Coronavirus one town measures. And as many of us stay home the environments getting a bit of a break just in time for the 50th birthday. Of the u. S. Has called for iran to be held accountable after her and successfully launched its 1st military satellite irans revolutionary guard says the country is now able to monitor the world from space washington has accused iran in the past of using its Space Program as a cover for Missile Development same basra view reports. On wednesday morning the world a will to news of the secret operation carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary guards from a launch site in iran central desert it successfully used a 2 stage rocket to put its 1st military satellite in space. The newer or light is now 425 kilometers above us orbiting earth the head of the revolutionary guards says it gives irans military new strategic advantages or that. It is a necessity for such powerful Defense Forces like the revolutionary guard to have access to advanced capabilities today the powerful armies of the world have no comprehensive defense plan if they dont have a place in space today we can monitor the world from space and it means boosting strategic data for the i. R. G. C. Putting the satellite into orbit gives us a technological advantage and its also a powerful asset in the intelligence war in iran has put satellites in space before but the success of the nur comes after several failures in recent years its expected to be used for intelligence gathering secure military Communications Navigation and reconnaissance whatever leaders need to support from the sky irans military assets on earth and the satellite isnt the days only technological development. The difference between the satellite in previous ones is that its propulsion the uses a combined solid and liquid fuel only a few superpowers have this capability and only a few countries the rest are consumers of this technology. Its a proud moment for irans revolutionary guards. The group suffered a major setback to its reputation after the accidental shoot down in january of Ukraine InternationalAirlines Flight 752 all 176 people on board were killed since the beginning of the 21st century iran despite diplomatic and economic isolation has managed to develop the Technology Necessary to elbow its way into an elite club along with rivals like the United States and israel as well as allies like russia china india iran is one of only a dozen countries in the world with the homegrown Rocket Technology to launch its own satellites into space. For us secretary of state. Condemned the revolutionary guards launch as we mentioned Hillary Mann Leverett is a former Us White House official and state Department Official she says not everyone shares my stance on iran. He has long argued for military strikes and confrontation against iran he was a leading advocate within the Top Administration to call for the killing of irans generals on the money back in january the december delhi january he is the one who made that argument the strongest or president tropp he again today is making the argument very strongly to take military action against iran for this satellite launch but there are different voices within the administration for example the department of defense after the president himself tweeted that iraq must be held accountable for work that he had ordered the pentagon to shoot your granny and ships out of the water if they came your american ships again after he the president tweeted that the department of defense responded that they had not received a formal policy directive from from President Trump to take such military action against iran so within the constellation of voices in the u. S. Administration within the Top Administration itself the pentagon is essentially one of the most cautious ones cautioning against military action ok it was one of the most most hawkish arguing constantly for military strikes mike pompei i was also commented on israeli plans to annex the west bank he said the move is a decision for the new Israeli Government to make were glad that theres a now fully formed government in israel as for the and excess in the west bank theres rallies will ultimately make those decisions as thats an israeli decision and we we will work closely with them to share with them our views of this in a private setting. Now we have 3 correspondents on this story brahimi is standing by in Ramallah Harris force it is in west jerusalem but 1st lets go straight to our White House CorrespondentKimberly Halkett in washington d. C. This isnt a huge surprise but still it begs some interpretation what does he mean by its up to israel is this the trumpet ministration greenlighting alex ation of what is internationally recognized as illegal. Yeah its really unclear but one could only take that as the sort of the. Conclusion that you would get from those statements these are the 1st comments coming since the formation of the Israeli Government and the position by this administration has always been very pro israel from day one whether it was the releasing of the mideast plan in january which people said was decidedly in favor of israel the fact that in fact none of the palestinian leaders and even being consulted or to the movement out of the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem its not been hard to know where the u. S. President stands in terms of which side is if you want to sort of put it that way that hes are now theres no question that many are viewing this as a green light if you will to essentially addicks the west bank by israel the green light by the u. S. Administration but prior to these elections that took place in israel the white house had been giving conflicting messages that one point the u. S. Ambassador to israel saying that it would be ok to move ahead with attic sation only to be sort of. For there to be a pas if you will in those statements or a suggestion of that by jared cushion or the president s Senior Adviser and his son in law saying in fact this would have to be a joint american israeli decision but now it appears we have some clarity coming from the u. S. Secretary of state saying that in fact this is an israeli decision and it doesnt appear that he is suggesting that there should be any pause of any sort any more or less find kimberly how come more to discuss on this though we head over terry foreseeing west jerusalem of we have any reaction of these ready government of course we should say the new Israeli Government. Yes not yet and i think that is key that there is this new Israeli Government as of monday evening the unity emergency government is calling it in which benny gantz the former leader of the opposition joined Benjamin Netanyahu allowing him to stay in office he said because of the current emergency with coronavirus a but as part of the negotiations which led up to that announcement he gave way on a what had been a key issue being the annexation of large parts of the occupied west bank it had been understood that he was seeking a veto trying to ensure that other voices were brought into the picture before any move was made and its a sion and clearing israels neighbors in the region and also european nations but that is not in the deal that was announced indeed it says from july the 1st Benjamin Netanyahu can bring about the cabinet and to the Israeli Parliament the knesset and so that combined with the fact that there is the signal from the United States from this very senior u. S. Government figure in my palm peo does suggest that things are moving in that direction there is supposed to be still this mapping plan a joint team of u. S. And israeli officials delineating exactly which parts under the plan that was announced in january could be annexed by israel but it seems pretty clear that as far as my compos concerned the ultimate decision will be up to israel all right lets cross over thank harry were going to join now on the day brian joins us from ramallah in the occupied west bank and the debt i imagine this is only going to further cement the palestinians suspicion of the u. S. Not really playing that role as an honest broker or theyve been saying that the average things that ministration announced plans to move its embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem palestinians have been saying that the u. S. Lost its. Its credibility as an honest broker for the Peace Process thats been calling for an International Peace conference where different parties play a role in ending that come from that now to the issue of the statement from paya weve spoken to the member of the executive committee of the p. L. O. How she says that these statements not only encourages the real to continue its actions on the ground but gives it the cover to annex and steal more nans weve heard also from the palestinian president spokesperson they know who says that this only empowers israel but also that the u. S. Does not really have any legitimacy or any ownership of the land to give israel that it just in the sea to annex that the palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas have been addressing the nation in a televised praeter court to televised speech that was recorded before the pump a statement but he addressed this very issue and its expected that his position will remain the same if the same even after he said that he will be cutting all signed agreements with israel if israel most forward with these plans of course this is a statement that weve heard from. Many times in many analysts would say that he really doesnt have any more cards to play at this point thats why hes seeking the International Community hes been saying that this is a legal under International Law and israel now is more empowered than ever by the current u. S. Administration to continue with its actions on the ground including annexation which is considered illegal under insured International Law all right and that abraham from amala. South africas president has announced a 26000000000. 00 covert 19 rescue package and more than 70000. 00 soldiers nearly the entire Standing Army of being deployed to enforce a Strict Lockdown or theyll join nearly 2300 personnel already on the streets for may the miller has more from list and berg a town in the northwest province. According to what weve heard from the government so far is that theres increasing concern about just how the numbers regarding the number of infections in south africa is escalating and this is what the minister of defense said earlier on local radio the rate at which the infections has gone up you will realize that at some point we might need the kind of Human Resource deployed like weve never seen before and so this deployment of more than 73000 soldiers in addition to that initial 2000 would be the largest deployment by the south African NationalDefense Force in south africas history i mean that even goes back to the 1st democratic elections in 1904 the government here is concerned about just how bad the infections will get in south africa and estimates show that theyre working on a model that indicates that south africas Coronavirus Crisis will perhaps hear it in august or september the government is saying that they need these soldiers to enforce the lockdown it needs these soldiers to prepare quarantine sites ensure people are abiding by the lockdown and essentially try and flatten that curve head of the coming months still ahead of al jazeera well hear from french doctors and nurses worried what lifting the long down will mean plus. Waving the red flag how the poor in colombia are seeking the attention of officials to help them tide over the Coronavirus Crisis. Hello once again we still have some disturbed weather across the middle east but it should quiet down as we go through the next hour or so this long line of cloud thats been producing some wet weather into the eastern parts of saudi arabia some heavy rain into Western Areas of yemen. We have seen flooding that will tend to ways as we go through the next few showers creeping across iran pushing towards afghanistan further north some rather wet weather there just spinning outs of key into northern parts of iraq for a time move out of the way you can see the system just around the eastern side of the mediterranean some very strong winds blustery conditions and heavy showers that makes this way for the race which will pick up some very very windy weather across the egypt as we go on through friday and these blustery showers will create the way a father reese was in the process of in all the parts of africa because the windy weather pushing into egypt further south it is generally dr coles the usual showers there around the into the whole of africa possibility some flooding there into parts of eastern the pia into somalia heavy showers that are going to linger just around the gulf of guinea into a west africa heavy showers lingering kenya and uganda because some very heavy rain also affecting eastern pos the tanzania. Has the world battles the coronavirus and millions of infections stance had tested positive for the crown of virus with countries in lockdown and the threat of a Major Economic crisis to feel it unlocked a global g. D. P. Could be around 9 trillion dollars well bring you the latest developments from around the globe prosecutors say theyre also seeing price gouging on vital medical supply coronavirus and general special coverage on aljazeera. The root. Or. Welcome back its time to update our headlines now the u. S. Says iran will be held accountable after to irans elite military unit the revolutionary guard successfully launched its 1st military satellite into orbit. And the u. S. Secretary of state also said the next thing the occupied west bank is a decision for israel plan was put forward by israels government ahead of elections earlier this year settlements are considered illegal under International Law. In south africa more than 70000 soldiers nearly the entire Standing Army are being deployed to enforce a lockdown to prevent more coronavirus cases theyll join nearly 2300 personnel already on the streets. Now the u. K. Government has again come under fire for its response to the pandemic this time by the new leader of the opposition it happened during the 1st virtual session in parliament 700 year history labor leader starmer focused on shortages of personal protective equipment for Frontline Health workers and the number of tests being carried out lets hear some of what he had to say somethings going wrong and this a pattern emerging here we were slowed to look slow on testing slower protective equipment are now slow to take up these offers from british. The Prime Minister said this is a National Effort and hes right about that so in that spirit can i ask the price at the 1st minister to commit to working with the opposition to identify and take up these offers from british manufacturers for protective equipment rory chalons is in london and says the new leader of the opposition has made an impressive debut in parliament. Is a former lawyer and hes a former chief of Public Prosecutions in the u. K. And he was bringing some of that kind of forensic style that forensic expertise to bear in Prime Ministers questions today pushing the governments pushing dominic robb the man whos standing in for forest johnson at the moment on various issues the lack of public. Personal protective equipment for Health Care Workers being one of them this testing response to the testing being another he was saying that this is a matter of life and death asking. To confirm how many Health Care Workers have died in the coronas epidemic so far down the graph admitted that 69 Health Workers have died but he didnt have the figure to hand for the number of care workers people who work in Retirement Homes etc to hand one of the key things that. Was drilling into. This claim that the government has at the moment that it is ramping up testing for n. H. S. Workers and other people around the country that. Its capacity is now worth 40000 saying hold on a 2nd it doesnt matter what the capacity is if youre only doing 18000 tests a day which is whats being done at the moment you can talk about capacity till it till the cows come home but what really matters is how many people are actually getting the tests that they need Spains Parliament is set to vote on a government proposal to extend the nationwide lockdown until may the 9th madrid has already started easing some restrictions children can go for walks from next week and some factory in construction workers have returned to their jobs nearly 208000 people have contracted the virus in spain early 1000 have died. Health officials in france of war on the virus t