Me John Bolton. My Tom you know Rick Perry refusing to cooperate David Holmes showed great courage to come in and provide information to the committee maternity Journal William bars as Democrats are swamping government agencies with what he calls an avalanche of subpoenas in order to income pass a tape the executive branch of North Carolina's Republican controlled legislature has approved a new congressional map but w.u.n. Sees Jeff to be reports that Democratic critics are already planning a court challenge despite being an evenly divided state politically North Carolina's congressional delegation consists of 10 Republicans and just 3 Democrats in October a panel of state judges blocked that map from being used in next year's election saying it violates the state constitution and unfairly helps Republicans this new map is seen as likely yielding $85.00 result still legislative Democrats voted against it citing a lack of competitive districts this is the 1st congressional redistricting effort after the u.s. Supreme Court ruled in June that claims of partisan gerrymandering cannot be determined by the federal bench the redistricting group led by former u.s. Attorney General Eric Holder says it plans to challenge this map in state court for n.p.r. News I'm Jeff to be in Raleigh North Carolina on Wall Street stocks close at new records Friday on optimism about ongoing efforts to finalize a u.s. Trade deal with China the Dow gained $222.00 points you're listening to n.p.r. News. A federal jury in San Francisco has ordered anti-abortion activists to pay $2300000.00 in damages for secretly recording Planned Parenthood workers it was part of a campaign alleging that the workers were selling fetal tissue as Peter John Schuler reports the jury convicted the defendants of violating state and federal laws the jury found David de Leyden and his organization Center for Medical Progress trespassed on private property and committed fraud as well as other crimes when they recorded the videos the head of Planned Parenthood said in a statement she's thrilled and says the case exposes a malicious and illegal campaign against the group defendant's attorney Harmeet Dillon says her clients were acting as journalists She says the verdict is disappointing and will be appealed I will call today a dark day for the 1st Amendment but thankfully it is not the last word the defendants are also facing criminal invasion of privacy charges that trial is set to start next month for n.p.r. News I'm Peter Jon Shuler in San Francisco in Tucson a sheriff's deputy is on administrative leave over a video showing him wrestling a teenager who has no arms or legs to the floor 11 year veteran men well Van Santen arrested the teen on disorderly conduct charges another teen identified as the person who did the initial filming was also taken into custody the recording was aired this week on k o l d t v Pima County authorities say the incident occurred in September at a group home where worker called on 11 about an unruly teenager. This is n.p.r. News Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include f j c a foundation of donor advised funds working to maximize the Empacher of charitable giving and to create customized philanthropic solutions learn more at f j c dot org and the ne ek c. Foundation. It. It's 6 minutes past 6 g.m.t. Welcome to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service with me Julia Moore occur so that you could York the 2nd son of Queen Elizabeth a 2nd has told the b.b.c. He has no memory of meeting Virginia to fray the American woman who alleges she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 Prince Andrew had come under fire for his friendship with a convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein who took his own life in August while in prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges the pair of being friends prior to Mr Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting an under-age prostitute and they were photographed together in New York's Central Park in 2010 will in a world exclusive interview Prince Andrew spoke to the B.B.C.'s Emily waitlists one of Epstein's accusers and Jenny Roberts has made allegations against him she says she met him in 2001 she says she dined I think danced with me at Trent nightclub in London she went on to have sex with him in a house in Belgravia a longing to go and knocks on your friend you know response. Have no recollection of ever missions. And don't remember meeting her. Or Prince Andrew says he doesn't remember ever meeting Mr Frey despite there being a photograph with his arm around her taken in 2001 the problem was the fact that once he had been. Convicted used to hate myself and that's that's that's the bit that. My kick myself for the day is because it was not something that was becoming a member or family and we're trying to uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side I can present but you need you for a alleges she was forced to have sex with the prince 3 times between 1999 when she was 172002 in London New York and on a private Caribbean Island owned by Epstein allegations Buckingham Palace has categorically denied that you were staying at the house and convicted sex offender . It was a convenient place to stay I mean I've gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day. With the benefit of all the hindsight that one could have. It was definitely the wrong thing to do. But at the time I felt it was the pit was the honorable and right thing to do and I admit fully that my. Judgment was probably colored by my. Tendency to be too honorable but that's just the way it is Prince Andrew and we're going to return to that story a little bit later on in the program. The last week in Hong Kong has seen a distinct change in the protests that have taken place over the city for the past 5 months demonstrators have occupied streets on a daily basis in the middle of the working week a university campus was transformed into a frontline and all as the 1st death directly related to the demonstrations happened on Thursday when a 70 year old who'd been hit by a brick died Robin Bryant has been talking to protesters across the city. I. What's happened in the last 5 minutes is what's been happening every working this crowd mass and suddenly you look around in the traffic and you see and hear some of graffiti being painted on the floor and the center of Hong Kong's district has just come to a standstill when they come out at lunchtime and suddenly realise there's no traffic and the protests are taking over. More police out there I don't in my Marcus that was the name he gave us is just 15 years old he said he would like to stay at that spot all the time because it's the financial center of Hong Kong they'll be back on Saturday he added He also said they've started laying bricks in the road to block it relatively new tactic a woman calling herself Eunice was also there with a few friends I don't think we can get all 5 demands and they said we want to set up each own company she said if you ask again. What the police. Have been doing. The police have said that these protests over the last few months they've been arresting people between the ages of you know 1012 all the way up to 18 so it's a real range of generations that we've just seen a group of 3 young boys one of them the youngest was the only if you know about 8 or 9 and they told us they were classmates there's no school today that shows you the real rain. All ages of people are coming to these events. Is 67 he said he was there to support the younger general goals are very very I can't go to the front line he told me but I can stand here to support them then he touched on the ultimate aim for these protesters the one that they are very very unlikely to ever have granted by Beijing universal suffrage. Saucer really hard as a lot of students haven't slept for days away from the demonstration in central the standoff at a university appears to be done just as we arrived at the entrance to Chinese university for the 3rd time in as many days a young woman protester all in black face and eyes covered told us they'd had a meeting and the decision had been made there's a lot of like. People like original students of this university has left university side has anyone told you the most tried to go with anyone been telling you you must go. This Are decision like their advice us to go they don't say like it's dangerous but like there are a lot of other issues like hygiene or water. We'll have enough energy to fight but some people think this is a very important place some very afraid that if we feel like no other things are going to like. This quiet and calm at this spot could not be further from what it was when I stood in this precise location late on Tuesday night interviewing a student who was making petrol bombs it was dark he was in a big group they were making dozens of petrol bombs now pretty much no one here is just the remnants of protests dozens of umbrella on the railings shopping trolleys . Bikes tables full really of what was being used to supply these protesters now the focus here. Packing stuff up taking it away. To what it was before. That was Robyn Bryant reporting from Hong Kong you're listening to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service. Polling stations around story Lanka have been open for a few hours now it's the 1st election since the Easter Sunday attacks which saw more than $250.00 people killed in multiple suicide bombings security is likely to weigh heavily on voters' minds as they cost their ballots the B.B.C.'s. Is in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and he's on the line now give us a sense solve the progress in voting so far. Well actually the voter turnout has been pretty good already in most parts of the country between 30 to 40 percent actually already and it's you know it's not even housing minister the candidate for the current ruling party I mentioned those Easter Sunday attacks how much are they likely to be playing on the minds of people casting their vote today. Well actually you know it's been quite a significant issue in this election. You know that I could really. Believe allow that to happen in this country again. This is a man who's seen as a strong man somebody who's credited with ending. But he's someone who evokes a lot of among minorities because he's accused. Against minority groups many of them. Could be. On the other hand there is. Convincing. Many of whom believe that it was his government the government that. He's of course been projecting himself as the more democratic. Country. Security. People. Looking. Across the country in the media to get. The. Economy has been. In this country because. You know there's been a lot of Chinese investment in this country. In this nation. Caught in a death trap with China and Mr Rajapaksa is often seen as the man who is closer to China is so you know those are sort of the quantum me add trying us involvement in this country those are the other issues apart from National Security thank you very much. In the Sudan capital Colombo Sri Lankans vote in that election today now there's been no respite for Venice a new high tide in the flooded Italian city has led to the closure of tourist spots such as Mark's Square and for the 3rd day running of the city's schools as well the B.B.C.'s Jenny Hill has been finding out how the nations and their visitors are coping that over the ancient bridges through the winding waterways the sound of flotsam tourists their shoes hardly wrapped in plastic bags carry their suitcases along raise Tressel Hawkins below the water rises again in the streets of Venice the city suffered its worst deluge in decades this week and with subsequent high tides the water comes seeping back into the system. It's just that Theresa could Betty looked tired as between tights she tried to dry out the souvenir shop her family has run couture of the century with this my family 'd. We were all. They felt and they said this is a store for our family for all that initial. Water everywhere. We cannot so to save war. If you think I want to go in the but soon it will start the beauty of this ancient city fragile and the damage expected to run to hundreds of millions of euros inside the rich dark interior of San Marcos Basilica parts of which date back to the 11th century a painful reckoning arrived to up to the order of the embark on a new copy of that is. Quite a news one of the last time was in 19 and 66 and. Also of the crypt. Was the. Food to fill of water and Monsignor Angelo pro-gun saw him in his black robes tells us they're still trying to assess the damage obviously this is a problem in the prospect is because when what does go down everything immediately seems almost normal to try except for to but. To salty water ruins. The. Borders of the for so. The effect is a long time for it is like or addition to the action immediately has no effect but you see the fact after a few years. I'm standing by the Grand Canal and its murky green water is level with the street the water just slopping over on to the paving stones and it's starting to seep into shops and businesses the water levels here been up and down up and down over the last few days and you really get a sense of just how vulnerable the nations are to the Warsaw and how really unprotected this city is against this kind of flooding. Then it's nice know when the water turned to flooding and vulnerable to the effects of climate change but a huge flood defense projects has been delayed for years by corruption scandal and overspend. What happened here this week is raising fundamental questions about how best numbed turn to protect the city from the water that surrounds it. That continues to rise. And rise again. Jenny Hill reporting from Venice you're with weekend. To sport well and Andy Bala and hello Julien Well Finland's footballers have been celebrating they've booked their place at next year's Euro 2020 Championship finals it's the 1st time in the history that made it through to a major championship finals but they got their thanks to a 3 nil Wayne Abbey Liechtenstein the goalkeeper Lucas spread desk he called it a proud day for his country what I saw on the pitch. The spectators they come walking on the pitch and celebrated with us and they wanted selfies and they had tears in their my skin saying thank you for all the stuff in Memphis for all the joy and that of a survey of choice. That's what I have in my heart and sweet and old so through they joined Spain in qualifying from group after the 2 nil victory in remaining in the latest qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Tunisia defeated Libya for one in the open a Central African Republic of never reached the African Cup of Nations finals before they had their group following a 2 nil victory ever Burundi and Morocco were held nil nil a time by Mauritania and in an international friendly played in Saudi Arabia Lino Macey scored on his 1st appearance back for Argentina since July 19th a beating that. Old rivals personal war nail the defending champion Alex Everett defeated the Russian Daniel Medvedev to qualify for today semifinals of the a.t.p. Tour Finals in London he's victory means that Ruff an adult will be missing from the last 4 of those in the darkness when in his last round robin group match means that he will finish the year as the world number one this report from the B.B.C.'s tennis correspondent Russell fuller so neither of the men who have this week been Julian for the year and number one position made it as far as the semifinals as Djokovic Jenna doll head to Madrid to represent their respective countries in the new look Davis Cup Finals Roger Federer Obi seeking a 7th title he will place the final set to pass and then very full take on Dominic team the German world number 7 had to work hard for a 7664 Whenever Medvedev has groundstrokes were not entirely reliable but he served magnificently once again and his head is full of very happy memories of 12 months ago maternally swimming star sun young defended his behavior during a random drug test after a vial of his blood was smashed with a hammer sun has been fighting is case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport where translation problems hinder proceedings yesterday the World Anti-Doping Agency seeking to have him banned from the sport for up to 8 years and the Cleveland Browns player miles Garrett has been suspended indefinitely by the n.f.l. And without pay for hitting Mason Rudolf with the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers I don't how weight the Garrett is now apologized to the incident in a game played on Thursday calling his actions selfish and unacceptable and he thank you and he bar with the sport now about 120 fires continue to rage on much of Australia's eastern coast 300 homes have been raised and a 1000000 hectares of land in the state of New South Wales has been burned for many the danger hasn't receded Others though are returning to a blackened landscape Edmond Roy was a journalist for the. Australian Broadcasting Corporation he reported in conflict zones but now lives on a property about 300 kilometers north of Sydney one of the areas of the state heavily affected by the fires I asked him when he realised that he and his family and his family home were right in the blazes path when I saw the fire coming over my Ridge which is about say 7 the meat is from my back door I realise that yes I'm in some trouble the day before we had got out to be yet self evacuated but we got back the next day just to see if the property was standing and then we realised that in the process you actually got I feel trapped so then what did you do then we stood out with a fire hose a small pump that was pumping out water from my rainwater tank and we waited so we watched it come down the hill very slowly thankfully because the wind was in the right direction this was a 3 I am in the morning on Saturday so we watched it come down slowly. Work its way around the house and in that process you could see if you can imagine 30 metre high trees on fire and it wore a flame coming towards you albeit slowly but nevertheless with old the intent of flame has if you know what I mean a forest is on fire and you pretty much standing in front of it and quite knowing what to do other the fact that the now you have this live in the water to try and stop it and it is a it is a little bit of water there's you a huge fire and a garden hose Pretty much yes thankfully that is a clearing between the House and the forest so we stood at the edge of that clearing and the wind as I said earlier was in the right direction therefore it was in the wind was not blowing towards us nevertheless when you face something like that it's probably one of the times in life you realize how stupid you actually are and how small you're actually on the fire then stiff wonder it sort of me ended around the house it pretty much burnt everything in the scrub it came to the clearing it stopped the clearing but kept going right down south the property came up again around about a few hours later around the property and came up to the front door about 20 meters to the front door where we stopped it with the help of the roof fire service and with a little water hose so let's say it was a hairy to have you paint a very vivid picture of what this fire looked like clearly we sense the heat but what does it sound like while you're standing out trying to tackle this blaze. The sound is something that I can't quite describe can't quite put my finger on because it a low it starts off as a low sort of rumble like it's like you've got a freeway going past your house and then it sort of picks up it picks up to the point where you realize that it's not just one sound it's coming from everywhere and that I think is the hardest part because you don't quite know where this thing is coming from because it creates so much smoke that by now you are stuck in this sort of foggy smoky environment and you're looking out and you seeing licks of flame but yet the at the same time you're not quite sure where the sound is coming from and fact I think is probably the most unnerving primeval sound you can possibly hear and as you describe that you're a man who's reported from war zones how does it compare when this is the difficulty you see a lot of people suggest that somehow having been in a war zone you are somehow capable or experienced with this kind of thing let me tell you you are not the was on the one thing because you are in some ways a removed from it you are a reporter to report a story you get out and you go on it's over here you the story you the center of the action so to speak you are fighting for your life your 'd property your community and that is a completely different feeling something that I would not care to repeat Edmond Roy in Australia. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the United States is made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor of award winning public radio contact a.p.m. American Public Media with support from Progressive Insurance offering snapshot a device that adjusts insurance rates based on safe driving habits now that's progressive. Progressive dot com or 1800 progressive. Support for Casey you comes from visit Santa Cruz County announcing the Let's cruise Events dot com Web page featuring information on upcoming festivals and events taking place locally learn what's happening this week and beyond at Let's cruise Events dot com You know the day's news can seem like a barrage of information well magine n.p.r. As hitting the pause button resting one more question getting a different perspective and explaining how something affects your life with an every day n.p.r. Daily on 90.3 k. . It's 630 g.m.t. This is weekend from the b.b.c. World Service Still to come why this concern over half a 1000000 people caught up in unrest in West Africa the latest from the President Trump impeachment inquiry amid allegations of witness intimidation in the film company Basu swapped Hollywood for helping some of Cambodia's poorest children that's what we're here on weekend after the latest world news. B.b.c. News if you own a MacDonald President Trump has been criticized for his social media attack on a former u.s. Ambassador and she gave evidence in the impeachment inquiry he denigrated Mary yoven of each on Twitter while she gave testimony to a public hearing Mr Trump denied trying to intimidate a witness he said he was entitled to freedom of speach. 2 u.s. Army officers accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan have been pardoned by President Trump one had been convicted of ordering his men to fire on civilians. Prince Andrew the 2nd son of Queen Elizabeth has told the b.b.c. He let the royal family down by continuing to associate with the late finance here Jeffrey Epstein after he had been convicted of sex crimes but he said he had no memory of meeting Virginia Giuffre who says she was forced to have sex with him. Police interlink as the gunman and fired on a convoy of buses taking Muslim voters to a polling station no one was hurt in the attack which took place before voting began in the country's presidential election. Israel says it has carried out new airstrikes on Gaza in retaliation for rockets fired from the Palestinian territory the Israeli military said that it was targeting the main Palestinian group in Gaza Hamas unlike operations earlier this week which targeted Islamic Jihad international banks based in Hong Kong have told the b.b.c. They are reviewing their investment plans because of the impact of the escalating violence the territory has fallen into recession for the 1st time in a decade after months of political unrest there's your nor yellow vests movement in France is marking the 1st anniversary of its weekly anti-government demonstrations with a gathering in Paris the group stage mass protests last autumn against the austerity policies of President Emmanuel McCraw b.b.c. News. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service I'm Julia Moore record with weekend and I have to guess with me for the rest of the program who are going to give us their personal take on the news in the issues of the day Alex Von terms Allman is here British historian and film script writer Alex Welcome good morning your money and jobs coming amiss here founder of the Trafalgar strategy political consultancy based in London previously director of communications for the u.k. Conservative party's election campaign of 2015 Giles Welcome good morning that must seem a long time ago they were written words you both about you or your roots to where you are Alex at what point in life was history going to be a big part of it. Was probably when I decided to study university so that's kind of fairly early on and yeah I suppose I didn't quite expect to end up doing it for a career. But turns out I really enjoyed my degree in the books that followed have been for I think that's right which areas of history have you focused on mostly work on the cold war and on big international crises. Partition of India on the Cuban Missile Crisis and became the Suez crisis so. You could sort of see me as somebody who's just waiting for the next big disaster to happen sure you've got a couple of. Sadly you probably won't have to wait long and the film in the script writing how does that all fit in well if it isn't I've always loved film and and I had a column for a long time in the Guardian about real history about historical movies and whether they were accurate or not largely not and then sort of I suppose rather like a sort of gamekeeper turned poacher. Right The myself. So I wrote to me about Winston Churchill that was asked about his every Brian Cox Miranda Richardson and working on the nec no next project now we will look for those no doubt just talk us through the route to well 1st of all I mentioned your work during the election campaign here many of. If Dean and what's happened since take it to the politics 1st and where that sort of developed from I mean I always had a really keen interest in public in our current affairs I started off as a journalist I did you know a t.v. News and then it just moments of serendipity I met Cameron's press David Cameron's press secretary the time fancy the change and by a stroke of luck ended up in politics was there for I think 8 years finished up as had a press in Number 10 as you said I was director of Commerce for 2015 election which feels like an absolute lifetime ago now so so much has changed and you know we thought the time by getting a majority would be able to form a stable government you know and if he would be so much me there I mean it makes the coalition the sort of honeymoon period even though there were a fair few problems then you know since then it's been this constant constant state of flux but I was there when I left when Cameron resigned took some time out always wanted to do my own thing to be honest it could have been starting a bar. Just so happened that my skills. My skill set led me to see the working poor on public affairs and it's one those businesses you can set up from the kitchen sink. That's how it started and you really enjoying it there are 10 of us now and touch wood it's going to go well and who do you offer advice to them what sort of advice are they looking for I mean it could be everything from crisis management reputation management to be working with some politicians in terms of helping them get elected to public office or once you're in public office but also running campaigns for people maybe if they've got an issue they want highlighting all or be able on behalf of of certain stuff and some straightforward media relations kind of call in the start up there and sort of disruptive businesses which are entering the marketplace and it is it's fascinating to watch that you know obviously of course you know for sure state of flux in politics but in business things are changing so dramatically you're seeing businesses becoming obsolete overnight and. Yeah I mean there's a real sense of innovation I don't think I think public in society is struggling to keep up with it I'm sensing you're not missing the day to day world of domestic politics nor not massively I mean it's a privilege to work in those jobs but they do take of your life I don't think I had time to do anything else whatsoever when I was doing them I didn't have a headspace for anything so I think. People who do them and I think it's all consuming which is why this sort of a foreign art period of time you can do it for me we may return to domestic politics and later on in the program Alex wantons Allman just coming in both here thought from you if you wish for the World Service Facebook page now we start in West Africa for the past 4 years the West African Republic of booking a fast so has been experiencing a steadily deteriorating security situation and Islamist insurgency involving at least 3 known jihadist groups has spilled over the border from neighboring Mali killing at least $500.00 people earlier this month France announced it would take part in a joint military operation with the country's army at its borders with Mali and new share but fears are growing for the humanitarian needs of an estimated half a 1000000 people displaced by the fighting within the country while mama is a spokeswoman for the World Food Program She's been speaking to me from the capital do you work in a fast always on the cusp of disaster it's a country of 20000000 people 60 percent of which is a young population and that young population has been facing poverty unemployment economic inequality and food insecurity the recent violence that has gripped the northern region of booking a fast so constitutes a 3rd of the country and this violence is leading more and more people to leave their homes and villages we know that half a 1000000 people have been displaced so far and so the world food program we've been running our program prior to this crisis now we've scaled up even more to reach. She's sewing numbers and we've declared the country in addition to the neighboring countries of Mali any chair a level 3 emergency which is our highest level of a humanitarian crisis and when you get clear a level 3 emergency what does that mean in practice in terms of what you are then trying to do it means that there is a toxic mix of food insecurity violence malnutrition rising rates of hunger are people unable to access food on a daily basis and so we must work faster and we must channel as much help from governments and donors as much as we can because in book enough NASA where where I am at the moment we're on a mission visiting to see how conditions are panning out for people it's clear that hunger and malnutrition are becoming chronic can are being exacerbated by extreme weather conditions and of course the conflict and the region is now facing this extraordinary catastrophe you talked about government help is there enough of that coming in at the moment we have advocated with donors to try and pay attention to brick enough ass Unfortunately this region doesn't get enough global attention compared to other crises of course they're competing crises like Yemen and Syria but we're trying to sound the alarm and say Look back enough ASIO and central to have is important to remember that in security and the lawlessness that's taking place and opening up in the region it's leading to trafficking of all sorts of specially if people we know that the Hell is one route for migrants to Europe many of whom are not necessarily from countries but it's a route where people who want to make it to Europe and they think they could and they lack jobs where they're from an income opportunities and so they have a dream to try and make their lives better and they're ready to risk their lives in these pervious journeys across the deserts and ocean so there must be not only military intervention but also humanitarian intervention to turn the tide and allow . These people to lead normal lives again on the subject of a military intervention from has announced this joint military operation with a bikini a fast so Army this is at the border with Mali a nice year how much difference will that make do you think is that a positive development from your point of view well at the moment the World Food Programme is not able to access the areas where there is insecurity and we know that there is problems of malnutrition and access to food we're able to provide to desist Institute people who are coming out of this area so we're seeing that this placement pattern is moving from the north to the south in those areas in the south were able to reach those people of course they're living miserable lives I've met people who are actually living under a tree out in the open some people are throwing themselves at the mercy of the host communities families where not related to them but who are generous enough to take them in an support them and so obviously we know that the more axis we get to support larger numbers of people the better because then we're able to stem the crisis from becoming worse and even going beyond this regular hunger and regular malnutrition to something even worse. Who speaks on behalf of the World Food Program she's in want to do the capital of book enough so you're listening to Weekend It's 641 g m t we've now had 2 days of the public in breach Mint hearings against President Donald Trump in Washington Friday's proceedings saw testimony from the former u.s. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie you have on of each correspondent in Washington and he has this report looking at the past few eventful days in u.s. Politics the curtain came up on the House of Representatives impeachment hearings this week and for the 1st time meetings were held in public Democrats are hoping to use these televised testimonies to tell a story about what they believe is an abuse of power by the president to allege that he used millet. Kerry aide and the chance of a White House visit as collateral in order to get the Ukrainian president to launch investigations that would help President Trump politically Republicans on the other hand they've been trying to poke holes in that narrative they hope to paint this entire impeachment process as just the latest attempt to unseat President Trump now with that in mind let's dive straight into this morning's testimony which featured former u.s. Ambassador to Ukraine Maria you have on a bitch she was fired by Mr Trump in April after a campaign to unseat her by the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several of his business associates Ivanova testified to what she saw as the subversion of legitimate u.s. Foreign policy toward Ukraine by corrupt Ukrainians and willing enablers in the United States how could our system failing this how is it that foreign corrupt interests can manipulate our government which country's interests are served when the very corrupt behavior we have been criticizing is allowed to prevail it didn't take long for the president to inject himself into the hearing however in a way that should be very familiar to those who follow u.s. Politics in a tweet he wrote that everywhere you go on news and worked as a diplomat Somalia and Ukraine in particular it turned bad it was a remarkable moment the committee chair Adam Schiff interrupted his staff lawyers question interview bondage so she could respond to the president's tweet in real time shown the courage to come forward today testified and now the president real time is attacking you. What effect do you think that has on the other witnesses willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing. It's very intimidating I mean I can't speak to what the president is trying to do but I think the effect is to be intimidating Well I want to let you know that some of us here take witness intimidation very very seriously Schiff and other Democrats have characterized the . Tweet as witness tampering they say it is yet further evidence of his campaign to impugn the reputation of a long serving u.s. Diplomat Republicans on the committee who had planned to avoid directly criticizing Nirvana vege they were caught off guard saying they did not approve of the president's tweet this morning was just another reminder that the president is his own communications director and chief political strategist who is more than willing to change the rules of engagement on the fly right now let's go back to Wednesday the 1st day of the hearings which quite honestly already seem like a lifetime ago current acting u.s. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor and senior State Department official George can't both testify to what they saw as the inappropriate pressure u.s. Officials were putting on Ukraine to open those investigations that could hurt Mr Trump's adversaries much of their testimony as Ivana veges was today were reprisals of their closed door depositions that have been publicly released so the real value of the proceedings was in hearing their words delivered in person so the public could judge the witnesses credibility and authority themselves there was one big surprise early in Taylor's testimony however he revealed that one of his aides told him he overheard a July conversation between the president and Gordon saw online a song lend the u.s. Ambassador to the European Union has been at the center of this probe Most recently he made headlines by changing his previous testimony to recall that he told Ukrainian officials that military aid was being held up until those investigations were open here's what Taylor's aide remembered about the incident following the call with President Trump the member of my staff asked investor Solomon what President Trump thought about Ukraine as a song responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of by which Giuliani was pressing for that aids David Holmes is offering a closed door deposition to investigators today if he. Confirms Taylor's account of this overheard call it could tie Donald Trump more closely to song lend who in the past Trump is said he barely knew on Thursday Trump himself said he did not recall the phone conversation which would have occurred on an unsecure line while Sandlin was in Ukraine I have never heard this in any event it's more secondhand information but I've never heard or saw and is set to testify in the open hearing next Wednesday as one of 8 witnesses on the schedule that week if the 1st 2 days of these public proceedings are any indication there's plenty of drama Still to come Antony's reporting from Washington I wonder just what do you think this pursuit predominantly clearly by the Democrats is a worthwhile exercise I think it's hard to question but I saw for the 1st day that trumps approval rating actually rose I think at the moment he's doing quite a good job of framing this as a witch hunt it seems like the republicans are you know energized and running behind him I think the danger for the Democrats is this is a big distraction from actually finding. A a credible alternative to trump in the upcoming u.s. Presidential elections and this whole him you know President I think he's been impeached has ever left office think you have to have been Clinton and Johnson but I think you must remember this whole process does I think Biden as well because it raises questions about what was his son doing being employed in Ukraine for his foes for I mean it is you know it is I mean an incredible spectacle to watch words from me. You know you've got a president live tweeting. Allegedly intimidating a witness during process that tweets being put to the witness and there's the reporter saying that he's acting in his own communication yes I got your eyebrows went up at the political director and I'm going to locations you I mean I think he is a meanie in that sense you cannot dispute the fact that he does he is the ultimate disrupt. And it's unseemly speech to the networks in America live oh if nothing else we love Trump he's great for viewing figures appearing part of you figure has been more than 30000000 in advertising revenues have gone up but to watch a question ultimately are don't think is going to. Make compelling viewing and. What I mean there was a piece of people reacting to the firsts saying there was not enough pizzazz as if it was kind of you know this seems to be this reaction to it very much as it is entertainment but I thought some event of it yesterday was was definitely some peace as I thought I mean especially as just as a sort of live drama of Trump's tweets going on during But also she was actually rather impressive I think and you know very kind of coherent and I mean it depends whether this is going to be treated I mean everything around Trump seems to turn into a sort of circus and something to be treated as entertainment and of course you know there is a danger in that in that perhaps feeds his brand but I think the Democrats have been very obviously it's taken a lot you know they've been a lot of pushes to start impeachment proceedings before this and I would caution to that I mean they've really struggled with the rights and wrongs of this they really have and I think you know Nancy Pelosi hasn't rushed into this and you know they're trying to keep it clearly quite focused on this very specific and this is lots of things he could go after transforming the monument schools all sorts of things. But you know this is this is obviously being done as cautiously as possible but yeah I mean it's a hard thing to handle I mean I think what you kind of got to say from the point of view of the political effect is how much of this is already priced in with his base you know I mean it's not like they really think I don't think many of them are under the illusion that he's some kind of. You know wholly moral standing you know kind of immaculate person they probably think that this is the guy they elected is someone who behave like this you know I think he is once again framing it very much as him against the establishment I mean he is the establishment but it's this whole thing of which I'm not as Alex that I think it will just energize his base and I still think trouble when next time at the moment it's not there's not a credible alternative. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service I'm Julie Morricone with weekend. Reminded of our main news Prince Andrew has said he let the royal family down by staying at the home of a convicted sex offender and international banks say they're reviewing the future of their operations in Hong Kong because of the continuing violence there. Well out to a man who it's fair to say is had an interesting and varied professional career Scott Neeson for 26 years was a very big name in Hollywood he rose to be the president of the 20th Century Fox film company managing revenues in excess of $1500000000.00 and overseeing such blockbusters as Titanic a brave heart an x. Men but then in 2004 he gave up his career in the film industry while on a sabbatical in Cambodia he decided to raise money for a rather different venture to improve the livelihoods of children living in extreme poverty in the capital Phnom Penh he set up a charity called the Cambodian Children's Fund where he's been visiting London this week and when he came to our studio I asked him 1st what prompted him to decide on that career change I was between jobs in Hollywood this isn't July of 2003 I'd finished my contract at 20th Century Fox and had signed to commence at Sony Pictures 5 weeks later so took a bit of a a mini sabbatical decided to travel through much of an Asia seeing the Buddhist monuments it was a very random situation when I was a non pen and a friend's friend who'd been introduced to had taken me out 20 told me was the worst area of poverty in non pen and it turned out that it was the municipal landfill Fernand Penn and it was the the shock of seeing this sprawling garbage dump with somewhere around one for. 1500 children living and working there and it really shook me to my core it was the smell was just appalling the hate you have a tropical climate but also the ground is burning because the garbage gives up methane and the methane is constantly burning and there was children who'd been lobbying left there by parents and no longer wanted them and that was just the be is beginning of the end of my corporate life. It's one thing to see that and react in the way that you did which I'm sure the vast majority of people would do it's quite another to then act upon it in the way that you have so how quickly did you start to put the wheels in motion to enable the charity to begin Well the most initial phase it was within half an hour there was I was with her I was with a translator and as a child walking by and it was an 8 year old girl and got talking to the mother and it was a relatively simple process of finding a room so they could get off of the garbage dump and that was $10.00 a month the girls younger sister was in a terrible state she was near death with typhoid getting her into a public hospital and through the translator setting up a system so when I returned to my job in Hollywood my colleague there would ensure the rent was paid the child was registered in school and food and rice and a small stipend would mother would receive it every week and that's how it really began and I think like a lot of people I felt disempowered I didn't have a lot of joy in my day to day life as glamorous as it was and well paid as it was and all of the prejudices which I think are quite common the perception it wasn't my problem it was the other side of the world but when the chart standing right in front of me all of a sudden it is. It's my problem and it was a rude challenge to my own values of whether I would walk away or do everything I could to to help the children there the Cambodian Children's Fund has obviously done a lot of a vital work since those early days the main project now one of them is as I understand it is called the girls to grannies community that edge in the center of Phnom Penh what's happening there exactly Well we're based around the landfill there's about 10000 people there we've been working with an organization in Canada would housing and they have a charity that for every house or apartment they sell in North America they would give us funding to build a house around the landfill and the very simple there are roughly 800 pounds to build the house and put in the water supply were built 460 of these times over 20 communities and the criteria for getting one of these times was simply the family had to encourage the child to go to school and wouldn't tolerate abuse of time whether it was a physical or substance abuse verbal provided the parents could meet those criteria then the be given one of these times and we had a grandmother one of the Rennie program members within each of the communities but the idea of an all female Fil it is really an extension of the absence of fathers who are contributing to the family income we have a stipend. Food medical care for the elderly and they in turn talked to our students about values wisdom. But again we've ended up with 68 grandmothers and just 2 grandfathers all these things pointed to the benefits of having an over email village to be less domestic violence less substance abuse safer and research has shown to that single gender education when you have an all or go all female classroom the education process is a lot more effective What's been the the wider reaction to what you're doing in Cambodia because clearly those that you're helping are benefiting enormously from what you're doing and you've just described that in great detail inevitably you can't help everybody and others will be looking on and wondering where they stand in all this and perhaps wondering about an outsider coming in and doing this how conscious are you of that element Well I've been there 15 years and I'm down in the area essentially every night when I'm not travelling and it took a good 56 years to get the locals trust but I'm now 15 years in there Cambodian citizen now the government's been very supportive and it's been a very successful program but 60 percent nearly 65 percent of the children were sent back of continued education right through the year 12 the joy is that of the 1st $200.00 shrewder and took off the land for nearly 70 percent have gone through university or are in university right now which is a fabulous result what finally of you and your reflections because there was a time when you were running 20th Century Fox and films such as Titanic and Braveheart an x. Men were part of your c.v. How do you reflect on all that now I still miss the luxuries of. It had a bite in the harbor a lovely town in the hills and some very good friends the Porsche and all sorts of material goodies but I feel very blessed to found the most amazing community very close I do love the children the families of learned along the way to suspend judgment to look at each problem try to be as objective as possible and it's been a remarkable experience I've been very very lucky Scott Neeson on that perhaps unlikely journey from Hollywood to Phnom Penh You're listening to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service the latest news is just. One of the long term affection members of community after an immigration for one moment family it's the loss of a hunger poverty possible homelessness and she was homeless after the raid the aftermath of work ations also now listen to the 1st public impeachment hearings that all the news Saturday and Weekend Edition from in Join us for Weekend Edition Saturday morning beginning at 5 on 90.3 k s z u I'm Michelle Loxton with this k.d. You weather update after some overnight fog and cloud cover tonight conditions are expected to be clear throughout the weekend highs on Saturday in the mid sixty's to mid seventy's. From California State University Monterey Bay This is member funded 90.3. Sepic Grove Monterey Salinas San Santa Cruz. B.b.c. World Service it's 7 hours g.m.t. Welcome to Weekend with. Coming up Sri Lankans are at the polls today in the 1st election since more than $250.00 people were killed in multiple suicide attacks have the latest from Colombo also fires continue to rage on much of Australia's east coast we'll hear from some of those worst affected nothing here there's nothing to be. Absolutely nothing it's just.