A president ial election that the opposition says was rigged. At a Washington Court issues a summons against saudis crown prince it follows claims that he ordered the hit squad to kill an intelligence agent in canada. And in sports call thing looks to have a new superstar in the making in only his 2nd appearance at a major championship point how much has won the u. S. P. G. A. Championship. Lebanons capitals is facing rising pressure to step down as a 4th government minister resigns tensions have been boiling over in the country following the massive explosion that told through beirut on tuesday the finance minister joins the biggest us for justice the environment and information in bowing to public pressure and leaving government that been 2 days of violent protests in the capital with more planned on monday 9 m. P. s have also quit parliament aljazeera said to hold a joins us now live from beirut so the Cabinet Meeting right now as we speak. Yes they are in session and it is highly likely for the government to resign already 2 ministers resigned yesterday 2 ministers this morning what we understand is that there are behind the scenes negotiations on trying to form a new cabinet because this is the situation right now those in power know that they need to quell the anger in the street theyre under a lot of public pressure but theyre also under pressure from the International Community the International Community wants the government has been demanding that this government carry out much needed reforms and fight corruption in the state in order to be eligible for much needed Financial Assistance because we have to remember there was a financial and economic crisis in this country before that blast so the International Community has really little faith in this government so now we are expecting the government to resign theres behind the scenes negotiations between the different Political Parties the 11 on the traditional Political Parties on agreeing on the names the makeup of the government as well as the name of the Prime Minister what we understand from a variety of sources is that theres still no agreement on who the next Prime Minister will be now if you ask anybody in the streets what does this all mean for them nothing has changed the only thing that has changed is that the current government is considered one sided it is controlled by one political camp in the country which is pro iranian and if indeed a socalled National Unity government is formed then you have the pro iranian camp working hand in hand with the pro western caps so the main Political Parties still in power so theres a lot of anger really in the streets what are they doing what are they doing they havent changed anything but changing the political elite which have been really in power for so many years is quite difficult but it seems this whole diplomatic initiative. Its france is behind this initiative the french president was in beirut just a few days ago and he did mention that he proposed a Political Initiative and he gave the different political factions until the september is until september 1 in order to come up with some sort of an agreement some sort of a government that can manage the crisis in lebanon. What would it take to satisfy. The people who are on the streets even if a new cabinet is formed and they ultimately end up calling early elections youre still left with lebanons broken political system. Yes they want to change in leadership they want new faces they want independent candidates people who they believe are qualified people who are loyal to the state people who are not loyal just to their particular sect or. Political party people want to state the lebanese state is very weak state institutions are controlled by Political Parties and they also dont want to see a parallel state run by hezbollah so these are the demands of the people but they are under no illusion that theyre up against the big big challenges because those who are in power control the security establishment and they run the economy to the ground just look behind me these are people standing in line waiting for food handouts food water clothes 50 percent of the population. Below the poverty line 32 percent of the workforce unemployed so economic hardships in this country the blast compounded peoples problems 300000 people lost their homes theyre not there now displaced so people want change they they blame the Political Parties who have been governing this country for 3 decades for for corruption for negligence for for not even providing the basic services to the people this is a country where there is no 24 hours tricity Power Outages sometimes the electricity only available 2 or 3 hours a day so people want Something Different but it doesnt seem that this is going to happen its not that its not going to be an easy process even if early elections are held there will be held under an electoral law which the political elites crafted themselves to ensure that they return to office to ensure that no independent candidate is able to win a seat in parliament so anybody thinks they dont zuzu in the whole of the live for us in beirut is a researcher at the Lebanese Center for policy studies he joins us now via skype from beirut that he may have heard me talking to were to say to that what do you make of that last point i put to her that even if there are new elections youre still left with this this group electoral system thats just not could be enough to satisfy people who are out on the streets is it. Yeah of course i mean its important to remember that elections are a tool that stylish men uses to reproduce thats on our and this is one has a range of tools and i watch as one of them so we must ask ourselves what kind of early elections would be holding are they going to be accountable and transparent what we the kind of mechanisms that would allow for real elections to take place and for alternative political actors to emerge from these elections stick been calling for 4 years elections under the current without Structural Reforms without changes will only you know to a reproduction of the code unquote legitimacy that this political claim stop so what would it take to enable complete structural reform of the process the electoral process there the way that the government operates in lebanon i mean you almost have to scrap it all and start again do you dont you but how would you do that. Yeah i lost you there for a bit but i think you were asking about the concept reforms that we would need to though it was i mean we under the current secretary and structure of the state elections operate according to sit there and lines there is a lot of gerrymandering in the law theres a lot of clauses that are incorporated into the structure of the electoral law so that they guarantee their readers reappointment so we need an independent Commission Commission to oversee those elections but we also need an independent commission to be cast with drafting this new electoral law and not allow it to end up being manipulated by different Political Parties who as we know spend months and months over. The components of this electoral law because they realize that a lot of this electoral battle that they waged is predetermine based on how they can figure that and weve seen this before its taking them years and months sometimes to agree on an outlook torah law so whether we can come up with an independent commission to oversee this process that would be the 1st step and the 2nd step would be guaranteeing that there is an independent commission thats equal to the common goal of enjoyments we see all the russian that occurs and the campaigns under abundance afterwards when they dont participate in elections we see the vote buying but takes place how they use financial as a as a tool to guarantee winning elections so while now the context is very good friend and what it was in the previous elections those things are still there and they need to be addressed before we can even consider the possibility of early exit elections was a transitory process into it and you lot went on bet has really honestly classed itself from the current political establishment that has driven the country where it is today could be many thanks indeed for being with us and here. Police in hong kong have made the highest profile arrest yet under a Controversial National security law imposed by beijing media tycoon and activist jimmy lai has been detained with 6 others linked to his prodemocracy apple daily theyre accused of colluding with Foreign ForcesHong Kong Journalists Association says its a worrying development for Media Freedom to 07 oclock reports. Police made the arrests on monday morning detaining jimmy lie at his home encounter in the founder of the prodemocracy newspaper apple daily is well known for his criticism of Chinas Communist Party hes been arrested on suspicion of foreign collusion under the National Security law imposed by china last month this morning at around 945. 00 together with our colleagues on the criminal Investigation Department and military staff we got a warrant to conduct an operation to search for evidence i wasnt the only arrest on monday 2 of life sons were also arrested more than 200. 00 police raided apple delis headquarters detaining Senior Executives including the tabloids chief executive officer detective search computers and interviewed staff many are shocked and horrified including myself and i think this is send out a very very negative message and of course it must have a Chilling Effect on people who want to speak out and particularly on the news media so this is a very very disturbing the ballot long the National Security legislation targets acts of subversion terrorism secession and collusion with Foreign Forces the maximum penalty is life in prison critics say the legislation is being used by chinas leaders to silence the opposition and crackdown on democracy in the semi autonomous region the Hong Kong Journalists Association says its a worrying development for Media Freedom it never happened before in hong kong in reason perhaps at that case weve seen that perhaps in in for it well cities and countries but but we never expect that that would have happened in hong kong. Happen causing direct and indirect threats through press freedom and journalists mondays arrests of the most high profile under the National Security law which was introduced just over a month the guy a number of countries have condemned the legislation including the United StatesUnited Kingdom astray and canada but the government here has defended the new york state think its crucial to restore order to a city thats been plagued by months of protests sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong. Well Media Freedom is protected on the hong kongs basic law the territory has long been a base for foreign Media Companies reporting in china apple daily newspaper staff says they arrests say the arrests of their colleagues are a step towards the end of free and uncensored media in hong kong the Immigration Department has already been making life difficult for foreign reporters with media organizations reporting months long delays for visa applications immigration offices of revoked visas from journalists working for International Publications including the New York Times the times responded by announcing that its moving its Hong Kong Based digital units to south Koreas Capital seoul stephen vines is a political commentator and author based in hong kong he says theres a crackdown taking place right now at all levels of society. You dont give that level of happiness a teacher rate if you dont want to send a chilling signal to the rest of the media and in case there was any doubt at least briefing after the initial raid but the police excluded media who they said not been cooperative with the police in the past weve never seen this in our gulf what normally a press conference is a press conference is open to the media this again is another new thing that happened today i think the message is very clear its we dont like dissident opinions the reporting of the news should be in line with the narrative that is expounded by poaching the space for criticism in hong kong thats narrow very considerably i mean the rest of the media is more or less under control so presumably they will continue to operate but at every level now in the schools in the universities in the media there is this crackdown going on and this is within just over a month since the National Security laws introduced it been an escalation of a clamp down at the speed that even the most pessimistic people didnt expect would happen china has imposed sanctions on 11 well known americans including citizens marco rubio and ted cruz it reciprocates us action because of chinas crackdown on kong the us as far as the American Assets of hong kongs chief executive kerry lamb as well as 10 senior chinese officials. A court in the United States has issued a summons against the Saudi Crown Prince in relation to the former intelligence agent saddam jobbery the court order also covers 13 other people including residents of the us saddam joe brief filed a lawsuit accusing Saudi Crown Prince mohammed bin solomon of sending a hit squad to kill him 2 years ago hes now in canada where police and private security guards are reported to be giving him increased protection we can seeking legal reaction from the United States and speaking to a saudi human rights activist in europe what mohammed beside mine is doing is no good for nobody because at least to belie station and saudi arabia is a very dangerous situation i was well known to be up up 6000000 people if any trouble can happen and assist them but he out couldnt even drink water because we get our water from the red sea and from that arabian gulf so saudi arabia is a very in a very vulnerable state and having a lead that like mohammed is not taking things to a more safe state also weve seen that mohammed with the man talking about starting relations with china and america so the old alliance between america and so if youre arabia is not even above you it by so the. Routine lamothe been silent is willing to walk with the americans or europeans or will ever will. And the following terror that how much are they willing to walk away an undemocratic behavior on. War crimes if anybody is not willing to lay his hand he will cut relations evenly. The summons delivers the complaint to the various defendants that obligates them under our federal rules to answer within 20 days so it means that now the case is gearing up 20 days is not a long time. But i think having myself litigated many cases under the torture victim protection act that it signals that m. B. A. s will now vigorously lobby President Trump in secretary of state might prompt a 0 to issue whats called a letter of suggestion of immunity its rather an odd. Realm of law but basically it asked the court to dismiss a case because it would interfere with the Foreign Relations of the United States in relations with a head of state or high level officials it is not required that a court accept a suggestion of immunity by the state department but the cases ive litigated theyve given great deference to it but that means that november will be critical for saudi arabia. Under that doctrine President Biden could revoke any suggestion of immunity and reinstate the cakes but i can guarantee you right now saudi arabia and the crown prince are talking his head off with come peo in trying to get me out of this conundrum. Here with a new sound from our sara still to come on the program attacked while on safari frances president announces the killing of aid workers in asia. Pakistanis has restrictions for a 2nd time in months despite warnings about the coronavirus pandemic. In schools a look at the stake groups from the player who had a night to forget a Major League Baseball far away with that and the rest of the schools little later. In pain a roost one person has been killed dozens have been protests following the president ial election which the opposition says was rigged 3000 people have been detained by police early official results show a landslide victory for president Alexander Lukashenko that would extend his 26 years in power and the 6th time Laura Bush Manley reports. The sounds in the police to go away and then scenes of violence reflected across kept. Dancing a few hours off porth of closed and continuing into the night opposition supporters came ou