al jazeera. you're watching the news hour live from the headquarters in doha i'm coming up in the next 60 minutes and now it is time to bring our forces home after 2 decades of war american and nato forces are expected to leave afghanistan together but they won't meet a crucial deadline. india's worst hit state imposes new covert 19 restrictions

maharashtra has around a quarter of the country's infections a 2nd day of testimony by defense witnesses a very chauvinistic trial protests continue over the police killing of another black man bernie made off orchestrated the largest financial fraud in u.s. history has died in prison and so long as president signs a controversial law to extend his term by 2 years despite threats of international sanctions. hello welcome to the news our plans for the u.s. to withdraw its troops from afghanistan by next month are being delayed president joe biden is expected to announce in a few hours time that those forces will now leave by september the 11th under a deal signed with the taliban the troops were to pull out by may the 1st. and at

the peak of the war in 2001 there were more than 100000 americans nearly 10000 foreign troops from 36 countries are still serving as part of the nato mission the u.s. contributes the most followed by germany and its defense minister says she'll meet with officials from the u.s. u.k. and france to coordinate their exit or delay in the withdrawal raises questions about talks with the taliban and afghan governments which are set to resume in turkey the taliban has said it won't take part until foreign troops leave we have stephanie decker in berlin will stuff a new bring us more on germany's presence in afghanistan in just a moment particle han is outside the u.s. pentagon for us about 1st we'll bring in our white house correspondent kimberly halakhah to talk to us more about this decision and we do expect the president to speak in a few hours' time but how politically feasible is this for him. the u.s. president has for the last 3 months been conducting

a policy review in consultation with the security experts and initially the u.s. president had favored. at least when he was the vice president for at least a small footprint of u.s. forces in afghanistan that changed on the campaign trail and following this policy review is now the conclusion of the commander in chief that in fact there will never be the conditions on the ground that will make the timing perfect for the withdrawal of u.s. troops add to that well this was a popular war back in 2001 following the attacks on the twin towers and pentagon and september 11th public support has waned for this conflict a generation later america's longest war has cost more than $2300.00 lives 2 trillion dollars and as a result joe biden says the time has come for troops to withdraw but this is being criticized by not just members of the republican party capitol hill which you would expect but i. also some democratic members of his own party who are saying that

this could lead to increased risks for american lives here there could be a resurgence of the same threats that existed some 20 years ago and the other concern particularly from some democratic members is this could lead to an afghan civil war and that the rights of women could be severely impacted so there is some pushback on capitol hill still we expect in the coming hours that joe biden will say he is pressing ahead with this decision to not meet the may 1st deadline of his predecessor but to instead put in place a new way withdrawing soldiers from afghanistan on september 11th of this year yeah and we'll certainly be bringing that press conference live to our viewers here at al-jazeera for the time being kimberly thanks so much for that update from the white house let's bring in particular she's joining us from inside the pentagon so patty what can you tell us from your and presumably there are logistics that go into carrying out this type of move so any comment from the pentagon. no

comment from the pentagon just yet we don't necessarily expect they'll be any here the secretary of defense is traveling this can't come as a surprise though to the top brass even though they have been pushing for we believe a small contingent of troops to stay there joe biden is can really matter when he was vice president he warned more than president barack obama that the pentagon leadership was trying to box him in on this decision they have 6 months and they can do the logistics of this that's the military has entire commands just based on logistics that we believe there's about $3500.00 troops there more contractors so they're going to start bringing them home in stages they are very careful they know what can happen in a vacuum if they leave too few forces on the ground so they're going to be working on a plan i'm sure they have a plan to do this in stages so mixed reaction especially on social media from soldiers and service members who have served their son some applauding that some saying they feel like they wasted their years there so the decision now being made

by the commander in chief the pentagon will follow through and start bringing those u.s. troops home ok patty thank you so much for that update on let's not cross over to berlin and bring in stephanie decker she's joining us from germany so germany stephanie has the 2nd largest military presence and i'm gonna stand and after the u.s. that is and now we're hearing that they will withdraw to. they will this is also made clear yesterday we had a press conference here between the 2 counterparts of course the u.s. secretary of defense was here visiting just before his visit his 1st visit official visit to brussels around 2300 troops germany has as part of the ice up each national systems force under nato really in a training capacity when it comes to assist in the afghan forces but it is the bloodiest presence miti presence that germany has had since the 2nd world war 59. personnel killed also very expense. $16000000000.00 of taxpayer money has gone to

its presence in afghanistan as you mentioned almost 20 years down the line so very clear that also once americans would withdrawal that the international forces would withdrew too because they're hugely dependent on the americans when it comes to things like logistics on the ground and also this is really been part of the talks between the taliban and the americans when it comes to some form of peace agreement one of the main sticking points for the taliban was withdrawal of foreign forces not just american forces foreign forces so certainly it seems now that president joe biden is making it very clear that he is behind that certainly you know there is going to be a delay of course it's hugely complicated but yes germany along with others will be doing that too ok stephanie thank you for that update from berlin will not agree as a senior member of the afghan peace negotiation team and he says afghanistan's forces can maintain security on their own. there's been war for too long people

have suffered so much and it has been a war against international terrorism and that's why our international partners were here to join hands it's a time now that everybody wants to see a peaceful end to this war and a peaceful settlement requires a genuine and think full engagement in finding the way it's full with in the past at least 2 years it has been our national security and defense forces that has been fighting on the frontline there's been specially since february this weekend 0. international force on ground yes they did provide us with a military with that with the air support that certainly of the air support is gone that certainly makes the job of the forces a little bit difficult but we shall also need to point to the fact that our air forces are. great d.-day of their carrying out a lot of it strikes themselves. special forces are conducting operations

independently of their wish for the taliban but once the international forces would draw it they would be able to take over and take over the government in kabul. would be diminished once they they see the forces well will leave but they could not they will not be able to to take over taylor trees or to. expect a collapse of the government. well india's health care system is struggling to deal with the dramatic rise in corona virus cases there were more than 180000 new infections and a 1000 deaths on tuesday tough new restrictions are coming into effect in the worst hit states maharastra are india correspondent elizabeth purana reports from new delhi. a long line of ambulances outside a covert biting hospital in the state of inside

a patients struggling to breathe and waiting for a bed to become available. as one of many states but the hospitals are overcrowded and they don't have enough equipment or health care workers to deal with the current caseload. the ambulances bring in the patients who are on oxygen supply some of them are critical and they're admitted forced as soon as the beds with ventilators are available the patients who are on oxygen supplies to the venturi masks are given that in 108 i'm go and says. as patients wait for beds the families of the dead mourn for their loved ones nowhere is the situation as bad as in the state of maharashtra where migrant workers crowded bus and train terminals after more restrictions were announced the closing down of all but essential services has seen many daily wage earners lose their jobs they want to travel to their home states afraid the government might shut down public transport as it did last year.

but it's the common man who suffers the most i've come here from with the i have no ration card or any of the local documents only those who are local and have a russian card will get groceries outsiders don't get anything at all hobble migrant workers feed themselves that's why they're leaving for their villages. states lida said he had no choice but to impose the restrictions with this disease is spreading at the very heart of fine bass i see how defying because today's number of cases in the state is the highest so far. as $125000000.00 people will only be allowed to go out for work and shop supplies including groceries and medicines until the end of april as india witnesses the world's biggest surge in cases the health ministry says it will foster track imagine c. approvals for the pfizer and johnson and johnson vaccines that's amid continuing reports of that same shortages in the country which produces 60 percent of all the

vaccines in the world elizabeth al-jazeera new delhi. south africa says a local study on the johnson and johnson vaccine showed no major safety concerns and yet it has decided to suspend its use over issues raised in the u.s. that it could be linked to blood clots the single those vaccine was the only one being administered but it does have other doses on order from pfizer. johannesburg she says the pause is adding to worries about getting south africans inoculated. so that's because health ministers william kizzy has said that the country can't ignore what the f.d.a. has decided with regard to the suspension of the use of the johnson and johnson vaccine the health minister the government as well as experts have also said that the doesn't appear to be a course all relationship between the vaccine and blood clots and that it has an

identified any specific safety concerns but at the same time the south african health products authority has recommended that the implementation study that south africa's in the in the middle of using that johnson and johnson vaccine to vaccinate $290000.00 out workers so far that study should be paused so that the data can be reviewed the health minister has said he expects this to be resolved in a couple of days and he's confident that south africa can continue to use johnson and johnson to vaccinate at least to continue or broaden a vaccination program that so far is focused on health workers the concern for many south africans though is that the rollout has been slower than expected primarily focusing on an implementation study and also that south africa hasn't received vaccines that have led to the slow rollout and also in this particular case is now

committed financially to both johnson and johnson and pfizer and the government should anything go wrong with either vaccine that south africa can't be refunded howard reese is a member of south africa's ministerial advisory committee on covert 1000 here's what she had to say. in the south african setting where we live in this 300000 doses we haven't seen this rare condition but because this has been seen in the united states and they're evaluating it now it was thought wise that we just put a temporary hold while the u.s. has more investigation we don't know globally nobody can say at the moment whether this is what's called causal i.e. is it the vaccine that's causing this rare condition or is it other factors that pertain to the individual that might have contributed to this condition such as smoking for example now we're going to be rolling it up to millions of people and

if you see a rare side effect it might be real it might be associated with vaccine but it might just be that once you roll things up to millions of people such conditions will occur that's life and that's nature and that's people's health so you need to be able to differentiate whether this is just coincidence and not causal or whether it really is associated with the vaccine so so that's what's being looked at at the moment but i think that what the f.d.a. has said is that they're being ultra cautious i think many regulators i'm i'm i chair the regulator that richie here in south africa as well we're being very cautious about safety signals and evaluating them that's good news that's reassuring for the public on the other hand as you say is confusing for the public because they say go go go no go that is computing we need to be able to be a short one. still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour argentina. go back

into lockdown and see the economy slump further or cases keep rising along the road to recovery the bleak for costs for those living in the shadow of a caribbean volcano that continues to iraq. well it's day 13 of the dairy in minneapolis in the united states you're looking at the live pictures from inside the courtroom and the former policeman is accused of murdering george floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than 9 minutes in a case that's triggered worldwide protests demanding racial justice there he is. now the defense is calling witnesses to the stands and it is expected to wrap up before the weekend witness right there pathology experts let's bring in shihab rattansi he's joining us from minneapolis you have so day 13 of the trial tell us what we've seen so far and what we're expecting. as you mentioned we have

a retired forensic pathologist from maryland who is testifying for a moment the defense is continuing what is the case of big. shoes day. the dirt the dirt should've exactions were not primarily the cause of george floyd's the absolute evil it's all there that's trying to create that sense a reasonable doubt in at least one juror's mind that it was george floyd's preexisting conditions that led to his death so we have this forensic psychologist . forensic pathologist retired all this stuff who as far as he's concerned says it was george flood ford's history of hypertension disease his drug use that caused his. death not a problem with this particular witness and it's rather interesting is it suddenly being reported that while he was chief medical examiner. maryland he himself was accused of cover up in the case of the death of a 19 year old black man who was smothered by various police officers actually there

is you know there's a case against him right now nobody can see whether that's introduced as evidence or whether that's admissible as evidence but we see the defense then continuing what they began on tuesday trying to say look george floyd was a was an ill man a sick man a drug addict he was potentially new good i mean we saw the defense try to introduce evidence of police apos interactions with the police the defense also saying that the crowd around george floyd while derek show been had his knee on floyd's neck and shoulder contributed to show vns actions so they were perfectly reasonable we're going to continue to see that sort of case being advanced it has to be said though that under cross-examination on tuesday a lot of the witnesses did rather crumble somewhat when as you said we're not expecting that many witnesses from the defense the judge saying that he expects closing arguments to begin early next week that all depends on what the defense or the prosecution decides for his rebuttal is concerned off to offer the defense case

for us and she have what about the unrest surrounding the death of dante right ron you can have more of a direct geographical in the stray ssion of what what what we've had for so long of the systemic nature off the killing of black men and black people in general by by by the police we did see that unrest last night once again. the security forces who have been drafted in to brooklyn center have clearly taken a no tolerance policy to protests now it's really interesting because the brooklyn center police force the actual brooklyn sent to city councilmen. the city council have voted against allowing security forces to use the tactics we once again source security forces use on peaceful protesters on tuesday night no tear gas no rubber bullets and so on but what's going on is that

a longer in charge of the local community what the government has done is has as expedited a plan that was already in place for the off the mouth of the derrick chauvelin trial here in downtown minneapolis he just brought it forward a bit and moved it north 16 kilometers so we're seeing enormous security presence from the national guard from the county sheriff from the state patrol and that all the local control the tool that are about to use whatever they want to make clear you take the 0 tolerance policy rather defiant a defiant approach policy against protesters i remember on monday you know they hoisted the thin blue line police flag for example which was very defiant was going to say look we don't really care what you think and that continues on today what's going to be key today though is whether the local prosecutor brings charges against him part of the 26 year veteran who is who killed who killed dante writes what the local prosecutor decides will be key to how the protests continue tonight

ok shihab we'll cross back to you later thank you so much for the time being let's now bring in marriott moriarity who is the former chief public defender for hennepin county that's where the trial of derek chauvinist taking place right now she also teaches criminal defense law at the university of minnesota minnesota law school joining us from minneapolis thanks so much for speaking to us on al jazeera so as we look at the live picture from just inside the courtroom talk to us about what you make of the defense's strategy because they seem to be shifting the jurors focus to floyd's use of drugs for a while on his underlying health conditions they claim may have caused his death. yes from the beginning of the trial it's been very clear that they had 2 strategies one was to suggest that derek shows and used an appropriate amount of force that's why they brought in an expert witness on use of force yesterday although that expert did not hold up well under cross-examination the other point they're trying to make is that george floyd had these underlying conditions the heart problem the

use of drugs. and so they've got a medical examiner today testifying that he thinks the cause of death was related to those the issue though is the instruction that the jurors are going to be given by the judge will tell them the sheldon's actions had to be 80 substantial cause of george floyd's death not the cause but a cause and i think the state has done a very good job of bringing in a cardiologist paulin ologist and a number of experts who all said that the heart the. the drugs had nothing to do with george floyd's death that was all about the pressure that derek shogun and the other former police officers put on george floyd while he was essentially pancaked into the asphalt you were just mentioning a moment ago the witness that was called to the stand on shoes they and that was the use of force expert who did testify that cho vun was justified when he now it's

on george floyd's neck so was that statement do you think it's been damaging to the prosecution or has the defense failed with this witness. i think that failed i think the state did a very effective cross-examination of him in fact he added this witness had an entirely different view he said that policing there were allowed to do one upmanship they police could fight dirty and the crux of his testimony seemed to be that the police are allowed to escalate which is exactly the opposite of what the police chief in minneapolis said they are allowed to do it is opposite of what the policies are it is not consistent with what the to use of force experts that the state brought in said and he based his whole argument on the fact that george floyd when he was prone on the ground for that 9 and

a half minutes that that was not a use of force because sheldon did not inflict any pain the state did a marvelous job of locking him in on that and ultimately getting to him to admit that a person who has lost consciousness and the other things that happened to him that was an infliction of pain so he was not an effective witness at all for the defense so they defend seems to want to establish that it was anything but show vns ne of that caused the death of george floyd will they be successful in creating about reasonable doubt in one jury's mind over this. i think much is dependent on how this witness dr fowler goes for them today although as i said i think the state has already made a really really strong case that george floyd's heart of the drugs had absolutely nothing to do with his death as i said they called a cardiologist they called the paul monologist to testify about breathing and lungs

they called the toxicologist experts in every one of those fields to say that none of that caused george floyd's death so this witness dr fowler as was suggested earlier also has some issues that may come up on cross-examination the fact that he is the defendant in a lawsuit by a family that he's written about this concept called excited delirium and found other deaths to be accidental during interactions with police that may come up as well but you know i i think it's going it's a tough climb for the defense at this point but as you point out they just need one juror to have reasonable doubt all right so we thank you so much for giving us your point of view from minneapolis thank you. now ukraine's defense minister has warned that russia is preparing to store nuclear weapons in crimea and

retire and was speaking ahead of an emergency nato meeting which will discuss russia's increased military activity along ukraine's border as burnitz myth has the latest from moscow. russia's defense minister says 2 armies and 3 are born units have been successfully deployed to the western borders of russia those are the borders with ukraine he says there are military exercises and those exercises will continue for another 2 weeks if there ever was any real threats of some sort of russian incursion into ukraine that has been significantly diminished by the phone call made on tuesday night from joe biden to vladimir putin in which president biden offered president putin to meet at a summit meeting later on in the year that is being viewed here in moscow as washington blinking 1st in the standoff over the ukraine it's called a very important step according to the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the upper house of russia's parliament and the kremlin spokesman says the offer of

a summit will be studied although vladimir putin has now already told finland's president finland hosted the last summit in $28.00 teen between russia and the u.s. that was between president donald trump and out of it puts. armenia's prime minister says he will resign later this month to allow for snap elections nichol passion yan has face growing calls to step down since armenia was defeated in last year's war with azerbaijan the country lost parts of the disputed nagorno-karabakh territory which it had controlled for more than 25 years in february accused armenia's military of attempting a coup. still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour a left wing activist or the daughter of a jailed also crowds we look at the choice faced by peruvians in the presidential runoff. a celibate story mood in jerusalem on the 1st night of ramadan as its old city bustles thanks to east cover 19 restriction us.

the atmosphere is a bit restless in spring quite often the shamar when this when the blood on the gulf is increasing a little bit it will make little difference to how things feel i think for the most part little bit less humid in doha for example there's the wind kills inland it tends to induce more showers in the mountains of western society in yemen and they may well start to form around medina even reactor central side you know it's quite sherry there's probably thunderstorms to be honest for the most part the sun is warming things up jerusalem's up to 28 for example anchorage just on the edge of new wintry weather still in eastern europe is up to 17 degrees at least and we see little difference what time we get to saturday just a lucky increase in the showers in central saudi. this is something you would

expect to get to see at a cigar certainly wasn't these red areas indicate higher than average temperature this particularly true down the coast in the movie and into the northern cape of south africa all this space on the coast of libya hits a new record by several degrees as bit of a heat wave going on here hasn't reached cape town jiggs say cape town the 25 but that is by the average and by some to get to such day you could have got the heat out about 32 degrees beyond that is a mostly sunny picture of the seasonal rains go a long way north i go to cutting down to madagascar. but. when the cold 19 pandemic hit iran. a filmmaker cut adrift from his crew began documenting life from the naacp a made ongoing international sanctions. an intimate portrayal of isolation and one of the world's least understood countries

coronavirus locked down iran people in power on a. 3 year investigation into the pro-gun lobby have been employed it was me lot of really. reveal secrets and you want messaging out there i mean people out there you know me and connections some don't want to expose sneak in legacy media. mess shoot. documents like my al-jazeera investigations how to sell a massacre on al-jazeera. hello

again the top stories on the al-jazeera news hour u.s. secretary of state and nato allies will coordinate a withdrawal of forces from afghanistan president biden is due to announce he will pull out all remaining u.s. troops by september the 11th that means pushing back a deadline set by his predecessor donald trump south africa as a local study on the johnson and johnson co 1000 vaccine showed no major safety concerns however it has decided to suspend its use because of issues raised in the us that it could be linked to blood clots it is day 13 of the trial of the former minneapolis police officer derek who is accused of killing george for the defense is calling witnesses to the stand but it's expected to wrap up before the end of the week is accused of murdering 4 and by kneeling on his neck for more than 9 minutes. now the former financier and convicted fraudster bernie made off has died

aged $82.00 in a u.s. federal prison he pleaded guilty in 2009 to orchestrating the largest financial fraud in american history cheating tens of thousands of people out of billions of dollars he was given a 150 year sentence the bureau of prisons says made of died of natural causes let's speak to bill black who is joining us from minneapolis he's a former federal regulator and professor of economics on law at the university of missouri kansas city thanks for speaking to us but it wasn't just individuals that were caught up in this ponzi scheme that was run by bernie made off it was also a charitable institutions on a number of charities just give us a sense of the scale of the ponzi scheme and just how many people or organizations that affect it. sure so it was a very large ponzi scheme it was not even remotely close to the largest fraud in

u.s. history and you know there were hundreds of broads larger than that but a ponzi scheme is now i'm a criminologist workout criminologist as well it's a very crude system where there's no real investment so you're just making it up. so. made off lied about everything including the size of this fund so that you can see numbers as large as 50000000000 but that involves completely phony transactions that didn't actually have a party on the other side that was being defrauded so the best guess is somewhere in the range of $17000000000.00 and it wasn't just individuals as you say it was major charities it was major universities and such so. it had

a broad impact in particular on jewish americans because this was a pariah of what we call in criminology affinity for awd it's easier to defraud people that you have something in common with because they're more likely to trust you bernie made off with jewish and he mostly target in fact he overwhelmingly targeted jews and indeed he went after jewish charities and credibly famous pious jews like elie of a cell a nobel prize winner that you know no one if you were jewish could believe that he would seek to defraud those kinds of people and that added of course to his ability to defraud so how have things changed since since then. what someplace now to prevent this from happening again. nothing. in

the wall street journal is picturing this as a fraud mastermind they miss completely what really goes on we can tell you as a criminologist the key to these large not the largest by any means frauds being quote unquote successful is not genius it's audacity right he was simply willing to a lie to enormous numbers are as a people and as human beings we simply don't expect that people who we share other characteristics in common are going to lie to our face and just completely make up not just a few transactions but tens of thousands of transactions don't forget also that the largest bank in the world j.p. morgan paid $2000000000.00 in fines because it turned

a blind eye and assisted for decades this ponzi scheme so it this isn't just some rogue individual this was at the heart of what of course became the 2008 financial crisis the widespread fraud on wall street and speaking of wall street i mean this is a man who was once they'd share men off nasdaq so how do you think that has his death will be received by wall street. right so he was not only the person who held . was a keep person in creating nasdaq she was also on the board of the inforce mechanism and that's one of the reasons that he was able to get away with that it was as if you had the person in charge of ethics running the most ethical scheme so wall street of course will high try very hard to ignore this and to

treat it as a one day story you know they'll be an obituary today and all of the major papers and tomorrow we will be gone from those papers all right bill black thank you so much for speaking to us from minneapolis thank you now the u.n. and some world leaders do not support the somali president's decision to extend his term in office they say president muhammad of the night before maggio is undermining the peace process and stability of the country he signed into law a bill allowing him to stay despite opposition from some members of parliament his mandate had ended in february prompting protests on coals for him to step down catherine soy has this update from neighboring kenya. a lot of somalis a saying that what the president has done is problematic on so many levels so he signed this motion into the last night but ideally what's supposed to happen according to the law is that once the lower house passes such

a motion they have to forward it to the upper house the senate for approval or rejection so that stage has been skipped we also have had from the speaker of the senate of the upper house who said that they would have rejected this motion anyway because it was unconstitutional there's also a lot of reactions from different quarters we've had from a coalition of opposition presidential candidates and some leaders of the federal states particularly jubal land endpoint land all of them saying that they reject this decision they reject any extension of the presidential term saying that president from joe just wants to clean onto power we've also had from somalia is key donors the e.u. the u.s. and the u.k. all of them speaking on this in the same tone in very strongly worded statements basically saying mr president if you continue with this we are going to rethink how

we do business with you it will be business as usual talking about perhaps saget it sat targeted sanctions on some individual seeds to be stumbling blocks the prime minister of st vincent's has told al-jazeera volcanic activity on the caribbean islands could go on for months huge eruptions have blankets of the country and are now threatening water and food supplies 16000 people have been forced from their homes and the gallagher reports. for decades less of free air remain dormant but late last week huge eruption sent gas and rocks spewing from its summit probably 50 kilometers. above the summit no the initial impact led to evacuation orders 416000 residents on monday a big a volcanic explosion made a dire situation worse those that didn't evacuate to dealing with increasing amounts of choking ash and water shortages and fear that more eruptions may come i'm not telling

a lie and right now i think. because we don't know if you ever get back. now with this stuff for a look aid from neighboring countries is slowly making its way to this island of 100000 people but the prime minister told al-jazeera the road to recovery will be hard we can see with mathematical precision how long it's going to last but this is a long haul we're going to be in this condition before pops or more but it's going to take much longer time to react really do tend to reconstruct so far there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries from the multiple eruptions those that live close to the volcano were evacuated as scientists or signs of activity in 1000 know to an estimated 1600 people died during a violent a ruction those that remember the last eruption in 1989 and say this is worse if you looked up. there is this huge. in this.

deadly drug only once and now within minutes. it would just feel a change in the mood in the town the volcano sits on the northern part of the island away for most of the population but the threat to crops water supplies and the health of those still on the island is critical and vincents prime minister says normal life doesn't exist and may not for some time to gallica al-jazeera. haiti's foreign minister of clothes has been appointed as the new prime minister is pretty assessor juice of judith resigned after an increase in unrest including mass protests kidnappings and killings 2 days ago a gang kidnapped 10 people including clergy members and french citizens president jovan i'm always has promised to do more to stop the abductions he's embroiled in

a political standoff over his term limits protesters angry at the security health and economic crises have been calling for his resignation. china has described its recent military exercises near taiwan as combat drills as a u.n. official as an unofficial excuse me a u.s. delegation has now arrived in taipei president joe biden sent a former senator into former deputy secretaries of state to meet the island's leadership the visit comes at a time of tense relations with china and just one day after a taiwan launched a new warship to boost its defenses on monday $25.00 chinese fighter jets on bombers entered taiwan's airspace in what taipei says is the biggest incursion yet brazil senate has agreed to launch a congressional inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic it's the most severe political consequences yet for president joe your boss and there is a probe stick over 19 he's repeatedly downplayed its impact and undermined

restrictions imposed by state governments the virus has killed more than 358000 people in brazil and argentina has reported a record number of new cases more than 27000 but with millions struggling to put food on the table the government is reluctant to impose more restrictions so risible reports from one to cyrus. food is a human right see these people in the center of would have cited the government in argentina as capital to demand more government help. so i guess we separate the us is poverty rates are on the rice and millions of people are struggling to survive. we understand the way out is with work in the we're in a complex situation but there are resources the government will have to choose whether to continue paying for foreign day it would take care of those people that can barely make ends meet the pandemic poses a major challenge for argentina the government is already assisting over

$10000000.00 people with food and cash handouts but the economy has deteriorated rapidly the country is struggling to pay to foreign debt and still every day around $20000.00 new infections are confirmed there is an evening curfew here in the capital and access to public transport is limited but authorities are reluctant to declare another full lockdown like they did last year fearing the consequences that my come from closing the economy completely but i'm not against yes there's no social margin to shut down everything there are lots of people that don't eat meat if they don't work the government has fewer tools than they did last year and that's why it's crucial the excluded the vaccination campaign they cannot focus only on restrictions because there is no support and there is need on the street even though argentina has one of the strongest public health care systems in latin america is to to sions and workers here are under stress they're rising infections in the past we have most hospitals in one outsiders or perhaps i think in some low

place and they're already transferring patients to other areas north of hope but i demand their talk now because i've been waiting 4 hours to go inside an emergency room and daniel o'donnell is a construction worker and says he rushed to the hospital because he was feeling ill . oh my throat hurts my back hurts i have difficulty breathing i've been waiting for a while to see a doctor. but experts say this is the beginning of a 2nd wave with a long winter ahead and scaurus resources or foodies are evaluating when is the best time to shut down. i just want to. vote counting from the 1st round of peru's general elections is almost finished socialist. will have a runoff in june and gains conservative kicker fujimori who faces corruption allegations and for most peruvians choosing the next president won't be easy as

mariano sanchez reports from the. 6 teacher pay look at the year campaigned in remote towns were health care police and even the internet are an illusion nearly unknown castillo won the 1st round of the vote. while some live in great opulence and dressed in toys behind desks with a luxurious life my brothers today placed their trust in a man of the people those who bite their nails every day whilst waiting for their bread to come have removed that blindfolds. among promises the 51 year old union leader says he'll nationalize resources and change the constitution. those are marxist ideas that scare her but this is a muslim i would not vote because he's too leftist extremist we have no option but to vote for who he mori. but he brings a wealth of problems with the judiciary she faces 30 years in prison for corruption

charges the 45 year old daughter of former autocratic leader albert differently madi jailed for grass human rights violations says she'll continue her father's legacy of governing with a hard fist given that. we will confront populism and the radical left and i know many will join us. 65 percent of peruvians say they would not vote for her if. it's inexplicable people have no memory after all what the fuck imari family has done negatively i have no option but to vote for to steer as always the least worst . after 5 years of political instability nearly 28 percent of peruvians didn't vote and 2800000 cast in a blanket or an old ballot chronic discontents with the state of things democracy and politicians as many people search for an empty system solution. analysts say whoever wins the presidency will have a problem with legitimacy neither candidate was favored with even 20 percent of the

vote. and now some analysts believe they have to move to the center of their extreme views to win voters if fact. as union they take a studio is used to negotiating who doesn't have an m.b.a. like keiko who's never negotiated anything in her life and if she wins she won't have a majority in congress which means she could easily be ousted. this 5 year term will end in july with the 5th president sworn in and for many disenchanted with politics the new vote will be like choosing between one illness or another for the innocent as i just leave. muslims an occupied east jerusalem have celebrated the 1st night of ramadan with prayers inside their mosque it's a very different picture from last year one covered $1000.00 restrictions meant the site was closed to worshippers during its lands holy month harry foster joined the

crowds. the 1st night of ramadan and drew slim's old city is bustling a year of coronavirus and the accompanying restrictions took a heavy toll on lives and livelihoods here this has the air of relief and celebration with a common destination in sight last year we were all abandoned to come to our luck some of this year 100 and we are all allowed to go hopefully until the end of the month we can go because then a little bit last year we stayed at home it will pray is this yet is life there are people there are sweet there is. initially the israeli vaccination campaign struggled to find take up in occupied east jerusalem but recently the vaccination numbers have been going up at the same time as koby cases have been in steep decline allowing for an ever greater reopening there's a real sense of joy of release here in the streets around the ark's a mosque and that in large part is explained by the ability once again to pray during ramadan at islams 3rd holiest site but it's also about the ability to

experience together with friends families neighbors this very important time of the year after a year of pandemic. last year's ramadan came at the end of the fall 1st coded lockdown with some restrictions on movement remaining in iraq so close to worshippers this time the crowds are back the mosques islamic trust is still instructing those going for prez to wear masks and maintain distance and so far israel is allowing only 10000 vaccinated palestinians from the occupied west bank to enter friday prayers nonetheless for the old city's merchants and snack vendors there is hope that after a bleak year this year of those different. we will break into war reckon to life and. this will be a month to savor every force it out easier occupied east jerusalem. still ahead on the news hour they sports news and we have the latest from tokyo as the city marks the $100.00 day countdown to the start of the olympic games back in

a month. or

. hello again time for the sports news here thank you well we have 100 days to go until the opening ceremony of the olympics and the international committee say they have no doubt that the tokyo games will take place that's despite a rise in corona virus cases in the country and polls suggesting that the vast majority of japanese people want the olympics to be cancelled and the richardson reports. events to mark the $100.00 day countdown to the start of

the tokyo games were necessarily low key the city has just raised its alert level and government experts say japan is heading into a 4th wave of infections organizers though are resolute in their commitment to the event going ahead. and i had no hesitation in saying that the games will take place and they'll be the safest games possible. all of the counter measures have been put in place to deal with that to ensure that the public place and all of the other participants are safe we can expect that emotions will run even higher because of the significance of the world being together for the 1st time in a pandemic situation there are so much expectations from the world community $11000.00 athletes will compete at the games the international olympic committee said being vaccinated isn't supreme requisite for taking part but many countries

are hoping they will be able to offer their athletes the option of getting vaccinated the athletes and the officials are going to tell the world is going to take you oh so in terms of looking after the health and well being of the athletes and also giving him that confidence that they have been vaccinated going to be very important that performance in. the top 3 lay is an event designed to raise awareness and interest levels in the games that the most recent poll of japanese public opinion suggested that more than 70 percent on the event canceled or postponed and matsuyama city has just called off its like of the relay jutes arising coronavirus cases we have medical professionals here questioning why the games are going on saying it's a too big a risk despite all that it is going on it's going on because the international olympic committee lives after elevation revenue it must get these games on television secondly the japanese state has invested perhaps $15000000000.00 in these games prime minister suga i think is staking his claim to perhaps extending

his prime ministership are making these games successful so the japanese public cannot back off and so the games go on tokyo sold itself as a safe pair of hands when it won the right to host the games in 2013 back claim is now being tested in a way few would have thought possible and the richardson al-jazeera. well the minnesota timberwolves in the brooklyn nets players called for justice for black lives ahead of their n.b.a. game on tuesday they were special shirts and had a moment of silence following the fatal police shooting of dante right in minnesota the shooting on sunday is led to the resignations of the police chief after the officer that shot wright said she used her gun when she meant to use a taser you have to hope for real you know he says. i don't want this to go ok it's about.

tennis world number one novak djokovic has made a when he returned to competitive action djokovic to be italian teenager yannick center to reach the last 16 of the monte carlo masters the serve hasn't played since he won the australian open title in february. feels great. also playing here in monaco where resides and you know use this club actually as a as a training base for from 16 years so feels playing it feels like playing at home and it was a was a very very good encounter i thought it was a great 1st match big challenge for me he is in form byron munich's head coach says he's considering his future after his team were knocked out of the european champions league flick side were beaten by a paris a german in the quarter finals the defending champions won the 2nd leg in paris one nil but went out on away goals p.s.g. will face dortmund or manchester city in the last 4. and former p.s.g.

boss thomas tickell saw his chelsea side beat one nil by porto but they still went through 21 on aggregate it means chelsea are into the semifinals for the 1st time since 2014 but the young team can almost always do is fight run hang in there and take it like an adventure for them it's a big big step to be in semifinal this is a very very because chief meant and you see when we win when chelsea has been last time and semifinals so we are not used to who are not used to be there and once you are there and you play for the final 2 more last 8 games are coming up manchester city have a 21 lead in their tie with dortmund and liverpool need to pull off a big comeback against real madrid the english champions lost the 1st leg in spain 31 the winners of this tie will play chelsea in the semifinals. all right handed back over to say

a thank you so much for that and thanks for watching the news hour on al-jazeera we're back in just a couple of minutes right after the break we'll have all the latest headlines and the top stories for you see you then thanks for watching by. from the al-jazeera london broil cost center to people in thoughtful conversation people use the lowest get agreement they describe the outside with no host and no limitation the difference between a migrant and refugee is purely a choice when you are refugee you are forced to speak of asma khan and act at what

has happened a lot in the west is that culture and food are separated studio b. unscripted and al-jazeera jumped into the story there is a lot going on in this and julian global community when i talk about the misinformation i think we don't want to feed that we are aware that be part of the debate don't ever take anybody's one word because there is always a difference when no topic is off the table we have been disconnected from our land we have been disconnected from who we are who would love to hear from you in each week be part of today's discussion this streamed on out is the era. when i enter the ring i feel on top of the world i don't want that feeling to go away when the show and the fun call the retirement and i follow my laugh line watch the laugh line meet the former circus performers grease from supporting each other on the stage keep going less you got to bro. on a of a minute off it was feeling to witness presents after so. just that

show must go on. unprompted and uninterrupted discussions from on london broadcast center. on al-jazeera. and now it is time to bring our forces home. after 2 decades of war merican our nato forces are expected to leave afghanistan together but they won't meet a crucial deadline. to watch al-jazeera live from a headquarters in doha i'm sorry you know also coming up a 2nd day of testimony by defense witnesses and derek chauvinist trial protests.