a secret trial is under way in china for a canadian citizen accused of spying consular access has been denied on national security. in our return. and now we see that. process itself is not transparent. down jordan this is down to 0 live from doha also coming up thousands of people are moved to higher ground as australia's most populous state grapples with the worst flooding in half a century. they have more freedom of movement japan lives a coronavirus state of emergency ahead of the tokyo lympics but it comes in the

morning. but doubling down brazil's president takes a fresh swipe a pundit restriction. a secret trial is under way in china a former diplomat from canada whose detention has tension between the 2 countries senior canadian and u.s. diplomats turned up outside court to show solidarity with michael copps raid who's accused of espionage he was arrested in december 28th seen soon after canada detained along with executive men one job another canadian michael speight or has been held in china on similar charges his trial ended 3 days ago without a verdict well katrina you joins us live now from beijing katrina so what more do we know at this stage about covering this trial and the significance of these 2 cases. well it's been a long drawn out legal process and we're not sure whether we're going to hear

a verdict from michael cover its trial today it took 18 months after both men were arrested in december 2800 for them to even be charged with espionage and they've been detained $800.00 days of very little access to the outside world they were given access to monthly meetings with canadian officials but this was paused because of corvids and canada generally has been highly critical of how this case has been handled they say there's a lack of transparency that it's political it's arbitrary and also they're very much questioning the access that these 2 men have been given to chinese lawyers and that's important because here in china the communist party runs the courts and about 99 percent of all criminal cases are found guilty now this case of course in the case of michael spadeful is attracting a lot of international attention this morning earlier outside the beijing court we had more than 20 diplomats from different countries stand in solidarity in support of like all coverage from the u.s. u.k. australia and other european countries we've also had world leaders way including

president of the us juror biden saying that he stood in solidarity with canada in pushing for the release of both men and said that human beings should not be used as battering chips and of course canada has been strongly criticized the lack of transparency canadian officials today have not been given access to michael cauvery straw which was the same case for michael spadeful and this is because china says of national security reasons let's have a listen to a jim nichols a canadian diplomat had to say outside the court earlier today. despite. the international agreement china has signed under the vienna convention that would allow. consular officers access to hearings for their citizens we are being denied that access we've made we've requested access to michael writes hearing repeatedly repeatedly but that access denied.

as you know. michael clover he has been detained for more than 2 years now. he's been arbitrarily detained and now we see that the court process to itself is not transparent and could you know this is turned into a major diplomatic spot there between canada and china how much is this being linked to the ongoing detention of the chinese executive men one just. that's right daryn many people believe that this is a case of hostage diplomacy now among windows the daughter ren junge fayed the founder of way one of china's biggest technology companies and it produces telecommunications and internet products now at the time of her arrest mung one juror was the c.e.o. 4 of these this company and she was arrested on the 1st of december 28th just 9 days before borth michael spadeful and michael covered were arrested here in china now she was arrested in canada at the request of the u.s.

government that says that accused her of breaking sanctions on iran and she's currently in canada fighting extradition to the u.s. now beijing has repeatedly said that there is no connection between the 2 cases but because of the timing this is highly suspicious there's also many differences in the case in the way that mung winters case has been handled in canada unlike the cases of michael spann where michael covered here in china there has been a high level of transparency involved and her case in canada and also she has been granted access to some of the best lawyers in canada and also an on tons of her arrest she is allowed to have access to staying in her vancouver mansion surrounded by her family and apart from a g.p.s. tracker which us on her ankle to ensure she doesn't leave canada she's allowed to come and go as she pleases for most of the day they're allowed to katrina you live for us there in beijing but you know thank you for australia's government has ordered emergency evacuations along its east coast after the worst flooding in

decades and natural disasters been declared in some regions the torah gates and the reports. days of unrelenting rain have left parts of australia's most populous state new south wales underwater homes ruined and lives destroyed. trees coming down the property damage caused. by the rain and trees. at least 40 flood warnings are in place and tens of thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes and those move on the way this potentially is a very dangerous situation that everyone needs to understand the magnitude gravity of what could become over the coming $2440.00 i doubt the bureau is not giving us cried advice around the potential right for what is coming and that's obviously very perplexing considering all the catchments are psyched at the moment it's

a year since unprecedented bushfires burned across this region they followed a prolonged drought that led to sydney introducing water restrictions now record rainfall is causing chaos the premier of new south wales says the state is experiencing a one in 100 year disaster. i just want to say to everybody across the state who is currently living in fear and anxiety that all of us are thinking of you some communities who were battered by the bush was and now being battered by the floods and date drought prachi that and i don't know any time an ass state's history when we've had these extreme weather conditions and such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic and with weather experts predicting more rain for much of this week many people say they feel they're at breaking point victoria. while nicolas cage is in one of the hardest hit communities and has been speaking to people affected by the flooding. well this is windsor

a town just west of sydney where it's been raining for days and floodwaters continue to rise at this behind me is the main bridge through the township and as you can see it's under water there are buildings inundated and people have been told to evacuate and extraordinary scenes like this present right along the new south wales coast from port macquarie to newcastle where homes are being destroyed some being swept away down the river and many livestock being swept away as well it's of course causing distress to many people here in new south wales will speak to greg now who's in windsor what do you think about some of these scenes that we're witnessing in new south wales it's just a rendition of between the fall as the floods and ground. it just affecting everybody and tens of thousands of people have been affected by this flood water incredible have you been told to evacuate and many people in western sydney are

leaving on the day but we've got a potential regulation coming up that if they've got to cut the power in the water up there's only one bridge at the moment one road game and one right in the pits copley will know and. they. will these things are quiet terrifying in some areas they haven't same floods like this since the 1960 s. in some areas but run full is setting records here and floodwaters are rising the weather bureau has said that the worst could be yet to come so far and the military has been called in to help with some rescues many people have been rescued after being caught in flood waters and thousands of people are out of. because they can't go back home. japan has lifted a state of emergency in tokyo as pressure mounts on the government to bring the

corona. virus pandemic under control ahead of the olympics under the measure imposed in january bars and restaurants open closing at 8 pm while many other businesses have switched to remote working but with infections creeping up just 4 months out from the games experts are warning against complacency athena brought to some sense here at university in tokyo she says many in japan believe it's too soon to restrictions i think that's the narrative that we're seeing along the japanese public as well i mean this time last year the government was very slow to introduce any kind of emergency measures because it was worried about the impact on the olympics and probably that smaller number of cases in tokyo surging last spring in a way that was unnecessary and given examples of countries in europe and elsewhere so very much seems to japanese public that this is political and that's reflected in the approval ratings for a current administration i think most people think it's not the right time to hold the games although as laura brown spectators how been banned from attending the

games is still a concern that thousands of our trainers that's starting to be coming to tokyo and that could increase infection rates as people sort of move around the city but also you know is it possible to make the benyus truly socially distant so people are very concerned about this of health implications of holding the games and i think that really is putting quite a damp narrow atmosphere in tokyo. brazil's president has renewed his attacks on restrictions imposed by state and municipal governments to have both a narrow has repeatedly pushed against lock down measures in favor of the economy despite a devastating 2nd wave of infections celebrating his birthday with supporters he told them he would fight for their freedom. ok are secure would you if anyone thinks that one day i will give up our freedoms then they're mistaken some torrents have taken a white many of your freedoms you can count on our armed forces for democracy for freedom i would do anything for my people. venezuela's president has announced 2

weeks of what he's calling radical quarantine including the cancellation of easter celebrations nicolas maduro has previously announced that there'd be flexibility over the holiday period but festivities have now been called off after the detection of a corona virus strain blamed for soaring infections in brazil. yeah i'm really looking to the land we've already been coordinating with the catholic church with the communities with the priests and with the parish priests and i know it's the holy week this year will be again in radical quarantine so we're going to have 14 days 2 weeks of radical quarantine chile has received 2000000 coronavirus vaccine doses from china a day after reporting its highest daily number of infections it's the 6th shipment to the site about jobs so far chile has received $13000000.00 doses including some from pfizer biotech the doses will allow an inoculation campaign that began at the beginning of the month to continue. an emergency curfew has been extended for

a week in miami beach in the u.s. state of florida following concerns of a parting crowds during the pandemic unruly and mostly massless party goers have converged on the destination for the spring break holiday the mayor dan gilbert says students have been flocking to money beach after florida's governor called the state of freedom from code 19 restrictions. time for a short break here now just when we come back. our message is been straightforward and simple and it's true that the border is closed the white house scrambles to contain a surge in the number of unaccompanied migrant children trying to enter the united states and demonstrations at dawn protesters in myanmar try in vain to avoid more bloodshed at the hands of the military and that status. it's time for the perfect gentleman to weather sponsored plan qatar airways

now it is spring even in arabia where you might think of you sunny warm all the time which means changeable weather and it certainly is changed not so much in saudi arabia or beyond but just north of particularly jordan and i think syria and iraq you're going to have an increase in the amount of dust is being brought in because the wind is strengthening in the east inside libya and the northern part of egypt now beirut doesn't just get the dust but with that increase in wind you know it has 3 days of some sort of rain certainly the wind will be noticeable but the skies a lot to be overcast quite often and it will be wet and then it cools down and here's the bigger picture that arc of rain goes through syria and iraq joins up with what's happening in turkey which doesn't look particularly pleasant after say they're not strong on shore breeze means is never going to feel particularly good on the coast really from northern egypt right up to that southern coast of turkey breast the sand which is this brown here that sort of disperses never gets much further south temperature wise or given we're in juicy

a southerly breeze it gets pretty hot in kuwait up to about 41 and 38 in doha these are both above average southern africa is also seeing a change in temperature not everywhere but look at cape town's 26 and then the forecast to 32. sponsored. at ways that when freedom of the press is under threat demonstrators and journalists are dealing with internet outages police intimidation and charges of said dish and the state line becomes the default the media namely devote looking for images that lead to let it get to these days and just how did he create a nuisance 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 discovered the listening posts on a. welcome

back it could come out of the top stories here on al-jazeera senior diplomats from canada and the u.s. attorney outside a chinese court condemn the secret trial of a canadian citizen canada's been denied access to michael coverage was arrested 2 years ago over spying charges. waters continue to rise across parts of this trading state of new south wales and natural disasters been declared in some regions after the worst flooding in decades. and japan has lifted a state of emergency in tokyo as pressure mounts on the government to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control at a july's olympic games but with infections creeping up experts are warning against complacency. at least 4 more protesters in me and been killed by security forces

as mass demonstrations against last month's military coup and to 8th week but he seems live rounds against demonstrators in mandalay who rallied at dawn to avoid a confrontation with security forces reports now from bangkok. protesters in money and central myanmar shelter as the security services advance but there's little they can do in the face of the onslaught separate these protesters was shot in the head. in men today doctors came out to protest their express intention to avoid a confrontation with security forces as they marched and chanted for a return to democracy. but a crank down came later in the day the rider on this motorbike did get an area avoids being shot as the police moved into our open late district in east mandalay as protest to shelter behind sandbags it's clear they've prepared. to sling shots

fireworks and petrol bombs they're trying to fight back. to give themselves time to escape. but resistance is almost futile against me and miles forces some cracks have appeared however several groups of police fled across the border into india rather than open fire on their own people. we feel safe but we heard from some sources that the indian army was searching for us and wanted to send us back to me and we are not 100 percent safe here now the must live in hiding scared they could be sent home and they offer a chilling insight into the orders of those enforcing the crackdown. that the orders to arrest torture to protest so we have no choice but to leave our country outside myanmar nationals living overseas a keen to show their support more than a 1000 students and workers gathered in taiwan to commemorate those who have died

but at this stage they can do little more than watch as their homeland is to implode tony ching al jazeera. government have killed at least 22 civilians in southwestern jaron happened in the bury region which borders mali and bikini a fast 58000000000 jews were killed in the same region last week no one's claimed responsibility for the attack but an eyesore faction operates in the area. as top court has confirmed former interior minister mohammad banned soon as the winner of last month's presidential runoff as soon won 55 percent of the vote the results were fiercely contested by the opposition but violence in the capital near may claiming 2 lives assumes inauguration next month will mark the country's 1st transfer from one democratically elected leader to another. now it's not counting gets underway in the republic of congo there are concerns about just how free and fair the presidential elections are there's an internet blackout claims of

voter fraud and some opposition politicians are either in jail 0 boycotting the poll malcolm webb reports now from the capital presently. has ruled the republic of congo for most of the last 40 years he wants to stay he voted here in the capital brazzaville. our democracy which is in its 1st stages we can say our democracy is in good health. his most prominent opponent. has coded sent a message to his supporters from hospital. on battling death but i'm asking you to stand up and vote there was a low turnout in many polling stations in brazzaville in parts of the city where the opposition a popular there were more voters and complained to the regularities. voters here said a ruling party official had taken all the materials from a polling station to his property where they said he was paying people $20.00 to

vote for the ruling party. this man says giving money to people to vote for you it's not an election. dozens of armed police came they said they didn't have a warrant to enter the property and would wait to gather more evidence the president of the electoral commission visiting polling stations said everyone should have been able to vote on that. we can't imagine a person with a cat whose name was not on the electoral list but we gave instruction that all those persons must vote. in one he campaigns for democracy with a group of activists he says people are voting in fear since it was short the situation is threatening and doesn't guarantee a peaceful election i'm sure the result will be contested because the election is not credible the activists say there are many problems with the electoral register sharyn says his father is on it even though he died years ago he also found the

names of a couple of his neighbors on the list even though they're long dead young people on the other hand many of them don't even try to register others sell their vote and he says that's because they don't believe that there's any chance an election can bring any change. money played a big part in the campaigns to hear cash was thrown to people as payment for attending a rally of the ruling. r.t. . billions of dollars of oil wealth haven't helped most of its people. businesses had to close for polling day people were only allowed to move on foot in the internet has been switched off rights groups say that means the counting in tallying will happen in the dark the electoral commission says the result will be announced in about 4 days malcolm webb al-jazeera brazzaville republic of congo the body of tanzania's former president john lee has been taken to the capital the

doma services being held in several regions this week before a funeral in his hometown on friday and dar es salaam tens of thousands paid tribute to their former leader who died last wednesday by the family was a prominent cope with 900 there were few signs of social distancing of the service and supporters dismiss opposition claims he died from the virus. but. he did not die from corona virus we accept the statement made by our government officials that has died of heart disease they have to make sure they take official information and get rid of the street. about it don't think over it cannot be true because the sickness was so whatever the cause of death he was always encouraging us to protect ourselves and be careful. president joe biden says he will head to the us border soon as it struggles to manage a surge of undocumented migrants trying to cross from mexico biden has already reverse much of former president trump's hard line policies that led to children

being held in cages nearly 20000 adults more than 9000 unaccompanied children are estimated to have crossed the border last month a huge spike in january. our messages been straightforward and simple and it's true the border is closed we are expelling families we are expelling single adults and we've made a decision that we will not expel young vulnerable children. meanwhile mexico's measures to limit non-essential travel on its southern border with guatemala have come into effect high numbers of immigration agents have been deployed to turn back undocumented people especially families the last heavy border deployment was in january last year when the national guard was stationed to send away a so-called migrant count of on trying to travel to the united states well here and frisk 0 is an immigration attorney he says u.s. migrant policy will continue to divide decision makers i think there is a clash of 2 different philosophies and we're going to see over the months ahead

how it will play out there was one philosophy that the drug administration had that they were not going to let anybody coming into the united states to seek refuge which had been a departure from the past of the united states where the theory was if there was someone who was a genuine refugee you would give them a chance to see that it's in the united states versus them i didn't ministrations choice where they say look it's not a humanitarian think that turned back an unaccompanied minor outside of the united states and then the criticism of that would be well but if you don't turn people back it won't just be a one off or you're not turning people back people will know they won't get by and they'll keep coming and so this is a clash and we're going to have to see if whether the by the ministration can over the next few months build alternative sites both in mexico i'm in central america for people of up to me that they must make their claims there so that they don't make them at the border or whether they will continue to allow people through the

months ahead to make the claims at the border because if that happened they may not be able to build the capacity that they think they can build to process quickly the demand seeking to enter the united states. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin says there's systemic racism in the military in an interview with c.b.s. news austin says the racial bias exists at every level in the army the u.s. military ended segregation in its ranks 70 years ago it doesn't sherry which as you climb the ladder. you still you still get that. there are always going to be people because of what you look like that will question your qualifications i would go someplace with my staff and we were very in close somebody would come out to meet the leader general. and i wasn't the guy that they walked up to there been violent scenes in the british city of bristol during demonstrations against plans to give the police more powers to deal with nonviolent protests

a police vehicle was set on fire while some demonstrators climbed on top of violence officers were injured after protesters threw projectiles including fireworks and tried to smash the windows of the police station. scotland's 1st minister nicholas sturgeon is beginning the most turbulent week of her career she's accused of mishandling sexual assault claims against her predecessor and is threatening to undermine her leadership and possibly their ambition to take scotland to the united kingdom jonah hold reports from edinburgh a difficult week ahead for nicolas sturgeon that could see the 1st minister fighting for her own and scotland's political future it may very well be that i didn't get everything right that's for others to judge but in one of the most invidious political and personal situations i have ever faced i believe i acted properly and appropriately and over all i meet the basic judgments i cute. she awakes the outcome of 2 inquiries into her government's handling of sexual assault

allegations against alex salmond sturgeon's former boss mentor and friend. last week the leaked conclusions of a cross party parliamentary inquiry suggested she'd given an even accurate account of her meetings with sam and in 2018 to discuss the allegations. but the question upon which sturgeon's job may depend is whether she broke the ministerial code either by misleading parliament deliberately or by promising to intervene on alex salmond's behalf as he alleges she did which she denies parliament will produce its report already partially leaked on tuesday but it's the independent review by sturgeon's own advisor on the ministerial code james hamilton q.c. that will pronounce on that central question of whether she broke the code if so scotland's 1st minister will find herself under intense pressure to resign

scotland's future should be in scotland and that is what this debate is a baby the future of our country nicholas sturgeon is determined that scotland should hold another referendum on independence something prime minister boris johnson has refused the question was voted down in 2015 but breaks it has caused a rise in support for independence among remain minded scots and anticipated victory for nicolas sturgeon's scottish national party in parliamentary elections this may would strengthen her hand but a crisis of trust at the heart of the nationalist cause could tear it all down to a whole al-jazeera edinburgh now the biggest asteroid to make a close approach to earth this year is flying past the planet right now asteroid named 2001 f. 032 yes to make it to be 500 meters wide is traveling unusually fast at 124000 kilometers an hour that scientists say it's too far away to pose

a threat space agencies around the world that activated a network of telescopes to study the rocks. all that is of course on our website there it is on your screen the address al jazeera dot com. time for a quick check of the headlines here an al-jazeera senior diplomats from canada and the us of turned up outside a chinese court to condemn a secret trial of a canadian citizen canada's been denied access to michael coverage who was arrested 2 years ago spying charges but you know you have this update from beijing and canada has been hugely critical as we've just heard the way these 2 men.