henrietta treyz, veda partners, will be sticking with us. we want to give you an update on what is happening in first word news. here's viviana hurtado. viviana: senate democrats are making a final run at persuading a few republicans to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of president donald trump. a showdown vote could take place tomorrow. democrats need at least four bublik and votes. they want to subpoena former national security advisor john bolton to testify. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is leaning on republicans to stay united. president trump wants to mix or democrats don't get all of the attention in iowa. tonight he is holding a rally in des moines. in monday's iowa caucuses, democrats are battling for support in the first test for presidential hopefuls. more problems for the most expensive u.s. weapons system in history. turns out the f-35 fighter has a gun that can't shoot straight, according to the pentagon's test office. authorities have a long list of problems that need to be fixed on the plane. 13 of them are des

hello i'm christine want to welcome to news africa it's good to have your company the vedas off 5 west african countries and france have reaffirmed their shared to have a nation to fight the insurgency in this a hole they agreed to concentrates they have military efforts along the poorest border separating mali. looking to fossil now extremist fighters have been moving across the area with little challenge now several extremist groups they are affiliated with al qaeda or the so-called islamic state the g 5 soho group is focusing on the national the crisis in the so how is it in mali. and has expanded into 5 countries last year about 4000 people in the region were killed in attacks hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the fighting. a crowded caught you out on the outskirts of what i do the refugees living here lack electricity and lack friends around 10 people share a single room space is so tight that some even have to go to a nearby school every night to sleep. along with his family of 9 seconds have a double fled his village of 200 kilometers north of the capital but i do go

the man behind the museum is my team veda he's a local contractor who's traveled throughout europe and search as items for his collection the carriage museum might not be everyone's cup of tea but there is no denying that a lot of dedication and imagination has gone into putting it together. now off to warmer climes we're heading to colombia our globe trotters steve hand has visited colony in the southwest of the country it's one of the oldest cities in the america and the self-proclaimed capital of the world. allow me ask me go see em when you don't really need in this episode we're going to explore the city of santa and we're going to do something out of the city this time with me as my buddy from germany that farm. we are hiking up to the set of the last 3 groups to help with the story process to get an overview of cali and we already have on the way out really nice. are you feeling. really cool here from here. since we are in the south thank you well we need to learn some stuff sorry you're right i've never seen street right yet i have. a little group. i feel kind of that's good he

chinese interference in the upcoming presidential elections on saturday it's something the island's veda citing one brought up last year when she said china was interfering court every day in the election the allegations are hard to ignore for an island that beijing claims as part of its started $3.00 and $1.00 would have norms log in daily political life. it's graduation for these young students at taipei university but while their thoughts may be on their careers their hearts are with fellow students in hong kong . a quick glance around the cafeteria makes it clear where their sympathies lie and who their common enemy is china. that it's easy to like in the past china's interference was not so noticeable but now it is if we allow this to continue it would be like the frog in the slowly boiling water it doesn't it's just the heat until it dies. in the current political mood in taiwan is really unpleasant. tensions are growing red paint attacks on activists critical of china hooliganism and vandalism and solidarity demonstrations for hong kong. foreign journalists have been verbally abus

in both parties to meet some of the criticism is that iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, and the veda- nevada are the jumping off point for both parties. that is specifically designed to meet some of the criticism. one more point i think that is relevant is the cycle. this is a rural state but that is not a bad thing for democrats . whether you like the electoral college are not, there is a rural skew to the electoral college. the founders set it up that way. big state, small state compromise. until you change the electoral college, that will continue to be the way we elect presidents. rural areas have a disproportional influence in the electoral college and hillary clinton lost in 2016 because democrats did not perform well in states like wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, even florida has a significant rural component to its electorate. so this is not a bad place for democrats the cycle to come and test their message and learn about how to address problems and concerns rural americans have. host: would you tell our viewers a little bit about your history covering caucuses? i am born