sustained over generations. most vocal junior supporters are born into these club colors. in an epic feud of rich versus poor the fans who like football on al-jazeera. defiant and determined protesters in may and mara back on the streets despite overnight raids by the military. but i'm come on santa maria here in doha with the world news from al jazeera iraq's semi autonomous kurdish region is preparing to welcome the pope head of his visit to one of the hardest hit areas in the war against time so. i can say we've taken

one more giant step forward to deliver you know the promise of help is on the way. joe biden hails the passage of his $1.00 trillion dollars covert relief bill in the senate after the longest vote in recent memory. in a covered 1000 infections on the rise all parties in some latin american countries are returning to unpopular lockdowns. well over 92 protesters marching once again in cities across me and ma despite the escalating crackdown. this was a little earlier today continuing to defy the military to call for a return to democracy after we saw this a night of raids with security forces storming houses and rounding up activists

days of live fire tear gas stun grenades it's all lead to $38.00 civilian deaths just fail to crush the growing anger here's tony chang in bangkok to take us through 1st of all chinese some of those pictures we saw the night time writes. here we've seen these nighttime raids escalating in the last week or so yesterday apparently there were more overnight than they have they have been in the in the past and this is gangs of soldiers and police and it appears the soldiers are more dominant we've seen them sort of backing away during the daytime when they're visible but at night they're really leading the charge as it were and they're going into residential neighborhoods in some places they have lists of people involved with the civil disobedience movement journalists who've been covering the protests other people who've been high profile on social media and targeting them dragging them away in other places they seem just to be there to intimidate they've been

firing stun grenades in some cases live rounds smashing up cars and private property and we've seen a lot of people people posting on social media saying how they're scared they are particularly because this is during the dark hours of the night there's a curfew in place but also it's a time when the myanmar authorities have been shutting down the internet so no way to communicate any of this to the outside the message seems to be very clear from the security services while they haven't managed to stop the protests on the streets at night they are fully in control it is incredible isn't it tani the way these protests a month later keep going. when in the past we've seen protests that have been put down very very quickly and harshly now obviously it's still harsh here but a life that still left in the in the whole movement. absolutely i think because this is to a certain extent

a 0 sum game for the protesters they have had the opportunity to toast of very nascent form of democracy and i think many people accept that it was pretty flawed but it was democracy nonetheless they had grown up in a relative spirit of openness there was economic growth in myanmar which had been shifts which no one had seen for so long and and they realized that if they allowed the military to take back absolute control then they there's a very good chance they will lose all of this so they are clearly very dedicated and they feel that you know we've heard them say on the street many times in the course of the last couple of weeks if they don't do this then there's there's no point anyway they're prepared to sacrifice their lives because they realize that life our back under military control will will will be as good as being dead these are their words on the other side we've also got the military who having taken this

step have upsets you know the delicate balance inside myanmar and they realize they can't back down either what kind of compromise can they now reach with the n l d c having locked them up for all this time with more than 60 people having died on the streets in the past where since the military coup there is blood on their hands and will people go back to what they had before clearly not people in referring to the army to the police as terrorists and i think they will find it very hard to go back to their place where they had a secured place in myanmar somewhat flawed democracy or quite extraordinary isn't it thank you tony chang in bangkok. final preparations to receive pope francis are underway in northern iraq in fact here's the live pictures from the airport in bill the pope due to land this hour expected to deliver a mass for thousands of people in the semi autonomous kurdish region later in the

day it is of course the 1st papal trip to iraq and also be heading to mosul a city once home to a vibrant christian community some wonderful team has this report stone by stone christian heritage is being restored but will it be enough to make this a descriptions come back this complex for churches was partly destroyed during the war with i saw 4 years ago now unesco workers are collecting the fragments which will be used to rebuild what's left of this the syrian capital the church the nave of the church. to a line of. longs. it's the goal is to restore it to its original design. a message to people to. rebuild it again so they can be there with their prayers. as well i salute the used church as the court and the adjacent armenian church as

a prison the graffiti on this wall reads and transfer a bit and on the orders of the islamic state it's a chilling reminder of iceland which sought to wipe out morsels religious diversity the rehabilitation of the church doesn't just aim to restore the city's heritage it's also part of an effort to nurture reconciliation between the sunni muslim majority and the christian minority before i sold to control of the city in 2014 around 1000 christian families lived in mosul only a few dozen have returned this is the only church in mosul that has really opened its doors father hopes that pope francis visit to iraq will usher in more outside support to help rebuild mosul. we need the moral support of the pope to influence the international point of view to mobilize if it's to reform the stated city not just in terms of infrastructure

but also on the human side. but the rifts will take a long time to mend a christian from mosul works as a guard at altai had a church his family fled the city when i sought to control and has yet to come back from here on the most important thing is security people are afraid to come back there is no stability to foster religious coexistence but the same unesco project includes plans to restore the great mosque. this is where i saw declared the establishment of its caliphate in 2017 security forces closed in the armed group blew up the city's beloved leaning minaret a symbol of morsels identity. the one who built the manor it was christian and the one who rebuilt the story was christian we lived all as one and we wish that our relations return to what they were now christians and muslims once

again to work side by side to restore what has been lost so that one day the sound of church bells can once again ring out alongside the call to prayer simona fulton al-jazeera in mosul city. u.s. president joe biden has achieved his 1st major legislative victory but the senate passing a $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus relief bill by the narrowest of margins biden's campaign promise will provide one off payments with 1400 dollars to most americans the bill now heads back to the democratic controlled house for approval more details of mike hanna bill as amended is just. finally passed in the process and obote. it was the longest senate vote in recent memory approval coming more than 20 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 all work together. but our democratic colleagues writers. are top priority one pandemic relief it was their washer and wish wish. the whole process began as it would largely continue with the deciding vote by the vice president kamel at harrah's to accept the bull debate breaking a 5050 deadlock along party lines the 1st major delay was among democrats with senator joe manchin holding out for more than 10 hours before reaching a compromise to president biden on unemployment payments i am at republican insistence the whole bull 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 you will not agree to the amendments were rejected by 30 votes to 49 unfortunately my friends on the other side have used the link tactics after the link to actrix 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 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 delivery for the american people. making a difference in their lives giving 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 in the news heads sri lanka's catholics wear black in protest of the lack of justice for the victims of the 2900. its 1st big music since the pandemic began.

out of the system that brought mr was recovered days ago so the band has gone you can't even see is probably just to giving what is snow to afghanistan and then apart from what's happening in turkey a bit of rain the old shower of snow even maybe the higher ground it's quiet weather we saw the banyan fairly quickly on friday and brought dust with it down through bahrain qatar now it's found that is a little weak this is a large glow here's where the dust has got to be gathered up and taken back up through saudi towards q april time we get to monday otherwise it's just sunshine in the sky and the temperatures that but right the time the a little lower in places where the wind was stronger. seasonal rains in africa recently given flooding in madagascar now those rains are drifting slowly north and they came in a little bit lighter but you can follow the line back through the far north of mozambique and tanzania and malawi that's where seasonal right is so where else is it raining apart from a few showers around the coast of south africa and maybe as far west as cape town is pretty quiet and it's seasonal seasonably warmest temperatures in for example

botswana insulators thirty's and fairly humid there are because of that afternoon showers as far west as wouldn't talk but not all the skeleton coast. of the. coveted beyond land. taken without hesitation and a lot of fortune died for our power defines our wild dogs live babies were dying and it looked the nobel it's neglect the babies to death people in power investigates exposes and questioned the use and abuse of power around the globe. are now dizzying.

so the top stories this hour on al-jazeera and protesters are marching in cities across me and. defying the military crackdown to call for an end to the government takeover suffer a night of raids with security forces storming houses and rounding up activists. the u.s. senators narrowly passed a $1.00 trillion dollars coronavirus relief package the bill includes one off payments of $400.00 to most americans also emergency unemployment benefits and billions of dollars in increased bank same distribution. and day 3 of the pope's historic visit to iraq he's landed in erbil live pictures from the airport. here he will be holding prayers for the victims of war and later holding

a mass for thousands of people. simona 14 is our correspondent there in simone to tell us about what's happening there. well the pope's plane has just landed here and appeal in the semi autonomous kurdish region this is the 3rd day off his visit he will be meeting kurdish officials here and out of the land that he will be headed to mosul where in the old city he will be holding a prayer service and that area that you saw in my report earlier today this kind of area where there were 4 old churches part of which was destroyed during the war i saw and you will be visiting some a village in the name of a plains into the forest an area that used to have quite a large christian population before the war with i saw it but many of those

christians have not returned for several reasons one of them is the lack of infrastructure and one of them is the presence of armed groups in that area which some people say are preventing the return of christians and you can see the plane has now landed behind me the pope is expected to disembark here and he will be holding a prayer service a mass rather here in their appeal which will be attended. by many christians including those who have been displaced from the name of the plains and who will still reside in the semi autonomous kurdish region and then on to mosul as well as a correct simona. correct so from here from erbil he will be going to mosul by helicopter he will disembark and visit the old city which is an area that was severely damaged during the war with i saw

a lot of that's part of the city still lies in ruins and it will be quite striking to see the pope visit an area but that area because it's not a place that we have seen many western dignitaries visit so those images will be quite striking and they're really quite an indictment against the iraqi government for not having done more in recent years since the end of the battle in mosul in 2017 to rebuild those areas to really encourage the christian community through turns as i mentioned earlier. there has been quite an exodus of christians from the made up plans many people have left of broad's others have fled to the semi autonomous kurdish regions and many of them are still reluctant to come back and really understand the drivers of that demographic change i spoke to. our arch bishop off if we have that's right let's listen in to what he had to say about

why it many christians are still reluctant to return yellow unfortunately don't have just a minute similar but we'll be listening to that so again later on today and when we talk to you a little bit later on for now both simona thank you so much a full team in erbil where the pope has just landed so the plane there behind. ok running catholic worshippers in sri lanka meanwhile demanding justice for the victims of the 2019 easter sunday bombings they're wearing black to church on a day religious leaders have indeed declared black sunday the catholic church is criticizing a government report for not revealing the mastermind behind the bombings its members say they'll hold mass protests on the 2nd anniversary next month if a full investigation isn't carried out remember more than 260 people died in these coordinated attacks has no fernandez in colombo's so black sunday as we say not quite reaching the 2 year mark but this report is clearly

a big concern for the families. that's right couple of minutes centrally what the catholic church believes and followers had been asking for was that the truth of what exactly went down on easter sunday 2 years ago is real and the presidential commission of inquiry which was the sort of investigation which was supposed to come out and look at all of these issues finally saw its report being handed over to the president of the beginning of february then transmitted to parliament but what the catholic church is taking issue with is they say the true mastermind behind the attack has not been revealed that the investigation does not go far enough sensually today is sort of protest black sunday is all about that we had believed flocking to churches around the country dressed in black as a sort of a a silent gesture of sort of protest against the fact that this

report just did not find who the real hand is behind the attack in fact here i mean cut to operate the essential it just out of colombo the church where the largest number of lives were lost over 100 believes that faithful easter sunday and people here held out posters once they finished the service they all came stood in sort of solidarity holding up posters which says cry for justice which says will those identified as negligent be held sort of accountable or be punished under the law i mean essentially even the sermon from the pulpit was about no longer staying silent 2 years after we train for justice to be done and to the victims they say they are going to raise their voices that they are going to continue a century agitating for justice for victims of that fateful easter sunday

thank you fernando colombo. let's return to bill just briefly we were there with simona fulton a moment ago our correspondent pope francis' disembarking the plane has just come from hoops final step they come from baghdad to bill where he will be holding prayers later on and then heading to mosul as well this is the 3rd day of pope francis's trip to iraq they are quite extraordinary pictures and they may think as well about him meeting grand ayatollah ali sistani yesterday and now local dignitaries and religious figures in bill as well we'll be keeping across this today just wanted to bring you those pictures of the pope landing disembarking his plane i should say in a veil in iraq saudi arabia says it's destroyed a number of missiles fired from yemen one of them near an oil facility online reports say explosions were heard over and around oil facility near jeddah saudi

arabia says its air defenses also intercepted an attack headed towards the city of homs shade it's the 2nd time the kingdom's oil facilities have been targeted in less than a week 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 lebanon is currently slides to record new lows. politicians to put aside their differences and to address the worsening economic crisis. it's an attempt to avoid responsibility which leaves me with the option of halting work amongst this destruction 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.

tide of coronavirus restrictions due to a surge in cases is causing chaos in parts of latin america paraguayan where the president asked the entire cabinet to resign after clashes between police and protesters argentina's governments being condemned by rights groups police violence and brazil well more tighter restrictions there as well. with more. 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's force provinces in 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. the human rights groups have denounced what they say was indiscriminate use of force by the police but insisted the protesters were responsible for the violence.

who defeat nothing justifies these violent actions we call for affliction and invite you all to make your claims in a peaceful manner i similar scenes on the same day across the border and put away as capital s and sean were thousands of angry demonstrators confronted police throughout the night protesters burned roadblocks around congress demanding president beneath this resigned. their own flag for our. please resign resign for. 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 of 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 president. told citizens to stop whining and move on as he continues to downplay depend there mick. 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's join the growing number of countries holding on to lockdown protests police were brought in to disperse hundreds of demonstrators gathered in stockholm on saturday he said the rally was illegal as large gatherings are banned under coronavirus restrictions only gatherings of up to 8 people are allowed protesters are demanding measures. restrict their freedom. amsterdam has also seen widespread anger against corona virus restrictions but this weekend one of europe's best known party spots came alive with the music gig attended by over a 1000 people step boston went along as well just a warning that there is some strobe light in this report. 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 hard to just let the body

again look out the to be rid of heavy brows and if you're a barber you 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 classified as

a thief would cope with 19 they were not allowed to enter. a letter startling not in the least like there was no no. it was such a. similar experiments will be held in the next few weeks if successful organizers are hopeful they can reopen soon we have to 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 life 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 stepped down from al-jazeera and said. you're with al-jazeera and these are the headlines pope francis has just landed in northern iraq on the final day of his 3 day visit he's at the airport now in erbil in part will be traveling to areas badly hit by i still include in mosul and he said expected to deliver a mass for thousands of people in the semi autonomous kurdish kurdish region later in the day.