Democratic House prosecutors launched their final arguments Friday at Donald Trump's impeachment trial accusing the president of labouring to cover up his actions with Ukraine that finally led to the charges now against him.
President Trump tried to cheat. He got caught. And then he worked hard to cover it up, said Rep Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
He told the senators there's a toxic mess at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and it's up to Congress to try to clean it up.
As Democrats pressed their case before sceptical Republican senators for a third day, the president's legal team was preparing its defense, expected to start Saturday.
Trump, eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the schedule in a tweet, saying looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in TV
The Senate jurors faced another long day Friday armed with pens and paper  and, for Republicans, the gift of fidget spinners  for the historic trial.
The president is being ..

Democrats say Trump 'got caught' on Ukraine, covered up

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The Trump administration pledged Friday to step up efforts against the vast amounts of counterfeit clothing, medicine and other goods that have flooded into the US in increasing waves with the rise in e-commerce.
Customs and Border Patrol would subject online retailers, including the growing number of third-party sales that have proliferated on major online platforms, and warehouse operators to increased scrutiny and potential penalties under measures announced by Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The department also vowed to apply fines and penalties to a broader range of participants in e-commerce and to look for additional ways to interfere with fraudulent commerce.
Homeland Security views counterfeits as both an economic threat and a potential danger to public health because of online sales of fake pharmaceuticals and cosmetics with adulterated ingredients.
The measures announced Friday are a follow-up to a memorandum signed in April by President .

US vows greater effort to fight flood of counterfeit goods

Four aid workers for a French Christian charity disappeared this week in Baghdad at at time of heightened tension in Iraq, the organization said Friday,
The charity, SOS Chrtiens d'Orient, said the four  three French citizens and an Iraqi  failed to show up for a scheduled meeting Tuesday afternoon and have not been heard from since.
All four had prior experience in crisis zones and were staying at a hotel that regularly hosts international guests. They were in Baghdad primarily for administrative reasons, to renew visas and register the charity with the Iraqi government.
The group said there have been no ransom demands. French and Iraqi authorities are cooperating in the investigation.
The four went missing during a time of heightened tensions in Iraq after a US drone strike on Baghdad airport that killed Iranian Gen Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi militia commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The attack has drawn anger from Iraqi officials from across the political divide and lead ..

4 aid workers for French charity disappear in Baghdad

The parents of an Alabama first-grader were taken into custody after the child accidentally fired a gun at school Friday, officials said.
The incident happened at J E Hobbs Elementary School in rural Wilcox County, where District Attorney Michael Jackson said a 6-year-old boy brought a gun to school and the weapon went off.
A bullet hit a wall but no one was hurt, he said. The county school superintendent issued a statement on Facebook saying the gun was in the child's coat pocket at the time.
The parents were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Jackson said, but authorities did not immediately release their names.

Alabama parents arrested after child fires gun at school

A Chicago woman has become the second US patient diagnosed with the dangerous new virus from China, health officials announced Friday.
The woman in her 60s returned from China on Jan 13 without showing any signs of illness, but three or four days later she called her doctor to report feeling sick.
The patient is doing well and remains hospitalized primarily for infection control, said Dr Allison Arwady, Chicago's public health commissioner.
Earlier this week, a man in his 30s in Washington state became the first US patient, also diagnosed after returning from a trip to the outbreak's epicentre in central China.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expecting more Americans to be diagnosed with the newly discovered virus in coming days, as worldwide the number of confirmed cases has passed 800.
The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that's a close cousin to the deadly SARS and MERS viruses that have caused ...

Chicago woman is 2nd US patient with new virus from China

Two of the lawyers on President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team have shared another client: Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr both helped the late hedge fund manager and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein win a lenient sentence for abusing underaged girls.
Dershowitz and Starr, both prominent lawyers, are expected to play key roles when Trump's legal team begins presenting its defense on Saturday. Over the course of their legal careers, both have proven no strangers to controversy.
Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor emeritus, helped O J Simpson win acquittal on murder charges, labelled a woman who was raped by boxer Mike Tyson as "hardly the naive virgin she pretended to be", and famously defended "Queen of Mean" hotelier Leona Helmsley on tax evasion charges.
Starr, a former solicitor general and federal appeals court judge, is best known as the independent counsel who made public the graphic details of President Bill Clinton's sexual encounters with a White House intern that led to ..

2 lawyers on Trump defense team shared Epstein as a client

Democratic House prosecutors launched their final arguments Friday at Donald Trump's impeachment trial insisting the president only released congressionally approved military money to Ukraine because he had "gotten caught" withholding it.
"The scheme was unravelling," said Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army ranger, as the prosecution wrapped up its presentation on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, before turning to the charge of obstruction of Congress.
As Democrats pressed their case before sceptical Republican senators for a third day, the president's legal team was preparing its defence, expected to start Saturday.
Trump, eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the schedule in a tweet, saying "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in TV".
The Senate jurors faced another long day Friday armed with pens and paper  and, for Republicans, the gift of fidget spinners  for the historic trial.
The ...

Democrats say Trump blocked Ukraine money but 'got caught'

An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit eastern Turkey on Friday, a Turkish government agency said.
There was no immediate information about any casualties but the country's interior minister said there were reports that some buildings had collapsed.
The quake shook the Sivrice district in the eastern province of Elazig at around 8.55 pm (1755 GMT), the government's disaster and emergency management agency said.
The US Geological Survey assessed the quake's magnitude at 6.7, and said it struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (about six miles).
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said there was no news of casualties at the moment.
"Sivrice was shaken very seriously, we have directed our rescue teams to the region," he told reporters, adding that there were reports of some collapsed buildings in the region.
Turkey lies on major faultlines and is prone to earthquakes.
In 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead ..

6.8 magnitude quake hits eastern Turkey

A forensic psychiatrist told Harvey Weinstein's rape trial on Friday that victims of sexual assault commonly remain in contact with their attacker for years after the incident.
The prosecution called Barbara Ziv, who testified when American comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault, to dispel several "myths" surrounding rape.
Ex-Hollywood titan Weinstein, 67, whose trial began hearing testimony this week, faces life imprisonment if convicted of predatory sexual assault charges related to two women: actress Jessica Mann and former production assistant Mimi Haleyi.
He is alleged to have forcibly performed oral six on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and to have raped actress Jessica Mann.
Weinstein denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.
Pennsylvania-based Ziv said most sexual assaults are committed by someone who is known to the victim, and not by a stranger, as is often believed.
She told the proceedings, symbolic to the #MeToo movement against sexual ...

Weinstein rape trial told of sexual assault 'myths'

Four male employees of a French Christian NGO, three French nationals and one Iraqi, have been missing in Baghdad since Monday, the charity announced Friday.
The four members of the influential SOS Chretiens d'Orient (Christians of the Middle East) charity went missing near the French embassy in the Iraqi capital, the organisation's director Benjamin Blanchard told a news conference in Paris.
No ransom demand has been received as yet and no group has claimed responsibility for their disappearance, he added.
SOS Chretiens d'Orient has been working with persecuted Christians in Iraq since 2014 when Islamic State jihadists overran the province of Mosul, displacing tens of thousands of minority Christians and Yazidis.
It is principally active in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil, where many Christians sought refuge.
The missing workers were in Baghdad "to renew their visas and register the association with Iraqi authorities," Blanchard said.
They were also due to inspect the group's ...

Four employees of French Christian NGO missing in Baghdad

Two anti-government protesters were killed in clashes with security forces in the Iraqi capital on Friday, hours after thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr rallied separately to demand the ouster of US troops.
Four NGO workers, three of them French nationals, were also reported missing in Baghdad, rocked since October by a youth-dominated protest movement demanding a government overhaul, early elections and more accountability.
More than 470 people have died in protest-related violence since October, most of them demonstrators, and violence has spiked this week.
On Friday, one protester was struck in the neck by a live round while another died after being hit with a military-grade tear gas canister in clashes with security forces, medical and police sources told AFP.
It marked a sudden and bloody turn as thousands of men, women and children had gathered in Baghdad earlier the same day without incident to demand US troops withdraw.
A vowed enemy of US troops, Sadr had .

Iraqis mass to urge US troop ouster, rival rallies turn deadly

Boeing, still in crisis mode due to the grounding of the 737 MAX, is considering further production cuts to another key commercial plane, a person close to the matter said on Friday.
The move could affect the 787 Dreamliner plane, which is bigger than the MAX and was the company's most-delivered jet in 2019 while MAX deliveries were halted.
In October, Boeing trimmed 787 output to 12 from 14 per month, describing the move as necessary given lower orders from China.
The company may cut the 787 output further, the source said, confirming a report on CNBC.
Boeing would maintain a "disciplined rate management process taking into account a host of risks and opportunities," a company spokesman said on Friday.
"We will continue to assess the demand environment and make adjustments as appropriate in the future."
Former chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said in October that Boeing expected the lower 787 production rate for two years and stressed that the company was still bullish on the ...

Boeing could again cut production on 787 plane: Source

The Pentagon on Friday said 34 US troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries suffered in this month's Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi air base, and that half of the troops have returned to their military duties.
Seventeen of the 34 are still under medical observation, according to Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman.
President Donald Trump had initially said he was told that no troops had been injured in the January 8 strike.
The military said symptoms were not immediately reported after the strike and in some cases became known days later.
After the first reports that some soldiers had been hurt, Trump referred to them as "headaches" and said the cases were not as serious as injuries involving the loss of limbs.
Hoffman's disclosure that 34 had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, was the first update on the number injured in Iran's missile attack on Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq since the Pentagon said on January 17 that 11 service ...

Pentagon: 34 US troops had brain injuries from Iran's strike

The death toll from flooding and landslides from torrential rains in Madagascar has risen to 26, authorities said on Friday.
Another 15 people are missing, the national disaster management office said.
More than 92,000 people have been affected by the heavy rains that started Monday on the Indian Ocean island nation.
There is the risk of hunger and soaring food prices as rice fields in several districts have flooded in the region that is considered Madagascar's breadbasket, the office said.
Nearly 10,000 homes have been inundated in the northern part of the country.
Authorities have said the military has deployed to help evacuate people at risk from rising waters.
Major roads in the north have been cut off in several places, leaving some villages isolated.
Officials have said the rains are expected to continue into next week.

Death toll up to 26 from flooding in Madagascar, 20 missing

Turkey's emergency management agency says an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 has shaken the country's east.
The earthquake struck the near the town of Sivrice in eastern Elazig province, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said.
The Kandilli seismology centre in Istanbul said the quake measured 6.5.
There was no immediate reports of any damage or injuries. Turkish media said the earthquake sent people running outdoors for safety.

Magnitude 6.8 earthquake shakes eastern Turkey

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said Pakistan should be taken off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 'grey list' as it has made considerable progress on the requirements of the international terror financing watchdog.
Pakistan's all-weather ally China, which hosted a key meeting of the FATF in Beijing, said on Thursday that Islamabad has made "visible progress" to strengthen its counter terrorism financing system, which should be encouraged by the world community.
The Paris-based FATF's Asia Pacific Joint Group met in Beijing this week to scrutinise Pakistan's progress report to adopt stricter laws against terror financing and money laundering. China is the president of the FATF and co-chair for Asia Pacific Joint Group.
"Pakistan presented its point of view. We presented all of the practical steps we have taken in the past 10 months in front of the member nations. And I am delighted to say that everyone appreciated our efforts and said that the progress made in ...

Pakistan should come off FATF grey list: Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said Pakistan would wait for India's invitation for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit before taking any decision on Islamabad's participation in the event to be held later this year.
Addressing a media briefing in New Delhi on January 16, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India will invite Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan along with other leaders for the annual meeting of council of heads of government of the SCO.
For the first time, India will host the annual meeting of the council of heads of government of the SCO.
During an interaction with reporters here, when asked about Pakistan's participation in the SCO summit to be hosted by New Delhi, Qureshi said, "We will have to wait for the invitation."
The Indian government's announcement on inviting Pakistan to the mega event came in the midst of frayed ties between the two countries over India's withdrawal of special powers of Jammu and ...

Have to wait for India's invitation: Qureshi on Pak's participation in SCO summit

A total of 14 people who were tested in the UK for the deadly coronavirus, which has claimed 26 lives in China, have been cleared after the results come back as negative on Friday.
Soon after attending the government's emergency COBRA meeting on the health crisis, UK Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said the risk to the UK public remains "low", but there may well be cases in the country "at some stage" as more tests are underway.
"We have tried and tested measures in place to respond. The UK is well-prepared for these types of incidents, with excellent readiness against infectious diseases," he said.
"We have global experts monitoring the situation around the clock and have a strong track record of managing new forms of infectious disease. The UK has access to some of the best infectious disease and public health experts in the world," Whitty said, adding that a public health hub will be set up at Heathrow Airport from Friday made up of clinicians and other public health ..

14 tested and cleared for coronavirus in UK, most tests underway

A coalition of nine rebel groups from two conflict areas in Sudan on Friday signed a preliminary agreement with the government after weeks of talks in a key step towards a final peace deal.
The peace talks began in October in South Sudan and aim to end conflicts in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where rebels have fought bloody campaigns against marginalisation by Khartoum under ousted president Omar al-Bashir.
The latest deal covers key issues around land, giving local authorities the right to make their own laws, power sharing, and the creation of a unified national army.
It was signed by groups from the Blue Nile area and Darfur, however rebels from South Kordofan -- who are demanding an autonomous state -- did not as they press further demands.
"With this agreement, there (are) so many details including the issues of land that (were) resolved," said Adi Idriss, chairman of the coalition, the Sudan Revolutionary Front.
The agreement also addressed legislature for the two ...

Sudan rebel groups ink key deal on security, land, power sharing

Scientists have developed the first treatment for pain using human stem cells, which provides lasting relief in mice in a single treatment, without side effects.
If the treatment is successful in humans, it could be a major breakthrough in the development of new non-opioid, and non-addictive pain management, the researchers said.
"Nerve injury can lead to devastating neuropathic pain and for the majority of patients there are no effective therapies," said Greg Neely, an associate professor at the University of Sydney in Australia.
"This breakthrough means for some of these patients, we could make pain-killing transplants from their own cells, and the cells can then reverse the underlying cause of pain," Neely said in a statement.
The study, published in the journal Pain, used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from bone marrow to make pain-killing cells in the lab.
The iPSCs are cells which can develop into many different cell types in the body during early life, and 

First pain treatment using human stem cells developed

K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer smashed quick-fire half-centuries, while skipper Virat Kohli made 45 as India defeated New Zealand by six wickets in the first T20 International to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series here on Friday.
Chasing a challenging 204-run target, Rahul smashed 56 off 27 balls and together with Kohli shared 99 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the chase.
Later, Iyer (58 not out off 29 balls) and Manish Pandey (14 not out) remained unbeaten as India chased down the target with an over to spare.
Earlier, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor smashed scintillating half-centuries to power New Zealand to a challenging 203 for five.
Opener Munro blasted six fours and two sixes in his 42-ball 59, while skipper Williamson treated the Indian bowlers with equal disdain, hitting them out of the park four times in his 26-ball 51.
Taylor then clobbered an unbeaten 54 off 27 balls. His innings was laced with three sixes and as many fours.
Opener ...

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