buildings the universities and monasteries were just some of the many structures that were destroyed in manila drawing world war 2. but rebuilding a life and a city from scratch has proven difficult and some experts see manila has never truly recovered. corruption charges against brazil's former president lula da silva thrown out by the country's highest court allowing him to run again. i'm convinced all this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. facing the prospect of prosecution in spain decision goes against exiled catalan separatists including carlos posed. he just said they.

were in you need to be. the jury is being selected ahead of the trial of the policemen accused of killing george from what. the protesters defy me in malls but the trouble that's even as another top political figure is cute. after spending more than 3 years as a political cost including time in prison brazil's popular former president is poised for a comeback a supreme court judge has thrown out lewis and also alluded to sylvia's corruption convictions now the leftist leaders supporters are wondering if he'll challenge right wing president jiah bills that are all in next year's elections will get more from monica in archive and rio de janeiro in just a moment but 1st has her report. the reason nasa. was leading the polls and $28.00 team the left wing political leader would have probably been

elected brazil's president for the 3rd time had not been convicted on corruption charges and banned from running now less back in the political scene as the country faces its worst moment in the cold in 1000 pandemic and he poses a serious threat to right wing president jalal so narrow in next year's elections well it's good news that comes at the right time because the political situation in the country is so dire but i think if it i would not believe a politician who has already been arrested for corruption and i don't think lula is the right person to run our country. has always said that he was wrongly convicted and imprisoned he says the bribery money laundering in corruption charges were part of a scheme to strip him of his political rights after years of judicial battle a supreme court judge on monday a null because infections against moola the decision has nothing to do with the

lolas innocence or guilt the supreme court judge argued that the former president had been tried in the southern city of quote a chip when you should have been tried in the capital brasilia it may be a technicality but one that could be shaped presumes political and judicial landscape the fact is that lula can now run for the presidency and he still has the support of half of brazil's voters according to a recent poll. some of them took to the streets to celebrate and to protest against what they call president bows and arrows mishandling of the pandemic. reacted on twitter saying be an element of the charges proves he has always been right. accuse the supreme court judge of acting on behalf of the workers' party. brazil's political divisions deepening in the midst of a deadly pandemic

a planned news conference with the has just been postponed from all its go to monica to find out why some want to what's happening. well yes there was cancer at the last minute because. mullo wants to wait the result of a clearing and to the conduct of judges have a moral and moral was the is the man that he accuses of launching a political dead against him and most of us says that it was moral who brought upon him the charges of corruption and wrongly convicted him and now what what's being decided in brasilia by the supreme court is whether the fashion model acted with a political agenda of his own or not and will is waiting before he comes out the public to then say what. are on the results

of 2 of 2 judicial decisions in these past hours one that are not old to his convictions and the one on on moral now whatever the outcome this does not mean that a lot has been found innocent the charges of corruption still stand the fact is that they would he would have to be retried in another for. ok monica you know have there in rio de janeiro many twists and turns in this case thank you a lawyer who helped clear luna is adamant he'll easily win reelection as president earlier we spoke with geoffrey robertson. this decision which sounds a bit technical or is in fact quite fundamental we simply try it in the wrong place in the place is run by he's enemies who were out to put him in prison

and not in the proper course so that does leak at the moment of course the government is appealing it but the judge is a respected being depended on and is is in the stephens will pave the way for lula probably when he makes the select good because he has the urban support of the hop that can go in really the core of people who love him because of his words his president years ago when he dragged some 20000000 of them out of the direst poverty so he does have that great love and support and he's determined from his statements today to do something immediately about the coup all about irish crisis the european parliament has stripped the immunity of

catalonia former president and 2 of his former ministers they fled a process of declaring independence and 2017 now 70 of parliament in brussels which had given that immunity and fairy courts could now start considering spain's extradition request but it's not a straightforward process of name baba reports. it's a move that's rekindling the debate over the future of spain's catalonia region and its independence movement the result of the bruising session of monday to each of march the european parliament has removed the immunity of colors pushed to months former cattle and presidents and 2 associates all of whom have seats in the assembly they fled abroad in 2017 following an independence referendum and subsequent declaration of independence which the spanish government deemed illegal he's a sad day for european parliament. we have lost our immunity but the rupee and parliament passed last more than that. and as

a result european democracy to. this is a clear case of political persecution the decision could help madrid's bid to extradite the trio colors put him on tony come in and color ponce have been charged with sedition in spain which to monton kamin are also accused of misusing public funds but ponce 30 who's based in scotland told our jazeera they're confident of winning an appeal we will go guest. of the media and. just these ghosts. means that these are only gobos occasional asides he should not have believed that. they sometimes we have bury its own government and hopes that we were on the heel the 2017 independence referendum stoked major tensions between the spanish government and the leaders of catalonia an autonomous region of 7 and a half 1000000 people the bitterness of the debate has diminished since socialist

prime minister pedal sanchez came to power in madrid in 2018. but in last month's regional elections separatist parties gained for additional seats in the catalan parliament the independent these parties who come from the right to the center left so there are all kinds of political opinions in the independent the parties they want this majority in parliament so this proves that we still have the early fun in the home meanwhile a belgian court recently rejected spain's request to extradite another former catalan cabinet member and it's far from clear how authorities here and in scotland will cooperate with madrid now the team barber al-jazeera a judge in the u.s. city of minneapolis will start selecting a jury in the trial of a white pill exam charged with killing george floyd 3 weeks have been set aside to choose 12 jurors in a case which caused a global outcry the process was soon to start on monday but was delayed while

lawyers for the officer pushed last minute appeals floyd died in may after derek shelf and kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes john hendren has more from minneapolis. the court here is going to decide 2 things did the police officer cause that death and where there are other factors involved did he intend to and so they've got several charges they're considering that they're not considering 1st degree murder that's premeditated and intentional that means you walked in knowing you were going to murder somebody that there are considering 2nd degree murder it intentional but not premeditated and now the judge is considering whether to consider 3rd degree murder which is not necessarily premeditated or intentional but so egregious that it rises above the charge of manslaughter and so they're questioning the jurors and the big issue here is racial balance this is a city that's about 20 percent black but juries in the united states draw from

counties and the larger county is 10 percent black so there's going to be less representation from the african-american community most likely and that can be a problem in the case of the rodney king beating in los angeles they moved the trial because of the publicity which was similar to the publicity in this case to a mostly white suburb that affected the makeup of the jury the officers were acquitted in that set off the riots throughout los angeles and across the united states in vats what they don't want here in minneapolis. at least 39 miles 165 have been rescued off the coast of tunisia the coast guard recovered the bodies and survivors after they sank close to the kid not islands the people on board were reportedly from several different countries including tunisia. man miles but it really does have recalled their ambassador to the u.k. for publicly denouncing the coup this comes as a 2nd official with a political party died after being arrested by security forces zalmay out cause of

death is not known despite another night of violence demonstrations have once again turned out to reports. the campaign of intimidation reaches new levels in yangon hundreds of young protesters were trapped after they were surrounded by police and myanmar's military in the city's ascent chowed district threatening door to door searches they fired guns and use stun grenades as they patrolled warning that anyone hiding protesters would also be punished but. it lasted all night the protesters were finally able to leave in the early morning hours after the security forces pulled out in a rare and risky nighttime gathering protesters in yangon broke curfew went to the streets calling for the release of the others their reports at least 2 dozen were arrested overnight unfazed by the heavy hand of the security forces across the country protesters came out and faced the continued crackdown just

a few hours after the trapped protestors in yangon were finally able to leave since the february 1st coup an advocacy group estimates 800 people have been detained several lawyers have stationed themselves in front of insane prison helping relatives of those arrested find out if they are inside and if they need a lawyer they say they are dedicated to serving those who have been detained free of charge but also getting information to the families. we are not afraid of people threatening is because we are doing this in accordance with the law and if they do threaten us this illegal we are prepared to carry out our duty until the. in nearby malaysia a court has given rights groups amnesty international and asylum access the right to challenge the deportation of myanmar nationals a big step in the country because its laws often make it difficult to challenge immigration decisions in court. 1086 citizens were sent back to me and more on

february 23rd it's unlikely they will return to malaysia but it will prevent more than 100 others from being deported the next hearing is in 2 weeks. while it's clear myanmar security forces plan to continue their crackdown the protesters are also not backing down on the streets. coming out to continue putting pressure on the john to scott hodler al jazeera. still ahead on al-jazeera taiwan and south korea cornering the microchip market but what's good for them may not be good for the rest of the world. plus we go inside a hospital in the occupied west bank that's overwhelmed coded 900 patients turning people away. it's time for the perfect gentleman. sponsored plan qatar airways

hello the weather sloshy set fire for japan over the next couple of days you have got some wet weather just spilling out the chart as they see the same area of play out just feeding in across the region they stand palls will become rather more unsettled but for the korean peninsula and for japan it's a weak reach of high pressure just a flabby area of high pressure here lightweight the so will be essentially fine and dry what shall we do have across northern parts getting squeezed out of the way that we got warm sunshine tokyo getting up to a very agreeable 966 in found high 17 celsius therefore so here's that western weather coming in across southern parts of china easing over towards yes cosa cooling off a touch here out west over the coming out across the east china sea but ahead of that it is generally dry over the next couple of days gerri try to across much of south asia so lots of pleasant sunshine will warm sunshine to see temperatures above the seasonal average at the moment we have got a few showers down towards a fall south of tamil nadu into carolinas some showers there just coming into sri

lanka over the next day also further north we have got some wetter weather just around the foothills of the himalayas into butan and to nepal the fon north of pakistan and here we have a westerly disturbance coming in so we're looking at rain statement snow by friday . qatar airways. it base well and doesn't require diplomas. that's why so many in macau work for the casinos. but for those like and who struggle it school. dropping out has become the less evil in perseverance the greater gamble. mccullough's future gamble part of the viewfinder asia's series on notice era.

you're watching algis there are a mind of our top stories this hour brazil's supreme court has trotted out the criminal convictions of former presidents there with an author in order to silva the ruling paves the way for luna to run at next year's election. the e.u. parliament has stripped 3 cattle out of separatists politicians of immunity from prosecution for more regional leader this push them out to others i want to buy a spade for organizing the illegal independence referendum in 2070. jury selection starting a little fall of a white police officer charged with killing george forward in the us city of minneapolis floyd died in may after derrick shelving kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.

hospitals in the occupied west bank a saw overwhelmed the turning covered 19 patients away the abraham has more from ramallah we're standing here in one of the main governments of the hospitals dealing with 900 patients and the hospital officials have been telling us that they're turning away tens of patients every day who need medical attention we're here in front of the emergency room and we're seeing patients waiting for their turn to get a room inside this hospital. staff told us that she is a priority when there's a vacancy they would move her immediately i know that they're doing their best given the circumstances. the doctor told us she has to sleep in the hospital but we can't keep waiting in the corridor my mother in law is tired she's 92 years old people's concerns were confirmed by the palestinian prime minister that the hospitals are nearing pull up here pretty even though the government has doubled

the i.c.u. since the start of the pandemic he says that this is the government with one of those or and or social distancing and wearing masks but people have been this up a spied with the government they say that not only did this government not compensate people for the consecutive closures over the past year but also some of the few 1000 arrived in the occupied west bank have been given to missiles and their families which is raising a lot of concerns among people about the integrity of any future vaccine program. a surge in coronavirus cases in jordan is forcing the government to roll out new restrictions and on time curfew will be extended and some businesses will have to shot other measures including school closures and a total lockdown on fridays are already in place all than 7000 covered 1000 cases were reported on monday driven by the spread of the more contagious u.k.

variant. the u.s. house of representatives will vote this week on a covert 19 relief package worth almost 2 trillion dollars it was approved by the senate on saturday it includes $1400.00 checks to individuals earning less than 80 $1000.00 a year or couples earning less than 160000 the bill has the biggest increase to federal health aid since the obama era affordable care act around $34000000000.00 in subsidies will go to expanding that coverage around $55000000000.00 will be allocated to increasing covert $900.00 testing the public health workforce and vaccine distribution while $350000000000.00 will go to state and local governments struggling with huge tax revenue shortfalls white house correspondent kimberly help that is in washington d.c. she reports president biden will use his address to try and boost national moral. there are a number of things that could help american families that are struggling with not only will there be those direct payments of $1400.00 but for

a family that going to amount to thousands of dollars but you have to remember given the fact that we've been in this pandemic now a year that what this will allow people to do is catch up but it won't allow them to get ahead and so that's going to be the next task for congress once this is signed into law is looking at some of the things they weren't able to accomplish like raising the federal minimum wage to $15.00 an hour and an infrastructure package that would create jobs and so this is badly needed but certainly this is going to help because a lot of these benefits that were in place run out on the 14th that's this week and so we expect that the u.s. president is eager to sign this we know that from his white house press secretary and we are expecting that there will be swift passage in congress there's going to be a tremendous sales pitch and there are a number of reasons why 1st of all the u.s. president wants to boost morale so he'll be making a primetime address on thursday evening here in the united states to sell this plan

to talk about the sacrifices that americans have made so far and what can they can expect in the future but there's another reason that he's doing this he was not able to unite democrats and republicans on this bill in fact it's being passed on party lines so it doesn't tick the box for uniting the country but what it does do is give them the opportunity to sell this to the american people and that's what we're going to hear from the president as he speaks on thursday americans can get together indoors without wearing a mask also szell this and saying if they're fully vaccinated as part of your guidance from health officials i also say for the vaccination people don't need to quarantine even if they come into contact with someone who's positive. more than a 1000000 people have been fully vaccinated in the u.k. and about 22000000 have got their 1st jabs holmgren has more on whether the c.d.c. guidelines in the u.s. could offer a road map for countries like the u.k. i think it's unlikely at this point in time mainly because the prime minister in

the u.k. boris johnson has refused to be pinned down on exactly what impact vaccination will have on the wider reopening of the economy in specific terms anyway so for example people have been saying that once you've fully vaccinated surely a vaccination passport could be issued and that would allow you to travel in mice allow you to use leisure facilities that might enable the reopening of large sports venues and concert halls for example but so far boris johnson has been very reluctant to actually say specifically whether he intends that to happen a couple reasons why perhaps it's because the vaccines themselves don't have 100 percent effectiveness you know even the best vaccines are 7580 percent effective and there is a lack of data as to whether those people who are vaccinated can still pass on the virus despite not being infected themselves pass on the virus to those who haven't yet been vaccinated so there's

a lot of data that is missing data that they don't know about yet so here in the u.k. at least they're playing very cautious one of the big issues here is over which vaccination is being put into people's arms certainly in europe anyway because there seems to be a split developing between the central european countries i'm talking about hungary slovakia's czech republic who are turning to russia and to china for vaccines in the absence of any vaccines coming in timely fashion from the european union. president allison what part of the governing party has won the ivory coast parliamentary elections or tartars r h d p party has taken 138 of the 255 seats of his party and the main opposition have claimed victory but the opposition says had been widespread fraud which the government rejects. south sudan's government has agreed to a peace deal with the opposition groups the agreement signed in kenya includes

a ceasefire that will put an end to years of violence between the government and an alliance of opposition movements nearly 400000 people have been killed at least 4000000 displaced in the 7 year civil war in south sudan a global shortage of semiconductor chips is hurting high tech industries from the makers of game consols to automobiles car plants are reporting production delays of up to 1000000 vehicles and the problem has highlighted the dominance of the 2 world leading chip make it sets taiwan and south korea on the broad reports from seoul. between them south korea and taiwan have a near monopoly on the world's production of processing and memory chips it's a dominance in a strategic commodity that's been developing over years but now making itself felt as the world becomes increasingly technology driven but from here on out it's going to broader considerately to egypt with everything modern. it's not

a semiconductor in your electric vehicle if your car's going to have a retreat it's getting old like other car makers this general motors plant outside seoul has been experiencing delays because of a global shortage of chips it's been a wakeup call for many world leaders but the investment of time and money needed to become a chip maker means south korea and taiwan will maintain their lead for years to come it's a global shortage that's been made worse by the pandemic when car factories ramped up production again late last year it coincided with a surge in demand for consumer goods also needing chips and a move towards online activities requiring greater data processing that needs yes ever more chips frank wang is the founder of one of taiwan's chip manufacturers whose business has grown as the island has come to dominate the sector this is

a burning portal with a one continual sub why a bell in the porch opinion of the state and other your country that one is sold by a toy in the. process if we have a problem the war we have or have a problem it's this indispensable that works well right now taiwan's chips are also indispensable to mainland china providing it with the so-called silicon shield against beijing's expansion in the region but also raising the stakes in the increasing comp. tition between china and the u.s. semiconductor is strong power is strong but it's becoming so strong in a so we need to be careful so is the better to keep it neutral because if semiconductor or silicon shield you know there's trances being used as a weapon taiwan will getting more of it with that was the conflict between us the in china and out of the dangerous there is the it is actually getting increased

reachin i would rate it you little. it extra dreary washington types trying hard conflict in competition south korea's and taiwan's production mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera soul deborah elms is the founder and executive director of asian trade center she says the monopoly of taiwan and south korea will be difficult to break. one of the things that we've learned as a result of the u.s. china trade war and now cold it is that it is challenging for companies to be too reliant on any single source whether that's a domestic source or of foreign source if you only have one location for a critical part component raw material like cetera that makes you quite vulnerable to disruptions and so while many people would like to be part of the chip

manufacturing process i think the challenge for semiconductors in particular is that it is so complex and it is so capital intensive that it is not easy for lots of other manufacturers to simply step into the space the reason that korea and taiwan are so good at this is that they've been at it for a very long period of time they have specialized and they deliver at speed at reliability in time frames that that simply no one else is likely to match anytime soon and so that's why they've been so dominant now of course that's a challenge and how do you address that that is the real problem for companies who are relying on these chips what are the other alternatives i think that is a giant question for everyone else and i would say that at least for the near term south korea taiwan will likely continue to dominate the chip industry because they're just so good at it. there are new reports out of japan that of essays fans won't be allowed at the tokyo and then picks because affairs they'll spread covered

19 games open eyes this will meet officials from the international in the committee this week a confirmation expected soon the games are good to begin in just of a 4 months and how the it's a mess takes offense scheduled to tokyo next month has been cancelled the all around the world cup competition was meant to act as a qualifier and test for the games. results is there and these are the top stories brazil's supreme court has thrown all the criminal convictions of former president who is an author the silver the ruling paves the way for a new law to run in next year's election. parliament has stripped 3 cattle and separatist politicians of immunity from prosecution former regional leader pushed him out and 2 others wanted by spain for organizing the illegal independence referendum in 20.