there is more sunshine to be had this is bbc news, the headlines across scotland and northern ireland president trump has dismissed with a few showers, the impeachment inquiry against him after the first public hearings, but it won‘t make an awful saying it was all based lot of difference. on third—hand information. here we are into the wee small hours of friday, that frontal system tending to fracture a little but each he told journalists he hadn‘t seen individual pulse of rain i‘m showing a minute of the proceedings. welcome to bbc news. there could be really quite heavy mr trump is accused of trying i'm mike embley. our top stories: and unwelcome rain at that into the flood—affected areas, to press ukraine into investigating public impeachment hearings on what is going to be another into donald trump's presidency get his political rival, under way in washington. fairly cool night mr trump — who's hosting turkey's and a fairly cool start to friday. leader — says he's too still dominated by the big area busy to watch. joe biden, by withholding aid. of low pressure which is sitting across us and indeed much of central i hear it's a joke. and western europe and the onshore meanwhile, the us president‘s been flow from the north sea, holding talks with his turkish i have not watched, i have not moisture—laden airs and there‘s counterpart — recep tayyip erdogan — watched for one minute because i've still bits and pieces of rain to be in washington, calling had quite widely across england been with the president, the discussions ‘wonderful and productive‘. which is much more important as far and wales, but not with the same he insisted he‘d done the right as i am concerned. sort of intensity that we might have thing by withdrawing us troops seen on thursday. from northern syria. earlier president erdogan received scotland, northern ireland democrats and some republicans have a warm welcome to the white house — best of the sunshine, north of scotland still picking up despite tensions over on one or two showers, fiercely criticised the move. the war in syria is there still time to stop brexit? each could be wintry across higher ground. ahead of the uk election — the weekend? not a great deal changes. british voters have been urged not outgoing european council president not much intensity about the rain donald tusk plays to "give up" on stopping brexit but that set—up for saturday by the outgoing european is very similar on friday, council president. still the big area of low pressure, donald tusk said leaving the eu political football. would leave the uk a ‘second—rate player‘, and that brexit would likely mark the ‘real end don't give up. in this match we have still the moisture—laden airs of the british empire‘. on its northern flank, feeding cloud and bits of pieces of rain, particularly in eastern had added time and now we are in parts of scotland and england. extra time and perhaps it will go to

penalties. and, the risks of rebuilding notre—dame. seven months after the fire architects say there's still a chance of collapse. in between, bits and pieces of sunshine perhaps to the western side of wales, down into towards the south—west of england, up towards the solway, could be favoured and we mayjust about find a degree in the temperatures. i‘ve changed the day, the first public televised hearings the story‘s same. ok, we‘re going to bring the front in president trump's of scotland with snow on the high impeachment inquiry have got ground, further south, underway in washington, sunshine in really short supply. 00:01:27,315 --> 2147483051:37:28,373 i‘m afraid it is going to be 2147483051:37:28,373 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 one of those weekends. after weeks of testimony behind closed doors. donald trump is accused of withholding military aid to ukraine — an american ally, under threat from russia — to pressure ukraine's new president into helping him politically in next year's us presidential election. the impeachment inquiry has the potential to remove mr trump from office. he denies any wrongdoing. our north america editor jon sopel has been watching. history in the house... this is like the super bowl for politics, the day the impeachment hearings go public. and coast—to—coast, all the us tv networks are gearing up

for the unfolding drama that could be the decisive moment of the trump presidency. and early this morning, in the white house residence, the light is on and the tweets are angry. in the committee room, it's a scrum, an hour before the hearing gets under way. first up was this man, george kent. he is a senior state department official, overseeing ukraine affairs. i do not believe the united states should ask other countries to engage in selective, politically associated investigations or prosecutions against opponents of those in power, because such selective actions undermine the rule of law. in other words, the president ordered a halt to military aid to ukraine until it agreed to dig dirt on a gas company, burisma, that hunter biden, son of former vice president joe biden and donald trump's potential 2020 rival, was a director of. next up, bill taylor, acting ambassador to ukraine. he says the president

was trying to strong—arm kiev. by mid—july, it was becoming clear to me that the meeting that president zelensky wanted was conditioned on the investigation of burisma, and alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016 us elections. the republican strategy seems to be to cast doubt on everyone and everything involved in this impeachment inquiry, including the undermining of these lifelong public servants. ambassador taylor and mr kent, i'd like to welcome you here. i'd like to congratulate you for passing the democrats‘ star chamber auditions, held for the last weeks in the basement of the capital. it seems you agreed, wittingly or unwittingly, to participate in a drama. republicans have dismissed much of the evidence as hearsay, and complained that the whistle—blower hadn't been called. now, there is one witness that they won't bring in front of us, they won't bring it in front of the american people, and that is the guy who started it all, the whistle—blower.

i'd be glad to have the person who started it all come in and testify. president trump is welcome to take a seat right here. laughter a rare moment of humour, in a sour, partisan hearing. impeachment is the mechanism by which a sitting president can be removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanours. the first stage is a vote in the house of representatives, which has to be carried by a simple majority. if that is passed, then the articles of impeachment go to the upper house, and here the president is put on trial, with the 100 senators acting as the jury. for donald trump to be removed from office, two thirds of senators would have to find him guilty, a threshold that has never been reached before. on this blockbuster wednesday, donald trump is meeting president erdogan of turkey at the white house. i'm too busy to watch it. it's a witch—hunt, it's a hoax. i'm too busy to watch it, so i'm sure i'll get a report. donald trump has railed against the unfairness

of the process, and has insisted repeatedly he has done nothing wrong. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. as if the day wasn't busy enough in washington, as you saw, president trump was also welcoming the turkish leader to the white house. it's the first time the two men have met since president erdogan launched an offensive against kurdish fighters, long—time american allies, in syria last month. since then it's also emerged turkey is considering buying more military hardware from russia. aleem maqbool has the story. the timing of this visit is unseemly to many. with the trumps welcoming to many. with the trumps welcoming to the white house the man whose forces attacked a neighbouring country, leaving hundreds dead and many thousands displaced. thank you very much, it is a great honour to be here with president erdogan.

very much, it is a great honour to be here with president erdoganm was president trump ‘s decision to withdraw us troops from northern syria that that in effect gave president erdogan the green light to invade. the relationship we have had has been good and i've heard dependence 316 weeks ago against what i did and now all of a sudden they say wow, that is working well. tell that to syrian kurds who have been left reeling by recent events and are still burying their dead. they feel they sacrificed so much in the fight against the islamic state group only to be abandoned by their american ally. at the mercy of turkey and leaving is to start to assert itself again. the group once more killing —— carrying out attacks that kill civilians. the kurds feeling forgotten have been trying to make their voice heard here in washington. in the protest right outside the white house as the two

leaders met. how do you feel about president erdogan being here in the white house? a betrayal of kurdish americans that our president invites someone americans that our president invites someone who knows there is an invasion going on. it is a disgrace. unfortunately he is being appeased which is a policy that we as kurds do not approve of. erdogan in his current form should not be allowed to further his destabilising agenda in the region. the president erdogan stood by the turkish operations into syria, and reiterating his aim to use the invaded areas to rehouse refugees. translation: use the invaded areas to rehouse refugees. translationzlj use the invaded areas to rehouse refugees. translation: iwanted use the invaded areas to rehouse refugees. translation: i wanted to establish a safe zone in syria but because of the delay, tens of thousands of civilian lives were lost. this problem cannot continue for ever and ever. there are many

here who feel that not only is turkey not been punished for starting its operation in northern syria but that in fact president erdogan is now being rewarded just for limiting an offensive he should never have started and has already done irreparable damage. live now to washington and our correspondent, chris buckler. chris, a busy day indeed. impeachment festival. as john chris, a busy day indeed. impeachment festival. asjohn sobel was making clear, it is a legal process but also a political process and it is likely to be politics in the senate that decides how it turns out. what were the highlights so far, the headlines for you? deeply political. and while president trump said he was not watching, america was and that was the point of this very public hearing. ok, american politicians were asking questions that it was on show for the american

public comment for them to make their mind up and that is what will happen with these hearings going forward. and this is why we have deeply aggressive and partisan speeches from republicans and democrats as they try to set out their narrative of what happened as far as president trump was concerned as he put pressure on the ukraine to launch this investigation into his political rivaljoe biden. truthfully, we did not learn a lot that was new today because behind the closed doors they have already had hearings and things have emerged from that about what president trump was planning to do such as withholding military aid or perhaps holding out the possibility of a white house meeting for the ukraine president stop there were nuggets of new information, most notably, for example, the idea that president trump himself had phoned the us ambassador to the eu to try and see how far ukraine had gone towards launching an investigation on those words that came from ambassador

sunderland to a staff member of the state department in which he said that president trump was not concerned about ukraine but he was concerned about ukraine but he was concerned about ukraine but he was concerned about the investigation intojoe biden concerned about the investigation into joe biden and concerned about the investigation intojoe biden and his son hunter. republicans will say that is hearsay and the truth is that with democrats and the truth is that with democrats and republicans so deeply divided, you just get a taste of the fight to come. and as suggested in the report it will be uncomfortable for many people to see president trump welcoming so warmly the turkish leader, a man who is following hugely repressive policies at home, imprisoning critics academics and journalists and in northern syria carrying out a policy against long—term american allies, the kurds, that many see as ethnic cleansing. i think it goes even further than saying. it also goes to hearing exactly what president trump said. at one stage he described himself as a fan of president erdogan and described him as a great president. you make those calls about human rights and of course

turkey has locked up journalists in the past. it was one point where president trump asked for a friendly journalist to ask a question, saying he was only interested in only journalist asking questions. there are people inside congress, including some republicans who are still deeply uncomfortable with what happened with turkey's invasion of syria. president trump denies it but there are people who believe he gave a green light to that invasion, ultimately betraying his kurdish forces who fought alongside the us in that fight against is. in the reality is that those wounds, those concerns have not gone away and therefore there are some republicans as well as democrats who will have watched the display today and thought was this really appropriate, particularly as the impeachment enquiries are taking place. at the same time, president trump did his best to make it look like it was a really united front as far as republicans were concerned. some of

those who criticised him including senator lindsey graham, they came to the white house and stood with the presidents today. british voters have been urged by the outgoing european council president not to "give up" on stopping brexit. as campaigning ramps up ahead of next month's general election here, donald tusk said leaving the eu would leave the uk a "second—rate player," and that brexit would likely mark the "real end of the british empire". the uk election takes place in one month. can things still be turned around? had the higher end thought things become irreversible only when people started to think so? so the only words that come to my mind today are simply don't give up. in this match we had added time, now we are in extra time, perhaps it will even go to penalties. our political editor,

laura kuenssberg, has more. our viewers will be familiar with donald tusk as someone who has been a top official in brussels over these last few years. he is standing down and he gave something of a farewell speech tonight in which, as you suggest, he made it clear that he believes rex it could still be stopped and he said he wanted to give hope to those people on that side of the argument. it is hard to see that as anything other than supporting for one side in this election. so even though the outcome is really unclear, there are still many weeks to go. the wrangling over brexit is absolutely still alive and kicking. venice has been hit by severe flooding, the highest tide in more than 50 years has sent water levels in the canals up by at least 6 feet. the city's mayor says the cost of repairing the damage will run into hundreds of millions of euros. here's our rome correpsondent mark lowen. italy's city of water has succumbed to it.

venice, submerged by its highest tide in over 50 years. six feet, the second—highest since records began. st mark's square, with its byzantine basilica, drowning in water, its 12th century crypt flooded, no word yet on the priceless frescoes and mosaics inside. a city blessed with canals now cursed by them as fierce winds whipped the torrential rain. even the gondolas that glide beneath the rialto couldn't cope. hotels and shops have been hit, the damage will cost hundreds of millions. a floodgate project under way could have saved them but has been plagued by corruption and overspend. translation: they've done nothing. in italy, that's how it is. our politicians are all thieves. they should be injail. translation: everything is damaged. look at what we are living through. there's really something to cry about.

some reaped the benefit. a swim with a view. with rising seas and over—tourism, venice is fighting to survive, a city of art and love no match for our changing climate. mark lowen, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: could mining the ocean floor fuel a greenerfuture — or destroy one of the world's most delicate environments? the bombastic establishment outsider, donald trump, has defied the pollsters to take the keys to the oval office. i feel great about the election result. i voted for him because i genuinely believe that he cares about the country. it's keeping the candidate's name always in the public eye that counts. success or failure depends not only on public display, but on the local campaign headquarters and the heavy routine work of their women volunteers.

berliners from both east and west linked hands and danced around their liberated territory. and with nobody to stop them, it wasn't long before the first attempts were made to destroy the structure itself. yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian cause for so long, has died. palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning. after 17 years of discussion, the result was greeted with an outburst ofjoy. women ministers who'd long felt only grudgingly accepted in the ranks of clergy suddenly felt welcomed. so say this is bbc news, the latest headlines: public impeachment hearings into donald trump's presidency have started in washington. he‘s denounced the inquiry as ‘another witch hunt‘. let‘s stay with our main story now.

two live now to miami and to attorney david weinstein. a former federal prosecutor. you are absolutely correct. today, people want to see for themselves and they want to hear the testimony on the questions and i want to see what the witness‘s reaction is and just exactly how the questions are being asked and answered. that is a powerful message that‘s going to come out of impeachment hearings. there was a stronger suggestion than with her so far, that he was stopping attempts by ukraine to stop investigations. that's what we heard

today. we heard about a phone call that was made directly by the president to an ambassador to find out whether or not the actions he had requested were going forward and whether or not any actions had been taken to investigatejoe biden and it was tied not necessarily to anything that was what everybody‘s been talking about, this could require but simply that it appeared from the testimony today that there is some resemblance of either bribery or extortion that is taking place here. we're going to see if thatis place here. we're going to see if that is backed up by other witnesses but it is potentially a further headache than the president‘s people, isn‘t it? headache than the president‘s people, isn't it? it absolutely is because they can try and explain away his actions is one that is simply foreign—policy prerogatives on what‘s taken place but the more that the people, not only that the american public but that the world he is about what exactly was being asked, who was asking it, and if in fa ct asked, who was asking it, and if in fact some of it was coming to the president, that is going to lead more toward something that is not

typicalforeign but more toward something that is not typical foreign but rather is the words of someone who‘s to gain undue influence. surely it's not going to fly, influence. surely it's not going to fly, he‘s not going to be impeached. depends on how it goes with american next year? and this is going to carry out right into unfortunately the midst of that election process. as you pointed out, this is only the second step in the process. putting together the articles of impeachment, they are putting together the indictment by lack of a better word. and once it‘s in the senate, that is controlled by the republicans. they will decide how the policy and practice proceeds. and then once again, it will shape what the american public is seeing. david one sting, thank you very much. more and more people are buying electric cars as a way to cut carbon emissions. the key ingredient for car batteries is cobalt — and that could mean new mines

on the ocean floor to extract it. but there is concern that mining the deep ocean will cause lasting damage. research is underway off the coast of spain into its impact, and our science editor david shukman has had exclusive access. in the waters off malaga, an experiment with a strange—looking machine, lowered underwater to test a new and controversial kind of mining on the ocean floor. a camera on the machine monitors its advance over the sea bed. a soft coral stands in its path. mining would involve excavating rocks down here, and no—one knows the implications. the project is run from this spanish research ship, funded by the eu to find new sources of important metals. it‘s a challenging operation, but there‘s momentum behind an emerging industry. what this project shows is how the technology is advancing in a way

that makes deep sea mining seem much more plausible, which confronts us with a very difficult question. is it the right thing to do, given how little we know about the potential impact it could have on life on the ocean floor? operating underwater, mining the sea bed has never been tried before. it would destroy whatever‘s directly in front of the machines and they‘d create clouds of sand and silt, which could smother marine plants and creatures even a long way away. so, it‘s actually sands or sediments from the sea floor being whipped up by the tracks and creating big clouds. sabine haalboom is one of the researchers studying the effects of the experiment to see what might happen when mining starts for real in the pacific. so, normally in the deep pacific, at four or five kilometres depth, there‘s hardly any material in the water, so the water is crystal clear. but if you then make a massive plume of a cloud of sediments, all the animals that are living there aren‘t used to it so, yeah, they will probably suffocate. but there‘s growing pressure

for mining to start. rocks like these, billions of them, are the target. because they‘re amazingly rich in important metals, especially cobalt, which is needed for batteries. the future is electric. so the boom in electric cars means there‘s growing demand for cobalt, and mining companies think the deep ocean could provide it. if you want to make a fast change, you need cobalt quick, and you need a lot of it. if you want to make a lot of batteries, you need the resources to do that.

and there‘s a lot of it in the ocean? and there‘s a lot of it in the ocean. this is a trial device. the machines that will actually do mining will be about ten times bigger. dozens of ventures are planning to open mines on the sea bed. this is a glimpse of how they might look. david shukman, bbc news, in the bay of malaga. 12 people have been hurt in 20 killed after a bus in slovakia crashed. it happened outside the capital. at least four of the dead are skilled children. a second vaccine against ebola is to be offered in the democratic republic offered in the democratic republic of the congo. it will be given to about 50,000 people living outside the major outbreaks owns. bolivia‘s new interim president, jeanine anes has taken residence in the presidential palace, while supporters of the former leader keep up their protests against her. evo morales refused to live there, calling it a discredited symbol of past power. another person has died in clashes between his supporters and security forces. the first tv pictures have been

broadcast showing the extent of the damage inside notre dame cathedral caused by the fire in april. the images — broadcast by france—trois — make it very clearjust how big the task of rebuilding it will be. this from our paris correspondent lucy williamson. behind its familiar towers, the shape of notre—dame has changed, its soaring spire now a gaping hole, lead melting into new sculptures on its grizzled face. walking into notre—dame was always humbling. philippe villeneuve is one of very few to have seen how the cathedral looks today. it‘s silent, floodlit by sunlight, the charred remains of the collapsing spire still piled on the floor. translation: the wood continued to burn on the ground and burnt the bases of these two columns. if they weren‘t reinforced like this to stop them shattering, they could have collapsed and taken the walls and vault with them. it would have been a catastrophe.

firefighters say they came close to losing notre—dame that night, but the reconstruction could risk its survival again. architects here say there is still a major risk of the vaults collapsing because of the effect of intense heat and water on the stones. teams are working to stabilise the structure over the next few months so reconstruction can begin. it took an evening to burn through this building. it‘ll take much more than a single night to really save it. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. two before one final word on impeachment. therapy dogs have brought smiles to the faces of strained staffers on the first day of the public impeachment hearings. one of the pet therapy organisers said it was a happy accident that the dogs could relieve

impeachment stress, as the day had been scheduled for months. hello. wednesday started decently enough across the south—west of england and south wales and then came a mix of rain or snow, just depending on elevation. to keep decent weather, you had to be a good dealfurther away towards the east and it was a drier and finer day than we‘ve seen of late, but there was no escaping the fact the system that has brought that combination of wet and at times wintry fair into that south—western quarter is going to be a player more widely across the southern half of britain during the course of thursday. really quite wet for the commute across the southern counties of england. come the afternoon, we‘lljust pushing the eastern portion of the front with some significant rainfall up towards those flood—affected areas and if you don‘t happen to see it during daylight hours, given the fact that this system is going to move a little bit further north, you might get it during the evening on what will have been another single—figure 00:26:58,555 --> 2147483051:50:13,992 temperature day right 2147483051:50:13,992 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 across the piece.