i am. this is d.w. new life wrong but then i live in 1000000 people in china on lockdown the city ruhani counseling all flights and trains in a bid to stop a deadly virus from spreading the city is the epicenter of an outbreak of the corona virus that is claiming lives and fueling fears of a global pandemic when their vaccine officials are scrambling to contain the disease or the coming up donald trump on trial democrats lay out their case for removing the u.s. president from office in oral arguments impeachment manager adam schiff says trump

abused his office by withholding aid to ukraine will go to washington. and the video is just a referee is one of the most controversial officials in a football game and now some german referees are saying that which was meant to make decisions easier is doing more harm than good. i'm at home free glad you could join me shutting down a city to stop a virus chinese also readies are closing transport networks in will haunt the city at the heart of the current of ours outbreak that is spreading across asia and beyond now the government has also advised inhabitants not to neves the city flights in trains out of a big shot down 17 people have died from the risk illness and more than 500 cases

have been confirmed in china and handful of cases have also been reported in other asian countries as well as in the united states and chinese health authorities have confirmed human to human transmission. well he. joins me here in the studio to talk more about this good to see joel what more do we know about this particular strain of current virus at the moment well scientists are now telling us that they believe that the corona virus was 1st transmitted to humans from snakes now we know that it emanated out of a particular market in rwanda in china where they so live exotic animals and suspicion 1st centered on bats but chinese research is of just published a new paper where they conducted genetic research genetic sequencing and they found that snakes of the most likely source now what we don't know is how the virus moved from the snakes to humans and in any case it doesn't actually need snakes to continue spreading now because it has become

a human to human virus transmitted via the respiratory system and of course that is the worrying development and we have seen the world health organization sitting down discussing that what have they had to say so far so those meetings are continuing for another day the w.h.o. is as not yet ready to declare this a public health emergency of international concern doing so would unlock certain funding and other measures but it might not even be necessary for it to make that declaration because countries are already reacting very rapidly russia for example has instituted health checks on its borders the u.s. and the u.k. are monitoring flights coming from china north korea has closed its borders entirely to chinese tourists so actually china itself is the leaders in terms of responding the w.h.o. says that its reaction is going beyond even what it usually recommends countries to do tell me a little bit more about that joe i mean the response in the city where the corona virus originated of course who han so in ruhani itself state media is telling us

that there's a total public transport shut down so people can't move around within the city there are bans on flights going into the city as well going out as well citizens are being told that they shouldn't leave unless absolutely necessary and the report . it's that it's now mandatory to wear a face mask in public now wuhan is a major city 11000000 inhabitants it has a major port it's a big commerce and industrial place as well so these kind of actions can have really major economic impacts on that city and the country and so it seems the chinese government is not taking any chances at all now certainly certainly that balancing act which is particularly tricky for public health officials t w reporter jill dougherty thank you so much well now sue the united states an impeachment trial of president donald trump the republican controlled senate has been hearing the opening arguments from house impeachment manages to stop was impeached last month on charges of a piece of power and instructing congress he's accused of pressuring ukraine to

investigate former democratic vice president joe biden of course a political rival and impeding a congressional inquiry into the matter trump denies any wrongdoing. or lead impeachment manager adam schiff told senators that child's actions represented a danger to america's constitutional order must not go on checked if not remedied by his conviction in the senate and removal from office president trump's abuse of his office and obstruction of congress will permanently alter the balance of power among the branches of government inviting future presidents to operate as if they are also beyond the reach of accountability congressional oversight and the law well sure let's go straight to washington where did what he correspondent funny and yes is standing by popular i mean democrats of course have been laying out the case we just heard it there from shift the republicans accuse them of being too aggressive but in your assessment what kind of tone was struck at the beginning of

this trial as shift today as manager open for seatings. well no well it was very clear almost from what the clip that we just heard what the tone was like there was a big emphasis from the lead manager and the head of the intelligence committee. who spoke for around 2 hours that this was very much focused on protecting the democracy of the united states and the importance of doing so in fact he quoted one of the u.s. founding fathers alexander hamilton and he focused on that the fact that there was a need for impeachment basically as a tool or a mechanism in the united states to protect it from you know a despatch from getting into office very strong words there indeed and he stressed time and time again in the 2 hours over 2 hours that he spoke on the senate floor old so we can't forget that he was bringing up you know clips from

president trump things that he had said focusing on the fact the democrats believe president trump is of course. guilty of the charges that have been brought against him now the democrats want the former national security adviser john bolton to testify at this stage it doesn't look likely to happen but of course that works both ways could that be a witness that the republicans would like to see now take to the stand. well you said that there it doesn't look at the moment we really don't know what will happen down the line because of course the rules leave the possibility open it is fair to say that the chances that the former national security advisor john bolton will be a witness at the moment looks like the unlikely but of course let's not jump to any conclusions just yet the democrats. essentially said if we hear from

the senator the senate minority leader chokes schumer he was shooting down pretty much all the suggestions the rumors that have been circulating here in washington that republicans wanted to hear from the son of. joe biden who in their raw is directly related to. corruption in ukraine they've been saying that they want to hear from him that democrats have been saying no. they thought there would be no witness exchanges is what's being said on the senate floor they want to stick very much to the charges brought against president trump by not bringing in anybody who they believe is not directly related to those charges and populate talk to me about the image we'll see you know in 1900 and he was at his trial. we've got the u.s. president i mean at the annual meeting of the world economic forum in davos another continent how is that playing out in public perception do you think. well it's

a very different situation of course to presidents have president clinton president trump has been focusing heavily on the economy talking about how well it's doing talking about how well his presidency is going essentially focusing on the sort of . image of the united states and saying how well he's done underage which is a message that he wants to get across to the u.s. public and it's interesting in fact if you look at the latest polls that are coming out in fact one that was released just today from pew research it says that around half of americans say the president should actually be removed by the senate will 46 percent are saying that president trump should stay so you know at the moment let's wait and see how this pans out and then we'll get perhaps a better indication of what the real feelings are here in the united states with regards to this senator now our correspondent that pablo in washington good to talk

to you thanks i want to take a look now some of the other stories making news around the world experts at the united nations say that the phone of amazon founder of washington post jeff bezos was like he hacked through a file sent from an account used by the saudi crown prince mohammed bin so not the experts allege that the hacking was an effort to influence all sides the washington post reporting on saudi arabia a saudi official has denied the allegations. there's no letup in lebanon's ongoing protest movement despite the formation of a new government that ended a power vacuum that protesters clashed with police in the capital beirut after nightfall earlier the new prime minister has said that the country must tackle the twin challenges of the protest movement as well as a nosediving economy. while luigi says that he is stepping down as the leader of italy's 5 star movement as the main party in italy's

government coalition 33 year old is expected to stay on as foreign minister the mio has headed the anti-establishment fast 5 star movement since september 27th. we're defining trial of the me 2 era has begun in earnest in new york hollywood producer harvey weinstein is facing charges of rape and sexual assault prosecutors say weinstein is a sexual predator who used his powerful position to abuse women for decades is defense lawyers have argued that his accusers were willing participants. appearing at court on wednesday morning the once mighty media mogul cut a frail figure sources close to harvey weinstein reports he feels he is the victim and has pleaded not guilty claiming all his sexual relations were consensual over 80 women among them prominent names like with paltrow and angelina jolie accuse him of sexual misconduct several cases every church the statute of limitations and some

others weinstein reached settlements out of court but 2 cases are being heard in new york with charges of rape and sexual assault in the court of public opinion weinstein is long been seen as guilty but it's not a clear cut case says defense attorney stacy schneider. the defense is in possession of e-mails from the victim to harvey weinstein after the alleged rape occurred and the defense's position will be that if she was raped by harvey weinstein why was she telling him that she misses him and wants to see him again the biggest challenge so far has been selecting a jury of his peers 12 people who can reach a verdict independent of public opinion at least 6 weeks of hearings are planned so far the outcome is wide open. well one of germany's top referees has criticized football's video assistant referee technology known as v

a often not adapting to meet the needs of the game the technology was supposed to make the game all fair and accurate but has caused more control of us he than expected the german referees association says it may look to american football for changes. making split 2nd decisions is what makes this one of the toughest jobs in football but the fast paced sport also makes it difficult for referees to always make the right cards the introduction of the a are a video assistant referee were supposed to help eliminate human mistakes but has it cause more confusion than clarity. when you look at how many wrong calls we've already prevented then it's fine but there are always things we can continue to improve. that mission i critique say they still way too much newman interpretation and that the costs are inconsistent and that the delays take the punch out of goal celebrations. one of germany's elite referees mom would prefer who was in

charge of the doj mundra says outspoken match on the weekend is pushing for an n.f.l. like system where the coaches have 2 challenges per game and referees can explain their decisions to fans in the media it's an idea that is slowly gaining some ground in the bundesliga. and we're working on how far we can integrate the referees to communicate directly on the field they may even sometime in the future explain their decision and clarify the process that the impetus of. that clarification could go a long way in appeasing the system's critics. and just reminded of the top story that we're following for you chinese authorities are closing transport networks in the city of the heart of the corona virus outbreak that is spreading across asia and the. the government source revised inhabitants not to it leave the city 17 people have died from their spiritual illness in the 500 cases have been confirmed

in china. up next it's a documentary film on germany and how it's failing to get to grips with huge amounts of plastic packaging sold here state shoot it out on the floors get the latest on a website it is d w dot com i'm at the home for you but in fact your company. it's all happening the children of. your link to news from africa the way your link to exceptional stories and discussions opinion will come to their views on the coming program and from foreign agenda the common use of easy to our website d w the globe's much africa to join us on facebook t.w. africa.