this is live from the service fury shows no sign of cooling clashes erupted on the 4th night of anti-government demonstrations in belgrade the protesters trying to enter parliament coming out life saving aid to syria hits a u.n. roadblock to russia and china veto security council efforts to continue sending food and supplies to civilians in rebel held territory in syria paid workers more than this will spell disaster for millions. plus. is a free man after the president trying to move to the sentence of his former aide

could face prison for lying to congress. goes on the show then is test out it's much too late the defense system critics say the engineering model may be doomed to fail. a more welcome to the program clashes between police and demonstrators have broken out in the serbian capital belgrade on a 4th successive night of protest defying a ban on mass gatherings of protesters started earlier this week as a response to coronavirus restrictions but has been mounting of what the protesters say is an autocratic state. right toward anger on the barricades as bill great a game boy. or group of demonstrators attempts to. to the national assembly

police have briefly forced on to the back foot before mustering for a counter offensive. it's become a protest movement and squarely at the government one that has brought the worst on rest of this southern european country into decades knots of street battles with the place hardening attitudes among protest as many feel they have no will tend to have but to keep coming out against the authorities. will lost completely all institutions there's no basically no parliament there's just one party in it so when you. get situation down today. what's left is only the street protests began on tuesday prompted by government coronavirus curfew that since main abandoned but people are still turning out. the government says scenes like this threaten to goodison are rising in fiction right on

a visit to france the president pleaded with those on the streets to see razan more mobile you have been by him begging people please keep your health safe you're not going to take power by force you need to come to power at the ballot box. but demonstrate his anger has been fueled by a sense that serbia is turning away from democracy has just been re-elected in a poll boycotted by the opposition just weeks later the serbian president's funds are out in the streets in a struggle for power with an uncertain outcome. a weakened curfew in the capital had been called off by the government earlier i asked journalist theory in belgrade what why that did not peace the protests. because trust us there say that this is not anymore about the curfew or anything similar they want to pass it and then it's governance. resigned in the future because they say serbia being

under control ought to wreck the crack to control office. that would just for last 8 years and they say that there is no freedom of media and they cannot choose what kind of life they want because the precedent that's controlling everything in this country so they say that they will not stop the process even deny. the function the decision of the government for not gathering more than 10 people but they still went in the streets of belgrade and so as you say these princes have involved falls into antigovernment protests how much of a stretch to president and his posse is this we don't know yet because president bush just lost the elections in june 21st he did still win the elections with more than 60 percent but violence was 1st done in the streets even though the

press office has been taking place in belgrade the last 2 years but before they were are down nice but by the opposition leaders and now this group stump have a leader and they say that it's many different groups but what joins them if the idea against precedent which. journalist address a ferry in belgrade there speaking to me a little earlier some of the protesters have also been angered by talks hosted by germany and france meant to normalize relations between serbia and neighboring kosovo some nationalist groups have accused the president of the church of treason for negotiating with kosovo albanians on friday which said the talks were already paying off and the knowledge that serbia faces persistence to its claim to sovereignty over kosovo kosovo educated dependents from serbia in 2008.

russia and china have again vetoed an attempt by the u.s. security council to continue humanitarian aid liveries to rebel held territories in syria friday was the last day that aid agencies were allowed to bring food and vital supplies over the turkish border to rebel held areas in it live and aleppo provinces 13 count countries about voted in favor of extending the aid the permanent members russia and china oppose the resolution humanitarian groups say cutting off the i could spell disaster for millions of civilians that there are deliveries a lifesaver for the food the families who found shelter hand on the turkish border . they fled homes destroyed by asterix very few of them have enough money for food they'd be lost without help from outside. yet obama it's one thing to be bombarded by fighter jets or to be locked in without food is much worse it's a slow bloodless death. almost 3000000 people in northwest syria

depend on food aid like this. trucks bring it over the border between turkey and didn't the last rebel stronghold in syria. without approval from the syrian regime not protected by a un resolution. jimmy for families here the situation is virtually impossible that. they have nothing besides these aid deliveries. if they stop and it will be a catastrophe. some i'm sure of that with us a little bit since in the. famine is a fugitive reserve cuts off and as the coronavirus pandemic spreads in the region medical supplies an unneeded here in northwestern syria and 6. kevin kennedy is the un's regional humanitarian coordinator for the crisis in syria he told d.w.

this on cross border aid means for people in the country's northwest. you know of the people there 2700000 people are displaced many of move 2345 times in the course of the war many about are living in these tent cities very poor hygiene course sanitation little to no education for the children and they really need all the assistance we can provide and it just struggled to provide even in the best of circumstances were the cross border assistance from the u.n. to be lost this would be a disastrous blow to walter of these people let me be clear un's work in in syria along with our non-governmental organization you work with is great aid to syrians wherever they live government area non-government area that really makes no difference to us and provides the people who need it but the people who are syria or the most vulnerable and there are very totally reliant on the aid it comes

across the border so the border work to be close to the u.n. shipments we need $3000000.00 people a month there it would be catastrophic. let's now take a look at some of the other stories making news around the worlds. hong kong's opposition camp have set up polling booths across the territory on saturday for primary elections they aims to choose the pro-democracy candidates who stand the best chance of success in the gist of legislative council elections in september. singapore prime minister lee hsien loong says his long governing people's action party is on course to retain power off the friday's election its its support dropped to just over 60 percent there were celebrations among the opposition workers hasi which saw its numbers its number of seats in parliament. u.s. president donald trump has commuted the prison sentence of his long time friend and former just. has just appeared with his supporters to celebrate the president's

decision he wasn't used to begin his 40 month precedes him on tuesday after being convicted of lying to congress and witness tampering in june the investigation into alleged russian interference in the 2016 presidential run. for more i'm joined by reporter to listen why is donald trump doing this well today's action shouldn't come as any surprise to you who's really been following the stone case i mean story was of course convicted of obstruction of justice which is tampering and lying to congress in connections or more investigation and that looked into possible connections between the election campaign of donald trump and the russian government now that is of course something that trump has long maintained was an illegitimate investigation you know he phrased it as a partisan witch hunt and a hoax which is part of the reason he said that stone should never have actually face trial in the united states you know that is of course something that

a jury of peers disagreed with which is why he was sentenced to just over 3 years in prison what's interesting about today's actions from donald trump is actually that he didn't show choose the pardon i'm still instead he commuted his sentence which means in the eyes of the criminal justice system. america roger stone is still a convicted criminal but i commuted his sentence trump has managed to keep his promise and is keeping him out of jail what reaction have we had from democrats today well if you ask most the democrats the united states today is not a good day for the american justice system now they have long accused both the justice department under trump and trump himself of having a heavy handed approach and actually getting involved in a bevy of different criminal cases in order to keep his associates and aides and allies out of prison they've also accused him of using the power of pardon to make sure that political allies remain out of prison and don't actually see a day of jail time in a bunch of different cases for the reason that adam schiff one prominent democrat

actually said that today trump has again made it clear that there are 2 systems of justice in america one for donald trump's criminal friends and one for everyone else so again we're seeing the sharp political divide coming out in the united states once again how will this have an effect on the trump campaign for reelection . to be absolutely honest you know donald trump is facing a large uphill fight to stay in the white house he's really down in the polls but i don't see this really hurting him among independents or democrats because i mean let's face it if they're not going to vote for dollar trump in the fall it's for a bevy of different reasons it's not because he's keeping roger stone out of prison when it comes to his base i actually see this plane quite well because many people actually voted for dollar trump because they were expecting a more forceful approach to politics and you know he's been facing month after month of bad news in recent memory so i you know i see this actually playing to his

base where this allows him to set the agenda again and kind of say you know i'm returning to the old form of back you know as he was and 20172800 so i don't see him see this hurting him in the long term thank you and so it's a w. reports of thank you. now after nearly a decade of delays venice has successfully tested a new flood barrier system and to save the sinking city italian prime minister. was on hand for the test run of the 6000000000 euro construction but the project may be doomed to fail despite friday's success. out of the water they rise like a hidden treasure from the bottom of the ocean but the 70 burials are not the treasure they are made to protect it a multi-billion euro system designed to protect the lagoon city of venice from high tides a project most has seen delays unexpected costs and political corruption within a short we have promised the horrible scenes we've witnessed all the parts of the

past. disastrous flooding in november showed how vulnerable venice is these floods were the worst in over 50 years global warming and rising sea levels as well as venice the sinking foundations i'm not likely to improve the situation a fortress of steel is not supposed to protect the lagoon city but despite the photogenic ceremony today it is not expected to be fully functional until next year . it is a project that was born from many controversies and designed to protect venice from high water a concrete objective not an imaginary one however visionary it might it seems when it was designed. $984.00 that's when it was designed and it has been under construction since 2003 part of the underwater project is already corroding and experts fear depending on the pace of sea level rise these yellow berry s might soon be obsolete. you're watching the news live from berlin remember

you can always stay up to date on our web site. www dot com and you can follow us on twitter and instagram the news i'm. michael okwu is up next. with that more news at the top of the hour. news team karen thanks for to. play. this for me. is for.