our top story this hour the u.s. senate votes to quit. use of power. in a widely expected result. the. final result where the 1st democratic party caucus of the 2020 election season has been marred by. political in germany where the ruling centrist party breaks. the right wing. germany to a state. run

across the world this is our team international from the team and myself you know neal a little unwelcome. the u.s. senate has voted to acquit president trump ending the 3rd impeachment trial in u.s. history mr trump faced 2 charges from democrats abuse of power and obstruction of congress which stemmed from his dealings with ukraine a 2 thirds supermajority would have been needed to convict the president but the results fell far short of that with every republican except mitt romney holding ranks and supporting him. let's cross live now to kill for more on this after months and months of the word being spoken about tell us more about what the supreme court chief justice announce when they.

well the impeachment trial seems to have concluded with donald trump being acquitted and as was expected there were 2 charges against us president donald trump 2 articles of impeachment they charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of congress and the vote was quick but not without some debate let's take a listen to some of what went down your hatred of donald trump his bloody jew to the obvious this is not about protecting the country this is about destroying the president or an american president to deliberately solicit such a thing to blackmail a foreign country into helping him win an election is on forgivable this partisan impeachment will and. how could such an offense not be deemed a high crime a crime against the people if you think you've done the country

a good service by legitimize ing this impeachment process what you have done is on leash the partisan forces of hill. now it was somewhat of a foregone conclusion republicans have a solid majority in the us senate and it would have taken 2 thirds of the senators to vote to convict $67.00 votes and that did not take place and was not really expected to take place what was quite interesting is that mitt romney the u.s. senator from utah who was also the republican candidate for president in 2012 against obama he is going to go down in history as the 1st u.s. senator to vote to impeach a president from his own party mitt romney voted that u.s. president donald trump was guilty of abuse of power and so mitt romney did break with other republicans and make that vote to remove u.s. president trump however the rest of the republican solidly back the president and

the impeachment proceedings seem to have concluded now it's quite a bad week for democrats at this point in the aftermath of the iowa caucuses with no clear results and outrage and confusion regarding the app and different candidates declaring victory we've also seen us present donald trump have his approval rating go up amid this whole impeachment debacle at this point 49 percent of americans according to the latest gallup poll say that donald trump is doing a good job that is the highest approval rating trump has had since he's taken office so the impeachment proceedings seem to have concluded and many people are wondering at this point if the democrats really gained anything by carrying out this prolonging to process however the vote was just taken and we'll be waiting to see what happens next the reactions are still coming in but the impeachment proceedings seem to be over donald trump has been acquitted on both charges yeah

thanks for bringing us right to all the dates all valid and live in new york. well the iowa democratic party has revealed early results they're calling it from it's key caucus vote now that's almost 24 hours later the unexpected with 71 percent of results now reported but it's a slight lead with 27 percent it is the beginning of a title to see who will run in this year's u.s. presidential election against donald trump but the party has been left reeling from glitches in its new mobile app which is meant to deliver results. of a nightmare scenario and if so what do you do about it these are probably the most prepared we've ever been as a party for these carcasses and we've run through a few different scenarios but i can tell you were ready was the starting pistol i'd settle for a race and at the end the prize is becoming the presidential nominee and that the finish line. to find out who won. it's precinct caucus

results started coming in the iowa democratic party ran them through an accuracy and quality check it became clear that they were in consistencies with reports the underlying cause of these in consistencies was not immediately clear and required investigation which took time this is an embarrassment all they had to do was count the votes the polling stations counted the votes all they had to do was add together the tallies what a 10 year old could do in a calculator the democratic party couldn't this mess was caused by a new app designed to speed up vote counting made by a secretive company called shadow inc that i suppose was the 1st clue the party is saying on one hand we had inconsistences with the data then they say oh but the data is fine and it wasn't a problem with the app so that won't what was

a problem with because we also know this take the app aside and say ok the apps of failure didn't work you had precincts chairs who were calling back to the democratic headquarters last night some of them on the phone for 2 hours on hold waiting to call in and say one of these guys only had 6 people at his caucus site is not enough to give 6 votes on caucus votes over to the headquarters and he's on hold for 2 hours and can't get anybody who contracts a company called shadow to build an open transparent voting app democrats the people who shouted loudest about russia threatening american elections that breaking news russian hackers tried to hack wisconsin's election system russia's hacked into a lot of things russian hackers the kremlin clan certainly looks like they're. with an eye towards helping this president to combat strums popularity democrats created 2 organizations acronym and paquin him to flood the internet and t.v.

with. anti trump and anti russian propaganda trump spent $10000000.00 on a commercial for tonight's super bowl we fixed it for him a new president trying to stealing our veterans setting isis prisoners free losing don't marry conflict ladies and gentlemen the worst is yet. here comes the incompetence part these groups a packed with people who ran and sank hillary clinton's campaign including shadow inc founded by a former clinton campaign manager they've spend fortunes and amateur propaganda and apps that don't work all that. money the effort is just to see trump have the last laugh. when will a democrat stop blaming russia russia russia instead of their own incompetence for the voting disaster that just happened in the great state of iowa it's sad. all the

complaining and moaning about how russians were out to ruin american elections most of the russians that did it it was the democrats their paranoia and competence they turned liberals and democrats against each other screaming and shouting accusing each other of foul play of russia could never do the democrats did we've heard the people who are responsible for this catastrophe in iowa the democratic establishment claim that it was russia's intention to undermine integrity in our voting systems in our election process the question is who really threatens us elections and now i think a lot of voters within the democratic party are finally seeing what the real threat is and it's with it's within the heart of the democratic party establishment the more that we talk about the reality of our election systems the more this russia

gate hysteria just begins to fall on deaf ears and voters particularly younger voters who are social media savvy reject it angrily. a sex abuse scandal in french sport saying parlous prosecutors open up an investigation after a former ice skating champion broke her silence after 30 years in her recently published book sarra a bit ball accuses her ex coach of rape the claim has triggered a lot pouring of support from the country's top athlete. we feel appalled appalled but then fortunately not the surprised ones who that the truth becomes chilling and isolated keys becomes many the more honest serious omnipresent how many victims remain locked in a state of shame and fear how many cases could have been avoided we can no longer

be silent it is time to act collectively and realize that breaking this silence also means serving sport. well with the scandal growing in the wake of the claims on reaction france's sports minister has demanded the resignation of the figure skating federation president who herself previously made controversial statements on the issue picking up the story this hour charlotte. when a minister makes a public pronouncement you probably would hope that they had checked all of the facts just like when in 2017 france's former sports minister declared that at the height of me too there wasn't a problem in her sphere the format fencing champion must now be considering for laying on who is sought after the latest explosive revelations of rape by sports coaches have emerged they've been made by frances 10 times the national skating champion sara a bit in

a new book she accuses her former coach year of regularly raping her in the ninety's when she was aged between 15 and 17. i was sleeping with my teddy bears and he woke me up with his torch it was a nightmare it was horrible and it's still horrible today and that's why i'm talking about it as unfortunately i'm still not well i'm taking antidepressants and i'm speaking up for all the other big tims who can't speak themselves this exchange 2 year old former coach admits having sex with a skater but his version of their relationship differs though my memories of the exact circumstances differ from hers i am aware that given my duties and her age at the time these relations were in any event inappropriate it's not the 1st time questions have been raised about a year sarabeth paul says she previously spoke out against him in the us including to the then minister of sport john points while or more but was shut down

while he called me back and he said. to me listen to many times of the yes we have a file on him but we are going to close our eyes more says he doesn't recall that conversation i do not question at all what she say's but i have no memory of this exchange above all if i had known these horrors that i discovered today i would never have advised server a bit ball to close her eyes according to this sports newspaper keep 2 investigations were carried out by a year in the early 2000 including one white sports ministry now his contract as a technical advisor was terminated following the 2nd one sarah a bit but although it is not the only person making accusations 3 other former skaters say they too were raped by their coaches including by ear when they were minors suggesting the problem was much deeper accusations which of either being

denied or declined to be commented on questions are now being asked about the leadership in french sport with the current sports minister demanding the resignation of did you get the boss of french skating along with other allegations of sex abuse in other sports many are suggesting that these revelations are just the tip of the iceberg and that france has done precious little to protect its sporting hopefuls and heroes charlot even ski altie paris. big political shop in germany this week a temporary political alliance has been formed in the studio for injure with the ruling centrist party and right wing politicians joining forces to the regional left wing premier it defies repeated declarations by the ruling christian democrats that they would not work with the far right here for europe correspondent peter all of her. it's not often we're talking about high drama in german politics but it's

fair to say that it's been shaken to its very core by the election of a new state premier in turn into well this is after the far right until immigration party alternative for germany essentially played the role of king maker. the free democratic party candidate thomas kennedy will be the new state premier it's worth noting his party only picked up 5 seats in the election that was held back in october of last year but with the backing of a day along with people members of the christian democratic union angler merkel's party he was able to win the election in the in the state parliament by just one solitary vote well it's been described by the outgoing state premier who lost the election he's the representative of the left party as they discuss charade in

fact the left party going on to slam the free democrats saying that they've essentially achieved power by joining forces with fascists the christian democratic union as i mentioned angle and merkel's party well their party leader callum bauer who is widely tipped as a potential to successor to mrs merkel as chancellor of germany has said that their local party representatives acted without the authority of central office this is not a good day this is not a good day for touring this is not a good day for the political system in germany but what this is dawn is it sparked protests across germany including here in the german capital impromptu demonstrations outside of the free democratic party headquarters some very angry scenes there as they came out to slam the f. f. to appear for what many see as breaking one of the most optimal. in german politics

of doing it deal or getting into bed with a day at their party leader christie and linda was speaking to the press saying well certainly doing his best to distance himself from alternative for germany. eve does support comes as a surprise because it is not motivated by an agreement on substance but purely tactical the f.t.p. does not negotiate or cooperate with the d. there is no basis for cooperation who do not support the goals and values of that party thomas chemical though accepting the vote of their representatives has said that he won't be entering into any type of coalition government talks with alternative for germany but it's worth noting just how serious this is being tainted here one senior figure from within the christian democratic union described the free democrats as having played with fire and set all of politics in germany

a place. you know we've been getting views on this story including from a sollie a member of the german left party which this happened to peter best drawn from the alternative of germany which also had a big role in the play. the question is what would the voters of on. the touring ram people. said quite clearly we would like to have a conservative coalition and this is the majority we had this is the city you have the f.t.p. you they have behaved majority and the communists and the socialists they were just ignoring it they wanted to build the government without having having a majority so they failed and how they are driving mad so but in a normal situation the air you have to deal with that would get the 2nd chance to build the government after the communists were not able to do that. just because all the

other parties have a book a thing on us we have to do it this way of course it's a birth of this where you. have not and it is an unprecedented day and we have thousands of people demonstrating in the streets because they cannot believe that cash is a once more deciding who is in power in germany and the way by which they stole the rightful government from our party is by instigating a coup basically it was it was secretive negotiation so when he says that we have the loser then you have to look at the vote tallies and it was my proxy of the left party that actually won this election in choosing the man in charge of the a d is someone who has compared who has been compared by many many people to hitler himself so he's the most radical elements of the f.t.

and this man has now decided who will form the next government in choosing. the european union sharply condemned washington's the session to ease restrictions on the use of ulti personnel long lines which will allow the u.s. military to the ploy the weapon in conflict zones right across the world. this in the mines the global norm against personal mines i normally say tens of thousands of people in the past 20 years the use of the weapons anywhere at any time by any act remains completely unacceptable to the european union and the u.s. state department says the ban which was instituted by the obama administration puts the military up to a severe disadvantage in conflict situations by the fact that over well over $150.00 countries are signatories to the 1997 on the use of the weapon now the explosive devices are buried in the ground detonated under pressure there are effectively 2 types of personnel one mines with newer varieties possessing

a self-destruct function those are the sort that donald trump say's the american military can purchase here some of the reaction we've been getting to washington's controversial decision. the trump administration's decision just adds one more layer of. tea to warfare and encourages that it's very difficult to determine. what where these mines would be laid and and how they could be deactivated even though they they claim they're going to be field in a new one new type that can deactivate on its own but that's not sure i think the land mines are just terrible they they affect civilians primarily and i don't think there's any foolproof way of developing a what i would call a smart land mine that could deactivate itself we greatly welcomed the you

statement today in the statements by the number of other states. which would include germany belgium netherlands that have come out and spoken very clearly condemning this decision the international campaign to ban landmines. deplores the decision by the u.s. government this decision reverses its land mine policy the us is effectively stepping backwards from the progress it has made in putting its policy in wine with mind being treated provisions which being the production the use in the transfer of land mines and which commit states to providing assistance to mine survivors. the us navy has expanded its nuclear arsenal by deploying new low power warheads on submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles currently on patrol in the atlantic they say the decision was made in an attempt to contain russia while the

pentagon claims it will lower the chances of a nuclear war russia sings it's a dangerous new. department identify the requirement to modify a small number of submarine launched ballistic missile warheads to address the conclusion that potential adversaries like russia believe that employment of low yield nuclear weapons will give them an advantage over the united states and its allies and partners this reflects the fact that the united states is lowering the nuclear threshold there by arming itself to conduct a limited nuclear war and ensuring its victory in any such conflict here's what we know the new weapon is called the w $76.00 small to low yield thermo nuclear warhead it's about 20 times less powerful than the earlier versions of the w $76.00 which have been in service on u.s. submarines since the cold war the trouble ministration requested the new tactical nuke in the 28 day nuclear posture review now we discuss the issue with security analyst and former u.k. army officer charles bridge. it is absolutely

a high risk i mean on the face of it reducing the size of a nuclear weapon sounds an attractive option and should surely be welcomed by everybody the problem is this is more tempting it may be for commanders for the united states for example in this case to point us weapon system used in circumstances which wouldn't have merited the deployment and use of the massively powerful systems that i currently have thinking perhaps that i might reduce civilian casualties and so on you can well imagine a situation where if for example president trump feels that international tension is rising that he could delegate for example the use of these so-called you know wield weapons to commanders in the field and therefore you've lost political control or together russia doesn't need to worry because we're only deploying a weapon against you that's low you know the whole theory appears to be flawed in this case even before that missile landed on enemy let's say russian or chinese

target you would expect russia or china to have launched its own missile as a can see u.s. or its facilities in response. the united nations top humanitarian official said more foreign troops stationed in mali or in the rest of the whole region will not save the african nation in its conflict against armed groups but political talks occurred as the north africa area has been witnessing a surge in terrorism over the past decade the u.n. statement comes after affronts pledged an extra $600.00 soldiers to the struggle region $4500.00 french troops are already there and un a 1st chief in mali told us why this situation in the country is worsening this spike the increased security presence. if you look at the needs that have been identified for 2019 over $3000000.00 people needed support from humanitarian activists and we hand planned to use about $324000000.00

however only 50. percent has been received obviously you cannot cover the needs of all people identified. if you only receive a half of the money particularly as the situation is getting worse looking at a situation where more people will need our support and we do have about $1100000.00 people that are in additional need of humanitarian assistance. well here's a breakdown of how that terrorist insurgency has actually grown in recent years and spread across north africa since 2016 the number of to how this attacks has increased 5 fold while thousands of people have been killed or displaced in the latest incident on sunday 20 soldiers were killed by islamist fighters abrams fellow a global affairs think tank thinks about any negotiations with terror groups will

not be productive. a greater portion of international terrorism will move to africa especially so as well as in libya their fighters are going to continue to increase in number particularly because we're dealing with one of the world's poorest areas with weak governance these kinds of field states create a power vacuum ideal for terrorists of all sorts of pariah so it's very hard for me to imagine that the french will simply have $500.00 troops and that is going to resolve things the reality is that sometimes there is no good answer fighting them isn't going to work talking to them probably won't work either islamic state is growing in mali and throughout this a hell and they do not want a peace process is it is alarmist group also very difficult to negotiate with

and so even though i'm a skeptic that military force you know is not going to work that doesn't mean that i think that negotiations are also necessarily the answer all right just a reminder if you'd like your say on any of those stories why not leave a comment give us a like on our facebook page always one or 2 lively debates going on there so you. to.

look good on. the model. and we're going to fulfill the repeated promises apologise to the people and come on you know we've all pots be. misleading please pretty. please. please. pretty good bertha now you want to 1st correct that. no. longer.

call me. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle we're told it's a total meltdown. confusion consumes iowa as officials struggle to report voting results are the botched iowa caucus is the ultimate political metaphor of our time .