USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House adviser on Europe and Russia issues has been placed on administrative leave pending a security-related investigation, two people with knowledge of his exit said Sunday.

Andrew Peek was escorted off the White House compound on Friday, according to one of those familiar with his departure.

In response to questions, the National Security Council, the foreign policy unit at the White House, said in a statement that “we do not discuss personnel matters.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s lawyers on Sunday previewed their impeachment defense with the questionable assertion that the charges against him are invalid, adopting a position rejected by Democrats as “nonsense” as both sides sharpened their arguments for trial.

“Criminal-like conduct is required,” said Alan Dershowitz, a constitutional lawyer on Trump’s defense team. Dershowitz said he will be making the same argument to the Senate and if it prevails, there will be “no need” to pursue the witness testimony or documents that Democrats are demanding.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates spent the weekend grappling with how to address questions surrounding sexism and gender bias as they sought to balance support for women against concerns of a political blowback.

After his wife went public with her own experience of sexual assault at the hands of her doctor, businessman Andrew Yang said that “our country is deeply misogynist.” Other White House hopefuls, however, didn’t go so far. Billionaire Tom Steyer said that while systemic sexism exists, he “hopes” half of America is not misogynistic.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — State officials and U.S. hate-monitoring groups are warning about the potential for violence ahead of a gun-rights rally in Virginia that’s expected to draw a mix of militias, firearms advocates and white supremacists to Richmond.

Citing credible threats of violence, Gov. Ralph Northam declared a temporary state of emergency days ahead of Monday’s rally, banning all weapons, including guns, from Capitol Square.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump thanked farmers Sunday for supporting him through a trade war with China as he promoted a new North American trade agreement and a separate one with China that he said will massively benefit farmers.

“We did it,” Trump said, recalling his campaign promises to improve America’s trading relationships with other countries.

At one point during his address to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s convention, Trump said he has strong support among farmers following his signing last week of a preliminary trade deal with China.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is accusing U.S. intelligence agencies of withholding documents from Congress on Ukraine that could be significant to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

“They appear to be succumbing to pressure from the administration,” Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.″ Schiff was selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as the lead impeachment manager for Trump’s Senate trial.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Bernie Sanders said Sunday that outside political groups that can raise and spend unlimited sums backing candidates for public office should be abolished — including those supporting his own bid for the White House.

But the Vermont senator stopped short of directly calling on Our Revolution, a political nonprofit he founded, to cease its efforts on behalf of his Democratic presidential primary campaign.

HONOLULU (AP) — A man shot and killed two police officers Sunday as they responded to a home in a leafy neighborhood beneath the rim of a famed volcanic crater near Waikiki Beach, authorities said.

The officers were responding to a call from a woman who said she needed help and found her with a stab wound to her leg, police said Sunday. The suspect opened fire as police arrived, killing Officers Tiffany Enriquez and Kaulike Kalama, said Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard. She said the suspect as well as two women who were in the home were unaccounted for.

Washington, Jan 19 (AFP/PTI) Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial lasted five weeks; Andrew Johnson's went on for three months in 1868. If the White House and Republicans have their way, President Donald Trump's trial will be over in two weeks, just in time for him to celebrate his expected acquittal in the February 4 State of the Union Address.

But that depends on Republicans being able to block Democrat demands to subpoena documents and witnesses that could strengthen the case against the president.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 18 (APP): The World Health Organization, a U.N. agency has issued a fresh warning about the global threat of drug resistant infections which are on the rise as private investment in new antibiotic development declines.

Some 700,000 people die each year because medicines that once cured their conditions are no long effective. Yet the vast majority of the 60 new antimicrobial products in development worldwide are variations on existing therapies, and only a handful target the most dangerous drug-resistant infections, the agency said in a report.