of cultures across the world. so no matter what you see al-jazeera will bring you the needs and current affairs that matter to you. al jazeera. venezuela falls fall behind in securing back scenes for its people doctors accuse the government of downplaying the real number of covert 90 defections. i'm timber now this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up straight here faces delays in its vaccine rolled out after issuing new guidance over the astra zeneca. a doctor testifies that

a lack of oxygen not drugs killed george floyd as he was pinned to the ground by critics. and amazon looks to have won the battle against workers unionizing and one of its giant warehouses. well the number of covered 19 cases rising venezuela is struggling to secure vaccines for its people there are only a fraction of doses from russia and china available as infections are reaching levels not seen since its 1st wave last year the government says u.s. sanctions are preventing it from buying more to risible reports. every day we say you have to face is the difficult task of filling oxygen tanks to help his father one survive covert 1000. 179 years old and he's struggling with coronavirus at home but when i remember north i don't

trust in the government and how it's treating people in hospitals clinics are so expensive that we can't afford it the cheapest clinic we found wanted to charges that he mitchell payment of $3000.00 and then $1500.00 a day and that's something we can't pay. finding oxygen is not easy he says father has been at home for more than 2 weeks and needs for oxygen tanks a day at a cost of $70.00 per tank we say it has opened an account in go fund me to get financial help. this is the 3rd day of the go fund me campaign but we can't withdraw the money until the 14th we've been able to get some money but there are a lot of people whose relatives die before they get the full amount. venezuela's health care system was already struggling prior to the pandemic and even though last year the infection rate was relatively low due to the widespread gasoline shortages that restricted movement infections have been going up in recent weeks.

doctors across the country have been protesting for improved testing and vaccines and complaining that the official coronavirus figures provided by the government are false and. they're not carrying out enough testing and that's why the figures are low 3 weeks ago we carried out 120 tests a day and now we're not doing them any more we're seeing at least 40 people a day that we suspect are sick and we have no capacity to corroborate it. minister . pain is behind most other countries in the region the government has received around 750000 vaccines from russia china precedent has been negotiating with the opposition to obtain vaccines via kovacs program using funds frozen in the united states but mother who has refused the. following reports of blood clotting. most of the world will continue using us resident in spite of the recent

problems kovacs as other vaccines but within the codex mechanism the way venezuela is classified we cannot treat a vaccine in order to do that venezuela will have to change its standing in kovacs but it's difficult because of its financial situation if venezuela paid $130000000.00 then it would change standing kovacs and the situation would be different. there over 2000 go fund me come pains to assist covert patients in venezuela as hospitals fill up citizens are resorting to desperate measures to save their loved ones while hoping help will arrive on time. i want to see. another day has brought another coronavirus record in brazil more than 4200 deaths were reported on thursday as the highest yes there were another 86000 infections hospital intensive care units in most states of feeling to capacity and another round of coronavirus restricts restrictions rather has come into effect in

argentina's capital region as it struggles to contain a record number of new infections when a site is and its surrounding suburbs recorded more than 14000 cases on thursday new measures include a nighttime curfew from midnight to 6 am the cocksure of bars and restaurants from 11 pm the restrictions will be in place until the end of april. mexico says it will continue to use astra zeneca scoff at 19 vaccine even though some countries have suspended its use after cases of blood clots following in occupations on wednesday the european union's drug regulator said the vaccine may cause a toss and very rare cases but i know how to the polls from mexico city already despite international concerns over the c b a the astra zeneca vaccine mexican political leaders are trying to settle the doubts that many have about receiving the jam correspondent asked a cynic yes i will be receiving the astra zeneca vaccine it's been proven that the risks are minimal compared to the benefits. and while mexican health officials have

said they are investigating claims by britain's joint committee on vaccination and immunization over a possible link between the astra zeneca vaccine and a rare blood clotting disorder there is no plan to suspend its use was in business but in kill enough in short relax there's no scientific evidence that suggests a high risk of thrombosis from the astra zeneca vaccine therefore in a majority of countries where it's been used it will continue to be used. latin america is one of the worst hit regions in the world by the pandemic and many countries have struggled to secure contracts with vaccine manufacturers the astra zeneca vaccine is largely considered latin america's most viable vaccine option with both mexico and argentina signing agreements with the pharmaceutical giant to produce and distribute the vaccine across all of latin america. despite safety concerns from european regulators the consensus from health experts in latin

america is that the benefits outweigh the risks so this isn't unusual so this is not what regulates. regulation. groups individual coverage to decide how best. to stop bad knowledge. artistes in their own. will some countries of the world have put a hold on their use of the astra zeneca vaccine most latin american countries just seem willing to take whatever they can get and for a region that continues to face the darkest days of the pandemic it may be that suspending the use of the astra zeneca vaccine is a luxury latin americans simply cannot afford and will drop below 0 mexico city lestrade is government will purchase another 20000000 doses of the pfizer biotech vaccine as because it now wants people under the age of 50 to get the fire instead

of astra zeneca the government has also highlighted cases of blood clots and people who took the astra zeneca jab but this is likely to further delay the vaccination drive which has already been criticized for inefficiencies so it is an associate professor of infectious diseases at the australian national university and joins us on skype from a study looking canberra thank you for your time tell us how difference so how big a difference rather will this change not using the astra zeneca on the fifty's how much of a difference will it make to the vaccine rollout timetable and australia. look this is likely to impact on that timetable as you said in your intro. so since february when we started we've given about just under a 1000000 doses of vaccine and we're aiming to give about 40 maybe if we're thinking of the vaccine where you need 2 doses a person and we were counting on our c.s.l. laura tree producing up to around 50000000 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine but of

course it sounds like that won't be used now so we have to try and find alternative back since i would in slightly to slow the process down apart from that why also is the vaccine dr being criticised for inefficiencies. right granted initially started those 1st couple of weeks it was very they were the 1st couple of weeks and we knew we'd have to r. and wrinkles out except for us but now we're getting to a stage where we're not just speculating frontline people are at risk people as well and that's about 6000000 people and i want to be i mean really need to engage our g.p.s. and all pharmacies as community hubs with vaccinations can be done on that and there have been issues with that which hopefully the government will announce or. speaking of the government prime minister scott morrison is still saying that the astra zeneca that same benefits outweigh the risks but is making this decision to

only give it to those only of the 50 do you think that has impacted public perception. on the coming to china just being announced in all honesty i think it will be an act of the perception the reason behind it is as you've been saying this is a very rare side effect of the vaccine going to be about one in 200000 people you compare that to the oral contraceptive pill where about 1000 to one in 2000 women every year get a clot so it's it's very uncommon you could even say rare but around one in 4 people can die from it and also we don't have much of probate in australia that's why that recommendation has been made but if you're under 50 and you hear that the astra zeneca vaccine isn't the preferred one you almost certainly think about other options so i think it will impact how important is the speed of the rollout in a strain and given the country's relatively low number of cases i mean it's not

like other places in europe poor the u.s. with you know there's a there's a massive drive for the speed of the roll up the coals of the number of cases. look you're quite right we don't have. the drama within australia point of view but we are still getting outbreaks spilling over from hotel or in trade and every time that happens we have generally having localized lockdown picture impacting on businesses and people's ability to travel meet in australia so easy having its implications and of course as the rest of the world from spectrum nation rolled out and will have to travel opportunity between countries australia will be behind so they will have the courage oh i have to leave it there thank you so much for your time us and sent an alkie there an associate professor of infectious disease.

a doctor has emphatically rejected claims that george floyd's drug use and underlying health problems caused his death long and critical care specialist dr martin told and testified that floyd died from a lack of oxygen while being pinned to the pavement with a knee on his neck the trial of former police officer derek sells and was shown animations of him and 2 other officers holding floyd down during the arrest ellen fisher reports from minneapolis. focus on this this was a significant day in court a phase of testimony covering important medical evidence the 1st witness martin to open a doctor with more than 40 years experience a pulmonologist a breathing expect mr floyd died from a low level of oxygen and this caused damage to his brain that we see and it also caused. a rift that caused his heart to stop how mr floyd pinned to the ground restrained by police simply couldn't get

enough breath to survive that the brain forces that are going to lead to the shallow breath are going to be that he's turned prone on the street that he has the handcuffs in place combined with the street and then that he has a knee on his neck and then that he has a knee on his back and on his side dr toobin reviewed all the video and concluded that after he taken his last breath the police continued to pin george for it done for a further 3 minutes that's the moment the life his body. the defense argued that drugs taken by george floyd was a significant factor in his death increasing his carbon dioxide level in his blood not so says the doctor what you're seeing is that the increase in his carbon dioxide that is found in the emergency room is so explained by you expect to happen in somebody who doesn't have any ventilation given to him for 9 minutes and

50 seconds under cross-examination dr toben acknowledged he had a lot of time to analyze the events of may last year but derek chauvin was acting in reacting to events as they happened he dismissed some of the questions from the defense trying to poke holes in what was a compelling testimony throughout the jury paid close attention to the doctor many making notes the defense team including derek. good to see a forensic toxicologist told the court there were traces of drugs in georgia system but nothing that was alarming the result to be consistent with a prescription. that he considered a low level of methamphetamine for. the final question for dr toben again concerned george drug use he said that those who suffered the fentanyl over dorce went into a coma 1st george floyd never did alan fischer at the derrick children murder trial

in minneapolis. so head on algis their. recent attacks in the town of palma have recently demonstrated the magnitude of the problem at our doorsteps with thousands fleeing violence in northern mozambique regional leaders trying to tackle the problem of violence. and we all could seating arrangements that have turned into a diplomatic dispute between turkey and italy. how i once again the temperatures starting to ramp up now across much of the middle east much but not all we have got some snow in the forecast which you played of snow in areas pushing up into turkey and korea just 6 degrees celsius to friday doesn't it say about around the levant lossie fondant rise

a 24 celsius there for damascus take a look at sas day or change 14 degrees in damascus a 10 degree fall in nice temperatures some wet weather started to push in as that area pattern writes the snow comes in across central parts of eastern areas also seeing some of that wintry weather that says sleet and snow coming through here as well as the toniest of rain as we go on through the day but push further south and there's for the warmth this 38 in riyadh that's 100 in found hot woman off in doha at around $33.00 degrees although come sunday it's probably going to be about i told 9 degrees cooler than that presently warm nevertheless it has to be said with plenty of sunshine for your sunshine too just around the horn of africa because some showers there just around lake victoria pos you can the same some heavy showers really heavy showers up towards the gulf of guinea cameroon and southern parts of nigeria seeing some bursts of heavy rain some wet weather to all the way it's in northern parts of madagascar but to the south of that is fine dry and sunny

. but. in the yugoslav rules of the ninety's rhymes with committed this. al-jazeera world meets me a coke out of croatian son who went to jail for crimes he says he didn't commit. was he a god in a concentration camp or was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. it's trial and error on al-jazeera.

you're watching all just there a reminder of our top stories this hour that as well has extended its lockdown mischa's its daily infections reach levels not seen since last year so far it's only received 750000 vaccine doses from russia and china the government says it's because of u.s. actions. brazil has recorded its highest single day total of corona virus deaths 4249 people died on thursday that's the highest yes and the 2nd day this week they tell us he's exceeded 4000 there were another 86000 infections. a critical care doctor says a lack of oxygen and not drugs killed told floyd when he was pinned down by police and tovan testified at the trial of their children the former officer accused of killing floyd last year. emerged that 12 people some believed to be foreigners were beheaded in a hotel in mozambique during a recent raid by eisel feiss regional leaders are trying to find a solution after

a recent surge in violence in mozambique they are holding records looking for the struggle was evident when islamic state fighters invaded the town of palma in march this hotel was raided to a police officer said he found the reception overturned and rooms littered with victims clothing if you say so it was sort of this one about his murders you see in which people were murdered this is a hotel that hosted many foreigners at the time of the attack many foreigners thought it was the best place to find protection so they ran here they had security but the insurgents were stronger they broke into the hotel into 12 citizens of different nationalities were tied them up and beheaded them for showing journalists around the hotel he points to a patch of earth he said he buried the bodies here himself. this is only the latest offensive by eisel linked groups in mozambique and what has become an especially violent month. in a coordinated attack insurgent seized pama this coastal town that lies close to

a multi $1000000000.00 liquid neutral gas project it's crucial for the mozambican economy the assault claimed dozens of lives while the u.n. says more than 11000 were forced to flee. the northern province of kabul delgado has seen an encrease in fighting since 2017 some believe ice a linked fighters are trying to establish a caliphate here but regional leaders say they won't let that happen the reason the attacks in the town of palma have recently demonstrated the magnitude of the problem at i want all steps on thursday a delegation of 16 southern african countries met to discuss the latest violence in mozambique the southern african development community or s a d.c. is charged with finding a solution to the unrest in a tweet the president of zimbabwe said the summit agreed that the s a d.c. force should be resuscitated and capacitated immediately so that it can intervene

the violent escalation of an insurgency in the north of the country has sparked fresh concerns about security in southern africa a region that has enjoyed relative stability and recent decades but with these recurring attacks hope is scattered hard in al-jazeera south korea says iran has freed one of its oil tankers and the captain around seized the south korean flagship in january after accusing the crew of oil pollution all of the other scientists were released in february there's been tension between souls and to a $7000000000.00 of iranian funds frozen in south korea as poss of u.s. sanctions on iran. a dispute has broken out between turkey and italy over an embarrassing moment during a meeting in uncut italy's prime minister has compared the turkish president to a dictator america chandra has a story. this is the awkward meeting dubbed sofa gate the e.u. commission president on the line was surprised to be left without

a chair during high level talks in ankara. the former german defense minister eventually had to sit on a sofa a little further away from her counterparts and opposite turkey's foreign minister who was below her in the protocol pecking order a spokesman said she didn't wait on it appears you don't care more. please the president was clearly surprised and you can see that in the video but allow me to clarify that however surprise she may have been chosen and i think it was the right approach she chose to prioritize substance over questions of formal protocol and that's certainly what here being citizens would have expected of her. but the incident has been met with fierce criticism from e.u. leaders including the italian prime minister. i absolutely disagree with president ones positions i think it was inappropriate

behavior i was very sorry for the humiliation that the president of the e.u. commission bunda lion had to suffer. turkey has been quick to react and has summoned the italian ambassador over the growing row at a news conference his foreign minister said the seating arrangement was in line with international protocol. goodish rather has. in other words the seating arrangement was designed to meet their demands and suggestions full stop we wouldn't need to state this explicitly if there were no accusations against turkey but there are statements even from the highest level suggesting this was done by turkey. neither the 1st female head of the e.u. executive who president i don't have commented on the meeting but it's hoped the incident won't further dampen diplomatic ties between brussels and ankara america 3 ouches era. votes are being counted in a landmark unionize ation push at an amazon warehouse in the u.s. state of alabama final results may not be known until friday but so far the numbers

are showing workers have rejected forming a union amazon has often been accused of unsafe working conditions and union busting which the online giant denies francis wallace is a worker at amazon she says the online retailer has been sending text messages to employees to try and stop them from voting for union the reason most. especially from them aside say and that they don't see the bright side of the union because of the way that there are pressures from the actual companies. they're receiving hints that sell them to vote no website to without dues that explains to you how to file through amazon also pushes you to vote no they have the tools that so you know there's no chance that they actually want the union to happen and they're doing everything they can to stop them from. i feel is important because without a union that they can't get the proper care that they actually they don't have long

enough for a they're being worked extremely hard part of then they should be worried and there's unfair wages unfair signing like they just they don't give them enough incentive so the job that they're actually doing is so taxing on the body and taxing on the mind if they don't give them what they're worth. there's been more disorder and fighting in northern ireland police fired water cannon to disperse protest as we threw stones and petrol bombs anger of the post for exit trade issues have compounded all the frustrations the white house has joined the british and irish governments in calling for calm. the u.s. is voiced more concern about reports of human rights abuses and atrocities in ethiopia is to great region fighting there was killed thousands of people also in jordan has more from washington d.c. the u.s.

has decision to add $152000000.00 in emergency humanitarian aid for the people living in the 2 gray region of the theo is coming with a warning for the leadership and outis ababa this is not price the state department spokes person. the ethiopian leadership knows just how serious we are it is a message. the leadership has heard directly it is a message we have relayed. different channels different messengers but again the message has been consistent our concern for the reports that are emanating that have emanated from gray we have made no secret of that we have gone to tremendous links to provide to make available i should say humanitarian assistance while the bike that ministration says it's growing increasingly worried about the reported number of human rights violations in the t. grey region officials say that what they're seeing does not yet rise to the level

of genocide. polls have opened into percy's presidential election. is widely expected to win a 5th term and extend his 21 year long vote the 77 year old as one of africa's longest serving leaders girl is only challenger has a new comer to the political scene the rest of the opposition parties of boycotting the elections. annan is gearing up for a presidential election on sunday that has one of the strongest economies in west africa but it's not be an immune to the effects of the pandemic the eastern border with its biggest trading partner nigeria has been closed for the last 18 months and it just went and found out what this meant for trade is the commercial border town of some it. has been selling 2nd one cause for more than 10 years in. a border town between binny and nigeria. he says has never lost so much income as he did in the past year. but. we are totally pamela used ships that was

supposed to bring in god's coming as they used to those who buy from us are gone many employees have lost our jobs live so hard for everyone involved in this business most of our clients nigerians we don't see much of them these days they come and see has lost its value and it's no longer profitable for them to buy. what i preach been in the imports $25000.00 cars a month while the vehicles are meant for countries like malaysia chardin booking a fossil 80 percent of them end up in nigeria but this was the impact of covered 19 and an 18 month long border closure by nigeria been in recorded a 2.3 percent growth the slowdown is in commerce transport agriculture and hospitality industry been is an important maritime help for many west african countries like booking a fossil chad and the general public a substantial part of its revenue comes from cargoes of cars like this but in the

last year revenues on exports have slow due to covered 19 and nigeria shutting its borders these cars have been sitting here for months waiting for buyers are pulling near for you know important supplies medical equipment to clients and beneath him and beyond. it's prospects for recovery are bright. for as. with so many vaccines now in play there is hope that the 1000 pandemic can be contained quickly this will help revive business activities. but it's the poor who are mostly affected incomes and jobs have disappeared for many inflation is also doubled from 0.9 percent in print. to 2 percent last year still one of the lowest in the region but rising employment and poverty are raising concerns about an economy but the envy of many countries in west africa ahmed al jazeera sent me on the bin emoji airport. people living near

a volcano on the caribbean island of st vincent are being ordered from their homes as it shows signs of erupting roughly 16000 live in the immediate area having center nearby island shelters and even cruise ships safety. campanella in doha with the headlines on al-jazeera venezuela has extended its lockdown mission its daily infections reach levels not seen since last year doctors say the number's a much higher than reported so far venezuela has only received 750000 vaccine doses from russia and china the government says it's because of u.s. sanctions. brazil has recorded its single highest single day total of crown of us deaths or than 4200 people died on thursday hospital intensive care units and most states are filling to capacity.