specific should be directed at the police because that's who's holding this gentleman one thing that was interesting at the end of this comment during the press conference the spokesperson said that you know that the united kingdom shouldn't be pointing fingers and that these are irresponsible comments over the last couple of days we can presume yes obviously about the situation with the detention of their employee but also there is a tone that it was much broader than that about what's been going on in hong kong more broadly and saying that the united kingdom shouldn't be making these kind of irresponsible comments all right scott thanks for that scott. correspondent in beijing a rebel fighters being killed in a gun battle with security forces in indian administered kashmir this is the 1st such death since new delhi revoked the regions of tommy earlier this month some parts of the area still under lockdown pakistan opposes india's actions and has vowed to take the case to the international court of justice. the u.s.

state department has approved plans to sell $8000000000.00 worth of f. 16 fighter jets to taiwan congress is expected to give the green light that beijing strongly opposes any arms deal with taiwan which it considers a breakaway province gabriel elizondo has more now from washington. we've been hearing rumblings for several days now about this possible arms sale to taiwan but it was on tuesday that the white house gave formal notification to congress on their intention to pursue this arms sale to taiwan and it is a big one worth about $8000000000.00 it calls for the sale of $66.00 f. 16 fighter jets to the taiwanese if this goes through it would be the biggest arms purchases by taiwan in nearly 20 years now this also is part of the trumpet ministrations bigger plan since trump has been in office last 3 years or so to get

closer relations to taiwan the trump administration has sent high level visitations everybody visitors to taiwan it's opened a diplomatic offices in taipei and the trump administration has supported pro taiwan legislation as well over the past couple years now this arms sale is just sort of the most high profile active really supporting taiwan and it certainly is going to upset the chinese the china daily newspaper has already said that this sale of these fighter jets to taiwan since a seriously iranian signals they say and a foreign minister official in china also said that nobody should underestimate our will or ability to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity. coming up here at al-jazeera we report from the straits of hormuz where a british or british flagged oil tanker is still being held by iran and how

facebook will stop following its uses around the internet. hello the thunderstorms are very front high but the rain has been falling fairly persistently underneath this massive cloud particularly over switzerland in the last 24 hours or so they start huge but it's notable 84 believe it is and that's in addition to the day before now the tail end of the cloud i was just sitting over northern spain the potential for more thunderstorms does exist during the day today probably here and better roofs possibly of a turkey as well the area of low pressure city amongst the cloud but this division here was pretty around for about 3 days now her and it divides the cooler suburbs

of much of europe viewers with the warsaw of the southeast corner italy included and a good part of our bay area and this division probably is about to break up with natural temps will recover for iraq has the particular picture for the day the green represents showers possibly sunday particularly latvian near latvia lithuania and estonia the baltic states and down in turkey where they could be substantial some so it was hailed maybe the flash flooding and the pictures little different to more effect anything the northern part valley in the mountains of switzerland could well be again covered thunderstorms the picture in north africa a quiet one when determines the temperature is usually but not extraordinary doesn't matter where you are. sponsored by countdown and. i have been looking at your instagram account and reading focusing. the atmosphere behind the scenes this is a dialogue when donald trump announce his candidacy for president after that everyone has

a points best chance for democrats to beat donald trump is to nominate an exciting inspirational callus mother nominees join the global conversation in your thoughts get twitter and you on al-jazeera. take a look at the top stories here about sudan is set to swear in a new suffering council later when say the military and civilians will share power until elections are held in 3 years the council replaces the military took power in april. china's foreign ministry has confirmed that a missing employee of the british consulate in hong kong has been detained on the

mainland beijing says simon chang violated a law that went missing on the sea 8 whilst on a business trip. from the vatican treasure a cardinal george pell has lost in the field against his criminal conviction in australia he was jailed for 6 years in march for abusing 2 choir boys 20 years ago . and the death toll from saturday's attack at a wedding in afghanistan has now risen to 80 the interior ministry says 17 more people died in hospital from their injuries and more than 160 is still being treated a responsibility for the suicide bombing at a reception hall in kabul it's one of the worst attacks in afghanistan this year. well nearly $100.00 refugees a migrants is that their 1st night in weeks on dry land after their rescue boat docked in this in the a prosecutor who ordered it be seized ending

a standoff between this palace charity which operates the ship and the italian government hard line migration polities policies are at the heart of italy's leadership crisis which has forced prime minister condé to resign so we are going. as leader of the government is epic contest had overseen one of the most challenging coalitions in recent times battling one political crisis after another contest being a stabilizing force between 2 vastly different political parties the far right leak and the anti establishment 5 star movement it proved to be an impossible task and contest said he would be offering his resignation but there was no question over who he thought was responsible. that interior really has showed that he is following his own interests and those of his party. in a blistering attack against any country accused him of unleashing further turmoil and in doing so endangering italy's already started to qana me but the leak party

leader was unrepentant. i would do again everything i did everything with the great strength of being a free man therefore it means i'm not afraid of the children went of the italians overshadowing this impasse has been my terror cell beanies own political agenda vocally anti migrant he's also waged war on the engineers that attempted to rescue asylum seekers crossing the mediterranean and it's a tactic that has had success support for his views have increased across the country turning his party into a force that cannot be ignored. in the middle of this political drama the spanish rescue vessel hovering off the coast of lampedusa with dozens of vulnerable people on board for more than 2 weeks they had not been given permission to disembark the open arms vessels repeatedly requested permission to dock despite continued rejection or someone board became so frantic they risked their own lives

by jumping into the sea attempting to swim to land they were rescued by nearby italian coast guard vessels. on tuesday a local prosecutor visited the vessel and issued an emergency measure allowing it to dock in lampedusa but this is one incident among many others despite tough new laws preventing such landings they still arrive desperate for safety in europe no matter the cost of reaching their. al-jazeera rome. the case of a british land oil tanker seized by iran a month ago is making its way through the country's calls there had been speculation that the center in paris could be freed after gibraltar which is a british territory released in the rain in tanker but the iranians say the 2 cases are blamed meanwhile australia has agreed to join the u.s. led mission to protect shipping in the strait of hormuz let's go there live to the

strait of hormuz now correspondent. who is at band the port right there on the strait of hormuz 1st of all then says the judicial process is underway concerning that u.k. flagship pair or. yes the stone pearl was seized on the 19th of july by the revolutionary guards and it came to weeks off to the iranian vessel the seas by royal marines british royal marines off the coast of gibraltar now that vessel has been released and there has been indications from iran that this dinner and pair with the british vessel could also be released now a few days ago the foreign ministry spokesman. he said that the issue was going to the course and he hoped that it would be released very soon it's not clear how the process works said journalists are not allowed into those courts will just be told when the announcement is made and what conditions that vessel will be released under but it will go some way in really reducing tensions between iran and the

united kingdom but also there is still the issue about that coalition the united states has put together in the region indeed and that is the coalition that has just announced it's prepared to join. well the store you will be joining the united states united kingdom and now straight in prime minister scott morrison said that they had been concerned about recent incidents in the gulf and he's referring to the seizure of the tanker but also the 2 tankers that were mysteriously attacked which did not to states and its allies blame iran for iran denies this. but the incident still have raised concern and they says that there has been a destabilizing behavior that threatens straight years interests now israel has said that they will commit a frigate a patrol and surveillance a military personnel this will concern iran they've been opposed to foreign presence in the region in fact they've said that countries in this region fully capable of providing security and stability in the strait but it is

a strategic location the strait of hormuz behind me between it's now response between iran and oman is only 33 kilometers wide and in fact the shipping lanes are 3 kilometers wide and the increase of military presence here will concerns that they could be a miscalculation and lead to a conflict but the united states has struggled to put together this coalition the united kingdom 1st wasn't going to join they want to put together a european mission but that didn't emerge because european countries are still wanting to save that 2015 nuclear deal she knocked it states pulled out of last year in fact germany said they weren't going to commit and nothing should be done to escalate tensions in the region so that coalition is being put together the 5th fleet the united states 5th fleet is here the united kingdom has to up its warships here and iran is fundamentally opposed to that because 20 percent of the world's oil passes through the straits one 3rd of the world's liquid natural gas so there is a fear that if there is

a conflict all of that supply could be disrupted i said bank. in the strait of hormuz thanking. now an israeli newspaper claims it has documents that show the u.a.e. made a deal to buy spy planes from an israeli businessman says its investigation found evidence going back 10 years the paper alleges the 800000000 dollars deal involved a company connected to the leaders it also says the advance of aliens aircraft the gathering electronic intelligence and one of the targets is wrong giorgio caff yet it is the c.e.o. of the geopolitical risk consultancy gulf states have a little he says likely be more cooperation in the future between israel and some goal sates i think more in more arab governments have been coming around to accepting the fact that israel regardless of what one thinks of the country is

a permanent reality in the middle east israel also it has a very powerful military it has you know great it has the ability to share a lot of intelligence with the arab gulf states like the united arab emirates. so it seems to be very pragmatic how certain members of the g.c. see believe it's in their interest to pursue a deeper relationship with israel even if it remains tacit and they go out of their way to make sure that these interactions are somewhat low profile but given the fact that officials in israel and these arab gulf states have similar views about the alleged iranian threat i think it's easy to imagine a continuation of cooperation between some of the g.c.c. members and tell of even moving forward. jewish activists and politicians in the u.s. are criticizing donald trump for his comments about jewish voters the president said

any jewish person who votes for his political rivals the democrats shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty polls show most american jews identifies democrats i think any jewish people that vote for a democrat. i think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty and in response david harris from the american jewish committee that's an advocacy group said president trump's comments are shockingly divisive and unbecoming of the occupant of the highest elected office american jews like all americans have a range of political views and policy priorities his assessment of their knowledge or loyalty based on their party preference is inappropriate unwelcome and downright dangerous well this is a partner with the treatment national security project and president of e.j. strategies a public affairs consultancy he says trump's comments have nothing to do with his

support for israel. the number one anti-semitic trope in any situation throughout european i some and some it says a middle eastern anti-semitism russian anti-semitism is always the same accusation of dual loyalty to the state of israel and to america or whatever the home country may be so for donald trump to double down on that trope is incredibly offensive the vast majority of american jews support the democratic party something to the tune of 76 to 79 percent of american jews voted for democrats and 2018 elections and something like 71 percent voted against donald trump in the 2016 election donald trump has one thing on his mind and one thing only it has nothing to do with support for israel it has nothing to do one with a relationship with benjamin it's me out now to do with his own elected elective survivability and his term and that the way to do that is to.