they were able to spread their message far beyond their call. history is far from innocent the club is sending out a warning about the rise in popularity of far right parties like the. nazis and fascists have no place in some today 'd. this is al-jazeera. hello there i'm just on the attack and this is the news hour live from our headquarters here and coming up in the next 60 minutes protesters in myanmar mourn their dead after the bloodiest day so far and vowed to continue marching against the military career. the u.n. human rights chief just ethiopia to allow monitors into the tiberi region to investigate reports of killings and sexual violence that may amount to war crime.

fears of a new threat security is a ramped up in washington d.c. and u.s. politicians cancel a session reports of a proxy breach congregants. and a new study says hundreds of thousands of coronavirus debts could have been avoided in countries that are highly obese population. and i'm here just limited to the day sports news barcelona told a difficult week behind them but between the 2 no 1st big deficit is reached the culpability final. now protesters are back on the streets across a day off the $38.00 people were killed in the west crackdown since the crew the u.n. says the actual death toll since the military took power over a month ago now may actually be much higher than reported witnesses say they saw soldiers fall. firing into crowds with the whole warning got high to report. like

thousands of others justin nicknamed angel went out to protest on the streets of mandalay on wednesday less than 24 hours later people gathered for her funeral she had been shot in the head. according to the un angel was one of 38 protesters who died at the hands of myanmar security forces the most killed in a single day since the coup on february 1st aid agency save the children says 4 of the dead were children. in yangon bodies were identified in collected by family members this neighborhood of the country's largest city saw the heaviest death toll on wednesday there are reports that security forces opened up with live ammunition on the unarmed protesters without warning. but the protesters continue to put pressure on the agenda on thursday again building barricades to block the security forces as they prepare for another day of protest young really is the former un

special rapporteur for myanmar she and 2 other experts have started a council to track the situation after the coup the behavior of the actions. i. terrorists like behaviors they have snow. and high and high rise buildings around tall buildings they aren't amy and shooting at. civilian populations is a question and she said that the international community needs to acknowledge the military's actions as being comparable to terrorism un. they should really be ashamed of what they've done we not done you know they haven't been hearing to the un charter to protect and to restore order to maintain order to secure peace in order. and the security council has have really not done

its job. she went on to say that china and russia has veto power in the un security council is obstructing action that needs to be taken in myanmar so far the council has voiced concerns but has not condemned what's happened since the coup but there will be a further test of that on friday as another security council meeting has been called to discuss the crackdown on protesters this week scott hyder al-jazeera. now hong kong court has granted bail to around a 3rd of $47.00 pro-democracy activists charged with conspiracy to commit subversion that ruling came after 4 days of marathon hearings which led to some defendants falling ill hung police have arrested exactly 100 people under that controversial national security know what beijing imposed on the city 8 months ago now. well the u.n. human rights chief has urged the ethiopian government to let monitors into t. gray to investigate reports of abuses that could amount to war crimes michelle bachelet says killings and sexual violence are reported to be ongoing in that

region ethiopia declared victory there after launching an offensive against the people's liberation front back in november well it's now speak to malcolm webb he's across this for us from nairobi malcolm obviously access to t.v. has been incredibly incredibly limited reportedly because there is a large deployment of eritrean troops there what do we know about what's going on on the ground at the moment. well in the weeks and months that followed that declaration from the government of ethiopia in early december that its military operation was over and it claimed a victory against the to graeme people's liberation front over those following weeks and months have been more reports and allegations of atrocities against all of the different sides involved in the conflict just last week the rights group amnesty international published a report it said based on dozens of testimonies. documented what it said was indiscriminate shelling of the town of axum in late november by ethiopian and they

were trained forces and a document what it said was a massacre against men and teenage boys in the town of x. by eritrean forces something that eritrea has denied and it's also previously denied its soldiers were integrated in while ethiopia's government has said that it takes these reports very seriously and has promised to investigate but access as you say has been heavily restricted just in the last couple of weeks ethiopia's government announced that it was allowing international news organizations to report in to grey following several of them reporting from the regional capital mckelway journalists and some of the translators and other people who work with them around that up by the military and arrested some of those people most those people have now been released but it still raises very serious questions about how much access really is for the press as well as his own press and the

human rights researchers who want to be able to document the things that are going on and not going there is also i believe a real fear about broad scale food shortages including potentially leading up to famine and allegations that troops have been trying to starve out populations i mean access as we said everything thing is in very limited but aid would require access so what is the humanitarian situation like there on the ground at the moment . some access has been given to some humanitarian organizations and in certain locations but according to the un's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs just a few days ago said that access was inadequate and that the humanitarian situation was continuing to deteriorate they said that about a 1000000 people are in the of food assistance the government of ethiopia has talked increasingly about opening up access and assuring that it is providing

access but according to the humanitarian organizations in question they say they're not reaching the people that they need in this situation is getting worse markham whether they're in nairobi across that story for us thank you so much martin well as malcolm was just saying an amnesty report does claim that eritrean troops killed hundreds of people over 2 days in late november that report says unarmed men and boys were targeted in the streets of a religious city called axum a priest says burials were held for at least $800.00 people the scale of the deaths can't be verified as there's been a communications blackout and restricted access to the region but an estimated $60000.00 people escaped the violence into neighboring sudan where we can now speak to reveal shamdasani she's a spokeswoman at the u.n. human rights office and she joins us now from geneva ravine i want to start with something that malcolm and i were just talking about there and very limited access

partly some organizations saying because there are eritrean troops deployed in areas where as mara and i just would rather not know that there are eritrean troops who is on the ground at the moment in tikrit. houston has been denying about the presence of eritrean troops on the ground however we as well as several other organizations have managed to establish you know through corroborating information that eritrean troops have indeed been involved in many of the most severe violations of human rights that have taken place on the ground including i'm extrajudicial killings. on the ground right now unfortunate the there are no independent human rights monitors the high commissioner for human rights has been pushing for independent access for the u.n. human rights office to the to agree region so that we're able to carry out an objective assessment of the facts on the ground failing that old we are seeing is very serious allegations and reports and blanket denials and finger pointing on all

sides and michelle bachelet has been using the phrase potential war crime i want to ask you because one of the things i was also discussing with malcolm was this idea that and a very poor region crops are being banned animals killed food supplies being destroyed seemingly in a deliberate attempt to starve the population is that a war crime. yes indeed it is and in addition to that we have seen reports of a quite a strong case is quite a lot of cases of sexual and gender based violence we have we've received reports of some 136 cases of rape that have been reported but of course you as you may be aware in cases of sexual violence the number of figures that are actually reported tend to be the tip of the iceberg because many of these cases do not go reported we're also seeing door to door searches of individuals we are seeing continued killings and continued fighting in many parts up to agree or even

a you said that year's been struggling with access i'm curious about why it's so hard to even get aid in i mean if addus says the fighting is over they've declared victory surely they would be wanting to let people in to help the civilian population yes indeed the government has made a lot of statements both about you know the their openness to humanitarian aid but also there are the importance that they place on human rights and accountability and we are calling on the government to make sure that these statements are translated into reality but we are seeing so far is that there is limited access humanitarian organizations need to be able to establish that the aid is actually reaching those who need it most human rights organizations need to be able to establish the facts on the ground to be able to help towards accountability for these violations hailing this kind of access what we are worried about is the humanitarian situation that people will continue to suffer but also that continued

impunity will result in further violence and further crimes so let me ask you then ravana obviously saying a massive humanitarian crisis that's been developing now for some time is it possible to resolve that humanitarian crisis without some kind of a political settlement given the situation where in. well the security council is due to discuss the situation in today as well and in fact we would call on them to apply pressure on the government off that you appear to ensure this kind of access for humanitarian actors as well as human human rights activists in this is in the interest of everyone that the government has said that they are to ensure that people have access to their basic needs and they are keen to promote accountability will give us access and we can help prevent shamdasani the spokesperson at the u.n. human rights office thanks so much for joining us here on out there and we wish you all the best with your work again. moving on and a u.s.

house of representatives session that was set for thursday won't be going ahead report a day because of fears of a possible attack now just before that decision was made the u.s. did pass a comprehensive election reform bill it addresses key electoral issues such as voter registration and campaign financing democrats have been pushing for those reforms for a very long time and they say the changes will increase voter access as well as accountability and transparency in u.s. politics while it's not speech white house correspondent can be how it can really we know that security is really tired across d.c. at the moment so let's start there is there a real genuine concern that people are feeling under threat. there's a probably a concern for the lawmakers who on january 6th felt that their lives were in danger but things are very different around the u.s. capitol now than they were on that day there now is a very extensive primitive or that is marked by armored vehicles and soldiers with guns so there is a heavy fortification of the u.s.

capitol and that seems to have at least reassured some lawmakers given the fact that there's a heavy military as well of as police presence now in terms of the residents many residents perhaps feeling a little uncomfortable with that their neighborhood has been transformed into kind of what they call a militarized zone but this perimeter is expected to stay up for a little while longer at least given the fact that not only there are concerns about increased chatter from potential extremist by the f.b.i. saying that they have been monitoring this as well as apartment homeland security but there still is of course that joint session of congress where joe biden the u.s. president will be speaking to congress and as a result it's expected that that perimeter will stay up for a significant time following that in order to ensure the president's safety as well as lawmakers and committee as we were just referring to there a couple of pretty significant bills have very recently made it through the house

and can you talk us through those and if they're likely to be successful in the senate to. well what's getting the attention right now is a piece of legislation that will try to rectify some of the problems that we saw in not just the 2020 us election but the 2016 of the one before that because it appears that there are constantly is this concern of voter fraud there's a debate over whether or not there needs to be a higher level of voter i.d. when people cast their ballots so democrats who control the house and narrowly the senate say that they're trying to rectify all of that putting in place reforms that will make sure that there is an established early voting period that people have options to vote by mail or online and also unify the redistricting system that can be used in such a partisan manner by both parties so this is the piece of legislation now it does not look as if it is guaranteed to go through the u.s. senate here is why conservatives or republicans in the united states are pushing

back on this legislation not because they don't think there's a need for reform but it has to do with the u.s. constitution the fact that this is typically something that is overseen by the states not the federal government and so they are accusing the democrats in the u.s. congress of trying to federalize the system that the constitution guarantees right now should be controlled by the states candy how compare our white house correspond with all the nations for us from washington d.c. thanks so much company. one of the chief of the un's nuclear watchdog says iran has agreed to hold a meeting in april that's off to europe in nations agreed to drop plans to condemn terror on over its suspension of some spectrums i have it's are underway to try to revive the 2050 nuclear deal between iran and while powerless to biden said he is willing to bring the u.s. back and to the agreement the former president will trump with back in 2018. starting this process. of focused. is

of this you 2 asian with technical meeting which will take place in iran the beginning of april. which i hope will be followed by other technical or political meetings as agreed by both sides we have to start the process and see how far we can go on our cars on us a bank has at this update from tehran. well it will be welcomed by the government her president has and ronnie earlier in the week spoke with the his french counterpart president emmanuel macron and he warned that any and constructive moves at the i.a.e.a. against iran would result in new challenges and further complicate the matter now we've had the foreign ministry spokesman come out just now saying that this is a result of diplomatic efforts so the government will very much use this as

a diplomatic victory because they are under a lot of pressure inside here in iran the parliament which is led by conservatives have heavily criticized president hassan rouhani and his government in fact the deal that was struck with the i.a.e.a. last month for that 3 month window that suspension of those additional protocols which restricted some of the i.a.e.a. actions inside iran the parliament has said that the president hasn't rouhani had acted illegally and wanted to refer the matter to the judiciary and that that situation is only calmed down when it emerged that from the highest levels inside iran meaning the supreme leader ayatollah khomeini had actually given a green light for that so the reformists led by president hassan rouhani will use this as a victory a diplomatic victory but the conservatives will say the deal only reason the europeans back down was because i fear of retaliatory action by iran because if that motion had been passed president hasn't rouhani feared that the parliament may

say that that 3 month deal with the i.a.e.a. would no longer be on the table which would make any further diplomatic talks very very difficult to moving away from each other but iran is still adamant that any talks can take place unless the united states lifts those sanctions or sanctions that were imposed by previous u.s. president donald trump. well there's plenty more ahead on this news hour including the comics the artists capturing the ups and downs of life under quarantine. and breaks a dispute we'll have more on why loyalist paramilitary groups in northern ireland have renounced the good friday agreement. and in support a temper tantrum of the tenets one of the while the best players as you can see uses korea and russia. now germany has agreed

a plan to gradually relax coronavirus restrictions chancellor angela merkel and state leaders were in talks the 9 hours on wednesday working on a step by step plan to ease measures from monday people will be allowed to gather in groups of up to 5 and some shops can reopen public support for restrictions has fallen down mccain has more now for us from berlin. after american talks with mr president's anger america presented a plan which points a way out of the pandemic for millions of people around this country many people who've been hoping for an easing of the lock downs that are in place for been in place for many months but in agreeing that there should be a way out when numbers fall to the requisite level angle america was very clear that although there is going to be an easing there will also be the need potentially for an emergency brake to be brought in in places where the incidence reaches a particular number this is how she presented this plan when you think the off go

deputy going down out task now as politicians and this is what we discussed over many hours is to take the next steps wisely these steps should be reopening without facing ourselves back during this pandemic there are many examples in europe of a dramatic they had wave and we shouldn't delude ourselves this danger also exists for us we must always keep this in mind yes i can say that the spring of 2021 will be different from the spring of a year ago some elements in german industry have reacted with dismay to parts of the plan particularly as it refers to the emergency brake that may be imposed in areas where the infection rates reach a particular threshold there's also questioning going on in germany about the vaccine program about the speed with which it's being administered people pointing to the astra zeneca vaccine i asked angela merkel has said that she believes that maybe it would be safe to administer it to those over the age of $65.00 remembering

of course that she herself is over the age of $65.00 these are all issues which are definitely being debated in this country and indeed in parliament on thursday the parliament is hearing from all sides about vaccination strategies and how the government intends to go forward combating the pandemic. now there's a stark link between obesity and dying from carbon 19 according to new research the report by the wilder beastie federation shows that excess weight is 2nd only to age as fact is when it comes to the death toll 90 percent of deaths from $1000.00 are from countries with high rates of obesity that's $2200000.00 out of the total true point $5000000.00 killed it shows that mortality rates are 10 times higher where at least 50 percent of the population is overweight so that includes the u.s. and the u.k. now on the other end of the scale it shows no single country where less than 40

percent of the population is overweight has a high death rate when we can now speak to john ralston she's the chief executive of the other beastie federation and she joins us now from boston massachusetts joanna thanks for taking the time to be with us and i want to start with the science behind this how do we explain this correlation how sure are we. well the fact of the fact that we've mapped out the. correlation between obesity between cope with death rates of the countries with high rates of obesity similarly we've seen in those countries with with as you said low levels go to death rates low rates of obesity so that's just what it is that we know that there's factors including sort of the inflammatory response other factors that we're still really emerging bettors that are sort of the have a causal relationship but also those associated factors like level of public health policy level of it here and still recommendations and guidelines that probably play in as well we already know that poorer communities often minority communities are

the ones who are likely to be potentially eating more poorly and therefore becoming more obese so is this partly why we've seen such a disproportionate total newsgroups in places like the united states and the u.k. . absolutely in places where the availability of healthier foods is is much less important communities it's been called in the past food deserts that definitely is a contributory factor and we're actually seeing that all over the world people living in lockdown and unfortunately in some cases some aggressive and unfortunate marketing by companies but the reality is that often. healthier foods are cheaper than their healthier counterparts as well and so these are all factors but obesity is not driven by any one factor it's driven by multiple backers so food food plays a critical role particularly the processed food but there's also other there's genetics there's a predisposition family history and even access to places safe places for physical activity which again are fewer in our communities. we were just mentioning there

obviously age has come across as the biggest factor in terms of codes of mortality risk but i see your report puts obesity 2nd so how do we tackle this is obesity then considered an underlying condition should it be fair prioritized vaccinations for instance we do believe that people with obesity should be prioritized for vaccinations and and that indeed that is happening sort of in somewhat fragmented way around the world absolutely the health concerns and conditions quite frequently people of the city do have other diseases in addition to obesity and that would include diabetes cardiovascular disease cancer but but not not solely so it's absolutely people that have visited need to be prioritized for the vaccine well if private 1000 is around to stay as many experts suggest that it will be this is clearly more reason yet to tackle the broader obesity epidemic now given the disparity in income and access to nutrition that we were also speaking about earlier how do we do that. well it's not just so so it's not just access nutrition

it's also access to health care i think it's understanding of the city as a disease on par with diabetes which is both a risk factor and a and a disease in its own right and so that in the health care systems of primary care in every part of the world it's understood that obesity is a is a health condition that requires treatment the treatment can include nutrition it can also include physical activity it can include you know pharmacological products so you can include surgery in which are which is slightly more costly interventions but certainly possible in many environments so it's really understanding it as a as a as a disease not that's not meant to be stigmatized which is unfortunately currently the case of many parts of the world but in fact a disease that should be treated just like any other disease with a variety of approaches there's many drivers of obesity obesity and therefore the solutions are manifold as well in that world of the city better ration and with our colleagues around the world we've developed

a route strategy which stands for sort of the 5 pillars of an effective and comprehensive approach to ana ralston that the chief executive of the world obesity federation thanks so much for joining us here on out is there thanks for your time john thank you so much but on a many people have felt a roller coaster of emotions over the past year sorrow joy loneliness haase ache all feelings captured in a new comic book about life in quarantine it's drawing on the experiences of more than 70 artists around the wild carol is under now reports from new york. a dystopian future vision of a plague read world a depiction of life as an asian american being blamed for the virus spread to a hopeful message of renewed friendship during last year's lockdowns just some of the stories that make up this quarantine life a new collection of comic strip art depicting life during the coven 1000 pandemic

the anthology was the brainchild of steve walker a comic art instructor at the art students league of new york in may last year he put out a call to artists for their stories of this most unusual of times what surprised me about the entries were. just the breath of the work the amount of detail and love that people put into their work the the amount of craft that we got shown on you know on the page was really incredible some of the stories are vignettes on the humdrum of coron teen like this one about remote learning and several deal with the issue of shopping but there are also more sinister tales looking at the power of conspiracies and even tender stories like the final one by about having a newborn child during lockdown every artist was dealing with the pandemic differently from feelings of extreme loneliness or anxiety. but working on the

stories you. i could see that and then you would lift the lid and you got the sense of hope underlying everything the cover work was provided by a new york artist whose work is a commentary on artists in quarantine at the very height of the pandemic in spring last year you'll see little islands with with artists on them like in their own bubbles and the sea between lemons failed with these screens at least screens that are filled with like really awful scary toxic news. that's how i felt at the pipe available as a free download the anthology provides many different perspectives on a shared world history gabriel's own dough al-jazeera new york well it is now time for the weather. heavy recent rain and to be honest more last weekend the last few days has still produced flooding as far east as kentuckian this is the river

kentucky's of other contributors to trim trees to the ohio the fact the whole ohio valley is fairly down but this is more ed who's reporting devastation from that still flood now it will slowly decline in the flooding because the next rain is is significant in his bid for the south and west which is itself a tall the pacific storms with on one degree stay on friday will show some snow inland in nor going to washington and maybe the california mountains more significantly i suspect during saturday rain in san francisco but not much on friday evening and saturday morning then it's gone through that even that snow doesn't last for long most states and most of canada are quite another cold northeast cory's obvious so the 3 new york rays minus one in toronto and significant thunderstorms also hang around i think in florida they've been doing that recently in the bahamas in cuba and you could time to can comb but also

they're still there on for the tending to die out in the next day or. the heaviest rain in the constant society south america is probably going to be somewhere in bolivia. well still ahead here on al-jazeera francis is heading to iraq for his 1st overseas trip since of pandemic started and baghdad is on fire last. question as a test case made history. on excitement tana's to despair for the time iran musk's test of an unmanned rocket and her favorites. and then scored a hat trick followed by 6 sixes and a rare action from the thrilling game of cricket coming up. march on al-jazeera studio b. unscripted brings you 2 special guests in called the station exploring ideas and

finding common solutions 10 years on from the tsunami that struck japan al-jazeera revisits the people most affected by the disaster football rebels eric cantona presents a huge sea breeze about iconic players whose influence has been as great off the pitch as on its israel's fault election in 2 years after the unity government's failure to pass a national budget upfront smocked lamont hill cuts through that had launched a challenge conventional wisdom. monch on al-jazeera a diplomatic feud between a straddle year and shiners threatening one of the asia pacific most successful tripods. when i won a speech goods course in the middle. one out just.

i know that i'm a saucy attained let's run you about top stories here the salary a funeral has been held in myanmar for one of 38 demonstrations killed on wednesday and you protesters are still back on the streets across the country after the most violent day yet of the trenches crackdown. the un human rights chief has his government to let monitors into tikrit to investigate reports of abuses that could amount to war crimes. killings and sexual violence are reported to be ongoing. and the u.s. house of representatives session that was set for thursday won't be going ahead reportedly because of fears of a possible attack of a house crossed an election reform bill addressing issues such as campaign financing.

loyalist paramilitary groups in northern ireland have told british prime minister barak johnson that temporarily withdrawing support for the peace deal they say it's because trade and commerce between northern ireland and britain has been disrupted by bricks at the 1998 good friday agreement ended the 3 decade conflict between catholic nationalists and protestant unionists and we can join the holidays across all of this for us from london journal just how seriously under threat is the good friday agreement here. i don't think the agreement at this particular moment is under immediate threat nor is there any instant suggestion of a return to violence out of it is any clear sense that any party to the former troubles wants that to happen but it being northern ireland equally nobody can say where something like this ends we're talking about a group an umbrella group called the lawless communities council that claims to represent what remains of

a number of loyalist paramilitary groups that were largely disbanded certainly disarmed under the good friday agreement of 1998 the l.c.c. as you say has written to boris johnson also to the irish teashop in dublin withdrawing their support from the good friday agreement for the time being over concerns about the so-called northern ireland protocol that's a key piece of legislation underpinning the trade deal between the u.k. and the e.u. you may recall the protocol which came into force at the beginning of the year calls for brand new customs checks between northern ireland and the rest of the u.k. remember these 2 are meant to be one economic entity as a way of avoiding a return to our border 'd on the island of ireland which is itself a condition of peace now trouble has been brewing if you like over the protocol over the last couple of months concerns about shortages of food stuffs on the shelves trade disruptions and so on and the l.c.c. says that loyalist and unionist communities feel their rights have been breached

because of this new essentially new economic relationship between northern ireland and the rest of the u.k. that was reached without their consent their consent supposedly guaranteed under the agreement they want their rights restored they say that their protest will be peaceful and democratic for the time being but the clear insinuation here indeed in writing is if the protocol isn't fundamentally altered well it could lead in due course to the destruction of the good friday agreement itself in tiny print talking about irish grapes and as you alluded to the irish border is also yet again a front line for a spat between the e.u. and the u.k. so what's driving that's family now and how's that working out. well not for the 1st time a real touchstone here for conflict for friction between the u.k. and the and as you say a new chapter happening now it has to be said neither the e.u. nor the u.k. has been very helpful in getting communities in northern ireland to embrace the idea of the northern ireland protocol earlier in the year it was the e.u.

threatened to trigger an emergency brake clause under the protocol because of a vaccines dispute with the u.k. that would have collapsed the protocol and paved the way for a return to a hard border that caused outrage it allowed the u.k. government to take the opportunity to court to call for sort of easements in terms of the checks of the timeline for checks to be put into place under the protocol no agreement was reached so the u.k. has now unilaterally announced that it will extend the grace periods for key customs checks ostensibly to allow northern ireland businesses to adjust but the e.u. has cried foul accusing the u.k. of a potential breach of international law this talk of legal action through the european court of justice and in the last couple of hours it's been announced that the planned vote in the european parliament that would have ratified the trade deal it hasn't yet been passed by the european parliament that was due for the end of this month it's been deferred for another month as everybody waits to see what happens

here of course with the potential consequence that if a deal if the ratification doesn't go through the european parliament a trade deal could fall away the u.k. could find itself with no trade deal with its closest and largest trading partner the know how that and all the latest for us from london thank you so much john. when i'm reading on and the perp frontis is going to iraq for a 3 day visit that's his 1st trip outside italy since this pandemic began let's take a close look at a struggle over the coming days the pope will fast be welcomed by the prime minister when he arrives in baghdad on friday he will then need president barham salih as well as religious leaders and representatives of civil society at the presidential palace and the next day he'll fly to the city of najaf to meet a grand ayatollah sistani and later the pope will celebrate her new mass in baghdad and on sunday pope francis will travel to erbil the capital of iraqi kurdistan

there he'll meet with religious and civil leaders of that autonomous region of some of the reports from baghdad on all the security preparations ahead of his present. baghdad is on high alert for the 1st ever visit to iraq by the leader of the roman catholic church still faces security threats and attacks from isis and militia groups which means iraqi security forces have their work cut out for them for francis will be in 6 cities in 3 days including we're talking about all requirements have been secured through a plan drawn up by the joint operations command to secure largest tickle and security matters for all the places that the pope will visit whether they are in baghdad not just nineveh edible all places pope francis has frequently traveled to muslim majority countries and in iraq he will meet one of the world's most influential shiite clerics grand ayatollah ali al sistani the pope's visit is meant to expound on his message of indifferent the dialogue and bring hope to iraq's christian community but it also comes during a pandemic to

a country which has not started vaccinating its people and is imposing partial lockdown to try and stop the spread of covert 19. the vatican the bastard into iraq who would have escorted the pope to all his appointments has already tested positive pope francis and his entourage have been vaccinated and organizers say they will strictly enforce crowd limits at public events but with a sharp rise in. 1000 cases in a week health care system critics have questioned the effectiveness of social distancing as it's expected crowds will gather to see the pope can add a 3rd. some people close to the pope believe that the visit should be perspiring treat the pandemic and security situation but the pope insisted on his visit iraq needs his visit and he feels the pain of the people who are suffering. iraqi authorities say all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of all involved are being taken. the civil defense plan has 2 components 1st part is

protection firefighters and rescuers will be in all places to be visited by his holiness and the 2nd part is sterilization of all places without exception it will be in court a nation with those in charge of churches and holy sites that will be included in the visit of his holiness iraq at christians can trace their lineage to the earliest days of their religion they are a diverse group with syriac the syrian khaldiyeh and armenian and communities since the 2003 us invasion and later the persecution suffered and rice in the visit is a rare opportunity to lift broken spirits among the grinning christian population but iraq is of all faiths are excited about welcoming pope francis baba as he is affectionately known in arabic and job it out of iraq back to. china is the largest . starting on friday 3000 officials. at the government's plans for next year china is facing an increasingly tense environment including strained relationships with the u.s.

attorney reports now from beijing. 2. thousands of china's most powerful political ends are gathering in beijing on friday to chart the country's roadmap for the next 5 to 15 years daniel national people's congress or n.p.c. was perspiring last year following the corona virus outbreak this year covered $9000.00 cases are under control and analysts say president xi jinping will be touting an image of triumph as well as consolidating his power. he has been establishing his power through political and the military achievements in the future he will focus on competing. he plans china's political future like i. was. strengthening loyalty to the chinese communist party is a priority beijing is preparing for the parties in 10 or in july during the congress china's leaders will release their annual work report outlining economic

targets banking is expected to encourage domestic consumption and continue to push for a more prosperous society to do this they will need to address the challenges of a widening wealth gap and ageing population goal is also usually sets though this is last year because of uncertainties around the pandemic and some expect china's defense spending to be accelerated the specially given recent tensions with taiwan and in the south china sea china's strained relationship with the united states is another focal point beijing had hoped to reset ties with washington but u.s. president joe biden is continuing the tough stance taken by his predecessor from their perspective it's been disappointing they see a lot of the same rhetoric a lot of the same goals and methods. that were employed by the trumpet ministration internationally beijing is facing increasing criticism over its treatment of muslim weekers as well as political reforms in hong kong it's expected to tighten its grip

that the territory and past 2. only those loyal to be able to hold office the national security subversion was unveiled at last year's n.p.c. doesn't square arrested under the law this week holding a primary vote ahead of the elections. environmental policy makers will be watching for further action on climate change the government is expected to set targets for reducing carbon emissions moving towards she's goal of making china carbon neutral by 2060 katrina al-jazeera teaching all venezuela's opposition has accused president nicolas maduro as government of illegally selling gold reserves to evade u.s. sanctions a representative of opposition leader one greater made those allegations the for a u.s. congressional committee he says the goal was refined in mali and then sold mainly in the united arab emirates the opposition says that's game generated more than

a $1000000000.00 in cash last year formatter as government well a latin america has ever seen human has more now from santiago in chile. venezuela's opposition foreign commissioner has held a news conference in which he revealed what he calls are the details of a cash for gold scheme being carried out by president. in venezuela in order to circumvent u.s. economic and banking sanctions it deals with sending tons of gold to countries like the united arab emirates on russian planes sometimes countries like mali or other countries in africa this is not the 1st time that these allegations have been made but this is the 1st time that so many details have been spread been spilt out board just did not make any of the documents public but he does say that he gave them to the u.s. congress to the u.s. office of foreign asset control or as well as to the u.s. state department interestingly this coincides with the 1st face to face we presume

meeting between opposition leader and the nude u.s. secretary of state and this was followed by an announcement by the white house that it would continue to regard venezuela as a threat to u.s. national security and this is the mechanism that used to justify all these wide economic sanctions that were 1st imposed during the barack obama administration. still ahead here on after their shock attack the n.b.a. legend he's now showing off his skills and never going to have coming up and.

move the on.

a welcome back it's now time for sport and have peace and thank you to spanish giants boss alone el afraid to the final of the cup of del ray they have overturned a 2 know 1st leg deficit against sivia to put a difficult week behind them because of who the president was arrested on monday for he's a role in the so-called bossa gate scandal a social media smear campaign that targeted certain players including still mainly n l may see the auction time did not go on this occasion instead it was monday and gerrard piquet netted piquet's 90th minute goal navel the match on aggregate and then martin braithwaite scored in extra time to send bossa to the fun. but i studied fine and thought i'd get out of this is one step forward to try to win an important title after our 2 nil deficit from the 1st leg and needed

a complete performance match and we did it as a coach you cannot ask for more than that from your players we fought we created chances we played very physically until the last 2nd i think we deserved to go through we deserve to play in the final for being the best team over these 2 matches. in italy ac milan have missed the chance to significantly cut into city rival into his lead in syria and on wednesday miller hosted a naisi and could have narrowed the gap to just one point had they won instead they fell one no behind things to roderigo back our 2nd half goal they needed a 97 minute penalty for the 1st deliberate handball. from k.c. making no mistake. second and 3 points behind into you now have a game in hand. cricket's pakistan superleague has been postponed indefinitely the decision was made following an emergency meeting after 3 more players tested positive for corona virus 7 people have now tested positive inside the tournaments

bubble 6 of which are players less than half of the should with 34 matches have been completed the pakistan cricket board had been considering moving all remaining matches to karate before announcing the postponement. and india have dominated day one of the 4th and final test against england in ahmedabad the indians won the last 2 tests and only need a draw to claim the series here in the room after just 205 after winning the toss and opted to bat x.r. patel the best bowler with 4 wickets for the home side at the close of play india were 24 for one. they was an incredible t 20 international between sri lanka in the west indies in antigua and at their highs and lows for sri lanka burkey laden and jaya 1st he took a hat trick to leave the windies 52 for 3 but then in his next over smashed out of the park current pollard hitting 6 balls in a row for 6 the west indies captain becoming only the 3rd that meant to hit 6

straight sixes in an international match of the herschelle gibbs and yuvraaj saying aloud if it's helping his west indies team secure a full week of victory with 6 overs to spare the next match is on friday. the tokyo a limb pixie. means destined to take place with no overseas friends reported in japanese newspaper so the government has already made up its mind but officials say they expect a decision by march 27th before the torch relay starts earlier we spoke to dan all of what is a sportswriter of the japan times this was supposed to be the pinnacle of japan's soft power efforts they were making a lot of improvements to inbound infrastructure improving english excess ability for tourists signage cleaning up they missed landmarks there is a lot of renovations over the last few years successful 2019 rugby world cup was 1st big test you had tens of thousands of foreign fans coming in for those 6 weeks

and they were expecting an even greater buzz surrounding these olympics but now it doesn't look like that's going to happen and most of the local organizing committees revenue are coming in from ticket sales 'd those overseas fans were buying a lot of hotel names the amount that they were expected to contribute to the economy is quite substantial so while the i.o.c. will be getting its broadcast fees because the games if they take place as scheduled will go out and will be shown on t.v. the organizers won't reap the benefits of fans in the stadium of course you'll still have local fans but they won't be spending as much as foreign fans would have you getting into the ip packages and hold those sorts of situations so it will be a significant financial hit for japan. the world's best athletes are starting to ramp up their preparations for turkey regardless of where the fans will be present

5 time swimming gold medalist katie lahey return to competition for the 1st time in a year and the break seems to have done a good racing at a meeting in san antonio the american won the 1500 meter freestyle by moving 21 seconds there were 3 months until the u.s. olympic trials analytically says it feels good to be back if not a little different. the 1st time i've really been around people so. their stuff my actual level of caution and had that when i was travelling and everything else well so everyone's being careful and following the protocols and making sure we're keeping each other safe there's less than 100 days to go until the euros but 3 of the 12 host cities are at risk of being dropped your way for once at least half of the seats filled when the tournament starts in june despite much of europe still battling the coronavirus pandemic but local governments in bilbao dublin and glasgow are not yet able to provide those guarantees to tennis and there was plenty of frustration on show at the rotterdam open world number 3 daniel medvedev was

beaten by descent live h. in straight sets it's just the 2nd defeat in $22.00 matches for the russian who reached last month australian open final alexander very of was also knocked out and it was more record smashing from former number one andy murray he was looking for and he sickened when against a tough in place since he's hip surgery 2 years ago but it wasn't to be against. the 3 time grand slam winner knocked out in straight. to the n.b.a. and james harden started a nice 1st game against his old team the houston rockets he left to join the brooklyn nets back in january of the publicly criticizing he's houston teammates and hasn't looked back on the record he's a triple double of the season as the next one easily by 18 points for the rockets it's now 13 straight defeats. we will finish with these pictures of n.b.a. legend shaquille o'neal showing a few skills in the sling rooney who is making his debut in the only leads

receiving series in florida and despite being put through their table he did stall when this team merchant 7 foot one and around 165 kilograms it's no wonder the table fable 2nd best. that's all sports news for later with more thanks so much peter i do feel rather sorry for that table thanks when our space x. has managed to land one of its star so profits after 2 previous failed attempts which crash landed but the billionaire behind the project iran musk might not be celebrating too hard given that the space vehicle exploded very shortly after coming back down to earth and this year now has the story. ladies and gentlemen i am very low budget also has made history it looks like a successful test flight for space x. is next generation rocket that was until this.

point. it's not clear what went wrong. the private american space firm launched a giant rocket a few minutes earlier. after a high altitude to test flight the 10 starship prototype or s n 10 touchdown in the u.s. state of texas the company called it a beautiful soft landing with its billionaire founder in a mosque praising the fact it landed in one piece 2 previous prototypes crashed into the ground. but space x. remains confident that starship will eventually replace its existing felt can rockets and become the world's 1st reuse about space vehicle. any type of engineering feat what you are not only developing news happy potions system but a new type of fuchsia lies just so many testing boundaries that have to occur and say it's not on surprising that we have seen that he cut

a play out in real time but it is a good thing having set nasa astronauts into orbit last year space x. also has ambitious plans for commercial flights the 1st civilian lunar mission among its promised a lunar excursion for japanese billionaire yes. on a starship and 2023. began accepting applications for 8 others to join him a day before the failed flight test on thursday on one of the name of the key basics i want to reach out to a wider more diverse audience to give more people across the world the opportunity to join this journey. if space x. is successful private spaceflight will be the world's 1st and despite the latest failure musk says he's optimistic you'll be able to send passengers to the moon mars and beyond to our jazeera. it remain a starter today for this news that doesn't go away i'll be back in

a moment with warnings and trading and chatted with the venezuelan opposition envoy alleging the illegal sale of his country's gold to stay with us. coveted beyond well. taken without hesitation the forgotten died for a couple power defines our old and all those new babies were toilet did nothing about it's the collecting babies the dead people in power investigates exposes and question what's the use and abuse of power around the. announces their. 4 months ago violence erupted in ivory coast after a disputed presidential election now it's time to choose members of parliament on march 6th voters cast their ballots could to vote revive the fortunes of the main

opposition and how will this affect the region the ivory coast parliamentary election on al-jazeera. 9 years ago out to 0 was the 1st major network to find evidence of genocide in me. when the tragedy of the ruling was mostly unknown. hold. it in genocide on al-jazeera. the rhythm our inflows through the coldest reaches of kyrgyzstan to produce he could drop to 20 degrees below 0 at this time of year with the driving snow and bitter winter conditions on the nuff to keep these men from working on the ice and in the freezing water because the river nora. contains gold center villages along the

river be panning for gold in this area for centuries the best time of year to do it is the winter because the river is lower than your in the summer months these tiny little yellow flakes you can see them on don't look much they were around $50.00 a gram. protest as a man not mourn their dead after the west violence so far and vowed to continue marching against the military. the table says out of their life and are also coming on the un human rights chief urges ethiopia to allow monitors into the region to investigate reports of killings and sexual violence that may amount to walk right.