this is deja vu news live from berlin president trump fires the country's top law enforcement officer just sessions one of the presence of earliest backers was ousted from his post as attorney general what does this mean for the future of the russian approach and how will the newly elected democratic house react more from washington also coming out of. new doubts about the fate of a christian woman accused of blasphemy in pakistan was he a b.b.s. out of jail but even after escaping a death sentence my sister say her life is still in jeopardy. and in

beirut a transgender woman fights back against persecution but she tells us the struggle for l.c.d. t.v. rights in law but on will be along. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us we begin in washington with a cabinet shakeup that's created a political firestorm president trump has fired just sessions as attorney general sessions was one of the very first to endorse trump during his twenty sixteen campaign but the president has long expressed frustration with sessions after he recused himself from the probe into the alleged links between trump's presidential campaign and russia. jeff sessions now the former u.s. attorney general fired by donald trump applauded by his staff as he leaves the justice department the attorney general oversees the department and it's the

department that's in charge of special counsel robert miller's investigation into russia's possible role in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election an election that put trump into office. thank you very much believes u.s. intelligence agencies believe russia try to sway the election in favor of trump and special counsel miller is investigating with a trump and his aides colluded let's stay away let's stay away u.s. politicians worry that trump is trying to hold the investigation putting someone in charge who's willing to stop the russia probe protecting. and his investigation is paramount it would create a constitutional crisis if this were preload to ending or greatly limiting the mauler. investigation because jeff sessions was involved in trump's presidential campaign he formally stepped aside from overseeing miller giving miller the freedom

he required to fully investigate. sessions' replacement is matthew whitaker he's openly critical of the investigation and he may have the power to end it you're going to get it with the hiring and firing attorney generals is commonplace in american politics but rarely has it been so controversial. so what does this mean for the more investigation for the very latest let's go straight to the abuse marsh waiter in washington maya sessions interim replacement we just saw him there matthew whatever has called them all or investigation a witch hunt could we see him move to the funded. that is certainly one of the million dollar question right now brian now i should point out that there are actual lawful provisions in place to prevent exactly the sort of thing that say that muller cannot be fired unless there is a clear dereliction of duty on his part so while it's unlikely that they would be

able to lawfully remove him that doesn't mean there aren't other avenues that they could pursue a should the president and would occur try to shut down the investigation in some other way they could to starve it of funds which is something that would occur himself has proposed doing he could throw all sorts of roadblocks in the way and basically slow the investigation to a halt or at the end of the day even if the investigation is allowed to conclude the he could simply choose not to release the final report to the press to the public to congress itself so this has real implications for the future of this investigation and now the question is what has robert mueller prepared to do in the eventuality that this might happen ok no doubt. this fire has produced a political firestorm on capitol hill as you said there are a lot of options a lot of possibilities out there what might the democrats do next.

well one of the interesting things to consider about jeff sessions firing is the timing and all of this the new congress which is going to be democratically controlled doesn't take office until january that leaves president trump a little over two months three months to basically appoint whoever he wants in a recess appointment to be the next attorney general and the democrats won't really be able to do anything about that because again they won't have control of the house yet so this is something that a lot of people are sort of spinning their wheels on right now trying to figure out if the democrats can do anything in the interim and if not what's going to happen once january heads and the democrats do in fact have control ok a lot of discussions going on right now about this marsh waiter for us in washington thanks very much miles or jeff sessions firing comes right on the heels of the midterm

elections that saw both republicans and democrats claiming victory republicans have of course expanded their majority in the senate but democrats managed to take the house of representatives although it wasn't quite the big blue wave many of them are hoping for president trump said that if democrats use their newly one house powers to launch investigations against him he would consider that quote a war like posture. to trump the midterm election result as a historic victory taking personal credit for the republican gains in the senate he shrugged off the democrats regaining the majority in the house of representatives though he did offer an olive branch of sorts. in spite of a very now is the time for members of both parties to join together. put partisanship aside and keep the american economic miracle going strong but that offer of bipartisanship was quickly undercut the tone turned

combative as the president tussled with reporters and he threatened government gridlock of democrats pursue investigations into his administration almost from the time i announced i was going to run they've been giving us this investigation for take a long time they got nothing zero you know why because there is nothing but they can play that game but we can play it better bracing for that contest as the democrats jubilant house leader nancy pelosi she said voters wanted her party to hold the trumpet ministration to account and she vowed to deliver. american people have put want to put an end to unchecked g.o.p. control of washington restoring checks and balances and we as democrats are here to strengthen the institution in which we serve and not to have a. president trump this but pelosi also promised efforts to work with republicans.

we will strive for bipartisanship we believe that we have a responsibility to seek common ground for the u.s. these midterm elections mark a turning point but opinions differ on where the road goes from here many voters are encouraged by this surge in representation for women and minorities well it's really exciting to see all that and it's not just in new york it's all over the country so that's really empowering citing you know others are less optimistic about the coming months i definitely think they'll be some gridlock and more animosity and sadly you know that's what the tenor of the country's become on capitol hill two thoughts are already turning to what lies ahead the twenty twenty presidential race starts now. now for a look at some of the other stories making the news this hour canada's prime minister justin trudeau has apologized in parliament for his country's one thousand thirty nine refusal to accept a ship carrying over nine hundred german jews play nazi persecution those are the

apology was long overdue the ship the st louis was forced to return to europe for hundreds of those on board later died in nazi concentration camps. rwanda's leading political dissidents has gone on trial diane wood garro is a vocal critic of president paul kagame a and his human rights record last year she was barred from running against him elections which she won with more than ninety eight percent of the vote false accusers are seeking a twenty two year jail sentence as dismissed the accusations. in cameroon seventy nine kidnapped boarding school students have been released reports say the kidnappers are still holding three adult hostages from that school the children were seized early monday morning in amend the capital of the english speaking northwest region no single group says it carried out the kidnappings but separatist militias have been calling for a school boycott. the indian capital delhi has been covered enough. thick blanket

of smaug a day after the wall the celebrations local reports say the air quality deteriorated to very poor after many people ignored a firecracker ban set by the country's supreme court. or pakistan's foreign ministry says the christian woman recently freed from death row is still in the country early reports suggested she had left pakistan. bibi spent eight years in jail in solitary confinement for blasphemy she'd been accused of insulting the prophet mohammed her acquittal triggered violent protests by islamist groups who called for her immediate execution last week b.b.c. husband told e.w. the family feared for their safety her lawyers fled to the netherlands saying his life too was in danger. joining me now to bring some light to the story our correspondent at the age and ask the morning show is there any indication as to where bibi might be right now it's been confirmed that she has been

released from jail. and she risked loan out from the city of kabul foreign to slum of of the capital what we cannot confirm at the moment is. how she left the country or a lot of local media says that she has been taken out of the good career and she's probably on the way to europe but foreign ministry denied and said that it's strictly news so recall seeing at the moment anything for sure and i think things will be good in about two trios ok her family her husband her lawyer they've all expressed fears for their lives what kind of danger is a c.b.p. in right now. well it is a fact it's a reality that our theory b. cannot stay inside pakistan she was a group that did last week she should have been a free person by now but islamists took to the streets and burned public property

so the issue is that islamists want her dead and if she has been taken out of the country islamists riddick to the streets again. they. want turn down their baying for blood she is under immense threat in pakistan so it's unlikely that the prime minister in iran kinds of government would keep her in sight she was released we don't know that she can stay inside pakistan the morning ok he mentioned she might be on her way to europe will the government help or to leave the country who might be helping get her out of pakistan well i believe that these kind of things are done by the pakistani military and the security agencies see the syrian government do not have that kind of power to deal with these kind of issues so i have this understanding that the pakistani military the

gentles would play a role yet they call the shots so if they have to take her out of the country they will take her out of the country and the question is whether. from this response government would kind of agree to this kind of arrangement because they had a deal with islamists last week and decided that they would allow it if you petition off the supreme court quick to decision so a lot is unclear dormant and i have this feeling that things will get better get out in about two to three hours from now. thanks so much for bringing us up to date and then you following the story for us thanks very much. thank you for having me on the show thank you it's to love now and the ongoing struggle there for the rights being transgender there isn't illegal but members of the community still face widespread discrimination that one transgender woman in beirut who's fighting against persecution. this tiny apartment has become diana's only safe space in

her hometown of beirut. even going outside to meet up with close family members can be very difficult and i was able to deal with a few dollars imagine if my brother got married tomorrow it was i couldn't go to his wedding i thought it hurts my sister gets married and can't go to a wedding if there's school parties i can't go because people will criticize me they will say to my siblings why does your brother look like that. donna is a transgender woman and she's very open about it it is not just social stigma that she has to deal with in lebanon it can also mean trouble with the law. two years ago don i was in a cafe with a group of other transfer and when they were suddenly approached by undercover police. i came up to me and asked how much do you

charge me i said what are you talking about and my friend told him what are you doing don't talk to her like that then suddenly there were cars and they handcuffed all of us and took us away. although being transgender isn't illegal in lebanon they are often prosecuted under an obscure section of the penal code article five three four states that acts that contradict the laws of nature are punishable by up to a year in prison dannatt was charged under this article. you know who for the lawyer with the n.-g. o. legal agenda and don as attorney. the problem in article five to four is that the period in which there is the preliminary investigation this in this period when the person is deep in one of the person is investigated with anything that is related to the person and to the individual's private life is not respected so people will have their phones or their photos. taken out of their phone in order to

constitute a file against them in order to be able to prosecute them down i was charged because she stated in interrogations that she has relationships with men but her identification documents still stated her gender as male article five three four actually doesn't define what a natural into a course is or what intercourse that is against nature so if we're to always be up to the judge to interpret this article that i was acquitted by a local court and the ruling was upheld by a higher court of appeals it was a landmark case for lebanon's community done its ruling however does not mean that homosexuality has been completely decriminalized in lebanon judges in other districts are still able to interpret the law as they please and even for donna the court ruling does not mean complete protection. their job it to me every day i

was stopped at a checkpoint and asked for id i showed the guard and he was like you're a boy i told him it was none of his business but standing in front of them is terrifying. and dan is not the only one in lebanon's l g b t community who feels unsafe many believe the despite the landmark ruling the fight for social acceptance still has a long way to go. time now for some sports and byron munich have edged closer to a place in the champions league knockout stages with a two nil win over eighty k. athens last night tom get away from the sport's a serious morning tom the talk about that hard earned victory for byron what can you tell us about certainly well you know a calf is on exactly the strongest opposition in bahrain won't necessarily cruising last night but hard earned i think is the optimal phrase and we did get some reminders of that quality now rub it live in those fees food from the spot then put the book find your i mean put the game beyond a kathryn's layer one with

a fantastically improvised finish. that really needs to know that he can count on his big guns and. never in those people using those two goals yesterday as a reminder that he can't live the rest suppose i had a few chances which is very positive and i'm biased next game is of course in the city against this saturday so they really needed this result ahead of that game. they just need one point now to secure their qualification from the champions league and coach nico kovacs was taking the positives from the game last night let's have a listen to what you had to say. in that she went on i think of the ninety minutes we were in total control and in the second half we had for a fight over a good chances if it's called half of them we would have got an even clearer victory. wouldn't it and you know being two nil but i'm still happy as we have ten points now. so the pressure off but there for now there was some very late drama in turn when eventis faced manchester united that's right now this

was a game where two players released all the headlines that had big names who were facing their former clubs one of them is of course christiane over now though who scored the first with a brilliant volley that was his first champions league goal for the eventis but then like you said they came some great drama eighty six minutes gone and produced a fantastic free kick to equalise and later on. it was poor for what you then just glad you had a hand in bringing about what was eventually given as a goal latics on the eighty ninth minute to secure a very important win for my just you know artists i think they'll be confident of securing that qualification ok what stood out for you last night well you know we've talked about through the very big fixtures but there are also plenty of other games going on just a city put six possed shatov donetsk they've pretty much guaranteed that qualification at the top of group f. with that result elsewhere in that group often highly produced a very respectable draw away against leone so they've done their chances a bit of

a favor that real madrid won five nil in pilsen brilliant win there for santiago solari has not had three wins and three clean sheets from his first games as interim coach at real madrid and there we go of course events it's not just you know wanted by i mean a calf as we know those results ok tom thanks so much for looking into that for us . we have some boxing now and superstar floyd mayweather has cast doubt on a planned fight with the japanese kick boxer tension asacol was saying he never agreed to an official bout on monday mayweather appeared at a press conference in tokyo to announce the fight scheduled for new year's eve but the undefeated boxing world champion rode on instagram later that he was quote blindsided by the arrangement thing he was only for a small group of wealthy spectators mayweather added he'd never heard of. until this week. is here now with a business the german tech giant siemens is out with this fourth quarter report

that's right brian the net profit for the fiscal year remained just over six billion euros at siemens that's a slight increase on the previous year the company. set backs recently in securing new orders it's vying for multi-billion euro order to build a pug raid in iraq that's a job but the company might lose to u.s. competitors general electric off to wind the white house intervene there's also problems in saudi arabia siemens was very late to counsel their attendance at the recent riyadh investment forum most companies had dropped out after the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi meanwhile homes even saw their says drop twenty percent over the course of this year. earlier this morning i spoke to zeeman c.e.o. joke as a last of first of his decision to pull out of this investor conference in saudi arabia did indeed cost siemens a twenty billion dollars deal with the saudis. the fact is that we did not sign

a significant deal which was worth north of twenty billion that's true but obviously you know. things go as they go and have always made it clear we had a very reliable partner competent partner of the kingdom of saudi arabia we have more than thirty million people mostly young people in the kingdom there has been a lot of reforms which have been initiated so i think we need to look at all factors the things which really really are going to hell in the came going to be shunted the thirty is a very very promising. vision and such a concept going forward so there is a lot of cool things but there also have been talk things and i mean let's face it with the way what we have seen and heard about what happened in turkey is just not something which has moved into ordinary course of business with the kind of parents either scared happy trust is this is what the what the kingdom has promised to do

it will see how it goes. staying in in the in the regions even it was also in the running for thirteen billion dollars infrastructure project to electrify iraq again there are reports you loss that deal all part of it at least to general electric after don't trump intervened can you confirm that. a lot of stories being written about this topic the fact of the matter is that stevens has had a very very comprehensive compelling concept not just about rebuilding iraq in terms of electrification but also help the country in training in education with the dual apprenticeship program of the german industry we also promised to help the people in the freed up so for basic health care so there was a very comprehensive concept which reached the cover men that the customer liked a lot and obviously it has been. unusual special forces

have been intervening maybe out of good reasons that's not my churchmen and to make on the other hand look i mean she even says in the united states there was almost sixty thousand people creating another one hundred fifty thousand indirect jobs so we are a massive economic force in the country we are training people there be two revenues of more than twenty billion dollars so we are first and foremost also an american company which i believe deserves respect and a level playing field we are actually asking for it we're going to talk you know mr k.'s are talking about the u.s. and you being very strong there how much money will the iran sanctions cost you've already wound down some of your business that you. well. the after the after the implementation dave years ago we have been studying opus li

our contacts and. with our customers in iran now with the unilateral move from the united states to to bail out of. the agreement we obviously need to see what that is you know respecting the sanctions we are very very very clear on that matter and that's exactly what we do i mean obviously this unfortunate that there was a unilateral bail out of the agreement but it is what it is we need to deal with it and we are going to deal with it. that's exactly what we do and look at the economic impact is not really relevant to siemens as far as the money goes i'm much more concerned about a further let's say escalation on the on the on the conflict in the middle east which is the last place the sheets yet another conflict even c.e.o. joe case i thank you very much for joining us. trade and china appears to be

roaring ahead in spite of a drawn out trade conflict with the united states official figures suggest exports last month were up nearly sixteen percent over last year and imposed jumped even higher the u.s. has imposed on hot chinese imports but this has been set off by a decline in the u.n. which offset the tab is still on for chinese products remains high and its continues to grow. samsung has unveiled its version of the next big thing a foldable phone company gave the first glimpse developers conference in san francisco on the edge program is to start writing apps for the product which doesn't yet have a launch date samsung didn't want to give too much away about the device and dimmed the lights to disguise elements of the design when on folded to devise resembles a seven point three inch tablet some so how's it been competing with other brands like to present a device first however they were all upstaged a week ago when

a little known startup called royal bio foldable for. business is a reminder of the top stories we're following for you here on t.w. president gold's trump has fired the attorney general jeff sessions from power long expressed frustration with sessions. himself from the probe into alleged ties between trump's presidential campaign and russia positions firing place is the future of the investigation into. a from the there's more news coming at the top of the hour in the meantime to check out our web site news and information that's on dot com thank you very much for joining me.

mysterious sinkholes. on the shores of the d.n.c. . thousands of them have appeared with more coming every day. israeli researchers have learned to predict the perilous things now they're working on an early warning system for sinkholes.

after a year in the hospital power of the french president emanuel macro is getting more and more unpopular nothing he does seems to stop the slide my guest here in london is the french m.p. alexander holroyd a member of the president's all marsh party he has a seat on the parliament's finance committee how can the president boost to soon reach the head of crucial elections to the european parliament next year. they make a commitment. they find a solution. they can stronger. africa of the month. stories for both people to french shaping their nation.

and the continent of africa. on the move stories about motivational change makers taking their destinies into their own hands. d.w. singh multimedia series for africa. d w dot com click on the movie. hello and welcome to tomorrow today coming up. small miracles researchers peek inside thirty million year old insect fossils and unlock secrets from the past. big plans for curing genetic diseases and eliminating hunger will genetic scissors really give up to their promise and great alternatives amaranth and i'm calling weight modern day super foods approved.