this is the news live from berlin the death toll rises as a random crackdown on protesters amnesty international's reporting more than 100 people have been killed during protests over sharp pipes and fuel prices also on the show. dozens of protesters spent another night under siege in hong kong university with food and water when learning how much longer can they hold out against police. and prison tropics out of the impeachment hearings in

congress calling them a disgrace and an embarrassment to senior officials who listened in on his phone call with his ukrainian counterpart call the conversation inappropriate and improper. i've brought in thomas great to have you with us and as the international is reporting that more than 100 people have been killed in a government crackdown on protests in iran the unrest erupting after sharp hikes and fuel prices now authorities responded by shutting down the internet supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has described the protests as a security matter. 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 it's 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. but of course the 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 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. let's get more now by bringing in luke wall pause he's a correspondent in tehran the following the story for us today to look at do we have any confirmation about this high death toll and what do we know about the number of people injured. it's very difficult for us here in tehran to bring any confirmation to disfigures because as you said the internet is down it's very difficult difficult also to get information throughout the cities in the country what we know is that telephone lines still working and we have several reports from people in the province cities dead the grip of the security. was very very tough and it seems that what amnesty says that it was also fired at

the police was firing with life i mean on demonstrators is very likely that. the death toll is much higher than the official figure and probably higher than 100 people killed and we know from families that they are very angry dead bodies were not returned to their families of their people they were burned immediately to same day on saturday or sunday which might be an indication that something is deeply wrong with the figures that the authorities are giving what's behind these protests it was they were sparked by the hike in fuel prices is that still driving them or or is it something else. it's an overall anger a saying the things politically. are going here in iran it is basically by the price rise in gasoline that's sure because many people feel they are entitled to have

a very very cheap gasoline price given the fact that salaries are so low in iran and economical hardship especially since the latest round of new sanctions from us in the last year economical situation is so bad for them dead they feel that fuel should be giving should be given them for free actually but it's as i said economy is going down every week a bit more since the sanctions last year that have been imposed by the u.s. we have no more and almost no more oil exports here in iran and the oil exports account for roughly 90 percent of the state revenue this means inflation is very high devaluation of the iranian ryall is extremely it lost more than half of its value within 10 months and this means that the prices are rising prices for staple for food for rise for milk and people simply cannot cope with that situation because of course salaries are not rising in the same speech and that is basically

the anger and people put the blame for the situation not as much as in the past to foreign countries like us which imposed sanctions but very much to the regime because they think the regime should find a solution ok what's your impression does that mean that these protests will continue might even get larger. no actually i think it was a small a significant but a small part of the population that went to 2 districts high in middle the huge middle class which is several millions of iranian citizens day. they are very cautious i spoke to people yesterday here in tehran they don't feel that it's the appropriate time to go on the street because they fear that the crackdown of the security apparatus might be even worse so i don't sing dead the situation is going out of control because. what does supreme leader said it's a security matter and not

a social protest means that they are definitely willing to crack down on the situation lou thanks very much for that from tehran this morning. let's break down some of the other stories making the news this hour 25 people have been found alive inside a refrigerated container on a danish cargo ship bound for the u.k. stowaways were discovered after the ship left the dust for. 2 of the migrants are being treated in hospital the incident comes after $39.00 b. and these migrants were found dead in a truck in the u.k. last month. voters in ethiopia's saddam region are heading to the polls in a referendum that could result in a new federal state in that country this adamah ethnic group has made its claim for its own state for a number of years now the push for statehood triggered unrest in july that left dozens dead and saw you have been no terry deployed in the region.

pope francis has touched down in bangkok as he begins a weeklong tour of thailand and of japan the pontiff will be celebrating a public mass and hopes his visit will boost the faith of the tiny catholic the catholic minority in both countries but also meet with political and religious leaders he's the 1st pontiff to visit thailand since pope john paul the 2nd in 1940 . well the standoff between pro-democracy protesters and police at a besieged university in hong kong well it appears to be coming to an end and the remaining protesters are now weighing their options as food and water inside the buildings there run out it's thought some 100 protesters are still inside the camp is some of them attempted to escape overnight by climbing through the sewer network others surrendered to mit's warnings that police might fire live rounds to clear out the area more than a 1000 protesters have been arrested since monday. let's get more now with

mary hwy she's a journalist working for the news publication website courts in hong kong mary thanks so much for joining us today you know why these mass arrests we've just been seeing where do they end of course the police crackdown this huge crackdown including the threats of live ammunition today where does it all leave hong kong's protest movement. well it's clear that there has been a step up in how the police want to deal with protesters there is certainly it seems and all the from up high on the command chain that processes need to be dealt with more severely and that they need to be addressed at mass as to whether that will actually if we solve that the group that questions that are fueling these protests i don't think so i don't think muscle rests will solve this political problem and so rather than the protests fizzling out because there have

been thousands of arrests made i see anger festering the anger growing amongst protesters and so i don't see the process movement dying out any time soon it may take a different form in the weeks to come but it's definitely here this day ok that anger that you mention has already resulted in a strategy by protesters of disruptive vandalism attacking public proc property as a undermined the movement at all with the broader public. the van was a man the violence. is definitely not the sorrow but i think it's worth pointing out that the use of force on both sides the side of the protesters on the side of the police have arguably fairly proportionate. have been increasing on both sides as to whether it helps the movement or not i think it actually ends up in kind of a stalemate it's not going to win the protests this very many more supported this

but it's not going to be tracked from the movement either we see this from opinion polls where support for the protesters has remained fairly constant the spike this uptick in violence and the aggression in their tactics ok for the 1st time internationally we've seen a very strong signal coming from a major capital the united states the senate has said that it is preparing to revoke hong kong's favorable trades that as it's already placed a moratorium on the sale of weapons the hong kong kong police handcuffs things like that is foreign pressure having any any effect on china will this help rein in china's tough approach to ankara. i think there are various ways to measure whether. for example this just passed u.s. legislation on hong kong will be effective so certainly for holcombe protesters this is a huge more out booster as to whether it will change the actions and the behavior

of the whole call in china governments i don't really think so i think the calculus for hong kong and china remains the same and for them of course there is also the question of face whether they want to be seen backing down in the face of legislation from from the u.s. and pressure from elsewhere mary thanks so much for that update from hong kong. well in the u.s. a career army officer has testified he was duty bound to object to what he called the president's quote improper phone call addressing ukraine investigations of top u.s. democrats republicans attacked alexander van men is on president trumps national security council questioning his loyalty is testimony lost a pivotal week as the house's impeachment investigation reaches further into the white house. they had witnessed the controversial phone call at the heart of the impeachment inquiry lieutenant colonel alexander vnd minn top white house expert on

ukraine and jennifer williams an advisor to vice president mike pence both told the panel they had concerns about the cole. part of the record with that i found the july 25th phone call on usual because in contrast to other presidential calls i had observed it involved discussion of what it care to be a domestic political matter it was inappropriate. it was improper for the president to request and to demand an investigation into a political opponent opponent especially at foreign power where there is 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 ukraine to investigate his political opponents the republicans again sought to undermine the credibility

of the witnesses of course. your boss had concerns about your judgment your former boss dr phil had concerns about your republican lawmakers even question lieutenant colonel vin limbs loyalty to the country having emigrated to the u.s. from ukraine age 3 the proceedings continued with testimony from former u.s. envoy to need to cut volcker and to morrison a former national security council official at the cabinet meeting president trump continued his condemnation of the entire inquiry what's going on is a disgrace and it's an embarrassment to our nation officials given enough evidence of wrongdoing on the president's part of the house dominated by democrats will vote to send the case to trial in senate this long drawn a political battle is only shifting gears refuse and in a sign that the christmas season is drawing near long and skew gardens as launches annual christmas light show organizers installing more than a 1000000 lights the sear sparkling trail takes visitors through the world famous

royal botanical gardens the luminous extravaganza includes a laser show at a victorian glass house that's just been renovated. that's all we have time for i am brian thomas for the entire news team thanks for being here and rita will join you at the top of the hour. in terms of the famous naturalist and explorer. to sing the bridge clicks on the phone it's 250th birthday we're importing on a voyage of discovery. expedition. d.w. .