A Palestinian Group off to as trucks kill dozens in gaza. And a cocktail to come back to gas will be the only generation committed to helping iraqs government protests. A top diplomats given evidence of how the u. S. President put pressure on ukraine to investigate political rival joe biden william tell it was one of 2 foreign offices to ours at the 1st televised hearing thats on the hot and pietschmann inquiry into donald trump. Reports now from washington d. C. The whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god William Taylor and george kent took the stand together at the 1st public hearing in the impeachment inquiry career foreign officers called by democrats to tell a compelling story to the American Public taylor is the acting u. S. Ambassador to ukraine who upon assuming the post in june. Found himself dropped in the middle of a mystery once i arrived and gave discovered a weird combination of encouraging confusing and ultimately alarming circumstances taylor had begrudgingly agreed to come out of retirement to take over the u. S. Diplomatic mission at a critical time his predecessor. Had been ousted without explanation and President Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was meeting with ukraine officials to discuss debunked corruption allegations against political rivals that had taylor worried and countered an irregular informal channels of u. S. Policy making with respect to ukraine. Unaccountable to Congress Taylor began asking questions and learned the informal channel was aimed at getting ukraine to investigate joe biden trumps potential opponent in the upcoming president ial election tailors as career diplomats were sidelined as trumps chosen aides pressed ukraine to publicly announce a biden investigation george kent a state department expert on ukraine says giuliani was getting more involved in u. S. Relations with kiev it became clear to me that giulianis efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations are now infecting u. S. Engagement with ukraine leveraging president selenski is desire for a white house meeting but there was more ambassador taylor says he had a clear understanding that u. S. Security aid to ukraine worth 400000000 dollars was also on the line the money was essential for ukraine to fend off russias military advances to withhold that systems for no good reason other than help with the Political Campaign made no sense it was it was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do. It was illogical it could not be explained it was crazy multiple witnesses have corroborated taylors testimony much of the facts are uncontested but there is a critical factor still missing from the democrats argument to impeach President Trump and that is evidence that trump was directly involved and therefore to be blamed the closest democrats have come is a july phone call between trump and the president of ukraine a lot of years olinsky tells trump his countrys ready to buy more weapons from the us for defense purposes trump sansar i would like you to do us a favor though then ask for investigations into democrats and the bidens this is extortion this is bribery and in any other instance. People would go to jail far shore trump says hes innocent and republicans are stunned sleep defending him but anyone familiar with the democrats scorched earth war against President Trump would not be surprised to see all the typical signs that this is a carefully orchestrated Media Smear Campaign prior to the start of the public hearings americans were about evenly divided on whether to impeach trump and remove him from office now that theyre hearing directly from witnesses all eyes are on whether the publics opinions will change. Castro aljazeera washington or donald trump was dismissive of what hes already labeled a witch hunt i hear its a joke i havent watched i have a watch for one minute because ive been with the president which is much more important as far as im concerned that this is a sham and shouldnt be allowed it was a situation that was caused by people that shouldnt have allowed it to happen who want to find out who is the whistleblower and because the whistleblower gave a lot of very Incorrect Information including michael with the president of ukraine which was a perfect call on Nancy Soderberg as a former Deputy National security adviser to president clinton she says the public hearings are an important milestone in the impeachment inquiry. Well it was like going from black and white to a full living color on a big screen it brought to life the career Public Servants who are having their courage to stand up to what they believed was wrong to come forward against instructions from the president not to testify and to lay out the facts which are very clear that the president held up military aid to ukraine in exchange for an investigation of the biden is the real piece of i think new news was more meat on the bones there was a little bit of news that ambassador bill taylor said when one of his staffers he had learned since his previous testimony had overheard trump and sunless the ambassador to the e. U. Who was in the middle of all of this talking to the president and its very clear that it was about the biden investigation and they summed up the call saying that the president cared more about the investigation of the bidens than he did about ukraine that was made headlines kind of a bombshell revelation today but it is very clear that the democrats are building a very methodical case and that the republicans will do anything to blow it up and mirror the president s witchhunt phrases. Or trumps threat to withhold military aid to ukraine is a key part of the whole inquiry kid ever see the estimated 1500000000 dollars from the u. S. In the past 5 years al jazeera reports dafna Training Center in western ukraine where troops get specialist help from american troops. But are. Laying low seems to be the message in ukraine after u. S. Military aid was temporarily suspended in july the country was suddenly at the center of an american political storm involving a phone call between the u. S. President and the newly elected ukrainian leader. Undeterred by whats going on in washington ukrainian soldiers are preparing war games with the u. S. Colleagues at the joint multinational Training Center in the west of the country tactics they can use in the ongoing war against russian backed separatists in the east war were we Pay Attention to politics that doesnt affect our process will be heard tomorrow as long as both governments agree that were needed here. Besides having ukraines back against russia the americans are getting ukraines troops ready to become part of nato. This is how u. S. Military aid to ukraine looks like an army which was said to be suffering from corruption and the lack of funds now weve got to face russia in the east but one threat to withhold this aid even though it was only temporarily has caused doubt about how much ukraine can rely on its most important ally. After the much debated phone call with trump ukraines president followed a mere zelinsky sat he did not feel pressured by trumps threat to withhold military aid but analysts say it has affected the image of the United States and ukraine and could even push some towards moscow what were seeing in washington now that is under threat of unraveling completely as widely reported a series that for true. Tropp is not interested in the larger issues of democracy promotion state building and human rights in ukraine rather hes interested in using grain for his old political needs. But the us president still has some fans in kiev this coffee shop only opened a few months ago i would say it would make ukraine more famous and more people aware ukraine was happening in ukraine about war in the middle of europe. But it wouldnt hurt the planes in that Many Americans dont even know that youre training this young teacher by us military i dont feel any particular help from america so i think we have to rely on ourselves. Not the sort of message ukrainian soldiers fighting what is known as the forgotten war against russian backed separatists want to hear they hope the u. S. Will continue to support them step fasten aljazeera livy ukraine there are reports a cease fire has been agreed in gaza for 2 days of cross border fighting egypt has been mediating between israel and the Palestinian GroupIslamic Jihad negotiations were taking place as more missiles and rockets were exchanged in the early hours of thursday 32. 00 palestinians have been killed since tuesday the escalation began after a Senior Leader of Islamic Jihad died in an israeli strike. Well. Firstly you want a stop to all the assassinations inside the gaza strip and the west bank generally secondly to cease firing on all the protesters taking part in the great march of return thirdly for israel to abide by agreements discussed in cairo relating to measures that have to be taken to break the siege on the gaza strip. Hong kong is bracing for another day of transport chaos protesters are planning to block more Roads Authority has already shot a major tunnel as a precaution lets get more now from sarah clarke she joins us live from Hong Kong Sara so another day of transport chaos in hong kong. This is the 4th day of the week to protest the general strike that was called by these protesters targeting the transport system and that includes the bus the ryle and the road in the traffic you know where we are at the Polytechnic University and this is where it has already been fired on thursday morning on my right we have a large group of right place down the road that looks like theyre potentially ready to move in to this particular campus now you might be able to see behind me the entire campus has been barricaded up now these universities that become the battle grounds for these particular protests certainly this week weve got a number of protesters all Wearing Masks in a nearby black shirts and pants inside here as well as above me weve seen of creating a number of producing a number of petrol bombs already the police say they fired a number of bow and arrows were arrows at the police early this morning hence why they fired that gas now as for a casualty report we have a 15 year old whos in a Critical Condition after being hit by a canister of tear gas we also have a 70 year old who was hit by a brick during the protests yesterday thats being wednesday to say we have another day of chaos at this stage at the moment weve got 15 empty train stations have been shut the number bus lines have been stopped we also have schools can. It sold out on thursday and the Education Bureau has Just Announced that they will cancel all schools i gain on friday and so are we seeing this new strategy of protests taking place on weekdays what of impact is this. For this particular strategy its an escalation from city to protests are they trying to impact everyone and certainly everyone all members of the public could be impacted whether it be through the transport system how weve had a number of key districts targeted during a very busy working hours and during the lunch hour that being central one of the busiest of Central Business district so the inn in hong kong now the m. T. R. Being shut down that does affect different its a very busy and popular transport network that mobilizes are most people in hong kong to get around and those transactions have been shot so certainly by talking the weekdays the protesters are trying to get their message across to all members of the public at this stage they are having that impact insert the its been a widespread impact on or how the government has said theyre backing the police at this stage and we had an overnight meeting of a number of high government and senior government officials he met at Government House so were expecting another day of protests today but tension on friday as well right this article there in Hong Kong Sara thank you. Time for a short break here aljazeera when we come back the u. S. Reveals his position on bolivias government to supporters of the former leader intensifies the strike. You dont have that seems all set to roll out but some companies are skeptical on the strings. Have a range of its way not for most but for a few we see between afghanistan received quite a lot in the Central Military in this front on its way through. That will increase. Cloud ahead of it still quite warm at 28 in beirut but the showers will break out most likely i think on friday in the levant across in iraq and maybe just across the border even into saudi arabia more significant rain seems likely around this iranian coast of the something caspian that green is forecast rain i suspect thunderstorms well flash flooding even this time of year is a possibility. No showers much further south and that is cooled down by a day now way below 30 for the most part it is warmer in mekere obviously chilly diets particularly around the gulf states otherwise its Just Sunshine in the sky waiting for a few showers but they will be many maybe a hint near riyadh as jumped down to active Weather Source in africa particularly south africa where you see some pretty deep depressions run from the western cape all the way to causing thats how this is the result on thursday masses of potential rain sudden storms already seen one tornado captured captured by camera well the rain does ease off a bit by friday but you got a wet couple of days flooding seems quite likely. The weather sponsored by chance down at once. Welcome back a quick reminder of the top stories here on aljazeera the 1st public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump has ended u. S. Is down bassman ukraine said he was told that from cared more about an investigation into his rival joe biden and he did about ukraine trumps alleged pressured kid into investigating biden and exchanged for military. There are reports a ceasefire has been agreed in gaza thats out the 2 days of fighting that killed 32. 00 palestinians egypt has been mediating between israel and the Palestinian GroupIslamic Jihad. And major transport routes in hong kong have been forced to close police around to supporting a 4th consecutive day of mid week demonstrations schools have been shot across the city. Now President Trump has met his turkish counterpart at the white house despite opposition in congress to the visit turkeys offensive in Northern Syria and its purchase of a Russian Missile system dominated the talks mike hanna has more from washington d. C. The president and 1st lady had town to welcome the turkish leader this the 1st face to face talks following weeks of screen relations between the 2 countries President Trump was quick to set a friendly we have a great relationship both personally and with the great country of turkey and we look forward to moving there forward in making it an even bigger and better relationship thank you but its apprenticeship that dates back 7 years to the opening of the trump towers in istanbul buttressed by a warm relationship between their sons in laws one is turkeys finance minister the other President Trumps close adviser jared cushion. Its a relationship that concerned many in congress because certain further fueled by President Trumps opposition to a bipartisan sanctions bill passed in the house and being discussed in the senate. The bill was in response to turkeys military operation in syria. Following President Trump surprise decision to withdraw u. S. Troops from the Region Congress has been angered by the u. S. President s apparent reluctance to impose sanctions on turkey following its decision to buy a russian weapons system the s 400 already being deployed in the face of protest by all of turkeys nato allies including the u. S. Just outside the white house a small group of protesters expressing their opposition to the turkish president while the protests the. President. Group opera public. Again pushing usually do you want to start of the negotiation you know the president one senator had least agreed to look for the Silver Lining in the relationship with turkey the purpose of this meeting is to have an american citizen. Friends in turkey. And theres a pony in there somewhere if we can. And the hope expressed by president turner one that the relationship that the u. S. Congress will improve as turkey we are ready and committed to sustain a very constructive dialogue with the United States congress and this is an idea that ive shared with President Trump as well from President Trump a few circuits raised and the hope expressed of further arms sales we have a lot of trade with turkey but it could be many times larger and turkey would like to see that and it would also be good for the United States so we intend to bring it up to about 100000000000. 00 that would be 4 times what it is right now for president one and was a successful meeting not only with the u. S. Le