oh, dead and untold stories across asia and the pacific to discover the current events with diverse coaches and conflicting politics. one 0, one east. on al jazeera, they watch us. they gather evidence with so can we and american cyber activists develops and tap used in brazil to monitor the police . we have more cameras than they do because where the people a bigger rug with regular piques on a judge ito, ah,

tension over taiwan in a to our call between the u. s. and chinese presidents. but they agree to meet face to face. ah, i'm real baptism, this is all just to rely from do hob also coming up, russian rocket attacks, hit the north of ukraine, and the capital as ukrainian troops tried to retake castle relatives of murdered al jazeera journalist, sharina block like demand a u. s. investigation into how she was killed. so the on income, but this still needed help whether to heat or eat the stalk choice, facing a growing number of families in the u. k. ah,

you as president joe biden and chinese president, changing things have talked for 2 hours and what's being described does a tense phone call. it's the 5th time they've spoken on the phone since joe biden to coffers president. she's in pain, has worn jo, bye not to as he put it, play with fire over taiwan, the speaker, viewers, house of representatives. nancy pelosi says she may visit the island. beijing says it's part of china's territory. the u. s. president is reported to have raised allegations of genocide and forced labor practices linked to beijing's treatment of weaker muslims. is also sort of criticized with the u. s. c's as china's aggressive military posture across asia. biden is not reported to have talked about removing u. s. tariffs on chinese goods is accused beijing of unfair trade practices, which he said, harm american workers, our white house correspondent, company hawk. it has more. well, what we know is that there is right now, no change to u. s. policy. the united states is sticking firmly to is one china policy. in other

words, that taiwan is a part of china. but where things get murky is that under us law, there is also an obligation of the united states to defend ty, wine, if it is attacked in any way that is something that it would be obliged to help support. and so that is why there is a bit of a diplomatic problem for the united states. if nancy pelosi were to visit the island, the potential that there could be some sort of military confrontation, given the fact that right now in the sea surrounding the island are not only the taiwanese military, but also the united states military and also the chinese military. now in terms of the phone call, there was a very strong word of caution by the u. s. president to chinese president. she's paying that any sort of effort by china to try to absorb taiwan our,

to in any way. try and obtain the island by force would be strongly discouraged. in fact, the u. s. strongly opposes any unilateral efforts to change with united scenes calls the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the top. the taiwan strait is the message that was conveyed by the u. s. president. so both of these leaders really sending a very strong message, michael swain's, director of the east asia program at the quincy institute. he says the 2 sides are yet to have talks that mean anything. there's been a continuing dissatisfaction on both sides. that neither is really addressing the concerns and interests of the other. it's really in some ways, the sort of dialogue of the deaf. you have these exchanges of talking points, which we've had again, in the case of the 2 precedent speaking with each other which are fairly pro forma . but the problem is that neither side regards the other statements is being

entirely credible. and that's because there's been a whole host of different factors over the last many years, beginning in the truck administration and the she can ping administration that really have lowered the sense that the words and deeds of both countries are really in connection. there is a greater sense that underneath the positive statements that are being said, when they are being said, and that's not very often, that the 2 sides are really still just maneuvering against each other in a very, very 0 sum way. and we've got to really get out of this kind of dynamic people criticize those who are opposed to nancy pelosi visit by saying she's a member of congress, and other congressional delegations have gone to taiwan in the past. so what's the big deal? well, it's a big deal in this case because she's not just any member of congress. she is the 3rd person in the line for the presidency. nancy pelosi then going to taiwan at this particular time. then just makes the situation been more unstable and even

more undermining of the idea that there is a one china policy for the united states. latest figures in the us indicate the gross domestic product of gdp has shrunk for the 2nd quarter in a row, g d. p is a measure of the value of all goods and services produced by a country. it's often used to judge how an economy is doing a u. s. recession will be declared. if the g d p shrinks in the next quarter, but job growth is still strong, which hasn't been the case in previous downturns. my car has got more from washington dc. it's a crippling time for american consumers. the inflation rate hovering around a for decade, high of 9 percent. the base interest at which money is lent increased for times this year already. and now the news that the g, d, p i from for the 2nd quarter, another blow to national confidence, although president biden insist the economy will recover and there is no recession

. both chairman power and many of the significant banking personnel and economists say we're not in recession. the by the administration points to the fact that employment is rising at an unprecedented rate with over 2 and a half 1000000. new jobs created this year alone. as clear evidence that it's doing a good job and opinion echoed by the treasury secretary. most common. and most americans have a similar definition of recession. substantial drop losses and mass layoffs. businesses shutting down. private sector activities, slowing considerably. family budgets under immense strain in some a broad based weakening of our economy. that is not what we're seeing right now.

that many republicans in a divided congress seeing a political opportunity. well aware that should the november elections take place in the shadow of a recession. it would be devastating for the administration impala. this economy is not working well in our economists are going to argue about whether we're in recession or not. but those are academic debate. in order to de politicize the term . it's an independent body which decides whether or not a recession is under way. the national bureau of economic research consists of 8 economists who gather and examine all relevant data and then make an independent determination. polls indicate that some 50 percent of the us population believes the recession has already begun. despite what the president says are going to be a lot of chatter today on wall street and among pundents about whether we are in a recession. and in a meeting with president biden, a number of chief executive officers agree there is no recession pointing to the

notable absence of the most historically reliable sign of a downturn. a half point rise in the unemployment rate averaged over several months . by kinda august 0, washington, a grain says i, some voices have launched a missile attack on the cave region for the 1st time in weeks. the regional governor says a settlement about 20 kilometers from the center of the capitol was head. russian troops withdrew from the area, months ago, after failing to capture it, the northern region of santa he was also targeted on thursday, ukrainian forces, se there's stepping up a counter offensive in cason. the southern region fell to russia in the early days of the war, but ukraine wants to recapture it. he says it had 5 russian strongholds around the city on thursday. the strategic bridge is now out of action after ukrainian forces headed with long range rockets. another 3 bridges across the neutral river have also been damaged in recent weeks,

making it harder for russia to supplies forces. jeffrey edmonds is a senior analyst focusing on russian military policy at cna, it's a non profit research and analysis organization. he says, ukraine's counter offensive comes at a difficult time for russia. i think right now we're seeing a very interesting part of this conflict, wherein ukrainian forces might be in a position to actually retake territory that they lost out. i think the russians are worried about that and the russians have a difficult operational decision ahead of them. how much they pull from the east, where they're really trying to make more progress, you know, reinforce the south so they don't lose territory. and, you know, don't boss, i think still remains the russian priority, whereas the south remains ukraine's prairie. so both sides have have rather challenging operational decision to make us to where they deploy their forces. i think they're very optimistic and i would say analysts in the west are also not dismissive of the fact that that you might be able to do this really depends on 2 weaknesses in the russian military, one of logistics,

the russians have been horrible. and just at the beginning, and these new long range artillery systems are only exacerbating that problem. and 2nd, as the russians have a severe man parent equipment problem that's not easy to fix. i wouldn't dismiss the idea that the russian military is getting to a point where it's exhausted. that's us. i mean, most of those categories were actually lost in the 1st several weeks. and that staggering, that's not something you quickly recover from. even if russia were to declare some national mobilization or something like that, this isn't something you fix quickly. and i think the craniums are going to be in a position before the russians can fix the problem. they'll actually be in a position to take some territory back. ukraine's grain exports through the black sea are expected to resume in the next 24 hours 25000000 tons of the sucking ukrainian force. since russia invaded. that's cause food shortages around the world . un humanitarian she fought, and griffith says that are encouraging signs. we are hopeful, of course, planning but hopeful for the 1st ship movements to take within days hopefully

morrow out of those bullets. there are vessels, of course, in those ports, with the grain on board ready. they will be the 1st to move, and then we will start having ships going in, inspected, and going in. john handles more from the port city of odessa. already the careful choreography of the shipping lanes, those ships will travel through the so called safe passage corridor has already been mapped out. there is an inspection area, and then there is a specific shipping lane carved out. and there is supposed to be no military activity in that area. and as you just heard, this is expected to happen within days. it was possible we were told earlier that it could have happened today. that's not going to be the case. but as everybody prepares to get that more than 20000000 tons of grain out of those ports, the attacks in ukraine and the war and ukraine continue. this was supposed to be

statehood day. but thursday morning began with 26 rockets, fired out of bella, ruse into territory in northern ukraine. it struck around keep its structure goya of and there were also strikes and crept beneath ski in central ukraine. we're not sure if those were this. we're from the same source, but we're told 5 were killed and 25 people were wounded in those attacks. we've also been told that russian troops have taken over a nuclear plant in dumbass, the val harris plant. so that danger continues and that's why those ships haven't left the port so far as because farmers have been afraid. i talked to a farmer yesterday, northern ukraine, who said for now they're going to keep their grain on the farm in storage bags waiting until they feel it's safe to leave. but of course, there are millions of tons already of the sports, and the world is waiting for that to avert a global food crisis. whether you are shipping agents, he says removing c miles from ukraine's ports is going to take several lungs. if i

minded sports to stop us, see attack from russia, beaches in odessa, closed and signs warn of the danger? keith says rush has also made 372 c mines. moscow cases, ukraine of laying $400.00 mines in the approach to several points including odessa . russia says some of those have drifted into the black sea international insurance companies to put the region on the high risk list. and that means the cost of shipping grain is likely to go up. maximillian hast is a fellow at the foreign policy research institute, and he says it's going to take a significant amount of resources to check for mines that are moved to the c bed. they are undertaking their own mind clearing operations. turkey has said it is sending my sweeping ships there as well. however, you can see other ports to the east including has on and make alive which remain very much at the front lines are still mind i'm. there's still a lot of questions about the distribution of mine's eastern outside of that channel

. see mines come really in 2 forms is floating minds, but then also as minds that can be more to the see. dad triggered when ships go over them and sweeping those takes a lot of deployment of minesweepers into that area, but that's an area of possible conflict. so that seems like it'll probably still have to wait. i don't think we'll see shipping volumes get anywhere near to their pre conflict levels anytime soon. surface level mines of course are easier to spot that they can have what are called the octopus tentacles, and stretch out and looked and smear ships for towers as well. we think those are, i have been cleared mostly from this area that, that the miners of the operating and in the south last but those ground, those for mines that can take electrical charges to set those off. that's a. busy much longer process ukraine uses russia of having use some more modern technological minds. there's less certainty about what kind of minds ukraine is

alleged to use. they haven't said, and the russians haven't detailed that either. but we have seen a lot of surface mines wash up on the ukranian territory and even some further to the south towards romania. thanks. presume i, you, my call has met sally crown prince. muhammad been solomon at the elisa, palace, france, and other european countries have trying to find alternative sources of energy to reduce their dependence on russian oil and gas. been solomon and his eleanor's 1st official visit to the ears since us base journalists, yamaha shoji was murdered at the saudi consulate in his stumble in 2018. still ahead on al jazeera, we're going to report from the small italian island of lamp azusa, which has been overwhelmed by a surgeon, migrants of refugees. and why swiss zoot keepers are worried about the health and safety of their young elephants. ah,

never before has there been rain in the month of july in cats are and this was a scene in tell her, have her one by the way, look at this. so people driving around with their 4 way flashers on pond, in pooling there on the road, all because of this rain bearing clouds. still the risk of some more showers on friday for cats are right through into bahrain. but some of this rain could also leak into kuwait. so here we are on saturday. if this happens, it would also be unprecedented for that country as well. hundreds of people have died in flooding mostly contained towards southern pakistan, but the rain will now pick up a toward northern parts of the country stretching from is long bod rate. through to the hor, also the risk of seeing some flooding. western and southern areas of iran. next stop turkey, still breezy through the boss. verse is stan ball looking at wind gusts of about 50 kilometers per hour on friday, wall to wall sunshine for on kara at $35.00 degrees. it's now off to africa. of

course. we've got our storms through central portions here, but particularly heavy central and eastern areas of the democratic republic of congo as we slipped toward the south. some rain pulling in with this weather maker to cape town. but the winds really, the bigger story. gusts of about 60 kilometers per hour on friday. that's it too soon. ah! what is the ocean's witnessed? plainness. witness, difference is witness. change. witness, happiness. witness. blood, witness. sunlight. witness the flood. witness. last witness. charity, witness. confusion. witness. clarity. witness. family. i'm witness. friends, witness the beginning. witness the end. witness life. witness? an algae 0. hello

lou. ah, the watching on, is it a reminder of our top stories? this are the u. s. and chinese presidents of told for more than 2 hours and what's being described as a tense phone call. she doing pains, warned joe biden, not to it's, he put it play with fire over taiwan. b, u. s. economy shrunk for the 2nd quarter in a row, but the, by the ministration insists the countries not in recession. g, d. p fell 0.9 percent in the 3 months from april to june. ukraine says russian forces of launched a missile attack near key for the 1st time in weeks. russian troops withdrew from the area. months ago, after failing to capture it,

the northern region of shockey was also targeted on thursday. the family of al jazeera journalist, sharina blocks, i have made an impassioned plea for us politicians to support an independent investigation into killing. we have the support of 80 members of congress as shit. hubbard chancy reports from washington, dc. my name is lena the of clay and shooting was my aunt. capitol hill was the latest stop for the brother, niece and nephew of slain al jazeera reporter, sharina brooklyn. as i keep up the pressure on the bike, the administration to open an independent investigation into a killing. this is the very least the by then administration must do. they cannot rely on israel's word. war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes. gideon was my little sister, the family members also renewed the call for a meeting with president biden after he refused. during his recent trip to the occupied territories, a u. s. citizen, a prominent journalist, beloved by millions of people, was killed by

a highly trained israeli soldier. president biden was 10 minutes away. he never came to see us with an ag members of congress who joined the family and cooling for an independent investigation. and she was trying to tell us through her journalism what was happening now. we owe her for memory and her family and outcome of what happened to her. i'm so sorry, co family and i'm embarrassed or when the murders where is really uniforms, there's complete silence. this is bigger than one person or one country. this is about our values as americans. on tuesday, the family met with us secretary of state and we blink him. afterwards he tweeted that he expressed his deepest condolences and a commitment to pursue accountability for screens. quite tragic killing, but the family said he made no commitment to an independent investigation. the next stop for the block as will be the department of justice. the family says it's not naive and aware of the u. s. history of shielding israel from accountability for

it's killing of palestinians or us citizens, but it says it has to try and stop the cycle that leads israeli soldiers to feel that they can kill at will she ever time? see al jazeera washington, italy is scrambling to relocate sizes of refugees and migrants on the mediterranean island of land, producer. after a surge and arrivals, the crowded conditions of the reception center adding to the trauma, people have already been through. as natasha claimed reports, they survived the perils of the mediterranean, but once they reached the shores of lampa, do so many migrants refugees, that asylum seekers. c, a europe, that isn't quite what they'd imagined. hello, this is the welcome center. in recent days it's reached more than 6 times its capacity. people sleep on the ground surrounded by human waste and garbage. there

are no showers. the stench is overpowering. it's never any there to on. very, very, very silva. it's taken this syrian refugee 3 years to reach europe. he paid a smuggler $3500.00 for a boat ride to lap a do so one of the closest european destinations on the route from north africa. i walked olivia but my back broke him. i have to go through a little before the recent wave of arrivals, the government says more than 34000 asylum seekers had reached italy this year. in the last 10 days, hundreds of migrants have been arriving daily. the authorities can't keep pace. any dye, young child, and that doesn't make it out. this is not a migrant emergency. easily welcomed a 100000 ukrainians and we didn't have an emergency. why don't we treating these

people in a humane way? save the children says there are 300 minors in the center. many are alone. he said can, can, if i don't not bad sierra, we are trying to ensure they know they writes all sort of them psychological support for they trauma and the create a space for them to play. the children express their feelings by painting and they homes and crowded the bought people drowning and sharks. this voyage is often one of loss, violence and pain. having made it this far, these people are hoping their journey is almost over and they'll soon be able to start the lies. they've long envisioned in europe. natasha name l 0. lumper. do so, italy, those deadlock of the un security council over who should lead its diplomatic efforts on libya, the current special advisor stephanie williams as scheduled to leave her post at

the end of the month, shifting government alliances in libya have sparked renewed violence. i diplomatic editor james bays, reports from you and have quarters in new york for the 5th time in a row for you ends. mission in libya and smell has been extended by just 3 months. the 3 african members of the security council was so angry that in protest they abstained during the vote, it's not the only blow to the un in libya. stephanie williams, who's been leading the un mission is finally stepping down. back in 2020, she secured an agreement between the parties to have elections, elections that have never taken place. she's wanted to step down from her post for months, but have been persuaded to stay by the un secretary general. i want to thank her for her extraordinary efforts to broker an agreement on the constitution of framework for elections. we wish her well in her future endeavors and call on the leaders of the house of representatives and the high state council to work

constructively toward a goal twice the goal. miss william sought to advance and we support the efforts of the secretariat and council members in their discussions to find a new candidate, someone who can effectively lead and smell and facilitate the necessary dialogue among libby and leaders toward a persistent piece. months ago, the un secretary general has identified the person he wanted to take over the un mission in libya, and that was sabri book, a doom, the former algerian foreign minister. but his appointment was blocked by one member of the security council. the united arab emirates, the u. k, is engulfed in a cost of living crisis, brought on by price rises after the covered 19th pandemic, as well as the war in ukraine. it may be one of the world's richest economies, but $1.00 and $5.00 families can't afford food or fuel. john hall reports from pen roof in cumbria,

a hard working mom and her 6 children. they were just about coping before the gas bill doubled. and the cost of living crisis hit. it can talk to them about why we can't fought and fancy forms and fleshy holidays and things like that vo. when you running out of the basics to get you through the way that you feel like you failed, lynn, you feel a favor in the family. reluctantly sought help. sarah dawson is a volunteer family support worker ferrying supplies to 90 families in the cumberland town of penrith. many of our families, mainly reluctant to come forward because they feel like they should be able to provide for the children and provide for themselves on the edge of the lake district. this picturesque facade hides a seam of poverty that runs deep, and he's growing with inflation set to pass 10 percent, one in 5,

households across the u. k. he's failing to meet its weekly bills, and things are likely to get worse. we're in the height. some are now and, and over alterman winter, there's going to be real worry about with the families can. they may have to choose between said in the family or, and keeping the family will, at the salvation army food bank in town. there's been a bumper supply of donations from a major supermarket, volunteers, date and stack the product ready for collection by a fast increasing number of visitors. we're getting people that are working. and so they're on income, but they're still needing help because the, they can't budget the money out to cover everything. government assistance with energy bills hasn't done enough for the poorest, while a universal credit uplift during the pandemic has since been withdrawn. all of which leaves an enormous number of families up and down the country in food and

fuel poverty, with nowhere to turn, but charity for help. the government, meanwhile, is otherwise occupied the candidates in a lengthy contest to succeed boris johnson have promised further help. but after a summer of holiday gridlock and public sector strikes, it will be the autumn before the new prime minister can get to grips with an economy on the verge of recession. i don't expect to have a lot. i just expect to be able to pay my bills and my fade and not have to be constantly worrying over every single penny that goes out of this house. for the worst, often the prospect of a winter, a head with yet higher prices. and the dreadful choice of whether to heat or eat joe, the whole al jazeera penrith, cumbria, that is not in columbia have started to normalize diplomatic relations. ambassadors will be appointed,

and counselors will be reopening for the 1st time in 3 years when columbia and president leg ghost of petro takes office the next month, between nations or the work towards boosting security along the 2000 kilometer border. columbia is outgoing leader, had supported efforts by venice. well, an opposition later on quite dough to oust president nicholas margotto. to members of a hong kong boy band have been injured after a giant screen fell onto the stage during a concert. the band meter was performing at the hong kong coliseum. the screen fell . one of those were injured is said to be in a serious condition. the series of shows has been plagued by technical faults and questions or safety. experts say they don't know how to control a virus that killed 3 young elephants at a zoo in switzerland. zookeeper is to say the animals died from a form of harpies infection results in internal bleeding and organ failure which causes death within days.