- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
U.S. to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, China - WSJ
The plane, with around 230 people, will carry diplomats from the U.S. consulate as well as U.S. citizens and their families, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the operation. Washington was given approval for the operation from China's Foreign Ministry and other government agencies following negotiations in recent days, the newspaper said. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said that on Thursday, the State Department had ordered the departure of family members and all U.S. government employees at its Wuhan consulate, but declined to comment on the report that other U.S. citizens would be evacuated from the city.
- 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.
- WorldThe Week
A 2nd U.S. coronavirus case has been confirmed in Chicago
A second case of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China and has left more than 20 people dead has been confirmed in the United States. Officials on Friday said a Chicago woman in her 60s has been diagnosed with the virus, and they're monitoring 63 other possible cases across 22 U.S. states, CNBC reports. The Chicago patient, who last week returned home from Wuhan, is reportedly isolated in the hospital, and officials say she's doing well.
- 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.
- 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.
- BusinessBloomberg
Bloomberg Offers Few Details to Back Up Trillions in Spending
Bloomberg has released almost 20 proposals since joining the race on Nov. 24: $1.2 trillion for infrastructure. If Bloomberg comes out of Super Tuesday among the Democratic race's top tier, there will be increasing pressure on him to explain how he's going to pay for his policies, said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman who hasn't endorsed a 2020 candidate.“There will be a great hue and cry for him to add substance to his proposals and do it very quickly,” Fowler said. Bloomberg's campaign says that it plans to release further details about the tax proposal as soon as next week and that it will show how he plans to pay for his proposals.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoTrump reverses stance on Medicare, Social Security cuts, and Dems pounce
While much of the nation was focused on President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate, he gave an interview in Davos, Switzerland, that undercut one of his key pledges from the 2016 campaign, declaring his intention to “take a look” at cutting benefits to entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare.
- U.S.Associated Press
Racist threats rattle students, faculty at university
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Three months after a set of anonymous, threatening, racist, antisemitic and homophobic emails sent a wave of fear through the sociology department at Wake Forest University, the department chairman says he's still waiting for university leaders to announce a meaningful response. Alarmed by what he deemed white supremacist terrorism, chairman Joseph Soares canceled sociology classes for a week. When they resumed, Wake Forest police officers were stationed outside classrooms and the building itself.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Transit going in and out of Wuhan, China is being shut down to contain coronavirus
Since Thursday, Chinese authorities have shut down transit going in and out of Wuhan to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Other than emergencies, people cannot leave Wuhan using its buses, subways, or ferries. Chinese authorities are shutting down almost all transit going in and out of Wuhan to contain the coronavirus and keep it from spreading further.
- 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.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
Wax On, Wane Off: A Guide to All the Lunar Phases
Your guide to the moon—and its many phases. From Popular Mechanics
- WorldReuters
In southern Poland, archaeologists discover WW2 plane wreck
Archaeologists have discovered the wreck of a U.S.-made bomber flown by the Soviet Red Army in World War Two, along with the remains of four crewmen killed when it crashed in southern Poland, private broadcaster TVN reported. Only one man survived when the B-25 Mitchell was shot down by the German air force on Jan. 19, 1945 - a 23-year-old commander who parachuted out and was taken into German captivity. Marta Wrobel in the town of Bierun during the war and told TVN that the blast from the crash had been powerful enough to blow out windows and doors.
- 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.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
After interview, Pompeo cursed at reporter, yelled: 'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?'
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the "F-word" and other expletives after a testy interview with a National Public Radio host on Friday, the news outlet said. Pompeo unloaded on NPR's Mary Louise Kelly after an interview in which she questioned him on Ukraine and Iran, among other issues. On Saturday, Pompeo responded by calling Kelly a liar and suggesting she was unable to point out Ukraine on an unmarked map.
- 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.
- 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
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.
- WorldAssociated Press
Belarus' leader blasts Russia for pushing merger of 2 states
The president of Belarus on Friday accused Moscow of pressuring his country to merge with Russia and vowed not to let it happen. Talking to workers of a paper plant in eastern Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko lambasted Russia, the country's main provider of cheap oil and gas, for halting oil supplies in order "to dissolve Belarus ... in the brotherly Russia.
- WorldThe National Interest
Iran Cannot Defeat American Stealth Planes, but They Could Cause Real Damage
The once-formidable Iranian Air Force, starved of spare parts for its 1970s-era American-built fighters, is unlikely to effectively challenge U.S. air superiority. Instead, Iran has doubled down on a diverse array of surface-to-air missile (SAMs) systems in its Air Defense Force (IRIADF) as well as the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Together, these form an integrated air defense system that can tackle threats approaching at different ranges, speeds and altitudes, aided by powerful over-the-horizon surveillance radar described in this article.
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.
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PHOTOS: Ukraine International Airlines plane crashes in Iran killing all on board
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