from the world's most populated region. and untold stories from across asia and the pacific. to discover the current events. with diverse cultures. and conflict and politics. one o one east on al-jazeera. the. al-jazeera . this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the e.u. imposes sanctions against me joining to the chief over last months q on the violent

crackdown against protesters. has been our return we detained and now we see that the process of your show is not transparent kemah the voices that sang go to china denies access to one of its former diplomats facing a closed door trial for espionage. not true the worst of it potentially and that's why we need to process else what will be a very difficult way not all disasters declared a mass evacuations are underway possible strike me off to one of the worst floods in decades. a leading opposition figure in the republic of congo dies of covert 19 complications a day off to a contentious presidential vote we take a look at what that means and timely hardeen with sports a manchester united football or is the latest player in the english premier league to be racially abused online brazilian star fred was targeted after he made a mistake on the field cost him his team a spot in the f.a. cup semifinal.

my. hello and welcome for more than a month the european union has been condemning the military coup in myanmar and the lethal crackdown that followed since now on monday it's followed through with its toughest action yet 11 people including the miters top commander min online are now on the sanctions and thank sions have also been imposed on for chinese officials for their role in the abuse we get muslims the e.u. says the senior figures are responsible for the arbitrary detention of thousands the moves that are all part of a series of sanctions targeting alleged human rights defenders around the world including china myanmar russia libya south sudan and eritrea let's get more now from the butler who joins us live from paris let's begin with the sanctions on

myanmar how tough they. yes eve are and ministers and mt seeing sanctions against levon military leaders in myanmar all connected to the coup that took place in february and to the ongoing violence as well as their companies and their businesses now what the e.u. foreign ministers say is that these leaders will have any of their e.u. linked assets frozen they will be visa and travel bans imposed on all of them and it means that any e.u. businesses or banks or investors will not be able they will be banned from working with the companies belonging to any of these military leaders so they are the toughest response by the european union to the leaders in myanmar and of course one of the main the main military leader many lang has been sanctions imposed against

him as well he is the head of the gintas so certainly a very strong message from the e.u. that any rights violations and violations against a democracy will be punished and attach a strong message to several other countries talk us through what else has been announced. yes foreign ministers have also decided to impose sanctions on officials individuals and companies in a number of countries where they say that human rights violations are being carried out they most significantly of imposed sanctions against a 4 top chinese officials for rights abuses against muslim we have not the so in minorities liar i just you know knowing as as well as as well as a major company in china also sanctions on north korea for what the e.u. calls the ongoing repression there and sanctions against individuals in eritrea in

libya in south sudan for the e.u. says it's ongoing repression and unlawful killing so again very strong message from the e.u. that human rights abuses will not be tolerated by the book natasha many thanks for that interesting lee we're just getting a flash in the last minute or so from the china foreign ministry who. have got a strong message for the e.u. basically urging them to correct its serious mistake and to not interfere in china's internal affairs specifically referring to what the e.u. has announced regarding the weak. violent crackdown against the curb continues across me on mar. oh this was the moment when police shot a man on a motorcycle in the northern city of mandalay he was later escorted away by

officers it's unclear how badly he was hurt or what happened to him protests are continuing across me amman any 2 months after the civilian government was deposed in a military coup people have been turning out to spies a rising death toll rights groups say nearly 250 people have been killed since the demonstrations began. china's had held a closed door trial for former canadian diplomat he's been detained in the country for more than 2 years diplomats from canada u.s. and about 20 other countries gathered outside the court in beijing to show solidarity for michael coverage whose accused of espionage he was detained back in 2018 soon off to canada arrested a senior how way executive were china's held separate proceedings for another canadian facing similar charges both michael. trials have ended with out of

addict 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 need we've requested access to michael writes hearing repeatedly repeatedly but that access didn't deny. 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 itself is not transparent welton as defended its handling of the covered case and accuses canada of meddling and it's a choose your lease it was actually hush money and canada has brought together some other countries diplomats in china and point fingers at china's handling of

individual cases that is interference in china's judicial sovereignty we were ject that and will by no means accept such interference michael khobragade michael spade or are suspected of in danger in china's national security and china's judicial organs will handle the cases and guarantee their rights and interests. corresponding katrina you has moment story from beijing. canada has been hugely critical about the way these cases have been handled saying there's no transparency in the case they've been given dubious access to chinese lawyers which is already a problem because the courts here in china are controlled by the communist party and 99 percent of all criminal cases are found guilty canada says they also have not been given access to the trials of both of these men today and also on friday now these cases have attracted a lot of international attention earlier today outside the court where michael couric is being trialled about 20 also actually more than 20 diplomats from various

countries including the u.k. australia us gathered to show their solidarity with michael coverage and u.s. president joe biden has also weighed in saying that he supports canada in their push to have these men released saying that men should not be used as political posturing chips now canada has been very critical this is affecting the bilateral relationship between canada and china and china has hit back saying that well they can't give access because this is a national security case and it's also been very critical of what the canadians have been doing to try to have these 2 men released let's have a listen to what china's foreign ministry spokesperson said about this earlier today so that you shouldn't we urge the canadian side to stop interfering in china's judicial sovereignty and stop acting in ways inconsistent with that status and conform to their vienna convention in the monkeys canada acted as an accomplice which is very dishonorable we urge once again to release miss monk and allow her to

get back to china safe and sound long ago was detained in the 1st of december 2800 just 9 days before these 2 men were arrested here in china she was detained in canada at the request of the u.s. u.s. is accusing her of breaking iranian sanctions as her while she was working as a c.f.o. of chinese technology company huawei but of course what's a vastly different in these 2 cases her case vs the men is that her case has had a high level of legal transparency and she's been allowed to wait out the process at home in her vancouver mansion with her family. plenty more ahead on the news hour including why israel's 4th election in 2 years is unlikely to resolve its political crisis plus. washington d.c. pushes to become the country's 51st state and we'll look at how the statehood debate is like lisa play out in congress. and in sports more problems for

christiane or naldo as his team's hopes of winning the italian title itself another set. a major fire has swept through a refugee camp in bangladesh the blaze. in cox bazaar started within the last few hours still isn't on the control the camp is home to $5000.00 families have been no reports of injuries but hundreds of shelters have been destroyed top officials believe it was started by a cooking gas cylinder parts of the east coast of australia have been declared a natural disaster with homes destroyed and rescues underway the state of new south wales is battling the worst flooding in decades the forecast is due to improve by wednesday but for now people are bracing for more heavy rains nicola gage has this

report from the town of windsor and west of sydney. regions underwater and many people at breaking point days of torrential rain have turned parts of eastern australia into an inland sea ruining homes and destroying livelihoods several areas have been declared disaster zones and tens of thousands of people ordered to leave others are on standby watching what happens next. in the. emergency services have been inundated with calls for help dozens of people trapped by rising floodwaters have been rescued but many farm animals to why as rivers burst their banks and dams spilled. communities are becoming increasingly caught off here in windsor west of sydney this is the main bridge completely under

water along with buildings and more writing is on the why people get to evacuate are writing to protect homes sandbagging properties and hoping for the best. you know why it's pretty bad others are already counting the cost so where is your business just just over the bridge patrick muskets business is underwater 100 acres of lawn that he commercially grows flooded destroying all of this season stock a loss of millions of dollars. it's very scary not knowing what's going to happen and not knowing. what's happening. yes we just got to wait and see him if we ever are safe and everything safe from the farm it's been a year since unprecedented bushfires burnt across this region before that severe drought one emergency it seems after the next some communities who were battered by the bushfires and now being battered by the floods and date drought prior to that

and i don't know any time in our state's history when we've had basic strain where the conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic some are calling this a one in 100 year disaster and weather experts are predicting the worst could be yet to come because the gauge al-jazeera winds are. the leading opposition candidate in the republic of congo has died the day after the presidential election . was being transferred to france for treatment soko the 19 after being diagnosed on friday it was the main challenger to the veteran leader done a great song. all right now votes are still being counted. so is widely expected to win extending his 36 years in power a nationwide internet blackout on sunday has added to concerns over transparency in this election let's go to marc webb who is live for us and brother bill so talk us

through a bit more about this opposition leader and the circumstances of his death. people we've spoken to who saw collapse last week said that he was coughing he was on well he was due to hold his final campaign rally here in the capital brazil on friday but he wasn't able to come because he was on the point already to on well then on saturday evening he released a dramatic video message from a hospital bed with an oxygen mask calling on his supporters to go vote saying that he was fighting with death then in the early hours of this morning it was announced that he had died from courage in paris this is just a day after people voted in polls here in republic of congo for presidential election now the thing is a lot of his supporters don't believe this cause of death they're very skeptical

about it was a deep mistrust of the government coded seems to many people quite a different reality they watch the news it looks like it's something that affects older people in richer countries this also comes in a context where 2 of the most prominent opposition candidates in the last election challenge the results they were accused of trying to launch an armed insurrection they were both sense and 20 years for labor the rules have been veiled threats made against opposition candidate by ruling party officials human rights activists say that there is no freedom of speech here and so for a collapse of forces at this moment just when they. hoping or expecting him to be the winner of the election to instead. be told that he's died of this disease about which a skeptical anyway is very difficult for them to accept but at this moment things are still calm we were party headquarters just

a short while ago as officials party officials had a meeting they did speak to the supporters they seem to be calm but they didn't comment at all on the cause of death and they didn't say anything about what they would do next a lot of people standing outside that party headquarters angry supporters a lot of them say they think he's been poisoned thank you malcolm webb there for us in brazzaville we'll let's take a closer look at the opposition candidates clear less finished runner up in the 2016 presidential vote with about 15 percent of the vote requests so was up against 5 other candidates in sunday's election which more than 2 and a half 1000000 people were eligible to vote the largest opposition group the pan african union for social democracy boycotted the poll arguing an election would only lead to more divisions in the country let's get more on this joining us from paris is andrea a political analyst and

a previous congolese campaign hopeful many thanks for speaking to us on out al-jazeera how much is the death of mr collette as a blow to the opposition. mr prison colony is a very sad news people because it was and building up of the alternation in the country so we are all orphaned today. and also he was from a very. great community in the congo so we fear that there will be an arrest if the result of election is not what people. are putting into the ballot box. mystical ellis was particularly critical of the incumbent leader in in the last few days releasing a video from what he described as his deathbed calling out to his supporters describing the republic of congo as a police state how is this likely to influence those that are in the opposition.

mr cole is the son of someone called bare knuckle like his father will for the ruling party for years and decades so this is really will be a very impactful because people are following what is the last the will of a man to struggle all of life for really berkeley and democracy in our country so like i previously said we are often we need to have a guide and friend the only one who can now talk about what's going on is printed on the news as we're so immersed talk now and then say to people what happened and what do you mean arpanet mr di only in the day but we are still waiting for no official. word about it

and we are awaiting that to happen what are your thoughts on how these elections have been held because. the critics have been very critical we've also heard from the catholic church has expressed serious reservations about the votes transparency how do you think this election's been held. the election won't go in relatively calm but it was unfair. it was not transparent enough so many people complain about their name not being on the electoral lived there has been. for meeting for the year pollution there are being also a rest for people from a civil society so the election condition was not good at all but we believe the information we gather. or according to mr jones

in the front of the poor. but. also hard in the constitution no difficulty called that mention if a country do see during the electoral process election must be concerned so like i already said we are waiting for a no official from the government to speak about it and to turn to a people what will happen next for congo and the political analysts and previous congolese campaign hopeful many thanks for your thoughts. top court house confirmed that former interior minister mohammad zoom as the winner of the presidential runoff last month was in 155 percent of the vote results were fiercely contested by the opposition 2 people died in violence in the capital assumes integration next month will mark the country's 1st transfer of power from one

democratically elected leader to another opinion polls in israel suggest its 4th election in 2 years on tuesday could end in another inconclusive result and human ness and yahoo is facing a fractured group of challenges after a dramatic decline in support for former opposition leader benny gantz are a force that has a story. in 3 consecutive elections benny gantz presented the strongest challenge benjamin netanyahu had faced in years. with former army chief head of the blue and white alliance helping deny netanyahu a viable coalition but failing to form one of his own his decision last year to split his alliance and break his central campaign promise by joining netanyahu in government has seen his standing crumble i'm not really fast moving we into the government despite me and who not for nixon we are we into the government because there was a health economic and social crisis when of the biggest israel has ever seen and we

are not sideways all of us are soldiers for this country now he's campaigning for perhaps half a dozen seats on the basis that they can block legislation allowing us to escape his corruption trial dancers collapse has left a fragmented field of possible alternatives to netanyahu leading the pack is yeah peed dances form a partner in blue and white a former finance minister in an earlier netanyahu government and now the number one target of netanyahu his campaign that by now he didn't start this way but now is complete cynic and he says this is the tool of they've hurting us from the things he doesn't want us to talk. he has tried to downplay his own prime ministerial ambitions wary of netanyahu as attempts to cost the election is a $2.00 horse race in which the pete becomes the scary left winger gideon rod of the israel democracy institute says a split field makes it more difficult for the prime minister that would like us to

choose between 2 good chocolates but you have to face many chocolates and if you think about the voter as a consumer this is much more problematic for him and then yell in the unlikely chocolate box of israeli politics naftali bennett would be found well to the right of the prime minister he rules out working with lockheed but leaves the door to joining netanyahu at least partially open not so good on sar shoujo. different the painful truth is that netanyahu prefers his own personal interests over the interests of the country his decision to leave the couldn't challenge him from the right at the head of his new hope party was the big news is the campaign began with his promised late surge in the polls has failed to happen. for all that's changed in terms of the lineup of challenges one thing has remained constant throughout this 2 year political crisis it really is all about benjamin netanyahu

ari force at al-jazeera west jerusalem. well throughout the election campaign and before they have been persistent questions about benjamin netanyahu is fitness to be in power on facing corruption charges he's been accused of bribery fraud and breach of trust in 3 separate cases the allegations include that he accepted improper gifts and sought to do regulatory favors for media moguls in exchange for positive coverage ness and is the 1st israeli prime minister to be indicted in office for corruption denies committing any of these crimes well for more on this we're joined by your c beilin in tel aviv he's a former israeli minister of justice and served as a member of the knesset for the labor party from 1988 until 2008 many thanks for speaking to us from. now prime minister benjamin netanyahu is hoping that the country's coronavirus vaccine rollouts will push him into a stable majority but not everyone is pleased about how netanyahu has handled the

crisis some aright. you know you're right there one of the reasons for that is that the death toll. is very high it's over 6000 people and but potion a plea here we are not very good shape compared to other countries and death is there it is balancing his achievement of getting. vaccines for israel and there is another point you know even if people appreciate the fact that we do have a vaccine standard. very high but portion of the israeli population has only been immune this is not going to change the world you don't vote for that i mean you're voting for right or left and mainly if you want to continue in every way minister always and that that for all day charges that you mentioned before or

you want somebody who is honest and this is exactly exactly what splits the israeli body in the last 2 years i mean it is a crazy situation we are having the 4th round of elections it never happened before hopefully it will be that the last round here and to live for years from now and there is very very important round of elections and people are not too tired to vote there i think that they will vote to more all in big numbers is it not remarkable that despite being on trial on charges of bribery fraud breach of trust and so on that prime minister netanyahu still has the kind of popular popularity that he does. you know he's popularity is not very high after all of their speaking about one quarter of the knesset members i mean he has in the board 30 seats which

is much lower than in there. are actions we are where we are thinking about it it is he's got a lesion we don't throw it you just see these and they will try to study. it is not their thing is so popular and that everybody is imploding the country is split between right and left and there and i think that most of the people you have your seat also end up in the boards most of the people would not like to see somebody like him in the chair of the prime minister nevertheless there is the additional vote for for barclays and really good is already an old party which has its appalled and the the what is surprising is there to get support there's not been eroded in the last. 2 years but he has a house time after all in these 2 years he was not able to be elected as

a prime minister. never saw it is it is now for the 4th and it is running hoping that a society we live on the so-called right to vote and i hope to. be frustrated by the vote of these ways many thanks for your time your c n n speaking to us from tel aviv don't have em out. turkey's currency has plunged on monday after president. sacked the central bank governor the layer plummeted by 15 percent before stabilising 10 percent down dump ahead of the central bank a surprise move over the weekend after he raised interest rates the president is strongly in favor of rate cuts. it's time for a little bit of weather now take a look well the worst the flooding might yet be to come in new south wales it's

still raining and i think the rain is going to get heavier for about 24 hours as a typical scene in the western side of sydney it's not just sydney affected all alone there is the north up to the go coast and increasingly later on tuesday further south as well will be heavy rain but that could be the end of the rain this is tuesday probably still the worst from the point of view what comes of the sky we've seen evacuations about be a few more the waves are still big and the some coastal erosion from that the winds are strong along the coast has been some damage but it's widespread flooding is a continuing version of extreme weather this eastern side of new south wales but i said to save the end of it here is wednesday there is you coastline there's the rain going offshore this should be the end of any significant rain the floods will still be they basically they'll take a long time to go down but the skies will be blue and the sun should be act which is much the case in east asia to be honest now coming into spring the nice to see the southwest the breezy light there with his with temps in the air rising the

worst it's gone out of honshu on her card a couple days of rain and snow and temperatures slowly rising in this spring sunshine but is significant rain down in food. still ahead on al-jazeera safe and effective why a new astra zeneca trial gives the vaccine sums up. the fighting for a political career what next for scotland's 1st minister nicola sturgeon ever review decides she broke the ministerial code. chelsea take a step closer to delivering their coach a fast trophy in english football details coming up in just. a young you know in the for most of us wendy popped up as an asian. when we have this opportunity. to limit so the young girls all through secondary

school with or to be able to see and play that's one thing able to change. meet the women in going out who are going places when it comes to education women make change on al-jazeera. a sister turned human rights activist the day hope rather is locked in a notorious goes back to desert prison. per fight for his freedom sees her exiled surveilled and betrayed by those closest to her. but her resolve is unshaken. only to devil lives without hope. witness on al-jazeera.

you're watching al-jazeera mind our top stories this hour. top didn't achieve his the mong 11 military commanders to be hit with new european union sanctions the bloc announced a wave of penalties against alleged human rights violators in myanmar china and around the world. waters are rising across parts of the australian state of new south wales and natural disasters been declared in some regions after the worst flooding in decades. the leading opposition candidate in the republic of congo. died he was being treated for code that 19 votes in the presidential election of being counted president dennis the soon widely expected to win.

japan has lifted a state of emergency in tokyo as pressure mounts on the government to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control ahead of the olympics the measure imposed in january bars and restaurants have been closing at 8 pm many other businesses have switched to remote working with infections rising for months ahead of the games experts are warning against complacency. just days before the olympic torch relay is organizing committee say they're taking all precautions to minimize the spread of the virus it's an effort to turn around public opinion with polls showing 80 percent of people in japan want the olympics canceled or postponed again. this week in fukushima the torch relay with start old though it is a grand starts greatly simplify it but no one including spectators to prevent infection he edition will take all possible measures seen

a safe and secure manner such as roadside measures to prevent congestion at the torch relay as the opening approaches will continue to have the highest priority on safety. of kingston is a professor of asian studies at temple university he says there are number of factors in the government's decision to ease restrictions despite a rising number of new infections what's driving this is clearly money and politics there are a lot of important stakeholders invest a lot of money in these games the i.o.c. depends on the television revenues for that sort of 90 percent of their revenues n.b.c. is paid a lot of money sponsors here have put up a lot of money and the government is invested you know close to $28000000000.00 preparing for lympics so there's a lot of economic reasons to go forward. people had hoped for a revival of the tourism sector but now they're banning horns fans so the hope is

that the olympics will be sort of a commie now are the end of the pandemic and this will you know reassure people that compared to say every 5 tourism which is just plummeted this is had a really bad impact on the economy the political angle is that suit is roiled of various scandals surrounding his son and nepotism and so he's in trouble and so he needs sort of a feel good story to try to revive his political fortunes at the live picture cancel he's in deeper trouble. a pandemic combined with a shortage of shipping containers has led to a global transport crisis china is ramping up production of containers to meet demand but sarah clarke reports from hong kong the delay is expected to continue 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 $54.00 times so maybe a container from asia to europe or to the states so people are just 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 container production to meet the demand but a consumer 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 so 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 stay outside for longer periods of time. we're finding that there's empty containers in hell stranded all over north america and europe australia in the middle of nowhere just waiting to be returned but there is not a truck or a chance to take it back to contain the shortage and dependent make has caused major disruption to world trade analysts say the crisis shows no sign of easing just yes to global supply check prices sure 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. brazil's president has renewed his attacks on restrictions imposed by state and municipal governments j. boss nara has repeatedly fought against lockdown 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. if anyone thinks that one day he will give up our freedoms the new 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 but as well as president has announced 2 weeks of what he's calling radical quarantine including the council nation of east celebrations nicolas maduro had previously announced that there would be flexibility over the

holiday period the festivities have been called off after the detection of a corona virus strain blamed for soaring infections in brazil. yeah i mean when you look into the land 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 over people partying searing the pandemic party goers have converged on the holiday destination for the spring break many wearing no mosques the mayor says students have been flocking to miami beach after the state governor call florida away says the freedom from covert 19 restrictions astra zeneca is corona virus vaccine has received

a boost to data from the trial showed it safe and effective the study involved more than 30000 people from the u.s. chile a on peru and show the job is 79 percent effective and preventing covert $900.00 symptoms 100 percent effective against severe illness several european countries halted astra zeneca shots this month after reports it was linked to blood clots but some have now resumes inoculations let's go to our correspondent nadeem who is live for us in london the day presumably this is good news for those european leaders who are relying on those astra zeneca vaccines. well you think so but it comes amid the backdrop here in a britain of a war of words that still going on between britain the e.u. and astra zeneca the british swedish company in the last couple of hours we've

heard and around us e.u. officials saying that the u.k. is not to blame the e.u. is not to blame clearly pointing the finger at the company for not meeting can catch contractual obligations now we know that prime minister boris johnson in the next couple of days will be phoning his counterparts in the people like president michel of france and chancellor merkel he is also going to talk to is of on the line head of the european commission who at the weekend floated the possibility of the european union imposing what amounts to an export ban on all vaccinations from the e.u. from that bloc to the u.k. now everyone is saying that they don't want that to happen but the. noises out of brussels today are that they really do want astra zeneca to start committing to what its promise the company says it's all because the e.u. signed contracts much later than the u.k.

did last year and of course we know what's happened since the u.k. has seen the head with its vaccination program compared to the e.u. which is stalled the current figures are that roughly 10 percent of the u.k.'s adult population have at least received their 1st job compared to that's the e.u. 10 percent of the population having received at least one dose compared to over 50 percent of the adult population here in the u.k. those are the underlying it is saying that they are they are looking at whether the idea of exporting to countries with high of accident rates like britain is proportionate considering what she says. as the company's lack of transparency. officials are reportedly looking at the idea in the 1st instance of blocking. that scenes from

a plant in the netherlands being sent to britain the idea of a wider export ban really going down very badly here we're hearing that. experts say that if that were to happen and it's important to know that most exports from the e.u. see the u.k. so far been of the pfizer but on tick vaccine if that were to happen it could set back britain's vaccination. program by around 2 months. for us with the latest from london on those astra zeneca vaccines many thanks. let's go back to news at a massive fire refugee camp in cox bazaar we can speak to tom vitale 3 who is live for us in dhaka took us through what you're hearing about this fire. well this has been one of the worst devastated 5 that took place in the rowing a refugee camp now that is one of the world's it is the world's largest refugee

camp it's happened in an area called bottle cali. where there is at least 5000 tents are there in block 8 the number 6 and number 8 now what we know from the refugee relief and rehabilitation edition of commissioner is that the fire is pretty much under control but it's not over he expects the damage to be quite significant at least 1000 shelters what damage there has been casualty we conforte sure tell you the figures but talking to our contacts in the refugee camp as well as the commissioner we know there has been casualties we don't know exact number we cannot independently verify that this is one of the tire the large fire that happened in the camp in january this year there was another fire where at least nearly $500.00 cots were damaged luckily no one was injured or died again in may last year similar fire incident took place not

a lot of this fire happens because they're running our refuges they use l.p.g. gas cylinder for cooking populaces and these are highly volatile if they're exposed to overheat or some sort of leakage that could explain explode now as i spoke to one of the contact he said in the beginning that was the fire but because of this explosion of the sea and you still i'm in the l.p.g. cylinders it was becoming very difficult part so there needs to be more precaution about this l.p.g. cylinder that one of the causes we don't know that's for sure but there is clear danger using this l.p.g. cylinder which can cause fire in the can we still have to find out how many people got injured or died in this unfortunate incident. that speaking to us many thanks. people in washington d.c. are about to see the latest push for statehood play out in the u.s.

house of representatives residents of the capital have long complained about having no elected representatives in congress now with democrats in control of the 3 branches of government as new hope that statehood is possible shab response reports from washington d.c. . national attention was drawn to just how callous the residents of washington d.c. are when the city's mayor was unable to mobilize the national guard during the capitol hill route in january and subsequently when they have no say sections of their city were fenced off the polls now show unprecedented nationwide support for d.c. stated and activists feel this is the moment the fight for statehood a much bigger than the fence and the national guard really about 7 $100000.00 plus americans who pay for the markers who represent the military that we. represent state. the u.s.

constitution decreed that the us is capital was to be hosted not in a state but in a federal district that would be controlled by congress and have no voting representation but today washington d.c. has a larger population than the states of wyoming over months and pays more in federal taxes than 22 states nonetheless republicans still argue the d.c. citizens owns worthy of representation wyoming is a well rounded working class state a new state of washington would not be. rahma right owns a small business in d.c. for her it's pretty clear what cotton is saying wyoming is 93 percent white if washington became a state it would be the only state in the nation with a plurality of black residents i'm a real person the people that i know in d.c. are real people we are not only real people but we are very diverse 31 of the most

diverse cities in the entire country i think that there is a very real. effort. the voices of people of color last year the house of representatives overwhelmingly voted to make d.c. a state for the 1st time a similar bill has now been introduced in the senate where the democrats have a majority but with a republican party fearful of the creation of a state from a heavily democratic city it's not expected of the senate bill will reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster a palm tree tactic the minority party can use to prevent a vote there is a way forward there if you can bypass the filibuster for their supreme court justices the use of david do the same for american citizens for the microscope. and that's what they do offer 51 is all about is making d.c. the 51st state with baptists in the filibuster and pass a decent state a simple majority and in fact activists from 5151 managed to get joe biden

to support waiving the filibuster for a vote on d.c. statehood while he was on the campaign trail would come in the 1st half of that last year but he went on then yes. now that he's become president joe biden's position on by possible filibuster for d.c. stated has become a little less clear but progressive think that biden has already proven he can be pushed to the left especially when it's pointed out that when republicans held all 3 branches of government they pursued their agenda ruthlessly it's all a matter of will. al-jazeera washington. scotland's 1st minister nicholas sturgeon is beginning the most turbulent week of her career she is accused of mishandling sexual assault allegations against her predecessor and was threatening to undermine her leadership. and to take scotland out of the united kingdom so help 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 that overall i meet the best 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 had given and 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 he 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 brecht's 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. so ahead on al-jazeera freda becomes the latest man to see united start to be racially abused online details coming up in just a minute.

it's time for the sports his their thank you manchester united midfielder fred is the latest english premier league player to get racially abused online the

brazilian was targeted after his mistake led to united conceding the opening goal in their f.a. cup quarter final against leicester city the red devils went on to lose the. game 31 fred is not the 1st united player to be racially abused this year in fact marcus rash word axl to be an anthony marcelle have all been harassed along with a number of players across the league the e.p.l. has recognised the problem and last month launched the no room for racism action plan one of its aims being to combat these racist remarks from fans online it follows moves by clubs who've been campaigning hard against racism since last june following anti racism protests across the globe and instagram the platform where much of the abuse has been happening say they're working with authorities to combat the problem well earlier we spoke to darren lewis the assistant editor of a british newspaper the daily mirror he says social media companies are not doing enough to protect these players the job of the racism crisis and dealing with it

within football is that of the football authorities the job of dealing with the social media problem is that of the social media companies and the trouble with that is that there is no will among those companies to deal with the problem now if i were to post premier league footage on social media it would be taken down within half an hour maybe 25 minutes if i were to post a racist slur or even a sexist slur on social media it would remain up for days and that's part of the problem the social media companies say that they have a robust reporting system for people to be able to utilize and to get in touch with them but all too often ordinary black people let alone footballers find that when they use that mechanism they. i found that they are told that the person who was sent the offensive message has not breached their guidelines so there is

a lot of frustration there's a lot of upset another concern football has come together in recent months as a collective to complain to the social media companies but the brutal truth is that there is no money in it if they were then perhaps the social media companies would have done more. as far as racism is concerned they don't have that will well before united's game chelsea booked their spot in the f.a. cup semifinals they beat sheffield united to nail last season's beaten finalists when ahead thanks to an own goal been shelled while shot deflected into his own net by over norwood united did have some chances to equalise david mcgoldrick missing the best of their opportunities. chelsea's 2nd in injury time they'll face man chester city in the semis. well even to says hopes of. attaining rather the italian league title are all but over they suffered

a shock defeat against been a veto even question although that inspired comeback 10 points adrift of leaders and are. well it's only sports for me has a record to many. many thanks for that les is that safe and made for this nice out the back and end with more of the day's. mexico's coded 1000 death toll is one of the world's highest with one in 5 of its inhabitants living in the capital with the deadly upsurge in never to live to take off a 1000000 visitors every day there's really no way that they purchase something good with that for. all has the governments are not the drug strategy lead to unnecessary suffering frontline mexico the fight against curb it 19 on al-jazeera. among the lower castes dullards also known as untouchables sit at the very bottom

of the hindu hierarchy they perform the lowliest tasks such as manually cleaning sewers often with no protective clothing or breathing apparatus give all sing right or is a valid and a lawyer he's taking us to meet some members of the community some of whom he represents carla benvar galas family a cleaner as her husband was poisoned in a sewer 4 years ago 2 of her 3 sons now do the same work despite protections under the constitution dullards or untouchables are treated as outcasts many dullards have escaped their predicament by converting to other faiths such as islam or christianity to be g.o.p. controlled state of what the british has prepared an anti conversion law under which religious conversion would require permission from a state official human rights groups say the law is aimed at keeping ballots in that place torn to al-jazeera we are can you tell me what the government you

represent is now illegitimate and we listen we do not sell the fence material any country. conflict and yet we meet with the global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al-jazeera. if you want to help save the world. sneeze and hero. 'd 6 a major fire tears through parts of a reading account in bangladesh that houses more than 850000 refugees. i money inside this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. the e.u.

imposes sanctions against me and most gentle chief over the last months to the violent crap.