is free $5000000000.00. a lucky ticket for the 2nd largest jackpot in the u. s. history was sold for just $2.00 at a convenience store in rural maine, a winner will be able to choose between a one time payment of $720000000.00. excuse me, or an annual payout over 30 years. the owner of the store where the winning ticket was sold says he didn't believe nice when he 1st got the call i thought for sure was still was either got to be asked for a discount or my social security number for, but it was our. so i looked online and sure enough i had one or we had sold, excuse me, we had sold the ticket. so the media frenzy quickly ensued down here at the store. when a real busy morning, we are anxiously awaiting to see hopefully, it's somebody that we know we see off. ah, this is out a 0. these you top stories. russian forces have launched missiles,

a cities across ukraine, including the capital. keep. these 14 people have died and 60 were injured. and the city of denise pro where rockets destroyed to residential buildings rescue workers are searching for survivors. natasha butler has more from keith. been a number of russian attacks in different parts of the country. there are, are ongoing an air raid alert systems also in most of southern ukraine. here in keith though it is a bit more quiet. we certainly though, had a different picture this morning. we heard needy 5 very distinct explosions that we later found out were strikes at key infrastructure in the city according to local authorities. the head of the world health organization has welcomed china's public release of data on cove at 19 related death. beijing now says nearly 60000 people have died in the hospital since lifted streets. corona virus restrictions in early

december, thousands of tennesseans have rallied in the capital tunis, calling for the resignation of president k said a demonstration marked 12 years since tennessee in protesters sparks arab spring uprisings around the region. thousands of people have demonstrated in tel aviv against plans by the new israeli government over hold the judicial system. they say plans by the prime minister benjamin netanyahu is far right administration, could we can the supreme court. the white house lawyer says another batch of classified documents have been found at the private residence of u. s. president joe biden. richard sober, says the white house will cooperate with the special council appointed to investigate the u. k is withdrawing as ambassador from iran after toronto executed a british iranian national allie resurrect barry, a former deputy defense minister was convicted of spying for british intelligence.

and the man who was in charge of security and brazil's capital one government buildings was stormed last sunday, has been arrested after returning from the u. s. and a centuries served as justice minister under the former president j a bull scenario and is facing allegations of collusion with the rises. kate, as he headlines and he's continues here on out there of counting the cost. we don't simply focus on the pelican of the conflict. it's the consequence of war, the human suffering that we the 4th time. it is one of the most serious about the violence. in recent here, we brave bullets and bomb because we give voice to those demanding freedom the rule of law and will always include the views from our sites with

other i'm nicholas. this is counting the cost on al jazeera jo looked at the world of business and economics this week. china is at 0. cobit policy is over, despite a surgeon case, as the country has opened, its doors to the rest of the world. will that help revive the economy and what are the global implications also this week, europeans have been bracing for a difficult winter because of the energy crunch, but gas storage facilities are almost full and prices fell from reco high's site. did europe overcome it's energy crisis? plus we explore why savvy young's in, baldwin graduates, a trading as seen at the board room table for chance to work the la ah say 3 years of city wide looked downs. and border closures in china have disrupted supply chain squeeze businesses and cause widespread economic damage

. now as bay jane joins the rest of the weldon adapting to life with the virus, the lifting of it straight cove. 19 policy is bringing both relief and uncertainty . rolling back pandemic rules is meant to revitalize the economy, but it's also led to new outbreaks. factory activities shrank in december at the shop is pace in nearly 3 years. as cobit infractions, sweat through production lines across the country. china has been struggling with a drop in retail sales consumers spending and record unemployment rate. but virus curves weren't the only fighter dragging down the chinese economy. the country's property sector is in crisis and trade, which makes up around a 5th of china's gdp, took a hit from the global economic slowdown. or the countries reopening could have huge implications for the rest of the world to among the sectors expected to benefit from the lifting of restrictions on. foreign travel is the global hospitality

sector. but while some countries offer travelers coming from china, a warm welcome, others impose travel requirements. tony chain as this now from bangkok. oh ruling out the red carpet on it, guests. 3 ministers and a host of senior government officials. welcome passengers on a flight from sharmen and southern china gift bags and garlands. but for the tourists, it was reward enough to be able to travel overseas. and a people on our family and over here. and here also help you repeat it and everything. wow, is the tourist move through the airport? neither they nor any of the other arrivals were required to show vaccine certificates. the civil aviation authority that hardly announced full passengers will be required to show proof of vaccination or immunity from cove at 19, regardless of their country of origin. and that the health minister backtrack

thailand is dropping vaccine requirements, despite concerns that an influx of chinese tourists could bring new variance at the virus. we find not imposing, restrict, speaking to al jazeera, getting the minister explained. he wants to do everything, so to encourage visitors to come, we evaluate the risk as an opportunity together. a new i valuation is that there is no risk. they still risk, but we have things to overcome those risks. you in the financial risks of not inviting people by the way, you mean the find the economic risk of north america. and with this abrupt you turn is an indication of the fact that tyler wants tourist arrivals from anywhere in the world. the fact they're hoping for $10000000.00 arrivals from china by the end of the year. so soon, indication of hairline thailand is now on arrivals from china. other asian nations are also hoping to leo back chinese tourists. japan was one of the most popular pre

pandemic destinations for chinese travelers. although now they'll have to show negative cove at 19 tests. but no entry requirements for barley like thailand, indonesia has dropped all current vars curbs. although it expects visitor numbers will remain low. thailand however, needs to get back to pre pandemic visitor levels. fast party unhappy, the chinese tourists are coming back. we haven't been able to make a living. we all suffered while they were gone with only a 1000000 chinese arrivals expected in the 1st quarter of the year. that might be wishful thinking over the beijing government, lifting all travel restrictions. many asian countries would be hoping chinese visitors make the most of the new found freedom. so let's take this on from london and join by shirley z u, who's a senior practitioner fellow with the ash center of harvard kennedy school, and a visiting senior fellow at the london school of economics. shirley,

welcome to the program at so 1st up, china's reopening is a big deal, isn't it? do you expect to quick economic recovery or, or might it be hampered by the such infections? good morning, nick. the infection rate has hob to 80 percent in most of the economically developed regions in china, and the buyers will continue to spread in the rural regions in the coming month. however, because of the fact that most of the industrial supply chains are spread across china's, he comically connected regions to so the supply chain recovery itself will be pretty quick and pretty strong. the government always investing infrastructure to give the economy some needed a dose of boost. however, consumption is really 6. he percent of the chinese economy. so unless we see the consumer demand to pick out, we do not really see the signs of a sustainable structural recovery yet ramez. the thing is that because consumer and

business confidence has been really hit by the covert pandemic. so how will that the government's set about trying to restore that confidence? i absolutely agree with you. i think of some consistency in the government to policy setting be crucial to boost their consumer and business confidence. so chinese consumers have saved 17 trillion are being 2020 tunic and that's roughly almost close to 3 trillion dollars. it's because humans are really opting for saving rather than investing or consuming. and i think i talked about consistency in the past couple of years. we have seen a lot of policies that have not been consistent. first of all, it was out to crack down on the real estate sector and now she rescued a sector. it was to crack down on china speak. take and not supporting the be tag. and it was a 0 call the containment for a couple of years and, and all of a sudden, overnight is changed. shoe letting the viruses spread as quickly as possible. so no matter if you are a consumer business entrepreneur, you really don't know what's going to happen. next and so i think the government

really has a lot of job to do to send a strong, inconsistent message to the public and one of which is to be pro private business. i think the chinese president has recently openly supported the legitimate row of chinese private companies. jo, john governments, the government where ha, alibaba headquarters actually visited the company and established a strategic partnership there. and i think above all, it is really important for the chinese government to send a message out and at that expresses the consistency that economic growth rather than this ideological reportable struggle will continue to be china's over our chain priority for the foreseeable future. right? another area that the government has had to focus on is, is trying to revive the property sector. has it done enough to think never enough. it's on the road because we haven't seen really the us stabilisation of the real, the say sector yet. does sector really face? is he structural demographic challenge?

china's new birth number in 2022 hit a new low. so there are just simply too many homes for increasing the fewer populations. but the purpose of the government, today's really not so a inside another era of a high growth in the realty sector. it is really trying to of, we're avert a systemic financial. isis is trying to say the banks, the banking sector is also trying to save the local governments who are not only heavily indebted today, but they are heavily re lines on will be say, land sales revenue for their fiscal receipts. and so really what the government is trying to achieve here is to avert a spill over from the real the state of crisis into the banking sector. the really see factor is not likely to see high levels of growth for a very long time, but will that i'm gonna be able to avert a systemic financial collapse? i think so. i think the government's though has a lot of tools. both monetary and the fiscal to deploy and needed,

or what about money coming in from overseas, foreign investments? how thought shape, you know? and that's the area that said been, i really contentious. china will always welcome foreign direct investment. but given the structure of the chinese economy today, nick, the f d i, the china tried to lure a william increasingly b, leaning towards the high end sectors. a high take i in manufacturing, finance and the public health, etc. and the recent past loaded negotiation that broke down between the chinese national are you sure the provider and pfizer really shows that we understand the china inquired about the possibility of pfizer developing. we're producing a generic version in china of for the chinese consumers. and so as trying arrived was up to the global tech funds here, i think the concerns we'll remain that as china becomes more and more powerful in

technology, china will try to come up with a domestic version of the western kind of parts and that are put the western kind of parts at a disadvantage to china, trying to reconnect with the rest of the world. but at a time when it's relations with us, but not great are they and the global economy is continuing to slow. so what impact rule of i have on the economic plan? i think we have to re nation the next, the arrows globalization. i think our sat, the original comprehensive economic partnership that was established between the r c r countries and the rest of asia neighbors. or will continue to generate a chew, a trade and economic integration in the asia pacific region. china as clearly express the interest and effort in trying to apply for a membership in the c t t p p, which is a higher bar regional trade in economic agreements. and i think, and today we're starting to seem increasingly with clarity that the u. s. and the

chinese forces are trying to mutually exclude each other from their own, our industrial supply chains, particularly at a high end. and so i think the next era of globalization, we're starting to see 2 parallel systems of globalization with the chinese and the u. s. a economy said the center. and then there will be a 2 parallel forms of globalization, of going on at the same time in, across asia, europe and increasingly, africa. so finally, disability rewinding back to this reopening of china's economy. the is come sooner than expected for, for many goldman sachs wants to just that that will lead to supply chain issues. is that a problem? do they? i think goldman sachs has been wanting about short term supply chain disruptions and balance, i think are china's re opening and rejoining the world as he said, is

a positive for the global economy. and obviously another concern on the horizon is how we the pick up in chinese consumer demand. and also the production capacity of from within china is going to, i added to the results of global inflation. so there is quite a lot to consider there are i surely the use is great to have your analysis. we appreciate it. thanks very much. in clinic. ah. so it's being considered year it's worst nightmare in decades. the energy crunch caused by russia shotting of gas applies, was expected to get worse and even spiral out of control in the winter. factories did go dark and the heating was turned down as europe in households and businesses, or the brunt of hefty energy bills. but after months of striving to secure supplies and lower the cost of switching on the lights and cooking males, europe's fortunes may have turned natural gas prices in europe. and the united

states fell to their lowest level since russia's invasion of ukraine, wholesale european gas prices, as measured by the benchmark. dutch futures contract have fallen to $77.00 per megawatt hour early this month. and they've sold to an all time high of $364.00 back in august. while energy price is rocketed after russia stop the flow of gas through the north stream $1.00 pipeline to europe, citing technical problems. the e u has accused moscow of using energy as a weapon in retaliation for western sanctions imposed on russia over its invasion of ukraine. or the block boosted imports from norway to replace rush and gas and snapped top supplies. if liquefied natural gas mostly from the united states in kata, they also raised to build facilities needed to receive l. n, g by ships and converted into gas. it can be transported through pipelines. european nations filled up their storage facilities and encourage consumers to use

less gas by setting of voluntary 15 percent reduction target. some nations have shifted back to colon restarted nuclear plants and rolled out ambitious renewable energy plans. all the while russia has increased gas exports to china in an attempt to reduce its dependence on the european market. well, joining me now from vienna, as your highness bernini your harnesses, the chairman and executive officer of j. b. c. vienna. johan, as welcome to the program, 1st up, so there we were ferrying the winter of soaring prices, and in fact, the gas prices have slumped. is that just down to the wall whether that we've had across europe so far this winter, or indeed action taken by nations. but it's a combination, really expensive. tennis of the gas supply has motivated many of the consumers, many of the industries to reduce their demand. some of the businesses simply have shut down. they preferred to make money by selling their natural gas.

others obviously are reducing their consumption because it's so expensive. but they were also lucky because the winter weather surprise been fairly mild. and let's face it. we have seen, still supplied from russia, which has prevented divorcing to happen. so there is reduced supply from russia. they managed to build inventory before and so, so far they were lucky. you use the phrase as i fall twice, in particular referring to the the winter weather. i'm it and it could yet be a big freeze. would that change things radically? well, it won't change anything for this year. i think for this winter we are over the top of the most difficult time. the inventories are reasonably cold, so they will manage to go through this winter. the problem comes in the next he think, season, simply because you have to bear in mind in 2022. a lot of the natural gas that is

on inventory right now has still come out of russia. and because the supplies were still working fully till the middle of the year. now this, you know, stream one, you know, at least currently is unlikely to operate and stream to could in theory operate. but that is politically not very, very be easy to, to handle. so this year is going to be very difficult in the refill process. we talk about this, the drop in prices, but the consumers aren't seeing that. are they, at what point will they see a drop in prices to their energy bills? and then the question is, in whose interest is it? the governments are really trying to motivate the consumers not to maintain demand on the island. now, once prices decline, obviously the consumers don't feel the pressure so much and they would maybe increase consumption again. so i think right now, you know, it's in the interest of the governments to motivate the consumers to consume more. that's why it's going to be very funny. if you see prices dropping,

that would be unusual. how long do you think governments can continue to intervene to keep prices down? i mean, right now the winter should do most of it. thereafter, when prices are falling, obviously it's going to be a bit more difficult for them not to to allow that price dropped to happen. so right now you see a lot of motivation for everyone not not to consume as much as before, but i mean, we have to face this, this decline in process is not only a, you repeat in sphere, right? europe right now, it's benefiting from 2 factors. in the market from the weather number one is that china is not yet back on its feet. and number 2, simply because the high natural gas price is not only have motivated you repeat consumers to consumers. we have seen a whole bunch of asian countries that are turning away from coal in using more natural gas, basically to revert back to coal. now that means they were priced out,

and this is basically, to some degree, helping the pin supplies iteration. he mentioned china, what are the implications of china's reopening on your energy market, where it's dramatic, i mean, china and the last couple of years has become globally the biggest player on the island. she market. it has successfully reduced the share of coal in each and the energy portfolio basically increasing the gas element in it. now we have seen the last 12 years, particularly the year 2022. there was no increase in consumption in terms of natural gas in china. us for obvious reasons, to commit to and coming slow down. and now, you know, doesn't matter to whom you speak, everyone would expect this year. there will be a come back now. that may be happening and may not, but if it happens, clearly, china is a dominant player, and d and d, ellen, she market and it would be then,

you know, compete with europe that put them price at dr. price is higher, right. and will benefit russia, because china would be a klein's of russia. right? well, i mean, right now the funny thing is russia doesn't sell so much piped gas to europe, but it's a lot of balance sheet to europe. it's so funny. i mean it's, it's the, the strategy in terms of sanctions in europe is not way well, well balanced. but right now, rusher is making more in vote to deal and she market. of course, the pipeline supply into china is one topic. but there in mind that takes many years to go because of building and expanding pipelines that wants to die in place right now have been basically approved and built into the investment decision but taking 5 to 10 years ago. so whatever happens right now has been decided many years ago. so this is not one day to the of the exercise, but yes,

they will in the medium term, build more capacity iteration. and what's happened finally has inspired a change in the approach. the renewable energy build across europe is not going to continue. do you think and will it gain momentum? we see that right now the pin commission is basically meant i think, member countries to accelerate the approval process for renewable projects. many countries that are now executing that thing in australia. they chose to prove it. and that means that you can build wind box solar pugs faster than before that will help. but bear in mind that it is not an immediate solution. this is going to take a couple of years till that is translating into more energy independence. in the meantime, what it'll, what is happening is that the relatively low amount of carbon dioxide does that is in natural gas, has been swapped against

a higher amount of carbon dioxide in coal. because you see everywhere right now in europe that coal is helping out to provide energy. and that basically comes with the cost, not only in asia, right. what i mentioned before, but it comes to the cost also in europe, in terms of moving away from fossil fuels and high carbon energy. you had a pretty good to get your thoughts. thank you. thank you. alright, the soaring cost of living and rising interest rates occurring, consumers appetite for shiny electronic devices. samsung, which is the world's biggest manufacturer of memory, chips, smart phones, and tv says its profits for the last 3 months of 2022. plunged by almost 70 percent, that is the lowest level in 8 years. well, the felt great companies has been struggling with weak demand for memory, chips, smartphones, and displays as consumers, temp, down on spending. something as late as major technology company to be hit by

dropping sales as concerns grow about a global economic downturn. well, unemployment is high in zimbabwe, and most of the population of 40000000 is working in formerly to make ends meet better young graduates with degrees and business and more in finance. in technology, you can't find a job in their fields, a switching to farming, to try on a living. her, him a task reports now from the gra munsey district in easton, symbolic way. unicoi. giacomo has a master's degree in international trade law, but finding a job in zimbabwe is difficult. so in 2018, he became a farmer and now employs several people. the 30 year old is one part of a new generation of educated youths who worked the land to create livelihoods. but navigating the country's farming industry isn't easy. the biggest challenge we've got is an issue or for finance or capital and or for even young people

to be able to walk into a bank. you've got no collateral. you've got probably no history or you've got no studied lane to tell how valuable your business or your idea is. and also even the access to, to lent the state some banks and the private sector help finance farmers. but many say they can't get the help they need to get started. this country has a lot of fertile land, but since landra fallen when commercial farms was seized from white and given to black and barbarians, some of that land is not being fully utilized. more young people here say they can help increase productivity in another part of the country, valerie mozilla and her husband are preparing to export watermelons to the middle east, zimbabwe. strategically located because most of this product grad getting it from australia in brazil. zimbabwe is just $21.00 to $28.00 days to dubai. whereas when

you look at brazil, they are looking at over 35 days on water. old infrastructure, electricity shortages and, and inflation rate of more than 200 percent. are some of the factors holding back the bobbies farmers, it really depends on the performance of the economy, whether you are going to be successful. it really depends on the difference of the economist input economy improves. so at the profit prospects of firms, valerie believe farming could be one solution to the countries unemployment problem . but young people say for that to work, they must have access to the resources they need to thrive. us is, i'll show for this week if you'd like to comment on anything you've seen. you can reach me at mcclark al jazz using the hash tag a j c t c, or drop us an email. cutting the cost at auxilary dot net is all address, but there's more for you online at al serra dot com slash cdc. that'll take you

straight to our page, which has individual reports, links and anti episodes for you to touch. so that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm to clock from the whole team. thanks for joining us. the news on al jazeera is coming up there are people in the world who walk all forms of verification to just go away. so we need people fighting against that. we are trying to see if it's a fake video, maybe and syria, but in a different time. they risk a great deal to find out the truth in very complex situations that include major global players. we'd be targeted by cyber attacks from russia. they're all dangerous of doing this kind of work welling cat truth in a post truth world on al jazeera african stories from african perspective. isn't well yet i said, well then you also can kinda come up there. okie day,

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