on al-jazeera. understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world so no matter where you call. the news and current affairs that matter to you. this country is headed towards the greatest cover up since watergate republicans poised to acquit president trump on what could be the final day of his impeachment trial. hello i'm maryanne demasi in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program evacuations from china stepped up and more travel restrictions come into force as almost 10000 coronavirus cases a confirmed countdown to breaks it sadness and celebrations as person prepares to

become the 1st country to meet the e.u. and a state of emergency is declared as bushfires threatened the southern suburbs of australia's capital canberra. democrat impeachment managers are again appealing to republicans in the u.s. senate to allow witnesses and additional evidence in the impeachment trial of president donald trump in total they have 4 hours to debate before the crucial vote to decide the future of the trial democrats need at least 4 republicans to vote for additional witnesses but that looks highly unlikely after 2 key republican senators confirmed they would not meaning the senate will not hear from former national security adviser john bolton he reportedly claims trump asked him to help pressure ukraine into investigating his political opponents will trump could now be

acquitted in the coming hours and in the last hour house impeachment manager and congressman adam schiff made an 11th hour plea for the senate to hear bolton's testimony so here you have the president saying john bolton is not telling the truth let's find out let's put john bolton under oath let's find out who's telling the truth the trial is supposed to be a quest for the truth let's not fear what we will learn as mr simple only said let's make sure that all the facts come out. of senate minority the chuck schumer says it will mean nothing if president trump is acquitted without witnesses being cold in the trial if my republican colleagues refuse to consider witnesses and documents in this trial the president's acquittal will be meaningless because it will be the result of

a sham trial if there are no witnesses no documents in this trial there will be a permanent asterisk next to the acquittal of president trump written in permanent ink as go live to castro who's on capitol hill for us what now with the process as to whether or not witnesses a cold. mariyam it seems very unlikely that witnesses will be called given that in about the last hour's time we had the key swing vote a modern republican lisa murkowski senator who told the press she intends to vote no on witnesses in an explanation in a statement she says i have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the senate i don't believe the continuation of this process will change anything it is sad for me to admit that as an institution the congress has failed now that statement coming at a very interesting time because of course these john bolton revelations that

continue to leak out in the press with the new york times now reporting that he was instructed by president trying to engage in this shadow campaign in ukraine and that he declined to do so which is of course what the adam schiff the lead impeachment manager brought up in his opening remarks today as part of his impeachment trial but it may seem that it's too little too late with these pivotal moderate republicans in the middle on this witness question having decided that they will vote no on whether or not to call witnesses. right so it seems increasingly unlikely that that is going to happen but is that any possibility of witnesses still being compelled to testify in some way. well certainly the democratic impeachment managers continue to make the argument right now on the senate floor for the for the importance of calling these witnesses but

ultimately the calculation of the republican senators who have gone on the record to say they don't want to hear more witnesses is that you know according to the president's own defense even if what these witnesses have to say is true they're saying even if president committed the actions that he is accused of that still he this does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense and we seem to have indication that argument has held sway for some of these moderate republicans who in all likelihood are going to side with their republican colleagues in voting for the president's acquittal and it's not a matter of if that will happen really but a matter of when if the question on witnesses is no as expected later this evening we could have the senate voting to acquit the president as early as the end of today if not sometime did next week mary and thank you heidi joe castro on capitol hill we're now joined by judy grace who's

a congressional reporter for us political website the hill so can i start by getting you all sots on these recent developments if there are indeed no witnesses involved in this trial how will it affect the credibility of the process and. with a sort of impartial justice now i think you're going to see a lot of outrage on behalf of democrats who have argued for a long time that it's been an unfair trial that's been conducted in the senate now i think house democrats will probably likely try and subpoena for john bolton to try and find out more his book has not been dropped yet there could be further developments that they're going to want to look into now republicans i think this is a huge win for mitch mcconnell having lisa murkowski come out and say she's not in favor of voting for witnesses despite these new developments is huge for him. you know why is that why what do you make of the way in which republicans have explained that. witnessed the testimony and the likely acquittal of president trump

and i think lisa murkowski statement was very interesting she kind of took a swipe at a senator elizabeth warren for her question. questioning chief justice roberts on whether his credibility would be come into question if there weren't witnesses during the trial which i think didn't sit well with her and she said that the house was a russian flawed process they should have taken more time to bring in some of these witnesses move forward with the subpoenas. now lamar alexander said that it's clear that the president clearly asked for ukraine to look into the bidens and but he doesn't believe that it rises to an impeachable offense so it's been interesting to kind of see where these moderates stand if the democrats do indeed move forward with those subpoenas how quickly will we know about whether we're going to hear from witnesses like john bolton well they would have to put forth the subpoenas he's already agreed to testify so i can imagine that if the house tries to bring

him in that he object to that so i mean it could be within a month within the month or next month february or later in the year. to see how quickly. chairman of the different committees that were in charge in charge of impeachment back there thank you very much judy grace joining a 2nd question report a full the hill. well as president trump's impeachment trial moves towards its conclusion in washington the u.s. secretary of state has pledged on wavering support for ukraine on a visit to kiev white pompei a met with president belgium is a lengthy who called for the u.s. to be more involved in setting its conflict with settling its conflict with russian backed separatists in is the highest ranking u.s. official to visit ukraine since trump's impeachment trial began and says any future visit by zelinsky to the white house is not dependent on an investigation into the biden family matter i'm unsurprised by your question i suspect you will not be

unsurprised by my answer. no there's there's no condition that the nature described for presidents who come to washington and have that this is just simply not the case will find the right time or find the appropriate opportunity. or search being placed on travel to china as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide paul says those of the songs epidemic in 2003 the death toll from the virus now stands at 213 with nearly 10000 confirmed cases all in china there are at least 131 cases in 24 countries outside mainland china including sweden italy the u.k. and russia 14 are in thailand where a taxi driver has caught the virus through human to human transition transmission evacuations from the epicenter of the crown a virus a being stepped up as well with the u.k.

japan and turkey flying out their citizens out of will han nearly 60000000 people have been under partial or full lockdown in chinese cities for a week scott hyder reports to us now from beijing on how people are coping. the lockdown of will haunt city origin of the corona virus and the surrounding province is now in its 2nd week so how are the more than 50000000 people there coping we spoke with a few through video chat to get an idea john and his wife live in their 2 sons postpone their trip from hong kong for the lunar new year because of the virus the dates keep getting pushed back and their biggest concern is the uncertainty the obvious stress of concern about being infected with the coronavirus but what is it like just the other stress about supplies about your daily life i think.

this. becomes a turn. he says he gets his information from friends outside china and contacts at the local hospital. is next to walk on like its neighbor it is sealed off and its streets empty this video was shot by one shin he has a supply of mass and food in the fridge his parents are with him but his wife and young daughter are with her parents outside who pay province. i feel more relaxed because who by province is now seriously hit by the epidemic the place where they are at now has far fewer cases so i feel a bit relieved that they're not with me this cipher at the moment biggest concern is when will we have medication for the virus this is what we care about most all those people who have problems are under a forced lockdown there are some communities across china who are self imposing a lockdown like this one on the outskirts of beijing they're not letting anyone into this community from the outside they're worried someone might carry the virus

inside no matter the type of lock down government forced or self-imposed with the spread of the virus accelerating no one knows how long these communities to remain safe it's got to al-jazeera beijing. well japan many in the u.k. are among the nation's evacuation a citizens from one on the settee at the hostel the outbreak so they gave the reports now on the international evacuation effort. a mission to get foreign nationals out of new han as quickly as possible as this german air force plane departed from cologne airport it was one of a number of countries that intensified efforts to get its citizens out of the city at the center of the outbreak. there are more than 100 people none of whom are infected there are also no suspected cases amongst these people in order to guarantee the safety of the people in germany evacuee florentine for 2 weeks into german army base to ensure that none of the evacuees is infected. at least

half a dozen people in germany were confirmed to have tested positive for the virus and the pressure to contain it is urgent in the u.k. on friday the 1st cases of the illness appeared the same day as the british government transported its citizens back from the lockdown region. aboard a plane another $110.00 evacuees who managed to make it out. but there are still many other foreign nationals trapped in the city unable as of yet to get out. those who arrived were immediately taken away by coach to a health facility in the northwest of england they will now spend the next 2 weeks in quarantine monitored for any signs of the disease and if any one of them develop symptoms they will be taken to one of 4 specialized hospitals for treatment. with a vaccine still months away from being remotely ready countries are focusing on containment and management of the outbreaks masks are becoming prevalent in high

risk areas such as airports as a threat of the virus is still to be assessed on al-jazeera brize norton england. well more than a trillion u.s. dollars have been wiped off the global stock market because of fears of the impact of the corona virus outbreak on global growth european markets have been hit the hardest as many of the companies there are dependent on beijing's economy china is the world's fastest growing consumer locket in the united states stocks have recorded some of their worst results since october. still ahead for you on the program why protest in gaza against president trying to propose middle east peace plan one to speak as they have been in previous years and a competitive advantage of all that let its governing body fans and nike trainers worn by a record breaking. continues

across much of central europe this point of chatter and there is some rain on the way meanwhile as i say we have had this a mild air in place but a lot of moisture has been really building up to the east of the black sea so this is new to sochi and this is where they've had too much snow so the training was canceled for the women's world cup the downhill skiing there is such a thing as too much snow but we haven't had much of that generally throughout much of central europe look at these how much is the saturday there's rain pushing in from the west becomes very widespread but these damages are anywhere from 7 to 10 degrees above the average for this time of year there's a very strong west and south westerly flow so bringing in some very mild air as we go through the weekend more rain pushing in again on sunday again pushing through much of france the low countries on into areas of germany and also we see the rain

showers working the way fairly swiftly through much of the u.k. pushing up into know that areas where it could just tons of snow in those particular areas because the say it really is very mild in most areas and also we're going up across northern sections of north africa turned you on into about on saturday a little areas of cloud north coast but really nothing more than that you know showers in the fall call so again sunday 24 about 20 celsius in. john the president's son donald trump jr was promised a damaging information about hillary clinton for obligation to see an investigation sit down to see did the trump campaign with russia did you at any time bridge former f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form the closer the batten down the investigation into michael flynn and also as you will know. next question

battlefield washington on al-jazeera. i come back a look at the headlines now the u.s. senate is debating whether to hear witnesses and accept additional evidence in the pietschmann trial of u.s. president donald trump democrats need at least 4 republicans to vote with them which is not likely at this point in order to hear from national from former national security advisor john bolton. and then more structures are being placed on travel to china as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide passes those of the sars epidemic in 2003 there are at least 231 cases in 24 countries outside mainland

china the death toll from the virus now stands at 213 all of them in china. well in just under 4 hours from now person will officially leave the european union ending 47 years of membership it's more than 3 and a half years since the u.k. voted for bret's it prime minister barak's johnson says it will be a moment of national renewal government buildings in the capital a little up in red white and blue of the union jack flag an account on pot will be projected at number 10 downing street in the last hour in the last half an hour the british flag has been removed from the e.u. council building in brussels president of the european commission says a new chapter for the now 27 member union has started. so in a moment we'll go live to our correspondents standing by for us in london and of course there in brussels 1st reports on the day's events so far.

as britain prepared to leave the e.u. a small party thrown in central london by a handful of bricks its most ardent supporters really great. like that we can do now is your future if this country will prosper. much of the country is more muted go yes this is a moment of huge national significance but little actually changes until the transition period finishes at the end of the year and it's not yet clear where the country is heading this is the man currently in the u.k. is driving seat before he got the job many thought it was a natural fit. but in december boris johnson won a crushing landslide election victory on the promise that he'd finally get bricks it done. britain seem to have voted to put

3 years of arguing in political paralysis behind them but plenty see the argument as something titanic has been achieved so much hot air. mike in northern ireland for example which is more exposed to bricks at sun certainties than anywhere else in the u.k. it completely recasts reshapes the political and economic conversation across the island between the island of ireland and britain right across the continent so this isn't an end point this is very much a beginning certainly the heavy lifting sorting out the u.k.'s trade relationship with europe everything from phishing to financial services is still to come all the political signs in the u.k. of the u.k. was. part of the sort of. all the sort of dynamics of the negotiations point to a. a quick deal means trying to come up with alignment in key areas that are going to be in the ears interests in europe the message is clear bruce. this is the more

the u.k. will diverged from e.u. standards the less access to the single market they will have. the e.u. will be looking to its own priorities and trying to solve its own challenges the u.k. is already receding in importance we want to have the best possible relationship with the united kingdom but it will never be as good as membership of the e.u. wants to show there is little to be gained from blocking out the door. to 0 london . joins us live now from bridge in london as we are hearing in henri's report their opinion is divided on whether this is the dawn of a new era or just a disastrous mistake how are people viewing what's about to happen tonight. in a pretty divided manners i'm sure the answer to that will be celebrations going on up and down the country no doubt outside parliament across the river there pro breck supporters are out in significant numbers despite the weather waving union

jacks in the lead up to 11 pm this evening 2300 g.m.t. when the u.k. will officially cease to be a member of the e.u. after 47 years but officially as rory pointed out celebrations are quite muted there's a light show that we're told is going to take place a little later outside downing street and government offices boris johnson will release a pre recorded statement in which he'll talk up the prospects of postgrads of britain unleashing this country's great potential and things like that which we heard a lot during the election campaign from him i think and the government knows that their victory in december and indeed the fact of bragg's it now has come at quite a significant cost to the country divided communities people who this evening will be feeling sad and hurt at having their much cherished european union citizenship taken away from them. damage that's been done to the bedrock institutions of this country in the tumultuous 3 and a half years past parliament itself to dish or

e the civil service the very fabric of the united kingdom itself seems to be at risk with independent support in scotland this week hitting its highest point in 5 years so the fact of it breaks it is certain not something this country is united around and behind far from it the government knows that i think there are efforts underway to try and discourage people from great shows of triumphalism the ceiling so as not to deepen those wounds but all of which adds up to the fact that ostensibly the focus in the coming months and years is on trade and the economy trade deals with the e.u. america and everywhere else i think there is an equal challenge to come and that is reconciliation in this country between the people of this country thank you very much jonah how here in london it is in brussels for us and as jonah was saying that attention now turns to negotiations over the future relationship between the u.k. in the e.u. in remarks coming from brussels they certainly suggest that they're not going to be compromising on the rules around the common market.

no i think the u.s. made it very clear that once the u.k. leaves the e.u. then both sides will be fighting for their own interests and we're going to see that over the coming year when the 2 come together at the negotiating table to try and figure out exactly what sort of relationship they want to have going forward but i just want to give you a bit of sense of what it's like here in brussels because of course brussels is the symbolic capital of the european union and just behind me you might see a set of flags and at the end a european union flag or just a few moments ago the british flag was actually flying there high then a couple of officials came out they lowered it there was no ceremony no music no special occasion it was a very low key event and i think that's really in keeping with the atmosphere here in brussels this evening because e.u. officials certainly don't want to celebrate what for them is

a very sad moment we've heard many officials and leaders over the past week talk about that the e.u. commissioner this evening we heard the french president him out on my call calling this incredibly sad regretting the fact that britain had taken this decision and amanda marcotte the french president also saying that it had sparked a lot of introspection in the european union that perhaps leaders had to figure out exactly what they need to do to prevent any other member states perhaps following suit so they shook his departure is a shock historic wake up call which would bring out in each of our countries be heard by the whole of europe america's think because for the 1st time in 7 to use the country is leaving the european union. well of course over the next few months when the in the u.k. do come together to try and hammer out some form of trade deal what the you will

really want to do during that time is preserve e.u. unity amongst member states because it will be quite challenging not only trying to figure out what sort of relationship the you will have the u.k. but also within the e.u. you have member states that have different priorities for example the netherlands will be worried about fishing rights luxembourg germany worried about financial services so the e.u. the e.u. leaders this week were at pains to say that whatever matters whatever happens the e.u. will have to keep a sense of unity during this process a sense of dignity what they don't want is for briggs it's to further disrupt business because there is a sense that the past 3 years have been thoroughly disrupted by britain's desire to leave the european union thanks very much from brussels and. turning to other stories now on israel's military says it's launched air strikes on targets in the gaza strip in response to 3 rockets fired by palestinians oh no reports of casualties or major damage from the exchange of fire israel said it hit targets linked to hamas including underground infrastructure used to manufacture weapons

tensions are high because of u.s. president donald trump's middle east peace plan palestine ambassador to the u.n. has refused to engage in any talks with washington meanwhile palestinian protesters have been rallying against a plan in lebanon and turkey thousands of hamas supporters demonstrated in the gaza strip where they burnt u.s. and israeli flags and also torched pictures of u.s. president donald trump and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu the proposal allows israel to maintain control of all of its settlements in the occupied west bank and the head of the u.n. aid agency for palestinian refugees is calling on the international community to stand with them to oppose trumps plan. the plan that was released this week is extremely unsettling for the palestine refugees living under occupation under brocade and through conflict off the conflict and cross off the crisis hoping for justice and human rights and with the constant fear that the international community will one day abandon them today more than ever there is

a need for stability and today the international community must send a clear message to the palestine refugees and to the world at large that the international community stands firmly behind them australia's capital canberra is under a state of emergency as bushfires threatened its southern suburbs are concerns hot weather and strong winds over the weekend will spread a fire cari burning out of control south of the city it's the worst threat facing the area in some 2 decades residents of southern cambra suburbs and surrounding villages being advised to prepare for possible evacuation the combination of extreme heat weened and a dry land skype will play suburbs in camber say off at risk in the coming dice. the auroral 4 has now grown to i turn a half 1000 hc tears that's 195 square kilometers or nearly i'd percent of the total land mass of the striding capital territory. just one other story to bring

you the nike shoes used to run the 1st sub 2 hour marathon last year been banned by the wild athletics governing body and a what the latest nike vapor fly in his historic run in vienna last october as did fellow kenyan bridget hosking to break the women's marathon record new rules ban the triple carbon plates in their souls from being used in elite competitions from the end of april the athletics body also says competitors shoes must have been available to the general public for 4 months. it's almost like a mini program stick you know a lot of the person's energy is lost when their foot hits the ground when you when you're running along your foot this is 2 and a half times your body weight going through your your lower limbs and your foot and the longer your foot spends on the ground the slower you are basically these carbon fiber plates effectively push it up to the ground and help to push your foot off the floor quicker is that you turn your legs over quicker you get more stops for

a minute you just you just motoring along quicker with less effort. right where you can read more on the story and everything else we're covering in this bulletin on our website al-jazeera dot com they can see all the latest on the late on the corona virus that seems to be spreading beyond china's borders of course we've got all the trump impeachment developments and coverage that. well our top story this hour democrat impeachment managers again appealing to republicans in the u.s. senate to allow witnesses and additional evidence in the impeachment trial of president donald trump in total that they have 4 hours to debates before the crucial vote to decide the future of the trial democrats need at least 4 republicans to vote for additional witnesses but it's looking very unlikely off to to keep republican senators confirmed they would not meaning the senate will not hear from former national security adviser john bolton he reportedly times trump

asked him to help russia ukraine into investigating political opponents could now be acquitted in the coming hour as. so here you have the president saying. john bolton is not telling the truth let's find out let's put john bolton under oath let's find out who's telling the truth the trial is supposed to be a quest for the truth. let's not fear what we will learn. as mr simple only said let's make sure that all the facts come out been more strict sions placed on travel to china as the number of corona virus cases around the world pastas those of saas in 2003 the death toll from the virus now stands at 213 with nearly 10000 confirmed cases all of them in china there are at least 231 cases in 24 countries outside mainland china evacuations from the epicenter being stepped

up with the u.k. japan and turkey flying their citizens out of han. and in 3 and a half hours britain will officially leave the european union ending 47 years of membership the union jack flag has been removed from the e.u. council building in brussels it's more than 3 and a half years since the u.k. 1st voted for brics it prime minister forrest johnson says it will be a moment of national renewal government buildings in london have been lit up in red white and blue and i count on call it will be projected at number 10 downing street going to bring you much more coverage on that story throughout the evening but to coming up now on al-jazeera it's up front looking at us in iran relations and the un's agnes kalama also discusses her report into the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi stay with us for that. all wrong in the united states on the path to war on today's up front a special debate between a former iranian diplomat and the retired u.s.

general. i'm mad also on the show u.n. investigator and yes calabar has accused the crown prince of saudi arabia of hacking into the cell phone of washington post owner jeff bezos kalama whether anyone can stand up to m.p.'s but 1st after iranian general hossam salem on he was assassinated in iraq on the order of u.s. president donald trump the islamic republic of iran and the united states almost went to war and we're not out of the woods yet tensions between the 2 countries are the new high so who's to blame for all of this and is there a way out that's our debate. today on the front we're hosting something you don't often see on television a debate between 2 people infant.