personality and you can still have your as. a powerful storm smashes the u.s. gulf coast unleashing flooding hundreds of people are moved to safer ground. not matheson and this is all to say we're live from doha also coming up donald trump contradicts a top health officials timeline for the coronavirus vaccine claiming at least 100000000 doses could be distributed by the end of the year. u.n. investigators find evidence of crimes against humanity by venezuelan security forces and say president nicolas maduro supported them. and the former head of one

of the flights is found guilty of corruption i mean diac is sentenced to 2 years in prison. the southern us is being hits with what's being described as catastrophic and life threatening flooding that's where tropical storm sandy made landfall originally as a category 2 hurricane hundreds of people have been rescued and half a 1000000 people have lost power across florida and alabama and gallica reports. hurricane sandy came ashore in the early hours of wednesday morning slamming into alabama's coastline florida's panhandle also bore the brunt of 165 kilometer per hour winds as heavy rain and storm surges led to life threatening floods many residents were forced to evacuate to hotels as conditions worsened and the next

year's academy people that were left there in their office is you know things like that just we have 3 madagascar but. i just i feel for the people that are not you know i have this next story here so here's now we can do after making landfall it continues to move at an agonizingly slow pace forecasters say that makes the storm extremely dangerous for much of the gulf coast daylight in alabama showed a scene of devastation with severe flooding and damaged homes logan is still was at home in gulf shores where sally made landfall just rode it out on the 1st 4 we started your normal window start up. by the roof started coming off and so on it was written i just rode it out last month louisiana was hit by one of the most powerful storms on record or again laura killed at least 8 people and cost the state billions and hurricane season isn't over until the end of november in addition to sally there are several other named storms currently swirling in the

atlantic that hasn't happened since 1971 meteorologists here in miami will soon run out of pre-selected names for this hurricane season and be forced to use the greek alphabet that's only ever happened on one other occasion florida's governor is warning residents not to be complacent as the storm moves across the state hurricane charley is the full storm to make landfall this year scientists say climate change is making storms like this wetter and slower a potentially deadly combination and agalloch a al-jazeera jay growing has more on the storm and the flooding from the u.s. state of alabama. we're on the west side of that storm and so we get an easing of condition rather early and people have been out talking to them they say yeah we've been through storms with this one was different popped up very quickly developed within a week and much more powerful than a lot of people thought let me show you an example of some of that this is being built where the park in the middle of downtown will be a huge oak tree the huge macnow you trees that survived hurricane ivan survived

hurricane katrina didn't make it through sally some splintered and torn apart others pulled from the wet ground laid on their sides these are massive trees and this is an area a lot of people enjoy this means a lot to a lot of people here unfortunately it's a scene playing out really across the city right now there are trees on homes here in the downtown area businesses have been ripped apart the awning thrown debris thrown from the front windows they have been shattered as well and so now the cleanup begins it was the wind on this side it was the rain and the storm surge on the east side the water that storm surge flooding low lying coastal communities and then rain in some areas more than they've seen in recent history really swallowing entire communities and unfortunately those flood waters are not going to recede anytime soon all the creeks and lakes and rivers that usually carry that water out already over their edges and more water is pouring in and it's just going to

continue to push into a lot of these communities hundreds of weather continues to hamper efforts to put out an unprecedented a number of wildfires in the u.s. west coast smoke from those flames has caused some of the world's unhealthiest air quality in several states santa city even funds most reached as far as europe's apis fare well brunell's reports from portland oregon. the noxious cloud of smoke and ash choking the west coast has drifted in the upper atmosphere as far away as europe but nowhere is the smoke as bad as here in portland it's really bad we have never had an air quality a vent like this since 1985 which is when the department of environmental quality started tracking our air quality our previous record for poor air was set in 2017 we are 7 times worse than that. this environmentally conscious city is normally proud of its clean polluted air now it has the worst air quality of any major city

on earth and portlanders are feeling it deep inside i am definitely having problems breathing i work outside so unfortunately i am really exposed to even with a mask it still gets to you. major league baseball games in seattle were postponed due to unhealthy air alaska airlines one of the region's big carriers canceled many of its flights and washington state's governor said the file air is breaking all records the air outside right now is that historically polluted levels. according to our department of ecology. the consequences of breathing this filthy air can be done where portland hospital emergency room visits for breathing problems are 88 times higher than usual says county health officer andrea hamburg who spoke to us while wearing and in $95.00 man asked causes a dry cough which is of course

a concern during a pandemic can cause shortness of breath it can cause chest pains can cause an asthma attack so the effects range from mild irritation still very serious and life threatening meanwhile the fires continue to burn in butte county california a family that lost their home 2 years ago to the deadly fire in paradise are reliving a nightmare now their new house has burned and we need to take care now there are being told that every day with all these things happening on the outskirts of los angeles firefighters are combat enough fierce blaze it's led to evacuations of hundreds of people from the towns of arcadia and sierra madre and threatens to engulf the historic mt wilson astronomical observatory thousands of homes have been destroyed tens of thousands of people have fled millions of hectares of forest have

burned and the death toll is rising now tens of millions of people here in oregon california and washington are worried what the effects of breathing in this dirty air might turn out to be rob reynolds al-jazeera portland oregon. donald trump has contradicted the top health official on plan a corona virus vaccine will be available but director of the centers for disease control says vaccines won't be available to most americans until the summer of next year but trump says robert redfield is just confused and he insists it will be a very next month my kind of reports from washington d.c. the c.d.c. director peered before a senate committee and emphasized the importance of wearing a mask and i might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covert than when i take

a covert vaccine because imminent unicity may be 70 percent and if i don't get an immune response to vaccine is not going to protect me this facemask will on the subject of a vaccine ridgefield said one could become available before the end of the year but only in a limited supply if you're asking me when is it going to be generally available to the american public so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life i think we're probably looking at 3rd late 2nd quarter 3rd quarter. 2021 but the president publicly disagreed with the c.d.c. director on the issue of mosques and the time scale one available back scene no i think you made a mistake when you said that it's just incorrect information and i called him and he didn't tell me that and i think you got the message maybe confused but president maintain the release of

a vaccine is imminent we're ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced and it could be announced in october could be announced a little bit after october the but once we go we're already presidential candidate joe biden says he would side with science rather than trust the president who he says has frequently misled the public one thing is certain we can't allow politics to interfere with a vaccine it anyway. americans have had to endure president trumps incompetence and dishonesty when it comes to testing the personal protective equipment. we can't afford to repeat those fiascos when it comes to a vaccine when it occurs the stakes are too high. president trump has made no secret of the fact that he wants a vaccine in circulation before the november election he's repeatedly expressed anger at restrictions imposed on his campaign by the virus and is now back to

holding full scale rallies with many including the president rejecting the use of mosques final clinical trials for potential vaccines have only just begun they involve tens of thousands of patients and importantly at least 2 doses have to be administered over a period of time it's impossible for the test to be completed in the timeline envisioned by president trump which raises a question of whether the president is considering cutting short protocols for the testing of new vaccines that have been established for decades mike hanna al-jazeera washington you're an investigator is of accuse the venezuelan government of crimes against humanity including the killing and torturing of protesters a fact finding mission find reasonable grounds to believe president nicolas maduro ordered the crimes to silence the opposition is now calling on the international criminal court to open an investigation if venice will and authorities failed to

act the material government has denounced the report saying it's riddled with false roots 3 simple reports. because city already are and their leader bet a mallet they have been demanding justice for over 2 years following. their 20 year old son who was killed during protests in venezuela in 2017 he died after being struck in the chest by a tear gas canister well sort of i was very cowed we have gone to every international organization to denounce our son's execution because his death was part of the passion of excessive use of force by the state we need to stop this the fact that young men go out on a protest and a killed we want reparations and memory so that in venezuela never again a person is killed for fighting for their rights. it's been alleged that security forces were shooting directly towards protesters human rights groups say have uses

have been on the rise in venezuela says the opposition started to take to the streets against precedent in 2014. on tuesday the united nations fact finding mission in venezuela accused of crimes against humanity this one nations were committed directly by members of state security forces and intelligence agencies we have reasonable grounds to believe that higher level or thorough g.'s within these entities as well as political author origins words resized power and oversight over them including the presidents and the ministers have been cheerier and of defense were aware of these crimes and either ordered or otherwise contributed to them. the un is asking nations and the criminal court of justice to take action for the abuses torture and extrajudicial executions that have allegedly taken place in the country since 2014 the report shows specific

studies involving over 3000 cases of violations and crimes we want to talk to included among other things severe beatings psychological torture. that's an execution sorry no more executions soon execution family members sexual assault. it's a gradual notice usually. a un report comes out just as the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei o travels to south america to step up pressure against my will but while venezuela struggles to find a way out of its economic and political crisis victims saying only international pressure will help them in their fight for justice and truth that is i will. still ahead on al-jazeera south africa eases coronavirus locked on instructions we'll take a look at what's changing. a horrific culmination of failures a u.s.

congress report slums boeing and regulators for 2 deadly crashes. at the summer all the heavy rain the 4 call circle central southern as a china and also across into japan lots of cloudy can see here really streaming across the region in the last few hours and as a say through thursday certainly is cross seasonal central and eastern areas of china but this whole system really does produce some very heavy rain it'll work its way into western areas of honshu certainly and then by friday it becomes very widespread some heavy downpours as well up into her qaida a 10 which is not fairing too badly but really it will be about the rain over the next few days and then it does begin to dry off across into central china but still those rains have a particularly long the coast

a lot of is due to tropical storm of course which is heading towards the coast of vietnam and then into south asia had some dreadful downfalls again here particularly into central states maharastra sunny for the last couple of days and thursday the rains back in force across much of west bengal a pinch in a pool and again into the northeast of india fail widespread as well throughout much of bangladesh and namma and you can see here the the darker blue areas once again maharashtra seeing some very heavy downpours throughout the day on thursday so it does mean the next couple days like to be quite wes in mumbai and those rains continuing to extend to the north and also pushing west into southern areas of good at. al-jazeera who is beneath the waves with a team of women determined to save the day old friends we all share the same responsibility they need in his ongoing loading a project in amazing outing by using a variety of scientific techniques to train to study their behavior we can monitor

them and for their vocal kowtows and behavior we're able to how they're adapting to their new environment women make science dolphin sanctuary on al-jazeera. to play a bold. i want to go to 0 a reminder of our top stories this hour public insanity has brought to life threatening floods from florida to alabama buildings homes and cars have been deluged and hundreds of people have been rescued by emergency crews half a 1000000 people lost power in the region. u.s. president donald trump has contradicted a top health official on plan

a coronavirus vaccine will be available c.d.c. director robert redfield says widespread distribution won't be possible until the summit of 2021 trump insists that will happen by the end of this year. u.n. investigators have accused the venezuelan government of crimes against humanity including the killing and torturing of protesters are calling on the international criminal court to open an investigation. alarms have been raised in the u.s. state department the top officials of vulnerable to walk crimes charges for the proving bomb sales to the saudi m. iraqi coalition in yemen that's according to the new york times which is reporting u.s. officials had full knowledge of a pattern of indiscriminate civilian killings the times is also accusing the trumpet ministration of systematically suppressing findings by internal watchdogs to prioritise arms sales to saudi arabia and the u.a.e.

south africa's coronavirus restrictions are being rolled back after a decline in the number of infections residents and civil rabble poses says the country will move to a lower level one as of midnight on sunday curfew hours will be reduced to between midnight and 4 am i have to form up to 100 people will be allowed to attend funerals international travel will also be allowed from october. our public health response is now focused on further reducing the transmission of the virus and preparing for a possible research we have now taken a decision to keep increasing coronavirus testing due to the decline in new infections and that reduce pressure on our health facilities will now have sufficient testing capacity to expand the criteria for text testing fundamental has this update from johannesburg south

africa has endured a 6 month long lockdown one of the strictest in the world and it's had a severe impact on the economy one study suggests that after 3000000 people have lost their jobs while the economy contracted by around 51 percent in the 2nd quarter me south africans are worried about the country's economic future and it's hoped that the easing of restrictions will boost the economy create jobs and allow for the best possible recovery at this point and this is been the emphasis from president. over the lockdown that there's been great concern around south africa's economy now one of the biggest announcements made is that borders will open and international travel will be allowed but of course the government has

says that it will be a gradual easing of travel restrictions there of course we want to be very cautious people visiting south africa would have to have a negative code 19 tests before their arrival if they don't have that test they would have to observe a mandatory quarantine once they arrive in south africa. 4 afghans are being charged with arson after a fire destroyed a massive refugee camp on the greek island of less boss last week $12000.00 residents of the. without shelter the u.n. representative in greece is asking european nations for help and housing them 70 deca has more from les pauls. it's a story of 2 people those cleaning up this all of grove the islanders who've been hosting thousands of refugees and migrants for years now and those who try to find shelter here on this private land after their camp burned down to the ground last week. my life has changed completely we can all look here soon we should start

harvesting the olives how can you harvest here it is not possible them and us we understand them but they should also understand us something that sadly isn't happening. ever since fire swept through moria camp here on the greek. thousands of refugees and migrants have been forced to mostly fend for themselves so this gives you an indication of just how many people still remain on the streets you've got men on one side you've got women on the other and what they're waiting for at the moment is food handouts by one of the n.g.o.s there is still very much a lack of coordination and aid effort here and this is a very bad he said no. no. not. yet the greek authorities have made it clear that everyone needs to be moved here to a new camp many are reluctant they face terrible conditions at moria and don't want

to enjoy the same again the head of the un refugee agency in greece came to visit the new camp they had criticized the conditions in moria before it's not manageable to manage a camp with 5 times its capacity or even times the capacity to insomuch as we speak you need c.r. is a pushing the. action. make the process so that people do not stay too long in these places the local population is getting more and more frustrated that he's cocky nellie's is remora village he takes us from the village to where you can see the burnt camp economic on the parameter we have 2 human dramas here on fortunately it's constantly the drama and living conditions of the migrants that's talked about remember the locals who have gone through very hard times since 2015 and they're frustrated these people should be put in a closed and controlled camera far away from the local population. many islanders

were hoping that this meant a thousands of refugees would be moved off the island that is something many of the refugees say they want to but for now with the new camp expanding by the day neither side is getting what they want stephanie decker al-jazeera lesbos island greece u.s. federal officials considered using a military grade device on protesters near the white house back in june according to the washington post and actual guard major has reportedly testified defense officials stockpiled i mean nation and wanted to use what's called a heat tray an anti-racism demonstrators the device makes people feel like their skin is burning troops were reluctant to use it in iraq in june federal officers used tear gas and force to clear protesters from a park to allow donald trump to hold a photo op. 2 fatal air crashes have been blamed on

a horrific combination of failures by plane maker boeing and the us federal aviation authority a 737 max model was grounded after 2 separate incidents within 6 months but it may soon be flying again shihab rattansi reports. 346 people died in 2 boeing 737 max air crashes one in october 2800 the other in 2019 after 18 months of investigation the democratic majority on the house transportation and infrastructure committee concluded they were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by burns engineers and lack of transparency on the part of boeing's management and grossly insufficient oversight by the f.a.a. the investigation confirms much of what was already known under pressure from rival airbus boeing rushed the 737 max to market promising greater fuel efficiency in order to achieve that efficiency boeing made major design and software changes with

little oversight there were multiple warnings of problems from those actually working on the planes of potentially catastrophic consequences but they were ignored in the rush to sell and deliver planes the customers a main selling point was that there was no need for airlines to undertake costly pilot retraining if they bought this new model of the 737 and as sales went up so did executive compensation even after the 1st crash that killed 189 in the java sea and despite failing to share key information about the changes to the aircraft boeing executives profited from a 20000000000 dollars stock buyback testifying to the committee in july of 2019 paul and georgia who lost his entire family and the subsequent crash of ethiopian airlines flight $302.00 said this is where the problem lies point should not be allowed to act like an investment company extracting welt to supercharge

shareholder returns at the expense of safety and quality. as for the federal aviation authority it largely delegated oversight of the 737 max to boeing itself even after the 1st crash the f.a.a. took out its word that it was compliant with federal safety regulations both boeing and the f.a.a. insist they've changed but as regulators move to recertify the 737 max grounded worldwide since march of 2019 victims' families say once again things are moving too quickly however what has changed is the credibility of the f.a.a. one of the unprecedented things that happened was and other aviation authorities around the world said regardless of what the u.s. says about whether the airplane is fit to fly it will have to go through them as well that's something that typically doesn't happen nonetheless the 737 max is expected to be back in the air within months she every time see al-jazeera. the former head of world

a 30 has been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to use in prison it was part of a scheme which covered up russian doping in return for bribes they would stalks reporters . i mean diac was the most powerful man in athletics for 16 years but on wednesday in a dramatic fall from grace he was found guilty of corruption at a court in paris he's been convicted of multiple charges including accepting more than $3000000.00 in hush money from russian athletes in return for covering up their doping offenses the 87 year old from senegal was sentenced to 4 years in prison with 2 of them suspended and find nearly $600000.00 his legal team confirmed they will appeal far to see if this is your this decision is unfair and inhumane unfair because we see that the judges have tried to be politically correct and of wanted to use mr jack as a scapegoat. diac was originally charge 5 years ago he's been under house arrest in

paris ever since and the case has attracted global attention it was a big question on the table. it was the 1st. one of the case involving main leaders in the indian sport community so we understand that there was a big media to put it to pressure it's not the 1st time that a friend german english judge has difficulty trying to resist resist pressure. diac was head of what was then called the r w f from 999 to 2015 his help in covering up russian doping and that many athletes who were cheating were able to keep competing at major events all at the expense of clean athletes to mask it says well you can see the smile on my face with the mask but i'm very happy to have been recognised as a victim of the corruption by the leaders and i'm also happy for all the other athletes who are victims we need to continue to fight against doping. the court handed guilty verdicts to 5 other people including d.x.

son diac who worked as a mock to consultant for the i w f when his father was in charge $15000000.00 were funneled to his companies including commissions from t.v. rights deals. and senate goal which is refusing to extradite him he was sentenced in absence to 5 years in prison and find more than $1000000.00 as for his father the appeal keeps lamine diac out of jail for now he himself made no comment as he left the court david stokes. this is al jazeera these are the top stories having been sally has brought life threatening floods to an area of the u.s. stretching from florida to alabama where one person has been confirmed dead buildings homes and cars have been deluged and hundreds of people have been rescued by emergency crews off a 1000000 people have lost power in the region jay gray has more from alabama it

was the wind on this side it was the rain and the storm 30 on the east side the water at storm $31.00 in low lying coastal communities and then rain in some areas more than a theme in recent history really swallowing entire communities and unfortunately don't flood water they're not going to recede any time soon all the creek and the lakes and rivers that usually carry that water out already over their edges and more water is pouring in and if you're going to continue to push into a lot of these communities the west coast of the u.s. is still struggling to contain dozens of wildfires smoke from those flames as call some of the world's unhealthiest air quality in several states there's been a 10 percent increase in people going to hospital in oregon with respect to show problems 34 people have died across 3 states. u.s. president donald trump has contradicted a top health official on why in a coronavirus vaccine will be available c.d.c.

director robert redfield says widespread distribution won't be possible until the summer of 2021 but trump insists that will happen by the end of this year south africa's coronavirus restrictions are being rolled back after a decline in the number of infections from sunday curfew hours will be reduced to between midnight and 4 am and up to $100.00 people will be allowed to attend funerals international travel we allowed from october. taiwan says its air force has warned off 2 chinese i'm submarine jets that flew into its airspace as the latest chinese military activity over the island which beijing claims as its own territory a senior u.s. officials due to arrive in the island later on thursday and another sign washington is stepping up its support those are the headlines now it's viewfinder latin america goodbye. russia now seems to be going after the main economic resource which is of course we bring you the stories in developments that are rapidly

changing the world we live in a president from america 1st policy triggered a white wall that morphed into a technological wall counting the calls on al-jazeera viewfinder fresh perspectives. around the globe.