- PoliticsYahoo News
As defense opens, Trump attorneys accuse Democrats of 'blind drive' to impeachment
Attorneys for President Trump opened their defense in his Senate impeachment trial Saturday morning by charging that the case presented by House Democrats was full of “bluster and innuendo,” and that “devastating evidence” would lead to the inevitable conclusion that the two articles of impeachment now being considered have no merit. “The president did absolutely nothing wrong,” said White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is leading Trump's defense. The other key point, made by Cipollone and others, was that Trump acted “in our national interest” by withholding $250 million in military aid from Ukraine for several months in the spring and summer of 2019.
- U.S.The Independent
Robert Koehler: Serial ‘pillowcase rapist’ suspect was building a ‘dungeon’ before arrest
Prosecutors in Florida believe a 60-year-old man building a “dungeon” under his home is the so-called pillowcase rapist, who authorities say broke into women's houses and concealed his face with pillows and towels in as many as 40 assaults in the state since the 1980s. Robert Koehler was arrested on 18 January after authorities say they tied his DNA to samples collected from a 1983 case. Authorities were able to link Koehler to at least 25 cases, although they believe there are other matches to follow, as investigators begin to dive into Koehler's history in the state.
- BusinessBloomberg
Canada ‘Will Not Stop’ Until It Has Answers on Iran Crash
Justin Trudeau's second in command, speaking in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos, Switzerland, said Canada wants a “real, independent” analysis of the airplane's black box, along with transparency on what exactly happened. “I am confident we will get those answers because Canada is relentlessly focused on getting them and we will not stop until we get them,” Freeland said. Iran is under intense international pressure to provide full accountability over the circumstances that caused the crash of the Ukrainian International Airlines plane on Jan. 8.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
‘Fox & Friends’ Desperately Tries to End Unhinged Giuliani Interview, Repeatedly Fails
President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani showed up on the president's favorite morning program on Friday—and apparently didn't want to leave. A day after Giuliani claimed on Twitter that he was about to go public with evidence that will reveal the “Biden Family Enterprise made millions by selling public office” when Joe Biden was vice president, the former New York City mayor sat down on Fox & Friends' curvy couch for what can generously be described as an unhinged, rambling, off-the-rails performance. Giuliani, whose involvement in the Ukraine scandal is at the heart of the president's impeachment, continually left the hosts of the Fox News slack-jawed as he prattled on and bulldozed right through their efforts to keep him from incriminating and implicating himself.
- WorldReuters
China scrambles to contain 'strengthening' virus
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The ability of the new coronavirus to spread is strengthening and infections could continue to rise, China's National Health Commission said on Sunday, with nearly 2,000 people in China infected and 56 killed by the disease. A handful of cases have been reported outside China, including in Thailand, Australia, the United States and France, with health authorities around the world racing to prevent a pandemic. The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people.
- WorldThe National Interest
Damaged By Drone Strike: Suleimani's Sainthood Is Now Being Questioned
In the wake of Washington's assassination of former Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Arab Shi'a desires and interests across the Middle East are under a microscope. Have they shifted their protest slogans from opposing Iran to denouncing the United States? Americans should not assume that wide-angle television images of Shi'a protests in Iran calling for the downfall of the Great Satan reflect Shi'a sentiment across Arab societies.
WorldAFPChinese Uighurs in Saudi face impossible choice
His eyes brimming with tears, a Uighur student in Saudi Arabia holds out his Chinese passport -- long past its expiry date and condemning him to an uncertain fate as the kingdom grows closer to Beijing. The Chinese mission in Saudi Arabia stopped renewing passports for the ethnic Muslim minority more than two years ago, in what campaigners call a pressure tactic exercised in many countries to force the Uighur diaspora to return home. Half a dozen Uighur families in Saudi Arabia who showed AFP their passports -- a few already expired and some approaching the date -- said they dread going back to China, where over a million Uighurs are believed to be held in internment camps.
WorldYahoo News VideoPhilippine President Duterte threatens to end military deal with U.S.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned the United States on Thursday he would repeal an agreement on deployment of troops and equipment for exercises if Washington did not reinstate the visa of a political ally.
- U.S.Associated Press
Pete Stark, congressman who reshaped health care, dies at 88
Former California Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark Jr., an influential Democrat whose legislative work helped reshape America's health care system, has died. He was 88. Stark's family said he died Friday at his home in Maryland.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Schiff lobbies Chief Justice Roberts to rule on questions of executive privilege
Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House prosecutor, called on Chief Justice John Roberts to expedite rulings on any disputes between Congress and President Trump over witness testimony and documents, if the Senate votes to allow them. “We have a very capable justice sitting in that Senate chamber empowered by the Senate rules to decide issues of evidence and privilege,” Schiff, the Democratic congressman from California leading the case for impeachment, told reporters prior to the last day of opening arguments for the House impeachment managers. Republicans have said over the past day or so that one reason to vote against subpoenas for documents and witnesses in the trial is that it would drag out the process too long, because Trump would claim executive privilege and the matter would get bogged down in the courts.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Millions of locusts are swarming in Kenya. These striking photos show just how bad the outbreak is
It's the worst locust outbreak to hit Kenya in 70 years. Hundreds of millions of the small bugs are swarming in from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia with unprecedented size and destructive potential, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. The Desert Locust, the most devastating of all locust species, is eating up crops in areas already susceptible to food and water shortages.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Warren Says She’s Ready to Fight After Des Moines Register Nod
The Des Moines Register endorsed progressive favorite Senator Elizabeth Warren a little more than a week before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, saying the Massachusetts lawmaker would “push an unequal America in the right direction. The influential newspaper in Iowa's largest city revealed its pick for the first-in-the-nation nominating contest on its website Saturday evening. "At this moment, when the very fabric of American life is at stake, Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs," the Register's editorial board said.The Register said that many of Warren's ideas “are not radical.
- U.S.The Independent
Female prisoner dies after guards ‘did not stop her being beaten with soap bars’
A female prisoner died after guards did not intervene while she was being beaten with a sock filled with bars of soap, it is claimed in a lawsuit set to be heard in the US. Nicole Rathmann was attacked by another inmate as she lay on her bunk at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. But prison wardens allegedly allowed the beating to happen without intervening.
- WorldReuters
Pope backs Iraqi call for its sovereignty to be respected
Pope Francis met Iraq's president on Saturday and the two agreed that the country's sovereignty must be respected, following attacks on Iraqi territory this month by the United States and Iran. President Barham Salih held private talks for about 30 minutes with the pope and then met the Vatican's two top diplomats, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, its foreign minister. The talks "focused on the challenges the country currently faces and on the importance of promoting stability and the reconstruction process, encouraging the path of dialogue and the search for suitable solutions in favor of citizens and with respect for national sovereignty," a Vatican statement said.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
This Is What Skiing in Africa Looks Like
From the sand dunes of Namibia to South Africa's world-class Tiffindell resort, this is what makes skiing in Africa like no place on the planet Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldThe National Interest
China is Expanding into the Indian Ocean—Here Are Five Things the Indian Navy Can Do About It
For decades, the Indian Navy has been the dominant regional power in the Indian Ocean, and has even boasted a carrier aviation capability that was nearly unique in Asia. But as outlined in a report by the Center for New American Security (CNAS), the growth of Chinese military power in the last two decades has dramatically eclipsed India's own attempts to modernize and expand its forces—particularly in the maritime domain. This is problematic due to New Delhi's tense relations with Beijing since a 1962 border war.
- WorldINSIDER
Photos from the Lunar New Year show how coronavirus turned China's biggest party into a washout
Crowds gather in Ditan Park in Beijing, China. Thomas Peter/Reuters2020: Ditan Park is eerily empty as workers took down the lantern decorations after the Lunar New Year celebration was cancelled. Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters2019: Signs with the Chinese character "Fu," which means "Good luck," hang in the Forbidden City.
- WorldAssociated Press
Turkish leader slams 'propaganda' as quake deaths rise to 29
The death toll from a strong earthquake that rocked eastern Turkey climbed to 29 on Saturday night as rescue crews searched for people who remained trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said. Speaking at a televised news conference, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier in the day that 18 people were killed in Elazig province, where Friday night's quake was centered, and four in neighboring Malatya. The national disaster agency later updated the total with seven more casualties.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump complains his impeachment defense has a lousy time slot
If there is one thing Donald Trump fears, it's lousy ratings. Since being elected president, in fact, Trump has tweeted about “ratings” exactly 100 times, according to the Trump Twitter Archive, the most recent coming Friday, on the eve of his defense team's opening testimony in his impeachment trial. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave in to pressure from members of his own party to adjust the trial's timetable to give House Democrats three days to make their case for removing Trump from office, pushing the opening arguments by the president's lawyers to the weekend.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The outbreaks of both the Wuhan coronavirus and SARS started in Chinese wet markets. Photos show what the markets look like.
The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan closed on January 1 after it was found to be the most likely starting point for the outbreak of this coronavirus, also called 2019-nCov. NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images A 61-year-old man was the first person to die from the virus. According to Bloomberg, he was a regular shopper at the Huanan wet market, which sold more than seafood.
- WorldBloomberg
Bulgaria Takes Harder Line on Russia Before U.S. Energy Talks
Bulgaria said it may expel two Russian diplomats it accuses of espionage, demonstrating an unusually tough stance toward the Kremlin in the run-up to talks with the U.S. over energy and security. A European Union and NATO member, the Balkan country is trying to balance the priorities of its Western allies with religious, historical and cultural ties to neighboring Russia, which is also its main energy supplier. The pair -- a first secretary in the Russian embassy's consular department in Sofia and a diplomat in Russia's commercial representation office -- will “most likely” be declared persona non grata, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva told reporters.
WorldAFPIndia police decommission historic British-era rifles
Police in northern India on Sunday bid goodbye to the historic British-era bolt-action rifles after using them for one last salute during the annual Republic Day parade. The Lee-Enfield .303 rifle was the main firearm of British colonial military forces and, despite being designated "obsolete" around 25 years ago, it has been the main weapon used by police in Uttar Pradesh state over seven decades. "They have been in use since independence (from the British in 1947) and now they'll be replaced by INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) and SLRs (Self-Loading Rifles)," said police superintendent Amit Verma.
- PoliticsReuters
Warren wins coveted Iowa endorsement for Democrats' presidential nomination
The Des Moines Register newspaper endorsed Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in the crowded race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination late on Saturday, a coveted show of support that could boost her campaign in the state's first-in-the-nation caucus on Feb. 3. Iowa's caucuses are the first nominating contests in presidential election cycles, giving the largely rural, Midwestern state an outsized role in choosing standard-bearers from each party. "I just heard about it and I'm delighted," Warren told supporters after an event in Muscatine, Iowa.
- WorldNational Review
Chinese University of Minnesota Student Jailed for Anti-Xi Tweets Has Been Released to Wuhan
A Chinese student of the University of Minnesota sentenced to six months in prison for posting tweets critical of president Xi Jinping has been released to his hometown of Wuhan, which is coincidentally under quarantine due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Friday. The Tribune received a message from student Luo Daiqing's university email address saying he had been released. University of Minnesota spokesman Jake Ricker told the paper that while Luo had attended for the 2018-2019 academic year, the student was not currently enrolled at the University.
- WorldThe National Interest
Trade Truce? China and America Have a Small Trade Deal—but Will It Last?
The United States and China moved Dec. 12 to soothe the sting of their trade war, agreeing in principle to a so-called "phase one" trade deal that would ease the reciprocal tariffs that have reverberated through the world economy for almost two years. One crucial aspect of the deal is an agreement by the United States to suspend additional tariffs set to take effect Dec. 15 and, crucially, reduce some of the tariffs already in place on some $360 billion in Chinese goods. Although officials did not provide text of the agreement that was authorized by U.S. President Donald Trump, Washington has reportedly agreed to cancel a new round of 15 percent tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese products — mainly consumer goods.
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PHOTOS: Ukraine International Airlines plane crashes in Iran killing all on board
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