Press freedoms in south asia the largest broadcaster in the philippines is just hours away from being shut down for good. And refusing to back down protesters try to storm serbias parliament as anger grows against the government. Here as President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of his long time ally roger stone and he advised trumps president ial campaign and was sentenced to jail for lying to congress in the russian probe and fisher reports. He has been a friend a confidant and for a very long time his biggest political supporter a religious student can thank donald trump through his freedom the veteran political consultant was due to begin a prison sentence on tuesday with the president s granting of clemency that has gone away in my case. An assistant u. S. Attorney. Filed a motion with the court which he. Did it from our investigation had proof beyond a crowd strikes report that the russians hacked the d. N. C. And gave the information to wiki leaks thats a lie in a statement the white house said roger stone is a victim of the russia hopes that the left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency there was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign or the Trump Administration with russia he continued mr stone will be put at serious medical risk in prison hes appealed this conviction and is seeking a new trial concludes roger stone is no a free man stone was caught up in robert millers investigation into alleged collusion between russia and the Trump Campaign in january last year he was charged with one count of obstruction 5 of making false statements and one of threatening a witness the charges included lying to congress during the Russian Investigation about his back channel links to wiki leaks during the 2016 Election Campaign prosecutors said he lied several times to protect donald trump after a trial in washington d. C. He was found guilty initially prosecutors recommended a 7 to 9 year sentence that was criticized by the president. He was sentenced to 40 months in jail fined 20000. 00 and told to complete 250 hours of Community Service several times the president insisted this was a miscarriage of justice and he was considering a pardon for his old friend including this on friday that i think right your son was very unfairly treated as were many before and in the meantime call me and all these guys are Walking Around voting by the obama because weve got them by my campaign who want to believe that one numerous republicans have over the last few days given a political cover to commute the sentence but others want him against it saying it could be. Badly in the months leading up to the next election adam schiff who led the impeachment process against donald trump said in a statement commuting the sentence of roger stone a crony who lied and obstructed an investigation to protect trump himself is among the most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice just this week stone tried to stop his sentence going ahead but at the hearing from school and Justice Department said it was a reasonable step something the president has known who rule own fisher aljazeera Washington WellMelanie Sloan is a former federal prosecutor she says trumps grant of clemency is a reward for a stone backing him mr stone was convicted by a jury and he was sentenced to jail and hes done everything he can to delay that sends and stone had been appealing to the president today hes suggesting that mr trump should commute his sentence and to date mr chung finally did that which was basically payback for roger stone refusing to come clean about everything that he had done on behalf of the president to help him win the election in 2060 you are close to mr trump and you do something illegal that helps him that he will do everything he can to help you and make sure you go free if on the other hand you are not viewed as sufficiently loyal as in the example of Michael Cohen then you can go back to jale i mean its very interesting that mr trump expressed so much concern about roger stone at going to jail with kobe and yet there are many many i mean probably hundreds if not thousands of federal prisoners who are also over 70 and at risk of comity and mr trump has no concern for any of those people its only roger stone who has basically protected President Trump and failed to come clean about everything he did to help mr trump win the election and basically this is payback for roger stone. The u. N. Security council has missed a deadline to Reach Agreement to keep cross border aid flowing into syria russia with the support of china wants to cut the number of crossings in the u. S. But the u. S. And other Council Members say that would deprive syrian civilians of lifesaving supplies are difficult to get into james bays reports. The delivery of medicine food and other vital supplies to hundreds of thousands of syrians is at risk the Security Council deadlocked on details of the authorization of aid brought into Northern Syria from turkey the councils now voted 5 times in just 4 days on a new resolution 3 versions written by russia didnt pass the result of the voting is the follow through to other texts drafted by belgium and germany were blocked the drive through the illusion has not been adopted owing to the negative vote of 2 permanent members of the council even though everyone else on the council supported them russia and china use their veto. The key Sticking Point until now has been the border crossings that can be used to bring aid into syria most Council Members want the 2 existing border crossings to remain but russia backed by china wants that reduced to just one leading aid agency is very clear on this point does it matter to you how many checkpoints there are as it stands right now the northwestern syria is served by 2 cross points and both of those are extremely important at both of those served amount of people and by chopping away in excess point you were simply just trying to interrupt theyd operation and it has as no relationship with the actual situation on the ground and it will be significantly more difficult to deliberate if that ss. Another effort is a compromise is underway and its a concession to russia its being proposed that the bob how while crossing will remain open but. Will be given just 3 months to wind up operations james by. The United Nations the largest broadcast in the philippines is hours away from shutting down for good thats up to m. P. s refused to renew a. B. S. C. B. S. License the channel has until late on saturday to appeal the governments decision to schapelle records. Oh ya after being repeatedly threatened by the president for coverage he didnt like critics say abs c. D. N. Has become the latest casualty of rodrigo to charite silencing of descent the Largest Television network and a major news provider was forced to shut down as broadcasters are covering the coronavirus pandemic some say it reminds them of the 21 years of martial rule under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos the 1st close the network in 1982. On different media and recently rock and a very low profile in the jungle on the ground people 100 marcus do you think you have been watching. Birds even eternities or you know. Are they walking is easy for us to eat around 160 maybe a cd ends networks license expired in early may and it was forced off the air most of its 11000 workers had been expecting to return to work but were disappointed the dissolution of the deny a. B. C. s french application is here but adopted duties allies in the house of representatives overwhelmingly rejected renewing the license for the next 25. 00 hears media watchdog say its a black day for a country once regarded as a bastion of press freedom. Security of president reagan. Was accused. Of slights against him and politically targeted she refused to take the governments line in criticizing you see when claims. That accuse the network of favoring other candidates in the 26000 campaign and reporting unfairly on his presidency the broadcaster denied those accusations that did little to help keep it on the air and or should help how to steer so to speak to done in a raw and associate professor of journalism at the university the philippines diliman. So freedom of the press is guaranteed under the constitution in the philippines so what exactly has a b s c b. N. Done illegally to have its operating license revoked that there was nothing illegal that the n. B. A. And now left and Government Agencies like the beautiful and there are no revenue and even that National TelecommunicationsCommission Said that everything is about or the problem with someone with my job to be off the ledge if they thought who are members of the who meet me on to do that the apprentice i said if that. Our recommendations are that the fee and the be are and their findings and they just went about their week so if clearly if they might pick up on the media because we cannot or to get them that just maybe f e b n but also lower and the idea that fact to be more specific i smell of other members of the out there if need be i think i bring that up and if they shun that they are facing on their side because they should make no mistake about it ok its not just because they have to but because the president himself down in the let me ask you can be a c. B. And appeal this decision that if i do take this much i owe to the Supreme Court is the decision to close down the station likely to be exactly the same. Well of course the options would still be there are there are Legal Options available but the think we need to sustain the public pressure or so that. Would be able to finally grant this particular french i object an option. That this is shot about less 35. 00 are not are. My fairness part thats theories and theyre not going are going to stay sean it might be an uphill battle and i think the end would have to wait until the next president ial elections that would happen from different people i did a lot less if you dont. Let me jump in with a final question for you i mean critics of a. B. S. C. B. S. Say look the channel represents the rich and powerful of the philippines and as an old Mainstream Media offering its really out of touch with the will of social media users whats your response to that when i can out of there is to be at the willfully feel if you need your landscape and. That only god would really need to be you know out every now and then but the congress should not be there but agony then and will be selective in terms of all the guard it will be attacking because its if it goes against the opposite of that we are simply be i. C. B. M. But they would want to be there not there only 13 because thats the magic if thats happening right now and we have the always if in mind that separate your nation and it is all yelling independent should be sustained. And we cannot afford so replication of such laws then in iran thanks very much indeed for talking to aljazeera thank you time thank you very much. Time for a short break here aljazeera when we come back preparing to take on beijing prodemocracy activists in hong kong gear up for. The. Prayers outside a turkish landmark off to a Historic Court ruling about its future stay with us. Theyre very wholesome and dry throughout much of the middle east of the north through turkey we have seen if you show us a copy if you will around as we go through saturday and sunday what a bundle of cloud that will take the shot really anywhere from the essentials of the black sea across tools the caspian sea but at times we could see some heavier downpours basin pieces of cloud further to the south the winds are still strong through the interior of iraq and so blowing some of that sand and dust and it will travel south was a throughout the gulf 46 the high in baghdad on saturday by sunday similar sort of temperatures and again the winds are quite strong at times like that as i say because certainly by far the tools the south quite a bit of cloud further to the south across into iran and yemen and across into the southwest of one or 2. I was slightly scenes of very heavy rain across into Southern Africa this front has been sliding by is brought some heavy rain and some strong winds across into cape town that will continue the showers certainly on saturday but really the strongest winds they will continue at the south in the east coast and thats where the rain is headed next as you can see eventually pushing across into southern areas of mozambique it becomes a fairly unsettled in coastal areas on sunday again through central mozambique but all the while what a lot of clouds and showers through coastal areas of towns and in a through kenya and fight all the way up into somalia. 0 we ask is the government not taking the necessary action to really address some of the structural issues we listen i still think that travel is the safest mode of travel and to spend that we meet with global news makers about the stories that matter how does their own image can change the way we see the world it can spark mass action or serve the interests of the powerful it can obscure truth forged narratives and rewrite the listening post gives you the fruit picture on the jersey. Welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here on aljazeera u. S. President donald trump has commuted the sentence of his long time ally roger stone stone advise trumps president ial campaign was sentenced to jail for lying to congress and the russian approach. To u. N. Security Council Votes to extend humanitarian aid to syria failed to pass aid agencies say the decision could lead to dark consequences for millions of people. And the largest broadcaster in the philippines is just hours away from shutting down for good thats after m. P. s refused to renew a b. S. C. B. S. License the channel has until later on saturday to appeal against the governments decision. Now campaigning as kicked off in hong kong for its Legislative Council elections this weekend the prodemocracy campus holding a primary vote to decide on its candidates for the territories newly imposed National Security law has been overshadowed in the lead up to the september vote sarah clarke reports. These images of a mob indiscriminately attacking protesters journalists and civilians in uniform last july marked a turning point in the hong kong demonstrations journalist with hope was Live Streaming when she was targeted i know that the proc cast a live broadcast of me being beaten up by gangs and lobsters its terrible to watch but the thing is you know like that so many people they went to you know after that because they watched. It was this incident and last years months of antigovernment protests that inspired going to total into the political arena for the 1st time shell run as an independent candidate in the New Territories at the Legislative Council elections in september despite chinas newly imposed National Security law shes prepared to take the risk and fight for greater democratic reform in hong kong of course im concerned about my future of course the people here concerned about the fishery we also know that if we do not do something if we do not resist of retiring or even to authoritarian rule there is no future at all for us to concern about you know in last years local Council Elections the prodemocracy camp secured 17 of the 18 districts and thats put greater competition in the prodemocracy bloc more young independent candidates are now standing for election to the citys legislature the probation camp which holds the majority acknowledges it might lose some seats but its confident voters will support their central policy to restore order in a city rocked by months of political unrest. The upcoming election will be a tough one we will focus on issues such as restoring social stability because of last years social unrest people hope the city can go back to normal soon as possible chinas new National Security looms over its temp ain analysts say it effectively empowers or 3rd. To disqualify candidates from local and prodemocracy camps who are critical of the Chinese Government this year i think china is taking up a much stronger position against the opposition so i guess quien number of the opposition candidates make out this qualifies the National Security law has already seen some parties withdraw from this election because some members fear the risk of imprisonment should the prodemocracy cap secure the majority that would deliver them the power to enact laws and reject or approve the budget and in extreme circumstances they could even try and force the resignation of the chief executive whatever the final result on september 6th the coming months are likely to narrow hong kongs political divide sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong Global Health leaders are referring to latin america as the worlds new hotspot for code 19 several countries in the region now rank among those with the highest per capita infection rates as cases continue to soar or at least 3 leaders have come down with a virus that reports the world with few exceptions the coronavirus pandemic in latin america is worsening deaths in the region and now account for nearly half of daily coronavirus deaths worldwide and a pandemic is not scaring regional leaders. On thursday libyas interim president janine and yes announced that she along with 3 cab