this is news live from berlin a 2nd insider at the white house has told intelligence officials that u.s. president donald trump abused his power in a phone call to ukraine as the impeachment inquiry into trump's alleged illegal behavior gathers speed and new whistleblower could add strength to allegations that the president asked a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 u.s. election. protesters defy the bad on face masks in hong kong again on sunday police fired tear gas in several areas in an attempt to stop attacks on

shops and banks to mainland china also coming up. tunisians go to the polls to elect a new parliament it looks like more voters than ever could throw their support behind outsider candidates as dissatisfaction with mainstream parties. welcome to the program. the reports indicate the new whistleblower has 1st hand knowledge of a phone call between trump and his ukrainian counterpart a probe is being conducted into an allegation that trying to pressure ukraine's president polluting there's a lengthy to investigate trump's political rival joe biden and his son. started to give the. let's go live now to washington

bureau chief. thanks for being with us to tell us what do we know about this was a lower so the whistle blower has been described as an intelligence official we don't know his or her identity about as you said this appears to be someone with 1st hand knowledge of some of the other geisha instead were outlined in the original whistleblower complaint so that appears to be someone who can talk about directly at all that steve that relates to ukraine and to this phone call president trying had with the ukrainian president and that could be someone here who could undercut president strom's claim that the 1st whistle blower complaint was completely wrong. as i recall he was saying that this was 2nd hand

knowledge for the 1st complaint but now we have somebody who has firsthand knowledge of how how do you think this will affect the trump inquiry going forward . well i think that's definitely backing up the argument against president strawman it's helping the democrats to build up their case and there are moving in a very rapid and greece aggressive way and it's quite interesting and remarkable that normally you would see members of the trump administration on a sunday morning talk shows but there was no one defending the president's today however we also have to add that of course he thinks that he can do it the best way . and he knows he in fact been reacting in any way recently. yet he has been very vocal about a topic on twitter of course he said that after the 1st whistle blower go to his conversation with the ukrainian president completely wrong and now there is

a 2nd whistle blower coming from the deep state and of course he is is. sort of conspiracy theory he has speed and his allies have been spreading for quite a lot while now that it is the intelligence community that is trying to bring him down this way however we also have to say that it's noteworthy that top republicans are being very silent on this topic they are avoiding questions connected to the impeachment investigation they are struggling to find unified response to the teacher and allegations ok did abuse washington bureau chief alexander phenomenon thanks for that. to hong kong where pro-democracy law makers have suffered a setback in the territories high court the judge dismissed their bid to get an injunction against a ban on face masks worn at demonstrations protesters reacted defiantly with more

marches in hong kong central business district which later descended into another night of violence. tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters continued to defy a ban on face masks on sunday kerry lam hong kong's chief executive had introduced the ban under colonial era state of emergency powers to try to end months of an rist pro-democracy law makers again went to the high court on sunday morning seeking an injunction against the ban they argued the emergency powers bypass the legislature and contravene the city's constitution today is about terrorism 1st rule of law i would say this is one of the most important constitutional cases in the history of all but a senior judge dismissed the case that only increased the defiance of hong kong residents large crowds marched through to wrench will reign in unsanctioned rallies . carry lam is trying to use the ban to keep us from coming out.

she suppressing our right to express ourselves this will only push us further. out . as night fell things turned ugly some demonstrators turning their rage on businesses with connections to mainland china and fighting pitched battles with police carry lamb has warned that the ban on face masks was only the 1st card in her hand the emergency law allows her to make any regulations whatsoever in the face of the sun rest. so where is all this heading we're joined now by the w.'s cliff who reported from beijing for 15 years you know this story very intimately kerry lamb. voted friday people were wearing masks as we saw in those pictures have been on. the field well certainly the legislation hasn't hasn't worked as they intended it to do it's meant to send

a signal at the moment she's looking around for ways to deal with this situation which is escalating she said to impose this law which is actually a colonial era $922.00. very popular and also ironic given the circumstances that she's looking for things to do she's come up with this legislation which people are patiently ignoring it becomes an issue now of what can she do next she still has some options obviously book but for now she's kind of stuck with this the fact that the you know she they have more power but she needs to escalate things clearly again and say and just today's court decision quite apart from the house proceed to empower the police and administrative terms it gives them more power we still don't have a state of emergency in hong kong ok we still have it there's lots of different ways of how the situation has been described but legally they haven't imposed save emergencies didn't have things like a curfew you don't have these sort of much more extreme measures so she still has

some leeway there to impose a state of emergency it heightens everything again it will heighten tensions it will expose the fact that things are getting close to 2 to an arche and it will obviously trouble in beijing which is obviously watching events very closely and one does beijing's patients run out well it's interesting last week as you know we had the 70 on the bursary of the of the p.r.c. people's republic of china they've made their display now they've shown that they have these incredible missiles and if they're angry they can they can take action so they're watching closely i think for now they think the hong kong police have got it under control and has it under control because despite the scenes there is still they are still containing things but you just wonder if things keep going on and on and on our whole point china is going to say we have to intervene and then we'll see what form that takes ok thanks for that insight.

polls have just closed as tunisians elect a new parliament today's election comes just weeks after the 1st round of presidential elections where voters turned their backs on traditional parties in favor of independent candidates around $15000.00 candidates are contesting 217 seats in the country's parliament the legislature has been dominated by the islamists and that cup party is ruling in alliance with the secular party tunis high unemployment and a lack of public services are few cooling discontent. and journalist sara mercer joins us now from the tunisian capital sara thanks for being here polls we understand it just closed there were fears that this election would see people stayed home to disillusioned has that affected the turnout in fact just such a mix of that from the numbers we have so far is that it's not. yet a looks as the turnout will be approximately like 3 weeks ago in the presidential

elections around 4045 percent which is relatively low and it turned out just specially not don't trust the last 4 titians i mean more of even though they follow a lot. from a lot of today they don't trust the electrician's neither the old ones norman newcomers it looks as if the turnout will be no good and when can we expect final results in one way might we see a new government actually being formed. following our results most likely to be announced on wednesday where you are staying for the government this might actually take some time nobody expects a player might majority some of the coalition hawks will type along on and it will also come out of the presidential election come to 2nd round i don't take next. sarah mercian tunis thanks very much. iraq's prime minister has announced social measures designed to end the deadly

antigovernment protests gripping the country the package includes new homes in poor areas job training schemes for the unemployed and free health care for the injured nearly 100 people have died in the violence late on saturday gunmen attacked the offices of several t.v. broadcasters. the work of unknown assailants were attacked media offices and the target several t.v. stations yet been receiving threats for days and see a link to their reporting on the ongoing anti-government protest in iraq. because we went faking reality we transmitted the truth as it is. the how much it seems that this state cannot bear the trees. and i hurt the prime you know what announced his stance but he stayed silent about what happened and how. the how death life in baghdad has become increasingly dangerous since tuesday

demonstrators have been taking to the streets to express frustration over a lack of jobs and basic services the interior ministry claims are 3 t.'s didn't shoot at any one however more than 100 people have been killed during demonstrations late saturday the prime minister again tried to deescalate the situation. i will go and meet the protesters without weapons and sit with them for as long as it takes to listen to their demands if this will be situation. this is a change in the prime minister's approach on friday he said the protesters demands have been heard after the violence of recent days they may be reluctant to accept his offer. for the. time for sports now and we turn to this legal. there are new leaders and

a new 2nd place team after sunday's early games but listen mentioned gladbach moved top after a 51 thrashing out well spork beat union berlin 10 to go 2nd previous leaders byron munich were stunned 21 at home by hoffenheim on saturday while dortmund slipped up again frankfurt are hosting vet of heaven in the final game of the weekend and let's take a quick look at the surprising top half of the moon is the good table which shows are now leading the way by a point from wells burke byron freiburg rb leipzig and leverkusen are all level on points dortmund are down an 8th and at the other end it is more predictable pattern born are adrift at the bottom after just 7 games into the season with fellow promoted side also struggling. moving now to dense in lyons in china $21.00 teams from around the world took part in the international line dance

championship in phocians city. participants impressed the audience with their breathtaking cord nation and high flying balancing acts performers dazzled their way through obstacles including walking on a rope bridge and dancing on tall stakes the goal was to complete the different challenges in the shortest amount of time contests has gained popularity in recent years. and a reminder of the top stories we're following for you. protesters in hong kong defied a facemask van for a 2nd day although a judge dismissed pro-democracy lawmakers attempts to get an injunction against that bad. this is deja vu news live from berlin up next is world of stories the weekend reports on next by sir thanks for joining us joining us i'll be back with more news on the top of the hour.

i'm secure in the volume. and in the end it's a me you're not allowed to stay here and we will send you back. are you familiar with this. with the smugglers with violence and.