A truly historic announcement in our battle against the journey of errors that will save countless lives. And u. S. President donald trump touts a major advance in the fight against covert 19 the use of blood plasma from recovered patients. To begin in syria where theres been a power blackout in large parts of the country after a major gas pipeline explosion firefighters have now managed to push out the blaze on the arab gas pipeline east of the capital damascus but this was the scene just a few hours ago images of a huge fireball appearing on state television and social media no detail yet could have caused the explosion but the oil minister is suggesting it could be an act of terror for more lets go across to say shes our correspondent standing by in beirut said it was a huge blast we know what happens. Well like you mentioned an explosion on a gas pipeline according to syrian state media the fire that large fire which was apparently caused by the blast has now been put out an explosion again according to syrian state media causing a total blackout in many areas of syria theyre also saying that electricity has since been restored you mentioned the syrian minister of oil suggesting that this was a terrorist attack in the initial hours following that explosion they suggested it could have been a terrorist attack now hes saying after assessing the situation it was a terrorist attack but hes not providing any more details hes not pointing the finger at blame on any particular group there has been no claim of responsibility this gas pipeline just northeast of the syrian capital damascus is in an area under the control of the Syrian Government in fact the area around. And is under the control of the government its been that way for 2 years now theyve managed to push the different rebel groups away from the seat of power for example if you look at if you look at the map in the Southern Province of that are where there is a low level insurgency thats approximately 150 kilometers south from where this explosion happened so its very difficult to see how anyone from this region could have made their way. And. It would be quite difficult and then of course you have ice the which operates in the desert east of where this explosion occurred so its very very difficult to say what exactly caused the explosion but the authorities are now saying a terrorist attack without providing any more details which really if indeed that proves to be the case raises a lot of question that means areas under their control are not safe or if this is some sort of an accident maybe an indication of the countrys ailing infrastructure at the time that the country is passing through really difficult Economic Times ok many thanks for bringing us the very latest there from beirut. Now to one of the biggest protests crowds yet has packed the center of the capital despite warnings not to gather and the military being put on standby estimates were of around 200000 people as they called for president Alexander Lukashenko to step down he was flying above them in a helicopter in body armor and armed with a semiautomatic rifle our correspondent stepped fasten is in minsk. After a week of threats coming from this is a reply from the people of ballarat. Tens of thousands took to the streets of minsk in defiance the a fear replaced by anger well armed soldiers and police were standing by families with small children shouted the president should step down mrs lowder some abrasion yes we have passed police several times and were not afraid anymore and our children are not afraid to using now will get the message i dont think shes if hes able to get them answers but i i hope people around here will still be getting these messages more and more and believe in his team and stealing our team why are you not scared. I dont know i just care because you know the good people we all always it could be earlier could villager but they will always. Look at shankar in a detention vehicle these people are chanting meanwhile also viewed music is coming from the governments loudspeakers along with orders to stop the unofficial gathering. Was his kids are going down to leave the square these people are not going anywhere with the military on standby this is the biggest acts of violence weve seen and balance so far since the disputed president ial vote on august 9th protesters have been in frying the authorities by gathering every day calling for an end to president took a shank us 26 year rule ahead of sundays rally the ballots rolled into the central city streets a warning to those marching that any unrest mia monuments and statues would not be tolerated but the fear violent crackdown did not happen. When tons of thousands marched towards local schank us residents on police blocked the road in a what. Looked like a scene from a war movie was filmed flying over the city in a helicopter wearing an armed fast together with his 15 year old son in combat gear and the president emerged from the helicopter carrying a rifle. When he thanked police who guarded him at the palace they told him they will stay with him until the bitter and. An end that might just have come a little closer step passon aljazeera mintz. A Senior Consulting fellow for the russia and Eurasia Program a think tank Chatham House he says sundays protests have reinvigorated the opposition. There have been tortures there have been apparent murders all intended to dissuade people from taking up the oppositions cause and in some cases from not agreeing to sign the false election protocols confirming the bug so put that all together and yes it is impressive that this many people have come out once again today for all of this time russia has been watching and waiting to see which way the situation would develop but theres another angle to this which is disturbing as well which is in the stories that president bush into his trying to put together about external aggression against bill that was you saw him earlier getting off a helicopter with body armor and an Assault Rifle and in a ridiculous pantomime trying to suggest that the country is under attack all of this is exactly what russia does not want to hear and it provides a pretext for russia to step in should wish to look at is been pointing to the Western Region of broaden and near the borders with poland and lithuania is what he says the the center of where nato and the west is trying to stir up unrest to unseat president and in fact to attack from outside now it just so happens thats exactly the scenario of a huge exercise military exercise with russia and belarus working together that we took place a few years ago calls up in 2017 where precisely that region was the site of these nato shenanigans and the response was to russia to send in troops to work with belarus to suppress that and then that escalated into a broader conflict if that kind of playing with fire by stirring up this war rhetoric by look at that we need to be watching out for now. An explosion at an Iranian Nuclear facility last month was an act of sabotage thats the conclusion of Irans Atomic Energy Organization but its not reveal who was responsible a spokesman for the Government Agencies says they will reveal the reason behind the blast of the natanz facility into course comes a day before the head of the uns atomic Watchdog Agency arrives in tehran theyre hoping to get access to sites believed to be storing undeclared Nuclear Material tomorrow apti is the president of the National IranianAmerican Council he says there are several reasons why iran has chosen to release this information now. I think the timing is whats most notable as this comes with the i. A. E. A. Director headed to iran looking to result some of these outstanding issues with iran and you have the sequence of events that you have at the u. N. Security council last week the United States being shut down in its efforts to snap back sanctions on iran and some very tough statements from europe and others and you how do you ron actually say ok were ready to result some of these difficulties with the i. A. E. A. Result some of these questions and now as the i. A. E. A. Chief hence to iran theyre saying our facilities are being sabotaged i to me it sounds like perhaps a form of leverage or a negotiating point as they try to work with the i. A. E. A. To sort out some of these lingering issues so i think the iranians are are trying to show that look they are paranoid there are legitimate concerns that they have about the security of these facilities and so as theyre granting access to that i for other facilities there is this paranoia and its need to deal with the fact that there are actors out there who do want to sabotage these facilities this also does give the iranians further incentive to bury their enrichment facilities underground which is one of the main can point of contention during the Nuclear Talks where iran agreed not to put its facilities in the in the underground fordo facility and so for iran this is actually an sent an incentive to further hide and bury its facilities that theyre not exposed to these acts of sabotage. Still ahead here on aljazeera on the eve of the Republican National convention we take a look at what could help all President Trump as he tries to woo undecided voters plus. I make like a ton of money for retail trading out looking at how boy played by the hurricane for the major problem in a long period while avoiding very. Hello there yet more hot and dry weather across much of the middle east but heading to the north across into say quite a lot of cloud if i be standing right there way across towards the caspian sea and up in saying that several days the rain has been very heavy and it could cause some localized flooding but just have a look at this this is a northern on the devastation is just really quite breathtaking the river overflowed it was just a poor ring torrent through the streets and just look at what it is down the dabney that is left behind but its not just this look at all these boulders and just look how deep they are and this goes on all the way through the streets of this town so a huge cleanup process really to take place that now the some more rain in the forecast not particularly to that same area but for the wind is going to shatter much of jordan on towards azerbaijan to the south of that it is actually mostly fine and dry touches not too hot really and they 36. 00 degrees the fading very humid without 36 at the time it comes up on jews at 40 on the way to pick up so that should help a little bit with that humidity then down into africa plenty of showers and thunderstorms through central areas and to the south are going to see more showers not really affecting cape time but working the way along the south coast the pushing on to all port elizabeth. 3 mozambique upwards into towns there all the way along the coast towards somalia. Islams. To an extraordinary community. Men who risk their lives to going to be parents so that their families can see. Even in the face of ongoing obstacles repeat details pretty damn you. Know honestly remarkably. Well known around the salon. On just the right. The. Were going to watch again as there is a reminder of our top stories this hour a large gas pipeline explosion east of damascus has caused a major power blackout in syria the cause of the blast is unclear but the oil minister has just said it could be an act of terror. More than 200000 people have rallied in the by the russian capital to demand president alexander new coaching to step down after his contested reelection but hes refusing to resign and is deployed the army to respond to any on the breast. There on the tomic ngoma zation says last months far than a town speak to facility was an act of sabotage but didnt say who was responsible Government Agency says authorities will reveal the reason behind the blast in jus course. He was present donald trump is hoping to revive his Reelection Campaign at the Republican National convention which kicks off on monday during the 4 day event the party will officially nominate him as its candidate for the november poll they hope to energize his supporters and woo undecided voters for an election that trumps the polls suggest trump could lose could be held at reports from the white house. For president fine large political rallies the 2020 Republican National convention was supposed to be Donald Trumps campaign crescendo help pick a cruise toward reelection in november. But covert 19 and social distancing has dashed trumps plan to accept his Party Nomination of thousands of maggie a hat wearing supporters. Trucks claim of creating jobs has also disappeared as thousands of businesses of closed permanently millions of people are out of work and the stock market has seen historic gains wiped out we did it we built the greatest economy of this to the world and now i have to do it again. You know that is. Thats right thats god testing me trump blames china for not halting the virus but a majority of americans blame him for a mismanaged Coronavirus Response that hurt trump in the polls with weeks until the election he trails his democratic rival joe biden. Problem is after 4 years in Office People now know what to expect from a Donald Trump Administration and its really tough for people to not think about reelection or as anything other than decision about the incumbent and so im not sure that the playbook that works for trump and 2016 is going to work this year in 2020 with few new ideas some people are accusing the president of employing scare tactics to round up votes and Campaign Stops trump says if biden is elected taxes and crime will go up the stock market will go down but when it comes to his own Campaign Promises his vision isnt clear what are your top priority items for a 2nd term but one of the things that will be really great you know the word experience is still good i always say talent is more important than experience ive always said that due to the pandemic most states will allow voters to mail in ballots instead of in person voting trumps arguing with little evidence that mail in ballots are open to fraud democrats say trumps insistence people vote in person during the pandemic is an attempt to suppress the vote with both sides accusing each other of breaking the Election Results of the 2020 vote are uncertain will tropics upset if he loses as he has always said hell see what happens on and make a determination aftermath donald trump is counting on the Republican Convention to inject new life into his lagging reelection bid hes planning multiple appearances before pared down crowds of supporters at a week long event that kicks off in Charlotte North Carolina and culminates here at the white house on thursday when trump will officially accept the republican partys president ial nomination kimberly health at aljazeera the white house u. S. President donald. Hailing the authorization of an emergency Plasma Treatment for cave in 1000 as a breakthrough the treatment uses plasma recovered patients to treat those still sick with the virus but as a conclusive evidence of its benefits trump announced the food and Drug Administration has given it the go ahead after earlier accusing it of delaying drugs and vaccines for the virus. That is everybody working together were years ahead of approvals we would be if we went by the speed levels of past administration wed be 2 years 3 years behind where we are today and that includes in vaccines that youll be hearing about very very shortly to deliver triplets and vaccine to save lives were moving are necessary barriers and delays not by cutting corners but by marshalling the full power of the federal government. Dr ammash adulterer as a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins center for Health Security he says the president s actions will hurt the response to the coronavirus treatment. When people recover from the crow virus they develop antibodies and what convalescent classman does is takes their blood the portion of their blood that contains those antibodies in transfused out into someone who has corona virus and those antibodies help to neutralize the virus help them recover quicker and this is something that has a lot of biological possibility but we do not yet know whether this works because we dont have randomized control data to show that it is definitively beneficial i believe the president s move will hurt the medical community we were able to get convalescent plasma ive given it to every patient that i needed to give it to ive had no problems giving it to them under expanded use with the f. D. A. What the president s move does is makes it very unlikely that well get a randomized control trial result so we may end up in the end not knowing whether or not this worked or not nets not how we want to do medicine we dont want politics to be injected into the f. D. A. As decisions we every time the president has intervened in this pandemic it isnt it is actually hurt the response of the pandemic so we saw this with hydroxy clark and we dont want to repeat of this this is actually something that there is a promising signal here and we want to know exactly when to give it and who to give it in the only way were going to know that is through rigorous randomized controlled trials and this is going to discourage people from enrolling in the trials because the president has now and put his finger on the scale so to speak she says and a stray a hip in the price of will rise as before they go bankrupt having 1000. 00 restrictions just the latest says asa for the multibillion dollar Wool Industry to add to problems theres a shortage of shares for 68000000 sheep like gates has the story from rural new south wales. Lambing season isnt far all form is sheep and cattle farm on the plains bringing a small sense of normality to an anything but normal few years for david gergen hes been tested by prolonged drought then bushfires in january soon followed by coated 19 thats certainly having an impact on on everything especially the the wall market. That is is collapsing as well and i wonder where were heading borda and trade route closures during the pen demick have devastated prices here with the markets down about 40 percent on this time last year its also leading to a Workforce Shortage when millions of sheep need to be she he she hundreds of seasonal shears normally fly in mainly from new zealand the spam outside goban is using local but in other parts of the country there arent enough the government is trying to find solutions with rising unemployment can strike me accused of having montane the logical thing to do would be trade more people locally to work in that hes happy but its not that simple of course training takes time to get a job that requires skill and if the process is delayed then it becomes an Animal Welfare problem. And a financial problem to the process have led to a growing stockpile of wool in storage but this shearing contractor says for many whiting for high a processes isnt an option then id have money coming in i cheated by the bill. And thats one of the river on the low i dont. Thats im either one of the right or incomes as trade tensions between australia and china increase with the restrictions imposed on australian beef imports as well as high tariffs on bali about 90 percent of the strike will is currently exported to china for food. Stage processing everything from clothing to carpets we both need each other we both have very strong and constructive relationships and i say no reason that chimes in the near or distant future but the industry is also looking at diversifying with some experts concerned it relies too heavily on chinese by david gergen hes focuses on producing wold qualls will to keep his farm in business nicola gage aljazeera regional new south wales. Hong kong is joining the global race for corona virus vaccine as he is also launching voluntary mass testing next month to combat whats seen as a 3rd wave the government has enlisted the help of medical experts from Mainland China. Pollan reports not everyone supports the move. Hong kongs latest outbreak was the worst and most widespread prompting the government to impose its sick to social distancing measures yet its proved effective for now but according to the medical community here this will not be the last way for the city overnight in viruses to very smart virus so it is behaving more and more like influenza. So is likely to be staying with us for a long story and the way to combat this virus will be by vaccination dr ivan hung is a very religious treating coronavirus patients at one of the citys main hospitals and is working with the university of hong kong to develop a vaccine hopefully all over actually move we are able to go into phase one in the coming november and the vaccine will be inhaling vaccine its still in the early stages of development but at least 5 Chinese Companies are already in phase 3 of Clinical Trials thats the last stage of testing required for approval which means they could introduce a vaccine for public use early next year for now hong kongs government believes mass testing is the best way to control the spread of the virus or in the past month weve been the only hong kong profitable or trade to be appointed by the whole government for Mass Community testing so in the past month weve already done 200000 tests and we will continue that with the high cluster areas danny and is the c. E. O. And cofounder of printed ticks its one of 5 Companies Unlisted to help with mass testing set to begin next month kinetics will continue to focus on high risk clusters while the other 4 companies all subsidiaries of mainland chinese firms who spearheaded the voluntary testing drive Hong Kong Government wants to test at least 5000000 people and about 2 weeks a team of about 60 experts from Mainland China that will be leading the process that along with the fact that the majority of the companies conducting the tests lengths across the border is raising concern and suspicion among some groups on sunday activists and local politicians how the News Conference calling on people here to be wary of the free government testing offered the mosque testing of Hong Kong Government is trying to get the data from hong kong people and may pass to chinese. And so we have read that they. Wanted one or even sent to be fun chinese 40 the government has dismissed the claims saying that no samples will be sent to the mainland and the lab or trees will not receive any personal information the. Hong kong. A doctor who traces alexina in hospital has told reporters he prevented the russian dissident death that denied finding any chemicals in of on his body. Say he was poisoned but that he will survive a suspected attack about his wife. Charity hospital on sunday hes the latest in a long line of kremlin critics to become seriously ill or die in apparent poisonings. Cyprus has denied selling passports to convicted criminals fugitives and fraudsters an exchange for millions and investments this denial comes after an aljazeera investigation revealed serious flaws in the islands lucrative golden passport scheme in the 1st of our series of reports on the cyprus papers his Deborah Davis from london. To become a citizen of the mediterranean island nation of cyprus cost more than 2. 00 and a half 1000000. 00 among those whove paid that russian businessmen of hes already served a prison sentence for extortion and the Chinese Investment tycoon junk who had been jailed for fraud the cyprus papers a large data leak obtained by aljazeera revealed the 2 and a half 1000 people from 74 countries who bought the cypriot passport. Cyprus says it checks applicants have a clean criminal record but we found multiple cases of applicants who wanted by police at the time they were sold cypriot citizenship. Was already wanted in ukraine for large scale theft of public funds in june prosecutors displayed the 6000000. 00 they said was offered in bribes to end years of investigation into his energy company. Slit chev ski denies any involvement his cypriot passport allows him to live out of ukraine and he didnt return for questioning. Vietnamese businessmen pham that blue wont be using his cypriot passport any time soon he was already facing trial for bribery when he bought it see how. We found 30 people linked to criminal activity whove bought socalled golden passports allowing them in their wealth to move freely around the e. U. The passport scheme of cyprus is a risk to security in europe these passports are for high value in particular for people from countries which have a record of economic and political criminality passports and citizenship should not be for sale they are not a commodity the cypriot interior minister told us no citizenship was granted in violation of regulations and an independent committee now studies and evaluates previous applications and a new law can strip citizenship from suspected criminals that shooting clude father and son malek sabet and Mehdi Ebrahimi they wanted in iran for Money Laundering and fraud and facing similar charges in canada but many deny all charges. The cyprus papers suggest theyre among dozens he may have used the golden passports to evade justice Deborah Davis al jazeera london. Well more findings from cyprus papers will be revealed throughout the week and on aljazeera dot com in part 2 of our investigation will be looking at how cyprus sold system shipped to politicians and senior officials considered by the e. U. As high risk from Money Laundering and corruption thats on monday from 10 g. M. T. Hair on aljazeera. Go without as there are these are all top stories a large gas pipeline explosion east of damascus has caused a major power blackout in syria the fire has now been pushed house and state media reports power is slowly being restored the cause of the bloss is unclear but the oil minister says it was an act of terror said a has more from beirut the syrian minister of oil suggesting that this was a terrorist attack in the initial hours following that explosion they suggest that it could have been a terrorist attack now hes saying after assessing the situation it was a terrorist attack but hes not providing any more details hes not the pointing the finger at blame on any particular a group there has been no claim of responsibility this gas pipeline just northeast of the syrian capital damascus is in an area under the control of the Syrian Government. More than 200000 people have rallied in the better russian capital to demand president Alexander Lukashenko step down after his contested reelection but hes refusing to resign and has deployed the army to respond to any rest Irans Atomic Energy Organization says last months fire the natanz Nuclear Facility was an act of sabotage but didnt say who was responsible the Government Agency says authorities will reveal the reason behind the blast and due course. President donald trump is heading your thighs ation of an emergency Plasma Treatment for covert 19 as a breakthrough treatment uses pasmore of recovered patients to treat those still sick with the virus. Kellyanne conway has announced she will be leaving the white house called why was the president s Campaign Manager and 2016 and stayed on as a senior counselor. A doctor at the scene of the siberian hospital the trees alexina vali says they did not find chemicals in him that could be classified as poison the russian opposition figure became critically ill last week after a suspected poisoning hes since been moved to a german hospital for treatment. Now with all the headlines another news update to want to. Honor counting the cost cracks in the global economy. But. So is it time to finally come from populism plus remaking china and president. Counting the cost. Has a big. One in 5. Days. To be sure i know. There are. Some results to drastic solution. To radical surgery. To gates china but hes the bull