paycheck away from being on how's program that open your eyes to turn it to you after? well today, this is what the picture looks like. the the world from a different perspective on houses. oh i depend on it continues to overshadow the limpid gains of japan registers. i 6 months hide infections before the opening ceremony. ah, hello, i'm down, jordan, this is out of the or a lie from dell ha. also coming up thousands of people struggling central china. they try and cope with the worst flooding in decades. we look at how smaller communities in south africa are suffering in the wake of recent unrest. plus i'm

the liverpool where plans to build a gleaming, 60000 feet, a football stadium. or among several reasons why the city of now lost its coveted unesco. well, heritage status. ah, we begin with a tokyo olympics after a year long delay that set to officially open later on friday. but the pandemic is still overshadowing the games. cases are spiking in tokyo with 2000 infections, reported in the past day. and dozens of people involved in the lympics, including athletes, officials and journalists. i've also tested positive cobit 19. well, despite this, officials have been adamant about continuing the event usually due by millions around the world will. andy richardson joins us live now from tokyo. and it does seem extraordinary that given all these setbacks, these games are even getting ahead. but what can we expect from the opening ceremony late to them? i think it was

a ceremony that most of us thought may never happen. and indeed, this week we've had by the composer in the creative direct dismissed from that positions or resigning from that is just positions for the various reasons the people left in charge of the south may. there are a few still, a promising a sober ceremony that will be in sync for the sentiments of, of the reality of what japan and the wide world is going through really since $896.00. when we had the modern lympics beginning, some sort of opening ceremony has always been integral to the olympics. but i don't think ever before is a host city. have to try and pull off a balancing act quite like this. for example, we've got a $1400000000.00 stadium that was built for these lympics intended to how's $70000.00 fans. it will of course, have no funds in it for this stadium for this ceremony,

or indeed for the games because they'll just be a few 100 officials and dignitary from around the world coming in. but even the number of dignitaries coming to this ceremony will be well down in terms of athletes. if we look back to the rio games in 2016, more than 12000 athletes and performers were involved in that opening ceremony. inevitably that will be scale down a lot of athletes, not coming into town council, just before their events, then they have to fly out almost as soon as they competed. and of course, many athletes will be concerned about going to an opening ceremony, where perhaps somebody around the may subsequently test positive coded 19. they a targeted and identified as a, as a close contact. and that could impact on, on the future participation in the games. the one positive aspect to look for is, is the, is the gender equality. these games 49 percent of athletes taking part will be women, not the highest number of compare that so when toko last post games back in 1964,

the figure was 13 percent. and that will be reflected in the opening ceremony. where for the 1st time, both male and female athletes will be carrying the black to represent in that country. i'm the, i'm just looking at that very quiet street behind you. i mean, normally there's a buzz around a host city on a day like this, but this time it's very different, isn't it? it really is. i mean, this is a city this still officially under a state of emergency restaurants to closing at 8 o'clock, people are encouraged to stay at home. there's no gathering points to watch this opening, sorry, no big screens. so it's a very different field for this opening ceremony. often it's a turning point for, for city. and the best of times there's a, there's a degree of public reticence and concern about the cost of games and how much worth, while legacy is going to really leave for the city. and often the opening ceremony can really turn that around. i mean, i think if we, if we go back to 964, when tokyo hosted the last to live picks, that really was

a turning point to in the modern history of japan, reemergence. after world war 2, the bullet train was showcase to the world and it was seen as the inclusion games where nothing was too much trouble for the visiting spectators and athletes this time around necessarily, fans and the world are being kept at arm's length photography to come away from these elim picks with a meaningful legacy is going to be quite a challenge. alright, andy richard live in tech. andy, thank you. well, it's not just total that seeing a surgeon cove in 19 cases. the numbers also rising around the world as the more infectious delta, very and take sold in the u. s. the number of daily new cobra 19 infections as many tripled in the past 2 weeks. crucially, nearly all patients in hospital, unvaccinated. so africa is also struggling with a search, but it's vaccination. dr. is finally picking up a reco quarter of a 1000000 people got the job in a single day. this week. indonesia has become the global epicenter with the most

cases in the world last week. elsewhere in asia, thailand and south korea both posted their highest daily cases will not be mentioned to you as cases have almost tripled vaccines are widely available in much of the us, but many people are refusing to take them. white house correspondent kimberly helped get report renewed warnings from the white house urging all americans to get vaccinated. as cases of covert continue to spike up 35 percent from last week and death up 26 percent. the delta barrier is more aggressive and much more transmissible than previously circulating strain. it is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses mellow and i have seen in my 20 year career, the u. s. centers for disease control says 83 percent of all new u. s. cobra cases are linked to the highly transmissible delta variant. for now, the white house math policy has not changed. currently only unvaccinated people

need to wear a mask, but officials are discussing whether to change that. so if you're an area that has a high rate, a low rate, the vaccination where delta cases are rising, you should certainly be wearing a mask if you are on vaccinated. the white house is also continuing to work with social media companies to tamp down and what it calls vaccine misinformation there remains skepticism in the us, particularly among conservatives, about masked effectiveness, and whether covert vaccines are even safe. if people have questions about it. let's answer the questions, let's not say, oh, you can't put any information out. i think what would really have people have greater trust provide all the science provide all the information with 97 percent of all cobra deaths in the u. s. among the and vaccinated the biden administration

is boosting investments in cobra testing in areas where vaccination rates remain low. 1.6000000000 has been allocated for testing in high risk septics like prisons and homeless shelters. 398000000 has also been added to help. small rural hospitals reduce infection. but already the spiking covered cases is being felt economically. the number of americans falling jobless claims hit a 2 month high last week. 419000 americans filing for benefits. as the delta vary, threatens president biden's promise of a swift economic recovery. kimberly held hit al jazeera, the white house. when the south africa struggles with rising infections, the vaccination drive is making progress. so me to mila has more now from janice. all the south african government had to hope to vaccinate about 300000. and they

almost reached the target by almost 250000 in the last 24 hours. and that is a record for south africa, especially given they've been concerning the last week. and so, given the disruptions 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 was 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 now 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 keynote 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 that people would have to make appointments, they 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 though dropped, of the 27, sorry, of the people who are testing 27 percent of them seem to be infected by covert 19. but there seems to be some relief in terms of the 3rd wave that's being experienced in south africa. currently. trinity, as military has taken over the country's pandemic response operations off to the health minister was sent for ordering vaccination centers to open the adults of all ages. the decision led to over crowding and stampedes mama, the vall has a story. the can you succeed at the vaccination center in the technician? capital in patient clouds. i've tried to force the way to get coated 19 vaccine sale. be good for me. it's mandatory. it's a vac. seen covered. it's a serious disease. and personally, it scares me though, of the offense manjeet. i've come here for 3rd time. 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 why all of this, 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 above the age of 18. at the same time, it has led to stampede of 9 vaccination centers across the country, raising fears of a sharper ice in inflectional prime minister his machine. he 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 its repercussions on society. tunisia continues to face some of the highest good 19 infection rates in the world. it's rocking 3rd off to quote on the media with about $200.00 deaths

a 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 patients dying in the absence of proper care and body staying unburied for joe. and i did the peak. we had daily surgery. we even have 50 patients at the same time in our covert unit for hot how shed emergency room and suits well, maximum capacity varies between 18 to 20 patients. yeah, yeah. you know, doctors are losing hope in the whole nation health system. everyone is losing hope, but we're here for our patients. we tried 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 tradition

population of the 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 a humanitarian disaster. hum advice, or just rescue people in china say they spend 3 days with no food, water, or electricity. after being trapped by historic flooding. the military has been deployed to her non province to help search efforts. at least 33 people have been killed. 800000 displaced. katrina, you has more from the epicenter, the floods. the city of young jo waters are starting to recede in junk city. but it's still far from life as normal. if you look just behind me because one of the main tunnels in the city, it's so deeply submerged in water. and you can only imagine how difficult and dangerous that would have been to any cause of pedestrians trapped during the torrential rains earlier this week and fall the lowest subway line 5 would. 12 people tragically lost their lives or in flash flooding on tuesday. 500 people were

trapped encourages some to school, how was wasting neck deep in water and struggling to breathe. and as the days go on, getting more information about the harrowing experiences. now today on friday, the subway still remain closed and throughout the city. infrastructure is still heavily impacted. many people are still without running water without gas, and it's still extremely difficult to get in and around the city to come here and just there, including supporting the troops ethiopian style, thousands get behind the government forces in there. i'm going to go and conflict a show of force by india, farmers under grows and changes to agriculture. no more than that. i use the hello from

dell. her thank you for tuning in things across the middle east. are pretty much as you would expect. high heats him for that we find it around the gulf q weight 50 degrees. got a bit of a sham all going on. so that's a breeze out of the northwest and we see it augustin, to about 45 kilometers per hour on sunday, in your temperatures. will come down a bit as a result. okay, next step we're going to look at some of the rain falling across yemen. really becoming widespread, pushing into the he jazz mountains in saudi arabia. and now i want to show you this story and pakistan because toward the north we've had some rain related death. and the rain is continuing. as we head toward the hor, on friday, the forecast in turkey looks like this. we've got some showers toward the southern area of the black sea on friday, a temperature of 30 degrees in its stumble. so looking pretty good africa, ethiopia, over the past 24 hours toward the northwest, you scooped up 50 millimeters of rain. i think we can expect much of the same as we look in the forecast on friday, pushing to the central african republic. so ah,

bungie. 30 degrees will be the high for you. now as we go further to the south scenes will begin to dry out south for the eastern cape. and we've got a high of 11 degrees in johannesburg on friday with the story that need to be tow. find away and demand to be heard. opening the window into another light and challenging perception and personal endeavours in epic struggle with the colossal sacrifices in individual journey with new showcases, inspiring documentary, the change the word on al jazeera ah,

the the me welcome back a pick them out about top stories here on i'll just in just a few hours before the olympics opening ceremony, 3 more athletes have tested positive because at 19 the games are getting underway. associate utopia, he's a serge and infection. and the average number of daddy new cases in the us as a tripled in the past 2 weeks. and then it all corona virus, patients in the hospital, unvaccinated, and rescued. people in china say they spent 3 days with no food or water to being trapped by historic flooding. 800000 people have been displaced. thousands of people have rallied in ethiopia as capital to show their support for the federal troops fighting in the northern region of cry, speak as cold and bends to be unified against the cry and forces and accused them

of using child soldiers. the conflict there has widened to include fighters from the neighboring. i'm horror and afar regions. catherine sawyer, folks, now from out, some of these was very much a government writing organized by the man in id saba. but thousands of people's hand up at moscow square carrying placards that express their anger, a t guys t p i left leadership. and it's forces that many here referred to as june car and support of prime minister abbey army government at its federal army has often anymore on that for a long time, t p l. s. has brought division on the people to we have to begin to forget about them. forget about the past and be united behind a defense force. among us in the out is more on this government has a lot of moral support. they need to take strong action against the june to that steals those who address the crowd hadn't this to say. and that data. 6 to be down of hearing to national media weakness,

the june test using children for war. they witness these but they're not reported. and that shows the interest shows who they are above all being to support the june t s a c p. 6 federal troops have withdrawn from t guy, but the soldiers, retrans troop and special forces from neighboring i'm horror. region have been accused by rights, groups of committing crimes against civilians, including killings and rape. those who came to this rally said the boys support the government in the ongoing conflict. but the situation that is dia fighting is still going on in some parts, drawing in security forces from other reasons that we're not previously involved in the fighting. and the un and other agency saying that they're struggling to get to the most vulnerable people in that region. there has been reason fighting between federal troops and regional forces from our amir, against the grand fight, as in areas bordering te gray and a far region, a world food program,

a convoy was attacked on sunday, on the only remaining ground humanitarian corridor into t guy. this is devastating to millions of people who desperately need help, shortage of fuel and cash as well as communications blackouts are significantly hindering the assumption of the humanitarian response and preventing a scale up. and jose, and you and agencies are running out of cash and are unable to pay staff or suppliers unless fuel cash supplies and aid workers are able to enter t gray. in the coming days. some humanitarian programs will not be able to function on these are dangerous times in the field. and all fighting sites are trying to control the narrative. media access into t guy is limited because of multiple national government and regional special forces checkpoint along the road. and on the space on the open for humanitarian flight catching, color, odyssey, or odyssey and a you and a flight has landed for the 1st time. and if you appears to cry regions since

renewed violence holsted operations last month, it brings desperately needed food, as well as more than 30 humanitarian workers from different organizations. well, food program has been struggling to get access to air, as it says on the brink of famine. the human says it a fly in twice a week. i said to the emergency has been declared in ecuador prisons after fighting among the rival gangs inside 2 separate jails, left at least 22 people dead. the violence broke out on wednesday and around 80 inmates and officers were injured. please say they have regained control and apprehended dozens of prisoners who tried to escape. they've been to other deadly rights in ecuador, overcrowded prisoners of the past 6 months has been further unrest in haiti falling the assassination of president juvenile noise. the protest has not calling for justice for his murder. i think one person was left dead on thursday. the violence unfolded at the former president with martino. you

made her 1st public appearance since being injured during the assassination. 2 weeks ago. she attended a mass held in honor of her late husband. more than 200 farmers have gathered outside india's parliament in new delhi to demonstrate against agricultural laws, they say will devastate their livelihoods. children will triple waving white, green, and orange flags. these are the selected few allowed to protest near parliament against the controversial forming laws that have divided a nation of 1300000000 people very to the protest site and police escorted buses. these farmers are vowing to demonstrate every day until the parliament session ends next month. as long as the parliament session is on, we will protest wherever we stopped and the barricades, we will sit and have our own farmers parliament session. we will have our own speaker, and we'll also have our discussion. the weight happens in parliament. the protests

have been going on since november the they're the biggest challenge for prime minister and a render a moody since coming into power in 2014. his government, which is suspended, implementation of the laws says, are necessary to modernize an industry which dominates the indian economy. but farmers and opposition leaders say the only gifted corporations control of the agricultural industry, putting many small farms out of business. i'm the, the government should listen to us in justice is being done to farmers. we should get our rights, the countries reliant on farmers. the government is behaving like a dictatorship and not listening to us. official say the movement is being supported by foreign forces and have clamped down on it after an earlier rally turned violent, but it hasn't deterred tens of thousands of people camped out along major highways leading into new delhi. i'm in the middle. it doesn't matter if these place summer

winter rains, we will not stop protesting until these dark farm laws are repealed. again, a promise that will keep them in place for at least another 3 weeks. gillian wolf, al jazeera. there are fears of food shortages in south africa areas hit by days of looting and writing off of the jailing of former president jacob zoom in rural areas of the 2 most popular provinces have been particularly hard hit with entire towns sent as ransacked and set on fire as bernard smith reports from bouie, inquisitive natal, the end of the li comrey surveys, what's left of his parade of shop in bulwark next door. we have got a group of doctors that at the spent quarter of a 1000000 setting up a nice practice. in the 48 hours every shop in this bustling town was stripped than torched. a community of 35000 people now left with no commercial center. it was instant, we suspect there were 2 buses, boston with, with organizes at ral,

that people. as soon as people heard that they were stuck for free, they just came in by the bucky loads. carrying the looting was sparked by the jailing, a form of president jacob's humor. it was given momentum by chronic poverty and inequality in south africa, made worse by the pandemic. were a couple of hours drive outside durban. and it's only when you leave the city. get a real idea of the scale of the looting, because not a town or village seems to been left untouched. outside the furniture store, people cute with taxes to help them carry home the bulky beds and sofas they stolen . the 10th store owner is here a passing, watched from his home, across the street, powerless to save his business, some of the vehicle, the right next to our house, loading the things. and we're not able to do any lives on the line here. we don't

even feel safe. this is a here, like many business owners isn't insured. the local police overwhelmed, stood by and watched it took a week for the south african government to restore order. here in jacob zoom is hope, province of cause. and that's how it, how ting, in many people, by what they need day to day to get closer. you have to think about it, have to go to and it goes up in the city a $5050.00 to complete the debts course with no shops and no post office to withdraw allowances and with distribution centers also hit by looting. people will likely go hungry. it will take weeks at best for this town to be able to offer even basic services again. bernard smith, al jazeera bulwark, conseula natal. now, earlier this week, the english city of liverpool was stripped of its coveted unesco world heritage

status. the un body blamed years of uncontrolled urbanized nation for the loss of liverpool, the victorian era docs. but it's nice bach. i found out many in the city see the move as an opportunity for regeneration. it is the city that kept the british empire afloat. it's $900.00 century edifice is a testament to generations of global trade and commerce. a time when britain ruled the waves for 17 years liberals iconic waterfront stood alongside india's taj mahal and the great wall of china, the united nations world heritage list. but maternity brought changes that armed to every one's liking. in a recent meeting in china, unesco said new developments had ruined the cities historic skyline destroying liverpool heritage value. the city is one of only 3 to be stripped of its heritage status in the past 50 years. the water from the 12 dog clowns. and they have been inscribed because they reflect,

they are conveys the history of major work treading city, paul from the 79 agent center. so feeling the dog, for example, of building high buildings totally change the way it is best. see this history respect 7 and a half $1000000000.00 waterfront projects been cited as a cause for concern. so to has the plan to build everton football clubs, new riverside stadium, viewed by some of the act of cultural vandalism. and this is a huge area of land that's been earmarked for development. liverpool city leaders say that it is in comprehensible why unesco would won't they semi derelict don't shut off from the rest of the city to remain a wasteland for evermore. many liverpool feel. the cities being forced to make a binary choice between preserving his heritage status and reviving and developing,

deprived, and derrick parts of the city. unesco. want this place to just stay as a post industrial ghost town. we can allow that happen as a city, the area that they stock is with it and is incorrect award, which is one of the most deprived war. it's not only within liverpool, but in the entire country. the in all there is of course much more to liverpool than its unesco status to continue attracting tourists in turn. i point to the economic value from having that status over the last 17 years. very little do i think we will lose investment or visitors because of losing the plaque. know, when would be a will her to site know what would be a world class? heritage city. yes. losing unesco status is undeniably

a cultural blow for this historic city. liverpool will no longer be opposed to char for preservationists, but this is a living city that is undergoing massive changes to transform some of the most deprived parts of the country, creating tensions between liverpool, historic past and its potential future. bulk al jazeera, liverpool, ah. type of krycek at the headlines here on out to 0, just hours before the olympics opening ceremony. 3 more athletes have tested positive cobit 19. the games are getting underway as hosted to tokyo, sees a serge and infections under richardson as more from token most of his thoughts may never happen. and indeed, this week we've had both the composer in the creative direct dismissed from that position.