in ukraine, as spain is offered citizenship to 222 nicaraguan political prisoners who have freed and flown to the united states on thursday. it comes after nicaragua. government announced that its planning to change the law. so prisoners can be stripped and that citizenship, the critics of president, daniel ortega with jail during his crack down on descent and recent years. some of those freed include 5 former presidential hopefuls who intended to run against him in the presidential election back in 2021 was more i he can read about the aftermath of those devastating of quakes there in southern turkey, northeast in syria. ah, just a quick look at the main stories were following now and 4 days after powerful earthquakes

at southern kia and northern syria. almost 24000 people are confirmed who have died . have been some dramatic rescue efforts, but sadly that number is going to rise much further. rescues, a continuing to dig through the rubble tucker is present. 5 and one is admitted that response hasn't been fast enough. the sean, which the of course the have been shortcomings their problems. the government has faced and responding. but i want to inform you that our government and all of our institutions from the moment these are quick struck, have been doing their very best to help everyone. hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless in both countries and they are now facing very harsh winter conditions. temperatures of freezing right now, the government has been distributing millions of hot meals as well as tents and blankets, but they are struggling to reach many of those in need. the united nations has said that over 5000000 people have now been left without shelter in syria. or a 2nd you, an aide, convoy of 14 trucks is crossed into rabble hel,

parts of syria. after initial 6 went through on thursday, the syrian government has approved cross border, a deliveries to rebel held areas. but president, aside is also accusing western governments of politicizing, the catastrophe. we're in our other headlines today at least 2 people, including a 6 year old child have been killed in a car ramming attack in the occupied west bank. the policy and driver rammed his kind of people waiting at a bus stop on the outskirts of jerusalem near an illegal israeli settlement for 30 year old driver was shot dead at the scene for palestinians have been arrested. israel's national security minister has promised a tough response. russia has launched a new wave of missiles strikes on energy infrastructure across ukraine. the eastern city of zap regis suffered its worst attack since the war began. 17 missiles struck in just the space of an hour. officials of urge residents to seek shelter, millions of people lost power in the immediate aftermath of these strikes with

several energy facilities having been targeted. counting the cost is the program coming out next. good, dirty money into african good, exclusive? don't resume investigation. coming soon? i with hello, i'm money inside of this is counting the cost on al jazeera, your look at wells of business economics this week, the race, the green subsidies is accelerating. the you have a plan to boost the production of electric cars and renewable energy projects. accounting the block, keep off with the u. s. in china. also this week,

brazil's president is listening the pastoring and he threatened the central bags, autonomy, demanding low interest rates, will lose the silver economic plan work. plus hong kong is facing its highest rates of homelessness. in a decade. we explore how one, n g o it's helping people sleeping in tunnel the on the street to find shelter. ah, the national energy agency estimates the global market for mass produce clean energy will triple to around $650000000000.00 a year by the year 2030. now the world's biggest economy is one, a slice of that growing industry. united states recently announced the inflation reduction act. this includes billions of dollars in grounds and loans to boost financing and deployment of new clean energy projects. but it sparked a trade dispute with its allies in europe. and now the

e. u has set up its own plan to compete with the u. s. as a production of the green products. it includes redeploying more than $270000000000.00 remaining from the east pandemic recovery fund. european commission has also suggested relaxing state aid rules to allow governments to pump cash into green industries. implants to make approvals for green projects, foster and seal trade agreements to secure supplies of critical rule materials that he also wants to create a european sovereignty fund to invest in emerging technologies. so why is europe so threatened by america's inflation reduction acts? well, they fear that the aisle, ace $369000000000.00 of subsidies for electric vehicles and all the clean technologies could put companies based in europe at a disadvantage. for example, many of the tax breaks only applicable for products manufactured in north america,

which could of course, in cars, european firms to ship production to the u. s. on the plan also provides tax credits to consumers who bought electric cars made in the u. s. which could again make your appeal made electric vehicles less attractive to bias. but even with the biggest ever climate bill, the u. s. lived behind china's green spending last year, the energy research group, bloomberg any f says almost half of all global energy transition investments were $546000000000.00. while in china, they use says chinese subsidies have been twice as high as those in the block relative to g. d, p. the u, as a single entity came 2nd at a $180000000000.00. while the u. s. spent a $141000000000.00 from brussels on join now by milan elk about milan as a research fellow and head of the climate policy program at the center for european

policy studies in brussels. thank you for joining the program. is the right to be threatened by the u. s. is inflation reduction act? well, yes and no. on the one hand, the inflation reduction acts of a very general subsidies and the subsidies are combined with some other measures related to the components that need to be used in the production of goods. and these are really a challenge european industry. but on the other hand, no, because the inflation reduction acts still really as overwhelmingly a good thing. it is the 1st time that the u. s. they a comprehensive federal climate policy, which for the 1st time also target the greenhouse gas emissions coming from the industry. and all these investments that the subsidies promote will lead to increased economies of scale and deaf, also lower cost for low carbon technologies. and that is really

a good thing for all countries around the world. until now, industrial policy in the u has been restrained by very tough competition laws in order for them to have their own green tex pledge europe is going to have to change that. how tricky is that going to be for them? this is indeed a very important but difficult issue. what we should keep in mind is that these competition rules called state rules have been in place for a very long time. it actually goes back to the late 19 fifties, really the beginning of european integration. but then they have been also a lot more relax since the beginning of the damage. and the reason why was because due to all the luck dance really expensive support to businesses to close wasn't necessary anyway. and these relaxed rules are still in place today.

now there is a risk that if we keep those rules, very relaxed, we get a subsidy rates between the members. and that's the very best thing within the european single market. so definitely if some interest from european policymakers also to make sure that we still have some degree of competition rules between the member states. but of course, they should not be so strict that the countries and the u as a whole cannot respond to this challenge coming from the us. so what do you make of the use green proposals? it has quite a few components. it's really not just only about subsidy, but also really look at what are the bottlenecks that exist today that can slow down the role of, of clean technologies. and there are some things be on subsidies that are very important. ones those, this label market skills in the labor markets and

a lot of european countries are very tight moment. another very important thing relates to promising renewables in particular are very economically competitive. already costs have come down enormously. so it's not really a question about money, but you can have all sorts of rules by local authorities for people who would not like to see wind turbines in the neighborhood. and that can slow down the role of technologies as well. so foster permitting is also part of it. that's a good thing, really when it comes to the subsidies europe passed for a long time, already supported industry, quite extensively, but it has done so in a very different way from the us. because the us a single country with a single fiscal policy, so it can really provide money very directly in the u. it's much more dispersed

across different programs. and one of the most difficult things about the european approach is that we have a lot of administrative processes, certain outcomes for companies. the strength of the us approach is that companies know exactly how much money they will be able to get out of the inflation reduction act. so one part of the european response is also really about simplifying the rules. i'm making them more and more. but if that is a very good thing, it's interesting that you mentioned that point, that it's not just about spending, because when you look at the numbers, the u. s. the spending almost $370000000000.00 on subsidies. china subsidies are double that of europe. so how do you see europe competing with the u. s. in china when it comes to the green economy? to start with, maybe if we look at this number of the us,

the 370000000000 us dollar been reported very extensively. it's a staggering some in some ways, but it's also for the 10 year period. so as a percentage of the u. s. g t p is well not that much. and a lot of this money is also for things like renewables or transport emissions reductions where europe really has some very serious and successful policy for the last 10 to 20 years already. so part of the american money is also for catching up to europe. then another 6070000000000 will really be about industry, and this is where most of the discussion is euro in europe is a box because the industrial factors are about traded goods. and this is where the competition can really play a role in europe has also supported industrial innovation

quite a bit over the last decade. but it has really focused on the early stage innovation, basically research and development. what the u. s. is doing now is providing direct funding for, for production and for investment. and that is something that we in europe do not have yes. and what we need to address in the future, so that there are clear incentives, invest the light technologies that are still more expensive. a funny, how do you see consumers benefiting from all this, from the subsidy race and the investments going on around the world in the green energy front. and then ultimately over the long term. as we have seen already with renewable such as busy or on shore. and offshore wind, if you increase the scale of production in a certain technology, in

a certain product, them costs down to come down. it's not as a rule that will always have one, but in most cases, if you can increase the skill then since will become more affordable. and that is a good thing for consumers around the world. milan really interesting to talk to you about the subject, milan elk, about from the center for european policy studies in brussels. thank you. and iraq has re valued its currency as part of an effort to stabilize the foreign exchange market. the cabinet has approved a decision to set the exchange rate at $1300.00 dinners for us dollar. now the rocky dina had been selling at 1417 hours against the greenback before the u. s. introduced tighter controls on transactions by commercial. iraqi banks not made up through a heat, has more from back that places are going. gov,

any iraqis tours. since mid november, the denado has declined again as to us dollar, losing about 10 percent of its value. a board on it says he double check surprised tags every time he comes to the supermarket. and let us do it outside shopper and is blame it on the dollar exchange rate because most of the products are imported. in this case, the government should pay our salaries in dollars mod since november the u. s. has tightened the rules on international transfers to prevent money laundering. it's reduced cash flows to iraqi banks by about 80 percent. lou are the 100 for guided entity key. it's cleared u. s. federal reserve scrutinizing foreign transfers from iraq. and especially to those countries unfriendly with 2 u. s. army, such as iran, lebanon, by syria and yemen, others. consequently, iraq steel via transfers from the u. s. have been cut from $240000000.00 to only $22000000.00 on a day. the government has launched

a campaign to combat illegal currency trading and promised to hold further discussions with washington to stabilize the exchange rate were hired arches on. this is one aspect of an economic challenge that requires a brave response and practical solutions to end the wrong financial policies inherited by the current government. in the meantime, the prime minister has extended credit to small businesses by half a $1000000000.00. despite government promises to contain the depreciation, many iraqis are worried about an increase in prices ahead of the holy month of ramadan. especially in imports such as gas and wheat, a number of currency exchanges have stopped trading and said there is more certainty about traits. some iraqis blame the central bank for the shortage of dollars. others accused the united states of we promising the dollar. either way,

it's the iraqi people who bit of the brand of the changes. brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef and the 2nd largest exporter a grain. yet tens of millions of brazilians are not getting enough to eat. the nation's president made it clear that his government priority is reducing the number of hungry people. there is enough to lead to silver has boosted spending for social welfare programs, but investors worried that the measure could make brazil's debt more on sustainable on effect it's fiscal credibility. congress has suspended the government spending cap to allow looted the silva to raise spending by an extra $28000000000.00 on social welfare and public works this year. the approval is a political victory for lula who started his 3rd term in january. but markets have tanked after the budget was passed, the nations finance minister announced the plan to more than half the government's deficit this year in an attempt to lay invest to confirms. meanwhile,

brazil central bank plans to keep interest rates at a 6 year high for longer than expected period. and has warned a fiscal risks on the lula to silver says the current inflation target slows economic growth. and he threatened the central bank independence, the chief of the central bank in 5th, the institution plans to act independently, adding that it's so tommy gives the capacity to stabilize markets. from mulligan, spain. i'm joined now by mariano machado. he is a principal analyst of the americas at global risk, various maple cross. thank you for joining the program. why all the government on the central bank in brazil at loggerheads when it comes to brazil's economy. thank you for having us today. and that's actually the $1000000.00 question i did happening with other countries and in the world monitoring authorities decisions. this is the central banks and government positions regards to spending are have

created tensions all across the world. and brazil has been no exception to this. just recently the, the ro between the central bank president, campus natal, i'm president of the country lula silver, has reached new heights, but despite technical discussions around interest rate and, and measures to tame inflation. there's also seems to be a political background to it. we tend to believe that this is because compass net though the central bank president has been nominated by the previous administration . jade or sonata ministry. and there is reason to believe that there is a degree of mistrust between the both of them. so basically we expect this tensions to last a bit longer. live is actually threatened the autonomy of the central bank, hasn't he? i mean, how, how far would he go with that? and how important is it to brazil that the central bank remain independent? that's an excellent question, and actually we're seeing lula barking, if you will, a lot, but the ability to bite it's,

it's the real question here. so in terms of the independence of the central bank, in general data from the world bank and other research sources show that and in the been the central bank, it's that it's is actually an extremely useful asset in terms of rain and inflation and provide a monetary and polish a certainty ahead. in the case of brazil, this independence in particular, was passed just recently in 2021 a couple of years ago. that are boy campbells. neither was nominated at this point . we believe that the next stage of this potential escalation between the 2 actors could be, are the upcoming nominations for some members of the director of the central bank campus to bend in on, hulu lays able to nominate to those places. we will understand how this relationship michael forward, but all in all one things for a certain composite outdoor air can only be removed by conks and co congress has a choose for independence. so it will be a tough battlefield led to handle. yeah, it's interesting because the last time lena was empower,

he didn't even have the central bank or to deal with it. so he, he's used some strong words at when it's when he's come to the central bank. he says there's no justification for the interest rate being at the current rate of $13.00. he says it's shameful and that there should be other tools used to fight inflation. she think he is justified in those comments. i think that luna has a top concern and that top concern is basically keeping the economy war. you cannot govern with an economy that is cool enough. and basically that could be the situation in brazil showing some of the highest interest rate net interest rate in the world perhaps. but in the end, are the true question is if the potential other ways to rain in inflation or at some degree useful for lou law as well. just to recap, you can think about, ah, a new fiscal plan to be presented to, to investment to society. that is expected to happen in a couple of months. that was the announcement on behalf of the government. but

laura knows that he cannot rule out, can a governor an empty wallet, so was simply to see the fine print of that blunt and full if you can think of something that is also useful in terms of rain in inflation beyond interest rates, good b, r a much expected along a way to tax reform, but that bending homework has been a phone on the side of every single administration in brazil for the best part of the, of the last 3 decades, including last 2 previous administrations. and generally, when you look at the markets, investors don't seem to be convinced at all about louis plans. there's not amount of political will that can make, ah, one plus one equals 3. so basically, yes, there is, we are sienna. ah, if you want to call it a crisis self expectations between the testers, at least for the moment, local investors in the gaze of brazil and the government in terms of what's going to be the policy direction. recap in on a thing that i just mentioned when you have

a central bank authority that has been nominated as independent and with a tenure that doesn't coincide, the stint doesn't coincide with the presidency. you faced this risk, you faced a risk of, you can call a quotation, we in simpler terms, it would be having a, ah, less strict government in terms of fiscal and spend the measures and a, perhaps more strict sense for bunk authority. and this is the 1st time in brazil in which we are witnessing how policies be made with dis 2 pillars interact and encounter interacting with each other. how much of a concern is the ad, brazil's debt situation, especially in line of new las plans when it comes to spending the seals? death situation has been an issue of concern for a long time. now, this is not new to lula latest said. if analysis said that by 2025 bristles overall, our external depth to g d p ratio could reach some one along the lines of 108 per

cent of g b. so that's a, a backbone concern that has been persistent and so far, no solution has been found. in this particular case, we tend to believe that lou days focus in much more on, on the ground type of concerns. this is again, keeping the economy running to assured that he can deliver what he was elected for . he was voted for happier times and he needs to make sure he delivers to a degree happier times. and well, part of the reason he delivered happier times previously was because brazil had that commodity both in 2000 and t. this time the, the circumstances are very different given that do you think he can deliver? is he aware of the challenges that he is facing? indeed it's a completely different setting for the last 3 point. oh, as we call it a completely different from his 2 previous presidential inclinations. and we're already, if, if the region serves as an example, we're already seeing other ah,

left leaning governments in the region such as argentina, sheila, to a degree even columbia with gustavo bethel recently elected last year. ah, struggling exactly with the same dilemma i'm riding to office with abundance promises of deliver in economic prosperity. nonetheless, finding a completely different set in, in terms of governance. we're seeing weaker governance, with inability to just steam roll. there are policy priorities. and on the external side, we're seeing a much shake your geopolitical context that doesn't allow for this promises to be a bank rolled in the way that there used to be. ah, the inner circle of lou lays, very much aware of this. saw one month and change into his 3rd presidency. we believed that we're still seeing different elements in the coalition accommodate in traditional reality. and perhaps that we have more clarity on the backend of this year. marianna met machado, really get to talk to you on monday. i know our principal analyst of the americas

and global risk v risk map across. thank you for your time. a pleasure. hong kong is facing the highest rate of homelessness in a decade. it's one of the most expensive cities to live in, and rising inflation has sent the cost of everything from food to rent. a soaring, jessica washington met some of the people in hong kong, forced to make the street their home. this is the image of hong kong that dazzles visitors, a bustling, glamorous city, but under ground a different reality appears. oh. busy there are many mosquitoes and bed bugs here. you see so many on getting fungal infections. he has slept here for 4 years and looks to rubbish bins for left over food in takeaway boxes, official figures released in november show the number of people experiencing homelessness. is the highest in a decade, and there's a sharp rise in the number if women experiencing housing insecurity. that report

also said there's need for better services and more funds for hostile accommodation . as the situation worsens. this is a very wealthy city. you know, it's, it's extremely wealthy with one and 5 at this moment, or having food insecurity. the cannot afford 3 meals a day. you know, it's, it's an amazing city where you see the house and the have nots, and it's in your face all the time. impact h k is an n g o. founded in 2017. so far they've helped around 500 people find shelter. they also welcomed people into their community centers for hot meals and fresh clothes. over 90 percent of those individuals have no emergency contacts. they have no friend or found, or a member in their life. in the isolation, you know, plays a huge role in their, you know, step towards becoming homeless. he says, emergency shelter is provided by the government, don't address the needs of the city and a difficult for people to access. the hong kong government told down to 0 social workers give assistance to those willing to accept services. in tyco, china, there are more than 30 people sharing this underground space. it's the middle of

winter here in hong kong, and the temperature often drops below 10 degrees at night. people in this underpass of repairing for another night exposed to freezing conditions. alec used to be one of them. he spent almost 20 years on the streets. yes or no? no, i have a place to live. i have food to eat and a job. i'm happier, more cheerful now. now he works in the community center, distributing food and essentials to people sleeping outside, helping them through the same dark days he experienced during his time on the streets. that is also for this week, get in touch with us by twisting may at mullins site and do use the hash tag a j c, c c, when e j, or drop us an e mail counter, the cost at algebra dot net is our address. but as mo, for you online to out, is there a dot com slash ctc? that'll take you straight to our page, which as individual ports links an entire episode for you to catch up on that is it

for this edition of counting? because i mullins, i even the whole team. thanks for joining us. the news on al jazeera is next, ah, ah, ah, knowledge is here. with no african stories from african perspectives,

short documentary from african filmmakers from ivory coast just left soon from chauffeur to play with the bus for from vera his was reduced to russia, function and loosing for home and south africa. seeing if i can change. and it showed me that m extra trucking and fire with africa direct on al jazeera ah for days on some devastating earthquakes rescuers in turkey or defying the odds still couldn't survive. it's alive from the rubble. ah.