Capital. Its definite now leaders somewhat difficult nations using the c. F. A. Front the 8 countries in the region under the west African Monitoring Union have decided to go ahead with the rollout of the proposed west africa single courtesy the aecl they said they are there for decided to go ahead with the process and any other country but wants to join or who are not decided to join can join later so in the next few months we will see the roll out of this currency in west africa that is going to be. Legal tender in this region a question was for to president ouattara the president of ivory coast and was president of this conference and he went on whether or not the new currency would be a problem with existing currency to which he understood the issues. The Exchange Rate between the existing front see if they and the euro will remain the same with the echo comes on board today the Exchange Rate is 655. 00 to the euro before the heads of state decide to join next year the rates will not be affected immediately we hope when echo is launched others will join us there welcome it will be nice to have 12 of the 15 now basically people in the region will be looking up to a bigger economy is like nigeria gone and those asked whether or not they will quickly join this process now will be the deciding factor will be how quickly these countries will join the process of utilizing what other joining the currency which will facilitate trade according to the leaders of the other meeting here today. What economists are wondering is what how this will impact the economies of these countries in west africa basically west africa a country is rich in resources i grew cultural and mineral but the the Production Base is very very slow they will continue to import most of the products they needed outside what they. Actually it is. The rest of the world. Police in gibraltar have arrested 2 more officers from an Iranian Oil Tanker seize more than a week ago bringing the total number to 4 the ship was detained off the coast of the british territory at the entrance to the mediterranean on suspicion of taking oil to syria in breach of e. U. Sanctions none of the arrested individuals has been charged or chalons has more this. On friday Gibraltar Police arrested 2 more officers from the Iranian Oil Tanker the grace one they were the ships 2 2nd mates on thursday the captain and the chief officer were arrested bringing the total then to 4 all 4 of these men are indian nationals they are being interviewed under caution by Gibraltar Police the authorities there insist that theyre all being given the correct and legal and consular assistance the investigation then seems to be proceeding the authorities are trying to build the case that this ship was illegally transporting oil to syria from iran and they have been going over the ship over recent days theyve seized documents and Electronic Devices and they say that this investigation is carrying on meanwhile the British Ministry of defense has decided that it is going to fast track the deployment of another war ship the h. M. S. Duncan which has been on drills in the black sea it is now heading straight to the gulf where you may remember there was an incident over the last few days where a british warship there the h. M. S. Montrose had to intervene so the british say between 3 iranian vessels that they thought were threatening a British Oil Tanker now this boosts the British Military presence or will do when the action as duncan gets there and is a direct response of whats happened in the rising tensions in the gulf the british feel that there is a direct threats to their shipping in the gulf and they have raised security levels to level 3 for Merchant Shipping there which is the highest possible level. Fierce battles in northwest syria have killed more than 120 people in the past few days government trailers were forced on the defensive after a coordinated attack by rebel fighters in Hama Province and harder reports. Syrian Government Forces and their allies are struggling to take ground from the opposition their offensive in northwest syria has been costly and difficult instead of advancing they have been defending their territory in the face of a coordinated and fierce counter offensive launched by rebel factions but both sides have suffered heavy casualties in the battle for one town how many after village in northern hama more than 100 soldiers and rebels are believed to have been killed according to the syrian observatory for human rights it says that in more than 2 months of fighting nearly 900 soldiers have died on the governments side while nearly 1000 were killed on the rebel side and yet the russian backed campaign has yielded little for president Bashar Assads site. But it has brought a lot of destruction rebel controlled towns in and around it live province are being targeted in russian and syrian air strikes more than 500 civilians have been killed more than 100 of them children. Health facilities ambulances Civil Defense headquarters all destroyed. Just in the last few days ago clinics or schools that have received. Civilian targets that is really unacceptable we have a total of more than 300000. 00 people that go displaced in the last 2 months and our top concern is really protection of civilians the basic rule of. I words of condemnation have been repeated in recent weeks but little accountability or pressure from the International Community to stop the offensive. Russia and turkey will decide what happens next that has become a proxy war between them even though they should be working together on syria through the socalled asked in a process they were sponsors of a cease fire and last year instead they are using it as a bargaining chip and another member of the asked in a team iran is involved as well unlike previous offensives iranian backed troops are not on the front lines its believed to be one of the reasons why the government has made gains it leaves those foot soldiers it seems there is no understanding between iran and russia. In post conflict syria and it seems russia and turkey do not agree on how to split northern syria. Civilians are paying the price of. Beirut. U. S. President donald trump has lost another member of his cabinet the labor secretary alex acosta is resigning hes faced fierce criticism over a secret plea deal he negotiated a decade ago with Jeffrey Epstein a billionaire accused of sexually abusing underage girls call him has more from washington. And i want to thank alex god he was a great great secretary and with that another cabinet secretary announces his resignation secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta has been facing intense criticism for giving a very lenient deal to an accused child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 when a customer was a u. S. Attorney both he and the president tried to downplay the case cabinet. Are temporarily right. It would be selfish for me to stay in this day and. Talking about a case that walters all rather than about a week on me right now made a deal that big for me with the next 12 years later theyre not happy with it go up to figure all of that out of the bag. Did a fantastic secretary of labor a cost is just the latest to go this president has had more turnover than any other president in modern history looking at his original cabinet hes replaced the secretaries of Defense Health and Human ServicesHomeland Security interior the attorney general at the Justice Department the secretary of state the Veterans Affairs the Environmental Protection agency the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations and now the labor secretary most left due to scandal some facing allegations of corruption but political analyst Bill Schneider says it wont impact the president support his base even if he doesnt deliver what he promises to his base they see him as fighting for them and getting rid of people that are in his way and they think thats probably a smart way to govern a now familiar pattern those close to the president face scandal step down and are replaced and the president continues on knowing so far no amount of controversy has hurt him with his core supporters political hane aljazeera washington. Pharmaceutical giant johnson and johnson says its preparing to test an experimental h. I. V. Vaccine in a bid to develop the worlds 1st immunization against the virus the drug maker plans to conduct a large scale study of the vaccine across the u. S. And europe some time this year hiv causes aids which kills about a 1000000 people around the world each year. Also for more on this im joined by dr khalid different from washington d. C. Is the director of the division of aids at the National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases which is working with johnson and johnson on this vaccine thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us on the news out if you could start by explaining what this vaccination could potentially achieve. So the purpose of this vaccination is to create a method of preventing people from becoming infected with hiv they were testing it in the americas to test it specifically in gay men and transgender women importantly there is a parallel study that is already fully enrolled with this vaccine that is in Subsaharan Africa are being tested in women so were testing this vaccine simultaneously in the highest risk most important populations that need a vaccine but of course the interesting thing with this virus is that it has been very difficult to develop immunization against it because it mutates so quickly how you overcoming that so the design of the vaccine is is to take that into account and predict. Where the vaccine has evolved and build that into the vaccine so it will have activity against all the global strains. Its a different type of vaccine than weve ever tested before so this is this is a different type of vaccine and could well really bring us as you say one step closer to covering all different types of strains of hiv but tell me about all the obstacles that h. I. I. The presents to vaccination what are the obstacles youve had to overcome in developing this so the fundamental obstacles have always been does the vaccine induce a Strong Enough immune response and then does the vaccine response stick around long enough to protect it in the studies that weve been following with this vaccine it looks like were in pretty good shape on the. War could it potentially do in terms of wild Health Organization goals of cutting global hiv related deaths to less than half a 1000000 by next year do you think it could affect those calculations you know i dont think were going to get this vaccine is going to take a roxanne really 3 years to test and then go through a period of evaluation by regulatory bodies to get it approved and then another couple of years to roll out so it will not have an effect if successful it wont have an impact for at least 5 to 7 years and wont actually start to be rolled out possibly for another 5 or 70 is how much is it going to cost so thats an important question i think that ultimately the cost has to be appropriate for low and middle Income Countries because we are all in agreement the purpose of this vaccine is to protect the world well thank you very much for sharing your out work on this with us we do appreciate it got to call different from the director of the division of aids and National Zoos of allergy and Infectious Diseases who is working on this vaccine. With al jazeera live from london much more still ahead. Children being separated from their parents in front of an american flag. Searing testimony from democratic lawmakers who visited migrants at overcrowded detention facilities. State of emergency is declared in the u. S. State of louisiana as it braces for the arrival of Tropical Storm barry. For 3 of europes biggest clubs make big moves in the transfer market well have the details with the whole. Hello there roland inching satellite picture you can see across europe the Central Regions are where were seeing most of the weather that of course in terms of rains a bit of an east west place across the much of europe in the last few hours and that is certainly where the bulk of the rains will be stretching all the way from denmark right the way down to western portions of the balkans and it is even a few showers again into central and southern areas of italy pretty good ahead of all that system youve seen the rain had across away through turkey there is some more in the way and then your nations weve got some rain pushing into the portugal and spain as we head through saturday pretty good though to the west of all that rain 27 in paris 24 degrees in london feeling quite he with that with that cloud and not rain so close by and then on sunday it is really clear across the central as it dries out the rain showers pushing into the northeast of spain and then we will see im afraid some more rain pushing into the southeast of europe so again another west end to the weekend for you that goes until the rains youve seen so recently it is dry it is clear across much of Northern Africa 38 in tunis on saturday 37 in cairo and really not a great deal of change that anything on sunday it still feel quite a bit nicer with a high there 34 degrees in tunis and about 38 celsius across in congress. On counting the cost 3. 00 decades after the collapse of the soviet union russia is engaging with africa to raise its political clout and we look at the economics behind that his decision to buy the s. 400 and f. 35. 00 Stealth Bomber counting the cost on i just you know. What. Im. Hearing that. In the year 127180 the gunman italian merchant sent out on an extraordinary journey having traveled the furthest reaches of the Muslim Marco Polo world via radicchio to beijing the city established by complete calm is still today chinas strong teaching not now and china is again a superpower we reflect on how the relationship between east and west has changed. Marco polo on aljazeera. Welcome back a look at the headlines now turkey says its defense minister has spoken to his u. S. Counterpart on the phone to discuss his nations controversial purchase of the russian s. 100 Missile Defense system. Reportedly told. That the deal does not need to be is changing its Strategic Orientation after the u. S. Threatened to impose sanctions. 8 western african countries have agreed to roll out a new single currency the echo will replace the c. F. A. Franc which is controlled by france and pegged to the euro and Donald Trumps labor secretary has resigned becoming the latest adviser to leave the us president s cabinet Alexander Acosta has faced fierce criticism over a secret deal negotiated a decade ago with Jeffrey Epstein a billionaire accused of sexually abusing underage girls. And other stories were following a somali official is saying that at least 10 people have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the port city of kismayo the victims include 2 journalists but he said when the death toll rises fighting is continuing inside the hotel between government and Security Forces that an officer said most of the victims were patrons of the hotel which is often frequented by lawmakers and local officials. Have claimed responsibility for the attack. Members of the u. S. House of representatives have called the trump administrations treatment of migrants a policy of dehumanization its part of the testimony given at a congressional hearing looking into the state of migrants at federal Detention Centers theyve described deplorable conditions after visiting these facilities mike hanna has more from washington. President trump describes reports soft mouth treatment of migrants as phoney and fake news however a report considered by the House Oversight committee is based on information provided by president own Administration Officials under subpoena among the facts that they provide is that as many as 18 children toddlers and infants under the age of 2 have been separated from their parents for periods ranging from 20 days to 6 months a delegation of representatives visited the border areas represent recently and this is what one of them had to say when these women tell me that they were put into a cell and that their sink was not working and we kept in the think ourselves and the sink was not working and they were told to drink out of the toilet bowl i believe them i believe these women had believed the kink or sores that i saw in their mouths because they were only allowed to be fed on nutritious food i believe them when they said they were sleeping on concrete floors for 2 months i believe that it must be remembered too that the House Judiciary Committee yesterday approved subpoenas to obtain information from Administration Officials working in the border areas to see whether there are any details of federal laws that might have been contravened by president trumps 0 tolerance policy. U. S. Regulators are voted to approve a roughly 5000000000. 00 settlement with facebook over its handling of user data this is according to the Reuters News Agency the federal trade commission has been investigating allegations that facebook inappropriately shared the information of 87000000. 00 users with a British Political Consulting FirmCambridge Analytic or facebook shares rose after the news reported a settlement would be the largest civil penalty ever paid to the f. T. C. China has received as showing its imports from the u. S. Have plunged in the past year and its exports to america down to meet the countrys trade war but china says its trade surplus with the u. S. Continues to rise now that imbalance is at the heart of u. S. President Donald Trumps assertions that china engages in unfair trading practices when hay is following events for us in the capital beijing. Some fairly negative numbers released by the government in beijing but no sign of panic of course from the customs it ministration they are saying that yes the trade dispute with the United States is having an effect but that it is manageable so what we have is that for the month of june exports from china to war countries dropped by 1. 3 percent compared with the same period a year ago concerning in that if we go back to the month of may they grew by 1 point one percent on the Positive Side most experts were forecasting that those numbers for june would be worse than what they are this all happening of course amid a truce in the trade war between china and the United States tariffs are not being placed on each others goods as agreed between the 2 leaders after they met on the sidelines of the g 20 summit in japan last month but some numbers to one pick here for the u. S. President donald trump has long complained of unfair trade practices by the chinese and the fact that the United States has a large trade deficit with china even though exports from china to the United States are down the trade surplus that the chinese have with the United States grew in the month of june to almost 30000000000. 00 so no doubt that will be discussed if those negotiations face to face negotiations do restart as expected possibly in china within the next couple of weeks one of the most concerning numbers for the overall chinese economy to be released is that imports from all countries a down 7. 3 percent and that is being blamed on weak domestic demand. Thousands of rango refugees in bangladesh are at risk after heavy rains swept through their makeshift camps according to a dating sense on the ground hundreds of thousands of rangar fled to. To neighboring bangladesh after a violent military cracked. Around in 2017 the International Criminal court is preparing an investigation into myanmar 100 reports. As if life werent difficult enough for Rohingya Refugees in bangladesh the monsoon season has brought with it even greater hardship flooding and landslides guarantee the situation for an already vulnerable population becomes even more precarious terrifying days of heavy rains in the reading the refugee camps here in coxs kasam and the situation is serious thousands of people have been displaced and thousands more have been sentenced to their homes. While running the refugees work to secure their overcrowded camps hillsides from erosion aid agencies like the World Food Programme are doing what they can to distribute emergency supplies last year heavy monsoon rains in southeastern bangladesh led to the deaths of 5 children and many fear the conditions could be even worse this year and worry the downpour may not let up anytime soon. More than 730000 mainly muslim or he fled from me and more to neighboring bangladesh after a military crackdown in 2017 un investigators have said attacks on me and more western rackrent state included mass killings and gang rapes and that they were executed with genocide intent in june the International Criminal court moved closer to opening a full investigation as prosecutor fact toobin sudha announced she will request the court to look into crimes relating to 2 waves of violence in iraq and state the request 6 authorization from the courts to open an investigation into alleged crimes within the jurisdiction of the court in which at least one element occurred on the territory of bangladesh is their party to the suit and within the context of. The violence in iraq on the territory of myanmar as well as any other crimes which are sufficiently linked to these events if granted the i. C. C. Would become the 1st International Court to prosecute any crime committed against me and morris rahim go minority mama june. U. S. President donald trump is declared a state of emergency in louisiana as Tropical Storm barry nears landfall expected to hit coastal areas of the state on saturday and wind speeds could reach over 80 Kilometers Per Hour residents have been warned that around the Lower Mississippi river it could be inundated with over 50 centimeters of rain an Evacuation Order of nearby areas has been issued. Prepare for heavy rain slow moving still this is what were being told so this means staying over for a while with consistent rainfall so were looking at the heaviest rains happening tomorrow. This again could have high impact on the city of new orleans were continuing to monitor of course the levels of the Mississippi River. Well lets cross live now to n. B. C. News correspondent jake gray in new orleans what are conditions like how close is barry to making landfall. Hey miriam weve had rain on and off throughout the day here today and barry expected to make landfall sometime overnight into the Early Morning hours tomorrow morning where long the Mississippi River which is at flood stage and has been for a record 260. 00 days now theyre going to add the effects of this storm so that water and thats a big concern all of the rain all of the storm surge that could push it over its banks its about 4 feet from that level right now look the winds going to be an issue but not nearly as much as the water were talking about right now many of these areas are already below sea level theyre going to see driving flooding rains for 24 hours or more and its difficult to get that water out when youre below sea level they do have a Intricate System of canals and pumping stations here 188 of the 200 stations are fully online and ready to get to work theyve pumped up 1000 cubic feet of water every 2nd but once they get behind theres no catching up and so that is a very big concern for the residents here many of decided to ride this thing out theyve been told to make sure that they have supplies food medicines and fuel that will last for at least 72 hours and most of that time could be without power they expect a significant loss of electricity across the area as well as you talked about this is a slow moving system so that rain is going to continue to pound some areas for more than 24 hours they are bracing for this storm watching it very closely and ready to see what happens next this porous crews that will come in and take care of things that are staged outside of the strike zone ready to move and ready to get to work but cant do that until conditions allow and thats why so many of these families were writing things out have enough provisions to do that for quite some time thank you very much jay gray there in your own ends thank you jay well as you were hearing at the Mississippi River which runs through new orleans has it was already at record levels before these rains hit and unions have put in place measures to protect communities but as nick clock reports thats having an impact on the environment. If im a typical Mississippi River a crucial 3 of comus which drains 41 percent of the entire United States this year its exceeded all records the volume of water down at schools swollen by extreme spring rains and snow melt upstream the mississippi has never been this high for this long it is unprecedented and everyone who lives in new orleans this puts the trust in the levee system which protects the city from flooding while upstream the engine is well they try and ease the pressure. And theyve done that with the rare opening of the pony carriage spillway built in the 90 thirtys to colossal quantities of water away from the main river in times of high flood of just about 12 times in its history this is actually the 1st year that its been opened twice in the same calendar year so this is really one of the one of the longest floods on record the spillway will remain open until the end of july but theres a problem its upset the ecological balance of the Mississippi Sound diluting the mix of fresh and so water with devastating effect to coastal businesses now were starting to see the repercussions which are you know oysters die in the shrimp are moving we have wildlife mammals you know dolphins and you know dying the turtles or die and we have a lot of salt water species now that are being affected heavily due to the rise of the river west it is a multimillion dollar industry here in St Bernard Parish but its sitting duck landings it down up to 80 percent the fishermen source of income has been all but destroyed and this is a very big impact this is the worst impact that this community has ever seen i mean weve weve been through katrina where weve been completely wiped off the map weve been through. Weve been through a lot in this community watched over the years in my life this Community Come and go but this is the worst that ive ever seen avar. Now business is a demanding that the federal government step in with emergency funding. For everything is dead and go back out there make no money or show out there. Then they neared you from their help of the fear is with changing weather patterns this could become the new normal you might save the city from flooding but at a cost to a multimillion dollar industry the classic aljazeera you orleans louisiana. And Italian Court has acquitted in eritrean man of being a notorious Human Trafficking saying he was a victim of mistaken identity where donnie test. Was extradited to italy 3 years ago and accused of being a campaign nicknamed the general well that allegation has been dismissed although he was convicted of the lesser charge of aiding illegal immigration by helping his cousin to reach libya and hes already served 3 years judges ordered his release from prison the 1st verbeek say steps of my client is not the general and this is this the think that we always sustain 3 seemed so the 1st time although they are restored my client. Things got. Police in paris have removed hundreds of undocumented migrants from the citys famed pantheon walsall am. The building which contains the remains of distinguished french citizens it was stolen by protesters demanding the right to remain in france the protesters barricaded themselves inside for a number of hours before that removal by riot police migrants shed videos on facebook demanding their residency papers unnormalized and a meeting with Prime Minister ayad heartfully. Reports now from paris hundreds of Asylum Seekers oaky by the policy on central paris just off to munch time a local time here in paris is an Historic Building in the heart of the french capital that is where were you most of french women and men all perry did the simple all the French Republican not symbolism has not been lost on those who have chosen this venue for their protests now the Asylum Seekers the saying that many of them have been here for years they have the right to all screw solemne they have papers showing that the french state approves that the side of the course but what they are saying is that they have those papers changed into the sort of papers and permits for the lot of them to work legally in this country therefore many of them are working illegally many of them do not have access to housing and theyre saying that simply unfair