to challenge conventional wisdom. hope for the future the ivory coast goes to the polls for its limits really. march on al-jazeera. former french president nicolas sarkozy is convicted of corruption and faces one year in prison we'll have the latest from paris. but al this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up u.n. experts call for an international investigation into the poisoning of russian opposition leader alexey novelli say the government was likely responsible.

chaotic scenes on the streets of me in my last post the the insults and she faces new charges. harrowing tales from civilians caught up in the conflict in ethiopia is nor the 2 great region. of course in france is found former president nicolas sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling the judges had it's a cozy a 3 year prison sentence 2 of which are suspended the 66 year old is the 2nd leader in france's modern history to be convicted of corruption. there is live for us at the court and paris the run us through what exactly he's been found guilty of and does this mean that we're going to see a former president now heading to prison. yes

nicolas sol cozy becoming the 1st former french president to be handed a jail sentence he was found guilty by the court here in paris of corruption and influence peddling and he's been handed a 3 year jail sentence so we understand 2 years suspended 38 he may be able to carry out under house arrest now glorious for nicolas sarkozy say that he does intend to appeal this case of a focus on the instant in 2014 in which sarkozy was charged with trying to influence a magistrate trying to offer this magistrate a top job in return for information into another investigation which was being carried out at the time by police on nicolas sarkozy over campaign funds now nicolas sarkozy during the trial was protested his innocence he said that that he had been the victim of a political smear campaign but it seems that the judge in paris disagreed handing

out this jail sentence a devastating blow indeed to nicolas sarkozy so what then might this mean natasha for suck cozies political ambitions. also because he served as president of france a conservative president from 2007 to 2012 but since he left office since he left the least say he has really been might say trying to stage a political comeback in 2017 even ran once again for the presidency and over the years he certainly tried to position himself as a hope for the conservative party but as for another presidential election campaign but you'd have to say that this guilty verdict certainly will deal a blow to those ambitions it would be hard to imagine that a former president with now a jail sentence to contend with could possibly take the center stage once again politically so very disappointing for sol cosey his reputation in tatters you might

say but as i said the former french leader making very clear that he will appeal ok thank you for that natasha live for us at the court in paris u.n. human rights experts are calling for an international investigation into the poisoning of kremlin critic alexina valley developer was poisoned with nerve agent last year he was later arrested jailed by russian police for a parole violation which happened while he was recovering in germany u.n. experts and to our income believe the russian government may have been responsible and that a domestic investigation will not uncover the truth let's pick another andrew simmons joining us from staffordshire in the u.k. andrew what is the un said so far what else is the un said so far and what else might we expect. well 1st up this inquiry by agnes cullen marge and irene carr has been pretty intensive and

the conclusion has been that this was a sinister warning put out by the kremlin that anyone who criticized it in any form of tickly like aleksei not only will face serious action and that is really what they're saying they want an international inquiry to be started on the goings on on the whole fact that it was very likely as they put it that k.g.b. agents were tracking. and were close to him over a long period of time and so it would really be far fetched to expect anything other than this attempt on his life now they say conclusively that not a chalk of the nerve agent of the former soviet union had developed was involved that the whole series of tests by germany sweden and other countries and the

authorities concerned with nerve agents and it determined that this was a novel sort of not a chalk only the russians could have actually developed this and he very nearly died he escaped to germany he was flown out to germany where he's received treatment in the critical care unit of a hospital and recovered there that was when samples were taken of the nerve agent from his his body there were traces of this nerve agent so now what this report is going to do is call for international action an international investigation no way will they accept internal investigations which the russians say have been going on ok and it has been talk of sanctions against russia what are you hearing on that front. well an awful lot of source has told the news agency is that the e.u.

is poised possibly within the next 24 hours to announce targeted sanctions against 4 justice officials one of them a director of prisons and this is a technique the e.u. into has more or less inferred it would use it would target sanctions rather than come up with a carte blanche sanctions against the kremlin now this could be one of several moves the e.u. will take a forward to this was early some meeting of a tween the head of the e.u. use diplomacy and indeed the foreign minister of russia in moscow which was a frosty occasion and no doubt whatsoever the threat was made by the e.u. at that stage that some form of action would be taken in the way of sanctions so expect more on this in the next 24 to 48 hours but that the other aspect is what the international community as a whole do about what's happening now it could be sure that the u.n.

will stay on the case and putting pressure on russia and indeed after this report it will seem very likely indeed furthermore that the big question is what how the russians will respond to this they've been saying throughout that they've got every right it's their right to to exercise just as they denied point blank that not only what there was any attempt on his life novelli says it's open and shut he accuses of the kremlin indeed the president of russia of executing the orders for the murder now if you'll remember the novelli extraordinarily went back to moscow after really after recovering from this alleged attack and was taken straight into jail by by the by prosecutors are on what what novell. he describes as trumped up charges he has now been he's now actually

serving a sentence of more than 2 and a half years some reports that he may have been moved to a labor prisoner labor camp prison to the east of moscow that hasn't been confirmed yet but yes he spoke out very very defiantly in court before he was sentenced for these offenses thank you for that address them and their across the mountains from staffordshire. now you know thank you general integrity this is speaking now to help raise funds for yemen it's a yemen donor conference let's take a lesson from yemen we must equal and so bust the levels of funding we had in 2008 the. busiest we need city point $85000000000.00 us dollars to support $16000000.00 yemenis on the brink of catastrophe i'm all done notes to fund our people generously to stop femen engulfing the country every dollar counts

the funding you provide to the yemeni military response plan the central emergency response fund or the country based board funds will make an enormous and concrete difference in many cases the difference between life and death united nations family and our partners across yemen are ready to scale up a the operations delivering aid in yemen is challenging but you meditate in workers are up to the challenge throughout last year the united nations agencies and our partners help more than 10000000 people each months working in every one of yemenis so young and so these are these things i urge all parties once again to heave the required amount of international humanitarian law to facilitate rapid anyone be that humanitarian access. the assistance you pledged very will not only prevent the spread of famine and save lives you do not create the conditions for lasting peace

frank you should groan. ok well that was the un secretary general there antonio patella speaking at a donor conference. trying to raise funds for yemen for humanitarian assistance in yemen they are some $3840000000.00 short let's speak to our diplomatic editor james phase our who is at the united nations standing by for us james so just explain to us exactly what the u.n. is asking for. a huge amount of money for what they say is a massive problem they say there is a famine looming in yemen the 2nd the general before you joined him just there said the race is on if we want to prevent hunger and starvation from take millions of lives it's impossible to overstate the severity of the suffering in yemen they're talking about 20000000 people needing humanitarian assistance and of those 16000000

on the verge of famine you remember back in 2018 they warned of a famine then they managed to get money from the international community they managed to feed people and stop that famine but they are deeply concerned now about the situation particularly as their appeal for 2020 last years appeal was very heavily underfunded and that's why we have now this appeal under way. the u.n. is convening this along with you can see the swiss minister speaking now and the swedes as well those 3 countries or those 3 bodies 2 countries in the u.n. involved in trying to raise this money they will be appealing to all of the countries in the world all of the 193 members and i tell you they'll be particularly appealing to those in the region the gulf countries because early on it was members of the coalition which had been bombing yemen which also gave the majority of money to help the humanitarian situation notably saudi arabia u.a.e.

and kuwait but in last year 2020 their contribution was much reduced pressure on them i think to try and go back to a much higher level of funding james the obviously wars ravaged yemen creating this humanitarian catastrophe where are we at with the u.n. mediation effort. well in some ways you can look at it positively and some negatively the negative side is that the fighting does continue and there isn't. an offensive right now by the who theories on the city of matter and that is concerning the u.n. about what might happen there on the wider diplomatic front perhaps a little bit of good news the u.n. special envoy martin gryphus has been touring the region he has i'm told been surprised in tehran and riyadh that both those 2 capitals these the

saudis and the iranians were not aware that the other was it was looking more favorably on the situation and the idea of peace so some prospect there and remember that the other key thing that's happened in the last just over a month is a new u.s. administration which is taking yemen very seriously has appointed a new special envoy so some positives but clearly the big negative is this a looming famine that they're hoping if they get the money they can avert but they're deeply concerned. ok james bays there at the united nations thank you. efforts to salvage the 2050 nuclear deal between iran and major world powers have stalled the white house says it's disappointed iran has ruled out informal discussions with its european allies iran's foreign ministry says it's too soon to return to the negotiating table to iran wants the u.s. to make the 1st move by lifting its economic sanctions the u.n. nuclear watchdog is holding

a meeting in vienna with iran's nuclear activities one of the topics to be discussed here is some of what the i.a.e.a. chief had to say a short time ago. my appeal to all is to to have constructive discussions and to preserve the work of the agency for me that is important of course there will always be opinions on what the impact of what is going on i dis at this point in time there are many things influencing us you know the if you run the should i consider patients there at the capitals there is this process days d.j. sheepy or a process of course people will have views on how one thing impacts the other like a. scope still ahead on al-jazeera the philippines rolls out its cover 19 vaccination program but many don't trust the jabs on offer. spanish police raid the offices of f.c.

barcelona and make several arrests. however the weather man is pretty warm across the tokyo at the moment but we have got a change on the way over the next couple of days big area of cloud rain sleet add yes some snow coming in through the sea of japan canary of low pressure here some cooler air tucked in behind and that's going to not just way further east which is we go through the next southerly winds in tokyo lifting temperatures to around 19 degrees celsius but you hop across mt fuji to the other side of the country you can see a fair bit of snow rolling in his we go on through the next couple days that wet snow disruptive snow will come through so the thing that could bring down power lines or tree branches that extend south into northern parts of japan but dry weather does

come back in behind and that's something to look forward to so you move into the middle part of the way because that old from the little father reese was it will freshen up in japan 13 celsius there for tokyo but by this stage it should be largely fine and dry expect a rapid thaw there will be some showers there across southern parts of china will be some showers too into parts of india particular was the final thing is just around will tell where we have a little bit of cloud and rain here but for the most part south asia looks fine and dry over the next couple of days and on the warm side temperatures quite readily into the low thirty's. but. to use their own. case were. compensated. we listen to the only music you hear is your own the most beautiful music in the world we meet with news makers the stories the on the edges

their own. be the hero world. washing. what the in the the in. your geologist there a reminder of our top stories this hour of course in france is found former president nicolas sarkozy guilty of corruption he was also convicted on charges of influence peddling the charges handed him a 3 year prison sentence 2 of which are suspended. un human rights experts are calling for an international investigation into the poisoning of kremlin critic alexina fell the development was poisoned with norma chopped nerve agent last year

un experts agnes callahan and irene khan believe the russian government may have been responsible. the u.n. secretary general is appealing for support from the world to help starving yemenis turn it with terrorists as a political solution is necessary to end the war famine has yet to be declared in the country but the u.n. warns it is close. less than 24 hours after me and miles most violent day since its military coup prosecutors have filed 2 new criminal charges against opposing the unc sounds too cheap it was the 1st time she was seen in public since her detention a month ago she appeared in court through a video link across major cities security forces are increasing their crackdown on protesters but people remain defiant has got harder. messages for general men on lang the morning after his security forces gunned down protesters on the streets of yangon sunday was the bloodiest day since the february 1st coup in myanmar and the weeks of protests that have followed. but that did not keep them inside on monday.

the police and military forces quickly advancing in yangon firing tear gas at the gathering protesters sending them running. in the early hours of the coup last month civilian leader aung sang suu kyi was detained in naperville along with most of the elected leadership of her governing and the party. for the 1st time since then she appeared in a video link in this courthouse during a hearing for the charges against her according to her lawyer she appeared to be in good health 2 additional criminal charges against on song suchi were added on monday on top of the 2 existing ones the next hearing is in 2 weeks as international pressure builds against the johnson and its increasingly violent crackdown against protesters some feel it might prompt the military to dig in deeper the worse case scenario is when you try to put a hot plate on the military. you know sometimes the outcome is not what you

expect they may. get mad and instead. followed a way that international community stand out once they do the opposite thing. he went on to say the best approach with the military is a regional war with nations myanmar is promoting with and views as allies that process is to start on tuesday when the regional block of southeast asian nations known as r c one is due to start talks on me in mar scott harder al-jazeera. $47.00 prominent activists are in court in hong kong after being charged on the beijing's controversial national security law they're curious of subversion after taking part in an unofficial election primary last year it's the largest use of the law against hong kong's pro-democracy activists. if europeans in the northern region of te grey have told al jazeera about how civilians were tortured and killed by eritrea and soldiers last year and evidence suggests eritrea did send troops when the

government's offensive began last november despite its denials shall about its reports. this. 18 year olds know lisa is traumatized by one day the 4th of december it was then she says in retrain soldiers into her village in the ethiopian region of 2 green should stay. but they tried to rape me and i was thrown to the ground and then one of the soldiers fired bullets to scare me but they hit my hand and then fired another bullet that went through my arm. i was bleeding for hours then i had my arm amputated. al-jazeera has gained ria access to to gray and heard from witnesses who say they suffered a pierces that could amount to war crimes but at the hands of every train not ethiopian soldiers. some girls and i managed to leave the village but on the road

we were caught by eritrean soldiers more than 10 soldiers took turns raping us in november ethiopian prime minister and launched into strikes and seen fit to route troops into to great saying he was responding to attacks by the to grain people's liberation front witnesses say eritrean forces crossed the border to support the ethiopian military and while here committed egregious crimes committed nagen i do i just wish that al-jazeera convey our message and my cowboys who we demand the exit of iraq trying forces from our country. you're a trained soldiers deny even being into gray yet al-jazeera obtained these images showing trucks with eritrean license plates integrate caring soldiers and misty international also released a report stating hundreds of civilians were massacred by eritrean soldiers in the

town of exham in november the image. of the street the rifles. ethiopia's government has questions the accuracy of amnesty sources but says an investigation will be launched. as information slowly seeps out survivors live with their truth every day. my husband was killed in our village along with a lot please go tell them well we are dying. by their accounts at the hands of soldiers who deny every entering this land shall a ballasts. chad's main opposition candidate saleh is withdrawing from the upcoming presidential election on sunday another opposition candidate a former rebel leader general bitching said the presidential guard killed his

family members in a raid on his home the government says his whereabouts are unknown and they will prosecute him for the attempted murder of officers who are trying to arrest him betty had submitted his candidacy for april's elections on friday president deb it is seeking a 6th term. the e.u. is set to unveil plans for a digital vaccine passport later this month a year commission president a servant alliance says draft legislation will be ready soon a digital system to confirm a person's vaccination status could be essential to lifting travel restrictions within the region states like greece and cyprus have already created a travel bubble by recognizing each other's back saying that if it gets done mccain has more from berlin. what ursula funder line is talking about today is the result of what was talked about by e.u. heads of government heads of state last week in the virtual conference digital summit that took place in brussels this idea of what sort of underline are calls

a digital green pass effectively a vaccine certificate or passport that would allow the person with the certificate to travel from one place to another and not necessarily have to go into quarantine or some form of lockdown thereafter effectively the person would have to be able to prove one of 3 things either that they had had a vaccination both vaccinations and therefore han't could prove that they had to jump or that they could prove the result of a very recent p.c.r. test for covert or in the 3rd instance that they had recovered from covert in the recent past and therefore would have some degree of immunity now are sort of underlying says that all of this will be done with data protection in mind so that no individual's sensitive medical private personal data. could be mis used.

and the u.s. deliveries of the johnson and johnson vaccine are underway but being loaded up at a distribution center in kentuckian from there they'll be found around the country johnson and johnson is the 3rd vaccine to be given the green light in the u.s. and the only one that's delivered in a single dose. this is the culmination of more than a year of day and night efforts on the part of our physicians our scientists or engineers to have a safe effective single shot common refrigeration vaccine available for for patients here but for people around the world. the philippines has rolled out its 1st cover 19 vaccination program health care workers and manila were among the 1st to get doses of the sign of that tab it has been a below reports many awaiting for other vaccines. filipino health care workers had been expecting the arrival of covert 1000 vaccines for months the philippines was the only country in southeast asia that hadn't vaccinated a single citizen but the wait is finally over only with asking for

a that's in never seen so before they go quickly to be the 1st. to miss out become having been dating make up does be done next bit that they takes on the 9 or 5. ost government hospital staff had shown a willingness to take the shots in surveys conducted internally but that anticipation waned after it became clear they wouldn't be getting the pfizer or astra zeneca chips it's a huge day for the philippines to be rolling out with $1000.00 vaccines after months of delays but many health care workers here are resisting they say they don't trust the only option that's being offered to them for now. the only back seem to have arrived in the philippines is crawling back from china 6 public hospitals in the capital manila were the 1st recipients but only a small number of their employees have signed up under the department of the food

and drug administration and the department the past had said it isn't for health workers who are exposed to the bias every day so this would be back soon with a higher if. this reluctance by medical workers adds to the public's hesitancy to get back sedated that's largely because of the recent controversy about a vaccine against dengue fever the government had to suspend its specs a nation campaign using that then back to job after concerts about its serious side effects. officials have said repeatedly though the best back scene is what's available down there but the big fear him but they are. but protesting health workers see they should not have to face this dilemma farnaby law al-jazeera manila . spanish police have raided the offices of the barcelona football club and made several arrests among those reportedly detained is the comms former president

just said maria. seen on the left the operation is related to a scandal last year club officials were accused of launching a smear campaign on social media against some of its own players who were critical of the club's leadership. this knowledge there and these the top stories a court in france has found former president nicolas sarkozy guilty of corruption he was also convicted on charges of influence peddling the judges handed him a 3 year prison sentence 2 of which are suspended the talk about there was that those court proceedings in paris and sent us this update. for nicolas sarkozy say that he doesn't intend to appeal this case on the phone.