new hotels exposed to political conflicts from the perspective of iconic hotels on the frontlines. and former south african president jacob zuma goes on trial for corruption. on al-jazeera. joe biden set to deliver his 1st address to congress as president will tell americans he's turning crisis into opportunity. you're watching al-jazeera live from the headquarters in doha in dayton obligates also coming up in just sets another covert 1000 record with the highest daily infections in the world more than 200000 people have died from the virus. u.s.

federal investigators raid the home and office of rudy giuliani the personal lawyer of former president donald trump. hotels in colombia against proposed tax hikes and demonstrators say it's an attack on the middle class and will make them who are. turning peril into a possibility and crisis into opportunity that's the message u.s. president joe biden is expected to deliver to congress in the coming hours on the eve of 100th day in office he is expected to tell the country's recovery in that time despite facing the pandemic and severe economic and political crises he's also likely unveil a $1.00 trillion dollars package focusing on education and child care our white house correspondent kelly hockett is joining us from capitol hill tell us more

about what he's expected to say kimberly. at the president's going to use this opportunity to tout 2 really big spending packages that he believes will propel the country forward not only is he going to talk about his american jobs plan this is the jobs plan that so $2.00 trillion dollars package what this would do is create jobs by repairing america's crumbling infrastructure corporations be taxed pay for it but he's also going to highlight really sort of. a revolutionary plan when it comes to the impact it would have on children families in that it would allow for direct payments for families in the lower middle class would also allow for community college of 2 years to be 100 percent free and the plan for this is that the highest income earners in the united states would be taxed in order to pay for this now that's where some of the controversy comes in because

a lot of conservatives don't like higher taxes in fact they want just the opposite they don't like big government they don't like government in people's lives and that's exactly what joe biden is going to be proposing in fact we've already heard from one senator in the u.s. senate his name is tim scott he's already saying that just remember that you know we have historically low unemployment before the pandemic and it didn't come through what he calls washington schemes or socialist dreams so what we're expecting is that the u.s. president is going to make the argument that big government does have a role in people's lives it brings about optimism in future and that's exactly what has america out of the pandemic woes and pains that it's been feeling so far and that he really inherited so this is sort of the overarching message that the u.s. president is going to deliver when he speaks in the coming hours ok really and

we'll cross back to you as and when the president speaks thank you so much for the time being let's bring in john bresnahan who's the cofounder of punch bowl news and he's joining us from washington d.c. as well thanks for speaking to us on al jazeera so what do you think is the most important thing the president biden needs to accomplish tonight. i think he needs to show the country he's in charge he's been in 100 days in office but it's been an extraordinary circumstance there was the january 6th insurrection at the capitol there was the inauguration on january 20th that of course the public wasn't allowed into that so this is his 1st time as president standing in the congress standing in the capitol talking to the congress and talking to the nation and laying out the vision of where he wants to take america where you know what he sees as the future of this country yeah and how do you think republicans are going to react to his speech because some of them say well look he hasn't unified the country you know i

think republicans are going to like it i mean he you know as your correspondent noted i mean he's talking about spend it you know they've already spent it they were passed a bill for $1.00 trillion dollars he's talking about spending another $4.00 trillion dollars i mean this is more money than they say the united states spent to fight world war $2.00 but you know his point is the country's coming out of the pandemic $11000000.00 american there are $11000000.00 fewer jobs for americans than there were last year and the economy starting to turn around but he still thinks the day the federal government needs to take extraordinary steps to boost the u.s. economy back to where was now there's rejections that we could have record growth this year growth that hasn't we haven't seen in the economy since the 1980 s. so i mean there are some good sons but you know biden really wants things the congress and should really continue to pump money into the u.s. economy and to expect any surprises at all. you know i think we're

going to see you know if the discussion of foreign policy is going to be particularly interesting to me i mean there's of course you know major challenges of the united states with iraq on with china with the russia i think you know we'll see some more discussion of that then then we probably expected i would think he would like to set out an aggressive tone i mean i don't he's doesn't want to be you know a miracle for sed that the message that former president donald trump set out but i think he'll talk a lot about is a long does that they go talk a lot about nato i think you know our alliances with you know the quad quad in asia to talk about japan and talk about north korea australia i think that will see that more foreign policy then i believe we'll probably see more foreign policy in the respect i mean very heavy on domestic issues and i think they'll be a lot of discussion of this and he'll try to lay out a line of i'm not donald trump i believe in alliances i believe in the you know the

structure of the international structure that america have helped create after world war 2 and i believe ok thank you so much john bresnahan for speaking to us from washington. indians are rushing to register for a mass vaccination drive set to begin this weekend's coronavirus inspections spiral out of control the official death toll has surged past 200000 but the real figure is believed to be much higher hospitals are overflowing oxygen is running out. operating around the clock elizabeth brought in reports from new delhi. after failing to find help at medical facilities family members of covert 19 patients bring them to attend to outside the sikh temple on the outskirts of daddy. volunteers here providing oxygen for free often driving long distances to find

stockists sojourner all over india with over be. turned into. how do you do our job we're all going to be about 3 days from 102100 members of our. family members of patients to have traveled to alice to bring them here because they can write one of my for me to commute from my place and come here for this oxygen so i can not take my car without an oxygen so i have to give it one 0 my god how much time it takes away to. india seeing shortages not only of oxygen but of hospital beds diagnostic tests and vaccines vaccination centers in the worst affected states ran out of doses again on wednesday. they're telling us that injections aren't available here as vaccines haven't arrived i registered to come here 3 days ago all the way from chamber to bhangra i only found

out after coming here there's no proper information they tell us to call the helpline number and come back in the morning the world health organization says the low rate of vaccinations is one of the reasons for india's surge in cases. the u.s. is sending real materials to india can manufacture more of its own vaccines and many countries are sending oxygen and other medical supplies. day and night to keep up with demand mass cremations have become the norm the creditor i am behind me has been working from 6 and the morning until midnight but because it doesn't have enough pires to cremate the bodies which are being brought every day and had to build 20 in the park next to it and now these 50 in this open space. those who lost family they went through the same struggle to cremate their loved ones as they did find them a hospital bed when they were alive elizabeth al-jazeera. brazil

is also struggling to control the pandemic in the past 24 hours the health ministry has reported nearly 3200 deaths it has the 2nd highest number of fatalities after the us with almost 400000 deaths a highly contagious variance inconsistent restrictions on the president's repeated denial of the risks have been blamed for the crisis u.s. federal investigators have raided the manhattan apartment and office of donald trump's former lawyer rudy giuliani's devices prosecutors have been looking into giuliani's dealings with ukraine which included an investigation into the then democratic contender joe biden and his son hunter giuliani's lawyer said the probe is politically motivated and called the raids legal thuggery. those in new york with more on the investigation. federal investigators are closing in on rudy giuliani and that their investigation into his him that has been going on for more than 2 years is advancing and advancing significantly also for federal

investigators to raid a home such as this of a suspect they need to get permission from a judge in order in order to get that permission they need to show the judge that they have a reasonable amount of evidence that the person the suspect committed a serious crime so clearly they have been able to convince a judge because they clearly got the authorization they needed to carry out this raid d.o.j. and any federal agents are not commenting at all about this raid but the new york times and others are reporting from sources that federal agents confiscated several electronic devices from giuliani's home and we're also finding out late on wednesday now that there are raids of more people as well associates of rudy giuliani outside of new york 2 in particular 2 lawyers that are associates of him have confirmed that their offices were raided wednesday afternoon as well so

clearly this is closing in on rudy giuliani this investigation by federal officials that we believe is traced back to giuliani's ties to ukraine still ahead on al jazeera the u.k. prime minister is at the heart of scandal involving renovations at 10 downing street so why this could hurt his political career plus. i'm simona in iraq close to the border with saudi arabia were nomadic tribes struggling to cope with the facts of climate change. 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 his spangler so let me give you a closer look now at exactly what is going on there is that heavy rain for puerto rico impacting both the dominican republic and haiti take you a bit further south right now we're both the southern portion and the northern portion of the continent of south america dealing with some heavy spells of what weather 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. a small boy and his brother rescued from war in gaza by the red cross so i'm holding this time we were 1st released on a red cross truck now it won't lead to increase its management and finally going to dump 2 in chicago who still misses how to judge one day it's possible only thinking of returning to jordan al-jazeera wild meats 2 successful arab doctors in north america arabs approving the humanitarian and the he left on al-jazeera. lulu's. you're absolutely.

hello again the top stories on al jazeera this hour u.s. president joe biden is set to address congress ahead of his 100th day in office he's expected to deliver a message of hope and help the country's recovery despite facing the pandemic in syria severe economic and political crises people in india are rushing to register for a mass vaccination drive set to begin this weekend just coronavirus infection spiraled out of control it's set another world record with the highest number of daily infections the f.b.i. has rated an apartment an office belonging to movie giuliani the personal lawyer of the former us president donald trump as part of a probe into his dealings with ukraine but his lawyer denies he broke the law. anti-government demonstrations in colombia's capital have turned violent thousands defied to over $1000.00 restrictions and marched through the streets of bogota to

protest against president do case proposed tax hikes demonstrators and riot police clashed in some parts as protesters pressed ahead with the rally despite a government plea to pull spode in colombia saw widespread anti-government protests in 2019 but slowed down during the pandemic. he has more from bogota. clashes broke out between protesters and the police here in the capital at the end of a massive day of protests across colombia some protesters story trowing iraq at the police the police responded with stun grenades and tear gas dispersing a massive crowd tens of thousands of people took to the streets here in time and number of cities across colombia against a tax reform proposed by the government that would raise taxes on many basic

items people in colombia or angry they are tired they have been greatly affected by. the idea of having to pay more taxes was just at the last drop for many of them so it's important to say that most of the day was peaceful here in the capital bogota the clashes were at the end of the demonstrations there were other clashes in the city. and the mayor there decided to impose a curfew at 1 pm local the mayor of bogota also decided that she will stop all bus services at 5 pm and this asking people to go back home now people took to the streets the spite the fact that both the national government and local governments have asked people not to demonstrate not to protest given the

fact that we are in the middle. way of coping 19 infections in the country hospitals are close to collapse but people felt that they needed to come out and protest a given the sheer numbers of people that protested today many are now asking if this will be at the beginning of a new season of social upheaval in the country. an investigation has been launched into how the british prime minister boris johnson funded renovations to his apartment in downing street the u.k.'s political spending watchdog says it has reasonable grounds to suspect an offense may have been committed paul brennan reports from london. downing street the very heart of boris johnson's government is in turmoil among the stream of damaging leaks and revelations in recent days the question of exactly how the renovations of johnson's downing street apartment were paid for have been front page news it's been alleged that johnson 1st tried to get

wealthy supporters to pay for the work then that his political party loaned him the money if so that should have been made public prime minister the electoral commission is now involved and at the weekly session of prime minister's questions the opposition labor party smelled blood who initially of prime minister initially is the key word here who initially paid for the redecoration of his downing street . minister misspeak i think i'll answer this question several times and the arts the answer is that i have covered the costs i have met the requirements that i've been obliged to meet in full what we get from this prime minister of this conservative government don't you contracts jobs for their mates and cash for access and who's at the heart of it the prime minister major sleaze sitting than. again and again johnson wouldn't clarify who had paid the initial invoice repeating

only that he personally had covered the costs of regional and local elections are just a week away and opinion polling suggest the controversies are starting to affect voter sentiment again you're getting a pass and we're some points is credibility as prime minister will evaporate and you people go to last year we want somebody of that kind of abject mall. as prime minister. at the core of this crisis is a bitter dispute between forrest johnson and this man his former closest advisor dominic comics downing street accused cummings of being the source of many of the recent damaging leaks coming strongly rebutted publishing an explosive blog which concluded that his former boss fell far below the required standards of competence and integrity boris johnson owes much of his political success to a remarkable teflon like quality the ability to survive control over seas which

would have brought down of a less contemporary politicians it's almost as if different rules apply to this prime minister but that doesn't mean that the rules don't exist in this electoral commission there is a watchdog prepared to apply them paul brennan al-jazeera westminster northern ireland's 1st minister has announced she's stepping down after members of her party challenge her leadership early and foster will resign as leader of the democratic unionist party and as northern ireland's 1st minister critics blame her for the trade barriers down the irish sea known as the northern ireland protocol which was agreed as part of the u.k.'s exit from the e.u. south africa president has told a corruption inquiry involving his predecessor that the governing and c. party could and should have done more to prevent grafts the so-called state capture inquiry is looking at allegations of the former president jacob zuma allowed

members of the controversial group the family to secure a government contracts and influence policy current president cyril ramaphosa was deputy under zuma deputy president under zuma that is he testified here is fine with more from johannesburg. as the sitting president is the highest ranking official to appear and testify at the zonder commission of inquiry into state capture or corruption but many didn't expect explosive evidence today they had our waiver expected some clarity on the role the african national congress might have played in corruption specifically the appointment of political officials in roles that could have been affected individuals and the a.n.c. at large still roma process has admitted that the african national congress has allowed looting and that factions within the political party created

a fertile ground for corruption minutes of africans want accountability and it's not certain if they'll get that from the president's testimony at the commission we know that in recent months former president jacob zuma refused to return to the commission saying that it was a witch hunt that he was being vilified in the a.n.c. was being targeted and they are many a.n.c. members and supporters who feel the same way there is another day of testimony from expected and many will be watching to see if there is greater understanding of exactly how south africa got to this point or with or not this will just be a p.r. exercise for the president in a year when south africans are going to local elections and the african national congress is looking for votes coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed in the netherlands but the country is growing through its worst wave of inspections since the beginning of the pandemic and hospitals are warning they'll soon have to refuse

treating the critically ill stuff awesome reports from. for many this was a moment to savor at exactly midday people all over the netherlands flocked to outdoor terraces to toast the easing of frustrations they are now allowed to open in the afternoon until 6 pm although social distancing measures remain in place. we were just telling each other it now looks like it does not exist everything seems normal again of course we know about the hospital admissions but if you look around you might forget about it. guests have to book in advance and are only asked to wear a face mask when they go inside to use the restroom although business owners are happy to have mixed feelings or we hear reports from the hospitals so i'm aware of what's going on we are not the ones who have made his decision but i think this is

better than people who are sitting and standing close to each other in the streets . thousands of people violated covert restrictions on tuesday when the madeline celebrated the birthday of king willem alexander dozens were arrested for all ages and medical workers have called easing restrictions dangerous and irresponsible but many here in the netherlands couldn't wait to go back to some kind of normalcy their excitement is a strong contrast with the diet situation in dutch hospitals. with infections as high as during the 1st wave doctors are warning i.c.u. capacity is reaching its limit of $3950.00 beds if that happens a so-called code block may be issued and hospitals would have to choose who gets treated maybe i know in cold blood already because. the b. keep patients home be sent patients home too early i think the quality of care is diminishing former head inspector of health whims halleck and sas the government

has been playing with fire trying to control the spread of the virus and taking a risk hospitals will no longer cope we have to diminish diminished years actually that is that is obligatory and what is the government doing easing the restrictions and that's contradictory that's contradictory i can't understand it he predicts that the easing of frustrations will only prolong the covert crisis and will possibly force the government to impose a much stricter lockdown after all in the next few months not a message these people enjoying a drink in the sun want to hear that fast and al-jazeera it track. state of north carolina will not release the body camera video showing the police killing of andrew brown jr a court has ruled that releasing the footage may jeopardize ongoing investigations and impartiality in any future case there's been another night of protests in the city of elizabeth over the death of the black american an independent also showed

he was shot in the back of the heads his family says he was not a threat to police as he was trying to flee astronaut michael collins who was one of the 3 crew on the apollo 11 lunar mission has died aged 90 collins orbited the moon while his crew mates neil armstrong and buzz aldrin took their historic 1st steps on the surface in 1969 he died on wednesday after a battle with cancer his family said he had always faced life's challenges with grace and humility and phased his final challenge in the same way iraq's bedouins are under threat from climate change hot summers and erratic rain patterns are forcing many of them to bandon their traditional way of life so wonderful to reports from the remote deserts of iraq's province spring has arrived in the deserts of iraq southern province april is a time when the sandy soil should turn into grazing land to allow life stock to

gain weight ahead of the scorching summer heat instead camels must make do with scattered patches of scruffy grass. climate change is a road into sustenance of these animals spelling and existential crisis put in the magic tribes who depend on them. and the land of dry grass. we have descended from animals to buy food for better this is what life has become. during our visit clouds gathered in what some hoped would be the 1st proper downpour they see here but only a few drops trickled from the sky barely enough to wet the ground there has been very little precipitation this year and when it does rain it's only for a few minutes which is not enough to transform this into pastures for the life stuck to feed on the wells that want sustained animals and humans alike have long

run dry rather than migrating in sync with mother nature the bedouins by water and truck it from a nearby village but how much longer can they keep going before they're forced to abandon this increasingly difficult way of life. cannot imagine doing anything else he has no education no other source of income busy. i never thought about leaving this life and i never will until my animals leave me step by step the animals will disappear. his friends that he left the desert a long time ago today he has come back to visit from a nearby town. there's no future here they only know how to herd animals there's no education there's no future for the bedouins maybe in the end there won't be any left. out of 9 siblings only one still lives in the magic life the rest have swapped tents for brick and mortar dwellings in the desert

hamlet of. here set on found work in the local water department. i prefer the desert but the kids have gotten used to the town air conditioners and phones they go to school. sonce 5 children only know bedouin traditions from stories passed down from their grandfather tales about humans living in harmony with nature about large animal herds moving freely across borders and feeding on seemingly endless green pastures it's a way of life that could soon be just a memory seem wonderful to al-jazeera in iraq smith on the province. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera u.s. president joe biden is set to address called.