this is bbc world news today. i'm samantha simmonds. our top stories: president trump hits back at the ukraine phonecall whistleblower as the leading democrat sets out her plan for impeachment proceedings. i think that we should move expeditiously but not with haste. nigerian police rescue nearly 500 men and boys from what's being described as a house of torture. walking in his mother's footsteps — prince harry visits a landmine clearance site in angola made famous by princess diana.

hello and welcome to world news today. president tump has been reacting angrily today to moves by the democrats to impeach him. a whistleblower in the us intelligence service has accused mr trump of putting pressure on the ukrainian government during a phone call to investigate his democratic rivaljoe biden who's son was involved with a business there. mr trump has accused the democrats of fabricating a version of his conversation with the ukrainian president. he's sent out ten tweets on the subject so far. in his latest one the president says... however, the intelligence community's inspector general has described the whistleblower‘s complaint as "credible". the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has been speaking to the talk show morning joe about what happens next. i think we should move with purpose and expeditiously, not hastily though.

and the matter is in the hands of the intelligence committee the leadership of adam of whom we are very proud and we are members of the committee and i know you had patrick on earlier, we are very proud of him. so, they will take the time that they need. and we won't have the calendar being the arbiter, but we do... it doesn't have to drag on and again, we are in court on many of these cases, whether it is the president's taxes, his bank accounts, his accounting, a host of other things. i think that this probably will be done before the courts... who knows the timing of the courts? but again, it's no use to just say by such and such a date but looking at the... shall we say the material that the administration has given

us, they are actually speeding up the process. so, what are the accusations against president trump? the whistleblower says the trump administration ran a months—long campaign to get ukraine to investigatejoe biden and his son. that campaign culminated in a phone call onjuly 25, when donald trump himself repeatedly asked the ukrainian president to investigate the bidens. the whistleblower then says white house aides were so concerned about what was discussed in the call they put records of the conversation into "lock down", and moved the official word—for—word transcript to a classified server. after the letter outlining the complaints was published, the democrats launched the impeachment inquiry against the president. and they're now looking to speed up the process. here's our north america reporter anthony zurcher. members of the house of representatives are scheduled to go on a two—week... not a vacation but a district court period when they would go home to their home districts that the house intelligence committee, the one that

nancy pelosi spoke of, in that interview we've just heard, are going to stay here in town and begin their impeachment enquiry with focus on this ukraine story and there's word that even by the end of next week they could start issuing subpoenas and calling witnesses. while nancy pelosi was reluctant to give a timeline for this enquiry, it seems like they want to move reasonably quickly to start gathering information. this will be the first part of the process to try to remove donald trump. a vote in the house of representatives on impeachment will prompt a trial in the senate. anthony, over the past years we have heard a lot about impeachment, especially around those links to russian interference and the probe that went on there, the mueller enquiry. does this have a different feel? a different urgency from what we heard in the past when actually there wasn't an overwhelming amount of support from democrats previously for impeachment? no, there wasn't.

and i think part of the change, the difference at least on why all of the democrats in the house had, except for a very small handful, had got on board on an impeachment enquiry as this is happening quickly. it also is dealing with an issue that is looking ahead to the 2020 elections. this was something about donald trump allegedly using the powers of his presidency to pressure a foreign government to give him information that would be damaging that would be damaging againstjoe biden, a possible candidate against him, for the 2020 election. the mueller stuff, the business dealings, all that was kind of backwards—looking. a lot of new democrats elected in 2018 feel like this happened on their watch and that is why watch and that is why they feel like they have to take action. how is this all playing out away from washington amongst the american public? we've had a handful of polls come out already since the story first broke last week, and it does show that support for an impeachment process is growing among the american public although a

majority in most polls still are not in favour of donald trump's impeachment. it seems like the partisan battle lines are forming. democrats who maybe previously were on the fence over whether this was a good idea and everyone should just focus on beating donald trump in the ballot box in november 2020, they are now coming around. that says something about how the leadership and the house of representatives, the democrats are consolidating around the strategy and democrats by and large are starting to fall into line. more on that story a little later in the programme. police in nigeria have freed some 500 people, many of them young children, from a building where they have been allegedly chained, tortured and sexually abused. to protect their privacy we have decided to conceal the identities of the victims in this report from mayenijones in lagos. captives in chains, boys, teenagers, and grown men held in a so—called islamic school and unable to leave.

look, they put chains on me, with all the level of my exposure. one look at my own age, i have responsibilities on my head. but they denied me access to a lot of things. police received a tip—off from relatives of children held here that suggested this place was not what it seemed. i say, "ok, take this loaf of bread and take it to them." so when we go back home now, we had a family meeting, so we said, "ok, the only thing that shall report this issue to the police station." that is exactly what we did. the police said this was no educational institution. we discovered that we have small children today, underfives, graduates. most of them are ten. ten! as far as i'm concerned, this is modern—day slavery. millions of students are in islamic

schools across nigeria. the parents in this deprived region often have to leave their children in religious boarding schools. these institutions have been dogged with allegations of abuse. earlier this year, the government said it planned to ban them. but wouldn't say when. as the victims are treated and reunited with their families, this latest incident may be a reminder of the need for reform. mayenijones, bbc news in lagos. a huge crackdown by egypt's security forces has prevented mass protests from taking place in the capital cairo. there were online calls for demonstrations against alleged corruption by president abdel—fattah al sisi and the military — instead it was the leader's supporters who staged rallies in his defence. protests broke out last week and since then human rights groups say nearly 2,000 people have been arrested. sally nabil is our correspondent in cairo. it has been a quiet day in cairo so far, although there were calls for huge anti—government protest. but it seems that the people are too scared

to take to the streets, like they did briefly last week. security presence has been beefed up all around the city. cars are not allowed into tahrir square, only pedestrians. we've seen security personnel stopping passers—by, checking their mobile phones and looking for their id cards. 0nly small scale protests have taken place in a couple of cities in the south of the country and in one neighbourhood in cairo. 0n the other hand, thousands have taken part in pro—cc gatherings in eastern cairo. the president himself has downplayed the significance of the protests that called on him to step down, making it clear there is nothing to worry about. it's a nervous time and many are waiting to see what will happen in the coming hours. voters will go to the polls in afghanistan on saturday to elect a new president.

the country is on high alert with around 90,000 military and police drafted in, following threats from the taliban. the vote takes place after the collapse of talks between the usa and the taliban over troop withdrawal. martin patience has this report. the afghan capital, they are 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. these people 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's 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 will 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 corruption. the government here wants to use this vote to shore

up its legitimacy, but how much legitimacy can an 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 is full. many here are first—time voters. you are going to vote. do you think it's going to change anything? deep down of me it is a great fear. great fear of peace talks and negotiations, where the country will go, their direction. the changes that will be made after the americans have got out, what will happen? this is a big question — what then? are you going to vote in this election? no? why are you not going to vote in the election?

because i hate all of them because we have lots of bad things that if i should say now i shall cry. many afghans despair for their country. they have war, not peace, and are unlikely to have a free and fair election. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: britain's prince harry has retraced his mother's footsteps, walking through a partially cleared angolan minefield made famous 22 years ago by princess diana.

it isa it is a simple fact that these homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, resume a plea in case the americans invaded. it's no use having a secret service that cannot preserve its own secrets against the world and so their british government says it has no option but to continue this, even after a ny option but to continue this, even after any adverse judgment in australia. concord has crossed the atlantic faster than any aeroplane before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc world news today. i'm samantha. the latest headlines. donald trump has accused the democrats of fabricating a version of his conversation withe the president of ukraine.

a version of his conversation with the president of ukraine. let's stay with that story now. democrats are now looking to speed up the process surrounding president trump's impeachment hearings. but pursuing impeachment does come with a risk. here's rachel frazin from the hill magazine in washington. the trump campaign is saying that combined with their public and national committee they have raised $13 million since the enquiry so this is quite a bonanza for them. they are really rallying their supporters to give money to the new campaign so this is something that is really helping with fundraising. i don't know if it will help them politically but on the fundraising side, this has really been a rallying cry for them. for their supporters. let's have a look at some twitter messages, and we've heard from brad pascal. the trump 2020 campaign manager tweeted yesterday on thursday.

what you make of this? we've got one from eric trump saying a big thank you to nancy pelosi. is this massively backfiring for the democrats, do you think? well, it depends what the objective is here. fundraising wise, perhaps it is giving the trump campaign at least the dollars. i can't tell you about the support, that's another matter. hard to say right now whether this will help them down the line but at least in terms of fundraising, this is giving the trump campaignfundraising. that being said you were seeing on the democratic side a lot of democratic candidates pushing forward this message about impeachment and fundraising from impeachment as well. but do donations translate into wider support amongst the electorate? dhrumil mehta is a data journalist for the polling analysis website fivethirtyeight. he says the polls

are starting to shift. this news is still moving really fast and americans are still making their minds up about impeachment, but the polls show that a majority of americans still do not support impeachment. that said, there has been an increase, given the polls we have so far, in support of impeachment and there is still a huge partisan gap between democrats and republicans. of course it will be partisan, won't it? how do you think this will play out in terms of those important swing voters or independent voters? any indication on that yet? so far when we look at the polling, more than two thirds of democrats are in support of impeachment but very few republicans. almost 10% or lower. among independents so far we only have a couple of preliminary polls but we are not seeing any huge shifts in support. i think there was a fear previously when the russia probe was going on that if the democrats pursued impeachment actually it would go against them because it would only harden republicans, those who are already

supporting donald trump, and also waste the time of democrats who need to campaign for the next election. do you think that is still the view? you know, according to a poll that was released on wednesday, exactly three quarters of democrats or three in four democrats they support impeachment even if the senate does not vote for convicting the president. and so i think that the view among democrats at least is that they should impeach, regardless of the outcome. we arejust we are just hearing from the united states that three us house of representatives committees have just 110w representatives committees have just now issued subpoenas. mike pompeo, which will seek to compel him to hand over documents concerning contact with the ukrainian government. you can see the message from the committee.

we are hearing that they did want to fast track the impeachment proceedings and it looks like that is very much happening. just to tell you what they are asking for. the committee has also scheduled depositions from five state officials, including former us ambassador to ukraine, the us special preventative for ukraine and also the us ambassador for the european union. —— us ambassador to the european union. keep watching and we will bring you up—to—date with that. now for some breaking news here in the uk — where it's been announced that the independent office for police conduct will assess whether the prime minister boris johnson committed the criminal

offence of misconduct in public office during his time as mayor of london. the allegations are that borisjohnson maintained a friendship with american businesswoman and former model jennifer arcuri and as a result of that friendship allowed ms arcuri to participate in trade missions and receive sponsorship monies in circumstances when she and her companies could not have expected otherwise to receive those benefits.the iopc the iopc will now consider if it is necessary for the matter to be investigated. mark to come on that. now time for the sports news. the world athletics championships got under way today. controversy about the lack of ticket sales and the air conditioning. let's go straight to the venue.

christian coleman competed today. many people didn't want him there. he is the fastest man in the world this year and the favourite to win the gold medal but the build—up has been controversial because he was alleged to have failed his whereabouts ruling. every athlete has to give the anti—doping authorities their whereabouts to within an hour so they can be tested. if they arrive at the location where the test will be and the athlete is not there, it is considered a violation. three in a 12 month period is considered eight ban. he was cleared on a technicality. some say that the issue will tarnish his legacy but it didn't seem to bother him on the track. the fastest man through to the semi taking place tomorrow and he is the favourite to win.

ticket sales have been poor and they didn't seem to be many people watching. i don't want to be overly negative about it but we are used to seeing some really big crowds at the championships. what has gone wrong? we have a history of attracting people to the stadium but that is not the story here. i have covered the diamond league. the stadium is never full. people here the diamond league. the stadium is neverfull. people here don't the diamond league. the stadium is never full. people here don't go out to watch live sport. the capacity is 40,000. they have closed the top tier so it's 20000 and there was about 10,000 people there. we will see how it plays out over the next week or so but i am told by a reliable source they had only sold about 15,000 tickets so they might try to give some away. about 10,000

there, not great when you consider this is almost the pinnacle of these athletes sport when you take away the olympic games. we also have to consider the heat. you have had to change your shirt because it's really hot. is there any evidence that the heat is affecting any of the sport? in the stadium there is an air conditioning cooling system so the temperature there is cooler than here where it is sweltering. nonetheless, you've got evidence of how challenging it is because you've gotan how challenging it is because you've got an athlete he was involved in the 5000 metres, jonathan busby. it was the last lap and he was really struggling with the heat and conditions and he was helped over the line by another athlete. it was a real show of camaraderie and sportsmanship to help the athlete over and they finally made it across, getting the biggest cheer of the night. obviously didn't make the

finalfor the night. obviously didn't make the final for the the night. obviously didn't make the finalfor the 5000 metres the night. obviously didn't make the final for the 5000 metres and perhaps they should be given a medal for sportsmanship because it was that kind of situation. it is currently 32 degrees and it is 11pm. the women's marathon will get under way in about an hour. real concerns about the safety of some of these athletes, if you remember at the gold coast, some of the athletes struggled there. it will be strange for them running in the middle of the night. that is it for the sport for now. the duke of sussex has walked through a partially—cleared minefield in angola to highlight the threat posed by landmines, 22 years after his mother diana, princess of wales, did the same. prince harry wore body armour as he walked through the ex—artillery base near the south—eastern town of dirico. our royal correspondent nick witchell has the story. minefields. a massive problem in angola, and an issue with a particular resonance for harry, in memory of his mother's efforts to make the world do

something to deal with them. harry was taken into one of the minefields being cleared by britain's halo trust. he saw the painstaking work of the mine clearance teams, combing the ground metre by metre. he detonated a mine which had been found a few days ago. and then on to huambo, angola's second city. it was here 22 years ago that diana, princess of wales, was filmed walking along a safe corridor through a minefield. it brought the whole issue to the world's attention and led eventually to an international ban. today the spot which had once been a minefield is an anonymous street, but a place for a proud son to visit and to reflect on what his mother achieved. to walk in her footsteps is clearly quite emotionalfor me, but i think as much as she did then, there is still so much to do, but without question if she hadn't have campaigned the way that she did

22 years ago, this could arguably still be a minefield, so i'm incredibly proud of what she's been able to do. plenty going on with our weather through this weekend. we have weather systems queueing up in the atlantic. this lump of cloud here, a deepening area of low pressure bringing wet and windy weather through saturday night and sunday. we have this big swell of cloud and an area of low pressure driving show is from the west towards the east across the uk through today and during tonight that process continues. blowing quickly across the southern half of the country on a slow westerly wind. further north it will get quite chilly with some spots down to two or three degrees. there is our first area of low pressure forcing away north

eastwards. a little bump in the white lines in the isobars, a transient ridge of high pressure moving throughout the day, suppressing the showers. mark dry weather during the afternoon with spells of sunshine and those temperatures ranging from 13—19d. behind me you will already have spotted the next loan pushing its way from the south—west, driving heavy rain across england and wales and getting into northern ireland and getting into northern ireland and southern scotland. there could be some localised flooding because it will be persistent rain in places and on the southern flank, when‘s strengthening with 55 mph wind gusts. this swell pushing its way eastwards over the sunday, very wet across england and wales. windy in the south. there will be some showers in the northern parts but some spells of sunshine. before we

wave a final farewell to that area of low pressure it does have a sting in the tail on the back edge of the white line squeezing together again. very strong winds in the eastern coastal counties with 60 mph gusts, combined with high tides it could cause some coastal flooding. heavy rain and gales this weekend could cause some travel headaches. your local radio station will keep you up—to—date. next week cold air tries to make its way into north and rain at times, particularly in the south.

this is bbc world news, the headlines. us president donald trump has hit back against allegations of wrongdoing over his phone call with the ukrainian president in a series of tweets, accusing the democrats of fabricating a version of the conversation. nigerian police say they've rescued nearly five hundred people from a building in the northern city of kaduna where they were being detained. those held were all men and boys, and said they'd been tortured and sexually abused. a former british cabinet minister has accused the prime minister's office of using language about brexit that incited violence. amber rudd has criticised mrjohnson for having what she called an immoral approach in his choice of language. and, walking in his mother's footsteps — britian‘s prince harry has visited a partially—cleared minefield in angola — 22 years after his mother diana