VOA NEWS

February 7, 2020

This is VOA news. I'm David Byrd.



President Donald Trump spent Thursday taking a victory lap after his impeachment trial acquittal and it started at an unlikely place. We get details from AP's Sagar Meghani at the White House.

At the annual National Prayer Breakfast, Harvard professor Arthur Brooks reminded the crowd of what Jesus said about your enemies. "Love them," and political opponents, "They are not stupid, and they are not evil."

The president sat near Brooks and disagreed. "But I don't know if Arthur is going to like what I'm going to say."

He stunned the crowd by ripping the impeachment process and those behind it. "... some very dishonest and corrupt people," including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi four seats away.

Here at the White House later, the president deep called his opponents evil and "scum" and "sleazebags" among other things.

Sagar Meghani, at the White House.



The Democratic National Committee is calling for a recanvass of the results of Monday's Iowa caucus with the first primary in the nation in New Hampshire just days away. AP's Ed Donahue reports.

Results slowly came out. There were technical issues. DNC Chair Tom Perez said on Twitter, "Enough is enough."

There was a coding error. Backup phone lines for reporting the outcomes were jammed. Many were placed on hold for hours.

The numbers in Iowa show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in the virtual tie. Iowa had been promoted as a chance for Democrats to find dome clarity in a jumbled presidential field.

Much of the political world now has shifted to New Hampshire and Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.

Ed Donahue, Washington.



U.S. stocks gained for a fourth straight session Thursday, with Wall Street's main indexes hitting record highs as concerns eased over the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak in China. The Dow was up three-tenths of a percent. The S&P rose by one-third of one percent. The NASDAQ gained two-thirds of one percent.



This is VOA news.



Chinese state television reports the number of deaths from the coronavirus outbreak has risen to 618 as of Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of cases in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, continued to climb. AP's Karen Chammas reports.

Chinese health authorities reported hundreds of deaths in another sharp jump in the number of confirmed cases to over 28,000.

Outside mainland China, at least 260 cases have been confirmed.

China's ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming said China is aware of its responsibility to ???take the global community.

"China is doing its best to safeguard global health ...."

The outbreak has also snared to cruise ships, with the passengers and crew now quarantined on the docked vessels in Hong Kong and Japan.

Ten new passengers including two Americans confirmed to have the virus were escorted off the Diamond Princess at a port near Tokyo after ten others were taken off the previous day.

I'm Karen Chammas.



Syria government forces battled rebels and weathered Turkish artillery barrages Thursday as they entered a key town in northwestern Idlib province. As Lucy Fielder reports, tensions between Moscow, Ankara and Damascus continue.

Turkey's foreign minister is warning Russia that it must stem the Syrian government attacks immediately, adding that Ankara is determined to stop what it calls a human drama unfolding Idlib.

President Bashar al-Assad's swift military advance there has also caused yet another exodus of civilians towards the Turkish border.

Russia, meanwhile, said militants in Turkey's "zone of responsibility" were attacking Syrian government forces and the Russian military, confirming some of its troops were killed.

Syrian forces backed by airstrikes have encircled and entered the town of Saraqeb, witnesses and observers say. It lies at the junction of two main roads that Assad wants to bring under his control.

Fighting in Idlib has accelerated despite several cease-fire attempts, the latest in January.

That's Lucy Fielder of Reuters.



And President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States would formally initiate trade talks with Kenya, adding that he would probably sign a deal with the East African country.

The announcement made at a White House meeting between Trump and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta directs U.S. Trade Representative [rod...] Robert Lighthizer, that is, to issue a formal notification to Congress under the "fast-track" trade negotiating law.

Kenyatta on Wednesday said his country is keen to secure its economic future ahead of the expiration of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows countries in sub-Saharan African to export thousands of products to the United States without tariffs or quotas until 2025.



For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd, VOA news.