and quickly to prevent this form of a technology from getting out of control. look by my works, you might be and despair, rob reynolds, al jazeera, santa clara, california, now is trailing comedian barry humphrey, as the best known. his character, dame edna average, has died at the age of 89, a household name in britain, australia, and the u. s. dame edna as sharp wit and cutting humour, delighted audiences. for decades. he won a special tony award for his broadway show to dame edna the royal ah hello there. this is al jazeera, these are the headlines you as president joe biden has confirmed that a military operation to evacuate its embassy staff, and their families from student has been completed. fighting between students, army and the country is biggest per military forces. now, in to its 2nd week,

more than 400 people have been killed. him or morgan has more from caught him. while many people who spoke to c, t of at b fighting on saturday has been the most intense and most fear is 15. since the thought of the classes between the rapid support forces, emerson in his army last saturday, there's been intense artillery strikes and airstrikes in the northern city of battery. that's just across the river now from the central parts of the capitol, the vicinity of the general command of the army that has been the scene of intense clutches between the 2 sides has seemed less fighting on saturday. but other places like the southern and eastern districts of the capital, ha, too intense and fierce fighting as well. who meanwhile, tens of thousands of sudanese have already fled the country and cross the border to neighboring chad. the wild freed program says it's expecting that number to increased significantly as the fighting continues. at least 9 people have been killed in an attack on a military camping nearby houses and central mani. 3 simultaneous explosions hit

the city of february on saturday. molly's army says it killed $28.00 of the attackers during the incident. thousands of israelis are protesting for a 16th straight week against pans to overhauled the judiciary. prime minister benjamin netanyahu paused the proposal last month. the bill will now be brought to parliament when mph reconvene at the end of april. hundreds of protesters and columbia have rallied their against proposed social and economic reforms. congress is debating a raft of proposals by left as president gustavo petro. critics say they will negatively impact job creation and public finances brazil's presently we janasia lula da silva, has called for a negotiated settlement between keven moscow. he was speaking in portugal at the start of his 1st visit to europe since taking office in january. the trip has been overshadowed by comments that he made recently about the war in ukraine. although the headlines i'll be back with more few here on out as era after counting the cost,

stay with us. talk the law will. the law, when with neither side, willing to negotiate is the ukraine war becoming a forever war is america's global leadership, increasingly fragile. what will u. s. politics look like as we had to the presidential election of 2024. the quizzical look us politics, the bottom line, i hello nick loud. this is counting the coast on al jazeera, your weekly look at the world of business in economics. this week, giving up nuclear energy, germany powers down its loss, react as well. other countries are looking to expand that plans. should atomic energy remain part of the energy mix?

also this week, the brazilian president is cozying up with china. so why is beijing expanding its economic ties in latin, america's largest nation, and how far will that partnership go? plus looted to silva, his challenge west and lead financial institutions during his chima trip and cold on bricks, nations to end the dominance of the u. s. dollar and international trade. ah said an anti nuclear activists have spent decades fighting for this very moment. germany has now shut down its 3 remaining atomic power plants. supporters of the decisions say the reactors are a dangerous and unsustainable source of energy. and retiring them, make the country safer by critics questioning how the country can secure enough energy to drive the economy. as it reduces dependence on gas supplies from russia, rhetoric, gate and b has this report. oh, environmental activists celebrate the end of an era, the closure of the neck,

a west time nuclear power plant, along with the shut down of 2 other reactors. it finalizes the phasing out of nuclear power in germany, geologist and also a photo and spoke to show you later. this is a big success for us. i think one of the reasons if not the main reason was fukushima 2011. but i also think that our decade long fight against nuclear power has played a role. maybe the decision was announced more than a decade ago by then chancellor angler, merkel after the fukushima nuclear disaster in japan. critics have long described nuclear power as dangerous and unsustainable. the consequences of a real nuclear accident can be catastrophic. and i remember after speaking on the same platform as no to con crew was the prime minister, japan, at same time we had supper afterwards. and being astonished when he turned to me and said, we'll look if the wind was in the wrong direction, we would have lost tokyo. but opponents have criticized the closures given the challenge is caused by rushes,

invasion of ukraine and the energy crisis. they say germany will be forced to rely more heavily on polluting coal and natural gas to meet its energy needs. the climate minister says the remaining plants only generated up to 6 percent of the countries power during the past year. and they're closure won't affect energy security. yet, some question whether the german public is ready for renewable alternatives. the renewable expansion has been land a certain way, but we do not know if germans will tolerate the further construction of wind turbans in their villages. i know the germans say they support an abstract, but it's not clear that will happen. so counting future weather and climate based energy. as for sure, going to common replace the nuclear electricity that is lost and being replaced by the call electricity. now i don't know, other industrialized countries are working on replacing fossil fuels with nuclear energy, but supporters of the shut down insisted the right move and they hope other nations

will follow victoria gate and be full counting the cost. all right, let's have a look at the nations expanding their nuclear plants. the u. k is in the process of building a new plan to names to start working on h reactors. by the end of the decade, france gets about 70 percent of its power from nuclear and is planning to build 6 new reactors. finland opened its 5th nuclear plant last year. japan is still dealing with the aftermath of the 2011 fukushima nuclear disaster. but it's considering restarting 7 reactors, united states, the world's biggest nuclear power, is started up a new reactor in march. it's 1st new planted nearly 7 years. while china has a worlds fastest growing nuclear energy program, and one of the youngest, with as many as 55 reactors. let's take the song. joining us from london is eli chambers, who's an analyst of e u power market for the independent commodity intelligence services. welcome to

counting the cost. so 1st, where do you stand on this? is this the right decision? do you think from germany, in my own personal opinion, this is not the right decision for germany. i think when you take into account the costs of the alternative sources that germany will have to use to fill this gap. that last why then you clarify is out. it's my opinion that this isn't a positive move. so tell us about that gap and how it would be filled in and kind of costs that we're talking about and how long that's going to get wonderful because, you know, ideally there is a transition taking place in energy transition taking place. our module runs indicated that that would be a large gap left by the size of a nuclear,

and that will be mainly filled by imports of power from other countries. the country is unlikely to raise that exports to germany the most. ah, the netherlands frowns. so you can know my say like a bit of hypocrisy and that because a lot of french electricity is generated from nuclear plants, it's so also you will get some more contribution from fossil fuel pumps that will primarily be coming from gas phones followed by leg and cone, and when you look at the, at the costs of these different types of electricity and nuclear does have high

stock costs. but obviously germany already had these nuclear plants. so that wasn't really something that had to be considered. the running costs of nuclear plants are very low compared to fossil fuel pounds. in fact, even when you take like all the costs into consideration in most countries, electricity produced from nuclear plants, well bay, ah, a lot cheaper to produce. so from the point of view, those who are supporting this moved by germany, celebrating hughes. we are they because it's the end of what they perceive to be a dirty and dangerous fuel. if you perceive it as a, i suppose there are, there are kind of 2 aspects that make her

a plant. you're not. one of them is whether it's carbon. and obviously fossil fuels a met, a lot more carbon nuclear phones. but the, the side that you're probably talking about is that it produces nuclear waste. so you could say it's not sustainable. and in that way, yes, when we look at the nuclear energy industry, do you think it should be part of the ongoing energy production system for the world? or should it just be part of the transition ultimately to totally renewable? i mean, the thing about nuclear is that it does provide a large lay stable, consistent form of energy. i'm a camera on nearly 247. and that's not something that

renewables can do at the moment. and while we are having technologies come in, which could serve to balance the system the rest of the time, we're not really saying battery storage friend stance at the sky. oh wow, right, good day that the my men another option is hydrogen while hydrogen this quite untested as an energy storage technology. and so we have yet to see whether either of those can really be a viable alternative to their consist, an stable supply of energy that comes from nuclear plants. all right, and he chambers, thank you. thank you. oh no

. china went from once having little trade with brazil to being its top trading partner in 2009 out pacing the united states. and at that time, louis nassir, lily da silva, was serving his 1st tenure as brazil's president lula is now back in office. and he's recently visited badging in an attempt to repair ties that had suffered under jaya both scenarios, presidency. the visit was also aimed at boosting trade between the 2 countries, even further. brazil signs several new economic agreements with china during the trip, including packs on agricultural trade, aviation, and investments. trade value between the 2 countries reach more than 150000000000 dollars last year. china is a major buyer of brazilian soybeans. iron o in crude oil and brazil is a top recipient of chinese investment in latin america. while the 2 nations took steps to make it easier to settle their foreign trade operations in their currencies last month, the brazilian president visited the war way. a facility in shanghai,

the technology company is sanctioned by the u. s. over national security concerns. his trip was also included the swearing in of form, a brazilian president bilmar, russo f as head of the new china lead new development bank, which funds infrastructure projects in many developing nations. or president luna is seeking partnerships to challenge western dominated economic institutions. and he's called on the bricks block, which is made up of brazil, russia, india, china, and south africa to create an alternative currency to the dollar for use in trade between them. toward the north gimme pit, want to keep us by every night i asked myself, why should every country have to be tied to a dollar for trade? why don't we trade in our own currency and why don't we have the commitment to innovate and lost the key? no, i received a room where that we need to have a currency that puts countries in

a slightly calmer situation. because to day a country needs to run after dollars in order to export, and it could export in its own currency on the central banks could certainly take care of that. my poor you welcome was bridge because nobody why counted by like the bricks bank of a currency to finance trade between brazil and china, between brazil and other bricks countries. well to discuss all of that on join now by our 2 guests as you minute. blanco, who is research director and head of americas risks. insights at various maple cross joins me now from ben medina in spain and from singapore, his chin guy. and he's an assistant director and senior research fellow of the east asian institute at the national university of singapore. welcome both benjamin if i could start with you. bilateral trade has of course ballooned between brazil and china in recent years. so just how significant these new agreement, the new agreements are very significant in the sense that they bring breast sale

back to china and it's lula so per to need see to try to, you know, put fuel back in the brazilian economy. and mark a very different policy from his predecessor jr. bull scenario. so of course, you know, for lula in particular, infrastructure investment and in bringing back life to brazil's industrial heart land are crucial. and he hopes that china will be able to give brazil that lifeline. particularly with his own support base in the industrial sector. when data is a trend going from china's point of view, what are the upsides of this arrangement? yeah, actually for choosing being, i being lunas of visits to beijing is very important for he is a 3rd world of foreign policy at these days and he cannot make lee. and i think this is also very important for china,

a country that needs the recovery office economy are very badly this year because last year china didn't meet is economic target of about 5 percent or so. i think a full china, brazil is important because of its resources and the raw materials, especially because we know that china now has become a one of the world's largest, the manufacturing house in the world. so it needs a lot of resources and energy and agricultural products and which brazil can provide a lot for china. so i think this visit is very important for she g. germany talks about industrial policy. very important for luna and you know china investment and results infrastructure projects. what kind of thing are we talking about and how important will that be? well, we're talking about 2 things in particular. i mean,

when it comes to industry, chinese companies are enter in brazil in areas where western manufacturers are leaving. so for example, if we think about the automaker industry and car factories that need new buyers in northeastern brazil. and those new buyers came in from china. when the country needed them, the other side of the equation has to do with interconnectivity with them, brazil, to reduce costs and ease the transport of goods out to ports and across to asia. we often cite the fact that it's more expensive to transport. one ton of soy with in brazil, them from a brazilian port to china. and so what lou lane looking for here is investment in road in railway and import infrastructure on the one hand. and on the other hand, also on telecommunications. and that's where that visit to hallway besides being

a controversial or eyebrow racing from washington is particularly interesting from a brazilian domestic policy perspective. right. and your mentor on washington, lula, of course, has been up in the multilateral agenda altogether. but when he went to washington, he didn't seem to, to go with a whole array of business deals. it wasn't so much of a business agenda on the table that but china was completely different. do you mind? why do you think that was? well, i mean, this goes partly into playing into what you know, brazilian diplomats are calling active non alignment. right. the agenda with washington is more along issues the round human rights climate change, democracy, protecting democracy in the region. these are issues that are don't sit or don't align particularly well with the the agenda in beijing, which is around trade and investments. that doesn't mean that the u. s. and remain

unimportant investor in brazil. in fact, you know, it is a huge for indirect investor in brazil, and u. s. companies operate in the countries, you know, including in areas where they compete with chinese investors like oil and gas and mining. so that you know, for or lula. this is the moment where he wants to show that brazil can be in the global arena, talking to different partners and leading emerging markets in this conversation. and it's the idea about, you know, brazil can lead latin america and other global cells economies in a multi polar world that includes china and the united states as crucial partners channel. got you to reflect on that as well. and then i want to move on to the issue of a dollar the u. s. dollar dominance. and the cool for that to change 1st will just just respond to what you meant. it was just saying, yeah, for the i think it is the currency cooperation is one of the focus is for

a new last visit to china. because both countries actually have the incentives to use their own currencies for trade, bilateral, trade and also investments. as these days, i think i increasing number of countries actually are feeding that actually relying too much on the us dollar of or treat any investment sometimes could cause some problems. so that's why i think for not the visits to china. i think this is one of the issues the discussed and also i think they are going to move forward to use their currency. the more often as china has been brazil major, treating hard to know for yes. so there shouldn't be much easier about using their own currencies in a broader sense, chen,

how much is it going to affect the dominance of the u. s. dollar in international trade because it trade in china's currency still only accounts for about 3 percent of central bank reserves, and that's compared to 60 percent for the us dollar. yes, although i think china and non number of other countries actually are trying to use their currencies more often for global trade and investment that's do a long way to go before these current currencies can really play a major role in global trade and investment and replace the u. s. dollar, because we know that the us dollar dominance in the global financial system treat system has lasted for decades. hinged us technological, economic power as well as they don't all you'll treat system. so that's why i do not being that it's easy for these countries to move to was id

a dollar. right. right. vision won't do me that. would you like to reflect on that? yeah, i mean, i think, you know, increasing bilateral trade in, you know, non dollar. and particularly if, you know, with chinese now is part of an organic process in which chinese precedence in, you know, in global trade is significant. but for a country like brazil, but also trades in commodities that our benchmarks in us dollars, it will be nearly impossible to remove itself entirely if we think about, you know, commodities whether it's soy, iron or oil and gas, you know, they're all benchmark $10.00. so as much as lula ones to position these detachment from the us dollar, it is something that will remain as part of global trade for the foreseeable future

trend. finally, if i may come to you dealer, is that the forward resilient president, of course, has been appointed head of the new chinese backed new development bank. what do you think about this bank and can it become the great bank of the global south is lula himself is said. yeah, i do think that these new development bank, or the bricks bank do have, does have the potential to become a global development bank for, for global and south, which is beverly and needing all kinds of financial support for their infrastructure and economic development. but of course, we also have the existing mechanism, global financial mechanisms, like the world bank, i math and asian development bank. so i think in the future going to have a kind of competition between the conventional little ball o financial assistance and the emerging oh,

financial developments as like the new development banks and also some of the other i development bass, for example, in china. i saw in the future, i going to see this kind of little competition. all right, we'll leave it there. i do appreciate your time. my gen dang. thank you so much and jemina blanca. thank you to you for joining us from spring lebanon's. economic collapse as devastated as banking sector and turned the nation into a cash based economy. a mass deprived a near bankrupt government, billions of dollars in tax revenue, and it's driving elicit activity. and we consume shoddy for as more this currency exchange sto in, lebanon's, mika, valley is buzzing with lebanon's currencies. and freeform and customers want to exchange it for you as dollars. in mid march, the value of the lebanese pound plant to a historic law of $100000.00 against the dollar. it's the result of

a 4 year old financial crisis blamed on decades of government mismanagement and corruption on the left alarm. and they'll assist people come holding bags of cash running around on that they want dollars a month or whatever reach you, give them what they just want. dollars fearing water will be to more businesses across lebanon now or print exclusively with cash restaurants, coffee shops, and supermarkets have all the stuff that's happening. car payments, a key to get on the know that she used to sell mostly on cards. but lately we have problems with banks. they're not giving us money. when i have $20.00 to $30.00 card transactions and out for example, $4000.00. they won't even give me $500.00 or $400.00. this is why it stopped check stopped. everything today is cash. since 2019 lebanese banks have imposed restrictions and cash patrols locking depositors out of their savings. an

estimated $8000000000.00 is exchanging hands informally. that's causing concern, particularly among western nations, attempting to attract illicit cash transactions. it's the biggest threat that the government of the country is facing because it is a very, very, very dangerous that the entire economy as a cash economy, all the money is going to the private sector. the solution is only in one place that is to normalize unfinalize, the restructuring of the banking system. lo, restructuring is one of the reforms demanded by creditors if lebanon is to receive much needed international support. but that means the political and business elite would have to compromise their hold on power. and that's something they persisted so far. and we consume sharif anesthesia for counting the cost. and that is all

show for this week. if you'd like to comment on anything you've seen, you can tweak me at nick park. i'll just just use the hash tag a j c t c, or they dropped an e mail counter the course at alger dot net is our address. but there's plenty more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash cdc. and that will take you straight to our page, which is individual port links, and indeed entire episode for you to catch up on. but that is it for this edition of concert because i'm to clog the whole team. thanks for joining us. the news is coming right up. ah and i

talked to al jazeera, we ask who it's really fighting, is all russia visit wagner? or is it the russian or military? we listen, we started talking to me on my own, so that this via yours who does it usually take them back. we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al jazeera. ah, i'm not a dumb person to person i knew i was doing well. i just didn't know how to stop. carolyn spiraled into addiction after falling in love with her boss, and he gave me to the party. and that's how it got started. soon she was going to pops and casinos to play pokies every day, sometimes playing for up to 15 hours straight, drawn to a world that seemed both exciting and soon at work. the grandmother of 6 had access to company funds. she began transferring money into her personally count,

starting with small amounts every week. if i didn't steal, i couldn't fly. she only stopped when she was cold by that time she'd stolen more than $260000.00 or $64.00. when i went to prison, it's just crazy. you know, i spent about a month away from my family in prison. ah, the united states evacuated embassy staff from your don as the fighting enters as 2nd. i mean while constant bombardment shuts many hospitals across the country, we visit one of the few still functioning ah hello there. i'm this dante, this is.