fuller, giving up their masks and that's almost to be expected. they lifted the outdoor mask mandate last meg, and yet, by and large people out, doors are still wearing their masks. there are a few different reasons for this. people are still nervous about the virus also because people are unsure about when they can and can't wear, their mask will dispense with their mask. it's just easier to keep it. um, and also this is a place with a very high degree of compliance people by a large follow the rules. so 3 years ago when they were told to wear masks, every one did, and have continued to wear them through the pandemic. it does seem 3 is on that there is a habit that is now very difficult to give up. ah, it's gonna tell you that this hello adrian sort of been here in doha. the headlines on al jazeera here are 6 rich state, actually blinkin is calling for rapid measures to ease the escalation in israeli palestinian violence. he was speaking in west jerusalem alongside israel's prime

minister benjamin netanyahu. the visit comes after days of violence in the occupied territory. as we advance israel's integration, we can do so in ways that improve the daily lives of palestinians in the west bank and gaza. and that's crucial to moving toward our enduring goal of palestinians and israelis enjoying equal measures of freedom, security, opportunity, justice and dignity present by remains fully committed that goal. we continue to believe that the best way to achieve it is through preserving and then realizing the vision of 2 states, as i said, to the prime minister. anything that moves us away from that vision is in our judgment detrimental to israel's long term security. and it's long term identity as a jewish and democratic state. that's why we're urging, oh, all sides are now to take urgent steps to restore. com. to deescalate, earlier on monday is really for says shot and killed

a 26 year old palestinian man who they say was attempting an attack. he was killed near checkpoint at hebron or the occupied west bank. at least $48.00 people were killed when a blast destroyed a mosque in pakistan's, northwestern city of per shower. around 150 were wounded. many of them seriously. the armed group took leak. eat taliban pakistan is claimed. responsibility. u. s. media have quoted a government official saying that a drone strike in central iran was carried out by israel. the strike hit a military building near the city of it's for hon. on saturday. iran is defense, ministry says that at least one drone was shot down. and the explosion caused by the damage democratic republic of congo, as government says, launched an operation to retake the strategic ton of kit shanker. m. 23 rebels seized the town in the east of the country on thursday of the days of fierce fighting rush and strikes of killed at least 3 people in the ukraine. southern city of have san 6. other people were injured in the garage,

which struck at apartment building at other civilian that facilities, the regional capital of cassandra, and occupied by russian forces until it was recaptured by the ukrainian army in november. or he is he here on al jazeera, a little later, right after counting the cause. next. ah, algeria with no, i know i'm the cloud. this is counting the cost on al jazeera. you look at the, well,

the business and economics this week, the u. s. is facing a fiscal standoff that could put the nation at risk of defaulting on a debt for the 1st time ever. so what's behind america's debt ceiling crisis and should the rest of the well be worried? also this week, it seen as britain's national treasure about the country's health service system is falling apart. so how did the nfl has reached this point and is there a way out of the crisis? plus the travel and tourism industry is picking up speed this year. the travelers taste that changing and they're increasingly going green. ah, so the us debts is now 6 times what it was at the start of the century. despite its growing liabilities, the country has never defaulted on its payments. now the u. s. has crashed through . it's $31.00 trillion dollar borrowing limit and that means the government could run out of cash to pay its bills in less than 5 months and puts congress on the

clock to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. but getting lawmakers to agree on lights is expected to be a tough political battle on capital hill. the republican controlled house of representatives refuses to raise a debt limit unless president joe biden agrees to steep spending cuts. democrats want it to be raised without any conditions. the treasury department has started taking so called extraordinary measures, including suspending investments for retirees to avoid missing financial obligations to bondholders. but that would give congress and biden until early june to resolve the issue. while the united states is among a few countries to set a legal limit on bar, right. so what exactly is the debt ceiling? it's the maximum amount. the government can borrow to pay bills already approved by lawmakers. it doesn't include new spending commitments. the measure was 1st introduced back in 1917 to make it easier for the government to finance its

participation in the 1st world war. it has been periodically res, because the u. s. runs large annual deficits and the revenue collects isn't sufficient. the nation's debt is currently at more than a 120 percent of g d p. but that still lower than more than a dozen countries, including japan, greece and italy. in recent years with the u. s becoming more partisan. lawmakers have used the debt ceiling votes as leverage against other issues. indeed, a stand off over the debt. salient 2011 lead standard and poors to cut the u. s. as a credit rating for the 1st time ever. well, to discuss all of that on join down from london by richard siegel. richard the research analyst that i'm brazier capital, welcome to the program. so. so 1st off, i think it's worth repeating in the us that 6 times what it was at the start of the century. how come? well, there are number different reasons. there's natural growth in debt anyway,

with the economy growing and spending growing and with inflation and the like. but i think the problems really go to the early part of 2000 when fiscal discipline was last after the end of the dot r i dot com crisis. and then things really got bad in the last republican administration when there are some major tax cuts and things got even worse at the beginning of the last ministration. but because of panoramic related spending and also because of tax cuts, the difference between the republican tax cuts and then the credit tax cost is that the 1st corporate oriented and the 2nd were individual oriented. all right, and there was no relates. so we are where we are now and if the debt limit is not res, basically the federal government just runs out of cash, right? yes, that's correct. there is a very arcane calculation which determines the depth and that you really do have to

be a specialist in order to understand it. but at a certain point the u. s. government can no longer borrow in, therefore technically it would go into default because the consequences would be so devastating. it's pretty likely that an agreement will be reached even if it's very painful, even if it's at the very last minute. why does it have to be painful? why does it have to be the last minute? why not just raise the debt ceiling? its politics, it is happen many times over the past. 1520 years. in fact, the debt limit law itself dates to 1917. it doesn't really make any economic sense, maybe make some economic sense, but it's just something that there's never been enough political will to do. why would the us treasury secretary genet yellen has as introduce, so called the extra ordinary measures? i think by time how costly are these to ordinary americans and what kind of things are we talking about? they're called extraordinary, but in fact they're really just accounting techniques. the u. s. government issues

a lot of debt to social security funds the like which are are effectively non marketable and they're off balance sheet. it can effectively borrow from them for 6 to 8 months. it's a very serious situation, but i wouldn't say that any kind of default would be imminent. we have plenty of time in order to solve this. so we break ourselves at the end of the well to the partisan wrangler. what are the republicans want and, and how compromise be reached? it will have to be reached eventually. the difficulty right now is that this is not just a battle between the republicans and democrats, but it's also a battle within the democratic, excuse me, within the republican party. largely because of the long battle in order for kevin mccarthy to be nominated as how speaker he was required to give some concessions to some of the independent mining congressmen and they are the ones that are holding out against the republican party. so it's not just the typical republican versus democratic struggle bill, but what is it on the whole that the republicans want?

well, what they want is some concessions in terms of lower spending, which would, as one would expect lower spending on districts. that would be a benefit to the democratic voters or perhaps in some of the swing states as we call them. what the independent minded republicans would like is lower spending as a whole, which wouldn't be realistic. it wouldn't be a good idea. perhaps the pe suspending increase should be lower, but you wouldn't want to spend too much. last, when the economy is already very weak, you say there's no appetite for abolishing the debt limit, but it sounds like that's exactly what should be done given the, the rang but seems to happen all the time over this. why is a political appetite? it's difficult to tell, it's just one of these things that always falls by the wayside. other priorities tend to become more important and because it's been its place or such a long time, more than a century, it just fills its own inertia. it has actually been beneficial sometimes in the

past, for example, the mid 1990, when it encouraged fiscal discipline in a bipartisan matter, but that didn't last very long. a crisis happens or something else becomes for per t, and they lose that discipline. it tell us more about the u. s. is debt to g d p ratio just just how does americans that compare say to other countries? it is very high. it's approaching 140 percent of g d p. it will decline actually has some pandemic related spending declines and because of what we call the inflation tax, but historically had been on the order of 70 to 80 percent. the european limit is 60 percent. both countries are about that. germany's about 70 percent germany was on the wrong path, but it managed to reduce its debt load even with low growth and low inflation. so can be done with a political well, it's much higher in countries. such is italy and japan for the distinction there is

that there's less private debt and savings rates in both of those countries are very high. and also they have tre surpluses, so they can sustain much higher debt levels. but in the u. s, it's very high, so at some point something has to be done. there's a default on that inevitable. if there is no agreement if there is, it would be inevitable. however, i think the silver lining is said, it would be so devastating that within a day or 2 they wouldn't. it would be an emergency agreement, even if it's on a bipartisan matter in order to resolve it. just because not the, it would be a great impact on the u. s. corporate, but there would be a great impact on us economy in the rest of the world versus appreciate that. thank you. thank you for nearly 3 quarters of a century, the british government is provided mostly free health care for all britons and the national health services won't be in the country's most revered institution in facts ranking 1st and

a 2016 survey. but the n h s is now at breaking point hospital is running beyond that capacity. ambulance weights are at record highs and stress staff. a striking over pay and working conditions not baba looks at the debates on the future of the system. 55 with strike spreading and talk of a system on its knees is britain's reverence for its national health service looking much needed reform such a job. it certainly think so. the conservative from a health secretary and finance minister wrote recent levy 75 year old model of the n a chest is unsustainable. jeff, it's suggested people could pay for consulting, a family doctor and praise island system where patients must pay around $81.00 to access the equivalence of the case accident and emergency departments a and e, unless referred by the doctor. now that so sort of idea, most british politicians run away from because it means scrapping the doctrine that

health care should be free at the point of need. the prime minister has distanced himself from the comments which you did before taking office. talk about issuing fighting to any patients who missed appointment. he then backtracked, the opposition labor parties also stepped into the debate shadow. health secretary was streaming, has suggested the growing waiting lists could be tackled by the n h. s. sending more patients to private hospitals. louise irving, a retired family doctor, an anti privatization campaign. i think that's a bad idea. listen, an infinite pool of doctors, nurses, and a lot of doctors, nurses go to the private sector because they get paid more. and furthermore, when something goes wrong in the private sector, the patient is then, you know, red light of straight into a and then it us, andy. now, if we what we need is we need to build up on it. jessica and louis says she did see really improvements in patient experience in the 2 thousands on the labor when

annual increases in n. h s funding well higher than they are now. since it was created spending on the n h. s is increased by an average 3.7 percent per year in real terms, but from 2010 to 2018. when the conservatives governing coalition and then on their own annual n h s funding growth slow to 1.4 percent. it's rising more quickly now, but an aging population, an increasing demand for expensive treatments means nobody's noticing. if we look at the n a chest compared to other o e c d countries, we have fewer doctors and nurses per, had a population. we have few hospital beds for had a population. we have low levels of investment in things like diagnostic equipment and all those things are not about the way in which the system they, they and a chest is organized and funded. that's about they the fundamental decisions we made about the level that we want to spend on health in this country. so the challenge to the politicians, is this dealing with the crises hitting the health services right now,

planning for the long term and avoiding a 2 tier system. nadine barbara for counting the cost in london? well, let's take this on. joining me now also from london is sam tim's who's an economist at the new economic foundation that think tech sometimes welcome to the program. so the n h s is in crisis, even the former health factory surgeon job. it says the system is unsustainable. to agree with that? oh no, i think a funding 3 and a chest is unsustainable. the model was kind of free. the point of view is funded by general taxation that we're kind of over the last 13 years under the austerity policy that we've had. actually, we haven't been investing enough in the any chess compared to the needs of the country has glue the need for the n h. s is grown, but compared to our international is our funding. indiana chest has fallen fall below the average from is if we put more money into it just then don't other services suffer. no, that's not necessarily true. it's actually because if you have

a healthy work or you can go into work and therefore they on necessarily in as much need of social security and they're able to pay more. so at the moment we've got about half 1000000 people that are economically inactive. so kind of not looking for work, how many more compared to before the con demik and we go about how many people are just waiting lists half 1000000 more than before, pandemic now, no one for one. but actually that will be a large amount of both. and by having a healthy population have, i hope you're going to me. so why, why we reached this point, was he and it just in such a state? well, there are a few different reasons. the funding i just mentioned is, is the, it's a big issue of the needs of our country have grown. we have an aging population, and actually the funding in the chest has been kept up. there's also a major issue of staffing. we've got some like 160000 vacancies in the chest.

it's about one inch in positions. part of that is because of pay for. ringback and it just stuff, there's a reason why nested around striking the moment inexperienced actually was all that have and they were about 1015 years ago. and you have messages during the balance dots does know system that is working in school and a huge amount of that comes down to the lack of pay and public sector pay freezes that we've had over the last 15 years. there's also a major issue to do with social care, which is then having an impact on the chest as well. right. let's look at funding. there are various ideas floating about out there, including java himself. you propose making us patients pay their doctors for doctors appointments and even any emergency departments using a kind of means tested system nothing. i'm right. saying that that works in to a degree certainly in sweden, an island realistically, that's not going to work. and in the u. k, 1st of all, let's not forget that we do pay for the just pay for free lunch and income tax and

other forms of transportation. so we are paying for the service that we get. but when you arrive at your g, b, i o n a is free of the point of views. if you charge on that, well, it's going to turn people going to the services. that means when you start to get the l, they're not going to go to the g p. instead, they're going to wait several weeks longer, possibly most seriously ill. and then they require more time from the chest than they would have if kind of if the, just to be that of the start day on this, there's something here kind of, you mentioned model a moment ago. the definitely more you can do around preventative care about care in the community. if you impose the charge, the people going and trying to ensure that their health stays as good as it can be . we're never going to get close to that preventative care or it's been how do you reform the funding process? well, we have to have

a frank discussion here in the u. k. right now we have american style is a with trying to get towards that box. we've european style fest state, so actually we need to have an honest discussion of how we're paying for the chest re taxation, who's paying for it. it's. it's well known, the non dorms, for example, are paying for tax landlords as well on paying the share master insurance or capital gains. there are lots of holes in the tax system which are quite easy when the government of any color to come in and fix and immediately you could, you could put that money back into the chess. what about this idea? finally, if rely on the private sector and hospitals to help rescue the energy put forward by the labor party. so maybe as a very short term plan, this should work. but anything longer than, than short term doesn't quite make sense. we. we have a staffing issue both in indiana just social cat, where we also go about 130000 vacancies. if i,

if we can rely too much on that private model staffing within the n a check is going to get even worse. and that means kind of a greater reliance on private health. all right, well it's a battle ahead sometimes appreciate that. thanks very much. thank you. after 2 years of pandemic disruptions, the travel industry is roaring back this year. great use for countries to rely on tourism for revenue, but bad news over consensus, rising c o 2 emissions on international flights. however, a new report shows there's a shift in travelers mindset and many a now more encouraged to decrease that carbon footprint. more than 60 percent of travelers surveyed in the report have chosen sustainable options in the last couple of years and 3 quarters of travelers planned to do so in the future. it also found the majority of high end travelers are willing to pay more money to make their trips more environmentally friendly. the survey was part of

a report conducted by the world travel and tourism sector trip dot com and the global consultancy firm delight. so let's dig more into this report with julia simpson, the president and executive officer at the world travel and tourism council joining us from london. julia, welcome. so 69 percent of travelers actively seeking more sustainable travel options. what's driving this rise in demand for sustainable travel? yes, it's really just interesting and thank you for inviting me from a very chilly lungs. and i have to say, i think off the pandemic, we saw a very big pen tucked him on the travel and tourism. and people were looking to get back to nature, looking to get the grades out doors. and i think it was inevitable really off the being who top but i think that also made people have a great, a great appreciation of nature and the value in the preciousness of travel. so

apart from that dependency has been going up, everybody's list of what they need to achieve this year. you know, how can i be more stable in every aspect of my life? but certainly we publish to try to report and very top item with people saying that they want to travel more responsibly. so the demand is there is the supply as the travel and tourism industry adapting to this, are we seeing a rise in eco friendly hotels and travel destinations? absolutely. you know, you'll see all over the world. i was talking to a new member of the well traveling tourism council, best western. and they said, you know, that when they make hotel they'll often have solar panels as associated at the back of the hotel and that will be powering the hotel. you'll seeing hotels around the world wanting to sort their food more locally from local suppliers that help build a strong local economy and get seasonal food rather than maybe a great big food fest where there's

a lot of food wise people in hotels now are avoiding the use of plastics. watering . humphreys, where was, is very, very scarce service and very incredible examples of how people are recycling and using water in places like africa. so yes, very, very much it all talk to the agenda for hoteliers globally as well. isn't sustainable travel a lot more expensive and you know, times a hard yes i, it's really interesting because the trends report that we acknowledge the fact that people are for paying, you know, higher inflation. they've got their living cost going up. and yet really interestingly, when it look that, you know, spend that you wouldn't necessarily have to make people are saying that they want to keep travel top of the list. and again, i think that is very much and reaction of the beings that have locked up to 2 to 3 years. you know, china just read reopened and we're seeing the booking that going off the scale. so

yes, all in a way, i'm not surprised that people are privatizing travel and you took it back. does it affect call? interestingly, the hotel you, for example, become more efficient in terms of energy use. yes, it does sometimes costs an initial outlay an initial investment. but once a hotel is set up, it will actually make the hotel cheaper to run. there is one catch here, isn't that you have to fly to get to many of these destinations and flying currently is not sustainable travel. well, you know, it was so interesting because i was looking at the other day that when we use the internet now the use of the internet is now out stripping in terms of the carbon that it produces. because every time we do a search it 5 big data centers around the world, and that search now actually means that the carbon produce and that it more than it

is in any trouble. but having said that, that's really just to put it into context, it's not about shaming one, but against another sector. we're all in this together and every human activity from the moment we wake up, or indeed, you know, even if we're lying asleep in bed with the heating all every human activity has an impact and flying. and i come from a navy, a background. we have been working since 19 seventy's. i'm trying to pine cleanup ways to fly as you know, jet fuel is a very particular elite type of fuel that the why so important is it so pure it says it doesn't freeze 30000 feet. so we've been trying desperately to find a tentative to this. and now the really great news is the original tentative is called sustainable aviation fuel. and the technology exists. and what we need now is the big oil produces when they're pumping out so much power to reserve

a part of their business to produce sustainable aviation few. because the money is that the technology is that the government can do it. because if you think about governments, they put a lot of regulation in to help people move from petrol and diesel call to electric cars. so they've done it the ground transportation. so all that sort of regulation is readily available to be able to use for a v ation as well. the question of scaling the issues, scanning it up to the degree that it's needed, that i just want to move on find it. just want to ask you, given this issue about flow, or more sustainable type holidays being offered that you could take without having to board and aircraft. yes, you know, domestic travel aground, the world really benefited. we all know that, you know, people in the middle east, they stayed locally. they discovered park middle east that never been before in the u. k. people were, you know,

traveling about the cities and towns and the great outdoors that they had never possibly seen before. so i think that desire for domestic trouble and understanding your own culture will continue and people are using the tray. but actually if you look at the numbers that we're looking at, people are booking now when evolved and they're booking long, who and their booking to go on holidays. actually the advent of cities and beach holidays are coming back, often wanting to be in the great outdoors and not having to be too because to not the human being. now people actually want to get back to see the culture in the cities and relax on the coast. all fascinating stuff. appreciate that. said julia simpson, thank you. i q and that is all show you for this week. if you'd like to comment on editing, you see tweet me at nick la account jobs, please use the hash tag a j c p c. well, just drop us an e mail counter,

the cost at algebra dot net in our address, but there's more few on line that algebra dot com slash ctc. and that will take you straight to our page, which has individual report links and in time to catch up. so that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm the clock for the whole team here to join us. use an algebra coming ah ah. and a witness inspiring films from around the world. be so lost on the violin and killed the power. is beth witness. award winning voice is telling groundbreaking stories. witness on al

jazeera, global food production is wasteful and straining our planet. but pioneers are adapting with new food sources. jellyfish is delicious with a very light sea food taste and texture similar to calamari and innovative production techniques. i've seen a vertical farm before, but never in a restaurant after say, this is great. earth rises feeding the 1000000000 honor jessina. ah oh susan.