here and beta, we were the one who had life on what was going on and the way the most me submitted to them. there's looking stuff that goes on is always in the dynamics formation. we have the agency to create the vibe of the generational change on al jazeera. ah, to teach momentum appears to be sort of with the tell him. the pentagon raises the alarm over the taliban advanced in afghanistan as us troops continue to pull out. ah, hello, i'm darn jordan. this is out there at lie from dell are also coming up south korea reports another record of daily cobit infections. we'll have a law, you've update from salt. the military joins rescue efforts in the worst flooding

seen in central china the decade and a boost in the fight against the painkiller addiction epidemic in the us. drug companies reach at $26000000000.00 supplement. ah, the pentagon news expressing alarm over the rapidly worsening security situation in afghanistan senior most us general says the taliban now controls nearly half of the countries $400.00 plus districts. it coincides with the continued pull out of us troops fighting between african government forces and the taliban is intensifying at least 7 people were killed in the southern province of kandahar on wednesday. it happened during schilling between the military and taliban fighters in a separate incident for fighters were killed whenever vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the done the district. my county has more now from washington. d . c. is secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who

spoke to the media in the course of the day. they say that withdrawal is going on as scheduled. some $8000.00 troops have already be moved out of a gun. he's done. they also made specific reference to locals who were employed by the us military, such as drivers and translators. a number of them have already been removed from the country as well. but the main point that they were making of the gains that kind of bond has made in recent times, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mark, milly, saying that as of last month the taliban controlled some 80 of gunny stones, 401900 district, but this number has now doubled. i would tell you that as of today, more or less, i guess it's about $212213.00 in that range. 2 hundreds of the district centers are in taliban control. it's about half of the $419.00 that are out there. you've got 34 provincial capitols in afghanistan. none of them have been seized as of today.

by the taliban. although the taliban is putting pressure on the outskirts. probably about half of them. 17 of them in fact, and what they're trying to do is isolate the major population centers that trying to do the same thing to cobble. and roughly speaking, the order of magnitude. a significant amount of territory has been seized over the course of 6, a 10 month sort of thing by the, by the taliban. so momentum appears to be strategic. momentum appears to be sort of with the tell him well, mariam attached as a member of the u. s afghan woman's council. she says the taliban has not been honest in negotiations about its activity on the ground. i think that we never really moved from a strategy of war to one of peace successfully. these talks have been happening for over a year and a half. i interviewed women in the summer of 2019 who were part of the peace process. and at that time they indicated that the taliban was willing to speak and

to be reformed in some ways. and there was hope that they could come to the peace table and a plan could come amongst all the parties. but unfortunately, that didn't happen at the same time that the telephone would be at the peace table . they would be bombing a few miles away. and so i think that they never really were very, you know, up for a front and forthcoming about their participation and their, and the piece talk them. they had another plan and perhaps they're looking and waiting to see what the us would do and how the afghan national army would do. and unfortunately, although they have received some training from the us, it doesn't seem that they're doing as well as they could. and right now it's the african people through the state that still is representing them that need this assistance otherwise. unfortunately, we could see another cycle of violence enough ghana fan and we could be repeating history. and the us me think that it's not it's problem today. and tenured, 20 years down, the lie that could become the country's problem again. so i really don't think that

the u. s. leadership can ignore what's happening right now on the ground. enough kenneth, down just to get just a day to go until a start of the summer lympics in tokyo and organize a say to more athletes that the limping village of tested positive for cobra. 19, there among total cases linked to the games announced on thursday for the total to $87.00 tokyo itself is seeing its highest number of cases in 6 months. the city remains under a state of emergency complexions facing unprecedented restrictions on the movements . south korea has hit another daily record for its number. new corona virus case is more than 1800. the more contagious delta variant is fueling. the surge latest numbers include 270 sailors are flying home from an anti piracy navy. destroyer of the coast of africa authorities are now considering expanding restrictions and sol and its neighboring regions. rob brian jones, i live now from sold. so rob,

this is south korea's highest ever daily increase in case is the 13th. i clearly struggling to get this under control. it is a worrying figure. when this set forth wave started to take a grip. here the authorities were predicting that we would eventually see something like 2000 new cases and more if we day and we are fast approaching that before they're able to get this under control. this figure has been inflated by the number of crew members from the sale fated navy ship that was on anti piracy patrol of east africa, correct? got completely overwhelmed by an outbreak on board and the old back crew have now been flown back to south korea of the something of 301 crew members. $270.00 have now tested positive that's a staggering 90 percent of the crew. but even if you strip out that number, this is still a very high dang the figure and we have been seeing now for 2 weeks,

a well over a 1000 new cases per day. already the capital area around sol has been on the highest level of social distancing for the past week or so. it is likely to be extended. other costs of south korea have also been on this highest level. and really, as the authority is now, look at the summer months, some people doing more, vacationing, more traveling that really have to look at extending some of these restrictions through the rest of south korea. given the virulent of this delta variance and rob, despite the rise in cases south korea, haven't seen a significant increase in the hospitalizations and death is the vaccine rollout having any impact here. that is one of the encouraging aspects i suppose of this that compared with previous waves, we have not had the same types of hospitalizations and deaths. there are more hospital resources, more beds for cobra patients in existence. but also,

as the vaccines that have been rolled out then some of the more vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and nursing homes and so on, they are by and large being protected. we have something like a 3rd of the population has had at least one jobs so far. but that does draw attention to the fact that there are 2 thirds of the population who are unvaccinated, many young people included. now this latest way, the 4th wave has been blamed, largely on young people going out socializing, traveling, taking vacations. but there has been quite a bit of pushback from the same young people say, look, don't blameless vaccinate us. why are we still waiting for our job? so it has re ignited this debate and ongoing debate here in south korea at just about the slow, relatively slow rollouts of vaccines. and the fact that all though a 3rd of the population has had at least one job completely vaccinated. people still account for a relatively small 13 percent of the population. alright, robert bride lie 1st there in sole, rob,

thank you. and the delta veterans has also driven up cases in thailand which is just reported another record day of new cases. more than 13600 people have tested positive timelines, national vaccine institute has apologized for not procuring enough vaccines. it says it's now looking at joining the global kofax vaccine sharing scheme. tony chang joins us live now from the tie capital bank attorney. so there are also a growing concerns in thailand, about misinformation, over cove id where we talked about this the government i think is concerned about criticism. frankly, there has been some misinformation out there. i think there has been in many places about vaccination, but the real consent of the government seems to be, critics are accusing it of mismanaging the code. that crisis mishandling the vaccination program, they've just announced that they purchased 20000000 doses of 5 vaccine from the

united states. but many people here asking why when thailand did so well last year, when daily infections were in a single figures on sundays, and the total number of deaths for the year, 2020 was only 61. why? wherein this terrible mass now when thailand appeared to be so far ahead of the code, one minister in fact, came out and said that the celebrity should be very wary of criticizing the government. he said they had allowed a voice than ordinary people and shouldn't use social media. to criticize the government, we've seen the police calling in a young wrapper called mili today, who do use social media to criticize the government. the government is very sensitive about it. here we've seen the prime minister come out yesterday on wednesday and defend himself pretty boisterously. but i think the feeling is here that he is something of a lame duck at the moment. last year, when he saw master process coming out on the street,

he was able to defend himself. and i think many people think that's because of what that stage was deemed to be a very effective anti cove regime that had seen so little infections spreading here . well, now the situation is very different. we saw a small protest last weekend out on the streets. i think most people here in thailand don't feel safe for now to go safe enough to go out onto the streets to protest. but when they do, i think many people expect he will be a big problem for the prime minister and this administration. all right, tony chang live for us there in bangkok. tony, thank china has deployed the military to her non province. the central region is struggling with worse flooding and living memory. troops of birth to nearby down to reduce the risk of more floods. thousands will help search and rescue efforts. at least 25 people have been killed and 200000 evacuated off of those killed were stuck in the underground ways. and john jones, st. subway's, factors, and farmland,

have all been effected. adrian brown has more now from hong kong. the area that's affected by flooding lies in an area that is prone to this sort of thing. in fact, we know that in the last few years, the government spent something like $8000000000.00 on flood prevention measures and kitty. those measures have not worked on social media. today's a good deal of anger being expressed by people wondering why the weather forecast, who's got it so wrong? why was it they weren't able to predict this? once in a millennium event, we've seen a lot of images also of weary and traumatized survivors still coming to terms with the scale of this deluge and the devastation is left behind. it's worth pointing out. the ginger is also the center for the world's biggest i phone assembly plant. now a spokesman says that so far, the flood is, has no direct impact on their operations. as we speak,

a typhoon is bearing down on the eastern coast of china and it's due to my land full in the next couple of days. so yes, more heavy rain could be on the way, which means that's going to, i think, further hamper the rescue operation that has been taking place. the relief operation and also raise concerns about the dam levels. because john joe is a city that is ringed by times and the pair lay, the people's iteration. army has deployed engineers who so far managed to stabilize the situation of one of those dams. but so far they been unable to do the same at some of the other dams at that circle that city time for a short break here now to 0. when we come back, we report from senegal, where each celebrations are being overshadowed by fears of a new surge uncovered cases. and france rolled out a coven pass for tourist attraction cinemas, and sporting events to encourage more people to get the job or not steamers.

ah, ah, it's time for the journey. the winter sponsored by kettle airways. hello from dough. we're in the thick of the heat, so across the middle east. so let me show you some of these temperature is q 848 degrees on thursday. beg that we've got you in 450, but you know around the array be and see some very choppy condition. so for coastal sections of oman, we could see wave fights about 4 meters high in terms of that precipitation. we've got some rain toward the he jazz mountains in saudi arabia and also for the al her job mountains in oman meeting. see some thunderstorms rumble up here, except for go into turkey. and here's what we're looking at. some showers really for coastal section and southern sections of the black sea. so it's stumble may see

a few spits of rain on thursday with a high of 29 degrees for central and eastern areas of africa. ok, we've got the usual pulses of rain falling here towards sudan, spilling into south sudan as well. and across the p o p in highlands on thursday. but if we go further to the south, a few things i wanted to point out here. first, look at this shilly air in place for jo, 7 degrees. your typical temperature should be at some of the year is 17. and then we've got a lot of activity toward the eastern cape, a wind, 75 kilometers per hour. and we'll look for about 20 millimeters of rain in store on thursday. sponsor cut on airways. becoming a living legend to the young age with simply not enough. he transformed his influence on the pitch into political clouds. the peace to be ivory coast posted by eric comes to the football rebels. the life of the rock bottom,

the football seated where politicians had not dropped the boy and civil war on i was just there of the a welcome back. a good reminder about top stories here. this south korea has hit another data record which number new corona virus cases. more than 1800. more contagious delta veterans just feeling the surge authorities are now considering expanding restrictions. china has deployed the military to her non province. the central region is struggling with its worst flooding and living memory at least 25 up until 200000 evacuated on the senior. most us general has taliban fighters now?

control many home. the countries $400.00 plus the district really says the group has a strategic momentum. if it takes over, new areas, coincides with the continued pull out of us troops. meanwhile, the head of afghanistan's reconciliation council is expressing confidence in the republics future. abdullah della spoke to 0 about the taliban leverage on the ground. taliban cannot convert the whole population of upon the sand into taliban taliban. a zation of her finest. son is not acceptable. yes, of course. they feel at this moment that they have that hand militarily on the ground too. and that will not last that way. i'm sure. i'm not talking about days and weeks that we're talking about the course of time because that see this and from out his state there is no peaceful settlement. unfortunately,

the world will continue. and as a result of the war, tinge will change and it will go and to hand that part. if you're talking about the survival of the state, i should, i should say that yes. while when the slum makes it public, that is opposition. there are different roofs which are not happy with our conduct, but a day courtesies as they are unhappy. but they're the same time a daily with the principles in the principle of had a public one person one vote. and so to another principles. and if you're talking about the survival of the state, yes. and you can watch the full interview with de la de la in our next talk to i'll just era that's at 430 gmc this saturday. members of townsend as main opposition party, i demanded to know where that chairman is often overnight police raid freeman and

boy on 10 of my party members were detained overnight in the city of ones are planning a conference to demand constitutional reforms. authority say they were arrested for inciting unauthorized assembly. the party says the rest of proof president samir still who has done is continuing the hotline policies of her previous censor of the gatherings have been instructed to cut the spread covered 19. cuba is rising to vaccinate its population as it faces. its 1st major wave of corona, virus infections, an average of 6000 cases and are being reported every day. john holman's in mexico city and has this update on cuba and the wider latin american region. at this late stage, and upon them in cuba, is experiencing its 1st real wave of coven infections. the country managed to hold out quite a long time against the virus. as a result, strict quarantine procedures. remember, this is an island nation and also largely shutting down is tourism industry,

even though that had a big economic impact on the country. but now it seems that the relaxation of their own, the restrictions and also new strains of the virus meant more and more people started to get infected in cuba. the numbers have been creeping up. and now the health authorities say that transmission is elevated. now, cuba has one hope in all of this, and that's the home grown vaccines to the island has been developing. the health authorities say that they're very efficient that they are very effective at the moment. they go about 30 percent of the country population with at least $1.00. now hoping to really roll those out fast, so that by the end of august about 80 percent who have themselves back today to they can try and control the spread. so cooper at the moment, struggling with that. and it was actually one of the causes of the protests on the 11th of july in the country now across the latin america as a whole thing,

just sort of in the balance. she got countries like this will make scope. no other countries like chile, we've had a vaccination drive, it's been relatively successful. but you've also got country, like haiti, and home do us that have one percent or less of people being vaccinated. those drives are just starting. now the regional arm will help organizations says the latin america and the caribbean as a whole, only about 15 percent of people are fully vaccinated. there's a long way to go here. as covey continues to strike. parts of iran are into the 3rd day of a short lockdown. the cove at 19 restrictions were brought in the head of the muslim holiday of ead, but usually prompts millions to travel. iran is battling a 5th outbreak fuel by the delta variant. it report that a record daily high of more than 27000 infections on tuesday. the government's been criticized for slow vaccine roll out, which is blames on us function. and there are concerns,

each celebrations in senegal could see a new surgeon cove in 1900 cases type restrictions are in place and the capital back out. but officials are worried about gatherings held elsewhere. daily cases have risen from just a few dozen a month ago. to almost a 1000 on tuesday, nicholas on this report from the capital a de worthy of a new attire. and unlike previous years, a new master for me to enjoy and his son. they're on their way to pray a decor central mass for this very special muslim celebration. but there's a sense of apprehension. i don't feel totally comfortable or safe. the virus is spreading. many people are ignoring restrictions and traveling to the villages to celebrate the government bound public gatherings but thousands congregate anyway. worshipers cannot enter without hand kinda kaiser and a math. his sermon,

the mom warns the viruses back even stronger than before. he advises people to respect, barrier measures and social distance thing. but inside the mosque, thousands pray, shoulder to shoulder, toe to toe, with the delta variance rapidly spreading in africa. the world health organization has a warranty. some government health systems are on the verge of collapse, under resourced health systems of phasing, dia, shortages of health workers, supplies equipment and infrastructure needed to provide care to severely ill cove. in 1900 patients incentive, all cases have tripled in the last week president, mikey salis, threatening to reimpose restrictions, including closing borders, curfews and regional lock downs. there's a sense among many cynically, is that the restriction suggested by the government or just too much to handle the economic fall out of them hasn't badly affected the economy. and to, despite the spread of the delta variance,

people are going about their daily affairs. all 22 members of enjoys family prepare the meal enjoy is not ready to sacrifice a holy ritual because of a virus. despite the risk, nicholas hawk algae 0, the car, france has rolled out a new covered 900 health path, submit a surge and new cases. people wanting to visit cinema, museum, sports events, and other venues. will need proof of vaccination, a negative test, or a certificate showing that were covered from the virus. it is natasha battle report . the new system is being welcomed by everyone. lingering on a terrace is one of life pleasures for many people in france. but soon, only those were the covert parts showing that they are fully vaccinated. will have a negative p c r test will be able to enjoy the experience. so we'll have to check customers path is something 5th. restaurant owner says is unfair. we consider that

this is not our job to check your id and your family. we understand that this is certainly something necessary, but we are not fully men. the path which is now mandatory in cinema theaters, museums will be extended to large shopping centers and some transport. the french government hope it will reduce health risks and encourage people to get vaccinated, ga, not be in no doubt. our goal, as always, is to take measures that are proportional to the health situation to guarantee public freedoms, while assuring the sanitary security of our citizens. the french president, the manual macro, announced the new covey path rules last week. and since then, there has been a surge and the number of people booking vaccination appointments. within days, nearly 4000000 people have signed up for their 1st job. but it was, every politician said, we weren't obliged to get the vaccine. but without a coven pass, we have fewer freedom, so we decided to get it on the us in the past made us to now as we have planned,

waiting until august to get back snakes, and the path is dividing opinion, these protesters in power, as they said, the government's trying to force people to get lated by eroding their right to they want to force us into vaccinated little costs. no, no, no, i've lost my job. i am 48 years old. i won't start professional retraining. i don't have enough strength anymore. i said, i think in the face of individual isn't, we've chosen collective responsibility and it is the effort we are asking from the french people. i believe french people are in a good position to ask you the same. let's push the end of the examination of this text and give us the tools to protect the french people. some scientists say that france isn't a 4th wave fueled by the highly contagious delta co variant. the government says that the pulse will be necessary for as long as the virus is the threat. some regarded as an anti democratic opinion polls suggest the 2 thirds of people in

france supported as a way of hopefully avoiding another lockdown. natasha butler, i'll just 0 paris. from a hollywood producer, harvey weinstein has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in los angeles. he was expedited to california from new york state, where he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and rape. weinstein was one of the most powerful, produces in hollywood, until dozens of women came forward. in 2017 the drug manufacturer, johnson and johnson, and 3 distributors of agreed to pay $26000000000.00 to resolve thousands of claims of their own. in the us. opioid epidemic lawsuits were brought by state and local governments, which accused the companies of letting the painkillers reach addicts through illegal channels. gabriel is under reports now from new york. robert canter was addicted to opioids for 3 years. it nearly killed him. all my relationships

collapsed. my finances collapsed my health. everything on wednesday faced with mounting lawsuits. johnson and johnson, the largest maker of prescription opioids, plus 3 other of the largest distributors, agreed to a proposed $26000000000.00 settlement announced by coalition of state attorneys general. today's actions sends a message to drug distributors and pharmaceutical companies. we simply will not accept this type of behavior. opioids or a class of drugs naturally found in opium. poppy plants that are then used in illegal st. drugs like heroine, but also in some prescription medicines, like highly addictive painkillers, such as oxy, cotton and bacon and fentenol, a synthetic opioid as much as $100.00 times more potent than morphine. america in the middle of an opioid epidemic. a half 1000000 people died from opioid drug

overdoses in the last 20 years. 93000 last year alone. and state say, it's the pharmaceutical companies. they produce the opioids that are mostly to blame, not only for the loss of life, but also for the huge financial strain that it puts on local governments and their health systems. in a statement, the company said it had deep sympathy for every one affected by the opioid endemic but added. the settlement is not an admission of any liability or wrong doing, and the company would continue to defend against any litigation that the final agreement does not resolve. i don't think that 26000000000 is enough just to end the calendar. the united states has with addiction and overdose, but it could save a lot alive. as for canter, he feels a settlement now is better than going through more lengthy litigation. it's

a victory because we have to balance the amount that these distributors and johnson johnson are willing to pay versus the amount of time that's going to be lost. so we can get these dollars for treatment. it might not be the end of the settlements. prosecutor said they are investigating other companies with involvement and opioids and are leaving the door open to filing more lawsuits. gabriel's ando jazz either new york ah. type of check of the headlines here on the senior most us general says taliban fighters now control nearly half of the country's 400 districts. mike miller says the group has a strategic momentum as it takes of a new areas. because sides where the continued pullouts of us troops, it's one day until a start this summer, lympics in tokyo and organizers say, 12 more athletes at the olympic village of tested positive a covered 90.