>> hoping for a miracle in beirut. one month after catastrophic explosion killed nearly 200 people, rescue teams are digging through a collapsed building after detecting signs of life. coronavirus cases continue to rise in france. 7,000 new infections were reported thursday. the number of people being taken to hospital is also on rise. atley 12 schools have been closed because of the pandemic. and day three of a closely watched terror trial here in paris. 14 people are accused of aiding and abetting the jihadist government behind the attack on

charlie hebdo back in january, 2015. we have the latest from the courtyard in a few moments time. >> it's been exactly a month since a catastrophic explosion in the port of beirut killed nearly 200 people and destroyed entire neighborhoods in the lebanese capitol. one month after rescue teams are digging through the debris. one search team says it has detected signs of life upped the rubble of a collapsed building. workers are cuesing bulldozers and bare hands to try to reach a otential survivor. >> prompted by signs of

heartbeat, workers dig through the rubble of this collapsed building on one of the worst-hit streets in the august 4 explosion. using a sensor, a search and rescue team said they detected what could be the pulse of 18 to 19 beats per minute. efforts were halted on thursday night, though. the building deemed too unstable for rescuers to contitinue witht heavy machinery. > [speaking foreign language] >> the explosion has devastated the country which was already grappling with the financial crisis and politicical instability. damage to homes and infrastructure has been estimated at $4.6 billion. 300,000 people have been left

homeless, while others are unable to withdraw money from the bank in order to make repairs. [speaking foreign language] >> the port's capacity to handle wheat and cereal imports have fallen by 1/5. though the world's fruit program said it didn't see lebanon heading toward a fruit crisis, there is an urgent need to rebuild bulk capacity at the port. >> an enormous human cost because of that explosion in beirut. the impact on lebananon's econo is also o huge. here to talk abobout thahat is catherine bennett from our business desk. talk us through the short-term economic impact for lebanon. >> first of all, one of the things you have to bear in mind is the fact that lebanon is a country that produces very little itself. its imports represent 75% of a l

of its food needs. beirut's's port isis the most important hub for imports in the country. the explosion had the effffect rupturing the supply chainins. ththe blast destroyed the country's mamain grain silo leaving a country that needs to feed six million people with 1/5 of its the previouous capacity d only a m month's worth left in reserves. in the short term, that explosion has had a huge impact on food security and that's been made worse by the country's unstable local currency. 's pound is trading to the u.s. dollar and that's far above its official rate. it's pace to the u.s. dollar at 1,500 pounds to the dollar. coupled with the local currency rapidly losing its value is the rising cost of food. that means we will see hunger becoming a hey jor problem in the country -- major problem in

the country. 50% of the people will be at risk of accessing basis food supply and one in two children in the country's capital eat less than one meal a day. to tell us a bit more about the economic situation in the ountry, we have this report. >> the straw that breaks the camel's back as lebanon struggled to repair its damaged port one month after a deadly blast. the explosion setting an already shaky economy into a deeper recession. before the blast, the country's g.d.p. windt from minus 7% to minus 15%. now economists are predicting it will drop eveven further to min 25%. that's thanks to the damage caused to infrastructure, worth about $4.6 billion, and damage to economic activity worth up to $3.5 billion. the destroyed port was the

country's main maritime hub with 60% of all imports passing through it. >> what this meant is this was going to be really a serious bottleneck, a serious challenge for importers, commercial sector. >> at 170% of g.d.p. lebanon is is also mired in debt. defaulting on some of that debt in march, which has caused moody's to cut the country's credit rating to its lowest rank now putting it on par with venezuela. ththe coronavirus pandemic, too taking a toll, helping to drive up poverty rates from 28% in 2019 to 55% by the end of this year. while the lebanese pound has plunged losing more than 80% of its value since last october, causing banks to freeze people's savings accounts. officials had been hoping to secure a $10 billion loan from

the i.m.f. the talks stalled over the implementation of financial reforms. the new government is hoping to restart those negotiations as it looks for a way out of its economic c crisis. >> moving to the utcht k.. ther is more brexit c chaos on the horirizon as groroups have w wa ththe governmnment of thehe ris severe disruption to the supply chains. the tran is significance period will end on december 31. so far there is little to no progress in trade talks between the european union and the u.k. trade lobby groups have asked for an urgent meeting with the u.k. government to address the problems at the border. logistics experts say that the government hasn't fully grasped the complexity or scale of the task ahead of them. more than 10,000 lories cross the cham daily and technical problems at the border could bring supply chains to a halt. the u.s. tech giant apple has forr t the first t time publish

human r rights s policy where i says it is committed t to freem of expression and freedom of information. apple has long been criticized for carrying out censorship in china, tibet and hong kong at beijing's request. this latest move comes after shareholders put pressure on the company to publicly commit to a human rights policy. apple faced intense cririticism earlier this year, also removed an app from its chinese app store that helped hong kong protersers track p police activity. hat's a victory f for advocacy groups there, laura. >> thank you. moving to the united states, at a presidential race being dominated by racial tensions and by eventnts in the swing state wisconsin, democratic joe biden traveled to kenosha where jacob blake was shot and injured by police. that incident triggered unrest in the city.

biden spoke to blake by phone and also expressed his support for the protesters. claire rush has the latesest. >> this community meeting at a church was one of joe biden's first stops in kenosha. ththere the democratic presidential nominee heard from local residents and spoke about the private meeting he just had with the family of jacob blake. along with his phone conversation with jacob blake himself. >> had an opportunity to spend sosome time with jacob on the phone. he is out of i.c.u. we spoke for about 15 minutes. he talked about how nothing was going to defeat him, how -- whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up. >> the police shooting of jacob blake who remains in hospital paralyzed thrust kenosha into the center of the national reckoning over systemic racism,

sparking protests that at times devolved into violence and looting. on the ground, biden thought to present himself as a unifying figure describing himself as an optimist and calling for racial equality. the different tone than that struck by donald trump in kenosha two days prior. duringng his trip, the u.s. president voiced support for police, referred to protest related violence as domestic terrrror and didid not meet wite blake family. dueling visits that marked a turning point in the campaign. trump ramping up his law and order message and biden making his first major trip far from his home state of delaware since the coronavirus pandemic broke out. wisconsin will be a key battleground in november's election. for now biden is is leading opinion polls there, but trump on the state in 2016 and his campaign has made retataining ia top priority. >> seven police officers have been suspended in rochester, new york, over the death of another

african-american man, daniel prude, who suffered with mental health issues, suffocated after officers put him in a restraint. it happened several months ago but details have only just been made public. a warning, this report contains some disturbing images. >> this is the footage that shocked the world and resulted in suspensions of seven police officers involved, five months after daniel prude's death. up until then, the officers were still on the job. prude, naked i in the street, w suffering a mental break. his family had called the police for support, but that's not what happened. >> what i saw inn that video wa a man who needed help, a man who needed compassion. our response to him was wrong. >> officers placed a spit hold over prude's head which they say

was to protect police officers from saliva. when police pressed his face into the pavavement for two minutes with the hood still on he suffocated to deathth. the family are angry that nobody has yet been charged with brewed's death and accused authorities of a cover-up. >> that's 25 to life if i kill the police or any other pedestrian out here of society. they need the same punishment. they ain't bigger than the law. that's the truth. >> activists are calling for better police training to support mentally ill members the public. there were protests in rochester and new york in prude's name. just the latest in a series of at times violent protests over america's chronic police brutality against black men and women. >> the poisoning of the russian anti-corruption activist and politician navalny will be on

the agenda. russia is under mounting pressure over navalny who remains in a coma in berlin. this week the german government claiaimed he was poise oned wita nerve agent a and pointed the finger at moscow. russia has been thressened with sanctions but the kremlin denies all responsibility. a rare show of unity from palestinian factions now, hamas and islamic jihad joinedd a videoconference posted by the palestinian president. in their first meeting in years, their aiaim was to build respon to a recent peace deal between israel and the united arab emirates, a deal the palestinians have called an affront to their struggle. we have this s report. >> meetingng for the first timen seven years, albeit virtually, leaders of palestinian f ftions ununited to condemn the normalization of relations between israel and the united arab e emirates.

the president critsoozed their differences in a videoeoconferee between ramallah and beirut. > [speaking foreign language] >> the factions announced that in the next five weeks, they would create a joint committee to organize the response and put an end to their divisions. they say the u.a.e. has betrayed them by establishing official ties with israel. the u.s.-backed initiative unveiled last month. the palestinians also condemn washington's so-called peace plan, which would see the annexation of parts of the west bank and declare the city of jerusalemm israeael's undivided capital. according to the u.a.e., israel

agreed to drop annexation plans in exchange forr the normalizatioion deal, but the israeli prime minister says the project has merely been postponed. >> this friday marks day three of a closely watched terror trial here in france. 14 people are accused of involvement in the 2015 attack which began at the paris offices of the magazine charlie hebdo and ended at a kosher supermarket. the suspects are accused of providing logistical support to the accomplices. if convicted they could face 20 years in jail. "france 24's" catherine norris is down at the courthouse. what happened in court on day three? >> hi, laura. it was a much awaited day in court because we have so far been hearing from the men suspected of being an accomplice

to the january 20155 attacks, rather than mererely providing logistical supupport. he is accused of beieing the rit hand man of the attacker who held people hostage and killed people in a supermarket on the east of paris as part of those three-day rampage of attacks before being gunned down by police. the man himself denies the charges. he says he is not radicalized. he says one shouldn't kill people, one shouldn't kill innocent people. he condemned the attacks on charlie hebdo and the kosher supermarket saying the only man died in january 2015. so trying to disassociate himself from these charges of being an accomplice. but he is by far the highest profile sususpect. the three men p physically carad

out the attack were killed in shootout with the police. one shortcoming of the trial i they were ononly people who ovided logistical support o or accused of providing financing, weapons and other support apart from this man who was inn the ck today accused of being an accomplice. >> laura: three suspects have been tried in absentia after they fled to territory controlled by the islamic state group.p. what can you t tell us about t ? >> yeah, this afternoon the court will be hearing more about three suspects being tried in absentia and much more important in the scheme of things, the prosecutors say, thahan the oths provoviding this logistical support accused of doing so. a lot of the plaintiffs in this case, the families of victims, are frustrated that there aren't bigger fish being tried in this crile. threree of them have -- trial.

three of them have fled to islamic state territory days before the attack took place and they were accused of adhering to the radical islamic ideology of the attackers of january 2015. among them, the religious wife of the suspect. she is believed d perhaps b be still alive although not located by french secret servivices. the other two, the brothers, believed to have died in that papart of the woworld in n rece years with bombing in that a ar. they are accused off helping to write his video in which he pledged allegiance to the islamic state. laura: thank you very much, catherine. the french government is warning that the coronavirus is still spreading across the country. 7,000 new cases were reported on thursday and the number of patients being taken to hospital and intensive care has also

begun to increase. just days after children wept back to class, at least 12 schools have had to close because of the pandemic. let's take a listen to the french education minister. > [speaking french] laura: until recently the city of bordeaux seemed immune but cases there are now on the rise prompting authorities to take action. this report from our colleagues. >> at the peak of the crisis, this hosospital in bordeaux wer occupied by covid patients. in the summer, that figure dropped to between five and 10. but despite the fall in numbers, the i.c.u. teams here have

stayed on high alert. > [speaking french] >> the entirire hospital is preparing. held. meetings are being >> [speakiking french] >> several possiblee scenarios have been planned for. in the worst case, the beds in the recovery rooms can be transformed into beds in the intensive care unit. 75 new ventilators have been ordered. the element of risk remains. last week about 30 employees of the hospital testeted p pitive. [speaking french] >> the hospital has been gearing up at fufull speed, strengtheni

provisions in a bid to soften the blow when it arrives. thousands of samples are arriving every day at a platform. brand-new automated systems are bebeing used to determine wheth or not patients have e tested positive for the virusus. more thahan 2,000 tests per day are provided. up to 3,000 at a time. but keeping up with the pace means reagents and consumables are also needed. [speaking french] >> relatively unscathed by the first wave, they have exceeded the alert threshold with 60 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. laura: while three more players have tested positive for the virus that makes six now, including the star striker. the team had postponed a champions league match over the team's fitness for the rest ofo

the e season. now we h have more. >> with just six days to go until t the start of their seas, preparations are already an n uphill strtrgle for ththe team. on thursday the club a announce three more cases of covidid wer found within its playing squad. a publication revealed them to be a goalkeeper and defender and argentine striker. they join the likes of neymar as having confirmed infections. with all six players contracting the virus on a holiday following the league final with munich. the players will now not be able to train with their teammates for eight days and it also means they'll be unable to play in the match come september 10. what's more unclear though is if the game will have to be postponed d now for the second time. under the new protocol, the match could still go ahead if 20 players test negative.

nevertheless, the latest situation is set to pose a massive headache for the coach, as he also has to contend with other players returning late from international duty with france. while the class awaits at home ththree days after the start. laura: the former italian prime minister is in hospital with double pneumonia after testing positive for the virusment he spent the e night in hospital i milan having tested positive on wednesday. his partner and two of f his children have also tested positive. he has been in self-isolation with his partner at his villa near milan. he had been on holiday in sardinia where the incompetent fex rate is higher than in most of the country. -- infection rate is higher than in most of the country. israel has imposed new lockdowns in a bid to curb new cases

there. the highest number was recorded on wednesday. so far lockdowns have beenen imposed in 30 areas. travel from these red zones will be limited and all nonessential business will be shut. israel has one of the world's highest per capita infection rates and the death toll is coming close to 1,000. a reminder of our top international headlines at this hour. people in beirut hoping for a mimiracle this friday. one month after the catastrophic explosion that killed nearly 200 people. rescue teams are digging through collapsed building after detectiving signs of life. it's day three of a closely watched terror trial in france. 14 people are accused of aiding and abetting the jihadist government behehd the pariris attacks on charlie hebdo and a jewish supermarket back in january, 2015. and the coronavirus continues to spread through france. 7,000 new cases reported

thursday with a number of people being taken to hospital also on the line at least 12 schools have closed. that's it from the newsroom. stay with us. much more still to come on "france 24." >> they tell their stories and take viewers beyond the usual cliches.

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