has so the lack of water, they have started to know these different types of insects they had never seen before. big stream weather conditions had also cost sure to use of grass grain in water. see beauty impacting the captain of many of the farmers in the area except $1000000000.00 money known drink operation. the coal. marsha is bigger than the company with financial institutions, regulators and governments complicit them by way of helping with it. is it right? i would describe that in a 4 part series. algio 0 is investigative unit because under cover in southern africa, pittsburgh, we can fill 90 percent of the government once it's to the following. it's perfectly brand new good part to on al jazeera. ah. all zero's investigative unit exposes a money laundering,

a scheme in southern africa, which implicates some of its biggest banks. ah, about this and this is all your life and dough hob. also coming up, russia detains the wall street journal reporter on charges of espionage. and on, gosh, college has pleaded not guilty plus ah, up to 3 months in florida, brazil's former president jabal sonata returns to a rupture was reception and a series of legal troubles. and seneca was opposition leader. also, sancho is how the 2 men suspended the sentence in a defamation shop. ah, auto heater is investigative unit has uncovered a money laundering operation involving hundreds of millions of dollars as in

southern africa. under cover journalists infiltrated gold smuggling gangs who helped zimbabwe. his leaders obtained us dollars despite international sanctions imposed on them. in the 2nd of our 4 part series gold mafia, we uncovered how the money is illegally moved through some of south africa is biggest banks. alexander james begins are coverage. dowd con is a former money launderer. he fears for his life and is speaking exclusively to al jazeera his investigative unit from a safe house. he says his role was to forge paperwork to disguise the money laundering as legitimate transactions in the office. we had a strong and in the strong room red boxes upon boxes, off bank stamps. we had boxes of passports, red boxes of id documents. head of the operation is dowd's brother mohammed con. his street name is mo dollars. his financial services firm served as

a front for the laundering. he sort of held up as this sort of shadowy figure that controls money laundering little africa that everybody wants to find wants to la kate wants to discuss funds to catch whence to prosecute or wants to use. we've obtained a trove of thousands of documents that reveal fake invoices from fictitious suppliers addressed to mo, dollars clients. no goods, no services, bureau leach, us money laundering. and i can tell you that with 100 percent certainty, because i done that logo we conceal the identity of one of mo, dollars, former business partners, muhammad county and moon, for money lockdown is because of you. a 1000000 in crawford today transferring to different countries to different places. and you got all the connections to do with it to ensure the scheme success. the laundry is bright employees at south africa's

banks. you look after us, you pushed through all our payments. no questions asked wonder specific company and real match your salary every month in cash. a ledger records kickbacks paid to staff at saft and bank who are responsible for processing foreign payments. we were actually the executive management team of the assessment for t x pro sitting department. you can put it in that way. mormon was c o, off of it, company. without them knowing the ledger records bribes, paid to employees at other banks to for vin maker is a senior manager at the compliance division of standard banks out africa. and also is the key complicated to the south african reserve bank. i can make a phone call for you not do individuals in eps or it would put whatever you tell

them to put on the list it for you. and they would stay with mohammed con, told us that all the allegations against him were false. and based on manufactured evidence, he denied bribing any one in the south african banking sector. vivian nike denied involvement in a money laundering syndicate. sas finn said it was taking vigorous action against former employees, absa passed on our findings to it's forensic investigative unit. and standard bank told us it takes a 0 tolerance approach to fraud and criminality. alexander james al jazeera or board of orders, it is under cover investigation, includes an airport security manager at the zimbabwe and civil aviation authority explaining how the smuggling is carried out. if you just need to be to me what you asked me to do also help make some changes

if, for example, you're taking money, we need to know how much you take money into the city. but your precious loads gambling places. alexander james was part of the odyssey a team uncovering the story says this type of corruption involves different airports, banks and top government officials. not all of the smoking at the airport happens in hidden compartments with baggage or bribe. it's airports officials, many of the smugglers moving through the airport, carry all the right paperwork, but that's because the export deals that they handle secured by bribery and corruption, or through political influence that corruptly acquired export deals. and to, to intents and purposes is gold. smuggling is true to say that the ball boys

political conditions may get incredible on who to smuggling. a recent report found that's $1500000000.00 the last, every year after you go to smuggling. and, but really what we build in the course of this investigation, it's an international picture of the corruption. and ultimately it's all about control. and whether that is controlling an airport through a special that you can control what goes in and out. or as, as we discover in south africa, if you can control a bank to, you can move much, much more money. you can watch the next installment of our 4 part series, gold mafia, smoke and mirrors. the full episode is coming up on al jazeera at 20 g m t. m. also court has ruled our wall street journal reporter who was arrested and espionage charges will be held for 2 months of pre trial detention. evan gas

coverage told the courtroom. he was not guilty. the citizen was detained by russia's federal security service in the city of your catherine work. yes. college has been working in russia since 2017. it previously worked with the f p news agency and the moscow times newspaper. his lawyer says the tyler moscow was held behind closed doors and he was not allowed to attend. but i really don't probably. he left over the hell the quick trial. i don't know. it took 3, maybe 15 minutes. and then as far as i understand, as far as we all he understand, he has taken away from here with the most people place him under rest is publications released a statement saying the wall street journal vehemently denies the allegations from the m f. m. s. b and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter evan gus coverage. we stand in solidarity with evan and his family dosage . a body is outside the court in moscow. 31 year old evan gar, coverage made us 1st court appearance here in this building behind me,

i left over the court house on thursday in the russian capital. the charges that are being brought against him are that of espionage against the russian federation . the courts told the reporter that he will be held in custody for the next 2 months until may 29th, where the investigation will continue. now, if he's found guilty, you could face anywhere from 10 to 20 years in prison. these charges stem from allegedly, him carrying out activities in a central region of russia where the f s b services alleged that he was gathering information about the russian security apparatuses in that region. now these are allegations that the kremlin is aware of, according to the mitre pest, called the spokesperson for the kremlin, the journalist was caught red handed at carrying out. as in russia, we also heard from the russian foreign ministry spokesperson, who said that this is not the 1st time something like this has happened. that

accusing western people of using the cover of journalism to carry out various activities against the russian states. of course, at the arrest comes at a very sensitive time between the united states and russia, and it is certainly going to escalate tensions further when joined by what has correspondent, kimberly, how do we have a reaction? yes. from the bible administration. kimberly well, we were awaiting one, it has been pushed back another 30 minutes by the white house. so we are still awaiting that off camera briefing by a senior administration official. in the interim, we have heard from a couple of democratic congressman that are saying this is amounting to kidnapping by the russian government. and also that this is an infringement on

freedom of the press. we can certainly point out that this is coming as dorsey pointed out, a time of bitter tension between both the russian and u. s. government, not only because of the war ukraine, but also because the u. s. has been very outspoken about the detainment of not only journalists, but also political activists and, and ordinary civilians in russia. and we should also point out that in the u. s. it is being questioned about whether or not this is retaliatory in nature, the detainment of the of us citizens. that was reporting in russia. the wall street journal reporter, given the fact that the justice department here in the u. s. a just indicted a russian national for allegedly attending school graduate school here in the us under false pretenses under the auspices of being a brazilian citizen. and he is now sitting in a brazilian jail. so we are still awaiting further reaction from the white house

in the interim. we also know that the timing of this is coming on the heels of that very well publicized a swap prisoner exchange that came back in december of the w and b, a basketball star, brittany grider. and you'll remember that that swap included the exchange of the russian arms dealer victor boot, but did not include the american paul whalen, the marine or former marine, the still sitting in a russian jail. so this is obviously going to be of great concern to the united states, and in fact we have an update. now i'm just being handed this from my producer chris sheridan. we have a statement from the yes u. s. secretary of state antony blanket. i'm reading it here live. the state department has just released the statements on the arrest of the us citizen. we are deeply concerned over russia's widely reported detention of

a us citizen journalist. we are in contact with the wall street journal on the situation whenever u. s. citizen is detained abroad, we immediately seek, conceal or access and seek to provide all appropriate support. in the strongest possible terms, we condemn the kremlin, continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices. the department of state's highest priority is the safety and security of us citizens abroad. we reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to us citizens. inside the russian federation, u. s. citizens residing are traveling in russia to depart immediately as stated in the travel advisories for russia. so that is the latest statement coming from the us government just handed down just moments ago. kimberly thank you very much indeed. kimberly halted our white house correspondent with letters love post the gulf. as a journalist and katherine bergs, the city in rushes utilized were evan gosh, college was arrested. you says the wall street journal reporter was looking into

several stories in connection with russia's military. yes sooner i met evan on march 16th here, 2 weeks before he was detained. he told me he was investigating the public rao, that the head of wagner group give guinea pig roger had with the local governor. you evans speaks fluent, russian, and he was looking for people among journalists and politicians who could comment on this. evan also said he wanted to visit the wagner group cemetery, which isn't far from here. he was also planning to go to nita gil, where russia's military industrial giant wood alpha guns of ot is located. i think that might have been it, and i want him. i said listen lemon. you might get into trouble for this. go up. but he said he should be okay, that he's working within the law and doing his job. as a journalist, brazil's former president shotwell sonata has returned home after spending 3 months in the us state of florida, boston, and was greeted by crowds of supporters as he arrived as his liberal parties had fortress in brasilia. he met party officials who hope he's going to lead opposition

against president lewis. enough eluded the silver bolton, otto is facing a number of investigations which could affect his ability to stand in future elections. the young casado us is the head of the far right observatory in brazil, and he explains why boston adam felt it was the right time to return. he's come back because there's a, there's a man. there was a popular outcry for his return to brazil since he's the lead fall right leader in the country right now. one of the things that also nato might have considered in his return to brazil that if he stayed away for too long, some other politicians could trying to fill in the void of political leadership on the right. we can. the thing is that also not with a very popular leaders, so it's very hard for any other politician to, to take the stage and to replace ball so. so that's the reason why he understands

that by being the only major voice against the current little administration, he will be well positioned to, to run for to 2026 elections and eventually get re elected. stella had and al jazeera palestinians take part in the annual landing demonstrations, mocking the killing of 6 palestinian israelis in 1976 swung protested israeli land confiscation, and a shortage of eggs forces the shall lankin government. 2 important millions of them from india. that's angered many local producers. ah hello. it certainly looks like spring has well intruders sprung across a northern parts of china, mongolia. the korean peninsula,

adequate part of japan is lossy. settle, fine, and sunny in light winds, failing pleasantly warm, high pressure in charge. he is a little more clamped down towards taiwan, southern parts of china. still some showers, longest bells if rain coming in here for a time, that weather system just pulling out into the open water. she might catch your chair some parts of the acute shoe, but for much of japan is fine if i won't. sunshine 20 celsius, 68, him fahrenheit. similar temperature as you go on through sat st. i am at warp their career into the mid twenties, beijing doing very nicely as well. but shall, we'll continue down towards the south. may be some heavier bus coming in to taiwan on a 2 showers to into cambodia through louse, southern part sofa a vietnam could see a shower or 2 than the usual splash of rain there across a good part of southeast asia. but plenty of sunshine in between got rather heavy splashes of rain now making the way across northern parts or pakistan, northern areas of india, orange warnings in force anywhere from around the punjab. right into our west

bengal. some very heavy rain that in to be higher as we go on into the we can pushing across a good part of bangladesh. ah, with inspiring stories from around the world. ah. ready human life capture is foster with groundbreaking films, from award winning filmmakers. what is going on in new york city? on just eda lou.

ah, you want to go to 0? 1 of the top stories this are al jazeera investigative unit is uncovered. a large scale money laundering operation is southern africa. obama member over criminal syndicate reveals a scheme which implicates some of south africa's biggest bias. a moscow court has ruled our wall street journal reporter who was arrested and espionage charges will be held for 2 months, a pre trial detention. evan jessica, which has denied the accusations, brazil's former president general sonata has returned home after spending 3 months in the usa to florida. he was greeted by supporters gathered at his party's headquarters in brasilia. senegal is opposition, leader was slung, sancho has been given a 2 months suspended sentence for defamation. he was sued by the tourism minister. sancho didn't appear in court to face trial on thursday. he said the case against

him is politically motivated. police have been deployed in large numbers in the capital, docker to prevent protests. nicholas hack has more filmed off on it's no longer a 10 city, as if following the verdict. and you feel that people are coming back on to the streets are going about as much as possible. but as you can see right behind me, the police are still very much present in each and every artery. we spoke to the spokesman of the party of eastman sancho. he said he was disappointed with the outcome whilst he is still able to run any upcoming presidential election because this is a 2 months suspended prison sentence. he is disappointed that he was convicted for what he said. things is just him telling the truth and he accused a minister of corruption. we also spoke to the spokesperson of the ruling party of president mackey sal. and he says that this was

a victory for democracy for the real law and for the justice system. now, the opposition has always claimed that the justice system serves the purpose to eliminate opposition candidates that could be rivals to president mikey. so now he says that, look at the outcome of this trial, or this verdict shows how independent and how democracy is thriving. here in synagogue hello settings as a part of the young, a lung day, demonstrations in israel and the occupied palestinian territories. but a marks the killing of 6 palestinian israelis in 1976 who were protesting against land confiscations. since then, palestinians refused to down the street against more lun, seizures, organizers and gaza flung protests near the border fence with israel. oh jesus, your well faith has more phone gusto. we're here at malika camp in the east. him borders off the besieged gaza strip. where palestinians in gods have come in great

numbers about housing to participate and to remember one day. and they say policy and say that this event emphasizes their resilience against israel. we've seen hundreds of palestinians, men, women, and children, head back there to the border fans, as you can see behind me. and oh though her mass has spread a lot of security personnel in the entire area to keep palestine news from reaching the border fence. so that no violence with rapt here to day. we have seen all these numbers to reach to the friends. are these really forces on the other side of the fence responded by firing gas, the grenades on the protesters. and now the all been sent back to the

camp where of fractions policy infections leaders are giving or issuing statements and holding a press conference. and although the serious event has passed with no violence mentioned, this particular place has seen a lot of bloodshed from the palestinians in the great march of trade, which charted in the 2018 till the 2020, and were more than 260 policies were killed in over 7000 others where injured in clashes between them and the israeli forces deployed behind that security. you'll see it from malika can cause this stress. china view premier is charging his nation as an anchor for global peace and development. leach young was speaking at the opening of the i know blog form, often built as ages version of the diverse economic forum,

which is kimber reports from hong kong. china is rolling out the red carpet for political and financial leaders for more than 50 countries around the world is the 1st time the bow. our forum is taking place entirely in person since the start of the coded 19 outbreak for chinese new premier. it's also his 1st address to an international audience since being appointed as the countries 2nd in command. or may last, we need to adhere to common and comprehensive cooperation and sustainable security concepts, oppose the abuse of unilateral sanctions. a long arm jurisdiction, oppose the selection of science and group confrontation and the new cold war. this event is often billed as ages version of the world economic forum. and although discussions centered around major global issues, china's message this year is focused closer to home. right now with the political tensions trade tensions, military tensions that are going on,

not just over ukraine, but between china and the u. s. you're going to see china trying to reach out, especially to asi on cesar countries that china has a very good trade with and lists expect china to use the forum to promote asia as an investment safe haven at a time of global economic volatility. china is talking up its own economic recovery prospects off to the end of its long running strict code 19 rules. chinese premier lee is promising that china is own rebound can power a post. pandemic bounce back for the rest of the world. economists of forecasting chinese growth as high as 5.8 percent this year. that's up from 3 percent last year, one of its weakest growth rates in decades. many foreign businesses remain cautious about doing business in china as a result of major supply chain disruptions brought on by cove at 19 restrictions and regulate re crackdowns on the private sector. there is

a strong message. there will be a strong reinforcement of the state sector playing a pillar in the role within the chinese economy, and that's in a way, a discontinuation from the bull. our message should that was very much about economic reforms. private sector growth in the past, the decades prior to the pandemic. and so now there is certainly a pivot there. false. china wants to spunk a pivot towards global collaboration to political leaders from malaysia, singapore and ivory coast of echoed that call with that opening speeches at the bow . our forum analysts say the next challenge for china is to convince the world that it should be the coordinating center of that global cooperation effort, which is kimber. al jazeera hong kong, taiwan as president has arrived in new york city and what's being considered as a sensitive visit. china is threatening retaliation and sighing. one meets us house

because kevin mccarthy, jane has top over. bob waging is condemning the visit. washington is calling for com. the ferry, carrying nearly 250 people, has caught fire in the philippines, killing at least 31 of them. it was on its way to jolla town in the southern sooty province when the fire began just after midnight. several people are still missing, and such a rescue efforts are underway. the dead include at least 3 children. self sedans, president silva here, has appointed a member of his own party as defense, minister breaching a peace deal. same with his rival. the role should be selected by vice president and opposition leader, rick marcia. much are appointed his wife as defense minister, but president here fired her this month, re igniting tensions, but wanting parties signed a peace agreement and 2018 ending 5 years of civil war. ensure like a government has begun, importing eggs from neighboring india to east shortages and check sky rocketing

prices. local poultry and egg producers have criticized the move thing is going to run and already struggling industry into the ground. and al fernandez reports from cross commer as to weeks of delays, the promised eggs from india. i'll finally hear on thursday, the shipment was distributed among bakers and confectioners, where demand is highest with daily consumption up to 7000000 eggs. the consignment won't last long. the government hopes it will at least ease the situation. our plan is just to cater to the bigger industry and the hoteliers. so when we fulfill derek grammar automatically, the other eggs, the local producer, re come to the market. so then the consumers would be able to get them at a competitive price. i mean, reasonable price. the balcony industry has supplied local demand in recent years with eggs last imported in 2012. but they have been shortages in recent months and a tripling of vague prices in just a year. for marcia surgeon,

the price of chicken feed is to blame the result of fertilizer restrictions and a lack of foreign currency, whatever. on an agreement, importing corn was a problem because of the dollar issue. there was no locally growing corn because of the ban on agro chemicals that many farms had to close. if they had got raw materials as they needed, this wouldn't have happened. many farms survived the crisis my selling some of their near birds for meat, as they couldn't afford to feed them. she longed has porchie, association says the government's approach is self contradictory. and one hand encouraging local farmers to increase production, while on the other, undermining the very same farmers by importing cheap eggs. the government says, importing eggs is the best way to provide consumers some relief from skyrocketing price, earth. farmers don't agree, and scientists are also warning of the dangers of such a move. so if in any case,

if being part eggs from a country they are the influence are even influence. i've already there die for possibility that this virus can come to other poetry. other a backyard boy to other birds, and when it should be selected, that means in severe cases, the general public can be affected. india reported infections as recently as last month into different locations or to local authorities say, they've imported safety, certified eggs from a disease free area. over 1000000 people depend directly and indirectly on the poultry industry. the association says the government must enjoy its long term survival rather than chase short term solutions. bonaire fernandez al jazeera course gamma she lanka. ah, this is all the series of the top stories.