and you know popular culture is you should join me i'm in the hot sun as i put it up front questions to my special guests and challenge them to some straight talking political debate. al-jazeera. 2 diplomats testify in the 1st public hearings of an impeachment inquiry into us president double trump. our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency but the future of the presidency itself. hello again i'm come on sons of maria here in doha with the world news from al jazeera. i hear it's a joke i haven't watch i have a watch for one minute that's dismissing the impeachment hearings as he meets

president for the 1st time since turkey's military operation in syria also dozens killed in gaza as israel launches more airstrikes and more than $200.00 rockets fired in response. and a cocktail to combat tear gas we meet the older generation committed to helping iraq's antigovernment protests. so a top diplomat has given evidence of how the u.s. president put pressure on ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden when there was one of 2 foreign offices to appear for hours at the 1st televised hearing at the heart of an impeachment inquiry into donald trump hijack our story begins our coverage from washington the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god william taylor and george kent took the stand together at the 1st public hearing in the impeachment inquiry career foreign officers called by democrats to telecom. telling story to the american public taylor is the acting u.s.

ambassador to ukraine who upon assuming the post in june found himself dropped in the middle of a mystery once i arrived and gave discovered a weird combination of encouraging confusing and ultimately alarming circumstances taylor had begrudgingly agreed to come out of retirement to take over the u.s. diplomatic mission at a critical time his predecessor maria had been ousted without explanation and president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani was meeting with ukraine officials to discuss debunked corruption allegations against political rivals that had taylor worried and countered an irregular informal channels of u.s. policy making with respect to ukraine. unaccountable to congress taylor began asking questions and learned the informal channel was aimed at getting ukraine to investigate joe biden trump's potential opponent in the upcoming presidential

election taylor says career diplomats were sidelined as trump's chosen aides pressed ukraine to publicly announce a biden investigation george kent a state department expert on ukraine says giuliani was getting more involved in u.s. relations with kiev it became clear to me that giuliani's efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations were now infecting u.s. engagement with ukraine leveraging president selenski desire for a white house meeting but there was more ambassador taylor says he had a clear understanding that u.s. security aid to ukraine worth $400000000.00 was also on the line the money was essential for ukraine to fend off russia's military advances to withhold that systems for no good reason other than help with the political campaign made no sense it was it was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do. it was illogical it could not be explained it was crazy multiple witnesses have

corroborated taylor's testimony much of the facts are uncontested but there is a critical factor still missing from the democrats' argument to impeach president trump and that is evidence that trump was directly involved and therefore to be blamed the closest democrats have come is a july phone call between trump and the president of ukraine a lot of years olinsky tells trump his country's ready to buy more weapons from the us for defense purposes trump sansar i would like you to do us a favor though then ask for investigations into democrats and the bidens this is extortion this is bribery and in any other instance. people would go to jail for sure trump says he's innocent and republicans are stunned sleep defending him but anyone from 1000000 with a democrat scorched earth war against president trump would not be surprised to see

all the typical signs that this is a carefully orchestrated media smear campaign prior to the start of the public hearings americans were about evenly divided on whether to impeach trump and remove him from office now that they're hearing directly from witnesses all eyes are on whether the public's opinions will change. castro al-jazeera washington so all of that happening on capitol hill but at the white house donald trump was dismissive of what he's already labeled a witch hunt i hear it's a joke i haven't watched i have a watch for one minute because i've been with the president which is much more important as far as i'm concerned this is a sham and shouldn't be allowed it was a situation that was caused by people that shouldn't have allowed it to happen who want to find out who is the whistleblower and because the whistleblower gave a lot of very incorrect information including michael with the president of ukraine

which was a perfect all. on the news hour we spoke to karen greenberg director of the center on national security at fordham university school of law she says the diplomats testimony is an important development for the public. 1st of all it's very important it's important that we got to this moment and the reasons are not just partisan divide the reasons aren't even just the allegations and making sure they come to the public but the sidestepping of process and and the rule of law is very much what's at issue here and so for the congress to go forward and to try to do this procedurally. by the book as they say is very important because what needs to be done in addition to everything else ascertaining the facts figuring out what went wrong and who did what went wrong is to reestablish some kind of trust in the system as an ability to check put checks on the president to present facts to the public and to have some kind of coherent narrative comes out of this that seen in

the light of day by the american public they were very much taking up the ground of the word that usually used to describe this is nonpartisan the nonpartisan government official who is there as a as a career diplomat in this case who in both these cases who is trying to say look there is such a thing as a profession and there are certain rules and regulations and codes that we go by when we perform the profession of state craft and diplomacy and both can't and taylor were trying to make this argument in their extremely sober extremely dry way while invective were flying over their head from their questioners. trump's threats to withhold military aid to ukraine is a key part of this whole inquiry care has received an estimated $1500000000.00 from the u.s. in the past 5 years state boston has this report from

a training center in western ukraine where troops get specialist help from american soldiers. but it is. laying low seems to be the message in ukraine after u.s. military aid was temporarily suspended in july the country was suddenly at the center of an american political storm involving a phone call between the u.s. president and the newly elected ukrainian leader. undeterred by what's going on in washington ukrainian soldiers are preparing war games with the u.s. colleagues at the joint multi national training center in the west of the country tactics they can use in the ongoing war against russian backed separatists in the east where we pay attention to politics that doesn't affect our day to day process will be here tomorrow or as long as both governments agree that we're needed here. besides having ukraine's back against russia the americans are getting ukraine's troops ready to become part of nato. this is how u.s.

military aid to ukraine looks like an army which was said to be suffering from corruption and the lack of funds now we've got to face russia in the east but one threat to withhold this aid even though it was only temporarily has caused doubts about how much your crain can rely on its most important ally. after the much debated phone call with trump ukraine's president followed him years olinsky said he did not feel pressured by trump's threat to withhold military aid but analysts say it has affected the image of the united states and ukraine and could even push some towards moscow what we're seeing in washington now that is under threat of unraveling completely as widely reported a series that for. trump drop is not interested in any larger issues of democracy promotion state building and human rights in ukraine rather he's interested in using grain for his own political needs. but the us president still has some fans

in this coffee shop only opened a few months ago i would say it would make ukraine more famous and more people aware of ukraine was happening in ukraine about war in the middle of europe. but it wouldn't hurt your brain image many americans don't even know that you're training this young teacher by us military but i don't feel any particular help from america so i think we have to rely on ourselves. not the sort of message ukrainian soldiers fighting what is known as the forgotten war against russian backed separatists want to hear they hope the u.s. will continue to support them step faster al-jazeera livy ukraine you saw him earlier donald trump meeting the turkish president reject typer one at the white house despite opposition in congress to the visit turkey's offensive in northern syria and its purchase of a russian weapons system dominated those talks as mike hanna reports now from

washington. the president and 1st lady at hand to welcome the turkish leader this is the 1st face to face talks following weeks of strained relations between the 2 countries president trump was quick to set a friendly tone we have a great relationship both personally and with the great country of turkey and we look forward to moving that forward and making it an even bigger and better relationship thank you for its apprenticeship that dates back 7 years to the opening of the trump towers in istanbul buttressed by a warm relationship between their sons in laws one is turkey's finance minister the other president trump's close adviser jared cushion. it's a relationship that concerned many in congress the concern further fueled by president trump's opposition to a bipartisan sanctions bill passed in the house and being discussed in the senate. the bill was in response to turkey's military operation in syria. following

president trump surprise decision to withdraw u.s. troops from the region congress has been angered by the u.s. president's apparent reluctance to impose sanctions on turkey following its decision to buy a russian weapons system yes 400 are already being deployed in the face of protest by all of turkey's nato allies including the u.s. . just outside the white house a small group of protesters expressing their opposition to the turkish president while the protests the. president. group opera public and. an apparent attempt to persuade. against bush unusual and you want to start of deliberations you know the president one senator had leased agreed to look for the silver lining in the relationship with turkey the purpose of this meeting is to have an american citizen. or friends

in turkey. and there's a pony in there somewhere if we can. and the hope expressed by president turner one that the relationship with the u.s. congress will improve as turkey we are ready and committed to sustain a very constructive dialogue with the united states congress and this is an idea that i've shared with president trump as well from president trump a few sort of praise and the hope expressed of further arms sales we have a lot of trade with turkey but it could be many times larger and turkey would like to see that and it would also be good for the united states so we intend to bring it up to about $100000000000.00 that would be 4 times what it is right now for president to one it was a successful meeting not only with the u.s. leader but also with some members of the senate who had opposed him so fiercely in the past. mike hanna al-jazeera washington. to other news now and the number of people killed in gaza has surged after

a 2nd day of israeli bombings 27 palestinians have been killed it's collation and violence began after israel killed in a summit jihad leader rob matheson reports now from west jerusalem. gaza skys filled with smoke for a 2nd day as israel's military continues to target what it says a rocket launch sites of the armed group islamic jihad meanwhile after an overnight lol rockets are again flight from gaza into israel gaza city has all but shut down many of its people are hiding. i think the situation is going towards war like in 2014 still it's not clear in the coming hours the situation will become more clear . on tuesday israeli fighter jets killed a senior islamic jihad leader by deliberately targeting his gaza highers israel blames. for dozens of attacks the islamic jihad responded by launching more than

200 rockets into israel now israeli armored vehicles are lined up at the gaza border and air strikes continue in the past israel has said that any attacks that originate in the side gaza are ultimately the responsibility of hamas the palestinian political group which is in control of gaza there are fears that if hamas joins forces with islamic jihad then this conflict could get much worse but hamas seems reluctant to get involved. instead israel is making a point of blaming only islamic jihad fighters for the rocket attacks. on we are responding to every attack against us with a very sharp attack and response i think the islamic jihad best understand that now rather than when it's too late well the united nations and egypt trying to negotiate an end to the shelling gaza's border crossings have been closed a number of dead has been rising and the misery of people who can't escape is growing. right matheson all dizzy jerusalem. plenty more ahead for you

on al-jazeera supporters of the former polygamist president evo morales riata for a new leader is still an hour and a big scene in one of the world's top tourist spots the water levels and venice are at their highest office centuries. how the smell of winter is definitely in the air and now it's getting slowly cooler but any very slowly by day it's mostly clear skies apart from this cloud that streams out of the plateau the picture on thursday is one of 70 degrees in shanghai and $26.00 in hong kong as to examples with lotion it's cold at night particularly in land that is exactly what you would expect all the action is taking place just

east of luzon in the philippines where another tropical psycho is attempting to develop at the moment. that is the weather but the rains have grown so the size there has been some decent stuff down in java and safe and satellite picture and it's there to be repeated in the forecasts western job a good part of borneo that looks wet sort of ways he probably dry and then west papua west again soon what a place there and. so still is a good part of thailand at least as far north as bangkok not as much as it was admittedly. monsoon rains gone now of course so we talk about northeast monsoon a dry time the except for look at this from the northwest of india and stretching down through pakistan this is actually quite active weather a mess a cloud with rain and snow but the rain reaches a long way science possibly even into caracas. the weather sponsored by countdown is. an inspiring quest for knowledge that led to

remarkable achievements altissimo wells meets the algerian entrepreneur. who helped pioneer computing in the arabic language and the egyptian islamic scholar honored for his contribution to arab culture both building successful lives abroad but never forgetting their. arabs abroad the translator and the innovator on . the top stories this hour on al-jazeera the 1st public hearing into the impeachment inquiry into u.s. president of trump's now ended america's acting ambassador in ukraine says he was

told trump cared more about an investigation into his rival joe biden then he did about ukraine called turkey a great nato ally during president reject type one visit to the white house is happening at same time is that your and i discussed turkey's offensive into northern syria and purchase of a russian missile defense. and israel's continued to bomb dancer in the early hours of thursday islamic jihad 5 is also fired more rockets into israel 27 palestinians have been killed in the past 2 days. 2 protesters in bolivia have been killed on the interim president's 1st day in office security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of supporters of the former president evo morales who resigned on sunday over his disputed reelection demonstrations took place near the presidential palace where action is proclaimed herself interim president the session that we had been

boycotted by morality has left wing parties here is more from theresa bush at a demonstration in support of morales on the streets of. we're here just a few blocks away from the more live in congress from somebody just as you can see there's still a gas not far away from here supporters of evan with alice are trying to make it appear the movement toward socialist party has been trying to call for a session in order to reject what's been going on in this country which is basically calling and naming and interim president that's what happened here on tuesday and we're here seeing able not only supporters vs men that you can see with the red point chills there are indigenous leaders that have come all the way from different parts of libya they're demanding the right to go inside congress they're convinced that what happened in this country is a cool because they've on what alice was asked to resign by the military which mean happening in bolivia has polarized the country there's lots of tension right here

the interim president has said that posse find the country is a priority she is calling on to the armed forces and the police in order to pacify the situation here but that's going to be extremely difficult if that this new administration does not consider the enormous amount of support that ever what alice continue to have here and he's a movement towards social is that the mass party has been trying to go inside congress in order to hold a session as i said before in order to reject what's been happening in this country in the past few days. interim president faces an uphill battle to pacify iraq supporters but she insists elections will be held as soon as possible. today we start on a peaceful and democratic path to return legality which i have entrusted the armed forces and the national police with so that they can guarantee the pacification of the country the time has come for us to reunite an end to the confrontation to look

at one another and accept peace and i assure everyone that the persecution and intimidation in bolivia has ended. a court in hong kong has ruled police can go on to university campuses this is after days of fighting with student protesters a university student union had asked the high court excuse me for an injunction to ban security officers from campuses schools have become the new battleground between demonstrators and police it will block streets in the city center for a 3rd day the government says school will close on thursday due to safety concerns . and the u.n. special representative for iraq is meeting political leaders to try to bridge the gap between protesters and the government their parliament is discussing constitutional reforms aimed at satisfying demonstrators demands thousands of people have been protesting against corruption and a lack of basic services and at least $319.00 people have been killed since the

demonstrations began last month. but protesters in iraq are getting help from the older generation who sympathize with pick holes jim has that story from baghdad. but it has been one washes she also wishes for a brighter future and for a better present at 70 years old her kidneys give her trouble but her spirit remains strong arm said one tells me she volunteers out here for over 15 hours every day cleaning the clothes of protesters camped out in baghdad to have square yes i met john and we do this for free it's all free even the detergent is from us if people bring us money we want to accept it and if they give us to touch it they will take it that's fine. in a nearby garden sit but that and her husband abu producing a homemade remedy they say combats the effects of tear gas and if that were to go

ahead we have 3 sons h. one of them was injured twice in the protests and they refused to leave and go back home my sons say they can't leave their brother's hand go back so i decided to donate part of my pension so we could bring this water and yeast day and night they are here mixing the ingredients bottling and distributing constant work left but that he has handed blistered but she pushes on. i'm not going to leave but i'm not just coming out to support my sons i'm him for everybody this is my country this is my rock this is my land all of these people are like my sons and my brothers and my father is my how he says but that he and i would aided him after he was tear gassed while protesting but that their presence has helped him even more than us. when we see these people is here leaving their homes and their relatives stay nice how could i leave how could i go home there are people here that are 405060 years old.

and it was despite. the tension in fear surrounding the protests in baghdad these days into her square the mood is often vibrant in this unprecedented cross generational demand for rights and reforms the sense of community that's taken root here is remarkable an atmosphere of family and familiarity that's hard to miss yes these demonstrations have been led by the youth but look just beyond the youngsters and you clearly see the multitude of grandparents parents aunts and uncles were standing behind these protesters both figuratively and literally. the old back in the young spurning politics shunning sectarianism and uniting as rocky's mohammed. but that. lebanon's president says the economic situation is getting worse because of widespread protests and he government rallies of ramped

up since michel aoun urged demonstrators to end their revolt against the ruling elite one man was shot dead on tuesday south of beirut the army says a soldier has been detained after forces opened fire on the protesters been blocking out roads around the capital. community groups are fighting an expansion of the controversial dakota access pipeline in the u.s. the company behind it wants legal approval to increase the amount of oil it palms now flows who fought the pipelines original construction of taking their battle to a public hearing just days after a significant oil leak from a pipeline nearby from linton north dakota here is alan fischer then we'll begin the hearing some came a great distance some came to object and some were veterans of the fight to stop the pipeline in the 1st place you know. for months the student defiance of standing rock in north dakota determined to block the building of the dakota access pipeline

when the courts gave the go ahead the protesters were forcibly removed from the land now the company that built the. play wants to expand it pumping twice as much oil through it environmentalists. but if you double the amount of oil going through a pipeline you do have a leak. you're going to have twice as bad a leak so that's a real concern the state has been hearing the case for the expansion and the arguments against this is life for humans we can't eliminate all risk one of those objectives was to try the native americans from standing rock there what is heightened by a leak at the nearby keystone pipeline i think i was i hope definitely it was i would say was a blast and unfortunately probably some people are not going to feel that way but. it definitely opened the company behind the pipeline says the expansion is simply meeting consumer demand we need to expand the pipeline because the commercial need

is there we have shippers who have oil that needs to get out to markets around the country and so being able to do this on a to go to access pipeline by coming in and doing something that's really very common in the industry we're basically adding mainline booster we're not doing any mainline construction public consultation on the expansion plans and next week the commissioners will then look at the evidence before making a final decision if it gets to go ahead there's no guarantee that it will bring more protests to north dakota and to standing rock alan fischer linton north dakota . now the mayor of venice is blaming climate change for the floods overwhelming the italian city more than 85 percent of its historic squares and streets are underwater hitting their highest recorded level in more than 50 years. streets and canals merged as the 2nd highest tide ever recorded swept through venice on tuesday undaunted most tourists took to touring the city on gangplanks

but some chose to swim through st mark's square the city's main piazza as waters hit 1.87 meters high the highest in half a century siren sound was for residents the effects a devastating mask musk's plates everything look at what we're living with here i just want to cry. the city's mayor has declared a state of emergency blaming the rising waters on climate change meanwhile much needed off shore barriers designed to prevent floods remain under finished the project started in 2003 has been dogged by delays soaring costs and corruption scandals and venetians a demanding progress. it's been 10 years but they have done nothing it's in total eclipse it does not work and i have stolen 6 and a half $1000000000.00 our politicians are old fleas they should be in jail but. the

damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars and there are concerns that this flood is the starkest morning yet that the city is drowning. this is all just 0 and will take you through the headlines now the 1st public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into us president donald trump has ended america's acting ambassador in ukraine says he was told trying cared more about an investigation into his rival joe biden than he did about ukraine trump's accused of pressuring kiev into investigating biden in exchange for military aid i found a confusing and unusual arrangement for making u.s. policy toward ukraine. there appear to be 2 channels of u.s. policy making in implementation one regular and one highly irregular trump himself was dismissive of what he has already labeled a witch hunt i hear it's

a joke i haven't watch have a watch for one minute because i've been with the president which is much more important as far as i'm concerned this is a sham and shouldn't be allowed it was a situation that was caused by people that shouldn't have allowed it to happen who want to find out who is the whistleblower and because the whistleblower gave a lot of very incorrect information including michael with the president of ukraine which was a perfectly all. don't trump also says his talks with his turkish counterpart reject time burdwan at the white house have been productive they discussed turkey's offensive in northern syria also talked about washington's disappointment over ankara's purchase of a russian missile defense system but trump still praised turkey as a great nato ally israel's continued to baumgartner in the early hours of thursday islamic jihad fighters and also fired more rockets into israel 27

palestinians have been killed in the past 2 days escalation began after israel killed a senior leader of islamic jihad 2 protesters in bolivia have been killed on the interim president's 1st day in office security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of supporters of the former president evo morales who resigned on sunday over his disputed reelection demonstrations took place near the presidential palace where she has proclaimed herself interim president and a court in hong kong's rule police can go on university campuses after days of fighting with student protesters the university student union had to ask the high court for an injunction to ban offices from campuses the government says all schools will close on thursday due to safety concerns so those are your headlines inside story is next.

after yet another election spain is finally to have a government starts off the socialists teamed up with a far left. in a fragmented political landscape can it solve the country's many challenges this is inside story. hello welcome to the program i'm adrian figure just a few months ago spain's acting prime minister pedro sanchez refused to form a government with the put damus posse sanchez said he would have trouble sleeping up nice if that were but they most ministers in his government but he's now performed.