Opioid epidemic. Hong kongs leader refuses to step down after weeks of antigovernment protests but says she is open to dialogue. Not just the amazon fires raging across africa calls for more to be done to stop the practice of slash and burn. Ok lets get going our top story theres hope of a breakthrough this hour in months of tensions between the u. S. And iran the french president emmanuel macro has offered to broker a conversation between the u. S. President on the iranian president Hassan Rouhani trying to salvage something from the 2050 nuclear deal the u. S. Leader appeared optimistic about the idea of moving the relationship forward natasha but that wraps up whats been happening on the final day of the g. 7 summit. The prospect of a meeting between us who were a new president s was not am likely outcome of the g 7 in berates but as the summit came to an end its host the french president suggested talks between donald trump and Hassan Rouhani were possible. At some point there has to be a meeting between the iranian president and the us president i hope that in the next few weeks this meeting will take place france plays a role along with the other partners who signed the iran deal trump who pulled the u. S. Out of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal last year and imposed sanctions said he was open to diplomacy were looking for Nuclear Weapons globalist missiles and a longer period of time very simple we can have it done in a very short period of time. And i really believe that iran can be a great nation id like to see that happen the development came one day after the unexpected arrival of the Iranian Foreign minister in berates jeffard sorry for his invited by the french president whod been asked by some g 7 leaders to mediate in the crisis. Trust conciliatory tone was also extended to trade he said beijing and washington could begin talks to resolve the tariffs dispute going into this summit a man or mackerel said he wanted to use it to make progress on the escalating tensions over iran and trade to help tackle the amazon rain forest fires and hell divisions using multilateral cooperation at the end of the 3 day meeting it seems the french president has succeeded on several fronts they were unresolved issues though the u. K. s Prime MinisterBoris Johnson received only a vague promise of a future trade accord with the u. S. And was no nearer to a deal on breaks it with the European Union i think its the job of everybody in parliament to get this thing done and that is what the people want by the way its what offerings and partners on the other side of the channel want they want they want this thing done they want they want it over last year trump refused to sign the final g 7 statement this year has scrapped it replacing it with a one page summary of the meeting so with no commitments in writing the challenge will be to. Compel leaders to act on the furball promises they have made a special butler aljazeera spirits. Brazils environment minister has welcomed an offer of 20000000. 00 from the g 7 countries to help tackle the ongoing fires in the amazon but president diables and others as the idea of creating an International Alliance to save the rainforest would be treating brazil like a colony. Reports now from the state of mato grosso one of the hardest hit areas. This place may now look like a golf course but it was once a muscle in jungle. Located in the state of mind a little sore in the center of brazil decades of deforestation have this a profitable area for agribusiness and thats why the recent fires affecting the amazones are not surprising to people like blue another sun dos. Every year there are fires but the situation is worse now because of Climate Change and the president he basically tells people to go and cut down trees and nothing will happen to them the data we have here shows the heat and it can be verified whether its a fire he compares the maps of 2018 with what is happening this year millions of trees gone with the help of sea source and fire. The map shows us where the fires are we travel for 4 hours and arrive at one of the places it highlighted in parts of the amazon the burned areas have increased by 83 percent in just the past year fires are natural at this time of the year because of the dry weather the heat and the wind but environmentalists say that the sharp increase seen this year is due to farmers setting the forests allied to clear the land for pastures the problem is that in many cases those fires get out of control the brazilian law says that landowners can only cut down 20 percent of the trees in their property but thats rarely enforced. Catalogs not his real name is a small farmer in the area hes afraid to show his face president who has repeatedly said he wants to open up the amazon for business cattle says that has encouraged people to burn more trees for the for style is us there are no controls nobody is watching what people are doing both or not or says he wants development and this is what development may bring there is no limits to impression it is Everyone Wants more. Deeper in the forest its not difficult to find cut down trees hidden in the woods hiding from the satellites its the 1st step to conquer New Territories and extend the agricultural frontier for cattle and crops the government insists the situation is no worse than previous years but satellite imagery shows Something Different and thats why countries like germany and norway have halted all payments to the amazon fund at using the government of failing to protect the environment. But enough to fight a yes has lived in this area his whole life he has been struggling to find a middle ground between preservation and development. This simplistic speech of the president that he is attacking n. G. O. S he is attacking families from here they want to take resources from n. G. O. S because we publish the truth he says we are attacking the country we can all Work Together for preservation and development somebody needs to explain to the government we are not the enemy government control is the only way to prevent the destruction of what is left of amazonia but what worries many here is that they claim the Central Government is purposely looking away they dont have all. That madoff so. Well as brazil struggles to control turns of thousands of people in the a pretty much region improved brooms shovels and branches to fight back the flames there the countrys Civil Defense body says more than 140 hectares of forest have been burned. A judge in the u. S. State of oklahoma has found the pharmaceutical giant johnson and johnson helped fuel the Opioid Epidemic the company has been ordered to pay 572000000. 00 in damages over its aggressive marketing of addictive painkillers and gallacher reports now from Norman Oklahoma. Oklahoma sets out to take on a pharmaceutical giant and after 7 weeks of evidence judge found bachmanns ruling was blunt and found that johnson and johnson is culpable in fueling an Opioid Crisis thats claimed more than 6000 lives in this state the crisis has ravaged the state of oklahoma in the s. B. And made it a bit immediately for this reason im interested in a big plan that consists of cost hauling 572000000 102028 dollars to a media leading really a nuisance the case is being seen as a landmark ruling in dealing with a Health Crisis thats claimed tens of thousands of lives across the u. S. The centers for Disease Control and prevention say that in 2017 alone close 250000 people died from opioid overdoses lawyer Reggie Witten was part of his legal team and lost his firstborn son to addiction i feel like im always looking down. The street protests. But i think mustang lost and are celebrating today we got to get help. He says the kids lawyers for johnson and johnson say theyll appeal the decision calling it legally floored the States Lawyers were asking for 17000000000. 00 from the company but only got a fraction of that is the amount of money that johnson and johnson has been ordered to pay may not be what the state of oklahoma wanted but the message it sends is clear the judge in this case was unequivocal in blaming Big Pharmaceutical Companies in their role in an Opioid Crisis has blighted the lives of so many and with fountains of other cases across the country this may set an important precedent to the pharmaceutical Companies Put do and tiva settle before this trial got under way with mondays ruling oklahoma now has close to a 1000000000. 00 for treatment and this is being seen as a huge victory by those that work on the front lines fighting the epidemic a war very very happy this is a good day for the say. Of oklahoma we took on a giant Major Pharmaceutical Company and a judge in Norman Oklahoma said you killed people its time to pay the case was being closely watched across the u. S. In ohio alone there are 2000 pending cases but after mondays ruling pharmaceutical Companies May now be forced to pay out billions to go after all this era Norman Oklahoma hong kong leader kerry has warned that the escalation of violence in antigovernment process is becoming more serious peaceful protests turned violent over the weekend as the city entered its 12th week of demonstrations protesters are calling for a controversial extradition bill to be scrapped not just suspend its to resign but she is refusing to go and denies that her governments lost control of the territory. The question of resignation theres also been oncet i think a responsible chief executive at this point in time should continue to hold the fort and do her utmost to restore law and order in hong kong some people have said that since there are continued violence we should stop communicating i said in my introductory remarks that that that was also another to extreme view that we should prepare for reconciliation in society by communicating with different people so im saying that yes we have to say no to violence we want to put at the end to a chaotic situation in hong kong through Law Enforcement and so on at the same time we will not give up on building a platform for dialogue and australian rights are detained in china since january has been formally arrested on charges of espionage yang hang has been held for the last 7 months in quotes harsh conditions in beijing according to australias foreign minister yang was a former chinese diplomat before becoming a naturalized australian in 2002 the penalties for spying range from 3 years in jail to the Death Penalty. Still to come here on aljazeera why israel is sending tanks and troops this borders with lebanon and syria. Also ahead dying to tell another journalist is killed in mexico as the u. N. Urges better protection for reporters. Hello there we have the heat back in place across much of texas that he divisor is in place but to the east of there it is all about this massive cloud that you can save in august. And we have thunderstorms in the forecast for you the next couple days its a very unsettled picture holdaway from texas the southeast the mid atlantic and op into the northeast you also notice into central count at canada ontario we have this area of low pressure so that will work its way gradually eastwards taking the rain with it but also the cool air so for those winnipeg minneapolis just 20 celsius on wednesday meanwhile into d. C. We go to friday warm day 28 celsius but we could see the scattered thunderstorms why dont suffer much of the caribbean but really were focusing very much on this this is Tropical Storm dorian monday and tuesday its on his way west was it should be heading across the less antilles and certainly heading very close to barbados and then it will continue to push into these warm waters in the Eastern Caribbean since he had off into wednesday it could even develop into her account but were going to keep a very close eye on the strength of this storm but it produced some very heavy amounts of rain in sunday by wednesday its heading on towards pressure ecosystem huge concerns here because obviously what were looking at is flooding rains we could see some flash floods and certainly mudslides and landslides so well continue to keep you well updated. Perception is validation we believe to be seen but in one life time we cannot see everything. We would lie and experiences. And the legacies of previous generations. Of that testimony we had. With this documentary that open your eyes and. Welcome back to recap your top stories for you so far this half hour the u. S. President donald trump says hes willing to consider meeting his iranian counterpart. If the circumstances are right he made the statement at the g. 7 summit wrapped up in direct sun from. A judge in the u. S. State of oklahoma as found the pharmaceutical giant johnson and johnson helps fuel an Opioid Epidemic which has killed thousands of people the company has been ordered to pay 572000000 dollars in damages it says it will appeal. And leaders of the g. 7 summit are pledged 20000000. 00 to tackle the amazon forest fires but the brazilian president diable some says an International Alliance to save the rainforest would be a form of colonization. Well all the attention is on the amazon right now but there are currently more fires reported to be burning in central and Southern Africa than in the amazon nasa says 70 percent of the active fires in the world are in africa it satellite data shows fall. As reaching through large parts of angola and the democratic republic of congo and spanning as far east as madagascar farmers are being blamed but the problem is being compounded by shorter rainy seasons Alex Ornstein is a data scientists and specialist who focuses on african cultural trends he says the lack of rain in the past 3 years is having a huge impact the real issue is that the impact of these brush fires is getting worse if you look at a lot of parts of sunny arid parts of the african continent particularly the west african said hello this used to be a regular occurrence during the dry season and when the rains would come around. There would allow for grasslands to grow again but unfortunately we are seeing a very significant increase in variability of rainfall its making the rainy seasons very volatile and less predictable in 1951 a lot of parts of the west african so how enjoyed a 6 month rainy season today over the past few years is a 3 month rainy season sometimes even only 2 months so we have a much longer dry period in which more fires can happen and a much shorter rainy period in the west african so how as in many respects sort of ground 0 for the impacts of Climate Change and these hurting communities depend on pasture to feed their animals and their livelihoods and when we have a situation where there is a brushfire that wipes out your pasture and you have to wait 67 months for the rains to come this creates a serious problem and results in the loss of a lot of animals and while herders may oftentimes be the ones who feel these effects 1st they really occupy a critical pillar of Food Security in the region so voters feel at 1st but everyone else feels that not long after. Israel appears to be massing troops on its borders with lebanon and syria it follows a warning by the Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu against iranian backed groups in the region the u. N. Says is gravely concerned and is calling for calm on all sides. Over the last few days we have seen in the broader middle east reports of drone attacks missile attacks and air strikes. All over the region israel and lebanon syria iraq as well as saudi arabia and that all since since friday i think all of these reports or of concern to us were continuing to follow the situation closely and i think as as the secretary general has said and we consistently maintained the middle east region cannot afford any additional term or. Lebanons president has called the israeli drone strikes against his country an act of war the Lebanese Group hezbollah is promising to retaliate against israel iran says it will support hezbollah as actions is in beirut. Hezbollah is burying its dead in its stronghold in southern beirut 2 of its fighters were killed in israeli airstrikes in neighboring syria on sunday night the Lebanese Armed group is promising retaliation it has told israel to be ready for response its leader has in a strong also threatened to shoot down any drone that violates lebanons airspace after what he said was an attack by israeli drones in hezbollahs area of control in the lebanese capital hours earlier. If we remain silent on this breach it will create a very dangerous road for lebanon repeating what is going on in iraq now. In iraq the iranian backed Popular Mobilization forces are blaming israel for a series of unexplained attacks on their bases and positions in recent weeks the latest was on sunday night close to iraqs border with syria which killed a number of fighters u. S. Officials and israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu have hinted at possible israeli. Meant in those strikes israel it seems has opened a new front. And. Saying theyre ready to open war on 3 fronts beirut damascus and baghdad we cant ignore the political side however which is the upcoming israeli elections the Israeli Army Says its air strikes in syria stopped an attack by irans revolutionary guards it released Surveillance Footage of what it said were members of the guards preparing a drone strike against israel israel has repeatedly hit what it says were iranian targets in syria over the years it wants to prevent iran from gaining a foothold and influence across the region but in the past few days it is believed to have operated in 3 neighboring countries lebanon syria and iraq nothing apple did say he gave the Security Forces a free hand to act in many a rino as against an enemy state hezbollah says the drone attack which damaged its media office violated the 2006 cease fire and changed the rules of engagement but at the same time the group is believed to have given israel a chance not to escalate tensions. As well as messages to the terror war telling the israelis any war will be costly and we are not alone think twice iran promised to support any action hezbollah takes against israel which doesnt seem to be backing down it is believed to be behind strikes on a position belonging to a palestinian faction allied to iran along lebanon supported with syria early on monday there is a real danger of further attacks by either side could escalate to war. Beirut. And investigation by the Reuters News Agency says the u. S. Central Intelligence Agency does not spy on the government of the United Arab Emirates something critics say is a dangerous blind spot in washingtons Global Monitoring the report quotes former cia agents with one calling the agencys failure to. Up to the u. A. E. Is political and military ambitions a quotes dereliction of duty it also says the lack of monitoring puts the emirates on a very small list of countries where the cia conducts a hands off approach the u. A. E. Has played a role in numerous regional and International Issues including the blockade of cata as well as the conflicts in libya and yemen glenn call is formally a cia officer he says hed be surprised if the United States is no longer paying attention to the u. A. E. The us is one of the the cia is one of the few Intelligence Services with global capability and interests now one can debate whether that should be the case or not but thats the truth and since the u. A. E. Is a critical player in the middle east and beyond i would be surprised i wouldnt really believe that the us is ignoring the u. A. E. The cia and the Us Government will very consciously weigh what are the potential costs and the potential benefits from any operation and human ones and. Especially and may decide well anything we could get will could not could not be good enough to counterbalance or outweigh the risks of if something goes wrong now that doesnt mean were norrington the u. A. E. Or anything else but the decision could quite conscious be made that the costs trying to develop human sources weigh the benefits when for example there lation ship is close already and above board or their relationship is tense or the priorities are low or priorities are so high that adding a problem would probably not worth the risk all of those are factors that go into this kind of this. Thousands of people are fleeing camerons English Speaking areas after separate sparked fears of an escalation in violence there they called for protests and businesses to shut down in a bid to paralyze the region this after a separatist leader was handed a life sentence by a military court some English Speakers are pushing for independence accusingly francophone majority of discrimination plans to reopen schools this week have been suspended. Sudans Sovereign Council has declared a state of emergency in port sudan fighting between 2 rival communities is killed at least 17 people the council sank to the provincial governor after 3 days of violence more than 100 others have been injured in the dispute between the beni and tribes about morgan has been following events from khartoum. Sudan Sovereign Council which was just last week and which has. Peace in its 1st 6 months of the transitional period has declared a state of emergency in the city of port sudan now this follows days of ethnic clashes between members of the and the new but tribes and we understand from people in port sudan that it started as a verbal quarrel between members of the opposing tribes which eventually turned violent. 17 people have been killed and dozens others have been wounded and are now hospitalized and activists are telling us that the tensions are so high that people from opposing tribes cannot be hospitalized in the same hospitals due to concerns of outbreak of more violence. Council also dismissed the acting state governor who was appointed by the Transitional Military Council following the ousting of longtime president im going to be here in april theyve also dismissed the head of Security Council had sent a delegation to try to mediate between the 2 tribes but so far that has been unsuccessful which lead to the state of emergency and activists are saying that they are worried that this tribal conflict this ethnic tension which has been going on for a few months now will escalate in the coming weeks if no solution is provided by the Sovereign Council the president of the democratic republic of congo. Has named a new government 7 months after he took office less than a 3rd of the 65 member team is from his direction for a change the rest of the former president. Party. U. S. Prosecutors charged with killing 11 people in a pittsburgh synagogue should face the Death Penalty if convicted prosecutors say robert shooting was intentional and he showed no remorse the massacre at the synagogue was the deadliest attack on Jewish Americans in the u. S. The 46 year old worshippers. Of last year has pleaded not guilty to the 63 count. The death of another journalist in mexico. Brings the number killed that to at least 10 so far this year and a new u. N. Report is criticizing the government for failing to protect reporters and activists as more from mexico city. Theres a war on press freedom playing out on the streets of mexico. A sharp increase in violence nationwide over the past 2 years has also meant an increase in attacks against journalists. The death of nabby how to me of mexico state over the weekend brings the total number of journalists killed this year to at least 10 hundreds turned out to attend his funeral. On august 3rd another journalist out also drew Media Attention this time it was soliciting ovaries a newspaper reporter from the state of it or clues before being gunned down so listing all received Death Threats at his home you know i want someone to do something and i want them to leave me in my children alone i dont want anything else he was everything to me and now hes gone what else do they want solicitor was one of the 3 journalists killed in mexico in the same week. The continued killings of journalists has sparked protests in vera cruz currently one of the most dangerous states in the country for media professionals. We want to those responsible for lacerating journalism and better crews to be captured the ones who harms another family we are journalists but also citizens by hurting or killing a journalist it ends up affecting a family celestin it wasnt rolled in a Government Program that aims to provide protection for journalists and human rights defenders a recent report by the United Nations however says the Mexican Government has to step up its commitment toward the protection of freedom of expression. And we are calling for a National Campaign to prove the visibility of journalists and human rights defenders led by the president. More than 900. 00 journalists and human rights workers are currently enrolled in the governments protection mechanism Program Mexico ranks among the worlds most dangerous countries for journalists more than 150. 00 have been killed since the year 2000 despite the establishment of the protection mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists in 2012 attacks against press freedom have continued unabated but it up in mexico city a deal to form a new government in its early is looking closer after the Democratic Party indicated it to drop to a separate counties serving another term as Prime Minister mr consul resigned last week ending a coalition between the 5 Star Movement and the right Wing Likud Party the Democratic Party is keen to avoid early elections an unmanned russian spacecraft has successfully docked at the International Space station on its 2nd attempt in as many days these were the final moments as the soyuz m. S. 14 approach the space station a glitch in its automatic docking system prevented it from docking on saturday the spacecraft is carrying a robot the size of an adult human which will carry out 2 weeks of tests on board the i s s. This is al jazeera lets recap your top stories for you the u. S. President says hes willing to consider meeting his iranian counterpart husain rouhani if the circumstances are right he made the statement as the g. 7 summit wraps up in be roots in france i dont know the gentleman i think that i think i know im a little bit just by watching over the last number of years whats happened tell you one thing is great negotiator but he i think hes going to want to meet i think iran wants to get this situation straightened out their economy is tanked entirely the sanctions are absolutely hurting them horribly i dont want to see that i dont want to see that theyre great people i dont want to see that we cant let them have a Nuclear Weapon cant let it happen so i think that theres a really good chance that we would meet. Brazil has rejected 20000000. 00 in funding from the g 7 leaders to tackle the fires in the amazon its environment minister earlier welcomed the aid but the president said an International Alliance to save the rain forest would be a form of colonization its also now has sent the military to help fight the fires in rwanda on your state. A judge in the United States in oklahoma has found the pharmaceutical giant johnson and johnson helped fuel the Opioid Epidemic which has killed thousands of people the company has been ordered to pay 572000000 dollars in damages over its aggressive marketing of addictive painkillers it says it will appeal. Hong kongs leader kerry has warned that the escalation of violence in antigovernment process is becoming more serious protesters are calling for a controversial extradition bill to be scrapped not to suspend and for to resign but she is refusing to go and denies that her government lost control of the territory. And australian rights are detained in china since january has been formally arrested on charges of espionage hes young hang in june hes been held for the last 7 months in harsh conditions in beijing thats according to australias foreign minister yang was a former chinese diplomat before becoming a naturalized australian in 2002 the penalties for spying range from 3 years in jail to the Death Penalty up next its witness ill have more news on this channel in 30 minutes see that. Talked to al jazeera we heard scott what guarantees will you give to the people who will be attending the minimal workshop we listen im supposed to explain apologize for someone who is also terrorizing we meet with global newsmakers and talk about the stories that matter on the aljazeera