for supplies last forever. but. when the rain. starts march 20th on t.w. . this is the news coming up school's out. on more than $30000.00 schools nationwide to combat the spread of the coronavirus what does the measure mean it's time parents. the u.s. makes a big. project a key component to release $5000.00 taliban prisoners will it be a stumbling block to peace. and who controls the mekong river we look at how it. is threatening to leave communities high and dry.

welcome. it's good to have you with us schools in japan have shut down to contain the spread of the coronavirus it's a precautionary measure announced by prime minister. last week the decision affects some 20800000 students across nearly 35000 schools around the country the schools are meant to remain shut until spring holidays that begin in late march japan has so far reported a little more than 200 cases of 19 the disease caused by the new strain of virus. school's out for millions of japanese children but while the youngsters get an extended holiday many parents are faced with a logistical nightmare they need to make alternative childcare arrangements while

the schools are shows the bags in question i think companies need to be flexible in dealing with the situation. we're not even traditional where the ball more now but i really didn't think that the virus would in fact so many people ask it though. it's good to close the schools. but a lot of parents work today and i. have to take some time off. sorry for them i think the. prime minister shinzo abe a said the drastic measure was necessary after a meeting with the country's coronavirus task force on thursday how cute you know there are many efforts being made to stop the spread of infection among children in various regions and the next one or 2 weeks are crucial. the announcement took local government and health officials by surprise they've been scrambling to

come up with guidelines to implement the closures and some politicians have warned that the risks posed by shutting schools also need to be considered the mayor of chiba tashi he tokamak i tweeted was about parents and occupations that support society how will they manage society could collapse. but with opinion polls showing public dissatisfaction with handling of the corona virus outbreak is appears the prime minister is betting on school closures as an effective strategy to bring new infections under control. for more joining me from journalist michael michael thanks for being with us the 1st day of the school. hours have been. it's been a little chaotic. lots of companies and lots of their children are are

scrambling to to try to deal with a situation that was unforeseen until just a couple of days ago obviously you know for the kids you know they may or may not be happy to be out of school but the parents who are many of them who depended on their kids being at school so that they could go to work many of them are in considerable trouble because they have to take time off from work or to figure out how to do teleworking and this is not just you know one or 2 people in the office it's essentially everybody who has kids so and all at the same time so it's been a major adjustment and you know there's still going to be time to figure out how it's going to work has it basically just been left to the parents and the other relatives all to trim the fine see get out the shutdown is the government assisting in any way. essentially prime minister abbay just

requested that all of the schools close down and not every school not every prefecture actually obeyed his request there is for example she manet prefecture in western japan which completely ignored the prime minister's requests but there are other schools as well but yes essentially it's been left to all the various school boards and all the various local governments and all the various companies and all the various individual parents to figure out how to adapt to this to this issue and the government did not do any particular preparation and the decision was made even without the input of the education ministry so yeah everybody was kept flat footed and they're just trying to figure out figure out as they go along and that has been a fair bit of criticism has in the michael about the government's decision especially considering that this is a government and a prime minister that is facing criticism over the response to the coronavirus

outbreak was this a political move. in fact the prime minister himself has pretty much admitted that in parliamentary debate today he was cornered by opposition parties who said who are trying to find out how he made this decision and the prime minister was forced to admit that in fact that he made the decision without consulting any experts and so it was basically prime minister aves own political decision to do this personal without even many of his own staff members on board with it and so you know the government was being criticised for being too lax in its handling of for example the the diamond princess issue and other parts of the infection and now they kind of swung from going from what might have been too lax to to possibly too harsh and the government is in particular crisis right now kind of political crisis which the abio distraction has not seen in its 7 years in power

michael ben joining us from joe thank you very much for that. and you're. overdrawn agreement signed over the weekend between the united states and the taliban pave the way for u.s. troop withdrawal from the country the phased drawdown would mark the beginning of the end of nearly 20 years of american military involvement in afghanistan but the deal also to be the beginning of an interim afghan dialogue to restore peace to the country however with afghan president of granny or objecting to a proposed taliban prisoner swap and the taliban digging its heels in the stability of the deal is already being put to the test. taliban fighters no more such weapon handovers are nothing new in afghanistan but there's a buzz in the air this week that afghans may finally see the day when the talk is

no longer guns and bombs but of peace. after the peace deal with the u.s. afghans should make peace too but that possibility has already hit its 1st snag prisoners the u.s. taliban deal calls on the afghan government to exchange $5000.00 captives for $1000.00 held by the taliban it's seen as a precondition for enter afghan talks meant to begin in oslo next week but the afghan president has a different view. now where there is no commitment to release $5000.00 prisoners easy it could be included in the agenda of the intra afghan talks but cannot be a prerequisite for talks it's. a sign of the bumpy road ahead despite what many

see as a breakthrough in doha. gunnies administration was not party to these negotiations . the u.s. hopes to end its longest war still hinge on the taliban and the afghan government agreeing to sit down for talks. but distrust dies hard couple harbors deep suspicions of the taliban and regional players like pakistan it sees as backers of the militant group. is a political settlement we will be. facilitators who would want to encourage the process to move forward. many afghans welcomed the possibility of peace but remain skeptical it will happen any time soon people still think and even i still think that the taliban are the same people who ruled this country in 1990 s.

but i think that might have changed and if that has changed it will be a big relief. the relative quiet during the past week ceasefire could be a sign of what's to come. or just another brief break from the bombs for a nation still fractured by war. head over to our website. for more background on the dimensions of the u.s. . prospects for peace in the country. it's one of the world's largest river systems and supports the livelihoods of some 60000000 people but in recent years the mighty mekong river has been facing do all threats from extreme climate and. the river for also 6 countries in southeast asia but dams and upstream countries particularly china and laws are talking the flow of water and nutrients downstream for countries like thailand which is already facing

one of its worst droughts on record that is cause for concern. catching fish in the mekong river isn't it used to be these waters were once plentiful with large fish but falling water levels here have caused the fish to reducing both size and number. this year is the worst water is too low and i have to fish and fish again to catch anything. thailand is currently in the midst of a severe drought which is not helping water levels here but the fishermen blame something else chinese dams like the one inch in hong restrict the water flow that can cause levels to drop by as much as 3 metres sometimes without warning.

about it. for china the mekong river represents a valuable economic opportunity it wants to dredge the river bed in thailand and blast away rocks to make room for larger ships conservation groups are leading the campaign against the blasting. the people who want to blast the rapids might call them filthy rocks but we the villages see them as an important ecosystems that makes the river abundant the time i'm in i'm cool man who more. lives i'm dr lee hertz depend on this river but faced by an economic superpower local traditions and practices are under threat. time telescoped of bangkok tourist fears are not for the threat posed by climate change or to move off the backs of design one of the show's largest wind farms as a university near the capital in. relief with.

morals of art. my 1st my stake for the sewing machine. where i come from women are almost by this ocean for. something as simple as learning how to write them by psychos isn't. since i was a little girl i wanted albums by cycle of my home and it took me as them and. finally the game bob invented by me and my status and returned with the sewing machine sewing i suppose was more appropriate for girls than writing advice and now

i want to meet this woman back home who are bound by their duties and social norms and informed of old dead basic rights my name is them out of the home and i work at z. to. if you're an investor and held your breath all weekend then it was for nothing european shares. some asian stage a comeback but the financial shock of the coronavirus is far from over the o.e.c.d. downgrades global growth. as reported drug shortages giunta the spread of the virus some of the key ingredients are produced in china. and labor unions in africa warn over brain drain to europe as germany annex and you've lost to attract more skilled

workers from abroad. i've been fizzling let's do business it's no wonder that equities continue to fall today the organization for economic cooperation and development warns the coronavirus could be rael the global economy the group of industrialized countries wants growth could fall to just one and a half percent that's about hough the growth predicted before the outbreak this will hit all economies but the o.e.c.d. warns japan and the euro zone a most at risk of sliding into recession central banks are scrambling the bank of england says it's working to ensure all the necessary steps are taken to protect financial and monetary stability asian central banks say they're also taking measures to stabilize their economies well let's bring in laws chief economist at the o.e.c.d. .