A high rise apartment in north and south korea where live from seoul. We begin in mali where a kid not a politician and a french aid have landed in the capital bamako after being released as part of a major Prisoner Exchange the deal was announced by the countrys new Transitional Government on choose day the hostages had been held by an alliance of groups linked to Al Qaida Nicholas Haq as the story of. The end of their ordeal. Wrapped in a white scarf is french aid worker Sophie Pickler not free at last after spending almost 4 year hostage in the hands of al qaeda affiliate fighters in northern mali as desert. Shelter 51 year old son sebastian. Before. He had lost hope of ever seeing her life something. That says to her son they held me for almost 4 years you were there with me i could hear you say hold on dont give up here among those released are also italian missionaries Somalian Army soldiers and opposition leaders who say all were held by armed groups affiliated to al qaeda. I want to think the new authority in mali which changed during my captivity Vice President ame president was sworn in on the 25th of september and the next day my abductors asked me to see the proof of life video the president was a fish and and quake. Outside hundreds chant sumi champion. The vehicle carrying si se is mauled by his supporters. Young position leader was abducted near his hometown during aprils parliamentary elections despite months of negotiations kate his government failed to bring his release critics of the former president says this was intentional the new government of transition set up by the military that overthrew orchestrated the hostage release with the help of french Intelligence Officers in exchange almost 200 alqaeda affiliate fighters held in prisons were released earlier in the week despite the exchange fighting between armed groups and the money an army as well as 14000 french and u. N. Troops continue in the center of the country. Under pressure from the United Nations the government of transition also released dozens of political officials held after august this coup including former Prime Minister greasy weeks after taking power malis new leadership is proving that it can succeed in deliver where the former regime failed bringing to an end for some the anguish and suffering that so many are experiencing in mali Nicholas Hawk al jazeera. The u. S. Has imposed sanctions on irans Banking Sector its the latest move but what washington describes as terrans Nuclear Ambitions and terror activities the measures blacklist almost all of irans Financial Sector irans foreign minister zarif tweeted in response the United States wants to sabotage irans remaining channels for buying food and medicine. He maintained iranians will survive the sanctions and said the u. S. Action amounted to a crime against humanity he warned those who blow iranian money will face justice rosalyn jordan has more from washington d. C. Perhaps the biggest criticism of the trumpet ministrations sanctions regime against iran is that the culminating impact is that this is hurting the iranian people certainly we have seen that criticism coming not just from e. U. Nations but also from a wide range of humanitarian organizations around the world now the Treasury Department went in announced this latest round of sanctions against these 18 iranian banks said that these banks would still have exemptions so that they could bring in funds to facilitate the purchase of emergency food and medicine to serve the iranian people of course people have criticized the u. S. For making it much harder to get that sort of humanitarian aid to the iranian people but leave no doubt the trumpet ministration has made one of its key Foreign Policy objectives the International Isolation of iran because of what it says is irans attempts to develop a viable Nuclear Weapons program and it believes that by cutting off all avenues of getting cash into the hands or the under the control of the iranian government that the trumpet ministration ultimately will be successful but we have not seen that at least not as of right now Hillary Mann Leverett as a former white house and u. S. State Department Official she says the Trump Administration is deliberately targeting the iranian population to weaken the government. I think there is there is not really no doubt that the trumpet ministration is going after the iranian people the heart of what i would call the hardliners in the tribe in ministration in that me seem a little bit hard to believe many would think caster why russia over the entire Top Administration is hardliners but there has been a split there are real hardliners in the Administration Like the recently appointed or elevated envoy for iran affairs abrams who ive worked with in the white house in the 1st Bush Administration and its important to understand that these hardliners someone like Elliott Abrams they were around in the 1990 s. It was their thinking it was their policy advice that led the clinton and Bush Administrations to impose these kinds of sanctions on iraq in the 1990 s. From 1902003 these type of sanctions were imposed on iraq where over a 1000000 people died 500000 of them children and nobody cared nobody in washington cared at the time the secretary of state Madeleine Albright said it was worth it worth it for what the point here is not to change behavior it wasnt to change saddam husseins behavior in iraq its not to change irans behavior its to fundamentally weaken these countries by weakening the population that was what was done in iraq and that is what is the intent here with iran to south korea where fire has engulfed a 33 story Apartment Building hundreds of residents in the city of all son were forced to flee their homes the blaze has now been put out with only minor injuries and light smoke inhalation reported the investigation is underway robert lloyd joins us now from seoul rob certainly dramatic pictures but a lucky escape for most. Its a pretty incredible outcome given the ferocity of this blaze this began late thursday night when pretty much everybody would have been in their homes it began around a 3rd of the way up the tower and spread very quickly whipped up by very strong winds it seemed it was fueled by insulating material in the outer cladding of the tower sometimes jumping a number of floors as it went up the tower and burning so fiercely there in fact its set off some fires in neighboring buildings now the fire brigade was there within minutes of the alarm 1st being raised the unknowing very quickly realized how serious this fire was and then sent in other units from the rest of the city in the surrounding area the fire Safety Standards in some of the south koreas larger buildings have been an ongoing issue but it seems your parities here have been praised for their response also being praised the residents themselves everybody evacuated very quickly those who couldnt get out initially some of them found their way to the roof to await rescue and others still managed to find their way to whats known as evacuation floor in buildings over a certain height in south korea by law you have to have one floor which is basically fireproof dont the residents who couldnt get out some of them found their way to that floor to await rescue by the fire services. Thank you live reporting for us in solve them. The World Health Organization has announced a record one day global jump in corona virus infections nearly 339000. 00 people were diagnosed the Johns Hopkins university truck hit shows the total is passed 36000000. 00 more than a 1000000 people are known to have died while more than 25000000 have recovered the rise in cases is led by a surge in infections in europe theres been almost 100000 new infections thats the highest recorded single day total for the entire region. Britain is amongst the countries considering further restrictions the virus is spreading particularly fast in Northern England from oldham and Greater Manchester journal reports. Come from the Council Street by street door to door this is what it takes to contain an outbreak it has this been a rise in this particular area weve got to miss test this with us these are mainly unpaid volunteers working with the council in oldham Greater Manchester an area turning the tide on rising covert infection rates while the rest of manchester remains the current u. K. Hot spot i think its brilliant and here i still. Think its brilliant should do it this everywhere manisha. This doorstep testing here but severe testing shortages elsewhere confusing local restrictions are having little effect so oldham is doing for itself what the government is struggling to keeping people safe the Central Government needs to learn from those in local government about what weve been doing and whats been successful they did to listen to us and rather than doing broadcast surveys room where they tell us what the government is doing which its not always clear whether or not its backed up by the science that dialogue needs to be 2 way we need to be feeding back into the government what were doing on the ground thats working and then they need to learn from that and roll out some other areas rather than imposing kind of top down restrictions that are not always but by the science and appear legitimate to the vast numbers of people another aspect of why infection rates are spiralling so alarmingly up here in the north is that when the National Lockdown was lifted touring the summer it was done on a london centric basis leaving infection rates still uncomfortably high in parts of the north well social and economic inequalities have combined since then to do much of the rest. Its known as the north south divide higher levels of unemployment overcrowding and poverty that are now contributing to rising hospital admissions to the northwest reaches of. The very best event places for example actually quite rapidly so start with it was 15 plays being used and off west and but every month i got about. About you could say almost a factor of 10 increase and there are students lots of them back on campus since september most now confined to cramped apartments and halls of residence a predictable wave of student infections increased manchesters overall rate 10 fold some may be tempted to think this is all happening a long way from the capitol but as the government prepares to announce new lockdown rules that could be economically disastrous up here the predictions are that london could be just 2 weeks behind john a whole al jazeera manchester. Still ahead on our desire a. Lot of iranians mourn the death of a poet singer who was banned for supporting and he government protests. And a golden week for challenger people celebrating the annual holiday generate billions in revenue for the struggling tourism industry. But. Once again welcomes another look at the international forecast of course we are now looking to see what delta has in store for southern parts of the u. S. You can see regaining strength its a big system this one about a 1000 kilometers wide and its pushing up towards louisiana it will eventually ease its way across much of arkansas this is sea level Mississippi Valley pushing up towards the Tennessee Valley seeing some. Heavy rainfall over the next few days and as a major storm of course damaging winds and well of course also concern about the storm such a low lying land this caused that will gradually make its way little further north which an ace was heading towards the east coast as we go on through sassi over towards a cow a lot is to the north of that is not too bad because some wet weather into eastern parts of canada and some western weather towards western parts of canada and there we go along last araby sansom right pushing into Northern Areas of california forces not sinking as far south as me my like but temperatures do fall away 2324 degrees over the next day showers falling back in to proceed northwest and quarter by the time we do come to sunday wetter weather coming back across the eastern seaboard then as what is left as delta blues into the open waters. When if the o. P. s rose and forced them all to cross the cruising from power the new administration aimed for unity through an Ambitious Program of political reform. But 2 years on. People in power are asked whether the countrys diverse ethnic interests will ever be reconciled. The battle for a field on a. Youre watching out is there a reminder of our top stories this hour a kidnapped molly and politician and a french aid worker have learned in Barclays Capital bamako after being released as part of a major Prisoner Exchange the deal was announced by the countrys new Transitional Government who say. The u. S. Is impose more sanctions on irans Banking Sector its the latest move to curb what washington describes as terrans new can basins and terror activities the measures blacklist almost all of iraqs Financial Sector. A fire in a 33 story Apartment Building in the south korean city of course hundreds of thousands hundreds of residents to flee their homes the blazes that we put up with only minor injuries and like smoke inhalation. Hospitals in iran are running out of intensive care beds as new corona virus infections rose above 4000. 00 for the 3rd day in a row its the worst affected country in the middle east restrictions are being tightened a mosque will become mandatory out those into iran from saturday. But the restrictions on public gatherings didnt stop thousands of iranians from flooding the streets to mourn the death of one of the most one of the countrys most celebrated singers Mohammad Reza shah gerry and was a Grammy Nominated composer singer and interventionist but for many iranians his legacy extended beyond music. So the palace revolts the it was the voice of a generation and when he died many iranians could not mourn alone Mohammad Reza should cerium died in tehran on thursday after a nearly 2 decades battle with cancer for more than 50 years he was an ambassador of persia new zick and resonated with iranians through song. The maestro was an honor for our country his value was not appreciated as much as he deserved it a felon and years must come for the value of such a person to be truly perceived was as word spread mourners swarm to the hospital despite much of the capital being on lockdown to counter rising covered 19 infections. I am very upset he was a very good and popular person and he was with people and he was the voice of the people. After should jerry and body lift the hospital his son addressed the crowd. That. My father has been transferred to tehran symmetry there will be a prayer for him there on friday then they will be transferred to his birth town mashad we want to bury him beside fidel save a great poet. The 1st verse during his career should gerry and trying to stay above politics and with the people but in 2009 he had to choose during antigovernment demonstrations he spoke out in favor of protest is the iranian government reacted by banning his music state media boycotted him and yet his popularity group. He took the side of the people and the kanishka not all of that is mastery of the little. Popularity and also his could rock timely political scene with me and really popular and respected among political options. That respect was witnessed upon his days president Hassan Rouhani and foreign minister zarif tweeted in condolence serif wrote maestro should jerry and was a great and true ambassador of iran her children and most of all her culture i extend my deepest condolences to iranians across the world and particularly to his loved ones. Zarif included this video should gerry and singing the famous persian ballad dawn bit the. Its a song iranians know well they sang it to him from outside hospital in his final days. Its about a bird that sings caged in the nice to bring about a new doom for the a priest. The organizers of next weeks u. S. President ial debates have refused to overturn their decision to hold the event virtually thats despite Donald Trumps doctor stating in a letter that he would be cleared to resume public activities from saturday his challenger joe biden said the debate should be delayed by a week and held in person something the Term Campaign agreed to protesters marching through the u. S. City of mia minneapolis after a former Police Officer charged over the death of george floyd was released on bail. Has been custody in a minnesota prison ahead of his march trial but was freed after posting a 1000000. 00 bond floyd was killed when chervin kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in may. Russia has invited the Foreign Ministers of armenia and azerbaijan to moscow for peace talks its the latest effort to end the increasingly violent conflict over the region region of. Earlier on thursday armenia accuses ery forces of shelling the holy savey cathedral in the gonna care about. Hundreds of people have died in fighting a lawsuit weeks the disputed territories officially part of us by john but its controlled by armenia. Smith reports and the regions main city of stepanek and it. Will. Not be much time for anything else but dealing with new casualties at stepan curts main hospital its 10 times busier than normal since the 1st shell started falling 11 days ago the head of the emergency unit was telling us as this patient came in. More than 350. 00 armenian soldiers have been killed and hundreds more injured since the start of fighting with azerbaijan theres aries do not release figures for their killed or wounded soldiers. Some of my friends were injured in our 1st and 2nd wars and i can say that then we had more gunshots or rather like williams now they using different types of missiles and the wing did have big injuries but we stood still in medicine has improved so we try to save lives and human organs and not leave people with disabilities the stresses etched in the faces of the medical staff here the human cost is mounting on both sides after the collapse of an easy 26 year long ceasefire this modern hospital and stuff and i heard has been or stretched to the limit by the bombardment of this town of convoy of people injured. During the fighting and the bombardment. Armenian missiles have hit towns and villages in azerbaijan well away from the conflict zone this is barda around 20 kilometers from the line of contact that separates nagornokarabakh from azerbaijan. And this is gone boy more than 30 kilometers away. Karabakh is azeri territory but has a selfgoverning Ethnic Armenian majority. Wants to restore its sovereignty that. Group of woodland it will more than a shell fragment came in hurt my arm and also killed the animals as you can see if we are staying at home women and children we have not left we are not going to run away why should we leave our lands russia france and moscow have been holding talks to try and bring about a ceasefire but with tensions rising between armenia and azerbaijan the hopes of sima shattered as the missile debra littering the streets. Aljazeera stepping nagornokarabakh. President says he will resign once a new cabinet is appointed parliament has so far failed to get enough members to together to agree on who should be Prime Minister protesters forced the resignation of the government on tuesday theyre angry over a disputed election there all the results of since been an old now russia says its obliged by security treaty to prevent a total breakdown in kyrgyzstan. Human rights activists in colombia have warned that they continue to face threats and attacks on their lives a new report by Amnesty International accuses the government of doing little to protect them at least 223. 00 activists have been killed since the beginning of the. Reports from the capital bogota. 5 members of a Rural Community in the volatile region of the 19 yo were killed by armed men 2 weeks ago the perpetrators filmed in this tribute to images of the aftermath to further instill fear the west the latest mass killing in colombia where violence is spiraling in remote Areas Community leaders are fighting to defend themselves and their land against criminal groups involved in Drug Trafficking illegal gold mining and other illicit activities but often deadly results in a new report by Amnesty International condemned the colombian government for inaction. And narrative has been billed especially internationally that colombia is now in the post conflict process in reality we see that colombia is on conflict unfortunately continues to be a daily reality for millions of people. Who leads an Indigenous Group in the Amazon Region of says she received countless threats as she tried to confront Oil Companies in her territory. For the simple reason of working for human rights we made enemies from wanting to lead and defend the community i have received Death Threats have been forced to leave the area the coronavirus and them it has only made matters worse without reducing levels of protection such as state provided bodyguards in armored vehicles. A peace deal between the colombian government and the countrys main rebel group the fark in 2016 was supposed to and decades of bloodshed but only a fraction of its provisions have been implemented. And violence continues as other armed groups in cartels fight for control a recent report by the International Crisis group also accuses the government of social leaders by allowing the exploitation of natural resources. Cation of illicit crops which have prompted retaliations. Government. Rectally says its working to establish the rule of law in conflict areas but activists believe the threats will continue until structural issues like deep inequality are addressed. People fear assuming leadership in their communities we continue but always fearing for our lives if things remain as they are the violent people when. Its a cycle of violence that continues to be tray the promise of peace in colombia. Chinas annual golden week holiday has seen hundreds of millions of people take advantage of relaxed coronavirus restrictions to make a quick getaway Domestic Tourist trips 80 percent of them it figure is offering hope of a recovering economy they get reports. Coming home this crowd is part of an estimated half a 1000000000 people who celebrated the golden week holiday as tourists the Railway Station is packed scenes that would have been unimaginable just a few months ago because of the pandemic nearly 10 months after the croon a virus 1st surfaced in china the country is on the move again a sigh of relief for the millions who faced some of the Worlds Toughest lock downs as the government fought to contain the outbreak with the declaration that the outbreak is under control and no new domestic infection since august the government relaxed travel restrictions allowing millions of families to take trips around the country and take advantage of being out in the open but i saw some fish in coral and the waters 3 different colors you feel is great according to the ministry of culture and tourism 425000000 people have traveled domestically in the 1st 4 days of the holiday generating around 45000000000. 00 in tourism revenue that shows that the consumer is coming back because thats been the missing leg at the economic recovery troy manufacturing has been doing well so this is a speedy recovery but the consumer hasnt been going out to stay so it bodes well for the economy im remember that probably out of the major countries in the world choice that was the only one is going to show growth this year but in hong kong a walk through one of the citys main shopping districts tells a very different story the rows of shuttered shops are evidence of a struggling economy one that will light heavily on tourism hong kong is under strict social distancing and border restrictions visitors to the city need to quarantine for 2 weeks thats put off most of the mainland taurus 2 would usually spend their golden week vacation shopping or sightseeing here in previous years the city would have at least a 1000000 arrivals during the holiday period from Mainland China this year that figures dropped to less than i thought. 1000 china has the worlds biggest population and has managed to give its economy a boost by getting its people moving again but thats not an option for many other parts of the world which are in various stages of lockdowns the United Nations conference on trade and development is estimating the Global Tourism industry will lose that least 1. 00 trillion dollars this year if you go paul an aljazeera hong kong one of the biggest owners in World Literature has been awarded to an american poets louise gluck has become the 16th woman to win the nobel prize for literature since it was launched more than a century ago got is a professor of english at Yale University and her work focuses on childhood family life and the bond between siblings. Which is there and these are the top stories a kidnapped somalian politician and a french aid worker have landed in malis capital bamako after being released as part of a major Prisoner Exchange the deal was announced by the countrys new Transitional Government on tuesday the u. S. Says impose more sanctions on irans Banking Sector