an official holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the united states this year in the wake of the nationwide protests there is a growing number of calls to make it an official there or holiday. people see it as a great opportunity to take to the streets to continue to let their message be her . this is al-jazeera. hello i'm still robin and you're watching the al-jazeera news our live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes devastation all around hospitals overwhelmed beirut struggles to cope a day after a terrifying explosion kills at least 100 people. more economic worries in store

for the people of lebanon cost of the damage from the blast is estimated to top $3000000000.00 with food imported by the flattening of beirut's port. and breaking ground and stirring controversy india's prime minister lays the foundation of a hindu temple on the ruins of a 16th century mosque. also sri lankans are voting in a much delayed election it's the 1st poll in south asia during the coronavirus pandemic. and he stammered with the sport refound the dull confirms he will not defend these us open title later this month because of coronavirus fears. welcome to the news are we begin in lebanon's capital beirut where people are describing the fallout from choose days explosion as apocalyptic there were scenes of. else after the blast ripped through the city's port killing at least $100.00

people the lebanese are trying to come to terms with the widespread damage that stirred memories of the civil war among the hardest hit areas on the busy commercial districts beirut's governor says up to 300000 people have been left homeless now this was the moment of the impact the blast happened at a port warehouse where the government says about 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored for years more than 4000 people have been injured and rescue workers are still searching for those missing hospitals across the city of struggle to cope and some were damaged by the blast already strained by the current virus outbreak health workers are overwhelmed by the number of casualties. the school is going to say you know who's in the capital beirut for us so you know just paint the picture before we get into the nitty gritty of what's been happening where you are what you're seeing. where we are close to beirut port the

port has been rendered unusable it's completely destroyed completely damaged and for an import dependent economy like lebanon this is going to cause problems yes there are other ports in the south of the country in the north of the country but they are small they report is the main port it's just across this highway but we are standing here because it we were finding difficulties getting a signal on the other side of the street families the family members continue to converge around the port hoping to hear news about their loved ones many many people remain missing the red cross says more than 100 dead up to 4000 injured 300000 people now displaced you just drive across this the capital this morning almost every building almost every apartment has been damaged by the sheer force of this explosion the damage really the damage to area quite quite large

so people are still coming to terms with what happened late on tuesday just past 6 pm just before sunset when this massive explosion shook the capital of course in the here and now we can hear the sirens of emergency services in the distance and that is the focus now isn't it the search and rescue but also those services is stretched because some of the walls who attended the blast even before actually kicked off they may have been caught up maybe part of the death toll. that it's true last night the ambulance from across the country were called in to help evacuate the wounded we were standing outside the port and we saw ambulances arriving one after another. hospitals were overwhelmed like you mentioned they were already close to collapse this country is going through a very deep economic crisis as a result of years of mismanagement the state is close to bankruptcy and this is why

officials have been appealing for international assistance in particular medical supplies and medicines because there's a scarcity of dollars a scarcity in foreign reserves and you need dollars in foreign reserves foreign currency excuse me in order to purchase medicine and much needed supplies so hospitals were already complaining about shortage they were complaining about being understaffed up to 850 nurses were fired from the main hospital with a few weeks ago because they couldn't pay to pay their staff so the hospitals the raising the alarm saying that we need help some countries are coming forward with assistance but this is this is a city really in shock a city in ruins and of course that comes during a major covert 19 pandemic and with the possibility of food insecurity as well at the same tone. yes a surgeon coronavirus cases in fact the yesterday 11 on the country was reopening

after a 5 day lockdown and the plan was tomorrow another 5 day lockdown would be imposed in order to try to stem the spread of coronavirus so this country really tackling with multiple crises we were at one of the neighborhoods early this morning we saw people you know angry and saying that these are our livelihoods their shops have been destroyed their homes and they're saying who's going to help us is this government going to help us we have to remember it's been months now we've been seeing protests in the streets people calling for a change in leadership they believe those in power the political parties who have been governing this country for decades they are responsible for running to work on a new ground and there are disaster they're calling this a manmade disaster. many people are saying you know this is the fault of the authorities they're negligent incompetent and corrupt so many many questions are now being raised how come highly explosive material was being stored at beirut ports and i'm safe manner who looks to be honest and of course we're trying to get

those sorted through the coming days for the. thank you mira duma president of the order of nurses in lebanon she's describing the situation hospitals as catastrophic hospital are not only over when we have 3 hospitals that completely destroyed so we had evacuated patients who where in those hospitals 2 other hospitals in addition we have 2 other hospitals that were partially destroyed so it was the capacity it was a big hit to the head if this was already or the hospital to them and lebanon is already bleeding so the situation is kept us traffic. very sad i say that we lost 3 nurses the nurses who were

working at the hospital and they are dead so i don't find words to describe what happened. we have never seen such a thing. now the disaster couldn't come at a worse time for lebanon its economy has been unraveling for months as government opponents blame the crisis on decades of corruption and mismanagement in march lebanon defaulted on $90000000000.00 worth of debt talks with the international monetary fund on a bailout stalled last month after infighting between the government and its central bank the lebanese currency which means paying to the dollar has lost 80 percent of its value since last october that's been devastating for a country that imports most of its goods now food costs are up by 190 percent on last year and salaries and savings have lost much of their value while the fallout from the pandemic has sent poverty and unemployment soaring. is an economist

specializing in health education and labor policies joins me now from beirut good to have you with us on the program repairing the damage to the port will cost millions then there's the trade that's lost entering even before we begin to speak of the infrastructure both commercial and domestic that needs to be repaired where do you begin when it comes to estimating the money that's needed to fix it all. i mean the level of the station is very very big we have direct costs and in direct cost you know the direct cost or to repair the physical infrastructure the private property losses the public property losses and those you have in the area of course because this is a you know huge interruption to whatever what was that tough livelihoods of people's income people who lost their bread earners and their main income earners the port which is now out of service for a long time. that in that it cost of this economic leeward it was

a huge burden on the lebanese society which was already as you mentioned before suffering from he would such economic losses that estimate that is circulating is between 4 to $5000000000.00 including in direct costs and. i think this is an underestimate because of the scale of the damage and also the huge cost of acquiring foreign currency in dollars at the black market rate that is now 5 times the official rate. the huge burden on people of course the economy as you said was already at rock bottom and international partners unwilling to really help without structural fiscal and political changes and he will let help come now without strings attached and from way. you know i really think that the international community should view that if any citizen is now as it cannot make refugees in a stateless country because this state by suggs has committed another act of war on

its people with this massive explosion that is a deliberate act of more than negligence this is not an accident this was stored for more than a decade there everybody knew it was there from the top of the government the simplest employee on the port everyone knew this dangerous equipment equipment and chemicals were there and they are responsible for that so we are now in a situation where we have a stateless country run by thugs and we are economic refugees in this country so we should be treated like economic refugees in a war zone or earthquake zone similar to what this you know which is have been treated so the u.n. system is lebanon is well equipped because it has been dealing with this unit refugee crisis for a long time now and it can extend direct support without passing through the government to the economic refugees that are now in the greater beirut area and

beyond would that actually be a reality because while you still have politicians in place regardless of what their affiliations are the international community isn't just going to plow money to to the general public at large they will need some sort of body be it a political body or the government to deal with and that's where the problem lies isn't it the factions the groupings and inevitably the politicians from the past decade who do you trust. i agree with you but there are ways to bypass this political class and it has been done before specifically for the syrian refugee crisis is passing through the u.n. system there and in order to progress. you and humanitarian comes and everybody operating on the ground now in lebanon for a decade but in passing in a way the central government and frankly we don't have a choice because we can't fund this same cronies and their their system and any amount of money that will come to this political class will be

decimated in corruption but the demand is people need help we need help right now when any delay and help will even exacerbate the economic consequences of this and this help can be channeled through humanitarian support directly with the agencies that are on the ground i don't think frankly we have any other option if even if it were compensation money to rebuild it would be draining the benes cars which are worth 6 of their value and we still need to import a lot of the raw material that. every great construction material possible and from the initial assessment i mean 80 percent of beirut has that been damaged from the blast so this is a huge humanitarian operation and it should be treated as such we shall see what happens of the difficult times future one and your colleagues and friends judge about the economist joining us from beirut thank you 3 times a member have lebanon's parliament has also resigned in protest over the port

explosion there demanded an international inquiry into the blast in his resignation letter he had served in various prominent positions including minister of trade health and telecommunications market though is a former candidate of the lebanese parliament he says politicians must have known the explosive materials were kept at the port. the company in fact is importing should be investigated and what was the purpose and why that big amount of material and then the 2nd question is why were they kept in one place why not in the safe position away from the fort which is a critical element in the infrastructure knowing the threat that they included and why were they guided to be any exported why were they impounded for 60 years and no one was capable of taking action this can only happen with excessive political pressure and intervention in the justice system which means people in the political establishment and the link to this and that is why

a lot of big heads should draw on this they should be held accountable the current government the president of the republic those are people who should be held accountable for that crime against humanity that both of the struction office city because of negligence the deaths of more than 100 people and the hospitalization of more than 4000 today the hospitals have been calling for distress because there morgues are full. system put that bodies in the hospitals of downtown beirut they're starting to move dead bodies to other hospitals around the country this is mass murder committed by the negligence and the political interest off if you will out of creating the political power in this country and that using its 5th. folks who are headed home they all deserve the news i'm including coming in courts home homes pro-democracy leaders face a crucial test for the future of the movement plus. a happy return for the miami marlins up to the current virus outbreak that's coming up in sports with peta.

no unix but some calling on the international community to step in if india doesn't address the deteriorating situation in indian administered. it's been a year since new delhi stripped the autonomy of the disputed region now the area is in lockdown and preventing protesters from gathering on the anniversary a curfew is being overseen by the military and many local political leaders have been detained for months and protests are being held in the capital of pakistan administered kashmir from there in solidarity with the people of indian administered kashmir. he's in the pakistani capital. we were expecting the prime minister to speak about kashmir. bring

on the subject. as we speak. of the legislative assembly. meeting done to weigh the prime minister of pakistan he had minister made speaking on. a forum saying that what was happening across the border was not dialogue down by that date. the india and days saying that the indian meeting out. against the people of kashmir the pakistani prime minister is also going to be addressing that legislative assembly. president sorry speaking before a crowd he said that india and its government under it in their modi both following up demographic change something that they have learned from the israelis.

a black day because. of d.n.a. station of meat off the article teeth every day border war but there are also apprehensions that night in their more day. didn't ship law and a fact i did a lifelong member of the raj studio. indicates that india is now moving away from that. to have and that it is going in an extreme direction which of course is also angry in neighborhoods like nepal. and china also the fact that earlier india were calling. 70 world war china stepped in object thing through. you're not allowed to move because. that hurt. so indeed a war of words. and so we are getting reports that there had been another ceasefire

violations along the line of control separating border indian and pakistani forces for the update kemal thanks very much let's cross over the border from pakistan to go to new delhi where elizabeth from the india correspondent standing by live but if the lockdown is being described as an open prison by some of those in kashmir allowed any freedom of movement or assembly. and place it made the government had imposed it a few weeks ago that said to stop the spread of the coronavirus a few days ago on monday night the government said that it was imposing a curfew on tuesday and wednesday citing the possibility of protests to mock the one year anniversary. autonomy being revoked which they went back on that curfew but spoken to and say whether it's. not the they feel that the

restrictions that are in place to stifle any opposition or dissent on the one year anniversary of the change of status political leaders who had been planning to meet today and political leaders to discuss a solution to the situation being allowed to there are police vehicles outside their homes and bob while on the roads and in fact the only activity that has taken place in the media is members of the country's governing body at the edge of the party or the j.p. have stood and ian flag in the capital. and of course is playing 2nd fiddle to the real focus of the media in india today all eyes on a controversial religious site. very much so. all of the agenda the government hasn't said anything about mainstream media is

back to back rolling coverage of the inauguration of this temple at india's most controversial religious site in now both. me and the building of this temple have been too long standing promises of the government on mr moti is. great the construction of the temple despite the fact that gatherings. allowed because of coronavirus restrictions he is joined by the most prominent members of. hindu nationalist leaders including members of the s.s. he mentioned 175 people who were and by should and attend church and here is a look at why this temple is. not just to the b j p and its supporters but in fact to many of india's nearly 1000000000 hindus. on the banks of the solder you the people gather to pray in the ancient town of io theah preparations underway ahead of the construction of

a temple at the site that hindus believe is the birthplace of their god from. the rom temple is supported by all indians only some who wanted to spread hate were opposed to it. controversy over the side has led to some of the worst religious violence in india's history and security has been heightened. in 1992 thousands of hindus from around the country came to the town and destroyed the 16th century baba the mosque and 22 others 18 of the muslims living in the town were killed including relatives of and muhammad childhood we lost everything in the violence my son was here we had thousands of dollars worth of wood they set everything on fire they killed my husband and brother in. the koran in a mosque and started stomping on the beaches we tried collecting the. kept getting

worse started attacking people here. the religious violence spread beyond iowa with the mohammad childhood's father and uncle of more than 2000 people who were killed around the country leading members of the hindu nationalist bot of the age on the party are on trial for conspiring to destroy the mosque the b j p had long promised to build a temple this is the fulfillment of the big promise to the. and this is a defining moment for india. the party gained more political support after the mosques destruction. then. that is where the destruction really created a new. political. force . in the country. the people 1st elected to govern the country the

general election following the mosques destruction after the legal. ownership the supreme court ruled last year that it belongs to to handle this now 30 years after he joined the campaign for temple prime minister narendra modi is inaugurating its construction and. new delhi. outsourcing political editor of the caravan an investigative news magazine joins me now from new delhi good to have you with us on the program i mean today's focus may be sort of no mention according to our correspondent really by the government of the 1st anniversary of kashmir removal of the autonomy. 37 i mean what next really for the modi government. but look clearly i think as some of your commentators have said this is a defining moment or 2 a symbolic transition towards a hindu nationalist state and in this to meet and temple are linked the have seen

as doing away with some of the accommodation of his slum that defined indian nation or since independence that was the only muslim majority state this is a symbol of form this government and the people who back it of muslim conquest the temple so clearly what we are seeing is an escalation of a process that was set in motion with the election of not in the movie in 2014 we are going to see more steps in that direction we are looking at the consecration the finishing of the temple just in time for the next election it's 2025 is the 100th year of the. fundamentalist organization can be a part of the most part of musicians that are some say work which is their graven force the b.g.p. is just the political wing the head of the artist as was but isn't there will be along with more the on stage at the consecration of the temple we will see steps lay most lately a uniform civil court which again is a step that will be pitched as

a liberal step embarrassing all indians but its intention again will be the seem to make sure that any idea of pandering. do almost limbs in india is. criticised got down and it will be sold to the last majority of people who support the b.g.p. in that fashion indeed the prime minister modi certainly does have the attraction of the attention of a very devout hindu. population but we just focus in on the common civil code just our international audience and what that actually means in reality . how with how we will affect the country and move it away you might say from the secular notion that you've been talking about. look the idea of the uniform civil code is not personal self something that has not been debated within liberal circles. so if we did wade on the uniforms they report has never been about liberal

or fundamentalist it was always a question of what big different communities different religions are accommodated when the larger idea of indian nation would. seem what the b.g.p. is blaming the trust will always be and this forms a very small part of india's civil court at the moment it will be directed on ideas like muslims are allowed different laws of marriage there may be allowed to marry more than once they may be war separately which is actually a very small part of the focus of the uniform civil court but that is the direction of assault and propaganda in public we would that will be used to sell this and again it will be used to garner the more but lazy action that actually drives the politics of this government or we should see what happens for the moment of staying but thanks very much for your input and thanks for joining us on to serve thank you several high profile democracy campaigners have appeared in court again in hong

kong joshua won't. even land have been facing charges relating to protests last year against an extradition bill has previously pleaded guilty and faces up to 5 years in prison the cases were adjourned along with an application for a bail hearing for activists tongue in kit now this case is being seen as a test for hong kong's existing laws and beijing's new national security legislation sarah clarke joins us now on these developments and of course interesting developments in court regarding this bail application. well look at this particular question this is the 23 year old kid now looking back at his the allegations in the charges he was accused of running his motorbike into a group of police and this happened on july 1st to this is the day that the national security laws were introduced it was also a day of large protest on the back of his bike and a flag bearing the words liberate hong kong and as

a result he's been charged with inciting suspicion and being involved in terrorist activities that his case won't go to trial until october hence why his lawyer has sought in the meantime and he took that particular request to the high court and this is an unprecedented legal challenge simply because it's the 1st test of how the hong kong judges will operate well how the deal with number one the common law versus at the national security legislation that's just newly been introduced under common law these laws they can apply for bell but this right has not been granted under this new law and as a result of tom's lawyer has said he's going to challenge these bell conditions he's even said there are many question marks that still exist about this particular law and those conditions now the case has been adjourned that the prosecution has restricted more time to deal with this particular quest and the case will return to the courts or back in the high court on august the 20th of course of the pro-democracy activists joshua one whose name is very similar to our international audience is also continuing the fight is not giving up either is.

now is not and he's pleaded not guilty to a number of charges involved with what was deemed illegal assembly in june last year outside the police headquarters he's been charged with inciting and taking part in that illegal assembly so too has agnes chel and ivan lamb and of course these 3 of the founders are members of the pro-democracy party demo sisto which is since disbanded the chances she's guilty she willingly took part in this particular illegal assembly and she said she's mentally preparing to go to jail but josh long and ivan lamb the fired and going to fight those charges and this is what they had to say on a rival at court on wednesday. where the political process. that we face under the threat of beijing is not the time for us to surrender is no reason for us to live in fear even the government tried to prosecute us with the protest throwing last summer outside of the police headquarters is still not the time for

us to give up and surrender joshua who has also said that joshua has also said that he will not kowtow to beijing in his court on the global community to also put pressure on beijing for help and this case has also been adjourned the child has pleaded guilty to these charges course in december and 1 of the land now returned to court in november so it's lost in hong kong thank you. well it's time for weather now and his journey with unfortunately most letting you know yes i know you said it as well so yes more flooding in course and particularly bad for the remnants of a recent tropical storm so you can actually see a tail a satellite doesn't look too threatening as you say hey see if it'll bundle of cloud but in actual fact that is it and this is what it did of course this was tropical storm pace it came on shore into eastern china and of course coming down all the rain that came this storm system really was coming down on some really saturated ground so it wasn't long at all before the streets are just under water

of course the rivers are just overwhelmed with the amounts of rain that came down through thursday you can see beauty just lots of rain to the north but in actual fact that little system will continue to work its way up to the l.s.a. and then all of this line of rain you can see here these are the seasonal rays this is the front it's pushed much further north now for this time of year and so you get dragged up but it really pushes pretty quickly as we said across the korean peninsula not as quick on friday so unfortunately again another area where he has seen such widespread flooding is the korean peninsula and there's more very heavy rain pushing crosses region as we head towards the end of the week those rains of course continuing all the back across into india and bangladesh and this is what it's like not just the bangladesh but so many areas of south asia just under water people having to learn to live with it every day but we've had some very heavy rains in mumbai of the last few days not surprising to see pictures like this but look at the rains to go through again through up into go eventually it pushes away it does mean some very heavy rain across into pakistan but before this rain event

is done we could be seeing more than half a meter of rain so again to the area of maharashtra so there will be more flooding that looks good it'll thanks very much to. both still ahead here on the news of another big increase in the number of to go to castel straightly the 2nd most populous states plus. i'm going to see in human in santiago chile the country that is now commemorating years since a tragic mining accident turned into a miracle. beats lifts the suns in the n.b.a. that's coming up with sport and peter. guber. frank assessments seeing that. there's. a relation like we see with this it's an informed opinion which is ethiopia on the verge of a breakdown in many parts of the old immediate region are actually under

a de facto state of emergency and critical debate after the proxy because look at everything the interest of the libyan people in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines inside story on al-jazeera. breaks everybody on this planet mad at the body hour when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told here human development has moved right to the edge of the forest with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports covert is a disease can affect anyone any age i'll just see him as teens on the ground this is the main business lobby money or the person here to bring new moon when documentaries and life needs. war room or rule or. world.

you're watching out is there is news hour with me the whole romney reminder of our top stories a large explosion lebanon's capital is killed at least $100.00 people and injured thousands as a shockwave swept through the city beirut's government says up to 300000 people have been left homeless. by the knees president michel aoun has called for an emergency cabinet meeting hospitals trained by the current of iris are being overwhelmed by the wounded. you know experts are calling on the international community to step in if india doesn't urgently address the worsening human rights situation in indian administered kashmir it's been a year since new delhi stripped the disputed region of its all ptolemy. just cross over to the lebanese capital the president michel aoun is speaking let's just listen to what he's saying stricken yesterday by this disaster.

so. this morning. we so have all been hit with a grave set then. as with lost loved ones some lost their loved ones others left their homes. lost their property but the magnitude of this disaster is beyond description i extend condolences. to ourselves and to all the lebanese and pray to god almighty to accept in his mercy the fallen mars our it is like. we have been stricken and have flicked it yet we should not sit on our hands and we 1st of all investigation

is our priority and the hour it comes should be reached immediately and swiftly secondly the recovery of dead bodies and search and rescue are the missing ones and those still under debris. provide temporary shelter for those who have totally lost their homes then initiate. all inclusive investigation to assess the damages then hand out payments and compensations for repair under strain of homes houses other institutions who have been totally damage it. lebanon is in area will. appeal to all political factions political parties political forces to seize from

engage in rhetoric and stand united. also i address the representatives of the media it is their our collective national duty and responsibility we are all working rolling up our sleeves and i hope we should stand united to brave through these dire days and i hope that all the lebanese will live up to their responsibilities people are fed up with political wrangling and rhetorics it's time to work and see. what should be. a request all i need to take part in the current work workshop and work that has been initiated we are all acquired to input our

respective efforts it's a test where each and every lebanese citizen should live up to the location and give for a year or 2 to the national interest above any other interest. and there you have. who is the lebanese prime minister speaking just before the lebanese president michel talking firstly about the condolences to those that lost their lives and to those are injured promising an investigation into the port explosion and then outlining step by step procedure as to what the government will do next which includes things like temperature shelter setting the damage compensation plans also appealing to factions to political forces and to political parties to cease the rhetoric and to stand united also appealing to the media to

support the national interest at this time of crisis let's join our corresponds in a hunter who's in beirut has any you're listening to what the prime minister and the president had to say. roughly we're expecting him to say this sort of thing words a great actions are a far greater on the. well true. what many lebanese have been saying over the past few months ever since. i took office is he says the right words we fail to take any action he is the head of the government that is. a government which is considered one sided in the eyes of that these other dogs they believe the. government is. isolated from the rest of the. business. which is iran and their back to.

iranian. government. credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of never these that is the armed services but i'm sure. the french foreign minister was a. perfectly schooled politician telling them to help us so that we can help steer you towards billions of dollars a fix our economy that you are obliged to carry out. it's a public sector you're applying to. the state and you have to do exactly. or even the politicians for not taking any action as opposed to the way. the economy as it sounds. you know put up with political wrangling and it is. the exact government to try to.

ensure the support of the other critical faction of the opposition in the country because the opposition of. 'd some sort of unity government has said it one way or the other they believe that i. think we're. moving i was supporting what we were outside the size of the. only. person. thanks for the update of course we'll tune into you of course later as things develop as well as in the heart of our correspondent there in beirut well in the day's other news for lankans are electing a new parliament president got a biologic pax this party is seeking a 2 thirds majority to allow changes to the constitution now the vote was to spawn twice because of coronavirus and the poll is being held under strict safety guidelines with voters expected to maintain a one meter distance and wear face masks let's take

a close look at what's in stake in these elections in march president got the biodata bucks that dissolved the 225 member parliament 6 months ahead of schedule and called a snap election now these 3 lankan people's front of party which is led by his brother prime minister mahinda rajapakse is a frontrunner in these elections and if it holds a majority in parliament it will give the rajapaksa brothers more power and control over the island's politics the some drug bill of a god and the united national party or its main rivals the economy in the national security the pandemic and corruption are all some of the major concerns among sri lankan voters barney fonseca is a human rights lawyer and senior researcher at the center for policy alternatives joins me now from the capital colombo good to have you with us it seems that the turnout was looking pretty low to start with in the early parts of the election process but officials do consider the fact that covert 19 has been

a major issue for those going to the ballot box what takes priority in your opinion is it political change or is it medical safety. so i think we've seen the consumer turn out still fighting the many fifty's and. well already then i think i'm here to worry any election and be doing at the end. but at the same denying that i can recall actions and. save the nation state and in terms of their grace. but we are having election. $235.00 pounds where we had a highly minute of 5 months so days or so and he knows it would just be men come back and 2 weeks duty and having it would say. so we'll have to see that it's more that i think it's about an article in the pool and. it's lower

than that in the last few elections in sri lanka and that's a bit disappointing to see what the results are because our main talking point has been whether the president and his brother a their supporters can get this sort of 2 thirds majority what's your opinion about sort of the public psyche around the rajapaksa brothers and whether they really have the support of the people to make this constitutional change. but i think that the president in his time. willing to do that best out of the press and. the free the would get a majority i don't think you would be surprised that the question to currents 5 and winds are 2 very likely to. be immense sweeping reforms happening quite soon so the question is how many seats will be able to get one needs to remember this very popular president get

a significant majority no way in the 2019. to do who and where lives 29 t. know what the. president trying so at the next cup and that was and it's going to be traced. back for sure we're going to see a strong economy. and way though how much. power and how many reforms they will because truly suppression and what form the opposition would be. it's really fragmented and weak opposition. to work together to be an effective opposition and it's going to be the. thanks very much for joining us from colombo. hugh. the afghan health minister says 10000000 people may have been infected with corona virus the announcement comes after a nationwide blood survey testing for the virus now the results show more than half

of the cases are in adults but nearly 50 percent of children who tested positive did not show any symptoms more than 1200 people have died in afghanistan since the pun damage began. and the number of people who have died from the corona virus around the world has now passed 700000 that's been reported as the australian state of victoria announces 725 new cases officials in melbourne have imposed a nighttime curfew and restricted and restrictions on movement and hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help enforce isolation orders and more breaking the rules faces very large fines and virgin australia has announced its firing $3000.00 staff as it prepares to relaunch and the new owners the pandemic force the airline into voluntary administration in april travel restrictions serve left billions of dollars of debt and the australian government refused to bail it out it was taken over by a private us for in june. it's exactly 10 years since 33 miners were

trapped in a copper and gold mine explosion in the chili's at a cayman doesn't the rescue effort was watched by millions around the world are lots in america to tell you seem human to cover the story of the time nomics that was happening to them since it was the spectacular rescue of 33 chilean miners trapped nearly 70 days 700 meters underground. and brought to the surface against all the odds in a capsule damaged memorize the world. a 1000000000 people watched the scenes live on television. the miners became global celebrities with all expenses paid trips from jerusalem to disney world. it was even a hollywood movie. but there was no fairy tale and 10 years on edison pena wishes it had never happened. he was one of the media's favorite because of his

passion for elvis presley. and now he lives in a coastal industrial town far from the at the calm a desert on a meager state pension like many of the others he says he couldn't get work again because it really was get him on a limb it took me a while but i finally understood that they don't want one of the 33 miners who might become a leader or cause trouble or whatever that's what the company executives must think if the sun still has nightmares of 59 year old wholesale hill that is the miner who wrote the famous note saying that the 33 were still alive today he can't walk without crutches because of his advanced diabetes therapy in her veil of the arrow everyone thought we had been left with a lot of fame and money but it's not like that all i have is a very small peach and. the binders who want to proclaim heroes at home and abroad feel cast aside many living with less now. now than what they had before but one

thing is the same the president who staked his reputation and millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to try to get the miners out and then bask in the glory of the rescue is now back in to his presidential palace but to day several stamping at us seems to feel that his death to the miners is paid by the state is appealing a court ruling to compensate each miner with a $1000000.00 could negligence that led to the mining accident and then there's the issue of the movie and book rights. where they were coaxed into signing very complex contracts that they of course did not understand that handed over rights of their story to others a lawsuit for fraud and other crimes against the lawyers snared them is still in process. 10 years after the accident that marked their lives forever the 33 miners are certainly remembering their miraculous survival but for every sin

binya as for most the promise of a better 2nd chance at life has now faded to see in human al-jazeera some p.r. . well still ahead on al-jazeera we'll hear from tiger woods some speakers for its 60 major title that's all coming up in sports with peter so don't go away.

welcome back times put on his pizza thank you so much so u.s. open tennis champion rafael nadal has confirmed he won't defend his title at this

year's tournament the spaniard has pulled out of the events which begins at the end of august citing concerns of the coronavirus pandemic this year's competition will be staged without fans and will be the 1st grand slam since the main draw at flushing meadows in 1909 to not feature either an adult or roger federer who is currently recovering from knee surgery women's number one ashley barty pulled out last week one team that knows the dangers of coronavirus all too well is the miami marlins having had 18 players test pods of a couple weeks ago they were finally cleared to play again with replacements on tuesday although the game against the baltimore orioles was delayed by 40 minutes as the final test results came in the way it was worth it as the marlins shot out the orioles winning for nothing. over an oakland b. athletics beat the texas rangers 51 but the rangers had the catch of the day infield a great bird who had the night off and was relaxing in the empty stands made it

look too easy he caught the ball in his hat after teammate todd frazier heated towards the dugout. catch over in the n.b.a. bubble in florida the brooklyn nets pulled off one of the biggest upsets in years they were the underdogs going into the game with the eastern conference leading milwaukee bucks and up against reigning m.v.p. johnson city compo but the mets were not going down easy ruki dancer who got into a scrap with 20 to company that fired up brooklyn to. cover a row lead with 26 points as the nets aged the bucs 119116. and an incredible final moment in the phoenix suns game with the los angeles clippers devin booker capped game high 35 points with a buzzer beating baskets to shock the clippers the suns winning 117100 30.

similar to the n.b.a. the n.h.l. stanley cup playoffs are taking place in 2 separate bubbles both of them in canada and on tuesday in toronto the new york islanders were up against the florida panthers jordan abeles schooling twice for new york at the one the game flew to the islanders take a 2 nothing lead in the best of 5 preliminary playoff game 3 showed you will for later on wednesday. manchester united manager only going to believes winning the europa league can be the 1st step back as he's team trying to return to their former glory so it is yet to win a trophy since taking over at old trafford united lead 5 no going into the 2nd leg of their last 16 tie with a of austria on wednesday the final stages of the season's competition being played in germany of a single legs because of the coronavirus pandemic. for me personally when i won my 1st trophy as a player it made me more hungry because you use all the highs of it so how much it meant for everyone and as a coach i wondered if i won the league 1st time with mold in that was the 1st time

for the club in 100 year history and since then we've won it 4 times in about 8 or 9 years so it was a big change for the club for me for this team as well i think if we can get our hands on the trophy it's a big big step forward elsewhere if he copenhagen are looking to overturn a 10 deficit against turkish champions. here a shock to the nats to win up against going into and how tough it did not get to play a 1st leg because of the coronavirus so their match will be a single leg fixture. after england in the west indies completed a successful bio secure cricket taste series the innovation of hosting pakistan this is a 3 match series starting at old trafford in manchester pakistan won the toss and chose to bethen now $34.00 no loss the world's top golfers are putting their final

preparations together for the delayed 1st major of the season the p.g.a. championship tees off on thursday brooks kept her into the tournament as the 2 time defending champion 15 time major champion tiger woods is also in this week's field he's only played one since golds for certain from the coronavirus hiatus but the full time p.g.a. champion remains confident of these chances of victory. that's the new world we live in and we just have to get used to it as far as the focus part of it i haven't had a problem with that those 4 rounds i was i was pretty into it. it's different and you know most the times when you go from green to tee people yelling or trying to touch it that you know that part is different as far as energy and while i'm competing and playing know that that's the same up i'm pretty intense when i play and pretty into what i'm doing. most news again later

thanks very much peter i'll be watching al-jazeera news on with me so robin summers adonal be up with a full half hour of news but it's a lot from people stomach will soften the news out of it thanks very much for your time and your company. a story of financial scandal with billions lost in the united arab emirates i've never seen a story like this where 2 companies similar type history involving the same group of people have failed at the same time but where the money go is the $1000000.00 question al-jazeera world investigates the dramatic story of the rise and fall look

when india tycoon b r shetty and the missing millions on al-jazeera. what was described as the world's longest long downpour the largest exodus since the creation of it and appended india and $947.00. experts believe india is still at an early stage of infection but the long down has already created a humanitarian crisis and driven the unemployment rate up for the 6 to 23 percent and it's also highlighted an equality religious tensions and a health care system that isn't equipped to deal with a pandemic the following weeks will tell of the peace and mass movement of people will also accentuate the spread to the corner wires from indian cities to its rural hot. to jump into the street and to lean on global community this generation will have to create its own democracy pool. social media on and on line

be part of the debate let me put some comments to you know topic is off the table is taking on all the systemic islands that people of color have suffered not only now but for decades we are going to be to transform lives the way we see it business if we're going to adapt to climate break down this street on out is there . as lebanon reels from a massive explosion that rocked its capital the president vows to investigate what happened and punish the perpetrators devastation all around hospitals overwhelmed by root struggles to cope a day after the blast that killed at least 100 people. i'm

sammy's a than this is out just here a live from doha also coming up breaking ground and stirring controversy india's prime minister lays the.