welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: the impeachment trial of donald trump begins, with republicans and democrats arguing over how the hearing will proceed. a trial with no evidence is no trial at all. it's a cover—up. away from his impeachment worries... donald trump clashes with greta thunberg by attacking the pessimism of environmental campaigners. we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. health chiefs warn that a deadly pneumonia virus is spreading beyond china, with a case confirmed in the us. campus concerns. a warning from lawmakers about the influence beijing may be having on british

universities. hello to you. republicans, who are in the majority in the us senate, have now rejected three attempts by democrats to obtain documents in president trump's impeachment trial. it's an early sign of the partisan divide that seems very likely to see mr trump acquitted. democrats see the refusal to allow new evidence as a cover up. the latest live in a moment but first, here's our north america editor, jon sopel. hear ye, here ye, here ye, all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment. 1868, 1999 and now 2020, for only the third time in american history, the serjeant—at—arms tells senators on pain of imprisonment that they must maintain silence

and decorum in the trial of a sitting president, the 45th — donald] trump. the senate will convene as a court of impeachment. presiding over it the chiefjustice of the supreme court, john roberts. but all for this being a judicial process, it is really raw politics. the first person to be called was pat cipollone, the senior white house counsel acting as the defence. we believe that once you hear those initial presentations, the only conclusion will be that the president has done absolutely nothing wrong, and that these articles of impeachment do not begin to approach the standard required. the central argument is whether witnesses should be allowed.

the chief prosecutor is adam schiff, the democratic chair of the house intelligence committee. he says that would be a travesty. if the defendant is not allowed to introduce evidence of his innocence, it is not a fair trial. so too for the prosecution. if the house cannot call witnesses or introduce documents in evidence, it is not a fair trial. it is it not really a trial at all. trump may be at his mount in eerie with the global elite, but he is watching is what happening in washington. it is a hoax, it goes nowhere because nothing happened. the only thing we have done is a greatjob. we have the greatest economy over in our history. the trial will last for at least a week. each side will be given three days to present their case. there will be questioning. all of this will be conducted with the strictest rules of behaviour. but on the cable news networks, it's playing out 21w, and here it's mixed martial arts with seemingly no rules.

this fight for public opinion is just as important as donald trump eyes re—election later on this year. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. chris buckler is following developments in washington for us. what is the latest? we have had two votes up to this point, and therefore we have an idea of how it will play out. we've had a vote, for example, on the white house and whether or not documents could be ordered from them using a subpoena. also the state department, the office of and management as well. all of those attempts to get information and documents, they have been scuppered by the republicans. either democrats will want to try to introduce new evidence into this trial but the republicans have a majority inside the senate and therefore they have a great deal of power and what they've essentially done is say to the democrats that although they requested this new

evidence, new documents, from the white house, the state department and the office of management and budget they will not get their man democrats are continuing to push for more information to be introduced into this trial. what's happening in the senate at the moment is they are trying to argue for the acting chief of staff in the white house, mick mulvaney, to be subpoenaed, to be order to give evidence inside this trial. will be resisted i suspect by the republicans but what we have seen in the other three votes so far is there's been a real split along party lines, essentially republicans with their 53—47 majority ultimately saying, "no, you can't have that, democrats", and it is giving you a sense of how this trial will proceed. exactly that, despite the presence of the chiefjustice of the supreme court, this is a very political process and it's likely to end on party lines. the result is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

yeah, ithink much a foregone conclusion. yeah, i think you're seeing that already, mike, because all the attention and focus today has been on the first day of this impeachment trial, even though it's actually been about the process of the trial itself and how it will be conducted, this has really been a kind of technical battle about how this will play out over the next days. the reality, though, from what we've seen from both the prosecution, president donald trump's lawyers as well, is they've been trying to put their case. the prosecution and defence both very, very strongly trying to say exactly what they will argue in this trial. from the point of view of president donald trump ‘s pass lawyers, they will say he's done absolutely nothing wrong and not gone beyond his office at all and this is a political prosecution by the democrats. on the other hand we will see from the democrats, who are arguing that quite the opposite, that they will say he used his position to try to influence ukraine to launch investigations into lyrical opponents to try to help him win the upcoming election in

november. those are serious arguments and serious allegations, and you do get the idea that over the next days, the senate is going to be involved in very very argumentative and difficult discussion but frankly, you're quite right, with a republican majority in there, it looks highly, highly unlikely that president donald trump will be removed from his office. in fa ct, will be removed from his office. in fact, you've got to remember he needs a two—thirds majority, and thatis needs a two—thirds majority, and that is so unlikely that it is belief. thank you very much for that, chris. let stay with us feed from the senate. carl tobias is professor of law at the university of richmond in virginia. what are you making of the proceedings? i think you described it very well. it does seem that the republicans are holding to their 53-47 republicans are holding to their 53—47 majority, and there have been no defections so far on the procedures. and as you properly say, the process that are used and the

rules that are established may dictate what the substance might be. it is very partisan, very politicised and both sides are holding fast to their respective positions so far. and, of course, there have been many complaints from there have been many complaints from the white house and republicans in congress about the lack of representation but this hearing could have heard from officials close to president donald trump, defending him most likely, but the white house blocked them from appearing. the democrats very strongly argued that the very idea that they needed to hear from the people around the president who are so people around the president who are so close to him and do have relevant information, but there has, as you suggest, be nothing but a rejection from the white house on that front. democrats pressed that point all day today. elliptically all that this

may matter to the voters in this yea r‘s may matter to the voters in this year's election, does it have any significance constitutionally and legally? it is very different to what you would see in a federal court in the united states. the procedures are very well established and they seem much fairer than this process , and they seem much fairer than this process, which seems like a very partisan one. that's unfortunate because everyone has taken an oath to dojustice because everyone has taken an oath to do justice and to be fair because everyone has taken an oath to dojustice and to be fair in because everyone has taken an oath to do justice and to be fair in this situation, though everyone's minds are made up. so we'll see what happens. everything seems a little backwards. the democrats have argued evidence should come first and they can't get access to the evidence that they would like to introduce. we'll see. professor carl tobias at the university richmond in virginia, thank you very much. thank you. for on the impeachment trial, have a look at our website. there are videos and articles, including this one on what you need to know

about the senate trial. just go to bbc.com/news for all that. let's get some of the day's other news. the new lebanese prime minister, hassan diab, has named his cabinet, saying it will strive to meet the demands of protesters who've held four months of demonstrations. his finance minister said lebanon is facing an unprecedented economic crisis and called for foreign support. formation of a government had been delayed while allies of its powerful shia supporters, hezbollah, wrangled over positions. the government of burkina faso is saying 36 people have died in an attack in the province of sanmatenga. it's not clear who's responsible, but burkina faso has suffered a growing number of islamist attacks. earlier parliament voted to create a civilian volunteer force to fight militant groups. the former head of brazilian mining company vale is facing homicide charges, along with 15 other people, over the collapse of an iron ore dam a year ago. 270 people died when the dam

burst near the brazilian town of brumadinho. prosecutors also want to bring charges of environmental damage against vale and a german company responsible for inspecting the dam. the first case of the newly—detected coronavirus has been confirmed in the united states — an american resident who travelled from china to seattle. he's reported to be a man in his 30s. the virus has spread from the chinese city of wuhan, where it's infected almost 300 people. six have died. the un's world health organisation is to hold an emergency meeting on wednesday. health correspondent tulip mazumdar is following the story. a city on high alert. wuhan, where this mysterious virus first emerged, is racing itself. several hospitals in the city are already dealing with hundreds of cases. more than a dozen health workers have been infected. this

virus which can cause severe lung problems appears to be spread through close contact with infected people. there are particular concerns ahead ofa lunar there are particular concerns ahead of a lunar new year as millions get ready to travel for the holidays. china says the situation is under control but many more cases are expected. the outbreak has already hit several areas of china, including the capital, beijing, and shanghai. a handful of cases have also been identified in other countries in the region. two in thailand, one injapan and one in south career. now the us has also confirmed a case, a traveller from china who became sick in seattle. the last time a new coronavirus emerged was when it come from camels to humans in saudi arabia back in 2012. more than 800 people have died of what's called middle east respiratory syndrome since then.

that virus doesn't spread very easily between people. this new coronavirus has been linked to a seafood market in china. based on current information, an animal source seems the most likely primary source of this outbreak. with limited human to human transmission occurring between close contacts. the world health organization has only declared a global health emergency five times before, including four ebola and swine flu. today health experts will meet to decide whether this outbreak poses a serious enough international threat to call one again. they will be looking at what measures might the necessary in order to better deal with the. they will assess the outbreak based on three conditions: is it unusual? is it spreading internationally? does it spreading internationally? does it risk causing interruption of travel and trade? screening is already under way at airports around the world. there's

also been an urgent call to scientists to start developing a new vaccine. it's unclear how this outbreak is going to unfold, but health authorities are trying to be as prepared as possible. tulip mazumdar, bbc news. let's ta ke let's take you live to beijing's press c0 nfe re nce let's take you live to beijing's press conference going on, the chinese national health commission is saying it will step up international cooperation but most significantly it is saying health authorities now believe nine people have died after contracting the respiratory virus. the vice minister of the health commissioner said 440 cases have now been confirmed. checking to if there's something else coming through on that. again, reiterating the commission plans to ta ke reiterating the commission plans to take the initiative to step up cooperation with the world health organization. there's been concern china was repressing information on this for various reasons. more on that as soon as we get it for you.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: british news, still to come: universities are happy to accept british universities are happy to accept china's money but what about the country's political ideas? donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first. america first. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set up on by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him ‘the butcher of lyon'. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot. a tide of humanity that is believed by officials

to have broken all records. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the trial of president trump has begunin the trial of president trump has begun in the us senate with a big i’ow begun in the us senate with a big row about whether either side will be able to call witnesses or more evidence. officials in china say the death toll from the new strain of pneumonia has risen to nine it with 440 cases confirms. they're also saying they believe the virus could mutate and for spread further. while his future was being debated in washington, president trump spent the day with the global elite at the swiss ski resort of davos for the annual gathering of political and business leaders — the world economic forum. the big theme this year is climate change, but the president made his views clear.

they run sharply counter to the overwhelming weight of worldwide scientific opinion. our correspondent james robbins is there. getting away from it all? donald trump has flown over 4,000 miles from washington to the alpine heights of davos, hoping to look more like a president on the world stage, less like a defendant back home. he's treading carefully on all the ice and snow — any fall here would look terrible. but will this gathering of the world economic forum, 5,000 feet up in switzerland, give an embattled president the high ground he craves? even without impeachment, he is way out of step with the main goal of this meeting — to do much more to tackle global temperature rise. but to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. they are the heirs of yesterday's

foolish fortune tellers and i have them and you have them and we all have them and they want to see us do badly, but we don't let that happen. being here today in switzerland and not in washington, the president may feel he is among friends — surrounded by more than 100 fellow billionaires — but, in truth, he is in a much more vulnerable and uncomfortable position than any of them. i'm a very big believer in the environment, we're now are doing extremely well in the united states, but what i want us to have cleanest water, the cleanest air and that is what we are going to have and that's what we have right now. so, who are the world's biggest polluters? the us is the second largest producer of co2, accounting for nearly 15% of global emissions, but china is responsible for almost double that. the next biggest emitters of carbon dioxide are india, russia and japan, which produce another 15% of emissions between them.

britain accounts for 1.1% of the total. one of donald trump's fiercest critic is also here in davos. greta thunberg, teenage swedish activist, wants to hold everyone to account on behalf of her generation, accusing governments worldwide of empty promises. the fact that the usa is leaving the paris accord seemed to outrage and worry everyone and it should. but the fact that we are all about to fail the commitments you signed up for in the paris agreement doesn't seem to bother the people in power even the least. president trump will be using the rest of his time in davos to focus on one—to—one meetings with other world leaders. he will be discussing everything from trade disputes to the huge tensions in the middle east, but the long shadow of events in washington still seems to reach even to switzerland. james robbins, bbc news.

the former prime minister of australia malcolm turnbull has accused the current conservative government appliance two climate change denial as the country comes to grip with the bushfires. he was asked about redressing climate change policy and spoke to our correspondence. there has been a war against science. this is the bizarre thing about this is that as the evidence for global warming and its effect on our climate has mounted, the political denial is has increased. i do not know why scott morrison has acted the way he has acted. to be very frank, i worked with him very closely, i've known

him for 20 years. i can't explain his conduct. i can't explain why he didn't meet the former fire commissioners who wanted to see him in march last year to talk about the gravity of the. everybody knew we we re gravity of the. everybody knew we were ina gravity of the. everybody knew we were in a very dry time and as a consequence, the fire season was likely to be very bad. how many more coral reefs have to be leached? how many more million had theirs of forest have to be burnt. how many more lives and homes have to be lost before the climate change deniers acknowledge that they are wrong? the former australian prime minister malcolm turnbull there. many british universities have been having a tough time, financially, in recent years — and one way they've coped is by attracting foreign students. by far the largest single group now comes from china - 120,000. but some members of parliament have concerns about the influence of the chinese communist party on british campuses. our education editor branwenjeffreys has been to the university of liverpool —

which has the highest proportion of students from mainland china. # the sun never goes down until night. ..# my name is deng renwei. in the uk, people call me kevin here. # it's liverpool... music brought him to study in liverpool. now he's writing songs about the city for his band. kevin told me being a student here has given him a different perspective. it makes me think things more objectively, especially when it comes to a global matter. i won't... i won't see it only in a chinese perspective. almost one in five students at this university are from china, paying fees two or three times higher than uk students. in a uni lab, yang bai is working on clean energy, a graduate doing research.

the chinese government is paying for him to be here. before i came here, i'd never seen a laboratory that looks like this. it's amazing. so this is a world—class facility? yes. firstly, iwould bring the future to real life. so the science here is being carried out across two countries. china has almost unrivaled resources to put behind research. the chinese government is paying for 40 phd students to use the world—class facilities here. it's part of a much wider collaboration, but it's a relationship that some believe has to be handled with care. so would the university risk offending the chinese government? would a pro—democracy speaker from hong kong be welcome? we would want to be sensitive to the relationships that we have with any partner. but, you know, we are part of the uk higher education sector.

freedom of speech is really important to us. and yet mps are genuinely worried that universities are being naive in the way that they are engaging with china. i don't think we're influenced in a negative way. china is now the second largest research and development economy in the world. you know, they have a quarter of all research and development scientists and researchers in the world. you know, we cannot afford to ignore the contributions that chinese research can make. when democracy protesters took to the streets in hong kong, there was an impact on uk campuses. i travelled to another part of the country to meet hong kong chinese students. if i get identified by the chinese embassy or the chinese government, then i might put the safety of relatives i have living in china under threat.

they say they've been intimidated by mainland chinese students. i've had death threats on mainland people's group chats of them saying that they want to kill me. on things that i've put up on the university campus, and they're saying that they'll bring knives to kill me. and they've also harassed me by taking photos of the stuff i put up and where i stay. young people, thousands of miles from home, theirfamilies paying for a british education. but does their government now have a bigger say on uk campuses? branwen jeffreys, bbc news. just before we leave you for a short while, another line coming out of the world economic forum, coca—cola has said it will not stop using plastic bottles for its ranks because it says consumers still want them. the company ‘s head of sustainability told the bbc that using only aluminium and glass

packaging could push up the firm's carbon footprint. coca—cola produces around 3 million tons of plastic packaging a year. thanks for being with us. we started this week on a settled note with a bit of sunshine around, thanks to high pressure. but high pressure is with us again on wednesday. a subtle change where we begin to import some slightly less cold air from the atlantic and you will see that on the air mass charts here throughout wednesday. you can see those yellow and orange colours across the uk. so today will be mainly dry but rather cloudy because we are picking up more moisture off the atlantic and many of us will start cloudy and it looks like the skies will be led on through the day. best of any bright sunny spells tend to be eastern scotland here, sheltered from the south—west and the odd bright spell further south. the wind will remain light so nothing to stir up the air. it will be milder with temperatures in double figures for most, very mild in fact across

the north—east of scotland given good spells of sunshine. and as we had through wednesday evening and overnight it stays cloudy with light wind, murky as well and if you get the odd hole in the cloud it could turn chilly for most but because of the cloud cover it will be a frost free night. through thursday and friday, similar days with high pressure sticking around, light wind and it will have a grey leaden sky with limited spells of sunshine. temperatures between seven and 11 degrees. significant changes into the weekend, high pressure varies near the continent and low pressure starts to push in off the atlantic. could still be fairly cloudy across the board on saturday morning but as the breeze continues to pick up from the south—west it would be quite windy in the north—west and we will see some holes appearing in the cloud. a couple of showers around this wet front will bring outbreaks of rain

to western scotland and northern ireland. that weather front spreads across the uk during saturday night and into sunday, a weak feature by the time it reaches the eastern side of the country, and no more than a band of cloud with a few showery bursts of rain. once that clears it will be brighter for many with good spells of sunshine, quite blustery and this is a cool air mass well. about to be quite cold across the north and west of scotland and northern ireland here so the showers will fall wintry and snow across the hills, nine or 10 degrees in the south—east. into the start of the following week it will turn more unsettled and a deeper area of low pressure could could bring strong wind and spells of rain.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

republicans and democrats in the us senate are arguing over how to proceed with the impeachment trial of president trump as the hearing gets under way. republicans are in the majority in the senate and have blocked three amendments put forward by the democrats calling for more documents and witnesses, what on the trump administration contacts with the ukraine. the president's many thousands of miles away visiting the world economic forum in davos. the attacked environmentalists as prophets of doom and he said it was a time for optimism and not peppers as, and said a creative market economy would provide solutions —— not pessimism. he said they would be 1 million trees planted. 9 doing ata at a news conference, the health commissioner said 440 cases have been confirmed.