this is g w news live from berlin that historic moment in the united states as the impeachment trial of u.s. president donald trump begins. its present the managers on the part of the house of representatives are present and ready to present the articles of impeachment which have been for ferde by the house of representatives against donald trump president of the united states the prosecutor adam schiff formally opens trump's impeachment trials today as new evidence further implicates the president over his dealings

with ukraine also coming up germany's diplomatic efforts in libya yield a potential reason for hope with the rebel commander khalifa haftar are committing to a cease fire will also attend a conference here in berlin this weekend aimed at ending years of civil conflict in libya. i'm off it's good to have you with us we begin tonight with historic proceedings on capitol hill as the u.s. senate formally opens the impeachment trial against president don will draw the chief justice john roberts who will be presiding over the trial has sworn in the $100.00 senators as jurors this is only the 3rd impeachment trial in u.s. history it's happening during an election year with president seeking a 2nd term in office earlier today house democrats started the proceedings with

chief prosecutor as in shift reading out the charge. article one. abuse of power. the constitution provides that the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment and that the president shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors in his conduct of the office of the president of the united states and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of president of the united states and to the best of his ability preserve protect and defend the constitution of the united states and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed donald j. trump has abused the powers of the presidency in that using the powers of his

high office president trump solicited the interference of a foreign government ukraine in the 2020 united states presidential election and that was adam schiff speaking earlier in the u.s. senate let's take this story now to washington our bureau chief alexander phenomena she is keeping an eye on these historic proceedings more is going to need to you alexander and so we've just had a 100 u.s. senators they've taken an oath of impartiality today they're promising to act not as politicians but as jurors in this trial and to deliver a verdict that could determine the fate of the u.s. president i mean it almost sounds like an impossible task is it. yes you're right brant i cannot imagine how the senator has could do impartial justice and that collins toxic partisan atmosphere in washington some of them democrats as well as republicans already said told there are going to vote even before the trial

starts mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader is coordinating with the white house he also said he is not in our show and there is a small number all for senators republican senators who said that they could consider calling on witnesses together with the democrats if they deemed that it's necessary but they know what they are risking being attacked by the president on twitter being at tact by allies on fox news and risking losing the support of his space so this is not very likely to happen at the heart of these proceedings this impeachment trial of course or president drawn dealings with ukraine new revelations tonight from an associate of the personal attorney for the president and it's fairly explosive isn't it. yes his name is left upon us and he was deeply involved in the administration's ukraine

dealings and he directly implicated president trump and he's inner circle saying that he has documents that would prove that the president knew about what was going on ukraine that everything what happened was happening at his direction and he also said that everyone involved knew that president was not interested in fighting corruption in ukraine what he was interested it in was getting help to get reelected so the white house dismissed this witness saying that he is not credible indeed he is out on bail he is under indictment but he has documents to prove his claims and he is confirming what oliver witnesses already testified the u.s. president has been asked about and he really has did no you did the accusations that have been made to day and it makes

a lot of people wonder will the president himself will he be called as a witness destroyer well he will certainly be asked to address the charges however we expect that it will be in a written form it will be a letter that he's defense lawyers will read out on the senate floor we don't expect president trauma to really appear to appear on the senate floor and anyway the most interesting question is if the senators will kohl on witnesses to testify however as i said at the moment it's not very likely to happen so our very own alexander phenomenal story for us tonight in washington as the impeachment trial begins thank you old son. our listeners bring you up to date now on some of the other stories making headlines the u.s. senate has voted overwhelmingly to approve a new north american trade deal the agreement overhauls trade relations between the

us mexico and canada it's a major policy win for president faced some opposition by senate democrats who pointed out that it fails to address the threat of climate change russian lawmakers have approved president vladimir putin's choice for prime minister the former head of the country's federal tax office because issues that was confirmed just a day after these surprise resignation of the entire russian government that followed foods announcement of sweeping constitutional reforms that have led to speculation that putin is seeking to extend its grip on power through. germany's parliament has rejected controversial legislation aimed at making it easier to donate organs the opt out wall would have automatically made almost every citizen an organ donor unless they have previously signed a declaration specifically revoking their consent to egypt ethiopia and she didn't

say they have reached a preliminary agreement on how to fill a $5000000000.00 hydroelectric dam on the nile river it said to bring electricity to $100000000.00 ethiopians fears that filling the down would negatively effect water levels downstream and sparked tensions in the region. all right to libya now where there appears to be movement in ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure a cease fire in the country's civil war germany's foreign minister. today announced that the rebel leader khalifa haftar has agreed to abide by a ceasefire following talks today in benghazi he's also now expected to attend an international meeting on the libyan crisis here in berlin on sunday. discount to choose the international community was hoping for to many has been weighing in ahead of the peace conference scheduled post sunday in berlin foreign minister met with slepian general khalifa haftar in benghazi on per stay ahead of the talks have

to survival and head of the un recognized libyan government by year's us aroused also accepted. after has agreed to respect a ceasefire agreement regardless of the fact that he hasn't signed it earlier this week not so extraordinarily important. back in berlin chance that i get america so welcome to have terra sharon says that he would stick to the ceasefire this is probably just minute of which it is a good message that he's willing to keep to cease fire that's the pair requisites flying goal at the libya conference we must see that the weapons and bargo we suspected again ozzy's basically agreed by the un but unfortunately not observed so i believe that the message is good news because this and we do not wish to. derive our libyan leaders will take part in talks alongside representatives of 11 nations

as well as several international look anything. the united nations and the european union when it come to talks and urged all parties to engage constructively towards ending the fighting the conference will aim to address a permanent cease fire and maybe the implementation of the u.n. arms embargo and renewed political efforts on all sides to reach a lasting peace. for now let's bring in our political correspondent simon young he's following these peace efforts good evening to you simon we know khalifa haftar he's not known for being the the most trustworthy man in the neighborhood can germany take this promise and claim it as a victory well it's good news is jones said and we shouldn't forget the general have to have the chance to sign a cease fire agreement in moscow last week but he chose not to do that so i

certainly think we shouldn't. count chickens before they're hatched out they see clearly is a very positive development because gen half dollar is the man who really controls the largest amount of territory in libya his people pretty much are in dominant everywhere outside the capital tripoli and so the fact that he will be in berlin and that he's saying that he's backing a cease fire you know he's looking towards peace he said he wants this conference to be a success on sunday so all of that really does look very positive going forward and confidence building ahead of a peace conference is very important do you think the foreign minister today his announcement concerning hoff tar saying yes i will abide by the cease fire do you think that was meant to boost germany's credibility as an international peace

mediator as we go into these talks. yeah i mean germany is appearing in these in this process is a as a sort of neutral peace broker he sees itself anyway as more needful in some of the other countries for instance it's only in france which which imports a lot of oil directly from libya so germany you know just sort of taking a lead on this is poets of a general international diplomatic effort we've seen the italian prime minister in algeria today and the european council president phoning with vi they may have putin is also a player in this so it's a multilateral effort and germany's leading it our political correspondent simon young so i'm going as always thank you britain's prince harry has made his 1st public appearance since that recent announcement that he and his wife meggan plan

to step back from their royal duties harry attended a school rugby demonstration on the grounds of buckingham palace today and while he openly joked with the children mum was the word in regards to his future plans. prince harry's wish to step back from his royal duties has been granted but he still has a few more commitments that means a few more deep breaths. it's taken some time for the dust to settle after last week's surprise announcement but the timing of the rugby world cup is helping to soften the blow after all it's something close to the prince's heart so a rather stiff event turned into something of a show. but not a cooking show he joked. afterwards some small talk a few comments on breaks it and thoughts on sporting a beard. story it was almost as if harry was having 2nd thoughts about his decision to stop performing his royal duties and he was in his element. that regularly meet

someone high profile like the jury. clearly isn't just here is a ceremony knows about rugby league and knows what it means to the community so you know i hope he does keep his involvement with the sport. but there's been no change of royal plans this could well be harry's last appearance in the spotlight before he begins a quieter life in canada where his wife meghan has already landed she's been photographed at meetings with women's rights groups but hasn't yet appeared at any public events in the meantime british tabloid reporters made it clear they aren't laying off harry just yet. but the prince wasn't on hand to play that kind of ball for now he could still opt to retreat to his grandmother's palace. you're watching the. business news is up next with ferguson should be looking at why the european union is questioning the galaxy of

the new year was china trade deal stick around. but i don't need to keep up with every available role for the over that's in home the force i'm from the smaller the closeness the minute we can come up with the bottom of a valley that the last dragons in this world has called the hard for 3 years now to the river on. black be our fighters want to start families to become farmers or engineers every one of them has a plan of the initial reaction.