Promising to punish those guilty of abuse. The white house and ukraine expert has testified that he felt a sense of duty to flag up a phone call thats at the center of impeachment proceedings against donald trump lets unchain Will Alexander vinland was among 4 people questioned on tuesday the Trump Administration has dismissed their testimonies as personal opinion and conjecture helen fisher reports from washington. This could be a pivotal week in the donald trump impeachment hearings many of the shuttle to give evidence were on the controversial july call with the ukrainian president that kills a key claim the hearings are based on 2nd hand reports giving evidence of tenet colonel alexander vigilant a career army officer and the ukraine expert on the National Security council he was concerned by the call by President Trump pushing for an investigation into Democrat Joe Biden and his son immediately took those concerns to a white house lawyer it is improper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government investigate a u. S. Citizen and a political opponent a decorated veteran of the water in iraq vidlin his seat his actions in testifying under attack from President Trump supporters who question his loyalty this is america is the country ive served and defended that all of my brothers have served and here right matters. Thank you sir gilbert. And i. Won a Vice President might pences beads Jennifer Williams also appeared before the committee saying she had the call and considered it political in nature republicans are insisting the president did nothing wrong and was fully entitled to demand an investigation into biden and his sons business dealings in ukraine as millions of americans are watching throughout the hysteria and frenzied Media Coverage 2 key facts have not changed that are critical to these impeachment proceedings one ukraine in fact received the aid and 2 there was no investigation into the guidance then we had an appearance from kut volcker the former special representative to ukraine hes a witness called by republicans but he dismantled a key republican talking point that joe biden did something wrong as i previously testified i have known Vice President biden for 24 years is an honorable man and i hold him in the highest regard former National Security official Timothy Morrison admitted the ukrainians were told the u. S. Wanted something from ukraine to unfreeze the that had been allocated an actual quid pro quo that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general. Make a statement or with respect to the investigations as a condition of having the ablest as democrats try to build a compelling case the republican leader of the senate where the definitive vote on action will be held says he doesnt see donald trump being removed from office its inconceivable to me to be 67 votes. To remove the president from office President Trump whos described some of those giving evidence as never trampers in the past actually acknowledged he doesnt know most of them but i dont know i never heard of him i dont know any of these people other than i have seen. Their investigation the white house is continuing to mount its defense issuing a statement from Keith Kellogg the National Security adviser to Vice President mike pence he says he was on the call to the ukrainian president and despite evidence from others on tuesday he insists president bush did nothing wrong alan fischer washington. Exhausted but defiant a small number of protesters still inside a Hong Kong University campus are refusing orders to come out and surrender some of been trying to escape and avoid officers who surrounded the building the standoff began on sunday after some of the most intense violence and more than 5 months of Anti Government protests were during the worst of it demonstrators hold petrol bombs and even shot arrows at riot squads who threatened to respond with live ammunition meanwhile the u. S. Senate has passed a bill to support human rights in kong and china has reacted to that bill as it was under thomas joins us live now from beijing andrew so what more have chinese officials been saying about this bill passed by the u. S. Senate. Well i think its fair to say that beijing knew that this vote was coming up and knew that it was like to be passed and they had a pretty big statement prepared it came out immediately wednesday morning and its very long and its very strong but its worth reading because its remarkably strong the top of it says that this acts passed by the u. S. Senate neglects facts and truth applies double standards and blatantly interferes in Hong Kong Affairs and chinas other internal affairs is a serious violation of International Law and basic norms governing International Relations china condemns and firmly opposes it it goes on the issue hong kong faces is not about human rights or democracy but about stopping violence and chaos and it accuses the u. S. Senate it says that out of a hidden political agenda this act paints criminal moves as a pursuit of human rights and democracy the aim is to bolster anti china extremist and violent radicals who attempt to disrupt Hong Kong Hong kong it says is part of china we urge the u. S. To grasp this situation stop its wrongdoing before its too late and as a threat at the end china will have to take a strong Counter Measures to defend our National Sovereignty security and development interests if the u. S. Insists on making the wrong decisions that is a very strong statement from of aging very very quickly after this act in part and the statement also references of course this act is not become more it would need to go ultimately to the u. S. President and really this is about trying to head off this act becoming law trying to say that there will be as it describes these Counter Measures if the law is passed ultimately but there is a threat as well as condemnation of what the u. S. Senate has done here and a real emphasis here the hong kong is nobodys business but chinas to under thomas there in beijing andrew thank you that is bring in sara clark who is live in Hong Kong Sara well talk about that u. S. Senate bill in just a moment but just bring us up to date on the situation inside the university how many students are still left there. Well the latest update is around 60 but between 60 and 100 students were still holed up behind us in the campus at the Polytechnic University in calgary and in the last 15 minutes theres been local reports that a small groups tried to escape through the underground drainage system now we now have police and fire emergency authorities that that particular exit trying to block them from getting out thats as far as we know the light is up tight but as for the number of people who have left this particular campus the secretary of security has confirmed that around 1100 have left and around 800 have voluntarily surrendered and 300 of those are under 18 now the Hong Kong Police struck a deal with the government and a variety of University Chancellors headmasters and teachers to guarantee that they will not charge those under 18 and that would allow for the safe exodus of those protesters inside who decided to voluntarily surrender but we do know theres still a large number of petrol bombs inside that particular campus has been made by these protesters have been holed up inside for quite some time since last week behind us this is one of the entrance points where some of those protesters have a skype over recent days this is now a 24 hour around the clock situation where brought police and monitoring every single exit to try and stop the last group of the hardcore protesters who remain inside and are refusing to leave or to answer a word we were we were talking to him drew the in beijing about china as a reaction to this u. S. Senate bill thats been passed which aims to protect human rights in hong kong what can this achieve do you think. Well certainly its a threat that has been made by the u. S. That could certainly include sanctions being used on china and hong kong if they do undermine the one country 2 systems policy and if they interfere undermine the human rights policies and acts here in hong kong now its a threat only you know if he has to go to the house of representatives before it can go through and then to President Donald Trump but certainly the Hong Kong Government has reacted angrily they have said this is our internal matters the u. S. Has no right to interfere in the internal policy affairs in hong kong and they say that they do believe that they are still basically backing the hong kongs bicycle or but they certainly rejected any interference by the u. S. With regard to this human rights and democracy act or it was unanimously passed in the Senate Earlier today sara thank you israel says its fighter jets of launch attacks in syria the army says warplanes hit Syrian Military targets some irans quds force in the early hours of wednesday syria says many of the rockets were shot down a day earlier israel intercepted 4 rockets launched towards the occupied Golan Heights from syria. In chile police say theyll stop using birdshot pellets on protest as at least for now the suspension follows an admission by president Sebastian Pinera that Security Forces have committed abuses and promised to punish those who are guilty on iraq and i reports now from santiago. On monday thousands took to the streets in sheilas capital sent the protesters commemorated one month since the unrest began nationwide but demonstrations like these are taking place almost every day across china. So more incidents involving police using violent tactics to disperse crowds and their lives and it would seem to say the level of violence of this government with our president theres almost a pandemic of people who have lost their eyes or have been the one not only that there are people who have been tortured or have disappeared its almost like a dictatorship under democracy. This ongoing crackdown by Security Forces against demonstrators has become one of the biggest sources of anger among protesters were in place a. I would say you know where police just employed here yes once again against peaceful demonstrators and its these tactics that people are protesting against and reforming the countrys Security Forces is just one of the many constitutional changes that protesters are demanding. She lay in president. Has admitted to the use of Excessive Force by police. Down in unfortunately and despite the Firm Commitment and all the precautions we take not only the government but also our forces and police to protect the human rights of all in some cases the protocols were not respected there was excessive use of force abuses or crimes were committed. In an effort to calm the unrest Public Officials have announced that a referendum to establish a Constitutional Convention will be forthcoming. This is a historic opportunity for chileans. For the 1st time well have a chance to write their own constitution this is what the people want and they dont want Political Parties deciding what is written in essence this is nothing more and nothing less and the creation of a new chilean republic. Measures by the government to change the president s cabinet and hold a constitutional referendum have done little to calm dissent. Near the front lines of mondays protest the scene was chaotic protesters armed with slingshots and rocks were met with tear gas and rubber bullets several people were injured amidst the chaos. For the most part the protests marking for weeks upon the rest were mostly a celebration although the consensus among chileans is that theres still a long way to go. Santiago chile. Time for a short break here when we come back of the libyan Security Forces opened up access to a major field block which had been blocked by supporters of former president at the heart of it. Im florence li on young child lake east in china where harry crabs thats so popular and expensive that that imitations in the market that story coming up. Hello there we have had quite a wide range of weather across iran over the last few days and we have more again we go snow in the cooler and we have got plenty of rain on offer as well as we go through wednesday can see quite a mix areas are going to the north with some snow and again across the south some snow and rain mixed in similar northern sections of afghanistan and it really does move in as we head into thursday that rain farther to the south could push later in the day on tools those western areas. Of pakistan on the eastern end of the mediterranean quite a bit of cloud coming your way so 22 celsius in beirut now heading to the south across the peninsula there is some more rain in the forecast here this as we go through wednesday quite a line of travelers showers in she will central and southern arrows a saudi also across into the emirates northern sections of oman and then by thursday this is when we could see some very heavy rain developing into the southern sections of saudi maybe northern yemen and also the fossil of north and west of oman that this could lead to some flash floods and look at the temperatures 24 in doha 17 celsius in riyadh house around 10 degrees below the average for this time of year not a bad couple days ahead in capetown some scattered showers in johannesburg but not cold with a high of 24. Who was sponsored by countdown and. What do you protesting about how does this encounter where theyre on line will i face minstrelsy times directly out of translating slavery or joining us on sat this is an attack on Academic Freedom and on our ability to do research and teach freely this is a dialogue in ours not making it very welcoming for people to come back everyone has a voice on the changes through d the discourse in this real norm here to talk about the solutions amount is iraq. Welcome back a mind of our top stories here this hour more witnesses have been publicly questioned in the impeachment inquiry against president from one of them white house. Its on the described with ukraines president. Trumps accused of wrongly pressing ukraine to investigate political one. Israel says its fighter jets of launch attacks in syria. Planes at Syrian Military targets and irans puts force in the early hours of wednesday. And protesters holed up inside a Hong Kong University campus are still refusing to surrender to police and u. S. Senate meanwhile has unanimously approved a bill supporting human rights in hong kong. Now the pentagons warning that i saw is getting stronger again because of the u. S. Withdrawal from syria and turkey subsequent offensive that in a report it says those developments allow deisel to rebuild its capabilities and resources it also warns the death of ice a leader Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi will do little to slow the resurgence and goes on to say that the group is likely to focus on freeing fighters who are held by kurdish led forces were not a hashem is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of denver he says a stabilizing force is needed to fill the power vacuum in the region. The short term challenge is to try and stabilize this area it was previously stabilized by american troop presence in alliance with Kurdish Forces so now that that arrangement has been. Changed i think thats the immediate i think the pressing challenge is to find some alternative security arrangement that prevents this area from further destabilizing allowing isis to you know insert itself and to reorganize but of course the longer term challenges still remain in these have to do with you know the the social economic and political conditions that produced isis to begin with to have to do with you know authoritarian regimes unemployed young people the lack of hope and also the ideological challenge that isis still poses as a as a movement that can still attract disgruntled young muslim men from around the world so i think those are the you know those are the 2. Medium paradigms that i think need to be dealt with. In bolivia least 3 people have been killed during a security operation to end the blockade of a major fuel plant by supporters of the former president. Theyre demanding the return of the left as leader after massive protests led to his resignation reports. Violent scenes once again in the city of hundreds of members of the Security Forces headed to the sink at the gas plant on tuesday supporters of elmore dallas were blocking it to prevent gas from reaching the capital. Several people were killed and many others injured when Security Forces cleared the way and. They are killing our bolivian brothers we want freedom we want a president with our blood we will fight for it with our lives. There are roadblocks in many parts of bolivia and the streets leading to the capital are no exception protesters say bolivias democracy is under threat but protests like this one are preventing gas diesel and some food items from reaching the city people here say that they want to repeat what indigenous leader back up that he did when he shut down all access to the capital well theyre saying that they want to do exactly the same right now to force the resignation of interim president journeyman yes. To back up that hes objective in 781 was to isolate lead pass in the fight for independence from spain he was later killed. Under siege was a tactic also used in more recent times in 2003 then president. Was also forced out of office after massive demonstrations that closed the capital with ever more or less hold of the country and that interim administration in place Security Forces claim they wont allow the past to repeat itself many say the violence needs. To stop. Bolivia is split into it is a good country even more or less is gone and what are we going to do about it i would like to see people unite and find a candidate for elections stop throwing rocks we are killing one another among the libyans and elections will come and we wont have a candidate violence needs to stop. The attempt to pass happened as the interim government is negotiating with a one party for new elections this people that want to have a new process within the must but there are now no saving with with the government for new elections by the radical people within the party led by a more or less are person in this people with threaten everything to not do any consensus with the government some type of consensus appears to be the only way out of the Current Crisis a crisis that has this and the nation on the edge. Of your. Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into june in a size of a Rape Allegation the decision ends the threat of extradition to sweden for the wiki leaks founder is currently locked up in a british prison and is wanted by the u. S. On espionage charges that he has more now from london. 9 years old the quest to get Julian Assange before a swedish judge is definitively over this swedish Prosecutor Says she wont proceed with an investigation into a Rape Allegation made in 2010 after a review of the evidence member. After the complimentary investigation conducted over the summer and the beginning of autumn its now clear the testimony in support of the Statement Given by the plaintiff has weakened this is primarily because a long time has passed since the event took place memories fade for natural reasons the deputy chief prosecutor said the complainants evidence was deemed credible and reliable but Julian Assange 48. 00 has always denied the allegations. Back in 2012 when sweden was trying to get him extradited assam skipped bail in london and sort of siloam in the Ecuadorian Embassy all along he insisted hed cooperate with the swedish legal system but said he feared being sent on to the us where he might face the Death Penalty really is the most extraordinary compendium of war that has ever been released during the time of war. Hes been criticized by u. S. Officials of the wiki leaks published secret cables relating to the wars in iraq and afghanistan passed on by Chelsea Manning a former u. S. Soldier who spent 7 years in jail for the leak in may of this year Julian Assange was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrested he was later jailed for 50 weeks for breaching his original bail condition as hes now in this high security prison in london while the u. K. Government considers a u. S. Extradition warrant a science faces allegations of conspiring to hack into a classified computer at the pentagon and could potentially face a jail sentence of up to 175 years his legal team insists he simply acted as a journalist and say his health is seriously deteriorating in jail on tuesday it sounds briefly appeared at a london court via video link but full extradition hearing starts in february nadine barber aljazeera israel remains in political deadlock with neither Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu or his rival benny gantz able to cobble together a governing coalition gansey is still in talks with other parties up and netanyahu failed earlier if guns also fall short israel could face a 3rd election in less than a year. Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have faced each other in the 1st televised Leaders Debate of the u. K. General election the Prime Minister and the label party leader jalil stood on the Health Service and even christmas or balance fall of the debate. Prime minister Boris Johnson came into this t. V. Debate with a double digit lead in the latest opinion polls with the possible disadvantage of being the incumbent in this race the Labor Party LeaderJeremy Corbyn came to solve it with the pressure of knowing that with less than 3 and a half weeks until polling day he needs a breakthrough soon with the sick lots were drawn to corbin spoke 1st on Public Services to many families without a proper home struggling to make ends meet while tax cuts are handed to the super rich johnson led on bracks it whether you voted for leave or remain people want to get bricks it done and to unleash the potential of this entire country the questions ranged widely from bracks it to government austerity to personal integrity how can we trust you. Thank the times the moderator struggle to keep the debate on topic and on time this is thank you to be interested in supporting the idea that this is quite interesting and i know you want to really get into practice it is the other thing but in the moment we are talking about the n. H. S. On brics it a labor government would really go see it a new deal with the e. U. And then put it to a 2nd u. K. Referendum johnson repeatedly demanded to know whether colvin will campaign for or against his own bracks a deal in that referendum but we dont know and ive asked this before we dont know which side mr corbyn would campaign is he going to campaign for leave can remain callen from the other direction called impress the Prime Minister on the future of the national Health Service and emphasise the point with a personal anecdote about a friend whod recently died of cancer the nurses that were trying to help or were unable to get anyone to see her because they were under such strain and stress and so she recorded a video saying please in my memory make sure nobody else goes through this pain other Opposition Party leaders were excluded from the main debate and allocated a separate t. V. Interview program. The liberal democrats the Scottish National party the greens and the party i would revoke article 50 something the Prime Minister has the power to do and we do that on day one westminster governments can does say to him pause the direction of travel when a corner and policies that we dont want upon us and therefore that really illustrates the importance of scotland deciding for our sales what kind of country we want to be here we really do need to transform our whole country in the next 10 years we know how to do it we just need to make sure weve got the well and the investment to make it happen the plan is to get some breakthrough boyces into the house of commons to hold Boris Johnson to his promises political commentators will wrangle over which leader came out on top from this debate but there are several more televised encounters still to come in this Election Campaign plenty of time for voters to make up their mind before december 12th paul brennan aljazeera london. Now for a few months each year yung chang lake in china bustles with activity for harry crab season the chinese delicacy has become so popular theyve spawned the counterfeits in the market florence new reports from eastern china. Has been working the waters of young turn lake for more than 20 years hes one of thousands of crab thomas here autumn is harvest season for chinese mitten crabs also known as harry crabs a delicacy prized puts which grows so the humor i sleep on my houseboat every day and i have to keep our eye on the crops or so they dont escape also how to look out for thieves. Hairy crabs are also reared in surrounding lakes but it is farms from youngstown lake that are believed to produce the best ones to preserve the quality of the water the local government has limited the number of farms allowed on the lake. It has created a whole business channel restaurants logistics and tourism every year we see more tourists coming. To enjoy the crops which are of the highest quality the crabs are sold all over china and exported overseas last year the output from this area was a 1600 tons but what was marketed and sold as harry crabs from young chang amounted to 20000. 00 tons thats a lot of fake young crabs out there the Crab Association here has taken measures to protect its famed progeny theres a cure our code on each tag and once you scan it a screen comes up giving you information as a statement confirming that the scribe is from young lake as a serial number theres even a phone number you can call to make sure the crab youve got is the real deal connoisseurs insist they can tell the difference between crabs raised in younger lake from the rest. The quality of crap from the young child lake is much better than crops from anywhere else their shelves are also thin are people not there will be in the not all of it so that i dont eat craps from anywhere else other than a young child lake to meet has a sweet flavor and the role its reach or was and on the women ive been eating craps for a long time i can tell the difference theyre more expensive but its worth it. As long as there are people willing to travel all the way here for genuine young gent harry crabs pharmacies like wont have to worry about competition from counterfeits florence lee aljazeera young gent lake eastern china. And other get in touch up with all the news on our website there it is on your screen it press down to 0 dot com thats all just talk. Talk a quick check of the headlines here on aljazeera the white houses ukraine expert has testified that a phone call to President Donald Trump with his ukrainian counterpart in july was inappropriate thats when conall alexander than men was among them to be questioned at the impeachment inquiry the case against trump sent in the allegations that the improperly pressured ukraine to investigate a political rival on july 21st 2001000 present zelinsky won a parliamentary election in another landslide victory and he proposed that President Trump call president so it is a lets get congratulated on july 25th 2900 the college heard i listened on the in on the call in the situation room with white house colleagues i was concerned by the car what i heard was inappropriate. And i reported my concerns to mr eisenberg it is improper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government investigate a u. S. Citizen and a political opponent. Testimony was also heard from former u. S. Special envoy to ukraine kurt volker he said he didnt knowingly take part in efforts to investigate from rival joe biden but admitted he should have realized what was going on other news exhausted but defiant up to 100 protesters inside a Hong Kong University campus are refusing orders to surrender some of been trying to escape and avoid officers who surrounded the building. The standoff began on sunday out to some of the most intense violence and more than 5 months of Anti Government protests israel says its fighter jets of most attacks in syria the army says the warplanes hit positions of both Syrian Military targets and irans quds force in the early hours of wednesday. Syria says many of the rockets were shot down and a day earlier israel intercepted 4 rockets launched towards the occupied Golan Heights from syria the owners ation american state says political instability and human rights abuses are damaging democracy in the karada hundreds of people have been jailed forced into exile since protests against president Daniel Ortega began in april last year potence want him to step aside and allow elections. All right so those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after the street Station Council which. The Prime Minister. Mission is to give the british on the 31st of october and making this country the greatest place older person to touch it is delayed. Follow the drama of brick sit on aljazeera. Hi emily could be that and here in the stream we know our community is all over the world but chances are you know or have heard of an american singer named dolly parton shes peak pop culture all over again the 73 year old superstar is the subject of a popular podcast a Netflix Series and has a number one song on the dance charts impressive achievements for anyone but particularly for an artist who has been performing for more than half a century so what keeps her relevant Dolly Partons america sets out to understand about america from a dollys eye view. Is this