can you draw a through line between the rhetoric of president trump and the conservative media in america to what happened here in el paso license to hate on al-jazeera. one of whom we are witnessing an attempted coup against a prime minister. a defiant benjamin netanyahu denounces charges of corruption and says he'll carry on as israel's leader. alone will come in peace it'll be you're watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up let's just say a different channel an operation and relations to pray and one that was domestic and political in nature. donald trump's close ally gordon sumlin is accused of running a domestic political era for the u.s. president in ukraine. one family tightens its grip on power in sri lanka the new

president go to buy rajapaksa gives his brother senior cabinet posts after naming one of them as prime minister. and hong kong's new police chief urges students inside a university to surrender and then the 6 day old siege. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says criminal charges against him are part of an attempted coup the attorney general announced the charges on thursday that relate to 3 cases in which mr netanyahu is accused of bribery fraud and a breach of trust harry fawcett reports now from west jerusalem. there's never been anything like it in israeli politics on the day the grinding stalemate over forming a new government and to the new unprecedented phase the attorney general was ready with his own historical 1st. today i informed the representative of the prime

minister mr benjamin netanyahu about my decision to try him under in jacmel excludes 3 charges a day in which the attorney general decided to serve an indictment against prime minister the serious crimes of corrupt governance is a heavy and sad day for the israeli public and for me personally. and i later shocked looking benjamin netanyahu began his battle to stay in office while indicted. tonight we are witnessing an attempted coup against the prime minister using false accusation and a systematically tainted and vice investigation. investigations began in december 26th seen into 3 separate cases case $1000.00 involves gifts including cigars and champagne worth more than $200000.00 received and often demanded by netanyahu and his wife sarah from billionaires. and james packer the charge and breach of trust

the same charges apply in case 2000 in which newspaper magnate on moser's is alleged to have offered favorable coverage in return for his hampering the activities of a rival but it was case $4000.00 involving show the main stakeholder in the country's biggest telecom company that attracted the most serious charge bribery netanyahu and his wife accused of dictating precise elements of coverage on elevates his news site while or in return for regulator benefits worth $500000000.00 a recurring theme runs through these indictments netanyahu is obsession with his media coverage and the alleged lengths to which he was prepared to go to try to control it that these charges were expected hasn't lessened their impact this is an explosive moment in israel's political and legal history now the focus intensifies on netanyahu future. was ahead of him a twin battle to head off any contest for the party leadership in the run up to a likely 3rd election next march and a potential supreme court case challenging his legal right to stay in office if he

was a minister he would have to resign or be fired because he's the prime minister it's not clear what is clear is that there's a moral problem right now because it's not just that the attorney general recommended indicting him including for bribery these are things that happened while he was prime minister earlier israel's president officially gave the parliament the job of finding a member with enough support to form a government and prevent another election unprecedented and in the view of most unlikely to succeed. so yeah these are harsh dark days in the annals of the state of israel he said there may be harsher and darker days to come for its longest serving prime minister ari force at al-jazeera west jerusalem while the palestinian group hamas that runs garza says the charges against netanyahu bring israel's political system into doubt. the events in past years so the leadership of the occupation is drowning in corruption and this is normal for an instinct that is

based on stealing palestinian lands and expelling its people its also confirms the lies behind its claim that it's a democratic country and his integrity. ok let's get more on this developing story for you joining us here live on al-jazeera is a kiva eldar he's a columnist for the news website monitor he joins us on skype from sydney akiva eldar what are the main potential scenarios here do you think for you going forward . well hopefully even by betson. the majority of nestor will come up where is a good kid and a job it lays not anyhow we are in a very delicate junction in history of the israeli young democracy and the knesset has still got the chance $61.00 members which is a joey he will decide that there is one of the

$120.00 members of knesset that can replace that danielle and save israel from i.e. don't have any other definition then a democratic catastrophe the other scenario where i still hope will not happen is that. oh will be the candidate of the likud and i hear that the polls are still in favor of him of delhi could and that in a few months we will see a candidate a politician that is indicted and maybe will even spend some time in court at the same time campaigning and heading to the. party to get reelected if that doesn't happen and given that some analysts are saying he could actually manage perhaps to hang on for up to 2 years are we heading into

another scenario potentially where he's handling affairs of state at a difficult time for israel as a compelling time in the relationship between jerusalem and washington while similar taney asli said tilling court appearances. absolutely we are in the position that benjamin netanyahu. is actually it's important to remind if us that the tourney general decided. was the cabinet secretary and one of his confidence it's not the leftists it's not you know the usual suspects from these really left all the. chief of police that netanyahu 'd already smeared as a you know a member of the deep state this is the one of the closest people jonathan

and netanyahu has now to florida so it is to declare war he has the fullest already dismantled all to relationship whereas the palestinians and a combination of thought and indicted right minister and american president his closest friend who is there now facing impeachment i think this combination is something that. nobody could do write a script for a movie that a horror movie that. is as good as this one. that in sydney australia many thanks mike. a former white house policy expert who said a fictional narrative was used to link ukraine to interference in the 2016 us presidential election fiona hill was speaking at the impeachment inquiry into

accusations president donald trump pressured ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden hi joe castro is in washington. raise your right hand i will begin by swearing the day's testimony began with a warning from the former white house policy expert on russia and ukraine some of you on this committee appear to believe that russia and its security services did not conduct a company against a country and the perhaps somehow for some reason you craned it this is a fictional not a sieve that has been perpetrated and propagated by the russian security services themselves the on a hill testified russia was watching the impeachment hearings and ultimately would benefit from republicans repeating the quote fictions that ukraine meddled in the 2016 elections with the help of democrats she said she had warned gordon sagal and the e.u. ambassador the same when she realized he was carrying out the president's personal

political agenda by requesting ukraine open investigations into trump's political rivals and i did said to him and gordon i think this is all going to blow up and here we are david homes of foreign service officer in the kiev embassy testified ukraine has been cleaning up corruption under its new president billowed amir's alinsky homesteads alinsky wanted an oval office meeting with trump but it was made clear that the linsky would wouldn't get the meeting unless he announced on c.n.n. that ukraine was investigating joe biden this was a demand that president selenski personally commit on a cable news channel to a specific investigation of president trump's political rival holmes testified he also had a clear impression that a hold on u.s. military aid was likely intended by trump to pressure ukraine for the investigation home said he overheard a phone call between trump and ambassador some land discussing whether his alinsky

would cooperate so you heard president trump ask ambassador son when is he going to do the investigation yes or. what was ambassador sunless response he said oh yeah he's going to do it he'll do anything you ask that earn homes and this rebuke from republican congressman mike turner your statements that your interests are protecting ukraine are very dubious when you embarrass president zelinsky by making those statements even have to make who cares that investor someone said who cares that question sums up a republican defense strategy to counter these 5 days of public testimony that democrats say showed trump at best misused his office and at worst committed bribery but is the to nuff to move the american public the latest polls show that americans remain evenly divided on whether to impeach trump and remove him from

office and the vast majority say that these hearings will not change their minds hi peter castro al-jazeera washington. well after thursday's hearing closed white house spokesman hogan gidley said the hearings were a sham and that unless they were ended president trump wants to have an impeachment trial in the senate because it's clearly the only chamber where he can expect fairness and receive due process under the constitution we would expect to finally hear from witnesses who actually witnessed and possibly participated in corruption like adam schiff joe biden hunted by the so-called whistle blower to name a few the president trumps republican policy holds a majority in the senate and during those impeachment proceedings on thursday he met some of the posse senators at the white house is what one of them said afterwards. he talked about impeachment talk to perceiving self-restraint he says that the tone of this inability to be able to fend for itself. but he didn't do

well that's why we didn't take up the only b.s. part of our conversation by any means. sri lanka's new president has appointed a cabinet with 2 of his own brothers holding top jobs go to buy a rajapaksa was elected president last week he was the defense minister in the final days of the civil war and led a crackdown on tamil tiger separatists he's picked his brother mahinda rajapaksa to be both prime minister and finance minister mahinda previously served as president himself for 10 years and the elder brother rajapaksa as being named minister of trade and to speak a tremendous time as president let's talk now to rajiv a widget in cinema he's a former leader of the liberal party of sri lanka he joins us on skype from colombo so just walk us through how this dynastic overtone to sri lankan politics kind of shifts the center of gravity if it does a toll. yeah i must say i'm not thinking of but i think i got the impression the

question was about the next steve and i think the president president has done a much got an interim cabinet going very sensibly you can find it to 15 people he's appointed mind rajapakse as prime minister which in the sense is understandable because it's one of the recompensing minder ought to but if the colossal insult he suffered under the last government which is a pity i mean you may know that i was one of the people who opposed him in the 2014 election but i did try to get in the new government that they were they should respect him for what he did achieve instead of which there was a not too good think you should and i think if it. is the scene on things it only hill i think indicates if that the new president everybody technocratic government he 1st appointment will a 2nd tree to the the institutions of the state to the british word the foreign

ministry the defense ministry the treasury and of course they go and check a tree and these are on very much profession technocratic civil servants who i think will have to do a lot of work to get right guy going to make it to efficient and also restore confidence in the comedy. the eldest brother tom who would be counted not government has been appointed needs to vent because nan thought agriculture which i think it's a good idea because he come from a rural community and i must admit i've been absolute carelessly regard to the culture in the last 5 years you know one of the ministers who was actually left and wrote the book his party spent all his time you know hiring expensive building to become not you and it seems making a lot of money. i can't comment on the cabinet as a tool but i looked at the unions are particularly interested me and i think we have a very very good that foreign minister in the form of the new issue of the who's

a very senior minister which is in a just to interrupt you there for a 2nd if what you're saying is this that this is now a technocrat government and that is a big plus does that mean that your country is entering into a period of calm politics because going back to the east bomb attacks the past few months have not been settled and i guess the voters might say we've paid the price for that. well i think the problem with the east to bomb attacks is seen in the last coming got a great many one intended absolutely nothing and you know we had if i may say ceramic. defense which is part of in the last president brought mimsy change kept changing secretaries when we had doing the review of the constitution in mean much 2 dozen 15 i said you cannot be allowed to appoint we promise good governance you con just 10th authority and in fall of finding secretaries but would be in the prime minister laughed at me. what we have now which is very important is secretary

who is a very professional military officer becomes a man of compassion when i was dealing with him in 2009 or the refugees in many from you know i kept telling him to release people who we could argue were not threats like brickman mothers and bush might effect from above and i think our own sake of responsible to keep people in custody he was very clever clipping them go as soon as possible but you need someone tough i think it's a big sign that. i suppose the scene in muslim support telford the president has been applying to the government of the not to the west where we have a lot of problems who not to be approved attacks and i hope that or that there are still confidence i think the important thing for this government to do is to work with the time in the muslim people especially at grassroots level because i don't think back interested in separatism want to here is a more fundamental it's a and to a blighted night the play that will cement and politicians who have been rent

seeking with a vengeance from the life government and indeed from the rajah could not win before that it was a bullet dish and in particular i mean mr gans and they draw a conversation to a close that because i think we're running out of time and willing to sri lanka thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera. still to come on this program body crane takes center stage of the impeachment hearings in washington. is mending fences with russia. hello the march of winter is now taking place so the warmth that was in remained in ukraine is all being pushed out of the way now the temperature after max from now in kiev is going to be something like minus 2 this is the high temperature of money

even on friday book rest is lost is twenty's went down to 7 this is more like when to should look like or late november shouldn't like the consequences everything's coming into the atlantic as well so the potential for flooding in portugal is there if not on friday that on friday or saturday that marches across spain the consequential weather in spain is pretty wintry 212 in madrid probably not much better than middle teens down the south coast as well and that rain marches into france it's silly again there's more snow for the objects in the sun's out here back in austria and germany but the temperatures are better than where they should be and it's slightly will rain here if there's the minus 2 you should be seeing now of course what's happening in portugal slight have a play off in morocco the forecast on friday is a wet one these for the north of morocco that will come to trust our gerri in northern nigeria at least r.j. is pretty wet on saturday and that rains friends a long way science and of course heads towards to see ahead of it still nice and

warm but cloudy. al-jazeera is investigative unit goes undercover in the caribbean we don't know if they were bribed or defused a token of appreciation exposing trade and diplomatic passports today just to lock it down and let your heart than the price will go to one of them not involving some of the region's highest officials america b m o al-jazeera investigations diplomats for sale.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera reminder of our top stories this hour the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says corruption charges against him are a coup attempt at turning general has charged the israeli leader in 3 cases he's accused of bribery fraud and a breach of trust. trying because president has named his new cabinet and his 2 brothers will hold senior positions got a buyer rajapakse as brother mahinda prime minister and finance minister another brother will be trade minister. and the former white house russia expert fiona hill says donald trump and his allies pushed the fictional narrative linking crane to u.s. election interference in 2016 she testified at the impeachment inquiry into president trump on thursday. now in ukraine relations between the government and russia appear to be easing out of talks shuttled for next month before a meeting between presidents vote of means and in ski and blood mia puts in the 2

sides have been working to reduce tensions and schapelle picks up the story. while his name is often being mentioned in washington that donald trump's impeachment inquiry ukraine's president appears focused on signaling that the conflict with russia must and blow to mere zelinsky unveiled a bridge that's been rebuilt and a community on the front line in eastern ukraine government forces and russian backed separatists blamed each other for destroying it 4 years ago observers hope the new bridge is an optimistic sign to us in a 20 meeting there should be a serious truce and serious cease fire where there is no shooting that's how i understand it there must be a serious agreement with clear terms and obligations the bridge over the din that's river is one of 5 that ukrainian civilians can use to cross into territory controlled by separatists they control the eastern parts of dinette and hans russian speaking areas known as the don't boss part of the 7 percent of ukraine under control of russia and its allied forces. in another sign of thawing relations

russia return 3 ukrainian navy vessels captured last year although stripped of their communications and navigation equipment. russian border guards fired on the gun boats a year ago and captured $24.00 ukrainian sailors. the incident in the current strait was so serious then president petro poroshenko declared martial law apparently fearing an all out russian invasion. since russian troops invaded and annex the crimea region 5 years ago at least 13000 people have been killed and almost 30000 wounded thor sankoh successor says he's determined to revive the peace process the kremlin released the captured sailors a couple of months ago followed by both sides beginning to withdraw from frontline areas in eastern ukraine pick you know question is it just me cook you know what's my relationship with zelinsky like i don't have one i've never met him we don't know each other we've talked on the phone i think he's

a nice and honest person and i really believe that he wants to change the situation for the better including in dumbass soon the focus will turn away from impeachment hearings and symbolic handovers to a summit planned in paris on december the 9th that's when ukraine russia france and germany will discuss how to end the conflict once and for all enter chapelle al-jazeera. it is a business week independence day in lebanon as a grapples with weeks of antigovernment protests the 76th anniversary is being marked with a military parade in beirut a larger one had been planned but was canceled because of the continuing on rest protest as demanding a complete overhaul of the political system the movement forced the prime minister and his cabinet to resign last month i'll just it was in the hall to join us live from beirut zaina today's independence day you were at one of the military parades that coinciding with this ongoing crisis where does that crisis stand as over right now. oh there's nobody in that level.

or anything close to bring on a new government it really is the perfect picture behind me you see that in all 3 top leaders the president the prime minister who is really a caretaker prime minister since he submitted his resignation a few weeks ago and the speaker of parliament sitting alongside the army chief but what is happening in lebanon is that this country's passing through what many are describing as the worst crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990 the prime minister is insisting that he will return to office only if he has technocratic government a nonpartisan government to live up to the aspirations of the people the people have been protesting in the streets while the governing a lot of the house speaker the president as well as their allies has been they are all insisting that the next cabinet has to be made up yes of independence but there needs to be representation from political parties and those and those in the

governing alliance are not questioning the role of the army chief in the uprising they are saying where do you sometimes they are concerned that the army according to them did nothing to open the roads to allow the deputies to attend the parliament session on to say and last night the president even addressed the army and said you know you are being judged how you act because this is how people. have confidence in you and that's really dangerous when you start questioning the role of the institution which is supposed to be or maintain peace in this country the divisions are. recent developments in lebanon i guess one could say zena showing it remains something of a battleground for regional powers how independent is the country. has long been in a region where we've seen on internet. play out there their power struggle because the political parties here are either linked to ally and or supported by countries

abroad now those in the streets insist that this is a spontaneous independent leaderless movement and they're calling for change those in the governing alliance that some parties are hijacking right in the way of popular anger to change the balance of power in the country which currently is. safer and more and more statements are being made by u.s. officials for example saying that they are siding with the protesters they are not influencing the outcome but siding with the protesters and then you have the passion foreign minister lavrov saying that. the protesters. technocrat government is the stick so russia now weighing in on this crisis now people in the streets say this is what they're fighting for. but it is still a long battle. saying no thanks very much. the police have gathered outside a hong kong shopping mall where hundreds of people have been holding a peaceful demonstration the sit in protest marked 4 months since an attack by

suspected gang members on protesters and journalists so the clock has more from hong kong. this weekend is hong kong's district council elections a record number of 4300000 people have registered to vote now the increase of the surge has been in the 18 to 35 year old age group and this will be the 1st test of public sentiment and government support since these protests began around 6 months ago it was a test for the support for the protests and now the newly appointed police commissioner chris time got a press conference on friday and he's confirmed that right place will be at these polling places to guarantee the safety of those people going to bite you know while and so on that day if there's any violence where they will get immediate if not any hesitation the playstation has also confirmed that several dozen protesters remain barricaded up inside the polytechnic university in color and but he's asked them to leave peacefully if they can but he said there's no deadline and we can't confirm around $1000.00 of left are the last few days and around $300.00 of those are under

the age of 18 and the place commissioner also confirmed that those under the age of 18 won't be charged with writing but those over the age of 18 will be investigated and could face writing charges down the track. that have been protests in colombia over government plans to introduce pension and tax reforms workers unions and students gathered in the capital bogota in what's been described as the biggest demonstration in recent years protesters also blame the president even duties government for the failure to prevent killings of human rights activists and also widespread corruption. violence has broken out between the police and the protesters in the chilean capital santiago at least $22.00 people have been killed and more than 2000 were injured since protests began just over a month ago the amnesty has published a report detailing a range of human rights abuses by the security forces including what amnesty says is a deliberate policy to injure protesters. in iraq at least 8 people were killed as security forces sought to crush antigovernment protests on thursday tear gas and

live ammunition was fired the crowds demonstrating against corruption and unemployment protesters have occupied 3 major bridges in central baghdad which leads to the green zone home to government buildings more than $300.00 people have been killed in iraq since the start of unrest in october. we should all be here in doha with a quick reminder of your top stories israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says corruption charges against him are a coup attempt the attorney general has charged the israeli leader in 3 cases yes accused of bribery fraud and a breach of trust is more of what mr netanyahu said just after those charges were formally announced. the polluted investigation against me erode the public faith in the system they should worry every citizen we have to put an end to this the public has the right to a clean investigation that seeks the truth and only the truth the only way to

restore the public's faith in the system is to establish an outside independent committee that investigates the method to put an end to this it is about time to investigate the investigators. sri lanka's president has named a new cabinet and his 2 brothers will hold senior positions go to bio rajapakse as brother mahinda will be prime minister and finance minister another brother will be trade minister the former white house russia expert fiona hill says donald trump and his allies pushed a fictional narrative linking ukraine to u.s. election interference in 2016 she testified at the impeachment inquiry into president trump on thursday. it's a bittersweet independence day in lebanon as a grapples with weeks of antigovernment protests the 76th anniversary is being marked with a military parade in beirut a larger one had been planned but was canceled due to continuing on rest protesters are demanding a complete overhaul of the political system the movement forced the prime minister

and his cabinet to resign last month the police have gathered outside the hong kong shopping mall where hundreds of people have been holding a peaceful demonstration the sit in protest marked 4 months since an attack by a suspected gang members on protesters and journalists protest in colombia over government plans there to introduce pension and tax reforms workers unions and students gathering in the capital bachata in what's been described as the biggest demonstration in recent years protesters also blame the president even do case government for the failure to prevent killings of human rights activists and widespread corruption he has denied the allegations those are your headlines the news continues after inside story more news after i spend 20 minutes having a cough in about 30 minutes. 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 is actually

a clip to rate the economy counting the cost on al-jazeera. who's to govern israel another deadline to agree a government has come and gone after benny gantz gave up trying the mandate is now with the knesset but will it be able to move things forward and what's causing this breakdown in israeli politics this is inside story. well welcome to the program i'm in israel is facing an unprecedented for 3rd selection in on a year that's after opposition leader benny gantz was unable to form a coalition government at a 10.