jackson on france 24 and france went for.com -- france24.com. >> nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan, china vows a response and tonight 21 chinese planes fly into taiwan's air defense zone. fresh details emerge of the killing of ayman al-zawahiri in kabul, runs 24 geo locates his house to the bridges -- british embassy and afghan capital. the first ship of ukrainian grain to leave odessa since the war began has now reached

turkiye bound for lebanon. those are our top stories. thank you for joining us. we start with the news that nancy pelosi today has landed in taiwan in defiance of the chinese government. as a speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, she is almost senior american to visit the island in 25 years, she said her trip was designed to show america's unwavering commitment to democracy in taiwan. this evening the response from the chinese government has been swept. it announced military exercises that would begin tomorrow and tonight taiwan says 21 chinese military planes entered the air defense zone. >> protests outside of u.s. how speakers nancy pelosi's hotel after the senior u.s. official arrived in taiwan in defiance of chinese warnings. her trip makes it the highest

u.s. level visit to taiwan -- the chinese foreign ministry releasing a statement on television. >> this is a serious infringement on china's sovereignty and territorial integrity. it greatly undermines peace and stability across the taiwan strait. >> taiwan is a self ruled island with a population of 20 million, many people considered the home to be a separate nation. while they insist on a policy of strategic ambiguity on taiwan, she reiterated her support with taiwan in a tree after her arrival. >> america solidarity with people of taiwan is more important than ever as america faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. >> she asserts that her visit is not to contradict long-standing is policy on taiwan, to countries that have close

relations. >> in terms of u.s. taiwan relations her visit to taiwan did not break any president, china's reaction will show that mainland china does not offer -- operate like other free and democratic countries. this will have a long and lasting effect. >> china vowed not to sit idly by in response to her arrival, beijing thinking they can use the visit to justify military action. >> staying with the story, in washington pelosi's visit has been praised by democrats and republicans alike. for more this is the guardian's correspondent in washington, david smith. >> washington is very united in the support of nancy pelosi. a short time ago i spoke to newt gingrich, former republican house speaker who was theast to visit taiwan in 19 big seven, and he fully endorsed her visit -- 1997 and fully endorsed her visit.

he said backing down would've been a sign to weakness to china, and raise questions of america's commemorative taiwan. the most conservative and most right wing republicans who are normally early -- very critical of her actions -- simile -- similarly an external threat to the as states, that they see it is the last thing that brings many democrats and publicans together. >> and other -- republicans together. >> more details have emerged about the drone strike that killed ayman al-zawahiri. he was killed by hellfire missiles that struck a house and afghan capital of kabul. they have tracked a location close to the british embassy. >> this footage shared by the news and afghanistan shows the aftermath of a u.s. drone strike carried out sunday.

washington says the target was al qaeda leader ayman al-zawahiri killed 11 years after osama bin laden. a major win for the u.s. after last year's chaotic pullout from the desk from afghanistan and the taliban's return to power. >> justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. >> the egyptian born terrorist leader, the astor mind of the september 11 attacks -- mastermind of the attacks was on the balcony of his home when they fired two hellfire missiles. they confirmed that a house was hit in downtown kabul, several journalists and media outlets have identify the house and france 24 observer team has

attracted to this location close to the bridges embassy. -- irtysh embassy. intelligence officials had obtained information that they had moved into that safe house and had observed there passing of life for months. the taliban says it violated the dolehide peace agreement. in the same agreement the taliban promise to not cooperate with terrorist groups or individuals or host them. the u.s. state these -- said the afghan was have been well aware of the situation. >> earlier i spoke to ally terrorism expert, he told me why the cia was able to find him now 21 years after 911. >> he moved. he left his hideout and decide to go to couple to join his family.

when we -- kabul to join his family. when we follow these operations, we know very often that jihadi figures that if followed by -- that are followed by u.s. intelligence make the mistake of trying to join their families. he was followed by u.s. intelligence. he was too confident, on one hand that he was not risking a strike in kabul. on the other hand too confident with the taliban themselves. if you go into details, we know even bin laden, what we found in his letters, he was saying not all taliban are good. some taliban are bad, he was talking especially about those in charge of the foreign affairs in the taliban. one of the spokesperson today. it was too confident because he was in the house of the minister

of interior today that he would not be targeted. that is what made him make those mistakes. being too confident and trying to join his family. >> the first shipment of ukrainian grain to leave odessa since the russian invasion has reached turkiyeoday. the final destination is lebanon when -- where it will drop off some 26,000 tons of maize, for the war they imported wheat from ukraine and prices in the country have soared since the invasion, human terrien groups -- humanitarian groups hope that this shiwill be the first of many. this is to stay in turkish waters for several days now and the tell us more, here is a reporter. >> the ship is now iturkish wars at the northern end of the straight. tomorrow it will be ipected. officials of russia, ukraine,

turkey, you and will board it is caring grain and fertilizer. no other cargo is permitted under the deal signed by the four parties on july 22. an engineer aboard the ship has told the media that the ship will dock in turkiye for what they call routine repairs. it might take a day or two. after that it is scheduled to leave to tripoli where it will offload its 26.5 thousand tons of grain. the big question is how long the russians will allow this operation to proceed. the day after the deal was signed, russia hired -- fired missiles that hit a ship in odessa court -- port. clearly russians have the ability to stop this operation never they want.

the moment they want to condition -- convince the world they are not responsible for the shortage of grain and the price of wheat. they may come a day where the russians view this operation differently. ukraine will make a lot of my from selling its wheat, it will use that money to buy weapons d ammunition to fight the russian soldiers on its land. >> that reporters brings us to the end of this news program. thanks for watching france 24. ♪ >> he is arguably the most a

miss artist in the world. >> i am an artist. >> probably the most important, he takes on the issues of our times. >> i think we can do a lot if we open our heart, asking philosophically about refugees. >> he is china's best-known dissident. harassed by police who bulldozed his at shanghai studio he was thrown in jail without charge and driven out of his country. >> i just had a book come out. 1000 years of joys and sorrows. >> a memoir about his father's life, his own life, and 100 years of chinese history. >> you are here in france because your memoir has been translated into french. you decided to write it while you are detained by the chinese authorities in 2011, for your son, tell us what. >> i was told i could be put

away for over 10ears. i had this urgent to see, what about my son? when i come out he will never recognize me and not know what really happened to me. so i said if i come out, i have to write as a record. >> re-created in this art installation he was disappeared for 81 days in a chinese jail in 2011, two guards looking over him day and night. >> during that time the whole world protested for your freedom. you did not know that, how do you cope? >> as you can do, there is no lawyer, you cannot call your family to see where you are. i just, they can do whatever to me. >> why do you think the chinese authority is so afraid of you and art? >> that is a good question.

in china there is no single voice, it is completely silent. when a voice comes out is definitely the voice against the rules they are afraid a voice like me can subversive -- subvert the ruling. a lot of the book focus on your father, the years you were born he was banished to little siberia, you grew up in exile, living in a dugout, your father underwent performative labor. he wasn't allowed to read or write, he had to burn his books. wanted -- what effect did seeing

all that have on you? >> that is our life. eventually, he becomes a normal human being again. from that kind of expense i understand about humanity. about how wrong and how badly a society can go. it can be total agnes. -- darkness. >> today your life is totally different you are internationally recognized artist and you live in a certain comfort. how do you recognize -- reconcile these two different parts of your life? >> the early time is harsh, it teach me so many things. today, i am still very cautious about it. what it is really about, what is the meaning to be recognized and

what is the responsibility for me to continuously defend freedom of speech. >> the title of the poem -- book is taken from a poem written by your father. 1000 years of joys and sorrows of which there is no trace left, men who live and enjoy life do not expect the earth to keep the men. why is this so special for you? >> i think it tells some kind of ultimate truth. our human struggle is temporary. even though we do so much damage to each other or the planet, the human can be vanished and there is no trace left. i think that is an important lesson. our precious life is not permanent.

so he better find a way to use in a meaningful way. >> when china opened up in the 80's he went to go and live in new york where you stay for 12 years. how did your experience at their change the way you see the world? >> i was excited. i was also disillusioned about the west. about extreme capitalism, about the crazy lifestyle, i am supposed to find a new destination after i left china, but i do not feel i belong to that kind of society. so become alone again. >> did you feel freer? >> yes, you are free, no police chasing you, but nobody care is the problem. people are completely isolated and nobody cares. >> you are in new york from 1989

when the protest in tiananmen square take place. in the book you write that young people in china have no knowledge of the student protest in 1989 in tiananmen square, if they knew they may not even care, because they learn submission for they learn the ability to raise doubt and challenge assumptions. have -- has china erased that? >> it is the most successful government in the changing history, or hiding facts, or erasing other evidence. they have been doing that for decades. >> with films about the plight of refugees and the pandemic ai weiwe's life's work has been a quest for truth and freedom. he made it his mission to

identify the names of more than 5000 children who died in the szechuan quick. -- earthquake. >> you said it was in that moment you went from being an artist to a social activist. how did you reflect on the moment those two became one? >> education always tells you, yo become an artist because you acquire a certain skill. drawing, painting, sculpting. but, that has become so limited and very self-serving. the only one i realize, my voice can serve the public, then i realize my skill can be much stronger. to fight defending justice. >> you have been calling for the freedom of julian assange for a long time, you visited him in

prison and protested against his exhibition to the united states, and you have a social media campaign that is aimed at defending press freedom. do you see parallels between the actions of whistleblowers against their governments and your experience of standing up to the chinese authorities? >> there is parallel. they are also different. when i raised up my voice against the chinese authority, i was pictured by the west as some kind of hero. when this happened to julian assange, edward snowden, chelsea manning, they have been pictured as criminals. what they did is trying to even sacrifice their life to provide crucial information about the crimes done by the western government. what they are doing, basically,

is provide the information is no different than any journalist, but even mainstream yet in the west, many of them avoids to support this very crucial value of journalism. >> your father was sent to a labor camp, izzy same site work -- it is the same site where today the weaker people are at camps, western company's have called this genocide, what is the westerners -- what is the west responsibility? >> the west says human rights is only value, any state, religion, ideology has to have intact. there also defining it without any kind of excuse. western have double standard, selected situations that can

benefit them to get more -- some kind of excuse. many other wrongdoings, not just by the governments, even by themselves, have been totally ignored. china is not going to take this kind of accusation. it does not work that way. >> because of human rights concern, some countries are staging a diplomatic boycott at the olympics. which means they have not sent government officials. will that make any difference? do you think the athletes should boycott or the west should have done more to stop the games taking place altogether? >> for a few days on our calendar where we discussed matters like that, but we all know china has raised total support of the west so they can

explore globalization of profit in china. they love the workspace. they love a place with no worker protection or human rights. this is a dreamful condition for the west. they never want china to become a democracy or one of them. they lost the possibilities. the whole thing is hippocratic. the boycott is like a joke. you do not boycott a sports game. all your corporations are rooted in china, making huge profit. why don't they do the boycott it? as to boycott a sports game, it is ridiculous, china would have seen that as a weak sign of the west that has lost the ability

to defend your values. >> there are also stringent covid policies at the games you made a documentary about covid and one about sars in 2003, what do you make of china's covid palsy? -- policy? >> the policy is ridiculous, it is not scientific, it does not belong to rationality. it is a military type of psychology to intimidate the whole society that they do all the time. it has become more extreme, because they control the information of every individual. there monitoring it, so it purely becomes not human, but some sort of controllable species. >> you have said in the past that we will all pay the price for china becoming more powerful. what do you mean? >> china knows the west can not

just cut off the connections with china. it is impossible. german clearly said, their future really depends on china. if you see french or england, the government officials when they go to china, how much they like to lick the boots of the emperor to get more -- cell more jets. china knows the game so much better, money talks, china is rich, china is powerful, china can make quick decisions. >> today you make -- you live in exile in portugal. you are not banished, we ever go back? >> i could always go back tomorrow if i wanted to. i am not sure i could come out again. you may never hear from me again. >> like a star in the sky or a

tree in the field he was always there as a compass point. that is what you wrote about your father. what would he have made of your success? >> i do not think my father really cares about that. may not even like my artworks, but we are two different generations facing very different problems. >> the book is for your son, do you see more joys or more sorrows for him in the future? >> my son will be 13. in a few days. . he is. full of energy, positive opinions about his environment, that i am happy about. still i will worry. he willlso face a very different world from me or his grandfather. >> ai weiwe thank you so much. >> thank you. ♪

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■é■í [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: on saturday my direction the united states successfully concluded an airstrike in kabul, afghanistan to kill the leader of al qaeda, ayman al-zawahri. amy: the united states is claiming a cia drone has killed