welcome, you're watching newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: donald trump hits out at the democrats leading the impeachment inquiry, and has angry words for reporters at the white house. it is a whole hoax and you know who is playing into the hoax? people like you and the fake news media that we have in this country and i say, in many cases, the corrupt media. the british government publishes its new brexit plan. despite a cautious response from the eu, borisjohnson says a deal could be done in days. i'm lewis vaughanjones, in london. also in the programme: vigils in hong kong, amid mounting violence. protestors pay tribute to those injured in clashes with police.

and sun, sea — but few signs of tourists. sri lanka struggles to shrug off the impact of the easter sunday attacks. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, 1 o'clock in the morning in london, and 8:00 in the evening in washington, where there's been a dramatic escalation in the war of words between president trump and his democratic party opponents, on the question of impeachment. the president has given a series of irate news conferences. in one, he accused the leading democrat adam shiff, in one, he accused the leading democrat adam schiff, who's chairman of the house

intelligence committee, of being a "low life" who'd committed treason. in another, he said democrat presidential hopefuljoe biden and his son were "stone cold crooked". more now from my colleague in washington laura trevelyan. it should have been a routine visit by the president of finland to the white house but, with president trump at the centre of an unfolding impeachment drama, there was nothing routine about today. he's got to be a very important man to have so much press. the president is furious with the democrats for investigating his phone call with ukraine's leader and their suggested that he may have abused his power by asking for dirt on a political rival. and in the oval office, he let rip. i think a whistleblower should be protected, if the whistleblower is legitimate. he either got it totally wrong, made it up, or the person giving the information to the whistleblower was dishonest and this country has to find out who this person was because that person is a spy. events are unfolding at whiplash speed. with democrats threatening to supina the white house unless they get the documents they have

demanded on ukraine. chair of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, had this warning for the white house... the president wants to make this all about the whistleblower and suggests people that come forward with evidence of his wrongdoing are somehow treasonous and should be treated as traitors and spies. this is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses. it is an incitement to violence. it has been reported tonight that the whistleblower first of his concerns about mr trump abusing his power to a house intelligence community aid, much of the disgust of the president, who is now trying to turn the tables on mr schiff. it shows that schiff is a fraud. that's a big story. he knew long before and he helped write it too. that's not true says hte whistleblower‘s lawyer but the president is reverting to his tried and tested playbook — lashing out at his accusers. laura trevelyan, bbc news, washington. —— subpoena.

we will be back in washington a little later. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: at least five people have been killed in anti—government protests across iraq. the protests, against state corruption, failing public services and unemployment, have spread south from baghdad. social media platforms and internet access have been blocked in the capital and other parts of the country and curfews have been imposed on some cities in southern iraq. also making news today: global markets have fallen sharply — wall street's main indexes were on track for their sharpest one—day declines in nearly six weeks and the uk's leading ftse 100 index dropped over 3%. the falls follow a set of gloomy economic data on employment, hiring and manufacturing in the last few days. but how are the asian markets responding? more on that in asia business report. north korea has admitted that the weapon it test—fired on wednesday morning was a new type of

a submarine—launched ballistic missile. the test launch came just hours after pyongyang announced that nuclear talks with us officials would resume later this week. a world war ii era bomber plane has crashed while trying to make an emergency landing near hartford in connecticut. seven people have been killed and six others on board are in hospital, some with critical injuries. the boeing b—i7 flying fortress reported problems ten minutes after takeoff, but lost control on the runway. three men have been rescued after drifting in the pacific for hours. but colombian authorities have some questions about what kept them all afloat. according to officials, the smugglers‘ boat sank but they used packs containing 1.2 tonnes of cocaine as a safety measure to keep them afloat.

britain has put forward its new proposals for breaking the brexit deadlock with the european union. the plan, outlined in seven page document, would see northern ireland stay in the european single market for goods, but leave the customs union. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. 70 days into office, a man in a hurry. a matter of hours, perhaps, before he'll know, and we'll know if he has a chance of getting a different deal with the eu. if he ought to be nervous, it didn't show. applause. the darling of this hall for years, now their prime minister. leader here, but with no control of parliament, no way of predicting what will come next. his first target, with humour, less hostility, politics itself. if parliament were a reality tv show, then the whole lot of us,

i'm afraid, would've been voted out of the jungle by now. applause. but at least we would have had the consolation of watching the speaker being forced to eat a kangaroo testicle. laughter. with friends and family laughing along, labour's position of holding another referendum on the eu was next. a second referendum on the eu, and can you imagine another three years of this? but that is the corbyn agenda, stay in the eu, beyond october the 31st, pay £1 billion a month for the privilege. he's determined to get us out of the eu, but how, when there's so much hostility? this is not an anti—european country. we are european! we love europe, i love europe, anyway. today in brussels, we are tabling, what i believe, are constructive and reasonable proposals, which provide a compromise

for both sides. we will, under no circumstances, have checks at or near the border in northern ireland. we will allow the uk, whole and entire, to withdraw from the eu with control over our own trade policy from the start. yes, this is a compromise by the uk, and i hope very much that our friends understand that, and compromise in their turn. in a letter to jean—claude juncker, the prime minister's laid out what he describes as a fair and reasonable compromise. spelling out a replacement for the controversial backstop, the guarantee against a hard border in ireland, promising solutions compatible with the good friday agreement, to protect the peace process. the plan would create an all ireland regulatory zone, where goods and agriculture in northern ireland would follow eu rules, but the northern ireland assembly would have to vote to approve

that plan, and every four years afterwards. there would have to be some new customs checks, but carried out electronically or on business premises. no new customs posts, and there's a commitment never to introduce checks at the border. but the vital response from ireland? waitand see... but will all of that be lost in translation? a guarded response from the eu, angela merkel said, "we'll examine the proposals closely, but it's important that eu stick together." and even if they say yes, would mps vote it through? it's worse than theresa may's deal. i can't see it getting the support that he thinks it will get. and it will take us into a regime in britain of deregulation. although, crucially, the tories and northern irish allies seem to be on board. we believe this is a serious and sensible way forward, to have engagement

with the european union in a way that allows us all in the united kingdom to leave the european union, and therefore, we will be supporting this plan. but if those talks can't get going, if the proposals have no chance with the eu, than borisjohnson would have no hesitation taking us out of the european union without a deal. even though parliament has changed the law to try to stop him, this crowd would push him to do it, somehow. then let us be in no doubt, conference, of what the alternative is — the alternative is no—deal. and that is not an outcome we want, it's not an outcome we seek at all, but let me tell you, my friends, it is an outcome for which we are ready. boris johnson has, after years, found his coveted place on a platform leading his party, but how long he may be able to stay there depends not on a show of faith from this crowd, but a leap of faith perhaps in brussels.

in europe, the reaction has been mixed — the eu's brexit negotiator michel barnier said there was progress but lots of work still needed to be done. more now from our europe editor, katya adler. well, firstly, eu leaders really want to digest this proposal and many of them feared before they saw it that it would show that the prime minister is focussed on a domestic audience, on an upcoming general election, and not on engaging with the eu. but i have spoken to a number of eu diplomats tonight who say that some of those proposals were a lot better, they said, than expected, although they said, they emphasised that very big differences remain between the two sides. the eu has a number of concerns when it comes to the prime minister's offer and the european commission says, before it can think of compromise, it has a number of detailed questions for the government when it has probably digested the paper. another main concern for the eu, the big flashing red light, comes down to customs.

it fears that the prime minister's offer could pose a threat to the northern ireland peace process and also leave the single market exposed after brexit. two big no—nos for the eu. demonstrations have continued in hong kong where thousands expressed their anger at police, after a teen—aged protester was shot in the chest tuesday during clashes with police. students held a peaceful sit—in outside the 18—year old's school, and hundreds attended a vigil in honour of the wounded protester. further demonstrations were held in a shopping mall where protesters displayed origami birds — here again a show of support for injured teenager. but clashes flared up in the evening with police firing tear gas at demonstrators who attacked a police station with petrol bombs. the bbc‘s stephen mcdonnel is in hong kong for us. plenty of bleak news coming out of hong kong,

which would indicate the increased level of violence in this city, as hong kong moves into its fourth month of political crisis. we're hearing that doctors have told an indonesian journalist that she will be blinded in her right eye, at least a certain extent, to some extent. that followed police shooting her in the face with a rubber bullet. that happened on the weekend. then, on the 70th anniversary of the communist party coming to power in china, more than 100 people were sent to hospital in hong kong. two of those still in a critical condition. now, that does not include the teenage activist who was shot in the chest by a police officer. the bullet missed his heart, went through his lung, and he apparently is in a stable condition, but the police are defending the action of the officer who fired that shot.

they say that, at the time, he was attempting to assist another police officer who had gone down and was being beaten by a group of other activists using home—made weapons. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the deadly easter sunday attacks have hit sri lanka's vital tourism industry hard. we will look at the efforts to bring the holidaymakers back. also on the programme: dogmeat in decline. we talk to the charity changing appetites in south korea. in all russia's turmoil, it has never quite come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here.

russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. this man, israel's right—winger ariel sharon, visited the religious compound and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london. our top stories: president trump has hit out at the democrats leading the impeachment inquiry, calling them crooked and the whole process a hoax. the european union is considering the uk's latest brexit proposals. a spokesman said there is progress, but still a lot of work to be done. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the protests in hong kong dominate asian newspapers this morning. the south china morning post reports an attempt to adopt new measures under a tough colonial—era emergency law. the paper says that the police have urged the government to issue curfew orders which they say will empower the force to better tackle the escalating social unrest. the japan times also leads with hong kong. its front page focuses on the shooting of a demonstrator by police on tuesday.

it carries a picture of the protester‘s schoolmates, who staged a sit—in outside their school. finally, the philippine daily inquirer runs a story on the devastating fire that hit star city, one of manila's landmark theme parks. it says the blaze has razed most of the amusement park's premises, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties. let's get more now on our main story. it has been a tense day in washington, where us president donald trump has squared off against leading house democrats as the pressure builds towards impeachment. our washington correspondent chris buckler has the latest. it felt a very punchy, a very aggressive news conference today, as president trump stood up and essentially attacked the democrats and attacked this whole inquiries into impeachment process that is taking place at the moment. but it does give you the sense

at the moment that the white house is trying to line up and to fight back, because they know these questions are coming. and at this news conference today, it became very clear that president trump has become sick and tired of the constant talk of impeachment, but also the many questions about what he asked the ukrainian government and the ukrainian president to do when he asked them to look into the affairs of vice president or former vice presidentjoe biden. at one stage he got into a bizarre fight with a reporter in which he essentially tried to shut the whole thing down, stop the questions. he said, speak to the finnish president, don't speak to me anymore. but, at the same time, he knows that democrats are going to keep on pushing, because they smell something here. they believe there is the potential that the white house has something to hide, and what you're going to see over the coming days is democrats try to push for more and more information. they want to speak to state department officials. they are subpoenaing for information, for documents, for them to look at that and to try and gather information about what the president said.

of course, the white house will say that they have nothing to hide, but you're certainly seeing them come back aggressively, and even today, we've seen this very slickly made video that has been put online by president trump in which he attacksjoe biden, set to really ‘90s rock music — in fact, picturing the photograph alongside what he claims is a ukrainian gas executive, alongsidejoe biden and his son hunter, again raising these questions about the former vice president. it seems to be a matter of attack as well as defence, as far as president trump is concerned. eating dog meat has long been a tradition in south korea. but, as it becomes less popular, some farmers who breed dogs for the industry now want to get out of the trade. they are turning to an unlikely partner, a charity that will rehome their dogs and help them find them a new business. i've been speaking to nara kim,

the campaign manager in korea for humane society international, about the reasons for the change. there about the reasons for the change. are lots of anim. movements there are lots of animal welfare movements in south korea, as well, so more movements in south korea, as well, so more and more people are not consuming dog meat at all, and especially for the younger generation, as well, there is a lot of pool to this issue. —— pull. so tell us, you visited many of these dog farms, and you have helped close many of them. what do you do when you arrive in these farms? we — whenever we go there, we talk through about our procedure with the farmers, and what he's going to do after closing down theirfarm. and if he agrees with us, and if he's happy with our procedure, we do the contracts. and after that we vaccinate

the dogs, and we, after the quarantine period, we can rescue all the dogs to another — and move to other countries. why other countries? why are these south korean dogs finding homes not in south korea, but outside the country? because most of the shelters in korea are really overwhelmed at the moment, so they cannot go to those shelters at all. and the other shelters are not in south korea at the moment. it's pure chances for them to find homes in south korea. that's why we are sending them to the outside world. so now that they have been rehomed in other countries, nara, do these dogs in these farms make good pets? yes, absolutely. it has always amazed us, and we're

so happy to see their happy, really happy face, with realfamilies. and sometimes i've heard from the adopters that they said that these dogs are the most amazing dogs that they have ever had. sri lanka's tourism industry took a big hit after a series of bombings targeted high—end hotels and churches on easter sunday earlier this year. dozens of foreign tourists were among those killed. bringing in billions of dollars last year, tourism and the jobs it provides, is vital for country's economy. the bbc‘s anbarasan ethirajan takes a look at how tourism there is recovering at one of sri lanka's scenic beaches, jilan rajitha is trying to make a living. he rents surfboards and sunbeds to visitors in this idyllic coastal town, but tourists are hard to find.

until a few months ago, the beach here used to be a thriving tourist hotspot. but the easter sunday attacks in april changed that. suicide bombers killed more than 250 people at churches and high—end hotels across the country. translation: i was working in the hotel for the past two years, but i lost myjob after the easter sunday bomb attack. there was a sudden cancellation, and 50 of us lost ourjobs. i am trying to make a living by offering some surfing classes, but as you can see, there are not many tourists. tourism was booming before the easter sunday attacks here in sri lanka, and the drop in the number of tourists coming to this country has not only impacted the job market, but also the bigger economy.

because the tourism industry last year earned about $4.5 billion worth of foreign currency, and that's why this industry is the backbone of this country. the tourism industry is starting to show signs of recovery, after some countries withdrew their travel advisories. the government has also scrapped a fee on tourist visas to try and lure people back. it is certainly recovering. i mean, you know, past experiences from other countries showed that we might take nine months to a year to recover. but, thanks to god, maybe, we are recovering a lot faster. our hotels are doing a good 50—60% occupancy now, and that's a mix of both sri lankans and foreign tourists who are coming here. the easter sunday attacks came as the country was recovering from a nearly three decade war with the tamil tiger rebels. following the bombings, there have also been attacks on minority muslims. that has had an impact on visitors,

particularly from the middle east. but, forjilan and those like him, their livelihoods depend on people coming back to these shores. some of the challenges being faced by sri lanka there. you have been watching newsday. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. we'll be looking at the new tariff war, this time between the us and the eu over illegal subsidies for plane makers airbus and rival boeing. we will see what is happening next and what is at stake. and before we go, we would like to leave you with these pictures. this is an orphaned baby elephant who is being hand—reared by the staff at a camp in myanmar. the four—month—old elephant was found with a severely injured leg after being caught in a hunter's snare last month.

that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello there. what a changeable week of weather it's been so far. if we look back to tuesday, a typical weather watcher looked somewhat like this — threatening—looking cloud, lots of heavy rain, a disappointing day. by wednesday, it was all change. gin—clear skies across much of the country, but a noticeable chill in the air. now, if we take a look at the satellite picture from wednesday, you can see how widespread the dry, sunny weather was. but you can also see the threatening—looking cloud behind me, a sign of what's to come into thursday. but clear skies by day at this time of year, well, they lead to chilly nights. so we're going to start off thursday morning with, yes, a chilly story. low single figures in a few places, and there could be a light frost. maybe some early morning mist

and fog patches, as well. so we're in this cold air with this northerly flow, but not for long, because this deep area of low pressure sitting out in the atlantic drags up southerly winds and milder air as it moves across the country. so storm lorenzo is going to continue to drift its way north, sitting to the west of the uk. it's still going to primarily interact with ireland, and yes, it is going to bring a spell of very heavy rain. orange warnings remain in force, with gusts of winds expected in excess of 80 mph here, and we're looking at huge storm surge too. but for northern ireland, western fringes of england and wales, we're looking at gale—force gusts of wind, 50—60 mph, and there will be some rain through northern ireland, wales and south—west england as we go through the day. elsewhere, the cloud thickening up. a little bit more in the way of hazy sunshine, highs of 11—17 degrees. now, that area of low pressure will continue to move its way steadily south and east across the country during friday, still bringing gale—force gusts

of winds in excess of 50 mph, and it will bring with it a spell of wet weather for a time, before it gradually eases. top temperatures on friday of 10—17 celsius. now, as we move out of friday and into the weekend, things will stay relatively mild, but there's still further rain to come. not too bad a start, however, for saturday morning. we've got this brief, transient ridge of high pressure continuing to build from the west, but it won't be long before this low starts to move in from the atlantic. again, plenty of isobars circulating around that area of low pressure. the strongest of the winds up into the north—west of the uk. so there will be a spell of wet weather around during saturday. heavy rain clearing its way east to showers on sunday. take care.

i'm lewis vaughan jones, with bbc world news.

our top story: president trump has stepped up his criticism of the democrats running the impeachment inquiry. he said one congressman was a "low—life", and accused some of the media of being corrupt and reporting a hoax. the democrats said they were concerned he might try to interfere with their attempts to call witnesses to the inquiry. the british government has delivered its new brexit proposals to the european union. prime minister borisjohnson said they were the only alternative to no—deal. an eu spokesman said there was still a lot of work to be done. and this video is trending on bbc.com colombian coastguards have rescued three alleged drug traffickers from the pacific ocean, where they were using packs of cocaine as bouyancy aids. that's all. stay with bbc world news. those are the headlines.