one night man of a rest in torture by argentine, isabel johnson. footballing legend, eric kent, introduces cloud. your temporary, one of the special few stood up for their beliefs, whatever that cost. football rebels on al jazeera, the ah . nato. nato stands together. joe biden hale's nato's unity and reiterates his country's unmistakable commitment to the military alliance. ah, madison, this is all your life from also coming up, major push for americans to get vaccinated as a number of corona virus,

death years. 600000 cases are done for the president want against complacency on hold you. k prime minister delays plan covered 19 restrictions in england. as the number of cases there rises on the warnings of a possible variation leeker, one of china's nuclear power plants for aging dismissal. the concerns ah, in the us president has promised our rock solid commitment to nato, following his predecessors criticism of the military alliance. joe biden was that an attack on one member is an attack on all speaking off of the nato summit to buy and reaffirm the group's unity and had his meeting with russia's leader on wednesday. russia and china are both seeking to drive a wedge in our transatlantic solidarity. we're seeing an increase in malicious

cyber activity. but our alliance is still a strong foundation. nato stands together. that's how we met every other threatened the past. it's our greatest strength as meet our challenges of the future and are many and everyone. everyone in that room today understood the shared appreciation. quite frankly, that america is back when russia and china have been the main focuses of the summit in brussels. leaders have agreed to respond to moscow's aggression after a troop of build up on ukraine's border. the lines also declared beijing a global security challenge. males are discussed foreign withdrawal from afghanistan with turkey, saying it's going to need logistical and financial help to keep its forces in the country. after nato forces pull out. latasha buffer reports not from nato headquarters. the us president joe biden sat down to reassure nato leaders of

washington's commitment to the alliance. as he arrived for his 1st summit of the 30 member group in brussel, i want to make it clear. nato is critically important for us interest in and of itself. if there weren't when we'd have to invest one clearly enjoying the moment biden thought to rebuild trust after 4 years of donald trump, the former u. s. leader was openly hostile to nato, once even threatening to pull out the military withdrawal from us, ghana, stan climate change an native feature on the agenda. but relation with russia and china dominated discussions, china's growing influence on in national polls. this percent challenges to alliance security. joe biden succeeded in persuading nato to back his administration push for a tougher approach to china, regarded by washington as a major economic and strategic rival. but for most nato allies,

russia remains the main threat relations between moscow and later are at the lowest point since the cold war on wednesday bite and shed you to meet russian leader vladimir putin. so highly anticipated talks in geneva, i shared at our allies that our convey to pres, one are conveyed a president, bowden. but i'm not looking for conflict with russia, but then we will respond of russia continues as harmful activities. ties with turkey are also tense, the bite and call the meeting with the turkish president productive. the us may be back as a reliable nato partner, but this analysts says some allies have concerns. the allies here and asia will remember that trump had happened that something like him could happen again in the future. there are divisions in nato on some issues, but those differences remained mainly behind closed doors. as boyden took center

stage, leaders were clearly determined to turn a diplomatic page and show united front disaster butler al jazeera brussels. ok, let's bring in joe reuben, he's a former us deputy assistant secretary of state. he's joining us by skype from chevy. chase in maryland. just outside washington, d. c. good. happy with us. on our 0. there was a lot of stuff, talked at this nato some that was just a box ticking exercise or was this something tangible taken away from this? rob, it's great to be with you. and certainly there are always boxes to be take to diplomatic meetings related to climate change and trade, the economy, obviously the security arrangements in afghan, it's dan and dealing with russia. but there is a bigger picture vision here for president biden in, for the nato partners, which is to say that the alliance is strong, and that it's where there's some difficult years in the political pressures against

it. and that it's not going anywhere and sending a message as a result of that to russia in particular. and of course, also to, to china and other competitors that the western democracies that are represented in this alliance aren't going to change their tune just yet. there wasn't really going to be an easy right for the us or was it, i mean, there is a degree of suspicion, certainly among some countries and they talked to was where the u. s. actually stands in practical terms. we've got this meeting with president putin coming up on wednesday. do you think that joe barton was able to pull people enough together enough to be able to present some sort of united front ahead of that meeting? yeah, you're absolutely right. i think the thing is, is that we can't confuse perfection and have that be the enemy of the good it, which is a common saying here. it doesn't have to be that every single ally in nato does every single thing that united states once. otherwise, it's

a failure. no. what we do need, however, is to have organized communications and messaging and vision. and in that case, yes, your buying has has come out a very strong in talking about russia. but what does that mean for germany, for example, with its energy trade with russia? well, that's a little more complicated, but i think that the general direction and pushing and identifying who can go, how far within the alliance is critical. and that takes diplomatic skill, not through jo, bye and has been showing on this trip, going from country to country multilateral for as well as bilateral meeting and kind of organizing our allies in a manner that he can then present and utilize in this meeting with the group and then going forward after the meeting as well. the references that were made to russia are essentially, there's nothing really new there. they might be dealing with different circumstances, but the messaging essentially is the same. i want to talk to you about china though, the fact that nato took the trouble to identify china as

a so called security risk. how significant is that? i think it's an over the, as in risk that they're seeing very clearly right now from an a perspective, not necessarily a direct military comp which is what they're calling for, not in any way shape or form. but when we look at china as engagement in, in the region, pressures on taiwan pressures on hong kong. use of soft power to move and manipulate countries in africa and countries across asia into a very subservient position in many respect. that is the threat to global stability . that is a concern. and so china has had a bit of a free reign from an american perspective. in the last several years, donald trump's policy talked about pressure, but really didn't exert collective action. this is an attempt to try to right size that and get the messaging across while at the same time we understand. and clearly the leaders around the room understand that there are multilateral issues related

to climate change in particular nonproliferation that are going to require engaging china as well. by china, i think i should be getting the message that there is a much more unify position. now, in dealing with it, it's engagement, it's competition and, and a potential threat to their poses in asia. joe, it's always good to get your thoughts and subjects like this. and we appreciate you as always joining and joining us on al jazeera, thanks very much. i appreciate it. no. when the number of cobra 1900 deaths in the u. s. is approaching $600.00 sized into accounts for 15 percent of the worldwide total. more than 33000000 people in the us have contract to the virus. but the vaccine roland has dramatically slowed the death rates in january. more than 40 percent of the population are now fully vaccinated. these are live pictures from washington dc. the capital are members of

congress are holding a moment of silence in honor of the more than half a 1000000 americans who died from colona virus. well, let's go live to my kind of in washington dc. yet another grim milestone when it comes to coven 19. but might talk us through that figure reflects the, the changes in the rates of infections and the backdrop of the vaccinations. rob the vaccination has been available for a period of months now. and yet there is still below 50 percent of the population as a whole. who have fully vaccinated. now in the last week, for example, there are 25000 new cases being recorded each day. that's a very high indeed. however, to put that into a context, this figure is 57 percent lower than it was at the same time a month ago. this is a very clear indication that with the vaccine rollout,

the number of cases is dropping rapidly. this is something that president biden speaking to the approaching 600000 figure alluded to the day, saying that it is still tragic that there are so many daily debts that there are still these infections. but at the same time vaccination works and these figures indicate how significantly there's been a drop in the rate of infection as the vaccination rolls out. so by the said that he wants to get to 70 percent vaccination by july, the 4th. how is the vaccination program working across the country? well, that's a problem. i take a man that's the figure that some experts content and would create a heard immunity. and as you said, president biden has said he wants to reach that figure by july. the full, however, there is a major problem here and that as i said,

you still do not have 50 percent of all americans vaccinated. and what complicates the issue is that there is a geographical difference and may be a political one. for example, it's the eastern states that have conducted the most vaccinations headed by vermont, which has got more than 60 percent fully vaccinated people. then you look down at the bottom and it's the southern states like our can. so alabama, they are in the region of 30 percent or below. so there's a real issue here in terms of how many people are being vaccinated and where it would appear to be a political issue to. so the other danger is, is that with that figure around 50 percent, it could have peaked some arguing that everybody wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated now, so that figure of 70 percent by july, the 4th is looking exceedingly unlikely. mark, thanks very much. my kind of talking to us from washington dc. while the british government delaying its plan to eased restrictions in england by a month,

the final stage of locked on was to be lifted next week, but a rise in cases linked to the fast budding delta variant which 1st originated in india. as prompted the government to push back a full reopening poll brennan reports from london, which are like a harm testing test kits being handed out in kingston market square. this barbara south west london, one of more than 20 across england was sharpie rising infection rates. a prompt, intensive surge testing to identify and isolate cases, the steepest increases among young people and school children groups, which haven't yet been vaccinated. statistically, they're less likely to become seriously ill. the concern is about the various katie . we want to try and keep the case rate as low as possible, having the virus spread thing because we know more spreads more likely to get more mutations and more variance of the virus that may actually escape faxing. we don't want to see that i

outside in the market scratch bhaskar entertains that passes by with music venues closed for the past year. tim o t has survived on loose change and a part time job. the latest postponement provokes a weary shrug. emotional responses, i want to take gigs again. you know, i mean, i want to go out and want to do i live in florida and the logical responses like back at the start, look down i was, i was criticizing the government not being tough enough. you know, people were dying and it would be, i'll be hypocritical now to say like, come on, let me play games. you know, i honestly, i don't know, june 21st have been the freedom day here in the u. k. and postponing it has undoubtedly been a really serious dilemma for this prime minister with his libertarian reputation. and as the european summer has arrived, the appetite for mixing and socializing has already increased. but the advice from his scientific advises was stock continue to unlock as planned. and hospital

admissions would rapidly reach the peak seen in the 1st wave last year. by being cautious now, we had the chance in the next 4 weeks to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people. and once the adults of this company have been overwhelmingly vaccinated, which is what we can achieve in a short space of time, we will be in a far stronger position to keep hospitalizations down, to live with this disease. and to complete our cautious, but a reversible roadmap to freedom. more than 56 percent of u. k. adults are now fully vaccinated and extending restrictions into the summer months is testing public patience. drifting may be enjoyable on the river, but not in business or politics. pull, brennan, i'll just era kingston. you can still ahead an order. there are massive chemical 5

and the us forces evacuation is being called an environmental nightmare. hong kong hold the annual dragon boat festival. despite corona virus restrictions, ah, ah, i once again was st. invalid storms recently across c, think south southeast corner of the us. they still rumbling away, but they are in the process of getting pulled out of the way. the main story from much of north america is that have been looking at temperature as well up into the 30s for many reco breaking heat, actually quickly down towards the southwest corner of phoenix at around $47.00 celsius, up to the northwest. that's a little more like it cooler where to start. he just slide its way through here. it will cool off a little as we go on through the next day or so. central and eastern part still

plenty warm enough. we got some showers now in the process of pulling away from the eastern seaboard, still looking pretty disturbed through tuesday, across at eastern side of canada. white guys come back behind with sherry, right. lowering the temperature for calgary, for example 23 celsius he is at wet weather makes his way into alberta. 3 manitoba easing further eastwards and we'll see further showers longest spells of rain. he has to go on 3 widen states. western side of the u. s. critical far risk continues 47 celsius, they're still in phoenix. still a few showers down towards the panhandle through the deep south. heavy rain continues across southern parts of mexico, central america looking pretty disturbed elsewhere. course the caribbean is sunny. the weather bank. energy and change to every part of our universe

or small to continue the change all around the shape by technology and human ingenuity. we can make it work for you and your bill. ah, the a reminder of our top story this, our president, jo biden's, reaffirmed the united states, his commitment to nato. at mark's a major shift from a fed assessor donald trump. summit in brussels, members of the alliance, toughen distance against russia and acute china being

a security challenge. the u. s. is approaching 600000 kona virus deaths. the death toll their lakes up approximately 15 percent of the world talk of fatalities for the vaccine was there has been successful, was 40 percent of the population fully vaccinated. government is delaying its plan to use restrictions in england by a month. the final stage of lifting restrictions was to to be lifted next week, but a rise in cases linked to the delta variant, which 1st originated in india as part of the government to push back a full reopening of people that mean evacuated from their homes. after an explosion at a chemical plant in the u. s. state of illinois, massive plumes of black smoke can be seen from several miles away, but emergency workers say there's no danger to air quality at ground level firefighters plan to let the fall continue to burn the building is pretty much consumed. we're thinking that this is going to be

a several day event to have all this product burned off. and that's the best thing that we can do right now. and the main thing is that we don't want an environmental nightmare to occur. and, and the reason we can that we would cause that is by the use of water streams. so we're letting this product burn. and that's the safest thing that we can do because we're so concerned about the, the product run off into the waterways. never it is of a nuclear plant in china, fixing what they say is a performance issue after consent was raised over the build up of gas emissions as follows, reports of a possible radiation iq at the facility in gong don't province. the chinese state operator says activities at the power station meet safety standards, and the surrounding environment is secure plants. other operator french energy giant adf, has called for a meeting with its chinese partners. if an engineer on gunderson is chief engineer of fair winds, energy education,

he explains what the problem is likely to be. i have a little nuclear fuel piece of nuclear fuel dishes. this is an example, and these are stack 12 feet high, and they're wrapped in a metal wrapper. that metal wrapper in theory keeps all the nuclear radiation from this fuel from getting out. at least one. if not more of those though, she's cells metal sheet about as thick as a dime have cracked in the releasing radioactivity into the water inside the nuclear react. that it's a gas, it's called the xenon encrypt noble gases, and they appear to be building up inside the nuclear reactor. and some reports say they're also leaking out of the nuclear reactor. the right thing to do would be to shut the nuclear reactor down and look for the keys that are leaking and replace

them. and it does appear that the chinese want to do that right now. within the nuclear industry, there's not a lot of trust in, in the chinese nuclear program, they tend to make things look better than they really are. this reactor design are numerous problems. that component will have to be replaced in the next year or 2 because of cracking. and so nuclear engineers within the rest of the world, our residents, rather than to trust what comes out of, out of china for information mammals deposed later on fans to cheese expected to face more charges. on the 2nd day of a trial, proceedings began on monday behind closed doors. so she was charged with breaching coven 19 regulations, illegally possessing walkie talkies and breaking import export rules, to other charges, including bribery and jude to be read out on tuesday and county penalties of up to

15 years in prison. so she's been under house arrest since the february 1st military coup. opposition leaders have condemned the latest public appearance by jailed bella. russian journalists, roman for the savage, saying it was made under due rest. at a news conference in minsk, the discipline blogger says he's in good health and hasn't been beacon, savage and his girlfriend were arrested last month after the flight was forced to land in bellows, is made several appearances since then and has admitted organizing protest aimed at toppling president alexander, look shanker by g is president surprised many last month when he said an 18 months border closure to restrict illegal weapons had failed. the land border has recently reopened after being shut since 2019, but towns are still struggling with the economic followed. i did just report so semi on the border between nigeria and been in this book market used to be

a thriving commercial hub. it's now a shell of it. for myself, it was known for cheap imports like rice, automobiles, and gardens. but not anymore. it's been 6 months since nigeria reopen, it's west and land border with beneath. but people like successful motorcycle dealer or more later in was a they having to find other work to make a living. and he's not happy. you got my tell you that, but i lose data the live because if somebody comes in is what points you get free passage of goods on people police. but i've got to do, but i know you got that's what i thought opened loose. because if i shall opening to some group of people in this country, he says such favors have ruined small businesses like hiss and by extension of the economy. head of a local trade union agrees no meant for market. there's little activities at the

market. even the number of visitors reduced substantially with incomes wiped out. people stay at home and such. you can't get the taxes as you know, the residency. even passenger traffic is not what it used to be. the motor closure was meant to reduce the import of food items in cards, domestic drug, and stop the smuggling of firearms and listen drugs into jetta. but after one on harvey, the president admits more arms came in during the band, raising questions as to what it actually achieved. what features however, exist the shut down was a resounding success as there is cross border cooperation and shedding of intelligence on smuggling. there were one of the jaws of her pre said items i would have found their way into the country through illegal rules and ordered. there were also arrests of migrants

which could have complicated to give this to show. but in force in the border or has made it more expensive to live in communities like semi people . he has a numerous checkpoint to hurting the transport. titian of good from across the border and other parts of nigeria. the government reopen its borders just as the free trade agreement facilitated by the african union was coming into force. but months later, business activity here has yet to pick up. nigeria government has accused its neighbors of endangering not only the economy, but also security, saying weapons and ammunition still flow across the borders to feed it ever growing conflict comedy, reese, i just sent me one niger to be the border. the prosecutors imagined tina had begun questioning the medical team that cared for argentinian football, saw diego mater donna before his death last year. 7 health professionals including

his personal doctor, a being investigated for manslaughter. madonna died of heart failure. 2 weeks after having brain surgery last month, the board of experts found his treatment was inadequate and said his medical team had acted recklessly. a judge will decide after the hearing further, the case should go to trial. the annual dragon boat race festival has been held in hong kong despite title covered 19 restrictions is one of the cities most popular events, though social distancing men, fewer races and spectators this year. and jim brown reports from hong kong. the hong kong wants to show that life here will soon be back to normal. and on a day like this, that's easy to imagine. as hundreds of people took part in one of the territories biggest annual festivals. the dragon boat race, a scene the to some of as proof, hong kong freedoms remain intact. but it's also

a place where it seems social distancing. rules are selectively in pools. all i back is read all this event can happen during the cold at 900 pandemic. our team is fully vaccinated and we have confidence in the abilities of the organizer to maintain safety protocol. i'm not surprised, but the fact that no one social does the thing, it's a bit scary as well. just over a week ago, the government band, another popular annual event, the june, the 4th visual that commemorates those killed by chinese troops in beijing. tea elements where 32 years ago, the authority said the order was justified on public health grounds. it didn't stop small acts of defiance. strict health regulations are not the only controls people are dealing with. it's almost a year since china's leaders imposed a draconian security law. a response to months of often violent anti government

protests here. under that law, more than a 100 activists have been arrested with most denied bales, hong kong people, and now hesitant to protest and to get vaccinated. there's been a sluggish response to the occupation campaign, as only around 20 percent of the population have received a single dose of the cobra. 19 vaccine. after some prodding by the government corporate hong kong is now dangling incentives to try to persuade people to get an offering prizes that include an apartment in its complex valued. but more than a 1000000 and a half dollars. the slow pick up blamed on a lack of trust in the government and concerns over vaccine safety. but there's also another incentive for people to get an ocoee lated. a new outbreak of cobit 19 in the neighboring chinese province of glendon. adrian brown, al jazeera hong kong us regulators have suspended the importation of dogs for

more than $100.00 countries, considered to be high risk for canine rabies. a temporary bond by the us centers for disease control comes into force. next month's russia, china, india, and saudi arabia are among the countries on the list. as in response to an increase in the number of false vaccination certificates. you can find a lot more and all these stories on the website address for that is all the 0 dot com. ah, this is all, these are the top stories president joe biden is renewing the u. s. commitment to nato, and mark's a major shift from his predecessor, donald trump, st. summit, members of the airlines tough and this stance against russia. and to keep china of being a security challenge. russia in china, both seeking to drive

a wedge in our transatlantic solidarity.