President Donald Trump on Friday ousted Gordon Sondland, his ambassador to the European Union, who delivered damaging testimony during the impeachment inquiry. Sondland said in a statement that Trump intended to recall him effectively immediately.  The action came hours after Alexander Vindman, the decorated soldier and national security aide who played a central role in the impeachment case, was escorted out of the White House complex. His attorney said Vindman was asked to leave in retaliation for telling the truth.'' The truth has cost Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman his job, his career and his privacy,” David Pressman, the attorney, said in a statement. Twin brother also dismissedThe Army said in a statement that Vindman and his twin brother, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, who also was asked to leave his job as a White House lawyer on Friday, have been reassigned to the Army. Alexander Vindman’s lawyer issued a one-page statement that accused Trump of taking revenge on his client. He did what any member of our military is charged with doing every day: he followed orders, he obeyed his oath and he served his country, even when doing so was fraught with danger and personal peril,'' Pressman said.And for that, the most powerful man in the world — buoyed by the silent, the pliable and the complicit — has decided to exact revenge.” The White House did not respond to Pressman’s accusation. We do not comment on personnel matters,'' said John Ullyot, spokesman for the National Security Council, the foreign policy arm of the White House where Vindman was an expert on Ukraine. FILE - Then-National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 19, 2019.Vindman's status had been uncertain since he testified that he didn't think it wasproperfor Trump todemand that a foreign government investigateformer Vice President Joe Biden and his son's dealings with the energy company Burisma in Ukraine. Vindman's ouster, however, seemed imminent after Trump mocked him Thursday during his post-acquittal celebration with Republican supporters in the East Room and said Friday that he was not happy with him. I’m not happy with him,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. You think I'm supposed to be happy with him? I'm not. ... They are going to be making that decision.'' Vindman, a 20-year Army veteran, wore his uniform full of medals, including a purple heart, when he appeared late last year for what turned out to be a testy televised impeachment hearing. Trump supporters raised questions about the Soviet Jewish immigrant's allegiance to the United States and noted that he had received offers to work for the government of Ukraine — offers Vindman said he swiftly dismissed. I am an American,” he stated emphatically. Trump loyalists cheerTrump backers cheered Vindman’s removal, while Democrats were aghast. The White House is running a two-for-one special today on deep state leakers,'' Representative Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, wrote on Twitter. A Twitter account used by the president's reelection campaign, #TrumpWarRoom, claimed Vindman leaked information to the whistleblower, whose complaint about Trump's call ignited the investigation, andcolluded with Democrats to start the partisan impeachment coup. Former Trump NSC official Tim Morrison testified that others had brought up concerns that Vindman might have leaked something. Vindman, in his own congressional testimony, denied leaking any information. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the firing was another example of how theWhite House runs away from the truth. Lieutenant Colonel Vindman lived up to his oath to protect and defend our Constitution,Schumer said in a statement.This action is not a sign of strength. It only shows President Trump’s weakness.” At last fall’s hearing, when the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Devin Nunes, addressed him as Mr. Vindman,'' the Iraq War veteran replied:Ranking member, it’s Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please. Defense secretary pledges protectionDefense Secretary Mark Esper was asked what the Pentagon would do to ensure that Vindman faces no retribution.We protect all of our service members from retribution or anything like that,Esper said.We’ve already addressed that in policy and other means.” Alexander Vindman is scheduled to enter a military college in Washington, D.C., this summer, and his brother is to be assigned to the Army General Counsel’s Office, according to two officials who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Pressman said Vindman was among a handful of men and women who courageously put their faith in country ahead of fear'' but havepaid a price.” There is no question in the mind of any American why this man's job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House,'' Pressman said.Lieutenant Colonel Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful.” 
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Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011, has drawn in several foreign powers to the country, including the United States, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Here is a map of where the four main foreign players are in the Syrian territory.   
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Jorges Yances art evokes a mysterious interplay between past and present, reality and fantasy a style called magical realism.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has gotten a boost after a four-day visit to Washington where he met with President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials. It’s been a year since the United States and other Western nations threw their support behind Guaido with little success in pushing Nicolas Maduro from power. VOA’s Ardita Dunellari reports on Guaido’s latest diplomacy push to gain new momentum for his opposition movement
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Hollywood’s award season reaches its extravagant finale at the Oscars on Sunday, with war epic “1917” tipped to dispatch a brigade of winners to the stage at the movie industry’s biggest night.Impeccably dressed A-listers and upstart documentary filmmakers will brush shoulders on the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, as months of campaigning for 24 gold statuettes boil down to a single night.The event comes as Hollywood mourns the death of Kirk Douglas, one of cinema’s greats, who died Wednesday aged 103.Sam Mendes’s “1917” launched a late assault on this year’s Academy Awards — it was first shown to voters barely two months ago — but experts predict it could outflank all rivals.The World War I odyssey about two soldiers crossing no-man’s-land — filmed to appear like one continuous shot — has conquered nearly all in its path in the award shows building up to Sunday.It is the favorite for multiple Oscars from best director to cinematography, and the frontrunner for best picture, the night’s top prize.”It falls into traditional Hollywood — it’s what the Oscars like,” Variety awards editor Tim Gray told AFP.”It’s big, it’s epic, but it’s hardly a formula film. It really is a knockout… it’s just filmmaking at its best.”The unique ballot system for best picture — which involves voters ranking films — makes it somewhat tough to predict, and could create an opening for an unlikely candidate.Despite the best efforts of star filmmakers Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”) and Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”), Mendes’ main rival appears to be Bong Joon-ho.The charismatic South Korean director has become Hollywood’s darling in recent weeks, drawing unrivalled crowds at campaign events for his black comedy “Parasite.”The film about a poor family infiltrating a wealthy household looks to be a shoo-in for best international feature — but could also triumph in some of the top categories. ‘No scenario’ The Oscars in the acting categories — usually a subject of agonizing deliberation for industry pundits — appear settled, with the same four stars sweeping up rave reviews and awards all season.Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger are believed to be far ahead of the competition for best actor and best actress.Phoenix underwent a striking transformation to portray the title comic book supervillain in “Joker” — as did Zellweger to play legendary Hollywood diva Judy Garland in “Judy.”Actor Brad Pitt attends a special screening of “Ad Astra” at the National Geographic Museum, Sept. 16, 2019, in Washington.Tinseltown favorites Brad Pitt and Laura Dern have their fingertips on the supporting acting prizes, for their work as a laid-back stuntman (“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”) and a cutthroat divorce lawyer (“Marriage Story”).”I see no scenario where any one of them loses,” Deadline awards columnist Pete Hammond told AFP.”People will say ‘there’s always an Oscars surprise’… but I think those four are going to win it,” agreed Gray.More fiercely contested will be the awards for best screenplay, editing and visual effects, with movies from Nazi satire “Jojo Rabbit” to period drama “Little Women” and even superhero epic “Avengers: Endgame” all in the mix.#OscarsAsUsual The ceremony will go on without a host for a second consecutive time, after last year’s batch of bright guest presenters caused a trend-bucking uplift in TV ratings.This year’s presenter lineup is equally star-studded: Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton will appear alongside previous winners Brie Larson, Olivia Colman and Rami Malek.Elton John, tipped to win the best original song Oscar for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from “Rocketman,” will perform, as will big Grammys winner and upcoming James Bond songstress Billie Eilish.In a possible tip to the ongoing controversy over the lack of female nominees, Irish maestro Eimear Noone will become the first woman to conduct a segment of music during an Oscars telecast.Still, diversity among guest hosts and performers is unlikely to assuage anger over this year’s nominations.Cynthia Erivo arrives at the 92nd Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon at the Loews Hotel on Jan. 27, 2020, in Los Angeles.Cynthia Erivo was the only non-white acting nominee, for anti-slavery biopic “Harriet,” and no women made the best director list.”I wouldn’t call it #OscarsSoWhite but I’d say it’s #OscarsAsUsual,” said Hammond.”A British picture comes in at the end and wins a traditional kind of win, four white actors again… It looks like the Oscars could have been 30 years ago.” 
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Hiring jumped at the beginning of the year as U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs, bolstering an economy that faces threats from China’s viral outbreak, an ongoing trade war and struggles at Boeing.The Labor Department also said Friday that a half-million people streamed into the job market in January, though not all of them found jobs. That influx meant more people were counted as unemployed, and it boosted the jobless rate to 3.6%, from a half-century low of 3.5% in December.The report suggested that businesses remain confident in the economy, with the pace of job growth accelerating from a year ago. Solid consumer spending is offsetting drags from the trade war and declining business investment.Still, hourly pay is up just 3.1% from a year earlier, below a peak of 3.5% reached last fall.  Unusually warm weather likely played a role in strengthening job gains, with construction companies adding 44,000 jobs in January, the most since last year. Better winter weather allows more construction projects to proceed.Manufacturers shed jobs for the third time in four months, cutting 12,000 positions, mostly because of layoffs in auto plants.On Friday, the government also issued its annual revisions of estimated job growth. The revisions showed that hiring was slower in 2018 and early last year than previously estimated. Employers added 2.3 million jobs in 2018, down from a previous estimate of 2.7 million.China’s deadly viral outbreak has sickened thousands and shut down stores and factories in that country. But its impact likely came too late in the month to affect Friday’s U.S. jobs report.Factory hiring, however, might have been slowed by Boeing’s decision to suspend production of its troubled aircraft, the 737 MAX. The aerospace industry last year added about 1,500 jobs a month but will likely shed jobs for at least the first few months of this year.One Boeing supplier, Spirit Aerosystems, has said it will cut 2,800 jobs. Those layoffs occurred after the government’s survey for last month.In the meantime, consumers remain confident about the economy and are spending steadily, benefiting such industries as restaurants, hotels, health care and banking.Manufacturing also grew in January after five months of contraction, according to a survey of purchasing managers by the Institute for Supply Management. Even so, while orders and production grew, factories were still cutting jobs, the survey found. American companies as a whole have cut back sharply on investment and expansion, in part because of Trump’s trade conflicts. That pullback in spending may continue to hamper manufacturers.Still, Americans are buying more homes, buoyed by lower borrowing costs that stem in part from the Federal Reserve’s three interest rate cuts last year. Home construction surged in December to its highest level in 13 years.All told, economists have forecast that the economy will expand at a roughly 2% annual rate in the first three months of this year, roughly the same as its 2.1% annual growth in the final three months of last year.
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Nearly 150,000 homes and businesses in the southeastern United States were without power early Friday after a powerful storm raked the region. At least five people were killed.
    
Florida bore the brunt of the power outages, with nearly 75,000, according to poweroutages.us. The Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia also reported outages, and tornado watches and warnings were in effect Thursday night from northern Florida up through North Carolina.
    
The National Weather Service advised early Friday that the storm system was strengthening in the mid-Atlantic region, bringing snow, ice and rain northward.
    
The weather destroyed mobile homes in Mississippi and Alabama, caused mudslides in Tennessee and Kentucky and flooded communities that shoulder waterways across the Appalachian region. Rain kept falling over a path of splintered trees and sagging power lines that stretched from Louisiana into Virginia. School districts canceled classes in state after state as bad weather rolled through.
    
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Thursday evening because of heavy rains and extreme flooding. More than 500 people in southwestern Virginia were displaced by flooding and needed rescue from their homes, he said in a statement.
   
Meanwhile, the Tennessee Valley Authority warned that people residing near rivers and lakes should prepare for rapidly changing water levels. The TVA is managing rising water behind 49 dams to avert major flooding, but with more rain expected next week, the agency may have to release water downstream, said James Everett, senior manager of the TVA’s river forecast center in Knoxville, Tennessee.
    
Authorities confirmed five storm-related fatalities, in Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.
    
One person was killed and another was injured as high winds destroyed two mobile homes near the town of Demopolis, Alabama, the Storm Prediction Center reported. The victim, Anita Rembert, was in one of the homes with her husband, child and two grandchildren, said Kevin McKinney, emergency management director for Marengo County. A man was injured but the children were unhurt, he said.
    
High winds there left roadsides strewn with plywood, insulation, broken trees and twisted metal. The National Weather Service was checking the site for signs of a tornado.
    
Weather-related crashes left at least four people dead and numerous authorities pleaded with motorists to avoid driving where they couldn’t see the pavement.
    
A driver died in South Carolina when a tree fell on an SUV near Fort Mill, Highway Patrol Master Trooper Gary Miller said. The driver’s name wasn’t immediately released.
    
In North Carolina’s Gaston County, Terry Roger Fisher was killed after his pickup truck hydroplaned in heavy rain, plunged down a 25-foot (8-meter) embankment and overturned in a creek, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said, according to news outlets.
    
An unidentified man died and two others were injured Thursday when a car hydroplaned in Knoxville, Tennessee, and hit a truck, police said in a news release.
   
And in Tennessee, 36-year-old teacher Brooke Sampson was killed and four people were injured when a rain-soaked tree fell on a van carrying Sevierville city employees, officials said. The crash, though still under investigation, appeared to have been weather-related according to preliminary information, said Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Bill Miller.
    
Flooding, meanwhile, forced rescuers to suspend their search for a vehicle missing with a person inside it in north Alabama’s Buck’s Pocket State Park. The vehicle quickly disappeared Wednesday in waters too dangerous for divers to search.
    
“As the car started shifting because of the water we noticed what appeared to be an arm reaching out,” witness Kirkland Follis, who called 911, told WHNT-TV.
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In just one day, the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in China grew by almost 4,000 and the death toll climbed by nearly 75.  As the virus continued to spread Thursday, the World Health Organization said it’s still too early to tell if the virus outbreak has peaked, even though on Wednesday the overall number of new cases dropped for the first time.  VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo has more
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Кабінет міністрів працює над тим, щоб платіжки за газ та його доставку об’єднати в один документ, але остаточне рішення має ухвалити регулятор. Про це заявив у Верховній Раді прем’єр-міністр України Олексій Гончарук.

«Дві платіжки – це правильний крок, але дійсно, правильніше було б, щоб людина отримувала одночасно їх і одним документом. Тобто правильно розділити ці послуги, але одночасно організувати платіжки за них в один документ. Ми зараз над цим працюємо», – зазначив прем’єр

Він додав, що рішення про розділення платіжок ухвалила Національна комісія, що здійснює державне регулювання у сфері енергетики та комунальних послуг.

Розділення платіжок відбулося в рамках реформи на газовому ринку, яка передбачає відокремлення послуг.
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Національний банк України опівдні оприлюднив довідкове значення курсу 24 гривні 52 копійки за долар, це на 6 копійок менше за офіційний курс на 7 лютого.

Як інформує Finance.ua, на українському міжбанківському валютному ринку станом на 13:10 котирування склали 24 гривні 52–55 копійок за долар.

«Попит і пропозиція у хиткій рівновазі. НБУ не виходив на ринок. Йдуть операції по лотах до 1 мільйона доларів», – відзначають експерти сайту «Мінфін».

Регулятор уперше за багато сесій є лише спостерігачем. Наприкінці січня і на початку лютого НБУ спершу продавав долари, не дозволяючи послаблення української валюти понад 25 гривень за долар, згодом викуповував надлишок пропозиції американської валюти, опираючись надмірному зміцненню гривні. Таким чином Нацбанк позначив коридор, який бачить на найближчий час – не нижче 24,5 гривні і не вище 25 гривень за долар.

Національний банк України знизив облікову ставку на 2,5% – до 11% з 31 січня 2020 року. «Національний банк продовжує пом’якшення монетарної політики, щоб забезпечити інфляцію на рівні цілі 5% та підтримати стійке економічне зростання», – заявили в НБУ.

Наступне засідання правління Національного банку України з питань монетарної політики відбудеться 12 березня 

Облікова ставка є одним із інструментів, за допомогою якого Нацбанк встановлює для комерційних банків орієнтир щодо вартості кредитів і депозитів. Опосередковано цей параметр впливає і на функціонування валютного ринку, регулюючи приплив валюти від нерезидентів.
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Heavy rains lashed parts of eastern Australian Friday, causing some flooding in Sydney and bringing relief to firefighters still dealing with dozens of bush fires in parts of New South Wales state.The state’s Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said he was optimistic the rain will help extinguish some blazes over the coming days. He said there were still 42 fires burning in the state, with 17 of those not contained.“The rain is good for business and farms as well as being really good for quenching some of these fires we’ve been dealing with for many, many months,” he told Australia’s ABC TV network.“We don’t want to see lots of widespread damage and disruption from flooding, but it is certainly a welcome change to the relentless campaign of hot, dry weather,” he added.Heavy rain also drenched parts of Queensland state.
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The final results from the Democratic Party’s tumultuous Iowa caucuses were released late Thursday.  The top two candidates have almost the same number of state delegates after Monday’s caucuses.Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, won 26.2% of the delegates to the state’s Democratic Party convention, while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders earned 26.1%. However, Sanders leads in the popular vote.The state convention will determine how many of Iowa’s 41 delegates to the national democratic convention each candidate will get.Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called for a recanvass earlier Thursday after technical problems ruined plans to produce accurate and timely vote counts. A recanvass would mean reviewing the math worksheets of each caucus site.However, Troy Price, the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said a recanvass would be initiated only if a candidate requests one, a scenario that seems unlikely at this point. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., gestures while speaking during a news conference at his New Hampshire headquarters, Feb. 6, 2020 in Manchester, N.H.“We’ve got enough of Iowa,” Sanders said Thursday at a CNN town hall. “I think we should move on to New Hampshire,” the site of the next Democratic campaign.Buttigieg said he would “leave it to the party” to determine if there should be a recanvass.Sen. Elizabeth Warner, who came in third in the caucuses, said “I’m focused on moving forward.”Former Vice President Joe Biden said coming in fourth was a “gut punch” for his campaign, but added that he is not “going anywhere.” He led most of the voter polls even before declaring his candidacy.Senator Amy Klobuchar followed Biden for fifth place.Precinct captain Carl Voss of Des Moines displays the Iowa Democratic Party caucus reporting app on his phone outside of the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Feb. 4, 2020.Mobile app failsThe voting chaos of the caucuses stemmed mostly from the failure of a mobile app the Iowa Democratic Party used to count and verify the results. It took nearly an entire day to report even a single vote from Monday’s caucuses because of what party officials said was a coding error and vote inconsistencies being reported on the app specially designed for vote counting throughout the rural state.When it became apparent that the app was failing, precincts tried to phone in their results, but were placed on hold for hours, in some cases. Somehow, the telephone number used to call in the votes became public and party officials said the lines were jammed with people intent on messing up the vote counting process.It was an awkward kickoff for the Democratic Party as it tries to determine who will be its candidate to try to unseat Donald Trump in November’s presidential election. The results underscore a sharp ideological divide within the party.The youthful Buttigieg, 38, represents the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and is the first openly gay Democratic presidential candidate. Sanders, 78, is a self-declared democratic socialist who endorses universal medical coverage while eliminating private insurance. Buttigieg backs government-run health insurance while letting people keep their private coverage.Sanders would provide all students with free four-year college education and cancel outstanding student debt. Buttigieg would limit free college to low-income families while looking for other ways to reduce debt.But both support the “Green New Deal” to combat global warming, favor decriminalizing illegal immigration, vow to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, and favor bringing home U.S. troops from Afghanistan.Can caucuses survive?The chaos and confusion surrounding Monday’s caucuses bring questions whether Iowa can continue to be relied on to be the first state in the nation to officially choose presidential candidates. Iowa’s population is 91% white, and some Democratic analysts say the state hardly reflects the national Democratic base, which includes a large percentage of minorities.But the state’s three leading Republicans, senators Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Gov. Kim Reynolds, defended Iowa’s role in picking presidential nominees for both Democrats and Republicans. They said they were confident “that every last vote will be counted, and every last voice heard” in the Democratic contest.
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A public memorial service for Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others killed in a helicopter crash is planned for Feb. 24 at Staples Center, a person with knowledge of the details told The Associated Press on Thursday.The arena is where Bryant starred for the Los Angeles Lakers for two decades and the date 2/24 corresponds with the No. 24 jersey he wore and the No. 2 worn by his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.No official announcement about the memorial has been made. The person who provided the information to the AP is knowledgeable about the planning and spoke only on condition of anonymity. The Los Angeles Times was first to report the event, citing two anonymous sources with knowledge of the planning.FILE – Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna are honored along with all of the helicopter crash victims before the NFL Super Bowl game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs in Miami Gardens, Fla., Feb. 2, 2020.Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has said a memorial would be held but his office had no immediate comment, nor did the Lakers or Staples Center.Staples has played host to other memorials, including for Michael Jackson and, last year, for rapper Nipsey Hussle.Bryant was killed Jan. 26 when the helicopter carrying him, his daughter and the others crashed into a mountainside in Calabasas while flying to a girls basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy. Gianna’s team was coached by Bryant and was playing in the tournament.No cause for the crash has been determined, though a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board is expected soon.A basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies is scheduled for Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Staples Center, according to the arena’s website.A public memorial for Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and daughter Alyssa will be held Feb. 10 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Also killed in the crash were Bryant friends Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton.
 
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The number of coronavirus cases reported in Indonesia and Thailand is well below what scientists would expect, given how closely connected the countries are to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. That raises concerns that the virus may be spreading undetected in those countries, potentially adding fuel to the epidemic that has so far killed over 600 people and sickened over 31,000.   “Indonesia has reported zero cases, and you would expect to have seen several already,” said epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, co-author of a Immigration officers wearing protective suits prepare immigration for Thai nationals evacuated from China’s Wuhan province, the center of the coronavirus epidemic, at the U-Tapao airport in Rayong province, Thailand, Feb. 4, 2020.Going undetected?Health systems in Indonesia and Thailand may not be catching cases, Lipsitch said, which could create problems for the rest of the world.  “Undetected cases in any country will potentially seed epidemics in those countries,” he added, which can spread beyond their borders. Lipsitch’s group’s research is one of FILE – Students line up to sanitize their hands to avoid the contact of coronavirus before their morning class at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 28, 2020.Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia are screening travelers from China at the border.   “Indonesia is doing what is possible to be prepared for and defend against the novel coronavirus,” the World Health Organization’s Indonesia representative, Dr. Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, told the Sydney Morning Herald.However, he added, “there is still more work to do in the areas of surveillance and active case detection.” ‘Beef things up’These countries are not the only places with shortcomings in their public health systems, said epidemiologist Art Reingold at the University of California-Berkeley’s School of Public Health. “I wouldn’t want people to think everyone else is doing a great job. We need to beef things up in a lot of places,” he added, and not just in the developing world. “We think we’re doing a good job,” he said. “People think they’re doing a good job in France or whatever, but I don’t think we can afford to make that assumption.” While some countries start to cut connections with China in hopes of keeping out the disease, Mores said, those measures may not help if the virus is spreading under the radar in countries that don’t. “There’s certainly plenty of places, especially in the developing world, that are not going to be able to shut down their economies because of this coronavirus outbreak,” he said. “And the danger there is that those countries are even more susceptible” because of weaker public health systems.   And that puts the world at risk, Mores added. 
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There was a noticeable shift in the U.S. political landscape this week. President Donald Trump finally emerged from the battle over impeachment with rising poll numbers, while the Democratic Party presidential race was in disarray over a major election failure in Iowa. All of a sudden, Trump’s reelection prospects appear more favorable than at any time during his presidency. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more on the political fallout from the impeachment saga and what it may mean for the November election.
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