a giant in turmoil on al-jazeera really understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter what. kind of. president donald trump picks some familiar faces to defend him his impending impeachment trial. summary of this is the world news from al jazeera have been rival protests in libya for and against the war 24 half the head of an international conference to try to end the fighting. also mexico's president offers jobs to thousands of migrants seeking to enter the u.s. but only if they stay in mexico. and china comes under fire as the water levels of

the mekong drop bringing severe consequences for those who depend on. us president donald trump unveiled the defense team for his upcoming impeachment trial in the senate that includes some well known high profile lawyer ken starr and the last impeachment investigation into president bill clinton and was part of the legal team for the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein as well as also the harvard law school professor alan dershowitz whose clients included former football o.j. simpson move producer harvey weinstein and he also represented geoffrey epstein has more from deborah was on the our correspondent in washington who tells us how president is not taking any chances with this legal team. trump is taking this very very seriously i mean these 2 lawyers that he brought in to be part of this team are celebrity or lawyers that are very very well known in washington and have

a long history in this city and really in the nation 1st looking alan dershowitz a long time a law professor at harvard he's considered one of the preeminent constitutional lawyers in the u.s. dershowitz is actually a democrat voted for hillary clinton however he has come out very strongly over the last 3 to 4 months or so before that saying that he believes that this impeachment trial is something that should not be pursued constitutionally and that there are no high crimes and so-called misdemeanors and so that's really caught trump's attention and i think that's probably why he brought dershowitz on his team also dershowitz his peers on television here in the united states as a legal analyst a lot so he's very adept with the media spotlight and i think that's something that trump probably appreciates also you have ken starr who was from the late ninety's where he well known in washington d.c. as you mentioned briefly he was the independent counsel that helped to prosecute or

bring the trial impeachment trial against the then president bill clinton and so i think starr is very well known to and i think that's why he was probably brought on this team as well i think you can read into this that trump wants the absolute best people that he can get his hands on. in other news hundreds of people have been demonstrating in the libyan capital tripoli against the wall. they say he shouldn't be included in an international conference being held in germany trying to end the war protesters held signs calling hafter the devil's messenger however look at the supporters well for half of this is in the eastern city of benghazi where people chanted and slogans and demanded a halt to oil exports they say oil revenues only benefit the tripoli based administration libya's national oil corporation the ones against any disruption and says it will have far reaching consequences for the whole country and so preparations are underway for this peace conference in berlin on sunday

representatives from a number of nations are meeting in the latest effort to end months of fighting in libya diplomats are expected to push for a truce agreement and a u.n. monitoring mission on the ground it's russia turkey egypt all among the countries attending but the u.n. recognized government wants qatar and tunisia to join as well. had explains why. the foreign ministry in tripoli has sent an official letter to the german embassy in tripoli requesting that both qatar and tunisia be invited for the bit of talks we know that the government of national accord is keen to include both countries to achieve some kind of balance facing the other daily geisha in supporting the warlords really for have to do as you know at least 4 countries supporting the warlords liefer have are invited to take part in the

1000000000 talks on sunday including the united arab emirates egypt russia and france so by this move the government here in tripoli is trying to achieve balance it says that tunisia is very important to take part in these talks as tunisia not only as a neighboring country and being impacted and and affected by the ongoing crisis in libya but it has been also hosting thousands of libyans if you did and as for qatar the government says that qatar has been all supporting the freedom revolutions in libya since 2011 and the government believes that qatar is a key. player in the peace talks in berlin dozens of people were injured in the iraqi capital in fights between police and protesters security forces firing tear gas to break up a crowd of demonstrators trying to reach a bridge near tahrir square those where thousands of been camped out for months

demanding political change hundreds of people have been killed since the massive protests began in october. turkey's president reject type erdogan has accused the syrian government of breaking a ceasefire agreement and killing 20 people in the last opposition held province of idlib the deal came into effect last sunday but the violence is carried on pushing more people out of their homes in support from china bellus. the ceasefire deal was short lived in a loop syria's lost opposition on play. brokered by turkey and russia it came into effect on sunday. this was filmed on thursday it shows a russian jet in the syrian army pounding opposition positions they say they were provoked. but the most enough military operations result on southeastern fronts after the insurgents violated the truce and targeted humanitarian corridors. the insurgents

a rebels aligned with the syrian opposition the last fighters in a war that began nearly 9 years ago is supported by turkey president responded to the escalation after friday prayers and you know. unfortunately this is clear proof that the syrian regime is not abiding by the steps that we took regarding the ceasefire and the excuse is always ready this is the excuse terrorist organizations are doing this or that these are all lies. you are living in this province a 3000000 people it's a last opposition stronghold with little recourse they sing of the suffering heart full of not fear but. this is as much a protest as a funeral they say despite the ceasefire 2 bombs killed their friends here on wednesday. and in the shadows 350000 syrians

who fled their homes since early december like a heart the found shelter in mosques across the province and that then we have no one on a bit knocked on the door in the morning and took us with him myself and my younger brother he pushed us here as we were living on relief aid. life a stark air in the winter many refugee seems is it just building carcasses the snow he. let us say i make it about her that i haven't had those i don't know what we are waiting for someone to have mercy on us come to help us here we committed no crime to be punished this way no one is looking at us and mercy my husband and son of both disabled our life is destroyed this was meant to be temporary now the ceasefire is broken again. dallas al-jazeera. the f.b.i. says it believes saudi arabia's government has been helping people from the country to escape the u.s. criminal justice system and says

a newly declassified document dated last all this though really still heavily redacted obviously but it does say saudi officials almost certainly assist us based saudi citizens in fleeing the u.s. in order to avoid legal issues a newspaper investigation last year documented 2 dozen saudi citizens who escaped the country after being accused of crimes including manslaughter and bright. mexico's government has offered jobs to nearly 3000 migrants and refugees this is an effort to stop that caravan of people in guatemala heading north to the u.s. border the u.s. has been flying asylum seekers to guatemala and there are concerns for their safety as john heilemann reports. die another and dead mother from honduras thought their family had finally made it when they reached the u.s. not for asylum instead you a sufficient sent them to guatemala they say without their consent you know you don't know if you know my husband they gave us papers to saying they were in

english when we asked what the where they said they just had our details on them when we saw the asylum officer the next day he told us we st our consent to go back to. they're not alone the u.s. is now shipping hondurans and salvadorans who arrive at its border to guatemala to apply for asylum there instead more than $100.00 so far and no being for a sin not being informed of what's going on in the u.s. they're being told they're going higher and it's a surprise for them to arrive in guatemala. president trumps of ministration says the country is safe for asylum seekers and the question. in the 2019 fiscal year guatemala was actually the biggest source of migrants detained at the u.s. border over the years it struggled to keep its own population from leaving let alone taking care of asylum seekers coming in here. the country's one of the

poorest in the hemisphere and the u.s. travel department itself warns but crime such as armed robbery murder is common gang activity such as extortion violent street crime and narcotics trafficking is widespread he added to that the asylum system here is skeletal there are only a dozen case officers meanwhile engine. as a picking up the slack. the little said we said that. we had to provide the migrants with legal aid and medical aid food everything so we know the state doesn't have the resources to offer asylum or even conduct the process we asked the u.s. department of homeland security for comment we didn't hear back. but it's reach similar agreements with honduras and el salvador hoping to reduce pressure on a cold up immigration system that means asylum seekers could soon be sent to 2 of the world's most violent countries. after a night at the migrant shelter. in the children

a trying to get the bus fare together to get home they were dropped in guatemala with nothing but the clothes they're wearing john home and how does it work tamala city in the news ahead exposing the truth about west africans fake drugs trade i hadn't cameras reveal a huge money making business and the bills are piling up but nepal's parliament can't pass them into law we will look at what is behind months of deadlock. the weather quieting down now across north western parts of europe as a nice area of high pressure spills over the next couple of days but behind me you can see this next area cloud will be some rain which will push its way into the southwest all fronts pushing down into spain and portugal things turning very

disturbed and then further north oh up across the british isles we will see temperatures that 7 ice there london in paris getting up to 7 or 8 degrees over the next day i would say but western parts will be on the dry sausan cloud and right now it's woolsey is just a ramp out and pushing down into austria and down towards the age of 80 but his that area of wet weather that i mentioned it to the bay of biscay pushing down into the southwest of france pushing across northern areas of spain and gradually diving into the western side of the med some really heavy rain coming through here we could see over 100 millimeters of rain over the next couple of days but for the northwest as you can see lassie try and find sparkling sunshine at least for the next couple of days for the race for things will quieten down across that eastern side of a europe it's possible but it's rainy and generally fine and frightening see that cloud of rain which will make its way across spain and portugal and also bring some wet to weather eventually in. to the far north of morocco and algeria.

the. big story is generally sounds like media angles in this story are too numerous for comfort with different angles from different perspectives seeing has never really been believe. the war to even separate the spin from the facts the misinformation from the journalists on this. chance to. clear. the listening are not just 0. 00.

so this is al-jazeera and these are the top stories u.s. president on trump has unveiled his defense team the upcoming impeachment trial in the senate ken starr's one of the most high profile lawyers to sign up for the last impeachment investigation into president bill clinton rival protests have been held in libya ahead of a u.n. backed peace conference trying to end months of fighting demonstrators in the capital tripoli say eastern baseball logically for half a shouldn't be included in sunday's talks and burley in his supporters meanwhile rallied in benghazi and mexico is deploying hundreds of soldiers to its guatemalan border trying to block a surge of migrants and refugees from getting into the united states. now 3 u.s. airports have begun to screen passengers arriving from china for a new virus that so far killed 2 people you know it's j.f.k. airport along with los angeles and something cisco international begin taking passengers temperatures and asking them about their symptoms china says almost 50

people have been infected research by london's imperial college suggests they could be more than $1700.00 tastes hundreds of people hundreds of thousands of people in africa dying every year after taking counterfeit medicines according to the world health organization african leaders are trying to change that they're meeting in togo's capital to sign an agreement to crack down on illicit trade but it is big business in west africa alone we're talking a trade with $200000000000.00 as nicolas hawke reports from dakar in senegal. it started with an itch and turned into a rash it was then factors are decided to get some medicine but to save money she bought pills from a man that had market after taking them she found she couldn't walk she started vomiting and even lost her teeth she ended up in hospital in intensive care. the doctor told me i was going to die i had to tell them the truth i couldn't

afford to buy a drug in the pharmacy so i bought them on the street. to the pills from a market like this one cameras are not welcome here ours is concealed. we're soon approached this man tells us he buys and sells medicine then shows us what he has among the drugs he selling or the pills that poison in fact to he tells us it's good quality it's from france he says. this is the medicine that we bought inside the market we bought the exact same one at a local pharmacy now some of these drugs look completely different others are identical would be impossible to tell which one is real in which one isn't selling drugs outside of a pharmacy on the streets is illegal here in san diego and throughout most west african countries but the law is rarely enforced the world health organization says that the african continent is flooded with counterfeit medicine saying that at

least $100000.00 people die every year ingesting think medicine counterfeit drugs is a $200000000000.00 trade and it's said to be booming in west africa the fake medicines are made in china or india or nigeria pharmacist say their warnings about the counterfeit are too often ignored not if it's the state's responsibility to protect its citizens this is poison in our health care system and this is having a devastating impact on our population. no longer trusts medicines she's focusing instead on the food she is saying a good diet may be the best way to stay healthy nicholas hawk al-jazeera the car. cyprus is seeing a huge influx of migrants and refugees most get on boats from turkey and across the border from the self declared republican northern cyprus cypriots saying they've got more than they can cope with though and need help from the e.u. well some are actually saying the country deliberately making things unpleasant for

asylum seekers to present more from coming to support from rowing chalons omar has experienced much misery she's not giving her real name to protect family back in syria bashar assad's massacres forced her to leave via lebanon to cyprus but life here is not happy so do you think the government do you think cyprus as a country wants here now you know it's a racist country the day after their ship arrived 4 months ago omar's husband was arrested he's not being prosecuted but police won't say why they're not releasing him only that they think he's a security threat and. we came from an unjust country we came from oppression from bashar al assad syria then we came to this country thinking there's justice democracy and human rights things aren't much better for many other asylum seekers people queue for menial jobs and me go welfare coupons through the

night to be one of the lucky few seen by a handful of staff during office hours asylum applications can take many years to complete it's an overwhelmed and confusing system as more arduous routes into europe are restricted the relatively simple journey from turkey to the self declared republic of northern cyprus then into the south becomes more travelled. 15000 now have refugee status here upwards of 15000 more applications are pending now these aren't huge numbers on the global scheme of things certainly compared to the millions of refugees in turkey but cyprus is a tiny country and it now has the highest number of asylum seekers per capita of anywhere in the european union cyprus is interior minister says they need european help because the system is at breaking point if turkey is is continuously. pushing people to across the green line to cyprus they are entering the european

territory it's not a cyprus problem any more than my creation is it's a european problem but some on the ground see things differently doris polycarp who runs kisa a refugee focused and geo he's critical of europe's inaction but he says cyprus has created a hostile environment to make itself a less attractive destination if you don't do you our job and you are in fear that this will say they will blame you for this situation is very easy to say europe is the responsible for their not showing so that even instead of saying that we need. and we didn't do what we should do as with all refugee stories whether governments are on able or unwilling to cope it's real people who suffer rory chalons al-jazeera cyprus. in india protests continue against the citizenship law this week it's been challenged in the courts and in regional parliaments opponents of the legislation say it discriminates against muslims and as

a reporter with the pradesh the law has also exposed other social fault lines within the world's largest democracy. the. 22 year old is going around his village in the northern state of their predation to convince parents to send their children for free education. the classes are organized by a community called the army which was formed in 2014 to tackle the problems faced with upper caste hindus. delegates are at the bottom rung of the caste system and say they are often violently discriminated against our local wants all delegates to know their rights but now there is added concern about the new citizenship law. man this b.g.p. government did mean opposition is against. muslims and the it the look community

is worried that today they are targeting muslims. tomorrow it will be us. in new delhi the beam army led the lights in a protest against the law. their leader gender she. was arrested. the opposition says the indian government broke the new law to create a hindu muslim divide but it may have cause unintended splits many in the ballot community traditionally marginalized by upper caste hindus are now questioning the law their opposition along with that of muslims has the power to change governments go to the class activists say delegates will be at a serious disadvantage if the government asks for multiple documents to prove their citizenship historically they have been the settlers landless people so which document they could possibly have the elites and the muslims. our water of

change they represent change in the society if they are being pushed to the wall they will work for the change. our looks father believes the law is a way for the government to die work attention from economic problems but it also provides an opportunity to target ballots. the thinking of those who are privatizing government is they will give jobs to the people. they want to sell them but these women are also members of a dalit community supports the new law. at the it must be good i trust the prime minister he would have made a good will. the indian government says many of the religiously persecuted people it will grant citizenship to are valid. but i look says younger lads who were able to work in the last elections were seduced by false promises made by the ruling nationalist b.g.p. . he says it won't happen again education will see to that arch of laura

al-jazeera multiplication india. the parliament in nepal has been unable to pass any laws for 3 months and this is because the speaker was forced to resign in the wake of rape allegations but attempts to appoint someone new are being stalled by a dispute over who should replace him shrestha reports now from katmandu. the ball's parliament has a series of new laws ready to be endorsed but there is a problem under its rules there has to be a speaker present for them to be sent to the president and the post has been vacant for months in early october speaker of the house question about the model i was accused of rape and arrested and political leaders have not been able to agree on a replacement new bosses of the ruling communist party have asked the deputy speaker shiva to resign so a new speaker and deputy can be chosen but she says she should be appointed as the new speaker knew what i'm so good why should i pay the price for the wrongdoings of

the speaker if they find a fault in my conduct they should impeach me this is about institutionalizing a fist i'm the leaders cannot breach the constitution and the mabus says she's a victim of political horse trading and sexism them have is a member of communist party that was formed from a merger with maoist follow guerillas in may 2082 of the past communist parties united to form a majority government but they created still has to chairperson and is clearly divided both factions 11 of their own people to be the speaker constitutionally have of the speaker ever deputy cannot be the same gender nor from the same political party both factions are proposing the more influential role of parliamentary speaker should go to a man and the post of deputy to a woman member of the opposition a poly congress which leaves the mandate out in the cold. way that. we

were often told we're ready to give any position to women but they lack a passage when it comes to doctor to pay if she has all the qualities she's better qualified than all the male candidates who are preferred by their leaders this issue has made us realize how important a women's caucus is for us. party leaders say they must be the ones to appoint the new speaker not to activists but with the deputy speaker refusing to step down and both factions within the ruling party standing firm this dispute isn't deadlocked and that means so it's not meant to be. that man to. thousands of people in the philippines they were forced to leave their homes after a volcanic eruption of been temporarily temporary. temporarily allowed to go home to the danger zone in one town the evacuation order was lifted so residents could collect their belongings and rescue their animals the. activity has weakened in the

last few days there are warnings in other eruption may still be imminent the water levels in one of asia's longest rivers the making of dip sharply you know off to china began testing equipment in one of the rivers up or down the mekong goes through china but 5 other countries as well including cambodia where the levels are expected to drop and drop sharply florence that he reports. has been fishing in the mekong river for more than 20 years just like his father did before him we mourn matai from all they used to be a lot more fish we only had to cast down nets and they'd be full we used to catch about $70.00 to $80.00 kilos each time but now there's hardly any. he says fish used to be abundant even in the dry season but not since the last couple of years he's also noticed more extreme fluctuations in water levels. there are 11 dams in the upper reaches of the river in china environmental advocates say these have had

an impact on the river and the life in that 70 brisson up them bitch. that migratory species meaning that then my quit. and downstream in vietnam all the way up to not and part of thailand so they depend lastly on the seasonal water level of the meco river that driven by day drought and flat sokol in early january china issued a statement to say it's testing equipment in one of its dams increasing outflow by more than half the mekong river commission and into governmental organization warned countries in the lower reaches of the river including cambodia to expect lower water levels this week this season's drought has caused the water level in the mic to fall to its lowest in 60 years and that's been an exceptionally low flow of water in most parts of the river basin the 6 months. further from the.

one that relies mostly on rice farming here people rely on water stored in horns during the dry season but even these have dried up. when there's no water there's lots of problems we have to spend a lot of money to drill a well an equipment small pump isn't good enough we have to get a bigger one it already spent double of what i normally would the mekong river commission and china have said they'll conduct a study to identify the causes and impacts of the season strout but with more dams being planned for the mekong its communities who rely on the river who continue to pay the price florence. province cambodia. they are on al-jazeera and these are the top stories u.s. president donald trump has unveiled the defense team for his impeachment trial in

the senate that includes ken starr who led the last impeachment investigations of president bill clinton and another high profile inclusion is alan dershowitz his clients included o.j. simpson and harvey weinstein on the has more from washington alan dershowitz a long time a law professor at harvard he's considered one of the preeminent constitutional lawyers in the u.s. dershowitz is actually a democrat and voted for hillary clinton however he has come out very strongly over the last 3 to 4 months or so even if before that saying that he believes that this impeachment trial is something that should not be pursued constitutionally and that there are no high crimes and so-called misdemeanors and so that's really caught trump's attention and i think that's probably why he brought dershowitz on his team . other headlines hundreds of people have been demonstrating in the libyan capital tripoli against warlord khalifa haftar they say shouldn't be included in an

international conference being held in germany trying to end the war dozens of people were injured in the iraqi capital and fights between police and protesters security forces fired tear gas to break up a crowd of demonstrators trying to reach a bridge near tahrir square where thousands have been camped out for months demanding political and economic change 3 u.s. airports have begun to screen passengers arriving from china for a new virus that has so far killed 2 people china says almost 50 people have been infected the research by london's imperial college suggests they could be more than 7800 cases and mexico is deploying hundreds of soldiers to its quite a modern border and efforts to block a surge of migrants and refugees trying to get through to reach the united states those are the headlines on al-jazeera the listening post is next with richard.

how jews in. love with your. hair on now size shut down crying in a pasture ok it's up to the house of office if the state protect the trust and often make life for the system i mean i just saw it and i think if i had a crowd chanting the revolutionary guard tactic to. hello i'm richard ginsberg and you're at the listening post here are some of the media stories that we're covering this week iran the showdown with the u.s. and how the accidental downing of a passenger aircraft has changed the narrative there portugal and race.