Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20240712

A sharp rise in infections the fight against rising waters in sudan on we meet residents forced to abandon their homes. And im were hard in with all the days sports news Christiana Ronaldo scores his 100th goal for portugal hes only the 2nd man to reach this century milestone. Thanks for joining us an overcrowded greek islands camp that had become the makeshift home for thousands of refugees is now a smoldering ruin and a desperate effort has begun to work out what to do with those now homeless fire burned for hours through moria camp until wednesday morning a state of emergency has been declared on the island of less posts laura birdman the begins our coverage of. The fire was still burning through moria camp at the new day began on the greek island of bloods boasts. A around the camp thousands. Refugees again in 13 phillippi wherever they can. Move a nights more than 12000 people fled as flames began 3. 2 the largest refugee camp in grief. Many looked own as the homes were destroyed. The facile against the 5 made move difficult by storm were. Here out there. Today for our 1st i need to show you. You know. The campaign was just off the coast of turkey was known for its cramped and unfounded tree conditions. Built for about 3000 people it housed more than 12000 people who lived in huts in tents with limited access to Running Water the government says the fires were deliberately lit by some camp residents angry to continue to lock down due to the coronavirus pandemic many of the asymptomatic people have been put into a quarantine area on the far eastern side of the camp and that area earlier this evening was attacked by individuals who seemingly do not believe that it was actually in the camp and that it is being seen as a reason to continue a 6 month lockdown in the camp some attacks on some vehicles to move people out of the camp or to move them around in a suit and some of the people that were in this quarantine area were fleeing from that violence and in the process of that several fires are set on the perimeter. Between 20152016 thousands of people made the journey across the mediterranean from turkey to the island of less both. Many flight from war persecution and poverty hoping to find safety in europe since the 1st of march 23 have been quarantined away from morea camp due to the pandemic but the people who found refugee more in the very little they had is gone and what was already an uncertain future is looking even more bleak. Among the aljazeera well greeces Prime Minister says people who are in the camp will not be allowed to leave the island but will be put up in emergency housing in tents we dont want to ask you a bit of boredom about i believe that a bad experience can quickly turn into an opportunity for a better reality and this will happen unless boss wants the damage and morea has been assessed and in consultation with the European Commission we will take concrete initiatives our priority remains the health and safety of all residents and migrants. Has more from athens where the government is dealing with a humanitarian emergency. All of the roughly 13000 people on the islands of the 3 of 4000 according to the homeless tonight. Trying to find various solutions to purchase a roof over peoples heads one is to get people to the nearby cant of kind of detail which is a municipal but much smaller camp and some hundreds terribly there is also a question of whether some can be accommodated in hotels temporarily and. The standard there is a muslim is a sion to bring large scale military tents in order to give people at least temporary shelter but there is no question as people being moved off the island for so its a very big one is that the original 35 people who tested positive for curve at 98 are now at large again but because of the confusion they couldnt be contained in the territory and that had been set up for the camp which is also burnt and very very for mingles back into the general population of the refugee camp the other reason is legal once greece moves people off the island becomes extremely difficult for them to be deported if they dont get asylum from the group asylum service. Those people have to be secretary of insitu Caroline Wellman is project coordinator for covered 19 in lesbos for Doctors Without Borders and she says the conditions in the camp have been bad for a while. Well it is a capital best of the over 3000 people who are at the moment theres between 12 and 13000 people that were host up there until last night and so over nights fires have been raging in different places in the calm and the earliest reports this morning seem to indicate that the camp is almost completely destroyed theres a few segments of it Still Standing but overall there is very little left and so at least 12 to 13000 people who are. Who have had to evacuate to camp overnight because of the fires. Are currently in the streets with nowhere to go so its obviously a little bit too soon to have really precise and confirmed news about how exactly the fires were started it seems that it is in the possible that it was the residents of the camp who started them. What you need to keep in mind that for the last 5 years there has been a completely inhumane and the plural why gratian policy in place is madea people have been living in completely inhumane circumstances for the last 5 years have absolutely no perspective and this is the whole of stress has been augmented tremendously in the last 6 months with very Strict Movement restrictions related to covert 19 and then of course these tional stress when last week the 1st case of it was identified in the camp and the camp was put under under mass quarantine so meaning nobody was anymore allowed to leave the camp so i think what were seeing now its unfortunately very sad but also a predictable outcome of these horrendous migration policies that people have been suffering from for the last 5 years so there was a 1st case last week 2000 people were tested then by greek help authorities and which resulted up to yesterday in reportedly in total of 35. 00 cases who had been put in isolation right now and there is nothing of anymore in place for it because consider the account no longer there and we are extremely worried not only 4040. Present children that even money who are currently on the streets but in particular we need to hope and also more than 200 people live in the camp who are at particular risk or covert either because of their age or because of comorbidities that would mean that if they get infected they will be much more sick than the rest of the population and so as far as we know right now those 200. 00 are mixed in the big group of 13000 who are basically at loss in the streets. Afghanistans Vice President has survived what appears to have been yet another assassination attempt which killed at least and others. Unharmed and thank Government Security forces for what he called their fight against terrorism sara reports. A familiar scene in afghanistans capital. Roadside bomb explosion this time told getting the Vice President. The attack happened during the morning rush hour as a roll of solace convoy was traveling through the town money area of kabul. He survived was appears to be an assassination attempt but several others are dead and at least a dozen injured were rushed to hospital. An explosion happened near the shops selling gas cylinders my push cart was on the road i just heard the explosion and rushed to the street leading to my home and then i found myself covered with blood and whatever that i was in the car i lost one of my brothers and the other one is hurt what kind of government is this theres no ambulance and the police havent even arrived yet ive taken a child to this clinic when the blast happened. The Vice President and former intelligence chief is one of the most targeted men in afghanistan back in his office with his hand bandage he had this message for his attackers but. I want to assure you in a message that im fine and safe but some of my security guards injured and they are in hospital i do not know about the casualties about our people and once again im sorry about this and i want to thank all of those who see in the messages about my health i want to thank all the Security Forces who are fighting against terrorism and acting as a shield to face these terrorists attacks and im proud of them no ones claimed responsibility the taliban was quick to denounce the latest attack on saleh has managed to survive a number of assassination attempts over the years. Then created the storming of his office in kabul last year by 3 gunmen who killed 20 people including sourness family members. Hes part of the governments Negotiation Team with the taliban with the latest talks tea to be held in qatar the weiss president with a strong weiss and. Also having an influence on the ongoing Peace Process is certainly going to become much harder in his stance in terms of negotiating with the taliban which is which is expected lead going to have some sort of impact but as far as the start of negotiation is concerned i dont think it will have a heart to process the negotiation process should proceed as the 2 sides agree to move on because right now there is a slight hurdle that there is a difference of opinion between taliban and the Afghan Government under the leaves of a handful of prisoners sourness young son was reportedly with him in the call and his own home and blah series called and as investigators look for clues. The height at. Plenty more ahead on the aljazeera news hour including the worlds leading Coronavirus Vaccine trial has been put on hold why Health Experts say its normal. Defying Government Order. Goes ahead with Regional Elections despite the Prime Minister calling the vote illegal. Continues for march the us open final deal with the action from flushing meadows thats coming up in sports. Trials for one of the worlds most promising coronavirus treatments are on hold because of the unexplained illness of one of the participants developers in Oxford University in england started late stage testing last week the World Health Organization says safety is the primary focus for Clinical Trials and that it is routine practice to investigate when unexplained illnesses occur thousands of patients in britain brazil south africa and the us are all taking parts now the u. S. Is top Infectious Disease expert says its unfortunate the trial had to be delayed but points out that its a normal part of the process. Thats the reason why you have various phases of trials to determine if in fact these candidates are safe this particular candidate from the Astra Zeneca Company had a serious adverse event which means you put the rest of the enrollment of individual volunteers on hold until you can work out precisely what went on the other sites to see if they see anything similar to this or related to that and then you proceed cautiously as you go forward making sure youre on the alert for this type of an adverse event but its really one of the safety valves that you have on Clinical Trials such as this so its unfortunate that it happened hopefully theyll work it out and be able to proceed along with the remainder of the trial but you dont know they need to investigate it further and lets talk about that investigation process with derek gatherings of are all just in lecture at Lancaster University is joining us via skype from lancaster thanks very much for your time with us on aljazeera so when this happens in a Clinical Trial what are the next steps that Health Experts of the scientists will be taking. Its important to remember that this could occur is unprecedented partly because of the sheer scale we have nearly 20000. 00 participants there on several continents so theres a lot of logistical problems in running it also the sheer speed with which it has to be can you know because of the urgency of getting a vaccine by the target of the end of the year and also finally because the disease that were trying to prevent with the vaccine is one that produces new symptoms and possibly as many as 3 quarters of the people that contract it so for that reason everybody on the trial has to be under extreme medical scrutiny they have to be tasted very regularly to see whether they have corona virus. Shading the virus and not just sometimes because the main or have some symptoms and this means that wallace and things will be picked up in the routine medical screening some may be true and some may be quite serious and when Something Like this doesnt arise which is out of the normal things that we dont normally see and vaccine trials that was beyond my my own fevers and hey digs are often a complication of of the vaccines then the trial has to be stalked while the situation is a 6th regarding what the potential causes of this. Disease are in the volunteers right so obviously these scientists now will be trying to figure out whether this person had fallen ill they had something wrong with them or whether this is linked to the its in a Clinical Trial in a vaccine. Yes thats correct it might be something which we can see in the previous clinical records of this particular piece and that would be to see that this person has suffered from this in the past and therefore its something that they can discard and theyre also be wanted to run lots of other tests and appreciate see whether theres any evidence of or any potential reaction to the vaccine anymore to immune reaction so until theyve got that date and place the trial hast store up because it would be right to continue the trial until they are satisfied that its not going to be something thats going to be popping up in other volunteers in the trial and we understand that this particular trial is now in phase 3 so when a trial goes into phase 3 what exactly does that mean what it what does that mean the lifespan of the trial and what is that process comprised off. Phase 3 is a statistical. Attempt to see whether the vaccine does actually prevent the disease so its beyond the basic safety tasting that occurs in phase one and the assessment of an adequate immune response that carson feeds to so the idea is to see whether we can get evidence that the vaccine it produces mystically significant reduction in the appearance of the disease in the vaccinated population compared to the cebu population one of the problems that we have in this particular case is the trial is running on so many continents and in very many Different Countries and each of those countries heist different routes about hope people need to protect themselves from cords infections some require asks of us dont and so on and also sometimes that are different societies norms just because a country has a rule that mass should be warm doesnt necessarily mean that masks will be worn and we have to take those kind of factors into account because that if people are being tried in a situation where the underlying likelihood of covert 19 infection is reduced because of these measures that are happening in a population. Then it means that we may see fewer cases and who is trying populations and conversely in places where theres very little possibility of social distancing and protective equipment is not readily available we may see it with its rates in both it and vigilance from from those populations so theres an immense amount of coatless hitting factors here when it comes to judging the final results based to trial but that is something thats that stations will have to get to grips with ok and terry gatherer thank you very much for speaking to us on aljazeera and clearing that up for us well speaking off some of the restrictions now england is imposing stricter coronavirus restrictions amid a steep rise in infections taken. Look at the live picture right now from london thats a Prime Minister Boris Johnson hes announcing those measures right now and rules include reducing the number of people allowed at social gatherings and those who dont comply will be fined visions 3 and lawrence needed time today he joins us from oxford to the Prime Minister speaking right now announcing. Changes laurence monday what are the updated rules and how will they be enforced. The problem the u. K. Has got is the same as in other European Countries summers over kids are going back to school. You know the old sums on the way just in the not just england but countries like the Czech Republic the netherlands elsewhere suddenly steep rises in the infection rates and the problem that the u. K. Has got and theyve been identifying this is the 1st time in several months that Boris Johnsons held a News Conference like this with both his chief scientific advisor and his chief medical officer and the chief scientific advisor showed that a number of slides looking at the rising rates have the last few days in the demographics and the and the age group that seeing the biggest rise in cases is young people its between 18 or 20. 29 thats a steep rise old people its fairly flat but the messaging that the governments been trying to say to them look you might not get ill but you might kill one of your grandparents that hasnt been working and interesting they showed some slides which demonstrates that the rise in the u. K. In england im sorry is very similar thats of france but belgium they said to taken what they call Decisive Action and immediately the right side is to flatten out again and so based on that they say theyve had no choice but to bring in these measures to try to avoid a full lockdown but they will put much bigger restrictions on people as you say from the start of next week the limit on gatherings up until now ive been 30 as of monday is going to become 6 and that might last until nearly so was christmas according to the government this morning its going to be backed up as you say by police fines they can find people a 100 pounds just. 100. 00 for a 1st offense that doubles with the 2nd offense up to next move over 3000. 00 pounds for repeats of the fences so theyre sure theyre very very serious about this because they say and this is the biggest point if you dont get on top of it now and that could be another full lockdown and thats obviously socially and economically catastrophic so the rules so far lawrence then are restricting social gatherings is there any suggestion that the Prime Minister might walk back other measures as well well i mean theres that the you know the rest of the messaging is very much to say in washington and what im asking of you face stay away from other people thats working for some demographics young people seem to be fairly immune if youll pardon the phrase to a lot of this messaging and so theyve been struggling with the wording as a said things like dont kill your grandma has been one thing that been testing theyre doing other things as well but like saying if you dont get this right you might not have christmas which obviously matters a lot more to young people necessarily than the older people who have been also paying inside influences on places like takes up to come out with sort of videos that young people are more likely to watch and be influenced by so all these things are going on as well but the main thing that theyve seen not just in the u. K. But elsewhere its all in social gatherings like pubs where the transmission rates are going up and the operators going up the houses and the limits seeing peoples ability to meet in large groups in those sorts of setting seems increasingly say help it was understanding of how you limit the spread of the virus. All right lawrence thank you very much for that update from oxford and just to let you know what the u. K. Prime minister has said just a few moments ago Boris Johnson saying that this is not a National Lockdown but an attempt to avoid a 2nd lockdown and he also said theyll introduce marshals to help and force social distancing rules in city centers so thats what the u. K. Prime minister is saying right now during the press conference hes holding in london will move on to sudan and tell you about the severe flooding there because its killed at least 110 people with the knowledge of her reaching unprecedented high levels hundreds of thousands of people forced from their homes are desperate for help and morgan reports from the capital hard to. This is how never had a man arrives to the door steps of her home these days she comes to see if the water which flooded nearly 2 weeks ago has receded the yard which was once dry and where she used to spend most of her evenings is still covered with water from the mile river which is now steady after rising to levels not seen in more than a century of a slide down in the senate in ways that we were surprised this year when the waters entered our neighborhood and we didnt know what to do there are no sandbags there is no one to come and help us with whats happening we decided to act on our own lives and bring found but we found the water coming in from all directions as much of a heads neighborhood in the southern part of sudans capital khartoum is now flooded some homes have collapsed as a result of the force of the water as the river which was once nearly 3 kilometers away became one with the area the levels of the nile started rising 3 weeks ago causing destruction as it flooded its banks and flowed into villages and towns more than 100 people have died in the past month as a result and more than 100000 homes have been damaged or destroyed more than half a 1000000 people have been displaced most left their homes with the help of their neighbors who also lost their homes in baghdad heidi the people here are struggling despite all the difficulties were helping each other out because we cant abandon each other we grew up together so we cant just turn our backs on each other and we have to make sure that everyone here gets out so i flee because were part of one neighborhood one neighborhood in the midst of dozens that have seen the same devastation those affected by the flood they most of the response so far like the building of this makeshift barrier using sandbags has been their own volunteers have also formed groups there is this helping with food and collecting donations and all have criticised the government thing considering floods from the mild happen every year its response has been far from enough sudans government declared a 3 month state of emergency days ago and now its the country is now a Natural Disaster zone it says that one. Plans were put in place to respond to this years floods the levels exceeded expectations. Are using sandbags to block the areas that are being swamped however we cannot use them along the whole river over the past few days water levels reach records high even bridges were flooded residents in affected areas have been evacuated and warnings were sent to those exposed after the destruction and loss of lives then ali slowly starting to recede but hundreds of thousands of people are now desperate for shelter and aid they say they hope the government will soon get them out of this crisis he morgan aljazeera hot zone still ahead on the news hour why irans Supreme Leader wants to pull the plug on imports of apple i phones. The bronfman was once again life just as john james breaking another i believe record we are not so i would be on this for a very. Hello there are no extremes at the moment but still quite warm where the sun is full shining well yeah its given in places like the levant so drew sums at 35 or 40 in dire hans a very humid there has a massive plant here not generating much in the way of showers than the Higher Ground in the western side of saudi or yemen so it has been shared with yet more floods in yemen from these big showers that form briefly and then die against a daily event and the sheriff is still blowing into sollers still running the not much but point 2 millimeters per day which is par for the course west africa a series of clumps of cloud to turn to tropical cyclones this is what they do this time the it also brings flooding to africa youve seen it in senegal for example in nigeria and in sudan is just more in harms this year and theres more to come although it looks briefly quite quiet as i may get to friday theres more forming here in and you still got the last 2 on their way out through says mali and beyond. For the sirens and its still winter in Southern Africa so the weather could potentially be quite active stuff especially be around the cape it isnt on shore suddenly stopped are cold but it is cloudy and wet. For. All i work to stay with most outstanding my wife rest internment and mass indoctrination all we got children are now in a process of reeducation or chinese assimilation forced labor and the use of high tech surveillance were being complicit in the human rights abuses that are occurring in australia an investigation into chinas systematic repression of the weakest tell the world on aljazeera when the news breaks and the racism protests continue in a number of cities across the United States when people need to be heard in this council area one unified on the point with destroyed about 80 percent of this land that aljazeera has teams on the ground people are just talking about wind and solar as if thats going to solve the problem if want to bring more room documentaries and lighting. On air and online. Youre. Going to top stories on the al jazeera news our state of emergency has been declared on the greek island of less posts after a fire left thousands of refugees without shelter reports say some of the blazes of the more refugee camp or started deliberately to protest newly imposed coronavirus restrictions. Vice president has survived what appears to have been an assassination attempt at least 10 people were killed when a convoy was bombed in. England has announced a ban on social gatherings of 6 or more people starting on monday the british Prime Minister Boris Johnson says stricter coronavirus restrictions will help avoid a 2nd lockdown they also use marshals to enforce social distancing. But the russian investigators say 2 senior opposition leaders are being held in custody accused of destabilizing the country lawyer maximes not cause the latest to be rounded up by masked men earlier on wednesday Maria Cardona disappeared on monday and reportedly ripped up her passport to avoid deportation to ukraine. Was the last prominent activist still free umbrella roups just a few days ago he spoke about the escalating crackdown on dissent. Such things happen. According to the ministry of more than 600 people on sunday for participating in Peaceful Demonstrations they will be transferred to least the list of Political Prisoners is growing. Leading opposition candidates to kind of as gaia says she hopes to have a dialogue with ruling powers despite the detention of the activists shes in warsaw and neighboring poland trying to garner support she says many of her fellow citizens are in shock over the violence used against protesters a lot of people are still in hospitals a lot of people some people were raped and it is. It was a great shock for all the. People because we really couldnt even expect that such violence could happen in our country in the at the moment. And the regime is trying to scare and. Realize us but eat relies only on force we rely on our solidarity and vision of new builders voters in ethiopias northern to grey region defied a federal Government Order to cast their ballots in a local election theyre choosing members of the 190. 00 seat Regional Parliament even though the government declared wednesdays vote illegal the poll is part of the general election which was suspended due to coronavirus Prime Minister abu ahmed ruled out military intervention while its a great Officials Say any interference would amount to a declaration of war malcolm webb is joining us from kenya from the kenyan capital nairobi malcolm so talk us through the significance of this particular vote in the region that was held in defiance of the governments. It was back in march that the central federal government decided that the election should be postponed the elections were due to happen countrywide last month and then in june they ruled that only when Health Officials had ruled that the pandemic was under control could elections then be held 9 to 12 months after that now the grain Peoples Liberation front the t. P. I. Left thats the dominant Political Party in the region were greatly incensed by this they sed saw it as a as an attempt by president by Prime Minister ivy to cling on to power and stay in office beyond his legitimate mandate so thats why they say theyve gone ahead with this poll anyway to exercise their democratic right now as you said the Prime Minister abbey had ruled out sending the military so thats what stays off the possibility of any conflict for now hes also ruled out the possibility of cutting Central Government finances to the region but still nonetheless this election is part of rising tensions between the Central Government and the tea p. L. F. And similar to were at least comparable to some of the rising tensions that were also seeing between the central federal government and some of the other regions state of ethiopia so whats the history between this feud between the left and the Central Government. Lity p. L. F. Have been powerful in ethiopian politics for most of the last 30 years as an armed group it was them that led the overthrowing of the previous regime the marxist or solitary in regime known as the in 1991 t. P. L. F. Led a rebellion that forced them out ethiopia was subsequently governed by a coalition of parties each of which represented different ethno linguistic groups but the t. P. Older to grow in people even though they only make up about 5 percent of less than 5 percent of ethiopias more than 100000000. 00 people the t. P. M. Left. With that was the most powerful group in that coalition now since 2015 there were protests in different parts of the country that were turned violent or met with a violent crackdown from the Central Government and that led to president s or his Prime Minister. Taking taking power in 2018 loti p. L. F. Officials feel that since then theyve been pushed out theyve been weeded out of powerful positions on fairly targeted in the Anti Corruption investigations and thats how things have reached a head now with them defying the order to go ahead with this election that the federal government says is illegal all right about a mile thank you very much. For 6 years into the war in yemen the United Nations says all sides continue to break International Laws showing 0 regard for its people indiscriminate killings torture Sexual Violence recruitment of children and many other human rights crimes continue to be committed by all sides the u. N. Says random airstrikes by this so do you eat coalition equates or work crimes and it blames other countries including britain the u. S. And iran for fueling the conflict by supplying weapons. The u. S. Has announced the withdrawal of more u. S. Troops from iraq the head of u. S. Central command said the number of american troops will be reduced to 3000 this month it comes after the u. S. Led Coalition Officially transferred the. Military bases near baghdad to iraqi Security Forces the withdrawal is in keeping with president Donald Trumps promise to bring troops home in a bid to end what he calls americas and last words the u. N. Security council is holding a Virtual Meeting to discuss a resolution that would demand this to satiate of hostilities in war torn countries during the covert 19 pandemic the session requested by france. Will address the uns efforts in countries affected by Armed Conflict or a humanitarian crisis during the pandemic since the outbreak began the u. N. Has had to scale back and adjust peacekeeping and aid Operation Missions to make sure their own staff do not spread the disease kristen salumi is joining us from the United Nations over there in new york so we talked to us about the impacts off the cease fire call kristen whats been the response. Well the Security Council has been getting a briefing from some of the uns top officials and humanitarian affairs peacekeeping affairs and Political Affairs and its a pretty bleak picture not only is the violence continuing efforts to help conflict and do away with conflict are struggling because of restrictions placed on. Diplomats and so on because of the coronavirus so we heard from rosemary de carlo the Political Affairs corner that there was some initial cessation of hostilities in country countries after the un 1st called for the ceasefire about 2 months ago but that is pretty much falling apart weve seen that in countries like yemen and libya where conflict and violence is still ongoing she gave an example of syria where talks had to stop peace talks had to stop before resuming because some of the participants came down with kovac but the really bleak picture comes on the humanitarian front undersecretary general mark lowcock who heads up humanitarian affairs for the United Nations said that conflict prone countries with existing refugee and humanitarian issues already make up about a 3rd of cases of coronavirus globally and a 3rd of desk globally and those numbers he said are probably much under represented in the totals because testing is so limited in these area areas and also that the indirect impacts of cove are actually even worse on these conflicts zones than the direct Health Impacts of coven were talking about the Economy Public Health sector shutting down for these are really very vulnerable populations you know he gave one example about vaccine programs for children he said some 80000000 children are now at risk of catching vaccine preventable diseases because Public Health infrastructure has shut down so the effect of the ceasefire is has been very limited according to officials here ok kristen salumi reporting from the u. N. Thank you. The World Health Organization says young people are now driving the spread of coronavirus Many University students across the u. S. Have returned to class despite that warning the reopening of campus has resulted in thousands of new infections but students say theyre not to blame and to gallagher reports there are 5000. 00 College Campuses across the u. S. And more than a 3rd a welcoming the students back its a controversial decision but Officials Say those resuming their studies are told to test and self isolate before returning the vote for many students thats not good enough. At the Georgia Institute of Technology Student staged a dying calling for refunds better protection against covert 19 and for people to be sent home im happy. That. There will be we. Think. Theyre. All up in the weeks since reopening many colleges have been forced to reverse their decision outbreaks of being blamed on students off campus behavior parties and social gatherings have led to spikes in case numbers despite warnings of disciplinary action after a week the university of North Carolina was forced to send students and faculty staff kind of expect under pressure and you know i thought. Here are people that are hard. Oh yeah right here the university of alabama has been hit particularly hard with over a 1000 students testing positive in less than 2 weeks faculty staff say the college is ill prepared to deal with the pandemic the original send here are. Inviting students campers and young with you know without any clear timeline to. Vaccine a vaccine that majority people were going to. It was a disaster waiting to happen while Young Students of far less risk from the Coronavirus Community spread among vulnerable populations is a major concern the reopening of educational institutions is a policy fraught with complications many are under pressure from parents students and a facing Financial Hardship some a delaying in class teaching those that havent a paying the price colleges across the u. S. Help drive the economy but in a Public Health crisis they can also spread a virus this nation is still battling and a gallacher aljazeera the u. S. Justice department has asked to take over Donald Trumps defense in a Defamation Case brought by a prominent american columnist who accused him of rape the unusual move means government lawyers would defend trump at the expense of american taxpayers the lawsuit was filed by advice columnist jean Carroll Carroll says he sexually assaulted her in an Upscale Department store fitting room in the 1990 s. Called her a liar and claimed that he had never met her lets speak about this with Melanie Sloan shes a former u. S. Federal prosecutor an attorney shes joining us from washington d. C. Good to have you with us on aljazeera once again how unusual is this type of intervention from the department of justice. Well there in this is a shocking intervention by the department of justice mr trump was had just. Had a decision in the state court case that would have required him to sit for a deposition provide documents and even provided d. N. A. Sample so now the department of justice is intervening in order to get the case dismissed by attempting to move it to a federal court and claiming that mr trump has sovereign immunity for the defamation which basically if hes if he has an unity from it that means there is no case its not just that it moves over to the federal court and gets defended there it would be dismissed and this is unprecedented so the arguments by the department of justice is lawyers says this that mr trump can be defended by government attorneys because he was serving in his capacity as president when he denied miss carrolls allegation me saying they dont really have a leg to stand on. Now i dont think they have any leg to stand on were talking about President Trump talking about conduct that occurred before he was president and referring to conduct before he was president and basically their argument is that anything that the president says there or hes 1st of all an employee of the government which is actually a question thats not settled but also that he has absolute immunity for no matter what he says and the real reason that the department of justice has done this is to delay the case the state court case was continuing it could have proven embarrassing for mr trump before the election with documents in a deposition and even the d. N. A. And now with this intervention the case will be delayed while it goes to federal court and the federal or the will have dismissed make a decision as to whether it belongs there or goes back to state court all of which will undoubtedly be after the election and who will be funding all of this melanie. Well the u. S. Taxpayer because this is clearly the president using the department of justice for his personal treating it as his personal lawyers and that of course is yet another Shocking Development the department of justice has never been used this way before and mr trump has a very willing accomplice in the attorney general bob barr whos been willing to take take whatever the president asks and go forward and do it and i think most americans would be very unhappy to realize that the department of justice is now basically acting as the private lawyer for President Trump can anything actually being being done about this though at this point the only thing that can be doubt is that a federal court will hear the matter and hopefully hear it in a reasonably quick timeframe and send it back to state court but just the way that the American Court system works those things tend to take time there are motions and briefs to be filed and none of that happens quickly and of course it is election era over there for the president are i Melanie Sloan thank you very much for speaking to us from washington d. C. Thank you. Of the sports news coming up next on aljazeera and theyll be here she has the latest ice hockey action as teams battle to reach the stanley cup. Hello again the Palestinian Foreign minister has called on the arab league to reject efforts by the United Arab Emirates to build closer ties with israel thats who countries are set to sign the u. S. Brokered agreement next week. The lot of the only good finally an earthquake has hit the arab league the dream of the arabs the triple tide the american israeli declaration is that earthquake we now need to defend ourselves and our cause because we are the ones being blamed for condemning this declaration we asked for an emergency meeting because this earthquake necessitates this extraordinary meeting of the arab league and we are shocked to know that there is a country asking only for an ordinary meeting and another country threatens to submit an alternative resolution do you think its impossible to discuss the palestinian cause on the arab league agenda who decides those who have money those who have power we need to know you and we need to be able to decide whether well be part of the whole process or not the us has announced that soon the normalization between the emirates and israel will be a fact will be done we need to reject such a step because otherwise our meeting today will be in support of such normalization one way will never accept that and we hope that you will also refuse it. Apple i phones are popular worldwide and iran is no exception but as a rainy and suffer from u. S. Sanctions the government could pull the plug on imports as a big reports from to run. Its a global recognized brand the i phone is seen as a luxury item here in iran but the political and spiritual leader of the country seems to have taken issue with the company voted go to be here excessive imports a dangerous sometimes import is a luxury product meaning there is no need for it of heard about half a 1000000000. 00 was spent to import one type of american cell phone last year of course the private sector does it but the government must prevent it the average wage in iran is around 300. 00 a month the cost of an i phone is out of reach for most iranians this i phone cost around 1000 dollars in the u. S. But here in iran youre likely to pay at least 40 percent more for it sanctions the cost of importing phones and the weekly rate in currency are all factors in the high prices if people coming into the country bring in a phone they still have to pay for the registration again increasing costs but thats not putting everyone off for 4 months i have a pro max i chose it because its high quality and you can use it for years unfortunately we have lots of fluctuation in the dollar rate so if you want to buy a knife and the seller should make phone calls and check the price and then sell it to you its very expensive now apple makes up 5 percent of the phone market some think its loss wont have a great impact for the whole scenario bending i phones will make no change in iran since american sanctions tighten 2 years ago apple restricted access to some of its products here many i phone applications dont work its difficult to get an apple idea or buy software were in the middle of an economic battle with the United States based on an official report last year 700 to 800000000. 00 was spent on i phone imports but the share is only 4 to 5 percent of them. Market its not logical economically under the current circumstances were giving our money to the American Workforce talks of buying new imports of the i phone have already driven up prices and criticisms from some hid the Supreme Leaders russian language account statement on objections to look 3 american cell phones from an i phone is also blocked in iran but political officials routinely used a platform to get their message across its led some to accuse the political establishment of double standards for now iranians can still buy i phones but in the future they may have to turn to other brands for a touch of that sherry i said big aljazeera the wrong time for an update on most sports news woodley a highly haider thank you so much portuguese superstar christiana and all those now only the 2nd man to make 100 International Goals it was a free kick for portugal in a 2 nil win over sweden he scored his 1st International Gold 16 years ago around is only the other is the only other man to have scored a century himself he reached 109. Were all those great rival lendl messi has been back in training with his Club Barcelona messi trained by himself the last 2 days after taking a coronavirus test but on wednesday he was back with his team mates marcel will kick off their new Spanish League campaign on september 30th against. 2018 us open champion naomi osaka is through to this years semi finals and possibly just one win away from a deja vu meeting with Serena Williams a saka breezed into the stage after defeating Shelby Rogers in straight sets at flushing meadows peter stem that reports from japan. Naomi osaka is a woman on a mission since the western and southern open she has decided to protest racial and social injustice shes also in hot pursuit of a 3rd grand slam singles title and on tuesday american Shelby Rogers was dispatched in one hour and 20 minutes 63 and 64 after the match osaka used her mosque to pay tribute to george floyd who was killed by a policeman all of the matches are really tough the scoreline might not suggest it but ive had a really a couple really hard matches i think that. Made me really grateful to be in the station right now. Osaka will face another american in the semifinals jennifer brady. Brady is challenging the call. Came semi brady. The 28th seed was a straight sets win against you put in savor of kazakhstan 63 and 62. In the mens draw alexanders then it will be the 1st german in a u. S. Open single semifinal since boris becker in 1995. Found himself 6142 down inside the 1st half an hour but food back to take the win in 4616767663. 361. I mean look obviously i didnt play well. It was down 6142 after about 28 minutes so. Its not a secret i didnt play my best but i found a way of found a way to win thats a concern and i feel like thats the most important variable face problem in the final 4 was. The spaniard spent more than 4 hours on court in a 5 setter against canadas denis shop overload. Eventually winning 367676 love 6 and 63 to reach the u. S. Open single semifinals for the 2nd time he has same it aljazeera. After the u. S. Open finishes players will start prepping for the french open in 2 weeks world number 2 on the dollar will be aiming for a record extending 13th title at Roland Garros the spaniards preparing a comeback to the sport starting with the italian open in rome he hasnt played a match in 7 months. The miami heat sealed their 4th one against the Milwaukee Bucks and punch their ticket to the eastern conference final the heat were on fire jimmy butler raked in a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds 5 of his teammates also had double doubles the final score here what are 394. You know what are your own but when is it going to tell you how we can get it we talk about want to be an art but i think its one on so many. So many. Plot everybody is really ready. Le bron james scored 36 points and rajon rondo sparked a 4th quarter rally for the l. A. Lakers against the Houston Rockets they won this game 1122102 taking a 21 lead and their western conference playoff series with dunks like this by the end of the night Le Bron James actually broke an n. B. A. Record with the most playoff wins topping the charts at 162. 00 to noted. At the top of most wins for an individual. You know is very humble and theres something about i never dreamed of and it never came into the league or as the kids and i want to be number one employer whence. You know what we said i want to be a part of when he called her and be a winning player and do whatever it takes more teammates win and this is the result of it but it doesnt happen. You know much he made over the years michael just as a coach that already years. You know everyone from top to bottom and ice hockey the Vegas Golden Knights won game 2 against the dallas stars to level the western conference final goaltender robin lehner made 24 saves to keep the dallas stars scoreless the entire game it was letters for shut out in 5 starts of his career final score this time 30 game stories on thursday for some like you fans will be allowed to attend the 1st 2 n. F. L. Games and ohio this month the state governor said 3000. 00 supporters will be able to watch the Cleveland Browns and the sense of not even goals in person at each of their season opening home games there will still be social distancing and everyone is required to wear face masks the governor says this is just a trial run to consider possibly opening the stadium to fans and more games this season. Former n. F. L. Quarterback calling copper nick will feature in a video game version of the sport for the 1st time in 4 years in sports announce theyve included him in madden 21. 00 in the game his program to be a free agent and raise his fist in the air after scoring every touchdown capper nick has not played in the n. F. L. Since 2016 after he began kneeling during the National Anthem to protest against racism. Thats it for me was sports hand back over during her earlier thank you very much for that and thanks for watching the news hour on aljazeera back in just a moment well have much more of the days news coming your way see you in a minute about. Keeping law and order is a primary function of any state. In protecting the people became Police Brutality a domestic incident became a global lock. In a country torn apart by racial inequality. When americans find a leader to unite them. Follow the key issues of the us elections. On aljazeera. On mexicos busy roads there are those whove had enough. Cyclists are taking to the streets. Last. Their objective to make the streets safer alternative clean up forms of transportation but when it proved to be an uphill struggle for they scoop of activists over the wheel do you find that on aljazeera. One of australias most loved make it out of the one box is under threat from an agonizing disease but one wildlife term credo is dedicating a lot of deciding what i want to east makes the woman whos proud of the era. We understand the differences. And similarities of cultures across the world. So no matter what you see aljazeera will bring you the news and Current Affairs that matter to you. Aljazeera. The new just spiration for thousands of refugees in greece left homeless after a fire sweeps through the biggest camp in europe. Watching aljazeera lie from a headquarters in doha and now were going to also at afghanistans Vice President survives another assassination attempt but a bomb attack on his convoy in trouble coals of least. A Top Pharmaceutical Company says it suspending trials for its covert 19 vaccine after an unexplained illness