proposal we need a strict vetting process is to tide finally turning against beijing we have a china centric world and then a world which is not china centric head to head on out his iraq. 'd searching through the rubble of lebanon support disaster the u.n. calls the situation in beirut really dire the people call the political change. welcome to the program sri lanka's governing party gets the victory it was looking for a majority for the rajapaksa brothers to push through sweeping constitutional changes . also the number of kind of virus cases in india hits 2000000 as it struggles to bring the pandemic under control. and trying to trim the fat

a mexican state state takes action on selling junk food to children. but into the program emergency food shipments are being prepared the u.n. is describing the need for shelter as massive 120 schools have been damaged the full effect of choose to night support explosion in the lebanese capital is becoming much clearer it's just gone 1 o'clock in beirut in the afternoon where the death toll has now been updated to 154 but the search goes on in the rubble in and around the port the number of injured is more than 5000 the world health organization says the city is now facing a shortage of hospital beds because of the number of damaged facilities and amid it all the frustration grows 16 port workers and officials have been arrested but the people's anger is really being directed at the government french president emanuel by. ended his visit saying there be no blank checks unless there's political reform

well it's just after 2 o'clock here in doha same time in beirut where our correspondent ben it's with is also across those developments and bernard before we talk about where you are and what you'll seeing the lebanese president has been speaking what's he been saying. well he's been speaking to local media so in the last half hour or so and he is saying that there will be of course an investigation into the cause of the explosion and that investigation decide whether it was negligence and accident or possible external interference precisely he's saying there's the cause is not been determined yet he says there is a possibility of external interference through a rocket or bomb or other. now i have to say that certainly at the moment no evidence has emerged of any external at all the video that we've seen

from the ports the remains of which are behind me shows a fire then provoking the larger fire but detonated the 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate now what most people here would say is that whatever the cause of the accident 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate should never have been allowed to sit there for 6 or 7 years while when there were multiple warnings of the danger it posed of lebanon the most recent being 6 months ago when an expert inspector said if that stuff is a moved it could flatten the city which it did it has and of course it struck in the city where you are bernard just tell us really what's been going on because without the authorities unable to enable to take charge really it's up to the local residents to try and clean up the mess that surround them. yes since we've been here the been all volunteers with shovels with pickaxes with brushes and

spades trying to clean up the mess this building is like tens of thousands of others here in beirut in the way of the shockwave just within seconds really a shock wave hit these buildings every pane of glass blown out every everyone that was in its way injured more than now 150 people killed 5000 injured in just a 2nd but it took for that short way to leave the port and hit here beirut looks like it's been affected by years and years of war and conflict and of course the struggle really for many residents is trying to get food and medicine that really is the priority in a city really that is so decimated is it's a wonder where they go for help as you say they're really fending for themselves. yeah well before this the state's provision of health services of anything like

that was very very limited already now it's completely overwhelmed and people are finding for themselves would be we've seen people giving out food we've seen the lebanese red cross in auction helping where it found 3 hospitals were destroyed by the shockwave so the health service is under tremendous stress here but the sort of work the people doing the ngos particulars a lot of local n.g.o.s helping out is pretty short term there's only so long that they have got food that they can give out and help a child with there's a long term problem is a long term problem housing 300000 people who've been left homeless is a long term problem of where to store food surprise supplies when there is more than 80 percent of the nation's grain in those silos that have now been destroyed so in fairness with profound in beirut thank you. on to our other top story here on al-jazeera and the election victory in sri lanka

that's expected to cement the power of the rajapaksa brothers governing party has taken in the 60 percent of the vote the sri lanka people's front is led by go to the raja post so you serve as president and prime minister along with their allies secured a 2 thirds majority giving the president the power to make sweeping changes to the constitution of the biologic paxo specifically promise to undo the 19th amendment moving back to the presidency wilson and those in colombo with more on the road. for the people of this country if you look talk about sort of brass tacks of constitutional changes procedures to be really honest it doesn't matter and that's what you see translated at the polling booth the fact that the bigger majority of this country at the end of the day shows the rajapakse is because they felt that they do a better job of leading this country and taking it forward so in terms of constitutions

when you do talk to people like sort of civil rights activist human rights defenders there are concerns that there might be a reversal in terms of some of the positive changes of that last amendment which strengthen the institutions which reduced and diluted to a little bit to a certain extent the powers of the president in favor of the building behind me and those who sit in at parliament that they had bigger you know better powers but what is envisioned by the rajapaksa is from what we've heard from them on the campaign trail is that they want changes they want a whole new constitution which will allow them centrally put to put forward their program so those are some concerns but to the average sri lankan on the street obviously it doesn't seem to matter he wants safety he wants a cutie and he wants the confidence that he's leaders are in control and that's what seems to be. the main sort of decision when they cast their vote ballot at the

polling booth. india has become the 3rd country in the world to record 2000000 coronavirus cases the coded 900 count has doubled in 3 weeks faster than the u.s. or even brazil which of higher numbers epidemiologist say india is still months away from hitting its peak but the country's health system is already feeling the strain from the pandemic and it's of problem reports now from new delhi that the worst hit states are seeking help from the government. india recorded yet another single highest day rise in cases more than 62000 cases and the worst hit state remains in maharashtra it recorded more than 11000 new cases on thursday the chief minister of the state is asking the central government to pay for more treatment centers there are already around $37000.00 people either in hospitals or in treatment centers and there are still reports of people struggling to find beds

especially in rural areas which have very little health care infrastructure elsewhere in the country cases are rising by around 10000 of those have been saved . the government there says that's because they're testing more people than anywhere else in the country they're testing around $50000.00 a day despite the overall rise that we're seeing around the country the health minister as always remains positive he says india is continuing to increase testing they are testing around 600000 people a day nationwide he also points to what he says is one of the lowest death rates in the world but we have to keep in mind that less than a of all deaths in india medically certified so it's really difficult if not impossible right now if you know how many of the deaths in the country are from coronavirus a state in mexico has banned the sale of sugary drinks and junk food to children to reduce high levels of obesity health experts say the break has highlighted the risks of being overweight as reports 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. it's a 1st of its kind law for mexico which is a world leader when it comes to childhood obesity and diabetes. but median though we can't continue to allow an increase in childhood obesity and we'll talk. 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 corona virus deaths nationwide continue to soar mexico has the 3rd highest death toll from covert 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 concept there's been a 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. 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 may he. 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. well still has hailed as they're accused of sending a hit squad to canada the saudi crown prince faces a lawsuit in washington d.c. . and salvaging whatever they can to floodings knox the. the only threat facing hundreds of families in sudan is they would sit around as. hello the seasonal rains of pounding south korea's quite specifically around seoul and just societies is a mighty river hand which although big and go to great depths is now exceeding its

bounds if you like and flooding even 3 lane highways there's a bit of damage to the south of that where the floods of caused this sort of infrastructure damage in the roadway now has more to come i'm afraid the orange represents the heaviest downpours likely the next 48 hours or so the lines fairly consistent from mohan that's where the yellow sea south korea and towards northern part of honshu or southern her current or south of that is relatively fine that's are true china as well not bone dry but relatively speaking beijing's a big city 3 humid degrees welcome rain no doubt and almost you can follow your eye line back through here 2 fairly active weather both here in the arabian sea where in karate a month's worth of rain fell last night yes east of where place but when these things happen you tend to get flooding and that's taking some of the energy away from the monsoon is still plenty of rain through maharashtra and down towards carola and the good she's got shadows where you'll notice the northeast does not so

shows too many deep suns towards our many orange tops but there are a few. once welcomed now fear. and dividing a nation. al-jazeera explores germany's long term economic strategy of pursuing immigrants from the arab world now i feel more german and syrian. a much money does a richer get those people put up thank goodness it's been direct one german and american the new germans on al-jazeera. all.

of them back i want you all deserve me still run the reminder of our top stories lebanon's president says an investigation into the beirut port explosion will look at whether it was caused by negligence an accident or possible external interference 16 politicians have been detained as frustration grows over the lebanese government's response to the explosion and. the governing party in sri lanka has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections the sri lanka people's front is led by the rajapaksa brothers got a bar of mahinda who served as president and prime minister. david 1000 infections of purse 2000000 in india with more than 62000 cases reported in the last 24 hours it has the most highest number of infections after the us and herself. china has accused the us of political manipulation to the us president issued an

executive order banning business with 2 tech giants it blocks any transaction with the parent company of social media to talk and the owner of messenger we chat the sweeping restrictions come into effect in 45 days but talkers threaten legal action trump says the chinese are gathering users data for beijing and pose a threat to u.s. national security may have aren't you the u.s. taking national security as an excuse frequently abuses national power and unreasonably suppresses companies of other countries this is an outright hedge a monic act china is firmly opposed to it jim anderson is the chief executive of social flow a tech firm which helps media companies there he says a lack of trust between the u.s. and china led to trump's decision. 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 end of the front between the u.s. and china and that leaves us where we are right now 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 u.s. application canada australia new play i believe was the domain the financial times today just reported that they're actually talking about binding and 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 right 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 could happen in the next 40 days the saudi crown prince is being accused of sending hit men to canada with plans school one of his former top intelligence officials. the alleged target has filed a lawsuit in the u.s. it's been reported that interpol rejected a request to extradite back to saudi arabia because it was politically motivated like how the ripples. crown prince mohammed bin solomon has been painted 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 our 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 somebody notice. really basic run away from sort of 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 for 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 bin salman remains a valued ally and friend mike hanna al-jazeera washington.

spain's forward king juan carlos has reportedly been staying in abu dhabi since he left spain on monday spanish newspaper a.b.c. says when carlos flew to the u.a.e. in a private jet spain's ports are investigating him for money laundering and tax evasion tied to a business deal with saudi arabia hundreds of afghan leaders collars and elders are meeting in kabul to negotiate a peace deal with the taliban and the loya jirgah talks are the last hurdle in the start of negotiations between the afghan government and the taliban and the main issue is whether the government should meet the armed groups demand to release 400 prisoners u.s. secretary of state. is urging support for the move saying that it will be an important step towards peace a former ally of the president of the democratic republic of congo is due to appeal against his 20 year prison sentence for fraud retallack america and 2 others were

jailed in june after being convicted of investing more than $50000000.00 of public money from his supporters are gathering to demand his release they say the case is politically motivated malcolm where possible. purport as of march 2 was the mccullough high security prison in the capital kinshasa that's where the area is being detained and that's where the court hearing is expected to take place those supporters reached a roadblock police have brought the roads are right now they're standing there but as you said the supporters say this is a politically motivated conviction corruption is widespread in congo it's common but corruption trials are not and few people believe that this is really about holding anyone to account for stealing public funds and supporters say that it could possibly be because of an alliance between the tower camero and president felix to see katie who run together because mary was backing to security in the last election just over one and a half years ago she said he was an answer when

a part of their deal to to to run together was that camaro was meant to have a chance to run as a president in the next election which is in 2 in 2023 so people believe that this is an attempt by presidential security to try and stop somebody taking over from him in just a few years time but this all comes on a greater power struggle which is happening in congo at the moment between president xi security and the former president joseph kabila now when she said he was announced the winner of that election just over one and a half years ago documents were leaked which showed the election was rigged and his announcement as the winner was seen widely seen as part of a deal between him and outgoing president joseph kabila was intended to keep could be the most powerful man in congo now there fragile alliance has come under greater strain in recent months but this is also part of what's going on behind the scenes at the moment as well. the governing party in guinea has asked president alpha

condé to seek a 3rd term follows months of protests against extending the 18 year old's time in office and weeks after speculation ivory coast president. has also announced that he too is seeking a 3rd term and that address has more. dark. i am in effect a candidate in the presidential election of october 31st 2020 and it also meant that many believe will have serious repercussions but for some ivorians the declaration was not completely unexpected one former prime minister. and chosen successor suddenly died on july 8th the ivory coast and the ruling party were thrown into political uncertainty in office history and president ouattara said although he had planned to retire after 2 terms the death of bali has changed everything he says his party are asked him to run again and he has accepted. there

is sars and then my tragic the recent tragic events with the death of prime minister coulibaly have lifted a void in the team that i had put in place to continue and consolidate economic and social programs which you interested me with but also the tight calendar on the 3 months before the elections the challenge of maintaining peace national security as well as regional security and the necessity to could the health crisis the risk is that everything that was gained with so much sex with finds and with the consent of the people would be compromised. thursday supporters of the former president and or thomas archrival. demonstrated outside the headquarters of the election commission in. they demanded but their leader would be put on the ballot as well as the voters register by bo is kind of glee in the netherlands after he was acquitted by the international criminal court of crimes during the ivory coast civil war when he refused to relinquish power after losing the presidential election to mr ouattara

because as people had let him 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 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. cross the border in guinea it's a degenerate leader alpha condé is also said to run in his country's delayed presidential election for the 3rd time his party selected him on thursday to be its flight bearer is. today you of all spoken allies parties and others i take note. pointers attempt to change the constitution to keep yourself in power resulted in several violent demonstrations in which dozens of opposition supporters were killed by security forces there are concerns that thursday's event

may throw both guinea and i recall last into father political turmoil. al jazeera. the japanese cocoa ship ran aground off the coast of the russia in late july and started to leak oil the flood washed hers about $4000.00 tonnes of it on board that's enough to threaten nearby coral reefs earlier attempts to stabilize the ship and pump out the oil failed because of rough scenes. hundreds of families left homeless by flooding in sudan are facing new threats there are concerns that they'll be exposed to water borne diseases like malaria and cholera have a morgan report staff time here in whitehall state where at least 5 people have died. this is how ash may be doing and his family have been living for the past 4 days during the day he and his family sit on any dry patch of land they can find and at night he says they sleep on a road not too far away the floods have destroyed his home and much of what was in

it and there isn't enough aid distributed by the government to his village of course our law for everyone remember tony rains came and said his own flash floods flowed on sundays the rains continued the water has gone down a bit but we still don't have any dry spots most of the villages have moved to higher ground we've given tents but the tents distributed weren't enough for all of us 15 families have been left out in the open some families are still trying to salvage what they can from their homes more than 1500 people have been displaced in goes out with the law most have moved to the west of the village and now live in tents but the stagnant water is raising concerns among the villagers over water borne diseases such as malaria and cholera and the villagers also have other concerns. and them to eradicate the we want more tents and blankets because the rains keep coming and we don't know how we'll survive here there are snakes there are scorpions we need antivenom serums and 1st aid supplies. dozens of

areas in sudan have been affected by flooding having lost so much already people here say they're concerned about the coming few months because this is just the start of the rainy season but this is not the 1st time this has happened during every remey season in sudan there is often loss of lives and properties more than 70 people died and thousands were displaced during last year's rainy season and sudan's government is now warning of not just flash floods but floods from the nile river which runs through the country a committee was set up to prepare for this year's season but members say some things are out of their control then of course. the area is of course probably sometimes. really difficult. so you need the bombs we need the special. means to drain.

the. oil is full with news that more flooding could be on its way and ashley is worried he says he and his family don't know how they'll survive if more heavy rains to come people morgan al-jazeera. right now things. are with me still wrong with top news stories lebanon's president says an investigation into the bay report explosion we look at whether it was caused by negligence an accident or possible external interference 16 port officials are being detained as frustration grows over the government's response to the blast furnace with has more from beirut. he is saying that there will be of course an investigation into the cause of the explosion and that investigation decide whether it was negligence and accident or possible external interference precisely he's

saying there's a the cause is not been determined yet he says there is a possibility of external interference through a rocket or bomb or other. now i have to say that certainly at the moment no evidence has emerged of any external act the governing party in sri lanka has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections the sri lanka people's front is led by the rajapaksa brothers got the by and mohinder who serve as president and prime minister. covert 19 infections of past 2000000 in india with more than 62000 cases reported in the past 24 hours it has the 3rd most high or the 3rd highest number of infections after the u.s. and brazil china has accused the us of political manipulation of the president donald trump issued an executive order banning business with 2 tech giants it blocks any transaction with the parent company of social media to talk and the owner of messenger we chat to talk has threatened legal action. spain's former king

juan carlos has reportedly been staying in abu dhabi since less spain on monday spanish newspaper a.b.c. say the king flew to the u.a.e. in a private jet spain's courts are investigating him for money laundering and tax evasion tied to a business deal with saudi arabia. hundreds of us gun leaders scholars and elders are meeting in kabul to negotiate a peace deal with the taliban and the loya jirgah talks all the last hurdle in the start of the goshi ations between the afghan government to the taliban the main issues of the government should release up to 400 prisoners. japanese cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of militias late last month has started to leak oil the possible flood will show about 4000 tons of oil of gold those where the headlines do stay with us here on officer.

hi i'm steve clements and i have a question about america's elections what would lincoln do let's get to the bottom line. u.s. president donald trump set off alarm bells in america last week when he talked about delaying the upcoming election after the coronavirus pandemic public health officials recommended that people avoid long lines at polling stations and mail their ballots and instead the trumpet is juggernaut media machine have been relentless in discounting the credibility of mail then ballots climaxing in a tweet last week where he floated the idea of actually delaying elections day which is set for november 3rd that idea was quickly killed by the white house but the fears remain especially after he said that he'll wait and see if he accepts the election results today we're joined by someone who's been involved in american.