A high rise apartment in north and south korea where live from seoul. We begin in mali where a kid not a politician and a french aid have landed in the capital bamako after being released as part of a major Prisoner Exchange the deal was announced by the countrys new Transitional Government on choose day the hostages had been held by an alliance of groups linked to Al Qaida Nicholas Haq as the story of. The end of their ordeal. Wrapped in a white scarf is french aid worker Sophie Pickler not free at last after spending almost 4 year hostage in the hands of al qaeda affiliate fighters in northern mali as desert. Shelter 51 year old son sebastian. Before. He had lost hope of ever seeing her life something. That says to her son they held me for almost 4 years you were there with me i could hear you say hold on dont give up here among those released are also italian missionaries Somalian Army soldiers and opposition leaders who say all were held by armed groups affiliated to al qaeda. I want to think the new authority in mali which changed during my captivity Vice President ame president was sworn in on the 25th of september and the next day my abductors asked me to see the proof of life video the president was a fish and and quake. Outside hundreds chant sumi champion. The vehicle carrying si se is mauled by his supporters. Young position leader was abducted near his hometown during aprils parliamentary elections despite months of negotiations kate his government failed to bring his release critics of the former president says this was intentional the new government of transition set up by the military that overthrew orchestrated the hostage release with the help of french Intelligence Officers in exchange almost 200 alqaeda affiliate fighters held in prisons were released earlier in the week despite the exchange fighting between armed groups and the money an army as well as 14000 french and u. N. Troops continue in the center of the country. Under pressure from the United Nations the government of transition also released dozens of political officials held after august this coup including former Prime Minister greasy weeks after taking power malis new leadership is proving that it can succeed in deliver where the former regime failed bringing to an end for some the anguish and suffering that so many are experiencing in mali Nicholas Hawk al jazeera. The u. S. Has imposed sanctions on irans Banking Sector its the latest move but what washington describes as terrans Nuclear Ambitions and terror activities the measures blacklist almost all of irans Financial Sector irans foreign minister zarif tweeted in response the United States wants to sabotage irans remaining channels for buying food and medicine. He maintained iranians will survive the sanctions and said the u. S. Action amounted to a crime against humanity he warned those who blow iranian money will face justice rosalyn jordan has more from washington d. C. Perhaps the biggest criticism of the trumpet ministrations sanctions regime against iran is that the culminating impact is that this is hurting the iranian people certainly we have seen that criticism coming not just from e. U. Nations but also from a wide range of humanitarian organizations around the world now the Treasury Department went in announced this latest round of sanctions against these 18 iranian banks said that these banks would still have exemptions so that they could bring in funds to facilitate the purchase of emergency food and medicine to serve the iranian people of course people have criticized the u. S. For making it much harder to get that sort of humanitarian aid to the iranian people but leave no doubt the trumpet ministration has made one of its key Foreign Policy objectives the International Isolation of iran because of what it says is irans attempts to develop a viable Nuclear Weapons program and it believes that by cutting off all avenues of getting cash into the hands or the under the control of the iranian government that the trumpet ministration ultimately will be successful but we have not seen that at least not as of right now Hillary Mann Leverett as a former white house and u. S. State Department Official she says the Trump Administration is deliberately targeting the iranian population to weaken the government. I think there is there is not really no doubt that the trumpet ministration is going after the iranian people the heart of what i would call the hardliners in the tribe in ministration in that me seem a little bit hard to believe many would think caster why russia over the entire Top Administration is hardliners but there has been a split there are real hardliners in the Administration Like the recently appointed or elevated envoy for iran affairs abrams who ive worked with in the white house in the 1st Bush Administration and its important to understand that these hardliners someone like Elliott Abrams they were around in the 1990 s. It was their thinking it was their policy advice that led the clinton and Bush Administrations to impose these kinds of sanctions on iraq in the 1990 s. From 1902003 these type of sanctions were imposed on iraq where over a 1000000 people died 500000 of them children and nobody cared nobody in washington cared at the time the secretary of state Madeleine Albright said it was worth it worth it for what the point here is not to change behavior it wasnt to change saddam husseins behavior in iraq its not to change irans behavior its to fundamentally weaken these countries by weakening the population that was what was done in iraq and that is what is the intent here with iran to south korea where fire has engulfed a 33 story Apartment Building hundreds of residents in the city of all son were forced to flee their homes the blaze has now been put out with only minor injuries and light smoke inhalation reported the investigation is underway robert lloyd joins us now from seoul rob certainly dramatic pictures but a lucky escape for most. Its a pretty incredible outcome given the ferocity of this blaze this began late thursday night when pretty much everybody would have been in their homes it began around a 3rd of the way up the tower and spread very quickly whipped up by very strong winds it seemed it was fueled by insulating material in the outer cladding of the tower sometimes jumping a number of floors as it went up the tower and burning so fiercely there in fact its set off some fires in neighboring buildings now the fire brigade was there within minutes of the alarm 1st being raised the unknowing very quickly realized how serious this fire was and then sent in other units from the rest of the city in the surrounding area the fire Safety Standards in some of the south koreas larger buildings have been an ongoing issue but it seems your parities here have been praised for their response also being praised the residents themselves everybody evacuated very quickly those who couldnt get out initially some of them found their way to the roof to await rescue and others still managed to find their way to whats known as evacuation floor in buildings over a certain height in south korea by law you have to have one floor which is basically fireproof dont the residents who couldnt get out some of them found their way to that floor to await rescue by the fire services. Thank you live reporting for us in solve them. The World Health Organization has announced a record one day global jump in corona virus infections nearly 339000. 00 people were diagnosed the Johns Hopkins university truck hit shows the total is passed 36000000. 00 more than a 1000000 people are known to have died while more than 25000000 have recovered the rise in cases is led by a surge in infections in europe theres been almost 100000 new infections thats the highest recorded single day total for the entire region. Britain is amongst the countries considering further restrictions the virus is spreading particularly fast in Northern England from oldham and Greater Manchester journal reports. Come from the Council Street by street door to door this is what it takes to contain an outbreak it has this been a rise in this particular area weve got to miss test this with us these are mainly unpaid volunteers working with the council in oldham Greater Manchester an area turning the tide on rising covert infection rates while the rest of manchester remains the current u. K. Hot spot i think its brilliant and here i still. Think its brilliant should do it this everywhere manisha. This doorstep testing here but severe testing shortages elsewhere confusing local restrictions are having little effect so oldham is doing for itself what the government is struggling to keeping people safe the Central Government needs to learn from those in local government about what weve been doing and whats been successful they did to listen to us and rather than doing broadcast surveys room where they tell us what the government is doing which its not always clear whether or not its backed up by the science that dialogue needs to be 2 way we need to be feeding back into the government what were doing on the ground thats working and then they need to learn from that and roll out some other areas rather than imposing kind of top down restrictions that are not always but by the science and appear legitimate to the vast numbers of people another aspect of why infection rates are spiralling so alarmingly up here in the north is that when the National Lockdown was lifted touring the summer it was done on a london centric basis leaving infection rates still uncomfortably high in parts of the north well social and economic inequalities have combined since then to do much of the rest. Its known as the north south divide higher levels of unemployment overcrowding and poverty that are now contributing to rising hospital admissions to the northwest reaches of. The very best event places for example actually quite rapidly so start with it was 15 plays being used and off west and but every month i got about. About you could say almost a factor of 10 increase and there are students lots of them back on campus since september most now confined to cramped apartments and halls of residence a predictable wave of student infections increased manchesters overall rate 10 fold some may be tempted to think this is all happening a long way from the capitol but as the government prepares to announce new lockdown rules that could be economically disastrous up here the predictions are that london could be just 2 weeks behind john a whole al jazeera manchester. Still ahead on our desire a. Lot of iranians mourn the death of a poet singer who was banned for supporting and he government protests. And a golden week for challenger people celebrating the annual holiday generate billions in revenue for the struggling tourism industry. But. Once again welcomes another look at the international forecast of course we are now looking to see what delta has in store for southern parts of the u. S. You can see regaining strength its a big system this one about a 1000 kilometers wide and its pushing up towards louisiana it will eventually ease its way across much of arkansas this is sea level Mississippi Valley pushing up towards the Tennessee Valley seeing some. Heavy rainfall over the next few days and as a major storm of course damaging winds and well of course also concern about the storm such a low lying land this caused that will gradually make its way little further north which an ace was heading towards the east coast as we go on through sassi over towards a cow a lot is to the north of that is not too bad because some wet weather into eastern parts of canada and some western weather towards western parts of canada and there we go along last araby sansom right pushing into Northern Areas of california forces not sinking as far south as me my like but temperatures do fall away 2324 degrees over the next day showers falling back in to proceed northwest and quarter by the time we do come to sunday wetter weather coming back across the eastern seaboard then as what is left as delta blues into the open waters. When if the o. P. s rose and forced them all to cross the cruising from power the new administration aimed for unity through an Ambitious Program of political reform. But 2 years on. People in power are asked whether the countrys diverse ethnic interests will ever be reconciled. The battle for a field on a. Youre watching out is there a reminder of our top stories this hour a kidnapped molly and politician and a french aid worker have learned in Barclays Capital bamako after being released as part of a major Prisoner Exchange the deal was announced by the countrys new Transitional Government who say. The u. S. Is impose more sanctions on irans Banking Sector its the latest move to curb what washington describes as terrans new can basins and terror activities the measures blacklist almost all of iraqs Financial Sector. A fire in a 33 story Apartment Building in the south korean city of course hundreds of thousands hundreds of residents to flee their homes the blazes that we put up with only minor injuries and like smoke inhalation. Hospitals in iran are running out of intensive care beds as new corona virus infections rose above 4000. 00 for the 3rd day in a row its the worst affected country in the middle east restrictions are being tightened a mosque will become mandatory out those into iran from saturday. But the restrictions on public gatherings didnt stop thousands of iranians from flooding the streets to mourn the death of one of the most one of the countrys most celebrated singers Mohammad Reza shah gerry and was a Grammy Nominated composer singer and interventionist but for many iranians his legacy extended beyond music. So the palace revolts the it was the voice of a generation and when he died many iranians could not mourn alone Mohammad Reza should cerium died in tehran on thursday after a nearly 2 decades battle with cancer for more than 50 years he was an ambassador of persia new zick and resonated with iranians through song. The maestro was an honor for our country his value was not appreciated as much as he deserved it a felon and years must come for the value of such a person to be truly perceived was as word spread mourners swarm to the hospital despite much of the capital being on lockdown to counter rising covered 19 infections. I am very upset he was a very good and popular person and he was with people and he was the voice of the people. After should jerry and body lift the hospital his son addressed the crowd. That. My father has been transferred to tehran symmetry there will be a prayer for him there on friday then they will be transferred to his birth town mashad we want to bury him beside fidel save a great poet. The 1st verse during his career should gerry and trying to stay above politics and with the people but in 2009 he had to choose during antigovernment demonstrations he spoke out in favor of protest is the iranian government reacted by banning his music state media boycotted him and yet his popularity group. He took the side of the people and the kanishka not all of that is mastery of the little. Popularity and also his could rock timely political scene with me and really popular and respected among political options. That respect was witnessed upon his days president Hassan Rouhani and foreign minister zarif tweeted in condolence serif wrote maestro should jerry and was a great and true ambassador of iran her children and most of all her culture i extend my deepest condolences to iranians across the world and particularly to his loved ones. Zarif included this video should gerry and singing the famous persian ballad dawn bit the. Its a song iranians know well they sang it to him from outside hospital in his final days. Its about a bird that sings caged in the nice to bring about a new doom for the a priest. The organizers of next weeks u. S. President ial debates have refused to overturn their decision to hold the event virtually thats despite Donald Trumps doctor stating in a letter that he would be cleared to resume public activities from saturday his challenger joe biden said the debate should be delayed by a week and held in person something the Term Campaign agreed to protesters marching through the u. S. City of mia minneapolis after a former Police Officer charged over the death of george floyd was released on bail. Has been custody in a minnesota prison ahead of his march trial but was freed after posting a 1000000. 00 bond floyd was killed when chervin kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in may. Russia has invited the Foreign