Nominations open for Hong Kong September election candidates are required to pledge allegiance to the territory. Taking to the airwaves classes in zimbabwe held over the radio the schools remain closed due to the pandemic. U. S. Congressman and civil rights activist john lewis has died at the age of 80 he was one of the youngest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement as an organizer of the 1963 march on washington lewis advanced pancreatic cancer Heidi Joe Castro looks back at his life we cannot. We cannot give out. We cannot give you. John lewis was born into the segregated world of rural alabama in 1940 when i was growing up i saw those lines that white men colored men white women colored women white the son of black sharecroppers lewis devoured books as a child the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr spoke to him loudest seem like he was saying to me john lewis you too can do something and i would ask my mother asked my father my grandparents my great grandparents why segregation why Racial Discrimination it was the best way it is dont get in a way dont get in trouble but trouble would find him many times as a student leader in nashville tennessee lewis was beaten for peacefully protesting segregation at restaurants and on buses in selma Alabama Police cracked his skull as he led a 600 marchers across a bridge to montgomery but i dont think i know what it was at age 23 lewis was the youngest leader of the march on washington 2 years later president Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights act into law protecting black americans from discrimination at the polls the act would foreshadow lewiss own political career he was elected to the u. S. House of representatives in 1986 his consistent defense of human rights during his decades of service earning him the title the conscience of Congress John r. Lewis has dedicated in 2011 lewis received the medal of freedom from barack obama the nations 1st black president a moment lewis called amazing and unbelievable and in 2016 he was honored at the opening of the National Museum of africanAmerican History the museum lewis had proposed nearly 30 years prior but even then the statesmans work was not done louis continued to champion liberal causes like universe. So health care and the rights of undocumented immigrants will not be. Remembered as both fiercely partisan toward his Democratic Party and fiercely independent lewiss legacy is his bravery in the face of perceived injustice have this abiding faith that the things that us all right so good so necessary if youre willing to die for you not a for all of freedom right now following his mentor Martin Luther king jr to his final rest john lewis was the last of the great civil rights leaders that shaped modern American History leaving another tall shadow for the next generation to fill. Out a serious alan fischer joins us now live from virginia island theyve been tributes from across the political spectrum to john lewis tell us more about the reaction to his death. Well hes been described as a titan an icon a lion a giant the conscience of the house a huge row from both sides of the house thats deep the feeling is for joy for john lewis you remember that it was the late last year that he announced he that fans pancreatic cancer said this was perhaps the biggest fight theyd ever face from a man whod gone through what hed gone through that was quite a statement and so we found out that he died at some point on friday and as i say the reaction has come from the leader of the house nancy pelosi a democrat from Mitch Mcconnell the republican leader in the senate but also from rank and file members of both republican and democratic parties interestingly enough while the president has been tweeting in the last hour or so there has been Nothing Official from the white house or from him that is perhaps not surprising john lewis refused to attend the inauguration of donald trump he described his election is illegitimate saying that he delighted on russian help to do that upset donald trump quite significantly and you remember the comment that donald trump made about immigrants coming from african countries donald trump described them in less than glowing terms john lewis said that that was racist and that had to be called out as such so he was very combative against the president but surely at some point donald trump will remark particularly given the protests weve seen across the country over the last few months or so about the Important Role that john lewis played in shaping modern america he was born on the 21st of february in 1940 in alabama he was one of the youngest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and helped to organize the 1963 march on washington just how significant a figure was he. Hes huge and maybe not a name known internationally in the way that Martin Luther king was but john lewis was a ally in all of that movement it was the march from selma to montgomery in alabama where he was beaten and so badly his skull was fractured and he was left in hospital those pictures shocked not just the United States but the entire world and really elected people to the fact that many in the south were not enticed to vote they picked selma as the starting point of the march because the black population made up more than 50 percent of the people who lived in the city but only one percent could vote and john lewis decided to make a Public Statement about that even though others in his Student Movement suggested that perhaps he shouldnt he became a lion of the Civil Rights Movement speaking out on many occasions and then said in the congress for year after year perhaps not deeply involved d in setting policy but certainly regarded as someone you would always d test the water with before you advanced any sort of legislation interestingly enough in his last public appearance was just a couple of weeks ago here in washington d. C. Where he stood to on the new black lives matter mural which leads all the way to the white house i was there as alan fischer reporting live from the genea many thanks americans continue to get mixed messages about whether or not they should be wearing mosques to protect themselves from the coronavirus u. S. President donald trump has ruled out making them compulsory at a National Level many state governors have also said that they wont make wearing one mandatory in the united sates recorded a total of at least 70674 new covert infections on friday heres what the president told fox news earlier. Would you consider what you consider a National Mandate that people need to wear a mask i want people to have a certain freedom and i dont believe in that no and i dont agree with the statement that if everybody were a mask everything disappears a doctor felt she said dont wear a mask or Surgeon General terrific guy said dont worry mask everybody was saying dont wear masks all of a sudden everybodys got to wear a mask and as you know mask cause problems too with that being said im a believer in masks i think masks are good but the u. S. Governments top Infectious Diseases expert wants officials to do everything they can to convince people to wear mosques i can say as a Public Health official that i would urge the leaders the local political and other leaders in states and cities and towns to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizen tree so wear masks masks are important as part of the physical distance physical distancing is the most important but practically when youre living your life and trying to open up the country you are going to come into contact with people and for that reason we know that masks are really important talk to the cheetah is from the Johns HopkinsUniversity School of medicine she says that the mosque issue has become political which of preventing the government from taking action. We have other Public Health measures such as seat belts which are managed by law and which people do follow and so i think part of the reason this is unfortunately become so political is from mixed messaging from our federal government as well as our president. Making it into a political issue unfortunately and thats why i think you can see a fairly clear split in terms of where our place is supporting masking unmasking mandates and where places that are not the u. S. Is made up of states which have a fair amount of states rights i think unfortunately due to overall lack of leadership from the federal government there has not been a move to have a National Unified response and this is left up to the states and you know unfortunately some are some coming to their own pressures from their own political leanings and others are not the World Health Organization says the brazils corona virus infection rates appears to have plateaued and that it should seize the opportunity to drive down transmission the country remains the epicenter of the pandemic in latin america but as we see in human reports theres growing criticism of government responses across the continent. In the ignition to chick about a hospital in money that doctors fight to keep Critical Care patients alive unlike the city of Rio De Janeiro in much of real state virus infections continue rising infections in brazil have surpassed the 2000000 mark it took 4 months to reach 1000000 infections and less than one to double that number. And the death toll is now well past 75000 yet according to brazils former Health Minister who was sacked by president table so natural the defendant confinement measures authorities and even ordinary citizens are not taking coronavirus seriously enough as business. People have become uncaring 1300 deaths a day is like 5 jets crashing every day but in peoples minds its like they dont understand that theres a 5 jets packed with people who could be your mother my sister your grandson my great grandson. But the w. H. O. Is beginning to see the Glass Half Full saying that infections are plateau ing and no longer spreading exponentially its an opportunity it says to bring the pandemic under control in latin americas largest country whose president is even infected but downplays the severity of the disease. From the largest to one of the smallest countries panama kovan 1000 is causing havoc. Doctors are protesting against what they say is the governments failure to provide sufficient protection money for more money we need more supplies and personnel we dont have enough for the number of patients. For the north in guatemala the death toll is soaring after the government relaxed initial confinement measures hospital Officials Say theyre on the brink of collapse well its whats killing us is not the virus is the indifference of the state it is the indifference of the Health Authorities and as long as governments ignore calls for more energetic measures to control Transmission Health experts warn that initial signs of a slowdown in contagion will not last you see in human aljazeera. Well get a weather update next here i was 0 then despite the deaths of protesters and mediation efforts a campaign to oust mali as president continues. And did last months mass protests across the u. S. Speak lead to a spike in covert 19 infections well take a look at what the latest research shows. Hello this is the right time of the year to have rain of some so from the amount coast salala represents that as you well know but you dont often see this sort of thing happen weve got shows spinning off honest on spinning off making landfall in armaan this is on saturday and on sunday the keep moving west through the n. T. Quarter and catching yemen as well the most active weather in this part of the road otherwise its a bit of bit of breeze its still quite hot 48 to 50 slackly western iran and maybe in kuwait the bit of dust in the air but not in a huge amount south of this and the wind running up against the high ground the coast of kenya or somalia will bring some more rain with it it comes through impulses like the monsoon rain does so weve got something on the coast of tanzania bit of a break then for a good part of kenya and you pick up the biggest showers in south sudan which drift west into was the gulf of guinea but mostly from Lake Victoria south of that this town here it is dry now sometimes its quite active we had some pretty nasty weather runs through cape town recently be hard pressed to see very much beyond a few showers at the moment so the wind direction is critical porcelain suppose showing 25 degrees that moment which is really quite warm before cross a Port Elizabeth which is 5 degrees above average does take it right down to average fairly swiftly at the end the weekend. And the next step is a techno the team travels to the heart of the amazon. Where we are now should be a rain forest to investigate illegal gold mining work we had a very unique characteristic of finding the gold for a miner its almost like magic and the technology being used to expose its devastating impact is what we end up doing is imaging the worst in a very high fidelity tree. Techno on aljazeera. Who are. Hello again this is al jazeera the 2nd of a trilogy of the main news this hour u. S. Congressman john lewis has died at the age of 80 he was one of the youngest leaders in the Civil Rights Movement but an organizer of the 1963 march on washington lewis had advanced pancreatic cancer. The u. S. Has recorded a 2nd consecutive day of more than 70000 corona virus infections meanwhile president on the trunk has ruled out a National Mandate on wearing face masks despise advice from top health advisors. At the World Health Organization says that brazils Coronavirus Infection rates appears to have plateaued and that it should seize the opportunity to drive down transmission brazil is the epicenter of the pandemic in latin america 34000. 00 new cases were registered on friday. The Confederate Flag has been effectively banned from the u. S. Military sites following months of anti racism protests defense secretary mark asper announced the policy is going commanders that only flags that promote unity and respect are all the rawest the Confederate Flag was flown during the civil war by breakaway Southern States that wanted slavery to continue its seen by many as a reminder of the enslavement of black americans and was a symbol of White SupremacyAshley Lawrence and this is assistant professor of africanAmerican History at the university of dayton ohio she says that not listing the Confederate Flag by name in the new policy sidesteps the wider issue. I think it actually was a political move to fry well the dissent obviously within the military about the constant usage of the y. Which has been a historic descent africanamericans have complained about the use of the Confederate Flag in the military since at least world war 2 and the korean war where if who oversees actually among troops they dont want to upset trump i think mentioning can better fly directly would have set off some sort of alarm bells when we just had the president earlier this week in last week defending people who are lying because that are like saying that it was an issue of free speech not mentioning the Confederate Flag directly really sidesteps directly addressing with the Confederate Flag me it avoids a conversation about the history behind the flag with the better suit was this are still this lingering idea that its heritage and not eat that you know if people want to fly can better fly theyre not flying it because they support White Supremacy theyre doing it because theyre proud of their Southern Heritage how this argument is still floating let alone from the highest office in the United States in 2020 is beyond me i hear it is not he was very popular in his seventies eighties and nineties around the Confederate Flag is sort of allowed better like iconography to see it as long as it did i just dont think its sustainable for anyone to hear the confederacy with anything other than White Supremacy the u. S. State of oregon will file a lawsuit against the use of federal agents during protests in the city of portland the local units of the American Civil Liberties union is also filing a little seems appropriate to block federal agents from dispersing arresting or using force against journalists and legal observers they were among those struck by tear gas and rubber bullets dur