USA

23 January 2020; AFP: Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun sought to pivot from a bruising period of crisis and scandal on Wednesday, pledging a renewed commitment to safety and transparency and endorsing the long-term viability of the 737 MAX plane.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House impeachment managers, a group of seven House Democrats acting as prosecutors, started making their opening arguments Wednesday on why President Donald Trump should be convicted and removed from office, as an impeachment trial in the Senate entered the second day.

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States announced its first case of a new virus that has claimed at least 17 lives in China and sickened hundreds, joining countries around the world in ramping up measures to block its spread.

The man, a US resident in his 30s who lives near Seattle in Washington state, is in good condition, according to federal and state officials, and approached authorities himself after reading about the SARS-like virus in news reports.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — The rivalry between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders is deepening as the Democratic presidential candidates are increasingly at loggerheads over their support of Social Security, signaling a battle ahead that could last well beyond the Iowa caucuses.

Biden’s campaign released a video late Tuesday accusing Sanders of “dishonest” attacks, while Sanders’ official Twitter account countered: “Let’s be honest, Joe. One of us fought for decades to cut Social Security, and one of us didn’t.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats launched into marathon arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday, appealing to skeptical Republican senators to join them in voting to oust Trump from office to “protect our democracy.”

Trump’s lawyers sat by, waiting their turn, as the president blasted the proceedings from afar, threatening jokingly to face off with the Democrats by coming to “sit right in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are sharply divided along party lines about whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office, and they doubt the Senate impeachment trial will do anything to change their minds, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Overall, the public is slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%. But a sizable percentage, 14%, say they don’t know enough to have an opinion.

SEATTLE (AP) — Multiple people opened fire outside a McDonald’s in the busiest part of downtown Seattle during the evening commute Wednesday, killing one person and wounding seven others, police said.

Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said authorities began receiving calls of multiple gunshot victims at about 5 p.m. One person was found dead and five others were taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center by fire and medical personnel, he said.

The person who died was a woman approximately 40 to 50 years old, fire officials told the Seattle Times.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House prosecutors faced fidgeting senators as they rolled out their case against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the trial’s previous session having lasted a fatigue-inducing 13 hours. Trump was busy himself, returning from an international business conference but finding time to send 120-plus tweets that included trial commentary and criticism.

Highlights of Wednesday’s session and what’s ahead as senators conduct just the third impeachment trial of a president:

‘CORRUPT SCHEME’

WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for the Senate’s quaint rules and tradition.

Almost immediately after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled in Wednesday’s session of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, bored and weary senators started openly flouting some basic guidelines in a chamber that prizes decorum.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The challenge is becoming increasingly clear for House Democrats prosecuting President Donald Trump’s impeachment case as the Senate convenes for a second day of arguments in the landmark trial.

No matter how overwhelming the evidence confronting Trump, it becomes less compelling when presented again and again, day after day, as Democrats try to convince not just fidgety senators but an American public deeply divided over the president in an election year.