out to us we understand the differences of cultures, the cost of what moves with the news and current. does that matter to you? oh, this is al jazeera ah, the time is 1500 hours gmc here on al jazeera hello on come all santa maria. welcome to the new, the supply shortages in africa, surgeon cases in the united states, asian nation, struggling to cope the fight against the new coven, 19 wave. it under way. nearly everywhere. also in the new central, china was flood in recent years. promote anger and scrutiny about the government's

failure to prepare for such a developer. the rain, how millions of people after buckling to deal with the devastating flooding, which is what many cities and towns than the pentagon sounds. the alarm off to the towns, wreath, games, and gown it's done while us troops finalized se withdrawl about plus your port. i'm on the richardson at the tokyo olympics, where on the eve of the games beginning, the man in charge of the opening ceremony has been fired. ah, what we're going to start with the current of ours pandemic this hour. and an increase in case is all over the world blamed on that highly contagious delta variance in the united states, the average number of new infections has nearly tripled in the space of 2 weeks at 41000. now from about 15000 only 2 weeks ago, and crucially,

nearly all of the current of ours patients who in hospital are unvaccinated and doctors a warning. the misinformation is only making things worse. in parts of africa, the vaccine supply shortages are holding back roll up. there is an african union envoy calling on pharmaceutical firms to license local production to increased supply. and the delta barrier continues to fuel current of our cases across asia. indonesia now be at the center of the pandemic. best south korea and thailand also reporting records setting numbers in the past 24 hours. it all adds up to a global picture that looks like this. the johns hopkins university cove at 19 tracker, which we haven't shown you for a little while, but clearly you can see the hot spots on the map. look at the numbers. cases approaching 2cwc9x2w cases of covert all up. throughout this pandemic, the number and white 4100000 debts, but also note the number in green. when you wonder about vaccines, they have been 3700000000 faxing doses administered all over the world.

still a long way to go. ok to correspondence covering the story for this hour in a moment we're up to washington and white house corresponding kimberly. how can 1st i find me to middle in johannesburg, i might actually stop by made it with the good news. out of south africa, i heard that there's been a record number of vaccines administered in one day. all the south african government had to hope to vaccinate about 300000 they almost reached a target by almost 250000 in the last 24 hours. that is a record for south africa, especially given they've been concerning the last week. and so, given the disruptions here around some of the riots that we experienced in the provinces, of course we're going to tell and how paying in that vaccination centers were the work they were suspended at least for a few days. and all the government said everything is back to normal. also what seems to be driving this particular record is that vaccinations have not opened up

to people 35 years and older and it seems based on the trends we're seeing that the younger the individual is the key. no, they are to get vaccinated. we did see some reluctance from people over 60 years old, so the government is really pushing for the registration of people over the age of 35. and while it did have a process in place, if people would have to make appointments, then receive a text message to confirm that appointment the now accepting walking and ultimately the ministry of health saying it's all about getting people vaccinated as quickly as possible. the numbers continue to be of concern. it has the dropped of the 27, sorry. of the people who are testing 27 percent of them seem to be infected by coven 19. but there seems to be some relief in terms of the 3rd wave that's being experienced in south africa. currently problem is from a to even with those record vaccine numbers. and this is a problem, right across the african continent. there's just not enough supply is there. and hence, this call to be able to stop producing them locally there

. increasingly these calls for the intellectual intellectual property rights to be waive, so that countries in africa, other countries besides those producing can produce their own vaccines. especially if you look at the figures with regard to vaccination under 2 percent of africans i've been vaccinated. and that's compared to about 43 percent of people in the european union, potentially 50 percent, the people in the america. and so the is the dr phone increasing vaccination. what is promising is that in the last 24 hours is when an allowance meant that the bio back facility in south africa in partnership with pfizer, will begin a finish and full process. but that's only in 2022, and that means that the components for these vaccines ingredients will come from europe will come from europe. but they'll have that finish and full process in case on specifically, ultimately looking at distributing about a $100000000.00 vaccines for africa specifically. but then again,

it is only from 2022. ok. thank you for that update. find me to me with the picture from i will south africa, but right across africa now to washington, the white house. kimberly how kit. hi, kimberly. joe biden. i saw doing a televised town hall last night, really pushing people go and get back that got go and get vaccinated. there must be a lot of concern about the cases rising in the us. absolutely. so much so that the white house at the high level is discussing whether or not there should be some sort of tweak in the messaging to encourage people to wear math. sin indoor public space is something they said just a few months ago was no longer necessary, but the spike in the delta very what we're seeing about a look back in june about 11000 infections a day. now we're seeing it up to $41000.00 a day. and as we've been repeating here, analysis here, this is a pandemic now of the facts. and the fear is,

is that there may be a need to protect those that are vaccinated, given the fact that we know those who are vaccinated can still shed and spread the virus. so as a result, the white house looking at this, and this is of real concern so much so that the cdc, that's the centers for disease control where the official guidance would come out for the united states. also taking a look at whether or not the new mask recommendation may need to be put in place. big picture then kimberly, what is all this doing to the us economy at the moment in economy, which was hoping to reopen it, use the 4th of july of that time where america was back. is that the case? well, certainly we've seen improvements, but this is always been a 2 pronged pandemic. there has been sort of the medical aspect and the economic aspect. and the problem is, is that as we see this up taking cases, we've also seen that uptick in job. those claims, those new numbers are out there higher than the expected estimate. in fact,

by about 51000 hitting in the 41900000 mark. and that is certainly worrying for those that are trying to get the economy back on track right here at the white house. in fact, what we're seeing is in the states where there has been this search in cases california, illinois, kentucky, michigan, and also missouri. what we're seeing is this is where we've seen this rise in jobless claims. and the fear of course is, is if this trajectory continues, where are we headed in terms of trying to slow the spread? now, there hasn't been discussion yet about shutting down businesses, but certainly that is on the back of everyone's minds. we're going to watch carefully see what more the white house has to say about this. the press briefing for the white house press secretary said to take place next hour. okay, we'll have a listen to that. see what jen. saki has to say, then. thank you. kimberly. how does the white house correspondent there? now the president to nivia has ordered the military to intervene in the nations corona virus crisis. the health medicines been active case numbers search vaccines again, as we said,

short supply and stampedes of even been reported at 9 health centers across the country. more in the story from thomasville. can you artic scene at the vaccination center in tunisia capital in patient clouds? i've tried to force the way through to get coated 900 bucks in sale. be good for me . it's mandatory. it's a vaccine covered. it's a serious disease, and personally, it scares me, though, of the offense model and i've come here for 3rd time. why don't you wait a long time and then you go without getting a vaccine. it's not normal that there is only one vaccination center in a state because the people were, well, what if we don't go look at your stories? if you cannot find solutions for us, let us search for solutions for ourselves. this followed highly controversial decision by the ministry of health to provide vaccines for everyone about the age of 18. at the same time, it has led to stampedes of 9 vaccination centers across the country,

raising fears of a sharper eisen infection. prime minister, his machine, she fired his health minister for what he described as a clear case of mismanagement policy. not quite the least that can be said is that the decision is wrong and you have noticed it's repercussions on society. tunisia continues to face some of the highest good 19 infection rates in the world. it's rocking fed off to quote or on the media with about $200.00 deaths to day. according to official medical sources, nearly 18000 people have died in a country of 12000000. many hospitals have run out of beds and oxygen. medical stuff are overwhelmed. there are reports of patient dying in the absence of proper care and body staying unburied for they could you joe and i did the pick up. we had daily surgery. we even have 50 patients at the same time in our covert unit for hot

emergency room and suits. well, our maximum capacity varies between 18 to 20 patients. yeah, yeah. you know, doctors are losing hope in the whole median health system. everyone is losing hope, but we're here for our patients. we try to do our best for them. cases continue to so everyone seems to want to be the 1st to get the vaccine, but with limited stocks, fewer than a 1000000 have received the 2 jobs so far. that's about 8 percent of the technician, population situation. he has 3 good solidarity and fears across north africa with neighboring libya, losing its border and other countries sending medical supplies to help prevent the humanitarian disaster. hum advice or dizzying. we mentioned indonesia before, which is recorded the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic began. i'm not that now from jessica washington. in jakarta, indonesia has now passed more than $3000000.00 cases in total. what we have seen on

the positive side is that the government has been able to ramp up testing, and they were able to test 200000 individuals in one day, which is a market improvement. however, still way off the target of trying to test 400000 people each day. and you can imagine that in a country like in these are, there are people who would struggle when there is a strict lockdown and many all doing it tough, particularly across chicago. java and many parts of the country, but epidemiologist say that the government must strongly because the situation is continuing to worsen. intensive care unit in hospitals, but only in chicago, not only in java, but across the country are stretched and we're seeing concerning signs of health care system across the country and more regional provinces, including a west hub for with the, with the health care resources are certainly not what we have here in chicago. her and the numbers that you mentioned earlier us concerning as they found the fact

that indonesia now is asia covert epi center, they don't represent the reality on the ground because of low testing rates. some local data agencies using data from cities from provincial governments, say that the actual just told the likely to be a range of what the government's numbers suggest. we'll move on to other news for now. china has deployed its military to hand on province. the central region struggling with the worst flooding in recent memory. these 33 people have now been killed. 800000 displaced. katrina you is in shang, in hen hin on province with a look the situation there. the rain has used, but millions of people also welcoming to deal with the devastating flooding, which is what many cities and towns dan, i'm still showing a city on the northern hot non problem and to venture rain hit this region on wednesday, just off the passing, the provincial capital of young joe, in the face of just 2 hours, 26 centimeters of rain was dumped in this area. now,

many houses in the rural areas, the northern outskirts of this region collapse as a result of the torrential rains and half a 1000000 people will move, relocated to the areas. now we're just standing the beginning of a highway, which leads to the main area of downtown john. this area i'm unable to rescue workers and teams have been moving off to try to clear the area. and they're also getting food and wanted people who've been stuck in the cause our authority say $3000000.00 people have been affected by the severe stones and it's close to $100000000.00 worth of economic losses. now as the clean up continues, questions are being raised. that's why people living in home, and we're not adequately warned about the severity of the storm before. but the government is choosing instead to focus on rescue. and it's sensory, any criticism of having a disaster online and on social media. and has been more severe weather in other

parts of china or a tornado ripped through a village. now about being city in northern have a province killing. at least 2 people tore through house and scattering debris across the nearby roads, relief workers and trying to restore power. to the area coming out 15 minutes past the news. here is what we've got your french president in menu, mac cronies called an urgent national security meeting to discuss investigations into israel. pegasus spyware. this is a scandal that has a global footprint as well. and cones are growing in india for an independent investigation. and to report the government has the phones of its own citizens. by the 1st protest by athletes, a tokyo olympics causing a scandal that story plenty more for the patient and later on. ok,

well talk you the host city been a little bit like no other is seeing its highest number of coven infections in 6 months to more athletes at the olympic village have tested positive. they are among 12 cases linked to the games announced on thursday. it brings the total up to $87.00. the thread of infections isn't the only problem clouding the games as well just 24 hours before the opening ceremony. and the director of the opening ceremony was sacked after organizes were made aware of a holocaust joke which he made during a comedy show in 1998. a composer also resigned to earlier in the week because of his story bullying cake. i can thorough korea, she was a member of the opening ceremony production team had in the past, due in his own performance said like i said, walked a painful historic that as such, the talk, your 2020 organizing committee today has dismissed him. kurkoski guy. we just a day before the opening ceremony and i apologize deeply to all the people involved in this event and also the japanese people. i would like to extend my sincere

apology. sports correspond an anti richardson is in tokyo with the latest. we get towards the opening ceremony, even in the best of times, there is a degree of public reticence and concern about the games and how much they cost and will really be any meaningful legacy. previous control receives, we've had, we mentioned the, the composer to the opening ceremony having to step down earlier in the week. let's not forget in february share maury, the president of the organizing committee. he has to step down after making sexist comments. so really it's been one problem after another. and hey, we have this balancing act where the government's the organizing committee, the international olympic committee are all hoping that once that ceremony gets on the way public opinion starts to shift. and they've really got to balance the spectacle of a $100000000.00 show, with the seriousness of the situation facing tokyo in japan. in terms of coven 19

we're here in, in so care that the heading covered 19 levels. i have not seen since january the pentagon is expressing alarm about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in afghanistan. the most senior us generals as the taliban now controls nearly half of the countries, $400.00 plus districts, is of course coinciding with the continued pull out of us troops fighting between africa and government forces and the taliban is intensifying to at least 7 people were killed. in kandahar on wednesday, it happened during shelling between the military and taliban fighters. he is more of what general monk merely had to say though about those taliban advances. 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 capitols in ghana stant. 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 after the magic editor james bathing coppel with more on general movies, comments. 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 visas. people moving around the country is also affecting the morale of the afghan security forces. well,

it's not the media saying it 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. there's 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 in the pentagon . what you heard him talk about the momentum of the taliban, that's clear the games they've made, the territory. they've taken the border post. 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 after eat all they going to look some of those district centers. some of those provincial capitals were 17. he mentioned whether

taliban around the edges, are they going to try and take those sort of provincial capitals, or at least some of them drug manufacturer, johnson and johnson, and 3 distributors of agreed to pay 26000000000 dollars to resolve thousands of claims for their role in the u. s. o p o, the potomac galleries on their reports now 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 action sends a message to drug distributors and pharmaceutical companies. and 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 street drugs like heroin 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 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 eater, new york, a number of protesters and one police officer have been killed in demonstrations against water shortages in iran. this is happening in the oil rich province of

closest on on the waters of the gulf, and also bordering iraq. crowds vented their anger for the 7th night in a row. violence reported at several rallies as well, according to local media solidarity protests had been held and several other cities as iran, soft as it was dropped in 50 years and runs president. how sandra honey is responded to the unrest with a warning matter. dumas school system rule, of course we must distinguish between the people of the stand and a group that sometimes chance incorrect slogans. a few 100 protesters are not. the people have crew to stanford. it's their natural right to talk is protest and even take to the streets within the framework of the law. meanwhile, some people might use this opportunity and an evil person might join the protesters and use guns and shoot and killed one of our dear countrymen with us. now ali fatality john, who's an affiliated scholar with the, for university of berlin, also author of the book iran, 1400 brief, as the weekly newsletter, i should say, with us from berlin. nice to see. you know, there

a was and baffled over so many things over territory over oil warfare. not saying this is a war, but unrest over water is it's absolutely fundamental, isn't it? it come and i guess this is why the people are rising up 7 days in a row now. absolutely, and it's also, it's also not only water, it's an ecological crisis that is existing in iran for a few years now. and i've been trying to conceptualize the key challenges that the san republic as a triple crisis, one of them being ecological and the other 2 being so say, cannot make and political. and indeed, we cannot separate. you know, the logic crisis from the socio economic or political prices and who is this don province where i happen to grow up as a little kid is a perfect example, because you will see the combination of all those crisis there that are fueling political protest. okay, so then this is the type of thing which the government really needs to end bearing

in mind, this is an outgoing government. now isn't it? there will be a new president in which they will have to work to keep it laid on to stop at getting out of control. well, those challenges are fundamental for iran, regardless at the administration. we've seen the same sparks and who is a stun also being besides a protest against the regime over the last few years during the day protest in december 2017 and january 2018, but also more recently and november 2019. and that the states response is one of brutality. so hence, there is a slogan quite wide spreading that we want water, no bullet. but what we unfortunately see is that the authorities are merely relying on violence accounts. so those demonstrations that are legitimate and they try to deliver to my them as president draw, needs it in by,

by stating more by claiming that those are anti revolution forces. whereas those are populations that have been living with this done for, for many years, for decades. if not centuries, so there's a water shortage. and as i mentioned, this is an oil rich region as well. is this another case if and we see it in many countries in the region, oil wealth, just not trickling down to the people are not being, not being managed properly. while absolutely in the sun is a strike example of it. because if you look at the quality of life and it's done, it's really the small. and this is really surprising because this is where iran, so well a light. so there is a large, you know, that is a large aspect of neglect from the central authorities, as to the detergent living standards of this population and do not forget that who the son was the side of the iran iraq war. so there is

a lot of you know that. ready it's a very top medicine history where people suffered a lot also during those 8 years that were crucial for the fun republic. and now they have increasingly understood that they cannot really expect much from the central government from the song republic. and to politicize ation of those protest alley for carla measure, joining us from berlin today, talking about problems in rom, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. thank you for having in the news, i had thousands of people gather in the p n. capital show their support, the government troops fighting in in the land of capital and beef why small farmers are turning to vegetables and green agriculture plus your sports news a uganda and white lifting disappeared in japan makes his way back home. the details coming up a little later. ah

hello there, let's look to the middle east and levant, and up in the north. things are looking a lot settled. it's down in the south was seen that cloud bringing rain, particularly heavy it to west in areas of yemen. we could see more flooding here, where that rain does fall particularly heavily, and it's also affecting areas of amman musket likely to do some showers and storms as we go towards the end of the week and the weekend. but up north, it is looking a lot fina and dryer. we've got a sion now wind blowing in here, and that's kicking up a lot of dust creating hazy sunshine for q 8 and for katara. now those range you can see them getting a little bit stronger on saturday, across western areas of yemen, and they do roller cross into the horn of africa. the open rift valley seen some of the showers and storms be going to saturday. it's nigeria. that seems some of the

really heavy rain. we could see flooding in the north west. we have seen flooding in the northeast, so we'll keep an eye as those rains are expected for rather heavily. and as we move down to southern africa has been rather cold. chilion wet across cape town, but that cold front is now pushing off to the east is going be lots of sunshine coming through. and we are going to see the temperatures pick up over the weekend. the news discover a world of difference determination. i'm coming down. we are moving the freedom plan so the 16.