Firming up their grip on power because new president appoints his brother as Prime Minister. Also ahead taking aim at the government thousands of indias Indigenous People protest outside parliament against plans to evict them. Ok lets get going on once considered to be an ally of donald trump has publicly stated the president wanted to withhold military aid to ukraine in exchange for an investigation into his political rival americas ambassador to the e. U. Testify before the impeachment inquiry into the u. S. President on weapons day hes gotten some learned he also implicated other top officials saying quote everyone was in the loop helen fisher reports from washington. From the u. S. Ambassador to the e. U. Stonily testimony. Said it was abundantly clear to everyone ukraine would not receive military aid from the u. S. Or a meeting at the white house unless it announced an investigation into a Company Connected to the son of political opponent joe biden was there a quid pro quo. As i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes sunderland previously denied the security it was conditioned on the biden investigation but he told the Impeachment Panel it warrants in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid i later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur. Until there was a Public Statement from ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 elections and were recently and he insisted senior figures on the administration knew what was going on including the Vice President and the secretary of state everyone was in the loop the suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular or rogue diplomacy is absolutely false im not sure how someone could characterize something as an irregular channel when youre talking to the president the United States the secretary of state the National Security adviser the chief of staff of the white house the secretary of energy he said trump insisted u. S. Diplomats what with his private attorney Rudy Giuliani on handling ukraine so we followed the president s orders sundin says giulianis direction on ukraine became more insidious with time in early july a coveted white house visit for ukrainian president modem years a lengthy was dangled as an award for ukraines cooperation which but later saw england testified it became upon the 400000000. 00 in security aid was also on the line someone testified that in a phone call with the oval office he asked trump an open ended question what did the president won from ukraine the answer he wanted nothing and republicans and the president claims that proves the impeachment hearing is a waste of time its over and some of the fair friends of which there is a deal mike said this thing is over nancy pelosi said company shes gotten nothing done in congress and now with their big star witness is going to be their star witness is going to say you know i dont know very well from a little witness confirmation the ukrainians asked why i was being held up as i think quality coming sooner than previously reported my staff showed me to unclassified emails that they received from the state department. One was received on july 25th at 2 31 pm that email said that the Ukrainian Embassy and House Foreign Affairs committee are asking about Security Assistance democrats called sunderlands testimony a seminal moment it goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery as well as other potential high crimes or misdemeanors but we also have heard for the 1st time that knowledge of this scheme was pervasive. Republicans continue to insist the president did nothing wrong that the hearings that a waste of time and money the latest attempt to remove an elected president but this testimony from a trump loyalists mean democrats moving closer to impeachment and republicans rethinking how to defend the president alan fischer aljazeera washington. While staying with american politics democratic president ial hopefuls to spend more time criticizing President Trump than each other during their 5th debate in atlanta with the impeachment inquiry an unavoidable backdrop 10 candidates took to the stage included front runners Joe Biden Bernie sanders and others of both war and each heatedly making accusations against donald trump although Bernie Sanders did say they shouldnt become obsessed we have a president who is not only a pathological liar he is likely the most corrupt president in the modern history of america but we cannot simply be consumed by donald trump because if we are going to watch were going to lose the election American People understand is that the congress can walk and should bubble gum at the same dodd had other words we can deal with trumps corruption but we also have to stand up for the working families of this country. Well staying with the story the california senator also accused the president of breaking the law we have a criminal living in the white house and there is no question that in 2020 the Biggest Issue before us until we get to that tender moment is justice is on the ballot and what we saw today. By his own words told us that everyone was in the loop that means it is a criminal enterprise engaged in by the president from what we heard today the Vice President the secretary of state and the chief of staff just michel is assistant professor at Northwestern University here in council she says impeachment was always going to be the big talking point for the democrats there was a focus on the impeachment especially at the beginning i actually thought it was a really good move on the part of the debate organizers to start with the question because its the elephant in the room or the circus in washington d. C. You might say but at the same time i dont think they dwelt on it because the candidates really dont have any daylight between them on this issue which is virtually everyone on that stage agrees that President Trump may have committed impeachable offenses and that its important for congress to take seriously their their constitutional duty to protect our democracy so after that original question we we seem to move forward into actually quite a substantive and strong debate for many candidates you know it was interesting the speculation at the beginning of this of this debate previous was that people may get a lot of attacks by his fellow candidates and this is because he has just had a very Strong Holding in the state of iowa and the reason why iowa is important because its the 1st state for the primaries in in february of this next year and he was the top the top candidate in that recent poll but we didnt actually see this huge ganging up on. But i judge we did see Elizabeth Warren once again have an extremely strong debate the main focus was on her from the start she dominated the 1st hour finish strongly ended up with the most speaking time but actually all 4 of the top tier candidates including Bernie Sanders joe biden and people. Had strong debates and so did the 2nd tier candidates cory Booker Harris and. And also in the clover chart and the most important thing here was that the message in tone overall was this message of civility and unity its very clear that the democrats are trying to portray themselves as the adults in the room and in direct contrast to the circus that is the trump white house. Because newly elected president go to rajapakse just sworn in his own brother as the next Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa himself as president for a decade theres brother was elected to the presidency just last week go to buy a rajapaksa as well to be tough on Security Issues in light of the easter bombings that happened earlier this year. Is in colombo. Then tiley rajapaksa showed just behind me the president ial secretary it is where the former president was sworn in as the new Prime Minister. And sworn in by the new president go to. Obviously the vision as the have portrayed during the election campaign. Is to address the concerns of the people who have made National Security a priority which has been the big issue since the easter bombings in april this year they have vowed to bring back the state essentially of security me. Feel safe again theyve also essentially pledged to address all the shortcomings theyve said that they will deal with the economy they will deal with the concerns of the sri lankan people the president with his Prime Minister brother obviously quite keen to get on with fulfilling those pledges because they have a general election in the near future. China says its ready to fight back after the u. S. House of representatives passed a bill calling for human rights to be upheld in hong kong. Which has already been approved by the senate. To President Trump skin the white house china has accused washington of interfering in its internal affairs. Summoned an american diplomat in beijing. In hong kong about 100 student protesters still inside the University Campus surrounded by the police the standoff began on sunday sarah clarke as the latest. Police have sealed off this entire area around Polytechnic University and we believe up to 100. 00 people are still barricaded up inside overnight we had a few people the 1st who left voluntarily surrendered and were arrested as a result of the last few days weve had more than 1000 people leave this campus and of course a wrist now at the moment round this particular area we have huge Traffic Congestion here is the tunnel its been closed since last wednesday and its a major tunnel connecting Hong Kong Island and cal learn also weve had in the u. S. The passage of the hong kong human rights and democracy activists passed the senate you know you know honestly yesterday and today it was the house of representatives now the Hong Kong Government has responded to that its told the u. S. To stop meddling in hong kong the thing is it also says that this particular passage of this bill since the wrong message to call them the violent protests is now this bill requires the state department and the u. S. To certify that hong kong is protecting and respecting human rights in hong kong and also if this bill does get passed by donald trump it could also introduce sanctions on the Hong Kong Government. And also in Hong Kong Chinas online giant has become this years biggest share sale raising nearly 13000000000. 00 u. S. Dollars in a landmark listing on the citys Stock Exchange the auction marks the biggest sale in the hong kong for 9 years now could be seen as a boost for the territories economy falling more than 5 months of unrest the retailer is selling 500000000. 00 shares but will issue more depending on. A 3rd general election within 12 months in israel appears increasingly likely following the latest failure to form a government benny gantz the main rival of Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu didnt make weapons tonights deadline 22 hours local g. M. T. To arrange a coalition netanyahu also failed to win backing for a Coalition Following 2 inconclusive elections this year both were hoping to win the backing of the former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman but his party refused to support either of them or a force its in west jerusalem or 4 hours before the expiration of the deadline for benny gantz to make a Coalition Government he came to the microphones to admit what had been coming increasingly clear throughout the course of the day that he had failed but he put the blame for that squarely at the feet of the Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu saying he had been fortifying himself inside a Transitional Government against the will of the israeli people just to try to avoid prosecution in pending Corruption Cases and he used a particularly personal language in a very strong attack against netanyahu saying that no party leader was above the nation no person had the right to deny the people their vote no Prime Minister own leader could say that my interests are more important than yours and he said that netanyahu had been putting poison into the israeli political process through hatred and incitement and he said that israel now faced its greatest democratic test in its history as now the 21 day period begins where any member of the Israeli Parliament the knesset could theoretically try to form a Coalition Government if they have enough support otherwise israel is off to a 3rd round of elections within less than a year because now it would so usually score. Netanyahu needs to remember israel still has a democracy even if it doesnt appeal to him and he should have come to terms with the fact that the outcome of the elections required him to negotiate directly with no blocks or barriers well earlier the right wing politician of a door lieberman has been seen as the kingmaker in this process so that he hadnt been able to convince either netanyahu or gantz to compromise enough to form a joint unity government the only kind of government that he said he would support with his crucial seats in the Israeli Parliament so what comes next for the only way really that a 3rd election could be avoided is if the threat of that election which is so unpopular with the electorate is enough in itself to try to pressure key players to compromise more or if when netanyahu and we do think it is when theyre finally gets charged by the attorney general in the coming days in his 3 Corruption Cases whether that changes the calculus within his own party enough to try to splinter support away from him theres been no sign of that in the run up to those charges coming in the support has so far been rock solid behind him and so for now this grinding political crisis goes on with no sign of an end perhaps it will only end and maybe not even then if the 3rd round of elections happens in the early part of next year. Still to come here on aljazeera well meet the iraqi woman challenging tradition as antigovernment protests parts of the country. Also well tell you why the nicaraguan president is being accused of persistent repression. Hello again its good to have you back well for manila we are looking at some Better Weather conditions as well as the rest of luzon we did have a Tropical Storm that made its way across really dissipated as it was crossing from east to west and you can see the remnants of the clouds now pushing into the South China Sea for manila though youre going to see a few showers but nothing as heavy as what you saw over the last few days in for the wrestlers on things are going to be drying out some some good news there as we go towards saturday as well heavy rain though across parts of malaysia indonesia over the next few days accumulations could be over 80 millimeters of rain just any 24 hour period there well for parts of australia we are going to see a big relief as a frontal boundary starts to make its way over here towards the east adelaide on a wednesday saw 42 degrees dropping today on thursday to 22 so much better conditions there as we go towards the next holidays it is still going to be quite hot out here towards the east until this front makes its way a little bit more towards the coast so here were going to be seeing on friday sydney seeing that break in the weather coming down to about 26 to be there still quite warm of here towards brisbane at 28. 00 and then were going to be seeing some dry conditions across the area but for sydney a pop up shower too in the forecast for canberra well were going to see those temperatures drop by the time we get to saturday to about 31 degrees for you. This december make the heroes of Europe Asia Africa the middle east oceania. To a stage made the germans make connections makes mistakes peak for the on becoming its best see the site be sure to say i want to be. This piece called. Make your goal. Youre watching aljazeera live from the a reminder of our top stories today gordon song was told the impeachment inquiry into donald trump that the president wanted to withhold military aid to ukraine in exchange for an investigation into his political rival the Us Ambassador to the e. U. Who was once an ally mr trump also implicated other top officials. Democratic president ial hopeful suppresses science trump during their debate in atlanta senator Bernie Sanders called him the most corrupt president in u. S. History but he also warned democrats not to get too obsessed with mr