in a new documentary explores the impact of accessing vast amounts of our personal data . data left on. the. lebanon's information minister becomes the 1st in government to quit over the port blast as a powerful religious leader says the whole cabinet may need to go. and international donors are meeting online to seek ways to rebuild the country as a simmons in a devastated beirut. hello there i'm a star and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up paving the way for peace talks in afghanistan the president agrees to set 400 taliban prisoners free.

i suppose next extremely important myself or her older people are known. and the english translator angry over the jailing of a husband who has become the biggest threat to alexander lukashenko is 26 year old and valerie. i'm wayne carey in bangkok where the government is facing the double threats of a collapsing economy at a protest movement that's valin to intensify. right now wild leaders are trying to work out ways to help rebuild lebanon's capital but in beirut's there is a growing clamor to reshape the political system as well the information minister became the 1st senior member of government to resign since tuesday's port blast but i'll bill simon says there's little hope for change 6 m.p.'s have now quit and there are reports that more may soon follow and maronite. the whole cabinet to

quest in 130 this is the point of no return people are starving the economy has deteriorated the economic crisis is heightening our families children friends have just been left behind fear and disappointments lives within them in this fateful moments we cannot just sit behind we have to stand in dignity together as a nation i feel that i need to send an apology to the libyan people because we failed to achieve their ambitions due to the difficulties. at least $158.00 people were killed when ammonium nitrate exploded causing billions of dollars worth of damage around $300000.00 people were also left homeless a video conference of donors hosted by the un and france is currently underway with president emanuel back on calling for efficient action to get aid to the lebanese people as quickly as possible. today's objective is to quickly and

effectively coordinate all actions on the ground so that the aid can get to the lebanese people as efficiently as possible this offer of assistance includes support for an impartial credible and independent inquiry into the cause of the disaster on august 4th that's a strong of the cheetah mcclymont of the lebanese people it's a question of confidence this after mass demonstrations on saturday denouncing government corruption and demanding regime change well that's now speak to bennett smith our correspondent who is on the ground for us in beirut but i mean we're now hearing about a 2nd cabinet resignation. yeah the more significant want to send. cats are he's the environment minister and what's significant about this it is resignation is he really is 1st of all respected technocratic member of the cabinet and an hour i of the prime minister has been the speculation was today that the reason we've been hearing of rumors of his resignation before it was confirmed was

in the intervening hours the prime minister was trying to persuade environmentalist and not to go but he has gone a 2nd minister to go and a lot of pressure on the prime minister he's already said that when the cabinet meets on monday he's going to ask them to agree to call elections if the cabinet agrees to that they'll make a draft law and that will be presented to parliament and it will be up to parliament to pass that laurie could decide not to and try and appoint a new cabinets and a prime minister or he could agree with the cabinets requests and go ahead and agree to early elections and they would be held within 2 months in state then and we're seeing the people now gathering behind you after the huge demonstrations that we saw yesterday security forces out barricades being a wrecked as well can you give us a sense of the mood there at the moment. i have to say that the crowds are much less than they were on saturday much thinner than they were at this at the same

time the have been a couple of confrontations small confrontations and tear gas fired near parliament but crowds a lot lower but we have seen today as we've been seeing every day since since tuesday's explosion of thousands of people mainly young lebanese out on the streets cleaning up with brushes and pickaxes and shovels cleaning up the mess and giving out giving out food aid giving out emergency assistance giving out clothing because there is a real need for that at the moment and as we've said in these past few days what these the lebanese people are doing is filling in the gaps left by the state so that is where we've seen most activity today although there is a small protests he was speaking of the gap span and we are seeing all of this happen as this donor conference takes place online but surely the challenge is going to be about how to roll out that aid in lebanon. well emanuel macron who's

chaired this stone of conference he's said that lebanon's future is at stake he said we must act quickly and efficiently so that this aid goes directly to where it is needed and the challenge for the donors is how do they make sure that there is nobody skimming anything off the top of the aid when the administration they must deal with in lebanon the political elite they must deal with has been in the lap of power for the last 304050 years has been doing just that skimming off they control the political elites the main utilities electricity the water the telephone networks the ports was for one particular grouping a major cash cow in terms of the money taken off in customs excise and jew cheese so that is the problem the matter is why there is so much anger and despondent despondency here amongst the protesters because they know how difficult it is going to be to rest but control away from these entrenched elites bernard smith there on the ground for us and the lebanese capital beirut thank you very much bennett

well ybor him whole army is a member of the opposition group and f.t. he's also a teaching fellow at royal holloway university of london and he says it's time for an overhaul of the whole of lebanon's political system. we do believe early elections is not really the answer because the regime the power sharing arrangement which kept the sectarian parties in power for decades they are the ones the authority in the taking the rules of the elections and therefore they haue bit realty to devise they look for a law that would ensure their reproduction of the same regime so elections itself is not an answer when i would assessment is the state itself has collapsed and therefore what we believe is the answer is to continue to decide together with the ruling parties on a transitional process that can save society when we are in the midst of overlapping and emerging and urgent. crisis be it fiscal or economic or now as we can see also human turning on one hand we do need help at large needs help and it

is very much commendable that states that would be providing this help are suggesting that this can be done directly to society rather than going through the channels the vertical up channels of the states this is something that at least on the short term is much needed however we cannot really rely on and on states be it regional to national to give us that sort of sustainable solution which is the formation of a civil state which every society really needs at the under and the end of the way and that's why we think that the solution has to come from the people unfortunately the site at largest still very much divided and sectarian parties are a large stake in how communities perceive the crisis and where the blame game basically. how is it strange how the blame game is right. on moving on now and afghanistan's president is backing the release of $400.00 taliban prisoners ashraf ghani made his decision after the loya jirgah consultative body approved freeing

the so-called hardcore prisoners their release has been a precondition for the armed group to hold peace talks with the government. as well . for centuries of understands traditional ground assemblies known as jurors solve problems by consultation within $3000.00 elders and community leaders joint politicians to decide on the final stumbling block for the negotiations with the taliban with some reluctance president danny has honored the agreement between the us government and the armed group decided 5000 prisoners must be released before incra of one dialogue can begin most inmates have been released the ago was called to decide about the final 400 prisoners your time government says these 400 are wanted for major crimes and some even face the death penalty they want to ensure that these men do not return to the battlefield the been. today i will sign the decree that i did not have the authority to sign before now i will sign

the decree to authorize the release of the 400 taliban prisoners by saw the request of the loya jirga and they will be released. in a complex power sharing structure is the chairman of the loya jirga as he leads the high council for national reconciliation. hi sally. the declaration of the loya jirga has removed all the obstacles to start the interim afghan talks and we are on the cusp of starting the negotiation we do have respect for all your decisions and the afghan government will be committed to implementing all of them. despite temporary ceasefire as one in 3 and a half 1000 afghan security personnel have been killed since february that's when the landmark deal was signed between dollar man leaders and the us government us troops are supposed to leave of want to stand by april 2021 and it will. remain divided over the u.s. could draw. it would be better that the u.s. does stay here that will also help our security and reconstruction of our country.

the withdrawal of foreign troops is good for us as they were against our culture. it will definitely have a positive impact. for almost all of the security remains there for most concern but. regarding the release of prisoners we need peace in afghanistan and we will need to pay a price for that therefore we are obliged to release the taliban prisoners of them and say their rights and safety is non-negotiable regardless of who wields power there did it. i continued my university studies despite losing many of my classmates to suicide attacks we still have faith in a stance government will need to bring security in all the places where we do not have security at the moment. the us government has acknowledged the release of prisoners isn't popular but leaning president danis government to hold direct talks to facilitate a peace agreement the release of prisoners is

a 1st step for all of them factions to sit across the table but they remain multiple challenges and wide ranging differences to overcome for peace can be achieved. that there. is an afghan journalist based in kabul he says the loya jirga assembly gave voice to people suffering from the ongoing war. every day you hear about your strikes night raids suicide attacks indiscriminate mortar attacks killing entire families of roadside bombs the country really needs respond from violence and then you're talking about a process where a future government will be discussed amendments in the constitution is something that we expect will be brought up so no one actually thinks that this is a peace process that will be done in an overnight you're looking at a number of sticking points from now on for example what happens to the powers and

thousands of taliban fighters do they become parts of the afghan national security forces where does afghanistan go from here does it become a republic what happens to the rights a woman to the several society to media because afghanistan today is a changed country from the one that the taliban were ruling well still ahead here on al-jazeera and move that's inflaming tensions between washington and beijing atop a transitional arrives in taiwan. and in sync with social distancing the opera company that found a way to keep performing during private 19. and other conditions still remain very unpleasant across much of the korean

peninsula in particular towards the south more cloud is being streaming in and there is more very heavy rain in the forecast but this is the conditions in the southwest this huge and deadly landslide a mudslide occurred of course because as a result of these continuing heavy rains there is more of this in the forecast on monday in fact some very heavy amounts of rain to the east of there across into japan we got want to see like it's got a chance and then reached. much of central and western china again we have these areas of scottish and some thunderstorms through cheeze say that rain will continue across the korean peninsula eventually late in the day it should begin to ease that all the while back into china those rains again fairly heavy but also some heavy rain across into the south as well and the rains very widespread across much of south asia the next couple of days are going to see much more in the way of rain across much of these coastal areas you can see the waynes just really pushing across the bay of bengal so really pushing those rain showers in but also some very heavy downpours across pradesh and eventually send your cross into raja stan as

well similar story really on cheese day and all the while the rains very heavy across the north extensive through much of the pole boutin to the much of the northeast but again the western gas really picking up some heavier downpours as we head into tuesday. in russia nonchalant didn't. it bring the same coaching and power on top of that one when he investigated on al-jazeera. every generation has a higher purpose. hours straight. hello

there i'm just audio tape and don that's remind you of our top stories this hour a 2nd minister has resigned from lebanon's government as the fallout from tuesday's port explosion grows environment minister. qatar has confirmed his ouster following information minister. and. afghanistan's president is backing the release of $400.00 taliban prisoners ashraf ghani says he respects the decision of the loya jirga consultative body to approve freeing so-called hardcore taliban fighters. voters and bellerose have less than an hour left to cast their ballots in one of the country's most hotly contested presidential elections alexander lukashenko is facing a tough challenge to clinch a 6th consecutive term his main challenger to kind of skier has versus after

reports that she went into hiding overnight when her top aides were detained step bassam reports from the capital minsk. cheers for start line up the kind of guy who went into hiding on the eve of the election because she feared arrest that was after 8 members of her team including her campaign manager were reportedly detained at 1st reluctant presidential candidate she has grown into the biggest hope many belorussians have for change i know you were in the fight for safety so i'm sure everybody would. be kind of guy at election rallies attracted the largest crowds velo is high seen in decades with 2 other women on her site the wife and complain manager of 2 other jailed opposition figures she can paint across the country on the eve of the election one of them fled abroad and the other maria kolesnik over was briefly detained she's undeterred by her for great hopes that all dreams are.

today. moral or day after tomorrow this is the beginning of the end it's a beginning of a new life she came out of hiding to cast her vote the main opposition candidates but. it's what's going to rest on election day the election that has been dominated by accusations of fraud and the rest after casting his vote president alexander lukashenko called the opposition weak. yes if you're going to go against our country or even in the smallest way tries to plunge the country into chaos and stabilize it you will receive an immediate response from me. for decades he's enjoyed solid support in the former soviet country lately he's faced criticism for downplaying the cold with 19 crisis and worsening economy he's attracted voters by accusing the opposition of planning to create chaos. criminalists of us to i want

to vote for peace and the well being of the roots and every family here and have no crazy crowds in the city. as rallies have been prohibited in the past week supporters of the kind of guy you found creative ways to protest against us rule but even that led to more arrests more than 800 people have been detained during this heated campaign stop fast and al-jazeera minsk now the us health secretary has arrived in taipei for a visit that's anger in china it's the highest level u.s. delegation to visit taiwan in 4 decades beijing has warned president donald trump that the visit threatens peace and stability in the region sarah clarke reports. it's a much anticipated visit us health secretary alex as i was leading a delegation to taiwan to learn from the island success in fighting the coronavirus the united states has recorded 5000000 cases taiwan has fewer than 500 but analysts

say the trip is not just about the pandemic it's definitely more the the optics and the message being sent to the taiwan government and the people of taiwan as well as to the government in china as far as what what level the u.s. wants the relationship with taiwan to be obviously the health secretary dr learned much during a 3 day visit china claim sovereignty over taiwan and the island is a main irritant in the troubled relationship between the world's 2 largest economies is due to made taiwanese president clinton during his 3 day visit that's and get china's leaders who object to all official contact between taiwan and the u.s. chinese government misses a warning the united states delegation to stick to the one china principle. i want to stress that the one trying to principle is universally recognized by the international community any attempt to ignore deny or challenge the one trying to principle end up in failure the trip is expected to further fry ties between

beijing and washington both are at loggerheads over trade technology human rights and territorial disputes especially in the south china sea it's possible that the mainland would look at the economic consequences reminding taiwan that if they don't want to play with the mainland that they're you know there's going to be a very very cold harsh harsh world out there china's government says taiwan is the most important and sensitive issue inside the u.s. relations this where high level visit comes as those relations have already sunk to the lowest point in decades sarah pac al jazeera. well the number of confirmed. corona virus infections in the u.s. has now passed 5000000 as the country struggles to contain the disease the president has bypassed congress to sign a new measures aimed at providing economic relief to millions of americans but democrats say they provide little help to families and will actually reduce much

needed support for the unemployed and my counterparts from washington. fresh from around on his course the president held a news conference at his new jersey golf club a number of the club's members forming an admiring crowd heaped blame on the democrats for the lack of agreement in congress ignoring the fact that the house had passed a new stimulus bill back in may that the republican controlled senate declined to vote on. the 1st stimulus bill was passed in march in a bipartisan vote but a number of its provisions expired at the end of july. among them the $600.00 unemployment benefit which the president has reduced to poor $100.00 in his executive order why did you decide on $400.00 when previously families were receiving $600.00 now that will be a hardship for many what do you say to them when our server hardship this is the money that they need this is the money they want in this gives them

a great incentive to go back to work and controversially he's demanded that the states many of which have been economically devastated by the pandemic pay a quarter of the new benefit one of the points of disagreement in congress was the democrats' proposal to offer financial assistance to the country states better had largely been forced to come to the pandemic with limited federal assistance legal experts argue the president does not have the constitutional power to cut payroll taxes as he has done in addition these taxes go to social security and medicare and it's not clear now how these programs will be funded. the house speaker nancy pelosi and senate democratic leader chuck schumer issued a scathing joint statement president trump still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crises facing working families they say they're disappointed that instead of putting in the work to solve

americans' problems the president instead chose to stay on his luxury golf course to announce unworkable weak and narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need the president's executive orders will face a series of legal challenges and it's uncertain when or if they will come into effect. my kind of al-jazeera washington while the astray in state of victoria has reported a record 17 coronavirus deaths in a single day and coincided with a police crackdown on protesters trying to hold an anti mosque rally in the capital melbourne victoria is currently at the center of a 2nd wave of infections tight restrictions and a nighttime curfew have been imposed in the south eastern state which accounts for most of australia's 21000 cases some better news across the tasman new zealand's marking $100.00 days since it stamped out the spread of the corona virus there any

new cases have been a few returning travelers who've been quarantined at the border prime minister just into arjun has been praised for leading the efforts but is warning people they must stay vigilant to avoid a 2nd wave while north korean leader kim jong un has ordered the distribution of aid to a border city that's now been under lockdown for a month food and medicine have been sent to k. song the city was sealed off after pyongyang said a defector had returned from the south showing coronavirus symptoms now north korea has never officially reported any $1000.00 cases and protesters in thailand say the arrest of 2 of their leaders will not stop the campaign to force the government out the pair were charged with sedition and breaking coronavirus rules before being released on bail and government demonstrations of grown as millions of thais struggle to make ends meet because of this pandemic when he has moved from bangkok . a prize bird is being groomed in the hope it can soon get back to work

cockfighting is a tradition in thailand that dates back centuries and has grown into an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars but it's a business in most provinces that's been closed for 4 months because of coronavirus leaving many fighting for survival 6. i wanted to sell my birds gradually but i cannot have to try to survive by finding other jobs but it's so hard because a lot of people are out of work. in fact as many as $8000000.00 times could be unemployed by the end of the year meaning lengthening lines for food handouts as government assistance dries up the dire situation comes at a time when the government is coming under increasing scrutiny from opponents who say it came to power through a rigged election last year the 1st since a coup in 2014 thailand has a long history of political violence and turbulence which is why there is particular concern about this period the economy is collapsing street protests are underway and at times there is open discussion about the most to boost subject in

this country featuring diet lords and spells protesters have been making thinly veiled references to the role of the monarchy in thailand it's a sensitive and dangerous tactic in a country where criticism of the royal family can lead to a long jail sentence the protesters want broad political reform and experts believe the economic situation brought on by the pen demick is highlighting and intensifying inequality more than 50 percent of the well is held by the top one percent and so i think a lot of young people. look to the future for their opportunities don't don't see don't see any opportunities and so are are more willing to take risks right now to see some political change given the potential that economic hardship could see the protest movement expand way. beyond students the government appears particularly attentive this time the prime minister says who listen to and engage with the

parties does but warn them to be careful what they say. many people see too much and may not be genuine so this is a police matter to proceed with. for now many in thailand are too busy trying to earn a living to worry about political change but as the economy worsens fighting to force the government out might become more of a priority when hey al jazeera bangkok. 8 members of a tour group have been killed by gunmen inside the new share it happened in the west african giraffe reserve east of the town of course the regional governor says 6 french tourists along with their guide and driver was shot dead by armed men on motorcycles but he gave no indication of who was behind the attack and the death toll from a landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rains in southern india has now risen to 43 a team plantation in the state of carolina was swept away in the deluge on friday bodies have been recovered from under the soil and debris but bad weather is

hampering efforts to find those still missing and a heatwave has had thousands of people flocking to the beach in the netherlands as temperatures soar in western europe but plenty of those soaking up the sun in the hague were flouting social distancing regulations it's the 2nd weekend in a row that the region has experienced such high temperatures. well the current virus pandemic has silenced many performers around the world but not a british opera company. has a launch to open a mini operas after being forced to cancel its usual performances and in keeping with the times both the audience and the cost of distancing. we've been having to figure out how to socially distance on stage and how to interact with each other. with all of that in mind but instead of it being a burden it's turned out to be. just really fun because we're all thinking of

creative ways to make it through a scene where we're supposed to pass a prop to each other and we cat or someone supposed to have a fight but they can't touch each other. then this is al jazeera and these are the headlines a 2nd minister has now quit lebanon's government as the fallout from tuesday's ports explosion gross the environment minister has confirmed that he's out following the earlier resignation of the information minister 7 other m.p.'s have also resigned but of smith has more from the capital. demmy on us cuts are he's the environment minister and more significant about is it as resignation is he really is 1st of all respected technocratic member of the cabinet and. the prime minister has been the speculation was today that the reason would be in her hearing of rumors of his resignation before it was can was in the intervening hours the prime

minister was trying to persuade it environments to not to go but he has gone a 2nd minister to go and a lot of pressure on the prime minister he's already said when the cabinet meets on monday he's going to ask them to agree to call elections afghanistan's president is backing the release of $400.00 taliban prisoners ashraf ghani says he respects the decision of the loya jirga a consultative body to approve freeing so-called hardcore taliban fighters the taliban says it welcomes a decision and is ready to start peace talks within 10 days of their release all right now voters have less than half an hour left to cast their ballots and bellary says presidential election alexander lukashenko is facing a tough challenge to clinch a 6th consecutive term his main challenger learned to come up sky or has verses after reports she went into hiding over night after her top aides were required to

taint. mahinda rajapaksa has been sworn in as prime minister for the 4th time his ruling party won the parliamentary election with a landslide there 2 thirds majority means they can push ahead with promise changes to the constitution u.s. health secretary alex assad has arrived in taiwan for the 1st high level visit by a top american official in 4 decades he's expected to meet taiwan's president china claims sovereignty over taiwan. new zealand's marking 100 days since it stamped out the spread of the corona virus the only new cases have been a few returning travis who've been quarantined at the border but prime minister just john has warned people to stay vigilant to avoid a 2nd wave all those in the headlines and i will have more news for you here on al-jazeera one o one east stay with us. in

russia and him a mixed martial arts is a phenomenon. in this city hundreds of amateur fighters from top to a battle with few. deep in the caucasus mountains. train from morning till night hoping to find their way out of poverty and become a champion. i don't know if you it's a tough pop but the payoff. is good. for.