to the next hour, so still some wet weather that the southern parts of mexico sliding all the way down into guatemala. ah, the african stories from african perspective. if conditions select wireless cause you. ready response to not once incident gave it to one if they're short documentaries, from african filmmakers from booking a fossil and head for me, it's really important to teach as it comes into something that i can be proud of. the painter and she hines venge, africa direct on al jazeera. ah, you are a secretary of state, postponed his trip to beijing. as a chinese surveillance balloon continues to float across u. s. air space. the pentagon says

a 2nd balloon has not been spotted over latin america. ah, hello, i'm darn jordan. this is out as they are alive from dough are also coming up. ukraine pushes closer to joining the e u, but more reforms are needed before any membership proposal is accepted. in his 1st visit to south saddam po process tells leaders that a fresh start is needed to move towards peace and peruse. famous landmarks i left empty as political unrest takes as told of the country's tours in industry. ah, the united states has taken immediate diplomatic action over the presence of a chinese surveillance balloon above us soil. it says the balloon is a clear violation of its sovereignty. but the u. s. secretary of state postponing a plan visit to beijing. china says it's a civilian balloon,

a not being used for spying. our white house correspondent kimberly hallett reports . the sing is up in the sky. china surveillance balloon is triggering a diplomatic rao that has prompted us secretary of state antelope blinkin to postpone his weekend trip to beijing is an irresponsible act. and that the p r c. decision to take the section on the if my plan visit is detrimental to the suction of discussions that we were prepared to have. the u. s. is accusing china, a violating international law. the balloon is still hovering over the skies of the united states. it was 1st tracked over the aleutian islands near alaska and travelled through western canada and into the u. s. state of montana where it was spotted near a military installation home to some of america's nuclear missiles. i have no idea what the thing is. that seemed so brazen and just so insane to me that

that any one would even attempt to just push a balloon over the sky. the chinese foreign ministry acknowledged ownership of the balloon and expressed regret for the incident, but said it was merely collecting weather data, not intelligently. the pentagon has its doubts. still, it says the balloon is not a threat to any one on the ground or plains since it's flying well above commercial air traffic. but there are questions about why the pentagon is allowing the chinese surveillance balloon to linger, looking at the potential for debris and the impact on civilians on the ground or property damage right now, as i mentioned we, we assessed that it is not pose a risk to people on the ground as it currently is traversing the continental united states. that hasn't satisfied biden's critics and congress who believe the us needs to take further action to punish china can't reward the ccp for this kind of fly

and violation of her sovereignty by pretending everything his businesses normal. anna a griffin grinned session was she's been paying as if it was happening. would have been a terrible look for years diplomacy. the ccp will continue to push the envelope until we push back. this isn't the 1st time the china has lives to spy balloon over the united states. the pentagon says that in recent years, surveillance balloons have been spotted over guam and hawaii. but in the case of this current balloon, the pentagon won't say whether or not it eventually will be shot down, only that it's expected to drift over the united states for the next couple of days . kimberly help get al jazeera, the white house of pentagon correspondent, practical hain jones may live now from washington parties or reports now of yet another chinese balloon being spotted this one of a latin america one more. can you tell us?

yeah, just over the last hour was able to get in touch with the pentagon official who told me and this is a very carefully worded statements. i'm going to go ahead and read it. we are seen reports of a balloon over latin america. we now assess that is a chinese surveillance balloon. so of course i asked the question, you're seeing reports, what kind of reports are these media reports? are these reports from governments in latin america? because they wouldn't say exactly where in latin america or does the us have some sort of capability, some sort of radar capability over latin america. they, we, so we really don't know where they're getting this information. that's pretty much all that they're able to confirm to al jazeera right now. but keep in mind is kimberly said in her report, the chinese said that this was a, basically a climate balloon media logical balloon that was blown off course. if that's more than one balloon, that's going to be a much harder story to sell because obviously a war they do it multiple experiments. so again, they are confirming that they do believe that there is

a 2nd chinese surveillance balloon over latin america somewhere. but again, will not confirm what these reports are, and it's really been interesting to see the reaction from officials, the united states. there are some republicans who say it could be shot down to the pentagon. it's kimberly mentioned they're pushing back on this. and what they'll tell you it when you speak to them is they believe this is a huge balloon, 2 to 3 buses in size, and it's really high up in the air, 18000 meters. so they said if they were to, for example, shoot it down using the f 22, which was a possibility that they had been discussing. you can imagine just how large the debris field would be. so if they didn't want to take those steps when they had the planes, the f 22, raptors ready in montana, it seems unlikely they're going to take those. now as it gets over more pop, densely populated areas this afternoon, we believed it was over the state of missouri. the pentagon says it is travis, it is heading in the south easterly direction. so those are just going to become more and more populated hers. now i have that here in official se,

maybe when it goes over the water, that's when the u. s. should take action to send a message to china. for its part, the pentagon. they said that they strongly encouraged the president not to shoot it down. they didn't think it was worth the risk and they didn't really think it posed much of a risk. the u. s. to the u. s. military or any sort of sensitive information, but the president is getting pushed back from the right wing media and some republicans in congress to take a stronger action some saying that when it gets over the water than perhaps they should shoot it down. but again, the pentagon right now, their advice very clear, do not take any sort of action. this is going to take several days. it needs to get outside of the united states. and i think it's important. i've been covering the pentagon for quite a while. they almost never come out and directly say what exactly their advice to the president was. i can think of only one other time in dozens of years that i've actually heard them say that. and in fact, this time they came out very clearly and said, we sat with the president, we gave them options. we said, do not shoot it down. all right,

a practical home life or stare from washington dc. patty, thank you. katrina, you joins us live now from the chinese capital beijing boss. got katrina. so a rare apology from the chinese saying they regret this balloon incident of the u. s. but how damaging is all of this the beijing? well, it's definitely a huge bundle. my embarrassing for china. now initially, as you said, china expressed regret or the incident, but now it seems to be taking a more defensive stance. you've just had a statement by china is wondering, foreign ministry released on saturday morning and they said that they were reiterating that this was a force mega accident. it occurred because of circumstances beyond that control. and it accused some us politicians of taking advantage of the situation to attack and discredit china. it also went on to say that one ye, one a ton is taught diplomats, has been in communication with antony lincoln saying that he urged him to you and maintain communication, to avoid miss judgment and said again that these were groundless accusations

against china that china lighted by international law and had no intention of violating any other countries sovereignty. now of course that this is going to be very damaging. it does already show the sense of distrust between the 2 world powers, say analysts. this is also going to damage the sense of trust between china and other countries, potentially know already. kanda has also summoned china's ambassador over this incident, and this is very bad timing bold, aging. it comes, a chinese economy is slowly and china has also just come out of almost 3 years of self isolation due to cover is reaching out to other countries, including the u. s. and its allies. and this will certainly come any of those diplomatic efforts. and of course, this is also hugely damaging already to the relationship between china and the u. s . it was heard that this visit by an abe lincoln would restore normal channels of communication. prevent any further escalation and overall just help to stabilize

what has been in recent months and he is a highly fraud and rocky relationship. so any hopes of that relationship this highly important relations of when it comes to the global demand? can you see any hopes that would improve going further? they have been definitely old. dashed considering now that this and meeting with antony lincoln has dean postponed indefinitely. alright. katrina, you live for stay in beijing? katrina. thank you. tapia, you officials have met in cave for a highly symbolic summit, ukraine's president vladimir zalinski has urged the block to speed up its membership. but the e. u was calling for more reforms latasha, but the reports from keith ah beret siren sounded in keys at the start of the you ukraine. summit a meeting as much about symbolism as talks you leader side by side with ukraine's

president in keith. a show of the block support via crane and a message to moscow that despite its attempts, keith's looking west ukraine wants to join the you. it's candidacy was accepted last year and it won't succession negotiations to be fast tracked. but a you lead to say that fulfilling the many conditions required may take years if there are no richard timelines. but their goal that you have to reach reforms, for example, to improve a situation in the canada country to then reach the accession negotiations and the session except itself. you're the termination to forge ahead is impressive. nasir 4 talks also focused on military support, the ukraine, low de ms. lensky once again urging weston leaders to send keith more weapons yet. so would the prisoners broil, if weapons deliveries or accelerated, namely long range weapons,

we will not only not withdraw from buckman. we will begin to d, occupied storm grass, what, which has been occupied since 2014 wanted to the russell rural b u says it will continue sent in military and humanitarian aid ukraine and we'll train 30000 ukranian soldiers. it also pledged money. 40 mining and reconstruction in the country, as well as a new round of sanctions against russia. the 10 packages on its way. we have the aim to have it in place by the 24th of february. it has a volume of round about 10000000000 euros. its a massive ho package. again. it was the 1st time that any you saw me. it had been held in a country in wartime, although there were differences during this summer over the speed of keys you membership process. you leaders agree that ukraine is fighting this war against russia not only for itself with the whole of europe. natasha butler,

al jazeera keith. the head of the roman catholic church is appealed to south sedans, leaders to end years of bloodshed and the world's youngest country. po process is on, on historic visit there. with the leaders of the anglican church and the church of scotland are desirous having my task reports not from a capital juba in a 1st since the birth of this nation, the head of the catholic church pope francis's insults had on together with the archbishop of canterbury justin welby, leader, the anglican communion, and ian greenfield. the moderator of the scottish church, the religious leaders are on what they call a pilgrimage for peace in a country way. fighting continues to kill and displace large numbers of civilians. i am. you are cool to renew the life of society as pure sources of prosperity and peace. so greatly needed for the sons and daughters of self sudan. they need fathers, not overlords. they need steady steps towards development,

not constant collapses. seltzer dance leader self care promised to resume talks with ob greeks who did not sign the 2018 piece deal. in one of the early fargo born frances restored a visit to our country and our due calibration of 2023. as the year of these earlier consternation, i am officially announcing the lifting of day the suspension of their own. these dogs would do all our groups a day before this visit. several people were killed in central equatorial state in violence between kettle, herders and a local militia. south to don is the predominantly christian nation. in the past, the church has played a huge role in resolving differences between different ethnic groups and political

parties. some people here hope his high profile visit encourages they politicians to work towards peace. now, boy, to leave the church has been urging south sydney's politicians not to return to war in 2019 hope frances, now to kiss the feet of foul to dan's previously warring leaders during a meeting at the vatican. some we as a buck, which is a what a vote so much in the process that led today to business ourselves with them. and then on that note that your to demand is to, to focus on are seeing a doctor before leave that to piece salt to dawn broke away from saddam to become independent in 2011 after decades of conflict, but long lost in peace remains elusive. people frustrated by how long it's taking to implement the peace agreement, have huge expectations with so many crises happening elsewhere. they helped as high profile visit, reminds the world of the needs of thought, said on how to matessa algebra, juba. so let's bring in christopher thompson. he's an associate professor of

history at the university of washington and a specialist and religion in south the down. he joins us live now from rent and christopher, good job. you, with some of the pope's visit to south the downs being hailed as a pilgrimage for peace. how significant is this trip given that violence continues to kill under space? thousands of people. i mean, just this week and 27 people were killed. yes, so i think the really big question here is that it is a symbolic gesture, right? and some might say, well, how important are symbols and how much will this really change things on the ground, right? and the only other time a pope is gone to the sudan was in 1993. and that was when pope john paul, the 2nd went to cartoon when sudan was in the midst of a bloody civil war, right. the war continued 12 years after he left, right. so some might say, well, how effectual will pope francis's visit be but i do think that symbols do have

power, right. the eyes of the world are on south sudan at this moment, largely because of this pilgrimage of he's right. and that's an important point. you may crystal, because back in 2019, and one of the most extraordinary moments of his papacy at the pope knelt to kiss the feet of south the downs, warring leaders at the vatican, urging them not to return to civil war. but as you say, despite that symbol is in many critics, the question whether the pope really has the ability to make any real political change in the country. sure, um and i think that that is a fair question. but i think that one has to remember that the catholic church historically throughout south so dance history has had a lot of political power, right? catholics were at the forefront of south who dan's liberation from north su day and right. and so i think that because salva kia is a catholic himself and because the church has been increasingly vocal against the human rights violations, going gone in south sudan. i do think that there is

a real chance here that the catholic church can kind of harness the historic power that it has had in south sudan to become an even louder voice and bring more attention to the salvage here regime. and many critics say though, christopher, that south sedans church lead has a just not strong enough in pushing for peaceful coexistence among its people. can the church do more? do you think the hill, this clash of faith and politics and this divided country? sure, i think it can, right. i think that the church in south sudan has a very popular reputation. right. i think that because the last few years you've seen the s p a lamb in crisis. right. you've seen different ethnic factions. the church still has incredible social and political capital. and so i do think that if the church continues to be a kind of mouthpiece for the people. um, i don't think that the church is going anywhere and that it will continue to habits

political importance. christopher towns a really good to get your thoughts. thank you very much. indeed, christopher, thank you. thank you. as i shall break here now to 0, when we come back, we'll be lying from shall anchor. with his anger over the construct government's decision to spend thousands of independence day parade, mana stainless, ah, hello. we still got some more snow in the forecast for japan over the next couple of days, but thinks it grassy. chuck start ease to make a way into and next week i pressure dominates in the weather across a good part of china. so settle and dry here southern past, we'll still see some showers longer spells if re as that snow then so that western side of honju accardo marcy drive

a little on the cool side and things quieting down them as we go on into sunday some more the way, a pleasant sunshine coming back in tokyo at about 11 celsius getting up to route 6 there. and so 8 degrees therefore, basing. but for some parts of china, it does remain a little unsettled and settle a course across. so se, asia, the usual rafters showers, coming through some big samples. there are 2 central and southern parts of the philippines, some lively showers to just making the way in across a good part of indonesia. now we have seen some lively showers, longest bells of rain to affecting shore lanka recently, pleased to say or, or tropical system that's now pulling out the waste in a few showers in the forecast. forceful anchor, as we go through, sat day in the also seeing some wet weather at that stays. it will clear here as we go through sunday much of india looking try this, some snow and rain for northern pakistan. ah.

on counting the coals to europe's population is aging, should pension schemes be reformed. egypt and pakistan's economic crises, the deeper they will, i m. f, loans, fix their problems, and we explore the implications of tumbling value of india. a donnie empire count gina cost on al jazeera ah bold, and i'm told stories from asia and the pacific on al jazeera lou. ah, welcome back. a quick reminder about top stories here. this out, the u. s. secretary of state has postponed a plan visit to beijing over the presence of

a chinese surveillance balloon floating high over the country. china says the balloon is not being used for spying. the pentagon bo says a 2nd balloon has been spotted over latin america. ukrainian president vladimir zalinski is hosted a summit of european union leaders in p would have discussed ukraine's membership application to the block. so dense deals a western allies to supply his military with long range missiles and the head of the roman catholic church is appealed to south adams, lead us to end years of bloodshed. pope francis is on the, on historic visit to the country. the leaders of the anglican church and the church of scotland, people in shoreline cuz capital are taking to the streets to protest the cost of the parade marking independence day. $550000.00 worth of public funds is being used for the military parade in the capitol. the countries in the midst of its worst economic crisis with food fuel and medicine shortages? well, michelle fernandez joins us live now from columbia manella. so there is rising anger over the government's plans for independence day celebrations. it seems. many

people are in no mood to celebrate. the reason for that sort of sentiment among a majority of the people obviously, is the crippling economic crisis to the countries facing. and given our inflation given the increasing cost, given the way the rippey has devalued our general ordinary shall anchors are finding it difficult to make ends meet. and at a time like that, when you have a celebration that people have heard is costing are so many thousands of dollars. they are not happy. i mean, essentially there is a military period. it is the 75th anniversary of sherlock has independence. yes. a major milestone for a country that got independence after years and years have been colonized and that happened in 1948. so obviously the government, the present run, the vicar missing her, is very keen to ensure that it celebrated or with the art of desired. a pomp and

pageantry a but what people say is this is not a time for that to now. the president himself, a few months ago did to go on record about austerity measures, about the need to tighten up the collective belt of the country to ensure that costs are brought down. he warned that there's a difficult road ahead to work towards fiscal reforms. they're really struggling to get hold of an i am if be loud package, but at the same time and in the same breath, you find the president saying that we must celebrate independence because people will otherwise think that the country is unable to even do that. but for us, for ordinary citizens who are having trouble, essentially putting 3 square meals on the table, sending their kids to school, buying their books. this is becoming a real day to day struggle. and at a time like this, when they see something bad in mind, that the parade, if you just look over my shoulder, we're going to show you over here for a drive down the road is where that me and parade is happening. and it's,

it's centrally a military parade where shall anchor will put on a display of its key military mind. you have the anti, the government, the cabinet, the president prime minister of foreign dignitaries, all coming in to see this. now, obviously at a time when shall anchor was in the midst of a war with the time the tigers for many, many years, the military parade at the independence was a key feature of the annual calendar because it allowed the country to show its might. but now, so many years over a decade after the war, a people are questioning out as to whether this is really necessary. and last night there was a crackdown of a piece who sought to grow, where people are water, cannon and tear gas protested in a very, very brutal manner. so people are angry and it's not going away. no, thank you. now another police officer has been fired for his role in the killing of unarmed african american man tyrene nickels, memphis police department,

as named preston henckel as the 6th officer to be relieved of his duties 29 year old nichols died after being beaten by police during a traffic stop in the city. 3 weeks ago, he was buried on wednesday there's been a surprising surge of new jobs in the us. despite the looming risk of a recession, the labor department says employers made more than half a 1000000 new hires last month. that means the unemployment rate is now at its lowest since 1969 if, despite the federal reserve raising interest rates in an effort to cool inflation on is your cost to reports from washington dc. this is more than double what wall street had been expecting. $517000.00 new jobs created just last month alone. and as well as this falling unemployment rate. now it's at 3.4 per cent, which is indeed a 50 year low for the united states. and this comes also as sort of a conundrum, because we've seen the headlines from last month of some,

$10000.00 layoffs going the other direction with especially the tech sectors of companies like meta amazon, microsoft all announcing massive layoffs. so how does that all make sense? well, economists have said that perhaps it's because these are laid off. tack sector workers are so quickly finding new jobs that they're not unemployed for long, or they're choosing not to look for new jobs as of now. and that theory seems to have been supported by these new numbers out to day, given that we're now looking at close to, to job openings for each person. searching for a job currently in the united states, states of emergency have been across, been declared across several regions in chile as well. 5 route through large parts of the country. at least 4 people have died in the blazer so far. hundreds of homes with in damage and fire fighters are struggling to contain the infernals with high winds. my heat wave making the problem worse. ejaculation orders were in place in

various parts of the southern bio region. anti government, protestant peru are affecting the country's tourism industry. the most visited site, much of peachy, has been closed and demonstrations spread to the area or latin america edison. this year. newman has more from crisco at 3500 meters above sea level in the heart of the andes. mountains lies goose school. once the imperial capital of the inca empire, and leisure, the historic capital of colonial peru. it's the gateway to another world heritage site matches be to the famous 15th century english citadel above the sacred valley, usually packed with foreign tourists. but not to be jew is now off limits until further notice. protesters have partially destroyed the only access to the lost city of the incas roseburg. one was more than a mom. we, peruvians don't even have free access to much of it. you only private business

interests benefit from our heritage. a nearly 2 month long general strike mass protests and blocked highways, have left to my to be to ankle school devoid of tourists. the main source of income here, this wall belongs to what was the palace of the 6th in gather inca regarding one of its main attractions. is this, it's called the 12 angle stone. and it is an example of an extraordinary technique called pulling in old masonry. and that's one of the reasons why tourists come here to see this except that now they are practically aren't any, hotels are empty and losing millions either. i meant there, theo, this has been a terrible blow with the events that we're witnessing, the occupancy in hotels until march has dropped 90 percent because of cancellations, unemployment sort to 75 percent. some shops of closed under threats from strikers. so, but don't my, the annual shop that sells hand me choose is still open for business,

but when customers are in no, we don't sell anything anymore. we have to pay a lot of rent. the staff is on strike and there's no tourists from north america. and europe, we run into women who make their living by offering tourists to take photos with their baby out back us. they've come to costco from their village 2 hours away. but they say there isn't enough business to buy food for their animals. o, through used to receive 2000000 tourists before the pandemic and the strike. but now these indigenous protests are the only ones who arrive here in large numbers with him. he is and we won the president to resign, to leave and for new elections to be called. it's the only way we will get back to normal. but there is no sign that either the president or congress will meet the protest was demands. while one of the world's most attractive tourist destinations sinks into despair to see in human al jazeera goosgo, peru.