this is d.w. news live from berlin america tunes in as the impeachment process goes public. if this is not. what is the democrats make their case on t.v. and the biggest challenge yet to donald trump's presidency they want to prove he abused his power also coming up turkey's president gets a warm the white house welcome but tensions between the nato allies are high and there's little sign of a breakthrough. i'm

called asman welcome to the program we begin in the u.s. where the impeachment inquiry against donald trump has entered a new phase lawmakers have begun public hearings the 1st in 20 years or wednesday they heard testimony from 2 top diplomats trump has called the process a witch hunt. a historic day for the united states hours of testimony played out on television screens across the country we will come to order. morning everyone. the inquiry centers on an alleged pressure campaign aimed at forcing ukraine to investigate the u.s. president's political rival joe biden and on wednesday one of the diplomats who testified linked donald trump more directly to those efforts the acting ambassador

to kiev said a member of his staff overheard a conversation in which trump asked e.u. ambassador gordon somnolent if he'd successfully pushed the ukrainians into a night sing the investigation following the call with president trump the member of my staff asked investors what president trump thought about ukraine as the song responded the president from cares more about the investigations of. trump later said he did not remember the conversation. i don't recall not even a little bit. but democrats are hoping to build a case that trump did in fact abuse his power of office to pressure ukraine behavior they say would warrant removing him from office is this what americans should now expect from their president if this is not impeachable conduct what is the republicans say it's not rather than denying the man 1000 evidence of

oppression campaign they are now focused on arguing this is not grounds for impeachment it seems unlikely that fresh evidence will change that strategy when the next round of hearings begin on friday. are let's get more on a historic day in d.c. let's bring indeed up is all over salat he was at today's hearing on capitol hill now all over the 1st impeachment hearing in more than 2 decades in the united states what specifically did we hear from those 2 witnesses today. well karl the main takeaway today was that these witnesses here tied president trump closer to this alleged pressure campaign against the ukrainian president volodymyr zelinsky they essentially said that there was a quid pro quo they underlined all these allegations that have been made before but obviously now and probably get a live television and that is exactly what the democrats are trying to achieve here to get their message out and then bill taylor the acting ambassador to the ukraine

confirmed that there was an invitation to the white house for ukraine's president a lot of years olinsky as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and they were conditioned to investigations against joe biden obviously the political rival off president trump and the democrats are arguing that this would be the betrayal of president trumps all fall off is it would also be an abuse of his presidential power as well the democrats are saying it but the big question that remains is really how much impact will that have on the american public this was the 1st day of public hearings of course on your cameras there on capitol hill how did lawmakers react to what they heard. well the republicans are under enormous pressure and i was following parts of that hearing today here on capitol hill and you could really see that they are strategy off defense is basically saying that the call might not have been great but it was not

impeachable so they're questioning the legitimacy of the investigations they say basically the democrats are just afraid of the upcoming the upcoming elections in 2020 that they want to do with the democratic leader held elections of 2016 but at the same time i have to stress there are 2. diplomats in fact who testified here today that are working for the government one of them bill taylor was even the chosen by president trump and he himself stressed today that he's impartial so there's a high level of credibility to these witnesses and the democrats are trying to capitalize on that briefly all over what else can we expect from this inquiry this week. the hearings are going to be continued on friday with the former 2 ambassador to ukraine you'll vonna which she essentially says that rudy giuliani

president trump's private lawyer held a campaign against her that he believed that she would stand in the in the way of investigations and that of course is another damning account on president trump all over some of our correspondent in d.c. thank you very much. and as that impeachment hearing was under way on capitol hill president trump was meeting with turkish president of time everyone at the white house trump is facing criticism for hosting air to want after turkey's recent incursion into northern syria but despite strained relations trump declared himself a big fan of the turkish president. impeachment what impeachment that was the message from the white house while much of washington watch the hearings riveted donald trump was hosting he's took a count of pot it was a chance to reset the agenda for the president towards what he sees as a foreign policy victory and i became president isis was all over the place and we

took over 100 percent of the caliphate and last week as you know we killed its leader and its founder trump sees that one is playing a supporting role in the fight against the so-called islamic state but the 2 latest relationship is also under strain right now because of the battle for terror train syria. thank you thank you. ignoring trump's objections turkey has now moved into the northern syrian border regions taking territory once controlled by the kurds with american backing and. despite busy could show opposition everyone is not backing down he says he too is fighting terror. community we don't have problems with the kids but we have problems with the terrorists to do just that we're just fighting terrorists period banker is still worried about the presence of u.s. troops so close to its new zone on the northern syrian border even after the

pullback they remain kilometers from turkey's battle front with the could in some areas the trump says they have a new mission there we're keeping the well we have the oil the oil is secure we left troops behind only for the oil this white house meeting was billed as a chance to shore up the u.s. is vital relationship with the kenai doe ally but trump n o 2 and didn't make a deal for now u.s. and turkey interests remain too far apart. our let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world supporters of venezuela's opposition leader 1.0 occupied the country's embassy in brazil on wednesday the standoff ended after some 11 hours quando was recognized by the u.s. and brazil as venezuela's legitimate leader outside the embassy there were stuff falls between his supporters and those of venezuelan president nicolas maduro. at least a dozen people have been killed in a bus crash in the central european nation of slovakia or the dead are reportedly

children yes this happened during rainy weather on a winding 2 lane road so voc is prime minister has described it as one of the country's biggest tragedies. in australia bushfires have killed one more person bringing the total death toll to 4 firefighters are struggling to contain dozens of fires that are continuing to rage across the country's east coast a separate fire emergency has also been issued for a blaze threatening a city on australia's west coast. 32 palestinians have been killed in shoot days of israeli airstrikes on the gaza strip israel's targeting militants in the palestinian territory in response to dozens of rocket attacks on israel this latest flare up in violence follows the killing of a senior member of the palestinian militant group islamic jihad on tuesday by israeli forces. first the sirens.

and then. this is a current operating procedure at the by sea life hospital located several kilometers from gaza. but not even an iron dome defense system can ease anatoly his fears his newborn is somewhere in the hospital. 2 days ago i became a faster but now the rockets called me here in the hospital we don't get used to this. the rockets have been relentless gaza militants have been firing them into israel since tuesday when behind after a senior commander from the palestinian militant group islamic jihad was killed by israeli forces israeli warplanes have responded with a series of airstrikes. and with nowhere to run for cover gaza residents are lashing out but warning the jews are lying this is my home it had 3 floors in it was destroyed during the night it's not

a military site it's the home of 8 people. egypt is reportedly working as a mediator to deescalate tensions between the 2 sides in the meantime basil a hospital is continuing its operations underground for people here this is an all too familiar scenario sirens heraldic an attack then you have only about 30 seconds to find shelter and even if a cease fire stops the rockets many people here feel that this is only temporary that without a political solution another escalation is just a matter of time. well one of europe's most important cultural landmarks and one of the world's most popular tourist destinations is facing a catastrophe then this is swamps suffering from the highest tide in more than half a century the tide level peaked at just under 2 meters that's high enough to leave homes flooded boats stranded and tourists wading through historic st mark's square the mayor is urging the italian government to help and says repair and rebuilding

will likely cost hundreds of millions of euros. alarm sounds throughout venice's historic center warning people to find higher ground to escape one of the worst floods in decades high winds and rain caused the water level to surge to almost $0.19 a meters with waves crashing into buildings. mayor luigi broken out of film can sell for the famous scent marks square and blamed climate change for the extreme weather. some applies to all good after thousands of political divorces we just can't wait unfortunately. we have reached a new negative record join a few we have to stand together against the effects of climate change and to reform tide accuse the vision of this isn't in your face to the community. now it's all hands on deck to push stranded boats back into the water.

larger vessels require more than manpower. tourists are taking raised walkways to reach the city's famous sites including st mark's basilica. the basilica itself was flooded for only the 6th time and its 1200 year old history. workers are assessing the damage. there is plenty of anger here the more a system designed to protect vendors from high water has faced constant delays all this sort of did she added for the movie been on it for 10 years but they've done nothing it's in total neglect it doesn't work and it's only $6000000.00 euros in italy unfortunately that's the way it is our politicians are all thieves we should all be in jail but i've been a bit peeved if god. has locals take in the aftermath city officials say the damage

totals hundreds of millions of euros this as people prepare for yet more days of flu. adding. are just forts now and in tennis rafael nadal has engineered an incredible comeback against russian the neil medvedev to keep his a.t.p. finals hopes alive the 33 year old lost the 1st set on a tie break and then was nearly overwhelmed in the 2nd but after saving a match point he came back to take it to a decider and the final set tie break was settled by hawkeye technology now for a smart challenge from the dolled suits ny medvedev his 1st ever career 53 hasn't spent. spain's all time top goal scored. has announced that he will retire from football at the end of the season the 37 year old has quite the resume he played $98.00 games for spain scoring $59.00 goals and winning both the european championships in 2006 and the both cup in 2008 so one various

club titles memorably scoring the winning goal for barcelona in the 201120 loven champions league final. and we have the news business in the meantime all the latest news and information available 247 and deep to be done complex want to. go to the euro max you tube channel. mode a good line of stories. with exclusive. the must see concerning barclays culture to europe. should be for curious minds. do it yourself networkers. subscribers and don't miss out on.