they need the u.n. estimates 400000 children under 5 are severely malnourished and that they are in their last weeks and months both sides say the opposite putting civilians at risk and yet neither stop shelling shallop al-jazeera. armenia's president serzh refusing to fire the country's top general even though the prime minister has publicly called for his dismissal nicol pasha accuses the military of attempting to use face growing calls to step down since november robin for a stay walker reports now from europe. the pressure is growing on prime minister nicole pressure with the president on saturday refusing to sign his letter dismissing the head of the armed forces saying it was unconstitutional for the opposition it's a sign things are going their way and a good one would you hand

a letter salute the decision of the president our people are standing with the army that the army is standing with the people and now the president of the republic stands with the army. the opposition accuses nicole of treachery over his handling of the war over to go to cairo by. the peace deal he signed in november ceded huge territory to azerbaijan at the cost of over $3.00 and a half 1000 armenian lives and the war isn't the only reason why many armenians have lost faith in nicole pushing the promises he made when he came to power 3 years ago remain unfulfilled that was easy expectation that only his state months will allowed to arrest or corruption there's or may judges on a stand that professional but no practical efforts were done for that people so that is nobody is really punished for misdoings

they they they lose their optimist and trust in possibility of the progress of the country with pushing on as a leader on. the street protests demanding mr passion yan's resignation have been bolstered by support from the army generals the church and now the president of the republic. the prime minister's response on saturday evening was to return the decree dismissing the head of the armed services back to the president asking him again to sign the documents or take the matter to the constitutional court. sunday is the final day of the us conservative political action conference on the most anticipated speaker is the last speaker the former president donald trump it'll be his 1st major appearance since he left office he is expected to make a pitch for

a bitterly divided republican party to unite behind him john hendren story from the conference in orlando florida so thank you feedback thank you for being here this is not the republican party that party is it war with itself one part the moderates are hoping to move into a post trump era the conservative political action conference is home to the other half proudly pro trump activists and would you vote for president again in a heartbeat most people look at president trump and they think i don't like the way he looks i don't like the way he sounds they don't look past that they don't look at the policies and i follow him based on policy moderates need not apply not here former vice president mike pence senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and congresswoman liz cheney all moderates who have disappointed trump you know anything into the heart of the stars of sea-tac or trump stalwarts like former secretary of state mike pompei oh

a potential 2024 presidential contender who sounds like he's running against president joe biden already in the last few months we've been called clowns and deplorable zoo and ignorant rednecks. because the evil resistance the new york times think i'm the worst secretary of state of all time but i'm proud of our fight and i'm proud of our accomplishments and that we have truly been the status quo. and then there's a house republican leader kevin mccarthy who's made no secret where his allegiance lies in the party's divide it was forgotten man and woman that donald trump listened to the voice that no one else would listen to and we're never going to forget that people are those people and that's what we're focused on trump memorably announced his long shot bid for the presidency at the end of an escalator donald trump speech to see packed his 1st major address since leaving the white house is his most intensive pated since he took that escalator ride into history outside of c. pack the former president's visit his drawn both supporters. and detractors

. but inside see packed there's little doubt who the attendees favor for the presidency in 2024 john hendren al jazeera orlando. this is down to 0 these are the top stories the u.s. has approved a 3rd qubit 19 banks seen its food and drug administration has given emergency approval to the one developed by johnson and johnson and like those already in use it only requires one shot for inoculation 4000000 doses already to be shipped on monday the f.d.a. has just announced emergency use authorization of a 3rd a backseat for america this was made by you and sent also called john.