a fight because the warring sides do not provide any figures on the number of casualties but in a rare admission the syrian government said they lost 22 men in a surprise attack by the rebels launched a few days ago on the lot the key country side so the syrian government and its allies unable to push forward unable to advance which gives turkey political leverage and one of the reasons why they haven't been able to do this is that turkey is supporting the rebels with sophisticated weapons this is what we understand from our sources and another reason is because iran doesn't have foot soldiers on the ground they're not helping the syrian government because they're in disagreement with the russians over their role in post conflict syria incredibly complicated as well and so before all views to sort of try to get a handle on exactly what's going on so just clarify for the exact moment and why we're focused on this particular area that seems to have a very high death toll in recent days. yes northwest syria is strategic for the government they want to push the rebels further north because they want to

protect the cities under their control law to keep they also want to protect the russian airbase and lock the key because rebels are still able to attack so push the rebels north they haven't been able to do that they also want to push the rebel the rebels north because they want to recapture 2 international highways the m 4 and m 5 highways which runs through province they need those highways in order to revive trade between these cities under the government's control so that they can reach aleppo city so they need to revive the economy so that hasn't been achieved on the ground and this offensive is not about capturing the whole of problems it's very limited to a belt of territory surrounding it live province and yet it is proving to be so difficult we've reached a point in the conflict where front lines are hardening for major players on the ground turkey russia iran and the united states and clearly each one of these countries have spheres of influence in the country they will need to come together and reach an agreement for any political solution to be reached in syria will for

the moment we'll leave it there thanks ali. well china's released figures showing its imports from the u.s. have plunged in the past year and its exports to america are down to the country's trade war but trying to trade surplus with the u.s. continues to rise and that imbalance is the heart of gold tom's assertions that china's engaged in unfair trade practices well when he's going to pick everything for us from beijing just talk us through the figures wayne. yes well some pretty negative numbers actually were released by the government here in beijing but no sign of panic of course from the customs of ministration which releases the statistics they are saying that yes the trade dispute with the united states is having an effect but that it is manageable so what we have is that exports from china to all countries for the month of june dropped by 1.3 percent from the same period a year ago concerning in that if we go back to may they grew by 1 point one percent

however on the positive side most experts did forecast that the figures for june would be a lot worse than in fact what they turned out to be donald trump as you mentioned the u.s. president has long complained of unfair trading practices from the chinese and the fact that the u.s. has a big trade deficit with china some statistics for him to unpick as well even though exports from china to the united states are down significantly the trade surplus that china has with the united states for the month of june grew to almost $30000000000.00 so no doubt that statistics will be pored over and discussed if those trade negotiations resume between china and the united states possibly in the next couple of weeks perhaps most concerning for the chinese economy overall is that imports from all countries for the month of june fell 7.3 percent which is

being blamed on weak domestic demand or for the update thanks very much we will join you later ok. much more to come here on the al-jazeera news hour including. oysters die and the shrimp are moving out we have wildlife mammals you know dolphins are you know dying extreme weather in the u.s. pushes the mississippi river to record levels taking a heavy toll on wildlife parts of the story behind these artworks saved from destruction during the soviet era. and in sport england cut australia from the world cup joe will have those details later. the japan and south korea of held talks to resolve a worsening trade dispute tokyo has restricted the export of materials used in manufacturing smartphones and memory chips to seoul raising concerns for the south korean economy and the global tech supply chain japanese officials say the

restrictions are because south korea's failing to control the export of sensitive materials to north korea solved has denied that claim demanding evidence and a u.n. investigation. is or has the latest from tokyo. it's not so good news to the south korean makers today's meeting basically it was just a briefing by both countries on their position. announced at the end of this meeting which i ended in behind me in the trade ministry today they say that this meeting is basically not a negotiating meeting it's just to explain stance on this issue and in fact. this meeting that was working level but it was a very small working level meeting just to south korean officials met with 2 counterparts from the japanese trade minister also picture says it all it's

a very small meeting and they explained to south korea that their country is now out of what so called white countries least this least allows japan to export its high tech technologies to countries on this list without any restrictions and now south korea is on its way to be exempted from this list so from now on japanese companies are not allowed to export their. products to south korean companies without certain rules on said september seizures michael panniers president should get sued news agency joins me now live from take a guitar be with us on al-jazeera another trade war looming in asia pacific but added to sort of the historic tensions as well between japan and south korea. yes it's something like that in fact it's this move made by the japanese government could be interpreted as the 1st shot in

a trade war. and the japanese government insists that you know that this is not such a big deal that they're enforcement it's essentially just a matter of doing extra paperwork but it's not going to it's not in the kind of embargo but the south korean government very much is taking it seriously. president moon has called it an unprecedented crisis so clearly there is a difference of perception of how big a deal this is in terms of how crucial the technology is that korea needs from japan for its manufacturing needs how serious is it becoming is it just words for the moment when can we see it becoming something but everyone has to take note of. well my understanding is that south korea probably does have a stockpile of these materials that could last a couple of months so it's probably not something that's going to have an immediate impact today tomorrow or next week but if it is a prolonged embargo and if. if the japanese inforce it very

strictly and in a tough manner and if south korea cannot get these materials elsewhere then it could it could have a serious impact on. south korea's technology production is as i understand it i mean japan is accusing south korea of exporting sensitive material quite sure what that means in the in the fine detail to the north and that more policing is required what more can south korea do to reassure japan. well it's not quite clear that there's any fire behind that smoke it's certainly true that the r.v. administration has has made this accusation but they have not provided any kind of evidence or substantiation for this so it's not clear if the japanese government has some real intelligence on this or if they're just using it to justify. this new

policy because they want to do it to punish the south koreans over the forced labor and comfort women issues which probably would seem to be the heart of the real matter well for the moment we'll leave it there michael penn but it's very much for joining us in tokyo thank you. european council president because criticize brussels decision to ban flies to children he calls it unjustified and disproportionate relations have deteriorated since the visit of a russian politician to the georgian parliament 3 weeks ago tusk was speaking at a conference on the e.u. and eastern europe in the georgian city of but to me for when to do symonds rickles . it's the annual gathering of east european states and the e.u. russia is always irritated by such familiar images. once led the kremlin to ban all direct flights to georgia all the unfamiliar images of anti russian protests every day for more than 3 weeks in the capital tbilisi georgia is

president didn't want to talk about russia at the conference but the e.u. council president did russia recently this is the final flight to judge your unjustified. this is for groceries that may be the case but georgia's leaders were reluctant to openly attack russia at this event that parliament's head of european integration was sent out to face questions denying claims by protesters that george's government had become too lenient towards russia at the plaza saying nothing to prove the russian want to say it's a. total of 6 that's why i say. that it doesn't actually require any farther with russia or is really concerned about your presence here with this conference and this. georgia is very western or the truth we would like to find ourselves in then surely we think the european jews in one of the debates

parliamentary leader spoke of russia as an occupying force or join your russian me i don't know yet with occupying 20 percent of our territories it means permanent threaten the more security it means sit here violation of human rights of people who are living in occupied territories later came the signing of financial agreements between georgia and e.u. states but as the ink dried on deals with $53000000.00 there was no disguising the anxiety about russia's actions against this country if conference delegates were to take a short stroll. down to the beach front here they get a reality check this place is normally teaming with russian tourists at this time of year the tourist all-stars the official told us that hotel occupancy rates are down by 80 percent if the flight from russia continues the georgian economy who's really going to suffer andrew simmons al-jazeera but to me in georgia now in the

u.s. the president has approved federal resources to louisiana after hurricane warnings were issued along the coast parts of new orleans are still underwater after days of thunder storms and floods residents are putting sandbags outside their properties or just leaving town hurrican barry is expected to make landfall on saturday when the mississippi river which runs through new orleans is already at record levels before the latest rains hit engineers have put it in place put in place measures to protect communities but is it clark reports that's having an impact on the environment. if a medical mississippi river a crucial alatri of comus which drains 41 percent of the entire united states this year it's exceeded all records the volume of water down at schools swollen by extreme spring rains and snow melt upstream the mississippi has never been this

high for this long it is unprecedented and everyone who lives in new orleans that puts that trust in the levee system which protects the city from flooding while upstream the engineer is all they try and ease the pressure. and they've done that with a rare opening of the bonnet carre spillway built in the 90 thirty's to dock colossal quantities of water away from the main river in times of high flood of just about 12 times in its history this is actually the 1st year that it's been opened twice in the same calendar year so this is really one of the one of the longest floods on record the spillway will remain open until the end of july but there's a problem it's upset the ecological balance of the mississippi sound diluting the mix of fresh and so water with devastating effect to coastal businesses now we're starting to see the repercussions which are you know oysters die in the shrimp are moving we have wildlife mammals you know dolphins of you know dying the turtles are

die and we have a lot of salt water species now that are being affected heavily due to the rise of the river west it is a multimillion dollar industry here in st bernard parish but it's sitting duck landings it down up to 80 percent the fishermen source of income has been all but destroyed and this is a very big an impact this is the worst impact that this community has ever seen i mean we've we've been through katrina where we've been completely wiped off the map we've been through beeping we've been through a lot in this community watched over the years in my life this community come and go but this is the worst that i've ever seen avar. now business is a demanding that the federal government step in with emergency funding. for everyone you're dead and go back out there make no money issue out there. yet and then you're into from there to help and the fear is with changing weather patterns this could become the new normal you might save the city from flooding but at

a cost to a multi-million dollar industry. al-jazeera new orleans louisiana well after will be here shortly to tell us more about those with the storms in the u.s. but still ahead here on the al-jazeera news. iran calls on the u.k. to immediately release its oil tanker detained in gibraltar or face consequences. and we'll tell you which top tennis player has been a problem so we've. been able to that story coming. out of there well a little glance at the satellite picture you can see quite a messy picture in the gulf of mexico but tucked in among system a cluster of storms is tropical storm barry and it is of course going to make its

way further northwards as we go on through the next 24 hours running up towards that louisiana coast so there we go you can see it's expected to just pass to the west of new orleans. sustained winds around $85.00 clumps as pratt is expected to strengthen further over the next 24 hours or so don't expect it to become a hurricane but it will get close so we'll see how it goes the movement that does give great cause for concern because 6 kilometers per hour not even walk in places staggering along lots of rainfall in this system that we've already had $66.00 millimeters of rain in new orleans in the past 24 hours as we go on through the next few days well we could be looking at something in excess of $500.00 millimeters along the south coast so particularly over towards the louisiana mississippi border that's where expecting the worst of the rainfall to be the storm surge of course that also gives major cause for concern when you look at the level

of the mississippi river at present so there is obviously the possibility of life threatening thoughts and mudslides with a couple of days. whether sponsored by i can tolerate. one of the last remaining ancient forests in southeast asia is a lifeline to hundreds of lumberjacks and drive as. we follow their treacherous journey as they walk through extreme conditions. together and transport this dangerous but precious cargo risking it all. on al-jazeera. when the news breaks these protesters and the story being that. when people need to be. included in the right if you don't have the right to know. the story needs to be

told. which is iraq has teams on the ground to bring unity between troops and light names. and online. welcome back you're watching the al-jazeera news hour with me is the home run to remind of our top news stories turkey says it's received the 1st shipment of the russian s 400 missile defense system the u.s. has previously warned turkey would face sanctions over the purchase and that it won't be allowed to purchase its f. 35 fighter jets more than 120 rebel fighters and soldiers have been killed in the

past 48 hours in syria that's according to the syrian observatory for human rights that they were fighting for control of a village in hama province which is now back under government control and china's trade to and from the u.s. has plunged in the past year amid an ongoing trade war between the 2 countries but beijing says its trade surplus which triggered the dispute continues to rise. now the captain and chief officer of the reigning oil tanker have been arrested after their ship was seized in waters near to baltar last week the crew of the grace one are under suspicion of breaking un sanctions by transporting oil to syria iran's foreign ministry has demanded the immediate release of the oil tanker following retaliatory threats from tehran britain says a rainy and boats approach one of its oil tankers on thursday prompting a u.k. warship to intervene iran has denied the encounter the u.s. 5th fleet says it's working closely with the british navy to defend the free flow of commerce and freedom of navigation through the region. has been monitoring

reaction in the iranian capital. diplomatic relations between iran and the united kingdom have been suffering for many months now and the events of the last 24 hours will not help that situation and the arrest of senior officers of the graceful one the oil tanker that was detained last week off the coast of gibraltar by the u.k. royal marines that is likely to bring the same level of anger from leaders here into iran that the detention of the vessel the seizure of the vessel the oil tanker brought from the senior most levels of government last week iran's president and other senior leaders calling it a violation of the sanctity of international waterway something that was creating insecurity many senior iranian leaders also called the u.k. move but that was by all accounts taken at the behest of the united states an act

of piracy now iran is very angry about the fact that 2000000 barrels of crude oil were in the cargo vessel at the time of the seizure something that iran will find especially difficult now it is trying to continue to boil in the face of unilateral u.s. economic sanctions and iran's economy is certainly continuing to teeter so this is something that leaders will have taken it very seriously and the arrest of these 2 officers will no doubt escalate tensions even further earlier today iran denied reports that islamic revolutionary guard corps naval vessels tried to capture and seize a british vessel iran's government flatly denied any truth to those reports saying that in the past 24 hours there had been no encounter with any foreign vessels iran's foreign minister zarif calling the u.k.'s version of events again another

attempt to escalate tensions with iran $130.00 at the institute of maritime law at the university of southampton and joins me now by skype from i could have you with us on the program iran and oman have an obligation apparently to protect and police the straits of hormuz where is that based in terms of the legality of who looks after the strait of hormuz and who polices it. well it's not so much a question of looking at the structure or closing it as such per what we're dealing with a regime of transit passage and a part 3 of the united nations convention on the last city and the distinguishing feature of that which is superimposed on the ordinary rules. as age in the territorial city is there at the little states that's the states whose waters either ships passing through cut take any steps to amber the transit of foreign flow ships in this case the british where no oil tanker so does that mean that

there is an official international route through the channel yet we're hearing of course but for that me from tehran that they have total real rights of a part of the strait i mean can you just clarify that for us in terms of what the law of the sea is and who is actually in control of that area. well it is true that the passage through the strait of hormuz through iranian territorial waters. at the same time there is in. mention of the international maritime organization so all that traffic separation game and that in a requires traffic to pass through the ritual laws so it doesn't really have a choice in that sense of stepping outside. waters and clearing a month instead it. that none of this takes away from what is. 3 of the united nations can bench and that simply does allow us any interference

with navigation in the strait concern in iran would obviously say that it has the right to maintain and police its waters does a country like iran or oman have the legal right to approach any commercial military vessel that sort of isn't flying their national flag as part of the policing or security responsibility of the area. and in the army not that exists ordinarily in the territorial city is that right to prevent passage that is not in a sense from everything i'm saying no one is suggesting that message of the british tanker was anything other than the us so it's rather difficult to see what authority i do it all i'm up for trying to stop going to obstruct so how does the u.k. and the u.s. stand legally when it comes to military vessels protecting merchant ships do those

military vessels have the legal right then to threaten iranian or omani vessels if they approach or if there is or is there a particular protocol in terms of identification and search that needs to be carried out. well we're still here operating under the rules that got me police are so it would be quite a different matter if they were in a conflict in progress between iran on one side and the u.k. for example on the other that's not the case so in simply question oh that's a road in relation to navigation and laid down and that is imo conventions and there simply requires that all these extra ensure will that be safe you know to go she's not compromise they don't deliberately undertake actions that increase the likelihood of a collision for example well for the moment to say andrew thanks very much for joining us from southampton for clarifying the situation for us that in the middle east thank you. well west african leaders are in the ivory coast to plan the roll

out of a single shared currency the move would mean 8 former french colonies will have to give up their use of a currency known as the c.f.a. front it was created by france in 1905 and is used by 14 african nations in 2 zones one in west africa including senegal ivory coast the share mali and the keenest. and the others are in central africa and they include phone and chat the currency is pegged to the euro and has the financial backing of the french treasury in return france holds 50 percent of the 4 reserve exchange reserves for those member countries supporters of the system say it provides economic stability the critics say it's an answer a relic of french colonialist clearly lessons i say that restricts growth joins us now live from abidjan. ivory coast economic capital and of course some so very

crucial decisions to be made that could impact part of the continent for generations. absolutely so held to be or not to be is a question everybody's asking here and eventually the echo replaces the c.e.o. it will take a lot of getting used to businesses ordinary people on the street and even government now the thing is. france which by the way is sending out a presented you to the meeting here today. these african countries will it lead go its dominance of the currency of west africa and allow the west african countries francophone west african countries to take charge of their own economies that's a question everybody's asking now leaders will try to discuss this apart from the sea up as zone countries there are also. countries in west africa countries like nigeria countries like ghana. and several others 7 other countries they are

also required to join the single currency while these countries also agree to join in. they want to model the eco after the european currency the euro but while the big you can always like nigeria and ghana fall into line and still join the single currency that's a question a lot of people will want to see answered by the leaders here and probably by representatives of those countries that are still out of the c.f.a. zone so i'll see what they have to say later at the moment and that's that's joining us from of asia. on such a. rich management he joins me now from nairobi good to have you with us i mean what's the benefit for these nations to you might say have a new currency an unknown currency while discussing removing what's already well established. frankly speaking absolutely

0 in my view i think it's part of a sort of move post-colonial type move and it's being dressed up as that that this is a high time that these countries a scaped the french yoke the central you know the french central banks yoke and that's what they're seeking to do but let me just put some things out there for you nigeria 70 percent of this proposed eco has a voodoo effects regimes it has 2 foreign exchange rates partly the reason why it's been in the negative capita g.d.p. stretch for more than 5 years is is exactly because of the existing currency system you've got the you've got other countries like senate. who've really benefited from this macroeconomic stability that they've had by hitching themselves to the euro and i think you know what they should be looking at 1st of all is reducing things

like non-tariff barriers eco wes's is. hardly an outlier in terms of interest community trade and i think they should do those more simple things because there is enormous complexity around carolling everybody into a single currency given that there's so much diversity of performance i think you know these folks unfortunately are going completely down the wrong route and if they would worry me about the ability to manage their economies if they were to let go of that connection at this point you then therefore saying that they're beginning to order thinking about running before they can walk and that to a certain extent you know after the meeting african union leaders what earlier this month when they decided to perhaps have a one economic zone or the potential for an economic zone very similar to the e.u.

it's work in progress these things take time and certainly a lot more time in africa. absolutely and i think you know i'm all for the african free trade agreement i think that's a silver bullet if we can get it right but currency union is an immensely complex task and you've got so much diversity and just take a look around africa at how our currencies have been managed they've be managed appallingly look at zimbabwe i mean they they had to dump their own currency in order to try and now they've taken their currency back so currency volatility has crashed african citizens and typically african governments had not managed their currencies with any degree of accomplishment so i for one think look why take it away from something that's really working i understand the postcolonial story but to put it in the hands of some of these central banks seems to me

a recipient for disaster and i really hope that we can get beyond this sort of argument and actually look at what it would really need and look around this continent you know we've got a foreign exchange and currency regimes which make no sense why compound things which are not working with something which i think is a moon shot at this point in time and i think we should get serious and actually push back on this very very quickly the top performing economies in this region have been those busy that have been working under the current currency regime the ones that are not performing like nigeria are going to be the law of the elephant in the room and really they've done such a shocking job it's plain for anyone to see we shall see what the final communique has to say but for the moment at a concert you talk so much for joining us from nairobi. now experts are divided on

what impact the single currency will have on the region's economy nicholas hack. from senegal's capital dhaka. there are topics that can both divide and bring west africans together football with the africa cup of nations. how to properly grow a chicken and money that's because 15 west african countries have agreed to create and share a single currency called the fine exterior. it's a great idea if we have the same currency we could be one big country like america big and strong and then we would all be treated as equals. already 8 of the 15 countries use the same currency the african franc or c.f.a. a legacy of french colonialism.