a nation in mourning after a city is leveled the hunt for survivors in beirut 2 days after a devastating explosion and there are growing demands for change in the country the french president and manual macron calls for reform. hello i'm maryam namazie and london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program a saudi crown prince accused of sending a hit squad to canada a lawsuit outlines claims of a thwarted assassination attempt. and that u.s.

attorneys have the n.r.a. in their sides triggering lawsuits designed to dissolve the gun rights group. as the people of lebanon grieve for the victims of tuesday's blast the french president emanuel macron has been touring neighborhoods devastated by the chemical explosion as despair turns to anger people have been calling for change president adding his voice to calls for reform. the death toll from tuesday's explosion has risen to 149 and it's expected to rise about 5000 people are injured many of them being treated in hospitals that are completely overwhelmed dozens are still missing more than 300000 people have been displaced from their homes shopkeepers and residents is still clearing up the rubble that litters the streets up to 8 kilometers away from where the blast took place or has called for

a transparent to national inquiry into beirut's massive ports explosion the french president met with lebanese political leaders after surveying damage from tuesday's blast he was also mobbed by residents in the city demanding justice and accountability for the disaster. just. what i know is that the people of lebanon have electricity shut down every day and it's not working the provision of imports and exports has collapsed because of the financial system so there aren't as for the short term that we need as we know the answer is to fight corruption reform the energy and electricity systems the customs we need transparency for imports and exports we need reforms for all the sectors and insist on these changes quickly it will public anger against lebanon's ruling class is growing many holding them responsible for the new economic collapse of the country and as a no one reported from beirut the state has been noticeably absent from the recovery operation search and rescue teams are still digging through the rubble at

beirut port the site of massive explosions that damaged or destroyed much of the lebanese capital families are desperate for news about their loved ones dozens are missing there is pain and grief zainab fears she will never see her husband allie again. there's a still image still you know i don't know where he is i haven't heard from him since 6 pm monday i want to know if he's alive or dead. rescue experts from abroad have started to arrive to help a country that wasn't prepared to cope with a disaster like this all of us are. hoping to each other with army to find more corpses there's still a lot of destruction we need to move the stock to building to find there's somebody . the blasts were felt kilometers away killing dozens and wounding thousands

buildings homes shops all destroyed 300000 people displaced billions of dollars in damage investigations are focusing on possible negligence in storing tons of highly explosive material at the port officials have promised assistance and compensation to those affected by the explosions but driving around the city the state is noticeably absent in destroyed neighborhoods like this one it is the people who are helping each other they are cleaning the streets clearing the debris and distributing food and water to those in need public anger against the political class many believe is responsible for lebanon's near economic collapse is not new decades of corruption and neglect triggered an anti-establishment movement last october we've been fortunate growing used to this not being present for its citizens we don't have properly just city we don't have a proper garbage infrastructure we don't have proper water infrastructures and unfortunately the people have gotten used to it but it's it's it's a time for change it's we've been asking for change for quite some time and i think

this last catastrophe is going to make change for the country much better the priority now is to help the victims many are still in hospital in critical condition calls for accountability and justice are growing louder for now people are focused to rely on themselves i need money tools. myself. i need everything. i didn't want to be. so this is why i'm here i want to. at least meet. some may call it resilience but for many this is about survival nearly half the population of 5000000 lebanese were below the poverty line before this disaster the situation has since got worse. beirut. let's go live to our correspondent burnitz myth in beirut tend. present emanuel not quite i suppose

trying to bring a message of reassurance to people that there is consensus that there must be change in lebanon but perhaps not clarity on how it's supposed to happen or what we sent word from emanuel not drawn on what he did was step into the void left by lebanon's own political leaders when emmanuel markram was mobbed on the streets of beirut earlier today when he went out went on a walkabout there were people that calling for the return of the french mandate from the colonial power before independence and he's because macron has been able to offer fractal support in terms of medical teams search teams as well as moral support to the people of lebanon both things that their own leaders have not been able to offer and have been conspicuously silent while bunny will mock from arrived here very quickly and without offering support so an indication really of the extraordinary frustration and anger felt by the lebanese here who've been

essentially left their own devices to to try and clean up by government totally overwhelmed already on its knees in the face of an economic crisis a collapsing currency and an increase a spike in an outbreak of 90 so a real real stresses in the system. as you say the country only seems to reach new depths of crisis there and we're just looking at pictures of people trying to clear up if you know if they're not getting much help from the state and as you say people are feeling very angry and abandoned i mean allan a managing. right now because there aren't many people there in the city who've been left homeless by this explosion. all we saw all day on the saw mainly young people out with brooms and pickaxes and shovels trying to

clean up and trying to clean up a disaster site 3 kilometer radius from outside the port has been impacted shattered glass everywhere buildings in a dangerous peril perilous condition of risk appalling and people have been left without any guidance without any management from the government to try and clean up themselves it's been very very difficult for people to do that finally some foreign rescue workers in an area we were a not who did and started to close off roads and stopped people walking underneath buildings that night but in these in these initial days after that explosion a real sense here that people are on their road and there is no government. to help out about is a potentially very dangerous atmosphere and already receiving we have to see a little bit of confrontation between some people strolling stones at the security sources thank you very much bernard smith in beirut.

a lawsuit in washington d.c. has accused the saudi crown prince of dispatching a group of hit men to canada to kill one of his top former intelligence officials mike has been following the story and joins us now mike what does the middle seat claim. well it's 106 pages that has been filed in the washington district court and certainly it contains exhaustive material about allegations that the crown prince ordered this hit squad to assassinate dr. but he and he is arguing that this hit squad actually attempted to enter canada to kill him. but they were turned away by border officials who realized that this large group of men knew each other now contained within the court papers is a chart which shows

a relationship between the crown prince and the various members of the hit squad alleged hit squad it's got their names it's got their faces the allegations within the court papers is there the number of the men in the hit squad operated within the united states planning the assassination within canada it also alleges that this hit squad had carried out a number of other attacks against saudi individuals opponents to the crown prince and could also have been involved in the murder of jamal khashoggi in the 20 $1018.00 so exhaustive detail in terms of the crown prince's activities dr saeed algebra he was also a intelligence official within saudi arabia he served the previous crown prince mohammed bin nayef and says in the court papers that he left saudi arabia becoming concerned that a coup was being planned indeed that then happened and bamber been selman

subsequently sent him a series of text messages which are contained in the court papers asking him to come back to saudi arabia to assist with the transition and then increasingly threatening him with assassination if he did not return so certainly this is the most exhaustive and detailed claims against the crown prince yet made. so those the allegations just tell us briefly why the case was filed in the u.s. rather than canada. well the our number of u.s. laws that enable this to happen of the torture victims protection act for example which this case is brought under allows for non-u.s. individuals to bring civil action against officials of a foreign state who are accused of extra judicial killings or indeed of torture there's also the alien toward statute which allows individuals non-u.s. individuals bring action against foreign nationals who are acting in

official capacity for a foreign country so that is the legislation that can deal with this but in addition as well. had very close relations with the u.s. intelligence according to the court papers in addition as he mentions in his court papers those hit squad actually based in the united states to plan their sesson ation attempt to cross the border in canada so in this they're just lation as well there's the insistence that the cases got to touch and concerned the united states well the court papers would appear to indicate that the activities of this alleged hit squad certainly did touch and affect the united states thank you but the latest on that story from washington mike hanna. with al jazeera live from london well still ahead we heading out with argentina's security forces battling a surge in poverty and crime caused by the corona virus pandemic and hiroshima

marks 75 years since the 1st atomic bomb and calls for a nuclear weapons free world. however got some lovely summer heat spilling across much of year it now losey fine and dry we have still got a nasty little clutch of storms there just around the balkans but elsewhere you can see how the skies are opening up nicely and we are going to see something like heat wave into the northwest of here we'll see temperatures in london getting up to 34 celsius on friday saying what about the seasonal average the average is actually $23.00 degrees in london 3 consecutive days in a row where the temperature is 5 degrees or more above that africa constitutes a heat wave in that you can see is going to be with us for much of the week ahead that warm sunshine extends across much of europe as

a said we do still have those showers down towards the southeast just around the balkan southern parts of italy greece seeing some rather lively showers as we go on through the next couple of days but elsewhere as you can see was very hot sunshine coming through some absolutely lovely conditions there full value for the organ stem pushes then we're going to see fine and dry weather to across northern parts of africa still got those life showers still story around the sun help pushing across a good parts of sudan south sudan through chad easing of it was more than parts of nigeria little further north and they should be southern areas of nigeria still with a few showers but largely fine and dry for many. once welcome now fear. of dividing a nation. al-jazeera explores germany's long term economic strategy of pursuing

immigrants from the arab world i feel more gentle and syrian. are much money those are richer get those people put up food from deutsche one german and american the new germans on al-jazeera. who lose. the a. quick look at headlines now top story of course french president emmanuel mcconnell has been visiting the lebanese capital beirut 2 days after its massive port explosion he has called for a transparent international inquiry and says there must be a new political order in lebanon. or the death toll from cheese days blast has now

risen to 149 but it is only expected to rise people are still carrying up the rubble littering the streets up to 3 kilometers away from the portion of course there's still a search going on for those unaccounted for. and another bit of news a lawsuit filed in the u.s. has accused the saudi crown prince of dispatching a group of hitmen to kill one of its his top former intelligence officials side in canada. and now the attorneys general of new york and washington d.c. have announced a lawsuit aimed at dissolving the powerful national rifle association they're accusing the organizations leaders of financial. mismanagement you york's attorney general a t. shirt james says years of corruption and misspending has undermined its ability to operate as a nonprofit group the n.r.a. is described the lawsuit as a baseless premeditated attack let's go to chaper tanzania's live in new york one of the allegations. $64000000.00 siphoned off from the other

raised funds in about 3 years by wayne la pierre the n.r.a. c.e.o. and 3 other executives the attorney general of new york says they used the n.r.a. as their personal piggy bank soufan the obvious lifestyle wayne la pierre's $500000.00 worth of luxury private jet trips to the bahamas not just for him but for the his family other extended family one is still up there wasn't even present as well as. siphoning off money to various friends families business associates and rather dodgy business deals the attorney general wants that money paid back but she also says that the n.r.a. has been so destroyed by this corruption it can no longer be registered as a nonprofit organization in new york so this will now go to court the n.r.a. has filed a countersuit this is likely to take a very long time and as you suggested you had already is already suggesting in a very trumpy and fashion that this is simply a part of

a witch comes that this is about the left wing agenda this is about people you know that the that the democrats coming off off to the to the americans right to have guns in that house proved very effective about this that i raise membership base and oppose however with this with this lawsuit there is the possibility that the major donors of the n.r.a. may begin to switch off the top you would think but it but it's not not quite clear yet but this may have an enormous impact on the n.r.a. itself in the future you know whether it has any impact on what the base things whether this is just a conspiracy theory isn't clear as you. yes exactly i mean as the attorney general has pointed out and this is a very powerful influential group with very committed following. right and that's the point it already has always had that was punched above its weight in the sense that if you look at the amount of money it actually spreads in

low being in d.c. it's probably not that much compared to other lobby groups but what it does have is the ability to mobilize those supporters to go to the polls to definitely be that and vote against people who want gun control to vote for people who are against gun control and that's always been its its main power it has 5000000 followers or so interesting there is that sense that you have the n.r.a. you may not be around for much longer depending on although this may go on for a while but depending on what was already in financial trouble but one of the reasons why it was also in financial trouble but even before this little suit was because it had declining membership and maybe that was because donald trump was in office governors didn't feel terribly under threat now once again there's a sense the way they will feel under threat and if not the n.r.a. then all the gun will be low be able to say she's made you quite quite well out of out of this city for donald trump there's that sense that they might actually begin to use this as well just at a time when they're worried about flagging republican appeal that that actually that the base may not turn out in the doldrums or almost immediately tweeted just

like the radical left new york is trying to destroy the n.r.a. if biden becomes president your great 2nd amendment doesn't have a chance your guns will be taken away immediately and without notice so whatever happened to the n.r.a. the right like you think of this is actually just what we needed just before the november election to get people to remember why they voted for trump trump in the 1st place this follows this idea of dissolution is conserved as consent of the dissolution of the n.r.a. as a nonprofit organization in new york even dole trump didn't seem terribly terribly bothered by that. that's a very. terrible thing to do is that. i think the n.r.a. should move to texas. and lead a very good as you would a full life. and i've told them that for a long time i think thank you. that would be a great place or do another state of their choosing so this mail will be under the authority either in the short term or all the long term storage that

we've seen that when we were growing robi's all and retired followed by followers to mobilize all right thank you tense here with the latest on that story so some interesting developments in better reuss that the president there is saying that several u.s. nationals have been detained in the lead up to the country's presidential elections on sunday but alexander lukashenko did not specify who was arrested exactly when it happened or why the detentions were made the leader is facing his strongest challenge to his 26 year rule the run up to the vote has been marked by a crackdown on opposition figures who because of plotting with foreign powers to topple him well have been a results from sri lanka's parliamentary election showing a big lead for the governing party the sri lanka people's from party led by the rajapaksa brothers who serve as president and prime minister looks likely to consolidate power the brothers have promised to repeal a recent constitutional amendment which reduce the powers of the position of

president mean alpha not as explains the electoral process from outside a ballot counting center in colombo. that's another set of results leaving the official counting center here in the colombo district one of 4 every single result that's tabulated is being sent obviously to the election authorities the hardcopy under strict security escort now most of the work over the last 10 to 12 hours has been completed to tabulate all the awards here in the colombo district and this exercise is being replicated in the $22.00 districts throughout sri lanka so basically all the votes come in to centralize counting centers in the district they are tabulated and then officially communicated to the election authorities who basically check them the rubber stamp them they basically officially recognizes results before they are announced so far from the early indications in the results

we've seen the essel p.p. the party of the rajapaksa has seems to have galloped ahead 70 percent almost in terms of every single area that the results have been announced so far seem to have gone strongly in support of the rajapaksa the s b j which is the breakaway faction of the united national party seems to have come 2nd but a very far 2nd palling something like one 4th of the p.p. parties total now obviously this situation will unfold over the coming hours as the true picture of the extent almost of the rajapaksa gains becomes evident it's been a long day obviously the crowd you see behind me are basically election officials who've been manning these counting centers they've had a long day a meticulous manual counting process of each and every ballot paper of votes

counted for the party votes counted for candidates which is another set of counting so they had long days you can see a number of sort of transport buses on standby and all waiting to get home but having done their civic duty in helping the conduct of this august parliamentary election here in sri lanka. the number of american seeking unemployment benefits dropped to 1200000 last week hiring dip a cup in may in june a state started lifting coronavirus restrictions off to a wreck or the loss of 21000000 jobs in april more than 16000000 americans on now collecting unemployment benefits. well many people in argentina are struggling to get by after 4 months of quarantine and an economic crisis situation has been worsened by a rise in crime poverty and hunger as joy isabeau reports from one as iris. security personnel on the ground in winter sightings their target is

a drug trafficking ring involved in armed robberies. the operation is money toward by the province's security minister said. he sell a 10 in cornell in the army a surgeon and a lawyer he says the only way of stopping when a site is going out of control is to be on the ground every day. we are companied him on one of more than 40 security operations that take place every day in this province of 12000000 people a provincial when i say it is the province of borno state is going through a pandemic his original virus but we already had other in the mic problems like in security it's getting deeper and we need to approach it with all sorts of policies . the rate is not an easy one members of the group try to escape and shots are fired this is great heard one side is very aware of high poverty rate and working security has been on the rise and major challenge for the government is keeping the

situation in this part of the country under control. the police searched the homes of the suspects for drugs and guns children are terrified. poverty has been on the rise in recent years but says the pandemic began the situation has deteriorated even further the government has increased cash and food handouts but it seems much more needs to be done. better and he says the situation can be compared to the 2001 crisis when argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt. even though looting and riots are under control for now inequality has been on the rice. in it on the mental the crime we're seeing now is younger people involved in criminal activities people with no criminal background it's more disorganized the crisis that is coming it's worse than 2001 because it's deeper and sharper but we're trying to control it . for people are detained and drugs

confiscated but with more security personnel on the ground human rights activists say abuse has increased. we are seeing cases of abuse all around the country with different levels of violence abuse from the police and provincial and federal forces this is not new but it reaffirms that these are not isolated cases and there is a structural problem. argentina struggling to contain the spread of covert 19 and he's coping with an economic crisis the challenge is to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control once again. that is how will one of scientists. survivors of the world's 1st atomic bomb attack have been marking 75 years since it was dropped on hiroshima about 140000 people were killed when u.s. forces attacked japan in the final stages of world war 2 bride reports.

a poignant commemoration that the moment 75 years ago when the world entered the atomic age and the whole city was destroyed. with the numbers of the so-called hit the original survivors of the attack declining each year this is likely to be the last major round of verse or they will attend in large numbers special precautions in place to protect them from the coronavirus that hiroshima was mair referred to as a new threat facing the world accompanied by a worrying increase in nationalism. we must never allow this painful pass to repeat yourself but civil society must reject self-centered nationalism and unite against all threats. i take 15 in the morning local time a single atomic bomb code named little boy exploded 2000 feet above the center of the city killing tens of thousands of people instantly with tens of thousands more

dying in the months and years that followed many from radiation related illnesses michiko could die was a child when the bomb was dropped. with the pandemic innovative ways have been found for her and other survivors to share their stories with the present generation. and there is a sense that we don't have much longer to live i'm now 82 i don't know when i won't be able to speak so in some form we need to preserve our stories that 3 days after hiroshima nagasaki was attacked with a 2nd bomb another run a verse or a with more survivors to market and in both cities both among the generation who endured the attacks and also the generations that came out after them there's a strong piece called true that really focused on abolishing nuclear weapons the

experience of being the only country to be attacked with nuclear weapons help shape modern japan. by urging action from each country japan will take the lead in the international community's efforts towards the realisation of a world without nuclear weapons it's a goal still far from being realized but one held still is strongly in the 2 cities that have suffered most from such weapons rob mcbride al-jazeera. the top story this hour the french president in manama crown says there is a need for a new political order in lebanon that crown is the 1st international leader to visit the devastated city of beirut calling for a transparent independent inquiry into a massive port explosion french president met lebanese political leaders after surveying damage from tuesday's blast he was also mobbed by people in the city who

are demanding justice and accountability for the disaster. what i know is that the people of lebanon have electricity shut down every day and it's not working the provision of imports and exports. has collapsed because of the financial system so there are it's is for the short term that we need as we know the answer is to fight corruption reform the energy and electricity systems the customers we need transparency for imports and exports we need reforms but all the sick does and insist on these changes quickly or the death toll from tuesday's blast has risen to $149.00 but it's only expected to rise dozens are still missing hospitals are overwhelmed people are also trying to clear up the rubble that's littering their homes in the streets up to 3 kilometers away from the port in other news a lawsuit filed in the u.s. has accused the saudi crown prince of dispatching a group of hit men to kill one of his top former intelligence official sidel jobbery in canada hit men were reportedly sent by mohamed bin so money just days

after journalist marcus shoji was murdered inside the saudi consulate in istanbul in october 2018 jobbery is seeking damages from the crown prince. attorneys general of new york and washington d.c. of announced a lawsuit aimed at dissolving the national rifle association they're accusing your guys ations leaders of financial mismanagement the n.r.a. is described the lawsuit as a baseless premeditated attack and about a russian president says several u.s. nationals have been detained in the run up to the country's presidential elections on sunday i was on a question did not specify who was arrested though or why the stream is coming up next asking of prisoners in the us should be allowed to vote.

they're welcome to the stream home edition i'm josh rushing sitting in today for femi ok now if you're watching this live on the you tube see that box over there that's of live you tube chat jump in there share your comments your questions with us because we have a producer waiting to get those to me so i can get on to our experts on the panel today and in fact we've already got people in there look this is a woman $42.00 this says president just another layer of voter suppression no surprise minorities are targeted and here's.