has had no contact with people since november 2021 is all part of an experiment on the effects of isolation on the human body. the 50 year older extreme athlete says she took up painting and lots of exercise to stave off boredom and to stay mentally . well, yes, he won't lie, an errand viola and i am a lawyer. i am still mentally stuck on the 21st of november 2021. and i don't know what has happened in the world. i don't know. i have come out of the cave. i have no idea what's happened and seeing you all in masks for me. there is store cove, it as an elite athlete. the most important thing is consistency to be very clear and to be very coherent. that what you think, what she feel and what she say are united there been difficult moments and have been very nice moments to all those moments help me to last 500 days in a cave. ah

00. and these, the top stories, a long delayed prisoner swap is underway in yemen between hoof the rebels and the saudi led coalition. more than $800.00 detainees are expected to be released over the next 3 days. is a major step towards ending the 8 year war. or the other in march, i was taken detained in an area of yaktel america. i was imprisoned in an iron factory for 7 years. are young enough to die is a victorious day of the day when my brother was released after 7 years. we never lost hope, and i do not feel like i had in my heart. it feels clear now. the french constitutional counsel has given the green light to present manual microns pension reforms. protests continuing across the country and in paris, right? police have been deploy to com, going on rest. the bill said to raise the retirement age in france from 62 to 64. that i shall butler house, morton, paris. what we're seeing are people who've told us this evening again and again

that they're going to continue to protest to continue to demonstrate against this reform that they feel is unfair. but look, is not clear which way we'll go. because although there are many who say they want to continue in the streets, trade union leaders, certainly asking for that. there are others who feel that perhaps now with this decision, by the constitutional counsel that maybe it's over. maybe there's a point going out and demonstrating again because they feel that it might not have any impacts. but what nearly everyone has said to us as they come the next election . they're going to remember what has happened. a 21 year old member of the u. s. air force national guard has appeared in a boston federal court track to sherry was charged with the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents and materials. he's accused of one of the largest classified information leaks since edward snowden, b. c. u. s. supreme court has temporarily halted a lower court ruling that would limit access to the abortion pill me for prestone 5

day measure. it gives the country's top court time to consider a bid from the biden administration to defend the medication. okay, those are the headlines as always, our website, our jazeera dot com, ours, all the latest on all of our top story, stay tuned. counted the cost is coming up next. talk to al jazeera, we ask, who is really fighting this russia? is it wagner, or is it the russian or military? we listen, i started talking to me on my own, so that this via i know he didn't. he's looked at the mag, we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matters on al jazeera. ah, [000:00:00;00]

with hello, i'm adrian said again, and this is counting the cost on al jazeera. you'll weekly look at the world of business and economics this week. well, lead us a pushing for fundamental reform of the world bank. ha, banga is poised to be the institutions new president in the coming weeks that will bypass pick, fix it. also this week from a global short and short gloves. samsung is cutting production of semiconductors, of the profits plunged by 96 percent. plus by jerry us, cash crunch is slowly easing the government's attempt to promote a cashless society as her businesses and the economy. ah, the many ac as the world bank says that its main goals have been to fight poverty and promote global prosperity. but now a growing number of world leaders, a pushing for what they call a 21st century overhaul of the institution to address global warming. that's being

led by the leader of one of the world's smallest nations, the prime minister of barbados, via motley. the job of leading that reform is now almost sucking to full to ha banga. he's the 1st indian ball nominee to the row of world bank president. banga is currently serving as vice chairman of the private equity firm, general atlantic, where he sits on the advisory board of its 3 and a half $1000000000.00 climate fund. he has more than 30 years of business experience having served in various roles at mastercard and the boards of the american red cross among of us. banker has also worked with the white house as co chair of the partnership for central america and initiative aimed at increasing private sector investment in the region to try to stem the flow of migrants to the u. s. he was nominated by president joe biden in february. there were no other publicly declared candidates when nominations closed in late march. while the banks president is traditionally and american, nominated by the united states,

the organizations largest shareholder. if officially approved by the world bank sports directors, banker will replace david malpass who's stepping down nearly a year before his 5 year term was due to expire. now pass was publicly rebuked by the white house after he said, he didn't know if fossil fuels would driving climate change remarks for which he later apologized. we're revamping the institution was top of the agenda at the world bank and international monetary funds. spring meetings this week, the bank has set out its own vision for transformation and to increase its lending capacity in response to cause for action from the united states and other nations. barbados and prime minister mir motley proposed a large scale reform of the global financial architecture known as the bridge town initiative. last here joining us now from washington, d. c. a. scott morris. he is the director of u. s. development policy initiative and senior fellow at the center for global development. i scott, good teddy with us. what do you make of the,

the proposed reforms so far and, and are they really necessary? so i think the reform that the world banks are certainly necessary and driving this is a desire to full desire really to me, what are really pressing development needs across a developing world alongside address in the climate finance agenda. the world bank is, is seen as the leading institution to provide all of this sort of financing. and yet in terms of its current capacity it's, it's really not up to the task. so i think the desire for the reform is there in the case for, for, and is there at the moment. of course, at the center of these reforms will be a j banga. is he the right man for the job? i think he's certainly an interesting pick and i think what it demonstrates this is the u. s. now, many of the world bank presidency, there are no other challenges. so we fully expect that he will be the next

president. and i think what he demonstrates is the desire of the us and presumably other shareholders to have someone who can steer a large organization, 15000 employees, and really deliver those financing. so, you know, he is not a climate advocate per se. he doesn't come from the n g o community is a business man. he has experience running a large company and a and he has experience with the numbers. and i think that's really where the focus is right now. how do we deliver much bigger financing numbers to me? climate needs to mean pressing development needs for these countries. can bang a do that within existing resources, especially as, as the us at the moment is resisting any capital increase to add to the banks coffers? well, i think the challenge as we speak this week and the governors of the bank of mad as you say,

they really are only considering measures that would attempt to stretch existing capital. and i think this is inevitably going to be a disappointment. so far you can go and impact what they have offered so far in their discussions are very modest increases and certainly not up to the level of ambition of their own rhetoric. so i think almost inevitably they will be considering new capital down the road. i think. ready be better if they are already having that kind of discussion today but, but it hasn't been the case so far and i think that's a disappointment. many poor nations are concerned that if the bank changes its focus towards climate change and away from its anti poverty mission, they may suffer or they right to be concerned. but i think, you know, i think there are 2 aspects to their concerns. one is, is money going to be taken away from them for

a different group of countries where the climate needs are more pressing. so the poor countries, they're not the source of big emissions. those tend to be the wealthier developing countries. so those poor countries do have concerns about how big the pi is going to be. and you know, this comes back to the over of overall financing issue. if it's a bigger pot of money that can allay their concerns. the other concern i think they have is in their own program and with the world bank, they don't want to be overly constrained about how they use the money. and by the way, for the most part, they are borrowing this money and is on favorable terms. but they do have to pay it back, so they rightly have strong views about how, how they are, how they are using it, and how constrained they might be and using it. so if they, if their priority is education or health, they don't necessarily want to be steered away from those programs in favor of clean energy. for example, bank in,

in loading to these countries is stretching its, its own resources, loosening those restrictions to provide more money to low income countries to, to, to fight climate change could be problematic. couldn't it? i mean, can it do so without affecting its top tier credit ratings? i think they're being, if anything, they're being really cautious and sensitive to the credit rating. i think there is, by now there's, there's a pretty clear consensus among the banks. owner is the, the shareholder countries that they do want to protect that credit rein, sterling triple a credit rating. and as a result, i think these measures that seem to stretch the balance sheet are very models and there's obviously a trade off there. i think they've already made their decision about which way they want to lean, which does take us back to the importance of fresh capital that there's only so far

there. they are willing to go to test the risk tolerance of their shareholders and anything close to jeopardize aaa as clearly off the table. at this point, this reform was proposed by or inspired by the prime minister of barbados and motley . and she wants the world bank to pursue an expansionist reform agenda. did you think her plans will be fully adopted? i think the desire to match the ambition of her plans. i think in the details we don't, we won't necessarily see all that. she has been talking about which by the way, extend beyond the world bank, it includes the amount of so i think there are different elements of her plans. but in terms of where we are today, i have to say frankly, i don't think the world bank is there yet in delivering that level of ambition. good talk. she's got manufactured due to being with us,

like lesser. ah, an increase in demands electronics during corona virus lockdown triggered a shortage of semiconductors, which are important element of tablets, smart phones and of course, cars. but sales have dropped since restrictions will lift it. many manufacturers are now struggling with a surplus in supply and dropping a demand. the world's biggest ship make a samsung as joint its competitors. in cutting production, the company has flagged a 96 percent reduction in costly operating profit, the lowest in 14 years. the chip biggest decision is a rare move after resisting pressure to reduce production. just last month. samsung announced that it plans to invest billions of dollars over 20 years to develop a mega semi conductor hub in south korea. joining us from seattle city in washington state is alex care, pre research fellow at the heinrich foundation and lecturer at the n u. s. business . cool. good to have you with us, alex. what do you make of samsung's announcement?

how significant is it? well, e, it's very important because it reflects much broader trends and you mentioned them in your introduction and, and that is that a cove id a really produced a surgeon demand because of the demand for extra laptops and, and cell phones and wireless technology and so forth. and as we come out of the, that the coven stretch in the global economy, we are seeing that, that demand has gone down. there's, there's been on the flip side, a glut of chips. and, and you know, we have other companies cutting production. um, so yeah, at some point we're going to see the, the price of ships stabilize as production is cut in. as you know, prices are normalized. i think that'll probably happen in the next. ah, maybe 8 months or so. ah, we'll, we'll see how,

but there are other factors contributing to this as well. you have the ukraine war ah, which has injected uncertainty. and of course with sanctions, i'm applying to a dual use goods which of which, you know, we know semiconductors are part of that, that, that zone of goods in the economy if you will. and then of course, there's inflation. ah, you know, as consumers look to and to figure out how to, how to cope with rising costs in food in energy, they're spending less on consumer electronics. ah, so, so, so again, i think this is, this is part of a perfect storm in the global economy. ah, that, you know, barring any kind of catastrophic events in the next 812 months, i think wall will probably pan out. he said that the prices will eventually stabilize. is that gonna be enough to to, to clear that but glut of how long before that happens?

yeah, so, so the, you know, the glut when we look at the, the, um, the range, if you will, of chips that are out in the market now. ah, in we, in a week we put them in different categories or buckets, m e o, many of them are, as i said, tied to consumer electronics. but i think as an, as electric vehicles are begin to come on line. as you see, you know, green infrastructure projects are in the united states in the e u at, you know, as we see those beginning to, to get more traction. there will be more demand for certain sectors of legacy chips . ah, that will, you know? number one, they'll get soaked up. they'll, they'll get, they'll get used up whatever's on supply. but then there will be this evolution in the market place. ah, with chips that will apply to these very specific in history. as i mentioned,

electric vehicles, there's medical technologies, there's other types of clean tack. ah, and i think as, as we move forward again barring any kind of catastrophic events in the global economy, these niches within these new industries are going to begin to, to demand a steady supply of these chips. and right now there's no equal librium in the markets. you know, there's a lot of uncertainty and, you know, we've had, we've got this glut, but eventually that's gonna work itself out. what, what are the implications of all of this for the, the us semiconductor manufacturing industry in particular, after a joe biden announced that the chips act, which was meant to boost production in the us. so, so the chips act is a mid to a long term sort of glide pattern, if you will. ah, we can expect

a lot of government stimulus. so regardless of what the market's doing, because there are geopolitical incentives behind ships. ah, there are a climate change incentives, there are reasons to regionalize and localize, not just chips in the u. s. but you know, chips in europe, ships in korea and so on. ah, it is, there are reasons to continue to localize regional eyes. and so the markets are not going to operate purely on, you know, market dynamics. there's going to be a lot of industrial policy. there's going to be a lot of keynesian economic stimuli, if you will. and so we can expect that to play a role in the united states, you know, in the chip market. the other thing that is going to play out in the chip market everywhere. and that's going to, will ultimately affect productivity. is a, a dearth if you will, there of, of talent,

right there just simply aren't enough engineers ah, or anywhere in the world to, of you know, to, to meet the, the demand of 2030, where we're going to see the chip industry, you know, being worth a trillion dollars on it, and there's just so much demand everywhere. so that's gonna be a major factor that's going to play into the markets. and so we're gonna have to consider all of that. thanks for alex riggers talk to you on counting the cost effective date. for be with us occasionally, my pleasure. a redesign of nigerian currency as well as a recall of old bank notes as triggered a cash shortage in africa's largest economy. the situation is slowly improving now that the central bank has extended the deadline to stop using the old notes until the end of the year. but for many in rural areas where digital payment services just aren't reliable and fewer than half the people there have a bank account,

the changes are still causing chaos. victoria gate can be reports. he ma blame for government, for the near collapse of his business, with not enough new bank notes in circulation. he struggling to find buyers for his goods. but they did a yard yog idea of ahmad at that. you, robert a, it's difficult to feed my family as we speak. i only have $0.50 in the shop. i don't even have enough to give the shop assistant money to catch a bus home. in october, last year, nigeria central bank announced the re design of the highest denominations of its currency, the niagara introducing more security features the bank than to more than 3 quarters of the bank notes out of circulation to discourage their youth. 06 months on and some nigerians is still killing at banks for the new notes to ensure they don't lose their savings. but there has been some relief since the supreme court ordered the central bank to put the old notes back into circulation until the end of the year. the supreme court order,

i think it's going to bring is bringing relief manager as we can see now that and as being, you know, by easy access ash in different parts of the country, even though i'm in some places there still it over to you. well, i think over time, you know, in the next couple of months we should see it is where things will improve an estimated 100000000 nigerians like access to banking services, which is worsening. the problem. most of them live in rural areas. they stand to lou samo, all of their savings when the deadline expires. and economists say, if that happens, it'll lead to more hardship in a country where 60 percent of the population lives in poverty. once economists exceed else in this, it simply means that the economy can collapse at any time. and then before you ginger people to production,

they give it to tick tock because that trust on government and its policies is no longer there. despite the central banks extension, the cash crunch continues and it's causing economic pain to millions of nigerians and small businesses. victoria gates and b for counting the cost. joining us out from london rosier khan, who is the managing director, chief economist of africa and middle east global research at standard charter bank could tell you with a cert, rosie, what is the situation in nigeria right now has, as this cash crisis eased a tool, well what we've seen since the supreme court ruling that the old notes will continue to be legal tender until the end of the year. has been a slight, even of the pressures that had been experienced earlier on. which we shouldn't imagine the things that necessarily come back to know the c b and the central bank of nigeria had hoped that this would kick stops the whole process as much deeper

financially inclusion the adoption of digital channels for money transfer. and in the process of the rather ambitious timetable being outlined, many more of the old notes have been destroyed, the new notes being printed. so in that sense, although there has been some easing of the precious, it's by no means back to the situation before the nar notes exchange. why were the new notes introduced in the 1st place? a thought by jerry was trying to prepare for cashless society. well nigh jerry has long had ambitions to try to reduce the reliance on cash. it is very expensive in it as to the informality your economic activity, which in itself gives rise to host of different economic issues. nigeria has one of the lowest rates of revenue mobilization,

but as the amount that it's able to collect in taxes as a percentage of its g. b, as a proportion of all of the economic, the tea that takes place and the losses that stems from the economic informality of the country. but it's very difficult to formalize the informal economy, especially with this reliance and cash. so in a sense, the move towards a more cashless society, it has been tried attempted in the past. the hope was that this would help a great deal with the formalization of the economy. there are also concerns, of course, around the legality of a lot of the transactions that take place in a largely cash based economy. whether this has to do with transactions over the parallel foreign exchange market nigeria rather than through official channels. whether it could be directly linked to the incidence of crime and the incidence of kidnapping in the country. there are many good reasons over the long term for

nigeria to move away from its significant reliance and cash in favor of the channels. however, the issue this time around was probably the scale of the ambition, the very, very short timeline provided for these changes to take place full, the new narrative exchange to happen. all of us must have tinted people's confidence in the countries banking and financial system of the come up trust be restored. what would it take? well it came, it is very difficult time for nigeria because it compounded a number of economic difficulties that people already out to contend with. this was at time with very little availability of fuel fuel, which is widely subsidized in nigeria was not necessarily. ready available at the subsidized price, people having to face high rates of inflation above a 20 percent driven by food inflation. and that compounded by additional fuel

inflation. because fuel was not available at the subsidized price. when you lay on that significant economic hardship, the extent of the cash crunch that people experience, simply because they would not able to obtain the new notes in time to replace the old nose, the pace of rich, the old notes will being withdrawn from the economy. far exceeded the availability of the new knows. so timing had a lot to do with it. this was not ideal given that there were other challenges being faced in the economy. but also again, the very short time frame provided to try to oversee this rather ambitious exercise in an economy you perhaps close to 200000000 people will soon find out with the next senses. but of course, the reach of the banking system, the ability of ordinary people to approach facts, to be able to obtain the new narrow notes, which happy in short supply. anyway, the miscalculation perhaps lucy,

a match that would be needed to be able to ease transaction activity in an economy like nigeria still, despite all episodes, largely dependent on cash. i'm wonderful of the same for the president elect and his plans to revamp nigeria economy. there isn't a spec taishan that come june 2023. we're not too far away. the fuel subsidy, if you will, have to be addressed. whether it's done all in one go, or whether it's done through a gradual removal of the subsidy, we'll have to wait to see. but of course, looking at the economic backdrop, looking at the kind of challenges that people have faced in the run up to the subsidy removal, is going to be a very important part of this. if it comes in the context of an already inflationary environments, where a lot of pricing are imported goods tend to reflect what's happening on the

parallel fx mortgage and nigeria. if it happens against the back, oh, the persistent effects of the cash show changed into. busy in with the ease of transactions in nigeria, that's not ideal, but no one doubts that the fuel subsidy removal is a reform that nigerian needs the new administration. the incoming administration has pledged that it will, is here to its removal. and i will the expectation mother read that, that you'll subsidy will go rosette. really good to talk to you on counting the cost money. thanks indeed for being with us. thank you. and that's our show for this week. get in touch with us if you'd like to comment on anything that you've seen, you could treat me. i'm at a finnigan, please use the hash tag, ha, ctc. when you do or you can drop us a line counter, the constant al jazeera dot net is our e mail address. as always, there's plenty more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash ctc. that takes you

straight to our page until you'll find individual reports, links, an entire episodes for you to catch on. but that is it for this edition of counting the cost on adrian finnegan for the whole team. thanks v willis. the news on al jazeera is next. ah, it's a $1000000000.00 money, no drink operation for co. marsha is bigger than the company with financial institutions, regulators and governments complicit about with right. i've described that in a 4 part series. algio 0 is investigative unit because on the cover in southern africa, pittsburgh, we control 90 percent of the government. one calling it's brandon, good point fool. on al jazeera, the philippines. oh to 5 of the world's endangered sea turtle species. johnny mongolia, guys, searches for sea turtle nests,

but no longer hunts for commerce or consumption. he's now one of the many poachers toward the sea turtle patrollers. in his town. they work with a local conservation group, kerman. when we 1st got into the communities, we had the earned their dress. nowadays, when we have released sale, there is come out and call the children and explain to them how the see their notes are. our partners, sea turtle hatchlings are also helping fuel the local tourism industry. sunset releases into the ocean had become quite the spectacle. while the program here alone has been successful, poaching of the turtles and there and continues in other parts of the country. the sea turtle was a victim of poaching, as well as being rehabilitated by perma says 2009. chroma has released more than 33000 hatchlings into the ocean. ah, a major prisoner exchange deal in yemen raises hope of an end to more than 8 years