on al jazeera, our coverage of africa is what i'm most proud of. every time i travel there, whether it be still west africa, people stop me and tell me how much we appreciate coverage. and our focus is not just on their suffering, but also on the more realistic and inspiring story people trust to tell them what's happening in their communities in a clear and unbiased. and that's an african, i couldn't be more proud to be autumn. ah, the pentagon, the sounds, the alarm master the taliban recent gains while us troops finalize their withdrawal agreements for my grandson. ah,

hey, this is al jazeera law from dough home. also coming up, thousands of people gather in the field in capital to show their support for government troops fighting in t grey. trying to stop the contagion. the delta variance is spreading fast across se asia with more records infections reported. a boost in the fight against the opioid epidemic in the us drug companies reach at $26000000000.00 settlement in a class action lawsuit. ah, the pentagon is expressing alarm about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in afghanistan. the most senior us general sense the taliban. no controls, nearly half of the countries, $400.00 plus districts. it coincides with the continued pullouts of us troops

fighting between africa and government forces and the taliban is intensifying. at least 7 people were killed in the southern province of kandahar on wednesday. it happens during shelling between the military and telephone fighters. he is more on what general mark merely had to say a boats the taliban advance. i would tell you that as of today, more or less, i guess it's about $212.00 to $13.00 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 capitals in afghanistan. none of them have been seized as of today by the taliban. although the taliban is putting pressure on the outskirts of probably a 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 the afghan security forces that are consolidating their forces while they're from africa to their james base is live for as in cobble. james, so what do you make of this intervention from general? mark, milly. while he's telling us what we already know, but it's still significant. it's significant because afghan officials have been concerned about the media narrative. the idea that the taliban are winning. and they believe that that is causing fear among the populations, cues for passports and baez's. people moving around the country is also affecting the morale of the afghan security forces. well, it's not the media saying at this time it is the most senior member of the u. s. military saying, yes, it's not a foregone conclusion. that the taliban are going to take control of the country, but it's certainly one of the possibilities that still the possibility of

a negotiated settlement between the african government and the taliban. but rather bad scenarios, a return to warlords across the country's breakdown in parts of the country's country. so very worrying picture presented from the highest levels and the pentagon. will james, if the end came in, i've gone a son is or appears to be very unclear from military standpoint. what should we be looking out for in the days and weeks ahead? what he heard in talk about the mental of the taliban. that's clear in the games they've made the territory. they've taken the board posts they've recently taken, which is very difficult for landlocked country. we've seen a lot of fighting in the last few days. we think because of the ead religious holiday, one of the taliban going to do off the eat all they going to look at some of those district centers. some of those provincial capitals were 17. he mentioned what

taliban all around the edges. are they going to try and take those sort of provincial capitals or at least some of them? on the other hand, what all the african government force is going to do, they how number, the telephone all they can come up with some new sort of plan. also on the diplomatic front, you have talks in doha adjourned, but like to take place again and talk slightly with regard to coble airport. now keeping couple port operating absolutely key for keeping the international community here, keeping the un here, keeping humanitarian agencies. and i'm going to start and diplomatic missions. there's a great deal going on and it's going to be happening in the coming weeks a month, a crucial, possibly decisive moment for african stone. okay, james base felt a serious diplomatic editor. thank you very much. indeed. thousands of people have rallied and added some of them to show their support for a few p and federal troops who were fighting in the northern te gray region,

speakers cold or the philippines to be unified against rebels in t gray. they accuse them of using child soldiers. well, this comes as the conflict has widens to include fighters from laboring. i'm horror, and for regions to grow and groups claimed thousands of people have been killed in the conflicts. katherine soy has more now from a sub of a people say coming very early in the morning. we started hearing them from all the towel around 5 30 am and thousands of them showed up. and the speakers really was castigating the to grand defense for to saying that they've been using children as soldiers and shields. they also accused the international community, including the international media of bias in the coverage in favor of the 2 grand leadership. now, if you can, national army has already withdrawn from t drive, but it has been accused by numerous human rights organizations that has been

accused alongside every trend. soldiers were deployed to that region as well as forces from the neighboring. i'm higher region accused of human rights abuses, atrocities committed into wry and the last a few months out. thousands of people have been killed. many have been displaced. the un, i said, up to 400000 people are suffering a simon like condition 1800000 on the brink of men and aid works really are still struggling to get to a majority of the people because the infrastructure has been destroyed in some parts and i mean, in other parts fighting is going onto the situation. still very dying. did police in south africa are investigating 168 cases of murder in relation to last week's riot. seeing how tang and causal in the top provinces, 276, people were killed during days of the rest. the violence was initially spots for

the jailing form of president j consumer, but spiraled into wider anger about the economy and in equality, the protest. so police out numbers, shops were looted and factories set on farm. the u. s. and south korea have called for renewed diplomacy and dialogue with north korea on its nuclear program. the states and came to the us deputy secretary of state met south korean leaders, including president, one j in pyongyang has so far, refused to resume talks in protest against what it calls us. hostility south korea has reported a record 18 hundreds. you go with 19 cases in one day, the war contagious delta, very interest, feeling the search. the latest numbers include 270 sailors who were flown home from an i to piracy mission abroad. authorities are now considering expanding

restrictions in so and it's neighboring regions. mcbride has more on the covert 19 break in south korea. that crew has now had to be flown back at 2 south career out of 301 crew members. 271 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 thing 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 virulence of this delta variant. this slightly better use is

that of course, because vaccinations have been rolled out aimed at the more vulnerable group, such as the elderly care homes. we are seeing significantly and few deaths and also hospitalizations were 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 rollout. the delta variance is driving up cases in thailand's, which just reported another record day of new cases. more than 13600 people have tested positive in the past day, thailand's national vaccine institute says apologize for not bullying and faxing. it says it's not looking to join the global kovacs vaccine sharing scheme. tony chang has more from bank cog. 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 that their voice is amplified on platforms like twitter and facebook. and they should be very aware of what the public, the information, the public is receiving impact the thai government when to introduced new anti cove . it measures a couple of weeks ago, i slipped in a bill that gave it new powers to limit or so called misinformation. in fact, the wording is actually any information which might cause the public to panic regardless of whether it's actually true or false. and we've seen them acting on that today overnight. a young tie wrapper, criticized 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 have 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 at 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 protest thought, again, i think the government is very nervous. indeed. still a head's own. alex sierra rescue workers in china scramble to get people for safety of floods cause widespread. the strong and non profit and more athletes test

positive for coven 19 just one day before the tokyo olympics opening ceremony. ah hello there. let's start in se asia and it's looking rather wet and windy for northern areas of the philippines. and that's because typhoon info is moving its way across the philippine sea. edging into eastern areas of china, that's bringing a lot of heavy rain and brisk winds into the northern areas of the philippines as well as manila and surrounding areas and tropical just depression. chem packet isn't helping that. that's throwing rain and wind in that area as well. as the monsoon range that continue to in on day, not just the philippines, but much of indo china. northern areas of thailand seen

a lot of those flooding rains as well as me and ma, but if we get into friday, it's going to be northern areas of vietnam's. it sees the impact of tropical depression, chem packer. so rather wet up in the north, down in the south, is looking a lot finer and dryer for malaysia and indonesia. as we move to australia, it's fine and dry up in the north. it's west and windy down in the south. we go to where the system sweeping in across the south. that's bringing really strong storms and showers and some sleet to southern australia and perth. we'll see the return of the rain by the time we get into the weekend. that sure weather update. the weather bag. energy and change to every part of our universe. more small. to continue the change all

around, shape my technology and human ingenuity. we can make it work for you and your business. ah, the ah, this is al jazeera, quick reminder, all the top stories this are versions of people have rallied and added on to show their support, review, pin federal troops fighting in t grey. it comes as the conflict of widens and include fighters from the neighboring. i'm horror and for regions. countries across asia are struggling to

contain the latest wave of corona varez, thailand and south korea has both reported a record number of you infections. the highly contagious don't to variance is driving research in cases. the pentagon is expressing alarm about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in afghanistan, the both senior us general says the taliban no controls nearly half of the countries. $400.00 plus districts. the head of afghanistan's reconciliation council is expressing confidence in the republic feature of de la jolla, spoke to al jazeera about the taliban leverage on the grounds. taliban cannot convert the whole population of upon the sand into taliban. carbonic zation of our finest on is not acceptable. yes, of course. they feel at this moment that deb hand militarily on the

ground 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 areas will go and to hand at that apart. if you're talking about the survival of the state, i should, i should say that yes. while when the slide makes it public, that is opposition. there are different roofs which are not happy with the conduct, but they criticize as they are unhappy, but they're the same time daily with the principles in the principle of the public one person one vote. and so tonight, principles. and if you're talking about the survival of the state,

yes. and he can watch the full interview with de la dula in our next step of food or talk to al jazeera, that's at 430 gmc, this saturday. china has deployed its military to her and province. the central region is struggling with the worst flooding in recent history. thousands are expected to help with the search and rescue efforts. at least 33 people have been killed. adrian bryan reports an image of normality turned upside down. like a giant scrap yard, abandoned cars block a tunnel in central ginger roads transformed into rapidly flowing rivers. where in some areas, boat is the only way to get around. the cities inhabitants are used to typhoons, but they're still coming to terms with the scale of this week's deluge. it was the heaviest rainfall in 60 years. on tuesday,

more than $200.00 millimeters fell in just one hour. on state tv, the images have been more uplifting. rescuers bringing young and old to safety. some of the estimated 800000 residents who been displaced. the emphasis is on the positive work being done. not on those who died. doubtful can are teams of rust in many places. we are carrying out towns like blasting and flood diversion, flood, fighting and rescue, as well as mass evacuations. the underlying message, the party will protect you. on social media though, there's anger at why local weather forecasters fail to warn residents properly. the city lies in a flood prone area. the provincial government reportedly spent more than $8000000000.00 building defenses that were supposed to prevent disasters like this

happening. now more extreme weather is threatening the area. a typhoon is bearing down on china's eastern coast and could make landfall this weekend. adrian brown, al jazeera hong kong, and there's been more severe weather in china, a tornado route through a village near about the city and northern hope. a province killing at least 2 people, and talk through houses and scattered february, a call. several roads relief workers are trying to restore power to the area. a home concord says jailed 7 then for their rule in a 2019 attack on pro democracy protested more than $100.00 people dressed in points attacked civilians and reporters with fix and pulls at a train station or accusations. the police conspired with the attackers and in another hong kong court hearing for employees from pro democracy newspaper.

apple daily have been charged after their arrests, under the cities year old national security law. the former registers and prices were charged with conspiring to collude with a foreign country or in danger. national security, apple valley calls last month and in the papers $26.00, you're wrong. media outlets have been under pressure from a new national security law that restricts criticism off the government's cove with 19 cases in australia or on the rise in many regions despite weak slow lock. jones, new south wales report is another 124 cases. that's the highest number in 16 months. the government has strongly urging people to get vaccinated. as the delta variance continues to spread. scroll the why this far as is contagious. any human contact means you can pick up the bars or give the vars the

spreading luck. we've never seen before, and i especially want to thank our contact traces because if it was not for their, if it's the 124 case number 2, i would literally have been in this thousands. and i don't say it's one day to go until the stars of the summer olympics and talk you and organizers say, 2 more athletes. cynthia olympic village have tested positive for corporate 19. they are among 12 cases linked to the games announced on thursday, bringing the total to $87.00 to you itself is seeing its highest number of cases in 6 months. the city remains under a state of emergency with competitive facing unprecedented restrictions on their movements. and richardson has more from tokyo. 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 are 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 there are all concerns. there are concerns from some of the athletes representatives. we spoke about the type of tests that lead to taking on a daily basis that taking rapid results, antigen tests, which own, quite as reliable as the sort of gold standard p c r tests. and they're all concerned that some of the cases might be slipping through within the athletes village, although the 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 of waste spoken to . and the devil often in life is in the detail. and before the athletes came to the dealer fix, they have to sign a legal wave and nothing entirely unusual about that. but there was a special clause included this time around to cite basically the i c was for going any responsibility from any fall out involving cobit 19 and that it was the athletes that would have to take ultimate legal responsibility for anything that

happened to them. while they're at the lympics, so that run some accounts to the idea that the c repeatedly says that they are hosting a safe, unsecure against cuba, is racing. the vaccinations populations and faces. it's 1st major ways of corona, virus infections, an average of 6000 cases. and i being reported every day, john hallman is in mexico city and has this update on cuba and the wider latin american region. this late stage, independent mccuber, is experiencing its 1st real wave of coven infections. the country managed to hold out quite a long time against viruses as a result stricter 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 the 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 on this, and that's the home grown vaccines to the island has been developing. the health authorities say that they're very efficient at the very effective. and 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 vaccinated, they can try and control the spread. so cube 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 latin america as a whole thing, just sort of in the balance. she got countries like this will make scope news to 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. most drives are just starting now the regional arms and will help organizations says that latin america and the caribbean as a whole, only about 15 percent of people off fully vaccinated. there's a long way to go here, as covey continues to strike parts of iran or into the 3rd day of a short long time. the restrictions were brought in ahead of the muslim holiday. as eas, i'll add her, which usually sees millions of people travelling. iran is battling a surgeon cases fueled by the delta variance. it reported a record daily high of more than 27000 infections on tuesday. the government has been criticized for a slow vaccine bullet which had blames on us sanctions. or the vaccine shortage has led to many iranians to travel to neighboring armenia for jobs. tourists there are

being offered free vaccines is led to a big boost in visitor numbers with around 8500 radians heading to our media in june, up from 5000 a month earlier. less than 3 percent of iran population has been fully vaccinated. police and protested falls outside greece's parliaments during a rally against mandatory corona virus. vaccinations for health care workers. i it was the 2nd such rally and a week officers use tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd. covert 19 infections have been rising in greece in recent weeks with almost 3000 cases reported on wednesday. today. mar, it's 10 years since the gunman went on a rampage, killing a 77 people in norway. a commemoration ceremony was held in also attended by

government officials, survivors, and some of the members of the victims, norway's prime minister ernest soleberg, said hatred and racist only the old j cannot stand unopposed, drug manufacturer, johnson and johnson and 3 distributors have agreed to pay $26000000000.00 to resolve thousands of claims for 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 addicts through illegal channels. gabriel elizondo reports 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 these 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 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 effected 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 in opioids

and are leaving the door open to filing more lawsuits.