this is d.w. news wives from berlin tonight is zimbabwe on the edge of the party of leader robert mugabe he is accusing the head of the army of treason after he threatens to intervene in the country's politics also coming up.

anguish in the areas hit by sunday's earthquake in iran and iraq and thousands of people have lost everything and are now facing an impossible future and the u.s. attorney general jeff sessions says he did not lie but now he does recall a meeting linked to the probe into alleged russian election interference after all . i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us tonight witnesses in zimbabwe say tanks have been seen moving near the capital harare video posted on social media appears to show armored personnel carriers in a convoy heading towards an army barracks just outside the city now it comes amid heightened tensions in zimbabwe over and over. rift between the army and president

robert mugabe who you see right there last night the head of the army threatened that the military could step in after mugabe sacked the country's vice president and other officials the ruling party has now accused the army chief of treasonable conduct. of a serious situation in the country for more now i'm joined by christina hoff who covers southern africa for us kristina's good to have you on the show so what are we looking at right here i mean it looks like the tanks are headed to the capital harare but we're not sure i don't think that's what it looks like if you take a look at what's happening on social media right now is involved winds up panicked there are on edge in the country these pictures that you see that we've been running now showing our viewers these pictures were taken by eyewitnesses who drove posses ministry tankas and the heightened tensions in the country right now is really what's fueling the an ease in the country the fact that you have a deputy president who was expelled who fled the country saying he's fearing for

his life but who also volage to come back and fight for his country and rule the country so in the context of point of this this is why these ministers i guess it could very well be on a routine on a routine trip and that's why that's fueling a lot of unease right now and you know the photos that we've been seeing suggest that the army is getting involved and the story as you said really was sparked by the vice president being sacked and then paving the way for mugabe's wife to take over right exactly so what's happening in the party right now is a succession battle has been raging you know for the better part of the last two years really a branch one of the one of the factions is headed up by the sect of former vice president in a synagogue the other headed up by the the first lady grace of god and so they have been at it now for for the last couple of is and what is often the deputy president was sacked at the party. he's going to an extraordinary congress in the coming

months and it's expected that grace mugabe is going to be announced to president essentially paving the way for her to take over from the house and so all of this is looking like it was orchestrated to pave the way for her to take over from her husband eventually and then we want to come back to this new there is the suggestion that the military is involved reports of this convoy near the capital but we can't report with any certainty that there's any type of military challenge to the power of robert mugabe tonight we can't and if you're this man right you know this is the army general who came out last night essentially threatening robin mugabe with military intervention if the pages in the ruling party don't stop it's difficult to say what power this man actually has because when he made the statement he was flanked by a number of generals about ninety of them but the posse sais that he doesn't have the support of all those generals he doesn't have the support of all of the entire defense force so if if this really goes down to a showdown we don't know if she meant it could actually carry out his threats off

the minute she say of it because it is we're talking about a military coup attempt that this is an inch of its end if he doesn't have the support that he assumes that he has more to say is that he has and if the policy is correct that he doesn't have that support then they're not talking about any right now you've talked before about what the situation is like in zimbabwe you know you've done excellent reports there about the situation for journalists in the country is is zimbabwe politically maybe a tinderbox that is ripe for igniting as soon as mugabi shows weakness you know you know people have have we've had this conversation many a time spent with other people as well it's difficult to say but one thing is clear mugabe is a very much still holding that country secure that he's stepping down from office many fear would plunge that country into into deep crisis people have likened it almost like to be a noun for us. awful and so anything around succession which he's really come out

and tried to clamp down on because he realizes that himself because of the factions that are not just within the country but within the party itself so yeah that the future is very uncertain for this country he is ninety three he is he is very old he is very old general election next year yes he is the presidential candidate but whether or not he can do one of a tim remains today and it was what your opinion about what people in the country know i mean are they aware that he believed in the western world in western democracies he is considered a pariah of course people are very much aware that people are very much aware of those views and you know and we've seen account recently we had a lot of perseus in the country that we've not seen before some bobbins most for the first time voicing their opinions on public platforms like social media people i understand the but having said that he still does have a healthy support base in the country and that is of course something that we cannot just take away from him yeah i mean in a remarkable story especially for

a man of his age christine. as always thank you very much for it. what can i say iran is scrambling to bring help to thousands of people left homeless by sunday's earthquake more than four hundred were killed and eight thousand injured in the quake which struck a region bordering iraq iranian president hassan rouhani has been visiting one of the worst hit provinces emergency workers have ended efforts to rescue survivors saying that there is no hope of finding anyone else alive. amid the rubble the frantic search for the living has turned into a recovery effort. as rescue workers retrieve the dead the very of her left to grapple with lives and homes ruined. among the worst hit places is the remote pull is a hub much of the town has been destroyed.

we still had to pay off our debts on this house i was already jobless and couldn't pay them now it's totally destroyed and our furniture is gone i couldn't shut up i want to take just started collecting desperate they once took them a month to clear rubble from a high rise how can i finish such a job in a town with thousands of people and families so quickly on. iranian president hassan rouhani paid a visit to the region and promised the government would provide temporary shelters and money to help those affected. the home behind me. i wish to assure all people who have suffered that the government will do everything in its power to resolve the problems in the shortest possible time. runs along the road home of passable going to. the disaster has left an estimated seventy thousand people homeless and battling the cold in the mountainous region as

winter gets closer and some news just coming in police in the u.s. state of california say at least three people have been killed in a shooting firing began at a home near red bluff and then continued at several locations including a school a number of children we understand were wounded one report says the police killed the shooter were to have more on this as details come in. well staying in the united states he said it today i never lied the u.s. attorney general jeff sessions told members of congress that exact message earlier today he rejected allegations that he deliberately misled lawmakers earlier this year about his knowledge of possible communications between russia and trump's presidential campaign but sessions told the house judiciary committee that he does now recall a meeting with former trump campaign adviser george papadopoulos in which russian

connections were discussed in previous testimony under oath sessions had denied knowledge of any such contacts here's what he had to say today frankly i had no recollection of this meeting until asked these news reports i do now recall that the march twenty sixth team meeting at the trump hotel that mr operative attended but i have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting after reading his account into the best of my recollection and i believe that i wanted to make clear to him that he would not authorize to represent that campaign with the russian government or any other foreign government for that matter that the u.s. attorney general jeff sessions there let's go to washington our correspondent carlina chinmoy is on the story for us good evening to you carlina so looks like we've got an attorney general struggling to achieve total recall year is this man

is he credible or is he not. hi brant well apparently we have already seen at least three hearings in which sessions gave false or misleading statements to the senate about his involvement in the contacts with russia the words we just heard come after his statements in former hearings this year also in the senate also on the investigation about the alleged russian meddling in the u.s. elections last year but then sessions denied once again that he had communications with the russian or to anyone connected to any part of the russian government during the elections in two thousand and sixteen and even though the attorney general began saying my sorry hasn't changed today his story has changed in the very moment he said he didn't recall the meeting of march with george peppard former policy advisor of donald trump but this happens after the court records

reveal that mr sessions not only was part of a meeting but he was even leading a meeting in march two thousand and sixteen with the top all those discussing his russian ties and suggesting setting up a meeting between. putin the russian president so saying one thing and then beginning and then recalling a different thing makes a session statements implausible and it definitely raises questions about his credibility brand of course leaves us jasc the next question what does it mean then for the u.s. president donald trump well it doesn't affect him directly now but this is again one more step forward in muller's investigation the russians alleged meddling in the u.s. elections last year but for sessions it could mean that he misled the senate on this investigations that means he lights to the congress and thereby he could have committed perjury. our correspondent in washington charlie mitchell more colia

thank you very much. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world the president trumps oldest son has released messages that he exchanged with wiki leaks during and after the twenty sixteen presidential campaign now it comes after a media report suggested that donald trump jr liaised with the website which published leaked e-mails from hillary clinton during the campaign the messages have been turned over to a congressional inquiry into russia's alleged involvement in the u.s. election. u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has held talks with me and mars leader aung sang suu kyi on the sidelines of the azi on summit tillerson flies to be in march tomorrow to discuss the rodin job refugee crisis suchi is under global pressure to take action more than six hundred thousand or hinge of muslims have fled a military crackdown to neighboring bangladesh.

soccer now it was italy's worst nightmare mama mia not qualifying for next year's world cup and it happened italy failed to beat sweden in a qualifying match and they are out of the world cup leaving the nation stunned and disappointed. talian football's worst nightmare has come true a lack of firepower against sweden leaves gigi buffon and company missing out on only the third world cup in the team's history the is or is fans were understandably dejected afterwards and blaming everyone for the defeat. but this is everyone's fault not just the fault of the coach as federation president to vecchio fault it's the federations felt the match mirror as a country which is falling apart like you in italy is still trying to accept their earth shattering loss to sweden. and. i'm down to shut up and.

we're all in tears because we did our best but this will haunt us forever. it's a huge disappointment that will struggle to comprehend. it's a tearful farewell for gigi bouffant his tenure between the posts in one match shy of becoming the only goalkeeper to play in six world cups the dominant defender defined italy's on field persona for two decades without him italy's football future is in question. said italians tonight i'll be back at the top of the hour with more world news followed by the day. health. appearance to law. solidarity. they fall by the wayside with a gap between rich and poor grows. life in unequal societies.

the divide starting november fifteenth.