is and question the use and abuse of power around the globe. announcing. the stand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world to some no matter where you call. the news and current affairs that matter to you. al-jazeera. this is a news hour on al-jazeera fully back to go live in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the u.n. human rights chief is ethiopia to allow monitors in duty free region to investigate reports of killings and sexual violence that may amount to war crimes police and protesters fight for a 2nd day in senegal as capital after the arrest of an opposition politician. if

you disregard me were at risk of birth city police are firing tear gas to try to quell the angry crowd in the distance the protesters continue to throw rocks also this hour protestors in myanmar mourn the dead after the bloodiest day so far and vowed to continue marching against a military coup and confronting coal video in the midst of a civil war we'll look at the humanitarian crisis in syria. i'm german ash with the sport of south americas a world cup qualifier in doubt but the european football club's unlikely to release that bias because of coronavirus travel restrictions and quarantine. and thank you for joining us the un human rights chief has. urged ethiopia's

government to lead monitors in ditty gray it wants to investigate reports of abuses that could amount to war crimes michelle bashfully says killing then sexual violence are reported to be taking place in the northern region ethiopia declared victory after launching an offensive against the tea grey people's liberation front in november al-jazeera is malcolm webb is following developments from kenya and has the latest where in the weeks and months that have followed that declaration of victory that came from the syrian government at the beginning of december more information's been coming out and a growing number of reports of atrocities committed by all of the different forces involved in the conflict just last week the rights group amnesty international published a report it said that based on dozens of testimonies of people that in the town of axum in late november said that eritrea and ethiopia and forces were responsible for indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas of the town and then it said that

eritrean troops had entered the town and massacred about $800.00 men civilian men and teenage boys eritrea's previously denied that its troops are in to ghraib that contradicts numerous reports that have come from there it also refuted these reports the government of ethiopia has said that it is investigating various reports of rights abuses across the region humanitarian organizations do have some access to some of the people they say they need to help in some areas but they say that that access is inadequate just a few days ago the un's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs was saying that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate they say about a 1000000 people are in need of food support. ravina doesn't he is a spokeswoman for the u.n.

human rights office she says there needs to be accountability from the ethiopian government 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 extra judicial killings on the ground right now unfortunately there are no independent human rights monitors the high commissioner for human rights has been pushing for independent access for us for the un human rights office to the to agree region so that we are able to carry out an objective assessment of the facts on the ground failing that all we are seeing is very serious allegations and reports and blanket denials and finger pointing on all sides seen reports of quite a strong case is quite a lot of cases of sexual and gender based violence we haven't 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 is in many parts of to agree what 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. to senegal now where supporters of a leading opposition figure on coal have been fighting with police in the capital the car there demanding his release after he was arrested for participating in an authorized some go is due to appear in court to face

a rape charge which he denies and says is politically motivated let's bring in our correspondent in the car nicholas hochul has been in the thick of things this is a make a tense situation on the streets of the senegalese capital tell us about way you want and what's been happening these past few hours. well foley we're just outside the university the main university of the capitol the car and if you look right behind me there are hundreds of students lining up there and they've been throwing stones for the last 2 days supporters. and as a response the police has taken aback that and they are letting the special forces it's called the b.p. the get down to put event on which is the equivalent of a swat team to take control of this situation they've been firing tear gas to try to get the protesters to move back but to no avail they seem to be determined early

on fully they were chanting even a song which means free song they want to see the opposition leader out of police custody and that's where he's being held since yesterday some co has refused to answer any of the questions that the investigators are asking him and they have another 24 hours to charge. he's going to be charged well it seems from the prosecutors in charge of the case and with public disorder. the security forces in the government feel that he is responsible for what we're seeing here unusual scenes there hasn't been seen that of that violence since the last election in 2012 when the former president wanted to run for a 3rd term in office so a very tense situation where a few hours away from the corona curfew where people are expected to stay indoors but it seems that these protesters will be staying out to continue to fight with

the security forces set me unusual scenes for capitol make some call it was due to appear in court when he was arrested to face a rape charge that he says is politically motivated tell us more about who he is and the kind of support and influence he has in senegal. well he came 3rd in the last presidential election he's seen as the political outsider criticising the very political system that they go very critical of and his family accusing him of corruption accusing him of being too close to france the former colonial power and in fact yesterday late last night we've seen french companies gas stations and shopping shopping malls big attack by protesters he's against for instance this if i the common currency that the region of west africa shares that which is a legacy of colonialism she's very outspoken and he's been

a sore thumb for president. hu he has been accused by the opposition the present of using the chords to clamp down on the opposition we've seen the former son of the president karim was taken to prison under corruption charges the former mayor of the car. taken to court for corruption charges again and if sancho is charged and sent this great he said he would spend the next 10 years in prison but there's also this feeling for the among these protesters that this isn't just about response it's about these young people that feel that their voices are not being heard that have been suffering especially last year with the pandemic in the consequences of it and with the government imposing even are tight even tighten restrictions on the population in the name of coronavirus and that has had a terrible fallout for people here most of them who live on less than $2.00

a day. thank you very much for that i've been sneaking a soccer course in my from. amnesty international says they are signs that myanmar's military has moved to a shoot to kill policy as it continues its crackdown on protesters demonstrators were back on the streets across the country on various say a day after 38 people died it was the highest single day death toll since the military last month scott hi there has a report. like thousands of others just in 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 $38.00 protesters who died at the hands of myanmar security forces the most killed in a single day since the coup in february 1st aid agency save the children says 4 of the dead were children. in yangon bodies were identified and 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 continued to put pressure on the agenda on thursday again building barricades to block the security forces as they prepare for another day of protests young dealy is the former u.n. special repertory for myanmar she and 2 other experts have started a council to track the situation after the coup the behavior is the actions of this so called military. are. terrorists like behaviors they have stripers and aren't high at high rise buildings around town 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 it to maintain i to secure peace in order. and the security council have 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 concern 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. ismail wolf is director of $45.00 ice and international human rights organization he says the violence perpetrated by myanmar security forces is part of

a concerted campaign. it's important to be clear about what we have been witnessing there and i think what the former special report saw was just mentioning the terrorist tactics what we've seen here these clashes these a systematic orchestrated attacks upon an unarmed civilian population i think it's clear that they're seeking to terrorize the population of me and ma into submitting to this coup and we've seen videos as we mention all of the social media we've analyzed a lot of that footage and what we've seen amounts to extradition killings of people so this isn't just a normal sort of you know sort of excessive force to clear protesters this is an orchestrated campaign it's happening across the country and suggests the chain of command and these are following orders so we've seen really really brutal situations all across the country and i think the concern is that we will continue to see more moving forward we see those protests coming out today with people that i've been speaking to that are part of these protests that are in me and ma they're saying that they are very well aware of the risks that taking. to go onto the

streets to oppose the military but they think those risks are worth taking rather than living under a brutal military dictatorship so i think there's a reality a realisation and i think there's a formidable strength within the population of me i thought so think it's important to point out that the protests on the street are just part of a wider operation under the sort of civil disobedience movement as have been tagged and i think that's really hitting the jobs even harder strikes people within the government within banking sector within trade with imports and it's really grinding the arms of the states will hold. us more ahead on this news hour including iran agrees 3 meeting about its nuclear program a hint of east tensions after he suspended some international inspections as brazil records another alarming surge in coronavirus deaths its most populous states imposes tighter restrictions for out of life reports and michael schumacher his son prepares for his 1st food formula one season gemma half the story in sports coming

up meet with the s. . international aid groups are warning the humanitarian crisis in syria is worse than ever before leaders of the red cross and red crescent say the corona virus outbreak has exacerbated the crisis to an acceptable extremes they say syrians do not have the luxury of worrying about getting infected by the virus more than 60 percent of the population who rely on aid to meet their basic needs or let's speak to francesco bought this he is the president of the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies and is via skype from rome mr ok thank you very much for being with us on syria is now entering a 2nd decade of war how would you describe the current humanitarian situation compared to other periods in in the conflict these past 10 years. i didn't get

a call to go out and we don't know what press conference could be. just going back to news iraq sorry so the situation is really really desperate. holes or you or maybe not will be in several occasion to give us structure who are. not ira our big theme that the bailout of the people and mostly the prewashed there will be a shia militia in the media now do we i would say so who's that scary number are we concerned especially now that don't. see the same it seems that it doesn't disappear from the headlines of the. man and for us it's a huge reason of consent we do need the support that we see and people we of course continue to talk about the issues syria is facing here on al-jazeera tell us more about the accent the pandemic has made the situation worse the extent to which it's

made it worse and the needs on the ground right now what is needed the most by the population. oh look one of one of the better example of that i think i can give to you is that if you are people 44 ambulances and there is not a few where that ambulance is going to not reach they hospital sat bending in that were scanning not war think about it maybe sense and graphic said benito with the generator or maybe 11 baby also the vaccines so the situation about the very bad if you really really they get why not. get any system it is not a political but we did meet. people and then i would like to talk so glad that they if you could be self. say that many other lies and all all because i know what they were doing these. decisions by you at the not a. big 8 b.

87 not is why we are courting death. you support that also that i am like they believe for example richard a the axis is if you go about all the money that insulation in hot water can but and i bet because she began to. not waste all the c.d.'s of the ad i did resign not which beat but i'm leaving a park post to leave but you know that you have been missed if that has a soul i do not talk about me at least and seem to have it all up or maybe in the senate i can be exact same old r. or i would have gone right mr rocha a political solution to this crisis doesn't seem to be what would you like to see from the international community what is your message to the what especially to those countries that sat on the un security council. they maybe should watch is not up to all your money back and frankly the solution what we are

calling is to respect to the access that what we do need is a symbol of access for the money got out of saw on the ground this is what we are asking for to receive morsi board or to see others that are being behind this crisis with these crises now danny etc he got out of egypt ended born and grew up but when these graduating leaving leaves this very conditional either not a moment or. even not any are sold 'd so this is something that gives you the belief is very needed that where you got solution of course but do you cannot accept and respect for missy that celebs florida. yes but wish him as being in too many occasions used as a political tool by evil lackeys that but enough is enough now it's time to start respecting respect and support in dealing with the obvious example mr iraq i hope your message is heard thank you very much for talking to us francesco francesco rocha is a president of the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies

thank you very much for your time thank you for your for doing it thank you very much now the chief of the un's nuclear watchdog says iran has agreed to hold a meeting in april that's after european nations said they would drop plans to condemn tehran over its suspension of some i inspect efforts are underway to revive the 2050 nuclear deal between iran and world powers president joe biden said he is willing to bring the u.s. back into the agreement after former president trump would join 2080. starting this process. of focused not least 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. there is a big as is that date now from tehran. well it will be welcomed by the government her president has and ronnie earlier in the week spoke with 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 hasn't ronnie 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 situation is only calmed down when it emerged that from the highest levels inside iran meaning the supreme leader ayatollah khomeini had actually given the green light for that so the reformists led by president has done 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 of 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. kuwait is imposing

a 12 hour curfew in an effort to contain the rising number of corona virus infections there was a record number of new cases on thursday more than 1700 new infections the curfew comes into effect on sunday and is expected to last for a month have also been ordered to close until the 1st week of april brazil meanwhile is seeing record deaths from kovi 19 and it's causing a political standoff rio de janeiro has bought a new restrictions following sell bottles lead starting on friday restaurants will close at 5 pm and the city's near 7000000 people will be under a night curfew sao paolo has closed non-essential businesses for 2 weeks the measures are in defiance of president who warned he will stop federal aid to states if they put in there put in lockdown that speak to morning joins us live from rio de janeiro monica you're on copacabana beach which looks pretty empty tell us about the situation in rio. well yes

i am a couple of on a beach which normally at this time would be filled with people and saturday on a sunday even more but vendors beach vendors have been are not anymore won't be allowed to be selling anything on the beach that reduces the number of people because these are the people that will rent shares and will be selling water and drinks and food and people will be able to go to the beach but they were just walking around and or sitting on a towel so that is meant to try to reduce the number of people that have been crowding the beaches until recently and reddish an arrow took time to impose restrictions more than then other states which are facing more serious situations there are states in the south of brazil and in the north of where hospitals are being forced to rent containers to move to the dead

out of the hospitals and it's like brazil has around a $1800.00 deaths every 24 hours and rio president both. present both an ira and his sons are from rio this is bear city of bears and they are all against any sort of measure that will was strictly business and even today present both and i don't say you know people should stop whining and and you know just face the virus and work. but rio did paula lead of other states as well thank you for that money and i can have every 14 that live from me to generics copacabana. still ahead on this news hour security is ramped up in washington and u.s. politicians cancel a session amid reports of a plot to breach congress breck said dispute will have more on why loyalist

paramilitary groups in northern ireland have renounced the good friday agreement and empires break up a heated exchange between 2 of the biggest names in world cricket jemma have a details in sports to stay with us. once again is time for the levant to not feel quite as dire says it could do this bit of a blast coming in front of clouds and showers focusing more on maybe lebanon syria and the far north of iraq this is jury in the whole lot is moving east with live in the sunshine behind a bit of the breeze the same time introducing quite a strong breeze down to the gulf that'll be the start of a sham wow which will affect the weather all the way from kuwait down towards u.a.e. so particularly dusty one but it will at least be windy otherwise it's sunshine as

you can see that a change take place on the northern turkey come saturday that's cold air coming out of europe. now we have seen that attempt at circulation in the mozambique channel miss is the picture on. the forecast chart or me expect this thing not to fall into a proper tropical anything really just a lot but it will increase the rain to potentially flood levels on the western side of madagascar marga trust in the capital as well its red prices mistily but this is particularly heavy rain the good news going in that direction it's leaving behind just a rush of a few showers from mozambique in a good part of zimbabwe and zambia and even south africa and or adjacent countries where you look at dry and fine weather. for. the pocus set to visit iraq on his bus trip abroad since the

coronavirus and demick. while it's christian population continues to do window and security issues plague the country. can the pope bring hope to those who see him as an authority. a diplomatic feud between astraddle year and china's threatening one of the asia pacific my successful tripod. when i won a space close quarter in the middle. one out just. too often on the streets of $80000000.00 are victims but a new force is at play. female police officers are combative sexual assault and domestic abuse. but changing society is a challenge and so is life behind the bags for india's lady called. on disease.

you're watching the news on al-jazeera with me fully back to go a reminder of our top stories the u.n. human rights chief has urged ethiopia's government to let monitors into t. great to investigate reports of abuses that could amount to walk crimes michelle says killings and sexual violence are reported to be ongoing in the northern region in senegal supporters of opposition figure or some call have been fighting with police in the capital the car there demanding his release after he was arrested for taking part in an unauthorized rally and i'm a cinch national says there are signs that myanmar's military has moved to issue to kill policy i think continues its crackdown on on tycoon protesters demonstrators

were back on the streets across the country on thursday a day after 38 people were killed. to the u.s. now and there are reports that capitol police have requested an extension for the national guards the formant security agencies in washington on high alert following threats that extremist groups were planning a new attack on the capitol building those days u.s. house of representatives session was canceled because of those concerns although as of the debunked conspiracy theory believe march 4th it's a day donald trump will return to the presidency to speak to. capitol hill for his tell us more heidi 1st about the decision to extend the national guard's mission at the capitol. sure foley this is a request that is still pending made by the capitol police force to extend the deployment of the 5000 so natch national guard troops who have been here guarding the u.s.

capitol since january you can see the heavy water thick haitian that this capitol building is still under with the barbed wires and the high fence surrounding it for blocks not * to mention of course the presence of the armed national guards men and women and today of course as another example of the heightened security posture responding to the potential of threats and other potential storming at the capitol that was the intelligence reports that an extremist militia group there was chatter that they could potentially take over the capital again so far and we're already into the early afternoon hours of the stay here in washington none of that threat has materialized like you know you fully this standing here it's been very quiet things have been very under control but certainly they're not taking any chances here and protecting the capital in these security strikes says we said 4 cells a counselor it says should today do you get a sense heidi that this heightened sense of security in this atmosphere is going to

be the new norm now in washington. right absolutely i think it is the new normal and that is something that the d.c.'s mayor has said using that phrase but how that will be seen going into the future that still to be determined it's unlikely that this was literal sense of fencing off the capitol will be here to stay we know that the residents of washington are against that in fact the capitol is known as the people's house it's a building open to the public for people to present their needs and to speak with their representatives more likely what we'll see and it's taking shape right now in the form of a plan that's being drafted for the long term security updates to the capital there is going to be recommendations of hiring more capitol police forces some 2000 more officers as well as a small a very localized rapid response team made up of national guards members who would

be available to immediately very rapidly at least come to the capitol in the case of another attack nothing like the 3 hours and 19 minutes of delay that we learned about yesterday in the capitol hearings that we saw on january 6th of as a reminder of how violent that day was with 5 people dead and more than 140 police officers injured only heidi thank you for that update how does your cost your life for assaults on capitol hill loyalist paramilitary groups in northern ireland have told british prime minister boys johnson their temporarily withdrawing support for the steel they saved because trade and commerce between northern ireland then the u.k. has been disrupted by brick sits in 1908 good friday agreement brought an end to the 3 decade conflict between catholic nationalists and protestant unionists joined a whole has more from london. i'm not sure there's any realistic immediate threat to the integrity of the good friday agreement itself after all this is an agreement

that's backed by public support as much as anything else nor is there any sense that the parties to the former troubles really want any real return to the troubles or resumption of violence but this being northern ireland it's impossible to say where things like this might go where they might end so we're talking here about the loyalist communities council the l.c.c. this is an umbrella group that represents what remains of a number of loyalist paramilitary groups that were largely disbanded certainly disarmed under the good friday agreement of 9098 the l.c.c. as you say writing to the british and irish governments giving notice that it's withdrawing its support from the good friday agreement because of concerns about the so-called northern ireland and protocol a key piece of legislation underpinning the post briggs's trade deal between the u.k. and the e.u. and you may recall the protocol involves new customs checks brand new checks down the irish sea on the trade of goods between northern ireland and the rest of the

u.k. and the l.c.c. says particular concerns in the loyalist unionist communities about a breach of their rights because this new relationship between northern ireland and the u.k. is something they were consulted on and didn't consent to which is a right of theirs guaranteed under the agreement so they want their rights restored they say their protest will be peaceful and democratic but they're essentially threatening here with whatever power they may have that anything short of a fundamental change to the nature of the protocol could result in time for the destruction of the good friday agreement naca all back on is the direct tell research at the school of law and government at dublin city university explains how concerns around the northern ireland protocol could widen the refs at all levels. the british government is presenting this is something technical that is simply having teething problems with the provision of goods and services between britain

and northern ireland which are both of course part of the united kingdom there are many however in the european union and indeed here in ireland who suspect that perhaps this is something political that this is pandering to elements within the british conservative party and the g.d.p. in northern ireland who are on hockey with this northern ireland protocol which is a part of the the whole 'd agreement to break that agreement and i think it's the fact that this is only expected that this was on the herald it's i think it can firmly that you are many in the european union indeed an ardent that is a johnson that government does is an unpredictable government it's a moderate government and it's one that cannot be trusted to keep the commitments that it enters into you know reification of our and is now a talking point in a way that it was never before greg said and there is an argument there the logic of united ireland has much greater force now breaks it and that aren't as a as an economic unit as something that's accepted in the in the with drawl that

being that there can't be a hoarder our border 'd and you are structural border between north and south now just nation that was unclear what these dogs this is this particular act that we're talking about today what he does is that he deepens divisions within northern ireland loyalists in northern ireland withdrawn their support with fright agreements because of the protocol national supporters have reacted out so both sides are mobilizing and of course when both sides mobilize and norton armed it's never good news. the oil producing cartel pay again its nonmember nations have decided to leave oil production cuts in place at least said until the end of april the price of brant crude in london has already visited by more than 5 percent as a result of the news in the 1st quarter of the year production was kept below demand in quote in order to drain the excess of oil that had built up during the cold $1000.00 lockdowns. at least 20 migrants have died in the gulf of aden after being thrown overboard by smugglers international organization for migration says

dozens were forced off an overcrowded vessel while travelling from djibouti in east africa to yemen 5 bodies have been recovered survivors are being treated in djibouti in hong kong $47.00 pro-democracy activists were facing charges of conspiracy to commit subversion going to remain in prison the decision came after 4 days of marathon bail hearings which led to some defendants falling ill the court granted bail to a 3rd of the defendants but it sent the entire group to prison after the government appealed the decision on kong police have arrested 100 people under the controversial national security law which beijing imposed on the city 8 months ago early i spoke to nathan law who is a pro-democracy activists who fled hong kong because of the national security law he says the legal system there now only says china's communist party. well as we all know this is a political persecution 1st we actually didn't have high hopes on the court giving

out bells because i think to the presidents actually the burden of proof is on the defendants to show that they are not going to invalidate the national security law in the future so that they could be granted that oh so bit the fact the presumption of innocence is not applicable on the national security law cases it is the longer a legal system that serves its people but the interests of the communist party at expression and that on the shows that create all cases the courts the judge just of the court are appointed by the government and they have a set of screening on the these prosecution. precedents see this not allow any room for civic society and deficient of power including the pro-democracy camp getting involved in public affairs into these parliaments so there are rumors saying that n.b.c.'s either standing committee. member of the congress is going to impose

a much more strict. and making it less democratic and occupied by most of the probating people and that really shows a continuance of beijing's approach which is a very heavy handed and very autocratic and hong kong it's just becoming more and more like 2 to be ordinary chinese city china's largest political meeting is starting on friday $3000.00 officials were meets in beijing to set the government's plan for next year it comes at a time when china is facing an increasingly tense global environmental including strained relations with the u.s. . for some beijing. 2 thousands of china's most powerful political ends are gathering in beijing on friday to chart the country's road map for the next 5 to 15 years the annual national people's congress 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 with other superpowers 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 even july during the congress china's leaders will release their annual work report outlining economic targets thinking 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 a jaded goal is also usually set though this is skip 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 weak is as well as political reforms in hong kong it's expected to tighten its grip . that the territory and possibly to ensure only those loyal to beijing are able to hold office the national security will badly subversion was unveiled at last year's n.p.c. dozens were arrested under the law this week by holding a primary vote ahead of elections. in iraq environmental policy makers will be

watching for further action on climate change the government is expected to set targets for juicing carbon emissions moving towards she's goal of making china carbon neutral by 2060 katrina al-jazeera beijing. pope francis is heading to iraq for a 3 day visit since his 1st trip outside italy since the coronavirus pandemic began the pope will be welcomed by the prime minister when he arrives in baghdad on friday he'll then meet president as well as religious leaders and representatives of civil society at the presidential palace the next day the pope will fry to the city of najaf in may grand ayatollah sistani to celebrate holy mass in baghdad on sunday pope francis will travel to erbil the capital of iraqi kurdistan meet with religious and civil leaders of the autonomy region osama bin job it reports from baghdad on the security preparations ahead of the pope's visit. 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. 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 in a very terrible 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 expand on his message of interfaith 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 master to iraq

who would have escorted the pope to all his appointments has already tested positive pope francis and his entourage have been vaccinated organizers say they will strictly enforce crowd limits at public events but with a sharp rise in iraq school with 1000 cases in a week health care system critics have. question the effectiveness of social distancing as it's expected crowds will gather to see the pope can add. 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. by the civil defense plan has 2 components 1st part is protection firefighters and rescuers will be more 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 and christians can trace their lineage to the earliest days of the religion they are a diverse group with syriac the syrian army and communities since the 2003 us invasion and later the persecution suffered and derisively the visit is a rare opportunity to lift broken spirits among the dwindling christian population but iraqis of all faiths are excited about welcoming pope francis barber as he is affectionately known in arabic and job with al-jazeera like the. and still ahead on the news hour a shocking attack the n.b.a. legend is now showing off his skills in the west wing reign as coming up next with jenna.

welcome back time now for us forces gemma. thank you folly this month's world cup qualifiers in south america are in doubt with european football clubs unlikely to release their players to travel due to concerns over the pandemic and quarantine restrictions liverpool manager juergen klopp has already said he won't let his players join up with their countries if they have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days on their return the u.k. government requires anyone travelling from red list countries like brazil to do just that manchester united boss ali got a social agrees south american football's governing body can move all meet on friday to discuss what to do about the games we should do to take place on march the 25th and 30th it doesn't make sense if you lose your play for 10 days

isolation of course it does and we're the ones paying the players. from what i understand. that's the rule the fee for given the rules that don't have to be. released so i would think that not so that's going to be a hard hard call to make to let them go and play in red list countries come and go look at various options to get the south american world cup qualifiers played in so will the national teams earlier we spoke to when i rang his a match commentator and latin american correspondent for the area of sport in our midst but he says the european clubs are right to be worried about their players travelling to south america. it's quite understandable if you start hearing what i both a hater said the other day the coach of made us he say i'm terrified of the situation there shooting the football being played because of how bad things are in brazil so

so if you're liverpool and you hear that from a coach of the defending quibble about the lotus champions then you start saying why should i put my players at risk as well i mean there's a lot of liability in terms of this but the way that things have been handled the past few months in terms of the fun terms of the brazilian confederation terms of comparable it ends up worrying people nights it's rightly so that they should be worried those players that the majority of the core of the nucleus of those respective teams ends up being affected because of those of the teams that are going to have to try and look for something some national teams have already started to make some time and some type of contingency plan if you will sheila being one of them as yesterday but the last out of the 8 established a list of 26 players from the domestic league that could be called up for national team at action he'll have a mini camp if you will with those players to kind of get to know them a little bit better in the event that the international from europe do not come and

participate in the upcoming rounds will be as competitive as the european players probably not but you will still be able to see some telling to players if this decision does go through well portugal have already acted to make show that players are available the fs time qualifier against azerbaijan has been made to to italy to avoid those quarantine issues the players and if i can fit a case in of a political stalin christiane i went out to ask because the match will be played is it at his club side eventis is home ground in turin. the pandemic continues to affect the european champions league as well with the way for confirming that liverpool and abi leipzig were sent to hungry for the 2nd leg of their last 16 tie the 1st match between the sides was played in budapest 2 weeks ago as travel restrictions meant liverpool once able to go to germany and they can't get on field either because the german team would have to undergo 10 days of isolation upon returning from the u.k. so it's back to the push to serena fix weeks match with liverpool leading to nil

after the 1st leg but before that game in liverpool have a couple of premier league matches in the 1st of those is against chelsea later with both sides that go forth with a win for them and tottenham already while underway as one no to half time and is goal a set between a west brom and abbott's another bright. cricket pakistan super league has been postponed indefinitely the decision was made following an emergency meeting off the 3 more players tested positive for corona virus that takes the number of cases inside the tournament bubble to 76 of which a play is less than half of the scheduled a $34.00 matches have been completed the pakistan cricket board had been considering leaving will remain matches to karate before announcing the postponement. the franchise owners were adamant that the plays had lost a lot of confidence there was a lot of anxiety in the cap and they were they were not in a mental state to play so on the back of that we took the decision to postpone the

event with every intention to find a day to day 20 years. england's batting problems continue they were all out for $205.00 on day one of the 4th and final test against india in ahmedabad spin x. off it's how the pick of the ball is with 4 wickets for the home side india only need to draw to claim a series or 24 for one at the close of play one of the talking points from the opening day was a heated exchange between india captain breck kohli and england all round a bend stakes with the umpires having to break it up stakes has played down the incident. over. the job. these days. you know to go see them so we're going. to go see. that she macadamia returns to formula one this year with mick schumacher

son of 7 time world champion michael preparing for his rookie season the 21 year old who won the formula 2 championship last year will make his debut with the has team they unveiled at their new car on thursday. in tennis 2 time wimbledon champion a petrovich of a is in to have consecutive cats are open semifinal the number 4 seed was up against and at quantifying in the quarters and she raced into a 51 lead in the 1st that forsaken it 63 counts of a full back to take the 2nd commit about who won this event in doha 3 years ago when the deciding set 62 to advance to the last fall. where she will play australian open quarter finalist jessica you stunned 2nd seeded carolina prisca she beat touchup opponent 6361. and will finish with n.b.a. legend shaquille o'neal showing off his skills but not on the basketball court this is him making his debut in the all elite wrestling series in florida and despite

being put through a table as you are about to say he did still win these tag team much 7 foot one and around 165 kilograms it's a wonder the table came off 2nd best. that is all from me for now i'll be back with more later gemma thank you very much for that space x. has managed to land one of its starship prototypes after 2 previous attempts failed but the billionaire behind the project on musk but might not be celebrating too hard given the rocket caught fire after coming back down to earth all this comes one day after applications open for the 1st commercial flight to the moon and release you has a story. page made history it looks like a successful test flight for space x. is next generation rocket that was until this.

it's not clear what went wrong. the private american space firm launched a giant rocket a few minutes earlier. after a high altitude. spight the 10 starship prototype or s. and 10 touchdown in the u.s. state of texas the company called it a beautiful soft landing with its billionaire founder evo musk 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 real usable space vehicle any type of engineering feat what you are not only developing news happy potions system but a new type of fusion. that so many testing boundaries that have to occur and say it's not i'm 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 dear mom it's promised a lunar excursion for japanese billionaire yes. on a starship and 2023 myself i 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. and that's it for this news hour on al-jazeera from me fully backed born the whole team here in doha thank you very

much for being with us we're live from london news center next with my colleague bob i hope you do stay with us thanks so much. some people marry for love others it can be a commercial transaction. for 3700 euro payment just for the march out as their world meets men and women using marriage as an illegal to europe you know just as you can get your attitude in for attempting to organize a sham marriage and a financial and emotional cost but then he left me for

a woman 33 years older than him marriage to sail on al-jazeera what should americans be thinking and doing right now it should be about ideas they don't care about their work is all they care about is making money china is not going to be left out of the calling for the bloated defense budget to be cut the bottom line on us politics and policies and their effect on the world. mocks an al-jazeera studio b. unscripted brings you 2 special guests in called the citation exploring ideas and finding common solutions 10 years on from the tsunami that struck japan l.t.c. revisits the people most affected by the disaster football read books every cancer presents a juicy reason about iconic players whose influence has been as great off the page as on it's israel's 4th election in 2 years after the unity government's failure to

pass a national budget up front smocked lamont hill cuts through that lines to challenge conventional wisdom. minds on al-jazeera. the at. the end claims of rights violations in northern ethiopia the un says the only way to get the truth out of t. great is to allow independent monitors in. the barbarous i write you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up anger on the streets in senegal after all position be there was a man some call is arrested he says charges against him are completely motivated.