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 vote followed the u.s. elections on a. stepping up their spat over hong kong china labels u.s. sanctions against kerry lamb and police chiefs as ridiculous and barbarous. clubs around but this is al-jazeera life my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 30 minutes 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. a plane repatriating indian stranded abroad because of the coronavirus skids off a runway splitting into and killing 18 also. change for. 3 day protesters in colombia step on the gas to rally against a court decision placing the president under house arrest. welcome to the program it's a decision that hong kong calls despicable and shameless they've condemned the u.s. for imposing sanctions on the territories top leaders kerry and the current and former police chiefs are among 11 officials whose u.s. assets are being frozen the sanctions come a month after president of trump stripped hong kong of a special status at the time he said he was punishing china for imposing a national security law on hong kong so a clock joins us now from the city was the response really been from the government

in hong kong despite those initial words. well the condemnation has been swift not just from the hong kong government but also a by beijing's top representative in hong kong that he has said he strongly opposes and condemns the treasury sanctions he said this reveals unscrupulous the unscrupulous intentions of u.s. politicians to support anti china chaos in hong kong and in quite i am or quote from him and what's believed walk considered a humorous response he said i don't have any assets abroad isn't it a waste of time for president trump to impose sanctions and he could send $100.00 to the united states if president donald trump wanted to freeze that $100.00 now the hong kong government it's also released a statement it's described it as shameless and despicable it said we had one representative the economics of development and commerce minister he spoke at it would yell but also he repeated what was said in that government statement

describing it as unreasonable and savage blatant interference in hong kong hong kong's domestic affairs it said or send the wrong signal to any u.s. investors in hong kong but of course kerry lamb has long defended the introduction of the national security laws in hong kong she said the legal constitutional and reasonable and that was crucial to restore order and stop the chaos and the violence in hong kong which we saw months of protests in 2019 but of course it's been international condemnation from a number of countries including u.k. and of course the u.s. they say they see this law. oppresses the freedoms of the city and it undermines the one country 2 systems policy which was promised in this former british territory of course sanctions can only be damaging if they really do impact on the individuals how do you assess the damage people like kerry. well looking at the scenario what we could expect given the tit for tat scenario

we've had between the u.s. and china are the sections and freezing assets cetera that we do potentially expect the hong kong government to reciprocate and potentially at target us individuals operating in the city as well as those companies now the american chime of commerce has confirmed that there are $1200.00 american companies operating in hong kong and $800.00 of those are either regional or the my head offices in the city feeding into china the american chamber of commerce has also said that it's concerned about the number of companies here that my have to close their doors because of the fear of working with the working under this new national security law and some forecasts that many of these companies might already be closing up of course these sections are a dramatic escalation in the tensions between not just beijing and the united states but now hong kong and the united states as well for the update that so much so o'clock there are going for us. who tore the top story in lebanon is hosting an international conference call on sunday to discuss aid for the country after

tuesday's port explosion president michel aoun has promised an investigation into whether the blast in beirut 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 as yet 157 people are confirmed dead and the 6000 injured has more 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 that 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 or even the materials and 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 let's turn over the correspondent in beirut bernard smith warning of course of the investigation continues lots of statements being made by the authorities

including the president where are we right now. oh yeah enormous pressure of course on the lebanese or for a geezer in this investigation there are 19 arrests the most senior arrest is the head of customs he's called. now the problem is all the challenges when you get to this level of seniority the sort of people who being arrested. in the positions they have because. who they know and this is the challenge in investigating something like this and 11 on is that as soon as people arrested who have got connections that leader right to the very top of government then there will be pressure on those connections to blame somebody else and this is the problem this is why being called from overseas for 'd an international investigation if you like or foreign assistance with the investigation because the investigators in lebannon are essentially investigating themselves or investigating people they know and the enormous fear really of many lebanese we've been speaking

to is that investigation if it's only done internally will get nowhere and the people ultimately responsible for this disaster will get away with it because there is no incentive here for them to be held account so. thanks very much bernard smith there in beirut. where the u.s. state department has spoken out in support of a forward topside intelligence agent who was reportedly targeted in a folder assassination attempt it's described. as a valued partner filed a lawsuit in washington on thursday accusing the saudi crown prince mohammed bin someone of sending a hit squad to canada to try to kill him michaela has the details. 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 are sardar jobbery son

and daughter. in his court filing our job research 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 u.s. 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. he was an adviser to the previous crown prince mohammed bin nayef here 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 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 the request for algebras arrest saying it was rooted in political and not criminal grounds president trampas 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. well still ahead here on al-jazeera a warning from the u.s. intelligence community the country they say is behind a push to sway the upcoming presidential election in favor of donald trump. and

help the last but kenyans who have lost their livelihoods because of coronavirus an investor why it's taken so long. for the. hello england is into a 3 day heatwave the rest of the european plain it will probably last longer than that pressure is high as long as carbon scar in the days are still long there are few showers around tempering what it feels like in for example greece northern greece or at least there will be some time later on saturday and this frontal system will tend to edge temperatures out a bit in oland and scotland nevertheless where in the thirty's quite happily bordeaux will have cooled down a little bit with a northerly breeze coming into northern spain as well as to not the temps back just a little bit but also maintain the heat for injecting more humidity which tense

suggests will be more cloud and a few more showers developing in that heat not right in the heart of it probably could argue paris at $39.00 may well see thundery weather on sunday and monday even on tuesday temperatures do not drop that much is a human to feel dry heat across north africa august is the wet season for khartoum for sudan actually is about as far north as the rain is going to get and you tend to form clumps of these showers a drift slowly west which we've seen thus far north as the gambia a month ago they're not that far north now they're less they are quite significant and they form in the storms in the atlantic. history has called it the great war in the 1st episode conscription draws hundreds of thousands of arabs troops into both sides of the conflict their story is rarely

talk but had a huge impact on the course of the war world war one through our open minds on al-jazeera. be the hero the world needs. washing. but the market watcher orders are with means the whole robin a reminder of our top stories beijing's top representative in hong kong has called us sanctions on the territories leader ridiculous a barbarous carry the current and former police chiefs are amongst 11 officials whose u.s. assets will be frozen. search and rescue efforts are still underway in beirut but

hope of finding any more survivors is fading 157 people have been confirmed dead and at least 6000 injured anger is growing amid accusations that authorities ignored warnings about explosives being stored at the polls and the u.s. state department has praised a former saudi intelligence chief who has filed a lawsuit against prime prince mohammed bin sylmar in washington sagal jobbery says the crown prince said to his what to canada to assassinate him in 2018. that investigation into a plane crash that killed at least 18 people continues in india the air india express plane with 119 passengers and crew on board skidded off the runway and broke into 2 as it landed in the southern state of care a lot of friday more than 100 people were injured and the hayward reports. the desperate search for survivors from an air india express flight which is being bringing people home from the u.a.e.

190 passengers and crew on board the bering 737 when it overshot the runway at kozhikode airport in carolina. but. 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 stop it broke into several pieces it seems to have crossed that runway and fallen into a ditch sort of ablaze because there is a different shield between that on. on 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 were reported to be among the dead there are currently no commercial

flights in or out of india this was a recapturing nation flight from dubai bringing indian nationals home who've 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 and desecrate his will now want to know how and why this accident happened and why he would al-jazeera. protests have been held across colombia after the supreme court put forward president alvaro uribe under house arrest his supporters have been running in their cars across the country's major cities with a detention deepening political divisions and asunder m.p.'s he reports from the capital. they came out in force in a 4 wheeled protest to abide by current restrictions only. their stanch supporters of former colombian president. who for them will always be

the country savior no matter what. needle and upper class conservatives forever grateful to an ex-president who improve security in a nation battered by a long and bloody civil conflict one. would disagree with this injustice don't you remember we couldn't leave the house with the current who gave us freedom. for them the supreme court decision to detain libby on witness tampering and fraud charges this way. week is an outrage and housing's a former fighters have gone free tanks 282016 peace deal no i get a it's not fair that they keep him like a vile criminal when those guerrilla fighters are sitting in the senate it's not fair not fair. but to others here it's who do you who is the criminal a man with alleged ties to drug traffickers and paramilitary groups with no regard

to human rights whose war against marxist insurgents left thousands of innocent civilians dead. position against a hard fought peace deal with fired rebels that his predecessor juan manuel santos achieved leaving the country split into. what even then certain promises to define these divisions further threatening the possibility of requests in an already deeply. with us party in this political protests current president have attacked the courts the citizen even calling for an overhaul of the justice system and a change to the constitution. for many political commentators the current crisis is stressing the country's institutions in society one of the basic questions here is whether or not the political structure can hold this attack that it's being done

against its legitimacy against dorothy per better or for worse. dominated colombia's political landscape for decades and will likely continue to do so as a symbol of a deeply polarized country still trying to reconcile itself with its past. the u.s. intelligence official has warned that china russia and iran who will try to interfere in the upcoming presidential election the head of the counter intelligence agency says all 3 countries are using online dissin from ation and other tactics to influence voters and create disorder william evergreen a says that china wants president trying to lose the vote while russia would like for him to win and is already working against his democratic opponent joe biden now scott anderson is a fellow in governance studies at the brookings institution he says the issue of foreign interference isn't new but it's notable that the intelligence agencies are

being so up front about it. 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 or at least 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 and 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 an 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 hostess's in washington once again failed to reach a deal of emergency benefits to americans who lost their jobs because of coronavirus president trump is threatening to issue executive orders to fulfill the funding through millions of people have been receiving $600.00 a week but that expired earlier this month. well we can ians who lost their jobs because of covert 19 accuse the government of misusing foreign aid to help them but

yet to receive anybody reports from the capital nairobi. antonio chang has just received his weekly $10.00 payment from the government the money is a lifeline to him and thousands of other kenyans in auburn areas who have lost their jobs because of coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown measures. a chain is a casual labor in the western town of and has 3 children. on the front if we use 500 shillings for banana hoping business we then use the other 500 to buy food and other basic things. in another part of the town hélène a callow tells us this is a pastime she's receiving food since march when the 1st case of the disease was confirmed an advance i'm in now messire gawain i have only heard about the government money i have not seen it i've just received this food store from well wishers. national treasury has so far dispatched about

a $100000000.00 with more on the way the money adds to an existing welfare program that helps the elderly oftens and the disabled while the $300000.00 people have lost their jobs because of the pandemic government money is helping the poorest back the fans are limited the number of those who need it is growing and some analysts are concerned about the lack of transparency on how it's being distributed i. worry about. the lack of trying. or corruption and you've already started. and we don't want to. continue or. how much exactly. there are reports here that say much of the money sent to different government offices is being mismanaged through fraudulent procurement processes and inflated costs of medical equipment. put this concerns to the

treasury cabinet secretary giving money to those 'd 2 issues that. even demanded. and. if you know the cost well. you know. or 'd 'd you know there. was you know. this will be enormously the treasury secretary is expected to release an additional $500000000.00 soon to provide further assistance to those who need it many like him. who are struggling to survive i hope in the money we'll get to them this time cathy zoi al-jazeera narrow. but the latest bank of england forecast says the british economy is facing its biggest annual decline for 100 years and bankers warn it could take more than a year to get back to previous lockdown levels provided there isn't a 2nd surge of corona virus infections we've barca reports from london.

this rush hour but there's little on the move this coffee kiosk normally serves long queues of customers powering workers in surrounding offices for the small business is under pressure. economic storm is brewing i have a team of 7 people and currently at the moment with the way things are of the lucky to bring maybe one or 2 but. it remains like this i think it's going to be very bleak specially for small independents like ourselves that will live on cash flow. and the foot flow to come through. is a similar story in london's financial district where every day feels like sunday this week the bank of england forecasts the economy would contract by 9 and a half percent over the year that's less severe than 1st thought but it's still the biggest annual decline in 100 years and by the end of the year when government funded support schemes come to an end the bank believes unemployment will double.

with many office staff now working from home the streets and alleyways in and around london's financial district are fallen silent that's catastrophic news for all of the local businesses that depend upon passing traffic covert 19 is redefining the country cities and towns can see the from the beginning of march that 4 started to decrease quite rapidly data scientists in the u.k. have been watching our changing behavior since the start of the pandemic using tracking technology and shops and high streets to find out how where and when we spend our money they are the economy's a vital signs and point towards a slow recovery when lock down hit for dropped like a stone and really we were looking at drops of 8 know that 80 percent over 90 percent in london where the streets are absolute deserted we've opened 3 non-essential retail we've opened hospitality we're encouraging people back to work

all of those things created those some for and yet post those because we are still 40 percent lower than we were last year the figures are going in the right direction a surge in online sales is keeping parts of the economy afloat but a 2nd surgeon coronavirus could risk another damaging lockdown denting consumer confidence silencing the nation's high street for potentially years to. leave. london. has declared a state of environmental emergency as it struggles to contain an oil spill a japanese ship with 4000 tons of fuel on board run aground late last month friends has been asked to help contain the leak in the indian ocean islands rough seas prevented attempts to stabilize the ship and pump the fuel to safety. turkey has resumed oil and gas exploration in a disputed area of the eastern mediterranean that's a defiance of

a maritime deal signed by greece and egypt on thursday president rest of the world says the deal is worthless and accuses greece of failing to keep its promises the turks and greeks have long disputed the rights of off shore oil and gas reserves and alpine resort in italy is on high alert over concerns as a glassy a hole the more blow all could collapse dozens of residents and tourists in our all star valley have been relocated a recent heatwave has created a layer of water under the eyes causing it to slide about 80 centimeters each day. you want your just there with me said holroyd a reminder of our top stories beijing's top representative in hong kong has called us sanctions on the territories eda ridiculous and barbarous and the current and former police chiefs are amongst 11 officials whose u.s.

assets will be frozen several club has more than hong kong but the condemnation has been swift not just from the hong kong government but also set up by beijing's top representative in hong kong that he has said he strongly opposes and condemns the treasury sanctions he said this reveals unscrupulous the unscrupulous intentions of u.s. politicians to support china chaos in hong kong and in quite i am or quote from him and what's believed ork considered a humorous response he said i don't have any assets abroad isn't it a waste of time for president trump to impose those sanctions and he could send $100.00 to the united states if president donald trump wanted to freeze that $100.00. search and rescue efforts are underway in beirut but top of finding any survivors is fading 157 people were killed and at least 6000 injured and is growing with accusations that authorities ignored warnings about explosives being stored at the port the u.s.

state department has praised a former saudi intelligence chief who has filed a lawsuit against crown prince mohammed bin son martin washington subtle jab as the crown prince sent a hit squad to canada to kill him in 28 teams. the black box and cockpit voice recorder of an air india express plane that crashed have been found the plane skidded off the runway while landing in the southern state of carroll on friday 18 people were killed it was carrying indian citizens who had been stranded in dubai because of the krona virus pandemic more than 100 have been injured a u.s. intelligence official has warned that china russia and iran will try to interfere in the upcoming presidential election the head of the current intelligence agency says all 3 countries are using online disinform ation and other tactics to influence u.s. voters and create disorder cause you follow those stories on our website at al-jazeera dot com and back with more news in half an hour but next it's inside story do stay with us. in russia mixed

martial arts didn't just pull it. if you bring the fame. and power collection one when he did best take on al-jazeera. the saudi crown prince a lawsuit and an alleged murder plot now haven't been sold money is being sued in the u.s. accused of another attempt to kill a dissident a group so should saudi activists in exile be worried they risk the same fate as jamal khashoggi there isn't so story. hello and welcome to the program on imran khan a man with close ties to the saudi royal family falls out with the crown prince and goes into exile.