this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: as congress hears claims from a whistleblower that the white house tried to cover up donald trump's phone call with ukraine's leader, a furious response from a president facing an impeachment inquiry. what these guys are doing, democrats, are doing to this country, is a disgrace and it shouldn't be allowed. there should be a way of stopping it. tackling britain's toxic politics. boris johnson suggests tempers should cool over brexit but refuses to apologise for his own language. gunfire. and we report from libya, as the un warns the country's latest

conflict is escalating fast. what happens on this frontline has implications far beyond tripoli. the fear is that if this conflict continues, it could push libya into all—out civil war. and france declares monday a national day of mourning following the death of former president, jacques chirac. senior white house officials tried to "lock down" all details of a phone call between president trump and the ukrainian leader, according to a whistleblower‘s complaint against the president. in the call, mr trump pushed for the ukrainian government to help smearjoe biden, his leading rival in next year's us presidential election. mr trump denies exerting improper pressure, but the phone call has triggered an impeachment inquiry against him — and evidence to congress, on thursday, from america's acting director of national intelligence. this from our north america editor, jon sopel.

joseph maguire is a man who's spent his career living in the shadows. not any more. the evidence that the acting director of national intelligence is giving today could have a critical bearing on the future of donald trump's presidency following that contested call with ukrainian leader. i have a feeling that your country is going to do fantastically well. donald trump, who met volodymyr zelensky at the un yesterday, insists that the call was perfect, even though he blatantly asks the ukrainian leader to investigate his main democratic political rival, joe biden. but today, a whistle—blower‘s letter was made public, and its allegations are damning. he says, "after an initial exchange of pleasa ntries, the president used the remainder of the call to advance his personal interests.

"namely, he sought to pressure the ukrainian leader to take actions to help the president's 2020 re—election bid." and he goes on, "white house officials told me they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for co—ordination, finalisation and distribution to cabinet—level officials." and, citing white house officials, one other thing the whistle—blower says is, "this isn't the first time the administration has treated a transcript like this, not because it's a matter of national security, but because it's politically sensitive." and so to the evidence. would you agree that the whistle—blower complaint alleges serious wrongdoing by the president of the united states? the first question seemed to cause mr maguire discomfort. uh, the whistle—blower complaint involved the allegation of that, but it is not for me and the intelligence community to decide how the president conducts his foreign policy. the white house has sought to undermine the credibility of the whistle—blower. the intelligence chief, though, was noticeably not going there.

i think the whistle—blower did the right thing. i think he followed the law every step of the way. the complaint states that the white house tried to lock down all records of the call. and democrats are seizing on the whistle—blower‘s letter. this is a cover—up. donald trump's anger over attempts by democrats to impeach him is palpable. what these guys are doing, democrats are doing to this country, is a disgrace, and it shouldn't be allowed. there should be a way of stopping it. the president returned to the white house this afternoon after what's been a bruising few days in new york. events are moving at speed, and not in the direction donald trump would want. john sopel, bbc news, washington. earlier i spoke to richard painter, who served as chief white house ethics lawyer in the administration of george w bush. i asked him whether impeachment

is likely to happen. impeachment by the house of representatives may very well happen but then, of course, there's a trial in the senate and the trial in the senate will be determined... the outcome, yes, by the republicans. but the political damage to the republican party from this situation is a mess. this is the second time that donald trump has sought the enlist the aid of a foreign government to win a presidential election. he did it in 2016, asking russia to hack into hilary clinton's e—mails and to assist him with the trump tower meeting and all of that that was written up in the mueller report, and now he's doing it again with ukraine, and he is asking the ukrainian government to dig up whatever dirt they can... onjoe biden and if joe biden doesn't win the democratic nomination, he will turn the ukraine or some

other other foreign power against whoever his opponent is. this is unacceptable in american politics to use the power of the presidency in this way. he's going to be impeached and the question is whether the republicans have the courage to do what republicans did in 1974 with richard nixon, simply ask him to step down, to resign. of course mr trump denies exerting any improper pressure. what do you make of the involvement of president's personal lawyer in all of this? rudy giuliani has been charged by donald trump with the task of digging up dirt onjoe biden, or whoever happens to be his opponent in the democratic... on the democratic ticket for president in 2020. that's what rudy giuliani's doing. he's working for donald trump in his personal and political capacity. he has no business conducting united states diplomacy with foreign nations on behalf of our country. the power of the presidency should not be used in this manner, and we should not be coercing foreign governments into taking

sides in our elections. it also seems curious, doesn't it, that mr trump said, almost as an aside today, that people should be investigating mike pence's dealings with the ukraine. it almost sounds like a warning to his own party, to the republicans, "if you let me go you will also lose the vice president, mike pence." i believe that's what's going on because there are quite a few republicans who secretly are very, very upset about donald trump and his behaviour. they're very worried. they aren't going to say anything publicly, but there are many republicans who would be very happy to replace donald trump with mike pence. mike pence is a lot quieter, calmer, has not gotten himself anywhere near as close to this situation or to the russia situation, but perhaps donald trump is saying at least that he has something on mike pence. so he's threatening his own party, he's threatening his own vice president, in order to save his own skin,

and that is a very, very troubling situation. let's get some of the day's other news. the hong kong government has tried a new approach to diffuse tensions in the territory by holding the first of a series of public consultations. the event was televised, with chief executive carrie lam facing a storm of difficult questions from 150 people, apparently chosen at random. an earthquake, magnitude 5.7, has struck off the coast of istanbul. some people in turkey's largest city had to evacuate homes and businesses and at least 8 people have been injured. istanbul lies near a majorfaultline. officials say none of the three bridges in the city connecting europe and asia was damaged. saudi arabia is opening its doors to tourists from around the world for the first time. visas costing $80 will be available online. until now they have largely been restricted to business people and muslim pilgrims. the british prime minister has

suggested tempers need to "come down" in parliament, a day after a furious session in the house of commons. but borisjohnson has refused to apologise for dismissing concerns that his own talk of "surrender" and "betrayal" is inflammatory, at a time when mps are receiving death threats. one was murdered, just before the 2016 brexit referendum. there is some strong language in this report from our political editor, laura kuenssberg. boris johnson: we will not betray the people who sent us here! paula sherriff: subject to death threats and abuse every single day! boris johnson: i've never heard such humbug in all my life! this is the language. you're a publicity whore! publicity whore, madam! this is it. politics has never been forfaint hearts. this man is an idiot. we won't tolerate this, sorry. but there was poison in the air last night. use language that is respectable, whatever your views are. reporter: primie minister, was your language in the commons yesterday appropriate? frustrated by a lack of brexit progress, the prime minister

is happy to provoke. i totally deplore any threat to anybody, particularly female mps. and a lot of work is being done to stop that, and to give people the security they need. but i do think it's important that, in the house of commons, i should be able to talk about the surrender bill, the surrender act, in the way that i did. but there's fury from labour mps at that kind of talk. an encounter between a labour mp and the prime minister's advisor, dominic cummings, in parliament, was filmed by a member of the mp's team. the mp, karl turner, said he had had death threats last night. mr cummings‘s answer, "get brexit done". in the commons itself, a sense of disbelief for a moment, the morning after the night before. yesterday, the house did itself no credit.

to dismiss concerns from members about the death threats they receive, and to dismiss concerns that the language used by the prime minister is being repeated in those death threats, is reprehensible. as he prepared to gather his cabinet, the prime minister said tempers need to come down. but the chances of him are listening to this reprimand from a predecessor in number 10 are slim to none. which should have no place in our party, no place in our political discourse, nor in our politics, —— words such as saboteur, traitor, enemy, surrender, betrayal. which should have no place in our party, no place in our political discourse, nor in our politics, and nor, for that matter, in our wider society. but whatever the difficulty, whatever the distress, there is no intention in downing street, none at all, of pulling back from their overall tough approach. a belief, even, this is a pent—up conflict that must play out to clear the way for brexit.

patting each other on the back, when there is so much frustration in every corner of the country, and this political village? the government playing tough appeals to some, but could cause other voters to take fright. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. un officials are warning that a surge in fighting in libya could escalate into full blown civil war. the latest conflict began in april when a rebel commander launched a major offensive, aimed at seizing the capital, tripoli. thousands of people have been killed, including many civilians. from tripoli, our international correspondent orla guerin. the southern edge of tripoli, a suburban battlefield. a journey to the heart of libya's latest conflict, one which involves foreign players and is increasingly another proxy war in the middle east.

after there, the five lines. the commander shows us the front line, which many have died to protect. he and his men are the defenders of tripoli, fighting for the un—recognised government. it has the support of turkey and qatar. explosions they take aim at enemy forces, backed by egypt, the uae, france, and russia. explosions well, the fighting has been grinding on here since april, much of it unseen. but there is active firing taking place today, and what happens on this front line has implications far beyond tripoli. the fear is that if this conflict continues, it could push libya into all—out civil war. the government complains that it is outgunned and can't fight on all fronts. minister, very nice to see you again. libya's interior minister says,

while the battle for tripoli is raging, there's a moment of opportunity for including the islamic state or daesh. this is a very good chance for al-anda, for boko haram, for daesh, for organised crime now in libya. it is a very good environment. and they will use this chance. they will use it, you know. they can grow, now, in the desert, and they can move. and right now you can't try to fight them, because you're defending tripoli? yes. we continue our activity to capture some of them. we are watching. but inside our area, not outside our area, and we are continuing our collaboration with the usa security and british security, we continue. but out of our front line, what will we do?

the government here can't even protect the airport in the capital. it was targeted by an air strike today, the latest in a series. here, a glimpse of the terrified passengers caught inside earlier this month. for now, the airport is closed, a potent symbol of a capital city under attack. orla guerin, bbc news, tripoli. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: from a fantastical feminist utopia to papier mache people, we check out the contemporary artworks vying for this year's turner prize. benjohnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt

down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world, and so the british government has no option but to continue this action even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde have crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: white house officials have been accused of trying to cover up evidence that president trump used his power to solicit foreign interference in next year's election.

and after acrimonious scenes in britain's parliament, borisjohnson has tried to cool tempers, but he refused to apologise for his own controversial language. tributes have been paid to the former french president jacques chirac, who has died at the age of 86. one of his country's most popular politicians, he led france for more than a decade until 2007. internationally he was best known for opposing the us—led invasion of iraq, but his later years were marred by scandal. from paris, lucy williamson looks back at his life. the ‘bulldozer,’ the ‘weathervane,’ the ‘super liar‘ — political nicknames and political satire that could never dampen france's affection forjacques chirac. his long road to the presidency included two stints as prime minister and almost two decades as paris mayor. his down—to—earth charm and talent for connection unleashed on everyone, from

children to chancellors. bringing the country together proved harder. he wanted to heal france's social divisions, but his plans for reform were shelved after 2 million people came out in protest. he created new international divisions, too, refusing tojoin the us and britain in the 2003 invasion of iraq, a position that won him strong support at home. translation: my position is that france will vote against, in any circumstances, because tonight there is no case to wage war to disarm iraq. he also won widespread support for being the first french leader to publicly recognise france's role in the wartime deportation ofjews. in 2002, chirac won a second—term landslide against far—right leader jean—marie le pen, after left—wing voters were urged to hold their noses and vote for the crook

rather than the fascist. his later years were dogged by ill health and a conviction for embezzlement during his time as paris mayor. through it all, jacques chirac has remained perhaps france's favourite leader, a president with a very human nature, a very human touch. former french president jacques chirac. the united states is to reduce by almost half the number of refugees it admits. the state department has announced that 18,000 refugees will be accepted in the next 12 months, down from the current limit of 30,000. refugee slots will be prioritised for iraqis who have worked with the us military, some persecuted people from central america, and small groups of religious minorities. voters will go to the polls in afghanistan on saturday to elect a new president. campaigning has been marred by a series of bloody attacks,

while a peace deal with the taliban has been declared dead by president trump. our correspondent martin patience looks at the frontrunners in the race, which sees two fierce rivals from the current unity government battle for the presidency. in the afghan capital, they're preparing for a vote that could make or break this country's fragile democracy. the two main candidates, abdullah abdullah and president ashraf ghani, once uneasy partners in government, now election rivals. theirfive years in power a time of soaring violence and poverty. the security forces here are on high alert. the threat of the taliban looms over this election. nawrooz and ahmed were seriously injured fighting the militants. the former soldiers have lost faith in their government.

translation: around 20 of my friends from the army have been killed or injured. the government doesn't support us or our families. i want to vote for a different government. can you show me your injuries? ahmed was shot multiple times. he has had 19 operations and spent a year and a half in hospital. translation: there will be no future for afghanistan until the war is over. but it'll take time. after 18 years of war and three presidential votes, peace doesn't seem to be any closer. previous elections in afghanistan have been marred by massive corruption. the government here wants to use this vote to shore up its legitimacy.

but how much legitimacy can that election have, when large parts of the country are under taliban control, and many people are simply too scared to vote? there is fear on every street here. this is one of many armed guards standing watch outside a college in kabul. security is tight now after it was bombed by militants last year, killing 48 students. but today, the hall was full. many here are first—time voters. you're going to vote. do you think it's going to change anything? deep down, of me, it's a great fear. great fear of peace talks, the negotiations, where will the country go, the direction, the changes that will be made after the americans have gotten out of the — what will happen? this is the big question — what then? are you going to vote at this election?

no. and why are you not going to vote at the election? because i hate all of them. because we have lots of bad things, that if ijust say now, i will cry. many afghans despair for their country. they have war, not peace, and are unlikely to have a free and fair election. martin patience, bbc news, kabul. the most prestigious modern art prize in the uk has made famous names of past winners such as grayson perry, damien hirst and steve mcqueen. this year, the turner prize is being held in margate in south—east england, where the artistjmw turner lived. the prize, of course, is named after him. our arts editor will gompertz has been taking a look at this year's nominees. i'm standing in the turner contemporary art gallery in margate, on the very spot where the great romantic british painterjmw turner would stand and look out at the sea and the sky over there to the north.

he was a radical, an inventor, an amazing painter, after whom of course the turner prize is named, and it's here this year, in margate. i just wonder, what would he think of the four artists that have been shortlisted? let's start with the film. this is a one hour a0 minute piece by the artist helen cammock, and it looks back at the civil rights movement in northern ireland in 1968, and focuses specifically on the largely overlooked contribution by women. have you met my friends? they're a bit creepy, to be honest. they came down from london on the train. they're the creation of the artist oscar murillo. they're effigies of the modern worker. and they're looking out not towards the sea, because that view was blocked by a big black canvas, because we are living in dark times. welcome to the fantastical world of the artist tai shani. this lady up here is telling me a story which goes on for seven hours, but it's about this landscape that the artist has created, which is a utopian vision of a new world order,

i suppose. but not from a male perspective, this time, but from the feminine experience. a year prior to the stakeout, a law was passed that allowed the police to acquire surplus equipment from the military. assault rifles, humvees, choppers, boats and sniper scopes began transforming police departments enter combat—ready infantry units. this is the work of the artist lawrence abu hamdan. you can see him just there. he doesn't sculpt and he doesn't paint. he's more like an investigative reporter, really. he goes out and finds audio testimonies from people who have been involved in criminal cases. he recreates them into stories, which he then turns into films, such as this one here. so that's the shortlist. nobody depicting the north sea, as turner once did, but all making challenging work in the spirit of the great painter. will gompertz, bbc news, margate. much more on all the news on the bbc

website. you can reach me and most of the team on twitter. thank you for watching. good morning. well, last week's high pressure and settled autumn sunshine a distant memory. this week, it's been very different, hasn't it? on monday, we saw some heavy rain, some areas seeing a months worth of rain injust a 24—hour period. through the middle part of the week, it's quietened down a little. sunny spells and scattered showers. but there's more wet and windy weather to come through this weekend. here it is sitting out in the atlantic, and it's going to continue to push its way across the seas towards us for the second half of the weekend. ahead of it, circulating around an area of low pressure, a scattering of showers. some of those quite heavy, possibly thundery, and some of them, as we go through the day today, merging together for longer spells of rain. blustery winds, particularly through the south—west, driving those showers inland.

there'll be some heavy ones through wales, north—west england, and northern ireland as well. the best of the driest, sunniest lot perhaps reserved for scotland. temperatures a little subdued in comparison to of late. we're seeing highs of 14—18 degrees the high. now, as we move out of friday into the start of the weekend, that low pressure will ease away, and we'll see a relatively quiet spell for a time. so the start of the weekend is not looking too bad. yes, we will have sunny spells and scattered showers, but there will be some drier interludes in between. quite a blustery feel still, and by end of the afternoon we'll see some wetter weather pushing into the south—west. now, the timings for this rain still subject to change, so if you do have outdoor plans this weekend, you'll certainly need to keep abreast of the forecast. but that is likely to bring a spell of very wet weather and some windy weather with it as well. so we could see 2—3 inches of rain, and at times, through the early hours of sunday morning, we're going to see strong,

gusty winds, in excess of 40—50 mph in places. and, as that low moves through, maybe for a time 60 mph across eastern england, close to the coast. but that low will move through, and then we start to see some drier weather coming through on sunday. however, the wind direction into the north is going to make it feel a little on the cool side as well. so top temperatures in scotland 13—15 degrees. further south and east, we're looking at highs of 17 or 18. so, just in case you haven't already got the message, it does look at the moment as though saturday will be the better of the two days in the weekend. sunny spells and a few showers. sunday will start off wet and windy, but that rain will slowly ease away. and then, monday into tuesday, things are a little bit quieter, but the temperatures could be better for this time of year. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines: leading democrat, nancy pelosi, has accused donald trump of trying to cover—up the details of a controversial phone call to the ukrainian president. in the call, which has triggered an impeachment inquiry, the president pushed for the ukrainian government to help smear his main rivaljoe biden. he's dismissed the impeachment proceedings as ‘another witch—hunt‘. borisjohnson says tempers need to come down after furious scenes in the uk parliament on wednesday. but despite strong criticism, the prime minister has refused to apologise for his own controversial language. france has paid tribute to its former leader, jacques chirac, who's died at the age of 86. in a its—year political career, he served as president, prime minister and mayor of paris. internationally, he was best known for opposing the us—led invasion