A 16th century mosque. Sri lankans of voting in the much delayed election its the 1st poll in south asia during the krona virus pandemic. We begin in lebanons capital where people are describing the fallout from tuesdays explosion as apocalyptic there were scenes of chaos after the blasts to rip through the citys port killing at least 100 people the president spoke a short while ago promising an investigation to reveal what happened shall our own also appealed to the Global Community to speed up assistance to lebanon it was already grappling with an economic meltdown residents meanwhile theyre trying to come to terms with the widespread damage that extended over half the. City among the hardest hit areas of the busy commercial districts beiruts governor says up to 300000 people have been left homeless over this was the moment of impact as you can see the blast there happening at a port warehouse where the government says about 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate had been stored for years more than 4000 people have been injured and rescue workers still searching for the missing hospitals across the city struggling to cope some were damaged by the blast already strained by the corona Virus Outbreak of workers are overwhelmed by the number of casualties. Lets go live now to zain a who shes standing by for us in beirut so lets start with the casualty toll where do we stand with where do we stand with the search for the missing. Girl the red cross says more than 100 people have been killed thousands have been injured up to 4000 people and many many are missing behind me what remains of beirut port the site of the explosion in the distance im not sure if you can see them the Civil Defense the red cross searching through the rubble trying to find survivors or the dead family members gathering outside the ports hoping to hear news about their loved ones many people are still missing and the search continues for today a young man was pulled from underneath the rubble of his home not very far from where we are standing is the Electricity Company also this morning bodies were pulled out from underneath the rubble some bodies in hospitals are still not identified so people are still trying to come to terms on what what exactly happened such a massive explosion you can see the damage the port is now on useable and this was the main port in a country which is import dependent imports reliant it imports 80 or 90 percent of its needs there are other reports in the country in the south in the north but not as big as beirut port so you can see the damage with your own eyes how did the sheer explosion really cause damage across the city weve been driving across the city almost every building almost every apartment has been damaged and you mentioned 300000 people now homeless zain any clarity on why 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate would be left poor for you. Well this is a question many lebanese are asking weve been hearing from officials since late yesterday that there will be investigations there promising accountability but the reaction in the street is how can we trust you when you have been in power over the past 3 decades yes the government took office in january new faces but they were appointed by the same Political Parties which have been governing this country and the Political Parties who many blame for mismanagement and corruption that run the economy to the ground in fact the International Community is holding off providing any aid to lebanon lebanon has been requesting billions of dollars in aid to be able to kick start the economy and International Donors say no that money is not coming were not bailing you out this time you need to fix corruption in this state and they did mention beirut ports because billions of dollars are lost tax evasion and the state control really overpaid for it is very weak so as much as there is shock in the streets there is also anger people are not calling this a disaster theyre not calling it an accident theyre calling it a man made disaster and theyre calling this negligence incompetence on the part of the authorities who are they are accusing of being corrupt hospital drove well maybe even before this happened the country was on its knees economically are they getting any International Assistance i mean i imagine they must need some if even the hospitals have been damaged in this blast. Yes many countries have expressed their readiness to provide assistance qatar kuwait to france germany they will be sending medical teams rescue and search teams to help. Try to find survivors if there are any underneath the rubble and to provide medical much needed medical supplies to the hospitals which are underfunded and understaffed even private hospitals as of late laid off so many nurses because they couldnt pay their salaries as more and more people lost their jobs they lost their private insurance and that means that they relied on Public Hospitals which were already underfunded and neglected for decades so the hospital sector the Health Sector is under strain i just cannot imagine at this point in time countries are going to give the lebanese government cash because the French Foreign minister was here not too long ago and he said help us so that we can help you and what he basically told the politicians he scolded them and said you need to carry out reforms you need to fix corruption in the state or else youre not getting any money this time around were not bailing you out and i can tell you that activists on the ground antigovernment activists who have been organizing protests over the past few months demanding a new leadership theyre calling on the International Community not to provide aid directly to the government and to give people directly or through and she owes more eyes and a hold of that from beirut thanks for. Or the disaster couldnt come at a worse time for lebanon the economy has been unraveling for months as government opponents blamed the crisis on decades of corruption and mismanagement in march lebanon defaulted on 90000000000. 00 of debt talks with the International Monetary fund on a bailout stalled last month after infighting between the government and its central bank the lebanese currency remains pegged to the dollar but its lost 80 percent of its value since october thats been devastating for a country that imports most of its goods food costs are up 190 percent on last year and salaries and savings of lost much of their value while the fallout from the pandemic is poverty and unemployment soaring john chauvin is an economist specializing in Health Education and labor policies he says the Economic Situation is so dire it should be treated as a humanitarian issue. We have direct costs and direct costs you know the direct cost to repair the physical infrastructure the private property losses the public property losses and those you have in direct cost because this is you know huge interruption to whatever what was that stuff livelihoods of peoples income people who lost their bread earners and their main income earners the report which is now out of service for a long time the International Community should view the penny citizens now as it cannot make refugees in a status country because this state ruled by thugs has committed another act of war on its people with this massive explosion that is a deliberate act of more than negligence this is not an accident this was stored for more than decade everybody knew it was there from the top of the government the simplest employee on the port everyone knew this dangerous because equipment and chemicals were there to defend his people need help we need help right now and indeed a unhealthful even exacerbate the economic consequences of this and this help can be china through humanitarian support directly with the agencies that are on the ground i dont think frankly we have any other option if even if were paid some compensation money to rebuild it would be paid in the benes pounds which are worth 6. 00 of their value and we still need to import a lot of the roman curia the glass. Every great Construction Material possible and from the initial assessment i mean 80 percent of beirut has that been damaged from the blast so this is a huge humanitarian operation and it should be treated as such. A member of Lebanons Parliament has resigned in protest over the port explosion marwan hamad demanded an International Inquiry into the blast in his Resignation Letter he had served in various prominent positions including minister of trade health and telecommunications. U. N. Experts are calling on the International Community to step in if india doesnt urgently address the syria to human rights situation in indian administered kashmir its been a year since new delhi stripped the autonomy of the distributed region the area is locked down to prevent protesters from gathering on the anniversary a curfew is being overseen by the military many local political leaders have been detained for months and protests are being held in the capital of pakistan administered kashmir most often about there in solidarity with the people of the indian administered side Prime Minister among karlas addressed the National Assembly is accusing india of subjecting kashmiris to what he calls a brutal fascist military c h lets bring in elizabeth piron im from new delhi so its a busy day there in india where from kashmir to laying the foundations for temples right. Absolutely sammy and it is completely quiet and made while its all happening at the beginning of that temple construction in iowa the link but let me 1st tell you whats happening in fish meat as i said its quiet because there has been a lot done in place to stop the spread of the cone of virus and on monday the Indian Government said that there would be a curfew on tuesday and wednesday citing the possibility of protests to mark the one Year Anniversary of kashmir or tommy being the voice they went back on the curfew or to journalists ive spoken to in kashmir say regardless of whether its called a curfew or not people deviltry much feel like the restrictions that their opposition to what happened a year ago political leaders who had been planning to meet today to find a political solution to being announced Police Outside their homes bob while on the roads and in fact the only activity in kashmir is members of the b j p government have stood in indian flag. Now the government hasnt said anything about me but promised in that interim order is in the town of io the to inaugurate the construction of the hindu temple things whether its the revoking of mirrors autonomy or building this temple at indias most controversial contested religious site have been longstanding promises of the hindu nationalist b j p government despite the fact that political and religious gatherings on to allow the Prime Minister that anymore he was joined by the countrys most prominent hindu nationalists leaders in 175 people who were invited and attended the event and here is a look at why the building of this temple is so important not just to be j. P. To its supporters but many of the 1000000000 of indias hindus. On the banks of the. People gathered to pray in the ancient town of. Preparations underwear. The head 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 it. 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 to the town and destroyed the 16th century babri mosque and 22 others 18 of the muslims living in the town were killed including relatives of and. 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 law. Up the koran in our 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 mohammed childhoods father and uncle to have 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 the promise to the. And this is a defining moment for india. The party gained Political Support after the mosques destruction. Become a symbol of. That is with the destruction. Of. The country. The b. J. People 1st elected to govern the country 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 hindus now 30 years after he joined the campaign for around temple Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is an overrating its construction and is a bit problem al jazeera new delhi. Still ahead of aljazeera another big increase in the number of covered 9000. 00 cases in australia a 2nd most populous day plus one columbia Supreme Court has ordered the detention of former president alvaro uribe a. Very heavy rain in the forecast for the next couple of days across northern as the china and again across the flooded areas of the Korean Peninsula meanwhile what was Tropical Storm that is really winding down all the time but of course it did bring with it some damage and some torrential amounts of rain as you can see his so of course many areas already at the ground a very saturated from the recent seasonal rains and so this just really exacerbated the problem there but really the heavy rains through thursday this will be through the Northern Areas again that particularly across the Korean Peninsula this is tim here is all merging with the remnant. Of what was a look at this through friday that seasonal front line of rain just still staying in the same area producing some really heavy downpours and again heading on towards the Korean Peninsula but it does at least dry up considerably across more central and southern areas of china there is a slightly not drying up across a very widespread and very heavy this is by notes on expected asshole the rain that has been relentless over the last few days unfortunately that is more rain in the forecast you can see it quite clearly here maharastra up into go back through thursday widespread rains in the south as well and then on friday heavy rain pushing across southern areas of pakistan. From fossil fuels to a renewable as societies develop the energy demands increase requiring Innovative Solutions to meet such an amount as a Global Power DevelopmentInvestment Company nebraska power is uniquely positioned to deliver against the stream out so we provide Business Growth promote social economic benefits and provide innovative safe and environmentally sound Energy Solutions for a future generation the breast and the ring future energy. Im back here watching aljazeera time to recap our headlines lebanons president michel aoun is promising an investigation into a large explosion in the capital that killed at least 100 people and injured thousands beiruts governor says up to 300000 people have been left homeless u. N. Experts are calling on the International Community to step in if india doesnt urgently address the worsening human rights situation in indian administered kashmir its been a year since new delhi strips the disputed region of its autonomy. Sure lankans are electing a new Parliament President rajapaksa r. T. Is seeking a 2 thirds majority to allow changes to the constitution the vote was postponed twice because of coronavirus the poll is being held on the strict safety guidelines with the vote is expected to maintain a one meter distance and wear face masks in their finances in colombo she reports on the concerns about voter turnout because of the pandemic. Turnout from sri lankan elections per specter 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 you know every time theres an election around are there right at the beginning before polls open the cast their vote some of them get on to what we did see a little bit of brisk activity but overall there was a very little lead 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 operate here with me thank you for joining us mr bishopric 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 we are to ensure that our water is. No more or life pretty in know who. We are pick a lot of. Concordance or. Alone pill to authority we did a lot of our House Program or. Now we think general public is on those terms. Mostly for them it probably plays that was telling now they are coming to the polling stations. Several high profile democracy campaigners have appeared in court again in Hong Kong Joshua one agnes cello and ivan lamb are facing charges relating to protests last year against an extradition bill chao has previously pleaded guilty and faces up to 5 years in prison their cases were adjourned along with an application for a bail hearing for activists tonguing kid whose case is being seen as a test for hong kongs existing laws and beijings new National Security legislation joshua one was defiant disease spoke about his Court Appearance where political prosecution that we face and under the fret of beijing is not the time for us to render is no reason for us to live in fear even the government tried to prosecute us we have to protest ring last summer outside of the Police Headquarters is still not the time for us to give up and surrender. The number of people whove died from corona virus around the world is now past 700000 thats being reported as the australian state of victoria announces 725 new cases officials in melbourne of imposed a nighttime curfew and restrictions on Movement Hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help enforce isolation orders and on breaking the rules faces large fines and Virgin Australia has announced its firing 3000 staff as it prepares to relaunch on the new owners the pandemic force the airline into voluntary administration in april travel restrictions have left it billions of dollars in debt destroying government refused to bail it out it was taken over by a private us firm in june nicola gauges more from sydney. These figures might not same as high as some other places around the world but we need to remember that a strong leader has been extremely successful in containing this virus and well all know or how fossett can get away from us if it isnt confined but these new speak is really will justify i guess for many the need for the tough shutdown lockdown measures that are currently in place in the city of melbourne in victoria where there isnt always an ice because few and harsh penalties being imposed for anyone who breaks isolation measures but it really is deflating to not see these figures go down given how many paypal is being financially impacted by this of course were seeing more businesses closing retiling manufacturing a good many are concerned that some of these Companies Just wont be able to survive the 6 week lock down even with Financial Support from governments and on top of that some experts are saying that the recession that its surely is currently in my last and to the end of the year a pretty tough time at the moment but we always knew that it might take a week or 2 to see how these new locked down measures would influence the right of infections in victoria the Afghan Health minister says 10000000 people may have been infected with corona virus the announcement comes after a nationwide blood survey testing for the virus the result shows more than half of the cases are in adults maybe 50 percent of children who tested positive did not show symptoms more than 1200 people have died in afghanistan since the pandemic began. More than 5000000 Coronavirus Infections and about 200000 deaths have now been reported across latin america but some of the worst affected countries are still rolling back restrictions missiles biggest cities south paulo and Rio De Janeiro are reopening businesses and mexico is relaxing rules john holmes has more from mexico city. Latin america has crossed the 5000000 mark to code the cases packed cities poverty the lack of formal jobs are helping spread. The love the factors may also be at play resilin the regions most populous country has a president that opposed to quarantine. Mexico in 2nd place as a leader who doesnt like mask and initially resisted social distancing now in other countries like bolivia with death count is sure in. Elections originally slated for may have been put back to look tobar the divisive interim president remains at the helm for opponents a furious. The people are abandoned there are no jobs and the Health System has collapsed the special police unit has picked up thousands of bodies from houses on the streets. And to think that in some places there have been 30 dead 50 dead piled up in that corpses every day showing up in the streets its because families dont have the resources or arent finding places to bury them carlos are you in a group of entrepreneurs have developed this mobile crim a tourism is a solution. Elsewhere more unorthodox responses in el salvador Doctors Without Borders are heading into gang held territory because Public Health officials cant say more Health Services are afraid to enter our community and here there are many children many older adults and many pregnant women who need direct attention in brazil where theres a lack of tests and Online Platform with Artificial Intelligence is being used to help detect coded softer markets of the software marks these areas and shows whether or not its likely to be covert 90 it also shows the percentage of the contamination of the lung. But a solution for the regions main problem remains elusive how the countrys opened back up while the virus continues to advance john homan aljazeera mexico city. Colombia Supreme Court has ordered the detention of former president alvaro uribe amid allegations of witness tampering and fraud our correspondent alison that he has more from. The spite the coronavirus locked down supporters of former president took to their cars waving the National Flag in defense of their political hero. After the countrys Supreme Court ordered his detention and charge him of witness tampering and fraud in an investigation linking him to paramilitary groups look the usual this is not right its a political. Where they want to put a president of the republican prison just because we demand a fair trial and we are grateful to. Tuesdays decision shocked promising to further polarize the country over legacy who remains a senator and the most powerful in the vice of the nation the court reached a decision after concluding there was potential for obstruction of justice. The measure restricting rebase freedom is based on a large amount of evidentiary material collected and analyzed by the courts including testimonial evidence judicial inspections film recordings and telephone interceptions. From. The country say the president who fought marxist rebel fighters bringing the country back from the brink of collapse. Critics his success came at a high human rights cost as right wing paramilitary groups and the army terrorized and killed thousands of civilians. And came out to celebrate the courts decision. I think most of us have been waiting for this day for a long time we want justice we really feel we deserve justice and that this needed to happen. The 1st former president to ever face detention in the country is allies including current president of the fended him questioning the courts independence. Sure. I am and always will be a believer in the innocence and honor of someone who by example is a place in colombias history. Stems from a long running feud with a lefty senator who would he be accused of plotting to falsely link him to paramilitary groups but the judges believe it was relieving stead who was trying to temper the witnesses in his defense if found guilty of it could face up to 12 years in prison in a case that could change the Political Landscape in the country where powerful politicians have longer avoided persecution despite years of investigations. Yet ill just. Take you through some of the headlines here now just they are now lebanons president michel aoun has promised an investigation into a large explosion in the capital that killed at least 100 people and injured thousands beiruts governor says up 23300000 people have been left homeless in and. We are determined to investigate and reveal what happened as soon as possible and bring those responsible to justice and punish them accordingly we will transparently announce the results of these investigations. So hold it has more from beirut. The red cross says more than 100 people have been killed thousands have been injured up to 4000 people and many many are missing behind me what remains of beirut port the site of the explosion in the distance im not sure if you can see them the Civil Defense the red cross searching through the rubble trying to find survivors or the dead family members gathering outside the port toping to hear news about their loved ones many people are still missing and the search continues and u. N. Experts are calling on the International Community to step in if india doesnt really address the worsening human rights situation in indian administered kashmir its been a year since new delhi stripped the disputed region of its autonomy sri lankans are electing a new Parliament President called to buy a Rajapaksa Party is seeking a 2 thirds majority to allow changes to the constitution the vote was spurned twice because of corona virus a number of people have died from covert 19 around the world is now past 700000 thats being reported as the australian story the victoria announces 725 new cases officials in melbourne have imposed a nighttime curfew and restrictions on movement several high profile democracy campaigners have appeared in court again in Hong Kong Joshua wong agnus challenge ivan lam are facing charges relating to protests last year against an extradition bill their cases were adjourned along with an application for a bail hearing for activist tongue in cute. Headlines its inside story now. Its a family the husband of the honcho of paula in sri lanka 4 years knowledge that was aimed to strengthen the with photos go to polls so how crucial is the election this time and why does sri lanka about to this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program. Go to buy a