the u.n. special tribunals delivers its verdict on the assassination of former lebanese prime minister rafik hariri. on. trying to close its consulate in houston did it leave everything behind federal agents forced their way inside. australia says there's no legal basis to beijing's claims to the south china sea bringing its position further in line with washington . this is our desire life and also coming up the top u.s. health agency schools to reopen to students following pressure from the white house . donald trump's government reinterprets a cold war agreement to allow armed drones to be exported to more countries.

protests in hungary accusing the government of clamping down on media freedom amid mass resignations of the country's most popular with. so political and economic tensions between the u.s. and china escalating china is demanding the u.s. close its consulate in the city of chengdu while the chinese consulate in houston ended its operation on friday just moments after that deadline to close a group of men thought to be federal agents forced their way into the building they were seen prying open several doors didn't respond when asked who they were the u.s. government accuses staff of the chinese consulate of espionage and data theft targeting facilities including medical centers in texas beijing called the allegations malicious slander. well the u.s.

crackdown on spies hasn't stopped on friday a singaporean man pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for china's intelligence agency before chinese scientists were arrested over the alleged ties to china's military the last to be detained tang and is expected to appear in court on monday at the u.s. accusing chinese consulate in san francisco of harboring her u.s. officials have accused all 4 of lying about their status as members of china's people's liberation army in their visa application for more let's cross live to katrina you started by forcing chang do katrina this is an important diplomatic outpost for the united states trying to china so not try to calm tensions so what's been the reaction there to all of this. that's right a little nickel just give you a bit of a context of where we are now will discreet and just about 300 meters in that direction is the u.s. consulate but it's been blocked off by a number of police there are dozens of police lining that street trying to control

the crowds of people coming through quite curious to see what's happening there now we don't know exactly how long they have until the u.s. consulate here in town do must close but we read an article by global times it's the chinese state media newspaper that they have until monday 10 am local time now this whole incident seems to have really found some and see us nationalistic sentiment here in china many people are taking one each month as top diplomats words to heart and he has said that the deterioration of these ties between china and the u.s. is solely the folds of the u.s. we even had yesterday one man come to the front of the u.s. consulate and set off some firecrackers he was then arrested and you told the police that he was a celebrating a wedding but really that was seen as just an excuse here in china fly crack is a seen as a celebratory a symbol and certainly on the line he's been hailed as somewhat of a hero and also in chinese social media many people are supporting beijing's move

to close the consulate posting of piper fame insulting messages on the way ball that is the twitter page of u.s. punching that here in chengdu now we haven't been given this sick reason for the consulate to close except that they did has said that some people working that have been involved in activities inconsistent with that capacity but we also know that because of its location here in china this is the southwest region of china that it is quite an important listening post for any happenings taking place in sheen john and that not perhaps is also a reason why it was targeted at the time to certainly says that this is a direct response to the false closure of the chinese consulate in texas houston that they were furious about that have continued to deny. the accusation from america that the houston consulate was used as a hub for spying and intellectual property that's. his relationship with united states isn't the only one in the loop.

that's right so we've just heard from the a stranded government come out on saturday morning releasing a statement saying that there is no legal basis for china's claims in the south china sea now this is mirroring a statement a few weeks ago released by the u.s. saying that time is 9 dash line in the south china sea marking the majority of that territory as chinese territory is invalid a time it claims the spratly islands the parasail islands and much just think its territory that it's also claimed by its neighbors the philippines and vietnam now stretching is held at that time as planes ah invalid we haven't had a response yet from beijing it is the weekend here but they're likely to be in serious hit by this and also repeats on many statements that they have previously that a strategy is simply acting as a lot of the united states and holding the company ministrations lead but certainly it ties between australia and china are also not very good earlier this year china i mean a threat you've repeated calls for international that independent inquiry into the

origin of the current virus had done they could not really infuriated beijing in results and subsequently and they've seen that in some posts or in these in polls as well 1 as increasing tariffs on as exports of grain are truly going from 0 to contribute in china. now the top u.s. health agency has issued guidelines calling for the full reopening of schools in september even as corona virus infections spike in large parts of the country and the centers for disease control insists it is safe for children to return to classes it's unlikely that they'll contract or transmit the virus that's what they say as state and local governments under growing pressure from the white house to reopen schools with president donald trump threatening to withhold federal funds from districts that don't have the white house press secretary reiterated that call it is our firm belief that the that our schools are essential places of business if you will that our teachers are essential personnel you all here are considered

essential workers which is why you were coming into the briefing room every day during the pandemic are meatpackers where me packing because they were essential workers our doctors were out there treating their essential workers and we believe our teachers are essential well the latest c.d.c. guidelines are a sharp departure from elite doctrine that classified the full reopening of schools as the highest risk a vast majority of americans feel they're against the idea a recent poll conducted by the associated press show that nearly 80 percent do not think that schools should open without major adjustments and the main teachers' union in florida is taking the governor trump outline to court to stop schools from rio the group which represents 140000 teachers says that the governor needs a reality check and see how it's just out of control and let's hear now from randy at weingarten who's the president of the american federation of teachers and she says most schools don't have the funding or even the resources to reopen and a time soon. my sense is because trump is anything but

constructive because everybody see is the pressure tactics he's put and the last agency that used to have trust in america c.d.c. my sense is he's just created more and more chaos so what i think is going to happen unfortunately is that more and more and more schools will open remotely rather than in person because we don't have the resources yet from the congress this mcconnell today said it may take weeks to actually negotiate a new stimulus package so how do you start school with the resources that you need when those resources are not forthcoming how do you pay for people. when you don't have the money to do it how do you pay for the cleaning supplies when you don't have the money to do it so i think we're already seeing in places with high risk

like houston and atlanta l.a. san francisco they are going to remote instruction there are many places who are really trying like newark new york city we're really trying to figure out how to put the safety protocols in place but we don't have the funding to do it so if trump and mcconnell don't actually get us the funding to do this and if they don't start containing the virus instead of letting it spike i'm really afraid we're going to be on remote instruction in many places in america donald trump's democratic presidential rival has chimed in on the issue of reopening schools joe biden says trump is unwilling to do the work it takes to keep the pandemic under control. first of all i believe how you know i want to open schools and the question is will the president do the work to make you safe. you know i just

ordered schools to open like trump has done isn't good enough we've got to do the hard work getting the virus under control now and over the next 2 months and we you're open to now in many cases but trump doesn't want to do that hard he just wants to order schools open because he's afraid to be dozens can hurt his reelection chances ross not about his re-election it's about the safety and security of our children and our teachers in the neighborhoods we're turning from the young to the old to being made in the u.s. to protect the elderly in florida or a surge in cases has prompted officials to start using covert $900.00 census the idea is to stop the spread of the virus among the most vulnerable but experts warn the strategy does come with risks i got of her post now from miami. the coronavirus pandemic has taken a heavy toll on florida's elderly residents a staggering majority of the fatalities here are those 65 and older and with an expansive network of assisted living facilities and nursing homes the danger for

seniors is serious like other states around the nation florida is turning to isolation centers for the elderly the state now has more than 2 dozen of them that is and to prevent the spread of coated 19 give patients the attention they need and free up space in the state's already strained hospitals covert nursing homes are places where a hospital could discharge safely long term care resident who's covered positive also has a place where if there's infections inside a long term care facility a long term care facility consent of the coven only facility in a state ravaged by the pandemic the bay oaks retirement home in miami is an exception there would be no coronavirus cases here but if any resident falls ill stassi isolation is a good option i think it's a great idea so somebody has it they should be in a place where they can be monitored by professionals who are experienced whatever limited experience. now it's terrible disease for the past 2 weeks in florida the

number of new daily cases has hovered around 10000 miami has now mandated the wearing of masks but in other parts of the state those who can easily spread the virus are ignoring medical advice the number of cases among those who work with the elderly has also risen sharply but some experts say isolating elderly patients who contract covert 19 may not be the best thing one of the things not often talked about during this pandemic is the mental health aspect of living through these difficult times many elderly residents on to allow to see relatives social interaction is in many places not allowed and moving those who are infected with covert 19 may be detrimental to all involved those who specialize in geriatric care say isolation and patient transfers has its drawbacks many residents are very confused by the situation and with perhaps alzheimer's or dementia may not understand fully what's going on and why are they no longer being visited every day

by by relatives around 20 percent of florida's population is over the age of $65.00 but even in communities like the villages where people are 55 and older cases have quadrupled since the beginning of the month while isolation units for those who fall ill as seen as a good strategy risks remain for this state's older population whether they live in care facilities or not and a gallacher al-jazeera miami florida. israel has almost a series of asterix on syrian military targets the army says it is retaliation for mortar father acted towards the israeli occupied golan heights tension has been high following the death of a hezbollah fighter in another israeli airstrike near damascus on monday the lebanese group is backed by iran and has forces deployed in syria to support president bashar al assad. still ahead here on al-jazeera morning is that millions are missing out on important cancer screenings because of current of our.

and i was just been substantial flooding in south korea some landslides reported as well as this thing on wind across it as an active digital area of low pressure on the seasonal rain now the heaviest rain is going east so it'll be holzschuh that benefits that's the right word from that on saturday there's an easterly a fairly chilly easterly in a brisk from bring in yet more rain to south korea and to some degree north korea and if i go through to sunday the same story exists because rather less of it all will materialised and rather less rain for most of japan much of it is going to be offshore but you can wander from the system back into china where the next pulse is trying to develop and looks like it's all going south around the north which is still unusual for this time yet but the heart of it still running across the

yangtze which is of course in flood. much of the malays it is nice here is seeing fairly frequent thunderstorms they're coming through in clumps and if you're in java you're probably going to see fairly dry weather but once again west papua sees a mass developing the drifting slowly westwood's towards so the place where we don't really want them again you can see quite a few develop i think you peninsula malaysia singapore a monsoon rain of india is walking away from the northeast and construct again further west. from. the latest news information government says it's working with local authorities and community volunteer to meet the needs of the remaining a refugee with detailed coverage don't measure up to didn't many countries have the job losses for my kids and consequently reduction in remittances from around the

world it isn't the 1st time to get network was forced off the air in 1972 it was also shot down. removed. but again you're watching out 0 remind of our top stories this hour and a group of men thought to be u.s. officials have forced their way into the chinese consulate in houston moments after a deadline to shut the office expired a washington accuses chinese agent of unacceptable levels of intellectual property theft china has retaliated by ordering the closure of the u.s. consulate in chengdu. australia says china's claims in the disputed south china sea have no legal basis it has made its declaration to the united nations after the

u.s. accused beijing bullying neighboring countries to control the strategic waters. a top u.s. health agency has issued guidelines for the full reopening of schools in september even as corona virus infection spike in large parts of the country the centers for disease control says it is safe for children to return to class as it's unlikely they will contract or transmit the virus they say. now the white house is loosening restrictions to allow us to fence contracts is to sell more drones to foreign countries is doing this by reinterpreting a cold war era arms treaty signed by 34 nations this will allow the u.s. to sell drones or fly on to 800 kilometers an hour to countries it considers to be its allies previously these drones were classified as cruise missiles and subject to strict export restrictions so this on listening to david their us who is associate professor at the national defense university and fought with the right to

for gulf in the arabian peninsula if as in the office of the u.s. secretary of defense and joins us now from solomons in maryland david welcome program this was a treaty a dating back to the reagan administration was in its a designed to control weapons exports and it had come to include drones i think that's right and now it's being rehashed by the trauma of ministration. who right so the technology has moved faster than the law this was designed for missiles and cruise missiles and drones were just not thought of that. so it's always been an uneven sit and the problem that successive administrations of had is that. it basically the american interpretation prevented it from selling drones to some of our partners who then just went out by chinese trucks so one of the chief concerns of those worried by the the weakening of international export controls in this way . well it's not a full international regime it only applies to the 33 nations who signed it very few of those export drones but the concern is the concern that you find when you

have any kind of weapons export that that you know somehow you know enable or expand warfare or other violent acts and we're talking about these armed reproduce rains as well as the ground stations that you need to control these vehicles in flight and does it also include the laser guidance weapons as well. well the laser guided weapons. are sold as not necessarily sold as part of the drone usually the health fired missile that is used by the reaper was recently designed through use with army helicopters so you know it's all part of the same package though i mean the the treaty as written ban the use of a 500 kilogram warhead or 300 kilometers of range and that was designed for cruise missile so by adding this additional interpretation that there

has to be a certain speed that is designed to separate drones from cruise missile sarette ignition that the technology in the market has moved beyond this 33 year old treaty ok and who what countries what nations is the united states lighting to do business with in this. well saudi arabia in the united arab emirates have asked for years for u.s. armed drones and we've refused because of that so they've went and bought the chinese wing loon armed drones which shave used in yemen and the emirates in libya so i expect that in in your part of the world all of the g.c.c. nations have expressed interest in this i think that we'll see the nations of the south china sea that need to have you know a sort of persistent ability to move on to do that and then countries facing ungoverned spaces with terrorism problems so possibly india.

possibly some of the countries in along the cellar in north africa that have you know remote regions with. the islamic magreb or something like that and then there is great to get your expertise on this so we do appreciate it thanks very much nic . thank you it's my pleasure. the united states and russia will conduct their 1st formal bilateral talks on space security since 2013 that's next week the meeting follows allegations by the united states in the united kingdom that russia tested a space based anti set light weapon this month moscow denies the accusations that it fired a projectile in july the 15th and says it complied with international norms written warned to move posed a threat to satellites that the world depends on the u.s. president has signed for executive orders to try and lower the cost of prescription drugs despite failing to get backing from congress donald trump says the move will lead to cheaper imports and will much prices with those paid in other countries it

comes as the u.s. leader faces growing criticism over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic ahead of november's election. around 2000000 people in the u.k. have waited for cancer screenings or treatment over the last 4 months this is because health services have had to prioritize the treatment of the coronavirus pandemic cancer research u.k. are concerned there will be thousands of unnecessary deaths as patients are on diagnosis i'm a what has 3. lower is a dedicated mom a year ago doctors found she had stage 3 womb cancer and she had surgery and aggressive radiation treatment in late january she was told the cancer had gone but there's a one in 3 chance of it coming back and she'll need a physical examination every 3 months she's still waiting though for that to happen i just think if it could be caught early then i have more chance of having a longer longer with my children and and i feel that by the. these now phone

appointments with my oncologist there's no absolutely no chance that the cancer is ever going to be detected at an early stage and therefore potentially my life expectancy is shortening every day that this carries on coronavirus has put a huge strain on cancer services many treatments tests and screening for poor says staff were diverted to deal with it and because of safety concerns cancer research estimate there have been about 38000 fewer cancer treatments in the u.k. since the end of march most clinical trials which can help extend life were halted and many people who would normally have visited a doctor with worries about cancer stayed away scientists at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine estimate that could be around 3 and a half 1000 potentially avoidable deaths in england from the 4 main cancers by 2025 because of the pandemics impact while the institute of cancer research warns delays to diagnosis and treatment for as little as 2 months during lockdown could lead to

some cancers going from being curable to being more advanced it's not like heart attack source. straight this way you're seeing the effects quite so immediately that with can't 7 that delay. still come along now still have their surgery but rather than being cured and having 30 years of life expectancy there will be a proportion of people they haven't recovered sabbat can't suggest that in the way that happens in 2 or 3 years time medical staff delivering cancer care trying to clear the backlog of patients that are operating in unprecedented circumstances it's really important that as we focused on caveat that we must have that cancer become the forgotten city. we want to see priority given to catching up with cancer services and making sure that delays don't impact on patient sound come and that we minimize the impact on treatment delays the full impact of this pandemic on

diseases such as cancer won't be no is a recently found a swelling in her abdomen and is hoping she'll never get to see someone quickly but the reassurance will help she might need and he would al-jazeera chile's president has signed into law a plan to allow citizens to withdraw up to 10 percent of their pension savings for their relief during the coronavirus pandemic and it appears to be a popular i do with large numbers queuing up around $11000000.00 people are eligible to withdraw up to $5400.00 the plan was passed by congress despite opposition from the president it's expected to give a short term boost the economy some analysts warn it could cause long term damage to pension funds facebook and twitter have removed accounts belonging to high profile supporters of the brazilian president jaya also lower tech giants were complying with a ruling by brazil's supreme court the judge ordered dozens of accounts taken down as part of an investigation into the funding and spreading of dissin from ation by

his allies conservative activists say the ruling violates freedom of speach. protests have been held and beautifullest against restrictions on media freedom in hungary the demonstrations for a mass walkout of germans from the country's most read websites over government interference critics say it is the latest efforts to bring independent media outlets in the country under government control as more. out. they came out in their thousands to voice their anger at what they say is the latest silencing of hungry suppress more than 80 journalists from the country's most read news site called index have resigned from their jobs after their editor in chief was sacked last month he publicly raised the alarm over political interference in the outlets operations for many the dismissal was seen as a government directive and the last straw. for you to come from on the left we

called him on the phone and said we would like to initiate the end that we no longer want to work at index after this about 60 members of the 90 people on the staff at the same they also resigned and are ending their work at index. index is long been regarded as hungry as key independent media outlet but it has also been a target of this man hungary's prime minister viktor orban who once branded a fake news factory one of his allies recently took charge of its sales are perhaps a sign of things to come. critics say the government is trying to bring as many independent media outlets under its control. we are of the editorial staff which today probably made one of the biggest sacrifices and risks to shine a spotlight on what's happening and how a newsroom can be destroyed even the strongest and most read news portals can be ruined in hungary. one popular columnist reminded the crowd of the 2018

quote in defense of free speech from mr alben himself real good is that we would never have the adults are to silence those who don't agree with us. across central europe it's not only hungary that seen the steady decline of independent news outlets and to steer toward autocratic rule a major sticking point in the debate over the use pandemic recovery fund last week was whether poland and hungary should be penalized financially for their behavior but in the end the money came through and viktor orban claimed what he called a huge victory many say the latest developments at home look like yet another win for the hungary and strongmen car leg al-jazeera protestors in bulgaria her very game called for the resignation of the prime minister boyko boss off who they accuse of turning a blind eye to corruption. he

reshuffled his cabinet on thursday to try and quell 2 weeks of anti corruption protests president truman rather vocal critic of put us off is encouraging protesters to continue their rallies. here is judges denied an order sought by the state of oregon to stop federal agents from arresting protesters in the city of portland earlier prosecutors unveiled charges against 18 of the protesters a day after president trump expanded the deployment of tactical please to seattle demonstrate demonstrations have taken to the streets to oppose racial injustice since the police killing of george floyd in minneapolis 2 months ago but in this month trump deployed federal agents to end what he called violent protests despite an outcry from democratic leaders in oregon. story of love and politics in hong kong a court has acquitted this couple of rioting and potential 10 year prison sentence police detained them for 2 days during last year's extradition law protests and

that was just before their wedding in they've spent married life awaiting their court appearance coupled person to tears and supporters of plaudits when the verdict came. probably more about all the stories that we're covering right here on our web site al jazeera dot com you see address all the stories and lots of comment and analysis to her dot com. so this is out there these are the top stories and 1st a group of men thought to be u.s. officials have forced their way into the chinese consulate building in houston this moments after a deadline to shut the office expired washington accuses chinese agents of unacceptable levels of intellectual property theft and china has retaliated by ordering the closure of the u.s. consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu says the u.s. is to blame for increasingly strained relations between the 2 countries australia

says that china's claims of the disputed south china sea have no legal basis made his declaration to the united nations after the u.s. accused beijing of bullying neighboring countries to control the strategic waters. katrina you has the latest from chengdu in southwestern china. really has held that china's planes invalid we haven't got a response yet from beijing it is the weekend here but they're likely to be infuriated by this and also released on any savings that they have previously that is simply to get the law to the united states involving something ministrations leave the certainly it ties between australia and china are also not very good earlier this year china i mean a string of repeated international independent inquiry into the origin of the foreign virus they cannot really infuriated beijing the top u.s. health agency has issued guidelines calling for the full reopening of schools in september even as corona virus infections spike in large parts of the country the

centers for disease control says it's safe for children to return to class as it says it's unlikely they will contract or transmit the virus as the u.s. president to sign for executive orders to try and lower the cost of prescription drugs despite failing to get backing from congress donald trump says the move will lead to cheaper imports and much prices with those paid in other countries. chile's president signed into law the plan to allow citizens to withdraw up to 10 percent of their pension savings for economic relief during the current of our us and them and it appears to be a popular idea in large numbers queuing up around the $11000000.00 people are eligible to withdraw up to $5400.00 or a year of state headlines got more news coming up here and on tour right after a.j. some legs are from. on the counter of the cost this week rich countries a cornering the market for covert $19.00 vaccines but what does that mean for the

world's poor will look at the coronavirus frequency and also off a low income nations and check out the real price of developing slums counting the cost on al-jazeera. almost. 40. $140.00 so it's all very very sharp wires are smart bombs are involved one are going to kill by milwaukee believe in the heart of downtown no want chief says a suspect grab the obvious or his baton and started beating him with a new understanding this is the initial version of events. that.