1 1 al-jazeera selects hunted. lebanon's cabinet decides to put some officials under house arrest after the massive explosion which flattened beirut and beirut porson killed 135 people. last course nearly $3000000000.00 worth of damage has made nearly 300000 people homeless. but again i'm adrian for the given this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up breaking ground on stirring controversy india's prime minister lays the foundation

of a hindu temple on the ruins of a 16th century mosque plus. i'm lawrence lee in the northwest of england at the height of the tourism season some hoteliers are warning that their livelihoods to be put at risk because some visitors are failing to follow basic guidelines to control the spread of the virus. lebanon's cabinet has to clear a 2 week state of emergency in beirut following tuesday's devastating explosion the death toll continues to rise 135 people are now confirmed dead while more than 80 others are still missing around 5000 people were injured and several port officials have been put under house arrest beirut's governor says that up to 300000 people have been left homeless i was in resent a honda reports. the people of this disaster stricken city are starting to assess

and comprehend the extent of the damage of a blast that was far more destructive than any explosion lebanon has ever seen just before sunset on tuesday highly exposed to. material stored at a warehouse at beirut port caused the blast sending shock waves across the city now in ruins. almost every building has been damaged many are dead thousands are injured and hundreds are missing rescue workers worked through the night and into the morning as people and bodies were feared trapped underneath the rubble because it was. my husband is an employee at the electricity company he survived but his colleagues didn't the only non moving their bodies from under the rubble this is a country already reeling from a dire economic crisis where 50 percent of the population live below the poverty line its people are not in a position to cope with this disaster. but the. material losses are sad but it's

nothing compared to those who lost their lives this is my taxi it's my livelihood and i'm still paying for it. everyone has a story of survival or tragedy the damage spread several kilometers many are blaming those in power for the catastrophe. this was lebanon's hiroshima we trusted them with our money our souls our lives and they betrayed us why are they still in power they should all resign we only have god their day will come. the way authorities are appealing for help from the international community the state is close to bankruptcy. it's like a big earthquake hit lebanon by roots this will cost billions of dollars to restore the economy will get even worse because businesses have been hit entirely in order for it to relaunch a nice new investments we will not despair some countries have started to send much needed medical supplies the health care system was already close to collapse hospitals have been laying off staff in recent months because of the financial

crisis and. we are an afflicted hospital there is no hospital as you can see hospital is closed and now we wait for our directors in order to receive instructions because we want to start the recovery workers cannot get in also as you can see because it's unsafe the ceiling is falling down it is a critical situation. lebanon's leaders are promising an investigation to determine who was responsible for storing ammonium nitrate without safety measures at the port for years and. we are determined to investigate and reveal what happened as soon as possible and bring those responsible to justice and punish them accordingly we will transparently announce the results of these investigations but those who hold power are being blamed for negligence incompetence and corruption people are in shock with anger is also growing out of political class many blame for mismanagement and being responsible for running the economy into the ground months of protests calling for a new leadership have been met by

a militarized state and demands by the international community to fight corruption . especially at beirut ports in order to be eligible for financial aid have gone unheard what many call a manmade disaster is the latest crisis to hit a country already on its knees so much has been lost when there was already so little and a short time ago zena gave us this update from beirut port. horney to the health minister dozens 8 remain missing the search operations continue trying to find bodies or or even survivors trapped underneath the rubble either at beirut ports or in other buildings across the city so dozens of families really don't know the fate of their loved ones and we saw many shop owners there in despair there's there's a sense of desperation they say who is going to bail us out who is going to help us

we don't have money to fix our shops this was our only source of livelihood there is a deep crisis here a workforce 32 percent of the workforce is unemployed 50 percent of the population live below the poverty line so they are wondering who is going to provide them help 300000 people are now homeless some are lucky enough to have relatives in other areas in the country but others are started to gather their belongings put them in suitcases and we watched some of them do that and and head to churches or mosques to find shelter officials are saying or are promising that the outcome of investigations will be revealed within the next 5 days they're saying it's going to be transparent but will this be enough for a very skeptical lebanese population many in the opposition are calling for the need for independent international investigators to to look into the the cause of the blast because the many state institutions are run by political parties and they

have appointed their men their loyalists to positions and these people are loyal to parties and not the state so many feel that there will be some sort of a cover up many are not you know you tell them this accident and they say no no no this was not an accident this is a criminal act against the people of lebanon. governments around the world have been sending offers of assistance to lebanon france says that 2 aircraft are being sent with aid and resources including firefighters medical staff france president of money omar crawlers due to travel to beirut on thursday let's go live to work our series dominic cain is there for us france one of several nations dominick that sending aid to lebanon. here in berlin the german government has made very clear its dismay at what happened in beirut the disaster that took place that is was in

a statement that angle americal put out soon after yesterday's events but the government has also said that it's prepared to send search and rescue teams up to 47 different staff in those search and rescue teams to beirut to help the authorities there in their search for survivors of the disaster the place that's among several different other e.u. countries who have unilaterally offered assistance of some shape or form to the lebanese government the point also at the pan european level the e.u. has activated its civil protection mechanism which allows it almost instantaneously to dispatch more than 100 specialist rescue workers trained dog teams that sort of thing to beirut to help in in the operation that's taking place there the e.u. has also made available to the lebanese government its copernicus satellite program

specifically as it regards satellite photography of this site to help as i say the logistical operation the mammoth task that the lebanese authorities have in the search for survivors and then trying to work out what exactly happened and how that can take their investigations further. france says it's going to open its own investigation into the explosion dominic tell us more about. yes this is something that is emerged from the package of barry the prosecutor in paris opening an investigation into the what is called the involuntary wounding of 21 french citizens when we know the french government has said that it believes the $21.00 of its citizens were wounded in yesterday's explosion follows therefore the prosecutor in paris is saying since it is the that his agency is the agency which would investigate such incidents involving french citizens taking place abroad

outside metropolitan france then as the competent authority they will be investigating but it is more of a procedural investigation because clearly the lead role in investigating what actually happened from a criminal perspective or indeed from any other perspective a civil perspective will be led by the authorities in beirut the point also to say here is that the french government has a particular role in this part of the middle east given the fact that lebanon at one point in the previous century was a french protectorates and so when president goes to beirut he will have a particular interest in helping wherever possible xerostomia came reporting live from berlin dominic many thanks indeed. pakistan's prime minister has called india an oppressor a year after new delhi strips india in the kashmir of its autonomy the area is currently locked down to prevent protesters from gathering on the anniversary of confused being of the scene by the military and thousands rallied in pakistan

administered kashmir in some of daraa sleep they gathered in who suffer about as well as of the city's. reports. the prime minister of pakistani administrate kashmir speaking on. a forum thing that what was happening across the board awarding our dialogue down by that date. if god condemned the india and a truck saying that indian forces were meeting out. against the people of kashmir any prime president sorry what speaking before a crowd he said that india and its government under it in their modi will following a policy of demographic change something that they have learned from the israeli across pakistan it is considered a black day because it marks one of the an occasion of kosher meat off the article

teeth $71.00 it was but then i wrote the apprehension not in their body but it's controversial it didn't ship law and the fact i did a lifelong member of the rocks to. walk down indicates that india is now moving away from that. did you to have and that it is going in an extreme direction which of course it also angering neighborhoods like nepal bangladesh and china also the fact that india with calling me to issue a bilateral issue but after article 70 was trying to. object thing to that you're not allowed to move because china. the 3rd party to the question. that's enough for most seriousness with poor on i'm in new delhi she says that proton to be activists in kashmir are accusing the indian government of trying to stifle opposition by placing the region on the few. political leaders who had

been planning to meet today to try to find a political solution have not been allowed to do so there are police outside their home and barbed wire on the roads but meanwhile members of the country's governing bought at the. in. capital they met and hoisted indian flag and celebrated by sharing sweets now they has not been much the indian government hasn't said much if anything about me today the entire focus today of the government the mainstream news media has been what's happening in a town called in northern india which has been india's controversial and contested religious site and that's because it's many hindus believe that it's the birthplace of their god and it is where 1992 a 16th century mosque was destroyed it has been a battle for decades and prime minister morty went there today to know who

raid the the building the start of construction on this temple fulfilling a very long standing promise by the government to build this temple and of course revoking. autonomy and so both of these things happening on the same day and promising that is there more to it was joined by some of the country's most prominent hindu nationalist leaders despite the fact that coronavirus restrictions for people gathering he was there was something like 175 people invited to the event and who attended the centuries old temple site is claimed by both hindus and muslims and was the focus of a long legal battle in 1902 a group of hindus tore down a 460 year old mosque by a muslim rule the demolition of the mosque. box one of india's worst religious

riots estimated 2000 people were killed some senior politicians in the governing hindu nationalist party the b j p are on trial charged with conspiring to bring down the mosque they deny the accusations for more than 3 decades the b j p made rebuilding a temple in iowa a part of its election campaign after years of legal tussle the supreme court last year gave control of the land to hindus allowed construction of a temple that muslims were given another plot of land on which to build a mosque are saying now is a political editor of the caravan investigate news magazine he says that events that took place could be seen as a way for the ruling party to increase its popular support this is a defining moment in the sim polic transition towards a hindu nationalist state and in this the coach meat and temple are linked they are 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 elections 2025 is the 100th year of the. it's fundamentalist organization can be a part of most organizations that are some say work which is the driving force the b.g.p. is just the political wing the head of the r.s.s. was present there will be along with more the on stage at the consecration of the temple we will see steps like most likely a uniform civil court which again is a step that will be pitched as

a liberal step embracing all indians but its intention again will be the seem to make sure that any idea of pandering or 3 do most 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 kind of weather update thanks to i was 0 then votes are counted in sri lanka in an election that could further strengthen the incumbent prime minister . hello there is more heavy rain in the forecast across more northern areas of china and again across much of the korean peninsula is a massive cloud here that is now really all that is left of a recent tropical storm had to pay it but this of course is what did when it came onshore through southern areas of china and of course this rain coming down on some

very saturated ground so once again the streets are just running with water now it will actually begin to dry out across much of that region but not to the north and in fact some very heavy rain across the korean peninsula is the remnants of that tropical storm really just getting caught up in this from which is lying to the north of me even steadily east would say by friday it's a repeat of the same the rain heavy across northern china and again what he spare cross the elysee producing those very heavy rains again into already flooded areas of the korean peninsula and then across into n.d. no sign here of the rains easing up either plenty of cloud in the last year as. i'm not surprised me we've seen flooding in mumbai the rains have been particularly torrential hay for the last few days and then north of i have to ease up any time soon as we go through thursday the rains again very heavy through chrysler as pushing up into a good draft very widespread elsewhere but also you know very heavy rains down across into karratha and then through friday beginning to ease away from her russia but heavy rains across southern areas of pakistan.

capturing a moment in time. not shots of on the line. other stories one people are pretty calm when you're in your camp again and providing you can't into someone else's mouth you are pursuing in the dream of your life inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers. witness on al-jazeera.

well again this is al jazeera let's remind you of the main news this hour lebanon's cabinet has declared a 2 week state of emergency in beirut following tuesday's devastating explosion which killed at least 135 people and wounded $5000.00 and it's also agreed to place several ports officials under house arrest in connection with the blasts. beirut's governor says the disaster has left $300000.00 people homeless but of course $3000000000.00 worth of damage an estimated 85 percent of the country's grain stocks have been destroyed. the nations around the world been sending office of help france russia qatar and germany have pledged aid medical teams and search and rescue experts. lebanon's government says that a fire. which ignited more than 2 and a half 1000 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port warehouse caused the explosion it's a chemical compound used as a fertilizer in agriculture and as an egregious an explosives for mining and

construction it's often used by armed groups and was a primary ingredient in the 9095 oklahoma city bombing that killed 168 people the deadliest industrial accident in the u.s. was also due to ammonium nitrate it exploded at texas city's ports in 1947 killing 581 people that led to major changes in international regulations for its storage and handling him mr breckon gordon is a chemical weapons expert and former commanding officer of the u.k. chemical biological radiological and nuclear regiment he joins us now live via skype from bath in england could tell you where this is tell us more about ammonium nitrate and why it has the potential to cause such a catastrophic explosion as we saw yesterday if not stored correctly is i mean can it be stored safely. ammonium nitrate absolutely can be and

you know it is very benign as a glossary and so what we call it like you can fix a plastic and duct tape since it's in other words to grow however as you said it is also an explosive and favorite of many terrorist groups these days what we call an excel or a trigger. this is fairly benign and material can be can create we call an accident burning pre-action which makes it heat our very rapidly and has a massive release of energy that we've seen in beirut and almost 3000 tons of this stuff it is absolutely devastated he's. been flattened almost by it. you know any positive as is the half of the blast to see but it is it is very dangerous. both the carter so-called islamic state and the tunnel it is

their favorite explosive. this when you look at the pictures that we're seeing now of the explosion of that huge blast wave. people in beirut describe seeing that the smoke a sort of an orange cloud or there was orange dust over everything a residue that was left is that is that dangerous you talk of it as what it's a fertilizer it's pretty benign stuff. well that dust could be a residue from the long trades it could also be you know for the local soil and birds one of the secondary effects of an ammonia nitrate explosion is the toxic gases particularly ammonia and sinatra's sides of these are deadly gases they are very non-persistent they didn't last for very long and in heat of letter they disappear very quickly sadly i suspect many people have been injured by this toxic gas but it shouldn't pose a threat now but certainly any day you know it may be contaminated in the speech

treated incredibly carefully there on purpose driven rules on the storage of ammonium nitrate and as you said at the top of this this piece and so it should be stored whether way from any built up areas or population what we call the danger of the downwind acid that can create destruction if there is a napster's certainly in most countries around the world there are strict rules on doing this so absolutely the prime minister of lebanon has said that needs to be an investigation because you know this shouldn't we must make sure that a similar thing never happens again really good to talk to have a pretty thanks indeed for being with us. that photo being counted in sri lanka's to late parliamentary election it was the 1st country in south asia to hold a general vote during the pandemic it not president got a by rajapaksa dissolved the 225 member parliament 6 months ahead of shared you'll

have called the snap election his party is seeking a 2 thirds majority to allow changes to the constitution harsha the silver is a force rank and state minister at an opposition member of parliament explains why the president wants to hold the vote now. it was the choice of the president and go have the next send as soon as possible because he wanted to write don they sought it up the president sitting next sol and all told we've been campaigning for him on be here until 5 usually a campaign is just maybe 6 weeks but this time it's been 4 months so everybody wants to get these all these balls so i did so we. can all see what happens to be end of the day today and we all feel mystic that b.v. that somehow if i could get up one. point he said even at the office and boy he said. if you don't make it good timing to have

a strong strong opposition and not let them have that booth that's what you ought to be that seeking to a been so we have a king hard to define them from getting that. afghanistan's health minister says that as many as 10000000 people may have been infected with the coronavirus the announcement comes after a nationwide blood testing for the virus half of the cases were found among adults or 1000 $200.00 afghans have died since the pandemic began. general result of the survey says that 31.5 percent of the afghan population which is equal to 10000000 people have been infected by the corona virus during the pandemic 37 percent have been infected in cities and 27 percent have been infected in rural areas scotland has imposed a lockdown on its biggest city aberdeen 1st minister nicola sturgeon as old or hospital is even used to close and businesses to stay away a bar in the city center is thought to be linked to

a new cluster of $54.00 coronavirus cases but more than 20 other pubs and restaurants are thought to be involved as well the scottish government says that extreme caution is necessary in the city of 200000 people the restrictions will be reviewed next wednesday and may be extended if necessary. for the behavior of british tourists are choosing to stay in the u.k. this summer rather than travel abroad has come under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons complaints of been growing about large gatherings of visitors who refuse to abase social distancing rules out serious lawrence lee reports from the north west of england. jackie's entire reputation and her livelihood depend on her ability to promise to keep her rooms clean and free from coffee 19 once people have checked out she fills the room with ozone and ultraviolet lights to kill any germ hiding anywhere and then just to be extra sure they go in and disinfect everything

in these times there is no alternative but to improve on this reassuring well hope so yes i mean i think that people are desperate to get away they want to convey that right this straight and they just need to know that where they're going is exceptionally clean and that it's safe for them to go into those regions this was the lake district just 2 months ago virtually deserted during lockdown the tourism industry on its knees but look at it now it's always a magnet but especially now that british tourists have been told they might have to quarantine for 2 weeks if they want to go abroad businesses here need them but they also need them to behave properly these few weeks before the schools go back in september are absolutely critical for the tourism industry in places like this much of which is still family run but of course the great irony of the virus is that the same people on whom they rely to stay financially or floats are the very people who could shut them down if the virus gets in this is what isn't supposed to happen

large groups ignoring the rules this pub has already been forced to refuse entry to young people particularly who appear not to care about the risks they take 1920 year olds who are going to get in and they say they live in the same house you know you separate from your money as we get one table or 6 but then more joining and then more joy when they end up becoming in a larger group a group of what's a $1015.00 yeah. or 4 to move up to turn some on the way on especially on a saturday night just when they turn to come out and just explain so we're not going to buy your book if you don't follow the rules. we have to do we have to follow the rules so they have to fill holes this is what's supposed to happen wait to turn into the table becomes free put up with minor inconvenience for the greater good but it isn't these people the tourism industry is worried about there are a few people who clearly have less regard the would be ideal for distancing which

is sad because the last thing we want is to put any of our people here at risk going to visit is at risk and certainly if we do have any business is that need to close or operator to further reduce capacity it puts them at risk as well it's happening all over the u.k. not least where the hot weather is driving people to the beach look at the difference between the south coast of england and the cost in spain confused rules and public in different supposing that risk the health and livelihoods of the people making sure tourists have a nice summer holiday it hardly seems a fair deal largely al-jazeera in the english lake district. it is good to have you with us hello adrian fenty good here in doha the headlines from al-jazeera lebanon's capitalistic lead a 2 week state of emergency in beirut following tuesday's devastating explosion in which at least 135 people died and 5000 wounded it's also agreed to place several

ports officials on the house arrest in connection with the blast beirut's governor says the disaster has left 300000 people homeless and its course $3000000000.00 worth of damage the government says the $2700.00 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited in a port warehouse an estimated 85 percent of the country's grain stocks have been destroyed out as a result a has the latest from beirut. many in the opposition are calling for the need for independent international investigators to to look into the the cause of the blast because the many state institutions are run by political parties and they have appointed their men their loyalists to positions and these people are loyal to parties and not the state so many feel that there will be some sort of a cover up many are not you know you tell them this accident and they say no no no this was not an accident this is

a criminal act against the people of lebanon governments around the world have been sending offers of help from russia and germany are among those that have pledged aid and medical teams and search and rescue experts france's president about the mccraw is due to travel to beirut on thursday pakistan's prime minister has called india on a press up a year after new delhi stripped indian administered kashmir of its autonomy the area is currently under lockdown that's preventing from protesters gathering on the anniversary of the curfew is being overseen by the military and votes are being counted in sri lanka's delayed parliamentary elections it was the 1st country in south asia to hold the general votes during the pandemic those are the headlines that he's continues here on syria off to witness next.