on al-jazeera there are some of the media stories a critical look at the global media scrutiny on al-jazeera government shut off access to social media. or is ambassador becomes the 1st senior government official to back the protesters calling for president alexander lukashenko to leave. them or kyle this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the u.s. postal service is accused of trying to undermine upcoming elections as president donald trump pushes to block a mail in vote. a ship leaking oil off the coast of moorish just breaks apart raising fears of an ecological disaster.

and trying to keep a dying language alive we meet a kenyan tribe just to come full of traditional speakers last. about a raised diplomat has become the 1st senior government official to publicly back the mass protests in his country the video of ambassador to slovakia igor chenier emerged hours before what the opposition of calling a march for freedom in the capital and the message posted online last 10 years says he was shocked by stories of the torture and beatings of protesters who came out earlier in the week over the disputed presidential election. yes. i stand in solidarity with those who have taken to the streets of belorussian cities would peaceful marches so that their voices could be heard yes. i sincerely hope that the

future of my country will be based on the positions of all sectors of society and representatives of various political forces. have suffered for this right. well right now and many people are gathering for a pro government to begin in the next hour the opposition rally a short time later on them a moral for a protest a killed last week turned into a mass display of anger against president lukashenko reports. euphoria instead of fear on the streets of minsk after security forces stayed away from large rallies which right around the capital in the past 2 days where the. 2 former military man came out to denounce the violence used by security forces in the past week where. have come to show that your army in reality is with the nation it always has been thousands held a minute of silence at

a metro station where 34 year old alex. was killed during protests last monday in the morial house new slee with a funeral quickly turned into a mass rally. i understand i could have been detained and beaten or dead like this one i consider the president of belarus to kind of. is an illegitimate president this president must be judged he should get the strongest sentence possible women carry photos of injured detainees who were beaten and tortured by riot police during protests it could be your son his banner reads motions have been running high here in this crowd and frustration but also fear and sadness in the sense that the state. and. police. with protests and strikes spreading around the country president took a shankar call floody mir put in asking for help in

a significant turnaround employees of state television networks joint in as well. in the show. i just want to say it's days. defending bene roots is no less important than defending this whole zone of our allies to set an example for the rest. don't stand strong the wave will go on that way. but analysts don't expect put in to go out of his way to help look at shankar to remain in power the question is desperate for allies he's relationship with is a really quite badly shade of the. some people say that look africa has a bit the. touch of reality and that he is a learned the wealth of the east and the west so now he is desperate a put in this is lost hope a but putin has told acted in a way a signal that he is quoting to rescue will question cut any cost so far

a possible russian intervention is not in the minds of these protesting by the russians who are increasingly dominating the country streets their immediate concern is to get rid of because shankar and to have free and fair elections step fastened al-jazeera meant he was present donald trump is defending the man he's appointed as postmaster general despite accusations he's trying to sabotage the system ahead of november's election the postal service has warned that millions of mail in votes may not arrive in time to be counted by counter reports. protesters gathered outside the new postmaster general steve c. home louis detroit was a prominent republican fundraiser and most here in so steve's effectively assisting president trump in what amounts to voter suppression. former president barack obama in rear public criticism accuse the president off and i quote me capping the postal

service for political gain. detroit has slashed overtime fired or reassigned key management figures and ordered the decommissioning of 10 percent of mail sorting machines the department's inspector general has confirmed to congress that an investigation into problems in the postal service is under way but president trump has only praise for his appointee making reference to his own campaign slogan yes he's a fantastic man he wants to he wants to make the post office great again you ever hear the expression he wants to make the post office great again. and the president repeated his absolute opposition to mail. you are going to have. a catastrophic situation with universal mail and votes and on top of it the democrats aren't willing to give the people the money and the post office the money

polls indicate that more democrats and republicans are likely to vote by mail vote ironically president trump himself will be costing an absentee vote in an upcoming primary in florida the difference between an absentee vote and a mail in ballot is largely procedural in the form of voters' request permission to vote by mail but in the 2nd case voters need no approval and simply post in their vote in all cases the vote is mailed it's difficult to see why the president sees one process as acceptable and the other as fraudulent. concern about the impact of failures in the u.s. postal service on the election is becoming an increasingly bipartisan issue we could see a dramatic increase in the volume of mail of people returning their ballots which we would absolutely determine has to be done in

a timely fashion so here ruins vote is counted there's no doubt that the. long term financial challenge and those who need to be dealt with but now it's not the time to be cutting back services sitting in congress is the democratic party coronavirus relief bill that includes a 25000000000 dollar injection into the postal service a bull where president trump insists he will not accept in its current form mike hanna al-jazeera washington. the japanese ship that ran into a coral reef off the coast of worships has split apart spilling more oil take care has apologized and offered to pay for the damages. reports vironment less fear the spill will do or of us will damage to local wildlife. seawater flooding in oil out. the japanese own vessel and the rock

a share has split apart and the oil is there spreading along the pristine coastline of eastern russia says the ball carrier ran into a reef the point does need 3 weeks ago a 1000 tons of oil spilled into the ocean presenting a huge danger to marine wildlife some unique to the country the area both colorful reefs mangrove forests protected wetlands and pristine beaches and environmental emergency was declared last week we are facing another threat of another 50 tons of fuel against being in the lagoon and in the long term we're also looking at the in the longer term impacts of toxic elements containing the ship like the batteries toxic paints and other elements counting the ship which we see been to see and contaminate further will go and so the damage of the work actually is not a short term damage it's a very long term damage the japanese ship it company has issued an apology on its website saying it's willing to pay compensation for damages. japan and france

responded to calls for assistance joining thousands of local volunteers who are racing against the clock to protect the wildlife and some have got creative using booms made from human hair and husks from sugarcane to soak up as much of the oil and sludge as possible the island of 1300000 people relies heavily on tourism many are angry the government did not act quickly enough it blamed bad weather for the slow response and is investigating why the ship came so close to the shore it was supposed to say at least 16 kilometers away. many fear the spill could impact the local economy for decades and do irreversible damage to the local wildlife. and the government protesters in thailand are back on the streets of the capital

calling for political reform in the past month student that groups have been demonstrating against the prime minister several activists were arrested a student needed to taint it sedition on friday has been released on bail. plain hey joins us live now from the process in bangkok and wayne we've seen these strong statements from the protesters calling for reform of the monarchy will that continue today. i think undoubtedly it will you know we saw all that it's a list of 10 demands read out in a formal fashion if you like at a very large protest on monday nights on the campus of thomas university just outside the capital city 10 demands to reform the monarchy so dire out there now and i don't think there's any backing away from that issue for these but it is a very sensitive and dangerous topic in thailand because of those laws surrounding the royal family that are designed to prevent criticism or defamation all the

members of the monarchy as i say that protests was on the grounds of a university this one on the streets of the capital democracy monument in the heart of the city and i have to say that so far the crowd here is a lot more diverse than we've seen over the past few weeks the proteas so far have been as you mentioned mainly by students this one yes there are a lot of students here is the crowd continues to grow but many other sections of thai society appear to have come out as well there are a lot of all the people here and also and perhaps most worrying for the government members of the red shirt protest movement coming out that is the protest movement that we saw on the streets many times back in 2010 in very big numbers staging long protests that ultimately led to a very violent military crackdown so what has been the approach from the government is there any sign that their patience is running out. well so far the approach seems to be just to sit back and wait and see where this

protest movement is going see how big it might become we've certainly seen a very large police presence at each of the rallies but no sign that the protests that those police have been going to try to stop those protests from taking place or move the protest zone and we should point out also that the protests so far have been very peaceful i think the other tactic from the government possibly is to try and attack this protest movement from the top down in terms of those arrests that you mentioned so far 3 protest leaders have been arrested charged with a variety of a variety of offenses including sedition which carries a 7 year jail term again those 3 protest leaders are out on bail and are continuing their political activities so there's no sign if that is a tactic from the government that it is working certainly when it comes to those 3 individuals or indeed the wider protest movements ok weigh in we'll keep checking in with you as the day continues the afternoon continues there in thailand many thanks for the update. still ahead on al-jazeera an urgent plea the u.n.

asked for more money from lebanon as it recovers from a devastating explosion. and feeling the strain argentinians question the effectiveness of the coronavirus lockdown as rates of infection continue to climb. hello it's looking like a early autumn for a good part of western europe the churning lead the bay of biscay has been throwing thunderstorms across france the british isles there have been some a thunderstorms wandering around the southeast for a while now but there is still settled heat and the shows the baltic your one place where surprisingly more about 30 degrees north of germany and possibly denmark in southern sweden as well one of the warmest parts of europe misreads other parts where it's warmer still but in between the 2 there's plenty of cloud name crazy amount of rather rain or thunderstorms so london's

a $22.00 look at this where the blues are at the british isles and then this darker blue taiki down through western germany and to the outside of the rain some of it sundry that's come monday forecasts wise though barely to still go to the day of heat 31 degrees is for that rains to come in and it cools down to some degree. there we are watching clusters of thunderstorms come through after the ones just gone off shore these are things that this time of year often turn to hurricanes surprise again but the next one is developing in the central african republic or south and shared now if you're not there the chances are you've got fine weather for the next day or 2 for most of central and west africa but if you're in a century after a republic is going to be. the . top there. is the government not taking the necessary action to really address some of the structural issues that we listen i

still think that air travel is the safest mode of travel and to spend that we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on how does their own. play an important role. well again you're with al-jazeera as reminder of our top stories this hour about the reason busters to back here has become the 1st government official to back protests against president alexander lukashenko the opposition is promising the largest peaceful march in the country's history on sunday. u.s.

president donald trump is defending the man he appointed as the head of the u.s. postal service despite accusations he's trying to sabotage the system head of november's election states have been warned that millions of mail in votes may not be relevant time to be counted. and the japanese ship that ran aground on a coral reef from russia's last month a split apart spilling more oil into the sea turkey has apologized and offered to pay for the damages. the united nations says it's $200000000.00 short of donations to help lebanon repair catastrophic damage to beirut port the lebanese are counting on international aid to rebuild many made homeless by the huge explosion of relying on volunteers charities and friends president michelle own says all aid will go to people who need it u.n. workers in lebanon say they're trying to ensure that donations are distributed properly. and immediate needs are really covering very specific sectors the 1st one

is a better education because we don't want to undermine the future of human and the children the really need to go back to school and to get all the psychological support food security and obviously we don't want to have any interruption in terms of food in terms of availability of the wheat or a flower bed also to make sure that we start belongings are actually that nationally grain supply so every decker visited one of the local institutions helping out a restaurant in beirut which is making $500.00 meals a day to hand out. this is a life lived because the government has been notably absent when it comes to any form of aid of help on the ground it's volunteers it's young it's old people you know cooking or giving money or also plastics a lot of the plastics because so much gloss was blown out of all the windows pretty much across the city so you have volunteers putting plastic up tarpaulin to protect you know flats homes are going to bring in

a car now who is the he's the manager of messi and restaurant so tell me a little bit about why you are doing this incredibly initiative. really need someone to help the people the whole through the. years because. they didn't believe that these. extended. almost everyday folks on b.p. and. it's good for them to compete be. educated. doesn't. it. and a little bit about your from beirut how do you feel about what's happened when you look at your city in the state that it's in now to be very. very sober. more mature or. was considered anything was. or was a very good for. us. to think we could. provide

good news this is just one example of as we said you know what's incredible is to see how the city in the people have come together to help each other when it comes to you know the 1st basic items now which is feeding providing water and fixing shelters there is a long road ahead here when it comes to rebuilding the city it is devastated billions of dollars are needed a lot of aid is dependent on conditions of reforms are going to be very difficult these are difficult difficult times for the. israeli police have removed demonstrates is demanding the prime minister's resignation thousands rallied outside benjamin netanyahu is official residence on saturday night protests have been taking place for weeks against his handling of the coronavirus emergency and his corruption trial. israel has closed the fishing zone off the coast of gaza and strikes from north against hamas positions in gaza on saturday night

israel says it's in response to makeshift fire bombs attached to balloons being sent over the border from gaza palestinian anger has flared after the deal signed by israel and the u.a.e. to normalize relations the government in equitorial getting has resigned in the wake of the deepening economic crisis caused by the pandemic president. criticize the prime minister and his cabinet for failing to fulfill policy objectives you know so dissolve the cabinet 2 years ago a new government expected to be announced soon the massive oil reserves mean equitorial guinea is the richest country per capita in africa but more than half of the almost one and a half 1000000 population lives below the poverty line is the world's longest serving head of state excluding kings and queens the president of the former spanish colonies seize power by overthrowing his uncle in a coup in 1979 his son dorin obiang is vice president he was convicted of embezzlement in france 3 years ago and swiss prosecutors auctioned off 25 of his

supercars in a money laundering case last year the slump in demand for oil caused by the pandemic is worsens the country's recovery from recession 6 years ago. many look at and say is a lecturer at the university of aberdeen in scotland he says the government's resignation is unlikely to lead to any meaningful change. this is a government. or the head of state is part of leadership that has been in place or wide and long time 979 and i from any family has the nutritive been our ends so the entire. m.r. formally has kind of captured the state completely so you cannot really need in the name of the head of state of. florida economic crisis so when something like this happens you have to blame someone else so he's kind of

pushing away the blame onto a government that is to trigger this up and before in 2019 in the afternoon again so it's not really it's the kind of drama that doomed to r.t.c. a situation that's not a new new cool climate change so the tour again is very dependent on oil for its your sources it is there we just entre in africa because it was as one of the smallest population in africa so when you take the oil money and divide it by a little mission when a capita income comes very high that their reality is they build the oil when you goes to very very few people at the top so look the dependence on oil corruption that today will be our nominee and our governance is the real problems that are in oregon. south africa is easing coronavirus restrictions after

confirming a drop in the number of new infections is moving to alert level to which means it will get rid of nearly all limits on economic activity a ban on cigarette sales and alcohol will also be lifted and people will be allowed to travel between provinces. the move to level 2 means that we can remove nearly all of the restrictions on the resumption of economic activity across most industries. economic activity will be allowed with the necessary and appropriate stringent health protocols and safety precautions in place many arjen times are questioning the effectiveness of that coronavirus lock down despite almost 5 months of restrictions gods and tina so has one of the world's highest infection rates and reports from the capital planet's areas. it doesn't look much like a quarantine these residents of one osiris enjoying the glorious winter sunshine

and escaping one of the world's longest lock downs since march their movements of him restricted the essential businesses have remained open and schools have been closed it seems to be working but they're going to need an essay to it to avoid contagion people can't sit on the grass at the benches they can enjoy the public spaces with a mask on and always respecting other people's distance. covered 19 infections are now surging more than $6000.00 new cases reported on friday alone in manhattan found the world is the truth is the only medicine we have is to limit as far as possible the circulation in the meeting of people. the president blames the setbacks on those who don't respect the rules he has extended the lockdown until the end of august. because the number of infections is rising and the already struggling economy is feeling the strain chimes are increasingly question in the

effectiveness of the restrictions on. the current teen was used as the only measure it was not accompanied as it could have been done by a strategy of early detection isolation and blocking of bricks that was a big mistake that we're paying for today. many are simply bored staying indoors and frustrated that when they are allowed out there's nowhere to go. it's very difficult since it affects every aspect of life the social the human the economic and some of the health measures are too much. there are many things we can't do a lot of customs but it's what we've got to come to terms with and we have to let those who make the decisions get on with it. a study released this week by the university of one osiris also found that the consumption of alcohol and medication for stress during the pandemic has increased dramatically the author it is of found that for the lock down measures to work effectively they need the support of the

majority of the population easier while the figures alone but more difficult to impose is the infection rates rise and more and more people decide to leave their homes. and there are 201 osiris here an agency is warning that as many as 200 languages spoken in africa may disappear within the next century one of them is your container it's already classified as extinct but it's still spoken by a few in kenya welcome web went to dull dull to meet some of the last surviving speakers. what about the autobots are and on about are there are fewer than 10 people in the world who can speak the i can say language to reduce i.q. use one of them he doesn't know exactly how old he is but when we met him before the global pandemic all of the remaining speakers were over 70.

now we're moving along with it as does the imminent with. the language of the yarkas an ethnic group of about 4000 people most now speak other languages they live in the hills of central kenya near the town of dull dull this nearby building used to be a center for yahoo culture and language it was built about 20 years ago with charitable donations people used to sit around the fire here and sing songs but about 7 years ago it was abandoned during a conflict between some group and messiah a neighboring ethnic group both more populous and both with their own language still in use so the cultural artifacts and books that were kept inside were taken away and put in storage and the gathering stopped but about the arc of people used to be hunter gatherers living in a nearby forest to read you now heard livestock instead. the massai

a larger ethnic group of herders moved into the area about a 100 years ago these people realized if we embrace masai we. turn to transact easily with these people we can own the cattle and the country economy came with the language the rest of to reduce family don't know how to speak. they speak the messiah language my home his daughter when i speak swahili with her friends. i would like 10 to speak at school she can learn it at home because i don't know it if she learned in school then she can teach us and i want all of us but one school so that we can see it's mostly english it's been the language of education and business in kenya ever since british colonise ation and it was white british settlers who displaced the messiah into the ark is homeland.

this traditional yaku song about living in caves and hunting in the forest. it's a way of life that is long gone. and soon the language and the culture and identity to come with it gone to. 'd come where al-jazeera told of kenya. you're watching out there these are top stories. has become the 1st government official to back the protests against president alexander lukashenko the opposition is promising the largest peaceful march in the country's history demonstrations have been held for days against the disputed presidential election. i stand in solidarity with those who have taken to the streets of belorussian cities would peaceful marches sort of their voices could be heard. i sincerely hope that the

future of my country will be based on the positions of all sectors of society and representatives of various political forces. have suffered for this right. antigovernment protesters in thailand are lolling capital bangkok these are live pictures showing them calling for political change demanding an overhaul of the government and a rewrite the constitution. here's president defending the man he appointed as the head of the u.s. postal service despite accusations he's trying to sabotage the system ahead to november election states of being warned that millions of mail in votes may not arrive in time to be counted a japanese ship that ran aground on a coral reef in mercer's last month has split apart spilling more oil into the sea take years apologize and offer to pay for damages the united nations in lebanon

says it's still almost $200000000.00 short of donations to help cover the immediate aftermath of the beirut explosion people are counting on volunteers and charities for help to clear up the city and provide food and shelter to those who've lost their homes. israel has closed the fishing zone off the coast guards and overnight as strikes were launched against hamas positions in southern gaza the israelis say they're responding to make sure fire bombs attached to balloons being sent over the border south africa is easing coronavirus restrictions because of fewer new infections it's getting rid of nearly all limits on economic activity by moving to a level 2 as a last travel between provinces and the end of the ban on cigarettes and alcohol sales as i had lines one news continuing here after talk to al-jazeera.

devastates no. right. to the team despite street. gang members smuggle weapons across the border from the united states.