meet the former circus performers gracefully supporting each other on the stage of life going les you got a broken bone in a very minute off it was just a witness presents after suit which just that's based. on. do you feel that your decision not to testify is about to turn on your behalf so this. the former u.s. police officer accused of murdering george floyd declares that he won't take the stand. hello i'm sorry the defense has also rested its case meaning closing arguments are likely to take place on monday. the united states hits russia

with a raft of new sanctions saying it's punishment election interference and cyber times . a car bomb goes off in a busy baghdad market killing at least one and injuring many. at the may just 2nd wave of covert 19 infections accelerates in india where hospital beds oxygen supplies a phone in short. the former u.s. police officer accused of killing george floyd has said that he will not testify in his own defense derek chauvin was seen in a witness video kneeling on the black man's neck for more than 9 minutes during that deadly arrest chauvin told the judge he take the 5th amendment referring to the u.s. constitutional rights against self incrimination. i have advised you and we

have gone back and forth on the matter would be understand right now. but after the meeting. last night we had some further discussion. and have you made a decision today whether you intend to testify or whether you intend to invoke your 5th amendment privilege. well before going on recess the prosecution put medical expert dr matson tobin back on the stand he's previously testified george floyd died because of low oxygen levels the defense has finished calling witnesses setting the stage for closing arguments to take place next week monday let's go to our correspondent john hendren who is in minneapolis and john the key moment today was hearing that derek 7 will not be testifying is that what we expected.

when we really didn't know what to expect but what we can infer from that is that the defense believe they have instilled enough reasonable doubt that they don't need chauvinism this stand and putting your defendant on the stand is often a risky maneuver because he's allowed to be cross-examined after that and the prosecution could bring up any number of things such as the fact that he's got a total of 18 excessive force complaints against him those cases could be brought up in the cross-examination he could be questioned about why he didn't lift his knee off of george floyd's neck long after he didn't have a pulse anymore and offer him medical assistance that will be a difficult thing to answer because clearly shows and did nothing to offer medical assistance to george floyd to the defense seems to believe that they have instilled

enough reasonable doubt that the jury has now an alternative theory to what killed george floyd and that is that it was a combination of drugs and his heart trouble that's the defense theory and that derek chauvin was not the cause of his death that's what they're going with and if they can persuade jurors that there is at least some doubt as to what it was that caused the death of george floyd then possibly you could get a unanimous verdict of 12. years saying that there 'd is reasonable doubt the prosecution though aggressively pursued its case up to the very end calling it star witness martin open a pulmonologist to counter the medical testimony from the defense he said essentially there's no carbon monoxide and that it was a lack of oxygen that caused the death of george floyd and that what caused that lack of oxygen was derek chauvinism the on his neck that's the prosecution case now

we go to closing arguments on monday were each of them will summarize all of the points that they've been gathering up in the past 14 days it's interesting isn't it it is now all in the hands of the jury but when you reflect back on the last few weeks what do you make it of if it will because. the prosecution took a lot longer to present their case they had a lot of medical experts many of them specialists. while the defense only had one medical experts and he was more of a general physician. that's right and the defense tried to bring up a prior arrest to show a pattern of george floyd not cooperating with police on arrest and ingesting whatever drugs might be in his possession before the officers could take him in vats what the defense was trying to suggest but you're absolutely right the prosecution took a leavened days to present its case we're wrapping the defense case in 3 days and

i've talked to defense lawyers who say that is not atypical because the burden is on the prosecution to affirmatively prove its case technically the defense doesn't have to prove anything if they want to do they can sit back there and offer no testimony whatsoever because all they have to do is to suggest the presence of reasonable 'd doubt to those jurors so the prosecution really needs to lock down its case that's why it took a levin days to do that and that's why it called this rebuttal witness today to refute the testimony of the defense's medal a medical expert just one day before so now it's a matter of who the jury believes and in martin tobin the pulmonologist who just testified for the 2nd time. the legal analysis that i've seen suggests that the jurors were involved in the courtroom we know that from the pool report

whenever he spoke that he was well received and it remains to be seen whether there's enough doubt in those jurors minds not to convict eric chauvet. 12 jurors have to decide either way either he all 12 say he has to be convicted then they've got to name one of those 3 charges or more or all of them have to agree that he is not guilty if that doesn't happen and we have some division where there's even one juror who doesn't agree with the other 11 if they can't resolve that difference and they if that happens they will retry repeatedly to do that if they can't resolve that difference then it's a hung jury and they get to do it all over again the prosecution would have to decide whether to pursue the case in this case it's almost unthinkable that they would not do so but right now we're waiting to see if that jury comes up with a unanimous decision but before that we have closing arguments from each side offering their most aggressive summary of this case on monday and johnny you've

been that day in day out what is your failing what are you hearing about how the defense has full its because. at the end of the day they do have history. as far as i understand it at least this particular state we've never seen a police officer convicted of the killing of an african-american. it's exceptionally rare that a police officer is charged with murder it's even rarer that one is convicted so. the chances are the odds are definitely against conviction just in general in any case of a police officer being accused of murder and as you pointed out before that hasn't happened here in this state of minnesota with a white police officer accused of killing a black man but it has occurred recently in chicago illinois you know just

a couple states over where a police officer was accused of killing a black man in that case one with a knife in his hand who was walking away from police that officer gerry van dyke was convicted of murder and is now spending time 2 in prison and interestingly the expert witness in that case for the defense was barry brought this same expert witness in this case is that the police officer did nothing wrong well he said the officer did nothing wrong in the case of look on mcdonald's death in chicago and the jury simply did not agree with him that could happen again here it's all a matter of how credible the witnesses are but i will tell you this town is on edge right now stores are boarded up many things are closed there have been curfews various curfews over the last 3 nights and every time i talk to people about what their concern is about this case the people who live here in minneapolis tell me

they're worried that this city will go up in flames again if protesters are not happy with the verdict and what exactly the threshold for that happiness is. depends on who you talk to but the protesters in the street want a conviction in this case and they want to stiff sentence event doesn't happen the chances of there being trouble in the streets go up. john hendren there for us in minneapolis. meanwhile a u.s. policewoman is soon expected to face court over a fatal shooting not far from where the show and murder trial has been going on 20 year old don't say rice was shot on sunday after being stopped by police for a traffic violation officer kym potter has been charged with manslaughter and has been released on bail a day after she turned in her badge the death has set off several nights of unrest as we heard there from john police say potus shot dante right accidentally having

mistakenly drawn her gun instead of a taser you know it's a state's has announced new sanctions against russia the white house says they're in response to election interference and solvers hacks directed by the kremlin the measures include why the restrictions on u.s. banks trading in russian debt and the expulsion of 10 diplomats in brussels nato announced it supports any u.s. actions to respond to russia's destabilizing activities russian's foreign ministry says a response to the sanctions is inevitable and it summoned the u.s. ambassador in moscow. shortly we'll have reaction from moscow is there as bernard smith is there let's listen in to our white house correspondent kimberly help it. there is an additional 2 more sanctions that have been announced targeting 30 russian entities and individuals and also targeting the tax firms that support

russian intelligence now the timing of all of this is significant because you'll recall it's only been a matter of days since joe biden held a phone call with vladimir putin where the to discuss the ongoing challenges to the united states russia relationship and both pledging that they wanted to move forward and work through some of those differences so it is surprising to see these sanctions so quickly after that call but the reason the united states says that it's doing this is in retaliation for the attack on the source solar winds hack as it's called penetration by the russians allegedly on a number of u.s. government agencies and their computer systems also for the ongoing occupation of crimea by russia and as well for the alleged bounties that were paid on u.s. soldiers heads for their fighting in afghanistan no again russia denies all of

these charges being leveled by the united states one more i should point out that is election meddling i add that to the list but again the reason for all of this is that the united states says that it will always defend its interests. the u.s. has a long list of complaints against russia from interference in presidential elections cyber hacking the bullying of ukraine the jailing of opposition politician alexina valmy to other what it calls malign acts russia course denies any meddling in the foreign ministry spokeswoman maria so her over says the sanctions contradict president biden's phone call to vladimir putin on tuesday night when he called for a desire to normalize times she says this aggressive behavior will receive a decisive rebuff now russia's ruble recovered the losses it had suffered before the announcement of the sanctions a suggestion that particular those sanctions targeting russia's sovereign debt

market might not have the economic impact 1st the u.s. ambassador to moscow has been summoned to the foreign ministry mr her over says john sullivan is not going to have a pleasant mix. still ahead on al-jazeera. a major 2nd wave of 19 factions accelerates an india where hospital beds and oxygen supplies are falling short. brazil's president faces an inquiry over his government's plan demick response has a number of deaths continue to soar. it's time for the perfect jenny. sponsored play qatar airways hello let's start in china where things are looking rather wet and windy for northern and southern areas we've got

a weather system developing across mongolia parts of northern china bringing some really strong winds and heavy snow and rain there we could see from dust being kicked up as well funded showers are expected in beijing but those could clear by the time we get to the we can. and giving way for some nice sunshine to come through 900 degrees there will see it come up into the twenty's further south we've got some thundery showers along the southern coast extending into taiwan and by the time we get to saturday japan will see that wetter weather that belts of cloud and rain pushing up particularly heavy in parts of southern honshu but the big weather story is in southeast asia we've got a tropical storm surrogate developing off the eastern coast of the philippines that's expected to reach typhoon strength by the time we get into friday though isn't expected to make landfall we'll keep monitoring that heading to india now with things are looking rather dry and clear for much of the northern areas the

thunderstorms and showers are expected across the southern coastal regions as well as in sri lanka. to quit school to qatar airways it's a very bleak picture for a lot of americans out there white supremacy impacts all of our you if you're putting more money into the hands of someone 1st taking money out of the hands of other workers several goes to their camp he becomes a us versus them this is the deal about constraining your nuclear program the bottom line on the big questions on out is there. if you want to help save the world. enduro. the. the you.

you're watching out is there a mind of our top stories this hour the man accused of killing george floyd in may of last year has chosen not to testify in his own defense derek chauvinist accused of murdering floyd by kneeling on a snag vova 9 minutes. the white house has announced new sanctions on russia the u.s. is accusing the kremlin of election interference actions against dissidents and cyber attacks it's also expelled 10 people from the diplomatic mission in washington. france's coronavirus death toll has surpassed 100000 becoming the 8th country in the world to reach that number it will of course put more pressure on president in monument halls government which has been struggling to contain the resurgent outbreak with localized lockdowns now with

a national one france has recorded more than 5000000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic there been more than 200000 new coronavirus infections over 24 hours across india its highest daily tally yet it's now the 2nd worst affected country in the world by total cases and the worst by daily infections but per capita it's still far behind other nations several states say their health systems are overwhelmed elizabeth problem is in new delhi where restrictions and curfews are being reimposed. once again that here in the kinds of reports and seeing the kinds of scenes that we did last year during the height of the 1st wave during the peak of the 1st wave and because of that we've had the stage leader of the capital delhi chief minister arvind kejriwal announce the closing down of more walls bars restaurants bars and gyms restaurants will only be allowed to do deliveries he's

also a bounced a weekend locked out on. the $20000000.00 people where they will only be allowed to go out for work or to get essential supplies he said that there is no shortage of hospital beds in delhi but at the same time he has asked hospitals to requisition hotels and banquet halls to add more beds for corporate mind to patients there are 7 of restrictions already in place and the worst affected states from wednesday night its 125000000 people to go out on this it's for work or to get essential supplies and we have states imposing such restrictions because there are many reports of a shortage of hospital beds maharashtra has a critical shortage of oxygen supply we're seeing reports pictures of long lines of ambulances with carrying patients waiting for hours outside hospitals that in. because of the shortage of unfortunately our bodies piling up outside hospitals in

the state off the scare that has a disproportionately high death rate with long lines at crematorium and at burial grounds. thailand is considering new restrictions off the reporting of $1500.00 infections in one day the outbreak has been linked to nightclubs and bars and bangkok it's likely to delay the government's plans to reopen to tourists. the state and city blinken has flown into afghanistan has been hoping to reassure leaders a day off to the u.s. and nato announce that they're pulling out all troops by september will maintain the american tradition of providing humanitarian assistance for those most in need including women girls and refugees i share that message in all my duties today with president danny with chairman i believe with

representatives from civil society who are working for change every single day in their communities throughout the country the united states will remain afghanistan steadfast partner we want the afghan people countries in the region and the international community to know that fact it's also a very important message for the taliban to hear. at least one person has been killed by a car bomb in baghdad the explosive went off in a market in the southern city district which is in the east of the capital 17 people were wounded. from the scene. this is the market. where the explosion took place we understand that there was a car parked by the roadside. bomb and when it exploded it resulted in several casualties now this is the 2nd time there is a deadly bombing in the capital this year the last one happened in january claiming

dozens of lives * in that attack was claimed by since the group's territorial defeat in 27 there has been a few small number of attacks here in the capital that has enjoyed relative stability but there is a concern here that such attacks may increase as iraq approaches elections in october and there is also a warning from security forces last week ahead of the fasting month of ramadan which became began to speak because this is a time where we usually see increase in suicide bombings by targeting densely populated shia areas like the market we have the objective to claim as many lives as possible. talks aimed at reviving the iran nuclear deal have wrapped up for the day in vienna u.s. president joe biden says he wants to rejoin the agreement but iran must 1st reverse its violations so iran wants u.s. sanctions lifted discussions have been overshadowed by an attack on iran's main

nuclear facility which took place on sunday. health officials in ethiopia's to grey region have accused ethiopian troops and their allies of forcing women into sexual slavery if european president ordered an offensive in the region last year a warning some viewers may find this woman's story reports distressing. her 2 children were waiting for her to come home with food when she was pulled off a bus in ethiopia's to grey region to be gang raped and beaten by $23.00 soldiers over the course of 11 days the incident happened in february in the city of. she recalls what one of the men 1st said. easy he said to me listen to me you go where we tell you to go otherwise we will blast your belly out with this knife we don't want to waste any of the bullets we will cut your throat with this knife

then i screamed out villagers found her unconscious and bleeding she had a broken leg and severe internal injuries at the hospital doctors removed blood soaked items including nails that soldiers forced into her body after she was raped evidence of the kind of crime that is becoming more common in this conflict these are idiots who are aware. that going to escape facility. is beneficial and so they're courageous enough to come to this facility and these are people who are living close to the cities majority of. people are living in the area and so i would assume that the number of cities that people think spoke to graze top public health officials said women are being used as sexual slaves the 27 year old is one of hundreds who've accused ethiopian and allied eritrean soldiers of horrific acts of sexual violence well i think it is without is gathered

in the hall i have spent a month in this hospital i'm receiving treat. meant my legs do not to me they are broken my back is broken let alone moving i county can get up i cannot control my hearing there is a mix if you are in and blood coming out if me the enemy has destroyed my life. if the o.p.'s prime minister of mud has acknowledged incidents of rape and said perpetrators will be brought to justice but if you open and eritrean leaders have also accused activists from the tigre a people's liberation front who they've been fighting since november of faking rape cases as a propaganda tool this despite their own health officials confirming hundreds of cases survivors describing similar incidents and showing injuries consistent with rape still recovering in hospital she spoke of another kind of pain the soldiers

had taken her phone and she had no way of speaking to her 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter when she left them with their grandmother to search for food they only had enough bread to last less than a week zain bus ravi of his era. teachers and parents in nigeria blaming a common practice for contributing to a school fire which killed 20 children they say makeshift structures often bill to extend overcrowded classrooms and reports. mangled frames of desks and burnt pages of textbooks are all that's left of what was lost on tuesday a fire ravaged a school and a community strong winds carried flames from one struck classroom to another it's not known where it started and as. i arrived at the same time the fire far as arrived the fire the already destroyed the building and several bodies were taken to hospital including my daughters one as. we were informed that

a fire had broken out of the school and in no time so it became a huge tragedy with the language carried from classroom to classroom by the wind. most older students were able to escape but not the younger ones this same phone say designed for they were mainly preschool children 3 and 4 up to 5 years old 2 days the whole neighborhood the hold of me she really is in total mourning for these little children innocent people have been burnt alive in this fire the prime minister has promised a thorough investigation and said to do this in the criminal if the file was criminal be assured we will find the perpetrators i'm we would do everything to ensure they receive a maximum sentence because this is not acceptable but parents teachers and their national teachers union say authorities share in the blame they say the government should ban the use of straw huts that are often used to extend overcrowded school buildings and instead build brick and mortar classrooms so

a tragedy like this can never happen again and al-jazeera. greece's foreign minister says in turkey way he's met president. nicole stunned d.s. also spoke with his turkish counterpart member of the show they're looking to overcome a territorial dispute in the eastern mediterranean sea. brazil's supreme court has given the green light to a senate inquiry into the president's handling of the covert pandemic john abell snorers critics accuse him of bungling the response is and i say he's being blamed on fairly on a chaotic europe it reports now from rio de janeiro the pandemic is changing the demographics in rio de janeiro and 11 other large brazilian cities in recent months they've been witnessing more funerals than births. yet another tragic statistic in a country that already has the world's 2nd largest cool video 1000 death toll and

was late to started smacks a nation campaign. from the start president who has been accused of downplaying the coronavirus and of setting a bad example by not wearing a mask nor respecting social distancing moves but on wednesday as brazil surpassed 360000 deaths by covert 19 widespread criticism of both and out of the actions took a serious turn the supreme court authorized a congressional inquiry into the brazilian president's handling of the pandemic. the probe is a blow to both sonari because it'll put the spotlight on the government's mistakes which for many the president will have to explain why he had no national plan to fight the pandemic and why he fought the governors who try to control the ass price on their own by imposing lockdowns or importing back saying he's. also not a reacted by saying that the crisis caused by the pandemic has turned brazil into

a powder keg and blame the restrictive measures he opposed for increasing poverty and hunger in brazil beso follicle do with them up brazil is at its limit people sasha take action i am waiting for the people to give me a son because the hunger the misery the unemployment to their. but while many in brazil slums are crying out for help and food in the hospitals doctors and nurses are at their wit's end they're running out of drugs to treat the increasing number of patients fighting for their lives in intensive care monika inaki of all just 0 rio de janeiro. my. this is al jazeera this year top stories the man accused of killing george floyd in may last year has chosen not to testify in.