Republican Senator Mitch McConnell says he has not ruled out allowing witnesses to testify in the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump. Congressional lawmakers are wrangling over Senate trial rules, with Democrats demanding witnesses be called so what they term a fair trial can take place.

Mr Trump was formally impeached by the House last week for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate trial is expected to begin next month, after the holiday break. The president is accused of pressuring the Ukrainian president to start an investigation into his political rival, Democratic presidential front runner, Joe Biden. Mr Trump is accused of doing this by withholding military aid and making a White House visit contingent on co-operation.(BBC)…[+]

Boeing has fired its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, a move the board of directors said “was necessary to restore confidence” in the firm. Mr Muilenburg has been under pressure since two deadly crashes involving Boeing’s best selling 737 Max airliner.

Lawmakers had accused the firm of putting profit over safety, as it rushed to get planes to customers. Families of the victims called the change a good “first step” but expressed doubts over his replacement. Boeing named David Calhoun, who has served on the firm’s board since 2009 and is its current chairman, as chief executive and president. “While the resignation of Mr Muilenburg is a step in the right direction, it is clear that the Boeing Company needs a revamp of its corporate governance,” said Paul Njoroge, who lost his wife, three children and mother-in-law when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in March.(bbc)…[+]

A heliport being constructed at Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara has raised questions about how approval for its construction was given and about air safety.

The leader of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, says “catastrophic” fire conditions have almost completely razed one Australian community. She said there was “not much left” of the town of Balmoral, south-west of Sydney, where about 400 people live.

Firefighters are struggling to contain bushfires burning across several states amid dry and hot conditions. One Balmoral resident, Steve Harrison, shared his dramatic story of surviving the destructive blaze. “I ran to my [vehicle] but my garden was already on fire here, and the driveway was on fire and the road was on fire, so I realised I couldn’t evacuate,” the 67-year-old artist told ABC.

“So the day before I had actually built myself a small kiln down the back. A coffin-sized kiln, just big enough for me to crawl inside. I hid in there for half an hour while the fire storm went over.”(BBC)…[+]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that his country cannot handle a “new refugee wave” from Syria. Tens of thousands of people have fled towards the Turkish border amid increased bombardment of the rebel-held Idlib province in north-west Syria.

Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees – the largest refugee population in the world. Mr Erdogan warned that a new influx would be “felt by all European countries”. Up to three million people live in Idlib province, the last major region in Syria still held by rebel fighters and jihadists opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking at an awards ceremony in Istanbul on Sunday, Mr Erdogan said more than 80,000 people from Idlib had fled to areas near the Turkish border amid heightened bombardments from Syrian and Russian forces. “If the violence towards the people of Idlib does not stop, this number will increase even more. In that case, Turkey will not carry such a migrant burden on its own,” he said.(BBC)…[+]

Saying that Houston Estates owes almost $450 million in taxes to the city, Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine yesterday said the company has been using one compliant account to process the sale of lands which fall under other accounts that are in arrears.

The amounts $115,154,906, $174,806,614 and $157,500,817 ($447,462,337 in total) are outstanding from the accounts 041-000001, 042-000001 and 043-000001, respectively, according to Narine, who explained that every division and sub-division of the lands has a different account in the council’s records.(stabroeknews)…[+]

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised for going on holiday in Hawaii this week while the nation’s bushfire crisis worsened. Fires are raging across the nation amid a heat wave which has produced the nation’s two hottest days on record.

Two volunteer firefighters died on Thursday while fighting a huge blaze near Sydney, while a civilian died in South Australia on Friday. Mr Morrison said he would end his leave early. His absence this week, as well as his initial refusal to confirm his whereabouts, has drawn condemnation and protests. “I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time,” he said on Friday.

Australia’s bushfire emergency has killed eight people, destroyed more than 700 houses and scorched millions of hectares since September. More than 100 fires broke out in South Australia amid “catastrophic” conditions on Friday, while New South Wales (NSW) is bracing for similar conditions on Saturday.

Tributes have been paid to Geoffrey Keating, 32, and Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, who died when their truck was hit by a falling tree near a fire front, causing it to roll off the road. Three other firefighters who were also in the vehicle survived with minor injuries. NSW fire commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said firefighters everywhere were grieving over the “huge loss” of the two young fathers, who were caught up in “the worst imaginable set of circumstances”.(BBC)…[+]

America has taken another step towards being able to launch its astronauts into orbit again, a capability it’s not had for nearly nine years. The Boeing company has launched a test capsule towards the International Space Station (ISS).

Known as Starliner, the vehicle is flying uncrewed on this occasion. However, there are indications that the launch has not gone as planned, as the capsule has failed so far to make the next stage to the ISS. The capsule left the Earth’s atmosphere but its engines then did not fire – the next step needed to take it on to the space station. It is “safe and stable” in orbit, a Boeing statement said, but engineers are now trying to figure out how to proceed. Nasa will hold a press conference at 09:00 local time (14:00 GMT).(BBC)…[+]

A man charged with possession of narcotics, which police allege he threw on the ground, has been remanded. Marlon Norton, 52, of Campbellville, was before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty when he denied having 102 grammes of cannabis in his possession. The allegation against him stated that on December 16, at William Street, Kitty, Georgetown, he had in his possession 102 grammes for the purpose of trafficking.(stabroeknews)…[+]

Three people have died in India and thousands have been detained amid demonstrations against a controversial new citizenship law. A protest ban has been imposed in parts of the capital Delhi and throughout the states of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

The new law offers citizenship to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Critics fear the law undermines India’s secular constitution, and say faith should not be the basis of citizenship. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dismissed their concerns, and said the opposition had been spreading lies. There have been days of protests in India against the law.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the country on Thursday, despite the police order based on a severely restrictive law which prohibits more than four people from gathering in a place.

Two people died in the city of Mangalore after officers opened fire on demonstrators allegedly trying to set fire to a police station. Commissioner Dr PS Harsha told reporters that a curfew is in place in the city, and that he was waiting for a post mortem before announcing the cause of death for either man.(BBC)…[+]