just. when you see big groups of people walking through your they're all individuals with children to live a long life so you have to deal with it to cheat to listen to it in respects. this is al-jazeera. grant this is the news from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes the impeachment trial of the u.s. president gets underway we're live on capitol hill china cancels new year's celebrations in beijing and 20000000 people are sealed off in 2 cities as it tries to stop the spread of a new virus now it's becoming a dangerous game expected to stop it to the benefit of the libyan people but also to the benefit of peace in the region the u.n.

secretary general tells al-jazeera the libyan conflict threatens wider instability but he's hopeful of a resolution. in london with the top stories from europe including russia's parliament approves constitutional changes made by president. which could allow him to stay in power beyond 2024. prevent a genocide protect the evidence the international court of justice orders me and to ensure the safety of rohingya muslims. well the 2nd prosecution arguments that u.s. president donald trump's impeachment trial is about to begin the democrats have 2 more days to make their case and then trump saying well decide i'm out of time for their rebuttal that means the trial could potentially end next week if the senate decides against admitting you evidence and witnesses now let's go to castro who's

standing by on capitol hill in washington d.c. we're just about ready to get this under way heidi. what can we expect. they stand so the house democratic impeachment managers the prosecutors in the impeachment trial they have said that today will focus on making the argument that trump abused his power which is the 1st article of impeachment that was approved by the full house against him and they're specifically trying to connect the dots here that the actions he took which the democrats say was to pressure the president of ukraine to launch a vest a geisha is a trump's political rivals with the with the motive they say to benefit trump and his re-election that's coming up they're trying to tie those actions to abuse of power and then to make yet the other connection there that abuse of power is rising to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors which is the phrasing in the u.s.

constitution that characterizes what amounts to an impeachable offense so the question is exactly how are they going to break that down will likely we've heard these arguments before we heard them yesterday for many hours and this is only the today is only the 2nd of 3 days that they'll be making these arguments democrats say that the future managers led by house intelligence chairman adam schiff have been making a very good case they said that the shift spoke very convincingly just earlier we heard from chuck schumer the top democrat in the senate who said that as schiff was speaking his republican senate colleagues were paying attention and appear to be even showing physically that they were considering what chip was saying however when we had republicans speaking with reporters earlier this morning they denied that they said that what they're hearing are repetitive arguments and that now

after many hours of this several of these republican members are checked out and some have outright said you know. they're ready to vote to acquit the president of course it takes many republicans to choose otherwise winning 20 of them at least in order to vote for the president's conviction and removal from office so at this point that is not likely at all yeah but democrats have a bigger game in mind they want to convince 4 moderate republicans out least allow for witnesses to be heard that is their immediate goal. speaking of watching the prayer of course which begins the process and soon we will see this get under way we'll keep you know that's when my interrupt you if that begins but let me ask you about how convincing this may be for the public adam schiff may be convincing in very thora he wasn't necessarily all that exciting though for the public watching on is is this shifting the dollar at all. you know that's so hard to say

stan we know that polling leading up to this trial show that there was a slim majority of americans who are saying that they think trump should be removed from office and that is that was shifting the needle a little bit higher since the inquiry. is also a question we're going to hear this lighter from from the republicans as well the question about what qualifies as high crimes and misdemeanors that's a way to wire or was being a republican defense in this case that the they say and that donald trump at this point i don't believe actually has committed those offenses we're just watching this about to get under way it's still not quite there heidi but just on that question of what constitutes high crimes and. recalls but he will actually have a listen. 2 or 3 hours and will accommodate a 30 minute recess or dinner shamming that is needed. thank you

pursuant to the provisions of senate resolution 483 the managers of the house of representatives have 16 hours and 42 minutes remaining to make the presentation of their case the senate will now hear you the presiding officer recognizes mr manager schiff to continue the presentation of the case for the house of representatives. thank you chief justice and thank you to the senators for 2 now very long days were greatly appreciative chief justice knowing that prior to your arrival in the chamber each day you have a lot of work at the court necessitating our beginning in the afternoon and going into the evening but i also want to again take this opportunity thank the senators for their long and considerable attention over the course of the last 2 days i'm

not sure the chief justice is fully aware of just how rare it is how extraordinary it is for the house members to be able to command the attention of senators sitting silently for hours or even for minutes for that matter. of course it doesn't hurt that the morning starts out every day with the sergeant at arms warning you that if you don't you will be in prison. it's our hope that when the trial concludes and you've heard us and you've heard the president's counsel over a series of long days that you don't choose imprisonment instead of anything further. 2 days ago we made the case for documents and for witnesses in the trial yesterday we walked through the chronology the factual chronology at some length today we'll go through article one the constitutional underpinnings of abuse of power and apply the facts of the present scheme to the

law and constitution. and here i must ask you for some forbearance of necessity there will be some repetition of information from yesterday's chronology and i want to explain the reason for it you have now heard hundreds of hours of deposition and live testimony from the house condensed into an abbreviated narrative of the facts we will now show you these facts and many others and how they are interwoven you will see some of these facts and videos therefore in a new context in a new light in the light of what else we know and why it compels a finding of guilt and conviction so there is some method to our madness tomorrow we will conclude the presentation of the facts and law on article one and we will begin and complete the same on article 2 the president's unconstitutional obstruction of congress the president's counsel will then have 3 days to make their

presentations and then you will have 16 hours to ask questions and then the trial will begin and then you will actually get to hear from the witnesses yourself and then you will get to see the documents yourself or so we hope and so do american people and after their testimony and after we have had closing arguments then it will be in your hands so let's begin today's presentation and i to house manager and adler good morning mr chief justice senators my fellow house managers and counsel for the president this is the 3rd day of a solemn occasion for the american people the articles of impeachment against

president trump rank among the most serious charges ever brought against the president. and i as a recital of the facts indicated the articles are overwhelmingly supported by the evidence amassed by the house notwithstanding the president's complete stonewalling his attempt to block all witnesses and all documents from the united states congress the 1st article of impeachment charges the president with abuse of power president trump use the powers of his office to solicit a foreign nation to interfere in our elections for his own personal benefit note that the act of solicitation itself just the ask constitutes an abuse of power for president trump went further in order to secure his favor from ukraine he withheld 2 official acts of immense value 1st he withheld the release of 390

$1000000.00 in vital military assistance appropriated by congress in a bipartisan basis which ukraine needed to fight russian aggression and 2nd president trump withheld a long sought after white house meeting which would confirm to the world that america stands behind ukraine in its ongoing struggle the president's conduct is wrong it is illegal it is dangerous and it captures the worst fears of our founders frame of our founders and the framers of the constitution since president george washington took office in 789 no president has abused his power in this way let me say that again no president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections prior presidents

would be shocked to the core by such conduct and rightly so now because president trump is largely failed to convince the country that his conduct was remotely acceptable. he has adopted a fallback position he argues that even if we disapprove of his misconduct we cannot remove him for it frankly that argument is itself terrifying it confirms that this president sees no limits on his power or on his ability to use his public office for private gain and of course the president also believes that he can use his power to cover up his crimes that leads me to the 2nd article of impeachment which charges that the president categorically indiscriminately and unlawfully obstructed our inquiry the congressional inquiry into his conduct this presidential stonewalling of congress is unprecedented in the 238 year history of

our constitutional republic it puts even president nixon to shame taken together the articles in the evidence conclusively established that president trump is places own personal political interests 1st he has placed them above our national security above our free and fair elections and above our system of checks and balances this conduct is not america 1st it is donald trump 1st donald trump's were an oath to faithfully execute the laws that means putting the nation's interests above his own and the president has repeatedly flagrantly violated his oath. and i just want to stress that if this what were if what we're talking about is not impeachable the

nothingness of ph this is precisely the misconduct that the framers created a constitution including impeachment to protect against all of the legal experts testify who testified before the house judiciary committee. those invited by the democrats and those invited by the republicans all agreed that the conduct we have charged constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors professor michael gary hart the author of 6 books and the only joint witness when the house considered president clinton's case put it simply if what we're talking about is not impeachable then nothing is impeachable professor jonathan turley called by the republicans as a witness agreed that the articles charge an offense that is impeachable in his written testimony he stated the use of military age for a quid pro quo to investigate one's political opponent if proven can be an

impeachable offense because quote thus far we have presented the core factual narrative none of that record can be seriously disputed and none of it will be disputed we can predict what the president's lawyers will say in the next few days i urge you senators to listen to it carefully you will hear accusations and name calling you will hear complaints about the process in the house and the motives of the managers you will hear that this all comes down to a phone call that was perfect as if you had not just seen evidence of a months long government wide effort to extort a foreign government but you will not hear a refutation of the evidence you will not hear testimony to refute the testimony you have seen indeed if the president had any exculpatory witnesses even a single one he would be demanding their appearance here instead of urging you not

to permit additional witnesses to testify so now let me offer a preview of the path ahead. 1st we will examine the law of impeachable offenses with a focus on abuse of power that will be the subject of my presentation then my colleagues will apply the law to the facts they will demonstrate that the president has unquestionably committed the high crimes and misdemeanors outlined in the 1st article of impeachment once those presentations are concluded we will take the same approach to demonstrating president trumps obstruction of congress the 2nd article of impeachment we will begin by stating the law then we will review the facts and then we will apply the law to the facts proving that president trump is guilty on the 2nd article of impeachment as well with that roadmap to guide us i would

begin by working through the law of abuse of power here are start by defining the phrase in the constitution high crimes and misdemeanors when the framers selected this term they meant it to capture as george mason put it all manner of great and dangerous offenses against a nation and then contemporary terms the framers had 3 specific offenses in mind abuse of power betrayal of the nation through foreign entanglements and corruption of elections you can think of these as the a.b.c.'s of high crimes and misdemeanors abuse betrayal and corruption the framers believe that any one of these standing alone justified removal from office professor noah feldman of harvard law school explained this well before the house judiciary committee here is his explanation of why the framers created the impeachment power. the framers

provided for the impeachment of the president because they feared that the president might use the power of his office for personal benefit to corrupt the electoral process and in short his reelection or to subvert the national security of the united states that is the standard as described by professor feldman it is correct and of course to all 3 of these concerns appear at once abuse betrayal and corruption that is where we have the strongest possible case for removing a president from office later on we will apply this rule to the facts abuse we will show that president trump abused his power when he used his office to solicit and pressure ukraine to meddle in our elections for his personal gain betrayal we will show that he betrayed vital national interests specifically our national security by withholding diplomatic support and military aid from ukraine

even as it faced armed russian aggression corruption president trumps intent was to corrupt our lections his personal political benefit he put his personal interest in retaining power above free and fair elections and above the principle that americans must govern themselves without interference from abroad article one those charges a high crime and misdemeanor that blends abuse of power betrayal of the nation and corruption in elections into a single on forgivable scheme that is why this president must be removed from office especially before he continues his effort to corrupt our next election the charges set forth in the 1st article of impeachment are firmly grounded in the constitution of the united states simply stated impeachment is the constitution's final answer to a president who mistakes themself for a king. the framers had risked their freedom and their lives to escape minor keep

together they resolved to build a nation committed to democracy and the rule of law a beacon to the world in an age of aristocracy in the united states of america we the people would be sovereign we would choose our leaders and hold them accountable for how they exercise power in our behalf in writing our constitution the framers recognized that we needed a chief executive who could lead the nation with efficiency energy and dispatch so they created a powerful presidency and vested with immense public trust but this solution created a different problem the framers were not naïve they knew that power corrupts they foresaw that a president faithful only to himself would endanger every american so the framers built guardrails to ensure that the american people would remain free and to ensure

that out of control presidents would not destroy everything they sought to build they imposed elections every 4 years to ensure accountability they banned the president from profiting off his office they divided the powers of the federal government across 3 branches and they require the president to swear an oath to faithfully execute the laws to the framers the concept the faithful execution was profoundly important it prohibited the president from exercising power in bad faith or with corrupt intent and thus ensured that the president would put the american people 1st not himself a few framers would have stopped there this minority feared vesting any branch of government with the power to remove a president from office they would have relied on a lecture as alone to address rogue presidents but that view is read was decisively rejected at the constitutional convention. convening in the shadow of rebellion and

revolution the framers would not deny the nation an escape from presidents who deem themselves above the law instead they adopted the power of impeachment in so doing they offered a clear answer to george mason's question show any man be above justice as mason himself explained some mode of displacing an unfit magistrate is rendered indispensable by the fallibility of those who choose as well as by the crypt corruptibility of the man chosen unlike in britain the president would answer personally to congress and thus to the nation for any serious wrongdoing but this decision raised the question what conduct would justify impeachment and removal as careful students of history the framers knew the threats to democracy can take many forms they feared would be monarchs but also warned against fake

populists charismatic demagogues and corrupt kleptocrats in describing the kind of leader who might menace the nation alexander hamilton offered an especially striking portrait mr shift read this quarter in his introductory remarks and it bears repetition when a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune both in his temper known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity to join in the cry of danger to liberty to take every opportunity of embarrassing the general government and bring it under suspicion to flatter and fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day it may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ride the storm and direct the whirlwind. hamilton was a wise man he foresaw dangers far ahead of his time given the many threats

they had to anticipate the framers considered extremely broad grounds for removing presidents for example they debated setting the bar at maladministration to allow removal for run of the mill policy disagreements between congress and the president they also considered very narrow grounds strictly limiting impeachment to treason and bribery ultimately they struck a balance they did not want presidents removed for ordinary political or policy disagreements but they intended impeachment to reach the full spectrum of presidential misconduct that might threaten the constitution and they intended our constitution to endure for the ages so they adopted a standard meant as mason put it to capture all manner of great and dangerous offenses incompatible with the constitution this standard borrowed from the british

parliament was high crimes and misdemeanors in england the standard was understood to capture offenses against the constitutional system itself that is confirmed by the use of the word hi as well as by parliamentary practice from 13762787 the house of commons impeached officials on a few general grounds mainly consisting of abuse of power betrayal of national security and foreign policy corruption treason bribery and disregarding the powers of parliament the phrase high crimes and misdemeanors those covered offenses against the nation itself in other words crimes against the british constitution as scholars were shown the same understanding prevailed on this side of the atlantic. in the colonial period. ok this is where we will break away from the trump impeachment trial in the senate in the united states from being hearing from the democrat prosecutor gerrie nel outlining the democrats' case against donald trump

looking particularly at the articles of impeachment of course one the abuse of power to the obstruction of an inquiry he said that we are looking at the most serious charges brought against the president the issue of soliciting a foreign nation to intervene in the us election to trump's benefit he called illegal and dangerous as for the 2nd article the obstruction of the inquiry he said this is unprecedented in the history of the presidency he says that it puts richard nixon to shine will of course to pack into this as that continues but for now we're going to break away and just bring you up to date with some other news. for lunar new year in china's capital beijing a being canceled to try to stop the spread of

a new virus there also emergency restrictions into other cities affecting 20000000 people or public transport services is c. and road out of the city of new han have been suspended that's where the virus was 1st detected last month i dream brown has more from own cause. at 1st china's government warned people against traveling to hand the epicenter of the virus now a day later it's gone a step further and banned all travel to and from the city 11000000 people are effectively living in quarantine that brought a measured response from the world health organization trying to contain a city of 11000000 people is new to science and it has not been tried before as a public health measure so we cannot at this stage say it will honor to unmount work many people fled to han before the ban took effect

unverified pictures posted on social media shows signs of panic among those who stayed behind a hospital in the city where face masks are now reportedly being rationed. now the ban on public transport has been extended to other cities in central china. well here. arriving in hong kong passengers from one of the last flights out of. silent by choice the incubation period for the virus last up to 10 days doctors say it's therefore possible that some of them could be carrying a silent killer after returning to hong kong if you have a fever or other symptoms where a surgical mask as this disease spreads in hong kong's medical authorities are raising awareness with cheery public service announcements. like other parts of

china hong kong is becoming a city without a face the official advice is to wear surgical masks in crowded areas including on public transport yet some experts doubt they'll be effective. from manila to tokyo airports across asia are screening all passengers for signs of infection medical experts still don't know if this is a highly or mildly contagious disease there is a lot the experts still don't know about this disease they're still trying to find its source and they're still not sure how easily it can spread from person to person adrian brown al jazeera hong kong meum us government has been ordered to take emergency measures to prevent soldiers committing acts of genocide against rohingya muslims still living there the international court of justice has also ruled that me and protect all evidence for a potential genocide trial may must lead to aung san suu kyi she denies genocide has been committed and accuses refugees of exaggerating abuses they barker reports

from the hague b.m.r. stands accused of one of the world's worst crimes the genocide of its own people the case was brought by the gambia on behalf of dozens of muslim countries they're trying to cremate a serious risk of genocide on thursday the un's highest courts agree to deal with the case it also unanimously agreed to impose an emergency in order to prevent more violence the ruling compels me on mass forces to end all acts of genocidal violence including murder rape the burning of villages the prevention of access to medicine must also preserve all evidence ahead of a very complicated genocide trial. the judgments binding and cattle be appealed must prove it's following the order reporting back to the courts in 4 months time and every 6 months after the court has ordered these periodic reports and that is

definitely a way for to continue to get information on what's happening on the ground on another order that they that you shoot was the preservation of evidence so that in the future if they were say individual prosecutions that could still happen but indeed they want to see every 6 months what is happening how are you compliance with this order so that they don't lose track of what's going on the decision comes despite a personal intervention from myanmar civilian leader aung san suu kyi the nobel peace prize laureate appeared at the court in person last month where she asked for the case to be dropped my requests a call to remove the case from its newest she also denied genocide has been committed and accused refugees of exaggerating abuses its says the raids on range of ellipses in iraq and state in 2017 were legitimate counterterrorism operations around 3 quarters of a 1000000 of the most a minority fled to neighboring bangladesh joining the military offensive against

them 3 years ago. the gambia i believe was and is trying to wipe out an entire creep all 7000 j. ust from different parts of new orleans who are present in different cultures and values. into the genocide. cannot be tolerated by anyone in the wall. a mere thought direction our top just today the justices. this is a great day for us we will celebrate it took the i.c.j. more than a decade to reach a verdict of genocide following the balkan wars in the 1990 s. it's expected to be many years before myanmar faces a similar judgment leave. the hague. still ahead on al-jazeera a late venezuelan unit is accused of police violence here from the victims in our

special report and. i'm going to gallacher in the far west reaches of alaska where the once in a decade u.s. census begins we'll tell you why it's important white starting here and why it's a potential lifeline for the native people of this state. in sport after more than a decade away we'll hear from the international cricket team making their return to pakistan. places say we've got some quiet weather into the eastern side of the mediterranean sea the majority of the claps pushing through iraq just rolling across iran where we are seeing some rather wet sand at times some rather wintry weather full of this a lot of clout here across the gulf east and possibly saudi arabia with a bit of wet weather possibly have a night as we go through friday into saturday here in costs out of freshens up

behind it. 20 degrees celsius that cloud and right will stretches way down is the fall south of iran pushing across into afghanistan tended to snow over the high ground making why for the next system which will gradually push its way into iraq some rather surprising certainly possibility here easing further race was cold one in baghdad it just 12 degrees celsius on sas day further south as you can see across the peninsula it will be fine and dry largely for the drought say will cross much of north africa but we have got want to see is shall is just across northern parts of morocco to say what remains of a storm gloria will be some wet weather just piling its way in here through the straits of gibraltar over the next couple of days a set across much of north africa it is fine and dry possibility of one of 2 showers over towards the west.

but. it's being dubbed the project of the century. is the real cost chinese name silk road project. one o one east investigates. which is in. a healthy environment depends on a healthy insect population but across the wild. numbers are dwindling. countless creatures are declining as a result of human activity. people in power investigates the extent of the crisis and asks what can be done to a big change. insect to get in on al-jazeera. all right minister. mission is to the british and making this country the greatest place. follow the final run in to the

u.k.'s departure from the e.u. . this is al jazeera here out top stories donald trump's impeachment trial has just resumed in the u.s. senate it's the 2nd day of prosecution arguments the democrats have about 16 hours left to make their case then trump's defense lawyers might be rebuffed another person has died from the new virus in china the 1st outside the province where the upright started all major events for a lunar new year celebrations in beijing a big chance to try to stop the coronavirus spreading or transport shutdowns elsewhere the 15 some 20000000 people. the international court of justice has

ordered 1000000 miles government to take emergency measures to prevent soldiers from committing acts of genocide against the industry living there leader aung san suu kyi denies genocide has been tremendous. so you back now to our top story the impeachment trial of the u.s. president we're joined by stand your he's a resident scholar at the american enterprise institute a political bipartisan think tank it's good to have you with us all just recap for the viewers what we've heard so far we've been hearing from jerry nadler the democrat prosecutor who's really outlining the ties continuing to outline the case against these articles of impeachment both the abuse of power and the obstruction of the inquiry and calling them the most serious charges ever brought against a president illegal and dangerous unprecedented listening to those words is that how you see these charges well i don't know that i would necessarily see these charges as as worse than the allegations that existed against say president andrew

johnson but it's obvious it's out to some extent it's hyperbole but it is obviously true that every impeachment trial is a historical event just because there have been so few and this is really only the 3rd one involving a president and so in that sense i do think it's an important moment help persuasive of course you know we're keeping in mind that we're talking about a republican dominated senate and we accept and must accept the inevitability that there will be an acquittal he a bit listening to the case they're saying that this case is watertight that no one can refute it not even donald trump's lawyers will try to refute the evidence and the arguments here in the chronology how convincing is that. well i find much of what the impeachment managers are arguing very convincing i think it is quite clear that president trump indeed threatened to withhold both

a visit to d.c. and military aid from ukraine unless he had promised and announced that it would start investigating. vice president biden's son i don't think the presentation so far has been persuasive in the sense that it has persuaded republican senators and remember 4 report for for a conviction to occur 67 senators have to vote in favor of a guilty verdict and that means that 20 republican senators would have to join all democratic senators and i i don't think there are indications yet that even a single republican senator would convict that this point thank you for that stand you there joining us from the american enterprise institute appreciate your time. algeria has hosted a meeting of countries neighboring libya to discuss ways to support

a shaky truce agreed earlier this month foreign minister reiterated the need to uphold the international go and said he doesn't support foreign troops intervening in libya and the operating a port in western libya has reopened the port in tripoli closed after a series of rocket attacks on wednesday. hold and. i'm not going to name any parties but i'd like to say that in principle rejects any foreign intervention and we reject the presence of any foreign troops in libya we accept troops a force is accepted by the libyans they have the sovereign right to agree with whichever party but we are concerned about the whole situation our principle is that any foreign intervention in libya will complicate the matter. well the u.n. secretary general antonio to terrorist told al jazeera there's a danger that conflict will spill out to the rest of the region what has happened in libya is that libya became a playground. neighbors and actors and the libyan people deserve species so it's

very important and one of the things that was achieved in berlin was a commitment by all of those states not to interfere anymore in the internal affairs of libya and not to interfere in the conflict we know that there is a long way to go to make sure that it's fully happens but i think there is an element of op and the element of hope comes from. a serious situation became because it's no longer a question in which you have a fighting among libyans with some international support that it's your support again such as i mention that there is now risk of a regional conflicts and in my humble opinion it is there to risk that to a certain extent made bill impossible and forced all those that are involved to understand that now it's becoming a dangerous game it's better to stop it to the benefit of the libyan people but also to the benefit of peace in the region libya has been a center. of arms export and also fighters export let's

remember arms that went to syria from the beginning and the the most worrying impact is of course with the sale and with the lake charles because more and more these 2 seams are interlinked and what we are living in the sale of the lake chad is a war with terrorist organizations that we are not meaning it's been exactly a year since one wideout acquitted himself interim president several countries including the u.s. have supported that claim but nicolas maduro is still in power now the opposition leader is in davos attempting to win more international support for his case against the euro. what we needed to do is create a majority we are united and we will make a difference and what we hope is that europe as well will strengthen its position that will stand foursquare with us we've had about mali meetings last for all these were formal meetings and we didn't have a lot of time but what we were able to do is believe the sanctions have to be

stopped because this can bring pressure on the dictatorship and that is a way to exercise pressure against. russian law my ideas have unanimously backed amendments to the constitution proposed by president vladimir putin which could potentially allow him to stay in power after his term ends in 2024 hours he has more now from our european broadcast center yes hello stan that's right this is provisional approval that we've had today by the russian parliament as lawmakers will vote on the bill into more readings before it's nan submitted to the opera house which is known as the federation council and then signed into law it comes just a week after president putin proposed changes to the constitution that he says will strengthen democracy and give more power to parliament but it's fuel speculation that pollution intends to call out a long term role for himself that would enable him to maintain control of the country and has more now from moscow. in

a country known for its sluggish bureaucracy the process to amend the constitution seems to be breaking all the records only a week after put in surprise announcement that he wants a change of distribution of power lawmakers have fought it unanimously to adopt a hastily written draft. while lawmakers will get some more powers like approving ministers the presidency will be strengthened too by giving the head of state more control over the judiciary must be. presidential republican there is no reason to move to a parliamentary republic russia is not only the biggest country in the world and a great state but it is also a country that unites many nations and regions. analysts believe that president putin is changing the constitution to create a way to stay in power after 2024 but nobody yet understands how there's a turn for people who try to explain the policies and plans of russia's head of state kremlin knowledge ists

a put into most recent moves have left all of them guessing but many believe our 1st annual speech that he will step down don't finish if 4 years from now a week later i'm not so sure on the day put in move to change the constitution his ally prime minister met fate of pre-placed by the largely unknown had of the tax office. in a few days later he appointed a new cabinet even many russians puzzled by to speak in which these changes are taking place in pretty woman who go what we see is the strengthening of presidential power but we don't see anything to conduct balance it therefore it seems to me that out of all possible scenarios the one where put in somehow just days in power in keeps all this looks more likely now than it was a week ago. whatever game of chess putin is playing the head of the constitutional commission has denied that he can run for president again the 2nd parliamentary

hearing to adopt the amendments will be held on february 11th once parliament approved them the people of russia will get a chance to vote as well although it's not sure how and if that outcome will have any impact step fasten al-jazeera. a banker implicated in the corruption case against africa's richest woman has been found dead in his home in lisbon nuno ribeiro the quenya who managed the bank account of go to stay or sun angle is believed to have committed suicide a company was previously chaired by isabel the santals the daughter of angola's former president and golden prosecutors have now formally named her as a suspect in the mismanagement and embezzlement of funds chairing a 10 year gold as prosecutor general is in lisbon where he's missing his portuguese counterparts to discuss the case a powerful winter storm that's battered spain for days has killed at least 11 people spanish prime minister pedro sanchez has visited the areas affected by storm

gloria 5 people are missing and there are fears the death toll could rise bridges have been destroyed roads a blocked large swathes of farmland a flooded sanches spoke about the role of climate change and what's happened look at the interest of compliment the cool climate change is also intensifying the effects of these meterological phenomena what those does mean while old public administrations have to reflect on how to focus all the economic resources that we have an old public policies that we hope towards a new element which is climate change but carmakers suzuki and few at chrysler have been found in violation of european union emissions rules the regulator says the jeep grand cherokee and the tar diesel models they use prohibited strategies that lead them to emit higher levels of harmful my trojan oxide on the road than they did when they were being tested both companies have been ordered to fix the issue

or face a ban on sales last year it has already been told to recall its model as a precautionary measure. a norwegian appeals court has approved government plans for more oil exploration in the arctic dismissing a greenpeace lawsuit verdict was unanimous rejecting rejecting the awarding of licenses to weaken all company at cornell and at the others which the constitution environmental group that argued the plan will violate people's right to a healthy environment greenpeace says it will appeal the case to norway's supreme court and just one of a bit of news to bring you france has reached a deal with the united states to push ahead with talks on a global digital tax washington a previously threatened to retaliate against the measure sanctions on french luxury goods as the tax targeted companies like google amazon and facebook france has agreed to defer its own tax on the companies from april to december while the u.s. says it will not impose tariffs on european cars both sides also agreed to continue

negotiations towards a multinational digital tax. that's it from london for now back to stand down thanks byron still ahead on al-jazeera we'll have sport and one of basketball's brightest young stars doesn't support all these to.

go to sports news and thank you so much don more world number one rafael nadal reached the 3rd round of the australian open but it came at some cost one of the

ball girls in melbourne. ouch no doubt father returns straight at the girl's head in his match against federica bell bonus she took it well and the spaniard doing his best to apologize. well he didn't show his softer side to his a part of the argentinean putting up some resistance early on but the dow blew doubleness away in the 3rd and deciding set 637661 the final score nice the middle when making one final return with another quick check up on the ball. well obviously. being one of the more scary moment that they had on that is good because the ball was a straight on the head well for her bradley was not the good mom. so it's good for her honestly. the ball was quick and this date on the. they happy that you are good so you're very brave so well done. well here's

australia isn't it curious doing his best rafa nadal impression 5 opponent jill seaman affronts copping middle serving routine after they were given time violations curious has previously criticized alpha timewasting one mismatch could consummate without round falls. or heavy rain and dust on the fact 6 some of the early matches finest and all medvedev struggled with slippery conditions in his match against pedro martinez of spain the roof was eventually closed for this one his problems on court didn't end there the world before they needed a medical timeout gz was bleeding naras despite always problems martinez in straight sets to reach round 3. when the 2nd seed carolina place give advanced with a straight sets victory against germany's laura siegmund risk of a defeated 23 time grand slam champion serina williams on routes 1st 70 final in

melbourne that was 12 months ago. well the most highly anticipated n.b.a. debbie for years has finally happened at this year's number one draft picks on williamson but his 1st going for the new orleans pelicans after injury that laid his entry into the league so malik reports for example the waiting is finally over guy on williamson the teenage sensation tipped to become one of basketball biggest dunk finally made his n.b.a. debut ok and he didn't waste any time making an impact on his son step executive we've been had been missing all season long because of a knee injury there were no signs of rust however much i love this job thank his 1st night on the job so we need to come back 1st team the new orleans pelicans against the visiting san antonio spurs the number one draft pick showed off the skills that made him a star college level thank you with an epic fine quarter display he scored 17

points in just 3 minutes. and go to new orleans within touching distance having started the quarter to 12 behind doing this again. is no long range shooting was particularly impressive the rookie sinking all 4 of his 3 point attempts. and why he didn't get to new orleans over the finish line for the win he did leave fans with plenty to be excited about. the energy to grow. the energy the city brought our army was a lectured. well i'm just grateful that they did so it was a culture of finally get out there. i do want to where. there is certainly more to come from the man hailed as the next le bron james so hell malik al-jazeera or let's say niger is of course potentially big business for basketball and by commissioner adam silver believes williamson does have what it takes to handle

stardom. in terms of the pressure i think he can handle it it comes with the territory and he's been under a spotlight long before he even played in the national limelight it's not easy for these young players but i think he's built to be a big time player and to handle these big moment in american football star manning is retiring after 16 years in the n.f.l. the quarterback led the new york giants to 2 super bowls was named m.v.p. both times he's now $39.00 he only started 3 games this season spending most of his time as backups of ricky daniel jones. premier league leaders liverpool and cement signed there and beaten record against walls lights on this thursday that say more 13 points clear of defending champions manchester city having finished one point behind city last season. individual schools all that stuff in all the family gives that's what we do that's what we have to do but the one point guard that we were that angry with god next year we will catch him nobody had an idea

before the season that we can be even close to man city a lot because they can make their next steps as well and are running clubs have stepped back from their threats of boycott the asian champions league tournament organizers initially decided to stage all matches involving iranian seems on neutral territory due to safety concerns a compromise deal means that same's will not play all their away matches 1st before the security situation is recessed. bangladesh's cricket same insists they are happy with the security arrangements in place for that 20 matches in pakistan the 3 game series in lahore was only finalised last week and it's bangladesh's 1st tour of pakistan in 12 years the country hosted sri lanka for it says series last year the 1st such series in pakistan since gunmen attacked sri lanka's team bus that was in lahore in 2009. and captain john reid says winning that's a series in south africa would be his biggest achievement is kept inside for losing

me and his team at c one up heading into friday's 4th and final test in johannesburg a couple of injuries guys have to fly home senior players have to fly home through serious injury but a lot of illness to deal with and we've had to actually adaptive very different conditions and for what is generally a very young group of players to be able to manage and it's been really pleasing. and a fierce american college rivalry is rather live down to its reputation a basketball game between kansas states and the university of kansas descending into chaos of court action getting underway with less than a seconds ago in the game local police officers and coaches took several minutes to break up the fights for players have been suspended. ok most for from a through the night that is it for now take it seriously that's it for me for this news my colleague mary of the mozzies london will be back in

a moment with more of the day's news. it's a tough time for the afghan security forces taliban attacks have increased their suffering heavy casualties and the prospect of a withdrawal of u.s. forces hangs over them yet young men are still joining up some for apache arctic reasons others is the only way to get a job despite the risks midway's karimi was an army bomb disposal engineer in helmand province he knew the risks he was blinded in both eyes and lost a leg when a roadside device exploded as you try to defuse it always aware of the danger of

seeing friends wounded while working on mines i wasn't scared to lose an arm or a leg is a sacrifice we have to like to serve this country was the last time you out on the streets protesting whether on line you feel the weight of the system when you walk through each and every love border layer further and further into the jail or if you join a sunset the entry has to start from day one. again you're in detention or you're incarcerated this is a dialogue everyone has a voice before you know it's 36 o'clock o'clock overall it will be varying accounts but i want to give people the reason for joining the global conversation on out is iraq. the 21st century began with extraordinary economic growth across much of latin america. but since this halted in 2008 there's been a political shift to the right on a continent to a socialism once a thriving. politician goes on

a journey to me leading left wing figures to understand why that politics have lost ground to some dramatically. in latin america a giant in turmoil on al-jazeera. the chinese city of rouhani in lockdown as authorities try to contain a deadly virus but global health experts are divided over the scale of the outbreak . hello i'm maryanne demasi in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up day 2 of impeachment arguments from the u.s. democrats as they present a case for a busa of power by president donald trump. ring of muslims react after the u.s. highest court rules in favor of the gambia ordering myanmar to stop its soldiers

committing acts of genocide.