Hello, im ros atkins, this is outside source. The articles of impeachment against President Trump are being been sent to the senate. President trumps trial there next week will be only the third of a us president in history. He will be held accountable. He has been held accountable. He has been impeached and impeached forever. They can never erase that. Meanwhile at the white house, President Trump was signing a partial trade deal with china. He said it will mean fair and reciprocal trade but it does nothing to remove the huge tariffs the countries have on each others goods. Scientists from three global agencies have given another Climate Change warning confirming that the past decade
was the warmest on record. And the half sister of the duchess of sussex says their father Thomas Markle, will testify in her court case if hes asked to. Meghan is suing a british newspaper for publishing a letter she wrote to her father. Another crucial step towards Donald Trumps impeachment trial. The us house of representatives has voted to send formal articles of impeachment to the senate where the trial is due the us house of representatives has voted to send formal articles of impeachment to the senate where the trial is due to start on tuesday. The articles of impeachment will be carried by hand by congressmen and women who are appointed by the speaker of the house nancy pelosi. They then serve as prosecutors in the senate trial. Heres nancy pelosi speaking about the process. Today i am very proud to present the people who will bring the case of which we have great confidence in in
terms of impeaching the president and that this further evidence consists, and we would not be in this situation that we not waited. Insisted that there be witnesses and that we see documentation. As nancy pelosi says, the democrats and republicans have been disagreeing over how witness testimony should work in the trial. Heres a senior democrat on that issue. Bea be a voice of the sudden urgency about this and achieving in the next election. As soon as we did take up and pass the articles, Mitch Mcconnell made it clear that he did not want a trial in the senate and he didnt want witnesses or documents, this time has given us the time to show the American People the time to show the American People the necessity of a fair trial. The democrats argue there is new evidence against the president that needs to be heard. And theyve released new documents to support their case. They include a letter
from mr trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani sent to president zelensky of ukraine. Here it is. It says in my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent, i request a meeting with you. There are also Text Messages and handwritten notes from an associate of mr giuliani, this man lev parnas, a ukrainian american businessman who has links to ukrainian officials. This is a copy of a handwritten note written in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in vienna from mr parnas in which he states that ukraines president should investigate the biden case. And there are Text Messages sent by this man robert hyde a former congressional candidate and supporter of President Donald Trump to lev parnas. In march 2019 mr hyde and mr parnas exchanged texts about the then Us Ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, who President Trump wanted to remove from office. If youre wondering what all that adds up you and me both. Heres ben wright in washington. You wouldnt as a smoking gun, would you . Know, but i think the democrats, further evidence that requires interrogation and presented at the trial and i think it adds to their argument that for this to be meaningful, they should be able to subpoena further witnesses in the documentation like this and i think this new batch of Text Messages just show the level of involvement that trumps personal lawyer had in the dealings of the ukraine and this just strengthens the democratic argument where there could be more documentation and there will be cheering by republican senators that
are inclined to add her voice, but potentially for new witnesses new documentation. That would be one of the important moments in the next few days if and when theres a vote on whether or not to have new witnesses. It straight up and down vote, a simple majority would be required constantly for republicans after vote and then they can open up after vote and then they can open up a whole new front in this trial and make it much more dramatic. President trump was impeached by the house last month, on accusations of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. He denies behaving inappropriately in pressuring ukraine to open an investigation into his political rivaljoe biden. Earlier the president tweeted as you can see in this graphic a two thirds majority vote is needed in the senate for the president
to be removed from office and thats never happened in us history. And in this senate, the republicans have a majority. So two thirds of senators turning on the president looks very unlikely. Ben wright is on capitol hill for us. What are they home together this realistically is yellow what are they hoping to get out of this. They are hoping these impeachment articles stand and you are not going to get republicans switching in anything like the numbersjoining the democrats to convict donald trump and get him out of office. But in the course of this trial, it will demonstrate, in their view, President Trumps and fitness for
office, raise very difficult questions about his judgement and character that they will hope will cut through the voters what is absolutely critical election year. He is dismissing this as an illegitimate sham and use this impeachment trial to frame it as the establishment obsessed with that so and the concerns of real voters. Im sure this is your set this is how he will try to frame it. This is only happened twice in American History before, 1989, bill clinton hadnt impeachment trial and that went on for about four weeks before he was acquitted. So i provide some sort of template for the timing and sequencing in the choreographing of the trial itself. Once the trial begins, we think it
will last for, the senate will sit for five hours every day, to saturday until either the thing is thrown out or there is a final vote. But i reckon four weeks, like the 1999 impeachment would suggest, could be the length of this trial. That is coming next week, live with us that is coming next week, live with us in washington dc. Its official the last decade was the warmest on record. Nasa, Americas National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the uks met Office Confirmed what the un predicted last month. Since records began in 1880. The world has progressively warmed. We can see that from this heat map provided by nasa and researchers there say its only going to get hotter. This shows the rise in temperatures versus pre industrial levels. We know Carbon Emissions from human activities are the main cause of this rise. We also know unless our behaviour changes, that rise will continue with catastrophic consequences. This is dr liz bentley, chief executive of the royal meteorological society. Carbon dioxide levels are at the highest that we have recorded in our atmosphere and theres a different connection between the amount of Carbon Dioxide and the temperature. We are seeing the highest Global Temperatures in the last decade. And we will see more of that as more Carbon Dioxide continues to grow and we will see temperatures, Global Temperatures increasing. One of the consequences of Climate Change is the intensity of natural disasters as well as hotter weather and weve seen plenty of both in the past year alone. In the far north of the United States alaska had its warmest year on record. Far away in australia
the same record was set. The Hurricane Season came as it always does to the carribean but in the bahamas, Hurricane Dorian was the strongest storm theyd ever had with winds of nearly 300 km per hour. This shows temperature records across the world for 2019. 2019 was the second warmest on record for asia and africa. And any region in pink recorded temperatures warmer than average. Red a new record high was recorded. Heres our global science correspondent rebecca morelle. Scientists say we need to stop temperatures rising above 1. 5
degrees to stop the worst effects but with the current climate policies, we are heading for more than three degrees and that will bring unprecedented changes. Higher temperatures mean more heat waves and droughts, sea levels and regular intensify, bringing more floods like the one that hit yorkshire last year. Climate crisis is going to affect us from so many different dimensions, from health and food supply and food security. As we talk about Critical Infrastructure and the impact of electricity, the impact on schools and hospitals. Our oceans are getting warmer too. A seperate Study Released this week by a team of scientists from 11 institutes around the world concluded that the past ten years have been the warmest on record for global Ocean Temperatures. The lead author says
or put that another way thats as if five atomic bombs were dropped into the water every second. If there is a Silver Lining to this grim outlook its that modern technology is allowing the worlds best scientists to monitor and research this crisis better than ever before. Lets hear from one of those experts doctor Gavin Schmidt the director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for space studies. Of course. Confirming those trends and dashing the hopes of people who think it is also a blip that would just return to normal on its own. The updates that we are doing year by year, we are becoming more comprehensive and the data that we are putting out. We have more satellite data to bolster the results that we have from the
surface weather station network. We have better reanalysis from the European CentreWeather Forecast and all of these things are put together and we see the coherence that there is no ambiguity about Global Warming trends, no question that this is the warmest decades the we have just went through and that the last five yea rs of went through and that the last five years of the warmest years in the record. And that could be going back, and beyond the 19th century when we had this instrumental records, but hundreds of thousands of years ago. Which metrics to focus on despite average temperatures, Ocean Temperatures but there are another number of factors that you are monitoring. Betrayed a monitor everything the time, which is a challenge we are looking at new monitors every time. And we are
looking at rainfall and coastal flooding we are looking at heat waves, we looking at ozone changes in all of those things are connected and a lot of them are directly tied to the surface temperatures that we are reporting today in the ocean heat content changes that tells us very clearly why this is changing and it is changing with more and more energy coming into the system and others are leaving at that is due primarily to the increase of Greenhouse Gases from human activity. Stay with us on outside source still to come. Us authorities are investigating why a Delta Air Lines passengerjet dumped fuel over a suburban area of los angeles including over a number of elementary schools. British airways has filed a complaint with the European Commission over the uk governments rescue plan for the troubled Regional Airline flybe. Other airlines have branded the bailout a misuse of public funds. Simon jack spoke to the boss of easyjet. We would not support any state funding or state support to any carrier, any airline at all, because we believe that that is misuse of taxpayers money. Particularly when the company are, you know, backed by well funded companies also in the first place. Youve been calling for apd, Passenger Duty to be cut for some time. Theyve done you a favour, havent they . We have always argued that, for instance, apd should be revised to more and better reflect the efficiencies of the operations that Different Airlines have. It is one of the highest passenger taxes in the world. We dont think that is designed in an appropriate way. And its not linked at all in how you decarbonise the aviation industry. The us house of representatives has voted to send impeachment charges against President Trump to the senate wheres hell stand trial next week. New footage has emerged which appears to show two missiles being fired at the ukrainian airliner which was unintentionally shot down by iran a week ago. The New York Times obtained the images they were captured on a Security Camera in tehran and then apparently filmed on a mobile phone. They show a first missile being fired at the plane, which strikes it. About thirty seconds later a second missile is launched, and hits the plane. All 176 people on board were killed when it crashed moments later. Supporters of the government in venezuela have attacked a convoy of opposition politicians outside parliament, preventing them from holding a session there. Opposition leaderjuan guaido moved the meeting elsewhere and accused president Nicolas Maduro of acting like a dictator. Bbc mundo the rapperjay z is taking
legal action against us prison officials on behalf of 29 inmates whose lives he says are at risk. The lawsuit claims the mens lives are in peril due to understaffing and neglect in mississippis prisons. It comes after five prisoners were killed in attacks in the states prisons in one week over the new year. Bbc. Com the us and china have signed a partial trade deal first concrete sign of progress after an 18 month trade war. President trump hosted the chinese vice premier at the white house to put pen to paper. Lets hear the chinese perspective. This is a mutually beneficial and win win agreement. Economic growth and promote world peace and prosperity and is in the interest of
the producers, consumers, investors in both countries. In the deal, china has committed to increase us imports by 200 billion this covers a range of products from farm equipment, to energy and financial services. In return, the us is reducing some of tariffs its put on chinese imports. But lets be clear the us and china still have hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each others goods and weve no idea if and when they may go. Heres President Trump. We will leave the tariffs on and i will agree to take those tariffs are off if we are able to do phase two. Recently, the International Monetary fund warned that tariffs betwen the us and china. Hurting Business Sentiment and confidence globally. Karishma vaswani is the bbcs Asia Business correspondent shes in singapore. What Companies Want most from
beijing and washington, and the uncertainty that is created. Business confidence has fallen and people are holding back on investments in new jobs people are holding back on investments in newjobs because they are not sure because of what happens in the future. So it is possible for now, but it will not make that much of the difference on the ground on this tariffs on both sides come down for good. An important moment to signal that they are making progress the way the journalists describe it. Jonathan lemire is a reporter for the associated press. Tim stratford is a us trade lawyer whos based in china hes a former us trade representative too. Here he is on some of those thorny issues. To what extent should the state be involved in the economy . What extent should companies
receive subsidies . China has found that this approach is helped them in many respects to make great technological and economic advancements, but the United States and other countries feel that this has displaced a lot of other countries. Michelle fleury is at the white house if you questions on this. That figure that china is committed to spending billions of dollars in us imports, was going to make sure they do it . That falls to the us trade representative send this agreement which does include Enforcement Mechanisms and americas lead tree negotiator basically saying that look, thereby 30 days for this trade deal to go into effect. It would ta ke deal to go into effect. It would take a bit of time, but he upset some indication by the spring that at least things appear to be moving in the right direction. If not, and the party has complained can file an appeal, the us of attendance to
respond and if there is a sequence of events that follows, a period where he needs to be addressed in a 45 day period before there has to be a meeting between the chinese premier leader to address these differences, that is something that we have been seeking, a way to halt china from its commitments because they made promises before and have not lived up to them. Donald trump in the white house behind you, he clearly thinks it is significant. But is it really add up or warrant the president s description . But is it really add up or warrant the president s description . M youre a us farmer and this deal bring some sort of relief. There is going to be an exemption or a lifting of some chinese tariffs on us exports and there will be helpful to them. There is no doubt that the
pain will in for some, but not for others come if youre business, youre still going to see tariffs. So, it is certainly uneven, the impact of this. Other services have been seeking structural changes in the steel addresses some of that, whether its concern for intellectual property, access to Chinese Market but it depends on whether or not they both live up to it is in this agreement and does leave some of the big issues that america was seeking. But this did allow President Trump to where the economic flag where he has been trying to campaign for reelection and were seeing impeachment move forward. And another dow jones closed, something that we could have predicted. It will make the Market Reaction its been interesting, times or you would expecte
reaction its been interesting, times or you would expect a positive reaction, you see something more lukewarm. It is existed between these economic giants. They were speculating that when the chinese delegation was in their office, the meeting lasted longer in there was some last minute hitch but the signing went ahead and as planned, there were no last minute changes, but it does speak to this change of the relationship between these two and how that goes forward. The tree tensions with most experts say speak to, do not believe you in here and they believe technology and innovation will be where the battle is as these to try to define who is the economic leader. Authorities in the us are investigating why a passenger plane had to dump fuel that ended up falling over several schools in california. This is the moment the delta airliner dumped the fuel as it
made an Emergency Landing at Los Angeles International airport. At least 60 people, many of them children, were treated for skin irritation and breathing problem. Delta released this statement the federal aviation administration, which is investigating the incident, said there are special fuel dumping procedures, and that heres one of the passengers who was on board the plane. We were just taking off probably two or three minutes, there was a loud pop coming from
right side of the engine and then we leveled off and ifigured right side of the engine and then we leveled off and i figured something was wrong because people, this is over the ocean we were overlooking the area and then we kind of bank did somewhere going over the mountain andi did somewhere going over the mountain and i live right over there, i knew where we were. And then mr going into the flight path and then he goes in the mountains into the sea and it is in this house is in warehouses and buildings malls and there is no free space there and u nfortu nately, and there is no free space there and unfortunately, it just then and there is no free space there and unfortunately, itjust then i looked at one of the flight attendants was actually pretty scared and she had never seen actually pretty scared and she had never seen than 45 years on being on the airlines. A fiendishly complicated day but some people think it is all a part
ofa some people think it is all a part of a move to a Vladimir Putin to hold onto power. Hello. Welcome and the big with the stories elsewhere in the world we start with australia. This was the scene in melbourne on tuesday. The smoke, the poor air quality a big feature. This was wednesday, rain at the australian open. Welcomed and cleared out some of it but some of the pollutants are washing into the reservoirs in the rivers. The weather front responsible brought heavy rain and is working its way to the other parts of the east as we had out. Capital territory northwards, we could some heavy thundershowers but as we run the graphics, welcome to New South Wales and to much of eastern areas. It
does turn dry in melbourne with only a few isolated showers into the weekend but most of the time dry. Sitting though continues to rented the weekend in cambria and melbourne the weekend in cambria and melbourne the water is back as we head towards monday. Warm air to the south mast, to calgary, 3 is the normal high this time of year in calgary and today and tomorrow it will be as high as 30. Bitterly cold and the wind of 40 and there you go, there is the temperatures of finished wednesday afternoon with a high of 20 wednesday afternoon with a high of 20 in miami plus 28 degrees. In tagore that corridor across, it turns even more severe across colombian vancouver, oregon and also
parts of california that will see significant snowfall of the feet of snow for some of the Higher Grounds is that works eastwards to the rest of this week into the rockies. The storms will set up parts of the pla nts storms will set up parts of the plants again. It will turn corridor towards washington in Eastern Canada after a warm spell but it is certainly being called a severe Winter Weather here, seeing a number of avalanches and this is the pressure and that is going to start accumulating more snow we can see well over of snow as we go into thursday and friday. As i did this with the system and wet and windy weather to the uk island with western france and fairly quiet, with mist and fog, temperature still above average across some eastern parts, including western russia. But wet and windy weather sub to come
and things of contract for this week, more on that in half an hour. Hello, im ros atkins, this is outside source. The articles of impeachment against donald trump are being been sent to the senate. Donald trumps trial there next week will be only the third of a us president in history. He will be held accountable. He has been held accountable, he has been impeached. Hes been impeached forever. They can never erase that. The entire russian government stepped down today but not as a challenge to president Vladimir Putin. In fact, its quite the opposite. Our correspondent in moscow will explain. Parts of australia hit by devastating wildfires have had some very welcome rain. But that can bring its own dangers with so much ash from the fires theres a risk to the water supply. And Thomas Markle, the father of meghan, the duchess of sussex, appears willing to testify in her court case. Meghan is suing a british newspaper for publishing a letter she wrote to her father. Democrats in the house of representatives have voted to send the articles to impeach donald trump to the senate for trial. They will be carried over by hand by congressmen and women appointed as impeachement managers by the speaker of the house nancy pelosi. Today senior democrats pressed the case for the senate to move forwards quickly with the trial. Democrats in the house of representatives have voted we couldnt wait because and some people said, let the election take care of it. Hes trying to cheat
in the election. So it is essential that we bring this impeachment to stop the president from trying to rig well, he tried from rigging the next election. The democrats have released some new documents ahead of the trial. But its not clear exactly what impact any new evidence will have given that the senate is republican controlled. Heres the view from jonathan turley, a constitutional law professor who testified as a witness during the impeachment inquiry. Because they effectively closed the record with the earlier vote, all of this is being left to the opposing party in the senate as to whether they want to pursue it. Thats the problem with rushing the impeachment vote. During the hearing, i strongly encourage the democrats to just wait 1 2 months to allow the completion of the record. They insisted they had no time to get the case to the senate, but then they did nothing for a month. And this will be the price that
you pay, because it effectively hands your case to the effect of micro opposing party and says, we really would like to pursue these new leads. We would really like you. Theyre not going to do that. Now it does not appear, however, that there are votes on the republican side to bar all witnesses. Four us senators that are republican have indicated that they mayjoin the democrats in permitting witnesses. But that vote has yet to be taken. The democrats and republicans have been disagreeing over how witness testimony should work in the trial. For more on what we can expect from the process, heres katty kay in washington. So lets get down to this issue of witnesses and documents. Imagine that there is a trial taking place, and suddenly, a witness is produced that says something very compelling, or a document is unearthed that changes the narrative. And what democrats are hoping is that that could happen in the senate, and there could be
some wavering republican senators who look at this document or hear from this witness and say to themselves, my gosh, i didnt think there was any grounds for removing donald trump from office, but actually, you know what . Mike pompeo orjohn bolton, or mick mulvaney, the chief of staff, have just said something that really changes my mind. And that is why the procedure, this whole discussion about witnesses and documents, is so important. Because democrats are thinking that under oath, it may be mike pompeo might Say Something that will swing the votes or minds of certain republican senators. Is it very likely . No. Is there a chance of it happening . Perhaps and thats why democrats are thinking its the best shot theyve got, theyll keep pushing on this issue of witnesses and documents. And given everything that youve said, we are very focused on the process that will kick in next week. How is there wrangling when it appears that Mitch Mcconnell is the man who decides, and the democrats dont necessarily hold that many cards
in deciding how this all works . Well, so the democrats might hold a few cards, and those few cards are four republican senators. It only takes four republican senators to break ranks with Mitch Mcconnell to say, actually, were going to change the rules of this senate trial. We are going to allow those witnesses, and we are going to allow those documents to be presented. And it does look like, on the issue of witnesses, there may be four republicans who are prepared to say to Mitch Mcconnell, you know what . If we go to our electorate, and we are up for reelection, mitch, come november, and we say that we didnt allow any witnesses or documents, we are worried that our electorate will say to us that weve not done ourjob as senator and we will be voted out of office. So it looks like there are now four republican senators who might be prepared to go to the Senate Majority leader and say, ok, we need to allow some witnesses. They may not allow documents, but they may allow some of those witnesses. One other thing, watching from afar, the dominant democratic voices appear to be nancy pelosi and adam schiff. But what about the democratic hopefuls, the people who want to take on donald trump . What do they want to happen in this process . Oh my lord, they probably want this to be over as quickly as possible, because remember we are less than three weeks away from the iowa caucus. We now have three weeks left of campaigning for all those democrats. But those leading democratic contenders include people like senator elizabeth warren, senator bernie sanders, senator amy klobuchar. Those people are going to have to spend the rest of the next couple of weeks stuck here in washington doing theirjob asjurors in this senate trial. And they wont be able to be in iowa, which is where they want to be, in the corn and small villages, asking voters to vote for them. Iowa is a state about retail politics people want to see the candidates in their living rooms and their schoolhouses, and all that kind of thing. And if they dont see them, it is a real blow to those democrats who are also senators and candidates for president , because it leaves the field open
to people likejoe biden, Pete Buttigieg who dont have to their senate duty and come back to washington for this trial. Taking us through american politics. If you think thats complicated, the story will give it a run for its money. Big changes in russia theyre complicated lets go through it. The entire government stepped down today. Thats a manouevre to pave the way for constitutional changes coming in, and these are changes that that could prolong Vladimir Putins time in power. This man Dmitry Medvedev seems to be the immediate loser hes out as Prime Minister. Heres his replacement. Mikhail mishustin started the week as the little known head of russias federal tax service. Now hes Prime Minister no doubt wondering how he got there and how long hell be in thejob. Under russias constitution Vladimir Putin has to step down as president in 2024 having served two terms remember, he also served two terms before, and then came back after a stint as Prime Minister. The consitutional changes appear to take power away from the presidency which could help mr putin when hes not president not that he accepts that analysis. Translation russia must remain a strong, president ial republic. For that reason, the president must, without condition, retain the right the right to set the tasks and priorities of the governments activities, and retain the right to dismiss the Prime Minister, the deputies, and federal ministers in the event of inadequate fulfillment of their duties, or as a result of a loss of trust. One russia expert, sam greene from Kings College london, tweeted. Sarah rainsford is our correspondent in moscow. Here she is trying to unravel what has happened. Certainly it is a very unexpected move. We are reading on telegraph channels and elsewhere hear that the government themselves, the cabinet ministers didnt even know this was coming until some moments before it was announced, that they were all essentially being sacked. But in fact, the cabinet itself will stay in place, theyve been asked to stay in place by president putin until a new cabinet is formed. It is the Prime Minister who is definitely being removed. The president has said he will become the deputy in the Security Council here, but it is not entirely clear that that is a promotion it seems actually that hes being moved out of the way. The big question, really, is why . President putin and the Prime Minister have played Musical Chairs in the past, theyve switched between president and Prime Minister essentially to help president putin keep power. Right at the moment, we are not entirely clear why the Prime Minister is being removed. But perhaps he needs to find a scapegoat thats one possible scenario. He just made his state of the nation address today,
he spoke for an hour and ten minutes orso, and in it, a huge amount of that speech was devoted to the very real problems, economically and socially, there are in russia at the moment. And bear in mind that mr putin has been in powerfor 20 years, one way or another. When hes listing such problems as millions of People Living beneath the poverty level, then youll have people asking whos to blame for that. So perhaps this was mr bruton finding a convenient scapegoat, at last. Mr putin. A lot of people speculated in the past that the Prime Minister would ultimately be sacrificed. But why now, why right now . And there are people sort of linking this, speculating that perhaps it is something to do with these weird constitutional changes that are afoot, that president putin announced today, talking about a renegotiation of the balance of powers in russia, but could see the presidency weakened in the future basically when he has to leave it and the Prime Minister and the government indeed finding
their powers somewhat strengthened. So this could be all about mr putins jockeying for some kind of position in the future when he has to stand down as russias president. But just at the moment, we dont really know. Thunderstorms in parts of south eastern australia are helping to dampen some of the bushfires there. This was melbourne on wednesday afternoon, the rain was torrential at times. And this was melbourne earlier in the day before the rainfall. There was a thick haze of smoke across the skyline. This is one resident. Ive lived in australia for ten years, in melbourne for ten years, and i never saw it like that. Thats the first time ive seen smoke like that. The New South WalesRural Fire Service tweeted this about the rain. When it did prove right, the state of victorias bureau of meteorology tweeted this warning. Forecasters say the rainfall has been hit and miss. The city of avalon recorded 46mm in 30 mins, but sheoaks just 35km away recorded nothing. Severe storms are also expected to hit sydney. And there are concerns about the impact on the Warragamba Dam to the west. Here it is. This dam provides most of sydneys Drinking Water the concern is that harmful ash in the sky will be put into the resevoir by the rain and then contaminate the citys water supply. This guardian article quotes one meteorologist saying the weather change. Forecasters say more rain is expected to fall over New South Wales and victoria on thursday and friday. Stay with us on outside source. Still to come china is promising agreed to buy billions of dollars worth of us farm goods as part of a new trade deal. Well assess if its as big a success as donald trump claims. Motor neurone disease affects the nerves in your brain and spinal cord. Its nearly always fatal, and there is no known cure. Now people with the disease are being invited to take part in Clinical Trials for treatments. Dominic hughes reports. Ruth was an active cyclist when she
was dying noted motor neuron disease two years ago. Is not only affecting her speech, but her ability to walk. But at edinburgh university, there prompted to launch one of the biggest trials ever. Motor neuron disease sees motor democrat muscles stomach so this trial will test new treatments, but also look at drugs already being prescribed for other illnesses. This Research Matters because as it stands, there is currently no effective treatment for motor neuron disease, let alone a cure. But repurchasing existing drugs that are used to treat conditions such as alzheimers disease or even anxiety and depression that opens up new profits test new possibilities. These are medicines which have been shown to be effective in other brain disorders, and because they share conditions where the brain doesnt work properly, we can lay these drugs and see if they work on motor neuron disease. And for patients
like alan, diagnosed three years ago, taking part in the trial offers the chance to contribute towards a better understanding of the disease. I think with having a trial now, we can see something that we can get some hope and strength from stop so i think as participants, we can help move signs forward, thats one thing that we will be learning. For this family, ruth, her husband, scott, and anna, there will be some tough days ahead. But this trial at least offers something positive in the face of a cruel indiscriminate disease. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. Our lead story. The us house of representatives has voted to send impeachment charges against donald trump to the senate, wheres hell stand trial next week. This is the scene there live. Other
main stories from the bbc world service. New footage has emerged which appears to show two missiles being fired at the ukrainian airliner, which was unintentionally shot down by iran a week ago. The New York Times obtained the images they were captured on a Security Camera in tehran and then apparently filmed on a mobile phone. They show a first missile being fired at the plane, which strikes it. About 30 seconds later a second missile is launched, and hits the plane. All 176 people on board were killed when it crashed moments later. Supporters of the government in venezuela have attacked a convoy of opposition politicians outside parliament, preventing them from holding a session there. Opposition leaderjuan guaido moved the meeting elsewhere and accused president Nicolas Maduro of acting like a dictator. Thats from bbc mundo. The rapperjay z is taking legal action against us prison officials on behalf of 29 inmates whose lives he says are at risk. The lawsuit claims the mens lives are in peril due to understaffing and neglect in mississippis prisons. It comes after five prisoners were killed in attacks in the states prisons in one week
over the new year. The us and china have signed a partial trade deal first concrete sign of progress after an 18 month trade war. Donald trump hosted the chinese vice premier at the white house to put pen to paper. Kevin mccarthy is the leading republican in the house of representatives. He says. But is it as big a success as republicans claim . Ive been speaking to dharshini david, the bbcs global trade correspondent. Interesting, isnt it . Id call this not so much tremendous or historic, the words that donald trump likes to use, and much more a cease fire with some minor concessions from both sides. We look at the top lines in all of this, and whats actually going on . China says it will buy more of american farmerss goods, which is good news in the sense that its good for their business narrows that trade deficit that donald trump is so worried about. But the big question is, who will police that and make sure thats actually happening . On the other side of the table, donald trump and the americans have said that theyll actually drop some of those charges, those tariffs on some of those imports from china. Actually, a relatively small amount. If you actually look at the total number of goods bought by americans from china, two out of three items are still subject to various charges or tariffs, and the average level of those tariffs is seven times as high as they were two years ago. So really, what are we looking at here . A minor de escalation, the trade war is anything over by any means. And do you see anything in the statements or this agreement that points to a way of de escalation on the tariffs in the long term, those tariffs that are still in place . Well, theres all sorts
of encouraging noise being made about phase two, as they call it, these talks that donald trump and by the way, its really unusual for a president to show up to sign a bilateral trade deal like this. It is, and to bring yourfamily along, as well, his daughter, ivanka, theyre in the room, his son in law he gave him some credit for the agreements that were actually on the table. You can tell it is an election campaign, cant you . And that really tells you something about what is going on here, the fact that what we are seeing here is a reflection of the fact that the tariffs weve put in place have been damaging the American Economy and the chinese economy, as well. So theres some damage limitation going on here, and perhaps more to the fact that there is an election coming up later in the year. Quite so. For better or worse, he is reshaping us china trading trading relationship, hes reshaped us mexico and us canada trade relations. Do you think he may turn his attention elsewhere . Well, this is the question. He says hes reshaping their relationships, but he hasnt quite got there yet, particularly when it comes to china, which is one of the other Major Economic superpowers that america has to worry about. Much more work to be done there, but what does he do in the meantime . Well, europe thats what people are concerned about now, is europe in the firing line . And we talk about europe, of course, who is sitting down with the americans and thinking about their futures trading relationship . It is the uk. What is a post brexit relationship going to look like . Because of course, the brits are hoping what we will see here is a deal that is advantageous to british workers, to profits, and also to maintain standards when it comes to foodstuffs. But what all the sides are getting out of here is this isnt a president who likes doing deals where he can seize quite a lot of ground. They may find it harder than think. We will finish the programme talking about Meghan Markles father, thomas. Meghan markles father, Thomas Markle, appears he would be prepared to give evidence in a case between meghan and the mail on sunday newspaper. Meghans half sister samantha who told the bbc if he is called, he will come. And if the case goes to court thats a very likely outcome. This was the headline in the daily mail markle vs markle meghans father is set to be star witness in high court showdown. At the centre of the case is a private letter between meghan and her father which the mail on sunday published. Meghan accuses the paper of misusing her private information, breaching copyright and selective editing. Heres the media lawyer Mark Stephens explaining that legal argument. The letter was received by Thomas Markle who had no right to either reproduce it himself or let someone else do it. But the story doesnt stop there, because the privacy allegation which is being made by meghan in this particular case is that there was also an invasion of her privacy by the revelation of this letter, and the information about their personal relationship. And effectively, Thomas Markle, and therefore, the mail on sundays defence is that because it is alleged that meghan and her team were out briefing
against Thomas Markle, he had a right of reply, a right to defend himself, and a right to put the record straight. And it is much less clear that she wins that cleanly or at all. The mail on sunday claims there was a huge and legitimate Public Interest in the story. Documents submitted to the high court reveal the defence plans to use Text Messages sent from Thomas Markle to his daughter. Meghan and prince harry are not the first royals to launch a case against the media. In 2017, the duke and duchess of cambridge were awarded £92,000 in damages after french magazine closer printed topless pictures of the duchess. Much further back in 1995 Princess Diana took the mirror Group Newspapers to court over a series of gym photos that was settled out of court. Lets hear from Mark Stephens again. He argues meghan should consider settling, too. Youre going to leave the country, you dont need this residue,
you dont need to fly back in a years time to give evidence. Its going to be a bum fight, it will be painful for a few months, but at least you can get out clean. You really dont want to go down this particular road. Whoever is advising them is frankly not doing them any service whatsoever. And i think it is important to note that the queens solicitor started off dealing with this case, and is no longer dealing with this case. Meghan has not spoken publicly about the court case. But she has made herfirst public outing since announcing her and harry will scale back their royal duties. But we do have this picture of her in vancouver, time will only tell whether the duchess does decide to continue with that court case. The royal correspondent for the sunday times has this analysis. We have seen this story dominate
the headlines since it broke last wednesday, when harry and meghan made that statement. But i think Thomas Markle possibly being called to give evidence against his own daughter, with all the details in the background, and all the emotion surrounding the wedding and the fallout since would be absolutely toxic for the royal family. Its probably not too late to stop it, but obviously, you know, theres documents that the mail on sunday have forwarded, showing that they have a strong defence. It was a very aggressive move by harry and meghan they hired different lawyers than the family normally used, and they felt they have a strong case. But the mail on sunday have put up a very, very strong defence. So at the moment, it feels like neither side are backing down, but lets see where we get to. I cannot imagine that everything will not be being done to avoid that case going to court, as far as the royal family are concerned. The articles of impeachment againt donald trump are going to be walked over from the house to the senate, very shortly. We expect that trial of donald trump to happen next week. Thanks for watching. Hello there. For many, wednesday offered the chance to draw breath after what has been a stormy start to the week. Many places, once the cloud had cleared, got to see some sunshine with plenty of blue sky on offer. But it is all changing again as we head into thursday, another area of low pressure sending wet and windy conditions our way. Once that clears through, things start to quiet down a little as we head towards the weekend. Looks as though Northern Ireland and western scotland start off the day with some rain. The wind strengthening, gills expected for irish seacoast and western scotland in the when windy weather transfers eastwards as the day goes on. Behind it is Northern Ireland, which would brighten up with one or two showers and ahead of it
with east anglia down towards the far southeast and dry towards daylight hours. Temperature wise, it may not feel mild with the wind, but the temperatures are above average for the time of year. A band of rain clearing eastwards during thursday night. The winds started to ease down too. We are still under the influence of low pressure and closest to that area of low pressure across northern scotland, it will still be a windy day. But elsewhere, the winds will be a bit later. Lighter. Its a clearing up day. There will be some showers around, particularly for the southern half of the uk, which could be lively but they will tend to fade as the day goes on. Many places going to see some sunshine and this temperature is just a little down on thursday. So heres the game changer. An area of High Pressure that is going to billiton as we head towards the weekend, helping to settle things down. Very different feel to our weather as we head into the weekend. Drier for many places, later winds too, but he could see the return of some frosty, foggy mornings. So, for saturday, we still have a northwesterly feed feeding
in a few showers across parts of northern scotland and a little more cloud. Elsewhere, a trend looking day with plenty of sunshine around and later winds. Temperatures little down from where we have seen recently, but given the sunshine, it should feel fairly pleasant. An area of High Pressure becomes more established as we had the sunday and that stretching further north. Head into sunday. A different feel to the weather across scotland on sunday, lighter winds in the, greater chance of seeing some sunshine and a mostly trade much quieter picture than what we have become used to recently. Temperature wise, it will feel a little cooler, a little fresher in some spots, but we will have some sunshine around. And then as we head to next week, our area of High Pressure hangs around may drift a little further southwards, which will a little bit more of the south westerly feed to affect parts of scotland. So here we will see a bit more cloud, one or two showers too and elsewhere, a good deal of sunshine, dry and mist and fog around in one
or two spots and a bit of a difference in temperatures and be at that south westerly feed with temperatures reaching 11 celsius in the far north of scotland. Elsewhere, mid to high single figures. A bit of uncertainty is the end of next week, heres herjet stream sending to the north of the uk. Our area of High Pressure drifts a little further southwards and the timing of that uncertain at the moment, but it does look as though after a quiet start to the week, where it is largely dry and the winds are light, we will gradually start to see more unsettled conditions move in so it will look as though it will turn wetter and windier as we head through next week. Tonight at ten, official confirmation that the world has experienced its hottest decade since records began. As australia deals with its own extreme problems, new figures also show that 2019 was the second warmest year on record. Experts are warning that unless urgent action is taken, the rate of Global Warming is set to increase with drastic effects on our lives. Its going to impact on food supply and food security. Its going to impact on infrastructure. So we talk about Critical Infrastructure, the impact