that was chris buckler.ping, has said the spread of a new strain of respiratory virus is accelerating, putting the country in a "grave situation". at least 41 people are now known to have died from coronavirus, including a doctor who was treating infected patients. more than 1300 cases have been confirmed. hong kong has declared an emergency and has restricted links to mainland china. cases have now been confirmed in australia, malaysia and france. rescue workers in eastern turkey are continuing to search for survivors, after an earthquake killed at least 22 people and left more than 1200 injured. the 6.8 magnitude quake centred on the town of sivrice in elazig province, which is over 300 miles east of turkey's capital, ankara. footage is emerging showing emergency services frantically searching for survivors, including a woman being recovered from a collapsed building after 17 hours under rubble. officials say about a0 people have been rescued so far, with more than 20 feared to remain trapped. in a few min

chris buckler there for us.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 wha

chris buckler, bbc news, washington.in elections that are being seen as a showdown between the government and the far—right party of matteo salvini. his anti—immigrant and populist league party is hoping to make big gains in northern emilia romagna, and the southern region, calabria. emilia romagna is considered the spitirual home of italian socialism and has been governed by the left since the second world war. a victory there could help the league leader to become prime minister. police in arizona had a brush with an offending motorist that will haunt them forever. the driver had dressed a model skeleton, complete with bucket hat, so that he could make use of the multiple—occu pancy lane. an official notice the skeleton which was wearing a hat and tied to the passenger seat with a yellow rate. the driver was given a penalty ticket. now, the weather. after a week—long spell of very settled weather across the uk, not necessarily sunny, but settled most of the time, things are changing now. turning quite wet across wester

chris buckler, bbc news, washington.ate ajourned, mr trump has tweeted, saying that "any fair minded person watching the senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly i have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan impeachment hoax." dr evan lawrence is an expert on us politics at the university of central lancashire. she also previously worked in congress for the democratic representativejulia carson. welcome to you. thank you for being with us. what is your assessment of how the first week of this impeachment trial has played out?” think this is more a play for the american people than it is actually a trial. like you said earlier, it is very, very unlikely that he will be removed from office. you will a lwa ys be removed from office. you will always have the impeached attached to his name but beyond that, i think this is more a show for the upcoming election that it is for anything else. if that is indeed the case, which i am sure many commentators would agree with you about, how do you think i

chris buckler, thank you very much.truck the east of turkey, killing at least 18 people. footage on social media shows rescue workers digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings. the quake — with a magnitude of about 6.8 — was also felt in neighbouring countries. gareth barlow has more details. rescuers carry survivors out from the rubble. the 6.8 magnitude quake sent buildings crashing to the ground and residents rushing into the streets. more than 30 people are feared trapped and more than 500 people have been reported injured. the exact moment the earthquake struck, captured live on turkish tv. amid the inky darkness, among ruined buildings, screams rang out as more than 400 rescue teams rushed to help survivors. dozens of after—shocks followed the main tremor, which was also felt in neighbouring syria, lebanon and iran. the region, 550 kilometres east of the capital ankara, is remote and sparsely populated so the true extent of the damage and fatalities could be slow to emerge. turkey lies on major fault lines

chris buckler, bbc news, washington. a classroom full of primary school children fully engaged, so imagine how hard it must be for one who's profoundly deaf, relying on sign language and lip reading. but that's exactly the challenge for alysha allen at a school in north london, and she'sjust won an award for her achievements. they were looking at my hands and already i had got them... this is a typical maths lesson for year twos in alysha's class. even though she's profoundly deaf, she teaches at a mainstream school using british sign language and lip—reading. she has just received a national award for her outstanding teaching methods. itjust breaks it down for them visually. so today... it's notjust for maths, it helps the skills to grow. we have to say, good morning, look at each other during the register. their friends look at them. they say good morning to each other, eye contact. alysha's is not the only class that uses british sign language at this school. every single pupil learns it. we are going to have a little

that was chris buckler in washington. on some of the other stories making the news: police in mexico have begun a huge man—hunt for a leading member of the country's biggest drug gang, who's escaped a top security prison, with two others. extra police have been deployed in mexico city, along with helicopters, to search for victor felix beltran. he and is family have links to the former leader of the sinaloa cartel, joaquin guzman, known as el chapo. two decommissioned satellites, travelling at more than 48 kilometres an hour, seemed to have had a near—miss. organisations tracking space objects recorded them coming within metres of each other, above pennsylvania. they plan to release full data in the coming hours. astronomers have revealed never—before—seen images of the sun — and they've got closer than ever before. the striking, high—resolution images of the sun's surface were captured by a solar telescope in hawaii. this is one image, looking a lot like a collection of gold nuggets. actually, each one of these nuggets i

chris buckler, bbc news, washington.f racist and anti—semitic graffiti which has been scrawled across a number of buildings. the graffiti, which has appeared on a bank in blackheath and outside a takeaway in charlton, depicts stars of david, swastikas and white supremacy insignia. local mp matthew pennycook says, these crimes are a stark reminder of the rise in white supremacism and jew hatred in our country. greenwich council has described the defacements as shocking. people in two italian regions are voting in elections that are being seen as a showdown between the government and the far—right party of matteo salvini. his anti—immigrant and populist league party is hoping to make big gains in northern emilia romagna, and the southern region, calabria. emilia romagna is considered the spitirual home of italian socialism, and has been governed by the left since the second world war. a victory there could help the league leader to become prime minister. it's pretty tough for any teacher trying to keep a classroom full of

chris buckler is in washington for us now.u are hearing about this helicopter crash. the helicopter went down in calabasas, which isjust outside los helicopter went down in calabasas, which is just outside los angeles and the sheriffs office there is planning to give a news conference in the next couple of hours to give details but what we know is that five people have been killed in that crash. kobe bryant was on board with three other people and a pilot is also dead and the suggestions are that his wife vanessa was not on board, neither were his daughters and that will be some relief to the family but this has caused a huge degree of shock in the united states. it is difficult to give an idea of how well known kobe bryant was. he was a celebrity who eclipsed the sport of basketball that made him famous. he may have played for 20 years but he was known outside that sport and built a reputation that sport and built a reputation that bled into the us media and when you look at his life since basketball, he went very hard to bui

chris buckler, bbc news, washington. — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are martin lipton, who's the chief sports reporter for the sun, and the broadcaster and psychotherapist, lucy beresford. a rescue operation is under way in eastern turkey, where an earthquake has killed at least 22 people, with many more missing. more than 1000 people have been injured in elazig province. teams are working in freezing temperatures, to reach survivors buried under collapsed buildings. 0ur correspondent richard galpin reports. the powerful earthquake struck this eastern region of the country last night... ..causing hundreds of casualties. in the darkness, people screaming for help as buildings collapsed. in the light this morning, the scale of destruction revealed — this, just one of 30 buildings to have been brought down. already, though, there are many rescue teams on the ground, working frantically to save those trapped under giant sla

chris buckler, bbc news, washington. the senate ajourned, mr trump has tweeted saying that, "any fair minded person watching the senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly i have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan impeachment hoax". a major rescue operation is continuing for a second night in eastern turkey, where an earthquake has killed dozens of people, with many more missing. more than 1,000 people are known to have been injured in elazig province. our correspondent richard galpin‘s report contains some distressing images. she is just five years old, and covered in blood, but this girl is now safe. the rescue team pulling her out from under the smashed blocks of concrete and other debris brought down by the earthquake. and she is just one of more than a0 people to have been rescued here so far. for the rescue teams, speed is now essential to save lives in freezing temperatures. this emergency worker using a mobile phone to speak to a family trapped underneath the debris, telling them

chris buckler, bbc news, washington.navirus, which emerged in china and has led to emergency measures being ta ken across the world. earlier, my colleague ben brown spoke to two british citizens in the chinese city of wuhan, the city that's the source of the outbreak. sophie hunt and jason neal have been stuck in their flat for four days now without being allowed to go out. they told me more about their experience. we have had to stock up on food and water, and if we do go out, we have to wear a mask, it is now the law to wear a mask outside. all transportation in wuhan has been stopped, so even if we wanted to go anywhere, we can't, there are no taxis, cars, trains, planes. we are in lockdown, pretty much. in lockdown, jason. if you could leave the city, would you leave at this stage? i think at this moment i do just want to get out. we have got a lot of friends who managed to get out before the lockdown, they have gone travelling at they are not allowed back in. they seem like they have got the better end of the deal a

chris buckler there for us.er has vowed that there will not be another holocaust. benjamin netanyahu was speaking injerusalem as world leaders and holocaust survivors marked 75 years since the liberation of auschwitz. israeli officials say the event is the biggest international gathering in the country's history. our middle east correspondent, orla guerin, reports. frail but determined, holocaust survivors coming to honour those who perished, lighting a memorial flame for the six million jews annihilated by the nazis. among those gathered on jeruselam's mount of rememberance, heads of state, prime ministers and princes. pledging to combat an enduring threat, the dark shadow of anti—semitism. and here is its incomprehensible expression. auschwitz, the gates of hell. the nazis killed more than a million people in this one camp before it was liberated by the red army. for many, auschwitz is the ultimate symbol of evil. it is certainly that. israel's prime minister used this platform to call for global action agains

chris buckler, bbc news, washington.ie laird — an american politics commentator and economist and i'm alsojoined by politico reporter, daniel lippman who is in our washington studio. daniel, after the marathon hearings we saw last week, this was a relatively short affair. it was. it provided the opportunity for senators to go back home or stay in washington where there is a fancy dinner tonight but if you watch the couple of hours of the defence, this was heavily focused on poking holes in the democratic arguments and previewing what we will hear on monday where we are expected to hear lots of attacks on joe monday where we are expected to hear lots of attacks onjoe and hunter biden's work in ukraine and making the point that trump has done nothing wrong and this would overturn an election. interesting as well that attempt to stop to unpick the prosecution case. there was a wider message about the motivation of the democratic movement. the defence is not engaging with the facts here. the arguments we have heard today we

chris buckler, bbc news, washington., mr trump has tweeted, saying that "any fair minded person watching the senate trial today would be able to see how unfairly i have been treated and that this is indeed the totally partisan impeachment hoax". i've been speaking to frank bowman, author of the book "high crimes & misdemeanors: a history of impeachment for the age of trump." i asked him what he made of the day's proceedings. i was iwas in i was in the chamber today watching from the gallery and i have a couple of impressions. first i think the president's defence team stylistically were rather better than one might have expected in the sense that they kept the tone more low— key sense that they kept the tone more low—key and businesslike. i think if one were not familiar with the rest of the record indicates they made points which might have seemed convincing. if you are familiar with the record in the case, not so much. for example their claim about mr trump's original contact with ukrainian president that mr trump's so

let's speak to our correspondent in washington, chris buckler. nificant does all this seemed to be? yeah, mike, the thursday of those questions and answers has wrapped up after a marathon session, ten hours, where both democrats and republicans in the senate had their chance to put forward the questions to the two impeachment teams, the defence and the prosecution. the question everyone wants a nswered question everyone wants answered is whether president trump's form a national security adviser, john bolton, will be allowed to give evidence. that depends on getting a simple majority of senators to agree in a vote likely to take lace on friday, and there had been suggestions that perhaps some republicans, some moderate republicans, were moving towards the democrats and may support them, which would be needed in order to allow this vote to take place. but republicans seem to be a little bit more confident in the last hours also that mr bolton will be prevented from giving evidence and that is very important for mr trump becausejohn very important f

live to washington and our correspondent, chris buckler. chris, what is the very latest here?senate, the democrats are putting out their case against this first charge against president trump, that he abused his power and his position as president. you get the impression while this is all happening in a pretty staid environment inside the senate chamber, behind—the—scenes there's plenty of conversations going on with republicans than democrats talking about their strategy and whether or not witnesses will come forward. that's something they're not just talking about, forward. that's something they're notjust talking about, it's also president trump as well because democrats basically want to introduce as much new information as they can. they would like to have people subpoenaed and brought to the chamber to give evidence, not least the likes of former national security adviser to president trump, john bolton, who left under a bit of a cloud and apparently made a number of comments about president trump's behaviour as regards to this push to get the ukraine to launch investiga

live now to washington, dc and the bbc‘s chris buckler. eah, plenty of noises here as well as we get to the edge of the 16 hour time limit set for these questions and answers posed by senators and answers posed by senators and answered by president trump's defence team and also the democrats‘ prosecution trump‘s defence team and also the democrats‘ prosecution team in this impeachment trial. the democrats‘ prosecution team in this impeachment triallj have to say, having watched it over the last couple of hours, a feeling we‘re going over and over the same ground time and time again. but once this time is up it gets to a new section. we have closing arguments from both sides and then potentially a vote which will take place in less tha n a vote which will take place in less than 2a hours‘ time on whether or not witnesses should be called and that has become the big issue here. as you can hear from the big issue here. as you can hearfrom jonah the big issue here. as you can hear from jonah fisher‘s interview there, there are many people who s

chris buckler is in washington for us. chris?e democrats' impeachment team but mainly they tried to set out a bigger picture argument, that the democrats were not really concerned with abuse of power or that mr trump had not behaved properly in office. instead, they claimed, that actually they were more concerned with overturning the vote that put him in that office in the first place. they are asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative, take that decision away from the american people. what i have learned through all my years in politics and all my years in life, if you are right and you keep fighting for the truth will prevail. we would be derelict in our responsibility if we didn't fight for the truth. you might get a sense from that that the democrats know they have no chance of removing president trump from office. they simply don't have the numbers in the senate. but a couple of miles away in the white house a very confident mrtrump was in the white house a very confident mr trump wa

from washington, our correspondent chris buckler reports.f his presidency has been facing a congressional challenge, donald trump has been set up challenge, donald trump has been set up is to meet leaders, to florida to speak to supporters and ignored other events in washington to attend a pro—life rally, perhaps a sign he is looking past this impeachment trial and already thinking about rubbing up votes for the november presidential election. his leading tea m presidential election. his leading team have been arguing in bringing this case the democrats were not really concerned about his behaviour in office. instead they claim they are trying to overturn the vote and putting that put him there in the 1st place. they are asking you to tearup all of 1st place. they are asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country. on your own initiative. take that decision away from the american people. at the start of proceedings democrats delivered more than 28,000 page record of evidence and arguments that donald trump abused his power. the

let's talk to the bbc‘s chris buckler in washington. chris, long sessions. latest from them? yes, mike, this is really the prosecution setting out their case. and they have three days to do so. and it has already been a number of hours in which they have been setting this out in forensic details. and it has been a very professional presentation. it has had clips, even clips of president trump himself, and at times that's when you've really seen the senators pay attention and take notice. but it doesn't really have any new information brought to it. and if you take a look at what's actually included so far, it's really documents and information that was already discussed during the impeachment hearings, and we are really getting this idea that perhaps the democrats have been stymied a little by the republicans, who up to this point have blocked the introduction of new documents, issuing subpoenas to the white house, the state department, for example, or really forcing witnesses at this stage to give evidence. of course, that's an ongoing battle, and you can i

chris buckler, bbc news, washington.ty standards for tech companies are being saudi authorities have dismissed reports that the amazon boss jeff bazoft‘s phone was hacked. the alleged had apparently began with a whatsapp method from an account a p pa re ntly whatsapp method from an account apparently belonging to muhammad bin salman in may 2018. in a tweet, the saudi arabian embassy in washington described the allegations in british and american newspapers as absurd. we will have more on this story at 9:30am. strict new child safety standards for tech companies are being unveiled by the uk's data watchdog. social media sites, online games and streaming services all used by children will have to abide by new rules. the information commissioner says the "age appropriate design could" could be transformational. internet companies will be expected to enact the highest possible default privacy settings. that includes having location trackers switched off and restrictions on data collection. the duchess of cambridge is on a 24

our washington correspondent, chris buckler has the latest.s really about setting out the charge, the first of these charges against president trump, and that is abuse of power. during the first day of the prosecution, if you like, they basically set out the chronology of what they say happened. today is about the charge, saying exactly why they believe this was president trump doing wrong as far as the us constitution was concerned. there is of course a second charge, and it's likely they will get you that tomorrow. as for today, it's been to some extent more of the same, using clips and documents to really set out their case that president trump was doing his very best to try and force ukraine into launching investigations into his political opponents with a mind very, very firmly set on the 2020 election, basically to benefit him from a domestic political point of view and geting a foreign country, a foreign power, involved in that. as you mentioned, this was the democrats suggesting this was a threat to democracy, a president going well be

chris buckler is following developments in washington for us. what is the latest?ad two votes up to this point, and therefore we have an idea of how it will play out. we've had a vote, for example, on the white house and whether or not documents could be ordered from them using a subpoena. also the state department, the office of and management as well. all of those attempts to get information and documents, they have been scuppered by the republicans. either democrats will want to try to introduce new evidence into this trial but the republicans have a majority inside the senate and therefore they have a great deal of power and what they've essentially done is say to the democrats that although they requested this new evidence, new documents, from the white house, the state department and the office of management and budget they will not get their man democrats are continuing to push for more information to be introduced into this trial. what's happening in the senate at the moment is they are trying to argue for the acting chief of staff in the white house, mick

chris buckler in washington has more.ts and his opponents' reaction to the idea that these were headaches, when it turns out that some of them had suffered traumatic brain injuries. there is a range of different injuries suffered by those troops, but the idea that after that strike by iran in iraq that there would be this idea that no one had been injured to then go to the idea that 3a had been injured, and that 17 were so badly hurt that they had to be transferred to germany for treatment. that is something that has raised a lot of concern and alarm in the united states. if we look at the 17 people who have been moved to germany, eight have returned to the us but there are nine still there, still receiving treatment and still being assessed. it gives you a sense of the level of their injuries. those don't sound like headaches, why the turnaround ? it is a very good question and one that is being asked. let's put the strike into some kind of context. it was after the killing of general soleimani, which caused real tension

let us get the latest from our correspondent chris buckler in washington for us. ris, just, give us the main take aways from what we have heard so far from the senate floor? yes, a reminder we have had three days of prosecution, in which the democrats have set their case out against donald trump, that he abused his power and that he tried to obstruct the work of congress as they investigated that. now what we have had now, is the defence, stand up to the plate, and donald trump's own legal team set out for a start why they believe he did absolutely nothing wrong. now, it is just the beginning, did absolutely nothing wrong. now, it isjust the beginning, and did absolutely nothing wrong. now, it is just the beginning, and they have up to 2a hours to make their case, although they have indicated that they are not going to need all of that time. they believe this is pretty straightforward, and already we are getting a sense that actually, the best form of defence in donald trump's case seems to be an attack on the democrats, there are suggesting from those opening word

we can speak to chris buckler, though.t for a while now, they voted three times, consistently on party lines. it will be good to catch up with what is going on thus far. they have to have a break to eat given what they have had to listen to. it has been an arguably dry session, because we do not have witnesses being cross—examined, instead, up until now this is about the rules of the trail and how this will be conducted, and democrats have been pushing very, very hard to try to get new evidence and information put into the public domain because up until now they have had subpoenas that have been issued for information from the white house simply refused, and therefore they haven't got information that they say they need for this trail. so up until now they have tried to introduce amendment that would give them the right to ask for new documents from the white house that they haven't had the chance to see copy new documents also from the state department and the office of management and budget. all information that they bel

earlier i spoke to our washington correspondent chris buckler and asked him what we could expect afters, right into the small hours they debated last night, and now they're back at it again inside the chamber. and of course, president trump, who you saw speaking in davos, has just flown into washington. and he is coming back to watch this extremely closely indeed, because this is the prosecution. this is the democrats putting out their argument that essentially he used his position to try to benefit him, from a personal, political point of view, by trying to force ukraine into launching investigations into his political opponents, with the 2020 election very firmly on his mind. and i have to say, you know, watching the debate today, and watching the arguments being set out, it was very professional, it was very articulate. they used slides of documents and they used clips, but ultimately there wasn't an awful lot new in it. we have heard a lot of this during impeachment hearings, and democrats have of course been frustrated by republicans from introducing new evidence, new documents, n

reports say this report from our correspondent, chris buckler, in washington. whether they cheered him offered him, all basketball fans recognised kobe bryant as 1 of the sport? greatest players. his entire career was spent in la lakers jazzy and his death on the outskirts of the city has left people across the united states grieving. he was on board helicopter with other people when it crashed in cala basas. helicopter with other people when it crashed in calabasas. the la sheriffposmac office said no 1 survive the accident. 1 of his daughters was travelling with him and also died. his list of achievements is long, and all—star, an nba champion, and olympic gold medallist, he was unashamedly competitive. and he was deeply frustrated when his playing career was cut short by injuries. he was bold enough and brave enough to announce. . . bold enough and brave enough to announce... and foolish enough, that he would be the greatest, and he did everything possible, humanly possible, to deliver on that promise. since his retirement from basketball, he had put his con

chris buckler is in washington for us.two amendments voted for as one would expect when it comes to the way the senate is represented. yes, 53 republicans, 47 democrats essentially is the way it has been split down the line between the two caucuses who vote. as it stands it means white house information and evidence the democrats had been seeking they will not be allowed to introduce, and also state department information that they had wanted, they will not get those either. what they will not get those either. what they are now debating is whether they are now debating is whether they can get documents from the offices of management and budget. there are important because you might remember one of the key allegations against president trump is that he threatened to withhold military aid ukraine unless the country launched investigations into his political rivals for purely domestic political reasons. as a result, you can expect the democrats will be making that argument very strongly, but they need to see anything that we

we begin with this report from our correspondent chris buckler, in washington.hey cheered him orfeared him, all basketball fans recognised kobe bryant as one of the sport's greatest players. his entire 20—year career was spent in an la lakersjersey, and his death on the outskirts of the city has left people across the united states grieving. nine people died when the helicopter he was on crashed in calabasas. the la sheriff's office says that no—one survived the accident, including kobe bryant and his 13—year—old daughter gianna. his list of achievements is long — an all—star, an nba champion and an olympic gold—medallist. he was unashamedly competitive, and he was deeply frustrated when his playing career was cut short by injuries. he was bold enough and brave enough to announce, and foolish enough, that he would be the greatest. and he did everything possible, humanly possible, to deliver on that promise. since his retirement from basketball, he had put his considerable energy into business ventures and charity work, particularly pushing health and education c

this report from our correspondent chris buckler, in washington.hey cheered him orfeared him, all basketball fans recognised kobe bryant as one of the sport's greatest players. his entire 20—year career was spent in an la lakersjersey. his death on the outskirts of the city has left people across the united states grieving. he was on board a helicopter with four other people when it crashed in cala basas. the la sheriffs office says no—one survived the accident. one of his daughters, gianna, was travelling with him and also died. his list of achievements is long. on all—star, an nba champion and an olympic gold—medallist. he was unashamedly competitive and was deeply frustrated when his playing career was cut short by injuries. he was bold enough and brave enough to announce and foolish enough to announce that he would be the greatest and he did everything possible, humanly possible, to deliver on that promise. since his retirement from basketball, he had put his considerable energy into business ventures and charity work, particularly pushing heal

with the latest from the senate impeachment trial, here is the bbc‘s chris buckler in washington.o the edge of the 16 hour time as we get to the edge of the 16 hourtime limit as we get to the edge of the 16 hour time limit set for these questions and answers posed by senators and answered supposedly by president trump's defence team and also the democrats‘ prosecution team in this impeachment trial. i have to say, having watched it over the last number of hours, i feel like we‘re going over the same ground time and time again, but once this time is up it is going to move to a new section, when we have closing arguments from both sides, and then potentially a vote which will take place in less than 2a hours‘ time on whether or not witnesses should be called. and that has become the big issue here. because as you can hear from jonah fisher‘s interview there, there are many people who still feel that they haven‘t got to the bottom of this whole question of whether 01’ this whole question of whether or not president trump was trying to put pressure on ukraine and exactly how much pres

chris buckler reports from washington.s concluded their long and detailed argument that donald trump abused the power of his position with a plea. they told the senators, who act as jurors in this deeply political trial, that it wasn't about allegiances or their personal view of the president, it was about his actions in office. i implore you, give america a fair trial, give america a fair trial. she is worth it. thank you. every minute of this trial has been covered on america's news networks, although president trump is said to be concerned that his defence is beginning on a saturday, what he calls a death valley for tv ratings. his lawyers will also have three days to rebut the democrats' claims that mr trump tried to force the ukrainian president to launch investigations into his political opponents, and they will begin their arguments amid claims of new recordings that could be damaging to their client. we are going to put on, i believe, without question, a compelling case. as i said, we have two goals. we are going t

north america correspondent chris buckler is in washington. he's been following proceedings.been some developments despite the wrangling? wrangling is the right word, democrats and republicans are finding it hard to agree the rules for the impeachment trial. democrats want to introduce as much evidence and information and documents as they can but republicans want it over with as quickly as possible. we've had amendment after amendment put forward by the democrats in which they've been demanding the right to order the white house, the state department and other parts of the administration to hand over documents. the right 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's been strictly along party lines. 53 republicans are voting down those 47 democrats who vote as pa rt down those 47 democrats who vote as part of that caucus to try to ensure this trial goes ahead as quickly as possible. tha

let's speak to our correspondent in washington chris buckler. is all of this would you say? there has been another marathon session today in which questions and answers have been put to both the trump impeachment team, and the defence team and the house impeachment team, the prosecution led by the democrats. but actually, all of those questions, all of those a nswe i’s those questions, all of those answers that have been given, have been overshadowed by that looming figure ofjohn bolton because these links have indicated that he intends to suggest any book that actually president trump was very explicitly linking the withholding of vital military aid to the ukraine to try and force the country into launching investigations into his political opponents, most notably his potential presidential rivaljoe biden. you can imagine that there are many conversations going on in the background. as the senate is still to decide whether or not witnesses will be called, that boat is expected to happen on friday. but it's already being talked about and there w

chris buckler said the democrats were continuing to make their argument with resolve, even though they not have the numbers in the senate to be successful in impeaching the president. donald trump was mccoys did try to counter some of the arguments made by the democrats' impeachment team, but mainly they try to set at a bigger picture argument, that the democrats weren't really concerned with abuse of power or that mr really concerned with abuse of power orthat mrtrump really concerned with abuse of power or that mr trump had not been behaving inappropriately in office was not instead they claim they were more concerned with overturning the vote that put him in that office in the first place. they are asking you to tearup all of the first place. they are asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative, ta ke this country on your own initiative, take that decision away from the american people. what i have learned from all my years in politics and all my years in life, if you are right and you keep fighting for the truth, you will prevail. we would be

let's speak to our correspondent in washington chris buckler. characterise things at the moment and how significant are these developments? i think it adds pressure to donald trump and his lawyers to really address this issue of whether or not witnesses will give evidence and of course, that has been somewhat of a battle between democrats and republicans that has been taking place away from the chamber as all of this evidence and this testimony has been given during this impeachment trial so far. frankly, democrats need witnesses. they need to try and bring new evidence to this case. so far, they're only really been re— emphasising what has been spoken about during the impeachment hearing, and bolton have a lot to say. that's certainly backed up by some of the extracts that have been published by the new york times. they had a leak of a copy of his book which seems to suggest that this key issue that donald trump basically was withholding military aid to ukraine to the idea that the country should launch investigations into his political rivals,