A bomb. Ripped apart after skidding off the runway at least 17 people are killed as an Air India Express jet crashes in the Southern State of cattle plus. A huge Economic Impact those on the nations right across the region thats going to last for years and how the Global Pandemic is ravaging tourism in the Pacific Islands. The u. S. State department spoken out in support of a former top saudi intelligence agent who was allegedly targeted in a fall of assassination attempt its described as a valued park them a job he filed a lawsuit in washington d. C. On thursday accusing Saudi Crown Prince muhammad bin sultan of sending a hit squad to canada to try to kill him mike hanna has more. Patrick leahy was one of 4 senators who sent a letter to the white house last month in the letter the senators expressed their concern about what they call the abduction in saudi arabia of saad algebras son and daughter in his court filing algebras said his children now aged 20 and 21 were being held as what he called human bait to lure him out of hiding the state department has now responded to the senators concerns in a letter to senator leahy it describes toddles job as a valued partner to the u. S. Government working closely with the u. S. To ensure the safety of americans and saudis. It also states that any persecution of family members is unacceptable adding that it has made repeated requests to the saudi government about the status of his son and daughter. Was an adviser to the previous crown Prince Mohammed bin nayef here but in his court filing he says he left saudi arabia because he feared what would happen if and when muhammad been someone took over the state Department Says its concerned about the alleged activities that resulted in exile to canada it says that any saudi accusations of wrongdoing against him must be and i quote address through established legal channels with full transparency and respect for the rule of law interpol rejected the request for algebra arrest saying it was rooted in political and not criminal grounds President Trump has continued to express his support for the Saudi Crown Prince despite the repeated allegations of Human Rights Violations describing him as an ally and friend but increasingly this is very much at odds with the prevailing view in Congress Mike hanna aljazeera washington. Lebanons president has raised the possibility of external interference in tuesdays port blast in beirut michele alone has promised an investigation into whether the blast was caused by negligence an accident or even a rocket or a bomb the governments facing widespread anger over accusations of mismanagement and corruption 157 people are confirmed dead and then a honda has this report from beirut. This is what is left of beirut port the stockpile of tons of Ammonium Nitrate that appeared to set off tuesdays blast was in one of the warehouses some of the missing people are believed to be underneath the rubble its a complicated job to look for them because the damage is considerable International Rescue teams have joined Search Operations but hope of finding survivors is fading and they say the affair. What were trying to do is to find the structures that are still under tons of rubble specifically the cells in the technical rooms that are under the silos they could have been buried by the rubble and still be standing which could allow us to find survivors the lebanese authorities have begun investigations into the blast that destroyed much of the central parts of the capital port and Customs Officials have been detained and their assets frozen investigators initially said it was triggered by a fire the president michelle and says they are looking into all possibilities. This accident is a wake up call as i said it could be an act of negligence all we have another possibility it could be a rocket attack or a bomb attack i personally requested from the french president if they were in possession of any aerial footage to kindly provide us with it in order to identify any aerial attack or missile attack if any. Popular anger at a Political Class blamed for years of corruption and mismanagement is not new people have little faith in a government inquiry that is led by the politicians and Security Officials who they believe should be the way. Questioned theres a problem. For trust between the political system and the population and this exists for years not just now but now the problem is that the investigation the person in this committee they feel a part of the Security Services that people are asking questions about their attitude french president Manuel Mccall visited the devastated neighborhoods in beirut on thursday joined voices in lebanon and abroad calling for an independent International Inquiry but the governing alliance headed by the iranian backed hezbollah has dismissed that. And i would like to emphasize that hezbollah categorically refutes and rejects that we have materials at the seaport not a single bullet weapon ammunition or a bomb nothing at all belongs to hezbollah even the materials in the Ammonium Nitrate that does not belong to hezbollah. I believe that there is a consensus amongst all lebanese that a complete comprehensive transparent and fair investigation must take place authorities are welcoming International Humanitarian assistance which has started to arrive in a country already broken before the disaster but they are against internationalizing the crisis which would weaken their control calls for actions against the ruling class are growing louder following reports that officials were aware of the presence of highly explosive material in the middle of a densely populated city there are plans for mass demonstrations the priority is no longer just the humanitarian emergency there are attempts to revive the momentum of the protest movement that began in october but bringing about change wont be easy. Beirut. U. S. President donald trump says hell be joining other World Leaders on a Donor Conference call for lebanon on sunday he also said aid from america is already on its way at 3 pm this afternoon i spoke with president. Of lebanon to inform him that 3 large aircraft on the are on the way and theyre fully loaded fully loaded with medical supplies food water many other things lots of emergency equipment also 1st responders technicians doctors and nurses are on their way are u. S. Intelligence officials warning that foreign governments are trying to interfere in novembers president ial election and a statement the director of the National Counter intelligence and Security Center says his agency is primarily concerned about china russia and iran he says beijing wants donald trump to lose the vote its allegedly increased efforts to influence u. S. Politicians and shape Public Opinion all with the hope of affecting the president ial race agencies determined that russia wants trump to win again and it says moscows already working to undermine his democratic opponent joe biden by leaking phone calls and spreading corruption claims and iran is accused of using online this information to undermine trump and divide the u. S. Ahead of the vote it was caught on dozens of fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution is joining us by skype from washington d. C. Thank you very much indeed for being with us these allegations are essentially what many people would take as fact really given the last survey team months or so whats different about this report. In many ways the report is not necessarily that surprising we know from 2016 that certainly russia have been involved in various forms election interference in iran and china are likely additions to that list certainly have a vested interest in us domestic politics and not surprising to hear that may be involved in some of these tactics which is surprising about this report is simply the willingness of the Intelligence Community or at least this component of it to come on the record and say foreign actors are not only potentially looking at election interference in this case but they have a vested interest in certain political candidates in the President Trump in one case and it is opponent in another case or 2 other cases as it may be no less that is part of the framing that went into the effort to present this information and effort to make it look like it is in some ways and equip ois between the 2 sides but nonetheless it is notable. Given the fact that almost any governments in the world could be accused of doing this kind of thing at some point how useful is this information to the voters in america in the run up to the election. Well if it is useful its a useful reminder to voters that they need to look at media and information critically and they need to engage and think about the sources that theyre getting information from thinking about the reasons why people may be passed them certain messages and its also dollar to authorities to private Companies Like facebook and twitter to the fact that there is a belief that several entities are actually going to be involved in misinformation campaigns that we know in the past have involved false identity false claims and that there is a responsibility on their part to in an effort to rein that in and ensure that actual facts make their way to voting audiences that is of course very laudable is the suggestion however that we are in a society now where we have abdicated a lot of responsibility for our own Critical Thinking when it comes to things like elections and we are less likely to take heed of warnings like this when theyre given. I dont think thats necessarily the case you know i think voters are still able to evaluate the decisions that they make in terms of their elections the information that they receive in terms of the media it simply requires an education and information to them if flagging for them that certain things need to be engaged critically and consider that way certainly its a difficult enterprise it always has been in a lot of different ways and new media presents new challenges and it may raise their old challenges this presented a greater volume or greater intensity but that doesnt mean its an insurmountable challenge and certainly we have seen a number of companies begin to take a look at saying well this is actually a real problem and we have a role to play in this in so far as were air surviving a service to our customers in transmitting information to them at least making sure its present being presented honestly or by honest brokers and so there is i think a value to making alerts of the sort even though this particular one its fairly general and may not be specifically actionable in many dimensions on its face good to get your thoughts on this caught on to some of the Brookings Institution we appreciate your time thank you very much indeed thank you. I mean 17 people have been killed in a plane crash in the aircraft slid off the runway as it was coming into land in the Southern State of cattle in heavy monsoon rain and the hayward reports. The desperate search for survivors from an entire express flight which is being bringing people home from the u. S. 190 passengers and crew on board the bombing 737 when it overshot the runway because according coursing karen. The pilot had apparently tried to land minutes earlier in heavy rain Officials Say the plane landed at speed and skidded down a slope before finally coming to a store it broke into several pieces it seems to have crossed that runway and fallen into a ditch sort of a place because there is a different field between the runway and the other parts of the airport and because of that impact there seems to have been a breaking off of the fuselage into 2 and the aircraft a different portion has been very badly mangled and damaged. It is moment sitting season in india making the rescue effort even more difficult many of those injured and now being treated in hospital both pilots reported to be among the dead there are currently no commercial flights in or out of india this was a repatriation pli from dubai bringing indian nationals home whove been stuck overseas because of the coronavirus pandemic in a tweet indias Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said he was pained by the accident thoughts which will be shared by the nation investigators will now want to know how and why this accident happened and why he would aljazeera. Rescue teams have recovered the bodies of at least 12 people that were killed in a landslide triggered by the heavy rain in kerala crews are working to free the 70 others thought to be buried on the mud and their homes in the tea plantation flooding caused power lines to snap and washed away a bridge in the area which are all or just have warned more rain is on the way. Still ahead on aljazeera. The arab emirates. Donald trumps crackdown on popular chinese social media apps to talk and we chat with sri Lankas Rajapaksa brothers tighten their grip on power and a landslide election when. Our the news is not good for south korea theres more rain on its way the seasonal rains are where theyre supposed to be but they have been particularly active this year and saturday the light extends from ohio and the yellow sea most to south korea then dips and comes back in to the northern parts of honshu then hot carder quite possibly by sunday but this is a persistent area it does get to north korea and theres been a flood problem here as well so its going to be exacerbated its not going to improve much of the rest of china is fairly dry its humid with a few showers further south and further north but the rain band is the one to watch those other band thats in existence and looks like it will persist for a day or 2 across the South China Sea towards something bizarre including manila and then running back into central and Southern Thailand to south of that is a good scattering a few showers around but both malaysia and indonesia look remarkably dry for this time here because of this sort of concentration of the rains elsewhere the monsoon rain has been fairly heavy maharashtrian southwest but quite obviously iran as a taken for Something Like this thats a circulation in the northern arabian sea is perfect brought significant rain to karate theres more to come for southern pakistan and amman. Rewind returns with a new series was brand new dates in the past amount to serious documentaries. Was just to remind continues with the last tried secret army of the cia so its down to 75 a live in the same way that the ancestors did living in the forest in the jungle and it seems like theyre abandoned by everybody on aljazeera. They were going to 0 a reminder of our top stories this hour the u. S. State departments called former top saudi intelligence official site our job a valued partner was up was filed a lawsuit in washington d. C. On thursday accusing Saudi Crown Prince mohamed bin someone sending men to canada to try to kill a. Lebanese president michel only has launched an investigation into tuesdays devastating explosion in the he says the blast which killed at least 157 people could have been cause either by negligence or external interference. By u. S. Intelligence official has warned that china russia and iran are trying to interfere in the upcoming president ial election the director of the National Counter intelligence and Security Sector says all 3 countries are using online disinfo nation and other tactics to influence u. S. Voters and create a disorder. The u. S. Is imposing sanctions on the leader of the Hong Kong Government carry on the territories current and former Police Chiefs among 11 officials targeted the sanctions were prompted by President Trumps executive order last month in a bid to punish china over a sweeping National Security law imposed on Hong Kong China insists the law is needed to criminalize acts of secession subversion and terrorism. In another sign of growing tensions President Trump is trying to prevent chinese social Media Companies including tech talk from doing business in america beijing says washington is using National Security as an excuse to suppress its tech firms katrina your reports from beijing. Some. Job news videos have 1400000 followers on video sharing. The chinese version of talks. The 25 year old uses the app every day and isnt surprised its become so popular in the u. S. Were very proud of anything that originated in china is not just a video sharing platform as an example of chinese in january. Shes a loved by dog executive order to bad tick tocks use there unless the app is sold to an american company. Im not sure how the company would develop if the owner changes i believe every company has this also if you replace that something the coral will be lost. The u. S. Government says its cracking down on chinese apps which it says spread propaganda and pose a Security Risk to americans beijing says the move is a pretext for suppressing Chinese Tech Companies may value the relevant u. S. Approach has no factual basis at all its clearly malicious smearing on a political many people the point of it all is to maintain his own lovely ovaries high tech industry. Tick tocks Parent Company is in talks to sell the app to microsoft washington has given it 45 days to confirm the sale ticktock denies sharing data with the communist party and is threatening legal action against the Us Government it isnt the only chinese app in the firing line messenger app we chat which has 1100000000 users worldwide is also facing a ban the banning of which that is likely to cause. Chinese users and business is dealing with china from the us here the proper form is more than a social media app its used to buy products invest in shares book travel and even check a persons covert 19 Health Status washington is expanding its socalled Clean Network initiative which aims to root out Major ChineseTech Products from the u. S. System analysts say the move is part of Donald Trumps tough on China Campaign ahead of the u. S. Election in november for domestic Chinese People especially those who have very fond memories of the u. S. This came as a surprise because it just seems that Chinese People are Chinese Companies are in a way i dont think is a good sign because we have seen the anti China Sentiment going on around the world the Chinese Government is urging the u. S. To back the move or face retaliation trump executive order deep in the Digital Divide between china and the u. S. Adding to diplomatic tensions and a growing list of disagreements over geopolitics and trade katrina you aljazeera beijing germany and france are both abandoned talks to reform the World Health Organization out of frustration with u. S. Dominate the negotiations the moves a blow for donald trump is administration had hoped to lead a sweeping overhaul of the w. H. O. Before the upcoming u. S. Election frances Health Minister says the u. S. Should not lead the reform after announcing it will be leaving the Organization Trump accuses the w. H. O. Or being too close to china mishandling the pandemic. British airways has begun cutting thousands of jobs because of the impact of the pandemic many of those who remain will face steep pay cuts and lose benefits but airways says more than 6000. 00 workers have applied for voluntary redundancy the company lost more than 900000000. 00 between april and june. Pacific island nations have largely avoided outbreaks of covert 19 but many are facing economic devastation because of the collapse of their Tourism Industries now a rise in cases in papa new guinea as authorities worry that the nations already Fragile Health System could soon be overwhelmed they gauge reports. Outside a sports stadium in port moresby people white to be tested at 19 inside a makeshift hospital has been set up to treat iraq as a number of paypal with the coronavirus until now pup when you get he has avoided a large scale outbreak but in recent weeks it has spread to new provinces forcing the closure of a massive copper and gold mine and Many Health Workers are testing positive protective medical equipment is being distributed and International Health teams flowing in but there are concerns the already Fragile Health System wont cope for all we know there are some great things going on behind the scenes the communication between Government Health department and then down to the people that hasnt happened the government has brought in lockdown measures including closing its border with indonesia but in many areas social distancing is a challenge and with huge numbers living below the poverty line access to clean water for handwashing is limited what we can do is find ways to overcome challenges whether its washing hands. In a creek washing hands and they are. Using salt which my stable have is a means by which to wash their hands while few cases have been recorded in other Pacific Island nations then now facing economic devastation due to the collapse of trade and tourism and countries like south a student reeling from recent deadly Measles Outbreak so many of the nations in the rage and relied on tourism people coming to visit to really sustain their economies and i just dont have that capacity now so a huge Economic Impact for those island nations right across the region thats going to last for years. The Asian Development bank says the number of People Living in extreme poverty in the region could increase by up to 15000 issue what many perceive you call and nations who need help to keep their economy afloat gauge aljazeera better rossa has begun fueling a reactor at its 1st Nuclear Plant which is being built by russia its location close to lithuanian border has caused controversy is only 40 kilometers from the lithuanian capital vilnius feel loading will take 3 months before the plant begins generating electricity in november the early voting is underway in the belarus president ial election ahead of official voting day on sunday president alexander look has shown cause expected to win despite criticism of the ways been handling the covert 19 crisis is 2 leading opponents were not allowed to register rallies by other opposition candidates cancelled by the authorities because shango has ruled bellows since 1904 winning 5 elections by huge margins and what critics have called europes last dictatorship the rajapaksa brothers have cemented their hold on power in sri lanka with a dominating win in the countrys parliamentary election Mahinda Rajapaksa will become Prime Minister is bothered by it will be the president and his men elephant unders reports from colombo they now plan to change the constitution. Celebrations in the rajapaksa heartland reason a 2 thirds majority in sri lankas new parliament on thursday will be sure queued to see incumbent Prime Minister mind the rajapaksa who secured the highest number of financial votes. Sylvia would lead us into the unknown also paid and then we have 2 thirds majority in the parliament and i didnt know the country can be developed in a very short period to see all what is the discipline and also the theater in it in both these to know within the government this analyst says the strong support for Prime Minister rajapaksa and his brother whos president just 5 years after they voted out is a message from the people that. Of democracy reforms and perhaps those reforms actually retarding guards which is also the main message the president has sent since his election. So that has been i think the clear message is. What the people who are demanding use unless of course to. Reform and more of economic development. Seen around the predicts the new government will increase the president s powers get rid of independent institutions and an amendment on power sharing in the north and east when m. P. s walk into the Parliamentary Chamber of the building behind me on august 20th seating arrangements would have changed to accommodate one of the largest number of m. P. s to ever sit in government and those in their ranks will face a series of economic and political challenges indeed that today who are the noise of the economic challenges. Hes been struggling to keep his garment factory afloat in difficult times made worse by the couvade 1000 crisis castro to do when it comes to a market negative sentiment and then with the market contraction so we have been having lost if you take 45 months 80 percent of our business was gone despite the huge mandate the rajapaksa brothers still face allegations of war crimes and foods disappearances 11. Years after the oversaw the defeat of the tamil tigers in sri lanka civil rule a former member of the National HumanRights Commission voiced these concerns we also see a rise in things in a buddhist nationalism and it seems like that is what is taking hold and and shaping the policy of the country so this means that minority thing particularly feel frightened because if you are critical of the government you can be called a traitor you can be called a terrorist you can be arrested merely for expressing an opinion balancing the multiple challenges facing she lanka will not be easy for the new government but for the majority of people here the rajapaksa led government is the best option for now and then theres. Film and you can find a much more on our website including when to the more details on the aftermath of that explosion in a port in beirut on al jazeera dot com. This is all to 0 these are the top stories the u. S. State department has spoken out in support of a former top saudi intelligence agent who was allegedly targeted and a fall assassination attempt its described as sort of job as a valued part of a job he filed a lawsuit in washington d. C. On thursday accusing Saudi Crown Prince mohammed bin sultan of sending a hit squad to canada to try to kill him lebanese president michel own has launched an investigation into tuesdays devastating explosion in beirut he says the blast which killed at least 157 people could have been caused either by negligence or external interference u. S. President donald trump says aid from america is already on its way at 3 pm this afternoon i spoke with president. Of levanon to inform him that 3 large aircraft on the are on the way and theyre a fully loaded fully loaded with medical supplies food water and many other things lots of emergency equipment also 1st responders technicians doctors and nurses are on their way. A u. S. Intelligence official has warned that china russia and iran are tying to interfere in the upcoming president ial election the director of the National Counter intelligence and Security Center says all 3 countries are using online dissin from ation and other tactics to influence u. S. Voters and create disorder 17 people have died in a plane crash in india the Air India Express jet broke into what it overshot the runway at an airport in the Southern State of cattle it was bringing indian nationals home from dubai whod been stuck overseas because of the pandemic. The u. S. Is imposing sanctions on the leader of the Hong Kong Government county law in the territories current and former Police Chiefs are among 11 officials targeted sanctions were prompted by President Trumps executive order last month punishing china over a sweeping National Security law imposed on Hong Kong China insists the law is needed to criminalize acts of secession subversion and terrorism critics say its being used to silence dissent and those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after a. J. Selects the boy. Counting the cost russia war planes and stories the speed boat of libya because the last 11. 00 on the take a look around the city and the devastating explosion is it time for marvel plus weaponize and they say this information to manipulate elections. Counting the costs of aljazeera. The fact that were right there with them on what i do that. I mean that thank you. But i do have one