And its Security Forces and overstepped the mob promising to punish those guilty of abuse. The white houses ukraine expert has testified that he felt a sense of duty to flag up a phone call thats at the center of impeachment proceedings against donald trump thats an account of alexander than men was among 4 people questioned on tuesday the trumpet ministration has dismissed their testimonies as personal opinion and conjecture alan fischer reports from washington. This could be a pivotal week in the donald trump impeachment hearings many of the shuttle to give evidence were on the controversial july call with the ukrainian president that kills a key claim the hearings are based on secondhand reports giving evidence of tenet colonel alexander vigilant a career army officer and the ukraine expert on the National Security council he was concerned by the call by President Trump pushing for an investigation into Democrat Joe Biden and his son immediately took those concerns to a white house lawyer is improper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government investigate a u. S. Citizen and a political opponent a decorated veteran of the war in iraq vidlin his see these actions in testifying under attack from President Trump supporters who question his loyalty this is america is the country ive served and defended that all of my brothers have served and here right matters. Thank you sir gilbert. Thanks one of Vice President might pences beads Jennifer Williams also appeared before the committee saying she had the call and considered it political in nature republicans are insisting the president did nothing wrong and was fully entitled to demand an investigation into biden and his sons business dealings in ukraine as millions of americans are watching throughout the hysteria and frenzied Media Coverage 2 key facts have not changed that are critical to these impeachment proceedings one ukraine in fact received the aid and 2 there was no investigation into the bidens then we had an appearance from kut volcker the former special representative to ukraine hes a witness called by republicans but he dismantled a key republican talking point that joe biden did something wrong as i previously testified i have known Vice President biden for 24 years is an honorable man and i hold him in the highest regard former National Security official Timothy Morrison admitted the ukrainians were told the u. S. Wanted something from ukraine to unfreeze the that had been allocated an actual quid pro quo that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general. Make a statement with respect to the investigations as a condition of having the ablest. As democrats try to build a compelling case the republican leader of the senate where the definitive vote on action will be held says he doesnt see donald trump being removed from office its inconceivable to me to be 67 votes to remove the president from office President Trump whos described some of those giving evidence as never trampers in the past actually acknowledged he doesnt know most of them but i dont know i never heard of him i dont know any of these people other than i have seen. A couple of their investigation the white house is continuing to mount its defense issuing a statement from Keith Kellogg the National Security adviser to Vice President mike pence he says he was on the call to the ukrainian president and despite evidence from others on tuesday he insists president bush did nothing wrong alan fischer aljazeera washington. Exhausted but defiant a small number of protesters still inside the Hong Kong University campus are refusing orders to come out and surrender some have been trying to escape and avoid officers who surrounded the building the standoff began on sunday after some of the most intense violence and more than 5 months of to government protests during the worst of it demonstrators hope petrol bombs and even shot arrows at riot squads threaten to respond with live ammunition spring and sarah clarke is live for us now in Hong Kong Sara so just bring us up to date on the situation inside the university how many students are still left inside this. Well the latest reports down indicate that there are between 60 and 100 protesters who are still inside the campus behind me and theyve been holed up for days now they started to put blockades in barricades around the campus at Polytechnic University in color around friday thursday friday last week the secretary for security has just updated the numbers on those people who left the campus he said i had hundreds of voluntarily surrendered he said 300 of those are under 18 but we believe all up the total of 1100. 00 have left but as i mentioned up to 100. 00 of the defined to be the last radical kind of hard core group are staying inside and refusing to leave and we also know a number of petrol bombs are still within sight that campus and the right place have completely surrounded this particular university for days now but theyve got 24 hour around the clock monitoring simply trying to stop all the rest of those who do try and flee overnight we did have some to try to get to a skype but they couldnt and as a result theyve gone back within the campus again now where we are is a bit very busy part of central ca learned and we can say that there is still a large number of disruptions on the roads as well as the train lines where the roads were blocked yesterday a very busy part of talent on the harbor front we had burnt out cars we had rubbish we had tables and chairs we had everything thrown across and blocking those roads they have now being cleared but we also have some time stations which just. Closed today on wednesday and that includes hung at home which is a very busy trying session its a bus and trying to change a connecting hong kong to Mainland China so its a large parts of this particular district still disrupted by the chaos that weve seen over the last few days in hong kong and the u. S. Senate has just passed a human rights and democracy act which aims to protect human rights in hong kong what can this achieve do we think. Well this was a unanimous vote in the senate and this is particularly this is a y. Of the u. S. Threatening to hong kong that they will potentially invite to trade sanctions on hong kong and threats of trade problems if they undermine the one country 2 systems policy in particular human rights now its now that now has to go to the house of representatives and then they want to go shiite particular wording of that act of course President Donald Trump has to sign that off another senate also a process 2nd bill that looks at banning the export of various minissha ins to Hong Kong Police and that includes rubber bullets tear gas pepper spray and stun guns now the sporting our wednesday morning to Hong Kong Government has responded to that that said so the u. S. Plays dont interfere in hong kong as internal matters the chinese Chinese Government also responded now they described it as unnecessary this act unnecessary and unwarranted and theyve said it will hamper the relations between u. S. Hong kong and china if it does go ahead through the house of representatives all right to sarah clarke there in Hong Kong Sara thank you israel says its fighter jets have launched attacks in syria the army says warplanes hit Syrian Army Targets in irans quds force in the early hours of wednesday morning serious as many of the rockets were shot down a day earlier israel intercepted 4 rockets launched towards the occupied Golan Heights from syria. The organization of american states says political instability and human rights abuses are having a damaging effect on democracy in nicaragua hundreds have been killed jailed or forced into exile since protests against the president Daniel Ortega began in april last year opponents want him to step aside and allow elections. In chile police say theyll stop using birdshot pellets on protest as a means to now the suspension follows an admission by president Sebastian Pinera that Security Forces have committed abuses and promised to punish those who are guilty. As more from santiago. On monday thousands took to the streets in sheilas capital sent the agony protesters commemorated one month since the unrest began nationwide but demonstrations like these are taking place almost every day across china. So more incidents involving police using violent tactics to disperse crowds. And it would seem to say the level of violence of this government with our president theres almost a pandemic of people who have lost their eyes or have been the one not only that there are people who have been tortured or have disappeared its almost like a dictatorship under democracy. This ongoing crackdown by Security Forces against demonstrators has become one of the biggest sources of anger among protesters were in place a. Police just a ploy to your guess once again against peaceful demonstrators and its these tactics that people are protesting against and reforming the countrys Security Forces is just one of the many constitutional changes that protesters are demanding. She lay in president. Has admitted to the use of Excessive Force by police. Down in unfortunately and despite the Firm Commitment and all the precautions we take not only the government but also our forces and police to protect the human rights of all in some cases the protocols were not respected there was excessive use of force abuses or crimes were committed. In an effort to calm the unrest Public Officials have announced that a referendum to establish a Constitutional Convention will be forthcoming. This is a historic opportunity for chileans who for the 1st time. Have a chance to write their own constitution this is what the people want and they dont want Political Parties deciding what is written in essence this is nothing more and nothing less and the creation of a new chilean republic. Measures by the government to change the president s cabinet and hold a constitutional referendum have done little to calm dissent. Pretty near the front lines of mondays protest the scene was chaotic protesters armed with slingshots and rocks were met with tear gas and rubber bullets several people were injured amidst the chaos. For the most part the protests marking for weeks upon the rest were mostly a celebration although the consensus among chileans is that theres still a long way to go. Below santiago chile. Time for a short break here now just when we come back a warning from the pentagon that i still could be on the rise once again in syria plus. Im florence leon young turn lake east in china where harry craps off on that so popular and expensive that that imitations in the market that story coming out. Hello there it has been a better day also across much of essential and eastern regions of the United States quite a bit of cloud as you can see but really the worse weather as out towards the west now plenty of cows streaming in up into Washington State and surprisingly will not surprise me this of coals is what we see in seattle chad the skies and some rain but it is on its way east was not a bad day on wednesday call it 10 celsius but youll notice where most of the weather is the southwest and in fact we have got flash flood watches in place through Southern California and through much of our own or we could have some flash floods here the rain of course coming down on a very dry ground. 17 celsius in los angeles on wednesday that is 6 degrees below the average little bit better on thursday everything sort of shifts further east was but still those warnings in place no coals to the mountains and very unsettled and quite wintry up into northern sections of the great lakes and central areas of canada no sign of any snow across the cow band but we have got plenty of shadows as we head through wednesday is a very unsettled they generally through much of jamaica and theres rain showers all my way towards haiti and also the Dominican Republic tending to stay in the picture on thursday so not a bad day by then the across much of cuba up tools the bahamas and not by the mexico city at 22 celsius. The british iraqi journalist visualizing complex statistics in a simple. I think it was a summary sites of the communities to break apart from those systems and to collect data in a way that makes a represent Different Community challenging mainstream misconceptions keep the pie crates and control instructions doesnt alienate people it doesnt make people feel like im not small instance transfuse truth is that anyway. Welcome back a quick reminder of our top stories here on the al jazeera more witnesses than question each month inquiry against President Trump one of them white house ukraine expect that in the tunnel alexander then been described trumps phone call to the grains president ask him papa competent to run the press in ukraine to invest in it for life. Israel says its fighter jets of launch attacks in syria the army says warplanes hit Syrian Army Targets on the wrongs police force in the early hours of wednesday morning. And protesters who are still holed up inside a Hong Kong University campus and are accusing to surrender to police some of been trying to escape and avoid officers have surrounded the building. The pentagons warning that i still is getting stronger again because of the u. S. Withdrawal from syria and turkey is subsequent offensive in a report it says those developments of allowed isel to rebuild its capabilities and resources it also warns the death of ice the leader of a blackout that daddy will do little to slow the resurgence and goes on to say that the group is likely to focus on freeing fighters who were held by kurdish led forces while not a hashimi is director the center for middle east studies at the university of denver he says a stabilizing force is needed to fill the power vacuum in the region. The short term challenge is to try and stabilize this area it was previously stabilized by american troop presence in alliance with Kurdish Forces so now that that arrangement has been. Changed i think thats the immediate i think the pressing challenge is to find some alternative security arrangement that prevents this area from further destabilizing allowing isis to you know insert itself and to reorganize but of course the longer term challenges still remain in these have to do with you know that the social economic and political conditions that produced isis to begin with to have to do with you know authoritarian regimes unemployed young people the lack of hope and also the ideological challenge that isis still poses as a as a movement that can still attract disgruntled young muslim men from around the world so i think those are the you know those are the 2. Immediate imperatives that i think need to be dealt with 3 ships that was seized in the red sea by yemens who the rebels have now been released thats according to south korea to the south korean ships and the other from saudi arabia now being held in the port of data the saudi government condemn the seizure as a terrorist operation who the said their actions were justified dutch police say they found 25 refugees and migrants inside a refrigerated container on a cargo ferry to have been taken to hospital they were discovered just as the ferry left the netherlands bound for the u. K. Just weeks ago the bodies of 39 people were found in a truck container east of london. Boris johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have faced each other in the 1st televised Leaders Debate of the u. K. General election the Prime Minister and the Labor Party Leader jousted on brags that the Health Service and even christmas were going to fall of the debate. Prime minister Boris Johnson came into this t. V. Debate with a double digit lead in the latest opinion polls with the possible disadvantage of being the incumbent in this race the Labor Party LeaderJeremy Corbyn came to solve it with the pressure of knowing that with less than 3 and a half weeks until polling day he needs a breakthrough soon with the 6 lots were drawn at corbin spoke 1st on Public Services to many families without a proper home struggling to make ends meet while tax cuts are handed to the super rich johnson led on bracks it whether you voted for leave or remain people want to get bricks it done and to unleash the potential of this entire country the questions ranged widely from bracks it to government austerity to personal integrity how can we trust you. Thank the times the moderator struggle to keep the debate on topic and on time this is thank you to be interested in supporting the idea that this is quite interesting and i