africa. stories about people making a difference shaping their nation. and their continent. w.'s new multimedia series for africa. dot com africa on the move. a state of the news coming to long from berlin we begin with some breaking news a texas church shooting reportedly leaves several data a gunman opened fire on sunday services at a rural church in texas witnesses say children are among those who've been shot

we'll get you the latest from our correspondent also coming up a german newspaper says obtained millions of documents showing how widespread tax avoidance is common among big companies and the wealthy will find out what's in the so-called paradise papers. from the latest twists in the cattle on independence crisis hours after else a cattle on leader call was pushed ma turned himself into belgian police his party put him forward as its leader in upcoming regional elections called by spain. welcomes the show my name sarah harmon we begin with some breaking news reports are coming in that a number of people have been killed in a church shooting in the u.s. state of texas now the incident took place in a small town of sutherland springs west of the city of houston

a gunman reportedly opened fire inside the church before he himself was shot. i'm joined now on the line by g.w. correspondent michelle keegan he's in washington d.c. michelle do we know anything about the motive in this shooting. whether grilli that much known so far about the whole sooting that's why we don't do anything about the motive so far what we do know about this shooting that. is a part of the curriculum from thirty miles away from central america that a group already in a church in sort of an school or a small community there. according to the local media which is reporting the story from the target gunman walked into the baptist church and opened fire and there reported several casualties. according some reports this resulted in more. than the two we're just looking at some aerial footage of that church in sutherland

springs you can see the church building there and some traffic off to the side of the road michelle has there been any reaction from officials there in the us. or have been much on with because we were a developing story that it's ongoing as we as we speak one of your. reaction so far has come from for governor. who tweeted a prayer service call well one by this. was meant for their response in more detail to them coming soon that were quite abit of the public sexism tweeted. but that's still far pretty much the only reaction that are coming in so far as still very early will thank you for keeping us up to date on this developing situation in southern springs michelle pfeiffer now. i'll bring you new information just as soon as we get it but we'll turn now to another big developing story a massive new leak of files from an offshore law firm shows how widespread tax

avoidance is among big companies and the super rich has been released by germany. and an international consortium of news outlets tech giant apple is just one of the companies that was featured for its aggressive offshore tax avoidance scheme also included in the league sports giant nike the queen of england and german companies like siemens and post bank papers also reveal extensive offshore activities of members of u.s. president trump's own cabinet as well as donors and advisers but in particular people are talking about u.s. commerce secretary ross. our political correspondent simon young joins me now in the studio for more simon what else can you tell us about these paradise papers big bombshell today indeed sarah just to give you a scale of this sense of the scale is a huge jump of sensitive financial information said to comprise thirteen point four million documents from nineteen different tax havens in the data set to refer to

more than one hundred twenty senior global political figures from fifty different countries so those are just some of the some of the numbers around this is a huge revelation and people are going to be trawling through it the meat material comes from a leak possibly a computer hack from a muted based more firm called applebee and this information was passed to a major german paper does it do it yet so i don't and it's been passed on to ninety other media organizations around the world they spent a year would you believe sorting through this before releasing these details tonight are tremendous amount of information i can guess that journalists are going to be sorting through this and parsing the details for days and weeks to come one thing that does seem to be clear though is that trumps commerce secretary bubble ross is reportedly involved in this how. exactly yeah wilbur ross the claim is that he as a close confident of president trump has been profiting as

a private citizen from his business dealings with a firm that has ties with or belongs to the son in law of vladimir putin the russian president and also is also owned by other people with close links to the kremlin now we don't know many more the details at this stage but clearly in view of the investigation into links between donald trump's election campaign in last year's presidential election and russia that's something that's going to put even more pressure on donald trump has these details to emerge right most of our viewers will remember the panama papers coming out a few years ago is this leak bigger put it in context for us here it is similar it's a leak of information from off shore banks and investment firms you know it implicates notable political figures in the panama papers led to changes of

political leadership in countries like iceland and pakistan and many other examples of fallout from there so there is a similarity that was eleven and a half million documents i think so this is slightly bigger in that sense one interesting thing sara some insiders say that applebee the firm here is much cleaner than second which is the firm at the heart of the panama scandal in that sense you know some people saying if this was at the heart of wrongdoing if the shown to be wrongdoing we should say not all the activity described here is illegal but if there is wrongdoing then it could be that you know there's a lot bigger problem in this area of offshore investments than was previously even realized it sounds like we're going to be learning a lot more very soon simon young our political correspondent thanks for your insight. president donald trump has a message for asian allies the u.s.

will defend them against dictatorial regimes kicking off a marathon torah five asian nations beginning in japan trumps something a states has the military might to keep them promised a present day trip comes as tensions rise over north korea's nuclear program. donald trump touched down in tokyo and was expected to give the united states as oldest asian ally much needed security assurances a change of jacket later it was there. we will never you know never waver and never falter in defense of our people our freedom and our great american flag no one no dictator no regime and no nation. under arrest of. american resolve what that resolve would have to look like in a potential conflict with north korea has become somewhat clearer amid trumps round of golf with japan's newly reelected prime minister shinzo abbay lawmakers in

washington asked u.s. military officials for specifics on removing north korea's nuclear capabilities the joint chiefs of staff responded that only a ground invasion could do it with absolute certainty of success in response sixteen lawmakers fifteen democratic and one republican all military veterans called the assessment deeply disturbing they criticized the trump administration for lacking a strategy on north korea and a plan to contain potential conflict. but that didn't affect the personal chemistry trump an obvious appear to have both are also hawkish on defense but trade may be another matter we will seek new opportunities for cooperation and carmen's and we will partner with friends and allies to pursue a free and open in do reach we will see free fair. and research free the u.s.

trade deficit with japan is a sticking point in the country's relations the deficit hit sixty nine billion dollars in two thousand and sixteen the second largest behind china. he also cattle on president carlos push along with four of his other ministers has surrendered to police in belgium five all wanted in spain on a european a rest warrant that was issued there if it's charges of sedition bellingen and misuse of public funds are holding an illegal referendum on catalan independence back in october they travel to belgium last week one hundred moved to impose direct role on how long after the original parliament declared independence. of more i joined now by our correspondent barbara van zyl in brussels barbara good to see or will question and these ministers now be extradited to spain. it is in the end very likely all legal experts here say it is very very rare that

a european arrest warrant is not implemented is not executed however he is supposedly going to fight it tooth and nail he has two rounds of the peel and he even in the end can appeal to the high court so this will drag on probably into generally even separate off next year so one thing's for sure he's not going to be home in time for the elections in spain ok more and eat along there has continuously maintained this is an internal matter for spain that try to avoid getting involved where does that leave belgium now. and in very uncomfortable position not that it had anything to do was this extradition process because this is a strictly legal judicial process however the belgium national flamers national party is already sort of smelling the fresh air and is sort of becoming increasingly frisky we said the vice premier here is on jon ball say that now i really had to look at what the spain would really treat pushed him on fairly

and so on it's a force they really dreaming of reviewing for independence and that is very bad news for the government bad news for the belgian government that's barbara faisal reporting for us from brussels thank you. saudi arabia has arrested dozens of princes and government ministers and a high level poet among those arrested was billionaire prince a walid forms named him there were just man in the arab world the arrests have been sanctioned by king solomon under a new anti corruption body that has put his son in charge of a movie seen a cementing crown prince muhammad's power in the kingdom. in the studio with me now is daniel garrulous he's the editor in chief of the magazine zenith which focuses on middle eastern affairs daniel welcome this feels unprecedented dozens of arrests at the very top is this really just about corruption i don't think so i think it is popular to fight corruption and it is necessary fight corruption and also the idea

that members of the royal family and there are thousands of them in saudi arabia would be immune to penalties if that is over and that is a positive signal to many but i think what is really happening here is is momma been some on the crown prince is preparing to take over of power and i think we will soon in the next couple of months see that and so this night of the long knives that happened yesterday was also intended to silence those in the palace with the royal family that might be able to counter such of such a move or that might even be able to i don't know stage a coup against it and is because this is not the only reason that saudi arabia has been in the news this weekend because saudis foreign tires are coming into sharper focus yesterday we saw the lebanese prime minister resign an announcement he made from riyadh where he's now fled in exile put this in context for us what are the broader implications for the region lebanese prime minister saad how d.d. was somehow saudi arabia's man in lebanon as was his father who was assassinated

spectacularly i think everybody all the viewers of this program know of saudi arabia. how they need to step down because i think what we're looking at is preparations for another military conflict for another war in the middle east i think saudi. arabia's gamble is that they think israel in the united states may be in a position to attack hezbollah in lebanon and saudi arabia would obviously support such a move because hezbollah is the proxy of iran of its archrival in lebanon and i think my speculation i cannot of course i have no no evidence of that at the moment but i think that saudi cannot be member of a government that would need to defy or attack such such a military move cannot be a member of a government in union with hezbollah and at the same time know about this this military move of the saudi government i think that's why he stepped down that's why the saudis convinced him to step down and i think they will bail him out because

they also knew that he was in a deep financial crisis he has business not going well and i think saudi arabia will support him financially that is again my speculation but i think it is permitted speculation on this that's why we invited you here today know gary locke from the magazines to me thanks for being with us today thank you. for update you on breaking news situation we're following for you right now u.s. media reporting more than twenty people are dead in a mass shooting in the u.s. state of texas now that number is unconfirmed and we'll work to conform it for you when to say that a gunman opened fire inside a rule church in the town of sutherland springs the shooter himself has reportedly been shot. more at the top of the hour c.n.n. . g.w. diversity. of the world of science is at home in many languages.