And scaling back the harsh concerns of the growing a virus or change the annual pilgrimage to mecca. Hello too big to dominant and too powerful thats what the bosses of 4 of the worlds Biggest Technology firms are being told the companies have become in an ongoing hearing in washington even the u. S. President has joined in the criticism threatening that hed bring the fairness if congress doesnt take action chief executives of Facebook Google amazon and apple are all being questioned at a hearing over accusations of anticompetitive behavior together their companies are worth almost 5 trillion dollars but they say they operate fairly and within the rules the politicians leading the hearing say the coronavirus pandemic will only serve to make them stronger. They have too much power these power steves are preforms competition creativity and innovation and while these dont have promise me still produce some new Innovative Products you dominance is killing the Small Businesses and you fracturing dynamism out of the engines of the american economy. Alan fischer joins us live now from washington d. C. Alan the congressional hearing what could it achieve and how much weight does it carry. Well pretty strong words and if companies are phone guilty of and to trust theres always the possibility that we can start an inquiry into them youll remember that bill gates was in front of the committee 12 years ago to talk about the dominant position then of microsoft that kenna theme was picked up by Mark Zuckerberg who said look youve got these 4 companies here but if we dont keep innovating if we dont keep investing then in 5 years time theyll be Different Companies here talking about the likes of my space remember my space no no many people do but it used to be the big social media platform and it disappeared because facebook overtook it certainly there is some concern that these companies have used the dominant market position google were accused of stealing directly from riaa rivals an accusation that google denied google was also questioned the but the fact that in the past it had walked away from a u. S. Military contract saying that the u. S. Military didnt align with googles values because the project was about creating war and then open google up to questions same will hold on a 2nd you see you dont want to what with the u. S. Military why you walking with the military in china that was something that google denied they said look we dont have a great deal of presence in china as well Mark Zuckerberg was questioned about his takeover of instagram and saying look you realize there was a rival you realize it could do damage to you and you went out and bought it that is exactly what andrew trust laws are there to stop he said look we went through all the regulatory late regulatory a positions but it was found that with the ruki he was reminded by the Committee Chairman that doesnt stop them being phoned in breach of and tree trust regulations business regulations so theres been a number of quite testy exchanges all 4 c. E. O. s in their initial. Statement said look this is an American Dream if were big its because we made it in america for successful is because we were allowed to do so in america that is what we do a facebook said that it wasnt dominant even though it had billions of users amazon said look we only control 4 percent of the Global Retail market if you take the Global Retail market 4 percent is still pretty big and they say look we face competition every single day from Stores Like Walmart as for apple they said they werent dominant in any market atoll but they continue to develop and innovate products and act as a gatekeeper to let developers in to to sell their wares as well whats going to happen of all of this or the committee will make a report whether or not Congress Wants to act and it will be interesting but it certainly opens up the idea that there could be some sort of action against these companies maybe perhaps breaking them up the likes of instagram coming away from facebook but its clear that there are those in the committee who believe that these giants are too big to dominant and if it continues there could be damage to the u. S. Economy and fisher thank you very much indeed. The u. S. Has revealed more of its plans to withdraw a 3rd of its troops stationed in germany nearly half of the 12000. 00 personnel will be moved to other locations in europe including italy poland and the baltics the countrys European Military headquarters would be moved to belgium President Trump announced his intention to move the troops last month saying germany had failed to spend enough on defense its a move that Officials Say will cost billions of dollars and take years to complete and total 36000. 00 American Service personnel currently stationed in germany. A White House Correspondent committee how could joins us live now committee so a bit more clarity now on the details. Now well what we know is this is going to be a mixture in terms of the soldiers that are leaving of army and air force we understand it will be 12000. 00 almost in total there were initially 34000 troops stationed there inside germany we know that about 25000 will remain in place now in terms of the timeline we know that this could stretch out and could even take years we also know that it could cost billions of dollars but whats interesting about the timeline is the fact that we have a u. S. Election coming up in november what does that mean that means that if donald trump is not reelected this could all go away so its leaving a lot of confusion of the military moving forward and if you will kind of holding their breath wondering if this is really going to happen and what kind of support does that does it have in this in the u. S. Well you know again this wasnt a surprise as you mentioned but now the u. S. President making good on that now his argument in all of this is that hes standing up to germany because for a long time he has cautioned me as war them look we need you to meet your the benchmark of 2 percent of your g. D. P. In terms of the share defense spending for nato members and his argument is that they just havent been doing that theyve fallen short of that and thats why hes taking this action whats interesting though is that the defense secretary give a slightly different explanation he said this was not in any way retaliatory what it was was strategic this was to deter russia and also to strengthen the alliance in the midst of all of this i can tell you the u. S. Congress bipartisan criticism of the plan by the president because well they agree with the president that germany should be paying more theyre also worried about what this will do to the strength of the alliance and whether or not it will still be able to have that deterrent effect towards russia that is being described by the defense secretary kerry how to thank you very much indeed. John mccain is in berlin and says the German Government had been expecting this move for some time. Instant reaction from parliament from the conservative chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee nobody heard an influential member of angle americas ruling conservatives here in germany saying that rather than strengthening nato in europe he believes that this decision will weaken nato within europe and clearly people have been expecting that there would be Something Like this for some considerable time given the sort of language coming from the trumpet ministration for many years to trumpet ministration angry with germany for its failure to meet the 2 percent of its budget on defense the interesting thing here is that the fear of this troop withdrawal extends far within germanys so for Prime Ministers of states which have big u. S. Bases in them have already taken the step of writing to members of the United States congress to see if they could do whatever can be done to reduce the damage a withdrawal of u. S. Troops of u. S. Bases would have on their states within the federal republic and clearly overall the German Government is frustrated by the sorts of language its been hearing from the u. S. Government and this step now will not encourage them will not help them in their mission to try to mend fences as it were with the u. S. Government. Yet now only says every city and province in the country is at risk of a coronavirus outbreak is see a small but mounting number of infections after being virus free for months from kong and thailand also raising the alarm as case numbers grow in parts of asia which had been praised for effectively tackling the pandemic its got hardly has more from bangkok. Vietnam has been viewed as a Success Story during the coded 1000 pandemic through centralized corn teen and strict Contact Tracing the country of 95000000 people had no deaths from the disease with the borders sealed the government encouraged to travel. But things took a turn for the worse last weekend when the central city of the neighing was hit by an outbreak the 1st cases of local transmission in months the city was locked down and domestic tourists were sent home just before the airport was shut for 2 weeks and now there are cases linked to denying in vietnams 2 largest cities and city and even in the Central Highlands the Prime Minister has called on all regions to be on alert but in the old provinces doing high risk all provinces should raise their level chairman and general secretaries of each province should take action how should the entire political system one case in the capital one know it was a worker at a pizza restaurant who had returned from a trip today despite these cases some feel that the government has the ability to control the potential next wave of covert 19. Ministry of hell has gained much more experience in combating the virus and its face waves this time i think you also pos quite soon because we have experience and in hong kong which so far has been spared from a high number of cases the citys leader is warning of a potential large scale outbreak after local transmissions surged the most strict measures since the outbreak began were enacted on wednesday for at least a week no gatherings of more than 2 people and no dining in restaurants. Thailand has also been viewed as a Success Story with no locally transmitted cases in more than 60 days time if issues are no doubt looking nervously at their neighbors after these recent spikes in cases of covert 90 thats because the government here has also encouraged Domestic Travel and tourism to help the ailing economy got either aljazeera bangkok. Russia says it could begin producing a Coronavirus Vaccine is it is september 2 candidate treatments are being child in the country the 1st could be approved by regulators next month and will be provided to Frontline Health care workers soon after has been criticism that a push to be the 1st to develop a successful vaccine means corners have been cut the head of the funding bonnie body denied safety was being compromised. Still to come out there this half hour 14000000 people at risk of hunger a dire warning as latin america reels from the impact of the credit virus and that nick. And pulled out of portland federal agents will begin leaving the us city it sounds more have been deployed to other states. However building across much of western europe as we go on through the next couple of days largely clear skies him a big area of High Pressure just not going in as we go on through the next couple days that says a little keep the skies clear and that the hot july sunshine will burst through we do still have some wet weather further east this weather system as well front just making as well little further east will be some showers that just around the alps pushing over tools at least inside of russia but coming in behind other tools west has a 5 dry and hot Weather Service in the past few days in spite of getting up into the fortys that he not going up from spite across france bordeaux touching 41 celsius. On thursday often a high of 32 in paris 27 and rising there for london will get up to 32 in london as we go on into friday wet weather waiting in the wings will cool things off as we go on through the weekend but still plenty warm enough for the warm weather there across western parts sent to the few showers over towards east biloxi fine dry and sunny right across the mediterranean and across much of north africa plenty a shot was there across central parts of africa i shall was just noting a little further north than they usually do just pushing into the saheli some showers into senegal and also some showers for the gap. But. A korean reporting to the wound there i did hear one journalist documents life beyond the headlines. That certain stories can change us to resist please use to it well you know the history. Of germany was a unique journey into what it means to be human the things we came and witnessed documentary on aljazeera. The roof. And im going to run a top stories here now jazeera the leaders of the Largest Tech Companies in the u. S. Are being questioned by politicians at a hearing in washington theyre accused of antitrust practices including buying out competitors and unfairly dominating the Online Advertising market. The u. S. Has revealed more of its plans to withdraw a 3rd of its troops stationed in germany nearly half of the 12000. 00 personnel will be moved to other locations in europe including italy poland and the baltics. Parts of asia are on high alert after experiencing a resurgence in corona virus infections get now missing case numbers grow after being virus free for months on call in thailand also raising the alarm. Daniel muslim pilgrimage to mecca known as the hug has begun but this year is unlike any seen before millions of people usually travel to saudi arabia but the coronavirus means worshippers from abroad have been banned reports. Theyve been coming in their millions every year from all over the world muslim pilgrims fulfilling a lifetime dream to perform one of their religions 5 main pillars. The sea of people waves upon waves in the gulf in the city of mecca has become an image synonymous with the holy city. But this year its completely different the coronavirus pandemic has meant the pilgrims are not able to travel saudi authorities have put on the lockdown theyve said only 1000. 00 people will be allowed to perform hajj all of them either nationals or residents of saudi arabia. The annual pilgrimage is a huge source of revenue for the saudi government overall there is little transparency from riyadh on how much exactly it brings in estimates put the figure in the billions of dollars. Losing out on that as well as all the money from those who would usually perform the smaller pilgrimage of alright during the rest of the year is a big setback i think its very significant because so here yes and influence in the islamic world is mainly that ive found 2 factors that guest one is being the host and the custodian of the boredom was and the organizer of the mosque and what that ritual and religious ritual is allergists has 2020 has already been a tough year for the kingdom with oil prices reaching an all time low after a trade war with russia that saw the price of a barrel go as low as 20 7. 00 to make things even worse the covert 1000. 00 pandemic has increased economic pressure on saudi arabia even more forcing the government to increase taxes and reduce salaries while many are commending saudi authorities for their decision to prohibit pilgrims to travel to mecca this year there are those who are critical questions are being asked about how the 1000 people being allowed to perform hajj are chosen and will there be a Fair Distribution of house passes to all nationalities living in the kingdom and so now all thirtys have failed to provide any information. In the past people of scrutinise saudi arabia for failing to deal with the huge crowds that converge on the holy city on far too many occasions people have died due to stampede or failure by the government to safeguard the security like when a construction crane fell on worshippers in 2015 this year the criticism is over the arts failure to deal with small crowds in a clear and transparent manner. Are just. The World Food Program is warning that the pandemic means millions of people in latin america could get hungry this year and the problem is getting worse its estimated that up to 14000000 people in the region are threatened with Food Insecurity as the outbreak adds to economic migration and climate pressures on food supply any of those at risk are informal workers who make up a large part of latin americas workforce. Meanwhile in brazil a financial scheme brought in to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has reduced extreme poverty in the country a study found the number of brazilians living on less than 2. 00 a day fell by more than half to 3 point 3 percent of the population thats the lowest level in decades the government has been handing out 115. 00 a month to informal workers and some Small Businesses affected by the pandemic has cost the brazilian government 32000000000. 00 but the report warns that extreme poverty levels are likely to bounce back after the final patch in august for more lets go to mayor rapper live in mexico city so this story in brazil is actually one of the rare bits of good news i suppose the fallout from the pandemic but but maybe not due to last very long. At least in the in the short term yes and brazil continues to be a major focus of concern in latin america and lets just run through