this is "al jazeera." ♪ anchor: hello. is the al jazeera newshour lili from londndon. mingng up in t the next 60 minus -- leaders around thehe world joing the ininitiative to speed up the covid-19 vaccine that would be available for all. as the number of covid-19 deaths past 50,000, businesses start to reopen in georgia. plus --

> it was a very sarcastic question. trump trumpident defends himself after widespread criticism regarding the treatment of the coronavirus. ♪ the holyly month of ramadan n bs with islam's holiest sites largely empty amidst unprecedented restrictions. leaders from around the world have united to launch an initiative to accelerate work on drugs, tests, and a vaccine for covid-19. coordinatedho, the campaign aims to ensure that any vaccines and treatments are available to all. notable by their absence are china where the outbreak began and the u.s. which has now recorded more than 50,000 deaths

. despite this, the state of georgia has gone ahead with reopening some nonessential businesses. there is better news from spain which has recorded its lowest number of deaths and more than a month and for the first time the number of spaniards that have recovered from covid-19 has exceeded the number of new cases. of of this as the holy month ramadan gets underway with coronavirus restrictions forcing muslims to change how they mark the event. we begin our coverage this hour. placeer: it is just the you would've expected in previous times two has seen u.s. leadership. a global crisis and world leader is coming together with a response. the idea of this event to coordinate the search for a vaccine, testing, and treatments for covid-19 and to make sure all are widely available. >> the world needs these tools it needsneed -- and

them fast but experience has taught us that even when tools -- available, they have been they have not been equally available to all. we cannot allow that to happen. >> covid-19 requires the most massive public health efforts in italy. production capacity needs to be prepared. communities need to be engaged and politics set aside. i know we can do it. i know we can put people first. reporter: leader spoke from all regions of the world. technically bringing them together with a bit of a challenge. now?n you hear me >> we can stereo. one ofr: germany was several countries represented. >> we are now going to continue to mobilize all the countries of

the g7 and the g20. i hope we will be able to reconcile this initiative with china and the u.s. because the fight against covid-19 is a common good for humanity. anye should not be divisions between countries. we need to join forces to win the battle. therter: the fact that world health organization was the host of the event explains why the u.s. did not take part. president trump cut all new funding to the who because he claimed the global health body had not been tough enough on china. who failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable. reporter: a spokesperson to the u.s. mission to the u.n. in geneva told al jazeera that there will be no u.s. official participation. we were informed of this event last week and we look forward to learning more about the initiative as soon as possible. following this event, the next phase will be led by the european union in 10 days time

when they will be trying to read -- raise $10 million to make sure that vaccines, testing, and treatment are available to everyone. u.s. president donald trump says he was being sarcastic and he raised the possibility of injecting people disinfectant to fight coronavirus. after signing the latest stimulus bill into law, he tried to explain comments he made on thursday which drew widespread criticism from doctors and experts. the presidents suggestion caused leading disinfectant makers to issue strong warnings not to drink or inject their product. our white house correspondent has more. reporter: the white house is certainly pushing back on some of the comments that have been sued following the president's statement. the president has endured backlash and ridicule for his suggestion that it would be

possible to inject disinfectant rays as atraviolet form of curing coronavirus. --when i said disinfectant is there a way that we can do something like that by injection? reporter: the white house is pushing back on reports of the president's comments. the white house is accusing the media of acting irresponsibly even taking the president out of context. the president for his part is also defending his statement. >> i was asking the question of the gentleman there yesterday, bill. when they say that something will last three or four hours or six hours but if the sun is out or if they use disinfectant, it goes away in less than a minute. i was asking a very sarcastic

question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside. and it wouldill it kill it on the hands and it would make things much better. reporter: as result of the president's comments come of the surgeon general for his part felt compelled to issue a statement saying it is important to talk to a doctor before any medical treatment is sought. and the fda felt it was important to put up this statement in light of the fact that the president has pushed malaria drugs including hydroxychloroquine. you are susceptible to heart rhythm problems. there is a real fear that people may take medical treatment into their own hands which is a real concern. the number of deaths from coronavirus has exceeded 50,000. anchor: new york state is the worst hit area in the u.s. governor andrew cuomo has warned

reopening the economy in any american state will be a danger to others. >> if you say -- well, we are done. let us just reopened. reopen.s just that is what happens. all of our progress is gone and all experts or virtually all experts will say -- not only does the virus spread increase, but it increases to a higher point then we had increased the first time. anchor: andrew cuomo there. in correspondent jay gray is marietta in georgia where businesses including salons and bowling alleys have reopened their doors. reporter: this proposed shopping center in georgia highlights the

businesses at the center of the controversy including a nail salon and spa. behind us, a gymnasium. a hair salon. and a chiropractor. these are all places that are open now. and places where it is difficult anand in some cases impossible o maintain proper social distancing. that has a lot of people frustrated and concerned that the number of infections will grow dramatically. the governor of georgia along with the business owners opening say they can do this slowly and safely and really start to get back to some sense of normalcy. the rest of the nation is watching this area very closely. you have oklahoma trying to reopen. you have tennessee and other states making their plans as well. and you are just as many states sagging -- we will extend our stay at home warnings and we will keep our businesses closed

longer. this is a real testing ground right now. anchor: let us take a closer look at the number of confirmed cases and deaths in the u.s. epidemiologist joining us live from washington, d.c. via skype. veryw the examples of two different states with new york governor andrew cuomo saying if some states reopened, it could undo all of our progress and georgia reopening nonessential businesses. what do you make of the u.s. and the to this crisis worrying milestone of having reached 50,000 deaths? >> 50,000 deaths is extremely worrisome. --ald trump recently said the u.s. will top out at 60 celfin -- at 60,000 deaths. i think that number will definitely be hit very quickly.

in terms of states -- there are pockets in the u.s. where it is increasing as well as slowing down. new york is fortunately slowing every 1000e out of new york residents has died from this and that is incredibly scary. the trouble with lockdowns in the u.s. is we have no borders. we do not have borders to enforce. even if you have lockdowns in some states, the poorest nets of the borders means there is a stateisk that even if one closes down but the next is open, all the states will continue to show the epidemic rising. that is why georgia being open is very nerve-racking for many other states. i guess americans often do not have the social safety net you might find in european countries so there is a real pressure to reopen the economy.

in light of all of that, what do you think the united states should do to try to contain or deal with the coronavirus outbreak? saying,.s., as you were the basic social safety net is very difficult. there are many progressive programs but to contain the epidemic first, testing is really key. and not just testing at the hospital where in the u.k. you have that as well as here. you need community primary care testing. the moment you have symptoms, you get tested the next day and that is what we need to do for the first step. contact step would be tracing. you find someone infected and you weakly go back in their history to find out who else they were in contact with and stop them. that is the only way to stop the transmission. lockdowns are only slowing mitigation efforts. anchor: testing and contact

tracing. which states or which parts of the various states do you think are even attempting to do this or even succeeding? >> right now, testing is still bottlenecked in so many places. there are states doing communitywide frontier testing -- frontier meaning at the first moment someone gets sick. new york is not. massachusetts is improving. and massachusetts has already formed an army of young people to do contact tracing which is basically you need a shoe leather army of people to call, to contact, to find where those people live and every state needs to create this army. we may need to activate the national guard to do it but --ating that wave of an army

9000 of these contact tracers in one city. we need that in almost every major city and without that mobilization, we cannot stop there. is a consensus that contact tracing is the way to go forward. and not just among the scientists. >> it is building. the testing, contact tracing, and quarantine. contact tracing is critical. he other thing is having a shoe leather army is not enough. what you probably need to do and politicians are coming around to this reality is use mobile apps. apple and google have already done this. the nature of this is that the virus spreads so quickly that by the time someone spreads it to someone else and the first person finds out they have the test, the second person is already spreading it. you have a 24-48 hour window. and if you are lucky enough to

read the first person, you will be lucky to stop the chain of transmission. anchor: thank you for joining us from washington, d.c. thank you for sharing your thoughts and views with us. from the united states, let us go to europe where countries are at odds on when and how lockdowns should be lifted. some are already sending children back to school and reopening small businesses but most industries especially including the hospitality sector remains totally paralyzed. there is one corner of europe where you can see a reminder of what life used to be like a few short weeks ago. in the spring sunshine come in stockholm, people are carrying on as if the pandemic has never happened. sweden has gone against the grain in not closing down restaurants or limiting people's movements.

with over 2000 dead, they have the worst outcome so far amongst their scandinavian neighbors. the government is worried about their own guidance. spring sun appears, we are seeking worrying reports people inaurants and crowded places. we have to take this seriously. let me be extremely clear. i don't want to see any crowded outdoor restaurant terraces in stockholm or anywhere else and everyone has to take on his or her responsibility. reporter: germany has the opposite problem. under the iconic brandenburg is ain berlin, there protest with hundreds of empty chairs because the authorities across the country have refused to consider a reopening despite a falling in death rates. unlike sweden, germany continues its testing opening drive-through facilities to

trace more and more people. go back tonnot normal until the infection rates drop to hundreds every day. in terms of health care, it makes sense but the tension amongst business owners is growing. >> it is no exaggeration to say the sheer panic -- and imagine your business which is doing well is shut down from one day to the next. it doesn't mean we have less butnue but no revenue leases and costs continue. reporter: little consolation but reopening is still many months away. it is also worth remembering that many of the most vulnerable like the elderly in the spanish toy cannot afford to go out eat even if the option was open to them. here the spanish red cross is delivering food instead.

on the sharp end of the virus, keeping people alive remains a priority. anchor: coming up on this newshour from london, locked down limbo. indonesians are told they can not leave their home town but they cannot afford to stay in jakarta. inmates in argentina riot after a warden tests positive for coronavirus. ♪ marking ramadan, muslims celebrate the holiest month of the year. rituals include gatherings, many people will have to forgo these this year because of coronavirus lockdowns. people have been banned from islam's holiest sites including the grand mosque.

and medina is also closed. the measures where imposed by the saudi arabia and government which has the highest rate of infections in the gulf region. there are fears that the number of infections and pakistan could duringpidly in -- ramadan. people gathering to pray must follow social distancing measures. doctors have urged the government and muslim leaders to order their closure. we have more from islamabad. reporter: across the islamic world, this is an unusual ramadan because all of the places of worship are closed. including the two holiest laces of worship in america and medina because of the threat of an exponential rise in the number of covid-19 cases. the clergy and pakistan has decided otherwise. they have asked people to come out for the congregational prayers and after they

threatened the government saying they would take matters into their own hands if they were not allowed to do so. that itrnment then said would agree as long as social distancing was observed and the standard operating procedures were adopted including disinfecting the mosque before the prayers. what we have been able to see here in pakistan today is a total disregard as far as that agreement is concerned. the doctors here are also worried because they are the front line against covid-19. they do not have the personal protection equipment that is necessary and they warn that congregational prayers including which brings ars large number of people in the month of ramadan is going to cause a huge stress to public safety. numbers will rise

rapidly. reporter: something that pakistan can ill afford because of its poor medical infrastructure and also the threat to the doctors. with the been pleading government and the clergy to reconsider their decision but here in pakistan, it is the religious leadership that has come into the spotlight. the people here are warning that d toclergy must pay hee warnings from the world health organization that they also see the pakistani government caving in to pressure from the religious clergy. and they may be politically motivated. pakistan cannot afford to live that the first world has already experienced and the world health organization has already warned that if this is not taken seriously, pakistan could have cases by000 covid-19

midsummer. 20hor: every ramadan million migrant workers leave. the government has banned the traditional exit is because of the coronavirus outbreak. many workers have found themselves stuck and say they cannot afford to stay in the capital. jessica washington reports from jakarta. the back -- their bags are packed and they have paid for their tickets but this family will not be traveling anytime soon. nearly all domestic and international travel from indonesia is on hold until june. >> i always travel to before id. it is the only time i can see my family. i am sad but there is nothing we can do. on a normal day, a station like this one would be packed with people and it would be even be easier -- busier in the lead up to the holiday.

that will not happen this year. stopping people from traveling to their hometowns should help stop the spread of the virus. but it is also a challenge to those living in the big city. hours before the ban came in, at ones the scene jakarta bus depot. social distancing gave way to desperation. thousands of people tried to get out of the capital before it was too late. >> because of the announcement from the president about the travel ban, many people panicked. reporter: the epicenter in and in asia. could spread the virus to provinces with no proper health facilities. any feel they have no choice. is one of them. millions of low income workers have lost their jobs because of the virus. is factory he works with shut indefinitely. his rent is $50 each month and

he cannot afford that now. the coronavirus outbreak has made this ramadan different from previous years. i have lost my job and i am very sad. i cannot live in jakarta without a job. has not: this virus just disrupted the annual homecoming of millions but their livelihoods also. there: around the world, has been an outpouring of support and appreciation for health workers but in mexico, it is a different story. at least 21 medical workers there have been assaulted, thrown off public transport, and even had bleach thrown into their face. they have been wrongly accused of spreading the disease. the authorities say that attacks have been reported in 12 states across the country. mexico has reported more than 11,600 cases and 1069 deaths. inmates at an argentine prison

have set their mattresses on fire and climbed onto the e roof of the facility after an officer tested positive for the coronavirus. anders were hung from the roof of the when osiris jail reading -- we refuse to die in prison. protesters are demanding the release of high risk for visitors and better sanitary controls within the facility. at one point, they threw sharp objects from the roof. we are joined from outside the prison by our reporter. they have been on the roof of the prison for quite some time. tell us what is going on now. reporter: we are here right , the onlye prison prison in the city of 10 psi race and for over nine hours, prisoners have been on the rooftop of this prison. this is a prison for around 1600 prisoners though it currently has over 2000 prisoners. that is why prisoners are

complaining about a lack of sanitation and overcrowding. they are very worried. they have been telling us that one guard tested positive and six others have been isolated. illnessesthat have are asking to serve house arrest. what has been going on here -- rocks prisoners throwing and other sharp items and the police firing back with rubber bullets. not long ago, we could hear some explosions. we have heard some negotiations have been ongoing between the national government and those inside the prison but most of the people that we have heard from are saying that they have not heard anything just yet. the president is expected to announce an extension of the lockdown in argentina. and howt going so far

will that news be welcomed, do you think? reporter: the announcement is imminent. it could happen friday or saturday. it is expected a lockdown will be announced until may the 10th. argentina was one of the first countries to impose a lockdown. the president said he was prioritizing life over the economy. argentina has over 3000 cases of coronavirus. that number is expected to be higher but it is controlled compared to other countries in latin america. the lockdown is having an enormous impact on the argentine economy. many businesses are closing down or shutting down because of the situation. the economy was already in trouble prior to the current crisis. the recession, double-digit inflation. on wednesday, argentina officially said they were not going to pay the latest interest

on foreign credit. that means in a month, argentina could be officially -- [indiscernible] argentina has been in a crisis since 2001. poverty rates were up at 60%. the latest from outside the prison in buenos aires. we have a lot more still to come on this newshour including a double lifeline for air france and alm to help the airlines survive the pandemic. and another blow for brazil's president as the justice minister resigned at using him of potential criminal meddling. ♪ ♪

meteorologist: we have subtle changes taking place. it is turning cooler. after the recent heat wave in scandinavia. still some showers but not as widespread as they had been recently. greece, a system pushing across the eastern part of the mediterranean. the central park is staying warm with plenty of spring sunshine. saturday afternoon. cooler in london, 17 degrees. rain rolling into the central parts of france. and a scattering of showers across parts of the iberian peninsula. the western side of russia is getting rain and the cooler degreesures, seven celsius. rain will become more intense as we go into sunday. bright skies coming behind. if pressure field that things as

we go through the second half of the weekend. showers in the central and southern parts of france down into spain and portugal. the showers are popping up a touch at this stage. those showers will run across northern parts of morocco. wetter weather here on saturday. fine, dry, and sunny across egypt. ♪ ♪ a reminder of the top stories from al jazeera. leaders from around the world have united in an initiative to accelerate work on drugs, tests, and a vaccine for covid-19. the campaign aims to ensure that all treatments are available to all. the u.s. has reported more than 50,000 coronavirus deaths.

despite that milestone, georgia has pushed ahead with reopening nonessential businesses. donald trump said he was being sarcastic when he raised the possibility of injecting people with is infected to fight coronavirus. widespreads drew criticism from doctors and experts. a u.k. government website for booking coronavirus tests was overwhelmed users hours after going online and it had to shut down briefly. a central workers are eligible to use the service if they are showing symptoms. the government has been criticized for the slow rollout of mass testing as the number of deaths across the country nears 20,000. we have more from just outside london. reporter: here is the thing about the testing situation in the u.k. people, care workers, health workers, as central workers who are calling out to be tested. we have a government saying it is trying to reach 100,000 tests

a day by the end of the month. the capacity at the moment is about 60,000 a day and it is doing roughly 25 thousand actual tests. and yet you come to these places which is a drive-through testing center and there is hardly anyone here. something is not working out with this. it is really strange. clearly the government has its with testing. it has become a serious scandal. one of the things the government has done in the last couple of days to try to get on top of it is to expand the type of people who are eligible for tests for tests like this at places like this. , peopleice, teachers

who work in supermarkets along with health care workers can apply online and get their tests done. the whole system has fallen over quite quickly. the government might say this is a sign of success but they had to shutdown the application process only a few hours after it started because there were too many applicants. anchor: the french and dutch governments have announced a multibillion-dollar bailout for air france and tail lamp. the carriers will receive $7 billion in emergency aid from france after their planes were largely grounded after the lockdown across the globe. the government will provide $4 billion to help the airline survive the devastating impact of the corona virus pandemic. planes of air france are grounded. there are no flights and we are going to bring the demand to the president and the prime minister

to provide support for air france. ve ourion euros to sa national airline. there will be precisely 4 billion euros in state guaranteed bank loans and 3 billion euros of loans directly from the state. anchor: a french court has rejected amazon's appeal against the ruling that restricts what can be delivered during the pandemic. the online retailer must limit deliveries in the country to essential items including tech products, health items, and food. the company will be fined for any delivery that reaches the agreement. there are 10,000 workers across six warehouses in france. migrants and refugees are being inrantined in a hotel southern greece with nearly one third testing positive for the coronavirus. the greek infection rate has been relatively low but concern

is mounting over its migrant population. we report now from the area. a truck sprays chemicals to disinfect the air around the galaxy hotel. 100 48 asylum-seekers and two staff members have tested positive for coronavirus. most show no symptoms which may be how the disease escaped the attention of the authorities until now. we saw one man taken to the hospital with breathing problems. the outbreak has led to concerns regarding infection in this community who supply or maintain the hotel. 177 people who came into contact with refugees like supermarket workers, couriers, and others and we are tremendously relieved to get negative results. had been toere

previous outbreaks in facilities housing asylum-seekers but ofection rates reached at 1% the resident population or less before they were quarantined. for the first time here, they have reached 31%. it is exactly what authorities have tried to prevent. and it is what they want to happening in the more crowded camps on the id and islands. cramped hutsive in and tentnts and there is a acces to running water and soap. fears of an outbreak earlier this month caused a riot at the refugee camp. destroying offices. the international organization for migration that runs the galaxy hotel says information is vital to prevent panic. >> what is essential is to make sure that the migrant community understands what is going on. we tried to identify community

leaders to convey messages that are important through those leaders. to keep thing we did them informed. , theyy are not informed make a sentience -- they make assumptions that lead to panic. the greek government has put the entire area under quarantine. it says it will stop using hotels for this purpose. they rely on the hotels for revenue and the leaders want to reopen for business as soon as possible. anchor: human rights watch says that the authorities have arbitrarily arrested several. among those arrested are journalists trying to expose abuses by security forces during

the lockdown. it also says reports of rape rates, killings, and other serious crimes by security forces must be investigated. rwandan forces said they had detained five soldiers. the public prosecutor has asked the supreme court to authorize an investigation into allegations made by the former justice minister against the president. a former anticorruption judge stepped out on friday shortly after the president sacked the police chief. the president cap -- the justice has been -- let us take you straight now to the white house because president donald trump has started his coronavirus briefing. let us listen in. president trump: new cases in new york are down 50% compared to a week ago and fatalities are

down 40%. in louisiana, the rate of declined ints has the last 70's alone. 18 states show a decline. in the last seven days. over the last seven days, we have made very significant progress. half of all americans live in states that have now taken steps to open their economies. just yesterday, governor newsom from california, minnesota and one other have announced lands to restart certain sectors. we askevery make -- every american to maintain vigilance. we are opening our country. it is very exciting to see. we have a lot of talent involved from governors down to people that just stand there and help you with the doors.

there has been tremendous talent involved and our spirit is involved. our country is in a great place and it will be greater than ever before. i really believe that. i believe there will be an upward shift. i spoke with tim cook today from apple and they have a good sense of the market and they feel it will be a v. today, i signed the paycheck protection program and health care enhancement act providing $320 billion to keep american workers on the payroll. $30 billion of the paycheck protection funds will be reserved for small financial institutions including those that serve minority in distressed communities extending to thousands of african-american and hispanic american small business owners and their employees. $75bill also delivers

billion for hospitals. badly needed for hospitals which have taken a very big hits and medical providers in areas less affected by the virus. hospitals and doctors should work with their state or local health officials on ways to safely resume elective medical treatments and care. under the care's act, we are sending direct payments to millions of american workers. more than 80 million workers have already received their payments. of00 for a typical family four. $3400. that is great. and you deserve it. the care's act requires that the federal government send out a notice of obama benefits americans are receiving to fulfill the requirement the treasury department is mailing a letter to me including the amount, the economic payment, how it will arrive, direct deposit, check or prepaid debit card as well as a message to the

nation leading each american know that we are getting through this challenge together as one american family. and that is what has been happening. the whole world is watching us. when hundred 84 countries have been hit and it is probably countries have -- 184 countries have been hit. i have spoken to several countries and they asked if we could send them than to leaders and i have agreed to do that. we have a tremendous capacity. we are filling up stockpiles. the federal government has over 10,000 ventilators and we could have more if we wanted but we are helping mexico, honduras, italysia, france, spain, and we will probably be sending to germany should they need them. over the last three years, we have built the strongest economy

and the most successful country the world has ever seen. the greatest economy the world has ever seen. no one has ever done what we were able to do. and we will rebuild that economy . our economy in the not-too-distant future, i really believe, with all that we have learned and done will be just as strong and may be stronger than ever before even stronger than it was just two months ago. some interesting notes is the fda approved the first at-home covid-19 test kits. it was just approved. is going tohahn say a couple of words about that. the fda has been incredible of proving not only this but many things at a pace that has never happened before. and they are being very safe about it. stephen has told me that very strongly. iny are approving things

record numbers at a record rate and it has been very helpful. many vaccine tests are going on and tests of every different kind and things are happening. things are happening very rapidly. i would like to have stephen tell you a little bit about it. ahn: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the opportunity to tell you what is happening at the fda. we have a team of more than 18,000 employees including 10,000 scientists and they are working around the clock. many of the medical products that are being used for the covid-19 outbreak are regulated by the fda. hard at work been authorizing tests and medical products. as part of these efforts to support diagnostic test development during this global pandemic, the president has asked us to cut down as many barriers as we could to get

medical products into the medical community. and we have done that recognizing the urgency of the situation. i want to emphasize what the president said which is we are paying attention to safety and reliabilitys to the of the tests. it is important to understand how far we have come in just a few short months. the academic community which i ,ome from, the private sector the government have come together to develop diagnostics for a completely new infectious disease. we have heard from many test developers in academia and in the manufacturing world. this normally takes years to develop. you have heard dr. burx talk tout hiv tests taking years develop. we have been laser focused on working with academia and manufacturing to make this happen. today, we have reviewed and authorized 63 tests both

diagnostic as well as the antibody test. we have had several points of care test because they can be done in emergency rooms or a doctor's office and are much more convenient for the patient. and this week we authorized the first at-home test. this is a test where under certain circumstances with a doctor's supervision, a test can be mailed to a patient. the patient can perform at the .elf swab and mail it back all under the guidance of a licensed physician. we are not letting up with these 63 tests we have approved. we are working with over 400 test developers pursuing authorization for their diagnostics. and under our regulatory approach which is quite flexible , many other tests are becoming available. h hor: that is dr. stephen ahn.

this is part of the daily news briefing from the u.s. about the corona virus pandemic. testingre mentions of and we will, of course, bring you more analysis on that when we hear from president trump again and the question section of the briefing. we will continue with our normal programming and go back to the news conference when the president takes to the podium again. let us go back to the latest news from brazil where the public prosecutor has asked the supreme court to authorize an investigation into allegations made by the former justice minister against the president. the former anticorruption judge stepped down earlier after the president sacked the federal police chief. he wants -- the president

wants to apply some when he personally knew as head of the federal police. getone he could call and intelligence reports from. it is not the role of the federal police to give that kind of information. investigations have to be confidential. has dismissedaro the allegations against him as baseless. we are joined by a brazilian .ournalist in sao paulo it is getting very calm polluted in brazil. seeing a lot of resignations in the middle of a pandemic. how do you read the situation? reporter: thank you for having made. the timing is odd to see the justice minister resigned amidst the worst of the pandemic. this is not necessarily though shocking. he has lost many battles with the administration.

efforts anticorruption curbed by the president. is getting more isolated politically. we are in the midst of a bad still comend we are up with the economy at a halt because of the quarantine rules, the president is acting like a wild card seeming more desperate by the day. the cabineted coming he was thought to be one of the adults in the room. a cabinet member that would curb the president's worst efforts. denied bolsonaro has meddling in any investigations, but how damaging is a present

--is this for the president himself? we have seen the resignation of the health minister. it does seem like he is losing support or certainly government members. yes, a lot of mainstream conservatives have already parted ways with the president. he is getting more and more isolated and the fact that the justice minister who is much more popular than the president -- especially among conservatives come he is seen as a symbol of anti--- struggles. that leads the president and a very bad situation. it is still too soon to say that we could see an impeachment or that the investigation of the prosecutor general will have any effect. beatensident has unfavorable odds over the last year but it certainly seems that

right now the best case scenario for the president is to cling to his office and tuesday as a lame-duck president dragging himself to the end of his term in 2022. anchor: thank you for talking with us. at least 12 wildlife rangers ine been killed in an attack the national park in the democratic republic of congo. five other people were killed in the ambush. that is the worst in the park's history. it is home to half of the world population of mountain gorillas. 180 rangers have been killed in the last few years while protecting animals there. the park was closed for eight months in 2018 after a series of attacks including one that led -- that left six people dead. a unilateral cease-fire in yemen has been extended for a month. the original two week truce was

the -- the health care system is already on the verge of collapse. the saudi human rights activist has died in prison. amnesty international called him a fearless champion for human rights. he was first prosecuted several times for his work. sentenced to 11 years in jail on charges of breaking allegiance to the roller and inciting disorder. a saudi human rights group said he was transferred to hospital several months ago when his health deteriorated. it also -- they also said that doctors recommended an urgent heart surgery but the saudi officials returned him to prison. a small group of protesters has returned to hong kong financial

district in a show of support for an arrested pro-democracy activists. they were kept apart from each other. last week, hong kong police arrested 15 prominent opposition officials in connection with last year's mass demonstrations. for three decades, the hubble telescope has been peering deep into the universe and beaming spectacular images of distant earth.s back to as nasa marks the 30th anniversary of the hubble, we have a report on how it has changed our understanding of space. 1 -- and lift off of space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope. our window on the universe. reporter: hubble is a first major optical till the oh sent into space -- telescope sent into space. nasa has called it the ultimate

mountaintop. a the possibility of telescope in space, when that opportunity opened up, astronomers jumped on the idea. reporter: scientists have used hubble to observe distant galaxies. its most famous photo was taken in 1995. imagealled deep field showing areas of the universe as they were billions of years ago. during three decades in orbit, hubble has influenced many back on earth. >> it is my job to make up things for a living but hubble and the dedicated scientists behind it take all of that a step further. >> i have been fortunate to work on shows like battle star galactica. i spent almost two decades on star trek. space is kind of my geek. -- my gig. when you look at the vistas that have been gifted to us by

hubble, it changes not just your mind but your dna. reporter: hubble orbits the earth every hour and a half giving us a great view of space. astronauts could carry out repairs. mission, engineers found a problem that shocked them. the images sent back to earth were blurry. a lot of people think we do not need the star wars defense force anymore. i think we should keep it to shoot down hubble. after 12 years of construction at a cost of billions of dollars, astronauts were sent to space in 1993 to fix the faulty lens. >> we are inspired and ready. let us go fix this thing. aporter: that mission was success and fantastic images were transferred back to earth.

>> when people talk about the legacy of hubble, among its greatest legacies will be helping humanity understand that when things go to space, it is not hopeless if there is something wrong. we can service them if we make preparations to do that. reporter: hubble does have an expiration date. shouldsts estimate it last another five years or until its solar battery stops working. until then, it can build on its legacy revealing more images of the far depths of our universe. anchor: that is it for the newshour. stay with us. more news in just a few minutes. goodbye. ♪

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