this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. 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 not a trial at all. it's a cover—up. health officials in china say the death toll from a new strain of pneumonia has risen to nine. a new government but the protest go on. after months of devastating bushfires in australia, we report on the signs of hope emerging at long last.

hello to you. republicans, who are in the majority in the us senate, have now rejected four 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, first here's our north america editorjon sopel. hearye, hearye, hearye, 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 for all the veneer of 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 republicans want the trial to be done and dusted in a little over a week, with no—one called to give evidence. the chief prosecutor is adam schiff, the democratic chair of the house intelligence committee. he says that would be a travesty. if the defendant's not allowed to introduce evidence of his innocence, it's not a fair trial. so too for the prosecution.

if the house cannot call witnesses or introduce documents in evidence, it's not a fair trial. it's it not really a trial at all. trump may be in his mounting eerie with the global elite, but he's keeping an eagle eye on what's happening in washington. it's a hoax, it goes nowhere because nothing happened. the only thing we've done is a greatjob. we have the strongest country in the world by far, it was going in the wrong direction. we have the greatest economy we've ever had in the history of our country. the trial will go on for at least a week with each side will be given three days to present their case, then there'll 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.

iam stal i am stal washington correspondent chris buckler whether we are seeing substance here or just chris buckler whether we are seeing substance here orjust wrangling. wrangling is right. the democrats wa nt to wrangling is right. the democrats want to introduce as much evidence as they can, the republicans wanted over with as quickly as possible. so we have had amendment after memo put forward by the democrats, in they have been demanding a writer to order the white house, the state department, and other parts of the administration to hand over documents, the writer to issue subpoenas. but republicans have voted down those amendments in vote after vote. in fact, voted down those amendments in vote aftervote. infact, in voted down those amendments in vote after vote. in fact, in each of the votes it has been strictly a wrong party lies, 53 republicans voting down those 47 democrats who voted as pa rt

down those 47 democrats who voted as part of that caucus to try to ensure that this trial goes ahead as quickly as possible. now that is going to frustrate the democrats and, actually, we're getting signs that the republicans are becoming frustrated too. they say each of these ending in the same way and the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, is saying can it continue like this? for the moment it is and we have yet another vote, this time on whether or not they can demand documents from the department of defence. chris, the democrats saying that without witnesses, without these extra documents it is not a fair trial, perhaps not a trial at all. at the evidence that is already out in the open from the hearings in the house of representatives is pretty clear. why does this clash over evidence and witnesses matter really? yeah, and if you have been watching the so far the proceedings that have taken place, although this is technically about the rules that will govern this impeachment trial, actually both sides have been setting out their case very

strongly. republicans arguing, through president trump's own lawyer, that ultimately he did nothing wrong, that he did not abuse the position of his office. at the same time democrats saying that actually if you take a look at some of the details they believe it is clear that he used his position to try to influence ukraine to lodge investigations into his political opponents with his mind firmly set on the 2020 election that is ten months or so away. what is important to democrats though is that they believe there are people who have not given evidence at the point of that there are documents that have not been put into the public domain that could be very, very valuable to them. people like mick mulvaney, for example, the white house chief of staff, who they believe has information that has not yet been made public, that they have not yet heard. another the final national security advisorjohn bolton, who clashed with president trump and ultimately left the administration. they believe that hearing from those people to be very important to their

case. and, remember, they notjust talking to the 100 senators who will act asjury in talking to the 100 senators who will act as jury in this impeachment trial, there are also talking to the american public who of course are going to vote in the presidential elections in a matter of ten months‘ time. chris buckler there for us. we stay with some of the live shots and speak with dave leventhal in washington, dc. thank you for your time. what are you making of what‘s going on? despite the presence of a supreme going on? despite the presence of a supremejustice going on? despite the presence of a supreme justice of the going on? despite the presence of a supremejustice of the supreme court this is a very political process and it is likely to go on party political lines, the result a foregone conclusion? yes and yes. and what‘s often lost in the debate over what impeachment even is is the notion and the fact that this is a political process. it‘s not the kind of process that you would ever expect in a court of law, a judicial process , expect in a court of law, a judicial process, this is something where artisans on both sides will fight it out. they have been doing it for

months and they will do it here today. so don‘t expect that that is going to change anytime going forward , going to change anytime going forward, with what‘s going to be some very, very long notes here in washington, dc over the next several days. so what are those democrats hopes of some possible defections from republicans in the senate, you know that republicans will say off the record that they not great fans of donald trump and are not happy with what he did, they will toe the party line because they are more at risk with the people they represent from challenges from the right, from their own party, than they are from a democrat challenger? and republicans are in lockstep. there may be potentially one, perhaps two 01’ may be potentially one, perhaps two or three republicans would even consider voting for one of the two articles of impeachment and convicted president of the united states, donald trump, when ultimately a vote is taken. but you must remember the republicans controlled the us senate and, regardless of who‘s in power, you need a supermajority to get donald trump orany

need a supermajority to get donald trump or any president out of office to the impeachment process. that‘s a two—thirds vote. in the republicans just simply have the votes on their side, perhaps lisa mccloskey or suzanne collins, these are two senators who are a little crosswise with their party, they are the exception, not the rule, republicans very much of this lockdown, and barring something absolutely unforeseen and completely monumental, donald trump is still going to be president of the united states when this impeachment process ru ns states when this impeachment process runs its course will so does any matter really or is itjust how it plays with the voters in the presidential election later this year? alchemy does matter. there is a heck of a lot of information that has not come to light —— well it does matter. we don‘t even have a full accounting of what the material is, conversations among trump administration officials, simply because the government won‘t release that information. to the core question of whether donald trump

abused his power, do we have 100% of the information available to make a decision, either the public on the senators themselves? no, we don‘t at this point, that as you mentioned, november we have a huge election, the prezza will be on the ballot, and ultimately voters will be able to decide for themselves whether the impeachment process was fair to donald trump or something that a lot of democrats was a sham process —— the president. thank you very much indeed. my pleasure. developments from china, health authorities are saying that nine people have died from the newly detected coronavirus that spread from the central city of wuhan. at a news conference, the vice minister of the health commission said 440 cases are confirmed, and the virus has spread to japan, thailand, and now seattle in the united states. the world health organization is to hold an emergency meeting within hours. 0ur health correspondent tulip mazumdar is following the story. a city on high alert. wuhan, where this mysterious

virus first emerged, is bracing 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 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 korea. now the us has also confirmed a case, a travellerfrom 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 for 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 outbreak. they will assess the outbreak based on three conditions: is it unusual? is 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. we go live to beijing and our correspondence steve mcdonell. some news coming out in the past hour or so news coming out in the past hour or so from that press conference on whether this virus may have originated and the adapting and mutating. yes, when those chinese officials came out and announced, in fa ct, officials came out and announced, in fact, that there were now 98 and 440 people in fact did, it certainly made people sit up and listen. they we re

made people sit up and listen. they were asked why these are sudden jumps and the response from china‘s officials has been they are getting better at identifying people who actually have this coronavirus. they have said they have warned about the potential for this virus to mutate and to spread even further. they think it has come from a west market, a seafood market that had other live animals in it. they have warned that children could be especially in danger if exposed to this virus. and some scientists have said that the situation is so serious that people shouldn‘t travel to wuhan and residents of wuhan shouldn‘t be leaving the city at the moment. this is a city with 11 million people at the height of china‘s most important festival, the spring festival, where people all go

home to visit their families. it is most important time of the year the chinese people, so the idea of people not coming in and out of wuhan does seem incredible, but it does show how seriously some are taking this emergency. does show how seriously some are taking this emergencylj does show how seriously some are taking this emergency. i think traditionally around lunar new year, the spring festival, millions of people on the move for about two weeks, so chances of containment seem very weeks, so chances of containment seem very difficult. any indication of what to expect from the world health organisation emergency meeting? no, well, we heard in the piece before there haven‘t been that many times when the who has declared an official global emergency. the fa ct an official global emergency. the fact that they are having this meeting at all shows that they are taking in seriously. i think they will be worried about the potential for the virus to spread, given the conditions as they are now with hundreds of millions of chinese people on the move. you know, these

numbers could go from hundreds to thousands very quickly of those infected. 0f thousands very quickly of those infected. of course there is no medicine you can take for this virus. it causes pneumonia and has been deadly. and that‘s why people are taking it so seriously. although we should stress, you know, it‘s not time to panic, but to be sort of vigilant, suppose, is the message from the here, given that there still are only hundreds of people infected. but, you know, hundreds is not nothing. thank you very much. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: after months of bushfires in australia we report on the signs of hope emerging at long last. 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 world news.

the latest headlines: the trailer president trump has begunin the trailer president trump has begun in the us senate with a big argument on whether either side can: more documents or witnesses. health officials in china now say the death toll from a new strain of pneumonia has written to —— risen to nine with over 400 people infected. the new lebanese prime minister, hassan diab, has named his cabinet, saying it will strive to meet the demands of protesters who‘ve held 4 months of demonstrations. his finance minister said lebanon is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, and called for foreign support. lebanon‘s leaders will have hope that the announcement of a new government may have appeased antiestablishment protesters who, for months, have demanded a shakeup of the country‘s political system. they were wrong. within hours, hundreds were once more on the streets. translation: we are not

satisfied with this government. we will remain on the ground is free and peaceful revolutionaries. we wa nt to and peaceful revolutionaries. we want to new lebanon without any corrupt individuals. we want this state to prosecute the corrupt. security forces used tear gas and water cannons to try and control the crowd. protests in lebanon have steadily intensified since they began in october. they are calling for reform, for a dismantling of the country‘s set terry in political architecture and for the removal of the political elite they blame for driving lebanon‘s economy to its worst level in years. dissatisfaction has risen and protest took a violent turn at the weekend. over 400 people injured. lebanon now has a new prime minister and a new cabinet. the new prime minister says his covenant will meet the demands of protesters. translation: this is a government that represents the aspirations of

the demonstrators who have been mobilised nationwide for over three months of anger. and will strive to meet their demands. for an independent judiciary, meet their demands. for an independentjudiciary, for the recovery of embezzled funds, for the fight against illegal games. but that has not satisfied those who insist the country‘s entire political structure is flawed. they say they will stay on the streets until real changes are made as to how the country is run. let's quickly round up some more of the main news for you. 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 the 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. boeing has confirmed another delay in the return to service of its 737 max aircraft, grounded since march because of two fatal crashes. the firm has told airlines and suppliers that it does not now expect to gain the approval of regulators before the middle of the year. trading in boeing‘s shares was temporarily suspended on first reports of the latest delay. the former prime minister of australia, malcolm turnbull, has accused the current conservative government of climate change denial as the nation comes to grip with its worst bushfire season in history. mr turnbull was ousted as prime minister — for attempting to introduce a climate change policy. 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 denialism 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 this. 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 bleached? how many more million hectares 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? 29 people have been killed the fire since the member. thousands of homes and millions of hectares of woodland have been destroyed. but fresh hope is rising from the ashes. in this silent bleakess, it‘s hard to find comfort. but look closer. new hope. new colour. new beginnings. these brutal fires may have scorched so much of the bush in this vast country, but already there is life once more. a month ago, this is what confronted jez and deb. they watched as the flames raced across their land. so, the fire came over the top of this ridge, and then jumped over the gully and roared up this side. much of the thick vegetation was incinerated, but now...

even after all the fire, you can see that after a bit of moisture and a bit of rain this angophora has started to shoot. what do you make of that? that‘s pretty incredible, to be honest with you. jez and deb have been looking for signs of recovery. this is a place that‘s been stripped bare, but not destroyed. these trees actually need the fire to regenerate. the seed pods here open with the heat, so it's a good thing that the fire goes through for this banksia tree. you have to look for the best anyway, so yes, we‘ll use this as a restart, and try and create a place better for the wildlife and all vegetation and such. we are seeing signs of new life, all across fire scorched australia. flickers of hope, after these darkest of months, and it‘s a much needed tonic for the thousands of people who are now trying to rebuild their own lives. he does like to get out of his bag

and stretch his legs a bit. and for some native animals who survived the fire, including jake, a gentle reintroduction to their transformed habitat. he's not a wallaby, and he's not a kangaroo. he's a wallaroo. there may be strength in adversity here, but no—one wants to be rebuilding time and time again. i hope that in the future this is a little bit of a wake up call. it's never too late to change the way that we do agriculture and do coal mining and that sort of thing in australia. so yes, you can see new life here, but with other fires still burning it‘s a new urgency that‘s needed to protect the future of this land. nick beake, bbc news, new south wales. coca—cola have said it will not stop using plastic bottles because it says consumers still want them.

senior managers told the bbc that using only aluminium and glass packaging could push up carbon footprint of the firm they produce about 3 million tons of plastic packaging a year. that is it for now, thank you so much for watching. 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 leaden 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 weather 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. in fact, it‘ll 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 still arguing about whether to permit new evidence and witnesses at the start of donald trump‘s impeachment trial. republicans have blocked repeated attem pts republicans have blocked repeated atte m pts by republicans have blocked repeated attempts by democrats to allow new documents and witnesses to be considered. so far the voting has been strictly long voting lies. health authorities in china now say 90 abena want to die from the new respiratory virus that has spread from the central city of wuhan. at a press c0 nfe re nce from the central city of wuhan. at a press conference the vice minister of the health commission said 440 cases have now been confirmed. the first case has been confirmed in the united states. many security forces have clashed with protesters who have clashed with protesters who have taken to the streets of beirut to announce the newly formed government. some of the fiercest exchanges were near parliament, with police using tear—gas and water cannon against demonstrators throwing stones. a number of roads we re throwing stones. a number of roads were blocked.