lebanese security forces clashed with protesters expressing their firy with the government after the explosion that devastated by a route lebanon's prime minister has responded to the anger by proposing early elections. hello i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the

program balloons are released on copacabana beach as the number of people killed by cove at 19 in brazil passes 100000 the bars in rio still packed. protesters are back out in west jerusalem calling for israel's prime minister to step down. clashes a broken out in central beirut where tens of thousands of lebanese have been out voicing their fear at the government for its role in tuesday's explosion police fired tear gas and live ammunition as some protesters threw stones and others stormed government ministries the offices of the association of lebanese banks were also trashed one policeman was killed during the arrest and the right cross said dozens of people were injured. by a root residents are angry that they've been left to pick up the pieces of their

shattered homes and neighborhoods using shovels and human chains no help from the state. and more m.p.'s have resigned from parliament in their own protest a christian opposition party which lost a senior official in the blast said it's 3 legislators will join 2 others who left in anger at corruption and the lebanese prime minister says he will propose early elections in a bid to stem the anger loom conclusion as. we cannot face these problems unless we have early elections to elect new politicians and a new parliament we need a new political elite and a new parliament we need to work together to overcome the stiff a period we know and i know the people have questions about the catastrophe and how the government plans to handle it the catastrophe is way bigger than anyone could imagine the impact may stay forever. let's go to bennett smith in beirut and just listening to the prime minister there proposing early elections i mean that's

unlikely to pacify the anger inferi we saw on the streets of beirut today. that initial announcement and the 1st time that the prime minister has spoken to the lebanese people since tuesday's explosion but it took a little bit of the sting out of the protests people have been calling for early elections and it is a little quiet here tonight i'm in martyr square which is now essentially been sealed off by the security forces on its periphery some protesters trying to get in but the security forces have kept them back at all the major entrances here the problem for the prime minister is that he is really just a figurehead it's those that are pulling the strings behind him. those are hezbollah and its ally parties they are the ones on monday who will have to agree to his call for early elections they have a majority in the cabinet they have the majority in parliament so the question will

be by monday has water has happened since tuesday been catastrophic enough that lebanon's political classes will be willing to call new elections but even if they do the system under which those elections are held will be held is the same as the current system which is essentially means that the lebanese parliament is carved up between different sects the boundaries of all the constituencies that here are already set up in advance and those who have the seats in the past will win the seats again it's very almost impossible for a new blog to get into lebanon's current political system. of anger against the establishment is nothing new is it and it's really been building since last year in lebanon but from what you've seen on the street today from the people that you've been speaking to is there a sense that they are more organized this time around more determined to keep

turning out. look there is real real dispair. here as well as sadness and frustration there is very high unemployment there's been an economic collapse the currency is lost 80 percent of its value in the last 10 months or so and now this 300000 people homeless so yes that despair is turning to anger and that has bought some protesters out may gather them and the problem for the protests is that come out now is the same as the problem the protesters had when they came out last year in october there is no individual or group to channel their frustrations through there is nobody able to take the frustrations of those protesters and push for change that is the big problem that lebanon face can you give us a sense of how big the turnout was today who came out in protest.

the protests today were in the thousands i mean is nothing like the size of the ones that we had last october but it was thousands of people and these are mainly young lebanese actually are across a cross-section of lebanese it's fair to say from all sections from all from all sects but the problem is that is the protests gather momentum and those controlling different groups try and set people against each other so in this evening we've had . allied groups trying to fight. political groups if you like and the police and the security forces keeping them apart that is the big danger here but war that war was once a general gathering of civil society. because of the immense frustration of the situation in lebanon ends up splitting into sectarian conflict that is the problem that we've had here tonight we have seen i must say the protests to begin with were

peaceful in the main peaceful on the periphery though. very understandable frustration with the situation boiled over into stone throwing up. confrontations with the security thank you very much bernard smith and beirut. now the number of people who have died of covered 19 in brazil is past 100000 according to a brazilian media consortium it's only the 2nd country to reach that tragic milestone after the united states activists have marked the moment with a striking event on rio's famous copacabana beach they've attached a 1000 red balloons to 1000 black crosses one for every 100 people who have died president diables n.r.o. is consistently downplayed the crisis despite getting covert 19 himself. that's

a marker to say milwaukee is. the 100000 deaths milestone represents what brazil is to the world why we in 2nd place can we give to this question here we are only have one percent of the number of deaths 100000 where will this take us. monica yannick who has this report for us now from rio de janeiro. one time bus driver id shown that crash on the was one of brazil's 12000000 unemployed that is until the soaring death toll caused by the coronavirus pandemic landed him a job as a grave digger at the simple solve a cemetery on the outskirts of rio de janeiro. we had to recruit 30 undertakers to cope with the growing amount of boroughs and build a separate area just for infected bodies. and the shanty works in the cove in 1900 designed especially for the victims of the virus. the money being full part is

witnessing the farewell which is different from many other people want to say goodbye to their loved ones but we can't allow them to get near. brazil's cova death toll keeps growing in part because the government is encouraging brazilians not to stay home while failing to take measures to stop the virus from reaching even remote parts of the amazon despite evidence to the contrary president. continues questioning the seriousness of the pandemic and scorns w.h.o. guidelines such as the need for widespread testing and using face masks. as a result many here are skeptical about the official number of deaths like leader dylon who does your morning exercises in front of the emblematic football stadium now converted into a field hospital you know removing me and. i never saw anyone coming in or out of

this hospital so i don't know if this story was made up or if politicians have been using this pandemic to steal money this is one of the 5 field hospitals of rio de janeiro that are being dismantled some of them were not even completed the state health secretary and his deputy are in jail for allegedly misusing the funds that were given to fight the covert 19 pandemic and the governor is about to be impeached on corruption charges. back at the cemetery 53 year old moyes says the colonel is about to be buried. his family is obliged to stay far away almost unable to see the casket being sealed off some of the few from sympathetic to signal unfortunately my brother in law has just become more and more statistic burden of 5 minutes or more and. gives the impression that nothing is going on but i think very numbers of this are even higher than the official

statistics and although the president and a 3rd of his cabinet have tested positive for corona virus critics say a deadly combination of corruption and a refusal to come from the pandemic head on will continue filling brazil's graveyards monica joins us live now from rio de janeiro a very sad milestone here 100000 deaths the 2nd highest number in the world now and so tell us more about how people there are a a coping because the feeling is that it's probably the country's probably not reached its peak just yet. no it hasn't they're already talking about 200000 deaths by october how people are reacting well some people the people that have lost to the 100000 people that died there or their families. realize how serious the pandemic is but otherwise in brazil it looks like

not much is really going on that's the feeling because people have been getting very mixed messages you have the president doing one thing he did he was tested positive for coded 19 but since he got well pretty soon it's sort of like back to his theory that it's a very small food and nothing serious so people hear that from the president that he that it's nothing serious that he we should just continue with our lives on the other hand you have his former health minister which was sacked saying that you know it is a very serious matter every governor says something different also it's similar to the situation in the united states where you have states taking their own measures so people get this very mixed feeling but 800000 is a very very large number so you have the president who's downplaying the crisis to health ministers who are trained doctors of resigned because of the way he's

approaching it. varies no does this mean that just there is no coordinated plan to tackle the pandemic. no there isn't even the a simple thing like going back to school it was the real. the mayor of rio was he said yes they should go back to school the schools the private schools wanted to reopen because they're losing money the public schools said no we're not you know risking our lives going back to school and so a simple question like will children be back in school is something that was very confusing until finally no decision was taken and no they're not going back to school but nothing is being put in place to do one thing or the other it's not like ok what we take this decision and so these are plans there are no plans thank you from rio de janeiro monica yannick you joining us that. still to come on the

program afghanistan's highest consultative body recommends the government release $400.00 taliban prisoners but only if the if they promise not to return to fighting . and residents in militias scramble to stop the oil leaking into that christine from the ground that she had. helo the planes he will halt and dry weather across much of europe the heat wave is still very much in place across most areas one of the thunderstorms again across the southeast in the last begin to weaken of the next couple of days and also the sunny skies it is bright and on the south coast of england bournemouth along the coast thousands of people flocking to the beaches same story of course as well across into france is fine if you can get with beach in the cool water of the city

but this is what they've done in the town they've actually set up a cool sprinkling system but it has an even better idea had to vary it to the mountains and this is what greets you clear sunny skies 10 inches around 9 celsius plenty of snow plenty of ice that is what people are saying meanwhile don is about it in germany 33 celsius on sunday thank you want to london even hotter than last in paris we'll begin to see some scattered showers and thunderstorms that become a little bit more prevalent on monday generally it's really about the heat is setting off a lot of these showers and thunderstorms and you can just see here by the amount of red just how warm it is these the time which is in london over the next 3 days still well above the average 32 expected on monday again against the average of 23 little bit cool out there all the chance i want to showers maybe a stray thunderstorm cinna story in paris it stays hot with a chance of scattered thunderstorms. for. a story of financial scandal with billions lost in the united arab

emirates i've never seen a story like this where 2 companies similar tiniest plea involving the same group of people have failed at the same time but where did the money go is the $1000000.00 question al jazeera world investigates the dramatic story of the rise and fall of an indian tycoon be on the missing millions on al-jazeera. the in the. book i'm back to watching al jazeera live from london a look at our top story one policeman has died dozens of been wounded in lebanon's

capital beirut during clashes between demonstrators and security forces thousands of people took to the streets of the capital to voice their fury at the government off to choose days explosion and lebanon's prime minister has sunday obvious saying the only way out of the crisis is to hold early elections televised address he said he was not to blame for the country's deep economic and political problems and our other top story this hour the number of people have died of covert 19 in brazil has passed 100000 according to a brazilian media consortium activists marked a tragic milestone by releasing a 1000 red balloons on rio's copacabana beach. now u.s. president donald trump is expected to sign as many as 4 executive orders on saturday covering the next phase of economic relief during the cove in $1000.00 pandemic trump is taking the action after congress failed to agree and new deal one of the executive orders would enter restore some unemployment aid for millions of americans whose in harm's benefits expired last month the others are expected to

relate to vixen protections and student loan relief. meanwhile hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists are descending from across the u.s. on a small city in south dakota it's one of the largest gathering since the pandemic started a quarter of a 1000000 bikers are expected in sturgis which has a population of only $7000.00 for the 80th annual motorcycle rally. that's around half the usual attendance but it's still sparking fears of what's being called a super spread to event south dakota has no restrictions on indoor events no requirements twemlow asks. health officials in the australian state of victoria say the cove in 1902 ation there is stabilizing as melbourne remains in lockdown and under an overnight curfew there were 466 new cases reported in the state on saturday and 12 deaths half of them in old people's homes for the north queensland has closed its border with new south wales in an attempt to stop the spread of the

virus we're seeing some stabilization in numbers we've got you know 4 or 500 cases each day that has been more or less the average for the last week that's not good enough but it is a positive that we have of an exponential increase through the last couple of weeks if we hadn't stabilise those numbers we would of seeing thousands of cases per day and there are estimates we've had $20000.00 or more cases of the stage 3 restrictions. now thousands of people are again on the streets in israel calling for the prime minister to stand down a gathering outside benjamin netanyahu his residence in west jerusalem the words your time is up all projected on to the side of a building anger at his government government's handling of the carnivores pandemic has added to existing tensions caused by his impending trial that corruption charges and that's the scene right now in western algiers herefore say it was at

the protests and says the problems are really fucking up the embattled leader. all other very noisy very substantial protest here in west cirrus one just a few 100 meters from the prime minister's residence benjamin a residence just beyond the square behind me once again very much dominated it seems by the israeli political left we see the black flags of the pro-democracy had seen as you know movement and others good long been protesting against his premiership saying that he should resign because of the fact that he is on trial in 3 separate corruption cases but as well as that these are very much greenfield these protests by those who've been angered and disappointed by the government's performance in dealing with the coronavirus demick away from what's happening on the street though it's worth noting there are other major political developments going on every week every sunday israeli government has my cabinet meeting it seems that this one could be canceled this sunday because of

a disagreement between the 2 sides the likud party of benjamin netanyahu and the blue and white party of benny gantz his former rival and also the prime minister they have been deep in argument over the passage of a budget that you know he wants a one year budget to allow the free and potentially in calling fresh elections and staying in office up until those elections dance wants to see the deal they signed off on it being a 2 year budget giving him more security in himself taking office on time in the event been next year so this is only fueling which is already. very rampant speculation that this coalition could break up and israel could be facing a forefront of election within months on out of afghanistan the country's highest consultative body has recommended that the government release $400.00 taliban prisoners but only if they promise not to return to fighting the group of some $3200.00 leaders scholars and elders called the loya jirga is holding a special assembly in the capital kabul the release of the prisoners is seen as the

last hurdle for peace talks between the government and the taliban the taliban can begin it's now up to president bush afghani to make the final decision. there were issues over government to use and also concerns if those released would return back to the battlefield to intensify the fighting bugs and some other similar issues but overall discussions happened in a friendly environment today. 1600 prisoners were released these 400 should be released as well so there is no other obstacle for both sides to reach a peace deal. the president of belarus is facing the strongest challenge yet to his long and controversial leadership alexander lukashenko is expected to declare victory after the final day of polling on sunday which would be his 6th successive win in 26 years the opposition rallying behind and are running behind an unexpected candidate now vying to contest the election result in court step vause reports now from the capital minsk. election observation belorussian style.

independent observers have not only been detained but also been barred from entering polling stations nonetheless they have found irregularities in the voting process that started on tuesday and will happen to speak on sunday the 1st day of the elections same. 39 people were out in the evening protocol. the mission said there were 89 so they added 50 people is the president alexander lukashenko has been accused of stealing previous elections but this time he's facing an opposition on a scale has not witnessed before led by this woman 37 year olds but learn at the hand of sky she reluctantly decided to run for president after her husband a popular blogger was jailed suppose the elections were going to be free and free

or how many percent of the vote would you get i suppose $6.00 to $5.00 said and. he would be a big winner then. i would be here who would. but the woman who attracted large crowds does not expect this to be the official election result she has promised that if she becomes president the 1st thing she will do is call for free elections even if this. doesn't happen now. of course elections will be a new way. i don't think he will stay long. i don't know how can a person. country where people. softly speaking don't like him just. most of them. and. but

will he go quietly. the talk this guy has accused the opposition of trying to cause a bloodbath and russia of provoking violence but analysts say these accusations are made to hide the country's real problems. in the last 10 years they call them has gone down and society is not happy and basically society are united against looking despite their ideological position their values and their political priorities all of them think are the main obstacle for development is looking. but as long as the president is still backed by the military and high ranking officials he believes look as shanker will remain in power the moment of truth for a look at shango will not be on election day but on the days after that if as announced large crowds protests what they believe will be another fraudulent election here at this square the thread the file and scanned them become reality a scenario most belorussians want to avoid step fasten al-jazeera meant.

anti-government protesters of rallies in the far east of russia for the 5th weekend in a row thousands of people gathered in her borowski on the border with china to voice their anger over the arrest of the popular governor daily demonstrations have been help eating on weekends since sergei fergal was detained and taken to moscow is being held in connection with the murder investigation the protesters say the arrest was politically motivated and want him either freed or tried in that city. a venezuelan court has sentenced 2 former u.s. soldiers to 20 years in prison for authorities called an attempt to overthrow president maduro luke denman and aaron berry were found guilty of conspiracy terrorism and illicit weapons trafficking over the attempt to topple the government in may the men's lawyers says their legal team wasn't allowed in the courtroom cheering the proceedings a florida based security firms claim responsibility for the raid which left 8

people dead and dozens injured now in rishis a citizen led cleanup operation is underway as tons of fuel leak from a grounded ship into the island nations pristine waters the country's declared a state of environmental emergency and is appealing for help from france and its nearby territories emily sue reports aereo and satellite photos show the extent of the oil spill off the southeastern coast of. the japanese owned ball-carrier waka she'll ran aground late last month and began leaking its $4000.00 tons of fuel into the indian ocean all 20 crew were taken to shore but rough seas hampered attempts to stabilize the ship and pump the fuel off after declaring a state of environmental emergency prime minister pravin juggernaut appealed for help from france he says islanders don't have the expertise to clean up the spill.

president emanuel kwan promised to send teams and equipment from the nearby french island off. the government's waiting for french help to arrive some volunteers have started their own cleanup effort building sea booms with straw to soak up the spill . he says i'm still movies with we are here to see what we can save everyone here is trying to save what they can of our ocean which gives us so much and which supports us or that this is our heritage the. one unless you are strong we can see the situation is getting worse this spill is affecting so many sectors tourism the economy ecology. but also some salons are offering free haircuts this weekend as hair can also be used to soak up oil. while 4000 tons of fuel may seem like a relatively small amount compared to major oil leaks its impact on the riches is huge and the islands are surrounded by some of the world's most valuable coral

reefs and tourism is crucial to the economy the impact will not only be logical economical because many people who ride their livelihoods from the fish to fish in the area there are a lot of hotels also in the area who market which market place. in order to get clients and you have a lot of people only livelihoods also on the land leader say as to 1st time the 1300000 islanders have been faced with an environmental crisis of this kind experts fear the ship could break up causing an even greater fuel leak and inflicting catastrophic damage to marine life at least 2 out to 0. concerns that a huge chunk of last year could collapse need talian alps are easing slightly residents of. long were evacuated from their homes on friday after experts warned 850-0000 cubic metre block of ice could fall off mayor the village says the

situation is now better but the area will remain closed climate change has been slowly melting the glass is with soaring summer heat in the region pushing the block in particular danger. well as much one of the right hearing today of course the unfolding situation in lebanon al jazeera dot com and also watch a song live streaming there as well. one policeman has died and dozens of been wounded in beirut during clashes between demonstrators and security forces thousands of people have been on the streets of lebanon's capital voicing their fury at the government after tuesday's devastating explosion many are angry that more than $2700.00 tons of ammonium nitrate was

allowed to be stored at beirut's port that it is prime minister says the only way out of the crisis is to have early elections. we cannot face these problems unless we have the early elections to elect a new politicians and a new parliament we need a new political elite and a new parliament we need to work together to overcome the stiff a period we know and i know the people have questions about the catastrophe and how the government plans to handle it the catastrophe is way bigger than anyone could imagine the impact my stay forever. in other headlines the number of people who died of covert 19 in brazil has passed 100000 according to a brazilian media consultant activist marked the tragic milestone by laying out 100 crosses on rio's coke at copacabana beach and releasing a 1000 red balloons president. repeatedly downplayed the crisis despite getting coated 19 himself. thousands of people are again out on the streets in israel

calling for the prime minister to stand down have gathered outside benjamin netanyahu is residence in west jerusalem and his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has added to tensions caused by zim pending trial over corruption charges. afghanistan's highest consultative body has recommended that the government release 400 taliban prisoners but only if they promise not to return to fighting the release of the prisoners is seen as the final hurdle before peace talks with the taliban can begin now to president ashraf ghani to make the final decision. and u.s. president donald trump is expected to sign as many as 4 executive orders on saturday after talks with democrats faulted on an economic relief package one of the executive orders would aim to restore some unemployment aid for millions of americans whose enhanced benefits expired last month. you're up to date with the top stories this hour coming up next on al-jazeera it's the listening post probably back with more news after that in about half an hour's time to stay with us by phone now.

murdoch was allowed to get through all of the answer because you know how to feel right but i think that the. audience and the public health act they can live. through for. hello i'm richard disparate and you're watching a special edition of the listening post this week we examine rupert murdoch one of the world's biggest media empires and its coverage of coke at 90 we're focusing on the 2 countries where murdoch's companies news corp and fox corp are most heavily

invested and at their most influential astray and the united states on the american side fox news is reporting on the coronavirus has.