Spring

Trump complains his impeachment defense has a lousy time slot

Since being elected president, Donald Trump has tweeted about “ratings” exactly 100 times, according to the Trump Twitter Archive.

Fox News primetime is covering Trump's impeachment trial — but with no audio of evidence from Democrats

Fox News host Sean Hannity assured viewers the impeachment trial wasn't worth watching, and summed it up as "babble" and "talking points."

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. The sample also matched DNA collected from several other cases between 1981 and 1986, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

Canada ‘Will Not Stop’ Until It Has Answers on Iran Crash

(Bloomberg) -- Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said her government will be relentless in seeking answers from Iran on the jet crash that killed 57 Canadians this month near Tehran.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. She also said Canada is receiving support from allies in pressing on the issue, particularly from the Netherlands and Ukraine.“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. The three-year-old Boeing Co. 737-800 was shot down about two minutes after takeoff from Tehran. While nearly half the victims were Iranians, the crash was also one of the worst air tragedies ever involving Canadians. Many of the victims were doctors, engineers and Ph.D. students who represented a microcosm of the northern nation’s immigration policies.Nafta RatificationSeparately in the interview, Freeland also commented on plans to get the new North American free trade agreement ratified in Canada’s parliament, calling it the top priority for the government.The deal, a result of a year of rough negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration, has been passed in the U.S. Senate and is awaiting the president’s signature. It has also been approved in Mexico.Ratification won’t be a straightforward process in Canada, however. Trudeau’s team will need to get the support of at least one opposition party to pass legislation, and expedite debate, after losing its parliamentary majority in October’s divisive election.With all of Canada’s provincial premiers calling for a speedy ratification, Freeland said she’s confident the governing Liberals will be able to win support for the deal.To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Stephen WicaryFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

‘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.For example, as he claimed he would provide “compelling” evidence later in the day on a podcast to support his wild assertions about the Bidens that seemingly ensnare the entire Obama administration AND Hillary Clinton, co-host Brian Kilmeade wanted to make sure “the State Department and the White House know everything you were doing."Elsewhere in the interview, which was aired in front of a live studio audience, the one-time America’s Mayor dismissed text messages and call logs with shady businessman Lev Parnas and other figures associated with Ukraine, oddly boasting, “How about all those phone records that show that I am a very hard-working lawyer?”Finally, after Giuliani once again repeated his Biden-related conspiracies, co-host Steve Doocy stepped in to wrap up the segment.“I know you could go clear through noon when your podcast starts. Give it up for Rudy Giuliani,” Doocy exclaimed to cheers from the audience. “We’re going to be watching.”The Trump lawyer, however, wasn’t budging, instead saying that he’d only shown the “tip of the iceberg” while rambling on some more.“Rudy, we’re done,” Doocy begged, prompting Kilmeade to add, “We have got to go. The president wants you to continue this investigation?”“Would you like me to give up?” Giuliani replied, before adding, “Would you like me to say OK, Biden can keep his 8 million that he got in bribes. He can keep all the bribes that they got.”Again, Doocy tried to give the signal that the interview was over, telling Giuliani that “we’re waiting for noon” for the podcast. Giuliani, meanwhile, ignored Doocy while asking Kilmeade if he should “give it up” while grabbing his head and awkwardly leaning off the couch.The ex-mayor would continue to steamroll over Doocy’s efforts to go to commercial break so he could get yet another last word in, finally giving it up after Doocy’s fifth attempt to end the interview.Stephen Colbert Grills CNN’s Chris Cuomo on His ‘Friend’ Kellyanne ConwayRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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. Stark's family said he died Friday at his home in Maryland.

Experts fear China virus lockdown is too late

China's bid to contain a deadly new virus by placing cities of millions under quarantine is an unprecedented undertaking, but it is unlikely to stop the disease spreading, experts warn. The contagious virus has already reached elsewhere in China and abroad, and even an authoritarian government has only a small time frame in which trapped residents will submit to such a lockdown, they say.

Damaged By Drone Strike: Suleimani's Sainthood Is Now Being Questioned

Iran’s brand is thinning among the Shi’a and Suleimani’s departure creates breathing room for the Shi’a in the region.

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.

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.

Photos from the Lunar New Year show how coronavirus turned China's biggest party into a washout

Here are photos comparing last year's celebration — complete with Chinese lions, historical dances, and family time — to this year.

Chinese 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.

Photos show how China is grappling with the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak as 12 cities are quarantined and hospitals run out of space

Chinese authorities quarantined people in 12 cities, halting transportation and cutting off nearly 33 million people to try and quell the outbreak.

Millions of locusts are swarming in Kenya. These striking photos show just how bad the outbreak is

Hundreds of millions of locusts are swarming into Kenya from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia with unprecented size and destructive potential.

China is Expanding into the Indian Ocean—Here Are Five Things the Indian Navy Can Do About It

Two emerging superpowers square off. Who wins?

Impeachment trial: Trump win shows anything can happen, even Senate conviction and removal

Support for removal rose and Senate Republicans saw an election rushing toward them under a black cloud. That was Nixon, but it could also be Trump.

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. Ricker said that while the University had learned of Luo's arrest from a Wednesday report on Axios, the administration would not take immediate public action regarding the situation."I am honestly not sure what a public university can do regarding another country’s legal system," Ricker said. The University of Minnesota's campuses host around 3,100 students from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.Politicians from across the political spectrum condemned China's arrest of the student, including Senators Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) and Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), along with Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) in whose district Luo was studying."This is what ruthless totalitarianism looks like," Omar said in a statement. "Luo Daiqing made these posts while he was in the U.S. — attending college in my district. Here in the United States, we believe in free speech.""The Chinese Communist Party ought to release Luo Daiqing immediately, and the University of Minnesota ought to give him a full-ride scholarship,” Sasse said in his statement. “Don’t forget that the Chinese Communist Party has banned Twitter, so the only people who even saw these tweets were the goons charged with monitoring Chinese citizens while they’re enjoying freedom here in the United States. This is what ruthless and paranoid totalitarianism looks like.

California confirms third case of China virus in US

A patient in California's Orange County was Saturday confirmed as the third person on US soil infected with the new deadly virus that originated in China, health officials said. The infected person was a traveler from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, the Orange County Health Care Agency said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the patient had tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, it said.

Louise Linton briefly posted and deleted a message of support for Greta Thunberg, whom her husband Steve Mnuchin dissed at Davos

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mnuchin dismissed Thunberg as not knowledgable to weigh in on climate issues. His wife took Thunberg's side.

Kim's aunt reemerges after years of speculation about fate

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's aunt made her first public appearance in about six years, state media reported Sunday, quelling years of rumors that she was purged or executed by her nephew after helping him inherit power from his father. According to a Korean Central News Agency dispatch, the name of Kim Kyong Hui was included in a list of top North Korean officials who watched a performance marking Lunar New Year's Day with Kim Jong Un at a Pyongyang theater on Saturday. North Korea’s main newspaper also released a photo showing Kim Kyong Hui sitting near Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, at the Samjiyon Theater.

Iran Cannot Defeat American Stealth Planes, but They Could Cause Real Damage

Not so lopsided?

Before March for Life, Betsy DeVos stirs controversy by comparing 'choice' of slavery, abortion

Before March for Life, Betsy DeVos invoked Abraham Lincoln, suggesting his anti-slavery view is similar to anti-abortion stances. Historians disagree.

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. 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.

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.

China virus death toll rises to 56, total cases near 2,000

The death toll from a virus in China has risen to 56 and the number of people infected across the country is nearing 2,000, authorities said Sunday. Fifteen more people have died and at least 688 new cases of the coronavirus have now been confirmed, according to the National Health Commission. Among the new deaths, 13 were in Hubei, the province at the heart of the outbreak, while Shanghai reported its first death.

NASA is hiring someone to help figure out how to get Mars rocks back to Earth — and the position pays at least $182,000

The Mars Sample Return mission aims to get pristine rocks from the red planet back to Earth, perhaps by the end of the decade.

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.

Islamic leaders make 'groundbreaking' visit to Auschwitz

Muslim religious leaders joined members of a U.S. Jewish group at Auschwitz on Thursday for what organizers described as “the most senior Islamic leadership delegation" to visit the site of a Nazi German death camp.

Sanders Says Trump Trial Creates ‘Disadvantage’: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders on Friday lamented that being stuck in Washington for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is putting him “at a disadvantage“ to former Vice President Joe Biden in Iowa.In an interview with “The CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell,” the Vermont senator said it was “disappointing” his “constitutional responsibility” to sit through the Senate trial is keeping him off the campaign trail in the final days before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.“I mean, he and others, not just Biden, are able to go out, talk to people,” he said in the interview to be broadcast Friday evening. “That’s really important.”In recent weeks, Sanders and Biden have been at the top of most polls in Iowa. Talking up a disadvantage gives Sanders an excuse if he doesn’t do as well as expected, or an extra reason to brag if he does. “We had set up a number of town meetings all over the state,” he said. “We usually bring out good crowds. So it is disappointing to me not to be in Iowa talking to the people there.”Other senators running for the Democratic nomination are also missing out on face time in Iowa to sit through the impeachment trial, including Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.Biden, Bloomberg Hit Trump on Military Brass (3:13 p.m.)A new book on President Donald Trump includes some doozies about his behavior in office, but it’s an account of him calling military brass “a bunch of dopes and babies” that’s making a splash on the campaign trail.Both former Vice President Joe Biden and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have criticized Trump over a report in the forthcoming book “A Very Stable Genius.”At a campaign stop in Claremont, New Hampshire, Biden expressed incredulity. “He referred to these incredible generals and flag officers -- many of whom have left and publicly criticized him -- referred to these flag officers we now learn as quote ‘losers, dopes and babies’ to their face, in front of their folks,” he said.Trump has denied the account, calling the authors of the book -- Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker -- “two stone cold losers” who are “demeaning and belittling a President who is getting great things done for our country.”The account is also the subject of a recent TV ad from Bloomberg, which calls the military officials in the room as “war heroes” who had “risked their lives for our country.” Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.Warren Defends Student Loan Plan (10:54 a.m.)Elizabeth Warren Friday brushed off concerns expressed in a viral clip of a so-called “angry dad” who argued that her student loan forgiveness plan rewards irresponsible behavior.In a clip shared on an anonymous pro-Trump Twitter account Tuesday and amplified by conservative media, an unnamed man tells Warren that he gave up vacations and saved money for his daughter’s education so that she wouldn’t have debt. “We did the right thing and we get screwed,” he said of her plan.Asked about the clip in an interview on “CBS This Morning,” Warren responded that younger Americans are getting “crushed” by student loan debt, which is roughly $1.5 trillion.”Look, we build a future going forward by making it better,” she said. “By that same logic what would we have done? Not started Social Security because we didn’t start it last week for you or last month for you?”COMING UP:Some of the Democratic candidates will debate again in New Hampshire on Feb. 7.The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3. The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11. Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22 and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.CNN will host town halls featuring eight presidential candidates in New Hampshire on Feb. 5 and 6.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Emma Kinery.To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in Washington at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan Crane, Max BerleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

The Indian Air Force Hopes to Dodge Sanctions as Its Springs for Russian Missiles and MiG and Sukhoi Jet Fighters

Some history you may not have know about until now.

Seven months detained: seven-year-old is longest-held child migrant in US

Maddie Hernandez and her father, Emerson, fled crime in Guatemala. After months, her parents says she has changedEmerson Hernandez and his daughter Maddie have withstood hunger and thirst.They’ve been dumped in a threatening border city in Mexico, a foreign country with nowhere to shelter. And, for seven months, they’ve been locked up at what critics call a “baby jail”.The father and daughter have weathered all of this just for a chance at asylum in the United States after they fled a home in Guatemala that’s now overrun with crime.“I don’t want my daughter to grow up in that environment of delinquency. I really am afraid that something could happen to her,” Emerson told the Guardian.Maddie has been detained the longest of any child currently held in family immigration detention across the country, her attorneys say. On 17 January, she turned seven years old at Berks county residential center, a controversial detention facility in Pennsylvania where she has spent roughly 8% of her life.Despite her lawyers exhausting the legal avenues that could get her out, the government won’t release her and Emerson together.A spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the agency detaining them, said, “ICE’s custodial determinations for Mr. Hernandez and Maddie have been based on the merits and factors of their individual cases and are in conformity with the law and current agency priorities, guidelines and legal mandates.”Emerson said Maddie has always been strong, but being confined for such a long time has changed her. She’s gone from an easy, smiley little girl to someone who has become violent and throws explosive temper tantrums, according to her parents and an attorney.“Her change was sudden,” Emerson said. “And she says to me, ‘When are we going to leave this place?’”The truth is no one knows. The Flores settlement, a landmark 1997 federal agreement that regulates child and family detention, made it the longstanding rule that kids and families should be released within 20 days. But there have been huge exceptions: Bridget Cambria, a lawyer representing Maddie, said the longest she was aware of a child being held through family detention was 707 days.Emerson and Maddie are desperate to see the rest of their family, Maddie’s mother, Madelin, and her newborn baby, who still hasn’t met his dad. Madelin traveled to the US with a visa and lives in New Jersey, but Maddie’s visa application was denied. She and Emerson made a more perilous journey north last spring, when they went a full day without stopping.“That day was hard for me,” Emerson remembered. “To see that my daughter said to me, ‘Papi, I’m thirsty, Papi, I want to eat,’ and I had nothing to give her.”Madelin said she came to the US because she thought her family would be reunited soon after. But Maddie and Emerson were swept into the Trump administration’s increasingly hardline immigration policies, and Madelin hasn’t seen them since.Last April, Emerson and Maddie finally made it to the US only to be turned back to Tijuana, Mexico, through the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a Trump-era program that returns people across the border while they await US immigration court hearings.Suddenly, they were homeless in one of the world’s most dangerous cities.Emerson called Madelin to say there was no space for them at the local shelter. “I remember that he started to cry, and I did, too, because we didn’t know what to do,” she said.A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said around 57,000 people had been subject to MPP, and in October, Reuters found that 16,000 migrants under 18 had been sent to Mexico.At least 816 violent attacks against migrants under MPP have been reported, including 201 cases of children who were kidnapped or almost kidnapped, according to the not-for-profit Human Rights First.On days when Emerson and Maddie found housing with good Samaritans, she rarely went outside because the city was so dangerous.“Tijuana is not a very pretty place, it’s not a safe place,” Emerson said.After two months in Mexico, they got their opportunity to go in front of a US immigration judge in June. Emerson made the mistake of following advice he said an immigration official gave him. He told the judge that he had come to the US to give his daughter a better life, a line that completely discredited his case.There are immigration laws that protect asylum seekers. There aren’t immigration laws that protect devoted parents.The judge gave him two options: he could return to Mexico and, against all odds, continue to fight for the right to come to the US. Or – after all Emerson and Maddie had endured –they could return to Guatemala.Faced with an impossible choice, Emerson opted for the latter because at least if something happened to him at home, his family could look after his daughter and wife. But when he and Maddie boarded a plane, it didn’t land in Guatemala. Instead, they took a long trip deep into the country’s interior, to Berks county residential center in Leesport, Pennsylvania.The family immigration detention facility garnered national notoriety a few years ago after an employee admitted to sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman who was being held there. Critics have advocated for its closure, and reports of poor medical care and racism from employees have hamstrung the facility’s reputation.But it continues to operate, as it has since 2001.After Emerson and Maddie arrived at Berks, they met Cambria, the attorney who has helped to revive their asylum bid. When the government flew them to San Diego in July and tried to return them to Mexico again, Cambria quickly filed a federal lawsuit to bring them back to Berks, where they’ve remained ever since.That lawsuit could eventually set a major precedent as to whether children can legally be placed under MPP. A ruling in Maddie’s favor would mean other kids like her could sue the government, arguing they shouldn’t be sent to Mexico. (Ice’s spokesperson said the agency did not comment on pending litigation.)But Maddie didn’t come to the US to challenge immigration policy. She’s a kid who celebrated a Christmas and a birthday in detention, without her mom and little brother.“This little girl is not doing well psychologically, we’ll put it that way,” said Cambria. “She’s saying things that are scary. She’s very sad.”Ice has offered for Maddie to leave Berks, but without Emerson. This family separation is legally dubious, and Cambria said it was unprecedented in her experience representing immigrant families.Amy Maldonado, another of Maddie’s lawyers, said Ice could release both Maddie and Emerson at any time, and has done so for families in similar situations.Cambria said she doesn’t know why Ice is treating Emerson and Maddie differently from any other family at Berks. But the detention center is only for parents with children. If Maddie leaves and Emerson doesn’t, he’ll be sent away to another facility for adults or returned to Mexico.Maddie is so young that she thinks of everything she’s gone through as a vacation, and she keeps telling her parents she’s ready for the vacation to be over.“When I speak to her, she sometimes cries and says, ‘Mami, I want to leave already,’” Madelin said.“‘I want to leave already.’”

Limited internet to be restored in Kashmir, no access to social media

Limited mobile data services and internet will be temporarily restored in Jammu and Kashmir from Saturday, ending nearly a six month communications lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew the Muslim majority region's autonomy. Access will be limited to about 300 "whitelisted" websites and internet speed would remain low, the local Jammu and Kashmir government said in a notice late on Friday. The move to restore the services comes days after India's top court ordered the curbs to be reversed, saying that freedom of internet access is a fundamental right and that its indefinite suspension is illegal.

Philippine 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.

China Is Building a Hospital for Coronavirus Patients in Just Six Days. How?

The country has taken on similar rush jobs before.

Face masks aren't a very effective way to prevent the spread of coronavirus, experts say, despite spiking sales

Wearing a face mask won't protect you from the Wuhan coronavirus as much as washing your hands and avoiding contact with anyone who may be infected.

India 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.

Democrats Make Pitch for More Trump Witnesses as Case Wraps Up

(Bloomberg) -- The struggle over calling witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is escalating as House Democrats prepare to wrap up their case Friday by focusing on White House “stonewalling.”House impeachment managers will have another day to convince a handful of Republicans to vote with Democrats to subpoena witnesses and documents before Trump’s lawyers take the Senate floor to present their defense.Over the past two days, Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff led the six other House managers in pulling together what had been a disjointed collection of testimony into a linear timeline they said shows Trump took a sudden interest in corruption in Ukraine only after former Vice President Joe Biden entered the presidential race.They argued the only explanation for Trump’s decision to hold up almost $400 million in aid to Ukraine was to pressure the new government to announce an investigation of Biden and his son, who had served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, to bolster the president’s re-election campaign.”You know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump,” Schiff said as he closed out the day’s arguments. “This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed.”Trump, speaking Thursday night at the Republican National Committee meeting at his Miami resort, derided the case being argued by Democrats as “impeachment light” according to three people who heard his remarks. He told the crowd that Democrats had been planning an impeachment trial since he won election.His defense team takes over on Saturday and will have up to 24 hours over three days to present their case. But they’ve been in the Senate each day, and Trump attorney Jay Sekulow has been offering counterpoints to the impeachment managers. On Thursday he suggested that Democrats had opened the door to going on the attack against Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.“What I don’t understand is that for the last five hours there’s been a lot about Joe Biden and Burisma,” Sekulow said. “They kind of opened the door to that kind of response, so we’ll determine the appropriate way to do it.”Question of MotiveBiden and his son Hunter were frequent topics of the House managers on Thursday, even as the Democrats dismissed Republican suggestions that if witnesses are to be called, the Bidens should be among them.Impeachment manager Sylvia Garcia’s presentation on Thursday dealt with motive: Why Trump would want Ukraine to announce an investigation that would entangle the Bidens, which she called “the corrupt object of his scheme.”The answer, she said, was that the former vice president had entered the Democratic presidential race and polls showed he would be Trump’s strongest challenger in the 2020 election.”It wasn’t until Biden began beating him in polls that he called for the investigation,” said Garcia, a Texas Democrat. “He had the motive, he had the opportunity and the means to commit this abuse of power.”The mere announcement of an investigation would have tarnished the vice president’s reputation, she said, benefiting Trump’s re-election campaign.“President Trump solicited foreign interference in the U.S. election for one particular objective -- to benefit his own re-election,” Schiff said when he spoke. “To seek help in cheating in a U.S. election, he requested, effectively demanded, a personal political favor.”Trump’s NarrativeGarcia also sought to puncture a discredited narrative pushed by Trump and his allies that Biden had intervened with Ukrainian officials to halt an investigation of Burisma Holdings, the company on which Hunter Biden was a board member. In fact, she said, there was no investigation of Burisma under way when the U.S. joined calls by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to be removed.“There is simply no evidence, nothing, nada in their record to support this baseless allegation,” Garcia said.The Bidens may come into play if at least four Republicans join with Democrats to provide 51 votes to subpoena witnesses blocked by Trump from testifying in the House impeachment inquiry. Among those Democrats want to call are acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday pushed back on the notion that calling such witnesses would lead to an extended court fight over whether their testimony should be blocked due to executive privilege. If the Senate issued subpoenas, they would be considered bipartisan and would bear the signature of Chief Justice John Roberts, he said, making an expedited court review likely.“We know they’ll pressure Republican senators, but four Republican senators can step forward and say that we need witnesses and documents,” Schumer said at a news conference. “And there are 12 or 13 who have never said a bad word about witnesses and documents.”Hesitation on WitnessesBut just three Republicans so far have said they are likely to approve added witnesses or the admission of new documents, and one -- Lisa Murkowski of Alaska -- on Thursday said she’s wary of a likely long court battle. She said the House didn’t engage on that, opting to move ahead on two impeachment charges without the evidence.“The House made a decision that they didn’t want to slow things down by having to go through the courts and yet now they’re basically saying you guys need to go through the courts,” Murkowski said. “‘We didn’t but we need you to.’ That’s kind of where we are.”Once the defense team is finished, senators have as many as 16 hours to ask questions of both sides before the showdown vote on witnesses. If the door is opened to new witnesses sought by Democrats, 51 Republicans could join together to call their own slate, and several GOP senators have said one or both Bidens should be on that list.“Today, House Democrats perhaps unintentionally threw Joe Biden under the bus,” said Texas Republican Ted Cruz.But Senate Republican leaders are expressing growing confidence that the Senate will reject a vote on whether to seek more evidence. A staunch Trump ally, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told reporters he wouldn’t want a trade-off that lets Democrats call their witnesses in exchange for Republicans calling witnesses such as Biden or his son.“I will not use my vote to extend this trial,” Graham said.Instead, the Senate Judiciary chairman he said he would investigate the Bidens in his committee. “I don’t think Joe Biden is corrupt, but I don’t think he’s beyond being looked at,” Graham said.Schiff’s team of impeachment managers on Thursday made the case that Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine and block a congressional probe violated the U.S. Constitution.House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, one of the impeachment managers, said Trump’s unprecedented “stonewalling” of Congress on witnesses and documents “puts even President Nixon to shame.”Schiff, Nadler and the other managers urged senators to see the trial as a crucial test of Congress’s willingness to restrain a president dramatically tilting the balance of power toward the executive. They stressed the Constitution leaves it entirely at the senators’ discretion to decide whether Trump’s actions are “high crimes and misdemeanors,” rejecting claims by Trump’s side that a statutory criminal act is needed.(Adds comment from Schumer starting in 18th paragraph)\--With assistance from Erik Wasson, Daniel Flatley, Laura Davison, Josh Wingrove, Mike Dorning and Jennifer Jacobs.To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net;Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie AsséoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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