>> this is al jazeera. ♪ watching the news hour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes, and the u.s., the antiviral drug remdesivir is aproved for emergency use as treatment for patients with covid-19. thousands of military style weapons and in canada following the country's deadliest mass inoting -- and -- banned canada following the country's deadliest mass shooting. lebanon'stance to

financial rescue plan as the government turns to the international monetary fund for help. hello. thanks for joining us. an experimental antiviral drug has been authorized by the u.s. food and drug administration for urgency use in treating coronavirus patients. 1.5 million vials of the drug remdesivir will be distributed to hospitals for monday. the fda gave its approval after a government sponsored study showed the drug shortened patients' recovery time by about 31 percent. >> when the president brought the pharmaceutical companies here to the white house, you were among them. he said we wanted you to move out quickly to build a new vaccine but he said develop the therapeutics as quickly as you can. we were told that it was possible that by spring we would

have therapeutics, and standing here on may 1, our very first therapeutic with emergency use authorization. .onating 1.5 million doses our task force will be working closely with gilead to make sure that those medicines starting monday are distributed to hospitals where patients are struggling and serious conditions with the coronavirus today. >> let's bring in our white house correspondent. the president has been a vocal proponent of them does arrears a possible way to bring the pandemic under some sort of control. >> yeah, even when initially it had not yet been proven to have any sort of effectiveness, this is where the president got into a little bit of trouble with the subject of quite a bit of controversy, given the fact that he has no public health background but was giving essentially medical advice, now this has caught up to the

president's recommendations. in essence, what we are saying and what the coronavirus task force has been saying is that there has been sort of an emergency authorization that has been granted by the food and drug administration in order to allow this to be used in the most severe of cases. in other words, when benefits outweigh the risks for the most sick patients with covid-19 that where we hospitalized know that often people do not recover. it is important to note this is not fda approval or food and drug administration approval. that requires a very detailed review. this is instead an emergency authorization, one that the president was eager to put forward. we should point out that this is not a cure. what this does is shorten the recovery time. it essentially blocks something that the virus needs and cells in order to thrive and survive, so this is essentially an

advance in treatment, but in no way is this closer to a vaccine. that is still by some early projections at least a year or longer before that is developed. this is sort of a breakthrough when it comes to treatment, but again, the cautionary message is this is certainly not a cure. >> thank you very much for that update from the white house. the world health organization says it is confident the coronavirus is natural in origin. that comes after speculation, including from the u.s. president, that it was created in a lab. we have listened again and again to numerous scientists who have looked at the sequences, and we are assured that this .irus is natural in origin what is important is that we hostlish what that natural for this virus is, and the

primary purpose of doing that is to ensure that we understand the thes more, we understand animal-human interface, and we understand how the animal-human species variable was breached, and the purpose of understanding that is that we can put in place the necessary public health measures to prevent that happening again anywhere. >> south korea and india have rapid rateng chinese coronavirus tests after they were found to be faulty. hundreds of people who have recovered were found to be positive for the disease when they were retested. they blame shortcomings in the test itself and said the patients were not reinfected. in india had bought 500,000 kits before noting the inaccuracies. joins using virologist

now. thanks very much for your time. we will get to the issue of the chinese faulty test kits according to india in a moment, but first, let me ask about the developing story. remdesivir now being approved for emergency use for treating coronavirus patients in the u.s. what do you know about this drug and how it will work? >> this is an antiviral drug. it was developed during the ebola period five or six years ago, and unfortunately for gilead who invented it, it did not work very well against ebola, but what does look more againstg is its actions the new coronavirus. the way it works is the drug molecule looks like one of the building blocks of the genetic information of the virus, so when you take the drug, it goes into cells and gets activated in the cells and when the virus is trying to grow in your cells, it mistakes this drug molecule for

one of the normal letters it would be inserting into the genome to make new baby viruses, and when the drug goes into the dna or rna, it distorts and disrupts it and stops at growing, so as a result, he and up with a virus with a broken genome, so it is a bit like a computer with the operating system corrupted. it will not boot up. the viruses you make are completely defunct. when given to cells in a dish, it slows down growth of the virus. when given to patients with the virus, it makes them recover a bit quicker and also slightly improves the mortality rate when .ou give it to people there's concern by some this was the u.s. that a drug that was touted by the president himself and now in the absence of other treatments when it comes to the coronavirus and

the promising data that we've seen from this study, this drug may be fast-track in a way. do you share that concern? >> all drugs have side effects and need to be tested carefully before they are years on people and used on people at scale, but it is impossible to flush out all of the side effects without trying these things first. we are in a situation where extreme measures are needed because we are in an extreme circumstance. sometimes it's more effective and safer in the long run to try these things and try them where you have little to lose and make the important measurements you need to make to find out if you can save more lives or not. in this instance, i think given that this already has a track record of having been tested, albeit for different virus, i think actually a lot of the bad side effects are already defined or the safety protocols pretty well understood, so i don't think this is in any way

incautious. it is an experiment worth doing. >> let me ask you about the report we mention a moment ago about china, south korea, and india -- about china. south korea and india accusing china of having faulty rapid test kits. is it clear that these are actually faulty, or is it down to human error? >> the problem is this is a brand-new kit in the biological block. we have not known about this virus for anything more than five or six months. as a result, we have not had time to do what would normally take years. the viruses that are common human pathogens that we have developed quality test kits for, those have been optimized, developed, protested, retested, improved over many years. people are trying to do this in a real hurry, and as a result, we have not got all the wrinkles out yet. one other wrinkle is this new coronavirus is one of a family. the other four, kneeling --

commonly circulating that affect humans, if you have already been infected with some, it's possible when you take this test, it may confuse the new one with some of the ones you have seen before, so it is not .traightforward it takes time to get to the ideal and people are in a rush to do this and sometimes when you rush, you make mistakes. >> we thank you for speaking to us from cambridge. , five weeks after coronavirus restrictions were imposed, south africans slowly begin to emerge from lockdown. and u.s. democratic presidential hopeful joe biden denies allegations of sexual assault made by a former senate colleague. first, canada is banning assault style weapons after the

country's deadliest mass shooting two weeks ago. it comes into immediate effect, but there will be a two-year amnesty for people to dispose of weapons they already own. the government also plans to introduce a buyback program. last month, 22 people were killed in nova scotia when a man dressed as a police man went on a shooting spree. >> these weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only -- to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. there is no use and no place for such weapons in canada. >> what more did the prime minister have to say? what more are we learning about this legislation? >> this obviously, as you said, comes in the wake of the shootings in nova scotia two weeks ago, but, frankly, this government -- justin trudeau's --ion has been promising

justin trudeau's government has been promising action on gun control for five years. it is an extremely detailed piece of legislation. does not have to be passed by parliament. it's got some legal virtue that allows it to be passed just by the cabinet for now, but it is something like 69 pages long, this single law, and most of that -- that is a list of various types of assault weapons that will be banned, some 1500. most of those seem to be variations on the ar-15. that's very familiar to people who have seen mass shootings in the united states, but also here in canada, such a weapon was used in 20 by the quebec city mosque gunman who killed six people using such a weapon. they are now completely illegal, these weapons, but the tens of thousands of people who do own them -- and there may be in excess of 100,000 who have them legally -- they have two years to get rid of them, to dispose

of them safely and legally. they cannot sell them in the country. if they can make legal export arrangements, they can sell them, or the government saying they may bring in a buyback plan. advocates areol saying is this is a welcome step, but they want to see action on handguns. most gun crime is committed by people using illegal handguns that are smuggled across the border, the very long border from the united states. there are no measures that are taking effect here that will affect that. there will be probably some talk --a handgun fan -- band and handgun ban in individual cities. we have some gun rights advocates, not quite as vocal as in the united states, saying this is a political move that does not address the issue of too many handguns in the country. >> thank you. lebanon has officially signed a

request for assistance in the international monetary fund. the government says it is one measure to save the country from that hasy, but protesters together again. >> keeping the hope for change alive, levin's return to the central beirut square where rang for new leadership out. they are back in the street restrictions for coronavirus have been eased. >> i graduated from the university 10 years ago. a person like me should be in a key position. lebanon has already defaulted

on its debt for the first time in history. >> we have calls with the world bank and imf to give us loans to put us under even larger public debt and privatizing the whole state. >> prices of basic goods have increased more than 50% while the local currency has depreciated by at least 60%. people's incomes and savings have lost value. >> the situation has a burden on the business because inflation and buying raw materials. it is a bit difficult. paid thee are still same and the lebanese lire. >> 30% of registered companies have closed and the labor ministry says 20% have reduced employee salaries by half. >> the dismissal of workers and the closure of organizations have been the biggest concerns. the ministry has put forward a

plan to solve huge unemployment and to protect the rights of workers. >> but that will need money. the government has been unable to provide the most basic needs as the state nears bankruptcy. some people fear the country is sliding into chaos. the middle classes becoming poorer. government figures show up to 75% of a nation of 5 million people need help while 45 percent live below the poverty line. human rights watch is warning more than half of lebanon's people are at the risk of going hungry. the government may be promising better days ahead, but it admits the road will not be easy. >> extending what has been the world's largest -- india is accenting what has been the world's largest coronavirus lockdown for two weeks. we have the latest from new delhi. >> in the last nearly six weeks of the lockdown, the government

has divided the country into green, orange, and red zones depending on the number of cases and state of transmission. it has announced that while the national lockdown will continue another two weeks, that there will be a considerable easing of restrictions, mostly in green and orange zones. what are they? as of may 4, all goods are allowed to be transported. there will be buses and green , but things like construction and industrial activities allowed even in red zones in rural areas. over the last 10 days, we have seen easing of restrictions and a number of sectors, most notably in agriculture, india's biggest employer and other businesses which support it, and even thoughhops some nonessential businesses have been open for the past week

. there's still no air or rail travel or hospitality, restaurants. hotels remain shut. no interstate movement, and sportslike malls, complexes remain shut, and there will be no political, social, or cultural gatherings. >> the number of deaths in the u.k. from coronavirus has risen to just over 27,500, but elsewhere, spain appears to be showing signs of recovery. >> things are going in the right direction and spain. health workers celebrated the closure of a field hospital installed at the end of march, but other covid-19 infections are halted, these facilities will remain in place in case there is a new outbreak. >> i feel happy because we have won the first battle of this virus. let's hope it was the war, but

if not we will return with more strength to continue fighting. >> spain has had one of the toughest lockdowns. people will be allowed to leave home for exercise on their own. the crisis is having a huge financial effect, too. the government says it expects the economy to shrink by 9.2% this year. the only places in europe with higher official death tolls then spain are italy and here in britain. following fierce criticism over the relatively low covid-19 testing levels, the british government has been increasing its capacity. it wants to put in place a network to test, track, and trace people with a virus as it looks to ease lockdown restrictions. it has announced it has surpassed its target of 100,000 test a day for the end of april. >> testing is crucial to suppress the virus. i know from personal experience, too, how much people with symptoms want to know if they've got the disease. i know that i did. it helps remove the worry. it helps keep people safe, and

it will help us to unlock the lockdown. >> meanwhile, worrying statistics have emerged suggesting coronavirus disparities. a new study of england says the death rate among british black africans and british pakistanis is more than 2.5 times that of the white population. people in the poorest parts of written are diane from covid-19 at double the rate of people in the richest areas. on friday, the french president explained the traditional may day event including protests that were not possible because of coronavirus restrictions. thanks to the workers being celebrated today that our nation is still standing. it's thanks to the work and dedication of our health workers, security forces, and military we are saving so many lives every day. >> there were demonstrations elsewhere like this one outside the greek parliament in athens. keeping their distance but determined to keep up the pressure on the governments.

country's working class despite protective measures to minimize the spread of the .irus, has a voice >> friday also marked the catholic church's feet -- feast of st. joseph. --e francis >> the u.k. has ramped up its testing program, passing its goal of 100,000 tests per day. these workers in london with a look at what comes next. late on thursday, it looked as if the government might be significantly missing , but it seemsget to have broken that quite

comfortably with more than 122,000 tests. this is just the start. these are the kind of tests we have seen being used in a widespread way in many countries across europe, and the british government has been under growing scrutiny as to why you did not introduce this kind of testing sooner. nevertheless, what it is hoping to do next is higher 18,000 inicials to take part tracing and tracking down the spread of the virus, so identifying potential clusters, advising people if they should quarantine for a period of time to avoid infecting others, so by mid-may, that is quite a significant recruitment drive they are hoping to fulfill. what you are seeing behind me is a large testing center in east london. we have seen a steady stream of vehicles arriving here, people register. they are giving -- they are given swabs. they stay in their car. they had those swabs over to officials who get the test back in a couple of days.

we hope is sooner or later, the bulk of the population of the united kingdom will know if they have been infected or indeed are at risk, but for the time being, see a the government can steady decline in infection rates and particularly a decline in deaths, there will be no drive to ease restrictions any time soon. >> south africa has started easing some coronavirus restrictions after five weeks under lockdown. some risen us as her being allowed to reopen from friday and people can leave their homes to exercise. the government says it will impose an overnight curfew and deploy more soldiers to insure social distancing rules are followed. highwayhis is the main between johannesburg and pretoria. people have set up one of the largest roadblocks in this area. there are also soldiers here to ensure that people are adhering

to the lockdown restrictions. south africa has eased regulations slightly, and that some businesses are able to reopen and 1/3 of the workforce are able to go back to work, but for millions of south africans, these are the kind of regulations that they are racing. police are making sure they adhere to regulations, and they are also on the lookout for cigarettes and alcohol because in south africa, the sale and transportation of those items is still banned. police will likely see thousands of vehicles come through this roadblock during the course of the day. they are about -- there are about 7000 soldiers that have been deployed across the country, but the government has also said it has made provisions for up to 70,000 soldiers to monitor the streets in south africa. while restrictions are being eased even just slightly, the

government has deployed more soldiers and police to ensure that people are adhering to the lockdown regulations. even though south africa has moved to a level 4, 1 level lower than previously, we are actually seeing more officials and more security officials monitoring the lockdown. >> still to come, it survived the pandemic, but can italy survive the recovery? fears for the economy as the end of the lockdown begins. and internet giant amazon accused of putting profits above workers' health during this year's mayday celebrations. >> we got sunshine and showers across much of the area.

sunshine pushing across a good part of spain as we get to the next couple of days. lots of clouds, lotsts of rain from the atlanantic. blustery showers rattling across the northwest, pushing into northern parts of germany right across the baltic state over towards the western side of russia. down into the balkans, pushing into bulgaria, across romania and up into ukraine. there we go, there's that sunshine into spain. 26 celsius and rising. we could hit 22 degrgrees by the end of next week. 29 as we go on through sunday. still some showers into france, but fewer and further between. turkey staying in the mix with some showering rain from time to time. across northern africa, largely settled. you can see seasonal rains across the heart of africa. big downpours brewing up just africanhe south

republic, easing over towards cameroon into west africa. doing very nicely. pushing across the area. ♪ >> hello again. the top stories this hour -- an experirimental antiviral drug hs been authorized by the u.s. food and drug administration for emergency use in treating coronavirus patients. 1.5 million vials of the drug remdesivir will be distributed to hospitals for monday. the world health organization says dozens believe the coronavirus was man-made after u.s. president trump claims he has seen evidence that came from a lab in the chinese city of wuhan. assault style rifles are being banned in canada. after the country's

worst ever mass shooting just under two years ago. 1 is normally marked by rallies around the globe to highlight the plight of workers, and this mayday, millions find themselves unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic. for those still working, the virus has brought new threats to the workplace. from delivery drivers to shelf stackers and cleaners, essential workers have been asked to keep food and goods flowing while the majority of the population is told to stay home. but workers from some of the biggest companies in the u.s. say they are concerned by and lack of personal protective equipment and social distancing. while amazon is accused of a lack of transparency over the number of covid-19 cases and its warehouses. many workers say companies are putting profits ahead of their health and safety. they are calling for better workplace protections and hazard pay. we look at how workers in the u.s. are taking steps.

>> since the pandemic began, there have been strikes across the u.s. as workers deemed essential come to terms with lack of protections they been given. an interactive map has been created to keep track of over one hundred 50 actions from coast to coast since the workersg of march from in california on the west coast to meatpackers, truckers, postal workers, sanitation workers, all the way to canteen workers at harvard university. now workers have been organizing over video to transition from disparate wild cap strikes to coordinated collective action. amazon, instacart, whole foods, walmart, target, and fedex poised to walk off the job together at lunchtime to form both and in person and virtual picket line that they are urging consumers not to cross.

>> we are front liners right now . that's the family that we've built. we all have one common goal, so this is the beginning of something that has never been seen before, but when it comes time to, you know, be concerned about your health and safety of your communities and your family , and these companies are not taking that serious, it's time for us to take the power back. >> he drew attention to amazon warehouses after he was fired. leakedexecutives -- documents demonstrated that amazon executives attempted to personally discredit him. >> they quarantine me, only me, not even the person that i ride to work with everyday. what does that tell everybody? that tells everybody they want to silence me. >> amazon says it is taking precautions for workers.

the company also temporarily raised some pay. aress industries, workers asking for hazard pay, protective equipment, cleaning supplies, transparency about infections, and the closing and cleaning of workplaces where there are infections. paid sick leave is key. currently, many have no option but to go to work even if there it -- even if they are ill, but ththe longer goal is to address the structural basis of the economy so apparent in covid-19. sinces is unprecedented the 1930's. when fdr was running for presidenent in 1932, he was the more moderate candidate. people forget that the strikes forced fdr to adopt the new deal, to adopt worker protection measures. >> workers feel that unless there is direct action, the pandemic will simply lead to yet more polarization between the self-isolating rich and essential workers.

this, we speak to an economist and cochair of the ways in employment dynamics from the university of california berkeley. thanks for joining us. how significant are these strikes? >> this is really significant in the united states. today being mayday, as your story pointed out, we have a lot of action, and this is a good thing. the private sector in the united states is only about 6% unionized, so even during good times, workers have very little voice in their workplace. given today we are talking about life-and-death decisions, talking about the spread of the coronavirus to workers and families, their communities. we cannot put workers back to work without having workers voice, especially because they know how the jobs are done. we have already had the lack of federal government coming in and

trying to help with rules and regulations, with how corporations are taking over that assignment. they have to do it in relation and in coordination with their workers. >> how likely is that? practically, is that going to happen? we heard from amazon, one of the companies targeted in these strikes, and the spokesperson has said while they respect people's right to express them subs, they object to the irresponsible action of labor groups and spreading misinformation and making false claims about amazon. >> first of all, amazon has been fighting for decades for their workers to have a right to join and form unions, and they have often spread false information, so i'm not sure about the rights of that, but all we can say is voiced.to have workers it has always been the case in

the united states and around the world and certainly is today. the workers walking out are basically saying, "look, we are being thought of as essential workers but treated as not being very essential. we are not treated very seriously. again, these are life-and-death situations. there have to be more public policies from the federal government. what happens if you get sick? what happens if you have to go home and isolate? what about sick pay? what about increased pay, like you talked about, hazard pay? what are we going to do if there are increased breakouts, and there is a miniature breakout in , meat forhouses instance in the united states? we need to have testing, tracing and isolation? the government has failed at this. it is in the hands of corporations now, and it must be done and must be done early because in the end, these workers' lives actually are on the line, and it's not an easy

problem to solve. certainly just saying "you have to go to work, you are an essential worker" -- that's not how it should be done. >> what needs to be done to sort of shift the conversation for the long term to address these structural imbalances and inequalities that you speak of? everyhink every worker, place of business needs to have at least a group of workers because we for the most part are not unionized, such as at amazon. they have to be part of the conversation. what can we do? how will you feel safe? what kind of policies do we have to put in so you can be secure that you can come to work? you can be secure in the fact that you will be taken care of if you get sick or someone in your family gets sick and you have to go home and cannot work. will you continue to be paid? will you be able to get unemployment benefits? there is so much unknown. again, it is a fast-moving

situation, but to just say we will keep working -- for instance, all the businesses eventually. everybody went on amazon. they were looking to hire 100,000 workers at a time when maybe they should have been saying we should try to send out the essential goods to public and try to work with less workers because that would make the workplace safer, but that was not done. instead, they are making billions and billions more money taking over all of the commerce in the country, or at least a good part of it. walmart, target doing online orders. of course, it was a fast-moving situation, but you cannot just say you are coming to work -- >> we have to leave it there. we thank you. on that note, thank you very much for joining us. hasy's prime minister apologize for the economic hardships italians have faced as

a result of the pandemic. the government will begin to ease its lockdown monday after suffering the world's second-highest number of coronavirus deaths. there are concerns the road to economic recovery may be much harder. >> food on the table and some hope. these men and women have been living through the world longest and some of the toughest lockdown measures. >> i come here because i don't know how to cope. i have no savings. i don't earn anything. the situation gets worse and worse. i don't do anything but come here. quick things are even worse for some of the 600,000 undocumented north african migrants who have barely filed enough work to survive before the outbreak. >> nothing. i don't have document.

document is no good. has endured the worst of the coronavirus outbreak in europe with the highest number of deaths in the region. dailyth a fall in the number of infections and deaths, the government is allowing factories, construction projects, and parks to reopen starting on monday, putting 4 million people back to work, but with the limited easing of restrictions has come a surge of anger from the people, barely coping under the strain of a pandemic and its economic cost. responsible staying at home for the last two months. for two months, the italian prime minister, giuseppe conte, has been the only one making decisions. social problems are growing. also because many of the problems the government projected have not materialized.

>> even before the pandemic, italy had one of the highest unemployment rates in the european union. now, the euro zone's third biggest economy is facing a deep recession. >> i think it will be extremely difficult for italy to recover from a pandemic. in part because it had not yet recovered from the 2000 8-2009 financial crisis and the euro zone crisis of 2010-20 12, and the italians are scarcely richer than they were 20 years ago when their country joined in the euro, and that means that the underlying performance of the economy even in good times is weak. ofduring the difficult weeks the pandemic, italians have relied on each other to support

the many who have been struggling. that hardships may continue if italy's fragile economy does not recover soon. >> the former u.s. vice president and democratic presidential hopeful joe biden has publicly denied an allegation of sexual assault. the accusation made by former senate aide tara reade derail histo presidential campaign. >> it has dominated talk about the biden presidential campaign for weeks and it was not going away. former senate aide tara reade claimed she was sexually assaulted when she worked with then senator joe biden, an allegation she only made public in the last few weeks, an allegation biden could no longer ignore. >> no, it is not true. i'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened, and it didn't. it never happen. i don't remember any type of complaint she may have made.

it was 27 years ago, and i don't remember, nor does anyone else that i'm aware of. >> democrats have been pushed to address the allegation in the last few days. speaker nancy pelosi, who endorsed by this week, insisted she has no doubts about the former vice president. >> i have a great comfort level with the situation as i see it. with all the respect in the world for any woman who comes forward. >> republicans accused democrats of double standards, saying they were ignoring the allegation against their presidential while supreme court justice brett kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault before his eventual nomination. more than 20 women have accused president trump of sexual assault. he was also caught on camera bragging about assaulting women. know, it could be false accusations. i know all about false accusations.

i've been falsely charged numerous times, and there is such a thing. one political analyst says republicans will use the one allegation against joe biden to continue to attack him. >> one of the things that from people do in their strategic maneuvers is they don't try to claim to be superior. they try to create moral equivalencies. they say, "you are just as bad as i am, which makes you a hypocrite, which makes you worse." it's very effective what they do. biden can no longer ignore allegations against him. he is ahead in the polls, particularly with women, and they hope that by addressing it now it will not continue to be an issue in the election in november. >> let's speak about this with an associate professor of political science at george mason university, joining us by skype from washington. how does biden square up what he

is saying now, which is denial that the sexual assault ever happen, with what he said in the past, which is in effect at all women who come forward with these allegations should be believed? >> in a way, this is the classic dilemma democrats are now facing. the democratic party has been one that has been at the leader of the #metoo movement and asking members of their party who have been credibly accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment to step down from their positions, and many have. now that joe biden is the presumptive nominee of the party and put in this position, it puts a number of democrats in the difficult position of trying to decide if they will continue to back this nominee or if they disrupt the entire process at a very late stage and go with someone else. given that the allegations have been denied and some people are continuing to show skepticism towards them, many high-ranking

democrats, particularly female democrats like the speaker of the house, are continuing to back the vice president. >> what about reports that seem to suggest that some other senior democratic women could be on the biden 2020 ticket? what does this mean for that? >> that is an interesting part of the puzzle. it has been some weeks since joe biden publicly in a debate essentially promised to choose a woman as his vice presidential candidate. if that had not happened, i would have said it would not have increased the chances of him choosing a woman, but that was essentially already put into place. that he is expected to choose a woman in a way puts even more pressure on him to show his support for women in the party and in the country. it could be that some of the women like stacey abrams or kamala harris, the governor of

michigan, and others whose names have been floated as possible running mates for him -- it could be that part of their reasoning for continuing to back in is they are interested essentially public campaigning for that spot as his running mate. >> can republicans benefit politically from all of this? >> i think it is possible. democrats are much more likely sort ofunder hypocritical criticism that if some democrats are accused, they are asked to step down, but if the likes of joe biden are accused or so forth, than the rules have somehow changed. hypocrisy is not new in politics. it is a natural part of politics. i do not say that in a way to be glib. what i mean is that everyone is making their decisions about which priorities to take and which rules to follow any given time given what they think the alternatives are.

in this case, the reversion point for democrats is a huge disruption to their nomination process and potentially aiding the incumbent president to get elected, and democrats are absolutely unified in their need to defeat president trump in the fall, and i think they are concerned that giving up on biden could significantly detract from that goal. >> we thank you very much for speaking to us. >> thank you. >> north korean leader kim jong-un has made his first public appearance in almost three weeks. according to state media, he cut the ribbon at the opening of a fertilizer factory. rumors have been circulating about his health, and satellite images revealed a train likely belonging to him parked at a resort town in the country several days ago. it had been reported china sent a team of doctors to treat him after a heart procedure. just toocome, there's

much to go around. we look at how the world's excess of oil is trouble for those who make and sell it. details in a moment.

>> hello again. an agreement among the world's top oil producers to cut output is in effect following the collapse in global prices spurred by a slump in demand because of the pandemic, but the deal to cut output came with a lot of infighting between the

major oil producers. they met in vienna in early march to work out how to keep prices stable but failed to reach an agreement. opec recommended taking 1.5 million barrels per day off the market if russia agreed to cut production as well. pressure refused, so opec's top producer, saudi arabia, retaliated by announcing a production increase. the price war lasted nearly a month and prices dropped below $20 a barrel. moscow and riyadh resolved their differences and agreed to gradually cut production by 10 million barrels a day. american producers i have been hurt most by the price war. prices for u.s. crude collapsed on april 20 and briefly went negative the first time. saudi arabia and kuwait say they have cut output ahead of the may 1 production deadlines. with too much oil now produced and not enough and used, the question is being asked of where to store it. tanks in the u.s. are filling

and refineries need to find a way to shut down. >> cushing, oklahoma, is a small town with a big job in the oil industry. it's the oil pipeline crossroads of america, and that made it the logical place to become the nation's oil storage hub. >> right now, we are doing whatever we can to work this production to the minimum degree we can. >> now one tank after another withs on a landscape lined storage farms. with oil at historically low prices, crude keeps flowing and as sellers wait for higher prices, and it's filling fast. >> it's the world's largest storage hub, and it has the capacity of about 76 million barrels of storage. however, right now, they are at about 75% full. everybody scrambled to find space. that is why we are seeing the

use of oceangoing tankers to just hold oil. >> tankers with no destination full of oil waiting for better days and bigger prices. nearby, gas sales for under a dollar a gallon. it is hard to believe the oil industry could face worse then when sellers had to pay buyers to take the stuff off their hands, but that's what happened april 20 when prices went below zero. but with prices going nowhere and storage filling up fast, the worst could be yet to come. with a benchmark west texas intermediate oil before -- below $20 a barrel and with oil futures not selling for more than $40 until 2022, bankruptcies and shutdowns have already begun. as oil storage rises, production is shutting down. refineries on average are operating in the u.s. below 70%. some could soon refuse to fill their contracts to buy oil, invoking a clause that makes it no and void.

in cases of -- invoking a clause that makes it null and void in case of an active glut. a dramatic in balance with no sign of ending any time soon. >> nigeria is africa's largest oil producer. it relies heavily on oil revenue to support its economy, but the huge surplus in global supply is causing the damage. >> it has been a particularly nigeriansyear for whose economy is struggling. low prices and cut in production resulted in huge losses of revenue. but more worried for africa's biggest producer is the damage the current glut will do. the options for nigeria, like many small and medium-sized producers, is to give away oil or shut down some wells.

i've never seen this. , there will be so much that they cannot compensate. a better alternative for can i bring back the oil, if i cannot bring back the oil, what happens next? of producingt cost a barrel of oil in nigeria is about the same as the market price, something producers and experts say is not sustainable for long period. >> nigeria's oil company says it is engaging bench partners and oil companies to see how they will further cut production, and the country's current output is 1.4 million barrels a day.

possible nigeria will be forced to make further cuts. >> experts warned the current instability of the oil market is set to further damage the economy. nigeria imports a significant amount of consumer goods, including refined petroleum products. >> the ability will be limited, and that leads to higher prices for imported goods. >> a bleak forecast that could .ven get worse >> 10 civilians have reportedly been injured after explosions at an ammunition depot in central

syria. in a statement released on state media, the syrian army said the blasts were caused by human error. israel has previously targeted military storage facilities inside syria. the united nations recognized government initially rejected a proposal for a cease-fire during the month of ramadan. call upon both parties to seize the opportunity to immediately halt all military operations, resume the military commission talks on a virtual basis, if needed, with the goal of reaching a permanent cease-fire based upon the draft proposed february 23. the united nations mission welcomes the initiative that will allow the libyan people who have on the brunt of the conflict, to observe the holy month of ramadan and peace. the mission urges all parties to

refrain from provocative acts or .tatements >> a chinese journalist has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for vilifying the country's governing communist party. he was arrested in 2018 after posting articles accusing local officials of corruption. he had been fired from a number of state newspapers before publishing his work online. the sentence comes as critics accuse the chinese government of using the pandemic to tighten its grip on the media. thanks for watching "the news hour" on al jazeera. we are back in a moment with more on today's news. see you then.