you should do it again. not guilty the senate clears president donald trump of abuse of power and obstruction of congress with all but one republican senator urging to acquit him. on the intent of this is al jazeera live from london also coming up. one dead and $157.00 injured after a plane skids offer a runway at istanbul airport and breaks into pieces. desperate scenes on the other side of turkey is a 2nd hour launch buries rescuers searching for victims of a 1st. and home call knocks down a cruise ship to stop the threat of virus spreading and says it will impose a 14 day quarantine on all visitors from mainland china.

and we start in washington where the u.s. senate has voted to acquit president donald trump in his impeachment trial trump was facing 2 charges one of abusing presidential powers and one of obstruction of congress the vote largely followed partisan lines there was only one republican who broke ranks against the president on one of the charges on the 1st charge of abuse of power the vote was $52.00 not guilty $48.00 guilty mitt romney was the only senator to break party lines and in the 2nd chance of congress it was again 53 to 47 mitt romney voting to acquit on this count. so we've reached the conclusion i think this is a thoroughly political exercise. from the beginning to the end. and the final irony

of it all is the speaker was right in the beginning because here we are today in a position to judge the political impact of the since it all started about politics how did it end about politics the president has his ha's approval rating since he's been in office. one of your customers live on capitol hill the result was no surprise perhaps the unique a difference was mitt romney's action. that's right we knew that the republicans were pretty much all in president trump scorner mitt romney though being the sole defector he is the senator of utah and of course he was one sim president's shoes when he was a candidate he was the 2012 republican presidential nominee ultimately losing to barack obama but romney said in a floor speech prior to making his vote 2 for guilty and abuse of power that he

said he took his oath seriously when all senators were asked to be impartial jurors at the outset of this impeachment trial and he said that the democrats made their case that he believed president trump was in fact guilty of soliciting election difference from ukraine for his personal and political benefit not for the good of the country and he said ultimately he put his conscience above party loyalties in voting to convict on that abuse of power article and he also acknowledged saying that he expected to be the subject of attacks immediately after making this announcement in fact he was with the president's son donald trump jr on twitter calling for romney's removal from the republican party so all of this though in the greater context of course it's no surprise that president trump has been acquitted

of both charges you read those numbers earlier for him which almost makes it sound like it was close in actuality it wasn't because for an impeachment trial a conviction requires a 2 thirds majority not a simple majority and so the chances of having trump be removed from office was really next to none from the begin. with democrats saying they were doing this though because it was fulfilling their constitutional obligation but now members of both parties worried about what sort of president this sets with republicans saying that there will be more partisan impeachments to follow democrats saying now future presidents will think they can get away with what trump has done and or even worse warn and nose to the democrats might to revisit this issue back in congress how likely is that. that's right in fact jerry now blurrier who is the judiciary committee chair in the house he has said this morning that he still wants to hear

from those same witnesses that were denied to democrats because there was not enough republican support in this impeachment trial john bolton the former national security adviser who has written in his unpublished book that he has this evidence that trump you know did solicit foreign interference from ukraine he is has said that he was willing to testify before the senate it will remain to be seen whether that offer also stands to testify before. the house of representatives of course all of that will be moot in the context of any effort to remove trump from office via impeachment it does not seem like there's political will for another and he shouldn't attempt however voters are watching and president trump and everyone else knows that in november is when ultimately his fate will be decided by the american voter i did your question thank you very much indeed but you called a news live also in washington d.c.

patty any news from the president to offer his acquittal. but you won't believe this but yes if you look at twitter you will see the president's 1st response he's retreating a video of himself it appears to be a fake cover of the time magazine and it goes on to show trump campaign signs and then it goes every 4 years every 4 every 4 years up until 20602080 basically sending the message that he wants to be or believes he could possibly be president for life this is going to be a critical time for senate republicans a lot of them are facing reelection and they came out and told their voters that at least in one case a very vulnerable senate republican susan collins of maine she said that the president will have learned his lessons from this she's tried to walk that back since but now his behavior and what he does next democrats have said this is on view so everyone's going to watching closely to see how the president reacts and as heidi mentioned john bolton very much could testify he could change things they

could open a different lines of inquiry but there's another factor here and that goes outside of the congressional process obviously the president has a lock on senate republicans we saw that with this vote the courts remember this is the u.s. that has 3 co-equal branches of government the courts started to weigh in on the side of the democrats we saw a couple of different rulings where they were saying no the president doesn't have complete immunity no he can't keep all of his people from testifying those could still be litigated but the reason the democrats said they didn't want to wait is that it would take time and yes the courts could take some time but this isn't necessarily over depending on how the democrats want to play this they could not only ask to hear from john bolton but all the other witnesses that they wanted to see in the senate that the senate voted against calling they could try to go through the courts and have a shot at getting not only the documents they want to testimony from the people closest to the president so for now the impeachment the removal is over the

president has officially been the 3rd president impeached in the united states he will not be removed from office over this but it's not over in the meantime though it appears that his popularity has taken a taken a bounce music is higher than it was before the start it doesn't. it is and that of course is something the democrats are worried about but let's put this in perspective and this is what the republicans were saying all along they were saying look the republicans went after clinton they impeached him they didn't remove him from office and in the next house election republicans were decimated there's some pretty big differences here between clinton and obviously not just political party but their popularity at the time this is a president who's very excited that his approval rating has reached 49 percent bill clinton the time of impeachment was more than it was around 70 percent that's a big difference so the american people liked bill clinton the vast majority of people like bill clinton and really the country's 5050 and donald trump also when you look at polls that say we want to see him removed from office it was

a tiny minority of people who wanted to see clinton removed almost 50 percent of people polled consistently said that the president should be removed from office so the american people will have the final say on this but they told the senate overwhelmingly 74 percent in most polls wanted to hear witnesses they even republicans said that so now the question is will the republican senators who block this from being a impeachment with witnesses and again this is the 1st time in the history of the country they haven't had witnesses will they pay a price for that well known a couple of months ahead thank you very much indeed and let's hear from chuck schumer now the senate minority leader his reaction not to the acquittal of the president trying to truth the facts. it was. a week 2 weeks for the crucible of the nation was tested. a lot of people including the republican passed the test

a lot of republicans leader mcconnell failed that test failed to live up with this country is all about failed to live up. to getting the truth. early in the process we defined what a fair trial was witnesses documents. we didn't know what the witnesses would say we didn't try to have a long list of witnesses to be dilatory we simply looked at the ones who were eyewitness to the account. and what they would say. and now that our republican colleagues have rejected. a fair trial truth there's a giant asterisk next to the president's acquittal. the asterix says he was acquitted without facts he was acquitted without a fair trial and it means that his acquittal is virtually valueless.

so while leader mcconnell in the white house may be cheering this is a win history will view this as a pyrrhic victory for senate republicans and the senate republican party and the republican party and for president trump. because there was a metaphor here mcconnell and i were each supposed to speak me to 330 women 345 while i was speaking only 2 republicans were on the in the chamber they were hiding in the cloak room when mcconnell spoke they all came out that's a metaphor they were afraid to hear the other side they were afraid to hear the truth they were afraid to talk about what was right. our members all sat and listened to mcconnell. and what he said didn't really bother us for one thing he didn't defend. he didn't address

a single charge in the. 2 articles of impeachment all he could do was attack attack this attack that attack democrats attack the house this is a sacred trial talk about the facts. but they couldn't and i believe the american people will realize that this was one of the largest coverups in the history of our nation. i believe the american people will know who stood in the way of truth. mitch mcconnell. this is a chuck schumer beg your pardon mr responding to mitch mcconnell both sides getting a chance to see as good they're spinning around the trial adding to the president trump and what it means in the long term let's bring in alan baron so perhaps unsurprisingly both sides are trying to get wood to say that this was it what we kind of back to the kind of the party lines aren't we own that we've had all the way through do you think that there's any way to move forward from from this

impeachment trial of all to keep on rehearsing the same arguments. well i think we're going there is going to be fallout from this trial i think the democrats are going to perhaps call some witnesses 2 committees who were not called during the impeachment trial both most importantly and i think you know if you recall 75 the the poll showed 75 percent of the american people thought that witnesses should be called to the trial it didn't happen because the republicans blocked it. and that even on the issue of guilt or innocence apparently was split 5050 that's a lot of people saying that the president was guilty so i think the democrats probably will be hammering away at the issues that are still out there regarding trump's behavior and from trump i think we may see even more egregious shall i say

misbehavior because it's trump unleashed the issue that was the start of all this the issue of potential soliciting of foreign interference in an election he has been acquitted on this regardless of that just as that now becomes something because it's not not been deemed to be an impeachable offense is that not something that that is generally accepted as something that's ok to be done now will will there be any effort to to to to kind of research that actually that's not something the u.s. believes is possible and that's a stream lee good question my fear is that we've now set the bar as bad as low as it can go for behavior of a presidential candidate. that's acceptable. who's to say now that you can't do that that's not a good idea and if you do it we're going to do we're going to do something about it . i think we are now we are now about as low as you can go we have the

magisterial president who can do pretty much what he wants to do. on that note to leave it there thank you very much indeed alan byrne for all your analysis are on the story thank you. onto other news now one person has died after a plane carrying 177 people skidded off the runway at one of the stumbles main airports a pegasus airlines plane had been traveling from izmir to istanbul when it crashed breaking into 3 pieces the passengers and crew had to be evacuated through cracks in the plane crash we'll have our reports. the dramatic and for the short flight from his me to istanbul the boeing owned by pick airlines was touching down when pilots appear to have lost control the plane veered off the runway burst into

flames and broke into pieces. most of the 171 passengers along with the crew their back asleep escaped alive many suffered injuries and were sent to hospitals. the 2 pilots reported to be in a serious condition an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash. unfortunately the pegasus airlines plane could not stay on the runway due to poor weather conditions and skidded for around 50 to 60 meters it fell from 30 to 40 meters 175 passengers 2 babies for flight attendants and 2 pilots were on board 120 passengers have so far been transferred to nearby hospitals. there was a thunderstorm bringing gusty winds at the time of the incident the authorities closed the airport and diverted flights to different destinations this isn't the

1st time as has been involved in such an incident 2 years ago one of its jets skidded off the runway atop zone port and and half way down a steep slope by the black sea all 162 passengers and crew aboard would have backed away to safely pegasus airlines is likely to face further scrutiny in the coming days last month one of its planes slid off the runway at. port investigators said the incident was due to bad weather conditions. is the board and in eastern turkey what started out as a rescue mission on a mountainside has turned into a frantic search for the rescuers themselves at least $33.00 people were killed when an avalanche swept onto a road in. the city of van rescue workers are among the dead they were searching for victims of another avalanche which killed 5 people on tuesday gage reports. they rushed to save people trapped under the snow but this rescue mission soon

turned to tragedy it began on tuesday when an avalanche struck a road in the turkish province of van a bus carrying passengers and a snow clearing vehicle were buried in the overturned we've been under the snow since the avalanche hit this morning and no one came to us until now hundreds of emergency workers joined the rescue operation the vehicles operator and 7 passengers escaped 5 others were killed as police officers firefighters and volunteers desperately tried to dig out those trapped a 2nd avalanche struck the same road burying dozens more. people for the risky units 3 security guards one firefighter and 9 civilians unfortunately lost their lives may they rest in peace the death toll quickly began to climb weather conditions didn't help either blizzards and heavy snow or blocked roads and

slowed the search operation people in the area were among the 1st to respond using their bare hands shovels and roy to dig out the victims but the snow fall was too much and the steep incline posed enormous challenges by the end of the day chances of finding survivors were fading away nicola gage al-jazeera. the world health organization says it will send a multinational team to china soon to help combat the coronavirus it's appealing for $675000000.00 to help with the fight. our message to the international community is invest today or pay more. immersed today or pay more later $675000000.00 u.s. dollars is a lot of money but it's my choice less so than the bill we will face if we do not

invest in preparedness now during the window of opportunity that we have about 24600 people have now been diagnosed with a corona virus in china and 492 people have died outside mainland china there are 191 confirmed cases in 24 countries with one death in the philippines and one in hong kong based with great pressure from striking doctors on kong's leader carolan as and outs extreme measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus for saturday any want to arriving from mainland china will be quarantined for 14 days but thousands of hong kong medical staff what the border completely shut saverin brown reports hong kong is becoming increasingly isolated from mainland china the mandatory 14 day quarantine of all people arriving in hong kong including its own citizens from across the border will not begin until saturday that's because around

100000 commuters cross into china each day and they need time to prepare the quarantine orders begin vote through rarely use special powers it's a thing for software like we will invoke the powers to annex legislation for people coming from the mainland including hong kong residents mainland residents and other visitors to go into compulsory quarantine for 14 days. as carrie lam attempts to navigate around this crisis the cruise ship dreamworld docked in hong kong harbor with more than $3000.00 passengers and crew onboard they're going nowhere now that mainland health officials have confirmed that 3 passengers from an early a voyage are infected with the coronavirus now checks are being carried out on everyone on the ship at the time being i think we cannot conclude the be likely time of finishing b.b. are currently measures right now and i would like to reassure our own or need to

press on people here our department of health it's adopting a prudent approach in managing this incident several crew members have been placed in a hospital isolation ward the announcement by hong kong's leader means that all the crew and passengers aboard the dreamworld now face the prospect of 14 days in quarantine what's less certain though is the fate of the $200.00 passengers who left this 1st seoul on january the 24th before the 3 infections were confirmed the 200 a rule understood to be from hong kong and went ashore in january the 24th. this scare is one of the reasons why doctors and nurses have been striking they say the only way to prevent the virus spreading is to seal the entire frontier in another setback to the economy hong kong based cathay pacific airways has asked its 27000

staff to take 3 weeks unpaid leave before june the airline has had to reduce flights to the mainland its most important market for many people here the big concern now is a shortage of face masks there have been long orderly queues outside suppliers with some waiting in line overnight in the hope of not leaving empty handed there seems to be no shortage of face masks or luxury onboard the dreamworld as passengers wait to learn just how long their extended and now enforced holiday will be adrian brown al-jazeera hong kong. and in the past few minutes china has confirmed that a further 2987 cases have been reported in hoop a province on wednesday and 70 people died that's the death toll in the province of 549 people. turkey's president added one is threatening further action against the syrian government if its forces an adlib don't pull back

and started sending more military reinforcements toward syria on monday 7 turkish soldiers and one civilian were killed by syrian government shelling in the last rebel held province the turkish military says it's hit dozens of syrian government targets in response killing many troops learn from a lot of them of problems upload a moment you learn from now on we are not going to accept any steps that would be a violation of the agreements that we already have in the phone conversation i had with mr putin yesterday night i stressed that it lip the regime needs to pull back to the softly agreement borders behind our observation points at this stage 2 of our top observation points are behind the regime lines hoping that in february withdrawal of the regime forces will be completed if the syrian regime does not pull back now or turkey will act. despite the threats from turkey's president syrian government forces have continued their push into italy province they've

captured the key strategic town of sarah cared for hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting and heading towards the turkish border and western and closely are now reports. a scene of devastation is what is left from the syrian government's intense aerial bombardment and ground offensive the last stronghold of the syrian opposition. despite rounds of talks and shaky cease fires this push has triggered one of the largest waves off this place meant into 9 year conflict. civilians leaving everything behind and heading north towards the turkish border so i look at a number i've already been displaced twice maybe i'll have to move again i don't know what to say the situation is very bad we heard about the ceasefire but never witnessed it on the ground just displacement and suffering. the u.n. says at least 520000 syrians have been displaced in the last 2 months alone many

children are among them. it is not all of the violence but also the biting winter called that is making the situation worse in a ford late comers the conditions are basic they struggle to keep their children warm one of everything is going. to 60 years ago there's nothing left of it now we are living in pain. as a syrian forces backed by russia who take villages and towns they are targeting civilians according to the world health organization at least 53 health facilities have been forced to suspend their services since the beginning of the year because of the fighting. with several 100 cops by the border to other patients daily have to live with the resources. of the ridge about any time they go to help us out our people. syrian government forces have been advancing inside live territory that was meant to be a deescalation zone. i remarked we won't go back unless the regime withdraws from

us we're asking the opposition forces to intervene and repel the syrian army. but turkish government is accusing damascus of force and civilians to flee towards this border there are over there these $3500000.00 syrian refugees in turkey which is why officials here say they want to stop another mass influx of syrians entering the country but there are now 700000 civilian staff right behind this border crossing on the syrian side looking for safety so now because all of al-jazeera outside the syrian border. at least 6 people have been killed in the southern iraqi city of najaf after supporters of the shia cleric. stormed an anti government protest camp fights broke out between the groups and 20 more were injured so there has at different times both supported and opposed the protesters who want the

removal of iraq's ruling elite simona fulton has moved back that. this is just the latest in a series of confrontations between the sudras who supports the nomination of mohamed tawfik allow as prime minister designate and other protesters who reject him until recently the sudras supported the protesters providing important logistical support protection as well as political cover but mark that aside or has changed his position on the protests several times at times offering his support and that other times drawing is now the situation has become particularly tense with the nomination of as prime minister designate on saturday that a sadder and doors to him while many protesters rejected him the sudras then moved into central protest sites controlling strategic buildings and since then we have seen several confrontations just yesterday on tuesday we saw that a group of sudras beat several student protesters who criticize sutter and who rejected we as the prime minister designate so all of these all these tensions risk

further escalating and therefore further fueled by macc that assad is repeated a change in stance on the protests with increasingly confusing messages to words his supporters on whether they should join the protests or whether they should withdraw all of this comes amid growing fears among the protesters that the sudras may try to seize control of the protest movement that they may try to ended all together. the wife of prime minister has been formally charged with murdering his previous wife 2 days before he took office as i had to bond is accused of killing 2 must have on his former wife in 2017 she was shot dead near her home in the capital of syria the couple were going through an acrimonious divorce at the time of the killing which officials previously thought was a political assassination case which has triggered protests in the country is due

to begin in 2 weeks. i don't mind you can catch up any time on our website the address that is out there to come and you can watch us live by clicking on the orange live icon. which i was there at the top stories the white house has called the u.s. senate's acquittal of president trump a full vindication and exoneration trump was facing 2 charges it is impeachment trial one of abusing presidential powers and one of obstruction of congress the senate voted $52.00 to $48.00 on the 1st charge with mitt romney the only republican senator to break ranks and 532471 the 2nd on this or accordingly the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust what he did was not perfect no it was a flagrant assault on our alecto rights our national security and our fundamental

values corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that i could imagine. at least one person has died after a plane skidded off the runway at one of istanbul's main airports turkish authorities say at least 157 people have been injured after the boeing 737 crashed into a field and broke into pieces passengers had to be evacuated through cracks in the plane they were traveling from the turkish city of izmir. at least 33 people were killed when an avalanche swept on to a road near the turkish city of van rescue workers who'd been searching for the 5 victims of a previous avalanche on tuesday are among the dead. and turkey's president richard tire out of one is threatening further action against the syrian government if its

forces a live don't pull back ankara has started sending more military reinforcements towards syria on monday 7 turkish soldiers were killed by syrian government shelling in it live. china's hu bay province the epicenter of the groan a virus outbreak has reported 70 new deaths on wednesday alone taking its total death toll to 5493000 new cases have also been confirmed by the world health organization says it will send a multinational team to china soon to combat the coronavirus that's it for me for time being people in power is up next to stay with us in our because if you can't that's for much watching by financial. now i just. went and.

best known to tourists for its beautiful beaches and dramatic coastline italian island of sardinia is also a major cut to make the rest of the locals the longer these tests of the toxic effect. for years the authorities have refuted those playing reporter emma alberici went to investigate.