Killed more than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS outbreak of 2003 this after 89 more deaths in mainland China on Saturday brought the global death toll to more than 80774 people were killed by SARS it was the deadliest day yet for the corona virus which originated in the central Chinese city of wool hon and has continued to spread rapidly there have been more than 37000 cases of the virus globally mostly in China foreign nationals arriving in the United Kingdom from China who are being quarantined before they can resume their normal lives the always Tommy McNeil has more Britain's final evacuation flight from the Chinese city of Ohio on the epicenter of a corona virus outbreak landed at a Royal Air Force base in central England on Sunday the British government said in a statement that the plane had more than 200 people on board including non British nationals the passengers also included staff who facilitated the flight as well as medics will be housed at a conference center for 14 days of quarantine Tommy McNeil v.o.a. News Dr Michael Ryan head of the World Health Organization's health emergencies Response Program says he understands the quarantines can be uncomfortable but they help ensure the coronavirus doesn't spread we're also working to ensure that those individuals who are left of the ships are able to get all as quickly as possible and just ensure the protocols and the algorithms can work and we don't end up with an unfortunate consequence of people having to stay too long in that situation for more on this and other stories you can visit our website at v.o.a. News dot com This is via way news. With the spread of the corona virus has been rapid at while the spread of the current a virus has been rapid Africa has yet to be hit but there are preparations underway to deal with it if it comes recession line has more from Geneva this is of little comfort to w.h.o. Regional director for Africa much she does so moiety she tells v.o.a. Watching the virus reach other continents around the world is of great concern and we had. Quite significant travel of people from China to Africa and back more 80 says her team has begun working with member states to help them get ready for the possible onset of the coronavirus she says w.h.o. Is providing overall guidance to ministers of health on how to manage possible cases and prevent further spread of the disease that was Lisa reporting for v.o.a. In Geneva security forces in northeastern Thailand say the Thai soldier who killed at least 26 people in a shooting rampage in a shopping mall and wounded dozens more was killed by Thai Armed Forces 8 hostages were also rescued the 31 year old shooter was angry over a financial dispute the prime minister of Thailand addressed the media. It was a personal conflict over an. Issue with money and fought for 3 days nobody expected it to turn violent. After a Friday night debate the Democratic presidential candidates have been making their push in New Hampshire correspondent Ben Thomas reports. 'd feel how close we are feeling within our bare feet would a judge and Bernie Sanders emerge from Iowa in a dead heat our ideas all the ideas of what little class of this country believe Joe by. It is taking aim at both saying Sanders will drag other Democratic candidates down every Democrat will have to carry the label that Senator Sanders has chosen for himself but may he's chosen democratic socialist Elizabeth Warren says candidates need to get away from big dollar donors the only way we're going to make this better is we use this Democratic primary to build a grassroots movement while any club or Star says she can unite and win getting away from the extremes and the noise and the nonsense in our politics on Ben Thomas u.s. Secretary of state might pay 0 is warning American governors from across the country of the risks of doing business with China saying competition with China is happening on a federal state and local level and has consequences for u.s. Foreign policy and national security This is Laurel Berman or v.o.a. News. From Washington feel a sense issues in the news. Welcome to issues in the news on the panel this week Linda Feldman Washington bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor Tom De Frank contributing editor to The National Journal and our moderator Michael Williams Peter from c.b.s. Radio in Washington. Welcome everyone here are the issues the impeachment trial of u.s. President Donald Trump concluded with the u.s. Senate voting not guilty on both counts ending a process that highlighted the deep political divides in the government and in the populace on the day before his acquittal President Trump gave his annual State of the Union Address delivering a speech that at times seemed more like a campaign rally but the night will likely be remembered as much for the tense interactions but. When Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on that night and in the days that followed and the 2020 presidential race got off to a rocky official start as the Iowa caucuses produced results that were delayed for days and produce results that were contested by virtually every candidate but the candidates had no time to catch their breath with the New Hampshire primary looming just days away Palace Welcome to day even as we sit here and for the last 3 years we've used so many times I know I have an extraordinary week in politics this is with a capital I think it's just one for the for the history books for the record books both positively and negatively I can say but start with the acquittal the trial ended virtually as everyone would thought with the acquittal on both counts the votes were clearly not there from for the beginning for conviction and certainly with the Senate choosing not to hear witnesses new witnesses and not to introduce new documents into the process it made that acquittal all but a certainty but despite the lack of drama it seemed that it did produce some moments of drama and of history you know I'll start with you acquittal no surprise correct correct he needed to be convicted we would have had to have 2 thirds of the Senate that $67.00 senators and with Republicans already having a majority it was impossible but we thought it was going to sail right into acquittal with nothing all that interesting but surprise Mitt Romney a senator from Utah and the Republican Party's 2012 nominee for president decided to vote convict he gave a very moving speech from the Senate floor cited his deep religious faith he's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and he just felt that he had to do what he had to do it was a vote of conscience thus Donald Trump's perhaps perfect week was ruined but he denied to be a full party acquittals. Reanimate is good all the it saw and at some point the Republicans were even looking for Democrats that might have crossed over in states that had voted heavily for Trump in the last presidential election West Virginia Doug Jones of Alabama Joe Mansion Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia among them Romney's vote again he voted to acquit on one on one count which was the abuse of power and not for a not for obstruction of Congress you've seen the things before how extraordinary was that vote it's an extraordinary were the capital he underscored an exclamation point because there's not a lot of profiles in courage in this town anymore and it's become even more difficult in the in the Trump era because President Trump has a cadre of very loyal and very passionate followers and he has made it clear that if Republicans cross him they can be prepared to suffer the consequences I think part of the Republican vote in the Senate was some of it was principled some senators just didn't think what he did rose to the level of an impeachable offense but what I heard and others have been hearing for months is that Republican senators are afraid of him Trump wheels power and he has made it clear you stick with me or you pay a price and I thought it was not at all a coincidence that within minutes of Senator Romney voting to convict on one of the counts Donald Trump Jr put out a tweet saying Romney is not just a failed presidential candidate he should be expelled from the Republican Party and there's been more invective that's even a little more bitter involved or than that coming from various parts of the truck so there's no there's a Romney is what he described as a principled decision was also a gutsy decision because he will pay a price now that they're not going to recall I am Utah is not going to recall Amy is not going to be expelled from the Republican caucus but he's going to be messed up he's going to he's going to do some software. And I think he's pretty bulletproof but like I understand it going to change for him I mean it definitely is it's not going to be the same that he was before I don't think I don't think Romney is going to be be looking for to see a lot of White House imitation just sort of mildly to put it mildly and be yeah no I mean the only question that it raises for me is I mean I think Mitt Romney is 72 years old I don't think he's ever planning on running for president again but is whether he can still be an effective representative of Utah in Donald Trump's permanent doghouse forget about White House invitations I mean can he aside from just voting what what other power does he have so the interesting thing about Utah is that they don't love Donald Trump and it is a very deeply Republican state but because of its predominance of the of the Mormon faith in that state and a lot of Mormons are not wild about Donald Trump for religious reasons they don't like his right this matters it matters of care of the morality question morale is large for them and so Donald Trump is while they popular and I think that gives Romney some kind of cushion and you know it's interesting to me that when House lead manager Adam Schiff had mentioned during some of his comments that he had heard reports that Republicans who dared to cross the line and vote against Trump in any way would face their quote unquote head on a pike you know they would face retribution certain senators took offense to that and immediately after Romney crossed the line his proverbial head was on a pike so it seems as though all of that kind of came true let's go back to the case itself because as we say the the acquittal was all but done deal based on the votes that were there and certainly was not going to happen without any body like John Bolton former national security adviser John Bolton whose book is still looming out there on the horizon and his information that he has about what on in the room apparently passable Loney the White House counsel one of the attorneys for the president was. In the room when these plans are being made to make deals with Ukraine in exchange for campaign favors the Democrats didn't prove their case to the Senate but they did they prove their case to the people that matter which which are the voters because ultimately the how this is going to come down to the voters today prove their case convincingly to the voters well going into the before the votes were taken public opinion polls show that about 70 to 72 percent of the American people wanted the Senate to call witnesses and to provide and then to have consider new documents and it was almost $5050.00 split among the American people about whether Trump should be convicted and removed from office I mean it was like a 52 to 48 range and so the country was is polarizes on impeachment and I and conviction is it is on just about everything else so I think you could say they probably probably made the case to half the country and half the country that didn't think they made the case or from voters so we think that middle minds were changed it really didn't move anybody all right but I think there's a key Another key aspect here and that is Donald Trump's job approval rating did go up he got a little impeachment belts so it's similar to Bill Clinton back in 1990 when he was impeached and his job approval soared to 70 percent I mean Donald Trump is locked into a pretty steady job approval but he did get to 49 percent in the Gallup poll and it will be that this is my level it will be actually to see whether his take no prisoners performance in the east room towards the end of the week will will cause those numbers to flow back down Russian No we're coming to here when we are getting to that in a moment but before we leave the subject of the of the trial so you had House oversight to the extent that they were able to do it you had the case brought before the Senate and now you have not guilty verdict on 2 on 2 counts what is the future of oversight with the rest of this presidency to the investigations aren't ending that the die. Macross are likely to call John Bolton to testify and the Republicans in the Senate say they're going to call go after witnesses they want to they want to go after the whistleblower the person who launched this whole thing and reported the call that Trump had with the president of Ukraine so this isn't over at all we're just we're just you know went away we're just starting we're almost out of like an investigative branch of government right it's like a nonstop investigation nonstop investigations and with Nancy Pelosi holding the power to do that in the house you have Mitch McConnell the House Senate majority leader being able to do the same thing and you have a very very very active Trump supporter Lindsey Graham who is ready to call all kinds of hearings and call for all kinds of information it does like this is getting ready to be a political food fight and there's no doubt about it Michael ironically everybody seems energized here the House Democrats the Senate Republicans the Trump White House they're all going to keep this going I mean there's no you get a feeling there's no lessons learned from anybody it's funny that you used that term because several of the senators who chose to vote not guilty had said that they felt Lamar Alexander one Susan Collins I think was another one who said that they felt that Donald Trump from this would learn a lesson that you have the last word what lessons were learned Well I'm not sure any lessons were learned and Susan Collins she said she believed that he might modify his behavior and then the next day she walked that back she's a senator from Maine in a tough reelection fight she walked it back and said Well that was aspirational on her part that she hopes he's learned a lesson but I think nobody else is even going as far as she is yeah on hope and change was Obama's and I don't know that would carry over to this administration we're going to take a break and we'll be back with more issues in the news issues in the news is coming to you from the Voice of America in Washington and if you would like to download the program it's free on i Tunes Just click on the i Tunes tab on our website that's below a knees dot com. While you're there check out our other programs Press Conference USA and encounter also visit us on Facebook and leave a comment or 2 then like us at current affairs with Carol cast Yele Now back to our panel Linda Feldmann Washington bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor Tom De Frank contributing editor to The National Journal and our moderator Michael Williams contributor to c.b.s. Radio in Washington. Welcome back again a remarkable week produced a remarkable exchange of statements and speeches between Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi It began with I would say generously the most peculiar state of the Union that I've ever seen then a speech given by the president at a net National Prayer Breakfast in Washington d.c. It's sort of the prayer lobby in a way of call it that meets annually were Trump lashed out at his enemies real and perceived particularly Palosi and Senator Romney Palosi responded with some scathing criticism of her own at her weekly press conference calling the State of the Union a manifesto of lies and suggesting that the president might have been sedated somehow during this week and finally the president took a victory lap in the East Room of the White House and gave a profanity laced tirade that was heavy with both accusations and warnings of retribution quite frankly a time I'll start with you were to start they state of the Union you pick a place well the state of the Union I think I've never heard a state of the Union quite like that now it was really a campaign rally but it was it was more Schober than a campaign rally but he basically was ticking off all the good things he and his administration has been he reiterated all of his main campaign pledges and he basically said more of the same it was a little more measured only because he didn't do a lot of name calling there his he reserve that for 2 days later. But it was a strong a powerful hand and oftentimes times belligerent state of the Union whatever it was it was not a let's come together bind up the nation's wars and this was not a healing speech this was were coming after his speech and I think that he set the tone for what we've all heard in campaign rallies and I think we're going to this is going to be the tone for the next 9 months until the election yeah I mean it was literally given to one half of the room the president turned his body and faced the Democrats only to emphasize a point once it was given or to acknowledge the applause that was coming from the Republican side of the room and then there was this sense of these guests being invited which started with President Reagan I believe right and has now escalated to the point where I think that is pretty much what defined this one with people giving good but give me given awards and scholarships I mean your thoughts on that right it was it was a look at who it was it well it was it was a made for t.v. Many made for t.v. Moments conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who's just been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer was awarded on the spot the Medal of Freedom the highest civilian honor you can get in the United States you know on both sides actually it isn't wasn't just tromp and it wasn't just Republican actions designed to create moments that the Democrats went Trump in one of his few moments calling for bipartisanship he called for action on health care no surprise billing and lower drug prices and that immediately summoned Democrats to start tackling him I've never seen that and gesturing that this was planned it was h r h r 3 which is legislation has already been passed in the house to lower drug prices and I think the larger point is that we're starting to see Democrats and Gage and Trump in actions stunts and the question is whether that whether that's a good idea are they all getting down into the muck and then there was the most famous moment. And it's a policy took the per printed copy of the speech and ripped it in half on t.v. Right after the speech it ended and thus the Democrats are in the muck with Donald Trump Yeah they are and even before that when a lot of people did not notice that the speaker chose not to give the traditional the traditional recognition of the president when introducing him saying it's my high honor and distinct privilege it was just simply the president of the United States and this after he had snubbed her for handwriting she well we don't know we don't know it he appeared to snub her she extended her hand and then he turned away we don't know that he didn't that he saw her hand and rejected it but very true this is what things are to be right and again but appearances count for everything right and as you say it was a made for television show and now the Democrats have decided to to participate at the prayer breakfast the president commented on Nancy Pelosi and Mitt Romney accusing them of being essentially hypocrites in their faith