to 9. welcome to the program the impeachment trial of u.s. president donald trump has begun with senate republicans blocking democratic attempts to take documents and evidence in a bitter debate over proposed rules democrats accused republicans of a cover up trump is charged with abuse of power and obstruction of justice the reports on a longer opening day that stretching well into the night our founders trusted the senate to rise above short term passions at the last moment senate majority leader mitch mcconnell altered his proposed rules for the impeachment trial gone was the possibility that the evidence collected during the various house inquiries might not be entered into evidence in the senate trial of the democratic party house managers and white house lawyers would now have 3 days and not 2 to make their opening statements that left the issue of witnesses and documents house democrats argue that they were withheld in the course of their inquiries into whether donald trump was withholding congressionally mandated military aid for ukraine in return for an investigation into former vice president joe biden and that these must be produced in the senate trials a leader mcconnell wants a trial with no existing evidence and no new evidence. a trial without evidence is not a trial it's a cover up the white house argues that the request for more evidence proves the democrats don't have a strong case against the president they said in their brief we have overwhelming evidence and they're afraid to make their case think about it think about it it's common sense overwhelming evidence to impeach the president of the united states and then they come here on the 1st day and they say you know what we need some more evidence the white house also argues that the documents and witnesses are privileged in order to shape foreign policy the president must be able to have private deliberations with advisors and that's an argument rejected by the democrats make the argument that the president's conduct here was was was conduct that every president should be allowed to engage in and i think that most americans don't believe that that mr chief justice i yield back the democrats failed to pass their amendments on the mcconnell's rules though they will be another chance to debate the need for more witnesses and documents but only after opening arguments and the cross-examination of the house managers and white house lawyers he just watch donald trump was reported to be monitoring proceedings while attending the world economic forum in switzerland his position remains unchanged that was a hoax well several times he joins me now from capitol hill and she has the scenario continues does it not so late into the night in the senate. right we're on the 6th amendment being proposed by the democrats perhaps some sign of compromise in the past each amendment was for one specific thing this about members asking for 22 witnesses to be subpoenaed for the for the senate trial 2 white house officials who the democrats allege were key to withholding ukrainian military aides so that might suggest that things are moving on a little bit quicker perhaps conceivably the only other witness that they have that the democrats have named that they want to appear is john bolton the national security advisor potentially that could be the final amendment of a proposed but i don't even know why but even so i think that frankly because we don't know but. the democrats are clear that they they they say that so much evidence so many witnesses were withheld during the house inquiry the senate they must be heard in the senate the senate trial and it's also clear the which mcconnell mitch mcconnell's argument that there will be a vote all of them bringing in extra witnesses more documents but only after opening arguments in cross-examination that the democrats aren't terribly confident necessarily will win that vote when there is a debate about introducing more evidence so what they seem to be doing right now is going just so much detail about the documents and witnesses they feel should be part of the sort of trial that is part of the public record that anyone watching this right now will be in no doubt about why the democrats feel the white house documents state department documents pentagon documents the office of management and budget documents and the chief of staff mick mulvaney out of these 2 white house aides are important for us they're 'd concerned for the impeachment trial because they're going through all of the information that might come out all fake cross-examination off those witnesses or examination of those off those documents the question is though you do have to be watching this and it's gone on for so long and you wonder how many people who didn't already know all 'd of this or what already obsessed by all of this are actually watching but at least as far as the democrats are concerned all this information will be in the public record in the official records well of course will continue through the night sunday in the coming days so the moment she had thank you. well michael isikoff is chief investigative correspondent for yahoo new u.c. says while the democrats have been unable to get any benefits across the line the 1st day of the trial hasn't been a total failure for them well certainly the votes the voting is been pretty much as well has been exactly as expected mitch mcconnell had the votes and he's prevailed on all these amendments but 9 i got to say i think today was also a good day for the house democrats i thought adam schiff did a pretty bang up job just in the laying out the house case in a very effective way and emphasizing the stonewalling as it were that the white house has been engaged in for refusing to turn over documents and allow witnesses to testify the question there are 2 audiences there the there's the senate audience and we just don't know how whether he's getting any traction with senate republicans to get those votes he needs those 4 votes that he needs if i thought it was noteworthy that susan collins did put out a statement after ships opening presentation saying she was likely to vote for witnesses that i think although she used the word likely pretty much locks are in so that's one solid vote there for opening this up to witnesses they need 3 more lisa murkowski and romney are assumed to be in that camp as well so it's like one more will they get but i was saying shifted to audiences the broader audience was the american public. well the u.s. president is half a world where the economic forum in davos he's done of it might be to address telling the gathering of political and business elite that america was expecting an economic boom like never before our diplomatic etta james bays has more than doubles on the day of the start of his trial for peach but this was the dow vos diversion president trump on the world stage in a place surrounded by business leaders where his advisors knew he would look presidential it's clear from his recent comments and his posts on twitter that the u.s. leader is obsessed with impeachment but this was a speech over half an hour long in which the i word wasn't mentioned once today i'm proud to wear that the united states is in the midst of an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen before. we've regained our stride. rediscovered our spirit in reawakened the powerful machinery of american enterprise america is thriving america is flourishing and yes america is winning again like never before. many of the world leaders who were in the room know how much now depends on the us a lecture at this copy trumps the last starforce but they're preparing to for the possibility of a 2nd term this is a global forum dealing with global issues and so we have more and more conflicts breaking out across the world that need everybody around the table to solve them and we need the united states as part of that conversation and the united states needs an effective state department needs an effective diplomatic corps and soft diplomacy as well in order to be a true partner and i think people are genuinely worried yeah that's right this is a place where donald trump feels comfortable he was never invited to speak a divorce as the head of the trump organization now he feels part of this elite club as the u.s. president his advisors cleverly using this as a backdrop for a speech to a domestic audience james bows out 0 doubles now 11 has a new government after hezbollah and its allies reached a deal ending 3 months of political deadlock president signed off on a new 20 cabinet ministers after meeting with the prime minister. but the announcement has angered protesters reports now from beirut lebanon is new prime minister has sandia has finalized his cabinet lineup it took weeks of political horse trading even though those who are fighting over seats are allies and part of the ruling alliance the arabs critics call him a pawn of the political elite but addressing the nation he tried to defend his cabinet at a time of mass protests over lebanon's worst economic crisis in decades. was a family thought to be him we will endeavor to answer that demands to ensure that we have an independent judiciary to bring back stolen money to fight corruption to protect the poor of social classes from high taxation to tackle and employment and to put in place a new electoral law that brings everyone together under one national identity that the street has asked for the news of the government announcement brought protesters who have been demanding a new leadership back onto the streets they gathered in central beirut the epicenter of a 3 month old movement to topple the political class they accuse of mismanagement and corruption protestors disputed insistence that the 20 ministers who are specialists with no political loyalties i'm here because i don't trust this new government that's going to be formed because it came from the people who have been in charge for the past 30 years and in bad doesn't bring good and bad only brings bad. government has also been criticized for being controlled by the iranian backed hezbollah and for being one sided political opponents of the ruling alliance including outgoing prime minister saad and heidi refused to join the government. they're just playing the same move to the plate 100 days ago so as of they're just stopping us in the face are laughing at us like who are those people and what are they doing on the streets the government faces many challenges in the midst of an unprecedented nationwide tarion uprising deb's government is expected to receive a vote of confidence in parliament but it is the support of international investors and donors that lebanon needs to get out of the economic and financial crisis the last time created international support for lebanon met in december it made no financial pledges and instead called for a credible government that. this is the public opinion expressed in the popular uprising. for weeks many lebanese have been struggling to make their voices heard. told the security forces protecting parliament building that the steel and concrete barriers won't be able to protect those in power. i'm here to demonstrate against the corrupt regime that is. writing this country for 30 years or more they were the warlords by the other. sex groups to kill each other. there is determination to continue their struggle or what people here call the revolution but the government announcement on tuesday sent a clear message that the established parties are still in power lebanon's crisis is not over jennifer their beirut cermak role as a policy analyst at the arab central washington d.c. now he says the ruling political class is still running things behind the scenes. most of the government is not independent it's a status quo government. only group gets them cv the book last night of the scene basically running the show we don't see in the faces we don't see especially in key economic and financial reforms we don't see names that give the impression of reform so. the problem is the bottom of it's a book of the bottom of this bottom of it is and they had of the of the of the only class well there's no way out of that we have the if we don't do in the election this week and live on the with us or the kid there the week of anger because it's been more than 90 days in the was really no urgency from the from the politicians leaving for the county of this point so we don't see any. new on this because the system needed a positive shock for the shock of the form a sense of urgency we don't see it until now we have to see the transition well but we will have a new especially if you're a minister he counseled of the budget i'll do see how they will deal with who knew what lessons are going to the same credit of the past week which is more confrontational with us this illness even more likely to be nice or for some reason planets like the ism but at this point i think the 1st impression is bad and that it's going to be a movie that's thought somehow the end of 2. but the crucial of the thing we have to see how much security measures will be taken. still ahead on al-jazeera the u.n. chief calls for cooperation and leadership from libya's warring parties. also crowds gather in colombia's capital for them and tea cups but protests those stories after the break. the weather conditions across northern sections of the middle east we've got plenty of rain on the way the cloud gives you an idea of where the worst of the weather will be and show enough history these eastern sections of iraq as they go through wednesday some very heavy amounts of rain so very wet and baghdad just 921. once it pushes into those higher elevations a will turn over to snow now by thursday that tends to disappear but it does push further southward said the southern sections of iran where of course it has some fairly recent flooding that could just exacerbate the problem because we have a very saturated ground and also those shells working their way south is through the gulf so some showers likely across into doha just 21 celsius on a cold day in riyadh it just 17 degrees but the really heavy rain this is further to the south across madagascar we have got a very intense area of low pressure just sitting in the mozambique channel picking up lots of energy lots of rain and just literally continuing to dump it down so we could continue to see more and more at least half a meter this is as we go through the next $2.00 to $3.00 days meanwhile got a few showers if you will southern eastern areas of south africa one is that in the forecast on thursday that scattered showers really from on go the east was right across into my zombie. when was the last time you were out on the streets protesting whether on line you feel the weight of the system when you walk through each and every luggage board layer further and further into the jail or if you join us on say entry has to start from day one whether again you and attention or your incarceration this is a dialogue everyone has a voice so far there are studies that support our coverage will be varying accounts but i want to give people the reason for it join the global conversation on out to 0. is there a visa hole robert a reminder of our top stories the republican controlled u.s. senate has blocked democratic efforts to obtain evidence and call a witness in the president donald trump's impeachment trial democrats say republicans are covering up the truth the trouble abused his powers also lebanon has a new government tough to hezbollah and its allies reached a deal adding 3 months of political deadlock but angry protesters returned to the streets repeating their demand for a government of independent experts. let's head to asia now where china's health ministry has confirmed there are now 9 deaths and more than 400 cases of a new respect treat illness it's warning the kuroda virus could mutate and spread further the government is warning people in the city of to limit travel as millions across china are prepared to travel for the view the new year celebrations when. we advise everyone not to go to war and we advise 100 and not to leave the city and later do special circumstances this will help reduce the flow of people and the risk of transmission and we've already strengthened monitory and prevention mechanisms in provinces where they are confirmed cases of brownies in hong kong he says china's government has been transparent in handling the virus. we listened then to leave him the vice minister for china's health commissioner he almost seemed to be saying that they're going to order a virtual lockdown in and of course there's no doubt that of china's communist party puts its mind to it it could lock down a large swathes of the country if it felt it was necessary now president xi jinping has said that the health and safety of the people is absolutely paramount right now and he's also been urging his officials to ensure they maintain transparency another senior communist party official on monday night said that if any official was found to be withholding any sort of information related to this virus then they would in his words be nailed to the pillar of shame for attorney fees so the message coming out from china's government so is that it wants to appear to be transparent it doesn't want to be embarrassed in the way that it will 17 years ago during the sars epidemic when it sat on information for several months and remember almost 800 people died during that epidemic so the government is maintaining a position of transparency it's saying that it's inviting foreign health officials to come to him including officials from the world whole for health organization but also fears the virus could spread further across borders not the illness has reached several countries in the region and now the u.s. has confirmed its 1st case in a u.s. resident who traveled to the region rob reynolds has the latest. the man sickened by the corona virus entered the us via seattle international airport on january 15th he's a resident of snow home ish washington north of seattle officials say he had traveled to the region around china where the outbreak began the 1st case of novel coronavirus is a washington man in his thirty's who returned from han subsequently got ill sought medical care and with promptly identified the man is being treated and closely observed in a seattle area hospital he's described as being in stable condition. the corona virus is believed to have originated at an outdoor market in wool han that sold fish and wild game it has sickened people in china and other individuals in japan south korea taiwan and thailand several people are known to have died from the virus it causes fever severe respiratory distress and organ failure chinese officials say it can be spread from human to human travelers returning from rouhani should be on the lookout for a fever and best between fact in for example a cough and difficulty breathing at the have those kind of symptoms they should call their health care provider quickly last week officers at the international airports in los angeles new york and san francisco began screening travelers who began their journeys in one the seattle airport does not have extra screening the world health organization will meet this week to consider whether to declare the outbreak an international health emergency rob reynolds al-jazeera. at least $27.00 people have been killed in ass trying song rebel held areas in northern syria the areas being increasingly targeted by the government targets russian allies despite a cease fire reached this month and next year bryant has the story. in syria this is what a ceasefire looks like dead. efforts to put out the flames and cut and waste in aleppo the syrian civil defense group known as the white helmets blames russian warplanes for the attack. in a nearby village the air strikes killed an entire family. since this morning russian warplanes have been good ducting air strikes on the west and countryside of aleppo strikes hit close to it resulted in a massacre a family of 9 were killed 6 children a mother a father and a 20 year old man monisha say russia which supports the syrian government is trying to push rebels away from the city of aleppo and a motorway linking it with the capital damascus russia and turkey which back some rebel groups announced a ceasefire earlier this month but it never really took hold. of the villages it's had a sports center and houses nearby with displaced people were taking refuge to people syrian civil defense has pulled out the injured moved taken them to the closest medical facility. doctors here a struggling to cope dozens of facilities are being destroyed in strikes in recent months putting immense pressure on makeshift clinics like this one and a camp for those displaced by the fighting. crowds a call but with people looking for safety the u.n. says more than 350002 fled their homes since the beginning of december many have had to do this more than once. i'm from homs we were displaced from homs to them from. we want to jam at the so from one place to another and they're running out of places to go camps are overwhelmed and the northern border with turkey is closed was the syrian government's vowed to retake all remaining rebel held territory by groups say the recent escalation marks a dangerous and deadly turning point in the conflict. and yet again it's innocent civilians who are bearing the brunt of the fighting alexia brian al jazeera. the u.n. secretary general antonio terrace is urging libya's warring sides to join foreign leaders in finding a diplomatic solution to the country's civil war it follows a summit in berlin on sunday in which world leaders pledged to forward battling and help to escalate the conflict my message is accept fully the conclusions of the bill in summits and assume that the leadership in a situation like these is a leadership for peace is a leadership for a united libya able to be ruled by libyans in peace in security and corporate ng we did slavers in a positive way prosecutors in brazil have charged 16 people with murder over a mining down disaster that killed more than 2 $150.00 people last year the collapse in the south eastern state of the us get this was brazil's worst industrial accident in the chute a torrent of toxic waste its owner mining giant vale has also been charged with environmental crimes along with a german that certified the structure safe. at least 3 police officers and one protester have been injured during anti-government demonstrations in colombia hundreds of protesters have gathered in the capital to rally against the president's social and economic policies illicit drug vietti has the story from bako tar. protesters repeatedly clashed with the police here in the capital but then a number of cities across colombia in the 1st day of protests in 2020 a continuation of the national strike that story that's the end of november and continued almost until the end of december people of protesting for a number of reasons but the day protest was called because of the continuous killing of a social leaders in the country 20 were killed since the beginning of the year practically one every day we know that in the clashes at least 90 people have been detained and at least a dozen wounded to true out today both here in and bogata and other cities and this puts to test a new protocol that was designed by the newly elected mayor. cloudy a lot of ways to try and avoid violence to confrontations focusing on the use of civil mediators and trying to use anti-riot police as the last force but as you can see in many cases he said the mayor has decided to use the police and their violent confrontations followed. as for the how in tennis world the one rafael nadal surged into the 2nd round of the australian open all cheese day david stokes reports. sunny skies in melbourne meant organizers could catch up on the games that have been rained off on day one and there was a bright start to the tournament for rafa nadal. sprains world number one was almost flawless against the unseated bolivian player hugo deleon he wrapped things up in straight sets downs chasing grand slam number 22 draw level with the all time leader roger federer but he's only won this tournament once before and that was 11 years ago if a week's 20 fund i think if i reach 21 better if i reach 19 so perhaps i would all the things that i did in in my discovery and australia's hopes for a men's champion rest with nick carry us through to round 2 the bad boy of tennis has won some fans over recently with his efforts to raise money for the country's bushfire victims and on that subject germany's alexander's very made a big pledge after his 1st round when i know i'm not the favorite to win this event but if i win this event i'm going to donate every single sensor bushfires that would work out at around $2800000.00 meanwhile full c. daniel medvedev is looking to train his 1st major title after reaching the final of the us open back in september the russian was made to work hard against francis t. a foe but came through in full sense if. there was a big shock both for canada's youngster felix seem odd seeded 20 for this tournament he was knocked out by the world number 256 ernest gold this i elsewhere joe wilford summed up pulled out of his 1st round match with what looked like a back problem a frustrating end for the french men who reached the final back in 2008 the women's champion that year was maria sharapova who may have played her last match in melbourne given a wild card this time around she was beaten by dawn of wreckage it's now 3 slams in a row. she's lost in the 1st round and she set to drop out of the world's top $350.00 she couldn't say if she'd be back next year. it's tough for me to tell it's going to happen in term. no issues though for the 2nd seed carolina place given she safely into round 2 after a comfortable whenever christine m. 11 of its top seed ashley barty is back in action on wednesday david stokes al jazeera. you're watching al-jazeera with means the whole robin a reminder of our top stories the u.s. senate has been voting on rules that will govern the impeachment trial of president donald trump the republican majority has voted against democratic bids to force the white house and state department to release documents democrats say republicans are covering up evidence that trump abused his powers she had pretends he has more from capitol hill the democrats are clear that they say that so much evidence so many witnesses were withheld during the house inquiry the senate they must be heard in the senate the senate trial and it's also clear though that mitch mcconnell or mitch mcconnell's argument that there will be a vote on bringing in extra witnesses more documents but only after opening arguments in cross-examination that the democrats aren't terribly confident as to sara lee the very well when that vote when there is a debate about introducing more evidence lebanon has a new government after hezbollah and its allies reached a deal and do 3 months of political deadlock but angry protesters returned to the streets repeating their demand for a government of it depended experts to prepare for early elections. china's health ministry has confirmed there are now 9 deaths and more than 400 cases of a new respect to treat illness it's warning the corona virus could mutate and spread further the 1st case has been confirmed by the u.s. with others reported in thailand south korea japan and taiwan the government is warning people in the city of new heart to live it travel. prosecutors in brazil charge 16 people with murder over a binding done disaster that killed more than $250.00 people last year the collapse of the southeastern state of miss get this was brazil's worst industrial accident as a torrent of toxic waste was leaked of the area its older mining giant vale has also been charged with environmental crimes along with a german firm that certified the structure as safe. the israeli army has shot dead 3 palestinians who they say crossed the border from garza and through an explosive device israeli media say the 3 men made it around 400 meters into israel under cover of darkness and bad weather before attacking soldiers who arrived on the scene and back with more news here on al-jazeera in half an hour next it's the street. talk to al-jazeera we were told to get to that between russia has this been addressed by turkey we listen what is the proposal. for a couple on you know we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter is there an. i.o.i. femi oke a parasite a new south korean film about wealth inequality has picked up dozens of awards since its release it is also in the running for a 6 oscars including best picture so what is it about the movie that's got people talking seditious thoughts or join our live chat and you too could be in a strain. of some you know antony's you don't use it in the.