where illegal settlements have already expanded and asks what the future holds for these palestinian farmers shepherds of the jordan valley on al jazeera. i think right your son was very unfairly treated. donald trump commutes his former advisers prison sentence roger stone was convicted of lying in the russian probe but now he's a free man. down jordan the saudis they are live from doha also coming up millions of lives hang in the balance and syria as u.n. resolutions trying to extend across borders a failed to win support for the parent to take on beijing pro-democracy activists in hong kong gear up for an electoral battle. on the genocide victims missing from

the history books new research shows most young people in the netherlands have no knowledge of this trip and it's a massacre. u.s. president donald trump has commuted the sentence of his long time ally roger stone he advised trump's presidential campaign and was sentenced to jail for lying to congress and the russian approach on fishing reports. he has been a friend a confidant and for a very long time his biggest political supporter a religious student can thank donald trump 3 speed and the veteran political consultant was due to begin a prison sentence on cheezy with the president's granting of clemency that has gone away in my case. an assistant u.s. attorney filed a motion with the court in which he assisted the sisterhood if the mother investigation had proof. crowd strikes report that the russians hacked the d.n.c.

and gave the information to wiki leaks that's a lie in a statement the white house said roger stone is a victim of the russia hopes that the left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the trump presidency there was never any collusion between the campaign or the trump administration with russia he continued mr stone will be put at serious medical risk in prison he's appealed this conviction and is seeking a new trial it concludes roger stone is no a free man stone was caught up in robert miller's investigation into alleged collusion between russia and the trump campaign in january last year he was charged with one count of obstruction 5 of making false statements and one of threatening a witness the charges included lying to congress during the russian investigation about his back channel links to wiki leaks during the 2016 election campaign prosecutors said he lied several times to protect donald trump after

a trial in washington d.c. he was found guilty initially prosecutors recommended a 7 to 9 year sentence that was criticized by the president. he was sentenced to 40 months in jail fined $20000.00 and told to complete 250 hours of community service several times the president insisted this was a miscarriage of justice and he was considering a pardon for his old friend including this on friday that i think right your son was very unfairly treated as were many before and in the meantime komi and all these guys are walking around in voting by the obama because we've got them by mike here they want to believe that one numerous republicans have over the last few days given a political cover to commute the sentence but others want him against it saying it could play badly in the months leading up to the next election adam schiff who led the impeachment process against donald trump said in a statement commuting the sentence of roger stone a crony who lied in obstructed oh. investigation to protect trump himself is among

the most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice just this week stone tried to stop his sentence going ahead but at a hearing from school in justice department said it was a reasonable step something the president has known who ruled out fisher al-jazeera washington well scott is a fellow in governance studies at the brookings institution he says trump's position is politically motivated the president could have simply convince mr stone to serve 4 months of his that means just 10 percent of the sons handed down to him he could have issued this action or a full pardon on november 4th of november 5th right after the election at the point where the cost at least wouldn't be immediately applicable to him instead he decided to take this step and incur the cost in advance of the election which appears to be an indication either that the president is acting non strategically that he's acting somewhat radically or emotionally and taking this step or perhaps

that he sees his political future whether it's in the white house or perhaps in some other role as lying with his political base who buys into the narrative of the deep state that he is using to justify this action i'm sure you'll see some question some increase some efforts a goodish an information about the reasoning process but again there's not much doubt that this is within the president's legal authority and it's not clear that there's going to be a huge amount of paper trail behind it so aside from those questions and efforts to point out what a diff but it difficult and problematic thing this is from a policy and political standpoint i'm not sure there is much deeper inquiry that can be pursued the u.n. security council has missed a deadline to reach an agreement to keep cross border aid flowing into syria russia with the support of china wants to cut the number of crossings in use but the u.s. and other council members say that would deprive syrian civilians of lifesaving supplies of diplomatic and it's a james baker report. the delivery of medicine food and other vital supplies to hundreds of thousands of syrians is at risk the security council deadlocked on

details of the authorization of aid brought into northern syria from turkey. the councils now voted 5 times in just 4 days on a new resolution 3 versions written by russia didn't pass the result of the voting is as follows 2 other texts drafted by belgium and germany were blocked the drive through the illusion has not been adopted owing to the negative vote of 2 prominent members of the council even though everyone else on the council supported them russia and china use their vetoes the key sticking point until now has been the border crossings that can be used to bring aid into syria most council members want the 2 existing border crossings to remain but russia backed by china wants that reduced to just one leading aid agency is very clear on this point does it matter

to you how many checkpoints there are as it stands right now the northwestern syria is served by 2 cross points and both of those are extremely important both of those service amount of people and by chopping away in excess point you are simply just trying to interrupt they'd operation and it has as know all relationship with the actual situation on the ground and it will be significantly more difficult to deliberate if that is another effort a compromise is underway and it's a concession to russia it's being proposed that the bubble how we're crossing will remain open but. will be given just 3 months to wind up operations james by al-jazeera the united nations campaigning has kicked off in hong kong for its legislative council elections this weekend the pro-democracy camp is holding a primary vote to decide on its candidates but the territories newly imposed national security law has been overshadowing the lead up to the september vote

sarah clarke reports now from hong kong. these images of a mob indiscriminately attacking protesters journalists and civilians in uniform last july marked a turning point in the hong kong demonstrations journalist with hope was live streaming when she was targeted i know that the proud castille live broadcast of me being beaten up by gangs and lobsters if terrible to watch but the thing is i do know like that so many people they went to you long after that because they watched barca it was this incident and last years months of anti-government protests that inspired going to total into the political arena for the 1st time she'll run as an independent candidate in the new territories at the legislative council elections in september despite china's newly imposed national security law she's prepared to take the risk and fight for greater democratic reform in hong kong of course i'm

concerned about my future of course the people here concerned about the future we also know that if we do not do something if we do not resist the other tarion or even to authoritarian rule there's no future at all for us to concern about you know in last year's local council elections the pro-democracy camp secured 17 of the 18 districts and that's put greater competition in the pro-democracy bloc more young independent candidates are now standing for election to the city's legislature the probation camp which holds the majority acknowledges it might lose some seats but it's confident voters will support the central policy to restore order in a city rocked by months of political unrest. the upcoming election will be a tough one we will focus on issues such as restoring social stability because of last year's social unrest people hope the city can go back to normal soon as possible china's new national security looms over its campaign analysts say it

effectively empowers authorities to disqualify candidates from local and pro-democracy camps. critical of the chinese government this year i think china is taking up a much stronger position against the opposition so i guess. position candidates may get this qualifies the national security law has already seen some parties withdraw from this election because some members fear the risk of imprisonment should the pro-democracy have secured the majority that would live in the power to enact laws and reject or prove the budget and in extreme circumstances they could even try and force the resignation of the chief executive order over the final results on september 6th the coming months are unlikely to narrow hong kong's political divide syria clock al-jazeera hong kong difficult holland joins us live now from hong kong david so we're on the some polling had been delayed tell us where you on what's been happening there. that's right daryn polling had

been delayed by a couple of hours due to the fact that the police have raided the polling institute that was supposed to monitor this election and counterbalance not to leave say it has nothing to do with these elections but the democratic candidates and democrats the camp says the timing is very suspicious but polling is now under way the ballot boxes have opened i'm at one of the housing estates and behind me is one of the local offices which is conducting the polling out so you can see there are some people there queuing up it may not be the numbers that expected but there are still organizers have told us they're so happy that people are actually showing up there have been many obstacles to this primary and just to give you some context the plan is for the democratic camp to try and consolidate that candidates and their support by allowing the public to choose who they feel would best represent them so usually in the past you would have a large number of candor to candidates which would break up the vote this time

there in maine for those legislative council elections in september and trying to get the most candidates most popular candidates on the ballots for that but. the other obstacles have been a lot more words have told shops and other venues that we're supposed to hold these ballots that they should not do it and so they're pulled out and so they've had to get quite creative about it in fact we're hearing that even a boss is now being used as a ballot space and also a big impediment to people coming out today is that there has been an upsurge in corona virus infections again in hong kong yeah did the new national security laws having a big impact on the list i mean how worried are people that the legislative council elections themselves could be at risk. that's right there and either outlined all the issues today but yes overshadowing all of that is this you national security law now those legislative council elections will go ahead it's something that's been agreed on and there will be

a lot of outcry if that doesn't happen but the question is whether democracy candidates will get a fair stand in those elections and so that is why they're trying to hold this as a litmus test in the run up to those elections to see whether the democracy candidates will even be allowed to stand or whether that be breaking by by voicing out their concerns or their anti-government platform whether that be breaking this national security law and a lot of people here also have told us the reason that they are perhaps not voting or not coming to these venues just because they're worried about them to this day get definition off the national security law so there's a lot of concern that this national security law although the government has clearly outlined that activities such as that should be allowed there's concern that this will still be used against not only the candidates but also those who participate here and so what we're seeing here now is perhaps an example of what could happen in the run up with many people being just who waited for his part in the elections that law are to depart and there live for us in hong kong to be

a thank you. time for a short break here and i'll just say when we come back we'll tell you why the largest broadcast in the philippines is just hours away from being shut down for good and. anger at serbia's president xanana doing not the time to make an accusation he's becoming too or solitary more that's ok but it was. very wholesome and dry throughout much of the middle east of the north through turkey we have seen if you shot as a cop if you will around as you go through something. sunday is a quite a bundle of cloud that will take the shot really anywhere from the eastern shores of the black sea across towards the caspian sea but at times we could see some heavier downpours basin pieces a cloud further to the south the winds are still strong through the interior of

iraq and so blowing some of that sand and dust and it will travel south was a throughout the gulf 46 the high in baghdad on saturday by sunday similar sort of time which is and again the winds are quite strong at times like that dust as i say because certainly by far the tools the south quite a bit of cloud further to the south across into iran and yemen and across into the southwest of you move i did see one or 2 light showers i was slightly scenes of very heavy rain across into southern africa this front has been sliding by is brought some heavy rain and some strong winds across into cape town and that will continue the showers certainly on saturday but really the strongest winds they will continue at the south in the east coast and that's where the rain is headed next as you can see eventually pushing across into southern areas of mozambique it becomes a fairly unsettled on coastal areas on sunday again through central mozambique but all the while what a lot of clouds and showers through coastal areas of towns and in up through kenya and fight all the way up into somalia.

is resistance. acra people are grabbing social and political issues by the. time of seeing creativity. and protest to challenge and change ideas. on a controversial witness documentary on al-jazeera. welcome back to promote our top stories here this hour u.s. president donald trump has commuted the sentence of his long time ally roger stone

advised trump's presidential campaign and was later sentenced to jail for lying to congress and the russian approach. to u.n. security council votes to extend humanitarian aid to syria failed to pass aid agencies say the decision could lead to dark consequences for millions of people. and hong kong's pro-democracy supporters are holding a primary vote to pick candidates for september's legislative council election and be the 1st vote since the imposition of a new national security law. now the largest broadcaster in the philippines is just hours away from shutting down for good that's after m.p.'s refused to renew the a.b.s. c.b.s. license the channel has until late on saturday to appeal against the government's decision about 200 employees protested outside the network's headquarters in manila a.b.s.e b.n. has repeatedly been threatened by the president for its critical coverage china was forced to go off air in may after its franchise expired that in a raw is an associate professor of journalism at the university of the philippines

dilemma and he says m.p.'s should not be regulating the media. right now there is a beam me up but what will be in the going to be the landscape. that only god would really need to be you know out every now and then longer if should not be there. than to be selective in terms of what. it will be about being because if it went against the opposite if the owners of the b.r.c. b.m. but they would want to make it be that are there only because that's the majesty of that happening right now and of course we have always if in mind that separate them a shot or yelling independent should be sustained and we cannot afford the weapon shot of such lots of french must drive has died 5 days after he was attacked by passengers when he reportedly asked them to wear masks for mongo was left brain dead after they're sold in the city of bio and on sunday 5 men have been charged

thousands of people took part in a march on wednesday to denounce the attack bus services were disrupted as drivers refuse to work face coverings are compulsory on public transport in france. mourners are gathering in eastern bosnia and herzegovina for the 25th anniversary of the shrub and it's a massacre more than 8000 bosnian muslims who were under the protection of dutch un troops were murdered by serbian soldiers but most young people in the netherlands have no idea about what happened step past reports. it's a monument to the victims of a genocide that's missing from dutch history books these photos of young bosnians now living in the netherlands at an exhibition in front of the dutch ministry of defense should give a face and a story to the thousands who were killed after dutch troops handed them over to serbian forces like the father of most of it she was 14 years old when she was separated from him at the compound guarded by dutch troops the stage but what is

really painful to me is that until now they say they did not think we were in danger that's a blunt line and that hurts me maybe even more than the genocide back then but i. don't create awareness has told her story in a podcast made by 2 young journalists who themselves had no idea of this a brain needs our killings researchers say nearly 60 percent of young people between 16 and 29 have no idea of what happened in sobranie to the change that young bosnian women have started this campaign to ask corporate monument and to give the genocide a more prominent role in dark history books for 25 years after the largest massacre since world war 2 so vital say they are still struggling to be heard for the last year after a long legal battle the dutch supreme court found the state partially responsible for the death of hundreds of bus and young men to prime minister margaret and the former members of the dutch battalion has this message i think that the best what

they should do is to travel to srebrenica together and be respected the victims only then they will show that they don't look away anymore how powerful would that image be we don't want to continue to put the blame but we want to be seen and heard former dutch soldier elise bedbug a bomb was 19 years old during the fall of her brain eater she says a collective visit to the graves of the victims could help members of the battalion to deal with their trauma they have faced accusations of cowardice for their role in the massacre she also urges to un and dutch government to admit that they send the dutch through. still an impossible mission itself so vague as you claim you have us if i was the prime minister i would be much more open about what happened just admit it a lot would change after this but in the netherlands it is so difficult to self reflect i know other soldiers are still struggling with this but i never had the feeling that i could have done more maybe no we sometimes wonder what we could have done but at that time we were totally overwhelmed it was total chaos to us through

the events in taipei needs our people in the netherlands and in boston yeah our for rafa connected only with that shared responsibility we can together prevent that genocide ever happens again on the european continent just like we promised after the 2nd world war a shared history that needs to be remembered together to make the dark chapter of scribbly need to more bearable for everyone who suffered step fuss and al-jazeera the hague. but testers and serbia's capital belgrade have attempted to storm palm and as anger grows against the government police a pelted with flares in iraq so a 4th night of protests reports. this is backlash against restrictions to stop coronavirus and sue the police and the parliament building on the receiving end of frustrations. the protests began on tuesday sparked by

a proposed weekend shut down now gray's people complained it threatened the jolts and businesses. the proposal was dropped the protests have morphed into wider anger with president aleksander change. now from him i came here to stand for the rights that are based on the constitution but the president is denying that to us the majority of protesters are peaceful scenes like this have spread across syria this week many blame government decisions to allow soccer games religious celebrations parties and parliamentary elections for a 2nd wave of infections is obvious and. i think the people who gave it a didn't have many chances to talk seriously about what comes next and to say what brought us to the streets there is a lot of anger was serbia has recorded nearly 18519 infections and 370 dates friday so all the highest named

jump in 3 months and 386 cases and 18 deaths belgrade's hospitals are almost fool the government blaming this woman's protests for the spike in numbers as people who defied a ban on mess gatherings is abroad is that short a bit there will be time for protests a sin as we see that the numbers of infected are under control but believe me our health system will see a great number of these people who protested they and their parents receiving hospital treatment. syria's president denies new restrictions were introduced to how to gain power he's blaming the opposition for the demonstrations in paris for diplomatic talks he seed. a big people please let's keep our health saif nobody is going to take power by force powers taking out the elections you can protest as much as you want when the epidemic is over if you don't understand this and you want to bring some tycoons to power let me tell you this is not going to happen

with. protests that started under the current virus restrictions and now about the president's leadership as a home these people convinced the house that's a concern that the house of subi is democracy challen palace and his ear. opposition supporters in mali have attacked the prime minister's office as calls for the president's resignation intensify a rally it turned into chaos after protesters tried to occupy the national assembly and forced the state broadcaster off a bat reports. 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. we have. the power and we are here and then here is that right now today is the last day of president the president. and we are calling everybody to come out but 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 in 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 money and security forces have so far failed to bring peace despite the support of 14000 un and european troops to protest want to strip president of his power calling for a transitional government but for kate his supporters this is unacceptable. we have

to sit and negotiate we each bring demands and we compromise 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 in 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 emirates airlines has revealed it will cost about another $9000.00 jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic emirates had around $60000.00 staff members but $6000.00 have already been laid off this is the 1st time the dubai carrier has disclosed the number of jobs it's cutting. turkey's president says the 1st prayers will be held inside istanbul's i.r. saffir on july 24th after he signed a decree formally restoring the landmark status as a mosque some concealed reports. doesn't celebrating conversion of

istanbul's iconic landmark hagia sophia back into a mosque through a much awaited court decision at dream turkish muslims have been chasing for 85 years truck shouldn't have i'm very happy i wish hard use of fear remains as a mosque until the judgement day i ask for them i as soft as a mosque is a legacy of 5 children mom that i got it back turkey's present project a part on the signed a presidential decree shortly after the country's highest court revoked a 934 cabinet decision that turned the other face into our museum change i mean. like all our other mosques that those of higher gas sophia will be open to all locals foreigners muslims and non muslims being the common heritage of humankind hagia sophia will continue to embrace everyone in a more sincere unique way with this new status. higher gas off the ice turkey's most popular tourist site attracting nearly $4000000.00 visitors

a year and so you know ask a world heritage site and part of the historic areas of to stumble the u.n. wants to make sure no changes are made to the structure we deeply regret this decision made by the turkish authorities made without without prior discussion and prayer consultation and prayer dialogue and we call for the universal value of this splendid world heritage to be to be preserved. the implications indeed have to be discussed now and that this is why we call on the turkish authorities to reestablish the dialogue without delay immediately after turkey stop administrators or do all that i ask of me i will be i'm asking again. turkish people who have been awaiting for at the city for years are here to celebrate and they are impatient to have their 1st prayer inside i guess sophia was built as a christian orthodox cathedral 1500 years ago and it was converted into

a mosque after the autumn khan cast in 1453 turkey's decision has caused outrage in greece and russia home to millions of orthodox followers i commend it go patrick bertha limo had earlier warned the decision would disappoint millions of christians around the world but present tired on say is deciding the purpose if i guess sophia is turkey's sovereign right see now because although al-jazeera a stumble. time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump has commuted the sentence of his long time ally roger stone he was not visor to trump's presidential campaign and sentenced to jail for lying to congress and the russian pro trump says he was treated unfairly stone now wants trump to start firing people in the justice department in my case. a an

assistant u.s. attorney. filed a motion with the court in which he assisted insisted that the motor investigation had proof beyond a crowd strikes report that the russians hacked the d.n.c. and gave the information to wiki leaks that's a lie signed by a lawyer he should be disbarred from that there is no such proof and he knows. so you want to drain this well you can start by draining the people justice department under the previous administration but who are still there to un security council votes to extend humanitarian aid to syria have failed to pass aid agencies say the decision could lead to dire consequences for millions of people many in northwestern syria depend on aid coming in from turkey hong kong's pro-democracy supporters are holding a primary vote to pick candidates for september's legislative council election it will be the 1st vote since the imposition of a new national security law the largest broadcast in the philippines is hours away

from shutting down for good that's after m.p.'s refused to renew a.b. a c.b.s. license the channel has until late on saturday to peel the decision mourners are gathering in eastern bosnia and herzegovina for the 25th anniversary of the shrub and some massacre more than 8000 muslim men and boys were murdered in the town in 1905 but bosnian serb troops is the only mass killing to be ruled genocide on european soil since the 2nd world war. and a french bus driver has died 5 days after he was attacked by passengers when he reportedly asked them to wear masks for the deal was left brain dead after the assault in the city of bio on sunday 5 men have been charged those were the headlines the news continues on al-jazeera after techno stated them to watch by the . a global pandemic mass protests demanding change economic recession and geopolitical tensions not to mention the small matter of

a looming election join me steve clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u.s. politics and society on al-jazeera. the coronavirus painful stuff to change the full bot of head to head for the time being but that won't stop me doing robust interviews with challenging direct questions in a u.s. election year i'll be seeking accountability from both sides of the political spectrum on who's to blame for the horrific coronavirus death toll on how to fix the u.s. health care system and whether the war of words with china is entering a new and dangerous phase join me mad the awesome 1st special series of head to head on al-jazeera. this is techno a show about innovations that can change lives the science of fighting the fire we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity and we're doing it in the unique way. this is a show about science though not by scientists tonight techno

investigates ivory trail they've tried to seize it. burn it but nothing has stopped the terrible trade in the legal ivory. now. a new tools straight from the lab that could find a crime that's brought elephants to the brink of extinction getting a seizure is a great victory but that owns are already dead. from rita davis and is an environmental biologist i am holding a tray of elephant who should show us the high tech plan to stop the killing. and then céline stranded along the california freeway yes freeway doctor should do some r. is a mechanical engineer chill show us what's been done to find out why this is happening at this thank you dave feeling the stress and i'm still taurus i'm an entomologist vance our team name be.