collects the senate's republican leaders laying down the rules for president trump's trial. democrats are calling it a cover-up. this is al jazeera, live from doha. also coming up on the program. people killed and many more wounded d as antigoverernment protests intensified. humanconfirms human to transmisission of a new viral outbreak, meanining it coululd spread f further faster. hundreds of migrants crossed

through guatemala into mexico on a desperate journey to the united states. in the united states, mitch mcconnell has announced the rules that will govern president donald trump's impeachment trial. they are designed to end proceedings as quickly as possible his defense calling the case against him flimsy. the articles of impeachment accuse the president of abusing his power and obstruction of congress. the trial is scheduled to start tuesday. let us go live to washington dc. what more do we know? correspondent: the trial begins tuesday with discussion of this resolution we have just got hold of from mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader. we have heard for some time the republicans wanted to get this over and done with by the time of the state of the union

address, president trump's address to congress on february 4. this is an immensely quick schedule proposed, likely to pass, by mitch mcconnell. the house managers who want to impeach donald trump and the white house lawyers will get 24 hours in total to make their cases. how those 24 hours will be days, they on two have two session days to make their cases. they have 24 hours to make that case. conceivably, the democrats would begin their case wednesday afternoon. they could go up to 12 hours. or even longer. . therepublicans -- or rather white house lawyers would make their case friday and saturday. opening arguments would be done by the end of this week. chuck schumer, the minority leader, is saying this is

ridiculous, this is way too quick. bill clinton had 24 hours over four days, not two days. this is a very expedited schedule. we understand the democrats will introduce various motions tuesday to try to amend this. it is unlikely they will get very far. we should add bill clinton's lawyers did not use up all their time. even though there is a worst-case scenario that everyone will still be talking at three or 4:00 in the morning, given that this process is for public consumption, you wonder whether the democrats will bother with that. what is the point trying to make the case to the public, given that the republican dominated senate is lightly to acquit? -- likely to acquit? anyway. both sides have 24 hours over two days to make their case. that is then followed by 16 hours of cross-examination.

that is done by written questions given to the chief justice presiding over this. he will then ask the house managers and the white house lawyers questions. that goes on for 16 hours. then there will be a debate of four hours on whether to introduce witnesses and documents, something democrats hope to do. then there will be an up or down vote on whether to do so. a simple majority vote on whether to introduce witnesses and documents. witnesses willd be allowed, each witness will be deposed. that deposition will be considered by senators. they will vote upon whether to hear from the witness at the trial. those are the broad outlines of what we are hearing. certainly, one thing, mcconnell is likely to get the votes tuesday. it is almost certain. all the opening arguments will be concluded by the end of this week before we get into

cross-examination next week. >> looking from the outside, it is a conflict process. this issue of witnesses. one would have thought due process would require witnesses to be present. why is there debate about this? correspondent: well, the question i suppose is have the cases been made? the white house does not want witnesses. they want this done as quickly as possible. they certainly do not want the key witness the democrats are hoping to hear from, john bolton, who has referred to what donald trump and rudy giuliani were up to with the ukrainians as a drug deal. they want him to testify. this is presumably -- we presume they don't want john bolton to testify. he is someone you cannot really predict he's going to do. they do not want that. the democrats say, this is a trial, we should hear witnesses. since house proceedings

occurred, more evidence has come to light. parnas, for example, the ukrainian businessman who was a close associate of rudy giuliani. that is the issue, here. we are hearing, though, that even though the white house has a very confident front, they are making contingency plans if the votes are done -- only four for publicans have to vote with democrats. in swingur republicans districts who want to be seen to be taking this impeachment process seriously say, you know what? we should hear from john bolton or lev parnas. we are seeing machinations, the washington post reporting the white house suggesting, maybe we can get john bolton to testify in private because of confidential information he may have. there are plans underway from the white house and what to do if witnesses are called.

there are indications of some republicans want to be seen to be interested in witnesses so they can convince their constituents that they are taking the process seriously even if they vote to acquit. how things will turn out. thank you. union foreign ministers have agreed to look for ways to support a cease-fire in libya, but only if a truce holds. it could include monitoring mission and a naval operation to uphold the u.n. arms embargo. correspondent: the future of the shoppers at a market in tripoli is being discussed thousands of kilometers away in europe. the foreign ministers are trying to work out how to secure a shaky truce that has been in place in libya since earlier this month. cease-fire.t in a we are in a truce. which is unstable. a truce can be violated several

times a day. correspondent: on sunday in berlin, world leaders committed embargo thateapons has been in place between -- since 2011. but the talks failed to deliver serious. dialogue between warring parties. . haftar and government in tripoli. >> there is no military solution to the crisis, despite the fact haftar and his forces do not believe in democracy or political process. we hope his supporters have also come to this conclusion and would recalculate their moves to revive this political process. haftar has been battling to take over the capital since april. fighting has killed close to 300 civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands more. this civil war is also a proxy

conflict. each site has several powerful international backers. analysts say europe is trying to prove it is still relevant and united. european ambassadors have been given four weeks to present proposals on how to implement the u.n. arms embargo which has been repeatedly violated by both sides. >> libya is a kind of tumor which is growing throughout the region, it is spreading. correspondent: despite diplomatic efforts, khalifa haftar's forces continue to blockade oil ports,. cutting output to almost. zero. is libya's largest export and a financial lifeline for the government in tripoli. >> oil itself is vital in terms of supplying power stations, hospitals, and other key facilities that libyan citizens use daily. inxpect deterioration

humanitarian terms in libya in addition to what we have seen throughout the 10 months of grueling war. correspondent: the u.n. is inviting top generals to geneva next week in get another effort to end unrest. >> tunisia's president has chosen a former and its minister to be the next prime minister. he now has a month to form a coalition government, needs to gain the approval of a hung parliament. a previous nominee was rejected earlier this month. if he fails to win backing, there will be another election. antigovernment protests have escalated again in baghdad and .everal other iraqi cities five dumbest raters and two security officers have been killed. in southern iraq, hundreds blocked main roads and 500 people have died since protests began in october. correspondent: in one of the main squares in central baghdad,

police and protesters confronted each other. it began monday as protesters tried to block the road leading to the square. they want a change of government and accuse the current one of corruption a call has gone out to block main roads and major highways, cutting off access. ammunitionlive and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, but a standoff ensued, lasting several hours. angry iraqis are determined to get their message across. >> the ideas not just blocking the roads. people are frustrated so we are making noise to ensure we are heard. >> for months, no one has listened to our demands. they are killing us. it is just bloodshed. 18 wheelers have been ferrying teargas victims to hospitals. >> i went to tayaran square in baghdad. i was attacked by teargas.

security forces have been using teargas and live ammunition. iraq's national security council has authorized the arrest of protesters, but that has had little impact on the movement. there was the same level of -- there was not the same level of violence in other places. the roadblocks in the south, protesters considered a success. the question for the protest movement is, where do you go from here? once you have started cutting off the south from the rest of the country, where do you escalate? demands are not being listened to. that is angering the protest movement. it remains to be seen whether the blockade of the roads is going to work and whether the government will listen as a result. >> three rockets have landed inside the iraqi capital's green zone. two fell near the u.s. embassy. no casualties have been reported. it is not known who fired them.

a grenade has exploded at a wedding in sudan, killing seven people, including three children . it happened as crowds gathered in the capital of khartoum. witnesses say the grenade was being carried by a soldier, but there was no sign it was the liberally detonated -- deliberately detonated. the spread of a new virus appears to be spreading. south korea has been the latest country to confirm a case of coronavirus, which originated in china. patient numbers have tripled and three people have died since it was fit for -- first detected in the chinese city of wuhan. correspondent: staff at wuhan hospital are working around the clock to identify a mystery virus linked to sars. three people have died and a number of those confirmed to have the virus is growing. officials say the outbreak is under control.

all the cases have been admitted to a designated hospital. we have resources to treat the patients in one place. correspondent: the virus, which causes pneumonia-like symptoms, originated in a wuhan meat market. cases have been confirmed in shenzhen and found in thailand and south korea. this marks the official beginning of china's busiest travel season. hundreds of millions are using public transit ahead of new year's celebrations. incks are being conducted railway stations and airports. people here are looking for the government to do more to keep them safe. >> i don't think the government is doing enough. i am just not hearing details about it. i do not think they will give us the true number of those infected. i am worried, and that is why i wear a mask and i am out. correspondent: others say they

trust the government's handling of the virus. >> i believe the government will give a fast and accurate information. i think they are more worried than the public. they will have to figure out how to deal with it, so i'm not worried. correspondent: the outbreak is bringing back memories of the sars outbreak which killed almost 800 people worldwide and left more than 8006. sick.0 british researchers say there could be as many as 1700 cases. the world health organization has sent a research team to wuhan. >> to analyze the extent of human to human transmission,. we need more information. . this is a new disease. there are so many things we don't know. correspondent: videos are circulating of passengers being tested on flights from wuhan. the government has appealed to the public to remain calm.

people were arrested for spreading rumors online, but preventing the spread of the virus may not be as straightforward as controlling the spread of information. jazeera,ahead on al why a gun rights rally in virginia him to the government to declare an emergency. follow the me as we senegalese navy special forces patrolling their territorial waters to fend off the threat of piracy. ♪ >> we have got wintry weather making its way across northern parts of japan, clearing out of the way. hokkaido.t of elsewhere, largely dry.

11 celsius for tokyo and osaka. in beijing, but lots of sunshine here. central parts of china, we are going to see the main weather activity as we go into wednesday. this area of rain thickening up, becoming quite intense at times. heavy rain pushing toward shanghai, but you can see japan is largely dry. southern parts of china also largely dry. a lot of dry weather into southeastt asia. the philippines largely fair over the next couple of days. a rash of showers. more heat of the day showers into a good part of or neo--- borneo. maybe sections of sumatra seeing heavy rain pushing towards joppa -- java as well. also sunshine into india at the moment. clouds across the northern parts. a little rain into the northern plains on tuesday. showers for sri lanka.

♪ >> you are watching al jazeera. leadernate republican mitch mcconnell has proposed rules for president donald trump's impeachment trial. democrats say they will offer amendments. antigovernment protests have escalated in iraq as a deadline set by demonstrators has passed. five demonstrators and two security forces have been killed. hundreds blocked main roads in a number of cities. the world health organization has called for an emergency meeting to investigate a coronavirus outbreak in china. the number of people infected has been tripled to more than

200. experts have confirmed human transmission. hundreds of migrants from central america have forced their way into mexico by wading through a river at the southern border. they have been stopped from crossing a bridge connecting guatemala to mexico. met people under mounting pressure to stop people from reaching the u.s. border. donald trump is threatening sanctions if they do. on the mexican border, most people don't want to stay in central america. correspondent: we have spent most of our time here with a family with a few young children as they try to work out how they were going to get into mexico. they wanted to get here for asylum. some of the hondurans have similar stories. trying to flee poverty. everyone is on the bridge between guatemala and ciudad

hidalgo in south mexico. there has been a petition to the mexican government to allow this movement. the mexican government said that would be possible. everyone basically ran off the bridge to the river. knee-deep. everyone waited through that river and came upon the mexican side where the national guard, mexico's militarized police force, awaited them. >> mike pompeo has promised more support to juan guaido. insightmet at an terrorism summit in columbia. pompeo called on world leaders to remove nicolas maduro from power, describing his role as a terror regime. several countries including the united states recognize juan guaido as venezuela's leader. correspondent: the issue of venezuela was front and center

in this regional conference against terrorism where the u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo accused venezuela of being a failed state and a supporter of terrorism. they are saying the government of nicolas maduro is sheltering as assisting groups dissidents from the former rebel group -- also accusing maduro of hezbollah,ells of iranian proxies operating in south america. that is why he prays to governments such as columbia and a number of governments in the caribbean and latin america have lah aed to label hezbol terrorist organization. >> me know the iranian regime's top terrorist proxy has found a home in venezuela under maduro

and that this is unacceptable. correspondent: one surprise was the arrival of juan guaido, the leader of the venezuelan opposition, who arrived in columbia, defining a travel ban imposed by the government of nicolas maduro. he met with pompeo on the sidelines of the conference. talking to journalists, he announced there will be new actions taken by the united states to put more pressure on the government of nicolas maduro , but no concrete sanctions have been announced. towe undertook this tour take action against the dictatorship and to continue backing the years long struggle of the venezuelan people. correspondent: he also announced that on wednesday he will travel to brussels to meet with the chief diplomat of the european union and will then travel to

davos in switzerland for the world economic forum, where he could meet with the united states president donald trump. the question is, if this trip will do anything to break the deadlock in venezuela, where the military still stands behind president maduro and where maduro himself seems to stand on firmer ground than where he was a year ago, the last time juan guaido tried to ramp up pressure against him. activists have rally in the u.s. state of virginia opposing planes to introduce new gun control laws there, including universal background checks. thousands of gun owners surrounding the state capital in protest against new gun control laws. it is legal to own and carry weapons in public in virginia, and most did in order to show defiance to a package of new gun control laws working their way

through the democratic-controlled legislature. >> we came to support these folks and talk to people and find out what's going on with them. correspondent: the rally was held amid heavy security. the governor banned weapons inside the capitol grounds and called a state of emergency, wanting to avoid a replay of this. 2017 white a nationalists rally in charlottesville that killed one person. gun violence has hit close to home in the state recently. beach, a in virginia disgruntled city employee shot and killed 12 people. monday's rally were eager to give off the impression they were peaceful, law-abiding gun owners. armed.yone is probably i have not heard one shot. have you? thank goodness. i have not heard one shot. guns are not the problem. correspondent: there were

worries of potential violence. of outsiders, antigovernment militia groups trying to stoke violence here at this rally. we have seen absolutely none of that so far. it has been a completely peaceful event here. large numbers of people, all of whom say they are out here with their guns to show this is their right and they want to keep that right. gun owners like bill gardner, who bought his -- brought his assault rifle to the rally, a gun he says he does not use for hunting. >> talking about, what do you need a rifle for? killing animals? it is nothing to do with that. it is a check on government. correspondent: gun-control advocates canceled their plans for a counter rally to avoid provoking confrontations. this was a day for those who love their guns to show that they are holding onto them tight and do not plan to let go.

>> the organization has launched a complaint with the european union against the netherlands, claiming the dutch government ailed to protect men in massacre in bosnia. he dutch supreme court upheld a ruling the government was responsible. more than 8000 muslim men and boys were killed. a seating area collapsed during a religious festival in ethiopia during the ethiopian epiphany celebration. hundreds of people were sitting in the wooden structure when it collapsed. more than a million attend the ceremony every year. world's -- are taking place in one area, the gulf of guinea.

west african navy chiefs are meeting in senegal to find a solution. correspondent: senegal special forces on patrol on newly purchased boats. it is a training exercise, but the threats are real. more hijackings take place in the gulf of guinea than any other place in the world. >> pirates operating here are looking for sailors to kidnap, merchant ships to hijack. the only way to stop this is to probe -- patrol are territories. correspondent: huge reserves of oil and gas were discovered in waters senegal shares with mauritania. a trillion cubic feet of gas. then navy fears once it starts to flow, wealth could come under attack