at home and abroad. one on one east investigates how far china will go to control its citizens. on a visit. i really still liberated as a journalist was all about getting to the truth as i would say that's what this job . u.k. poisoning victim and daughter of a russian spy us cripples says she is recovering and her strength is growing day. hello i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up brazil divided on the fate of former president lula after the supreme court rules he will

be sent to prison for corruption. a lebanese american businessman who could have new information about russian interference in the u.s. presidential election. once an island paradise now declared a cesspool philippine president want to get to terra tayshaun stay on the island of barak i. the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in the u.k. has made her first public comment since the nerve agent attack just over a month ago issuing a statement through police in london yuli a script described the entire episode as somewhat disorientating but added that she is recovering and has strength is growing daily just hours earlier russian state t.v. reported that yulia called her cousin and it said she would just judge herself from hospital soon she's been receiving treatment since being poisoned on march fourth in the city of souls bury a father sergei script remains in critical condition russia's ambassador to britain

said he was happy to hear yulia was recovering well and that he was sure she would one day come back to moscow the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has described britain's accusations that moscow was behind the attack as a mockery of international law russia has now called for a meeting of the un security council to discuss the spy poisoning case members are set to meet in a few hours time lawrence lee has our report. first the good news yulia scriptural is on the mend the police in london issued a statement from her in which she said i woke up over a week ago now and i'm glad to say my strength is growing daily i'm grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that i've received i have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of souls very they came to my aid when my father and i were incapacitated. along the timing of the press release was curious became just after

a purported phone call between yulia and her cousin victoria was played on russian t.v. it's the two women complain that victoria can't get a visa to come and see you and you did suggest not only she but also her father surrogate the former spy are getting better on this point the british police and government have said nothing. all of which was the backdrop to the latest from the russian embassy in london the ambassador laying out the stall that his counterpart at the united nations will repeat that britain can produce the proof that russia was guilty of the poisoning and it's only nato countries that support the u.k.'s position the rest of the world doesn't. take a real. position and the this is she'd been serious with the position of the west so basically you have. twenty three countries. against fifteen so the international community is not ready to assist themselves

with the position which was taking by the u.k. in the united states and which was supported by the e.u. and nato countries mr yet again can also heavily criticize the u.k. for not having given us cripples cousin that toria a visa just as the two women had on russian t.v. it starts to look like both yulia and victorious cripple are on board with their own government in the end the russian mess. the united kingdom and the united nations is exactly the same prove it was us beyond any doubt or stop making these allegations as frustrating as it may be for the british the russian diplomatic efforts is very very well coordinated gloriously al-jazeera of the russian embassy in london henri chalons brings us all the latest now from moscow what's been the reaction there to these comments from you.

while you do a script i think is clearly valuable prizes both for london and for moscow and more sco appears to be fighting fairly hard to win her loyalty or access to her key to this they believe is victorious cripple who we just heard about lawrence's report there and now the russians have made much of victoria's plans trip to the united kingdom to go and visit. they want her to get a visa they are going to criticize the united kingdom if that visa is turned down they'll say that this is a humanitarian mission and it's being frustrated by the cynical british. if. victoria does manage to get to the u.k. and gain access to the two year then the ultimate goal is to bring her back to moscow and if the governments in moscow persuades you to adopt their position

on things what of course that is going to weaken the u.k.'s position hugely that's a few steps down the road so we're not there yet but i think that's perhaps what moscow is trying to achieve and they are keen to exploit missteps by the british foreign secretary boris johnson and the u.k. foreign office what might russia then be seeking to do at the u.n. security council meeting in a few hours time. well basically they have tabled this meeting as a way of trying to force through or have another go at forcing through an international investigation into this script poisoning an investigation in which they would have more of a role they already tried yesterday to get the global chemical weapons watchdog the

o.p.c. w. to launch a new investigation a joint investigation in which the russians would have a key role that was voted down by the o.p.c. w. . we will have to wait and see what the united nations security council decides as perhaps the case that they might see the russians get chinese supports but there won't be much support of course from from the other members of the u.n. security council though the west of ireland ones. will they want of course to steer this in a direction that they can influence the russians to and i think that's why they're taking this to the u.n. security council clearly they believe that they have been locked out of much of the diplomatic maneuvering so far because the united kingdom has managed to build a fairly solid united front with its allies in the e.u.

in the united states and other western nations and that has worried moscow it wants to try to chip away at that or possible our thanks very much for chalons in moscow . brazil's top court has ruled that former president believes in arceo lula da silva must start serving a twelve year prison sentence for taking bribes. to stay out of prison until he saw still possible appeals. in august luna was found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than a million dollars the court's decision threatens his bid to run in the upcoming presidential election where he was favorite to win out america does have you seen human has more now from brasilia brazilians have awoken to a new reality one that many people thought they would never live to see and that is the knowledge that their country's most popular politician is going to prison lucy

nasser lula da silva was dogged by corruption allegations from the moment he was elected and took the presidency in two thousand and three but he was nicknamed the man with the teflon shield because none of those allegations ever seemed to stick now that teflon shield clearly has crumbled now what comes next he will be going to prison it seems that nothing can prevent that but his lawyers have called for an embargo of his last appeal which he lost over technicalities this could delay it for between we understand one and two weeks after which judge said your model who was the judge who presided over his corruption trial will sign the arrest warrant and send him to go. on now to the ongoing investigation into alleged russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen us presidential election a new york times investigation has drawn the spotlight on a lebanese american businessman who's been cooperating with his investigation it says george nader has connections to the united arab emirates and russia and that

he might be able to link to important parts of the inquiry john hendren is following this story for us from washington how could george native be of assistance to them under investigation. well nader seems to be a gold mine for a mole or we knew beforehand that he had connections with the united arab emirates that he had acted as an agent for the crown prince of jobby at what we now know is that he also has significant russian ties that is according to reporting by the new york times it's out today that he knew carol dimitri of a russian investment fund manager that's important because that is the russian official a russian oligarch apparently who met with an emissary from the trump campaign in the seychelles in a meeting apparently arranged by this george nader and we know that muller has followed up on some of these suggestions that he has pulled a russian oligarch that he's had his his officials pull aside

a russian all the guard who was at an airport in new york asked about donald trump in his connections with russia seized that man's electronics which are apparently being examined right now there was also an aussie businessman an australian businessman who was stopped at a washington airport he was questioned about ties to russia so and to the united arab emirates so what we know is that george nader is providing a lot of information on two different lines of the miller inquiry and we know that the mother inquiry has been questioning a number of important things as others have agreed to cooperate with the investigation how much progress is we're going to make. well miller's been very good about masking exactly what he's doing it seems to me that the information we get tend to be tends to be from the people that have come and talk to people not from miller's people themselves so there's a lot they're keeping close to the vest but we do know they're looking into

collusion between the trump administration and russian officials a head of that election to help donald trump during the election we also know now that they're looking into money that may or may not have been funneled from the united arab emirates into that campaign is important because it's illegal for foreign money to be given to a campaign here in the u.s. but moeller also has the power to investigate anything that comes up in the course of his inquiry and that's where it gets interesting because donald trump is said to believe he'll do a terrific job testifying before moeller his lawyers many of them has said no one of them has quit over this and the issue there is that trump tends to exaggerate and if you do that in front of you in one of these depositions that it could amount to perjury and that could get him into some serious trouble that is what happened to bill clinton many years ago. thank you very much john hendren with the latest from washington. and without is there

a much more still ahead. in sierra leone as a new president is sworn in and find out why his opposition rival is refusing to accept the results. of the woods bad boy salman khan is sentenced to five years in jail. and. however the weather still looking a little disturbed across the middle east for the time being an area cloud making its way out of iraq into iran that will continue to drive its way eastwards still some wall to the head of it tashkent twenty degrees celsius on matty at twenty one little bit of cloud they know it is in that class stretches way down to ward skew way tashkent goes from twenty down to around eleven so you don't want it to saturday's akula what's the weather coming in behind lot of rain just coming out of

the east and sot over iraq into western parts of iraq behind that warm sunshine by rigging up to twenty six degrees celsius some lovely weather just around the eastern side of the met then still in the warm side across the peninsula thirty two celsius here in doha follow that line of cloud right down towards the southern end of the red sea want to shell showers sunday a possibility possibly with some thunderous while as we go on into west sas day has in tampa weather making its way across puttering across cots and thirty one celsius here in doha but for many they stay she will be fine and dry and fun to drive to across southern parts of africa into mozambique heavy rain have seen some very heavy rain too into tanzania as making as well little further north woods over the next few days.

ard. welcome back a quick recap of the top stories now the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in the u.k. is made of first public comments since the nerve agent attack just over

a month ago crippled says she is recovering and her strength is growing daily she described the entire episode as somewhat disorientating brazil's top court has ruled the former president believes and asio needed to silver to start serving a twelve year prison sentence for taking bribes and a new york times investigation says the lebanese american businessman george nader could have new information about russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential election. when all the stories we're covering a gunman has shot dead for academic city university in western turkey tacker who was detained after initially trying to flee the scene was a researcher at. the university he killed his fellow staff members allegedly because he believed they were supporters of the exiled part for two look good men which the turkish government blames for the failed coup of twenty sixteen. firefighters and battling the blaze that some gulf the front of a multistory hospital patients had to be evacuated to escape the smoke that was

entering the wards the governor of istanbul says there may have been no reports of any deaths or serious injuries but some people are being treated for smoke inhalation. the ministry of health in gaza are saying that one palestinian has been killed by israeli soldiers near the border and another has died of injuries resulting from friday's violence that brings the total number of palestinians killed by israeli forces in the border unrest to twenty since friday and stephanie dec reports from west jerusalem the violence has put the israeli army's rules of engagement under scrutiny. 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 charge it rejects the old us 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 u.n. 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 her 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's a strong support for the military and also for the government of this boy. or are out so it can play a role but it's not strong. of 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 the 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 or jazeera west jerusalem the united nations says up to one hundred thousand people have returned to the syrian city of raka it's been six months since i saw fighters were driven out of the city by u.s. led coalition local leaders are saying seventy percent of iraq has buildings are damaged or destroyed and the city is riddled with unexploded bombs isel made rock of the de facto capital of itself declared caliphate when it captured the city in two thousand and fourteen six men have been killed in georgia in a coal mining accident three more injured when the roof of the mine collapsed country's economic development minister said the accident was caused by a pressure pump ten workers have died at the mine in different accidents since two thousand and eleven sierra leone's new president. has started his

first day power but his beat an opponent is refusing to accept the election result was formally sworn in late on wednesday night after narrowly winning sunday's run off with just under fifty two percent of the vote ruling party candidates america mara made a television address saying he would illegally challenge the result amid interest has more from freetown. here are the party headquarters in freetown the mood is celebratory they've been doing this since last night when mother bill was declared winner of the presidential runoff and subsequently sworn in by the chief justice of saturday on now the mood and color across most of sort of your own is the color of the now ruling party but if you will is coming into office at a time when his party is minorities and minority is part of the ruling a.p.c. the former ruling party is in control of the problem and with the majority it looks like might it be a will have to work with opposition figures involvement to get most of these bills

passed some people say this is good for democracy good for the development of democracy instead of the old people i want you to see my mother be all are not against the waters and can raise other parliamentary members to come to his side when he wants to push some bills regarding development and certainly don't now we don't on this mood right now is a fight that the candidate of the a.p.c. but lost in the presidential runoff is going to court to challenge the religious here of the election results blaming the board was wrecked and there were several hundred others in the balloting as early as it's going to look like to new orleans we have to wait a little bit longer to be sure the more the bill is the next president is there a new president. or conflicting reports as to whether a group of terrorists were abducted and freed in southwestern cameroon government says eighteen people including twelve year interest with taken and held for several hours by an armed group which is independence for the country's english speaking areas but the group swiss tour operator said they were simply stopped by

a group of on the individuals who carried out a check of that documents and vehicles. ministers from egypt sudan and ethiopia are holding talks on a massive dam project which raises questions about who owns the walls. ethiopia and sudan of pushing for the building of the renaissance dam over the nile that egypt has a large it will cost into its share of that with a gun it 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.

have to believe us have to believe it to peer to peer believes in it could double and that is in a little a vision of resources we approach. into corporations at a cost of almost five billion dollars the great ethiopian renee's on 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 on 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 sudan 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 or manaul in egypt is where there's potential for conflict over

ethiopia's plans from above you can see how much depends on the nile with countries 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 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 seventy million in twenty thirty or thirty percent increase from now you can see why its government is so worried about ethiopia's down. protests have broken out in india's southern tamil nadu state of access to water demonstrators are angry because a management board that's meant to resolve the dispute of the calvary river has still not been set up a covering a region eight in the neighboring state of karnataka but has its basin in tamil

nadu access to the water has been an issue between the two states for decades in february the indian supremum court would use terminologies share of water from the river well now to other developments indian security forces have fired tear gas at demonstrators in indian administered kashmir. the violence started after police tried to stop students from marching in the capital crn ago they were protesting against india's rule of the region after thirteen rebel fighters and at least four civilians were killed by government troops on sunday three indian soldiers were also killed in the fighting. an indian court has sentence one of hollywood's biggest stars to five years in prison for killing a rabbi as indian antelope sellon khan was accused of shooting the protected animals in a nature reserve almost twenty years ago barker reports salman khan was surrounded by heavily armed police as he arrived to court in the city of job poor not the kind

of entrance the bollywood stars used to the fifty two year old actor had denied shooting dead the deer in the northwestern state of rogers stand while filming a movie in the region in one nine hundred ninety eight but the judge disagreed monegan it over here in a tradition magistrate david mark cut three hunts on one can get under section one fe one of the wildlife protection act and sentenced him to five years in prison and fined him ten thousand rupees several other stars also accused in the case were acquitted but this is the type of endangered black buck deer comes being found guilty of killing jury in the hunt this isn't comes first brush with the law in two thousand and fifteen he was acquitted in a drink driving hit and run case in the city of mumbai in which a homeless man was killed four others injured the regional governments challenge the acquittal the award winning actor has appeared in more than one hundred films and has a huge fan base around the world can will now appeal the verdict and could still

walk free but the career of the so-called bad boy of bollywood might struggle to recover parker jazeera. the philippine president ordered to territories closing down the tourist island of barak haifa six months after describing it as a cesspool the island will now be closed from april twenty sixth archives home to hundreds of tourism related businesses and the shutdown could displace seven hundred thousand workers last year more than two million tourists visited boruc i officials have said the island's drainage system is being used to send the untreated sewage into its surrounding waters the government is saying that cleaning up the environment is the priority now and it's needed to prevent any further deterioration. alan dogan has more now from manila. well it just may be a small island but boruc revenues make up twenty percent of the total tourism industry of the country at least fifteen thousand workers are affected by this this

issue and there is still no clarity whether they will receive financial assistance in the six months that the island will be closed there is also no assurance that there will still be a job or a business to return to six months from now though several environmentalists though praise the character's actions they say what they want right now is to make sure that the issue of sustainability is at the forefront of the discussion when it comes to environmental concerns of course tourism to it puts into question just how other islands are fairing other islands that are dependent on tourism for the people's livelihood islands like palau one in seville for example all across the country now still the president and his government is the widely criticized not just for the closure of the island but for the position to only been able to a million dollar casino on the island according to several experts they say that would actually not mean sustainability first

a multimillion dollar gambling casino has no place in a small island like boruc i so are many question though the in the intention of the president whether the his government is acting drastically and they would like to know what is really the long term plan of the government would not just when it comes to rehabilitation of these islands but also when it comes to the economic situation especially of a tourism industry that supports millions of filipinos well as more on that story and everything else right here al jazeera dot com is why you need to go. look at the top stories now. daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in the u.k. is made her first public comment since the nerve agent attack just over a month ago in a script all says she is recovering and her strength is growing daily she described the entire episode as somewhat disorientating the u.k.

government has blamed russia for the attack a charge moscow strongly denies as the u.n. security council prepares to meet to discuss the crisis persons ambassador to the u.n. has reiterated that russia can't be involved in the investigation allowing russian scientists into an investigation when they are the most likely perpetrators of the crime insoles bre would be like scotland yard in fighting game professor moriarty so i don't think that's a tenable way forward instead of any fear that the russian motive in calling for a security council meeting today is another step in the pattern of obfuscation and contempt for international institutions that we have sadly seen all too much of that from the russian federation recently moving to our other top stories a court in germany has ruled that the form a castle endicott is put him on can be released on bail while awaiting

a decision as it on his extradition to spain but just a month has been held at this prison in newman stuff for just over a week after he was arrested soon after crossing the border from denmark because the mount is facing charges of rebellion over the catalan campaign for independence the court ruled that he can be extradited over accusations of corruption but not on the rebellion challenge. and brazil's supremes ruled that the former president louise and. start serving a twelve year prison sentence for taking bribes. to stay out of prison until he exhausted all possible avenues of appeal in august was found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than a million dollars the court's decision threatens his bid to run in the upcoming presidential election way he was favorite to win and up to date with all of our top stories i'll be much more coming up in the news hour that's in about twenty five minutes time so do join me then coming up next it's inside story.

this week the world's been on the ring the memory and legacy of martin luther king jr but fifty years after his death how much progress have black americans made in the struggle to achieve racial and economic equality this is a fight for.