anchor: this is "d.w. news" live from berlin. tonight, u.s. president donald trump pushing back against accusations made by his former attorney, michael cohen. trump says hush money paid to two womemen during the elelectin campmpaign was t totally legall. he says it was his own money, not campaign funds. but tuesday remains the darkest day so far in the trump presidency. we'll asksk what happens next.t. also coming up, zimbabwe's constitutional court hears a challenge to president emmerson

mnangagwa's election victory. opposition claims there was tampering. and "d.w. news" goes to the spanish territory of sauta in northern africa, following migrants determined to get across. brent: tonight donald trump is hitting back from what could be called black tuesday. trump's former lawyer, michael cohen, told prosecutors that trump used campaign funds for hush money to keep two women from going public with damaging stories about the u.s. president. trump claimed that the payments were not even a campaign

violation because they came from his personal funds. trump was on the campaign trail today where he found supporters who didn't seem to care what was said in washington and new york. reporter: observers are calling it the darkest day so far in donald trump's turbulent presidency but the u.s. president at a rally in west virginia appeared unrattled. trump, as he's done time and again, denied any russian involvement that aided him during his electoral campaign. ♪ take me h home, country roads president trtrump: fake news and the russian witch hunt. we got a whole big combination. where is the collusion? they're still looking f for collusion. where is the collusion? findome collusion. we want to find the collusion. reporter: his comments came hours after developments that

mean two of his ex-advisers facing lengthy prison sentences. michael cohen is trump's former personal lawyer and close friend. he pleaded guilty to a range of charges, including campaign finance violations. cohen's attorney, lanny davis, seen here wearing glasses, said his client was prepared to tell everything he knows about trump, including prior knowledge of the hacking of democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton's computer and also a meeting in 2016 between trump campaign aides and a russian delegation. under oath, cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for donald trump, swore he paid hush money to trump's alleged mistresses including porn actress stormy daniels at the direction of who he referred to as the candidate. it's widely understood that he's referring to the u.s. president. >> he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016

campaign and to the candidate and the campaign. reporter: shortly afterwards, a second court case delivered further drama. mr. trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, was convicted on eight counts of financial crimes. manafort's trial is the first to emerge from special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. manafort faces a second trial next month on several charges, including acting as an agent for a foreign government. in washington, critics of donald trump staged this protest. they seem to have no doubt that he colluded with russia but it's likely to take time before speciaial counsel m mueller reas any conclusion on that. brent: where do we go from here? i'm joined by professor of politics at bart college in berlin. a familiar face here, we've talked many evenings about u.s. politics and here we've got the

u.s. president. is he facing a political risk or is he facing a legal threat? boris: i don't see where you see the exact opposite between the two. i think he's facing both. the risk is that there might be an impeachment process at some point. we'll see how the congressional elections go. this will be decisive. it's not so much a legal issue than a political issue. there have been c charges before and i think there could be made a claim that they have been impeachable offenses so it's not really about the legal questions but more about the political questions but he's also facing a legal risk about campaign finance that's obvious. brent: do you think we've reached a tipping point, just in the last 24 hours, we're hearing the word, impeachment, now, used by a lot of people in washington, who in the past have not used that. is that a difference? boris: that's the big question and remains to be seen, may take

another week or two to find out. mueller will try to avoid a situation that james comey had to face which was to have an intervention in the election process, 2016. so mueller will come up with the evidence soon, if there is any other evidence. so we will see if this is a tipping point. so far, the republicans have been quiet opportunistic and have backed up donald trump in the last two y years. many of them have just been very silent. brent: democrats have been silent in the last 24 hours, haven't they? boris: they've b been silent, as well, because talking about impeachment from a democratic point of view might mobilize the base of donald trump. brent: the u.s. president ripping at his former attorney, michael cohen, accusing him of making up stories to get a deal. i want you to look at the tweet the president posted today. that michael cohen pleaded guilty to two counts of campaign

finanance violatioions that aret a crime. prpresident obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled. boris, does he have a point there? is he conflating two things? boris: i think opening the obama question is a whole different story and that's a stretch we've seen before. if he's cornered, he tends to kick into different directions. that's something we saw in the primaries against hillary clinton. if you look at his twitter account, the last two tweets were about isis and immigration and d about a hurricane nobody talked about before so there is a pattern here. brent: what do you make of what we saw last night, after the news had broken, the u.s. president goes to west virginia. he is at a campaign rally and he's being cheered and then we hear this chanting from the crowd. "hillary, lock her up." it's beyond bizarre, isn't it? boris: well, i think there's

a -- the u.s. political system is very polarized and has been since att least the mid 1990's, since the cultural wars, really. so t there are parallel realitis going to, and thehe m media c cs are just as polarized, reflecting polarization in society. so probably this w wle debatee won't have a bigig effecect onns basese. the question is, he won the presidential election with a - - well, with less votes, due to the political electoral system in the u.s. the question is, if this kind of marginal advantage will last for another couple of months. brent: we will definitely know something come november with the midterms. that's for sure. boris, we appreciate your invites. thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. hundreds of elderly koreans have said their final emotional goodbyes to relatives at the end of a rare reunion for families

separated by the korean border. south koreans are heading home after a three-day visit to the north. residents in hawaii are bracing for a rare hurricane bearing down on the islands, stocking up on emergency supplies in anticipation of flooding and fierce winds. hurricane lane has been downgraded to category four but could bee the most powerful stom to hit hawaii in recorded history. marches have been held across the u.s. in support of prisoners who have gone on strike. prisoners in 17 states are refusing to work and eat for two weeks. they're demanding improved conditions and standard wages for their work. it's called one of the largest prison strikes in u.s. history. head shops in england could -- t shops in england could be banned from selling puppies and kittens under six months of age.

pet lovers would have to buy directly from a breeder or adopt frfr an animal shelter. zimbabwe's constitutional court has been hearing a challenge to president emmerson mnangagwa's election victory. the main opposition apartment, the movement for democratic change, claims there was what it calls massive doctoring of last month's vote and that it should be overturned. the president and the country's election commission deny foul play. the court said it would deliver a rulingg on friday. >> a mid tigight sececurity, zimbabwe's constitutional court has become the stage for the countrtrs latestt political showdown. all u.s. are on the nine judges who must decide whether to throw the case out, declare a new presidential winner, or order a fresh election. >> they must do it in good faith so that eveveryone must be

satisfied after the ruling of the courts, no matteter which party is it or no matter which candidate is it. reporter: the opposition party is challenging president emmersonon mnangagwa's electctin victory last month, claiming it was rigged. mnangagwa replaced robert mugabe in november last year. the electoral commission said he won july's presidential election with just over 50% of the vote. >> i'd like to guarantee you that we have a very strong case and we are going to over-tend this electoral fraud consistent with what we promised you. we are going to defend your voice, the zim babwan voice. reporter: post election clashes

have resulted in a number of people being killed, including sylvia mafoza, manager of twowo although many here are hopeful the court case will end the violence and uncertainty, there's no guarantee the judges will change anything. brent: in recent months, italy has tightened border controls and now spain has become the main destination for african migrants trying to reach europe. at one entry point in spain's north african enclave, hundreds of migrants have stormed fences in a bid to enter european territory. at least 150 people managed to cross. in a bid to hinder more from entering the territory, authorities have erected a six-meter-high fence along the eight-kilometer-long border with morocco. for those who make it through, it's no guarantee of easy passage to a new life.

oliver follows a group intent on making it to europe. oliver: moussa and his friends have to make their way to the high dealt carefully. they say the police could show up at any time and destroy their camp. the group has thousands of kilometers behind them. now just a few hundred meters separate them from europe, that, and the fence. this man from guinea shows us deep cuts. they are from his attempts to storm the border. >> my father is said. my mother has nothing. not even food. i'm the oldest son and i want to try to make money to help my mother. that's why i left. oliver: they've been traveling for two years since leaving guinea and are now stuck here with some 50,000 others, all hoping to make the journey from morocco to europe.

the fence is here to stop them. it's eight kilometers long, fifitted with razor wire, along with the territory of malia, this is the only other e.u. border in africa. on other side is alfonso crusado from the spanish guard. it's his job to secure the border but that's not always possible. over 600 migrants managed to storm the fence at the end of july. the police are helpless and talk of unprecedented levels of violence. makeshift flame throwers, quick lime and grappling hooks are the migrants' weapons of choice. >> they were very well prepared and organized. what's more, they were so violent, we could not get to the fence. they threw acid at us and did all they could to prevent us from closing the holes they cut into the fence.

oliver: in morocco's mountains, moussa and his friends are preparing their next attempt. they're tired of the brutality at the hands of the moroccan police. they only find food at a nearby rubbish dump, a soft drink, cucumber, moldy potato. life here sunbearable -- is unbearable. >> morocco is teeming with police officers. all of my friends who left guinea with me made it to ceuta. what am i supposed to do here? i'll stay here until i can get in. oliver: a sense of desperation drives them. for moussa and his friends, it's europe or nothing. brent: the u.s. has imposed new sanctions against russia today. helena has that story. it keeps coming.

reporter: just keeps coming, the latest effort by the trump administration to ramp up pressure on the russian economy. officials in moscow say they're bracing for lower growth and weaker ruble as a direct result. until now, the kremlin dismissed falls in currency as market volatility. not anymore, though. reporter: this russian reporter is saying the u.s. has banned exports of gas turbines to russia. until now, the kremlin has been unrelfed by u.s. sanctions. but the mere announcement of this list sent stocks in large state owned companies tumbling on the moscow stock exchange. flight carrier aeroflot fell 12% and the ruble exchange rate has

dropped sharply in recent weeks. foreign minister, sergey lavrov, is outraged. úits sanctions have nothing to do with syria, ukraine or crimea. they're introduced to hobble the russian economy. a further round of sanctions lined up for november could target banks, u.s. russian air links, imports and exports and diplomatic relations. they would hit russia's six largest state controlled banks as well as the country's entire oil and gas industry, all of which would have dire effects on the russian economy. >> wall street shrugged off legal problems of two former associates of president trump. former lawyer michael cohen and former election campaign

manager, paul manafort, could face more charges but it's not clear whether or not the actions could impact the november midterm elections. the latest from wall street, our financial correspondent sophie is standing by. a remarkable day yesterday in the trials of cohen and manafort. what have the markets made of these developments? sophie: one would expect an impact on performance and stability of the financial markets, as most investors are investing not only based on numbers but also based on assumptions about how the stock prices are going to further develop. and as people close to trump are falling from certainly might fear they could take trump down with them or endanger the status quo but whatever is happening in the white house does not seem to concern investigators too much. at the moment, investing in

strong companies that reported good earnings that flourish in a solidly growing company and if we see a small loss or two, that does not mean some are selling and panicking but some may prefer to watch the market while holding on to stocks. helena: anything times. the bull run continues, as well. i suppose the question really is for how long can we expect it to do so? sophie: yes, so the rally we have been seeing has been going on for 9 1/2 years since march 2009 when the market slowly started recovering from the financial crisis but threats are lurking. investors seem to think trump can succeed in talking to foreign leaders and get a good

deal for the u.s. and some bears are showing up who are saying the stock market is at the end of a cycle growth as well as the economy so we'll see recession. this, i think, might be a little too pessimistic and too simplistic but i think with rising interest rates, the likelihood of a smaller correction in the markets becomes realistic. helena: thanks for that, sophie. europe is basking in its hottest summer since 1976 but there is one huge down side. there's hardly any rain. that's threatening the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and drought is wreaking havoc around the world. millions of hectacres of forest have been lost to wildfires and some countries in a state of emergency. >> the drought has affected all of northern europe. each -- even north of the arctic

circle,, temperatures rose above 30 degrees at times. scscandinavian farmers expecting the worst harvest in a quarter of a century. the governments of latvia, lithuania, have declared a state of emergency. farmers in poland and czech republic are watching crops wilt and expect damage to be long term. experts say climate change is partly responsible for the droughght and expect further problems around the globe. >> all our climate models are saying the negative impact of climate change on agriculture will be much more severe i in tropicical regions of south asia and africa than in eururope and that means the biggest negative impact will be where people are already poor and that's something we need to take seriously. reporter: africa, for one, has been hit by an unusually severe drought this year. capetown became the first metropolis to strictly ration

water. farmers in australia ranan out f water for their c cattle. drdrought there has even drivevn wild emus into the cities searching for water. in north ameririca, drought has sparked catastrophic wildfires along the westetern seaboboard,m cacalifornia to the canadian province of british columbia, millions of hectacres of forest burned down, the smoke creating a health scare. reporter: brent has news of a new way to monitor what is our worrying weather. brent: after 16 years of intensive planning, testing and construction, a new satellite is about to be launched that will be a giant leap forward for weather forecasting. the satellite, named after the keeper of the winds of ancient greece, in mythology, is scheduled to be sent into orbit

shortly from the european space agency's launch pad in french guiana. >> thea,olis will be the first satellite to directly measure the earth's winds at all altitudes. wind currents play a major role in distributing heat around the planet. the currents affect weather patterns and part of what makes the blue planet habitable. the satellite is carrying what the european space agency calls one of the most sophisticated instruments to be put into orbit, consisting of two powerful lasers, telescope and two receivers. the aolis will be hoisted to an orbit of 320 k kilometerers, memeasuring global winds by beaming light pulses towards earth to bounce off dust and

water droplets. the satellite will collect and measure light that's reflected. until now, meteorologists have only had sources like weather balloons for wind data. there are regions wherere l lite data has beeeen collectcted like southern hemispherere because mh of it is covered with oceans, making it difficult to measure. the mission aims to supply missing data. the satellite will complete an ororbit around earth evevery 90 minutes andnd deliver datata toa site in norway to improve weather forecasts worldwide. scientists also hope to gain valuable insights about the climate from the data sent back. complex weather patterns in the south pacific will be one focus, in particular, la nina and el nino patterns.

they can cause draughts and crop failures and affect the formation of hurricanes in central and north america. scientists hope that wind measurements from the satellite will help them better understand this climate phenomenon and its effects. the mission is scheduled to last three years. brent: back on earth, the story of a full-time u.s. federal judge who several times a month indulges his passion for ice dancing, at the age of 95. he's been hitting the rink regularly ever since he received a pair of skates from his wife and that was 20 years ago when he was a sprightly young man of the age of 75. >> normally he is a busy new york judge who has presided over high-profile cases involving the likes of facebook and harvey weinstein but twice a week robert sweet takes on a different challenge.

the 95-year-old heads to the rink to indulge in his second great passion, ice dancing. nowadays he wears a helmet after suffering a concussion following a fall but he's generally very steady on his skates and is keen to get even better. >> this is a very precise sport. it's very important that you be balanced. it's very important that you be in the right place on your blade. it looks as if you're on the entire blade but you're not. you're just on a relatively small part of the blade. reporter: he even has a coach, two helpful time olympian was wary of training a judge at first. >> in the beginning, i was very afraid because federal judge. and in russia we don't like judges. we don't like anybody with law enforcement.

but he become not as my student. he become as my friend because he unbelievably nice person. reporter: he is ghazallion's oldest client but is showing no signs of slowing down. brent: what do you plan to be doing at 95? you're watching "d.w. news" live from berlin. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org.] yeah yeah yeah french

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