across the board on al-jazeera. the on the on. al-jazeera. this is a news hour live from our global headquarters in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes china is rapidly building a hospital in the epicenter of the corona virus outbreak. debates whether to call it a global imagine sea the u.s. says 700000 people are now fleeing tourists or border with syria following a massive surge in syrian government has tried on a province protesters against india's controversial citizenship law become the target a man opens fire at a rally in the capital new delhi also this hour

a new plan in argentina to help fight malnutrition among low income families. and on people simply call a sport all domestic football in china has postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak and the beats roger federer to reach the final of the a straight you know open. thank you for joining us the world health organization is holding an emergency meeting to decide whether to declare the corona virus outbreak a global health emergency in china the virus has now been identified in all provinces in the epicenter where it continues on an emergency hospital being built specifically to treat the virus so far the death toll stands at 170 with nearly 8000 confirmed infections to live on. after the outbreak china has

been in close communication with the world health organization other countries as well as the regions of hong kong and macau and taiwan we have reported and circulated epidemic updates and shared the genome sequencing of the coronaviruses soon as it became available president xi jinping has expressed china's willingness to work alongside the w.h.o. and its national community to safeguard regional and global public health travelers facing growing restrictions russia is closing several direct border crossings with china and the czech republic has become the latest country to announce temporary visa restrictions for chinese citizens meanwhile a cruise ship carrying more than 6000 passengers is in lockdown at a poor near rome in italy a chinese couple on board is suspected of having the virus we'll have more on the situation in europe shortly with al jazeera sony a day ago now one area taking extra precautions is hong kong where nearly 300

people died during the sars epidemic in 2003 with iran 300000 people returning from lunar new year celebrations in mainland china trade unions are threatening to strike a nest the border is completely shut when he reports from hong kong the concern is growing in hong kong but the number of coronavirus cases here could be about to shop an increase a shortage of face masks has resulted in long lines forming outside some shops as people try to protect themselves as much as. possible i'm starting here it's 2 am. in the morning. so i'd be waiting for all 6 to 7 hours. to get the mosque to try to control the spread of the virus the hong kong government has suspended most rail and ferry services to and from the mainland. but some border crossings are still open and flights are operating which is led to criticism from many in hong kong who want all routes between here and china closed

adding to the concern it's estimated as many as 300000 hong kong residents visited the mainland during the lunar new year holiday with many still to return government medical experts say the city needs to be on alert for more infections most of the confirmed cases in hong kong are being treated at this hospital where this week several nurses went on strike for a day as part of a wider union protest against the government's response to the outbreak of the virus that threatening more strike action next week which could coincide with an increase in the number of cases in hong kong in tokyo a 2nd flight landed carrying japanese citizens evacuated from han as it did the government confirm some passengers on wednesday's 1st flight tested positive for the virus over with the national institute of infectious diseases have reported to us 3 new cases of corona virus related diseases the city they left behind remains

largely under lockdown most people are choosing to stay indoors but among the few signs of commerce delivery businesses of being kept busy taking medical supplies to hospitals my extravagant hope is to get some sleep as delivery man we cannot be called great but there are many people who need medical supplies but there is a shortage of some equipment including kits needed to test patients because of that many experts outside china believe the actual number of cases may be a lot higher than what the government is reporting wayne hay al jazeera hong kong. now researchers at john hopkins university in the u.s. are mapping the outbreak the big red dots indicate the highest number of infections mainly sit over who bay province where the virus originated elsewhere in the world cases have been confirmed in 18 other countries spanning 5 continents in the past 24 hours the 1st cases have been reported in finland india and the philippines

let's bring in sunny a day ago in london with a look at how the virus is affecting europe sonia cases of the coronavirus identified in germany in france and now italian authorities also extremely nervous about a coup ship with $6000.00 people on board. that's right comes after were reports of a chinese couple certainly the woman was found to have come down with a high fever and respectfully difficulties in both of them and had responded to difficulties they were then taken a way isolated from the rest of the passengers and more than 6000 of them which are aboard the ship and able to leave this crew ship which has just docked of the city of civitavecchia just near rome now while they are being treated in isolation by doctors from rome's spawn zani hospital is

a hospital that specializes in infectious diseases there already initial tests revealing that it may not be down to corona virus but that still has to be confirmed by the test during a mine in the meantime everyone is in quarantine aboard this ship and already have had and frustrations from passengers already been tweeting out their fears all over social media platforms as well while we're waiting for those results become known there are other issues at stake as well now it's been confirmed that the british foreign office will be sending a plane to repatriate british citizens in. that. they were given british citizens that were given a 2 hour warning the plane leaving from spain and going directly to collect those british citizens but there are other concerns for those people who are stuck in an . iran that the city is in lockdown so for the british citizens there their

main concern is how do they get to the airport and there is a real fear that not many people who are stuck in boone hand will be able to make that flight fully but some countries some european countries like france have been able to fly their citizens out of what sort of plans have been put in place for those citizens who are being repatriated from china. well you basically had. operations in conjunction also with the european union or foreign teas as well there was one from portugal on thursday that took off from the south of the country to hand to pick up european citizens as well as this french civil protection force which is repatriating its citizens as well from there as well but it will bring them back to brussels now the question is now what will happen to those people who are even if they don't exhibit any indications of coronavirus

potentially there still has to be a quarantine and certainly for the u.k. when the when they manage to be able to get people to come back they will be able to they will have to be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days and the advice is for anyone who has already come back from wu had to stay in isolation for 14 days don't go out and then of course to contact the relevant healthful forty's if any symptoms should be on display all right thank you for that sonya gay go live in london. president trump is expected to announce a special team to deal with the corona virus outbreak if it spreads through the u.s. for more let's speak security how kit in washington for us can be 5 confirmed cases in the u.s. so far how much concern is there and what sort of plans are being put in place. there's enormous concern because well there are 5 confirmed cases there is also the

monitoring of dozens more individuals that may have possible symptoms that have not yet been confirmed so as you mentioned the u.s. president putting together a team a task force in fact to monitor the situation also to contain and mitigate the spread now we know that this team has been in some form or fashion in place since monday has been meeting the president tweeting up pictures of the team is that coordinated with chinese officials we also know that the u.s. president has spoken with chinese president xi so far praising the chinese response but also in court close coordination in order to try and contain this from spreading any further particularly to the united states and there's been some controversial comments i understand from the health secretary of office. yes in the midst of all of this some people of the united states but around the world particularly concerned about the comments made by the commerce secretary wilbur ross no what he said was that this could in some ways celebrate the return of jobs

from china to the united states so when you hear that initially it sounds a little tone deaf perhaps a little insensitive considering so many are feeling so nervous and fearful right now to put it in context this was to a business audience apparently what he was asked was a question about business and sort of the impact using the precedent of the sars outbreak in the past where the united states said it did see some of those outsourced jobs from the united states returning to the united states it appears that's what he was intimating but again not playing well here in the u.s. and around the world given the fact that so many are feeling so nervous and so fearful right now the issue is about human lives not about bringing jobs to the united states and i think that's what's not playing well indeed thank you for that kimberly how could live for us at the white house. is one of the many countries trying to evacuate citizens out of the epicenter of the great corona virus outbreak

but there's been criticism of a plan to quarantine return ease on a remote island that was formerly used to detain assigned him seekers so far 9 cases have been confirmed in australia the home affairs minister says the government wants to strike a balance between helping australian stranded in china and protecting the mainland from the virus. the reality is that people need to be accommodated somewhere for up to 14 dies or can't clear out hospital in city or mobile respond or don't have a facility other was that we can quickly accommodate from what might be many hundreds of people and christmas oil and is purpose built for exactly this scenario so while message very clear message to people christmas so on is that we won't be using the medical central health facilities on christmas all of what utilizing other areas so let's put this into context now just how serious it is a lot of people have been asking how it compares with the seasonal flu that does

kill up to half a 1000000 people worldwide every year but that's only a tiny fraction of the people who get it less than one percent at the moment remember this operate is less than 2 months old the virus kills around 2 to 3 percent of those infected but experts say that could change this particular strain of corona virus to spread faster than others like sars but has a lower chance of being deadly more than 800 people died in the saas outbreak of 20022003 compare all of that now to the spanish flu which devastated the world in 1918 it killed 10 percent of the people who got it at least 50000000 people die it's early and my colleague martin dentist spoke with the medical historian mark awnings bomb who says china is doing a much better job containing the outbreak compared to how the size epidemic was handled 2 decades ago. we've still got data coming in is still a very confused picture. it does seem that it is not as. fatal as

murders which killed 130 percent or you know people who lost their lives but this group of virus as you pointed out people that's the major mortality rates around 2 percent. and it seems to be spreading almost as quickly as ours has different data on that but i would says comparable to solve at the moment i would say it's not as serious assault but that is changing rapidly right now because despite the yani everybody increasing number of people who seem to contract it the virus the number of people who died seem to be those who are either elderly infirm or have a preexisting condition i mean would you say that that mitigates against the world health organization for instance declaring it that global emergency. well yes i mean it's very difficult because. why would the global why would the w.h.o. 'd what would be the purpose really 'd of the clarity global emergency so many

people are calling for because clearly the virus has spread beyond china's borders i think jack exactly how many countries but we've got at least 14 of the countries where they've been introductions so it fits the definition already or a global health emergency in this national concern but there is a risk of course that when you declare and when you increase the alert level you're responding people and what we've learned from previous epidemic and pandemic outbreaks is that you have 2 problems one is control of the bars the other is controlling the social responses the panic about the virus right absolutely and now the chinese authorities are really at pains it would seem to impress upon not only their own people but the world that they're in charge and that they're being completely transparent about the nature of it and indeed the measures that they're taking to try and contain it how much confidence you have in the chinese authorities and the way they're handling the virus. well i mean i'm not an expert

on this i'm not in china i have colleagues i work with here at city university chinese teaching colleagues who say that in the early 'd days of the african december the there were doctors in rouhani who were saying on social media you know we're alarmed about this outbreak at the seafood market and they were. essentially criticized closed down by the authorities accused of spreading misinformation fake news if you like we now know that the pirates probably merged even earlier than that that those were the 1st signals and that was the time really to respond quickly the difference is that this time they have to be much quicker to share scientific information so they may have suppressed the initial reports on social media but when it comes to the scientists they very quickly shared information with the international community they sequence the virus they publish that information online and because of that we are already in the process of trying to develop

vaccines none of that happened during the sars outbreak in 2002 so that's a good thing something the chinese should be applauded for. plenty more ahead on this news hour including as mexico prevents central american migrants from reaching the u.s. find out why some are calling the country donald trump's border wall and in sports how organizers of the super bowl in miami ah god in against the threats of the car and a virus. the u.s. special envoy for syria says at least $200.00 strikes have hit the only remaining rebel held province in the last 3 days james jeffrey estimates around $700000.00 people in adelaide and all fleeing towards the border with turkey at least 21 civilians have been killed by russian backed syrian government as strikes over the

past 24 hours a hospital in the city of ari how was among the sites at victoria good to be has a details. this is what's left of al shabby hospital in april that. goes into a loose on the how we were at home with their kids when a russian warplane carried out an aerial raid against a hospital and also a residential area people are fed up with life here we don't know where to go no one can help no one can protect us from these attacks. many of the patients here have been injured and evacuated to other hospitals dozens of medical facilities have been destroyed in a strikes in recent months to say these facilities were attacked deliberately so they had what i work in the rehab hospital it was directly targeted the hospital is not operating now it is completely destroyed due to the direct shelling so many were killed in dozens wounded. the syrian civil defense group notice the white helmets and say planes russians warplanes school the attack the russian warplanes

targeted all shammy hospital hunder surrounding residential areas in a rear in 3 air raids civil defense units. rushed to the scene and were trying to evacuate the woman and the boy under the rubble. rusher is supporting syrian government forces and has denied bombing a real hospital moscow insists it avoids attacking civilian targets turkey's president wretched type 2 and says both russia and syria have violated a ceasefire in it live brokered by turkey and russia earlier this month the territories the last that's controlled by rebel groups in syria's northwest region thousands of civilians a caught up in the violence the u.n. says more than $350000.00 have been forced to leave their homes since the beginning of december many families are now packing their belongings and leaving the city over rear but they don't know where they can go that safe victoria gayton be out.

speak tomorrow one about this is head of a policy analysis at the absentia for research and policy studies joins us on the news out thank you so much mullen for being with us so 200 syrian government. the regime taking control of some key towns and cities including. are we witnessing here the final days of the battle for it and why i think we have been talking about deport the past 2 years at least but this seems to be one last assault by the government by the regime of president bashar assad and the main object of here is actually to capture them in the road between hama and their bowl model to nominate is one of the key thousands on this main road i think the next target will be soccer. is the last big town on the border between hama and. to the north and expect that there is going to be another assault. on the northwest's because the regime actually is gunning to take also the m.

4. and a lib or so this particular pattern over the past few weeks actually is mainly about the control. of these 2 main roads because the regime would want very much actually 2 of the trade routes the routes between the mosque is a liberal and between the darky are a liberal and has a car and there is symbolic of the country so. at the bottom of it probably it's going to take much much much longer because that will be also subject to negotiation between turkey and russia and speaking of turkey on the president of turkey has accused the russians are failing to uphold the end of the deal deescalation deal to deescalate this conflict and to one threatening to in his words take our own action what action kentucky realistically taking well i believe when he threatens to take action i believe that he might be. more inclined towards

arming the syrian opposition better helps with more lethal weapons in order to put some pressure on the on the russians because the turks actually did this. many times in the past in order to put pressure on the syrian regime and the russians to sit at the table of negotiations. but i think the turks right now are less inclined in my opinion to do that. i mean because of the god is also talking about undermining the whole atlanta process i think there is nothing left of the us and in fact because on the one hand we see this latest assault by the regime backed by the russians on the guy the russians you know have denied being behind these latest strikes have said they're not you know they're not involved at all in these airstrikes but i don't think we can take seriously because we all know actually that the syrian regime doesn't have that air power that enough actually in order to defeat the opposition so we all know actually that it's the russians actually who are using their air force against the opposition and helping the regime made this

progress but i was talking also about the whole does it run a process in terms of the political track of doesn't a process that is also in tatters. now why because our constitutional committee has field also you know i mean the russians and the turks they agreed to establish a constitutional committee in order to bring about their work because if you shine through this crisis but has not been working actually so far we know also that the special envoy the u.n. special envoy he declared that is that that the constituent committee actually is is almost dead because the actions on the regime are not cooperating so i think one think that anything is left actually from the atlanta process but i still think that the turks actually are not willing to take this conflict to escalate with the with the russians because what they really care about the turks in this whole conflict right now is in fact to prevent the establishment of an equal in clear on the on the borders between 2 and syria and it has the russians and the syrian regime might help them and so this is why i think i'm

a little bit and is skeptical about the threats made by a lot of i got the turks also concerned about another influx of refugees towards their border we heard the u.s. special envoy talk about another international crisis there that's very true i know we all know actually that the turks are very much concerned about the influx of refugees into their their borders but we can see also that the turks actually are trying to to to to to to take the. crisis actually to or to other syrian territories rather than actually having them enter the turkish territories. i believe that looks must be in a very difficult position right now because as we said we have their futures on one hand but on the other hand they don't want to escalate with the russians but we still need to see how the can work out some sort of agreement with the russians because they have been doing this for the past few years and i believe that the turks will always find their way in order to deal with with what occurred russians

and it's always good to get your insight on this thank you very much for joining us on our air thanks thank you. now to india and protesters and police in new delhi stand. golf as an activist campaign against the new citizenship law is a nature's you know wave of angry protests over the law which they say discriminates against muslims only a man shot at stemmons straight is injuring one person the man shouted at protesters outside a university in new delhi before opening fire demonstrators had planned to form a human chain and as a random was at those protests earlier today. when you giambi a 1000000 it is for me a university where a man shot at a protest is injuring one person has been taken away to hospital now mobile phone video of the incident shows the man brandishing a gun waving it at protesters and to the lists walking backwards to a line of police officers before being apprehended by police john media has been

one of the center of protests since the citizenship amendment act was post by the indian government 7 weeks ago did most of the rallies here have been peaceful and people outweighed any os seeing how a man was allowed to enter with a gun and why he wasn't apprehended in india now this is not the 1st such incident in the capital earlier in the week and not the man was out headed at another of one of these major protests sidestepping he also has a gun and these incidents occurred as members of the ruling fatah thea jemas the posse all the b j p having making statements say that this should be shot like killing the chest is that bob to. murder is and break it is. a head of the election. next week

a. techie's president bush have typewrite on has been accused of breaking his word over the conflict in libya the charge came from president in. call in the french leader who says turkey schwartz shapes and most neris of arrived in the war zone in the past week despite already won promising to stay away to his foreign ministry says funds should stop supporting warlords money for have tar if it wants to help bring peace to libya still ahead on this al-jazeera news hour at the white house threatens a new book by former national security advisor john bolton as calls grow to summon him as a witness in president trump's impeachment trial in sports speech or as action from the australian open including the no rant american who stunned the world number one .

hello turkey's about to get plastered with no you can see it happening now and it might well come across the border into northern syria or any high ground because in the up to a meter of snow in the next 48 hours or so the south is that there will be some rain showers but you'll end up on friday dodgy with an onshore breeze not particularly warm 11 in damascus probably bright skies the blue is clearly rain there what is clearly snow and this something you can't quite see this line here develops a few showers in the mountains in the west a society that's moving science words it might be society bahrain or qatar probably not and following it not immediately is a should also quiet weather but still not very warm 39000 is a max in there hot most of north africa is affected just by the hamas and the winter breeze if you like and that's so ganged up to bring some pretty high temperatures to senegal in the gambia banjul 35 is above average and we did see

a record broken the last day or so and nothing much will change with that breeze still bloody you'll still get a bit of dust in the air and high temperatures the rains further south the rift valley all the way down towards zimbabwe and from angola eastwards there's the focus of the heavy rain with a few showers as far south as the suit to. from fossil fuels to modern day renewables as societies develop the energy demands increase requiring innovative solutions to meet such demands as a global power development of investment company nebraska power is uniquely positioned to deliver against eastern mounds we provide business growth promote social economic benefits and provide innovative safe and environmentally sound energy solutions for future generations the breastpin pioneering future energy. does earaches blows prominent figures of the 20th century and how life already

influenced the course of history was the human revolution communism away feel castro is a feudal east the not a communist the custer wanted his country che wanted international revolution became a point when the relationship came to an end the icons of revolution who changed the course of latin american politics. and fidel castro face to face on al-jazeera . you're watching the news on al-jazeera with me fully back to bull a reminder of our top stories the corona virus outbreak has now spread to all provinces in china killing 170 people and infecting nearly 8000 the wall talf

organization is meeting to decide whether to declare it a global emergency the u.s. envoy to syria says at least $200.00 s. strides have hit rebel held in the province in the last 3 days james jeffries estimates around $700000.00 people are now feeling towards the border with turkey a hospital in the city of rehab was among the sites hit by the syrian government and in india a man who was shot at stemmons trades is injuring one person during a protest over a controversial citizenship law the man shouted at protesters outside a university in new delhi before opening fire. now protests have broken out in the occupied west bank against a us plan for the middle east which side with israel on many contentious issues a small crowd of demonstrators have been burning tires near the illegal israeli settlement of beat al which lies close to the palestinian city of ramallah under

donald trump's proposal settlements including bait sale would be unexpired rail the un has rejected trump's plan it says solutions to these really palestinian conflict should be based on international law and u.n. resolutions now more than 2000000 palestinians live in jordan and many of them have voiced anger over the u.s. presence plan but the reaction from jordan's king and his government has been muted that speak to casey i dean who's a member of the jordanian parliament and also a member of the jordanian foreign affairs committee his live from frankfurt thank you very much for being with us on al-jazeera another those who say that they are worrying signs that support for this plan may be gaining traction in some arab countries and european capitals and the response that has to be saved from arab leaders in particular has been muted what is the official jordanian reaction to this plan. well here in jordan we will refuse the plan we said.

our foreign minister was very clear his majesty king abdullah was very clear as well he said no to the plan several times and. i have no doubt all jordanian stand united now behind his by the sticking up and saying no to this done this is an acceptable plan this is a one sided plan we've looked at it basically a jewish state an apartheid state this is what to do this is number one number 2 jerusalem being the un divide the capital this is against all you under the solutions everything that the international community has worked for and this is of course is what refused syrian jordan right number 3 return we've heard 'd trump and nothing else saying that a few issue has to be sort of outside. and this is of course refused by us and jordan the a light of return is

a sacred tried for the palestinians this is how we see it and this is how we as jordanians see it as one that i to return in this is a sacred. again we've heard nothing else trying to. the jordan valley right out of this this is just a one sided plan that is refused see it enjoy the ok by the people of jordan by the government of jordan and by the king of jordan jordan then rejecting this plan as you say prime minister netanyahu seems bent on carrying out an extension as soon as possible. of west bank settlements but also jordan i wonder how will it react if and when israel onix is not just west bank settlements but also the jordan valley would this in danger israel speace with jordan. this would in the interest of course because the treaty. between jordan and theirs that i would choose a fuse on a problem opinions of a parliamentarian level 'd is clear when it comes to the jordan valley and this is

a clear breach of the peace treaty between jordan and israel and therefore this jeopardizes the whole treaty you know again this is one state solution and. this is what basically the whole deal of the century is it is not a viable plan it is not a viable solution and it will not happen on ground that will not happen with all due respect to all. countries that of. been in the white house when it was announced it is different when you live in palestine that is different to what you are in the actual thing and i think this is definitely 'd a fuse by the palestinians as well of the sound of this out several times we in jordan did this is one when we look at the united states the american administration and specific these days we do not find them as neutral anymore i don't call up on the international community the european union maybe china and

other countries to take the lead but even the european union as you know has had a response of sorry to interrupt you even the europeans as you know have had a good response so my question now is beyond you know rejecting the this deal and saying you know it's not right what the action plan i mean what i jordan's options regarding this deal the limited how do you reject it how do you oppose it legally. well we're working i was just of the board in the council of europe who are working on issuing this statement a clear statement to the fusing such as such a deal calling upon the europeans and the international community to stand up to the values to stand up to what slight and what song the international community the opium union and any person with with a conscience and the sense of flight and the wrong must firmly and unequivocal e stand against such a plan which might be the one with the least into the unknown this is what we

believe in and this is what we see there is no solution other than a solution of the palestinian state with a capital of jerusalem this is the only solution we see this is what is the light and this is what we will continue diplomatically to fight for thank you for speaking to us kai sayah dean member of the jordanian parliament joining us there from frankfurt thank you for your time u.s. secretary of state mike on pale has met with british prime minister voice johnson to discuss polls the exit ties including a free trade deal the u.k. leaves the european union on friday met with his british counterpart dominic robb and said the u.k. is taking a risk by allowing chinese tech firm weiwei a limited role in his 5 g. network the u.s. is concerned while ways links to the chinese government could put their intelligence corp at risk let's go to rory challenge for us in london so how is the u.k. approaching this visit ben because there are some visible cracks in this relationship

right now. yeah the u.k. government's task as ever when it comes to its relationship with the united states is to preserve this strategic partnership as much as possible without looking like it's giving away the whole house now i was talking to a former minister of many u.k. governments yesterday who described this is deep not looking like the u.s. is neutral or all laugh though the clearest expression we have of this at the moment is that decision from the u.k. governments to allow the chinese tech giant hallway to build parts of the 5 g. network against the express wishes of the united states which sees this as a security threat but then the u.k. and the u.s. aren't also on the same page particularly the moment when it comes to iran and there's an ongoing extradition arguments really regarding the wife of the u.s. diplomats who had a fatal car crash when she was here in the united kingdom none of these differences

in the moments. for positively for the u.k. government seemed to have made the u.s. go cold on a quick trade deal and we heard pompei o say on this visit that there the previous it administration the obama administration had said that breaks it would mean that the u.k. went to the back of the queue when it came to a trade deal he was saying that under trump the u.k. should be at the front of the queue for a quick trade deal but what a great trade deal with the u.s. be good for the u.k. in the long run. that is a very good question and we don't know the answer to that yet it depends on what that trade deal is the devil is in the details so yes the u.k. needs to do a trade deal fast with the united states to make it look as if this post breaks it global britain that they talk about all the time is a success but at the same time it doesn't want to be so desperate that it signs everything away so it needs to protect certain things like the you know the whole

mice. sacret national health service from big pharma u.s. companies it needs to keep things like chlorine washed chick in the us hormone injected be out of british stores the current lower standard so much to do a deal with the united states that it alienates the european union on the other side who it also needs to do trade deals with but let's not forget that this is the america 1st ministration of donald trump it's not going to do the u.k. any favors when it comes to trade deals that's going to drive a very hard bargain roee think you're only chalons live in london. u.s. democrats are stepping up their calls for witnesses to testify at the impeachment

trial of president donald trump ahead of a crucial senate vote on friday wednesday's hearing was dominated by augments over a sale to be of a nice book by former national security advisor john bolton which could damage the president's case. reports from washington. donald trump's defense team has a novel argument for his acquittal that the president asking ukraine for dirt on a political opponent may be in his personal interest and also in the interest of the united states making him immune if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in an impeachment democrats prosecuting trump say his intent was purely for political gain so all could prose are not the same some are legitimate and some are corrupt and you don't need to be a mind reader to figure out which is which for one thing you can ask john bolton

john bolton trump's former national security advisor reportedly claims in an upcoming book that trump directly tied his hold on security a.j. ukraine to his demand for investigations into joe biden in a letter obtained by al-jazeera the white house warns bolton not to publish his book without deleting classified information on twitter wednesday trump said the book was nasty untrue and all classified democrats want to call bolton as a witness they'll need support from 4 republican senators to make that happen they vote no they're saying this is a sham they're saying we don't want to hear the truth what does that say to america about this body. meanwhile someone else was all but begging for. senators to call him to testify. but from donor left parness says he was dispatched to ukraine by trump's attorney to stir up dirt useful for trump's reelection

parness is under federal indictment for campaign fraud and says he came to the capitol wearing an ankle monitor to make amends. democrats out of knowledge getting republicans to agree to witnesses is an uphill battle that question will be put to a vote friday if the answer is no trump could be immediately acquitted by peter castro al jazeera washington. mexico has been preventing central american migrants from reaching the u.s. border since the middle of last year and with the mexican government facing ongoing threats from the u.s. president as leading some to call the country donald trump's wall john home and reports from mexico city. that. this was aboard a caravan of thousands of home during as expected when the into mexico here you know 2 you know we're hearing big gas to us from where parents are here with their children. but this kind of crackdown on migrants is what president trump's come to

rely on his southern neighbor to do. may not have his will yet but mitt's courage become the next best thing a web of checkpoints cover the south and president nope is obrador even deploy the new national guard to stop those from whom do this what tamala del salvador did getting to the u.s. if makes chris become trumps will the question is why elise all comes from the june 2019 when donald trump basically said that unless we mexicans contain the flow of people from the border he was going to impose a specific tax a fee of up to 10 percent to every single expert in mexico's from mexico that turned for it was serious 80 percent of its exports go to the u.s. in very a long answer it clamped down and effectively last month preventions on the u.s. border were down 2 thirds from the month before president trump's ultimatum but

some argue that it's a short term solution and the root causes need to be addressed that part of the upper limits also happening inside. central america both countries when the u.s. and its over there are one of the most unequal countries in the region at this is about time for us to come to terms and try to understand why the mistake elites in this country are not doing enough to register with resources to their people. rooting out corruption providing opportunities so that central americans don't leave hasn't been president trump focus it has been part of president lopez obrador says he's pushed for investment in his southern neighbors he's also said that mitt could absorb those forced to flee didn't we. must. we have more than 4000 jobs in the southern border area available this shelter's medical care and work in our country are those promises turned out to be largely empty the majority of those in this caravan were quickly deported. for they are now the message at least seems

clear if you're fleeing your home and don't expect free passage through mexico john home an al-jazeera mexico city. argentina's new government has begun issuing food cards to low income families in an attempt to fight malnutrition the card gives them between $50.00 and $90.00 a month to buy certain food items the country's in the middle of an economic crisis and is preparing to restructure around a $100000000000.00 in debt and. long lines of people waiting to get government help this is happening in. only half an hour away from the center of one of scientists. this is just one of the places in the country where the new government of the for a man this has not got a program to fight my nutrition. has 4 children and has been without work for a year. it's a compliment to help. for years we have seen an increase in prices and it's

difficult to make sure the kids eat well we bought lots of pasta and rice and they need meat fish and protein in the past year that devaluation of the peso currency has had a strong impact on the price of food many of those coming here are already receiving government help this card gives them between $50.90 extra dollars a month to buy only certain food items and. my husband has some temporary work but i don't and this helps a lot with some basic items the government hopes to distribute over 560000 cards to help cope with rising my nutrition in the province on site children can get vaccinated. and there is a nutrition expert that teaches people how to eat smart. with telling people what they should buy once they get the cart we talk to them about what type of food that children eat we ask them to buy fruit vegetables meat and milk we see children who are not big enough and others who are overweight we are trying to educate them that

they shouldn't buy sugary drinks that do not add to that diet the government also hold that this cards will help reactivate argentina's economy that is already struggling with the recession and in place and even though this food cart will certainly help lots of families here that are currently struggling with the economic crisis most analysts say that the program to help solve argentina's endemic in capacity to generate jobs now would i long source says the program will inject almost $9000000000.00 in the economy a year from now. we're in an emergency trying to allow families to buy basic needs but the objective as the. president say it is to change the economic structure in the country to be able to generate jobs that is what the country needs by activating the economy we would generate consumption and hopefully economic prosperity argentina produces grain and protein for millions of people around the

world but it has failed to fight at home only years of sustained economic growth will guarantee better living conditions for those who depend on the government to survive. this still ahead on al-jazeera in sports the l.a. lakers returned to practice with kobe bryant in their phones peter has more in just a few minutes to stay with us. examining the impact of today's headlines you use the misinformation use the term by setting the agenda for tomorrow's discussions how unique is this in terms of modern american history when it comes to racism you have the makings of a neo fascist mold international filmmakers and world class journalists bringing programs to inspire you. on al-jazeera. big

stories generally it sounds like. in this story are too numerous for comfort with different angles from different perspectives things never really believed. in the war to separate the spin from the facts the misinformation from the judge so this is clear and sounds to me and here that the listening post on al-jazeera. fully thank you very much domestic football in china has been postponed due to the

spread of the coronavirus this applies to all levels of the game including the lucrative chinese super league which was due to start next month the world indoor athletics championships in china have been delayed by a year until march 2021 and the international ski federation has canceled next month's races at china's 2022 winter olympic venue for me to one also says it's monitoring the situation and will alter its calendar if necessary the u.s. is also on alert for the coronavirus as thousands of n.f.l. fans travel from around the world to sunday's super bowl the kansas city chiefs and the san francisco 49 is meet in miami government officials say they are doing everything they can to keep the public safe. we're doing enhanced screening at 5 primary airports that has now expanded to 20 or ports including miami here. you see medical professionals we do a number of enhanced medical screenings there from individuals coming from mainland

china 7 time australian open champion on the chalk of us got the better of arrival roger federer enthused a semifinal of this year's event but there's a surprise liner for the women's final in melbourne as david starts reports i know that djokovic she already has 7 australian open titles and he's hungry for more after gets another wind of a roger federer in a major as night fell in melbourne federal court hard to open up a full one lead in the set despite struggling with a growing injury. but he couldn't make it count and djokovic full back to win it on a tie break. i federer did his best to keep up in the 2nd set but the serb was just too good. he was fired up and he wrapped it up in straight sets. it's the 6th straight win of the federal mages and gives him

a chance to win grand slam number 17 that would put in just 3 behind federer is all time record respect to roger for coming out tonight see it was obviously hard to hide i wasn't at his best in close to his best things in terms of movement and you know respect for coming out and trying his best all the way through joke of each will face are the dominant team alex and his farah in the final there was a big shock in the women semi's where the world number one actually bazzi was looking to become australia's 1st time when it in 42 year is and it was going to plan for the top seed. this shot sets up she set points and had her american opponent safina kevin rattled. but barty didn't convert the chances and was made to pay 21 year old ken in one the tie break to take a once a neat incident. and it was the same story in the 2nd set but again had to set points but fail to make them count and once again ken in the 14th seed at this

tournament took full advantage to record a famous victory i born in russia but raised in florida she's through to her 1st grand slam final she's a great player you know and there's a reason why she ran under one by i mean i'm disillusioned with. the barty a disappointing end to the tournament but her baby niece by her side in the post much press conference helped soften the blow you know perspective the beautiful thing is a beautiful thing it's she brought a smile to my face as soon as i came off the court i got to give her a hug. so good. in saturday's final can and will face the former number one. who fought hard to beat the wimbledon champion simona halep like kennan she too had to say force a point the 2 time major winner has dropped down the rankings and he's unseated at this tournament but she's been enjoying a revival recently and wrap things up in straight sets i the spanish venezuelan setting up a 1st appearance in

a major final since he won wimbledon back in 2017 david stokes al-jazeera. let's go from tennis to basketball now and one of the n.b.a.'s brightest stars return from a year on the injured list to inspire the indiana pacers to victory on wednesday victor. nailed this long a 3 pointer to force overtime against the chicago booth i sending the crowd into raptures and his mother as well the pacers going on to win this 111-5106. the los angeles lakers have returned to practice for the 1st time since the death of their former. kobe bryant the team canceled tuesday's match with the l.a. clippers but returns to the court against the pope and trailblazers on friday brian spent 20 years with the lakers and his combination with shaquille o'neal helped them to 3 straight championships before a feud led to a departure but they did become friends again and the loss has hit shaq hard.

i mean to be. attached to go over. for what we did. people always us about our relationship. to strong minded people. who are going to get them or we're. going to say certain things. are spiking nobody wants another we take stuff around that we're not going to be able. to joke that is hall of fame ceremony. what are going to be. for. the fact that we're not going to say if we would stay together we could. go to the derby change care get back baseball coach should john bailey he's wife and teenage daughter were among those killed in the helicopter crash alongside brian's 2000

people pay tribute to them on the season's opening day after he spent 27 years with the orange coast college team. norway's henry kristofferson strengthen the lead at the top of the overall world cup ski standings thanks to a big mistake from his main rival in austria mark swartz who world's fastest in the 1st run after schlub ming but immediately slipped up on the 2nd denying the austrian team a 1st slalom win the season that didn't ruin the home crowd 0 enjoyment or too much the christofferson almost made the same mistake of sorts but quickly recovered to be a champion notching his 17th career slalom with. that's where we'll leave it for now most sports for me coming up again later peter thank you very much we'll see you later that set for this news hour on al-jazeera to stay with us i've got plenty more wild things coming up after the show break.

so bring on al-jazeera. and make tension with the u.s. and protests over a plane downing iran's parliamentary election will be held on february 21st partition of syria explores the fate of india's religious minorities on the prime minister modi's hindu move us voters get their fast chance to weigh in on the 20 twentieth's action al-jazeera will have comprehensive coverage of the new series looks at how female scientists across the globe are opening doors for other women to pursue careers in science and up to 5 years of civil war could bitter rivals

agree a peace deal to revive africa's youngest nation. february on al jazeera. i enjoy bringing my neighbors my neighbors children so they can see and get more comfortable 5 years children are at the heart of america's love affair with weapons back at the varo salam makes a report on the christian and therefore need to shoot and it's fun but a new generation is fighting fire with the recently are fighting for voices to be heard because we don't want to see and hear disputing get burned i mean on the street never again to the radicalized youth series on al-jazeera there are some of the media stories a critical look at the global news media the spread of officers on al-jazeera government shut off access to social media in the philippines the black market for gold is worth hundreds of millions but not everyone is reaping the rewards to sell them paying the ultimate prize when i went east investigates why people like dying

for gold on al-jazeera. i am . china is rapidly building a hospital in the epicenter of the corona virus outbreak as the w.h.o. debates whether to call it a global imagine see. the air . play watching al jazeera live from doha would be fully back to go also coming out the u.s. says 700000 people a feeling towards thirty's border with syria following a surge in syrian government asked strikes on his protesters against india's controversial citizenship law become the target i'm.