For the people of lebanon cost of the damage from the blast is estimated to top 3000000000. 00 with food imported by the flattening of beiruts port. And breaking ground and stirring controversy indias Prime Minister lays the foundation of a hindu temple on the ruins of a 16th century mosque. Also sri lankans are voting in a much delayed election its the 1st poll in south asia during the coronavirus pandemic. And he stammered with the sport refound the dull confirms he will not defend these us open title later this month because of coronavirus fears. Welcome to the news are we begin in lebanons capital beirut where people are describing the fallout from choose days explosion as apocalyptic there were scenes of. Else after the blast ripped through the citys port killing at least 100. 00 people the lebanese are trying to come to terms with the widespread damage that stirred memories of the civil war among the hardest hit areas on the busy commercial districts beiruts governor says up to 300000 people have been left homeless now this was the moment of the impact the blast happened at a port warehouse where the government says about 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate had been stored for years more than 4000 people have been injured and rescue workers are still searching for those missing hospitals across the city of struggle to cope and some were damaged by the blast already strained by the current Virus OutbreakHealth Workers are overwhelmed by the number of casualties. The school is going to say you know whos in the capital beirut for us so you know just paint the picture before we get into the nitty gritty of whats been happening where you are what youre seeing. Where we are close to beirut port the port has been rendered unusable its completely destroyed completely damaged and for an import dependent economy like lebanon this is going to cause problems yes there are other ports in the south of the country in the north of the country but they are small they report is the main port its just across this highway but we are standing here because it we were finding difficulties getting a signal on the other side of the street families the family members continue to converge around the port hoping to hear news about their loved ones many many people remain missing the red cross says more than 100 dead up to 4000 injured 300000 people now displaced you just drive across this the capital this morning almost every building almost every apartment has been damaged by the sheer force of this explosion the damage really the damage to area quite quite large so people are still coming to terms with what happened late on tuesday just past 6 pm just before sunset when this massive explosion shook the capital of course in the here and now we can hear the sirens of Emergency Services in the distance and that is the focus now isnt it the search and rescue but also those services is stretched because some of the walls who attended the blast even before actually kicked off they may have been caught up maybe part of the death toll. That its true last night the ambulance from across the country were called in to help evacuate the wounded we were standing outside the port and we saw ambulances arriving one after another. Hospitals were overwhelmed like you mentioned they were already close to collapse this country is going through a very deep economic crisis as a result of years of mismanagement the state is close to bankruptcy and this is why officials have been appealing for International Assistance in particular medical supplies and medicines because theres a scarcity of dollars a scarcity in foreign reserves and you need dollars in foreign reserves foreign currency excuse me in order to purchase medicine and much needed supplies so hospitals were already complaining about shortage they were complaining about being understaffed up to 850 nurses were fired from the main hospital with a few weeks ago because they couldnt pay to pay their staff so the hospitals the raising the alarm saying that we need help some countries are coming forward with assistance but this is this is a city really in shock a city in ruins and of course that comes during a major covert 19 pandemic and with the possibility of Food Insecurity as well at the same tone. Yes a surgeon coronavirus cases in fact the yesterday 11 on the country was reopening after a 5 day lockdown and the plan was tomorrow another 5 day lockdown would be imposed in order to try to stem the spread of coronavirus so this country really tackling with multiple crises we were at one of the neighborhoods early this morning we saw people you know angry and saying that these are our livelihoods their shops have been destroyed their homes and theyre saying whos going to help us is this government going to help us we have to remember its been months now weve been seeing protests in the streets people calling for a change in leadership they believe those in power the Political Parties who have been governing this country for decades they are responsible for running to work on a new ground and there are disaster theyre calling this a manmade disaster. Many people are saying you know this is the fault of the authorities theyre negligent incompetent and corrupt so many many questions are now being raised how come highly explosive material was being stored at beirut ports and im safe manner who looks to be honest and of course were trying to get those sorted through the coming days for the. Thank you mira duma president of the order of nurses in lebanon shes describing the situation hospitals as catastrophic hospital are not only over when we have 3 hospitals that completely destroyed so we had evacuated patients who where in those hospitals 2 other hospitals in addition we have 2 other hospitals that were partially destroyed so it was the capacity it was a big hit to the head if this was already or the hospital to them and lebanon is already bleeding so the situation is kept us traffic. Very sad i say that we lost 3 nurses the nurses who were working at the hospital and they are dead so i dont find words to describe what happened. We have never seen such a thing. Now the disaster couldnt come at a worse time for lebanon its economy has been unraveling for months as government opponents blame the crisis on decades of corruption and mismanagement in march lebanon defaulted on 90000000000. 00 worth of debt talks with the International Monetary fund on a bailout stalled last month after infighting between the government and its central bank the lebanese currency which means paying to the dollar has lost 80 percent of its value since last october thats been devastating for a country that imports most of its goods now food costs are up by 190 percent on last year and salaries and savings have lost much of their value while the fallout from the pandemic has sent poverty and unemployment soaring. Is an economist specializing in Health Education and labor policies joins me now from beirut good to have you with us on the program repairing the damage to the port will cost millions then theres the trade thats lost entering even before we begin to speak of the infrastructure both commercial and domestic that needs to be repaired where do you begin when it comes to estimating the money thats needed to fix it all. I mean the level of the station is very very big we have direct costs and in direct cost you know the direct cost or to repair the physical infrastructure the private property losses the public property losses and those you have in the area of course because this is a you know huge interruption to whatever what was that tough livelihoods of peoples income people who lost their bread earners and their main income earners the port which is now out of service for a long time. That in that it cost of this economic leeward it was a huge burden on the Lebanese Society which was already as you mentioned before suffering from he would such economic losses that estimate that is circulating is between 4 to 5000000000. 00 including in direct costs and. I think this is an underestimate because of the scale of the damage and also the huge cost of acquiring foreign currency in dollars at the black market rate that is now 5 times the official rate. The huge burden on people of course the economy as you said was already at rock bottom and International Partners unwilling to really help without structural fiscal and political changes and he will let help come now without Strings Attached and from way. You know i really think that the International Community should view that if any citizen is now as it cannot make refugees in a stateless country because this state by suggs has committed another act of war on its people with this massive explosion that is a deliberate act of more than negligence this is not an accident this was stored for more than a decade there everybody knew it was there from the top of the government the simplest employee on the port everyone knew this dangerous equipment equipment and chemicals were there and they are responsible for that so we are now in a situation where we have a stateless country run by thugs and we are economic refugees in this country so we should be treated like economic refugees in a war zone or earthquake zone similar to what this you know which is have been treated so the u. N. System is lebanon is well equipped because it has been dealing with this unit refugee crisis for a long time now and it can extend direct support without passing through the government to the economic refugees that are now in the greater beirut area and beyond would that actually be a reality because while you still have politicians in place regardless of what their affiliations are the International Community isnt just going to plow money to to the general public at large they will need some sort of body be it a political body or the government to deal with and thats where the problem lies isnt it the factions the groupings and inevitably the politicians from the past decade who do you trust. I agree with you but there are ways to bypass this Political Class and it has been done before specifically for the syrian refugee crisis is passing through the u. N. System there and in order to progress. You and humanitarian comes and everybody operating on the ground now in lebanon for a decade but in passing in a way the Central Government and frankly we dont have a choice because we cant fund this same cronies and their their system and any amount of money that will come to this Political Class will be decimated in corruption but the demand is people need help we need help right now when any delay and help will even exacerbate the economic consequences of this and this help can be channeled through humanitarian support directly with the agencies that are on the ground i dont think frankly we have any other option if even if it were compensation money to rebuild it would be draining the benes cars which are worth 6 of their value and we still need to import a lot of the raw material that. Every great Construction Material possible and from the initial assessment i mean 80 percent of beirut has that been damaged from the blast so this is a huge humanitarian operation and it should be treated as such we shall see what happens of the difficult times future one and your colleagues and friends judge about the economist joining us from beirut thank you 3 times a member have Lebanons Parliament has also resigned in protest over the port explosion there demanded an International Inquiry into the blast in his Resignation Letter he had served in various prominent positions including minister of trade health and Telecommunications Market though is a former candidate of the Lebanese Parliament he says politicians must have known the explosive materials were kept at the port. The company in fact is importing should be investigated and what was the purpose and why that big amount of material and then the 2nd question is why were they kept in one place why not in the safe position away from the fort which is a critical element in the infrastructure knowing the threat that they included and why were they guided to be any exported why were they impounded for 60 years and no one was capable of taking action this can only happen with excessive political pressure and intervention in the Justice System which means people in the political establishment and the link to this and that is why a lot of big heads should draw on this they should be held accountable the current government the president of the republic those are people who should be held accountable for that crime against humanity that both of the struction office city because of negligence the deaths of more than 100 people and the hospitalization of more than 4000 today the hospitals have been calling for distress because there morgues are full. System put that bodies in the hospitals of downtown beirut theyre starting to move dead bodies to other hospitals around the country this is mass murder committed by the negligence and the political interest off if you will out of creating the political power in this country and that using its 5th. Folks who are headed home they all deserve the news im including coming in courts home homes prodemocracy leaders face a crucial test for the future of the movement plus. A happy return for the Miami Marlins up to the current Virus Outbreak thats coming up in sports with peta. No unix but some calling on the International Community to step in if india doesnt address the deteriorating situation in indian administered. Its been a year since new delhi stripped the autonomy of the disputed region now the area is in lockdown and preventing protesters from gathering on the anniversary a curfew is being overseen by the military and many local political leaders have been detained for months and protests are being held in the capital of pakistan administered kashmir from there in solidarity with the people of indian administered kashmir. Hes in the pakistani capital. We were expecting the Prime Minister to speak about kashmir. Bring on the subject. As we speak. Of the legislative assembly. Meeting done to weigh the Prime Minister of pakistan he had minister made speaking on. A forum saying that what was happening across the border was not dialogue down by that date. The india and days saying that the indian meeting out. Against the people of kashmir the pakistani Prime Minister is also going to be addressing that legislative assembly. President sorry speaking before a crowd he said that india and its government under it in their modi both following up demographic change something that they have learned from the israelis. A black day because. Of d. N. A. Station of meat off the article teeth every day border war but there are also apprehensions that night in their more day. Didnt ship law and a fact i did a lifelong member of the raj studio. Indicates that india is now moving away from that. To have and that it is going in an extreme direction which of course is also angry in neighborhoods like nepal. And china also the fact that earlier india were calling. 70 world war china stepped in object thing through. Youre not allowed to move because. That hurt. So indeed a war of words. And so we are getting reports that there had been another ceasefire violations along the line of control separating border indian and Pakistani Forces for the update kemal thanks very much lets cross over the border from pakistan to go to new delhi where elizabeth from the india correspondent standing by live but if the lockdown is being described as an open prison by some of those in kashmir allowed any freedom of movement or assembly. And place it made the government had imposed it a few weeks ago that said to stop the spread of the coronavirus a few days ago on monday night the government said that it was imposing a curfew on tuesday and wednesday citing the possibility of protests to mock the one Year Anniversary. Autonomy being revoked which they went back on that curfew but spoken to and say whether its. Not the they feel that the restrictions that are in place to stifle any opposition or dissent on the one Year Anniversary of the change of status political leaders who had been planning to meet today and political leaders to discuss a solution to the situation being allowed to there are Police Vehicles outside their homes and bob while on the roads and in fact the only activity that has taken place in the media is members of the countrys governing body at the edge of the party or the j. P. Have stood and ian flag in the capital. And of course is playing 2nd fiddle to the real focus of the media in india today all eyes on a controversial religious site. Very much so. All of the agenda the government hasnt said anything about Mainstream Media is back to back rolling coverage of the inauguration of this temple at indias most controversial religious site in now both. Me and the building of this temple have been too long standing promises of the government on mr moti is. Great the construction of the temple despite the fact that gatherings. Allowed because of coronavirus restrictions he is joined by the most prominent members of. Hindu nationalist leaders including members of the s. S. He mentioned 175 people who were and by should and attend church and here is a look at why this temple is. Not just to the b j p and its supporters but in fact to many of indias nearly 1000000000 hindus. On the banks of the solder you the people gather to pray in the ancient town of io theah preparations underway ahead of the construction of a temple at the site that hindus believe is the birthplace of their god from. The rom temple is supported by all indians only some who wanted to spread hate wer