>> you are watching france 24. beirut trying to clean up theier city after tuesday's devastating explosion at the port. the death toll is at 154. thousands have been injured. some 300,000 left homeless. officicials say it will cost $15 billion to rebuild. they are already mired in eight financial crisis before the blast. people are angry and they want answers. tear was f fired on dodozens. blamed.ce is being

there were 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the port sinince 2013. we have the latest on the devastation and on the push to find out who is to blame. it is ascene -- >> scene of devastation, grief, anger. followlosion so -- so powerful it was felt across the sea. hoping love ones can be recovered from beneath the rubble. as they wait, grief turns to anger. over 150 people have lost their lives but with many more unaccounted for, the figure is likely to rise further. as they wait, the sense of powerlessness grows and people starting to demand answers. why was the ammonium nitrate left in the port for so many years? who will be held responsible,

and when there be justice for what happened here? the u.k. has imposed travel restrictions on spain. it starting tomorrow those returning from belgium will have to go into quarantine. this after increases since july in cases. it is also reported france could be added to the list if cases into new rise. a million people in africa now have coronavirus, posing a threat to the weakened health care system. they were praised for taking action in the early stages but many fear it was not enough. 21,000 have died. we have more. >> a g grim milestone for afric. they have one million confirmed coronavirus cases. south africa, egypt, nigeria,

ghana have been the most severely hit by the pandemic. it is the fifth most affected country in the world it counts for half of africa's cases. in response, the country pushed congress's. pushed morey have lockdowns. schools are closed and a curfew is reinstated. as the health care system struggles, south africa scrambles to very the dead. back partcan see, the accommodates 16 deceased. this container is specifically for covid deceased. >> an obstacle inn the

continent's way is testing. the two number of cases is likely 10 times higher. day,tests administetered per just 1/10 of the number of tests conducted in south africa, just a quarter of nigeria's population. another country seeing a spike is morocco. the government announcing it would extend the states of emergency until the 10th of september. 1280 three covid cases registered wednesday, the single biggest day increase. maskslar problem, making mandatory and reopening borders in june, importing cases. this hour, they people of beirut trying to clean up their city following tuesday's devastating explosion at the port.

lebanon's president says an investigation is underway, looking at whether it was caused by negligence, and accident, or possible external interference. who are fired on people protesting. many blame government negligence for what happened. more than 150 confirmed dead, thousands of injured, tens of thousands without homes. i am joined by a professor at the university of beirut. thank you for joining us on "france 24." the president says and investigation -- an investigation is underway. there are calls for an international investigation. do you think that is the way to proceed?d? is,essor:r: i believe i it because e the committeeee that s formed including some of the

agencies that have been proven incompetent over the past six years, which included the customs apartment, responsible for the stockpile of ammonium nitrate left for six years in hanger number 12 at the port. it is ironic that the entities that didn't do anything about it are investigating themselves and what happened for the past six years. it does not include one single judge and there is no judicial oversight over this investigation. this is a cover-up. it is not an investigation in terms of how to get to the bottom of it. i think an international investigation is much needed because neither judicialllly, te kurdish forces, m management -- ministersforces, and of trade and transportation have failed to take action on the

stockpile over the past six years until now. we need an international investigation to understand how this material reached lebanon, why was it left, and why was it sold or taken away or protected from civilian places, such as the port. >> just gogo back to the president's comments, he says there is the possibility the explosion happened because of a rocket or a bomb, what do you make of those comments? professor: i think the president of the republic is not supposed to speculate. he is to havee information a and that information is based on facts through an independent, trustworthy investigative committee. when the president speculates, that means he is shedding a political light on events to favorhis into a political

and to cover the incompetence of his government and the past two governments since he took power in 2016. >> 20 jamaica president macron's visit and the way the lebanese called on him to save them -- what do you think of president visit and the way the lebanese called on him to save them from their own government? professor: the lebanese people are looking for leadership. at the same time, the minister of justice was kickeked out and chased away by protesters, and protesters, but volunteers who chased away the minister.

macron wassident right on when he said on the need for change and it approached 100% of what lebanese are aspiring for -- a massive change in the government of the country away from nepotism, corruption, vandalism, and abject abuse of government resources in favor of certain political parties and their interests. we need people who are accountable to save the state as well as people from an ongoing series of crises which did not start with covid or the political process, what people don't realize is before the crash garbage in beirut has been stockpiling for four days and now we are in day five. stockpilingis because there is nowhere to take it to. this government has failed, not to mention the presidency.

that is why president macroron s a welcome visitor to lebanon because that is someone they hope will bring some semblance of governance and help and support for the lebanese people to have their government back again in the hands of competent readership. >> thaha you very y much indeed. in the united states, president trump has told americans they have 10 days to stop doing business with tiktok and wechat. heheat signed two executive ords in what has been seen in a major collation -- escalation. unclear if he has the authority y to ban the companies from doing business in the u.s. tiktok is already threatening legal action. egrin reactionon.

chinese government firmly opposes t the executitive orders and wilill defend what it calls the legigitimatete right n the e interest off chinese companies. the subtext hehere is the united stateses is discriminating agait these companies because it is afraid of china's economic might.t. they are r raising a lot o of questions because of v vague wording, especially the t term "traransaction," which has not been specified. alsosoalking abobout we chat, ud for everything in daily life here in china by a billion people. so peoplple in the united states are wonderining if they will b e able to o communicate with famiy back home. peopople with b business inintes in china are wonderingng if they will be able to do financial transactions using the payment app. compananies like apple, whwho he seenen in china, are wondering f

wechatats no longer available in the apptore on whwhat about their business? -- alsosent, who has --who also has business is wondering what it means. it is not clear what it will look like, c csidering u.s. tech companies lilike facacebook,k, , twitter a are already banned in china. >> the state of new york has filed a lawsuit against the national rifle association. they are one of the most powerful lobobby groups. itit is claimed the group has bn siphoning millions of dollars for personal use. james wilson has the story. the possibility to

be one of the biggest suits in america. new york is doing the national rifle association, advocates for gun owners, alleging corruption in the cedar -- senior leadership. ago, mya few minutes office filed a lawsuit against the national rifle association to does a half the organization in its entirety for years of self-dealing and illegal conduct that violates new york's charities law and undermines its own mission. james: the reputations of manany of the common figures.s. c.e.o. is accused of misusing the organization of money to go on holidays on private jets, allegations the nra has dismissed as politically motivated in which with they will vigorously contest in court. baseless, a

premeditated attack on our organization and second amendment freedoms it fights to defend. the investigation was going to reach as we move into the 2020 election cycle. it is a transparent attempt to score points and the leftist agenda. wantks on candidates who gun control, the nra is an equal measure by thehe republican and retains the support of president trump. pres. trump: it is a very teterrible thingng that just happened. i think t the nra should move to texas and lead a very good and beautiful life. >> during the 2016 election, the nra spent 350 million euros promoting candidates who backed gun rights. >> that is it for the news

hour you are watching france 24. >> welcome to the "france 244 interview. " striking images by a photojournalist during a six-month j journey across the brazilian amazon.n. award.tojournalism he is the winner of the award and is here. thank you for inviting me. >> you said in the past it is not a singular narrative. portrait. to do a documents ofbines

the environmental crisis but also the entire crisis taking place in the region. it is a combination of intersecting crises combinened together a and to tell about the destruction of the forests or issues related to it, but also to explore and talk about the social fabric of the region itseself. >> i wanted to look at one particular photo. it is a member of the forest are and what is described -- forest guard and sad silence at a toppled tree, cut my suspected loggers in an indigenous reserve. tell us how you came to take thisis phototo. >> i started following this people fromndndigenous

amazon.te in the of indigenous they started looking for illegal loggers to protect their territory. eventually, they ended up finding illegal loggers. they stopped them. they tried to act in a reactive list way. >> to prototect their land? >> to protect their land. they knew a place where illegal

loggers set up a camp. when we arrived, there were a few of these trees cut down. they call themselves the guard. theyey came close to the tree. i just recorded the moment. said -- sadent of violence and he was moved by that. a specifice has feeling.

they explain that a lot of loggers are not just cutting together, but they spot the big ones and then moved to another one. are tensdest ones that to 100 years old. >> and those to be caught by the satellite. are cutting, it is difficult for the satellite to be seen. photosher one of your shows a member of the forest guard from the same group, following one they suspect of collaborating with loggersrs. his violence like this s commonn ththe amazon? > the amazon is a really violent place.

in this picture, i portrayed this moment that is really complex because there are fighting indigenous together. on one side, we have the goal of protecting their land. withe other side, they do .our street and bad conditions this is the paradox, it is a rich national treasure and then at the same time it is poor. me theycase, they told were hollering at him and knew he was collaborating

with a group of illegal loggers inside the r reserve. by, he wasld pass with his motorbike, and they loggersscreaming at the and calling them bad names. that was the moment it all started. , when we camethen out from the reserve the day after, some people shot against us. we didn't know from where. what they told me it was probably this man -- >> retaliation. >> and what they do is really

dangerous. described it as the new far west. i wanted to touch on the fact that these photos were first revealed in september at the precise moment flames were engulfing the amazon, making global headlines. when you''re on the ground, whee the red flags and warnings this would be a particularly bad year for forest destruction? new government cameme he had this strong message that the amazon is eventually open for business -- essentially open for business. this message legitimized a lot legitimized acting illegally inside the forest. >> giving them a green light to

-- burn every year at that time. experts and scientists are saying that deforestation has increased this year. doubles kind of pretty in a way -- kind of predictable in a way. starting on the 10th of january, together.nnected we watched a group a and then te media called it "the day of the fire." day, all of the fires

increased in the regions. >> it wasn't sporadidic, it was organized? >> it was organized. a conference, he said it remains pristine and virtuaually untouched and said they protect the environment the -- protecto you feel the environment. what do you feel when you hear that? >> is very difficucult to contr. whatappened wawas that many resources were e cut by the government. government cut 30% or 20%. on the ground, you can perceive control.ce and lack of

it is a huge treasure, but left open. >> is the amazon just a tale of tragedy? is there a flipside? is colonization in a certain way. taking backent is an old philosophy that came back from the dictatorship from the a thoughtn there was of risk of the country. these regimes and dictatorships have people monopolize it. the result is this complex sort

of fabric that the amazon has. create a phototo -- a phphoto fabric.lore the investigated, what is the religion and how the evangelical concentrations in the forest. i wanted to show the daily life ,f the people in the amazon people hanging out. >> i would like to thank you for being with us. >> your photos are being shown herere in paris until mid february. thank you for joining us in t te

studio and thank you for the award. >> thank you. >> thank you for staying with us. we have more news coming up.

[jazz playing] kris kuramitsu: we have this idyllic image of 1950s america with families b buying homes inn thehe suburbs, there's jazz playaying on thehe stereo, technology is ushering in the new jet agage... but while that stereotytype was trtrue for some, that ararticulr american dream was not available to everyone, nonot even some of those a artists and d designers whose wowork really visually fine that t era. alexandra lange: not only are all of these artworks immediately recognizablble icons of post-war american art and design, but their second generation japanese american makers share a common bond