something the whole world's come to depend on is highlighted the dominance of just 2 countries rob mcbride reports from seoul. between them south korea and taiwan have a near monopoly on the world's production of processing and memory chips it's a dominance in a strategic commodity that's been developing over years but now making itself felt as the world becomes increasingly technology driven but from here on out it's going to broader considerately to egypt with everything modern fighter. it's not. your electric vehicle in your cars it's going to have a retreat it's getting old like other car makers this general motors plant outside seoul has been experiencing delays because of a global shortage of chips it's been a wakeup call for many world leaders but the investment of time and money needed to become a chip maker means south korea and taiwan will maintain their lead for years to come it's a global shortage that's been made worse by the pandemic when car factories ramped up production again late last year it coincided with a surge in demand for consumer goods also needing chips and a mov

rob mcbride ending that report from seoul and that's our show for this week but there's more for you online at al-jazeera dot com slash intimacy and that'll take you straight to this page and surprise entire episodes for you to catch up on and that's it for this edition of counting the cost i'm definitely not against us in the whole team thanks for joining us the news on al-jazeera is next. and account 50 years old and children and. all. the. things likely to be a child and you. believe you see this if. you see. the us city of minneapolis agreed to a $27000000.00 settlement in the death of george floyd his death sparked global protests against racial injustice. we have to show george to our life matters but actions. this is out 0 life and also coming up titans kobe 1000 restrictions shutting down schools and restaurants.

rob mcbride ending that report from seoul and that's our show for this week but there's more for you online at al-jazeera dot com slash . that'll take you straight to this pain to an entire episodes for you to catch up on. and that's it for this edition of counting the cost signed off on the whole team thanks for joining us the news on al-jazeera is next. levanon is grappling with its worst economic crisis in generations. exasperated by the coronavirus pandemic and then this. one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history shone a light on a nation already in economic and political freefall people in power travels across the country to find out what's next for the trouble states lebannon the state to collapse on a just you know. what can be $100000000.00 toilets going to miss you and visit such a small place where everyone is always there for a while it's great easy to corrupt the system. we give back. britain so. it's a film that helped bring down the corrupt governments and led to the jailing of the former president. al jazeera investigates stealing paradise. laura. calls for

magnitude 9 tremor also damaged nuclear power plants that continue suppose a contamination risk rob mcbride reports. it was the biggest earthquake japan has ever recorded creating devastating tsunami waves that crashed into towns and communities along its northeastern coast it left around 20000 people dead or missing and it caused a meltdown at the fukushima nuclear power plant more than 150000 people had to be evacuated from surrounding areas satellite images taken before and after the disaster showed the extent of the destruction and the scale of the task to rebuild the town of minamisanriku was one of the worst hit with almost 2 thirds of the population wiped out through me oh ito survived the rising waters and made it to safety he now leads tours of his town recounting to visitors his firsthand experience a name or how difficult i want everyone to know that unexpected disasters can happen i think it is our job as people who experienced a tsunami to share that with others all along this coast and you see defenses have been built and the government has turned the reconstruction effort int

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera so. now the top stories on al-jazeera a jury is being chosen for the trial of former american police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man whose that's caused the widespread protests there it shows in faces murder and manslaughter charges for the death of george floyd the minneapolis police officer was filmed with his knee joints neck the jury selection has already run into difficulties with potential jurors having seen the video and on going disagreement over the charges it could take 3 weeks just to choose the panel with the full trial at the end of the month john hendren is at the court. the stakes are enormous and if you just look here at the city of minneapolis that's a courthouse behind me you can see the high temporary prisons style gates they've put up on the other side there are national guard troops in cammo gear with military weapons standing in front of this courthouse there are no protesters here because it's at such an early stage in the case but aro

disaster a decade ago and its legacy japan as a nation will have to deal with for decades to come rob mcbride al-jazeera. while the cleanup but the focus daiichi nuclear plant is far from complete more than 1000 metal tanks containing nearly 1250000 tons of radioactive cooling water is stored at the facility the tokyo electric power company which operates a plant says the water contains to try t.m. and a naturally occurring i saw top of hydrogen and traces of carbon 14 every octave material in 2018 the firm also said 70 percent of the water contains a radioactive substance known as tante a mine which can cost cancer that speak to ken besler about this his a senior marine radio chemist said to the woods hole oceanographic institution and is joining us from massachusetts in the us thank you very much for being with us so we have water tanks full of still radioactive contaminants in fukushima and the government is reported to want to release this water into the sea is safe. well thank you for inviting me about think the 1st thing to say situation today 10 years later they water is in the ocean a

from this part of japan and that is still dealing with the legacy of it some precedented force rob mcbride al-jazeera. in the u.s. 3 jury members have been selected so far for the trial of a white policeman accused of killing george floyd in the city of minneapolis. can read. he was on top on him so he doesn't. think they were interviewed in a court room and their identities have not been released for all its death in police custody in may last year triggered worldwide protests former officer derek show via facing charges of 2nd degree murder and manslaughter the court has set aside 3 weeks to choose the 12 jurors john hendren has more from minneapolis. on day one of jury selection in the case of the former police officer accused of murdering george floyd the court picked 3 jurors one a white chemist a man from minneapolis another is a white man who works as an auditor and says he's got a friend who's a police officer and he's got a relatively negative view of black lives matter the 3rd is a woman of color who says her uncle is a police officer and all 3 said that they felt they could judg

not to cause trouble in the region where rob mcbride joins us live now from the south korean capital rob so blinken and lloyd austin have just landed in south korea we just saw the pictures there they continue to shore up alliances across the region so what is south korea hoping to get from the americans. this leg of the mission in south korea is likely to be dominated of course by north korea blinken and austin will be having talks with their south korean counterparts in seoul wednesday going through tomorrow into a joint session and then a communique in which north korea is likely to feature obviously very prominently and then press conferences afterwards all of this trip of course is likely to help that by administration formulate its strategy towards north korea we know that that's what they are doing at the moment and waiting to see what kind of policy they come up with it is likely to be some kind of return to this old policy of strategic patience basically united states and its allies trying to constrain north korea as far as the south koreans are concerned they would like to s

there is very little indication so far that the united states is going to grant that are serious rob mcbride reporting live from seoul rob many thanks indeed. growing along about the increasing number of covert 19 cases in chile despite the nation having a successful vaccine rollout about 5000000 people have had their 1st job but cases are rising by an on average of 5000 a day in america reports now from santiago. a severe health crisis in the latin american country one my gleason have expected when chilian is dying from cold and 19 every 15 minutes and critical care units are overflowing the doctor said that they runs the i.c.u. at. a clinic and takes us to see for ourselves that every bed is occupied even though the number of critical care units nearly doubled this week. people over 17 most of whom have already been vaccinated have almost disappeared from our emergency rooms now we have younger patients but some gravely ill. chile's 2nd wave is turning out to be far more aggressive than the 1st even though more than 33 percent of the population has received one or both jabs these people ar

people it also severely damaged nuclear power plants that continue suppose a contamination risk rob mcbride reports. it was the biggest quake japan has ever recorded creating devastating tsunami waves that crashed into towns and communities along its northeastern coast it left around 20000 people dead or missing and it caused a meltdown at the fukushima nuclear power plant that led to more than 150000 people being evacuated from surrounding areas 10 years on and just 10 kilometers from the plant the town of tommy yoker still hasn't recovered utah was just 14 when he was evacuated with his family residents were allowed to return only 4 years ago but parts of the town are still off limits and strewn with bags of radioactive soil gravel 30 the used to hold the cherry blossom festival here and this lordly filled with food stalls and people further along the coastline away from the contaminated areas lives have been rebuilt and sea defenses strengthened the government has turned the reconstruction effort into a symbol of national revival coinciding with the delayed summer olympics but the games

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera so there are fresh reports out of japan that overseas spectators won't be allowed to attend the tokyo olympics to prevent the spread of coronavirus games organizers will meet officials from the international olympic committee this week the games are due to be held in just over 4 months time all this comes as the international gymnastics federation council's its all around world cup event scheduled for tokyo next month the competition would also have acted as a qualifier test event for the games. well again the headline.

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera sold. dissolves there and these are the top stories brazil's supreme court has thrown out the criminal convictions of former president louis and also alluded to silver the ruling paves the way for luna to run in the election. e.u. parliament has stripped 3 catalan separatist politicians of immunity from prosecution for more regional leader cut his push to mount 2 others are wanted by spain for organizing the illegal independence referendum in 2017 whose demand say says they will challenge their decision. you just said they sure european parliament. we have lost our immunity. but dupion berryman has lost more than that. and there's a regime which european democracy to. be in miles military leaders have recalled the country's u.k. ambassador after he publicly denounced the coup this comes as a 2nd official with political party died after being arrested by me in mass security forces police raided homes overnight and demonstrators broke curfew to continue protesting at least $3

have been strained since 2017 when kim jong un's half brother was killed at kuala lumpur airport rob mcbride has decided dates from seoul. north korea of course is suspected of using all sorts of illegal activities overseas in overseas countries to get access to funds or to goods that it's not meant to have as a way of getting around international sanctions it has reacted very angrily to this particular case branding this as an unpardonable crime by malaysia saying that all of these charges are completely trumped up that it is a pure fabrication it's going further though by saying that behind this is the united states that this is a part of some sort of u.s. inspired conspiracy saying that the u.s. itself will pay a price now of course u.s. north korean relations are very much in the news at the moment coming straight after a very high level u.s. mission to northeast asia as the new bided administration formulate its policy on how to deal with north korea as far as malaysia itself is concerned traditionally it has actually enjoyed relatively good relations with north korea one of few countri

dealing with the legacy of it some precedented fools rob mcbride al jazeera. this is all just here are these of the top stories the u.s. house of representatives has approved a $1.00 trillion dollar pandemic relief bill it's going to provide stimulus checks for millions of americans as well as extend unemployment benefits and tax breaks everything in the american rescue plan addresses or.

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera seoul. al-jazeera and these other headlines hundreds of protesters he had been cornered by security forces in young gone.

world a warning of how relations could slip back into the acrimonious saber rattling of the past rob mcbride al-jazeera so. 10 years into the syrian conflict and president bashar al assad is still in power many syrians say the international community failed them and the uprising turned into a proxy war there's also those that blame the opposition for failing to provide credible alternative leadership say no how to reports on how in fighting lead 2 wars within the war. protesters demanding the downfall of. that and bashar assad's regime were shot at arrested and tortured syria's opposition decided to defend itself and fight back after losing hope in an international intervention. the formation of the free syrian army was announced by rebel military leader. in july 2011 but years later the former air force colonel like many others acknowledged the f.s.a. existed only in. each of the armed groups had their own agenda and they wanted to implement it before the fall of assad cause divisions international powers intervened and supported different groups. a unified authority that would serve as an

years and she says the joint military drills with south korea are a barrier to renew diplomacy rob mcbride as the details from south korea's capital seoul. there is something of a stinging rebuke from kim jungle especially as it seems to be just about one of the 1st official statements aimed from north korea at the biden administration since their coming into being kim jong il saying that warning the americans not to make a stink in this part of the world they also had some very unfriendly words for south korea warning that they would be willing to rip up a military agreement to the north signed with the south a few years ago when relations were far better than they are now but in some ways as these remarks can be seen as being fairly tame stuff obviously the remarks are code to time to coincide with this mission to this part of the world but it's also timed with these military exercises the resumption of these joint exercises that will hold it under the trumpet ministration they have been resumed they normally take place in the spring time but they are very small in scale it's pretty much

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera so remember you can keep up to date with all of our stories on the web site there it is one of our top stories there as well the continuing violence. and we will have more on that in the coming alice. now a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera a jury is being chosen for the trial of a former american police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man whose death caused widespread protests there a show then faces murder and manslaughter charges for the death of george floyd the minneapolis police officer was filmed with his knee on floyd cynic the jury selection has already run into difficulties with potential jurors having seen the video and on going disagreement over the charges john hendren is at the court. the stakes are enormous and if you just look here at the city of minneapolis that's a courthouse behind me you can see the high temporary prisons style gates that they put up on the other side there are national guard troops in cammo gear with military weapons

and aggression in asia north korea's nuclear ambitions are expected to be the top issue in seoul rob mcbride reports from there this is all seen as part of the u.s. returning to traditional values to say look we're back in the region again and so they will sign this new agreement it does actually mean that the south koreans will be contributing quite a lot more to u.s. forces being based here some nearly 14 percent increase which is seen almost as a quid pro quo or a sort of a goodwill gesture by south korea in the hope at least of that they will get some concession from the u.s. when it comes to dealing with north korea there is growing alarm over the increasing number of coronavirus cases in chile despite having one of the world's leading vaccine rollouts 5000000 people have had their 1st but cases arising by an average of 5000 a day the government of nigeria is could do the state says that it won't give in to ransom demands after 3 teachers were kidnapped from a primary school on monday it's the latest in a string of abductions from schools in the north. human rights watch is blaming yeme

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera so. now the top stories on al-jazeera a jury is being chosen for the trial of former american police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man whose that's caused the widespread protests there and show then faces murder and manslaughter charges for the death of george floyd the minneapolis police officer was filmed with his knee on floyd's neck the jury selection has already run into difficulties with potential jurors having seen the video and the ongoing disagreement over the charges it could take 3 week.

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera so. this is al-jazeera and these other headlines hundreds of protesters he had been cornered by security forces. and the like to lead police needed homes overnight and demonstrators proved curfew to keep protesting from bangkok scott has what the security forces did to him for a night. they were throwing stones grenades they were taking shots at some of the buildings live fire shots at some of the buildings so they were trying to track down where those protesters went and even taking a step further the security forces said anyone who was hiding those protesters who they were seeking could also be punished so this is something again we're seeing this kind of stepped up. intimidation campaign a crackdown at the protest as we saw another deadly day on monday so this is all part of that trying to intimidate those protesters and those behind the movement the social disobedience movement but as we're seeing today tuesday they are still coming out across me and mark. the brazilian

has highlighted the dominance of 2 of the world's leading chip makers type one and south korea rob mcbride reports from seoul. between them south korea and taiwan have a near monopoly on the world's production of processing and memory chips it's a dominance in a strategic commodity that's been developing over years but now making itself felt as the world becomes increasingly technology driven but from here on out it's going to reorder considerably to 8 ships with every model in sight or. it's not. your electric vehicle in your cars it's going to have a retreat it's getting old like other car makers this general motors plant outside seoul has been experiencing delays because of a global shortage of chips it's been a wakeup call for many world leaders but the investment of time and money needed to become a chip maker means south korea and taiwan will maintain their lead for years to come it's a global shortage that's been made worse by the pandemic when car factories ramped up production again late last year it coincided with a surge in demand for consumer goods also needing chips and a move

world a warning of how relations could slip back into the acrimonious saber rattling of the past rob mcbride al-jazeera so. stephen neg is a senior associate professor of international relations at the international christian university he says that multilateralism appears to be at the core of washington's new strategy in the eastern pacific region. the joint statement released by the united states and japan touches upon the areas that i think japan its nose most concerned about the same cook islands north korea and of course chinese assertive behavior broadly within the region a 2nd this statement actually included at their east explicit statement on china and i think that's critical japan to date as well has not been forthright in terms of explicit criticism about china and its concerns there and i think importantly that the united states committed to defending japan and strengthening the alliance in particular on the sensitive areas such as defending the same couple eyelets against a 3rd country that would invade or or try to take over these islands if you look at the statement that was a

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera seoul well let's get more now from deborah elms she is the founder and executive director of the asian trade center and joins us from singapore and let's just start with the impact this chip shortage is going to have on the global recovery from couvade do you think it will be a significant impact. well i think it's a certain significant impact in some sectors as your previous report noted you know vehicle production is grinding to a halt many of the electronics that people are desperate to get their hands on as we remain locked down are also affected as are some of the newer technologies that rely on chips to power sensors of all different kinds so there isn't global implications of this chip shortage and crucially of the inability of chip producers to get to the product where from where they're manufactured to where they're most urgently needed and then taiwan and south korea have been described as the opaque of microchips such as the stranglehold they have on this particu

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera soul deborah elms is the founder and executive director of asian trade center she says the monopoly of taiwan and south korea will be difficult to break. one of the things that we've learned as a result of the u.s. china trade war and now cold it is that it is challenging for companies to be too reliant on any single source whether that's a domestic source or of foreign source if you only have one location for a critical part component raw material like cetera that makes you quite vulnerable to disruptions and so while many people would like to be part of the chip manufacturing process i think the challenge for semiconductors in particular is that it is so complex and it is so capital intensive that it is not easy for lots of other manufacturers to simply step into the space the reason that korea and taiwan are so good at this is that they've been at it for a very long period of time they have specialized and they deliver at speed at reliability in time frames that that sim

about china south korea would like this to be just about north korea thank you very much more from rob mcbride later in the day as that trip continues in seoul now a u.s. intelligence report says both russia and iran directed efforts to manipulate the 2020 presidential election it's been released by the office of the director of national intelligence and shows agencies believe moscow was trying to help donald trump in his 2nd term while teheran push for a biden victory the report also found cuba venezuela and lebanon's hezbollah are gauged in smaller scale campaigns to influence the vote the 1st female u.s. vice president has made history by giving her 1st speech at the united nations come to heresy is the address at the annual meeting on the status of women to champion their role in democracy but as christensen only reports the setbacks caused by the pandemic still cast a shadow over the events. the 65th conference on the status of women may have lacked the pomp and circumstance of years past not to mention the number of female participants but it had something previous conference's did not t

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera sole. tensions between the us and iran don't appear to be going away anytime soon but that doesn't mean iranians aren't interested in reading about the lives of u.s. presidents and 1st ladies some bookstores are full of western titles which are proving surprisingly popular iran isn't a member of the universal copyright conventions on the books are being translated into farsi and published without steele's those consent as a big reports from to her on book lovers students and avid readers all come to central to her and to look for the latest releases and it's here in a quite back street where one publisher translates western titles. he's just finished his 5th edition of former u.s. presidents barack obama's promised land we do. you know there are severe sanctions laws big american publishers don't get themselves involved in a situation that can be dangerous for them getting involved with the run and risking the sale of millions of copies of their books they say they can't ge

years by the trumpet ministration its final signing seen here as evidence of an alliance restored rob mcbride al-jazeera sold one. brazil is facing its worth health care crisis in history with covered 1000 cases forcing the system to the brink of collapse on wednesday it reported more than 90000 new infections for the 1st time brazilian media say on average more than 2000 people are dying every day when you and i carry for some reaction there day after day brazil keeps beating its own tragic record health experts say that today in brazil there's a kook death about every 2 minutes like this family of 3 or this 43 year old health care worker they all lost their lives while waiting in line for a vacancy in an intensive care unit brazil's couvade 19 observatory says the country is facing the worst health care system collapse in all of its history coronavirus units in almost all of brazil's $27.00 states are at or above 80 percent capacity and the situation could get much worse as winter approaches in the southern hemisphere and we may have it in this month of march alone $60000.00 that. this woul

world a warning of how relations could slip back into the acrimonious saber rattling of the past rob mcbride al jazeera so. still ahead on al-jazeera protesters and yemen's port city of and in storm government offices angry about the loss and economic situation. and a desperate search against the clock for mexican families looking for their missing loved ones. it's time for the perfect. storm suit point qatar airways. because some quotes weather coming into japan over the next couple of days are seeing some rice the snow moving through a little bit of snow still continuing there into a cottage just pegged in with this weather system which is running across the far north of the country follow this line of disturbed weather here the stationary front think of it as a rope of cloud and right and it's dragging its way across a similar area so central parts of china will continue to see some rather wet weather as we go through the next couple of days perhaps more welcomed by the rain which will make its way into beijing that should help to clear the air following on from a recent sandstorm 14 cels

continue dialogue creating difficulties for dialogue is never desirable or whatever about as it was rob mcbride who's in seoul. north korea has been as you might expect heralding this as a major military success it has released through the official north korean news agency still pictures of the launch showing suitably jubilant north korean senior officials cheering one of the missiles on its way interestingly absent from the picture is the north korean leader kim jong un himself normally he is depicted watching these great milestone military achievements he wasn't apparently at this launch but they have released more details about this particular type of missile saying it is a newly developed missile an improvement on existing technology also the fact that they say it traveled 600 kilometers i'd also capable of carrying a payload of 2 and a half tons now military analysts are looking at that and saying that if that is the case then this would certainly be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead this is a short range missile so you're talking about hundreds of kilometers rather than thousands but

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera sold buckingham palace has broken its silence over the allegations of racism and bullying by prince harry and his wife meghan markle in an interview with oprah winfrey spoke at length about why they stood back from their duties and split from the royal family again said they face questions about her then unborn son over how dark his skin color would be a statement released on behalf of queen elizabeth says the whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for her and meghan the issues raised particularly that of race are concerning while some recollections may vary they're taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately harry meghan and archie or will always be a much loved family members. of the headlines that 3 jury members have been selected so far the trial of a white policeman accused of killing george floyd format minneapolis off the direction of been is facing charges of 2nd degree murder and mans

much of the global economy many countries have plunged into the worst recessions in decades but rob mcbride now reports taiwan not only managed to but the trend it expecting further growth this year. restaurants and stores are full shopping districts busy with people out spending it all points to an economy enjoying its own mini boom while much of the world is still mired in a pandemic gloom just a year ago as countries were quickly closing borders because of the spreading coronavirus prospects for this more law and so close to the pandemic source in neighboring mainland china looked grim. i met you here taiwan where we experienced certain downturn where our counter software like a minus 4 percent g.d.p. of course instead taiwan grew its economy by more than 3 percent last year growing faster than mainland china for the 1st time in decades with 5 percent growth predicted for this year successes due in part to the economy's reliance on semiconductor chip production which has boomed during the pandemic but it's underpinned by early and decisive public health measures that have created a safe

not to cause trouble in the region where rob mcbride joins us live now from the south korean capital presumably north korea's nuclear ambitions will be high on the agenda there what south korea be hoping for from this visit that. north korea definitely will dominate discussions in this leg of the mission blinken and austin having one on one talks with their counterparts in seoul on wednesday going through to a joint session on thursday and then a communique in which we can expect north korea to dominate of course one of the main reasons for this mission to this part of the world is for the new bike the ministration to formulate its strategy towards north korea which we can expect to be some kind of policy of containment what's known as strategic patience the same kind of policy adopted by previous administrations before donald trump came came along but from the south koreans they would expect and they would want to see something far more proactive they want to try to breathe life back into the whole policy of high level dialogue between north south korea possibly leading to a resumpt

have signed a joint statement saying their alliance has been met has never been more important rob mcbride has details from seoul. as expected it reconfirms the commitments to this alliance between south korea and the united states and alliance which is the statement said it was forged in blood on the battlefield 70 years ago during the years of the korean war there was also emphasis on north korea as we expected both the united states and south korea committing themselves to the denuclearization of north korea but without going into too much details differences do remain between south korea and the u.s. on how exactly that could or should ever be achieved their words emphasis on also on restoring the relations with these 2 traditional allies in northeast asia both south korea and japan all of this mission has been about resetting very important relationships also doing some repair work on the relationship between south korea and japan itself which has become quite frayed in recent times when it comes to china there was no actual reference to china by name in the statement that causes prob

job the ministration to quote not do anything unseemly well we'll get more on that shortly from rob mcbride in south korea but 1st thought is solemn a is in tokyo thought he said this trip by anthony blinken and lloyd austin may be about strengthening allies and countering china but what will japan be hoping to get out of this. this is a very important visit for japan 1st of all this is complete the change from the so-called the america 1st policy of former us president to one of trump and that's why many of us allies that they would worry about their stance about there was action in in importance to us so now with this visit it's the 1st visit of both the foreign and defense ministers of the u.s. after by them took office to a foreign country this symbol of the simplifies how important japan is for the alliance of the 2 countries and that the sense i'm this is the 1st step in their tour in asia they're going to visit also south korea and the japan is very keen on underlying underlining the u.s. stance towards the situation in the area japan is very much concerned about that is in tension w

disaster a decade ago i did legacy japan as a nation will have to deal with for decades to come rob mcbride al-jazeera. well let's get more now on our top story and those reports of more deaths in manaus and tikrit protests as well as new charges against ousted leader aung san suu kyi tony chang is across all of this for us from bangkok in neighboring thailand tony we are talking about at least 6 more deaths today potentially 10 what more do we know. here's another bloody day on the streets. fewer protesters out today but that hasn't stopped the authorities cracking down with the brutal force of the past weeks in my own township in central myanmar we understand that there have been 7 fatalities and some of the pictures we've seen suggests that the military have been using sniper rifles and other automatic weapons the same weapons weapons of war that amnesty international have accused them of using in their release overnight in mandalay we understand there was one fatality a crackdown on crowds and another one in yangon but there are reports of more which haven't yet been confirmed but it ap

said joint military drills with south korea were a barrier to renew diplomacy so let's talk to rob mcbride in seoul about that one before we look at japan i mean. just the timing is no coincidence of that statement and it shows what a big. gap there is to bridge. absolutely that will be definitely high on the agenda when the secretary's come here to south korea but the concern for the u.s. state department is that despite overtures from them the north koreans have remained conspicuously silent just about the possibility of any kinds of dialogue with the by the ministration they've said that over a period of months now they have been reaching out but so far have not had a response from north korea and there's been a lot of speculation about just what the north koreans thinking may well be it could point to the kind of dire situation that north korea is facing domestically at the moment because of course we've had more than a year of the country being cut off from the outside world by the effects of kobe had 19 that coming on top of the ongoing international sanctions the impact of storms la

intelligence authorities are analyzing the incidents live night see rob mcbride she joins us from saw rob hi significant is this if indeed they turn out to be ballistic missiles. this is what the japanese prime minister yasha he is now claiming that these were 2 ballistic missiles which of course are in contravention of u.n. resolutions and that would be a significant development it was the japanese coast guard in fact that 1st detected this launch taking place early thursday morning saying that at least one projectile had been detected landing in the sea that separates it from the korean peninsula that was then later confirmed by south korean military and with analysts from south korea and the u.s. now trying to work out exactly what these projectiles were but. confirming that 2 projectiles worth fired south korea's national security council is holding an emergency meeting to look into this will be a significant development because of course for the past couple of years well north korea has continued developing its its arsenal of weapons and has continued to stage the launches of mis

mcbride is live for us in seoul rob what do you make of this launch and the timing especially. this is a significant development and more people here are asking whether this marks in fact a new phase or possibly some kind of return to missile brinksmanship of the past for the last couple of years with the failure of denuclearization talks north korea has been busily building up its arsenal of weapons but it is being very careful largely to avoid 'd any provocative ballistic missile testing this is the kinds of tests which are banned under u.n. resolutions instead concentrating on less so weapon systems other types of rockets that it is allowed to test and we saw that at the weekend with the launching of 2 cruise style missiles now this was seen as the 1st 'd weapons test since the u.s. biden administration came into being and the white house largely ignored it because it could now it can't ignore but listed missiles timing as always with north korea seems to be everything and this comes ahead of the 1st full news conference by u.s. president joe biden later on thursday which wi

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al-jazeera seoul or workers are pumping oil out of a chinese fishing boat that has run aground off the coast of. the vessel was carrying 130 tons of oil when ahead of coral reefs near the capital port louis on sunday there was a small spill at 1st but the whole remained intact and should take 5 days to empty in tow the ship away it's the 2nd shipwreck in the recess and less than a year to get a check on the weather on the al-jazeera news hour here's everything. however got some rather stormy weather in the forecast the western parts of the u.s. the central and eastern areas it's lost the fight and drive this base and places of cloud here most in the area of high pressure keeping it quiet across the eastern seaboard least for the time bama drawing up warm southerly winds and those temperatures getting up to 19 celsius in minneapolis saddle change as we go through the next day or so succumb wet and stay temperatures struggling to get to around 7 celsius and that cool air grassy making i

world a warning of how relations could slip back into the acrimonious saber rattling of the past rob mcbride al-jazeera so well them of impartial miller is a senior fellow with the japan institute of international affairs he joins us now by skype from also has great to have you with us on this news we were hearing in that report there's been lots of warm words for japan do you think that japanese governments will be reassured after this initial visit. thanks a lot for you know and i think absolutely the japanese government will feel reassures a couple points to note i think the fact that the 2 blasts to end the travel of the secretary of state and the secretary of defense happened initially in japan and south korea i think is significant there are a number of different priorities that the by the administration could have focused on internationally a lot of challenges you expect ability over the last 4 years with the previous administration but the fact that they chose to travel to japan 1st and then south korea i think was well regarded as the 2nd important element it's now this ducktails wi

from this part of japan and that is still dealing with the legacy of it some precedented fools rob mcbride al-jazeera. british health care workers a warning that there may be industrial action unless they work during the covert 19 pandemic is rewarded with an appropriate pay rise the government has recommended that n.h.s. workers be given a one percent increase with menaces saying the country can't afford to pay any more but after a year in which nurses and doctors have been hailed as heroes there has been a wave of public outrage in the office of paul brennan reports. covert 19 has meant a harrowing 13 months for the state run national health service it's placed extraordinary stress and emotional strain on the system and those who work in it and a 2 point one percent pay rise have been promised and expected now the government says it can only afford a one percent increase so this year has been a really tough year for us for intensive care nurses such as becky smith that's insulting and demoralizing feeling valued helps to look after patients better it helps us to put more into our jobs th

world a warning of how relations could slip back into the acrimonious saber rattling of the past rob mcbride al-jazeera so. stephen nagy is a senior associate professor of international relations at the international christian university he says multilateralism have passed away at the core of washington's new strategy in the eastern pacific region. the joint statement released by the united states and japan touches upon the areas that i think japan is knows most concerned about the sake of violence north korea and of course chinese assertive behavior broadly within the region a 2nd the statement actually included at their east explicit statement to on china and i think that's critical japan today as well has not been forthright in terms of explicit criticism about china and its concerns there and i think importantly that the united states committed to defending japan and strengthening the alliance in particular on those sensitive areas such as defending the same couple eyelets against a 3rd country that would invade or or try to take over these islands if you look at the statement that was a

mastery of a tiny component that makes any potential conflict in east asia a matter of global concern rob mcbride al jazeera seoul let's get an update on the supporters here spader there in thank you very much the race for the oldest trophy in international sport finally gets underway later in new zealand sailings america's cup begins raising was delayed by 4 days because of a coronavirus lockdown in oakland but now defending champions team new zealand will go up against challenges luna rossa in the best of 13 contests team new zealand skipper believes it will be a tight competition between the 2 teams you know it's been a pretty incredible campaign you know obviously it is. been a lot of i suppose changes going along especially with the covert environment you know not being out of the warm up of in you know mixed touched on you know in a lot of different. situations getting thrown at us but you know i think at the end of the day you know we're now on to mars the day we're you know it's exciting and you know we actually get to go on rights and fun of a room we know they're fast because we say leg