This is VOA news. I'm David Byrd.
House Democrats are making their case in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the U.S. Senate. We get more from AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani. They'll have 24 hours of opening arguments spread over three days. "The House believes that an impartial juror, upon hearing the evidence that the managers will lay out in the coming days, will find that the Constitution demands the removal of Donald J. Trump." Head impeachment manager Adam Schiff says the facts are indisputable that the president abused his power to seek foreign election help and then tried to cover it up. Republicans like Lindsey Graham are not ???. "... you've got an uphill battle with me." The partisan lines are drawn in the Senate and across the nation. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds while the public is slightly more likely to say the Senate should remover the president, Americans on both sides are set in their stances and doubt the trial will do anything to change that. Sagar Meghani, Washington. The Trump administration is expected to place new visa restrictions on so-called "birth tourism." We get more from AP's Ed Donahue. The new rules will make it more difficult for pregnant women to travel to the U.S. on tourist visas. Birth tourism is a lucrative business. It involves women traveling to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a coveted passport. Sources tell the AP women would have to convince a consular officer that they have a legitimate reason to come to the country. Under the Constitution, anyone born in the U.S. is considered a citizen There are questions about how officers would determine whether a woman is pregnant to begin with and whether a woman would get turned away by border officers who suspect she may be pregnant just by looking at her. Ed Donahue, Washington. For more on these stories, be sure to visit our website voanews.com. This is VOA news. China cut off all urban transport networks into and out of Wuhan Wednesday as a global alarm amounts, mounts, that is, a new flu-like virus spreading in and beyond China. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said it will decide Thursday whether to declare a global emergency over the outbreak. Reuters' Zachary Goelman reports. Deaths from China's new coronavirus rose to 17 on Wednesday, with more than 540 cases confirmed. The previously unknown coronavirus strain is believed to have emerged from an animal market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. State media reported the city of nine million is closing its transport networks and advising citizens not to leave the city. Cases have cropped up in Beijing, Shanghai, South Korea, Japan and at least one in the United States. Travelers from China to the U.S. are now screened at five American airports. "The risk to the United States for this to be a big problem or even a problem at all is very low." Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health said the NIH was taking the outbreak seriously but that the American public needn't panic. That's Zachary Goelman reporting. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new government Tuesday. Francesca Lynagh has details. Russia now has a new government. Approved by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, it keeps many veteran and senior ministers in place but brings in a new economy minister and a new first deputy prime minister. "I sincerely wish you success. Not only you are invested in your own success, not only all of United States in this hall now, but the entire country is invested in it." The new government was formed less than a week after Putin unveiled a sweeping shakeup of the political system, which led to the resignation of Dmitri Medvedev as prime minister along with his entire government. That's Francesca Lynagh reporting. Iran's president told European powers Wednesday not to copy the United States by undermining Tehran's strained nuclear pact with world powers. Emer McCarthy has details. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is telling European powers not to copy the United States by undermining Tehran's strained nuclear pact but also pledged that Tehran would not seek nuclear weapons whether or not the deal survived. Britain, France and Germany launched a dispute mechanism in the deal this month, accusing Iran of violating the deal that has become increasingly frayed since Washington pulled out in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. That's Reuters' Emer McCarthy reporting. For more on these stories and the rest of the day's news, be sure to log on to our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd, VOA news. |