welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: was there a high—level plot to remove president trump? a top republican vows to investigate allegations made by a former acting fbi director. rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president? that's correct. as the battle against islamic state draws to a close, what will happen to captured is fighters? inside venezuela — we meet some of the people struggling to survive as the standoff over humanitarian aid continues. and going out with a bang. the world war ii bomb that took 75 years to explode. a republican senator has vowed

to investigate an alleged discussion to remove president trump from office. lindsay graham chairs the us senate judiciary committee. he says he could issue subpeonas to get to the bottom of claims that, in 2017, the deputy us attorney—general rod rosenstein discussed getting support for invoking the 25th amendment, which could declare the president unfit to serve. the claims were made in a tv interview by the former acting head of the fbi, andrew mccabe, who also claims mr rosenstein offered to wear a wire to record conversations with the president. the discussion of the 25th amendment was simply, rod raised the issue and

discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort. rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president? that's correct. 60 minutes says that in response to their interview, the justice department sent a statement calling mr mccabe's story "inaccurate and factually incorrect." "the deputy attorney general never authorised any recording that mr mccabe references, nor was the dag in a position to consider invoking the 25th amemdment," the statement reads. our washington correspondent chris buckler has more on the reaction to the interview. now, mr rosenstein has already denied this kind of allegations before, and claims that he was suggesting secretly recording president trump at one stage. he

says if he ever made such comments they were only intended as a joke. but they are very serious allegations to make against a us deputy attorney general. that is why republicans in washington are furious. they are already saving that potentially, they will call on both andrew mckay that and rod rosenstein to give evidence at a congressional committee, because they say it does suggest that some at the department ofjustice were out to get president trump in some way. —— andrew mccabe. they of course deny that, and it is worth pointing out that president trump has in the past accused the department ofjustice of leading a witch—hunt with this special investigation taking place into allegations of russian interference in the 2016 election. steve herman is white house bureau chief with voice of america news. he's in alexandria, virginia. steve, can you remind us what was going on at the time that some of these comments were allegedly made?

well, this was a very tense time, both at the white house and that the fbi, because the president was about to make his move against the then director, of the el, james comey. —— fbi. andrew mccabe, in that interview that bared just hours ago, did discuss that he was choral —— called infrared job interview by the president as a possible successor, and of course he was acting director of the el while all this was going on. “— of the el while all this was going on. —— called in for a job interview. is it the job of civil serva nts to interview. is it the job of civil servants to have these kinds of discussions if they are concerned, oi’ discussions if they are concerned, orare discussions if they are concerned, or are they out of their depth and remit here? well, that is the big debate here. of course, people who think that this president is unfit for office feel that these members of the justice department and the

fbi were doing a patriotic duty. for those who support the president, and you heard from lindsey graham there, what he intends to do, this is more evidence that they exceeded their remit. he says there may have been an attempt at what he calls an administrative coup, and this is more evidence, according to the white house anti—trump supporters, evidence of a deep state within the united states government, which was attempting to undermine a legitimately elected president. we have heard some of these allegations before. what do you think is going to happen next in terms of how donald trump will react and rod rosenstein‘s fission? donald trump will react and rod rosenstein's fission? it seems like both sides arejust rosenstein's fission? it seems like both sides are just going to get more entrenched. the white house has been very defiant about this. the president, on twitter as usual, referring to this as a type of

pollution, and that the focus should have been on hillary clinton in her campaign, and pointing to andrew mccabe's wife being a democratic party candidate here in the commonwealth of virginia. —— a type of collusion. that was during 2016. and for those who want to try to push this president out, what andrew mccabe is saying, and he is of course selling a book on the which has more revelations in it, this adds more fuel to the fire to demonstrate that this president is should not be re—elected or might even need to go sooner than that. right, the politics swirls on. steve herrmann, white house bureau chief of voice of america news. thank you. now to syria, where reports say jihadists have been blocking roads out of the last area the islamic state group holds, preventing hundreds of civilians from fleeing. us president donald trump has been predicting the final defeat

of is on the ground. earlier he urged europe and the uk to take back hundreds of so—called islamic state members captured in syria and iraq and put them on trial. he warned that if nothing was done, america would be forced to release the is detainees. shaun hassett reports. this smoke is rising above the village of baghouz, part of the last pocket of landfill under the of islamic state. us airstrikes are providing the syrian democratic forces with cover to advance on the area and clear out the remaining is militants. baghouz is largely a ghost town, but some civilians are still trapped inside. stf fighters say they are cautiously going from house to house looking for militants who they say are using civilians as human shields. —— sdf fighters. translation: thanks to the efforts

of our colleagues, islamic state is generally over. 0nly of our colleagues, islamic state is generally over. only a small number of houses remain, with the homes of many people, including civilians, detainees and is militants. with total victory in sight, attention is turning to what happens next. earlier, in a series of tweets, the us president donald trump urged britain, france, germany and other european allies to take back over 800 is fighters that were captured in syria and to put them on trial. he said the caliphate was ready to fall and if they did not act, america would be forced to release the fighters, warning they would permeate europe. technically it would not be the us releases them. that will largely fall to the kurdish authorities. but with american forces withdraw in, they will struggle to cope. this is a big, problematic issue, because these prisoners, these are isis fighters, prisoners, they are still detained here. their countries, european countries, refused to take them back, and at the same time, the

kurdish authorities, they don't have that capacity or ability to do trials for them, because the region here is not stable yet. and while islamic state might be facing military defeat, the legacy of its attempt to create a caliphate remains. the us president talks about 800 fighters. it is not a matter of only 800 fighters. there are hundreds of their family members in the refugee camps in northern syria. accepting fighters and their families back create security issues and is often unpopular. that has been underscored by the case of the british citizenship mean that egham, who travelled to syria to join the simex state group four years ago. —— british citizen shamima begum. she has given birth to a baby boy in a refugee camp. her family would like the uk government to accept its responsibility to a one—day—old uk citizen and have that baby repatriated to the uk where it is

safe, hopefully with the issue of emergency travel. opinion in the uk are split on whether mother and son should be allowed to return, although the government has acknowledged it does have some responsibilities. if you are dealing with a british citizen who wants to return to this country and they are not a dual citizen, so their only citizenship is british citizenship, then we are obliged at some stage at least to take them back. that doesn't mean that we can't put in place the necessary security measures to monitor their activities and make sure that they are not misbehaving. with the campaign against islamic state almost over, european governments will have no shortage of controversial cases to deal with. a fire has swept through more than 200 slum dwellings in southern bangladesh. police and firefighters say at least nine people were killed and more than 50 others injured in the city of chittagong. sodaba haidare reports. the fire broke out in the early hours of sunday morning, when the slum dwellers were asleep. more than 200 shanty homes were destroyed. the houses of bamboo, tin and tarpaulin never stood a chance.

these people are already amongst the country's tourist. now they have nothing. a mother shouts "everything is gone!" they can only comfort each other. amongst the dead, four members of the same family. more than 50 others were injured. the death toll is expected to rise. officials are investigating the cause of the firebird say it may have been generated by a short circuit. fires regularly break out in bangladesh's slums, where many grid millions live in squalid conditions. safety regulations are rarely followed and accidents like these kill hundreds every year. rescue workers in zimbabwe have pulled nine people from a gold mine which has been flooded

since tuesday. more people remain underground and are feared to have died. they're reported to have gone in to the mine shafts illegally to look for gold, before heavy rain destroyed a dam upstream, causing the floods. the government has declared the accident near the town of kadoma, south—west of the capital harare, a national disaster. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, we have a special report from inside venezuela, where people are struggling to survive as the economy collapses. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. it has a terrible effect on the morale of the people, i'm terrified of the

repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flowed down to the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they've called it mir, russian for peace. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the former acting director of the fbi says the deputy us attorney—general considered measures to remove president trump from office. reports sayjihadists have been blocking roads out of the last area

the islamic state group holds, preventing hundreds of civilians from fleeing. the israeli security cabinet has blocked around $140 million from taxes it collects on behalf of the palestinian authority. the legislation, approved last year by the knesset, allows israel to cut funds to the palestinian authority over payments it makes to the families of palestinians jailed for anti—israel violence. david makovsky is the director of project on arab—israel relations at the washington institute for near east policy. hejoins me now from washington. david, thank you very much for your time. first of all, people might be surprised to learn that israel does collect these taxes on behalf of the palestinian authority. do they do it

for all taxes? how long has that in happening? it is the protocol and in the aftermath of the 1993 oslo agreement, there was a sense they had a customs apparatus there and will just transfer the fund. it has grown to about $180 million a month. it is the biggest source of revenue for the palestinian authority in the west ba n k for the palestinian authority in the west bank and the step of the cabinet today to hold that is about $138 million a year, which is about $11.5 million a month, about 6% of what israel currently kalex. that would be withheld under the view that this is being paid to families of those perpetrated violence, you are incentivising people to kill. the security services on the other hand are also very concerned,

doesn't want the palestinian authority to be economically involved and and has kind of slow walk it for a while. there was a cabinet today to do this $138 million a month, but the prime minister asked the security services to look into further deductions as well. which is disputed. why now? what has prompted this? has there been any kind of conflict with the palestinian authority? why has this happened at this point in time?m isa happened at this point in time?m is a fascinating question and it started with what is known as the taylor fourth act in us congress last year, named after a us military person from west point, the military academy who happens to be in israel and was stabbed to death and the sense was that his family of the perpetrator who killed taylor was rewarded, and it led to the israeli

public more and more looking into this whole practice that they were not really aware of, that the pa gives money to either at families of those who have been killed or perpetrated there are tax, or those engaging in violence and putting israeli prisons. whether a prisoner 01’ israeli prisons. whether a prisoner ora israeli prisons. whether a prisoner or a marker, there are families get a significant amount of money, and this led to an outrage in the us congress believing that the us should not subsidise such behaviour. and once it started in the congress, it has now moved over to the israeli parliament last summer. the sums we re parliament last summer. the sums were not yet deducted as the security services look into this. david, certainly a very complicated issue. we will have to see how this policy plays out. thank you very much. delighted to be with you. humanitarian aid meant for venezuelans has been arriving

in us military planes on the colombian border. president nicolas maduro denies there's a humanitarian crisis, saying the relief is a cover for a us invasion, and his troops will not let it through. but venezuela's opposition leader, juan guaido, has called for crowds to converge on the border to collect the aid. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerin reports from yare, where the lack of food and medicines are claiming lives. the eyes of the revolution are everywhere. president maduro's militia still trying to keep the people in line. and in the town of yare, locals queue to sign his petition against the us. many here have given years to the socialist cause, and this was a venezuelan showpiece. but the facade is crumbling. if you need medical help in yare,

you don't look to the government. it struggles to provide even a painkiller. you come here, to a clinic run by the catholic church, with support from the european union. outside, the local priest, padre pancho, tries to reassure his suffering flock, urging them to keep faith. translation: it's a catastrophe, a dictatorship. the people are on the verge of rising up. it's like gunpowder about to explode, because every day is more difficult. the padre says between 10 and 20 babies are dying every month. and when we asked who had already buried a loved one, here was the show of hands. this isjust one street corner in one town. everybody here

has raised their hands, every single one of these women say they have lost a relative in the last few years because of hunger or because of lack of medicine. and imagine that across the whole country, imagine how many people may have died needlessly. we went from the clinic to the cemetery, with lisette and her granddaughter, winifer. it's a year since they buried winifer‘s cousin. they say the sweet—natured, outgoing girl was admitted to hospital with a respiratory infection. there were no drugs to treat her. one day later, she was dead. "every time i remember her, i feel like crying," says winifer. "she was just 22, just beginning to live, and she was studying." "my auntjust cries all the time." and the further you go,

the more suffering you find. in the countryside nearby, a landscape of lush beauty — until you look closer. these putrid stream brings parasites and sickness to the village of tocoron. it's the only drinking water. so, jusobele has to do this every day. her dream of being a doctor has been left behind. her family can't afford to send her to school. at 111, her lessons are about hardship. "before, we never went hungry," she told me. "we always ate well. "everyone is hungry now, and mums and dads have

"to stop eating so they can feed their children." her aunt, angie, is an example of that — going hungry herself to spare her children. her husband complained at work about how they have to live. the next day, he was dismissed from his governmentjob. her neighbour, esteban, also lives hand to mouth with his family. he can't let go of the dream of venezuela's revolution. but for others here, it's long gone. 0rla guerin, bbc news, jare. let's get some of the day's other news. protesters have been back on the streets of paris again after police used tear gas to try to control them on saturday night. the gilets—jaunes — or yellow vests — as they're called, started as a protest against high fuel prices. the saudi crown prince,

mohammad bin salman, on a visit to pakistan, has announced investment agreements worth $20 billion, including an $8 billion oil refinery. he described it as just the start of an economic tie—up. pakistan's prime minister, imran khan, called saudi arabia a friend in need. the prime minister of poland, mateusz morawiecki, has cancelled a visit to israel in a growing row over anti—semitism. mr morawiecki was angered by comments from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, that poles had been responsible for the killing of jews during the second world war. parts of paris came to a standstill on sunday as police detonated a huge unexploded bomb. it's believed to have been dropped by the raf during the second world war. nearly 2,000 people had to be moved from their homes and a number of eurostar trains were cancelled. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. the heart of paris turned into a

ghost town. hundreds of people, some preparing for a longer trip than others, leaving their homes. police going door—to—door, making sure eve ryo ne going door—to—door, making sure everyone was safely out of the way. the £1000 bomb initially thought to be harmless was discovered in the french capital last month. it was found by workmen at a building site. the train station where the eurostar operates. translation: the last of was found in the early 2000. there is a risk we are likely to find others. aria lancaster is of bomber command... we are likely to find others. aria lancaster is of bomber commandmm is estimated more than 1500 french

cities and towns were targeted by the allies during the second world war. 0fficials the allies during the second world war. officials believe this was an american bomb dropped by an raf lancaster in april 191111. for safety reasons, tons of sand was piled on top before a control destination could be carried out. —— controlled debtor nation. mission finally accomplished for the bomb that took 75 years to explode. must have been a site. —— sight. before we go, take a look at these pictures that sarah church sent us of a flock of starlings behind her house here in the uk. she said the murmaration, as it is called, was "an amazing natural event to behold." popular theories suggest flying like this is either a way to confuse and avoid predators, a way to keep warm, orjust a massive signpost in the sky for a safe place to roost. stay with bbc news.

it felt a lot like spring in the last few days with temperatures getting into the mid and high teens. it looks like that averages will ease down a little bit for at least two or three days. before they will start rising once again. in fact, by the weekend, it could be exceptionally mild across the uk. in the short term, clouds are drifting across the country. these are weather fronts. also some showers in a forecast as well. not a completely dry pitch on monday. showers getting into the western parts, some across scotla nd into the western parts, some across scotland as well. they could be short and sharp through monday, as far as early monday morning is concerned, many of us still having a lot of dry weather. monday morning, nine degrees in the south of the country. that is closer to our daytime temperature and that is at the start of the day. monday, lots

of showers i think across western scotland, a bit of a breeze on this close. ale and is possible. showers possible further south. the further east you are, the better the weather will be. newcastle and hull will probably stayed bright all day. another weather fronted approaching, but the winds are blowing out of the south—west, so a very mild direction. despite the cloud and rain it will still feel pretty mild in some western areas of the uk. letting it will eventually cloud over, at least turn quite easy across eastern and southern areas, but it will be dry. temperatures will still get up to 11 or 12 degrees. rain expected to belfast and western parts of scotland in the day, and overnight rain will sweep through. wednesday's weather forecast, notice the mild air reaching further north. that means that that averages will start to creep up again on wednesday. the morning is looking a little cloudy

and rainy. this picture here is in the morning. in the afternoon, that weather front moves out of the picture, the sky should clear up a little bit unless temperatures will rise. we are expecting 13 degrees, maybe 111 in 12 spots on wednesday. thursday, that is when the wind changes direction. they will come from the south of the cloud will also break up, it will warm up. widely by friday, those temperatures in the mid— teen is notjust in the south but also the far north of the uk. cortland could get up to 16 as earlier thursday or friday. friday into saturday, a southerlyjet strea m into saturday, a southerlyjet stream will scoop up a warm air and it could get up to 18 degrees. this is bbc news. the headlines: the chairman of the us senate judiciary committee says his panel will investigate allegations that the deputy attorney—general, rod rosenstein, considered constitutional measures to remove president trump from office. mr rosenstein has dismissed reports that he discussed getting rid of mr trump as a "joke." reports from syria sayjihadists

have been blocking roads out of the last area the islamic state group holds, preventing hundreds of civilians from fleeing. president donald trump has urged europe to take back hundreds of is members captured in syria and iraq and put them on trial. rescue workers in zimbabwe have pulled nine people from a gold mine which has been flooded since tuesday. more people remain underground and are feared to have died. it's thought they entered the mine shafts illegally to look for gold, before heavy rain destroyed a dam upstream. now on bbc news, the week in parliament.