but one man's perseverance is transforming her community women make change on al-jazeera. as we examine the u.s. each week in the war. on a. new u.s. sanctions send russia a message about both the treatment of kremlin critic alexina valmy and their broader relationship. i'm 40 bacteria watching al-jazeera live from doha also ahead france changes course its government says people above the age of 65 can now receive the astra zeneca kovi 1000 vaccine 279 schoolgirls have been released in northern nigeria after

being kidnapped by gunmen on friday. and police in myanmar fire at protesters as neighboring countries hold talks with the military to find a way out of the crisis. the end. u.s. president joe biden has made his 1st major move against russia has imposed sanctions on russian officials and businesses in response to the poisoning and jailing of alexei navalny the kremlin critic was for years and with a nerve agent know the chalk in august and arrested when he returned to moscow after receiving treatment in germany and speak to a white house correspondent kimberly how could so can be the 1st sanctions by the biden administration talk getting russia what more do we know about these actions as sanctions and who are they talking. now we're learning more about the sanctions

the background call held with reporters in it what we were told by senior administration officials is in fact that there will be a number of russian officials that will be sanctioned 7 in total in fact that there are senior members of the russian government but their names still not known we also know that these sanctions will include businesses and one enterprise $14.00 and $1.00 to be exact now the reason the united states is putting this in place is for for a number of reasons overall what we're hearing is that for the destabilizing actions of russia in the broader region and around the world but we also know that this is being done in close coordination with allies as the by the administration promised that this would be done in consultation with the european union who also put in a small number of sanctions very recently and this is being done not just for the jailing of the poisoning of the russian opposition leader alexina volley but also

you'll recall that case where there were a number of u.s. agencies that were hacked this is also something that we expect further actions by this administration in response to that so again this represents the 1st biden administration action against moscow the relationship so next like it's going to be very different company than under the trump administration. quite a different tone in fact you have to remember joe biden has only been in office for a few weeks in terms of the action that he's taking it is very specific strategic and we expect that there will be more actions in the future and what makes this such a contrast is that we saw in the previous trump administration a reluctance by donald trump to an anyway speak out against russia you remember that helsinki summit and the fact that u.s. intelligence agencies had concluded that russia had interfered in the 2016 u.s.

election to benefit donald trump but there was a failure by the u.s. president to confront lattimer putin the russian leader so i in the midst of this reluctance we also saw that there was also no sort of punitive action against russia for the bounty as they were placed on american soldiers by russia in afghanistan so a very different tone still unclear why the u.s. president donald trump was keeping his relationship so different from what we're seeing from joe biden as he says to strike a different tone with his presidency and america's relationship with the russian leader khamenei how can the white house thank you company. well russia's foreign minister has said his country will respond to the u.s. sanctions he's cast doubt on annexing of ani's poisoning but didn't mention the clinic by name city actually to when all those who treated him thoroughly hide all the facts which could help to understand what happened and in parallel instead of

honest collaboration and not hiding they start to punish us this doesn't bring any credit to those who take decisions and will surely respond well for more on how russia will be responding to these new u.s. sanctions let's speak to dmitri babich was a political analyst at the russian state news agency. said no yeah he joins us from moscow thank you very much for being with us mr babich 1st of all let me ask you whether this will change the fate of alexina me at all no it won't change fareed because he was sentenced by the alter of you not to serve his term and certainly these actions by the us will not have any effect on russia. especially if you take into account the fact that actually the. trade between russia and your united states is very small sanctions from the european union would be a march more harmful. so far they were limited to just several people who are.

accused of being involved in the whole of his case they're not going to have a serious impact on the corner so russia has not been protesting too much against these sanctions or the european you're going on that or of course they're much more important than the sanctions or the united states but when you add the sanctions from the u.s. and the sanctions from the european union it might become a bit too much for russia we heard say there that they will be a response what sort of response can we expect from moscow. well most likely a russian. or so in paul's personal sanctions on the people in the u.s. government it's not revealed which ones just like the u.s. government does not reveal which people in the russian government pursue your basically we know that it will be done according to the so-called market needs act which is basically illegal because money's a loss of the u.s.

government and now all but some of the e.u. countries also all of these monkeys care it allows the governments to punish people without court decisions basically people. they're not even not you 5. and their properties confiscated and their freedom of mormon is limited they cannot enter western countries so this is of course a very illegal i would say action which was against the principles of western society. so it gives it just makes further damage to the image of the west in russia but that which has already been damaged so many times right and some would argue that it's arresting an opposition leader in russia doesn't really do good to russia's image but let me ask you about the relationship with the united states joe biden certainly signaling that he lacked very differently than donald trump did when it comes to dealing with moscow so how does the kremlin now view this

relationship the ties with washington undivided how does it see it evolving. well actually if you look at the real picture mr trump was march a ruler and a much more course with russia than mr by the mr biden is just the insult you know president verb and you know if you made that terrible speech at the munich conference where he didn't even mention the fact that what you meant which one is the president he just said bolton is you know undermining our institutions so that's just the rudeness but it's a verbal rudeness problem cause ruled in the sense that he imposed on russia and heard of sanctions you know this counter and america said versus them sanctions act act cut so is unprecedented because it empowered the u.s. government to basically buy all the russian officials and on the rich businessmen and russia from their families so i think mr trump was much tougher on russia so far the news to bite them but they're never different that western media is

completely false they do you claim in that trunk or somehow connected to khujand that you can count trump come to power and then trump for you to scold who can call that i can't imagine how would prompt scald who can in helsinki for helping him prop come to power just saying something like stop telling me that i want thanks to you i want thanks to you but don't do it next time so it would be just you know because if mr trump behaved as the new york times want that him to be he might but in general of course this is a very unfortunate situation because russia would like to broaden its relations with the united states and the european union but certainly not at the cost of letting someone like nirvana who was declared guilty by the russian not for political actions but because he was a crook he's in jail russia will not lead to let the group out of jail even under sanctions that he's from russia and that you know the russian government thank you very much i missed the bodies for speaking to us from moscow thank you for your time and you. the covert 1000

pandemic now in france's health minister says people above the age of 65 with health complications are now eligible to take. over 1000 vaccine france had wrist strict of the vaccines used because data on its effect on older people was limited people older than 75 will be given doses of pfizer and natasha is in paris with more. the french government have a huge public relations problem on their hands because for the past few months the french government of been warning against the astrovan vaccine for over 60 five's and suddenly now they're having to try and convince that slice of the population that the vaccine is safe and even though they might say that many people in france already there's high skepticism in france about vaccines can be very difficult to kind of convince many people that there is new darter and that it makes it safe now

for this astra zeneca vaccine to be used by that is exactly what the government's trying to do in fact the person has been put in charge of the french vaccine rollout program professor alan fischer has actually said that the bad press that this vaccine has received over the last few months in european union as it is is pretty devastating and it is important that people know that this vaccine is a safe so i think that it's clear that the governments are going to have a lot of work on their hands and particularly it's important for them that they get this message across because of the moment you have a population in france of nearly 70000000 people and only one we're not half a 1000000 people have received the full 2 doses they know that they have a lot of vaccines to administer and it was recently reported using health french health ministry statistics that there are about well over a 1000000 astra zeneca doses of been delivered to france but only a quarter of them have been administered in part because of the bad press that this

vaccine has been given. my geria has received its 1st over 1000 vaccines to the global kovacs sharing scheme nearly 4000000 astra zeneca jobs arrived in its capital on tuesday health care and frontline workers will be the 1st to be inoculated as the 3rd west african country to benefit from the u.n. sponsored program nigeria expects to receive 16000000 doses. and saying in nigeria 279 schoolgirls kidnapped more than 4 days ago in the north have been freed as students of a government run school in the state of regain their freedom after days of intense negotiations reports in some far state. they arrived at dawn limped their way into the office of the governor exhausted and some too sick to work. they have served meals in an office where normally cabinet meetings are held

with their 1st decent meals in days they gathered strength to tell us what happened . they drove us like animals some of us were falling and getting injured they made us trek for 2 to 3 hours and spent the 1st 2 days in the camp they pushed us forward threatening to kill anyone who refused to move despite the blisters on our feet they forced us to walk further into we reach the 2nd and then the 3rd camp. the 279 students are kidnapped while they were sleeping in their boarding school dormitories in the town of jungle in circumstances similar to the book or a kidnapping of more than 270 goes into work into into 14. this man a former bandage says he left several others to help bring the ghost back. we met and told them we came in peace to leave with the girls who for no fault of theirs found themselves in such

a situation they also spoke about their grievances and why they took the girls it was a long difficult process full of tension but we also came ready and prepared for the unforeseen. the goes have now been taken to a secure location for medical examinations before they have reunited with their families. but that hasn't stopped excited parents like the one who's managed to get close to where they are. and my joy is indescribable i called my wife to tell her the girls are back i haven't seen my daughter but i'm relieved she's back in the past 4 days now we can afford to eat sleep and smile the governor of them for a state has offered amnesty to gunmen who sat and insists dialogue with the bandits will continue despite the pitfalls. we are now fighting. for the government. so we're going to continue with the course not all of them that

. we used to. leisurely thursday. night because nobody can be able to get the kidnapping of these goes on friday came hours before the release of another set of students kidnapped in central nigeria there's one for attack is a 6 mosque or kidnapping in northern nigeria in recent years for the girls back attention is now shifting to the future of education with schools continuously being targeted especially in northern part of nigeria there are fears that the region the highest rate of poverty may fall even farther behind it's not clear if these goals will have the courage to return to school or even if their parents allow them to return but for now they're happy to enjoy their freedom hoping the government will do more to protect them. at the crease. nigeria. and still ahead on al-jazeera a manikins for customers the restaurant owners in the netherlands who are defying

coronavirus restrictions. for the perfect. sponsored point qatar airways how i once again we've got some quotes weather now pushing across japan we've had a fair bit of rain and some snow coming through on this particular weather system but it is making its way for a tightly packed ice about say quite a brisk northerly wind to freshen up will see temperatures at around 13 celsius for tokyo then on a wednesday afternoon fine and dry across the korean peninsula southerly winds here 10 degrees celsius also into beijing a much drier weather across a good part of northern china but push a little further south you can see we have got some showers coming in here and they are gathering there pushing up towards at least the side of china running across

shanghai into the east china sea south korea will see some wet weather by thursday and it will eventually just not its way over towards southern parts of japan not so many showers across south asia at the moment it is largely funded through a little bit a fair weather cloud into central areas thick enough clout to produce one or 2 well wintry flowers around the foothills of the himalayas and may see a shower to into past the pole maybe over towards bhutan as we go through the next day or so but the roots tending to just not a little further east with temperatures doing quite nicely still very much on the warm side over the next couple of days that poor will see temperatures at 38 celsius when other found heights. sponsible qatar airways. a tamil journalist in search of a missing colleague stops at nothing to bring his story to the public. and sri lanka press freedoms are under threat. and some stories can only be told by those

who will not compromise on the truth. news from just one part of the viewfinder asia series on al-jazeera. orbit. or. the as. they're watching al-jazeera a recount of the top stories u.s. president joe biden has imposed sanctions on russian officials and businesses related to the poisoning and jailing of kremlin critic alexy these are the 1st u.s. sanctions against. russia from the biden and ministration vonnie was poisoned with a nerve agents will be charged in august and arrested when he returned to moscow.

france's health minister says people above the age of 65 with health complications are now eligible to take the astra zeneca covered 1000 vaccine had restricted the vaccines used because data on its effect on the older people was limited and 279 schoolgirls kidnapped in northwestern nigeria have been released the government took them from a state one school in is on fire state on friday this is a mates this in a series of abductions in the breach. of. security forces in myanmar cracking down further on protesters 2 days after the bloodiest day yet since the military code there reports live rounds were fired in the northwestern town of cali jessica washington reports. in the streets of yemen gone peaceful protesters remain determined even in the face of force. many of them war hard hats and trying to protect themselves with makeshift barricades.

ok find a street to fight against. this footage shows police firing into demonstrators. in the country's north west several people were injured when police used water cannon and. as the attacks on peaceful demonstrations contin. you mean must neighbors in southeast asia held their 1st meeting since the military care. the talks were held virtually and behind closed doors indonesia is the largest democracy in southeast asia and has been at the forefront of the push for asio to help resolve the crisis in me and indonesia's foreign minister acknowledges that while noninterference isn't shined in the us the un charter so too is a commitment to peace stability and good got the. indonesian foreign

minister said her country is very concerned about the violence in man. it can it's worrisome because an increasing number of civilians have lost their lives or injured. singapore's prime minister joined those calling for the release of man was a democratically elected leader to a rest go on songs flukey yes well that's the ministers and the president and charge them with. walkie talkie or francis and things like that i don't think that's going to help solve the problem malaysia's foreign ministry said the resolution to what it called a political deadlock must be a domestic led process experts say on theone must come up with a plan rather than reflecting on whether it should or should not be part of the solution as. expected and must in the center of all i. place

the democratic and we. must be at the. un member states trying to decide what they can do to resolve this crisis a battle with highest stakes is playing out on the streets jessica washington al-jazeera jakarta. to the u.s. now where the director of the f.b.i. is accusing those who stormed capitol hill on january 6th of domestic terrorism christopher raise appearing before a u.s. senate committee and his promising to hold those responsible accountable let's speak to those on capitol hill following this hearing for forests alan so this is the latest hearing about what happened on january 6th tell us more about what the f.b.i. director said softly. and of course the 1st time i've heard in any detail from christopher reeve the f.b.i. director 1st time actually has given evidence to the senate for

a few months and the 1st time since the insurrection on january the 6th he made it clear that he views the events on january the 6th here it weeks to the day as a violent insurrection of domestic terrorism is how he described it saying it was an attempt to overturn the constitutional work of the government here in the united states he was asked whether or not there were people from the far left organization the anti fascist group and involved he said there was no evidence of that at all something that republicans have suggested to seeing that people infiltrated the ranks of trump supporters to carry out what happened here on the hill he said that they're still looking at the evidence but they have nothing to suggest that's the case what is interesting is that christopher ray says the number of domestic terrorism cases has certainly increased the noise involving white supremacists have gone up by triple since he came into office early in the trump administration it's interesting too that there are some republicans who are trying to suggest that

there is an equivalency between what happened here on capitol hill and some of the scenes that we saw in over the summer people protesting with black lives matter christopher he hasn't addressed that he said that there is still an issue what will be interesting to see is if he says he's going to direct more resources to the domestic threat because we know that back in 21000 senior f.b.i. figures said at the moment it's about 80 to 20 when it comes to dealing with the threat from international against domestic and certainly christopher reeve is suggesting that the threat of domestic terrorism is growing lindsey graham who's a republican suggested that it is perhaps time to designate certain groups as domestic terrorists and call them out as that they would change the whole legal definition for many groups he suggested the klu klux klan the probe. boys and and to for as well chris for research that was something really that legislators had to consider not something that he thinks would actually help the fight against

domestic terrorism but this is christopher reeve giving some details to how the f.b.i. has been directing operations since after january the 6th and we knew there would be more than $300.00 arrests all individuals at the moment but we know the f.b.i. is expanding that to look to see whether or not some of these individuals were working together if there was a coordinated attack on the capitol and that of course brings the much more serious offense of conspiracy allan thank you very much for that alan fischer live for us on capitol hill. at 2 americans accused of helping orchestrate the escape of former nissan chairman carlos go and have landed in japan a u.s. federal judge ordered the extradition of michael taylor and his son peter taylor just a month ago they're believed to have helped go on flee from japan to lebannon on a private jet in 2019 go on was accused of financial crimes and was out on bail in tokyo he denies the charges against him. the lebanese pound has hit

a record low against the u.s. dollar sparking protests across lebanon is yet another symptom of the country's deepening economic crisis there's also anger about extended power cuts caused by a shortage of government funds that went on has been without a functioning fully functioning cabinet since outgoing premier has resigned in the wake of a devastating explosion in beirut port last year. germany is said to extend its national corner virus lockdown until march 28th but some restrictions will be eased earlier chancellor angela merkel will discuss options with the leaders of the federal states on wednesday the country's been under lockdown since november it has so far reported more than 2000000 cases and at least 70000 deaths in the netherlands meanwhile thousands of restaurant and cafe owners in to southern cities are preparing to open their doors in defiance of a lockdown jobs and restaurants were closed in october since then the dutch government imposed more restrictions to control the spread of

a new more contagious called the 1000 variant but some business owners intel burke and breda say they have had enough and will open up doors terraces they face a threat of launch fi it's said vos and has been to the 2 dutch cities that are defying the lockdown and has more as if there's no covert pandemic people have been gathering here in the city this is a part of the south of holland where during the 1st wave of the covert pandemic there were lots of infections and also many people have died here but people and especially business owners are fed up with the lock down with a call for restrictions so they decided to go fight government regulations and just simply open up their terrace has there been serving drinks here until police came to a lot of people gathering police ordered them to leave but there's still the fire and got nothing to lose. it's really nothing to do anymore after 6 months close. last year to have. we don't have any lifting solution you

probably have to pay $4.00 into a fine so in the u.k. . then this is going to open then this is going to open that school open for the whole of it stays quiet this is still a city in the south of the novel and known for its cafes bars and restaurants people like to go out here and if you looked. from a distance it may look like it's crowded here at this terrace but in reality the business owner didn't want to risk a large fine of $4000.00 euros and decided to put my mic in dollars here a symbolic protest against the fact that the government decided to reopen some businesses. and here press us but restaurants cafes and bars remain shocked. if you can close for medical reasons. or give us a chance to prove again and again that we can do it in a safeword these protests have not only been taking place here in the south of the netherlands but also in other towns shops have opened also to defy government

regulations mayors have been putting pressure on the government ministers to be more lenient to give businesses more opportunities but the government insists that this is still needed also this evening curfew will be maintained until infections will go down. court has adjourned the 2nd hearing of $47.00 pro-democracy activists who are facing subversion charges under international security law defendants have complained of exhaustion during proceedings that on monday went on for 15 hours so far 5 of them have felt unwell and were taken to hospital the court has to decide whether they'll remain in jail or be released on bail before the trial they're accused of participating in an unofficial election primary for the territory's legislature. u.s. and canadian diplomats have praised the quality of pineapples grown in taiwan the show of support for the self-loading island comes after china abruptly imposed

a name port ban on pineapples born in taiwan citing harmful creatures in the fruit i want the government has urged locals to buy more of the food to cushion the blow from farm for farmers before the ban china bought 90 percent of find out balls that were exported from the island when used as always on our website at al-jazeera dot com the very latest on all of our top stories on the al-jazeera dot com. the end this is al jazeera and these are top stories u.s. president joe biden has imposed sanctions on russian officials and businesses related to the poisoning and jailing of alexina vania kremlin critic was poisoned with a nerve agents know the chalk in august and arrested when he returned to moscow russia's foreign minister says his country will respond to the sanctions and cast doubt on the next in of honest.