earth arrives on al-jazeera what's most important to you is talking to people understanding what they are going through here and as you see it we believe everyone has a story worth hearing. relations between russia and the us hit a new low as moscow expels 10 american diplomats a day after a similar move by washington. hello and welcome i'm peter w. watching al jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up. the end of an era roll castro and sees he's stepping down as the leader of keepers

ruling communist party. anger in chicago a day after graphic video reveals a 13 year old boy was chased down and shot dead by a police officer. and an important scientific advance or is it the stuff of nightmares researches create the 1st embryo from human and monkey cells. top story relations between the u.s. and russia a new low in a tit for tat response to washington sanctions moscow has expelled 10 diplomats and banned former and current officials it came a day after the biden and ministration impose similar measures accusing russia of election interference and cyber attacks but smith explains from moscow. the russian

government says its response to u.s. sanctions is tit for tat 10 u.s. diplomats will have to leave and 8 senior current and former administration officials are banned from entering russia that includes former national security adviser susan rice foreign minister sergei lavrov says he could go further still. if for exchanges of niceties continue we will ask the americans to bring the number of their diplomats who deal with bilateral relations with russia in accordance with the number of our employees working in the embassy and to general consulates in the us. the kremlin is reacting to u.s. government decision to blacklist russian companies expel russian diplomats and bar u.s. banks from buying sovereign bonds from the central bank in moscow russia continue to interfere with our democracy all this because washington says russia is involved in malign acts including the persecution of opposition politicians alexina valmy interfering in elections engaging in cyber hacking as well as occupying crimea that

the toughest sanctions since 2018. if the government is frightened by the way the events are developing but they will change course and will continue to be confrontational but the question is how far will the kremlin push it they will try to make it look as though nothing has changed but in reality they will be much more careful in the way the consequences of their actions the kremlin says president putin has yet to decide if you'll take part in a u.s. led climate summit next week russia's government seems to be open but a line is now being drawn up a response to the u.s. sanctions the foreign ministry here says it wants to avoid any further escalation and sergey lavrov says he takes positively joe biden's offer of a meeting with vladimir putin. but it's an al-jazeera moscow. the u.s. president and the japanese prime minister say they'll continue to work together to meet challenges posed by china yoshida sugar was the 1st world leader. it's who visit the white house on the bite ministration summit focused on

a wide range of issues including technology and the global economy but it was geopolitics that dominated the discussion oh good afternoon we committed to working together to take on the challenges from china and on issues like the east china sea the south china sea as well as north korea to ensure a future of a free and open and oh pacific japan and united states are 2 strong democracies in the region and we're committed we're committed to defending advancing our shared values including human rights and the rule of law we're going to work together to prove that democracies can still compete and win in the 21st century can deliver for our people and the face of a rapidly changing world he likes you not tell you you know he's not going you'll get it we agree to oppose any attempts to change the status quo by force in the

east and south china seas and intimidation of others in the region at the same time we agreed on the necessity of each other to engage in frank dialogue with china and in doing so to pursue stability of international relations while up holding universal values. cuba will be without say castro guiding its destiny for the 1st time in 60 years 89 year old leader raul castro has confirmed he's stepping down as the head of the communist party to pass on the baton to a younger generation role and his brother fidel began their leadership of cuba after anchoring the communist revolution in 1959 the sea in human has more now that not even the pandemic could prevent cuba's aide communist party congress from proceeding exactly as planned but raul castro's confirmation that he was stepping down was nonetheless this stark. my task as the 1st secretary of the central committee of the communist party of cuba concludes with the satisfaction of having

done my duty and confidence in the future of the fatherland. nevertheless peculation that the last of the castro brothers to rule cuba might retire from politics entirely was quickly to rest. i have reached the meditated conviction not to accept offers of any other top party position but i will remain in the party as one or more revolutionary combatant making my humble contribution to the end of my days. castro used most of his opening speech to repeat accusations that the united states is tightening an economic news around cuba to sabotage its companies and monetary reforms impose chaos and to provoke a social uprising. this was a thinly veiled reference to an increase in demonstrations and expressions of political dissent in cuba. coincides with an acute economic crisis and scarcity of

primary goods. while i live i will be ready to continue fighting for the country and socialism with the most strength than ever let's shout together long live a free cuba. the you after them. crashed ended perhaps for the last time with the slogan pointed by his brother fidel. fatherland or death as hubris claiming his party prepares to face an uncertain future without a castro at the helm. seeing human al-jazeera or staying with a story august is in havana with more reaction what does raul castro's retirement mean for ordinary cubans all the sectors of the population are broadly supportive of the government particularly those that lived through the huge improvements in health care education public safety that were ushered in by the cuban revolution in

the 1960 s. but for 30 years this island has been living through a slow drawn out economic and social crisis and as a younger generation that's demanding more that we need only the 1st thing i change is i get rid of the blockade so that the spire of this country would change that only when the revolution triumphed did a lot for society schools hospitals and there were other things that went backwards housing trade. for me the customers legacy is that there is free education and health care and we should be grateful for that and i must tell you that we have serious problems with freedom of expression most cubans are scared to express themselves because they are scared of reprisals all that the police have them in the streets or that they take them away in a police car because they won't know the real problems we have humans are living through the most serious economic crisis since the fall of the soviet union the sun has been lashed not only by the pandemic but also by powerful new sanctions of the

communist regime put in place improving the economy is the island's main political challenge but the mood here in havana is that more than anything any cuban leader can do improve the economic future hopes and dreams run through improved relations with united states. hundreds of people are rallying in chicago in support of a teenage boy who was shot dead by the police these are live pictures of protests that are continuing late into the night there the incident which happened last month has heightened tensions across the u.s. over issues of policing and racial injustice on thursday body cam video footage was released showing an officer chasing adam toledo the 13 year old latino boy does appear to comply with a police order to drop a weapon and raise his hands before the officer opened fire there is of course separate c.c.t.v. footage as well that does appear to show the young man throwing something through a gap in the fence as the officer pursues him the policeman calls for an ambulance whilst. urging the following boy to stay awake more on the developing story for you

just as soon as we can outrage too over the shooting of a young black american man by the police during a traffic stop dante wright's mother has issued an emotional plea for justice his friends and relatives gathered in minneapolis the day after the officer who shot him appeared in court kimberly potter is charged with 2nd degree manslaughter she says she mistakenly drew her gun instead of her taser writes mother told a news conference the charges are not strong enough just this is definitely what we want but i'm never going to get. justice would be bringing my son home to me just this would have been my son driving to the car was coming home after that i'm not going to get that with 2nd degree manslaughter is not ok i'm not ok with that that's not right see murdered my son my son is never going to come home.

the mother of another black american man fatally shot during a police traffic stop in 2016 was also at that news conference and valerie cast steel the mother of philander castiel says the case of dawn to write struck a chord with her. he was murdered in his head call his vehicle with why and he did nothing wrong he did nothing wrong these police officers as you can see off here really incompetent. how do you keep haven't marder at the murder where you don't have time to read over. there is a 0 all game she pretends he has more from brooklyn sense of minnesota is close to the location went on to right was killed and it has become a focal point for the protesters. it's like we have some new features for christmas for example many of the protesters are wearing dressing down to see me. because

a few nights ago a woman who lived in one of the residential blocks all the. way she came down to look for her brother she was wearing about 3 and she was apparently. put on you know pushed to the floor by several security officers and arrested and taken off to jail. people wearing that bathrobes in solidarity with that of that so that's one feature and a lot of a lot of the speeches right now are actually about how since for the last week basically in protests against group of policing and escalation what we've seen is policing and haskell ation it doesn't really seem that the message is necessarily getting through we have another feature today which is the secondary fence which is a pit and this is become a big focus of the activists too because they're putting up half russian is now on the fence as you may have heard the the mother of dante writes that he was

a rich initially stopped because he had african is standing for his rearview mirror and the state that's illegal but it's one of those driving by while black crimes something that isn't in force against white people under 30 but but it's often used as a pretext to stop black drivers going about their business and it was and the mother of dante rice says that was the pretext that was used to used to stop. plenty more still to come for you here on al-jazeera including these 2 a new united front is taking shape against the military in me and. also ahead or oil and diamonds taking center stage as kate historic election campaign comes to a close. but. they're welcome to have a look at the international forecasters say some big storms rumbling away across

the deep south of the u.s. hopefully things will quieten down a little as we go through the next day or so but with this waving weather fronts in place it does maybe are looking at more wet weather coming through here there you go it drags its way across louisiana mississippi alabama right over towards the panhandle as we go on through saturday little stronger little fire further north although we have got some bits and pieces of cloud and rain just around the central plains some snow there sliding in off the rockies and lasso going to make its way a little further south which in a switch as we go through sunday out west of where the starting to clear through still some showers up towards the tennessee valley pushing up towards the ohio valley while the more wind she wished just coming out so the 1st central parts of canada pushing across the mountain states easy across the northern place through the primaries and heading towards the midwest west some pasta looking fog into a lots of lovely hasn't sunshine even seattle getting up to 23 degrees not too bad a tall lovely spring sunshine also sunshine soufan intricacy good parts of mexico

some heavy showers just around southern parts of central america you might catch a shower i would say with a hispaniola but for the most part it's 5 and sunny. in pakistan's largest city climate change and water shortages and driving some residual. instant desperate measures $101.00 east meets the water of corruption on al jazeera. played an important role in protecting him and. go to each face. in the audience. the n.c.a.a. and the owner.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera live from doha a reminder of our top stories this half hour russia is expelling 10 u.s. diplomats from banning former and current officials from entering the country as response to a similar move by the u.s. over alleged russian cyber attacks and election interference. the 1st time in decades cuba's communist party will not be led by a castro role castro the brother of the late fidel castro is stepping down as the party's 1st secretary his successor will be voted in at the end of a 4 day party congress. will be rallies in chicago in support of a teenage boy who was shot dead by the police on thursday body count footage was released showing an officer chasing 13 year old adam toledo and then shooting him even though he didn't appear to have surrendered. the ukrainian president

a lot of me as a lenski has pressed for 4 way peace negotiations to ease tensions following the build up of russian forces along their shared border during a visit to paris mr selenski help talks with the french president emanuel and the german chancellor angela merkel charles stratford reports now from kiev. emergency talks in paris an effort to deescalate a military situation with russia that many ukrainians fear could spiral into war. germany's chancellor joined her french and ukrainian counterpart on line russia's recent deployment to what's estimated to be 100000 troops along with heavy weaponry to its borders with ukraine has caused alarm across europe and among nato allies we have warm and stronger position in ukraine and france and then germany and i said where directly and there on a sleigh that we we need to move where equate sorry i understand that it's our

problem but i think that it's not only our problem that is the safety of you or. russia the 4th member of the so-called normandy format that has for 7 years been trying to negotiate a political solution to the conflict in eastern ukraine was not invited to the meeting in paris moscow says its troop deployment is a military exercise and poses no threat but has warned it will respond to what it describes as ukrainian provocation. 14000 people have been killed in a 1000000 forced to flee their homes since the conflict began in 2014. both science accuse each other of regularly violating a ceasefire that has barely held since it was signed 7 years ago germany and france have been accused of wavering on how to confront russia and how much support to give ukraine ukraine's foreign minister last week called russia's troop deployment

an open threat of war and destruction of his country more ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of this year and throughout 2020 in kiev ukraine's deputy foreign minister told our jazeera russia is using the threat of violence to test nato and the new u.s. administration. ready to settle the conflict that is the question and the basic plot said about us or by terrorists is about russia russia has no interest in having result oriented approaches in this negotiation they are only pushing for the process by itself to control the situation. people in the ukrainian capital i'm nervous. and i think it happen you can expect anything from putin if there is a war everyone will defend our land we will be defending our country yet you put a video is not in the what you knew which i'm not a fortune teller but of course i don't want all everything is possible from russia

it's the aggressor that capable of anything and nothing good will come of it. ukraine's president says he is ready to hold talks with russia france and germany in order to calm the situation on the border in a statement released all the paris meeting france and germany yet again urged russia to withdraw its forces but despite the diplomatic pressure there is no sign russian president vladimir putin is ready to do that yet john struck at al-jazeera kiev. now the gunman who shot and killed 8 people at a fed ex facility in the u.s. a previously been interviewed by the f.b.i. after his mother called the police flagging mental health concerns with regards to a son officials also revealed 19 year old brandon hole was a former employee at the indianapolis plant having lost work there in late 2020 president biden issued a statement describing gun violence as a stain on the country his christian salumi. another corner of america the

scene of yet another mass shooting this time at a fed ex facility in indianapolis a gunman opening fire late on thursday night killing workers outside in the car park before going inside to kill others and then himself by friday morning police were still trying to piece together the motives of the gunman details remain scarce he got out of his car and pretty quickly started some random shooting outside the facility there was no confrontation with anyone that was there there was no disturbance there was no argument. just appeared to randomly start shooting and that began in the parking lot and then he did go into the building into the facility for a brief period of time the f.b.i. later revealed that the gunman a 19 year old former employee was interviewed in april last year after his mother became worried about his mental health however he was later released overnight

workers families gathered at a nearby hotel and waited to be reunited with relatives on shifts compound in the anguish a fed ex policy banning cell phones at the workplace which made it harder for survivors to reassure loved ones indiana's governor eric holcomb tweeted condolences but was immediately criticized for his anti gun control agenda he's received an a grade from the national rifle association reserved for politicians who demonstrate particular enthusiasm for blacks gun laws the mare of indianapolis summing up the feelings of the majority in the country where we are left with this morning is grief grief for the families of those killed grief for the employees who have lost their coworkers and grief for the many americans

struggling to understand how tragedies like this continue to occur later president joe biden issued a statement saying too many americans are dying every single day from gun violence it stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation we can and must do more to act and to save lives. this latest tragedy coming just weeks after mass shootings in atlanta colorado and south carolina drawing further attention to what's been described as a deep seeded epidemic of gun violence christensen al-jazeera. brazil is urging women to delay getting pregnant until the worst of the covert pandemic has passed its health ministry says expectant mothers appear to be affected more by 119 variant than others officials say previous cases during pregnancy was seen in the final trimester or it's now being noticed in the 2nd trimester and in some

cases before that brazil is an epicenter of coronavirus the pandemic over 350000 people have died the 2nd highest figure in the world behind the united states politicians opposed to me and miles military formed a national unity government that includes members of the parliament young leaders of anti coup protests and ethnic minorities meanwhile has been gripped by political turmoil and bloodshed since the military deposed elected leaders in a coup on february the 1st security forces have killed more than 700 people since then here scott hietala an organization that has opposed the takeover by myanmar's military on february 1st have announced the formation of a national unity government a body that will work to remove military control and restore democracy it will operate inside and out of the country. the leaders have been named including elected members of parliament ousted by the coup and who protest leaders and

members of ethnic minorities they feel they have a better chance of being recognized as the real leaders of the country and not those heading the junk so no you give me a very good chance he has no good need to be of cause don't be some change the. venue to mind the to go moment. the announcement won't change much for the protesters nor is it expected to change the posture of violent crackdown by myanmar's security forces but some say it's aimed at building legitimacy for those opposing the john i think that it's entirely possible that this will play an important role someone to talk to for the international community as someone that can speak to international forums and can represent the protesters and the people of myanmar as they continue their tug of war against military that seems determined to shoot people down in the streets he

went on to say that the new government could serve as a connection to the leadership being held by the giant including deposed civilian leader on song suchi and what's new in this national unity government a broad ethnic representation of the many different groups within me and mark some have ethnic minority forces that control their semiautonomous areas and the leaders of the new body say they intend to team up with them to form a federal army scott heiler al-jazeera. a colorful election campaign is coming to a close in cape town a group of islands off the west coast of africa the incumbent president says his reelection would be good for the nation's oil and diamonds but his opponents are accusing him of mismanaging the economy at a time of severe drought nicholas heart reports now from premier. playing a familiar tune prime minister will aisha's korea e.c.l. vice trying to win votes in his final rally on the island of saudi scenting using

the slogan the safe path he tries to reassure the people of the small island nation that have suffered from the economic fallout of the covert pandemic he says he's the one that should be trusted to lead the country for the next 5 years the serbian s.o.v. said the 1st. it's sad to see the vos construction work when you have hills this is no coincidence that. we have created jobs and built an atmosphere of trust attracting investors. all lies according to his main challenger young. from the old african party for the independence of keep heard known as the p.i. c.v. she has been traveling across the islands meeting voters she didn't just to the people know that beyond what this country needs is someone that has the will to walk this is a race to build a better nation for us ols she accuses the prime minister of selling the country's assets including the national airline the national electric and water company says of the government has been mismanaging public funds. with

a slogan. meaning a cape verde for everyone in the opposition leader on monday trying to peel to both young 1st time voters and the traditional electorate if she wins she will be making history becoming the 1st female prime minister in this country's history. in this election there are hundreds of candidates for only 72 seats in the national assembly an important portion of the electorate are they kept virgins living abroad in the east coast of the united states portugal in europe they make up the majority of the population the money they send back as well as tourism fuel economy allowing the government to invest in green energy education and health care and over the course of a generation bird went from one of the world's least developed nations to a middle income country sustaining this success is the challenge for the country's

next leader. nicholas hawke al-jazeera. scientists have created the world's 1st embryos that are pauper human part monkey and kept them alive in a lab for up to 20 days as hope the development will help scientists devise new treatments for does. these find ways to grow organs for transplant and understand early human development they also allow scientists to undertake experiments when human embryos can't be used because of ethical concerns reckon bug is the director of research support at johns hopkins institutes of bioethics he says the experiment was the most successful of its kind so far but going forward there will be ethical questions this early research i think that they avoid a lot of the significant ethical challenges by just looking at early embryonic development by just looking at cells in a dish. in this particular case they should that they understood the ethical

challenges they brought in outside consultants. and they had appropriate oversight and approvals but if they're going to achieve their ultimate goal of having for example a pig with a human heart that could be used for transplantation they're talking about a live birth of the now animal that has living human cells in it human i'm human animal kyra and then you have to address a really big challenges like 'd before we do that we want to know more about what's the moral status of this animal. and to know that we really need a better conception of moral status we don't really have a broadly accepted conception of moral status of elbel right now. 330 g.m.t. your top stories so far from al-jazeera russia expelling 10 u.s. diplomats and banning former and current officials from entering the country now that's in response to a similar move by the u.s. over alleged.