on al-jazeera. the usa is always of in fact the people all right the world people pay attention to walk on here now does it is very good to bring the news to the world from here. protesters in senegal continue to demand the release of an opposition leader a summer song because lawyers say he's the victim of a state conspiracy. so rommany watching i was there alive my headquarters here in doha are also coming up security forces in me and maher accused of issuing death threats to protestors on tech talk the video sharing app says it's removing content that incites violence.

also a call for tolerance in iraq pope francis honors victims of one of the worst attacks on christians as he becomes the 1st pontiff to visit the country also people are coming to her and. the u.s. president urges congress to pass his trillion dollar covert 900 relief bill calling it a lifeline to beat the pandemic and help millions left jobless. but into the program supporters of senegal's opposition leader have been killed in protests 4 have now died in 3 days of demonstrations against the sama zongo being kept in custody there is nicholas haq has been in the thick of the protests in the capital dhaka. a march the government tried to ban protesters chant this is our society be brave and strong protect our senegal not

just a message to the security forces but for a government the queues of stifling dissent thousands indycar in other cities have been demonstrating after police detained opposition leader who spun song go accusing him of both rape and public disturbance to bin laden. the young people have toyed of the way we're being governed we need to free him some coas everything to us. police fire rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowd the military has been deployed to help security forces stop the looting banks gas stations and supermarkets have been attacked sancho has repeatedly accused president mikey cell of helping french companies profit from senegal spore. in the distance behind me police are far and water cannons to try to disperse the crowds they're trying to protect a french gas station and supermarket there now so much of this protest is less

about the opposition leader response unquote more about this feeling shared among many senegalese that they're not getting a fair share of this country's wealth. among those protesting are trader mo his job's employees yes come out to assess the damage jobs sees a failure of the state to care for its youth because of that this is a problem. this is this is not something i'm really proud of my homeland this is terrible you know. kids angry remodeler have food to eat that's why they're breaking shops stealing to take home children not going to school properly you know . not being looked after properly among those arrested are many teenagers the government is restricting access to certain social media sites they say to stop this information and public gatherings but so far all attempts to bring called have

failed and the demonstrations continue to spread because hark al-jazeera the car. there's one delos an amnesty international west africa research or he says anger at the treatment of some co has been building. the demonstrations started after the arabs to to leave. it certainly of how much more and there has been an economic. need to the rest of. us to. measure a state and to all contain the cup in 1900 make it turn a gun to your security and the us and say you are restrictions to access to markets and to do it and get the rents of more than 60 people but there have been i think it's a year current situation is due to a lot of how just that's happened over the past few years many children we see as the last treatable opposition leader in senate young after the arrest and

conviction of the trial i mean of that you have some shots out in 17 and after the run up to the 2019 there are political actions joining if the government and the ruling majority actually want what the so even the french context where you have the economic from the need to the could be 1000 underneath my doubts or 2 grievances that were already existing programs such as the sidelining opponents of the opposition leaders of the arab. who are 2 days ago were led to their spontaneous demonstrations and rains all over the country. at least 10 people are being killed in an explosion near a popular restaurant in somalia's capital and have will close to market issues central prison on friday night investigators believe the rickshaw loaded with explosives was detonated another 30 people have been wounded with a nearby building collapsing during rescue efforts the al qaeda linked group has

claimed responsibility for the attack earlier at least 2 people were killed and 3 wounded in a separate attack on a prison in the city of basra. another protester has been killed in me in march the united nations envoy to divided security council to take swift action against the military's brutal crackdown christine should mania bear nurse said that she receives thousands of messages every day from people in myanmar pleading for help are diplomatic editor james bays reports now from u.n. headquarters in new york. in the last week the u.n. estimates around 50 people have been killed by the military in myanmar the u.n. special envoy christine seana bergner believes that after the coup people were looking to the united nations for help the envoy said that the people of myanmar including committed civil servants or the real heroes and protectors of the nation's democratic progress but she warned the hope that they have place in the united nations and its membership is waning special envoy shriner bergner made

those comments during a closed session of the security council she also told ambassadors there's an urgency for collective action how much more can we allow the myanmar military to get away with we must be clear previous and current crimes will not go unpunished. at the end of the meeting the u.k. ambassador briefed reporters as diplomats continue to work on a new statement on the situation the committee that represents the detained politicians including and son suchi has said they want targeted robust sanctions on a total arms embargo. why are you not considering vose measures rather than just more words the u.k. has taken by natural sanctions on individuals on trade and we have reviewed our aid but as you know from the un point of view any further measures would you agree would require agreement from all council members the ambassador of the european

union to the un told me that even if the security council can't agree sanctions there will be mounting international pressure on the military you know they might survive isolation for for some time but in the end judgment will come there will be accountability especially for people who go against their own population shooting innocent you know women and their. bullets it's just it's not 'd it's not sustainable and i think they know it at heart negotiations continue among diplomats trying to come up with a security council statement what's not clear is whether to permanent members of the council russia and china are prepared to support a much harsher condemnation of the military james out 0 at the united nations trying to as it is showing up tick tock says it's remove videos of apparent death threats against and hugh protesters from members of me and miles military digital rights group b.m.r. i.c.t.

for development has far more than $800.00 such clips on social media since the military coup last month some videos show armed men a marine rifles the cameras telling protesters to be shot in the head. medics at least 3 people have been killed and others injured after a missile strikes in northern syria now they hit a market an oil refineries in the city of jeddah boosts near the turkish border some also landed in both areas are controlled by turkish backed fighters the british based syrian observatory for human rights says some missiles were launched from russian warships and others were fired by syrian government forces. pope francis has called for tolerance and unity sharing his trip to iraq he is the 1st to visit the country which was one of the world's oldest christian communities but in the recent years hundreds of thousands of jews to persecution on saturday he'll meet grand ayatollah ali al sistani the highest religious authority for iraq

shia muslims some reports of baghdad. a historic trip to a historic land pope francis long held wish to set foot in the homeland of this ancient christian community became reality his visit to boost morale among iraq's christian minority which has dwindled in recent years as a result of war and persecution and he wants to encourage religious coexistence between muslims christians and other religious minorities. the politicians need to promote the spirit of fraternal solidarity there is corruption abuse of power that's not the way at the same time you need to think of justice transparency to strengthen certain values that's how credibility can grow so everyone especially the young people can have hope for the future. this is the 1st time the head of the roman catholic church has visited iraq

a country long mired in political economic and security crises most recently the war against eisel and attacks by iranian backed armed groups the iraqi president hopes the pope's visit could mark the beginning of a new chapter. this is a historic chance to have this visit be a cornerstone in building peace increasing corporation increasing the tolerance and understanding among all sides of society. president by him solemn mentioned that the pope's visit is a great message for coexistence he applauded him for having come here for having made this journey despite the many challenges that the country is going for not just the pandemic but also the many security challenges that iraq is facing. the pope visited the our lady of salvation church in baghdad to commemorate the victims and honor to survivors of a 2010 attack which claimed more than 50 lives and accelerated the exodus of

christians from iraq but can his words make any difference politically or stop the decline in iraq's christian population no i don't think so because. i mean bad. opinions on this situation good good vision security is that really the charges services and this is you know. the task of the iraqi government to create good more fear. people to come back that would be reigning in armed groups and strengthening the rule of law and the respect for human rights issues that many would argue lay at the root of iraq's current problems seem awful to al-jazeera but that. let's bring in our harpies the wagner fellow the washington institute for near east policy joins us via skype from washington d.c. good to have you with us on the program a lot to get through really the pope is saying all of the things peace love and

harmony for the global community and that's what they want to hear but it's more often than not being at war with itself iraq and it's this next 3 days is going to be quite difficult to navigate the various personalities politic politicians and religious leaders that he's going to have to meet. well good to be with you so hale this is a good story so far day one so far so good got well everywhere every eyes and now having having met the president and the prime minister and the politicians all eyes are next on to his visit to niger and then later on the mass prayer that the mass that the pope is going to hold in l.b.l. entranced so our hariri soccer field. the politics of iraq is definitely one of dysfunction and corruption and the pope was rather blunt today highlighting those challenges jobs for the youth safety security and all of that

holds to the iraqi government but at least this is good news this is historic this is groundbreaking but also it shows that once iraqis put their mind to something they can do it they managed to get inside iraq and the visit has so far done well ok so let's focus on one particular issue the estimated 1000000 christians that have already left the country around 500000 remain what can he do as the pope to make the minority christian community feel wanted or of benefit in their own country considering the numbers leaving speak for themselves. i think it's all about symbolism it's about nudging the iraqi community meeting with is putting adding a religious man bade layer to the iraqi political mandate to preserve and protect the christians on the one hand but he also has a message to the christian community to take and not leave but the prospect is

serious and i think that's why the pope is really bearing not only the rockets that fall on baghdad and called it as well but history iraq has a history of once having a thriving jewish community that were expulsed. they were forced out of iraq and in the in the 1940 s. they were a vibrant community they were middle class and upper class and their community has completely vanished so it's very possible for the christian community and it's possible 40 years eenie or other minorities like. the bench and i says they want to achieve that so it takes really a push on the pull quotes then to plead to the community to stay but also a demand of the iraqi government and that'll just policy to make preserving the christianity of iraq a priority so how important is saturday's meeting now with the grand ayatollah ali al sistani because as

a very influential shia cleric to many millions across the world his words resonate and the pictures of the pope and him together on saturday is going to speak volumes will be very interesting to hear what he has to say. i believe the symbolism. and the weight is trans national significance i would point out that what distinguishes sistan he from other religious leaders is that he doesn't follow the command and orders of the state he's not an employee of the state. so his word does carry perhaps significant weight beyond iraq transnationally as i said so that's i think important putting his weight behind a message of protecting minorities not only through playing with the politicians but through laws and regulations on one hand but i think it is also a message in the rivalry perhaps unspoken rivalry between not just and for which

one represents the center of the vatican so to speak of shiite islam can do this more to iran cannot do that the model that he is also setting for his successor has a grand slam one of tolerance that a significant message there that i don't assume that there will be any speeches presented or given to definitely the iraqi side has said that there will be any peepers or documents signed but the symbolism is definitely going to speak what you will see what happens later on in the day bilawal have thanks so much for joining us from washington d.c. thank you. still ahead here on out is there a controversial case of witness tampering now charges against columbia's former president could be dropped also you know what flying through into illinois is going to happen but they're not going to fly quite a virus could delay world cup qualifiers with reaction from south america to top players not being allowed to go home.

after a legacy of heavy rain in the ohio river for example this is the threat to cincinnati now since have these used to occasional flooding that's any minor and there's no more rain to come in fact saturday's forecast shows a particular wet time in florida and wouldn't show quite lucky still blowing across the northeast the u.s. and particularly eastern canada but on pacific coast is a significant weather is unrolling slowly 1st of all to british columbia and then into washington oregon and california significant in the mountains but it's not a very powerful system i think it will probably soon die out after sunday look at temperatures by day reference the teens for most places overnight is not frosty everywhere so winter sort of almost left us there not quite down the caribbean

things are quiet but because we are exporting occasionally colder air from the u.s. florida that you were there is going to be where the same is true for the northern bahamas by thinking creasing the yucatan peninsula cancun a wet day on saturday rather less so on sunday but then move further south into us or tomorrow as an example in south america the significant rain is only traditional seasonal band running from rio and sao paolo up towards peru with some big showers around. 9 years ago al-jazeera was the 1st major network to find evidence of genocide in me. when the tragedy of the rowing was mostly unknown. oh.

get in genocide on al-jazeera. talk about you're watching al-jazeera with me as a whole rom a reminder of our top stories another 2 supporters of senegal's opposition leader sponsored song go have been killed in protests on friday that takes the total to 4 in 3 days of confrontations with police in the capital dhaka demonstrating against some close arrest. the united nations special envoy is calling for swift action from the security council against me and miles military that follows the killing of

another to q. protest from friday during a march in the city of mandalay. and pope francis has called for tolerance and unity during his historic trip to iraq it's the 1st part of he is the 1st pontiff to visit the country it's one of the world's oldest christian communities which has been dwindling in recent years due to conflict and persecution. prosecutors in colombia are moving to drop charges of witness tampering against former president. or even has always denied accusations that he bribed a former paramilitary member to hide his alleged links to death squads colombia's public prosecutor is now asking a judge to end criminal proceedings saying there's no evidence the former president committed a crime and listen to rump yet he has more from bogota. that the only general's office had until friday to decide if it was going to formally charge former president. in a case that has deeply divided the colombians this decision now to request to

shelve their investigation could be the end of a case that started back in 2018 at the time the country's supreme court was investigating even placing him under house arrest for 2 months that is until they decided to resign is senate seats forcing the case to be moved to the attorney general's office under colombian law. for months so do you miss critics had alleged that the would have favored duty versus the attorney general is a close ally of current president even ducat and would be liberated the chief prosecutor in the case said in a statement on friday that after a comprehensive evaluation of the evidence there was no proof that oliva had committed any crime or who had insisted he is innocent treated tank god for this positive step but left the senator events a pair who were falsely accused of being behind a conspiracy to connect him to paramilitary groups said that he together with the

lawyers of the witnesses in the case will appeal the decision and sue the lead prosecutor for malfeasance accusing him of invalidating evidence and this missing the investigation of the supreme court it's. morning we witnessed the most shameful spectacle ever in the history of the attorney general's office the surrender of a criminal investigation under a broken unscrupulous power. then now it's meant to risk further tarnishing colombia's view of their legal system which many see as a bias in favor of the powerful a judge will have to decide if the case will indeed be shelved in coming weeks in a public hearing the promise is to keep colombians on edge. a battle over extending federal jobless benefits in the us is delaying president

joe biden's massive crane virus relief bill in the senate the $1.00 trillion dollars package would go towards vaccines and measures the payments and help for the unemployed it now only passed its 1st hurdle of those date night but senators and jousting over competing proposals without a rescue plan the very. small we can't afford one step forward 2 steps backward we need to beat the virus promote is not true even know that inclusive of our people need the help now less than 2 weeks and had unemployment benefits to be going to expire for the 11 1000000 people at least 7 1000000 kids going out of food a regular basis 13 1000000 people are behind in their rent and rescue plan is absolutely essential for turning this around like ours but i think alex joins me now from miami and where are we with the debate on day in the senate because it

seems pretty quiet at the moment. yeah it's essentially quite boring to watch to be honest but you can hear the frustration in president biden's voice he wants to get this 1.9 trillion american rescue package through as quickly as possible because the makeup of the senate is a 5050 split republican senators are doing all they can to slow this package down they see it as being too costly not targeted enough and also one mitch mcconnell is calling it a lift. fest for funding things that don't need to be funded at the moment and now what that all that has led to is certain compromises the most significant of which is senator bernie sanders proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 that was struck down 7 democrats voted against it and one independent and there's also a compromise in the extension of unemployment checks lowering from $400.00 a week to $300.00 there was some good news coming out of the u.s.

today and that is the latest job figures almost 400000 people getting jobs but remember there are still 9500000 people in this country that have been out of work since this pandemic started so for biden this is per the 1st biggest piece of legislation he wants to get this through he wants to help the american people the republicans are trying to make this slow they are getting their way on some aspects of this bill but it looks almost certain that this bill will eventually reach president biden's desk by sometime next week for the update thanks very much on the calendar for us there in miami now the head of the world health organization is urging drug companies to waive peyton's of vaccines drugs and technologies during the pandemic he also says production needs to be ramped up many countries vaccine manufacturing capacity can start producing their own vaccines by waving intellectual property rights as provided for in the 3 percent agreement those

provisions are there for use in emergencies if. now is not the time to use them then when. this is unprecedented times and we believe in w 2 believes that this is a time to trigger that provision and with patent drapes we turned south africa and india for their proposal to the world trade organization to waive patent on medical products will give 19 until the end of this unprecedented pandemic now canada's health regulator has approved the johnson and johnson coronavirus vaccine it's the 4th job to be cleared to use prime minister justin trudeau says the government has signed up for 10000000 doses it's also ordered millions of shots from pfizer astra zeneca and maternal trudeau has promised to get enough doses to vaccinate all canadians by september the

president journey in from tino will hold a virtual meeting with the south american confederation on saturday over players not being allowed to return for world cup qualifying games but just the city manager pep guardiola won't let his players go because of coronavirus and quarantine concerns south american countries have to qualify as coming up at the end of the month english bass players face 10 days of coroutine on their return it means this round of games ahead of cattle 2022 may have to be perspiring and there's no sense to go in there enough to be 10 days not training session be at home 10 more days one more week when we play. we play for the leak you just think jazzing rules through for chambers league quarter final chambers league and we're not playing with this place you know going to play who into illinois going to auburn by the end of going to fly for short football writer gavin hamilton says he understands the club's concerns. 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 games 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 of the club season they'll have to be some sort of compromise there may be a compensation deal will be offered by fee for and combo berthing clubs want to restrict their players playing for their countries and i think what will happen is that commodore have to reschedule the games and some stage that's going to prove difficult because come a ball of already delayed and canceled games in their merit and world cup qualifying schedule each country has to pay $18.00 games over the course of the campaign so there will be the schedule be squeezed even more now have to find some sort of time in this schedule over the next year to fulfil the qualification fixture list 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 list 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 things she was. watching over there with me said robin a reminder of our top stories another 2 supporters of setting up a position to lead our sponsor having killed in protests on friday that takes the total to $43.00 days of confrontations with police in the capital dhaka demonstrating against some cuts to tension nicholas haq has more from the capital. the response from the government itself has been muted just a statement saying and telling people to stay indoors and to follow their rules and regulations instilled by.