Sam is a dam this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up for lankans voting in a much delayed election the 1st poll to be held in south asia during the coronavirus pandemic. At a controversial ceremony indias Prime Minister prepares to lay hindu temple foundations on the ruins of a mosque. Lebanon has woken up to large parts of beirut in wreckage after an explosion tore through the campus of the red cross says at least 100. 00 people have been killed and more deaths are expected thousands have been wounded rescue workers have been working through the night searching for those missing the explosion happened at a port warehouse near a busy commercial district the government says about 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate had been stored there for years the blast was felt a 160 kilometers away all the way in cyprus countries around the world are offering help then a holder in beirut begins our coverage. A massive explosion in the heart of the lebanese capital. Was. The blast essential quavers across beirut shattering windows destroying buildings. And injuring hundreds. The streets were filled with panic and confusion cautiously auto my call was down there it rolled over i think my injuries all because of the loss the last copy up my call was like this i dont know about from the front i dont know what happened i was fishing i heard there was a fire so i began to hit home then i heard something explode and then this happened i got injured this is all i know. Rescue work began quickly and emergency vehicles converged on the site of the blast. Putting out fires. And getting the injured to safety lebanons internal security chief confirmed the blast originated in the 4th district in a section housing highly explosive materials. Lebanons Prime Minister has addressed the nation promising that the victims would get justice for what happened. It will not post without accountability those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price this is a promise to the martyrs an injured this is a National Commitment while the cause is still unknown some are already blaming the government levanon is an accident waiting to happen and so many ways so many places whether its. Public Services Like just any all kinds of Government Industries are not regulated well we dont like inspectors that so many buildings could collapse so you know again all the problems that lebanon face because they dont really have a strong government that is able to ensure the safety of its citizens and thats been why people have been protesting thats why the currency has been falling so you know theres so many possible accidents and im going on so its. Remarks speculate ambulances continue to arrive at this explosion there have been dozens of casualties many victims are still trapped in the rubble and rescue work looks set to continue long into the night the destruction of central beirut appear to come out of nowhere and theres the shock of what happened subsides the demands for answers will continue to grow louder. Lets go live now she joins us from beirut so 1st of all how those rescue operations progressing looks like still a lot to be done behind you that cena. Hundreds are missing relatives posting pictures of their loved ones on social media just asking for any information people rushing to hospitals to try to find out whether their loved one has been injured or died in this massive blast we need to move away because as you can see the structures of buildings are are very weak that this is this Apartment Building it was peoples homes and you can see people have started to arrive in the early hours of the morning just to assess exactly what happened theyre only comprehending what happened we are unsure mazie one of the roots neighborhoods not very far from bay reports which was the site of the explosion people here told us that they couldnt sleep in their homes because their homes have been destroyed and their livelihoods destroyed many of these people already poor already struggling many many shops have been damaged as well people are angry yes theyre still in shock this is a city in shock this is a city in ruins you just drive across the capital we drove across the capital this morning every building that we saw was damaged glass in the streets people in shock people angry as well. Be carrying any clear as they know how this happened how well the chain of events that led to this explosion. Just past 6 pm on tuesday everyone in the city heard a thud an explosion a massive explosion followed by another one and then shock waves across the city people were thrown to the ground it was so powerful glass was everywhere chaos in the streets people try. To get home and ambulances rushing to the site of the blast the baby of course there were many reports emerging on what exactly happened maybe we can just walk down the street to try to show you the extent of the damage ambulances rushed to beirut for not too long after the head of one of Lebanon Security agency said that it appeared the cause of the blast was a highly explosive material that was stored in a warehouse for years and thats really cause a lot of anger because people are saying that this is not a disaster officials are calling this a pastor feed a disaster but this is a manmade disaster i was out of either negligence incompetence or corruption so the lebanese people are asking what was Ammonium Nitrate doing at one of the warehouses at beirut courts why was it not stored safely who is responsible for placing this material at a report that has taken so many lives according to the red cross at least 100 people dead and the number could rise 4000 people injured so many questions that the cabinet is expected to meet officials are saying that theyre going to get to the bottom of this those responsible will be held to account but the people in the streets are saying how can we trust you when you have been in power for all these years and you have been responsible for the mismanagement and corruption that has run the economy into the ground who just moved. Her. Position thanks for bringing us to the scene them from come back to. The recount. They are still pulling out. From underneath the rubble the Electricity Companies not very far from here. Hundreds of them were in that building when the blast that. Happened and a woman just told us her Husband Police were being. That he died in the blast and theyre only pulling their bodies from underneath the rubble now so that search operation is still continuing and even at baby port that was the site of the explosion many many courts employees are missing but we also understand Civil Defense workers could be among the dead because michelle you there was a fire at the port and thats when the Civil Defense of writers took some reports are suggesting thats exactly what happened before before the blast happened so people are still searching for loved ones people are as you can see these are shops because these are peoples livelihood there are people things that help us prepare this we dont have the money to repair bolts of this damage or sorties are appealing for International Assistance particularly medical supplies this is what levanon needs because the Health Care System was already close to collapse before this before this incident you can see everybody on earth theres a lot of tension in high street i said john head of the Health Minister just a short yes i mean for those who understand level things dont function as they would maybe in some other countries in particular places like some airports very controlled by very powerful factions is nobody stepping forward to say why this amount of Ammonium Nitrate was sitting in a way house presumably controlled by a powerful faction for so many. This is a question every 11 is asking since since news of the fact that this blast was caused by a highly explosive material who is responsible and when they hear Officials Say that theyre going to launch an investigation theyre going to punish those who are responsible they dont believe them because the people in power today have been in power for the past 3 decades ever since the days of the of the civil war yes the new government took office in january there you faces but people who were appointed by the different Political Parties and you talk about the poor being controlled by political factions the state is weak the lebanese state is very weak theres an demick corruption politicians have been accused of corruption in fact the International Community is refusing to be 11 on out this time around the country is appealing for billions of dollars and the International Community is telling them this time around there will be no blank check you need to carry out reforms you need to fix corruption in the state and that corruption is also what they report where taxes taxes tax evasion costs the state treasury billions of dollars a year so people are in shock theyre still trying to comprehend exactly what happened what shook the capital what the story of their lives what cost the lives of so so many people but anger is also sinking in and its hard to say whether this so this will revive a protest movement that began in october to call for a new leadership but people were tired that protest movement slowly faded away because people were tired they were trying to survive to make ends meet but its not just that they were met by a militarized state a state that does not politicians who do not want to let go of power so it is hard to say but from talking to people in the streets this morning the theres a mix. Talk of anger. People really dont comprehend how could this have happened could this have happened it couldnt have come at a worse time for a country reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades all right life from beirut now made no doom it is the president of the order of nurses in lebanon jews describe the scene in the hospitals as catastrophic. Hospitals are not on the over when we have 3 hospitals that are completely destroyed so we have evacuated patients to where in those cars that theres 2 other hospitals in addition we have 2 other hospitals that were partially destroyed so it was a catastrophe it was a big hit to the head. I was or the hospital them and lebanon is already bleeding so this situation its kept us traffic and very i say that we lost 3 nurses 3 nurses who were working at the hospital and they are dead so i dont find worse to describe what happened if. We have never seen such a thing i was 1st on the road i saw the floors and i heard 2 explosions and then i started to. Seeing that the when the people. We started the operation on the ground we have to ask other hospitals to accept patients to accept the injured people we start started evacuating the the house with the. Completely demolished. The we have lots of when the when the people we have that. Situation cannot be described really its its like were were living in a harder. Sure lankans are voting in twice delayed parliamentary polls the country is the 1st in south asia to hold the general election during the coronavirus pandemic now in march president got a buyer japan dissolve the 225 Member Parliament 6 months ahead of schedule and called the snap poll sure as peoples front or the p. P. A party led by his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is a front runner in the elections now if the s. L. P. P. Holds a majority in parliament it will give the rajapaksa brothers more power and control over the islands politics. Of the s. P. J in the United National party are the s. L. P. Peas main challengers the Economy National security the pandemic and corruption some of the Major Concerns among sri lankan voters and and joins us now live from colombo so now. Turn out looking. Let me turn now to her from sri lankan elections perspective has been a kind of a relatively slow start we did see as polls open i was outside one of the polling booths in colombo there was a queue is obviously you have people who hear you know every time theres an election around are there right at the beginning before polls open they cast their vote some of them get on to work we did see a little bit of brisk activity but overall there was a vendor to bleed law number of voters so far obviously not discounting the fact that we have several hours left of voting in fact i have with me the chairman of the National Election commission behind the dish of preah and lets ask him a couple of things weve got mr harper here with me thank you for joining us mr bishop or in terms of the this election one of the key factors your contending with for the 1st time is obviously the corona pandemic how much of a challenge has it been with you to organize an election with this pandemic with her to ensure that. There are no core life pretty you know. If you could the real lokpal which are. With good concordance will. Be. Over i. Think they will probably is. Australia for their what we believe. We are living now the problem with appalling is peter. Thats right if we were to take that one further i mean essentially with the corona pandemic you had to postpone the elections twice this is the 3rd date essentially that has. Cleared after parliament was dissolved so is the kind of relatively law or not its still early in the day you have a few more hours left but from your experience youve been in this field for more than 35 years at by sort of you know 10 11 oclock you were talking sort of 20 percent or thereabouts what has been the turnout been like and how much is that connected to the pandemic i am happy we had our own here were discovered before you know because the last recently curio wasnt. It couldnt do the. Leg he heard the call the 9 b. And the bird stop media are there an old law but we who are it to look creek mining. Or premium is 0. 62. 00 word to say would be something in the real world it would be almost there would be that 70 percent or program. All right thank you very much and that we heard was the National Election Commission Chairman mr martin that theres a pretty obviously here at the Operations Room at the National Election commission a lot of things coming in complaints coming in updates coming in monitors reporting obviously mr bishop prayers people on the ground are also reporting the situation and theyre sort of tabulating the picture as we see about another 4 or so hours to go of watching here in sri lanka sammy and no doubt will come back to life now from the boat thanks so much. Indian administered kashmir has been locked down to prevent protesters from gathering to marcie years since the region lost its special status curfew is being tightly monitored by the military many local political leaders have been detained for months officials have also banned large gatherings because of the pandemic well in a moment well speak to Elizabeth Branham whos standing by for us in new delhi but 1st lets go to the command highways in islamabad understand the Prime Minister has a message what is it. Well the Prime Minister all variously will be showing a shawl solid data. He had already. Pointed to the ambassador for the calls yesterday and i kept in a meeting decided that day will be a new political map. Which shore day disputed region. Part of pakistan all sorts stating that it has to be decided in line with the United Nations Security Council resolutions on the. United Nations Security Council resolutions which are still pending pakistan wants this issue to be added to on that forum i noted warned that any confrontation between the 2 countries would go beyond the wall and also the fact that the pakistani Prime Minister. Has become an open prison that india revoked article 37 day and decided to. Meet also bringing up issues china. Did not dog their disputed region and while the International Community may not be so concerned despite focused on warning that regional countries are very innovative nepal is already shown its map in dispute with great india and bangladesh. Relationship with india so indeed. They bowed in the region and the likelihood of a major confrontation should. Now richard be to member dead on almost every day basis it is measured along the line of control both sides that accusing each other of cease fire violations and up i get done enough because now saying that this is a dispute that needs attention. All right come on hired the theyre bringing us up to date on the situation how it looks on the pakistani side of the border lets bring in now Elizabeth Braun and she joins us from new delhi so is the long down being imposed by indian authorities calming or inflaming tensions how does it look right now. Hi sami well theres no possibility of inflaming tensions or at least theres no outlet for people to show they opposition to whats happened because there is a Strict Lockdown in place its very quiet and dismayed and on monday night the Indian Government had announced it was going to impose a curfew on tuesday and wednesday citing the possibility of protest it later went back on that curfew order. Spoken to there say whether its called a curfew or not they feel that the restrictions which are in place are there to stop media dissent on the one Year Anniversary of their autonomy being voyage political leaders who had been planning to make political leaders whove been planning to meet and try to find a political solution to being allowed to do so now the government hasnt said anything about this in fact the government and the Mainstream Media today arent highly occupied with the inauguration of a construction of a temple indias new most controversial previously most contested religious sites in a place called iow the hindus believe that hindus believe is the birthplace of their god drama and the size of the destruction of the 16th century mosque in 1992 now both revoking autonomy and the building of this temple have been too long standing thomas of the b j p government the Prime Minister promised that in the modi is in iowa the year for the inauguration of the construction of the temple and even though there is a. And on religious and political gatherings hes been joined by some of the countrys most prominent hindu nationalist leaders 175 other people have been invited and heres a look at why this temple is so. To the b j p 2 its of course is a good fact in most of india. On the banks of the solder youve ever people gather to pray in the ancient town of. Preparations underway ahead of the construction of a temple at the site that hindus believe is the birthplace of their god from. The rom temple is supported by all indians only some who wanted to spread hate were opposed to a. Controversy over the site has led to some of the worst religious violence in indias history and security has been heightened. In 1992 thousands of hindus from around the country came for the town and destroyed the 16th century baba the mosque and 22 others 18 of the muslims living in the town were killed including relatives of and muhammad childhood we lost everything in the violence my sawmill was here we had thousands of dollars worth of wood they set everything on fire they killed my husband and brother in. The koran in a mosque and started stomping on the beaches we tried collecting the beaches. Kept getting worse started attacking people here. The religious violence spread beyond iowa with yet muhammad childhoods father and uncle of more than 2000 people who were killed around the country leading members of the hindu nationalist bought at the edge on the party are on trial for conspiring to destroy the mosque the b j p had long promised to build a temple this is the fulfillment of from mr the listen. And this is a different new moment for india. The party gained more Political Support after the mosques destruction was busy studying woman. Then gradually become a symbol of secularism that is where the destruction really created a new kind of political environment created a new kind of political force. That force ultimately is not ruling the country. The b. J. People 1st elected to govern the country in the general election following the mosques destruction after the legal battles over the sites owner the Supreme Court ruled last year that it belongs to to handle this now 30 years after he joined the campaign for temple Prime Minister Narendra Modi is inaugurating its construction elizabeth for an al jazeera new delhi. Hong kongs democracy is in the spotlight on wednesday with high profile campaigners jus back in the court joshua was. Facing charges relations protests against the hong kong extradition bill last year chalo is already pleaded guilty faces up to 5 years in prison another case is also taking place map location for a bail hearing about all test hong kongs existing law and beijings new National Security legislation sarah clarke is following developments for us in hong kong so whats going on in court. Well the 2nd case you mentioned this is the case of tongue in kit this is the 23 year old man who has been accused of driving his motorbike into a group of police on july 1st this is the day of big demonstrations of course the 1st day of the introduction of beijings National Security laws in hong kong now on the back of his motorbike he was bearing the flag liberate hong kong and hes been charged with crimes of inciting others to be involved in secession as well as tears of terrorist activities that hes already had his 1st Court Appearance but on tuesday he filed proceedings in the high court for an application for bail now this particular challenge today in the high court which is already got underway its quite unprecedented its the 1st test of how these hong kong judges will deal with a number one common law rights versus that the legislation under the new National Security laws and that his lawyer says its not spelled out under the National Security laws but on the common law lawyers can apply for unless officials show grants or the grounds for declaration or detention so at the moment that particular proceeding has got under way you also mention the other high profile case of the likes of joshua one ivan lamb and agnes chan and these are the 3 founders or members of the prodemocracy group which is now disbanded it disbanded on the eve of the introduction of the National Security laws and the trial begins on the charges of what the police say was their involvement in an Illegal Assembly in june last year at the Police Headquarters and of course this was at the peak of those Anti Government demonstrations agnes child has pleaded guilty to the charges she said she willingly took part and she said outside court on arrival that shes mentally preparing to do jail time but the other 2 joshua one and ivan lamb have pleaded not guilty on arrival of court they said its not a time for us to surrender or to live in fear of these National Security laws and both are valid to fight those charges in court all right sarah clarke from hong kong. Colombias Supreme Court has ordered former president alvaro uribe to be put under house arrest is accused of witness tampering and fraud has repeatedly said hes innocent and question the courts independence hes a close ally of current president event to care for those government ministers have been forced to resign after congress voted to reject the president s cabinet the no confidence vote was held on tuesday after a long session in which representatives criticized the governments handling of the pandemic who is one of the worst hit countries in latin america has nearly 20000 deaths president martin discolor has 3 days to present a new cabinet. The number of people who died from corona virus around the world has now passed 700000 thats being reported as the astray and state of victoria announces 725 new cases night time curfews and restrictions on movement of been imposed in melbourne countrys 2nd largest city hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help enforce isolation orders anyone breaking the rules faces large fines. And lets take you through some of the headlines here in aljazeera now a massive explosion in lebanons capital has killed at least 100 people and injured thousands more shock wave swept through the city the government says of any of nitrate ignited at an Industrial Facility lebanons president michel aoun is called an emergency Cabinet Meeting hospitals already strained by coronavirus being overwhelmed by the wounded countries around the world including carter israel and iran are offering help our correspondent there holder is in beirut. The head of one of Lebanon Security agency said that it appeared the cause of the blast was highly explosive material that was stored in a warehouse for years and that really caused a lot of anger because people are saying that this is not a disaster officials are calling this a pastor disaster that this is a manmade disaster a result of either negligence incompetence or corruption so the lebanese people are asking what was Ammonium Nitrate doing at one of the warehouses at the courts. Indian administrate of kashmir has been long down to prevent protesters from gathering to mark a year since the region lost its special status a curfew is being tightly monitored by the military many local political leaders have been detained for months indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi is laying the Foundation Stone for a hindu temple on the site of a destroyed mosque after years of legal wrangles the Supreme Court ruled last year the science in the northern town of belongs to hindu groups sri lankans are electing a new Parliament President botha by our departs his party is seeking a 2 thirds majority to allow changes to the constitution the vote was postponed twice because of corona virus. Hong kongs prodemocracy leaders are back in court joshua wanting agnus challenge ivan last facing charges relating to protests against the hong kong extradition bill last year. Were back to the top of the hour stay with us. 15 years ago an explosion ripped through lebanons capital killing Prime Minister graffiti and 21 others now the special tribunal for lebanon in the hague will deliver its verdict on august 7th find out what this means for lebanon and for those indicted. Over developments on a. Its a family that has been at the heart of power in sri lanka for years now that aim to strengthen the whip as voters go to the polls so how crucial is the election this time and why. This is inside story. Hello welcome to the program. 2 brothers who have long shaped sri lankas politics theyre known for their bowling and during the 26 year war against
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