Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20240712

Needed when needed i wear mens ok let me ask i dont know i dont wear miss like him every time you see him hes got to miss. Sector of states might bump a rose in europe and hes now reconsidering his travel plans amid questions about how many other white house officials may have been exposed. Also this hour media says it could be open to a ceasefire as fighting rages in the disputed not going back. 2 years after the murder of saudi journalists and activists say theres still no real justice where life in istanbul. A u. S. President isolated in the white house and a whole lot of new questions over the direction of the u. S. Election campaign were continuing our breaking news that. Elements from washington where donald trump and 1st lady maloney have tested positive for covert 19 the president confirmed the results in a late night tweet hours after a top aide was confirmed to have the virus hope akes had traveled with the trumps several times in the past few days including on tuesday to the debate in Cleveland Ohio the next day the flew together to accompany romney in minnesota. White house correspondent Kimberly Hauck of his joining us from washington d. C. The statements that originally were coming out from the White House Company were attempting to be in some way reassuring but do we have any idea what might actually be happening in the administration. What we know is this is an administration that was up until the wee hours of the morning the lights never really going off at the white house its clear that this was an administration that was trying to buy time in terms of delaying the news that the president had to cope at 19 it became clear when the president spoke on twitter about his trusted adviser hope it saying that it was a way to get test results that something was amiss it was then that people started to ask questions about whether or not the president had also been exposed given the fact that we know the president can get his test back within 15 minutes so these are the questions that are being asked not only what did the president know and when it in terms of his own exposure but potentially the ramifications of those that have been traveling and working with him in close proximity for several days that may also be exposed is the questions that are now being explored as rob reynolds reports. The news came in a late night tweet from the white house President Donald Trump wrote tonight the 1st lady and i tested positive for covert 19 we will begin our quarantine and Recovery Process immediately we will get through this together it is not known how despite elaborate precautions and constant testing of white house officials the White House Press corps and others in contact with trump the president contracted the virus but earlier one of trumps top aides hope hicks was confirmed to have tested positive hicks accompanied the president to the debate in Cleveland Ohio on tuesday trump phoned in to a Fox Television program earlier on thursday and talked about hicks having been exposed its a tough kind of a situation its a Terrible Bank so i just want to protest and well see what happens i mean who knows the white house physician sean conley said trump and the 1st lady are both well at this time and that the White House Medical Team will maintain a vigilant watch lonnie a trump later tweeted we are feeling good trump has several risk factors that put him in danger of complications from covert 19 he is in his bid seventys and overweight will have to wait for the next few days. You know for some people get really sick within hours but you know some people dont get sick until week after and still we have the reading be carefully observing the situation trump has declined to wear a mask on many occasions of clothing at rallies where many of his supporters also refused to wear a mask. His entourage including family members went masculists at the tuesday debate trump even ridiculed democratic candidate joe biden for wearing a mask as recommended by virtually all Public Health experts i dont wear mess like him every time you see hes got a mask he could be speaking 200 feet away from and he shows up with the biggest mask ive ever seen if trump were to become seriously ill and unable to carry out his duties the constitution provides for a Vice President mike pence to take over temporarily pence said he is praying for trumps recovery there can be no spin you can be you know harbor ups there has to be clear understanding of what is going on with this person this president United States because otherwise if hes not going past the to take care of the business he will have to be by the 25th amendment transition has to occur. But a glaring question now is how the news will affect trumps Reelection Campaign already trailing nationally and in certain important swing states it would seem that trump can ill afford to stay out of commission for a quarantine period of 2 weeks trump joins other World Leaders including brazils president gyre balsa naro and the u. K. Prime minister Boris Johnson who have contracted the virus worldwide the death toll from covert 19 has exceeded 1000000 robber and its al jazeera ok company stay with us for a moment because we have been hearing from the u. S. Secretary of States Mike Pompeo he spoke to reporters as he travelled from italy to croatia a short time ago and he was tested on board his plane and he came back negative. Actually i have not been with the president since the Abraham Accords on that day. Ive been traveling i cant remember 10 the last of the last 17 days Something Like that and tell a 17 sobbing god i want somebody with me and i think that the south american like were praying for the president and the 1st lady. Speedy recovery im sorry i speak up a little bit. Of a speedy recovery i spoke to the Vice President s office this morning as well were taking this obviously very seriously and will do everything we can to keep everyone safe including you all you have the results here you know negative. Ok i want to bring our White House Correspondent Kelly Holcomb back in the big question one of the Big Questions is going to be just how widely this thing has spread because hope picks was as i understand it still moving around the senior figures within the Administration Even though she was waiting for the results of her test. Yeah thats the sort of puzzling aspect of all of this number one why was hope hicks who started we understand experiencing symptoms of covert 1000 on wednesday Walking Around air force one masculists as were ported by a number of the press pool that was on the plane and then also you have to ask yourself why if there was even the exhibition of blue flu like symptoms that the president and 1st lady were not taking precautions then of taking the abundance of caution and self isolating instead the president went out to a fundraiser he continued to really proceed with the packed schedule including talking to reporters outside the south lot of the white house so the opportunity for exposure to so many individuals is great after that we know that hope is with when the number of Senior Administration officials as the president prepared for the president ial debate that took place on tuesday so we know that there have been a number of people that have been exposed and now the question becomes whether or not there is going to be a need for self isolation of these individuals which will only further 2 impact the president s campaign and his ability moving forward to try and win reelection and even conduct the business of government which brings up the question of the activation of the continuity of government and i can tell you that one of my sources told me already that it would be standard protocol to at least activate some aspects of the continuity of government as a precaution namely making sure that the Vice President in fact is safe and that he is remaining healthy and that after that after mike pence it would be House Speaker nancy pelosi the top democrat in the house of representatives who is 3rd in line should the president become gravely ill and not be able to continue his duties and committee obviously this is going to have a Significant Impact isnt it on the debates in the run up to the election possibly on the election itself just talk us through what the structure is and what contingencies if any are being discussed that we might be aware of at the moment. Well we know that already there were some questions about how the 2nd president ial debate was going to proceed given the conduct of both men but specifically the president was last tuesday evening there were concerns about whether or not there should be protocols in place to cut off the microphone of those that do not respect the moderator there were new rules that were being requested even examined in order to try and get some sort of control because clearly there was very little of that in the 1st debate but also we know that the next debate set to take place oct 15th and my abby was to be a town hall format what that means is that there would be undecided voters asking questions of the candidates but its unclear if that is even going to be able to go ahead there could potentially be a virtual tie question and answer session that could take place if donald trump is healthy but again with that thats very much in question at a rate now it seems that the most imminent pressing matter will be how the president ial duties continue and and then beyond that will be the campaign question already we know the president s schedule has been cleared get a very packed schedule for friday most of that has been wiped out he was scheduled to appear at a make America Great again rally in sanford florida this evening and was expected to go to wisconsin on saturday for a nother rally the question becomes whether there could be a way of doing that wisconsin rally virtually but for now we know that at least one rally that one scheduled to take place in florida has been canceled and very quickly the problem for donald trump in all of this is that these are both battleground states he needs to win if he wants to win reelection as already lagging in the polls behind his rival by 8 percent the president can ill afford to sort of relax his Campaign Schedule but yet thats exactly what has to happen now as a result of this positive test for covert 19 Committee Thanks very much thats our white house correspond. Kimberly hawker talking to us from washington d. C. And of course one of the considerations is the impact on the democratic nominee joe biden of course he and donald trump were in that very. Very intense debate that was happening just a few nights ago even though they were separate i want to bring in Alison Fisher whos in virginia for us allan this is clearly going to have some sort of impact if nothing else on the Democrats Campaign and how they handle this Going Forward particularly with relation to joe biden. Well were expecting a statement from the Biden Campaign probably within the hour they will try and meet the mean 70 and bulletins on the main breakfast she was here in the United States the question that i believe they have debating is whether or not to add a political element to this statement or whether it will simply be joe biden wishing the president and the 1st lady well Biden Campaign is expecting to come under pressure from some republicans to suspend campaigning while the president is self isolating over the next couple of weeks that seems unlikely the Biden Campaign throughout this is being very careful about social distancing protocols you have hared numerous times dont trump talking about how joe biden always wears a mask joe biden perhaps more at risk because of his age hes of course 77. 00 but he doesnt have the same problems with his weight that that the president does and then that is the question of how they advance the campaign from here on and it seems unlikely that at the very least the next president ial debate in miami will go ahead the Vice President ial debate which is due to take place on wednesday might also be in question given that mike pence has spent so much time with the president as well as the Biden Campaign just 24 hours ago announced that they were going to start and perhaps and canvassing particularly in those key states that kimberly was talking about that may know have to be rethought but sadly the Biden Campaign is fairly comfortable with that decision distancing prosser calls that they put in place its just a case now of where joe biden goes and what he does hes done a lot of Campaign Events be assumed via social media and no doubt will continue to do that the reality is that when it comes to u. S. President ial elections everyone talks about how there will be an october surprise and weve had them in so many elections in the past who would have thought that on the very feisty. Of october this would be the president ial surprise one other thing there may well be messaging being tested by the biden campi even as we speak so they strike the right choice but i would suspect that we will get nothing more from the buy in campaign in the next hour or so rather than just best wishes for the 1st lady and for the president because the buy in campaign wants to look as president ial as possible particularly given the big advantage that they have in the polls at the moment nationally and also in key swing states alan thanks very much thats alan fischer bringing us up to date and situation with the Democratic Campaign hes in virginia ok well lets take a closer look at the president s health now trump is 74 years old and considered overweight both make him high risk for the coronavirus concerns were raised about his condition in june when he appeared to have difficulty Drinking Water and coming down from the stage at an event one tweeted that the ramp was steep and very slippery dismissing speculation about his health in november last year trump made an unscheduled visit to the doctor for tests something thats usually noted in his public diary the white house said he was in good health during his campaign and 2016 from produce a note saying hed be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency dr later said trump had written a letter in self though to Peter Roebuck she is an Infectious Disease especially east and director of the School Center for social entrepreneurship at Oxford University and hes joining us via skype good to have you with us and how does it or so thank you very much indeed from what we know about President Donald Trumps physical condition what are the risks that hes facing. Well we knew of course that it danced ages associated with risk of more severe course of illness and a higher risk of death and there are various medical code words that he has that can also increase that risk in this case the president s weight in his most recent visit was classified as a piece so those 2 things probably to increase the risk that the president s infection could take a more severe course its really difficult to predict exactly what this means for any individual based on population studies but were of course very concerned how quickly i would like to know how severe the infection might be well we presume that were very early in the course of this infection presuming that the president has been tested regularly we dont know whether hes been having symptoms or not yet the white house released a carefully worded statement saying he was doing well but didnt say whether hes having symptoms that could have all that i think the course could range from no symptoms at all to something quite severe typically however those who face and more severe course for example require hospitalization often take that turn as they enter the 2nd week of illness so it may be that we start with a relatively mild course but we wont really know for sure whether hes making a recovery and avoiding that risk until perhaps a week out thats what we saw here for example with the Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was infected back in may the 1st several days will report as relatively mild but in the 2nd week of his illness of course he became quite ill and didnt require hospitalization and we were talking to our correspondent allan fresh from virginia he was talking about the the Democratic Campaign and the impact on that but of course he was also talking about that the last debate thats joe biden had with President Trump it was a very heated debate the 2 men were quite a distance apart what do you think the risk is to the democrat nominee. It depends on whether and when everybody who were in that room was tested before the debate but certainly if the president and or others in that room who are not Wearing Masks including the president s entire family were there and in fact if there is a risk we talk about this that sunita rule because of the transmission by a droplets but we know also that this virus can be transmitted by aerosol and that means the particles can sort of float up in the air almost like cigarette smoke and that can be increased when theres talking shouting singing etc so there is some risk here and certainly i think at least with the limited information we have right now that the Vice President would need to consider testing possibly even isolation given your expertise in Infectious Diseases transmission how concerned are you about the fact that hope picks the aide to the prime president appears to have been circulating through the senior membership of the white house or the white house in fact general me knowing that she had gone for a test but not knowing the results and a pot on plea not to using any sort of moscow toll its obviously a real concern as are reports that you know that she tested positive at least yesterday morning if not the evening before and yet the president who had been in contact with her continued on a busy public schedule including traveling to other events so both of those are real breaches of the of the white house and the u. S. Governments own guidelines certainly someone with symptoms requiring a test should be self isolating until they get the results of that test and new and of course that she was positive all this needed to be shut down much sooner all this tit was increase exposure and wrist others and thats going to make this more difficult to contain when the intestine to get opinion on this peter drew much we appreciate your time so thank you very much thank you robert. Well President Trump is joining a growing list of World Leaders whove been infected in iran dozens of politicians and religious leaders have contracted the virus that includes cabinet members as well as senior Vice President who john kerry and Vice President at the cot in july a brazilian president to both sonata announced hed caught it being one of the most prominent voices trying to minimize the illness calling it a little flu and floating the social distancing measures but its Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to intensive care in april he later said he was lucky to be discharged after a week and the doctors and nurses quote saved his life no question and he lets not speak to his joining us live from london Boris Johnson obviously from personal experience knowing exactly how badly people can be hit by this particularly when youre trying to run a country. Absolutely rob in fact when Boris Johnson was tested positive for covered 19 which was the end of march there was a period of a week during which he and his entourage insisted that he was only experiencing mild symptoms of that he was carrying on his job as normal in charge and feeling. But the the public could see that that wasnt quite what was happening it was just a few days in fact after him pose a lockdown all in the u. K. He went into a 7 day quarantine and so did in fact his Health Secretary matt hancock also tested positive at the same time but he disappeared on the steps of 10 downing street clapping for Health Workers and care workers looking very ill so a week later he said well i cant actually come out of isolation ive still got a cough a persistent cough even though i am ok 2 days later it was announced that hed been taken into hospital and the foreign secretary dominic rob then was chosen to deputize for Boris Johnson and then the night later Boris Johnson was taken into intensive care in a London Hospital where he stayed for 3 nights and he didnt leave hospital until 7 days or 8 days after he 1st went in there were photos and there was a video message he put out from the hospital but when he came out he was clearly a very frail person and he paid tribute to the Health Workers he looked after him and he said that they had polio they had to help him during 48 hours when things could have gone either way clearly he was very shaken by it or vote his experience wasnt as drastic as some people of a similar age whove been admitted to an intensive care unit because he was on a ventilator many people. In their fortys or fiftys in fact have spent weeks on ventilators before being discharged if in fact they did pull through Boris Johnson in the months following that started a drive to try to fight obesity in the u. K. Which is a big Health Problem saying that he himself had been overweight which had contributed to his problems just this week when i asked how in fact he had recovered whether he was fully over the the illness he said he was fitter than a butchers dog he said he lost weight and that had been a great help but in terms of the public political impact of it in the initial days after he came out of hospital his personal popularity ratings peaked they were higher than theyd ever been but they started to drop as some of the criticism about the way his government had handled the covered 1000 crisis but also how he for example had failed to punish his senior political adviser Dominic Cummings for bait breaking the the guidelines when he thought he might have the old miss and also criticism over things like. Protective gear and testing in the u. K. Those have all come back to harm his popularity he says that he is a fit person of course but its still a long journey and he is admitting himself that there is a thing called long coveted which sees people suffer some of the effects years down the line that in thank you very much 1st and from london. Well as several World Leaders have sent their well wishes to the trumps russian president Vladimir Putin wished his american counterpart a swift recovery saying his vitality good spirits and optimism will help him cope the Prime Minister of india also reacting on twitter saying wishing my friends donald trump and the 1st lady millennium a quick recovery and good health and the director general of the World Health Organization is tweeted say my best wishes to President Donald Trump and 1st lady melania for a full and speedy recovery while one. Senior political analyst joining us now from paul paris good to have you with us as always. Obviously several leaders giving their responses to the news about the trumps they are particularly interesting the leader of the w. H. O. Which donald trump of course has been very critical of in the fight against coronavirus just talk us through how you think this is going to be viewed by foreign governments around the world. But today imagine that the 1st thing this morning. One of the ministers they come up. With. Expansive. Mike pence. Because in the next couple of days the functioning as heard earlier from the johnson went on for 11 days but later on when. He had to had to be someone else. In the United States unlike in britain this is very very clear that you can Prime Minister doesnt even have his own daughter. American president much more. And he does have a line in case something happens to him. So i think most of the planning that these for the next few days weeks. Bends things and how they should. Anything in me. Otherwise i think since we are in the last leg. Pain probably. Already continues. For next 2 years. Or. Obviously the u. S. Is nevertheless still be the driving force behind several initiatives as it sees it around the world not least here in the middle east particularly between some of the gulf nations and israel given the fact that there are questions about how widespread the virus could be amongst the Senior Leadership in the white house if any of those people go down if they have to be quarantined with this if they actually get sick with it does that have any impact on the momentum of initiatives that the u. S. To put in place not just in the middle east actually but around the world. Look the last 2 days weeks the Top Administration sucked. Out of the middle east and that is a benefit for the campaign by getting if they opt out of emirates and by the time the us because i dont think there was anything upcoming and there was a what they could do even. Deal sellouts and its not been a moment i was with is of any time soon so really there was nothing urgent. Messages to do or not do there was some or some rumor or rumors about potential anything up with iran because the president still is not there and very well. What their actions but i dont mean it that much either be that as it may i would want to mess to clean and the national i think would a fortunate moment for psychology if richard ruled almost anything else because the sun does it the leaks and almost everyone is basically taking a stand the logical stuff on the question of the economy and the question. Of the question of russia and china on the question of civil chaos in the United States lord borger so are most of these questions people have taken a stand and now whats one of these years like american citizens are looking for who is better to lead the country in this in that sense. Looking. From getting sick why this is coming back to where some i think it was to get reckless during the campaign by being so exposed to the virus other will look at it and say look if you mix it. He would come out you know a real fighter johnson did not really milk at all the way but i think trump might be able to and hes already been making statements like we probably caught the virus because thanks for the service and soldiers. Because they thought we had done a great job so hes already its beginning his own. Sickness of this serve him in the campaign whether he whether or how he makes it and how healthy or. Time 2 weeks 3 weeks or more that would have nervous interest. Over only those who want my mom a shot as well just as a senior political analyst moment as always thank you very much well President Trump spoke to fox news ahead of getting his results back and describe the difficulties of social distancing its very hard when youre with soldiers when youre with. Airman were with the marines and i went there and the Police Officers im with them so much when they come of it its very hard to say stay back. Its a tough kind of a situation its a terrible thing. Ok i want to bring back our White House Correspondent Kimberly Hawke in washington d. C. Because we were talking to. Earlier on and he was describing how the joe Biden Campaign is going to be trying to manage their response to this because obviously this has got significant political overtones how do you think the given the fact that both sides are going to be trying to find the political advantages in this situation because thats the situation that were in at the moment how do you think this is going to play out in the u. S. Well in terms of support for the president. There could be some sympathy that the president could get as a result of this as and its true that if the president does get ill but then recover this will certainly inject a boost of sort of almost invincibility into the president s campaign one that he could utilize right now given the fact that the polls seem to suggest that he is behind joe biden although the white house has continually said dont trust the polls they were wrong in 2016 and theyll be wrong again again that optimism that is part of the donald trump round in terms of strategy its still unclear aides its really this news has broken in the wee hours of the morning the lights were on in the white house for most of the night it appears that there is an effort underway to try and strategize how to deal with not just the campaign but also the running of government as so aides working into the wee hours of the morning trying to deal with that and still some of that being formulated so were standing outside the white house right now waiting to go in and get the latest information from the press office so far weve not had any official updates all we know is that the president s schedule has been cleared he was scheduled to travel to florida for a make America Great again rally that has been canceled the only official duty that the president has in terms of campaigning is to meet with supporters virtually via telephone for a discussion about cope at 19 and how that affects seniors the president now counting himself among that group so this is something that is going to be an hour by hour day by day type of situation but in terms of dollar terms reelection bid the challenge of course is that there isnt a lot of time were 5 weeks from november 3rd down roughly and the president really needed every day that he could in order to. Try and win over those undecided voters those very few undecided voters because of course was weve said repeatedly throughout teletypes presidency this isnt a divided america his supporters have remained loyal but he has struggled to try and capture new supporters that are so necessary to win reelection but in the run up to the election and as the campaigning has been going on weve seen the republicans trying to reframe the message if you like and move the publics attention away from the impact of covert and towards racial situations within the u. S. The economy and so on this brings covert 19 right back center stage as far as the election is concerned doesnt. Absolutely theres no question that this president had hoped to win reelection and all indications prior to cope in 1000. 00 hitting the United States is that he would be able to do that because even those that didnt like donald trump appreciated having a job having an ability to put food on the table but all of those gains and then some have been wiped out as a result of the pandemic the shutdowns that took place in the early spring and and many of those jobs havent come back so dont really struggle to try and project that it was reopening that it was business as usual that things were coming back that this was going to be the socalled the shaped recovery where things plummeted but were bouncing back quickly now the chief cheerleader of that has cut cope with it is being slowed down its going to make it almost impossible to deliver that message given the fact that the president has been hit hard you know it will become clear for many days even weeks how the president is going to fare given that he is older and age and also has some of the trademark sides of obesity that we know are markers of many people who struggle with this virus once they contract it so this is the challenge for the president putting out a brave face hes done that so far he called into hannity as we heard there in that clip trying to say that things are going well for hope pics that he had a lot of optimism at that point not revealing what we now a suspect is that he already knew that he was going to be facing a similar battle in terms of trying to deal with covert 19 Committee Thanks very much obviously as you say were going to be watching not to see who says walt next but for not thank you very much indeed. Now its time for the weather and here is everton yes thanks very much for were looking at storm alex again removing mention that yesterday the 1st named winter storm a such of the season northwestern parts of europe its arrived with a vengeance to say this system making its way not respecting of shall a cloud just off the coast of ireland and its been sweeping down towards the far northwest of france a lovely swirl of that a real meteorologist delight this you can see how tightly packed the ice about a little dart board effects going on there also if you underneath there has to be set off at the end of there just you can see that real swiss roll effect there was assistance been spinning away also of rain on this one around 54 millimeters of rain and weve also seen falling when the some of the sting jet that winds gusting to around 185 Kilometers Per Hour so damaging winds are going to continue swirling away just around that northwestern corner of france but you can see much of western europe feeling the impacts of this storm were drawing that warm moist air just around the western side of the mediterranean heavy rain thundery downpours just around the alps and fabulous snow as well possibility of some flooding and disruption certainly more destructive weather continuing just around the northwest of france pushing into southern parts of england the rain not quite as much of an issue as those winds but that wet and windy weather thats going to continue to go on through saturday more big downpours across much of northwest europe and guess what it continues to the end of the weekend alex and thank you very much indeed and youre watching aljazeera let me give you a reminder our top story this hour u. S. President donald trump and 1st lady malani i have tested positive for coke at 90 the president s confirmed the result in a late night 20 hours after a top aide was confirmed to have the virus. The diagnosis has thrown the president ial Election Campaign into confusion trump has canceled his next planned event in florida. To other news now armenia says its ready to roll. With mediators to reestablish a ceasefire in the disputed region of not all know how to back fighting with john is now into a 6 day both sides had previously resisted calls to deescalate the u. S. Russia and france have called for talks with no preconditions and 3 nations cochair the minsk group set up to find a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to the nagornokarabakh conflict there the most serious clashes since the end of the war in the 1990 s. Armenia says the disputed regions air Defense Systems have shut down and azerbaijani warplane a few hours earlier reported shooting drones to near the armenian capital yet havent done it smith has more from staff and not on account of. Nagornokarabakh defense minister says overnight there was intensive fighting along the line of contact all along the line of contact thats the border between the goanna karabakh and azerbaijan it runs along the eastern side of the go on a karabakh from north to south and he says that in the last 2 days there been a further 54. 00 of their soldiers killed bringing that total to more now than 140. 00 since fighting broke out on sunday the most tense period of fighting of contact between the 2 sides since 2016 the defense minister also says that if there is a desire to exchange the bodies of dead soldiers between both sides between are between nagornokarabakh and the azerbaijan side then there needs to be at least temporary ceasefire but he says at the moment there is no intention or there is no plan to have one and i mean is Prime Minister nickel and he says that he told the white house recently that before there is any cease fire they need to get rid of the what he calls mercenaries and terrorists that are in this region and he needs to get them out of here before theres any cease fire hes referring to the allegations. Sent in mercenaries from syria to fight alongside Azerbaijani Forces allegations turkey denies. Rather firstly of walkers joining me now from tbilisi so are many are saying its ready to work towards reestablishing a ceasefire but we are getting reports of more fighting and fresh attacks on civilians bring us up to speed with that. Lets talk about that intersect with let me bring you up today of course with the latest in terms of whats happening on the ground. From from the conflict zone and its theres a lot actually happening the latest is that state panic at the regional capital of nagornokarabakh art sack as the armenians. Call it has come under its heaviest shelling artillery for well since the start of all of this back on sunday and the armenian karabakh. Saying that a lot of civilian infrastructure and there are wounded and that rescue services have also been hit maybe that means an ambulance crew i dont know will get more on that soon as we have it at the same time there are a couple of roads that lead into karabakh from the armenian side and were getting reports that these areas have taken out a strategic bridge and have been targeting also the northern road in for the last few days so there certainly seems to be a very Strategic Offensive going on at the moment from these areas to to seize the upper hand they are also saying of course that they have come under fire that some of their civilian areas cities and towns have come under fire i can mention a couple here. Is a village in the region has been reporting a bit and also. In a few other places as well well bring you more on that when we have it robin lets talk about the diplomatic side as i mentioned before many are saying it may work towards establishing a ceasefire if it works with mediators is it too soon to suggest that that is a positive move. I think it was seen as a very positive move by azeri media lets say people watching this thinking that armenia was perhaps willing to concede that it needed to go back to the negotiating table as a result of the fighting that is going on but nicko passion and the Prime Minister of armenia has maintained that there cant be any return to talks while the shooting continues so yes armenia says its willing to go back to the peace format the socalled minsk process and that is lets say for those who want to see an end to the fighting a positive development but as of right john maintains that the only way this is going to end is if the armenians leave karabakh and thats just simply not going to happen without terrible bloodshed and who knows how long this fighting could go on for if it is going to be a fight to the end between us by john in armenia robin thanks very much indeed robin for us here walker in tbilisi ok lets return to our top story now the breaking news that u. S. President donald trump and 1st lady millennia have tested positive for cover 19 lets talk to Brendan Oconnor hes an associate professor of american politics at the university of sydneys United States studies center and hes joining us on skype from melbourne thank you very much indeed for giving us your time sir really everybody is going to be watching to see who says what in the coming hours on day. Yes i mean its a bit of a white see game to seeing how sick donald trump is going to be a how long hell be incapacitated what role mike and the Vice President will play how this will obviously affect the can i and opinion polling so many things up for grabs you know 30 days away from revelation in the United States. Huge news after to kill a given trumps dismissal of where in mosques he mocked joe biden for wearing one of the largest mosque the day of a same trump you know was not cautious with regard to the coronavirus and look whats happened to him the thing is that the democrats to an outsider would appear to have the advantage given the circumstances but they really kind of dont do that theyre going to have to play their response to this and what they do in the run up to the election very very carefully on the. Yes i mean in many ways though probably just let the story play out why i guess or anticipate how this is going to be so difficult for the Republican Party its not guy trumps sort of base why of campaigning is to get out there and get free advertising through giving rallies and if you dont have that hes had less money than biden in the last month was so its going to be hot to campaign when the moneys dry when trump is now there on the news every day giving the speeches so i think the democrats strategy to weigh has been to stand back and sort of say trump inflicting these sort of own goals and wounds to his own campaign how this will play out though whether that be a sympathy for trump if you get sicker and sicker and how the country can be quite frankly governed when youve got someone potentially incapacitated as we saw with Boris Johnson is there any obligation on the democrats to pause or hold to their campaigning if the president does become more sick and is essentially unable to campaign any further ahead of the election. Well theres 2 people running mike pence is running mate hes debating kemah harris next week thats going to be a huge buy given the age of both of the candidates and the potential that joe biden might have caught the coronavirus at the debate last wait that possibility so this is going to paint can continue on the Campaign Trump is you know the head of a bullet a Political Party the Republican Party they can continue the ads in the campaign so i dont think theyll be any cause i just think the democrats who want to play it carefully have not over anticipating what will happen with donald trump theyll be i think a lot of attendant say to back off maybe some of the more highly critical trump by 7 ties in attacks but focusing the issue back on to the coronavirus is a real weight loss for trump so i wanted to get away from this issue talk about laura noda with the coronavirus something he downplayed at various times says it was really just like a common cold or a flu nothing too serious this is really forcing him to face the reality of his words in many regards we really appreciate your joining us on knowledge giving us the benefits of your experience Brendan Oconnor thank you very much indeed my pleasure ok lets get some more reaction now president of the European Council and Charles Michel has said he is wishing donald trump and 1st lady millennia a speedy recovery goes on to say covert 19 is a battle that we all continue to fight every day no matter where we are ok lets speak to dominic cain whos live for us in berlin that e. U. Leaders who are meeting for a summit at the moment i would imagine this is of course going to dominate that agenda in that. Well its certainly something that comes home to all of the heads of government the heads of state because the pandemic has really struck europe as well many countries having really suffered in the 1st phases of the pandemic remember the e. U. And to negotiate budgets to try to help the fight against the pandemic the interesting thing insofar as the reaction from the human reaction from the leaders has ferried butts on twitter weve seen several different officials posting their thoughts or having their colleagues post their thoughts for them and on that note stephens i but who is the chief spokesperson from the german press off agency who works for Angela Merkel has put her thoughts out on twitter saying chancellor merkel sends donald and Melania Trump all her best wishes for a full and speedy recovery from their covert 19 infection is one view thats the view of angle america we know also that the polish president and judge duda on twitter posted again about the links between poland the United States saying he sent his best wishes to the president and to the 1st lady in the hopes for a speedy recovery and then beyond the e. U. From the United Kingdom we know that Boris Johnson the british Prime Minister also sent his best wishes to the 1st family in the white house remember that when Horace Johnson speaks about quite saying corona he has personal experience of that he was taken to hospital we remember much earlier during the course of the pandemic and spent some time in intensive care such was the level of his infection he of course made a full recovery and its that sort of full recovery that he and his counterparts around the European Union are wishing that the president and his wife the 1st lady will experience in the course of the next few weeks or so and as you say the e. U. Leaders are all gathered right now the heads of government heads. States in brussels for the e. U. Summit thats taking place there and as you were mentioning earlier it is going to be part of the agenda it is not of course the whole agenda just talk us through what the leaders are likely going to be discussing when theyre there. Well as it happens one particular issue to be discussed today is the coronavirus is the pandemic it is the European Response to it if you will recall over the course of the past few months e. U. Leaders time and again has been called upon to do what has to be done from the point of view of some of the ailing economies of europe to help them withstand the onslaught brought about by corona but thats not the only issue thats going to be spoken about the Digital Economy and other intra e. U. Political items are on the agenda daryn thank you very much indeed dominic came bringing us up to date from berlin its been 2 years since saudi journalists remark he was murdered inside his countrys consulate in istanbul after initially denying reports of his death saudi officials said the journalist was killed in a quote rogue operation by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom a coalition of human Rights Groups has been urging mayors of the worlds major cities to boycott a summit being hosted by saudi arabia. Has more from istanbul jamal its been quite clear that saudi arabia would very much like to draw a line under this but that does not seem as though its going to happen. And it is not despite 2 years since she was killed after entering that building behind me still people are calling for justice to be served not least because till now those responsible for killing him have not been accountable and possibly more importantly as far as his family are concerned the remains of his body have not been disclosed saudi officials refusing to say whats happened to him so he hasnt even been able to be afforded a proper burial or earlier today some of his friends held a vigil or some press conference outside the consulate so among them was mr truong because richie who is the head of the arab charge media house and a close friend of the late he joins me thank you for joining us whats your message today true years after the murder of german officials you. First of all thanks to aljazeera because from the 1st time until now the covert this issue. From all of the sites so before 2 years gemma and to did at this time and to disconcert but didnt come out up to that time until now we are asking for 2 teams we need. Justice for. Why dont people can you kill d. What they did and more to stop what does justice for the 2nd tease which you are talking for john where is the body or. Should the court sense would you go were meant to change it is idea of it in 2 years many times by city as they did in any good true story about what had happened very. Bloody so we ask us king again it is or 2nd point where is the. Body the turret to reach we need from the sword out to be and go in because the jamaat has been killed in this consulate in the rooms in disconsolate many people still working here so why they didnt think about the psychology of the people we are working here so killed here any turkish when you are asking who are coming for visa here they are afraid to go and to disconsolate why because kids here so they didnt want to and so we need from just should out to be in government or a situation to give us disconsolate we want to made. A museum here for Jamal Khashoggi so you want to transfer transform this building interim museum in memory of him one other thing thats taking place in turkey is there is a court case in turkey. A few days ago the turkish governor attorney general i did more names more suspects through it. In reality how are you going to exert or how are you going to implement justice on those saudi citizens of saudi arabia will not release them to turkey see to. Next month that would be could explain the names and some things more about digital coaches you. Can get International Organizations for. Taking those people here in turkey and the courts to still continue here do they wish to cash gold to do this. Do you or. All International Association for these research wrong culture to thank you very much for your time simple demands here despite years passing since the murder of to modify should she at the top of that is a humane one from his friends and family asking simply for the saudi authorities to disclose the location of his body or the remains of his body so they can at least bury him properly back to europe jamal thanks very much indeed thats similar talking to us from istanbul. Frances president has described islam as a religion that is in crisis all over the world today. Made the comments during an address on battling radicalism in france he also announced a draft law aimed at strengthening secularism separatism bill was delayed due to the corona virus pandemic critics say it will stigmatize muslims the trasher bottles joining us from paris just give us some more of the background to what mr marco has been saying. Yes and i dont mind giving this speech separatism it was a long speech and lasted nearly 2 hours and what he is saying is that there is no place in the French Republic for communities to be divided along religious lines he said that leads to dangerous fractures now he singled out what he called radical islam as being the greatest threat to french unity to french law and to its secular rules he also talked about last weeks attack outside the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper carried out by a young man who told police that he was angry about that newspapers republication of cartoons of the prophet mohammad well about omar also there was no place for such crimes in france he also sketched out measures that will be introduced in a bill of the new law that is being prepared by the government on separatism it will include measures such as cracking down on foreign financing for mosques preventing foreign moms from preaching in france or he said he didnt wish to stigmatize muslims but weve been people speaking to people here in this town where he presented his separatism bill and his plans and his speech and many of them say that they indeed feel that thats exactly what he is doing that he is once again marginalizing people who already feel very stigmatized and they said. Would be a lot better off concentrating on doing things like reducing poverty reducing unemployment realities in their daily lives that they said can push people to the fringes of society natasha thanks very much indeed. For talking to us from power. Sam is a dons going to be here in a couple of minutes with more on all these stories including the fact that u. S. President donald trump and his 1st lady millennia have tested positive for covert 19 the president confirmed the results in a late night tweet hours after a top aide was confirmed to have the virus the 8 hole picks a child with a jump several times in the last few days including on tuesday to the debate in Cleveland Ohio the next day they flew together to a Campaign Rally in minnesota now the diagnosis as strong the president ial Election Campaign into confusion trump has canceled his next planned event in florida the president s physician had said mr trump was well without saying any information about his its an symptoms and not in the president would stay isolated in the white house goodbye for now. On the scene with only 8 months left until election day candidates are warming up for the big day with a series of debates with a diverse range of stories from across the algae Senior Correspondent to take some of the stories that have impacted states with britain seemingly heading for a no deal drugs can a last minute deal be struck between london and brussels algy xenas emmy award mean anything like its return to the series on the u. S. Communities moved in and conveyed 19 as the incumbent president seeks a 3rd term and the opposition has formed an alliance against what course of the country kate says. Troubles with often violent protests october on aljazeera hi im Steve Clemons suit and i have a question because these days its hard to filter out the newly sinking track of whats really important to the bottom line tackles the big issues this issue in the United States its people its economy and the way it deals with the rest of the world the bottom line only on aljazeera and. Current tensions between countries along the river nile have their roots in the colonial past from egypt point of view cannot attend an agreement political victory a new political realities on the ground are increasing the sense of uncertainty over this the rhythm out there with the need to review the elderly and how the countries through which Good Neighbors can benefit could topple the. Struggle over the mild phone 00. Earthquake. Quarantined in the white house president dog trump and 1st lady melania test positive for covert 19. Im sammys a than this is al jazeera live from doha also coming out. Trumps campaigning is now on the hold what does this mean for the election and his battle with joe biden. I was there a mess when needed when needed i wear a mask ok let me ask i dont know i dont