a new commission to monitor. lucian across 5 states health experts and been warning for months that. would lead to an increase and pollution and the impact that would have. caused the 19. this is al jazeera. hello i'm rob matheson and this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the u.s. and china take aim at each other during high level talks in alaska with accusations of grandstanding and a cold war mentality. european countries resume use of astra zeneca has covered 19 vaccine after a vote of confidence from the e.u.

is drug watchdog. warnings of what's being called a covert 19 tornado in part for new guinea after a big rise in infections there. and tanzania swears in its 1st female leader. takes power after the death of john not go for. 14 creating an exciting match up in the champions league at home just by a meeting and drawn against power center man in the quarter finals in a repeat of last season. for. talks with the closing session in the coming hours after a fiery start on thursday sitting across the table from each other in the u.s. state of alaska the 2 sides traded barbs in a pointed display of how tense to relations remain diplomatic editor james bays reports from anchorage. this is

a meeting that will shape future relations between the world's 2 biggest powers relations that are currently at a low point good afternoon. and welcome normally opening remarks at events like these a brief and polite but the u.s. side when told to list specific concerns mentioned wrong hong kong taiwan cyber attacks on the united states you can. coersion toward our allies the chinese response was long and just as frank the foreign minister wang ye said you don't welcome guests with sanctions a reference to the black listing of 24 chinese and hong kong officials in the hours before the meeting his senior colleague politburo member yang jiechi was clearly unhappy. well i think we thought too well of the united states we thought the u.s. side would follow the necessary diplomatic protocols he went on to complain about

regime change in the middle east and the us is only human rights record and yet the challenges facing the us and human rights are deep seated they did not emerge over the past 4 years the slaughter of black people the problem existed for a long time police are the word slaughter was not translated into english for those in the room by the chinese delegations interpreter on one second please journalists were about to be ushered out when the secretary of state made it clear his delegation wanted to speak again i just made my 1st trip as i noted to planet south korea. i have to tell you what i'm hearing is very different from what you describe. i'm hearing deep satisfaction that the united states is back they were reengaged with our allies and partners i'm also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking

a confident country is able to look hard at its own shortcomings and constantly seek to improve and that is the secret sauce of america alaska is a midway point just over 6000 kilometers to beijing just under 6000 kilometers to washington d.c. this was a meeting that was supposed to build bridges what we've seen here could be a welcome clearing of the air or perhaps the beginning of a deepening of the division it all depends on the crucial talks which now continue behind closed doors james al-jazeera anchorage a lot of white house correspondent kimberly halakhah is joining us now from washington d.c. hole that is all of this playing out in the u.s. in a moment. well not very well for the u.s. president particularly when it comes to his conservative critics what there has been as kind of assessment day one and it's really allowed for the political

opposition here in the united states to criticize joe biden and his team there in anchorage saying that they believe that the team has looked weak that they have looked fact listened that centrally the chinese have been allowed to get the upper hand they of course support donald trump's position and the sort of tough talk type of diplomacy that occurred under donald trump and they feel that the approach of the by an administration is taking is the wrong one so this is sort of not played well domestically at least among the critics and the real problem for the by an administration is that it could lead to some tough questions next week when there is another set of very important meetings we know that the secretary of state will be traveling to brussels where he'll be meeting with leaders also the head of nato and this becomes problematic as there will be tough questions that will have to be answered not only about these meetings in anchorage but also some exchanges

that have occurred this week as well with russian leader vladimir putin is james was just describing this seems to be dominating these meetings but of course there are negotiations and talks that are going on on the sidelines do we have any indication about how those are progressing. we have some indication that there is a real says the united states is going to continue to press china what it sees as key issues that being the issue of human rights also lingering out there though is this tit for trash trade war that occurred under donald trump and has yet to be resolved to and so this is the backdrop the united states hoping that it can use the leverage that the chinese want which is to have many of those very punitive tariffs lifted in order to achieve some of these engel's including the treatment of chinese weekers muslims and in china as well as some of the concerns with respect to democracy rights in the clampdown on that in hong kong but again in all of this

as we continue to talk about some of these relations the really is kind of a friction point not just with some of these international leaders but also back here in the united states the u.s. team knows that not only is this being watched internationally but it's also being watched a mastic lee as well nobody thanks very much as committee holder to why does correspondent humans with the rebels have targeted an oil facility in the saudi capital riyadh an official source in saudi arabia's ministry of energy has told state media the journal time calls to pharma which was controlled with no injuries they say fuel supplies won't be affected earlier who things and on what they said was a successful operation. now further. our armed forces have conducted the operation with 6 drones the targeted in the remco facility in the saudi capital riyadh and the target has been hit with precision.

several european countries are restarting oxford astra zeneca vaccinations after suspending the jobs because of safety concerns that comes after europe's drugs watchdog said on thursday that the vaccine is safe and there is no evidence linking it to a higher risk of blood clots the agency said the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risks but it could not rule out a link to a rare clotting disorder meanwhile france will be tightening kovan $1000.00 restrictions in parts of the country from saturday people living in north central regions including paris are being asked to stay at home except for essential purposes the measures are less strict than previous lockdowns but still some fun play medical workers are not convinced it's the right strategy and one of my fellow . i was expecting you to look down but i thought it would be at a national level in terms of public health looking down region by region isn't

enough i think it's public health things are already complicated and this is going to make them even more complicated i think that they had to choose a name and name for these new measures and. they called it lockdown but that's something completely different from the 2 prison previous real letdown so i think they had to call it down but that's not the same the same thing as before. ok natasha botha's joining us live now from paris natasha i understand that the prime minister's own cars sex has had the astra zeneca vaccine why is that important. guest stags french prime minister has been immunized to receive his astra zeneca short a short while ago now caustics had said that if the european medical agency gave the green light for the extra zeneca vaccine again if you like and said that the

side effects and the blood clots were small risks but not enough to outweigh the benefits and said that he would receive an extra senate vaccine well that is what he's done he's done it a publicly owned television and the reason he's done the ads is because he needs to try and convince along with the french government and the and the president convince the french people that the astra zeneca vaccine is safe and that people should feel comfortable having it even though the government have said that they recommend this vaccine for over 50 five's now they're going to have a huge p.r. job on their hand as are many as are many other governments in european countries because the us or seneca vaccine has received so much conflicting defy data and published see over the last few months in the european union nevertheless governments are forging ahead with resuming their use of the vaccine here in france a resumption of astra zeneca shots began this afternoon germany italy also

netherlands many other european nations deciding to resume the use of this vaccine at a time when many countries are trying to stop backing what has become evident 3rd waves but as you can see behind you that the street does look fairly busy there in paris but of course france at least in parts is going into quite a significant lockdown again just talk us through what's going to be happening with that. well people are still absent about now because officially the tighter restrictions these. downs if you like are beginning in 16 regions in france including here in paris the capital from midnight to friday so people still arson about but they will still be able to be in the streets because the prime minister has said that there won't be any new rules on people going out they'll be free to go out and exercise and walk the only difference is they'll have to stay within a 10 kilometer perimeter shops they will have a closed so the streets will certainly be far less busy but things like restaurants

cinema. well they've all been shot since the anyway so i think a lot of people will really feel such an enormous difference apart from the limitation on where they can go schools also will remain open so that's a relief for of course many children students and parents now the point is to say that these new restrictions were necessary because infection rates have simply been soaring over the last few days we've seen about 38000 new cases a day in frogs and that's well nearly 10 days ago we're looking at about 20000 a day so much higher i see useful in the paris region hospitals have been having to fly patients to other hospitals in other regions or put them on trains to other places so a very serious situation indeed some medical experts saying these restrictions are simply not going to be the government should have put in place a national ice to talk about for bringing us up to date from paris natasha thank you very much all scientists behind the fines

a biotech vaccine have been awarded germany's highest civilian honor married couple dr leslie and who had it she and dr king worked for decades on immunotherapy for cancer patients over 19 was identified they quickly realized their research could be used in the fight against the virus spoke to dr psyching who c.e.o. of biotech. it was a great risk from the village beginning so we knew that we have the technology and we have to come to tends to develop a vaccine but we knew only a little about the stylus and we even did not know with a vaccine the work at all we did not know that i.v. verby in time developing vaccine but be felt that that if if someone is able to make a vaccine then then it could be us and it was very clear that we don't have time time to spend because the shot

a spec seen development before in the history of medicine was about 5. development time and when you would that 5 years were not we need a vaccine in one year it is an honor for our team it is an honor for for science for the scientific community we should not forget that it is based on the work of other scientists so if i if i put everything to get out what was important to achieve that then then i would say at least 5000 different scientists amount of earth had contributed to that by doing science in the past by solving problems by developing technologies and we benefited that and deford this is a victory of science and it shows that in such a dramatic situation where men can't really need solutions that science can bring the solutions. problem you're getting is going to close the schools restrict

movement on make mosques mandatory as part of what the government is calling aggressive interventions after corona virus infections hit record highs this week and next year braun reports. a new temporary hospital ward for papa new guinea's capital port moresby the city seen a spike in corona virus cases in recent weeks even some health workers warning of what they call a covert tornado heading towards the country's fragile medical facilities there are only 2 public hospitals in the capital one is shut down the other is said to have 70 percent of its staff work or isolating that hospital's chief executive told local media he thought they were prepared until the most recent surge what we are concerned about is just how. the emergency department in the whole hospital. had to crazy or not ward private patients in addition. to that apartment

so we're told it's just for private patients and it's very difficult so that its actions. the island nation managed to miss the worst of the pandemic last year but hundreds of new cases have been reported in recent weeks it's forced the government to take action announcing that from next week schools will close mask wearing will be enforced and demand scatterings will be banned. gatherings like this one just last friday a state funeral for former prime minister michael somare a man often called the father of papa new guinea. somehow they expect say they watched these scenes in horror describing it as a super spreader event with potential for disaster the escalating outbreak seemed kompany guinea's neighbors chippin new zealand says it will send more protective equipment to the frontline health workers while australia is pledging 8000 doses of

the astra zeneca vaccine and calling for the european union to step up as well. it's not right. for advanced countries in europe to deny the supply of vaccines to developing countries who need it desperately like we'll do our bit. as we are and and for the product so i won't be out of pocket but i will be helping a country that is in desperate need of receiving those vaccines. with only 55000 tastes conducted out of a population of almost 9000000 it's the what the true rates of infection a much higher those on the ground say a rapid response is needed before the outbreak gets out of control and brian al jazeera. for more head on the news hour including security forces in whose protesters face off a cost. as the deadline for the withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan approaches talks to work out the details become ever more

difficult. if you are upset about this problem in your part of the complaints about any quality between female and male basketball players the biggest college tournament in the u.s. that's coming up with joe the sport. in republic of congo candidates are holding their final rallies ahead of sunday's presidential election president to denise and guest so who's been in power for decades is seeking a 4th term the 77 year old president will face 6 challengers including a former finance minister and a former aide the main opposition party boycotted the election jews had doubts about safety and credibility let's go live now to markham web browser how's the campaigning going. on. this is the remains of the final run

a president. has spoken the state. finished a few minutes ago people are quickly disappearing but there's a whole lot of raking big screens big signs out here is all of it now campaigns being organized without of a french p.r. company to stage this event in states this is the word that some of the opposition of rights groups used to describe this whole election they say is not a meaningful democratic process some of the key opposition figures are in jail following the last election to them disputed the results have been sentenced to 20 years in jail the government said they were responsible for trying to organize an armed insurrection rights activists complain that government critics are arrested and detained and disappear some even tortured some are being killed so they say there isn't really any meaningful freedom of speech is also normal in these rallies for people to be paid to. people given. congo's billions of dollars of oil wealth

haven't benefited many millions of its people who are stuck in poverty and so the handouts or t. shirts good reason to turn up to a political rally but it's only really the ruling party that has anything like adequate resources to do that on a significant scale to the other key opposition candidates have held rallies here in the capital crowds of ilm just this afternoon but no one expects it to be any other outcome other than president any subsequent grasso being announced the weight of the votes on sunday welcome thanks very much indeed that's markham where bringing us up to date from feel. tanzania has its 1st female president some here who haasan has been sworn in and during a ceremony in the city of daraa salaam and comes 2 days after she announced the death of president john the mughal fully at the age of 61 cotton so he has more

from the kenyan capital nairobi. just given how fast maiden speech and it was a very emotional tribute to her predecessor john paul mcgeough we are she also said that he's going to be buried on the 25th that's next thursday and i mean are these peek into the people in tanzania just trying to get a sense of what she is about and what they're telling me many of them is that she her leadership style is very different from that of the late president michael fullilove they say that she listens to counsel more she's not one to make unilateral decisions she did not talk about coronavirus understandably so it was all about the late president and burial arrangements for him but a lot of people are looking to see if she's going to change strategy on president felipe had come under a lot of korea faced a lot of criticism for how he handled the disease he never put the country on lockdown he never encouraged people to wear masks or you know family ties and

implemented other. coronavirus measures until very recently when he told people that they can start wearing locally manufactured masks so it's going to be interesting to see how madame flew who is going to handle this perhaps people are telling me that she's going to stop slow tell people to wear masks tell people to social distances and so on but then the more controversial things is whether she's going to allow a rollout of this vaccination program so people are waiting to see how she's going to deal with this disease and how she's going to if she's going to change strategy and change the policy that had been adopted by president mark foley alleged rape protesters have been killed in miramar beach in the latest rallies against the military coup. crowds faced off against security forces

in several cities the military and police have used increasingly violent tactics to suppress the protest movement a local rights group says more than 220 people have been killed since the coup in february scotland has more from bangkok and neighboring thailand. we saw a bit of a standoff with protesters and police and security forces what had happened is we've been seeing a lot more around the country particular where there are bigger cities the protesters are building these barricades and that's where they kind of usually have a face off with the security forces tear gas is fired and then it escalates usually to live rounds and that's what we saw in this central command mar city of on what happened is that it seems as though while the police were trying to take down the barricades the protesters approached and then that's when this violence took place and at least 8 people there were killed there were some smaller protests again around as well we know at least in one case in the northwest one person was killed

when there's a confrontation with security forces as well indonesian president has called for a high level meeting of the os the on this is the block in southeast asia 10 nations to discuss what's been going on in myanmar and when you look at it it's very interesting they've kind of indonesia has taken a leadership role if you will in the region in trying to get reach some kind of political political solution to what's going on in myanmar but it's a very tall order to tall task because normally see on don't really interfere with each other's internal matters as they say but indonesia is trying to break that tradition one thing needs to be said the nations that neighbor and have a lot of relations close relationship closer than internees or they find it it's going to be a little bit more difficult to have these kind of discussions particularly nations like thailand was a lot of trade and a long border with me and more so that's me interesting to see how those discussions if those high level discussions actually take place. a journalist for the b.b.c. is burn means language service is feared missing in an online statement the

broadcaster says reporter on top was taken away by unidentified men in men was capital that more than 30 journalists have been arrested since the military coup in early february the afghan government and the taliban have reportedly agreed to speed up peace talks russia has been hosting talks in moscow but you've been taking place less than 2 months before the deadline for american troops to pull out of afghanistan the u.s. china and pakistan have urged the warring sides to reach an immediate ceasefire stratford reports the moscow meeting between members of the afghan government taliban representatives and observers from various countries including the united states and china is one of 3 international conferences on afghanistan to be held before the 1st of may but the deadline by which all remaining u.s. and nato forces must leave the country the agreement was made last year between

donald trump's administration and the taliban but it's reported new u.s. president joe biden has other ideas and may propose an interim power sharing government in kabul which would buy time for more comprehensive peace talks this would possibly allow the u.s. to keep an estimated $3500.00 troops in afghanistan beyond the may the 1st deadline but a turnaround spokesman at the mosco conference wound what would happen if u.s. troops are not out of afghanistan by then they should go because if they do not go. that means they continue after that it will be a. while ation of the agreement that would not be from our site but it would be. around 1000 u.s. troops have withdrawn from afghanistan over the past year pentagon leaders reportedly oppose

a full withdrawal saying thousands need to remain in order to support afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations washington in kabul wants an immediate cease fire but the taliban says it will negotiate that only as part of peace talks with the afghan government rushes efforts to mediate comes after year long negotiations in concert between the afghan government and the taliban stalled it is a well distorted we call on the united states and the taliban to continue to abide by the provisions of the peace agreement supported by the un security council. attacks by the taliban have increased in recent weeks rights groups say there has been a marked rise in the number of targeted killings of government officials civil society leaders and journalists especially women the taliban launched a wave of attacks in december in the north and south of the country nato says there were more than $2500.00 civilian casualties in this 3 months from total to december

last year more than $800.00 people were killed. joint statement after the moscow meeting said all parties involved pledged to accelerate peace talks. is that the fighting against foreign troops ok now let's talk let's say keep peace work to get there live to get that in peace maintaining different views but at the same time make a commitment that we don't resort to violence we do in big moves now that the 2 of us in pursuit about political agenda if the recent surge in violence is anything to go by and we no concrete agreement to the negotiating table on how to stop it we are still a long way away from that. al-jazeera. still ahead on al-jazeera china puts one of 2 canadians accused of stealing state secrets on trial in a case seen as retaliate. by u.s. judge refuses delays and changes of location requests in the trial of

a police officer accused of killing george floyd unsporting james harden shines again over the brooklyn nets the best of the n.b.a. action coming up. but. there was hot hot hot in the gulf states on thursday so much so we broke a record in qatar 41.5 degrees 40 was the old record it was very windy and dusty back to go on friday $33.00 degrees and stay that way as the shamar comes in and in fact beyond that there's nothing extraordinary to look at it should be in the low to middle thirty's the most part and it is the sun should be out and it is and there are showers or outbreaks of rain still from the late wintry stuff catching northern to the higher ground of parts around more especially afghanistan nothing

will change dramatically in the next couple days except probably for the fall northern parts of turkey particularly actually istanbul which we have a pretty cold into the weekend with snow not far away but only rain in the city the still some active weather further south along way south actually in south africa with this southerly breeze coming against what still late summer sun so you get some pretty big thunderstorms potentially port elizabeth on the coast doesn't get sunday i would think just rain for the next couple of days when optically strong always the wrong direction but inland it further in south africa is a line of showers building quite big ones which will keep drifting slowly eastwards . but. banks love to make loans to sufferance because behind the sovereign a millions of taxpayers because us taxpayers never go away there's a new one born every single day a 19 it is an urgent national necessity and they put it we officially request the

accusation of the support mechanism we created together because i happen to live in greece somehow i'm a sinner i'm a bad person. that's machine on al-jazeera. examining the impact of today's headlines it didn't matter you're rich or poor what your religion is you are battling this and damning you're staring at it in the face and you're dealing with it setting the agenda for tomorrow's discussions was it a coup of folding on capitol hill international filmmakers the world class journalists bring programs to inform and inspire you each and in one of us in the responsibility to change out there is this place for the middle on al-jazeera war or the in the order. to.

i want to remind of our top stories this hour the 1st u.s. china talks under the by the administration get off to a confrontational stance american officials accuse china of threatening the international order beijing want washington to stay out of its internal affairs. several european countries are resuming oxford astra zeneca vaccinations after suspending the jobs because of safety concerns that comes out to europe's drugs watchdog said on thursday that the vaccine is safe. tanzania has sworn in its 1st female president. succeeds john magaw fully who died at the age of 61 tanzanians and looking to see a take stronger action to stop the spread of corona virus. ok let's get more on the

top story of those difficult talks in alaska between top u.s. and chinese foreign policy officials from beijing catherine e.u. has more on china's reaction. china's foreign ministry spoke this afternoon laying the blame for this tense atmosphere solely at the foot of washington china's foreign ministry spokesperson john lee jen said china was invited and then promptly the u.s. open the meeting by starting with what he described as unfounded attacks on the chinese side he said it was impolite and the chinese officials had no choice but to fire back he also acknowledged the atmosphere in the room and said that it was dramatic and that there was a court smell of gunpowder in the air is what he said now i think the key thing to remember is one of the whole months of chinese president xi jinping has leadership here is really trying to come from a position of strength he has made this promise to the chinese people since he's been in power that china will no longer be looked down on by the west and i think

this was a very much the point of strength that chinese officials wanted to convey during the opening statement that they made during this alaska encounter just as us were playing to their own audience china was playing to their is the 1400000000 population who are becoming increasingly nationalistic and it seems to have worked over the last few hours you've been monitoring chinese social media and they have been a lot of nuance of approval and applauds for the chinese officials comments saying that they made their point known and they came across as strong but as john legend chinese foreign minister. china's foreign ministry spokesperson said this afternoon that opening meeting was the appetizer and we're still waiting on the main course so we're going to be watching closely to see if any progress can be made. china's 1st trial of 2 canadians charged with espionage has ended with no verdict businessman michael specter appeared in court and the southeastern city of dun dong

on friday night in diplomats were denied access to the proceedings space and former diplomat michael covert but arrested 2 years ago it was a move widely seen as a tally asian for canada's detention of hallway the executive man ones who upon the request of the united states were unable to have access to to the courtroom we were also on the able to have access to michael schiavo himself before the trial . but nevertheless so the trial is now concluded. there has been no there's been no pronouncement of a verdict. so that leaves it to unclear what has transpired in the courtroom. and we're remain frustrated about that but then nonetheless we will continue to work diligently for the immediate release of michael's fiver and michael cole whose hearing will be on monday. further he is co-director of the center for human rights

and mcgill university joining us live on skype from montreal thank you very much indeed for being with us what do you make of the fact that the trial appears to have ended with no verdict and it's very difficult to know it at this stage but it does sound as if the authorities are maybe getting their time and making this this is all the see a very tense moment in chinese u.s. senate and canadian chinese relations and you know it's clear to a lot of observers that this the detention of the 2 michaels is being very specifically linked to the way they made one suitcase and this is i think the proof that none of this is a coincidence. given the past behavior of china which tends to move incrementally planning it comes to issues like this do you think that there's

a suggestion that what they are doing is edging forward in the process and allowing the u.s. and canada to respond at each stage and then on the basis of whatever response they get they then decide whether or not to take an extra step and that's why perhaps we're not seeing a verdict on this one i think that's that that's a fair portrayal there is very much said ellen the manipulation of the judicial system. for diplomatic purposes and all the see this is a bargaining chip. the so long as these decisions cannot be reversed it would be embarrassing for the chinese government if there is a judicial decision to then try to come up with a diplomatic resolution that would involve freeing but michael so i think where you know maybe on the cusp of something. of the sea in the bank around one suspects that may be some search for a diplomatic compromise but it's going to be very difficult if there is going to be

a solution to this what do you think it's china is going to be looking for that to come is it going to be from canada or is it going to be from the us. it's hard to say i mean from the start i think the best gamble would have been to at least let the ones who case follow its course and trust canadian courts to come up with the right decision and i think there are strong arguments on the defense side of. this extradition and requests should not be honored and we'll see where that goes but if you make the decision from the start of this is a political case and the courts are irrelevant then you know that it's really down to diplomatic imagination but let's say the parties to this dispute that have now cornered themselves into a situation where it's very difficult to back down and it's very difficult to not make it appear as if all along your system your judicial system was taking

instructions and being instrumental lives so we'll see if there had been discussion early on of maybe once you admitting to her responsibility her guilt and in exchange for us dropping the request for extradition but bad seeds of all no way for during that time we appreciate your time sir i'm sure expressions on this thank you very much indeed thank you. u.s. president joe biden is expected to meet asian american community leaders in georgia on friday after a shooting spree killed 8 people 6 of the victims were women of asian descent stoking fears choose these murders were racially motivated attacks targeting asian americans have been on the rise rob ronald's reports from los angeles. the american flags at the white house were lowered in mourning for the 8 women killed in georgia on tuesday 6 of whom were of asian heritage around the country asian american

communities are reacting with shock and anger to the rising number of hate incidents i feel scared at all times that you know. sometimes i have to log on the street at night and then yeah it's scaring me and i hate the fact that now my wife my daughter my mom my knees they all have to sort of watch their back just because of the way they asian american studies professor key park says race and gender stereotypes they have d. human eyes the victims in the killer's mind they are seen as reality past events that missive or hyper sexualized will be 5 or exactly sa used or you don chipp or even the update. some are fighting back in san

francisco an elderly chinese speaking woman was punched in the face then beat her alleged assailant into submission with a piece of wood sending him to the hospital. at a congressional hearing lawmakers of asian descent spoke out this hearing was the one dressed over and made of our community center find solutions and we were not like you take our boys away from us barely 3800. crimes in just a year old mom it was step by the word. the former president donald trump has stopped to shift the blame and anger over a. response to the. he used racial slurs. georgia law enforcement officials say they are still investigating the suspects motives but indicated he was acting out of sexual guilt feelings rather than racism and yes there was a really bad day for him and this is what he did many asian americans reject that

explanation that upsets us in our community is the fact that sheriff's department who basically sort of. was on the side of the perpetrator and the criminal that actually killed 8 people 6 of them being eason woman 2 dismissed that as a sort of like he was having a bad day president joe biden will travel to atlanta on friday to pay his respects and meet with community leaders and elected officials robert oulds al jazeera los angeles a judge in the u.s. city of minneapolis has rejected an attempt to postpone the murder trial of the police officer involved in the death of george floyd last week the u.s. city of minneapolis agreed to pay $27000000.00 to floyd's family the defense team argued that the highly publicized settlement offer jeopardized decades children's chance of a fair trial video shot on kneeling on george floyd's neck sparked global protests

last year his name became a rallying cry for the black lives matter movement in the u.s. when john hendren is joining us live from chicago john the venue is not going to change and there isn't going to be a delay what kind of impact is this going to have on the case. that's right it's been a big day of decisions in that trial the judge decided not to change the venue and the reason for that he said is that everybody in the state of minnesota already knows about the george floyd case so there's no point in moving it and the changed . of the delay would have been related to that so that's got a real serious impact for the jurors in this case because you've got a more diverse pool in the minneapolis area and in fact now that they've already picked 12 jurors and one alternate and they going to have 2 alternates ultimately so that process could wrap up by the end of the day 6 of the jurors who have been picked are white 6 are either black or mixed race and that is really more

reflective of the community in which george floyd was arrested detained and ultimately died now had it been moved down to a suburban area it would have likely been a much more white jury because the state of minnesota is a largely white state and that's pretty much what happened 30 years ago in the case of rodney king the man beaten by police and that beating set off riots across the country because all of those officers were acquitted and none of the jurors were black there was one hispanic one mixed race and one asian juror the rest were all white in that case and people felt that that was unfair in large cities across the u.s. in those cities in some cases such as los angeles went up in flames so this means we've got a mixture in this case the prosecution probably likes that the defense for derrick show been the fired police officer accused of killing george fly probably doesn't

like that it means we've got a judge who wants this case to go forward he doesn't want any delays and he wants to keep it on schedule as he told one juror can you take 4 weeks off work because we're going to keep this to schedule john as you were talking about the there has been so much publicity about this case what's likely to be the main argument from shawn's defense team. well the prosecution is going to argue that derek show of and by kneeling on george floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds directly led to the death of george floyd what we're going to hear that offense talk about is they're going to say that it was a combination of george floyd's heart problems his ingestion of drugs at this scene and other factors that combined to kill him therefore in their argument they will be saying that george that derek sheldon did not directly contribute to the death they're essentially going to blame the victim that's what the case is going to be

largely about we suspect there is talk going on right now as we speak about whether they're going to allow testimony about george floyd's claustrophobia and whether he was actually even resisting arrest in the 1st place or whether he was an able to control himself at the time in other words he was in a a full anik at that time there also the judge also ruled that he's going to allow some testimony about a prior arrest from 2019 but only as it relates to the medical condition of george which is what really is at issue in this trial he's not going to allow other testimony about things such as the fact that in both cases george floyd cried out for his mother this judge wants to keep it straight to the facts and he wants to keep this case on schedule john thanks very much indeed does john hendren bring us up to date from chicago the government of mexico have killed at least 13 policemen in what's been described as the worst attack on officers since 2019 it happened in

central mexico on thursday the region security minister says the convoy was ambushed by a gang while out patrolling the no hopital has the details from mexico city. federal police say an investigation is currently underway to locate and capture armed gunmen responsible for the deaths of at least 13 law enforcement officers in the state of mexico the state that directly neighbors mexico city now authorities say that on thursday afternoon police in a convoy were ambushed by armed gunmen while police were trying to carry out an operation against armed groups in the municipality of what their big ideas now mexico's national guard has been deployed to participate in a multi agency investigation though at the moment details are still limited as to exactly how many suspects authorities are searching for now this latest attack against law enforcement officials highlights the many dangers and risks that law enforcement officers and security force in mexico take to try to curb violence in the country which has worsened under the code 900 and now nationwide at least 524

police officers were killed in 2020 that number unfortunately stands at 86 police officers that have been killed so far this year with the state of mexico continuing to be considered one of the most violent in the country. turkish police have detained several members of the h.t.t.p. opposition party and an increasing crackdown on procurators politicians officers detained 10 people including 3 h.t.t.p. members accused of having links to kurdish fighters and it comes as a case is being heard to ban the party senior politicians including the president's office say it's a front they had long kurdish p k k group which ankara considers a terrorist organization. north korea has cut ties with malaysia for what it calls a hostile act and subservience to u.s. pressure that's in response to a court ruling extraditing a north korean citizen to the u.s. on money laundering charges john young says it's politically motivated and warns

the united states will pay a price dies between north korea and malaysia have been strained since 2017 when kim jong un's half brother was killed at kuala lumpur's airport robin wright has this update from seoul. north korea of course is suspected of using all sorts of illegal activities overseas in overseas countries to get access to funds or to goods that it's not meant to have as a way of getting around international sanctions it has reacted very angrily to this particular case branding this as an unpardonable crime by malaysia saying that all of these charges are completely trumped up that it is a pure fabrication it's going further though by saying that behind this is the united states that this is a part of some sort of u.s. inspired conspiracy saying that the u.s. itself will pay a price now of course u.s. north korean relations are very much in the news at the moment coming straight after a very high level u.s.

mission to northeast asia as the new bided administration formulate its policy on how to deal with north korea as far as malaysia itself is concerned traditionally it has actually enjoyed relatively good relations with north korea one of few countries that has been fairly easy for north koreans to go to malaysia or do business that of course changed and relations were downgraded in 2017 with the notorious poisoning and killing of the north korean leader's half brother kim jong nam at kuala lumpur airport when he was smeared with a nerve agent apparently a plot inspired and carried out by north korean operatives relations improved somewhat since then but now with this latest round there is according to north korea a complete breakdown in diplomatic relations and still ahead on al-jazeera one golfer goes to extra lengths to stay dry at a tournament in florida that's coming up with a job in sports.

it's time for the sport and here's joe rob thank you very much how does by and munich have been drawn against paris such a man in the champions league quarter finals it's a repeat of last year's final which by 111 p.s.g. have a new coach now in what it's the approach to tino but he couldn't have a much tougher task the facing brian who won 6 charge fees last season will keep going killing people it's true that we're now facing the strongest saïd by another most recent european champions but we have to approach it with other some ism and hope that we can compete we beat barcelona so why would it not be

a realistic ambition to beat on munich. the winner of that tie will go on to face either manchester city or brasil dormand in the semifinals 13 time when israel madrid take on 6 time champions liverpool former p.s.g. coach thomas 2 who is now at chelsea and they face porto we also know the draw for the europa league quarters this was paul pogba sending manchester united through on wednesday evening with a 21 aggregate win over ac milan and now they'll be up against spanish side granada in the last 8 the winner of that will meet the winner of i acts against romer in the semi's arsenal taken slavia prague and its villareal against a group. the united have announced a new shirt sponsor starting next season the german tech brand team viewer is replacing car giants chevrolet it will earn the club around $60000000.00 a year which is 20 percent less than the previous deal but reflects the challenge

of generating revenue jaring the pandemic flu and white logo will be modified to just whites on the shirts because of united's rivalry with their blue neighbors manchester city the president of the tokyo olympic organizing committee says the decision on whether to allow overseas fans needs to be made soon we're expecting that decision to made at a big meeting on saturday involving the organizers japanese government and international and big committee there have been several reports that it's already been agreed that forum supporters would not be allowed in when the game starts in july. that's a great i know we need to come to a conclusion quickly there are people who want to know so they can plan accordingly the i.o.c. makes all the final decisions but on the matter of foreigners entering japan then it's up to the japanese government well one of the stars heading to tokyo is meghan rypien the usa women's football team co-captain will look to reclaim the gold medal her team lost in rio rypien 0 has become a social justice campaign on everything from the pandemic to politics when asked

about next year's winter olympics in beijing rypien 0 is against a boycott of the games and says athletes should instead protest to challenge china on human rights you know it's always a balance of you know boycotting uses versus using the event as an opportunity to continue our protests and some sort of way obviously we have human rights abuses happening all over the world i don't think it's specific to china it's always that that sort of. balance of using the platform and can use a platform can tend to push you know not only countries but organizing bodies and governing bodies to continue to be you know much more progressive while rypien are also campaigns for gender equality so i should probably have an opinion about this next story u.s. college basketball teams are competing in texas right now but organizes the n.c.

double a have been forced to improve facilities for the women's teams after several complaints . i got some to show you so for the in c.w. march madness the biggest tournaments in college basketball for women this is our weight room let me show you all the menswear room. now with pictures of our weight room got released versus the men's incidentally came out with a statement saying that it wasn't money it was space that was a problem let me show you something else here's our practice score right and then here's that weight room and then here's all this extra space if you are upset about this problem and you're part of it the n.b.a. now in james harden has racked up yet another triple double he led the brooklyn nets to victory over the indiana pacers ending the night with 40 points 15 assists and 10 rebounds that is harden's 11th triple double of the season one short of a franchise record despite playing only 27 games of them since joining in mid

january. le bron james in the los angeles lakers of going strong he scored 37 points to lead them to a full straight victory this time of the shallow hornets it puts the defending champions back up to 2nd place in the western conference behind the utah jazz a straining go for matt jones leads golf's honda classic in florida after tying the course record on thursday jones shot a bogey free 9 on the past 60 want to page a national in the opening round of the tournament gives him a 3 shot lead of russell henley and aaron weiss the course also has plenty of water resulting in some wet encounters for players sebastian capellan decided his ball could be placed but 1st he removed one chute and his shirt to make sure it stayed clean and dry the bare chested dane chipped out but missed the following part this is probably the last time we'll see him too as he's in danger of missing the cuts. all right that is now with gemini to rob thank you very much indeed such

video bateson for this news are going to be back in a moment with more of the day's news stay with nearby. on counting the coles myer draggy save the euro but can he turn around italy's struggling economy plus can the oil rich libya's unified government unite the war told peace don west including the countries to central banks and chile rethinks china's investment counting the cost on al-jazeera when freedom of the press is

under threat demonstrators and journalists are dealing with internet outages police intimidation and charges of said dishes on the state line becomes the default the media in any way develop new kinds of images that each day that it gives to these guys that just how did he create and use it's makes it hard for people to know what's real and what's not step outside the mainstream to shift the focus covering the way the news this coverage the listening posts on a. teaching you can watch al-jazeera english streaming tonight i'm not teaching channel. plus thousands of up programs award winning documentary and dead reports. subscribed to you chief pulitzer al-jazeera english.

al jazeera. that. the u.s. and china take aim at each other during high level talks in alaska with accusations of grandstanding and a cold war mentality. tell me about this and this is all just even live from doha also coming up giving oxford astra zeneca another shot european countries resume cover 1000 vaccinations after the job was suspended because of safety concerns. tanzania swears in its 1st female

lead to send me a salute and takes power after the death of john michael fully. i feel scared.