we understand the differences come the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter what moves you will take the news and current affairs that matter to you . 0. 00 i'm watching the news hour live from london coming up. defiance and dissent in better move factory workers join protesters challenging the president despite warnings of a crackdown. mali's new military leaders vow to hold elections off to staging a coup that isolated the country from its neighbors and drawn international

condemnation. emergency in china is story floods forced more than 100000 people from their homes and threaten an ancient statue of the good. and sport byron munich of set up the champions league final with. the german champions beat lee all 3 nil to reach the biggest game in european club football. welcome to the program our top story protesters in baton rouge have defied the government's warnings of a tough crackdown on dissent alexander lukashenko has told law enforcement agencies to restore order on the streets but protesters in minsk are piling on the pressure accusing the president of rigging use election victory earlier this month and demanding he step down stuff a state run chemical plants have walked off the job joining other factory workers

who typically was his supporters in the past but on now calling for a nationwide general strike the protestors have found support with the european union which has announced a new raft of sanctions and says it won't recognize the election results well al jazeera stepped vast and was at one of the largest protests today in independence square. in the center of the capital minsk was a very different mood on the streets of minutes today compared to previous days not much of the euphoria and the festive mood that we felt that people had sort of found a new kind of freedom today it was more dominated by fear and tense because a person look at announced a new crackdown he has instructed his ministry to find those who have been organizing the rallies but still this defiance protesters are back on the streets and a smaller number but they're here and they're still asking for new elections and to release all the political prisoners. this is kill me or do something but i

mean. it's so more awful listen. and then this happens despite the threats and also the risk of hundreds of people have gathered here again at the independence square saying the president is fired meanwhile the coordination council set up by the opposition leaders for plan of the kind of guy held its 1st meeting and has issued a manifest calling for a dialogue about a transitional yeah a new elections look at this council illegal in the country saying that it was planning a coup d'etat but the council says there's nothing illegal they just want to have a garden with the president you know of course i'm afraid because i know the system used leading us to the present time so very negative words. was

against what was. for me personally. for we want to deal or we propose any legal steps so why should we be punished why that's a challenge for the opposition to keep the same masses on the street that they had last week it's clear protesters are not giving up major on the look of china. well the e.u.'s announced financial sanctions against a number of officials it blames for election fraud and the abuse of protesters but president lukashenko has dismissed criticism from the bloc telling its leaders to concentrate on their own problems and their reports. if i examine the lucas shanker is feeling the pressure he's not showing it's the man who's rubella rose for more than 25 years and officially won this month's election with 80 percent of the vote says his leadership is not in doubt this is put the boot if anyone thinks that the

power here is staggering and shaking you're wrong i want to say that the power has someone to rely on so we will not waver we will follow our path as we should those who today especially abroad and this is clearly visible are plotting against us will get a serious rebuff i was earlier the losing opposition candidate who fled to lithuania for her own safety and whose husband is in jail in belarus called on european leaders to get tough mr we lost all the legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the. hero. i corney her to support. us. those e.u. leaders gathered online for an emergency meeting convened by shell michel head of the european council after talks broke up here outlined how they'd agreed to respond to an election they say was not free or fair and the subsequent crackdowns on protesters we stand firmly behind the writers belarusian people to determine

their own food and the e.u. will impose shortly sentients on a substantial number of individuals responsible for violence repression and election fruit on top of those sanctions that use making money available for pro-democracy groups in belarus as well as for its health sector and the european commission will mobilize now an additional $53000000.00 euros to support the belorussian people in these challenging times. 2000000 euro want to assist the victims of repression and unacceptable state violence. 1000000 year old to support civil society and independent media and 50000000 euros of coronavirus in america emergency support. well this of

course is seen by the russian government as meddling a day after president vladimir putin wants his german counterpart not to interfere is foreign minister rejected calls for russia to press president lucas shanker to talk to the opposition go at each through the dunes through the route is the news to everybody believing mediation is the only way out i implore them not to forget the way out west and colleagues mediated in 2014 during the my down in kiev when the esteemed representatives of the european union mediated reached an agreement i will remember what that led to. so for now with the president threatening to go off to dissenters in belarus and his main ally rejecting outside involvement and dialogue the fear and uncertainty that surrounded the elections still there the debugger al-jazeera look at syria at ciena is a research fellow at the better russian institute for strategic studies joins us via skype from the ukrainian capital kiev there was more protests that i want they

though the crowds appear to be smaller than the scale of demonstrations we've seen in recent days does it look as though another crackdown could be imminent. i would say that this is quite a natural process that the protest is a little bit scaling down in terms of now members because people are start protesting 10 days ago and today so love unsay so people know it's time for rest and great group but at the same time i would say that the a level of mobilization of people overall during this presidential campaign and after the election day is. enormous and the protest moves her not going anywhere anytime soon despite their oppressions and the tough actions of the of the shank oh there's no question kyra likely to follow through on his threats. so to day he also called to come down the protesters and there were

a few more people detained those who were conducting strikes at the factory. and he also if you're in the pas de scroll to russia for some kind of support and i would say that look at his not so many options other than staying in power in terms of his personal goals in terms of preserving the well being of himself and his family and therefore hugh is he will likely cling to power in any way possible and therefore try to oppress the opposition and the protest moves as the political crisis continues to drag on you mention it could turn into russia but then also addressing the groups like the factory workers who in the past have been his his content his constituency his support base has he lost them now yes definitely that overall before the elections look at shank oser writing

a ever time low and he lost a lot of support for it for simple reason that you cannot stay in power for 26 years and still please the people in the constituency but after the massacre oppressions that happened on the election day and afterwards his not only the regime fell down but he cannot be called a legitimate leader anymore. in remarks to russian state t.v. said gay lover of the foreign minister. warned against any foreign interference and those remarks to be expected but he was also more new ones too and he said that the election that it just taken place in belarus left much to be desired he said it was an ideal. i would say that's an interesting remark on behalf of our russian minister because russia is meddling in no way itself and just recently when

delegation a few people employees from the elevation state channels who. essentially were main propaganda channels and valerie's a few officials resigned russia sent a few experts media experts to replace those people who are resigned and in the to in the backgrounds of approaching conversations when in the past few days they look at a cold for russia support that's quite an interesting move for but on behalf of house but so far i suppose if there is an indication that we will see necessarily a deeper intervention from russia at this point i'm just wondering how they might view. taken off sky of the opposition leader and whether that would

rush about see more in their interest to try and bring about some sort of power sharing process or a compromise in the country. i was so russian propaganda our private harshly portray slum the to come off as in quite offensive words with regards to her and currently seems that russia supports look a shrink or 3 she him but probably not because the the relations between the 2 countries are so good or a bit because the there is some personal friendship between putting the local shank oh but because. moscow understands that currently belarusian letter ship is in a quite a weak position and this could be a time where in moscow can propose some kind of support and some political concessions in return in the future that syria senior thank you

it with the news hour live from london more still ahead thousands evacuated in homes under threat firefighters battled dozens of blazes across california. high school students rally outside thailand's education ministry calling the schooling system repressive. and in sport we'll hear from barcelona as new manager about his plans to revive the club's fortunes. now a key figure in mali's opposition protest movement mahmoud says he'll step back from politics after meeting soldiers who ousted the president in a coup the military rulers of ordered civil servants to return to work and promised to oversee elections in the country but given no specific time frame for that the international community has condemned tuesday's uprising with some announcing

sanctions on mollie's new leaders i'm going to address how small. jubilation on the streets of by michael after months of demonstrations that resulted in death and injuries too and to government protesters opposition supporters are now ecstatic about the potential for change to the government. to feel young and the men go about it the way this regime fell was a good thing it was good for us so what the military did is not what they did will support the people in order to alleviate the suffering in democracy the power belongs to the people the same people who gave the power to the president but he was unable to achieve what the people expected of him he won't let military. the military need to organize a transition and that some point they can return it to the civilians to the political parties what yesterday is that he said down hold talks and find a global solution for the problems of mali. i mean you know me malise new military

rulers a group calling themselves the national committee for the some version of the people said the intervention was necessary and they vowed to return mali to democratic war money and money and people of mali we are not holding on to power but we are holding on to the stability of the country which will allow us to organize with an agreed reasonable timeframe general elections to equip mali with strong institutions which are able to better manage our everyday lives and restore confidence between the government and the government. on tuesday the military leaders overthrew president caters government arresting him and members of the cabinet and see the army officers their cues the president and the others are failing to protect and for allowing corruption to flourish. the promise of a return to constitutional democracy is welcome news to the opposition but there are also concerns of the army we seek to hold on to power something the opposition say they will resist.

there was a lot but i think i might just like. to make sure that porky and bad governance would be. international reactions to the coup was swift the united nations france and the united states have condemned the cool with the african union suspending modest membership of the organization the regional bloc they could have a community of west african states and i was to list of sanctions and land an air blockade of the landlocked country is in effect it will also restrict from nation flows from member states to the country measures that could worsen the already tough living conditions for mandaeans comedy greece al-jazeera well u.n. security council has been meeting over the crisis in mali christian slimmy is at the united nations headquarters did anything come out of that meeting.

yes absolutely we talked to diplomats who told us they were very concerned about the situation in mali so concerned that they agreed on a statement condemning the coup there before the meeting even took place and they released it before the meeting even took place a sign of just how eager they were to make their voices heard on this issue they condemned the mutiny as it happened they called for the immediate release of the president prime minister and other government officials and they called on the armed forces there to return to their barracks immediately this in addition to reiterating the council's support for the peacekeeping mission minu small which does patrol in the area 15000 peacekeepers that were 1st sent to the country in 2013 after a coup that took place starting from the very same military base that launched this

current incident so the security council did get a briefing from the undersecretary general for peacekeeping john parallel chua and their message really echoes what is being said by other international bodies and regional bodies from echo wasse the western african organization that's been mediating conflict there the african union the european union and the secretary general antonio good terrorists here as well has also been quick to condemn the mutiny and call for an immediate restoration of constitutional order in the country and the concern here among the international players is not just the situation in mali but also in mali for mali and but also the threat that it poses to international peace and security with ongoing instability in the north from al-qaeda linked groups and other groups that continue to make

a very uncertain so. to a ship in this is likely to come up again when sanctions against some of those groups are renewed expected to be renewed later this month all right thank you kristen salumi at the united nations well a number of international powers are you hearing there of denounce what's just happened in mali fearing that it could cause further instability in the former french colony in west africa's entire region possibly a mutiny say mommy base in 2012 toppled the previous president as christine was mentioning that hasten the fall of mali's north to al-qaeda linked groups french forces then intervene the following year to beat them back but fighters have since regrouped in central mali inflicting heavy losses on soldiers and civilians groups linked to al qaida and i still have used mali as a launch pad for attacks in neighboring countries including asia and the bikini they've also started violence between rival hooding and farming communities the e.u. is wired that the instability will displace people from their homes which could fuel

another wave of migration to european shores that's that perspective so for more we can speak to paul malley consulting fellow of the africa program at chatham house joins us live via skype how urgently does the country to well the coup leaders need to create a political roadmap promised elections. that's the most urgent priority it's very interesting when you look at the comments that there are a range of parties both mali and politicians but also some international players are using they're talking about the need to restore constitutional order and therefore a political road not whether that leads to new elections or not but what they aren't necessarily doing is specifically calling for mr cater to be restored as president so the international community and particularly echo us is leading the

international effort basically the u.n. you the french african union are all backing of course are allowing themselves a little political space for negotiation but ultimately their view is that the the military must very rapidly agree to a swift transition back to proper constitutional order and if necessary elections because well those problems that you've outlined the violence in the north the into communal violence in central lollie. to say nothing of all the long running development problems that the task of managing the fight against covered 19 none of that can easily be sustained without clear political leadership from the capital of course without a viable functioning government with proper authority so. also that government must have democratic legitimacy so very quickly people want a road map back to politics. i'm just curious about this this development we've

had well just now that a key figure in the opposition movement a preacher and an on call mom mahmoud. who is a very influential figure in the country he is able to mobilize protests and demonstrations he says he says he's taking a step back from politics. well he's been a central figure in the protests have which over the last 2 months has brought huge crowds on to the streets of bamako mali's capital demanding the resignation of president cater. but it's not quite clear what his personal longterm ambition is he's been a very very influential figure even more than a decade ago he led a campaign to block a reform of family lore. more recently he was behind

a campaign forced the resignation of a previous prime minister but whether he actually wants to run for political office himself. or whether he would rather be an influential figure behind the scenes that remains unclear when he may well have judged that this stage especially because the army's intervention has if you like accelerated events much faster than he or other political players could have foreseen he may want to take a bit of space to judge what his next move should be he may feel that there isn't an electoral base for himself to run for office for example in a future presidential election where he may just think it's good tactics to stand back in reserve and wait for the politicians to work out negotiate a way forward with the military and of course with the pressure from the international community and those sanctions which in the west african political and

economic setup sanctions can have a very powerful effect more than in some other parts of the world while sat me sadly is a country where many people live in extreme poverty on top of that you have these violent and south asian groups in the north and then this really messy situation in central mali where there is this into communal violence that's been going on fayez competition between different ethnic groups have a land and resources just how vulnerable is the country. well in the very short term the presence of un horsemen is much the french anti-terrorist force but can the g 5 alliance of saheli and states for fighting the jihadists and mali and army units in the north and in the center of kind of the country themselves that may maintain if you like short term stability in security terms just in the very short term but that can only be sustained for a longer period for

a period of months if there is a clear political no road map one of the biggest criticisms of cato was that he was of providing very weak political leadership. even before the popular protests complaining about corruption and weaknesses in his government's handling of public services and public assets there was a feeling that his leadership of the peace process had been lacking if you like had been weak so a strong political drive is needed and let's why the country needs very quickly a political political roadmap and sanctions could go forward thank you paul many for your time away from chatham house thank you. well now there are reports that dozens of people have been abducted following an attack in northeastern nigeria the armed group targeted the town of cook in borno state attackers looted and torched government buildings and farming equipment

people started only returning to homes and earlier this month after spending nearly 2 years in displacement camps northeast nigeria has been ravaged by a decade long campaign led by boko haram tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced. at least 45 refugees and migrants have died in the seas near libya with the united nations calling it the deadliest shipwreck of the year the engine of the vessel carrying the migrants exploded near the town of zorro on monday at least 5 children are among the dead $37.00 of those on board were rescued by fisherman meanwhile spanish authorities say they found 10 dead migrants on a boat psni of the canary islands now the united nations is saying that its ability to tackle the world's worst humanitarian crisis in yemen has been severely hit by a lack of funding it says the shortfall is forced it to close or cut back hof of its major a programs they include efforts to prevent large scale famine and of and fight

a cholera epidemic the agency has raised just over 20 percent of its $2400000000.00 humanitarian appeal for this year hundreds of palestinians have protested against the u.a.e. israel agreement the 2 nations agreed to normalize relations last week under a deal brokered by the u.s. demonstrators in gaza held placards labeling the agreement a betrayal some burnt israeli flags and pitches of the prime minister benjamin netanyahu the group hamas which controls gaza accuses the u.a.e. of stopping palestinians in the back similar process also took place in the occupied west bank. now china's yangtze river is expected to reach record high water levels in the next 24 hours after weeks of heavy rain dozens of people have died in the floods which have destroyed property in a threatening world heritage sites katrina you reports now from beijing. for more

than 1200 years this giant put a statue has stood strong in china's lotion city now the world heritage site is threatened by the worst flooding in decades in southern china weeks of torrential rains have lashed the region causing devastating flooding in villages towns and cities asia's longest river the yangtze and several of its tributaries have risen to dangerous levels forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes in all around 60000000 are affected by the flood disaster the 3 gorges dam the largest hydroelectric project in the world is facing the largest flood peaks in 14 years ago engineers estimate the flow rate at the dam will be $76000.00 cubic metres per 2nd on thursday morning but they say they're confident the double hold that them can keep the water levels within a safe range relieving pressure on the middle in the lower reaches of the river president xi jinping told flood affected areas in our province one choose day

meeting residents and calling for better natural disaster response measures we must abide by and know the law of nature at a we was a cowardly way our strong capability of resisting the last as last week china's leaders called on all chinese to reduce food waste this serious of their flooding has wiped out so much time is more spent quarter farming regions the extreme weather combined with the slow recovery up to the coronavirus pandemic has prompted steers over who says it's the damage to china's economy is estimated at $27000000000.00 heavy rain and flooding a common across southern china at this time of year but this year it's being described as a once in a century. al-jazeera beijing. heavy rain is also suspected to have caused a massive sinkhole swallowed $21.00 parked cars in the southwestern city of you've been a witness captured the moment of the collapse around a shopping mall which happened early in the morning no casualties have been

reported and an investigation is under way. so i have for you on the program us an attack on a harris prepares to make history as the 1st black woman and asian american to formally join the race to the white house. and love in a time of coronavirus how the pandemic is forcing pakistanis to scale down they usually flamboyant harry tell weddings. and that bron james makes basketball history but still finishes on the news in team carol have that and more in store this is. how i was feeling a little like also i'm across northwestern parts of europe with

a quite a nasty area of low pressure swirling in here this is actually been named locally as a storm el and it will bring some very strong winds into southern island into the republicans going to make its way further well through these phases be going through the next couple of days as some very nasty weather we are looking at winds gusting to maybe 100 kilometers per. cent damaging winds maybe some trees down and some power outages not out of the question ahead of that which dragging in the winds from the south so 30 celsius there in paris and also into 0 to 24 in london pretty much but it should be at this time of year further case was we got some showers along the spells of rain spilling into scandinavian somewhat or whether they're just around that eastern side of europe but it will be a little draw down into the balkans down into greece across the maid it is essentially fine and dry there we go as we go on into friday more wet and windy weather that will make its way across scotland and northern parts of england come further south with 32 celsius in madrid only some rain as we go on through the

weekend rain continuing right through the next few days and only to the weekend across central parts of africa with some particular heavy downpours the southern much area. from fossil fuels to modern day renewable as societies develop the energy demands increase requiring innovative solutions to meet such demands as a global power development of investment company nebraska power is uniquely positioned to deliver against the state we provide business growth promote social economic benefits and provide innovative safe and environmentally sound energy solutions for future generations the breast passed by a nearing future energy made maria driven by poverty into prostitution and drugs as an early age now as a mother she's turning her life around with the help of a theater

a group of colombia women fighting the challenges they face. it was compelling series which showcases fresh for my jim talent from around the globe find a lot in america presents acting lessons on al-jazeera. welcome back a look at the headlines now where tests isn't better routes have defied the government's warnings of a crackdown on dissent alexander lukashenko told security forces to restore order on the street protesters accuse him of rigging his election victory and want him to step down. mali's new military leaders of our civil servants to return to work and

say they'll oversee elections in a reasonable amount of time the african union has suspended nani now following the elster of president abraham but because one choose day. dozens of people have reportedly been abducted following an attack in nigeria's northeastern or no state group boko haram targeted the town of could cause looting and torching government buildings and farming equipment. now thousands of california residents have been forced to flee their homes as firefighters battle dozens of fosse moving wildfires most at risk is the city of vacaville in northern california where 4 people have been injured at least 50 homes have burned to the ground and 50 more of been damaged it's believed the blazes was sparked by lightning following a record breaking heat wave and low humidity let's go live now to rob reynolds who's in los angeles and any progress on containing the fire.

some of these major fires are really 0 percent contained as the firefighters termed them the ones in northern california in the napa valley close to the wine country there in the central area between san francisco and sacramento voc avila's you mentioned those are burning extremely hot and being spread by wind so there is very little containment in many of the major fires and beyond the major fires there are literally more than 360 fires burning all over the state the governor of california gavin newsom acknowledged in a briefing a little while ago that the state's firefighting resources are stretched thin so each declared a state of emergency which will allow for the federal government to come in and help and he's also asked other states for help so now help is on the way from

arizona nevada and as far away as texas. and you hear about it the difficult to dry weather conditions that what challenges our firefighters facing. well you know i think one hates to use the cliche the perfect storm but i'm afraid it is apt in this instance there were 11000 lightning strikes over the past 24 hours mostly from unusual strange dry thunderstorms so there was no rain to ameliorate the conditions but plenty of lightning to set fires now it's been extremely dry in california for months now and it's extremely hot there are temperatures above 43 degrees celsius all over the state and in addition to that of course there is the corona virus of more than $65000.00 cases of the virus in

california and that affects the firefighters and the evacuees for evacuees they are having to go to motels and hotels you can't put all those people together in sort of the school gymnasiums as was the case in previous years and for the firefighters they have to maintain social distance as well so for instance on a fire vehicle that normally all lots of firefighters would pack on board and they drive off to the front to fight the fire now they can only put 3 at a time on there so it's really hampering them and in addition to that it's rough terrain high winds brutal high temperatures so not a very promising situation right now for all of those brave firefighters out on the front lines thank you very much rob reynolds in los angeles.

well the political developments in the u.s. now and u.s. senate have come a harris will give the most important speech of her political career when she addresses the democratic national convention as joe biden's running mates that's in just a few hours' time harris is the 4th woman to appear on a major parties election take it and she's the 1st woman of color patty cohen reports. when former vice president joe biden announced the person he wanted to take his old job the campaign made it clear that they saw senator kemal harris's heritage as a major strength my mother and father they came from opposite sides of the world to arrive in america one from india and the other from jamaica that makes her the 1st woman of color on a major party's presidential ticket and the 1st of asian descent it didn't have to decipher her because we're not used to seeing black women in these roles she is a 10 black woman elected to the u.s.

senate we have never seen a black woman in court even before her selection her race was a target for the trump family the president's son don jr retreated and then deleted an argument that she isn't african-american because her father is jamaican political analysts doubt that will have an impact i think that it's important or people to drown out that kind of towards i think once you have. young african-american experience in this country you're an african-american you know her parents were all there was to make it where she was an african-american was like rock obama's quote that was out for good reason african-american but her selection and ancestry could help the campaign in a new way asian americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the electorate accounting for 5 percent of people eligible to vote. trump could have been trying to reach those voters over the years he has made a big deal of his relationship with the indian prime minister but some activists

don't think that will sway many voters of asian descent there are people who came here recently or in the past whose predominant singular focus is how is the us behavior towards him or is there for them. i mean every reporter has their. very few of those who were born and brought up here a 2nd post 2nd our generation feel their record frankly as the nominees who now receive protection from the secret service she's reportedly picked a very appropriate call sign they will now refer to her simply as a pioneer particle al-jazeera. well the u.s. is officially suspended 3 extradition and tax agreements with hong kong it's in response to china's in position of a strict national security door on the territory then widespread protests against an all in the top of ministration has already moved to end hong kong special trade status it also put sanctions on anyone involved in enforcing the new legislation.

well taiwan has accused china of hacking 10 government agencies and 6000 e-mail addresses in an attempt to steal data taiwanese officials are calling it an infiltration from beijing of one citizens to be on alert cyber attacks reportedly started in 2018 investigators say some data might have been leaked and then and that the hackers have so far concealed that tracks. more than 20000 iranians have now died from the corona virus country is struggling to bring the region's west outbreak under control 350000 cases have been confirmed by international health experts believe the real figure to be higher despite that university entrance exams are still going ahead for more than a 1000000 students some of those struggling with the disease sat there exams from the hospital beds. and then here in europe spain is reported the highest number of cases in

a day since coming out of lockdown in june 3715 infections have been recorded in the past 24 hours or than 40 percent of those in the madrid region with officials blaming the outbreak on family reunions and nightlife well thorson in the indonesian capital jakarta using scare tactics to ensure vigilance over the coronavirus is fake coffin has been erected at one of the busiest road junctions in the city the slogan on the side weeds coated 19 victim coffin with the latest death and infection figures updated just underneath well then 6000 people have died from the virus across indonesia well there are all the challenges being posed by the pandemic as well it's getting harder to get married you can invite as many guests as you want sometimes people are not even allowed to dance together because of social distancing pakistan which is known for its large and lavish weddings the downsizing could be a good thing though for family budgets it's also but it's also damaging the wedding

industry which is obviously not so good as a bus driver reports from karachi. who will navarro's put a stop to pakistan's from boyhood fairy tale wedding tired of waiting many companies are choosing smaller firms. because even a global pandemic can't stop love. the pentagon we delayed our wedding after more time went by our president started we should go ahead despite the coronavirus. we waited for one months then 2 months than 3 months and the penniman just wasn't ending so we decided to invite fewer people. instead of the anticipated 800 guests there were only 250 that might still sound like a big number but in pakistan it's serious crowd control some even go so far as to say that in a country where people can go bankrupt paying for big weddings the coronavirus is a blessing in disguise. parents who are poor and feel pressured to host

weddings they've been able to save money because of khurana i think they should be like this society should embrace it it would be better for everyone. the savings amount to shorter ceremonies fewer customs and perhaps most notably. dancing. many of them to know those. that are events where everyone comes there's a couple could dance floor and we dance but this was a wedding at home so we did things on a smaller scale fewer people are invited and there are many traditions we could not up there. many parts of karachi are known as wedding districts where main streets are lined with party halls able to hold hundreds of guests at a time the growing trend of home weddings could put them out of business these very years would normally be for months in advance in some cases even up to it here but they've been empty now ever since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak pakistan's government has started reopening businesses but wedding holes are not

a priority a failure owners say to understand how important they are to local economies. backed by the nearly 650000 people working in waiting holes nationwide have been sitting at home for nearly 6 months we've tried to help giving them food rations and we've continued to pay salaries to stuff employees but the day laborers who the government said they would help right now they are the most worried and they account for nearly 500000 people. run out and mother estimates 50 percent of pakistan's industries are linked to weddings. caterers and florists to benefit the agriculture sector fashion designers the textile mills jewelers the precious metals and stones industry the list goes on pakistani city coupling up can bring good fortune in a post corona economy wedding industry leaders hope it remains true for more than just the bride and groom the same bus ravi old jazeera karate on our student

protesters have been on the streets of the thai capital demanding a change in government that demonstrations have been taking place nearly every day for the past month along with the departure of the prime minister prior to china for military leadership they also want to change the constitution scott has mall. i school students out here for the ministry of education in central bangkok protesting now this is part of the bigger protest movement that's been led by students right across the highway i'm calling for reform in the government calling for a new constitution to be drafted now it's been peaceful for the most part over these last several weeks and it has been their role for school what their purpose here is not to call for the resignation of the minister of education that is because over the last several days these students of high school campuses are saying teachers and administrators are preventing them from protesting the one thing that they be prevented from doing some of them said specifically that 3 finger salute that is no

part of it as the funding for this protest movement they're saying the teachers should stop them from doing so they planned this protest against that move on some campuses across probably what's interesting is that the minister of education on the eve of this protest was said that they should be allowed no direct t.v. . they should be allowed to express their freedom of expression but some of the students here are skeptical that right now. i don't think we've won yet because this is between the ministry and the students this does not include the rest of thailand the past or the last by young man if they don't accept our demands we may come out again to show what we really need and to show we mean business. good here to the protest the minister of education came out and sat with the protesters though overall the protest movement is not happy with the way the government has been reacting in fact today wednesday during this protest the police department issued 3 arrest warrants for some of the protest leaders i think the previous week

or 2 days now obviously if that's the case and there hasn't been any movement toward those demands of this protest movement we're going to see local protests like this school people coming out to the streets right across thailand. well turning some of the stories in the lights negotiations and man must peace process have started representatives of the government an ethnic minority armies are at a 3 day conference in the capitol hill more than 20 armed groups have been demanding independence for decades fighting has forced hundreds of thousands of ethnic carin and other minorities from the huns. these are the 1st talks in 2 years with many of the villages threatened by renewed fighting a 2nd team of environmental experts is on its way from japan to the indian ocean island of mauritius to help clean up the oil spill from a japanese owned oil tanker the m.v. ran aground on a coral reef 4 weeks ago and broke in half on sunday more than a 1000 tonnes of oil has already leaked into

a region renowned for its biodiversity but also relies heavily on its tourist beaches for revenue the ship's captain is under arrest now ecuador's navy says that dozens of mostly chinese fishing vessels of turned off their tracking systems to stop authorities for monitoring them well then 320 ships off fishing near the ecologically sensitive collapse of this island they're only allowed to operate in international waters and not in the galapagos protected area but military officials say 149 vessels have cost off communications in recent months preventing any monitoring of their activities ecuador is trying to stop predatory fishing off its coast which is threatening endangered species now the world's most valuable company just got rich a technology giant apple has become the 1st publicly listed u.s. company with a 2 trillion dollars stock market value shares of surge since july when the i phone

maker eclipsed saudi aramco as the world's most valuable valuable company apple stock prices have risen by 57 percent so far this year revenue grew across every category and all regions of the world even as the coronavirus calls the u.s. economy to collapse at its worst rate since the great depression. still ahead on the program some good news for the president of football's world governing body as he fights back against corruption allegations that mall in sports.

sport now is back on. marion thank you so much byron munich have set up a champions league final with p.s.g. the german champions beat leo 3 nil to reach the biggest game in european club football to 1st have goals from surgeon opery byron on their way to 80. straight win in this season's competition robert lewandowski added a late 3rd that was a polish strikers 55th goal of the season. no fans are allowed to attend these champions league knockout games which are all being held in portugal behind closed doors many barn supporters did gather in munich to see their team reach the final for the 11th time in the club's history. and the title decider in lisbon is coming up on sunday p.s.g. are the 5 are in the final for the 1st time in their history after a 3 nil win over rb leipzig on choose day but a part of you know how to prepare for the final i don't know what will prepare like

we did with the round of 16 in the quarter final and the semi final we'll see what we should talk about because sometimes it's better if you don't analyze everything don't talk too much don't change too much the most important thing right now is to recover and enjoy the moments you need barcelona head coach ronald hooman says he hopes 6 time world player of the year lino messi will stay at the club as he has less than a year left on his current deal and his future is just one of the challenges facing him in the dutchmen replaces k.k. said chan who was fired following barss big defeat the bar in munich in the champions league if we think we need to change we will change but we will do that with a good communication to a player or 2 players if we make that kind of the stations and then but we need to do is different in its then we saw last week against by the money because that's not the barcelona what we want to see. football's governing body faith has

cleared its own president violating regulations johnny infants you know is still the subject of a criminal investigation because of an alleged secret meeting with swiss attorney general mccalla lauder lab or had been in charge of a probe into football corruption both men deny any wrongdoing beef as ethics committee said no aspect of the conduct analyzed constitutes a violation. can a team's a return to major league soccer action but don't know how when or if their season will finish to run to beat the vancouver whitecaps 3 nil in their opening game canada's 3 teams will only play matches against each other for now while the border with the united states remains closed to all but essential travel the league will decide in september if they can play games against man teams. defending n.b.a. champions are drawn a raptors held off the brooklyn nets to take a 2 nothing lead in their 1st round playoff series toronto's kyle lowry had $21.00

points and 9 rebounds in the game while fred van vliet and norman powell both scored 24 points and the raptors rallied to beat the brooklyn nets 104299 game 3 of the best of 7 series on friday. the l.a. lakers have made a losing start to their playoff campaign they went down to the portland trailblazers on a night that solid bron james make history tell malik reports. to steal things in school compared to seeing le bron james in full flight during the playoffs what's even more it's basketball's biggest name putting in a history making performance and coming out on the losing side comes. despite becoming the 1st player in the playoffs to back more than 20 points 15 rebounds and 15 assists respectively it was not enough to stop the lakers going down to the portland trailblazers in game one move this 1st point to us damian lillard didn't

make history like his and lost his opponent but he did out scoring with 34 points. blazers taking it by 7100 to 903 running roughshod with no frustration you know because the game is the game and we were my shit when we. had triple header janice into compo and the milwaukee bucks on also in for a shock as they opened against orlando which was the greek international did produce some trademark moves on route to $31.00 points span for his efforts was simply not enough when nicola boost of it scoring 355 to help orlando down the eastern conference of number one team 122-2110 here they bet on the best part of. so even if they play a better game we can still win the game so one superstar that didn't have a disappointing evening was james hardy. weeks to come especially racked up 37

points to help the houston rockets win the opener against oklahoma city 12321 away used to pinch hit. with favorites for the finals looking shaky. this might just be the year that harden claims that china can chip greens with that. always eluded him. says the helmet 0. and 4 time tour de france champion chris froome won't be getting the chance to win this year's title for him has been left out of team in yell says squat as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a crash last year the race gets underway at the end of the month. ok and that is all your sport for now it's now back to merriam and london grey thanks very much kyra as if the news hour but i'll be back in a moment with a full bulletin of news for you including of course all the latest on developments in mali and of course the terrorists.

jordan has one of the world's highest her base but many a take up the force against her military style white let's go to radical surgery one o one a student instigates as the chinese battle to get in shape on al-jazeera. we understand the differences. of cultures across the world so no matter how you take a. 0 percent of the news and current affairs that matter to.

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the. defiance and dissent in bella ruse more factory workers join protest as challenging the president his fight warnings of a tough crackdown. oh i maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program mali's new military leaders about a hold elections after staging a coup that's isolate.