Television screens House Democrats hope to prove the president abused his power to discredit a rival trump himself says theyre on a witch hunt and in any case hes too busy to tune in. Hello im terry barton good to have you with us the worst flooding in venice in more than 50 years has brought calls for more to be done to protect the historic city from the ravages of rising sea levels the italian cabinet is set to declare a state of emergency much of the city center is under water the mayor is blaming Climate Change and says the damage will run into the hundreds of billions of euros Prime Minister just have to continue his call the flooding a blow to the heart of italy. The cripps of the saint mocks the ceiling under more than a meter of water the church one of venices most iconic landmarks is among the west hit by the flooding. On wednesday evening water levels had gone down but locals remained on the alert. The Prime Minister decepticon to rush to the city to assess the situation his government will swiftly decide whether to accept the Regional Governors appeal and declare a state of emergency. Stage i dont see any reason not to declare a state of american sea and begin allocating funds immediately. Local authorities estimate that more than 85 percent of the city was inundated in the past days high winds and heavy rain drove the water level to almost 190 centimeters it hadnt been this bad since 1986 mayor blamed Climate Change for the extreme weather and said venice was on its knees. There is also plenty of anger here the most and undersea barrier system aimed at protecting bennys from high water has faced constant delays since construction began in 2003. Been on it for 10 years but theyve done nothing its in total neglect work and its the only 6000000. 00 euros in italy unfortunately. Our politicians are all thieves we should all be in jail. As locals take in the aftermath city Officials Say the damage could total hundreds of millions of euros. Reporter julie is earlier i asked her how the city is coping. Well this morning we were woken by an alarm high tide alarm in fact we are here in st marks square you can see behind me the tide is rising again and they expect to have a new high tide this time around 130 centimeters so lower than the record breaking tide around 11 this morning but life is going on as normal a lot of tourists here taking pictures in their rubber boots people here in the city venetians are assessing the damage there cleaning up their shops there cleaning up their homes hotels have been affected cafes have been affected so people are sort of trying to figure out how much damage has happened how to go on in the next few weeks but theyre also bracing for some upcoming bad weather that is going to happen tomorrow and saturday. I understand surely you that even marks silica which i believe is in the background there the citys famous landmark its been flooded too how bad is the damage there. Yes the basilica has been flooded on the not tuesday night water entered the basilica crept down into the crypt and it flooded it completely it also flooded the main floor of the basilica which is covered in marble and mosaics now its hard to assess the damage quite yet because experts have to wait for the water to drain and to then conduct indepth investigations the problem is that even once the water dries its salty water so that water will evaporate but salt will remain and that can really really damage the structures. Or you know i thought the venice already had the flood Protection System i must admit whats the story there was not ready. So construction of the most is the name of the Protection System was meant to be finished in 2014 it began in 2003 it went on slowly it was filled with controversy and scandal in fact in 2014 this system of barriers that was meant to stop the high tide. Was investigated for corruption and corruption ties were found in the construction of the barriers it should be completed now in 2021 but work is slow and a lot of venue sions are upset that this hasnt been completed yet and theyre asking why that hasnt happened to be one of the trenches that will continue to face flooding will face more flooding moving forward. Well definitely a lot of people are now talking about Climate Change just being a factor in rising waters here in venice the mayor. Mentioned Climate Change as a direct factor that caused the high tide yesterday and activists are also talking about the influence of Climate Change so definitely if there is a link there there is a risk that events like this will continue to happen and especially if there is not a Protection System in place there is definitely a risk that this could happen again surely it thank you very much julia delhi there in venice. Now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today students from Mainland China are leaving Hong Kong University is as violent protests affect campuses many courses have already been canceled protesters have continued to build barricades and disrupt public life to press to mans for more autonomy from Mainland China. Australia is raging bush fires have claimed another life bringing the death toll to 4 firefighters are struggling to contain dozens of blazes burning across the countrys east coast a separate emergency warning has now been issued for a fire threatening a city in western australia. New zealand lawmakers have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia the final decision will now be put to the public in a referendum during the countrys general election next year the bill allows for terminally ill patients to request a medically assisted death israel and the Palestinian GroupIslamic Jihad have reached a cease fire to the heaviest fighting in months along the gaza border at least 34. 00 palestinians including a family of 6 have been killed israel says it will answer quiet with quiet but will continue its policy of targeted killings of militants. Missiles soar into the night sky above gaza before being snuffed out by israels iron dome s sail defense system. Not as de broke it seemed to beckon affright show piece here. News of a deescalation in the. We confirm the decease fire deal was reached under the supervision of egypt and it went into effect on the ground at 5 am with Islamic Jihad conditions. The deal includes the occupier israel submission to conditions to stop this sasa nations protect the much of return demonstrators and to begin the procedures to break the siege of gaza. The clashes began after Israeli Forces killed a Senior Commander from the palestinian militant Group Islamic jihad the fought back firing hundreds of missiles towards israel destroying buildings and noonday residents striking panic into everyday life. 2 days ago i became a faster but now the rockets called me in the hospital we dont get used to this. It was is really fire power which proved deadliest air strikes on militant targets in the occupied territory of gaza killed dozens many of them civilians and children as real says the ceasefire deal will bring an end to the bloodshed though not the grief. All they curse in washington began public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against president all trial the 1st in 20 years the televised hearings kicked off tuesday with testimony from 2 top u. S. Diplomat stealing with ukraine has called the process a witch hunt he says hes too busy doing the peoples business to tune in. A historic day for the United States hours of testimony played out on Television Screens across the country will come to order. Morning everyone. The inquiry centers on an alleged Pressure Campaign aimed at forcing ukraine to investigate the u. S. President s political rival joe biden and on wednesday one of the diplomats who testified linked donald trump more directly to those efforts the acting ambassador to kiev said a member of his staff overheard a conversation in which trump asked him you ambassador gordon somnolent if you successfully pushed the ukrainians into a night sing the investigation. All when the call with President Trump the member of my staff asked investor songen what President Trump thought about ukraine as the song responded that president front cares more about the investigations of by. Trump later said he did not remember the conversation. I dont recall not even a little bit. But democrats are hoping to build a case that trump did in fact abuse his power of office to pressure ukraine behavior they say would warrant removing him from office is this what americans should now expect from their president if this is not impeachable conduct. What is the republican say its not rather than denying the mighty evidence of a Pressure Campaign and not have focused on arguing this which is not grounds for impeachment it seems unlikely that fresh evidence will change that strategy when the next round of hearings begin on friday. Germany has narrowly avoided entering a technical recession the economy grew by one point by point one percent in the last quarter surprising analysts who expected stagnation there were fears that europes economic engine was headed poor a recession has declined as 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth the economy did contract slightly in the previous quarter export germany has struggled as a result of the u. S. China trade war slowing global demand. For Chelsea Dillon the is tracking the data from germanys Financial Center frankford for as is is this reason to celebrate its certainly relief that germany doesnt fall into a technical recession but this report really illustrates the sort of caught of me of a mixed picture and the German Economy in some aspects where it works good exports rose consumption was a big driver of growth in this quarter but they also mentioned a slowdown and manufacturing machinery and equipment investment and 0 point one percent growth is still quite low so i think theres been a lot of hope over the past couple of weeks that the German Economy has bottomed out and growth. Will rebound from sarah but the prospects are mean quite low for a sustained long. Recovery and growth so germany has escaped recession by a whisker 0 point one percent growth really isnt much well the trade war thats going on in particular between the u. S. And china continue to drag down europes biggest economy. Its certainly arrest as weve seen over the past couple of days the u. S. And china continue to be sort of deadlocked in these trade negotiations and this is been really harmful for germanys export sector but theyre also dealing with other problems and the auto sector a global slowdown there and they can best its an electric vehicles and this is its going to remain a big drag on German Growth if the u. S. And china are unable to find Common Ground on these issues chelsea thank you very much that was chelsea believing there in frankfurt. Now to china where Nature Conservation is becoming more and more of a priority the government is working to create a National Park system that will better protect its spectacular Natural Resources one of the 1st parks. One National Park in ching hai province is set to open its gates in 2020 its good news for the environment but there is some concern about what it means for the local tibetan population in a region an expired china in the 1956. In our documentary film coming up we look at women who join the socalled Islamic State im terry Martin Thanks for being with us. From. The adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. Juice in the bridge of politics on the phone while its 260th birthday we remember going on a voyage of discovery. Expedition good d. W