senators this group of democrat senators are concerned that president trump's business ties with saudi arabia may impact on his decision making so they have now sent a bill letter this is from a group of democrats asking for him to disclose full details of his relationships his business relationships with saudi partners over the past ten years now in that lead they mention a number of occasions on which saudi businessmen have bought trump apartments even a case of buying a trump yacht they also mention as well that trump himself boasted back in or with twenty fifteen selling his apartments to saudis for forty fifty million dollars he said the letters also being sent to trump's sons they are executive vice presidents of the trump organization so this is a very serious step made by the democrats donald trump himself well yesterday he tweeted i have no business ties in saudi arabia he's likely to brush the soft as

far as the letter is concerned from the democrats he can probably go ahead and do that but in the light of the magnitsky act which is actual legislation which is a bipartisan call from the senate that's a lot more difficult to just brush away mike hanna thank you very much indeed germany's foreign minister has joined the western edge in saudi arabia to cooperate saying attacks on journalists are not acceptable and he's called for an immediate explanation from riyadh. for use in this case is and remains extremely worrying the current take is ations a serious and one has to say disturbing therefore of clearly explained our expectations that the saudi arabian sides very early on that this case has to be completely clarified immediately that those responsible will be held accountable. thank you more still to come on al-jazeera including we're in town one of the world's youngest democracies where they're having the latest election weapon away

to a brighter future. generations as calendar legalizes cannabis and we take a closer look at how the market is being opened up to what could be a booming industry. we're seeing some welcome rainfall into that eastern side of our story if we might see in the the royal told ananda has been a fair bit of wet weather around here is that area cloud here that's making its way further east which surprises guys coming back into new south wales charset want to show is the fourth day fun and dry for much of victoria twenty one celsius in melbourne twenty one celsius there for adelaide a little cooler on the other side of the country from perth around ninety degrees a little wet so that rain will make its way through as we go through friday bright skies come back a bit high temperatures around seventeen degrees but the temperatures only up over

towards the east i'm getting up to twenty six celsius in melbourne and also in sydney temps only up to into new zealand over the next day also largely fought into a little bit a fair weather cloud across the country brought skies to come in as we head towards the weekend fifteen sixteen celsius there for thursday fodder dry light winds lovely weather coming through but twenty two in christchurch for friday but it's eighteen in altered and more of that glorious sunshine the amount of sunshine seventy to pan over the next style say beginning to twenty degrees celsius there for tokyo watch you try to across the korean peninsula they sweater weather was slaughtered its way further eastwards as we go through friday. you don't know where public service stops and private interest begins what's at stake is the very essence of democracy we have never had a president so brazenly treating the oval office as an opportunity to.

follow the money investigating with the donald trump is profiting from the presidency and asking what the cost would be for democracy you might say. the president's profits on al-jazeera. and one of the top story here on ars era techies team of investigators have finally entered the saudi council's residence in istanbul a day after they were denied access officials have told on jazeera that samples found inside the residence are identical to those uncovered in the consulate in the

missing. european union leaders have decided the hasn't been enough progress towards a brics a deal to call an emergency summit in november twenty seven of the twenty eight leaders met over dinner that was minus u.k. prime minister to reason may came after she addressed them but offered no new ideas to break the current deadlock jonah has been following events in brussels. the hopes of doing a break the deal of this summit long gone british prime minister to resign may's positive tone on a rival weren't of impressed many here in brussels and what we've seen is that we've sold most of the issues in withdrawal agreements there are still there is still a question of the northern irish truckstop but i believe everybody around the table wants to get a deal done by working intensively and closely we can achieve that deal i believe a deal is a changed woman now is the time to make it happen. may spend less than half an hour addressing her fellow leaders on the status of exit talks before they went into

dinner without a further sign of the u.k.'s growing isolation within this bloc he presented them with no new ideas to break the current deadlock so there wasn't much to discuss e.u. leaders are running out of patience with britain just as britain is running out of time they called off a planned emergency summit in november judging that insufficient progress has been made to expect a deal by then it looks that still we do have a lot of discussions and not final approval and told this stance what u.k. wants to and it's very difficult for european side to negotiate with their person who has no all full support of the position they know she's politically weak at home the reason may has bowed to different factions in her government and parliament rejecting the e use plan for a backstop or insurance policy against a future hard boarder on the island of ireland. they insist it's not negotiable and

there's more and more talk about all of this ending in no deal disruptions of borders tariffs on trade british passport holders requiring visas and work permits on the continent. there is one new idea doing the rounds the a use potential willingness to extend the so-called transition period after britain leaves the e.u. allowing a full three years for trade talks to take place before that thorny issue of the backstop applies it might soften some opposition to the backstop hardly imaginative thinking at this stage but possibly all they've got the prime minister and others stressed that a deal is ninety percent. but on the problem of ireland they're still miles apart jonah al-jazeera brussels at least nineteen people have died after an explosion and shooting at a school in crimea russian investigators say an eighteen year old student went on

a shooting spree before taking his own life step reports. panic in crimea as the bomb exploded in a school in the most eastern city of here. ambulances and military trucks rushed to the scene among the dad many teenagers dozens of students in the vocational training school suffered injuries they were taken to hospitals in both crimea and russia the two story school is happily damaged a gas explosion was initially thought to have caused the blast but it soon became clear it wasn't an accident investigators say the bomb exploded in the canteen and the gunmen walked around the school with a rifle shooting everyone he saw then police found the body of an eighteen year old student in the school library they say he shot himself and consider him to be the only attacker your future religious symbolism in years it is already clear that

this is a crime motives and versions of this tragedy of being carefully investigated russian president putin held a minute of silence for the victims after his meeting with egyptian president sisi in sochi puttin recently opened a new bridge which connects russia with crimea the peninsula was annexed from ukraine by russian troops four years ago any violence in crimea has the potential to escalate simmering tensions between the russians and ukrainians there's been an outpouring of sympathy for the victims of the school attack here in moscow russians are laying flowers at a memorial near the kremlin mourners are asking what brought a young student to commit such a bloody attack step fasten al-jazeera moscow the man the un tasked with helping to bring peace to syria has announced he's leaving his post u.n. special envoy staffan de mistura will step down at the end of november for personal reasons our diplomatic editor james bays reports. when he took the job over four

years ago stephan de mistura described it as almost mission impossible now off to seven years of war with over twelve million people displaced from their homes in syria and over half a million killed he told the security council he was stepping down with a peace deal far from sight let me old to give you some heads up if i may i would myself be moving on as of the last week of november mr de mistura tried everything from local truces to meetings of key international players in twenty sixteen he managed to get syrian government representatives to geneva to meet with a delegation that for the first time represented many of the opposition elements including key fighting groups this promising opportunity stopped in its tracks by military action jury in the talks by syria and its russian ally therefore they can

if they fish him to bring him dirty for them dirty or did it not there and if not to fake it up haven't they basically formed your top. i am not referring to military activity. it was russian air power and iranian forces on the ground that changed the balance of power the russians then began to pushing talks first in a starter then in sochi thank you very much as a rival to mr de mistura as geneva process in over four years at press conferences and in interviews they seem to one thing that was your mantra there is no military solution and yet in that time we've seen starvation used as a weapon we've seen repression including torture we've seen aerial bombardment including barrel bombs we've seen the repeated use of chemical weapons the syrian government clearly didn't believe you and it now controls most of the country so it

did have a military solution to it. you see i work for the u.n. and i've been working for the end now forty eight years in twenty two borth or mission conflict area i've learnt one thing and i know defectors in a few very strong elective what matters if winning the peace mr de mistura isn't finishing quite yet he's making a last trip to damascus next week to persuade the syrian government to accept a finalize list for a constitutional committee they've been dragging their heels on that for nine months it's unlikely his decision to quit will give him any more leverage jamesburg days out zero of the united nations a bomb attack in afghanistan has killed another candidate in saturday's election the us was in the southern province of helmand the taliban have claimed responsibility and a threatening to target polling stations and security forces guarding them at least

ten candidates already been killed during campaigning. we turn as one of the youngest democracies in the world and its version to choose its government on thursday the remote himalayan nation only held its first election ten years ago neve barker is in the capital tim who sent this report. it is a rustic landscape of peaks and paddy fields a country seemingly at odds with the modern world. less than two generations ago bhutan had a subsistence economy now it's open to graduate from the un's list of least developed countries to a developing one things are a little slower here war manageable than other places but. there's globalization is the explosion of media's forces beyond our control and we are being in that pried open prize to be turned became a democracy in two thousand and eight under the orders of the previous king it's

a change the country still getting used to thoroughly stations have been set up even the remotest corners of the country voters will choose from one of two parties there's very little politically that separates them including their maims the d.p.t. returns first ever ruling party and the d n t political newcomers it's really at the crossroads because we are a new party what we are offering people is that the must strengthen democracy and then i say. they must strengthen democracy they must strengthen the bridge between the people and the government they are looking at firstly bridging the development gap then they're looking at income gap then it's gender gap then it's generation gap and then we're also we also have a strong social agenda we believe in doing what is right and not what is popular both parties also want to protect the driving force of p. towns economy hydro power and accounts for

a quarter of the country's national income most of which is sold as electricity to neighboring india i could on my growth lead to better health care and education if improved roads created more business opportunities in industry but there's also a fierce political debate on how best to balance this economic growth with protecting the environment and group hands unique cultural heritage nature is the backbone of the economy but hydropower is also responsible for half of all external loans making bhutan the second most indebted nation in asia after japan in proportion to population since it emerged from international isolation in the one nine hundred sixty s. bitter. gone through seismic change markets of the capital are now flooded with food from india growth is everywhere to be seen but it could be many more years before this one secretive nation stands on its own two feet leave barca al-jazeera

to. canada has just become the second nation in the world to legalize the recreational drug cannabis is being celebrated with parties nationwide and long queues outside marijuana shops but as a lack reports from toronto there are public health concerns. we are. illegal no more at midnight in the easternmost time zone the first non-medicinal cannabis is sold without breaking canadian law. would be super happy to if you're a first person in line legalization is being celebrated countrywide and not just by smokers canadian cannabis companies have seen their share prices soar in recent months as the big day approached there is not one client yet that has not been touched by the introduction of canada canada life sciences technology the banking

industry retailers but in addition the companies are going to start seeing a lot of activity as they touch the cannabis market how canadians buy their cannabis depends on where they live there will be different distribution rules in each of the ten provinces and three territories some will have government run online and real stores others private retail prices will also differ some critics say that puts too many restrictions on an activity most canadians have long wanted to be legal we can't really stop it with better call it legalized. unfortunately the government has tried to maintain all of the details of prohibition and just call it. legalizing cannabis fulfills a campaign promise made in two thousand and fifteen by prime minister justin trudeau who himself admitted several years ago that he was an occasional user in the past the government is also offering pardons to people convicted of possession

now that the drug is legal. because cannabis has been outlawed for so long its effects on mind and body are being studied in detail at this toronto medical lab they're using a simulator to see how drivers who've smoked a joint react to virtual traffic conditions police and road safety advisers are. also part of the research the most important thing is for drivers to understand what's going on in their bodies and prevent things from happening i think everybody is interested in keeping our world safer or will help drive growth to maintain that . all show most canadians are not opposed to legal cannabis so long as it can be kept away from children and the multi-billion dollar profits from an industry once dominated by organized crime can be taxed and used to benefit society daniel like al-jazeera toronto.

from one of the top stories on jazeera takis team of investigators have finally entered the saudi council's residence in istanbul a day after they were denied access officials have told on jazeera that samples found inside the residence are identical to those uncovered in the consulate it's hoped the search of the site which is near the consulate will provide on says as to what may have happened to the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi he has not been seen since entering the consulate on october the second turkish sources are told a bodyguard working for the saudi crown prince led the operation against. my her abdulaziz would trip has been photographed on a number of occasions with mohamed bin sound which apparently made nineteen phone calls with saudi officials on the day khashoggi went missing four of those were with bin salmond's private secretary. e.u. leaders have decided there hasn't been enough progress towards a brics it deal to call an emergency summit in november it comes after the u.k.

prime minister to resign may address them but offered no new ideas to break the current deadlock the u.k. is usually the in march but negotiations over a potential hard border gnarl and a proven to be a sticking point. what we've seen is that we've solved most of the shoes and withdraw agreements there are still we still a question of the northern irish rock star but i believe everybody around the table wants to get a deal. by working intensively and closely become a team that deal i believe a deal is achievable now is the time to make it happen. at least nineteen people mostly teenagers have been killed in the explosion and shooting at a school in crimea russian investigators say the attack at couch polytechnic was an act of mass murder not terrorism they say an eighteen year old went on a shooting spree in a school before committing before killing himself russia has sent soldiers to assist the victims there's

a top stories do stay with us there are next stop is fault lines thanks for watching he said. millions of people across india miss out on medical care but a hospital train is delivering doctors and hope to those most in need. when one uses boards indios lifeline express. on al-jazeera. when the powerful can get away with that. because they have the money and the connections to rig the system. but then people lose confidence in our law. and confidence in their future. political afloat filler is devoted to surrender our government to public corruption grafts slowly isn't

that brant just a survival come our constitution. you know the fact that they've broken the law they're pretty clear about it but how do you like prove it how do you like sure people like it actually matters. in the two years since donald trump was voted into the oval office artist robin bell has focused on the movement ending the kinds of misdeeds it can be hard to see in. my contract with the american voter begins with the pledge to end government corruption. trump the cellphone billionaire railed against corruption on the campaign trail. one of the things i've tried to tell my friends is that not to get cynical because like that's his strength. as president trump has mixed private business and public duties in unprecedented ways yet giving rise to allegations that he's using the highest office in the land to enrich himself and his family the logic is basically like everything's cool so if everything is corrupt the maze will

pick the most corrupt first of. all right. we are going to washington d.c. . we are going to drain the swamp. in this episode of faultlines we check into one of the swamps finest venues to examine the charges the trump is offering from the presidency. and violating the constitution of the united states. i. our investigation begins just a few blocks from the white house of the trumpeter national hotel in washington. it's housed in the old post office as storage building on by the u.s. government. there sure is could the

welcome to trump d.c. i wish an enjoyable stay with us as for us. back in two thousand and twelve the trump organization want to competitive bid to lease the old post office from the government's general services agency. barely two weeks before the two thousand and sixteen election could reopen as a hotel expensive. the washington operation is just one of the dozens of luxury hotels condos resorts and golf courses that bear the trump brand from las vegas to vancouver manila to the bud. before it launched critics of the hotel project to be too expensive to prove profitable but what most didn't anticipate was of the owner would win the white house. or in the of uncle suite at the trump international hotel it's named for the president's daughter it

cost a thousand four hundred sixty five dollars to stay here and that's on the less expensive side of the luxury suites. but like so many visitors to the hotel whether politicians tourists or journalists like us the only reason we decided to come here is because it's owned by the president of the united states when he was elected trump owns more than five hundred companies mostly under the umbrella of the trump organization and the president elect of the united states of america. in a controversial decision trump refused to divest from his company instead he put them into a trust these papers are just some of the many documents that i've signed turning over complete and total control to my sons i spent thirty years of my life tracking the man because i thought he was culturally significant i did not expect him to become politically significant investigative journalist david cay johnston has long reported on the ups and downs of trump's business ventures you know what donald

trump said he was giving up ready to businesses and put you into a trust i literally erupted in laughter donald trump doesn't run any businesses thumb trump is not a competent businessman he leaves it up to other people. and furthermore the trust that set up his sons have said they tell dad about what's going on in the business to avoid the possibility of conflicts of interest previous u.s. presidents put their financial assets into a blind trust to ensure they would know how their wealth was handled those who owned businesses sold them jimmy carter had to sell his two bit business after putting it in a trust and nobody for a minute thought that his little peanut warehouse in rural georgia was going to have any influence on government policy can donald trump actually take profits out he can reach and withdraw money at any time whether or not he's done so we don't know but this is not anything at all like a blind trust this is like what you expect to see in a family business posing as

a country. person. right after donald trump was sworn in the capital his motorcade went to the white he had the presidential limousine known as the beast stop. he stopped right in front of the trump international tell he was sending a very clear signal you want to do business with my been tracing he will pay tribute to me and bingo that hotel suddenly was full of business. zach everson is a freelance journalist who's created a whole new be out of covering the trumpeting national hotel and the people who patronize it on your twitter feed you've kind of highlighted a lot of what's happening on social media with alltel so what are some of the kind of ones that stand out this is a picture i found on instagram of russia's ambassador to the united states and he was posing with the founder of a russian nail art chain and she she attacked him i mean it's got the instagram

account r us the usa and the caption said in english thank you to our russian ambassador russian flag in the usa american flag for a warm welcome in washington d.c. maine's governor pages ben here rudy giuliani is here a lot so this was a guy instrumental classic pete and you know guy's night with a couple of his friends and america's mayor and tag has tag saturdays are for the boys trump's financial disclosure forms in the kit that the hotel brought in more than forty million dollars in two thousand and seventeen according to federal documents reported by the washington post they'll tell made a remarkable profit in the first four months of that year the hotel expected to lose about two million dollars and instead it made two million dollars so that's a four million dollars swing. it has one of the highest room rates in d.c. and reported one of the lowest occupancy rates and that to me says that they have a set market of people are going to come here and they don't need to necessarily

place their homes competitively so we'll just say donald trump and it's family are profiting from the presidency through the hotel corridor yes and part of the reason they're making good money is because trump is president i think that while lot of people do come here. since the hotel opened the president has visited at least ten times and there are streams of evidence the trump family members administration officials republican politicians and lobbyists all make appearances. in the federal election commission filings show that republican candidates committees and powerful donor groups have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and trying to see. foreign governments including malaysia saudi arabia and romania have also made a showing kuwait has celebrated its national day at the hotel two years running. in june the philippines embassy hosted an independence day celebration the ambassador explained his choice of venue to filipino news agency having it in

a hotel that happens to have his name is it but that's hardly the end all and be all but it's a it's a statement it's a statement that we have a good relationship with this president. whatever the intent of events like this have raised criticism that foreign governments are patronizing the hotel to curry favor with the president. in the penn state party was held as the philippines lobbied for free trade agreement with the united states philippines president rodrigo to terra to have proposed the two countries explore a bilateral deal when he met with president trump at the end of two thousand and seventeen so was it reasonable for critics to see a connection i would see it as a cut and dried transactional thing after two years in afghanistan as a reporter and then as an advisor to the us military sarah chayes writes about corruption and its casualties around the world it's not like in the un follow up is the use of trump hotel and then you get in return a piece of public policy that's how the u.s.

bribery statute is now being construed by the supreme court but that's not how this stuff works this stuff works because you do your network partner a favor they are in your debt they do you a favor and it goes back and forth like this you don't have to spell it out trumps business history in countries like the philippines it's hard to separate from his current duties as president and ad from two thousand and twelve shows how trump's name is emblazoned on the sky rise in manila manila represent a great opportunity for brands. to defer the beans to its developer. is the philippines trade envoy to the united states the philippine envoy is double headed private public the president united states is double had a private public that means every interaction between the two you don't know where public service stops and private interest begins. although the trump organization

vowed not to pursue new foreign ventures while trump is in office. there's wide overlap between his business interests and the international relationships he must navigate as president. a chinese government owned bank runs the twentieth floor of trump tower in new york city at a trump property adjacent. the un saudi arabia and india own apartments qatar bought a new unit there this year. from post foreign dignitaries at mar-a lago his private club where membership rates doubled after his election his companies have been granted approval for trademarks in china even as the president negotiated trade policy with its leader so far i have got nothing absolutely nothing but the potential conflicts of interest are many and they've raised charges that trump is violating the u.s. constitution in the new theory that the charges are laid out in several lawsuits one of which is now focused on the trumpeted national we decided to follow a lawsuit because it was

a violation of this country's oldest anti-corruption law and that is the emoluments clauses both foreign and domestic. we would like a federal court to order the present united states to cease violating the emoluments clauses and that would i think mean at the present nine states would be ordered to divest in a clear and transparent way from his businesses. seeing is the attorney general of the district of columbia the democrat and with his counterpart in the state of maryland he's suing the president and frankly we saw it as our obligation particularly given the fact that in the case of the district of columbia is violating the law five blocks down the street how do you prove that the president being influenced by people patronizing his hotel how do you prove corruption it's a great question and that is why the founding fathers made a very clear rule and that is that the president or a federal office holder should know.