thinks. we dare to ask. don is in mourning after some 100 people are killed and thousands injured and the massive explosion that rocked the country's capital on tuesday a huge shockwave ripped through beirut destroying buildings in the port district and leaving many residents without electricity the exact cause of the disaster is unclear though it's believed to be linked to the improper storage of explosive materials and a warehouse. or your body of the song we found everything turned over our hands i was moving and it's great suddenly the song holds enough something explodes and everything flows with it. also this hour despite millions of furloughed workers

returning to work in the u.k. the economic impact of the pandemic has seen major cities including london become ghost towns. good afternoon and welcome to the program this is r t international coming to you live from the russian capital bring you your life news update condolences our beings time from all over the world to lebanon where a devastating explosion ripped through the capital on tuesday the nation is in mourning as the catastrophe has claimed the lives of at least 100 people and left over 4000 injured according to the country's red cross.

here we can bring you live pictures from beirut there's almost nothing left of the once bustling port au you can see rescue teams continue to search through the rubble the city's governor says about 300000 people have been displaced the blast destroyed nearby buildings causing chaos across the capital. given a large number of injured to hospitals are under immense strain as well he's already dealing with the crowd a virus crisis were quickly filled beyond capacity they should pleas for blood

donations and for generators to keep the lights on or some firsthand accounts from people who experienced the shock wave. your magic johnson the song we found everything turned over our heads i was at home with my dad watching t.v. when the window fell over on me the wardrobe also follow my daughter. and she needs a surgery now that that. was. because of the word the up. can not be me we were at home we heard the sound of the airplanes above our house well even the op of floor of the building we are destroying noise from airplanes suddenly. the song falls on ice something explodes and everything falls with it.

i was moving and it sounds like an earthquake it looked overall and then we saw glass shattered everywhere. when across live 2 journalists all tough amman in beirut tell us what's the situation in the city right now. or right now we're standing in martyrs square square that has long been a venue for many of the poor form that which happened take place 11 on the past couple months especially after lebanon was gripped with the worst economic crisis it has witnessed in the past 3 decades at least we know that the lebanese lira has lost at least 80 percent of its worth in the last 2 months alone right now in the marchers where as you can see behind me demonstrators and activists are collecting donations for people whose homes have been ravaged by the explosion which rocked the capital city bagels yesterday you can see water bottles on the ground stuff even blankets and clothes and everything that the 300000 not the that now 300000

homeless lebanese are could be in need of also you have a lot of pro-reform demonstrators who are once again demanding that the government take action and they are calling even on politicians long been. you know part of the sectarian based power sharing system that has led law been on the brink of economic collapse they are calling on them there resign and to leave they are accusing them their negligence of being behind that explosion which rocked the capital city yesterday we know that the 2750 tons of. ammonium nitrate that went off as well as other explosive material and the poor baby with yesterday the main cause up until this hour according to lebanese official. is negligence is that they were actually who are without and you prevent they have or safety measures this is why you have over people now. people killed this is why you have over 4000 lebanese injured and this is why you have over 100

others missing and the. these are still i think of the injuries are still adding up rescue teams are still digging through the rubble there still trying to find survivors and injured and now here you find that the people have fun together despite all that 19 despite the warnings from the government that this is going to you know lead to us part of the pandemic they don't care they're here where they're sold their soul their youth that those whose homes have been ravaged they're here to show their solidarity with the victims with the families of the victims with the families of those who were martyred as well and they are also sending a lot of their message to the lebanese government that is for 4 minutes is not acceptable and they are calling off politicians who would just leave. lebanese journalists reporting that right from the center of beirut. now at least 10 rescue workers died in the 2nd explosion of the disaster that's according to

beirut's governor that he said that in a t.v. interview i want to like in the tragedy to corrosion and nagasaki speaking at the site he broke down into tears. when. the explosion happened in the densely populated port district of the city the blast level buildings in the surrounding area and the shock waves were reportedly felt as far afield as cyprus red and orange fumes released into the air after the disaster are now hovering over lebanon's capital the world health organization is sending medical supplies to the country as are a number of state parties paul celera picks up the story. to. entries prime minister has said that the cause of the explosion was 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate that was stored in a way house he said he would reveal facts soon about the way house but he wouldn't do so now because he did not want to preempt an official investigation that's under

way in hospitals continue to report being in the state of chaos we know that they've been turning people away they've simply been unable to cope with the huge number of wounded and injured they are calling for blood donations and also for generators to keep the lights going all of this comes as the lebanese supreme defense council recommended to clearing beirut a disaster stricken city and also calling for 2 weeks of national emergency the military has now taken control of the security on the streets we're also hearing that the lebanese government has made available 100000000000 lebanese pounds in emergency funding to assist those who has been affected the prime minister says that they will find that those all those responsible and bring them to book. i will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened so we can hold them to account and impose the most severe punishment it's unacceptable as a shipment of 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate has been present for 6 years in

a warehouse without any preventative measures now the lebanese government has asked for assistance there's a host of countries who have responded saying that they sending both humanitarian and or medical aid amongst them. the united states the united kingdom qatar iran and france we are hearing from the american president donald trump who says that this looks like a terrible attack which is a statement that contradicts contradicts the official words that we hear coming from lebanese officials let me begin by sending america's deepest sympathies to the people of lebanon where reports indicate that many many people were killed and i've met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel. that it was this was not a some kind of a manufacturing. explosion type of event this was a seems to be according to them they would know better than i would but they seem

to think it was the attack it was a bomb of some kind now and then those countries who have been offering assistance i israel this is despite the fact that the 2 countries are technically at war we have heard from the country's foreign minister benny gantz saying that 3rd party mediators have been approached and israel has offered humanitarian assistance no word as of yet what has been of a sponsor from lebanon all of this comes as an emergency security cabinet meeting is due to be held in the lebanese capital this morning it comes as both israel and hezbollah deny any kind of involvement there has been speculation as to what caused the blast at this stage the official word from lebanon is let's wait until the investigation is concluded. we're now joined live by roland alford who is the managing director at alford technologies now lebanon's prime minister has blamed the blast on iran 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored near the cargo port to what extent is this chemical explosive. movie

a military to his. constituents almost lost it exposes. so. why follow the biggest. $2700.00 tons does that quantity correlate with the massive explosion that we saw. absolutely what we saw was was an enormous explosion or will be one of the biggest explosions that was not your experience history certainly will lose not very long. well known or a little later 86000000. people and they were using similar quantities. we've heard from donald trump saying that his generals have told him this could have been an attack do you find that plausible. succeeding you know like. there were also there was a lot of this one explosion of. a typical scenario where you have

a. movie night it catches fire starts to melt. yourself and flies itself and then it goes to a destination and you guys are at the destination like this so it wasn't as happy to be lost and it wasn't there would be no way of capture would have been able to who was the destination so i think the probability of getting older is exceedingly unlikely what can you tell us about the key features that distinguish an industrial accident from a blast that would be triggered by a weapon. rules 1st of all the color of smoke that we see in a swimsuit it's a very distinctive. origin color and that is the most recent. notion that i don't like knox is all you know and that implies it was an explosive basics and where it's all strong balance that we're making an explosive you're being greedy

and stupid to actually. get full decomposition and. that's why we don't like your thoughts on arms tells us that we didn't have to it makes it so it wasn't an explosive when it when told it was just a movie right. now those red and orange fumes that smoke that is still hovering over the capitol how dangerous is that. i'm not i don't want to all of how old it is a little i suppose. he's known to be. the chemical that is produced. cause such as diesel engines and that's what this protest owes and because it is a highly polluting our. today i mean ammonium nitrate is stored and used by a range of countries including china and australia for instance for use in agriculture even should other countries be checking securing their facilities in

light of what's happened. it is stored properly and to always be kept completely separated so this is a bit new so it should never be stored near a fuel that no trees all will through it will like to go for it right you know is reduced this also. unfortunately because it's. true on industrial you will always need to store a lot of courses that so this sort of quantity is probably stored in many places or a little. but you always have to take. make sure all those. wells are out and out you talk about these proper precautions how difficult is it to store the substance safely. and it's probably not going to get through it if you look through the places where it should be going to school the following rules is just that you go to school a 1000000 like trade. routes of new line because that is. so you have to bring to

all your story minutes and then you will select a building you don't have it too near include a look at it. there's been reports that this has been stored in that facility for years now and while the investigation is still ongoing there's reports of there being negligence what else could have gone wrong at that storage still facility to cause this tragedy. i think fundamentally there's nothing you or me sure call out there so it was easy you know. i mean one needn't places where you could have a lot of sources that want to. be negligent because you have absolutely. but beyond that in terms of security and being so they probably had to. you know explode pretty well. we've been speaking with roland takeshi alford managing

director at alford technology and thank you so much for your time and your comments you're welcome. still ahead on the program with corona virus infections on the rise and france many are blaming young people for the surge more on that story and others after this break.

all across the board trump is down in the polls and not just by a pointer to traditionally incumbency alone is enough to win the election but this time around it is a race track and let's be clear this is little to do with joe biden we. welcome back to the program the economic impact of the coronavirus is becoming increasingly apparent in the u.k. with london taking a have to hit from the pen demick with near empty streets and workplaces it's predicted the capital could lose almost 180000000 pounds a month in 2021 and it's feared london will remain

a ghost town for some time yet are to be edward stuff reports. so the lockdown in london is easing it certainly doesn't feel like it the financial and business district the heart of the city is usually overcrowded and bustling but now it looks like a ghost town even though the government's pleas to get people back into the office i want people to go back to work. should be. going back to work you. over own right after saying that boris johnson left downing street and set off a checker's his country retreat so much for leading by example and while the government gave employers the right to order stuff back into the office many companies are not rushing into that decision but can you blame them when the u.k. is the worst hit by the coronavirus in europe and considering the government's mantra for months was strictly to stay at home stay at home folks stayed home

stayed home and signed for being the country's economic engine probably in communities by the 1000000 london is also the capital of entertainment with plenty of things to do and places to eat but this 24 hour city now seems to be. feels like a bit of a ghost town. has been previously a lot of people find you very comfortable working at home so you want to go back to work in offices of engineering and get back to normal it's going to take a while with london stood in a partial shutdown that's expected to have a devastating impact on the entire economy its business is scared off by this if the potential labor force either doesn't come or goes home if people don't think london is where they want to live and hence fail to attract new businesses the effect on london's g.d.p. could be a huge multiple of this a huge chunk of the workforce at lloyds h.s.b.c. and barclays are expected to work from home until at least september and google are not west group also allowing employees to work from mostly until 2021 with many

other tech companies also following suit it's now predicted that in 2021. the new normal will be about 30 percent of london based employees still working from home on any one day that would equate to around 178000000 pounds lost on other things like after work drinks cups of tea stationery and other office of quitman each month it's pretty staggering stats even despite the government's latest eat out to help out initiative offering discounts on meals to kickstart the hospitality sector . is unique we to be creative so to get customers back into restaurants cafes and pogs and protect the 1800000 people who work in them i could announce today that for the month of august we will give everyone in the country. to help out discount its office diners 50 percent off meals up to a maximum of 10 pounds per head courtesy of the taxpayer and it's the latest of

a series of government efforts to tackle soaring unemployment but it's unclear whether or not popular schemes like this one will be enough to rescue the economy especially when the expected 2nd wave of the coronavirus hits shuttered artsy london. meanwhile employers in the u.k. are now required to contribute towards covering their furloughed workers salaries such staff are entitled to up to 80 percent of their normal salary but that doesn't sit well with some employers who are footing the bill the owner of the u.k.'s largest plumbing a firm pimlico plumbers says that some of its staff have been let go for refusing to return to work charlie mullins has had out of the government for low scheme claiming some employees are taking advantage of it to collect pay without working over half of those for a low during the current virus lock down have been returning to work but millions more have stayed at home charlie mullins told us his side of the story. you could look at it as you want to look at bob just being all nice people need to get back

to work and. you know the people the longer with us all very much want to come by and you know been assigned. not over to basle should be sincere in their excuse that. you know they're not ready to go back so if we just stop the 2 percent closure morag they'd be back before the indict if you could change anything valid reason not to god's will go with me well for them and of course they need our you know and we need to call off them people book the people i'm talking about a younger people would just. buy surely they don't want to come to work because that given night she was saying that the why do. you know. that is. finlay the system is not just because in general what is being male.

friends of top scientific body is warning that a 2nd wave of corona virus will likely hit the country after the summer restrictions were recently tightened with masks now mandatory outdoors in the worst hit areas young people though are among those who have been flouting the measure and are widely being blamed for the surge in cases. explains the fault may lie elsewhere. the greek philosopher aristotle once said that young people aha it mind it because they have not yet been humbled by life thousands of years later and little seems to have changed when there is a problem the finger is often pointed at the perceived source the youth as front sees an increase in the number of covert cases and a rise in hospital admissions this age old blame game continues. the boy.

instead of being huddled at home in socially isolated bubbles since lockdown ended in france many young people have decided to party that's shocked some and that the world health organization to issue a warning young people you are not invincible young people can be infected young people can die. and young people can transmit the virus to others so when one french infectious disease expert suggested this i believe more and more that they should be allowed to infect each other provided they don't visit parents and grandparents otherwise young people will be a reservoir of contamination and we will end up with an unimaginable epidemic by

letting them contaminate themselves they will participate in collective immunity you could almost hear the gospel of horror. young people go to the bakery the baker is not necessarily the go to the poor mysie they meet people of all kinds so this is really a totally wrong idea but hold your horses after investigating france's clusters of covert that national health agency has made a rather startling discovery apparently it's not the youth in their mask free socially packed parties that are the biggest source of contamination here would you believe it it's actually the office of the $147.00 cost is currently under investigation more than a quarter of them can be traced back to the workplace social gatherings and that's all social gatherings and not just parties only account for 13 percent of clusters

well just seeing your extended family accounts for almost the same number of clusters with the facts clearly on display what the people in paris make it so it's very easy to point your finger at the youth. but i think it's it's kind of both ways because now that i'm hearing this it's are easy for me to put my finger at the elderly so i don't think it does matter who does it just like that it's happening and we have to be very careful and for me it is really like if it's us or if it's them i don't know. fact i think they're right it's. also factor all the people who are working despite some of them are going to be carrying the virus and so it is going to spread faster even if we young people decide to stay at home and not go to work so unless you intend to stay in a bubble best not to point the finger or the bubble might burst pretty quickly

so r.t. paris. that's been our breakdown of today's headlines here on r.t. international next hour will be throwing over to our sister studio in the u.k. thanks for tuning in wherever you may be. seem wrong. on all levels just don't call. me. yet to stamp out just to become an advocate and engagement equals betrayal. when somebody find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

how can you explain love i've been to 82 countries i did in 12 but i came here and on those 3 days i just filled with hope. and he kept pretty isn't it sick show. i made my decision to come here because i felt and you i could build a new life here suited to which in vientiane open companies and. as a free man. god decided that this money is no good to be free while prospero it a little. tended to you. my one dream is that all my children 'd find the same kind of happiness i do. i love my home i love cold weather i like the culture i like the history i like everything about it almost it's almost essential thought i know if i know that. i am joined could be a ski a russian fama. i

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