al-jazeera. and. trial behind closed doors in china for a 2nd canadian citizen accused of espionage. in jordan this is out as they are live from doha also coming up thousands of people are moved to higher ground as a strain is most populous state grapples with the worst flooding in half a century. it's just a rendition. in the flood threat. is everybody have more freedom

of movement japan lives a coronavirus state of emergency ahead of the tokyo olympics but it comes with a warning. the container shortage that sending the global shipping industry into troubled waters. a secret trial is underway in china of a former diplomat from canada whose detention has stoked tension between the 2 countries senior canadian and u.s. diplomats turned up outside court to show solidarity with michael covering who's accused of spying was arrested in december 2800 soon after canada detained a while executive one joe another canadian michael spade who has been held in china on similar charges his trial ended 3 days ago without a verdict joins us live now from beijing katrina so what more do we know at this stage about covering this trial on the significance of these 2 cases.

well it's been a long drawn out legal persons from birth michael covered and michael stable it took 18 months for the tour to be formally charged after they were arrested in december $2800.00 now they've been charged with espionage and providing intelligence to outside sources. canada has been highly critical of this case if that it's arbitrary and political and they said for the 8800 days that they've been detained they've been given very little access to the outside world apart from being able to write letters to loved ones they were getting monthly consular visits from canadian officials but that was paul's jussi carven 19 and canada has been raising questions about the access that you have been given to chinese lawyers and that's crucial because here in china the communist party controls the courts and 99 percent of criminal cases are found guilty now this case of obviously also attracted a lot of international attention. this morning earlier outside the beijing court

there were more than 20 diplomats from different countries including the u.s. u.k. and australia as well as other european countries standing in solidarity with michael coverage international business community is also watching this closely and sent tools down the spine of many who do business here in china these 2 a well known among the ecstatic community and world leaders have also weighed in including u.s. president during biden who has said that human beings should not be used as bargaining chips now canadian officials have been trying to get access to the trial of michael covered today and they said they haven't been allowed to enter china has said that this is because of national security reasons let's have a listen to what jim nicol a canadian diplomat had to say outside the court earlier today. despite. the international agreement that 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 i hearing repeatedly repeatedly but that access tonight. as you know. michael covert 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 on katrina this is turned into a major diplomatic spat hasn't it between canada and china how much is this being linked to the ongoing detention of the chinese executive mung when joe. that's right many around the world believe that this is a case of hostage diplomacy now long one joe was is the daughter of rendon fay the founder of huawei this huge chinese technology company and she was arrested on the 1st of december 28th just 9 days before both michael coverage and michael spade all

were detained here in china now at the time she was a c.f.o. or of the company and she was arrested in the in canada at the request of the u.s. which has accused her of breaking sanctions on iran now she's currently in canada fighting extradition to the u.s. and china has repeatedly denied that these cases are not linked but because of the timing this is highly suspicious as important to note that the conditions under which one wonder is detained a vastly different to that of michael covered and michael stable she's under house arrest in vancouver allowed to stay in her mansion surrounded by family and there is a high level of transparency involved in her court and legal proceedings there and apart from a g.p.s. tracker she has to wear her ankle to ensure she doesn't leave the country she is allowed quite free access and allowed to leave her house for most of her day the day there in canada all right to continue your life was there in beijing katrina thank you australians government as ordered emergency evacuations along its east

coast after the worst flooding in decades and natural disaster has now been declared in some regions the jordanian 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 i doubt is the bureau is not giving us great advice around the potential right for what is coming in and that's obviously very perplexing considering that 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 in assets history when we've had these extreme weather conditions in 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 gate and. gage's and one of the hardest hit community is the 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 and it's just a rendition of between the for and the floods and greg. it's just affecting everybody and tens of thousands of people have been affected by these floods incredible have you been told to evacuate and many people in western sydney are

leaving all right but we've got a potential regulation coming up 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 nothing

a state of emergency in tokyo as pressure mounts to bring the crown of i. pandemic under control we had to bear lympics on the measures imposed in january basel restaurants have been closing at 8 o'clock at night on many other businesses and switch to remote working but with infections creeping up just 4 months out from the games experts are warning against complacency but tina barrett is from sophia university in tokyo she says many people believe it's too soon to ease 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 the examples of countries in europe and elsewhere that 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 have been banned from attending the

games it's still a concern that thousands of our trainers that stuff are going 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 venue is 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 neuron atmosphere in tokyo. now the pandemic combined with a shortage of shipping containers is causing a global transport crisis china's increasing production of containers to meet demand but a sarah clarke reports from hong kong of the delays are expected for some time yet . it's one of the busiest and most efficient international container ports in the world connecting to more than $600.00 destinations worldwide last year hong kong handled around $18000000.00 containers but over recent months port activity has slowed but the shipping industry facing

a shortage of containers in asia and that's triggered a surge in costs it's gone up considerably i mean it's almost got fired for trying to say maybe a container from asia to europe or to the states so people are going to have to get used to paying them the shortage of containers is not only triggered a rise in prices but also caused a heavy backlog in asia with some exporters struggling to get products to customers china is ramping up contain a production to meet the demand but it can see a shift from services to goods during the pandemic continues to drive up production and exports from asia so the shortage is in asia because the problem is we are expat exporting more for it is in asia the pandemic has also impacted stopping numbers at ports and it's compounding the problem limited availability of truck drivers and dock workers means it's taking longer to unload and pack the ships

that's creating floating traffic jams at ports around the world this means the containers are being staying outside for longer periods of time. we're finding that there's empty containers in l. stranded all over north america and europe australia in the middle of nowhere just waiting to be returned but there's not a truck or a chance to take it back to contain a shortage and the pandemic has caused major disruption to try it analysts say crisis shows no sign of easing just yes to global supply check prices szell we think is going to last through to the 4th quarter possibly through to the end of this year in some degree or another think it's going to improve for sure but i think is going to be a fact of life for most a 2021 if that's the case the shipping industry will continue to pay premium rates with consumers bearing the brunt of the higher costs sarah clarke al-jazeera hong kong. lots more sort of coming out as here including there are always going to be

people because of what you look like that will question your qualifications racial bias in the ranks of washington's defense secretary shares his personal experience in the u.s. military. and last but doubling down brazil's president takes another swipe at fundamental structural flaw in that state. 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 without 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 cold. 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 to say they're not strong 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 brian 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 up to 32.

banks love to make plans to some friends because behind suffering a millions of taxpayers because the taxpayers never go away is a new one born every single day a 19 it is an urgent national necessity that we as 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 the debts machine on al-jazeera. welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here this hour senior diplomats in canada and the u.s. have turned up outside a chinese court to condemn the secret trial of

a canadian citizen can it has been denied access to michael coverage who was arrested 2 years ago on espionage charges. waters continue to rise across australia's most populous state and natural disasters been declared in parts of new south wales after the worst flooding in decades. and japan has looked at a state of emergency in tokyo was pressure mounts to bring the coronavirus on demick under control ahead of july's olympic games but infections creeping up experts are warning against complacency. but only intensive care beds in paraguay are full after a steep rise in covert $900.00 sections thora days are scrambling to find more room on the military has offered to help out the reports. those on the medical front line in paraguayan have been warning for some time that the health system was buckling under the strain only 200000 people infected with the covert 19 virus and 3700 dead because of their muscle. and health system is currently

saturated on the verge of collapse we are fighting to safeguard the integrity and the life of our compatriots. 655 i.c.u. beds serving a country of 7000000 and now 4 so too are many other beds and the country's military has offered its facilities also supplies are running low then maybe you want me to be in there we've got supplies but not enough to treat the number of patients we are receiving right now we've got more than 120 and more are coming it's very intense. demonstrators earlier this month protested across paraguayan accusing the north or witches of corruption and mismanagement in the handling of the pandemic. these vaccines arrived as part of the code back scheme to supply poorer countries but critics say it's not enough. there's a similar picture across latin america this 3rd batch of the sin of backpack seen

sent by china to colombia came with this message from the chinese president being told she was she was feeling he said the vast pacific ocean can stand in the way of the profound friendship between the peoples of china and colombia and that in the face of the copied 19 outbreak the 2 countries have been working in solidarity and see pandemic cooperation. but most ordinary people are still waiting peru has passed the grim milestone of 50000 dead my. and there are no respirators there is no i.c.u. bed says nothing so we have to wait for the patient to die and doctors tell us this from the inside of the hospital when we are out here. meanwhile in brazil hospitals are also reaching capacity nearly 12000000 people infected 293000 dead residents are being urged to stay indoors to stay away from crowds with even the famous beaches of rio de janeiro closed to visitors. or one

osiris. brazil's president has renewed his attacks on pandemic restrictions imposed by state and municipal governments jabil tomorrow has repeatedly pushed against a lockdown measures in favor of the economy despite a devastating 2nd wave of infections celebrating his birthday with supporters he told them he'll fight for their freedom. if anyone thinks that one day he will give up our freedoms in their mistaken some torrents have taken away 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 doesn't announce 2 weeks of what he's calling radical quarantining looting the cancellation of easter celebrations nicolas maduro previously promised flexibility during 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 but when you go

to the land the only question that we've already been coordinating with the catholic church with the communities with the priests 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. an emergency curfew has been extended for a week in miami beach in the u.s. state of florida following concerns of the partying crowds during the pandemic unruly and mostly massless party goers have converged on the destination for the spring break holiday the mayor dan gelber says students have been flocking to miami beach after florida's governor called the state and away since a freedom from covered 1000 restrictions. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin says there's systemic racism in the military in an interview with c.b.s. austin says the bias exists at every level in the army the u.s. military ended segregation and its ranks almost 70 years ago it doesn't change 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 civilian clothes somebody would come out to meet the general and i wasn't the guy that they walked up to well tim wise is the author of dispatches from the race war he says austin has to root out white supremacy in the military. we have a lot of denial in this country on the part of white americans in particular and white lawmakers especially when it comes to dealing with or even calling systemic racism by names the fact that we have someone in his decision willing to use that language is obviously very very important but in order to make that real and to do something about that they're going to have to follow through with a promise to literally purge every single service member years even a little bit to an ideology of white nationalists and we have multiple reports now from internal and external studies and surveys that

a disturbing number of persons in uniform as with law enforcement the message here is a white nationalist ideology and if the united states is going to be its claims that the emoji cultural flora with the them ocracy no one who believes in white nationalism and white supremacy should be allowed to wear the uniform should be allowed to carry a gun and a badge in the form of a lot of force meant they must be run out her discharge from the military and those who want to join must demonstrate that they reject entire the ideology of racial nationalism that supremacy if they want to serve in that capacity and if it doesn't do that then nothing is going to change. a child is among 7 civilians killed in northwestern syria after an underground hospital was shelled by government forces it happened in the rebel held city of the west of aleppo there's been about 600 attacks on health facilities during 10 years of conflict in syria more but not reports. of

a place meant to care for people and keep them safe the earth becomes a scene of chaos the hospital was hit by mortars fired from a syrian army outpost. bloodstained survivors who carried out and treated elsewhere i believe. a child and health care workers died in the bob barker and about that day for the country to go eyeball of the medical staff were shocked this is the result of targeting this hospital the civil defense came and cleared the patients who were staying at the hospital and we have vacua to the building and medical staff and the injured. al-jazeera correspondent. reporting from the scene said the hospital is now empty and unfit for purpose this hospital provides medical services to more than 10000 patients every month the artillery shells fell here early this morning at the main entrance to the hospital the hospital is called arabic the cave it was built underground for better protection against attacks but

it wasn't enough. it's not the 1st time it's been targeted in 2018 al jazeera visited days after a bombing. the talk to share the facilities location with the u.n. hoping to avoid being hit. it's that's just an incident that happened only disappear and we are only in the 1st quarter of a year so somehow it's really really sad to see that these how this is how been attacked. so many times despite being all these cordon needs the u.n. saying. and international human. providence the last major areas held by rebels they a vast numbers of civilians accorded there by president bashar al assad's forces and their allies the on paper being put under the protection of

a cease fire signed in march 2020 between russia and turkey but it's continually violated. those killed 15 buried near a type city more grieving for a country that suffered so much devastation. after syria. government of killed at least 22 civilians in southwestern it happened in the tell a very region which borders mali and between a fast so 58 villages were killed the same region last week no one's claimed responsibility but an eyesore faction operates in the area. top court has confirmed that the former interior minister is the winner of last month's presidential runoff as soon won 55 percent of the vote the results were fiercely contested by the opposition with violence in the capital near may claiming 2 lives assumes no gration next month will mark the country's 1st transfer of power from one

democratically elected leader to another. now as votes are counted in the republic of congo there are concerns about how free and fair the presidential elections are an internet blackout claims of voter fraud and some opposition politicians are either in jail or boycotting the poll malcolm webb reports from the capital brazzaville. 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 he bring money to people to vote for you it's not an election. dozens of armed police came and 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 today everyone should have been able to vote on that. we can't imagine a person with a cat whose name is not on the electoral list but we gave instructions that all those persons must vote. in one of the 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 they 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 'd. money played a big part in the campaigns to hear cash was thrown to people as payment for attending a rally of the ruling party. billions of dollars of oil wealth haven't helped most of its people. all 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 now the biggest asteroid to come close to earth this year is flying past right now named 2001 f 0 $32.00 it's estimated to be 500 meters wide traveling unusually fast at 124000 kilometers an hour but scientists say it's too far away to pose a threat space agencies around the world and activated a network of telescopes to study the rock. time for a quick check of the headlines here now jazeera senior diplomats from canada and the u.s. have turned up outside a chinese court to condemn a secret trial of the canadian citizen canada's been denied access to michael coverage who was arrested 2 years ago at a spying charges you know you has more from beijing.