the arrest of those children sparked it all which became a battle without a hand. beginning beyond struggle with syria. the boy who started the syrian war. on al jazeera. this is al-jazeera. so robin you're watching the al-jazeera news our lives my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the u.s. house is set to vote on a covert relief package worth maybe 2 trillion dollars give joe biden a big political win also. a push for equal access to covert 19 baxi south africa and india appealed for

suspension of peyton's at the world trade organization. and closer to a political comeback former brazilian president lula da silva addresses his supporters after a court ruling bruce's chances of challenging. also the siren new step to reconcile with its colonial past france is to declassify secret documents related to algeria as war of independence. and i'm gemini with all the day's sports news as roger federer makes so winning return to tennis action after a year out and after being reelected as president of the international olympic committee thomas back from this is a safe and secure games. welcome to the news the u.s. house of representatives has begun to be. it's in

a $1.00 trillion dollar relief bill one of the largest in the country's history the bill will provide $1400.00 checks for americans as well as extended unemployment benefits and tax breaks it will still need to be signed by the president around 10000000 people in the u.s. are currently unemployed a number that has risen sharply since the beginning of the current virus pandemic a white house correspondent could be helped that joins me now on the talking continues can believe what we all read close to a conclusion there's no question about it the white house says that joe biden will sign this into law almost as mediately after is passed in the house of representatives which we believe now at this point is just largely procedural the house of representatives was the 1st chamber of congress to pass this initially it went up to the senate there were a few modifications there and now the house taking one more look and voting on that but we expect that if there is not

a straight party line vote meaning democrats support republicans do not there will be only one democrat defection so the president poised to sign this as celebrating this is a major campaign pledge delivered for the american people because not only were there will there be the $1400.00 checks there will also be an extension of unemployment benefits and other benefits that were set to expire on march 14th of course this is not a solution or and game for many millions are affected by what's happened during the pandemic it's really a chance is it not for them to catch up and try and reassess where they move on and can the president see the government help them anymore. there's no question that there is some disappointment on the part of the white house while they're touting this as the most progressive piece of legislation in u.s. history missing is the $15.00 an hour federal minimum wage there is no sort of infrastructure plan which it is going to have to be tackled separately that will

create jobs what this is doing is allowing for contact tracing back to the nation's p p p p p e for you know the various counties and towns and municipalities across the united states and also you know these sort of direct payments that we've been talking about but it's not the job creator sort of allows people to catch up but it's not going to help them get ahead so that's the concern here in just shows there's still so much work to be done in order to bring the united states out of this depression recession that it's been facing as a result of the pandemic and we can see pictures of the debate continuing couple here live calls the president himself pups doesn't want to commit himself too much into the future can believe because he's taking to the airwaves most probably one thing to talk about the success of the bill plus the rollout of the vaccine which could lead to you want to see the reach even a sion of the united states. well here's the thing the president knows this

legislation is popular even with republican voters although the republicans in congress not sort of measuring that in the same way however. the concern is that once the money is spent that people will forget where it came from and so the president is going to need to sell this that's why he's taking it to the american public we're going to see the vice president doing the same or in fact already seeing that sort of p.r. pitch to the public taking place right now we'll have the top drug manufacturers c.e.o.'s at the white house later merck and johnson and johnson working together usually their competitors to really get this vaccine supply out to americans so they're advertising the fact that most americans could be vaccinated if they want to by the end of may something that seemed like an it possibility just even weeks and months ago so these are all good news headlines that the white house wants to keep on the sort of the minds of americans but the concern is that they'll quickly

forget and so we may be seeing these pictures for a while because for the moment thanks to the update committee held at the white house correspondent. is a journalist and also in washington d.c. he says anyone who stands in the way of the spill will face public backlash. this is a big splashy win for the biden administration but if it didn't happen it was going to be calamitous where untold numbers of americans local governments that were running out of money to pay for personal protective equipment pay for covert $19.00 tests and pay for administering the vaccine well help is on the way it's in this bill it's hugely popular and the republicans seem to be straining to find a reason to be against it they will now be on the record having opposed this bill which is after all. water to be thrown on a fire in an emergency you have there are technical quibbles that they have some of

them quite mage intimate but the bill was sweet and one of the most controversial aspects of it was an expansion of the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour it was going to give trouble to legislators on both sides of the aisle they took that out they put a cap in for those $1400.00 checks so that high income households wouldn't be getting the checks that did not louer one republican across the aisle to vote for it that's something they're going to have to explain you know our election cycles are such that some of them will be running for reelection again in just a few months this is something they're going to happen to justify to their own voters. well south africa and india are leading a push on the world trade organization to drop peyton restrictions on covert $900.00 vaccines more than $100.00 countries say that would allow greater access to vaccines for developing nations well according to a campaign group known as one richer countries are hoarding excess doses preventing

poorer nations from getting them it's estimated the surplus of doses would be enough to vaccinate the entire adult population of africa johns hopkins university found nearly half of those who've been fully vaccinated so far were in the united states and only 10 countries have been able to vaccinate 75 percent of their populations in the u.n. secretary general antonio good tara she says the inequality of the vaccine distribution is wildly and even and unfair for me to miller reports now from johannesburg. it was one of the it's been a year since the 1st code in 1000 infection was identified in south africa since then more than 50000 people have died here and 1500000 have been infected well richard nations rolled out vaccines the program in south africa's been much slower . of course. but.

south africa and india are leading a movement to suspend the world trade organizations agreement on intellectual property rights for covert 1000 vaccines but many high income countries including the united states and those in the european union have rejected the idea they say waiving the peyton's would put off private investors and slow down scientific innovation and existing regulations allow drug manufacturers to make their own deals with generic manufacturers while some developing nations that garner ivory coast in the suit to have begun receiving their 1st doses to the u.n. back to vaccine sharing scheme known as kovacs many others in africa are being left behind. there is a capacity for mr companies to produce things like i said in medical school. it is

essential that the wealthy states stop blocking or putting in legal barriers and delaying essential kozel ahead. of the world trade organization according to the united nations 3 quarters of all covert 1000 vaccines have been secured by just 10 countries all of them wealthy 130 countries that's about 2500000000 people have not received a single dose this is not the 1st public health emergency that south africa is facing it has one of the highest hiv aids rates in the world in the 1990 s. millions of people in this country and other developing nations died without access to the drugs they needed simply because they were too expensive so africa is once again calling for access to cheaper drugs to save lives with some arguing that despite covert 1000 vaccines been tested in africa many nations on the continent still remain at the back of the queue for me to al-jazeera johannesburg. chile

assert to extend its quote of our a state of emergency making it the world's longest running curfew the government says the measures which have already been in place for a year are necessary to contain the spread of the virus but critics argue it's ineffective and gives health officials too much power the country is registering thousands of new cases every week and that's despite it having given out the most that scene's globally per capita. or brazil has recorded its highest number of deaths from quote a virus in a single day nearly 2000 fatalities are registered on tuesday the country has had more than 11000000 cases and is facing. the worst phase of the pandemic yet to push its health care system to the brink of collapse and former brazilian president luis in a silver has sharply criticized diable sonorities response to the current virus pandemic flu were speaking at his 1st news conference since their corruption charge against

him was overturned and he told his supporters that he always knew that he did vindicated monday's decision by a supreme court judge to overturn a corruption charge of boost his chances of making a political comeback the conviction in 2017 saw him serve 18 months in jail a bar to him from running for office let's get more this from monica yanek here he's live for us in rio de janeiro was watching go what was being said. perhaps playing his cards very close to his chest but alluding to the fact that he may make a political comeback. yes in fact he said that talking about being a candidate is something that we should not he would not talk about right now with the decision that will be taken by the party or maybe an alliance of parties closer to the election which will be towards the end of 2021 but he did speak of the candidate or at least as someone that will is trying to be our leader of the

opposition. say that it was time for people to sit down and plan because this government he said mentioning the right way president jade both government according to him has done next to nothing he criticized the handling of the pandemic he said do not listen to the president nor the health minister he referred to the president as the number still and he said people should get vaccinated he said. that people also should the brazilians also should start thinking about the future about plans for unemployment he was also very critical of president both of those other plans which is to 7 have market friendly reforms in brazil the still hasn't happened because of the fund but he was very critical about privatizing state owned companies. really well every is talking about his potential

run for the presidency he really can't commit to that country quite yet because the cold case and the conviction that he's actually experienced i was released from i might say it is something that is still a cloud. his potential presidency should he want to run. yes it's bakley it's a cloud over his head. he he was the just that was what the reason that the charges against him were overturned was because a supreme court justice said that they had been tried in the wrong court not that he had been. and if. that was not. any why it was just saying that he had been tried in the wrong place so he can still be retried in another court so that's still hangs over his head. he

it is in a certain way of vindication because now he no longer can be referred to as. somebody that has been indicted he's not just a regular person that has been accused because he has to be tried again but not if indeed when a chaotic of in rio de janeiro thanks for the update let's join manuel bologna's a professor at mcgill university where he specializes in corruption politics and social tensions in brazil joins me now live from montreal via skype good talking with mr blonde on the program i mean brazil is a 24 hours ready to come to terms for the sort of signs make shift in a potential presidential run for. the silver he hasn't said that he can run all will run but you think it is a short on conclusion that he will. first of all thanks for having me and i think it is to some extent you know who had to be careful today with the statements.

that 'd we saw today is one of the you know percentage insult in a very states man like position he hit really hard of course and not on the 2 main problems that you know that they're also not a government has had one having to do with the economy the other one having to do with. the numbers are really bad and so i think we are sort of in the path forward 'd to that to make a comeback and i think he will run for office next year and i think he has the potential of uniting what has been a really you know this purpose the fragmented opposition was so not all of the workers 48 have been suffering i think. coalesces a lot of support ok so let's just talk about this appeal of the governor wants to make this probably about the conviction will it be quick will it be slow how how how soon could this be cleared up so we'll have a much more clear idea of what lou this next move might be. well it 1st it's

important to 'd point out that the decision was a procedural decision and i think i want to talk about this a little bit better that procedural decision is that judge mortal who was the judge who had issued a set of sentences against. the president was not comfort that he did not have jurisdiction to issue those decisions it is not the supreme court decision that is based on the fundamentals of the case on the evidence based on the situation and so what we are facing now is. a different god strong a different jurisdiction this case and basia taking over this case and revising evidence again gathering evidence again etc etc now given how long this process usually takes in the brazilian judiciary i think it is highly unlikely that we'll see that new sentence take place but for the next presidential election so you know the next steps are are to some extent the term and by the slowness with which

the judiciary some result and i think it is very likely not a foregone conclusion but it is very likely that the left will be permitted to run in the next presidential election ok and surely to turn your 1st answer that lou is the type of figure who in this present scenario in the circumstances that the world is facing he could possibly galvanize the opposition in a in a way that brazil has never seen before how much of a concern is this now for both sonora knowing that lulu is on the loose. i think it's a great concern right i think has this potential of uniting in opposition of uniting what has been you know a kind of leader less workers' party a party that had been suffering in elections and the last couple of rounds and you know really banking on the support and the good image that 'd with us till half past there were polls as early as late last week that show that that while percent

lead over also not at all and we'll know in boat share this is a poll of course and he also has fewer negatives than was one out of so i think what's another is actually very concert on the other hand the americans may help will so not all also do the flip side which is coalesce support among sort of right wing voters and the right wing parties in brazil something that you know he may have struggled with without a strong figure on the other side such as the so you know the popularity rates of brazil quite quickly these 12 percent points that he now has over what's in our right now or are not something that we can be sure that will be tainted so 'd 'd we need to watch closely in the next few months indeed we will hopefully will be able to invite you back again to analyze more of what's going on in brazil but well but

on from mcgill university thanks for joining us material thank you my pleasure. still ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour libya's rival factions agree on a unity government after suffering through years of war also something else opposition leader blames the government for days of violence and swept the capital last week and qatar promises to make the world cup more inclusive than ever we look at how the country is growing football amongst its disabled players. the united nations says at least 67 protesters have been killed in me in bar in just the last 2 days the announcement came as police once again dispersed protesters in the city of mandalay on wednesday. people fled as gun shots were fired the security council calls for restraint but

failed to agree on a statement condemning the coup across me about border with northeast india residents say more than 100 refugees arrived in the past 10 days fleeing violence at home amongst them is a policeman who refused to open fire on protesters in the 1000000 mark town of compact he says he traveled that night for 3 days to avoid being recognized but. the duty of the police is to protect the people in fact the shooting of people by the myanmar police and army is against the law so i could not follow those orders if we get the real democracy and the army who is over i would like to return to my country somalia as former president and i had the mohammed has died at the age of 82 the 2 term leaders seize control in 1991 and served for 6 years before being reappointed under a peace deal he left office in 2000 he died in kenya on wednesday nights.

libya's parliament turns approved a new interim unity government as part of a u.n. backed deal it will be responsible for holding elections later this year libya has been divided between 2 rival administrations supported by armed groups and foreign governments there's been unrest since an uprising topple moammar gadhafi in 2011 but that train has more from misrata. it's been a long and difficult process to come up with this agreement and this new unity government now libya has been involved as since an armed revolution toppled moammar gadhafi in 2011 after that things went quite well for a couple of years when this parliament was elected in 2014 they were supposed to be based in eastern libya but around the same time warlords leave for half their began a military operation there to cement his power base so many parliament many m.p.'s especially from western libya boycotted the parliament citing security concerns and

really that's when the divisions began a a rival to rival governments began one in eastern libya one in western libya in 2015 the u.n. facilitated the libyan political agreement that brought the rival sides together they came up with the government of national accord which is the internationally recognized government here in tripoli. but that was how after refused to recognize that government as well as i get the speaker of the brick base parliament so they've been quite divided and you know there's been a lot of division also among the international community which sort of put fanned the fire of divisions but now we're seeing that the international community are more willing or want to see a unified libya and and the m.p.'s after years of visions were actually finally able to meet have a session and give this new national unity government

a vote of confidence. settles opposition politician last month accuse the president of being responsible for last week's violence because the rest so taking part in an unauthorized rally triggered days of demonstrations 2 people were killed in confrontations between protesters and police there has more from the capital dhaka . he wants to capitalize on the unprecedented movement that we've seen the last couple of days where we saw protesters demonstrators taking to the street not just here in the capital the car but throughout the country was quick to condemn the looting and the violence saying that he is not looting in the violence towards french supermarkets he's saying that he's not anti french but he wants a rebalance of the relationship with the former colonial power in favor of not big corporate french corporations but in favor of the senegalese people he also said that the government and the people need to listen to the word on the streets

and this call from people they have really taken on mouse on the streets to express themselves he says he is not responsible though for the violence that has taken place that has resulted and scores of people injured and at least at least according to him dozens of people killed some. of the things we are absolutely not responsible for the violence that happened and we're not responsible for what might happen next because senegal has a lot of problems right now and we will not profit from destabilizing the country further i'm calling on everybody for calm but to remain mobilized. now the owners he says is on president to answer to this call from the people on the streets there are more protests planned this saturday because this this new movement of the movement to defend democracy well they say that at least 400 people are currently in detention people that have been detained and that were arrested during the

protest movement that we've seen recently so a lot more protests at least a demonstration planned on saturday and 4 months sunk oh he's seen this as a moment for the country to unite and to get together behind his movement. french president tomorrow bankrolls says his government will speed up the declassification of secret documents from its colonial clone era the decision will make it easier to access information relating to the algerian war of independence but critics say the blocking of thousands of words public document shows the still a long way to go in january a truth commission was set up to look at differences clearly in history historians have called for victims' testimonies to be included jarius war of independence lasted from 95429628 was one of the world's bloodiest conflicts algeria says more than 1000000 of its people were killed yusef are born there liz

a professor of political science at qatar university he says france hasn't apologized for the atrocities and is unlikely to. i think that the police in these documents and the archives will get a long way toward start let's not forget gotten reports by benjamin should just to make available to him the other case but he also ruled out a protein i believe but much more has made significant studds but to apologize for france's behavior in not julia would not be the would not be good for his electoral campaign leave that until he inside has not been called in for that. the public day because the underlings have not made so much effort in these demands and also there are so many deep people influence who do not necessarily believe the reason was

a bad thing they believe that the french adventure in on giuliani was to civilise there was some veges its flaws that created the cherry on it for us but the big infrastructure in algeria and therefore they have nothing to apologize for the if that is in opposing it should come from the un julien's terrorists who committed that there was a pause in seas. let's take you to. the teasers now of course russia threatens to block twitter using the social media platform of failing to remove content critics say it's another attempt to silence kremlin critics and long term exposure 10 years on from fukushima its nuclear accident one presidents will feel the effects for decades to come and it's for lionel messi ambassador trying to pull off the impossible in the champions league to stay with us.

hello the weather set fair across much of the middle east but piles will see some cloud and rain over the next couple days and some snowfall could measure say some snow fall recently into the northeast. more where it's windy and it's always wintry weather just around the caucuses and this area cloud right becomes a little more expansive as we go through thursday so well why spread wrang coming in as we go on through the course of the day a little bit lifted thus the sand into southern parts of iraq we'll see some increasing winds just pushing through here and that increasing wind just starting to fade as well of course the eastern side of saudi arabia so again lifted dust and sand to watch out for a breezy day on friday here in doha temperatures around $34.00 celsius for the north that will be that wetter weather coming out of to keep pushing across

northern parts of iraq pushing into the northwest of iran southern parts of the caspian but to the south of that is generally fine and dry the dry weather stretches across the whole of africa still a few showers just around southern parts of uganda but the majority of the showers really coming from a line from northern madagascar northern mozambique right up into the gulf of guinea sweater weather coming through here but a bit of breezy is pushing into the eastern side of the. but resi moving east. from. 11 on is grappling with its worst economic crisis in generations. exasperated by the coronavirus pandemic and then this. one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history shine a light on a nation already in economic and political freefall people in power travels across the country to find out what's next for the trouble state leben on the state to

collapse on a just a you know. for a goalkeeper from one is a. whole new world cup was one dreams what might come up it sounds like night lab a rest and told jim on argentina's ministry just. close to losing his footballing legend eric cantona introduces cloud your tambourine one of a special few who stood up for their beliefs whatever the cause of. football rebels on al-jazeera.

you're watching the after their news hour with me so rob a reminder of our top stories in the last few minutes the u.s. house of representatives has begun voting on a $1.00 trillion dollars coded relief bill it's one of the largest in the country's history and a top priority for president by this administration this vote is the final stage before it goes to him for his signature. south africa and india are leading a push for the world trade organization to temporarily drop the pay to restrictions on covert $90.00 vaccines they say it would allow more countries and manufacturers to mass produce the champ's brazil's a form of president luis in a suit lula da silva has given his 1st news conference since a corruption charge against him was overturned he called a person trial ball sonar and in the seal and accused him of bungling the pandemic and the economy. russia has restricted access to twitter accusing the social media platform of failing to remove band called turned the country's communications

watchdog says it slowed down the website speed and they've warned it could be blocked entirely her last action is taken on tuesday russian authorities announced lawsuits against 5 social media platforms for post related to opposition protests according to the interfax news agency and white is the founder and president of the ethical journalism network he says the kremlin's action against twitter is part of a long running campaign to suppress criticism and public dissent. we've seen this in particular. the way that social networks have been very important in terms of support for alexina valley and i think this has irritated the government and the authorities in russia and i think many is perhaps one of the reasons to explain this latest action that's been taken against twitter the problem is twitter and some of the other social net networks have not exactly cover themselves in glory in recent times we saw the actions of the social networks in the united states around

the attack on the capital which led to. politicians calling for restrictions on social networks and and there has been concern in europe about our slow social networks like twitter and facebook are in taking down abusive commentary so they've become in some ways a sort of. a soft target however it's important to bear in mind that twitter is by no means a significant player in the social networks 'd but forms of russia but it there's no doubt at all that this latest action shows that the use of twitter is getting on the skin of the authorities and there's not much they can do but there is one silver lining if that we can call it that and that's a technical one it's very very difficult for the authorities to slow down and completely stop the distribution of social networks like twitter though there's a technical term is very difficult for them to carry out so it's not certain yet that the authorities will be as successful as they'd like to be. the dismissal of

all be the as army chief of staff has come into force 2 weeks after the prime minister fired him the call of pressure in the accuse the military of attempting a coup last month after it demanded he resign but the 2nd was blocked by the president. reiterated their calls for you had to step down. now some in the army say the prime minister mishandled last year's war with azerbaijan thousands of armenians were killed in a 6 week conflict in the god of how about robin forrest a walker reports are coming out of one of the challenges for some of the walls most seriously injured voters that is a veteran from recent war with azerbaijan he is adjusting to his new life a life without arms virus that lost his arms rescuing his own brother who'd been wounded in the leg it's almost too much for their mother leanna to remember that day. virus that was with his brother in the ambulance when the shell struck that

biomarker despite his pain my brother came to help me the medic and driver also wounded the interior was on fire the mattresses were burning but we drove on while my brother tried to put out the fire. officially knowing 1094 armenian soldiers were wounded in the 6 week war over nagorno-karabakh thought to treat some of the most seriously injured at this rehabilitation center in central yerevan. as summoning to get back to something you never get used to all of this it's very difficult to see these young soldiers and many of them are helpless as a doctor it's terribly difficult for me to tell some of them that they will never walk again that burden is on me. physiotherapy and dry needling is helping hikes depan year with the pain in his stumps he tells

me the prospect of returning to sports keeps him motivated. hike is one of 300 patients at this center receiving therapy therapy that wouldn't be possible without the support of charitable funding because the state here is simply not in a position to cope with the sheer scale of the problem that's a little bit too short the center will soon have a prosthetics workshop paid for by a dutch armenian charity there are a lot of empathy aided people they are waiting for prosthesis in a short time and that's a big challenge but i think it's a big plus that they are generally healthy and de are very motivated to do to walk with these armenian tax payers also make mandatory payments into a soldier's insurance fund but voters that needs advanced prosthetics costing tens

of thousands of euros the kind that would enable him to hold his own cup of coffee again or mission they've told us these kind of prosthesis is beyond our reach. maybe this is a huge amount of money and people like us can't afford these types of artificial limbs but what does that say about us if we can't afford it who can if the home land was worth sacrificing my arms for why should new ones be beyond my reach. but as that hasn't wasted time since his interviews he got engaged to his girlfriend. there is still hope that he will live an independent life again robyn for a. year of. human rights experts in the un are looking into allegations that venezuelan pleas carried out more than 200 killings early the sure the head of the fact finding mission says the numbers include people who died in

a police operation that took place in a poor neighborhood in the capital caracas a preliminary investigation found that some of the cases were extra judicial executions and as well as u.n. delegation has dismissed the allegations now the chinese government is being accused of breaching every single act of the un genocide convection convention and its treatment of week as in sheehan jenin a report by more than 50 global human rights experts says there's clear evidence that china is responsible for committing genocide against the muslim leaders it's believed around a 1000000 have been imprisoned in camps in recent years mostly in the shin jan region china denies allegations of human rights abuses a saudi court has upheld the original sentence of women's rights campaigner. she had hoped that a 5 year ban on travelling outside saadi arabia imposed as a condition of her release last month would be lifted the activist spent more than 3 years in detention on multiple charges through

a campaign for the right for women in society arabia to drive a rights that was granted a month after her $28.00 tina arrest. there have been all there has been outrage how much the british public after health care workers were told they would only get a one percent pay rise ministers say the country can't afford to pay them anymore n.h.s. staff are now warning that there may be industrial action unless their work during the covert $900.00 pandemic is rewarded appropriately paul brennan reports from gilford. covert 19 has meant a harrowing 13 months for the state run national health service it's placed extraordinary stress and emotional strain on the system and those who work in it and a 2 point one percent pay rise have been promised and expected now the government says it can only afford a one percent increase so this year has been a really tough year for us for intensive care nurses such as becky smith that's insulting and demoralizing feeling valued helps to look after patients better it

helps us to put more into our jobs that helps the city appreciate to educate each other to men to reach out to to work stronger together because we feel happier at work we feel valued at work we feel that the work that we're doing is important to not be valued by the government i mean in some cases the public is really difficult and it is really challenging and it does make you want to give out the actual payoff will be decided by an independent pay review body but the government's stance saw boris johnson come under sustained attack for the weekly session of prime minister's questions 2 years ago he made a promise to the n.h.s. here in black and white his document it commits to a minimum pay rise of 2 point one percent thanks to the investment made by this government that there are 49000 more people in the n.h.s. this year than last year 10600 more nurses helping to relieve the burden on our presence is the current 3 n.h.s.

pay deal finishes at the end of this month but the pay review body isn't due to submit its recommendations until may and that means it could be the summer before staff find out whether they're going to get the rise that they want and that many people feel they deserve the unions say their members have seen their pay cut by between 7 percent and 20 percent in the past decade in real terms and enough is enough none of us want to take industrial action lightly we are at. a 50 at risk by undermining our passion. just months. it's. been a really really huge metal part on it you start because of everything you've gone through and then after all that to be told all of the effort all of that skill and complexity you know because they should be shown to be offered you know one percent which might still real terms is that it's very very insulting and so i'm stunned of all men you can feel so angry about it. for 13 months frontline n.h.s.

staff were described deservedly as heroes and the public applauded them in the streets but with an end to the pandemic seemingly in sight the question of how to reward that heroism hasn't yet been answered paul brennan al-jazeera london. let's take you to the u.s. and the foreign affairs committee in the house where gregory meeks is speaking at the opening remarks where we expect the secretary of state to also be speaking just listening on the guided ministrations foreign policy priorities and i want to thank you secretary blanking for joining us this early in your tenure i think all of us on the day as and who are they are very truly appreciate this opportunity for dialogue your testimony today will no doubt expand on this administration's foreign policy strategic priorities as it views of the global landscape and how those views inform its diplomacy forward approach it's also a chance for you to hear our views and concerns as part of the role that this

committee plays in supporting successful u.s. diplomacy around the world and i trust you appreciate that from a new american engagement in the world by rejoining the paris agreement the u.n. human rights council and the w.h.o. the guided ministration has made one thing clear america is once again back at the table. however we do not return to the world as we last left it but one where the united states must rebuild its credibility and demonstrate once more our capacity to promote democracy the rule of law human rights global health and prosperity it is through these efforts that american leadership is at its finest and under these principles we can once again build multilateral coalition to address our shared global challenges america must once again demonstrate its

willingness and capability to build successful coalitions that champion these fundamental values and thought those threats when at its best our nation has never shown reluctance to accept the moral obligation and exert u.s. leadership not only is that our moral obligation it is in our own economic and national shukri security interest to do so whether it's covert 19 or the climate crises the issues of the day show how interconnected we are and how interdependent we are america alone or america only has not worked revitalizing the state department is not a task for the department alone congress must resume our duties to regularly pass authorization left legislation for the state department equipping it with authorities and flexibilities it needs and saying long congressional intent and support on a number of state department priorities and that's why at the very 1st opportunity

we had in this congress to advance legislation the committee once again task a bipartisan management focused state department authorization bill but of course the operations of the department will also be a reflection of its personnel and personnel is policy. in a recent speech mr secretary we are so pleased to hear you say quote we are operating in a diverse world and our diversity is a unique source of strength that few countries can match we don't have we don't have a diverse team it's like if we don't have a diverse team it's like we're conducting diplomacy with one on tied behind our back unquote as chair of this committee made addressing the lack of diversity at the state department a central focus of our work recent data shows that african-americans constitute only 3.8 percent of senior executive service members and only 3 point one percent

are hispanic similarly our foreign our senior foreign service members only 3 percent are black. point 9 percent are hispanic and 32 percent are women too again to use your words mr secretary we are conducting diplomacy with one arm tied behind our back the g.a.o. 2023 port on barriers to diversity at the department of state that minorities and the department are warded fewer promotions in a wide counterpoints even when accounting for education and years served and this is throughout every stage of their career increasing the pipeline of minorities and women into the department alone though is not enough we must also ensure there is an end to bias and promotions if we are to retain a diverse workforce at the med and senior levels these trends may have worsened over the last 4 years but they did not begin in 2017 in many instances these

figures are either trending downward or stayed relatively unchanged for nearly 3 decades. this administration stated priority is to rebuild our depleted state department and promote diversity we have the opportunity to work collaboratively and strengthening our diplomatic workforce both civil and foreign service but the changes need to promote diversity equity and inclusion at the state department will not be measured only in suggesting it must be marked by a shift in the culture environment and attitudes at the department that are perpetuating intuitional lies discrimination disturbingly we've heard reports of some state department employees publicly exposing white nationalist racist or anti-semitic views but these views don't reflect the vast majority of the dedicated public service servants at the department but even isolated instances can have a chilling effect on that student of color who is considering

a career in diplomacy or that new colleague who comes from a different ethnic or religious background than their coworkers so mr secretary i look forward to your testimony today and i know talented colleagues on this committee are eager to engage with you and your department so that we can work collectively in close collaboration make progress on our shared objective. i now recognize my friend the ranking member of this committee representative mccaw for his remarks thank you mr chairman thank you secretary duncan for joining us today and for your early outreach to me as well i look forward to working with you over the next 4 years america's leadership in the world has never been more vital let me begin with china as a pandemic continues to rage killing millions worldwide the chinese communist party is using the fear and desperation created by the virus the virus the c.c.p.

as cover up allowed to spread to sow chaos and further their own authoritarian agenda as i've said many times before the c.c.p. poses a generational threat as we speak they are committing genocide against ethnic and religious minorities aggressively stealing u.s. intellectual property threatening taiwan ratcheting up their military aggression in the region and preying on nations with their belts and road initiative we also know the c.c.p. wants to reenter engineer the world gee promotes his marxist ideology is a better way than democracy on the same day sir that you gave your speech last week he said the biggest source of chaos in the present day world is the united states this is why and i know you don't yet know you treat him seriously we cannot treat them as a normal adversary and i wish you the best of luck in your discussions with them in alaska that was just announced we are truly in an ideological struggle fighting for

democracy against authoritarianism and promoting freedom over oppression for 40 years we turned a blind eye to the c.c.p. nature in the hopes we could bring them into the community of nations unfortunately just didn't work. and as you said your speech quote china is the only country with the economic diplomatic military and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system and i agree with you sir and i stand ready to work with you and the president to confront them let me turn to russia i've repeatedly said that mr putin is not our friend and while the sanctions in response to no volleys voicing and wrongful detention were an important step if this administration really wants to counter the putin regimes malign influence it must ensure that north stream through pipeline is never completed and i want to be clear if we allow this pipeline to be completed it would be

a tremendous victory for vladimir putin yet the mandatory sanctions passed with bipartisan bi cameral support in the last 2 national defense authorization bill zz have not been fully implemented we are deeply concerned that the administration's strong statements opposing the pipeline are not being matched by equally strong actions i hope you use the opportunity today to explain these sanctions and why they have not been fully implemented. there are open multiple open source reports that work is occurring and detailing your plan to stop the completion of this pipe point let me turn from russia to another adversarial threat iran. when a president trump the united states applied to maximum pressure campaign against iran president transcript wing sanctions gave president biden and gives biden an opportunity that we cannot afford to squander unfortunately i fear we are headed down

a path where that may not happen so i really want to strongly recommend in the strongest terms to commit that any updated deal with iran will include no sunset provisions required any time anywhere inspections by the a i.a.e.a. including military sites address iran's blissett missile program require ron to permanently cease its aggression in the region and to stop providing support to terrorists entities and finally demand iran's release of all of our hostages above all i want to encourage you to make sure that the deal has the buy in of the american people this time around and that means i believe it should be approved by the united states senate as a treaty as we speak there are reports of violence against civilians in the to gray region of ethiopia and in burma and what we face yet another border crisis criminal groups continue to transport illegal drugs into united states while socialist

dictators destabilizer own hemisphere hemisphere here we are 10 years into a civil war in syria with no clear end in sight and the taliban is killing innocent civilians and afghan security forces at unprecedented levels all this while covert continues to cause further instability in fragile nations creating opportunities for terrorist organizations and other mind and cities certainly you certainly have many challenges that we face but we face them together as a nation as as republicans and democrats and i look forward to working with you and thank you for being here today and i yield back. thank you mr mccall. and i had the honor of introducing the 71st secretary of state honorable anthony blanc and let me just say before i introduce him we have a vote on so after my introduction i'm going to ask congressman miller now

scheme to chair the meeting so i can run the vote is a very significant important vote that on the floor to benefit the american people and i want to make sure that i get my vote and but because of time i want to make sure that we take all the time that we can and that we have you available mr secretary so that as many members have the opportunity to ask you questions and that's the reason why we're not going to break and i want to make sure i gabbled and this committee even though i've read your testimony but i would have loved to hear some all of it myself but i'm going to make that vote so the other will average a blank and currently serves of the nation 71st secretary of state he served as deputy secretary of state deputy national security adviser to the president and national security advisor to the vice president during the obama administration previously he also served in government at the state department and the national

security council during the clinton administration and the democratic staff director of the other body on the other side of the alley the senate foreign relations committee is the secretary you now have time to deliver your opening remarks and without objection your prepared written statement will be made as part of the record. mr chairman ranking member called thank you so much for your warm welcome it's very very good to be back before this committee to be back in this room and i really do appreciate the opportunity to talk today about the foreign policy goals and priorities of the biden harris administration and some of the early work that we've done to try to achieve them. as i've said before i am committed to working with congress on the take off and not just the landing i hope the administration's recommitment to working with you. will usher in

a new era of trust cooperation understanding between the executive and legislative branches and i come to this because i work for a president who believes deeply in it and having had the experience of working in that lesser body down the street on the foreign relations committee it's something that i feel personally myself. the by doris administration has set out foreign policy priorities by asking a simple question and it's one that motivates us every single day what will this policy mean for american workers and american families and with that in mind we set out the following priorities stopping 19 and strengthening global health security so a crisis like this never happens again building a more stable and inclusive global economy but the labor security an opportunity for as many americans as possible renewing democracy at home and abroad because strong democracies are more stable more open more committed to human rights less

prone to conflict and a more dependable market for argo goods and services working to create a you main and effective immigration system because strong borders are fundamental to our national security and welcoming immigrants or to our national identity revitalizing our ties with allies and partners. because these relationships really are force multipliers and a unique asset for the united states that tackling the climate crisis and driving a green energy revolution because effectively dealing with climate change is essential to the health of our people our economy our security and our planet securing our leadership in technology because it's critical to thriving in the global economy and because we need to strengthen our defenses against bad actors and managing our relationship with china the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century. with those priorities in mind here are some of the actions we've taken in

the 1st 50 days of this administration uncovered 19 we reengage the world health organization and contributed an initial $2000000000.00 to kovacs the global vaccination initiative on climate we rejoin the paris agreement and announced a climate leaders' summit which will be held on earth day april 22nd on our allies and partners we held the 1st minister meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue between us japan australia and india and we will hold a leader level summit this week on friday we halted any planned troop withdrawals from germany pending a global posture review led by the pentagon and i took my 1st virtual trip as secretary to canada and to mexico and next week secretary austin and i will travel to japan and south korea on immigration we overturn the discriminatory muslim in africa travel bans we rescinded the 0 tolerance executive order on migrant family separation and we sent the u.s. citizenship back 2021 to the hill to modernize our immigration system on refugees

and asylum pollen asylum policies we rescinded harmful executive orders on refugee resettlement and announced a new refugee admissions target of 125000 people for fiscal year 2022 we suspended the asylum cooperate agreements with the governments of all salvador honduras and guatemala we reinstated deferred enforcement departure to liberians and granted temporary percent protected status to venezuelans already in the united states. human rights we joined the un human rights council as an observer we put into effect the presidential proclamation that u.s. diplomacy protect the human rights of people worldwide we release the show we report and announced that the show be banned to stop people who engaged in serious extraterritorial counter dissident activities on behalf of a foreign government from entering our country we imposed russia's sanctions on alexina vollies poisoning and detention.