their this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: formal impeachment charges for president trump are unveiled — a vote is expected next week. to do nothing would make ourselves complicit in the president's abuse of his high office and public trust in our national security. as aung san suu kyi appears at the international court ofjustice, the us imposes sanctions on her senior military leaders. further eruptions keep recovery teams away from the volcanic island in new zealand where 8 more people are feared dead. and new evidence says climate change

is causing greenland's ice sheet to melt 7 times faster than 20 years ago. for only the fourth time in american history, articles of impeachment have been drafted against a president. democrats who control the house of representatives have filed 2 charges against donald trump, accusing him of high crimes and misdemeanors, abuse of power and obstructing congress. the house will vote this week, and that could mean a trial in the republican—controlled senate in january. mr trump says he's done nothing wrong, that impeachment is "madness" and a "witch hunt". this report from laura trevelyan. it's only the fourth time in history lawmakers have tried to impeach an american president and remove him from office. democrats are charging mr trump with abuse of power and obstructing congress. the house committee of the judiciary is introducing two articles

of impeachment charging the president of united states, donald j trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanours. democrats allege mr trump made a white house visit to ukraine's president and military aid for that country contingent on mr zelensky announcing political investigations. with the 2020 election looming, democrats say they should move now. the argument, "why don't you just wait," amounts to this — why don't you just let him cheat in one more election? why not let him cheat just one more time? republicans counter that the president did nothing wrong and democrats are trying to rerun an election they lost. impeachment is the removal of the highest elected person in this land. i don't care if you think americans who support president trump are deplorables, but you do not have the right to disqualify their vote just because you do not like president trump.

mr trump himself responded with his signature tweet. meanwhile, the full house could vote on whether to impeach the president as early as next week. republicans are looking ahead to a january trial in the senate that they control. the battle lines are drawn here in washington. laura trevelyan, bbc news. earlier, republican strategist rina shah told me she'd met with house speaker nancy pelosi on tuesday. this evening is certainly one where so many, like myself, are feeling sort ofjust not any other emotion, but wow, what a day! this was truly an historic day, and for me to have seen and heard from speaker pelosi on such a day as today, for me, i have to tell you, it was really humbling that a woman of her age and her stature and of everything she stands for could speak so eloquently after the morning — the morning here in dc was filled with, number one, unveiling those two charges that are so important and they were very succinct — abuse of power

and obstruction of congress. and then, only 1.5 hours later did speaker pelosi come out and mention that she had struck a deal with the white house over the usmca. and so, one moment we're talking impeachment inquiry, the next moment we're talking trade, and then around lunchtime, she met with a group of us at the politico women rule summit and she so beautifully stated what the reasons were for the democrats coming out and saying that the president's actions in regard to ukraine are impeachable. mate rear and so tonight, i think so many of us are really wishing we could hit the fast—forward button and get to next week already. as a republican strategist, tell us what you think — there seems to be a shift in the republicans‘ lines of defence from "mr trump did nothing wrong" to "well, perhaps — it was troubling, perhaps it was not quite right, but it was not impeachable." what should we make of that?

well, i think what we should really look at right now is how unified the republicans are, and this is something that actually i think won them the white house in 2016. the republicans fall in line pretty well and they coalesce behind one message, and so at first, it was sort of — the democrats are fudging the facts, the democrats are lying, and now today what i heard in response to the two articles of impeachment being revealed to the american public was republicans coming and saying democrats are acting on emotion. they have never liked this president and, therefore, their swift sort of movement on this enquiry and heading towards an impeachment vote is purely because they want to deny this president a re—election that they believe he's pretty much guaranteed. please and so, in many ways, i will say this — that all those listening, just look at how unified the republicans are behind this one message and whether they believe it to be wrong or not, they're saying, sure, the president has done something wrong, fine, but is it impeachable? that's up for debate with democrats, particularly moderate democrats who are going to have a tough re—election if they vote for impeachment next — they're going to have that tough re—election next year if they vote

for impeachment next week. they're saying, are the president's actions really impeachable? so, i again say the democrats, it's really theirs to lose here. let's get some of the day's other news. officials injersey city, across the river from new york, say 6 people have been killed, 3 wounded in a shootout that moved from a cemetery to a kosher grocery store and lasted several hours. the dead include a police detective and two suspected gunmen, along with three customers at the shop. authorities say they do not believe it was a terror attack. the us has restricted the training of saudi military aviation students at 3 military bases. defence secretary mark esper ordered a review after last week's fatal shooting of 3 sailors in florida by a saudi air force lieutenant. the fbi is still trying to determine what motivated the attacker. top officials from the us, mexico, and canada have signed

a revised trade deal after more than two years of tough negotiations. usmca replaces the 25—year—old north american free trade agreement. us house speaker nancy pelosi — the key democrat needed to move the agreement forward — and us labor unions have given their blessing to the deal, which they say now includes improved labor standards. the us has blacklisted four of myanmar‘s top military leaders, for alleged human rights abuses against rohingya muslims and other ethnic minorities. the sanctions come just hours before myanmar‘s de facto leader, aung sang suu kyi, is due to defend her nation against charges of genocide, at the united nations‘ highest court. nick beake reports from the hague, where the genocide hearing has been taking place. they used to think aung san suu kyi was the epitome ofjustice. not anymore. today, they demanded her arrest. a one—time human rights icon, now standing up

for an army accused of genocide. good morning, ms suu kyi. are you defending the indefensible? the nobel peace prize laureate took her seat at the un's top court and listened to accounts of the brutality the rohingya refugees had suffered in her country. i could smell the stench of genocide from across the border in myanmar. stories of helplessness in the face of mass killings, of mass rape and mass torture, and of children being burned alive in the sanctuary of their homes and places of worship. nearly 750,000 rohingya fled the myanmar army's so—called clearance operation in 2017, launched after rohingya militants had attacked security posts. myanmar argued its response was legitimate in the face of a dangerous terror threat,

and few in the buddhist majority country had sympathy for muslims, widely regarded as illegal immigrants. so to this day, they languish in the world's biggest refugee camp, their stories as harrowing as ever. rojina begum explains how the myanmar military snatched her baby and threw him in a fire, that her parents and most of her siblings were shot dead, that she was raped by four soldiers. aung san suu kyi didn't have to come to the hague today, she didn't have to sit and listen to the sickening allegations made against her country. she chose to. and tomorrow she will personally defend the country from the charge of genocide. she'll say it simply didn't happen. it's seen as a patriotic defence by most of myanmar, including her supporters who'd come to court today. but it's a strategy that could destroy any remnants of her global reputation.

a sixth person has died in new zealand after yesterday's volcanic eruption. the latest victim died in hospital. we are hearing from the chief medical officer of the burn centre at auckland hospital. social health services, nash, the bay of plenty welfare co—ordination group in the bay of plenty district health board are working together to co—ordinate welfare services delivery through local staff and services through the ngati awa social health services.

support is being provided for victims, survivors and families and information is available at four commerce street at the whakatane district centre and we are insured that families of the injured and deceased are supported on arrival into new zealand. immigration new zealand are assisting through border clea ra nce processes zealand are assisting through border clearance processes and family liaison services. people travelling from countries other than australia will require either a visa or new zealand electronic travel authority and full information about this is available on immigration.gov. nz website. new zealand will expedite these. the national emergency energy agency has issued a fact sheet for

public use with details that people might need following the event and it's on our website and has been shared across agencies. before i hand over to ashley bloomfield, i would like to address the matter of recovery of the bodies. this is an utterly tragic situation. we all agree that retrieving bodies of the deceased from the island is an absolute imperative. every day that passesis absolute imperative. every day that passes is a day of anguish for their loved ones who have been affected. we recognise this and have been doing everything we can. i personally met one of the families yesterday and they are devastated. soi yesterday and they are devastated. so i completely understand how important it is for them and for each of the other families affected by this tragedy that we undertake

that recovery process as quickly as we can. however, the preservation of human life and the prevention of further human harm must be taken into account. this tragedy has already claimed multiple lives and caused terrible injuries and unspeakable grief. there is always a delicate balancing act when it comes to recovery operations of where risk to recovery operations of where risk to human life exists and right now, the science tells us that this is just too high. i can assure you that risk is constantly being reassessed because everyone, and i want to repeat, everyone is united in desire to recover the bodies from that island so they can be returned to their loved ones. thank you and i'd like to hand over to ashley bloomfield to speak first. thank

you, and i'm ashley bloomfield. the picture for those being cared for around the country. earlier today, we formally activated the national multiple complex burn action plan. this is the first time it's been activated in the first time we've had a numberof activated in the first time we've had a number of seriously injured people in our regional burns units around the country as you will know and we have the burns unit in auckland that has taken over the overall control of the care for those patients and the co—ordination across the country for where those people are cared for. we willjust leave that for the moment and bring you any key lines that come out of thatis you any key lines that come out of that is conferencing auckland. that was the director—general of health

in auckland. updates, a sixth person has died, eight others missing on white tile and presumed dead and officials have been talking about the difficulties of recovering those bodies, given eruptions are still going on. people are investigating how 47 people came to be around the volcano when it erupted. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the last full day of campaigning begins in the uk general election with the latest poll suggesting the result could be close. john lennon was shot at the entrance to the dakota building in the centre of new york. there's been a crowd here standing in more or less silent vigil and the flowers have been piling up. the 14th ceasefire of this war ended at the walls

of the old city of dubrovnik. this morning, witnesses said shells were landing every 20 seconds. people are celebrating the passing of a man they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths and oppression. elsewhere, people have been gathering to mourn his passing. imelda marcos, the widow of the former president of the philippines, has gone on trial in manila. she's facing seven charges of tax evasion, estimated at £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wales are to separate. a statement from buckingham palace said the decision had been reached amicably. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: in the united states, leading democrats have unveiled formal impeachment charges against donald trump. the president has called the process "sheer political madness". the united states has imposed sanctions on four senior

myanmar military officers, accusing them of committing serious human rights abuses against the country's rohingya muslim minority. here in the uk, the labour party has been forced onto the defensive by damning comments from labour's shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth. a secret recording emerged of him criticising jeremy corbyn‘s leadership, saying there was no chance of winning the election. he has since apologised. i was having a bit of banter with a tory friend of mine, at least i thought he was a friend, greg. i was joshing and he has gone and licked it all to a website and selectively elected and i thought he was a friend, greg barker but obviously he is not.

0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, explains why this matters with just hours left until the polls open. it matters not just it matters notjust for the screaming ofjohn ashworth, period his so—called friend made this conversation public but it matters because it reminds voters who have not made their minds up about the doubts inside the labour party insidejeremy corbyn‘s leadership. notwithstanding the fact that he has plenty of diehard supporters as well. it put that seed of doubt at the back of voters minds and that said a lot of people have already voted, maybe because it is a winter election and many have cast their vote by post and there are all sorts of factors, the undergrowth if you

like, issues in individual constituencies or campaigns happening on line, not affiliated to any of the big political parties but when it comes to the polling, which we should treat very, very carefully, there is a clear pattern. another major poll suggested the tories are very far out in front not at all secure and short to get a majority in government and that is why, with all this uncertainty, for the hours left in the campaign, it is heads down and ten hats on for every single person in party. and there is just one day of campaiging left before voters here go to the pollsafter they do, we'll have full coverage here on bbc join us for the election results special on thursday from just before 10pm gmt. melting ice caps show us the impact of climate change. and a team of scientists has the data to quantify

what's happening. they say greenland is losing ice seven—times faster than it did in the 1990s. and that will expose millions of people to coastal flooding by the end of this century. the bbc‘s science editor, david shukman, has more. as the world heats up, the great ice sheet covering greenland is under threat. huge blocks of ice have always broken off in the summertime, but this process is now accelerating. i've seen for myself how melting ice is sending massive torrents of water to the ocean. more and more of the ice is thawing as temperatures rise. now a major new study using data from satellites has calculated how much of greenland's ice has disappeared. the areas marked in red are where melting has been most extreme, and the scientists who did the research are shocked. it's quite depressing, really. the ice sheets have been heated by,

in greenland's case, by the oceans and the atmosphere for several decades and it's got to the state that we're in today. it's going to get worse, not better, and it's going to continue for decades. what's happening in greenland has implications right around the world. since 1992, 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice have melted from it and ended up in the oceans. that's raised their height by10.6mm, which doesn't sound much but, for every extra centimetre of sea level, up to six million more people are put at risk of flooding, and more melting will make things worse. siren wails a warning siren on a winter night six years ago as the coast of lincolnshire was flooded. imagine how much worse it could be with an even higher sea level. welcome to the ceremonial opening... all this is being

discussed here in madrid at the un climate conference. countries are arguing over how to stop heating up the planet. amid all the delegates, a leading scientist tells me there is still time to reduce the gases that are causing the melting. if you cut emissions significantly, you really can limit the impacts from sea level rise. whereas if you continue to emit on a path that we're on now, 01’ even more severe, that will actually have really severe impacts in the future. so, there is the chance to make a difference? there is a chance, yes. don't give up hope. campaigners from 0xfam highlight the dangers of rising seas, and say world leaders are failing to respond. david shukman, bbc news, in madrid. as we've just been hearing, it's not only greenland that's melting. the annual arctic report card 2019 says the arctic is also melting at an alarming rate. the area is undergoing changes much faster than scientists anticipated. it also warns that without action, the melting of permafrost could be releasing up to 600 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

twila moon is a research scientist, at the national snow and ice data center, and is currently taking part in the american geophysical union conference in san francisco. thank you for your time. these are huge and important questions. we might get dumped off air because we are short of time, you have to forgive me. from the arctic and agreement, we are not reducing any effects, they are all getting worse? yes, right now we're seeing their record or record permafrost, decline in sea ice and loss of land ice but i want to reiterate that we have not set in stone the future and there is a very large difference between taking substantial action to reduce greenhouse emissions and not doing

that. this is really a warning for us that. this is really a warning for us to move to action as quickly as possible. we have been talking to your colleagues about this as well. a massive problem about what happens in the arctic and ringworm does not stay that but has wider effects but some do seem to be reversible, potentially. yes, sea ice is something that if we are changing that temperature and cooling things, we can expect sea ice to stabilise and perhaps even come back. changes to the ice sheet in greenland are much longer lasting and we do not expect them to be reversible and less ability to reverse changes in permafrost as well. at conferences like this, when you're amongst yourselves, are you in a kind of despair or do you see some kind of hope? i think it is a real sense of

determination. scientists, we felt like we have been shouting from the rooftop for decades but we realise we have not been doing it in the right way and we are determined to get this message out and to help people understand that we can make a substantial difference in the changes that are to come into the future in the arctic and how that shows up in our shores, storm and air temperatures. but the changes required a massive. are you confident we can do it? we have seen incredible and fast changes, we can look at the industrial revolution and how the combustion engine swept the world and i think it is perfectly possible that we can get out acts together and help technology and other institutional changes with the world again. thank you so much for talking to us. thank you.

thank you so much for watching. much more on our website and twitter. hello there. yesterday we had some very strong, squally gusts of wind. looking at the top gust, well, that was recorded in capel curig in the north—west of wales, where we had a gust of 78mph. but quite widely, really, across northern england, scotland and wales we had gusts well up into the 60s of miles an hour, and there was reported some disruption out and about as well. the squally band of rain has been pushing its way clear and now ourfocus is on showers following. you can see this line of showers just out to the west of ireland. this is a trough that's going to be quite important for our weather. the other thing you'll notice as well is that it is going to feel quite a lot colder, looking at the weather picture for wednesday. so with more detail, if you're heading outside over the next few hours, showers will continue for northern ireland and scotland. wintry, may have some snow up over the high ground in scotland,

where things get a little bit slippy. 0therwise temperatures only just above freezing. so probably not frosty but feeling cold when you factor in the breeze that we'll have to start the day. looking at the weather picture for scotland and northern ireland, they will continue to see showers feeding in here. some of them heavy, with hail and thunder. still some snow up over the high hills in scotland as well. whereas further south, for the midlands and eastern england, we start off dry with some sunshine for the most part, showers though through the morning develop across wales and western england, and these will push eastwards through the day. this is our trough and, because it is quite an organised area of showers, it does mean that most areas will see at least one or two downpours at some point during the day. it's going to feel colder. temperatures between five and nine celsius. heading through the night time, wednesday night, showers continue to feed in across the north and west, where it will continue to be quite windy.

otherwise the winds fall light across eastern areas. temperatures drop away quite quickly, with a frost. eventually we will start to see milder air working back in to the south—west later on in the night and that will tend to mean the frost is more limited to north—eastern parts of the uk. thursday, a chilly start to the day but a bright start across eastern areas. this band of rain bumping into the cold and it's probably going to bring a short—lived spell of snow across the high ground of northern england, before the weather turns milder and any snow transitions back to rain. eventually it turns mild, ten or 11 degrees across the south—west but a cold day for scotland and the far north of england where we will continue to see some wintry showers. beyond that, through friday and indeed on into the weekend, we continue our brisk flow of west north—westerly winds, low pressure never too far away. temperatures below normal for the time of year across the north of the uk, where it's going to continue to feel chilly. but close to normal further south, in england and wales. that's your weather.

roster this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has urged the us senate to try him quickly, after democratic leaders in the house of representatives unveiled the two articles of impeachment against him. they charged mr trump with abuse of power and obstruction of congress by allegedly pressing ukraine to interfere in the next us election. the united states has imposed sanctions on four senior myanmar military officers, accusing them of serious human rights abuses against the country's rohingya muslim minority. the sanctions came on the day the international court ofjustice began hearing a case in accusing myanmar of genocide against the rohingya. new zealand police say continuing volcanic activity is preventing them recovering the remaining eight victims from monday's fatal eruption on white island. dozens of tourists were rescued from the island but many are badly burnt. victims‘ names and nationalities

are expected to be released