Domestic Politics
Opening statements in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will begin next week. Trump’s legal team issued its first formal response to the charges against him, denying all allegations in the articles of impeachment and stating that they are “a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election.” Trump and his allies have also spoken of their wish to end the trial before the State of the Union in two weeks, but given overwhelming public support for a fair airing of the charges against him, the timeline seems ambitious. [The Guardian]
James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the psychologists who designed the US “enhanced interrogation” program, are set to testify in open court for the very first time at a pre-trial hearing on the 9/11 attacks before a military tribunal in Guantánamo Bay. Defense lawyers and human rights advocates hope that this will cast more light on the scale of the torture program, the culpability of senior officials and the role of the FBI, which has hitherto presented itself as uninvolved. [The Guardian]
The extradition hearing for Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou has begun in Canada. Meng, 47, is being charged with bank fraud and is accused of misleading the bank HSBC about Huawei Technologies’ business in Iran. Ms. Wanzhou has said that she is innocent, and is fighting extradition. [Reuters]
International Relations
Canada has announced funding to provide humanitarian assistance in flood-affected regions of the Republic of Congo, and to fight Ebola and other crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Brazzaville, $250,000 will be given to the WFP and $40,000 to Caritas to assist the most vulnerable people affected by the floods. In the DRC, $56 million will be distributed to relevant partner organizations across the development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding and stabilization sectors. [Relief Web News]
The United States has imposed sanctions on Brigadier General Hassan Shahvarpour of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Citing multiple media reports and information received from Iranians through a tip line, the US State Department stated that as many as 148 people were killed in November in Mahshahr county in southwest Iran when units under Shahvarpour’s command encircled protesters and opened fire into the crowd without warning. [Reuters]
Science & Technology
SpaceX successfully simulated an emergency landing on Sunday while testing a crucial abort system on an unmanned astronaut capsule. This is a big first step in its goal to fly NASA astronauts for the first time as early as this March. [Reuters]
Boeing has found another software glitch in the grounded 737 MAX that will require additional work and could possibly delay the plane’s return to service. The issue involves the plane software which checks itself to make sure it is receiving valid data. The company has alerted the US Federal Aviation Administration and is notifying its customers and suppliers. [Al Jazeera]
Gender
Thousands from across the country gathered at the White House on Saturday for the fourth annual Women’s March in Washington DC. Pointing at the White House, women and their supporters gave a powerful and defiant rendition of a Chilean performance piece that has become an anthem of the feminist movement worldwide. Chanting “…the oppressive state is a rapist. The rapist is you… Patriarchy is a judge, that judges us for being born, and our punishment is the violence you don't see.." led by members of Chile's Las Tesis feminist collective, protesters held signs demanding action on various issues, from climate change to reproductive rights. [Al Jazeera]
Image Source: CNN