Postal service is asked to testify at congress as concerns monday at the white house is trying to undermine its ability to deliver ballots. Students in thailand lead the biggest antigovernment protests in years they want a new constitution and reforms to the monarchy zimbabwes catholic bishops say theres an unprecedented crackdown on dissent the government calls the accusation is evil and baseless. There was hamilton is far too fast for ease for me no one rivals yet again. And ill have that in sport plus how did he dodge them a miracle escape for another of most sports biggest names not once but twice. Rival rallies have been held in a week after the disputed reelection of president Alexander Lukashenko addressing the 1st progovernment rallies since then he refused an Election Rerun and accuse nato of mobilizing forces at the border but tens of thousands of opposition supporters have gathered in a big a show of strength marking what they call a day of freedom rory chalons reports. 7 days after the contentious election and finally the embattled president of delarue so organized a rally of support state employees were brought by bus and train to the capital minsk from all over the country the intention to show that Alexander Lukashenko still has a popular base after a week of antigovernment protests unprecedented in their size in the august heat told the crowd batteries is being threatened from outside. The tanks a jets are on standby within 15 minutes reachable border this is not for nothing nato forces a rattling tank tracks at our doors military power is building up on the western border of our country lithuania latvia poland and unfortunately our brother ukraine its leadership are telling us to hold a new election. Nato has denied the accusations of a military buildup in the region. Just a short distance across the capital a much bigger demonstration followed perhaps the largest of the Antigovernment Movement so far better russians repeating the call theyve been making since what they say was the rigged. Election on august the 9th the man whos ruled batteries for 26 years has no legitimacy he should leave and there should be a new and free vote. Hours earlier the bella Russian Ambassador to slovakia became the 1st senior official to back the protest in a video posted online. I stand in solidarity with those who have taken to the streets of belorussian cities would peaceful marches so that their voices could be heard. I sincerely hope that the future of my country will be based on the positions of all things of society in representatives of various political forces. Have suffered for this right since his plea on saturday that russian president Vladimir Putin should help him quell the protests theyve had to phone calls the kremlin says its willing to assist batteries militarily in accordance with a collective security pact for the moment the protesters arent much concerned with possible russian intervention nor are they obviously pro western this is an emotional uprising spurred on by the beatings and alleged torture inflicted by state security their focus is getting out and writing a new chapter of a better reese rory talons how does era step following the opposition protesters in minsk. Well the us is a different country than it was just a week ago when elections took place and people took to the streets to protest against these elections then there was fighting to Police Crackdown thousands of the sunni and that enormous anger and this are now unprecedented scenes here in the capital of up to 100000 people are here at the Independence Square angry about the torture and abuse what happened to the chinese but also very angry at the elections we. See this 3 years in the making were not going to leave until the us virtually which is a leading expert at the center for actual politics thats a moscow based think tank and hes joining us live from there not to thank you very much indeed for being with us on aljazeera sir given the circumstances what is in russias best interests with regard to bellows. Well alexander that has lost what remnants of legitimacy he still had after the massively forces fired elections. Give him 80 percent of support. Again and he his Police Forces have organized a crackdown against those protesting against the force fixation and the crackdown reminded what was a minor of something out of lets you know make of the 1970 is something that looks like pinochet style measures against Protesters Thousands of people who were arrested beaten some were tortured this is not something that the people in bill are able to accept and in fact even among those that have supported him before the election these measures this brutal crackdown cant change their opinion too and so his ratings have plummeted in the week following the force fixation even further so as far as the russian position is concerned moscow cannot afford to give significant support or to appear as if it is giving significant support to a leader who has lost legitimacy among his own people and he in his own country otherwise that would play against moscows long term interests in billows because the bill of russian people would then believe that moscow is not acting in their best interest so apart from that russia can play a positive role by using its offices in a transition political transition process as a look at shinnecock will ultimately have to leave one way or another and then a election will likely take place and in those. Circumstances russia could hope that a more. That is so that they can do that that is sympathetic to moscow may take part in those elections and that he or she may find enough support to among. Voters to get to get to victoria says the old other just that i wanted was a bit because im really a limit i want to interrupt you there because you raise an interesting point because you referred to the drug that would be willing to work with a leader he or she know is that a suggestion that russia would be open to working with the opposition in bellows if it led to stability in bellows. Well at this point russia really doesnt have much choice because look at shannon corps. Blunted he has lost his legitimacy so russia has to look among opposition candidates and the opposition politicians to see which who is more sympathetic to moscow who could be a viable and you go shading partner and in fact the opposition in belarus is not all anti russian it is not all and it is not all explicitly pro western look at shinnecock as it all bill it was for 26 years he has gained a. Position from all quarters of the bill Russian Society both from those that are sympathetic to russia and those of their more sympathetic to the west so in they feel action there they could they could compete candidates that would be more sympathetic to moscow and due to expanding integration with russia or those candidates that are more willing or hopeful about integration of with the European Union i want to talk to you about these phone calls that the president s of had over this collective military pact now russia has said that it is willing to respond under the conditions of the collective military pact if those conditions are met for those of us watching on the outside what would the conditions have to be to see russia taking some sort of action inside belarus. Well under the charter of that 3 each year the conditional would have to be a Foreign Military intervention or for Foreign Military aggression against bill or us so for example if a nato member or any other country would openly invade below us there on the other team members such as russia are nina the ticket stand and the other is what would intervene to stop that aggression but it is quite obvious that. Neighbors whether its poland the or whether its lithuania or others are not about to mount a military aggression against bill or worse so it would be very difficult to to use that teaching to justify a direct Russian Military or security intervention victor at all its really appreciate your time so thank you very much indeed thank you an armed attack is taking place at a hotel and somalias capital mogadishu at least 10 people were killed after a suspected car bomb blew up at the elite hotel in lido beach government Officials Say 2 gunmen are among the dead im being and stuff at the scene say dozens have been injured and that is i could guess it is a reporter a video dull son whos joining us on skype from mogadishu what more do we know about this attack 1st of all. We. The people are more than. Under a little more than one on one total. Government. Who are a lot of who are on the ground. I just wonder about the line from you is very bad but i just want to clarify one thing before we leave you you said i if i understand it correctly that there are high ranking government officials who may have been at the hotel in a particular room is that correct. Is there any suggestion that they might have been the reason why this hotel was targeted. And. You know you know. Anything. About. That as a gaze a reporter a video del sun thank you very much indeed for the time and apologize to our viewers for the lion the quality of the line there. Well the head of the u. S. Postal service has been summoned to testify at a Congressional Committee later this month lou this joy was appointed by President Donald Trump theyre now facing accusations of trying to sabotage the mail thats worked before novembers election by withholding funding and limiting its operations the Postal Service has warned that millions of mail in votes may not arrive in time to be counted well heidegger custers live for us now from the u. S. State of maryland the post most of general is coming under increasing pressure what is the democratic lawmakers are saying about this. Bill Top Democrats in congress came out today saying theyre requiring louis enjoys presence at a test test test to moni before the House Oversight panel on august 24th that accelerates an investigation that was already involving his handling of the Postal Service service which he now leads and in this very strongly worded statement that accompanied that announcement today democrats accuse the joy of being an accomplice they say to president Trumps Campaign to cheat in this upcoming election now we saw protesters descend on the joys house this weekend about 100 of them to joy as you mentioned was a trump negative donor before being appointed u. S. Postmaster general in may and since taking the reins of that agency hey he hasnt been he has done a series of controversial reforms including cutting postal carriers hours and and removing some machines in effect slowing down how long it takes to get a letter mailed and gillett heard now the joy has said hes had to do this in order to cut the costs of the agency as its looking at a financial cliff at this point but now a federal watchdog is investigating whether there was out and all teary or motive in essence whether to joy is acting as an. Arm of President Trumps own attack on malin voting trump has repeatedly said without evidence that expanded or universal mail in voting may lead to massive voter fraud in the us and now this is the latest with a suspicion the question being whether to joy is helping trump accomplish a sabotage as critics claim of the very Postal Service that the joint leads in order to suppress the vote in hopes of helping President Trump win reelection in november. Donald trump is aimed at averting the election. He wants he has said this man has no limit. On limited goal he says he wants to slow down the mail to hurt the elections and make people doubt the results of the election. Maybe hes worried hes going to lose it doesnt matter our elections are sacred men and women have died for them and the right to vote. And to do this is disgraceful. Part of the Postal Service is one that dozens of states that may be unable to deliver ballots on time to be counted and what is being done to address that. Right now so that could it be millions of votes that are uncounted for this upcoming coming election and that has people outraged we saw that in the protests in front of the postmaster general house and we know that lawmakers are now considering ways of funding the Postal Service in a rushed away in order to have it be able to respond to the expanded mail in ballots that are expected due to this pandemic President Trump said earlier in this week that he was opposed to that funding for the very reason of not of denying the post service the capability to carry out this mail an election he has since walked back that statement and this morning we heard from the white house chief of staff saying that the white house would support funding the Postal Service whether its in a comprehensive Coronavirus Relief bill or as a standalone measure and we know that the House Speaker nancy pelosi is considering bringing back members of the house early from their august recess in order to tackle that very issue to shore up the u. S. Postal service heidi thanks very much as how to joe castro live for us and maryland. But more ahead on the news hour including a ship leaking oil off the coast of militias breaks apart to raising fears of an ecological disaster. Food for thought as we look at why iran has opened a huge supermarket in venezuela and a shot even he couldnt quite believe an ace thats helped the south korean golfers set the pace peter has the details in sports. Visible has closed the fishing zone off the coast of gaza overnight air strikes have been launched against hamas positions in Southern Gaza israelis say theyre responding to makeshift fire bombs attached to balloons being flown over the border from gaza palestinians are infuriated by the deal signed by israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations telephone lines between the u. A. E. And israel have been unblocked in a strengthening of times the phone connectivity is part of the u. S. Brokered deal israel has agreed to suspend plans to an expanse of the occupied west bank the u. A. E. Has summoned irans shots defense calling a speech by the iranian president an Acceptable Loss on the honey set on saturday the israel deal was a betrayal. Dozens of people have joined student led rallies in thailands capital calling for political reform in the biggest antigovernment protests in years theyre demanding a new election and an amended constitution and as wayne hale reports from bangkok some thais are touching a sensitive subject with calls for reform of the monarchy. In big numbers they came to the center of bangkok to escalate their call for change protesters gathered around democracy monument a symbol of what they say thailand doesnt have. I cant pick the fact that the government is so corrupt its been in power for far too long and things arent getting any better. After weeks of peaceful protests led mainly by students this was by far the largest and most diverse attracting thais from different sectors of society including other groups who staged mass rallies in the past. That more people have come out today the pair of young people and students alone cant force change we need everyone to work together. The protesters say thailands entire political system needs to change including the monarchy its a dangerous and sensitive issue to take on because the royal family is protected by strict laws designed to prevent criticism demonstrators also want the government gone and on thursday thailands Prime Minister the army general who led the military coup in 2014 addressed the nation he urged unity at a time when the economy is being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic only. Right now we must focus on the economic survival of the 10s of millions of people here lets get the economy going 1st get that done by working together then we can look at fixing the other issues collaboratively later but the protesters say the pen demick is proving and highlighting one of their points that thailand is an economically Unequal Society and must change tires that are well accustomed to political protests. But there is a sense that this is Something Different a movement centered around a generation making unprecedented demands and wanting something profoundly different for thailand. In recent weeks the government has warned the protesters to be careful what they say and arrested 3 protest leaders but if that was a tactic to try to scare them and bring an end to the movement it hasnt worked and judging by the size of this crowd it may be having the opposite effect when hey aljazeera bangkok. South koreas reported its highest daily jump in nuke over 1000 infections since march there were 279 new cases on sunday most of those what in Seoul South Korea has recorded more than 15000 infections since the outbreak began and at least 300. 00 deaths but are fears this latest surge could grow into an outbreak here in the capital hinduja do you mean the phenomenon we are now seeing appears to be the early phase of mass virus resurgence the food failed to control the spread that could cause serious damage through a nationwide virus spread in a spike in a number of patients the government is taking the Current Situation very seriously and making pan governmental efforts to prevent further spread of the virus when a majority of cells new cases have been linked to a church and officials are accusing its leader of violating self isolation rules rather than joan calling whom was at this antigovernment protest on saturday city Officials Say theyll be filing a complaint against him an