action or serve the interests of the powerful he created this longing for full opportunity it can obscure the truth he says only if you can a news story like this and the talking points are pretty identical it can forge narratives all right through the listening post gives you the full picture. an enormous explosion kills at least 78 people in beirut sending a mushroom cloud into the sky and destructive shock waves through the city. and 4000 people are injured hospitals are overwhelmed pleading for blood supplies and generators to keep their lights on.

logan i'm peter dobby here in doha you're watching al-jazeera is continuing coverage of the disaster in beirut the fires are burning into the night as rescue crews search for more survivors and victims. all countries around the world offer their support to lebanon which is already in the grip of its worst economic crisis in decades. a massive explosion has brought catastrophe to lebanon's capital beirut killing at least 78 people and injuring thousands more as a shockwave smash through the city as erupted from a port warehouse where about 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored for years the blast was felt 160 kilometers away in cyprus countries around the world including lebanon's traditional photo is. israel offering help in beirut begins our

coverage. a massive explosion in the heart of the lebanese capital the blast sencha quavers across beirut shattering windows destroying buildings. and injuring hundreds. on. the streets were filled with panic and confusion cautiously auto my call was down there it rolled over i think my injuries all because of the loss the loss cut me up my call was like this i'm about to move on i don't know what happened i was fishing i heard there was a fire so i began to hit home then i heard something explode and then this happened i got injured this is all i know. rescue work began quickly and emergency vehicles converged on the side of the blast. putting out fires. and getting the injured to safety lebanon's internal security chief confirmed the

blast originated in the port district in a section housing highly explosive materials. lebanon's prime minister has addressed the nation promising that the victims would get justice for what happened . it would not pass without accountability those responsible for these catastrophes will pay the price this is a promise to the martyrs and the injured this is some national commitment money while the cause is still unknown some are already blaming the government levanon is an accident waiting to happen so many wait so many places whether it's. public services like just any kinds of government industries are not regulated well we don't like inspectors that so many buildings could collapse so you know again all the problems that lebanon face because we don't really have a strong government that is able to ensure the safety of its citizens. and that's

been why people have been protesting that's why the currency has been falling so you know there are so many possible accidents going on so it's very hard to speculate ambulances continue to arrive at this explosion there have been dozens of casualties many victims are still trapped in the rubble and rescue worker looks set to continue long into the night the destruction of central beirut appear to come out of nowhere and as the shock of what happened subsides the demands for answers will continue to grow louder so now for their favorite. well the lebanese president has now called for 2 weeks state of emergency and a statement on his official twitter account michelle obama said he won't be satisfied until those responsible are found and held to account as we were hearing there from c.n.n. and he also about to impose the most severe penalties on those people adding that it's unacceptable that $2750.00 tons of ammonium nitrate was held for 6 years in

the warehouse without any safety measures in danger ng citizens let's talk to. the lebanese army retired general and the strategic research and he joins us from beirut and can you just explain to us what beirut looks like tonight. city of beirut now is busy still looking for missing people in this explosion. still many people. and their parents and their relatives looking for them there are many things that. demolished and. several different. workers are still working here in this demolishes in order to find some people who did and. scores and so. they might. reach

a good result. in. the process of saving people so i think that. they will continue tomorrow. we're. looking on finding more. on these. buildings that were demolished today we're talking about a densely populated city a largish population is in a small area we're talking about a country where 80 percent of the country uses is imported through that poor area what kind of impact will this have on lebanon. actually deployment of beirut. and beirut downtown beirut is about

600 meters from the harbor so you can see that they are going to the downtown and densely populated area and a lot of people who go to the high born for business and. workers and out of their highway. with i mean. i think. so it's ordinary that. many people are or would be. time of the explosion knowing that this version i think in place at 6 30 in the evening which is not that i shall of. and i share a lot of it could have. more because you're right it is there is an emergency cabinet meeting we understand planned for the 1st thing tomorrow morning what has

the conversation got to be amongst the government ministers in beirut to do the best by their countrymen. if usually the council fenced the stations of the out council of defense that comes in to day and such just that would be a emergency state and for 15 days that may be. another 15 days and. also if they come on the floor to form a committee for investigation into these incidents. also they want to help support the hospital. because those are the right the positives as well. since. this storm is over

there were destroyed there is never going to dish in all distributing the we. know the company in order not the cause 'd can i see them and the company i think this is very important issue. the guy who. has to have a range. to support for the poor who poured. through the material thousands and thousands of tons of in effect an explosive stored where it was stored and yet we have. been saying internationally and saying we will find those people responsible when it comes to finding the people responsible is that actually possible because there are so many crises going on in your country anyway we've got years of alleged corruption we've got economic mismanagement we've got coronavirus qubit 19 we've got demonstrations on the

streets and people were running out of money people were running out of resources anyway can he deliver on that pledge to find the people who are responsible for this. yes we did i only commented that it's supposed to be for to morrow in order to investigate into this incident because it should go deep in. the bureaucracy in the. court of beirut and especially in customs which are to sponsor bill on storing all that material. and it is. it is the really strange how they have stored their dangerous materials and thank you maybe you could be. the 5 or 6 years to be about. 700 pounds which some think. they should have. to move

them to the mountains or to friends inside lebanon as anybody's army group. where. any explosion. that is only in the report and why and here in this court of the materials and. there are what it means is in downtown beirut. it could. be caused a lot of guess what it is. all over the country so the investigation when we can should go deep and. have contact with all the people. who are responsible who. are going to be tense because that would not. give any negligence and this. case. i think that.

not only the government but. the deep state and there is in danger mouse 'd and. such. such. things. ok. we'll leave it there. in beirut thank you very much. we'll go with nations were among the 1st to offer help the cattery i mean a shake to mean been hummable funny says his country will send medical equipment to set up field hospitals iran has also offered support and has its reach as has its regional rival saudi arabia israel too is offering humanitarian aid through foreign channels as it has no diplomatic relations with lebanon e.u. leaders as well say they are ready to provide whatever is required u.s. president donald trump spoke not long ago offering his country's help but he also seemed to contradict official reports by describing the blast as an attack let me begin by sending america's deepest sympathies to the people of lebanon where

reports indicate that many many people were killed hundreds more were very badly wounded in a large explosion in beirut. our prayers go out to all the victims and their families the united states stands ready to assist lebanon a very good relationship with the people of lebanon and we will be there to help it looks like a terrible attack. live to washington and our correspondent covering that angle of the story mike mike mr trump talking about this as an attack on the bomber what's he basing this on. well it's not very clear he was asked subsequently in that briefing about why he referred to it as an attack his response was that he met with what he called his great generals who told him that they believed it was not some kind of manufacturing accident that the nature of the

explosion itself certainly indicated some kind of bomb now we've approached the pentagon for clarity or clarification on this particular issue no responses yet president trump not mentioning who these great generals were or on what information he was basing this claim which as you mentioned is at odds with what the president of lebanon is describing as the cause of this explosion ok what kind of help is the u.s. prepared to send do you think because the secretary of state might pompei o talking about this on twitter but the trump administration's relationship with lebanon you can't say the functions properly or that it's an easy relationship. know it has been a slightly difficult relationship particularly under the trump administration for example in september last year congress passed legislation giving lebanon more than $100000000.00 in military aid however the trump administration sat on that money

for a number of months despite pleas from the pentagon from state department and from members of congress asking questions as to why the administration was holding up that money very quietly the money was finally released months later in december since then the relationship appears to have got a little bit warmer the head of centcom central command paid a visit to lebanon in july now it's very clear that state department in particular sees the relationship with lebanon as dictated by the entity with iran the whole aim of u.s. policy in lebanon under the trumpet ministration and previous ones is to ensure that the us is not squeezed out by iranian influence within lebanon itself this is a very problematic situation for the united states and certainly that is the opinion of state department and indeed we heard recently from the centcom commander the opinion of the pentagon it's absolutely critical for the u.s.

to maintain its influence within lebanon to prevent any increasing influence by iran itself through what the u.s. says is its proxies hezbollah so there is these issues that remain on the table one must just mention briefly 2 but since 2007 there has been a lebanon national emergency act in force it was renewed once again for a year by president trump only last week this particular legislation introduced by president bush george w. bush provides for u.s. sanction against individuals or organizations who undermine lebanese democracy so the u.s. does have. these weapons at hand diplomatic weapons to carry out to try and protect what it says is democracy in lebanon b m e to form a persistent said president trump is talking about that's not clear at this particular point peter ok mike many thanks mike hanna our correspondent there

reporting live for us this hour from washington we will of course continue to keep you right across all the main developments coming to us in the coming hours and days out of the lebanese capital beirut you can also check out the website that's being updated in real time now to 0 dollars home also ahead when we come back quite columbia the supreme court has reportedly ordered the tension of a former president. and argentina takes a big step toward stabilizing its ravaged economy. hello there we're watching very closely of course on tropical storm isa this is a tale on the satellite this massive cloud is actually moving ahead of the storm system will some very heavy amounts of rain meanwhile as across the west that secular california it is hot and it is dry that is this one massive fire began is

true and that is combined to warn it's already burned 80 square kilometers the fire fight is a really backing this blaze 8000 people have evacuated because of the danger of this find you can see when they drop the fire retardant really just what a thankless task it is it is a huge fire that one it will stay dry it'll stay hot across much of the west in the meanwhile our tropical storm will be racing north northeast was through wednesday you can see still expected to stay as a tropical storm even when it pushes into those eastern areas of canada course it will also produce some very heavy amounts of rain the wind should be weakening all the time but even so we could be seeing more flooding across the carolinas and some very heavy rain as it pushes up into eastern areas of canada by thursday really should dissipated and you can see those still a very unsettled picture through the middle and take across into washington d.c. wanted to also pushing into the pacific northwest homages a little bit lower but meanwhile it will stay hot and dry throughout much of the west.

kidnappings and murders in crimea says russia's forced an accession of the black sea financial. i don't understand why the speed now. scores of crimean to toss have been arrested tortured and killed. most believe by russian security forces. crime in russia's dark secret on al-jazeera.

you're watching al jazeera live from headquarters here in doha your top story this hour a massive explosion in the lebanese capital has killed at least 70 people and injured thousands more as a shockwave smashed through the city. last took place at a port warehouse where about 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored for 6 years hospitals are reporting that they are overwhelmed. the fires are still burning into the night as rescue crews search for more survivors and victims countries around the world including cattle israel and iran are now offering help. saudi arabia has reportedly moved one step closer to having nuclear power constructing a uranium yellowcake extraction facility with the help of china that's according to sources being quoted by the wall street journal the facility is said to be close to the town of houla yellowcake is a milled form of uranium ore that's found naturally there but would take additional

steps and technology to enrich it enough for a nuclear power plant saudi arabia denies building a uranium ore facility near but says mineral extraction is a part of its economic diversification colombia's former president alberto rebate says the supreme court has ordered his detention even though the top court has not made its ruling public it's to do with a case in which the former leader is accused of witness tampering and fraud the rebate has repeatedly declared his innocence and questioned the court's independence is a close ally of the current president even to kay and listened around p.s. he joins us with the latest from bogota hi there just how important is this decision today. well peter is extremely important and it came as a surprise to most colombians because former president tilton today was practically practically couldn't see their touchable despite the fact that there

are 100. gay sions in human rights violations and their crimes that allegedly happened under his administration never before did the an investigation come this far now he's also the 1st ever former president to have been formally charged crimes and ordered to be detained and again we're not talking of any former president. who is now a senator remains the most powerful politician in the country he has an enormous influence not only on this party but in general right wing politics in the country he was the main no poser to president. a peace deal with the fire credible in the country many still can see their him a savior for his success is that against the marxist. doing is the administration's

while the rest of the country instead i think that this happened with a grave violation of human rights thousands of extra judicial killings that ties to paramilitary groups so something that is truly dividing the country that nobody would have happened but it has happened now and we are waiting here for that formal confirmation from the country's supreme court in the details of how the judges reach this decision as to how they reached the decision on this and what happens next and what potential consequences might have for the current governments of even decay. well there are expectations that this will have a ripple effect into the entire political structure of colombia if indeed he is it will finally not only be charged but found guilty of trying to

bribe with and this is. true of void there discovering a link that he directly had there not with the paramilitary groups for years the mentor and the political boss of current president. his party has so far been extremely loyal 'd to him but if indeed he is found guilty things could change there there were also be a lot of internet interests internationally what happens there but so far what this looks like is that the even the most powerful figure in colombia is not above the law in the country ok we'll leave it there thanks very much. reporting live for us on al-jazeera argentina has reached a deal with its creditors to restructure a large government debt now that follows months of talks is being hailed as a major step toward stabilizing its struggling economy argentina nearly

$65000000000.00 defaulted for a 9th time in may making it difficult to access more capital on the international markets successive governments overextended themselves with expensive social programs causing chronic inflation and frequent crises the pandemic made reaching a deal even more important argentina's in a deep recession its economy is expected to contract by around 12 percent this year to raise a joins us live from buenos ira's to reason there must be a sense of relief there where you are today. most certainly a sense of relief and as you just said an economy that is shattered not only because of coronaviruses been shattered since back in 2018 with recession inflation and many many other problems argentina had what even the i.m.f. said is an mpeg able debt $320000000000.00 in debt and it was trying to restructure $65000000000.00 in this past few months it's been very very tense negotiations at

a time it seemed that the country was once again it entered the fall of last may but that it once again those stocks where going to failed and what the ended up agreeing it's with 3 of the main credits for groups that includes bratten blackrock which is the largest asset manager in the world they agreed for a grace period until 2025 and they're saving around $30000000000.00 in debt this is at enormous success for argentina's government because it subtly helps at times when the government needs to be spending money fighting with the crisis and fighting what's coronavirus is living in the country with the right in poverty of unemployment among many other things i didn't you know defaulted as you just mentioned also 9 times in history the last time was last in may it was a soft default but let's not forget what happened in this country back in 2001 when it defaulted again on its foreign debt there were years of litigation 60 percent

cover to rates among many other things so pressing that out of the fatah members what he said on this day is that argentina succeeded that they managed to make payable a debt in times of a massive economic crisis and in the middle of up and then make but just to be clear to raise it here we're not talking about the debt having being cancelled or jettisoned we're talking about having it remodeled it is is restructured that so the debt is still there does that mean that argentina's economic problems have gone away one assumes not. so it's really not what argentina is basically doing is changing the payment plan and getting a grace period until 2025 to start making those payments argentina for example $44000000000.00 to the i.m.f. and is expected to start negotiation again bad debt in the next few days what happened today is that band-aid it's not the cure all for the trouble martin p.s.

i said before his face a good place then it's facing recession unemployment on the right so what the government needs to do right now is implement a plan that plan that will help in a way attract investment a plan that will help them fight unemployment and out and a plan that we get this country kaname back on track there is a thank you so much series of reporting live from ben as ira's. ok let's turn our attention for a couple minutes to the coronavirus pandemic now and despite soaring infection rates hospital admissions and deaths in the united states president trump says the outbreak is as under control as it can be at least 156000 people have died and more than 4700000 infected politicians are still negotiating and you have aid package of the latest unemployment benefit program lapsed last week in an interview on monday mr trump was challenged on how his qualities quantifying the impact of

the virus on the u.s. . united states is lowest in numerous care to growers were lower then the world. then boards in europe in what was in one take a look. right here in this case death. oh you're doing death as a proportion of cases i'm talking about death as a proportion of population that's where the us is really. much worse than south korea or germany. though you have have to go by you have to go by where we look here is the united states here have to go by the case is the case why not as a proportion later somebody what it says is when you have somebody that you know has it with there's a case oh ok the people the little crime all those cases it's surely a relevant statistic to say if the u.s. has x. population and x. percentage of death of that population 015000000 virus infections and about 200000

have now been reported across latin america some of the worst affected countries are still rolling back restrictions brazil's biggest cities sao paulo and rio de janeiro a reopening businesses mexico is also easing restrictions despite having the world's 3rd highest number of deaths. one of nigeria's largest airlines the sank more than 70 pilots and ground crew private carrier peace also plans to cut salaries of remaining staff by up to 40 percent it serves major cities within nigeria west africa and the middle east but like many other airlines source business slump because of travel restrictions. this is al jazeera coming to you live from doha one story dominating the headlines this hour a massive explosion 11 miles capital beirut has killed at least 78 people and injured thousands more as a shockwave smash through the city. the blast took place at

a port warehouse where around $2700.00 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored for years hospitals say they're overwhelmed lebanon's prime minister has addressed the nation he said those responsible will pay the price. it would not pass without accountability those responsible for these catastrophe will pay the price to the martyrs and the injured this is some national commitment. u.s. president on all trump has been speaking about the events in beirut in the last 90 minutes or so the u.s. is offering help but mr trump did also seem to contradict official reports by describing the blast as an attack let me begin by sending america's deepest sympathies to the people of lebanon where reports indicate that many many people were killed hundreds more were very badly wounded in a large explosion in beirut. our prayers go out to all the victims and their

families the united states stands ready to assist lebanon a very good relationship with the people of lebanon and we will be there to help it looks like a terrible attack propping up some of the top stories saudi arabia has reportedly moved one step closer to having nuclear power constructing a uranium yellowcake extraction facility with the help of china according to sources being quoted by the wall street journal the facility is said to be close to the town of yellowcake is a milled form of uranium ore that's found naturally there but would take additional steps and technology to enrich it enough for a nuclear power plant saudi arabia denies building a uranium officer lity near that town colombia's former president. says the supreme court has ordered his detention is to do with a case in which the former leader is accused of witness tampering and for more news in 30 minutes i'll see that. 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. when the fukushima tsunami hit japan is coastline in 2011 it destroyed everything in its path the jewel in the deal more to move. you know the more. jews are going to go to the when you move up the judicial. in the aftermath the forces began building a massive new seawall along 400 kilometers of coastline. it's meant to help protect communities from future waves but some feel that it's putting them in even greater danger water as we talk you know have got.