there to live you know when i lived there again i don't know so i'm not sure. bearing witness global news that matters. made for mines. this is the the views live from berlin the united kingdom formally leads the european union. celebrations are robbed at the exact moment grex it comes into effect but much uncertainty remains over what exactly comes next. also coming up to vote shy

democrats hoping to call witnesses in president trump's impeachment trial are defeated in the senate clearing the way for trump's almost certain acquittal in the coming days. i want to go across thanks for joining us the u.k. has formally left the european union starting in the 11 month transition period advocates of brick sit in london celebrated as the clock struck 11 pm marking the end of the u. case membership others opposed to the decision to commiserate it has dominated british politics over the past few years after the u.k. voted to leave the bloc in a referendum in 2016. prime minister boris johnson hailed it as the quote beginning of a new era for the u k. we will rediscover muscles we have used for decades the power of

independent thought and action not because we want to detract from anything done by our friends of course we want this to be the beginning of a new era of friendly cooperation between the e.u. and an energetic britain of britain listen to news great european power and truly global in our range an ambition did abuse breck's and endless hours forced winding joins me in the studio we have derek modest in brussels alex 1st to you seems very positive a lot of positivity but of course that's not the full picture what's going on in the u.k. right now yeah i mean look at the u.k. whatever anybody says whatever spin boris johnson puts on it she's still a very divided country and even recent polling this week has shown yet again the country is pretty much split down the middle bricks it has happened the year the u.k. has now left the european union and i think you will find that those voices that

have been very much opposed to this well now just have to quieten down and get behind bars johnson and the government because whatever happens it is in the u.k.'s interests to try and get some kind of deal from the e.u. in the future and for those voices who are opposed to brics it to get behind boris johnson pushing him towards a good deal with the e.u. and they are quite the opposite in the e.u. on almost a mirror image tell us what was going on in the e.u. today and what where things stand now. well today you had in brussels a number of you flex going up and down down at the british embassy up at the european parliament the british like going down brussels really try to keep this not to make amends a moment of this keep it low key events year with those flecked removals the british like removals because from a brussels perspective rexx it has always been

a lose lose scenario now having said that on the other hand there's a number of member states who also will be happy to see the britain that has been dragging its heels on a number of issues take for instance the defense topic. will be happy to see that things will be moving forward more quickly in the future and also after all there is a positive aspect one high diplomat here lately told me when he said look the attractiveness of leaving the european union is at an all time low. alex back to you so the u.k. certainly has its work cut out for itself what now this transition period walk us through that so 11 months now for the u.k. and the e.u. to reach some kind of deal for future trade now 11 months may sound quite a long time to buy a ticket to bret's it is you want to break it to be done last year set it back back

back in march and drag it on so they want it just done but 11 months actually isn't very long a toll to try to strike a deal with the we know that with canada it took years and years in many other countries as well boris johnson though i have to do his part he has to try to get a deal even though he's making it clear that he doesn't want to play brussels game anymore he doesn't want to stick to necessarily to the rules to the regulations they want to global britain they want to pay to strike their own jails they want to make britain a popular and prosperous place in the future they say if you don't stick to our rules if you don't. stick to the regulations in place then you are going to get a west deal than you would to say now boris johnson has to make some decisions here is he going to try and steal whatever forge some kind of deal with the e.u. or will he possibly even decide to come the 31st of december this year perhaps we could be back to talking about a no deal bricks it

a no problem dale and world trade organization rules back in place between the u.k. and the e.u. there is still that possibility they are what does the e.u. make a valid what do they want out of this transition period i think alex already mentioned a key point and that is sticking to the rules level playing field is something the will bring to the negotiating table when it comes to dropping tariffs on both sides that will be absolutely key so alignment is the big is the big big word here but also look it's not just about trade there's a number of fields where the e.u. closely corporates with the u.k. and the tricky thing really bill will be to forge that close relationship while at the same time not selling out on the advantages of e.u. membership so making a deal but making clear that the best deal is inside the european union not outside and that will be a tightrope to walk. and brussels alex here in berlin thank you both very much

that's the united states where the other big story of this evening is taking place the u.s. senate has voted against hearing from witnesses in the impeachment trial of president donald trump with chief justice john roberts presiding senators voted 51 to 49 against the motion only 2 republican senators sided with all democrats in their effort to hear from witnesses especially former national security adviser john bolton who claims trump told him of wanting to pressure ukraine for his own political gain in the 2020 alexion the defeat paves the way for trump's likely acquittal. now let's hear a bit from senate democratic leader chuck schumer who had this is say right after the vote. it's a grey and tragedy one of the worst tragedies that the senate has ever overcome america will remember this day unfortunately where the senate did not live up to its responsibilities where the senate turned away from troops and went along with

the sham trial let's get more now from our correspondent oversoul in washington oliver so that's the democrats' view what were the arguments for and against allowing or not more witnesses and documents in this senate trial that's right and you just heard chuck schumer there was very outspoken and really seemed frustrated here about the outcome of this vote here tonight so the democrats were essentially trying to make the case that without witnesses this would not be a real impeachment trial that the witnesses would have delivered strong evidence for their charges in support of the charges made against president trump and they also very often referred to the public opinion because the latest poll suggested here that a large majority around 75 percent of the american voters were in fact in favor of allowing witnesses and evidence to the impeachment trial of the republican argument was quiet straightforward here they said the president did hear that phone call

with the ukrainian president's alinsky was perhaps not ideal but they also believe that it will it was not an impeachable offense and therefore witnesses would not have changed their final verdict and consider that basically just losing time now everyone's talking about john boehner and he's on everyone's lips where is he in all of this. well john bolton the former national security advisor could have been a crucial figure in this impeachment trial that was what exactly the democrats were after he offered a 1st hand account on the accusations made against president trump that so-called quid pro quo and that is that trump withheld military aid in exchange for investigating for investigations into his political rivals joe biden of course the front runner of the democratic party at this point and that would have certainly been a very dangerous situation for trump because it would have been the 1st time to have

that from someone who was directly involved in a conversation with trump and would under it would have undermined the republican argument that all the accusations are based on hearsay that it's also in in a situation where the president trumps going to deliver his famous state of the union address next tuesday also the iowa caucuses that have a certain bellwether effect on the in the rest of the. elections are going to start next week and certainly trump that certainly did not want to have new witnesses raising pressure on him at this point in time so it's friday night where you are weekends coming up a busy week next week as you just mentioned what's next in this trial the republicans and democrats are having separate discussions they're debating sort of like an exit strategy have you will the democrats are pushing for a series of amendments right now a vote for amendments are going to be held the democrats are hoping to win some

time here closing arguments are expected on monday and we will likely see a vote on wednesday and that will certainly very likely acquit president trump all of us out of washington thank you very much. and now to some of the other stories making news around the world u.s. secretary of state might pump aoe has met ukrainian president the linsky in kiev to arrange talks with u.s. president donald trump democrats accused of pressuring mr selenski to investigate political rivals secretary pompei o. said the 2 presidents would meet. this. israeli aircraft have struck militant targets in the gaza strip in response to new rocket fire from that palestinian territory israel's military said 3 rockets were fired at israel overnight without causing any casualties the strikes come amid heightened tensions after the release of a controversial mideast plan by u.s. president donald trump

a key accuser in harvey weinstein's trial has alleged that she was raped twice by the former hollywood mogul actress jessica ma'am said she remained in a relationship with him out of fear weinstein has been charged with several counts of sexual assaults as the corona virus spreads more countries are confirming cases the latest are in russia the u.k. and sweden meanwhile guatemala and iraq say they'll deny entry to people from china the world health organization has declared the virus a global health emergency that's led countries to start flying their citizens out of the chinese city of will han or the outbreak started military medical stuff instead of tess's but at least they're active who have been french citizens flown home from china spent 2 weeks of quarantine at this holiday resort among them generalists who'd been reporting on the pandemic. no nobody expected

this right so i saw the people like they were like yeah looking forward to to leave to hong they were scared but not in panic and course i mean i guess that they were happy to to land in france that we i saw people clapping their hands when the when put on the plane landed that was yeah that was a good sign that their people were happy to be here you know it was. this will be temporary home for the 100 to so germans being flown ass who had a military barracks in the rhineland. you know my stats it's very it's i'm relieved that we're now in a position to end a difficult situation in which our citizens find themselves there. yes we can now fly those out who are willing to leave also if you can use it for it's always difficult your family or others are making their own way home i'm not been

so glutted with them we will lock down for 8 days i'm very happy that finally our government paid heed to our requests. i'm happy to be going home to bangladesh and i'm with difficulty but i'm going to leave out of. most countries like here in algeria assessing up medical checks at airports it would seem the rational approach . i hope that. calm rational scientific and object of attitude could be conducted to the development of this outbreak so there's no need for unnecessary. and no need for. excessive measures. yet what is excessive and what's enough in china officials direct the nation's manufacturing might towards providing for the pandemic liquid disinfectant protective suits and gloves of being

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