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Hong Kong’s democrats scored a landslide majority in district council elections, which saw a record turnout after six months of anti-government protests, increasing pressure on the Chinese-ruled city’s leader on Monday to listen to calls for democracy.

Sunday’s elections marked a rare weekend lull in the sometimes violent unrest, with pro-democracy candidates securing nearly 90% of the 452 district council seats, broadcaster RTHK reported, despite a strongly resourced and mobilized pro-establishment opposition.

Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing chief executive, Carrie Lam, said in a statement the government respected the results and wished “the peaceful, safe and orderly situation to continue”.

“There are various analyses and interpretations in the community in relation to the results, and quite a few are of the view that the results reflect people’s dissatisfaction with the current situation and the deep-seated problems in society,” she said.

The government would “listen to the opinions of members of the public humbly and seriously reflect”, Lam said.

Results showed upset wins for democrats against heavyweight pro-Beijing opponents when they started trickling in after midnight on Sunday, causing some voting centers to erupt in loud cheers and chants of “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution Now” – a slogan used by many protesters over the past six months.

Pictures posted online showed people celebrating outside polling stations and on the streets of Central, the city’s business district, popping bottles of champagne.

Regina Ip, a member of the Hong Kong government’s leading advisory body and a former security chief, was loudly heckled in Central by lunchtime protesters.

“In general, I think the election results do reflect that the public is very dissatisfied with the government,” she told reporters.

The voting ended with no major disruptions across the city of 7.4 million people on a day that saw massive, though orderly, queues form outside voting centers.

“This is the power of democracy. This is a democratic tsunami,” said Tommy Cheung, a former student protest leader who won a seat in the Yuen Long district close to China’s border.

“This district election shows that the central government needs to face the demands of a democratic system,” Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said. “Today’s result is the first step of our long way to democracy.”

In self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, the Presidential Office expressed “great admiration and support” for the election result.

“The election fully demonstrates Hong Kong people’s absolute will to pursue freedom and democracy,” it said.

The pro-democracy camp only secured around 100 seats at the previous polls four years ago. Almost three million people voted, a record turnout of more than 71% that appeared to have been spurred by the turmoil, almost double the number last time.

Starry Lee, chairwoman of the city’s largest pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, apologized for her party’s performance.

“For this major defeat, we do not want to find any excuses and reasons,” said Lee. She said the party rejected her offer to resign earlier on Monday.

‘PATH OF STRUGGLE’

Hong Kong’s district councils control some spending and decide a range of livelihood issues such as transport. They also serve as an important grassroots platform to radiate political influence.

“I believe this result is because there are a lot of voters who hope to use this election and their vote to show their support for the (protest) movement, and their five demands, and their dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong government,” said former student leader Lester Shum, who won a seat.

The protesters’ demands include full democracy, as well as an independent inquiry into perceived police brutality.

“The district council is just one very important path of struggle. In future, we must find other paths of struggle to keep fighting,” Shum said.

China’s foreign ministry, asked about the election, said stopping violence and restoring order in Hong Kong were the paramount tasks.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency announced the completion of the election, but did not say which side had won.

“Rioters, in concert with external forces, have continuously committed and escalated violence, resulting in social and political confrontation,” it said. “…Months of social unrest have seriously disrupted the electoral process.”

Demonstrators are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

China denies interfering and says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula for the autonomy of Hong Kong put in place in 1997. Police say they have shown restraint in the face of potentially deadly attacks.

Sophie Richardson, China Director of Human Rights Watch, said the results showed “a commitment to peaceful political participation” and called on Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to address “legitimate grievances”.

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The United States and France are boosting Saudi Arabia’s radar systems following crippling drone and cruise missile attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure in September, which Washington blames on Iran.

The chief of the US Central Command and France’s defense minister, whose countries have taken divergent approaches to Iran, also touted rival versions of maritime missions to protect Gulf waters at a Bahrain security forum on Saturday.

More than two months after the biggest assault on Saudi oil facilities, Riyadh and Washington have yet to provide concrete proof linking Iran to the attack while Saudi Arabia has provided few details about how it is addressing gaps in its air defenses.

Tehran denies involvement in the strikes that initially halved the crude output of the world’s top oil exporter and led the United States to send thousands of troops and military hardware to the kingdom.

“We continue to refine information on the attack against (Saudi state oil firm) Aramco and that will be released principally through the Saudis,” said General Kenneth McKenzie, who oversees operations in the Middle East and South Asia.

“We are working with the Saudis to increase the networking of their systems. That will make them better able to defend against this type of threat,” he told reporters.

McKenzie said boosting the US military presence at Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, in addition to large bases in Qatar and Bahrain, would “complicate an adversary’s ability to target you”.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly said Paris was separately sending Riyadh “a robust package of advanced warning”, including radars, to confront low-altitude attacks.

“It will be in Saudi Arabia in the coming days so it will be operational very, very rapidly. But there is an analysis to be done in order to better identify how to fill the gap,” she later told reporters.

“COOLING TEMPERS”

The September 14 strikes heightened regional tensions following attacks on tankers in Gulf waters and other Saudi energy assets in the summer that Washington also blamed on Iran, a charge Tehran denies.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told the IISS Manama Dialogue that Riyadh was consulting with its allies about what measures would be taken against Iran after the investigation concluded. He gave no timeframe.

The event focused mostly on the Iranian threat but included no representatives from Tehran. It underscored differences between Western allies over how to deal with Iran since the United States quit a 2015 international nuclear pact.

France wants to salvage the agreement, which Saudi Arabia and other U.S.-allied Gulf states oppose for failing to address Iran’s ballistic missiles program and regional interference.

“We have seen a deliberate, gradual U.S. disengagement,” Parly said, citing also U.S. inaction over a 2013 chemical attack in Syria and this year’s downing of an American drone by Iran.

She said it was time to “reinvent deterrence”, mentioning France’s efforts to form a European-led maritime mission, unassociated with the U.S. maximum pressure campaign on Iran, to help “cool down tempers”.

Parly told reporters the initiative could start early next year and around 10 European and non-European governments would join pending parliamentary approval.

Only Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom have so far joined the US-led International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC), which McKenzie said would “shine a spotlight on nefarious activity”.

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Bolivia’s interim government filed a criminal complaint on Friday against former President Evo Morales for alleged sedition and terrorism, the interior minister said, as authorities began probes of his allies that they accuse of corruption and fomenting unrest.

Interim President Jeanine Anez, a former senator and opponent of Morales, has faced a wave of demonstrations by his supporters since taking office in a power vacuum last week.

Morales and his vice president stepped down under pressure from security forces and anti-government protesters on Nov. 10,amid reports of irregularities in the Oct. 20 election.

Morales fled to Mexico and says he was toppled in a coup. At least 29 have been killed in clashes since he resigned.

Interior Minister Arturo Murillo said he asked the public prosecutor’s office to open an investigation into Morales, based on audio in which, from Mexico, Morales allegedly directed plans for road blockades in Bolivia to destabilize the interim government.

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the audio,which was played to reporters at a news conference earlier this week.

Morales’ former health minister, Gabriela Montano, called the audio “fake.”

Murillo told journalists outside the prosecutors’ office in La Paz: “The evidence is clear. We’ve presented it.”

Morales could not immediately be reached for comment. He said on Twitter that authorities should be investigating the death of protesters instead of going after him on the basis of what he described as fake evidence. It was unclear if prosecutors would investigate Morales or eventually file charges.

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Blocking roads is a common form of protest in Bolivia and much of South America, though intense blockades by Morales supporters in the past week have cut off fuel and food to some cities.

Authorities have transported some 1 400 tonnes of food by plane in less than a week to the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Oruro and Sucre due to blockades, Productive Development Minister Wilfredo Rojo told journalists on Friday.

Anez pleaded with protesters to end an ongoing blockade at a natural gas plant that supplies La Paz. Eight people died in clashes after the military forcibly cleared access to it briefly on Tuesday.

“I ask for reflection from brothers who are carrying out this unnecessary blockade,” Anez said at the presidential palace on Friday.

“We’re all Bolivians. You can’t punish the city of LaPaz.” Anez reiterated that she will only stay in power long enough for there to be new elections.

But her critics say her cabinet have overstepped the bounds of a caretaker government by making changes to foreign policy and threatening to punish Morales’allies.

Under Anez, authorities have alleged that several of Morales’ allies have taken part in criminal activity, including the former culture minister, the former vice president’s brother, and the vice president of his Movement to Socialism (MAS) political party.

Murillo said on Friday that he was also asking prosecutors to investigate Morales’ former presidency minister, Juan Ramon Quintana, for sedition and terrorism for allegedly telling a news outlet that Bolivia would become a modern Vietnam.

Reuters could not verify the accuracy of his quoted comments or immediately reach him for a response.

A lawyer affiliated with opponents of Morales, Jorge Valda, said he planned to ask authorities to issue an arrest warrant for Morales’ 25-year-old daughter, Evaliz Morales, on Tuesday for alleged sedition and corruption.

Evaliz could not immediately be reached for comment.

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U.S. Navy warships twice sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea in the past few days, the U.S. military told Reuters on Thursday, at a time of heightened tension between the world’s two largest economies.

The busy waterway is one of a number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Earlier this week during high-level talks, China called on the U.S. military to stop flexing its muscles in the South China Sea and adding “new uncertainties” over democratic Taiwan, which is claimed by China as a wayward province.

The U.S. Navy regularly angers China by conducting what it calls “freedom of navigation” operations by ships close to some of the islands China occupies, asserting freedom of access to international waterways.

The littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords traveled within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef on Wednesday, Commander Reann Mommsen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, told Reuters.

The destroyer Wayne E. Meyer challenged restrictions on innocent passage in the Paracel islands on Thursday, Mommsen said.

“These missions are based in the rule of law and demonstrate our commitment to upholding the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations,” she said.

China’s military confirmed on Friday that the two U.S. warships had sailed through the contentious waterways and said it tracked the passage of the American ships.

“We urge (the United States) to stop these provocative actions to avoid any unforeseeable accidents,” the spokesman for China’s Southern Theatre Command said in a statement. “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and its surrounding area.”

China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, where it has established military outposts on artificial islands. However, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the sea.

The United States accuses China of militarising the South China Sea and trying to intimidate Asian neighbors who might want to exploit its extensive oil and gas reserves.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper met Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe earlier this week for closed-door talks on the sidelines of a gathering of defense ministers in Bangkok.

Wei urged Esper to “stop flexing muscles in the South China Sea and to not provoke and escalate tensions in the South China Sea,” a Chinese spokesman said.

Esper has accused Beijing of “increasingly resorting to coercion and intimidation to advance its strategic objectives” in the region.

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A senior US diplomat told lawmakers on Wednesday that President Donald Trump expressly ordered him and others to help pressure Ukraine into investigating a political rival of the president, providing some of the most significant testimony to date in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry.

In testimony that also put Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the center of the Ukraine controversy, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said Pompeo was “fully supportive” of the efforts to push Ukraine into carrying out two investigations that would benefit Trump politically at home.

Sondland, a wealthy hotel entrepreneur and Trump donor, said he worked with Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine issues on “the president’s orders,” further detailing Trump’s active participation in a controversy that threatens his presidency.

Giuliani’s efforts earlier this year to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son “were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit” for the Ukrainian leader, Sondland said, using a Latin term meaning to exchange a favor for another favor.

Sondland described Trump in May telling him along with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and then-US special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker to work with Giuliani on Ukraine policy at a time when the former New York mayor was working to get the Ukrainians to do the politically motivated investigations.

“Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker and I worked with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine matters at the express direction of the president of the United States,” Sondland told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which is spearheading the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry.

“We did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani. Simply put, we played the hand we were dealt. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would lose an important opportunity to cement relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we followed the president’s orders,” Sondland said.

Giuliani held no formal US government job.

The inquiry focuses on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukraine’s Zelenskiy to carry out two investigations. One involved Biden and his son Hunter, who had worked for Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The other involving a debunked conspiracy theory promoted by some Trump allies that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 US election.

Trump is seeking re-election in 2020. Biden, the former vice president, is a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to face Trump.

POMPEO FOCUS

The investigation could lead the House to approve formal charges against Trump – called articles of impeachment – that would be sent to the Republican-controlled Senate for a trial on whether to remove him from office. Few Republican senators have broken with Trump.

Sondland’s comments cast more light on the role of Pompeo, a close Trump ally who has declined to defend State Department witnesses who have been attacked by Trump and other Republicans for cooperating with the impeachment inquiry.

Sondland provided correspondence showing that he and Pompeo communicated about his effort to get Zelenskiy to commit to undertake investigations as a way to free up $391 million in security aid for Ukraine that Trump had withheld. The aid eventually was provided in September.

“All good. You’re doing great work; keep banging away,” Pompeo told Sondland in early September, according to email correspondence cited in his testimony.

“Everyone was in the loop,” Sondland said.

Sondland said that even as late as Sept. 24 – the same day the House launched its impeachment inquiry – Pompeo was directing Volker to speak with Giuliani.

Democrats have accused Trump of using the frozen aid and Zelenskiy’s desire for an Oval Office meeting as leverage to pressure a vulnerable US ally to dig up dirt on political adversaries.

Sondland said Trump never told him directly that the aid to Ukraine was conditioned on Ukraine announcing an investigation.

“I think we know now … that the knowledge of this scheme was far and wide and included among others Secretary of State Pompeo as well as the vice president,” said Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee, referring to Vice President Mike Pence.

Schiff said Pompeo and Trump “have made such a concerted and across-the-board effort to obstruct this investigation and this impeachment inquiry. They do at their own peril.”

Career U.S. diplomats have portrayed Sondland in their testimony as a central figure in what became a shadow and “irregular” Ukraine policy operation, undercutting official channels and pressing Kiev to investigate the Bidens.

Sondland said he was “adamantly opposed” to any suspension of aid to Ukraine because Kiev needed it to fight against Russian aggression.

Trump has denied wrongdoing, called the inquiry a witch hunt and assailed some of the witnesses including current White House aides.

Sondland was tapped as Trump’s envoy after he donated $1 million to the president’s inauguration. In October, Trump called him “a really good man,” but after Sondland’s amended statement to House investigators this month the president told reporters at the White House, “I hardly know the gentleman.”

According to Reuters/Ipsos polling, 46 percent of Americans support impeachment, while 41 percent oppose it.

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Senior US officials told impeachment investigators in Congress on Tuesday they were concerned by President Donald Trump’s effort to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival, with one White House official calling it a shock.

The third day of impeachment hearings conducted by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee marked the first time that officials from inside the White House publicly expressed their misgivings about a freewheeling pressure campaign that now threatens Trump’s presidency.

The White House’s top Ukraine expert, wearing his Army dress uniform, said Trump had made an “improper” demand of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call that has become the centerpiece of the Democratic-led impeachment probe of the Republican president.

“Frankly, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was probably an element of shock that maybe, in certain regards, my worst fear of how our Ukrainian policy could play out was playing out,” Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman said.

As he was testifying, the White House’s official Twitter account his judgment – undermining the same man the administration appointed to lead its European affairs brief at the National Security Council.

Two other senior White House aides, Jennifer Williams and Tim Morrison, also said during Tuesday’s hearings, which spanned 11-1/2 hours, that they were concerned by the political nature of that phone call.

Williams told the hearing that Trump’s call with Zelenskiy was unusual and inappropriate because “it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.”

Morrison said he did not see anything improper in the call but was concerned that its contents could leak, hurting bipartisan support for Ukraine. “I wanted access to be restricted,” he said.

During that call, Trump asked Zelenskiy to carry out two investigations that would benefit him politically, including one targeting Joe Biden, the former vice president who is a leading Democratic presidential contender to face Trump in next year’selection, and his son Hunter Biden.

The other involved a debunked conspiracy theory embraced by some Trump allies that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 US election.

Kurt Volker, a former US envoy to Ukraine, said he believed those two concerns were “conspiracy theories.” He added that allegations of corruption involving Biden and his son, who was a director of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, were “not credible.”

Trump has said his call with Zelenskiy was “perfect,” while Republican lawmakers criticize the impeachment process as unfair.

“What’s going on is a disgrace, and it’s an embarrassment to our nation,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a big scam.”

Republican US Representative Francis Rooney told reporters: I don’t think there’s been a crime proven yet. But I want to see what happens. There’s still a lot of water to go down this creek.”

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Indian police said they briefly detained around 50 students in New Delhi on Monday as protests against proposed fee hikes at a prestigious public university entered a second week and degenerated into clashes.

Police erected barricades around the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as hundreds of students marched down the campus seeking the rollback of a hike in annual fees they say would make education there unaffordable for many.

JNU has produced some of India’s most prominent academics and has a history of left-wing activism. Many at the university have also rallied to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of curbing free speech.

On Monday, students tried moving out of the campus towards central Delhi, but baton-wielding police pushed them back. One student had blood pouring down his face after a scuffle.

“This isn’t just about JNU, we need to reject fee hikes at all government universities,” said protester and languages student Kushal, saying many would be unable to finish their studies if the proposed raises went through.

Another languages student Shivraj Jagtap said university costs would be roughly tripled, reaching 12,000 rupees ($167) per month for some.

VICE-CHANCELLOR URGES RETURN TO CLASSROOM

With students refusing to leave until detainees were released, a police official in Delhi, M.S. Randhawa said they were being freed later on Monday.

University authorities could not be reached for comment on Monday’s unrest or the fee hike proposals.

But vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar on Sunday urged students to return to university for approaching exams.

The government’s Human Resource Development ministry, which oversees public universities, has appointed a three-member panel to address the student concerns.

The protests began at JNU a week ago, with some students injured when police fired water cannons to disperse them.

Nearly half of the university’s students come from families with incomes of less than 144,000 rupees ($2,018.22) annually, according to the JNU Students Union. That means many students from poor and low-income families would not be able to afford the new costs, the union says.

The students are also protesting against what they say are “regressive” hostel rules on clothing and timings and are demanding that the vice-chancellor be sacked.

“The vice-chancellor isn’t meeting us,” said Abhimanyu, a Ph.D student at JNU who like most preferred not to give a last name for fear of being identified.

“The administration hasn’t spoken to us even once.”

Students at other Indian universities have expressed solidarity with JNU colleagues, though the protests have not spread.

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Sri Lanka’s former wartime defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa established a lead over his main rival in a presidential election, months after deadly militant attacks in the island, early results showed on Sunday.

Millions of Sri Lankans voted on Saturday to elect a new president to lead the country out of its deepest economic slump in over 15 years, following Easter Sunday suicide bombings that sapped investor confidence and hurt its tourism sector.

Rajapaksa, who oversaw the military defeat of Tamil separatists under his brother and then president Mahinda Rajapaksa 10 years ago, has promised strong leadership to secure the island of 22 million people, the majority of whom are Sinhalese Buddhists.

With a quarter of total votes counted, Rajapaksa had 48.2 percent, while his main rival government minister Sajith Premadasa stood at 45.3 percent, the election commission said.

Rajapaksa held a commanding edge in the Sinhalese-dominated southern part of the island, as well as postal ballots. Premadasa, who campaigned on policies to help the poor, was leading in the north where minority Tamils are predominant.

The election commission has said it expects results to be clear by late Sunday and a new president will be sworn in within a day.

Tamil political parties are strongly opposed to Rajapaksa, who has faced allegations of widespread human rights violations of civilians in the final stages of the war against the separatists in 2009.

Rajapaksa and his brother deny the allegations.

Muslims, the other large minority group, say they too have faced hostility since the April attacks on hotels and churches in which more than 250 people were killed. Islamic State claimed responsibility.

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Sri Lankans trickled into polling centers early on Saturday to choose a new president for the island-nation still struggling to recover from Easter Sunday attacks on hotels and churches that have heavily weighed on its tourism-dependent economy.

Former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who oversaw the military defeat of Tamil separatists 10 years ago, and government minister Sajith Premadasa are locked in a close fight, politicians and analysts say.

Rajapaksa has vowed to overhaul national security, playing on the fears of the majority Sinhalese Buddhists following the April attacks claimed by Islamic State that killed more than 250 people.

Premadasa has sought to fire up the countryside with promises of free housing, school uniforms for students and sanitary pads for women – touching on a topic rarely discussed in public anywhere in south Asia but which has drawn women to his rallies.

Police said a group of unidentified men opened fire on buses carrying Muslims to a polling station in Anuradhapura district in central Sri Lanka. There were no injuries but witnesses said there were tires burning.

At a polling station in Colombo, M. Gunasekera, a 41-year-old homemaker, said the most important problem was widespread corruption and the lack of accountability of politicians.

About 16 million people are eligible to vote, with the ballot allowing voters to choose up to three candidates in order of preference.

Votes will be counted soon after polling stations close but the results are not expected before Sunday.

Muslims who make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s 22 million population, say they have faced hostility ever since the April attacks.

That division has come on top of long-standing grievances of ethnic Tamils, who say they are still to get justice stemming from the human rights violations during a 26-war civil war with Tamil rebels that ended in 2009.

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The Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump moved forward on Thursday with preparations for the appearance of another central figure – former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch – in the investigation’s second public hearing.

Two career U.S. diplomats, William Taylor and George Kent, testified on Wednesday in the first televised hearing of the House of Representatives inquiry that threatens Trump’s presidency even as he seeks re-election in November 2020.

Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, offered an account that linked the Republican president more directly to a pressure campaign on Ukraine to conduct investigations that would benefit him politically, including one into Democrat Joe Biden.

The public hearings follow weeks of closed-door interviews with current and former U.S. officials about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

The House Intelligence Committee on Friday is due to hear in a public session from Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump abruptly removed from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in May.

Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani at the time was working to convince Ukraine to investigate Biden and the former vice president’s son Hunter, who had served as a board member for a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory embraced by some Trump allies that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

The focus of the impeachment inquiry is a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open the investigations.

Democrats are looking into whether Trump abused his power by withholding $391 million in US security aid to Ukraine as leverage to pressure Kiev.

The money, approved by the US Congress to help a US ally combat Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country, was later provided to Ukraine. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

‘FALSE CLAIMS’

Yovanovitch, who has worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations, told lawmakers behind closed doors on Oct. 11 that Trump ousted her based on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives” after she came under attack by Giuliani.

She also denied allegations by Trump allies that she was disloyal to him and said she did not know what Giuliani’s motivations were for attacking her.

Yovanovitch said Giuliani’s associates “may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.”

Trump called Yovanovitch “bad news” in the phone call to Zelenskiy, according to a White House summary.

The hearings may pave the way for the Democratic-led House to approve articles of impeachment – formal charges – against Trump. That would lead to a trial in the Senate on whether to convict Trump of the charges and remove him from office.

Republicans control the Senate and have shown little support for Trump’s removal. Three more public hearings are scheduled for next week.

On Wednesday, Taylor offered a new disclosure that indicated Trump’s keen interest in the investigations in Ukraine, saying a member of his staff overheard a July 26 phone call at a restaurant in which Trump asked about the probes he had asked Zelenskiy to conduct.

After the call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, a former political donor appointed as the US envoy to the European Union, the staff member asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, Taylor said.

“Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for,” Taylor testified.

Trump told reporters after the hearing that he knew”nothing” about the call with Sondland. “It’s the first time I heard it,” he said.

The staffer cited by Taylor is David Holmes, a Taylor aide who has been subpoenaed to testify in the inquiry on Friday behind closed doors, said a person familiar with the issue. Republican lawmakers called Taylor’s account hearsay.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said on Thursday that Sondland did not explicitly link the security aid to an investigation into the Bidens, Interfax Ukraine reported.

“Ambassador Sondland did not tell us, and certainly did not tell me, about a connection between the assistance and the investigations. You should ask him,” Prystaiko said.

Trump said that he will release on Thursday a transcript of another call he had with Zelenskiy in April, when the former comedian was elected Ukraine’s president.

The relevance of that call to the impeachment inquiry remained unclear. TV viewership ratings for Wednesday’s hearing are expected to be available on Thursday, giving both parties a reading of public interest.

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US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday he was open to new alterations in US military activity on the Korean Peninsula if it helped enable diplomats, who are trying to jump-start stalled peace efforts with North Korea.

Esper did not predict whether he might end up “dialing up or dialing down” such activity, as he spoke to a small group of reporters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on his way to South Korea after North Korea threatened to retaliate if the United States goes ahead with scheduled military drills with South Korea.

Tensions are growing on the peninsula ahead of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s year-end deadline for Washington to show more flexibility in denuclearisation talks.

Esper declined to detail what kinds of activity could be altered but did not rule out a further reduction in US military exercises with South Korea, which US President Donald Trump ordered scaled back last year.

The North brands such US-South Korean exercises as hostile and still strongly objects to them, even in their current form and earlier on Wednesday, Pyongyang threatened to retaliate if the United States goes ahead with scheduled military drills with South Korea.

“I think we have to be open to all those things that empower and enable our diplomats to sit down with the North Koreans, alongside with our South Korean partners, and move the ball forward to a negotiated settlement of the issues that we put on the table,” Esper said, declining to detail what specific kinds of options he might consider.

Asked whether he took Kim’s year-end deadline seriously, Esper said: “I think that when any foreign country, foreign leader, says something, I take it seriously.”

Still, Esper stressed the need to maintain the readiness of the 28 500 US troops deployed to South Korea. Pentagon officials say they have been able to preserve sufficient capabilities of US and South Korean forces, despite scaling back the military drills.

Esper said such decisions are made in consultation with Seoul.

“As we consider adjusting – either dialing up or dialing down exercises and training, we want to do that in close collaboration with our Korean partners. Not as a concession to North Korea, or anything, but, again, as a means to keep the door open to diplomacy,” Esper said, without explicitly saying whether that was currently being considered.

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Venice was hit by the second highest tide recorded in the lagoon city on Tuesday, which flooded its historic basilica and left many of its squares and alleyways deep underwater.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said he would declare a state of disaster and warned of severe damage.

City officials said the tide peaked at 187 cm at 10.50 pm, just short of the record 194 cm set in 1966.

“The situation is dramatic,” Brugnaro said on Twitter. “We ask the government to help us. The cost will be high. This is the result of climate change.”

Saint Mark’s Square was submerged by more than one metre of water, while the adjacent Saint Mark’s Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1 200 years.

Four of those inundations have now come in the last 20 years, most recently in October 2018. There was no immediate word on any damage inside the Church. In 2018, the administrator said the basilica had aged 20 years in a single day.

Video on social media showed deep waters flowing like a river along one of Venice’s main thoroughfares, while another showed large waves hammering boats moored alongside the Doge’s Palace and surging over the stone sidewalks.

“A high tide of 187 cm is going to leave an indelible wound,” Brugnaro said.

Much of Italy has been pummelled by torrential rains in recent days, with wide spreading flooding, especially in the southern heel and toe of the country.

In Matera, this year’s European Capital of Culture, rainwater cascaded through the streets and inundated the city’s famous cave-dwelling district.

Further bad weather is forecast for the coming days

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Israel killed a top commander from the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a rare targeted strike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, while militants responded by firing rockets at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv.

In the most serious escalation in months, an Israeli missile attack also targeted the home of an Islamic Jihad official in Damascus, killing two people including one of his sons, Syrian state media said.

Islamic Jihad said the target was the home of political leader Akram Al-Ajouri.

Hours later, sirens sounded in central Israeli cities, including the commercial capital of Tel Aviv the military and witnesses said, warning of possible rocket launches from the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s home-front command ordered schools shut across southern and central Israel, and instructed civilians to stay at home and not go into work unless it was vital and public shelters were opened.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israeli media reported that some of the rockets were intercepted.

The slaying of Baha Abu Al-Atta in his Gaza home looked likely to pose a new challenge for Gaza’s ruling Hamas faction, which has mostly tried to maintain a truce with Israel since a 2014 war.

Israel said Al-Atta had carried out a series of cross-border attacks and was planning more.

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Hong Kong police opened fire and wounded at least one protester on Monday, witnesses and media reports said, a fresh escalation of violence as anti-government demonstrations enter their sixth month.

Police fired live rounds at protesters on the eastern side of Hong Kong island, Cable TV and other Hong Kong media reported. Cable TV said one protester was wounded when police opened fire.

Video footage showed a protester lying in a pool of blood with his eyes wide open. Police also pepper-sprayed and subdued a woman nearby as plastic crates were thrown at officers, the video shared on social media showed.

The Hospital Authority told Reuters a 21-year-old man suspected to have been wounded during the incident in Sai Wan Ho was admitted to hospital on Monday and was undergoing an operation.

Cable TV reported the unidentified protester was in a critical condition.

Police said in a statement radical protesters had set up barricades at multiple locations across the city and warned the demonstrators to “stop their illegal acts immediately”.

They did not comment immediately on the apparent shooting.

Police first began using live rounds as warning shots in August and have shot an 18-year-old protester and a 14-year-old, both of whom survived.

Anson Yip, a 36-year-old Sai Wan Ho resident, said protesters were throwing rubbish to create a road block when police, possibly from the traffic department, ran to the scene.

“They didn’t fight and the police ran and directly shot. There was three sounds, like ‘pam, pam, pam’,” Yip said.

“They (the protesters) are against the government, that’s why the police just shot them,” he said.

A Reuters witness said police later fired tear gas in the same area where the protester was shot. After police forensic teams left the scene, protesters and local residents formed a barricade of polystyrene boxes around the bloodstain next to a pedestrian crossing.

A 24-year-old man, one of several office workers gathered at the scene after the shooting, said: “When I arrived the road was blocked and people were yelling at the police, calling them murderers.” The man gave only his surname of Wing.

ANGRY PROTESTERS

Protests have occurred at times daily, sometimes with little or no notice, disrupting business and piling pressure on the city’s beleaguered government.

Protesters are angry about what they see as police brutality and meddling by Beijing in the former British colony’s freedoms, guaranteed by the “one country, two systems” formula put in place when the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

China denies interfering and has blamed Western countries for stirring up trouble.

The latest violence comes after a student died in the hospital last week following a fall as protesters were being dispersed by police.

Violence flared at several university campuses throughout the morning as news spread of the shooting, with witnesses reporting tense standoffs between students, protesters and police. Police fired teargas and rubber bullets, witnesses said, while protesters hurled homemade petrol bombs at police at one location.

“I am worried about my safety but I will still come out,” said Anson, a 20-year-old student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University who only gave his first name. “I am willing to sacrifice my life for Hong Kong.”

Services on some train and subway lines were disrupted early on Monday, with traffic snarled and riot police deployed near stations and shopping malls.

The Labour Department urged all employers on Monday to be understanding and flexible regarding work arrangements.

Hong Kong’s stock market HSI fell 1.6% in early trade, outpacing losses of 0.7% in other parts of the region.

Activists blocked roads and trashed shopping malls across Hong Kong’s New Territories and Kowloon peninsula on Sunday during a 24th straight weekend of anti-government unrest.

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The top United Nations court rules on Friday on whether it has jurisdiction to hear a case brought by Ukraine against Russia over Moscow’s alleged support of pro-Russian separatists in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

In a hearing at the International Court of Justice in June, Moscow asked judges to dismiss the suit, saying Kiev was using it as pretext for a ruling on the legality of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Friday’s hearing was to begin at 1400 GMT with a decision expected to be announced within two hours.

The ICJ, or World Court, is the leading global court for disputes between nations. A ruling on Moscow’s involvement in Ukraine would set a precedent that could impact other cases dealing with Russia’s alleged link to the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

Kiev says Russia’s support for separatist forces in whose territory the plane crashed, killing all 298 passengers and crew, violated a United Nations convention which bans the funding of terrorist groups.

An international investigation led by the Netherlands concluded that the airline was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile that originated from a base in Kursk, in southern Russia not far from Ukraine.

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US congressional committees conducting an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump met on Thursday for the first time with a top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, one of the last witnesses to testify behind closed doors before public hearings start next week.

Jennifer Williams, a career foreign service officer and special adviser to Pence for Europe and Russia, arrived at the US Capitol to testify behind closed doors on Thursday morning with members of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees.

Lawmakers will look to Williams for information about how much Pence knew about efforts by Trump and those around him to pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and foreign interference in the 2016 US election.

Despite her cooperation, several other US officials from the executive branch defied calls to testify this week, ratcheting up conflict between House Democrats and Trump’s Republicans over the probe.

Former national security adviser John Bolton, whom Trump fired in September, was also called to appear on Thursday but was not expected to do so. Bolton’s attorney said he would not appear voluntarily and he has not yet been subpoenaed.

Trump and his backers blast the House inquiry as a witch hunt and accuse Democrats of unfairly targeting him in hope of reversing his surprise election victory in 2016. In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump called the probe a “phony scam.”

The House investigation is focused on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden, a leading Democratic rival as Trump seeks re-election in November 2020.

They are trying to determine whether Trump froze $391 million in US security assistance for Ukraine to put pressure on Zelenskiy to conduct the investigation, misusing US foreign policy for his personal gain.

Democrats have been releasing transcripts of previous closed-door interviews this week, as they prepare for next week, when they will hold the first public hearings in the six-week-long probe.

Representative Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on Wednesday his committee would hold the first public sessions next week.

“Those open hearings will be an opportunity for the American people to evaluate the witnesses for themselves, to make their own determinations about the credibility of the witnesses, but also to learn firsthand about the facts of the president’s misconduct,” he told reporters during a break in closed-door testimony from David Hale, the State Department’s third-highest official.

Three U.S. diplomats who expressed alarm about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and have already testified in private will serve as star witnesses.

William Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, another career diplomat with experience in the country, will testify on Nov. 13. Marie Yovanovitch, who was abruptly pulled from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in May, will testify on Nov. 15.

Setting the stage for the public hearings, lawmakers have been making public transcripts of the closed-door depositions this week. Yovanovitch’s testimony was released on Monday and Taylor’s on Wednesday.

Sources familiar with the investigation said Kent’s transcript would be made public on Thursday.

If the Democratic-controlled House votes to impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate would then hold a trial on whether to remove Trump from office.

Senate Republicans have so far shown little appetite for ousting the president.

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Two former employees of Twitter Inc and a third man from Saudi Arabia face US charges of spying for the kingdom by digging up private user data and giving it to Saudi officials in exchange for payment, according to a complaint filed on Wednesday.

Ali Alzabarah and Ahmad Abouammo, who used to work for Twitter, and Ahmed Almutairi, who then worked for the Saudi royal family, face charges of working for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia without registering as foreign agents, according to a complaint filed against them.

According to the complaint, Abouammo repeatedly accessed the Twitter account of a prominent critic of the Saudi royal family in early 2015. In one instance, he was able to view the email address and telephone number associated with the account. He also accessed the account of a second Saudi critic to get personally identifiable information.

“This information could have been used to identify and locate the Twitter users who published these posts,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in confronting Iran, has faced intense Western criticism over its human rights record, including over last year’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its involvement in the devastating war in Yemen.

Almutairi, for his part, is accused of acting as a go-between for the Saudi government and the Twitter employees.

Abouammo was arrested in Seattle, Washington while the other two are in Saudi Arabia, the department said.

Abouammo was ordered to remain behind bars by a US magistrate judge on Wednesday pending a detention hearing set for Friday. The US Attorney’s Office said in a court filing it wants Abouammo detained pending trial because of a “serious risk” of flight.

The two men were given cash and other rewards, such as an expensive watch, for the information, the complaint said.

The Saudi embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter said that it was grateful to the FBI and US Justice Department. “We recognise the lengths bad actors will go to try and undermine our service,” it said in a statement. “We understand the incredible risks faced by many who use Twitter to share their perspectives with the world and to hold those in power accountable.”

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Impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival will reach a critical stage next week when a Democratic-led congressional committee holds its first public hearings on the issue.

In a move that raises the stakes ahead of a presidential election year, Democrats said on Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee would hold open hearings with three career U.S. diplomats who have expressed alarm about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

The public testimony will feature William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

In a move that raises the stakes ahead of a presidential election year, Democrats said on Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee would hold open hearings with three career U.S. diplomats who have expressed alarm about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

The public testimony will feature William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Democrats had said they had enough material to move forward with public impeachment hearings, which would be a likely prelude to articles of impeachment – formal charges – against Trump being brought to a vote in the House.

“We are getting an increasing appreciation for just what took place during the course of the last year and the degree to which the president enlisted whole departments of government in the illicit aim of trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on a political opponent as well as further a conspiracy theory about the 2016 election that he believed would be beneficial to his re-election campaign,” Schiff told reporters.

If the Democratic-controlled House votes to impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate would then hold a trial on whether to remove Trump from office.

Senate Republicans have so far shown little appetite for ousting the president.

Taylor has provided some of the most damaging testimony to date, telling lawmakers on Oct. 22 that Trump made the release of nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine contingent on Kiev publicly declaring it would carry out politically motivated investigations demanded by Trump against former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Taylor said he was told by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. envoy to the European Union, that Trump had linked release of the aid to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly declaring that he would investigate Biden, and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election.

Joe Biden is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump in the November 2020 election.

Trump has blasted the House inquiry as a witch hunt and accused Democrats of unfairly targeting him in hope of reversing his surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election. In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump called the probe a “phony scam.”

Democrats have defended the investigation, citing concerns that the president misused his public office for personal gain.

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French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday issued a joint statement reaffirming their strong support for the “irreversible” Paris Agreement on climate change, from which the US announced its exit this week.

The two countries “reaffirm their strong support for the Paris Agreement, which they consider an irreversible process and a compass for strong action on the climate,” the statement said.

The Trump administration has already filed paperwork to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on combating climate change.

The US move is the first formal step in a one-year process to exit the global pact, part of a broader strategy by President Donald Trump to reduce regulation of American industry.

But scientists and many world governments are urging rapid action to combat the worst effects of climate change.

The vast majority of national commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement are not enough to prevent serious harm from global warming, scientists said in a new research report issued Tuesday.

China and France pledged at this year’s G20 summit to “update” their contributions against climate change beyond their current ones to reflect “their highest possible ambition.”

The 2015 Paris climate agreement encourages countries to make stronger pledges if they can.

Macron is traveling with a business delegation of 30 companies.

The French president is visiting China for the second time since he took office. During his last trip last year, he said Beijing’s flagship “Belt and Road” project to develop global trade infrastructure should not be “one-way.”

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Turkey captured the sister of slain Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Monday in the northern Syrian town of Azaz, a senior Turkish official told Reuters, and is interrogating her and her husband and daughter-in-law who were also detained.

Rasmiya Awad, 65, was detained in a raid near Azaz, the official said, referring to a Turkish-controlled Syrian town near the border. When captured, she was also accompanied by five children.

“We hope to gather a trove of intelligence from Baghdadi’s sister on the inner workings of ISIS,” the official said.

Little independent information is available on Baghdadi’s sister and Reuters was not immediately able to verify if the captured individual was her.

Baghdadi killed himself last month when cornered in a tunnel during a raid by US special forces in northwestern Syria.

Islamic State, in an audio tape posted online on Thursday, confirmed that its leader had died and vowed revenge against the United States.

The group, also known as ISIS, said a successor to Baghdadi identified as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi had been appointed.

A senior US official last week said Washington was looking at the new leader to determine where he came from.

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