for the next onto. a story fourteen hundred years in the making. a story of succession and leadership. tells the story of foundation and the emergence of an empire. the caliph episode one on a jersey that. brazil's supreme court rules of former president lula goes to jail a decision that could append the upcoming elections.

blogs all rommany watching al-jazeera live my headquarters here in doha also coming up american diplomats expelled over the spy poisoning fallout leave the embassy in russia. also the white house moves to clarify donald trump's intentions in syria iran turkey and russia trying to forge a road to peace. plus the philippine island of barak temporarily shuts down to tourists jews to environmental concerns. welcome to the program brazil's supreme court has ruled that former president luis and asio lula da silva can be sent to prison he's been trying to stay out of jail while he appeals against a conviction for taking bribes now the decision threatens his bid to run in october presidential election where he was favorite to win latin america editor lucien newman is in brazil's capital. the die is cast as

demonstrators for and against brazil charismatic former president. gathered outside . the supreme court narrowly voted against his petition to remain free while he appeals a twelve year corruption conviction this means brazil's most popular politician and the frontrunner for october's presidential election must go to jail it's a victory for brazilians unwilling to accept any other verdict are more. the death of the supreme court and less it puts the pressure on the supreme court justices has been an intense and not just out here on the streets shortly before the vote the head of the army came out publicly and said that he was u.t.a. to impunity this is seen as an m president unveiled threat of an institution that is not supposed to weigh in on politics at least not since the end of the military

in brazil back in one thousand nine hundred eighty five. for the escalating tensions was this banner in front of the court openly calling for military intervention. the court decision was a blow not just to political future. hundreds of other politicians under investigation or suspicion of crimes including two thirds of congress were anxious for the court to set a precedent that many argue would have been the death of a nationwide corruption probe the investigation has even implicated current president michel tamar. meanwhile supporters of lula da silva who lifted tens of millions of brazilians from poverty during his presidency insist he's a victim of political intrigue. historically every time you have a president who cares about the working class he or she becomes a part of this kind of. promoted by. luna was found

guilty of accepting a seaside apartment in this building in exchange for helping a construction company obtain government contracts he insists he's innocent but the seventy one year old politician who's ignited political passions like no other in brazil has lost maybe his most important battle you see in human brasilia the sixty u.s. diplomats expelled by russia have until the end of the day to leave the country now three buses have already departed the u.s. embassy in moscow last week russia rolled of the diplomats to leave in retaliation for the united states expelling the same number of russians is part of a dispute over the nerve agent attack on a russian x. by qantas daughter in the united kingdom the british authorities say russia was behind the poisoning but moscow denies the accusations and has requested an urgent united nations security council meeting on the matter lawrence lee has more on the investigation underway in london who tried to kill the scruples

weeks on from the incident there remains no determining piece of evidence that puts beyond doubt the question as to who was behind this. of course the samples taken from the scene that help british scientists determine what the poison was but that isn't the same thing it was not a chalk they said but don't ask us which country it came from because it isn't our job we are one hundred percent certain that this is from the nova chalk family of nerve agents a military create nerve agent who provided that information to the police and to the government and that's really been our role in the us it's not for others to advise on who me who made the nerve agent or where indeed it came from. all of which is a bit embarrassing for the british foreign secretary who apart from comparing vladimir putin to hitler in recent weeks had seemed to suggest that he'd been told

by the same scientists that the poison had come from russia they were absolutely categorical and i asked the guy myself i said are you sure and he said there's no doubt which was seized on by the russian embassy in london it's pointed out that over the course of four nights the british side seemed to have changed its story nor did it help the british case that some tweets from the u.k. foreign office on the same subject had been to lead it or the russian side roundly accused by the u.k. and its allies of dissin from ation is by now in full flow arguing that the u.k. can't stand up its arguments and along with its allies in washington has made the whole story up to conjure up a new cold war but it. is washington has become fixated with the fight against a nonexistent so-called russian threat this is reach such proportions an acquired such absurd characteristics that it's possible to speak of a return to the dark times of the cold war. in the middle of all this the experts

from the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons met at the hague at the behest of the russians moscow has said all along that many countries have novacek the night of the british nor anyone else will be able to prove that the nerve agent came from russia the seeming lack of a consistent argument from the british side has only strengthened them. in a court of law the burden of proof rests with the accuser and while it is true that most of the british parliament and indeed many european governments seem satisfied with the british assertion that it was overwhelmingly likely to the russians did it the russians can still say you can't say for certain that it was us and they will continue to do so until and unless the british can provide categorical evidence laura. al-jazeera in london while staying with russia kicked off the second and final day of the international security conference in moscow now the focus is on

syria but the participants will also discuss the situation on the korean peninsula foreign minister sergey lavrov says the world is becoming increasingly unstable. the situation in the world over the past year despite all our efforts continue to deteriorate the main reasons which is obvious for everyone which is the continuous you know lateral steps by the western countries led by the us leads to this dangerous imbalance of global governance. agreed to keep u.s. troops in syria for the time being at least a day after he said he wants them out the u.s. president has changed his mind after meeting with national security advisors or white house correspondent. i one day after u.s. president donald trump declared the united states will pull out of syria i want to get out i want to bring our troops back home the white house was on wednesday

attempting to make sense of the president's statements arguing the u.s. would withdraw but not just yet as this environment has changed because of the success under the president's leadership we're evaluating it as we go the softening of the president's position is the result of a national security meeting trump had with top advisers misinformed there was still work to be done withdrawal of the two thousand military advisors and special forces could allow eisel to regain a foothold in the region we shouldn't go into iraq on the campaign trail trump pushed an america first agenda arguing foreign conflicts have cost taxpayers too much it's a point he reiterated on tuesday well meeting with baltic leaders seven trillion dollars over a seventeen year period we have nothing. it's perhaps one reason trump is excel orating withdrawal timeline the other is russia trump has argued nobody has been

tougher on russia than i have a withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria would be a win for russian president vladimir putin whose forces have supported the syrian government of bashar last throughout the conflict oh it would also be a victory for iran israeli government believes the iranians are planning to use their forces in syria to attack israel accusation iran denies but one analyst thinks trumps desire to pull the united states out is simply part of a bigger strategy i think it's probably a good idea to put that on the table because it forces people to negotiate with you with a talk with you more seriously in this i think you're always going to be there despite the president's sense of urgency the white house says the decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria will not be made by the president but instead by the secretary of defense based on conditions on the ground kimberly helped get al-jazeera at the

white house now the u.n. says up to one hundred thousand people have now returned to iraq in syria five months after i still was driven out in a u.s. bank to military campaign now a u.n. team visited the city earlier this week for the first time since it was freed testament's two thirds of homes are destroyed while most residents still have no access to clean water but city leaders say it's still riddled with unexploded devices made reika the defacto capital of itself declared caliphate when it captured the city in twenty fourteen ministers from egypt sudan and ethiopia holding talks on who controls the world's longest river egypt which depends on the nile for water is worried about a day being built upstream by ethiopia smith explains. in the northeast of africa the waters of the nile irrigate crops that feed millions of people the white nile flows from uganda through south sudan and into sudan and the blue nile from ethiopia into saddam and in the capital khartoum they converge on the world's

longest river heads to egypt and not far from the border with sudan ethiopia is building what will be the largest down in africa a one thousand six hundred eighty square kilometer area is being flooded to create the dams lake how quickly this is done is one of egypt's main concerns he gives. to believe us. to believe he to peer to peer believes in. his inability of resources we approach. into corporations at a cost of almost five billion dollars the great ethiopian renee's on stand or harness the power of the waters of the blue nile ethiopia wants to bring electricity to the seventy percent of its population that doesn't have it and the world bank estimates ethiopia could export a billion dollars worth of electricity every year. the dow will regulate the flow

of the blue nile as it heads into sedan and the sudanese are very happy about that at the moment depending on the season the river floods or it's too low a steady year around the flow of water will significantly boost harvests but downstream on the nile in egypt is where there's potential for conflict over ethiopia's plans from above you can see how much egypt depends on the nile the country's pretty much all deserts the only strip of color is the blue of the nile and the green of its cultivated banks ninety percent of egypt's water comes from it one study suggests that if the dams lake in ethiopia is filled quickly which means over three years then that would divert enough water to kill off fifty one percent of egypt's farmland and when you consider that egypt's population is expected to hit one hundred seventeen million in twenty thirty or thirty percent increase from now you can see why it's government is so worried about ethiopia's down. well we

have a weather check next but still to come on al-jazeera the israeli army is being accused of using excessive force against protesters in garza plus sierra leone's new president is sworn in find out why hopes of a smooth transition and now and down here on out is there. hello spring is definitely sprung in europe when temperatures are rising beautifully because as long as snow on the ground still so there will be more floods and with the cloud head again as you can see all coming from the western edge of the warm planted you'd expect to find rain coming out of that on top of what's already left on the ground so ranging says it looks like the northern italy austria down through croatia as well and spottily through germany as well and up

towards the baltic states temperatures are all in the teens twenty three if you're in bucharest or athens and they heading up through british isles and france and iberia up into say a double figures and quite high double figures today after twenty in paris for example all could see of the warmth of the atlantic of course attests to generate a fair amount of rain and that's the picture on friday greece is in for it probably belgariad and roumania but fellas out i think not in fact throughout the mediterranean the clouds dispersing so you should see sunshine on the shoals from algeria across to egypt temperature wise for all depends on whether winds coming from is thirty three now swann very light wind here a few showers are possible in egypt but he's driving a way further west the potential maybe of some rare showers in southern algeria otherwise it's just warmth.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera i'm still robin a reminder of our top stories brazil's supreme court has ruled that former president luis in us who lula da silva can be sent to prison he's been trying to

stay out of jail while he appeals against a conviction for taking bribes also the sixty u.s. diplomats expelled by russia departed at the u.s. embassy in moscow last week russia ordered the diplomats to leave in retaliation for the u.s. expelling the same number of russians as part of a dispute over a nerve agent attack on eggs by from russia and his daughter in the u.k. . also donald trump has agreed to keep u.s. troops in syria for now a day after threatening to pull them out the pentagon says about two thousand troops are based in syria to prevent the resurgence of ice on. the israeli army's rules of engagement are under scrutiny following allegations are lawful and excessive use of force against protesters in garza last week israeli human rights groups bethel and is calling for soldiers to refuse to shoot at demonstrators who are expected to turn out for more protests on friday seventy deca

reports now from west jerusalem. these are unprecedented scenes along gaza's border with israel it's the biggest protests since the tiny strip was sealed off after hamas took power over ten years ago israeli army has been widely criticized for using excessive force the charge it rejects they all those were strict i mean nobody should cross. the fence but i think there was restraint there high offices were on the ground all the time so it wasn't just the women of the if of a private you know the un and the e.u. have condemned israel's excessive use of force eighteen people were killed over eight hundred injured by life fire according to palestinian officials israel says it only targeted those trying to breach the border fence and it claims members of groups it deems terrorist organizations infiltrated the protests but cumin rights organizations say the evidence shows otherwise what we've seen is

a great number of people standing at a distance from the fence inside the gaza strip and force live ammunition was used against them in such circumstances the use of lethal force is the last course of action only in circumstances when there's a risk for a life he's really human rights group that set him says live ammunition is being used as a crowd control measure i invite everyone you know just watch the footage and that's yourself is this reasonable that the israeli army. which you know backed by a policy front of prime minister down to use such force in such fashion and with such results the army claims it did use restraint last friday and says it will respond more forcefully to anyone trying to breach the separation fence again we're told the rules of engagement are not likely to change as you know there is a strong support for the military and also for the government at this point.

outside pressure can play a role but it's not strong. enough israel is used to engaging in conflict with armed factions in gaza and its missile defense system the iron dome intercepting rocket fire but not a single rocket has been fired out of this strip since this protest began israel is now dealing with the consequences of a decades old policy of blockading gaza where two million people are squeezed into a tiny strip of land palestinians say they're desperate for freedom military force may not be able to silence them stephanie decker al-jazeera west jerusalem. major earthquake measuring six point two on the richter scale has struck the island of mindanao in the southern philippines there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake east of. the philippines as part of the ring of fire where about ninety percent of the world's earthquakes occur. let's stay with the philippines because the president roderigo to territory is ordered to the torah

starland of barak to be closed for six months saying it's beaches have become and we quote a cesspool the island will be closed from april the twenty six now is home to hundreds of toryism related businesses and the shutdown could displace seventeen thousand workers now in recent years it's become overcrowded with human waste being discharged into the sea the government says cleaning up the environment is needed to further prevent deterioration let's cross over to our correspondent in manila. is a major decision that will affect as we say businesses and workers but according to the president they only have themselves to blame. well the concern about boruc eyes environmental situation has been going on for many years now and so many environmental secretaries have tried but failed to actually find a solution that is sustainable in trying to keep up with the increasingly large

volume of tourists every year you've got to understand to heal that it may just be a small island but the revenues generated from boruc island make up twenty percent of the total tourism industry of the country like you said thousands of workers are expected to be affected it is unknown whether in the six months of the island is closed or whether they will receive any salary or any earnings at all and there is still no assurance that by the time they return there is still a business to go back to so the criticism largely on the president is that is seems as though he's acting drastically that they have not presented a long term solution on how to survive or at least try to make sure that the tourism industry at the very least survives during this coming months. obviously is a huge revenue but it's a huge wakeup call obviously to of the oil and try to attract tourists like say boo but also businesses as well across the philippines that are told to clean up their

run to the government house how to a very strong intention to try and make the country more environmentally aware. well that is exactly what environmentalist's are saying that this is a step in the right direction that it puts at the forefront the very issue of how the other islands are fairing like palawan for example like you said simple but there is a major criticism here beyond the closure of boracay is that the government has in fact is going to allow a major chinese casinos to operate on the island in the coming months a casino a chinese casino will be opened and the multimillion dollar casino will be built in the island so environmentalist's business groups those who own properties on the island say well if the president would really wants is to make sure that the island remains sustainable then why build a massive casino on the small island itself now which we know of course that the

philippine government when he was sworn into office that there has said that he is going to pursue an independent foreign policy favoring china countries like china and russia and in fact welcoming the chinese more and more when it comes to business and trade deals but how far does that go again the question is consistency if the president really wants to close the island environmentalists say that's fine but they also oppose the building of these casinos so he'll well for them we'll leave it there and follow votes with us that day progress is for the moment thanks for joining us west african i was several years new president has been sworn in julius a mother who was once a military leader now really won a runoff vote with a b. fifty two percent of the vote but hopes of a smooth transition have been turned into downturns the ruling party candidate has rejected the result with interest reports from the capital freetown. after a difficult month. electoral officer addresses the nation hoping that this time the

contentious electoral process is finally over. at that supporters of the no party to the streets in celebration. to be oh one time military head of state is subsequently sworn in as democratically elected leader who he acknowledged the divisions and demanded citizens to also take responsibility he was answering. that was. he. was the. best. you need to endure the

opposition now has a week to challenges a tree in court after ten years in office instead of yours he was mighty. its leader was a difficult task for healing. the watching to see how the president want to use an minority to. do something like this. unlike his two and a half months as military leader this time julius b.-o. will have five long years to keep his campaign promises to a nation bruised by a fractious electioneering commented reese al-jazeera frito. eighteen hostages who were abducted in southwestern cameroon have been freed by the military now they include twelve european tourists the group was held for several days by a group which wants to dependence for the country's english speaking areas the separatist movement near cameron's border with nigeria has been a political fringe for decades protests and violence in the region have intensified

in the last year. facebook has revealed that it compromised the privacy of millions more users than initially reported for the social media giant says the personal data of eighty seven million people was improperly shared as it grapples with the fallout facebook has unveiled a new privacy policy the changes include cracking down on that can get information about events people are hosting or attending better encryption for conversations that take place in closed or secret groups and a time to review process for all apps that request a user's information about photos videos status updates and posts on monday facebook users will receive a notice telling them what apps they use what information is being shared and how to delete apps they no longer want well facebook chief executive mark zuckerberg is to testify before a u.s. congressional committee next week on wednesday he admitted to reporters that his

company didn't do enough to prevent the data breach now we have to go through every part of our relationship with people and make sure that we're taking a broad enough view of our responsibility it's not enough to just connect people we have to make sure that those connections are positive and that they're bring people closer together not enough to just give people a voice we have to make sure that people are not using force to hurt people or to spread misinformation and it's not enough to give people tools decided. we have to ensure that all those developers protect people's information to. the first medals have been handed out after the opening day of competition at the commonwealth games australian hertling medal hopefuls only person has been forced out of her home event through injury but for those other leads from the hurricane ravaged parts of the caribbean simply getting to australia was a small victory in itself and to thomas's on australia's gold coast. at the commonwealth games current master will race the four hundred metres hurdles but in

the lead up to the games he and other caribbean athletes have faced other hurdles away from the sports track mcmaster filmed this video himself it shows some of the destruction caused by two hurricanes which hit his country the british virgin islands last year among those killed was mcmasters coach at the games masters wearing a respond in his memory it wasn't his dream we are his dream making it up step by step together to get it was i had this wristband he would be with me every step of the even if i win or lose he would be with me is the masters new coach says it's been tough for the team to carry on it was a fight of track and field and between so anything happens you know he will do as he was he was everything so with him go inch. just took a little further while but we're hoping it will bounce back up again perkins irma

and maria most of the caribbean countries which have athletes competing at the commonwealth games across the island sports facilities were badly damaged car and mcmaster is one of many who since the hurricanes has had to move to the united states to train the stadium lights came down buildings are gone gyms or gone that is that you know there right now is something the tree in a muddy area because if it rains. flooded with my master says that winning a medal is not his priority at the commonwealth games he simply wants to make his traumatised country proud andrew thomas al-jazeera on australia's gold coast. your child is there i'm still raw but these are all top news stories brazil's supreme court has ruled that former president luis in our salute to silver can be sent to prison he's been trying to stay out of jail while he appeals against a conviction for taking bribes now the decision threatens his bid to win in october

is president election where he was favorite to win. the sixteen u.s. diplomats expelled by russia have until the end of the day to leave the country now three buses have already departed the u.s. embassy in moscow last week russia ordered the diplomats to leave in retaliation for the united states expelling the same number of russians it's all part of a dispute over the nerve agent attack on an axle russian spy and his daughter in the u.k. british authorities say russia was behind the poisoning and russia has kicked off the second and final day of its international security conference in moscow this year's focus is on syria but the participants will also discuss the situation on the korean peninsula foreign minister sergey lavrov says the world is becoming increasingly unstable. what would you feel if you don't move forward this is the situation in the world over the past year despite all our efforts continue to deteriorate the main reasons which is obvious for everyone which is the can teen

years you know led to all steps by the western countries led by the us which leads to the dangerous imbalance of global governance donald trump has agreed to keep u.s. troops in syria for now a day after threatening to pull them out the u.s. president reportedly changed his mind after meeting national security advisers now at the pentagon says about two thousand troops are based in syria to prevent a resurgence of eisel. the man who wants rule sierra leone as the leader of the village and has been sworn in as president julius but they are both now only one they run off election with fifty one point eight percent of the vote but the rival party's candidate says he'll challenge the result because of alleged voting irregularities israeli army's rules of engagement are under security scrutiny sorry following allegations of unlawful and excessive use of force against protesters in gaza last week israeli human rights group bet salaam is calling for soldiers to refuse to shoot at demonstrators who are expected to turn out for more protests on

friday those were the headlines here in al-jazeera but with more news in thirty minutes next on al-jazeera it's rebel education do stay with us. al jazeera is a very important force of information for many people around the world when all the cameras are gone i'm still here go into areas that nobody else is going to talk to people that nobody else is talking to and bringing that story to the forefront. education matters the universal rights to expand arise and offer better prospects possible to a better life yet around the globe schools and institution. systems been deemed to be no.