colonizers. another paradise i witnessed a documentary on a. we follow the president's orders. significant testimony from a top u.s. diplomat gordon says donald trump pushed officials to pressure ukraine to investigate political rivals in return for. mr trump projects some one statement but democratic presidential hopefuls keep up the pressure. here is likely the most corrupt president in the modern history of america. you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up

firming up their grip on power because new president appoints his brother as prime minister. also ahead taking aim at the government thousands of india's indigenous people protest outside parliament against plans to evict them. ok let's get going on once considered to be an ally of donald trump has publicly stated the president wanted to withhold military aid to ukraine in exchange for an investigation into his political rival america's ambassador to the e.u. testify before the impeachment inquiry into the u.s. president on weapons day he's gotten some learned he also implicated other top officials saying quote everyone was in the loop helen fisher reports from washington. from the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. stonily testimony. said it was abundantly clear to everyone ukraine would not

receive military aid from the u.s. or a meeting at the white house unless it announced an investigation into a company connected to the son of political opponent joe biden was there a quid pro quo. as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes sunderland previously denied the security it was conditioned on the biden investigation but he told the impeachment panel it warrants in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid i later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur. until there was a public statement from ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 elections and were recently and he insisted senior figures on the administration knew what was going on including the vice president and the secretary of state everyone was in the loop the suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular

or rogue diplomacy is absolutely false i'm not sure how someone could characterize something as an irregular channel when you're talking to the president the united states the secretary of state the national security adviser the chief of staff of the white house the secretary of energy he said trump insisted u.s. diplomats what with his private attorney rudy giuliani on handling ukraine so we followed the president's orders sundin says giuliani's direction on ukraine became more insidious with time in early july a coveted white house visit for ukrainian president modem years a lengthy was dangled as an award for ukraine's cooperation which but later saw england testified it became upon the $400000000.00 in security aid was also on the line someone testified that in a phone call with the oval office he asked trump an open ended question what did the president won from ukraine the answer he wanted nothing and republicans and the

president claims that proves the impeachment hearing is a waste of time it's over and some of the fair friends of which there is a deal mike said this thing is over nancy pelosi said company she's gotten nothing done in congress and now with their big star witness is going to be their star witness is going to say you know i don't know very well from a little witness confirmation the ukrainians asked why i was being held up as i think quality coming sooner than previously reported my staff showed me to unclassified e-mails that they received from the state department. one was received on july 25th at 2 31 pm that e-mail said that the ukrainian embassy and house foreign affairs committee are asking about security assistance democrats called sunderland's testimony a seminal moment it goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery as well as other potential high crimes or misdemeanors but we also have heard for the 1st time

that knowledge of this scheme was pervasive. republicans continue to insist the president did nothing wrong that the hearings that a waste of time and money the latest attempt to remove an elected president but this testimony from a trump loyalists mean democrats moving closer to impeachment and republicans rethinking how to defend the president alan fischer al-jazeera washington. while staying with american politics democratic presidential hopefuls to spend more time criticizing president trump than each other during their 5th debate in atlanta with the impeachment inquiry an unavoidable backdrop 10 candidates took to the stage included front runners joe biden bernie sanders and others of both war and each heatedly making accusations against donald trump although bernie sanders did say they shouldn't become obsessed we have a president who is not only a pathological liar he is likely the most corrupt president in the modern history

of america but we cannot simply be consumed by donald trump because if we are going to watch we're going to lose the election american people understand is that the congress can walk and should bubble gum at the same dodd had other words we can deal with trump's corruption but we also have to stand up for the working families of this country. well staying with the story the california senator also accused the president of breaking the law we have a criminal living in the white house and there is no question that in 2020 the biggest issue before us until we get to that tender moment is justice is on the ballot and what we saw today. by his own words told us that everyone was in the loop that means it is a criminal enterprise engaged in by the president from what we heard today the vice

president the secretary of state and the chief of staff just michel is assistant professor at northwestern university here in council she says impeachment was always going to be the big talking point for the democrats there was a focus on the impeachment especially at the beginning i actually thought it was a really good move on the part of the debate organizers to start with the question because it's the elephant in the room or the circus in washington d.c. you might say but at the same time i don't think they dwelt on it because the candidates really don't have any daylight between them on this issue which is virtually everyone on that stage agrees that president trump may have committed impeachable offenses and that it's important for congress to take seriously their their constitutional duty to protect our democracy so after that original question we we seem to move forward into actually quite a substantive and strong debate for many candidates you know it was interesting the speculation at the beginning of this of this debate previous was that people may

get a lot of attacks by his fellow candidates and this is because he has just had a very strong holding in the state of iowa and the reason why iowa is important because it's the 1st state for the primaries in in february of this next year and he was the top the top candidate in that recent poll but we didn't actually see this huge ganging up on. but i judge we did see elizabeth warren once again have an extremely strong debate the main focus was on her from the start she dominated the 1st hour finish strongly ended up with the most speaking time but actually all 4 of the top tier candidates including bernie sanders joe biden and people. had strong debates and so did the 2nd tier candidates cory booker harris and. and also in the clover chart and the most important thing here was that the message in tone

overall was this message of civility and unity it's very clear that the democrats are trying to portray themselves as the adults in the room and in direct contrast to the circus that is the trump white house. because newly elected president go to rajapakse just sworn in his own brother as the next prime minister mahinda rajapaksa himself as president for a decade there's brother was elected to the presidency just last week go to buy a rajapaksa as well to be tough on security issues in light of the easter bombings that happened earlier this year. is in colombo. then tiley rajapaksa showed just behind me the presidential secretary it is where the former president was sworn in as the new prime minister. and sworn in by the new president go to. obviously the vision as the have portrayed during the election campaign. is to address the concerns of the people who have made national security

a priority which has been the big issue since the easter bombings in april this year they have vowed to bring back the state essentially of security me. feel safe again they've also essentially pledged to address all the shortcomings they've said that they will deal with the economy they will deal with the concerns of the sri lankan people the president with his prime minister brother obviously quite keen to get on with fulfilling those pledges because they have a general election in the near future. china says it's ready to fight back after the u.s. house of representatives passed a bill calling for human rights to be upheld in hong kong. which has already been approved by the senate. to president trump skin the white house china has accused washington of interfering in its internal affairs. summoned an american diplomat in

beijing. in hong kong about 100 student protesters still inside the university campus surrounded by the police the standoff began on sunday sarah clarke as the latest. police have sealed off this entire area around polytechnic university and we believe up to $100.00 people are still barricaded up inside overnight we had a few people the 1st who left voluntarily surrendered and were arrested as a result of the last few days we've had more than 1000 people leave this campus and of course a wrist now at the moment round this particular area we have huge traffic congestion here is the tunnel it's been closed since last wednesday and it's a major tunnel connecting hong kong island and cal learn also we've had in the u.s. the passage of the hong kong human rights and democracy activists passed the senate you know you know honestly yesterday and today it was the house of representatives now the hong kong government has responded to that it's told the u.s. to stop meddling in hong kong the thing is it also says that this particular

passage of this bill since the wrong message to call them the violent protests is now this bill requires the state department and the u.s. to certify that hong kong is protecting and respecting human rights in hong kong and also if this bill does get passed by donald trump it could also introduce sanctions on the hong kong government. and also in hong kong china's online giant has become this year's biggest share sale raising nearly $13000000000.00 u.s. dollars in a landmark listing on the city's stock exchange the auction marks the biggest sale in the hong kong for 9 years now could be seen as a boost for the territories economy falling more than 5 months of unrest the retailer is selling $500000000.00 shares but will issue more depending on. a 3rd general election within 12 months in israel appears increasingly likely following the latest failure to form a government benny gantz the main rival of prime minister benjamin netanyahu didn't make weapons tonight's deadline 22 hours local g.m.t.

to arrange a coalition netanyahu also failed to win backing for a coalition following 2 inconclusive elections this year both were hoping to win the backing of the former defense minister avigdor lieberman but his party refused to support either of them or a force it's in west jerusalem or 4 hours before the expiration of the deadline for benny gantz to make a coalition government he came to the microphones to admit what had been coming increasingly clear throughout the course of the day that he had failed but he put the blame for that squarely at the feet of the prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying he had been fortifying himself inside a transitional government against the will of the israeli people just to try to avoid prosecution in pending corruption cases and he used a particularly personal language in a very strong attack against netanyahu saying that no party leader was above the nation no person had the right to deny the people their vote no prime minister own leader could say that my interests are more important than yours and he said that

netanyahu had been putting poison into the israeli political process through hatred and incitement and he said that israel now faced its greatest democratic test in its history as now the 21 day period begins where any member of the israeli parliament the knesset could theoretically try to form a coalition government if they have enough support otherwise israel is off to a 3rd round of elections within less than a year because now it would so usually score. netanyahu needs to remember israel still has a democracy even if it doesn't appeal to him and he should have come to terms with the fact that the outcome of the elections required him to negotiate directly with no blocks or barriers well earlier the right wing politician of a door lieberman has been seen as the kingmaker in this process so that he hadn't been able to convince either netanyahu or gantz to compromise enough to form a joint unity government the only kind of government that he said he would support with his crucial seats in the israeli parliament so what comes next for the only

way really that a 3rd election could be avoided is if the threat of that election which is so unpopular with the electorate is enough in itself to try to pressure key players to compromise more or if when netanyahu and we do think it is when they're finally gets charged by the attorney general in the coming days in his 3 corruption cases whether that changes the calculus within his own party enough to try to splinter support away from him there's been no sign of that in the run up to those charges coming in the support has so far been rock solid behind him and so for now this grinding political crisis goes on with no sign of an end perhaps it will only end and maybe not even then if the 3rd round of elections happens in the early part of next year. still to come here on al-jazeera we'll meet the iraqi woman challenging tradition as anti-government protests parts of the country. also we'll tell you why the nicaraguan president is being accused of persistent repression.

hello again it's good to have you back well for manila we are looking at some better weather conditions as well as the rest of luzon we did have a tropical storm that made its way across really dissipated as it was crossing from east to west and you can see the remnants of the clouds now pushing into the south china sea for manila though you're going to see a few showers but nothing as heavy as what you saw over the last few days in for the wrestlers on things are going to be drying out some some good news there as we go towards saturday as well heavy rain though across parts of malaysia indonesia over the next few days accumulations could be over 80 millimeters of rain just any 24 hour period there well for parts of australia we are going to see a big relief as a frontal boundary starts to make its way over here towards the east adelaide on a wednesday saw 42 degrees dropping today on thursday to 22 so much better

conditions there as we go towards the next holidays it is still going to be quite hot out here towards the east until this front makes its way a little bit more towards the coast so here we're going to be seeing on friday sydney seeing that break in the weather coming down to about 26 to be there still quite warm of here towards brisbane at $28.00 and then we're going to be seeing some dry conditions across the area but for sydney a pop up shower too in the forecast for canberra well we're going to see those temperatures drop by the time we get to saturday to about 31 degrees for you. this december make the heroes of europe asia africa the middle east oceania. to a stage made the germans make connections makes mistakes peak for the on becoming its best see the site be sure to say i want to be.

this piece called. make your goal. you're watching al-jazeera live from the a reminder of our top stories today gordon song was told the impeachment inquiry into donald trump that the president wanted to withhold military aid to ukraine in exchange for an investigation into his political rival the us ambassador to the e.u. who was once an ally mr trump also implicated other top officials. democratic presidential hopeful suppresses science trump during their debate in atlanta senator bernie sanders called him the most corrupt president in u.s.

history but he also warned democrats not to get too obsessed with mr trump. sri lanka's newly elected president go to buy a rajapaksa just sworn in his own brother as the next prime minister my endo rajapaksa himself served as president for 10 years his brother was elected to the presidency last week. thousands of people living in india's forests are protesting a government decision which could see them evicted from their lands the government is trying to amend the law which is meant to protect their land rights many of these indigenous peoples have no legal documentation to prove ownership of the protests taking place in india's capital new delhi correspondent and shall vote joins us from the un still give us a sense of how many people are there and what's the atmosphere like. would be to easily over 2000 but many more have been protesting in several states across india in a string of protests over the last few was the mood here is one of anger really but

also helplessness these people are asking questions like there was an act that was boss for them the forest rights act of 2006 that was meant to protect them because many of them actually do not have legal documents the act was brought to aid just so these people could continue to live in the chorus or near the forest which they claim to be their ancestral lands on but now on the petition was filed in the supreme court early this year the supreme court of india ordered that the 2000000 people who have not been able to prove that the old these lands because they don't have the papers should be rick did after that the supreme court of knowledge that the state governments look the governments did not follow proper procedure state it's all done and all state governments to follow proper procedure now these people have come to the national capital because they want they want says that here because on the 26th that's in a few days from now the supreme court is going to have its next hearing on that case what they're saying is that forest officials are not protecting them but

instead pushing them out many of them are beaten up many of them are threatened and in fact their fios they allege are also destroyed just so they have the land themselves the activist peta hearsay or other allege that all of this behind all of this a corporate into. yes although the petition in the supreme court the recent one was filed by wildlife conservationists the activists allege that all of this is being done because the lines where these indigenous people of or as well as neighbors are rich in resources like gold iron ore and dockside and the anger game really is to push these people out so corporates could take that londo walk so what do they want the government to do would they be happy if they just go a certificate or a piece of paper saying yes you do own this land. on the. but that is one idea but what they're saying that they want the government to do is acknowledge their rights which have been given to them on the forest rights act

which says that these people have been living on these lands of for generations their families a be theirs and they don't need to produce oa that's a piece of paper even in fact that act makes the provisions which allow these people to do that through local means prove that they will live on there for generations and on and so to have a local process to prove that are not legal papers which they don't have it he cannot produce so what they really want to see the government to acknowledge that it wasn't already there under forest rights act and to acknowledge that they're not encroaching the forest but that they are all part of these forests. ringback until thanks very much. fighting between processes and security forces in the iraqi capital baghdad on thursday killed at least 2 people on weapons day at least 27 antigovernment protesters were injured the police used tear gas to disperse people getting too close to the green zone which is home to government buildings demonstrators still occupying the main bridge leading to the area and 2 of the

bridges in the capital from 300 people have been killed since protests began 7 weeks ago. iraqi women have turned out in big numbers at the demonstrations a significant difference from past years mohammed jerm jhoom met some of them at a protest in baghdad. or on north this is a moment that could not be missed. as she accompanies her 3 daughters to 3 to square the epicenter of anti-government demonstrations in baghdad and tells us how it was a sense of patriotism the compelled her to come out and show her support by not seeing him next to syria my daughter's feel exactly the same and i say mom we have to go out this is our country wildly staying home or going to school while the other iraqis a sacrificing themselves this is the 4th time they've visited it likely won't be the last in libya we just blow it our generation is strong they have the pioneers

now there will be a change god willing. anti-government protests in iraq which have been massive began in early october since the start women have joined in large numbers now you know without me we're not going to i'm not activists nadia mahmood makes regular appearances and tahir square urging her audiences to demand equal rights and opportunities for everyone she tells me seeing so many women out here has been encouraging and inspiring this is something good new it is absolutely new and it's so refreshing and so pleasant think to see because the reason why women didn't participate before because pamela is you know prevented them from taking part in the most races but this time i think families as well were inquired as to the quotas they were meant to come down and up here many of the women protesters also volunteer as medics treating the wounded even as they call for change.

but in other parts of the outer square a more creative form of dissent. murals paying tribute to the spirit and strength of the women created by women admired by them to the presence of so many female protesters here women who represent virtually every segment of our society is remarkable not only here they continue to come out day after day but they insist they'll keep on doing so no matter how dangerous the situation may become until the government meets their demands. paint isn't only going up on the walls all must suffer her face covered in the colors of the iraqi flag wants to make sure everyone can see clearly how proud she is of this movement. will say out here for the sake of the young men and women and i'm not afraid not from political parties not from infiltrators long live iraq long live iraq.

around me and cry the traverses gender lines and transcends the generational divide by iraqi women but for all. but that there are president claiming victory over petrol price rise protest a son rouhani is blaming what he calls foreign enemies including the us israel and saudi arabia for plotting the nationwide unrest last week petrol prices sold off to the governments which is struggling with u.s. sanctions cut fuel subsidies. hundreds of protesters in malta have called for the prime minister's resignation the demonstration followed the arrest of a businessman in connection with the murder of a journalist in a car bomb explosion 2 years ago. allege that senior politicians were connected to a company owned by the businessman. britain's main party has published its manifesto for next month's general election the liberal democrats say remaining in the e.u.

will save an estimated $65000000000.00 which could be spent on improving public services the party says it will cancel breaks it if it wins power but it's trailing in 3rd place in all the main opinion polls. they understand the britain's queen elizabeth is facing an increasing backlash over his links to the geoffrey epstein sex scandal prince andrew is stepping down from public duties because of his ties to the us for nancy that's mr epstein on your screen he committed suicide last awaiting trial for child sex trafficking that's the interview with prince andrew on the rights of the shot he defended his friendship over the weekend and refused to apologize to epstein's victims the prince denies having underage sex but is facing growing calls to be investigated by the f.b.i. . the united nations has called on the nicaraguan president daniel taker to stop what he calls persistent repression there's been a standoff at the cathedral where protesters staged a hunger strike demanding the release of people who were arrested during

demonstrations last year that killed more than 300 years and a gala. in nicaragua as capital managua pro-government supporters stormed the nation's most important cathedral and what church officials call an active desecration. in the scuffle that followed a priest a nun reportedly injured church was sheltering a group of mothers calling for the release of the children they say are political prisoners which reported the women left with the red cross the catholic church plays a powerful role in nicaragua the president talk take his accused bishops of being cooped losses a plot of land ok then they will. of course we're free we don't have any power we don't have anything of course we are free but no priest has gone into exile everyone is where they should be even those who were tortured in maceda are in their parishes accompanying the people with much care with much fear nicaragua's political crisis began in april last year with

a popular uprising critics accuse ortega of running a repressive regime that according to the interim merican commission for human rights has killed over 300 protesters and forced 70000 people to flee the country opposition groups say at least 16 churches have been besieged by authorities as calls grow for the release of prisoners. for the freedom of our political prisoners for the life of our families who are in the churches and against the violation and desecration of the catholic church the church must be respected life must be respected a report from the un last august cited extra judicial killings torture an arbitrary detentions the organization for american states say this is now a critical human rights situation president daniel ortega now in his 4th term and accused of rigging elections says he won't leave office until at least 2021 and a gallica al jazeera. ethiopians in the region of saddam

a boast on the creation of a new federal state and initial results are expected later on thursday the initiative aims to give ethnic groups more autonomy but some fear the vote could cause more fragmentation. we should all be here in doha less just through your top stories so far today goldman has told the impeachment inquiry into donald trump that the president wanted to withhold military aid to ukraine in exchange for an investigation into his political rival the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. who was once an ally of mr trump also implicated other top officials saying quote everyone was in the loop was there a quid pro quo as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes mr giuliani conveyed to

secretary perry ambassador volcker and others that president trump wanted a public statement from president selenski committing to investigations of reese and the 2016 election democratic presidential hopefuls have criticized mr trump during a debate in atlanta senator bernie sanders called him the most corrupt president in u.s. history but he also won democrats not to get too obsessed with mr trump. sri lanka's newly elected president go to by a rajapaksa has sworn in his brother as the next prime minister enda rajapaksa himself served as president for 10 years to buy a rajapakse to be tough on security issues in light of the easter bomb attacks that happened earlier this year. china says it will hit back after the u.s. house of representatives approved a bill to support human rights in hong kong the senate passed the same legislation on tuesday in hong kong itself around $100.00 student protesters will remain

surrounded by the police inside the university campus for a 5th day a 3rd general election within 12 months in israel appears more and more likely following the latest failure to form a government benny gantz the main rival of benjamin netanyahu didn't make weapons deny its deadline to arrange a coalition mr netanyahu also failed to win backing for a coalition. fighting between protesters and security forces in baghdad on thursday killed at least 2 people now on weapons day the police used tear gas to disperse people getting too close to the green zone which is home to government buildings demonstrators a still occupying the main bridge leading to the area and 2 other bridges also in back that up next it's faultlines adrian's here with the news from 10 g. i'll see you from 11 gee if. you stand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world.

al-jazeera. going on. in less than a year the united states has seen 2 of the deadliest white supremacist attacks in its recent history. were born. in october of 2018 a gunman murdered 11 jewish worshipers at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh pennsylvania. then in august 22 people were shot dead in an attempt to kill as many latinos as possible in el paso texas. just 9 months apart the.