over three million homes destroyed. and eleven million people displaced. syrians made homeless by war or share their stories. in the ruins of a dream at this time on al-jazeera. two days before he was alledged ball to retire the deputy director of the f.b.i. and potential crucial witness in the rush or obstruction investigation is fired. i'm sam is a dan this is al jazeera live from the hall so coming up the vote was unanimous

china's parliament confirmed xi jinping as president again two key allies join him in office. political crisis in peru the president faces hours of questioning over corruption investigation day after ph from proceedings begin. and afghanistan season eighty seven percent increase in opium production in one year we meet the thousands struggling with drug addiction. the deputy director of the f.b.i. it's been fired less than two days before he could retire with full pension benefits i'm dreaming been a frequent target of public criticism from donald trump the u.s. president took to twitter to cheer the sacking saying andrew mccabe fired a great day for the hardworking men and women of the f.b.i. a great day for democracy sanctimonious jaynes was his boss and made mccain look

like a choir boy he knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the f.b.i. also in jordan has more on the controversial tenure of entre mckay. andrew mccabe was an f.b.i. agent for twenty two years rising to deputy director and then acting director after his boss james komi was fired by the trump white house in twenty seventeen but just before he planned to retire on march eighteenth mccabe too was dismissed in a statement released late on friday night the attorney general jeff sessions said that according to an internal agency investigation quote mr mccabe had made and an authorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor including under oath a multiple occasions i have terminated the employment of andrew mccabe effective immediately. right after this mckay told the news media his firing was payback for

doing his job investigating ties between russia and donald trump's two thousand and sixteen presidential campaign as well as overseeing the probe into hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state now president trump has accused mccabe of partisan bias mccabe's wife a democrat received campaign donations from one of hillary clinton's allies then mccabe added this quote the attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not to just slander me personally but to taint the f.b.i. law enforcement and intelligence professionals generally it is part of this administration's all going war on the f.b.i. and the efforts of the special counsel atala say robert muller who is the special counsel will want to talk to mckay but now aides now will be testifying in front of mahler and he knows a lot now what happened. during the campaign and during the

investigation mr mccain can talk about the fact that when president romney fired your rector call me now. sam you were going to call me when i'm actually going ahead with the investigation and that could be considered a structure of justice being fired means andrew mccabe might lose his retirement and health care benefits but mccabe might also have much more to gain by telling robert muller everything he knows about any russian links to the trump presidential campaign and that could mean the trumpet ministration might now have a much bigger problem on its hands rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington or its advice is director of the hudson institute center for political military analysis he doesn't think the investigation into russian meddling will be derailed by the dismissals. there are many many people dismissed in this way are they

suddenly or unexpectedly by the trump ministration so it's it's a bit unclear to what extent this is related to any the sophisticated tensions but in him and the president as opposed to just a general pattern or something that would have occurred under another ministration in the same way clearly whatever the reason it could it's going to be read by some innocent tamped to the raptor or affect the investigation however as far as we can towel least investigation has been receiving false still in despite what happens in congress or in the white house and it's not very visible and it's probably good and it's been we hear periodic lee announcement about somebody being indicted or arrested are under review so i don't think this is going to really disrupt what appears to be a slow but steady progress in trying to define precisely what happened which is still unclear to most of us during the elections the chinese president's close

political ally one clear channel has been voted in his face president xi jinping on so also been confirmed for a second term with unanimous support the national people's congress is rubber stamping a government reshuffle at its annual meeting in beijing the congress approved the removal of term limits for the president and vice president this week. small from beijing. a saturday session of the national people's congress here in beijing saw the election of some officials but more importantly two top officials the president xi jinping serving another five year term no one voted against him and want to see john now he is going to be the vice president for the next five years there was only one person who voted against him out of the nearly three thousand delegates here for the national people's congress now what's interesting about this now this is mr long's first term as vice president first time ever as vice president but he is seen as

a very close ally of xi jinping so the role for the vice presidency is being elevated if you will one of the constitutional changes that have been made during this national people's congress is the term limits for president and vice president have been lifted so mr wong a close ally of xi jinping now in this role as vice president a role means that that office will have much more power than it has traditionally and we know that he's going to be focused on trade issues particularly with the united states and friction that's been increasing with them so he's going to front that in the past he worked on anti-corruption which was a very important if not the most important initiative that she jinping wanted done in his first five year term now moving forward he'll also mr wong the vice president focus on other foreign policy issues which there are many outside of the united states and trade friction there's also north korea that's something that's very important to the xi jinping administrations and moving forward to his term officially starts on saturday and he will start to really crack down almost immediately because there's also some things going on in washington right now about

a deal with an act that was passed with taiwan obviously that's an issue that beijing is very sensitive about so right out of the gate mr wong is going to have to deal with some pretty sensitive issues just as he starts his first five year term. russia says more than seven thousand civilians have left east of also in the past few hours it comes after a russian airstrike on the besieged syrian enclave killed seventy people the syrian government and its allies launched an offensive to capture the area of months ago further north turkish led forces are preparing to attack the city of a three in where the u.n. says forty eight thousand people have been displaced other fish are reports it's been a day of stark brutal contrasts. with a line between life and death a sharp and arbitrary this is a city that's been shelled by the free syrian army backed by the turks.

with a number of dead rises by the day with a pall of smoke from another attack hangs in the year no surrounded by the f.s.e. and the turkish military the final assault to take the city is underway civilians on the ground have expressed serious worries to us regarding their safety including as a result of fighters placing rocket launchers in residential areas. we're deeply concerned about the high risk of civilians who are effectively trapped being injured or killed besieged used as human shields or displaced as a result of the fighting people are being allowed to leave taking your route to the so the humanitarian corridor to skip the fear and the expectation of what's to come . on and our friends in the cause of turkey we fled from a friend because of the heavy turkish bombardment there frightening people yesterday i couldn't sleep we suffer to get here. used to go to different actors but a similar situation cozens left part of the besieged on cleeve on thursday thousands

more have no choice but to put it simple and straightforward children have been and continue living in their hellish conditions in places like eastern good time but also afraid it is good to see that at last a few thousands of people have been able to leave these hellish conditions in any single day enough rain. a popular market now was hit boardings piled up in the streets. syrian civil war no. alliances of the battle lines of change but what is no different is that some people will live until to morrow for many innocent people will die out fisher out to see it up on the turkey syria border. u.k. police have contacted several russian exiles over safety concerns after the killing

of a prominent businessman nikolai of luzhkov was found dead in his home on monday police say he died from a compression to the neck and a murder investigation is underway luzhkov was granted political asylum in two thousand and ten and the u.k. had blocked attempts by russia to extradite him his death follows the poisoning of a former spy which the u.k. blames on russia russians aren't a vote for the next president on sunday and as election fever grows authorities in crimea reportedly been are tasked with producing an overwhelming vote for putin that would be a validation of the referendum that saw crimea become part of russia four years ago after the territory was annexed from u.k. ukraine or a challenge reports from crimea. crimea with its dramatic coastline has long held a romantic place in russian hearts and since it was an extreme ukraine four years ago it's russian once more. who says he took the decision to

reclaim the peninsula held his last big campaign rally in the port of sevastopol on wednesday he thanked the crowd for voting in the two thousand and fourteen referendum which most countries never recognized and which so soured relations with the west. with your decision you showed the entire world the meaning of true democracy not the sham one he took part in the referendum and made a decision you voted for your future and the future of your children for your good to hear. crimean za voting again on sunday the first time they've ever done so in a russian presidential election and the peninsula has been made a central symbol in the putin campaign by the way a putin is reminding people that he is the gatherer of russian lands it's very hard for him to boast of any meaningful economic progress so defense security and national pride are his campaigning aces. in crime in tar tar towns like historical

back she's a right the mood is different. mainly oppose the annexation intend to boycott the election but they say they're being pressured to vote was appalled. if there were threats at all levels that people could lose their jobs for example in our local school the director says think again of local people don't go to the elections they might fire me therefore i think some of the teachers will go to. the national spotlight is on crimea fresh from an appearance on russia's main t.v. channel we spoke to crime is deputy prime minister and he denied any dirty tricks of being used before but it ups the election is a completely free and democratic process therefore crimean people go to the polling stations and make the choice they want we think turnout will be quite high so much what we saw the referendum because crimea and people don't see it as an obligation it's a celebration for us. as the home of russia's black sea fleet crimea has always been

strategically important for moscow this year and selects a really important to reach allan's how does iran running. well still ahead on al-jazeera why lawyers in australia have filed a private prosecution against the leader of me and mom and son sue jean. one year before elections in nigeria people are demanding changes to the struggling economy from sitting president mahmoud abbas hardy. how we may well be just a week and a half away from the summit type as it's now but the british isles will see some very wintry weather they speak to one through the next couple of days at the moment is not too bad now area of cloud shielding its way in here but now the winds coming

in from the atlantic so relatively mild air temperatures into double figures that will change as we go on through the next couple of days even by sas the afternoon the coldest us into to gain base from the east many base from the east this one seven celsius on saturday is that cold around minus nine in moscow shippy about freezing so we must go on the coats on that coal waste leeway in from siberia that will continue the pot is way through there's a line of cloud rain and snow to see how that makes its way a little further south which as we go on through into sunday the cold air very much on the northern flank of that oneself just the top temperature in london so big drop in conditions here then shouldn't be is snow is it was last time they further south but some places a snow sent over the outside of the peyronie's we're going to see some rain making its way in across spain add portugal some of that wet weather also making its way into the fog north of africa with rain for helgi area.

hard to.

imagine watching out zero let's recap our headlines now the deputy director of the f.b.i. is being fired less than two days before he could retire with full pension benefits under mccabe had been a frequent target of public criticism president donald trump mckay was involved in the investigation into russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election he says his dismissal is to undermine the f.b.i. . chinese president's close political ally wang chih chandler's been voted in as vice president xi jinping also being confirmed for a second term with unanimous support the national people's congress is rubber stamping a government reshuffle at its annual meeting in beijing. opium production in afghanistan has been on the rise since the us invasion in two thousand and one last year nine thousand tons were produced an increase of eighty seven per cent tony birthday reports from kabul where record numbers of people are turning to drugs in

desperation. in afghanistan there is a level below rock bottom it's where these lifeless expressionist drug addicts exist men who lost dignity a long time ago they've been rounded up and herded into one of the country's biggest drug rehabilitation units in kabul. these are the other victims of this never ending war collateral damage if you like people who have lost loved ones lost jobs lost hope and their numbers are growing in afghanistan every day the forty five day program of this former military warehouse complex is basic and caters for nine hundred patients the treatment consists mainly of keeping the addicts away from drugs but it can't keep them away from the desire most relapse when they leave not that not that we need international hill we are struggling drug addiction is everywhere in the world but unfortunately it's affecting us more we have double impact one is the war and the other is that people are jobless. no rules turn to

drugs eight years ago when he lost his job he abandoned all hope and his wife and six children. my from north dakota with no job or income you have no choice but to steal and rob to get drugs addicts who have money eventually spend it all on drugs and when the money is gone they join us poor under the bridge we are no use to family society or country the bridges police doctor in kabul where the addicts live in a desolate world the afghan government estimates that three million people ten percent of the population is addicted to heroin forty percent of those are women opium cultivation is a major source of funding for the taliban and a major target for the u.s. an air campaign to destroy crops and production has been intensified. the international community's sixteen year battle against drugs in afghanistan has cost billions of dollars but poppy growing is flourishing like never before last year

there was a sixty three percent growth in land use for cultivation and an eighty seven percent increase in opium production the most in afghan history varmus of turn to poppies because there's more money in them the conventional crops but the threats from the air always there. was a should research we're worried that foreigners are the afghan government are going to destroy our fields the farmers are the ones who face the entire hardship of cultivation but the smugglers and others are the ones who benefit the most that is beyond the concern of the addicks under the pali sakta bridge their only concern is how to get the next fix they are in direct victims of this war but their image will haunt afghanistan for many years to come tony berkeley al jazeera kabul. has been mounting anger in brazil at the death of a popular politician it's been the second night of protester rio de janeiro city councillor mariella franco was shot on wednesday in what's being called an assassination brazil's top prosecutor says federal authorities will investigate her

death if city police don't pursue the case of rest of the thirty eight year old franco repeatedly criticized police violence. peru's president has faced a dows of questioning on his ties to a brazilian construction giant comes a day after congress voted to begin impeachment proceedings against pablo had the republicans in ski but on a sanchez reports now from lima. they waited seven months before the president agreed to meet them so politicians of the door so called carwash corruption investigation took their time questioning president. he's accused of corruption over his links to brazilian construction giant all they would each and the role he played in contracts for a series of government infrastructure projects. the president has known for seven months if we detail of the issues that bring us here today he has

a government lawyer so he will have the right to defend himself. after eight hours of questioning members of the multi-party committee emerged from the presidential palace will hear more about everything winter kay the president has collaborated as part of his defense tragedy. the questioning happened one day after a majority in congress voted to start impeachment proceedings against the president for a second time analysts say this has turned into produce worst political crisis in decades. never improves history has a president been through impeachment twice in three months and after eighteen months in office even if he survives there is no guarantee there won't be another process the scenarios of this political process of very dark to say the least the president's future may now be much more complicated on thursday the state's financial intelligence unit revealed that he received money from all they voted when he was a finance minister more than

a decade ago the thirty four page state intelligence report says all the rich and other business groups paid millions of dollars to companies and others linked to him for. salton sea contracts president kaczynski has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing but political opponents say he's lying an opinion poll says sixty three percent of peruvians agree one to press it into the sea it's a horrible crisis so much instability we don't know what will happen and that is corruption everywhere we want to stable country. dealings have made him deeply unpopular but i'm so angry they are still politicians are in office to steal the so you beautiful ideas and then steal it almost makes you laugh and unfortunately. christian kaczynski has said he has nothing to hide analysts say even if he survives a second impeachment move next week he's weak and his ability to govern has already

been hampered and in a sense i just see that he might be to. nine construction workers have died in burundi after heavy rains triggered a landslide they are part of a group building a channel to redirect floodwaters near the capital bridges bora when the hillside collapsed south africa's former president jacob zuma is set to face prosecution for sixteen corruption charges prosecutors say the charges include counts of fraud racketeering and money laundering the case relates to a multi-billion dollar government arms deal which was signed in the one nine hundred ninety s. zuma was deputy president at the time and he was linked to the deal through his former financial advisor who was jailed for corruption zuma denies any wrongdoing nigeria has the largest economy and population in africa but nearly half of its people live in abject poverty three years after democratically elected. president the list changed one year before the next election many are demanding action

mohamed valve reports from the capital of. the next election is not until february next year but nigerians are already debating it campaign messages inspired newspaper headlines and opinion columns at opposition headquarters the faces of potential rival candidates to president mohammed to hurry on show their subtle east one confirmed challenger in september a sovereign state governor announced his decision to stand in two thousand and nineteen others including some within the ruling party are impatient to know if he will seek reelection that those who have a space ship whether he wants the presidential to make his position known if you're going to wrong that i will help you to make up my mind this is going to. then i will have to tell myself it is physically formidable challenger or i'll have to source. last week twenty state governors meeting within president his ruling party

the all progressives congress or a.p.c. and lost him as a candidate for the two thousand and one thousand photos that move along with a decision to postpone internal party elections until after the presidential vote is angering some they fear it's a way for the president to secure his power base within the party and marginalize potential rivals its locals crucial and some of the party members of already going to court so you throw in the party into crisis already to retain power through the back. it's undemocratic and there will be close a casus nigerians say that when they elected president rouhani in twenty fifteen they look to him for the same old stuff leader for the country in the one nine hundred eighty s. they expected him to end corruption in security and fix the economy and now many of them say he has failed to meet their expectations not his supporters of course who still see in him the savior of nigeria you look at the actual moment of dissidents

fresh in their leadership of president rouhani in less than three years or three years. you have no choice dodgin those of us are going to fight for anybody to take and you will talk about other issues going to the not is out to get it it can't dictate to him this question right for this administration i don't want to because the chip miniscule rich and to corruption. go but is fighting corruption absolutely no alleged corruption in their own government and they are pretty have not been investigated and if you look at the living conditions of nigerians today is far worse than what it was three years ago so on account of that is going to be difficult for nigerians to relive as a moment where they really have first recently behind his government announced what it said was the end of boko haram fighters for many nigerians that's hard to

believe the abduction of one hundred ten schoolgirls in the northeast in february has challenge that claim and prompted questions about how much progress has been made against armed groups mohammed fun and busier nigeria. a group of lawyers in australia has filed a private prosecution against me and mostly dongs on suchi she's in sydney is fond of asiana summit of southeast asian leaders lawyers are attempting to prosecute her while she is in the country on charges of crimes against humanity in relation to the treatment of me and. protests against her visit to australia are also taking place under thomas is there in sydney. this protest of about six hundred people is taking place just near where the afghan leaders are meeting both him say that leaders from their respective countries mostly cambodia vietnam me and shouldn't be here on sun suchi of course being held responsible and their eyes for

the atrocities against the rangers and in parallel to their protests a legal case is now on the way he writes lawyers including allison baths and have launched an application in a melbourne colt for crimes against humanity against them is this really going to go anywhere yes we believe it will. be evidence is overwhelming about what is happening in written states and against the breaking it precisely matches the strategy and statute and that of the international criminal court for crimes against humanity for the deportation for school transfer of population but she's only here for a few days you need the support ultimately if it's a study as attorney general in government you're not going to get that is this really anything more than a stunt no it is absolutely not a stunt. we have followed in the victorian magistrates court. that we expect an answer from them early to meet next week and some sea change is still. placed she stayed in parallel with that is the briefs that went to the

attorney general there's a slight loophole she up in a stylish domestic legislation that we can start a private prosecution against unsung suchi while c.a.g. . he's considering our application and his decision is reviewable. allison thank you very much longtime c.g.s. allison said will be here in australia until she started talking mostly security and trade with australia's government and the other governments from the regions on saturday these protests going to go on all weekend. and let's take you through some of the headlines on al-jazeera now russia says more than seven thousand civilians have left eastern holter in the past few hours these are live pictures from the russian department of defense they say shows the evacuations from eastern mass evacuations are continuing there and in the city of

a freeman comes after dozens of people were killed in tents and strikes in both areas of syria more than seventy people were killed at a market in the east and also why activists say fifteen died in a turkish strike on a friend's only working hospital the deficit director of the f.b.i. is being fired just over twenty four hours before he was jus' retire under mccabe had been the subject of an internal investigation into leaks to the news media he says his dismissal is part of the trumpet ministrations war on the f.b.i. also in jordan has more from washington d.c. the attorney general jeff sessions put out a statement saying that this is because he was released information that should not have been released inside the f.b.i. to a reporter and that when he was questioned about it by investigators within the f.b.i. sessions said that mccabe missed led those investigators those are two big offenses

inside the f.b.i. and so sessions said that he has made the decision to dismiss him immediately well obviously this is something that andrew mccabe strongly disagrees with. now the chinese president's close political ally one chief shan has been voted in as vice president xi jinping also being confirmed for a second term with a unanimous support the national people's congress approve the government reshuffle its annual meeting in beijing south africa's former president jacob zuma is facing prosecution for corruption charges against him include fraud racketeering and money laundering over a two point five billion dollars arms deal signed in the one nine hundred ninety s. a legal applications been filed in australia against me and miles leader aung san suu kyi is in sydney as part of a special summit of southeastern asian leaders. it's inside

story now stay with us. on counting the cost our russian is getting all they bargain for economically as lemay boudin heads for reelection plus saudi aramco keeps the financial world guessing but the globe's largest i.p.o. on ice will be asking what's behind the delay counting the cost and i just hear. there's anger in egypt as a teenage girl died weeks after a street attack in the u.k. stuff as family suggested she was the victim of a hate crime british police say there's no evidence that it was racially motivated but such attacks on.