TOP STORIES

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Friday, January 24

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SCHIFF SPEECH STIRS SENATE House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) delivered an impassioned appeal on the floor of the Senate, imploring Republicans to vote to remove President Donald Trump from office because he’ll put himself ahead of the nation’s interests. [HuffPost]

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GRAHAM: HE DID NOTHING WRONG IN HIS MIND Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)came up with a bizarre explanation for why Trump shouldn’t be removed from office: He didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. “If thought he was doing something wrong, he would probably shut up about it,” Graham told reporters. [HuffPost]

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FIRST CORONAVIRUS DEATHS OUTSIDE OUTBREAK'S EPICENTER

China’s National Health Commission says the number of cases of a new respiratory virus has risen to over 800, with 26 deaths, including two outside the outbreak's epicenter. Travel restrictions affect 35 million people. [CNN]

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TRUMP RESORT SPIKES ROOM RATES AHEAD OF HIS VISIT The president’s Miami golf resort that puts money into his pocket more than doubled its room rates just before the White House announced his Thursday visit ― possibly increasing taxpayer costs for staff who must travel there in advance. [HuffPost]

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U.S. DECLINES TO EXTRADITE DIPLOMAT'S WIFE IN FATAL UK CRASH The United States refused to extradite a diplomat’s wife whose wrong-way driving killed a teenage motorcyclist in England. Anne Sacoolas and her family retreated to the U.S. just weeks after the Aug. 27 crash that left 19-year-old Harry Dunn dead. She faces charges in the U.K. if she's forced to return. [HuffPost]

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KOALA RESCUERS SHARE MOVING RECOVERY STORIES Peter Luker, a volunteer firefighter and animal caretaker with the Ipswich Koala Protection Society, has seen horrific things this fire season ― but currently has the pleasure of watching little Maryanne, a baby koala who lost her mother and a claw, make a full recovery. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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DEMS LAY OUT LEGAL BASIS FOR REMOVING TRUMP FROM OFFICE Democrats laid out their case before the Senate for why Trump should be removed from office for abusing his power by pressuring the government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election for his own benefit. They used the words of Trump’s own allies ― including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) ― to make their point. [HuffPost]

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WHO: CORONAVIRUS NOT A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY The World Health Organization says a viral illness in China that has sickened hundreds of people is not yet a global health emergency. The decision came after Chinese authorities moved to lock down three cities and canceled major events in Beijing to try to contain the coronavirus. [AP]

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ANNABELLA SCIORRA GIVES GRAPHIC TESTIMONY AT WEINSTEIN TRIAL “I was punching him, I was kicking him, I was trying to get him away from me,” actress Anabella Sciorra told a packed courtroom at Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial. But, she said, “He got on top of me and he raped me.” [HuffPost]

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UKRANIAN JET VICTIM RAN SUSPICIOUS COMPANY A passenger killed on the Ukrainian jet downed by Iranian missiles earlier this month was a businesswoman who was the boss of two companies cited in a U.N. report for links to the shadowy arms trade supplying the protracted civil war in Libya. [CNN]

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THUNBERG RIPS MNUCHIN FOR SAYING SHE NEEDS DEGREE Greta Thunberg schooled Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin after he said she needs a college degree in economics before he’ll take her seriously about climate change. “It doesn’t take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up,” she tweeted. [HuffPost]

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'CRYING NAZI' ARRESTED IN EXTORTION ATTEMPT Federal authorities have arrested “crying Nazi” Christopher Cantwell for a violent and vulgar threat he allegedly made last year in an apparent attempt to extort information about a rival neo-Nazi, new court documents reveal. [HuffPost]

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