hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. just over an hour ago, this happened. oj simpson has been granted early release by a parole board. he has served nine years for armed robbery. us and european officials say they've shut down the largest marketplace on the darkweb. this is the largest dark market web page takedown in world history. jeff sessions has been scolded by donald trump over his decision to stand down from any russian investigations. we'll be live in washington. there's a general strike in venezuela. it's the latest effort to oust the government. oj simpson has served nine years of

33 year sentence for armed robbery. he will be released from prison. mr simpson, before i cast my vote, i wa nt to simpson, before i cast my vote, i want to let you know that we believe we are a fair board, we believe we area we are a fair board, we believe we are a consistent board. i will let you know that consistency also goes to parole, and we do not look kindly on parole violations, and if i cast my vote to grant, and it concludes the hearing, our expectation would be that you not violate even the

simplest condition for parole. having said that, i am prepared to cast a vote, i am repaired to ask the condition is —— commissioners to set conditions. the bbc's james cook is covering this from los angeles. for people coming to this story afresh, remind us why he is in prison in the first place? oj simpson was imprisoned because of a botched attempt to raid a hotel room in los angeles with some armed men, way back nine years ago now, more than nine years ago, in which he tried to get this memorabilia back. one of the men pointed a gun at one of the men in the room and he was subsequently jailed for armed robbery, 433 years. he served nine yea rs of robbery, 433 years. he served nine years of that sentence, and as we heard there at this the parole board decided he is eligible to be

released on parole. what are the terms of the parole, we told? he will have to behave! that was made very clear to him. the terms of the pa role very clear to him. the terms of the parole are that he must not reoffend. they also judged that he was at a low risk of reoffending, and they said he had no prior criminal convictions. that raised some eyebrows. back in the 1990s, there could hardly be anyone in the united states or anywhere around the world who did not know that oj simpson did not have a conviction. his chase across los angeles when his ex wife and her friend were found dead was covered live on television. his subsequent trial was dubbed the trial of the century, and his acquittal was sensational as well. he was later found to be responsible for the death in a civil suit. people remained divided about oj simpson, but one recent poll

suggested that only 7% of americans we re suggested that only 7% of americans were sure that he was not a killer. and for a certain generation, he was as big as a star gets. is he still a household name in the us? he is in the sense that people have memory of his performances in american football. he was generally regarded asa football. he was generally regarded as a sensational player, both as a couege as a sensational player, both as a college player and when he entered the professional arena. then he went on to be an actor starring in films such as the towering inferno, the naked gun, and in advertising and commentating on sports. he was a huge name but he has been out of the limelight, he has been in the lovelock correctional centre in nevada for the past nine years. thank you. two of the biggest marketplaces on the dark web have been shut down. the dark web is the part of the internet that's only

accessible with special software. that makes it far easier to remain anonymous or untraceable — and means just about everything gets bought and sold — drugs, weapons, malware, you name it. the two websites in question are alphabay and hansa. this is what you now find if you manage to access either website. this is because of co—ordinated action by law enforcement agencies in the us and europe. this is the us attorney jeff sessions earlier. today, the department ofjustice announces the ta kedown today, the department ofjustice announces the takedown of the dark web market alphabay. this is the largest dark market web takedown in world history. alpha bay largest dark market web takedown in world history. alphabay staff member claimed that this group serviced

more than 40,000 illegal lenders, people who sell illegal products, for more than 200,000 customers —— vendors. by far most of this activity was in illegal drugs, pouring fuel on the fire of the national drug epidemic. you may be wondering have there been lots of arrests as well. the bbc‘s gary o'donoghue was in the press briefing andi o'donoghue was in the press briefing and i spoke to him earlier. that have been a few arrests. the guy who ran alpha bay which have been a few arrests. the guy who ran alphabay which was shut down on the 5th ofjuly, he was a canadian living in thailand, and he was arrested, but it seems that he committed suicide a week later while in custody in thailand. there is a bit of a mystery there. the other people in terms of hansa, some arrests were made in the netherlands and germany as well in relation to

the european side of it. there is some discussion about alphabay and some discussion about alphabay and some people who work for that in the us getting arrested. i think they are particularly focusing on finding the service, and they have done that, and closing them down and closing down this trade, because of course, jeff sessions was very explicit about this, he said americans have died as a result of buying opioids like heroin and artificial opioids on this alphabay website. he named some names. it is a big dealfor them, particularly because of the coordination they have managed to pull off with other jurisdictions. i think they are trying to send a message that this dark web, and these ways into it, they mentioned a browser as one of they mentioned a browser as one of the ways you get into that area of

anonymous ips and things like that, they think they are catching up, if you like, with the criminals and they are getting as good at it as they are getting as good at it as the people who are trying to evade and conduct illegal activity. that is one story concerning jeff sessions. this is another one. the us attorney generaljeff sessions has been just about as loyal to donald trump as anyone in the last 18 months — today the president attacked him. and, as usual, russia is at the centre of the story. the president says mr sessions has been "very unfair" to him. he's talking specifically about this moment. i have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in anyway to the campaigns for president of the united states. mr sessions recused himself from a russia investigation after failing to declare a meeting with the russian ambassador. here's mr trump talking to the new york times. he said, "sessions should have never recused himself,

and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took thejob and i would have picked somebody else." jeff sessions has had this to say. this is not really a normal day, the president made very disparaging remarks about you, the attorney general of the united states. given what he said, what is your reaction to those remarks and how seriously are you considering resigning?” have the honour of serving as attorney general. it is something that goes beyond any thought i would ever have had for myself. we love thisjob, we love ever have had for myself. we love this job, we love this department andi this job, we love this department and i plan to continue to do so, as long as that is appropriate. let's turn to anthony snobeck in washington. i am getting a bit confused by this. how canjeff

sessions have told donald trump he would recuse himself when he did not know that would happen? that is a very good question. the russian investigation at the time jeff sessions was appointed to be attorney general was just getting started. we did not find out the trump campaign was under the spotlight untiljames komi testified to congress about a month and a half later. for him to say, and he said during his hearings, that if an investigation was pointed towards the campaign he would recuse himself if he was somehow implicated in it. jeff sessions gave the groundwork for when he might recuse himself, he might have seen this could have been on the horizon, for trump to say if he had known ahead of time for this to happen when there are multiple sets to get to this point, it kind of defies logic. and as ever with mr

trump's stories, this is in part confusing and certainly unusual. what does it add up to in practical terms? i think it adds up to the fa ct terms? i think it adds up to the fact that once again, he is questioning people within his own administration. he is under cutting some of his own staff. i was reading an article earlier about how people in the white house right now or in shock. if donald trump can go after jeff sessions, who as you mention was loyal from the start, was probably the first national figure to endorse donald trump when he was running for president, when nobody else thought he was going to win, if donald trump could start undercutting him, then who is beyond donald trump's questioning? who does he think is safe from being second—guessed? he think is safe from being second—guessed ? i he think is safe from being second—guessed? i think there are a lot of people in the white house who are feeling a little uneasy with this development. anthony, thank you. we have started outside source. in a

few minutes we will turn to venezuela. there are protests on the streets and clashes with the police to try and get president madeira out of power, some thing he says he has no intention of doing. there has been a rise in crime in england and wales. here is daniel sandford. there has been an increase. what are other is doing about it? —— what are officers doing about it? the first thing is we tackle

those who we know are causing the most harm. that is our prolific burglars. the second thing is around our crime prevention piece so we would encourage people to do the basics around crime prevention. crime figures are not easy to interpret. a separate survey of people's personal experiences still suggests crime overall is falling but the government's own statisticians think that may be out of date and at least some crimes are likely to be creeping up again. our lead story is oj simpson has been granted early release after serving nine years of 33 sentence for armed robbery. north korea is facing severe food shortages after being hit by its worst drought since 2001. that is according to the un. the most vulnerable, and the elderly, will be worst hit says a report from bbc

world service radio. teenagers from burundi taking part ina teenagers from burundi taking part in a competition in the us are missing. ateam in a competition in the us are missing. a team of girls from afghanistan were originally not allowed to attend the robotics campaign because of donald trump's travel ban. that was resolved. you will remember two years ago cecil the lion was killed by an american trophy hunter in zimbabwe. it appears his son has also been killed during a hunt. there is a general strike in venezuela designed to push president maduro from power. roads have been barricaded and there

are roads have been barricaded and there a re protesters out roads have been barricaded and there are protesters out on the street. you can see protesters and armed police on the streets. this is nothing new, there have been protests since april. since april these protests have been going on, dozens these protests have been going on, d oze ns of these protests have been going on, dozens of people have been killed. they are all designed to get rid of president maduro. he says he is not going anywhere. a couple of other things to show you. the national news agency has been putting out images showing people going about their work. this sign says the national assembly is unstoppable. these are public sector workers a p pa re ntly these are public sector workers apparently showing their support for the government but it is very difficult tojudge how the government but it is very difficult to judge how natural that photo was. and the situation is febrile. the head of the association

of united states said in a report yesterday, the fear we have, and which we are afraid to say out loud, is that this situation could turn us into a bloodbath. we are broadcasting from the bbc newsroom. we can speak to our americas editor. here she is assessing the scale of the protests. people in caracas woke up to shops closed and barricades in the main highways. there is no traffic. this may be replicated in other cities as well. it seems to be quite a big strike. the last time they tried this was in 2002 and it lasted over months and months, when they were trying to get rid of president maduro predecessor hugo chavez. why does the president say he has no need to listen to these protesters? he feels that they are criminal,

that they are engaged in an economic war against that they are engaged in an economic waragainst him, and that they are engaged in an economic war against him, and are backed by what he says are foreign forces. he usually means the us in this case. for him, he feels he is arguing that they are stopping him from creating a peaceful situation and tackling the economic difficulties in the country is having. the president would argue that despite the fact he is elected he has got to go because? he is taking away their rights. they have been striking since march when the supreme court is simply decided to ta ke the supreme court is simply decided to take over the role of the national congress. we have seen months and months and months of near daily protests, mostly from young

people who have nojobs. the daily protests, mostly from young people who have no jobs. the schools are closed and the economy is in tatters. so this is not a one-day strike, it could roll on further? they tend to take it day by day. they tend to take it day by day. they tend to gauge what the situation is on the day before they make those decisions. let's look at this two each from elon musk, the man behind tesla. he said, just received verbal government approval to build an underground and why phil baltimore, dc hyperlink. i will need some help to understand that. here is samir hussein in new york. these tweets from anybody else would not be taken very seriously, but elon musk has and for making the impossible somewhat closer to reality and the

case in point is space x and tesla. he says he has some verbal approval from someone in the government that he can build a hyperlink. we have already seen some tests for the hyperlink. it is a superfast train he says between new york and the washington corridor he will be able to build the hyperlink which will allow us to get from one place to another in 29 minutes. anyone in this corridor will at this news because trying to get between the two places is very difficult, especially now we have so many train derailment and so many slowdowns. that said, it is unclear who he got this tacit approval from. really, that said, it is unclear who he got this tacit approvalfrom. really, if you wanted to get something like this off the ground, you would have to go to each individual state. there would be environmental rules to go through and it would be mired in so much red tape that it is hard to believe one governmental

organisation picked up the phone and said go for it. this is the man who is building the world's biggest battery in australia at the moment. let's talk about easyjet. sales have gone up by 16% over the last three months and the profit forecast is up for the year. here is one analyst on the news. this year we have had much better punctuality and a few other things coming to fruition. people are still wanting to spend on holidays and travel and prioritising that. you have seen despite capacity being added across the industry, easyj et has being added across the industry, easyjet has been able to sell more seats to more people. the world's largest comic book convention is being held in san diego. 130,000 people show up. here

is one comic artist talking about how hollywood is starting to influence his industry. it is more comic book themed than ever. the movies are starting to prove that. these movies are reaching a new audience. with every new marvel movie and every dc one, and even comics like the walking dead, really helps the business. we had the first issue of the avengers in the shop and it sold £4000. we will shift from san diego to south africa. allegations of high—level corruption are being fuelled by a leak of confidential e—mails. mixed up in the scandal is a british pr company which is accused of fuelling racial

tensions. andrew harding has this report. these are murky times in south africa. leaked e—mails are fuelling accusations of a giant political scandal. a grievous crime has been committed against the people of south africa. by president zuma? president zuma comes across to me as an aid —— aider and a better. president zuma comes across to me as an aid -- aider and a better. the group tos hired a british public relations firm bell pottinger to try and improve their public image. the company distracted from the issue by highlighting racial disruption. what

they did is appalling. they sewed back into our nation is strong racial narrative, with the history of our country, i think it is indefensible. a social media campaign against the power of white businesses went ugly. was part of a black ops propaganda campaign to get the media off this corrupt network's back. africa is ours, it is not yours. soon, the vitriol was spilling onto the streets. a radical group with alleged ties to the group tos began threatening white journalists who had investigated high—level corruption. journalists who had investigated high-level corruption. you are worried about the book tos because you believe they are organising black people to take the wealth back —— you are worried about the guptas. but a backlash followed against the

guptas, president zuma and bell pottinger‘s highly controversial role. eventually, the company dropped the guptas as clients, apologised for an offensive and inappropriate campaign, sacked the partner in charge and launched an internal investigation. many here believe bell pottinger must do much more. if they want to truly retain some credibility of the saga, it must be on the basis of total transparency. that makes my blood boil. it makes me so angry that essentially they came here to destroy what we have painstakingly painfully built. that anger is now fuelling a larger fight back against corruption within the governing a mc and what many fear is this country's

dangerous decline. —— the governing anc. that is a complex story, if you would like more information on it, you can find it via the bbc website. if you have a smartphone but you don't have the bbc news at one you can put that right by going to the app store and searching for bbc news and you can download it quickly. in the next half of outside source we will hear from katya adler with her verdict on the second round brexit talks and we will have a report on the first day of the open, the golf, that is. plus many more stories from around the world. i will speak to you in a minute. hello. there will be a detailed look at the weather here in the united kingdom just before the top of the

hour. first, it is time for some world weather stories. starting off in southern brazil. there was some freezing rain in brazil. around the coasts to the north and east there will be the showers and around sao paulo largely dry. more like the middle teens in buenos aires and around 20 degrees in santiago and similar in lima. a lot of activity in the southern pacific. there is an extra thunderstorms, a couple of tropical depressions and storms as well. there are some wildfires still burning on the western side of canada and not much rain in the forecast here. wildfires as well on the western side of the united

states. not much help from the weather in the next few days. it will be quite windy on the western side of north america. and it will be hotting up in this central area. the warm air gets a long way north, pushes up into central canada. temperatures in winnipeg getting up to 28 or 29 degrees. it will be around 35 in denver. it could go as high as 38 in dallas. to the east of japan there is the potential for a couple of tropical storms to develop. there is something developing to the east of the philippines as well. it looks like it will be wet at times in manila. drier conditions down towards jakarta. back in europe, we have got wildfires burning here, mainly through the south of iberia. some getting close to rome and sicily is

not looking good either and there area not looking good either and there are a few wildfires burning close to croatia and montenegro. not much sign ofany croatia and montenegro. not much sign of any rain in the next few days. i pressure in charge in the mediterranean. more sunshine to come. there is somewhat a whether to be had in france across the alpine region and further east towards warsaw. it is more like the middle 20s as we head towards paris and warsaw. back on our shores we will end the week with a spell of wind and rain. it will be wettest and windiest across the south—west of england. this story has been developing in the past our soul. is being granted

merrily released by a parole board after serving nine of the 33 year jail sentence for armed robbery. they have shut them the largest marketplace on the dark web. here is the us attorney general. this is the largest dark market web takedown in world history. that is jeff sessions, a loyalist to donald trump, but today the president attacked him for