to turn back on documented people especially families. mexico struggling to contain dozens of raging wildfires across the country one of the worst affected areas is the national park in seattle the santiago soldiers that have been working alongside firefighters to battle to help battle of the released 50 of them in 12 states across the country on sunday the hot dry weather has been blamed for an increase in walk far. this is al jazeera adrian for begin with you here in doha the headlines and al-jazeera floodwaters are rising across parts of the australian state of new south wales a national disaster has been declared in some regions off of the worst flooding in decades declared gage has more now from windsor northwest of sydney. it's been raining for days and floodwaters continue to rise behind me is the main bridge in

town and it's under water many buildings saw inundated as well and people in the lying areas have been told to evacuate but there are extraordinary scenes like these riots through new south wales in heavily populated areas from port macquarie . and you can also and now more than 18000 people have been told to leave their horns china's holding a secret trial from a former canadian diplomat who's been detained in the country for more than 2 years diplomats from canada the u.s. and around 20 other countries covered outside the court in beijing to show solidarity for michael covering who's accused of espionage to try to you reports from beijing. we're not expecting a verdict today this is a very long drawn out legal process he was arrested in december 28th teen and wasn't charged formally with espionage until about 18 months later so boy him and

michael spade will have been detained now for more than $800.00 days and very little access to the outside world and because of carbon $1000.00 even a month visits by candidate officials have been paused the leading opposition candidates in the republic of congo as dives keep greece parfait colas was being transferred to france for treatment for covert time teen foods in the presidential election are still being counted but he saw so gay so is widely expected to win extending is 36 years in power gun that have killed at least 39 people in southwestern this yeah it happened in the tula berry region which borders mali and back you know far so 58 people were killed last week japan has lifted a state of emergency in tokyo as pressure mounts to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control ahead of july is a limb pick. thirds of the headlines the news continues here on the up front next. on counting because mari draggy save the euro but can he turn

around italy's struggling economy plus kind of oil rich libya's unified government you know the war told he's done west including the country to central banks and chile rethinks china's investor. counting the cost on al-jazeera. as prime minister narendra modi's government cracks down on dissent can india still call itself the largest democracy on earth. i'm marc lamont hill also on the show anger and desperation is mounting in lebanon over a financial and political meltdown the country is hurtling toward collapse what can be done to stop it that's our debate but 1st india's growing crackdown on dissent including farmers' protests internet shutdowns online censorship and the jailing of

activists is ringing authoritarian alarm bells is democracy being dismantled and the ranger modi's india at last this week's headliner national spokesperson for the ruling by the janata party. thank you so much for joining me on outfront thank you very much. india has long been touted as the world's largest democracy but in recent years under prime minister narendra modi. india has been seeing its democratic credentials called into question just this month the democracy watchdog freedom house has downgraded india from free to partly free and soon after the institute in sweden reclassified india no longer as the world's biggest democracy but as an electoral autocracy have these institutions gotten it right is it time to recalibrate whether india is a democracy anymore. well let me tell you that it is not only largest

democracy but it's the mother of all immigrants. because we have. just been back to stick of our history of history and you will find that democratic process is something which is followed in this country that it even invented the relations something we inherited in it and it is an odd d.n.a. to follow closely followed democratic process let's talk about some of those democratic processes you're right i mean the thing that makes a nation a democracy is its democratic processes and practices but what we've seen in the last few months alone is a series of things that some have considered to be anti democratic. the cracking down on dissent in recent months in light of the agricultural reforms that have taken place in the form of protests that have ensued since the reforms your government ordered twitter to block more than 1200 accounts including journalists

and media organizations deemed to be sharing content or views on the protests that the government didn't like this doesn't seem like a democratic process or practice it seems dictatorial. not it does not on a computer disagree with people who have this kind of began to disappear going to because safety and security of citizen is that is the paramount importance for every every government and the sponsors look up this government fog and it is important that some but somebody who is trying to use the social media to propose something which is secular and own little sense necessarily. but rejecting or getting information we lead to friction within the society it is a budget for the government to ensure that those. which can create tricks in particular connection should be taken down if you're saying that there is something that is dangerous and incorrect and unfactual and causing some kind of public

crisis so public damage is up there then yes i can understand the conversation about potentially taking it down but 1st of all according to human rights watch just to give one example they're saying that this is a kind of attack against journalists and media authorities oppose bail for the journalists to decompile and after he was arrested on his way to report on the gang rape of a dallas woman in a dish also all sharma is a journalist who was charged with spreading false information disobeying the order of a public servant and acting negligently to spread infection of a dangerous disease what did on sharma do it was the posting of a facebook live report that showed stranded workers in need of food during a lockdown what did they do that warranted these charges do you even in retrospect believe that this was appropriate. well you have to understand. the sensitiveness of your particular sure and how it will impact the society and if it's in the heat

of the moment if you. put something on to go out on show because we're going to do a lot of. security issues then it is it is the authority which is asking looking not to go on because of the way that in every every channel every. shows and the government can you can you comment on those 2 cases because i don't i don't i don't want to see. the big country you cannot just because i'm not. i'm not going to take hundreds. i could put hundreds are you can you courts and my dear pradesh denied that's another quarter might be put pradesh denied bail to a muslim stand up comic know what a photo who was arrested under section 295 for jokes that apparently hurt hindu sentiments even of the police admit they have no evidence that he even had a performance and basically didn't make the jokes so a get it seems like time after time was in crackdowns on dissent could you

acknowledge that at least appears to be a threat to democracy do you. no let's. get a few clinical information and the daily it what is being followed in the country see then in the you're talking about the muslim community i come from the muslim community and i say that no government in the past has been overly concerned about disposal of community because this government will actually hold the interest of the government is reaching out to muslims who have been left the standard by the previous governments that successive governments that's fine but that doesn't that doesn't that you have yet to answer any of the question about how the media government transept treats journalism that i gave 3 specific cases of crackdowns on dissent whether it's from a comedian whether some journalist do you have any interest in greece writing to those specific cases if not i'm happy to move on but can you sir address those cases not absolutely no distinction only for the government is not about the journalists not about anybody that it's you know do you let

anybody on that list who are who at them to create some kind of friction through. their life being all of them or that a statement other one will be. that would be under the law that let me if i if i move on people protesting the citizenship amendment act last year which was seen by many to be unfair and discriminatory against muslims were beaten arrested and killed in subsequent crackdowns during the citizenship protests copula mishra a member of the b j p in delhi used inflammatory rhetoric against protesters including the slogan shoot the traitors shoot the traitors he also issued a fiery speech declaring that a police didn't clear the streets he and his supporters would the violence that ensued ended up killing 53 people most of whom were muslim why is capital misha still a member of the b j p s. he he was he was a member of

a little another political party nor his part of the big it big and less political party than david and he was in that the political party was making noise no extremely happy and comfortable with this kind of hypocrites he is. but if somebody i'm dealing with conviction and i'm telling you that let everyone must know that if anybody makes that i am going to speculate that it's from the bar they don't but might be or the ruling party or from them at that party and that's it doesn't look at me and constriction it aspect of that affair i didn't get the association of the political party they will not be spent it will not look in their favor because a lot of the land is absolutely let go it's good fiction mostly punished so you've said. that now minister of home affairs described migrants from bangladesh as termites you've had to janet the chief minister of the country's most populous

state say that there is nothing wrong with india becoming a hindu state and referred to muslims as quote a crop of 2 legged animals that have to be stopped i want to ask a very simple question that i'd love to get an answer to do you condemn this language well it has been spoken in a very different perspective and it should africa do is go in and do it well one of the chips when it's done it's. going to start up this click country you have to see how many statement is given for the community and to send god to come in writing or do you condemn that is laying a works or do you condemn this in human eyes and language. not this is. us they're not going to for the committed this last scene but there's less spoken of would be the. people who are coming to india and getting just a disruption suddenly and people refer to muslims as a crop of 2 legged animals who have to understand that it's not.

i completely disagree with that this is the kind of and. the statement you are making and that was not bent then and then it just saying it is already there you are picking what that sentence and you are making that kind of. beyond your analyses but fact that it must be spoken in a very different perspective and people who are or know us he called them a crop of 2 legged animals would you say under what circumstances an is it is it proper to use a sling with no heat migrate in bangladesh as termites i mean would you look at let's let's let's focus on that for a moment so just so that i can get a clear response will let a little is there ever a time what's ok to call migrants from bangladesh that termites know anybody was enduring into our country illegally they're coming illegally in our country

not through a legal process the out of their maid what does that might do it would be the basic approach to make. it may consider though they read about it they're going to become the system and that's what they were doing in many parts of the country illegally come into our country and what do what is sources available for our country many of us because of us live so you could say. this flow that people of this country are not for the people who are coming illegally so it has so you're saying so you're going to take it from cite please continue let me let me let let me tell you you're talking about. you know that they're not who is the couldn't. define a set of the largest in a state and let me tell you you're talking what he said he said something about the muslim community but i am dealing with that in perspective but when you see his governance model you see that are not suppose that people who need to change that

22000 homes which i would want it had been given to citizen wouldn't have changed it in or that but i think that i have ties muslim community it can cause and of the $22.00 was given to muslims so going to lead that electricity connection to the which was left in darkness by the u.s. government all the electricity connection with it had been given. the gas connection the water connection everything had been provided by the state. so he's very clear calling for him to supremacy in fact he said there's nothing wrong with india becoming a hindu state let me let me ask you very directly do you agree with the idea of india becoming a hindu state would that be proper. which is as i said it's the mother of all democrats but that's not my that's not my question my question is if you have said there's nothing wrong with telling a hindu state do you agree with this statement so literally you must understand

when you became a center there must understand what exactly it means it does not. and in this case he said that he's ready for a religious war he said we are all preparing for a religious war he said that muslims were a crop of 2 legged animals that had to be stopped he said he's from a temple that is known for hindu supremacy and then he said there is nothing wrong with a hindu state that is not a single sentence that is a body of works are in my question for you is do you agree with this would you prefer india become a hindu state yes or no i have all this. country and i'm going to something that every being good as it is a good thing and many many places in the world including. very differently than my and. so permissive. nationals that other faiths are being created. in this great country no other

country probably gives the kind of freedom which we. will have to leave it there. thank you so much for joining me. a dying economy a pandemic that has crippled the health care system a currency in freefall and more than half the population living below the poverty line add to that a government stalemate and one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in modern times lebanon is suffering on an unprecedented scale since 21000 protesters have been on the streets calling for change they say the political elite beset by corruption and mismanagement is to blame but they will not relinquish power is lebanon hurdling towards total collapse. joining me to answer that question from beirut is camelot to us she is nonresident fellow at carnegie endowment and the author of the book black wave and dana as cultural and social activist and executive director of haven for artists thank you both for joining me in the arena

dana i want to start with you last august nearly 3000 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the port of beirut that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands of others between that and the country's financial crisis many were hopeful that lebanon would finally see. genuine reform. a lebanese citizen a director of the average farm initiative called it quote a once in a lifetime battle for the soul of lebanon but today people are still in the grips of a mounting crisis why did all of these catastrophic events happen and yet they didn't become the tipping point for the kind of change that many thought we'd see. when it comes to the tipping point i think that 1st you have to assume that the situation was deteriorating was to have a pretty 2nd better it was at any point stable or efficient and that was never the case it was never stable there was never a question we had protests every couple of years we've had occupations from 2 different regimes that have happened over lebanon so the premise a bit being it's

a point where it was always something that we were negotiating with on an everyday basis because it wasn't just a blast it was the way that we were able to even live in this country was practically impossible prior to it but the problem i think of it isn't whether we like it or not there is too many persons in power when it comes down to it we're not fighting one lesion we're fighting 8 different persons that are in control of one regime so it's not like you can go after one of them and be able to remove that person from their chair all in a way protecting one another because they know that their interests are extremely interconnected and that if one of them falls all of them do and we're waiting for lab i don't moment i don't think activists have ever relinquished the streets and i don't think they ever will and can do with that assessment yes i do agree with some of the points that mate we're still in the process of bringing down what is essentially a system a political establishment of former warlords for the large part you know mafia

lords in some ways a political cartels and malicious you know how we should not forget to mention hezbollah as the militant shop political group not to iran as one of the main key players in this equation which is not the only problem but is the most powerful group armed to the cheese which helps to uphold the system because it too benefits from the corruption and it feeds into that system but i would add one thing to what do you know i said i think we're going to continue to see. tests on the street i think we're going to continue to see popular pressure against the political establishment. and we're going to see also regional movement because unfortunately for another not one we're at this sort of crossroad of 2 politics where everyone is involved the russians that rowing against the americans the

french and what we really need here is international pressure as well as vocal pressure it is also up to people here for us in lebanon to push for true reforms can you brought up hezbollah of course the shia political party and militia which has dominated the country's politics for decades for some they are the problem at same time hezbollah provide social services schools health care we could go down to youth youth programs etc is hezbollah's popularity a roadblock or should we incorporate that into whatever salute whatever political solutions we develop or imagine hezbollah is a state within a state they are free to provide social services to their community but there is no reason for them to remain aren't and there is no reason for them to use lebanon as a base for their regional military adventures in syria and iraq in yemen they are

a paramilitary expeditionary force that is royal to iran they did play a great role in helping to liberate southern lebanon from israeli occupation but that was then and today the lebanese want to i think in the majority of them want to build a state they need governance they need rule of law and so you have a lot of charities organizations that are politically if you do that to provide social services and hezbollah's social services are great and they can continue to do that. the shia community in lebanon on should be free to choose and should be provided with other opportunities beyond boy don't you trust fund and i think what we're seeing is the shia community making very clear that as well as not even providing enough for them anymore they are too going hungry and that's why you are

seeing people protest in areas where hezbollah has a strong presence there to help me think through this has below question because this is one of the most contentious issues some countries designated as a terrorist group others see it as a legitimate social political force now of course we know in 2009 the lebanese parliament overwhelmingly approved hezbollah to have weapons the only militia to do so after the civil war this creates a very unique dynamic for hezbollah in terms of its power in the region in the country specifically the question though is do we disarm what do you say is that the only way out to have to have this kind of coexistence. i think we cannot eliminate the president of the presence of people that supports hezbollah or support the m. other movement because there are shihad that do not follow his ball of the problem either there are other shows that are independent so the shot i mean at the end of itself has multiple leaders but the premise of it is if we want an actual democratic representative state we all need to come to the table coming to the table with a gun no matter who it is is

a problem including or when it's somebody like the lebanese forces who say they don't have crowds but one common push comes to shove there are. all ready to go out to the streets because everyone personally under god doesn't need to be the militia because i also think that this is a very different understanding we always assume that the militia itself is the only one that has a gun but there's also people that we the people that don't consider themselves with guns like el appen f.m.p. which is a prepaid riyadh equipment with one of the largest blocs currently with hezbollah the last time we had a protest they went down with guns and they were shooting up and you know they were shooting in the air trying to shoot at protesters so you do have different different elements of it and 1st of all before we even get to the point of this arming hezbollah we need to sit at the same table i don't think we've even gotten to a point where we've coexisted truly and clearly there's always been what it was this was just what the sitting at the same table looked like as a practical matter in the current context. i think well 1st of all iraqis are coming in and we're extremely excited to finally present ourselves with independent

candidates and especially women candidates as we know we only have 4.5 percent of our entire parliament that is represented by women. of course of the many laws that are all entailed into that so firstly we have to just get to the elections in a promise the people understand there is an alternative because the state media is owned by the same you know it's militias that are running the country and like him said hezbollah does offer social services and so to all of the militias and their own way whether it be the dollars in the short or when it be how do you pay and problems will suffer the so all of them do this thing the promise of it is that he made the government so in fact so incapable that you must follow them as a militia all of these militias are doing the same thing all of them the difference is hezbollah is not of course that is easily negotiated with because they are so much controlled by external process but also let's not forget that the saudis are not easy and the saudis are also and are heavy so you have multiple elements of

geopolitics playing here and the 1st premise of it is understanding that these politicians in about one in of themselves are the problem not just the people that they're leading another big geo political question in the middle east and certainly in lebanon is the question of the refugee there are 7000000 people in lebanon and in that country there is an extraordinary responsibility to house refugees to host 1500000 syrian refugees that's a proportion of refugees higher than any other country in the world. lebanese people right now are finding it more difficult to feed themselves for a living on less than $14.00 a day we've seen food prices skyrocket as this goes on what future is there for the families who have fled neighboring countries to lebanon what's the future the refugee when it comes to the refugees it's not up to allow. us to decide when they should go home to a country that still at war it is

a very large burden for lebanon and the international community has not done enough to help lebanon on and syrian refugees in general my great hope for for love or not as we go forward because not what's up things that day that's it is that activism is going to turn into political work i see a lot of the groups that have been that have taken to the streets over the last 18 months really understand that activism on its own charity work n.-g. o. where it's not enough and that they need to get involved in the politics they need to run for elections elections will take place we hope in 2022 sometime in may or in the sprint we hope they will indeed take place in the establishment will not try to cancel them because i see a lot of really excellent work game changing approach to how you run elections and how you run for elections and you know i don't want to put my hopes too much but i

think we could be looking at a new political political leaders coming onto the scene that's all we have time for chemical at this dana bash thank you both so much for joining me in the arena that is our show up front we'll be back next week. discover a world of difference. determination i'm talking about when the need we are moving . freedom will climb this keep us in a shop so just put it on the 16 people. corruption and get it going on compassion. just 0 world a selection of the best films from across our network of couples. the

river narin flows through the coldest reaches of kyrgyzstan temperatures here can drop to 20 degrees below 0 this time of year with the driving snow and bitter winter conditions enough to keep these men from working on the ice and in the freezing water because the river nari contains gold men from villages along the river be panning for gold in this area for centuries the best time of year to do it is the winter because the river is low or the jury in the summer months these tiny little yellow flicks you can see don't look much they were around $50.00 a gram. it's one of the world's most powerful and dangerous criminal enterprises central to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people and behind the deaths of many more exceptional access to some of its key players reveals the in what hangs of an organization telling the name to many as the blood alliance inside this

in a low a cartel part 2 of a tea party investigation people in power on al-jazeera. went out through the worst of it potentially and that's why we need to price ourselves for what will be a very difficult way mass evacuations at a natural disaster clad in several regions of a straight area after one of the worst floods in decades. this is al jazeera live from. has been arbitrary detained and now we see that.