yes the degree to transmit high is free to be forgiven with detail covering visionaire the not campaign was temporarily suspended because there weren't enough vaccine from around the world these volunteers play the routinely tested instead of me getting pregnant that's the. 1000000 miles military gunshots and stun grenades in several cities and overnight raids against the protesters. hello everyone i'm come on santa maria here in doha with the world news from al-jazeera. i can say we've taken one more giant step forward in libya now no promise of help is on the way joe biden hails the passage of his 1.9 trillion

dollar covert relief bill in the senate after the longest vote in recent memory. where iraq's semi autonomous kurdish region prepares to welcome the pope the head of his visit to one of the hardest hit areas in the war against isis. nobody could be the lock down skeptic amsterdam hosts its 1st big music festival since the pandemic began. with a thing as we often do these days in may and people have woken to reports of overnight raids against the antique to protest as security forces have stormed their homes they fired live rounds and stun grenades before rounding them up but. the raids have taken place in several main cities part of. continuing crackdown by

the military human rights groups say it's a tactic designed to terrify people into submission the protesters though a state defiance continuing to gather daily calling for an end to last month's military takeover speaking of which these are live pictures and facts coming from way which is in the south of me and it is 9 30 in the morning there and there are. again that let's have a listen. so there you go just for the quality of picture there but it gives you an idea of things happening in real time in me and my which we don't always see tony chang is our correspondent in thailand keeping an eye on events there is well tony let's. talk about what's happening right now the fact that people are out there with the standard i say down way down in the south of the country. yeah

absolutely and we've seen these raids going on overnight and yet everybody is still coming out so if the goal of the military is to intimidate people into staying in the homes it's clearly not working we've seen day after day of the protesters coming out marching in the streets and not just in the large urban centers but all across the country as well. increasingly in areas where there are ethnic armed militias we've seen that the protesters coming out rather more boldly yesterday and last show in shan state we've seen areas under the control of the qur'an armed forces to protest as a come out and been guarded in some cases by those ethnic groups and then as a potential other flashpoint for the security services to clash with the ethnic term forces but overall in the country we are still sort of locked in this deadlock

the protesters come out the security services fired tear gas live rounds still we've heard reports of live rounds being used to mandalay yesterday. the protesters put up barricades then after dark the security services come in clear the barricades and set off on these nighttime raids where they charge to the streets in some cases they appear to have lists of people that they're targeting people associated with the civil disobedience movement or journalists other people who've been prominent in the protests in other terms that clearly just trying to intimidate their firing stun grenades which of course in residential neighborhoods at night are really quite scary they're kicking in doors we've seen video footage of them smashing up cars and other private property and so i think the message from the security services is that you can come out in the streets you can protest against us but the night is so is this an extension tony of the way the

military is i mean i remember they would have these moments early in the day where they would try to shut down the protests before they even started this is almost taking it back a back a few hours again. well indeed no think they know that their chances are better they tried a week ago they came out with these more aggressive protests trying to seize control of these areas the protesters have taken early in the morning but it didn't work even despite the fact they came out with live rounds and they force them back the protesters would just scatter assemble else were so now what they appear to be doing is standing back during the day then pushing back in the late afternoon this mantling barricades that have being put up around neighborhoods and then going after people night and these attack ticks which again are very familiar to those who know the operations of the berm is military we've done this before and at night they have the power of the curfew which is imposed after 8 pm but they also have

this internet blackout and we're seeing people you know posting stuff on social media saying we feel very alone at night or we hear these noises of gunfire loud explosions soldiers shouting in the streets and we can't even communicate with the outside world so it is clearly a process of intimidation but as you can see there it's not stopping the protesters from going back on to the streets every morning great context there from tony chang who's in thailand the pictures on the right hand side of your screen from dar way in me in mars tony said the protests carry on night raids. and continued strong tactics from the military don't seem to have that much of an impact certainly on the will of the people as they march through the streets chanting for a return of democracy. on to other news and u.s. 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 biden's campaign promise will provide one off payments of $1400.00 to most americans the bill now goes back to the democratic controlled house for approval or details now with mike hanna. goal is just thank the bull 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 role of members was called this bill will deliver more help to more people than anything the federal government has done in decades we could've worked together to speed up. our democratic colleagues by. a top priority one pandemic relief it was our washer and wish wish. the whole process

began as it would largely continue with the deciding vote by the vice president kaamelott harras to acceptable for debate breaking a $5050.00 dead log 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 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 playing force force let me be clear the ball will go back to the house for approval and president biden is likely to get his victory now is unlikely i said will really get the government out of the business of badly known twitter and back in the business of delivery 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 my kind of al-jazeera washington.

pope francis's celebrated mass in baghdad chaldean cathedral the latest stop on his visit to iraq earlier the head of the roman catholic church delivered a message of peace to a nation wracked by war and religious divisions prime minister stuff to me is declared march 6th as iraq's day of tolerance and coexistence but francis was also in not jeff where is osama bin generator portie mitt iraq's top shiite cleric. 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 of 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 sunni's sheers christians disease and sapiens francis called himself a messenger of peace advocating harmony and faiths. 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. and it is up to us to face and deal with those who betray religions the ancient city in the province where there have been frequent protests 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 some of the job it out of the niger. and final preparations to receive pope francis in

northern iraq are under way to travel to a bill shortly where he will hold prayers for the victims of war the pope is expected to deliver a mass for thousands of people in the semi autonomous kurdish region later in the day also traveling on to mosul in the news ahead 4 months after a deadly election violence and eve or eons of voting again in a crucial test of stability. i'm jonah hall in belfast northern ireland where post breaks the tensions have caused loyalist paramilitary groups to withdraw their support from the good friday peace agreement. it's warmed up nicely in most the united states in the last week but they still are

called kona and that is what represents it is mostly cloudy with a fair all wind chill but temperatures by day are struggling to get above freezing really from the midwest east was particularly in eastern canada and obviously that's true in the rockies further west but because the wind disease in the sun is coming out it won't feel as cold as it did now there's a big storm opening up from the pacific its 1st legs come in it brought some snow bring some more into british columbia and down to washington and possibly further in that then it dies at the next bring some rain down through california briefly into san francisco that will probably die out we've got a few big showers from the last frontal system just leaving florida and probably bermuda but the legacy of the bits of cuba and quite possibly haiti is there are showers fast has got amala and probably even hans into those and they also reform over power and costa rica and again haiti the dominican republic there's also like

to be some pretty big downpours around ecuador and the southern parts of colombia but rio is also pretty wet. welcome to down from every one of us. even those working quietly behind the scenes. so you can relax enjoy breaking your journey. and when you leave with a smile we know our day's work is done. welcome to our home. to move.

with al-jazeera and these are the top stories this hour a 1000000 miles security forces. may have carried out night raids against suspected opponents in several major cities stun grenades and live rounds are reported to have been fired activists say at least 1500 people have been detained since the military coup unfair prefers to. the u.s. senate's narrowly passed a $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus relief package the bill includes one of payments of $1400.00 to most americans also emergency unemployment benefits and billions of dollars for increased bank scene distribution and it is early on day 3 of pope francis' historic visit to iraq he will be holding prisoner eisel victims in the northern kurdish region before heading out to mosul the pontiff is expected to leave the capital baghdad in the coming hours and fly to build.

lebanon's caretaker prime minister has on the is threatening to suspend his duties unless a new government is formed. demonstrations for a 5th day in the capital beirut as lebanon's currency slides to record new lows diablo urged politicians to put aside their differences in to address the worsening economic crisis almost 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. vote counting has begun in ivory coast's parliamentary elections some violent incidents were reported in the west of the country but it didn't stop eve organs from casting their ballots a marked contrast to the violence seen in october's presidential election and

injuries as more now from abidjan. election officials count the ballots cast while the party 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. that they're there because that's not 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 in a victim's among the population after casting his ballot president alassane ouattara reassure us awardee page we're back 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 voting machines malfunctioning there are also some skirmishes in a few places but officials say not enough to moderate. opposition leaders who boycotted last december's presidential polls are warning against irregularities profit and loss they are not 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 in pilar's. my degrees which is either.

now anger over the u.k.'s brags that deal with the e.u. could spill over into protests and possible violence according to one leading opponent people in northern ireland who want to remain part of the u.k. say the deals driven a wedge between them and the rest of the country and a whole experience 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 or a take and. it's not a part of the case because they still have grills in their windows are still 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 traumatic 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 community 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 northern island community hard to have the consent of both communities in the case of this protocol the fact is being given just to the national nationalist side of the agreement in other words there has been broader respect that this should not be hard for them on the island of ireland but equally there cannot be

a hard border oregan entry border between north and island and the rest of our own country some players anathema to you know some 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 lower. lists have been badly let down by the briggs's negotiations and there's very real anger about the feelings that loyalist activists warn shouldn't be overlooked if the concerns of young loyalists in the concerns of the way the unions community are persistently ignored then what's going to happen is the data 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 dangerous territory and once once that genie gets out of the bottle it's a good extraordinarily difficult to put 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 their anger will grow threatening to spill over into something worse during a whole al-jazeera belfast several 100 demonstrators have again rallied in barcelona against the jailing of spanish rapper public house up. there in the. it was a heavy police presence and although the protest was mostly peaceful there are reports that rocks were thrown at offices parcels arrested last month sparked days of mass rallies he has been convicted for criticizing spain's monarchy and glorifying a separatist group ignited a debate in the country about free speech. ties or coronavirus restrictions you do a surge in cases causing chaos in parts of latin america in paraguay the president

has asked the entire cabinet to resign following clashes between police and protesters while argentina's government is being condemned by rights groups over police violence and in brazil tighter restrictions have been imposed on the country's 2 most populous states that he has now without a son yeti. ok clashes broke out. a border city in northern argentina following the imposition of. down restrictions police officers used tear gas and rubber bullets against a crowd injuring dozens. of argentina. and had already been hit hard by an economic recession before. many protesters were informal vendors demanding to be allowed to work. i think human rights groups have denounced what they say was indiscriminate use of force by the police but. the protestors were responsible for to violence. no. defeat 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. resigned. resign for god. 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 and stalls are shut as police patrol the streets this this by president. told citizens to stop whining and move on as he continues to downplay depend dammy. 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

allison them either. nigeria's president's received his 1st dose of covert 1000 vaccine as part of an effort to boost public confidence muhammadu buhari was an ocular 2 days after the country received almost 4000000 doses of the. astra zeneca vaccine through the global kovacs scheme the program has been marred by delays in the recent supplies nigeria has seen more than 850000 coronavirus cases. sweden's joined a growing number of countries holding the lock down protests police were brought in to disperse hundreds of demonstrators gathered in stockholm on saturday authorities said the rally was illegal it was large gatherings are banned under coronavirus restrictions and gatherings of up to 8 people are allowed protesters are demanding the measures be easing argued the rules restrict their freedoms. amsterdam has also witnessed widespread anger against corona virus restrictions but this weekend one

of europe's best known party spots came alive with a music concert attended by over a 1000 people step person was there and just a warning her report does contain flash photography. oh an explosion of an itchy 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 look out the to be rid of heavy drugs and you know how barbara love it i love your maintenance of love if you're not here to live our lives you know. it was so amazing i'm still alive like drilling is still my body but i loved every 2nd the people went crazy so really amazing organizers divided 13 on the people in 6 different bubbles and which different rules apply with sand so they gathered data about their behavior after you want is 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 pass a faceted with covert 19 they were not allowed to enter. the letter startling not in the least like there was no no. it was not. 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 summer with. hopefully a full capacity and much will depend on a possible 3rd wave of infections many in the netherlands have urged the government to ease the lockdown which is one of the strictest in the region. last tuesday an explosion took place at one of the testing facilities police called it an attack but with infection still high and night curfew remains in place the future now. to be honest i hope not i don't really want to go back to normal but if this is necessary why not for at least 1300 people i felt a little bit like normal again but however wellcome it was shortly after a few hours on the dance floor they went back into lockdown step class and al-jazeera and said that. they all are on al-jazeera these are the headlines meanwhile security fall.