from berlin. the most anticipated witnessing the impeachment hearings delivers a stunning testimony. the u.s. ambassador to the european union says the president directed him to pressure ukraine to investigate trump's political rival, joseph biden, and he says everyone around the president knew about it. also coming up, israel on the brink of its third election inside of a year. blue and white party leader benny gantz says he will not be

able to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline. and police in malalta arrest aa prominent bubusinessman in connnnection with the murderf investigatative journalisist dae alicea -- daphne galizia. he was detained in his yacht while apparently trying to escape the island. plus, we find out about the lessons that penguins can teach us about climate change. the antarctic is a key barometer for measuring the impact of climate change. we will take a look at researchers at work at the bottom of the world. i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. we begin in the united states. a key witness in the impeachment hearings against tromso fire has

the -- against president donald trump has described how the president made a two ukraine conditional on an investigation into the president's political rival. ambassador's testimony came on the fourth day of public impeachment hearings. a white house meeting between trump and ukraine's president was also on the table. here is part of sandlin's testimony. >> as i testified previously, mr. giuliani demanded that ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the

2016 election, d&c server, -- d&c -- dnc server. we knew these investigations were important to the president. brent: let us go to washington and bring in our correspondent who is covering the story for us. good evening to you. what we heard today was damming testimony -- damning testimony. how much was the u.s. president damaged by this today? >> it sounds very damaging, the testimony of former ambassador gordon sondland on capitol hill because what he confirmed was essentially what democrats were hoping for, that there was this now famous quid pro quo that

trump and his administration pushed for political dirt against joe biden. ambassador sondland said this was the case. he said the administration as well as rudy giuliani knew about it. adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, who is basically leading the impeachment inquiry, said this was a pivotal moment in the history of the impeachment inquiry, and the biggest challenge remaining for democrats is to bring this message to the american voters, to the public, because as of now, supporters and opponents of the impeachment inquiry are still staying very much behind party lines. brent: despite that, republicans certainly cannot be happy with what they heard today. has there been reaction from republicans?

>> basically, their strategy is to raise doubt about the credibility of these weapons as they have done at recent hearings, and they have done it today again when they asked ambassador sondland if the president directed him personally to push for an investigation. of course, he had to say no because he only spoke to the president's lawyer, so that is basically their line of defense. democrats are trying to make clear that ambassador sondland has been a lifelong republican who served under george w. bush, so they believe he has a high level of credibility, and they are certainly trying to capitalize on that. president trump says he does not even know ambassador sondland, that he joined the administration quite late. brent: it's hard to believe the president would say that,

considering the president had to nominate their sandlin -- mr. sandland -- mr. sondland to be the ambassador. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world -- britain's prince andrew says he will step back stein, who was found hanged inp a new york prison cell months ago. police s say theyy want to arret several dozezen activists who ae still barricaded inside campus buildings in hong kong. more than 1000 people have been arrested since monday. riot police in zimbabwe have attacked supporters of the opposition movement for democratic change. a crowd gathered in the capital

to hear aa speech by the nbc leader. he l later said the incident shs the government is afraid of public anger over the country's economy. in israel, a third election within a year looks increasingly likely tonight. benny gantz has announced he has not been able to form a new government. he heads the opposition blue and white party and had until midnight on wednesday to form a governing coalition under a presidential mandate, but he has told israel's president he has had no success persuading other parties to support a minority government. prime minister benjamin also tried and fafailed to form a government. dw correspondent tania kramer has more. benny gantz just declared he is

unable to form a govovnment. what has been the problem for him? tania: there have been many problems on the way. we heard benny gantz speaking tonight, giving his statement, handing back his mandate some hours earlier. what he basically said is that he noted voters wanted a unity government, but one problem is benjamin netanyahu.. he kind of accused netanyahu to hold the country hostage. they had 55 seats, short of the 61 netanyahu would have needed to form a national right-wing coalition government. that wasas one of the main problems. the other problem, it appears, was the rotation of such a unity

government. it would have been a rotational premiership. there was disagreement over who would g go first. . against -- mr.r. gantz said he had made far-reaching compromises. brent: what is g going to hapen next? >> now the mandate has been given back to ththe president. parliamement members have now 21 days, and any of those memberers could say they are able to forom a coalition governrnment if they get the 61 seats together to form such a coalition government. bennnny gantz has said they will still be in talks and also prime minister n netanyahu will stille talks and they will try to get a

unity government together, but that is highghly unlikely, so it lookoks more likely that we migt head for a third election. brent: thank you. plastic waste -- it is one of the most urgent challenges in the 21st century. the problem has gotten worse since china stopped importing plastic rubbish last year. much of the hard to recycle plastic waste is produced in the west. it used to be shipped to china, and now much of that material is finding its way to neighboring countries such as malaysia. >> lydia ong is not afraid of what she calls the waste mafia, nor of the bullies who work for them. what does scare her happens over here. food and beverages are produced at this facility, she says, but right next to it is a factory

filled with imported plastic waiting to be melted down. >> it smells of burning plastic and chemical. burning plastic and chemical smell. very bad. >> waste is kept out of sight at most of the illegal factories. residents say dozens of these factories sprang up after china decided to stop importing plastic waste from the west. lydia ong is retired. she spends a lot of her time these days lighting the flood of plastic waste from overseas. >> allowing overseas countries to send their plastic waste to our country, this is very sad.

>> this image was taken by fellow campaigners, showing plastic being burnedy the coununtryside o or in illegal factories. the e pungent smell hangs in the city air. sounds crazy, but here, it's normal. rubbish is sent from around the world. at the moment, there are more than 100 containers full of waste. the paperwork for this one is ok, but it's a filthy business. waste from western consumer societies often ends up in places like this, stashed among abandoned buildings. it's everyday packaging from german supermarkets. the director of an australian company, one of the few operating in malaysia that properly recycles waste, spoke

with us. >> i c.l. otter other waste which must have been sent out with a clear idea of it being nonrecyclable. for example, this dirty piece of heavily broken or decayed plastic wrapping. i don't know what magic anyone would like to apply to recycle it. whoever would tell you this can be recycled is a liar. >> residents are putting out their bins for collection. meanwhile in the evening, factories burned rubbish from western nations. some spend their days indoors. her daughter has not been to kindergarten in months. >> it's just better for her. otherwise she gets a fever after just one or two days. she coughs and her nose starts to run.

if you plays outside, she gets nosebleeds. >> lydia ong wears a mask outdoors and has a message for western nations. >> tell your government don't send your waste to our country anymore. we have enough. >> she hopes people around the world will hear her plea and stop sending their waste to malaysia. brent: now from asia to the bottom of the world, the antarctic is one of the most remote places on the planet, but also one that is warming up at an alarming rate. scientists fear global warming will melt the ice, contributing to rising sea levels. one of the dozens of international laboratories that are monitoring global warming is the neumeyer station, and that is where our next report picks up.

>> antarctica, a continent almost completely covered in ice, yetet extremely sensitive o even the slighte changes in climate. its edge, the frozen ocean front, is home to the emperor penguin. on the ice shelf, it is freezing cold, perfect conditions for emperor penguin breeding. researchers say if the climate changes, it would likely affect them. right now, they are trying to count the penguins in the colony. >> i think a huge danger for this penguin colony here is that the structure of the sea ice on which they breed is changing. if there is an increase in temperature and the sea ice shrinks or makes up earlier in the year, there breeding season will be shortened. they may not have any breeding grounds at all anymore. under certain circumstances, they would not be able to build

their colony at all or be able to reproduce. >> the researchers are documenting the penguins' numbers from above with a drone. they have been commissioned by the german environment ministry to get the big picture of what is happening here. >> the camera l looks directly down and takes picture after picture at certain intervals. these pictures are supposed to overlap. that way we can paste them together as far as possible. >> they y that here a a few kilometers away at the institute's neumeyer station. researchers use 3d images to collect their data. they hope to gain information on if and how pink onones are reacting to warming temperatures. collective warming is limited to 1.5 or 2° celsius, this spring

-- this species of penguin could survive. >> scientists measure how much things are warming up on the roof of the research station. they send up weather balloons to collect and send back relevant data. over the coming years, reresearchers hope t to measuret changeges, where, and by how mu. >> at the station, for example, we are not actually seeing any changes in temperature. it's the same at many other stations across antarctica, but that's not the case on the antarctic peninsula. there has been a stark rise in temperatures there. >> and if that peninsula which is causing glacier crusts in the most northerly regions of the antarctic to melt. scientists have also measured a warming of the water. climatee change is already starting to eatat away at antarctitica. it's just a question of how far

the effects will reach. brent: authorities in malta have arrested a prominent businessman in connection with the murder of investigative journalist daphne galizia. the car bomb killing two years ago caused outrage around the world. the multi's goverernment hasas n strongngly c cticized f for its handling of ththe investigatati. > stopped by the militatary,e multis busininessmanan's luxuxuy yacht. apparently,, yorgrgen fennech, a suspect in the murder of journalist d daphne galizia, wanted to leave the island. he is said to be the owner of a previously secret company that aimed to transfer money to multis politicians via offshore companies in panama. that's what galizia had been

investstating. twoo earars ago in october, t te 53-year-old journalist was killed in a car bomb attack. she had d previoususlyeceived mumultiple deaeath rates, whiche reported to the police. -- she had previously received multiple death threats. it was a matter that sparked outrage in malta and abroad. three men have been charged with placing the car bomb, but it is still not known who instigated the crime. malta's prime minister appears guarded. he has spoken of a person of interest being arrested. he has offered a middleman immunity from prosecution. he has declared that he knows the instigator, but some believe members of the government may be involved in the crime. >> it is premature to speculate on anything.

you, the media, are free to reach your own conclusions, but i cannot speculate. we have to wait some hours or days. it depends. i will hold back a few days before expressing myself. >> he says he wants to discover the truth about daphne galizia's death, but that does not stop calls for him to resign from growing louder. brent: for more on t this storyi am joined by keith micallef, a a jojournalistst. talk to o me about the circumstances s surrounding the arrest. >> in the e early hours o of ths

momorning around 5:00 in the morning, mr. fennech left for his luxury yacht, but the yacht was intercepted and forced to come back to t the island. the circumstances in which he was leaving raised suspicion ththat he was going to absbscon. later on, it was revealedd that in the l last few days, prior en to hisame being g formally started -- formally starting to be mentioned on the media, he had resigned. brent: is there any connection between today's arrest and the story from earlier this week and that being the middleman who agreed to cooperate with authorities who reportedly may

know who the killer is? he is hoping to getet a pardon from t t prime mininister. is there a connection here? >> yes, apparently, there has been a connection. the story was published indicating there is a very importantt bususinessmen in mala who could be involved in this matter, but for some reason, police never arrested him, nerer interrogateded him. now this is happening about a month lalater when internanatiol scrutiny is increasasing on the government's s handlingf f the case, why it took so long for authorities to take this actioin when it wawawell knownwn that bh

mrmr. fenennech and this middddn had to do with the e case. following last thursdaday's arrt ofof this middleman, this middleman might have had newew evevidence whihich would point toward mr.r. fennechch. the next natural step, authorities werere obligeged toe actionon. on the other hand, the circumstances under which he tried to abscond this morning probably preempted his a arrest. brent: joining us with the latest on the murder investigation surrounding that killing. thank you. some of today's fastest growing sports have nothing to do with ballgames or athletics. computer-based exports are attracting huge crowds to

international competitions and star players can earn big rewards, so it's no wonder that many youngsters dream of making a career in the sport. some schools in sweden have latched onto the trend and are even offering lessons. >> 17-year-old shawn is on his way to school half an hour north of stockholm, but his school is unique. kids can play games here at 8:00 in the morning, and i is part of the timetable. >> this totally motivatates me. you wake up before academic classes start. yourur brain switches into gear and you get to do what you like. >> sean is learning to play league of legends, currently one of the most popular computer games.s. more than 100 million people play it worldwide. his teacher sees himself more as a coach. >> the gamee is pretty tight. right now his team is behind and under pressure. they havave to be proactive. >> he actually wanted to become a professisional soccer player,

but he tore a ligament and while in rehab, started to playy cocomputer games. >> the pupils here mainly learn how w to solve problems, which e plentiful in this game. for example, my opponent is stronger than i am and looks unbeatable, so i have to work out a way of winning. >> more than 40 schools in sweden offeree sport courses as well as playing on the computer, physical fitness and proper nutrition are part of the lessons, but doctors complain this kind of classroom activity could increase addictive behavior. >> this mainly has to do with what we call internrnet gaming disorder. thatat'ss when p people p play d more and don't do anything else. their entire focus lies solely on playing computer games. >> te sports industry is worth billions. each game is unique. the audience at the 2019 league

of legends final in paris was almost double last year's, and e sports is the fastest-growing branch of sportsts. schoolols in sweden compete fofr young people like sean and have to attract people with their courses. pupils are now on their way to math class, including sean. the 17-year-old could havee bright future in sports. > my goal is to do the sport professionally, and if t that ds not work, i want to become a programmer, but my prospects of actually becoming a professional are looking good. >> then maybe his photo will hang here on the wall of fame next to the other athletes who learn their lessons here. brent: here is a reminder of the top story we are following for you -- the u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland, has told the

impeachment inquiry that donald trump pressured ukraine to implicate trump's political rival, joseph biden. he says everyone around the president knew about it. you are watching "dw news." after the break, i will be back to take you through "the day." i will talk with a former watergate executor and ask if the testimony we heard today sealed the fate of the trump presidency. be right back.

. yahoo to swap into live from paris world news and analysis from fronts twenty four i'm margot in these are the headlines. trump speak as he you ambassador golden sununland says thehere was a quid pro quo with you quite ukrkrne. giving a testament to the beach would inquire reseller reiterated you were just following the president's oldest. bubut againn to see comee from the government israel remains in political limbo for the current prime minister benjamin netanyahu it's good to use because if the delays. and expected corruption case. for israel another election two already this year now. can the special won't spur on top number. just