Reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. The white house blocks a key witness from giving testimony in the impeachment inquiry, saying he cannot appear before a kangaroo court. A major row between the nba and china could cost the league millions. We will bring you the latest on this clash of sport and politics. Plus, she has explored some of the worlds most captivating caves. Now she is sharing stories about the oceans hidden depths. Laura for those watching on pbs and around the globe, welcome to world news america. The white house went on the offensive against the congressional impeachment inquiry today, blocking the testimony of a key witness. In response, House Democrats leading the investigation say they would issue a subpoena so they can hear from Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the eu. Democrats are looking into the president s efforts to pressure ukraines leader to find dirt on his rivals, an inquiry mr. Trump calls a sham. Here is the man House Democrats wanted to hear from today, Gordon Sondland, a wealthy Hotel Executive and donor to the trump campaign, now americas chief diplomat in brussels. But at the last minute the administration said no. President trump tweeted, i would love to send ambassador sondland, a really good man and great american, to testify, but unfortunately, he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court. Democrats response was swift. Rep. Schiff the failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions, of congress, a coequal branch of government. Laura democrats were keen to question Gordon Sondland because he had been dealing with ukraine in the runup to the phone call between President Trump and that countrys leader, in which mr. Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to do him a favor and investigate the bidens. U. S. Military aid to ukraine had been suspended days before in Text Messages given to congress, veteran u. S. Diplomat bill taylor wrote, i think it is crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. Ambassador sondland replied, the president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind. Republicans say that the white house was quite right to stop mr. Sondland from testifying. You think of what the democrats are trying to do, impeach the president 13 months prior to an election based on an anonymous whistleblower with no firsthand knowledge has bias against the president. Laura now House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry are going to issue a subpoena for mr. Sondlands testimony and documents. The standoff is intensifying into a constitutional clash. Joining us is ron christie, a former advisor to george w. Bush. Tonight the white hse counsel has written to Congressional Democrats declining to participate in the impeachment inquiry, saying it lacks a valid constitutional basis. Is this war . Ron i think it is war. Good evening to you. I think the counsel is right on one key point he says the president is being denied due process. That means the ability to call for evidence and read transcripts and have the ranking members, the republicans, to subpoena documents and witnesses. Where i think the president is at his weakest in this document is where he says to the house, you are try to overturn the 2016 president ial election. It is going to be an interesting showdown in the days to come in washington as to how these separately coequal branches of government get to the impasse. Laura isnt there a danger that by declining to participate, the president is enabling democrats to write articles of impeachment accusing him of obstruction of justice . Ron from a political matter, yes. From a legal matter, no. The house i has still not authorized a formal impeachment. There has to be a legal impeachment under way for the laura but that is just preceden t, not the law. Is it a fact that by focusing on process, republicans are trying to move the limelight away from the fact that the ident d ask a former leader to interfere in our election . Ron from the legal basis, the constitution in the first article says that the house of representatives is the convening body for impeachment. We havent had that yet. From a constitutional standpoint i think the democrats are defective in what they are trying to bring forth. You are absolutely right, the process, the more that you are explaining in politics, you are losing. From a political and legal standpoint, the longer the white house has to go down a process argument, it gives the democrats more strength to say that he is telling and doesnt want to cooperate, it must be Something Else there. Laura when republicans look at the polls, which dshow rising support for the impeachment inquiry, is that causing anxiety . Ron behind the scenes, yes. There are a lot of republicans ive spoken to in the last week who say that the president s poll numbers have gone down and the call for impeachment in Public Perception has gone up. You have nearly one third of Senate Republicans up for reelection next year. Do they want to go back to constituents and say that we werent able to get anything done, all we talked about is impeachment, rather than your other promises weve made and where we delivered for you. Laura is there a point where Senate Republicans in particular break with the president . Ron not yet, but i think the ice is beginning to crack. The more we have a lack of cohesion between Congressional Republicans both in the house and senate of how do we speak with a unified voice, what is our message from it will have people looking for their own political viability rather than President Trumps. Laura we are hearing that the chair of the Senate Judiciary committee, liney graham, has invited Rudy Giuliani to testify. Is that going to accomplish anything more than great political theater . Ron it goes back to a questn you asked a few moments ago, did the president interfere and work with ukraine to impact our election. I honestly dont know. I dont know what mr. Giuliani has been looking at. There will be fireworks to be certain, but whether he can add something from a legal or substantive matter remains to be seen. Laura doesnt it underlined the fact that mr. Giuliani was freelancing and apparently carrying out Foreign Policy on behalf of the president while also in conjunction with state Department Officials . Ron it seems odd to me that the esidents personal attorney would be doing something of this nature. That is why you have the secretary of state. In a constitution for how we interact with different ministers of different countrie i am curious to see what mr. Giuliani has been up to and what he uncovered. More interestingly, does this amount to anything other than more of the political circus we have seen day in and day out . Laura ron christie, thanks so much for joining us. Ron good to see you. Laura turkey has stepped up its military presence on the border with syria tonight, saying that forces are ready to advance after the u. S. Began pulling troops out of tharea. The northeast of syria is controlled by the kurdishled sdf forces who played a leading role in the fight against islamic state. There are fears of a new conflict between turkey and the kurds. All this as president erdogan is due to visit the white house next month. Fr the border, our International Correspondent orla guerin reports. Orla a noisy reception for Turkish Forces on the move. Ambulances and armored personnel carriers close to the syrian border. We filmed this convoy tonight heading to a military base. The first evidence, perhaps, of the buildup to a turkish invasion of syria. Earlier, being bussed to the border, syrian rebel fighters backed by turkey. They could be extra manpower for the planned offensive, which is causing havoc internationall ev before it begins. In washington, President Trump has been meeting his top brass and trying some damage control. He has denied abandoning Kurdish Forces, americas key allies in syria. But after their epic battle against i. S. , they now feel mighty alone. D what now for that battle . There is growing concern internationally about wh an offensive across this border might do to the global fight against islamic state. Small wonder there are thousands of i. S. Fighters being held in kurdishrun detention centers. The kurds have said if the turks attack, they will have to focus on that fight. So, defeated i. S. Fighters like these may have fewer guards, ising fears some could escape. President trump says if turkey invades, they are ankaras problem. And there may be less security at kurdish camps holding huge numbers of i. S. Supporters and family members. But at the border today, a little gathering of turks who back the offensive, who believe that Kurdish Forces are a invasion appeals to president erdogans base. He has been losing support, and critics say a war is a great distraction. Tonight, more movement by turkish allies. Rebel fighters from the free syrian army. They say they will rain fire on Kurdish Forces. A powerful nato army now appears to be on the road to battle, and there are real concerns about the possible cost for hundreds of thousands of innocent syrian civilians. Orla guerin, bbc news, at the turkishsyria border. Laur fears of a turkish invasion growing in northern syria. In other news, the green zone in the iraqi capital, baghdad, has been reopened. The area which houses government buildings was sealed off last week after violent clashes with antigovernment protesters left more than 100 people dead. The Iraqi Government has announced reforms to address issues like corruption, poor public services, and a lack of jobs. An attack on motorists in a weern german town is being investigated as terrorism, according to german media. A man hijacked a lorry that plug plod into several cars. At least 17 people were injured and one remains in critical condition. The driver of the vehicle has been arrested. The nobel prize in physics has been awarded to three scientists for helping us to understand the evolution of the universe. Canadianamerican James Peebles was recognized for his works in physical cosmology, including dark matter. Two swiss nationals, michelle mayor and didier queloz, shared the award for discovering the first planet orbiting another star system. The prize for chemistry comes tomorrow. It has taken decades for the nba to open up chinas lucrative market to basketball, but all of that may be in jeopardy due to a tweet. The general manager of the Houston Rockets, daryl morey, tweeted out his support for the protesters in hong kong. Although he swiftly apologize, chinas government reacted furiously and stopped preseason games from being shown. Nba commissioner adam silver expressed regretm or chinese fans who were offended, but stood by mr. Moreys right to express his views. Adam the longheld values of the nba are to support freedom of expression, and certainly freedom of expression by members of the nba community. In this case, daryl morey as the manager of the Houston Rockets enjoys that right as one of our employees. Laura a brief time ago i discussed all of this with ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group. Thanks so much for joining us. What does the standoff between the nba and china say about the price of doing business in china for u. S. Brands . Ian it ra going up. The chinese are stronger than they used to be, they are a much bigger economy, so the benefits of getting business right are significant, but they are much more rigid and much less flexible, particularly on anything that they think involves matters of National Security and political stability. Hong kong in particular, rig in the crosshairs, and the nba stepped all over it. Laura by playing hardball with the nba and canceling the streaming of their preseason games, what kind of a signal of are the chinese trying to send to other u. S. Companies, too . Ian that you are going to he to handle your employees, you are going to have to tell them in advance what is and is not acceptable. Remember, we are talking about a Single Member of the nba, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeting a message that simply showed some sort of solidarity with the demonstrators in hong kong. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, something that the nba i think would have considered unimaginable, that could have ended or suspended their business in china, multibilliondollar business. But the nba also did not react well. This guy immediately took it down, the nba apologized. Their apology to the chinese in chinese language was different and much more contrite than the englishlanguage press release. Clearly a mistake. Laura is it possible that china also faces any kind of backlash domestically, because basketball is very popular there . Ian i dont think so. I think on hong kong specifically, there is very strong chinese patriotism in favor of xi jinpings position and against these nationalists. They see the Hong Kong Chinese as very wealthy and themselves looking down on mainland chinese. Lets keep in mind, there is no free press in china. What they are seeing is a sanitized version of what the Chinese Government wants them to see, both about the nba as well as hong kong. So if you are looking for backlash, that backlash is going to come from american fans who are upset that the nba commissioner just last year stood up and said i think it is really important to stand for something. What we see the commissioner right now standing for is profits over principle with mainland china. Laura is it possible that the spat between the n and china affects those allimportant trade talks between beijing and washington that are suosed to resume this week . Ian doesnt help, but they already werent going anywhere. The chineshave been saying they do not expect any Movement Towards a deal. First of all, they dont think they can work with or count on President Trump, too volatile. But also they dont think that trump has a lot more ammunition to hit them with tariffs as the American Economy slows and elections near. For both of those reasons, expectations for this round of trade talks were quite low. Laura ian bremmer, thanks so much for being with us. Ian sure, my pleasure. Laura speaking of those trade talks, coming up we get the view from the new head of the imf on the state of the global economy. Emotions are running high in south africa over the safety of women with the killing of females, children, and the targeting of the Lgbti Community described as a National Crisis by the president. A warning, this repordoes contain material of a sexual nature which some viewers might find disturbing. Reporter the killing of women in south africa has ignite outrage and protests countrywide. The government says attacks on women and children are similar to those of a country at war. Crime statistics have revealed that nearly 3000 women and 1000 children were murdered in just the last 12 months. Many were assaulted and raped before their death. This johannesburg woman was gang raped by three men who broke into her home. She never got justice. Im angry. Im upset. Yes, im trying shard to move on. Coming to Justice System in our courts. Honestly, im so mad. Reporter after years of trauma, she opened a rape Victim Center which inspired her to change her life. To reclaim her life. She also runs a rape Awareness Campaign in her neighborhood. Just theast few minutes after the campaign started, we came across a 23yearold woman who was raped earlier this year but was turned away by the police. Here she is now. Tell us what happened. I was raped twice by men who were my neighbors. I fear for my life because i often see one of the two people who atcked me. I reported the matter to the lice, who turned me away and said i must stop causing trouble. Reporter president Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced an emergency plan to tackle genderbased violence. Many agree that levels of genderbased violence are unacceptable, and that a solution to deal with it is with this worrying problem must be found. Laura as we heard earlier china and the u. S. Are to resume trade talks later this week to try to end a 15montstandoff over tariffs. Today the new managing director of the International Monetary fund warned against the global fallout of these tensions in her first public address. My colleague Michelle Fleury sat down with Kristalina Georgieva for her first interview in her new role. Michelle two years ago you were much more upbeat on your forecast for the global economy. Now the imf sounds more pessimistic. Ms. Gegieva what happened in these two years is removed from a synchronized upswing, 75 of the world growing faster, to synchronized slowdown, 90 of the World Economy slowing. When you look at the many reasons, these are fractures in the World Economy that are Holding Growth back. Michelle you have pretty pessimistic numbers on how the trade dispute between the worlds two largest economies, u. S. And china, is affecting the global economy. Ms. Georgieva what were seeing is by 2020, loss o global gdp. This is the equivalent of 700 billion. What is most significant is that it is not the direct impact of tariffs that are most harmful. Most harmful is the loss of confidence. What is so clear is that everybody loses. Michelle we are expecting trade talks to resume. What advice do you have to offer to these huge two trading partners . Ms. Georgieva i personally see criticality of recognizing that Different Countries have different grnces aund trade, and that we have to talk candidly about these grievances and then see how we can address them. If we failo doo, then we are woe off. D that is not a good excuse if you can say, you know what, im a loser, but you are a bigger loser than me. I dont think this is what people expect from leadership. Michelle but i mean, if you look here in america, Donald TrumpsAmerica First policy is this idea of not being part of a multilateral system. It ha many supporters who feel global trade hasnt benefited them. Ms. Georgieva what we see is the world is interconnected, and this is impossible to undo. If we want to be all better off, we have to remember one very simple historically proven over thousands of years truth trade is good for growth, it is good for jobs, and it is good for poverty reduction. Michelle Kristalina Georgieva, new managing director of the International Monetary fund, thank you so much. Ms. Georgieva thank you. Laura just imagine if your job was to explore the earths final frontier. That is the case for one of the worlds most famous cave divers. She is the first person in to dive deep into an antarctic iceberg and to lead a team which discovered the waterway remains of mayan civilizations she has written about her adventures, and recently she spoke with us. A lot of people think im some sort of fearless adrenaline junkie, but i am not fearless. Im scared all the time. I led the team to be the first people to go cave diving inside an iceberg. We d that in antarctica, so far away from help that there is no one to rescue you if something goes wrong. During those dives inside this unbelievably dangerous and shifting environment, we got pinned down by a ripping current that was like trying to walk against a hurricaneforce wind. There we were underwater, underneath an iceberg, trying to swim against a current that was too strong to make any headway to get out of this ice cave. Ive learned to deal with fear, terrifying, mindnumbing fear. Its really important for me to just stop, take a very deep, slow breath. We all know what t next positive thing is that we can do to solve any problem. I just try and focus on tiny steps one at a time, keep the emotions at bay, breathe slow, and focus. There is a lot of preparation for a big dive. I may have been training and preparing equipment for a couple of years. Slide into a dry suit. It seals everything right down to my wrist and it is a rubber seal around my neck. These caves i get to swim in a are like museums of natural history. They hold evidence of Global Climate change, they conin remains of civilizations that are no longer here on earth. Even the bones of paleo animals that are now extinct. These environments are beautiful and wondrous and they have so much to teach us about science. I dont know what a retirement would look like for me because im already doing the things that i love to do every day. I know it is a dangerous endeavor that im involved in, but i dont see any end to what i am doing. Laura the beauties of the deep blue ocean, and she has no plans to retire anytime soon. Remember, you can find much more of all the days news on our website. Im laura trevelyan. Thank you so much for watching bbc world ns america. Announcer funding for this presentation is made possible by. The freeman foundation; by judy and peter blumkovler foundation, pursuing solutions for amicas neglected needs; and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Announcer now you can access more of your favorite pbs shows than ever before. This is the future with pbs passport, a member benefit that lets you binge many of the latest shows and catch upyourorites. We really are living in the moderworld. Any time you want. Man wow how about that . Anywhere you are. Woren theres literally nothing like this in the world. Announcer support your pbs station and get passport, your ticket to the best of pbs. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight the ambassador who wasnt there. The white house blocks a key player in the ukraine affair from appearing before lawmakers, as Democrats Press forward with the impeachment inquiry. Then, in what may become a landmark case, the Supreme Court hears arguments on expanding the workplace rights of l. G. B. T. Americans. Plus, a conversation with hillary and chelsea clinton, on the strides women have made, and the investigation into secretary clintons former political opponent. This is no longer just about the crazy stuff he says and does that everybody shrugs out or