when entering. the palestinian group islamic jihad says a ceasefire with israel is in effect of the air strikes killed dozens and gaza. hello i'm daryn jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up diplomats there live a damning evidence against the u.s. president at the start of public hearings in an impeachment inquiry. ready to make more noise protesters gear up for another week day until government rallies in hong kong. and deep trouble in one of the world's top tourist spots water levels in venice are at their highest in a half

a century. the palestinian group islamic jihad says a cease fire has been agreed with israel in gaza after 2 days of cross border fighting these are live pictures from gaza where calm appears to have been restored egypt has been mediating between the 2 sides there began after a senior leader of islamic jihad was killed in an israeli airstrike where rob matheson joins us on the phone now from west jerusalem rob so what more details have emerged about this cease fire. well we've had no official confirmation daryn yet for here in israel that this is for a cease fire in place but it is being widely reported in the media it is expected to have gone in to have begun about all 530 local time this morning we have teams both in gaza 3 'd the on board the israeli border with the team in gaza has been telling us that since that time they've have had rockets 'd and explosions

inside gaza the team on the israeli border with gaza has been saying that sirens have been sounding in areas which are close to the border now we should stress that whenever there has been a cease fire in this is the pattern that does occur that it takes time for the details and the notifications of the cease fire to be put into place to park early and therefore if there is 4 lessening in a tag team any excuse me it usually takes a little bit of time for that to take place as far as the details of the actual cease fire itself are consigned we're hearing that islamic jihad has agreed to stop firing rockets into israel and it's also going to make sure that protests along the gaza border peaceful for its part as you know says that they will no longer do targeted killings 'd has committed to stop shooting protesters at the border of

fence interests in the that has not yet to be in any man a mention of one key requirement that the islamic jihad's have put in place which was to ease the blockade that is currently on gaza israel has put very strict controls over crew on what can be moved across the border back 8 and forth between gaza and israel they say that these restrictions on necessary for security reasons to stop the possibility of technology and weapons and individuals being able to getting together to be able to build. on the face of all of the armed groups that are inside the gaza strip but at the moment the death toll in gaza standing at about 32 there were air strikes prior to the cease fire being put in place and rockets were being fired out of gaza particularly around midnight we had that there was a very significantly large bag of rockets that were aimed into israel predominantly

towards television but at the moment we're just waiting to see when the cease fire is officially acknowledged and if it will actually take time to die down all right . in the west of rob thank you. now where u.s. ambassador has described president trump put pressure on ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden when he was one of 2 foreign diplomats to appear in the 1st televised airing of the sons of an appeasement inquiry into trump how does your constructs now from washington d.c. 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 tell a compelling 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 in cave i 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 trumps potential opponent in the upcoming presidential election taylor says career diplomats were sidelined as trump's shows and 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 are now infecting u.s. engagement with ukraine leveraging president selenski is 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 dollars 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 staunchly defending him but anyone familiar with the democrats' 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 opinion will change. castro al-jazeera washington. the president trumpets again claim that the impeachment inquiry against him is a witch hunt he made the comments during a meeting with turkey's president to the white house committee reports that it will come to order as americans watched the 1st public hearings over the impeachment of the us president one person said he wasn't paying attention and you're talking about the witch hunt is that what you mean is that what you're talking about i think i hear it's a joke i haven't watched but president trump's own twitter feed suggested the opposite sending out a number of messages during the hearings that lasted all day still trumpeted promise to release the transcript of a 2nd phone call with ukrainian president vladimir is a lead ski and make

a determination as to what you think they're the release of the 1st transcript of a call in july in which trop asked for a favor from selenski is now the basis for the house impeachment inquiry a top diplomat testified on capitol hill on wednesday the trump wanted to withhold security assistance to ukraine exchange for an investigation into a political rival former vice president joe biden trump also responded to reports he pressed another top diplomat about the investigations into biden just a day after that july phone call where they know nothing about that. 1st time i've heard it although president trump wants the impeachment inquiry to go away his campaign is using it to raise money an e-mail to supporters called the hearings not just an attack on president trump but on americans the goal to raise $3000000.00

from just the 1st day of public hearings kimberly healthy at al-jazeera the white house. bracing for another day of transport destruction protesters are on the streets. have already closed a major tunnel as a precaution sarah clark joins us live now from hong kong sara so another day of transport chaos across hong kong tell us what's been happening. we've just had a flash more protest up here in the central hong kong with a couple of 100 people blocking some a key roads in central but where we are now we're polytechnic university just on the calhoun side of hong kong and this appears to be the new battleground we've got protests is a few 100 as far as we've seen inside this particular campus and are now barricaded themselves in their guts they creating petrol bombs they've got large numbers of bricks they've got these know they handmade homemade no devices but it's getting down across the road behind me at all entrance points to this particular university

and i'm not sure if you can see right behind me but there's some flashing lights down there that's where the number right place of the last couple of hours have been building and we are expecting those right place to move in on this particular group of protesters and as i mentioned they have barricaded themselves in with everything they can get their hands on from a pot plant strong bellows to chairs desks you name it so this appears to be that the current kind of action points i should say a flash point where we expect some protests actually certain confrontations with the police to happen on thursday but as you mention thursday's a full day general strike for cool by these protesters where they're targeting the transport system and that includes the central tunnel which is probably the busiest tunnel in hong kong it's been closed all morning as a result of a fire there was in a telephone booth and we've got a number of trying stations block to survey more chaos in hong kong on those. who say we've seen this new tactic of protests taking place on weekdays what sort of

impact is this having do you think. it's having a widespread. packed on on pretty much everyone we've got time for all schools are canceled today a number of universities have actually finished their terms a university terms early for the year simply because of the chaos we've seen and the reason why they signed public site you can't be guaranteed within the protest section we're saying at the moment but we're also seeing an escalation of the the device with the use of weapons and petrol bombs and and weapons that you see gets the police the right place at the moment the anger has been at those right place and certainly what we're seeing now what we've seen the building on this campus and what they're prepared to use against a place that's certainly escalating on another front so this chaos is certainly not going away any time soon sara thank you. time for a short break here not just iraq when we come back the u.s. reveals its position on bolivia's do government supporters of the former leader testified demonstration last wrapping up the campaign will look ahead to one of the most important shrunken elections in decades more than today.

hello ranger this way not for most but for a few we've seen a bit in afghanistan received quite a lot in the central military and is that front on its way through cyprus and turkey that will increase the cloud ahead of it still quite warm at 28 in beirut but the showers will break out most likely i think on friday in the levant across in iraq and maybe just across the border even into saudi arabia more significant rain seems likely around this iranian coast of the something caspian that green is forecast rain i suspect thunderstorms were flash flooding even this time of year is a possibility. no showers much further south and that is cooled down by a day now way below 30 for the most part it is warmer in mekere obviously chilly diets particularly around the gulf states otherwise it's just sunshine in the sky

waiting for a few showers but they won't be many maybe a hint near riyadh as jumped down to active weather southern africa particularly south africa where you see some pretty deep depressions run from the western cape all the way to cause and that's how this is the result on thursday masses of potential rain some storms already seen one told data captured captured by camera well the rain does ease off a bit by friday but you've got a wet couple of days flooding seems quite likely. a story 1400 years in the make. a story of succession and the leadership. tells the story of dispute and division.

the caliph episode to. welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here this hour the palestinian group islamic jihad says a ceasefire is now in effect in gaza that's up to 2 days of prospect of fighting with israel egypt has been mediating between both sides to end the violence just killed at least $32.00 understand. the 1st public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into u.s. president donald trump is ended the u.s. is acting ambassador to ukraine said he was told that trump cared more about an investigation into his rival joe biden than he did about ukraine. and made

a transport routes in hong kong been forced to close as police prepare for a 4th consecutive day of midweek demonstrations schools have also been shot across the city. u.s. president donald trump's met his turkish counterpart at the white house despite opposition in congress to the visit turkey's offensive in northern syria and its purchase of a russian missile system dominated those talks michaela has more from washington d.c. . the president and 1st lady had time to welcome. 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 we have a great relationship both personally and with the great country of turkey and we look forward to moving there forward in making it an even bigger and better relationship it's 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 trumps close adviser jared cushion. it's a relationship that concerned many in congress because certain put the fueled by president trumps opposition to a bipartisan sanctions bill passed in the house and being discussed in the senate. the ball 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 them. again pushing usually you want to start of the education you know president one senator had least agreed to look for the silver lining in the relationship with turkey the purpose of this meeting is to have an american citizen. 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 that 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 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. the u.s. has formally recognized the libya's new interim leader. but there's been widespread opposition to her appointment violence broke out during her 1st full day in office 2 people were killed marianna sanchez has more now from. protesters clashed with police and the army on the streets of believe you live rounds were shot tear gas didn't dispel and we believe ian's who demanded interim president. to resign on her 1st day in office she's facing a country in turmoil was social and political disputes are battled all around

including the national assembly on wednesday some of it will more or less is mass party members tried entering congress at the end the other had resigned from the senate's presidency she tried to come back a police block the way you know to get this government is trying to portray to quote it as a natural thing where legislators and we need to get to the assembly. on the other side of the barricade what is foes shouted adversaries a reminder of what sparked the political crisis that forced president ever medallists to resign. the interim president is relying on security forces to restore law and order she appointed military commanders before the cabinet. taking up command of the armed forces at a crucial time for the state to bring this stage to an end and for new elections. the entering president has said that she wants to bring peace back to the streets

of the country and that means the police will continue their patrols with the army . stability naming a new electoral court and calling on new elections in december is the priority of the transitional government but analysts say nothing can be done without negotiating with more or less. supporters the president must begin a dialogue because the m.e.'s party is a reality whether people like it or not otherwise if there is no dialogue were lost . from his refuge in mexico former president pledged to return. to sleep will be if my people ask for it we are ready to go back to pacify the country but national dialogue is important otherwise it would be difficult to stop this cup from television. in the capital some roadblocks were removed and stores opened after weeks of near shutdown but just for a short time. thousands of angry believe we're back on the streets early

a reminder of just how far believe this from coming out of the crisis. but in a scientists i just. believe. the u.n. special representative for iraq is meeting political leaders to try to bridge the gap between protesters and the government parliament's discussing constitutional reforms aimed at satisfying demonstrators demands thousands of people have been protesting against corruption and a lack of basic services at least $319.00 people have been killed since the unrest began last month. lebanon's president says the economic situation is getting worse because of widespread protests and to government rallies of ramped up since mission i will urge 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 blocking roads around the capital. now sri lankan presidential candidates are wrapping up

their campaigns ahead of saturday's vote but whoever wins the tight race will face tough challenges the nation is to recovering from the east a bomb attacks a sluggish economy and political instability is has more from colombia. 35 candidates are running for president in sri lanka. says one of 2 main contenders he's a cabinet minister. with the ruling united national party addressing his final campaign rally in central colombo he promised action in combating crime and the strong security. every aspect of the law we will destroy terrorism we will destroy better as we will destroy the drug dealers we will not leave room for such people to be in our society he supporters braved the rain do attend his final rally. get them in the future when we are not around at least out children will have a good country and advancement under premed. as a young person i feel premadasa understands young people's hopes and feelings.

criminalises main rival is former defense secretary go to the rajapaksa the former president's brother he represents the opposition sri lanka people's front. he's supposed to say he has proved himself overseeing the defeat of the tamil tigers who battled the government during the 26 years of the war. he's the one who saved this country that's why we have a country for the future. will definitely where it will be good for the country if he does rajapakse is promising to strengthen national security which took a beating after the easter bombings in april that killed more than $250.00 people the government came under fire by the opposition for intelligence reports received by authorities more than 2 weeks before the bomb a strong and already he's also promising to bring development and democracy. is dismissed criticism of his role in ending the civil war.

we have our challenges 1st the challenge to build this country we urge you to join us in working towards and achieving that goal. leftist candidate. with the national people's party is likely to come in distant 3rd in the presidential race as he wrapped up his final rally. he said both frontrunners represent broken promises so people should vote for him weeks of intense campaigning ended at midnight on wednesday 48 hours before the presidential election it's been one of the most expensive campaigns sure lankans have known and both frontrunners are hoping it secures them the presidency fernandez 0. now the 1st case of a boner has been reported in the southern african nation of a woman was diagnosed with a virus in the town of the riba an outbreak further north in the democratic

republic of congo has claimed more than 2000 lives and health authorities in the d.l.c. you're about to start testing a new vaccine but the rollout has already facing criticism from some reports from gamma in the democratic republic of congo. a new eyeball a vaccine for a major child scientists the testing it on up to half a 1000000 congolese over the next 10 months to study the fact. the vaccine is safe it has already been tested on a small sample of people elsewhere. would not have approved it if it was harmful to the people. but some people are concerned that the long term effects of the drug made by u.s. multi-national are not yet known and the fact that it needs 2 doses 8 weeks apart may not work on people who travel often it's a challenge to show rates between the 2 duties will be indication of the acceptance of his vaccine to population. we we will work with the communities

we explain to the communities we believe though that if we explain simply things to the people say they are able to understand about 250000 people in parts of this region are already being injected with another vaccine made by a german company that has just been approved by european regulators those receiving the new a drug given areas that are considered at low risk of an outbreak this is a very busy border crossing between d.r. congo and rwanda tens of thousands of people mostly traders use it every day health workers say vaccinating them is crucial feelings here over both vaccinations are mixed. distraction is good it helps us go about our business without fear. i can never do it i don't know what they're injecting into us they didn't benny and people are still dying now goma. a ball about 3 nations in the democratic republic

of congo have long been controversial and political one health minister is reported to have lost his job. for posing in the u.s. study some congolese say they don't trust what's going on but health workers insist this is the best way of beating a disease that has killed many people katherine sawyer al-jazeera goma. egypt's health ministry says 7 people have been killed from the oil pipeline. the blaze broke out in. the. climate change for floods which. city more than 85 percent of its historic square and streets are under water it's in the highest levels in more than 50 years . streets. 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. as waters hit 1.87 meters high the highest in half a century sirens sound i for president the effects a devastating. 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 much needed barriers designed to prevent floods unfinished 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've 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 they should be in jail. 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. our top a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera the palestinian group islamic jihad says a cease fire has been agreed with israel in gaza after 2 days of cross border fighting is a live pictures from gaza where calm appears to have been restored egypt as a mediating between the 2 sides the escalation began after a senior leader of islamic jihad was killed in an israeli airstrike. the 1st public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into u.s. president donald trump has ended united states acting ambassador in ukraine said he was told that front cared more about an investigation into his rival joe biden and

he did about ukraine found it confusing an unusual arrangement for making u.s. policy toward ukraine there appeared to be 2 channels of u.s. policy making and implementation one regular and one highly irregular well donald trump was dismissive of what he's already called a witch hunt. so here 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 because the whistleblower gave a lot of very incorrect information including my call with the president of ukraine which was a perfect all. president trump says their lines with turkey remain strong despite differences on important issues and made the comments after holding talks with president reptile bird one in washington relations have been strained of the

policies on syria and turkey's purchase of a russian missile defense system. on kong's experiencing a 4th consecutive day of midweek protests tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators are running across the city major transport routes have been forced to close and schools have also been shot across the city. the u.s. has formally recognized bolivia's interim leader but there's widespread opposition to the appointment of jenny to protestors were killed on the 1st full day in office she took over after at one rama's resigned her son there. egypt's health ministry says 7 people have been killed after the oil pipeline caught fire in the wednesday the blaze broke out in it's a route with the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after witness the stasi puzzle projects in town so watching i thought. what kind of care does that provide and is anyone willing to pick up the cost we'll bring you the stories and

developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in so is it possible for trump to actually obliterate the economy counting the cost on al-jazeera. do you think he was just up to museums or didn't think. to do what he did. so he could pay for it could you describe. it.