the bidens 1st 100 days in office on al-jazeera. the news. war. or. this is al jazeera. hello i'm so robin you're watching the al-jazeera news our life from my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes running out of ward india's capital struggles to cremate its dead as the number of covert 900 feet allergies surges past 200000. also a single dose of the pfizer astra zeneca vaccine can barely harm the transmission of the virus that's according to a new u.k. study. also the u.k.'s political watchdog launches a formal investigation into prime minister boris johnson after claims that he used

donations from supporters to upgrade his downing street residence and south africa's president several run opposer tells a judicial inquiry his ruling party should have done more to prevent corruption under his predecessor. with the sport's olympic organizers say they can't rule out holding the games without fans taking officials to lay a decision on that while announcing daily testing for athletes at the games as south korea and australia teams move forward with plans to vaccinate their squads against. welcome to the program india has seen its worst days so far from corona virus with nearly 3300 more faith tallaght is taking the official told past 200000 more than 360000 new cases a global record has been confirmed in the past 24 hours in new delhi and

neighboring states hospitals are running out of beds medical supplies knox and many people have been flocking to make shift makeshift clinics like this sikh temple hoping to access some of its limited oxygen supply local media is also reporting new delhi is running out of wood to keep its crematoriums running. almost 3 and a half 1000 funerals for coronavirus victims were held across the capital this week operators are struggling to cope with the unprecedented demand and say some would suppliers are refusing to take new orders while others have driven up their prices . you don't even get to see the body of your loved ones hospitals don't even show us the border sometimes the bodies are switched in somebody else's blood is given in someone else's name the whole system is messed up at hospitals what's also apart from fear we feel there is no oxygen at the hospitals and no beds people are dying in a 1000000 says before reaching the hospital grounds some of the situation is horrific absolutely terrible every one of the played every single person people are afraid

that if i am talking to a person maybe i want to get a doctor them tomorrow or in the near future the death toll is 2 100000 today it can go up 240-0000 or even a 1000000 everywhere in the stere fired right never crossed the country then when minister fear let's cross over to elizabeth rodham in or new delhi. let's talk about the depressing scenes that you witnessed today across the capital because our body count is increasing. absolutely so we went to one of the many makeshift clinic tory i'm switching being set up here in the capital today because all of the capital's predatory hands are struggling to deal with the number of bodies which are piling up we went to an open space because the climate or the hind it is completely overwhelmed as i said and so it had to build 20 funeral pyres in a park next to it and just days after that filled 40 funeral pyres where we were in

an open space that's despite it working from 6 am in the morning till midnight cueva tory i'm staff are saying that the number of bodies that they are seeing doesn't add up to the official death toll many states are being accused of underreporting the number of deaths and we also have a situation where people who struggle to find their sick loved ones hospital beds are having to go from predatory him to come a toy burial ground to burial. and to give them a funeral. because the vaccination program according to the government continues to be rolled out a year for a country that was supposed to be vaccinating the poor of the world it's having to rethink the way it works that so people doesn't have enough vaccines. it does not have enough vaccines the online registration for everyone over the age

of 18 was supposed to start this afternoon because everyone over the age of 18 the government decided will be eligible for a vaccine from saturday the 1st of may but the server crashed soon after it was supposed to open and even if you are able to register with a lot of difficulty you can't actually showed you an appointment for a vaccine we have the worst affected stage maharashtra many of its vaccination centers ran out of doses on wednesday saying it doesn't have the assurances from india's 2 vaccine manufacturers that it will have enough doses to vaccinate all adults raja starn has said the state of the stand that it will not be able to expand its vaccination program the city of course which is has a positivity rate at the moment of 50 percent half the people who are getting tested have a covert mind to it and it's saying that it doesn't have the vaccinations this is one of the reasons why the u.s. is freeing up millions of doses of the astra zeneca from storage because they

haven't been cleared for use in the u.s. to send to india it's also sending war materials to india and the world health organization said on tuesday that india's love ration of vaccinations is just one of the reasons for the surge that we are seeing now to do during times for india elizabeth thanks very much for the broader correspond. now the world health organization says one of the reasons behind india's covert 19 crisis is unchecked mass gatherings in the eastern state of west bengal cases jumped from about 3300 to nearly 100000 between march and april the highest rate of growth in the country another staggering jumps being blamed on the state's long assembly elections with campaign rallies attracting large crowds prime minister narendra modi and opposition politicians of both been running for support despite the surging current of r.'s cases voting began last month with the last of 8 phases coming on thursday

dr s k a money order was the man is a critical care specialist who works in intensive care at a hospital in calcutta the capital of the state of west bengal and joins me now on al jazeera dr good to have you with us on the program can you just describe the scene of the situation that your hospital is experiencing with covert 1000 cases a situation that certainly for the last. 20 days. are you in that bag. number of cases actually i still remember the number of cases not hospital around 20 months back when suddenly there was this work on the cases started raising. this issue is it very miserable and mostly. what we've been warning us so it took me to butt in but what's the bed capacity of your hospital how many beds do you have that are available for patients in relation

to the number of patients that come to your facility looking for help. one month back we had only 4000000000 for the who we preview what to get for the patients but another one money has increased to 200 and we are struggling to one day every day whenever i ask for permission to get admitted in the hospital they say there is a queue of more than 100 patients at least 150 patients and the situation seen everywhere not only are hospital on the city's in the hospital they have this huge or as we pull out crying they're just going just trying for a bag the oxygen saturation it was that which is the one drop rule 5060 patients are going to want to stay but low end up better i don't quite a few patients would just didn't get a bed and timothy i got the music on me up later on his mother father and the husband and we exploded. and he could not manage a bed ok it's the bed that's

a crisis is ongoing certainly not just in your hospital but hospitals across west bengal and you tell us what the state of can you tell us what the state of your oxygen supply and oxygen availability is because that is the big story in india as well. washington has been what is one of the well one of those states which have a surplus of oxygen that's why the price of oxen is not merely background year but the year cases are rising and the oxygen prices already started creeping in and 3000000 next 17 days will we see iraq in crisis and we will have a benefit don't we recent list beatrice they shoot right from are we some are in going from now on the situation we're going to go back many commentators and reporters within india are suggesting that those people that attended large election rallies or even large religious rallies or in neighboring states were the

ones that could be described as a super spreaders would you agree that it would you agree that is one of the main sources of the current outbreak of the numbers that we're seeing not just in west bengal but across india. absolutely there isn't it's not that there isn't isn't just because lack of scientific temperament and mercy to but to contract to this kind of nasty national disaster which and flows and where you are unfortunate that our country has and you declared this a national disaster which it should be yesterday only one goal just so i could declare said that this should be declared as a national emergency and this is just a lack of vision lack of likeness of a government be unbearable things lying on or around in the middle and these are on epidemic they are who are used to having to a lack of what they are every day prime minister or the old central minister chief

minister there holding big figure and as you can see on the screen he was gathering well the one where the widest sense friend like anything and full of one month is continuously is going on then there were protests from all all segments of the intelligent people but coming the world like didn't want it to listen to them hear them and the situation isn't like what you're facing to be what you have and what interest exultant this is today to actually get all unified opportunity this is the death toll what it's 2000 i got which is which is absolutely for the data that all is meaning one thing to point to tang to what he's been given by the government statistics which is absolutely fine and this death toll is going to rise after the election is over i don't know why the government proper action stockdale action right now wasn't so necessary to go ahead with the election is like for

people of wait what and then election i and really were disappointed very frustrated indeed i'm sure your sentiment has reflected a cross the medical spectrum in india dr buddy ross about thanks so much for joining us from calcutta and west bengal already could have your time on the program thank you. now pakistan has reported a new daily record of $201.00 coronavirus deaths and there have been more than $5000.00 new infections health officials say hospitals are being overwhelmed less than one percent of the country's 220000000 people have been back sooner needed soldiers have been deployed to cities with high infection rates to enforce restrictions or pakistan correspondent joins me now from the capital islamabad what's really interesting at the moment kemal is to see how the military is going to be deployed and how they're going to work alongside the civilian police in a country that is so vast and different in the way that people react to the

military and the police when they want them to do something. and particularly the military because it is the constitutional clause in the pakistani constitution which says that the civilian government can call in the military for change in case of emergency and civil administration richard exactly what has happened 16 major. had now troops fanning out to ensure that people continue to observe waiting their march toward. the military of course before any other contingency given the fact that that situation across the border in india is getting from bad to worse. has to be very careful because. during the ramadan holidays last year when the pandemic one that did the country decided to relax. and.

the government did not taking any chances. to close down major. they will be no. communication transport there will be no intercity transport people will be. home to have a simple need and of course the interior ministry. will be closed in order to avoid the large number of people travelling to sports. country. taking the. day medical facilities are stretched up to 70 percent of the rent donated and taken supply. taken. by the likes of which. being right now so indeed the government now. have to do. they're measured to be god or were are like

india. here. in structure and from the government reading mark and trying to avoid congregations in large gatherings thanks very much for the epic mile high end of our pakistan correspondent. well a british study shows that a single dose of the covert 1000 banks can cut the risk of household transmission by half the report by public health england included more than 57000 vaccinated people from 20 $4000.00 homes it found those who got the 1st dose of pfizer or astra zeneca jobs were 38 to 49 percent less likely to pass on the virus which researchers say the protection against covert 1000 kicks in about 2 weeks after vaccination the british health secretary has welcomed the report and is urging those eligible to get the job as soon as possible. foresters soto is

a very peculiar diversity in england she says vaccines are crucial to keep those infected with covert 19 out of hospitals. this is really encouraging news on 2 fronts firstly that a single gap is able to reduce transmission because that was we had not been certain that the japanese able to use transmission at all and so the fact that it's now working with just a single dose of either the eyes or all the extras and axiom is really good news and just helps with thinking about how back's a nation is going to help reduce the number of cases the vaccines are very effective at preventing against severe disease so coronavirus or there are a lot of people get really mild disease having a coronavirus vaccine against coronaviruses it's a very is it's going to be really key at preventing people ending up in hospital and sadly preventing some of the policies that we're seeing so this news that actually also prevents transmission is probably really key in helping people

understand that by getting the vaccine they're also protecting those people who they care about and so that even if unfortunately they get infected after getting the vaccine they're much less likely to transmit it to anybody and unfortunately it's just too soon yet we just haven't got the length of time to have that data. i mean we have about 9 months worth of data from the people who best buy's that back seen in the clinical trial way back in july but we really are looking at you know another year before we understand the longevity of the immunity 'd but certainly the effectiveness now in driving down cases is very promising plenty more ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour including changing course we look at how american foreign policy has moved in a different direction during joe biden his 1st 100 days in office and in the n.b.a. the brooklyn nets are the 1st team in the eastern conference to secure a spot in the playoffs that's coming up with joe inspired.

now the u.k. prime minister has denied any wrongdoing in the downing street flat make over scandal boris johnson says he covered the cost of the reserve judgment of the property himself although he did not clarify who initially paid for it the u.k. political watchdog lodged a full investigation into johnson about a possible violation of financial rules a former advisor claims that prime minister tried to get conservative party donors to secretly pay for the renovations i have how bad the costs and by that most people will find it absolutely bizarre and of course is an electoral commission. gave me this now i can tell you that i conformed in full with the code of conduct with. ministers. code and officials who have been kept. been advised me throughout this whole thing but i think people will think it

absolutely bizarre that is focusing on these issues let's get more this from paul brennan who's outside the house of commons in westminster in london paul the prime minister in all sorts of hot water and trying to explain himself at the weekly prime minister's question time how did it go. well political commentators here in london where unanimous in saying that the prime minister looked angry and rattled red faced and really struggling at times to answer the very 1st encik questioning of the meeting of the opposition secure starmer the labor party leader who's questioning basically concentrated on who exactly paid the initial invoice for these rather expensive renovation works that took place at the downing street apartment of the prime minister when he 1st moved in there with his girlfriend kerry simons now the prime minister as you heard in that answer that we've just played insisted repeatedly that he had covered the

cost but he very studiously avoided saying who had covered the initial invoice the payments and there is anecdotal evidence to say that it could possibly have been the conservative party that actually paid the initial bill and then was repaid by boris johnson and who paid the conservative party's funds well large conservative donors probably it's called it's been called here cash for curtains as in the with the potential for it being a kind of cash for influence kind of affair now that's not to say that it has been that. the commission that has responsibility for transparency and party funding is now going to look into it but they dropped a bombshell into the mix just an hour before that prime minister's question session when they revealed and they announced that they had enough evidence on the face of it to believe or to suspect that there had possibly been an offense committed so

that really did put the pressure on the prime minister remember this is not the only issue that he's under pressure for at the moment the several other issues of sleaze text messages between him and the saudi crown prince text messages between him and a millionaire businessman james dyson you know it really has been a very very difficult week over the past 7 days for the prime minister and one that we'll continue to monitor with you paul brennan outside the house of commons in london thank you paul. now south africa's president has told a corruption inquiry involving his predecessor that he will launch to defend the indefensible so robert poser says the governing party could have done more to prevent corruption during jacob zuma as tenure poser is the highest ranking official to testify in the so-called state capture scandal zuma faces allegations of allowing a business family close to him to secure government contracts and influence policy for me the miller has more outside of the commission building in johannesburg.

those under commission is looking into wide scale corruption and until now much of it has focused on former president jacob zuma in fact he's called the commission a witch hunt and this is why he said he's staying away you appeared once or twice and said he wouldn't come back because he felt vilified he felt targeted many says he hasn't been given a fair opportunity to represent himself and the outcomes are really been pretty determined and now the sitting president is at the commission to answer questions on behalf of that political party who is struggling at the moment around allegations of corruption especially in any election year where a lot of south africans are unhappy with their party the a.n.c. has lost a significant amount of support in south africa so many would argue that the roma poor cers testimony at this commission could really be about p.r.

and damage control and wanting to see him accountable at a time when solve africans want answers but he also has to deal with toeing the party line so it's likely we're going to see some sort of balance perhaps not a lot coming out of this commission but really. the a.n.c. ultimately still grappling with this issue of corruption the u.n. says a worsening conflict in africa's hell region is leading to what it calls an unparalleled humanitarian crisis a record 29000000 people are in need of that's $5000000.00 more than last year 6 countries became a facet cameroon chad. nigeria require $3700000000.00 attacks by armed groups military operations and kidnappings are forcing millions to flee this has also led to the closure of thousands of schools or point $6000000.00 children in our risk of severe acute malnutrition while the region plunged into conflict in 2012 after armed groups took over the northern mali area and violence spread to

neighboring countries george foreman is the regional spokesman for the u.n. world food program in west africa he says the conflict is driving up hunger and insecurity the biggest threat to people's ability to have food the biggest concern the biggest thing that the biggest factor that causes accurate hunger as we have seen in this region is actually conflict it's insecurity we have now as you just mentioned millions of millions of people across the central sahara region that is a book you know fossil need and money as well as the live chat bees an area in northern parts of nigeria and cameroon as well as parts of me share where we find millions of people who are desperately in need of food assistance but clearly in the northern parts of niger where we have about 800000 people who are in imagine

sea levels of food insecurity where they need immediate assistance without which they cannot 6 survive and that is mainly due to the conflict and insecurity that has been gaining ground there. now the latest unrest in the saddle is in chad these 5 protest as have been killed and dozens injured protest as a calling for a civilian government after a military takeover following the death of president idriss deby emmet address reports now from the capital and mena. for charts new military government this was of the stock they were hoping for one week after the. young child in the streets. and blocking. the head of this protest is an opposition to military takeover. we had tired of monarchy in chad just one province to free us from this problem.

the response of the security forces to a swift and harsh. military ruler general mohamad it recently appeared on national television to deliver what seemed to be a speech prepared to calm local and international concerns in the trees to pension in chad. among these values so did to our late president will be demonstrated and in shrine and in the framework of an inclusive national dialogue that will be organized during this transition period i will be the guarantor of this dialogue which will not shy away from any subject of national interest according to a precise timetable that the government will be called upon to reveal also said child needs international support to defeat groups trying to destabilize the country. came a week after the military takeover was given some support by allies but as now for france in a position after the crackdown on demonstrators bicycle. the french president

manuel mccall who's attending said late president idriss deby funeral is criticizing those meant of the military's takeover condemned the use of force. on demonstrators is pretty quickly let me be very clear i gave my support to the integrity and the stability of chad very clearly an end to men and i support peaceful democratic inclusive transition i do not support a plan of succession and france will never be on the side of those who formed this plan. for now the streets of germany are calm but there are a few years it would remain that way with the opposition vowed to keep up its cabrini against the military's you're up with your trees al-jazeera. somalia's president has agreed not to extend his term and is promising to hold elections but. faced growing unrest on the streets of the capital catherine sawyer reports. president mohamed up to life is addressed to the nation was

staffed by the same time provided and the political statement he accused the opposition leaders of politicizing the security forces trying to cause chaos in mogadishu and grab power and some foreign countries of meddling in somalia in tunnel affairs but he also pedaled back on the controversial law passed by the lower house of parliament to extend his time in office by 2 yes' and have the electoral commission organize a popular vote within that time and i will go to the government of somalia has always believed and still sees their local compromise and negotiation on their return to the discussion of the only way. on marrying the september 17th 2020 agreement on that accommodations or the right door technical committee. you know trees or this room and to come together a military for i get discussions on the unconditional implementation of the above

mentioned agreement. the september greenman says the country will hold and in direct election. as members of parliament who in time vote in a crisis. talks between the government leaders from the federal state and others have stalled with the different sides accusing each other of derailing the process some analysts say the president's reversal of the decision to extend doesn't change the political contest of the management of the election and the mistrust between politicians. needs to be another peter or anything between the different groups and educator who will tell who is wrong and who is right depending on the times or here agreements the u.n. has failed to do that and so unless the african union or somebody else comes out as that mediator i don't think they will come together to be able to agree on a path forward that would save the people and the rest of the country from the crisis the tensions have been building for

a while and the crisis has drawn in the military and police force which you say to be divided along political lines government and paul opposition forces fought on sunday in mogadishu and there are reports the opposition forces hold positions in several parts of the city people have been fleeing their homes fearing more conflict but some are hopeful that the president's message will deescalate tensions and politicians will find a middle ground to hold an election soon catherine saw an al-jazeera. time for the weather now history. hello severe weather for the u.s. continues to be a factor today we've seen tornadoes in texas and it is all because of this frontal system this cold front moving across so it's helping to break near record heat these are very serious storms from michigan rate through to texas you're pretty well in the line of fire you run the risk of seen some hail winds will whip up and

just severe thunderstorms so we have to be on the lookout for that as this system continues to migrate further east and drop down temperatures for just a few days ago washington 30 degrees so we can just see how powerful this cold front is for central america we're dealing with some heavy bouts of showers in particular toward puerto rico and that will move to hispanic gola so let me give you a closer look now at exactly what is going on the areas that heavy rain for puerto rico impacting both the dominican republic and haiti taking a bit further south right now we're both in the southern portion and the northern portion of the continent of south america dealing with some heavy spells of what whether the very real risk of some flooding here especially as we head toward french guyana just because of how much moisture we've seen over the last few days thanks jeff well still ahead here on al-jazeera tension in the gulf as u.s. and iranian military vessels confront each other. floyd mayweather says

a return to the ring for his delayed fight against internet personality logan pulled we'll have those details in sports so don't go away. frank assessments on the government needs to watch what exactly happened and what may have now taking fantasy to asia might not be good ever again informed opinions is the u.s. with thinking military positioning in the middle east or is it just a simple act of reorganizing ministry us and this is a message to the region the united states years are rethinking its military posture in-depth analysis of the day school ople headlines inside story. coverage of africa is what i'm most proud of every time i travel there whether it's east or west africa people stop me and tell me how much they appreciate our coverage and i focus is not just on their suffering but also on the more lift and

inspiring stories people trust to tell them what's happening in their communities and appear biased and as an african i couldn't be more proud to be automated. talk about what you have is there is news hour with me said holroyd the reminder of our top stories india has seen its worst day so far from the coronavirus with nearly $3300.00 more fatalities taking the official told past 200000 but the actual number has soared to be much higher the british prime minister has denied allegations that he tried to get party donors to pay for the renovations to his

official residence or strengths and says he personally cover the cost the u.k. political watchdog is now investigating and south africa's presidency around a poser has told a corruption inquiry involving his pre-disaster that he will not defend the indefensible jacob zuma is facing allegations of allowing a wealthy business family to secure contracts and influence decisions. while on the eve of his 100th day in office u.s. president joe biden is due to give his 1st speech to a joint session of congress it's an opportunity for biden to update americans on where his election promises currently stand the pandemic and his $1.00 trillion dollars american families plan unlikely to feature prominently alan fisher is live for us now from the white house so what can we expect allan in terms of the subject areas that the president is going to focus on. or 40 years ago ronald reagan gave an address to congress and he said that government is not the solution to the

problem government is the problem watch for a 180 degree turn from that by joe biden he's talking about a new $1.00 trillion dollar bill american families he says he's going to support them he's talking about free kindergarten school for 3 and 4 year olds community college for the 1st 2 years paid for by the state he's going to improve the safety net programs he wants to make sure people have more access to paid sick leave and also family leave the us is way down on the list of countries that provide that and he also wants to make sure that there is better access to health care as well he's also going to talk about coronaviruses going to talk about how well his administration is done remember he said he wanted 100000000 doses administered by the 1st 100 days some people thought that was the law the figures well in excess of that and he says the rule of the vaccination program is doing incredibly well here to talk about how the economy is starting to crank up again he will say that's

partly because of the stimulus bill that was passed by the joe biden ministration and he will talk very briefly about international aspects of the by the administration how they're intending to confront russia how they don't want china to get supremacy in the pacific and he's also going to talk about how they're going to withdraw troops out of afghanistan but certainly the thing that everyone is going to be talking about is american families bill the cost of it and the changes that could bring to american society. and it may bring many changes to american society but then the next question will be from those politicians i'm sure gathered in congress will be who's going to pay for all. of course that's the 1.8 trillion dollar question remember joe biden although he's addressing a joint session of congress only 200 people in the room because of course restrictions many of them of get tickets the number of big bag and supporters who don't even know if they'll be there this evening of course they can always watch it

live on. how is he going to pay for all of this while he's talking about tax cuts he's talking about cutting tax loopholes he thinks $700000000000.00 can be brought into the exchequer because of compliance with existing tax laws and closing the loopholes but there's never been a politician that hasn't been elected by saying that we're going to close tax loopholes to bring more money joe biden's got another plan he says he's going to start taxing the high earners he's going to increase the operator of tax from 37 percent that's what donald trump put it to 39.6 percent and he's also almost going to double capital gains tax he says that no one ending over $400000.00 will pay any more and his idea even though there is a lot of republican objections to this idea he thinks that by going over their heads speaking to the people of america he thinks they're in favor of this and certainly some of the polls suggest that many in america believe that the rich should be putting much more in the port so he's trying to go over the heads of

republicans who are very much against any tax increases and saying look the american people want to do this and so i have support to do this and when he talks about bipartisan maybe he doesn't mean getting republicans on board in the senate and the house anymore maybe it means bipartisan support in the country it's going to be a very interesting speech interestingly enough everyone's talking about who will be the designated survivor who is are still stay behind because joe biden and senior members of the cabinet will be on capitol hill there's going to be one this time around and that's because most of the cabinet watching this either from home or their office because corporate restrictions mean they won't be in the senate chamber when he makes his speech interesting times ahead for the middle of the should there at the white house thank you. well as promised joe biden has taken us foreign policy in a decidedly different direction than his predecessor during his 1st 100 days in office by and has been conciliatory with traditional allies confrontational with

longstanding rivals and cautious on some of the toughest issues facing his white house there is diplomatic editor james bays has more on the afternoon of his inauguration president biden reversed the america 1st policy of his predecessor signing an executive order starting the process of rejoining the paris climate deal the u.s. opted back into the world health organization and the u.n. human rights council the new u.s. president for filling his campaign promise to reengage with the world and bind his country again to its traditional allies. with its adversaries though relations have deteriorated in an interview president biden called the russian leader vladimir putin a killer and amid growing tensions for a time over 150000 russian troops were massed on the border with ukraine. i'm also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking public

disagreement with china was on open display during a high level meeting in anchorage alaska in a most unusual exchange the top chinese and u.s. foreign policy officials arguing over human rights trade and cyber attacks bartz as the biden administration was perhaps hoping it's not stopped renewing gauge went on some issues here the u.s. climate envoy john kerry talking with china's vice premier hands on just before the 2 countries released a joint statement on protecting the planet some of the u.s. allies will tell you privately that they believe president biden has been just a little bit too slow and cautious on 2 of the world's most pressing issues on iran although the administration had made it clear it wanted to rejoin the nuclear deal it didn't seem in any great hurry it's delay may have complicated negotiations now back under way in vienna. on afghanistan it was only 2 weeks ago the president

biden signaled he'd pull u.s. troops from the country but the plan to get the taliban around the table to negotiate with the afghan government now looks very shaky. a former obama administration official who worked with many of those now running u.s. foreign policy says one place is more important than any other in their decision making biden knows that in the congress he's got a slim majority in both houses he's got to work hard to retain those and that is why even when it comes to foreign policy the domestic agenda trumps and he's looking at you know all of these issues whether it's afghanistan whether it's the challenge in central america with migration how these are going to impact in key congressional districts in key states so unfortunately all politics is local including foreign policy in other words in determining his international

agenda president biden is still putting the immediate political calculations in america 1st james by al-jazeera at the united nations now the united states is oldring it's not essential embassy staff out of afghanistan as it steps up its withdrawal of troops and the u.s. special representative for afghanistan and zalmay hudlin as has been testifying before a senate committee about the pullout the world us change sends 2001 that 10 out of threat including from outside is now geographically dispersed and africa the middle east and asia we now face new urgent challenges. as the president has sent we must fight the battles for the next 20 years not the last 20 but i can to list as a senior fellow at the center for american progress joins me now from professor in

maryland good to have you with us mr putin is on the program again you met mr biden in 2008 when he was the vice president and talked about afghanistan and troop withdrawal then house's view all the actions we've seen so far change from that conversation that you had with him oh absolutely and i think america has changed our priorities have shifted to where i think president biden is taking foreign policy which is to a dress code that climate change and china the big 3 cs back then in 2008 he was still just a senator and the head of the senate foreign relations committee he knew a lot about afghanistan and pakistan we were speaking in boston and he knew a lot about what it would take to do diplomacy to try to end the war in afghanistan here we are 1213 years later i think many people democrats republicans have every allies that simply keeping troops in places for our long period of time isn't the

solution so i think he's doubling down on diplomacy in afghanistan but then importantly he's trying to shift america's agenda to the broader competition in the world and he can sort of take his eye off the ball quite yet because how much caution should he proceed with in your opinion when it comes to his withdrawal in terms of the timeline up to september the 11th. well i think we'll see whether he sticks to that timeline it i'm very interested in seeing the fine print of what's actually left behind to protect u.s. diplomats and to help the afghan government protect itself but i think that's going to proceed at a pace that one lesson you probably learned from the obama administration's experience with iraq is that it's easier to say you're ending a war than it is to actually see that war end so i think this is a team that will cautiously evaluate the situation on the ground in afghanistan in terms of the security situation but the most important thing as we saw with ambassador clearly as i said is there's

a new prioritization of diplomacy there putting diplomacy 1st in u.s. foreign policy and i think afghanistan is a key test case of this new bring me neatly to my next question because there are 2 pivotal play is it all of this both of which president biden has to consult and ponder one is the u.s. envoy zalmay khalilzad who is very experienced and is vital in his guidance right now the other is pakistan in terms of that influence over some but not all of the taliban factions. yet those are key actors there are others that are neighboring afghanistan including iran that are very important and one interesting dynamic to me to watch is as the u.s. troop withdrawal from afghanistan proceeds at pace whether the u.s. actually becomes even more dependent on some of those neighboring countries including central asian republics that's important because at least rhetorically president biden has stressed a focus on relationships with democracies you know putting democracies 1st and

having a summit of democracies but the test of afghanistan and whether or not we're going to keep some sort of presence in the region which they say they're going to do that may make us even more dependent on essentially what are our credit countries not only in central asia but in parts of the middle east including where you are where it's authoritarian and i think you know very top down so so that that's where the rubber hits the road in terms of whether the rhetoric of democracy and human rights will actually match up with the efforts to impose restraint and so-called forever wars that we have to leave it to has good insights as always brought in to us that senior fellow at the center for american progress since joining us from maryland great thank you. a u.s. military ship has fired warning shots at iranian naval vessels in the gulf washington says 3 boats came within about 60 meters of the u.s.s. firebolt the confrontation came as talks continue in vienna on bringing the u.s.

and iran back into the 2015 nuclear accord alexia brian explains. a standoff in the gulf these pictures from the u.s. navy has said to show an american warship firing warning shots and iranian vessels came too close the u.s. says monday's encounter was the 2nd this month and that an iranian warship aggressively approached american vessels in the same area on april 2nd it says it had to move abruptly to avoid a collision when the iranian ship comes in front are we also seeing a pattern in which this tends to take place as the 2 sides are getting closer towards some form of an agreement and though progress has been slow it does appear as if returns to deduce u.p.a. is within reach within the next couple of weeks as a result of the discussions taking place in vienna. the way is the 2015 nuclear deal which saw iran rein in its nuclear program in return for relief from crippling

sanctions on the u.s. and other world powers are in vienna trying to salvage the agreement we have. important that we can be we see some important the proof. read just to. also see some major differences a remain former president donald trump pulled the u.s. out of the deal in 2018 and re imposed sanctions since then tehran has increasingly violated its terms it wants all sanctions lifted before it rejoins man marry him we want to see all sanctions related prisoners who've been unfairly put under arrest and jailed in u.s. prisons released for the sake of human considerations this depends on the actions of the american side and the way they will address this issue but not everyone in the region wants a return to the deal israel and iran are boiled in

a so-called shadow war which is seen attacks on ships and sabotage at israel's main that turns nuclear facility which tehran blames on israeli spies and israeli delegation is currently in the u.s. to voice its objection to washington rejoining the 2015 accord while the u.s. envoy on iran robert malley has held talks with allies in the gulf to update them on the go see a sions. analyst believe political will from both the u.s. and iran will be enough to overcome the latest skirmishes in the gulf because both sides have too much to lose if the vienna talks fail alexia brian al-jazeera. well still ahead here on al-jazeera in sports and the say they call rule out holding the games behind closed doors we'll have those details shortly.

welcome back it's time sport to his job so thank you very much take his limp it organizes say they call roll out holding the games behind closed doors after once again delaying a decision on how many local fans will be allowed to attend the games spectators white know until june just weeks before the games are due to take place only one percent of the japanese population is so far been vaccinated and that number is likely to stay small when the olympics open on july the 23rd take a 2020 chiefs did release more details about how they'll be keeping athletes safe inside their bubble with daily testing a meeting between all major parties was held in tokyo on wednesday which is currently under a state of emergency because of a rise in corona virus cases you know that we fully understand

the decision by the japanese government and the request of. g to declare a state of emergency this moment and that we have great great respect for the diligence of the japanese authorities to protect the japanese people meanwhile south korea and australia's and pick committees announce their athletes will be vaccinated before leaving for tokyo starting next week australian pit bosses were came to stress the team isn't jumping the queue as they'll be using a private company to administer the jobs rather than relying on the public health care system. obviously a great relief for the athletes coaches and all the support staff and also for their families because that is art isn't just about for the athletes is also for

their families are going to take so i will have that same of about just under $500.00 astride an athlete's going to have to take guns planning is now full steam ahead the management of the vaccination will be done by the i.o.c. with their partner as good medical so there's no light on the public system whatsoever australian cricket is involved in the indian premier league are reported to be anxious about how local home from the tournament as the cup in 1000 crisis gets worse in india 3 australian players have already pulled out of the prime minister scott morrison said the rest would have to find their own way home after suspending flights between the 2 countries the pliers not expecting any specific treatment they're not asking for any favors certainly not i'm looking for a free ride here what applies are looking for and what we're doing with them is to give them the most accurate information obviously take care of their wellbeing and their welfare and give them a safe passage chance but you know we all understand that there's

a lot of people suffering there's a lot of difficulties in the country of india and the people of india are held in unbelievably hard regard by all destroying cricketers and that's one of the reasons why we came to fulfil our commitments well with football now pep guardiola is gearing up for his 1st champions league semifinal in 5 years when munches city face paris on wednesday night the spaniard has been urging his players to enjoy the whole experience in particular the current white trip to the french capital much to see a favorites to reach them maiden european final they are in privileged to be one of the best 4 teams in europe the season in and out must mean enjoy today the training and everything and this is what i would love to to see my players in the bible must have and everyone because we know how tough how we struggle how difficulties to be here. in the other semifinal chelsea have a slight upper hand over real madrid following a one of the draw in spain in the 1st leg the london side took the lead christian

pulis sick with the crucial away goal royal equalised before half time through karim benzema the frenchman scoring his 13th go in 14 games also i understand he says he has no intention of selling the club despite interest from swedish billionaire and co-founder of spotify daniel ek fans of cool for country to sell the club following his involvement in the failed attempt to launch the european super league club legends terry henri dentist camp and patrick vieira backing the prospects of a buyout of former player and current manager tessa thinks otherwise what i like to know and so is about the reality is that we have only is that are we really committed and they were in a successful zoom on the pitch and they're going to do everything they can to judge you that's and and this is why we have. support it with. wells manager and former manchester united player ryan giggs has pleaded not guilty of being charged with

assaulting his ex-girlfriend and her sister the 47 year old appeared in the munches to court earlier rooms released on bail he also faces a charge of coercive and controlling behavior explore turn to court again on may the 26. in the n.b.a. the brooklyn nets the 1st team from the eastern conference to book a spot in the playoffs for him were too strong for the toronto raptors winning by 13 on the news gets better for the nets with their main man kevin durant scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in his 2nd game back from a lengthy injury lay off. different guys in different situations they are used to it's they speak you know coaches their help and you've got veteran players their total on this is makes a team just just tighter and more connected. after 419 days the washington capitals have finally played in front of their home fans following the lifting of code restrictions 2000 fans were allowed in attendance against the new york

islanders and it didn't take long for the crowd to have something to cheer about the only goal of the game was called by daniel sprong in the opening 90 seconds funds were also just some boxing with referees stepping in to separate matt martin and sara chara. well the return of boxing legend floyd mayweather has been scheduled for june the 6th in miami the unbeaten 5 time world champion will come out of retirement to fight internet celebrity logan paul mayweather has been retired since beating us the star khana mcgregor in august 27th all right that is all your sport for now i will have more for you later so i hope you do thanks very much chairman of course you follow all of the stories we're covering here on al-jazeera by locking out all website at al-jazeera dot com it's updated throughout the day from jamie on the news our team time to time and your company i'll be back with more news on the other side of the break so don't go away.

it's a very bleak picture for a lot of americans out there white supremacy impacts all of our patients you're putting more money into the hands of someone 1st keiki money out of the hands of other workers their own goes to their camp he becomes a us versus them this is the deal about constraining your nuclear program the bottom line the big questions on out is they are. one or the food produced is a waste to which tens of thousands of food outlets stalwart incest korea has been transformed from was still found to into global leader in food recycling a reporting on how new technology is making this possible. in kenya i mean the promise and sunday. the livelihoods depend on the wall and. a phrase on. the latest news as it breaks prime minister with

a serious worry i feel that i will have to for word to him because he's promised me people just jump started economy with details coverage many things bring to the asking what content i still allowed to hold large rallies all day on turned out to then and the thing from around the world this is a budget the money for fundamental change to the way the police in the united states. new delhi take advantage of the relatively clean air after weeks of toxic small stopped people from venturing outside institutions including harvard say air pollution is leading to more severe cases of the coronavirus and more deaths from it and nowhere in india is the situation worse than in daddy the number of. desperate situation of the indian government set up a new commission to monitor sources of pollution across 5 states health experts and environmentalists been wanting for months that the easing of the lockdown would

lead to an increase in pollution and the impact that would have on the call that 19 . in india overwhelmed does the coronavirus death toll crosses 200008 military is called in to help its own growing outbreak. you're watching al-jazeera live my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 30 minutes the u.k.'s political watchdog launches a formal investigation into prime minister boris johnson after claims.