smashing anything in its path. last time he said we were at home and woke up. my husband woke up and went outside and there was a waterfall of water, a mud coming down. i called my brother, we went down the street to get to the car park, but we couldn't because it was already flooded that mud. his sunday address in the vatican, pope francis spoke of his solidarity and sorrow for the victims and offered his prayers. and the italian government has declared a state of emergency for escape. a decision which means ministers can start to release around $2000000.00 in relief funds. the island has experienced earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and severe weather before an earthquake in 2017 left to people dead. the final total from this tragedy is likely to be higher all brennan al jazeera and a quick reminder that can catch her with all the stories we're covering or checking out our website has also plenty on the well cut their hours era dot com ah.

the top stories around to 0, hundreds of people are protested in several chinese cities in an unprecedented show of defiance against the countries 0 cove policy demonstrations against president shooting pings. strict measures are taking place in beijing, shanghai, and even whoo, han comes as infections reach record numbers for the 4th consecutive day. took years at defense. mystery is reportedly going ahead with its planned ground offensive in northern syria in the coming days. targeting kurdish fighters from the y p g on group allied to the syrian democratic forces. anchor blames them for a missile attack that killed 5 people on tuesday. military has already bombed and shelled some city sites in the syrian countryside near the border. the group, asha barb says it's fighters of attack to hotel used by government officials in the

somali capital market issue or police say the attackers storm, the villa rows hotel, which is close to the presidential palace with explosives and guns. millions of ukrainians are trying desperately to stay warm as the winter season approaches. many have been struggling with disruptions to power supplies caused by waves of russian air strikes. where we challenge has more from keith. as you can see here, and if you have fresh snow falling temperatures hovering around 0 degrees elsewhere in the country in the south in the east, it's a little bit warmer. so a couple of degrees warmer but still very cold and across the country. i would say that the situation is still extremely difficult. at least 8 palestinians have been arrested in an early morning raid by israeli forces in the occupied west bank. the soldiers targeted the towns of ramallah and bethlehem, where they confiscated weapons and ammunition is ready. forces have carried out

several raids in the occupied territories in recent months. targeting, passing in groups, sir. okay. i've shopped well, number 2, nation belgium in the world cup. and mew winwood put in the place, no cap stage. africans dominated winning to new, and boosting their own hips, referring to driver 0. next, when we speak to the global leaders, and info is influences even shaping up time, wednesday afternoon. ah. ah, wales is a land with a rich history that dates back more than 200000 years. it's been home to european

celtic tribes, and roman and saxon invaders. whales is often believe to be a province of the united kingdom. in fact, it's part of a political unit of 4 nations that form the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. wales has its own language, traditions heritage of culture and its own national football team. for the 1st time in 64 years. they've qualified for the world cup during $11.00 against the united states and their opening match. thousands of wells crimes of travel to cut out a cheer on their team in their most awaited return to the global, told him. one of those who made the journey is the 1st minister of wales. we caught up with him. hendo mocked dreyfus talks to al jazeera ah close minister coy so it though ha coy, so out of here

a welcome to though how welcome to al jazeera. so this is the 1st time that well to qualify for the woke up in 64 years. what took so long, but it wasn't the lack of trying. i can tell you that we've come very close to qualifying a number of times over those years, but to be on the stage with only 32 countries around the world. in football is a hugely competitive business, whilst is the smallest country to qualify for this world. cup of am guitar who are here is the host. so it's a huge achievement because rugby and wales is a, is a much bigger game than football. he's talked to people outside of the u. k. and everybody seems to know who garrath bailey's. yeah. ok. so you could argue that goth bale perhaps has done more for welsh football than than the government has. i mean, does your government investing grass roots football? is? is it bringing new players through his wales? going to be a permanent fixture?

it will cups in the future. do you think also the we will card with the football association where does the f a w to invest in grassroots football. but you're right . a small number of global superstars does more to draw attention to the game and to infuse young people for the game and probably a lot to grassroots day in day out endeavor does. but in the end it is that at the grassroots investment, the buyer you the future that he's a successful one and the other proud walsman, i don't want to talk down my own country, but, but as a welshman, people ask you here when you're an ex pantry where are you from? you say whales that oh england, no, no, no whales. now. well, it does seem to have something of an image problem. scotland doesn't seem to have this problem. what, why is it so with wells, do you think? well, i think it's a very long history of as you know, the saying is england and wales ah, with a very big neighbor. immediately next door to

a dominant language. all of those things wales has lived under the shadow of all of that. and small countries have to shout louder to be heard. it's really only in the last 25 years over the parliament of our own in cardiff and a sense of separation so that it's not enough these days just to say england and wales you could attend to wales specifically as 25 years against 500 and more years where the opposite was true, right? so you're, you're the 1st minister of wales. you lead a devolved government, as, as you alluded to the many people of course watching this in the u. k. will know all about this. people around the world though won't understand what this means. what does devolve government mean? what are your responsibilities as the head of a divorce? government? so it means that people in wales vote for their own parliament, which then makes decisions ongoing. things that only apply to people in wales. i mean the way it's all the things that matter to people day in and day out. so the

welsh parliament is now responsible for health for education, for local government, for transport, for agriculture, for the wash language for sport, a long list of things, which are the domestic agenda. the u. k. government remains responsible for things like defense, for fine affairs, for macros can all make policy. but the things that you notice in your daily lives now, those decisions are made in whales by people who people in wales have voted for to make those decisions. but, but you don't set tax races, is that for your reliant upon the u. k. government, for the income that you have to spend on, on all of those things, you know about 80 percent of our total income comes via the u. k. government about 20 percent of it comes to taxation, decisions made in wales. the start of dilution quarter century ago, a 100 percent of our income came through the u. k. government and over time that

has began to shift and that's probably a process that we will see continue. it's a 1st list of those. that's something that that but frustrates you to what extent do you have one hand tied behind your back? no, i'm not wholly frustrated. by it, when i li to devolve government, i'm a believer in the united kingdom. i think the united kingdom is better off having wales in it. and wales is better off of being in the united kingdom. and that does mean that some of those big macro economic decisions are better made at a u. k level. now, the formula that sends money to wells needs reform, it has since the very beginning, but the big picture in which those are shared responsibilities. some money raised to u. k. decisions. some money raised was decisions. that's the right one for me. you're the leader of the labor party in wales as well as, as 1st most of the labor party, of course is the, is her majesty's opposition nationally throughout the u. k and the government in

westminster is a conservative lead government. is there any friction there between the fact that the whales is led by the labor party and the rest of the country is being governed by the can services when it does lead to tensions, the degree of tension tends to depend on the nature of a government at westminster. we've lived through 12 years now of conservative government at some points. that's been a relatively been in relationship. at other times, it's be more conflict you all. a great deal depends upon the degree to which a westminster government respects the dilution settlement. not just in relation to wales, but scotland and northern ireland as well. the reason i'm asking all of this is because recently there was a controversy where, where you lost your 10 in the center of the wealth welsh assembly. and we even heard about that in this part of the world that was over the health service, which like the health services, what across the u. k. in wales is experiencing a problems it's to do with with to do with funding. and this is why i ask you about

the frustration and the opposition. we're blaming you for the health service problems in wales. and you will say, well, i can only do what i can do given the funding that i'm that i'm given. yes. well, that discussion took place just after the united kingdom had gone through those very difficult and damaging weeks of the lives trust premiership. 6 weeks that damage the reputation melvin united kingdom, around the world, 6 weeks that damaged or economy and where people in wales will be paying to pick up the pieces. my anger was that the conservative opposition in wales had no ownership at all of that. not a single word of recognition of what they had done, seeking instead to blame somebody else for the predicament we find ourselves. and the reason that it made headlines just because it's, it's very unusual for your europe, a very mild mannered politician. you'll,

you'll not like the, put the kind of politicians that we become used to seeing and in westminster, in london. how did you get into, into politics? you spend a great deal of your career in academia. i've a politician by accident. so i normally say i came to work in the office of my pre decisive of so it's municipal, the 1st 10 years of evolution, the founding father of d. sham. i worked in his office, i helped to run things in the background. and then he retired and stood down and i had to decide at that point, did i want to stand for election in that constituency where i lived and to follow from hammond to the very difficult decision for me in beverly and decision and in the end. but i didn't want to do was to look back in another 5 years time and ask yourself, well, what if, what if, what if i tried? what if i had to go? so i decided when i would have a go and we would see how things worked out. and as it happened,

i got elected and then became a minister. and then the moment came when ah, i just felt the experience i'd had those 10 years. i worked in the 1st minister's office, but that was experience that could be put to work, to help watch people and the large parliament to those very testing days of bracket . then followed by covert, now followed by another economic crisis. so it's putting that experience to work. well, i want to ask you about about breaks it in a moment, but, but 1st, why, why the labor party jo from upon were both south williams. i'm se wales, which was the industrial hot class of wells. labor is the traditional party of that part of the will go much further west light. i could have imagined you being a nationalist part of the plight comrey while i had to make a decision very early on in life. by the time i was 14, i knew that i had to decide for myself, was i a nationalist or was i a socialist? and i knew then that i was

a socialist being was really matters to me or history or language or culture. i'm profoundly welsh in that sense. but politically, i continue to believe that the interests of working people in wales are not dissimilar to the interest of working people in scotland all in england either. and we are better off forging alliances between people whose interests are similar. i'm making progress together rather than thinking that in the end, the accident of geography because that's where you're born, isn't it? yes, it's an accident. you could be born anywhere. we are lucky enough and happened to be bonnie wales. i don't think that's enough to define us. where do you stand on the issue of independence, where all internationally were aware of the scottish governments that the which is run by the, the nationalist party, they desire to have another referendum or on independence. what, what about wales? well, my view is,

is that we have the best of both worlds. we are members of the united kingdom, with the advantages that, that brings to us in ways and those advantages are real. but we also have the huge advantages of being a devolved nation, where we make so many decisions for ourselves, but you're not fully in control. no, and i want to be fully in control. my own view of the world is, is that the more we atomize things, the movie, separate ourselves off from other people, the harder the world becomes. i don't want to leave the union. that is the united kingdom. i didn't want to leave the union. that is the european union because on the think, but sharing things with others who have close interests with you while retaining that powerful set of decisions lie in your own hands. that's a combination that works for wales. how much damage has, has brakes done to the, to the welsh economy that the people of scotland voted a majority of people devoted to remain within the

e u in wales. that wasn't the case more people wanted to leave the stay in the u. k . and yet, and yet wales was receiving a lot of money from, from the you that's got to have heard. oh, leaving the european union is an act of economic self harm. but it's largely because of the way we've left a european union. once people in wales had voted to leave. my focus was never on the fact abraxas because that had been decided. but the form of rex it, we ended up with the hardest form or breaks it with a severing of economic relationships with damage done to the relationships between the united kingdom and our closest and most important ne bus. there was a different way of leaving the european union where we would have removed ourselves from the political mechanism, but stayed in the single market, stayed in the customs union, protected the interests of working people and firms in wales. we chose not to do it

that way or the u. k. government chose not to do it that way. and the hom, it causes the economy in whales, is reo, and continues every day. so you, your, you lead the largest party in the welsh assembly but, but only just that, but the nationalists on fall behind if, if the nationalists take power in the welsh assembly and campaigned for an independent whales, could wales survive? do you think as an independent nation, especially without the money that that it was getting before breaks it up? just to make one point, we have a 60 feet parliament. we have 30 sheets, but the conservative party that is the next large right, right. it has 16 and the master's part. he has few of them. half the number of seats that the labor party has. so it's a long distance from being in power. if however, any party were to win an election on a manifesto that says they would put the issue of independence to the welsh people

and one. and of course wales could be independent. i've never believed the argument that says it's simply not possible. the price would be higher, the price would be high in terms of people standard of living in terms of the new responsibilities that you would have to discharge. but the argument for me is not whether independence is possible. it's just to be got a better deal on the table in what shape is the wash economy, right? when would you and i were growing up. of course it was an industrial power house we had. we had coal mines, we had steal, looks all of that. now has gone out, how does wales make a living these days? wheels is recovered from kobe very strongly. our unemployment level is lower than the u. k. as a whole. and when i was growing up, the number of people who are out of the workplace because of sickness, you can on weekly inactive, was the highest in the u. k. and raising and over 20 years of devolution, it's come down and down. so we are not in bad shape despite the head doings we face

and what are they doing is creating a new economy, foils, and renewable energy. means that after a period in which our geography was against us, far out from the western edge of europe, long supply chains, expensive ways of moving goods and jobs. now are geography is on our side. we have wind because we faced the atlantic. we have rain as you know, every now and then, but we have solar and we have wave power as well. 56 percent of all the electricity we use in wales this year will be generated from renewable sources. that will be 70 percent by the end of this decades. and in those new industries, those industries will secure energy that is safe. that is secure. that deals with climate change phase, the future of whale. but he still in, in wales, you have problems with, with infrastructure in that the,

it's difficult to get from the north of the country to the south of the country without going into wales and taking rather and taking a rather secure route. that in the end is just the nature of our geography, where mountainous country are small country i sometimes read it said that he flattened wales out. we be as big as france for kids just that all our land is kelly one up and down and easy route north and south have never been possible in wales. so you know, we manage, we have an effective train service. you can drive, it's not the most straightforward of routes, but you know, we're used to it. it's what we've dealt with for 2000. you said it is a land of amazing culture as was, as well as a scenery, one of the jobs as 1st minister, of course, is to promote whales and attract trade and investment. but it's, it's to promote wells culturally as well. what, what do you, what do you particularly proud of about? oh, i'm really proud of kosovo language. the oldest spoken language in europe,

the longest, continuous written language in europe. i cannot tell you stories with her. i tell you something that shame to this day i grew up in a period where, where the welsh language you could argue was being suppressed, particularly in the part of south wales in which i grove idle welshman, i don't speak welsh, i'm not fluent in welsh, like you i bits and bulbs i communion and that that i'm ashamed to to say that but now at least every kid in wales. am i right in saying, yeah, grows up every learning the language, language, and food over a food of young people know secondary schools receive the whole of our education through the medium of welsh and the growth in large medium education has been a real story of whales in the last 30 years, but that is a real see change. and even when i was in school, the thought was, was that while she was the language of the home, the half, and it wasn't the language of the official world, you didn't deal with a word to the medium of whilst i was english. and to get on english was the

language you would need. well, that has definitely changed by 2050. we have an ambition which i think we will reach of having a 1000000 well speakers in wales and in a global economy. if you're trying to attract investment, you have to have something special to offer. why go they rather than some of the spot on the globe? and people who come to wales investors who come to wales. they need to feel they are somewhere special. that has an identity and a difference, and you can feel that, you know, somewhere let his special indifference. and that's why our language and culture matters economically as well as in every other way. all of these people and learning the welsh language, as you say. and the culture, having your own language might push towards people towards national it, would that be a fair assessment in that, that we talked about about play that, that the nationalist in wells at the moment being in

a minority that their support could grow politically. while of course study is possible, but the labor party, 1st one and election in wales in 1922 and we've never not done it since that is a 100 unbroken year's oper, relationship between money party and the wash people i. my job is to to make sure that that's the key relationship to be welsh and to be labor or to relate to identities that sit right upon one another hand in glove. and we do that by working hard at it all the time. whenever i am preaching to my troops, i'm always saying we never take a single vote for granted every time we are out there talking to people, it is another opportunity to resubmit the relationship that we have built up between people in wales. the things that matter to them and they're feeling that

the labor party has been the best vehicle to achieve those. and that level of support for the labor party hasn't changed despite the fact that that, that whales, as, as a country has, has changed. it's not, as we said earlier, the industrial power house that it but it once was no well in the last election for the wash parliament which was in may of last year we achieved the largest share of the vote that we have at any time in the dilution period. so you know, that relationship remains really strong and the language belongs to everybody belongs to everybody, whether you speak it fluently or you just know a few words of it. and i think one of the wonderful things about the language is that people who don't speak it, i was proud of it. i'm as committed to being part of welsh life as people who brought up speaking it every day. there are rumors that the perhaps you're, you're, you're talking about slowing down perhaps. how long do you think you'll, you'll, you'll stay at this. ah, i said in the very beginning when i was 1st standing for the leadership of my party

that i thought 5 years was the sort of period that somebody doing this job in the modern era should think about doing it. i'm not quite there yet, but i'm well over halfway there and i would never walk away from the job but a time when the going was tough for they were difficult decisions that needed to be made, but the time will come during the senate to me. i've been part of the senate for the 1st quarter of a century. it's tongue. we elected somebody who looks ahead to the next 25 years. you talked about the pandemic and, well, you've been, you've been praised for the way in which you handled the pandemic in with, as opposed to how the national government in london handled the pandemic. i mean, when you look back when the time eventually come, when you look back of your career, what would you want your legacy to be think? i don't think much in terms of legacy to be honest. i think i'll be happy with an

epa tough that said he came into work every day and he tried to do his best of rockets. ok, is there anything that you did you still want to do? i'm not. i mean in politics? yes, i mean, but is there anything else in the ambition you have in life still? oh, many things and i will be very keen to to when i don't have to spend as much time doing what i do now. as you said, i spend most of my working life in the university, and i hugely miss teaching. i miss being with young people. i miss the excitement you get with watching young people learn and sometimes being able to pass on some things to them that they may find useful. so i'd very much like to be able to go back and do a little bit of at my poll neglected allotment. we look forward to seeing a bit more of me than it normally does, than even the family members who might like to pay

a bit more time in my company. the world at the moment is, is, is watching, gotta, because it's hosting the woke up more visitors here. something like a 1000000 people are coming to to, to counter many of them for the 1st time since you issue what, what, what are your impressions of the place? and i mean, you talk about wales being as a small nation and a nation that wants to keep its, its language and culture alive. i mean, they're very similarity. a lot of similarities between whales and, and cattle. yeah. opposed whether possible, whether i think those things are very apparent when you are here. i spend the 1st part of the day on economic context, but the 2nd half of the day i spent on cultural contact. i've been in the museum of islamic art because it has a relationship with the national museum in cottage wales. were looking forward to welcoming some young women educators and curators from the museum here to spend

time with us in wales in the summer. so those, some of those similarities are very apparent when you're here, the biggest impression you gattey's what an astonishing undertaking the world compass for any countries or takes it on ah, just the sheer investments you have to make to make a tournament like this possible. and if i, if i detect any emotion in the many meetings that i've had with government officials and ministers and so on, it's a slight sense of relief. the ball is actually here, there was an opening ceremony, there was a match and that the football which is taken all those years in the planning is now actually where the center of attention will be. mark drake, the 1st minister, the archival thank you for being with us. well, thank you very much indeed. ah

ah, with the 1st round of wildcard, the greek game is over. we've already seen a huge surprises and some effect killer goal for 32 teams. and it'll have the chance to progress it still, or it's playful. as we move into round to, i thought 2022 on al jazeera. one will tell stories and take risks

to share their experiences. why? because they award winning voices telling groundbreaking stories with one and 2. 0 man has a rich history, but also plays an important diplomatic role in the gulf region today. out there well discovers it's empire stretched from the rape in peninsula to east africa. bill from great sea power. the problem that existed in the gulf was piracy. tribes was rebellion, empire and colonization. oman, history, power and influence on al jazeera. ah.