to discover the current events with diverse coaches and conflicting politics. ah, 11 east. on out there a me the to more athletes test positive at the limpid games and took care was the official opening ceremonies set for friday. like japan, countries and parts of asia continue to deal with a rising number of current virus cases. ah, alarm darn jordan. this is algebra, nigh from dough also coming up to teach meant them appears to be sort of with the tell him the pentagon raises the alarm over the taliban,

that bombs enough canister as us troops continue to pull out times. and as main opposition leader is arrested ours before rally, demanding constitutional reform. well, we're just one day away from the start of the summer olympics in tokyo, it's normally a highly anticipated sports event with view as tuning in from around the world. but this year, it's being overshadowed by the pandemic. more athletes of tested positive for koby 19 on thursday, bringing the total number of renee to cases to 87 will and the riches enjoy us live now from tokyo, andy. so we were told that the athletes that it was going to be the super safe bubble for the competitors, but clearly that's not the case. well, it's a good point, darren, i think what the organizers would say is that it's a sign that their systems are working, that athletes all testing positive,

that close contacts of being charged. and that is because of the systems they have in place. and that the idea that that could be a 0 case olympics was, was somewhat fanciful. but they're all concerns. and their concerns from some of the athletes representatives we spoke and see brought the type of test roughly to taking on a daily basis that taking rapid results, anti gen tests, which own quite as reliable as the sort of gold standard p c r tests that are all concerns, some of the cases might be slipping through within the athletes village. although national associations, a pretty much sleeping in their own sort of bubble around sort of isolated area actually are expected to share rooms. there are concerns also about the levels of insulation in some of those rooms from some of the epidemiology is of waste spoken to. and the devil often in life is in detail. and before the athlete came to the dealer fix, they have to sign a legal wave and nothing is holly unusual about that. but it was a special clause included this time around the site. basically the i see was for

going any responsibility from any fall out involving cobit 19 and that it was the athletes that will have to take ultimate legal responsibility for anything that happened to them while they're at lisa limping. so that runs some counts. it's the idea that the c repeatedly says that they are hosting a safe, unsecure gangs. yeah. and the on friday sees the long awaited opening ceremony take place, but it's already being overshadowed by controversy. it really is just just today the director of the show concerned carbajal, she has been fired, didn't resign, was fired, asper anti semitic jugs he'd made back in the ninety's came to light, is the career result of a comedian early this week. the composer for the games for the opening ceremony also sat down after comments he'd made about bullying. disabled children in the

past came to lights, and let's not forget. earlier in the year, the president of the organizing committee is sure, maury, he had to step down at the section remarks, heat nights was not exactly being an ideal build up and this, this will be opening ceremony that we've quite strange. we normally the certainly can be a turning point for house nation where a somewhat reticent public suddenly sees the ceremony and things while we're hosting analytics. this is going to be fantastic. this song around very different sort of ceremony. limited number of athletes involved with most of these flying in just before their events and leaving pretty straight afterwards. and the ones that all there, they'll be social distance thing in place. of course it, despite school that's going to cost around $100000000.00 for this, not very difficult balancing out the organize this habit of getting the balance between the spectacle. right. but also reflecting the seriousness of the situation that tokyo in japan is facing poker is self facing cognitive levels. they've not seen since the thought of the year or 2 and riches life from the thank you.

well, in other parts of asia, thailand and south korea both reported a record number of daily corona virus infections. we have correspondence in both countries in a moment, will speak to tony chang and the tie capital bank off. but 1st, let's bring in rob mcbride. he's in south korea's capital, sol, rob, so this is south korea's highest ever daily increase in case if it is clearly struggling to get this under control. that's right, it is an alarming rise. this figure has been inflated by the crew from this ill fated war ship, that it became completely had an outbreak of coby 19 on board. just over a week ago, it was on anti piracy patrol of the east coast of africa became completely overwhelmed and that crew has now had to be flown back at 2 south career out of 301 crew members. 270 won't have now tested positive. that's

a staggering 90 percent. but even if you strip out that number, this is still a very significant rise. we've been seeing for the best part of 2 weeks more than 1000 new cases per day as this 4th wave has really taken a hold here with some predictions that will soon be think well over 2000 new cases . the day before the authorities get on top of it, we are already in the capital area around sol, the highest level of the social distancing restrictions. there are some indications that these same level of restrictions will have to be extended to other parts of south korea. and with some predictions that the authorities here of just underestimated the virulent set. this delta variant, the slightly better use is that of course, because of the vaccinations have been rolled out aimed at the more vulnerable group such as the elderly care homes that we are seeing significantly, few deaths and also hospitalizations where around a 3rd of the population is now had at least one job,

but that has focused attention on the 2 thirds of the population who remain unvaccinated. again, fueling an ongoing debate here in south korea about what we've seen as a relatively slow pace of the vaccination roll that all right, robert bride there. and so rob, thank you. let's call 7 out of time capital bangkok and bring in tony chang. tony, there are also growing concerns in thailand about misinformation of a cove. it how worried about that? well, they say they're very concerned. we saw a government ministry coming out over night saying that we're asking celebrities not to criticize the government on social media. he said the voice is amplified on platforms like twitter and facebook and they should be very aware of what the public though the information the public is receiving. in fact, the thai government went to introduced new anti cove measures a couple of weeks ago and slipped in a bill a gave

a new power to limit so called miss information. and the wording is actually any information which might cause the public to panic. regardless of we're essentially true or false and we've seen them acting on that today. overnight. a young tie wrapper, criticize the government on social media. today, she's being called into the police, but i think it illustrates how sensitive the government is about. it's covered response. there is a growing criticism here of the government of the vaccination problem program about about the number of infections we're seeing, which has risen very quickly in the last couple of months. we even saw a protest is back on the st. last. we can now at the moment, people are very concerned about going out in public, although than all being banned. during the daytime, there is a strict curfew at night. most people are trying to stay at home as much as possible. this time last year, tyler was doing remarkably well. daily infections were in double digits for the

whole of 2020, the whole total number of code fatalities was just 61. while now. we've blown, well past those figures where we saw anti government protests on the street last year. i think the government was rather saved by the fact that it had responded or was seen to respond very well to the pandemic this year. if those protests start, again, i think the government is very nervous indeed. alright. attorney chang live for us there in bangkok. tony, thank. now the pentagon is expressing alarm over the rapidly worsening security situation in afghanistan. i'm the senior most us general. so the taliban now control was many half of the country's 400 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 shelling between the military and taliban fighters in a separate incident for fighters were killed whenever vehicle has

a roadside bomb in the dand 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 troops have already been 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 all the gains that kind of bond has made in recent times, the chairman of the joint chiefs, the stop mark, milly saying that as of last month, the taliban controlled some 80 of a gunny stanz 419 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 $41900.00 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 half of them. 17 of them in fact, and what they're trying to do is isolate the major population centers. they're 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 time for a short break. karen now to 0, when we come back, the military joins rescue efforts in the worst flooding scene in central china for decades, and a boost in the fight against the pain killer addiction epidemic in the us. drug companies reach a $26000000000.00 settlement more than a

hello from dough were in the thick of the heat 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 radian see some very choppy condition. so for coastal sections of oman, we could see wave heights 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 alpha jar, 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, southern sections of the black sea. so it's dembo 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, toward 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 got 75 kilometers per hour and we'll look for about 20 millimeters of rain in store on thursday. the escaping a wall, finding a new identity. confronting the reality of racism, religion and the struggle to be accepted, al jazeera, tells the story of what it's like to be lebanese, and call us trailer home. once upon a time and punch bowl on al jazeera

ah, ah, the me. welcome back to mind about top stories had this hour a day ahead of them pick games. 2 more athletes of tested positive cove at 19 there among 12 cases linked to the games announced on thursday, bringing the total to 87 south korea has hit another day to record the number of new corona virus cases. more than 800100. the more contagious filter parent is stealing the search authority. the now considering expanding restriction, i'm the senior most us general the taliban fighters now control many half the countries, 400 districts. mark, milly says the group has

a strategic momentum that takes up a new areas. coincides and the continued pull out of us troops. now china has deployed the army to her non province. the central region is struggling with its worst flooding and living memory. troops of birth to nearby damn, to reduce the risk of more floods. thousands will help search and rescue efforts. if he's 33 people have been killed and 200000 evacuated, half of those killed were stuck in underground railways. in john jo street, subways, factors and farmland have all been effected while the provincial capitals, whether authorities say the city has seen the heaviest rainfalls in records began 60 years ago. usually about $640.00 millimeters of rain falls in the region in a year. but john jo has seen almost a year's worth in just 3 days. we're told 1000000 people live there and it's estimated 1200000 have been directly affected by the flooding. agent brown, that's more from hong kong. the area that is 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, 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 and one of those dams. but so far they been unable to do the same at some of the other dams that, that circle that city. now, 7 men among a group of people who attacked pro democracy protested in hong kong, have been sentenced to jail. they receive sentences ranging from 3 and a half to 70 is more than 100 people wielding sticks and poles to part of me. so considered some of the worst violence during months of mass protest, journalists and bystanders were among those injured members of townsend. as main

opposition party giovanni to know whether chairman is often overnight. police raid officers rounded up freeman and boy and 10 other d. my party members. early on wednesday, the party says the arrests are proof that president. some you who have fun is continuing the hotline policies of her previous asset pattern. so before the police, the northwest townsend, he is one of the city i looking for anyone trying to attend a meeting called by the opposition side. my partner that despite the rest of 11 party members, including its leader freeman, boy, the opposition has been calling for constitutional changes, such as the reduction of presidential powers and an independent electoral commission. but the really beginning is the constitution we are fighting for not just for us, but for everybody. it is to foster unity and make sure few individuals do not make decisions to hurt the nation. the constitution will hold leaders to account when they overstep their mandate. police say by holding public gatherings,

the politicians were breaking cobb in 1900 regulation. put in place by speaker. sorry about the topic, but we're just making sure people ahead of the laws of the country that invited many people turning their plan, meeting from a party meeting into a public one, even though their plans before an indoor meeting by party officials. this is an attempt by the government to the capital, the push for constitutional reform, semiannual husband, tanzania, has a new president some years to lew happen to cove after the death of john michael fully in march. people are hopeful, she would move away from her predecessors, policies, they say rolled back them aquatic freedom, the country had gained. she has said, the main priority is growing the economy. the president's petition is that the constitution will, the reforms will need to white lifting the bond on political rallies that's in place and times in year. we'll also need to wait until she had time to in her words,

open up the economy. that's something that's consistent with with our reading, john magazine, you said more or less the same things, but you need the time to fix up the economy before coming back to this constitutional question. this is a fast the rest of a key political leader. since the president to power times on yet slowly shifting its handling of covet 19 from denial to putting some health pod all the place authority said will not allow a flouting of the room to demo officials insist. the motive behind the rest of the leaders is to stifle their voice. kathy thought i'll just 0. beaten is in red, crescent says at least 17 migraines from bangladesh of drown trying to cross the mediterranean sea. the boat sank after setting off to italy from a warrior on libya as north west coast. 380 people are rescued by the tennessee and coast guard. among them were migrants from syria, egypt, sedan, eritrea molly and bangladesh. but

u. k. government says it's stepping up efforts with france to stop undocumented migrants crossing the english channel and small boats on monday. at least $430.00 made the dangerous journey, which was a new day to record. but with the numbers rising, some say the only solution is establishing safe legal routes. rebuttal. they've made it into british soil, but their futures unknown. these undocumented migrants are among around 8 and a half 1000 people who cross the english channel in small boats this year. that's more than the total for 2020. with those numbers in the headlines, the government says it's acting insisting it's new nationality and board, as bill will deter people from coming. what we're seeing right now is basically people tropical smugglers, criminal guy, voicing our time and system to bring in economic migrants and people that quite frank date. a convention, our legal migration was coming to our country, illegally. physical there are difficult reforms, but the bill has

a special comprehensive measure. patel says, while most migrants previously came from kelly, then now setting off from various places along the french coastline. as part of a new deal with the u. k. france is doubling the number of police patrolling it's speeches that also be improved intelligence sharing with the u. k. paying $73000000.00. but many migrant solidarity groups predict the measures will simply see people taking greater risks as we saw last year. you know, for people to young children into adults died trying to make the crossing. no such measures that increase. please at borders, an increase neutralization of borders will unfortunately be people making more than just crossings and more people dying and channel, which no one wants to see. the u. k. government accuses people like this. if q jumping it points to resettlement programs established to take, for example, the syrian refugees directly from the middle east, but they're currently paused while the u. k takes and fewer asylum seek has been

several european nations. last year, germany, france, spain and greece received more applications. the labor opposition says the current strategy is counter productive. the boldest fill out actually makes the situation better, the people smugglers and worse for those who are legally trying to claim asylum. the government shutdown legal rates to claim asylum, say fruits for asylum, including for unaccompanied asylum seeking children, which just pushes people into the arms of people smugglers and helps to boost their business. the new bill makes it a criminal offense to knowingly arrive in the u. k. without permission, with a maximum sentence of 4 years. and for the 1st time how someone into the country will have an impact on their asylum claim rights group say the government should allow applicants to work while speeding up the decision making process. for now, the only thing both agree on is that the systems not working. nadine barbara al jazeera, belgium's national holiday was a subdued affair on wednesday. out of respect 331 people killed in flooding last

week. and because of the pandemic streets around the world palace were deserted into current virus fiction, normally tens of thousands attend the parade. as part of the celebration form a hollywood producer harvey weinstein has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in los angeles. it 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 smoke for more than 80 wildfires in the western united states is not blanketing the east coast as prompted a pollution alert in washington d. c. while new york say quality ranked among the worst in the world on tuesday. the biggest tries in the state of oregon, forced firefighters to retreat practical have been in your mission, and this is the western united states and according to scientists,

this is the result of climate change. wildfires have been a part of life in this part of the country, but scientists say not like this, not this early now. this intense, not this many fires we're seeing more fire days across not only us but other parts of the world as well. and certainly the conditions are becoming worked, do serve for wildfires and we're seeing increased cheap ways ah, in oregon, the bootleg fire scorching more than 1500 square kilometers of land. roughly the size of los angeles happening in the state that is already seen. and share of weather challenge. in february we saw devastating ice storms over a half a 1000000 people lost power. last fall as you are well aware. we had unprecedented wildfires. we had over 4000 homes, lost in that fire,

and it is literally climate change playing out before eyes. the flyers and oregon are so intense that they are creating their own weather system, producing massive dry thunderstorms with lightning and strong wind that can start more fire. this is just one of the gulf of fires burning throughout the american west. and there is a major shortage of firefighters. prison inmates are often used to flight fires, but hundreds have been released to prevent the spread of co good. and with this many fires burning and controlled, it is creating smoke that can be seen from satellite. it's drifting eastwards, producing hazardous air across the entire country that smoke is being transported by the wind aloft in the atmosphere to places it normally doesn't end up at least in most years. i'm making it all the way to the east coast of the us. this is the american west new reality. uncontrolled fires, hazardous air homes in lives already lost, and many more believe likely to come in the months ahead. patty colleen al jazeera

washington. meanwhile, the u. s. congress has been hearing from climate and health experts. they are sounding the alarm bells about the disproportional impact of natural disasters. they say lower income communities and minorities of the hardest hit. we know that people of color, particularly black americans, are exposed on average to 2 degrees celsius of temperature, more heat than others. and that rates of mortality among people of color are manifold, greater than others. with black americans being 3 times more likely to die from heat and particularly indigenous peoples in this country. 6 times mart risk. so we have a tremendous amount of stake for health equity, and importantly our economy. and we can do much more drug manufacturer, johnson and johnson, and 3 distributors have agreed to pay $26000000000.00 to resolve thousands of claims of their role in the us opioid epidemic. the lawsuits were brought by state and local governments, which accused the companies of letting the painkillers reach amex through illegal

channels out to zeros. gabe lives on the report from new york. robert canter was addicted to opioids for 3 years. it nearly killed him. all my relationships collapsed, my finances, clap, my health, everything on wednesday faced with mounting law suits. 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 fat. no. he 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 that 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 eater new york, ah. kind of a quick check of the headlines here on out 0 a day. you had to deliver games to more athletes of tested positive cove at 19 there among 12 cases linked to the games announced on thursday bringing a total to $87.00.