cross the next. is iraq. now it's the white house's turn president donald trump's legal team presents its defense in the next phase of the u.s. impeachment trial. i'm stan grant this is al jazeera live also coming up. for protests to secure in iraq with protests still underway in several cities across the country. china's president says his country is facing a grave situation over the corona virus outbreak that imposes more travel restrictions rescue workers in turkey is searching for survivors after a powerful earthquake kills at least 22 people.

the lawyers for us president presenting his defense of the senate impeachment trial by all have 3 days to count a democratic documents that he abused his power in dealing with ukraine trumps accused of pressure in kiev to dig up dirt on former vice president joe biden by withholding military aid he's denying any wrongdoing donald trump's lawyers have maintained that he's innocent and they're accusing the democrats of intentionally neglecting the contents of that phone call transcript between trump that he's ukrainian counterpart the transcript shows that the president did not condition either security assistance or a meeting on anything. the paused security assistance funds aren't even mentioned on the call. second presidents alinsky and other ukrainian

officials have repeatedly said that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure on them to review anything 3rd president selenski and high ranking ukrainian officials did not even know did not even know the security assistance was paused until the end of august over a month after the july 2005 call forth not a single witness testified that the president himself said that there was any connection between any investigations and security assistance a presidential meeting or anything else 5th the security assistance flowed on september 11th and a presidential meeting took place on september 25 without the ukrainian government announcing any investigations finally the democrats blind drive to impeach the president does not and cannot change the fact as attested to

by the democrats' own witnesses that president trump has been a better friend and stronger supporter of ukraine than his predecessor those are the facts. well the white house legal counsel accused the democrats of using the impeachment to interfere in the upcoming u.s. presidential elections they're asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election but as i've said before they're asking you to remove president trump from the ballot in an election that's occurring in approximately 9 months they're asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative take that decision away from the american people. that defensive tone from his continue

looking at jay sekulow that he's a legal counsel for trump will have a listen to what he say of a foreign power the president had reason to be concerned about the information he was being provided now we could we could ignore this we can make believe this did not happen but it did so as we begin introducing our arguments i want to correct a couple things on the record as well that's what we're doing today we into really intend to show over the next several days that the evidence is actually really overwhelming that the president did nothing wrong mr ship and his colleagues repeatedly told you that the intelligence community assessment that russia was

acting alone responsible for the election interference implying that this somehow debunked the idea that there might be in you know interference from other countries including ukraine mr nadler deployed a similar argument saying that president trump thought quote ukraine not russia interfered in our last presidential election and this is basically what we call a straw man argument let me be clear the house managers in over 23 hour period kept pushing this false dichotomy that it was either russia or ukraine but up of they kept telling you the inclusion of the intelligence community and mr moller was russia alone with regard to the 2016 elections course that's not the report the bomb mother wrote focused on russian interference although there is some information in letters regarding ukraine and

i'm going to point to those in a few moments in fact let me report we'll talk about those letter right now. this is a letter dated may 4th 2018 to mr yuri the sankoh. the general prosecutor for the office of the prosecutor general of ukraine it was a letter requesting that his office cooperate with the mauler investigation involving ukraine issues and issues involving ukraine government or law enforcement officials that signed by senator menendez senator leahy and senator durbin i'm doing this to put this in an entire perspective house managers try to tell you that the importance of the whole discussion and my colleague mr perot talked about

this between president of zelinsky and president trump and the bilateral meeting in the oval office of the white house as if an article of impeachment could be based upon a meeting not taking place in the white house but taking place someplace else like the united nations general assembly where in fact did take place now dr fiona hill was quite clear in saying that a white house meeting would supply the new ukrainian government with the quote legitimacy it needed especially these would be the russians and that ukraine's viewed the white house meaning as a recognition of their legitimacy legitimacy as a sovereign state but here's what they did not play here's what they did not tell you and i'm going to quote from dr hill's testimony

on page $145.00 of her transcript these are her words this is what she said under oath it wasn't always a white house meeting per se but definitely a presidential league level meeting you know a meeting with the alinsky and the president i mean it could have taken place in poland in warsaw it could have been you know a proper bilateral in some other context but in other words a white house level presidential meeting that could be found on page $145.00. and contrary to what manager ship and some of the other managers told you was this meeting did did in fact incur it occurred at the un general assembly on september 25th 2019 those were the words of dr hill that you did not hear

this case is really not about presidential wrongdoing this entire impeachment process is about the house managers insistence that they are able to read everybody's thoughts they can read everybody's intention even when the principal speakers the witness this themselves insist that those interpretations are wrong manager sit manager ship managers or c.e.o. and dennings relied heavily on selected clips from the bass or someone's testimony i am not going to replay those my colleague mr pearl played those for you it's clear we're not going to play the same clips 7 times he said it you saw it that's the evidence miss laufer ian mclachlan said that you know

numerous witnesses testified in this a quote that they were not provided with any reason for why the hold was lifted on september 11th again suggesting that the president's reason for the hold ukrainian corruption and burden sharing were somehow created after the fact. and that's the lawyer for donald trump as part of his defense in this impeachment trial will go to how to judge castro standing by on capitol hill in washington d.c. nothing new we heard from him that we haven't heard from the others today and it comes down to this doesn't that they're saying that essentially there's no evidence to support this impeachment allegation against donald trump no evidence to support that done anything wrong in that call and it is really critically turning on that telephone call with ukrainian president isn't that tell us more about what they've been trying to die about that. well there are certainly highlighting

sections of this call which they accuse the president's prosecutors the house of peach managers of deliberately leaving out because this is stuff that perhaps helps to excel extol pay the president things like the fact that when he when they were discussing i would trump was saying that the u.s. had been good to ukraine according to his defenders it was in the greater context of contrast in how much assistance the u.s. having given had been giving versus the rest of the country other rest of the world other allies who have in president trump's view not done their share of propping up ukraine in the face of russian aggression but there was something that i thought was new in the opening statements here and that was interesting question that pat simple loney the president's main defender put to this defendant to put to the senators he asked has anyone considered what would happen to the country if you the senators actually vote to remove the president from office and he said that the

house democrats never even addressed that question in their arguments which is true because ultimately this impeachment trial is a trial like no other it is not a criminal proceeding and not only do these senators where they have to find president trump guilty of the articles of impeachment but also they're doing a secondary calculation whether or not that it warrants removing the president from office and never in the u.s. history have senators voted to remove a president from office so certainly the hurdle is very high democrats are cognizant of that fact and really the the longer game that the left is playing in this is that they're aware that the jurors here most likely are not ultimately going to be the senators that an acquittal is almost all but certain however in a few months time you know in november at the american voters who be voting whether

or not to reelect trump just on that principle of he was saying he's looking for a to finish the inquiry very quickly so this could be over in a matter of days given how the numbers are in the senate when the republicans. that's right the republicans have or the white house defenders have up to 3 days including today to make their argument they may actually use those full days they just won't be as long of days as we've experienced under the house impeachment managers following that there could be a day or 2 of questions submitted by the senators and then if president trump gets his way there will be a quick move for a vote to acquit him of these charges democrats have something else in mind though they're hoping to then to prior to the vote of guilty or guilt or innocence to present a case to call more witnesses forward people who have not testified as part of the investigation but who are trump's closest advisers and who may have insight on his

thinking when he withheld a security aide to ukraine and in order to compel those new witnesses to come forward at least 4 republicans would have to side with the democratic senators in order to make that happen so really while on its face we're hearing these arguments for conviction or for quibble in practice what they're arguing for the minds of those forward moderate republicans in the middle who will have the critical sway over whether or not this is a quick trial yeah or a longer one with the potential of airing a lot of more political dirty laundry that may harm the president's re-election how do you thank you for that how did your castro live from capitol hill. you remember just having us and now we're going to join circle is going to be donald trump's lawyer part of this defense. at trial. so now

to some other news for protesters have been killed across iraq as protests escalate in baghdad the satirists who are supporters of popular square. had begun to leave protest camps of the night after he announced he would no longer be involved in the government demonstrations the questions took place off the police began removing concrete barriers to tougher square the focal point of the protests our correspondent in one town reports from baghdad. without warning the souther is packed up their tents and left square the focal point of iraq's anti-government protest movement the book led by influential shia muslim cleric mcdowell souther is the largest in parliament and it had been here in solidarity with the protesters since it began in october for some left behind the departure is nothing less than a betrayal. it seems our demonstration has been stolen from as they could attack us any moment we are careful but we will either dine or keep the

square i won't leave until my demands are met but no i am disappointed father protected us with his followers. this other is how political power and they offer the protest movement political influence and physical protection that may now have gone. this other say they are disappointed with the reaction of some of the protesters to a rally by tens of thousands of iraqis they organized in baghdad on friday demanding the withdrawal of u.s. troops from the country they say although they support the protests they can no longer be a part of them this other suppose the presence of u.s. forces in iraq some of the protesters are worried that the southern wrist might hijack the movement to advance their own anti u.s. agenda it's a division the souther is fair could lead to conflict until no hint of the so the once the protests of just continue because we want. to come to the end

that a new independent government will come in order to roll the county till the till we have a new elections with the new new decision. so but if a kind of clashes started inside the sequels it will harm too much so we don't like to be a part of this clash is the news that has moved his supporters out of the square is concerning to many who remain inside is this the beginning of the end of the protest movement that's the question on the lips of many of the protesters now they are already very angry because they've had to temper their demands at the beginning of the protest movement in october they wanted a complete overhaul of the political system that actually now tempered that saying they want a new prime minister who can kohl elections and even that hasn't happened. intact

risk it seems the future of the protest movement is now at stake imran khan al-jazeera. at least 3 people have been killed during intensive airstrikes by the syrian government on the last rebel held area in the north a woman and 2 children were killed in a riot in the town of synonymy and it led province activists say barrel bombs were also dropped from helicopters in the town of kufa north of aleppo more than 350000 people have been displaced from the region since early december. china's president says his country is facing a grave situation over the outbreak of the coronavirus warns the virus is now accelerating the military has been deployed to the epicenter of a province where local government is only appealing for more supplies including masks and protective suits and city where the outbreak began will ban all non-essential vehicles from monday

a doctor treating patients in the province has become the latest victim of the violence. well the total number of those killed is now 41 with close to 1300 others infected in china malaysia is the latest country to report cases of the virus infections of also reached europe with 3 patients confirmed in frets in an effort to contain its spread the chinese government has expanded its travel restrictions now affecting more than 40000000 people scott hardly has moved from beijing. like the past several days the people of china again woke up to news that the corona virus has claimed more lives and more people have become infected. living with his family in new han moved to china 25 years ago we spoke to him on skype are you worried even further down the line that this this quarantine could last a month 6 weeks so this is like your you don't want to. so i just read the. first. song we don't go out.

on. this or it's all these concern is shared by people here in beijing and they're worried about the disease i always wash hands before and after me use and every time a go out i wear a mask back inside this time we didn't realize all serious to situation was but we've learned and doing much more actively knowing the government is responding quickly and we fully support them 17 years ago the chinese government was criticized for acting too slowly when the sars virus killed nearly 800 people well most of whom a province the epicenter of the corona virus is now under lockdown there is concern about the people who traveled before restrictions were put into place this as there's growing evidence that people might be carrying the virus without showing symptoms unwillingly passing it on to others the daytime park here in central beijing would normally be teeming with people out celebrating the 1st day of lunar

new year but like right across china the festivities here have been canceled over concern of spreading the virus. nationwide measures are being put into place on airplanes trains and buses to detect infected people the people of new han are being told that starting sunday no cars will be allowed on the streets of the city center hundreds of military medical personnel have been sent to han to help with the growing number of cases and this is in addition to the more than 1000 civilian medical staff who have already been sent in from around china to hospitals are overcrowded and some who have been treating patients have been infected so as the people of china have a muted celebration it's still far from clear what impact the coronavirus will have on the chinese new year ahead scott either al-jazeera beijing in hong kong or at least 5 cases of the virus have been confirmed in a news conference on saturday its leader kerry lamb raised the threat level on the territory as a result of this outbreak. and yet the all responses reached imagine sea level i

will personally have into department to meetings and we have a command center so we can get the views from the experts and come up with strategies and initiatives when we deal with this public health event i think you'll understand that we need to be quick in making decisions when we can make decisions for the society of hong kong. i dream brown is in hong kong he explains what these emergency measures will look like. hong kong's chief executive has decided this health crisis is serious enough to raise it to the emergency category now that followed a meeting with her key advisors including some of hong kong's top medical experts that meeting was convened just after kerry arrived back from davos in switzerland where she'd been attending the world economic forum now in addition to the various measures announced today carol lam didn't decide to impose a temporary closure of the border between hong kong and china even if she had

wanted to it's doubtful that her political masters in beijing would have allowed it instead she's decided to embark on other measures including requiring all visitors from the mainland to sign and fill in health declaration forms this will apply to people entering hong kong by rail train plane and boat she's also going to extend the school holidays for universities kindergartens and schools until the middle of february also flights and train services between who hanna and hong kong will remain suspended and of course all official lunar new year celebrations have been cancelled the french consulate in hard says it's working to provide transportation for its citizens to leave the city and in france itself new cases of being reported tash about lays there. the french health minister and us prison has confirmed there are 3 cases of patients with current virus in the country now we've learned a little bit more about those cases there's one couple a man and

a woman who came from china they are tourists we understand you came on holiday to paris when they fell ill they had flown in from han and in fact they've now been hospitalized we understand that their case isn't too serious because they are remaining under strict surveillance there's also a man of 48 year old who also had come from china he had visited with recently he fell ill and he is in the southwestern city of bordeaux we believe he works in the wine industry now the mayor of bordeaux has said that he had about 10 to 12 people have come forward to say that they have been in contact with this man who works in the wine industry they also work in the wine industry and of course they will have their health checked by the relevant authorities the mayor of bordeaux has said in fact the chinese new year celebrations in the city in southwestern france have been canceled as this health scare continues now the french health minister says that

these cases in front of the 1st in europe that doesn't mean that there aren't any elsewhere she expects other cases to be found but she believes that these 1st cases have been confirmed in france because french authorities have been very quick to test the patients a very quick to announce that they had this virus. let's take you now to beirut and this is a very familiar scene in recent weeks. on the streets there these are now outside the government house near the prime minister's residence of course the protests have become increasingly of the past few days and you've actually constituted a new prime minister. hasn't the angry fact that anger has increased you can see the protesters the water cannons being used to try to. bring you the latest developments as they come to head. with search and rescue efforts continue in

turkey after a powerful earthquake struck in the light on friday at least 22 people have been killed and more than 1000 injured. in the magnitude 6 point. 5 people feared trapped in the rubble at the epicenter was in the town of nearly 4000 people in the past the populated province of. about 700 kilometers east of the capital ankara. has been there. turk is present reza tape add on and leading members of his cabinet are here in order to make a survey in the street where we are where we have 2 buildings that have collapsed and under which there are still some people stuck under the wreckage prisoned our lawns came here in the late afternoon and joined in financials in some funerals and sent his condolences to the people during the funeral he said turkey turkish

government will do its best in order to cover. all the losses here we are seeing the ngos delivering blankets and some other things to people who are in need because some of the buildings are dumb and still some people are afraid to get inside their buildings and we are hearing that mostly the kids are very afraid by the way so risky works are on their way right behind us there are vehicles trying to trying to move the wreckage and just how for an hour ago one more person was pulled from the wreckage and chew it that person was alive and the 1st one was was taken to the hospital by the ambulance so right now there are exactly 40 people who were pulled pulled her from the wreckage and the rescue team say that they believe there are 19 lori people remaining on the wreckage in 5 buildings.

that have collapsed last night. servitors will begin shortly to mark a year since brazil's worst industrial disaster at least 259 people were killed when a dam collapsed sending a tide of toxic waste into the city. this week brazilian prosecutors filed charges against the mining company that owns the dam and some former executives of the charges include environmental crimes and. many of the families of the victims say this too whiting for justice is in burma you know where he says people are very emotional. it's a very somber day here in broome of the you know there are many activities taking place a lot of emotions playing out on the streets of the city as as a march is taking place for actually just behind that march you can see behind me the people that are moving from one end of the city to another they're heading to a church to hold a ceremony to remember the lives lost again 270 people that were killed in that disaster exactly one year ago here in the city of ramallah and this isn't the only

ceremony this isn't the only event that's taking place over the last few days there have been marches that have taken place in the city of bellotti song with people moving in caravans that was planned march but because of the heavy rains of the flooding here in here in the region people have taken automobiles to arrive in groups of the to pay their respects to the fallen now we're talking about those rains even now we're having a little bit more rain coming down right now this is adding to to the trepidation that people feel this is adding to the anxiety that people feel because not only are they remembering this tragedy this disaster that happened exactly one year ago it brings up fears that another disaster could could take place once again given the heavy flooding that's taking place the new is no stranger to the heavy rains and flooding but the amount of rain that's fallen this year is very very much present on people's minds there have already been at least 5 casualties over the

last 5 days due to the flooding and there's fears that the existing mining dams around the city of promote that you could that are in fact at risk could could at any moment collapse once again. this is al jazeera here at the top stories lawyers for u.s. president donald trump are presenting his defense of the 70 vigilant trial which had 3 days to count a democratic documents that he abused his power in dealing with ukraine now the white house legal counsel has accused the democrats of using the impeachment coast we to fear the upcoming u.s. election presidential elections so they're asking you. not only to overturn the results of the last election but as i've said before they're asking you to remove president trump from the ballot in an election that's occurring in

approximately 9 months they're asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative take that decision away from the american people for protesters have been killed across iraq is processed there in baghdad supporters of shia kurd. have begun to leave protest camps i've been out after he announced he would no longer be involved in the anti-government demonstrations the clashes took place after police began removing concrete barriers near toughly square that's the focal point of the protests. at least 3 people have been killed during intensive a strikes by the syrian government on the last rebel held area in the north a woman and 2 children were killed in the right in the town of. province activists say barrel bombs were also dropped from helicopters on the town of tough hombre

north of aleppo china's president says he's country's facing a grave situation over the outbreak of the coronavirus warns the virus is now accelerating the military has been deployed to the epicenter of the outbreak that's killed 42 people so it's a risk you if it's continue in turkey after a powerful earthquake struck in the east on friday evening at least 22 people have been killed more than 1000 are injured buildings collapse near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.8 traveled. well as the headlines news continues here on al jazeera right after people and pow.

humanity relies heavily on insects to pollinate crops that feed the world but have pesticides intensive farming and climate change will to record damage on the trishul ecosystem some ecologists of want that at least 40 percent of insect species could be facing extinction could potentially catastrophic consequences for life on earth 2 and a half journalist eric campbell has been to find out why.