this is news live from berlin a stiff punishment for south korea's former president park geun hey sentenced to twenty four years in prison for corruption a dramatic fall from grace has gripped the nation for months now we'll be checking into the south korean capital seoul for more. also on the program russia and britain intensify their war of words we've told our british colleagues you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry. at the united nations security council the russian ambassador launches a tirade against british allegations that moscow is behind an attack on

a former spy and his daughter the british ambassador fires back saying all the signs point to russia. christopher spring thanks for joining us alstad south korean president park geun hye has been sentenced to twenty four years in prison on a conviction including coercion bribery and abuse of power in a verdict broadcast live on south korean television the court ruled that park had colluded with friends to receive tens of billions of dollars in kickbacks from companies and state agencies park was impeached and arrested back in march of twenty seventeen. months of massive street protests. we're going to go straight to seoul now waiting for us there jason strother one of our

correspondents there jason the former president park geun hye found guilty on several charges just talk us through the charges the verdict in the sentence. sure she was found guilty of sixteen of the eight hundred pound suit against her these all revolved around a friendship she had with a woman named chase soon shill and the judge agreed that. president pock used her power as the leader of the nation to pressure the heads of companies like samsung to give millions of dollars to this friend of hers under the name of donations to charities they say that even if the president did not you know really srong arm these business leaders to donate just the mere fact that she was the president of the country would put a sort of burden on on these business officials to pony up whatever money they felt

they needed to give and now she's being convicted sent a sentence of twenty four years in prison do people in south korea feel that that's appropriate. well the prosecution wanted thirty years and i'm sure many south koreans who were protesting back at the end of two thousand and sixteen into two thousand and seventeen to see her removed from the presidential blue house . would have liked to seen the book thrown out there but the fact of the matter is president is not the first south korean leader to be convicted in corruption in a corruption case three of her private she's the third and three of her predecessors were also convicted but none of them spent the entirety of their sentence behind bars president park has a week to file an appeal today's verdict and there's no doubt that that appeal will be launched. and we're now seeing protests in south korea in favor

of the former president president park so clearly there are those who feel that she shouldn't go to prison or at least think the sentence is too stiff. ever since president park was detained about a year ago her supporters who are mostly in their sixty's seventy's eighty's even have taken to the streets and held quite regular protests they do not represent the majority of south koreans views on the former president these individuals are very conservative they have spoken with many they feel the country is being taken over by communists it's rather conspiratorial but i'm sure their demonstrations will continue as long as she is. behind bars ok jason many thanks for that jason strother reporting from the south korean capital seoul. let's turn to some of the

other stories making news around the world the trial of former south african president jacob zuma has been in june and until early june simmers facing charges of corruption relating to a two point five billion dollars arms till formally met by supporters as he left the courthouse the proceedings will be held. a regional court here in germany has ruled it won't extradite former cattle and lead economist on challenges over a billion the court is considering however a lesser charge of misusing funds for which could still face extradition he's being granted by pending that decision. in britain a tax on sugary drinks has gone into effect as part of national efforts to improve people's health studies show that a majority of adults in the u.k. are overweight or obese many drinks by kids have already reduced the sugar content

of the levies introduction. now the war of words over the poisoning of expiry said a script his daughter is escalating at the united nations security council last night the russian and british ambassadors to the un faced off in a fiery exchange over the alleged nerve agent attack london is sticking to its accusation that moscow is the chief suspect russia denies any wrongdoing. sarah guy and yulia script for weeks the british government has accused russia of trying to kill them now the kremlin is using the un to go on the offensive. we're going to verbs with guns we've told our british colleagues you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry i don't think the british investigators are grateful to the british government for their hasty and unequivocal statements and conclusions in a long and blistering speech moscow's envoy reached for alice in wonderland to

argue that it was russia who were the victims of a sloppy rushed and dishonest blame game nor more subsequent sampson's first verdict afterwards britain's envoy was unimpressed firing back with a passage of her own there's another very good quote from alice in wonderland that is sometimes i've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast so i think that's the quote that suits my russian colleague best it is the latest in a diplomatic war of words desson for mation claims and counterclaims that is showing no sign of letting up. i'll go on air earlier a russian broadcaster eared what it claimed was a telephone chat between the universe and her cousin. but whether it was genuine or not even the t.v.

station would not say where it came from is another matter. victoria later said she believed she was speaking with her cousin in hospital. yet it was not me who contacted her she phoned me herself when the phone rang i thought it was a call from a british number i thought it was a call from journalists who were. back in solsbury where this international poisoning scandal began police guarding the hospital beds of the former russian spy and his daughter issued a statement and her name my strength is growing daily the entire episode is somewhat disorientating and i hope that you respect my privacy yulia square powell is not only a victim she is a witness and her food recovery may yet prove vital in the search for the truth. ok let's get more on all this now from that show from phil who is with me in the

studio this is a fairly puzzling episode you know this appearance of script all the the daughter of sag a first on russian t.v. as we just saw rym what appears to have been a telephone call with a cousin and then a statement on her behalf from the u.k. police what what what is all this about what impact could it have left on of course is hoping to listen very closely to what you he has to say as was mentioned in that report that she's not just a victim she's also a witness and this is a case where there's still a big lack of information and lack of certainty about exactly what has taken place in the u.k. of course saying that it believes that russia is responsible in some capacity and yet has provided safe on no real smoking gun evidence yet that that's taken place russia meanwhile denying it there's a lot of uncertainty about exactly what's going on has so its hopes presumably that yulia will be up to shots might i'm not ok well let's all to try and shut some

light on another area of confusion exactly what the british foreign secretary boris johnson told us t w news a few days ago before we get into the detail of that the russian ambassador in the united nations security council meeting last night said something quite remarkable about that let's listen to what he had to say live if you could when you know she's good good good i know we talk is not copyrighted by russia in spite of the obviously russian name the one who is a name that was invented in the west for a line of toxic substances which is nothing new but what experts and scientists. they were developed in many countries including the united states and in great britain. the brim with morris johnson in response to a question from georgia vella directly confirmed that great britain does have some pools of that substance in ports and down she also had to put it on school in

rebuttal don't use computers continues so the russian ambassador to the u.n. they're referring to our interview with the british foreign secretary boris johnson during which johnson stated that the u.k. has a sample of the nerve agent now we talk. was the russian ambassador quoting or interpret johnson accurately well the thing is it wasn't entirely clear what boris johnson meant so understand this fully i think we're going to have to have a quick listen to exactly what it was that he had to say and then and then look at the russian tepper taishan say that technically. you argue that their source of they snuff edge and novacek is russia how did you manage to find it out so quickly that's driven possessed samples of these when i look at the evidence from the people from from porton down the in the bardo they have the samples you do and they

they they were absolutely categorical and i asked the guy myself i said are you sure and he said there's no dark. i'll give you a they're asking they have the samples. reply they do what's not clear though is exactly what's meant by samples did boris johnson mean and his aunt said that the leopard laboratory in the u.k. has samples seized from the crime scene and has been investigating those all was he reaching father and saying actually the abort tree had previously had samples in its possession russia's jumping on that ambiguity to feed it is not it if the hay other countries other axes could have been responsible for this other people may be in possession of this agent indeed if the report report down had it others might have it it's very unclear that there is no evidence to suggest that that is indeed the case but is very cleverly trying to pick holes in that ambiguity that boris

johnson that's there in his interview so hopefully it remains fascinating but ambiguous and confusing. on the chance of helping us to understand part of it thank you sean it i know it's being described as the largest charity selloff ever the auction in the u.s. of the peggy and david rockefeller collection which is expected to raise the whole of a billion dollars for selected charities the art works on election have been collected by generations of rockefeller's they are of course one of the wealth wealthiest american families have a making their fortune over the years in the oil and banking sectors now there are collection is on display in beverly hills california ahead of the yorkshire she used to adorn the walls of the late david rockefeller spry that library before that she'd only had one. collector and writes a go to stein. picasso's the bill would flow of ask it is perhaps the most famous

artwork from the vast collection that will go under the hammer next month what's extraordinary is that this is the largest auction for charity in world history we think that it will bring more than five hundred million dollars and the recipients are visual arts charities philanthropies universities science and vironment only conservation interest. water lilies in bloom by claude monet is another highlight the auction house estimates its value to fifty million dollars there are also works by paul gauguin. diego rivera. edward hopper. george o'keefe and many more we're looking at a fraction of the collection there are fifteen hundred pieces being sold half online so those pieces are two hundred dollars five hundred dollars a thousand dollars the collection is on display in los angeles following

exhibitions in hong kong paris and london the works will go on auction at christie's in new york in may. well from us at the top of the hour with cheryl kelley taking over at this tech stand up here up next rather here on t.v. news the second home fall documentary on everest milka the former head of common issues germany's feared intelligence service. germany is a strong country. that we have achieved so much we can do this and if something hinders us we must overcome it. going where it's uncomfortable global news that matters w made for mines.