rasa is acquitted of charges of tax evasion by a court in the philippines. ah, hello, i'm new barker, this is al jazeera life em doha. also coming up a high ranking un delegation arriving cobble for talks with the taliban as the spotlight grows of women's rights. a long and bloody battle grimes on in black mountain east in ukraine, where russian forces have intensified their attacks. and twitter basil must goes on trial for fraud over tweets. the tesla shareholders say cost them billions of dollars a for him to the program at court in the philippines as acquitted nobel prize winning journalist maria resar on all 4 charges of tax evasion, rosters. so face is 3 other criminal cases which are under appeal rights group say the legal cases are part of a large, a crackdown of media freedom that began that the former president rodrigo, to test a ras, so won the nobel peace prize in 2021. for protecting freedom of expression, and we're fortunate enough to be joined by maria ressa herself. she's life from manila. welcome to the program, maria. this is clearly an emotional day for you. first, the, your reaction to the tax appeals court quitting you of 4 charges of tax evasion and a case filed by the previous to 30 government. i expected it but didn't know whether it was going to happen. i mean, i expected it because there weren't, there was no evidence presented during this case, but ah, i didn't realize how emotional i, i would get because we were preparing, i guess you could call it p t s d, you know, the 1st statement i would write for rapidly be a conviction because that's been that the, the last 6 years. well this is the 1st time that justice wins. i, i said this or earlier, right outside, you know the facts. one truth one, just this one. so yes, far more emotional then if a conviction had happened, as of course it won't signal. do you think the sens for the remaining active court cases against you? a rattler relating to cyber libel. well, there's a 5th tax evasion. charge that is on value added tax, pretty much the same principles as this that we, i testified in back court as well and that decision is expected in june. this sets a precedence that will be interesting. and then the other 2 criminal charges against me. cyber libel is already at the supreme court, and then the criminal charge of the se, see case trying to shut us down, is still in the regional trial court. it's unclear still, right? but again, this is a ray of hope and it's half 1st. the 1st time we have one something in our justice system since this these political harassment began. so i thanked the court of tax appeals. that's been a very professional court, but it took 4 years and 2 months to get to this point. right. you mention political harassment that throughout this entire process to what extent to the courts, the give you due process and to consideration of the evidence. i think what i'm trying to say is how obvious was the hands of government in the dealings of the court. let me answer that in 2 ways. number one, as you know, i've only submitted myself to the courts. number 2, it is shocking to me. what we have gotten to this level that i have a cyber liable charge that is at the supreme court, right? so of course, while these cases are in court, there are rules of subsidies that prevent me from discussing the merits of the case . but let me just says, you know, stand on what we have always said. we do our jobs as journalists, because we do that because we hold power to account. we were attacked 1st online, the weapon zation of social media followed a year later by the weapon ization of the law. so, you know, i, i have to have faith. and now this is a substantial victory. maria, you are of course, without one of the most celebrated journalists around the world or former time magazine person of the year m g. one. of course, the joint nobel peace prize. to what extent of all of these international accolades helped, or hindered your case in your home country? you know, at the beginning when, when time named me one of the persons of the year, i thought at 1st was a sinking feeling in my stomach. and then i realized later on, it was actually a shield. it allowed us to bring in these instances of injustice that was happening politically motivated in our country to the global stage. and that's precisely what i hope this case does, right? it gave hope not only to us, but for another journalist who's been in jail for she will start from 4th year in prison. french make will feel, and of course, you know, delilah delima has been in prison now. she will start her 7th year in prison in february. so i think that this is, i hope that the upside down which is where we've been living for so long. turns right side up. yeah, i had, i thanked the court of appeals, you know, thank you for the international focus. you have help give us as well because without that laser focus, without shining, the light thinks could have gotten much worse or your work in many ways has been almost a prophetic considering politically what we've seen of united states and more recently in brazil. and you written extensively about how social media can be used as a tool to enhance democracy, but also to undermine and to stifle freedom of speech. how have you been able to fight back when social media was used as a blunt instrument against you? we 1st figured out what was happening, right. it's ironic because we believed in social media for social good. that's why we started wrapper, but then around 2016 during those elections here in the philippines, we began to see social media information operations ally told a 1000000 times pound targets to silence and then replace the narrative. and then beyond that, we began studying algorithms of distribution. it became it best. this is an mit study from 2018 lies spread faster and further at least 6 times more than facts. right? and then if you lace it with anger and hate, then it spreads even further. that's the 1st stop the information operations information warfare to pound someone to silence. but the next step that we're trying to study now is, are these algorithms, the cluster different groups that may never have met each other in the real world? this, for example, is the support base of bull scenario in brazil the far right. and then conspiracy theorists that you know were clustered together by the clustering algorithms of you tube. in the case of brazil, these are things we continue. this is how we can fight back. we 1st looked at the data, we understood how it had been weaponized, how social media platforms enabled and were complicit in the breakdown of both rule of law and democracy globally. real. i say this tentatively, of course, but this is potentially a huge reversal of fortune for you. you are staring at the possibility of spending a long time behind bars. all you encouraged by what you're seeing and hearing in the philippines of the moment. i can't help but be right, but i'm cautiously optimistic. look these for tax evasion, charges where exactly where business. so look and nomics rule of law and press freedom meet our president. president mark less is in douglas switzerland right now, trying to get investors to come look at the philippines. this is a good 1st step forward to restoring that. i think we have to still wait and see. i'm optimistic. there's a ray of light. i hope that widens and it becomes a sunny day. maria reza, wonderful to have you on al jazeera, many thanks. another news now, brazil's prosecutor general has filed the 1st charges against $39.00 people accused of storming government buildings in the capital this month. the charges include staging a cou more than a 1000 people were arrested when supporters of former president john bo sanara ransacked congress, the supreme court and the presidential palace. they been cool if a military intervention to overturn the result of october's election won by president lewis, and i say lydia silva, monica has more from rio de janeiro. the majority of the people that have been charged $22.00 of them are men. 17 are women. we know that they are from the states of some ball, which is the biggest of the richest state here in brazil, and they're also from the capital, brazil. yeah. we, are we expecting war? yes, they're investigating who financed this operation because there wasn't just something that people just came out of nowhere. a brazilian is in the middle of brazil, so there were people that paid for buses for these people to arrive there from different parts of the country. they had been camped out in front of military brat, the barracks for a long time, 2 months. and that requires having generators, electricity. so there's a long way to go to find out who paid for this. also another man ah, has just been in prison for trying to our stage an explosion. this was in december before the inauguration, and it was the 1st sign that people were trying to do something more violent to ours. stop our president lula from, from our taking powers also of the man that used to be the head of security of brazilian. and before he was the minister of justice of former president, j bowles. fernando who was in miami, is also are waiting to be interrogated by the police. he is suspected of omission and of having by not having taken up the necessary steps have allowed all this to happen. b, u. n. has sent his top ranked women as part of its highest level delegation to afghanistan. since the taliban sees power is expected to push for women's rights curtailed on the taliban rule to be restored. kristen, to lead me reports from the un in afghanistan, the announcement that women could not attend. versity brought protesters to the street. that in a ban on women, working with international aid organizations, brought a new round of global condemnation for the taliban. it, what's happened recently in the recent majors by the thought of on government in afghanistan has been very disappointing for us. and we've been warning them from taking such a de, such as this all to go. and just to make the situation much worse for the afghan people, but also for the international community to be able to deal with. the taliban restored the ability of women to work with international and jose, after several aid organizations said they could not or would not carry out badly, needed humanitarian work without them. but the un says that isn't enough. the un security council has repeatedly called for the rights of afghan women and girls to be restored. and now the u. n's, most powerful woman, deputy secretary general amena mohammed, herself a muslim, is in afghanistan to make the case along the way. she's enlisted the help of several muslim countries and organizations. clear consensus was evident on the issue of women's and girls rights it to work and have access to education. there was a broad sense that the region and the organization of this law conferences leadership on these issues was critical and needed to be strengthened with a full support and collaboration of the international community. i afghan, a sans neighbors say the international community can't walk away from the struggling country or it's women in the muslim world is moved on from such from, from this approach. and we pride ourselves on, on, on the progress that you're seeing across the muslim world. these would be women's rights, but the solution is to engage the of current government and try and convince them to live up to their expect that their, their promises to the international community. and that is exactly that pakistan's approach. an approach all the more crucial for afghan women as taliban attempt to take away their ability to be seen or heard. kristin salumi al jazeera, the united nations still ahead on al jazeera police brother reese put, puts an excellent opposition lead us for atlanta, taken off, scar on trial for treason along with full of hon and over spirally inflation. the low salaries spills unto the streets of venezuela. ah, once again, more rain comes pouring into the u. s. state of california. hi there, thanks for joining in. but i think that bulk of the rain will actually fall to the north of san francisco. we're also seeing rain rate along the coast of oregon, washington state. it's point in to the province of british columbia in canada, after the east, where we had that nor'easter dropped some snow for boston. serious amount of rain at halifax, things are mostly quieted down. temperature is above average in new york at 12, and then we've got snow right through the plains and storms actually extending down to the lower mississippi river valley. got warm air colliding with cold air. so that's what sparking the storms there. winds have turned around, so temperature is into a more southerly direction coming up in nasa $24.00. that's more light, closer to where you should hit for this side of the year. and there's been some deadly flash flooding in middle gene in columbia. those storms extend to the southeast of brazil. i think the heaviest pulses of rain will be for sao paulo state on wednesday, showers in storms mean temperatures are lower and by jablonka. but let's put this a day forward. will paint the colors on dark, the red, the higher the temperature here. so by jablonka we've got you in for 34 degrees. not too far away. and commodore reba davia that bad with the high of 31. that's it . that's all see soon. ah ah ah, they're watching out just a reminder of our top stories this our, a court in the philippines is acquitted nobel prize winning journalist, maria ressa on tax evasion, challenges rights group say the legal case is a part of a large, a crackdown on media freedom that began on the form of president rodrigo to touch in brazil. prosecutor general has filed the 1st charges against $39.00. people accused of storming government buildings this month supported a former president, john. both scenarios wanted to overturn the result of october's election. the un has sent its top ranked women as part of its highest level delegation to opt out of stances. the taliban sees power. it follows concerns about gender based discrimination in the country with russia is intensifying attacks in easton ukraine. moscow was trying to secure a rat victory in the dumbass region. it's amy to take back moose, who had months of fighting as lead to heavy losses on both sides. russia has been unleashing his fire power on the nearly besieged city. most of his residence, a fled ukrainian president below to me as a lensky says, there is no place around the city that is not covered with blood child stratford. is there hearing a lot of heavy shelling as you can imagine shelling that is increased in recent days? interestingly, to put a timeline on it, or you can say that a lot of this fighting has actually increased since we saw rosen forces make gains in and around the town of solid are, which is north of back, moot in that direction. we understand now according to ukrainian, the ukrainian military that russian forces are trying to win circle that city of buffalo. and interestingly, since we've been here this morning, the town of kelly schiffer which is to the southeast of it, is also getting heavily shell. there's a lot of heavy, heavy fighting being heard there. we've seen smoke rising. some of the blasts we speculate could well, have been asked strikes interestingly in the last 10 minutes or so. we've seen certainly what the ukranian military tell us will ukrainian jets in this area. they were still showing out those flags that chaff. i'm to try and deter any kind of heat seeking weapon that went after it. that was aimed at it. we understand that that is just a precautionary measure that the ukrainians take. of course, trying to avoid friendly fires. it's the 1st time that we've seen jets in this area . we were in bach moot. yesterday, the scenes of offset destruction there. a terrible situation for the estimated 2000 or so civilians still, they're refusing to leave mostly the elderly in the firm saying that they've got no where to go. that the town has had no running water since october, no electricity since oldest. so you can imagine in these kind of conditions these winter temperatures, how difficult that is. there was a lot of heavy shelling of the center of the city as well as on the outskirts we've seen caught a lot of injured brit brought in to this point over the last few hours. this is injured. ukrainian soldiers, they basically made a vax out of back moot, and some of these surrounding towns brought to ambulances here and take gonzales little's back from the front line. ukrainian authorities of called off search to rescue operations in the rubble of denise pro apartment block hit by russian missiles on saturday. at least 45 people were killed in the attack, but emergency services say at least 20 others is still missing. russia has denied targeting residential buildings, or russia says it will boost the capabilities of its armed forces over the next 3 years promising what it's calling major changes. the announcement came as video was released, showing defense minister, so guy show go visiting troops fighting in the war. last month, the defense ministry said it plans to create new units and increase the number of military personnel to 1500000. the president of the european commission has urged world leaders at divorce to keep aiding ukraine. diplomatic editor james bay spoke with ursula vaughan de leon. shortly afterwards he started by asking what she thought would happen when the war started. the, i'll hoped that russia would be reasonable and not do with this invasion because we had prepared massive sanctions. and we couldn't imagine that you destroy your own country, russia by doing this invasion. well, it came differently as we know, and i must say the world is really impressed by the courage and at the stamina of the ukrainian people. and they have been amazing, amazing throughout this year. now, right now, the latest phase of this war, the last 3 months, has been very much a focus on the civilian infrastructure, bombarding the russians and bombarding civilians. i know you believe these a war crimes. there's this idea of a special tribunal to bring accountability. what do you make of that idea and how exactly would it work? well, i think this is, these are so atrocious war crimes that we witness. and that indeed it might call for special tribunal. and this shows that this is an extraordinary situation. and that it really needs a strong reaction of the global community. because this is, sir, not only a fight for his ukraine, of survival and of defending at serenity in territory. but it's also fired of democracy against autocracy. and for the respect for the international law, and therefore are we think this needs a special tribunal? there are others who are not on board with the idea of a special tribunal. i'm not sure present biden as yet been convinced, but also you have the international criminal court and the key figure there is the prosecutor kareem khan. he says, no, my court can deal with this. we don't need to have a special truck while i think important is that there's a strong reaction on these war crimes. and i think we have to discuss it. we have to sorted out. and the result counts. russia cannot get away with what it has done to the ukrainian people and what we've seen and therefore, and there needs to be a very clear, strong reaction and condemnation of the international community. what is the main problem with the special tribunal? be that just like amex, 17, in the trial into the downing of that plane in 2014, russia won't cooperate. it won't hand over the suspects. and the only way you'll ever get justice is if there is regime change in russia. so is that now the policy of the, you, the end of putin, the end of the regime? that is something that the russian, people have to decide. and what we're doing, we're showing very clearly to president putin and the price he has to he and we said in advance before the war started, the costs will be massive. his economy is crippled by the sanctions. ah, he is completely isolated. ah, we see that is the ukrainians are amazingly courageous and so successful in withstanding this brutal aggression or for decades or their russian economy or is wound and in regression. so it is a question of the russian people to decide on whether they want to go on like this . the u. s. has imposed visa restrictions on 25 people in ballard, south report exiled opposition, leaders, wetlands, the canal sky on trial. in absentia, she's charged along with her former campaign manager and 3 opposition figures. if found guilty to get off sky could be jail for 15 years. you charges have also been filed against taken off skies husband who serving an 18 year sentence survey taken off ski was arrested in 2020, around 1500. people are estimated to be in jail and politically motivated charges. they include nobel peace prize winner alice by landscape. what's, what line a tickle of sky, or is attending the world economic form in divorce? she's branded the trials of foss. all these trials are revenge. and those who are opposing it to their regime profession got or goes into the war. actually i would known for about they say a trial from media. nobody informed me. i immediately sent a letter to the voice award to the court to provide me with all the necessary material information about this quote, because i'm not sure what i'm accused of. i have never read about this and the but the lawyer who was said it was submitted by the regime with didn't contact with me . and i actually have a question, what will be his position to day is during the day how he's here when to defend me, not know in my position. so it looks like strange 8 looks like 1st and nobody use twitter owner. yellow mask is going on trial for fraud in the u. s. of a tweet. see posted about his auto company tesla. a jury has been selected where the opening statements to later on wednesday, the case goes back to 2018. that's when mosque tweeted he was considering taking tesla private of $420.00 a share. he said more than $70000000000.00 and funding had already been secured, but investors say those tweets were reckless and inaccurate. at that point, the billionaire apparently did not have the money to take tesla private. the company stock price jumps after the tweet was published, but later sank when the proposal fell through. shareholders say mosque is responsible for the instability and the losses. they suffered. romesha strokes 3, the ra son is a professor at the university of california. los angeles, he thinks must unpredictable management style is spooky. investors muskie use some of his tough, less shares, which at that time were doing quite well to fund his purchase of twitter ever since he purchased twitter is management of twitter has been pretty whimsical and erotic . first of all, there were major firing of different twitter employees. then there was a vote, a straw poll that, that must consult, put online on twitter itself, asking if he should step down at the and the vote with $6040.00 for him actually stepping down. many different level on many different count. what must cause done as the public persona who in many ways is quite unpredictable, has impacted his secure the, his security with itself. so i think it's important for us to, to look at must as a public figure, but also for investors to see must get someone who is not dependable with not predictable and not the cure. so the real drawstring that, that may have actually some power over mosque are the investor and advertiser draw strings. and in those areas, as we see the, the, with the huge impacts actually emerging anti government protest and perry were showing no signs of easing demonstrations as a cooling for president dina ballantyne resignation and the release of jailed. former president petro castillo, thousands of people from casteel strongholds and rural areas are expected in lima this week. they've been via a process since he was impeached and arrested last month. at least 42 people have been killed in the unrest so far. prosecutors in guatemala, say they plan to file criminal charges against columbia's defense minister. they accuse ivan velasquez of being involved in a bribery scandal. when he worked as a u and anti corruption investigator, in guatemala, both countries have recalled their ambassadors intensifying a diplomatic ro, columbia's presence as the allegations of baseless public sector workers, and pensioners and venezuela have marched in several cities to demand better salaries. as the government struggles to fight spiraling inflation, union, se wages haven't caught up with the soaring cost of living. to raise a bo reports on the streets to demand a pay rise in a country that struggling with one of the highest inflation rates in the world. in his will, and teachers and members of other unions say the government to act immediately to increase their wages. oh my god, him in israel, la jolla, a teacher in venezuela to day and 7th, 1015 in 20 u. s. dollars a month. and those who make between $20.00 and $25.00 are earning a partial salary. why do i say partial salary? because it's only enough to buy half a carton of eggs, half a kill of meat. we don't have a salary to survive on. ah, the much to the prosecutors off is incorrect. us to make themselves heard. last year, venezuela's inflation rate was more than 300 percent. according to unofficial estimates . these people say they haven't received a salary increase since march 2022. 0, to day, not only teachers, but all public servants at a scraping by president madura. this is not a lie. this is reality. we're eating chicken feet and chicken next while you, you scoundrel eat at the best restaurants. bob. yeah, bob i ah nicholas model is government has been trying to reduce public spending and race taxes to lift venezuela out of the hyperinflation. that has forced more than 7000000 people to leave the country. in recent years. the government is struggling with the were sanctions in 2019. it relaxed private sector regulations to allow more foreign currency inflows. while some industries have benefited, millions continue to struggle. precedent mother would have blamed the us for the parent economic situation. but kamal les look very common destiny for venezuela, a common goal. and this must be to say in one united voice enough with the sanctions job by the us government to lift all the criminal sanctions against the republic of venezuela. enough of these criminal sanctions, your people here say it's not just sanctions that are hurting them, but also the governments mishandling of the economy. and that's why they say they will continue to protest until their demands are met. oh that he said, well, as the cedar many parts of argentina have been put under extreme alert due to an extended drought caused by wildfires firefighters in the region of santa fe.