in close to agreements before beijing backtracked. ok. but. over the. castro has more from washington. trade talks between china and the u.s. have reportedly stalled there is has been no movement really since earlier this week when the trump administration moved to place while way the chinese telecommunications giant on a blacklist essentially banning its products from being used or sold in the united states but that was only the last chapter of another difficult week previous when

the us raise tariffs on an additional $200000000000.00 of chinese imports which provoked china to immediately retaliate by levying tariffs on $60000000000.00 u.s. products and now the beijing's invitation for the u.s. trade delegation to visit the chinese capital to continue these trade talks for a elusive resolution we don't know whether that invitation is still standing or whether the u.s. well except at all well in all the developments a u.s. judge has been hearing a challenge to president trump's declaration of a national emergency to fund his border war with mexico a group of states and advocacy organizations seeking an injunction in february congress approved more than a $1000000000.00 in funding far short of his demand for nearly $6000000000.00 and transferred funds from other government programs to make up the shortfall. there is much more to come for you on the program but there are as government accused of

murder as mediation talks with the opposition right down in norway also we're going to bring you all the latest from australia where the polls have just opened in an election that could give the next 6 prime minister in 16 years. how it's looking like it's going to set off a pretty wet weekend across south australia proud of the right moving through the bite that's just making its way right across south australia in fact will see some wet weather pushing right up into the interior so alice around 2530 some strong winds just spilling out of way only 15 celsius in the heat of the day on saturday that's after temperatures overnight 4 to around 3 or 4 degrees cold enough for talk to ground frost would you believe going into sunday those temperatures do pick up

to 20 celsius to perth on sunday with the cloud in writing that will continue through south australia heading towards victoria ahead of that generally find a dry 2021 celsius melbourne and also for save me a lot of dry weather too into new zealand police for a time the cloud will build western parts of the south island will see some right as we go on through saturday but i think come sunday but he possibly could deal dry and project a little of the cool side only 12 degrees celsius there for christ. across the northern parts of japan southern parts on the other hand will be see 6 very heavy rain over the next couple of days south korea also seeing some lively showers possibility of some localized flooding and the showers remain into something. on counting the cost as the u.s. right. the pressure on iran we look at the straits of hormuz the most valuable

waterway in the world sri lanka's tourism industry takes a hit off to the east the sunday attacks and flying cars as the future just to run . the cost on a duty to. tell me. what it. was. welcome back a quick look at adeline is now in the united nations is warning of a wasn't a humanitarian crisis. in syria is it live province off the hospitals and refugee camps in the escalation zone will bombed by russian backed government forces.

and our other headlines a senior iranian politician has called for urgent talks between tehran and washington following weeks of escalating tensions. and protesters in sudan over move many of the roadblocks they'd set up in the capital as demanded by the military in order for transition talks to resume. well the polls have opened in australia's election which could give them the 6th prime minister in 6 years the incumbent scott morrison is expected to now really lose to labor opposition eat up bill shorten climate change and tax reform have been at the top of the labor party's agenda. well it is expected to be a tight election in australia these are just some of the live pictures coming in to us at the moment this is a country that has seen quite rapid change in its leaders in recent years and there

will be perhaps a need on the part of the electorate to see a bit more stability and just that more continuity in this election as we are saying incumbent scott morrison is expected to now really lose of course with any election the result is by no means certain that speak to andrew thomas because he is following the story from sydney andrew tell us more about the front runner. well nationally in melbourne and the front runner bill shorten this is his electorate he has been consistently ahead in the polls over the last 2 years but in the last few weeks that lead has really narrowed and australia only house of parliament of $151.00 seats already the labor opposition party has $72.00 of those things that wouldn't take many to go into the labor column for bill shorten and his labor left of center party to take government here but those swing seats the few

that might change hands they are really spread out across this last country there's 2 or 3 up in queensland about a 4 hour flight from here 3 or 4 in victoria around melbourne a couple in the western suburbs of sydney a couple more in times of mania the island off the southern coast of australia and a couple more in western australia so over the last few weeks the 2 political leaders scott morrison the prime minister bill shorten the labor opposition leader they've been jetting around this country town trying to persuade those who are undecided voters to back them but as i say the polls a really tightens just in the last 2 weeks although labor bill shorten do retain a very very slim lead it's expected that the labor left of center open session will win i think very much down to the why and tell us about the campaign and choose one of people hoping for from this election. well front and center of this campaign has been tax and spain the labor left of center

opposition has made no secret of the fact that they want to tax what's it doing more wealthy australians more billions of dollars more overall they would spend that money on health and education and on investment in infrastructure the conservatives the right of center liberal policy is confusing the liberal party here is a right of center party they have said that the tax increases that labor's proposing particularly on property will really crush what is at the moment a fragile economy the economy is expanding here but only. very very slowly and house prices in australia are going down false there's a real concern that that could spill over into the broader economy and certainly the government here has made a lot of the fact that if labor were to come into office and increase taxes it could really knock the economy hard as well as that the environment has been a big issue in the conservative government has not been seen by many australians to be doing enough to protect australians environment labor has him has promised to

dramatically cut australia's overall emissions introducing electric vehicles in a much bigger way here much more renewable power so that's been a big issue as well one issue that hasn't thinks it is not as in previous elections these refugees there was a time when many many boats of refugees were coming to australia tens of thousands of people arriving that way it was being seen by the government here sold if you like to the electorate as a real crisis that needed sorting out well in the government's eyes they have sorted that out with very harsh policies they've sent refugees to remote pacific islands and that terence had stopped boats of refugees coming the labor party has doubled that as an election issue though by promising to be just as tough on refugees so that hasn't actually been much of an issue this time around well thank you very much andrew thomas reporting to us from melbourne where the polls have opened in an election that is expected to be extremely close thank you andrea. well now to india's election it's been 6 weeks along the biggest in history featuring

almost a 1000000000 voters and it's finally drawing to a close official campaigning has ended ahead of the 7th and final phase of voting on sunday so hell raman reports just environ assy a stronghold of the prime minister narendra modi. it's loud it's passionate and it's drawing crowds to the city about an hour see they've come to see priyanka gandhi for the indian national congress party drum up support her party wants to unseat the incumbent m.p. that's prime minister narendra modi for the moment it's more about political celebrity and less about politics. but analysts say a resurgence of the opposition is countering modi's record his personality and hyper nationalism what has happened isn't modi has projected himself as a personal figure who represents india india's national interest where is everyone else seemed to be becoming shot of what might be nationalism in this country as

a result the campaign is incredibly vitriolic incredibly personalized. on the other side of our nazi supporters of 2 other major regional parties a similar to what he and behind johnson march parties have joined forces to take on modi exceptions like these are in the final stages of the election how they've been crisscrossing states and constituents in the trying to win the every single vote. general election has been described as the 30th the most divisive and the most polarized if indeed history. of use of bamboos of the public agree with. friends becoming enemies within families that have been divisions and dogs of dogs on really hindu muslim and these things have never happened in the past we're doing together regional party leaders like a collision says the. but failure to deliver on its promises of people dressed in

favor of nationalist fervor they're not talking about experts here they're not about they're not of the advantages they're not how d.s.t. has worsened the business of local businesspeople. they're not talking about development issue they're only about national issues that is only because they're talking about terrorism. the state of west big goals all campaign related violence or choose to going to drink several people election commission and did campaigning close to me but not before the privatised to spoke. you have all seen what's been happening in west bengal the criminals of the ruling t.m.c. have made the state into a living hell the type of war that has spread across this region is a stain on democracy. as the campaigning for india's weeks long general election and many are now looking forward to the final phase of voting but some here wonder if democracy is reputation has already been damaged so he'll rob an al-jazeera

varanasi. at least 15 people have died in flash floods in mali's capital most were killed after a bridge collapsed in the center of bamako to rancho rain hit the city overnight washing away cars and damaging homes and shops residents are blaming the government for not carrying out rubbish which they say blocks the evacuation canals. well now some news from ethiopia the country has started rationing electricity after a drop in water levels at a hydroelectric dam caused power to decline by more than a 3rd homes and businesses will now face daily hour long blackouts until july 8th e.o.p. has also suspended electricity exports in neighboring djibouti and sudan which and the country $180000000.00 a year. well to afghanistan where u.s. and afghan officials are saying at least 17 policemen have been killed by mistake and as strike in southern afghanistan it happened during a battle against the taliban just outside of lashkar gah or the capital of helmand

province the u.s. military spokesman has described it as a tragic accident afghan officials are saying they are investigating. the former director of venezuela's intelligence police who defected at the end of april has accused the government of killing his right hand man is sousse alberto garcia was found dead in a hotel near caracas on thursday meanwhile mediation talks have wrapped up in norway between the venezuelan government and the opposition they were aimed at ending the country's 5 month power struggle representatives of opposition to one guy i don't have now left norway but as well as foreign minister thanks in a way for helping to build a dialogue with the opposition. the u.k.'s largest steelworks has been given a reprieve after it was threatened with closure as a direct result of bracks at uncertainty which still has announced that the skunk works has the backing of lenders and shareholders and will continue running as normal but as emma haywood reports there are still major concerns in the town in

the east and county of lincolnshire which is starkly reliant on the steel industry . for more than 120 years the steel works have dominated scunthorpe style and its glory days when tens of thousands of people worked here are long gone and these are anxious times the 4000 or so stop on share it with worries about bricks it leading its owner to ask the government to loan it tens of millions of dollars for a business in profit so we're actually getting somewhere and then bricks the delay in bricks it is causing this problem so all the problems that's happening at the moment are no fault of the workers out there no fault of the management team here it's way above but the problem is the daylight. british steel has now put on the cash from its own lenders and investors to carry on in the short term view orders from the e.u. because of the brics that crisis has been added to already tough trading conditions

here it can be a long way from the political workings of westminster and even further from the e.u. is based in brussels but uncertainty surrounding breaks it is having a real impact on people's lives. schill is the life out of. 20000 jobs in the supply chain we couldn't grow them mark them out at a c 4 busier than ever fabricating steel to construction and industry it's the old certainty and the body will tell you what i voted labor my. it's the uncertainty that kills businesses people hold back an investment i can people on and it has a perk working for all the way through because i'm a. more than 2 thirds of people in this area voted to leave the e.u. back in 2016 there are pockets of deprivation anscombe top so securing the steelworks long term future is important to the town's survival if we're serious

about being an independent self-sufficient nation outside the european union that can stand on its own 2 feet we her need to have our own steel building capacity that's the foundation of our manufacturing the foundation for our of our defense and our security. which is still is in no way alone in its struggles because of the uncertainty regarding brics it britain's pizza place in the world here they just hope it's no longer history of steel making won't be snuffed out there who would al-jazeera scunthorpe. to taiwan now the country's parliament has become the 1st in asia to legalize gay marriage. thousands of people celebrated the vote on the streets of the capital taipei the bill recognizes same sex couples and gives them protection such as tax insurance and child custody benefits it follows years of debate in taiwan over marriage equality now

online cat lovers all over the world are mourning the viral internet sensation grumpy cat who has died at the age of 7 a cat whose real name was todd a sauce that was famed for her mini grumpy a parent's a result of a rare form of feline dwarfism grumpy cat had more than $12000000.00 followers on social media and made more than a $1000000.00 for owner who quit her job as a waitress to become the cat full time manager she appeared on the scene colors and even starred in her own film grumpy cats worst christmas ever. just a quick look at headlines this hour loud blasts have been heard across the syrian capital damascus with state media reporting quote enemy targets coming from the direction of israel syrian air defenses say it brought down many of the projectiles but it's not clear if they have been any casualties or property damage there's no

confirmation around israel's involvement of a no public comments about this accusation but target sites have been previously targeted in syria. meanwhile the united nations is warning of a humanitarian crisis in syria as it lip province this off to hospitals and refugee camps the escalations overwhelmed by russian backed government forces at least 180000 people have been forced from their homes. a senior iranian politician has called for talks between tehran and washington after weeks of escalating tensions chairman of iran's national security and foreign policy commission. tweeted that iranian american senior diplomats have rejected the option of war same as more. at the moment things in iran are very turned so everyone is hanging on good or really everything any leader is saying so in that sense these comments are significant coming from mr fuller picture as far as negotiations really every member of the

civilian and military leadership in this country in the senior ranks right from the supreme leader ayatollah khomeini himself all the way down have continued to say the same thing they repeated it like a mantra they will not renegotiate the nuclear deal they will not carry out talks with the united states and especially they will not carry out talks with this current administration in the white house of u.s. president donald trump tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have taken to the streets in algeria for the 13th friday in a row security forces fired tear gas at demonstrate as he climbed on to police vans in the capital our jails protesters are demanding the removal of the country's political elite who has been in power for nearly 60 years also protests ensued on the demonstrators remove many of the roadblocks they'd set up in the capital as demanded by the military for transition talks to resume but they are refusing to end the ongoing sit in outside on the headquarters of the $2.00 oh that's it for myself and the team here in london coming up next on al-jazeera it's counting the

cost. just a few months after journalist jamal a special she was killed another arab dissident was under threat norwegian security officials had to take him from his home and also now to a secure location after attempts at the saudis were targeting him. human rights activist. talks town does era. and has i'm sick of this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week as a u.s. strike group steams to the strait of hormuz to find out how important the world's oil gateway years. plus the economic cost of the terror attacks in sri lanka as violence against the muslim minority spreads. and the future of transport can this

1st 5 c. to electric flying car take on the might of google and. so the strait of hormuz is a critical waterway to the world for middle east oil and gas produces about a 5th of the world screwed passes through this narrow strait between a man and iran after the united states pulled waivers for nations trading with iran a string of alleged attacks on tankers and drone attacks on pipelines have increased tensions add to the makes washington ordered some embassy staff in baghdad to leave and it sent a u.s. strike group into the region as defense analyst alex go topless as more the flagship of carrier strike group 12 is the nuclear powered u.s.s. abraham lincoln one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world weighing in at over 100000 tons it carries some 90 aircraft including early warning aircraft and

several squadrons of fighter jets each with a combat role. areas of 380 kilometers well beyond the range of most coastal artillery and antiship missiles alongside the carrier a fleet of ships the act is more than just protection they're powerful radars can see into a country track hundreds of aircraft and they carry the weapons that can destroy targets far inland in the open ocean it's very hard to intercept and destroy a large modern carrier group but the abraham lincoln will be operating in the relatively confined waters of the gulf much closer to iran shoreline and its costar missile batteries so what does iran have its air forces antiquated but for many years it's been producing missiles like this the collegiate fars a large antiship weapon with a range of 300 kilometers iran does have a sizable submarine fleet with several more russian made kilo class subs that are quite enough to sneak up on the u.s. carrier group the u.s.

of course it just hasn't deployed at sea it sent 4 b. 52 bombers to our date air force base in qatar they don't need to fly into enemy a space they can be loaded up with the latest weapons such as the just some stealth missile it's invisible to radar and able to hit a target at up to a 1000 kilometers away. this all adds up to a public suppression of american military might that's also aimed at sending a potent message to iran. alex joins me now on set to talk more about this so alex what message is the united states trying to send iran here a mixed message at best there are regular military deployments taking place right now it's highly unusual that there isn't an aircraft carrier group in the region. we have a large air force base just down the road here in qatar it is highly unusual that they don't host bombers there but the announcement that they're sending bombers and aircraft carriers sounds like it's

a ramp up in capabilities were an actual fact is business as usual what has changed is the rhetoric and the rhetoric is far more bellicose than it used to be and when you heard of a load of increased tension a lot of military hardware in the region the propensity for a mistake or an accident or something intentional or otherwise the will get into a general conflict is much higher. now what do we know then about this alleged sabotage of the tankers on the coast of the u.a.e. and the the oil part the saudi oil pipeline what's going on there at the moment we know less about the subject of the ships it was announced by the emir ati's and the saudis that there had been sabotage on the ships themselves the no one norwegian shipping company said that one of its tankers had been damaged by an object to be in the hold even though the damage was minor. the next day which many analysts say

is not. an coincidental is that you had an attack on a pipeline far inside saudi territory now this shows a real jump in truth the drone capabilities it was attacked by a drone traveling very slowly evading a sophisticated air defense system that managed to attack a pipeline in the same latitude as riyadh hundreds of kilometers inside the country this is something that has never been attempted before and they succeeded and this shows a real jump in what the who these are capable of how we should talk to us thanks very much and you can read a lot more about alex's thoughts on this on our web site at al-jazeera dot com. we join me now via skype from geneva is jeff como luciano he is an ex-pat a geo political energy and director of the executive mosque in oil and gas at least schip program at the graduate institute in geneva thanks very much for being with

us so the oil markets have risen by a 3rd over the year and they are surprisingly relaxed about recent developments in the gulf what do you make of that well it's doing that well in a market process reason but we should not forget over the past year if we count 12 months. the price has been higher than is fully in fact he does so clearly between. $86.49 go nuts and so will you be out at 727273 so we are. in the meat that age. the market is very accessible because it's not clear what he's going to happen and there is significant that is there are already in case of some of the consequences what's the end game here for washington then i mean

president trump has been trying to get troops out of the middle east but his national security adviser john bolton appears to be running the show if you talk to a lot of people despite both sides saying they don't want war what would he make of that where exactly i think the market is for projects that it's not just my home but so but the internet there are people that are looking at this admission or her legs because they they see an american musician that these rowing all and grow the are there in the dates and so i personally don't believe that mr trump is the president are or truly it's the war so is all. letting his security advisor. being that this will. cave in on the fact that we've got those things here and with katie and the events of the last couple of days drone attacks on

a pipeline the alleged sabotage tankas of the emirates the u.s. is telling some embassy staff to leave baghdad as well it appears to be coordinated to whose benefit where it's not clear to whose benefit the. depending on the through sort of behind it which we both know. maybe the signals that. the saudi arabia knows you know that are there that is my the able to bite us the thought of the gauge and the strait of hormuz. that at least one possible interpretation but you're not we could also be done you know this too is essential if you're the b.b.c. or phrase or which or their words. or that much that is and what kind of disruption would closing the strait of hormuz do to the global

flow of oil if that were to happen well exactly i think the issue is that there's always a basis of closing of the series over most of it should be demanded that 1st of all rolling the series of these very easy and safe from the it's not necessary because frank there is a lot in fact that can be a factor anywhere in the gov this has been a sense that in the doing the exactly on the war it does not succeed as. not being the su the such an awful lot. of things that might be or ringback there was the seriously for auction. in this case is that say or it is always possible or things. bench him off or players because sometimes who were by the accidental wind up days it's very difficult with

the well known. thanks for being with us. but china has vowed to defend its companies after u.s. government decision to place one way and 70 of its affiliates on a trade blacklist calling it unreasonable washington believes equipment produced by the chinese company could be used to spy on the u.s. while he has repeatedly denied those allegations adrian brown reports now from a tech trade show in tianjin. what you see here is at the heart of the trade dispute between china and the united states the 2 countries are competing to be world leaders in artificial intelligence robotics and 5 g. technology. showcasing its achievements while away china's national tech champion its expansion plans in the united states now seem over after the u.s. put the firm and its affiliates on a trading blacklist an issue too sensitive for this company official to discuss i

guess the country operates a company so sorry. but he's confident while away will still thrive in other markets so now laid her maybe your fire level. we hope we can cooperate each other based other countries while away officials had anticipated this move and on thursday the firm issued a statement saying the transactions wouldn't improve safety or security in the united states and would only harm consumers and companies it doesn't bode well for the full 3 trade talks between the 2 countries u.s. firms are present here in the mood among one technology representative surprisingly upbeat levy is in very hard to sell us technology in china today because of the trade move i don't think i saw in summits years counties is open for the on the differences you know the products here and our attorney is the. customers

is what i think the. american. pronounce is one of. the theme of this exhibition is artificial intelligence in china the technology is widely used in surveillance and facial recognition cameras. especially in the far western province of shin jang where they monitor track and rate members of a largely muslim group known as the week goes this. company manufactures many of those cameras and has been promoting its expertise here but officials didn't want to tell you the reason you can't even use the u.s. government has one small targeted one of china's most successful companies leaving executives at other technology firms wondering who will be next. now the easter sunday attacks on churches in sri lanka has led to reprisals against

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