this is p.w. news live from berlin u.s. president donald trump hits out at the impeachment hearings calling then a disgrace and an embarrassment. to senior officials who listen to a july phone call between trump and his ukrainian counterpart express their concerns calling the conversation improper and unusual to a former special envoy to ukraine could focus is also testifying in the probe also on the program. the death toll in the iranian crackdown on protesters peace growing and this international says more than 100 people

a day. i'm anthony howard welcome to the program we begin in washington where the u.s. president donald trump has criticized the impeachment hearings calling then a disk rice and an embarrassment is coming to senior officials who listened to trump's july funchal with these ukrainian counterpart vladimir. expressed their concerns about the conversation the former special envoy to ukraine could volcker told the probe he should have realized the trump was holding up military aid to kiev to pressure the country to investigate political rival joe biden. 1st to testify on tuesday 2 officials who listened in on that controversial phone call newton and connell alexander van mann the top white house expert on ukraine alongside jennifer williams an advisor to vice president mike pence both told the

panel they had concerns about the cole. i found the july 25th call unusual because in contrast to other presidential calls i had observed it involved discussion of what it appeared to be a domestic political matter it was inappropriate. it was improper for the president . to requestion to demand. an investigation into a political opponent opponent especially at foreign power where there's at best dubious belief that this would be a completely impartial investigation the democrats hope to amass evidence that president trump abused his position using military aid to push ukraine to investigate his political opponents the republicans again attack the witnesses rather than their evidence of course your boss had concerns about your judgment your republican lawmakers question lieutenant colonel credibility and even his

loyalty to the country being an immigrant from ukraine. the proceedings resumed the testimonies from former u.s. envoy to nato kurt volker and tim morrison the former national security council advisor. and a cabinet meeting president trump continued his condemnation of the entire inquiry we had 3 what is going on is a disgrace and it's an embarrassment to our nation given enough evidence of wrongdoing on the president's part the house dominated by democrats will vote to send the case to trial in senate this long drawn out political battle is only shifting gears. well from all we can bring in public in washington public the committee is still very much focusing on the coal from trump to ukrainian president why the emphasis on this cool well i'm very very much

part of the republicans case up until now has been that none of the witnesses actually listened in to the 25th of july phone call but of course 2 of the witnesses today actually were listening in to a famous infamous phone call now and of course they've been focusing as well on the fact that you know who this whistleblower is and there were sort of a hope amongst republicans that if they knew who that person is then they could perhaps discredit them but of course now they find themselves in the situation in which you have you know a new temple colonel alexander vin and jennifer williams who's an aide to the vice president my parents who were both listening into the cole both expressing concern by what they heard and both using a pretty strong word which is that they found it inappropriate and usual on usual and now you know. a century expressing their interpretation of the call in many ways what they've done is sort of almost diluted in some ways. the republicans have

been focusing on which is of course whistleblower also we heard there in the report how they sort of went on the attack towards those republicans but you know republicans are going to find the very hard to sort of discredit these 2 witnesses you know we deserve to what appeared to be very credible witnesses with you know pretty impressive careers so we could say that today wasn't essentially a good day for the republicans. public to those witnesses that have been working for the trump and been the stretch and tell us a little bit more about who they. well apart from jennifer williams who have just mentioned you know who is an aide to the vice president mike pence and also this 10 colonel alexander vin the who's actually still working at the white house we've heard from curt felker now he's a former special envoy to ukraine longstanding career working for government someone who's highly regarded he had some very harsh words for president trump he

was sort of almost implying that president trump was interested in conspiracy theories particularly in reference to joe biden and his dealings are supposed dealings of his son and also we've heard from the national security council official to mars and so you know we're talking about for heavyweights who will say for people with pretty impressive careers and like i said even though the republicans went after them you know we're talking about pretty credible witnesses just briefly you mentioned they've been on the attack but the republicans actually disputing this evidence what it appears that they've sort of more they've gone more sort of a supposed from the personal attack you know if we look at the official twitter account of the white house today they were at you know that it was a sham impeachment and a parody impeachment they were bringing up sort of the credibility of the witnesses particularly you know the lieutenant colonel. who was born in ukraine

and also even you know jennifer williams this aide for the vice president as well so you know it was pretty shocking in some ways to see how they sort of went after them in such a sort of times what's being described by analysts here is almost callous way but you know let's keep our eye on what the next witness is that is of course one of the key figures. the u.s. ambassador to the european union he'll be appearing on wednesday. in washington thank you. now to some of the other stories making news around the world china has condemned the latest legislation raba unanimously passed by the u.s. senate to protect human rights in honeycomb the bills put the territories special trading status with the u.s. in jeopardy and bans the sale of crowd control munitions to hong kong. syria

says its anti aircraft defenses thwarted a series of israeli air rights and in the capital damascus israel has released a statement saying its jets targeted syrian and iranian forces in syria in retaliation for rockets fired towards israel and she studied. living in place and military have deployed ahmed vehicles to end a blockade of a major gas plant by protesters demanding the return of former president evo morales officials say one demonstrated was killed in the city of. the pads. iran where amnesty international says more than 100 people have been killed in protests and a government crackdown in the country the rest of the heights in fuel prices or authorities responded by shutting down the internet supreme leader ayatollah khomeini has described the protests as a security threat. very little information reaches the outside world from iran

authorities have shut down the internet whether there are still protests there and where they may be taking place is difficult to verify. videos from monday evening show angry demonstrators some are demanding that the government step down the protests were sparked by a drastic increase in the price of gasoline u.s. sanctions and mismanagement are the main causes of iran's economic crisis. also by the i have 3 jobs to support myself of course people are upset and now they found a reason to show their dissatisfaction everyone does it in their own way. these beautiful pictures of men who have been arrested are shown on state television they're accused of initiating the protests at the behest of other countries one hard line newspaper reports they could face the death penalty. more than 1000 people are believed to have been arrested in the wake of the protests the un has

expressed concern over the security services heavy handed response. numbers killed certainly in the dozens. in at least 2 figures some reports even higher so it would be very useful to have a better peer a picture but it's clearly very significant meanwhile the iranian leadership is that hearing to a hard line internet restrictions are still in effect in iran. for francis is set to arrive shortly in thailand is the 1st pontiff to travel to the largely this country in the early 4 decades francis will preside over a range of religious ceremonies and make with members of thailand's small catholic community many of whom have spent weeks preparing for the visit. here. at home. thailand's catholic community is abuzz. with excitement

the students are rehearsing for a performance at the national stadium in bangkok where pope francis is shitheel to hold a holy mass. news about the pope's arrival has made all of us feel very excited i've never seen him in person so i'm extremely eager to show him how i strongly believe i am in catholicism. at a convent in a different part of town seamstresses have been working overtime to ensure the pontiff and his entourage decked out in the country's finest threads. they've prepared more than 200 ceremonial robes and head where for the papal visit. it's been so long since the pope travel to thailand that the video footage is grainy. john paul the 2nd was the last to include the buddhist majority country in a papal janie's that was in 1984. so the fact that the current pontiff

hasn't left the country off the map is a big deal for thailand's tiny catholic community. christians make up just one percent of the population and most live in the north of the country but they can also be found in the nation's capital including in one of bangkok's biggest slums. but. father. emission every says christians here are eagerly awaiting the visit of pope francis because they see him as a champion of the man rebel. they know the 4 piece a man that is always. trying to make the voice of the poor so. they feel and it's true and this richard was that i have the gift to give you for a very simple 3 and waiting for this. and bangkok and across the

country thailand catholic community is looking forward to publicly celebrate their face. to football now and spain has announced that former coach of the way sen rick a will lead the team at euro 2020 enrico stepped down from the role of this year q 2 and illness in the family. luis enrique is back in the spain hot seat the coach seen here during his 1st spell in charge returns to the national team set up 5 months off to leaving his position to care for his terminally ill daughter she then tragically passed away in organized spanish football federation boss luis roby allies says he always intended for enrique to return when he was ready. then there were more because of everything that happened with luis enrique and because

we believe he is an extraordinary coach and we have the moral obligation to give him time so that he can continue what he started. and the rick a former assistant robert marino led the team through the end of year a 2020 qualification but he has refused to return to his previous role with reports suggesting he is unhappy at the way the federation has treated him. luis enrique has decisions regarding his staff as well as robert's decision not to continue when he found out we were considering the return of luis enrique are personal issues and we won't get involved in that life in persona like in the north . it's a turbulent 10 to the year for the spanish national team they have just 2 games left before next summer's european championship. you're watching news live from perlin up next adult film with a look at whether

a new nuclear arms race is on the horizon don't forget the website. for all the latest news 24 hours a day for now. thanks for watching. come along and follow the adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to some the great comics on the fun while it's 250 of the 1st day we're embarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition good.