yes to change slaves because of slavery and 21st century evil on al-jazeera. millions of lives in the balance in syria as the u.n. resolutions trying to extend across border age failed to win support. welcome you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up. refusing to back down protesters try to storm the serbian parliament as anger grows over the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. another blow to press freedom in south asia the biggest

broadcaster in the philippines is facing a shutdown. also this president cited the i.s.o. fia after a court in turkey rules in favor of turning this popular heritage site into a mosque from a museum. before we get to top story let's just get you some breaking news this just dropped literally in the past 90 seconds or so the u.s. president donald trump has decided to commute the sentence for his longtime friend and adviser roger stone mr stone of course you remember probably sentenced to a prison sentence for lying to congress as part of the probe into allegations of rushing russian meddling in the 2016 u.s. presidential election campaign alan fischer joins us live now from falls church in

virginia alan what do we know. we know that they're saying that this was done because he was risk he was due to start his sentence on tuesday the white house in a statement just issued you see peter just in the last 90 seconds or so said that roger stone is a victim of the russian hoax which is being protected by the left and the media insist there was never any collusion with russia and because of the serious medical risk the president has taken the decision to commute the sentence this is not the same as a pardon or cleaning conviction it also makes the point that roger stone has appealed his conviction and wants to go through the judicial system which he believes will exonerate him just to remind you it was back in november last year that roger stone was convicted on a number of offenses including lying to congress about his back channel links to

wiki leaks who of course carried out several leaks before the 2016 presidential campaign and that he'd done so according to prosecutors to protect the president in an interview just a few hours ago roger stone told us journalist that the president should commute to same to should grant him clemency because he never flipped he never gave evidence to prosecutors that and sell me cause for their problems for donald trump he was warned by several people not to go ahead and do this but a number of senior republicans over the last few days have given him political cover to go ahead and doing this by claiming the roger stones conviction was on just but you can get in t.v. there will be backlash to this and it will start probably within the next 90 seconds. he had been hinting to his friend sean hannity i saw on fox news that he was thinking about this so what's the political process that mr trump has gone

through bearing in mind that as you say alan the backlash to this the reaction to this will be so very strong. and to reminder too that on tuesday when roger stone went to court to ask to delay the start of his stanton's which was due to be july 14th due to be on tuesday the department of justice that it was perfectly reasonable for the court to expect the 67 year old mr bush to and to go ahead and report to prison to begin his sentence don't trump has been seeing the very beginning that this was a witch hunt that roger stone had done nothing that he'd done nothing illegal and that he should. be acquitted by the court when not did not happen don't trump was asked if he would give a pardon and he has been seeing for several months that that is something that he would consider clearly it was on his mind the whole time and as we got closer to the dean that roger stone would walk through those prison doors he decided to take

some action rather than have brought your store and spend even one single night in prison just a reminder what was convicted all lying to congress which many people will see significant and the fact that he said the president did not. give him clemency because he did not turn evidence to him well if you go back to the nixon impeachment that was one of the articles of impeachment that by saying from very early on he could get clemency to roger stone this was seen as winning just meant not to flip and that's what got nixon among the other articles of impeachment that was one of the things so this will start the whole question of whether or not there should be a further impeachment highly unlikely given with just a few months away from an election but no doubt there will be those democrats who believe that this is something that should be considered as we make the run up to november the 3rd so just to be totally clear and forgive me if i sound like i'm

trying to go over this again on the one hand we've got donald trump saying he's a character he's a good person but this is a man who was found guilty last autumn of 5 counts. of lying to congress and in a legal sense he's still guilty he hasn't given him a pardon as you said at the top of our conversation allen he's commuted it so less than 4 months to go to an election why didn't mr trump just think well i'll leave that alone until maybe december or january because then one way or the other mr trump is either still going to carry on being president or his out of a job in january. there are those who have warned him that there will be political consequences to this but he's been friends with roger stone for a very long time roger stone talked about donald trump running for president before almost anyone knew fallen out on a number of occasions in fact way back i think in 2008 donald trump gave an interview where he said that he'd fallen out with roger stone because your story claims the credit for absolutely everything he was connected to the trump campaign

in the very adly days but stick to we although he continued to give the president advice most notably after the infamous tape leaked just a few weeks before the election where donald trump admitted that he sexually assaulted women roger stone also according to the court was the conduit for wiki leaks telling donald trump when they were going to do is there a document dump on hillary clinton key points in the election including one of them just hours after that infamous tape was released and so i don't trump has been very close to roger stone put a very long time and clearly felt that this stage of loyalty to him was more important than how this would look in the court of public opinion and obviously believes that he can convince his base that he did nothing wrong and as i see there have been a number of senior republicans lindsey graham among them who is chair of the senate judicial committee who in the last 2448 hours have been seeing the don't trump

would do the right thing if he commuted the sentence because at $67.00 and with the come over the crisis it would be wrong to send someone who has never been convicted of an offense before and never committed a violent crime before to have to go to prison even though as you rightly see among the charges that he was convicted in a court with a jury was lying to congress you'll keep across all the developments i'm sure in the coming hour in the labs but in the meantime thank you so much we'll talk to very soon. the u.n. security council has again failed to extend its cross border humanitarian aid program for syria putting millions of people at risk to vote failed to pass the 1st was vetoed by russia and china the remaining council member states voted in favor aid agencies are warning of dire consequences for displaced people many people in the north west depend on aid coming in from turkey diplomatic editor james bays is

at the united nations he says the u.n. security council is struggling to come up with a solution for syria. we've had 2 votes on friday here at the u.n. remarkably in the last 4 days in total we've had 5 votes on this and on 2 of those occasions 2 permanent members of the security council have both used their veto power it's a real mess it's real deadlock it's particularly i think there are a number of sticking points but the main one is on the number of border crossings that they can use to bring the aid in and i'm hearing now that germany and belgium coming up with another compromise proposal and that seems to be one that would i think mainly. be a be following the example of russia and one main border crossing would continue and the other one would be allowed to wind down over 3 months and you

might say that that means that russia and china one russia and china are also wanted language in a resolution about sanctions and the effect that they have on syria's economy at this stage and that would not be in a belgian german resolution i have to say i think it's now looking likely because of the time of day and because something new is emerging that we're not even going to get a vote on friday may well move into saturday by which time of course the existing permissions to bring aid in will stop it means no aid will come into syria i think almost certainly on on saturday as a result of this. ok let's drill down for a 2nd into the numbers relying on those crossings be it one or 2 some ugly the u.n. and humanitarian groups both saying 2800000 people in syria's rebel held north west depend on those 2 passages for aid russia has insisted that only one is necessary

that's the crossing saying it accounts for 85 percent of a deliveries but the u.s. says $1300000.00 people living north of aleppo depend on the other crossing bubble salaam so is a senior advocate for the middle east refugees international we spoke to her earlier she says the number of aid transit points is a difficult issue. it seems likely right now that the plan holders are going to submit a new draft with only double how long and so if baucus is creoles basically. there's a risk that we see something similar to what happened back in january when russia asked to close at the time and i will be crossing into northeast syria and based on the experience you know of the cross lime what we call the cross line aid which is aid coming from damascus to north east. the experience hasn't been very

effective and damascus so then couldn't really disposed to its promise to cancel its aid aid into north east now with the crossing of the sena. $1300000.00 people are going to be affected there's still the option of going you know there's the terror the border with turkey but any aid that will come into northern iraq will well have to be it will bilateral mean so there's no the umbrella of that you and any more thousands of people have been protesting for a 4th day in the serbian capital belgrade over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and what they say is the president's increasingly authoritarian rule. demonstrates is through fire crackers that the police responded with tear gas protesters to find a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people running as began on tuesday after

attempts to reimpose lock down restrictions on friday service was highest daily death toll natalia lu churches in belgrade she describes friday night's protests descended into violence. everything started when a group of protesters tore down the security fence in front of the national assembly building and they were provoking police officers they were throwing stones on the police but police officers kept calm and they didn't respond until a couple of minutes ago and now the situation is quite similar with what we've seen a couple of days ago 2 days ago police officers responded with tear gas and there is happening now and the protesters are are persistent they are still in front of the national assembly building so

police is not still fighting the main entrance and but they are spread now all over the city center and i have to say that from today in belgrade every gathering of more than 10 people is forbidden and there is a new measure against the coronavirus. still to come here on al-jazeera. protesters for smaller state broadcaster to go off. and the netherlands turns to the european court of human rights to hold russia accountable for its role in the downing the police lines flight.

still some very heavy rain in the forecast to take 3 will central areas of china and of course they still say more heavy rain across areas of japan as well but just look at these images this is actually from the southeast of china fusion province still these floodwaters continue to wreak so much damage nickols also so much misery just look at this these floodwaters pouring underneath underground meanwhile across into central china this mudslides proved deadly at least 8 people have died in this you can see just the devastation this is that behind of course rescue is doing their best to help people than meanwhile the rain is to say through saturday through the same central areas across towards shanghai and then we will see more rain across into kishi but not quite as heavy as it has been more rain those who go on into sunday and then you notice this front. slightly further towards the north and then through sunday very heavy rain gathering across the elysee and that will

push across into much of the korean peninsula and across into n.d.'s still very heavy rains here of course to the southwest monsoon the next couple of days saturday and sunday the heaviest rains are going to be 3 be our west bengal into the northeast and this is where the india metal fence up the warnings for the next few days and all the while the rains continue out tools the west. the ultranationalists. marks connected with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises we dealt as illegally maigret joining with the military to impose a deadly political agenda we have 2 photos of our nation what has happened to their attention that's one of the biggest stains on the country as a whole. this is not religion this is a politic me and more an unholy alliance on al-jazeera.

the arab league to. the. welcome back updating the top stories for you so far this half hour breaking story u.s. president on all trump has commuted the sentence of his ally roger stone mr stern who advised donald trump's presidential campaign and 16 was sentenced to jail for lying 5 times to congress is part of the russian approach to u.n. security council votes to extend humanitarian aid to syria has failed to pass aid agencies say the decision could lead to dial consequences for millions of people. thousands of protested for a 4th day in the serbian capital belgrade they're calling on the president alexander to resign in part due to his handling of the pandemic crisis and what they say is his increasing authoritarianism. the outbreak occurred in 19 in less

than america and the caribbean is getting worse several countries now rank among those with the highest per capita infection rates anywhere in the world as cases that saw at least 3 leaders have now come down with the virus manuel or apollo as the story. with few exceptions the coronavirus pandemic in latin america is worsening deaths in the region and now account for nearly half of daily coronavirus deaths worldwide and a pandemic is not scaring regional leaders. on thursday libya's interim president janine and yes announced that she along with 3 cabinet members had tested positive for the virus. or yet that i would remain in quarantine for 14 days until a take a new test to see how i'm doing i'm feeling fine strong i will continue working remotely in isolation. she's not the 1st in the region to become infected last

month hunder and president juan orlando at mandy's told reporters that he and his wife had tested positive for a recent spike in corona virus cases in honduras has caused concern over the possibility of the central. american nation becoming the next kobe 1000 at the center. on monday brazil's president jade will soon out o. became the 2nd regional leader to contract the virus brazil remains latin america's worst hit nation also narrow however insist on reopening the economy maintaining that a spiraling economic crisis is worse than the pandemic itself. on thursday the leader of venezuela's socialist party said that he too had become infected venezuelan president nicolas maduro was quick to confirm the announcement will be carried home by nearly how clever you are you have just sent a message on his green accounting forming that they're taking the piss the molecular at this for 1000 for the positive. before my family

official coronavirus cases in venezuela stand at just over 8300 but the opposition has questioned the accuracy of the data accusing the government of a lack of transparency and al-jazeera. the president of kazakhstan is threatening to sack his entire cabinet if the virus outbreak is not brought under control the country entered its 2nd lockdown on sunday after a spike in cases kazakhstan has around 55000 and factions and 260 deaths. politicians in the philippines have refused to renew the broadcasting license of the country's biggest broadcaster a.b.s.e b.n. in effect taking it off the permanently $200.00 or so employees and network support staff protested against the decision outside the the organizations headquarters in manila rights groups say is a major blow to media freedom in the philippines under schapelle explains. after being repeatedly threatened by the president for coverage he didn't like

critics say a.b.s.e b.n. has become the latest casualty of rodrigo to charities silencing of descent the largest television network and a major news provider was forced to shut down as broadcasters are covering the coronavirus pandemic. some say it reminds them of the 21 years of martial rule under the late dictator ferdinand marcos the 1st close the network in 1982. i think . different people have been recently robbed. from our will on the right people whom i market. didn't have in one. there's even a very nice of you know. our democracy is making us eat around 160 a.b.'s cnn's networks license expired in early may and it was forced off the air most of its 11000 workers had been expecting to return to work but were disappointed there is a rush at the deny a.b.c.

his franchise application is here but adopted his allies in the house of representatives overwhelmingly rejected renewing the license for the next $25.00 hears media watchdog say it's a black day for a country once regarded as a bastion of press freedom. the kind security of president reagan. was accused abs e.e.n. of slights against him and politically targeted she refuses to tell the government's line in criticizing his so-called war on drugs. do territory had accused the network of favoring other candidates in the 2016 campaign and reporting unfairly on his presidency the broadcaster denied those accusations that did little to help keep it on air and or should help al-jazeera. hundreds of people in israel have protested calling on the prime minister benjamin netanyahu to step down. he's on trial over charges of corruption the attorney general has banned him from

appointing any top legal all law enforcement officials after a petition to limit the prime minister's powers whilst the case is ongoing mr netanyahu denies any wrongdoing is also under criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic unemployment shot up to 25 percent. the u.n. recognize government in libya is to resume oil exports for the 1st time in almost 6 months the national oil company was forced to stop exports because of the blockade by after his fighters it cost the tripoli based government billions of dollars in lost revenue the state company is warning exports will be limited until it fixes severely damaged infrastructure. opposition protesters in mali have a tanks the prime minister's office calls for the president to resign intensify a rally turned into chaos after demonstrates is trying to occupy the national assembly and force the state broadcaster to go off the air is nicholas hogg. protesters attempting to burn down mollies national assembly saying the parliament

no longer represents the people overwhelmed police fired tear gas outside the prime minister's office demonstrators have set up roadblocks in the capital bamako the country is on edge. and we have to. follow and we are here and then you know right now today is the last day of president the president your prime bucketed and we are calling everybody to come out to stop on this popular idea. in an address to the nation president called for dialogue saying he would form a national unity government appoint new judges to the constitutional court and organize a new vote in constituencies where there were allegations of fraud in favor of the ruling party during last april's parliamentary elections for protest organizer mahmoud eco this is not enough. i am not an opponent or opposed to. i am opposed to the system and the way of ruling that isn't working. in the center

and north of the country millions are displaced after fleeing attacks from armed groups and into communal violence security forces have so far failed to bring peace despite the support of $14000.00 u.n. and european troops to protest want to strip the president of his power calling for a transitional government but for kate his supporters this is unacceptable. we have to sit. we each bring demands and we come from you can't just demand the resignation of the sitting president. the protesters are calling for a nationwide civil disobedience movement demonstrators have occupied government buildings and control entry and exit of the capital bamako it seems the president is unable to contain a movement that is gaining momentum nicholas hawk al-jazeera turkey's president says the 1st prayers will be held inside his stand. on july the 24th after he

signed a decree formally restoring the landmark status a mosque hours after a court ruled the monuments conversion from a mosque to a museum in 1934 was in the eagle unesco had already cautioned against changing the status of this world heritage site and. open provocations the civilized world president. has been a supporter of the move. i invite everyone to respect the decision taken by all countries legal and executive branches regarding hagia sophia of course we all appreciate whatever international opinion is expressed on this subject however it is turkey's sovereign right to decide for which purpose how gas will be used. in istanbul with more on what mr irwin was saying. he and knowledge that on july 24. will open its doors for the 1st worship 1st prayer for the most thems in turkey he also announced that in the status is changed from museum to most

but it is going to be open for everyone and the fear for entrance the ticket fee is lifted so that whoever wants to visit inside. they are free they will be free to go inside visit or if they want to worship they can do their prayers like it is an blue mosque mosque in the same area just across iowa sophia and a couple of days ago to accuse a presidential spokesperson the prime cullen actually said that it is the same with the notre dame cathedral in paris staying with that story john psaropoulos since the latest on the greek government's reaction about. the official reaction so far has come from the greek culture minister. who is calling it a bare faced challenge to the entire civilized world which recognizes the unique value and universal nature of the monument and she went further she said that it's

clear from this decision by the turkish course that turkish justice is no independent but follows the whims of president and she said the nationalism displayed by president is a poor councillor and takes his country 6 centuries back obviously this is being seen in greece is a very political move not only does it muddy the waters of the already difficult greek turkish relationship complicated by disagreements of the aegean and. maritime jurisdictions in the eastern mediterranean but it also now introduces a historical element. the dutch government says it's taking russia to the european court of human rights for the role it played in downing malaysia airlines flight m.h. 17 the airplane was shot down over ukraine 6 years ago killing almost 300 people and has more it's almost exactly 6 years since a surface to air missile blew malaysian airlines flight m.h.

17 from amsterdam out of the sky over eastern ukraine of the 298 victims more than 2 thirds were dutch $43.00 malaysians and $27.00 australians were also killed the dutch government says by taking russia to the european court of human rights it will be able to help individual cases already brought by relatives of some victims we have record or contexts where it derivatives so we have never let them know in a trance that we should take this step and. also sold our public reaction today that they are happy to support also bear quest for photos it uses by taking to step in us. the missile that brought down the plane was fired from territory controlled by promo sco ukrainian rebels dutch led investigators say they have evidence it was trucked into ukraine from a russian military base moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement but on friday the russian justice ministry said it categorically rejects those allegations in

march 3 russians under ukrainian were put on trial in the netherlands charged with the murder of all on board none has been extradited but the dutch government says it attaches importance to continuing separate meetings it's been holding with russia of a state responsibility trying to find in its words a solution that does justice to the enormous suffering and damage caused. al jazeera. this is al jazeera these are your top stories u.s. president donald trump in the past half hour has commuted the sentence of his ally roger stone mr stone who advise the trump presidential campaign was sentenced to jail for lying 5 times to congress as part of the russia pro correspondent alan fischer with the latest at the white house in a statement just issued that roger stone is a victim of the russian hoax which has been perpetrated by the left and the media

insists there was never any collusion with russia and because of the serious medical risks the president has taken the decision to commute the sentence this is not the same as a pardon or creating a conviction it also makes the point that roger stone has appeal his conviction and he wants to go through the judicial system which he believes will exonerate him the u.n. security council has again failed to extend its cross border humanitarian aid program for syria putting millions of people at risk to votes of failed to pass the 1st was vetoed by russia and china the remaining council member states voted in favor aid agencies are warning of dire consequences for displaced people. thousands have demonstrated for a 4th day in the serbian capital belgrade calling on the president alexander to resign in part because of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and what they say is his increasing or thorough tarion isn't. in the money and capital protesters

have stormed the national assembly and state t.v. channel calling for the president. to resign opposition figures reject major reforms recently introduced by the president another latin american politician has been quarantined compounding the coronavirus crisis across the region venezuela's oil minister. is the latest of many regional leaders to contract with 19. the president says the 1st prayers will be held inside istanbul's i feel all in july the 24th softer he signed a decree formally restoring landmark status as a mosque lots more news whenever you want it on the website it's always there for you al jazeera dot com up next it's inside story off the bat i'm back here with a quick summary of world news hopefully see that.

tension is running high in the democratic republic of congo protest the nomination of a confidential they got to head the election commission so how will this impact the ruling coalition and can any fallout be contained this is inside story. and welcome to the program i'm laura kyle the democratic republic of congo is braced for war violence after several people were killed in protests across the country on thursday thousands of protesters defied a ban on public gatherings some.