genuinely about your thoughts towards the beijing government step outside the main street. there has been a policy to implement a tiered system of access towards the internet, shift the focus, but pandemic has turned out to be a handy little pretext for the prime minister to clamped out on the press covering the way the news is covered. the listening post on a just 0. ah, this is al jazeera ah hello, this is a news hour on al jazeera. i'm fully back to go live from our world headquarters in doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes. austria, as chancellor sebastian cursed under investigation on suspicion of bribery and corruption, natural gas prices in the e. u and the u. k. jump to

a record high. russia says europe is to blame for the crisis. also as our the sand off continues in sudan. their fears, the country may run out of essential goods as protested, continue to shut down a major port and the nobel prize for chemistry honors a green, a way to build molecules and a technique a judge. say these ingenious about pete assembly with your school. the war of words has started ahead of us weakens heavyweight title fight for now, and always a real piece of garbage piece of rubbish. and i'm going to knock in spark out saturday night and i come not white. we'll hear more from tie some fury at these challenger the anti wilder later this news our ah, we begin this news hour with breaking news out of austria, prosecutor is are investigating. and so sebastian curse on suspicion of corruption

and bribery his offices were rated earlier today. 9 other people are also being investigated as spring in dominic cane, who's in berlin for his dominic. what's his all about this is all about the suspicion of corruption that has been placed as it were at the door of the chancellor sebastian courts. it refers to the activity of a particular tabloid newspaper in austria during the course of the past few years. but specifically what's under investigation is what took place between the 20162018 . this is the suggestion. the suspicion indeed that prosecutors are working under is that mister courts and all the 9 other people involved in this investigation, the people being investigated were involved in the commission of certain offenses around bribery, specifically it is alleged,

and it is suspected by prosecutors that mister kurtz and others brought influence on the editorial board of this particular newspaper in austria to procure preferential coverage of mister courts and his party. such that an opinion poll was put out by this newspaper which cast mister cuts his party in a very preferential light. and it wasn't put out as an advertisement. it should have been se prosecutors that it should have been put out as an advertisement. the point being that the allegation, the suspicion put for by prosecutors in austria this afternoon, is that the publication of the pole was put out in a newspaper not as an advertisement as it should have been. and that the other side of this is that certain individuals in that newspaper and that editorial side of things were then procured positions on the board of

a specific company. now the suggestion being put forward by prosecutors is that federal finance was involved in this. that means government money, i. e tax payers money. the significance of this mr. courts has been in power now since the end of 2017, he lost his previous government partner in 20. 19 of heroes will remember in the course of a corruption scandal involving that other party the far right party in austria. mister courts came back as it were from the political dead and won that election. but this is the 1st time he has found himself personally under investigation for corruption, bribery, clearly he denies these allegations, but he is under investigation and he is one of 10 people write him and 9 others who are now under suspicion of bribery relating to that newspaper so spasm curse directly being investigated this time as you say,

as well as other conservatives. what does he read? how much damage could this cause him on the face of it, the suspicion of the commission of an offense is not the same thing as being charged with the offense and therefore having to go to court and to have to face those. and any set charges that might ensue, we must be very clear. this is the start from aid to ridicule perspective. this is the start from a legal perspective. this is the start of anything that might develop into anything . so it is possible that this may not lead to charges to an appearance in court and anything that might flow from that. but clearly if it were to do that, then that would put mr. kurtz in very particular jeopardy. clearly, politically, the question now would be both for his party and for his coalition partners currently in government. well, what do they make of this?

are they happy at the thought that the man who is currently chancellor, who won the last general election, where the big personal vote as it were, is under investigation for what would on the face of it be serious criminal offenses? lots of questions then, not just for the investigators right now, but also for the political backers of mr. kirk's. do they want to have the problems that this, these investigations are going to provoke? because clearly this is going to be a very, very big political story. in vienna, in the rest of austria, because mr. courts, on the face of it, opinion polls suggests that he is certainly preeminent in terms of the voters approval ratings. how will voters respond to these allegations? where will they go next? very many questions right now. not so many answers and we'll continue to follow all the latest developments where the dominic came live there in berlin. in the world news gas spices in europe and the u. k. have risen sharply by 25 percent in early

trading, raising tiers of soaring bells and inflation as winter approaches. limited supplies have combined with rising demand as economies recover from the pandemic. that's led to prices hitting high is not seen in more than a decade. several british energy supplies have collapsed during the gas price crisis. european member states are calling for new regulations to curb run away energy prices and relief consumers and businesses. the european commission says brussels will explore setting up common storage facilities for gas and focus on a shift to renewables to end dependence on imports. al jazeera economics editor, abner lee explains what's behind the spike in prices. this is a failure by the europeans to make sure that they got enough energy for this winter . now at this time of the time of year, they should have filled the storage tanks up enough to cover for the winter supply . we're currently at 72 percent fall that's, that's well below where they should they, they should be, that's

a 10 year low for the 1st time that's happened. and the trouble, the trouble is that there's other parts of the world which actually need the energy as well. so we're all going to be paying a lot more to keep warm this winter in the northern hemisphere because of york's failure to fill this storage tank. now russia has said, look, we were ready to pump more oil, sorry, but pump pump more gas through the pipelines if it's needed. because we don't want to see, you know, a gas shortage. they've already being blamed partly for the crisis, for not sending enough gas through the pipeline through the ukraine. now, it, russia argues that, you know, conquered contractually it's actually is sending all the gas that is required to. but at the same time, they want to see the north stream 2 pipeline which connects to germany to on line so that they can pay. so they can avoid sending more gas through ukraine for

geopolitical reasons. and sending this directly to, to germany. the germans say, well it's not good, it's gonna take another 4 months for them to certify the recently completed pipeline. while the ease vulnerability to surgeon gas prices has been on the latest minds as they attend the balkan summit in slovenia, the president of the european commission said this could be the time to speed up the transition to renewables. it is a serious issue. i think we have to be very clear that the gas prices are skyrocketing and her, but the renewables of the prices have decreased over the last 2 years. and our stable so for us is very clear that we're with energy in the long term. it is important to invest in renewables that gives us stable prices and more independence because gas is important. 90 percent of the gas is important to the european union . as bringing al jazeera natasha battle, i was in slovenia,

where you leaders have gathered. therefore the balkans are summit. let's up or talk about this energy crisis for us just looming energy crisis at earth. 11 de leon was just talking about how concerned i e leaders there about this. while you leaders were meeting leaders from the west balkans to talk about enlargement because this energy crisis has become such a difficult challenge for the u. a leaders decided that they needed to dedicate some of their discussions to that. now, at the end of the meeting, it is clear that even leaders are divided on what to do. they're seeing this energy crisis, they're seeing the prices of natural gas go up, and that is going to mean the prices for consumers across the european union. i will go up, especially i with the onset of winter here. now with some you leaders want france, for example, greece and spain. they are calling for the you to take very bold measures. they

want the use of hats, how proper a government to weather the storm if you like. but on the other side, you have countries like germany and the netherlands, you are calling for a much more, a cautious wait and see approach said the dutch of prime minister mark, we're to so some divisions on how to move forward. either way, we won't know until next week what the commission has decided to do in terms of the gas prices. a gas, a crisis i should say, or the commission is supposed to reveal as some propositions. i'm some measures in the next days, as he said natasha. the main focus of the western balkan summit was a force enlargement into the balkans. what decisions have come out from there? well, where do western balkans nation stand with their e membership? it's yes, 6 western of balkan nations all want to be part of the you. but they feel in recent

years at the you has been in their eyes dragging its feet on promises a for future you membership. now what they wanted from this summit was more progressing. at the end of the summit, i really just suddenly promised to perhaps knock more closely at enlargement. there is no doubt that the process of lodgement has slipped off the eas list of priorities in recent times bought the head of the commissioners, levant alone saying no. the western balkans place is in the european union. that's what we will want to see. there are however, obstacles say you lee doesn't they discuss them today with the western vulcans, they said there have been reforms in the region. there's still much work to be done in terms of things like a corruption or the rule of law and media freedom. there are also things like ongoing tensions in the region historic tensions which in kosovo in serbia. that's a flare dock in recent weeks again. so a lot there that needs to be sorted out before any future membership could be

decided or before some of the negotiations could be reopened. but eli does, did a promise of a $35000000000.00 investment plan for the region for things i infrastructure to help with a covey to recovery. they are saying that that is a sign of their commitment. and tasha thank you very much for that, natasha. but by reporting their from slovenia, still ahead on al jazeera, more questions and answers in the oil spill off the coast of southern california. will tell you what a preliminary investigation has uncovered. ross will look at how the current of iris pandemic has led to an economic and social crisis in brazil as left millions, desperate and hungry. and after a few weeks of downtime, the us open champion is ready to resume play more later in sports with peter. ah,

another world news for his tie wants defense minister says tensions with neighboring china are at the they're worse in 40 years. this follows for days of repeated incursions by chinese war pains into the islands air defense zone. taiwan is one of the issues in a deepening strategic rivalry between baking and washington. rob mcbride has more from mancha. the approach of nearly 150 war plains in waves sent over several days, has clearly alarm taiwan speaking at a session of tie one's parliament defense minister to choir chang, warned that in 4 years china would be capable of invading the island, which was the total china does not currently possess such capabilities, but we must consider the consequences in our judgment by 2025, they will have more comprehensive capabilities tie one regularly holds drills to prepare for such an invasion. thanks in part to sophisticated military equipment

from its ally the united states. it's so far been confident of deterring any aggression. but china's rapid military build up has been closing that gap. and paging. an enormous pressure psychologically, and operation on taiwan wood in taiwan society as well as i won our forces. it also appears to be looking to undermine ty, when's president saying when, who has been coal to the idea of closer relations and is seen by china as an obstacle to its ultimate goal of unification. with these latest incursions, it seems by jing wants to send a message about the changing dynamics across the taiwan strait. not only to taiwan, but to the international community, including the united states. at a time of increasing tensions with washington. in an apparent attempt to deescalate the situation,

you as president joe biden weighed in on the ongoing tensions by didn't seem to confirm the united states continued commitment to giving china diplomatic recognition in return for bay ging not threatening taiwan militarily. we agree. bye bye. i want agreement that we are new, we made it clear that the he should be doing i this latest that comes at a significant moment for the 2 neighbors with china. having just marked the october 1st anniversary of its founding and taiwan about to celebrate its national day and both with very differing ideas of what their future relationship should look like. rub mcbride al jazeera uncle. a delegation of french genesis, meanwhile, has arrived in taiwan as relations between the south, rhode island, and beijing. worse than the group led by senator and alisha will meet president sy

in when, before the trip, china's ambassador to france wrote to alicia wanting him to cancel the 5 day visit . the ging opposes international engagement with taiwan, china and taiwan. spect during a civil war in 1949 and china still considered a consider is tiwana breakaway province, u k prime minister voice johnson says his government will change the direction of the british economy and move away from what he called uncontrolled immigration. giving his keynote speech at the conservative party conference, johnson promise, and a broken model of low wages and growth. the answer to the present stresses and strains which are mainly a function of growth and economic revival is not to reach for that same old lever of uncontrolled immigration to keep wages low. the answer is to control

immigration to allow people of talent to come to this country, but not to use immigration as an excuse for failure to invest in people in skills and in the equipment. the facility theory are just there. a small brennan has more from manchester. the rhetoric was very typical. johnson, i mean there was a tech list of issues that included some foreign issues of international interests, you know, but he delivered them in typical borrows johnson fashion. you know, the, i mentioned, for example of the recent defense, steel, richer, put the nose of france. so out of joints he described as the raw, chris, squaw crossover, orcus. it's just the way boris johnson does. these things. he kind of dismisses them half an in joking fashion. this, it was very much about a domestic agenda. this is boris johnson, king of his party riding high in the polls. despite a backdrop of difficulties on the a domestic economic front, certainly to the loyal supporters here at conference,

he can almost do no wrong. and when he spoke about things like a leveling up on the need for britain to move from a low wage, low skill economy to high wage, high skill and probably high cost economy. you can sense a party in transit, not just a party, but a country in transition as well if he can pull it off. so there is a backdrop of economic uncertainty and difficulty, and many people regard it as the potential for a crisis, a sorry, a cost of living crisis coming into winter. that said, bonus, johnson said this is a vital transition period that we simply have to have what he described the guts to get through. yvonne's foreign minister has discussed reviving the nuclear deal with its russian counterpart during a visit to moscow wholesale mere. abdullah, hans says he expects nuclear talks in vienna to restart soon. russian foreign minister said oliver of says he's also spoken to the u. s. secretary of state on the need to restore the deal. the biden administration test returned to the accord

is a top priority that iran has accused washington of sending mixed messages. turkish, and as a bi johnny forces have conducted joint military jails near the border with iran. the 2 countries expanded their defense thighs after last year's war against armenia defeated, nagondo cut back legion. as darrel comes after relations worse and between back went a ran over a ranch support of armenia and azerbaijan relations with israel. yvonne held a military exercise along its order with azerbaijan last friday. they saw sir di explains the reasons behind this military jail jail. well, the sources that they have talk from the turkish side, and they also begun said that they said that it was not apt polanski joint military adrenal because just couple of weeks ago, there was a military, the real conducted by our z b, john turkey and pakistan. and iran was furious about it because it was, it was accusing this companies or this stabilizing the security in the region. but

then when the attention starts to escalate between our 0 be john and iraq, particularly rhetoric, lee. and then the other b genocide started to arrest some of the pool iranian actor, the big figures in azerbaijan, and also put in a control on the trucks that are carrying the materials from the iranian say to armenia. then the situation got escalated, an iran initiated a military, a military exercise their right after that there has been a decision. it came by surprise, the token azerbaijan, as of retaliation, are going to start a joint military exercise in natur one which very much symbolically is important. because on one hand, it is neighboring iran, on the other hand, it is close to the region added that the zang as or corridor that was agreed to be oper to be opened in did do after the agreement that has been signed or last year after the quarter before the,

for these cut by war. so that wasn't apple and one, but it is it, the act was, sees that as a retaliation to the iranian military exercise again is sans, industries are being squeezed because of banking restrictions and frozen assets. some multinational companies are trying to keep their employees and continue with production. but as osama bin javin re for some cab all staying afloat during an economy crunch, it's not easy. it's 6 30 am in cobble. and the morning shift is ready to begin the day. a multi layered securities needed that the largest burbridge production plant in afghanistan, career success story, which began its carpet and t trade more than a century ago. and now his presence in 46 countries, these carbonated drinks exported to the middle east and central asia. the one's family on firm is a multi $1000000000.00 enterprise. it's a household brandon, will understand, and the workers take pride in maintaining the quality of their product. but since

the taliban took over the revenues and production has been effected, it's mostly drawn by young, offend professionals. the 2000 implies and afghanistan, many have chosen not to leave their country after foreign forces pulled out. i have started in afghanistan and i have to serve their nation and serve my soil and my country. that's the biggest reason i have a state being in afghanistan is more just about profit being in afghanistan is about to provide services for white products and to contribute to the economy of the country. for this company has been able to survive the tumultuous economy, largely because its headquarters is not in the gun to thumb even during the economic price. this factory continues to produce $72000.00 tons of energy,

drink that hour. but this is an exception because the white economy of, of the sun is suffering and people cannot buy as much of that. what do you the construction industry, for example, is at a standstill since contractors, agencies, and people in general have no real access to cash. most equipment has moved from yards heidi's. latino says he used to send labor and equipment all over the country . now he's laid off 12 employees. they all mash kiln nestor. this is in this month . there isn't any work for us. the banks are closed and i had to pay salaries in over. how can i manage with only $200.00 a week from the bank florida letter? my requested islamic camera tele is to stress on the banks to resume services that are about $200.00 to $300.00 construction companies here. they've all shut down and the staff had been sent home. but if the sunsets on the stationary construction equipment evening shift has started work in another part of carmel workers here,

sir taliban fighters have not come to the company or made any demand. although many are very of the economic crisis with either improved security means they do not have to worry about being robbed or killed on their way home. they are hopeful their factory will continue its operation and in return attract investors to help revive the economy. of the guy with other there are a couple an investigation is underway into when authorities and a pipeline company in california learned about a major oil spell. it's emerge, it took 3 hours for the pipeline to be shut down once the damage was discovered. lexia buying has more of huntington beach in california, and ecological emergency is unfolding. look at it, look at it. it's everywhere. oil paddles on the once pristine sand and work isn't, has met, suits cone, the shore on a clean up nation. any discharge boil into our sensory coastal waters is damaging

to the environment and it is disruptive to the economy at a minimum. this is a significant incident, and i want you to know are how seriously those must that live in work in california . take him to there, but as the days pass, more questions are being raised about how quickly authorities and the pipeline company responded to the incident. the coast guard was 1st notified of dirty water on friday night. at that time, in the approaches nightfall, she can be very difficult to see on the water. the information from the reporting source, the coast guard investigator spoke with was inconclusive. so it was saturday morning before it went out to investigate the reports that same morning about who i am. an alarm had sounded and amplify energies control room warning that pressure had dropped in the pipeline. early finding show, the company waited more than 3 hours to shut it off. the pipeline had been split open and apparently dragged more than 50 meters along the ocean floor,

possibly by ships anchor. it st. hundreds of thousands of liters of oil spilling into the water. and on 2 beaches and protected marshland, california governor says the spell is more proof, aging oil platforms need to be phased out. so it's time once and for all to disabuse ourselves that this has to be part of our future. this is part of our past, and we can moralize and talk about the good old days. we can talk about how important these rigs have been to the prosperity of this country in the middle class. but at the end of the day, this is about the stellar of normalcy versus the fresh air progress. safety advocates have pushed the years for tougher rules on detecting spills and things like automatic valves to shut down the flow of oil. but the industries resisted such measures because of the costs involved along this coastline, beaches could remain closed for weeks, and the pipeline companies being investigated for possible negligence. experts say

it's too early to know the full cost to the local economy and environment. alexia brian al jazeera, still ahead on this season. every morning the fishermen lived for the the and the come back by late evening. but this, the catch of the not as good as they used to be. we report from bangladesh went pollution and family change or having a devastating effect on fishing communities and the 17 o rock climber who just broke her own records. all the details, he's forced to stay. ah plenty in the way of sunshine across the middle east. hello everyone, let me show you what i'm talking about temperature at 37 degrees in riyadh dough,

a full on sunshine at 36. thank you. weights, you're actually above average for this time of the year with a high of 41 degrees on thursday. take it to pakistan right now. thinks of freshened up. we flushed out that humidity as we start to see that southwest monsoon retreat. it is a few weeks behind schedule, but here's what we're looking at. 33 in karachi, la hor, 35 degrees was bright blue skies for turkey just as scattering of some showers across the black sea coast. otherwise things are dry, butts. look around the mediterranean. we've got some big storms plowing their way through greece on thursday. athens $24.00 degrees, take it to central africa right now, and we do have our storms coming and going, but particularly heavy for our equitorial countries. so a gap on and cameroon. on thursdays, seen those bursts of heavy rain. it's just a few scattered showers for southern portions of mozambique in and around durban. and a bit of a brit swain were seen for the eastern cape, on sock temperatures right now. so put the colors on the darker the color,

the higher the temperature and things are running a few degrees above average for southern angola on thursday. see you soon. ah, with how many nukes is too many new america has in many ways driven the arms race for parties are much more like the british parties about to the there are fewer regulations to own a tiger, then there are its own a dod, how can this be happening you'll, we take on us politics and society and that's the bottom line a showcase of the best documentary films from across the network. on al jazeera inequality, corruption, repression and rate. i think it just decided to cut to the piece of cake. i'm sure i want to be a new documentary, it's.