into the abyss could friendly fire from president trump defeat one strongest military alliance. on d w. this is. coming up in the program the stunt that became of water the grave and indeed magician dies attempting an escape made famous by having houdini. had remarked it is be magic if you pulled it off otherwise tragic also coming up. killing in pakistan critic of the military and politicians is mobbed up near the capital islamabad is this a trend in the country plus. we meet an afghan man who sees us no choice than to grow

a crop. and criminal networks. welcome to news asia it's good to have you with us we start in india and the iconic bridge in kolkata that became the scene of tragedy a dangerous underwater escape that went horribly wrong indians. who called himself the wizard mandrake said he wanted to revive interest in magic by replicating by a trick under the bridge. he was tied up with a heavy rope and steel chains secured by 6 locks he was then know what by krien into the hooghly river. after 10 minutes. he still had.

to the horror of onlookers which included members of his family rescue teams are mobilized and yesterday they found his body still in chains washed up a kilometer from where he entered the water this was of life is fast underwater stunt and he knew the risks. even i mean it's a brilliant river it will be very hard to open the not some locks but i will open them and if i do that it's magic if not then it's tragic and he's going to live a. prophetic almost did a local respondents song i found that god is standing by for us in delhi so not good to see you what do we know about the details of this case when british police in the state of west bengal and say ciancia lie he had indeed taken permission from the authorities in this case both the kolkata police as well

as the court of peace in order to do this stunt but they say that a missile mission that he really didn't say that he was planning to jump into the water but rather that stunt would be carried out on a boat or a basis another police operation has been quoted as saying that you know he did mention the letter very beatty that there was an extra act but he didn't when he spelled out what that was going to be another report in an indian newspaper suggests that like he really wants a war rather heavy and cumbersome clothing and god when he was lowered into the water or to meet it very difficult to swim in the strong current. but there's also reports coming out so now that this wasn't the 1st time he was attempting this stunt. that's right gratian really wasn't a palestine but we have thought through him but the true until the he's career really seems to have you know been marked by a series of hits and misses you know for example just before this act he told a reporter that he had successfully carried out this stunt at the exact same spot

21 years ago yet in 2013 he had attended the same stunt on the hooghly river and apparently that had gone wrong he was apparently assaulted by a crowd of onlookers who fans cheated because they saw him escape from a lock each by a door that was clearly visible he was apparently punched and beaten his trademark of you know flowing golden brown squared off and 10 years earlier he had also declared that he planned to to walk the walk on the river who would leave but that also apparently misfired and he had to abandon that effort denisov all the rules and regulations in place what about the officialdom here. to follow certain procedures to ensure that this committee says well british to the best of my knowledge i have truly come across any rules or regulations governing these kinds of stunts and that is i think we have to remember that that magic. or magicians like that he are really a part of

a vanishing breed you know magic is losing its popularity in india ashley thanks to the internet which is really kind of promising to make a magician out of everyone and traditionally you know we have to remember most of india's let it happen street performers you know whether it's. tightrope walker and these people have really been pushed out of india by a series of laws against sea try label animal cruelty they can push the margins when they do before it's in small villages and those those appalled really not subject to any safety procedures so now reporting for us from delhi thank you very much for that thank you. to pakistan next where a blogger and social media diverse critical of the military has been killed momma bill out of hand was a freelance journalist and blogger who was known for his criticism of pakistan's military and politicians police say he was killed in a wooded area of the capital islamabad on sunday night they say he was called there

by an unknown person and it was here that he and his cousin were attacked by assailants wielding daggers his cousin is currently said to be critical in hospital . sharon jones from beard is with me in the studio for more on the welcome what exactly happened. well. i was around 24 years of age and he was a stab to death in the capital islamabad on sunday. although he was religiously inclined but he was very critical of the pakistani military and particularly its a spy agency the i.s.i. and his last tweet was about he sarcastically criticizing the appointment of meet the new i.s.i. chief and many accuse me of being involved in political activities and spoke

constitution the army is not supposed to take part in politics but he does is this part of why. the blogger activists being targeted in part is that it definitely definitely is because you see in this case it's not really to stick it to liberal and progressive bloggers and journalists. religiously inclined and he was sympathetic to some religious organizations so we see a wider trend pakistani media has come under immense pressure you can criticize politicians you can criticize. religious groups you cannot criticize the army it's that big holy cow that you you cannot criticize so we have seen that the bloggers have been abducted in the past i know some some of them personally they have taken refuge in europe in north america there is still write about it there is still speak out against the army but their lives are in danger increasingly in danger i

don't talk about it in brown calm as prime minister i mean he promised to usher and you know of ny up artists or new pakistan when translated into english can we expect realistically free speech to improve in his brain. well what has happened since non-con came to power in august last year that the freedom of fist speech has shrunk further in pakistan. has not done anything to do and show safety to bloggers and journalist just recently. khan's former information minister. senior pakistani journalist. experts say that khan is not doing anything he's just doing the line of the military because the military brought him to baba and due to the military due to kind of deal with human rights issues and the military allegedly has. done

a lot of criminal activities in the northwest of pakistan so to david that khan has to challenge the military and he wants to avoid this kind of confrontation with the army he may want to avoid this confrontation what about the role of the judiciary boxes on claims it has an independent judiciary kenda judiciary not crack down on this or what is happening with that well some judges have confronted but now one of them confronted the military but now a reference has been filed against that judge so the powerful military has kind of captured the civilian areas you have the legislature you have you have the you have the judiciary you have the civil society so you see. done tickles like you know reaching out to all these fears and it is becoming very difficult fall for the bloggers and activists to kind of you know challenge this kind of situation. and

therefore it's best to keep overtly is that appears to be a message in pakistan sharman stone from didn't do isha thank you very much for breaking that down for us. and of course you can find out more about this story on our website that's at dot com forward slash. next which remains the world's top drawer of opium poppies for the global narcotics trade that's despite years of domestic and international efforts and billions of dollars to stop production growing the crop is technically illegal in the country but many of guns say they're faced with the choice of poppies. it's harvest time in kandahar and for 20 year old mohammed ahmadi it's imperative to work as hard as possible during the short season he's the breadwinner for a family of 14. the poppy harvest season lasts for $18.00 to $19.00 days. during this period we work on the fields and the owner of the land pays us

with money or with poppy. harvest just around $135.00 u.s. dollars for just one month's work that's big money in afghanistan where average workers take home less than $800.00 a year. mohammed has worked in the poppy fields since he was 13 years old the euro fast money outweighed his dreams. their cars. but they're hard nobody's really interested in doing this job. which i wanted to study but economic issues of forced me into this business. also the government is not paying attention to us. they didn't pave the ground for alternative jobs. for the family or another career. it's what many families cite as the reason they continue with the illegal trade. after almost 2 decades of war options are limited for many afghans and the

government admits it's struggling to provide viable economic alternatives to its citizens. kind of house counter-narcotics team says afghanistan has seen a decrease in poppy production but fully eradicating the trade isn't possible. in the past the foreigners paid for and you know campaigning but now the afghan government doesn't have the budget to help the farmers and provide them with alternative crops. mohammad still hopes that one day he'll find a different way to provide for his family and fulfill his dream of getting an education. and money when i can improve my economic situation and continue my studies then i'll have a bright future ahead. until then he'll keep relying on the striking red flowers to make ends meet and as long as there's global

demand for opium hundreds of thousands of others will too. that's all for now we're leaving now with japan's iconic shrine which is undergoing its fussed a restoration of what in 70 has been so next time about. what secrets lie behind the small. find out in an immersive experience and explores fascinating cultural heritage sites. d.w. world heritage for 60 good. luck. i'll go to the girl next new to chat. most of whom i know stood.

with exclusive insights. and a must see concerning startup culture to ensure a. place to be full curious minds. do it yourself networkers the 1st sofa subscribers don't miss out. facebook is going crypto after rumors have been flying for months the social media company finally presents its new crypto currency will it really give traditional payment systems a run for their money. and official numbers are hard to come by but it appears more chinese tourists are flocking to north korea than ever before. and it's harvest time for cherries in america but nobody knows exactly how many to pick for export as i have tariffs to china. this is business news

in berlin welcome can facebook take cryptocurrency main street the world's largest social network unveiled the digital coin it plans to roll out next year the project is called libera according to media reports and proponents say it could revolutionize digital payments under a single streamlined currency more than a dozen global firms will invest in and govern the currency like master card vodafone and this group was supposedly wall of control of the currency from facebook itself the facebook will be a basket of global currencies like the dollar and the euro or the pound to shield it from the wild fluctuations that has plagued bitcoin and scared off many average investors and potential users but will the new cryptocurrency catch on facebook bets the state of the social network alone with 2.