ah, al jazeera, as a you ah, all the taliban forces in afghanistan continue. they pushed to pay provincial capitals with government forces struggling to hold the yvonne ah hello, i am emily angry and this is al jazeera live from dough. also coming up the u. s. blames a ron for a facial attack on a needs, riley manage tanker in the persian gulf. the iran denies involvement about russian

olympics. bring to say she's under japanese police protection in tokyo after team officials tried to fly her home. and so we'll call vaccine makers madana, and 5 reported to be hiking it age, their prices, the job for the european union market. ah, we begin in afghanistan, where taliban fighters pushing towards big cities and provincial capitals. government forces as struggling to push back in kandahar afghanistan's 2nd largest cc'ing. they've been a series of rocket attacks on the main airport. fly in and out have been suspended . and hundreds of afghan military commanders have been deployed to harass in the west. there's heavy fighting outside that seem, but the situation for the government is particularly bad in laska and the cap, which is the capital of helmand hobbins. the taliban are inside part of the city.

the military is launching a counter offensive. will advocate in 3 provinces. the security situation is critical, especially in nascar guy. the enemy has some movements. security and defense forces are planning to intercept the enemy's move and then build defense lines and later launch offensive operation. charlotte balance has more from cobble, heavy fighting in and around 3 major cities in afghanistan and lush cargo the capital of home. and province fighting started on saturday when the telephone into the city residence. if they could see the telephone moving street to street, getting closer to the heart of the city until ask in special forces entered. and since that time they said they've just heard heavy gunfire. and also if strikes from africa and in the 4th and also from the united states, papering around the outskirts of the city via communications have been cut off and less co gossum. critically hard to get information in and out of the city and for

residents to feel secure, not knowing what is going on around them. in kandahar city, the 2nd biggest sitting in afghanistan also heavy fighting journalists via telling us that had constant gunfire for about 24 hours inside the city. the airport to be was damaged by a rocket attack. civilian flights were stopped, but they hoped to resume them on monday, but also usa strikes and ask any force striking via to support the military on the ground. and thirdly, and can in herat city in the waste, that is looking a little bit better from the government perspective that managed to retake control from the taliban. they seem to reinforcements and then managed to push the telephone out further and re secure the airport, allowing flights to resume for residents via president ghani, held a cabinet meeting where he talked about the security situation evolving. he said he doesn't believe that the taliban are interested in pace and that securing settings the priority. the taliban has taken more territory in race and wakes than at any

point during the last 20 years. in may, it controlled about 20 percent of afghanistan bout as us and other troops have been withdrawing. it sees the opportunity to ramp up it's offensive. within 2 months, half of the country has fallen under taliban rule. the afghan government is now facing a critical test as the fight is advance around the capital cobble, the city of harass is under pressure after most of its western province found. let's bring in kenneth cat smith. he's an expert on afghanistan and the gulf at the us library of congress. he joins us from washington. hello, they can. a thanks for joining us with this situation, continuing to escalate. what action do you think the us is likely to take? thank you very much and i'm appearing in a personal capacity. i'm not speaking for any of the u. s. government or anybody in the us government congress. while the united states has articulated,

i think it started to articulate a policy of providing air strikes support to the african government, the african air force. the african air force has been the subject of a lot of us to best men and training, spare parts equipment aircraft. ah, they are somewhat effective, but they need a lot of logistical support. their quick need, a lot of maintenance. the united states has very, very precise capabilities, precision bombing. and so i think the united states is going to probably step up, used to their power to keep the taliban out of the major cities and push them back . they've encroached on the major cities. we're talking about a strikes here. they will likely be civilian casualties.

well that's, that's possible. i mean that the taliban are causing civilian casualties by going on the offensive for the tolerance. and we're supposed to negotiate a political settlement with the african government. instead they chose to go on the offensive. so unfortunately they are probably will be. the vision is a very casualties, but the blame needs to be put on the taliban and not the united states. where are we at in terms of pays talks. i mean, the taliban and the afghan government where indoor ha, just a matter of weeks ago, where are we at? we paced talks and with 3 major cities under pressure from the taliban at the moment. how much leverage does it give them at the negotiating table? well that, that's the problem is that we're not very far along with peace talks because the taller bond feel they can win a battlefield victory and so on. kill the afghan forces are able to push the taliban back, or at least hold them not making any more advances. the tal amount on not likely to

negotiate in good faith. so the negotiations are going to be a function of how the battle field is flowing. thank you for your time there. kenneth, catherine, from us, library of congress, you're talking to us. the washington has vowed to make what it says will be an appropriate response to be attack on an israeli upright, a tanker of the cost of a mom. the us and u. k. have joined to israel and blaming a ron for thursday strike. tehran has denied any involvement to people were killed on the m. v misses straight when it was hits, but what appears to have baked by what appears to have been a drone strike us secretary of state and in the blink and said it follows a patent of belligerents from iran. hota abdel hammett has more in this from west jerusalem, where we don't have details of the evidence they are speaking about what israel is

saying that is that this was a drone attack, and that that drone effect specifically targeted the bridge of the vessel to cause a human law, so you sort of human human toll on this attack. now, prime minister enough, daddy bennett, was meeting with his cabinet to do the weekly cabinet meeting to kick off the week . while he said that he had no doubt whatsoever that iran was behind that attack. even though you, ron says that the accusation is baseless. now on saturday, the foreign minister was busy on the phone, he spoke to his romanian counterpart and he also spoke to his british counterpart to give them condolences, but also because he is trying to drum up support. he says that was going on in the, in the gulf of arabia is not only attacking israel, but is,

is to disrupt commerce international commercial shipping. so he's trying to drum support through that. we also know that it is seeking for the un security council to meet urgently you can then iran and is calling for an international investigations. hillary man leveretts' is a former white house national security official. she says, relations in the region are only going to get worse. i'm afraid we're in for a period of a glitch or a tension, especially in bobbing iran and israel. there is no real diplomatic channel or framework to discuss or handle these tensions as, as there was when we had the j. c, p o, a before president trump pulled the united states out of it. that has really taken diplomacy out of the picture. and so there are been, there has been, there's been escalation now for, for a couple of years. we've had israeli attacked on iranian target,

their nuclear scientists, their new killer installations, various other targets in iran. that israel either claim credit for or quietly said that they don't know who did it. so there's been escalation now for a period of time. and i think it was inevitable that we would see iranian around in retaliation and, and, and increasing escalation from their part, even though they denied that they are responsible for this attack. i think it was inevitable and i think we are unfortunately in, for a period of increasing tension and confrontation. it's a poor relationship between iran in the united states and one that was really broken by president trump when he tore up the iran new killer deal that the united states had negotiated painstakingly with iran and with our partners. if really put iran in a position where it had to take were these measures into its own hands and it had to build up its own leverage in the international on the international military

scene. and i think we're in for some real escalation on iran part. there's that there's been some fundamental changes in the international political, economic, and military structure which makes is rarely shipping, in particular, quite vulnerable. 2 people have been killed by a gunman at his beloved funeral south of lebanon's capital. it's not immediately clear who is behind the attack on calder. they open fire on a service for a commander of the ship group who was killed a day earlier. and what lebanese mediate say was a personal vendetta. supporters of brazil's president jaya both scenario took to the straits across the country. it was a show of support for his proposal to replace the electronic voting system with the pipe balance for next year's election. one k yanna kia reports from where diginero, the thousands of brazilians rallied in support of brazil's president

jade books on their backing. his plains that brazil's current electronic voting system is not to be trusted. they will don't get the new. i believe both scenario was elected president in the 1st round of the 2018 elections and not in the 2nd round. like the official result, say, low make isn't judge, just must respect the will of the people who want paper ballots, not just digital one last you're going also follow the president has offered no evidence of problems with the current system that has been used since 1996, but his supporters believe him, they want to paper print out of every digital ballot cast and they're putting pressure on congress and the supreme court to change the system. but 11 political party in many brazilians question both. so natalie intention. getting booth is the people want to change the electronic voting once they pay the site to us. what the

majority of brazilians wanted. it wasn't, this is just the government's way of distracting the people from what is really going on. i'd like to more than 500000 did by covered 1900 recent polls. shobel so now faces defeat by former president with the national ruler, the silver. if the contest next year's election in both scenario has repeatedly said he will not step down. if he thinks there is fraud, had any idea this is happening after the opposition has stage 4 nationwide project . 7 for president right above but not as well. so not as popularity has waned in the face of increasing inflation, unemployment and poverty race analysts believe he is following in the footsteps of former us president donald trump most. and i was trying to do the same thing that trump has gone on in the election. united states, he wants to have the elements necessary to claim that to actually

read and try to validate them. resilient still have to wait more than a year to cast their vote. both so now to supporters and opponents already testing each other on the street monitor and i give, i'll just 0. rio de janeiro still ahead on al jazeera rescue work is discover more bodies in turkey as the worst wildfires in both thousands of people to merge. and venice fell to protest is an unesco by announcing restriction on cruise ship. ah, ah, it's time for the journey to winter sponsored by kettle airways. hello, good to see you. it has been non stop rain for parts of western india,

for example, some of the states what's been called chart con for example, look at these storm clouds here just bringing out their moisture. so an example of this over the past 24 hours scooping up a $170.00 millimeters of rain. this is in the indian state of char guns. now let me show you where the intense rain is falling on monday. see that was yellows. the darker the color, the more intense the rain is as we head toward areas of bangladesh and the west coast of neon mar. but are danger zone for that southwest monsoon in india. it's really shifted as we had toward rochester and pradesh and, you know, this rain is really going to pile up in the days to come easily could see a few 100 millimeters when you consider just look at this pocket right there. ok. next we're going to se asia, we've got storms coming and going, but also some sunshine. and the best chance for seeing that we the singapore and jakarta jakarta, 32 degrees on monday. next asia pacific and we've got our intense rain falling toward that southeast corner of china steering into taiwan. so we picked up $263.00

millimeters of rain. now on monday, the heaviest pocket of rain will be for southern and also northern areas of taiwan . it will remain unsettled across the korean peninsula on monday. ah, sponsored pay cattle, airways, merchants. it's big news in libya, but staging car and bike rather, it comes with its own particular ring or club, couldn't take part in the 2016 valley because we were fighting a war inside. so i'll just do a world trouble for the libyan, just to see how full on 4 wheel can be a unifying, pull water country lydia, or rally on al jazeera. ah

the hello, i'm emily ang, when you're watching al jazeera reminder of our top story, is this afghan forces are fighting st battles against the taliban in 3 siege. kandaher. ford has been hit by rockets, government reinforcements have been deployed in laska and iraq. the u. s. and the u . k. are choosing iran of attacking and israeli oil tanker without providing evidence. they say a drawing was used off the coast of mine on thursday, killing 2 people. thousands of brazilians are rallying in several cities in support of president of both scenarios. they backing us proposal to replace the electronic voting system with the valid papers. both scenario is casting down from the process to the next election about the russian sprint in tokyo says she's safe

and under police protection. after being taken to the airport to be flying home against her will. christina tim of sky was jude to compazine in the limpid women's 200 meters on monday. but she told reuters news agency coaches ordered her to pack her bags on sunday. after she'd complained about them in public, i'm asking the international olympic committee for help. there's pressure against me and they're trying to get me out of the country without my permission. so i'm asking the i o. c to get involved in this. the head of the bell races, sports solidarity foundation says christina, is safe and police officers and looking into the case. she also explained why the action was taken, either specimen, go wicked up because christina showed indignation that she was put in a really something that is absolutely not in her program. and because the leadership of the federation, let's say, screwed up. she spoke about this openly. that they should have at least given some

warning to allow them to prepare an athlete not competing and her discipline in her distance can get injured. anything can happen. and richardson has the latest from tech. yeah. christina team and oscar was was g sir, compete here in tokyo on monday in the 200 meters. according to the reuters news agency, she was taken to the airport from the athletes village against her wishes by team officials and said to them, quotes, i will not return to bella ruth. now she's been critical of her team coaches during her time here in tokyo saying that she's also been asked to compete in the 4 by 400 me to relay an event. she is not prepared for or trained for. and that was because other athletes in belarus had not been put through the necessary anti doping tests prior to that, rosalind okay, with that full ineligible. so g to as she described the incompetence of the officials in bella. ruth, she is being forced to compete in an event she didn't want to. i've also had

a statement from the butler's olympic committee saying, as concluded by the doctor's given the emotional state of the valuation athlete, christina team, and also the coaches, counsel of the team, has decided to end the athletes. participation at the olympic games or al jazeera has managed to speak to the police at the port here in tokyo. now she's confirmed, she is with them. the unclear exactly what it is she wants at the moment. they're waiting a translator, the unaware if, as it's being reported, she's seeking asylum, but she's not on a plane at the moment. far as we understand, she still at an aid airport in tokyo. also, i still waiting for an official statement from the international olympic committee for nak, via choker as a political commentator, and advise it to bell or russian opposition at figure. the atlanta chicken no sky, he says targeting a young athlete is the act of an insecure later. everything started few days ago

when she criticized on her instagram account, the management of dealers in the big team. and she was supported by many, many build since thousands of comments came in support of her on social media. and then suddenly she was taken by representatives will build smelling pick team probably also by representatives. so build some key g, b and brought to the airport. of course, lucian cast regime was trying to take revenge with her for criticizing lucas and personally and management of olympic team. it's a revenge and we should call it as a revenge if your self confident and if you are in control of the situation, you don't need to arrest athlete. just for post on instagram, it means you feel unsafe, and you are trying to eliminate all sources of potential on the rest. because the week before he destroyed more than 50 and jewels and human rights organizations, it doesn't mean your self confidence. and also when, when he does these, it also,

it also means that there are some processes within the system. and some of this low inforcement agencies are out of his control. i would, i would say that look, shameka is trying to make some patchwork on his system, but he doesn't. but without structural change, it won't help him much. me. 2 of the biggest covered 19 vaccine manufacturers, pfizer, m madonna, reportedly increasing the price of their jobs to the market. new baca has the detail is perhaps an unwanted reminder of all the cash flows and the business dealings that underpin the global vaccine rollout. but it is a reminder, of course, that this is essentially a business that needs to be kept afloat and pharmaceutical companies all out to make a profit, whether it's a large profit or small small profit. and of course raises

a whole raft of different ethical questions as well. but according to the latest contract between pfizer medina and the european union, they will be a price hike for the shots in the imminent future, according to figure thing. but i pronounce will times the new price for probably a short will be $23.00 up from 18. but then i will go up to $25.50 up to up from $22.00. 60 this of course the countries are very keen and anxious to stamp out the spread of the delta vary. it also comes at the time in which countries in the e u and beyond the e. u. a mulling the possibility of administering a 3rd dose of bruce the job to improve efficacy so far. only israel has approved use of a 3rd dose, a booster job in the over sixty's with other research is happening here in the u. k . in britain and other countries may well follow suit, and all of this of course,

means the potential winful for both and pfizer as well off the phase 3 trials. both of these vaccines have been proven to be more effective than their rivals than they asked present job, and the johnson and johnson jobs. so essentially, both of these companies have a captive audience in the european union. european commission, just to remind you, of course, was accused early on of not acting quickly enough when it came to the vaccine rollout. and what it's doing now is proving that it's willing to throw an awful lot of money buying a premium product that is proven to work across the board because it's a one figure who was close. the negotiations said he says that the companies that capitalize on their market power and deployed the usual farm rhetoric. essentially, the vaccines work time to ramp up the price. more than 600 people have been

arrested in berlin after anti lockdown. protests turn violent, play, say some protest is harassed and attach them. authorities did not approve the demonstration siding rising over 19 cases, but 1000 to 5. the band. german intelligence says it's examining possible links to right wing extremism to some of those involved. at least ice people have now died in the fire that have ravaged to crossed, raged rather across the turkey for the past 5 days. seen him consoler has moved from his temple. the one squint hills of maurice have turned into this hector's, a scorched land and smoke everywhere. as 5 fighting helicopters, dallas, the flames. the fires here are mostly contained now, but the damage they left behind is immense. it on solid man. i've got this strict, this farmer found a newborn baby goat, his named it miracle,

been picked out of him, john that i'm only worried about these animals. if i died, it wouldn't matter what i was really just being evacuated. i couldn't leave. and i asked my parents if i die, he shall we die together with these animals. and they said yes. so we stayed. i wish those animals survived, and i was dead and his date, and i don't know the innocent kicked out of the volunteer. so joined the firefighters working across the southern region, like college student, re hon and natalie has accepted district. good luck to all seniors in our village survive the fire except for my 82 year old grandfather got poisoned by the smoke trying to put up the fire. i don't want other senior di tori's said to be moved from some of the hotels in more or less popular district of boardroom. as the fires spread down the hill towards the sea shore, the government suspects arson, but experts believe excessive heat and strong winds are likely to cause. climate

change is also crucial factor. turkey so devastating floods in its northern black sea region earlier in july, who could finish the many years. the mediterranean has never seen such dry weather as in the last 20 days. meteorologists have actually worn fires, unavoidable in the next 15 days, and may continue until september. the fire was started and mar maris has mouse french, other locations. the government has been criticized for a shortage of fire fighting aircraft. other bay, john iran, russia ukraine, has sent equipment in personnel, but turkeys, forest minister warns the humidity level is going down in the coming days, which means more attention and measures are needed to put out the fires and turkey southern greenhouse and ease the pain of those who have lost everything. see now go solo al jazeera, i stumble. large cruise ships. i now banned from entering the center of venice.

environmentalists have been pushing for the move 3 years at a rainy reports from venice. picture postcard perfection. tourists are back in venice, but they won't be arriving anytime soon on large cruise ships. it follows years of debate about banning mega cruise ships to protect venus's lagoon ecosystem. that's to be became much more heated with the arrival in june of a towering $90000.00 ton ship. the government finally announced the ban in july, after threats from unesco to place venice a world heritage site on it from danger to list the italy is promising to cover last wages for thousands of workers who rely on the cruise industry to keep them afloat. you know what movie we hope the government comes up with a way for us to continue a subsidy might last a year or 2, but this decrease has ships won't pass through anymore. we need certainty for our

future today. now which cuts right through the heart of venice, passing by st. mark's square this very artery to which the heat ships will no longer be able to pack. but that doesn't mean they'll be completely blocked from the venetian lagoon. the plan is to have large cruise ships into the lagoon through a back channel and dock at the mainland industrial port of margarita. the problem is the port isn't ready to receive crews. passengers like city council medical gas by the net, they grew up along dennis's canals. he welcomes the band but sees it as a distraction because the visible part of the iceberg visible deeper is the big ships, about many other problems and the pictures are not the only one. and what are the problems like that the city is dying them in terms of being the living, the place where the tickets are living in side and not having to come to a job which cannot give it

a chance to live in the city or just that to me that may control as part of an organization that lobbied for the band. she sees it as part of a larger push to focus on long term sustainability. all of that would be done not to shift the focus away from accommodating tourism to really fulfilling the needs of the local residents who flip and also on the value of a versity of the lagoon and on the well being of the whole environment. here the venice rose as a commercial powerhouse centuries ago to the great benefit of its people, finding a balance that keeps coffers full and residents from fleeing will take more than banning cruise ships from its waters. adarine al jazeera venice. ah, this is al jazeera and these are the stories. afghan forces are fighting straight battles against the.