there's actually a. exposing the secrecy and censorship by chinese authorities. and the whole system struggling to cope i'll just see the investigation 3 days that still the world. donald trump's impeachment trial is delayed until february he's accused of for inciting an insurrection. result 0 life from headquarters and. also coming up. we. will not let people go out on. us president joe biden signs executive orders to help millions struggling financially during the pandemic calling it a national emergency. growing concern that

a highly contagious newquay variant of covert 19 may also be more deadly. forced from their homes 2000000 people displaced in africa to help region the u.n. says aid agencies are dangerously overstretched. thanks for joining us the date has been set donald trump 2nd impeachment trial will begin in the week starting february 8th this follows an agreement between the senate majority leader chuck schumer and republican leader mitch mcconnell who asked for a delay to allow trump's team to prepare its defense the former president is accused of inciting an insurrection the charge them some rally on january 6th when he encouraged his supporters to march to the capitol building to stop joe biden's electoral victory from being certified by congress let's get an update from john

hendren he's joining us from washington d.c. so now there is a day john talk us through what happens next. that's right this is historic there in that 2nd impeachment trial of donald trump he has been given until february 2nd to respond to the charges that he incited and insurrection and the reason it's been delayed until february 8th is that the republican leader in the senate mitch mcconnell said he thinks there needs to be more time for a defense to be developed for donald trump to be able to talk with his lawyers and offer up some kind of defense to these charges so what happens now is the house will send over the articles of impeachment on monday on tuesday the house managers who act as prosecutors in that impeachment trial they'll be sworn in on tuesday and then on the 8th that trial will begin in from most of what we've heard it sounds like that trial could be completed in his little is

a week there's only one charge that's inciting an insurrection in the evidences largely the video that we have all seen of donald trump standing behind the white house talking to his many many supporters thousands of them in telling them they needed to go down to capitol hill and fight and of course that was on the day that the house was certifying the election in the various states. congress rather not just the house and so 'd this impeachment trial now goes forward as soon as mitch mcconnell the republican leader said he wanted more time the democrats pretty much had to go along with that and the reason for that is that they want to get every republican vote they can they need 2 thirds in order to convict donald trump on that charge and the republicans otherwise would likely have said that simply not enough time to prepare a vote mitch mcconnell had criticized the process as being unprecedentedly speedy

but he is said to be favoring impeachment that doesn't mean that donald trump will end up being impeached in fact the rather will be convicted and that is because it takes a 2 thirds majority and right now. there simply isn't a majority that includes all of the democrats 50 of them plus 17 republicans out of $100.00 members of that chamber so while this is a historic moment and it is definitely a kind of censure for donald trump to face a 2nd impeachment it's not likely at this stage that he'll be convicted but by delaying that democrats are improving their chances all right john hendren thank you so much let's speak to clara finkelstein who's a professor of law at the university of pennsylvania she's joining us from philadelphia thanks for your time with us on al jazeera so essentially this is a 2 week delay on the senate trial. a compromise of sorts between the 2 party

leaders in the senate what do you think their political calculations were. mitch mcconnell is indicating by requesting this delay that he intends to fight it contrary to his suggestion which took place shortly before the inauguration that he might go along with it at the time i was not convinced that he had any intention of going along with it but you might remember it was at that moment that the house was debating recommending use of the 25th amendment and i think that mitch mcconnell wanted to deflect from that effort and to try to signal that if you don't go along with the 25th amendment to his republican base then i will consider impeachment now i think that mitch mcconnell is in a very difficult position here because he can absolutely has to distance himself from the far right contingent in the senate namely ted cruz and josh holly and he

needs to make very clear that he rejects their collaboration with the incitements and there are is now a senate ethics complaint pending against them it'll be interesting to see what happens there but at the same time if you went along with the conviction on the impeachment for donald trump he runs the risk of alienating a good portion of his base and of really step cementing the split between the 2 sides of the republican party in the senate much more extremely and not having the far right vote when he needs it on bills that will be coming up so i think he's going to try to figure out what to do my guess is he's going to try to defeat that conviction but he wants to make absolutely sure that he's got his ducks in a row we need to walk the hallways and indeed to try to consolidate the no vote on

this impeachment here is a thing i mean even though the democrats do hold a. majority in the senate they still do need the support of at least 17 republicans to convict the former president or will they get it. my own personal view is that they're very unlikely to get it unless i've guessed mitch mcconnell's intentions wrong i think of mitch mcconnell goes against this whether behind the scenes or in a more public fashion i do not think that he can turn around i do not think that the democrats will command 17 republican votes and that's on the assumption that all democrats in the senate go along with it i think that's likely by the way so i think breaking ranks in the democratic party in the senate right now is very unlikely democrats are very united and we know that they will have more senate

votes in the republican party than they have the 1st time around. but i do not think that they're going to get to 17 i can see them getting to 6 or 7 something like that and therefore if they are not going to be able to get to 17 republican senators with them. they ought to actually relax about the timing because there could still be a benefit in going through this trial but the major benefit would be discovery namely that we have enough information that they have the ability to call witnesses that the senate can resurrect their ability to demand that witnesses come and testify before them which was sorely tried during the trump administration and that they get access to documents possibly that they wouldn't otherwise be able to get they may even be able to get information about possible support behind the scenes

on the part of hallie and cruz and whether or not they were communications between those 2 and donald trump or anyone in his administration we're also learning more than we knew on january 6th about ties within the white house individuals in the white house who. we were involved in the insurrection in various ways so information is critical here and the more transparency and the more information comes out the better informed the american people and the stronger our democracy will be all right clara finkelstein thank you so much for speaking to us from philadelphia thank you for having me. now millions of americans struggling to pay their rent bills and afford food because of the pandemic are set to get an economic boost president joe biden has signed $2.00 executive orders to fast track checks to needy families increase food

aid for children and double minimum wage for federal workers biden says the country is in a national emergency and he's looking for bipartisan support in congress to pass a wider stimulus package worth $1.00 trillion dollars i don't believe democrats or republicans are going hungry and losing jobs i believe americans are going hungry and losing their jobs we have the tools to fix it we have the tools to get through this we have the tools to get this virus under control and our economy back on track we have the tools to help people so that use the tools. used. and the retired army general has become the 1st african-american pick to be u.s. defense secretary the senate voted $93.00 to $2.00 to confirm joe biden's nominee lloyd austin to run the pentagon austin will oversee the one point $3000000.00

active duty servicemen and women who make up the nation's military and says he is committed to rooting out the growing threat of domestic extremism in the country richard white's is a security analyst at that's a global risk consultancy group he says it's likely there won't be much of a huge shift in u.s. defense policy with austin's appointments. he basically reaffirmed the main contours of policy for the obama and trump years there was a slight emphasis more on rooting out domestic extremism within the military and addressing sexual harassment and a few other issues but basically he reaffirmed the policy of strengthening american defenses keeping the fence budget that robust building up u.s. nuclear forces while it's going to negotiations with other countries and so on so i didn't detect a major shift in u.s.

defense policy from what we've seen since pretty much for the last dozen years or so over the last 2 years has seen extensive turnover not only in the defense department but in many physicians and my impression is the biden team wants to and that in the defense department and elsewhere secretary austin indicated that he seemed to indicate for example and is ricky using him self for many business deals with racing on for 4 years that he plans to stay the whole term and i think that's true with the other people there whiting. still ahead on al-jazeera the southern african nation of malawi has imposed its 1st covert $1000.00 lockdown what they fear may be causing the virus to spread its big tax and big threat google accused of blackmail and bullying is a challenger's new regulation. it's

time for the perfect gentleman the winter sponsored point qatar airways they will be considerable snow miles i think in honshu where it has recently because rain is coming in as far north as tokyo which could be the transition zone where you might see the new be more falling at height for most parts of east asia is fine looking now stopped especially code shanghai down to 9 but hong kong is about $24.00 though it does cool little bit by the time you get to sunday there is some more cloud in the west that bits of lighter strain is circulating rain will disappear and the cold will come back in afterwards i think for japan there are considerably deep showers over most of the philippines and this is inside of indonesia further west it's rather cross now sumatra get daily thunderstorms that but instead what i see is largely fine mostly it's true in the entirely in thailand and a pleasant change temporarily at least for some parts of india where in the northern

plains it's fog inequities poor in the cities is clearly something happening and wesley disturbance new delhi's focus reflects that equality is pretty poor on saturday but the breeze picks up and should be fine on sunday until the fog returns on a quiet day on monday it's pretty dry elsewhere even down in taiwan not in sri lanka very few showers in the forecast. sponsored by qatar airways. criminal drug dealing shifted to places beyond the reach of the one good many people in afghan government when forced into drug trade guerilla wars in colombia. and mexico where the cartels have been responsible for a muscle a spiral of violence. the final episode of drug trafficking politics in our territories on al-jazeera why.

the number top stories on al-jazeera tunnel trump impeachment trial has been delayed until february this follows an agreement between the senate majority leader chuck schumer and republican leader mitch mcconnell the former president is accused of inciting an insurrection. president joe biden has signed 2 executive orders to help families hit hard by the code $900.00 pandemic biden is looking for bipartisan support in congress to pass a stimulus package worth $1.00 trillion dollars the retired army general has become the 1st african-american to be picked as u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin who will run the pentagon says he's committed to

rooting out the growing threat of domestic extremism in the country. britain's prime minister is warning that the coronavirus varian found in the u.k. is not only more contagious but could be more deadly the news comes just as britain appeared to be making headway infection rates have started dropping by around 4 percent per day but boris johnson says britain can't consider unlocking until the government is confident the vaccination program is protecting the population we've been informed today that in addition to spreading move quickly it also appears that there is some evidence that the new variant the very that was 1st identified in london in the scythe east may be associated with a higher degree of mortality new parker has more on what the prime minister and his medical advisor has had to say. we're known for some time that the new variant according to the medical and scientific of scientific officers that were both

either side of boris johnson is between 30 and 70 percent more transmissible but were both gentlemen confirmed is that the u.k. strain of the virus is also contributing to a higher mortality rate as well in the example given it was for an average man in their sixty's for every 1000 people that get the virus you can expect 10 deaths that's for the 1st variant of the virus but for the new variant figure is higher between 13 and 14 the good news is according to both experts that they this virus does respond to existing vaccines however there are concerns about the 2 other strains the south african strain and the brazilian strains that earth according to the expos may need more research as to whether or not it does actually respond to existing vaccines that would be a significant cause for concern if for instance given how high the level of

infection is given how high the death toll the number of people in hospital is if those strains suddenly have an increased impact on the population going forward but there is of course hope very much in the shape of a vaccine for a 5400000 people have now been vaccinated 2000000 in the past week a significant milestone for the government and the hope is that by september. every adult in the country will have at least one dose of the vaccine but it is something of an uphill struggle particularly given the low uptake from some minority ethnic communities who have cited concern as to whether or not the vaccine is compatible with their religious beliefs and also some deep seated distrust about the health service that hasn't always seemed to favor people from minority ethnic backgrounds now very much a drive by the government to try to encourage community leaders to get the right

message out. belgium is banning residents from taking nonessential trips abroad it's an effort to stop the spread of the more contagious covered $1000.00 variants there is direction goes into effect on monday and will stay in place until march the ban comes after e.u. leaders agreed to keep borders open to essential transport but left it up to member states to take further measures malawi has seen far fewer kovan 1000 infections compared to other countries but there are concerns migrants are causing the virus to spread tens of thousands of malawians work in south africa where a new variant of the disease has been identified and it's prompted malawi to introduce tougher restrictions from the general or has more. malawi has recorded more than 13000 corona virus infections since the 1st case was identified the 9 months ago well the number may be far lower than many other countries made an awful

cases have been detected this month alone prompting the government to tighten restrictions. a nighttime curfew has been imposed and schools have been closed malawi has recorded more than 300 deaths related to code 19 with a 3rd of those recorded this month alone they are concerns that already limited health facilities may be overwhelmed and now a new more contagious variant of the virus found in south africa is adding to

worries that returning migrant workers may contribute to the spread in malawi patients and their way is one of tens of thousands of malawians who work in south africa because of the poor economy at home but she returned to blantyre after coded 1000 restrictions in south africa made it difficult to find work there's a lot of talent is coming back here coming come our way because all you need to get tested faced before you leave. and you need to have. negative days for fortes for 14 days the government has spent the equivalent of $8000000.00 to fight the virus some of that money has been used to quarantine screen monitor and transport almost $20000.00 malawians returning to the country some of those returning were quarantined in a prison building which was later looted and vandalized when the release of some people was delayed the dinner is ready to join my dad when we arrived they test

this and promised to give us results the next morning by 9 o'clock we patiently waited for our results often on the clock and looking at how tired we were and the unexplained delays people with some ring leaders started vandalizing this. the death of 2 government ministers and 2 senior political figures from covert 19 let the government to declare a state of emergency the medium allow al jazeera. they runs refugee agency says the number of people displaced by violence in africa region has passed 2000000 a 4 fold increase since 2019 it says humanitarian teams are now dangerously overstretched and as appealing for more international help armed groups have been spreading across the region in recent years fueling ethnic tensions and attacking security forces in countries including mali and measure there remain desk pokes fun for western central africa at the un refugee agency he says civilians have been bearing the brunt of the violence here we told you. what to call the number that it

was 2 years ago and that's because of the only lancing attacks brutal gruesome on civilians people are being forced to flee the wall and they're not just the clothes on the back. and they're sitting in their own country they're receiving support from their communities local communities or themselves stretch and that's a tragedy and here we're talking about 2000000 internally displaced people on doubles as you have over 850 souls and refugees people have fled the crisis and cross the border to neighboring countries so most communities are of a stretch other teams on the ground in her. gruesome testimonies people sling attacks telling that's the lead middle of the night armed groups were shooting around that tell us about section violence rapes that i was about me at night walking for 3540 kilometers on food. when they arrived in that shelter

because wherever they go whole communities don't have enough space to host some of the people we don't even want or they need food they need burn a city score sentient they also need to have access to health so here on top of all the bare essentials for now that people need me to ensure that they have more chance and if they wish and the government they live all of the action against the pandemic and yes we need international community to gauge support the overall humanitarian response so that we can show those who are showing responsibility and generosity that supporting people forcibly is everybody's job and un is voicing concern after a spate of murders in syria's largest refugee camp at least 12 people have been killed at the end horror facilities since the start of the year the u.n. says the violence could jeopardize aid for the camp and its calling for a better security for residents as well as aid workers sonia khush is the syria

response director for save the children she says the violence has been building in recent months. we didn't know an increase in attacks starting actually in august of last year but it has really picked up in 2021 our numbers are that there actually are probably about 17 killings that have already happened whether it's for ideological reasons or personal disputes or criminality or a combination of all of this 3 the effect on humanitarian services is what's really concerning us save the children has been affected by these attacks in terms of our education services to children and one instance a wall of our school was hit by 10 stray bullets and another more recent incident one of our school tents was partly burned down so we're really looking for a camp authorities and those who have influence on the camp to look at the protection of those 80 percent women and children you know they need

a safe place to live and in general all hold is no place for children to grow up we have a lot of challenges keeping children in school getting them the health care they need you know we're doing a lot to try to get children to be able to leave the town whether it's iraqis to go home or syrians or all of the $10000.00 foreign women and children so in general a whole it is not a place for children to grow up and unfortunately now their services are being affected by this increase in violence funerals have been held in the libyan city of tripoli also the discovery of several mass graves 14 bodies identified by family members were laid to rest they were found in the city of hunan a former stronghold of forces loyal to whirl of honey for half the hundreds of civilians were forcibly detained tortured or killed in the years it was under their control. the biden administration says it will review the u.s. has 2020 peace agreements with the taliban the deal signed with the taliban in

february last year pave the way for a 14 month withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan the white house says the assessment will look into whether the taliban is abiding by its commitments to cut ties with armed groups and engage in meaningful negotiations with the afghan government a powerful storm is due to make landfall in central mozambique threatening to devastate a region still recovering from another cycler less than 2 years ago more than a 1000000 people in high risk areas have been moved to temporary shelters cycler elouise is expected to bring heavy rain and winds up to 200 kilometers per hour it's near the port city of barrow which bore the brunt of cycle and i die in 2019 google has issued an ultimatum to australia drop plans to make it pay news outlets for content or it will block its search engine australia's discussing a legislation that would require the tech giants to negotiate payments with news

outlets for using their content laura birdman lee has more. google dominates the search engine markets around the globe handling about 90 percent of all internet queries but the tech giant may be about to switch off its services in australia that's of the country passes a bill that would force it on facebook to pay for news content a feature that google says this will open it up to too much risk the principle of honor strict and linking between websites is fundamental to search and coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk if this version of the card were to become law it would give us no real choice but to stop making search available in australia. ally of google easy and then to the world wide web tim berners lee. in a submission to parliament he says he supports the right for content creators to be rewarded for their work but in this way it would undermine the fundamental

principles of the ability to think freely on the web. media giant facebook also says it will block uses in australia from posting or sharing links to news if the bill is passed ideally what i'd like to see is platforms like google and facebook paying a fair price for news content and this recognizing that this content is premium content that it gives a certain mallya to search results and social media feeds because news content has facts and accuracy and australia's prime minister how does old message for the tech firms. strive you mike's our rules for things you can do in a strike that's done in our power and it's done by a government. and that's how things work here in stride and people who want to work with that. you're very welcome but we don't respond to threats.

it's not just australia that talk to google the french competition authority has ordered the company to negotiate with french publishes and in the landmark agreement on thursday google is now paying news publications that could challenge the power and dominance of tech giants and governments assailed who gets paid more about the al-jazeera. color again the headlines on al-jazeera donald trump 2nd impeachment trial has been delayed until february and this follows an agreement between the senate majority leader chuck schumer and republican leader mitch mcconnell the former president is accused of inciting an insurrection after encouraging his supporters to march on the capitol building earlier this month president joe biden has signed 2 executive a.