id's of cultures across the world said i matter how you take. out his era bringing you the news and current affairs that matter to you. down to 0. al-jazeera. hello this is a news hour on al-jazeera i'm fully back to the line from my headquarters in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes with 20 people killed and hundreds injured equitorial guinea's president says negligence was the cause of several explosions at a military base for. another escalation between

yemenis who fees in saudi arabia energy facilities in the kingdom are targeted then saudi arabia launches as strikes against somehow also this hour fears of deportation more than $150.00 rohingya refugees in indian administered kashmir could be forced to go back to myanmar. and on international women's day we'll look at where women in asia are making gains all falling behind. thank you very much for joining as the president of equitorial guinea says negligence is to blame for several major explosions at a military base at least 20 people have been killed and hundreds more have been injured the blasts happened in the city of botany not far from the western coast but as smith begins our coverage with this report. the force of

explosions appears to flatten most of the buildings in the city of a quarter of a 1000000 people a total guinea's mainland coast. losing a little look at a little bit we don't know what happened everything is destroyed these people say. the wreckage and handling of dynamite but the military barracks is the cause of the blast boarding to a statement from president or beyond. gamer. the defense ministry says high caliber ammunition exploded after a fire in the barracks that. many people affiliated been trapped under the rubble of collapsed homes hospitals have been overwhelmed with the wounded the health ministry has made an appeal called blood donors and volunteer health workers and the government is appealing for international help. i'm asking from your excellent sees assistance from brotherly countries international organizations to help the

republic of equitorial guinea in this lamentable situation we have. the equitorial guinea is an oil rich country which has been run by present obiang for more than 40 years critics say he and his family enjoy lavish wealth while most of the population lives in poverty the country suffering a double economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic and the fall in the price of crude oil which provides 3 quarters of state revenue. bernard smith al-jazeera. has now speak to. them who has a specialist on security in africa and a lecturer at the university of aberdeen in the u.k. he joins us via skype on the news hour thank you very much mr for speaking to us so it's not clear yet what caused the explosions but the president is adamant that this is negligence the official line therefore is that this was an accident do you 1st of all believe this official lie. so while the official line is

the official line so we need to take the official line but there what we need to take into consideration is that the political situation of equatorial guinea has been one where we have seen or heard reports or attempted military coups and even external massive merissa in the case of say simon mann and his messenger re that when something like this happens especially in a military barrack you begin to think is there something more to eat than just an accident so the official line of course is that it's an accident resulting form and mishandling of dynamite but i understand why people are suspicious and beginning to guess whether this is some sort of a military attempt to do something more than yours but i need to accept the official line right what this has done whether it's an accidental or not it

certainly has once again put the spotlight on a country equatorial guinea that is one of the richest on the african continent but also with the least distribution of its oil wealth so to what extent has corruption and into to tional weakness contributed to the staggering poverty rate in equitorial guinea that we see. so obviously corruption is a very serious problem in equatorial guinea and there are reports around money stolen and kept outside of the country and largely she lives are government officials that is in the open for everyone to see so corruption is a major problem we know that there is money going into couture guinea for oil but he never gets to the people so this is not all the u.s. things want something like this sure is that some of this governments stay in power because of the clear him to be able to manage the coercive forces is

still there when an accident happens like this is sure that some of these militaries are not even able to properly handle explores eaves which are a source of the air power and so this gives a little bit of doubt it can be really cheap all the. forces to be able to handle even all weapons or be or resources so it's a serious. direction so could they be consequences and i mean equatorial guinea like many countries on the continent has struggled to cope with you know the economic shock links to the coronavirus pandemic but it's also had to deal with with the drop in crude oil prices how damaging could this all the combination of all of this before the game a dynasty. has been in power for decades now is grooming his side to take over after him could they be consequences for them after this accident or whatever and

maybe. that's a very good point and a very good question but then again the family as you mentioned has. captured power in couture in a way that it will take more than an accident like this for there to be serious political consequences on the family because their family is everywhere in government. so yes dissuade didn't the efforts to keep the country go in you've already mentioned 40 or crises you've mentioned the current virus which is affecting exports or we quote europe so yes there are a combination of issues that does x. or lose but from my perspective i do not see bill gamma harmony forming or anything like that because this perceived particular incident maybe it.

really doesn't fundamentally change the dynamics of our within. thank you very much for talking to us about the censuring of years with s. my no new kensei joining us staff from the u.k. thank you for your time. in other world news saudi arabia is promising to take all necessary measures to protect itself after yemen's hoofy rebels launch another attack on its energy facilities the saudi government has confirmed the iran poil plan ron was targeted by a ballistic missile i had drawn hits roster neuron port one of the world's largest oil shipping ports officials say they intercepted the drone and missile attacks and it was minimal damage but the hoofy say it was a much bigger assault. joel will say all the artillery and drone divisions were able to conduct a wide offensive in the depths of saudi arabia with 14 drones and 8 ballistic

missiles we targeted around cole in ras noor a port and other military facilities in the mom more military sites were targeted in a series of design in the strike was precise while the saudi coalition responded to the attacks. by hitting who 3 targets in yemen's capital sanaa a residential area was strike ave force of casualties that speak to her. correspondent who has covered the war in yemen extensively here on al-jazeera why this attack now by the whole fees especially at a time when the americans have been trying to reach out to them to establish relations in order to negotiate an end to the crisis in yemen why now. well for this comes against the backdrop of some latest developments on the ground you have battlefields flaring up in the province of and also in sanaa where

the coalition led by saadi arabia and the u.a.e. are trying to. undermine some of the military capabilities of the who is the hokies are saying that they were they wanted to show the saudis that their campaign wish for to march 2015 has failed in the sense that it didn't prevent the hoses from expanding their political and military of the once it is to prevent them from putting our form didn't prevent them from moving forward towards areas on the border with saudi arabia including in the province where were murdered were batteries varying up over the control of the energy which problems of the masses yesterday by those attacks which are what extraordinary invesco similar to the ones carried out in 2019 was a message to the saudis and to the americans that the truth is a far from being defeated over the what is will continue to play quite a significant military role in the future of yemen you mentioned the americans there are those who fees you think emboldened by the change in leadership in

america and perhaps also by the fact that by an administration when it came in decided to read very said trump administration decision not to label them as a terrorist organization they're definitely trying to take advantage of that reset of relations with the hoses from the biden administration and we know that a few days ago. the united the u.s. special envoy was in and who was try who was talking to the who is through the barrel manny's of this holy see the to see this as an opportunity for them and as a leverage as well they would like to tell the americans that the ultimate goal would be a political solution to the crisis in yemen but however they would like to insist other same time that the other ones have the upper hand on the ground we should. they are the ones who will have definitely to have a bigger say in the future of yemen what about the saudi coalition in all this hashim how weekend has it been as it become in the last year and is that political

settlement to the price is still possible you know there are 2 things happening here. first of all the attacks by the by the who is showing who have control over many sophisticated drones and ballistic missiles is a signal that they continue to grow in in force in yemen number 2 by the end of this month will be the 60 year anniversary of the coalition against the back in 2015 the narrative from the saudis was basically that we are going to defeat the who these reinstate the as a legitimate leader of the yemen and bring things back into square one that didn't happen to hurt his dog control more territory they are advancing towards areas on the border with saudi arabia including you know the province of murder which is going to put more pressure on the saudi government which will definitely have to retaliate in the upcoming days we're expecting them to step of the military campaign in yemen but ultimately they do understand at the same time that this

could be a risky move the problem with strikes is the potential for civilian casualties like we've seen over the last 6 years and also strikes have never been able to undermine the defensive lines of the continue to show their force on the ground from the weather starts at about 5 years ago all the way towards now territory which is controlled by people and the support of saudi arabia but which are starting to lose ground to the whole of this thank you hashem for that live here in doha and separately at least 80 people have been killed in a fire at a migrant detention center in yemen's capital sanaa the u.n. says 170 people were injured a cop. it's not known yet the detention center is run by who the rebels who have controlled the capital since the outbreak of yemen's conflicts libya's parliament is gathering for a crucial vote on whether to endorse

a new interim unity government prime minister designate abdul hamid they met with members ahead of the vote the u.n. is overseeing the process which it hopes will unite the country following a cease fire deal between libya's 2 rival administrations if the government is approved it would steer the country towards elections in december. that's more ahead on this news hour including australia cuts military ties with myanmar the latest nation pressuring the military to stop its violent crackdown on our type of protesters israel starts vaccinating palestinian cross border workers but most people in the occupied territory are living without protection from covered 90. the and is back the man who helped guide barcelona to some of their greatest triumphs returns as president details coming up later in sports.

the surest local media in myanmar are reporting that 2 people have been killed after police fired on protesters in the northern town of me teaching our shops in fact reserve close in some cities a trade unions call for a total economic shutdown to protest against the military call after more than a month large crowds of protesters are still gathering in many cities security forces are checking cars guarding hospitals and conducting overnight braids to deter the anti cool movement at least 59 protesters have been killed since the protests began now australia has added to the international backlash against miami last military announcing its suspending its defense corp program we have reviewed military engagement and i announced just today that those activities would be suspended we've also reviewed our development assistance because one of the things that i do not want to do either destroyed or does not want to do is to penalize the

people of myanmar the people of myanmar who are amongst the poorest people in as the un and who have been dealing with significant challenges for a long period of time. has been who is monitoring the situation in myanmar for us from neighboring thailand his line from bangkok scott 1st of all what are you hearing about the situation on the ground today neon law and the sort of impact the general strike is happy we know as you mentioned very there's been some violence in the northern catchin state there are protests up there in the capital city and that turned deadly for 2 protesters gunshot wounds to the head there were both police and military forces confronting the protesters there that happened within just the last couple of hours so that is something that you know again we're seeing that some of these protests are turning deadly and they continue to turn deadly you know in young gone there are protests again as well the

same parts of the city we've seen most over the last month and month plus a week going on so that has been going on but also as you mentioned there is a strike a general strike that was called by labor unions and that has really shut most of the shops and businesses but also factories in myanmar the the purpose behind this they say is they want to bring the economy to a halt of thus putting more pressure on the joints of because of what they have done because of their the takeover of the democratically elected government back on february 1st they're using this as leverage the protesters they say yes today is good monday's going to be a general strike but they want to be ongoing we know that you know civil servants have been taking strikes have been not showing up for work over the last couple of weeks so that's also coupled with this they hope to pressure the judge to come to some type of a negotiation but as we're seeing what's happening on the streets of me a great across myanmar that's not happening yet in australia meanwhile scott announcing this is spent you know the defense cooperation with myanmar how

significant is this and what does it say about the action international community is willing and able to take. well you can imagine that the protesters in the movement welcomes another voice in the growing chorus of international community members who are going against the coup speaking out against the coup and taking action against the giant of that now rules myanmar australia being the latest saying that they're severing military ties with them again it's great that the protesters view this as a great kind of step forward because there are more voices joining that but the problem is it's not really that significant to the johnson themselves while it's international pressure while it joins other nations and international bodies like the un human rights council and there have been a lot of things head of the un general sestak sessions but nothing really that's going to push them right now what needs to really be done when it comes to foreign

governments dealing with the military it has to come from the big suppliers and that's china and that's russia those are also 2 members of the security council u.n. security council there's prevented stronger action even stronger worded statements coming out of the u.n. security council because china and russia have prevented that from happening so while this is a good move while it's a good symbolic move biased really really kind of pushing it further you know real pressure on the german and has to come from some of those players that directly aid their military in big ways. thank you for us with the latest on the situation in myanmar from bangkok thank you scott. now police in indian administered kashmir say at least 168 rohingya refugees have been sent to a holding center for possible deportation that's after hundreds were taken to a stadium in jammu on saturday officials want to find out if they have valid documents to live there an estimated 5000 rohingya muslims are in indian administered kashmir they're part of the more than 1000000 refugees who fled

myanmar since its military crackdown began in 2075 member yes yesterday when i was at work the police had come and taken my wife away and she hasn't returned or children have been crying all night we're leaving we have no choice i have a little again or hope to find numbers of some of the people taken so i called them but now their mobile phones are going to take it away when i will speak with them and the children have been left behind. when my son and daughter in law went to buy something only my daughter in law came back he was taken away. ha is director of education for the rohingya human rights initiative he says many rohingya in indian administered kashmir are leaving to avoid deportation. since last saturday actually there were calls for a verification. susskind big fake vacation happen as well but this time it was different and more than 155 i fitted with detain and that has created chaos

among the community and several community members from someone sent me out of here it is this came after direction from the high court actually last month the high court directed the administration indiaman kashmir through identify and hide their play within a month what other precautions and measures taken by the state to identify them and deport the refugees to their own country but given the situation currently in men and development that are happening it is not quite conducive to sandbag fair weather will not show this people can be sent back there or not because since. the decay that are already more than 10 people in detention several detention in them and the family members are being separated actually from some families it is only the head of the family members and on the. female member of the male member being

detained so the community and their ministration is in talk and the administration is saying we cannot release or they did attain person but if their family members will they can stay with the holding in the holding center with them international women's day is being marked around the world with celebrations honest protests and strikes in the philippines women are marching to the presidential palace to promote their rights and voice 2nd sense jameela linda then spoke to some of them. hundreds . of money. both we are. here to celebrate. but also the government.

one of the highest number of. in the world business also in the world work force is. also a. 'd number of pregnancy in the region and we're implementing the quality remains a problem. worsened since the fall. we are facing the worst economic crisis in philippine he says. with no. we are facing the worst. the biggest. every economic indicator for this is the speed records.

and are around. and pulling. the largest. government. here. australia is marking international women's day with the launch of a $14000000.00 campaign urging people to speak up when they witnessed disrespect

against women it's fundamentals facing questions over historic sexual assault allegations and that's what the spotlight on gender inequality and the treatment of women in australian politics international women's day in india is seeing women take center stage at the months long farmers' protests more than 20000 gathered at the site's new delhi's border with the state of hyaena the protesters are demanding the scrapping of new laws that they say will ruin their livelihoods and the pandemic is affecting people in different ways depending on where they live their access to health care and so on the united nations says gender also plays a role and the burden on women has been especially heavy in some parts of the world women make up a majority of front line workers and the pandemic has increased unpaid care and domestic workloads especially in the asia pacific region the gender poverty gap there is worsening women are more exposed to hard hit econ economic sectors so

they're losing their livelihoods faster than men let's speak to siren neighbors about all this she is the deputy regional director of un women asia and the pacific and is joining us from bangkok sara very good to have you on al-jazeera so on this day the world is celebrating women's achievements of course but also raising awareness on some of the big issues they face tell us more for us about the issues that women in asia face right now and how much headway there's been on women's rights in the region. thank you so much fairly elected to the year yes i mean i some of the big issues that women are facing in the region include economic inequality it was highlighted in the in the. women are less likely to be active in the economy and where they are active they tend to be very much concentrated in low paid and insecure employment with a less likely to have legal and social protection and of course during the pandemic

they have been particularly vulnerable to the economic impacts right secondly gender based violence is a problem across the whole region and is actually intensified. with many women being locked up with their abusers during this time so i mean it is remain very very serious issues that have been highlighted to recovery 19 play where specifically in what countries are women falling behind the most and for what reasons. so i think we have to say that at the moment we don't have data to compare across countries but what we can certainly see is trends it's always that women of the left behind so it's very often we who are vulnerable in other ways it's not simply about gentle the gender is a very key factor it's also about women who are part of a marginalized groups and women who are marginalized for example by occupation by caste by class by race and for example by being displaced obediently it's

a conflict right at the u.n. secretary general has talked about how gender inequality has increased during the cold the 1000 pandemic how long do you think it's going to. take to recover from made an end what needs to happen in order for the gap to be not widened but tightened once again. i think as the secretary general has highlighted i mean this is a time when there really is a risk of reversing against a significant gains that have been made in the last 25 years however it is also an opportunity we're in a period now where governments are looking at reconstruction they're looking at stimulus packages and there are ways to meet all of these things work better for women so what we're really calling for is to keep this is not to do for a reset to really address the issues that have been highlighted to me and to think about doing things differently in the future sara thank you very much for talking

to us about this our neighbors from un women in asia joining us there from bangkok we appreciate your time thank you very much. in the u.s. vice president come along has called the number of women being driven out of work during the pandemic a national emergency she could impact the economic recovery al-jazeera because kristen salumi takes a closer look. linda hamis hold her management skills as the chief operating officer of a multinational consulting firm i want to put my name here in valentinian there but these days she's spending more time in her backyard than the boardroom she left the job in the early days of the pandemic to care for her children now $4.00 and $6.00 my mindset was how to patch together and enough hours in the day so i would get up early and i would start working around 6 or 630 sometimes she became one of 2 and a half 1000000 women to leave the workforce in the last 12 months compared to 1000000 men my husband and i had to make

a choice right you know which one of us is going to be at home with the girls and has not there was no other choice when schools in care facilities closed or women began leaving the workforce in droves some like those in the service industry who were laid off had no choice others did what they thought was best for their family but the impact on the economy has been profound what some have labelled a she session nicole mason chief executive of the institute for women's policy research came up with the term women of color have been just a personally impacted mainly because they're overrepresented in the service sectors while men and women are now returning to the workforce mason says many women are working fewer hours for less pay while others have stopped looking for jobs altogether when we talk about you know working women and mothers their general who are often responsible for the majority or here responsibilities and naomi's lack of

job here and all those years have had a devastating impact on working working women with only about a quarter of the nation's children in school full time the worry is gains made by women in the workforce will be lost hamma says hoping the last year will inspire systemic changes like flexible work schedules and better childcare options it's really an economic issue it's a societal issue it's a business issue it's not one it's a show. she herself is exploring some promising new job opportunities but like many mothers is waiting to commit to anything full time christian salumi al jazeera new york. still ahead on the news hour millions of children across england are heading back to school lest some pandemic restrictions are lifted. i was silent. were you silent or were you silence. the latter. suppressed within the palace megan mock old prince harry's wife reveals reasons for

the best grades from the british royal family and in support manchester united get the better of their city neighbors football action coming up to stay with us. on city. hell i've got something of a change in the weather on the way across a europe over the next couple of days we are going to see little area a cloud some of the rough weather pushing as we go into the next few days and wet and with the weather poly get across the british isles that the slot is where coastal western parts of europe at the moment we do still have areas of high pressure loss the inches but the fire eating away that is squeezed out of the way things have been settled and fine for the most part and up hills and also east we have this weather system making its way further south what's in this was cooler at

talking about hard monist on the top temperature in moscow those that moller air that wet and windy weather streaming in across western parts of europe as you go on through choose day we'll see some very heavy rain and some very strong winds damaging winds pushing into all of western scotland for choose the missing pieces of rain down into germany will see out so see it'll covering a snow dusting of snow to into the dark house more heavy showers set. parts of the mediterranean this top all nudging a little further east which is because through what the stake or the slow that is pushing across towards rumania just 4 celsius in bucharest as it cools down that was when the weather will make its way across scotland wales and all and as make our way through our weather stay with more on the fronts. it pays well and doesn't require diplomas. that's why so many in macau work for the

casinos. in those like gian who struggle it school. dropping out has become the lesser evil perseverance greater gamble. future gamble part of the viewfinder asia series unnoticed 0. latest news as it breaks with schools continuously being targeted especially in northern parts of nigeria the obvious that the region concert highest rates of poverty before it would fall behind with detail coverage visionaire the inoculation campaign was temporarily suspended because there weren't enough back feed from around the world these volunteers won't be routinely tested for private instead they'll be getting regular blood samples.

they're watching the news hour on al-jazeera with me fully back to remind of our top stories at least 20 people have been killed in a series of explosions at a military base in equitorial. guinea in the largest city more than $600.00 injured the president says it was caused by the mishandling of dynamite saudi arabia is promising to take all necessary measures to protect itself to yemen launch another attack on its energy facilities on sunday and saudi aramco oil granted iran was targeted by a ballistic me sign and in myanmar local media report that 2 people have been killed after police opened fire on protesters in the northern town of me. is as

shops and factories have closed in myanmar's largest city young gone after trade unions call for a total economic shutdown to protest against a military coup. to senegal now where in the next hour opposition politician. is due to appear in court opposition party and civil society groups have called for 3 days of mass demonstrations against his arrest they say charges of rape against him are politically motivated authorities say some close custody has been lifted but he remained in a police station overnight he's a response days of protests in senegal its capital and other cities let's bring in nic who's in the car for so those months on go due to appear in court today what are we expecting nic. well it's another day of protests fully 3 days of protest and it's by this new movement called the movement to protect democracy in senegal and so as

a result the security forces have stepped up security i'm just going to step out of the shot to show you that they have set up. blocks they're blocking up the streets and earlier on we saw the military being deployed patrolling the streets of the capital very unusual scenes fully for this country that has enjoyed political stability for decades now the military more as a force of dissuasion to dissuade protesters to take to the streets because we. seen so much violence in the last couple of days that resulted us at least 4 people now joining me now is seen fall who is a former candidate of the presidential election in the 2900 campaign but also a founding member of this movement to protect democracy yet seen this fall why are you protesting again today we have seen that today again because we feel that our democracy is being india is in tension you feel that you know there are police all

over and we feel that the government has encapsulated large numbers of young people . and demand opposition leader without any ground for that you see that there was a private matter that the government has taken on and make it a public in a political matter and we feel also that our democratic is at stake and today and said i got is a peaceful country we cannot let this happen we have seen 79 young people have died most of our 17 and 20 years old and they have died because they have been destroyed by bullets. with without even warning so we feel like it is really unacceptable that segarra has to fall this low in terms of really you know peace and security. you do explain that that there are protesters that have been killed from this violence but also protestors looting specifically french supermarkets we've seen

a lot of people destroying french gas stations why why the looting among those that supports your movement when there has been looting and we do not condone violence we want to call it always call for peaceful demonstration you know but look after the people have expressed the looting for the fact that people are hanging. people are hungry that's why you see mothers and little kids after this looting getting in there and taking food to go to the we see that young people are attacking this this french supermarket because the day the opposition leader was arrested was stopped to be arrested we saw a french military plane helicopter overseeing the situation this was a warning i think to me my reading is that the 7 counties young people sending a warning to present it to france and saying that do not get involved in this

situation this is a senegalese situation you don't want because the french has a history in africa every time there is a crisis in frankfurt africa to bring there i mean particular side of the leader who are from the facets and to stop you know that in people this was a warning this is also i think that a shark is a symbol of all of this that i instill in all of the poor neighborhoods in the car that have killed a small businesses that muslims used to sell their minute you sell their small items china is competing with them there are other friendship there are other french temperament that have not been for that thank you very much thank you very much arsene for thank you very much for these for these this analysis we haven't heard from the president present my crystal is expected to talk later on today meanwhile another day of protests the military on the streets the protesters are calling for a peaceful and calm protests actually

a sit in one of the main arteries of the capital but meanwhile the opposition leader who's been sunk or is still being held and is going to be questioned by the judge in moments to come and keep an eye on the situation with unique live in the car. the corona virus pandemic now and health workers in vietnam have got their 1st jobs as the country begins its vaccination drive more than 100000 doses have been distributed to major cities vietnam expects another 1300000 to live through the kovacs global sharing scheme in a pro israel meanwhile has started vaccinating palestinians across into israel for work palestinians to work on the construction of illegal israeli settlements are also being inoculated harry fostered a report on the occupied west bank after a small pilot program last week in a delay to the start of this process on sunday this is the 1st day proper other

plans are vaccinate more than 120000 residents of the occupied west bank those with permits to it either in israel or inside illegal settlements in the occupied west bank the pros as we see them over the 1st 2 weeks getting the 1st dose of the madonna vaccine and waiting a month and then another 2 weeks to get the 2nd dose and become fully vaccinated we spoke to one young man who's a and mechanic who works inside israel work either it's protection for yourself it will allow you to work freely you'd still have to wear a mask but hopefully things will be better in the future. israel has faced criticism from some quarters in the international community from human rights groups for not as they put it meeting its obligations under the geneva convention to more fully vaccinate people who live under occupation in the occupied west bank and in gaza israel maintains and indeed the palestinian health ministry has said that it is its obligation to vaccinate its own people but the numbers the disparity

is very stark israel is vaccinated more than 5000000 people with at least one dose 3000000 with both doses inside the gaza and the west bank there have only been a few 1000 vaccinated so far the palestinian authority has been given 22000 vaccines so far with another $60000.00 or so to follow this month but this comes at a time when there's a big spike in the virus itself inside the occupied west bank so those who are able to get the vaccine at this point remain the lucky few. nearly 7000000 school students in england are heading back to class for the 1st time since january the government is easing some restrictions as long down in vaccinations low infection rates cloak school closures have put a strain on parents working from home and prompted fears of over the effect on children's education teachers' unions have expressed concerns however about reopening and call for priority access to vaccines paul brennan joins us now from

portsmouth in the south of england so a big day in england today paul as the schools reopened there how did it go where you are. it's been a hugely exciting day for the children and for the teachers and as you say for the parents as well to have children going back for the 1st time in more than 2 months since the lockdown the full lockdown was imposed by the government back at the start of january the difference in corona virus infection rate since then well for example now they are rates this reproduction rate here in the u.k. is now below one again it's 0.70.9 that means that the rate of increase is declining and the number of vaccinations is now in excess of 22000000 people who had at least the 1st coronavirus vaccination so the data is going in the right direction and the roadmap that the government has set out means that today is the

1st step along bad road to open up the schools again i'm here on the south coast of england a place called portsmouth a port with high school and joining me is the headmistress of portsmouth high school jane prescott jane the children are now in classes that must be a huge relief a huge excitement for you oh we're so excited you can hear the excitement in their voices and fortunately they've all just now gotten into a lessons of i'm not here right now but yes we're so excited we're very fortunate because all of our school community came together to help our parent volunteers are part time staff came in on a day off so everyone was tested on friday so yes they're in lessons today you mentioned testing the fact that the schools are open depends very much on a program of testing that the schools initially will have to administer and then it will go to home testing has it been a big challenge to have to put that infrastructure in place well actually we had the infrastructure in place during the christmas holidays because we expected to come back in january and to do it then so we were all ready and prepared to seem

quite tough at 1st but we've managed it the government has been accused governor williamson the education secretary of sort of flipping and flopping the certain uncertainty is. when the schools will come back and delays and changes what are you calling for from governments from going forward from here all want to stay in school now we don't want flipping and flopping we don't want to go out again but obviously it is all about safety and if it means that the children have to home learn then we will switch to that as quickly as we switch to carry back into school if that is for their own safety and as far as educational attainment goes one of the concerns that's been raised is that for example year 11 year 13 girls won't sit the traditional exams this year and there would have been learning missed how you know how can you catch up or should you catch up is that a principle i think it's dependent on ages to catch up should you catch up i do think it's important that year 11 year 13 finish their courses so that they go on

to the next say prepared for that that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to take i think examination in all of the syllabus or specification they can take just part of it and that's fine so yeah i think we'll catch up i mean our guy did hold learning has been outstanding as it has through much of the u.k. and therefore children have been able to keep up thank you thank you jane now it's important the children are back but the scientists and the government scientists will be watching very closely what impact the return of the schoolchildren has on those infection rates because if the infection rate starts to get out of control again it means that the next stage is will not be possible the reopening of non-essential shops for example is due to take place from the 12th of april that could be delayed depending on the outcome of this return to school so there's a lot hanging on what's happening today and in these coming days and weeks home thank you very much for that. south korea has agreed to pay more for u.s. forces stationed in the country the u.s.

state department says the government will give a negotiated increase but gave no further details talks about the cost of $28000.00 american troops on the peninsula have been a sore point for the 2 allies previous negotiations broke down out of former president trump demanded a few 100 percent think lease. megan markel says a member of the british royal family was concerned about how dark her son skin color would be the duke and duchess of sussex were interviewed by oprah winfrey for a 2 hour television special interview comes off to harry and megan decided to step back a senior members of the british royal family last year. i think all around the same time so we have in tandem the conversation of you won't be given security it's not going to be given a title and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born. still ahead on the sports we speak

to. a history making but controversial last 12 months stay with us.

the the only. the only. time for sports his son you just spoke to that iraq joke of it is making more history thank you very much value on novak djokovic has made tennis history the serbian star has broken roger federer as well called for most week as a man's world number one holding the ranking for 311 weeks throughout his career

djokovic current a run at the top started in february last year and he's won 5 titles since the beginning of 2020 his latest success at being last month's australian open trials last 12 months that haven't all been good though djokovic was heavily criticized for organizing a tennis still in the balkans and last summer had a lack of social distancing and was cancelled after numerous players tested positive for covert 19 early on was spoke to djokovic says he's trying to move past his mistakes and make more history like his latest achievement well all receive very happy and you know this is a huge milestone in achievement not just for myself or my family or against people in my life the people that have. you know supported me all the way through my beginnings of since beginnings of my professional career and my life and allow me to you know obviously play this or that i tour a lot and have

a lot of wonderful moments traveling around the world and and achieving my in realizing my dreams so i don't think i'm just yet fully aware of the magnitude off of this milestone let's say if you keep on winning more grand slams does that prove that you are better than what to federer and rafael nadal. it doesn't it doesn't prove anything really to me because to me to me the only proves that i am able to to. in a way meet my own desires in my own expectations it's been a very tough 12 months with some negative press around the idea to any regrets over the way it was worked out i don't have an issue to to say that i'm floored that you know i make mistakes when i make a mistake i do say i made a mistake and i of course apologize for that and i'm want to try to learn

a lesson from it i think the only really mistake that was done during the tour was was that closing a celebration party off the day was done here in belgrade other than that i don't think there was any mistake that was made i don't think it's you know with done anything wrong in contrary we you know we tried through those events to. do to share with people passion and love for this sport. well one of joker's biggest rivals roger federer is getting ready for his 1st competitive match in 14 months he 20 time grand slam champion has been out on practice court head of his return to action at the qatar open federer has had 2 knee operations in an effort to prolong his korea the 39 year old's been given a buy in to the 2nd round in doha he'll face either britain's dan evans michel of france kuala porter is back in charge of football club barcelona and the 58 year

old that was elected president by club members on sunday and is returning at a time when the spanish team is facing a fight to maintain his base as one of the biggest clubs in europe for a smile reports. a lawyer and politician who left the club during their greatest period of success. will need to use all his powers of negotiation in the coming months. the future of lino massi will be his top priority the 6 time world player of the year wanted to leave the club before the season began the 33 year old's contract expires this year laporta has to tempt messi with a new deal at a time when the club is around a $1000000000.00 in debt. loves barcelona we all want big family and the best player in the world loves barcelona and that says a lot and this will help us take decisions we must take in the future ahead to

encourage him to continue playing for barcelona as of your limbs which is everybody's wish. you know mr. laporta was president of the club for much of the 2 thousands when success was taken for granted he gave his 1st managerial job. and in 2009 with guardiola in charge the team set a new club record winning 6 major trophies for me the best club in the wall for the . the sentimental issue. and i'm pretty sure stories come back a stronger in a short time the club won no trophies last season and haven't lifted the champions league since 2015 the current manager is ronald cumin he was employed by former president josep maria barr to mayo who resigned late last year and was recently arrested as part of a corruption investigation. are still not stymied my future is not in my hands the

only thing i know is that i have another year on my contract so of course i will speak to the new president he's the one deciding what direction the club takes i'll just stay focused on trying to win matches barsa fans will be hoping they voted for a better future and majority will want their most famous player to stay and be part of it far as smile al-jazeera. drew the other league leaders in spain on sunday they drew 11 with city rivals that real madrid former barcelona player louis was put at letting go ahead the team aiming to win the league for the 1st time since 2014 a late equaliser benzema meant the game finished in a droll that's ethical 3 points clear of 2nd place bossa they have a game in hand and the english premier league macit is long winning run is over they lost imagist in the manchester dobby tonight at the 2 nil the goal is coming from born of hernandez and it's all city had been aiming for the 22nd consecutive

when an all competitions they still lead united by 11 points at the top of the table. we need to prove in so many things to get to. get our consistency back to of course there are 11 points ahead of us. 10 games to go so that's a long way so we need to focus on ourselves just be a better man united. golf and bryce and the sean bell has won the ana palmer invitational in florida the reigning u.s. open champion shot a one on the $71.00 at bay hill to end the week on 11 under and claim 2nd when the p.g.a. tour season this all both in as a shot clear of overnights leda the westwood. and also as well the man handed back to folly folly happy women's day thank you and what are you talking to roger federer and soon i hope to get a response thank you very much for that sanna that's it for this news hour our

knowledge is there a pentium a well news coming up here very short me how long will he dean is next to stay with us. it's one of the biggest clubs in south america. but its greatest rival is just a few blocks away. a mutual dislike between funds pulled from a class divide sustained over generations. most boca juniors supporters of born into these club colors. in an epic few to rich versus poor the friends who make

football on al-jazeera. they captured the hearts of sounds around the world but they just footballers but unlike most eldest they fold hard. and put themselves on the minds of something more important than the beautiful game footballing legendary can saddam introduces a form of play is. who bucked the trend and stood up for what they believe did let's do it. the new season of football rebels coming soon on al jazeera an act of youthful defiance the memory of the return next hour also on the school will the arrest of me at home at 4 in the morning was electric shock treatment or worse that triggered a revolution. the arrest of those children sparked it all of which became a battle without and that was very beginning of the armed struggle in syria. the

boy who started the syrian war. on al jazeera we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter what we do to the news and current affairs that matter to you. a war and in a. the . more protests in senegal as the leader of the opposition appears in chords. i know that i'm out of my head seen and this is al jazeera life in doha also coming up. with 20 people killed and hundreds injured equitorial guinea's president says negligence was the cause of several explosions.