has president joe biden kept his campaign promises we'll have special coverage and in-depth analysis of his 1st $100.00 days in the oval office april on al-jazeera. 'd a minneapolis court hears from key witnesses on day one of the trial of derrick chauvet the former police officer accused of killing george freud. on the intent of this is our jazeera live from london also coming up. a container ship in the suez canal is finally freed but it could take days to clear the backlog. fleeing as trikes back home but not welcome in thailand the reality

for thousands of myanmar refugees trapped on the border. and claims of forced labor in china's cotton fields beijing warns western retailers not to mix business with politics. and it was a death that marked a turning point in race relations in america and ignited mass protests across the world now the main suspects charged in the killing of george floyd has gone on trial in minneapolis 10 months after the black man lost his life while being held down by police officers the case is being broadcast live and is likely to have far reaching consequences across the u.s. prosecutor gerrie blackwell described how white policeman derrick showman knelt on floyd's neck while he and his fellow officers ignored floyd saying i can't breathe

at least 27 times. the jury was shown the full video of the event but sherman's defense says he was simply following police procedure and that floyd's drug use contributed to his death. in his own days live in minneapolis force gave the prosecution defense laid out their cases in spite of they have to say. that's right no they really did lay out their cases and that's the point of the opening statements it's a little after 5 pm here local time in minneapolis court has adjourned for the day this was a day where both sides could lay out their case the prosecutors saying we're going to show you the very term magic and quite frankly gruesome video which they showed during opening statements over 9 minutes of when derek chauvin had his knee on george floyd's neck and george floyd was crying out i can't breathe i can't breathe that video is going to be key in the prosecution prosecution's case to the jurors

and they said we are going to show that not only this video proves that derek chauffeured killed george floyd but they said we're going to bring in other eyewitnesses as well that will back up that video now on the defense side derrick show friends lawyers basically said there is more to this case than simply that dramatic video and there is more than one side to this story they insinuated that they are going to tell the jury that it was not derek covens me that led to the death of george floyd but that it was george floyd's drug use and preexisting health conditions that ultimately led to his death let's hear a little bit more of what both one of the main prosecutors had to say as well as one of the main defense lawyers in their opening statements. the force that mr

chavez was using was lethal force. it was force that was capable of killing a human or putting his or her life in danger. the evidence is going to show you that there was no cause in the 1st place to use lethal force against a man who was defenseless who was handcuffed who was not resisting. learn about crowd control medical intervention deescalation procedural justice crisis intervention and the human factors of force that is what happens to a police officer or any person when they are involved in a high stress use of force situation. and you learn a direct sholden did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19 year for. the use of force is not attractive but it is a necessary component of police. prosecutors called 3

separate witnesses on this monday and all of them were very powerful the 1st was genesis curry a police dispatcher who said she was watching live security camera footage from the dispatch center of the scene as it was transpiring and she was so concerned by what she was seeing that she actually called a supervisor saying something is not right we also heard from another young woman a 23 year old that was working at a business just across the street from where the death took place she filmed more than 6 different video clips on her cell phone of the scene at which it was transpiring and prosecutors were able to bring that video in to the courtroom and show the jurors that video and then they concluded the day the prosecutors with another strong witness it was a man named donald williams who just happened to be in the area and witnessed the

situation as it was transpiring but what's interesting about him is he is trained in mixed martial arts so he knows very much about what it's like to put someone in a choke hold or put their knee on someone's neck so he was almost an expert witness in some way in some ways and he was there at. the scene and you can hear his voice in some of the eyewitness videos him calling out to derek show vant to stop stop in his words you're killing george floyd this was a very good day for the prosecution they laid out in the least in the 1st day a very strong case game is a thank you very much indeed. we're told florence family was joined by a civil rights activists and their legal team outside the court where they knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds that's roughly the amount of time former police officer derrick shaven had his knee on floyd's neck attorney ben crump says the

trial will show how far the u.s. has come in the fight for equality on the family called for justice for all but people killed by police offices. just before the trial began civil rights activist reverend al sharpton said it's not just show been on trial make no mistake about it shape it is in the courtroom but america's own draft. america's own child to see if we have got a place where we can hold police accountable if they break the law the law is for everybody police were not above the law police were subject to the law and best was going on in this courtroom and that's why we're here judith brown diane this is the executive director of the advancement project a nonprofit focusing on racial justice she says that many are hopeful the trial will bring about change. it's very important that this trial be put in perspective

durch over and is on trial but this case is about much more because this isn't the 1st case that we have seen of a police officer killing a black person and 1000000 ited states and so i think to reverend sharpton point is that the whole system is on trial and that it's important that we understand that that the way that these cases have worked over time is that often the police officers walk away and that the family does not get justice and so it's important to put it in perspective because at the end of the day the kind of transformation we need in this country around public safety does not hinge on this case but people are hopeful that finally our system will work so that someone will have to be held accountable for killing a black person and for killing them with i mean this is an reasonable force on

every level. thanks. in other news ships are sailing again through the suez canal one of the world's most important waterways after a giant container ship blocking it for 6 days was finally moved. these are the scenes on board one of the dredges that helped to shift the 200000 ton ever given with the help of high tide queues of more than 350 vessels have grown either side of the canal since the ever given run aground last tuesday next year brian has more. finally on the move the every given being told to down the so was canal after being stuck for almost a week. the celebrations began before dawn as the mess of container ship was 1st partially refloated the backyard of that a despite an international rescue effort

the vessel had been waged across the waterway which is one of the busiest in the world. since tuesday dredges and diggers have removed thousands of cubic meters of sand from underneath the ship and a flotilla of tugboats has worked on dislodging it it's forced tankers and cargo ships to queue at either end of the canal delaying global trade each day that passes is about $7.00 to $8000000000.00 worth of goods which would usually pass through the canal so a week later you're talking $4550000000000.00 of delays really much of the thing we will catch up on some of that but there will be ongoing place it's hard to put a figure on it and of course some carcass may perish because they were time critical there will be no doubt some big insurance claims going in the crisis is having an impact on syria the authorities a ration in fuel supplies from iran a stock some vessels are carrying livestock cotton from india for clothes and auto

parts from china. well i got 20 confines on board and the cargo ranging from one of your suit starts. very concerned not only get the goods on she wants you to write an 8 x. that this good friday and i can't really see your arrival at least not maybe 4 days experts say the blockage raises long term questions about the canal sustainability i think what's happened is that container carriers got larger quite rapidly. and so i think this particular accident was really waiting to happen it's going to be a lot of head scratching and thinking not only about making supply chains more resilient but i'm sure the series can our authorities having a good heart think as well about how to make the the canal itself more about

despite the progress the salvage company warns there are still challenges and even with the ever given underway canal thora say it will take days for the backlog to klia brian al-jazeera activist groups say thailand has forced back more than 2000 people fleeing ass trikes in in ma the strikes were targeting the karen national liberation army the armed ethnic group is one of dozens fighting for greater autonomy in myanmar trying to chang reports. ethnic korean villages hiding in the jungle off the jets attacked their homes overnight thousands fled after a force launched a series of attacks at the weekend that left several people dead many are now too scared to return fleeing across the border into thailand. last night we were not aware that the jet fighters were coming and they randomly

bombed all of a sudden and then left late at night the jets came again and afterwards we heard gunshots we heard that the jets will come again. thailand is tighten border security in expectation of a flow of refugees from myanmar but as violence has flared in the citizen border areas over the past week with or it is fear that could become a flood. many refugees are expected we have prepared an area for them to stay 1st that they cross over we can talk about the numbers later we are not going to talk about permanent shelter yet we are not there yet. the groups have long feared attack from the air their basic weaponry is eclipsed by a professional armed force with high tech from china and russia and now it seems they have the ability to attack at night. and it's not a fair fight elsewhere either protesters on the streets of yangon defending their

homes from the security services facing soldiers armed with machine guns with bows and arrows like david tacey goliath. tony chiang al jazeera 6. still ahead on al-jazeera details emerge of the deadly attack in northern mozambique officials fear thousands of people are still missing and. i'm not talking about not just outside paris the difference is bigger stacks and they seem so as the country exonerates is an immunization campaign. but. most of this entire continent of australia is dry as some heavy rain tropics but there's nothing to top the still existing flood over new south wales you remember how much rain we had while it's still there in the former river flooding

it's slowly very slowly receding these light showers in the forecast really up the coast of new south wales and queensland will not do anything to top it up they're just passing shows that's a significant rain for the most part it's warm inland is warm in the west person 30 or 31 degrees this is the time of year where you should look for the normal sequence of showers coming up through the beit tasmania and towards new cd but the moment got settled circulation of these even it to be pretty wet in the north island and it has been pretty worse in japan it's not now but we had a month's worth of rain a day and it's all tied in with the development of the spring rain system which of course legs back very obviously into china the most part though northern china the korean place or in japan will be dry for a couple days but this will bloom some significant thunderstorms over the yangtze once more for the most part india is hot and dry. and fairly windy the wind is particularly strong in the north which is an advantage to new delhi it should improve the equity for

a couple of days. for. a mineral central to the quest for clean energy a key ingredient for the production of electric car batteries cobalt extracting it is dangerous but profitable with global demand set to skyrocket people in power investigates claims that industrial mines obstructing the precious material needed for cleaner energy are in fact poisoning the environment with dire health consequences for those living in their shadow the cost of cobalt people in power on and just.

from one of the top stories here now to syria the white police officer charged in the killing of george floyd has gone on trial in minneapolis prosecutor gerrie blackwell described how derek showed and knelt on floyd's neck or he and his fellow officers ignored floyd saying i can't breathe at least 27 times children's defense says he was simply following police procedure and that florida's drug use contributed to his death. serious canal is open again after a giant container ship that was blocking it was finally moved the 200000 ton ever given run aground last tuesday in a sand storm over 350 vessels be forced to queue outside the canal. i to this group say thailand has forced back more than 2000 people fleeing asked trikes in myanmar the strikes were targeting the care and national liberation army an armed ethnic group fighting for greater autonomy in myanmar. i saw is claiming

responsibility for the attack on the city of palma in mozambique in which dozens of people have been killed and thousands more are still missing. several witnesses say bodies are lying in the street with many beheaded the government says it's working to restore order. now say in the port city of pemba people who survived the attack on palmer say the unlucky to be alive anxious relatives and friends have been waiting for them to arrive fighting between mozambique's army and an armed group that calls itself al-shabaab has been going on for days in parma. missing there's no communication there workers left guards. trucks missions i don't know what. they came just with. south african adrian was killed trying to escape the father of 3 was traveling in a convoy which was ambushed by the armed group his father and brother hit his body

in the bush until they were able to make it to safety. and then every bar and another way. to. get it while. on monday i saw claimed responsibility for the attack on palmer commodore garda province in northern mozambique is where most of the major gas discoveries have been made in recent years but has been wracked with violence. i don't think that was a big defeat the insurgency that we are seeing in modern muslim because most in government has managed to do so nigeria. i don't know how many times richard

was a big it has not been able to. eliminate. it just. to eliminate the surges the niger delta region so i think we shouldn't dream that mozambique. current is the motion to what is probably god as evacuations continue security forces say they are trying to secure parma the exact number of people killed injured and unaccounted for is still unknown humanitarian workers warn the numbers will rise as fighting continues in parts of northern lights and he had out of there a crowd of virus was most probably transmitted from animals and it's highly unlikely that it was leaked from a lab and that's according to the draft of a joint report by the world health organization and china's government obtained by the associated press before it's released on tuesday in january

a team of experts visited will han chinese city where covert nineteen's 1st detected they want to establish the origins of the corona virus the draft says the virus was most likely transmitted from bats to humans through another animal which hasn't been identified yet and it all but it dismisses the possibility that the virus escaped from a lab it will happen a theory that was promoted by former us president donald trump and others it says such accidents are rare and the labs and who are well managed but the drop was inconclusive on whether the outbreak began at a one market which recorded one of the earliest clusters in december 29000 the discovery of other cases before the market outbreak suggests it may have started elsewhere when the u.s. says it's concerned about chinese influence on the report and the independence of its findings white house correspondent kimberly hackett has more. there is a lot of interest and skepticism about an imminent report by the world health organization and china that is expected to be released that concludes that the

virus covert 19 did not escape from a lab but instead from a bat and then to another animal and eventually human transmission of the reason that there is skepticism about this conclusion is that the former c.d.c. director robert redfield has said that he thinks that in fact this did escape from a chinese lab in han and that he believes that there may be a cover up on the part of china given the fact that when the united states offered to send investigators to help determine the origins of the virus china refused to u.s. assistance so there is a lot of anticipation about this report the white house press secretary says a wide array of science experts are reviewing it and next steps will be discussed based on those conclusions but that leaves in question what those next steps might be given the fact that there are already very frosty relations between the united

states and china and given the fact that there have been more than a 1000000 americans killed by covert 19 there is a lot of anticipation not only about this report but the consequences the united states may take as a result of its findings french president in one year in my coruscating up his government's coronavirus vaccination campaign after a slow start the government is mobilizing more health workers and opening mass vaccination centers for the 1st time but some doctors are warning it's too late to slow a 3rd wave to reports from outside paris. france is because couvade vaccination sametime national flew to rome in sakho tiny of paris where the french cycling team is training for the tokyo lympics the lisa the leads are an unusual destruction for those way to the elderly. being prioritized in the country's vaccine rollout the began in december people like money who hopes that being immunized will allow her

to resume a more normal life about the idea is to have more freedom it's my 1st start after the 2nd hopefully i can look after my grandchildren in the school holidays an average of 2000 people are vaccinated here each day this cycle to as many as says the operation will be soon scaled up with a drive in facility and more staff the new virus variants are placing actual pressure on us because more people want to be vaccinated and fast you says people are scared cases in schools are going up before the pressure is rising dozens of mass vaccination centers like this one are being prepared around the country after french president tomorrow mark or promised to accelerate the country's immunization campaign leverich synastry vaccination is a national priority there are no public holidays no weekend for the vaccination campaign and we have to vaccinate as much as possible in all of acceleration centers open at the national level or maximum mccraw has stepped up the sense of

urgency that was lacking at the start of the vaccine campaign so far one in 10 people has received a 1st dose in france compared to haul for britain's adult population the government has blamed pharmaceutical companies for failing to deliver enough doses to the european union now some doctors say that a lack of facilities and bureaucracy could hinder progress. the priorities having enough doses must be urine simply to take appointments and we need to offer explanations not just to mix you know drums but more locally to make it easier for everyone to find a vaccination center macro wants 30000000 people immunized by mid june with every adult offered the possibility of a job by august the president is gambling on a major fact seen push to avoid another national lockdown but with daily infection cases rising fast hospitals in many regions saturated it's likely to be a challenging race to the finish line natasha butler al-jazeera cycled on evenin.

chile's president sebastian pinera says he will ask congress to postpone an election for a new constitutional assembly until may because of corona virus concerns chile has one of the fastest vaccination campaigns in the world but cases are still rising on latin america to see a new human has. i'm in southern chile in the city of their move which is under total lockdown that's why you see soldiers behind me trying to enforce these restrictions and many others that have been in place here for more than a month as a most of the country and yet cope with 19 infections continue to soar out of control and that is why president save us. has asked congress to approve a bill to a tool to allow the postponement of elections that were due to take place here in chile on april 10th and 11th instead he's asking that they be postponed until the 15th of may at the moment hospitals are 96 percent full the air force is having to

medivac patients from one side of the country to the other in search of critical care beds and so while the opposition had been vehemently opposed to postponing the elections up until now it seems that everybody is now on board and believes that politics are less important than saving people's lives. prosecutors in belarus says starting an investigation into opposition leader settle an attack on a skier on charges of terrorism chicken a skier has been in exile in neighboring if you any a since august election controversially won by longtime president alexander lukashenko she's accused of attempting to stage explosions and acid attacks in recent anti-government protests a spokesman has dismissed the charges as absurd. china has told foreign companies not to mix business with politics if they want to keep operating there a spokesman for regional government issued a warning during

a news conference where he was asked about cotton allegedly produced using forced labor by muslim leaders ever in brown reports from hong kong should jiang has now become a sensitive issue for china's consumers western clothing and sportswear companies who've raised concerns over the use of force labor in the provinces cotton industry are being punished as shoppers respond to calls to boycott some of the biggest brands in the world and i'm going to hear from we are boycotting them because of the statements they've made if what they've said is true then we are willing to accept the situation but that's not the case that's why we boycott them but you know what i think that our hearts and quiet person so at least for now i want to buy anything from these brands the u.s. government says the boycott is the result of a state led social media campaign but it also coincides with a deepening diplomatic row between china and western countries over human rights

and on monday a government spokesman had a 20 message for brands like sweden's was why you cannot also seen on the internet that no one is going to age in stores now so what are the results can you survive in the chinese market when you still make money from the chinese you can't earn a penny. china's government has repeatedly rejected accusations that forced labor including tens of thousands of ethnic weaker muslims is used in its cotton industry that accounts for around 20 percent of global production the united nations wants to investigate that as well as other world documented evidence of repression we have asked for the human rights i commissioner to be able to have a visit in china without any limitations in the excess this is being negotiated at the present moment between the office of the eye commissioner and the chinese authorities while human rights groups remain skeptical about the prospects for a meaningful visit with unimpeded access in china the u.n.

secretary general says for now he remains hopeful and agree with can be reached adrian brown al jazeera on coffee. airport staff in the galapagos islands have rescued 175 endangered baby talk to says from a wildlife trafficker they'd been individually wrapped in plastic and put in a suitcase it's believed they were being brought to ecuador before being shipped elsewhere they can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars on the black market. the top stories are just here what police officer charged in the killing of george floyd has gone on trial in minneapolis in his opening statement prosecutor gerrie blackwell described how direction knelt on floyd's neck while he and his fellow officers ignored floyd saying i can't breathe at least 27 times and that.