reason why they should be living in poverty in an oil rich region. this is not a protest it's a revolution by the youth of not just the iraqi people have had enough nobody should tell you that this protest is linked to any political party or anyone controlling or giving instructions these are the people of not just youth and tribal men. critics of iraq's government say economic problems have accumulated over many years and the government has done little to make life of its people easier and to add to growing grievances regional proxy wars may be playing a role in the deteriorating living conditions of many ordinary iraqis. iran is playing a major role in that because since it has been sanctions by by the united states put a corner economically they are cutting all elected as a supplies and water supplies to iraq which were normally going going smoothly and

this is also creating a problem for iraq i think the iranians want to tell the americans that if you create the problems somewhere else we've got combat you everywhere in southern iraq including match after protesters are increasingly fed up with waiting for things to get better that's frustration that two months after elections there's still no new government that can bring about change barbara and al jazeera. still ahead here on al-jazeera. i'd like to thank all the navy seals who came in to help us and thank everyone for their moral support till today. within days we will hear for the first time from the young thai footballers rescued from the cave and the countdown is on how fans in france are gearing up for football's world cup final.

welcome back we'll look at weather conditions across the americas now and in north america a lot of showers across eastern areas but between those showers and the sunshine and temperatures so it's was the thirty mark for many places but just be aware that showers could well contain thunderstorms and this risk of hail as well we've got some rain across the west also want to showers in the desert southwest but also noteworthy here is we've got seattle in washington state there are thirty degrees higher than los angeles at twenty nine degrees didn't move on through into monday that difference becomes even more exaggerated we want it across eastern areas those showers are still very much in evidence let's move into the caribbean region where for the most part weather conditions are looking pretty good i think for the bahamas to be few showers but otherwise lot of brightness here terry looking quite good but you'll notice heavier rain up through panama costa rica towards guatemala that will tend to clear away as we head through into monday so brighter conditions

up stage may saeco city probably staying dry temperatures in the mid twenty's there are a few showers across northern parts of south america. is gerry looking draw and find we have seen some warm weather pushing towards bonus areas but that's going to move back south as this frontal system begins to develop so we're looking at hard on monday and when a series of just twelve. on counting the cost why china wants an expanded economic role in the middle east we'll look at which countries are leading the way in innovation plus say fourpence of course one of the world's most profitable and widely used killers goes on trial counting the cost on al-jazeera.

welcome back here with al-jazeera a quick reminder of our top stories the israeli military says respond to another site in gaza after a rocket attack from the palestinian territory now this comes after hamas said a cease fire had been agreed earlier on saturday israeli forces carried out dozens of her strikes in gaza in a major escalation of their action. the haitian prime minister jackie a suddenly resigned after days of violent protests they were triggered by plans to raise fuel prices by fifty percent which the government then abandoned at least seven people have been killed in three days of unrest. i thought trump will soon fly to finland for talks with the russian president after

spending the weekend playing golf at scottish resort protesters made it to the edges of the course at tunbridge where snipers were deployed. the eritrean president has made his first visit to neighboring ethiopia in more than twenty years and it's the latest step towards reconciliation after the two sides agreed to restore ties and put an end to twenty years of hostilities one of the reports now from i guess up about. a few weeks ago. with your pin that a chair will be tight and it is as they have been for the past two decades now they're behaving as if they're the best of friends and a tramp president decide to suffer work and i've been a disciple boneset today to dancing and loud jesus. sawzall stand out in a disciple tight security to welcome his visit the latest in and being alone militarist. i thank the people of at least for this wonderful reception for the eritrean president in the name of this in the

goodness in the one i'm very happy to be here these two people are now one people. ethiopia's new prime minister ahmed made a similar visit to the tryst capital last weekend where he was welcomed by a forty with hog some laughter the forty two year old a b broke the ice last month by fully embracing a peace deal that ended in one thousand nine hundred to two thousand board a war that killed tens of thousands on left families separated since then at a threat if you have a view to this full diplomatic trade and fuss with us from things until the delightful fondness of been separated by the dispute it will be often embassies fly through and direct telephone lines. the sudden change in relations is surprising many but it's just the beginning of what could be a long peace process both sides will also need to follow through on their commitments this week if you pissed submitted our request to the united nations to

lift sanctions on a trailer in a show of good faith mohammed at all just a disabled way through the the knesset there up as a human rights activist who works for the release of people who've been unjustly imprisoned in eritrea she says the eritrean government no longer has a reason to impose oath or tarion rule. if you look at the situation in eritrea you see that everything that happened since the end of the war in two thousand has been justified by this war the unjust imprisonment of several journalists politicians does it and voices the creation of a national service program the last indefinitely the fact that the constitution hasn't been implemented has all been done in the name of this war so the fact that the war now is over as course good news because that means that the excuse that they are trying governess used for their oppression is gone but that does not necessarily mean that they're passionate and if you look at what's happened with the peace deal that has been a single mention of the you might have been happening in the name of this war even

dr obvious comments of remarks about as i spoke has been very romantic sizing and there's been a kind of neglect of the human cost of this war on the eritrean side of it there are people have been suffering immensely for the past seventeen years in the name of a war that has not been proportionate to the effect that they have been on the people the fact that it's been a standoff on the border cannot justify the fact that people have been unjustly imprisoned for seventeen years that young people are forced to work for national service almost for free indefinitely it is completely disproportionate and this hasn't been addressed by the by the. president prime minister nouri by their tram president so i'm not i am obviously happy about this peace deal because it's such a big change. in politics nothing has happened for the past seventeen years but i'm not domestic because no want to even address these very very crucial issues the latest flare up between students and nicaraguan security forces has ended catholic bishops would be mediating during the three months crisis secured the release of dozens of students two died in the violence after they were fired by pro-government

forces while trapped inside a church they were tears in jubilation after surviving students were reunited with their families more than two hundred sixty protesters have been killed since the unrest began in the middle of april changes to the pension system triggered the initial demonstrations with calls for the president daniel taker to step in asuncion as has more now from the capital. the red cross ambulance was finally able to go in with the promises of the camp to be able to pick pick up some of the wounded there we understand two journalists have been freed there and three wounded student also a have been taken out however the this is the area seems to be surrounded by paramilitary and the cardinal of that hour will be part of the negotiating the liberation of the other students who remain inside the church that is inside the premises of the university also today earlier today members of the

police. unit in uniform heavily armed even with their r.p.g. rocket propelled grenade shooting in the streets of amman in war which is a neighborhood in the city of my of of amman our capital there too apparently two people were killed there the policeman if they'd there and apparently when they precedented that he loved they headed there today with his wife the vice president of suddenly york and thousands of followers in this caravan that they took all the way to much the president there talking about. asian and peace however that's not what was happening here at the university in the in the center of man our work and these students who were unarmed were pleading for their lives with. paramilitary shooting from another upon the other end of the

barricade and directly at these students the police in chile have raided the offices of the catholic archbishop in two cities as part of investigations into sexual abuse by the clergy officers questioned staff and seized documents into mco and charge five priests in those areas are accused of crimes dating back eighty. ania's and another priest has appeared in court charged with raping seven children . held senior roles in the capital santiago is accused of participating in a network of abuse. the twelve boys rescued from a flooded cave in thailand are expected to be out of hospital on thursday the health minister says the footballers and their coach are recovering well divers extracted them earlier this week after they'd been trapped for more than seventeen days in a video released on saturday some of the boys were expressing their gratitude. thank you for worrying about me and thank you for going into the cave to help me out don't worry about me now i'm safe. i'd like to thank all the navy seals who

came in to help us and thank everyone for their moral support until today palestinian farmers have grown tobacco for generations but as jobs have dried up more and more people have turned to working in the unregulated industry of the palestinian authority says it's missing out on millions of dollars of tax revenue every month trial stratford has the story now from yards in the israeli occupied west bank. the also done there helps his nephews pick the family's tobacco crop in the north of the occupied west bank he worked in israel for more than two decades but israeli government restrictions on freedom of movement for palestinians forced him to quit his job five years ago part a single source he says the local tobacco industry has to be regulated because farmers aren't paying taxes. but it's easy money when there are so few jobs around and. the palestinian authority finds other work then most people would stop growing

tobacco they should make jobs for the young generation the university graduates who helped to back up the twenty to thirty dollars a day they studied science and finance and they have to do this to back oh needs very little water to thrive palestinians have grown as in this area for generations but not on this scale they say israel's control of water and land resources means they have little choice but to grow it wherever they can the palestinian authority says unemployment in the occupied west bank has almost doubled to around nineteen percent in the last twenty years feels like this one used to be used to grow crops like wheat and barley but not anymore before israel started building the separation wall in two thousand and two many people in this area used to work in israel but now there are villages in this area where virtually every family is in some way involved in the business. this is one of many small tobacco processing plants in

the area pharma sell their dried leaves to traders but just over ten dollars a kilo. we were afraid the p.a. could confiscate his tobacco says this worker but others say the p.a. usually ignores them because it knows so many people depend only on regulated industry for their livelihood demand but tobacco is high on cigarettes of five times more expensive than those locally produced but it's estimated the p.a. is missing out on tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue a year from the local tobacco industry. if we're to calculate how much of the deficit the tobacco industry would cover at say somewhere between twenty to thirty percent if we control the smuggled and locally produced tobacco. he also says he and thousands of other people have no choice but to keep growing tobacco a plant that kills those who use it but one which many palestinians depend upon to

survive child strafford al-jazeera joubert in the occupied west bank france has ended its national day celebrations with a fireworks display over the eiffel tower just a few hours ago. july the fourteenth marks the storming of the bastille prison and seven hundred eighty nine and the beginning of the french revolution this year celebrations have happened on the eve of france facing croatia and the world cup final in russia. while france was kept at that trophy just once before and that was twenty years ago but hopes are high that they will bring it home again but as in paris. you're never too young to be a football fan and he doesn't get better than your team making it to the world cup final these children say they can't wait to see their team france play croatia. i'm going to get lots of flags i'm going to shout i'm going to go to the show as it is

they are some way i was koreans to watch. was the world cup final coincides with france's most important public holiday weekend the joy for team bastille day parade is steeped in french tradition with so much to celebrate national pride here is running high. we've been watching the well kept on t.v. and decided to travel to paris to take part in the celebrations secured with. the hope that everyone france keeps up this festive spirit we should always be united like this and happy. business has been brisket this kiosk where anything sporting france's national colors has proved popular. many tourists are buying the french blags and hurt i'm amazed i thought it only be the french interested but many people from overseas are supporting friends with more than two hundred outdoor screens and for all security will be high ninety thousand fans are expected to watch the game in a fine zone at the foot of the eiffel tower if france win the world cup final

thousands of fans will come to herself and it's a and it's great having a place for the party when france last won the world cup in one thousand nine hundred paris's most famous interview was transformed into a street party that seemed to last for days the winning team became a symbol of multiculturalism of today's players were only children at the time star striker killem bapi wasn't even born but for the team the spirit of ninety eight lives on. the flesh for. france is a country of many colors and origins we all feel french were happy to wear this jersey i'm very happy to have grown up in france to have french culture even if i left to play abroad early in that way france is beautiful it's how we love it and how we will always love it. whether or not france bring home the trophy many fans are already proud that the team of made it this far there's no doubt though that if

it tree remains the ultimate goal natasha butler al-jazeera past. a melting iceberg in greenland is causing fears of a tsunami several residents near the danger zone in the village of in a suit have been moved to higher ground the government and the police have been put on high alert as it's thought the melting iceberg could swamp the entire settlement the remote village on the western coast of greenland is home to about one hundred seventy people. this is al jazeera these are the headlines so far today the israeli military says it's bombed another site in gaza after a rocket attack from the palestinian territory this comes after hamas said a ceasefire had been agreed early on saturday israel carried out dozens of air strikes in gaza in a major escalation of action it says it was in response to border violence and rocket fire haiti's prime minister jackie lafont on has resigned after days of

violent protests they were triggered by plans to raise fuel prices by fifty percent which the government abandoned at least seven people have been killed in three days of unrest. trump will today fly to the finnish capital helsinki for talks with the russian president vladimir putin after spending the weekend playing golf at his resort on the scottish coast protesters made it to the edges of the course at turnberry where were deployed the eritrean president. is making a landmark visit to neighboring ethiopia it is the latest step towards reconciliation and peace between the long warring rivals last weekend the leaders signed a pact ending a twenty year military standoff. the latest flare up between students and the nicaraguan security forces has come to an end catholic bishops have been mediating joining the three month crisis secured the release of dozens of students to die in the violence after they were fired by pro-government forces while trapped inside

a church the spanish coast guard has rescued three hundred forty refugees and migrants adrift in the straits of gibraltar they were found on board twelve dinghies among them one hundred children since the start of this year around one thousand nine thousand people have arrived in spain from north africa that's more than reached the country in the whole of twenty seventeen a melting iceberg in greenland is causing fears of a tsunami several residents near the danger zone in the village of in a suit have been moved to higher ground the government and the police have been put on high alert as it is thought the melting iceberg could swamp the entire settlement it's home to about one hundred seventy people twelve boys rescued from a cave in thailand will be discharged from hospital on thursday the health minister says the footballers and their coach are recovering well divers got them out early this week after they've been trapped there for more than two weeks those are your headlines more news top of the hour between now and then it's counting the cost i will see you very soon. he has no passport yet he's politically active in two

thousand trees i was the only one who lets down the power of peaceful transition when because of the short term expired in our part of the world some people think you are stupid and crazy if you do that mikhail saakashvili former president of georgia and the next governor of the odessa region in ukraine talk to al jazeera. hello i'm hasn't seeker this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics why china is pledging billions of dollars in loans to revive the middle east from quantum computing to three d. printing we'll look at the world's best innovators in twenty eighteen and what it means if you live in a country that didn't make the top ten. plus the economic landscape in the horn of africa is changing as a new era of peace lose. the first china is keen to win

friends and influence in the oil rich middle east it is the world's second biggest consumer of crude and this week it dramatically stepped up its investment in the region with a pledge of more than twenty three billion dollars in loans and millions more in aid the president xi jinping said china also wants talks on free trade areas he is putting forward an oil and gas plus investment model to representatives of twenty one arab nations at a forum in beijing he believes it's a model that can create jobs and help safeguard china's future energy requirements but there's also the trillion dollar belton road initiative this mega project aims to link people in asia africa and europe via an ultra modern trade route it is a reinvention of the ancient silk road for the modern age and the middle east plays a vital road so let's take a closer look at what's happening first of all the region provides more than half

of china's crude oil imports to china believes this makes arab countries natural partners of the belt and road initiative their location as well as right in the middle of the ancient trade route. saudi arabia's vision twenty thirty and other development strategies have all been linked to it and china's goal is to double its middle east trade to six hundred billion dollars by twenty twenty it is now the largest trading partner with the region saudi arabia sold more oil to china than the united states for the first time in two thousand and nine in twenty eighteen chinese saudi cooperation now extends to space exploration but china is also iran's number one export partner iran is an important link of the one belt one road where they high speed rail way planned to connect shin jang and tehran with joining us now from hong kong is ruben professor for asian initiatives at the i.e.s.e.

business school at the university of nevada in barcelona thanks very much for being with us so what should we read into the timing of this investment in this is this all parts of china as to what extent is this all part of china's one about one road initiative. yeah ostensively that is the the explicit platform in reach they are making the investment but this is part of a long turned plan of china to secure its resources for the future so you know the oil is very important energy resources for china will be more and more crucial in the coming ten years twenty years thirty years so they have already invested in other places like africa and south america for other resources but for the oil middle east of course is the primary area and of course the profit from that they are conveniently using now is the belt and road and that is i think just just good timing now it seems though that because of this current. situation where we have

the trade war and all of this isolationism and protectionism and all of these charges china needs friends and this is a good timing to make friends by announcing twenty three billion in in economic largess and to many people who've been following this of course this is simply an extension of china's. investment that it already has in the middle east particularly in saudi arabia what what what projects is china already involved in there. they have already some countries already they have already begun that in the past but this is like they are doing this as a blob to the whole arab league they're counting twenty to twenty two countries and not only that they want to make a free trade deal with each of those countries which now at the moment there is no such thing yet so this is this is the step that they're going to do so that you

know that the chinese also especially in in transportation because of the influx of chinese tourists in that have gone to the middle east they have actually been increasing their contacts contacts three of them you know investing in the different services sector sectors there is this also can it's also be seen as as as china stepping into the void of what has traditionally been a sphere of u.s. influence and the perception. with donald trump's current america first policy. and this this whole idea of kind of stepping back. from from foreign affairs why is it what should we read in into the timing of this in that respect. well you can see it in that way but that's only one one point of view so it's not just really stepping into the void as. there is also and of this securing the

resources for the future and then also making sure that the belt and road is more tight so that they link because they're linking ports also in in the middle east but you know the middle east is always it's more problematic for example of the one south america in the middle east is probably the most kind of volatile region in the world at the moment so then china stepping into a very difficult area and you mentioned earlier china is an extensive investment in africa because what attracts. a lot of countries to chinese investment is very often it comes with few conditions attached to it particularly in the political arena is that the same thing going on there with middle eastern countries not only that china has

a particular way of investing so they they bring their own labor for example. it's not china it's not very flexible in many ways they can be effective but in their own terms so on this creates some problems with the countries that they're going into so they don't easily meld with the local local population first of all the the language is most of the countries in the world english is a second language to china for china that is still are a difficult difficult language for them and you remember you're talking of when they build ports and they build roads they will bring their own workers and sometimes this creates frictions locally good to speak with the ribbon manohar in hong kong all right still to come on counting the cost protests in new game. after the government moves to attack social media apps. but first this week the leaders of ethiopia and neighboring eritrea declared the end of

a more than twenty year long war it's hoped that will help boost economic growth in east africa ethiopia's economy has grown at a faster rate than any other african country in the past ten years and it's been trying to open up its economy but foreign investors and local businesses complain a shortage of foreign currencies like the u.s. dollar a stifling the private sector mohamed out reports from addison. this is the greatest dump on the blue nile nearing completion the project has been fully funded by the government and the people of ethiopia it's a fact that many here are proud of yet the infrastructure projects like the dam have put pressure on the country's foreign reserves which are already short supply foreign currency shortages the worst that i've witnessed in my entire life and it's all the time that we have heard of and see and this is because look at the economy

look at the construction sector you look at the manufacturing sector look at the import everything and the government projects all those that have been planned and viciously have slowed down. another cause for the crisis is that ethiopia sells fall less than what it binds the international monetary fund says that it's europeans for the reserves at the end of the two thousand and sixteen two thousand and seventeen fiscally stood at three point two billion less than what it spends on imports in two months. in recent years it has encouraged the must of chinese investment in industrial parks to create employment and increase exports the government does direct that one small piece of foreign currency to both as one not insect that's considered a priority such as pharmaceuticals and manufacturing and with no means of paying their supplies many of them for. at that is supposedly just market monocultural

traders complain of how businesses in our fight is clearly imports textiles from china and. the results of my dog getting supplies that are a challenge for us increasing prices are also keeping customers away. last year the government devalued the local currency by fifteen per cent in an effort to boost exports and contain rising inflation but prices kept rising under it and we don't fix the prices that is beyond us there from us in rural areas do depending on the a production costs even ethiopia's new prime minister but the knowledge is that there is no quick fix to the pub for now he's calling for more cooperation with a private sector. ethiopia one time ally of the soviet union is now enduring some of the pains of capitalism but there are growing pains the i.m.f. is focusing a growth rate of eight point five percent this is about the global average for now

it seems ethiopia is still an african economy force to reckon with. so joining us now from london is charles robertson global chief economist with renaissance capital good to speak with you again so let's talk about the growth picture first is ethiopia going to be able to sustain these growth levels. we've done a lot of work on ethiopia and it's a very odd model they've got for development but a very of model has produced very very high growth. on our last big report we focused on the fact that they were running out of foreign exchange to sustain that model and they were going to have to start to raise dollars one way or another they've done a euro bond but it wasn't enough and is creating big distortions in the economy so it's a matter of how can they get the cash they've been borrowing from china and the recent declarations in the government suggest that they might start to raise the money by selling some of their kind of the golden goose if you like or the selling stakes in

their golden days of their major companies like if your be telecom or or the airlines and that way they can bring in the dollars that they need to be able to buy the investment goods that they need to be able to drive growth what's your assessment as well of the of the digital economy in ethiopia and how that factors into its economic growth this is there's an awful lot of p.r. a very successful p.r. campaign that that's making out if you appear to be kind of the next china and i think that is a valid comparison is wrong as you have the next china meeting with a fifty year lag. not a ten or twenty year lag if you want to ten year lag behind china go to vietnam but if the hope is much much further behind and.