contempt. he is refusing to testify. ♪ >> this is al jazeera live. late-night talks continue for the cop26 summit as countries

try to reach eight deal. >> brazil has promised to end the legal deforestation by 2020 it. the reality means that could a hard promise to keep. >> ang theoland-belarus border, thousands of migrants remain stuck. ♪ >> steve bannon has been formally charged with a criminal act for disobeying a congressional order. he was chief strategist in the trump's white house. he is refusing to testify in front of the congressional committee investigating the attack on the capitol on january 6.

they are trying to determine the origin of the attack. more details. tell us about these charges. >> there are two contempt of congress charges. what -- one for failing to testify before the committee, another for failing to produce documents. steve bannon was subpoenaed and asked to appear by the committee investigating the capitol breach. they say they have reason to believe he had information regarding the events that took place that day. they point to statements he made before the attack. in a podcast in which he said extreme events were going to

happen and "all [explained of] -- [expletvie] is going to break loose." a u.s. attorney presented the finding to a grand jury, who found that there was reason to move forward with criminal charges. if he is found guilty, he could face up to a year in prison on each one. >> what does it mean for the committee? >> steve bannon is not the only person who is refusing to cooperate with this committee. citing the president's claims of executive privilege. this sense a message to other

trump allies that they could face criminal charges if they do not comply with the committee. mark meadows had a deadline of today to provide information to the house select committee. he declined to do so. in the last week, more than a dozen new subpoenas have been issued to former white house officials, campaign staffers. one federal judge has already voted against rejecting trump's claim of executive privilege. that is what these witnesses have been refusing under -- under that claim, they have been refusing to cooperate, but this shows they could face criminal charges. >> many thanks.

the u.n. climate summit in glasgow has gone into overtime as delegates try to reach an agreement on a plan to protect the planet from catastrophic mobile arming. representatives from nearly 200 countries are having their say. the goal is to cap warming at 1.5 degrees. the world needs to cut emissions by 45% by 2030. there has been some progress. china and the u.s. say they will cut me thin gas, phase out fossil fuels. but financing the transition remains a key sticking point. analyst say current pledges are not enough and the earth is

currently on contract -- on track for 2.7 degrees of warming. >> this is our collective moment in history. this is our chance to forge a healthier, more prosperous world. this is our time to deliver on the high ambition set by our leaders at the start of the summit. we must rise to the occasion. >> we will continue to champion 1.5. subsidy -- fossil fuel subsidies must end. we must strengthen -- and we need an article six resolution that results in will reduction. >> the text is -- at a minimum,

the challenge now is for those of us who are progressive to hold the line. we owe it to our children and grandchildren. >> let us speak to net clark. these discussions have gone into overtime. where do things stand in this they just round? -- this latest round? >> hundreds of observers and journalists have gone back to their hotels to get some rest ahead of a busy day tomorrow. lots of negotiations ongoing. the cop26 president has told us

recently that there are intensive consultations going on right now to try to find some common round. we are expecting the next iteration tomorrow morning. after that, there will be a meeting. they will talk, argue, and go back to their respective negotiating blocks. in the afternoon, all the countries will come together. he says at that point he is hoping to get some sort of resolution passed. that will be a miracle if that does happen. it is a complex set of negotiations. teams will be calling their capitals on particular issues, especially issues like phasing out coal. it has been made it into the text, been watered down since

the first draft. we will see if it survives the night tonight. emission another move to get countries to provide new pledges. then there is possibly the dealbreaker of climate finance. it was promised in 2009 and will be delayed until 2023. also that issue whereby money is given to developing countries facing the worst effects of diamond change. for them, that is a red line. if rich countries do not up the ante, the deal is off. >> the world does need to cut emissions by 45% by 2023. -- by 2030.

how far it wouldn't you say this conference has gone? >> not far at all. it is a huge gap between where the science says we need to be and where we are. we are trying to keep temperatures at 1.5. we are at 1.2 already. we have seen the devastating impacts. the latest figures say we are headed to 2.4 degrees celsius, above the upper limit of the paris agreement. that would be disastrous. they are trying to make sure countries come back next year and offer up more intense commitments to try and bring that temperature down. a lot of the countries say that

is not in the spirit of the paris agreement. the rest are saying we have got to do it. >> climate financing is one of the key issues being discussed. 10 or thousand is the -- ted northouse joins us. financial support for poor, more vulnerable countries has always been a topic hotly debated, but when you look at the latest drafts, do you feel what is being promised goes far enough? >> we have not even delivered on the pledges made over a decade ago. i am not sure why anyone is particularly confident that a new text will result in more money moving from rich countries

to poor countries. most of the money that has moved under the banner of climate adaptation, finance to date has mostly been money that has been rebadged. it was money that rich countries were giving to the poor countries anyway. as part of these pledges, they moved it and said, this is part of our climate adaptation financed, but it is not actually new money. the reality is it is unfortunately likely that when it comes to both adaptation and climate mitigation, poor countries are likely to continue to be on their own. >> new is this discussion of compensation for loss of damage already occurred. why is that so critical? >> poor countries half -- have a

lot of reasons to want to make a strong connection tied to at least pledges, if not treaty obligations, from rich countries to compensate them for climate damages that have already occurred. in reality, doing so is extremely difficult. to actually determine that this particular event was directly due to these emissions made at this time by these countries is extremely difficult to do. this has to be understood as a framework where poor countries want more aid from rich countries. there is good reason for why they want that, but i think the

idea that we are going to establish a clear link and write that into a treaty obligation for compensation, it is not going to happen. >> thanks for your views. the u.s. secretary of state has announced that qatar will represent the diplomatic interest of the u.s. in afghanistan. qatar will facilitate formal communication between washington and couple. the u.s. does not recognize the taliban government. >> qatar remains committed to continue the necessary work, alongside with the u.s. and partners. we are dedicated to contributing to the stability of afghanistan

and the safety and well-being of the afghan people. the strategic dialogue will reaffirm our determination to deepen our cooperation in various fields, including strengthening our security partnership. >> calls grow louder for a recount due to accusations of voter fraud. the u.n. envoy on extreme property is in london. his assessment of what people are facing there. ♪ >> severe storms across the deep south of the u.s.. most storms will clear away from

the eastern seaboard. we are going to see cold air digging in, spilling out of canada, temperatures falling rapidly. a fair bit of snow across the canadian prairies, pushing across into the northern plains of the u.s. some lake effect snow in the next couple of days. the eastern seaboard brings up. temperatures dipping a little, although not enough for l.a. washington state has seen more heavy rain and will see snow once again. heavy rain still affecting the western side of the caribbean. what are whether in -- wetter

weather in central america. ♪

>> our top stories this hour. steve bannon has been formally charged with two criminal acts. he was subpoenaed and refused to testify in front of the committee investigating the attack on the u.s. capitol. cutter will recommend -- q atar will represent the u.s. in afghanistan. the climate summit in glasgow has gone into overtime. they are trying to agree on a draft protecting the planet. one of the most significant commitments out of cop26 was the promise of bite and others to end deforestation. about 60% of the rainforest lies

within brazil's orders. under resourced policing of deforestation means this commitment right the hard to realize. >> this patch of rainforest has been illegally cleared and prepared for burning. the main suspect denies all knowledge. short of catching him red-handed, there is little the police can do. the inspectors say they often feel that your work is in vain. >> week are trying to preserve an area like this. we see that people do not treat this nature with the affection and love that we have for the amazon. we know that our future depends on this. >> there are just 110 police

covering an area that spain and portugal combined. that makes the effort to end deforestation by 2028 look like a tall order. it is losing -- we are releasing hundreds of millions of tons of co2 into the atmosphere. the amazon is a sick, but clearance in the brazilian rain forest means they are emitting more carbon dockside then they are absorbing. >> there is more pressure on the rainforest as the population grows and the jungle is cleared for housing. >> if the government does not have a policy for the population, it is clear that there will always be deforestation. indigenous people are the ones

who keep the force alive and preserve them. >> there are 62 cities in amazonia state. thousands more arrived every year for work. >> cities are going to stay connected more intensively in terms of urban development. in the next decades, we will have a huge metropolitan area. at the local scale, we will see the destruction of these urban --. >> the destruction of the resilient amazon has intensified under bolsonaro, eight global warming skeptic. activists are waiting to see proof of his government's new commitment to cutting emissions. there is a long way to go if

brazil is going to reduce dear -- reduce deforestation. >> the european commission says it will not be intimidated right press from belarus to cut off russian gas in an argument over migrants. thousands remain stuck at the country's border with poland. the eu says belarus is directing people to order in retaliation for sanctions. >> in the dark, a child cries out daddy. while polish troops filled the scene, a standoff has been going on for weeks now. but winter is arriving. on the polish side, local activists are warning that they cannot cope.

they are saying 10 refugees and migrants have already night on polish territory. >> we have been responding to the situation to save life where the government has restricted access to humanitarian and his agents. since mid october, we have been approached by over 3000 people that have been trapped. >> they had no food, no shelter, no drinking water. when we meet them at the polish site, they are usually in a difficult mental and medical state. they are exhausted, terrified. they are hiding in a forest for days. >> these scenes were found by russia's sputnik agency. it is not clear how many of the people camped out will have gotten any.

here, some families have been given the basics, but as the main response on either side continues to be a military one, these people are stuck in a political game they cannot control. still, they keep coming. these images show as a boat russian security forces direct people along the border. the only thing they seem to get in any quantity is what to burn. >> her eyes have problem. she cry. >> western states issued injuring statement accusing belarus of putting migrants' lives in danger for political purposes.

nearly 80,000 people have tried to enter the block from belarus this year, but poland's only response is more troops. this is the president on thursday. every day that goes by, more desperate people find themselves stuck in the forest. >> hundreds of pro-iranians protest last month's election results in iraq. more from baghdad. >> they have moved closer to the gate of the green zone in baghdad. these are supporters of the pro-iranian political parties lost in the elementary elections. recent anger has been triggered by the announcement recently made by the supreme council of judiciary that the parliamentary

elections have no legal standing that means that the electoral commission is moving forward to endorse the initial results of the election. that is not in favor of the true iranian political parties that lost any seat. they say that unless consensus is reached between the rival parliamentary blocks, between the rival political blocks, then they will continue protesting here, blocking roads near the read sound. most of these protesters are voluntary individuals, even in civilian costume. they are members of the popular mobilization forces.

they are from the pro-iranian political parties that lost many seat. many say that the only way that they can leave the area is if there parties take part in forming the government, but if that happens, if the iranian political parties that are accused of corruption, mismanagement, accused of ruining the state institutions, and they take part in forming the new government, that will bring the country back to square one, back to 2019, when protesters rose up against corruption. >> lebanon's government is failing its people. that is the verdict of the ui envoy visiting the country.

lebanon is in danger of coming a failed state. >> the u.n. human rights council sent an envoy to lebanon to look at how the country has been pressing the economic crisis. we spoke to officials, as well as the donor community, which he says is running out of patience with the government. it is not just the international community lost trust in them. >> when i spoke to families who are destitute, they often answered there is no state. they have lost confidence in the state to provide a response. >> the u.n. envoy explained in detail how long-standing

inequalities, the lack of social protections, and an economic model that benefited the rich contributed to the collapse. connections between politicians and the private sector reached the highest levels in lebanon. lebanon is also one of the most unequal countries in the world. 10% of the population holds nearly 70% of the wealth. 40% of public wealth -- public revenue comes from taxes from the poor. it took 13 months of political bickering before they agreed on a new cabinet, but they have not been able to convene because of a new political crisis. he blamed government in action for what he called a manufactured crisis that condemned the majority of the population into poverty.

>> the publication is facing unprinted -- unprecedented challenges. i saw scenes in lebanon that i had not imagined i would ever see in a middle income country. >> the ui envoy did not describe lebanon as a failed state yet. he say it is headed in that direction. >> britney spears has been released from her father's control after nearly 14 years. outside the court, cheers and cries as the decision was confirmed. the conservatorship prevented her from making any personal decisions. ♪ >> these are your top stories.

steve bannon has been formally charged with two criminal acts. he was subpoenaed and refused to testify in front of the committee investigating january 6. >> steve kanaan was subpoenaed -- bannon was subpoenaed and asked to appear before the committee investigating the capital -- capitol breach. they say they have reason to believe he had information regarding the events that took place that day. they point to statements he made before the attack. he said in a podcast that extreme events are going to happen and that " all [expletive] is going to break

loose." cop26 has gone into overtime. the u.s. secretary of state has announced qatar will represent the u.s. in afghanistan, facilitating formal communication between washington and kabul. the u.s. does not recognize the taliban. the european commission says it will not be intimidated from threats by belarus to cut off russian gas. european officials have been involved in efforts to stop the flow of diagrams. a lockdown in the netherlands has sparked a protest. demonstrators clashed with police, who fired water gas into the crowd. after -- stay with us.

>> when covid hit india, it tested all of the country's institutions, exposing deep flaws in some sectors, a few more fun than the country's media sphere. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> [speaking foreign language] >> india has more than 400 new's channels that broadcast in 20 different languages. there are thousands of newspapers and websites. then there are the social platforms. this is one of the most active media platforms in the world. in the past decade, it has grown more polarized than ever before. just how well-equipped are these numerous outlets to deal with the challenges of reporting on kevin in india? >> we needed news reporting to demand accountability from the government. we should have had the media examine the state of health infrastructure on what we were being told by governments.

but if you look at the deli based news channels and the reason on focusing on them is that they really set the agenda. eight majority of these channels were primarily acting as cheerleaders of the government. >> [speaking foreign language] >> through the first year of the pandemic, some tv news coverage exemplified the problems with india's mainstream media -- sensationalism, lack of critical perspective. especially a tendency to zero in on a group and stigmatize them. in march 2020, well before the government announced the first nationwide lockdown, members of the public gathered for a conference at the group's

headquarters in new delhi. social distancing guidelines were not followed. but they were not alone in that. across india, people work slow to follow mandates. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the hysteria was one instance of misinformation being amplified. it was not the only one. >> misinformation has been a significant problem. everyone was trying to come to grips with covid. the other thing that became a problem was the point at which we started believing that the virus was gone. there was no scientific evidence. many believed it. it became misinformation.

that is part of what led to the second wave. >> went the second wave hit, it became too difficult to ignore the situation. >> we lost many news men and women. >> eight prominent pro-government tv anchor lost his life to probate. >> [speaking foreign language] >> but even in the situation when the lack of policy and preparation was evident, there seemed to be a tactic of shifting the blame to the government. >> media is shifting the blame from the prime minister's office to the state. the media is saying this is what your office should do, whether you agree or not.

media is shifting the blame. >> many national newspapers do a fairly decent job, but very few rank bake -- big with headlines for aggressive demands for accountability. one exception -- their reporting had been fairly bland in the first wave, but there was a clear shift in the second wave. they work sending reporters to count the number of general pop -- of funeral pyres. this was to compare against national numbers. images of crematorium's working round the clock did not just make the front of indian newspapers. they were all over the national coverage. >> most of the crematorium's

were not overlooked. the purpose of that was --. because of the failure of the government, government practices, see what is happening. there is no alternative. >> by the of the second wave, eight silence from new delhi had become deafening. since he came into office in 2014, the prime minister has not even any press conferences in which he has taken questions from the media. his interviews are rare. >> [speaking foreign language] >> however, as a second wave rampaged through the country,

the prime minister finally appeared on television. >> [speaking foreign language] >> not only were people desperately trying to source oxygen and space in hospitals, they were also scrambling for education. medical misinformation was a significant issue. >> he is essentially a practitioner of yoga who is eight successful entrepreneur and has realized the power of television. he has not just multiplied his audience across the country, but

is also able to connect. the problem specifically was that he launched something which was clearly covid but was positioned as a cure. it seemed to have gotten the blessings of the history of health. everyone backtracked fiercely after that, because there was a public outcry. >> he called modern medicine a stupid science. the health minister at the time had to publicly demand an apology. covid was not just a huge public health crisis. it was a public relations crisis as well. this made reporting on

government fraught. >> through the pandemic, reporters and outlets had cases filed against them for legitimate news reporting. as the second wave was approaching, the indian government ordered facebook and twitter to take down critical content. -- had backfired somewhat. indians were urged to share positive stories for the prime minister during his monthly video monologue. the online outrage led to the tweet being deleted. how was it that through the pandemic, so many news outlets either distracted, misinformed, or delayed meaningful, impactful discussion? i am speaking with two senior

journalists. thank you for joining us. my first question is to the both of you. how do you think the indian media fit during the pandemic? >> i would say they did their job well -- especially in the first wave. they were trying to give out new medical opinions, time people what to do, what not to do. in the second wave, -- largely because nobody expected the wave to be so bad. but there are journalists who are professional. if you take it as a collective,

i think it did a reasonably well job. but a lot went bonkers. >> the same question to you. >> in phase one, it is regrettable that a major section of the media played an active role in communal icing the pandemic, trying to paint the spread of coronavirus in religious colors. and in the wider ecosystem, fueled by right-wing political groups, where there was a clear and conscious effort to present muslims as the prime carriers of the coronavirus. this was highly regrettable, even criminal. to my mind, this stands out as

one d single failures of the indian media. there was a section that was reporting diligently on the impact of the unannounced, unplanned government lockdown and the huge hardship this caused on millions of workers. there was not enough sustained coverage of that exodus across all sections of media. there was effort to deflect attention away from the government's obvious failings. there was a lot of blatant targeting of muslims. this was reflected in a section of the candy press. finally, the use of social media by motivated political activists

that ensured that this message was carried across the country so that the toxic messaging was delivered to everybody's smartphone. the wave was established by a handful. >> one view could be that they did in fact target communities, spread disinformation, and failed to fact check the government's optimistic claims of help the problem was being managed. how would you rate their performance? >> everybody was operating in the dark. -- in the second wave, but these guys are reporting 10 million deaths without any basis. the responsibility of the

western media takes the cake, but as indian media, there is always another bias. the damage was more done by the international media -- with no part being offered to the fact that the government may have been trying to do it fairly reasonably. they talk about amelioration. we talked about all kinds of things. people talking about that -- all the time as a super-spreader. mobilization has been happening on both sides. >> do you want to respond? >> the fact is that reporting of the coronavirus in phase one was not the problem of prejudice among hindus. these tv channels were getting

their cue from the health ministry. you have the irony of the who issuing guidelines, reporting about the pandemic, we should not focus on religious or other forms of identity of covid patients. you have the human health ministry in a press conference every day giving a new percentage of the total number of cases. >> there were several publications that ran pictures of the crematorium's overflowing. you wrote, speaking the truth to power does not mean speaking in sensitivity or traumatizing, that there were others that felt that the depth of the crisis needed emotive autographs. there should the idiot drop that line?

-- draw that line? >> hindu cremation is different from christian burial. -- connect with their forefathers. a lot of people had covid and can do their last rites. there were hundreds of body. you wanted to show how in the out anna ching it. -- mismanaging it. hospitals ran out of oxygen, crematoriums were overwhelmed. that is why people had to be cremated in the open. this was the issue. i do not think anybody [indiscernible] but this is what we did.

the media did the same thing. >> respectfully disagree. it was important for the scale of the tragedy to be conveyed. i am saying this as a person who had the misfortune of going to a crematorium to conduct the last rites of my father-in-law. i lost many friends in the pandemic. i did not find any of the visuals in the media of bodies being cremated on a makeshift panel disrespectful to the dead. they were deeply embarrassing to the government. so were visuals and reports of bodies being disposed of along the gain geez -- ganges.

there was an effort to paint the scale of the tragedy in india as anti-indian, anti-hindu. that is not the case at all. it is highly unfair to call journalists who often put themselves at risk by going out there and covering these scenes of loss, of cremations, to call them vultures. i think that is unfair. what you have had is detailed analysis by statisticians. nothing is gained by underplaying statistics. we know that this happened on a systematic basis. if the federal government was gathering data, you would not have had this mismatch.

it is important for the media to try to put their finger on what the scale of the tragedy might have been. >> india ranks 142/180 in the world press freedom index. do you see a deterioration? >> i do not think so. not one of them has -- [indiscernible] -- an inability to take a decision. they are unable to handle it. it is not unique. >> do you agree that it has always been this bad? >> things have always been that,

but we have a single escalation in official tax on press freedom. i say this because the traditional form in which the decision was made was the finding of criminal defamation cases. when i was editor of the hindu, the scope criminal -- two criminal ducknation cases were filed against me. media platforms are quite used to handling defamation cases. what has been happening in the last few years is the invoking of criminal judges for promoting hatred or spreading rumors with a view to trigger an insurrection against the

government. you have these charges against reporters, media platforms. this recommends a new and dangerous turn. colleagues are particularly badly targeted, because you have several reporters against him firs were fired under the anti-terror law for news reports. journalists are regularly summoned. there is an added problem. it goes beyond the traditional cricketing -- criticizing of politicians. >> media watchdogs and rights organizations call indian india increasingly polarized and partisan. post-pandemic, elections coming up. how can we indian media fulfill its important role?

>> viewers and readers get the media they deserve. polarization is not unique to india. you can see the u.s. -- can deplatform. no paragons of press freedom. you want the proof, you must log at obligations and read --. then you will come further to the truth. >> the media is polarized. there is little anybody can do about it, but the least of each other is that we stand strongly by the right to press freedom in this country. whenever this right is attached, no matter who the target is, no

matter who is doing the targeting, journalists have a duty to speak up. if a government goes after journalists that they prefer to keep quiet, this is wrong. i wish that the media as a whole would set aside their different perspectives and say, we need to safeguard media freedom. if that goes, then we have nothing left to protect us. >> finally, we want to share our space with academics and -- with indian voices outside of government and mainstream media. we wanted to feature some of the very languages they work in and the perspectives they bring. a song in golly -- in bengali.

this was written and performed during the first lockdown in india in 2020. ♪

woman: we want our children and our grandchildren, but we are not allowed to keep them. natasha del toro: for decades, u.s. adoption policies tore native american families apart. kathryn fort: 25% to 35% of all american indian children were removed from their homes. 90% of those children were in non-native families. del toro: now, the adopted and foster relatives are coming together to heal and reconnect with their heritage. "blood memory" on america reframed. ♪ ♪