this is deja news live from berlin america tunes in as the impeachment process goes public. if this is not impeachable conduct what is 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 white house welcome but tensions between the nato allies are high and there's little sign of a breakthrough. i'm

called aspen welcome to the program we begin in the united states for the impeachment process against donald trump has entered a new phase lawmakers have begun public hearings the 1st in 20 years on wednesday they heard testimony from 2 top diplomats trump as call the process a witch hunt. a historic day for the united states i was have testimony played out on television screens across the country we will come to order. good 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 stuff overheard a conversation in which trump asked basset accordant 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 investor solomon what president trump thought about ukraine as the song responded the president front 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 richmond republican say it's not rather than denying the man 1000

evidence of oppression campaign they are now focused on arguing that it 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 in de w.'s all over salads 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 and they undermined 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 owl's them 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 of president trump and the democrats are arguing that this would be the betrayal of president tom's all thought office that would also be an abuse of his presidential power is what the democrats are saying and 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 the news 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 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 bunch of time everyone at the white house trump is facing criticism for hosting air to won after turkey's recent incursion into northern syria but despite strained relations trump declared himself a big fan of the turkish leader. impeachment what impeachment that was the message from the white house while much of washington watch the hearings riveted don't 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 could with american backing and despite busy could issue opposition to one is not backing down he says he too is fighting terror. community we don't have problems with that could we have problems with the terrorists terrorist and we're just funding terrorists period banker is still worried about the presence of u.s. troops so close to its knees own 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 do 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. here's a check now of some of the other stories making news around the world in australia bushfires have killed one more person bringing the 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 versions say has also been issued for a blaze threatening a city on australia's west coast new zealand lawmakers have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia the final decision will now be put to the public in

a referendum during the country's general election next year the bill allows for terminally ill people to request a medically assisted death. a spokesman for the palestinian still in palestinian militant group islamic jihad says a cease fire with israel has been reached to end 2 days of fighting along the gaza border 32 palestinians were killed by israeli airstrikes in response to dozens of rocket attacks on israel the flare up in violence was triggered by the killing of a senior member of islamic jihad on tuesday by israeli forces. thanks to science. 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 fossil 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 strikes. and with no way to run for cover gaza residents are lashing out but. 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 hospital is continuing its operations underground for people here this is an all too familiar scenario sirens heralding an attack then you have only about 30

seconds to find shelter and even if a ceasefire 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 or one of europe's most important cultural landmarks and one of the world's most popular tourist destinations is facing a catastrophe venice is swapped 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 2 wrists wading through historic same are square the mare is urging the italian government to help and says repair and rebuilding a likely cost hundreds of millions of europe's. alarm sounds throughout various cities 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 brick nardo film can sell for the famous mark square and blamed climate change for the extreme weather. some applies to all but after thousands of political divorces we just can't wait unfortunately. we have reached a new negative record to join in to we have to stand together against the effects of climate change and to reform tide accusing us and they didn't initiate 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 the shit i did she added for the movie they've 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 said it was locals take in the aftermath city officials say the damage totals hundreds of millions of euros various as people prepare for yet more days of flooding. to sports now and in tennis rafael nadal has engineered an incredible comeback against russian 10 year old medvedev to keep his a.t.p.

finals hopes alive the 33 year old lost the 1st set on tie break it 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 after a smart challenge from the doll to deny. medvedev is the 1st ever a career victory over the space. well spain's all time top goalscorer davide via 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 goals and winning both the european championships in 2006 and the world cup in 2008 be also one various club titles he memorably scored the winning goal for barcelona and the 2011 champions league by.

watching news live from berlin coming up next marking 100 years of germany's ballet house and how the movement changed art architecture and design that's on our documentary the code in the meantime all the latest news and information available 247 on our website that's t w dot com i'm called aspen terry martin is up next thanks for watching. cold and flu the adventures of the famous naturalist and excuse. to sunni regime colleagues on the frontline world's 250th birthday we're embarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition voyage on t.w. .