the only witnesses who can help bring about justice now does erode solace human rights campaigners in libya investigating rape since the 2000. unspeakable crime on al-jazeera. 'd the democrats reject the claim by donald trump's lawyers that a senate impeachment trial for former president is unconstitutional. the president cannot simply resign to avoid accountability for an impeachable offense nor can they escape judgment by waiting until their final few weeks in office to betray our country. this is our desire to live from doha also coming up colombia gives legal status to

hundreds of thousands of undocumented venezuelans refugees and migrants. hong kong's top court to decide whether media tycoon g. lie can be granted bail in a high profile legal challenge to beijing's national security law. and tesla's bitcoin boost the long musk's electric vehicle giant buys into the crypto currency and promises to accept it for payments. so donald trump's lawyers are denying the charge that the then president incited his supporters to storm capitol hill a day before his 2nd impeachment trial at the senate they're also arguing it is unconstitutional to hold a trial for former president but there are kratz prosecuting trump says that he has no valid defense i do j. kustra begins our coverage from washington d.c. we fight. we fight like hell and if you don't fight like you're not going to have

a country anymore those were some of donald trump last words on january 6th moments before a violent mob fired up by his false claims that the election had been stolen broke into the u.s. capitol and tried to stop congress from making joe biden's win official for rioters and a police officer died in the attack 2 more officers later died by suicide the grounds for this impeachment are deeply deeply troubling and if the united states senate acquit stunnel truong this round it's essentially a green light for 'd future presidents to try to overthrow elections close to the end of their terms house democrats bring the charges against alleged he intentionally whipped his supporters into a frenzy inciting an insurrection trump's attorneys say the trial is unconstitutional because he's no longer in office and that the former president's

speech was protected by the 1st amendment robert ray defended during his 1st impeachment i don't think the words as charged in the impeachment article go fight like hell can be you know seen as chatham out to a call to violence 45 of 50 republicans in the senate try to dismiss the trial on grounds that it is unconstitutional they failed but the early vote showed republicans are now falling back in line behind the former president and the likelihood of convicting trump is slim's the impeachment managers will nevertheless try to present an emotionally charged case forcing senators to relive the hours they spent powering for their lives inside the capitol fearing american democracy was on the verge of collapse will we see witnesses will this trial last longer than a week those are still. pending questions trump has refused

a request to testify although it's become clear that this trial is not just about his guilt or innocence it is also about politics with senators way how their verdict on trump will also impact their own grasp on power. castro al-jazeera washington let's hear now from john 100 on capitol hill has more details on how the trial will be conducted senate leaders have agreed on a format for the 2nd impeachment trial of donald trump the 1st day on tuesday will be occupied entirely with the question of whether it's constitutional to prosecute a president in an impeachment trial after he's already left office trump's lawyers say you can't do that but democrats say there is precedent a secretary of war was prosecuted in an impeachment trial in 1876 after he had left office chuck schumer the democratic leader in the senate had this to say the trial

is clearly constitutional by every frame of the now asus by constitutional text historical practice senate precedent and basic common sense that a president cannot simply resign to avoid accountability for an impeachable offense nor can they escape judgment by waiting until their final few weeks in office to betray your country. the impeachment powers assigned to the congress by the constitution cannot be defeated by a president who decides to run away or trashes our democracy on the way out the door if the democrats win the argument that it is constitutional to go ahead with the impeachment trial then the big question is did donald trump incite a riot deliberately on january 6th his lawyers say he was simply exercising free speech and they'll have 16 hours to make that case and then there will be 16 hours on the other side and senators will have the opportunity to question both sides all

right let's take this on we can speak now to john malcolm you joins us live on skype from washington d.c. he's the vice president for constitutional government and the director of the center for legal and judicial studies at the heritage foundation which is a conservative think tank john milken thanks for joining us here on al-jazeera now of course the sense is that donald trump will be acquitted but i wonder is there a possibility that when the trial gets under way with pictures and accounts replayed showing the nation's lawmakers and leaders indeed the very members of the jury for the impeachment cowering in fear in the holes of democracy is a mob runs riot perhaps enough republicans might then decide to vote to convict. i think it's unlikely so you already have $45.00 republicans on record saying that they don't think the senate under the constitution can even conduct the trial the trial is in a sense going to be about what happened in the capitol on january 6th and in a sense it won't be nobody is going to defend what happened in the capitol on

january the 6th it was horrible and everybody acknowledges that the question really is did president trump's words that we're going to fight like hell basically rev up a lynch mob to go and stormed the capitol and that is more of a logical leap and i don't think that you're going to get 67 senators one to agree that the trial should be held and 2 that he is responsible and that sort of way for the mayhem that happened on january 6th you do wonder why the then president did hold that rally so close to the capitol building when joe biden was being confirmed why he would do that when he knew that the crowd was angry to being told this lie for 2 months that you know the election was a still well that's true i mean his remarks were outside the white house which is not terribly far but it's not really close to the capitol he told people to march peacefully to the capitol and that was the date that the votes were were being sort

of fight it was his klain i'm not defending it the election was stolen and that the vice president and the senators could stop the certification of those electoral college votes that was the day to to do that this is a question of over the whether or not this is constitutional and the impeachment offense occurred prior to the president leaving office in office so as a precedent it's important to ensure that any future president be it republican or democrat does not commit an impeachable offense but then is not held accountable because he is no longer in office. well but it really is just a question of what the constitution permits the constitution permits presidents vice presidents and all civil officers of the united states to be removed and potentially disqualified from office donald trump is none of those it's hardly as if he's going to be forgiven even if there wasn't an impeachment trial i mean you

know history will will record what happened on january 6th history will record what role if any president trump played in those events and of course if people believe that he committed a crime he could still be charged with a criminal offense regardless of what happens at this impeachment trial how much of a risky strategy do you think this is being for the democrats you could argue indeed that it's already galvanized the president when he was you know in a pretty precarious situation you know the full present a risk yeah that's right there are political risks on both sides of the aisle so you know that the democrats who have talked an awful lot in the last few days about unity are you know sticking their finger in the eye of a roughly 74000000 voters who voted for for donald trump on the other hand you know the republicans are going to have to take a stand about the future of the republican party are they going to stand with donald trump or are they pivoting into

a different direction so their political ticker rests on both sides of the aisle and this is very much going to be a political trial john malcolm's discreate get your analysis and perspective on this pressure that very much thank you. it to be with you and georgia has opened an investigation into donald trump's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 electoral votes in a telephone call last month that was leaked pressured secular state bred reference berger to find votes based on unfounded fraud claims joe biden won georgia by a narrow margin legal experts say trump's phone call may have violated that these 3 state criminal election laws. now breaking news out of hong kong and media tycoon has been denied bail the pro-democracy activist is the highest profile person to be charged under china's national security little as 73 year old is accused of fraud and conspiring with foreign forces under the controversial

legislation let's cross straightaway to devika part and he's standing by for us in home called tell us more about the latest developments. right trivial i was in court for less than 10 minutes it seems and the session house decided that he would be denied bail now there's been a lot of attention on this case this is the 1st national security law case so we the courts a final appeal he is in the building behind me now if you can see there has been a special tunnel even set up for him to enter that builds a here arrived far ago in a police van answering the courtroom presumably carrying his customary bible as he does in all his multitude of cases and the session started i would say just about 10 minutes ago so this is the 2nd courts hearing the court a final appeal about his bail. and this once again is

a very clear signal sent by the national security law so basically many people watching this to see what kind of a precedent it would set if team ally had gotten bail and he would have been the 1st person charged in the not so security law to be able to wait out his trial on bail but he has been denied so what this means is that and it confirms if you talk to legal experts that hong kong's not found security cases are not even further a line from hong kong common law cases where bail is customary usually granted and what this also suss to that is that there seems to be a paddle judicial system running. in addition to hong kong sports and this is going to raise a lot of concern here asked the national security law had already raised concern that those tenets from that law were undermining hong kong's very transparent and very respected judicial system and what about the case itself what are we hearing about how this trial will be carried out.

there once again a lot of what's happening to these national security law cases are unprecedented there hasn't been a single case to go to trial yet they realize trial be on april 16th but what i can tell you i was with the designation with the law is that the hong kong government and the chief executive will hand pick the judges that will be precise over these cases not whether there is a jury or not is still also on clear and we are hearing rumors that in another trial that's due to begin in the next couple of weeks the defendant will not be receiving a trial that is in line with the common law system here where you have a jury now hong kong's as i said our court system the court system here is very transparent it's comparable to that in the u.s. and the u.k. there is a jury and it's very open where rulings can be easily challenge and appeals but

what this is not saying is that the secretary or sorry the tenets of this national security law and the secretary of justice can invoke an ordinance which says that that will be no jury charges will be hung so once again this is causing a lot of concern because what this basically does is become home support system much closer to china's very opaque legal system. doing a poll and reporting that from hong kong media tycoon to be life has been tonight thanks very much to be. still ahead here on al-jazeera south africa's coronavirus setback quite health authorities are having to rethink the country's vaccination strategy. it's time for the perfect gentleman. with sponsored play qatar airways.

it is still subzero by day and by night in siberia in the northeast of china but as cold as it was there that cold air is still coming across the waters the open waters those 2 frozen producing state showers so home shouldn't ha card or otherwise is sunshine not much for her and i have to side in terms of coming up slowly is the sun get slowly stronger day by day but this unusual features blue and orange than here is at a season heavy rain on its way eastwards it'll be over hong kong on wednesday done a very pleasant day that keeps moving east with after that towards taiwan for thursday again significant rain there's some order in the rain showers in the forecast for this part of the world for the philippines it looks rather wet and for this part of indonesia jobber in particular a focus of heavy showers but in between the 2 not somebody that includes a relatively dry sumatra as well obviously it is dry in india time the year a few showers just catching the east eastern shore line care and the fall isn't

quite as dense or persistence as it was in northern india or a few showers the north in the himalayas for example snow showers in the poll but there's not much to move the air around in new delhi so this still shallow fault forecast every day but we're no longer in the cold if not as bad at night. sponsored by qatar airways. and it's time for a different approach one that is going to challenge the way you think. asking the questions now is the new host of the next season of the show that's got no space for sound bites only cavities so let's leave simplicity to the headlines join me as i take on the law dismantle the misconceptions and debate the contradiction. i'm marc lamont hill and it's time to get up front right here on out 0.

00. 000 mind about top stories this hour and lawyers for former u.s. president donald trump have filed defense papers saying the senate's impeachment trial starting on tuesday is unconstitutional they also deny the charge that trump incited his supporters to storm couple help democrats prosecuted trump said he has no valid defense. hong kong's top court has denied the media tycoon and she made light bail the 73 year old pro-democracy activist is the highest profile person to be charged in the china's national security role. mammals military rulers have imposed a curfew in the 2 biggest cities of young going to mandalay and banned gatherings of more than 5 people but activists say they will continue to hold protests against

last week's military coup the head of the military in one addressed the nation for the 1st time since the takeover you cues the country's democratic leaders are using the pandemic to rig november's election but also promised a new election next year. colombia is to grant protective legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugees and migrants from venezuela this temporary measure will make them eligible to apply for a 10 year residency permits colombia has long been the top destination for venezuelans fleeing the economic and political crisis or close to a 1000000 assault to be living in the country without proper papers. he has more now from bogota. the legal status will allow almost a 1000000 venezuelan migrants who are here without papers to work legally it will all to extend the status of hundreds of thousands who so far had temporary papers and this decision is obviously great but also quite surprising for all the

nice well in migrants given the fact that the colombian government until now was reluctant to offer full legal status fearing that this might have learned even more venezuelans to come here but in the press conference announcing their decision president said that it was time to act the united nations high commissioner for refugees also called the decision historic in a new show because the announcement by colombia to grant temporary protection for venezuelans in their territory for a 10 year period is an emblematic humanitarian gesture for the region and even for the whole world this initiative is an extraordinary sign of humanity commitment to human rights and pragmatism some $5000000.00 people have left the venezuela since 2015 fleeing the total economic collapse and political crisis there colombia has

been the biggest recipient but this is obviously a regional crisis throughout latin america is one of the biggest if not the biggest refugee crisis really in the world at this point but it's also one of the most underfunded just to give you an idea the international community has spent $1500.00 u.s. dollars on each syrian refugee and just $125.00 on each venezuelan migrant so much more help is needed this is something that the president of colombia. has insisted on and he also said that he hopes that the decision by colombia to extend legal status will help spotlight this crisis more and bring more international help. rescue operations are underway in northern india to free more than 30 people trapped in a tunnel a day after part of

a himalayan glass collapsed at least 20 bodies have been recovered and more than 200 people are still missing elizabeth paradigm reports now from a town in the area where the accident and. the rescuers are relying on heavy equipment to barge the piles of mud and debris declaring a tunnel where workers have been trapped since a torrent of water and debris swept through on sunday after part of a glacier broke off upstream. working on the crown of the tunnel when we heard screams get out get out we didn't know what was happening we started running to escape when the force of the water gushed in through the mouth of the tunnel. it's thought the workers are stuck in an outlet about 180 meters then. my brother was here he used to work here and now i'm hearing he is trapped inside we have no information about him there were 6 people from our village over here. that when

they are about 2000 members of the military police and specialist in mountain best of involved in the search. while they hoping to find survivors of the tunnel some teams have been out on the river fearing the worst. our team is here searching for bodies if we see anyone near the banks or in the river our work is to recover them . most of the missing were working on 2 hydro power projects being built by the government deep in the mountains of northern state one dad was damaged another destroyed and homes were washed away experts say the burst could be linked to climate change and a team of scientists has been flown to the site to investigate other environmentalists blame the construction saying it's damaging the himalayas fragile ecosystem clearly this is an unstable. which is not uncommon in these sorts of environments. i think would be that this could there could be other such events ice

avalanches landslides snow avalanches and so on in the future and that that may well be exacerbated by by climate change. food and medicines have been delivered to some villages that have been cut off and this mountainous region prepares and reconstruction will take time this is where the humanitarian and rescue efforts are being coordinated. this 300 kilometers from the state's capital takes time alice to reach. the head of india's national disaster response for said one of the biggest challenges is the difficult terrain and the rescue and recovery operation could take up to 48 hours elizabeth. sudan's prime minister has included 7 former rebel chiefs in a new cabinet following a peace deal struck in october between the transitional government and the rebel alliance says the new lineup will help protect the country from collapsing but.

we have begun to develop a national vision to address economic issues there are some challenges and problems but they will go in the right direction in my estimation we have worked on many diggle reforms to deal with laws restricting freedoms additionally recovering stolen money internally and externally has become one of our distinguished achievements of south african health authorities are working with international scientists to draw up a new coronavirus vaccination strategy they suspended the original plan to use the oxford astra zeneca job because trials showed it gives little protection against the highly contagious local variant. has more now from johannesburg. it's here in nelson mandela bay on south africa's east coast that experts say a new variant of covert 19 spread rapidly it's more contagious and accounts for 90 percent of all new infections south africa with 1000000 doses of the astra zeneca

vaccine was due to start giving jabs to frontline health workers in a week's time study suggested it would cut the risk of contracting the or original variant of corona virus by 75 percent but against the new variant the vaccine is almost powerless it's said to have only a 22 percent chance of stopping mild to moderate infections is a temporary issue we. just as it is the studies not clear on how well the vaccine can protect people from severe illness or death so the africa may be at the tail end of its 2nd wave of covert 1000 but the approach of colder months there's a real worry of a 3rd wave there's always been concern south africa's not vaccinating people quick enough and with the new variant of the virus that concerns only growing oxford astra zeneca says it will tweak its existing vaccine to offer more effective

protection but it could be organist before that's available so far the new variant has spread to at least 29 countries while existing vaccines may face the challenge of keeping up with mutations as new variants have already been identified in the u.k. and brazil experts say all is not lost and this vaccine be combined with another vaccine so that you have 22 different vaccines that do what we call prime and boost so you stimulate the immune system and 2 different points in time and you do it with slightly different back so there are many questions still to be are asked to given the limited sample size of the trial and the younger healthier profile. all of the participants it's important to determine whether or not the vaccine remains effective in preventing more serious illness south africa's also looking to other manufacturers the government says it expects to receive a new vaccine soon from pfizer and johnson and johnson and it will continue talks

with more supply is including in china and russia from al-jazeera johannesburg republican to run rights has become the 1st city member of the u.s. congress to die after contracting covert 19 right died on sunday in dallas hospital in texas in outs less than 3 weeks ago that he and his wife a contract with the virus the 67 year old was honored by his colleagues during a moment of silence on monday. facebook and instagram say their expanding efforts to remove misinformation about covert 19 on its platforms groups repeatedly spreading false information will be banned that includes theories that covert $1000.00 is manmade in vaccines cause autism facebook is already removing post debunked by the world health organization tesla has bet big on bit coy cryptocurrency has hit a record price of $44000.00

a unit after the automaker invested $1500000000.00 tesla says it will soon begin accepting payments in the digital currency carol and is under has more now from new york. the bitcoin craze has reached new heights thanks to tesla the announcement by the electric car company that had bought $1500000000.00 worth of the cyber currency and may start accepting it as payment drove the bitcoin price soaring at $1.00 point monday up more than 14 percent to over $44000.00 per unit tesla announced a move in their annual company report and said buying bitcoin was all part of a larger strategy to diversify in alternative assets but tesla is a product of its flamboyant founder eve on musk recently named the world's wealthiest person musk has long boasted of bitcoins promise he often uses his twitter platform with more than 45000000 followers to promote not only bitcoin but

other little known cyber currencies the big corn price jump was welcome news for new york for owner patrick hughes after 30 years in the business he's selling up last month putting not just one but both of his new york city bars on the market the price $25.00 bitcoins or $800.00 if arion another crypto currency in what would be the 1st crypto currency only restaurant sale in the u.s. i have a lot of faith in crypto currency because if you offered me right now $100000.00 in crypto currency i don't even care bitcoin the theory and one of the other major crypto currency or $100000.00 u.s. dollars i know in 5 years the crypto currency is going to be worth far more than the dollars most investment banks have ignored bitcoin saying that it's too risky

because it's mostly unregulated but attitudes appear to be changing there's talk of wall street perhaps starting an investment fund backed by big. coin as early as later this year if it's approved by government regulators and there's a lot of money at stake as early as last month the total value of all cyber currencies reached over $1.00 trillion dollars gabriel's on al-jazeera new york. so this is odds are these are the top stories and lawyers for former us president donald trump of file defense papers saying the senate impeachment trial study will choose day is unconstitutional they also deny the charge that trump incited his supporters to storm capitol hill but democrats prosecuting trump say he has no valid defense.