Saturday, February 13, 2021

Six In The Morning Saturday 13 February 2021

 

Senate votes to call witnesses in Trump impeachment trial


The Senate remains in a quorum call as leaders speak to the clerks at the dais.

It’s important to note that Lindsey Graham’s change in vote in the motion to call witnesses does not imply that he’s changed his mind regarding the verdict.

The South Carolina senator, who has met with Trump’s defense team to discuss strategy and plan out the closing argument, has appeared on Fox News in recent days threatening to call the likes of Hillary ClintonNancy PelosiKamala Harris and Muriel Bowser in retaliation.

Conviction remains unlikely as at least 17 Republicans in the 100-seat chamber would have to join all 50 Democrats, but the potential extension of the impeachment trial introduces an element of the unknown to a procedure that appeared headed to a swift conclusion and up-or-down vote in the next few hours.

Japan: 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes near eastern coast


Quake strikes at a depth of 60km in the Pacific off Fukushima but no tsunami warning has been issued

Agence France-Presse in Tokyo
Sat 13 Feb 2021 15.46 GMT

A strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake has taken place off the eastern coast of Japan, but no tsunami warning has been issued, Japanese authorities have said.

The quake on Saturday produced powerful shaking along parts of Japan’s eastern coast, and was felt strongly in Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Japan’s meteorological agency said the quake hit at 11.08pm local time (1408 GMT) at a depth of 60km (37 miles) in the Pacific, off Fukushima – near the epicentre of a 2011 killer quake that triggered a towering tsunami and killed more than 18,000.

Coronavirus: Irish tourists 'booking dental appointments in Tenerife' to get around travel ban


‘We are used to Irish people coming for treatment but we thought it strange the number who are asking for written confirmation of appointments’


Colin Drury@colin__drury


It has sun, sea, sand and, more importantly it seems, dentists willing to confirm appointments by email.

Irish tourists appear to be getting around the country’s travel ban on holidays by booking dental check-ups on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Dozens of travellers at Dublin Airport have been producing letters to show border officials they are not travelling to the Spanish resort for its famed good weather – but, rather, to have their molars and incisors given a once over, according to reports.

Myanmar coup: Neighborhood groups block night arrests

Security forces have stepped up late-night arrests of civil servants, doctors and others. But defiant activists came up with a plan to stop them.

Crowds defied curfews in Myanmar during the night into Saturday, following rumors that police were about to launch a fresh wave of raids on anti-coup activists.

The civil disobedience began hours after a seventh consecutive day of nationwide rallies— the largest so far — ended on Friday.

Demonstrators have held huge daily protests across the country after the military ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi  and seized power on February 1.

SARS is no more, but Nigerians say police abuse still here

Months after official scrapping of notorious police unit in the wake of widespread protests, allegations of abuse of power by police officers persist.


 Ahmed* and three of his friends were returning from a colleague’s birthday celebration at midnight on February 5 when their car was stopped by four police officers at Ketu bus stop in Lagos.

What initially seemed like a routine check quickly took a turn for the worse.

“I parked the car and asked how we could be of help,” said Ahmed, a 31-year-old salesman for a consumer goods company. “They said that we flouted lockdown orders; we insisted there was no such thing. Then one of the [police officers] became furious that we were arguing with him.”



House Republican pleads for Pence, Trump aides to speak out on Jan. 6 insurrection


Kyle Cheney

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans to support Donald Trump's impeachment for inciting the Capitol insurrection, pleaded with those close to the former president — and former vice president Mike Pence — to come forward and reveal what they know about Trump's conduct.

"To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former Vice President: if you have something to add here, now would be the time," Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) wrote in a statement released late Friday, on the eve of what is expected to be the Senate's final vote in Trump's impeachment trial.





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