this is bbc news — the headlines: president trump has described impeachment proceedings against him as an attempted coup by democrats, even though the process is set out under the us constitution. he accused his opponents of declaring war on american democracy, and claimed the first charge against him, of abuse of power, was a baseless invention. welcome to bbc news — the second, obstruction of congress, he claimed my name's mike embley. was preposterous and dangerous. our top stories: as the us house of representatives prepares to vote a court in tokyo has ordered a tv presenter to pay damages on impeaching donald trump, to a woman who accused him of rape. he lashes out, calling it an open the film—maker shiori ito brought a civil case war on democracy. against noriyuki yamaguchi, taiwan's foreign minister tells the bbc the free world should saying he raped her after inviting her to dinner to discuss stand with the island democracy — a job opportunity. in the face of growing the court rejected his pressure from china. counter—claim for damages. taiwan's foreign minister, joseph wu, has argued that the island requires additional support from democratic allies to stand up to increased diplomatic and economic pressure from communist china. in a bbc interview, mr wu said the world was waking up to a rising threat from beijing. this woman wins damages in a tokyo courtroom after accusing a prominent journalist of rape. scientists say they've developed a new theory you're up to date

with the headlines. now on bbc news, it's panorama. president trump has lashed out over his imminent impeachment in a 6—page letter to top tonight on panorama democrat nancy pelosi, we investigate the church facing accusing her of declaring "open war on american democracy". allegations of fraud. on the eve of the crucial vote in the house of representatives, which is dominated by the democrats, he's claimed he's been denied his most fundamental rights — even though he's turned down i feel like heartbroken, an offer to give evidence himself, because i'm thinking this and have his legal team question is supposed to be like a family. witnesses. and like, most importantly, it's like god's people. and its leader, a charismatic pastor. god is going to help you. he's going to change your life forever. we reveal the church's appetite for cash. a basic person in a month should give a thousand. in his letter to the house majority leader i think that is normal. mr trump claims the charges he faces are "completely disingenuous, i think it is no big deal. meritless, and a baseless invention it's not even that deep. you walk into a room you see 111—15 of your imagination" and also people with bags of money. claims the impeachment process, which is set out under the us constitution, is "nothing more than an illegal, partisan attempted coup that will, based on recent sentiment, badly fail at the voting booth. now the fear that impeachment could backfire, politically, on democrats is in the minds of some members of congress, as our north america editorjon sopel reports.

# 0h, say does that star—spangled banner... in america, even a bog—standard town hall meeting like this one in michigan comes wrapped in the stars and stripes. # the land of the free... but over the impeachment of donald trump, it's a disunited states. and the congressmen and women who'll vote tomorrow on this, like elissa slotkin, are under acute pressure from their voters. she's a democrat who won her seat from the republicans last year in a wealthy district, 30 miles north of detroit. thank you, guys. and she was struggling to make her voice heard. ok, i'm just going to continue, because i've got the mic. folks, these are the questions you're shouting at me, so you may want to listen for one sec to the answer. one of the hecklers is bill rauwerdink. he's come with a group of republicans to stir things up. i spoke to him in the cafeteria afterwards. you were there calling her out.

what do you think the political consequences are? i think her self—awareness, self perception is very good. she said, this vote may end my short—lived political career. i think that a really good self—assessment. but the congresswoman says she's what's right. the president's attempt to strong—arm ukraine to investigate joe biden went too far. when it comes to something like asking foreigners to intervene and get engaged here at home, that, to me, requires a response. it can't become normal to just reach out to foreigners. i know it sounds different, but there just has to be some decisions that are beyond the political calculus. and it may be that voters decide in 2020 that they don't want me as their representative. # jingle bells, jingle bells... there are other preoccupations at this time of year, though, like present buying and wondering who's paying the town's electricity bill. but impeachment, too. what do you think of the move to impeach him? i think it's ridiculous, we're wasting a lot of taxpayer's money. at this point, leave

it to the voters. it's close enough. the economy is doing phenomenally well. he's the most corrupt man who's ever served in that office, and it's exactly what the founding fathers intended when they came up with the idea of impeachment. he's not fit for office. he's embarrassing. america is so polarised on this, isn't it? yes. it's all or nothing. it's going to be an interesting christmas. forget white christmas. here in rochester, michigan, they're going for bright christmas. and the one thing elissa slotkin is dreaming of is that it should be a backlash free christmas, because it's perfectly possible that the biggest casualties of this impeachment process could be the democratic party itself. jon sopel, bbc news, michigan. more now live from our north america correspondent peter bowes. we have been just looking we have beenjust looking at we have been just looking at the pictures where you are, there has

been a rally in favour of impeachment. what about the public opinion issue and the risk of backfire. mr trump will be aware that bill clinton seemed to be more popular after he was impeached. public opinion as it applies to president trump and the entire impeachment process has really been divided down the middle pretty much for the past few months. we've seen a little bit of movement in the last few days and weeks with more people saying they believe the president should be impeached and in fact more people saying he should be found guilty and removed from office but it's still pretty much a divided nation and that has been the situation ever since president trump was elected and it applies to many of the policies and issues as well but what is interesting, and we seeing it with this rally, demonstration in los angeles, repeated in cities around the country, people are becoming more engaged with the impeachment process

and with the trial likely to happen in early january, it and with the trial likely to happen in earlyjanuary, it will be a televised process as indeed will be the final hearing in the house of representatives when the articles of impeachment will be passed later on wednesday, people will be watching on their televisions and that's why this is becoming ever more significant, especially for the democrats as they approach the election next year and the opportunity to perhaps replace president trump in the white house. the president is right when he says this is a partisan political process but he is wrong when he says it's antidemocratic, it is set out in the us constitution and could have engaged much more strongly in the process. this seems to be the great error as far as the democrats see it. in the angry letter his written where he complains about not being given due process, his opportunity to put his side of the story. he refused an opportunity to do that,

to allow some of his closest aides, senior officials in the white house to appear as witnesses to be cross—examined in the white house blocked the release of any documents that could be relevant to his dealings with ukraine. that is at the centre of all of this, the dealings with that now aims telephone call with the president of ukraine, the blocking of military aid to ukraine, they could be documents that shed much greater light on that and other related issues and we haven't seen them and that's why the democrats say, no, this isn't a one—sided approach to impeachment, the president had his opportunity. the house of representatives dominated by the democrats is the prosecution here in the senate, waited —— dominated by the republicans, president trump's is the trial in the house of representatives has agreed it will bea6— representatives has agreed it will be a 6— hour debate and the full

vote on those two charges, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. we will keep you up—to—date. keep up to date with developments on the bbc news website and join our correspondents in washington here on bbc news, where we'll also have a team of experts to break it all down. let's get some of the day's other news. pope francis, under pressure to respond to thousands of reports of sexual abuse by catholic clergy and accusations of cover—ups, is removing some of the secrecy surrounding such cases. he's declared that the rule of "pontifical secrecy" no longer applies to sexual abuse, and he's also changed the vatican's definition of child pornography. protests across india have continued for a sixth day, with clashes between police and demonstrators. tens of thousands of people have turned up to protest against a new law, which offers citizenship to non—muslim illegal immigrants from three nearby countries. hundreds of thousands of protestors hit the streets of france again today,

the latest in two weeks of demonstrations against plans to raise the age of retirement. travel was disrupted, most trains weren't running, electricity was cut to thousands of homes, some flights were cancelled and the eiffel tower was shut. speaking at his first cabinet meeting since his re—election as prime ministrer, borisjohnson has promised to work "flat out" to deliver on the promises he has had made to the british people. he also wants parliament to prevent extending the brexit transition period beyond december 31st next year. a court in tokyo has ordered a prominent tvjournalist to pay over $27,000 in damages to a woman who accused him of rape in 2017. shiori ito, a film—maker and activist was seeking compensation from noriyuki yamaguchi in a high—profile civil case. she broke her silence about the case in 2017. he denies any wrongdoing. mariko 0i joins me now. we should say he brought a cou ntercla i m we should say he brought a counterclaim for damages, and the court through that out. that's right. mr yamaguchi has repeatedly

denied any wrongdoing, saying the sex was consensual and he had to ta ke sex was consensual and he had to take her back to his hotel room because she was too drunk and he has filed a counterclaim which the court rejected. the amount of money that he was ordered to pay in damages isn't a lot. this is a landmark case. it is highly unusualfor people to speak out publicly to say they've been raped. authorities estimate only 4% came forward in 2017. and ms ito had to go through a lot, she faced a lot of abuse, especially on line, remarks like, why did you go to dinner with him, was it what you were wearing, questions that dems in other parts of the world faces well. she went ahead with it, it is not a civil case, it is not like he was going to be arrested or spend time orjail. he isa

be arrested or spend time orjail. he is a prominent figure with ties to the prime minister. this could have real significance. indeed, a lot of speculation and rumour about how this case was handled but it also brought up a lot of issues like how ms ito when she first reported the case, she begged to speak to a female police officer but couldn't because only 8% of police officers in all ofjapan are women stop she was advised not to bring this case forward. there were many other issues this case brought up. taiwan's foreign minister has called on the rest of the world to stand with the island democracy as it faces increasing diplomatic and economic pressure from china. in an exclusive interview with the bbc, foreign ministerjoseph wu said the world is waking up to the increasing threat to taiwan from the totalitarian state next door. he's been speaking to our asia correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes. the chinese government face a very serious dilemma in dealing with the hong kong issue. 0n the one hand, they are not able

to promise the protesters those free elections or other demands or doing an independent investigation on the police violence. and on the other hand, if the chinese government decides that is going to march and they want to move their force into hong kong and deal with the situation militarily, many people in the world would agree with me that it has signified the total failure of the one country, two systems model so they are caught in the situation, the hong kong situation is going to deteriorate and it's a failure of the one country, two systems model, or a military solution that will also signify a failure of the one country, two systems model. have they got one eye on taiwan when they're thinking about this? yes, yes.

and after the violence and protest activities in hong kong in the last three months, the public opinion surveys show over 90% of the taiwanese people reject the one country, two systems model so it's very clear that people in taiwan see what's happened in hong kong and we don't want to accept the one country, two systems model. when you look at china today, it's difficult not to come to the conclusion that the chinese communist party is biding its time, building up its strength and certainly under the leadership of xi jinping now has an avowed intent to force unification of taiwan with china in his lifetime. it looks like it is that way and we are working very hard in trying to maintain the status quo, trying to maintain peace and stability across the taiwan strait and if you look at the key players in the like—minded countries like the united states, major eu countries, japan, and at cetera, they understand the situation rather well. it is china that is trying to chip

away the current status quo and they understand the danger in it and are raising their level of voice of concern over this kind of situation and will intensify in their support of taiwan, diplomatic or political support or willingness to engage with taiwan at a higher level. given what we've seen president trump do on the international scene, particularly with the kurds, is the us is still a reliable ally? yes, i would say so. we have been staying in very close touch with all levels of the us officials and i was given assurances by very senior officials that in the negotiations between the united states and china, they say that taiwan will not be a topic for negotiation. what we have been asking for actually is quite simple, is for the united states

to provide defence articles for taiwan so taiwan is able to defend itself and also to engage with taiwan in the military training or military cooperation so that taiwan is much better equipped in dealing with military contingencies, and all this is going on in a very successful way. taiwan's foreign minister joseph wu, speaking to rupert wingfield—hayes. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, strictly ballroom — the disabled syrians discovering the joy of dancing. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict,

a conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: as the house prepares to vote on impeaching donald trump,

he lashes out, calling it an "open war on democracy". this woman wins damages in a tokyo courtroom after accusing a prominent journalist of rape. a team of scientists here in the uk have developed a new theory about the underlying cause of motor neurone disease, also known as als in the united states. the researchers at the university of essex have found evidence the condition is caused by an imbalance in cholesterol and other fat levels in the body's cells triggered by gene mutations. if confirmed, the new theory could lead to scientists being able to predict the course of the disease in individuals and to monitor the effect of potential new drugs. well, to help us to make sense of this new development we can speak to dr hande ozdinler, who's associate professor at the department of neurology at northwestern university. thank you very much for your time. i am in no way an expert on this as you may have gathered. just make it clear why this is so important in as

simple terms as possible. clear why this is so important in as simple terms as possiblelj clear why this is so important in as simple terms as possible. i will try. i think this is very important for many reasons. first of all, i wa nt to for many reasons. first of all, i want to congratulate my colleagues because i think what they have tried to accomplish is that they put different dots, mutations in the diseases, and connecting those dots or many dots help does reveal the big picture. and in the big picture they said maintaining lipids to me stasis, lipids balance is very important —— homeostasis. so they we re important —— homeostasis. so they were focusing on the upper motor neurons, and they have a unique structure, such that they can collect information from many different brain regions, and they can send that information to spinal cord targets. they have the longest axon to be able to connect the brain

with the spinal cords, and in the axon we need higher levels of lipids, not for the membrane but also for them alien, so it is no surprise that the lipid is extremely important for neuron function —— myelin. 0f important for neuron function —— myelin. of course lipids are important for this and this puts them on the stage and makes us realise this is one of the other factors that we have to consider when we think about the complexity of the motor neuron disease. so that's why i think it's important. also, i want to say something about the upper motor neurons, they are implicated in hsp pls, their degeneration leads to those diseases, but also they progressively degenerate with spinal motor nerves. so understanding why upper motor neurons die and how we can improve their health, we can

have a broad implication in many diseases in which involuntary movement is impaired. so rather than focusing our attention to just one mutation, one gene, i think now we have to think about the mechanism. and finding jobs for the mechanisms will be the way to go because once we find treatment options for the mechanisms, then we can have broad implications in many neurodegenerative diseases all at the same time. and i think that is where the field is going up.|j the same time. and i think that is where the field is going up. i have seen the disease are close quarters, in effect it gradually removes most everything your body has been able to do but live your mind intact. it's a terrible thing. just briefly, if you don't mind, this is a breakthrough in understanding but not necessarily yet a breakthrough in treatment housing could be a breakthrough in treatment? because it is hard to tell about what i want

emphasise is previously in the drug discovery field we were trying to find drugs for diseases. i think we have two, you know, move away from that thought because rather than focusing on disease names, we need to focus on the mechanisms, the underlying mechanisms that cause the disease. 0nce underlying mechanisms that cause the disease. once we find drugs or treatment strategies for the particular underlying cause, then we can have treatments for many diseases. and for lipids homeostasis defects, i think there are other drugs already on the market, so that —we drugs already on the market, so that — we can repurposed them, we can actually try them with different patients as long as we know what is the underlying cause in that particular patient —— repurposed. i think our quest should be to understand what is the mechanism for each patient so we can have more personalised treatments. doctor

ozdinler, thank you so much. thank you so much for having me. several people have been injured in protests in the ukrainian capital, kiev. thousands demonstrated outside the country's parliament building in opposition to land reform proposals which some say will only benefit oligarchs and foreign investors. rich preston reports. protesters threw rocks and there we re protesters threw rocks and there were accusations of a heavy—handed response by police. ajournalist were accusations of a heavy—handed response by police. a journalist for the afp news agency reported seeing to protesters unconscious on the floor before being taken to ambulances —— two protesters. around two and half thousand police officers were deployed to do with the crowds. 26 people were arrested. ukraine was once called the breadbasket of the soviet union, home to rich, black fertile soil. after the fall of the soviet union, much of ukraine's farmland was shared out and is illegal to sell.

but a bill going to ukraine's parliament could change that from 0ctober parliament could change that from october of next year. critics worry the change won't benefit ukrainians, and the land owned by the people will be snapped up by oligarchs and foreign investors. translation: we are protesting against the sale of land. we don't wa nt against the sale of land. we don't want our children and grandchildren to be slaves stop we want our land to be slaves stop we want our land to be slaves stop we want our land to be ukrainian and not be on sale. translation: there will be even if you are working places than now. it will be the impoverishment of our village. but the bill is strongly promoted by president volodymyr zelensky, who says it will bring investment and drive economic growth. ukrainian lawmakers are expected to vote on the land reform bill on thursday. rich preston, bbc news. a peaceful uprising against the president of syria in march, 2011 turned into a full—scale civil war.

many more were injured and it's now estimated more than a quarter of the country's population is disabled. but some of those people are finding new hope in an unusual way, as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. samer can no longer walk, but he can certainly dance. badly injured in a traffic accident and confined to a wheelchair, he's had to get used to a new way of life. translation: my hobby was swimming and i really loved it. but after i had the accident and sat in a wheelchair, i started playing basketball, and now my hobby is dancing. the experience made me happy, relieved and connected me with other people. this workshop sponsored by the united nations is designed to improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of disabled syrians. wheelchair ballroom dancing, a bold experiment that even

the organisers were a little unsure about to begin with. translation: i won't lie, we were a little worried because the idea is new. but from the very first moment we felt that everyone loved it and was very excited. we have athletes, a basketball player, and a badminton player. they're the ones who added to this course and made it look nice and smooth. one, two, three, four! other workshops are for pastimes like table tennis and volleyball, but here it's strictly ballroom. and a chance, samer believes, to prove that nothing is impossible. tim allman, bbc news. good news from uganda now for animal lovers — the world's population of once critically endangered mountain gorillas is making a comeback, according to the latest survey of their protected forest home.

it revealed that in 2011, there were around 400 creatures in the area. that figure now stands at 459. the global population of the primates now stands at 1,063. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello. if you are driving this morning, this picture gives it away. there is fog out there right now, it gets denser as we go through early wednesday. we are in between weather systems, there is wind and rain heading our way. that won't arrive until later in the day on wednesday, at least that is the case for most of us. in the morning we have the fog in the south and midland, northern england, too. temperatures in some areas will because depressing so that means some icy patches are possible here and there,

especially out of town on these country roots, so take it steady. the weather will be down quite quickly across western parts of the uk, you can see the south—west, western wales, northern ireland, the atlantic, some heavy rains weaving in and on top of that some gales around the coast. it will take time for that band of wind and rain to sweep into other parts of the uk, so before that happens they could even before that happens they could even be some sunshine, given that the fog clears away. here is the weather wednesday night into thursday, very windy around the uk, gusts in excess of 60 miles an hour possible, not so windy in land but windy enough. with that through the course of wednesday night into thursday, and the direction of the wind straight out of the south, this is very mild hour for december heading our way. so we will call it warm and at times wet on thursday, temperatures and the —— in the far south—east could hit the low teens, how about that for december? thursday into friday, we

keep seeing those mild southerlies bringing outbreaks of heavy rain to almost any part of the uk. so the run—up to christmas at least this week is looking very soggy indeed. towards the end of the weekly temperatures will drop a little bit, we aren't talking about 13 or 1a degrees, more like 11 or 12 at best. so the end of the week is looking u nsettled so the end of the week is looking unsettled and mild for many of us. here is the outlook as we head into the weekend as well, temperatures dropping just a little bit. the weather does remain unsettled. 00:28:34,776 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 that's it from me, by by.