this is deja vu news live from berlin u.s. president trump fires the country's top law enforcement officer jeff sessions one of the president's earliest backers is 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 we'll have more from washington also coming up. new doubts over the fate of a christian woman accused of blasphemy in pakistan ozzy abebe is out of jail but even after receiving a death sentence rights groups say her life is still in jail. and nearly

eighty years after an infamous nazi pogrom against jews a holocaust survivor returns to berlin to pay tribute to the people who say. also coming up a seaman c.e.o. joe kayser praises the saudi vision of a high tech future and technology is losing a twenty billion euro contract there but after the killing of a saudi journalist says business as usual is no longer an option. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for joining us we begin the show in washington with a cabinet shakeup that's created a political firestorm there president trump has fired jeff sessions as attorney general sessions was one of the very first to endorse the president during his twenty sixteen campaign but trump as long as pressed frustration with sessions

after he recused himself from the russia probe. 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 whether trump and his aides colluded let's stay away let's stay away u.s. politicians worried that trump is trying to hold the investigation putting someone in charge who's willing to stop the russia probe protecting. it and his investigation is paramount it would create

a constitutional crisis if this were a 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 getting 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 hit with hiring and firing attorney generals is commonplace in american politics but rarely has it been so controversial. so what does this mean for the investigation for the very latest let's go straight to the abuse marsh waiter in washington my sessions interim replacement we just saw him there matthew whatever has called the miller investigation a witch hunt could we see him move to the funded. that is certainly with 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 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 march waiter for us in washington thanks very much miles jeff sessions firing comes right on the heels of the midterm elections that saw both republicans and democrats claiming victory republicans have expanded their majority in the senate but democrats managed to take the house of representatives the president said that if democrats use this newly one house power to launch investigations he would consider that a war like posture but he also indicated he was prepared to work across the aisle. 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 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 it be a rubber stamp for president chop this was but pelosi also promised efforts to work with republicans who must 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 the surge in representation for women and minorities well it's really exciting to see all the change and it's not just in new york it's all over the country so that's really empowering fighting to see that 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 lines ahead the twenty twenty presidential race starts now. it's to pakistan now in the pakistani foreign

ministry says the christian woman freed from death row is still in the country bibi was released from prison late wednesday some reports suggested she had been flown out of pakistan bibi spent eight years in jail in solitary confinement for blasphemy she'd been accused of insulting the prophet muhammad or acquittal triggered violent protests by islamist groups who called for her immediate execution last week bibi's husband told you the family feared for their lives bibi's lawyer has fled to the netherlands saying his life too was in danger. joining us now with the very latest on this is a correspondent from asia desk good morning shemale what's the latest what do we know about where by whereabouts right now well brian it's been confirmed that b.b. has left the prison in the city and she has been taken to the capital islamabad there

but a bolt in the media late night she was taken out of the country but foreign ministry the foreign spokesperson said earlier this morning. this is fake news so be gone see anything for sure at the moment whether she has left for europe or not but there are boats that say she could be on the way to europe ok now her lawyer has already fled to europe her family is facing death threats what kind of danger is a baby and right now i think she faces him and danger in pakistan we saw that islamists took to the streets and they won't be dead bang for blood and the government kind of gave didn't do extremists and we see that the government has struck a deal with islamists they would bar her departure from pakistan so we see the kind

of threats she faces and pakistan if she stays inside pakistan and life is in danger that's about human rights groups and investment governments have been leading the government of pakistan to allow her to leave the country so that she can live safely with the family will the government she will at some point help her to get out of pakistan help her to get to safety. well in pakistan these kind of things are developed by the pakistani military the pakistani military the civilian government does not have that kind of problem so if the generals want to be out of the country and if they think the repetition of that stake then i believe they will get her out of the country but as i said at this moment recon say anything for sure that. she has been taken out of the country she will be taken out of the country all we want we know for for a fact is that she has been released from prison and rights groups have hated the

news she's finally free she most always bring us up to date and keeping us in touch with this important story of bibi and her fate in pakistan thanks very much thanks for having me on the show brian now for some of the other stories making the news this hour in cameroon seventy nine kidnapped boarding school students have been released reports say the kidnappers are still holding three adult hostages from the school the children were seized early monday morning in amanda 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 in a thick blanket of smog a day after the wall the celebrations local reports indicate the air quality derrida to very poor after many people ignored a firecracker bad put in place by the country's supreme court. and canadian prime minister justin trudeau has apologized in parliament for his

country's nine hundred thirty nine refusal to accept a ship carrying some nine hundred german jews clean nazi persecution. he said the apology was long overdue the ship the st louis was forced to return to europe where hundreds of those on board later died in nazi concentration camps. what would you do to protect your neighbor from deadly state persecution would you hide them from authorities how much would you arrest those are some of the questions that made all the difference the difference between life and death for many during germany's their device yesterday the state of israel honored some who risked everything to help others we've had a man whose life depended on the courage of his neighbors. so to frankenstein never wanted to come back to germany but the ninety four year old returns to poland several times a year traveling all the way from stockholm. it was here that he was branded

a jew here that he was a force laborer it was here that he and his young family survived the holocaust. we've been in. this is what i had to wear and this is what i was later given to wear. for my novel but the middle is for my work with young people to do my bit to ensure democracy in germany is maintained. like. he's proud of his order of merit medal but he has long called for honors for those who risked their lives to protect him and other jews in nazi berlin. it's been my know them the lives of my entire family. on the shore and if it were not for them we would not have survived when you. can send a famous actor was one of those who risked everything to help voter and his cousin

on screen he often played the ladies' man but during the holocaust he took on a different role in the early one nine hundred forty s. he worked with a lawyer hines gets left to hide several jews they put their lives on the line providing places to stay and fake passports the holocaust remembrance center yet fresh air has now ordered them posthumously as righteous among the nations you don't buy into devout or ever since i've known you and it's been a number of years now you've told me so encourage should be honored thank you god and without you we'd probably not be here from. israel's ambassador to germany jeremy's occur of presenting the medals and certificates for the relatives of those on and it was almost overwhelming. i'm only here because i happen to be related to hands on but i'm very grateful to have

this great person as part of my family history some may notice it. only a few of the estimated seven thousand jews who hid in berlin survived the nazi era fighter frankenstein is thought to be the only one who made it with his whole family. immediately plucked up his courage and helped us from the start. with clothes food and somewhere to stay get this fear that there were four pillars on which survival is built the. impudence no fear good friends and great luck for winfield look. he says the struggle now is to defend democracy against populism he wants to take an active part in german politics by applying for german passport so he can vote here.

it's to love now and the ongoing struggle there for l g b t rights being transgender is not legal is not illegal rather in lebanon but members of that community face wise for discrimination. a transgender woman in beirut who's fighting for equality 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 jaws 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 i can't go to her 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 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 it was not a hug or not although being transgender isn't illegal in lebanon they're 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 diana was charged under this article. you know who has a lawyer with a n.-g. o. legal agenda and don as an 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 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 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 four actually it doesn't define what natural into a course is or what intercourse that is against nature so through all is up to the judge to interpret this article done 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 bt community tennis ruling however it 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 ate them yesterday i was stopped at a checkpoint and asked for id i showed to god 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 that despite the landmark ruling the fight for social acceptance still has a long way to go. somebody hard down the german tech giant siemens is out with his fourth quarter report and that's not all that's right the net profit for the fiscal year at siemens remained at just over six billion euros a slight increase on the previous year the company's some setbacks recently in

securing new orders it's vying for a multi-billion year old of to build a power grade in iraq a job the company might have lost to us competitive g.e. often allegedly the white house intervened that is also problems in saudi arabia siemens was very late to cancel their attendance at the recent riyadh investment forum most companies had dropped out after the murder of saudi journalist to market shock she meanwhile at home siemens sold their shares drop nearly twenty percent over the course of this year. so earlier today i spoke to zeeman c.e.o. joke and i asked him first of his decision to pull out of that 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 the n.d.p. and that's true but obviously you know. things go as they go and i've

always made it clear we had a very reliable partner competent partner of both the kingdom also eurabia we have more than thirty million people mostly young people in the kingdom 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 a bit well in the kim going to be shunted this 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 which is a kind of spare and see there's got to be trust is this is that what what the kingdom has promised to do it will we'll 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 lost that deal all parts 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 overstated has been. unusual special forces have been intervening maybe out of good reasons that's not my churchmen to make

on the other hand look i mean siemens is 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 will be to 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 about mr k.'s are talking about the u.s. and you being very strong there how much money will the iran sanctions cost you you've already won down some of your business there haven't 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 it's a unilateral move from the united states through to pale out of. the agreement

reopens lee 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 here is not really relevant to siemens as the money goes how much we're concerned about a further let's say escalation. on the conflict in the middle east which is the last place we see to it another conflict seaman c.e.o. joker's i thank you very much for joining us trade in 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 imports jump even

higher the u.s. has imposed tariffs on half of all chinese imports but this has been offset by a decline in the u.n. which offsets the terrorist demand for chinese products remains high and its trade surplus continues to grow so trade china's trade sparking along nicely there in spite of your sanctions let's bring in our man in frankfurt booze and accounted for germany released some fresh figures today do they show any impact from b. u.s. substance. yes they do german exports in september down significantly and that's a disappointment for the forecasters who had mainly predicted that germany would manage to increase its exports again quite obviously some impact here from the u.s. trade policies and tariff policies quite obviously the demand for german goods is slowing down worldwide but there are

a few positive things worth mentioning the contentious german trade surplus has diminished somewhat that's positive in the discussion with the u.s. president and german imports are up germany imported five point three percent more in september than in the same month last year which means germany's businesses are buying they're investing they're importing from other countries mainly from other countries in the european union will not go in there in frankfurt thank you. that's it you're up to date you're watching news a live there's more news coming at the top of the hour of course more news on backbones for us on our web site let's do the job that's for sure but.

after a year in the hof in power in the french president emanuel 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 mushed party he has a seat on the parliament's finance committee how can the president boost to see him reach behavior of crucial elections to the european parliament next year.

found. to helping kharaj islam. in pakistan. she eradicated leprosy here almost singlehandedly. she's revealing that to a stack. of karachi. i'm not laughing at the germans because sometimes i am but nice that nothing with that . don't think deep into the german culture. you don't seem to get from this drama you know it's all about who had enough time rachel join me to meet the captivity of the whole earth. or saving global india's tell stories of

creative people and the kind of aid of projects around the world ideas to protect the climate and boost green energy solutions and global ideas the series of global three thousand on t.w. and online. touch. after a year and the whole thing caught on the french president emmanuel mccall 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 mushed party he has a seat on the parliament's finance committee how can the president boost to see him reach the head of crucial elections to the european parliament next year.