pilgrimage to discover his hero inspires an awakening that it's more rewarding to create than to imitate. dreaming of vincent a witness documentary amount to 0. 0. hello this is the news hour on al-jazeera. coming up in the next 60 minutes president trump's impeachment trial shifts to questions from senators as republicans struggle to contain the fallout from john bolton's revelations. and truth above all is on ourselves and that's why we're still in the fight that's why we're still in the ballpark. one side palestinians react with anger and dismiss donald trump's proposed middle east peace plan. the whole world needs to be on

alert. to take action and be ready a warning from the world health organization urging all countries to take action to combat the corona virus outbreak. in london were the top stories from europe including the. brussels signs the brakes it divorced but an overwhelming vote approving britain's departure on friday. and i'm peter sims with your sports including an upset for rough ellabella in melbourne the world number one is knocks out in the australian open quarter finals but dominique was. thank you very much for joining us over the past 24 hours donald trump's announced

a peace proposal for the middle east and signed a revised trade deal with mexico and canada all this happening just before the president's impeachment trial and as a new face in the u.s. senate senators are about to stock questioning both trump's nori is and democratic impeachment managers from the house prosecuting the case a vote is expected later in the week on whether to allow witnesses and the republican majority is facing renewed pressure after revelations surrounding former national security adviser john bolton now i remain hopeful that 4 republican senators will join us in supporting witnesses and documents in this trial it's an uphill fight as i've always said but the public is on our side and truth above all is on our side and that's why we're still in the fight that's why we're still in the ballpark live to heidi castro on capitol hill for a so heidi opening arguments in the impeachment trial are over and now the battle shifts to whether the senate will subpoena witnesses talk us through what's going

to happen over the next few hours and few days. sure fully so today and tomorrow we expect a question and answer sessions from senators pose to the to legal sides then all eyes are focused on friday is when we expect that pivotal vote on whether or not to extend this trial to a 2nd phase to have witnesses offer their testimonies why that is so pivotal is because the other option would be to move to a quick vote on whether or not to convict the president and because it takes 2 thirds majority in order to convict him and the senate chamber is controlled by the president's own party the republicans if the answer our witnesses it is no then we could expect the president to be acquitted as early as this friday now why the witnesses are so important for the democrats pitching for them is because of a man named john bolton you've heard his name come up i'm sure much in these last few days he is the former national security adviser to president trump has not

testified thus far but has revealed in a unpublished manuscript for an upcoming book that he was in a conversation with the president in which he heard the president say that the security aid for ukraine was tied to the president's desire for investigations to be announced into his political rivals and that is at the very heart of the accusations against trump what democrats saying that he have a corrupt motive of gaining an advantage with foreign interference in the upcoming election while endangering u.s. national security by not giving aid to an ally brave so on friday we expect when these 2 sides the democrats and the republicans in the chamber to decide that pivotal question of whether or not to call john bolton and foley it only takes 4 republicans to cross the aisle in order to make that happen and certainly democratic senators are focused on lobbying those colleagues as we speak and the

republican senate majority leader did say that he didn't think he had the votes to block any witnesses to john bolton for instance from testifying what's the likelihood of bolton then actually appearing as a witness. sure well as so there are 4 of their 5 rather moderate republican senators who have said they are at least open to the idea of calling witnesses one has committed to voting for getting john bolton into the witness stand but that may be a double edged sword for democrats because republicans also have their own list of witnesses that they hope to call people like joe biden son who is at the center of these accusations from trump saying that the bidens were at the center of corruption in the ukraine and so were those the majority in the senate controlled by republicans if they agree if if a few members agree to open this trial to john bolton and witnesses that the

democrats won well very likely the republican majority will turn right around and demand that they want to hear from witnesses that they want democrats say and are fearful that that could be damaging to joe biden's campaign of course he's on the trail now campaigning to become the democratic nominee hoping to take on trump in the upcoming u.s. election and president meanwhile heidi has been trying to take the limelight away from this impeachment trial in the senate by announcing a new trade deal with canada and mexico and also unveiling his much anticipated middle east peace plan yesterday is it though are people paying attention to that rather than the child in the senate. well that has not been the top of the u.s. headlines here in u.s. media neither of those things and in fact the president even though he is trying to get the attention for those legislative accomplishments on the same breath he's also on twitter this morning attacking john bolton the witness calling him

a potential witness in his trial hauling bolton's upcoming book full of lies and nasty and saying that he had fired john bolton who was the national security adviser had he followed his advice that the u.s. would be in the president's war of words fighting were. world war 6 so all of this even as advisers and have cautioned you know not to get into the impeachment so much of focus on doing his job as president he just can't help himself as we've seen time and time again with this president who shoots from the hip and just cannot help but weigh in especially on his popular twitter platform and that's already elicited some pushback from republican senators themselves including lindsey graham who is a trump defender a close ally who said that these attacks on bolton may be doing damage because it may actually bolster the democrats' arguments to get bolton in here as a witness all right heidi thank you very much for the moment live for us on capitol

hill as we await for the trial the impeachment trial to resume and the proceedings set to get underway on the senate for let's speak to bill schneider who is a political analyst and public policy professor at george mason university his live from washington d.c. very good to have you with us on al-jazeera again do you think john bolton will be allowed to testify well it depends on whether the democrats can get a few republicans peeled away from the republican majority in the senate to join them in subpoenaing bolton he said he would obey a subpoena my guess is that's entirely possible the senate majority leader republican mitch mcconnell has already said he does not have enough votes among the republican majority to block calling witnesses so it looks very likely right now as if bolton will be called to testify but bill do you think bolton testimony will be

a game changer will make a difference to the outcome of this trial. well we already know the main the thing he's going to say which is that there really was a quid pro quo that the president told him personally face to face that he wanted to hold up the military aid to ukraine in order to extract a concession from the ukrainian government that they would investigate joe biden and his son lot of people think that that is a misuse and abuse of power were republicans have done in response to that revelation is to argue well maybe there was a quid pro quo but it wasn't a high crime or misdemeanor which of the grounds for impeaching removing a president of the united states so they're saying even if it's true it doesn't amount to enough to impeach him remove the president so then the outcome will be the same at the end then we have we're still expecting you think president to be you know to not being beached i expect prison time to be acquitted acquitted

what this will do will be to it's to extend the proceedings for a longer period of time which can frustrate republicans and those democrats who are running for president they're supposed to be in iowa right now the iowa caucuses are monday and there they are stuck in washington silent jurors passing judgment on president trump not making speeches at all except they can ask a question now but what's the likelihood do you think that this could all be over before you know the. state of the union address which you know president i think wants it to be over before then i much there's a reasonable chance but if they call witnesses and they have to subpoena john bolton then it could stretch out a good deal longer it could go beyond the end of february nobody really knows so what effect you know is this all having on the president's popularity and also the prospects for 2020. well what's happening is it's girding his

army his army is mobilizing to defend the president and now they've done something fairly remarkable his people are attacking john bolton was a down the line conservative was a national security advisor to president trump the now calls him a liar but he's treacherous that the things he reports in his book are not true and the result is that the trump army i call it an army because it really is there mustering to defend the president not just in the impeachment trial but also in the election come november and i thank you so much bill for talking to us bill schneider from george mason university will be speaking to you a little later as again we wait for the proceedings to resume on the senate floor u.s. senators about to sign questioning both president trump's lawyers and the democratic impeachment managers from the house who are prosecuting this case the impeachment trial of president donald trump a soon as they get underway there on the senate floor will bring them to you live

here on al-jazeera in the meantime let's move on to other world news and the world health organization will meet again on thursday to decide whether the corona virus outbreak constitutes an international emergency as urging all countries to take action against the virus that has left more than 130 people dead in china the u.s. and japan have evacuated hundreds of their citizens out of china and many more countries are planning to follow suit when hey reports. after completing an emergency mission a plane carrying more than $200.00 japanese citizens arrives in tokyo from china they're among the 1st foreign nationals to be evacuated by the government from the capital of who bay province which is under lockdown because of coronavirus. i was very worried because the situation changed very rapidly honestly i am quite relieved that they brought his home swiftly with the chartered plane. upon arrival

feel. of the passengers suffering flu like symptoms were taken to hospital. as the crisis deepens more countries are looking to follow the lead of japan and the united states and begin airlifting their nationals out we have taken a decision the smalling to prepare a plan for an operation to provide some assisted departures for isolated and vulnerable astride the ns in will hand in the who by province in will hand where the outbreak started medical staff and hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of cases which grows by the day to do so 2 completely new makeshift hospitals are being built to treat coronavirus patients with construction workers operating around the clock. and the government is sending thousands of extra doctors and nurses to a province from other parts of china ok i hope so. i will tell my family the exciting news after i come back i've not dared to tell them now for fear that they

would be worried about me. in hong kong where there are several confirmed cases of the virus the government has been criticised for being too slow to react it's now suspended ferry and train services to and from mainland china indefinitely the hong kong government has been coming under increasing pressure with many calling for the border crossings between here and mainland china to be closed completely which hasn't happened the partial closure is being welcomed by the resorts so a sense that it has come too late and isn't enough. the transport restrictions will heap more pressure on the economy of the city which is already struggling after months of anti-government protests wayne hay al jazeera hong kong. well countries around the world are taking additional measures in a bid to limit the spread of the virus across borders from our high to have more on the steps being taken in pakistan. august strong is on a heightened state over lug head the national institute of health and the games are

monitoring the situation very closely they're getting data about the casual games in china and also reported cases of the court all now wireless around the world now the progress on a health ministry has issued their statesmen saying get over what 30000 pakistanis residing in china over 500 who are going to noor hong unknowns the minister of her now going to farming for stewards have been infected with their cargo now why it is we are on high alert we have taken all those many years which we needed to be taking. as it is sponsible government until now there has been no reported confirmed reported keys in farsi songs but as i mentioned there have been 4 confirmed cases of novel don't know why it is among papias on these in china all

of them are still going all of them are in good state of health there are 19 entry points into their country including the hypoxic crossing into china or duck or drop offs can. be done very dull for dating procedures done now and place the auto ticking on our scanning the passengers who are driving from old woods he'd . imagery equipment ed why is it is that in place and the country is on a heightened state of alert to ensure that their car or not wired as does yours we have all involved your son all as a medical person you are doing have been door to be ready for her nation ward in case it is a good thing. we have any us now let's program the country that that motion to dismiss them through but we have the capacity to detect other threats but if you are this is and will shortly be wetting the carpet capacity to protect this knowledge about us as we have right now we have we are detecting corporal how it is

and then that must throw at us as well so it's just we're just waiting for a few regents to be here ahead and we will struggle for the best and. the minister also saying that there is no need for panic because so far north a single corona whitish case has been before very strong father thought and however because of the geographic according to give and the fact that there are tens of thousands of chinese who are working in progress dawned on that sign of progress on economic order go august on indeed high rates go on so far however do your target you've got confident that they are coming up because they're getting help from the international community i've read that in order to stem the tide of the corona widens here in pakistan by everywhere in the country the hospital run madigan for extended periods on a heightened state of and. we take you back to washington now and the floor of the

u.s. senate where the impeachment trial of president trump has resumed with the beginning of the question. the theory of abuse of power that the house managers have presented it's subjective motive alone can become the basis for an impeachable offense we believe is constitutionally defective it is not a permissible way to frame a claim of an impeachable offense under the constitution so that i'll put that to one side and address the question of mixed motives if there were a motive that was all the public interest but also some personal interest we think it follows even more clearly fit that cannot possibly be the basis for an impeachable offense and even the house managers they have framed their case fave explained in this is pointed out in our trial memorandum. that in the house judiciary committee report. they specify that the standard they have to meet is to

show that this is a sham investigation it's a bogus investigation these investigations have there's not any legitimate public purpose that's the language any legitimate public purpose that's the standard they've set for themselves in being able to make this claim under their theory of what an abuse of power offense can be so it's a very demanding standard that they've set for themselves to meet and they've even said they came up and they talked a lot about the bidens they talked a lot about these issues in 2016 election interference because they were saying there's not even a scintilla a scintilla of any evidence of anything worth looking into there and that's the standard that they would have to meet showing that there's no possible public interest and the president couldn't have had any smidgen even of a public interest motive because they recognize that once you get into

a mixed motives situation if there is both some personal motive but also a legitimate public interest motive it can't possibly be an offense because it would be absurd to have the senate trying to consider well was it 48 percent illegitimate interests and 52 percent personal inch or was it the other way was it 53 percent and 40 you can't divide it that way and that's why they recognize that to have even a remotely coherent theory the standard they have to set for themselves is establishing there is no possible public interest at all for these investigations and if there is any possibility if there is something that shows a possible public interest and the president could have that possible public interest motive that destroys their case. so once you're into mixed motive land it's clear that their case fails there can't possibly be an impeachable offense at

all and think about it all elected officials to some extent have in mind how their conduct how their decisions their policy decisions will affect the next election there's always some personal interest in the electoral outcome of policy decisions and there's nothing wrong with that that's part of representative democracy and to go start saying now that well if you've got a part motive it's for your personal electoral gain that that's somehow going to become an offense it doesn't make any sense and it's totally unworkable and it can't be a basis for removing a president from office so the bottom line is once you're in to any mixed motives situation once it is established that there is a legitimate public interest that could justify looking into something just asking a question about something the managers case fails and it fails under their own

terms they recognize that they have to show no possible public interest there isn't any legitimate public interest and they've totally failed to make that case i think we've shown very clearly that both of the things that were mentioned 2016 election interference and the biden breeziness situation are things that raise at least some public interest there's something worth looking at there it's never been investigated in the biden situation lots of their own witnesses from the state department said that on its face it appears to be a conflict of interest it's at least worth raising the question of asking a question about it and there is that public interest and that means their case absolutely fails thank you thank you counsel the democratic leader is recognized.

the democratic leader asks. john of the house managers john r. bolton's forthcoming book states that the president wanted to continue withholding $391000000.00 in military aid to ukraine until ukraine announced investigations into his top political rival and the debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election is there any way for the senate to render a fully informed verdict in this case without hearing the testimony of bolton mulvaney and the other key eye witnesses or without seeing the relevant documentary evidence.

of thank you ms chief justice the short answer the question is no. there's no way to have a fair trial without witnesses and when you have a witness who is as plainly relevant as john bolton who goes to the heart of the most serious and egregious of the president's misconduct who has volunteered to come and testify to turn him away to look the other way i think is deeply at odds with being an impartial juror. i would also add in response to the last question that if any part of the president's motivation was a corrupt motive it was a causative factor in the action to freeze the aide or withhold the meeting that is enough to convict to be enough to convict under criminal law but here there is no question about the president's motivation and if you have any question about the president's motivation it makes it all the more essential to call the man who spoke

directly with the president that the president confided in and said he was holding up this a because he wanted ukraine to conduct these political investigations that would help him in the next election if you have any question about whether it was a factor the factor a quarter of the factor all of the factor there is a witness a subpoena away who can answer that question. but the overwhelming body of the evidence makes it very clear on july 26th the day after that phone call. donald trump speaks to gordon sohn that's that conversation at ukraine restaurant and what does gordon some one. what is the president's question of gordon's on the day after that call is he going to do the investigations now council president have you believe the president was concerned

about burden sharing well he may have had a generic concern about burden sharing in other contexts but here the motivation was abundantly clear on that phone with gordon sonly the only question he wanted an answer to was is he going to do the investigation now bear in mind he's talking to the ambassador to the european union what better person to talk to if israel concerned was about burden sharing than the guy responsible for europe's burden sharing but did the president raise this at all of course not of course not and if you have any question about it at all you need to hear from his former national security advisor don't wait for the book don't wait to march 17th when it is in black and white to find out the answer to your question was it all the motive some of the vote of or none of the motive now we

think as i mentioned the case is overwhelming and clear without john bolton but if you have any question about it. you can a race all doubt. now let me let me show you a video underscore number 2 slide 2 how important this is this house managers. really their goal should be to give you all of the facts because they're asking you to do something very very consequential and ask yourself ask yourself. given the facts you heard today but they didn't tell you. who doesn't want to talk about the facts who doesn't want to talk about the facts. impeachment shouldn't be a shell game. they should give you the facts.

last video which is even more important and on point for mr bolton number 3. and once again not a single witness in the house record that they compiled and developed under their procedures that we've discussed and will continue to discuss provided any 1st hand evidence that the president ever linked the presidential meeting to any investigations anyone who spoke with the president said that the president made clear that there was no linkage between security assistance and investigations oh that's not correct right because of course he said that the money was linked to these investigations he said in acknowledging a quid pro quo they do it all the time and we should just get over it gordon

sunland also said the president said on the one hand no quid pro quo but also made it clear that selenski had to go to the mike and announce these investigations thank you thank you just. this chief justice senator thune i have a question for the president's counsel. to the president's counsel. would you please respond to the arguments or assertions the house managers just made in response to the previous question.

mr chief justice senators a couple of points that i'd like to make manager schiff suggested that there was no evidence the president was actually interested in burden sharing because he didn't apparently according to david hale raise it in the telephone conversation that he had with gordon sandland that hale claims to have overheard at a restaurant in kiev but let's look at the real evidence as we explained on june 24th there is an e-mail in the record showing it's an e-mail from one person to the department of defense to another with the subject line of potest follow up present the united states follow up asking specifically about burden sharing it says. quote what do other nato members spend to support ukraine and quote that was what they were following up on for the president and in the transcript itself excuse me.

and the tran the transcript of the july 25th call itself the president asked he said we spend a lot of effort and a lot of time for ukraine much more than the european countries are doing and they should be helping you more than we are germany does almost nothing for you all they do is talk and i think it's something you should really ask them about and he goes on to say that he talks to angela merkel about it and that they're not really doing as much as the united states is doing he's raising burden sharing and presidents alinsky agreed with him now manage to shift also suggested that there is evidence of some connection between the military assistance and. investigations into 2016 election interference because of a statement the acting chief of staff milvain e. made at a press conference but that is been it's been clear in the record since that press

conference that what he was saying was garbled and or misunderstood and he immediately clarified and said on that day quote the president never told me to withhold any money until ukraine's did anything related to the server and quot and similarly he issued a statement just the other day making clear again that he said this is from his counsel so it's phrased in the 3rd person mr moti nor did mr mcveigh ever have a conversation with the president or anyone else indicating that ukrainian military aid was withheld and exchange for ukrainian investigation of the bidens or the 2016 election that is mr mowbray nice statement lastly on to the point of whether this chamber should hear from ambassador bolton and i think it's important to consider what that means because it's not just a question of well should we just hear one witness that's not what the real question is going to be for this institution the real question is what is the

precedent that is going to be set for what is an acceptable way for the house of representatives to bring an impeachment of a president of the united states to this chamber and can it be done in a hurried half baked partisan fashion without they didn't even subpoena john bolton below they didn't even try to get his testimony and to insist now that this body will become the investigate investigative body that this body will have to do all the discovery and that this institution will be effectively paralyzed for months on end because it has to sit as a court of impeachment while now discovery is done because it would be ambassador bolton and if they're going to be witnesses then the. president would have to in order they said fair trial fair adjudication then the president would have to have his opportunity to call his witnesses and there'd be depositions and this would drag on for months and then that's the new precedent then that's the way all

impeachment operate in the future the house doesn't have to do the work they do it quickly bay throw it over the transom and this institution gets derailed and has to deal with it and that should not be the way it should not be the president that is said here for the way this body will have to handle all impeachments in the future because if it becomes that easy for the house to do it they'll be doing it a lot thank you the senator from massachusetts send a question to the desk. question from senator markey to the house managers on monday president trump tweeted the democrat controlled house never even asked john bolton to testify and quote so that

the record is accurate did house impeachment investigators ask mr bolton to testify . senators the answer is yes of course we asked john bolton to testify in the house and he refused we asked his deputy dr come from him to testify and he refused fortunately we asked their deputy dr fiona hill to testify and she did we asked her deputy colonel limit to testify and he did but we did seek the testimony of john bolton as well as dr cup women and they refused when we subpoenaed. dr cupper men he sued us took us to court when we raised

a subpoena with john bolton's counsel the same counsel for dr couple men the answer was senator you serve us with a subpoena and we will sue you too. we knew based on the mcgann litigation it would take months if not years to force john bolton to come and testify. and i should point out because i think this is an essential point to underscore as the president's lawyers say they didn't try hard enough to get john bolton or they should have subpoena john bolton that's what they're telling you but let me show you what they're telling the court in the mcgann litigation if we could pull up slide number 39 this is the president's lawyers in court in the mcgann litigation in the court of appeals right now quote that committee meeting our committee lacks article 3 standing to sue to enforce a congressional subpoena demanding testimony from an individual on matters related

to duties as an executive branch official i mean it takes your breath away the duplicity of that argument there before you saying they should have tried harder to get these witnesses they should subpoenaed they should have litigated for years and down the street in the federal courthouse there arguing judge you need to throw them out they have no standing to sue to force a witness to testify are we really prepared to accept that now counsel says think about the precedent that we would be setting if you allow a house to impeach a president and you permit them to call witnesses well i would submit think about the precedent you will be setting if you don't allow witnesses in a trial that to me is the much more dangerous precedent here but i'll tell you the something even more deaths dangerous. and this was something that we anticipated

from the very beginning which is we understood when we got to this point they could no longer contest the facts that the president withheld military aid from an ally at war to coerce that ally to doing the president's political dirty work so now they have fallen back on you shouldn't hear any further evidence any further witnesses on the subject what's more we're going to use the end all arguments so what a president says of free to abuse their power we're going to rely on a constitutional theory a fringe theory that even the advocate of which says is outside of the consensus of constitutional law to say that a president can abuse his power with impunity imagine where that leads a president can abuse his power with impunity now that argument made by professor dershowitz is at odds with the attorney general's own expressed opinion on the

subject with ken starr's expressed opinion on the subject with not only other counsel for the president jonathan turley who testified in the house says that theory is constitutional effectively nonsense but even 60 year old year old alan dershowitz doesn't agree with 81 year old alan dershowitz and for a reason because where that conclusion leads us is that a president can abuse his power in any kind of way and there's nothing you can do about it. now are we really ready to accept the position that this president or the next can withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to an ally at war unless they get help in their reelection would we say that you could as president withhold disaster relief from a governor unless that governor got his attorney general to investigate the

president's political rival. that to me is the most dangerous argument of all it's a danger have a president who had gauging this conduct it's a danger to have a trial with no witnesses and set that precedent but the biggest danger of all i think would be to accept the idea that a president can abuse his office in this way and the congress is powerless to do anything about it that is certainly not what the founders intended. mr chief justice. senator from tennessee thank you mr chief justice i sent a question to the desk on my behalf and also joined by senators loffler lee kramer and max out u.s. senators questioning both president tom's lawyers and democratic impeachment managers from the house who are prosecuting his impeachment trial this is a phase of donald trump's impeachment trial in the u.s. senate the republican majority is facing new pressure after revelations surrounding

president trump's national a former national security advisor john bolton in a book that is due to be published soon bolten and ledges that the president directly tied to the holdup of nearly $400000000.00 in aid to ukraine 2 investigations into former vice president joe biden and his son hunter biden an allegation of course which is at the center of this impeachment trial and a vote is expected later this week on whether to allow witnesses including john bolton to testify as bring in heidi. on capitol hill for us following these proceedings heidi talk a so what we've heard so far the questions from the senators and some of the responses. short so while the majority of these questions thus far have brought up john bolton in the potential for calling him as a witness it was really the 1st question that was submitted by

a republican moderate senator susan collins and she said it was on behalf of herself and 2 other moderates that really was revealing in this case the question from senator collins was what would be what what be the in implication if president trump had mixed motives when he ordered the security aid to ukraine to be frozen that really centers on the allegations here of the democratic impeachment manager saying that he did so with the corrupt motive of trying to use that aid as leverage to get ukraine to announce investigations into. biden with the motive of helping president trump win his reelection given that biden may be an opponent so the question here is saying what if that was one of the motives but what if there was a mixed motive and trump also took this action in order to fight corruption in ukraine as he has attested what if some of this motive was in the public's interest and some of the motive was in his personal interest well the response from the

president's defense team was that if that is the case then that would completely destroy the argument to impeach the president their thinking goes that if this president made a decision that and at least part was in consideration of the public benefits to fight corruption or to share the burden of offering security to ukraine with other u.s. allies then it doesn't matter goes the president's defenders think it doesn't matter if that same action also serves to benefit the president personally so the fact that these moderate republican senators pose that question is revealing fully because these are the individuals who may have been who may be in the middle who may have the open minds we know that in this such polarized proceedings the democrats in this chamber are already thinking one way the conservatives certainly another in planning to quit the president so those in the middle are searching for an explanation on what to do if the president had these mixed motives very well

that really does light into what they're thinking trying to get into the president's head heidi thank you very much for the moment we'll of course continue to follow the proceedings with you and check in with you. live for us on capitol hill now meanwhile the white house has reportedly issued a letter to former national security adviser john bolton seeking to brock the publication of his upcoming book let's go live to our white house correspondent kimberly kimberly what more can you tell us about this. yeah al-jazeera has obtained a copy of the letter that was sent by the. white house to an attorney for ambassador bolton and essentially the argument is that the release of some parts of this book that is under review right now by the white house would exceptionally cause grave harm to the national security of the united states if it is disclosed the allegations by the white house are that much of what is contained in this

manuscript is classified or at the top secret level and so as of now there is an effort to try and prevent the publication of this book that is expected out in early march now the reason this is interesting is of course because on the floor of the u.s. senate right now there is an effort not just to see the contents of this book but also to hear from the man himself john bolton as a witness and this is sort of just bolstering the arguments that have been made by this white house this letter that we now have about why they say they can't have the former national security adviser testify what it indicates is if there is in fact the vote for witnesses expected there will be enormous pushback by this white house to prevent that testimony not only in the form of trying to block it with the review claiming national security concerns but also that this could go to the courts the president citing executive privilege thank you for that kimberly hauck at live at the white house let's turn our attention to other news now and some news

just in a vessel has reportedly caught fire off the coast of the united arab emirates according to a british maritime monitary spain leaves to be a no wage and tanker there reports the naval vessel sent out a distress signal neither the cause of the fire nor the sadness of the crew is currently known. protests have taken place in the occupied west bank against u.s. president tom supposed to end the palestinian israeli conflict palestinian leaders have rejected the plan put forward by trump saying it will be thrown into history's garbage the middle east peace proposed by trump is already having an impact on the final weeks of israel's election campaign prime minister benny minutes dallas presenting it as a victory for his for me a ship harry fawcett reports from west. this is historic and this you became the 1st world leader to recognize israel's sovereignty over areas in judea

and samaria that are vital to our security and central to our heritage the soaring music and off camera voiceover had all the hallmarks of a campaign video promising israeli sovereignty in the occupied west bank but for benjamin netanyahu a day after what he had turned a history making event in washington the breaks have been at least momentarily applied he had promised to hold a vote in cabinet on sunday on an exciting the jordan valley and illegal israeli settlements in the occupied west bank but the united states is now making it clear that it wants further coordination before the process begins so does this hamper netanyahu election campaign one former israeli diplomat thinks not 12 thanked him for the difficult work he did it in creating this plan so that you know who is behind it so if there is another move with which they can help him be quiet let my government do it. with it we'll have an overwhelming majority of americans would not stop but netanyahu isn't the only one trying to make electoral capital out of

the announcement his defense minister the head of a rival right wing grouping of parties said an extension had to happen now not after the election. i've ordered the formation of a special team to implement the application of israeli law and sovereignty on all jewish settlements in the same aria today or the jordan valley and the northern dead sea. the team will start working immediately. while the israeli left has rejected the plan netanyahu is main centrist challenger benny gantz has endorsed it but it does risk shifting his campaign away from its previous focus on netanyahu indictment in 3 corruption cases this plan coming just after the official announcement is indictments are being filed with the jerusalem district court means that he will he now has hold of the agenda of the narrative and it's certainly something that they want to continue to push the consequences of this deal with its provisions for israeli annexation for the literal walling off of any future

palestinian state from the heart of east jerusalem could be felt for years but here in the midst of yet another israeli election campaign the timeline being focused on is much shorter the next 32 days until israelis go to the polls again are a force that al-jazeera west jerusalem. with just over 48 hours ago breck said has crossed its final hurdle with more on that less costs nor an taylor in our european yes and. thankfully yes the european union has voted overwhelmingly to pass the ukase departure terms of court officially leaves the block on friday after nearly 15 years. for the withdrawal agreement was ratified by $621.00 votes to $49.00 after the vote members stood together linking arms and saying to mark the farewell. president says he's saddened by the final outcome but vowed to keep strong ties between britain and the. badly i mean this here is. on behalf of the

european parliament i'd like to say to those colleagues who will be leaving us because this is their last plane everything that we have very grateful i would like to say that we truly appreciate all the work you have done over the last few years to our friends from the u.k. your being here has only made the e.u. richer. well brags about i need to nigel farage has been one of the key figures in the u.k.'s exit here he told me ps u.k.'s departure could be the beginning of the end for the blog but his final speech the european parliament was cut short after he started waving goodbye with union flags. i mean well it's no it's not like i know you're going to surf i know you want to go national but we're going to wave goodbye well let's say what in the future yeah so what i saw brand. if you disobey the room you get how. could you please remove the flag.

that's going to natasha butler in brussels or aside from those antics and attash or it's done now and what happens next. yes that's right so the withdrawal agreement has been ratified by any peace in brussels and that paves the way of course for the united kingdom to leave the european union on friday just in a couple of days and as you saw there that folk a more of a rather emotional and dramatic debate we heard from many a european m.e.p.a. says that that they really deeply regretted the fact that the u.k. had decided to leave the european union others calling it a grave mistake but of course we also saw of those who supported breaks that those m.e.p. is there saying that this was a moment of great a triumph this is the moment for them that they have been waiting for of course

ever since 2016 when a britain voted in that referendum to leave with the european union well what happens now of course is breaks it is not exactly done because ahead we're going to have months of very tough negotiations between the u.k. and the e.u. as they try to map out their future relationship those tough negotiations with the center in a lot of trade of course you know the boris johnson the british prime minister wants a trade deal wrapped up by the end of 2020 but we also know that if issues here are saying that it's very unlikely that there will be a comprehensive agreement in that time perhaps there will only be agreements on certain priorities but as a partner thank you very much indeed. u.k. prime minister boris johnson has defended his decision to allow the chinese text. to play a limited role in britain's 5 g. network johnson has been criticized by u.s. officials for the decision but insists his choice would not imperil the u.k.'s relationship with the trumpet ministration it also said it would not affect the

country's ability to share intelligence data securely. that might continue to urge the u.k. to reconsider its decision speaking to reporters as he headed to the u.k. and they're said that american information would anybody have to pass through trusted networks state as i arrived in britain in the past hour is due to meet his counterpart dominic robb and the prime minister. our correspondent has been following the story joins minister you do so well might pump as does it change your mind to talk. unlikely he's been fairly muted compared to some in the us there have been sentences in the us over the last 24 hours since britain said that he could play a restricted role in the periphery of the 5 your network not in core areas like data servers and so on some sentences that have likened it to letting the k.g.b. into the west or in the cold war now might come pay on the flight over was asked specifically about threats in the us to suspend intelligence sharing with the u.k.

if this went ahead this rollout of 5 g. involving huawei he simply said there is also there is a chance for the u.k. to really look at this as implementation moves forwards and he says he swerved the question of. punishment if you like he said it's important that companies in the u.s. and europe try to diversify try to get other competitors to her way into the system in future that's important because in the u.k. what way is already deeply involved in 4 g. and lots of the providers of mobile operations and so on so it would have been very expensive move would have delayed 5 g. by several years if weiwei was totally banned the european commission on wednesday has also created if you like a fudge saying that cut the individual nations can restrict walk away in their 5 g. but that's not an outright ban either so still friction between the us and those countries and thank you very much. more from london and then i spent another back

to fall into an hour and thank you very much for that syrian government forces have made a significant advance in the province entering this is important. as far of a push to retake the last rebel held region in the country tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting they tore a gate to be reports. the. syrian government forces and the man in the south of italy probing. they're looking for rebel fighters from hyatt to reroll sham an armed group with formal links to al qaida the town is largely deserted and destroyed after months of bombardment. with. its recapture marks a significant advance in president bashar assad's drive to take back all of syria. and the general command of the army and the armed forces announce cleansing these villages and towns and it is sure that the army will continue to carry out its

constitutional national and moral duty in order to hunt down all remaining armed terrorist groups. rattled the man sits on the m 5 highway which links the capital damascus to syria 2nd city aleppo as well as to provincial capital such as ham and lip before the war it was a major trade route and the main access road to the north. the latest drive by russian backed government forces to recapture syria's last opposition on play has sparked a new exodus on monday tens of thousands of civilians fled towards turkey's border turkish president red chip type has accused the russian government of breaking a ceasefire agreement. in there is now a movement towards our borders and we have taken our measures. since december it's estimated that more than 350000 people have been displaced from italy provence the increase in attacks is worsening the humanitarian crisis in northwest syria. but

the asad government seems determined to retake this pinal piece of territory still under the control of opposition fighters victoria gates and be al jazeera. the u.s. aviation giant boeing has suffered its 1st annual financial loss in more than 2 decades sales have slumped by 24 percent amid the crisis of bonding in 737 max a line a boeing was forced to ground its fleet of the passenger plane last march after 346 people were killed in 2 crashes finally indonesia's government has ended a decades long conservation deal with the world wildlife fund for nature the 25 year arrangement was acts after the government accused the environmental charity of allowing a forest where it operated to burn the w w f has denied the accusation and says the move could threaten efforts to protect certain species last year ago publicly criticize the government's response to that assessing forest fire that's it for this news hour on al-jazeera from the funny

back to when the whole team thank you for watching. join africa's largest trade and investment bank in the one day on e.t.f. gives you access to more than 1100 exhibitors and 10000 visitors and buy is and more than 5000 conference delegates from more than $55.00 countries participate in trade in investment deals with $40000000000.00 u.s. dollars as business and government come together to explore business and networking opportunities at the international exhibit should which will include a creative africa exchange by the african export import bank and the premium partner speak of 2020 transforming africa.

what's most important to me is talking to people understanding what they're going. to see it or we believe everyone has a story worth hearing the last time you were out on the streets protesting whether on line you feel the weight of the system when you walk through each and every love will work layer further and further into the jail or if you join us on say retention has to start from day one whether again you and attention or you incarcerate this is a dialogue everyone has a voice for the northeast those that support our coverage will be varying accounts but i want to give people the reason for joining the global conversation on now to 0. in on the president's son donald trump jr was promised a damaging information about hillary clinton like a shoo in to see the investigation sit down to see did the trump campaign with russia did you at any time birch former f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form the closer to back down the

investigation into michael flynn and also as you will know. next question battlefield washington on al-jazeera. the time for senators to ask questions in president trump's impeachment trial because the white house backed away the fallout from john bolton's revelations. on our intake of this is al jazeera live from london also coming up. the whole world needs to be on alert the whole world needs to take action a warning from the world health organization on the spread of the new coronavirus but a global emergency has not yet been declared.