plus thousands of our programs between documentaries and. subscribe to you cheap. al-jazeera english. do you feel that your decision not to testify is about what on your behalf so this . former u.s. police officer accused of murdering george floyd declares that he won't take the stand. i might invade this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up france records more than 100000 deaths from covert 19 becoming the 8th in the world to surpass that

number. the u.s. hits russia with a raft of new sanctions saying it's punishment for election interference and cyber attacks. a car bomb goes off in a busy baghdad market killing at least one and injuring many more. the former u.s. police officer accused of killing george floyd says he will not testify in his own defense derek show then was seen in the witness video kneeling on the black man's neck for more than 9 minutes during the deadly arrest 7 told the judge he takes the 5th referring to the us constitutional rights against self incrimination i have advised you. on back and forth on time and understand. 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. privilege today. well before concluding the testimonies the prosecution medical expert dr matson tobin back on the stand he's previously testified george floyd died because of low oxygen levels the defense has now finished calling witnesses setting the stage for closing arguments which began on monday as talks are spot on john hendren who said many outlets john so the defense has rested its case today so all testimony has ended talk us through the highlights of what we had today. well the big highlight was what you showed there just a moment ago everyone has been waiting for 14 days to find out if derrick chauvet

was going to take this stand and speak in his own defense that would be the most dramatic testimony of the trial and it would give the prosecution an opportunity to ask him a number of questions in cross-examination including about the 17 previous cases in which he's accused of using excessive force they would have been able to ask him why he didn't offer medical attention to george floyd after he had no longer was showing opposed but that won't happen probably largely for those reasons the defense has played it safe and their belief seems to be that they've offered enough reasonable doubt that a jury can say that derek chauvinism not guilty of the crime of murdering george floyd so we had a job and come back to refute the testimony he's a prosecution medical expert a pulmonologist to refute the evidence offered a day earlier by a doctor fowler on 2 points one was dr fowler suggested that carbon monoxide from

the police vehicle might have contributed to george floyd's death this doctor said no no chance of that looking at the numbers only 2 percent of his of his oxygen might have contained some carbon dioxide that remains within the. normal levels and then there was talk about whether whether the windpipe can be crushed when someone's got their knee on it he testified that is absolutely the case dr fowler the defense expert one day earlier said that was not the case so really it ended with more of a whimper than a bang just a little refuting of the defense case but before that we heard a leaven days of aggressive prosecution witnessing megan making 2 points a derek chauvinist knee choked off the breath from george floyd and b. that that is the direct cause of floyd's death the defense's theory which they've been presenting over the past 3 days is that floyd died of

a combination of things he had some heart trouble some clogged arteries and that he had drugs in his system the prosecution was pretty aggressive in shooting both of those down suggesting that there was no reason to believe if derek chauvet hadn't been on top of floyd that he would have died and that the immediate cause was that need on the neck so we're going to hear some summary arguments but essentially that's what it's going to boil down to on monday when the 2 sides offered their closing arguments then after that the jury gets sequestered or isolated and they have to stay isolated until they come up with a verdict which could take hours minutes or weeks anything spots on correspondent john hendren outside that courthouse in minneapolis. well while all this is happening a u.s. based woman who faces a young black man in minnesota is expected to pay in court later today a 20 year old don't say rights were shot on sunday after being stopped by police

for a traffic violation. the officer came potter has been charged with manslaughter and released on bail a day off to she attended a badge that death has set off several nights of on rest and police a shoulder shot during tehran's accidentally having mistakenly drawn her gun instead of a taser francis coronavirus death toll has surpassed 100000 becoming the 8th country in the world to reach that number it will put more pressure on president in government which has been struggling to contain the was such an outbreak 1st with a localized lockdowns now with the national one france has recorded more than 5000000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic let's go straight to natasha who is in paris for us what has the reaction been in france to these figures

100000 covert 19 deaths us scary number. well clearly many people in france will be deeply saddened to know the $100000.00 people more than that have died of 19 in france since the beginning of the pandemic more than a year ago it is an extremely grim milestone now the french government has said that they are considering perhaps organizing a commemoration an homage to the victims of covert $1000.00 what sort of shape that would take we don't know yet but the idea would be to make sure that people know when when we're talking about under a 1000 deaths these are 100000 people 100000 families that have been affected families relatives friends that are still in mourning from from the their relatives their friends their loved ones dying of covert $900.00 so so extremely sad news

indeed and of course don't forget it comes as the country is still battling a 3rd wave intensive care units across most of the country are nearly saturated the number of daily infections is still very very high in france health workers say that we are still nowhere near the peak here france as you say is in lockdown do we know how long that might last. well the french president emanuel imposed a 3rd lockdown on france of the beginning of april so nonessential shops are shut schools are closed although they are supposed to reopen in a week or 2 and what emanuel in visit at the time when he impose a lockdown was he said that by mid may some restrictions would be lifted for example on bars and restaurants now he has convened his ministers he is asked them to come up with a strategy with

a plan of how that might happen of course the french government are very keen to a boy and support the economy they know that lots of people in france are simply fed up of being in lockdown but of course doctors and health workers are warning that this would simply be a crazy move at this point they say that the infection rates are still very high and they will continue to be high in a month's time they are warning the government not to lift restrictions too fast particularly as even though the vaccine rollout in france has certainly been accelerated in recent weeks it is still relatively slow it's still only about one in 10 of the adult populations actually received a 1st dose so the warning from doctors and health experts of course is do not lift these restrictions too fast do not undo the work of the lock down but you can imagine of course the government is very keen to try and move forward some restrictions and also give what amount of mackerel says is light at the end of the

tunnel to people who have been living with the restrictions for so long indeed natasha butler there for us in paris thank you the united states has announced new sanctions against russia the white house says they're in response to election interference and cyber attacks directed by the kremlin the measures include wider restrictions on u.s. 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 russia's foreign ministry says a response to the sanctions is inevitable and it summoned the u.s. ambassador in moscow i was house correspondent kim the whole kit has more on the story from washington d.c. 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 now 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 reaction from moscow with ben smith. 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 saw 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 meet. still ahead on al-jazeera and how women in ethiopia stingray region are being forced into sexual slavery. and cancer and gas the have already lost 2 children now 11 year old karim is suffering and he can't get the treatment he needs. now after a fairly quiet weather throughout the arabian peninsula the showers picking up again which means it'll be not as humid in catarrh as an example there be a bit more dust in the air brought down towards the u.a.e. the fanned out into the empty quarter of saudi and shower seem like is the wind

cold around the high ground in western side and the lower ground actually they might even reach riyadh next day or so otherwise the sun is blazing hot and things are warming up particularly in the valley look at jerusalem's forecasts so 31 does seem unusual to you you probably should put the color background on overseas pretty woman everywhere oranges and reds but in particular in jerusalem you should be seeing about $22.00 by days or well about that the record is $35.00 you might get close to that by sunday yet it's only april and already it's pretty hot that things than elsewhere are relatively quiet the sure man dies down by the end of sunday it was to 32 degrees in doha the seasonal rate in africa has moved north allowing the sun to do its work here to now we're going to all to me here but this red line that takes you through zimbabwe probably down towards southern and go down the maybe as producers record high temperatures and that won't so reach cape time in the next

few days. the climate has changed every year for millions of years decades of talk but little action it's all about just create confusion to crank smoke and mirrors the shocking truth about how the climate debate has been systematically subverted the oil industry was a main bankroller or opposition to campaign against the climate do you think that's a bad thing more future good with you if you think absolutely. on. the in the way.

they're watching out 0 mind 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 chauvinistic ease of measuring floyd by kneeling on his next more than 9 minutes. francis coronavirus death toll has surpassed 100000 becoming the 8th country in the world to reach that number will put more pressure on president emanuel back on his government has been struggling to contain the resurgent outbreak. 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. health officials in ethiopia's to grey region have accused ethiopian troops and their allies of forcing women into sexual slavery if they're

been president ordered an offensive in the region last year and warning to some of us you may find this woman's story in his report distressing. her 2 children were waiting for her to come home with food when she was pulled off a bus in ethiopia 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 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. did this. going to get facility. is being efficient and so they're courageous enough to come to the cities 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 say to graze top public health official 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 you that is got that in the home i have spent a month in this hospital i'm receiving treatment my legs do not to me they are broken my back is broken let alone moving i can't even get up i cannot

control my hearing there is a mix of hearing and blood coming out if me the enemy has destroyed my life. if the o.p.'s prime minister abi ahmed has acknowledged incidents of rape and said perpetrators will be brought to justice but if european 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. well the un security council has been holding

a meeting about the humanitarian situation in to gray let's go over to our diplomatic editor james bass who is at the u.n. headquarters james we heard there very disturbing testimony from that ethiopian woman talking about how she was sexually assaulted what are the u.n. security council saying about what is going on in tigray. the grim situation on the ground has been relayed to the un security council in a closed meeting they've been having on the situation they were briefed by the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs the top humanitarian official of the un mark it was behind closed doors but we've spoken to diplomats and we have been told exactly what mr lowe cox said and it contradicts what ethiopian government officials have been saying he says the humanitarian situation in t.

grey is deteriorating the conflict is not over and things are not improving he says targeted violence mass killings executions as well as reports of systematic rape going on rake and sexual violence taking place in t. grey he also contradicts the statement from the the european prime minister that eritrea and troops have been withdrawn from t. grey he says i must say neither the un nor any of the humanitarian agencies where we work with have seen proof of an era trend with drawl and he even says that there are trained troops they think are now being put into ethiopian defense force uniforms you also hear from the north or it is the humanitarian situation is improving he says it is not he says the vast majority of tea craze completely or partially inaccessible to humanitarian agencies he said that there are $4500000.00 people out of a total population of $6000000.00 in tikrit who need humanitarian assistance and

most of them aren't getting it so what's the un going to do about all of this in the last few minutes i put that to the spokes person for the un secretary-general. what should be done one is increase humanitarian humanitarian access to see real movements on human rights investigations given the horrific reports we're seeing from our own people sometimes even from the ethiopian government's own people and a real we conciliation. within the different groups in tikrit it's worth noting that it is now almost 6 months since the start of the military operation and since the start of it the security council has listened to these sort of reports has had close meetings but it has been absolutely silent security council members have not managed to agree

a single statement on the situation i wonder whether the new evidence that's being presented in recent days and they've been told about in this meeting may perhaps change minds many thanks for that james days there for us at the u.n. us at your site anthony blinken has flown into afghanistan has been hoping to reassure afghan leaders a day off to the u.s. and nato announce that they're pulling out or troops. 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 meetings 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. state department correspondent resident jordan. well certainly this is the sort of visit you would expect after the u.s. makes a major policy decision about a foreign in military engagement but it does come in the middle of the us as our efforts to try to help the afghan central government and the taliban broker a peace accord it's also raising a lot of political concerns both there and kabul as well as here in washington because of the very simple question if there are internal security threats will the u.s. actually be in a position to help kabul to help the government of president ghani actually fend off those internal security problems whether they come from rogue elements of the

talabani or whether they come from other. extra terror state groups such as islamic state and so the purpose of tony blinken visit to kabul was to underscore to government leaders that the u.s. does have a military plan in place and it's also being reported that there are u.s. intelligence plans in place to help of the afghan government resist any sort of attacks on is sovereign city or attacks on its people now whether or not gandhi or the political c.e.o. of beloved all believe tony blinken in the u.s. government remains to be seen. and he's one person has been killed by a collar bomb in baghdad the expressive went off in a market in the side a city district which is in the east of the capital 17 people and wounded men a full team has moved from baghdad. this is the market. where the explosion took

place we understand that there was a car parked by the roadside which was rigged in a 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 * and that attack was claimed by ice and now 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 when we usually see an increase in suicide bombings targeting densely populated shia areas like the market we have the objective to claim as many lives

as possible. greece's foreign minister is in turkey where he's met with president. he also met with his turkish counterpart. it's all an effort to overcome differences of a territorial dispute in the mediterranean is a fast visit to turkey a great foreign minister in more than 2 years. now as we mentioned earlier a police officer in minnesota who shot and killed a 20 year old dante right on sunday after he was stopped for a traffic violation is expected in court today the officer kim is being charged with manslaughter. let's go straight to minneapolis where we can hear from the family of 20 year old dante wright who died on sunday.

from. haiti. all right. i'll follow. you here for a. good. night if you're right. also very grim but. if you write that. article about your family all around the world. or your family coming to health care where. you have another tragic killing of a black man is so we got media request from the media the families response to all of this a part of a big show as well 2nd degree manslaughter for the killing

of dante right. yesterday. i was in new york. national networks conviction have been a panel. were for reverend al sharpton and the mothers of the movement as they all 3 were for 2. and while we were on the panel or katie and they was. answering the question where message would you have for katie right now that is she is joining in a sorority that no mother wants to be a part of and maybe it was fate as they were

answering those questions that we got notified that county attorney are put. had file the charges against officer potter and out told them. michael brown's mother lives it makes bad and michael brown was scared of ferguson missouri meeting say he had his hands up and the phrase hands up don't shoe went by room. air gardner mother. of green car. eric god show in staten island new york he said i can't breathe before george claus said i can't breathe. and so quick.