Authorities in Louisiana said Saturday said at least three people have died in connection with a severe storm that is sweeping across parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast.The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page that the bodies of an elderly couple were found near their demolished trailer by firefighters. A search for more possible victims was underway.The Sheriff’s Office also said the roof of Benton Middle School was damaged and “that water damage from the sprinkler system has flooded many rooms.”In Arkansas and Missouri, tornadoes destroyed homes and also caused damage in Oklahoma.The national Storm Prediction Center said Friday more than 18 million people in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma were at an enhanced risk of storms Friday, including from strong tornadoes, flooding rains and wind gusts that could exceed 80 mph (129 kph), the speed of a Category 1 hurricane. The area included several major Texas cities including Dallas, Houston and Austin.The storms also unleashed downpours that caused widespread flash flooding. Dallas police said one person died when a car flipped into Five Mile Creek west of downtown Dallas about 7 p.m.Earlier in the afternoon, a tornado destroyed two homes near Fair Play, Missouri, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Springfield. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said no injuries were reported.Shortly before 3 p.m., a tornado stripped the shingles from the roof of a home near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa. No injuries were reported there either.What the NWS described as “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” roared through parts of Logan County, Arkansas, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Fort Smith on Friday night.At least three homes were destroyed by the Arkansas tornado, said Logan County Emergency Management Coordinator Tobi Miller, but no injuries were reported. Downed trees and power lines were widespread, she said.Miller said the tornado skirted her home in Subiaco, Arkansas. She said she heard but couldn’t see the rain-wrapped twister in the dark.Ahead of the storms, Dallas’ Office of Emergency Management asked residents to bring in pets, outdoor furniture, grills, “and anything else that could be caught up in high winds to reduce the risk of flying debris.”Such strong winds are a key concern in an area at greatest risk: A zone that includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, the Storm Prediction Center warned. Weather service meteorologists in northern Louisiana said that such a dire forecast for the area is only issued two to four times each year, on average.In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said boats, helicopters, medical and rescue teams had been placed on standby in case they are needed.“I ask that all Texans keep those in the storm’s path and all of Texas’ first responders in their prayers as they deal with the effects of this storm,” Abbott said in a statement.Wicked weather also will pose a threat to Alabama and Georgia as the system moves eastward on Saturday, forecasters said.Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday the state was making necessary preparations ahead of the potential weather.“At the state level, we continue to closely monitor this storm system, while making all necessary preparations,” Ivey said in a statement. “I encourage all Alabamians to do the same, stay weather aware and heed all local warnings.”On Alabama’s Gulf Coast, Baldwin County canceled school activities including sporting events for Saturday. The weather service warned of flooding and the potential for 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) waves on beaches, where northern visitors escaping the cold are a common sight during the winter.Heavy rains also could cause flooding across the South and part of the Midwest.Many streams already are at or near flood levels because of earlier storms, and heavy rains could lead to flash flooding across the region, forecasters said. Parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were under flash flood warnings or watches on Saturday.
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A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed at least two American soldiers on Saturday and injured two others.NATO’s Resolute Support mission said the service members were conducting operations in southern Kandahar province when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, or IED.  The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for planting the bomb in an Afghan province that hosts a major U.S. military base.  The insurgent group stages almost daily deadly attacks on Afghan security forces and their international partners even as it holds peace talks with the United States.  Last year was one of the deadliest for the U.S. military when it lost at least 19 service members in combat-related Afghan missions.The conflict has cost Washington nearly $1 trillion and the lives of around 2,400 soldiers since U.S. and coalition partners invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9-11 terrorist attack.  While Afghan security forces have also suffered tens of thousands of casualties, civilians continue to bear the brunt of hostilities.  The United Nations has noted in a recent statement that more than 100,000 Afghan civilians have been killed or injured in the last 10 years along.   
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The U.N. Security Council voted Friday to allow scaled-back cross-border humanitarian aid operations to continue into Syria, adopting a resolution just hours before the operations were due to expire.Russia won its push to cut back the number of crossing points from four to two, and to guarantee they continue only for an additional six months, instead of the one year several other council members sought.“We find ourselves in this situation because the Russian Federation has decided to use deprivation as a weapon against the Syrian people,” U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said. “This is a crisis of Russia’s making; it is theirs to own.”The U.N. and its partners have been delivering aid via several border points since 2014, reaching about 4 million needy Syrians. But the government of Bashar al-Assad no longer wants the deliveries to continue, as they try to stamp out the last rebel strongholds.Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, seen in this Aug. 9 file photo, echoed one of his government’s ministers who said it is ‘another unfriendly move by the United States.’“ll these cries about imminent catastrophe, disaster, which the northeast faces if we close one cross-border point, is totally irrelevant because humanitarian assistance to that region is coming from within Syria for a long time, and it will continue to come,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters. “What we are saying is that the situation on the ground has changed dramatically and we have to reflect it.”Russia succeeded in getting the Yarubiyah crossing from Iraq into Syria closed, and dropping another crossing point from Jordan that has not been used recently. Two crossings from Turkey into northwestern Syria will remain.In practical terms, Yarubiyah means medical aid for chronic illnesses, vaccines and trauma cases to about 1.4 million Syrians will not be able to get into northeastern Syria.  Several council members were bitter about being forced to accept this compromise.“We supported the resolution to save millions of lives in Idlib, but we strongly voice our discontent for how this result was achieved,” Estonian Ambassador Sven Jurgenson, a new council member, said. “Instead of cooperation, the preferred means of negotiations by the Russian Federation were blackmailing and presenting other parties with ultimatums.”Karen Pierce, the U.K. ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria at U.N. headquarters in New York, April 14, 2018.Britain’s envoy said that while a serious diplomatic effort was made to keep the crossings open, ultimately the deal is “a woefully inadequate response” to the situation on the ground.““The exclusion of any border crossing into northeastern Syria is, in our view, deeply regrettable and it puts the lives of thousands of civilians at risk in Syria,” Ambassador Karen Pierce said.  The council tried last month to broker a compromise effort to extend the mission for another year and keep the two Turkish crossing points, as well as Yarubiyah in Iraq. But it failed after Russia cast its 14th veto since the crisis started in 2011, in order to further the interests of the Assad regime. At the time, China also joined Russia in vetoing.  On Friday, Britain, China, Russia and the United States all abstained from the vote. All were unhappy with the final draft resolution, but none wanted to be seen to be blocking humanitarian aid operations.  Until Friday, about 4 million Syrians were receiving aid via cross-border operations. In the northwest, they reached 2.7 million people and another 1.3 million in the northeast.“We did everything to keep that alive so that these 2.7 million people will continue to get humanitarian aid,” Germany’s ambassador and co-author of the draft resolution said. But he warned that the decision “comes at a very heavy price.““Tomorrow morning, 1.4 million people in the northeast of Syria will wake up not knowing if they will be able to continue to get medical aid that they desperately need,” Ambassador Christophe Heusgen said. 
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At home and in their own lives, Americans by and large have an upbeat view of the year to come. When it comes to how the country will fare in 2020, well, that’s another matter.A new poll released Friday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that close to 4 in 10 Americans expect a better year ahead for them personally, while another half expect things to stay about the same. Only about 1 in 10 expect a downturn in their own lives in 2020.America’s mood takes a darker turn when it comes to the year ahead for the country overall, with about 4 in 10 saying the way things are going nationwide will get worse. Only about 3 in 10 think things will get better for America overall in the next 12 months.”It’s going to be fine for me. I’ll always be fine no matter what happens, I’m that kind of person,” said Leslie Schulgren, a 75-year-old Democrat and retired science teacher in Atlanta. But, she added, “this particular year, 2020, is not going to be pretty — there’s going to be too much fighting.”2020 is an election year, and, perhaps not unexpectedly, that might have something to do with it: Most Democrats and Republicans alike say they’re dissatisfied with the state of politics.”Everybody is Republican or Democrat, and there’s less in between,” said Caleb Jud, a 29-year-old customer service representative in Cincinnati. Jud is a left-leaning independent who supports Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and he is optimistic that the old way of politics is at a breaking point.”They’ve been saying for years that the middle class is shrinking, but it’s starting to seem now that it’s not just a buzzword,” Jud said.Roberta Hunt, a 78-year-old Republican in Santa Ana, California, is also frustrated by partisanship. “It’d be fine if we could eliminate the Democrats,” she said of the political system.Hunt and her husband still have to work to support themselves, and she’s not optimistic that their situation will improve. But she does think the country is on the right track — “there’s less poverty, more people at work.”Republicans such as Hunt are more likely than Democrats to express optimism that the way things are going in the country will improve, 54% to 11%. They’re also somewhat more likely to feel that their personal situation will improve, 50% to 33%.Economy, health careThe poll also finds that few Americans are confident that the government will make progress this year on the issues they care about, with pocketbook and health care-related issues topping the country’s to-do list.Asked to name their top five priorities for government action in 2020, rather than picking from a list, about 6 in 10 Americans identified economic issues — including jobs and unemployment, the federal budget and trade. Half said health care. While Democrats and Republicans were about as likely to want a focus on at least one economic issue, 15% of Republicans identified trade specifically as a priority, compared with just 5% of Democrats. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to name issues related to health care.Hunt sees homelessness and government limiting its own role as top priorities, but she doubts there will be official progress on either. To fix homelessness, a particularly acute problem in Southern California, will require more action by both the private sector and individuals, Hunt said.Immigration, foreign policyThe share of Americans mentioning issues related to immigration declined from a year ago. About a third now name immigration-related issues, including more Republicans than Democrats, compared with about half heading into 2019.The poll was conducted before President Donald Trump ordered the Jan. 2 airstrike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Even so, about 3 in 10 Americans named foreign policy concerns other than immigration among the top issues facing the nation, including those related to national security, U.S. involvement overseas and specific adversaries, such as China and Russia.Even some who identified domestic concerns brought a tinge of foreign affairs to their issues. Jing Zhou, a naturalized citizen from China and an auto engineer in Rochester Hills, Michigan, identified education as a top priority. “I want to see my son, who is American now, compete better than his counterpart in China,” Zhou said.The 45-year-old is concerned, however, that divisions in the political system will prevent progress. “It’s good to have a difference of opinion, but opinions are too wide apart,” Zhou said. “There’s almost no way to come to a middle ground.”The poll found that the country is about evenly split on whether its best days are ahead of it or behind it. Zhou said there’s no question America’s role as the world’s lone superpower is diminishing, but he still believes the future will be bright.In Cincinnati, Jud, the customer service representative, came to a similar conclusion. “If you look at the best days of the U.S. being No. 1 on the world stage, those days are coming to an end,” Jud said. “But I feel that, overall, things will be better.”
 
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday the House will take steps next week to send articles of impeachment to the Senate for President Donald Trump’s Senate trial.
In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said she has asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to be prepared to bring to the floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
“I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further,” Pelosi wrote.
Pelosi has held on to the articles in a standoff with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The protracted showdown has scrambled the politics of impeachment and the congressional calendar three weeks after the House Democrats impeached Trump on charges of abuse and obstruction over his actions toward Ukraine.
Transmittal of the documents and naming of House impeachment managers are the next steps needed to start the Senate trial. Pelosi indicated she may be communicating to her colleagues, as she often does with a letter on her thinking.
McConnell wants to launch a speedy trial without new witnesses but Pelosi is warning against a rush to acquit the president.
Trump mocked Pelosi with his tweets Friday and derided her and other Democrats late Thursday in Toledo, his first rally of 2020.
Pelosi, D-Calif., faces mounting pressure to act. Republicans say Democrats are embarrassed by their vote. But Pelosi countered that Democrats are “proud” of upholding the Constitution and said she doubted that Senate Republicans will do the same.
Many on Capitol Hill expect the Senate impeachment trial to begin next week.
“I’ll send them over when I’m ready. That will probably be soon,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol Thursday, noting she is not postponing it “indefinitely.”
The House impeached Trump in December on the charge that he abused the power of his office by pressuring Ukraine’s new leader to investigate Democrats, using as leverage $400 million in military assistance for the U.S. ally as it counters Russia at its border. Trump insists he did nothing wrong, but his defiance of the House Democrats’ investigation led to an additional charge of obstruction of Congress.
Pelosi’s delay in sending the articles of impeachment over for a Senate trial has led to a standoff with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., over what would be the third impeachment trial in the nation’s history.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., heads to a briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other national security officials.McConnell said that if Pelosi and House Democrats are “too embarrassed” to send the articles of impeachment, the Senate will simply move on next week to other business.
“They do not get to trap our entire country into an unending groundhog day of impeachment without resolution,” McConnell said.
McConnell told GOP senators at a lunchtime meeting to expect the trial next week, according to two people familiar with his remarks. The people requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
At the same time, McConnell signed on to a resolution from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to allow for the dismissal of articles of impeachment if the House doesn’t transmit them in 25 days. That change to Senate rules appears unlikely to happen before Pelosi transmits the articles.
In the weeks since Trump was impeached, Democrats have focused on new evidence about Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals and they pushed the Senate to consider new testimony, including from former White House national security adviser John Bolton. Republicans are just as focused on a speedy trial with acquittal.
Republicans have the leverage, with a slim 53-47 Senate majority, as McConnell rebuffs the Democratic demands for testimony and documents. But Democrats are using the delay to sow public doubt about the fairness of the process as they try to peel off wavering GOP senators for the upcoming votes. It takes just 51 senators to set the rules.
“When we say fair trial, we mean facts, we mean witnesses, we mean documents,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promising votes ahead. “Every single one of us, in this Senate, will have to have to take a stand. How do my Republican friends want the American people, their constituents, and history to remember them?”
Trump weighed in from the White House suggesting that he, too, would like more witnesses at trial. They include former Vice President Joe Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination now, and his son Hunter, as well as the government whistleblower whose complaint about the president’s pressure on Ukraine sparked the impeachment investigation.
On a July telephone call with Ukraine’s new president, Trump asked his counterpart to open an investigation into the Bidens while holding up military aid for Ukraine. A Ukrainian gas company had hired Hunter Biden when his father was vice president and the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.
Trump suggested that his administration would continue to block Bolton or others from the administration from appearing before senators. Many of those officials have defied congressional subpoenas for their testimony.
       When we start allowing national security advisers to just go up and say whatever they want to say, we can't do that,'' Trump said during an event with building contractors. "So we have to protect presidential privilege for me, but for future presidents. That's very important."
Bolton, one of four witnesses that Democrats have requested, said this week that he would testify if subpoenaed.
McConnell has said from the start he is looking to model Trump's trial on the last time the Senate convened as the court of impeachment, for President Bill Clinton in 1999. McConnell has said there will be "no haggling" with House Democrats over Senate procedures.
"There will be no unfair, new rule rule-book written solely for President Trump," McConnell said Thursday.
McConnell, who met with Trump late Wednesday at the White House, suggested last month it would be "fine with me" if the House never sent the articles. More recently, he has drawn on the Constitution's intent for the Senate to have the ultimate say on matters of impeachment. He scoffed that Pelosi has `'managed to do the impossible by uniting Democrats and Republicans who want the trial to begin.
Some Democrats have been showing increased anxiety over the delay as Americans remain divided over Trump’s impeachment.
The delay on impeachment has also upended the political calendar, with the weekslong trial now expected to bump into presidential nominating contests, which begin in early February. Several Democratic senators are running for the party’s nomination.
One 2020 hopeful, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told The Associated Press’s Ground Game podcast that a looming impeachment trial and other pressing issues in Washington could deal a “big, big blow” to his presidential campaign by keeping him away from Iowa in the final weeks before the Feb. 3 caucuses.
As Pelosi dashed into a morning meeting at the Capitol, she was asked if she had any concerns about losing support from Democrats for her strategy. She told reporters: “No.”
“I know exactly when” to send the impeachment articles over, Pelosi said. “I won’t be telling you right now.”
Pelosi is seeking what she says she wanted from the start – “to see the arena” and “terms of the engagement” that McConnell will use for the trial – before sending her House managers to present the articles of impeachment in the Senate. She has yet to choose the managers, a source of political intrigue as many lawmakers want the high-profile job. 
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