Hello the impeachment inquiry into donald trump is stepping up a gear televised hearings are starting next week americas top diplomat in ukraine William Taylor will be one of the 1st to appear the tailor had said in an earlier closed door testimony it was in his words a clear understanding that the president had withheld military aid to ukraine in return for kiev investigating his political rival joe biden and his son that testimony matches other witnesses including the United States ambassador to the e. U. I think you will see throughout the course of the testimony not only their testimony but many others the. Most important facts are largely not contested we are getting an increasing appreciation for just what took place during the course of the last year and the degree to which the president and listed the whole departments of government in the elicit a move trying to get ukraine to dig up dirt on a political opponent as well as further Conspiracy Theory about the 2016 election that he believed would be beneficial to his reElection Campaign. Castro has more from washington. Bill taylor is the acting ambassador to ukraine and for impeachment investigators he served as a guide giving the road map with conversations dates and people connecting the dots to make this case to investigators that trump use the power of his office to try to get ukraine to help him with his Political Campaign for reelection now taylor testified behind closed doors 2 weeks ago but according to the transcript that was just released he said he had a clear understanding that there was a quid pro quo and he said the idea for this came from trumps private attorney who was empowered by the president to circumvent regular diplomatic channels in order to carry out this Foreign Policy in ukraine that prioritize trumps political interests above that of National Security now moving forward investigators have announced that public hearings will begin taking place next week which is at the key of what democrats who are trying to impeach President Trump want to accomplish they want more members of the American Public to hear the case for impeaching the president from these witnesses themselves up until this point all of the hearings have happened behind closed doors so the information to americans have has come closer through hundreds of journalists but even up to this point there is a growing number of americans who according to polls do support impeaching and even removing trump from office that number is hovering right around 50 percent democrats are hoping that if they can get a clear majority of the public to support them to impeach the president then perhaps they can make a convincing argument to their republican colleagues in the senate who ultimately will be deciding the president s guilt or innocence and perhaps remove him from office. That was John Marshall is an assistant professor at Northwestern University an alter of watergates legacy and the press the investigative impulse he says the Public Inquiry is mark a significant new phase in the investigation what i think were going to see happen is the inquiry turned from an investigation stage primarily to more of a performance stage now that we have some of the transcripts coming out people are so seeing it with with their eyes the words that the witnesses have been saying and then what next week when the live hearings start which will be televised and im sure streamed all over social media people are going to see for themselves the witnesses and hear for themselves the words and whether the chairmanship and chairman navl are can run hearings that are persuasive to the public and perform in a way that makes the impeachment inquiry seem like its a fair and thorough process that could really sway Public Opinion in contrast if the House Republicans are able to perform in a way to try to make the impeachment process seem like its chaotic and unfair and im sure theyre going to call it a circus then that is going to probably stop Public Opinion shifting enough to persuade enough republicans to vote in favor of impeachment. A 2 former twitter employees have been charged with spying for saudi arabia a complaint unsealed in a San FranciscoDistrict Court alleges the pair accessed personal account information of more than 6000. 00 twitter uses they include prominent critics of the saudi royal family prosecutors say the employees an american and a Saudi National were rewarded with a designer watch and tens of thousands of dollars in secret Bank Accounts theyve been charged for acting as agents of riyadh without registering with the u. S. Government a 3rd man a saudi has also been charged in the case rob reynolds sounds details. The Justice Department announced in San Francisco that it had arrested 2 former engineers for twitter they were charged with spying for the Saudi Arabian government and passing on information about dissidents and people who made true critical remarks on twitter about the saudi regime a 3rd person who was a Saudi National was also arrested he is believed or alleged to have been the go between between the passing on the information those engineers gathered and the sending it to the saudi officials the defacto ruler of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince mohammed bin samana is actually mentioned in this criminal complaint although he is only referred to as royal Family Member number one it is believed that one of the twitter engineers flew to washington d. C. In 2015 right around the time that crown Prince Mohammed bin solomon was rapidly rising to his powerful status that he enjoys today and met with a member of the royal family and shortly after that the spying commenced the spies gather all sorts of information about people making critical comments about the saudi government including their email addresses their ip addresses their dates of birth and so forth among the thousands of accounts that were breached was one belonging to a prominent saudi dissident Omar Abdel Aziz he was close to the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi who of course as we know was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul a little over a year ago by saudi state agents according to multiple intelligence agencies several people have been killed after an attack on a port in western yemen and you have a. The iran backed rebels are being blamed for launching missiles and drones at the red sea port of a theyre fighting a saudi and the rotty Led Coalition thats backing yemens internationally recognized government it is the 1st major attack in the region since saudi arabias around coal Oil Facilities were hit in september iran was blamed for those strikes though it denied any involvement at least 47. 00 people have been killed afferent to an attack on a mining employees in bikini a faster a convoy carrying stuff from a canadian own mine was targeted in the east they were being escorted by the military fighting with groups linked to i saw an al qaeda has surged in the last year killing hundreds of people on monday france and oust the deployment of more ground troops. Are the deputy leader of the u. K. Labor Party Tom Watson has announced he is quitting politics the surprise announcement came as campaigning began in the snap general election it is the 2nd time the countrys going to the polls since the 2016 brags that referendum for brennan reports. The Election Campaign is officially on and the Prime Minister left downing street with the air of a man with no time to waste even using social media to post an election update while on route to get the queens approval for the bounce so to see about Steve Mcqueen which is always a very tough interview the role formalities complete johnson returned to downing street to address the media and lay out his battle plan a stark choice he said between his vision of a u. K. Quickly out of the e. U. With a dynamic free market economy and his opponents plans for high taxation and more uncertainty come with us it breaks it down and take this country forward. This is the alternative next year spend the whole of 2020 in a horror show of yet more diva and delay imagine waking up on friday the distance ember of the 13th and finding corbin at the head of his technicolor youll have a coalition in a newspaper column on wednesday the Prime Minister attacked Jeremy Corbyn the Opposition Labor Party leader for targeting the rich with a vindictiveness not seen since stalin but on the campaign trail in the u. K. Midlands mr corbyn insisted that britains richest 5 percent had a moral obligation to pay more together we can do something spectacular we can transform peoples hopes by the inclusiveness he of our campaign and into town and i saw this coming and it isnt painful and not held back and left behind. I think it is time for real change and i cant wait for december the 12th when we can stop that real change to change this country into a decent caring compassionate place that works for and cast for all. As campaigns go its been a shaky start for the conservatives and a sign of just how unrestrained this Election Campaign may become because 7 has posted a doctorate in social media video of labours brecks it spokesman here starmer and then refused to apologize when called out for it just moments before the Prime Ministers speech a letter arrived from cabinet minister alan cans tendering his resignation of allegations which he denies that he lied about his knowledge of a collapsed court case cans was lined up to lead the conservative campaign in wales and his loss is a blow and those setbacks came off the back of controversial and much criticised comments by senior conservatives about the ground felt how a fight for them but this is a marathon not a sprint the 2 main parties are being challenged by the climate initiatives of the green party targeted pressure from our joe families as brecks it party the separatist vision from the scottish nationalists a new optimism from pro remain liberal democrats and liberal democrats by for the full action to win so that we can stop wrecks it and create a greater future. First 24 hours of good or bad headlines are unlikely to decide decembers outcome in the next 5 weeks is shaping up to be a no holds barred political scrap an election battle with local and regional twists and a contest whose results will have far reaching consequences across europe and beyond paul brennan aljazeera. A head on a rare attack on tourists in jordan that story later in the show. And an ultimatum from bolivias opposition as anger against the president spreads to rule layers. How we got something of a cold plunge in the weather across the good parts of north america at the moment this band of cloud here across the plains well thats the boundary between the very cold air poly alice of canada and the a woman rather moderate a little further south as we go on through the next couple of days well weather is to make you can see this line of very heavy rain from texas oklahoma pushing up across the Appalachian Mountains snow in the more than flank of that as you push our way into that northeastern corner off kind of the old makes its way further race whats fresher weather Colder Weather coming in behind as an ice f a new york and for washington some really wet weather a least an seaboard full friday down into the panhandle across the deep South Central areas generate dry cold enough temperatures struggling to get up to freezing there was the Northern Plains for the mountain states but hot when theyre in l. A. Notice those temperatures back up to around 30 degrees celsius not good news here lousy dry across a good postle the caribbean but the western parts of the region we have got some showers the usual showers arac ling in i think particular crossed nicaragua costa rica was kind of awesome heavy shasta much of the audience is 5 and dry pleasant 2 when things didnt jamaica. 30. J. O. You were at the mercy of the state but in the land of the free shareholders have a stake it is this profit motive that continues to interfere with Adequate Health care being provided to people who are detained in incarcerated across the country saw lines investigates how the outsourcing of health care in american jails is impacting the lives and deaths of those behind bars sick inside. Hello again youre watching and you see a reminder of our top stories this hour the United States top diplomat in ukraine says he had a clear understanding military aid for kiev was tied to an investigation into President Trumps political rivals William Taylor will be one of the 1st witnesses to appear in public hearing set for next week. The u. S. Justice department has charged 2 former twitter employees with spying on behalf of saudi arabias government theyre accused of accessing the accounts of thousands of users including prominent critics of the saudi go. Yemens government says the rebels have fired missiles at the red sea port of and at least 8 people are reported to have been killed it is the biggest attack since september. And ron has resumed enriching uranium at an underground facility and began injecting uranium gas into centrifuges at the fordo plant from midnight local time to has been scaling back on its commitments to the 2050 nuclear deal after the us pulled out of the accord reimpose sanctions dosage a body has more from to her. The foregoing Nuclear Facility near the city of call me is now fully operational according to Irans Atomic Energy Organization just past midnight the uranium gas has been injected into centrifuges at that site and that is where the rains have said they will start producing. About 5 percent the reigning present has some rouhani said this measure has been taken this is the 4th step they are taking to scale back their commitment to the nuclear deal of 2015 now this facility the fordo site became a Research Facility as of january of 2016 under the green meant and that is because this is the only site in iran that is able to enrich uranium at 20 percent they were a means have said that they are taking this measure because the european signatories of the way are not upholding their and of the deal and this is the most serious step to theyve taken and until the european signatories show that they are committed to this Nuclear Agreement iran will continue to scale back its commitments but the president has stressed that all these measures theyve taken so far are reversible as soon as the European Countries show full compliance by people who have been injured in a knife attack in the jordanian city of jeddah a popular tourism spot 3 mexican us and a Swiss National were among those stabbed in the smith reports. One is our mother as one tourist lies face down apparently bleeding heavily another tries to stop the blood flow. A woman screams in spanish hes got a dagger. Witnesses say a man jumped over a fence at the roman city n. J. Rash and randomly slashed and stabbed at people around him. If he was heading towards the care for tear and i was standing by the door behind me were all the tourists a little min to the cafeteria passed in front of me in a link towards them slipped in instead me then backed away moving towards the policeman he gave the policeman a slight stare and tried to attack him from behind and i pushed him to the ground afterwards all the policemen came and took him. 3 mexicans a swiss and 4 jordanians were injured 2 described as in a serious condition although everyone is now stable according to Jordans Health Ministry the. People who are admitted to the operation room of the doctors at the Public Hospital in georgia still working on the bleeding has stopped this situation is under control and both people are stable them 2 cases were transferred by helicopter to king has seen medical city one was a mexican tourist and the other one was a jordanian guide we pray for them to recover the roman city it is one of jordans most important tourism attractions more than 300000. 00 people visited last year attacks on tourists are rare its one of the most stable countries in the region and that helped boost tourism which generated revenues of around 5000000000 dollars last year thats essential income for a country facing an economic crisis and with youth unemployment at around 40 percent Bernard Smith aljazeera. But jordanian Authorities Say the suspect is a young man from a Palestinian Refugee camp his father says the family is in shock. We were about to faint may god not bless him because the one who commits this act is a psycho what fault as a tourist have i told to many times the tourist has no fault they are peaceful they are coming here to enjoy their time. There you will do it my message is that anyone who commits such an act should be hanged kill him and get rid of him we do not need him i now have 3 sons not for. The 3 african countries at odds over a multi 1000000000. 00 dam project on the nile hope to resolve the dispute by january 15th Foreign Ministers from egypt ethiopia and sudan are in washington for talks with the us mediating the dispute president don trump who met with the mist the said the meeting went well. Has been building what it calls the. Dam near its northwestern border with sudan for 8 years now egypt fears the dam could reduce the flow of the nile river downstream which accounts for nearly 90 percent of its water supply the 5000000000. 00 project is part of ethiopias plan to produce enough energy to meet its growing demand analysts fear the dispute could escalate if a deal is not reached before the project is completed in 2022 mike hanna has more from washington. Well it came as a surprise when the Foreign Ministers arrived in the white house for talks with President Trump thered be no prior notification whatsoever and news of the meeting was only confirmed when the president himself tweeted a photograph with the Foreign Ministers after the talks had taken place he said that the meeting went well and that discussions would continue the 3 Foreign Ministers are in d. C. For talks under the mediation of the treasury secretary steve this is a curious choice by president to head talks given that this would normally be a function fulfilled by the department of state however the talks continue through the day very low profile no media access whatsoever in fact was never confirmed where the meeting was taking place how long it took there has been promise of a written statement when the talks conclude however this is a significant shift forward in terms of the fact that the talks between the 3 parties have broken down 3 times since 2014 the important point would appear to be ethiopias willingness to come to d. C. For a long period of time it insisted there can be no outside mediation if the situation has to be resolved between the 3 parties themselves however the fact that the foreign minister was here in d. C. Was speaking to the other 2 Foreign Ministers and to the mediation of the u. S. Treasury secretary a very strong indication that they could be movement that after years of argument there is a possibility of some kind of agreement in the months to come. A few hours judges at the International Criminal court will sentence bosco and again the former rebel leader in the democratic republic of congo and again theres been convicted of 18 council war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed by the rebel fighters he led 2 decades ago the prosecution wants a 30 year prison term Catherine Sawyer reports from q one in eastern d r c we both going to go and i has been nicknamed by the people of eastern democratic republic of congo as the terminator hes a former rebel leader hues of human rights abuses in several parts of the region judges at the International Criminal court found him guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder in child soldiers and sexual slavery. The crimes are committed to a province between 200220035 the patchy arctic force for the liberation of congo rebel group. And the lead the military wing thomas who bangle was the head of the group and the serving 14 years in jail at the i. C. C. This man says his 2 brothers were killed by the fighters with a deeper meaning to look in the we lost many Family Members Sisters Brothers uncles we also lost a lot of property. It to remind be the focus of this case but you know of a town more than 800 kilometers south victims of a moscow a 150 people were killed in one day in 2006 have been falling Court Proceedings kinley they sent a gun to was one of the leaders of rebel fighters who attacked their villages he says to have been passing the in charge of the q one to killings almost everyone here in q one lost a loved one of those we talked to said. And the fighters he led to use them off protecting a rival rebel they also say they want justice. Rebecca shows us has cause she says her husband and one year old son were killed in. Whats happening with tug on the should be a deterrent to all those who want to come and terrorize us in the villages those people destroyed all lives this part of the country has been embroiled in Armed Conflict for decades thousands of rebel groups control remote villages and Towns Campaign as one the government and regional bodies to deal with human rights abuses. We need a proper court here with proper investigators and Justice System people want to have their day in court and looked at perpetrators and the i. C. C. Is too far away and disconnected from victims in the villages. And that is the 4th person to be convicted by the i. C. C. Sais he deserves to be in jail for life rebecca. Is still waiting for Justice Catherine saw aljazeera q one job is done democratic republic of congo. Protesters in lebanon have blocked roads and gathered outside government buildings in beirut as demonstrations there again against the ruling elite continue the nationwide protests began in october forcing Prime Minister saad hariri to resign but theres been no sign of progress towards agreement on a new government. But chile is chief prosecutor has charged 14 Police Officers for allegedly torturing antigovernment protesters theres anger over inequality in one of latin americas richest nations the president has proposed an increase in the minimum wage it is the latest in a series of concessions that have so far failed to pacify protesters. Bolivians angry at an election they see as fraudulent have been protesting since the vote last month they want president able more or less to step down as bolivians await the results of an International Order to the election divisions in the country a deepening that isobel reports. In sendai google of sierra the heart of bolivias Agricultural Industry a move is underway to disregard presidency is the most of you looked almost in government we are symbolically taking over Public Institutions because it meetings nationally we have decided that believe humans are not in agreement with the frog this frog that has been seen internationally we want the vote to be respected by all citizens from bolivia last month it will more or less won the presidency with a 10 point difference hes opponent catalog makes and denounce fraud when the vote count was halted for at least 24 hours when the ball too soon and it showed a shift that favored it will more or less and thats why people are demanding a new election. He should resign that is what the people are demanding and he owes that to the people that is why we are radicalizing our methods and we are in permanent peaceful protests to recover our democracy and our freedom. On wednesday. Clashes broke out between anti morales protesters and those who support him an example of the deep divisions in the sand in nation. It will more or less where libyas 1st indigenous precedent continues to enjoy support mostly in rural areas hes followers say morales opponents are racists and they vowed to defend their president. Were calling for justice prison for camacho someone needs to pay for their crimes for a man look im actually hes the leader of the person that lucy becoming a group that has consistently challenge to us since he won the presidency in 2006 i this would be moralists 4th term in office his critics say he has ignored a referendum in which were levy and voted to restrict precedence to 2 terms. The organization of american states is auditing the vote and it is expected to be completed before the middle of the month but until then tension is unlikely to end anytime soon that is how will i just see there. Are more than 40 years after its launch nassers a voyage or 2 spacecraft are sent back invaluable information from beyond our solar system it is the 2nd spacecraft to reach the interstellar poorly understood part of space is giving new insight into the boundary of the solar system where the suns influence ends and outer space begins Scientists Say they did not expect the spacecraft to survive to see this land log. Car was going around and now of our top stories on aljazeera the United States top diplomat in ukraine says he had a clear understanding military aid for kiev was tied to an investigation into President Trumps political rivals William Taylor will be one of the 1st witnesses to appear in public hearings scheduled for next week how do you know castro has more. He said he had a clear understanding that there was a quid pro quo and he said the idea for this came from trumps private attorney who was empowered by the president to circumvent regular diplomatic channels in order to carry out this foreign as shadow policy in ukraine that prioritize trumps political interests above that of National Security and the u. S. Justice department has charged to form a twitter employees for spying for saudi arabia theyre accused of accessing the accounts of thousands of users including prominent critics of the saudi government rob reynolds has more from los angeles the u. S. Attorney in this case David Anderson referred to saudi arabia in his comments saying quote we will not allow u. S. Companies or Us Technology to become tools of foreign repression and while as you mentioned the saudis have not commented twitter as a spokesman saying in a statement we recognize the lengths that bad actors will go to undermine to try and undermine our service and twitter says it is committed to protecting the identities of its users who discuss things like human rights repression and democracy and free speech yemens government says who the rebels have fired missiles at the red sea port of at least 8 people are reported to have been killed it is the biggest attack since september. Chief prosecutor has charged 14 Police Officers for allegedly torturing antigovernment protests these demonstrations are now in the 20th day those are the headlines youre up to date here on exit at the bottom line is next. From the london brood costs 2 special guests encompass a nation they only want to protect life for 9 months let me before your year old unprompted uninterrupted black people for as long as weve been fighting back have been labelled as terrorist intimately reflecting on the issues of our time people like to think that their nationalism is not as brutal as someone elses National Studio unscripted coming soon on aljazeera hi im Steve Clemons and i have a question is there a way to protect free speech online while fighting misinformation and disinformation lets get to the bottom line. A lot can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on it shoes the saying might be a few centuries old but it certainly rings true today anyone anywhere can publish anything and if it catches on theres no stopping what it can do either for good or for evil so how can people be protected from the nefarious manipulation of information and they disrupt the promotion of false hoods by governments and organizations or