woman: this is "bbc world news america." is made possible by... by judy and peter blum-kovlefoundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs; and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. michelle: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i'm michelle fleury.

the white house releases fo partial transcript of the president's call with his ukrainian counterpart which helped spark an impeacent inquiry. each party says it makes their case. t pres. trump: the way you build up that call, it was going to be the call from hell. he turned out to be a nothing call. >> what those notes reflect is a classic mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader. michelle: the u.k. parliament returns after the courts urerturns suspension and mps an archie meets the archbishop. the duke and duchess of dgcambrie pay a visit to desmond tutu during tho r african tour. michelle: for those watching on pbs and around the globe, welcome to "world news america." the white house was quite busy today releasing documents.

first came a partial transcript of the call between president trump and his ukrainian shunterpart, which helpe the democrats to an impeachment inquiry. republicans say there was no pressure from the president,ug just astion that joe biden's activities be investigated. democrats say there are cl tr grounds th president abused his powers. then this afternoon congress received the whistleblower report that set this a moti. the bbc news north america editor jon sopel starts our coverage. pres. trp: he has made me more famous. [laughter] jon: who would've thought that a meeting tween donald trump and his ukrainian counterpart would become the most keenly anticipated event of u.n. week? but after a phone calln july between the two men that has resulted in the democrats launching impe proceedings, it has. pres. zelensky: better to me than my home. id and the central charge,

that the u.s. prt tried to pressure volodymyr zelensky into supplying damaging information on donald trump's main democratic rival, joe biden. the ukrainian leader looked uncomfortable. k pres. zelensky: i thod phone call. it was normal. we spoke about many things. so i think and you read that nobody pushed me. pres. trump: in other words, no pressure. because you know what, there was no pressure, and by the way,ou know there was no pressure. all you have to do is see what went on in the call. jon: the president wants joe biden investigated along with his son hunter, who haness interests in the country. the white house has released a partial transcript of the conversation, and in it the president takes irregular step of asking his ukrainian counterpart for a favor. "the one thing -- there was at talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of peopla want to find out that.

so whatever you can do with they attorneneral would be great." this partial transcript is damning but not deadly. yes, the president seeks info on a political rival from foreign leader but there is no quid pro quo, n "unless you give us the dirt, w' 't give you the aid." nevertheless, in a divided country, buckle up for what wil be a bitd take no hostages fight. democrats crying high crimes and misdemeanors, republicans shouting witchhunt. t on capitol hil battle lines are being drawn on strict party lines, on whether he is villain or victim. >> like any mafia boss, the "that is a nice country you hav , toame if something happene it," because that was clear from the conversation. sen. graham: to impeach any president over a phone call lik this would bsane. jon: wherever the president

goes, the secret serviceg provides a rin steel. now it is the republican party and the white house who need to circle the wagons to protect t donaldmp from this democratic party attempt to bring him down. jon sopel, bbc news, new york. michelle from both parties.ar first, i spoke to democraticco icssman gerry connolly from virginia about what is in the transcript. looking at this transcript, there is no explicit quid pro quo. where does that leave your investigations now?no rep. cy: with all due respect, anyone who tnks there is going to be an explicit quid pro quote between the president of the united states and the president of another country, even this president, is asking for something that is pie-in-the-sky. with due respect, the premise of your question i reject. mielle: so then what part of this transcript will you be focusing on -- what jumped outha at youyou are going to be looking into further? tp. connolly: throughout the

transcript, donamp clearly is pressuring the new ukrainian president to cooperate with hime and his investigations with respect to a political opponent, and with respect to the search for a long-lost server that he thinks is in the ukraine thatmi t have hillary cnton's former emails. it is a very strange conversation and exchange, but trump sticks to it a juxtaposes that cooperation with thfact that we are a big donor, not germany, and we are providing military aid, don't forg it. in a court of law, that woulbe called more than circumstantial evidence that there is clearly an extortionoing on by michelle: and yet if you look at your own justice department, it see here.d there is nothing to

rep. connolly: yeah, the same justice department whose head, wants to send to the ukraine to talk to the president about following up on his request, and for getting that phantasmagorical server that probably doesn't exist, named explicitly in this transcript. i don't think attorney general barr is a neutral or objective source when it comes to any follow-up on this. michelle: what is it in this that you will be loo ing at? a violation of campaign law, is it abuse of power? help us understand. rep. connolly: yeah, and by then way, the recent supreme court ruling in london with respect to boris johnson's proroguing of rliament is a very inspirational judicial ruling, and it gets too use of power, it gets to illegal usef the powers of the executive, at the expense of the powers of the legislature.

we have a lot to learn from that ruling, which thank god was unanimous. d so yeah, abuse of power is an impeachable offense. it w included in the article of impeachment against richard nixon for a reason. you don't have to commit a crime, although in this case i believe the president committedt at lwo crimes. one is actively seeking the involvement of a foreign cvernment in a u.s. domes election. that is illegal. secondly, extorting that government with the threat of no military aid or the suspension of military aid until and unless he is convinced he gets cooperation on a purely partmaan n onticaer. both are more than inappropriate, they are an abuse of office, and in my view are illegal. michelle: congressman, we will have to leave it there on that note. thank you. rep. connolly: my pleasure, thank you. michelle: for the republican reaction, oke with congressman markwayne mullin

from oklahoma a short time ago. the transcript has been released today. what do you make of rep. mullin: well, it is a real simple read, less than eight mites, and there is nothin there. if this is what speaker pelosi is basing her whole proceedings onthen shes swimming in still water, because it is not thing to go anywhere. michelle: you sae is nothing there, but there will be plenty of americanwho look at is and see the american leader for help essentially digging up dirt on a political opponent. that is going to be bothersome to some. is actually true, le.know if it if you listen to it, what he said is "would you speak with my attorney general," which is exacy the way it is supposed to be handled. if you speak to my attorney general, we just want to get to thbottom of it. the first started with hillary clinton's server, saying they believe it may be in ukraine, and then could you also take a look at this with joe biden's

something because he is going oparound -- joe bidely -- this isn't new, this isn't news -- he was going on openly acting stopped o the -- openly bragging he stopped the investigation on his son. i'm not even asking you, i'm asking you to toate with my ey general and in how your -- see how your prosecutor would work with ours and if ther 's anythiit. very clear there is nothing else there. michelle: the fact that on on page two of the transcript you see the president in a st of memo of the conversation, not an exact transcript, but it says that he is asking for a favor. rep. mullin: well, i think it is just a conversation. he said, "hey, can you do something for me." they had a dialogue before hand, saying congratulations, the ukrainian president said tactics tolected. followed your the predent once again

congratulating him. they chitchatted back-anforth and the end, he said, hey, could you do something for me? i would like for you to speak to my attorney geatral. s just conversation you and i would have. michelle: what do you make of the role of rudy giuliani? is private counsel, not an official member of the trump administration rep. mullin: giuliani has been very ope-- yes, i had a conversation with ukraine about it. he is a friend of the president. i don't know if he is read in on the whole issue or not. i don't know what the clearance of giuliani is. tibut just because he is w to visit with it, that is nothing new. giuliani is constantly on the airwaves and on news defending the president and defending his policies. i don't see any problem with that. michelle: congressman markwayne mullin, thank you for joining us on what i assume is a busy day. rep. mullin: yes, ma'am, thank you for having me on. michelle: fireworks looks set to continue, as congress prepares

to hear on thursday the testimony of the acting director of national intelligence about that whistleblower report on the president. in other news, rescue teams in pakistan are searching for survivors might have been trapped in buildings which collapsed following tuesday's earthquake. the magnitude 5.8 tremor was centered in ir.istani-administered k at least 37 people are known to have been killed. chinese president xi has formal opened beijing's new airport. project cost around $63 billion and took five years to build. it is one of the largest single-structure airport terminals in theorld. china says it will be a new powerful source of national level. -- national development. the first emirati astronaut in history has launched into space. ane astronaut is on board with a russian commandenasa flight engineer.

they blasted off from the international space station from kazakhstan and docked a short time ago. awell, it has been quit 24-hour period for boris johnson. first the supreme court rules against him for suspending parliament, then he addresses the u.n., and right after, comes -- jones on a plane to be back to the house of commons. t was far from a warm welcome. the prime minister rejected labor calls for him to resign and challenged the opposition parties to agree to ral election. prime min. johnson: i think the people outside this house hiderstand what is happening. they know that n can disguise the truth. it is not just that this parliament is gridlocked, paralyzed, and refusing to deliver on the priorities of the people. it is not just unable to move forward. it is worse than that, mr. speaker. out of sheer selfishness and political cowardice, memrs

opposite -members opposite are unwilling -- are unwilling to move aside and give the people a say. michelle: boris johnson showing ns signs of backing down. for more, i spoke with amanda sloat, former state department official who is now at the brookings institution. parliament has won the right to what have they done with this extra time?a amanda: that is going to be the big question. after spending the last several we minister of being a dictator for shutting down parliament, they n are going to have to decide wt to do with this time. certainly there going to be a lot of scrutiny, a lot of oversight. they may demand to see the there are suggestiat theys. will tighten up up this legislation, forcing the government to request an extension. b some people han speculating about censure motions, about impeachment.

in reality, they have done a lot of what they set out to. michelle: what about the prime minister's comments? w boris johnson in fighting form, essentiallyfigh goading his opponents to hold a no-confidence vote. amanda: it was certainly not a chastened prime minister returning to face an angry parliament after the courtd essentially fom guilty of lying to the queen. it has been extraordinary images , the juxtaposition between the president of the united states pushg back on achment hearings and the british prime minister essentially goading the opposition and in a fairly unprecedented way even smaller opposition parties to call a vote of no confidence in his government as a means of forcing elections. michelle: i guess the takeaway from all of this is that all parties seem to be more dug in than ever. amanda: the country is incredibly polarized, and despite this continuedolitical churn in london, none of thee fundamentals hanged. the clock is continuing to tick

towards a brexit deadline on october 31. the eu has rejected the proposals british government has put forwa to revise the backstop for northern ireland. clear they don'nt to haveade early elections. parliament is forcing the government to ask forexn nsion if there is no deal. despite all of this churn, we are no cchser to resolution than last week. michelle: and yet you have this prime minister who is in a position where he cannot get the general election he wants, but he is forced to govern, he is told he cannot have a no-deal he is stuck. amanda: the only viable option, it seems at this stage, is for him to r to the backstop for northern ireland that theresa may negotiated i2018. this has been unpopular with northern ireland's dup and other unionists his party, but it seems to be the only thing the eu could agree to that has some chance of getting through.

michelle: and yet it is something he has consistently amanda: absolutely, and so fars the propos has put forward to the european union have not gone far enough in terms of meeting the requirements. utthey go part of the wa they don't deal with a lot ofon the need for customs and otherec that would need to be done on the border. so as you are suggesting, it really is a mess, and difficult to see which direction things move from here. michelle: one proposal one mp put forward is that they shouldc all bed in the chamber and not be allowed to come out until they can figure out a compromise. amanda: they have tried everything else, so maybe at this stage that is the w to go. michelle: amanda sloat, thankso yo much. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's skprogram, the de and duchess of cambridge continue to african many were keen to look at.e who

it is an idea that haseen borrowed from finland and it is claimed it can help reduce sudden infant death syndrome. baby boxes are promoted as a safe alternative to standar cots or baskets. they are being offered to new mums in a slum in nairobi. reporter: the problem of lower infant mortality something that many parents import especially in an informal settlement like thistyne where access to quali medical health care and basic needs is a challenge. e estion is will the solution come in a box? 50% of infant deaths occur in sub-saharan afri these boxes gi babies a fighting chance at life. inside they have mosquito net shades,s. medicine, mattresse even the box itself is useful. >> five hoping that when i get

e box, i will use it as my baby's cot. it comes with a mosquito net, ap, diapers. >> then baby ay in the box as you do house chores. before we had the boxes, the baby can roll reporter: health workers that out free and teach people how to use them. they have been given to more than 1,300 mothers in one slum alone. >> i will be very careful with the box. can absorb water. because our houses are single rooms and a slum, i fear water and fire. the box will be on my bed safe. reporter: similar schemed have been t elsewhere, with the idea originati w inla f in

the 1930's. mielle: earlier this month many were shocked when pictures canadian prime minist justin trudeau emerged showing him in blackfaen. since he has apologized for his actions, but foror calgary's mayor, it struck her personal mayor. in 2010, -- it struck a personal court. in 2010, need nenshi became the muslim mayor of a large first north american city. in new york and i to himthe u.n. from there. when these pictures started to emerge, not one, but several, what was your reaction?rt mayor nenshi: nly wasn't very happy. i described it as a sucker it is wrong today, it was wrong in 2001, wrong before that, and certainly it is odd that someone would think it was ok.

but i am actually not that interested in political hot takes on it -- what will this do wto the electiot will this do to the prime minister's potical opportunities, because look, the guy has apologiz and he has done so in a way where people can judge if it is an honest and abject apology. i think it is. i don't think it does us any good to ask him to continue to do penance and start every press conference by asking him to apologize again.t we don'nt him to run naked down the street and whip himself. s to is important for us now have a conversatiot where we really are in race relations in the liberal democracies, even in canada. what we've learned is that there is still a ton of work to be done. michelle: that iwhat surprised many people, that we are not talking about photos from decades ago, but from 2001, from somee who was a young adult the time. mayor nenshi: i mean, look, he was 29.

he and i are exactly the same age. he is six weeks older than i am. i think when i was 2 i knew better than that. butte again, i'm not sted in not looking -- a lot of nots. i think it is toportant for us ook at the totality of someone's record. i don't want to look like i am completely defending him because ink ink there is a tough conversation to have. all of our national leaders need to do beer on issues of diversity and pluralism. but i am also by coincidence standing here at the united nations. i think about the strong voices in favor of pluralism in the world, and i put the prime minister of new zealand on that list. i also put the prime minister of canada on that list. thatuld put the previous prime minister of canada on that list. for we acanadians to be able to have that conversation, we need to make it real. michelle: do you think polical torrectness is getting in the way of being ablave the conversation needed on issues such as racism?i

mayor nenshin't like the term "political correctness," because it is just a way for people to dismiss someone else's point of view. i think it is important for us to have discussions, and i'm noi zing the actions ofns darkening one's skin for costume. w but i alt to be realistic about it, that if we cut off or cancel the abilityf anyone was ever done anything t racist in today's terms or event in the terms of the time, it means we are removing peoplefr the conversation that we need to have people in. mielle: naheed nenshi, thk you for helping us move the conversation forward. of course we will be watching closely because canadians go to the polls on october 21. as a result, will distribute to a referendum onen justin -- will this turned into a referendum on justin trudeau? meanwhile, the world a

first look at the newest member amilye british royal today.royal correspondent nichos witchell was there. nicholas: he is four months and 19 days old now, and little has been seen of archie since his birth on the sixth of may. but here he was in cape town today with his mother and father to meet one of cape town's most celebrated citizens, archbishopn desmtutu and his daughter. archie inevitably became the center of atntion. that is something he will need to get used to. sensible conversation was temporarily suspended so everne could try a little bit of baby talk, encouraging sounds

and of course, admiring comments suffice it to say thatalrchie took iin his stride, played his part to perfection. he is clearly a natural at this sort of thing. he won't remember it, of course, but the moment was ctured for immedi te releasemany frontleas pages. archie and the archbishop. you saw it here first. nicholas witchell, bbc news, cape town. michelle: archie stealing the show. remember, you can fi. more of website.he d's news at our for now, that is all we have time for. yothanfor watching "world news america." i am miclle fleury. by fe. -- byeye. resentationfunding for is made possible. the freeman foundation; by judy and peter blum-kovler foundation, pursuing solns for america's neglected needs;

and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. to make sure facts andth are driving conversation. "washington week" is an island in a chaotic media environment. on friday night, we gather the best reporters in the nati to unpack what's really happening but about informing the american people. announcer: "washington week," friday nights only on pbs.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: gd evening. i'm judy woodrf. on the newshour tonight: the inquiry begins. under mounting pressure, the white house releases a summary of the call between president trump and the ukrainian ader now at the heart of the impeachment investigthion. then, waves to come. the world's water at a crisis oceans, ice, and ecosystems.ges plus, power and prosperity. on the ground in china as we kick off our new series focusing on the country's internal challenges and international ambitions.n no other country than china have you had such a great