yellow dress from blue jeans. to conserving the world's dwindling wetlands 3 of the 8 world's global bird migration flight intersect right where we are to face it discovered a treasure trove it is one of the most special clouds in the for half price ecosystems in that announces era. 'd the u.s. speaks out in support of a former saudi intelligence agent at the center of an alleged assassination plot by the crown prince. i'm sam is a this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up as hope fades of finding survivors after the explosion in beirut president raises the possibility of

external interference. ripped apart after skidding off the runway at least 17 people are killed as an air india express jet crashes in catalogue plus. a huge economic impact those are the nations right across the region that's going to last for years. and how the global pandemic is ravaging tourism in the pacific islands. the u.s. state department has spoken out in support of a former top saudi intelligence agent who was allegedly targeted in a fall the sas evasion attempts it describes as a valued part of the job he filed a lawsuit in washington d.c. on thursday accusing saudi. prince mohammed bin cell man of sending

a hit squad to canada to try to kill him mike hanna has more. patrick leahy was one of 4 senators who sent a letter to the white house last month in the letter the senators express their concern about what they call the abduction in saudi arabia of sardar jobbery son and daughter in his court filing our jobbery said his children now aged 20 and 21 were being held as what he called human bait to lure him out of hiding the state department has now responded to the senator's concerns in a letter to senator leahy it describes jobbery as a valued partner to the u.s. government working closely with the us to ensure the safety of americans and saudis it also states that any persecution of family members is unacceptable adding that it has made repeated requests to the saudi government about the status of his son

and daughter. who was an adviser to the previous crown prince mohammed bin nayef but in his court filing he says he left saudi arabia because he feared what would happen if and when muhammad been summoned took over the state department says it's concerned about the alleged activities that resulted in algebra exiled to canada it says that any saudi accusations of wrongdoing against him must be and i quote address through established legal channels with full transparency and respect for the rule of law interpol rejected a saudi request for algebra arrest saying it was rooted in political and not criminal grounds. president trump has continued to express his support for the saudi crown prince despite the repeated allegations of human rights violations

describing him as an ally and friend but increasingly this is very much at odds with the prevailing view in congress mike hanna al-jazeera washington. lebanon's president has raised the possibility of external interference in tuesday's port blast in beirut michel aoun has promised an investigation into whether the blast was caused by negligence an accident or even a rocket or bomb but the government is facing widespread anger over accusations of mismanagement and corruption 157 people are confirmed dead so holder has this report from beirut. this is what is left of beirut port the stockpile of tons of ammonium nitrate that appeared to set off tuesday's blast was in one of the warehouses some of the missing people are believed to be underneath the rubble it's a complicated job to look for them because the damage is considerable international rescue teams have joined search operations but hope of finding survivors is fading

and they say the affair. what we're trying to do is to find the structures that are still under tons of rubble specifically the cells in the technical rooms that are under the silos they could have been buried by the rubble and still be standing which could allow us to find survivors the. lebanese authorities have begun investigations into the blast that destroyed much of the central parts of the capital port and customs officials have been detained and their assets frozen investigators initially said it was triggered by a fire the president michelle and says they are looking into all possibilities. this accident is a wake up call as i said it could be an act of negligence or we have another possibility it could be a rocket attack or a bomb attack i personally requested from the french president if they were in possession of any aerial footage to kindly provide us with it in order to identify any aerial attack or missile attack if any. popular anger at

a political class blamed for years of corruption and mismanagement is not new people have little face in a government inquiry that is led by the politicians and security officials who they believe should be the ones questioned there's a problem. for trust between the political system and the population and this exists for years not just now but now the problem is that the investigation the person in this committee they feel they are a part of the security services that people are asking questions about their attitude french president manuel mccall the visit. the devastated neighborhoods in beirut on thursday joined voices in lebanon and abroad calling for an independent international inquiry but the governing alliance headed by the iranian backed hezbollah has dismissed that. and i would like to emphasize that hezbollah categorically refutes and rejects that we have materials at the seaport not

a single bullet weapon ammunition or a bomb nothing at all belongs to hezbollah even the materials in the ammonium nitrate that does not belong to hezbollah and. i believe that there is a consensus amongst all lebanese that a complete comprehensive transparent and fair investigation must take place authorities are welcoming international humanitarian assistance which has started to arrive in a country already broken before the disaster but they are against internationalizing the crisis which would weaken their control calls for actions against the ruling class are growing louder following reports that officials were aware of the presence of highly explosive material in the middle of a densely populated city there are plans for mass demonstrations the priority is no longer just a humanitarian emergency there are attempts to revive the momentum of the protest

movement that began in october but bringing about change won't be easy. beirut. at least 17 people have been killed in a plane crash in india the aircraft slid off the runway as it was coming in to land in the southern states of carolina in the heavy monsoon rain and the hayward reports. the desperate search for survivors from an entire express flight which is being bringing people home from the u.s. 190 passengers and crew on board the bering 737 when it overshot the runway cause a quarter course in kara. the pilot had apparently tried to land minutes earlier in heavy rain officials say the plane landed at speed and skidded down a slope before finally coming to a store it broke just several pieces it seems to have crossed that runway and fallen into a ditch sort of a place because there is

a different chill between the runway and the other parts of the airport and because of that impact there seems to have been a breaking off of the fuselage into the aircraft or the front portion has been very badly mangled and damaged. it is moments in season in india making the rescue effort even more difficult many of those injured and now being treated in hospital both pilots reported to be among the dead there are currently no commercial flights in or out of india this was a repatriation pli from dubai bringing indian nationals who have been stuck overseas because of the coronavirus pandemic in a tweet india's prime minister narendra modi said he was pained by the accident thoughts which will be shared by the nation investigators will now want to know how and why this accident happened and why he would al-jazeera. the u.s. is imposing sanctions on the leader of the hong kong government carry land on the

territories current and former police chiefs are among 11 officials top. it's the sanctions were prompted by president order last month in a bid to punish china for a sweeping national security law imposed on hong kong china insists the law is needed to criminalize acts of secession subversion and terrorism white house correspondent kimberly how has more from washington d.c. what will happen is that these individuals that have been named will have any assets here in the united states frozen now the treasury department very clear the reason this is being done and these individuals have been named is because they are directly responsible for the implementation of beijing's policies of suppression of freedom and democracy and in his statement the treasury secretary steve minutia and said that the united states will continue to use all of its tools in authority to

target those undermining hong kong's autonomy the u.s. president is furious that covert 19 that originated in china has decimated the u.s. economy and in turn hurt his reelection chances so a relationship that had looked like it was starting to improve following those tit for tat trade sanctions between their tariffs rather between the united states and china the well things are really deteriorated since then there's been a long string of actions by this administration most recently yesterday the restrictions on the social media abs from china we chat as well as to talk there was an executive order that now mandates that all drugs for the u.s. government that are purchased by the u.s. government must be from the united states that cuts off a major source of revenue for china where drugs many cases came previously and there are a whole host of other actions that have taken place in recent weeks it is clear this administration is looking to punish china and this president perhaps even

looking to punish china specifically at harming his reelection chances. clark joins us live from hong kong so what kind of reaction are we getting out of rituals there was any we're yet to get an official statement from the government but we do expect a response at some stage on saturday however the government is feeding its message out via ministerial representation on saturday morning and we've had our who's the commerce and economic development minister he's spoken to the media and his response is describing these sanctions as unreasonable and savage he said it will hurt hong kong u.s. relations and in the long run he said it will inflict ruin on u.s. interests in hong kong and he doesn't see a valid reason for what he described as blatant interference in hong kong's affairs and he said this will send the wrong signal to a u.s. investments in hong kong so the key message from the government at this stage is it will damage the relations between the united states hong kong and china now when

that with the general sponsor of the government when the u.s. has intervened or commented in the past is pretty much mind your own business carrying them has always said this is a domestic issue now these national security laws that were introduced on july 1st in hong kong government as well as beijing said it was a crucial step in ending the chaos and violence that paralyze the city for more than months and this was a law to keep hong kong safe and carry land described it as lawful constitutional and reasonable now there's been a lot of international condemnation since july 1st when these national security laws were introduced in hong kong the critics say it's an end to the one country 2 systems policy which was meant to be respected in this former british territory and was a bid by china to suppress or silence its critics but certainly these sections marked a dramatic escalation in the tensions between beijing and the united states or thanks so much sarah clarke. still ahead on al-jazeera sri lanka's rajapaksa

brothers tighten their grip on power in a landslide election win. and unemployment shows a slight drop in the u.s. but millions are still without jobs because of them and. how the legacy of you say yes is still with us the storm is still over the top in new york and d.c. for example just exasperate in fact there are still power outages now those showers will carry on in the humid weather for a few more days and there are big ones drifting across the plains states in towards the midwest which i don't think will cause power outages they're going to be significant storms otherwise it's a dry picture still far riskier for of course out west but surprisingly dry in texas and sudden stations few showers around here as east coast also slowly dries

up pakistan or whether in the caribbean as well when would all see frequent daily showers a polyp or cloud against nicaragua or costa rica and big shower seem to be developing in southern mexico as well you can tell that because of the or incentive these blues things and that's potential tropical cyclone developing off the coast of mexico another one to feel long way sasson has been a lot of snow this winter in patagonia and there's more on its way to sort of division line more or less about montevideo so the river plate but this is where the snow is falling as a 2nd fast for the time we get through the end of saturday whereas in montevideo the temperature is rising. but. in russia makes not actually i didn't just pull it. if you bring the fame fortune and power i hope the next one

a 100 investigators on al-jazeera and image can change the way we see the world it can spark mass action or serve the interests of the powerful and it can obscure truth forged narratives and rewrite them to listening post gives you the frank picture on a. cold . welcome back you're watching al-jazeera time to recap our headlines now the u.s. state department has called former top saudi intelligence official saddam valued partner jumper a filed a lawsuit in washington d.c.

on thursday accusing saudi crown prince mohammed bin sandman of sending his men to counter to try to kill him. lebanese president michel aoun has launched an investigation into tuesday's devastating explosion in beirut a least 157 people were killed he says the blast could have been caused either by negligence or external interference hong kong's economic development minister says u.s. sanctions imposed on senior officials are savage and unreasonable chief executive carry laminates out his current and former police chiefs are among the 11 officials found guilty in. a u.s. intelligence official is warning foreign governments are trying to interfere in november's presidential election in the statement the director of the national council intelligence and security center says he's concerned with china russia and iran he says beijing wants donald trump to lose the vote it's allegedly creased

efforts to influence u.s. politicians and shape public opinion the agency's determined russia wants trump to win again though and it says moscow's already working to undermine his democratic opponent joe biden by leaking phone calls and spreading corruption climbs and iran is accused of using online this information to undermine trump and divide the u.s. ahead of the vote. well scott anderson is a fellow in governance studies at the brookings institution he says while the issue of foreign interference isn't new it's notable intelligence agencies are being sought front about suits in many ways the report is not necessarily that surprising we know from 2016 that certainly russia have been involved in various forms election interference in iran and china are likely at dishes to that list

certainly have a vested interest in us domestic politics and not surprising to hear it may be involved in some of these tactics which is surprising about this report is simply the willingness of the intelligence community released this component of it to come on the record and say foreign actors are not only potentially looking at election interference in this case but they have a vested interest in certain political candidates in the president trump in one case in an opponent in another case or 2 other cases as it may be no let doubt that is part of the framing that went into the effort to present this information and effort to make it look like it is in some ways an equipoise between the 2 sides but nonetheless it is notable it is useful it's a useful reminder to voters that they need to look at media and information critically and they need to engage and think about the sources that they're getting information from thinking about the reasons why people may be past them certain messages and it's also to alert to authorities to private companies like facebook and twitter to the fact that there is a belief that several entities are actually going to be involved in misinformation

campaigns that we know in the past have involved false identity false claims and that there is a responsibility on their part to in an effort to rein that in and ensure that actual facts make their way to voting audiences. germany and france have both abandoned talks to reform the world health organization out of frustration with the u.s. attempts to dominate negotiations the move is a blow for donald trump whose administration hoped to lead a sweeping overhaul of the w.h.o. before the upcoming u.s. election france's health minister says the u.s. should not lead the reform after announcing it would be leaving the organization trump accuses the w.h.o. of being too close to china and of mishandling the pandemic politicians in washington have failed in their latest attempt to agree on emergency benefits for millions of americans who've lost their jobs because of coronavirus trump is threatening to issue an executive order to force the funding to go through john

hendren reports from chicago. for more than 30000000 unemployed americans warm summer days fade to sleepless nights i never anticipated being on unemployment period think that that was never something that i thought would happen to me in my life among the newly unemployed since march is syria guard who lost a human resources job in fears losing her identity what's at stake for my family is . being able to stay who we are. being able to maintain the life that we have when us job losses begin to accelerate dramatically early in the cove crisis congress took the unusual step of creating a $600.00 weekly subsidy for the jobless in addition to state unemployment insurance that averages a little over $300.00 but that funding expired last week. since the coronavirus

shut down much of the united states in march the u.s. economy has shrunk by one 3rd the fastest drop in u.s. history according to a new study by the associated press and the university of chicago's national opinion research center about half of americans believe the jobs that have disappeared are gone forever as congress debates renewing jobless payments the virus is resurging spreading to tens of thousands more americans every day this thing is coming back around and it's traveling from other states and if we had gotten it under control earlier we might not be in this position right now as washington struggles to respond to the virus and the unemployment crisis americans face insolvency and hunger thousands of them hourly at this los angeles food bank alone one cove it happened i couldn't there was no i had no money no money and now for millions coping with unemployment often for the 1st time dwindling hope john hendren al-jazeera chicago pacific island nations have logged

a avoided outbreaks of covert 19 but many are facing economic devastation due to the collapse of the totem industries now a rise in cases in papua new guinea has authorities there already fragile health system could soon be overwhelmed because again reports. outside a sports stadium in port moresby people white to be tested at 19 inside a makeshift hospital has been set up to treat iraq as a number of paper with the coronavirus until now pup when you get me has avoided a large scale outbreak but in recent weeks it has spread to new provinces forcing the closure of a massive copper and gold mine and many health workers are testing positive protective medical equipment is being distributed and international health teams flowing in but there are concerns the already fragile health system won't cope for

all we know there are some great things going on behind the scenes the communication between government health department and then down to the people that hasn't happened the government has brought down measures including closing its border with indonesia but in many areas social distancing is a challenge and with huge numbers living below the poverty line access to clean water for hand washing is limited what we can do is find ways to overcome challenges whether it's washing hands. in a crate washing hands and. using soap which might have as a means by which to wash the hands while few cases have been recorded in other pacific island nations they now facing economic devastation due to the collapse of trade and tourism and countries like some are still reeling from recent deadly

measles outbreak so many of the nations in the rage and relied on tourism people coming to visit to really sustain their economies and i just don't have that capacity now so a huge economic impact for the nations right across the region that's going to last for years the asian development bank says the number of people living in extreme poverty in the region could increase by up to 40 percent in the short term many pacific island nations who need help to keep their economies afloat. al-jazeera. the united nations envoy to yemen has condemned an airstrike that killed at least 9 children on thursday martin griffiths is calling for an investigation into the attack in the giove which also left 12 women and children injured the saudi u.a.e. coalition has been blamed for carrying out the strike griffith says civilians are protected under international law turkey has resumed oil and gas exploration in the

this due to the eastern mediterranean sea in defiance of a new maritime deal signed by greece and egypt on thursday president of egypt liable to the wires called the deal worthless saying greece hasn't kept its promises turkey and greece have long distributed the rights to the oil and gas reserves in the seas between the 2 countries malaysia's 2 time former prime minister has formed a new political party mahathir mohamad was expelled from his previous party after losing a power struggle with his successor in may the 95 year old quit as prime minister in february and his governing coalition collapsed the rajapaksa brothers have cemented their hold on power in sri lanka in dominating in a dominating win in the country's parliamentary election and the rajapaksa will now become prime minister with his brother got a buyer the president and that has been our fernandez reports from colombo and now plan to change the constitution. celebrations in

the rajapaksa heartland the reason that 2 thirds majority in sri lanka is new parliament on thursday will richest cute to see incumbent prime minister mind the rajapaksa who secured the highest number of votes. sylvia would lead us into the general also patriotic and then we have 2 thirds majority in the parliament and i didn't know the country can be developed in a very short period to see all what is the discipline and also the theater in 18 days to know it in the government this analyst says the strong support for prime minister rajapaksa and his brother who's president just 5 years after they voted out is a message from the people that. of democracy reforms and perhaps those reforms actually retarding goddard's which is also the main message the president has sent

since his election. has been i think the clear message is. what the people are demanding use unless of course to. reform and more of economic development. seen around the predicts the new government will increase the president's powers get rid of independent institutions and an amendment on power sharing in the north and east when m.p.'s walk into the parliamentary chamber of the building behind me on august 20th seating arrangements would have changed to accommodate one of the largest number of m.p.'s to ever sit in government and those in their ranks will face a series of economic and political challenges indeed that today who are the noise of the economic challenges. he's been struggling to keep his garment factory afloat in difficult times made worse by the couvade 1000 crisis castro to do when it comes to market negative sentiment and then with the market contraction so

we have been having lost if you take 4 to 5 months 80 percent of our business was go despite the huge mandate the rajapaksa brothers still face allegations of war crimes and foods disappearances 11. years after the oversaw the defeat of the tamil tigers in sri lanka civil rule a former member of the national human rights commission voiced these concerns we also see a rise in single a buddhist nationalism and it seems like that is what is taking hold and and shaping the policy of the country so this means that minorities in particular feel frightened because if you are critical of the government you can be called a traitor you can be called a terrorist you can be arrested merely for expressing an opinion balancing the multiple challenges facing she lanka will not be easy for the new government but

for the majority of people here the rajapaksa led government is the best option for now and then there's just the raw colombo. thousands of residents and tourists in italy is also a valley have been relocated after warnings a huge portion of them on blong place here is at risk of collapse a recent heatwave created a layer of water on the wii ice causing it to slide about 80 centimeters a day. let's take you through some of the headlines here on al-jazeera the u.s. state department has called former top saudi intelligence official solder jobbery a valued partner a job or a file the lawsuit in washington d.c. on thursday accusing saudi crown prince mohammed bin so man of sending him into can to try to kill him. lebanon's president michel aoun has launched an investigation

into tuesday's devastating explosion in beirut at least 157 people were killed he says the blast could have been caused to the by negligence or external interference 17 people have died in a plane crash in india the air india express jet broke into when it overshot the runway at an airport in the southern state of qatar hong kong's economic development minister says u.s. sanctions imposed on senior officials are savage and unreasonable chief executive carol lam and the territories current and former police chiefs are among 11 officials targeted sarah clarke has more from hong kong in the long run he said it will inflict ruin on u.s. interests in hong kong and he doesn't see a valid reason for what he described as blatant interference in hong kong's affairs and he said this will send the wrong signal to a u.s. investments in hong kong so the key message from the government at this stage is it

would damage the relations between the united states hong kong and china now when that with the general sponsor of the government when the u.s. has intervened or commented in the past is pretty much mind your own business kerry land has always said this is a domestic issue but u.s. intelligence official is warning china russia and iran are trying to interfere in the upcoming presidential election the director of the national counter intelligence and security center says all 3 countries are using online this information another tactics to throws us voters and create disorder the united nations envoy to yemen has condemned the airstrike that killed at least 9 children on thursday martin griffiths is calling for an investigation into the attack and then jove the saudi u.s. coalition has been blamed for carrying out the strike. it's one o one eastern hour stay with us. as protests rage over police brutality and

corona virus grips the nation campaigning on the election trail has been forced to take a back seat will the presidential candidates ever hit the road and sell their brand of politics to americans before the votes follow the u.s. elections on a. comeback. in russia and him a mixed martial arts is a phenomenon. in the city's hundreds of amateur fights is front up to a battle with few rules. but. deep in the caucasus mountains. train from morning till night hoping to find a way out of poverty and become champions. could only be.