tourism, i want to continue to be a farmer as the island prepares to welcome visitors. again, many say the pandemic has taught them valuable lessons. never forget, ah, you, i says it backs finland and sweden joining nato, but took he threatens to block them. ah, i'm robinson, this is all 0 live from doha. also coming up, we report from a ukrainian city, destroyed in russia is offensive, or people are selling everything to survive. living with long coven doctors in the usa, up to 23000000 americans, could be suffering ongoing symptoms. and film

festival, the time being an independent film. but even here with built busted overshadowing event, we let this ever widening gap in the film with president joe biden says the us will work with finland and sweden while their bits to join nato are being considered us secretary of state antony bankin has been meeting turkey's foreign minister at the un turkey objects to the applications by sweden and finland because it says they support the kurdish p k. k, which calls it a terrorist to, to gear as being supporting the open door policy or nato, even before this war. but we got to this possible candidate already candidate countries. you know, we have also legitimate security concerns that they have been supporting terrorist organizations. and there are also export restrictions on defense products. so

we already express our concerns today we had some and sweden submit their applications. and this of course is a process and we will go through that process as allies and as partners. we have a lot on our common agenda, including of course, russia's ongoing aggression against ukraine, united states, turkey, all of our allies have been resolute in support of rain earlier finland and sweden submitted their formal applications to join nato. that ambassador had letters to the chief of the ministry lines is installed and back on a long time, both countries have been neutral, but russia's invasion of ukraine rapidly shifted public opinion in favor of joining nato. i think at this stage we have to get our eyes on the ball and that is of very smooth and fast ratification of our membership in every native and

a country. so this is what we are focusing now. and i think our most important job in nato is to defend our own country, our own region, and also making sure that the whole nordic nordic region is secure. the finished president and swedish prime minister will meet us president joe biden and washington on thursday to discuss their applications balance. fisher has more from washington dc. joe biden believes that nato will be stronger. he thinks it will send a very clear message to russia and to others, thinking that russia's plan in attacking ukraine was to try and we can nato believing that some natal members simply wouldn't step up simply wouldn't follow the u. s. lead. and joe biden is essentially pointing to the fact that nato could become stronger with an expanded membership because of what has happened in ukraine

. in fact, he put out a statement just the last few hours saying that he is looking forward to welcoming the leaders of finland. and sweden to the white house on thursday, adding that the united states is firmly committed to nato and also the, the commitment to article 5. that is, if you attack one, you attack all that is absolutely iron clad. and he believes that the ascension of both finland and sweden to nito will be relatively problem free. they still have the issue to deal with the turks. the turks are deeply concerned about some of the stances that finland and sweden have taken in the past, particularly when it comes to the p. k. k and turkey. but it's clear that this white house doesn't believe that those obstacles are insurmountable. well, kindly, 5 nato members, shannon land boulders with russia. they include the entire eastern frontiers of estonia, latvia,

norway just touches russia in the arctic circle by lithuania and poland flank the baltic. i slave o, colleen, and god. finland's membership of nato would add 1300 kilometers to be alliance is land border with russia more than doubling its length or joining us live from bethesda, maryland is dave dow. she's a professor at national defense university and former nato operations director in the office of the u. s. secretary of defense. so it's very good. have you with us on al jazeera. thank you very much. indeed. as sweden and finland have been neutral for so long and yet they seemed to have a perceived threat now from russia is the threat from russia that great that it should move. they should move into nato. well, they perceive it that way. i mean, look, this is a spectacular own goal by vladimir i, you know, his, he claims that his reasons for the ukrainian invasion are to prevent the expansion nato. and yet he's caused 2 countries with it. one is that centuries of neutrality

to calculate based on their own self interest that their best jasper, sir, by hallucination, is to join nato. so he, he is re, by nato, more than anybody else in my life. and it really shows a spectacular policy failure. so what to sweden and finland bring to nato if they join that's a good question. so if you look at most expansions since the cold war, they've been countries that are emerging from communism that have really broken defense infrastructure to have issues with democratic governance and corruption, swindling sweden and finland are 2 different countries. they are modern countries, they score higher on corruption indices than the united states. does. you know they are more democratic and less growth than most of the advanced democracies in the world. and they have modern militaries that have already conducted deployments with nato. you know? yes. and that have conducted exercises nato,

so they bring no downside and a lot of military capability. it's a real addition to the alliance. there has been an argument put forward that countries like bella, luce and ukraine, for example, have served as a useful buffer for nato countries. between them and russia, and obviously that buffer to some extent could have been said to exist within finland as well. is there an increased risk now of cross border accidents for want of a better phrase that might spark some sort of an increase in tension? now the, in the event that finan, particularly with its long border with russia, would join nato. yeah, well i suppose in the absolute sense if you have a greater. ready border, you have a greater risk of cross border accidents. but most of the confrontations between nato and russia have been from over flights. illegal over flights by russian are forces aircraft, usually of lithuanian life. yes,

sonia finland or well phil and stuff are but denmark in route to there are some say x clay but more accurate described quality grant as the quality finland is not really on that line. so unless there's a direct act of, you know, direct decision made to violate someone's sovereign aerospace, i don't think that possibly is really there. and the other thing is, you know, that border is long demarcated. you know, there hasn't been a real history of cross border incursions or so i think the idea of an accidental conflict is, is not one that we need to give a lot of thought to. but, you know, if russia does want to make a statement, they now have a long way to make a statement with land forces. they have now have a nice, a lot of land border to cross over. when i ask you briefly about russia in russia's intentions, as far as say, the arctic circle is concerned. i mean, we've seen of the last, certainly the last year, but in the last 2 years, i think

a greater influence on our intention or should we say, indicated by russia towards and the strategic elements of the arctic circle. if sweden and finland joining nato, does that change the balance settle? i don't think so. we might provide an added capability for monitoring and of course, for deployment. but, you know, both filling in sweden and don't have a direct path to the arctic. you know, to the arctic ocean they, you know, the northern parts martin, the arctic circle, but they're blocked from the arctic ocean by a strip of both russia and norway. so they're. ready probably the greater capability, but it'll probably be in the monitoring an electronic censoring around than in the physical presence in the arctic ocean. let me briefly ask you about turkey's involvement. and this is we mentioned before. tech is saying that it intends to block the applications of sweden and, and then what's your take on that?

what's behind that? well, there's 2 things. i think the 1st one which the term state pretty explicitly is that they think that sweden is a safe haven for the k terrorists. and they said that explicitly, i think there's a 2nd one that is spoken of so much. and that is that there's always an element of rivalry with greece. greece block the session of what we call north macedonia for years because they wanted the country to change its name from macedonia to north macedonia because they felt that impinged upon greek territory. and i think that turkey feels well grease can do that. you know, we can do it too, for our issues, which they regard is more serious than the, the greek claim on macedonia, exclusive right of, of the name of macedonia. so there's an element of sauce for the goose sauce for the gander. but the bigger issue is the rather expensive definition of

terrorism in turkish law. and then turkey's insistence that of people that i think sweden in most western governments, we consider to be political dissidents. or people who are guilty by association assumes that they be extradited turkey. and i, i don't see that happening because of flaws in the church. just did a rush. we appreciate your being with us or, and i'll just, you know, thank you very much. and if your time, thank you. what russia says, almost $700.00 more ukrainian fighters that might be opposed as of stolid steel plants, have surrendered. this video, released by the russian defense ministry set to show ukrainian soldiers hunting themselves over to russian forces. moscow says the troops have been taken to a form of penal connelly colony in a russian controlled territory. while the injured on in hospital for treatment by their fate is unclear. ukraine is suggesting a prisoner swap, while russia wants to some of them branded terrorist. i said, because more from common to ask we understand,

there are still some of those ukrainian soldiers still in at that plant. now, the presidency lensky has said that the military intelligence and the most influential international mediators are trying to negotiate or talk to try to get, to try to be involved in the evacuation of those remaining fighters. now they have said that they will not surrender an answer, and there's not a word that ukraine has used in, even for those that have been taken to the russian hel territory. the words that are being used by the ukrainians is that they have competed their mission. and this is a very politically charged issue. the those fighters are seen, us are defending mary polis and making this heroic stand. and many of them went on line when though at a, at the as of steel plant saying that they felt like they were let down by the politicians in care of. so it's important for ukraine to at least try to see that they're doing their best to try to get those remaining fighters evacuated as for those that have been taken to a russian separate a russian back separatist areas. well, the ukraine is a saying that there is

a exchange program, a formula, and what we've heard from the ukrainians is that there will be a some sort of exchange for seriously wounded ukrainians for in exchange for seriously wounded russians when that will take place and how that will take place as of yet is not clear. russia's progress and maria poll spot concerns, it could know widen. it's offensive to target more of southern ukraine. but the ukranian army says it's fighting back against russian troops, suffering low morale, or the other hammered reports from the city of mccaul. yes, it has become a grim, routine attacks and explosions while the city sleeps, followed by disbelief and anxiety. survivors wondering how they escaped the ferocity of a missile, loved from afar on their homes. my rat can't contain his anger. you hope all of us europe sold us out. americans don't cut me outside. we asked him to

close the sky, but i didn't. why trite is to protect their children. i'm going to appeal directly to the other. do you understand to i'm talking about your son. i would to you a part with my own hands. but along with you about what burke? there few people left in, michel, i. if a few weeks ago, they were nearly half a 1000000, they'll still here have to rely on handouts as there's no more drinkable water. 2 with the economy at a standstill, people are selling whatever they own to pay his utility bill. he tells us, even though there are no buyers, the russians have actually reached this point on the outskirts of mc alive in the early stages of the war before being pushed back. but now with more you will and that will soon region, effectively under russian control. there is concern that they could be preparing

for a counter offensive obama. that might be why people are not returning to the town of bush tanka, yet. it was recaptured about a month ago. it just looks like every town village of city, the russians occupied, darker equally us have one will only now remembers the night it all started from her house was among the 1st hit parish. it bombs fell from the sky, leaving a huge crater. look, i see all of us. i shall have. these are the straps. and the parachutes. canopy has now been recycled, but i flew awesome. these korean army says it's only offensive in the south. oh, but the women, the moral of the enemy is low and they are not advancing on the ground because they can't break our lines. the sanctions are having an impact. they can't produce certain weapons anymore. but one of the russian advantages is their artillery systems. their range is longer than ours and can hit us hard. russia also holds the

upper hand when it comes to attacks from the sky. and each night the people of nikolai of wonder whose turn will it be next? i doubt that hamid al jazeera, nikolai of a palestinian mourner. the funeral of veteran al jazeera journal is surely noble osler has been arrested by israeli forces, or marble had or was attacked by israeli police as he carried shoes coffin in occupied east jerusalem last week. as a kind of what happened was widely shared on social media. as lawyer says, all the questions during his interrogation were related to the funeral will be held until at least next sunday was showing was shot in the head by is really forces while she was on the assignment engineer. last week, israel's prime minister has been challenged in parliament to reveal the truth about the officer who opened fire. a palestinian israeli member of the canal was confronted enough tally bennett on monday. i'm sure ha, ha, ha ha,

ha ha. how do you get dark interior? i knew serene on both the personal and family level. i'm challenging the prime minister bennett, and i'm telling him in front of everyone that he knows the identity of the officer who shot sharina, you know, from which a jeep the officer shot her from. you know, the rifle and telescopic lens he used to kill to ring in the block. oh yeah, i hear you are lying you or a lawyer. im anesha dan because if i lied the entire world would know. it's not me who's called the swindler by every one. and once again, i challenge you that you know from which a jeep the officer shot her from march and you know, the rifle and the telescopic lens, he used to kill serene dead. still ahead and i'll da 0. we look at her pollution is the was largest environmental risk factor for disease and from mature death and equal pay for equal play. the historic deal between the men's and women's football

unions in the us ah. to fire danger in the 4 corners that does it southwest the u. s. you still there was close the door from cars to the east, producing big thunderstorms over the plains. but this is become the biggest fire in new mexico's history. and although they are containing it is every now and again, restarting at it is still burning of the weather conditions are not improving. i have to say unfortunately, so rain is falling in the form of big shouts. i be in missouri, crossed to kentucky in the next day or so, but they are not widespread. the fire danger maintains is healthy. but look at this a returning. what looks like wouldn't tree weather, which eventually will blow across the plane state kansas east. 31 degrees on thursday. that is that colbert comes in. we're down to 16 in the rain on saturday.

when will the season change? you may well ask for the sacks big showers again for the bahamas for cuba, haiti, jamaica, and especially honduras down through costa rica, little less than that form in mexico. it's hot with occasional shells. no more that in south america, the seasonal rain is now a long way north producing flooding in some parts of columbia even may be southern venezuela. but the stormy weather lost the coast of your guys now going off shore. so for thursday's forecast, that'll breezy in rio, but largely a sunny picture. ah. in november 2020 stream service is carried out operation llc. so i opened my eyes and saw a machine gun pointed at my head. now, does your well goes to vietnam and grants to examine events and allegations of his lana phobia? this is

a terrible mistake because it affected some said 2 young family, austria operation luck. so on al jazeera oh and you're watching or does it a reminder, what top stories this are you? i says it's confident finland and sweden will be accepted into nato. turkey's objective of joining accusing the nordic countries of what harboring what it calls terrorists. rushes defense ministry is released footage of hundreds of ukrainian fighters, surrendering at mario polls as hostile still works. moscow says the troops have been taken to a formal penal. conley in russian controlled territory,

palestinian mourner at the funeral of serene john al jazeera journalists, sharina, blah clay, has been arrested by israeli forces. robert was attacked by israeli police as you carry terean's coffin in occupied east jerusalem last week will be held until at least next sunday. pollution is responsible for one in every 6 premature deaths making it the world's biggest environmental risk factor. that amounts to about $9000000.00 people per year since 2015, according to study, published in the lancet assigned to say it's shocking that the number hasn't gone down since they lost calculated it. death some pollution caused by industrialization. an organisation have risen by 70 percent since 2015, and by over 66 percent since 2000, that's offsetting improvements. in other areas we're seeing a increase in number of desks from modern pollution. and so what i mean by modern pollution is that which is caused by industrialization. urban is ation,

where these are the concerns that we're really seeing right now. and that number's just skyrocketing, it's actually increased 66 percent. so the number of how much are desk for modern pollution has increased 66 percent since 2000. conversely, we're seeing a reduction in number of deaths from traditional pollution, right? this is a poverty related pollution. it's that caused by indoor cookstove or water and sanitation because of the amount of investment that's gone into those areas. we're really seeing those numbers come down. and so the overall net effect is actually that there's the same number of staff. so the improvements that we're seeing in traditional pollution are actually being offset by this increase, and that's for modern pollution us dr. say around one and 10 cobra, 1900 patients will end up developing the condition known as long covert. the symptoms still are completely understood, but they include fatigue, pain,

mental fogginess, and heart problems. i did, joe castro has more from baltimore 5 minutes of play time with a 4 year old son is enough to raise michael clark's heart rate to a concerning level. just a little bit. if he decided one day he wants to run away from the a probably can't chase him. what are we going to do? clark is $33.00 and was an avid runner before he contracts cove. it in march 2020. now more than 2 years later, he still feels crippling fatigue and a long list of other symptoms. i'm a fraction of the person that i had hoped to be that i used to be. so we're talking, shortness of breath, rhetoric and chest pains. we're talking chest tightness, we're talking intense, debilitating headaches. this is life with long cove id defined by the world health organization as otherwise unexplained post covered symptoms that last for at least 2 months. many people like clark have symptoms that appear to be indefinite. he

says he's made lifestyle changes to cope, and it's fortunate to have a job, but let him work from home. many others are not as lucky. i've seen personally in my support groups, multiple people that have died by suicide because the symptoms of their long experience was just too much to handle. and they couldn't withstand the pain anymore. i think that it's time to shift the focus from cove it as an acute, severe illness that has a mortality rate, which is very important, but also to start paying attention to those millions of people that are living disabled. and that are going to need programs and support from the government from society at large. johns hopkins is among the about 60 hospital system in the us with dedicate post coven clinics. medical experts say that is not nearly enough to treat the up to 23000000 americans suffering long term symptoms. hello.

hello. hey, it took clerk multiple referrals and months of waiting to be accepted into the johns hopkins clinic. here, he'll get a rehabilitation plan. there's still no cure for long cove id. the novelty of it is something that we have to live with because it is a big unknown as to what the long term complications are going to be. the u. s. government has launched an effort to study and treat long covered, but the help can't come soon enough for those who are suffering and wondering if they'll ever get better. all right, is there go heidi joe castro al jazeera baltimore, maryland. equal pays on the way for both men and women who play for the us national soccer teams, the landmark agreement and use of legal action by female players over gender discrimination. and in an unprecedented move in the global game prize. money will be shared in both the world cups play by men and women. the coven holders are the

american woman's too well. john henderson's in chicago, forrest john, just this seems to be changing the game in so many different levels. what makes this so historic? well the women of the u. s. soccer federation have long said that they've offered better than equal play for less than equal pay. and that's undoubtedly true. in the past the men's team has been paid more and there's a big difference in performance. the women's team of won the world cup 4 times more than any other national team. and the last 2 games were 2015 or the last 2 series were 20152019. that makes them the raining. busy would trans, now, as we look towards the women's world cup in 2023, the men of ever gotten past the quarter finals by contrast. so it's been a bit galling for the women. they've been paid less than the men up until now. now they're going to be paid the same per match for a win and a major game that's $18.00 to $24000.00 per player. same as the men. but what the

innovation here is that they're also splitting world cup funds. there's a fund of hundreds of millions of dollars that gets distributed to the mens team, a fund of tens of millions of dollars. it gets distributed to the women's team. what they've done here is they've taken that pile of money for the men and for the women, they've put it all together and they're gonna divided equally among both the men and. ready women, this comes, it's 3 months after the women, many of the women of the league have ended a lawsuit for unequal. busy k, at will result in them getting $24000000.00 of back pay. and it comes that 6 months before them men's world cup in doha. women are now looking forward to 2023. john, thank you very much. indeed, john 100 talking to us from chicago all as the 75th can film festival were independent films of celebrated on the big screen. but in an, you know,

of american blog busters, even china is struggling to find a balance between the big studio film franchises that attract massive audiences and independent films fighting to survive. johnny angela reports from southern france area for a list actors for a festival that seeks to promote independent film can still has to bring in big hollywood movies to stay relevant. you have something left to offer, the navy got maverick, his head, not in competition for the palm, the prize, but the audience is media. and the bankable stars with tom cruise being honored with a special ship, learned over bio pick is also preparing the festival. and i will be going to put in jail wells movie, the tension between these grand spectacles and the quieter, often more thoughtful films is growing. film like arca, with no call chases, superheroes or celebrities. a story set in post revolutionary to nicea,

that embodies a generation fight for better life in the running for the can prize. but it struggling to secure distribution outside of europe. here the phil market produces say, investors are increasingly favoring comments that franchise the sequel. and really was considered most suitable for teenage audience, independent filmmakers of baffling to find funding if they do get that film. so then competing against mass marketers, big budget production lows with investment is going to build them. and that's great . like it's great that we can see those stories and cream, but at the same time we need money into independent films and we need that kind of narrative protected. so we get a wider pack trend of films of narrative of sensational screen ah, independent food do with more woods,

but smaller audiences for hollywood produces, say, the idea that they're lou visa dumbing down is nonsense. despite the theatrics festivals like cad, a still the place for smallest toys with a different pace. charlie angela al jazeera can ah, this is al jazeera, these are the top stories, the u. s. a. sizes confident finland and sweden will be accepted into nato. took his objected, enjoining, accusing the nordic countries of harbouring what it calls terrorists. swedish and finish leaders will meet the u. s. president on thursday. russia's defense minister is released footage of hundreds of ukrainian fighters, surrendering and mario poles absorb styles. steel plant. moscow says the troops have been taken to a formal penal connolly in russian controlled territory, but their fate is unclear. ukraine is suggesting a prisoner swap,

while russia once some of them branded terrorists a palestinian mourner at the funeral of veteran al jazeera journalist, sharina.