then i states is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with russia we want a stable predictable relationship and russia continues to interfere with our democracy i'm prepared to take further action is to respond it is my responsibility as president of states to do so but throughout our long history of competition our 2 countries have been able to find ways to manage tensions and to keep them from escalating out of control are also areas where russia and united states can and should work together for example in the earliest days of my administration we were able to move quickly to extend for 5 years the new start treaty and maintain that key element of nuclear stability between our nations and that was in the interest of the united states and of russia and quite frankly of the world and we got it done when i spoke to president putin i expressed my belief that communication between the 2 of us personally and directly was to be essential in moving forward

to a more effective relationship and he agreed on that point to that end i proposed that we meet in person this summer in europe for someone to address a range of issues facing both of our countries our teams are discussing that possibility right now and out of that summit were to occur and i believe it will the united states and russia could launch a strategic stability dialogue to pursue cooperation and arms control and security we can address critical global challenges that require russia the united states to work together including reigning in nuclear threats from iran and north korea and in this pandemic globally and meeting next essential crisis of climate change and also made clear to president clinton of the united food that the united states. is unwavering in our support of our allies and partners in europe and that vang i expressed concern about russia's military buildup on ukraine's border and occupied

and occupied crimea i affirmed u.s. support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine and i strongly urged him refrain from any military action now is the time to deescalate. the way forward thoughtful dialogue and diplomatic process. the u.s. is prepared to continue constructively to move toward that process my bottom line is this where there is an interesting united states to work with russian we should and we will russia seeks to violate teams as united states we will respond will always stand in defense of our country our institutions our people and our allies thank you very much for your time. the president will give you any indication that paul is willing to change behavior. we indicated we would talk about it but i laid out as i said very simply i told i said during the campaign i

said when he called to congratulate me on being elected i said subsequent to that this last conversation that if it turned out that he was engaged in activities that he'd been accused of and cybersecurity and the solar winds and interfere in our elections that i would respond in kind i urged him. to respond appropriately not to exceed because we can move as well my hope and expectation is we'll be able to work out a modus vivendi and but it's important that we have direct talks and that we continue to be in context thanks. for. the work. north stream too is a complicated issue affecting you know our allies in europe i've been opposed to

north stream 2 for a long time from beginning when i was in when i was out of office in the before office re before i left office as vice president but that still is an issue that is in play thank you very much. president biden speaking there and answering some of the questions thrown to him a by the press assembled that they are now talking about the sanctions the u.s. has imposed on russia over cyber attacks though mentioning also that there was a scope for russia and the u.s. to cooperate and also talking about the possibility of a summit between the u.s. and russia somewhere in europe in the summer let's go to heidi castro who was listening to that in a washington i suppose i guess the president there trying to strike that balance that he also has talked about before that i guess he's trying to intimidate russia

in a sense but doesn't want the situation to escalate. that's right absolutely a balancing act that we see the u.s. trying to engage in here barbara and you heard president biden in his remarks just now reemphasizing that this should not have come as a surprise to russia he kind of went back on the timeline talking about even when he was president elect valuing at that time to president putin of russia that he would have to retaliate in some sort for the solar winds cyber attack and then of course more information now given by president biden on the conversation he had with putin just 2 days ago which he called a respectful phone conversation in which he said that there would be action that was coming and. that it was he who proposed this potential summit that would

happen if both parties are still on board which is of course a big question but there would be proposed for sometime this summer in to europe and these sanctions are being called by experts significant at least in the context of the last few years they are the most significant economic sanctions against russia in the last 2 years they would target the russia state debt they also target 32 individuals and russian firms who are the u.s. say were responsible for not only the election interference in trying to help. donald trump win the presidency as well as engaging in that solar wind which of course was very significant targeting more than 100 u.s. private firms and successfully infiltrating 9 u.s. federal agencies how does your house to with the latest on that from washington d.c. heidi thank you while the decision by the u.s.

to punish russia for its alleged election interference was prompted warnings of retaliation. which it yet to exhume. the response to the sanctions will be unavoidable washington must realize that they have to pay for the deterioration of bilateral relations the united states of america is fully responsible for what is happening. with us bando a senior fellow at the cato institute and former special assistant to president ronald reagan he joins us live now from springfield in virginia sir thank you so much for joining us here on out jazeera so having just listened to the president do you think that he has managed to strike that balance i think the words they use as our resolute but proportionate so effectively trying to send a message to russia and affirm one but not one thing an escalation i believe he did 2 things very well the 1st was to talk to vladimir putin before imposing the

sanctions so he established at least some personal contact and he indicated his interest in trying to work together and indeed even to have a summit which is a fairly dramatic step and then the sanctions are measured mean these are not measures that destroy russia's capacity to operate international markets you know these are all ones that russia can adjust to if russia decides to retaliate it would be proportionate for example to kick out some embassy employees these sorts of things so i think it's a hopeful sign that in fact biden wants to find a relationship with russia realizing it will always be difficult but that it should be possible to come up with as he put it a modus vivendi to at least work together on the most critical issues except that we just heard from a representative of the foreign ministry in russia maria is that corrodes i just

before speaking to you that it sound like they were going to take this lying down do you think it's all talk to you think the russians are worried. well any sanctions are not good that is this is an economy that has been hurt by saying sions what is critical is that no government is going to lose face with its own people so no government is going to say i guess they got us no government is going to say now we're in trouble any government is going to blame the other government so i think that response should be taken in that vein it's as much a response to the russian people as to americans they will retaliate but my guess is again we will be talking about something measured they will kick out a few employees that happens very often with embassies that tit for tat they may do something on economics but i think this will be calculated i think putin will recognise that biden has done this in

a way that both governments can recover from and potentially move forward how important was it in your opinion for president biden to act i mean the accusations are that they that russia has been involved in harmful foreign nick to vittie and also u.s. intelligence agencies did conclude that the russian president probably directed online efforts to help donald trump or try to win a 2nd term as u.s. president so do you think that even for biden is it an internal issue that he has to be seen to be tough with russia how worried do you think they really are about russia. well certainly the president has been one of the hawks against russia for years i mean there are many in his own party and even some republicans who believe china is the bigger problem but the president earlier this last year before he the election cited russia as being an adversary talked about china as a competitor so this fits with his beliefs i think he also wants to set himself

apart from donald trump he ran against donald trump democrats criticize trump on the issue of russia so it's important for biden to say i am not donald trump i'm coming from a different position here is he staked it out. in the past month and certainly the past few days have been very interesting when it comes to u.s. foreign policy you mention china we saw that quite key summit between the u.s. and china and all that long ago of course just yesterday the announcement that the u.s. is going to pull out of afghanistan by september and now the sanctions against russia how would you describe the direction that biden's foreign policy is taking. well 2 things one is that biden is showing that he's willing to act on foreign policy even as he's addressing all of these domestic concerns there was a general view that he was going to have to focus on domestic issues he's made that very big but he's proved in the last couple of days that he's also willing to make

very significant foreign policy decisions and i think he's also shown he says own man that on afghanistan he went against probably the bulk of the kind of policy making a lead in washington he went against the pentagon he said i want the u.s. out and he decided to do it on russia again he's shown he's going to be tougher than donald trump you know he's willing to talk to vladimir putin like trump did but he's also going to be determined to go after putin if he has to so i'm impressed i think this is a man who showing he's in charge and he's willing to take potentially difficult decisions even if he doesn't have a lot of support from some of the people you normally expect. just one final point in that news conference that joe biden just had president biden he also mentioned ukraine of course russia is amassing troops on the russian ukrainian border now ukraine is not a member of nato so the u.s. would have to be involved if it didn't have to you but how much all of an

escalating factor do you think that could be anyone could joe biden make all these comments and then just stand by if russia does end up invading ukraine. well if russia invades ukraine i think all bets are off in terms of our relationship i don't think the us would go to war there is no nato commitment you know president biden would have to go to congress and try to explain to the american people why the u.s. is going to war with a nuclear power i think that's very unlikely and most european countries certainly don't want that either but it would require i think extraordinary can all make sanctions certainly would be no summit you know the u.s. and europe would have to respond in a fairly tough way so this is something which no one wants to happen most people believes that putin is posturing but he's making a political statement he's trying to put pressure internally on ukraine and potentially checking the response of the by the new administration so they take it

very seriously and that conversation between the president and putin suggests to me again somewhat of a warning i'm willing to work with you without a mirror but don't do anything stupid if you do that the relationship is off that was found though senior fellow at the cato institute and former special assistant to president ronald reagan sir thank you so much for sharing your views with us thank you. well coming up on this news hour from london women in ethiopia stieg re region describe how they're being forced into sexual slavery as the u.n. warns that the humanitarian situation is still bad plus. a nicholas haunt on the island of soviet verd where for the 1st time in 100 years the carnival has been counseled with no tourists coming to the islands of cowbird find out next how the economy of the country is struggling. and in sports vis a 7 time n.b.a.

all star abruptly ends his career we'll tell you why. the humanitarian situation in ethiopia stieg re region is the teary rating with no evidence of the promised withdrawal by the eritrean military the un's humanitarian chief also warned of widespread reports of systematic rape and sexual violence by men in military uniform the security council will stoled 4 and a half 1000000 people into great need humanitarian aid or diplomatic editor james raises at the united nations with more. the security council was briefed by marlow caught the u.n. senior humanitarian official the briefing took place behind closed doors but al-jazeera has obtained a copy of his remarks he told the security council there were reports of mass

killings executions and a campaign of systematic rape much of what he said contradicted the official statements of the ethiopian government he told the security council i must say that neither the un nor any of the humanitarian agencies we work with have seen proof of eritrean withdrawal we have however heard some reports of eritrean soldiers now wearing ethiopian defense force uniforms the situation is clearly grim so what should be done now i put that to the spokes person of 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. government's own people and a real we conciliation. within the different groups in

tikrit it's now almost 6 months since the start of the ethiopian military operation in that time the security council's had a number of meetings but it's been absolutely silent unable to agree on the wording of any statement. so that's the latest from the u.n. meanwhile health officials in ethiopia's to great region have accused government troops and their allies of forcing women into sexual slavery is here pm president had ordered an offensive in the region in november a warning that some viewers may find this woman's story and same bus driver his report the stress. yes 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 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 did this a we're. going to get facility here it's been official and so they're courageous enough to come to this facility and these are people who are close to the city's majority of. people are living in the area and so i would assume that the number of cities that people if they spoke to gary's 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 to get his hands without his gothard 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 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 ray . 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 olds is here the stage is set for the closing arguments in the trial over george floyd's that after the police officer at the side of that not to give evidence both prosecution and defense rested their case as after their it show when the climb to testify the judge told the jury that cannot be interpreted as an admission of guilt now they will be sent out to consider their verdict after the closing arguments which will now be heard on monday prosecutors say the former police officer killed george

floyd by kneeling on his that for more than 9 minutes the friend says that floyd died because of drug use and heart disease i have repeatedly advised you that this is your decision and your decision on mom i'm correct. i have advised you and we have gone back and forth on the matter with the time and understand yes it is. after the meeting. last night we had some form of discussion right and have you made a decision today whether you intend to testify or money one time to invoke your 5th amendment privilege. i will invoke my 5th amendment privilege today. is this your decision not to testify or it is your honor all right. well al jazeera john hendren is live in minneapolis for us following that trial for john the testament is all

over closing statements a deal on monday but of course the key moment that a lot of people were actually waiting for seeing their actual event testify that's not going to happen. that's right and for a man facing up to 40 years in prison i thought derek chauvelin looked remarkably calm in that rare appearance we actually spoke out in the court room he's been sitting in for 14 days now for 11 days we heard prosecution witnesses one after the other mostly police and medical witnesses making a century 2 points one that derek chauvelin cut off george floyd's windpipe and 2 that that led to his death and then we heard police witnesses talking about how that was an inappropriate hold and that went all the way up to the chief of police in minneapolis the man who fired eric chauvin one day after this incident happened on may 25th and we heard the defense for 3 days making its case arguing essentially

that derrick children did not kill george floyd and that floyd died in the defense's view from a combination of other things including the drugs he was allegedly on fentanyl and methamphetamine heart trouble that he had for some time and yesterday we heard possibly even carbon monoxide now there was a prosecution witness that was called in to rebut that today he said it wasn't carbon monoxide that it was clear that the normal levels were found in george ward's body but all of that is preliminary to the closing arguments that come on monday the jury's going to get a 3 day break right now and the judge and the lawyers are working out the exact wording of jury instructions but after those closing arguments come on monday that jury will be sequestered completely isolated in a hotel if they want to see any video they've got a computer in that room so they won't be leaving until they come up with

a verdict and that could be days could be a week could happen in minutes when asked how they should pack the judge said plan for a long. hope for assured him it could be a long time couldn't it john hendren with the latest there from minneapolis don't think you. will thing in minnesota the us police officer who fatally shot a young on armed black man has appeared in court to want to write or shot on sunday after being stopped by police for a traffic violation officer came porter was charged with manslaughter and released on bail the incident reignited days of protests against racial inequality and police brutality police say the officer mistakenly drew her gun instead of her taser me. young he difference this is

a case in this is again evil. but no one if you will kill with a big ugly law these 2 are hurting our family if her blood has been spilled in all we a small as it pleases he didn't his name and him please help us to go here and get something down a conviction something well kelly carter jackson is an assistant professor of the humanities in the department of africana studies at wellesley college she joins us live via skype from boston madame thank you for joining us now we heard a very strong statement there by a writes on i will ask you about that later i'd just like to start with the show of in trial if that's ok we have of course found out today that there are children is not going to testify i guess is your reaction to that and i suppose would you have

wanted to see him take the stand. i'm not surprised i'm not surprised that he chose to invoke his 5th amendment rights i don't think that there's much that he could say i think that if he were to speak he would be likely to incriminate himself. and i don't think that people were one team can hear from him as well you know one of the things i found so interesting about this case is that i've been watching his his body language his posture nothing about him seems to have a lot of anxiety or even expressions of remorse and so i don't know that he would have proved you know a case in his that mantids had he taken the stand and of course what's left on monday now are the closing statements and then the jury will retire what have you made of the case of both the prosecution and the defense so far. wow i mean this is been one of the hardest trials to watch and some of the testimony has just been so

heart wrenching i think the prosecution has done a superb job really showing all of the different. you know witnesses and factors that when into george floyd's that that really showing that it was this need to the next bat that killed george floyd i think the defense tried to you know persuasively argue against that and i think that with each witness they brought up i had a hard time trying to. see their rationale is one that was that felt very accurate or factual it felt like all they needed to do was cast doubt but i felt the prosecution was so successful in giving fact after fact after fact. you know but it remains to be seen we've seen a lot of cases that look like they could be so closed and shut and. i'm still not

sure about what the outcome of this case will be despite the fact that the prosecution did such a strong job yeah because of course as long if a single jury member has any kind of reasonable doubt that it was just a knee on the on george floyd that the cause is that of course that would mean that certainly would be the higher charges for murder let's talk about the other case that we mentioned just before coming to you and that's the one to write a young man who was shot not very far away from that that courthouse in minneapolis i mean it's such a awful coincidence that while the eyes of the world are focusing on minneapolis this happens what does it do to the shows in trial this sort of attention this case happening so close does it make it even more symbolic. i think it puts people even more on edge i think people's anxiety and grief about you know these killings have been you know elevated to

a point where people are not sure what to do with their rage their interview emotions listening you know to the footage of his aren't you hear the pain you hear the grief and it's just so hard to reconcile how this could happen not just geographically so close together but time wise you know that this is less than a year since george boyd stacked and here we are again i think there are so many lessons we need to learn if we're going to keep these instances from happening. or would be interesting to hear the closing arguments and then of course see how long the jury deliberates for it could be a long time for the moment kelley carter jackson assistant professor of the humanities in the department of africa studies at wellesley college madame thank you thank you. there's lots more still to come in this news hour including rebalancing at the scales of justice why democrats in the u.s.

want to make the supreme court bench bigger and then sports we'll hear from the 6 time motor g.p. world champion as he makes his long awaited return to the sport. right well all the walls have been squeezed out of europe with the exception maybe of southern greece this is will here is in cold air so those 2 areas of low pressure where you can think of them dropping snow you know it's a little bit wrong in april but that's what's happening now that snows warming out so you might get in slovakia the money maybe some more than all the slopes the outmost is turning to cold rain if you look at the temperatures we talk about single think is the most places double figures for some and if you're lucky yes warming up in madrid and it's cooling down in moscow so you too have reversed but

athens still beats everybody but only just i have to say the picture continues into saturday with the sun doing service works or up a degree or 2 in many places but still well below where it should be at this time of the year and at the bottom end of spain the rain is falling crossing the water and affecting morocco algeria tunisia was quite a strong wind in it to see if that that's part of a circulation would suggest dust storms through tunisia algeria and most likely into libya that's what's happening in this northern part of africa where you can't quite tell is the amount of heat just north of where the incoming showers are in for example north and center go rough into the middle forty's is high. the old.

welcome back here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera u.s. president joe biden says he has told bloodier putin that he could have gone further with sanctions but believes now is the time to deescalate tensions earlier russia promised it will retaliate against the u.s. after the white house announced measures for moscow's alleged lection interfere. the un's humanitarian chief says the situation in ethiopia is t. grave region is the 10 year rating with no evidence of the promised withdrawal by the every tree and all military there are reports of systematic rape and sexual violence. for a police officer there and children has chosen not to testify in the trial over george floyd's that both prosecution and defense have rested their cases closing

arguments will start on monday. with millions of vaccines administered every day some countries hope the end of the pandemic is in sight but in others the numbers suggest it's far from over more than 200000 people tested positive in india in just the past that they nearly the 10th in a row that the daily record has been broken the w.h.o. says a 1000000 people have now died in europe france has passed the 100000 victims and germany saw just under $30000.00 daily infections for the 1st time in months and it's thought that mass travel for thailand's new year holiday is fueling a surge that see new daily cases top $1500.00 for the 1st time nearly half a 1000000000 people have now received one vaccine dose and more than a quarter of them are fully vaccinated but that rollout is not equal 83 percent

of all those those says were in high end upper middle income nations just north point 2 percent were in low income countries elizabeth 4 on the reports now from new delhi on india's fight against the surge. this has become an increasingly common sight on the streets of india's capital long lines of people waiting to be tested for covert 19 the countries facing a 2nd wave with cases of rising much more rapidly than the 1st labs are overwhelmed and the waiting time for results has enclosed from a maximum of 12 hours to at least $24.00 and often longer benin's imap mutable since the past 3 days i've been running around for my report where's my report here the officials have no answers for me asking me to go from one place to another if i am ill if i am sick where should i go what am i supposed to do like many indian

states of delhi has been recording its highest number of cases since the pandemic began its leader announced new restrictions for the capital's 30000000 people from friday. every day cases are increasing to control the situation delhi government has taken some decisions today we had a meeting with the you can and governor of delhi and we have decided to impose a weekend curfew in the capital. and all morgues gyms and spas must close and restaurants will only be allowed to do deliveries the state wants to avoid the shortages of hospital beds oxygen supply and health care workers being seen in other places like maharashtra and good. numbers are rising and it's anybody's guess this number to stop. all kinds of activity still happening across the country which lead to. these numbers in the coming days despite the rise in cases of political advantages gatherings are continuing in many places more than 3000000 hindu

pilgrims have bathed in the ganges river in the town of how did this week for the coup made a festival and millions voted in local elections in the state of the predation on thursday despite recording more than 20000 new cases the day before as was. factions of impuls in some places and not others those who have lost their livelihoods and angering many james wade and the ask advice of the tensions and the prime minister met in the media are still allowed to hold large rallies about they aren't allowed to earn a living elizabeth brannon al-jazeera. france's coronavirus test hole has passed 100000 becoming the 8th country in the world to reach that number health authorities reported 300 deaths in hospital on thursday that ash about there has more from paris. as most people in france very saddened indeed to learn that 100000 people have died of covert 19 in the country since the pandemic began more

than a year ago now it is a very grim milestone it is a very sad time for many people indeed we saw a tweet from the french president emanuel my call he said that the people who have died to not be forgotten he said that they are parents they are children they are siblings and that the french government also made it clear that they might organize a commemoration in memory of conflict and all the war shape that would take we don't know yet it is particularly poignant because it comes at a time in which france is still really thoroughly in fact leading a 3rd wave of coronavirus we've seen and i see used across the country nearly saturated the daily infection rates are still extremely high health workers say they are exhausted and they say that the peak is still yet to come and that we

could be in this health crisis for many weeks to come. america's top diplomat has been in afghanistan to reassure the government of continued u.s. support the spot a full withdrawal of troops by september the secretary of state says there will be a new push for diplomacy but there are questions over whether the country's institutions and security forces are up to the task for your country for e reports from kabul. there's afghans are going about their daily lives as usual but they know afghanistan is heading for an uncertain future and many are angry the united states failed to bring them what it promised peace but not for that was we did not see that peace in a fit in security increased after they announced the peace process the security situation is very bad the shopkeepers cannot operate at night people cannot go to their home when it gets dark because they are afraid but if the americans are

leaving now they should leave responsibly. in an unannounced visit to kabul hours after the withdrawal announcement secretary of state anthony blinken assured afghan politicians that the united states remains committed to their 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 but with violence rising across afghanistan in the absence of a peace deal between the government and the taliban it is not clear what this commitment will look like. for the 1st time in 20 years and so with foreign troops leaving afghanistan will have to defend itself alone and many people are questioning whether it would certainly forces them to back president set of ghana's

stand security forces are fully capable of defending the country up and did its combat operations over 5 years ago and the afghan security forces conduct over 95 percent of all combat operations yet they still heavily rely on the u.s. airpower and are trained by nato troops when a few months will also be gone the taliban insists that the u.s. sticks to the may 1st deadline saying in a statement that if it doesn't problems will be compounded some afghans are optimistic. because while you know. that the foreign ports are leaving afghanistan this is good for the our complete will to the afghanistan's good security forces are able to the point the country fears of a civil war and a taliban takeover are high especially among afghan women who glory whether the gains they've made in the last 20 years will be protected i feel

a little bit frightened to be honest also other women that i've spoken to today and yesterday who are leading women's activism they had a congress actually today and women are very frightened they feel that they don't know what's going to be happening and there hasn't been any primary set on women's rights and the future of women in this country but the u.s. military says it hopes to leave afghanistan with a chance for peace and the 1st sign of this will be just days away if it's able to convince the taliban and the government to sit at the same table at a peace summit in turkey. al-jazeera kabul. an investigation is underway into a fire at a primary school in the share which killed 20 children officials say that they were trapped in classrooms when it broke out in the capital niamey the national teachers' union is calling on the government to take action against makeshift classrooms in overcrowded schools under schapelle 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 length carried from classroom to classroom by the wind that most older students were able to escape but not the younger ones this same phone say designed for they were mainly preschool children $3.00 and $4.00 up to 5 years old today the whole neighborhood the whole of me share 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 to build brick and mortar classrooms so a tragedy like this can never happen again and al-jazeera. the greek and turkish foreign minister is have traded accusations in their 1st meeting since their countries came close to confrontation in the mediterranean last year greek foreign minister nikos de india met the president there on his trip to ankara but an initially cordie all joint press conference turned sour when he said

violations of greek sovereignty would be met with sanctions the turkish foreign minister called that i'm acceptable to countries of growing tense over their claims in the eastern mediterranean in the us a group of democratic lawmakers has proposed expanding the country's supreme court by 4 justices the aim is to end the conservative majority at equal hayden is at the court in washington d.c. . democratic lawmakers are now 3 right now that they want to put a bill on the floor that would expand the supreme court just currently 9 members to 13 now there's nothing in the constitution that says they can't do that congress has the ability the problem is not all democrats are in favor of this proposal and they need to get at least 10 republicans in the senate to agree and that seems highly unlikely to happen even more so the house speaker democrat nancy pelosi said she's not going to put this bill to the floor the court comes down with decision is

destructive to a woman's right to choose as they come down with decision is destructive to the climate as they come down with the condition decision is destructive of civil liberties i believe that speaker pelosi and others will. come along well this bill seems unlikely to pass the issue is not over president joe biden has announced a commission to study the supreme court everything from whether it should have more members to whether the justices should have term limits. for the pandemic to america's racial reckoning 2020 was nothing short of historic now the world press photo contest has announced their picks of the best iconic images the 1st embrace showing the reunion of a brazilian care home resident and loved one was selected as the photo of the year that was matt nissen and by antonio fetch you don't go documenting love stories set

against the israeli palestinian conflict was awarded the photo story of the here well matz nissen was they were sick of the world photo press photo of the year award he spoke to al-jazeera earlier about the images significance. it's the care center the care home in in outside of some polo and you see a nurse at the ana embracing the re woman called rosa and who's 85 years old and are also has been isolated in this care home for 5 months and without basically any in the in the physical contact except for the most necessary so it's the 1st time in 5 months that he can actually embrace another person. beautiful picture now still ahead in this news hour. find out what's got so upset that story coming up and spoil

them in.

the pan that make is weighing particularly heavily on countries whose economies the pentagon tourism like cape verde the archipelago nation off west africa holds parliamentary elections on sunday joblessness and the speed of any recovery are top of voters' concerns nicholas sachs reports now from the island of south. the arrival of kobe in 1000 spell the end of the party for event organizers. people

came to club on the edge of the airports to experience what he calls their journey on the dance floor to the sound of afropop. with locals it was a place to celebrate a sense of unity that is now all gone. into those on if you don't. entertain a man tonight is there a lifetime of work destroyed the future looks uncertain when can we start the party again and when can we go back to normal and welcome tours to my club in the winter europeans flocked to keep birds islands attracted by the clear blue waters and the soft sandy beaches brought from the sahara desert winds blowing over the atlantic those beaches are now empty hotels are closed restaurants are barely breaking even for the 1st time in 100 years the carnival in the island of selby sente that inspired rio is festivities was cancelled normally during the festive season the

people of so he sent a come out on the streets of mindell oh selling trinkets and drinks to tourists earning months worth of income in the short week of carnival the celebration is not just a festivity it's a driving force of the economy and so without it this year it has had a devastating impact on people's lives. no wonder that according to the african development bank unemployment has doubled to 20 percent with almost half of young people out of work ahead of sunday's legislative elections each candidate is putting up a show promising to jumpstart the economy and bring tourists back among them prime minister. his government has been guaranteeing a lost wages paying 70 percent of people's income in an interview with al-jazeera he admits the state coffers cannot sustain this last time strange to me most of the . rethinking of long term investment to gradually be listed printed on tourism and

use of human capital turn it into a blue economy be self-sustaining and use alternative energy to be more resilient and even jumpstart agriculture. 80 percent of the food consumed on the islands is imported sensing. hardship ahead jude sun turned a portion of his nightclub into a farm to grow salad. his employees no longer poured drinks but now water plants and in the evenings just on puts the music back on despite kobe he says the party will never stop the glitz hawk al-jazeera so he said to me. kate's have to get all the support now here is far. barbara thank you so much tennis world number one novak djokovic has been knocked out of the monte carlo masters jockey which was beaten in straight sets by britain's dan evans in the 3rd round it's the biggest win of evans's career by some distance job which had been playing at his 1st

tournaments since winning the australian open title back in february. he says being one of the worst. performances from my side i can recall in the last years i don't want to take anything away from his win but from my side i just felt awful on the court overall just nothing worked and it's one of those days. you know of course i died myself and as much is in the much. you know. it's not noisy you know it's you've got all sorts really for your head so it's just how he was how it was. you know he wanted to say the. you know maybe after the tournament. you know the kids and grandkids is it will them want to know as well. well number 3 raf no doubt easter in his match against 14 seen grigor dimitrov a spaniard turned just 55 minutes to dispatch his opponent to do take it very well

the 34 year old who is aiming for a record extending 12th monte-carlo title is through to the final minutes and i don't think i did the right thing by the day just to stay very focused every single ball and even had to score was in my favor don't lose the concentration on the losing density and that's the goal today and off course with much as but at the same time when i when i am playing well i just don't to lose it now i just keep going defending champion fabio fognini made light work of his serbian opponent feeling crowded no fish the italian is through to the quarter finals after sealing a straight sets 6276 with that of a bunch as united taken a huge step towards their 1st trophy of the season the red devils are through to the europa league semifinals united beating spanish side granada to mail in the 2nd leg at old trafford and this income ronnie opened the scoring for a late own goal from granada sealed the 4 and no aggregate when. united will now

face rome when the last 4 roma beat i.x. 32 on aggregates arsenal also advance they beat slavia prague 4 nil the gunners face a reunion with former manager and i am really as they take on villareal. they said they found a line out for the european champions league is also sat around madrid will take on chelsea while nan city face last season's runners sat p.s. jane said they have never won europe's top competition before football writer chris williams says success in this tournament is how poorly all this time there will be charged. spoke going as the start of this season may have been a back end to last season but if he doesn't win the champions league as much as the city he may be regarded a failure now i think that was a bit tongue in cheek from all of but there is a little bit of truth to it because they've steamrollered the premier league this season i think they were off form last season which is why liverpool were able to

run away with it because they were in tremendous form those 2 teams have been better than the out but manchester city of one pretty much everything they can in the game when the domestic english trouble the only thing that saluted them is the champions league trophy i think until they win it they'll be regarded as just another side in europe or be a very good one to take that next step like chelsea did a few years ago they need to win the champions league trophy and this season should be or could be that season if they get it right in the semifinal they're going to come up against for me the best team left in the competition last season's beaten finalists who got massive point to prove that they know they are the biggest team in europe despite their lack of european success for the last few years and it's your party to notice taken them to that next level but thomas to call it started and got them towards where he's come in refined the way refine their tactics a bit and back to neymar look almost unstoppable they now i think i've got that champions league trophy in their sights they all saw it last season and i think

they wanted desperately this season. tokyo's lempicka organizers have hit back at claims the games can be still counseled to officials in japan's ruling party said his surgeon covert 19 and factions may result in the olympics either being called off or taking place without fans organizers say their main fully focused on hosting a successful event the games are due to start on july 23rd. 7 time n.b.a. all star le marcus aldridge has unexpectedly announced his retirement from the sports at the age of $35.00 comes after the brooklyn nets player said he experienced an irregular heartbeat during a game last saturday ultras says he has been dealing with heart related issues during his 15 year career with the league posted a statement on social media saying he now wants to focus on his health and his family. and 6 time out of g.p. world champion mark mark has a set to make his long awaited return from injury at this week's portuguese grom

prix marquez has been out of action for 9 months after undergoing story surgeries on his right arm spaniard fractured his arm in a crash in the season opening spanish grand prix in july of last year the 20 year old also missed the opening 2 races this season and caps are really could be to be to be here i mean the of go to punish the go but he may be the most important step. in their side because i'm not from the person but they're by the bone that was the most screwed because doing all the. 9th month is already fixed so this is. now looking forward to the right to buy. ok and that is all your support for now sam back to barbara and london fire thank you very much for that and that is it for this news hour do stay with us though i'm

going to be back in just a few minutes with more of the day's thanks for watching about. the climate is changing and action now is paramount the challenges are immense but overcoming the this crucial will president joe biden galvanized efforts for stronger action stay with the just 0 for special coverage of the leaders summit on climate. capturing

a moment in time. snapshots of other lives. other stories. providing a glimpse into someone else's well to. the world called the thread least. inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers. i am the voice we are the one. witness on al-jazeera. one day i might be covering politics too and the next time i hear of micro-targeting from serbia hungry for what's most important to me just talking to people understanding what they are going through so that i can be the headlines in the most human way past. we believe everyone has a story worth hearing. they came from the countryside to cairo and became part of i've been life. to say this job is different from being the doorman al-jazeera world meets the man you've been keeping

a close eye on residential life in the big cities for decades but who may now be passing into history. the people will be he wasn't gone but he's now managed by a security company the do men of egypt on al-jazeera. u.s. president joe biden calls on russia to deescalate tensions after imposing fresh sanctions for alleged election interference and cyber attacks. hello i'm barbara sara this is al jazeera live from london also coming up i will invoke my 5th privilege today. proceedings draw to a close in a minneapolis court after the accused.