we're 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. pelosi welcome to al-jazeera live from doha. also coming up let's just say a different channel in operation and relations to ukraine one that was domestic and political in nature. a former white house russia expert testifies at the impeachment hearing shedding more light on efforts to pressure ukraine. after weeks of unrest the lebanese take appalls to mark their independence day.

palestinian journalist where i patches in solidarity with a colleague who was shot in the eye by israeli forces. but 1st prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been charged with bribery fraud and breach of trust he rejects accusations says that part of a coup attempt howry force it ripples out 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. not today i informed the representative of the prime minister mr benjamin netanyahu about my decision to try him under an indictment that includes 3 charges a day in which the attorney general decide to serve an indictment against

a seated prime minister the serious crimes of corrupt governance is a heavy and sad day for the israeli public and for me personally. an hour later a 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 biased 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 wallah 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 unclear what is clear is that is 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. 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. all right let's go live to harry now get the very latest how likely is it then that there is likely to be a legal challenge to his position and a challenge to benjamin netanyahu being able to stay on as prime minister in these extraordinary times in israel. well i think it's very likely it will be a challenge the question is whether it will be successful or not the labor guess leader one of the left wing opposition parties. it says that it is preparing

a legal team to mount exactly such a challenge in the high court to try to get a judgment the prime minister under indictment and also in this situation with repeated transitional government's with no electoral or post electoral politics able to break the law that that is an unsustainable position but there are other indications on the other side that could be beneficial to netanyahu because there is another legal question as to his right as a member of the knesset the israeli parliament to seek parliamentary immunity from such a charge now the normal circumstances any n.k. any member of the knesset could go to a committee seek that immunity and then there would be a wider vote as to whether it should be granted or not but because there is a transitional government there is no such community instituted and so the question is would we have to wait until the next election and then potentially another government or maybe even more of this kind of status before there's finally an

opportunity to do that that's many months down the line or will the attorney general himself say because of this political crisis there is no chance of this happening there's a new who should not be even given the question of this immunity and he should formally lodge these charges in the jerusalem court as things stand so a lot is still up in the air and there's no question that netanyahu is going to use every means available to try to stay in office and what about his own party likud is there any indication that they're prepared to dump him. not as yet there is been a fairly broad rallying round of netanyahu although there are some senior figures who have been less forthcoming than others the key figure in terms of an open challenge to netanyahu is get on sar he is a popular and leading member of the league could and he says if israel goes to a next round of elections next march we're currently in this unprecedented 3 week

period where the the knesset can try and find a nominee to try and form a coalition government but everybody expects that to be pretty much destined to failure he says if we go to another round of elections there must be a leadership primary within likud and he wants to stand against netanyahu in that primary but there's also the question of more informally could there be splits and quiet words drawing out and you know a sign to say come on given the amount of fire that all of this is drawn that the amount of criticism against netanyahu and his very savage attack on important aspects of the israeli state and rule of law in his speech last night he's been making those for months but not in quite the kind of language that we saw last night then is it up to them to try and convince him to step down that is the call that's being made by one of israel's senior commentators and indeed

a biographer of netanyahu saying that he will set everything ablaze he won't won't stop until all is rubble it's up to you he says senior could nix to try to stop this from happening but there has been very adept both electorally and within his own party at cementing his power and he is absolutely determined it seems to stay on and do everything he can to maintain his power all right harry thanks for that. well we've been speaking to a key elder who's a columnist for the news website al monitor actually it's important to remind if us there that the attorney general who cited. was the cabinet secretary and one of his confident it's not a leftist it's not you know the usual suspects from these really left of the. chief of police in a town you know 'd already smeared s a you know

a member of the deep state this is the one of the closest people jonathan and netanyahu has another for so it is to declare war he has the full authority to dismantle all the relationship with the palestinians and a combination of 'd 'd her and indicted right minister and the american president his closest friend who is there now facing impeachment i think this combination is something that. nobody could write a script for a movie that a horror movie that. is as good as this one. a former white house russia excrescence said a fictional narrative was used to link ukraine to interference in the 2016 us

presidential election fianna hill was testifying at the impeachment inquiry into accusations against president truong accusations that he pressured ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden castro reports. raise your right hand i will begin by swearing you in 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 that perhaps somehow for some reason you craned it this is a fictional navas of this has been perpetrated in 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 26000 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 holmes 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 the president's a lansky 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 sundin's response he said oh yeah he's going to do it he'll do anything us 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 show trump at best misused his office and at worst committed bribery but is not enough 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 ended white house spokesman hogan gidley said the herrings were shyam and that unless they end 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 praise as 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 men the so-called whistle blower to name a few. well president republican party holds a majority in the senate and during those impeachment proceedings say he met some of his party's senators of the white house and here's what one of them had to say

after the meeting talked about teach me how to proceed it's not frustration it's an . inability to be a lot of the south. but he did well on that we didn't take up the olympias part of our conversation by any. we've got a lot more to come here it out there including ukraine takes center stage at the impeachment hearings in washington but there are signs kiev is mending fences with russia. and find out about the family that will now dominate politics in sri lanka . that i'm heading for the central philippines another small circulation pretty hard to pick up on the satellite picture as you can see and the last one they went across northern luzon is here somewhere again is just

a massive sun storms now and that's where most of the action is there certainly are bright top clouds elsewhere and that's indicating where the rain is going to be for cost wise but it should really be a lot further south so it's late in getting there for in today's you're still not really a rainy season the but a few showers and sort of ways the borneo looks fairly wet and some parts of southern thailand in the ninety's here in sumatra certainly the rain is falling here and forecast to rain that includes singapore and kuala lumpur but if you're in jakarta you may be disappointed if it's thunderstorms and rain that you are after. that really hot streak has gotten through in australia now this cold fronts of morris pushed it out of the way in fact you might imagine it's going down towards new zealand thunderstorms for sydney on that line of cloud there the temperature around about $25.00 mark the thunderstorms might prove to be useful if not all such as in on sunday it's rather warmer in perth but i'm a it's not exactly st time to get to sunday the shows show up suns to drop into the

heart of queensland. since its inception in 1961 the kuwait fund has been supporting people's livelihoods in over 100 countries by funding projects in an array of sectors. ranging from infrastructure to health and education. these initiatives ultimately help to eradicate poverty. and promote sustainable development.

here with al-jazeera time to take a look at the top stories this morning israel's prime minister says corruption charges against him our attempt benjamin netanyahu is facing bribery fraud and breach of trust allegations former white house rusher expert fiona hill says president trump and his allies used a fictional narrative to link him crane to the us election interference into the 16 she testified at the impeachment inquiry and says. now in ukraine itself relations between the government of russia appeared to be easing ahead of talks at a shadow for next month before amazing between presidents as a landscape and putin the 2 sides have been working to reduce tensions andrew shapiro reports. while his name is often being mentioned in washington at donald trump's impeachment inquiry ukraine's president appears focused on signaling that the conflict with russia must and blow to meir's alinsky unveiled

a bridge that's been rebuilt and a commune. on the frontline 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 accumulations against me could q 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 an 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. lebanon is marking its independence day after weeks of antigovernment protests the 76th anniversary was observed with a military parade in the capital beirut a larger one had been planned but that was canceled because of the armrests civil groups organizing their own celebrations in the capital protesters have been demanding a complete overhaul of the political system they've managed to force the prime minister and his cabinet to resign last month let's go live now to beirut and our correspondent there jamal so more than a month of protests said demanding a complete overhaul of the political system there managed to get the prime minister to resign but he still imposes a caretaker so what can we say that those protests of actually achieved so far. well in terms of tangible change martin there have been

a few small wins obviously you point to the resignation of the how do you do but also there was those measures that were taken prior to his resignation which involved so it's an austerity being. applied on government spending to government officials cutting the salary of ministers by 50 percent reducing some of their benefits and so forth those are things that maybe would be seen a small kings but they form way way way short of the main demands which is as you mentioned to describe their complete overhaul of the political system the question is is it fair or is it realistic to assume that by any stretch of imagination some sort of public protest movement will be able to achieve that in a country which is essentially inherently. sectarian in its nature which its own future as we ironically witness the marking independence day doesn't really have the independence to decide if political future considering it's having lots of proxies involved inside these domestic policies both from iran and its allies as

well as saudi arabia that's why people are on maybe that optimistic that it would have that massive change for what's significant here is that this is yet in other protest movements over the last few years we've seen several come up in lebanon and each time they are getting bigger they are getting louder and they are getting more from a tiff with the demands of changing the political system from a sectarian one to more civil society that is more inclusive and that stems out the endemic corruption inside lebanon but terry in nature is that lebanese politics is enshrined in that civil war. and i mean it would require a complete dismantling of the constitution and indeed the whole system is lebanese people know it. for sure and that's why they're trying to maybe make it more of a realistic idea through either the protest or as we're going to see later today as you mentioned there martin. it was meant to be this what they're calling a civil parade right so similar to the military parade that takes place in

countries for independence day and other celebrations this is a civil society parade where they're getting sections of different society not from a sectarian perspective but from a professional perspective a class perspective and all those different backgrounds to show that this is what lebanese people should be celebrating this is the type of society they should be aspiring towards where people are identified based on their contribution to society and not based on their backgrounds or their sectarian believes obviously as you might have mentioned that is something that will take a long time to change but it's something that's very high up on the agenda what's maybe more significant to look at in terms of the short term future the short term implications of these protests is that it's made it very clear at least when it comes to corruption and when it comes to the inability of the government to serve the people through public services whether it be the garbage crisis of

a few years ago electricity shortages water and so forth that the patience of the lebanese people has worn thin and that unless something is done very quickly you will have more and more of these protests that will continue or could very well get out of hand all right jim. thank you. the president's appointed a cabinet 2 of his brothers are holding top jobs got a buyer rajapaksa was elected president last week he was the defense minister in the final days of the civil war and led a crackdown on the tamil tiger separatists with whom that war was fought has now picked his brother mahinda to be both prime minister and finance miss a you may remember mahinda had previously served as president for a full 10 years and then mall rajapaksa he's been named minister of trade he was a speaker during mahinda is time in the top spot rajiv sina is the

former leader of the liberal party issue langar and he believes the biggest challenge now to the new government is to ease tensions after the easter attacks earlier this year i think it's a very good sign that. as will the senior muslim supporter of the president has been appointed governor of the not the west where we had a lot of problems soon after the april attacks and i hope that will lead to restore confidence i think the important thing for this government to do is to work with the tamil and the muslim people especially the grassroots level because i do think they are interested in separatism or terrorism or fundamentalism and to a glide like the play that was the mentality politicians who have been rent seeking with a vengeance from the last government and indeed from the rajaratnam and before that it was a little dish and in particular and there again they are not involved but you must reach out to the most important. that are hong kong where police have gathered

outside a shopping mall where hundreds of people have been holding a peaceful demonstration the sit in marked for months since an attack by suspected gang members on protests is and journalists. and hong kong police commissioners called on dozens of protesters who were still inside the university to leave the politics that university was the scene as some of the worst fire lines in the territories 6 months of protests many student protesters have been injured in confrontations with the security forces. police in bolivia have fired tear gas to break up a funeral procession that turned into an anti-government protests in the powers thousands of people took part in the procession the began in the city of el outer it coincided with a debate in congress over when to hold new elections at least 8 people were killed on tuesday after police and military moved in on a fuel plant that had been occupied by protesters the interim government is hoping

elections will help defuse street violence that has killed at least 32 people since october. palestinians are campaigning in support of a journalist who lost his eye after being shot by israeli forces the palestinian journalist syndicate says more than a 100 journalists have been wounded by israeli soldiers since january nida ibrahim reports now from the occupied west bank. this is the moment that triggered that international solidarity campaign palestinian t.v. news camera. blinded in one eye while filming a protest that happened last friday. his colleagues blame israeli gunfire 2 israel's border police deny targeting the t.v. journalist and released this video saying police used only non-lethal means to disperse the crowd demonstrating against israel's confiscation. i met i was so badly injured he's lost his left eye and doctors say a piece of metal might have to remain large that his skull removing it could cause

irreversible damage they say. i was standing away from the protesters and away from the army i was taking cover and was surprised by something hitting me so hard that i couldn't feel my heed his wife says her family burden has increased dividing her day between taking care of her 2 children and visiting her injured husband in a hospital in jerusalem. my daughter is very attached to her father when she 1st knew he was shot she puts her hand on her heart saying was my dad injured then she disappeared weeping. palestinian journalists started an awareness online campaign that went viral to highlight what they say is targeting the journalists by israeli forces demonstration in bethlehem and so did that if you with the injured journalist turned violent when the israeli army dispersed the crowd. protests are regular events and can happen anywhere in the occupied

territories safer places are not always available and sometimes to tell the story journalists find themselves becoming a part of it. while about his plight is in the limelight many other journalists are nursing injuries without the. i'll tell you that is a freelance news cameraman in the gaza strip he was hit by an israeli tear gas canister last year while covering on the border between gaza and israel. he says he partially lost vision in one eye and is having hearing difficulties. as a journalist i can cover the same events any more i can't afford being in crowded places like funerals i have platinum implants in my face in any heat could affect me the palestinian journalists indicate says more than 100 journalists have been wounded in attacks by israeli forces so far this is.

the occupied west bank. the right time for a 2nd look at the top stories here and our jazeera israel's prime minister says corruption charges against him are a coup attempt benjamin netanyahu is facing bribery fraud and breach of trust allegations here's more of what he said just after the charges were announced. the polluted investigation against me erode the public faith in the system so 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 puts an end to this it is about time to investigate the investigators. former white house russia expert fiona hill says president trump and his allies used a fictional narrative to link ukraine to interference in the us is election of

2016 she was testifying at the impeachment inquiry on thursday. lebanon's marking its independence day after weeks of anti-government protests a 76 anniversary was observed with a military parade in the capital beirut a larger one had been planned but that was canceled because of the armrests civil groups are now organizing their own celebrations in the capital protests have been demanding a complete overhaul of the political system sri lanka's president has named his new cabinet and 2 of his brothers will hold senior positions got a buyer rajapakse his brother mahinda will be prime minister and 5 finance minister another of the brothers becomes trade minister police have gathered outside a hong kong shopping mall where hundreds of people have been holding a peaceful demonstration the sit in marks 4 months since an attack by suspected gang members on protesters and journalists and hong kong police commissioner has

called on dozens of protesters still inside a university to leave the polytechnic university was the scene of some of the worst farland in the territory 6 months of protests many student protesters were injured . and there's been violence between police and protesters in the chilean capital santiago at least $22.00 people have been killed since the protests began just over a month ago. today those are the latest headlines the news hour is coming up in about 30 minutes with finnigan but next it's 11 east. what kind of does that provide to pick up the cost we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in so is it possible for trump to actually commit to a piece on counting the cost on al-jazeera. this

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