facebook to address afghanistan from exile in the uae. he says he left to avoid bloodshed. >> i am in kabul where doctors are treating patients shot at kabul international airport. ♪ >> this is al jazeera live from london. also, anger in haiti. a tropical storm compounds prior -- compounds problems for survivors of an earthquake. as the u.s. lines of a third jab, the vaccine battle spills

onto college campuses. ♪ >> afghanistan's former president has defended his decision to leave the country during the taliban takeover. ashraf ghani speaking from the uae says he left to prevent bloodshed and denied rumors he fled with suitcases full of cash. uae says he has been taken in with his family on humanitarian grounds. >> if i stayed, i would have witnessed bloodshed. couple should not be turned into another yemen or syria. i left with waistcoat and clothes. the persecution saying i have taken money are baseless lies. you can ask customs officials, they are baseless. >> and afghanistan, adjusted

after the taliban reassured the world people would be safe under its wool, fires have opened fire -- against protesters. >> three people are said to have been killed at a demonstration against the groups takeover in jalalabad. people were marching in the streets, carrying the afghan flag. video later showed taliban leaders hitting protesters with sticks. >> [gunfire] >> gunfire has also been heard in the east, no immediate reports of injury. demonstrators raised the afghan national flag in the city. taliban fighters were seen chasing crowds away. at kabul airport, u.s. troops fired into the air to disperse people who have been gathering, trying to leave.

tell event soldiers also fired into the air to control the crowd. an official says they have no intention of injuring anyone. the immediate aftermath of the takeover, a search of injuries and hospital admissions. some patients came from the airport where there were shot trying desperately to get out of the country. >> this 10-year-old from afghanistan's eastern province was shot saturday. it took his family eight hours to reach emergency hospital in central kabul. he was in bad shape. this is the first intensive care unit in afghanistan. doctors say they witnessed the surge in patients after the taliban took over. they say most were victims of violent clashes, criminals and chaos at the airport. >> the situation that

unfortunately causes many people -- >> for two days, the hospital was overflowing. they added extra beds. all admissions were from gunshot wounds. >> the hospital says it has received 20 patients from kabul international airport since monday. four have died. the rest are being treated for gunshot wounds after the taliban and u.s. forces tried to disperse crowds. >> we received patients from around the airport. most of them are bullet injuries. through the chest and head. >> this hospital is run by an international humanitarian organization. with the taliban in charge, they say their operations have continued on interrupted. they say the minister of health has remained the same. fighters have introduced themselves. >> so far, the 20 years we are

in the country, we are always able to work. nobody forced us to do nothing, just to take care of patients. >> when the taliban took over this 12-year-old's province, he ran to meet them. he was hit by a government mortar. another child died, and he is now paralyzed. >> we have 18 or 19 years of war. in the last 10 minutes he was injured. at least he is alive. i can tolerate this if there is peace. >> the war maybe over, but afghanistan the healing will take a long time. >> the u.s. secretary of defense says american troops don't have the capacity to extend the onto the airport paren after in order -- airport perimeter. >> we are working hard to get as many people through as possible.

frankly, it is obvious, we are not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through. we are going to work that 24 hours a day. we are going to get everyone that we can possibly evacuate. i will do that as long as we possibly can until the clock runs out. ♪ >> coronavirus booster shots will be offered in the u.s. as early as september as the delta variant arrives up cases. health officials say people will be eligible eight months after the second jab. this after finding the protection wanes over time. the world health organization has warned against wealthier countries getting booster shots until more are vaccinated worldwide.

vaccines and admissions -- hospital admissions have risen in all u.s. states. we go live to washington, d.c. what has prompted the administration to take these measures? >> there are several discussions here. even making the announcement has raised eyebrows because they made announcements before the reglet tory steps have been taken to ensure this is actually going to happen. the fda and cdc -- the administration trying to distract americans from another story that may not be going as well as hoped. what we keep hearing from the administration is they want to stay ahead of the virus. they do not want to be playing catch-up. there is research that shows not just the delta variant can overpower the vaccine, but generally, the pfizer and moderna vaccines lose efficacy over time. they presented some information

in the last day or so to show that. actually, that information didn't really show that, or at least it raised questions if it was showing what they wanted to show. the data is they showed once again showed pfizer and moderna was immensely effective in preventing serious illness and death. there have always been questions about the immunocompromised. the biden administration took steps in that last week, allowing a third shot for the elderly and those on the front line of emergency health work. why should a perfectly healthy 18-year-old who has already had two shots get a third when he or she is at a very low risk of serious illness? they have not answer that question and that is raising more questions. >> bearing in mind many countries around the world are struggling to administer first vaccines in any great number. how is this news of a possible third booster dose being received?

>> not very well. joe biden, when speaking a couple of hours ago, clearly anticipated the response, saying he disagreed with the motion the u.s. can't take care of america and the world at the same time. he went on to point out how the u.s. has donated and pledged to donate more vaccines around the world than any other country, all other countries put together. it is -- for him to say we can do both, it is not working. there is a huge gap between the developed world and low income countries especially when a third shot is potentially going to go out to healthy americans. there is a series of quotes from who officials which perhaps could make arguments better than anyone. we have the chief scientist who said we believe clearly the data today does not indicate boosters are needed.

suggesting the data they are producing is suggesting the opposite of what they are saying for healthy people. a senior adviser says there is enough vaccine around the world, it is not going to the right places. that again pointing to biden saying we can do both -- you can't do both. you have to choose who is getting priority. the most poignant comment in a tweet from an official who said we are planning to hand out extra lifejackets to people who already have lifejackets while leaving others to drown. >> thank you. while fault maybe turning to a third vaccine, there are still some of the u.s. who don't want to get their first. rob reynolds reports the controversy has spilled over to college campuses. > more than 20 million u.s. students are headed to college. this year, a new item on the curriculum: covid-19 vaccine

mandates. or than 700 colleges and universities now say students must be vaccinated, or face repeated testing, enforced distancing, or be barred from campus. colleges are desperate to prevent a replay of last year's damaging cap as shutdowns. >> another outbreak would be disruptive. we are risking another evacuation from college campuses in the fall. it will have an even greater impact on those who are already the most vulnerable. >> and the politically hyper charged debate over vaccines in the u.s., there are those who refuse to comply. riley o'neill, a student at loyola marymount university in los angeles is one of them. >> it goes back to the idea that i should be able to choose whether i get the vaccine or not. if i'm going to be coerced into

doing that it does not feel like a free choice. it very much feels like oppression. >> he has sued the university over its vaccine policy. if he refuses the shots, he could attend loyola marymount but undergo testing and observe social distancing. o'neill's lawyer was quick to frame the issue in political terms. >> there is going to be discontinued divisive effort by the left, the press of -- progressive side of this nation to try to create this division between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. >> so far, legal efforts to overturn college vaccine mandates have fallen flat. if federal imperials -- a federal appeals court ruled against -- in indiana. one of the judges wrote, people who do not wish to be vaccinated

can go elsewhere. the supreme court has upheld that ruling. o'neill seems unconcerned that unvaccinated young people will get infected and spread the virus to more vulnerable people. >> frankly, my age group is not nearly as affected by covid-19 as older generations are. >> that is a problem, says authorities. >> part of our educational responsibility is to talk to people not only about their rights, but their response abilities. liberal education, america's historic mission of educating democracy requires a we impart that message more than ever. >> surveys show the overwhelming majority of college students approve of campus vaccine mandates. >> new zealand has reported nine new cases of covid-19, taking its active total to 10. the government announced a three

day lockdown when the first case was announced. before this week, there had been no local infections for six months. the new cases are the delta variant and have been linked to an outbreak in australia. >> i need everyone to think about what it would be like to receive that call. if you do, we need you to be at home. not putting others at risk. we unfortunately need only to look at new south wales who today reported 653 new cases. 92 were active in the community while infected. debt -- therefore restrictions are there to protect everyone. >> so to come, the eu accuses belarus. we meet a former child soldier trying to comfort sierra leone's sick youngsters to save lives. ♪ >> your weather forecast, for

australia, hang tight. in the asia-pacific, continuous rain over the better part of the week. it scoops up another 88 millimeters. thursday, that rain starting to wind down, not as concentrated. we have had landslide alerts in play, but by thursday these will be lifted. further south, we got to talk about tokyo. it is going to be dry over the next few days. now to the south. anywhere from vietnam to the east china sea, clustered cells dropping from 50 to 100 millimeters of rain. concentrated rain will be the name of the game over borneo and sulawesi. we've got thunderstorms for jakarta thursday.

not much to talk about for australia. high-pressure the driver the bus, but wet and windy conditions pushing into western australia and that pesky cloud cover to the southeast. will end in new zealand where once again we are seeing rain swoop into the south island. 12 degrees in christchurch thursday. see you soon. ♪ >> mug area, the poorest nation in the eu, rocked by allegations correction -- corruption. >> the aim of power the ruling class was access of the -- >> people in power ask where the country goes. >> bulgaria at the crossroads, on al jazeera.

♪ >> a reminder of the top stories here. former afghan president ashraf ghani calling baseless asset -- he says he left to avoid bloodshed. afghanistan itself, taliban fighters reportedly opened fire on protesters. three are said to have been killed in jalalabad. staying with afghanistan, britain's prime minister boris johnson says u.k. will do all it can to avert a humanitarian

crisis. critics including the opposition labor party says he is falling short of the number of afghans allowed into the country at just 5000. jonah hull reports from westminster. >> collective anguish of parliament. mp's brought back from summer recess to debate the failure of the mission that claimed 457 british lives. boris johnson describes what the u.k. would do the aftermath. >> our efforts must be focused on supporting the afghan people themselves including the threat of violence. we call on the united nations to lead a new humanitarian effort in this region. >> the government has announced a new refugee resettlement scheme, called ambitious -- unambitious by critics but plans to bring 20,000 to britain over the next few years. despite promises to evacuate up to 10,000 who have worked with the u.k., afghan's president and

the u.k. protested. >> we want things to do for our families back home. who serve them for 20 years. that picture space for everything. >> do you feel the government is doing enough? >> no. never. >> act in the house, among questions about the failure of u.k. intelligence and the prime minister's absence on the holidays, crisis unfolded last week. there is a powerful indictment of the west's withdrawal of a military veteran on the government's backbench. >> nations mobilize and muster. nations determine and have patients. patient thing >> here we have demonstrated, sadly, that we, the west, the united kingdom, does not. this is a harsh lesson for all of us. >> amid sometimes emotional

interventions by mp's and despite efforts to talk up some of the successes over the last 20 years, there was no disguising the fact that it's in play had not foreseen or had been prepared for the speed by which afghan was taken by the taliban. this was grand scale humiliation, the leading member of nato alliance admitting to parliament its nationals and support staff were only able to leave kabul at all because the taliban was allowing them to. in the end, the debate, a simple motion this house consider the situation in afghanistan could achieve little more than that. jonah hull, al jazeera. >> a tropical storm in haiti is hampering search-and-rescue efforts after sunday's earthquake. grace has brought heavy rain with warning some damaged buildings could collapse. nearly 2000 were killed, thousands more left homeless

with many still waiting for help. john hallman reports from or the worst affected cities. >> the>> aftermath of storm grace in haiti. the downpour was not as bad as feared, but many bailed out houses. >> this is the only space we have to do everything. we can't live in water. when we feel aftershocks, we have to move quickly. >> those were the ones who still had houses. others had spent the night in a field in the rain. victims of saturday's earthquake. >> first the earthquake, then this. i asked god to take my life. >> they are still there. still more in hospital. the quake left more than 9000 injured. this young man was in too much pain to talk. marie was with her daughter. >> her leg got torn up, not broken. i have been with her since saturday.

yesterday she was going to be operated on. they wanted to amputate. i don't want that. if there was a government, she wouldn't be suffering. >> she's talking about the president, assassinated in july. it came at the worst possible time. international aid organizations trying to help national authorities with the relief effort. >> [indiscernible] >> it has been hard to get aid and personnel to the earthquake zone. a stretch of the only road into the area is being fought over by gangs. >> a lot of agencies have decided the only safe way to get help is the way we are coming, by air. -- reduced the flow of to the disaster area. >> help is needed. at the rubble of one of the main hotels in town, a crowd of

people gathered. -- telling me in 2010, a lock fell and permanently injured his hand. and this one, he says his house fell. these two helped people out of the rubble of a despite the fact there has too had been destroyed. >> we are victims as well. there were the worst off. i have a chance to be alive, though i am injured. thanks to god, we didn't get badly hurt so we could help out the others. >> local authorities and international organizations have commented on the resilience of these people. there is a sense of disbelief over their long series of misfortunes. to many, the question comes, when will haiti get a break? >> firefighters in spain still battling a major force fire. authorities using drones to help track down hotspots in catalonia. the blaze forced several hundred out of their homes on the hottest weekend of the year.

fires have swept across the mediterranean. thousands of people have been forced to evacuate homes, hotels and camping grounds on the french riviera as well fires there burn out of control. firefighters are battling the blaze which covers an estimated 50 square kilometers. one person has been confirmed killed. several more suffering injuries and smoke inhalation. the european union has accused belarus of trying to use migrants for political purposes by encouraging them to cross its border. at the end of may come of the belarusian president lukashenko said he wouldn't stop migrants from entering after imposed sanctions. his government has been targeted for cracking down on dissent after last year's election. since then, he's accused of flying in migrants and transporting them to areas that

border lithuania and poland. some 4000 asylum-seekers have crossed into lithuania from belarus this year. hundreds of others have been detained in latvia and poland. they are often kept in camps and face violence from border guards and local residents. >> lithuania, a small baltic state, has now become the center of a migrant crisis. unexpectedly and unprepared, this nation has become a new gateway into europe for migrants and asylum-seekers. at an emergency meeting, interior ministers from the european union pledged more financial support but also practical assistance to deal with a more than 4000 migrants who are already arrived. lithuania is hoping to get more money from the european union to build this amazing large fence across the border of 500 kilometers.

the border between belarus and lithuania is open, mainly just forest where people can easily come. lithuania is hoping to build a fence to stop people coming in. meanwhile, it is pushing back people who are trying to attempt to come in from belarus. more than 1000 have already been pushed back at the border, which has led to standoffs between the belarusians and the lithuanians with migrants stuck in the middle commit victims of a political standoff between belarus and the european union. there are also concerns about the humanitarian situation at the camps that are improvised in this tiny nation which has no experience excepting people out on the side of the border. winter is coming. there are questions about the food situation. also, concern about pushback's because it says they could possibly violate the human

convention for refugees that lithuania has become a signatory of. the situation is still very tense. warning shots have been heard, also the standoff with pollution authorities. -- belarus authorities.

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