this is al-jazeera.

television or untainted this is the news hour live from london coming up. this is the largest deficit of any country in the history of our world it's out of control president files a new shot in his trade war with china while exempting the e.u. and other allies from his steel and aluminum tariffs. britain's prime minister goes to brussels seeking a unified stand against russia over the poisoning of a former spy. syrian rebels leave eastern ghouta up to surrendering the town of harasta to the government. nigeria says it won't abandon the one school girl before her and didn't release we speak to her father. in sports zimbabwe is set to miss elssler place in next year's cricket world cup a shock defeat against the united arab emirates means their hopes of qualification are all part of.

president donald trump is fired a direct shot in the brewing trade war between the world's two largest economies stopping massive new trade tariffs on china on trick using it of unfair trade practices trump says the u.s. deficit with beijing is out of control and little that china is a friend he wants reciprocal trade arrangements some people called america tariff or a mere attacks just use the word reciprocal if they charge us we charge them the same thing as sue it's got to be that's not the way it is for many many years for many decades it has not been that way. and i will say the people were negotiating with. smilingly they really agree with us i really believe they cannot believe they've gotten away with this for so long well new action against

china comes on top of his terrorist on steel and aluminum imports which are due to kick in on friday it's now been revealed that the e.u. canada mexico australia brazil and south korea will be exempt from those measures against china will affect sixty billion dollars of beijing's exports trump wants to make good on his campaign promise to crack down on his country's staggering trade deficit with china chinese exports to the u.s. currently exceed american exports to china by three hundred seventy five billion dollars but trump says the deficit could be as high as five hundred four billion dollars the president hopes the new terrace will reduce that by one hundred billion dollars and is also restricting chinese investment in the u.s. trump has accused china of engaging in trade law violations including theft of intellectual property and american technology let's get more on the search for my white house correspondent kimberly harkat. he didn't hold back in his his kind of description of the scale of the issue for him did it does he have much support for

the strategy. he has some support there's no question that going back to president bill clinton both democrats and republicans have been very concerned about the theft of american business intellectual property concerned about the high tech sector particularly when it comes to the trade deficit the donald talks so much about but i think there is some division in terms of the president taking action now and how he's taking action certainly the president is not stopping at these tariffs see in this announcement that you point out is really the second time he's taken aim at china in recent weeks because of course there were wise for tariffs on steel and aluminum once all of those carve outs or countries were exempted it really left china as the one that would be most affected by a love this so this is certainly as you point out a campaign promise by the president and one that they're going to be sort of doubling down on in terms of taking action the world trade organization and also

justifying given the fact that there is this congressional act of the trade act of nine hundred seventy four that allows the u.s. president to take an foresman action without authority if there is a feeling that this is indeed such a vast discrepancy was certainly the president has made the case today and commission. is now apparently one of the groups that's going to be exempt from some of the tariffs on steel and so forth what how does how does work this business of kind of giving exemptions for various people. right so we knew that there would be some exemptions when it came to the first round of tariffs that were announced on steel and aluminum or aluminum visit by the president and here in the united states but what we're seeing is sort of changing vacillating approach from policy initially it was canada and mexico because of course they're in the midst of negotiating or renegotiating nafta or the north american free trade agreement then

we heard from the u.s. trade representative speaking at a senate finance committee hearing on capitol hill today that in fact that would be a broader list of countries that would be exempt and so i think that's where some of the frustration is coming lauren is in the fact that the president seems to be sort of changing his mind in terms of how to apply these tariffs egad seems to change from every tweet to every public appearance so there's that frustration and then there's the frustration too that this is harming diplomatic relationships that those relationships in terms of diplomacy that could be trusted for so many years are now being put at risk because of an economic driver namely that the president feels that american businesses and companies and workers have been hit hard by his trade and he is choosing to try and rectify it can be how could thank you very much indeed for china's says america's own export restrictions are to blame for the massive deficit it's already preparing to hit back with tariffs and support base targeting u.s. agricultural exports. resolutely opposed this type of union lateral and

protectionist action by the us china will not sit idly by while legitimate rights and interests are hurt we must take all necessary measures to firmly defend our rights and interests we hope the u.s. can see clearly that the nature of china and u.s. trade relations is to mutual benefit and a win win situation it's got hard and has moved from shanghai. china on thursday reiterated that they will defend their interests at all costs and they have said in the past that it's unrealistic that the trade between the two nations being a requirement that it's even that's something that donald trump is trying to do now in the past they have said if there is any tariffs coming from the united states they will retaliate it's been reported that the retaliation is probably going to be kind of slow and steady and overarching but we really won't know exactly what that kind of retaliation is based on what was announced in washington until friday at the very earliest which i shot is a senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics he joins us

live from washington d.c. just on that issue that he was referring to that the kind of the relationship between u.s. and china donald trump said that china is a friend and then there was the big box with these terrorists being introduced he also mentioned he needs the help on north korea when you see this you see this turning into a full scale trade war with china well we've taken the first step down that road but there are many many more steps to go and there are many ways you can avoid it. but clearly the president has put china on notice that china has put the united states back on notice that they will defend strongly their rights in the dubey cio and may even violate those rights and retaliate against our our measures if once u.s. actions go against chinese. imports so it could get nasty in the next couple of weeks as these. definitive as these measures become more definitive and that will

take some time though you mentioned the world trade organization that donald trump is pretty dismissive of them during his news conference that he has said they were very very unfair can he just decide to go around how would that work. he would just violate u.s. obligations under the w g o and once he imposes tariffs on chinese goods he will do that because the u.s. is obligated to keep our terror of such a certain level that will be a direct violation and if china retaliates in kind against us they will be violating their obligations so it could get nasty and you could go down the road of tit for tat retaliation one round after another and that's what's worrying the this the markets and that's why you're seeing the reactions of the stock markets today to a present from liz was at pains to say that the the terrorists are unfair in that he wants a reciprocal arrangement is he right in saying that the system is unfair and that

he was citing car imports and saying that there's twenty five percent. imports in attacks on one side but two percent on the other is it is it as simple as that. no it's not as simple as that you have to look at the whole system and yes there are big differences in some tariffs and the way you resolve that is them a go she ate the reduction of those tariffs we have been unable to do that because there have been no real tariff negotiations in the world trade organization for the past twenty years that have been that have been successful i think the president is correct that the prospects for doing that in the w t o are limited one of the ways you can negotiate with china is to try to get a deal for them to reduce some of their high tariffs in return for actions that the united states would take so this is

a high stakes gambling game and one where are a lot of people are gonna get caught in the crossfire and there is going to be a lot of collateral damage both in china and the united states and our trading partners in the region and what about me his view seemed to be that all the trade agreements were essentially on fahey total about nafta and he talked about barriers in the e.u. do you think that what we're seeing what we've seen so far with these putting on tiresome airspaces and then possibly having exemptions is is almost a some negotiating position he starts off with with a big announcement and then and then can pull back from it what's your view on them and well i think that's one of his operating procedures he said everything is on fair and he's trying to get some adjustments so far he hasn't done very much. but the actions that are threatened against china today would be far and away the most significant imposition of protectionist measures that he's taken in this presidency. thank you very much indeed for you know i ses.

donald trump's tariffs are one of the issues topping the agenda in brussels where european union leaders are attending a summit and they're also due to discuss trade jobs competitiveness bricks it and the nerve agent attack on a russian former spy in britain u.k. prime minister to resign may has aged e.u. leaders to unite and condemn russia after accusing the kremlin of targeting surrogates cripple and his daughter yulia earlier this month. one of phillips's in brussels for so this suggestion that the e.u. is going to be exempt from the adamantium and steel tariffs how has that been received. i think with some relief lauren we heard earlier this afternoon from antonio to jonny the head of the european parliament saying that europe welcomed positive messages but it wanted to have more

concrete information at the moment it seems that the threat of tariffs against the e.u. . has been suspended rather than lifted i think we'll know a little bit more about your response in the next few minutes i've just seen behind me donnel to school of the head of the european council and. the head of the commission going into the press room to to give a press conference but i think philosophically it's fair to say that europe is disconcerted that this round ever happened with the united states albeit one which europe hopes has now been avoided cecelia. the european union trade commissioner was over in washington this week negotiating hard i think the europeans feel uneasy with what they perceive as an unpredictable american administration and a president who unlike them tends to see international trade more as a zero sum game in which there are inevitably winners and losers rather than

something which can be mutually beneficial and which could also help promote peace around the world and what about the relationship between the u.k. and russia moment how likely are we to get a unified response towards russia or that poisoning of the former spy. i think you know there will probably be tough words and that's what the british are asking for at this point you might recall that the e.u. . foreign minister's statement when boris johnson was was over here a few days ago in brussels did not go so far as pointing the finger at russia whilst it expressed solidarity with britain and so perhaps to reason may will be asking for stronger language there don't think she's going to be pushing for new sanctions against russia yet i don't think she's necessarily going to be asking that member states follow britain's example and expel russian diplomats or

intelligence officers from embassies across the e.u. that would probably be over and vicious in the context of brecht's it your fact is that the british are asking for european solidarity from an organization that they're in the process of leaving and they also know that they have always tended to be more suspicious and more hawkish of the russians certainly than many other important member states countries like greece italy hungary have all tended to be more amenable to moscow's point of view let's just hear what to resume a had to say about russia on her way into the meeting. well i will but i will be talking about today is not just what happened on the streets of seoul this spring but the fact that we do see this as part of a pattern of russian aggression against europe and its neighbors as i said from the

western balkans to the middle east this is a subject we have to stress before and i look forward to further discussions with my european colleagues and i'm grateful for that the solidarity and support that they've shown the united kingdom. for brics it itself that will be on the menu here in brussels tomorrow that's friday and for once it doesn't seem as if it will be the source of a great amount of discord the transitional arrangement which governs how britain and the e.u. will interact in a twenty one month period after britain has for me left the e.u. at the end of march twenty nine hundred right up to the end of twenty twenty that period that agreement was hammered out and the seems to be a degree of unity around it barnaby phillips thank you very much indeed russia's ambassador to the u.k. has dismissed accusations that russia was behind the poisoning of the former double agent and his daughter has just in the u.k. already had the nerve agent and its chemical weapon reserves is it going incidence

that this chemical weapons facility is only morals from this incident how did doctors just so what until got to administer to the victims. russian experts or personal how quickly the british authorities managed to the nerve agent. and how this correlates with squadron to yours official statements there and i'm quoting investigation is highly likely to take weeks or months to erode conclusions. well the police officer injured in the sols brain nerve agent attack has been discharged from hospital detective sergeant nick bailey was exposed to the novacek nerve agent the poison saga strip out and his daughter earlier this month the strippers remain in critical but stable condition in hospital for

a break seductress in the u.k. a furious over revelations that new british passports had to be manufactured by an e.u. company to reason may said in december that the current burgundy passports would switch to an older blue design seen here on the right which was used before the u.k. joined the e.u. but the six hundred ninety one million dollar contract to manufacture the passports has been won by a franco dutch company britain's interior ministry defended the decision saying the company was chosen following a rigorous competition mehad said the new design would be an expression of independence and sovereignty off to brics it coming up on the news hour police in france fired tear gas and water cannon of protesters during a huge public sector walkout. by south korean police have detained former president lee myung bak. and in sport russian authorities stressed that english football fans will be safe at june's world cup.

syrian opposition fighters have surrendered one of the last rebel enclaves near the capital damascus in an evacuation deal with the government thousands of fighters and civilians are now leaving the town of harasta in eastern guta government forces have been bombing the area heavily for more than a month but other rebel factions are still holding on to two separate pockets of territory including duma the largest town in eastern guta those leaving her us to a fleeing north to get province where syrian and russian air strikes have killed dozens of people in the last two days in a hotel reports. defeat and displacement that is what these buses have come to symbolize up to one thousand five hundred fighters from the rebel faction and at least six thousand of their family members are leaving their homes in harvester they have agreed to lay down their arms and go to the opposition controlled

province of idlib in syria's north west the russian guaranteed evacuation deal is being seen as amounting to a surrender the first to leave was anyone needing medical assistance harassed or like the rest of the rebel enclave of the eastern has been relentlessly bombarded for more than a month the suffering of the people is immense some civilians also left media activists even civil defense volunteers syrians who are considered to be terrorists by the government had no other choice the deal also involves a prisoner exchange and is reported to include guarantees by the syrian government and the russian military that no harm will come to the civilians who chose to stay harassed is just one town in eastern with which is now divided into three pockets because of the government offensive the other two rebel factions which controls duma and fire which controls the southern pockets have been engaged in separate negotiations with the russian military so far there has been no progress so

pro-government forces continue to target what is left of the rebel held area they're seizing more territory in the southern pocket and airstrikes continue to kill the united nations says people are trapped by fierce fighting and are in dire need of aid the choice they have been given is to starve die or leave. because. we are fighting to stay in our land and prevent displacement the international community is silent and powerless or perhaps it's conspiring against us all they do is lie to us the un security council was not able to save the world are. killed and displays a whole country of. years of siege and bombardment have been a strategy the pro-government alliance used previously to force the surrender of rebels the united nations and human rights groups condemned the strategy as forced displacement this is the first deal of its kind in eastern huta and pressure is

only increasing the other rebel groups to also agree to the only offer on the table so that i could have built a suspect behind a bomb attack targeting the palestinian prime minister last week has been killed in a firefight with hamas forces the interior ministry in gaza says the suspect refused to surrender when they surrounded his hideout two members of these have security forces were killed and another suspect later died of his wounds in hospital on monday palestinian president mahmoud abbas accused hamas of carrying out what he calls an assassination attempt against rami hamdullah. and his fourteen people have been killed in a car bomb attack in somalia's capital mogadishu blast took place near a hotel on a busy road which has been the target of similar attacks in the past ten others are thought have been injured schoolchildren in nigeria's northeastern borno state are being kept at home due to fears of more mass kidnappings by boko haram the

government closed all boarding schools in rural areas indefinitely last week if there's a series of attacks by the on group and the kidnapping of one hundred ten girls from depth in neighboring your bay state last month one hundred five of them were freed on wednesday and have been taken to a bridge or for medical checkups a father whose daughter is still missing told under serious comment address the kidnappers are trying to force her to become a muslim. force hard to change how to. use. and what what are they saying i'd be going to release or. bug. do you think she's going to do that and i don't think she will do that a judge has more send up to the northeast nigeria this is the rule boko haram

fighters drove through with one hundred and four girls initially they dropped one of them in a village on their way here and then they dropped them of the one hundred and four right over there some two hundred meters away from this place and we were told by residents that one of their vehicle developed a puncture or other they had had a flat tire they changed the tires here and then they drove back they spent nearly thirty minutes in depth to this particular road they came through it's the same road they used to go back to where they came from but on incidentally right over there is the home of the only girl still in captivity the home of leah sherry boone nathan the family still grieving and still expecting the child now the other girls one hundred and five of them and now in abuja meeting the nigerian president and also going through psychological counseling and other medical checkups now what we're hearing from the people of dr lee they said they are keeping because of her

faith they want her to renounce the faith and embrace a new one now we were told by residents but this is yet to be confirmed by the nigerian government which is also yet to say what about the five remaining girls that were taken one month ago the residence said the fighters when they drove to town and dropped the one hundred and four in this town and one before they stand on they told them that five of them or four five of them actually died because of exhaustion on the day they were taken from their school induction. police in france are fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters taking part in a public sector walkout there were scuffles with demonstrators in the west as city of not as well as in the capital paris trains and flights have been canceled across france and many schools closed unions agri it plans are president in one year to cut one hundred twenty thousand public sector jobs by the year twenty twenty two. some of michael's proposed reforms involve the national rail company

a sense if many passengers feel some sort of change is long overdue as natasha about to report from paris. yes some of the fastest passenger trains in the world france's t.g.v. which link the big cities are modern and efficient but the same cannot be said for the company the runs them france's national railway or s.n.c.f. isn't profitable and deep in debt. local services like this one in paris often disrupted because of problems with staff or aging infrastructure yes they want that there often to laze it's a catastrophe trains cancelled at late notice it's often chaos to full scale oughtn't my son who has an hour's train journey each day there's a problem on the line every other day the french government says that the s.n.c.f. must change so it's proposing some major reforms he wants to open up the rail network to foreign investors and it plans to scrap the special status given to rail

workers which allows train drivers to retire in their fifty's a decade earlier than most of the population. as since their full loses monopoly in twenty twenty and e.u. rules foreign companies will be able to run trains on its network the prime minister says reforms will help s.n.c.f. stay competitive when the world is changing gears and surf must chandra's it festers comforted has a sense of cannot remain the only company to recruit re wreckers and a special status. created in one thousand thirty eight s. and seth is owned by the french state it employs one hundred forty thousand staff for generations its workers have enjoyed perks such as early retirement and extra days off rel union leaders say the benefits are compensation for difficult working conditions provided for the armies or i work long unsociable hours and our salaries are very high the government is focusing on a special status in these reforms to make the public turn against rail workers and

win their battle past presidents have tried and failed to reform s.n.c.f. forced backed. and in the face of stiff opposition from france's powerful trade unions emmanuel mccall wants to be the one to succeed marco may have more leeway because of more general favorable public opinion in terms of reforming a sense i think people now are more ready to see something different. the government says it will reform s.n.c.f. by decree that's put union leaders on the warpath they're promising glowing strikes macro may be facing his greatest test the al-jazeera paris. still to come this hour another departure by one of donald trump's closest aides this time his lead lawyer in the robert miller investigation. on world water day we look at how shortage is getting worse in mexico's capital. and in sports arena williams

tennis come back yet another snag andy will be here with that story. welcome back we'll start by looking at weather conditions across the levant and western parts of asia you see some clouds moving up across the area but jerry weather conditions not looking too bad we got a little bit of snow up across the through up into the himalayas but otherwise for our marty that in kazakhstan temperatures of thirteen degrees tashkent becky stan twenty from a cloud around the caspian sea region a bit should stay dry and back you find on the southern side there to run it twenty four one in baghdad thirty two so look at the eastern side of the mediterranean here we've got gerry fine conditions through friday on saturday more in the way of cloud but generally the winds still coming in from a southerly direction so beirut up to twenty five degrees celsius as you move down

into the arabian peninsula where the conditions here also looking fine and certainly very warm day thirty nine degrees in mecca on friday as we head into saturday i think we're going to hit the magic forty degree mark we won never saw the potential bit of wind blowing on friday will be replaced by marching less warm conditions on saturday twenty nine is the high in doha abu dabi so up to thirty one degrees so across into southern portions of africa than and here we've got some some pretty heavy showers shown across parts of namibia through botswana and dionysus africa and those are expected to continue. a scandal that's rocked the nation to its core and exposed hundreds of court official. brides just to show the most dangerous cool movie t one s. sometimes take a spot at the door with a difference to blow up

a custom of pot that these judicial corruption as a buyer. i come out of my car in the exclusive documentary al-jazeera examines one man's extraordinary battle for justice in ghana. with bureaus spawning six continents across the deemed. to be. al-jazeera has correspondents living green the stories they tell. me are food and world news.

of the top stories. u.s. president donald trump slapped massive new trade tariffs on china accusing it of unfair trade practices beijing says it's preparing a range of responses and will stand up to protectionism. as e.u. leaders meet in brussels it's been revealed the e.u. and other u.s. allies will be exempt from trump's steel and aluminum tariffs. and syrian opposition fighters have surrendered one of the last rebel enclaves near the capital damascus in an evacuation deal with the government. u.s. defense secretary james mattis has edged saudi arabia's crown prince to help find a political solution to the war in yemen mattis was hosting them had been sound man at the pentagon saudi arabia has led a bombing campaign against iranian backed rebels in yemen since twenty fifteen aid groups described yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis with more than five

thousand civilians killed and a third of the population on the brink of famine. and haven't been simon's visit coincides with a leak of documents said to show lobbying efforts by the u.a.e. and saudi arabia to influence the trumpet ministration and just to have reports. you. this saudi crown prince started his u.s. visit with talks at the white house president donald trump showing recent saudi weapons purchases from american manufacturers both showered each other with praise for their country's close ties we really have a great friendship a great relationship i would really have to say the relationship was to put it mildly very very strained during the obama administration and the relationship now is probably as good as it's really ever been thank you mr president actually the relation to saudi arabia message for america it's all the relation we have all the first america and the middle east right more than eighty five and big interest

politically economically and security but mohammed bin some months trip which includes several cities and meetings with u.s. cabinet members coincides with leaked documents said to show lobbying efforts by saudi arabia and the u.a.e. aimed at influencing the trumpet ministration the new york times says a lebanese american businessman george notter who was a political advisor to the effect of ruler of the u.a.e. worked for more than a year to influence elliott brody a powerful member of the republican national committee neither is said to have offered broadly business deals on behalf of saudi arabia and the u.a.e. in order to exert influence over white house policy policies which advocated confrontational approaches towards iran and gutter brodie denies the claims that his spokesman accuses hackers working for carter for leaking the documents their accusations guterres government has described as baseless affair look at the

blockade and the crisis the gulf a crisis started last year there is a context for this and it seems that those preparations produce this kind of a crisis because it was a trend that is a consistent plan. supported by the two governments financially supported by in washington and the alliances and little. all of this i that is they became prominent recently as a witness in the investigation into foreign influence on the trumpet ministration by special prosecutor robert mueller the media reports threaten to complicate in someone's tour of the united states the trip has been described as a public relations blitz for the crown prince but could expose him to increasingly awkward questions about how saudi arabia and the u.a.e. use money and business deals to influence white house policy style al-jazeera. state rex tillerson has been giving his farewell speech and besides the need for

a continued level of scrutiny within the government especially when it comes to foreign affairs as the country faces many challenges in some instances perplexing foreign affairs relationships and another is this is serious national security threats in these times your continued diligence and devotion to the state department's mission has never been more necessary donald trump says he's open to testifying before special counsel robert miller who's investigating russian interference in the twenty six thousand presidential election u.s. president spoke just hours after his key personal lawyer announced he was resigning john dowd had reportedly clashed with trump over his handling of ms investigation last week he called on the justice department to shut down the inquiry before clarifying that he was speaking for himself not the president in the past had repeatedly called the investigation a witch hunt. let's go to particle hane for more on this doesn't bore but the

circumstances surrounding dad's resignation. well you know it's interesting he's sent a bunch of mixed messages you saw just a few days ago he called reporters and said he's praying that that investigation gets shut down as you mentioned that he backtracked on whether he was speaking to the president or himself but at the same times there have been a lot of leaks coming out of trump's white house and he's really been trying to position himself as urging the president to cooperate with the moeller investigation and really this is all heating up because it is getting close to the time when the moeller investigators are going to sit down with the president the president reportedly says that's a great idea can't wait to do it his lawyers like doubt have been saying that is a orrible idea and they're trying to negotiate with the miller team exactly how this conversation can take place now the president thinks that he's got nothing to hide in that he could of course with his intellect handled robert mueller but let's put this in perspective the president's going to have to sit down with muller he can plead the fifth the question is how does he sit down with him no doubt was

recommended let's come up with the terms of how we talk about it what topics we talk about now he doesn't have to do that muller could simply subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury in that case his lawyer wouldn't be with him and this is all in the backdrop of if you are talking to investigators like the f.b.i. or the special counsel and you lie about it it is a very serious crime so this is all happening as we see the president really starting to get appear a lot more anxious about where mahler's headed and is there any indication that his departure might be due to friction within legal team. well it is a sign that president trump is going to go on the attack for the first time ever he named muller on twitter what he was talking about this is a witch hunt and calling out what he sees as inconsistent zs in his team now it's interesting a few weeks ago the new york times put out a story the president was really unhappy with his legal team at the time he tweeted

out that that was fake news but obviously something was brewing because he's added a lawyer called joe to jenna i have such a problem that i had to jenna he is a conspiracy theorist he's gone on t.v. and said that the f.b.i. the department of justice they wanted hillary clinton to win and that if she didn't if donald trump won that in his words they were going to frame him for a falsely created created crime they would support a point on the mall investigation five people including two to three that are actually close to the president have pled guilty to federal crimes but obviously this new boy or once you attack moeller and trying to attack his credibility before anything could possibly come out so this is a sign that the president trump is going to follow his own instincts he's going to go on the attack where from now beef up until now his lawyers of and saying just cooperate. thank you very much u.s. lawmakers say though formally ask facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg to testify before congress over revelations the day u.k. political consultancy misused information from fifty million users in

a television interview took about promised stronger privacy measures for facebook he admits his site made mistakes that cambridge analytic improperly accessed user data in an attempt to influence the twenty sixteen us presidential election the texas man who carried out a three week bombing spree left a twenty five minute video confession on his phone twenty three year old mark condit from the austin suburb of proof blew himself up on wednesday as police closed in on him police say in the video condit details the differences between the bombs he built but the video itself does not shed light on a possible motive. but east and south korea have detained former president lee myung bak after a court issued an arrest warrant for him he's facing charges of corruption is the latest a series of scandals involving former leaders kathy novak reports from seoul. he's

yet another former south korean president accused of abusing power lee myung bak denies that but did apologize as he arrived to face prosecutors last week with and we're going to stand before you with the tragic for my deepest apology to the people who are causing worry amid times when the economy is in hardship and the security situation on the korean peninsula is serious the charges against him include among other things bribery embezzle meant and tax evasion please accused of improperly receiving about ten million dollars from people and institutions including the country's spy agency as well as same song south korea's largest conglomerate corruption allegations were first made during the two thousand and seven election campaign despite that the popular former mayor of solve one and became president the following year he faced challenges almost immediately with protests over american beef imports and later the killing of south koreans which

was blamed on north korea after least served his five year term as president fellow conservative puck in hay was elected she was impeached and jailed last year a verdict in her corruption trial is expected next month all of the seven former presidents who led south korea since one thousand nine hundred eighty have faced some form of corruption scandal either directly or because of allegations against their family members five including li and park have had to personally face prosecutors. mass protests that led to parks impeachment seem to demonstrate support for powerful politicians to be held to account and a recent public opinion poll taken before least hands trial found almost eighty percent of south koreans want a stern punishment. a shared understanding is being created even among the public and politicians the mechanisms should be built to check if the person is absolute power reasonably and. i think it will improve one by one lee myung bak says he

hopes to be the last south korean president to face this kind of prosecution kathy novak al jazeera saw. prosecutors in peru have asked a judge to stop president petro public from leaving the country after he announced his resignation is guaranteed presidential immunity from prosecution until congress formally accept his resignation and the vice president is sworn in to replace him. now it's his resignation on wednesday ahead of an impeachment vote resumes congress is discussing whether former president luis in us your lead a silver should automatically go to jail if he loses an appeal next week on corruption charges in july he was found guilty of receiving a luxury flat as a bribe from a brazilian construction company in which and for contracts with the state oil giant petrobras pay faces a twelve year potential twelve year jail sentence. and i live in brazil here first

so give us a bit more the background to this. there's a long background to this where president lula was president here from lax president lula from two thousand and three to two thousand and eleven after he left office many of these accusations of corruption started to surface he's always expressed his innocence he said it's a political campaign against him now it's come to this the supreme court building behind me there are eleven supreme court judges who have just started talking about lula's case he is appealing has appealed on many occasions those appeals court judges are due to meet on monday in the southern city of gray in the meantime the eleven judges here will decide whether if he is fined finally found guilty he will have to serve time in prison on charges of money laundering and corruption a sentence of twelve years and one month there's something like

a hundred fifty to two hundred supporters behind me another twenty five or thirty people who would like to see him go to prison on the other side of the road behind me those who claim so know say that the eleven judges are fractious bunch of particular get on with one another a likely to vote six to five whether that sixty five in favor of going to prison or sixty five against we're going to have to wait and see but we're hoping to get some kind of decision lou no doubt himself is hoping for some kind of decision before the end of the day he and his supporters are said all along that so whatever happens he plans to stand in elections presidential elections here in october the opinion polls seem to suggest that if he did he would probably win so there's a lot riding on this half the country pretty much saying that he is corrupt should go to prison many others many supporters here saying that it's a fraud that he would that he's even come to court for these even come to trial and he should be allowed to stand in those elections daniel shiner thank you very much indeed. aid workers a scrambling to protect more than half

a million ranger refugees the bangladeshi camp as the monsoon season approaches workers at the could you prolong camp are sandbagging digging trenches and relocating families before the early summer rains arrive these are expected to cause flooding and landslides the oscar winning australian actress cate blanchett visited the camp to offer support to refugee families. the refugees themselves have been working incredibly hard to build a channel so that there's not a senate huge sanitation issues and so that water can flow safely through through the camps but even with the sandbagging it's still a very dangerous situation that they're facing. the world is facing a major water crisis as the un marks world water day campaigners say governments must act now to face the challenges ahead water scarcity impacts seven hundred million people in forty three countries the un says around two billion people live

in areas with inadequate water supply and almost a quarter of the world's population doesn't have the right facilities to make water drinkable by twenty twenty five one point eight billion people are expected to have no water at all and over the next twelve years up to seven hundred million people in arid and semi arid areas could be forced from their homes where the water process is being keenly felt in one of the world's largest capitals mexico city is home to twenty two million people many houses are built over a vast lake that was drained by spanish settlers shortages are getting worse and experts say water is being lost within the system to home explains. the buttes to pull up a district on the outskirts of mexico city the queues for water trucks started poor in the morning for some residents nothing's come out of the taps for years this is the only way to get water paolo regularly waits always for work it's so suffering

full time job with the regular car they that are hard i had to leave work and bring one of my sons so he didn't go to school we can't have breakfast or even go to the toilet so as not to miss our trying. to cities water problems are due to many factors but a major word is the captain's crumbling system incredibly about a third of the water is lost as it goes through cracked pipes by the time it gets to places like it's the proper. has slowed to a drip for the city's overwhelmed repair teams it's a never ending job as soon as they've got to one leak another springs up is that what they must but. we need more people more vehicles to check where the pressure is going down and where there are possible leaks it takes a lot of time and resources a lot of got a mess. why do the pipes break the h. many a more than sixty years old and disturbances like earthquakes but in the main it's this mexico city is sinking they've even had to add fourteen extra steps to this

national monument because the ground around it has been going down so much and the reason for that sinking is that water is being subtle the aquifers below the city to satisfy an ever growing and thirsty population. different areas are subsiding at different speeds and that's causing the pipes beneath them to bend and snap at the pressure points as a brake the leaks increase for experts there's only one solution for the gas and it does say this is really sad we need to stabilize the arc refers to the ground stop sinking we need to capture rainwater and directed towards the awkward firs at the moment that water goes straight to the drains would it up along with. the other thing we need to do is to treat sewage right now we only treat ten percent of our waste water and even that not thoroughly enough for it to be reinjected in the awkward for. you when you believe those two courses of action would not only stop

the city sinking but also go a long way to making up its will to short fall but political will and funds are lacking for now the vicious cycle continues with those like powell are caught up in it for the day the truck has arrived and she finally has vaulted to watch a week's worth of thirty dishes tomorrow the struggle begins again john homan how does it a city. so i had. he has.

he has.

thank you so much lauren roles in broadway is set to miss out on a place in next year's cricket world cup a shock defeat against the united arab emirates means their qualification hopes are all but over the u.a.e. were already out of contention for a place at next year's tournament this final qualifying event is being hosted by zimbabwe and they were expected to get the win they needed to make it through the u.a.e. batting first and they scored two hundred thirty five to seven or zimbabwe's been at every world cup since one thousand nine hundred eighty three but fell three runs short in a rain affected run chase only a low scoring draw now in friday's final game between ireland and afghanistan can save them. all two places at the tournament sitting next year as well for grabs at this final round of qualifying the west indies well they're already assured of their place friday's game between ireland and afghanistan now becomes

a winner takes all match was in harare to watch shock last for zimbabwe. watching zimbabwean korea fans react to the loss was interesting many said they felt that they could not believe that zimbabwe's national side lost against a united arab emirates a mummy in the past used to play against some of the world's most elite cricket teams some fans say that they were gutted some say that they are disappointed and there's mixed reaction to the loss against u.a.e. zimbabwe we pretty much see ourselves as a great cricketing nation but off late in the current years we have declined and it's all because i think we have terrible structures from the top to the bottom we don't know how to handle all cricketing squad and even selection wise we just keep on bringing back all peers year after year after year they did their best a currency that if they were a store they could do better but i don't know maybe they would do better with time

in itself it was a difficult game in. the rain didn't help personally i think the us. to try and analyze the game now people will be very disappointed i think from now on it's just a rebuilding process same with football and rugby just look to rebuilds. from grass roots to talk the reason why some zimbabweans are so disappointed because this is the first time just nine hundred eighty three that zimbabwe has failed to qualify for the cricket world cup which will be held in england next sums of obvious disappointed but others say perhaps maybe this is a chance for zimbabwe to build on its weakness find out what's going wrong and come out from that they saying that maybe after some introspection after some talking after more practice the team could one day qualify again for the walls cup so mixed

emotions in zimbabwe right now but again the crowd who are watching the game usually disappointed that the team the national side didn't qualify for next year's world cup. south africa's dean al gore batted throughout day one of the third test against australia algo finished based on one hundred twenty one was cummins took four kids for australia south africa to sixty six for eight at the close in cape town for a series poised that won one and england suffered an embarrassing start to that says series in new zealand bowled out for just fifty eighteen or clint the sixth lowest total in the history the hunting finished the day one hundred and seventy five for three in reply manchester united have confirmed his latin abraham of riches contract has been terminated with immediate effect the thirty six year old swede school twenty nine goals in fifty three appearances but is only made on to the pitch seven times since injuring his knee last year a privilege to be joining the l.a.

galaxy in the united states russia's ambassador to the u.k. is stressing it is safe for english football fans to travel to the world cup in june there's been political tensions between the two countries after british prime minister series i'm a blamed russia for a nerve agent it's article by early this month england of offices cheated by matches in the russian cities of volgograd it is need not grodd callen grad. behavior to be all that there will be. in russia all the necessary measures being taken. the british special to reduce the would be russian special to reduce to provide the security of the vans all the british war will be in the jury through russia well the new formula one season gets underway on sunday in australia with practice set for friday for time champions lewis hamilton and sebastian vettel are again expected to lead the way in melbourne hamilton and is miss a nice team just edging out battles ferrari to claim the championship last year.

and the ultimate goal is to be. to be the best of the go have to go up against the best so it's great it's been a great experience for me to be able to rest of us you know it's good for workers the most of any other driver at the time and i think this is an exciting year for for for one fans i think we have all the reasons to be confident i think all cause great stuff to come so plenty to look forward to but usually around this point you don't know what with the others are so that's why it's a bit pointless to come here and say that you blew everyone away. and serena williams appears to have a bit of work to do as she continues her return to tennis the twenty three song grand slam champion beats in and the opening round of the miami open once you're old and i mean i saw her who's fresh from winning the indian wells title put on a really good display in her first career meeting with williams who she says is a childhood hero i saw in the last. thirty six year old american straight sets six

three six a williams playing in just a fourth match since giving birth in september. ok that is i suppose looking for now let's get back to lauren in london. andy thanks very much indeed and a quick reminder can always catch up with all the sports and of course the news we're reporting on by checking out our website address that has al-jazeera dot com and you can watch us live by clicking on that live like that. that's it for me are intended but maryam namazie will be here in a minute with another full run up of the day's news.

the scene for us where there are online what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people that that are choosing between buying medication and eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who is an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. morales was just ten years old when a devastating earthquake struck mexico city in one thousand nine hundred five the quake damaged her family's apartment and the government moved them to distant shack around seventy families who lost their homes in that earthquake still live in this camp ca going to be up at the gala the government raised our hopes and then abandon us politicians have promised that they won't allow a repeat of what happened after the earthquake in one thousand and five but the cost and complexity of housing hundreds of people living in camps is

a major task and one that many people here think the government failed. last and a band. found and saved. one when he's reveals how one charity is giving pakistan's lost children a new chance at life on al-jazeera. it is the largest deficit of any country in the history of our world it's out of control.