everyone was in the loop. building a case against donald trump one of his former allies sticks to his story that there was a quid pro quo between the president and ukraine. you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also ahead a political family affair in sri lanka the former president mahinda rajapaksa is sworn in as prime minister joining his brother to run the country. thousands of india's indigenous people protest outside the parliament against plans to victims.

and we're in sudan where climate change being blamed for driving villagers from their homes. and once considered an ally of the us president donald trump has linked to the presidential decision to withhold military aid to ukraine with a push to have kiev investigate his political rival however gordon tsonga and said he has no evidence that donald trump ordered that directly the us ambassador to the e.u. testified before the impeachment inquiry on wednesday some land implicated other top officials saying everyone knew what was going on and the inquiry is a major topic in the latest democratic presidential debate candidates attacked donald trump accusing him of being corrupt and a criminal in a few hours will be more testimony we're expecting to hear from the white house's top russia expert fiona hill and david holmes a staffer at the u.s.

embassy in ukraine. alan fischer wraps up yesterday's events out of washington. from the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. stunning testimony recorded so england 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 question 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. sundin previously denied the security it was conditioned on the biden investigation but he told the impeachment panel it warts 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 let him use 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 that. so you know i don't know very well from a little witness confirmation the ukrainians asked why i was being held up with that inquiry coming sooner than previously reported my staff showed me 2 unclassified emails 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 are 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. well as we mentioned the u.s. presidential hopefuls have to criticize donald trump during their latest debates with the impeachment inquiry unavoidable backdrop 10 candidates took the stage in atlanta they included front runners joe biden bernie sanders and elizabeth warren

each made accusations against mr trump although bernie sanders said 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 what we're going to lose the election american people understand is that the congress can walk and should bubble gum at the same thought it over words we can deal with trumps corruption but we also have to stand up for the working families of this country 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 is ambassador signed on 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. in other news china says it's ready to retaliate after the u.s. house of representatives passed a bill calling for human rights to be upheld in hong kong the legislation has already been approved by the senate and it now goes to mr trump china's accused washington of interfering in its internal affairs and summoned an american diplomat in beijing in hong kong about $100.00 student protesters inside a university campus surrounded by the police so a clock has more. 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 arrest 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 also we've had in the u.s. the passage of the. human rights and democracy activists passed the senate unanimously 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 it also says that this particular passage of this bill since the wrong message to call them to 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. because newly elected president go to russia has sworn in his own brother as prime minister mahinda rajapaksa served as president for 10 years ago to buy a rajapaksa about security issues in light of the easter bomb attacks that happened

earlier this year al-jazeera smell fernandez was the prime minister's office as he arrived to take over. basically the rajapaksa is have gotten down to business just behind me the official prime minister's office and the crowd and the excitement you see is just within the last 2 minutes we've had the arrival of the new prime minister mine the rajapaksa he's come here to formally take up his work to start work as his brother did after his swearing in so it's an all rajapaksa show the president go to bed rajapaksa and his brother behind the rajapaksa they have their work cut out for them obviously during the campaign national security was earmarked as a top priority particularly after the easter bombings in april and that was one of the cornerstones of the entire rajapaksa campaign that they would work to bring back national security they're going to be sort of very conscious of the mountain that they have to surmount in terms of not just the national security element but

the economy the sri lankan economy has taken a hit after those easter bombings and already sort of a weakened economy with huge debt repayment and pretty bad economic indicators so all of these things are sort of a big challenge for the rajapaksa it will be 6 sort of euphoric few days obviously celebrating that victory of the rajapaksa sort of taking control but there will be sort of the reality setting in and they'll have to get down to work and for us. is executive director of the national peace council an independent and he says there are tough challenges ahead for sri lanka's new leader. one thing that they would need to do very much would be to try and bridge their not start with the mine because they're not at least a country where the minorities that are what are all up with me against president it would have been rather whereas the south of the country what it all opening to

the spirit so there is a need for them to bridge that gap and also if you're risk trimmed out all that enthusiastic supporters who are you know we're becoming have become quite a minority that can be one challenge the other talent economy kickstarted in some way because during the previous government divisions that one can prevent the economy from really taking our winslet to increased numbers of frustration among the general population so i anticipate that in your administration we'll move very swiftly to try and make some sort of concessions that the body cannot meet and sessions rather launching that development he said after the next election the 3rd general election within 12 months in israel appears increasingly likely following the latest failure to form a government benny gantz the main rival to prime minister benjamin netanyahu was unable to assemble a coalition by wednesday night's deadline that's in yahoo also failed to win enough

support after 2 inconclusive elections both were hoping to win the backing of the former defense minister avigdor lieberman but his party refused herefore sits in west jerusalem with the latest. well the one newspaper referred to what's about to start as injury time in this entire process it's never happened before but for the next $21.00 days the israeli parliament the knesset will theoretically have the power to nominate one of its members it could even be benny gantz or benjamin netanyahu even though they fail so far to try to form a coalition government if they get the magic number of majority 61 seats in that knesset to recommend anybody who they view has the realistic possibility of forming a government but so far there seems little prospect of that happening everybody is sticking to their positions very rigidly netanyahu is refusing to go 2nd in any rotational deal with his rival benny gantz pentagon says that he won't sit under

a prime minister who is under or facing indictment and he wants netanyahu to negotiate only from the basis of his own party not the white a bloc of other allied right we can religious parties that he currently comes with as a package deal and the other thing that could be thrown and thrown into this whole process even as early as today according to some reports certainly not later than next early next week according to most reporting is the final decision by the attorney general whether or not to indict spencer netanyahu in 3 separate corruption cases and in one of them whether or not to include the charge of bribery how that will play out of course will also be very important in what happens in the next 3 weeks. still to come here on al-jazeera we'll meet the iraqi women challenging tradition as antigovernment protests with the country. and we'll tell you why the nicaraguan president is being accused of persistent progression when we

come back. hello again it's good to have you back well across mongolia it feels very much like winter across the area full of atar we're talking temperatures well below freezing right now we're talking about minus 10 as your high here on friday all overnight lows are dropping down to about minus $21.00 as we go towards saturday well minus 16 is going to be a high there a little more towards east messy conditions across much of japan temperatures into the teens across most of the area down towards a socket there you are reaching up to about $22.00 degrees but notice the rain that could be anywhere between tokyo and sendai could be heavy at times at 2 we do expect to see a temperature in tokyo of about 15 degrees for you well really not looking too bad across much of china clear conditions there but we do have a tropical storm that is making its way towards the north and this is going to go

to the east of taiwan we don't expect to see a landfall but we could be seeing some heavy coastal surf across much of the area by the time we get towards saturday things are on the improvement we're going to see taipei with a nice day if you still winds in the forecast at 27 degrees there and then very quickly for parts of the philippines things are improving particular up here towards the north we did have a tropical system make its way across and now through we're going to be seeing improving conditions and dry conditions but for milla expect to see $31.00 degrees as your forecast.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera remind of our top stories this half hour gordon song has told the impeachment inquiry into donald trump 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. also implicated other top officials. china is about to hit back after the u.s. house of representatives approved a bill to support human rights in hong kong and passed the same bill on tuesday in

hong kong around $100.00 student protesters remain surrounded by the police on a university campus for a 5th day. also the. new prime minister the 2 time former president was sworn in by his brother who was elected president last week. at least 2 people have been killed in fighting between protesters and the security forces in baghdad on weapons day the police used tear gas to disperse people getting too close to the capital cities green zone that houses government buildings demonstrators are occupying the main bridge leading to the area and to others in the capital more than 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 previous years mohammed germ jhoom met some of them at a protest in baghdad. we're all know this is a moment that could not be missed. as she accompanies her 3 daughters to the reader

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 while we 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 will just blow it out generation is strong they have the pioneers now there will be a change god willing. the. 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's 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 where what is to end 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 it off the 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 almost stuff 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. the law will stay out here for the sake of the young men and women and i'm not afraid not from political parties not from infiltrate his long live iraq long live iraq. around cry the traverses gender lines and transcends the generational divide by iraqi women but for all. but that. thousands of people living in india's forests are protesting against a government decision that could see them being evicted the government is trying to amend a law all that's meant to protect their rights the land many of those indigenous

people have no legal documentation to prove ownership. has more now from. over 2000 indigenous people have gathered in the national capital of india today although many more have been protesting in several states across the country all war the last few months demanding that they're not going out of there are still lines these are people who live inside the forests or near forest they say that these are there are still lands now back in 2006 indian government passed the forest rights act especially to protect these people who do not have legal documents to prove their ownership a recent petition filed by while the conservationists claim. that these people are in fact many of them are encroachers to the supreme court's order saying that all those who cannot prove their ownership that's about 2000000 people should be evicted but soon after the supreme court of india said that the state governments had not followed proper procedure to richard rejected these claims and that the

state government should follow proper procedures so the next supreme court hearing is happening on the 26th of this month that's in a few days from now all of these people have come here to delhi because they want to be heard by the politicians here they want to be heard by the here they want to make themselves heard loud and clear that they're not going to be leaving their ancestral lands they also allege that the forest officials are beating them often that they're threatening them and sometimes also destroying their fields to close them to leave these lands but they say they're not going to do it and some activists that we've spoken to say that all of this is happening really they allege because of corporate interests because in these areas where these people live are also rich in resources like gold i know and. iran's present. claiming victory over people demonstrating over increases in petrol prices rouhani is blaming what he calls foreign enemies including the us israel and saudi arabia for plotting days

of nationwide on rest petrol prices went up 50 percent after the government which is under us sanctions cut fuel subsidies. bolivia's interim president janine has now lost the congress this will prove a law allowing new elections has been deadly unrest since last month's poll with supporters of the former president evo morales demanding his return he fled to mexico 10 days ago after allegations of voting irregularities. the united nations is calling on the karate was president to stop what's described as a persistent repression the appeal to daniel ortega coincides with a hunger strike in a cathedral protesters are demanding the release of nicaraguans arrested during demonstrations last year in which more than $300.00 people were killed. in nicaragua as capital managua pro-government supporters stormed the nation's most important cathedral 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 president talk take his accused bishops of being coup plotters. of course were 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 but 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 its 4th term accused of rigging elections says he won't leave office until at least 2021 and al-jazeera ok let's show you some live pictures coming to us out of birmingham in the u.k. because britain's main opposition labor party right now unveiling its election manifesto for the general election on december the 12th german. labor party that outlining what he will do if he becomes prime minister he's promised what many are calling a radical. plan the labor party wants to nationalize certain industries give people

another vote on. increased taxation on the richest people. on wednesday the u.k.'s main party published its manifesto for next month's election the liberal democrats say staying in the e.u. will save an estimated $65000000000.00 which can be spent on improving public services the party says if it wins it'll council but it's trailing in 3rd place in all main opinion polls. the great governments announced it's moving 20000 asylum seekers from the island refugee camps that are overcrowded they're being relocated to new camps on the mainland and it says it will step up deportations of migrants who are in eligible for asylum seekers to be proceeding with the arrangement of clothes sentences not only said they cannot move apparently there. because a clear message needs to be sent to those planning to enter the country illegally

when they know that they do not qualify for a start up of the sudan has been named by the red cross as one of the 10 countries most vulnerable to global climate change here morgan has been to the state of north dakota farm where the encroaching desert is forcing villages to move. adam youth of has seen throughout his village twice that was back in the 1980 s. he says both times people weren't forced to leave but in the past few years a buildup of sand dunes has forced them to move their homes and was a lot of the. 20 years ago there are only a few dunes and they were as high as they are now we used to have so much grass between the houses here that when the rainy season came we had to cut through them to make our way now is the rainy season but there are only sand between the houses adams village life on the fat hill belt into dance north kordofan street it's one of 30 the international committee of the red cross says it's being affected by

global climate change once known for its lush vegetation that's rapidly changing as the horror desert in the north expands southworth according to authorities dozens of villages have already been buried as a result of expansion period is here see that's all to reducing their livestock or less than mother we should be able to easily feed our animals but in the past few years is becoming hard to find food not to travel for miles to look for grass and try to give them water but in the meantime they're slowly dying like. people are now relocating settlements that have been around for generations to survive not every part of is covered by sand in from areas plants like bees commonly known as the apple of sodium and this called the broom brush can be seen and people here say they help keep the landscape as it is but and where mentalists argue they show that the area is close to becoming a desert. expanding deserts can also be deadly international observers say the

seeds of the dark cold war that killed at least 300000 people and displaced more than 3000000 were sown in the eighty's bagmen drought forced villages to move further south and that led to violence in areas where people were already dealing with countries tourist is it seen by some as the world's 1st modern day climate come. as people leave their historic lands in north korea found out find us are working on ways to help them limit environmentalists damage. some people cut the trees to make charcoal or to build homes without realizing that they're removing the barriers that keep the deserts at big so we've started raising awareness but also planting trees that fix the soil like gum arabic and planting them but climate change is a worldwide phenomena and so for any mitigation effort to work those not affected by it here in codifying let's also have to act and. adam and others in his village

are being told if they don't act now they could be forced to leave and he says the younger generation will never know the lands of their ancestors as they lie buried under the desert people morgan north korea farm. this is al jazeera my name is peter dhabi these are your headlines gordon songlines has told the impeachment inquiry into donald trump 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. also implicated other top officials. 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 volker 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 donald trump during the debate in atlanta senator bernie sanders called him the most corrupt president in u.s. history but also one democrats not to get too obsessed with trump. china's vying to hit back after the u.s. house of representatives approved a bill to support human rights in hong kong the senate passed the same belong tuesday in hong kong around 100 student protesters remain surrounded by police on the university campus for a 5th day sri lanka's newly elected president go to buy a rajapaksa swan his brother in as prime minister rajapaksa served as both prime minister and president twice before go to buy a rajapaksa has promised to be tough on security issues following the easter suicide bombings in april britain's main opposition labor party's unveiling its

election manifesto for the december the 12th general election labor party leader jeremy corbyn is outlining what he would do if he becomes prime minister he's promised what many according to a radical and an ambitious plan labor party wants to nationalize certain industries give people another say on breaks it and increase tax on the richest people in the country. a 3rd general election does appear increasingly likely in israel following the latest failure to form a government benny gantz the main rival to the prime minister benjamin netanyahu was unable to assemble a coalition by weapons tonight's deadline of 22 hours g.m.t. mr netanyahu also failed to win enough support after 2 inconclusive elections earlier this year up next talk to al jazeera i will see you very sort of.

with you and world war 2. who says. he's recognized by many as a symbol of left wing movements in latin america union leader and activist evermore ollie's became bolivia's 1st indigenous president after his party movement to socialism won the 2005 election. during moralists his almost 14 years in power bolivia's economy grew one of the highest rates in latin america and poverty was almost home taking advantage of his popularity morel is decided not to complete his 1st 5 year term and cooled for an early election in 2009 he easily secured a 2nd victory then a new concept.