of that we can be sure. welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: the white house refuses, officially, to co—operate in the trump impeachment inquiry, claiming it is unconstitutional. as the eu accuses the uk of a brexit blame—game, ireland's prime minister warns that finding any agreement won't be easy. i think it's going to be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly. we very much want there to be a deal and i'll certainly work until the very last moment to secure that. but not at any cost. clashes between security forces and protesters force ecuador‘s government out of the capital. we'll meet a very special penguin who found itself on an unexpected and very long adventure.

the speaker of the house of representatives has told president trump he is not above the law. but the white house has confirmed it will not co—operate with the impeachment inquiry. an official letter to democratic party leaders claims the process is "constitutionally illegitimate", and accuses them of seeking to rewrite the 2016 election. mr trump has blocked one key witness, the us ambassador to the european union, from giving evidence to congress, and democrats have now issued a subpoena to try to force him. more legal wrangles are likely. this from our reporter peter bowes. a clash at the heart of american government. the white house flexing its muscle and refusing to have anything to do with the democrats‘ impeachment

enquiry in the house of representatives. in an 8—page letter, the president's lawyer says the enquiry "violates fundamental fairness", and "lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation". it accuses the democrats of seeking to overturn the results of the 2016 election, and deprive the american people of the president they've freely chosen. the white house believes the enquiry is flawed because it's moving forward without a vote on the floor of the house of representatives. the first sign the administration was putting up a roadblock to the enquiry came when this man, gordon sondland, the us ambassador to the european union, failed to appear before the house intelligence committee. the democrats want to question him about his role in discussions with ukrainian officials, which have led to claims president trump asked a foreign power to investigate a political rival. at the last minute, the state department stopped mr sondland from appearing. president trump tweeted:

the democrats were quick to object. the failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of congress, a coequal branch of government. the white house says the impeachment process should be abandoned so the president can focus on leaving the country and fulfilling his promises to the american people. but with the country on the verge of a constitutional crisis, this is a tug—of—war that donald trump won't be able to ignore. peter bowes, bbc news. so, what legal obligations does the president have to co—operate with the impeachment inquiry? i spoke to eleanor clift, political journalist and columnist for the daily beast. well, there are three coequal branches of government and the president refuses really

to acknowledge that he has to co—operate with the congress. it is not unusual for some negotiating to go on for a president to resist the oversight by a congress and to resist an impeachment enquiry, but in the end, this is going to go to the courts. it will eat up time, which is part of the president's strategy, to just drag this out, and he's waging this in political arena, calling this illegitimate, partisan and all of that. his supporters will believe that, but we're seeing a shift in the polls among sort of ‘softer republicans‘, i guess is the term they would use,

and independents, and the support for an impeachment enquiry, which is now better than 50%, which is huge among democrats but of course but you have to bring along the rest of the country as well. i think the president is really struggling to maintain his position and not to turn over any materials that obviously he might think are incriminating, and the congress is saying a refusal to turn it over is going to be taken as an indication of guilt. they can write an impeachment article based on obstruction of congress. so it's a lot of constitutional gobbledygook, you might say, but at the heart of it is the president seeking aid from foreign countries to aid him in his re—election bid and to find dirt on his political opponent. people understand that. it's a simple proposition, it's not nearly as confusing as the two—year—old mueller investigation into russia collusion, which didn't exonerate the president,

but failed to move ahead with any kind of indictment of him since he is a sitting president. a big question, but in a nutshell, if you can, what is your instinct, your expectation about how all of this might play out eventually? i think it's virtually certain that the house will, there will be a vote to bring impeachment. and, as of now, i don't see 20 republicans defecting and joining the democrats to form a super majority in the senate to remove him from office. and i think the democrats are taking a big gamble here. this president knows how to fight, he's a survivor, and if he's not removed from office, he will claim that he's the winner. so i don't know how this comes out in the end, whether it damages him for re—election, or whether it damages the democrats. so it comes down to the voters next year.

eleanor clift of the daily beast. let's get some of the day's other news. the us government has imposed visa restrictions on chinese officials thought to be involved in abuses against ethnic uighur muslims. on monday, the us also blacklisted 28 chinese organisations, saying they were involved in the systematic repression and surveillance of minority groups. china accuses washington of interfering in its internal affairs. italy's parliament has voted to cut the number of members by more than a third. the populist five star movement, the main party in the governing coalition, claims the move will savei billion euros over a decade. there are also claims that the change will weaken italian democracy. three scientists have been awarded the nobel prize in physics for their groundbreaking discoveries about the universe. james peebles was honoured for his work on the evolution of the universe. while michael mayor and didier queloz won for their discovery of a planet around a sun—like star. prospects for agreement on a withdrawal plan for brexit between the uk and the eu can agree are fading. the eu's most senior official

publicly accused boris johnson of playing a "stupid blame game" after anonymous uk government sources briefed that talks were all but doomed. british prime minister borisjohnson spoke to irish prime minister leo varadkar ahead of face—to—face talks later this week. later the irish leader spoke to the broadcaster rte and stressed he had not given up hope. we very much want there to be a deal. and i'll certainly work until the very last moment to secure that. but not at any cost. there are some fundamental objectives that haven't changed for the past three years and we need them guaranteed. and what's your sense of it now? i think it's going to be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly. essentially what the united kingdom has done is repudiated the deal that we negotiated in good faith with prime minister may's government over two years. and have sort of put half of that now back on the table and are saying that's a concession. and of course it isn't, it isn't really. that was irish prime minister leo varadkar. in a newspaper interview,

the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, was forthright. he said he does not accept what he called the "blame game" that is being played, which aims to pin the eventual failure of the negotiations on the european union. nobody, he said, would come out a winner in this scenario. here's our europe editor, katya adler. but this isn't the end of the road for the eu, because they're looking more long—term. they think a new brexit extension is the most likely outcome here, giving more time for talks. but no—one here is starry eyed that i've talked to about the idea of more time. of course you still need to find an accord between the eu and the uk acceptable to the european parliament and the uk parliament as well. and of course no—one knows exactly what that accord will look like, neither now nor in two or three months‘ time. katya adler in brussels there. we will let you know. a spokesman for turkey‘s president erdogan has said turkish forces will "shortly" cross the border into kurdish held areas in syria. dozens of military vehicles have been sent to the area after donald trump ordered a us troop withdrawal.

ankara says it wants to establish a "safe zone" there to send back some of the millions of refugees from syria‘s civil war. but it‘s feared this could mean a likely turkish attack on the kurds. long—time american allies, the turks consider terrorists. our international correspondent orla guerin reports from the border. a noisy reception for turkish forces on the move. ambulances and armoured personnel carriers close to the syrian border. we filmed this convoy tonight heading to a military base, the first evidence, perhaps, of the build—up to a turkish invasion of syria. and earlier, being bussed to the border, syrian rebel fighters backed by turkey. they could be extra manpower for the planned offensive, which is causing havoc internationally, even before it begins. in washington, president trump has been meeting his top brass

and trying some damage control. he has denied abandoning kurdish forces, america‘s key allies in syria. but after their epic battles against is, they now feel mighty alone. and what now for that battle? there‘s growing concern internationally about what an offensive across this border might do to the global fight against islamic state. small wonder. there are thousands of is fighters being held in kurdish—run detention centres. the kurds have said if the turks attack, they will have to focus on that fight. so defeated is fighters like these may have fewer guards, raising fears some could escape. president trump says if turkey invades, they are ankara‘s problem. and there may be less security at kurdish camps, holding huge numbers

of is supporters and family members. but at the border today, a little gathering of turks who back the offensive, who believe kurdish forces are a security threat. an invasion appeals to president erdogan‘s base. he‘s been losing support and critics say a war is a great distraction. tonight, more movement by turkish allies. rebel fighters from the free syrian army. they say they‘ll "rain fire" on kurdish forces. a powerful nato army now appears to be on the road to battle, and there are real concerns about the possible cost for hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. orla guerin, bbc news, at the turkish syria border. much more to come for you on bbc news.

still to come: we get in—depth with one of the world‘s most renowned cave divers. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything‘s going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more as it used to be before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its climax, two grenades exploded and a group of soldiers jumped from a military truck taking part in the parade, and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles. after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii‘s tragic warship emerged. but, even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california.

welcome back. good to have you with us on welcome back. good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: the white house says it won‘t cooperate with the impeachment inquiry launched by democrats, calling it partisan and unconstitutional. a key witness who has been blocked from the trump administration from giving evidence has now been subpoenaed. as the eu accuses britain of a blame game over brexit, ireland‘s prime minister says he‘ll work until the very last moment to try to secure a deal, but not at any cost. protesters have clashed with security forces inside ecuador‘s heavily guarded parliament. after days of unrest, the president has moved the government out of the capital, but demonstrators briefly burst through a police cordon,

and were then driven back with tear gas. the protesters, led by indigenous groups, are demanding an end to austerity and the return of fuel subsidies. our latin america correspondent will grant reports. ecuador is descending into anarchy. a state of emergency has been declared, riot police in the military are out in full force and serious protesters are clashing with them outside the parliament. a handful of demonstrators briefly stormed the building before being hauled out by the police. the reason for the chaos... a fuel price hike imposed by the government and president. a hugely unpopular move with millions of people, many of them from indigenous groups who were already struggling to make ends meet. translation: we have come because they have taken our fuel. that is no good for us. the bankers,

the rich, the millionaires, they are fine. for us, it is no good. hundreds have been arrested amid the violence and there is little sign of things slowing down in the short term. on wednesday a national strike has been called and tensions and confrontation on the streets is only likely to increase. although some protesters made their way into the parliament, they would have found it empty. instead, the president has moved his cabinet and his government to ecuadorthe mexican city for their own safety. he can still count on the military‘s support. at least for the military‘s support. at least for the time being. translation: democratic system cannot be violated. the constitution be violated. cannot damage the assets of ecuadorians and the ecuadorian people in general, and of course, nor damage the physical integrity of people. that is why we are here. one of the biggest difficulties he

faces his that an oil output, the lifeblood of the ecuadorian economy, i lifeblood of the ecuadorian economy, ——, has been cut by a third since the crisis began. indigenous groups blocking key oil installations. the longer that goes on, the more the economic situation deteriorates. making a reverse of the unpopular fuel hired unlikely. in the meantime, the streets resembled a war zone with a national strike still to come. will grant, bbc news. the head of america‘s national basketball association says the organisation will not compromise on freedom of speech. this after a backlash in china against daryl morey, the manager of the houston rockets, who tweeted an image supporting pro—democracy protests in hong kong. mr morey later said he didn‘t mean to cause offense, but chinese state media has announced it would block the broadcast of two nba basketball preseason games. ben golliver is the nba writer for the washington post. he explained to me just how big

the nba is in china. it‘s part of a 30—year effort by the league to expand into the chinese market. i think that they‘ve seen the economic opportunity that‘s available with the gigantic chinese population for decades going back to the late 1980s. they actually opened up nba china, basically a subsidiary of the nba to conduct business in that country back in 2008. they have been hosting exhibition games in china since 2004 and they have teams over there, getting ready to play this week with the los angeles lakers and the brooklyn nets. so this is part of a long campaign by the nba to attract chinese fans, and the disagreement that you‘re mentioning has really thrown a wrench in all of those plans. ben, we were looking at the figures. it‘s extraordinary that the final — this year‘s nba final was watched by more than people on a streaming service in china than watched it live on tv in the us. there are a lot of clever people in china, a lot of tech—savvy people, they will find a way round this kind of blocking, won‘t they? yeah, i think it‘s a symbolic action

right now, because the nba season hasn‘t officially started yet. it‘s still the preseason exhibition season, and i think that there is some posturing going on, back and forth. clearly, the chinese government‘s pride is at stake and their position on hong kong, they view, was challenged by one of the houston rockets executives, and for them, that‘s personal because the biggest chinese star of all time, yao ming, actually played for the houston rockets, he was drafted by them in 2002. it‘s an extraordinarily popular team in china. so, they viewed the pro—hong kong tweet by the houston rockets executive not only as a case of an american sort of putting his foot into chinese business, but i think they also viewed it as a little bit of an act of betrayal as well because of that organisation‘s popularity in china. and, ben, just briefly, i guess one sure sign it‘s likely to be sorted out is that the players kind of need china, don‘t they? after their nba career, many of them go there to play. it‘s kind of their pension. oh, it‘s been a very fascinating dynamic playing out because adam silver,

the nba commissioner, did not formally apologise to china. daryl morey, the nba executive who kicked this whole thing off did not formally apologise. but james harden, the 2018 mvp who plays for houston, did apologise to china. he said he was sorry, nba players are known every single summer to go over to china to sell their sneakers. obviously, china buys a lot ofjerseys as well, there‘s tons of ties between nike, adidas, their athletes and china. and then of course, a lot of times, you know, after — players are getting ready to wind down their careers, they can go have a second career in china and become big stars over there as well. so it‘s clear that the chinese market loves nba basketball, they love the game and i do think eventually this will get sorted out. but right now they‘re in a staring contest because the nba has stood up for their executive, daryl morey, and his freedom of speech, and china has made it very clear through the cctv and the national television network that they don‘t believe he had the right to speak on the issues that he spoke

on with regard to hong kong. now, just imagine if yourjob was to explore the earth‘s final frontier. that‘s the case forjill heinerth, one of the world‘s most famous cave divers. she‘s the first person in history to dive deep into an antarctic iceberg, and led a team that discovered the waterway remains of mayan civilizations. jill‘s now written about her adventures and recently she spoke with us. a lot of people think i‘m some sort of a fearless adrenaline junkie, but i‘m not fearless! i‘m scared all the time! i led the team to be the first people to go cave diving inside an iceberg, and we did that in antarctica, so far away from help that there‘s certainly no—one around to rescue you if something goes wrong. and during those dives inside this unbelievably dangerous and shifting

environment, we got pinned down by a ripping current that was like trying to walk against a hurricane—force wind, except there we were, underwater, underneath an iceberg trying to swim against a current that was too strong to make any headway to get out of this ice cave. i‘ve learned to deal with fear, terrifying mind—numbing fear, so it‘s really important for me to just stop, take a very deep, slow breath. we all know what the next positive thing is that we can do to solve any problem, and so ijust try and focus on those tiny steps one at a time, keep the emotions at bay, breathe slow and focus. there‘s a lot of preparation for a big dive. i may have been training and preparing equipment

for a couple of years! slide into a dry suit that fills everything up right down to my wrists and it‘s a rubber seal on my neck. these caves that i get to swim in are like museums of natural history. they hold evidence of global climate change, they contain the remains of civilisations that are no longer here on earth, and even the bones of paleo animals that are now extinct. so these environments are beautiful, they‘re wondrous and they have so much to teach us about science. i don‘t know what a retirement would look like for me because i‘m already doing the things that i love to do every day. i know it‘s a dangerous endeavour that i‘m involved in, but i don‘t see any nearer, you know, end to what i‘m doing.

amazingly impressive. now, how‘s this for a tale of endurance and overcoming adversity? a penguin that swam more than 2,500 kilometres — that‘s about 1,500 miles — all the way from new zealand to australia. the bold explorer was eventually rescued by a local zoo and has now been released for a return journey. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story. there are swimmers... ..and then there are swimmers. this is a fiordland penguin, albeit no ordinary fiordland penguin. this little bird is made of sterner stuff after going on a very long journey. the fiordland penguin is unique to new zealand and tends to breed along the south—west coast of the country‘s south island. for reasons known only to itself, the penguin struck out alone, swimming across the tasman sea until it was discovered at kennett river, rescued by the marine response unit

at melbourne zoo. when it was found, the bird was struggling and underweight and had to be slowly nursed back to health. experts are uncertain as to why it travelled so far, but this type of penguin is known to forage for food over long distances. once it was back on its feet and in full health, the penguin was taken to a nearby beach and returned to the wild. the hope is it will find its way back home and then be able to breed. it is a tough life out there in the ocean said the zoo‘s head of veterinary services. but this is one tough penguin. tim allman, bbc news. good going. finally, a single ticket holder has become a big jackpot winner. no details of the winner that will take home £170 million. the numbers were six, nine, 35 and

34. the lucky stars were six and nine. thank you very much for watching for supper much more anytime on the bbc website. hello there. it was a fairly unsettled day on tuesday. we saw plenty of showers across northern and western areas. and a few got across into the east that were pretty heavy and thundering in one or two spots. but there was plenty of sunshine too. the next few days, similar story, staying rather unsettled with low pressure nearby, and it‘s going to be windy for most. on wednesday, low pressure again to the north of the uk. fairly strong winds, plenty of showers blowing from west to east. and then for thursday and friday, looks like we could see more organised weather fronts pushing in to bring more persistent rain for some areas. if you were watching yesterday, like i mentioned, it‘s not going to be particularly cold the next few days as our air source will be coming in off the atlantic from the west or the south—west. the night shouldn‘t be too cold either. for wednesday then, it starts off bright,

some sunshine across eastern areas. we‘ll have a scattering of heavy, perhaps thundery showers affecting south wales, southern counties of england through the day, and lots of showers will be piling into western scotland. and the winds strong, particularly across the west and when the showers come along, gusting 30, maybe 40mph in exposed spots. temperature wise, a few degrees down on what we had on tuesday. that is the low teens across scotland, northern ireland, maybe 14 or 15 across the south and the east. now, through wednesday night, it stays blustery. lots of showers again across northern and western areas. some of them merging together to produce longer spells of rain here. but we could see some drier interludes or long clear spells across central and eastern part of the country. those temperatures dipping down from 7 to 10 degrees. so, on into thursday then, we‘ve got low pressure to the north—east of the uk. next system pushing in with more active weather fronts could bring more persistent rain to parts of the country, like i mentioned. so i think we‘ll start off fairly cool, bright, plenty of sunshine around.

to the west, thicker cloud and this front will bring more persistent rain to northern ireland and into scotland through the day but again, further south will be sunshine and showers, mainly across wales and the south—west of england. but a few spots will see some hazy sunshine. those temperatures back up again. 17 degrees will be the high. lots of weather fronts on the chart. you‘ll see on friday some uncertainty to where these fronts will actually be. it could be that warmer parts of the north—west of scotland to bring outbreaks of rain here. another one may move south—east across england and wales to bring a spell of persistent rain. some sunshine in between. those temperatures up a notch again, 17 or 18 degrees across the south and the east of the country. and it remains unsettled with low pressure always nearby into the weekend. showers or longer spells of rain, also a little bit of sunshine, but it will stay on the breezy side.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the white house has officially refused to co—operate with the impeachment inquiry against president donald trump. in a letter sent to democratic party leaders, it rejected the inquiry as "baseless" and "constitutionally invalid". it‘s already refused to allow a key figure to appear. three democratic—led house committees are investigating mrtrump. as the eu accuses britain of playing a blame game over brexit, ireland‘s prime minister leo varadkar says he‘ll "work until the very last moment" to try to secure a deal by next week, but "not at any cost." turkey has boosted its military positions on the border with syria after saying it‘s ready for a long—threatened operation that

could target kurdish forces who have been long allied to the us. it comes after the us began withdrawing troops from the region. president trump has defended his decision again, saying the kurds had not been abandoned. you are up—to—date with the headlines. it‘s half past three in the morning. now on bbc news: panorama. this programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. tonight on panorama, the pickup artists who harass women on the streets... the reason you're doing it is to get laid. only the brave get laid. ..and post footage they secretly film online. i eventually got her back to my place and i had sex with her. i go undercover and find teenagers being approached by older men. i‘m given advice that blurs the lines of consent.