introduces. players who buck the trend and stood up for what they believed it let's do it. hello there i'm a star and this is the news hour live from our headquarters here and coming up in the next 60 minutes tightening its grip on hong kong china is to expand its veto power in deciding just who can run for elections. a historic trip pope francis heads to iraq to support one of the world's oldest and most persecuted christian community its. security forces in myanmar are accused of issuing death threats to

protest as one tick tock the video sharing app says it's removing content that incites violence. 'd 6 street battles and senegal protesters are demanding the release of an opposition leader they say is accused of rape. and the school itself america's football thought is look to solve the continent's woke up call find the european clubs unlikely to release a jew to corner virus concerns and quarantine mr actions. now and china has unveiled plans to the whole hong kong electoral system allowing beijing veto power over just who can run for the legislative council how about announcement was made during the national people's congress. the country's biggest

annual political gathering the proposed changes would mean a pro china election committee decides which candidates can run for legislative council seats that group will effectively stamp out any opposition and hong kong's parliament in his opening speech prime yet leak a chunk said china is against any external interference and hong kong's affairs beijing is under international scrutiny for intensifying its crackdown on political dissent in hong kong and julie usually we will stay true to the letter and the spirit of the principle of one country 2 systems under which the people of hong kong administer hong kong with a high degree of autonomy we will improve the relevant systems and mechanisms of the special administrative region ensure the enforcement of mechanisms to safeguard national security we will resolutely guard against and deter external forces interference in the affairs of hong kong well katrina is monitoring the developments for us in beijing. we're saying that this national people's congress is really about the communist party using this opportunity this annual event to

showcase its strength and its control over its territory in these this move in hong kong is just a part of that now beijing is saying that it's safeguarding one country 2 systems and it's ensuring stability by making sure that anyone who holds office in hong kong is loyal to beijing now at last year's national people's congress we saw the introduction of this controversial national security law which banned subversion and this caused a reckoning in hong kong as a result of that law we've seen dozens of pro-democracy figures in hong kong arrested and charged many of them have fled the territory and this law that we're seeing introduced at this year's congress is basically a continuation of that overall in overhaul in hong kong to ensure that beijing quashes any dissent and any opposition in the hong kong government now we're still waiting for details and we're going to hear more of that over the next few days as the congress meets and discusses this draft law but we do know that beijing is

looking to dramatically shrink the number of seats electoral seats in hong kong available to those who are directly voted in by members of the public and instead it will boost and increase the number of seats given to those who are supporters of beijing from various industry academic and social groups and at the same time carry law who is the beijing backed chief executive of hong kong her team is going to be given new powers to allow her to essentially vet legislators in hong kong well that speak to and new doctor and he is a lawyer and the author of 2 books on hong kong and he joins us now here antony is this in practice really the end of one country 2 systems. it might not necessarily be the end of one country 2 systems but it certainly appears to be the end for democracy or any form of meaningful political opposition in hong kong that's. what this whole system is already pretty heavy reagan favorite beijing so was china

really feeling under threat or is this more than an opportunistic consolidation of power that we're seeing. i think there are there are 2 events in 2019 that really frightened beijing but the one of the most obvious and visible one where those months of protests going on on the streets but the other was the resoundingly victory that the pro-democracy parties won it district council elections here at the end of that year of protests that saw them sweep into control of almost all of the district councils here with some 60 percent of the votes i think beijing saw the popularity that those pro-democracy parties that beat enjoying it will cooperate that they had a genuine chance notwithstanding how tricked the system is here against them to perhaps win a majority in the legislative council i think those 2 things together have prompted this harsh crackdown from beijing well this particular law effectively means the end of democratic elections in the territory right i mean this comes as no surprise

that stands out as that given in might of hong kong as an economic what kind of consequences could it have. it suddenly makes hong kong appear a much less free and much less liberal city than it has been to go international investors have been attracted to whole culture but only because of the the economy and the capital markets in the financial markets but also because it was an open liberal entry city with a with the rule of lore and all the sorts of institutional protections that came with that now as beijing gradually piece by piece dismantles these institutional protections of the city becomes progressively less attractive to international investors and international business because of that so you do have to wonder how far up aging can go and is this really a bridge too far it baking the city almost indistinguishable from from any other city in china well a vast array of countries have been condemning beijing's escalating crackdown on hong kong and seems really to have made very little difference i. think that's

right i mean one statement that that continually stands out from the assertions that beijing makes is hong kong is china's hong kong and they absolutely broke no interference from the from other countries in there or to try to lift is any part of china or they see all color as a part of that i think china is probably making the same gamble in respect of hong kong but they've made it really in respect of the rest of china which is that its international companies want to do business with china but they are going to come here perhaps regardless although all of the political consequences all the political environment for people people living here over the last 8 months yeah i mean we've watched as activists have fled or rounded up and imprisoned in hong kong and they have obviously been actions as well and what's happened to the opposition movement now. it's of course as you say protests have been constrained by the pen they make at the same time this ongoing crackdown against all of the activists and

opposition politicians has seen many of them in jail indeed just this very week as as these reforms have been announced in beijing there have been 47 leading opposition politicians really all of the most prominent opposition politicians in hong kong have been standing have been arrested and charged under the national security loads of version have been applying for bail most of them have had their bail denied of being in custody ahead of so that hearings later in the year old some at least they'll be put on trial and potentially facing up to 10 years in prison and this really is it was all of the candidates that ran it in the pen democracy primary election last year so effectively all of the candidates that were going to be fielded by the pro-democracy candidate parties in the upcoming election so we're really seeing a systematic attack against really all organized political opposition in hong kong and the individuals who participated in that and anita perry and then a lawyer and an author in hong kong i tell you inside one out of there thanks for

being with us and thank you now moving on and pope francis is now on his way to iraq where he'll fulfill a longstanding promise to become the fast pontiff to visit that country the 3 day visit is as fast trip outside asli since the pandemic again they have be welcomed by the prime minister in baghdad before meeting present on sunday at the presidential palace the head of the roman catholic church that he's going as a program of peace on the number of christians enter iraq has dropped significantly in recent years partly due to them being passive here said by al qaeda they hope their struggle to survive will get a boost from the pope's visit from out of fault and reports now from the capital. 10 years ago louise francis a claim is survived one of the deadliest terror attacks on iraq's christian community it cost him his left ear drum $4.00 to $6.00 other christians their lives . that i thought it was the last seconds in this life they were very difficult

moments you take the shot towards the room where we were in one hand grenade exploded that's when i was injured some of the projectiles the stone my head in my chest lewis and his son the were among more than 100 worshippers trapped inside the lady of salvation church in baghdad as gunmen laid siege to the building. claimed responsibility for the attack one of many carried out against iraq's christian minority after the 2003 u.s. led invasion lewis is one of the few survivors of the church attack who stayed on in iraq and. i don't want to leave this is my home. but preserving iraq's dwindling christian population can feel like a lost cause let me. there's no hope left for the christians and other minorities to reassure them all the political parties and politicians don't care about the

citizens interests they just care about their own interests they denominations interests and regional interests. this is the our lady of salvation church where the 2010 attack took place the concrete blocks to shield it from suicide bombings are now adorned with paintings of pope francis' in anticipation of his visit but the very presence of these protective barriers 10 years on is a sign that iraq's christians still don't feel safe the church attacks were a prelude to even darker days ahead. in 2014 eisel swept through the name of our planes in iraq's north forcing another exodus many christians fled abroad or to iraq semi autonomous kurdish region others came to the capital budget that this camp for displaced was set up in 2015 and still hosts around 200 christian families who can't decide whether to stay for the sake of preserving the past or leave for a better future i mean i came here with her son from the village of 100 nia she

says there is nothing for her to return to. and now there are no job opportunities and most of the village residents who are displaced there's nothing here for us in our street all the houses were destroyed pope francis visit may offer a rare moment of hope for the christian community here but few expect it will bring about political change and any guarantees for their safety seem want us all to al-jazeera but that while our correspondent is on a binge of a joins us now from baghdad just outside a catholic our lady of salvation church a summer a very symbolic trip what are the hopes and expectations apart front of his visit. but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a lot of christians in iraq a trip which has been in the making for decades and finally they're seeing the leader of the roman catholic church on his way to their city i was just speaking to

a few of the survivors of that tack on the salvation church and then the aftermath of living in there i see for many of those people so there is a glimmer of hope of one lady told me that it will bring her peace after years of troubling attacks against christians and the minority facing all sorts of issues in iraq but it is a trip that not just christians but all iraqis of all faiths in the place of birth of abraham which is a very important. location for all abrahamic religions feel is going to bring them not just hope but some sort of a reconciliation for the future is when they feel that there has been polarization between religions here and the pope is going to make sure that in his 3 day trip it is going to be packed with not just staying in the capital in baghdad he's going to be visiting now jeff is going to be meeting one of the big one of the most important leaders. stanny he's also going to be visiting the city of or and then go

to mosul which was in the north which was essentially where most of the christians were populated and saw the worst of the atrocities committed by isis some of that's a pretty broad ranging trip now regarding the private security as he's traveling especially given the rising number of 1000 cases in iraq what's being done to make sure he's safe. well it is a country as you can see with the barriers and you've been looking at pictures of security personnel as dotted across the streets in baghdad that it is not come completely out of the cycle of violence there have been a number of attacks in the last few weeks and the iraqi security forces are saying that they have taken all the steps that they can to make sure that the security and safety of the port is guaranteed but again the questions have been asked not just about the security of the poor but about his visit during a pandemic to a country which has not even begun its vaccinations campaign just yesterday there were 5000 cases in iraq more than 2 dozen people died due to cold and the fear is

that all dogs the organizer are saying that they're going to be very strict about who attends the masses who comes in who is allowed to be close 'd to the pope but the fear is that a lot of people are going to come out in the streets or how is that social distancing going to be maintained and what will be the aftermath if there is any sort of spread of a further spread of called 1000 so those are all the fears and concerns that people have the pope has appealed to people and organizers here that they should watch the pope on their television screens but know that he is coming as a messenger of peace and he will not abandon them because they have been waiting for him for decades some of them for us in baghdad following that visit thank you so much for some how we can now speak to you on a dime can i he's the head of iraq's christian. parliamentary block and he joins us now also from baghdad mr khan thank you for your time i will carry us how significant is pope francis's visit for you personally today. well this is

really some historic moment to all iraqis that almost 2000 year later the pope of the to come visit us here in such a difficult situation and iraq is suffering from very different issues and they make and economical and. everything and even the sick complex in the region that's an american iran and many many other issues so we are very happy and welcoming his holiness that we hope that. is for sure he is bringing the message of peace and love and forgiveness jesus' message and and his visit will has many many positive effect on iraqi society and in the region and globally as well because. as as you know they. reflect and effect of the eyes is al qaeda crimes against humanity against people here reflect very negatively on the

islamic image in europe and america and everywhere so his visit to our religious leaders in iraq gives very very good positive for the plague and bring down a bit some of what we are in europe and america and western. societies that's one second still there is people some people think that europe and america and the west christians jews are against against which is not right yes there are problems in lebanon syria iraq and iran but that's because of some conflict between our in israel because of the conflict between russia and america and iran and america so this is a political matter is not. is not a religious or a korean problem so the visit of his holiness to our religious leader not just will give very positive effect and bring down a bit the head to it and bring down the tensions which is the communities as. sure

and when he visits who are as well and who are they would have some joint priors together old texts and all religions in iraq would be together and to pray and order which was their homeland. whenever i hear a lot about him. when he started was that he and other big we say so i mean i mean it is a very important and then he would visit the community that they believe are his and salvation charity as you are speaking in the report and i welcome a couple fatso because you mentioned that also christian communities feeling under threat i know there's a range of different christian sects in iraq but overall the number of christians has dropped from something like one and a half 1000000 to less than a 3rd of that now what still rectally caused people to leave and are people there still feeling under threat. yeah let me correct your numbers yes one hope 1000000 were in the early seventy's and eighty's but during the change in 2003 it was

close to 1000000 and now we are no more than help a 1000000 more or less that's one second why people leave getting after the change the rule of law was very very weak until this moment that many people say they are breaking the law and they are sometimes mafia and sometimes doing some threats for people not only for christians for anyone and the rich man and most of the business people fled to amount to north pre-rock because of those because of their lake of rule of order and that's one second the lack of public services and lack of their job opportunities and sometimes discrimination and in job opportunity and and the posters in the government and maybe we have some institutions now there are no more christians inside especially the security institutions so this discrimination and the bad life opportunities and the threats

all together make people flee and make people immigrate leave their houses back and leave everything back in the us or are or even known. as well mr han i know you passionately have worked very hard to shape the educational curriculum in iraq to try to combat the past occasion of christians do you feel like things have changed. well we hope that our leaders can change because the sectarian policies have hurt the muslims much more than they hurt even christians and that is all of the that head to head sort of culture as experiences them make. guys and i just conflict at last we suffered from above and then there are collectively we need some consolation among the society not only among christians or muslims there is no problem only just basis it's a matter of discrimination it's a matter of this experience ism and most of all the sharing only for example you

see now and not so the the people on the street and the christians are muslims and they are the brother of saddam power and the cost of corruption there are no public said mrs there is no job opportunities lots of poverty very high over 50 percent somewhere like the one like mara so i mean it's probably in country in general so we are a part of this iraq when iraq is ok we are ok with iraq still ok everybody is not ok not only christian yonathan kind of a head of iraq's christian out of a feeding parliamentary flock thanks so much for joining us here on out of there assess your welcome and let's not take you to some life take chances from the iraqi capital baghdad when the pope pope francis as usual arrived within the alibi thing of all the latest from his trip here on out of. well also ahead concerns over the pace of the vaccine rollout as south africa trials the

johnson and johnson and articulation on health workers. and in sports and battled premier league champions medical twin new low details coming up later this is out. there are reports at least one person has died in myanmar's city of mandalay after protesters there clashed with police many have been defying a crackdown and marching to demand an end to the military coup activists are out in a number of cities 38 people were killed on wednesday that's sparked international condemnation and new video has emerged as well showing hundreds of protesters being detained by police in the largest city yangon on wednesday the protesters some of them monks can be seen cheering as you can see that with their hands behind their heads before then being pushed into military trucks witnesses say more than 300

protesters were rounded up and detained well we can now speak to a process to go where she's been describing the situation as frightening and heartbreaking she's asked remain anonymous for his safety thank you so much for joining us here on our jazeera and taking this risk i know you've been facing live ammunition and yet your obviously still coming out into the streets tell me why you're making that decision to take that risk. hi. thank you for having me here are a i think that a mistake i am not in actively on the streets at the moment but i have been sitting with legal hurt protests and i think there are different kinds of protests there are protests that are being gathered in the name coaches' areas and there they are the ones which are smaller and the ones that are right in the center of the city are a bit more dangerous to be in and i think we've seen in the last few days there has to be a large crackdown on those protests and life bullets have been used there are

a bit more risk for women as well as there have been unconfirmed but reports of women being sexually harassed so that's a bit of a difficult situation to be in but the general discourse around that people are talking about is that we have to win this. revolution so people are still going out people are so doing what they can either in the neighborhoods or outside and people are people have seen this as a as an outbreak war between the population and the military and there are lots of differing opinions on to what to do next but one thing for sure is the majority of the country is in the same side of being against the will to recruit will you speaking to us today you've asked us to keep your identity secret is that because your faithful fail in safety or well that of your family or friends what are you scared of might actually happened. all of the above all of the above my family didn't know that i am taking this call and will be probably against against this so

i'm currently isolating myself from my family to be this call but they have been tracking people down who extension people who are a bit more political activists the people who have influence. actors they have all been tamed or. we can actively break into your house and pick your way so and your family recently a few weeks ago a famous actor he was taken away foster a life discussion of the condemning the military coup and they found him a few a few a few hours later and took him away so it's not particularly safe to be open about your opinions but obviously different people are some people are already in hiding and are more vocal. about the physicians and some people have a lot more influence i'm not in hiding at the moment so i feel it would be a risk to put myself in my family to to live what i am of course obviously getting

a chance to speak to you now but i know communications have been very difficult what's the situation at the moment. i am currently based in when gone and a few weeks a huge days back we had some violent crackdown today has been a bit more stable in that my stable i mean there is no death today recorded just yet but very tense this morning i was at the tea shop and people have been talking about the possibility of bombs being dropped and this is a rumor and speculation but you can see that it's in people's minds that expression yesterday the u.s. foreign policy document announced that the u.s. would be sending in a military intervention and i think this is something that the lokpal hoped for. by people i mean the general population so there's there's this idea that there's nobody out here to protect us and nobody's listening to our voices so the military could do anything and they have proven that they can do things because they have shot into homes they have. their book ports of drones flying around on our heads to

monterey and in long gone as well so people there's a lot of psychological warfare going on so we're under the impression that anything can happen and it's possible and people have been talking about the possibility of something dropping is frightening to me. but i'm quite i'm quite i see that people are saying that but there are also people who are scared but there also seems that some documentary in there in there so people are quite brave i've never seen people so talking about this so casually in mind and because i was teaching people are so pointy and talking about it they're so lacking in their own lives but i've never seen people being so brazen that's one thing i can quite. a crowd of in this country show clearly there's a huge amount of courage being said what would it take then to these protests to stop what it returned to the situation before with the civilian aid including aung sun treaty being released would that be enough for you or would you need to see more change. i think people are having

a lot of mixed thoughts but one thing for sure is that people are against the military and does not want to negotiate so there have been people people have been saying that they could this day but won't be able to do back off and if institute tried to negotiate the military's. done enough with this military period so that's one thing for sure to want to do this to end the military rule to end but in terms of what people want people want different things and then a phone call. that's going to walk with you and this is this is a stronger push from people who are not the majority of the market this some have started to call them up or just themselves have started to repeat these calls but others are still if it's not important at the moment what we what we did what we need to do 1st is to talk about 2 to get rid of the military and then you can discuss all of these things so that there's a difference between want to do what people want but for sure one thing for sure is

that you don't want the military so that was you know to go on i know you've been feeling very alone and you can sharing that with us thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story with us here today on al-jazeera and we wish you all the best and do stay safe. moving on now and our correspondent scott highland or following things for us from the thai capital bangkok scott we were just looking at her protesting these demonstrations that katie not letting up. no they definitely are not in the stands and you know we've been seeing as she was describing the situation on the ground in yang gone there is also there are protests going on in other cities mandalay the 2nd largest city has had a protest today and what's interesting is she was saying things seemed to be fairly calm and young gun and mentally it wasn't the same story we know that at least one protester was shot and killed today you know this comes just a couple of days after that very bloody day on wednesday when 38 protesters were

killed in this recent crackdown and obviously the posture of the security forces on the streets right across has really ratcheted up and that's their tactics are becoming a little bit more intense one thing that's interesting i'd like to touch on that the protesters in yangon that we were just speaking with and she was talking about the intimidation she was talking about how there are rumors about bombs could possibly be dropped now this is something that clearly a tactic that the military the joint is using because over the last couple of days there have been low fly bys of fighter aircraft over several cities in myanmar so that is obviously something they're trying to stoke the fear the trying to intimidate live also they the military and soldiers and police officers have been taking to social media to do the same thing to intimidate the protesters and it's you know we've seen kind of a walk back by media companies you know initially facebook head to head band

certain sites that were connected to the military because of this information we've seen you to take a similar tactic so it's interesting that the military there is trying to keep up this intimidation campaign it appears and those platforms are trying to do as much as they can to curb that but there are probably other ways of doing inside as we heard from that protester inside the country i got as you're saying taking down some of the channels went to the military but i see some officers are actually rather taking to take talk i want to show you some of our viewers some of the images from the night of. those videos that they putting on line in that they look pretty threatening and i understand digital rights group man i.c.t. for development found more than 800 posts showing cell just threatening to kill demonstrations since the military coup last month now as you can see some of these videos showing men aiming rifles at cameras telling a protest as it will be shot in the head take talk has said that it is aggressively monitoring to remove such content scott is this actually having an impact on people

that getting scared well they're meant that's one of many the tick-tock postings i think are one of many different types of intimidation that the military is using you know there's probably a department within the tatmadaw that's the military in myanmar that is specifically designed to do that to intimidate psychological warfare right now when you look at the streets of myanmar you can look at as the their battle lines so the military is deploying whatever they have learned over the years or tried to use over the years against their enemies and now they see the protesters as their enemy so yes they're using any type of intimidation they can if that is you know the facebook pages the you tube channels were much more official in organized by the military still spreading disinformation still spreading rumors stoking fear now the tick tock it's interesting it's difficult to tell i guess at this stage to see if that was actually orchestrated by someone within the military and in

a leadership position or just encouraging soldiers and saying go out there intimidate as much as you can the protesters and to talk is one of the platforms to use but as you mentioned tick tock as it has announced that they're going to monitor much more closely and that they have taken down some of these images that are direct threats to the protestors scott hyder that monitoring the situation for us from the thai capital bangkok thank you so much scott. well you're watching al-jazeera let's remind you of our top stories here this hour china has unveiled plans to overhaul hong kong's electoral system allowing beijing veto power over who can run for the legislative council their removal effectively stamp out any opposition in hong kong's parliament. there are reports at least one person has died and myanmar city of mandalay off to protest as they clashed with police many have been defying a crackdown and marching to demand an end to the military coup 38 people were

killed on wednesday. and pope francis is on his way to iraq where he'll become the 1st pontiff to visit the country the 3 day trip comes amid fears about the coronavirus pandemic and security well we can dig into this a little more with mohsen written he's senior vice president with the group that's a new york based strategic security and intelligence consultancy he joins us now here and martin this trip is happening with the backdrop of escalation of violence as we've been saying in various parts of iraq over the last few weeks and months the pope himself i know insisted on going you don't want to let people down one of the major concerns here with his itinerary for you. but i think it does start i mean there's an armed security accompanies a pole wherever he travels this is this is common and he's the by all kinds of purposes the same as the head of state when it comes to security so he has his arms security detail that will travel with them made up of schools are huge and they are

they will work hand in hand with the iraq the security intelligence services to provide a security cordon around the pub where he goes now a trip like this involves a lot of planning and interagency coordination likely weeks in advance that they've been doing is preparing contingency plans for every conceivable incident that could happen there would be a plan for a medical emergency o.b. a plan for back to a case of a bombing a case of a riot in case of ground attacks and what we've seen recently and case of a missile attack. and as part of this plan the have primary and alternate routes to every every site that the ople as it will so many christians i have fled the country into a state where not just the motivated violence that other in your mind any groups in iraq who might be of greater concern when it comes to security you may potentially want to make a statement around the president's. so just by past actions the islamic state would

be would certainly be a group of that. security officials would be concerned about and also 'd the possibility of not high but the possibility that one of the shia militias could she could start to attack i think the biggest threat would be through islamic state or lone wolves that here to that idiology well there's also another threat right now still in the middle of a global pandemic and iraq has very recently seen a new spike there infections and the pope is 84 but he has been vaccinated but at the same time he's going to be attracting crowds who haven't been vaccinated what precautions have been taken to prevent a potential super spreader event here. and exactly that's that's the challenge with security it's always going to be balancing the security needs of the individual in this case the pope. and his personal preference to have close up to minister

to people close up as you said he has been vaccinated his entourage has been backs needed. most iraqis have not been back safe so this is going to be a concern decontaminating areas prior to going in social distancing and then of course there is a medical team of the pope just monitoring him constantly to make sure that if he is exposed they can provide the care mawson how is preferences veered in iraq is he regarded as more of a controversial or unifying figure. well this is not controversial i mean there are a significant christian population still in iraq most have fled since the war in 2003 but there's still a significant population there and i think his is an aim here is to show that they're not forgotten and beats between the violence due to extremism of the past wars and of course the that and done that in the last year that he has not

forgotten them and they think this is his 1st trip since povich started. first international trip and he wants to make a point of of these in iraq which he's never been there before. from the soufan group strategic security and intelligence consultancy great to have you here and out of there thanks for your insights muscle you're welcome. now moving on and senegal's government has banned a gathering of opposition and civil society groups due in the capital on friday afternoon that's after supporters of this money sunk a leading opposition figure fought with police at a university campus and dhaka and some guy was arrested 2 days ago for holding an unauthorised rally before a court appearance to face rape charges he says that accusation is all part of a plot to prevent him from taking part in elections in 2024 or we can speak to nicholas how he's on the ground for us in dhaka nic those were really quite some of the protests and these are yes and that's when the government is very keen to try to keep people off the streets today. well that's what they're trying to

do but look at roy what's happening behind me this is what happened last night an a.t.m. machine looted and then right next to it look at these cars burned this during the curfew people came out braving it protesting angry the current situation angry that the opposition figure was spun sancho is still being held in detention and the level of anger is so much that behind me over there in this building is one of the country's main radio station well it was attacked by protesters after the government shut down chu. television news channels that were deemed to be perceived as being close to the government story. of inciting protests so really a tense situation here there's an eerie calm at the moment waiting to see what will happen this afternoon when this protest will take place we haven't seen

demonstrations like this since 2011 when the former president tried to room run for a 3rd mandate so a very tense situation in the security forces seem to be. overrun in certain areas overstretched we saw protests not just here in the capital the court but throughout the country in the gun show in the southern areas but also in other major air. as the highways on the highway leading out to the car the the vehicles were run by protesters so there's a sense here with this planned gathering this afternoon that the worst is yet to come. nic do we know what the station is right now if mr sancho and where his trial is that and where that could possibly go. i think that's what's leading the protest at the moment is no one really knows where mr song is he was last being detained at a police station we were told by. his party members that he was.

driven by force to the tribe you know where he's expected to be seen by a judge at 11 o'clock the judge that was in initially put on the case recused himself he says he was also fearing for his life and his family given the sheer amount of protests so at 11 o'clock he supposed to see a judge and that judge will rule over the public disturbance that we've seed in the past 2 days that he is accused of having organized these and now it's protests despite being in detention at the moment as well there's rape charges against him rape charges that he's refused to respond to from investigators so this sounds to new and we're going to see a protest from civil society actors as well as the opposition this comes on the heels of a of an announcement a warning made by amnesty international saying that the government criticizing the government for is for its heavy handedness for the shrinking. of space for the

opposition to express themselves that really unusual to see such level of protest on the streets of the capital and what's interesting here in us is that the government still hasn't gone out publicly to say anything we haven't heard from the president we haven't heard from the prime minister the minister of interior is just keeping a tally of what's happening but no real announcement made by the government for the present itself she says he sees what the current situation as being a private matter a rape allegation case that needs to be solved through the courts now only bringing you those protests as they happen here on out there on the ground for us and dhaka thanks so much they can do stay stay. now moving back to the corona virus pandemic and south africa has received its 2nd batch of 80000 vaccines donated by johnson and johnson it's part of a clinical trial which tens of thousands of health care workers will be vaccinated

for but there are concerns that the rollout is going slower than expected for me to better reports. south africa's government began vaccinating its health workers in mid february with 80000 receiving the jab so far for some like dr faisal saleman the rollout has been slower than expected he runs a private practice import outside durban he says has registered to be vaccinated but his appointments been cancelled it has been tough working it's not easy working in a closed environment being having people you know all day we do our own swap being here we've been treating patients directly and telephonically so it has been produced stressful particularly when you go home and pass this thing on to your family which i've done there more than 67000 health care workers in puzzle natal province alone of which fewer than 2000 have been vaccinated through the problem here. may be our location because we were given something like 10000 but i

nor that they are here practitioners especially doctors who are in there we are looking as lot but since been at least get the idea there's been a learning process but many health care workers are still waiting as they continue to work in high risk environments scientists say it's important to vaccinate people as quickly as possible but johnson and johnson's donation of its vaccines in batches of $80000.00 doses every 2 weeks has worried critics will also questioning if this is indeed a rollout or nothing rule than a clinical trial by the us pharmaceutical giant the government says it's part of an early access and monitoring program and it has to investigate how effective the johnson and johnson vaccine is against the new more contagious strain identified here in south africa latest by end of may we must have vaccinated 1200000 health

care workers now if that is the case then it means then that. slaughter a lot but we are doing now it's really small we should be vaccinating 80002100000 people a day instead of 5000 whatever 10000000000 small doses from other companies like pfizer are expected to arrive possibly from april to expand the rollout while south africa is now at the end of a 2nd wave of infections there are concerns of another wave as soon as april. and a slow rollout and the winter months ahead have experts worried for me tamala 0 johannesburg south africa hostile ahead here on al-jazeera and sport this call for take from me out of the tiger woods playbook details coming up shortly in a few minutes.

the all. over at now type of sport thank you very much and there was a governing body of south american football college ball is expected to meet a late on friday to discuss what to do about the continent's upcoming woke up call fi's in march to our current li in doubt she for has reportedly asked the body to delay cause fires for qatar 2022 since european clubs are unlikely to release players that you took on a virus that concerns well the teams that have the right to refuse says faith extended its pandemic a ruling last month allows clubs to block players if they must quarantine for at least 5 days upon return or if the country is they're in

a don't have rules exempting the pro athletes from border restrictions while teams have already spoken out on the issue it doesn't make sense if you lose your player for 10 days isolation of course it doesn't 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 much that's going to be a hard hard call to make to let them go and play in red list countries. join us now as international football journalists govern hamilton govern how justified are those european clubs who are not willing to release their players. well i think they've got a strong case it's not i mean so scott there talks about the money and how they pay the players but it's not really that money because they're up there will be compensation schemes in place the big issue is is the issue of corn seeding players

when they return from world cup qualifiers and clubs are rightly worried that some of the best players will miss crucial going at a crucial stage of the season the champions league quarter finals 1st leg kick off a week after these international matches so players could conceivably miss some of the most important games at the club season i know it's a bit early now in south america but we'll have a decision soon but given in your opinion what is the solution well i think they'll have to be some sort of compromise that may be a compensation due will be offered by fee for and calm the ball but i think clubs want to restrict their players playing for their countries and i think what will happen is that come about will have to reschedule the games some stage that's going to prove difficult because comma bowl of already delayed and canceled games in their merits and world cup qualifying schedule each country i suppose 18 games over the course of the campaign so there will be that that's the schedule be squeezed even more now have to find some sort of time in this schedule over the next year so

fulfill the qualification fixtures this is a huge headache for fisa how difficult will it be for them to have a full set of teams in place that for the qatar 2022. i think i think they'll manage to get them there in the end it will take some arguments some some very heated discussions between the federal confederations and the federations and the clubs but i think the schedule it will have to be restructured in some way friendly matches will go by the wayside i would think and countries will have to find a way to fill the fixtures coming away from the well cup let's take for example the euros which are taking place over a number of cities this summer is it still a good idea for that to happen. oh yes i think so and i think you a fairly confident that that will take place there all you need organize the champions league group stages and now the knockout stages with clubs playing across europe and seems flying into cities across europe and hundreds of games being

televised live so they can organize a competition the question is whether fans are allowed to watch those goings and that's a decision that you wait for has to make their way to insulate through to make that decision and it might mean that if some countries and some cities can't give a currency the fans are allowed into the stadiums that those games we moved from those cities in those countries since you are the citizens and this will have to wait and see international football john has given how much i think you very much for that. while liverpool disastrous defense of their english premier league title has hit a new low on thursday they were beaten one nil by chelsea is their 5th straight loss at anfield and the league it which is the worst run at the home in club history mason mountain got the crucial goal for chelsea move into 4th place liverpool however are down and 7. $2800.00 champion roy michael ross has

a one shot lead after the 1st round of the arnold palmer invitational in florida in northern irishman put in a great performance firing 7 birdies including a 5 in a row and one bogey in his 6 on the par opening round of 66 he shares the lead with canada's corey kaunas heading into the 2nd round revealed that he has taken some notes from 15 time major winner tiger woods to navigate the course the toughest thing about this course is the part 3 days and i played in the 300 today so that was a bonus but. you know i've watched tiger enough here over the years and the way he played this course was played it very conservatively it's a carrot a par fives and that was usually good enough to get the job done so sort of take a little bit of a leaf out of his good. well fans will be allowed to attend the 1st race of the new formula one season in by her am but there are some conditions and to the circuit it will only be allowed for those who can prove they have been fully vaccinated

against covert 19 or have recovered from the virus organizers say they'll be health screening on arrival and mask will have to be worn at all times the race is in circuit in 3 weeks time and that's it for me in a cessna thanks so much donna i wanted to bring you to some other news and tens of thousands of people in new zealand fled their homes on friday after a series of earthquakes triggered a tsunami in that there many of them have now returned home but as wayne hale reports from toronto others are still worried. around many parts of new zealand a peaceful friday morning was interrupted by tsunami sirens the calm waters provided an eerie backdrop to the warning about the danger that could have been on its way people in coastal communities in the north were most at risk and were told to head to higher ground where some captured a tsunami arriving from an 8 point one magnitude earthquake hundreds of kilometers

away near the kermadec islands what we're asking people is to try and stay calm touch price of people make you love our check on the people that you know might be most at risk and really just listen to the advice that is coming through for some this was the 2nd tsunami evacuation in hours early on friday morning another large quake struck much closer to new zealand and was felt strongly around much of the country by our jumped out of it and start in the doorway and my staff was up as well as question wrong it took forever to start the quake send tsunami alert came less than 2 weeks after new zealand is marked teen years since an earthquake in christchurch that killed 185 people new zealand's location in the pacific ring of fire means that to an extent people here are used to earthquakes and because it's an island nation many people live on or near the coast and live with the constant threat of a tsunami in the end the tsunami was minor and the alert was lifted after

a few hours allowing people to return home as aftershocks continues meaning many will be nervous about what the next few days might bring wayne hay al-jazeera totaling a new zealand. well let's now take you to some live pictures from the iraqi capital baghdad with pope francis is now arriving you can see his plane has just touched down there and his 1st trip out of italy since this coronavirus pandemic began now this is also the 1st trip for a catholic pontiff to iraq it's been decades in the making now you recall the size of the christian community in iraq as we've been saying has been dwindling and the pope has said he wants to provide support to persecuted members of the church and also reminds them that they're not alone people have been gathering for hours now outside that air force in order to welcome him he will be welcomed by the prime minister in the capital baghdad and then after that he'll be meeting president

barham saleh at the presidential palace you can see all the people there in baghdad lining the streets with their flags to wave at him as he goes past now they have been multiple security concerns with this trip escalating rocker's attacks in parts of the country as well as a global pandemic now still pope francis has instead of insisted on going to iraq saying that he didn't want to let people down there now we can speak to our correspondents mona fulton she's waiting outside the presidential palace in baghdad where the pope will be arriving a little bit later she joins us now live simona this is obviously a hugely hugely symbolic trip for the pope and also for iraq talk us through what we're expecting to see from him today. well as you said a hugely significant trip for both sides this is a land that is home to a very ancient christian community a community that has its roots in ancient mesopotamia iraq's christian phil speak

aramaic which is the language that jesus spoke and of course iraq is specifically or is thought to be the birthplace of abraham who is the patron patriarch of the 3 abrahamic religions and this is why the pope has been so keen on visiting this country to really to really offer hopes for this christian community which has been persecuted which has suffered a lot as a result of the recent wars as a result of terror attacks now of course there are a lot of expectations tied to destroy it is a mostly symbolic visit that is mostly aiming at giving people hope but of course many people also expect that's hopefully some changes will come out of this visit. samina felton there on the ground for us following that trip for us in baghdad thanks so much simona well you can see that the plane of pope francis has now

touched down he is now in baghdad the iraqi capital he'll be heading to the presidential palace someone i will be saying and very very shortly well i will now hand you over to rob matheson who will be on the chance to help you follow the pipes travel to iraq i'll be here in just a moment with more of the day's news do stay with us. frank assessments the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral sadia is that a fair assessment you can be catastrophic and to why you. informed opinions should we be buying bit coy ultimately it will be sovereigns and governments who are buying this that is the direction this is all headed in-depth analysis of the

day's global headlines the inside story on 00. jump into the story there is a lot going on in this. global community when i don't have all the misinformation i think we all want to feed that we are aware be part of the debate don't ever take anybody's one word because there's always a difference when no topic is off the table we have been disconnected from our land we have been disconnected from who we are who would love to he could be part of today's discussion this stream on out is there a. decades ago manila was called the pearl of the orient the manila metropolitan theater was once a testament to the city's grandeur but decades later the theater has become a symbol of moneyless to katie now the philippine government is changing their government buildings the universities and monasteries were just some of the many

structures that were destroyed in manila drawing world war 2. but rebuilding a life and a city from scratch has proven difficult and some experts say manila has never truly recovered. a historic trip pope francis arrives in iraq to support one of the world's oldest and most persecuted christian communities. are all about this and this is all to see a live from doha also coming up tightening its grip on hong kong china is to expand its veto power in deciding who can one for elections.