Elections and students arrested for online posts and a beijings new security law. And a suspected russian mercenaries are detained in belarus accused of trying to disrupt an upcoming vote. So theres more proof of the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic with the United States seeing its worst economic slump since 1940 s. Its economy has shrunk at the fastest pace on record all down 9 and a half percent between april and june and in the past week another 1400000 people applied for jobless benefits the same time europes biggest economy germany has plunged into recession shrinking by a record 10 percent the pandemics wiped out nearly a decade of growth there and now u. S. President donald trump whos talked of the strength of his countrys economy is asking whether novembers election should be disposed. Well lets go straight to our White House Correspondent complete kimberley still missing figures on the spectacular decline of the u. S. Economy i think Many Americans were shocked by a number of the headlines that the u. S. G. D. P. Plummeted 32. 9 percent to put it into context though for a Global Network of viewers is that really this is kind of a u. S. Specific measurement what we should really be focusing on to give us some context compared to global numbers is the 9. 5 percent the quarterly loss its still a very bad headline for a president trying to win reelection and when you look at these numbers you have to add to it the other number that we got today and that is jobless claims in the u. S. 1400000 filing for Unemployment Benefits last week ticking up slightly from the prior week not the worst that weve seen in march was that when we saw some sort of catastrophic jobless claims filed but still you have to remember there are more than 20000000 americans out of work as a result of these shutdowns due to go covert 19 and where were really seeing these numbers having the biggest effect is when it comes to personal spending people are spending money at restaurants or not buying cars or not buying clothing and thats why were seeing these numbers now in terms of personal income what were being told is because people are spending money in many cases theyre saving and then also there have been these substantial government payments that have been going out so in some cases people have fared a little better but for the most part not the case and in fact when it comes to u. S. President trying to win reelection on a strong u. S. Economy its devastating right headline indeed for donald trump what hes doing is thing is trying to get the people told about something else. And rather effectively with one single tweet the president really kind of blew up the news cycle with a tweet if you want to read along with me he said with universal mail in voting not absentee voting which is good 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history it will be a great embarrassment to the usa delaying the election until people can properly securely and safely vote what the president has done is essentially suggested that the contest will be flawed now we know that there are some legitimate Security Issues not just with mail and voting but also foreign interference but at the same time its astounding that the u. S. President has suggested without any sort of authority to do so that perhaps the election should be delayed and this is what is getting so much pushback especially when there are just 95. 00 days until the election what this president has done is kind of redirected our attention off of those horrible economic numbers but at the same time hes caused a lot of attention and even some alarm over the suggestion he may not accept the results of the poll in november and they can really be there for the moment to washington will. Lead and he says theres concern that a 2nd wave. Could make things even worse for the German Economy. This is the worst quarterly performance for 50 years for the the German Economy that refers back to the west German Economy rather than to the east German Economy but nonetheless it is very bad news but as was alluded to this is needed this needs to be seeing through the prism of what had already been predicted for the quarter and several months ago once the 2nd quarter was underway once the pandemic was really here taking hold of the economy of the country the predictions had been that they would be expected that the economy would shrink by almost 10 percent in the event its a bit more than 10 percent but not much more than that and so theres very much the sense coming from ministerial circles that they feel that theyve kept a lid on it that theyve prevented it from being much worse than they possibly imagined and indeed there are elements certain sectors in the economy thats are rebounding already from the worst. Problems caused by the pandemic and the economy minister several weeks ago was talking about his hope that the economy would rebound in 2021 but obviously all of that optimism is predicated on there being no 2nd wave of corona in this country thats why over the course of the past few days and indeed over the course of the past few weeks weve seen a succession of state prime ministers of federal ministers trying to urge caution trying to urge people around the country for not doing things that might cause corona to come back the worlds biggest play maker has posted a net loss of 2200000000. 00 in the 1st half of this year has seen a fall in demand because of the Global Pandemic its rival boeing announced a similar 2nd quarter loss on wednesday its an hour from Natasha Butler our correspondent who has more from paris. Terrible figures for air bus the european plane made a 2200000000. 00 of net losses in the 1st 6 months of this year theyve had to deliver half the amount of aircraft in the 1st half of this year that they had planned on and also in the 2nd quarter revenue tumbling by 55 percent so whatever us are saying is that they have had to cut production by 40 percent which of course have a huge impact on the company on staff across the europe who work for us all the suppliers the whole industry that is always linked to any one company and what theyre saying is that this is due of course to the coronavirus pandemic the fact that during the log downs people pretty much didnt fly airlines were grounded and even after the restored restrictions have been lifted in some places a line travel has been severely reduced in fact us are saying their visibility for the future is very limited indeed they may not be forecasting in the short term because the Airline Travel industry isnt really expected to get back on its feet at least preplanned demick levels until 20232025 thats a long way off indeed and its something of course a wall of fact as i said all these industries that are connected to the european playmakers are bad news indeed out of france today. 2 hong kong and 12 opposition candidates have been disqualified from running in septembers alleged Council Election leading prodemocracy activists Joshua Walker is one of those disqualified he says it shows a total disregard for the people of Hong Kong Electoral thora he said ask the candidates about their views on beijings National Security law and u. S. Sanctions the move has been denounced by the opposition as a political witch hunt. And for the 1st time in Hong Kong Police have used the new National Security law to crackdown on prodemocracy activists online 4 students have been arrested theyre accused of posting content that calls for hong kongs independence from china beijing imposed its controversial law 4 weeks ago if you can poland has more now from for calm. Hong kong is particularly sensitive issue for the u. K. As hong kong used to be a british colony in the u. K. Signed a joint declaration with beijing before it was handed over in 1907 and the ambassador had mentioned that to saying it hadnt violated the joint declaration but the u. K. And the rest of the International Community see this National Security laws imposing restrictions on hong kong that wasnt within the agreements to safeguard hong kongs autonomy and now were seeing the Hong Kong Government using that National Security law as a way of what its opponents are saying influencing elections these legislative Council Elections the only even minor democratic process there is in hong kong that are to take place in september about 12 of the candidates the prodemocracy candidates including activists joshua while warring the more radical i would say activists that were pushing for far more Anti Government action along with even more moderate established Democratic Candidates have been now disqualified and the government says its because partially because they gave they listed a number of reasons but one of the main reasons underlying it is because they did not support this National Security law so although were seeing beijing saying that this National Security law should not affect the political sphere spiritual not affect peoples freedom of expressions it should not affect hong kongs autonomy the actions that were seeing and according particularly to the critics of hong kongs government and the opposition camp is that it is he being used very much to limits hong kongs expression and particularly any Anti Government dissenter activity. Chinas ambassador to the u. K. Has accused the u. K. Of being responsible for the deterioration in relations between the 2 countries the u. S. Says the u. K. Has condemnation of hong kongs new National Security law and moves to grant people in the city a pathway to produce citizenship constitute blatant interference in chinas Domestic Affairs on hong kong they have been planted this interference from the u. K. In hong kong. In terms of china including wrong accusations against the National Security law as they are challenge to the policy involving. A suspension of a tradition treaty with hong kong. These moves have seriously interrupted ability and prosperity. Russia is denying trying to destabilize belarus the head of its upcoming election after 30 of its citizens with detained nimitz belarus and president Alexander Lukashenko has accused the men of being mercenaries sent by moscow to incite riots to be investigated for working with lucian because critics jailed opposition politician mykola started and blog surrogates because all city have been named in the case but iris has been one of russias most reliable allies since the fall of the soviet Union Relations have strained in recent years moscow wants but a ruse to implement the Union Agreement signed in 1909 they were create a single currency single constitution and parliament and court system between them but president lukashenko blames moscow for domestic discontent and has accused it of plotting to overthrow him humala relations with the west have improved in february much pompei became the 1st u. S. Secretary of state to visit minsk since the early 1990 s. After that washington appointed its 1st ambassador in over a decade and then in may better resoldered oil from the u. S. For the 1st time after failing to agree a price to buy it from russia or right at the pina is a fellow at the russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House thats a British Foreign affairs think tank and he says this is part of a wider attempt to hold on to power while increasing. Actually not so many people in belarus believe that these people came to belarus of the civilized many people in belarus i jailed on the freight charges and previously blocks north ortiz several times he used all civil terrorist attacks as a tool to suppress them a practical activity this year in the election campaigns so what most people believe is that this mess their wrists were going to do the middle east all africa through balor is because of the problems with connections caused by the pandemic so presently i do not see much point for russia to into fact into this president ial election and to send any messages here we can imagine that gramley become the measure of what graham and swarms to see as a result of the selection that belarus will destroy links with them as that the well west will introduce sanctions against sellers that villar since society will be in depression and the political system will be the bush demise and that the bill or some economy will be very weak and dependent on russia so actually question is deliver in during this president ial election after seeing whats coming towards because hes oppressing everyone now in the country and the west will have no other choice but to tell you some sanctions against. Still ahead here on aljazeera i think it was. As a country dion says from our nasa launch today because were going to the red planet in search of evidence of engine life. And saudi arabia investors pull out of a bid to buy English Premier League club because united after months of scrutiny. From. Hello there has been some minor flooding recently in japan but really the focus the seasonal rains a little bit further north for the most part of the Korean Peninsula and the chinese it is quite rocky now its no longer the continuous line you can see its shai was virtually everywhere as you can see however there will be something of a get together of this lot for the yellow sea and significant rain seems likely for north korea theyre running as fast as the sole i think this is joining saturday again chinese and largely good scratching issues except on the science somethings happening inside china see a big circulation so hong kong at least is going to get wet cells forecasts also went for 3 days after other humid start of foggy start on friday is just overcast and miserable now given whats happening in the South China Sea that big circulation that tends to draw a lot of the Energy Problem or sheer away from elsewhere so though weve got a forecast a good chance for the philippines down toward sort of way see much of borneo sumatra and even peninsula melissa isnt particularly where java is almost bone dry because the focus is elsewhere monsoon rain there is settle back to a might expect it to be right up in the foothills of the himalayas and then the western gas. From. A Global Pandemic mass protests demanding change economic recession and geopolitical tensions not to mention the small matter of a looming election join me Steve Clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u. S. Politics and society on aljazeera. If you want to help save the world. Or get you a geologist remark about top stories this hour the u. S. Economy shrank at its fastest pace on record between april and june it fell no half percent and surging coronavirus cases saw more businesses shut down and forced millions of people out of work. Donald trump has suggested delaying novembers president ial election repeating unsubstantiated allegations that an increase in postal voting will result in fraud democrats and some within trans Republican Party have rejected the idea. 12 opposition politicians have been disqualified from running in Hong Kong Election in september leading prodemocracy activists joshua one is one of those disqualified comes as 4 students were detained under the new National Security law. Your search your state might compare says the tide is turning on china testifying at a u. S. Senate hearing impaired once again said the u. S. Close the chinese consulate in houston because it was a den of spies or vigorous diplomacy has helped lead an international awakening to the threat of the. Senators the tides turning. 30 plus countries and territories have become 5 g. Clean entry banning entry at the vendors from their networks when we talked about this year ago that number was in the Single Digits with terminated special treatment limits of hong kong in response shes e. P. A. s actions to deny freedom to the people of hong kong and we closed our consul in houston because it was a den of spies lets enough russian jeweled new has this update from capitol hill. And the questions are coming for on a number of fronts one about the secretarys ability to run the department affectively Senate Democrats on tuesday released a report criticizing the handling of the state departments Foreign Policy objectives its staffing its morale accusations of retribution and deb retaliate against key officials including against the Inspector General who was fired unceremoniously back in may there are also questions about whether the state department and the white house by extension are doing enough to hold russia accountable for these reports that it allegedly had put out ballots hes on the heads of u. S. Forces in afghanistan this as the u. S. Is trying to help the afghans the government and the taliban negotiate a peace deal this is something that particularly had been Senate Democrats white angry during the discussion Senate Republicans are much more accommodating of of the secretary mike pompei o instead focusing on questions of how china in the administrations view is posing a threat to u. S. Interests and to that of its allies. The u. S. Now has the highest number of coronavirus for intel its use of any nation by fall and wednesday one person died nearly every minute from the virus that the toll that now is more than 150000 thats nearly a quarter of the entire global tally and its 3 most populous states of california texas and florida recorded the largest single day death toll my kind of reports now from washington. With more than 150000. 00 deaths in the country the wearing of masks is finally made mandatory in the house of representatives members and staff will be required to wear masks at all times and the hall of the house on tuesday texas representative Louie Gohmert had arrived with the attorney general for a house hearing without a mask he was then admonished for not keeping his makeshift mask on during the hearing early wednesday he tested positive on a rival at the white house hed been due to accompany President Trump on a crypt to his home state that is now in self current President Trump appeared with no mask during a number of the events in texas seen here in close proximity to his former secretary of Energy Rick Perry also masculists. And to continue to hype a vaccine that he wrote in your sleep claims has entered final Clinical Trials this is the fastest a vaccine has ever been developed together we will end the plague from john doe we will defeat the virus the president also continued to defend the video he had retreated earlier in the week from a controversial doctor who claimed there is a fork over 1000 and that face masks necessary for protection. Thank god. Once again he was publicly contradicted by a member of his Coronavirus Task force citing multiple studies that the cumulative data on on trials Clinical Trials that were valid namely Clinical Trials that were randomized and controlled in the proper way all of those trials show consistently that hydroxy chloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or cold 19 and in Congress Republicans and democrats are no way near agreement on a new Coronavirus Relief bill. While millions of American Families continue to struggle with the physical and economic effects of the virus a leading medical organization has issued an urgent warning the American Association of medical colleges says and i quote decisive coordinated action is urgently needed to save lives it continues if the nation does not change its course and soon deaths in the United States could be well into the multiple hundreds of thousands. Mike hanna aljazeera washington. Choosing this trail in the state of victoria tightening lockdown measures after a record day of infections and they reported 723 new covered 1000 cases in 13 deaths the states the epicenter of australias 2nd wave of the virus in the 10000 people tested for the tubes with more than 300 treated in hospital a mosque are now monday 3. Nasa has launched its perseverance rover from Cape Canaveral in florida to seek out life on mars when it reaches the red planet rover will look for bio signatures it will take rock samples and fly an experimental helicopter over the planets surface launch comes on the heels of Similar Missions from china and the e. U. I think id like to reports now from florida. Were. Launching on a mission to mars this is the start as nasa is most ambitious project to answer the age old question point are we alone. It will take the perseverance rover almost 7 months to reach the red planet and if all goes well place the car sized robot safely in the 20. 00 crater once there the rover will spend almost 2 years exploring an ancient martian lake a location Scientists Say may hold the Building Blocks to life so one of the key steps that perseverance is taking is collecting samples that can be brought back to earth in the future and then analyzed with all the trust real laboratories we have which should actually provide us a definitive answer to that question. In a 1st in Space Exploration the rover is equipped with an experimental helicopter called ingenuity it plans to make several hops above the planets surface something nasa say will be a Wright Brothers moment in space ingenuity helicopter on the perseverance rover is one of the most exciting aspects of the mission because this will be the 1st time we demonstrate flight on another planet and thats really important as an exploration tool if all goes as planned this would be nasas 9th rover to land on mars and so far the most sophisticated perseverance will carry out an experiment to try and generate oxygen and for the Martian Atmosphere drill for rock samples and most importantly look for signs of frozen microbial life if you keep adding more rovers you get incremental. Increases and knowledge but bringing the samples for letting thousands of scientists and hundreds of laboratories look at them thats where the big increase of belhadj is going to come once the samples are collected nasa plans to retrieve them by launching another mission to the red planet before hopefully returning with them safely to earth what the mission delivers may answer the question did mars ever have life before any event happens perseverance will have to land on mars i window of time nasa calls 7 minutes of terror thats how long it takes the rover to send a radio signal back to earth the curiosity rover managed in 2012 and if perseverance does the same it will begin a whole new era in the search for life and gallacher aljazeera Miami Florida now that nice Saudi Arabian but its consortium trying to buy the English Premier LeagueFootball ClubNewcastle United has withdrawn its bid the group which included saudi arabias Sovereign Wealth Fund had made a 390000000. 00 offer to buy newcastle from a British Business when mike ashley at the premier league has spent months considering piracy Human Rights Concerns around the bid all Sports Correspondent leigh weddings has more now from london the pressure was coming from all directions of course you have the issue of television piracy on the boat trade organization saying that be out here was coming from saudi arabia that was stealing content from qatars be in sports theres also the pressure of protests from the fiance of the murder journalist. This was all building up in the premier league so you wonder if something was actually said quietly that the deal might not go through and this is how saudi arabia fights but where does it leave Newcastle United who would have potentially become a super power of european football in the premier league theyre now in a situation of wondering whats going to happen at the club next. The annual muslim pilgrimage to mecca known as the hug she is in its 2nd day pilgrims have been on their way to mount arafat this year is unlike any seen before last year 2000000 people climb the sacred hill this time the pandemic means that worshipers from abroad have been banned and only a 1000 people will be allowed to perform hajj all of them either nationals all residents of saudi arabia but millions of muslims from all around the world have been impacted by that decision and there are some of the stories. That many of my i already bought to go to the celebration before going to harsh and voted some religious leaders we made a stage we spent around 1000. 00 u. S. Dollars is going to be changed because normally when we celebrate it we go out but this. We can do it in our power lot in our garden event few friends or friends so even children ive been restricted to public. Public outing on each. Day im no one and youre not going to get be able to feeling very sad that youve worked very hard for house and i was selected for highest but its canceled due to corona was bad. When i watch mckown t. V. Its sad to see the car without people around it doesnt feel like everythings covered but we still listen to prayers to at least feel those are the last days before. I run a. Company that tours and weve had several bookings obviously before. But after this covert kicked in the 1st stop the visas and then thats how it was a bit late in. Stating that theyre not going to have anybody go to how its going to go with. My parents and i registered in 2012 weve been waiting for 8 years. Its finally time for us to go this pandemic happens as human beings were very disappointed but this is gods will so we accepted. This year im not so disappointed when i failed to leave in 2019 that was devastating i hope in 2021 i will still be healthy then i can go to high. School with us at the. Last this is because of covert 19 but also because of gods will i did expect that i could go this year but this is happening to the whole world so we just have to accept us. If your website. Address all the news were covering is right there. Commenting analysis but also a story that aljazeera. And this is out these are these are all the top stories the United States economy could fastest pace on record between it when judy it fell 9 and a half percent and the surgeon coronavirus cases saw more businesses shut down and forced millions of people out of work a White House Correspondent can be helped has more now from washington d. C. Cope with 19 wiped out all of that not only the jobs created by this president but the ones created by the president before him barack obama these are not good numbers for the u. S. President well the headline seems to focus on that sort of u. S. Specific number of 32. 9 percent the plunging of the g. D. P. That is a u. S. Specific number really the number we should be looking at is more the contraction of almost 10 percent that 9. 00 it is still pretty bad even when you look at that number these are numbers not seen really since the 1940 s. Germany has plunged into recession with its economy shrinking by a record 10 percent the pandemics wiped out nearly 10 years of growth the National Statistics office says its the sharpest decline its seen since 970. 00 s. Experts believe it will take at least 2 years to return to preplan demick levels. The worlds biggest plane maker has posted a net loss of 2200000000. 00 in the 1st half of this year has seen a fall in demand because of the Global Pandemic it says its cut production of its most popular jet the a 350. 00 from 9 a month to 5 donald trump has suggested delaying novembers president ial election repeating them substantiate the allegations that an increase in postal voting will result in fraud democrats and some within trumps Republican Party have rejected the idea 12 opposition politicians have been disqualified from running in hong kongs election in september leading prodemocracy activists joshua one is one of those disqualified russia is denying trying to destabilize bella reuss ahead of its upcoming election after 30 of its citizens were detained in minsk where the recent president Alexander Lukashenko has accused the man of being mercenaries sent by moscow to incite riots they are being investigated for working with critics right up to date with the headlines here in our 0 got more news coming up right after the bottom line i think. Hi im Steve Clements and i have a question are china and the United States headed for a new cold war or is it going to be a hot war lets get to the bottom line. The downward spiral began years ago but in the last few days it has really sunk to new lows following a pattern of kneejerk tit for tat ism washington just shut down chinas consulate in texas last week and in response beijing shutdown americas consulate in chengdu thousands of chinese watched as the u. S. Flag was lowered from that former diplomatic post as part of americas full court press secretary of state mike pompei of gave a speech asking the world one park with it on a new cold war with china the 2 countries already have a trade war theyve got new travel restrictions on each i