USA

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Wednesday announced the discovery of the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the Southwest border, stretching more than three-quarters of a mile from an industrial site in Tijuana, Mexico, to the San Diego area.

The tunnel featured an extensive rail cart system, forced air ventilation, high voltage electrical cables and panels, an elevator at the tunnel entrance and a drainage system.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) — A judge denied bond Wednesday for a Maryland police officer who has been charged with murder after being accused of fatally shooting a handcuffed man in his patrol car.

Judge Robert Heffron Jr. said he found convincing evidence that Prince George’s County Police Cpl. Michael Owen Jr. posed a danger to the community. Owen’s defense attorney had asked for him to be freed without bond.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — With five days until the Iowa caucuses, Joe Biden is fending off a new onslaught of GOP attacks over his son’s business overseas and facing piling pressure to show Democratic voters he can handle the incoming.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Finally playing an active role at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, senators posed written inquiries that led to pointed, back-and-forth debate Wednesday as Trump’s legal team and House Democratic prosecutors pressed their respective cases.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a striking shift from President Donald Trump’s claims of “perfect” dealings with Ukraine, his defense asserted Wednesday at his Senate trial that a trade of U.S. military aid for political favors — even if proven — could not be grounds for his impeachment.

Trump’s defenders relied o n retired professor Alan Dershowitz, a member of their team, who told senators that every politician conflates his own interest with the public interest. “It cannot be impeachable,” he declared.

(Reuters) - Boeing Co expects nearly $19 billion in costs related to the grounding of its 737 MAX jets, the U.S. planemaker said on Wednesday as it swung to its first annual loss since 1997 and indicated it would again cut production of its bigger 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The Dreamliner widebody is the main source of cash for Boeing as it battles the global grounding of the smaller 737 MAX following two crashes that killed 346 people.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will begin up to two days of questioning the prosecution and defense in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Wednesday, ahead of a crucial vote later in the week on whether to call witnesses.

The questions, which will alternate between Republican and Democratic senators, will be submitted in writing and read aloud by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial to determine if Trump should be removed from office.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- In its first policy meeting of 2020 that began on Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged despite renewed calls by President Donald Trump to cut rates, analysts have said.

"We expect the Fed to remain comfortably on the sidelines during this meeting. Look for the official statement to underscore the good news in the housing market while lamenting the weakness in manufacturing," Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, a major accounting firm, wrote in an analysis last week.

29 Jan 2019; MEMO: The United Nations has raised “serious concern” over what it called “unfair trials” of former members of Daesh by the Iraqi judiciary.

A spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) , Jeremy Laurence, told reporters in Geneva that a joint report was prepared by the United Nations Human Rights Office in Iraq (UNAMI) and OHCHR which covered 794 trials held between 1 May 2018 and 31 October 2019.

29 Jan 2019; MEMO: US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar slammed US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” as “shameful and disingenuous” yesterday.

After the deal was announced in Washington in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with no Palestinians present, progressive politicians and anti-occupation groups condemned the so-called “peace deal”.