the supreme court to suspend his 12—yearjail sentence for corruption. it comes just hours after he was due to hand himself into police. he has been holed up in the headquarters of a steelworkers‘ union. doctors treating the former russian spy who was attacked with a nerve agent in the uk say he's no longer in a critical condition. sergei skripal and his daughter yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in salisbury, nearly five weeks ago. russia has threatened a ‘tough response‘ to new us sanctions imposed on russian officials and companies, who are accused of profiting from president putin's efforts to undermine the west. the blacklist includes mr putin's bodyguard, his son—in—law, oligarchs close to the president and a dozen companies they control. police say they will no longer take further action against the pensioner

after an intruder was fatally stabbed at his home. henry vincent died at the house in south—east london. it was on wednesday morning that the pensioner decided to intruders at his home here, it is thought one of the intruders was armed with a screwdriver. police said there was a struggle and that ended up with one of the intruders, henry vincent, being stabbed. he was discovered collapsed on the road and related died in hospital. ——later died. the pensioner was arrested on suspicion of murder, much of the horror of some of his neighbours who said he was only defending his property. tonight the met have said no further action will be taken against him, they have not given explicit reasons why, but they describe what happened here as a tragedy to everyone involved. the law states that a householder does have the right to use reasonable force if they genuinely fear for their own safety in self—defence. there is no sign of him here at his home tonight,

at the police presence remains. now on bbc news, ben zand has travelled to guatemala, to investigate claims of miracle healings and giant vegetables, in the second part of ‘cults, gangs and god.‘ i had made it to tamala park —— to guatemala, the home of loans and volcanoes. as well as having probably poverty, corruption and crime, it also has the highest population of evangelicals in all of south america. very religious place. it also has these. enormous mega— churches. i had been hearing a lot about evangelical pastors and what —— one name kept on coming up. ask anyone here, and they will know who he is. but only does he claim to be

in direct communication with the big man himself, but he is also a multimillionaire and has one of the biggest churches in the world, casa de dios, which can hold over 11,000 people. i was on my way to visit him. it looks like an alien space ship. bloody hell. the era mind you, this is not anfield, it a church. it is just this is not anfield, it a church. it isjust a normal this is not anfield, it a church. it is just a normal sunday, this is not anfield, it a church. it isjust a normal sunday, oh my god, look at it. it is like a theatre. churches are usually quite a solemn place, old, this looks at somewhere i would see mariah carey perform. pastor luna is notjust one of the

most famous men in guatemala, at in all of central and latin america. and he knows how to put it to the church has a dedicated band, and its own theme. do you know who wrote the during each congregation, a donut king basket —— donation basket is brought around, and people give all

they can in the hope they will get richer or their sickness will be due at. this is often called the prosperity gospel. this message resonates well in a country where over half the population is below the national poverty line. 23% live in extreme poverty. what is more impressive is that he says he has the ability to heal people through god. there was even a video playing of the congregation, where they claimed that a wooden —— woman had been healed of hiv due to attending the church. applause. i was amazed. this was a

man who is said to cure people of hiv through the power of god. i wa nted hiv through the power of god. i wanted to talk to him, and as soon as the congregation finished, i got my chance. how‘s it going, nice to meet you? this is very nice. i joined cash luna from breakfast with his family. it was amazing to see you up there, you are so experienced at talking to people. you up there, you are so experienced at talking to peoplelj you up there, you are so experienced at talking to people. i try to not use religion language when i speak. somebody who knows nothing of what you teach, how would you explain what it is you are telling them? they‘re looking for options, they are looking for solutions. so i have one, it is jesus. are looking for solutions. so i have one, it isjesus. you saw the testimony of the lady... she got

killed of hiv, with god? yes. a lot of people would say that is impossible. that is the amazing thing, to experience impossible things for the rest of the people. is there a limit, if i broke my leg, there is hiv... you tell me. if he can heal hiv, he can heal your near your leg... can heal hiv, he can heal your near yourleg... i can heal hiv, he can heal your near your leg... i believe so. everything can be healed? why is everybody not healed of these things. people say, you don‘t get healed because you don‘t have enough faith, i don‘t wa nt to don‘t have enough faith, i don‘t want to condemn nobody. it is safe to say i was sceptical that people had been cured of hiv after

attending this church. the only evidence i had seen was a video played in cash‘s church. i wanted to ask about money, do you see yourself as a rich man? not like a rich man, like a blessed. to be a blessed man is different to being rich. the bible says. can give you riches without sadness. are you saying you are rich and really happy? no, i am saying, i am blessed with or without riches. are there misconceptions about you, people are telling me you have a privatejet... the church has a private jet, telling me you have a privatejet... the church has a privatejet, it telling me you have a privatejet... the church has a private jet, it is for six people. i have never seen a church like this, it is amazing. was it made on peoples donations? yes. how much did it cost? $45 million.

when you got 45 million, did you think you could build hospitals? sometimes we have more people getting healed here than in hospitals. we are in the healing... i had seen one video that was particular you amazing. —— particularly. it showed cash luna using the power of the bible to take over people ‘s bodies. i had heard got him a lot of attention, so wa nted got him a lot of attention, so wanted ask about it. there is an amazing video of, you lay down the bible, and now people walking... this is one of the more polemical videos. it is amazing. explain how god comes through. this is a wall. if you see the video, and you won‘t

bear, you would understand nothing. can we walk with you? it would be nice to see... it was time for cash to head back on stage. it is not ha rd to to head back on stage. it is not hard to see why he does this. he has got thousands of adoring fans, he owns one of the biggest churches in the world, and he has a privatejet. and this shows you how big religion is here, this isjust one church. my time with cash luna had not worked out like i hoped. he seemed annoyed by my interview, maybe he didn‘t like the questions i asked. and he did not want to meet again in a few days later at wii has —— as we had originally agreed. but cash luna is not the only pasta like this. guatemala is full of these people. and passes from all over are trying to follow in cash luna‘s footsteps.

there was one place i had heard of which was known for not only being evangelical but for the biggest miracle of all. god bless it with giant carrots, yes, giant carrots. and now it was enjoying interior of prosperity. the pastor in the town was pastor sanchez, an avid follower of cash luna. it is an honour to meet you sir. i recognise this man here, this is cash luna. he is very famous. 0h, oh, that is in miami? do you talk to him quitea oh, that is in miami? do you talk to him quite a lot? i had a bit about your personal story with god. has god said anything to you while we have been filming?

is he saying that everyone who watches this film will then believe in god? you are confident that will happen, 01’ even concerned you are confident that will happen, or even concerned it might not? there is a chance that if this gets

viewed via enough people, this film could cure the world of everything? are you feeling god as we speak? is there any way you can display for us now on camera what god is telling you, what he is doing? so it has just gone so it hasjust gone in so it has just gone in those few seconds that i asked that question? 0h, these are the carrots and mac you have the carrots and stuff there. wow, they are the hefty carrots. that is a pretty big carrot, i did

not expected be so big. it is beer than my foot. the story of almolonga goes like this. the people here used to believe in other gods, and so they were punished. the crops were small, they had problems with alcohol, poverty and loose morals. since they started to believe in the god of agro one, everything changed. —— the god of pastor sanchez. everything changed. they call it the transformation. why do you think that out of all things, god decided to give almolonga really nice carrots? money could have rained down on the city,

eve ryo ne could have rained down on the city, everyone could have fantastic else. —— health. tiny carrots. what happened to these carrots ? tiny carrots. what happened to these carrots? it is a scam. it is all a lie. i was admittedly a maze at the size of almolonga‘s carrots. someone told me there was something more to the story than the divine power of god. i spoke to a woman who was doing a ph.d. on i spoke to a woman who was doing a ph.d. 0n the miracle of almolonga. she said she could give me more clarity on the giant carrots. hello. i have just been to almolonga and i saw some giant carrots. are they from god? i am not saw some giant carrots. are they from god? iam nota saw some giant carrots. are they from god? i am not a religious person, so from god? i am not a religious person, so for me, they are not. the carrots are legitimately massive. i

was amazed. why are they so big? ? what are the health risks? would you say that almolonga is using too many fertilisers, too many pesticides? she told me macro will to did have

good conditions for growing vegetables, but that the overuse of chemicals was worrying —— almolonga. i wanted to note is that people knew of the risks or whether the apparent presence of god made them feel as though they were protected. nicholas has been spraying for chemicals on his crops for years and he was happy to talk to me about almolonga‘s carrots. what are their names? it smells very strong. i have a bit ofa it smells very strong. i have a bit of a headache. has anybody ever told you that these chemicals might have adverse

side—effects? a lot of people time it is god that made the carrots big, but it seems like the use of fertilisers, the carrots could be small. do you think that maybe this idea that god has made them huge, maybe it is not entirely true? you think god protects almolonga and the people here so everyone would be 0k? i was surprised by what i had found. i wanted to speak to pastor sanchez about it, so at headed back to meet him. it was the day of his congregation. hello, pastor sanchez. nice to see you. i decided to wait

until after the event that evening to ask about the carrots. there was a lot he planned tojoin me —— he planned to show me. he invited me to his house. it is a fancy car. off camera, he told me she ran a trucking company, transporting vegeta bles trucking company, transporting vegetables all over central america. as well as being a pastor, you also work in the vegetable business? so i suppose you are very lucky then that god lest this area and gave it big carrots that is i suppose you make lots of money from that. that is correct. let‘s do it. look at that. it looks like a rock star. yeah, it‘s a very big isn‘t it? you don‘t see much of

these in almolonga. what you think people see when you drive around the streets with your bmw, your nice jacket? what are the population inking when they see you fly buy? as night—time heat, i made my way to the congregation. i have only really got one question i want to ask him now, which is about the carrots and whether they in fact come from fertiliser and not god. i am a little bit nervous to ask him about that. it was clear pastor sanchez

was a popular man. the church was packed and he even had his own tv show. but there was something very familiar about what i was seeing. then, right in the middle of the ceremony, i was called on stage. the whole town had heard i was at the congregation and they had a gift for me. look at the site! that is... it was a bag of giant carrots! this is not a bag of giant carrots! this is not a carrot. this is a small child‘s leg. this is awkward now. i have to ask

about the carrots in front of everybody. thank you for the carrots. i mean, this is actually ridiculous. i had one question about them. maybe it is not so much god that makes them big, but it is because people are using a lot of fertiliser. have you ever heard of that before? you definitely have some good land here, but i have basically been told that to get this big, people need to put quite a lot of fertiliser on. that can be bad for people‘s l. you don‘t think so? these chemicals can increase diabetes risks, cancer risks, all sorts of diseases. do you think people would be scared

if it was true to tell people, because the town would lose a lot of money, people like yourself would make it much money. they even want to tell people if it was true? thank you very much. thank you. i don‘t quite know what i was expecting pastor sanchez to say, but that was a very difficult conversation to have. religion is so

important to almolonga and these carrots are so important to almolonga, so i just carrots are so important to almolonga, so ijust thought i was destroying their most famous story. there is a reason that the carrots are massive, but something tells me that it are massive, but something tells me thatitis are massive, but something tells me that it is not because of god. but for people like pastor sanchez, the truth is bad for business thomas i can‘t see a change any time soon. hello. thoughts on the weekend in just a second, but first of all, i think we should mark the fact that on friday here in the heart of london the temperatures reached in excess of 17 degrees celsius, the warmest day of the year so far. not far behind in the sunshine stakes, this was south wales. but somebody had to have all the cloud and rain and initially it was there in northern ireland and then it moved on to scotland and it was captured beautifully by graham in the heart of sterling.

the weekend, for the pessimists amongst you, cloudy, damp and mild. for the optimists, there will be dry weather. this is how friday shaped up. the reason why we had the brightness down towards the south—east and the warmth was because the frontal system never actually made it down into the south—east and into the first part of saturday, the rain still drifting its way slowly towards the northern half of scotland and then it arcs back from the north sea down to a new area of cloud and rain towards the south—west. all of that cloud means that the weekend will not start on a particularly cold note. that frontal system that i‘ve drawn there as a straight line will wave all over, particularly in the central and eastern parts of the british isles for a good part of the weekend. to its east, there is some relatively mild air to be had. as i say, we‘ve already got the temperature up to 17 and we won‘t be far off that mark — if we get a little bit of brightness, perhaps, across east anglia and the south—east.

but further west, closer to that weather front, perhaps, the rain can be quite heavy for a time and as you see, it really only drifts very slowly further north. it could eventually end up into northern ireland, could get up to the scottish borders and eventually clear from the south. a bit of brightness here, that‘s where it could hit 16 or 17. some nice dry weather across the north of scotland. and from saturday on into sunday, the same weather front. we‘ve got one little wave on it there. it‘s a zone of cloud rather than a thin banner of cloud. and, again, at its thickest, it could be producing rain. at this distance, my money is on the fact that there could be cloud and rain across east anglia and the south—east. elsewhere, this is where the optimists get their day, lots of dry weather around and there may be sunshine that could, even as far north as edinburgh, be boosting the temperatures to around about 13 degrees. just a sneaky peek at the start of next week, when you thought

it was this atlantic front coming in to dominate the weather, in fact it is a low pressure over france, which eventually churns cloud and rain in from the east and south—east across a good part of england and wales. the best of the dry weather further north. this is bbc news. our top stories: brazil‘s former president lula is negotiating his surrender — hours after a police deadline expired. doctors say sergei skripal — the former russian spy poisoned with a nerve agent is making a rapid recovery. russia warns of a tough response as president putin‘s inner circle is implicated in new sanctions from the us. police in new york charge martial arts fighter conor mcgregor with assault and criminal mischief. hello.

the former president of brazil, luis inacio lula da