clashes resume in. nights of rioting in which state ministries that were stormed protesters are following to keep the pressure the government may choose based deadly explosion you're looking at live pictures right now from beirut. more and more protesters coming out onto the street also. emergency crews clear the rubble after a 5 day. port blast killed at least 158 people left in.

a. minute of silence to commemorate the u.s. . people in both countries. 945. years of. justified i don't know i think it's tough to believe people for the mistakes of history and i think the use of the atomic bomb was unacceptable there was new reason to do it.

with a mix of the big stories from the past 7 days and right up to the moment developments as well this is the weekly on r.t. international hello and welcome. large crowds are again gathering in central beirut after a night of rioting in which state ministries were stormed the country is reeling from the shock of tuesday's deadly explosion with protesters demanding reform and for officials to be held to account this is martyrs square in the lebanese capital live pictures from there this is what's happening right now. there have already been clashes outside parliament by the way with riot police reportedly firing rubber bullets protesters are volley further this by the prime minister's call for early action. has conceded that choose the explosion which killed at least $180.00 people was caused by corruption but the country's president

has rejected calls for an international probe saying it would quote dilute the truth there was a brutal standoff in central be a roots for the evening going. killed and more than 700 people injured according to local emergency services rioters were hurling rocks security forces who responded with tear gas some demonstrators reportedly tried to break through a barrier blocking

a street leading to the parliament building at least 19 people we know where i rested. why is all this happening well tragedy struck and 6 pm on tuesday when they must have blasts hit the beirut port area 158 deaths have been confirmed but with dozens still missing it is feared doubt number will rise the city's health system already struggling with covert 1000 has been overwhelmed by the disaster numerous city buildings have been damaged thousands of locals have been left homeless. in the home of the sun we found everything turned over our hands i turned around

and i was he pushed something in my right hand people screaming kids screaming but it was a choice and i should see. the devastation here in the lebanese capital is very much the blast was felt at 10 kilometers away from the board where it took place i believe this is going to be a sleepless night for the lebanese and a very sad 9. 11 years army and fire fighters have been still trying to put off the fire which is still until today burning through the remains of the warehouse says rescue workers are still trying to take to the rubble to find the remainder or the the missing and differentials they are allowed to clear out of sight of metal dollar short.

well we are standing on the doorstep of martyrs square as you can see behind me the ambulances are still gushing in and out now these demonstrators to express their

dismay over what they say is poor handling of the lebanese government of the aftermath of tuesday's and explosion. they say they are going to stay here until their demands are met also at the same time we know that in the district of a chef east of beirut protesters have managed to storm into the foreign ministry. we are coming back to the property of our people is building belongs to the people of. testers has turned up at least 4 ministry is this in addition to torching a number of buildings. that are sad that we lost the country we lost beirut we have people who didn't find it we have

family members we don't know anything about people will they go back to the streets they will daily ask for the justice we need the justice made who doesn't deserve this and we would if you is what happened to us lebanon are already being going through its worst financial crisis in years inflation is soaring and almost half the population lives below the poverty line around a 3rd of working age adults are unemployed protest against corruption on the dire state of the economy i've been occurring sporadically. since october the blasts destroyed the country's main ports only aggravated the situation on sunday demonstrators put up mock gallows in a location where people were hung more than 100 years ago under the ottoman empire protesters raise cardboard cut outs there and then you can see lebanon's prime

minister has been lost leader as well as other officials depicted there in response to the. information minister. some of. her resignation saying the current government has failed to live up to the lebanese people's expectations. of journalist chris hedges told us lebanon will have to tackle some deep rooted problems to overcome you know. this is just the culmination of very catastrophic calm a nation of. absolute dysfunction failure collapse of good government responsible government in lebanon there were massive demonstrations as i mentioned before in 2019 and a reshuffling of the government but it didn't do anything to dent the you know catastrophic mismanagement and wholesale corruption that has characterized the lebanese state i would say for the last 3 decades and so what we're seeing and i

think you know your reporter the report you just did out of lebanon was good in illustrating this is a complete frustration i when you were there hanging nooses i don't think that the kinds of reformist policies that were proffered in 2019 and the work. going on in the program now it is exactly 75 years since the u.s. dropped an atomic bomb on the jump in the city of nagasaki just days before the out on the 6th of august 1905 a russian that was also attacked some 200000 civilian. were killed some years after the tragedy if your burdens radiation sickness and other injuries.

muck local you know with just. my 2 words in minutes or so must do i. need to guy night the more i get to meet on this. side of actions you have gone you can't have them you can't you can't i want you to stay there. every night. i think you're about to. going to tell me you can smash. are going to. cut down at my desk when i get to. talk. to. us and she know to

have a. good team after we have commissioned. a memorial event being scaled back this year jus to be demick but searing the commemorations japan's prime minister was joined by the few surviving witnesses of the attacks to mark the blasts with a minute of silence. of the u.s. and japan are forever linked by the tragedy here's what people in new york and hiroshima had to say about the events of 945. take a drastic measure here and i like to say i feel like i haven't learned much about

it if you see the u.s. . troops there and just. in the consequence of war was it ever saw. like harbor the pearl harbor it had something to do with the u.s. response to for over. we're. fixing the terms of. it being justified i don't know i think it's tough to blame people for the mistakes of history. something like that catastrophic should go like an apology were like but i'm pretty sure i'm looking for reparations i'm native american the figure more give any there's not going to happen it's not going to happen for the japanese. but that she was when my mother was 7 months pregnant with me the atomic bomb was dropped my cousin

was also an atomic bomb survivor and died of leukemia after 75 years i'm still very sorry for those who died. and i think the use of the atomic bomb was unacceptable there was no reason to do it and the military situation was utterly hopeless for japan perhaps it wouldn't have taken much longer for the water end and it would have been over without the bombings and the war between japan and the u.s. it's a shame the u.s. hasn't apologized to japan for the bombings. it's very important to say it out loud to emphasize what the real purpose of the hiroshima bombing was if we keep side. and the propaganda war we. well the atomic bomb didn't just change the political landscape but the culture of one to our tailor looks now at how the deadly blasts helped to form the popular culture we consume on a day to day basis. there are moments in history as a memory so powerful they have shaped our culture tragic but defining of the

mushroom clouds billowing over the japanese cities of hiroshima and nagasaki. for decades the us suppressed almost all footage it was only in the 1980s that color images sought by the us military posture be released to this day the material has never been shown in its entirety. but out of the unimaginable suffering roy who's a new pop culture in america the devastating release of radioactive particles

change the country's take on comic books and superheroes spite of the fantastic full the incredible hulk all derived from exposure to radiation. we've never seen anything even close to your level of exposure you survive an event like. the superhero we smelled better than ever steel which no sirree. like to leave it in the us atomic power was mostly about heroism and influence but japan how different take associations were instead made with destruction and mutation take up a new killer mutant rampaging through the streets of tokyo to city payoffs a kind of crisis powerless before us. but i. as relations between countries change so to to the movies to follow in king

kong. at pitt battle between the japanese and us pop culture icons atop mount fuji is defeated. around 10000000 went to watch that film in japan and it remains the most watched in the cuts in a series to date but it turned out japan had a not for shaping our childhoods from hello kitty in a room and they were as much hits a brought out so. i couldn't get enough of them it didn't matter if i could see the wires and the seams in the costumes and the least moving when the words didn't it was so fanciful and imaginative it what's japan was at the forefront pop culture and technology from the nintendo game console to the possible cassette by sony it's mania the kids of america saying this is great we've got to have one for boys in this country between the ages of $8.15 not having an intent is like not having a baseball bat japan continues to successfully export its pop culture like minder

an animator some say that creates a sort of outlet for math is from the anxieties that paid trip at $0.05 back in 1905 teenagers in the u.s. who consumed the puppy and colorful characters and stories don't see this fantasy is being created to escape from the darkness of tragedy. voting has just ended in belarus where president alexander lukashenko is seeking a 6th term in office there are tough restrictions on reporters covering the event and within the past hour or so to video a journalist from artie's ruptly agency were detained for more let's speak to r t s danielle hawkins dan good to see you so closed in valerie's tell us more about this story of the election what's known about the roughly crude usual details are still coming in of what exactly has happened we do know these 2 crew stringers were

filming the elections local polling stations they were taken away by police local all thirty's this took place about 10 hours ago showers later they still haven't got in touch we've been able to contact them and establish their location or what exactly has gone wrong and now while they may not be the last to be arrested not the 1st 2 russian journalists from the last t.v. rain television channel were also arrested earlier today in there were taken to a local police stations several hours later information emerged directly this just came out in the minutes before been speaking to the better russian interior minister has told the russian ambassador that they have been charged with administrative breaches relating to election rules and they will be extradited back to russia or deported rather back to russia once those administered procedures have

been completed now this is very symbolic of what's been going on. throughout this election period over the last days and weeks we've heard reports of already tensions. blackouts in some areas of the country as well indeed the main opposition candidate. one point left in flight in minsk and went into hiding fearing for her own safety as 9 members of her campaign staff were also detained alongside another prominent opposition activist let's talk about she was briefly detained and later released as well now alexander lukashenko has held the post of president of butter roofs for the last well since like you know before in fact since the post was established winning 5 landslide victories this is the biggest challenge he's faced so far with. leading

a reinvigorated and new opposition following the detention of her husband. she succeeded in uniting the opposition front taking up the banner and bringing people to the streets of. ok. well just as us have been speaking to some exit polls have actually been coming out the central election committee of but said the time out is high 79 percent just over 71 percent the exit polls are confirming a victory for president alexander lukashenko these are of course exit polls is yet to be confirmed officially but these exit polls from what we see are saying

a 79 percent vote for example go around a 6 percent 6 and point 8 percent vote for his main opposition candidate the leader . now for many this was the biggest challenge had faced in his political career people were perhaps hoping this would be some sort of turning point for the political climate. if these results are confirmed the roof there anything close to being confirmed by those exit polls certainly that would mean that not much has changed the lives of the local shanker will win a 6th consecutive as the president of belarus. there have been no reprise using the parlay sions of the law just follow the rules in any talk of reprisal who disappears if you violate the law we will respond and yes we have been responding mildly so far. there logs on the house of course coming from

criticism both from opposition parties opposition candidates like we said as well as international or for international organizations election monitors for holding elections that are not free and fair nevertheless he will of course view this as a as a as a result of victory and as a consolidation of his support base on the faith of the electorate do have an im so just to remind you these are exit polls they're not numbers at all but if this 17 percent figure is confirmed 2 that will be a victory of course for example. during the hawkins' bring us right up to date on the story of the. election thanks for all the optics there action packed to say the least. ok let's return to our breaking news story out of renewed clashes in the lebanese capital beirut where in fact just hearing that activists are reportedly storming the labor ministry some in fact got

in there keeping up the pressure on the government in the wake of tuesday's deadly explosion let's cross live now to our team down off who is in beirut last time we spoke i think you said that some of the locals you had spoken to said that this wasn't going to be a 24 hour protest it was going to continue it seems to be. well when i said that yesterday's action was not the last one that was for sure because people it seems are driven to the edge in lebanon and indeed it is the 2nd consecutive night of protests and a lot of people are out here in the streets there's a very distinctive smell of tear gas in the air anyone who has been ever gassed in the life can never forget that smell it's very distinctive so the police have most certainly have been using and if you just if my cameraman could just zoom in just over that you can still see the smoke it's not the fires it's the tear gas used by

the police here we are at one of these checkpoints if you look over there you can see the military man there standing than there preventing any protest as from getting inside here although they have been trying because they have been trying to dismantle this barbed wire this is one of the things here that they used you see so they literally they grabbed it like this and try to dismantle the bob why are they in so far they have failed and they're doing it right now in fact look they are you see they are wearing gloves this is what they are doing. and they have not succeeded a yet but. this is what they this is what they have been doing. so again and again and over that they the army they are ready to jump them as soon as they get any any closer any closer to success if they get any closer to success now there's no information i haven't seen any official figures when it comes to the

casualties but it was almost 8000 people injured in yesterday's in yesterday's action been 2 days as you can see that they're trying to blind the army they're trying to blind the soldiers with the lasers this is very dangerous stuff because it can if it's powerful enough it can blind a person now people are unhappy basically would. broke the cat with the straw that broke the camel's back was the bluffs because it destroyed a lot of people's homes and they're saying essentially that they have no means of restoring of or of mending their homes themselves and they are blaming the government for the explosion they're saying what all those tons of neutrik acid were doing in the port. and so they're very very angry and look they almost they have almost dismantled the barbed wire at this checkpoint and clearly the army the military the the soldier that he's talking over the walkie talkie and i

think what he's doing right now he is calling for backup he's calling for reinforcements so we can get really really heated in here and they're carrying this is another thing this is not the tool that they have been using to try and dismantle and dismantle this this barricade to dismantle parts of this of this military checkpoint now the whole city has been has been blocked off there are cordons has been cordoned off by the military took us normally it's like a 10 minute ride from where we were to here it took us more than an hour to get here to trying to get through all the checkpoints and people again peaceful people are angry at the government because because of the bluster and see when it comes to lebanon the country's in a very tough state because firstly it was hit by a severe economic crisis the economy plunged in covert 1000 hit and that didn't help things that didn't help matters at hand at all because as the country tried to

balance between economy and people's health and kind not and kind of succeeded with the naga and then the blast happened and so broke people and with nowhere to go more than 300000 displaced and this is a show of anger there have been critics though as well who have been saying that hospitals are already overwhelmed with those injured in the. lost with those covert those 6 with the sit down with covert 90 and now they're saying that look right even children here are participating in this protest and so they have been saying that well with the move people injured with more people bound to be wounded in the protest. would more people bound to be wounded in this protest the medical system the hospitals will be completely overwhelmed some hospitals here in beirut have been destroyed by the blast for instance we were filming at the at lebanon's oldest hospital just the other day and it's completely destroyed more than 200 more than

250 of its patients had to be taken elsewhere so i will be standing by i will be standing by here to bring you all the latest from today's action as it seems to be going into the night. fascinating insight there ecord giving us a sense really all the on the street with people trying to get into the building and the army just on the other side of an acre thanks very much keep safe there as well. yeah we'll be staying there for the next number of hours and we'll be checking in with them as the hours go on but for now that is a wrap of the stories that shape these past 7 days i'll be back with more at the top of the hour but sit tight because starting in moments we chronicle one of the worst kept secrets of the $1000000000.00 pet trade industry puppy mills that close .

a short term ago an american airplane run by a hiroshima. state not claiming any. supplement up a girl. on the original. chin it's. like most americans growing up after the war the bombs were a great thing they ended the war they saved hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides and that's what my grandfather always said was his reason for the decision. truman was hoping for a dual strategy one was to drop the bombs and hope that japan would surrender and number 2 the americans were trying to send a message to the soviet union there was american poor planning in october $145.00 chosen 20.