on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. every. donald trump's impeachment trial in the senate will begin in february he's accused of inciting insurrection. so rob you're watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up on the lockdown thousands of people in hong kong or order to stay at home the territory struggles to contain a coronavirus outbreak in one of its districts. a day of planned protests across

russia demanding the release of jailed opposition leader alexina valley begins with arrests the east of the country plus. we are in one of the most famous museums in the world in front of our group some of the most famous paintings in the world i'm stephanie decker in the affixing museum in florence where the reopening is raising a debate among italians about the need to control mass tourism. welcome to the program the date has been set double trump 2nd impeachment trial got underway in february senate leaders agreed to a 2 week delay allowing the chamber to focus on confirming joe biden's cabinet picks and covert 900 stimulus bill trump is accusing accused of inciting insurrection but he encouraged his supporters to march on the capitol building earlier this month i did hear castro reports now from washington d.c. . 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 is from patient began with an on president minimal process over in the heart of

the so-called cannot be an insufficient senate process the former president tried to due process or damages the sunnah or the presidency it throw. president joe biden has stressed the trial should not jeopardize the senate's focus on passing covert relief and we're trying 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 and i mean made with solemnity and gravity conviction would require the vote of 17 republicans only one voted to convict trump 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. u.s. president joe biden has signed 2 more executive orders this time focused on relieving the economic impact of the kovac 900. the measures of short term fixes ahead of a bunch of larger proposal is looking for bipartisan support in congress for a while point 9 trillion dollars stimulus package 100 hustle for washington d.c. . the new president pleaded for urgent and aggressive action to turn around

a floundering economy families are going home people are risk of being evicted job losses are mounting again we need 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 they can't afford to wait they need help right now and that's the motivation behind the actions that 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. now thousands of people in hong kong have been ordered to stay at home the lock down is the toughest pandemic restriction imposed on the city so far it effects a densely populated district which accounted for half of all new krona virus cases over the past week on kong has been struggling to contain a new outbreak since november adrian brown is in the district where the lockdown is in place and explains why it's been hardest hit by the virus. well this is something the hong kong government probably wanted to avoid locking down one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city but the tate and jordan areas have been seeing very high infection rates during the past week to 10 days those infection rates running up between 70 to 100

a day so now over the weekend medical workers are going to be testing tens of thousands of residents who live in these pretty decrepit buildings you can see behind me and that's possibly one of the reasons why the virus has been spreading many people live in water basically subdivided apartments within a flat basically one room apartments where there's barely enough room very even a bed they share washing facilities toilet facilities kitchen facilities and government officials say they believe that the virus here has been spreading through broken sewerage pipes now so far hong kong has recalled recorded about 10000 coded infections since the outbreak began in january last year we've had more than $160.00 deaths but this is the 1st no lockdown up until now and of course the worry for many people is this lockdown might have to spread to other areas if we start to see infections rising in those areas. britain's prime minister is

warning the coronavirus varian sound 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 in reducing the spread infection rates and started dropping by around 4 percent per day the boys johnson says the u.k. can't consider easing restrictions 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 there is some evidence that the new variant variant was 1st identified in london and the scythe east may be associated with a higher degree of mortality vaccine make astra zeneca has cut its promise delivery to the e.u. blaming supply chain issues the company has slashed their offering by 60 percent for the 1st quarter of the year with only $31000000.00 doses now expected to be delivered is

a severe setback to the block's vaccination program which is already suffering after the pfizer biotech slowed their supply. brazil has received more than 2000000 doses of the kuvasz shield vaccine from india the vaccine was developed by astra zeneca and oxford university and is being manufactured by india's syrup institute the batches arrived as brazil registered more than another 56500 new cases of covert 19 on friday that the outbreak in brazil is the 2nd deadliest in the world only behind the us with more than 215000 deaths families in mexico's capital are being forced to take credit i was health care into their own hands with hospitals overwhelmed hundreds are king daily for expensive oxygen refills to help people recovering at home in some cases personal vehicles are being used in place of ambulances at least 90 percent of mexico's city's hospital beds are full with thousands of cases being added every day.

tropical cyclone eloise has made landfall there mozambique's port city of beera which was devastated by cycling e.-d. less than 2 years ago rivers in the surrounding areas were already swollen before the storm hit at least $3000.00 people have been evacuated from busy district in the east and louise's expected to lose strength as it travels inland dumping rain across the barboy east and south africa and botswana. human rights watch is calling for an investigation into a french air strike on a village in northern mali this month that killed 19 people witnesses say the attack hit a wedding party attended by civilians but that's disputed by france meanwhile the un's peacekeeping chief is ward against a possible drawdown of french forces in what's become an increasingly volatile region nicholas haq has more from dhaka. it's on the heels of a memorial for 3 un peacekeepers from ivory coast that were killed in mali the u.n.

chief for peacekeeping operation. made his statements saying that a draw down of troops as suggested by paris a drawdown of french troops in the region is perhaps not the right time given that there is a heightened escalation of attacks by armed groups in the region specifically and central mali and. it's a question of. what can you do to further improve. there is a lot of work that has been done despite the obviously regrettable losses at the end of the year we had far fewer deaths despite an increased number of addiction last year but the presence of more than 5000 french troops has come under criticism both in mali where there has been protest against the presence of french troops but also in france a recent survey suggests that the majority of people in france want to see their

troops returned home france has announced that almost $600.00 troops will return home they'll be replaced by another force made up of european special forces but there's also been some criticism following an attack on what appears to be a wedding in central mali in the region of now human rights watch has called for an investigation on what happened the french say they have not attacked a wedding rather they have attacked armed fighters in the area now al jazeera has spoken to doctors without borders m.s.f. has treated some of the wounded in there and this is what their spokesperson had to say. that's the kind of. war. those

of people with more than 2000000 people displaced currently the sile because of the ongoing fighting in mali but also across its borders the chief of the un peacekeeping operation jump. suggests that on groups that have not signed the algiers accord in 2015 should also join the peace agreement that this illusion is suggested by the mali and government and neighboring government for armed groups to negotiate with the government for a peaceful solution so that all these millions of people displaced can return home . well still ahead here on al-jazeera shattering racial barriers a retired army general becomes the 1st black american pick to be u.s. defense secretary. also what next for the political career of that as well as opposition leader why don't know now that there's

a new president. it's time for the perfect gentleman the winter sponsored plan qatar airways huge amount of snow in sweden yesterday closed down the north of the country and it was stormy through spain and the western med now between the 2 this big wind of of platies where much weather will happen in the next 24 hours basically it's cold rolled gently and snow it is still a fair amount of rain to come for portugal noles missed by new to snow in band the winds are quite strong here but this is a much quieter picture now still longest snowing in northern sweden there is a band that's going to go up through germany and poland and probably end up in the southern baltic these temp is a typical now of mid-winter low single figures however although innsbrook

represents that that trend's an extra day snow or sunshine and generally cold if you come further south of the water the miter remain open all year of course and quite warm is thought to be stormy again through the valley and then more especially corsica sardinia italy and then into the e.g.a. where we can look at the higher ground and you got rain on the coast and winds and then snow inland part a good teacher once again montenegro reflects this thundery or wet weather for sunday and monday an improvement by the end of choose day some of that as always will spill off into the north coast of our gerri in tunisia otherwise north africa is quiet. sports of paul qatar airways. when all that seems to matter is the headline and always 2 sides to a story when narratives and counter narratives obscure reality they lay there on the one hand the enemy is open neither on the other hand the listening post strips away the spin what kind of reporting if you can see on the ground misinformation is

right lays bare the bias a lot of people believe things because they want to believe them and uncovers the uncomfortable truths do you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war listening post on a. ok mark you're watching observer with me so rob a reminder of our top stories donald trump's 2nd impeachment trial will get underway the week of february the 8th the former president is accused of inciting the siege of the capitol building. covert 19 vaccine making astra zeneca has cut its promise delivery to the blaming supply chain issues it's a severe setback to the blocks vaccination program which is already suffering after

pfizer biotech slowed the supply. of thousands of people in hong kong have been ordered to stay at home it affects a district that's accounted for half of all new credible iris cases over the past week on khan's been struggling to contain an outbreak since november. tens of thousands of people are expected to protest in cities across russia demanding the release of kremlin critic alexina valley i was arrested last week on his return to germany where he was being treated for a near fatal poisoning alexy o'brian explodes. the rallies across russia have been banned but that didn't stop people in khabarovsk from coming out to make their voices heard on. the sin city has seen months of protests against the kremlin but this rally was specifically in support of president vladimir putin's the assist critic alexina valmy was there soon scuffles with police authorities have gone to

great lengths to prevent such acts of defiance including a race thing several of the valley's top aides in the lead up to saturday's protests the kremlin's described the rallies as unlawful and warned of tough consequences i don't believe there were calls for perth's haitian and illegal mass actions constitute an administrative violation and can lead to punishment including arrest. it's alexina valley's arrest last when. that's behind the protests he was taken into custody soon after he touched down in moscow on a flight from germany where he had received months of treatment for a poisoning which nearly killed him he's accused president coton of ordering his murder. violated the terms of a 2014 conviction for financial misdeeds and jailed him for 30 days in a video posted soon after his arrest he said. don't be silent resist take to the streets no one will protect us except ourselves. his

supporters have said his calls dozens of videos on take talk have gone viral showing students taking down pictures of person in their classrooms or covering his photo with no valley's image instead the kremlin's warned online platforms they could face fines of up to $50000.00 for allowing content that encourages protests russia's largest social media network the contact has blocked all pages linked to the release system committee of the us so russian investigative committee has initiated a criminal case on enticement of minors into eagle activities that pose a danger to their lives carried out by internet and social media. mass protests have led to novell news release from custody before but some analysts believe the tactic won't work this time because he's become too much of a threat to president putin's grip on power. brian al-jazeera. a retired

army general has become the 1st black american pick to be u.s. defense secretary the senate voted $93.00 to $2.00 to confirm joe biden's nominee lloyd alston to run the pentagon. the reports. ludo stan arrived at the pentagon shortly after his senate confirmation his 1st day shed you will include your cool with nato secretary general and a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic good to see you guys just. like you being here look forward to working with you earlier the retired army general had shattered a racial barrier in the united states by becoming the 1st african-american secretary of defense he was confirmed with overwhelming bipartisan support from democrats and republicans the yeas are 93 the nays are 2 and the nomination is confirmed security analysts say his appointment symbolizes a turning point in the fight against systemic racism it's so significant because

many black thousands and thousands 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 austin says his main priority so deterring any threat posed by china and routing out domestic stream is him but some analysts say it's unlikely they'll be a huge shift in u.s. defense policy with his appointment basically reify the policy of strengthening american defenses keeping the fence budget robust building up u.s. nuclear forces while the green 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 the last dozen years or so president biden who say wants austin to restore stability at the pentagon during

the trumpet ministration there were 2 senate confirmed secretaries of defense who he helped post on an interim basis victoria gates and be al jazeera. the by the ministrations says it will review its predecessors peace agreement with the afghan taliban it wants to ensure the taliban are sticking to their commitments to reduce violence cut ties with armed groups sending gage in negotiations with the afghan government as part of the deal signed last february the us agreed to withdraw its troops by may this year. it's been 2 years since venezuela's national assembly leader declared himself interim president kwan going to still has the support of the international community including the new u.s. president joe biden the president nicolas maduro has consolidated his power and wider is still in danger of being arrested for latin america to lucien newman has this report. 2 years after being declared interim president had been

israel's former opposition controlled legislature why those future and his freedom hang in a precarious balance. after taking over parliament this month following a widely contested election president nicolas maduro appears to be setting the stage to finally make good on his threat to quote make wide all rot in prison you're good ok well we had our look at that but on the whole moment up i think the government is waiting for the right moment to make its move has been delaying its waiting for president trump to leave office but now the balances tips towards prosecuting don't if it doesn't go into exile. parliament has asked the supreme court to order why those arrest for alleged subversion and treason. but the new u.s. administration may make it as unadvisable as the previous one. despite speculation to the contrary president joe biden has confirmed he'll continue recognizing why the law not only as in israel as opposition leader but as

a to mainly symbolic interim president. as a clear warning to muddle by those ambassador to washington. was invited to biden's inauguration is a message for the venezuelan people. us will stand with the innocent people in their quest to restore democracy how do you know that now the donald trump is out why those arrest is imminent when. the political cost as well we need to raise our voices new orleans i don't mean a cynical but for. why those hopes of overthrowing by winning over the army with a massive popular uprising have failed so have 2 years of international sanctions that have added to the misery of ordinary venezuelans it's close to right all significant popular support yet he is still the most recognized opposition figure. but for how long that's the question as he struggles to remain relevant and as tens

of thousands of his disheartened countrymen continue fleeing venezuela you see in human al-jazeera. u.s. baseball hall of famer hank aaron has died at the age of 86 hours best known for overtaking babe ruth's career record in 1974 eventually finishing with 755 home runs but had to contend with racism and death threats from people range the black man could overtake a white baseball icon or was only surpassed as homerun king in 2007 nicknamed hammerin hank he spent most of his 23 years as a professional with the atlanta braves. the museum in florence has reopened its doors to the public not down walls to cover the coronavirus pandemic the world famous museum was closed for almost half of 2020 but the pandemic also means the usual crowds of tourists are there and the people of florence are finally

getting to a chance of art to enjoy their art and culture in a more personal way stephanie decker joined the in florence. intimacy with a masterpiece getting budget chilly spring all to yourself would usually be unheard of the grown a pandemic to stop the mass tourism that would usually fill these corridors rooms and that means florentines are coming back to visit something many had long stopped doing she saw start happening on the ship. i lived here until i was 25 years old i would come on sunday mornings as you would go have a coffee in the path of the drama then you'd come for a walk around the your feet see we would walk in and out with ease this of course was a long time ago. often for video but if we consider it part of our culture as a florentine it's our home museum you'd have to book a month in advance then you'd have to stand in long queues you don't feel like it's your home any more it makes you lose the desire to visit these are arguably some of

the most famous paintings in the world this is what the chinese spring and then over there you have the iconic. the birth of venus to be able to observe them pretty much alone is an extraordinary privilege and it's raising a question here among italians about the need to control must tourism. outside florence is unrecognizably empty. temp you know tamale we pm in normal times this would be full you couldn't even take a picture there were so many people there was a queue here with aponte vacua behind it's a bit sad that florence needs people. for those who live here despite the hard economic times at the pendennis caused something should change the rebels said only lunch i mean there should be a balance a bit less people i don't know how but there's a need to rethink it also for the future because it isn't beautiful for anyone not even for the tourists feel to come to find the city's center chaotic said phyl you

can't even take a walk. if you're the director of the feeds he tells us that this is one of the most sought after museums in the world with around 4 and a half 1000000 visitors each year florence together with. our other 3 top cases of really bad over tourism. and it's not just bad for the city for the inhabitants of the city but it's actually bad for the tourists and selves i think it's really important to take advantage now of this very difficult situation and really to really think how we're going to. project our offers and the future. arts and culture many here tell us is a right for all the coronavirus has forced us all to stop and here at least many hope it will result in a new better way for everyone to be able to enjoy and share these treasures of the past stephanie decker al-jazeera at the museum in florence. a man is recovering

after receiving the world's 1st double shoulder and arm transplant in france felix and gretel song from iceland lost both limbs 2 decades ago after an accident while working on a high voltage power line the operation was performed in the on by affronts hand transplant pioneer who met mr reza sayah at a conference in reykjavik is unclear how much function he'll recover with but it's described that the transplant is his greatest dream. means he'll rob the reminder of our top stories told from 2nd to peace with trial get underway the week of february the 8th the 2 week delay allows the senate to work through cabinet confirmations of broad and help for the unemployed the former president is accused of inciting the siege of the capitol building $100.00 house more.