protests in lebanon over a huge explosion that killed at least 149 people as french president emanuel mccrone calls for a new political system. i'm about this in this is all just here on live from doha also coming up a lawsuit in the u.s. against the saudi crown prince mohammed bin someone's accused of sending a hit squad to kill a former intelligence officer. donald trump signs an executive order banning americans from carrying out transactions with the parent company of tech talk. and

the leaders of 2 west african nations ivory coast and guinea are expected to run for controversial 3rd terms of tobar. the search for bodies continues in the aftermath of lebanon's deadly port explosion and so does the search for answers 16 port officials have now been detained but many lebanese don't blame the people running the port instead they're blaming the people running the country protests have taken place in central beirut calling for a complete overhaul of the political elite they've been backed by french president emmanuel mccall he's been touring neighborhoods devastated by the chemical explosion the death toll from tuesday's blast is now a $149.00 and it's expected to go up bernard smith has more. on the streets of beirut on thursday france's president emmanuel mccomas eventually moped by people

many of them calling for a turn of french mandate front's was the clonal power here before independence and his because micron has essentially stepped into a void left by lebanon's own political leaders macron and has been able to offer practical support in the terms of the medical teams on financial assistance to beirut and he's off with a routine moral support as well but hasn't come from lebanon's obey little classes they haven't been able to do that and they've been conspicuous by their absence from the streets since the catastrophic explosion just did not 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 and 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 and. many beirut as most people here have been left to their own devices we spent the day walking around parts of beirut and we saw that young people with brushes and dustpans and pickaxes and shovels beginning to clean up we didn't see the military we didn't see the police and it was the french president who said he wants to see a new political order here in lebanon he wants to see a dramatic change in the way that this country's got. international rescue teams are still arriving in beirut and the crisis is getting worse zina harder as more. 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 meshech fears she will never see her husband allie again.

another son there's a still are still 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. helping each other with the army to find corpses there's still a lot of destruction we need to move the stock to building to find there is somebody else. the blasts were felt kilometers away killing dozens and wounding thousands buildings homes shops destroyed $300000.00 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 and 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 in the glare triggered an anti-establishment movement last october we've been fortunate going used to the 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 for accountability and justice are growing louder people are focused to rely on themselves i need money to rule. myself.

can i need. to be. so this is why i'm here i want to. leave and. 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. the saudi crown prince is accused of sending a group of men to canada in a failed attempt to kill one of his former top intelligence officials the alleged target a subtle job he is filing a lawsuit in washington d.c. mike hanna reports. crown prince mohammed bin solomon has been defeated in the white house but now in papers before a washington d.c. court he's alleged to have ordered death squads to torture and assessed an 8

opponents the case is being brought by a former saudi intelligence officer saad are japery who alleges the crown prince sent a team called the tigers squad to canada to kill him the court papers say the men were denied entry by suspicious canadian border guards. this detailed flow chart submitted to the court identifies key members of the assassination squad and others involved including what are described as forensic technicians skilled in criminal evidence removal and their image of the hit squad that is believed to have murdered and dismembered journalist jamal khashoggi in istanbul in 2018 i know that there are women. all over the world in germany and france and be noticing character. run away from sort of area because there. are questions from the government which

is. one of them is omar up the legacy is also resident in canada mentioned in the court filing as another potential target of assassination and who posted this video in reaction to the news the case has been brought in terms of legislation that allows non us citizens to take action in federal courts against foreign individuals who have committed torture and or extra judicial killings in addition side algebra he argues that the hit squad assembled in the united states before attempting to enter canada saddle japanese children now aged $20.21 are being held at an undisclosed location in saudi arabia as what he describes as human bait to draw him out of hiding last month for senators sent a letter to president trump saying the u.s. had a moral obligation to press saudi authorities call their release the president in

the past has made clear that regardless of the allegations of human rights violations against the saudi crown prince mohammed when someone remains a valued ally and friend. mike hanna al-jazeera washington you know as president donald trump has issued an executive order banning businesses with the parent company of social media app to talk starts in 45 days it blocks transactions with bite downs and 10 cent which owns the messenger app we chat from says the chinese owned ups are being used for gathering users' data for beijing disinform ation campaign and that they pose a threat to u.s. national security jim anderson is c.e.o. of social flow it's a tech company which helps media companies and he's joining us live by skype from new york going to have you back on al-jazeera jim this has come with a certain pulse city of information we don't really know what these transactions

could be we only know that essentially they're going to come into force in about 45 days what do you think trump is trying to prevent by signing this executive order. well i think the big concern has been the chinese ownership by dances a chinese company and to talk has gone to great lengths to try to assure people that the chinese government has never requested dance provide or to provide information certainly not on u.s. citizens i think the real concern though is the fact that they haven't done that yet doesn't mean they won't do that in the future and if the company is owned by a chinese company they're really not going to be able to refuse a request like that from the chinese government so actually i think you combine that with the escalating tensions that's been going on on the trade front and other fronts between the u.s. and china and that leads us where we are right now. providing a sort of correctly the wording is that there are no transactions to be done within it with the parent companies does that mean that people who have done low to take.

hundreds of thousands of kids all over the u.s. certainly all over the world have done this does that mean that they now conti use the app or how does it work. no well obviously we need to wait and see what happens in $45.00 days but the big news of course is that microsoft has reached at least a tentative accord to acquire some of the assets of tick tock the us application canada australia new k i believe was the domain the financial times today just reported that they're actually talking about buying the entire tech stock application globally which in some ways would make a lot more sense microsoft is certainly a big enough company to be able to fund that kind of acquisition and to support that kind of acquisition global late you know the question is whether i dance is going to want to displace off the u.s. and some other markets from the global you know application and that obviously presents tremendous technical challenges and there's no way that that could happen in the next 40 days one would imagine that if for example this deal with microsoft

did go ahead and it absorbs it to talk then there would be something else in its place because there inevitably inevitably seems to be and this seems as though it's just going to be an ongoing fight for this particular administration. sure well and i mean there are always new social media apps right i mean the competition is robust out there and one sense and that innovation has never been an easier time to innovate with new and innovative apps just look at tech top right which came off now facebook just yesterday launched a feature under its instagram brand called reals which if you go and look at real says very similar to tech talk and those are the kinds of back and forth that go on between these platforms as when facebook sees something like to get successful then it's going to mimic some of the features that did the same thing with snap chat when snap chat on the scene you know the question is how well will they do that and of course facebook certainly in the u.s. and really elsewhere in the world is facing concerns over antitrust as well so that colors you know what facebook can do and it's interesting i mention antitrust in

the context of microsoft remember maybe 20 years ago in the united states microsoft and its own antitrust issues and that's one of the reasons they don't have a very strong consumer presence and the united states and so microsoft in many ways is uniquely positioned to acquire tick-tock because it really fills that gap and their portfolio because microsoft really hasn't been strong with the consumer segment and probably the past 15 or 20 years when you go to get your thoughts on this tremendous and we appreciate it thank you very much and we thank you. still ahead on al-jazeera cheering an empty stage the leader of the opposition in bella ruse is barred from attending her find her body ironically head of sunday's elections. no more junk food for children in a mexican state tackling obesity in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

high once again welcome to another look at the international full cost fight it does stay very wets across the korean peninsula war flooding rains coming through here the my your front a stationary front the seasonal rays they're going to continue pulsing outs of eastern china through the yellow sea across the korean peninsula all tied up with this area of low pressure the remnants of tropical storm the form of that lot of cloud of rain across the sea of japan through south korea as we go through friday and more of the same as we go on into sas stice a thorough flouts for the mudslides certainly likely ahead of that not see bad a sticky 34 celsius there in tokyo should be lossy try hello she try to across southern parts of china chance of one of 2 showers but nothing too widespread coming in here sunshine it shows maymont across southeast asia some rather heavy ones still coming into the philippines particules northern areas of the philippines will see some wet weather just talking in here for the south is the usual heat of

the day down poles but plenty of sunshine head of that the show is extend their way across india china pushing up into me and mom more heavy downpours there just around bangladesh the northeast of india nasty little circulation just around the northwest of india through good surat southern areas of pakistan seeing some very heavy rain. that. was the week that we profiled the last week but we cut the rest in 2017 people in power investigated why trinidad and tobago became a ripe recruiting ground for i saw. people feel as though there's no one else almost in 2020 we returned to uncover the fate of those who left their homeland to join conflicts in iraq and syria or caribbean to caliph it on just.

to. you're watching on his ear a reminder of our top stories this hour 16 port officials have been detained as the investigation into lebanon's deadly explosion continues protests have been held in central beirut calling for a complete overhaul of the political elite a move which has been backed by french president in one woman home. saudi crown prince is being accused of sending a group of men to canada in a failed attempt to kill one of his former top intelligence officials targets but he is filing a lawsuit in washington d.c. . there's president on top positions an executive order banning business with the parent company of social media up to talk and we chat starting in 45 days time says

the chinese owned apps are a threat to u.s. national security. new york state's attorney general is suing the influential gun lobby group the national rifle association several executives are accused of siphoning off millions of dollars to fund luxury lifestyles the attorney general says the organization should be dissolved altogether she'll have a chance of reports from new york new york's attorney general had promised to shine a light on the national rifle association when she was elected after 18 months of investigation leticia james no they're just c.e.o. wayne lapierre and 3 other former and current executives use the n.r.a. as their personal piggy banks specifically mr lapierre spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of the n.r.a. his charitable assets for personal private plane trips for himself and his stamp including extended family when he was not present. he visited the bahamas by

private eric's charter at least 8 times in approximate 3 year period with his family the suit claims that $64000000.00 was siphoned off over 3 years money the attorney general once paid back in addition james says there is no alternative but to dissolve the n.r.a. as a nonprofit organization transit in new york the n.r.a. was founded 148 years ago but only began lobbying as a gun rights organization in the late seventy's since then it successfully blocked gun control legislation however its power lies not so much in its financial clout but its ability to mobilize its supporters at elections to vote for candidates who reject gun control something reflected in its response to the challenges this was a baseless premeditated attack on our organization the n.r.a. said you could have set your watch but the investigation was going to reach its crescendo as we move in to the 2020 alexion cycle the filing of the lawsuit may

have an impact major donors to the n.r.a. we through all the years war and the n.r.a. has been very active. courting political candidates who would make something of a difference to various races the going on around hunch or even possibly. even the presidential race whatever the implications for the n.r.a. itself the trump campaign is hoping that this lawsuit will address the n.r.a. has conservative base just as republicans have been worrying about turnout the president began campaigning on the attorney general's announcement soon after it was made just like the radical left new york is trying to destroy the n.r.a. he tweeted if biden becomes president your great 2nd amendment doesn't have a charmes your guns will be taken away immediately and without notice no police no guns and at the white house he suggested the organization should simply relocate i think the n.r.a. should move to texas. and lead a very beautiful life the n.r.a.

has filed a counter suit against new york state which means this will be a very long drawn out process litigation that may take years even if the n.r.a. loses donors or is dissolved as a nonprofit in new york as the president suggests that would be the end of a gun lobby in the united states. new york the leaders of 2 west african nations are expected to run for controversial 3rd terms in a tobar in ivory coast president allison watada formally accepted the ruling party's nomination on thursday because opponents say it violates the constitution or tatas governance is 2011 and said he would not run again but his preferred successor died in july meanwhile guinea's governing party has asked president after condé to seek a 3rd term in office and elections june this year that's despite months of protests against extending the 82 year old's time in office under canadian law presidents can only serve 2 terms but condy pushed through

a new constitution earlier this year that reset the time allowing him to run for office again earlier i spoke to a quasi oh say who is a professor of history and political science at delaware state university i began by asking him what he believes president condit's motivation is in seeking a 3rd time. i think it's purely a question of power he's been in power for quite a while since 2010 and so it believes that he wants to continue to enjoy the power that yes that's what's motivating you we should point out that this moment he hasn't officially accepted the nomination of the party yet but the assumption is that he will of course i accept that and there is a very strong. suggestion that there are going to be more mass rallies because we've seen a mass rallies organized by the opposition in the past what do you think is going to the lead up to the election is going to be like in guinea. i think that

the people are going to let them know that they're not happy that is going against their wishes i'm hoping that the leadership on the west coast as they try to do in mali would also try to intervene to prevent any possibility of violence but there's no question that president can they insists on running he changed the constitution and clearly he's going to accept the party's invitation to run. let me ask you about the situation in ivory coast at this point because. a ouattara had said he was going to resign he'd nominated the prime minister as his successor obviously the prime minister subsequently died and the situation changed was there really an option for the party other than to ask what's how to run yes there was an option for the party these are moments that call for statesmanship and because as

people who are living know that they were not happy with him running for a 3rd term and he had gone ahead and said that yes he will not run and he had chosen somebody else he should have in this moment gone ahead and showed some state statesmanship and told his people in the ivory coast even though my party wants me to run i am not going to hide my 2 terms of listen to you and we're going to choose somebody else and this especially in a moment when 2 of his opponents are going to be people that you want to gains in the past. final results from sri lanka's parliamentary elections show a big lead for the governing party the people's front is led by the rajapaksa brothers who serve as president and prime minister the party looks likely to consolidate its power but it needs 2 thirds majority to carry out its promised constitutional changes. the president says several u.s.

nationals have been detained in the lead up to the country's presidential elections on sunday alexander lukashenko did not specify who was arrested or why the leaders facing his strongest challenge to his 26 year rule the run up to the votes been marked by a crackdown on opposition figures look at shankar accuses of plotting with foreign powers to topple and africa has passed $1000000.00 coronavirus cases but many experts suggest the true figure is far higher the continent's most developed country south africa accounts for more than half of all cases critics say government corruption has marred the country's response amanda miller reports from johannesburg. south africa's public health sector has for years been overwhelmed and now with a global pandemic infecting more than 500000 people here public hospitals are under more pressure.

more than $24000.00 health workers have contracted kovac $1181.00 have died since march unions and workers say corruption is contributing to push service delivery and is putting lives at risk while the government's given contracts to service providers for personal protective equipment or p.p. e the prices have been inflated in other instances people has not been delivered at all or contracts have been given to companies and people connected to the government and the ruling african national congress party.

presidents a little more plus i know we can use that as promised to deal with the croft corruption during a national disaster is a particularly heinous type of crime those found to have broken the law to enrich themselves through this crisis will not get to enjoy the spoils regardless of who they are with whom they may be connected but drum up us as chief spokeswoman is embroiled in a scandal involving her husband tendencies a way he's company's been accused of winning a $7000000.00 contract to supply p. p. e. through his political connections decodes taken special leave and she and her husband deny breaking any laws the province of halting stop health official bundler must to go and his wife to have. implicated when the 1st infections were recorded back in march the government declared a state of disaster which meant that the normal tender procedure for government contracts was abandoned within days of the announcement

a number of questionable contracts were awarded now the finance minister tetum but when he says the process has to be more transparent a government agency the special investigative unit says $102.00 companies know how to get a loan under investigation while in other provinces officials have been suspended and investigations have begun but no one's yet been charged prosecuted corruption during this health crisis is estimated to have cost the country more than $116000000.00 at a time when south africa is dealing with the 5th worst outbreak of culvert 19 in the world for me to malaya al-jazeera johannesburg in brazil more than 13 percent of people are now unemployed it's the highest level in 3 years nearly 9000000 jobs were lost between april and june because of the coronavirus pandemic and at least 1x3ww people are now looking for work in south america's biggest economy.

children in mexico's state of being banned from buying sugary junk food it's an effort to cut down on high levels of obesity health experts say the covert 1000 outbreak which has now killed more than 50000 people in mexico has highlighted the added risks of being overweight i don't recall over ports from mexico city. state legislators in one haka mexico or taking measures to reduce childhood obesity . the newly adopted initiative will ban the sale distribution and advertisement of junk foods to minors i'm only one of them and it's a 1st of its kind law for mexico which is a world leader when it comes to childhood obesity and diabetes no problem also yes but i'm at the end the low when we can't continue to allow an increase in childhood obesity and we're haka this is the moment to act everyone needs to know how damaging all of these junk foods really are. the new junk food ban in what was announced as coronavirus deaths nationwide continue to soar mexico has the 3rd

highest death toll from coburg 19 in the world international health experts warn that obesity and the many chronic ailments like diabetes hypertension and cancer that often come with it increase the risk of death when a person contracts covert 19 a frightening warning to a country where nearly 3 quarters of the population is either obese or overweight. legislators and health policy experts in mexico see the pandemic has made it clearer than ever that fighting obesity requires a higher priority from the federal government about it all now. that's been the perpetuation of this perception that obesity is an individual's problem and that in no way does the state share the responsibility but we know today and the evidence shows that obesity is a public health problem and. while the ban on overprocessed junk food and sugary drinks applies only to the state of what it is being applauded by. many health

leaders across the country including mexico's deputy health minister has got this who also heads the country's coronavirus containment strategy in. mexico is one of the few countries that has reduced life expectancy at birth among other factors because of obesity and diabetes the evidence is very clear. street sellers and shop owners in one haka have protested the new initiative the lawmakers who support the plan say vendors may continue to sell junk food just not to kids. follow al jazeera mexico city. this is all just here are these are the top stories 16 port officials have been detained as the investigation into lebanon's deadly explosion continues protests have been held in central beirut calling for a complete overhaul of the political elite a move which has been backed by french president and.

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 customers we need transparency for imports and exports we need reforms for all the sectors and insist on these changes quickly so i think crown prince is accused of sending a group of hit men to canada in a failed attempt to kill one of his former top intelligence officials let's talk of sad but he is finding a lawsuit in washington d.c. a sent to have been sent just days after journalist. was murdered inside the saudi consulate in istanbul one of tobar 2018. u.s. president donald trump has issued an executive order banning businesses with the

compare and company of social media up to talk and we chat starting in 45 days trump says the chinese owned apps are a threat to u.s. national security new york state's attorney general suing the influential gun lobby group the national rifle association several executives are accused of siphoning off millions of dollars to fund luxury lifestyles the attorney general says the organization should be dissolved altogether. final results from sri lanka's parliamentary elections show a big lead for the governing party there's a lengthy people's front is led by the russian pasko brothers who serve as president and prime minister the party looks likely to consolidate its power but it needs a 2 thirds majority to carry out promised constitutional changes those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera and about half an hour after thrice cut by. a global pandemic mass protests demanding change economic recession and geopolitical tensions not to mention the small matter of

a looming election. steve clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u.s. politics and society on al-jazeera. to cope with the growing population. exploitation of natural resources in just. as a result of the vast expansion of mining and. fishing and other human activities natural ecosystems have.