now the special tribunal for lebanon in the hague will deliver its verdict on august 7th find out what this means for lebanon and for those indicted and follow over developments on a. horse. by route dreaming off to choose days devastating blast at least $135.00 people dead hospitals are overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands left homeless well a shock turns to anger several course officials involved in the storage of a highly explosive chemical a person under house arrest. you know i maryam namazie you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program afghanistan's health minister says nationwide antibody testing suggests

a 3rd of the population might have contracted coded 19. children can stand out in large numbers for an election which could see the rajapaksa brothers titanite click on the country. lebanon's government has declared a 2 week state of emergency giving the military full power as a day after a massive explosion devastated by a route it's also pushing several by a reporter officials on the house arrest pending an investigation into why 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate was stored there at least 135 people were killed and more than 5000 injured the death toll is expected to rise though as much as you workers search the rubble for survivors as many as 300000 people have been left homeless beirut's government estimates the damage might reach between 10 and 15000000000

dollars hospitals have been overwhelmed and in desperate need of blood donations and power generators to keep the lights on al-jazeera say in a hall or begins our coverage now from beirut. 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 explosive 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 dead 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 the damage spread several kilometers more than 300000 people are now displaced 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 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 now 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 bigger quake hit lebanon in beirut 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 and 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. especially mankell 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 but anger is also growing at a 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 own these so much has been lost when there was already so little. beirut it's believed a fire at the port spread to a warehouse where confiscated ammonium nitrate had been stored for the 60 is blast virtually flatten the pool which is lebanon's biggest and the main entry point for

imports to feed a nation of more than 6000000 people and it sent a shockwave through the city buildings were damaged and lost smashed more than 3 can only says away affecting an area where more than 750000 people live people reported feeling the blast and the windows rattling on the mediterranean island of cyprus will a member of lebanon's parliament has resigned in protest at the ports explosion marwan hamad day demanded an international inquiry into the blast in his resignation letter and told al-jazeera the country's political system is broken he held various prominent positions in government including minister of trade health and telecommunications. earlier i spoke to dr amien can't see from the american university hospital in beirut who's also president of the lebanese society even the chintzy medicine he said the hospital treated hundreds of patients immediately after the blast and witnessed some heartbreaking scenes. we expect not only a 2nd wave no more typically get ill people we expect in doing the us when we have

to extricate patients we expect 'd another way that our lives later but they typically are dead or have more severe injuries due to crush injuries but the numbers of those patients of alive or subject will be less so technically speaking after last injury and that again unfortunately i must say that we have acquired experience and knowing what to expect however we were surprised in this particular event by the sheer numbers i mean we had the worst blast we've had in beirut even when you're in the civil war and if you did that really association the prime minister we were hit we were being hit by want 252531 that i wouldn't expect 100 to 5 on the casualty story that's shared on there we were having a hard time dealing with the now departments we need international help provide us fuel to provide us with needs sustained over open ations in the long run like to

take them or i can just send all of the mothers a lot and i don't have lost children till now we had we had some of the harshest milnes we had i went went but it's like coming to look for that where they belong ones the ones that they have lost for the last what are still missing it says hartley to see if the one with the allies this is a manmade disaster that would have been avoided so almighty god to the men and he but they were part of this disaster and all the people who were lost people in this element. number of people to have died from the corona virus around the world has now passed 700000 over the past 2 weeks one person has died from the disease every 15 seconds according to new research from the reuters news agency the u.s. brazil india and mexico have been leading a rise in fatalities brazil has just reported another 1437 deaths in the past 24

hours. and then on shoes day in latin america pasta europe is the region with the highest death toll with more than 206000 fatalities meanwhile afghanistan's health minister is saying 10000000 people might have been infected with the virus that's almost a 3rd of the population figures are based on a nationwide antibody survey which tested about 9 and a half 1000 people the highest infection rate was found to be in the capital kabul where more than half the city's residents thought to have contracted the virus but officially afghanistan has only reported 36000 cases and 1200 deaths. now the 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 affected in rural areas. well scotland has imposed

a lockdown on its 3rd largest city aberdeen after a cluster of cases of much there meanwhile british tourists staying in the u.k. this summer rather than travelling abroad a coming on to the spotlight for all the wrong reasons have been growing complaints about large gatherings of visitors who refuse to obey social distancing rules aren't seeing reports now from the lake district in northwest 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 it was on this reassuring well hope so yes i mean i think that people are desperate to get away they want to convey that i had this trait 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 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 units he separate from your money as we get one table 6 but then more join them or join in

when they end up becoming a larger group group of what's a 1015 yeah. or 4 to move up to turn some on the way on especially on a saturday night just when they tend to come out it just exploded 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 or 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 who's worried about there are a few people who have and clearly have less regard them would be ideal for distancing which is sad because the last thing we want is to put any of our paypal here at risk going to visit is at risk and certainly if we do have any businesses 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 confuse rules and public indifference a putting at 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. watching out there at life from london much more still to tell you about 10 years ago 33 chilean miners were trapped underground for months they will praise for their resilience and bravery so what they say many are now struggling to get by. going to hear from the beirut bride who had to run for her life when the blast.

places that's going to warm up the southeastern parts of australia just a touch as we go through the next couple of days are still dragging in that cold air for man tarts occur but we're not going to see any more that significant snowfall that rest know that we still across the likes of tasmania eastern parts of victoria have got some west of weather just pushing through the knowledge all that's going to make its way across south australia right up into the interior actually it'll run up to war sets western side of queensland as we go on through thursday quotes of weather for the eastern side of us for a time where to where the pushing over towards new zealand as we go on into friday that right really ramping up across much of new south wales significant rainfall coming through some western weather also affecting a good parcel for toria and notice some rather heavy rain in play there across sets of eastern side of queensland lossie dry there for perth temperatures across western australia rather 18 degrees celsius not too much trouble in the forecast for a good part of the korean peninsula i'm afraid lots of clouds still draped across

the area here it will stay dry for japan but we have got wetter weather once again across those that affected parts of the korean peninsula more wet weather spilling across the eastern parts of china towards south korea. go read these profile of those who we met with terrorist in 2017 people in power investigated why trinidad and tobago became a ripe recruiting ground for ice. people through those 2 sisters known for almost 2020 we returned to uncover the fate of those who left their homes to join conflicts in iraq and syria. caribbean to california.

the only. a come back our top story lebanon's government has declared a 2 week state of emergency after a massive explosion devastated the port area of beirut at least 135 people were killed and 5000 injured. in our other headlines a number of people to have died from the corona virus across the globe is now past 700000 and latin america has passed in europe is the region with the highest death toll with more than 206000 fatalities and afghanistan's health minister saying a nationwide antibody survey indicates that 10000000 afghans might have been infected but the virus that's almost a 3rd of the population. turning to sri lanka now where votes are being counted in

the parliamentary elections which could see the rajapaksa brothers tighten their grip on power it's the 1st asian country to hold elections since the start of the current a virus outbreak can turn out was almost 70 percent when often and as reports from colombia. polls opened early on wednesday to choose sri lanka as members of parliament when the coronavirus pandemic made the national election commission's job extremely difficult the 1st. employ. of the election each all aboard. employed at least that public. the election was postponed twice because of health concerns observers say wednesday's vote was one of the most peaceful in recent years and that is an achievement. the preference voting system usually causes much rivalry between candidates from the same party but new restrictions on campaigning minimize

can transition election day proceedings are ok but some thawed issues related to. campaign. during the campaign we've actually been able to create a level playing field because most of candidates over there if your candidates were able to spend 2000000 for. a number of complaints were made about must media coverage during the lection 0 asked voters in colombo what mattered when making their choice we had to board wisely to select the good. person free from correct corruption and all kinds of things as most things we have problems because they are telling us that we can't cover their hair do we have that these and all the problems so we had to come and what we should look at people's party led by the rajapaksa brothers who serve as president and prime minister is

expected to win a majority in parliament if that happens the party would be in a strong position to change the constitution and revoke some of the reforms passed by the previous government limiting the powers of the presidency the results of the longest twice delayed elections are expected to be released late on thursday whoever wins a majority of seats in parliament they're expected to face the challenges of improving the economy and tackling the coronavirus pandemic in f. and then there's just the or colombo. it's exactly a year since india of a special status of indian administered kashmir the day has been marked by protests in pakistan where prime minister imran khan saying the decision to impose control from new delhi has turned kashmir into an open air prison some have been reports 6. communities on the pakistani side of the disputed region are protesting many see

the indian government's communications blockade has separated them from family in indian administered kashmir new delhi revoked its autonomy last year effectively an extinct part of the territory. we want to convey the message to the international community that we will continue to stand in solidarity against the violence the rape and the arrests of kashmiris until our land is free of occupation. on the other side of the line of control some in the hindu minority in jammu and kashmir have been celebrating the anniversary. of the 5th is the day when the wall of hatred may be article 370 the dividing kashmir from india was brought down and now residents of kashmir are probably calling themselves indian citizens earlier also there were indian citizens somewhere the sentiment of separatism was being found the slogans of self totally freedom that's over in the years since india made that decision it has imposed

a lockdown cut off all modes of communication and its forces everest at several political leaders and young men. i missed international says the entire population of kashmir has been deprived of its right to freedom of expression and opinion through protected communication restrictions it's calling on the indian government to immediately release all political leaders journalists and activists from administrative detention restore 4 g. mobile internet the congested prisons and launch a prompt and independent investigation into the attacks on journalists indian officials say a curfew that's been imposed is essential to maintain security in the region. and human rights activists see it as a violation of india's international obligations more than 800000 indian soldiers are stationed in the picturesque valley nestled in the himalayas. there have been offers to mediate by the un secretary-general and the us president but the government of their and their modi has rejected 3rd party mediation on kashmir barca's on insists the kashmir conflict needs to be resolved under international

supervision according to un security council resolutions. i think modi made a strategic blunder the united nations discussed the caution issue thrice during the last year for the 1st time since $965.00 it also published a report on human rights abuses in occupied kashmir pakistanis observed a one minute silence the military released a song and local officials in pakistan administered kashmir and build a replica of stream appears red square. c but unless the 2 countries engage in meaningful discussion families will continue to live on either side of the disputed border some have been jobby of their. meanwhile india's prime minister narendra modi has laid the foundation stone for hindu temple a controversial religious site it's in the northern town of where a lot destroyed a mosque in 1902 sparking national riots that killed thousands elizabeth purana reports on this for me daily. prime minister not in the more he prays before an

idol of the hindu god rom a head of construction starting on a temple in the date he's on earth it's a moment many of india's nearly 1000000000 hindus have waited decades for me this temple will be the symbol of our perennial feet in nationalism it will also be symbolic of the united strength of hundreds of millions. but division of the side has led to some of the worst religious violence in india's history and security has been heightened in 1902 thousands of hindus from around the country came to the town and destroyed the 16th century bobbie mosque and 22 others 18 of the muslims living in the town were killed including relatives of possible misha and muhammad shai had. lost everything in the violence my sawmill is here we have thousands of dollars worth of wood they set everything on fire they killed my husband and brother in law. they tore up the koran in our mosque and started

stomping on the pages we tried collecting the pages. getting. started attacking people here. the religious violence spread beyond mohammad child's father and uncle were to have more than 2000 people who were killed around the country leading members of the hindu nationalist bought at the edge on the party or on trial for conspiring to destroy the mosque the b j p had long promised to build a temple it was 1st elected to govern the country in the general election following the mosques destruction was visibly started warming. then gradually become a symbol of you know in the sixty's that is where the destruction really created a new guy. created new guard of political force. of that force ultimately is low in the country. after the legal battles of the sights on

a ship the supreme court ruled last year that it belongs to him dues now 30 years after he joined the campaign for a temple prime minister met in for more tea is inaugurated in its construction and is a problem al-jazeera new delhi. firefighters in the u.a.e. have been working to put out a massive blaze that broke out at a market in a german fire is believed to have started at the souk which has been closed for several months because of the corona virus pandemic no injuries have been reported but a hospital nearby did have to be evacuated but i was just as a precaution. the united nations a say more than 50000 people have been affected by flooding across sudan thousands of homes have been damaged in the interior minister says at least 5 people have been killed a dam in a blue nile state burst last week because of tarantula downpours heavy rains are expected to continue raising concerns over the spread of water borne diseases. now

it's exactly 10 years since an explosion in a copper and gold mine in chile left $33.00 miners trapped underground for more than 2 months the rescue efforts in the atacama desert was watched by millions of people around the world america editor in human covered the story at the time and she looks at what's happened to the line a sense. 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 on this memorize the world. a 1000000000 people watched these 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 fairytale ending 10 years on edison pena wishes it had never happened. but he was one of the media's favorite because of his

passion for elders present. but now he lives in a coastal industrial town far from the at the comma desert on a meager state pension like many of the others he says he couldn't get work again because of who he was to be able to live 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 it isn't still has nightmares of 59 year old wholesale hill that is the miner who wrote the famous note saying that the 33 who are still alive today he can't walk without crutches because of his advanced diabetes and. 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 a. side many living with less 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 today several stamping it as seems to feel that his death to the miners is paid. 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. city. 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 who 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 son

binya as for most the promise of a better 2nd chance at life has now faded to see in human al-jazeera some piano now a bride has spoken about her shock after she was forced to run from a beirut square where she was posing for a wedding photographs at the time 29 year old ezra sublimely was standing outside a hotel when the blast hit. the newlyweds were supposed to spend the night at a venue which was badly damaged thankfully they escaped injury and returned to the scene on wednesday to retrieve their belongings as for a describe the experience. what happened during that explosion here i there's no words to explain what happened. i feel so sad. all the trust me what you see in our the smile. and everything that was in there totally

destroyed the guy i once saw i was always wondered why how come i'm going to die oh and how i'm going to die. will is much more analysis on what has taken place in beirut more on the explosions there in lebanon al jazeera. just a quick recap of our top stories this hour lebanon's government has declared a 2 week state of emergency giving the military full power as a day after a massive explosion devastated the port area of beirut number of beirut port officials have been put under house arrest ending an investigation into those responsible for the blast at least a 135 people have been killed but officials are saying the death toll is likely to rise as the rescue efforts are still ongoing a spokesperson for the u.n.

has said that damage to beirut's poor presents a major humanitarian challenge both in lebanon and for all the parts of the region . we expect that the damage the port will significantly exacerbate the economic and food security situation in lebanon our which imports about 80 to 85 percent of its food. our colleagues at the office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs also expect that this will affect our ability to provide aid to syria because the port in beirut was one of the ways that we should be a need and of course we also use the airports so we'll need to find alternate plans but 1st we'll need to do a damage assessment and see what is needed. to repair the port and to go about our operations well in all the stories are following the number of people who have died from the corona virus around the world this past 700000 over the past 2 weeks one has died from the disease every 15 seconds that's according to the reuters news

agency on tuesday latin america past year it with the region with the as the region with the highest death toll in more than 206000 deaths the u.s. brazil india and mexico have been leading the rise in fatalities. and then afghanistan's health ministry saying 10000000 people in that country might have been infected with the virus that's almost a 3rd of the population figures were based on a nationwide antibody survey. and sri lankans of turned out in big numbers to vote in their twice delayed parliamentary election the 1st country in south asia to hold a general vote during the pandemic president gotta buy rajapaksa is hoping to install his brother mahinda as prime minister caribbean to caliphate is the program coming up next what happened asking what happened to the men and women who left trinidad and tobago to join myself will have more news from doha off them.

what. caribbean states are turned into fake and has long been famous for its spectacular conduct putting 2017 we reported on the most sinister reputation it was then developing as the nation with the highest of group and right to ice in the western hemisphere so what happened to the young trinidadians who went to join islamic state for this update to that sage giuliana rufus has been finding at.