North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — His 17-day holiday stay at his Florida resort over, President Donald Trump has returned to the White House facing twin challenges: the fallout from the strike he ordered to kill an Iranian general and his looming impeachment trial in the Senate.

The dueling images — one of potential chaos in the Middle East, the other a politicized ritual occurring for only the third time in the nation’s history — will shape a defining month of Trump’s presidency, one that comes just before the first votes of the 2020 campaign are cast.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insists that Iranian cultural sites are fair game for the U.S. military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law. He also warned Iraq that he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian official.

WASHINGTON, January 5. /TASS/: Undefined people hacked an American government website on Saturday posting statements supporting Iran and against US President Donald Trump on its home page.

American users clicking on the American Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) portal late on Saturday were greeted with a "message from the Islamic Republic of Iran." "We will not stop supporting our friends in the regions, the oppressed people of Palestine, Yemen, Bahrain, the people and government of Syria and Iraq," it said.

OTTAWA, Jan 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Canadian-commanding NATO mission in Iraq, has suspended its training task, after a U.S. airstrike killed an Iranian commander, Canadian newspaper, The Globe reported.

A senior Canadian government official was quoted as describing the move as a “tactical pause.”

The NATO mission, run by Canadian General, Jennie Carignan, is reportedly a “non-combat, advisory and training” mission.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rose McGowan’s tweet that apologized on behalf of the U.S. to Iran for “disrespecting their flag and people” in the wake of an airstrike that killed the country’s top general was not anti-American, the actress said in the face of harsh criticism.

“I don’t support Iran over America. I want America to be better,” McGowan said during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

MISSISSIPPI, USA (AP) --- Mississippi authorities were searching for two prisoners believed to have escaped Saturday from one of several prisons rocked by violence that has left at least five inmates dead in the past week.

Gov. Phil Bryant on Saturday said via Twitter that he has directed “the use of all necessary assets and personnel” to find the two inmates who escaped from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Demonstrators in dozens of cities around the U.S. gathered Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s killing of an Iranian general and decision to send thousands of additional soldiers to the Middle East.

More than 70 planned protests were organized by CODEPINK and Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, a U.S.-based anti-war coalition, along with other groups.

From Tampa to Philadelphia and San Francisco to New York, protesters carried signs and chanted anti-war slogans.

USA (AP) — The Samples were a black Chicago family, with six children and few resources. The priest helped them with tuition, clothes, bills. He offered the promise of opportunities — a better life.

He also abused all the children.

They told no one. They were afraid of not being believed and of losing what little they had, said one son, Terrence Sample. And nobody asked, until a lawyer investigating alleged abuses by the same priest prompted him to break his then 33-year silence.

“Somebody had to make the effort,” Sample said. “Why wasn’t it the church?”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate seems certain to keep President Donald Trump in office thanks to the overwhelming GOP support expected in his impeachment trial. But how that trial will proceed — and when it will begin — remains to be seen.

Democrats are pushing for the Senate to issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents, pointing to reports that they say have raised new questions about Trump’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — Hundreds of U.S. soldiers deployed Saturday from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Kuwait to serve as reinforcements in the Middle East amid rising tensions following the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general.

Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, told The Associated Press 3,500 members of the division’s quick-deployment brigade, known officially as its Immediate Response Force, will have deployed within a few days. The most recent group of service members to deploy will join about 700 who left earlier in the week, Burns said.