had previously told a senate committee that a project to build a trump tower in moscow had been scrapped in january twenty sixth before trump won the republican nomination however he later admitted this wasn't true a negotiation over the project had continued until much later and now this new report suggests that cohen lie to congress a big split the direction of president trump and his own confirmation hearings just a few days ago trump's nominee for attorney general said a situation like that could amount to obstruction of justice you wrote on page one that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction is that right. yes ok or any any you know any person who pretend it's another it's ok you also said that a president or any person convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction is that right. yes our white house correspondent kelli halakhah joining us from washington so if true kimberly

how concerned should the president be he should be very concerned because essentially what this report is suggesting is that not only does the special prosecutor robert mueller have this testimony from michael cohen but it is backed up by e-mails as well as tax testimony that it's essentially amounts to the president intentionally committing a crime perjury obstruction of justice this would certainly amount to impeachment proceedings the democrats have said that if it's true you know they want to pursue this and have said that already before this revelation but they're also suggest if it's true that the president should resign so it is very serious could even alter the presidency and has been president himself reactance. he has reacted he has not issued a carefully worded statement from his lawyers or from the white house instead he did tweet. paraphrasing a live shot from

a fox news reporter here at the white house who pointed out that michael cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud again certainly this is something that is a well known fact something that you brought up at the start of the segment but you can't get around some of the revelations that have come out of this citing to law enforcement officials not only that donald trump directed his longtime attorney michael cohen to live but also that he supported a plan to visit russia to discuss the negotiations or to start the negotiations with vladimir putin the russian leader in order to try and get trump tower built in moscow and further there are also reports that. the president's daughter as well as his son junior were getting regular updates about this all of this if it can be proven if it is backed up could certainly not only lead to the impeachment

proceedings but could result in donald trump being forced to resign and if we put the same context kimberly how does this all seemed into the trump rochelle collusion or investigation. well i mean the problem is is that donald trump from his perspective he's said that none of this is true but he said there's no obstruction of justice he said there's no collusion the problem is that with each passing day there seems to be new and mounting evidence that contradicts those statements and so that's why it's a problem and also this is a problem because this report indicates that michael cohen in fact was encouraged by the president directly to downplay the timeline in other words to imply that these negotiations wrapped up much sooner than they actually did if in fact the president told him to do this before he testified before the congress in the committees investigating this again it is not only a serious offense it is

a criminal one can really help thank you eric home as a political analyst and author of the g.o.p.'s civil war he says the latest revelations could trump in serious legal jeopardy. if this is in fact true we could begin to see at least the house judiciary committee under gerry now began laying the groundwork for potential impeachment proceedings now we have her from nancy pelosi that she wants to wait until all the information evidences and from the mother probe and i do believe that dem house democrats will be prudent to do that but clearly if this is true i think the president needs to begin not only lawyer loitering up but he needs to start beefing up the white house counsel immediately we simply do not know how much information and what information specifically the mother does have right now now if you look at some of the comments

that have been made from president trump's a lawyer former mayor judy giuliani on this issue it does appear that they're attempting to move the goal post and one reason for that could be because of information that has been recently obtained and so they may be trying to get ahead of it this information that was just released overnight could be what we see giuliani attempting to get in front of because if in fact bob muller does have evidence hard evidence that suggests that that that. pushed cohen to lie not only is that and impeachable offense but then again that could begin to actually moves fragile senate republicans to also seek to remove the president and i think that would involve and that could lead to more legal jeopardy for this president. more ahead on the al-jazeera news hour including why a possible hard border means hard decisions ahead for irish oyster farmers after

breakfast also ahead. i'm reporting from phnom penh european tariffs may be about to put a dent in one of the best performing economies in the world. and the rules of basketball provide a confusing ending for the english crowd at the n.b.a. game here will be here to explain a little later in sport. but first european union chemicals experts are proposing banning some micro plastics to combat pollution the tiny bits of plastic end up in waterways oceans and animals last year as scientists found the first evidence of micro plastics and people but there's no research yet about the impact on our bodies so micro plastics are found in things like cosmetics and detergents but the largest user is the agriculture industry fertilizers are wrapped in tiny plastic shells that emit them slowly into

the soil but the plastic is left behind the european commission estimates that up to two hundred thousand tons of micro plastics enter the environment every year and that the ban could cut that by thirty thousand tons the u.s. and u.k. have already partial bans and forests and the e.u. hopes its proposal could set a standard for industries around the world but the tiny particles are also created by the breakdown of bigger items like bottles or plastic bags on the back and change fats and critics are you such measures aren't enough to deal with a problem that's reached epic proportions. of programs at the plastic soup foundation he says while the ban is a good first step a lot of micro plastics come from sources that are harder to regulates. really and then she added michael plastics to birds like cosmetics or detergents of fertilizer and you don't actually say that's a design merit just get rid of it that it's there that's actually the easy part and

it's similar to the got about steaks or straws what's going on right now on a global scale the bigger they should most of plastics from sex or guard dogs or all kind of pressed materials you know our daily lives gets more going. every time you wash your clothes in a washing machine or never twice it's nine million by bush for example so that's enormous there's my progress it's all found everywhere in that the bush trenches in the ocean but also on the tops of the himalaya in the north in the south pole so you can basically say plastic is everywhere it's actually there the interesting thing with the european battle now and then she added michael plastics that you are being chemical agents he is now investigating is that a risk for human health or the employment that we board that this this months and that's very interesting because that's actually the first step in regulating whole issue of micro plastics in the environment which would be a very good and very necessary case because there's too much stress that around we

need to regulate and take steps while the european union has imposed tariffs on rice exports from cambodia and me and mar block says its previous policy which allowed cambodia to export most goods duty free is hurting european producers when hay has more from tom paine. for the past decade cambodia has had one of the best performing economies in the world thanks largely to the biggest buyer of its goods europe but the european union isn't happy and is taking action its impose tariffs on rice from cambodia and me and mafia three years following a complaint from italy the italians want to protect their rights industry from falling prices caused by imports from the two countries that eighty percent in the past five seasons. until now cambodia and me and maher enjoyed tariff free access to european markets under a program designed to help developing countries despite being planned for some time

the announcement from the e.u. seemed to catch the cambodian government off guard. the ministry just received the official statement which is sixty four pages long from the a few minutes ago so we will discuss the details internally first i apologize we have to delay the press conference. the news gets worse with the e.u. signaling it will also place tariffs on all other goods from cambodia as punishment for what it says is a deterioration in democracy and human rights ahead of last july's election the government launched a crackdown on dissent which resulted in the largest opposition party being disbanded prime minister hun sen has remained publicly defiant in the face of increased pressure and scrutiny from the west which has come amid a surge of investment and trade with china privately his attitude may be different though given that cambodian businesses osip to become less competitive in their biggest markets europe. the first step initiated by the e.u.

in october will see cambodia under investigation for six months after which the formal process of imposing tariffs will begin the move would be particularly hard on the garment which employees around eight hundred thousand people activists say the action by europe provides an opportunity for the government to clean up its act it's very important for the government to make sure that you know they have the capacity enough to maintain the in west and also to build the trade in wire months and strengthen the link on the kind of sums reduce corruption in europe buys more than forty percent of cambodia's exports but right now the old saying that the customer is always right doesn't seem to be holding true wayne hay al jazeera phnom penh britain's prime minister is set to meet government ministers to discuss the next steps. a spokeswoman says to resume a also had a constructive call with the german chancellor and will talk with other e.u. leaders this weekend labor leader jeremy corbyn is refusing to join cross party

discussions until a no deal brick set is rolled out. for the past twenty years the border between northern ireland a part of the u.k. and the republic of ireland has been open both sides have benefited economically as members of the e.u. but there are fears that a no deal bricks might turn back the clock in parker reports from calling for block . who owns carlingford law for the past twenty years the question hasn't mattered but then breaks it happened. daryn coming in is an oyster man. his high end project is consumed as far away as china the north shore is british the south is irish the waters in between are shared across border agency works for the interests of both sides. but it hasn't always been this way not far from here in one nine hundred seventy nine eighteen pretty soldiers were killed in an ira ambush during thirty years of six hereon violence in northern ireland the lock was

a militarize frontier. and would have. been border a possible no deal breaks it has increased the prospects of a hard border the return of customs checks and extra paperwork could be devastating for the fishing industry that relies on speed it's just a complete disaster. but the last ten years. from no home. the last seven years of new morning constant work. just never enough grip and so on and the failure got the business up go on and on and then brag that holmes was very frustrated. border will also impact on the movement of people the calling foot ferry is the only route across the lot people are crossing the border every day here between northern are in than the republicans are in for work in their daily lives the possibility of introducing any barriers to the free and seamless

movements of vehicles and people. is a great concern to us for the past twenty years the border here are. very much. if no solution can be found most breaks in in either side of this law could soon be run by two distinctly different dorothy's complicates the lives and lives. the return of the border remains for a worst case scenario but the crushing defeat of the british government's. contingent. on both sides of the border.

with. the sea. it is a landscape in different. divisions few here. the caspian sea is showing its usefulness as

a warm body of water see this massive cloud here that seems have a current that is going to develop into a proper winter storm it'll throws snow back into northern iran up through turkmenistan and uzbekistan look at that circulation temp job particularly low here but of course the ground isn't often enough crowed in there for it to be snow and it will stop probably spread eastwards beyond sunday and into sunday generating some useful falls as far as afghanistan and leaving fine weather behind all this time i've ignored an event completely the weather's been relatively speaking benign and that's true in turkey as well the wind is dying a cloud is disappearing and the sky is blue and that's true for the sas the sun this dust is settling out of yesterday's dust storm twenty one there on seventy riyad where it should be if not a little on the cold side still a northerly breeze blowing your notes but probably a less dusty one has been the case in the last couple days now as a drop sas to strong active weather and sodomize mozambique and if you look at this

cloudy you get the idea of us of a pattern for a circulation form it's not going to be anything more than a tropical low but even that brings the potential a significant flooding for southern mozambique. taiwan. a sovereign island state. or a renegade province of china that must soon return to mainland control. as the battle for taiwanese hearts and minds intensifies. people in power investigates the tactics of those to whom reunification is only a matter of time. taiwan spies lies and prostrate ties on a jersey. zero . and three.

shadowy financial operations are propping up north korea's economy. and fueling the nation's missile intuitions. one on one east investigates north korea's secret money on al-jazeera. follow again the top stories on the al-jazeera news hour ensued on mourners of a man who died during thursday's protests have attacked a police vehicle in the capital khartoum local media say a sixteen year old was shot by security forces while letting unarmed demonstrators shelter in his home colombia's defense minister is blaming rebels for thursday's

car bomb attack on a police academy twenty one people were killed and dozens injured in bogota colombia as president has ordered security forces to find and prosecute the perpetrators a leading u.s. politicians has a new allegation about donald trump is one of the most serious so far the us president is reported to have told lawyer michael cohen to lie about a building project in moscow the chairman of the house intelligence committee says he will do all he can to establish the truth. details are emerging about the sinking of a migrant boat last week which killed fifty three people the spanish charity coming from taro says coastguard spent six days looking for the boat which went down between spain and morocco it's interviewed the only survivor. who says the vessel was struck by something during the night he spent more than twenty four hours in the water before a fisherman came to his rescue more than four thousand migrants have reached europe

by sea so far this year almost double the same period last year but fewer people have drowned let's bring in leonard doyle he's a spokesman of the international organization of migration he's joining us on skype from geneva good to have you with us again leonard doyle what are you hearing about this boat that went down in the alber and sea in the mediterranean only one person surviving well in use is particularly tragic and of course confusing because as you can imagine that people are being smuggled across the mediterranean they're doing it in a clandestine way so the knowledge about what happened and who's on board is obviously restricted and limited at this time and it is all goes to point that irregular migration is people putting their hands and lives in the hands of smugglers who are deeply exploited and then they really don't have a care in the world for what happens when they get the money and they get what these people see and it's part of the ongoing tragedy of huge inequality and the people seeking a better life would end up in these awful awful circumstances we know that in this case the spanish charities said that coast guard spent six days searching for this

particular boat but we also know that there's been a reduction of the search and rescue capacity of humanitarian groups who are operating in the mediterranean by countries like italy for example how concerning has this been. well it is of course concerning if there's a reduction and in rescue at sea in search and rescue efforts and it is of course imperative that human lives are saved when people are put at risk and continues to advocate strongly for them but it's also important that there be safe and secure borders and the criminal element smugglers who have nothing but ill intent not be allowed to exploit the explode migrants and sell them a dream that doesn't actually exist because so many of these will of course not qualify to be able to stand in the european union in this case and will be asked to return home so it's a it's a dreadful cynical act when you promise and you lie to a migrant knowing full well that it's not true and then put them at sea in it in a vessel without adequate safe safety measures or without proper communications

equipment it's just shocking especially in the middle went middle of winter and let's just look at the latest figures that have been put out by the international organization for migration you are saying that in the first sixteen days of this year some four thousand migrants and refugees that enter europe via sea but that's almost double of the same period last year why is that's. where we're talking about in the western mediterranean side in the course people's mothers are looking for opportunities to make money this is a money making racket at the end of the day and migrants are seeking desperately to sometimes they're fleeing violence they already produce asylum seekers seen violence are those the they're fleeing the impacts of climate change or are the gore the terrible economic inequalities and lack of opportunities so there is a market for people to try and reach europe and indeed there is a demand for work in europe the question is why can the policy makers not organize a way for people to come and work and then return home rather than giving the money to the smugglers who are have are simply exploiting them let's give it to to

a proper transportation company so there needs to be new policies and new legal pathways that will enable people to work and to return all right to leonard or we thank you for joining us on how to zero. thank you for inviting families in venezuela struggling to cope with the economic crisis are not only abandoning the country but also their children when they can no longer provide for the situation has led to a growing number of children living on the streets and orphanage is running out of space to house them to raise about reports. what kind of a hollies eleven years old he's mother left him in this orphanage two years ago she went to colombia to escape the ongoing crisis in venezuela this year in the air we were received here with open arms we are taught many things and i don't want to leave my dreams behind. this is the orphanage a place that provides a home to at least fourteen children and gives an education to dozens of others.

they were little is in charge he says that what's been happening here is yet another consequence of the crisis for yemeni a good job we receive children from other places that we try to keep because there is a process for abandoned children one woman came with a three month old baby that she couldn't feed we're going to the level of undernourishment has increased among children because families colonel freed them but the situation is not easy for the managers of them. finding resources to support the kids is becoming more challenging every day both handling this orphanage are struggling to make ends meet they have to feed the children that you can see right behind me and educate them these are the latest donations then they have received you can see all of this bill and with all of their money they can barely bag one pack of bags the other problem are the medicines. is fifteen and has

a neurological problem we're told he needs all these medicines to control the condition they're almost impossible to find and when they're located they're expensive president has announced new measures to end the economic crisis in venezuela but most economists say that they're unlikely to improve the situation anytime soon hyperinflation makes life here extremely difficult for most people. daughter was one of those who left she left her five year old son santiago in her mother's care. it's difficult i miss my daughter very much i really need her the situation here is harder and harder every day prices go up and up you work and work and it's not enough for anything there is no official data on how many children were left behind and in which conditions in the past two years almost three million venezuelans have left the country it is an issue that war is lawyers like a lot bonnie i moved to what we are seeing now is

a new phenomenon of children that are left behind but some are cared for by their families and others are not so there is no control over who is responsible for that child legally whether they are studying or living on the street family thing venezuela are struggling to deal with the impact of the country's crisis leaving their country and children behind is for some parents the only option they see to survive that is i will. pass. a u.s. policeman set to be sentenced for murder which sparked protest against police brutality police dash cam video revealed how seventeen year old donald was shot sixteen times in chicago five years ago he was high on drugs and carrying a knife jason vandyke is the first chicago officer in fifty years to be convicted of shooting while on duty john hendren is joining us from just outside the courthouse in chicago so what is the likely sentence to be for van dyck.

and you said it this is the trial of the half century it's been fifty years since a police officer has been convicted of murder while on the job here in chicago and that happened just in october but this verdict has been a long time in coming for the shooting actually happen in october of two thousand and fourteen and of course now is judgment day for jason van dyck he stands convicted of second degree murder and sixteen counts of aggravated battery you know that's one for each bullet with which he shot look on mcdonald one mcdonald was walking away from police he was carrying a knife high on p.c.p. and refused orders to drop that knife but he was clearly walking away from police as he was fired upon and that is what this conviction is all about and right now up stairs we're hearing victim impact statements other people young african-american men that this police officer is pulled over who argue that he was abusive

particularly to them and used racial slurs all of that goes into this sentence there aggravating circumstances like that later on this afternoon we expect to hear from from vandyke himself and members of his family media gating factors which they hope will lessen the sentence so the sentence range here is exceptionally broad he could get anything from probation to ninety six years in prison and activists here in the streets of chicago. who feel that there is a pattern of white officers shooting young african-american men they want the maximum sentence in this case so the entire city is waiting on this verdict with bated breath but it could be some hours before we hear that daryn and john this was really the case that sparked protests against police brutality at the time and started the conversation about policing in black communities. that's right during this is

a case that really captured national attention one reason was it took a year for that dash cam video to come out journalists and activists had asked for the video to be made public and when it was it shocked the nation it showed young look on macdonald yes armed and allegedly high on p.c.p. but walking clearly away from the police officers there were many officers around him but only one jumped out of the car and fired on him sixteen times and that was jason van dyke and when people saw all of that video they were outraged she just looked to them like one police officer had a vendetta against members of the african-american community here and just fired on and that at least is the argument of the activists in this case and they have filled the streets of chicago shutting down two major freeways and they have prepared for this moment and they're particularly concerned because just a day ago on thursday three other officers were acquitted of charges of conspiring

to cover up this shooting by filing false reports all of those three officers were acquitted that has really angered people here a lot of them in the african-american community and they are prepared for this verdict in their acts asking for a maximum sentence all right we'll speak to you as a verdict comes in for the time being john hendren reporting from chicago thank you thousands of palestinians have gathered on the gaza border to demonstrate against israel's occupation the protest known as march of return have been running for forty three consecutive fridays two hundred forty eight palestinians have been killed since the rally started march last year charles stratford has this update from the gaza israel border fence. we've seen a lot of gas fired today yet again this is the full two week old the friday approaches alone with guns aboard a lot of i'm going to she's taking the way now there's a lot of anger here in gaza specifically at the moment over the withholding. of millions of dollars donated by cots

a lot of which is going to go towards buying fuel for gaza there is a serious fuel crisis on the strip at the moment hospitals are saying that some of them may have to close down the big issue certainly for the israeli government is that a lot more of this money is going to go to woods paying hamas employees in the next you know him government on the pressure. by of what he described as right we're going to see in that government that accuse him of basically paying hamas to keep the situation calm and in the street to understand and thousands of people have been protesting in other areas along the border since day oh maybe restates is saying they will continue protesting until israel's twelve you can see the ok he's there to stop it al jazeera gaza the arab economic summit is being seen as a failure even before it begins on sunday arab league foreign and finance ministers have been meeting in beirut though most heads of state have pulled out the

countries involved disagree over relations with damascus and efforts to contain iran syria's membership was suspended in twenty two because of the war though lebanon's foreign minister is pushing for it to be restored. an appeals panel of the international criminal court has granted a last minute request to extend the detention of the former ivory coast president laurent gbagbo prosecutors have asked to keep him in prison while they appeal against his acquittal he was tried over post-election violence eight years ago in which three thousand people were killed both still faces a twenty year jail term back home for financial crimes and tossed a butler has more from the hague. well what this decision means is that the former ivory coast leader loral backbone and say he's will minister charles playgroup day will remain provision in detention here in the hague it follows the appeals chamber all the international criminal court accepting a request by the prosecutor not to free the two men well on tuesday the two were

acquitted of crimes against humanity for post-election violence in twenty ten and twenty eleven in the ivory coast the judge said that the prosecution of actually failed to build a strong enough case to convict them the judge then on wednesday said the two were free to go but that is when the prosecutor said that they they opposed the release of these two men and one of the main reasons they said is because they wanted to file an appeal against the acquittal was they were doing that they fear that bag i mean do they could flee to a norm i c c signatory countries such as the ivory coast and then fail to appear at any future trial when what happens next is there will be another hearing on their release in february and after that a decision on whether the to remain here in detention in the hague whether they are finally free to go president donald trump has met with one of north korea's top negotiators and washington d.c.

earlier kim king. met with secretary of state my comp aoe considered a close confidant of north korean.