Declared israeli settlements in the occupied west bank illegal israels Prime Minister muse ahead with a plan to annex the Jordan Valley. A 4 day standoff at a Hong Kong University comes to an end as antigovernment protesters surrendered to police. Oh a key witness in the u. S. Impeachment inquiry into donald trump has described the president s phone call with his ukrainian counterpart as improper attendant colonel Alexander Van men has been testifying before congress you listened in on trumps phone call with skin in july and says he was concerned that the president asked a Foreign Government to investigate his political rival joe biden. Correct and then later you 2 are on the white house call am i right you heard it with your own ears correct not secondhand not from somebody else not hearsay right correct you heard the president s voice on the call i did and you heard him raise that subject again that ambassador saw and had raised before about investigating the bidens right i did and i want to ask you when you heard him say that what was the 1st thought that went through your mind frankly i couldnt believe what i was hearing it was probably an element of shock. Audition cush is live from capitol hill in washington d. C. Shes been following all these hearings especially key Witnesses Today talk us through the the main points of what emerged in these hearings. Thats right laurin the facts as in one place within the white house gave us a window into the narrative of how this all unfolded and what he told investigators was this that 2 weeks prior to that phone call ukraine officials met with trump aides at the white house and those ukrainians were explicitly told that in order for their president alone theres alinsky to be rewarded with a one on one meeting with trump at the white house that the ukrainians would need to initiate investigations into joe biden afterwards came the call and that is when we heard trump ask zelinsky himself for a favor to initiate those investigations he made that ask right after the lewinsky think trump for the u. S. Continued defense assistance to ukraine zelinsky apparently at the time didnt know that trump had already frozen about 400000000. 00 in military aid and hearing the substance that call is what led then meant to be concerned he flagged it up to his the National Security council lawyer also Jennifer Williams who was the other witnesses morning said that she thought the call was irregular was unusual and inappropriate then fast forward about a month later and thats when well against place another role is she working closely with Vice President mike pence accompanied him to meet with president bill and see of ukraine and she says alinsky by then knew about this frozen military aid and he asked pence specifically why was the money not coming tens did not have an answer according to william tell ever another delegate and now the delegate member of the u. S. Delegation did have an answer. That was u. S. Ambassador to the u. Gordon sunland who told and ukrainian aid it does alinsky that there was another explicit quid pro quo that in order to get the white house meeting with his own skin trump and the u. S. Security a to ukraine that ukraine would need to deliver those investigations into joe biden now trump has denied that the aide and the investigations were tied and republicans have focused on attacking the process of this impeachment inquiry and also trying to out the identity of the whistleblower that led to this exchange between Ranking Member devon junias and then men in which the union is trying to tease out information about the whistleblower. Youre here to answer questions and youre here under subpoena. So you can either answer the question or you can plead the 5th on behalf of my client we are following the rules of the Committee Rule of the chair with regard to this issue and this does not call for an answer that is invoking the 5th or any theoretical issue like that the following ruling of the chair what chance or what ruling is that i can interject counsel is correct whistleblower has the right statutory right to anonymity these proceedings will not be used to out the whistleblower. And then men also took many other questions from republicans asking whether he had ever leaked information about the call to the press he said he never did and he never would then mens interesting background is also part of the picture here he immigrated to the United States when he was 3 years old his father had fled the soviet union with him and 2 other brothers in tow he went on to serve in the u. S. Military was a wounded war vets in iraq and he had a powerful moment in todays testimony saying that he thanked his father for making the choice to come. The United States 40 years ago that his very presence testifying now congress was evidence that his father had made the right choice and he said dont worry dad im going to tell the truth what is your question thank you very much indeed. White house correspondent joins us live now what kind of reaction has there been from the president well the u. S. President held a Cabinet Meeting invited reporters in and he responded directly as these proceedings were going on in the past he says he hasnt bothered to watch what he calls a witch hunt but this time he said he was watching hes also been tweeting in the last hour or so retreating essentially defenses or arguments that were made during the hearings that he felt were compelling enough that proved what he has claimed all along is that he has committed no wrongdoing but as he spoke to reporters he once again tried to attack the process attacked the democrats particularly nancy pelosi the House Speaker arguing that the all that the democrats want to accomplish is to overturn the results of the 2016 you election he called it a little pipe dream that shes got he then went on to attack the witness Lieutenant Colonel vince been essentially saying that he didnt know him but also saying that he had testified that everything in the call that he had on july 25th with the ukrainian president was perfect well thats not exactly what the testimony was but its clear that republicans performing in this hearing were really performing for a Single Person in the audience and that was the u. S. President and he got praise from the president for their performance. You have a Kangaroo Court headed by little shift issue where we dont have lawyers we dont have with issues we dont have anything and yet i just got to watch and the republicans are absolutely killing again they are doing so well because its just been just scare to big scale theyre doing something that the founders never thought possible in the founders didnt want and theyre using this impeachment hoax for put their own political gain. And camillus on promote questions about impeachment the president talking about his medical issues yeah because given the fact that this is an impeachment inquiry on the heels of the investigation into whether his 2016 president ial campaign colluded with russia theres been a lot of speculation about the impact on the u. S. d president and particularly his health knowing that in previous physicals he has been on the border for Heart Disease that he is clinically obese and then there was on saturday a surprise movement an off the record movement where the president was seen getting into a vehicle with his personal physician out we were told that he went to do some routine tests but given the fact that this was sort of seemed like an accelerated an unexpected aspect of the physical many people began to speculate some even reporting he had had a heart attack while the u. S. President also addressed that saying in fact that was not the case and then once again used as an opportunity to attack the media saying that the press is sick and dangerous theyre corrupt i hope they get their act together committee hockey thank you very much. Thank you. The Rights Group Amnesty International says it believes more than 100 protesters have been killed across iran since the government ordered Security Forces to clamp down on protests Iranian State television has broadcast footage it says shows some of the 300 people reportedly arrested for writing and threatening shopkeepers a protest against the government increase in fuel prices began on friday well 36 protesters and 5 police have been killed in the unrest and the u. N. Human Rights Office says its alarmed by reports that Security Forces are using live ammunition against protesters and urged restraint also barriers the latest from tehran. The number of deaths has gone up since the protestors began on friday according to official figures. 11 people have been killed 5 of those belong to the Security Forces 6 civilians that make up the arrests now these figures are coming to us from official state channels and officially weve heard the numbers to be much higher but we cannot verify that these demonstrations are being met with all the Security Forces inside the country since the Supreme Leader announced on sunday morning his views that he supported the governments decision to increase fuel prices the Intelligence Ministry the revolutionary guards have all issued statements saying that they will prevent any kind of gathering from taking place across the country and as a result of that over the past 24 hours there have been very few protests reported and weve seen a heavy security presence across the country now this is happening because president Hassan Rouhani said they had no choice but to increase the price of fuel to try and provide subsidies to nearly 60000000 iranians who are living close to the poverty line and thats because of economic sanctions that have been imposed on iran they are not able to sell their oil on the International Market since the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal last year this is something the iranian president said that they were not it was not an easy decision for them but it was necessary to try and help people deal with the economic crisis thats ongoing in the country a 4 day standoff at a Homecoming University appears to be coming to an end as more student protesters surrendered to police chief executive kerry has condemned the demonstrations behavior accusing them of violence and destruction in some of the worst protests the territory has seen sarah clarke reports from hong kong. This is the aftermath of monday night street protests roads blocked with bared out cars tables and chairs strewn across major roads in Hong Kong Central callen district at Polytechnic University protesters started to emerge from the campus after a not a violent confrontations with police the choice to surrender we just want to leave. A mile wide it was really hard because i have a lot of political will also afraid of water police say all very bad because we dont know what will happen and some people have. A calmer always because they are also in jail or sometimes in the end i say or Something Like police set up a checkpoint to the campus for questioning those charged with brushing face up to 10 years in jail some students managed to escape on monday they were met by Police Firing tear gas and rubber bullets on tuesday university professes school teaches and principals negotiated a deal allowing students to leave the campus peacefully with those pages when they meet police agreeing not to arrest them we talk time here by even held in photos and then we believe them but do things. Which are rigid belief system not resting their head be flat make sure that they are safe dealt with before the. Face protesters have emerged voluntarily for the still hard core group of protesters holed up inside the campus despite attempts by police to negotiate their exit they are facing to leave. Hong kongs chief executive kerry lamb condemned the protests she says 600. 00 have been arrested 200. 00 of them are under the idea of itin she appealed to the remaining group to give themselves up we will use whatever means to continue to persuade and arrange for lisa remaining protesters to leave. The campus as soon as possible so that this whole operation could be able to end in a peaceful manner and laid a basis for the subsequent work by the police to stop. This protest at the university by almost be over but the cleanup is still underway with the added Government Movement vowing to continue the demonstrations which is now entering the 6th month sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong. Still to come on aljazeera war protesters in lebanon formed a human chain to block politicians from entering column and. Hello there still a very unsettled weather picture across much of europe in particular of the central med and Central Europe little is activity in the last few hours it is going to be carrying away but the damage has already been done particularly cross in austria widespread weve had avalanches mudslides and also flooding this is evidence of mudslides a heres a closer view you can see this is actually gassed just to the north of salzburg huge swathes of land being taken away and of course some buildings have been destroyed but as a say the good news is this system is actually on its way for the tools east now does mean the rain is heading on tools of all kinds if not behind kara conditions sunny final bit dry and really not too bad wednesday across much of western europe the next system is waiting to push in and it does that on thursday the rain heading across the u. K. And on tools franz and sunny very cloudy day across much of spain and portugal meanwhile a little bit more unsettled through the eastern end of the med some showers on their way to athens and it does mean with all this weather in the mediterranean we will see some clouds certain across northern coastal areas of africa this is wednesday cooler in shipley mostly dry but we could certainly see some showers into morocco rip just 17 degrees celsius and then as we head off into thursday still cloudy conditions but not bad 18 algy is. Al jazeera is an Investigative Unit goes undercover in the caribbean but we dont use the word bribe would you use a token of appreciation exposing trade and diplomatic passports today. In the partial good will of them involving some of the regions highest officials. To. Aljazeera investigations diplomats for sale. From one of the top stories here on out his era a key witness in the u. S. Impeachment inquiry into donald trump has described the president s july phone call with his ukrainian counterpart as improper i was on the bin men says he was concerned but demanded that a Foreign Government investigate his political rival joe biden. Amnesty International Says it believes more than 100. 00 protesters have been killed across iran since the government ordered Security Forces to clamp down on protests. And a 4 day standoff at a Hong Kong University appears to be coming to an end as more student protesters surrendered to police a small Group Remains holed up inside the campus refusing to leave. Turning now to our top story the u. S. Impeachment inquiry hearings into president Truong Jeffrey kava Services Director of Political Studies at the discount on the center he joins me live from washington d. C. Thank you very much indeed for joining us so youve been watching this particular hearing what was the most significant part of it do you think. Hi lauren i think the most significant thing for me is that theres not a single republican dissenter from the party line that this is strictly a partisan witch hunt by the democrats i think clearly the intent is to have the Republican Party vote almost as a block against impeachment and that will allow them to do have an easier time painting this impeachment as strictly partisan warfare on the part of the democrats but i think theres a cost to that which is that you go ahead sorry yes i think i think the cost i think the cost of that is that people in america want their politicians to represent not just their interests but their ideals and the republicans by toeing a strict party line are coming across as mere politicians there is no equivalent here today of a senator howard baker a republican during the watergate inquiry who could ask what did the president know and when did he know it at this point i want to simply seeming like a member of team trump on the republican side and interesting you this time they have these particular issues that weve heard from today that wasnt the defense from the republicans that this is all hearsay because they were much more at the center in events when they yes its an ever shifting set of accusations 1st it was the process was flawed and the democrats were locking the republicans out then when a vote was taken to open the proceedings it shifted to other grounds so today were hearing that these are not trustworthy witnesses that perhaps colonel vin this is not even a loyal american so its a constantly shifting set of attempts to discredit whatever the democrats are coming up with and tell me about the ones that were expecting next the testimony from volcker and from morrison give us an idea of what we should look out fo