and the fact that sessions today responded with this statement saying that he would not be influenced by political considerations is seen as finally him drawing a line in the sand and saying that he will no longer be called out by the president for what he considers to be doing his job the question now is how will trump respond there has long been this escalating war of words that trump has aimed at sessions and he's always hung over the attorney generals had the option of firing him which the president has every power to do however it's unclear whether firing sessions would get rid of the russian investigation at all and it's only certain that doing so would only raise the political firestorm that's already in gulf in the trump administration an idea adding to the intrigue in court cases we're now hearing that there are reports that national enquirer publisher david parker has been granted immunity by federal prosecutors also the michael cohen case can you tell us what the likely impact of that or what this means. right so first define

who these players are pecker is the publisher of a tabloid the national enquirer he is a long time friend of trump's dating back decades to when trump was still trying to make a name for himself in the tabloids michael cohen is trump's former attorney his right hand man who on tuesday pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts including campaign finance fraud and implicating the president in the process now the story that cohen and now pekar who's been granted immunity are both telling is that trump who is the candidate at the time instructed these two men to work together in order to buy the story of two women who both accused of having sexual relations with them and they had wanted to make that story public so according to these court records the men offered these women and paid these women about three hundred thousand dollars in

order to get the exclusive rights to publish the story in peckers tabloid only to never have published them at all and now how this all implicates trump is that in a court of law both of these men have a cooperated each other stories that trump knew about these payments which now points the finger at the president in possible campaign finance fraud and only deepens these legal troubles that continue to swirl around the white house. making sense of all these moving developments in capitol hill thank you very much right blood's one still to come on al-jazeera. carolus worst floods in a century and rhyme and still a say if it wasn't a natural disaster. and sweating over the prospect of a no deal brags that the government resists guidelines on what to do if britain crashes out of europe.

hello there we've got some very wet and windy weather that's pushing its way across australia at the moment the satellite picture is showing the swirling mass of cloud here as it works its way eastwards though it is easing so for friday should be mostly dry for many of us but the system hasn't finished with us just yet as it works its way across new south wales and into parts of queensland it will be really intensifying once more so expect some thunderstorms hit during the day on saturday and some of them could be quite lively towards the west it should be fine and dry for us in perth on saturday maximum temperature nineteen now over towards new zealand it's been pretty stormy here over the past few days you can see why for this world of cloud with us that's given us some heavy rain strong winds as well but it's pulling away a couple of outbreaks of rain in the eastern part of but the north and the south island there as we head through friday but by saturday they should be following

draw and settled if we had up towards the northern parts of asia we've got two storms with us at the moment the first one is made its way across parts of japan the other one is making its way across the korean peninsula these two storms then gradually make their way up towards the northeast merging as they do so through this massive cloud that's making its way eastwards behind it try are pretty hot for us in tokyo as we head through saturday on maximum getting to thirty five. he is a self-proclaimed messenger of god plenty millions of devote but his path to enlightenment involves the rape and abuse of his followers when used investigates the fall of one of india's most powerful spiritual gurus on al-jazeera i mean this is different not just whether someone is going for someone who's very rich but does not have any tree i think it's how you approach an individual and that's it is

a certain way of doing it you can't just buy a story and fly out. again history minder for top stories on al-jazeera yemen's toothy rebels say thirty one people have been killed in saudi led airstrikes on a camp for displaced people in the data most of the victims are children. the un is urging latin american countries to ease entry restrictions for thousands of venezuelans fleeing and the economic crisis in ecuador announced last week that they wouldn't lessen venezuelans without a passport. and has accused his attorney general of being unable to take control of

the justice department which the u.s. president says treats him unfairly jeff sessions head back saying he won't be influenced by political considerations. now the south african government has accused donald trump of inflaming racial tensions after the u.s. president tweeted about allegedly land seizures from white farmers and the post trump says i have asked secretary of state mike pump a year to closely study the south africa land of farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers in that refers to a fox news segment which reported the south african government is now seizing land from white farmers but the government there has actually not yet seized any major agricultural land from a developer has been speaking to farmers in the proper province. the debate around land it's appropriate and without compensation is a very motor one here in south africa the government says it supports the

exploitation of land without paying for it as part of its land reform program but white farmers in particular say it will kill the agricultural sector and harm the country's economy now they say they are better ways of including landless black people in the agricultural sector and in that way empowering them and we spoke to a farmer earlier who's attending this land summit in béla béla in the limpopo province who says while farmers understand that injustices of the past have led to the vast majority of farming land being in the hands of the white minority the government has to reconsider its stance i think at the moment the uncertainty that that's in this whole discussion really really makes us feel threatened because you don't know we are going to be in the years. certainly creates uncertainty i think in the past two weeks we've got some clarity from government coming government surely come come also to this learn to. give some assurance on what they planning

to do how they are farmers who say this is an opportunity for the government to boost the economy and give rural communities a chance to participate i think but the issue of land expropriation is an issue that's been coming a long way in the struggle for liberation in south africa. it's therefore an emotive issue and an economic issue is really a struggle about economic freedom and the liberties of people to live and work where they wish to as the government grapples with details of just how it will go about expropriating land for the fuse been added to the fire following a tweet by u.s. president donald trump saying land is being seized from white farmers now the government says trump's tweet is offensive and crude and it will deal with this through diplomatic channels and its relationship with the us remains intact despite

some in accuracies in that tweet as of african governments now has to do some damage control. ugandan pop star an opposition politician bobby wine has been charged with treason why it was rearrested just minutes after being freed by a military court catherine so it has this report from kampala. this is the man many ugandans had been wanting to see you wind up popular musician and member of parliament appeared at a military court in the north and town of looking weak and in pain he had been in military cassidy's since last wednesday he was arrested following violence in local election campaigns in the north after president yoweri in the seventies mottaki it was attacked the state withdrew the military related charges of possession of firearms and ammunition. set free i lived in him on other charges. it was an emotional moment for wine but he was not treated in the future the right

to enter and they're arresting him now he was immediately taken to a magistrate's court where he was charged with treason within tends to go home to the passing of the president of the republic or uganda i don't know fully. understand moved towards them. and smile she. the real when screwed over the prison. in kampala the government's deployed police and soldiers in some parts of the city that are seen as hot spots including where we are right now but trying to prevent people from gathering or trying to get to that town fantastic you the forces also blocked several opposition politicians from leaving them. jan opposition leader who has been arrested and detained often over the years was

a game taken by police he had talked to the media cutting off in the people cutting off forty million people. so they were the they must be able to rule what can we do what the heart of the magistrate include ordered that wine get i didn't medical care that doctors be allowed and he needed access to him he will remain in cassidy until the end of the month when he appears in court the others are also charged with treason. all the while his supporters cheered him on. and. catches oil company. nearly a million people remain displaced from their homes and then in state of carolina as the reason recovers from the worst floods and it says tree many are now questioning whether the disaster could have been avoided in a state that's otherwise used to heavy monsoon and the thomas has this report.

hundreds of people have died more than a million fled their homes but now that trip was carolyn's disaster the quantity of rain was unprecedented two and a half times the normal figure that so far but environmentalists say properly managed its land and rivers would have absorbed it and channeled it to the sea over development in flood plains is to blame left but reclaiming plans for other uses for that is one of the major thing which agree with the situation either way though flood plains in the form of piety relies on red plants would have begun to accommodate an morsels of water. the floods were made worse a environmentalist by quantities of plastic rubbish clocking rivers stopping them flowing faster freely instead the rivers burst their banks but even with those issues the floods say some could have been avoided aside from the long term impact of environmental mismanagement and pollution there is another way that some here

are saying this as a manmade disaster they're blaming those who manage the dams and reservoirs carola has. the three large reservoirs with a collective capacity of nearly seven trillion liters of water they are managed primarily for hydro electricity production and irrigation for farmers when the operators are reluctant to let the water go when it's not needed so they were near capacity before the worst of the rain fell when it did the water had to be suddenly released to stop dam walls breaking people think infrastructure is a security against flood but most of the flood waters did not come from the rain they come from the release of their dams never happened before if we know too much rain is coming dam should releasing water as gently and not impounding the last drop and then flooding peoples out of their homes it's likely no one factor caused carolus flooding but human activity and inactivity seem to have made it worse

andrew thomas al-jazeera call on the u.k. government has released its contingency plan if britain crashes out of the e.u. without a deal the break said minister has warned that companies that they may face a tangle of red tape or delays and costly credit card payments if the government fails sinegal an exit deal with brussels or insley has the details from london. there was a time during the long saga of brics it's when prime minister to resign may used to say maybe it is best to do no deal for britain is better than a bad deal for britain so i said on many occasions that no deal is better than a bad deal by which she meant that falling out of the european union without a trade deal was better than one which didn't reflect the referendum results but now it's becoming clear what no deal might look like and it's giving people the shivers food shortages if fresh produce rots at the border already stockpiling tins

is actively being talked about would airports close down heathrow has borrowed a billion dollars to protect itself against grounded flights would no deal in economic collapse because businesses without taking the contingency plans big money factures would close up shop they'd need to be used to since the start to leave on mass the pound which tumble as we've never seen before with the government survived things like giant manufacturers shutting down and moving out does the government even have a plan breakfasters those who want a clean break with the european union this myth all of this is what they call project fear a deliberate attempt to undermine the democratic vote to leave the e.u. it will be absolutely fine they say and indeed some argue that a little economic hardship is a price worth paying for the u.k. to regain its sovereignty or no deal breadth it would test that theory to destruction the first batch of advice from government calls on businesses to

protect themselves from a new pile of red tape and bureaucracy that currently doesn't exist the nervous looking minister spent much time wiping the sweat from his top lip is of course in relation to those in the current. trading links with the e.u. they'll be some extra changes that they'll need to be advised of the sensible thing to do is to give practical advice and work with them to make that a success come with a. and to get that same. this sense of impending disaster the idea that politicians of fiddling while the u.k. birds has struck many is sufficiently surreal that it has a commissar you this video comparing it to the titanic disaster perhaps the very best expression of people's worst fears anything could happen nothing can be ruled out barnsley al-jazeera london. hundreds of young people in the u.s. city of chicago are taking part in an annual basketball tournament hoops in the

hood the event aims to get younger people together and promote peace and one of the most violent cities in the country john hundred went to take a look. this is hoops in the hood it's a basketball tournament but it's also a statement about safe neighborhoods in america's most violent major cities. each year about five thousand children participate they get together and with the help of the city they block off streets in violence hotspots across chicago and they play such and these are violent streets last year thirty five hundred people were shot and more than six hundred of them killed in the city of chicago strada was a member of one of chicago's violent gangs now he's a coach we do have an issue of violence in our neighborhood and i think basketball and sports is just one way we can get kids to kind of do something other than looks like an unfortunate happening with someone somebody. this is the end of the morning rush hour so normally the street would be choked with cars but instead four hundred

kids from twenty different neighborhoods are here to determine who are the champions of chicago and they come from neighborhoods with names like englewood austin in the back of the yards the most violent neighborhoods in chicago and they've come together for a championship but they've also come together to find common ground and when it comes to finding that common ground those we've talked to say. clear nailing it. here's a quick roundup of our top stories and al-jazeera evans who the rebels say at least thirty one people have been killed in saudi led airstrikes but the t.v. is reporting warplanes targeted a camp for internally displaced people and one day does during a district most of the victims are children alan fisher has more from neighboring djibouti. what appears to have happened is that there was an attack in the area all

this district now according to the media that we've carried out by the fighters and it killed one child then a number of hours later there was a strike by the so do you led coalition on account for internally displaced people essentially refugees from the war in other parts of yemen who'd moved here to try and seek safety and that killed thirty one people including twenty children the u.n. is urging latin american countries to ease entry restrictions for venezuelans fleeing an economic crisis in ecuador announced last week they wouldn't let in venezuelans without a passport more than four hundred twenty thousand have entered ecuador this year and many planning to continue to south of the south to peru colombia has granted temporary residency to another eight hundred thousand venezuelans president trump has renewed his attacks on u.s. attorney general jeff sessions trump says sessions has never taken control of the

justice department's sessions head back saying his department will not be improperly influenced by political considerations trump a sense accused him of failing to protect him from special counsel robert miller's investigation into russian interference in the twenty sixteen election. well trumpets also warned that there would be an economic crash if he were impeached the u.s. president has been on the defensive following the prosecution of two former top aides one of those aides his former lawyer michael cohen implicated trump in a crime when he pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws saying he did so at trump's direction ugandan popstar an opposition politician bobby weiner has been charged with treason why it was rearrested just minutes after he was freed by a military court the government denies he was beaten in custody and those are the headlines stay with us now for what i want east. china is keen to win friends and

influence in the oil rich middle east business spark the wrong turn of china to secure its resources for the future. region as a whole now is expected to grow we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost on al-jazeera. it's a land famous for its mystic spiritualists a place where saints and swamis guard the secrets of an ancient wisdom. for thousands of years people from india and abroad have devoted themselves to these holy men in their quest for light. but some girl groups have proven to be far from divine accused of rape murder and mass

castration. i'm steve chair on this episode of one of one east reinvestigate one swamis spectacular fall and a blind faith many still have it. be i. they call him the rocks down to. the not so subtle swami of spirituality. this isn't laugh challenged holy man is good me to him see and can say is he's the messenger of god. the center for almost. the data such as saw that at the place of truth sect in northern india. we get down

to. the really good one he claims to have sixty million followers worldwide an exaggeration perhaps but his fans are certainly enthusiastic i. could. sing the revels in his popularity he has funded several bollywood style films starring himself. not to mention his many music albums. but it isn't cool discos and dancing singing has made headlines for his charitable works spearheading environmental drives campaigning for women's rights and tackling drug addiction. up hot that are going to give identity young people you mention maggie some people his charity work has won him

some influential friends. this is rumble last sharma a cabinet minister in heaven on a stakes i thank god. it was there was to it was this not the only politician to bow before the screw in the two thousand and fourteen state elections almost half of the ruling party is candidates sort sings plessy. to his do they tease he is a god. that others have called him the devil in disguise i.

in two thousand and two an anonymous letter was sent to the most powerful man in the country. to the honorable prime minister shri at the. it was from a disciple who lived in sing. in hindi as his day what she wrote about the guru shocked the government respected. one day at ten o'clock at night i was informed that father has called me to his room. she found her guru lying in bed next to a watching a pornographic film. taking me in his arms he said to me he would like to make love to me. the woman said she tried to stop him but saying wouldn't. when i resisted he said there was no

doubt that he was god he said that he can kill me without any harm being done to him after that he raped me and has been doing so for the last three years. the woman also revealed that singh was abusing other girls. if any girl dares to open her mouth against. has order to finish her off. she begged the central government to investigate she could never have imagined that dozens of people would be killed after she sent her a letter. i cannot keep silent. almost three hundred kilometers north of india's capital news of the lead has spread through a town called sears it's the headquarters of good me thuram rahim singh sect of.

the dare i had a lot of influence people were scared of it. they had political power. until chapter but they was born and raised in syria. he says almost everyone in town followed will feed the guru. then in two thousand and two local officials and journalists began receiving copies of the anonymous letter. have you would let us a little while wherever that letter was circulated people would be better not thrashed people's offices were attacked if they found out a shot was photocopying the letter they'd attack the shop. people would whisper amongst themselves nobody had the courage to speak out against them. no one

except on chills father ramchandra chip property was a small town journalist with a big reputation he ran his own newspaper called poor are such on the whole truth. he didn't run his newspaper like a commercial business he ran it to serve our society whether it was social issues or corruption or political issues he would raise his voice against powerful people . for years darkroom as had been circulating about seeing and hysteria whispers that he was involved in land grabbing corruption and mysterious disappearances in the north that in those days no media and so so would speak against the darrow there was. but even in this environment of fear my father was reporting. and chills father published the anonymous letter with its explosive allegations of rape immediately and got threatening calls i immediately started

receiving threatening calls telling him not to report on this but he said you can't stop me from publishing the truth. those threats soon turned deadly. on a cool of tobit evening two men road towards the journalists house. uncial a university student at the time was home with his father. abuse. we were preparing to have dinner. outside the house somebody called my father sleep it better be. a bit of a big. ranch and richard looked at the left his son and went town side. within seconds until heard

five gunshots. you know he sort of me i never thought that they would go to this extent it never crossed my mind. the gunman fled in opposite directions but they didn't get far. one missing actual battle where one of the shooters was apprehended at the police post close to our house. they seized the weapon in a walkie talkie set from him and. prosecutors say the two suspected gunmen was sings disciples and the items seized from them were registered to his darragh allegations that singh rejects. the nation devastated chapter of his family and his community. beach.

as the funeral procession was going through. there were men women children standing on the rooftops they were throwing flowers on my father people was so shaken by the terror inflicted by the dera or. assholes who are. that day i realized that people were saluting the crusade that my father had started we felt proud of him whatever he did it wasn't wrong was me. ever since then uncial has been fighting for justice he has invited me to his home in sears or where he lives under twenty four hour police protection. fire. i'm firing. on my father in this city.

is preparing for yet another hearing in his father's murder trial the state has charged singh with two murders including that of uncial father but the case has dragged on for over fifteen years and there's still no verdict in a body the truth is what's giving us strength we've taken on such a powerful empire what are we in front of them with nothing. uncial says the guru and his followers tried every trick in the book to prevent him from testifying. on it threatening they never directly threaten me but indirectly they tried really hard through my relatives through a local administrator through a former state chief minister they tried to get me to compromise jeff. my reply was what more can they do to us there's nothing more valuable than life and

that they've already taken. for the past eleven years the central bureau of investigation has assigned uncial and armed bodyguard the threat he says is real the gurus devote on just followers they fanatics. this fanaticism spilled onto the streets last august when good mitterrand written scene was convicted of sexually assaulting two of his female disciples. my only estimate puts the list in the visible corner powell to three hundred thousand people were present and in and out on the premises at the time of the war dick. smith go while is one of the prosecutors responsible for sings conviction in my career as a lawyer i have never ever even harder.