field washington on out. you're. china's president warns his country is facing a grave situation as more people die of the corona virus. and michelle carey this is al jazeera life and doha also coming up. trumps approval rating at its highest since becoming president as his defense team argues this case at his impeachment trial. the evidence is actually we will make. that the president did nothing wrong. refusing to back down defiant protesters in lebanon gather outside beirut central government building to denounce the new cabinet. a threat of more rain after dozens of people die and thousands are homeless following

landslides in brazil. the death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in china has risen to 56 with almost 2000 and factions president xi jinping says the country is facing a grave situation as cases of the virus accelerate its prompted travel restrictions and the closure of maze major landmarks across china and an effort to contain the spread cases of krona virus have now been reported in canada australia france and the united states as well as several asian countries got tyler is in beijing with more on how the chinese government is trying to contain the spread of the virus. we're at a long distance one of the long distance bus stations here in the capital beijing no midnight early this morning all service long distance bus service was shut down the main reason they're concerned about that is that the it's less regulated than

say the high speed rail as well as the airplanes so they want to be able to track people because the high speed rail in boarding aircraft airlines they have to show people have to show id so with the bus service it's less regulated so you don't really have to show your id all the time so the concern about that is people couldn't be tracked if they needed to be that's why this is one of several bus stations long distance bus stations here in beijing that's why this one was shut down let's go back to xi jinping and his concern grave concern as he said with the coronavirus know it was very interesting a move a rare meeting for the politburo standing committee happened on the 1st day of the lunar new year that is very rare the 7 most powerful people in the government here in china met and what they decided is that they're going to form a special group led by one of those 7 people to oversee the corner virus action if you will and we know that they're going to have a special group that's going to go down to wall han the epicenter of this so it's really elevated to the very highest levels of the government here overseeing this coronavirus situation. hong kong has raised its threat level in an effort to

contain this outbreak at least 5 cases that then confirmed on the territory and one of its major attractions disneyland has been closed and yet the. response has reached imagine sea level person a chav into department to meetings and we have a command center so we can get the fees 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. the crowd a virus outbreak is not the 1st respiratory illness to emerge from china sars originated there 17 years ago it killed nearly 800 people globally at the time officials were criticized for not acting fast enough and failing to be honest about the scale of the crisis but as a germ got reports the approach to dealing with this crisis appears to be different . china's leaders appear to have learned an important lesson from some of those

don't try to cover it up so this time on a city has been the strategy that's what president xi jinping has been demanding from his officials especially in the city who hunt with the virus 1st emerged in late november and this time china does appear better prepared across the border in hong kong with 300 people died during the sars outbreak important lessons also appear to have been learned all arriving in poor passengers have the temperatures checked suspected virus sufferers are immediately quarantined those who refuse face jail and there's better protection for medical workers age of whom would killed by some of those beyond those 17 years ago when you are working in do those normal medical was surgical want no one red mosque today wearing a face mask is standard procedure but some things haven't changed. the market believed to be the source of the virus is now closed but the trade in wild animals goes on elsewhere in china at chinese new year 17 years ago when the sols epidemic

was just starting to take its toll the mood was very subdued it is today and the question then as now is this how worried should i be china's failure to be open about the sars outbreak damaged its international reputation which is why the leadership hopes to convince the international community that in some precedented containment measures are working but some hong kong medical experts remain skeptical i don't think they have much improvement in this aspect personally i think even if they may even more window dressing them before baby because of the political climate in mainland china analysts say president xi jinping is confronting a huge challenge of what is already a testing time for his leadership so people realize also that siege and pain is the top power concentrated in the sands and he basically has to be responsible for

all its chief mond's and setbacks experts say this new disease may be harder to control for one important reason 17 years ago few chinese travelled overseas today they fly to destinations around the world adrian brown al-jazeera hong kong. doctors in france save to the 3 cases there arrived without showing symptoms as director general of health says all 3 patients are doing well the 1st confirmed diagnosis of the virus and europe authorities have established a hotline for people who've returned from china and have symptoms. white house lawyers defending donald trump at the senate impeachment trial say the u.s. president has done nothing wrong in his dealings with ukraine it's the 1st time as labels name has addressed the trial has 2 more days to argue trump's case trump is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of congress i didn't cast our reports

from washington d.c. . the opening argument of president trump's attorneys saturday focused on 2 main points that trump did nothing wrong when he asked ukraine to investigate former vice president joe biden a potential rival in the upcoming u.s. elections and that it's the democrats who wish to steal back the white house by hurting trump politically 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. polling this week shows trump's approval rating is the highest it's been since he took office 44 percent of americans say he's doing a good job higher than when the ukraine allegations 1st surfaced and most instances

when there had been political crises of course the president's popularity is a numbers go down in this case i think the president will actually be strengthened by this and specially after his acquittal acquittal is likely given most members of the senate jury are republicans and it takes a 2 thirds majority to convict get potential new evidence against trump continues to emerge harness and indicted ukrainian american businessman says he shared this audio recording with investigators they were a little over a year out of the all of the way. to go ok that's the way it appears to be trumps voice ordering the firing of the u.s. ambassador to kiev democrats say corrupt ukrainian officials had wanted her gone those same officials then began smearing biden if you really want the truth you want witnesses you want documents we hope our republican colleagues will agree with

that democrats hope to convince at least 4 republican senators to agree to open the trial to new witnesses including some of president trump's closest advisers who have not yet testified the senate is expected to vote on that question next week if their answer is no then president trump could be acquitted within days time castro al-jazeera washington. and lebanon has fought with protesters who tried to storm the government headquarters in the capital security forces use tear gas and water cannon to push back the demonstrators saturday marks 100 days since the protests began people are demanding an end to corruption and want the government to talk all the economic crisis a new cabinet was announced on tuesday but protesters have projected it holder has more from outside the government headquarters she says protesters are determined to continue their fight. another night of unrest anti-establishment protesters at this

time tried to storm a government. over recent days they tried to storm up parliament building they managed to briefly breach security behind us they moved a metal fence and now as you can see security forces are trying to. secure a t.v. and for security around government how those people are and a few 100 protesters were involved in the confrontation security forces that were very careful this time around they did not use rubber bullets they have been criticized by international human rights groups for using excessive force for firing rubber bullets at close range but this time around. excessive amounts of tear gas water cannons so they managed to disperse protesters quite quickly in fact they deployed hundreds of anti-riot police and the lebanese army you can really see and feel the change in tactics by this new administration seems

a more militarized let me just show you what they've done around the parliament square they have set up. concrete slabs barbed wire closing really every road leading to parliament square in a really a message of defiance we are staying in power but this is angry this is causing a lot of anger a lot of protesters say you cannot hide behind those walls we will continue our struggle. protests are being held in australia calling for the national day to be changed or scrapped altogether. the. so-called invasion day events are commemorating indigenous people who were killed in the conflict with white settlers as well as others who've recently died in police custody australia day officially marks the arrival of the 1st fleet of convict ships from britain and 788 calls for change has been growing louder over the past decade but as andrew thomas reports all story is current government is unlikely to

take action. but i see these protest events happening each year and in a sense the government here is a right of center conservative government has almost begun to define itself as in opposition to the sorts of protests they're standing up they cite for the quiet australians who want no change and i think doing down australia as they see these kind of protests events will that is on patriotic and they're trying to fight their political opponents in support of changing the banks and that's something they think will alienate the voting population so in the eyes of australia's government no and i think it's not exactly the wrong thing to serve to govern the we've got them i mean it will be no day change but given time that may change these events all growing in this becoming something more more talked about in australia's national media was barely mentioned a decade ago now in the run up to january 22nd every year you see more and more opinion pieces more and more articles by more and more people saying why can't we change the way it is so he's salting to a big section of the australian population to have it in general 26 why not change

the date to day that all australians can celebrate so you know sure like to have a change but in the longer it will happen. still out on al-jazeera hope among the rubble tarkus rescue teams find a reason to celebrate its. power and gambia were victims of abuse under the former regime are still waiting for justice. had that we've had some very heavy snow across some sections to the north and the middle east but we have got some calm the weather conditions over the next couple of days but as i say not the full this amount of snow is produced and east and turkey say it is take a while to dig out from that but conditions affine unclear overall for the next

couple of days tentacles cool by day cold in the overnight hours since gathered shahs and. no far as work in the east and sections of iran and also pretty strong. take the top of these time does not warm anyway just 18 celsius and sunday on look at this 14 degrees in riyadh and we will see it will feel colder than that with the wind that is actually in place monday really notice any warm up as a sort of fairly quiet picture beginning to see maybe just pushing into those western areas of cape then down into southern africa. we have had some flooding rains here but the last few days it has been light of that rain the heaviest rain has pushed away the austin was in the forecast and of course we've got the usual seasonal rains the take the heavy across into angola and again some low pretty have to eastern sections of south africa that is strong on shore breeze with those as well but sunny and pleasant with a high of 21 celsius. the

. time the bamboo harvest is navigating dangerous rapids. from the time we depart to the time we finish the scares to the fish and dicing with death. i'm afraid of pulling i'm afraid of dying but if i don't go i can't think my family meet the man who go to the extreme just to make a living. you have to be a strong swimmer otherwise safe and risking it all vietnam on al-jazeera.

pick up the top stories right now on al jazeera china's president xi jinping says the outbreak of corona virus is becoming great at least 56 people have been confirmed dead on congas declared an emergency and dozens of the actions have been reported outside china white house lawyers defending donald trump at the senate impeachment trial say the u.s. president has done nothing wrong in his dealings with ukraine it is democrats of using the trial to interfere in this year's presidential election. security forces in lebanon used water cannon and tear gas to stop protesters who tried to storm government headquarters and the capitol saturday marks 100 days sense to me tracings began and you know what an overhaul of the political system and an end to corruption. flooding and landslides in southeast brazil have killed at least 30 people 2 days of torrential rain or resign shade the capital of minas gerais state have left 17 people missing and more than 2500 others are now homeless more rain is

expected in the region as well as other parts of brazil and the memorials but hell to mark a year since brazil's worst industrial disaster $270.00 people were killed when a dam collapsed sending talk sick waste into the sound of no relatives attended ceremonies and released pollutants to commemorate those who die in iraq one who is in you know where he says people are still very emotional. apart from the sadness in the morning from the residents of brazil there's also a lot of fear a lot of trepidation given the ongoing rains and the heavy flooding that's taking place in the state of minas is it as we unfortunately can confirm that at least 30 people have died within the context of these floods and you if you see behind me if you can see behind me this is the river that flows through downtown but you can see that it's already spilled it's spilled its banks here some houses are already flooded here and not only that there's there's a concern given that there are other dams this disaster that took place in 2019

reminds people that there are other dams that are categorized as at risk by the brazilian government so many people here fear that the question of of if there could be another disaster like the one that took place in 2019 many people here fear that it's only a matter of time before another disaster can take place and that's something that's very much on the minds of residents of burma doing something that people here in the state of maine as it is' and the people of brazil very much want to avoid. rescuers in southeast turkey are searching for survivors from friday's earthquake which killed $31.00 people and injured more than a 1000 but this 5 year old girl and her mother are among the latest to be pulled alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings it is they are the number of dead will rise the 6.8 magnitude quake was centered near the town of several in costello reports in the nearby city yet. this man is happy and relieved as his relative is pulled out alive from this rubble should have been stuck under the rock and

debra's of a collapsed building for nearly 20 hours after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit to accuse is some province of. it is my mother the son rushes back through the rubble there are still 4 more people stuck down there. there have been more than 400 aftershocks in the region hundreds of emergency teams and security forces have been mobilized to provide aid and assistance. and the onlookers some of them are all mecurio while others hope to hear from loved ones and so i think all buildings have to be replaced by new ones we need. risk areas have been working here looking for and the survivors buildings that have collapsed like this one were either badly constructed or older the damaged without power for history of earthquakes menace a tricky news to do more now to ensure building safety turkey is among the world's

most suspect reactive countries and sits on several active full lines dozens of minor earthquakes and aftershocks up here nearly every day. brings with quakes themselves don't kill geologists know when they're going to happen but it's the engineers and construct a duty to build compatible buildings for now on the 5 buildings have collapsed but there is no record of the damaged buildings and as yet that's why many people are afraid to go into. their homes and given the freezing temperatures it will be difficult to seek shelter in sports or other large places so you know al-jazeera and those who eastern turkey. rescue charity ship to save 78 migrants and mediterranean off the libyan coast earlier 59 others were rescued as they attempted that dangerous journey hundreds of people have died in the mediterranean sea trying to reach europe fighting has flared up again in libya despite a surge of diplomatic activity international conferences were held in berlin in

algiers last week to end the conflict but rockets have now been fired in the capital internationally recognized government blames forces loyal to warlord khalifa haftar our head has more from tripoli. one moroccan man was killed by a random rocket landed in the vicinity of m 80 get airport the only operation an airport in the libyan capital tripoli the government says that half the us forces land should the attack the tripoli based health ministry meanwhile says that civil or other civilians were injured by random rockets that landed in densely populated areas and will launch it by half the forces many of these rockets launched by have to dispose of landed in neighborhood densely populated area in the city center other rockets landed in out are the neighborhood near the city center now the tripoli based government is accusing have to those forces of committing war crimes by targeting these residential areas it also says that these attacks are violations

of the truce or the peace talks and the cease fire accord that was proposed by both 30 and russia it also says that these violations by half those forces are dealing deal a link the peace talks that are the youth to be held in february engineer now the latest report by the united nations secretary general until you get turkish revealed that nearly $300.00 civilians were killed since the beginning of the military offensive long should by have to his forces to take control of the capital tripoli back in april and nearly 400 civilians were wounded now the same report also revealed that about $140000.00 people left their homes because of the fighting but guess national oil company says it's lost more than $250000000.00 in oil revenue in under a week that's after many of its major facilities were seized or is loyal to have

control of several core store export terminals and southern oil 'd fields earlier this month and that caused production to fall by more than 70 percent. 5 more protesters have been killed in iraq as security forces crackdown on anti-government demonstrations one person died in the capital and for a nasiriyah place in baghdad moved into the streets surrounding 2 rear square after a large group left camps in an area of the capital they've been occupying sense october some of those leaving that area are supporters a populous cleric matal sautter who withdrew his support for the protests and some of the age of 8 has reaction from protesters to government efforts to end their sit in this is being the flashpoint of scroope saturday's protest where protesters have been trying to stop the government forces opening up the offer a bridge this is the bridge that leaves do square and we've been meeting people and talking to people who feel that they've been betrayed by the sudras who left these

they are saying they're going to continue their protests there have been multiple reports of injuries and some are saying that people have been wounded by not just live fire but also by tear gas canisters that the government forces are aiming towards their head. we are protesting against that corrupt government the iranian government took speak with a dozen to present. we didn't vote for them the militias they are. they are iranian they are iranian in the shots we called on the united nations to intervene and help. them so if you see they are assassinating could not be. killing. on the marks of our activists political activists are disappearing every day we want their help our of that world please help the.

very thought of terrorism the. wrong thing the word erection. of the many things. i think not the other way around the since friday night security forces opening up the road with bridges this is one of the guns which was allegedly 'd by the forces. in the word star you square those are the allegations by the by the protesters here who say that they will continue their protests they're going to stay until their demands are met. the leader of israel's blue and white party benny gantz plans to travel to the u.s. on monday to join prime minister benjamin netanyahu for discussions with president on a trot dance leads the largest single party in the israeli parliament but neither he nor his political rival netanyahu have been able to form a ruling coalition that's despite 2 elections last year and

a 3rd scheduled for march the 3 men are expected to discuss trump's so-called peace plan for the middle east meanwhile a senior palestinian diplomat has called the peace plan a fraud this is actually the fraud of the century the fraud of the century but it's the. they're speaking about jerusalem being israel's capital no palestinian state no 96 of them borders the next station of the jordan valley and a good seashores an extension of the settlement you can such an israeli settlements that that means. destroying old terms of reference is provided for to achieve peace between palestinians israelis drubbing of a 2 state solution over the radar screens and. cancelling everything relating to international law and international agency a new documentary from the can be as exposing cases of alleged torture and murder by the former by the government rather former later yochim may the film documents

dissidents testimony and the victims' families saying they're still waiting for justice reports from neighboring to car. i cannot bury my father is a documentary about a young man whose father was executed during former gambian president 22 year rule without the body he's unable to give his father a proper funeral it was directed by another who also lost her father hundreds of bodies are believed to be buried in mass graves yet to be discovered the gambia has put in place a truth and reconciliation commission only 3 people were prosecuted all of those who admitted to torture rape and murder have so far been set free much the surprise of the victims have been made to feel on reasonable when they're asking for justice when talking about crimes against humanity. as a victims are coming out of it to say we are here and there's so much power as i think i use it now because for so long. human rights organizations say jummy and

his security forces tortured raped and killed dissidents some were even reportedly fed his pet crocodiles in 2007 he made a claim to al-jazeera saying he could cure patients dying of aids hiv aids and his health ministry embargo experimented on hundreds of hiv positive men women and children nearly all of them have since died. but. the. 3 years since jimmy fled into exile the survivors say justice is too slow to come with the government showing a willingness towards his political party which was allowed to hold public demonstrations after jamie announced his desire to return to the gambia. democracy is messy business former president stepped into this country he would be arrested and then of course i mean. since the. last month the gambia took me and

more to the international criminal court of justice accusing it's me. terry of committing genocide against the muslim minority but the crimes committed by gambian security services during the previous government against its own people are still not being prosecuted worse some perpetrators are still in charge of security in our close allies of president adam a barrow and for those who have survived there's a sense that the process of justice is being intentionally obstructed. some of the mounds graves are believed to be in jamie's farmhouse but the government has made no efforts to recover the remains so far stalling the process of grief and healing that so many need to move forward. nicholas hawk al-jazeera

the car. that our website al-jazeera. headlines. michele kerry let's recap the headlines right now on al-jazeera how does president says the outbreak of. becoming grave the number of people killed is recent to 56 with almost 2000 confirmed infections. or how the government is responding. was very interesting a move rare meeting for the politburo standing committee happened on the 1st day of lunar new year that is very rare the 7 most powerful people in the government here in china met and what they decided is that they're going to form a special group led by one of those 7 people to oversee the current virus action if you will we know that they're going to have

a special group that's going to go down to wall han the epicenter of this so it's really elevated to the very highest levels of the government here overseeing this coronavirus situation white house lawyers have begun defending president paul trombetta senate impeachment trial they say he has done nothing wrong in his dealings with ukraine and that the charges are politically motivated 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 floods in south eastern brazil have killed at least 30 people 2 days of record

rainfall and made us guys states more downpours poor as are expected and thousands have been left homeless scarce in southeast turkey are searching for survivors from friday's earthquake which killed $31.00 people and injured more than a 1000. and protests are being held in australia calling for a national day to be changed or just scrapped altogether so called invasion day events are commemorating indigenous people who died in conflict with white settlers as well as others who have recently died in police custody. as of the headlines keep it here on al-jazeera and other bolton at the top of the hour in the meantime risking it all. americans live side by side in 2 parallel universes the trouble parts of america are getting in trouble here there is a poll out a few weeks ago that you had almost 30 percent americans believing they were on the cause of those civil war both sides accuse each other of doing things that are so blatantly wrong the bottom line on u.s. politics and policies and their effect on the world.