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Germany downplays flap over Tunisia invite to Libya summit

The German government on Monday downplayed Tunisia's rejection of a last-minute invitation to a weekend conference on Libya that had ruffled feathers in the North African nation. Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted world powers and other countries that have backed one side or the other in Libya's long-running civil war, in a bid to get those who have influence in Libya on the same page. Libya's two main rival leaders also were invited to Berlin, where they held talks with Merkel and her foreign minister ahead of Sunday's conference.

Meng Wanzhou's freedom on trial as China-U.S. clash plays out in Canada court

VANCOUVER/TORONTO (Reuters) - Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou will be in a Vancouver courtroom on Monday for the first day of her extradition trial, a process expected to take months - possibly years - to decide whether she can be extradited from Canada to the United States. The United States has charged her with bank fraud, and accused her of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's [HWT.UL] business in Iran. Meng, 47 is the daughter of Huawei's billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei and remains free on bail in Canada.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Don't forget these women who helped propel the civil rights movement

As the nation celebrates Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, it is also a time to remember the women who helped King propel the civil rights movement forward. "There would be no King holiday, no civil rights movement, no opportunity to be reflective of how far we’ve come if it wasn’t for scores of women," said Marcia Chatelain, associate professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University. There were women who boycotted, women who organized carpools and held bake sales and women who strategized with King, all of whom helped chart the course of history.

Supreme Court religious rights case has big implications for U.S. schools

Despite wondering every autumn whether she can afford it, Kendra Espinoza has worked hard to keep her two daughters in a small private Christian school in Kalispell, Montana, costing about $15,000 annually for them to attend. On top of her full-time office manager job, Espinoza has worked nights as a janitor in an office building to help pay for tuition, taking her daughters along to instill in them a strong work ethic. If you want something enough in life, Espinoza said, you have to fight for it.

Many involved in mass jail breakout of 75 prisoners who 'walked out of main gate'

At least seventy-five prisoners, including members of Brazil’s most powerful drug cartel, have broken free from a Paraguayan jail in an escape that was likely facilitated by prison officers, officials say.Authorities discovered a narrow tunnel, which was carefully hidden to avoid detection, though it is believed inmates were provided with inside help.

Markets regulators struggling to keep up with technology: SEC's Jackson

The rapid growth of digital assets and computer-driven investment advice has become a key challenge for regulators in trying to keep up with technological advances while seeking to protect investors, a U.S. markets regulator said on Monday. Robert Jackson, a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commision, said the agency was seeking to enact laws that facilitate the changes in technologies. One issue the SEC was grappling with was "robo advisors" - algorithms that help people make investment decisions.

Pitbull attack on elderly woman may have uncovered illegal dog fighting ring

Pitbull attack on elderly woman may have uncovered illegal dog fighting ring originally appeared on abcnews.go.comA vicious pitbull attack on a 71-year-old woman who was looking after 14 dogs at a family member’s property may have accidentally revealed an illegal dog fighting ring.The incident occurred on Saturday, Jan. 18 in York County, South Carolina, when police responded to a home in Hickory Grove to reports of a dog attack.When responding deputies arrived they found a 71-year-old woman lying on the ground after being attacked by a pitbull she was helping take care of. ...

Nigerian artist makes dark skin prosthetics to boost patients' confidence

Michael Sunday is delighted, if a little stunned, as he admires his new right hand: a silicone glove-like prosthetic meant to help him return to normal life after he lost three fingers in a car accident a year ago.

A Trump impeachment lawyer says he will defend the president by arguing that even if he did abuse his power, he hasn't committed any actual crimes

"The vote was to impeach on abuse of power, which is not within the constitutional criteria for impeachment," attorney Alan Dershowitz said.

Militia leaders warn Virginia gun rally could get violent

A pro-gun rally expected to draw thousands around Virginia's capitol building on Monday has authorities bracing for violence, but it also marks shifting battle lines in the U.S. gun debate. "The Virginia election last November was an indictment of guns, and it was not an outlier," said Christian Heyne, who leads legislative efforts at the gun violence prevention group Brady.

Explainer: How Trump's impeachment trial will differ from a criminal one

The U.S. Senate's impeachment trial of President Donald Trump will begin in earnest on Tuesday, when senators may begin hearing opening statements on why he should be removed from office. While senators will serve as jurors, legal experts say an impeachment trial will look fundamentally different from a U.S. criminal proceeding. HOW DOES AN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL WORK?

Democrats mark King's birthday on presidential campaign trail

Democrats locked in a tight race for their party's presidential nomination will mark the holiday that celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. by seeking the support of black voters. U.S. presidential candidates, including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, will spend Monday in Iowa and South Carolina, which are among the first states to hold nominating contests in the race.

Senate's McConnell keeps cool in heated Trump impeachment trial

U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, which begins next week, may pose one of the greatest political challenges Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has faced in more than three decades in Congress. McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, says America's founders created the Senate for moments such as this, to block the "factional fevers" and "runaway passions" of the House of Representatives. The reserved Senate leader, who represents Trump-friendly Kentucky, views with contempt the allegations by the Democratic-controlled House that the Republican president abused his power.

Italy's Salvini dares lawmakers to vote to put him on trial

Italy's right-wing opposition leader Matteo Salvini is daring fellow senators to vote to put him on trial for alleged kidnapping for keeping migrants aboard a rescue ship for days last year when he was interior minister. The Senate commission on parliamentary immunity meets later Monday to decide. Italy's governing center-left parties fear Salvini will exploit any lifting of his immunity for sympathy votes in a Jan. 26 regional election where he hopes his anti-migrant League party will triumph.

Phew! Easing of strike brings relief for Paris commuters

Paris commuters who were careworn after six weeks of misery-inducing transport strikes found their smiles again Monday as some subway workers ended their walkouts against a contested overhaul of France's pension system. A weekend announcement by the subway wing of the UNSA union of a return to work after 46 consecutive days of strikes produced a marked improvement in services as the French capital embarked on a new week Monday. “It was very fluid,” said traveler Eric Lebrun, after taking a train and then riding the metro during the morning rush hour.

BBC's Hall to step down ahead of crunch funding talks with Britain

The BBC's most powerful man will step down in six months to allow a new person to lead negotiations with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government over a new financing model for the publicly funded broadcaster. BBC Director General Tony Hall said he will step down in the summer, ahead of a mid-point review of the broadcaster's charter in 2022 and a negotiation of a new deal when it expires in 2027. Hall, who was appointed director general in 2012, said one leader should oversee both stages of the negotiation.

A Drexel University professor has been charged with stealing $185,000 in government grant money to spend on Philadelphia strip clubs and iTunes

The Philadelphia district attorney's office charged Chikaodinaka Nwankpa with theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception last week.

75 years on, Holocaust survivors struggle to recover property in Poland

WARSAW/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lea Evron, 85, has only fragments of memories of the fur factory and the three-story apartment building her family owned before World War Two in Zywiec, a small town in southern Poland. What she does remember clearly is returning after the war, when most of her family had been killed in the Holocaust. A local woman said to her and her mother "Hitler promised to get rid of all of the Jews, and here they come home," Evron told Reuters in her apartment in New York.

Trump to offer first detailed impeachment defense as pivotal week begins

After refusing to cooperate with the Democratic Party-led impeachment probe in the House of Representatives, President Donald Trump will on Monday offer his first comprehensive defense, before his trial begins in earnest in the Senate. "This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election - now just months away," Trump's lawyers argued in a six-page initial response to the charges on Saturday. Senior administration officials said Monday's document will offer a more detailed and aggressive defense in arguing that Trump is innocent of the charges and should not be removed from office, as Democrats are demanding.

10 years after landmark Citizens United Supreme Court decision, record cash flooding US elections

American elections have long been awash in cash, but a decade after the Supreme Court eliminated limits on political spending by outside groups, watchdogs say the system is drowning in it. Ten years ago this week, the court decided Citizens United v FEC, a landmark 5-4 ruling that unleashed billions of dollars from corporations, labor unions and other groups into American campaigns as a protected form of free speech. "The decision stands for freedom and encourages participation in the political process," said Michael Boos, vice president and general counsel of Citizens United, the conservative nonprofit organization which successfully challenged federal caps on independent political spending.

Authorities brace for massive gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia

Law enforcement officials will be on high alert Monday as activists from around the country are expected to descend on Richmond, Virginia, to rally against the state’s progressive gun control proposals. Gun rights groups such as the Virginia Citizens Defense League and Gun Owners of America are planning a protest on the state’s Lobby Day. Lawmakers in Virginia have proposed a ban on assault rifles and a "red flag" law, which would give officials the power to confiscate weapons from an individual who poses a threat, among other gun control measures.