mostly. get in genocide on al-jazeera. after a marathon voting session the u.s. senate finally passes president biden's $1.00 trillion dollar covert relief bill. but i'm down in jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up after meeting shia islam's most influential ayatollah pope francis heads to iraq's kurdish region tell prayers for victims of war. senegal erupts in protest over the continued detention of

a prominent opposition figure. and with kofi infections on the rise chile and brazil are returning to unpopular strict lockdown. president joe biden has achieved his 1st major legislative victory the senate has passed a $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus relief bill by the narrowest of margins it will provide one of payments with $1400.00 to most americans the bill now goes back to the democratic controlled house for approval mike hanna has more. go is just thankful was finally passed in a process tied to a vote a rama it was along the senate vote in recent memory approval coming more than 24 hours after the roll of members was called this bill will deliver more help to more

people than anything the federal government has done in decades we couldn't work together to speed up. our democratic colleagues made a decision a top priority one pandemic relief it was our washington wish wish. the whole process began as it would largely continue with the deciding vote by the vice president kaamelott harris to acceptable debate breaking a 5050 dead long along party lines. the 1st major delay was among democrats with senator joe manchin holding on for more than 10 hours before reaching a compromise to president biden on unemployment payments i asked at republican insistence the whole ball was read out in the chamber a highly unusual measure that in itself took some 11 hours and then came dozens of amendments introduced by republicans the vice president's vote not needed or many

as a republican senator from alaska had to return home for a family funeral or not agree to the amendments were rejected by 50 votes to 49 unfortunately my friends on the other side have used the link tactics after the link tactics obstruction of structured obstruction some senators raising the issues as part of the abstraction should taxpayer money be set $1400.00 to every illegal alien in america provoking a heated response the statement of the senator from texas is just plain force false let me be clear the ball will go back to the house floor proveable and president biden is likely to get his big 3 now isn't likely i said really get the government out of the business of battle you know on twitter and back in the business of delivering for the american people making a difference in their lives. everyone achieves

a fighting chance but made very clear is that any legislative process depends on a razor thin majority one that could be threatened should any single democratic senator go against the party line mike hanna al-jazeera washington or james warren as executive editor news god he says the passing of the bill should help president biden's popularity. it's an extraordinary amount of money we're using that they get 1.9 trillion it's actually a little bit more if you look at about 300000000000 that hasn't been spent from some of the trump outlay so we're about to learn $2.00 chilean dollars money directly going to $150000000.00 american households of course for a family of 4 say living in the state of massachusetts with a total household and some of brown maybe $55000.00 not much at all with one person

unemployed they are going to get basically direct payments of $22000.00 that's a huge amount it doesn't even count one point that that person may already be getting so it's a it is a staggering amount of money of course you've got some economists who are in this country you know disputing about whether this would all will overheat the economy and lead to inflation but i think bottom line if you're joe biden is that most polling suggests right now that not only do about 60 percent approve of your performance which is a lot higher than his predecessor but a approximately 70 percent even higher approval way you hear to be handling and them process a celebrated mass in baghdad's chaldean cathedral it's the latest stop on his visit to iraq earlier the head of the roman catholic church to have a message of peace to a nation rocked by war and religious to visions prime minister stuff on how to me has declared not 6 iraq they have tolerance and coexistence. well pope francis was

also in that just where as a solid benj of aid reports he met iraq's top sure. under strict security pope francis enters not just one of the holiest cities for shia muslims another historic 1st for the leader of the catholic church as he met iraq's grand ayatollah ali al sistani is a reclusive leader who is rarely seen in public he's iraq's most revered cleric and his proclamations have influenced many since the 2003 u.s. invasion the plight of those being persecuted in the region including palestinians and syrians that discussed. short the point of equal rights for christians in iraq and peaceful coexistence the meeting between the pope and grand ayatollah ali sistani is symbolic and significant although the majority or the religious authority says it plays no role in politics. has played a pivotal part in iraq recently whether it was urging people to take part in politics in elections whether it was to tell them to pick up arms against isis and

more recently in the favor of the protestors clerics in najaf say the pope's visit has highlighted iraq's central place for all religions and is a brave gesture from for france's in the face of security challenges and the pandemic. home. clerics through their words and behavior convert the message of peace and love and convince people to stay away from extremism this is what we did in iraq in the last 2 decades and not just doors have remained open the pope's visit to natura will boost the spirit with our partners the christians in iraq. as part of this pact 3 day visit the 4 went on a pilgrimage to or the city is the birthplace of prophet abraham the patriarch of all abrahamic religions. in a meeting with leaders representing sudanese sheers christians disease and sapiens francis called himself a messenger of peace advocating harmony between faiths. we. believe is a strong element that unifies us terrorism and extremism has nothing to do with

religion terrorism exploits religion and it is up to us to find solutions and is up to us to face and deal with those who betray religions the ancient city in the province where they have been frequent protests and violence but on saturday the message from politicians and religious leaders there was of tolerance and peaceful change many iraqis say they're ready for such a transition and hope it will also has reduced corruption and bring more jobs. lebanon's caretaker prime minister is threatening to suspend his duties unless a new government is formed have been demonstrations for a 5th day in the capital beirut as lebanon's currency slides to record new loans to politicians to put aside their differences and address a worsening economic crisis and the how relatively the feeling is really yet it's an attempt to avoid responsibility which leaves me with the option of halting work

amongst this disruption that we are facing now to work on matters in the country so i can put pressure on to form a government if it helps to form a government i am prepared to resort to that option even though it goes against my principles because it will hold the whole country back and will hurt the lebanese. at least 20 people have been killed in the somali capital mogadishu off an explosion at a cafe popular with government workers are being blamed for the attack and the schapelle has more. for the 2nd time in a year a popular restaurant is attacked in somalia's capital dozens are dead or wounded. yemeni was crowded on friday night when this ricksha carrying explosives was driven into it a nearby building collapsed burying people under rubble for her night. among those killed in the blast was my brother whose name was up to salaam it's really very sad to witness this tragedy. the un and police have condemned al shabaab for the attack

where the targets a stark evidence of how the terrorists don't want any joy of safety for the residents of the capital and the somalis in general who conduct investigations into the circumstances of the blast and inform you of the final results where another suicide bomber attacked the cathay in august last year prevented from entering he detonated his explosive vest at the entrance. controls rural areas in southern somalia and frequently targets government and civilian targets in mogadishu anderson al-jazeera. vote counting is under way in ivory coast's parliamentary elections some small clashes were reported in the west of the country but it wasn't enough to stop ivorians from cost in their ballots it was a month contrast to the violence seeing in a presidential election but address as more from. election a few shows count the ballots cast while the party of representatives watch closely

. it's a process that's going on across the country with i have already ins and cheerfully waiting for the results. as they voted there were concerns about the outcome. for their purposes are going to say this does not become like the past elections that were followed by violence this time he wanted to be a peaceful election say there are navy tims among the population after casting his ballot president alassane ouattara reassures awardee page. here just younger i see that there is no tension in the year i've just spoken to the minister of the interior he tells me that things are going well everywhere and i hope that the day as well as well as the count good luck to all the candidates. the election commission says it hopes to announce when is in print for hours election officials say voting one across much of the country. voting started late in some areas because of water missions. but also some skirmishes in a few places but officials say not enough to model. opposition leaders who

boycotted last december's presidential polls are warning against irregularities of paper loss they are not but i would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the independent electoral commission to ensure that this whole process takes place peacefully and that there's no cheating observers say the turnout was low and that could work against some candidates the governing party aims to win 148 seats in parliament enough for a working majority of the opposition want to stop that from happening having stayed away from the presidential election in december analysts here say the opposition may struggle to reassert itself but for ivorians the primary concern is an election that doesn't get married and buy less. when we come back. the netherlands holds its

1st music festival since the pandemic began to see major events can be covered proof. jono hole in belfast northern ireland where post breaks the tensions of caused loyalist paramilitary groups to withdraw their support from the good friday peace agreement. for the perfect gentleman. sponsored by qatar airways. now it has got cold temperatures is the forecast be only 10 degrees in tokyo having been up as high as 20 couple of days ago but that cold blast is now cut off in fact if anything temperatures rising rapidly freezing beijing's up to plus a to me get keep going up in fact in china the cloud is building again another period of rain with the light rain is moving steadily east was

a mite which is far north as beijing and tokyo up 14 by this time harvard's up to plus 6 i think the thaw is under way south of this question the moment the philippines sees isn't showing very much action that we should probably watch it. in the philippines some parts of southeast asia but still it's rainy season in malaysia and indonesia surprisingly and some action in the skies in the fund also india and pakistan mostly it's in the foothills of the himalayas down through the pole and stretches that's where bhutan to the northeast of india not much in the plane but there is in the forecast the new delhi a hint on sunday of showers or thunderstorms around which might briefly change the air quality but it's become still quite a rather poor time you get back to monday otherwise it's warming up getting quite hot in places showers are confined to the far south or sri lanka. too often on the streets of india women are victims but

a new force is at play. female police officers are combat in sexual assault and domestic abuse. but changing society is a challenge and so is life behind the badge for india's lady called. on under seal. welcome back a quick amount of our top stories here at this hour the u.s. senate's narrative passed a $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus relief package the bill includes one of payments of $1400.00 to most americans emergency unemployment benefits and billions

of dollars for increased vaccine distribution. believe the roman catholic church has met one of shia islam's most influential figures pope francis with grand ayatollah ali al sistani to the pontiff historic visit to iraq. and vote counting is underway in ivory coast parliamentary elections some small clashes were reported but it was far calmer in the lead up to october's election in which dozens of people were killed. outright or coronavirus instructions due to a surge in cases is causing chaos in parts of latin america and paraguayan the president has asked the anti cabinet to resign following clashes between police and protesters while argentina's government's been condemned by rights groups and the police violence and in brazil tighter restrictions have been imposed on the country's 2 most populous states. the report for. clashes broke out on friday in

a border city in northern argentina following the imposition of new coronavirus lockdown restrictions police officers used tear gas and rubber bullets against a crowd injuring dozens for the most is one of argentina sports probably it had already been hit hard by an economic recession before derives all of the virus a year ago many protesters were informal vendors demanding to be allowed to work. rights groups have denounced with they say was indiscriminate use of force by the police but otoh insisted the protestors were responsible for the violence. who defeat them. nothing justifies these violent actions we call for reflection and invite you all to make your claims in a peaceful manner. similar scenes on the same day across the border and put away his capital s. and where thousands of angry demonstrators confronted police throughout the night

protesters burned road blocks around congress demanding president beneath this resigned. their own flag. resign forgot. earlier in the day the country's health minister was the latest official in the region to give up his post but that wasn't enough to quell people's anger over the government's handling of the global health crisis but why is experiencing record numbers of cases with hospitals on the brink of collapse and few vaccine doses available. despite moving fast and vaccine distribution cases or on the rise in chile as well for a 2nd day the country registered more than $5000.00 new cases the highest infection rate in 9 months 2 thirds of the capital santiago is under strict lockdown as are a number of other regions. in brazil the worst hit country in south america local authorities. have adopted new restrictions and

a curfew to try to control the brutal 2nd wave shops in stalls are shut as police patrol the streets by president. told citizens to stop whining and move on as he continues to downplay depend amec. is going through an extremely grave situation that could be catastrophic in some parts the result of a policy of denial and scientific platform and a contempt for human life. the latest restrictions are expected to last here until march 11th but many were out on the beach in rio on saturday the find the experts alison that i'm. sweden has joined a growing number of countries holding onto lockdown protests police were brought in to disperse hundreds of demonstrators gathered in stockholm on saturday or to say the rally was illegal as large gatherings are banned under coronavirus restrictions only gatherings of up to 8 people are allowed or testers are demanding measures be

eased and argue the rules restrict freedom of. security forces have used tear gas to break up another day of protests in me and. despite the crackdown large crowds gathered across several cities more than 50 people have been killed in protests since the military seized power last month tony chang is monitoring the situation from bangkok in neighboring thailand. once again people have come out on the streets and our young gone mandalay in many places across the country and once again they have been met by security services who are firing tear gas setting fires trying to force them back off using those weapons of fear they be using to kill a harshly for the last week interesting new one place where they didn't push back was in northern shan state in the town of last year where a very large crowd came out at about 9 am local time yesterday evening the t.n.l.

a which is an armed insurgent group one of representing one of the ethnic minorities in that area become close to the city and made it very clear that they were supporting the protesters and we've seen this in other places too where soldiers from the qur'an ethnic groups have come out in support of the protesters. those protesters in last year stood off with the security services further down the road for a couple of hours they were waving groups representing different protesters around the country but also their own ethnic groups and the security services stood back they didn't push back as they had done so many other places and this highlights a big problem that i think many people are concerned about that these ethnic groups and they exist all across myanmar in many of the border areas and they very well and in certain cases these protests could be the potential for greater strikes in

addition to which the military shows any weakness a tool those are groups could use this is an opportunity to push back against them . some of those opposition party and civil society groups are calling for 3 days of nationwide protests starting on monday they say the arrest on charges against opposition leader. politically motivated but also denouncing violence by security forces reports from dhaka. in decors an affluent neighborhood this is what is left of a french supermarket following another night of riots and lost for words i have tears in my eyes laments this cashier as she watches people including young children take away what they can a bag of passed out for her and door and unemployed carpenter who in the looting saw an opportunity to find a meal for his family tonight but it's not just about shooting from. the are suffering we are jobless countless people have lost their jobs we need

a little something to get by and feed our families. protesters set the supermarket on fire following days of nationwide demonstrations it all started after the detention of opposition leader. wednesday he's accused of rape inciting and authorized protest and public insurrection but his supporters say these charges are politically motivated spence and co described himself as the anti establishment politician has been very critical of the relationship of big corporations with the state and the government specifically the president himself accusing him of corruption the government wants to see an end to the violence with the interior ministry warning the looters they will face arrest several local t.v. stations have been taken off the air for inciting violence while journalists perceived as supporting the government have come under attack. the government calls on all the nation's citizens and forces for calm and serene outi. while internet

monitor net block says social media messaging apps are being. restricted supporters of song go civil society activists and the opposition have joined forces taking their protest both to the streets and online with a hash tag free senegal one to defend our democracy because we are really outraged to see how our government and the. people our young people have been organizing fighting in the streets standing up to say enough is enough. they believe people are looting because they're hungry and are calling for more peaceful demonstrations across the country starting monday in what appears to be not the end but the beginning of a movement nicholas hawk al-jazeera. over the u.k.'s brags that deal with the

e.u. could spill over into protests and possible violence that's according to one leading opponent people in northern ireland who want to remain part of the u.k. say the deal has driven a wedge between them and the rest of the country the whole explains now from belfast. in communities still divided protestant unionists from catholic nationalist the past is hard to shake off even though we have a peace process here it's probably more of a negative piece of those days are taken and it's not a part of the case because they still have grills in their windows are there still there still are security zation around here community activists on both sides witnessed regular confrontations between young people who weren't even born when the good friday agreement brought peace to northern ireland in the 1998 has kind of frog back all that sort of old memories of a lot of times where that was a constant here as well and it is unfortunate that this is passed to another generation of young people who are basically going out and going out of their way

to attack other communities the other communities some fear that a fragile peace could falter with tensions raised further by post breaks it customs checks between northern ireland and the rest of the u.k. under the so-called northern ireland protocol. for unionists it's a stake through the heart of what they stand for causing loyalist paramilitary groups to withdraw their support for the good friday agreement any major decision affecting the norse in our community hard to have the consent of both communities in the case of this protocol a fact is being given just to the national nationalist side of the agreement in other words there is broader perspective it should not be a hard border on the island of ireland but equally there cannot be a hard border or regulatory border between northern ireland and the rest of our own country that some plea is anathema to unionism so how much of

a threat is there to peace in northern ireland well observers including the police force don't believe there are many among the former paramilitaries who want a return to violence but there's no denying that unionists and therefore harder line loyalists have been badly let down by the briggs it negotiations and there's very real anger about their feelings that loyalist activists warn shouldn't be overlooked if the concerns of young loyalists and the concerns of the way he and his community are persistently ignored then what's what's going to happen is the data anger is going to have nowhere to go and when you have all this pent up anger and even awarded to the act and then you end of a the interest territory and once once that genie gets out of the bottle it's extraordinarily difficult to put it back in again and that's a concern the good friday agreement is underpinned by public support and it will likely stand regardless of the loyalists move but as long as there remains no alternative to a sea border between northern ireland and great britain now their anger will grow

threatening to spill over into something worse jona whole al-jazeera belfast thought one of europe's best known participants has been dormant since the pandemic began but this weekend amsterdam's largest music venue the zoo go down. has come back to life more than a 1000 people flooded in for the 1st of a series of concerts designed to test social distancing rules step bassman was among them and a warning a report contains some flash photography. an explosion of energy was released after hundreds of duck trustable fance returned to the dance arena after a year of absence and with no social distancing it was just having a party again so the to be rid of heavy drugs and you have every little light there was only the leo love it if you're not hearing live. it was so amazing i'm still alive it's like drilling is still my body but i loved

every 2nd the people went crazy so really amazing organizers divided 1300 people in 6 different bubbles and which different rules apply with sand so they gather data about their behavior after you want is asked to get tested afterwords but researches say the results are not needed for the experiments to work and not interested in the real infections it's it's a mess magical prediction model what we are actually doing isn't that strange because that's the best proof you can get right if it's safe or not yeah but then people really become guinea pigs and i don't think that's the idea it's it's not set. before the event and 11 people classified as a thief would cope with 19 they were not allowed to enter. a letter startling not the least likely. to be. similar experiments will be held in the next few weeks if

successful organizers are hopeful they can reopen soon we have the eurovision song festival in may we have the euro. football tournament in june and we work want to build up the capacity step by step in order to have a song. one of the. factions still high and night curfew remains in place. if this is necessary.