Chile u. S. Investigators raid the new york apartment of Donald Trumps former lawyer Rudy Giuliani over his business dealings with ukraine plus whos at the heart of it the Prime Minister major sleaze situation. Britains Boris Johnson under growing pressure over renovations to his downing street flat and reports of callous comments. Im german ashwood sports Manchester City have beaten a paris in the 1st leg of that Champions League semifinal and take your lympics organizers have released new cave in 1950 measures athletes but theres still no decision on whether japanese fans will be allowed to attend. We started news hour in india the country has reported another Record Number of coronavirus thefts as a devastating 2nd wave continues to overwhelm Health Facilities another 3293 fatalities were reported on wednesday pushing indias official covert death toll past 200000 its the 4th country to reach that milestone but experts fear that the true number is actually far higher the past 24 hours also brought more than 360000 cases the Worlds Largest single. A total yet taking indias overall inspections since the pandemic began to nearly 18000000. 00 well the World Health Organization says in the past week india accounted for 38 percent of the worlds 5700000. 00 confirmed cases elizabeth problem reports from new delhi. After failing to find help at medical facilities family members of code 19 patients bring them to attend to outside the sikh temple on the outskirts of delhi. Volunteers here providing oxygen for free often driving long distances to find stockists from. All over india or all over britain. Turned. Out to do our job were all over the nearby city 10100 members of our. Family members of patients to have travelled for hours to bring them here because they can write one of us 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 no matter 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 state ran out of doses again on wednesday. Theyre telling us that injections arent available here as vaccines havent arrived i registered to come here 3 days ago all the way from chamber to bhangra i only found out after coming here theres 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 indias surge in cases the us is sending well materials to india can manufacture more of its own vaccines and many countries ascending and other medical supplies. Well. Day and night to keep up with demand mass commissions have become the norm predatory and behind me has been working from 6 in the morning until midnight but because it doesnt have enough pious 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 loved ones as they did find a hospital bed when they were alive Elizabeth Brannon al jazeera new delhi. Well the chief minister of pradesh is coming in for heavy criticism for his states handling of the crisis with the authorities accused of leaving people to die. Police to crack down on anyone complaining about shortages on social media in the past day there have been tens of thousands of tweets about him after Police Booked a man who used social media to seek oxygen and oxygen cylinder for his sick grandfather shushing he had to of is accused of quote circulating a rumor with intent to cause fear or alarm is one of many in the states searching for oxygen or space in hospitals via social media or local media says the same chief minister has a strike that his authorities to seize properties owned by people commenting publicly about oxygen shortages is also accused of silencing hospitals for saying that the running low on supplies or beds. On earth says there is no oxygen shortage in his state. One of the many aspects of the crisis in india will be discussing with our guests professor i know maligning is a health and Development Economist from the university of chicago he led a study during indias 1st wave of the virus looking at on that reporting of cases and deaths in caught in that caucus state he joins us by skype so i thank you so much for joining us here on aljazeera so i guess you know starting from your study on the 1st wave and looking at whats happening in india now why do you think the country seems to be experiencing such an enormous 2nd wave a deadly 2nd wave so the 1st wave was quite significant our estimates suggest that in certain areas the country almost half the country was affected but there are 2 factors to keep in mind the 1st one is that there are still perhaps half the country that was not affected or infected in the 1st waves so those individuals are susceptible to infection in the 2nd wave the 2nd issue is that there is a risk for green faction even if youve been infected in the past now the disease will be less severe if you reject it as opposed to if youre infected the 1st time but it does mean that you can be infected again and those individuals could also be part of the 2nd weve both of those effects may be compounded by the existence of new variants that are specifically of indian variant. 617 that may be more transmissible than the old variants that were circulating last year. But so looking at the images that were seeing these days that really have shocked the world what mistakes can you think were made or maybe what precautions were not put in place that have calls this secondly do you think it could have been avoided at least to the impact that its having now. I will say that the 2nd wave has caught a lot of people including myself by surprise when we were examining indias situation in january and february using the latest data that was available and as advanced. Techniques as we could have including the best m. P. Models we could find we did not anticipate the 2nd we looking the way it had no it is true that many places have had multiple waves india only had one but the challenge is you dont know when that 2nd wave is going to strike it doesnt yet have a clear seasonal pattern so we were surprised and so i think to be fair its not surprising that the Indian Government was surprised that said. It is possible that the low infection fatality rate the low mortality rate associated with code in india last year and the fact that cases seem to have settled down may have load everybody putting the government into a sense of complacency so that even though the government launch for example its Vaccination Campaign with. Very high ambitions of the number of people to vaccinate it just wasnt pressed forward at the peace that most people expected so i think if theres something that could have been done it would have been vaccinated. I mean complacency was certainly a factor in parts of the government or even the sort of saying that they defeated on their on their mody had the code that we just had a story just before we came to you about the chief minister of us have pradesh coming in for criticism because he is effectively saying there is no oxygen or hospital bed shortage and anyone who complains that you know will be punished in one way or another what do you think of that kind of reaction or i guess what advice would you give to ministers a in that state or around india as to how to best handle what were seeing right now. Well the 1st thing is i think we need to understand that theres a great deal of chaos in india whether you look across social media regular media or private whatsapp groups youll see a lot of panic about getting access to beds and oxygen that is not just at the level of the common person its at the very elite level so you find people that are in places of power that are actually struggling right now so thats one thing to keep in mind thats not going to leave politicians and leaders unaffected the 2nd thing is i think there is an instinct to try to quell panic when possible but the problem is that that rubs against the problem of trying to hide a reality that every can see in that context the politicians are losing credibility i think right now its very hard to deny that there is a crisis in attempts to quell these views i think invite cynicism and reduce legitimacy so i dont think there are particular constructive that said right now its a tough situation is the professor malani health and Development Economist from the university of chicago sir thank you for showing sharing your expertise and insight with us we appreciate it thank you welcome. Or that situation in india meanwhile neighboring pakistan report of a new they leave record of 201 deaths on wednesday there have been more than 5000 new infections with the rate of people testing positive rising above 10 percent the rate of people dying from the virus has also risen above 2 percent Officials Say Health Care Facilities are at risk of being overwhelmed with oxygen and ventilators in short supply soldiers have been deployed to enforce for strictures in cities with high infection rates come alive there is more now from islamabad on the deployment. Theres a constitutional clause in the pakistani constitution which is that the civilian government can call in the military forces in case of emergency and. Ministration region exactly what has happened and 16 major. Has now troops fanning out to ensure that people continue. To. Die in the military of course before any other contingency given the fact that the situation across the border in india is getting from bad to worse. Has to be very careful because. Last year when the pandemic one that did the country decided to relax. And. The government did not taking any chances and. Plans to close down. Communication transport there will be no. Transport people will be. Much simpler and of course the interior ministry. Will be closed in order to avoid a large number of people are travelling to. Which. Country. The medical facilities are stretched up to 70 percent of the. Supply. Taken. By the likes of which. Being right now. A new coronavirus variant this suspected to be driving high infections in peru and chile despite tough measures to contain transmission the c 37. 00 strain believed to have begun in peru has spread to latin to several less american countries scientists have not officially linked the latest surge in the region to the variant but with infections the falling vaccine roll out than many fear this could be responsible for latin american it is live for us in santiago so the scientists havent yet linked the very end to the late surge not officially anyway but of course there are question marks being asked but how serious is this area. Well thats the whole point the key word here is yet because this new variant has only been seriously identified fairly recently and so the testing and the investigation which does take some time is underway as we speak as we and the signs seem to be that it is very very worrisome it has spread according to experts much quicker than even other variants that weve seen in the region like the brazil variant in fact i spoke earlier to peruvian professor and microbiologist. An expert whos been keeping very very close tabs on this variant and he says that it is more than overdue that the time is more than over due to sounded early in the tour when he had to say. First it was in the u. K. Then it was south africa then it was present in the presence of the new mutations which are probably more transmissible and more pathogenic has the same characteristics of what we are now seeing in south america a rapid increase in cases of a variant that had not been seen before 2020. So that is why mutations appear in a sustained way over time and in some exceptional cases in some parts of the world variants with new properties may appear and it seems that this is what were observing in this case. And lucio we just heard there for example the example of the u. K. Which also saw a new variant but then managed to defeat it at least so far with the Vaccination Campaign so how is all of this going to impact the Vaccination Campaign in parts of latin america. Well exactly what we dont what we dont have the answers to that yet according to the professor in a hopefully a couple of weeks we will go whether or not the Vaccination Campaign especially the one here in chile which after israel is the country that has the largest percentage of the population that has been vaccinated but the question is how effective will it be against this new variant which by the way has now spread to the United States to mexico to not only to other latin american countries but its also jumped across the atlantic to at least 3 or 4 European Countries so in terms of the speed with which this is moving it does seem to be unprecedented im not an expert but this is what were hearing and whether the north the vaccines will be Strong Enough or or affective enough it is still a very very big question and we dont know the answer to that yet absolutely you see in human or latin america editor ally for us and lucy yes thank you. For coming up on this news hour from london the netherlands relaxers coronavirus restrictions despite hospitals warning they will soon have to limit treatment. Clashes in colombias protesters the fire covert ban on gatherings to rally against controversial tax reforms and in sport find out the unusual reason why this rarely madrid player could miss the champion. Game against chelsea. U. S. Federal investigators have raided the manhattan apartment of Donald Trumps former lawyer Rudy Giuliani seizing Electronic Devices prosecutors have been looking into giulianis foreign dealings in ukraine which include in an investigation into now President Joe Biden and his son hunter is also facing ethics charges over his efforts to overturn trumps loss in last years us president ial election well gabrielle is on the is following developments for us in new york how significant is this raid. Its very significant because it shows that the 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 and the 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 giulianis home and were 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 giulianis ties to ukraine now in the last couple hours or so giulianis son andrew came out and spoke to reporters briefly and by maybe no surprise he defended his father. Anybody any american whether you read it or blue should be extremely disturbed by what happened here today by the continued politicization of the Justice Department this is disgusting this is absolutely assert and its the continued hold ization of the Justice Department that we have seen and it has to stop if this can happen to the former president s lawyer this can happen to any american said Rudy Giuliani isnt any american of course is i guess fingers in many pies you could say but remind us what exactly hes being investigated for. Yeah youre right hes a very large figure in American Society in 2001 he was voted time magazines person of the year thats when he was mayor of new york he was a federal prosecutor and a number 2 or 3 official at the Justice Department and Donald Trumps long time friend and personal lawyer now in terms of what hes being investigated for exactly we wont know until federal officials reveal any sort of charges against him should they go that route its important to point out right now he is not facing any charges as of this moment however this all stems back to his. Lobbying on behalf of officials in ukraine while he was also. Advising donald trump and while he was also allegedly pushing for at that time the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine to be ousted from her position while on top of that that allegedly trying to dig up dirt on joe bidens son on behalf of donald trump so theres a lot of a lot of ties out there and he says what federal investigators are looking at to see what if any of these myriad of fingers that he had with in with ukraine what if any of them constitute a crime but i can tell you right now that if youre Rudy Giuliani you are certainly not sleeping very well tonight after knowing that your home was raided by federal officials gabriel is on the following that story if for a single york city. Thank you. To stay in the us the 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 video may jeopardize ongoing investigations and impartiality in any future case theres been another night of protests in Elizabeth City over is this though an independent autopsy showed that he was shot in the back of the head his family says he was no threat to police as he was trying to flee the f. B. I. Is opened a federal civil rights investigation thousands of colombians have defied kovac 1000. 00 restrictions of marched through the streets of bogota to protest against president even duke is proposed that tax hikes that have been clashes with police in some parts of the city after protesters pressed ahead with a rally this fight a government plea to postpone colombia so widespread antigovernment protests in 2019 but they died down during the pandemic. Peruvian police have a victim of thousands of people squatting in the hillside of the capital lima Police Fire Tear gas canisters when squatters objected to the evictions by setting cars on fire and throwing rocks people moved to the hillside about 2 weeks ago and claim that the land has been had been untouched for 65 years crews economy has been hit hard by the pandemic restrictions hundreds of thousands of become impoverished aggravating an already existing housing problem independent Research Says proves market is about 100000. 00 houses short every year. Im not going to be at the automatic child died an infant just 6 months old how is it possible that other peruvians can order al killings just because they want a piece of land we dont have anywhere to live this pandemic has left us on the floor we dont have any money to pay rent at least relocate us but dirt pushes out like this. People living near me and mars border with thailand they are scared to return to their homes after clashes between the military and the countrys oldest rebel force a fire has been burning enemy and more army posts the day after ethnic minority carin fighters said they captured it the fighting was some of the worst since the february 1st the coup and forced many in nearby villages to flee the thai Authorities Say meehan maher has retaliated with air strikes. The ma government. I fled my house around full 55 am yesterday the clash that had was so loud that everyone was so its good i got my whole family to a sniper spot and i came back to watch the situation by Young Young Young have the name of the i havent returned home yet because im scared of this trucks. And state media in me and maher says prodemocracy protests leader while more naing has been charged with murder and treason he was arrested this month when Security Forces rammed him with a car as he led a motorbike protest rally in the central town of morning since the coup soldiers and police have killed more than 750 and protestors. South africas president has told a corruption inquiry involving his predecessor that the governing a. N. C. Party could and should have done more to prevent graft the socalled state capture inquiry is looking at allegations that former president jacob zuma allowed members of the Controversial Group that family to secure government contracts and influence policy from a poser was Deputy President under summa he testified that he wouldnt make excuses or defend the indefensible but he didnt name zuma the South African president has faced opposition from within his own party over how to deal with corruption and those accused of it we must acknowledge that the issue of state capture was a matter of great political contestation in the. Differences over where the state kept existed its extent and form and what should be done about it going to 2 divisions within the National Executive committee. Structure for me the miller has more on that story 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 didnt expect explosive evidence today they had are we ever 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. 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 its not certain if theyll 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 and 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 muscle reports are expected and many will be watching to see if there is greater understanding of exactly how south africa got to this point or whether 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. And lots more to come on this news hour including u. S. President joe biden expected to call for preschool and university in his 1st speech for a joint session of congress on the eve of his 100th day in office and then sport arsenals manager gives his views on a potential takeover by the c. E. O. Of spotify. Hello there cant wait to share these details with you finally break is coming for the Iberian Peninsula it has been plagued with wet weather for several days now this is a picture on thursday at least toward portugal were getting some nice sunshine in there still some scattered showers hanging around for spain you know its been particularly cold through the United Kingdom weve got this cool pool of air digging in london 12 degrees and that cool air will make its way down to southern areas of italy rome by the weekend will be into the teens so let me show you the next 3 days in london temperatures running below average but i do think it will stay dry so that is the good news we got a circulation through germany and poland those showers will now push into ukraine bell the reuss and russia but the cool persists of course for london 12 degrees filthy the high on friday where its not so cool were getting a wind direction a shift of wind direction for cairo egypt so our temperature will be pushing 40 degrees as we near the weekend plenty of heat to be found across africa we look towards mali were up to 43. 00 degrees in timbuktu and janina 42. 00 degrees will be the high for you on friday plenty of sun and this heat will continue to persist. A weekly critique of the stories hitting the headlines the news media have been left to sort through mixed messages on a quite complex story from mainstream to street journalism and maybe objective is to get reach me to send it to the wall to show you whats going on exposing real world threats to objective its often a bomb they were it sounds from moscow earth 11000 people who were arrested the listening post covers the way the news is covered on a jersey. We tout the untold stories. We speak one of us to. Be caught up alongside us. No matter where it takes us a pretty familiar financier got on my ass and palin and pasha which tell your stories we are your voice your news your net aljazeera. The the in. The back here is a reminder of the top stories on aljazeera india has reported another Record Number of coronavirus thats another 3293 fatalities were reported on wednesday pushing its official covert desktop past 200 files and your coronavirus variant is the specter to be driving high infections of the ruin chile despite tough measures to contain transmission the c 37. 00 strain believed to have begun in peru has now spread to several latin american countries and the us federal investigators have raided the manhattan apartment of Donald Trumps former lawyer Rudy Giuliani theyre looking into giulianis foreign dealings in ukraine. Coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed in the netherlands but the country is going through its worst wave of infections since the beginning of the pandemic with hospitals warning will soon have to refuse treatment to critically ill people step fasten reports from utrecht 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 restrictions they are now allowed to open in the afternoon until 6 pm although social distancing measures remain in place. We would just tell you. It does not exist everything is here of course we know about the missions but if you look around you might forget about you. Kate. Guests have to book in advance and are only asked to wear a face mask when they go inside to use the restroom or the Business Owners are happy they have mixed feelings or we hear reports from the hospital show im aware of whats 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 natl and 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 couldnt wait to go back to some kind of normalcy their excitement is a strong contrast with a dire situation in that hospital. 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 socalled code block may be issued and hospitals would have to choose who gets treated maybe i know in cold blood already because. The v. Keep patients home be sent patients home too early i think the quality of care is diminishing former have 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 diminish the affection of it it is that is obligatory and what is the government doing easing the restrictions and thats contradictory thats contradictory i cant understand it he predicts that the easing of restrictions will only prolong the covert crisis and will possibly force the government to impose a much stricter lock down after all in the next few months not a message these people enjoying a drink in the sun want to hear step fasten aljazeera it track. A british study has shown that a single dose of covert 1000. 00 vaccine can cut the risk of household transmission by up to half it found that those who contract to the corona virus 3 weeks after the 1st those of the pfizer or astra zeneca vaccines were 38 to 49 percent less likely to pass it on to people in their home researchers say protection against kovan 1000 kicks in about 2 weeks after vaccination the study covered 57000 people across 24000 homes in which a confirmed case had received the vaccine now joe biden will declare that the us is turning crisis into opportunity when he gives his 1st speech as president to a joint session of congress in 3 and a half hours hes expected to use it to outline his america families plan the 1. 00 trillion dollars package will have a strong focus on education and child care with a call for free preschool and Community College it comes on the eve of his 100th day in office. Well lets go to our White House Correspondent Kimberly Halkett who is live for us on capitol hill i guess theres an outline there void hes expected to say do we have any more detail. You know we just got some x. For or excerpts rather from the white house of what the president is expected to say and he is expected to talk about how he s. President heritage the nation in crisis but how he believes that hes done so far and where he sees this nation going that hes turned peril into possibilities so hell be outlining a number of major initiatives one is the american jobs plan that is the infrastructure plan that will be used to create jobs for americans and also build some of the crumbling infrastructure rebuilding repair in the United States as well he is expected to tout that family plan that you were talking about that is 1. 00 trillion it would give money for things like preschool Community College like 2 years of sort of Postsecondary Education and it would also allow for monthly checks to families in the lower and middle class and this is a big deal in the United States because thats something that People Living today simply havent experience here in the u. S. Add house is going to do all of this is in the case of the jobs plan it would be taxing corporations and in the case of the familys plan be taxing the highest income earners in order to help the poor and middle class so this is what the president is expected to talk about but hes also going to give kind of an overarching message and that is that he believes Big Government works and that it has a role in peoples daily lives a message that i guess isnt always popular with americans certainly republicans have been here out on a message of unity this is his 1st big chance to pitch his message to the public and the and the congress how do you think its. To be received. Well that Big Government word is a problem for a lot of conservatives because they like Smaller Government so thats not going to sell them on unity but heres where the president does have an advantage going and hes done really well with both 1 liberals and republicans are liberals and conservatives when it comes to his handling of the pandemic in fact his Approval Ratings right now somewhere in the neighborhood of 52 to 54 percent the problem becomes once the pandemic weakens as more americans get vaccinated feel life is returning to normal the spotlight in some of those other issues is where americans remain divided so that is going to be the challenge for this president is as he tries to make the case in the speech is going to be in the weeks and months following that are going to get a lot more difficult because not only do conservatives not like the message of Big Government but they also dont like the message of taxes and paying for this and theyre already saying that they dont believe the president being truthful about how is that a fine at all of these programs so theres a lot of skepticism coming from the rights of the president has a tough sales job and just very quickly what i should tell you is that typically when it comes to these joint address to Congress Later we call them the state of the union in subsequent years with the presidencies. We know that theyre pretty good in terms of Television Ratings probably higher than the oscars right now we expect tens of millions of americans will watch this theyre really keen on hearing what joe biden has to say it would be interesting to see what the reaction is as well whoa kimberly i know youre momentary youll be more and more trying it for us for the moment thank you. Well in his 1st 100 days President Biden has been keen to signal a firmer stance against russia and president putin and leaders that trump well often accused of being a bit too cozy with foreign and smith has more on that from moscow. How soon after becoming President Joe Biden made clear his approach to russia and Vladimir Putin in particular was going to be very different from battle his predecessor the kremlin tags are democracies and weaponize is corruption to try to undermine our system of governance putin seeks to weaken european the european project and our Nato Alliance he wants to undermine the transatlantic unity in our resolve and the us president would later go further agreeing with a journalist who asked him if he thought putin was a killer sanctions followed as biden accused russias president a persecuting opposition politician alexina valmy of cyber hacking interfering in president ial elections and bullying ukraine with a build up of more than 100000 troops on its border. With. The ukraine case is very telling he creates a threat then he must get some benefits for council in this thread for example lifting sanctions by the next day biden in post most sanctions put his bluff was called the troops withdrew biden also the kremlin understands action not words biden has had 2 phone calls with putin and even with frosty relations there are areas of mutual interest for them to cooperate where you just know who she will biden was blunt he said this man has been a killer but we have common interests like Green Technology the climate corp on organic biden does what he says and put in get to these he doesnt want to be are not he is not that bothered about the environment but he needs to preserve Communications Channels the 2 men last met 10 years ago they could have their 1st summit as heads of state in june according to a kremlin aide bidens opposition to his relationship with putin he says he just wants it to be stable and predictable 3rd its made our jazeera moscow. Meanwhile bulgaria is investigating whether 6 russians were involved in 4 explosions at an arms depo in the country between 20112020 now russias foreign minister has dismissed the claims by prosecutor who believe the blasts were orchestrated to stop munitions being exported to ukraine and georgia they also say the events are likely related to a deadly explosions at an arms that go in the Czech Republic in 2014 last week prague expelled 18 Russian Diplomats because of their alleged involvement in that incident prompting russia to expel 20 czech diplomats and now russia has expelled 7 diplomats from slovakia listen to a media latvia and the sonia accusing the countries of pseudo solidarity last week the 4 countries expelled 7 Russian Diplomats in solidarity with the Czech Republic over its view with russia a mural of jailed the kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been painted over just hours after it appeared it showed a jubilant in the valley making a heart shape with his hands the next of the slogan hero of a new time the mural was painted in president vladimir. Putins hometown St Petersburg the opposition figure is serving a 2 and a half Year Prison Sentence for violating parole while he was being treated in germany last year for poisoning an investigation has been launched into how u. K. 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 that offense may have been committed this follows days of allegations over government cronyism paul brennan reports from westminster. Downing street the very heart of Boris Johnsons government is in turmoil among the stream of damaging leaks and revelations in recent days the question of exactly how the renovations of johnsons downing street apartment were paid for have been front page news its 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 the Prime Ministers questions the Opposition Labor Party smelled blood who initially of Prime Minister initially is the keyword here who initially paid for the redecoration of his downing street. Mr and mrs peacocke i think i own to this question several times and and the answer the answer is that i have covered the costs i have met the requirements that ive been obliged to meet in full what we get from this Prime Minister of this conservative government dont you contracts jobs for their mates and cash for access and whos at the heart of it the Prime Minister major sleaze sitting than. Again and again johnson wouldnt clarify who had paid the initial invoice repeating early 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 youre getting a pass and were some points is credibility as Prime Minister will evaporate and you people go to last year we want somebody of that kind of abject moral character as Prime Minister. At the core of this crisis is a bitter dispute between forest johnson and this man his former closest adviser dominic comics downing street accused cummings of being the source of many of the recent damaging leaks coming strongly rebutted that publishing an explosive blog which included 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 of the seas which would have brought down other contemporary politicians its almost as if different rules apply to this Prime Minister but that doesnt mean that the rules dont exist in this Electoral Commission there is a watchdog prepared to apply them paul brennan aljazeera westminster. Still ahead in this news hour i am simona fall in iraq the desert close to the border with saudi arabia where nomadic tribes are struggling to cope with the effect of Climate Change. And diving for cover this fall boy got himself a got himself out of harms way at a Major League Baseball coming up a sport. Within. Nearly all the worlds glace years are losing mass and make celebrated pace thats according to a new study published in nature science journal place years of lost an average of 298. 00 gigatons each year since 2015 thats the equivalent of about 21 percent of the worlds a c. Rise for the same period the study didnt go into the cause but rising temperatures due to human emissions are widely believed to be the leading cause of ice loss that when you see Something Like this where you know out please use or using minutes its getting faster thats that sounds really bad for you thats i mean that it is but thats not thats not. Doing stay scenario in a way thats still saying you know theres theres something that we can do here we need towers and the racks bedouins are under threat from Climate Change hot summers and the ratty grain patterns are forcing many of them d to abandon their traditional way of life from the remote deserts of iraq with on a province similar faulty reports. Spring has arrived in the deserts of iraq southernmost on the 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 in the sustenance of these animals spelling an existential crisis for a nomadic tribes who depend on them. And the land is dry the grasses down in the desert you have to sell some animals to buy food for the rest this is what life has become. During our visit clouds gathered in what some hoped would be the 1st proper downpour this year 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 its only for a few minutes which is not enough to transform this into pastures for life stuck to feed on the wells that once sustained animals and humans alike have long run dry rather than migrating in sync with Mother Nature the bedouins buy water and truck it from a nearby village but how much longer can they keep going before theyre forced to abandon this increasingly difficult way of life but i cannot imagine doing anything else he has no education no other source of income. I never thought about leaving this life and i never will until my animals leave me step by step the animals will disappear. His friend sat on the he left the desert a long time ago today he has come back to visit from a nearby town. Theres no future here they only know how to herd animals theres no education theres no future for the bedouins maybe in the end there wont 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. Personally i prefer the desert but the kids have gotten used to the town air conditioners and phones they go to school sons 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 its a way of life that could soon be just a memory seem wonderful to aljazeera in iraq smith on a province. And though here is gemma with the sport thank you barbara Manchester City forth from a goal down to be paris in the 1st leg of the Champions League semifinal both sides are trying to win the competition for the 1st time and it was the home team p. S. G. Who opened the scoring with a header from their captain mark us sumit 2 mistakes in the space of 8 minutes let city take control kevin to bring his ball into the box found the nets and then a riyadh marez is a free kick went straight through the wall securing citys 18th straight away win in all competitions not to mention 2 crucial away goals p. S. G. Also had a man sent off in the other semifinal round your defender marcello could have missed the 2nd leg against chelsea next week as hes been called up to work at a polling station the brazilian whos a Spanish National has been selected to monitor elections to the Madrid Assembly on tuesday unless hes excused from his duties hell be unable to travel with the team to england head of wednesdays match at Stamford Bridge sort of eyes as c. E. O. Daniel x. Says he secured the funds and is very serious about buying also the swedish bit in their hopes the current owners the cranky as him out with the americans insist they have no intention of selling the club and remain 100 percent committed despite the backlash from fans over their failed attempt to join the European Super League despite tokyo being in a state of emergency organizers of the olympics are pressing on with their plans to stage the games in just over 3 months as the torch relay continues a new set of coronavirus measures has been released for athletes during the olympics be tested daily and banned from visiting tourist areas shops restaurants bars or gyms and they Must Wear Masks at all times except when eating drinking sleeping training or competing. There are more specific details than rules and guidelines to ensure these health and safety they can give confidence and. How diligently. Japan is protecting its population and is protecting also who are the participants of the games the more precise and the stricter the better for one reason safety 1st for japanese people and for all participants responsibility is really the key to our success and for those that will choose deliberately not to respect the rules there could be. Impacts on their participation to the games theres still no decision on fans to oversee supporters have already been banned but we wont know until june how many local fans can attend if any they take a 2020 president admits the games could be held behind closed doors i think you just a saying in the motto that weve decided that the games could be held without spectators with the state of emergency we cannot decide until the very last minute but if the situation allows we want as many spectators as possible to see the games. So still lots of uncertainty surrounding the games but athletes around the world and across all sports continue to prepare this is spains mens humble Team Training in america the current european champions are aiming for their 4th olympic medal in tokyo after 3 bronzes atlanta 70 in beijing but not surprisingly cave at 19 has hampered the build up. If you. Just want on the 9 year old perhaps the greatest difficulty is the injuries there are players who stopped playing for the clubs with and suddenly had to play lots of competitions weve lost 2 of our top players which is a challenge. Formula ones canadian grand prix has been cancelled for the 2nd year in a row due to cope with 19 travel restrictions it will be replaced with a race at turkeys istanbul circuit circuit on june 13th but there was some good news for organizers of the canadian g. P. F one has extended its contract with the montreal race by 2 years to take into account the cancellations securing it until 2031 with the 2nd tennis grand slam of the year the french open a month away a world number one Novak Djokovic has decided to reduce his schedule hes pulled out of the madrid open which starts on sunday meaning he wont defend the title he won in 2019 masters event was cancelled due to the pandemic. And as the saying goes its better to be safe than sorry and a quick thinking boy in Major League Baseball very much took that advice on board he was jumping into the stands to evade a bullet coming his way a fast moving driver from the Cincinnati Reds almost took him out he was sitting down. I think with reactions like that it could be a future goalkeeper perhaps yeah i guess. So and i thank you very much for that and that is it for this news hour do stay with us were going to be back in just a few minutes with more of the days news. And. Frank assessments of poison but the government wants what exactly how and what measures are now taking for a situation like im not that you could ever get 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 that this is a message to the region that the United States is rethinking its military posture indepth analysis of the day school ople headlines inside story on aljazeera. A century ago they were called colonialists. 50 years ago they were known as immigrants today they are citizens. In the light of frances 2021 contentious socalled separatism laws look back at the history of muslim immigration in france in a 3 part series. Muslims of france episode one. On aljazeera. Holding the powerful to account as we examine the u. S. Is wrong in the world on aljazeera. The. Fear stalks india where the official death toll from covert 1000 has now passed 200000. The be. Alone Barbara Starr youre watching out 0 live from london also coming up u. S. Investigators raid the new york apartment of Donald Trumps former lawyer Rudy Giuliani over his business dealings with ukraine plus whos