santa magellanic on the hand out to syria we'll bring you the news and current affairs that matter at least 11 al-jazeera. donald trump's impeachment trial is delayed until february he's accused of inciting an insurrection. play watching al jazeera live from our world headquarters in doha fully back also ahead. we. will not let people go hungry u.s. president joe biden signs executive orders to help millions struggling financially

during the pandemic calling it a national emergency. under lockdown thousands of people in hong kong are ordered to stay at home as the city struggles to contain a coronavirus outbreak in one of its districts and forced from their homes 2000000 people displaced in africa so i have region the u.n. says aid agencies are dangerously overstretched. the date has been set donald trump's 2nd impeachment trial will begin in the week starting february 8th senate leaders agreed on a 2 week delay to allow trump's team to pay its defense trump is accused of inciting insurrection when he encouraged his supporters to march on the capitol building earlier this month al-jazeera reports from washington. donald trump has left washington but not his presence will soon be the center of attention again

as the defendant in his 2nd impeachment trial this scene from trump's 1st impeachment will be repeated monday when the house sends to the senate one impeachment article charging trump with inciting insurrection. egged on by trump's call to overturn the election a mob of his supporters stormed the u.s. capitol on january 6th causing 5 deaths we all want to put this awful chapter in our nation's history behind us. but healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability and that is what this trial will provide will also and it is now standard the $100.00 senators will be sworn in as jurors on tuesday with the trial scheduled to begin in earnest the week of february 8th. of this cannot be an insufficient. that former president tried to do. or

damages. or the program through its. president joe biden has stressed the trial should not jeopardize the senate's focus on passing covert relief and we're trying very hard to get up and running these crises the better the trials timing will depend on whether the senate will hear from witnesses how many hours of arguments will be allowed and if there's a way to make progress on biden's agenda simultaneously there is also the constitutional question of how to put a former president on trial a 1st for the nation really this impeachment trial is about whether mr trump will run for president again in 20241 of the punishments authorized by the constitution for conviction on pietschmann is disqualification from holding future office and that's a momentous decision to be made an enemy made with solemnity and gravity conviction

would require the vote of 17 republicans only one voted to convict after his 1st impeachment now resigned to his florida golf course polls show a majority of americans want to see trump gone from public office for good. castro al-jazeera washington. president joe biden has signed executive orders to help millions of americans struggling to make ends meet because of the kovac 1000 make biden says the country is in a national imagine see any of that in full bipartisan support in congress to pass a stimulus package worth $1.00 trillion dollars john hendren has more from washington. the new president pleaded for urgent and aggressive action to turn around a floundering economy families are going hungry people are risk

a beatific to job losses are mounting again we need to act on capitol hill president joe biden is pressing for a massive 1.9 trillion dollar relief package for workers and businesses hit hard by the global pandemic but that measure following the 900000000000 dollar economic rescue in december faces opposition from republicans in a bitterly divided congress i don't think is bill's going to make it but we need to do something so in his 2nd full day in office biden took 2 largely symbolic steps signing executive orders to expand food assistance for families who need it and raising the minimum wage for workers on federal contracts to $15.00 an hour and the american people are hurting and fake can't afford to wait they need help right now and that's the motivation behind the actions of the president will take today i want to be very clear these actions are not a substitute for comprehensive legislative relief. but they will provide

a critical lifeline to millions of families. the executive orders are stopgap measures in an economic spiral that has 10000000 americans out of work as the covert 1000 pandemic forces one business after another to shutter its doors. the economic recovery depends in large part on this speed of a vaccination program that seeks to deliver 100000000 shots in biden's 1st 100 days in office the goal herd immunity that would ultimately allow americans to take off their masks and get back to work but there are 328000000 americans and those shots might not reach most of them for 6 months or longer president joe biden says he's been playing catch up following a trump administration that never developed a comprehensive national covert plan costing precious months and lives mirroring the economic toll is the death toll here in the u.s.

now topping 400000 likely to reach 600000 before the pandemic is over john hendren al-jazeera washington a retired army general has become the 1st african-american pick to be u.s. defense secretary in the senate voted 93 to 2 to confirm joe biden's nominee lloyd only sent austin to run the pentagon austin will oversee the $1300000.00 active duty service men 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 while i speak to castleberry about this she is a professor at fordham university a u.s. military veteran and national security specialist and joins us via skype from neo thank you very much for being with us miss castile barry so lloyd always austin has shattered a racial barrier in the u.s. by becoming the 1st african-american defense secretary just how significant this is

1st of all for a military in which black soldiers have said since the american revolution and why did it take so long. i think you so much of this is just like you say it's so significant because many black thousands and thousands of black soldiers have served since the american revolutionary war and why did it take so long well we know we have systemic barriers institutional issues that prevent these type of things from happening so this is so significant especially right now in the country where we're taking diversity a lot more serious and especially with this new administration so this is definitely a celebration for hope and change and looking forward with this new leadership you talked about some of the institutional barriers how how deep they are they and how deep is of racism problem in military ranks in the u.s. and d.c. austin reshaping the department of defense how do you how would he do it especially at a time as you say when stealing with questions about internal threats such as possible

why extremism in the ranks of the military itself. well racial institution in our racial issues in terms of systemic barriers is sniffing it will open the private and public sector and must tell you among the different agencies you'd be surprised to hear this but that department defense is actually in the lead when it comes to addressing this issue and just like you say as far as the back dr diller with the rise the white terrorism or extremism that is significant to know and i think you know too for a leader like came to know how it is to experience racism on a personal note he'll be able to you know take that perspective and tackle that issue are at war affected late because he knows how bad those barriers are and how they have impact them on a personal and professional life so i think this is devastating we need on attack i

might be if we have to extremism domestic extremism but but he's just one man do you think we'll see more black offices be put in leadership roles. oh yes and it doesn't have to be necessary just in the cabinet level to be below the cabinet level you know we'll see more you know in different agencies where there are deputy assistant secretaries who are. or assistant secretary so they will be more to come but this is a time where you've seen this administration taking diversity at inclusion really serious and given the opportunity barry right to be assessed for it he's positioned so. this is deathly feels like a new time right now as far as you know a new administration taking very serious all right so this is what his priority probably will be domestically as well as the coronavirus pandemic of course and he also oversee almost 3000007 members and to billions around the world what will be

his most the media tasks say i mean afghanistan and iraq and so many a territories for him where you know the u.s. military policy having what direction is it heading in this particular songs yes i know you do have the issue involving great power competition with the russia and china as being a near peer competitor you do are also have an ongoing counterterrorism missions and you also want to look at the fact that he is there to help restore to achieve alliances that we need that we're pretty much. within the last 4 years he is well known are around the world a cent com commander the press box and crown commander where he's able to build up a lot of relationships with a lot of different allies so they're going to be very happy to see him come back and to be able to conduct military diplomacy effectively thank you so much for talking to us castleberry from fordham university joining us now from new york we appreciate your time thank you thank you. and the biden administration says it will

review its space agreement with the taliban in afghanistan it wants to ensure that the taliban are sticking to their commitments to reduce violence cut ties with armed groups and engage in negotiations with the afghan government as one of the deal signed last february the us agreed to withdraw its troops by may of this year the current virus pandemic 9 thousands of people in hong kong have been ordered to stay at home the lock down is the toughest pandemic restrictions imposed on the territory so far it effects a densely populated district of hong kong which accounted for half of all new coronavirus cases the past week on kong has been struggling to contain a new outbreak since november let's bring in adrian brown who's live from one of the affected areas so tell us about why the government decided to impose of lockdown in this particular area of hong kong why is it a hot spot. well foley i'm in the jordan area of

hong kong one of the most densely populated parts of the city as you can see behind me some of the 700 police officers who've been deployed for this operation have been backed up by firemen as well as officers from the ambulance service more than 3000 in total why is that happening well the infection rate in this particular neighborhood has been stubbornly high for the past week and the aim of the government is to try to get that infection rate down to 0 so what they're doing over the next week over the next couple of hours in fact up until midnight on saturday is to test tens of thousands of people so that's going to be a pretty big operation now many of the people who live here are from south asia there's also a sizable community of migrants from china it's a very poor neighborhood and the conditions the housing conditions here are actually for many people pretty grim apartments are essentially divided up into

subdivided apartments and that means that often the room has barely space for even a bed i've seen these apartments for myself and the conditions really are truly decrepit and of course that makes it much easier for the virus to spread now according to the government they believe that the virus is being spread through broken sewerage pipes so the worry for people is that the lockdown here might indeed have to spread to other areas in hong kong if indeed the infection starts to show up in those other areas and of course all this comes as people in hong kong and indeed in the rest of china are preparing to mark the new lunar new year a year ago of course $1000.00 cars to pull over those celebrations and now it's threatening to do the same thing again but we have to put it into context for you know this is going to this lockdown here will last for we're told 48 hours and it's only happening in one district of hong kong not across all of whom comb thank you

for that adrian brown live for. and still ahead on al-jazeera new fears about a highly contagious u.k. coronavirus strain that spread to dozens of countries and radical lockdown why a community in argentina says it's being stigmatized and held against its will. the weather patterns about to change across the united states maybe best show world why what's happening down the california coast that normally breeze bringing rain down to southern california and across into baja elsewhere the pictures a fairly normal one not particularly cold you might not think but the wind chill is about to increase their lay shows to forecast the extra days it's not clear blue

skies it's showers every day even on shore breeze developing which means that the fire risk inland is much diminished now and as i said elsewhere sunday shows a wintry sea none especially code for a strong wind in ontario in particular is going to feel pretty chilly and it's the wind chill i think we'll see developing of the next few days as snow goes once again across well minnesota and the great lakes you end up with a high dozen or minus 4 minneapolis but look at winnipeg at minus 70 and then look at the forecast minneapolis we turn to minus 8 by the way i'm honest 14 by night come tuesday the cold is coming back. in contrast it's quite bored throughout the caribbean beautiful days versus the time but of cloud on the coast of nicaragua or costa rica or panama otherwise just a few large sheryl's allowed for use of much sun.

welcome to down from every one of us. even those working quietly behind the scenes . so you can relax enjoy the perfect break a new journey. and when you leave with a smile we know our days work is down cats are a welcome to our home. movie the. welcome back every cap of our top stories on al-jazeera donald trump the 2nd

impeachment trial has been delayed until the week of february 8th it follows an agreement between democratic and republican leaders in the u.s. senate a former president is accused of inciting the seizure of the capitol building by a mob of his supporters only this month meanwhile president joe biden has signed 2 executive orders to help families hit hard by the over 1000 pandemic biden is looking for bipartisan support in congress to pass a stimulus package worth $1.00 trillion dollars. and tens of thousands of people in hong kong have been ordered to stay at home the coronavirus downtown affects a densely populated district which accounted for half of all new cases over the past week. now britain's prime minister is warning that the coronavirus variant found in the u.k. is not only more contagious but could be more deadly the news comes as a britain appear to be making headway infection rates have started dropping by around 4 percent today 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 more quickly it also appears that there is some evidence that the new variant the varian that was 1st identified in london in the southeast may be associated with a higher degree of mortality nieve aka has more on what the prime minister and his medical advisors had to say. were 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 is 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 i should 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. argentina is more than 3 weeks into a mass vaccination drive using russia's sputnik vaccine it was one of the 1st countries in latin america to impose a lockdown defied call that 19 but the northern province of formosa has never reopened a movie in criticized by human rights schools for some bias. and

isolation center in the province of formosa in northern argentina. people here say they are being held here against their will. this man says nobody is taking care of them their care for that yes the radio here we've had children here for 22 days and no specialists or doctors have seen them please stop lying people are going to find out the truth about what's happening in this province. reports indicate there are over 3000 people in isolation in the province argentina was one of the 1st countries in latin america to impose a quarantine to prevent the spread of covert 19. but when most lock downs around the country have been lifted the lockdown in formosa has remained in place and broken since march last year human rights groups are questioning why people are taken to this isolation centers and the treatment they receive once they're there there are reports of people being picked up in the middle of the night in their

homes and taken with their families and that's why human rights organizations are asking provincial authorities to ease this restrictions immediately for most us government says its radical measures are necessary to fight coronavirus the government claims only 6 people have died of covert 1000 in the province and that their policy has been successful. but many for most i do not agree on thursday local legislator was detained when she went to an isolation center to demand people to be allowed to do the quarantine at home. talk to her once she was released at all or most in europe for most of feels like with 2nd class citizens because the rise that people normally have are not even respected here we don't have freedom to move we don't have personal freedom people are kept here in isolation for the schools are controlled by the police the and no one tears with psychologist doctors that's not happening human rights are violated the

centers are guarded by the police people are not allowed to go inside their belongings are checked by the police it's like a detention center. indigenous communities have also claimed they're being discriminated against for members and they will cheat indigenous group were detained on thursday for protesting against local authorities for the most or is one of the poorest provinces in the country and has been ruled by this same man for 25 years old were divorcing jillian's fran who many accuse of controlling the province like a personal fiefdom argentina is struggling to contain the spread of covert 1000 over 40000 people have died in the past year and when many here justify extreme measures others say forethought have gone too far. in selling one of sides. and brazil has received more than 2000000 doses of the cold vicious

vaccine from india the vaccine was developed by astra zeneca an oxford university and is being manufactured by india ceremony institute the batches arrived as brazil registered more than 56500 new cases of coffee 1000 on friday brazil is the 2nd worst hit country in the world only behind the u.s. with more than 214000 yes. u.s. democrats have sent a request to joe biden's new intelligence chief to declassify every porton that into the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi sen adam schiff the chairman of the house intelligence committee has tweeted a letter asking for the report to be released he says a murder which took place in 2018 in the saudi consulate in istanbul was an assault on human rights mike hanna has more from washington. basically he's reiterating a request that was made by congress indeed a demand that was made by congress way back in the months after the show g.'s

murder in the congress sent to demand to the trumpet ministration asking for the report on his killing to be declassified and presented to congress the deadline was put on that request january last year president trump simply ignored the request the deadline passed president trump insisted that whether or not it is a saudi arabia was in part responsible or specifically the crown prince of saudi arabia was responsible he regarded the matter as closed now on tuesday the new director of national intelligence every hain held or even hearing in the senate she was asked directly whether she would be classified the report on jamal khashoggi as murder she replied i will follow the law so the indication is that the director of national into intelligence would consider a declassifying the contents of the report to congress the issue that we do not know at this particular stage we may not learn more within coming hours is what is

the white house's position on the matter we do know from what has been said in the early days of the biden administration that it's reviewing its relationship with saudi arabia very closely it has expressed concern about the ongoing bombing in yemen it has said that it will no longer supply weapons for such actions so we are going to wait and see in the hours ahead what the white house position is but we do know from what the director of national intelligence a said that this report may well be provided to congress as demanded now formally by the majority leader in the senate. the united nations refugee agency says the number of people displaced by violence in africa region has passed 2000000 a 4 fold increase since 1900 it says humanitarian teams are now dangerously overstretched chen is appealing for more international help on groups have been spreading across the region in recent yes yelling ethnic tensions and attacking

security forces in countries including mali any share home and this clue is spokesman for west and central africa at the united nations refugee agency he says civilians have been bearing the brunt of the violence here we told you the order number that it was 2 years ago and that's because of the. attacks brutal gruesome and serious people are being forced to flee it's war in the not just the. and there are things 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 the observed you have over 850 souls and refugees people who know that the crisis is and cross the border to neighboring countries so host communities of strange or teams on the ground. gruesome testimonies people sling attacks during that's the

middle of the night armed groups were shooting around that does about sexual violence rapes that i was about me at night walking for 30 or 40 kilometers on food . when they arrived then that shelter because wherever they go the whole communities don't have enough space to hold some of the people we don't even want or they need food they need to burn a city's core sensuous but they also need to have access to health so we're on top of all of those sensual for now that people need me to ensure that we have more to insulate the nation the government a little 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 now a powerful storm is you to make landfall in central mozambique threatening to

devastate every agency recovering from a now the cycle a mess and 2 years a bill more than a 1000000 people in high risk areas have been moved to have temporary shelters take on enemies is expected to bring heavy rain and winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour as on course to a man near the port city of bear out which bore the brunt of the cycle and it die in 21000. again i'm fully back to bill with the headlines on al-jazeera donald trump's 2nd impeachment trial has been delayed until the week of february 8th it follows an agreement between democrat and republican leaders in the u.s. senate the former president is accused of inciting the siege on the capitol hill building by a mob of his supporters say earlier this month john hendren has more from washington what happens now is the house will send over the articles of impeachment on monday.