leadership increasingly fragile. what will you as politics look like, as we had to the presidential election of 2024, the quizzical look us politics. the bottom line on counting, the cost of the world bank is about to have a new president school. he ramp up action against climate change. we explore how the world went from a semiconductor shortage to a glut of nigeria is cash crunch is slowly easing. the process of the financial system has declined. counting the cost on al jazeera holding the powerful to account. as we examined, the u. s. is role in the world on al jazeera. ah ah.

hello, i'm 0 van. yeah, it's great to have you with us. this is the news. our live from doha. coming up in the program today and emotional homecoming and hopes for peace. a prisoner exchange brings yemen a step closer to the end of an 8 year war. what can i say? i'm shocked. we're living in a democracy and it's not a democracy. theory on the streets of france, of course, gives them annual max wounds, deeply unpopular pension reforms. the green light will be light from paris in a moment. in the us, the man arrested in connection with a leak of top secret pentagon documents officially charged in federal ports and a warm welcome. brazil's president has the red carpet rolled up for him in beijing . drink estate visits. han how much now have all the latest 4th news, arsenal boss mikaela tetra urges his side to finish the dog and seal the gun as a 1st burman legal title for nearly 2 decades. ah,

so we begin this news hour with a major step towards ending the 8 year war in yemen for the 1st time since 2020 who is the rebels and the saudi led coalition holding a large scale prisoner exchange. more than $800.00 detainees are expected to be released over the next 3 days in the capital santa. as you see, the 1st groups of who the prisoners have arrived home. if the him ha, i was taken detained in that area of yaktel america. i was imprisoned in an iron factory for 7 years or young enough did i is victorious day to day when my brother was released after 7 years. we never lost hope and i do not feel like i had in my how it feels. claranell and stephanie decker begins are coverage ah, free men at last, a momentous moment. not only for them personally, but politically to, ah, around $900.00 prisoners will be released as part of

a prisoner swap between saudi arabia and the iran back to these. the exchange will happen over 3 days, part of a deal reached in switzerland last month. the international committee for the red cross is overseeing the transportation of these men to saudi arabia and yemen. among those being freed yeomans, former defense minister, and also the brother of the president, the result of negotiations between the 2 sides to seek an end to the near 9 year war. i think that the visit of visit with the ambassador to santa has actually moved at this said this year, but is not a exchange a with those. and i have syndic leave a message to s o d r a better. they are ready for a full exchange of but his notice in both sides with j a could be about $15000.00, but his notice of course it's yet a quite significant step. oh, it's the bidding a gum ritual or trust between the legitimate government and an ot. i'd also

attempt the way to it is a plan in young. oh yeah, mins un brokered 6 month truce officially ended in october, but still largely holds. the recent diplomatic push comes as the 2 main players and what is often called a proxy war, have made peace last month. saudi arabia and iran agree to end their 7 year diplomatic rift and re established diplomatic ties in a deal broken by china. in a statement, the u. s. special envoy for yemen said that yemen is witnessing an unprecedented opportunity for peace significant moment. most definitely. however, finding common ground between saudi arabia and the who thieves for a long lasting piece will take more work and more time. stephanie decker, i'll g 0. let's take a closer look at the main players in this yemen conflict. the saudi

u. e coalition is fighting the iranian backed who fees since 2014, to who these have controlled the capital, sanara and most provinces in the west of the country. the presidential leadership council is backed by saudi arabia. it is the internationally recognized government . however, it has a strong hold in only 2 provinces, al jazeera hush, emma albert has covered the conflict extensively. he says the prisoner exchange is a significant development. the 2 key parties here, the health is allowed to nationally recognize government or are divided along sectarian lies. the health these are said is an offshoot of shies lamb than to natalie. recognized government predominantly sundays operating in the southern part of the country under center. they have been struggling to come up with an agreement and the stumbling block has always been prisoner exchange. this time it was made impossible for the supervisor that the saw, these other iranians, both key players with

a huge influence in him and decided about it's about time to settle those differences aside and negotiate a new architecture in the region. and it shows the yemen and the ask their own proxies, their to come together and negotiate this. and this is quite significant development of the country with host that this could be conducive to a political settlement that would put an end to 8 years of bloody confrontation, but with a different warring factions operating in yemen. fish, i'm ala may see is a social activist in yemen. he was detained by the who thieves in 2018 and spent more than 5 months in captivity. he joins us now from washington. d. c. look a someone who's been detained yourself. what are your thoughts on what we all saw today? people were reunited with their families. when it's such a joyous moment, i mean there's been a lot of babylon. there's been a lot of mistrust. there's been a lot of pain. a lot of families have been wondering if their loved ones are even alive for the past few years. some of the detainees have been,

or simply disappeared from close to a decade, even before the war started in 2015. so it's much welcome to leave to everyone and it will go along where in terms of confidence building and it will pay the way for ease to push ations. and good. well, is this the beginning of the end of the war in yemen? it is, but the thing is a lot of people think the end of the war is going to happen within a few weeks or few months. i would caution against that, although i'm optimistic, but it's a cautious optimism. it will take place probably year or 2 years because the conflict is not just simply begin. the food is in the saudis, it's protracted. it's polarized. there are a whole lot more parties and factions inside yemen that need to be brought into the process into an inclusive, holistic and comprehensive process,

or the end of the war, or sustainable piece. right now, it does, it is not in that shape yet. look, if the war ends along the lines that we're seeing now, then who will have won this war while nobody is waiting the war? let's be honest. here everybody was stuck in a deadlock, political and military deadlock. right now of course, still these have the upper hand. this is why they have been able to extract a lot of concessions from yemen. governments from the saudis, and from the other side. they've been friends says we've had the truce during your 3 times without lifting the siege on ties. but they were able to get away with that because they have the abra hand they've been and basically they're forced to saudi is to come all the way to santa, to negotiate. they forced to saudis to left restrictions from her data port and asked because they had the upper hand. and what's gonna happen now is that we're in

whatever shape the agreement is going to come. it will partly legitimize the hook is de facto rule and areas under their control, which is something a lot of yellows are fearful off. especially when the who these have been employing brutal tactics in silencing descent, extrajudicial killing ad detainment, and a whole host of other human rights violations will his shot if it's a partial victory, or if the hoof, these have the upper hand, as you say, does that mean it's a defeat more saudi arabia and it's crown prince. well, the thing is, i wouldn't call it a total defeat the saudis did try to admit it anyway. it wouldn't be any him. and for the past it is they couldn't. it was a quad meyer. yemen became saudis vague nom right now what they're doing is smart. they're minimizing their collateral damage. they're seeking an exit strategy,

which is they should have done a long time ago. where do you feel this is all going? and if you take a step back, where do you feel the region is going? well, the good thing is that saudi is widening up. the saudis are normalizing relations across the region. they've been doing it about a they've been doing it now with the odd that been doing good with syria. and now of course yemen. so i think there's, there's a momentum for destination, which is a good day. people are tired in the region. let's talk about emma, for instance in yemen. yep. 84 percent of the population in need of some form of a 2 thirds of the population are food insecure. people are sick. you go and ask any, any on the street these days and tell them, boucher, when the war, who do you think should have the upper hand? who do you think should become the president of human? i thought a lot of human is i will tell you, we no longer care. i just need electricity. we clean water. i need a job. i need to be able to put bread on the table. that's all i care about. but somewhere in this level of fatigue that we're really desperate for peace warden,

which apple, whichever way it comes, his shamela may see here is hoping that the day to day circumstances of ordinary yemenis improve his sham. thank you so much. thank you for having me. and there is chaos on the streets of paris to night after france, his constitutional counsel gave the green light, the president amended michael's pension changes. this came in spite of weeks of protests demanding that the bill be struck down. the court rejected the idea of holding a public referendum on the issue. this bill is said to raise the retirement age in franz from 62 to 64, michael, and forced it through parliament without a vote. natasha butler is in paris. natasha as i speak, i realize i'm actually using the want wrong words, not a bill any more. it's law. my co winds in the ports. what is the reaction in the streets where you are? ah, well, we were just a demonstration in front of the city hall pretty peaceful there. of course,

people disappointed and frustrated. i thought the pension reform has been approved by francis constitutional counselor, though, then no surprise, most people did expect that decision. they say though, they will continue to protest, but that has since then been some morris, some violence what we've seen. and i just knew that the way is from professionals in some parts of the city. i've set light to some, been some st furniture anthem, most of bikes. you can see a heavy police presence here, and fire fights as they try to. j rock the scene and push out some of the files that are still burning behind outside a short g called c though, but you could probably see it demonstrates as he was starting to come into the areas well waving flags, and we can probably expect to see a bit more face look in the days to come because demonstrates the saying that they will continue to protest against suspension reform, even though it has become law. they hope that they can put enough partial in place

. michael, it will simply have to the choice potential. you've been covering this for weeks in fact, and been covering this for months and it was all building up to this day. and now the constitutional court has handed in its ruling. what are you going to be looking at over the next few days to see whether where this goes well, i think you've got 2 main things really. where to the protests go, because the protests is, as mentioned, say that they want to continue to trade. union leaders say that they will continue to purchase a sony planning, a very large protest on may. the 1st they hope the people will come into the streets. but on the other hand, you have the reality that has this bill does become lawyer, will be signed by the president. a will come into effect at the end of the day to some people might decide that his game over i thought it is time to move on or maybe doesn't a point coming to the street. so up to see which way to protest go. you also have the elements of what happens now for present micro. he's got another 4 years in his

presidential term and it's going to be challenging for him because he said a heavy price in terms of public trust in terms of trust. so we'll say in parliament some m p 's don't like the way that he thought to be, i feel free to pre parliament the same with the public. so when it comes to him pushing through with the rest of his reform agenda, it might not be so easy. he might find that mpg don't corporate to saudi. the trade unions are in nobody's corporation right now. absolutely. how much capital does he have left after this? natasha butler. thank you very much. a speak the actual person who's a trained driver and a union representative for at c t, c, g t rail and france, and he joins us from trap. and of course, you've been opposed to this, so pension reform since the beginning. now that the constitutional court has said it is legal, it is constitutional, and it is going ahead. what's your reaction? well, it's not a big surprise because as we mean it's bleeding to all workers. we've been listening to us. 7 out of 9 of the members of this constitutional courts were actually nominated by either michael or loved his properties in the senate. so he

thought was surprised when they basically rendered this are actually a bit archer than it actually was because they moved to the queue. the queue aspect of the law that was considered, at least by one of these are the positive aspects of the reform. and now that you can do that, the demand for referred to you and with the service they've been doing what the, what the expected from the state the process. so this is not necessary for us. what will be challenging growth now, what the child lines ahead of us now to pursue and continue to organize a strike demonstration, and they should have stopped for the past 3 months. so the trade union leaders on the national level one can be on the 17th of april, monday evening. so that's in the 3 day mouse. i will decide on the strategy i want to go from now. they've already decided that the course of me will be that a major demonstration across the country that now we will have to assess where we have our space, where we have our weaknesses to reorganize our way back into problem if i can just

jump in x. so what's the goal going to be moving forward? what the goal is to achieve? none. well, it will be the with a bill because it will be considered a lot of in the coming days. but they will be to defeat the government. but we did actually, i mean, many journalists, that historians going to do historically going back to the front when the government actually had issued and all that were considered valid according to the constitution, which was specifically conduct which would have allowed to fire or what could be done without any justification and that lot to have been considered constitution. and when the mentally defeated the historical example, i don't know the other, there was one during my whole, you know that very well. and you get a bit. he had to withdraw a specific tax on the, on the fuel, for example, that had to be withdrawn, even though it had been important the law and even didn't have to do the same,

have been input. so i've been in the movie just managed to cancel the construction that was not meant to have before i didn't know the social of the my question is, is it democratic though to? because the government and the president have used the tools at their disposal. i understand is a lot of anger at the fact that they use the, the constitutional article, 493 to push this through parliament. but it's, that's legal. and so they use the tools that their disposal medical was democratically elected. and this was one of his signature policies that he campaigned on. so it's not like you took anybody by surprise is, is it democratic for unions to continue protest violent protest? i might add, even though of course, the union is not directly responsible for the violence to try and reverse this. well, the question the other way around, and i'm sure you would expect the response to me because as you explain it, we have to think would be what is constitution?

i'm democratic in the thing. any type of movement is how large swath of the population. i put it designed to get a good understanding of the institution, even when they came about how they we operate. because what's really happened was that the government said that we do not have a majority in parliament. so we use constitutional tools that are disposal, which allows us to just not have a vote. so in a democratic to reform that neither the public opinion was neither even the majority of that member was you know, 11 you want to actually approve this. and they said they come not now or direct you to be put in the constitutional court to buy nobody. so the only people who actually promoting the except for my call, but you're not supposed to be the maker. and those are the members, and even the number of part of it have to be recognized the right to both. so this also, as you might point out, as your question points out,

is that your social issue not? it's also the company to get you over the top of this entire regime of the friendship public was all right. actual person union rep for the c g t rail union in france. thank you so much for joining us on the program. always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you. plenty more ahead on the news hour, including us pro gun lobbyists, gather at the national rifle association, annual meeting in the wake of more mass shootings and sport ref elder. dow has some bad news for his fans. we'll have the details on that later. the cell. ah. 21 year old member of the u. s. air force national guard has appeared in boston. federal court to jack to shera was charged with the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents and materials. in his 1st court appearance, he is accused of one of the largest classified information leaks since edward

snowden, pentagon officials say the leak of classified us defense documents poses a very serious risk. the national security. the leaks cover a wide range of topics, including details about ukrainian air strikes and the countries or defense vulnerabilities. it even exposes the size of some ukrainian military units, descriptions of the russian mercenary wagner groups alleged contact with turkey, a and haitian government officials are also in there. and predictions about china's potential response to ukrainian strikes inside russia. also in the leaks and assessments that pyongyang has likely exaggerated dismissal threat to the united states with our white house correspond. kimberly how kit joins me now from washington. d. c. kimberly paint a picture for us. what happened in court today? well, it was a pretty emotional scene, it was a pat courtroom. as you can imagine, it was filled with spectators,

but it was also filled with at least 3 of jack assurace, family members who were present to and we understand at times they made eye contact . and there were even tears, as he stood to hear the charges that were laid against him. they are very serious in nature, and they do come with very heavy penalties if he is convicted. now this is just his 1st court appearance. this is known as a preliminary hearing. he will be in court again next week for what's known as a detention hearing. this is where bail will be set and given the severity of the crimes is expected, that it will be a very high price tag. when so high that the ordinary person isn't likely to be able to post the bond if you will, the price tag in order to be able to escape jail time in the period prior to the trial. so it's unlikely that he is going to be able to get out of prison prior to the court date where he would begin to see this trial commence. and we

should also point out the, well, these are the 1st charges that have been laid against him. this is still an ongoing investigation by the f. b i or the federal bureau of investigation. there are still could be more charges that could be forthcoming. okay, what are the next steps in this hell? what we can tell you is that right now, federal investigators, including the attorney general, are commenting on the very serious nature of this and how it can be prevented in the future. attorney general merit garland, in fact, saying that there is a very serious review that is taking place now to make sure that this type of classified information is not put out into the public domain. in the future, the department of defense is leading an important effort. now to evaluate and

review the national security implications and most important to conduct a review of the methods of excess accountability and control procedures that the department has. so that something like this can never happen again. a yes, president joe biden, also releasing as statement praising the law enforcement officials for working so quickly to apprehend the suspect. in this case again, 21 year old jack to shera also saying that there is, as you heard from the attorney general, an effort underway to limit the distribution in moving forward of highly classified and sensitive information. but there's also some uncomfortable conversations that are taking place right now, given the information that is out there, we should point out the white house not confirming the validity of those documents, but working to verify the validity of those documents. but at the same time working with partners and allies in that effort. my kimberly hallett,

thank you very much. at the national rifle association. annual conference is getting underway in indianapolis, former us president donald trump is expected to address the gathering in the coming hours. well, john henry is live for us in indianapolis. so john, there's been multiple mass shootings recently, so help us understand where we are now on gun laws in the us. sure, let me set the scene for you. first of all, this is a convention, this kind of like a family event. you have people here in hunting outfits, their auctioning off weapons inside their families there with small children, you can get your copy of the illinois shooter if you like. but the real business is being done on the floor and you cannot carry a weapon in there because there are 2 people who have secret service protection are going to be speaking within minutes. there's president trump, former president trump and former vice president mike. hence,

both of them will speak along with practically every major possible contender for the presidency on the republican side in 2024. and they will be talking about the need to protect the right forgot gun rights. while those laws, as you, you were asking about, they have the laws are changing, they haven't changed much and they haven't changed very significantly. last year there was a gun safety measure passed by congress. it provides some funding for so called red flag laws the. those are state laws that identify people who might be at risk, but on the state level, the laws are really going the other way. this state of indiana last year became the 22nd state to allow people to carry weapons without a permit. that means you don't get a background check or anything you might get a background check when you buy the weapon, but you don't need one to carry the weapon. 22 states doing that. there are a few democratic states that are cracking down. delaware has banned the sale of

assault rifles in that state, but by and large, those laws are growing more permissive, not less. so look, how much power does the n r a really wield well less than they used to, but enough enough on capital hill that is to block those bills. there is a mixed congress. republicans control house, democrats, control the senate, and nothing significant is going to get through as long as republicans control one of those houses, because the republican party is by and large in support of the n r a and gun rights . however, the enter a has had a couple of bad years. they've lost a 1000000 of what was 5000000 members in 2018. now it's more like $44.00, and they've had a scandal or 2. they're being sued by the attorney general of new york state who for financial and ms deeds including fraud and lavish payments to their ceo,

wayne lapierre, and to other people. so they've gone through some rough times with the steel wheeled enough influence to south anything major from happening on capitol hill end to actually advance gun legislation that allows broader gun rights in the states. are john hender in india, indianapolis at the res annual conference? thank you. and still ahead on al jazeera, we'll be looking at the challenging pilgrimage, some face to pray at the alex, a mosque during the holy month of ramadan. and an emergency appeal from the white house. the bite administration asks the supreme court to preserve public access to an abortion drug also in sport down, but not out. we hear from this special one following his sides. disappointing trip to the nettles. ah ah,

hello is a fair amounts of cloud across sea middle east at the moment said disappointingly dull. i would say big arc of cloud here, bringing some outbreaks of rain ensue west saudi arabia that will cause flooding, flash, flooding at times. something to watch out for say some slightly fresh weather, making its way across. central asia, medistat misinterpreted touching 42 celsius recently. hottest a full weather on record. it should freshen up a little temperature a little closer to what they should be, just as some sleet and snow across northern parts of afghanistan, the wet weather continuing across us. saudi arabia, still a little doubt around, dal around the gulf here, 28 celsius in doha. but not too bad, and you can see is dry and fi for the most part to the north of that wanted to shout into northern parts of turkey, troy, and find a cross northern parts of africa. temperature on the rising. kara once again 30 celsius here on sash dedicated scattering, a showers across southern parts of west africa along the coastal fringes. and i

think southern areas of nigeria, particular seeing some funder downpours, shutting up the seasonal range across the heart of africa, more heavy showers coming through here as per usual, just around the riff valley. some live the storm, 70 tans in there, but for south africa is mighty fine and dry. ah, ah ah, ah, allan counseling because the world bank is about to have

a new president school. he ramp up action against climate change. we explore how the world went from a steady conduct, a shortage to a glut. at nigeria, this cash crush is slowly easing the process of the financial system has declined. how much it would cost all al jazeera. we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world center might have when you call home, we'll put you can use in current affairs that matter to you, lou . oh wow. ah. watching al jazeera, a reminder of our headlines for the 1st time since 2020, who the rebels and the saudi led coalition in yemen are holding a large scale prisoner exchange. more than 8 under detainees are expected to be

released over the next 3 days. francis constitutional counsel has given the green light to president emanuel macklin pension changes. despite weeks of protests, the court rejected the idea of holding a public referendum on the issue. a 21 year old jack to shirt has appeared in boston court, charged with the removal and retention of classified documents. it's in connection with the league of top secret pentagon files. now sidney's officials say the head of the paramilitary unit, the r s. f rapid support forces is ready to meet the leader of the military. the 2 sides have been feuding over proposals to integrate the group into the army. hebert morgan is in the capital courtroom, and she has the latest as more troops from the r s f. continue to arrive at a base that's been set up there. marijuana airport further escalating tensions. despite the military telling the rapid support forces to withdraw from the base, they sets up near murray. we airports on friday,

the commander of the armed forces told al jazeera that the iris of continues to receive reinforcement and raising tensions in the region. now tensions between the rabbits or forces and the army have been ongoing, but it has escalated since talked to integrate the iris of into the army began. and that's because of the differences of how that should be done between the 2 sides. the iris f. want a long period of 10 years, while the military, once a 2 year period, then there's the issue of the command of the our staff, the army wants it to fall under its command while they are supposed to fall under the command of a civilian transitional government. once that is established, this is raising concerns with these tensions between the 2 side is raising concerns here, amongst lillian population. and that's because both sides are armed and are spread across the country. they have forces all over the country. it's also raising the consent of the international community. the european union have expressed consent over the situation that is unfolding members the troika, the united states, the united kingdom and norway,

expressing concern and urging all sides to de escalate the situation. political parties have met with the head of the rapid support forces, who mentioned that he is ready to sit down with the commander of the army to try to deescalate the situation. but until that happens, tension continues in matter. we and between the rapid support forces and the army. he morgan algebra is the last friday of the muslim holy month of ramadan, and after weeks of tension and violence in occupied east jerusalem. there's finally an atmosphere of even celebration at the alex and mos compound, tens of thousands of worshippers gathered for prayers. but his resources are reports, it was a difficult pilgrimage for many in a lot, some more compound. the turn aside for muslims, this early in the morning palestinians have started to get into the compound to perform the last friday or from this year. it's extremely difficult to which as it's very occupation forces has set tens of checkpoints all around occupied

jerusalem. and particularly around the 100 pounds occupation forces was very intensely looking to who was reading through the mall. and those were coming from the west bank or gas that they particularly have to go through a nightmare. when we left nobliss or don't to come here, there are checkpoints along the way they make like so difficult hoping that we'll give up some i am now and and be of is the moral can where the national vailable vision views for this for the compound when they get their god by vision forces they pass through his road. what company most take place and continue to the park of the compact lead me to open to a national is rarely israeli occupation forces. usually, fortunately, coliseum from these over a week ago, that is exactly what happened is that the occupation forces have entered kibbler

moore's over there and has beaten tell us, you know, we're not worshippers injured pounds of them and rushes around. 400 many palestinians here. see, israel is trying to change the thing to school by doing so. a lot of the goal is not to allow anyone to come here at all. they want to take over the whole area and all of palestine. whatever happened in like some was compound doesn't stay here, it spills over and effect the whole, palestine, israel, lebanon, syria, jordan and even the region beyond electric home home, regarding the lexus of the regions and noodle system and whoever cause it knows that the whole region will react this and said that i'll just iraq occupied is to resume the u. n. world food program says in a few weeks time, it won't be able to feed hundreds of thousands of refugees and chad. it says it

needs emergency international funding to get food to the regions largest refugee population. unrest and neighboring sudan is driving numbers up the w. f. peace country director called the situation catastrophic. 2023 is another very difficult year. well my, we are absolutely no funding from may on the well for the refugees and displaced people. it's really catastrophic. we did receive an extra funding in 2022. but the need to work to important because we need to add the 2 millions of children suffering of cd of 40 security during that season. plus another $300000.00 that were floods affected people. and our resource were far too much on needs. high interest rates, inflation and low growth are combining to squeeze sub saharan economies according to the international monetary fund. i m f says funding shortages may force countries in the region to cut resources for health, education,

and infrastructure. a public debt and inflation or levels not seen in decades with the most vulnerable having their spending power hit, the hardest, the i m f says growth in sub saharan africa will decline to 3.6 percent in 2023 key economies like south africa are hard hit by power cuts are slowing down. that slowing that growth down, lower international, a budgets mean that sub saharan countries are going to be international markets to borrow it. high interest rates. mike, hannah joins us now from the i mass talks in washington. mike, what else we've been hearing at that meeting but once again, you seeing that description of the countries in sub saharan africa, rampant inflation, the inability for many countries to be able to pay for social services, resulting in math unrest in various areas. so i discussed all of this, i'm joined by the africa director for the i m f when de la chen.

now we've got a picture here of the most vulnerable countries. we've heard this a whole week that it's the venerable countries that are actually bearing the brunt of the global economic crisis. yes, so the sub turned africa region is facing a funding crisis. and this is because of writing borrowing cost. virtually all, frontier markets has been cut off from the euro bond markets and spring 2022. and also because of the dollars tree she sion to a 20 year high last year, much of the debt servicing cost and dollar denominated debt has increased. and as you said, this comes at a very, in opportune time, when the regions are ready grappling with economic vulnerabilities like high inflation, growing debt and in the lower growth environment with gdp projected to grow only by 3.6 percent. and going forward, this funding squeeze will mean that there will be curtailment of critical spending, such as in health and services and infrastructure impeding further on the reach and

growth prospects going forward. it seems like a series of dominoes. one thing causes another and it's all continues to deteriorate. yes, absolutely. and the region, just last year phase one of the highest cost of living crisis that we have seen with food fuel fertilizer price is going up, especially affecting the vulnerable and the poor. and we estimate that 132000000 people in the region, in fact are of acute foot in security, suffering through that. and so really it's param to provide support. and especially there the am i also stands ready to lend assistance as of last month with fund 21 lending arrangements with countries in here in africa and between 20202022 i m s disbursement has amounted to $50000000000.00 that are associated with programs with emergency facilities and special drawing locations is this enough do thing to

reverse the crisis in sub saharan africa? definitely more has to be done in there. we call the international community also to, to scale up their assistance really, to help at a time what we mean by counter cyclically, when these regions are much need of help to therefore provide their assistance and budget support. thank you very much indeed to when de la chan from the i m. s. africa division. so once again, you get that picture of what we've been hearing through the week that it's a vulnerable countries of the world that are suffering most in the global economic crisis. mike, hannah and washington, thank you and your guest. thank you. earlier on friday, the i m f released its growth outlook for europe. our correspondence across the continent had been taking a closer look at the impact that the ukraine war has had on local economies. step wanston is in berlin. jonah hollis in keith dorset jabari is in moscow. russian

president vladimir put his approval rating is over 70 percent, despite unprecedented economic and political pressures on this country since it began its so called special military operation in ukraine over a year ago. since february 2022 over 11000 sanctions have been imposed on russia making the world's most sanctioned country after iran, syria, and north korea. but despite the severe economic pressures, unemployment rate here is at an all time low at 3.6 percent. and for many russians, life continues as usual, people i've spoken to save logistics have become more complicated and expensive, but not much has changed. otherwise. one of the main changes that's visible here is the absence of western brands. but it's not as obvious as many outside russia believe less than 9 percent of the nearly $1400.00 e u and g 7. brands that have operations here have divested from russia, and less than 18 percent of us subsidiaries have left russia. but many are still

operating, including the american fast food chain subway. one of the main goals of the kremlin has been to maintain social, economic, and political stability in the country. and so far, most russians believe their president has been successful. this fight western efforts to the contrary. dorset jabari al jazeera moscow. it's impossible to overstate the devastation wrought by russia's invasion on society here and the lives of ordinary ukrainians. but what makes it worse is the impact of the war on the economy. a staggering 29 point one percent for in gross domestic product in 2022 was announced by the central bank this week that's attributed to the loss of territories and damage cause to businesses and infrastructure and to that that one in 4 ukrainians. he's out the work 40 percent of families are struggling to meet basic needs. rising to 60 percent in areas worst affected by fighting and inflation

sap stubbornly above 20 percent last month. put all of that together and it's clear the cost of the war is being counted in just about every home. every school, every business, and every temporary shelter housing, some of the millions of internally displaced people across this country. joe, know how al jazeera keith. germany has been particularly hit hard by the fall out of the war, and ukraine. consequences are being felt here. other markets in berlin, food prices have risen sharply up to 20 percent off of the energy costs went up from i think, lease, and especially low income households. struggling to make me one of the most prominent thing, things in germany has calculated that the war has germany economy more than $100000000000.00 and that each for us and in germany i lost more than 2 $1000.00 as a result. and the german government is only compensating

a fraction of this. the reason for all this is that germany, more than any other country, was the pending on chief russian energy for its production. and as a highly industrialized nation, simply meets a lot of energy. and even though the country has managed to avoid an even more severe blow to a mild winter, economists predict that the country will still have to a minor recession, steadfast and l. just a rough in berlin in china is foreign minister says beijing will not do anything that could escalate the conflict in ukraine and that includes providing weapons. so either side. you made the remarks during a press briefing with the german foreign minister, she called on russia, the pressure on china, the pressure russia to put an end to the war in ukraine. i think most often the hardest me saga. i have to wonder why the chinese positioning so far does not include a call for the address or russia to stop the war. we all know that president pruden would have the opportunity to show at any time. and the people in ukraine would

like nothing more. i shall finally be able to live in again a brazilian president, louise in us. you let us silver's throwing his weight behind china's bid to broker a peace deal between russia and ukraine. during a meeting with chinese presidents using paying president lou that also secured a raft of trade deals that he says will consolidate what he called the 2 countries in draw mary relationship. richard kimber reports from uncle. the expenses for friendships brazilian president louis scenario alluded to, silva is the latest in a recent line of international leaders to be given the red carpet treatment by china's leader. she jim ping in exchange, a show of solidarity from lula towards beijing's effort to broker p. steel in ukraine, home, chinese state media stay the leaders agreed dialogue and negotiations of the only way out of the conflict. analysts say that bolsters chinese efforts to work with

partners in the bricks. alliance of brazil, india, russia, and south africa. and counter the u. s. lead strategy of sanctioning moscow offering military support to ukraine. it's important to remember that brazil is an instrumental part of rates and more generally speaking, china, multi polar well order about how to lead, present conception of the wild way. you do not have a single edge moon, but instead a poly centric world, what brazil, china, and other leading countries neglect without can comprise a prominent poll that balances against what they do to be western hagerman is that it's, it's not just politics on the presidential agenda the 2 leaders of signed a raft of business deals covering agriculture, energy, and infrastructure. turning to brazil, largest trading partner for more than a decade last year. but actual trade topped $150000000000.00 as almost double the

figure between brazil and the united states. in addition to securing new trade ties during his time in china, president lula has uttered in the appointment of brazil's former leader dillman bruce f as the head of the bricks, new development bank, bangladesh, egypt, uruguay, and the united arab emirates also joining the bank. it's a move that set to expand funding for developing countries and extend beijing's global sphere of influence. what brazil is bringing, bringing? yeah, i'm a big country, and this is not only about china, this is about the global. so as we understand that we, brazilian, each china that will come with a, that message, you know, because it's in the interest. but i think we need to realize that, that, that's a, it's a very, very, as to metric breaks, no matter the word alliance. it's an alliance that attracting increasing attention

more than a dozen countries have expressed interest in joining bricks, including iran and saudi arabia. china is backing an expansion over the block. if it gets its way, there may be a need for even more red carpet rollouts in beijing in the near future. richard kimber, al jazeera hong kong. the biden administration has filed an emergency appeal to the supreme court, asking them to block limit limitations imposed by a lower court on access to the abortion pill. miss deborah stone and your roles will take effect on saturday unless the top courts intervene. comes after thursdays u. s. federal court ruling that the pill will remain available, but with some restrictions. some protesters have gathered outside the supreme court in washington calling for access to the drug. rosalyn jordan is there. it's a small rally, but it's a rally against time. a federal judge's decision earlier this week could ban the nationwide sale of myths prestone the so called abortion pill by midnight on

saturday. here in the united states about 20 or so, protestors gathered on the steps of the supreme court behind me on friday, basically saying not just freedom is for everybody. but also insisting that a drug that has been on the market for 23 years should continue to be sold. this is a situation that organizers say is of the utmost importance. we will be back in time in 2016, and the restrictions that existed before 2016. and even before the pandemic will be back in effect, which means people will have to go in person to get a prescription for their medication. they might have to go to the doctor multiple times. it will add even more restrictions to an already dire situation since the supreme court overturn roe vs wade last summer. there are 2 emergency petitions before the u. s. supreme court. the biden administration is asking for an emergency

hold so that it can appeal of an appellate court decision to try to what this band go forward. the other emergency petition comes from the company that makes the so called abortion pill. this is the company's only product and if it's banned, the company says it could go out of business. rosalyn jordan al jazeera washington, i still ahead on al jazeera in sports at old trafford, might be known as the theater of dreams, but it's becoming the theatre of nightmares for this gentleman. well, details on that coming up. ah, the pursuit of endless economic growth has cost the planet. there's a number of things that threaten all civilization as we know. and that's an existential threat. fries us is overhauling entrenched economic systems can help reverse the damage. we must go from degenerative systems to regenerating the living world and meet the businesses balancing the books by making the planet as important

as profit. that is a dramatic change for society. are we going to collapse, or are we going to rise business critical on al jazeera, as the war ukraine rages on. some young russians are refusing to take up arms $1.00 to $1.00 east meets those free to neighboring kazakhstan, or just ah ah ah, it's time for sport here, sun up. thank you very much, really loyal arsenal manager. michaela data has urged his arsenal side to finish the job and when the permanent title,

the gunners sit 6 points. claire at the top of the table having played one game more, their majesty city arthur had takes his side to face at west ham, away on sunday. when will be crucial for the clubs title hopes that with man city playing lester on saturday are small. i look into when the p l. title for the 1st time in nearly 2 decades. you go day by day. honestly, that is so much that happens every single day, every month, now ineffable closer, you cannot re look always lead the aim. and there more and i, i took the job, he was to bring that club back to where he belongs. and his fighting and being around every single trophy that is possible at the highest level. and that's where we are trying to are you ahead of schedule given you are, we are where we are, we are happy where we are. and now we have to finish the job. manchester united boss. eric's hand. hank has spoken now in defense of harry mcguire, following the defender scoring an own goal. that cost of red devils, victory at old trafford. mcguire wasn't the only united pled guilty of converting

into his own net, in duper league caught a final 1st leg against the van having led to a nail for my to all the mad tyrell mylesia scored an own goal and the 84th a minute. and then an injury time mcguire made it to, to it's another blow to the england international who's not been a regular thought for united that the season. and has faced heavy criticism for his performances in november. he revealed scrutiny has taken a heavy toll on him. you competing 3 competitions and then you need is court. and so a firm leticia martinez for on when you are not available on sunday and, and all of us have to do it and we have seen, i think on saturday home required that a good game. also tonight he came in and i think he played also fairly good event has had a better night in the hopefully get they won their quarter final for said my to get

sporting over portugal for the rico. got the scoring in the 2nd half to seal a one male when as anybody knew was his role. my side that miss a penalty is a loss. one mill away to that side, fin odd, despite the loss moreno. it was pretty foolish after the game when speaking to a dutch reporter. this game of course, was a rematch of last year's conference league final, which will my one for the boston munsey will grind. 3 cried aloud. here we see children, so we'll do shouldn't drive. you know, you go on because you cannot win the match that you lost. you lost the game, you cannot win that one. the only problem today is that the game didn't finish this off. finally, we see each other in 7 days, so you can and i promise you, if i lose, i sleep, i don't go to stay for 10 months. having nightmares. you know,

when i say and by sam i have a massive game on saturday as the club look to salvage or something from what's been a disappointing season pierced. she had been many people's favorites to win the champions league, but they suffered a disappointing exit to buy me. and if in the last 16 now what remains for them is winning the french lucas while they take on 2nd place at last, at home, next, a loss would reduce pierced use advantage at the top of the table to just 3 points . another issue for the french club is linelle mess his future would. the argentinean woke up when a out of contract at the end of the season will be speaking to a if he's a sports reporter in spain. rick sharma who says that winning this he has legal title a won't have a major impact on message decision. i don't think massey's feature will be influenced by women, the league or not in france with p. s. d. the see them. i think massey's future in

paris is probably coming to an end and he's had a decent 2 years there in terms of his output goals and assists. but the things of solid of it, obviously with the champions league exit and at the end of the day, that's what they brought, messy in. and what messy wanted by going to p s d was a chunk when a chunk busy again, because he hasn't won one since 2015 when he was a past learner when they try him to event of symbolic and that's kind of always been an issue for messy, he wanted to win more champions. lazy wanted boss lens can be a high level and they couldn't. they fell out of the european elite. where will he play next season? is the big, big, big question. i wouldn't 100 percent rule out person man. as his club because there are talks, of course, a good returns about the land where he rides that senior boy and in a sort of romantic sense to be the best place for him to go. another place, but must he does like to go to holidays. miami and into miami is an option. i don't

know how strong that link is either. i'd be surprised if that ended up next season . but it's certainly something that down the line you could see happening and saudi arabia is the other choice. the idea of again and then our defense renewal of the rivalry with christiana, rinaldo and of course, messy, would be able to make a huge amount of money if he, if he did go to saudi arabia and he's in the countries a paid an ad tourism saudi arabia, so maybe that's an avenue that has been, i've been not to say that he's going to go down it, but it's certainly an option on that. says he's not ready to attend to competition and he will miss the barcelona open. the spanish tennis thought has been out of action since losing and australian open in january. hip injury has been hampering the 36 year old. you 22 time grand slam when also remains the doubt to defend that he's french opened title. and before we go, take a look at this quite amazing moment in major league baseball

center field bay started back. and now i got hired to look at you won bay a pulled off a spectacular cat in the field on thursday. the south koreans effort to help in the pirate steel 5 kneel when over the st. louis cardinals, pittsburgh it 2nd in the national league. central division. that's it for me. fairly. all right, and i thank you so much. that was a good catch. indeed. that said from me for this news, our new barker is up. next you are in, great. ah, mm. i al jazeera sets the

stage 3 elephant here, 5 others. i know i have been deployed to faith, just one enemy, global experts and discussion. idea of being do, has been established in democracy. it was found to explore an abundance of world class programming of it. the lease with fast and life impacts designed to inform, motivate, and inspire you are now to sierra the pursuit of endless economic growth has caused the plan. it is a number of things that threaten all civilization as we know it as an existential threat. otherwise asked if overhauling entrenched economic systems can help robust the damage, we must go from degenerative systems to regenerating the living wealth and meet the businesses balancing the books by making the planet as important as profit. bab, he's had traumatic change for society. are we going to collapse, or are we going to rise business critical on al jazeera. there is no channel that

covers world news like we do. we revisit places the stake. i'll g 0 really invest in that, and that's a privilege. as a journalist, the 1st commander of the lebanese army after independence from france, who took over as president at the time of crisis in a deeply divided country. 50 years after his death al jazeera, wo totes the story. at you, her architect, it's the modern lebanese states, soldiers statesman on a j 0 ah fury on the streets of france. software court clears the way for a manual microns deeply unpopular pension.