Kosovo agreed to normalize ties also coming up on the news hour lebanon falls silent one month after the explosion that tore through the capital beirut and the philippines considers raising the age of consent from 12 to 16 we meet the activist behind the nations fight for womens rights. In school enormous see is to remain a barcelona player messi says hes changed his mind about wanting to leave to avoid a legal disputes with the club. Welcomes the news our top story Donald Trumps allies are scrambling to his defense amid growing backlash of the u. S. President s alleged remarks on war veterans suckers and losers are amongst the times the president has called americas war dead according to an article in the atlantic magazine but given trumps support in the military and with less than 60 days to go until the election its become the focus of both campaigns of a night party call hayne has more. The u. S. Military and veterans are a big part of u. S. President Donald Trumps base he needs their support and now that could be much more of a challenge for those who believe the allegations that on this visit to france and 2018 the president was supposed to visit a cemetery where more than 2000 american soldiers are buried he didnt go blaming the weather but according to the report in the atlantic he skipped it concerned about what the rain would do to his hair and he reportedly said why should i go to that cemetery its filled with losers the story claims he then called the marines buried their suckers and that he didnt want wounded troops to take part in military parades saying nobody wants to see that it also says on this visit to Arlington National cemetery with his then Homeland Security secretary who son was buried there after being killed in action the president reportedly said i dont get it what was in it for them trump is denying the allegations and it was a totally fake story and that was confirmed by many people who were actually there it was a terrible thing that somebody could say that kind of thing but that denial is being met with skepticism because of the president s past comments like this one about senator john mccain but you know the last side of it like that was what you have to that because i dont like it. But frank frank let me get to where he is that a war hero or hero is a war in iraq for years hes a warrior i presume was captured by like people that werent captured ok i hate to say the Biden Campaign was quick to make this an issue really seen this ad. The former Vice President called the allegations if true disgusting my son volunteered to join the United States military as you turn the general want to relax for year one the bronze star and other commendations he wasnt a sucker. Servicemen and women he served with. Particularly those did not come home were not lose reaction was also swift on social media this from a retired general we met with the chairman of the joint chiefs general dunford his comment was thats a smart guy in the military and from a Veterans Organization opposed to trump my message to donald trump is that this you have no right being commander in chief President Trump didnt serve in vietnam claiming to have bone spurs he denigrated the parents of a soldier killed in iraq and prisoners of war it didnt cost him support from the military community in 2016 the Biden Campaign hoping this time this might just be different political hane dizzier while hes batting away criticism of the u. S. President appears to be aiming for a win on Foreign Policy at least 2 countries that for one of the most devastating wars in the balkans on normalizing economic ties in a deal announced by Donald Trump Trump is called the agreement between serbia and kosovo a major breakthrough kosovo declared independence from serbia in 2008 but is not recognized by the serbian government or its allies trump says serbia will also follow his controversial diplomatic policy and move its embassy to jerusalem while kosovo will establish ties with israel so lets go live to our White House Correspondent of course the hope the trouble ministration is that this will be a diplomatic victory at a very difficult time on the domestic front but is that the Serbia Kosovo agreement getting much much coverage there in the u. S. Its not getting a lot of coverage truthfully the story that Patty Cole Payne reported on just a few moments ago is the one that is getting most of the play domestically what i can tell you is that you know particularly comes young people they dont remember the conflict and when it comes to just ordinary americans they tend to be somewhat insular and also really hold the military dear so that is sort of the man on the street perspective when you talk about sort of the journalistic perspective reporter is kind of drilled down on this is the white house held a press briefing about this agreement trying to get specific details about it and the conclusion from a lot of the questions was that there seemed to be a lot of style here and a little less substance there was quite a bit of defensiveness on the part of the Administration Officials as the reporters asked some more pointed questions about this deal so now the question becomes particularly in Foreign Policy circles here in washington was this done for how to try and distract from some of the more negative headlines that the president has been dealing with not just the story that he allegedly called those in the military suckers and losers but also the fact that hes trailing in the polls with just weeks until the u. S. Election behind his democratic rival joe biden and also the fact that when it comes to cope with 19 infections are still rising and there are still roughly 30000000 americans that are out of work so theres no question the president looking for a diplomatic win whether or not he scored it domestically its not clear and of course President Trump is continuing to deny these reports about the language shes used when referring to the u. S. Servicemen how how his aides trying to stem the fallout what kind of damage control are we getting from the white house. Well the white house has for almost 24 hours now been hammering away bringing forward testimonies of various members of former Administration Officials members of the military who say the president either didnt say this or would never say this the problem is that weve now had confirmation from one of the reporters on the Fox News Network that leans conservative that has been a very strong supporter of the president terms of its editorial perspective and there are sources now saying that these allegations against the president are in fact true now the president will have an opportunity to refute this hes about to hold a press briefing in the white house in the next hour and were watching that carefully to see what he might say but in the midst of this again its some of the president s own statements that are most problematic whether it be on twitter when he called in 2015 john mccain a loser or whether the fact that he has done some things that the military doesnt think is very supportive for example weve just had a report that the pentagon has abruptly shut down one of the oldest military newspaper supporting soldiers the dates back to the civil war its known as the stars and stripes its being shut down the funding being polled and has to kind of fold its operation by mid september so the problem is for the president is that hes making these denials but at the same time people are looking at other actions and questioning the validity of his apology all right thank you very much for now kimberly help our White House Correspondent of course our of the headline story today a suspect linked to the Fatal Shooting of a protester in the u. S. As he of portland has been shot dead by federal agents Security Forces fired at Michael Raynal while trying to arrest him on thursday he was being investigated for allegedly shooting a far right count to protest and last week the victim was among dozens of Trump Supporters who clash with protest as a demonstration against Racial Injustice and police brutality. Michael raynal spoke to vice news before he was shot by police and said his actions were an act of selfdefense totally justified had i not acted on i am confident that my friend and im sure i would have been killed because i was either going to stand there and let something happen but theyve done is they are trying to make it look like were all terrorists and theyre trying to make me look like a murderer ive noticed that they keep saying that its not clear that its related to the protests and thats a law they know that is related to the protests when all the developments take a blade a black man who was shot by Police Last Month in the city of kind osha has appeared in court on a video link are you able to hear me clearly today sir. Blake faces charges of Sexual Assault and Domestic Abuse charges unrelated to the incident that led to his shooting he was paralyzed after an officer shot him 7 times in the back and was initially shackled to his hospital bed it triggered days of protests in the city of and elsewhere in the u. S. Well john hendren joins us live now from chicago hes been following this story what happened in the Court Hearing today. It was an extraordinary scene jacob blake was shown in this zoom call lying on his hospital bed in a blue shirt and yellow tie the 1st time any of us have seen him since he was shot nearly 2 weeks ago on that sunday and he was asked for his pleas to the charges of 3rd degree Sexual AssaultDisorderly Conduct and trespassing he pleaded not guilty to all of those now those charges werent directly linked to his shooting but apparently when police encountered him on this street in konoha they at some point discovered that he had the that he had a warrant out for him that his girlfriend had made these accusations against him and they tried to take him into custody according to police story they tried to tase him twice then chased him to his van in that video that weve all seen and shot him 7 times in the back so this case in directly led to that shooting that has jacob blake in the hospital room he has is out on 10000. 00 bond in theory but of course hes still in that hospital room he was held remotely on line for 2 reasons one because of the covert 1000 prices too because he is paralyzed just got out of the intensive care unit in his on able. To really get around so hes got a Court Appearances coming up meanwhile his family says i talked to justin blake his uncle he says that jacob blake hes prepared to get through this he did. Herman did make something good out of this experience but it was an Extraordinary Court experience and hes going to have to get through this case before he does more jails all right thanks very much for the latest on that story john hendren joining us from chicago. Much more still ahead on this news hour from london nato demands rusher of elites nerve Agent Program following the alleged poisoning of alexina volley. Vaccine nationalism the World Health Organization i just countries to back coordinated efforts for a coronavirus treatment. And in sport i mean us soccer has to dig deep to stay in title contention at the u. S. Open. Now lebanon has fallen silent to mark the moment exactly a month ago when a catastrophic explosion tore through the capital beirut was caused by nearly 3000. 00 tons of Ammonium Nitrate which caught fire and blew up after being improperly stored for years official figures say 191 people died 6 still missing but that toll could be even higher with many undocumented refugees living in lebanon at least 6 and a half 1000 people were injured many of them permanently disabled and 300000 people have lost their homes some remain in structures deemed unsafe because they have nowhere else to go. Say no harder has more on this now. The 191 victims of the devastating explosion that tore through the lebanese capital were remembered one months on a vigil was held outside the port where nearly 3000 tons of Ammonium Nitrate on safely stored in a warehouse ignited one of the largest nonnuclear explosions in history one minute of silence was observed at the exact time of the explosion 6 o 8 pm it was a moment many still vividly remember. Theyve gone to. Court and customs employees have been arrested but many lebanese believe senior officials as high up as the president should be the ones to be held accountable they were aware of the highly explosive material and did nothing about it today is about just this airlines are 20 years old she writes id ask you when you literally work every single day you know it is the thing over of violence financially. Its a bit like. Basically like to live a kilometer away a desperate search for life underneath the rubble of a building that collapsed from the impact of the blast sniffer dog alerted a team from chile that were surveying the damage in the neighborhood specialist sensors then detected breathing 18 breaths a minute which gave hope 24 hours later the breathing slowed significantly pace rescuers refused to say when they last had had proof of life but they did promise not to call off the search until they have answers its unlikely someone could have survived for a month under the debris but it is not unheard of and while many remained hopeful it was. Another example of the state feeling its people a month later were still being our bodies why did it take so long this is another you know commemorative moment where we have to Pay Attention to how the situation was dealt what it was dealt and of in a very haphazard manner nonprofessional manner and honestly i had to do this with absolutely no conscious and no feelings and no humanity there was already much outrage over how the authorities handled the crisis since the port explosion they have been absent in the rescue relief recovery and rebuilding efforts theres volunteers local and international n. G. O. S who have taken the lead and yet again it is them on the front lines of lebanons latest calamity many wonder if it was false hope or whether there was a real chance to find life amid all the darkness so. Beirut. Nato is saying military level talks are underway between greece and turkey in an effort to deescalate the territorial dispute playing out in the Eastern Mediterranean this despite denials from the greek side both nations have held large scale air and sea exercises in the region in recent weeks and nato is concerned about the military build up greece is unhappy Turkish Research ships are respecting the seed bed for oil and gas in a sea area claimed by both nations. Well now to Political Developments in batteries the Opposition Leaders fit on a ticking off skier is calling on the United Nations to condemn the governments violent crackdown on protesters they accuse president Alexander Lukashenko of rigging his election victory last month. But its missed reports on the story now from vilnius in neighboring lithuania. So a lot of chicken also believes that by now she should have been sworn in as the new president of ballads instead shes exiled to neighboring lithuania via video link she asked an informal meeting of the u. N. Security council for help. Today in the country where the rose is in turn were a peaceful protest and been illegally detained beaten and imprisoned. In the balance capital mens cooperation colleague Maria Kolesnik over and others a former Political Party chicken of sky i havent been told in advance but all signs insist any misunderstandings have been ironed out and the other more united than they were on the swift flannels court of the Nation Council we want Political Prisoners screech we want an investigation into the killings of Peaceful Protesters and we want new fair and transparent there lecture us all to the force of law not our choice will stall on and were not going to leave it like that speaking to aljazeera at the new vilnius headquarters of her coordiNation Council chicken or sky i acknowledge the challenges of not being in belarus is difficult for both of us because im here its safer for me to be here but its more difficult to. Not morally to be here because i understand that i should be there in my people and it is difficult for her as well because she is under pressure of the time she is in danger all the time as any person and. Also on friday Police Arrested students at the minutes state Linguistics Institute who ignored calls from arab ministration to stop protests. There been demonstrations across baton rouge since the august 9th election which president Alexander Lukashenko said hed won with 80 percen