Selasa, 28 Januari 2020

Impeachment Trial LIvestream: Final Day Of Trump's Defense - NPR

Alan Dershowitz, an attorney for President Trump, speaks during the impeachment trial against Trump in the Senate on Monday. Senate Television via AP hide caption

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Senate Television via AP

Shortly before winding down Monday night's arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz addressed the elephant in the room: whether potential testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton would alter the course of the proceeding.

Dershowitz was the first member of the president's defense team to directly acknowledge how recent Bolton news had consumed Washington, as speculation raged over the Senate possibly calling him as a witness.

Bolton's possible first-hand account of the events at the heart of the impeachment trial? Not necessary, argued Dershowitz.

"Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense," he said.

Democrats need to convince at least four Republicans to defect from their party's leadership in order to support a subpoena of Bolton, a threshold that Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said on Monday appeared "increasingly likely."

That assessment comes in light of Bolton reportedly writing in his forthcoming book that Trump directly linked the freezing of $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine launching investigations into Trump's main political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden.

Also on Monday, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told NPR that he too believes the Senate is now inching closer to having enough votes to bring Bolton into the chamber for live testimony.

"I'm already hearing a number of Republicans who are moving toward voting to at least hear from John Bolton, if not other witnesses," he said. "I think there'll be more," said King, referring to the four GOP votes Democrats need to call Bolton. "My bold prediction will be five or 10."

On Tuesday, the Trump team will carry out its final day of the president's defense.

The trial will resume at 1 p.m. ET. Watch live here when it begins.

The House impeached Trump for abuse of power for asking Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rivals, allegedly using $391 million in vital security assistance to pressure the country into launching the probes. House Democrats also impeached Trump for obstruction of Congress for the White House's refusal to cooperate with impeachment investigators.

But on Monday, Trump's defense team offered vastly different version of events, arguing that the president's freezing of military aid was done out of a legitimate concern over corruption in Ukraine, pointing out that the congressionally approved funding was eventually released.

Eric Herschmann, another Trump defense lawyer, maintained that the hold-up in military aid was not as consequential as Democrats have portrayed it to be.

"It is absurd on its face. Not one American life was in jeopardy or lost by the short delay, and they know it," Herschmann said.

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Ken Starr, who is defending Trump and who led the investigation into then-President Bill Clinton that triggered Clinton's impeachment, made the case that Trump's impeachment, the third impeachment trial in American history, shows that "we are living in what aptly can be described as the age of impeachment," adding the process is "filled with acrimony and divides the country like nothing else."

Starr, whose impeachment investigation of Clinton resulted in acquittal, framed impeachment in dramatic terms.

"Like war, impeachment is hell, or at least, presidential impeachment is hell," he said.

The defense team also used Monday to attack the Biden family, playing a television interview with Joe Biden's son, Hunter, answering questions about his time as a board member of the energy company Burisma when his father was vice president.

Trump defense lawyer Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, ran through a long timeline of events suggesting that Hunter Biden's involvement with Burisma was questionable enough to justify Trump's concerns about possible corruption.

Neither Joe Biden nor his son have been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Ukraine and Burisma.

Yet Bondi cited news outlets that have covered the Bidens and the energy company before saying: "they all thought there was cause to raise the issue about the Bidens and Burisma."

Added Bondi: "The House managers might say, without evidence, that everything we just said has been debunked, that the evidence points entirely and unequivocally in the other direction. That is a distraction," Bondi said. "They don't believe that there was any concern to raise here," she said. "And all we're saying is that there was a basis to talk about this, to raise this issue."

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Joe Biden, characterized Bondi's presentation as a "conspiracy theory" that has been "conclusively refuted."

"Joe Biden was instrumental to a bipartisan and international anti-corruption victory. It's no surprise that such a thing is anathema to President Trump," Bates said in a statement.

Meanwhile in the Senate, lawmakers struggled on Monday to push through the daylong presentations by Trump's legal team.

Senators appeared more worn down than last week, giving way to yawns, or strolls into the cloakroom for extended breaks.

Once Trump's legal team rests, the trial will then move to the questions phase in which senators submit in writing questions to the prosecution or defense that the Chief Justice John Robert will read aloud.

After the questions wrap up, senators will then take up whether to call witnesses.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead Trump prosecutor, has said that the White House's attempt to block witnesses from the impeachment process is proof of a cover-up. On Monday, Schiff added to those contentions, saying on CNN that lawmakers interested in fully assessing the impeachment charges should want to hear Bolton's side of the story.

"I don't know how you can explain that you wanted a search for the truth in this trial and say you don't want to hear from a witness who had a direct conversation about the central allegation in the articles of impeachment," Schiff said.

NPR's Scott Detrow and Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.

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2020-01-28 10:01:00Z
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Taliban repel Afghan forces' bid to reach U.S. plane crash site - Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan forces and Taliban fighters clashed in a central region where a U.S. military aircraft crashed, officials said on Tuesday, as the government tried to reach the wreckage site in a Taliban stronghold.

The wreckage of an airplane is seen after a crash in Deh Yak district of Ghazni province, Afghanistan January 27, 2020.

On Monday, the U.S. military said an E-11A aircraft crashed in the province of Ghazni, but disputed Taliban claims to have brought it down, without saying how many were aboard or if any had been killed.

Security forces were sent to the site immediately after receiving a report of the crash in the Deh Yak district, but were ambushed by Taliban fighters, Ghazni provincial police chief Khalid Wardak told Reuters.

“As per our information, there are four bodies and two onboard were alive and they are missing,” Wardak said, adding that the forces subsequently received an order to retreat and airborne action is to be taken instead.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said Afghan forces backed by U.S. military support had tried to capture the area around the crashed aircraft and clashed with fighters of the Islamist militant group.

The attempt was repelled, however, he told Reuters, but added that the Taliban would allow a rescue team access to recover bodies from the crash site.

“Taliban fighters on the ground counted six bodies at the site of the U.S. airplane crash,” he said, adding that while there could have been more, the militant group could not be certain, as fire had reduced everything to ashes.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, U.S. officials said the plane was carrying fewer than five when it crashed, with one official saying initial information showed there were at least two.

The site has not been visited by U.S. officials or any other members of the international force in Afghanistan, but the Taliban claim to have brought down the plane is misleading, a U.S. defense official told Reuters on Tuesday, adding that a preliminary probe showed there was a mechanical error.

The crashed aircraft, built by Bombardier Inc, is used to provide communication capabilities in remote locations.

Additional reporting by Rumpam Jain; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

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2020-01-28 08:09:00Z
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Afghan plane crash: US jet comes down in Taliban territory - BBC News

The US military has confirmed one of its planes crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.

Col Sonny Leggett said: "While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire."

The aircraft crashed in Deh Yak district, Ghazni province, an area with a strong Taliban presence.

It is unclear how many people were on board.

Col Leggett denied Taliban claims that additional aircraft had crashed.

Taliban social media accounts have posted unverified footage showing a burnt-out plane with US Air Force markings.

The video shows a Bombardier E-11A - the type of jet used by the US Air Force for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan.

Afghan authorities had initially said the crash plane belonged to state-owned airline Ariana, but the company quickly said all its planes were accounted for.

While helicopters have proven vulnerable and accident-prone in Afghanistan, the loss of a US fixed-wing aircraft is relatively rare.

But the Taliban are not believed to have the sorts of anti-aircraft missiles needed to bring down a high-flying aircraft.

The plane involved is an E-11A, one of only four in the whole US Air Force.

Essentially it is an adapted Bombardier executive jet, chosen for its ability to fly at high altitude and with extended range. It is packed with electronics: its job is to enable better communications between air and ground forces, and between different types of aircraft operating in difficult terrain or using incompatible data links.

It is a bit like the wi-fi range extender that you install in a room with a poor signal. The aircraft - along with similar electronics mounted on unmanned systems - have played an important role in the Afghan conflict, where the mountainous landscape is a major problem for modern military communications.

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2020-01-28 04:36:36Z
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Senin, 27 Januari 2020

China coronavirus death toll climbs to 80 as government scrambles to contain outbreak - NBC News

The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak in China rose to 80 Monday as the government, scrambling to contain the epidemic, extended the Lunar New Year holiday to try and stop people from traveling.

The death toll stood at 56 on Sunday, according to health officials who have warned that the spread of the virus was accelerating.

Officials with China’s National Health Commission said there were 2,744 confirmed cases — up from 1,975 — of which 461 are considered severe. Officials are also investigating 5,794 suspected cases and tracking over 32,000 close contacts with infected patients.

Health officials in the capital, Beijing, said Sunday that the youngest patient was just nine months old.

Workers wearing protective clothing disinfect a residential area in Ruichang, in China's central Jiangxi province.AFP - Getty Images

Cases of the virus have been reported on four continents, including in the U.S. where the fifth case was confirmed Sunday. All of the U.S. cases are patients who have recently traveled from Wuhan.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said they expected many more cases in the coming days, likely including person-to-person spread; but said that the immediate risk to the U.S. general public is low.

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No deaths have been reported outside China.

The city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of outbreak, was still on lockdown with more than a dozen neighboring cities facing similar severe transport restrictions to help stop the spread of the virus.

Health officials are asking anyone who had traveled to Wuhan or other affected areas recently to register and quarantine themselves for 14 days.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, which has had eight confirmed cases, has barred residents of Hubei province and anyone who visited the area in the past 14 days from entering the city.

John McGory, a teacher at Jianghan University in Wuhan, told NBC News over the weekend that the city felt “like The Twilight Zone" as the lockdown continued.

“Today, I went out to get some bottled water and there's absolutely nobody on the streets. And this is a city of 11 million people,” McGory, 65, said.

The limitations on movement for millions of people come amid one of the busiest times of the year for travel — Chinese Lunar New Year. Chinese officials extended the week-long holiday until to Feb. 2 to reduce mass gatherings and slow down the spread of the virus.

Local authorities in Wuhan have also announced they were suspending all passport and visa services for Chinese citizens until at least Jan. 30 to help control the virus.

Chinese health officials have warned that people who are carrying the virus but not showing any symptoms may still be contagious, which could complicate early detection and isolation efforts.

The State Department has said it would evacuate its personnel and some private U.S. citizens on a plane departing from Wuhan to San Francisco Tuesday.

Other countries, including France, Australia, Spain, Iraq and Japan, are also looking into moving their citizens out of the city.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is due to hold a special meeting with officials in Beijing Monday to discuss how to contain the virus. The WHO officials ruled last week that the outbreak did not yet constitute a global health emergency.

Reuters reported Monday that China has allocated nearly $9 billion to help contain the virus.

Jan. 25, 202002:00

Over the weekend, President Xi Jinping said the country was facing a "grave situation."

State media reported that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Wuhan Monday. The senior official has been “entrusted" personally by Xi to visit the city and inspect the ongoing efforts to contain the epidemic.

Yuliya Talmazan reported from London; Eric Baculinao from Manila; Leou Chen from Shenzhen.

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2020-01-27 14:48:00Z
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Three rockets hit US Embassy compound in Baghdad, US official says - CNN

The official said the injury was minor and the individual had since returned to duty.
A State Department spokesperson said Sunday evening that they "are aware of reports of rockets landing in the International Zone," but did not address the US embassy itself. The State Department did not respond to a query as to whether any embassy employees were injured.
"We call on the Government of Iraq to fulfill its obligations to protect our diplomatic facilities," the spokesperson said.
There have been numerous rocket attacks on Baghdad's Green Zone, where the embassies of the US and several other western countries are located, and the area surrounding it in recent months. However, the whole of Iraq is on a heightened state of alert as tensions between the US and Iran have dramatically increased in recent weeks after the US killing of key Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory missile attack on an Iraqi base housing US troops.
The State Department did not directly blame Tehran for the rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital, but the spokesperson's statement made reference to Iranian threats in the region and past attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US interests. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
"The security situation remains tense and Iranian-backed armed groups remain a threat. So, we remain vigilant," the spokesperson said. Since September there have been more than 14 attacks by Iran and Iranian-supported militias on US personnel in Iraq, according to the State Department.
The spokesperson said the State Department would not comment further on the security situation in Baghdad.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, said in a tweet Sunday that he is "closely monitoring reports of a rocket attack targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad."
"Violent acts against our diplomatic facilities are simply unacceptable. We must ensure the safety of American diplomats, troops and other Americans in Iraq."
Adil Abdul Mahdi, the prime minister of Iraq, condemned the attack and said Iraqi forces have been ordered to "deploy, search, and investigate to prevent the recurrence of such attacks, and to arrest those who launched these rockets so that they can be punished."
The Prime Minister said the Iraqi government is "committed to protecting all diplomatic missions and taking all necessary measures to achieve this."

Escalating tensions

Baghdad's Green Zone was initially carved out of central Baghdad by US-led forces after their invasion of Iraq in 2003 and is largely viewed as a safe location, despite frequently being the target of rocket attacks.
Earlier this month, the US embassy was the site of mass protests in response to US airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia group at the end of December.
Those strikes were launched in retaliation to attacks by an Iranian-backed Shia militia group known as Kataib Hezbollah, which had injured numerous American military personnel, according to US officials.
In early January, Iran fired a number of missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the American strike that killed Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad International airport.
On Friday the Pentagon revealed that 34 US service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following the Iranian missile attack.
This story has been updated with additional details.

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2020-01-27 12:08:00Z
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Survivors return to Auschwitz 75 years after liberation - NBC News

When more than 200 survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp gather there on Monday to mark 75 years since its liberation, many will do so for the last time.

Elderly survivors from the United States, Israel, Australia, South America, Russia, Slovenia and elsewhere will be among presidents, prime ministers and royalty from across the globe who will join the ceremony in southern Poland, which was under Nazi occupation during World War II.

The event will recall the moment Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army on Jan. 27, 1945.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and the head of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, will lead a commemoration for the more than one million people slaughtered at Auschwitz, the vast majority of whom were Jewish.

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A delegation of survivors of the Auschwitz and their families arrive to lay wreaths at the camp's execution wall on Monday.Sean Gallup / Getty Images

World leaders gathered in Jerusalem last week for a separate event to commemorate the Holocaust. Poland's Duda boycotted that event over a disagreement with Russia over Poland's role in triggering World War II.

“This is about survivors. It’s not about politics,” Lauder said Sunday as he went to the death camp with several survivors.

Lauder warned that leaders must do more to fight anti-Semitism, including by passing new laws to combat it.

Many of the survivors lost parents and grandparents in Auschwitz or other Nazi death camps and some will be saying kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, some alongside their own children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren.

“I have no graves to go to and I know my parents were murdered here and burned. So this is how I pay homage to them,” said Yvonne Engelman, a 92-year-old who came from Australia, joined by three more generations now scattered around the globe.

She recalled being brought in from a ghetto in Czechoslovakia by cattle car, being stripped of her clothes, shaved and put in a gas chamber. By some miracle, the gas chamber that day did not work, and she went on to survive slave labor and a death march.

A 96-year-old survivor, Jeanette Spiegel, was 20 when she was brought to Auschwitz, where she spent nine months. Today she lives in New York City and is fearful of rising anti-Semitic violence in the United States.

“I think they pick on the Jews because we are such a small minority and it is easy to pick on us,” she said, fighting back tears. “Young people should understand that nothing is for sure, that some terrible things can happen and they have to be very careful. And that, God forbid, what happened to the Jewish people then should never be repeated.”

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2020-01-27 10:22:00Z
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China coronavirus: All you need to know in 500 words - Al Jazeera English

Health authorities around the world are grappling with an outbreak of a new coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

At least 81 people have died in China and almost 3,000 have been infected worldwide.

More:

Here is what you need to know:

What is a coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

They circulate in animals and some can be transmitted between animals and humans. There are several known coronaviruses circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

The new coronavirus has been named novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). It is the seventh coronavirus known to affect humans.

What are the symptoms?

Common signs of infection include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. 

In more severe cases infection can cause pneumonia, SARS, kidney failure and death.

The incubation period of the new coronavirus is thought to be between one and 14 days. The virus is contagious before symptoms appear.

Coronavirus

How many people are affected?

Eighty-one people have died in China and 2,744 have been infected, according to official figures and state media.

Elsewhere, cases have been confirmed in Australia, France, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Canada has also reported one "presumptive confirmed case".

Where did it come from?

China alerted WHO to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan on December 31.

The new coronavirus is thought to have originated in a seafood market, where wildlife was also sold illegally.

Scientists comparing the genetic sequences of the new coronavirus with those of other known coronaviruses have suggested that it likely originated in snakes.

What we know so far about coronavirus

What's happening in China now?

Efforts to contain the outbreak have caused major disruption in China, with almost 20 cities facing travel restrictions, affecting at least 56 million people. Screening stations have been set up at bus, train and plane terminals nationwide.

China has also introduced a ban in wildlife trade and extended the Lunar New Year holiday until February 2 to prevent transmission accelerating when people return from holidays.

The US, Japan and several European countries are working to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, and the wider Hubei province in some cases.

Should I be worried? And what can I do to protect myself?

WHO has acknowledged that the virus is an emergency in China but said on January 23 that it was too early to declare it a public health emergency of international concern. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the agency's chief, has arrived in Beijing to meet government and health officials.

Follow local guidelines on measures to keep safe.

WHO recommends basic hand hygiene such as washing your hands with soap and water, and making sure to cover your mouth with your elbow when sneezing or coughing.

Avoid unnecessary, unprotected contact with animals and be sure to thoroughly wash your hands after contact with one. 

Make sure any meat you consume is cooked thoroughly.

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2020-01-27 10:30:00Z
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