juicy or. graphic. the. meaning of the. defiance and dissent in bella ruse more factory work has joined protesters challenging the president despite 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 vowed to hold elections off to staging a coup that's isolated the country from its neighbors and drawn international condemnation. and emergency in china with historic floods forcing more than 100000

people from their homes and threatening an ancient statue of the buddha. and love in the time of corona virus how the pandemic is forcing pakistanis to scale down their flamboyant fairy tale wedding it's. a protest as in about a ruse of defied the president's warnings of a tough crackdown on dissent alexander lukashenko has told law enforcement agencies to restore order on the streets but protests because protesters in the capital minsk a piling on the precious accusing the president of rigging his overwhelming election victory earlier this month and demanding he step down soften a state on chemical problems of walked off the job joining other factory workers who have been supporters of looking shanker until now calling for a nationwide general strike the protesters have also found some support with the

european union which has announced a new round of sanctions and says it will not recognize the election result al-jazeera step vasan was at one of the largest protests today at independence square in the center of the capital mints. it was a very different mood on the streets of men's 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 defiant 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. kill me or do something but for me.

it's some more awful listen. and then this happens despite the threats and also the risk 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 the kind of guy held its 1st meeting and has issued a manifest calling for a dialogue about a transitional and new elections. that this council illegal in the country saying that it was planning a coup d'etat but it also says there's nothing illegal they just want to have to bargain 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. we want to

do a lot we propose any legal steps so why should we be punished why that's a challenge for the opposition to keep the same actions on the street if they have any it's clear protesters i'm not giving up major on the look of china. meanwhile the the european union has an ounce to financial sanctions against a number of officials that it's blaming for electoral fraud and the abuse of protesters but president alexander lukashenko has dismissed criticism from the bloc telling its leaders to concentrate on their own problems at home barber reports. if alex on the lucas shanker is feeling the pressure he's not showing it's the man he's rubella roast 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 the guru 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 up

path as we should those who today especially abroad and this is clearly visible are plotting against us will get a serious rip off. hours 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 walker has lost all the legitimacy in the eyes of our nation and the. hero i call him here to support the. 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 belorussian 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 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. orvis of course is seen by the russian government as meddling a day after president vladimir putin wants his german counterpart not to interfere

his foreign minister rejected calls for russia to press president lucas shanker to talk to the opposition to the deals to the root is news to everybody believing mediation is the only way out i implore them not to forget the way our western colleagues mediated in 2014 during the my down in kiev when the esteemed representatives of the european union mediated reached an agreement and we all remember what that led to the sofa now with the president threatening to go after dissenters in belarus and his main ally rejecting outside involvement in dialogue the fear and uncertainty that surrounded the elections a still there the dean baba al-jazeera. now a key figure in mali's opposition protest movement now says he'll step back from politics after a meeting with soldiers who ousted the president in

a coup the new military rulers of ordered civil servants to return to work and have promised to oversee democratic elections that they haven't given any specific timeframe for that the international community has condemned tuesday's uprising which remove president abraham the because the someone else exactions on mollie's new leader has a dress has mall. jubilation on the streets of by marco after months of demonstrations that resulted in deaths and injuries too and to government protesters opposition supporters are now ecstatic about the potential for change to the government and they do feel yeah i'm a member but the way this regime fell was a good thing it was good for us so what the military did is not a coup 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 on able to achieve what the people expected of him for the

military. the military needs to organize a transition and that some point they can return it to the civilians to the political parties what i asked today is that they sit down hold talks and find a global solution for the problems of mali. i mean you know new military rulers a group calling themselves the national committee for this invasion of the people said the intervention was necessary and they vowed to return mali to democratic war . in 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 within 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 balance 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 but we have a. beer. too early for us. there was a lot but i think. just like. sure that he and bad governance will 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 money spent by ship of the organization the regional bloc they can 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 financial flows from member states to the country measures that could worsen the already

tough living conditions for mandaeans comedy al-jazeera. so now to a story that we've been following out of nigeria with reports of dozens of people being abducted off to an attack in the northeastern part of the country the armed group boko haram targeted the town of cook in borno state attackers looted and torched government buildings and farming equipment people started returning to their homes and could this month after spending nearly 2 years in displacement camps wolfie's 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 zawiya are 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 near the canary islands. the 2 rival palestinian groups hamas and fatah showed a rare united front holding a joint rally against the u.a.e. israel agreement 2 countries agreed to normalize relations last week under a u.s. brokered deal protests have been held in the occupied west bank and in gaza now to abraham has more now from ramallah. this is the 1st translation of the joint work both from the house and hamas has vowed to do again the israeli expect in an exaggeration hundreds have gathered here in response to an invitation against an exception and the u.a.e. is a plan to normalize with israel on tuesday those amassed an islamic jihad there is an attending the leadership meeting in which the message was clear no one has the right to speak on behalf of the palestinian people and that the

p.l.o. is the sole ad legitimity representative of the palestinian people so this is a message of unity who had a real junction. deal. that's what happened in the leadership meeting on tuesday should have happened years ago it's time for us to know that we have no one else to support us but our own unity. we are going to do got a vision is betrayal for palestinian cause and for the arab and muslim nations we came to send a message to out of nations and to our immediate brothers to repudiate the israeli him or not the agreement because it is a patroon for the palestinian cause rerouted here and will continue all kinds of resistance and you confirm that such normalization will not grant legitimacy for the zionist entity. the same sense of unity was reflected in the gaza strip hundreds from different palestinian factions have also participated in protests denouncing normalization some of the signs held in the protests read that palestine

is not for sale while the iraqis are saying that their agreement with israel has managed to stop the next a show and palestinians say that an exception is a reality to illegal israeli settlements are built here on the lands of the village where the protest is being held and they are expanding just like other settlements in different areas in the occupied west bank and the fear here is that more arab states are going to be normalizing relations with israel leaving palestinians alone in their fight. watching al jazeera live from london much more still ahead high school students rally outside thailand's education ministry calling the schooling system repressive. and then knuckle macron and the mediterranean the german chancellor is invited to discuss the future of europe at the french president's summer residence.

but. we've got some rather wet and windy weather now pushing across southeastern parts of australia as we go on into the next couple of days we could even see some significant snow fall lower levels pushing into new south wales a little mary of low pressure just heading towards the tasman quite a nasty drag of winds coming in from the southwest as we go through thursday on into friday could see some snow just cropping up from time to time just around the great dividing range southern end of the range that just around the victorian alps and some pos even up towards central parts of new south wales could even see as much as 10 centimeters of snow as we go wanted to the latter part of the waco where it's not too bad it is lousy fine and dry fired into the way perth around $21.00

celsius basin bits and pieces of cloud and rain meanwhile sweeping across new zealand but again not too bad we'll see temperatures in oakland getting up to around 17 celsius once the rain clears through now we have got rain making its way back into the far north of china ara seasonal runs they're going to pulse a way out of china central and eastern parts of china slipping down back across the korean peninsula possibility of further flooding here but it stays hot and dry for japan. they come in hope and in search of work to provide a better life for the families they've left behind. but though their labor is vital to release food industry they risk exploitation by corporations and organized crime . trapped in a system with little hope of escape people empower investigates its release seeks

legs on al-jazeera. welcome back to headlines protesters in belarus have defy the president's warnings of a tough crackdown on dissent alexander lukashenko told security forces to restore order on the streets people accuse him of rigging his election victory and they're calling for him to step down mali's new military leaders of our civil servants to get back to work and have promised to oversee elections within a reasonable frame of time though they haven't specified when it will happen the african union has suspended mali following the ouster of president abraham boubacar

kater on choose day and then dozens of people have reportedly been abducted following an attack in nigeria's northeastern borno state the armed group targeted the town of looting and torching government buildings and farming equipment. now in other news 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 and off threatening wild heritage sites katrina you reports 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 dam will 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 laws of nature at a whim 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 force of farming regions extreme weather

combined with slow recovery after the coronavirus pandemic has prompted steers over the sensitives 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. well the heavy rain is also expected to have caused a massive sinkhole that swallowed $21.00 parked cars in the southwestern city of you've been a witness captured the moment of the collapse outside a shopping mall which happened early in the morning thankfully no casualties have been reported and investigation is on the way now student protesters have been on the streets of the thai capital demanding a change in government demonstrations have taken place nearly every day for the pos month along with the departure of the prime minister prior channel a full military people are also asking for the constitution to be changed scott

haida 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 rapid now it's been peaceful for the most part over these last several weeks and it has been fair ralph cool what their purpose here is what you call for the resignation of the minister of education that is because over the last several days these students on high school campuses are saying teachers and administrators are preventing them from protesting the one thing that may be prevented from doing some of said specifically is that 3 finger salute that is no part of the solution for this protest movement they are saying the teachers have stopped them from doing that 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 back into.

the should be allowed to express their freedom of expression but some of the students here are skeptical that i am. 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 though it was class by young men 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 . 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 most protests like this for people coming out to the streets right across thailand. now and all the news president trump is race right in his intention to restore u.n.

sanctions on iran following us defeat u.n. security council to extend. global arms embargo on the country has been some debate about whether washington could force a return to un sanctions off the withdrawing from the nuclear deal in 2018 trump is now confirmed he's directed his secretary of state my own bias to notify the un about reinstating those sanctions iran will never have market to market iran will never have a nuclear weapon when the united states entered into the red deal it was clear that the united states would always have the right to restore the u.n. sanctions that would prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. we paid a fortune for a failed concept and a failed policy a policy that would have made it impossible to have peace in the middle east in a matter of hours come a harris will formally accept the nomination to be joe biden's running mate in the race to the white house the u.s. senate will speak on the 3rd night of the democratic national convention making

history as the 1st black woman and asian american to be on a major presidential ticket all the keynote speakers will include 2016 presidential nominee hillary clinton and the former president braca bamma day 2 of the convention so joe biden officially confirmed as the democratic nominee. now this week german chancellor angela merkel is meeting with french president emmanuel macron at his presidential retreat in the mediterranean the pair recently struck a game changing deal for the european union to fund an economic recovery for the coronavirus but at a time of increasing challenges for the bloc how strong will that bond prove to be dominant came reports. when the e.u. was looking to minimize the economic threat from the coronavirus it was to these 2 it turns out that this was the personal drive to reach a compromise a demonstration of their intent to try to solve europe's problems when possible as in a shared view about the current political upheaval in belarus the freedom of expression

and the right to demonstrate must be guaranteed prison is must be released and there must be a national dialogue to settle things peacefully in bellows. for decades the strength of the franco german relationship has been a given governments would come and go but the 2 countries shared political interests would remain in effect forcing ministers to work together for a common purpose the personal dynamic between these 2 is clear despite the generational differences between them the french president welcomes the analytical approach the chancellor brings to politics that you can really in-depth and discuss the disc with any idea or concept with her and you get an honest answer and it's not a political one because it's not an ideological one it's more really ok can this work or not that last question is one many in germany are asking now about the trump administration's plan for nato in europe its decision last month to withdraw some

of its forces from germany has worried many now some analysts say this poses a real dilemma for the french and germans. trump is destructive to world order is more than a dilemma he's a danger and to suppress that before the election is decisive. in charge. in visiting my call at his mediterranean retreat merkel is doing something few other leaders get to do because some say when she meets him it's not just a photo opportunity rather it is a meeting of minds it's done when it came out 0 berlin i've been lots of challenges force about by the coronavirus pandemic and marriage has been one of them for some people you perhaps can't invite as many guests as you might want and then also people aren't allowed to dance together because of social distancing when pakistan which is known for its large and lavish weddings the downsizing could be

a good thing for family budgets but a bad thing for the wedding industry as a mistrial the reports from karachi. the coronavirus put a stop to pakistan's flamboyant fairy tale wedding tired of waiting many companies are choosing smaller family affairs because even a global pandemic can't stop love. demi delayed our wedding after more time when by our presence cited we should go ahead despite the coronavirus. we waited for one than 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 the. parents who are poor and feel pressured to host

weddings they've been able to save money because of koran and 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 that. there are events where everyone comes there's a couple floor. but this was a wedding at home so we did things on a smaller scale fewer people were invited and there were 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 after doing here but they've been empty now ever since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak pakistan's government has started reopening businesses but wedding halls are not

a priority a failure owners say to understand how important they are to local economies. back 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 murder 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 olga's era karate. the world's most

valuable company just got rich at technology china apple has become the 1st publicly listed u.s. company with a 2 trillion dollars stock market value of surge since july when the i phone maker eclipse saudi aramco as the world's most valuable listed company apple stock prices have risen by 57 percent so far this year with a revenue growing across every category and all regions even as the coronavirus calls the u.s. economy to collapse at its worst rate since the great depression. quick recap of the headlines now protesters in belarus have defied the president's warnings of a tough crackdown on dissent xander looking shankar's told law enforcement agencies to restore order on the streets but protesters continue to pile on the pressure accusing him of rigging his election victory this month and demanding he step down the e.u. has announced

a new raft of sanctions against those behind the violence and electoral fraud. today we gave them 3 clear messages. firstly we stand by the people of belarus who want fundamental freedoms and democracy. secondly we will sanction all those responsible for violence repression and force a fixation of the results of the election and thirdly we are ready to accompany peaceful democratic transition of power in bellows or in mali the country's new military leaders of our civil servants to get back to work and have said they'll oversee elections within a reasonable amount of time not specifying when the president to resign and dissolve parliament on tuesday after soldiers staged a coup and detained in the gunpoint the african union and regional group eco ass of

both suspended mali in response to the coup. there are reports of dozens of people having been abducted after 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 only just started returning to their homes and cook after spending nearly 2 years in displacement camps. china's young sea river is expected to reach record high water levels within the next 24 hours after weeks of heavy rain in the in the south of the country dozens of people have died in the floods which have destroyed property and also threatening walled heritage sites so people and power is coming up next investigating exploitation of seek agricultural work has an ac that's it for myself and the team here in london for now history has called it the great war in the final episode of the 2 sides fight themselves to a standstill while britain and france conspire behind closed doors to produce

a secret agreement that will shape the middle east for the century to come world war one through our body's own knowledge is evil. for decades thousands of sikhs from north india have migrated to its elites who work in the country's agriculture industry the hope is to provide a better life for the families they've left behind but though their labor is vital to italy's food production many get caught in this cycle of exploitation of the produce from which those little discussion we've been to investigate.