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Arrested on Rape Charges, Weinstein Posts $1 Million Bail Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York City detectives and appeared in court on Friday on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex, a watershed in a monthslong…

Italian death toll soars amid travel ban The number of people to have died from the coronavirus in Italy has shot up by 133 in a day to 366, officials say. The total number of infections leapt 25% to 7,375 from 5,883, according to the Civil Protection agency.…

Stocks, oil plunge over global fight for crude production Global stock markets and oil prices plunged Monday after a fight among major crude-producing nations jolted investors who already were on edge about the surging costs of a virus outbreak. The main stock indexes in Britain and Germany were down by almost 7%. Japan’s benchmark closed down 5.1% while Australia’s lost 7.3% and the Shanghai market in China was off 3%. Trading in Wall Street futures was halted for this first time since the 2016 U.S. presidential election after they fell more than the daily limit of 5%. Bond yields hit new lows as investors bought them up as safe havens. https://apnews.com/d66a95ec77d43fea5156aa6327fdf650

Italian death toll soars amid travel ban The number of people to have died from the coronavirus in Italy has shot up by 133 in a day to 366, officials say. The total number of infections leapt 25% to 7,375 from 5,883, according to the Civil Protection agency. The jump in figures comes as millions adapt to new measures introduced on Sunday in an attempt to contain the outbreak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51793619

U.S. and Taliban sign troop withdrawal deal The United States signed a deal with Taliban insurgents on Saturday that could pave the way toward a full withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Afghanistan and represent a step toward ending the 18-year-war in the nation. https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN20N06R

President Donald Trump impeached by US House, 3rd in history President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday night, becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the Constitution’s ultimate…

Britain leaves the European Union, leaps into the unknown So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu. With little fanfare, Britain left the European Union on Friday after 47 years of membership, taking a leap into the unknown in a historic blow to the bloc. The U.K.’s departure became official at 11 p.m. (23:00 GMT), midnight in Brussels, where the EU is headquartered. Thousands of enthusiastic Brexit supporters gathered outside Britain’s Parliament to welcome the moment they’d longed for since Britain’s 52%-48% vote in June 2016 to walk away from the club it had joined in 1973. https://apnews.com/e48bf51838ced94e2d92adba189b4944

UN agency declares global emergency over virus from China The World Health Organization declared the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has spread to more than a dozen countries as a global emergency Thursday after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week. The U.N. health agency defines an international emergency as an “extraordinary event” that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response. https://apnews.com/0f0f07b30c8cdd2b0f30c6081acc7599

Kobe Bryant, daughter perish in copter crash, 7 others dead NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on a steep hillside in dense morning fog in Southern California on Sunday, his sudden death at age 41 touching off an outpouring of grief for a star whose celebrity transcended basketball. https://apnews.com/98f3978b392cbd3d9143529267b1f1ee

2019 Was the Second-Hottest Year Ever, Closing Out the Warmest Decade Last year was the second-hottest on record, government researchers confirmed on Wednesday in analyses of temperature data from thousands of observing stations around the world. They said that 2019 was only slightly cooler than 2016 and the end of what was the warmest decade yet. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/15/climate/hottest-year-2019.html

Ukraine airliner accidentally downed by Iran, U.S. officials say A Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defenses, U.S. officials said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump said he had a terrible feeling about the disaster. One U.S. official said U.S. satellites had detected the launch of two missiles shortly before the plane crashed, followed by evidence of an explosion. Two officials said Washington believed the downing of the plane was accidental. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-crash/ukraine-airliner-accidentally-downed-by-iran-u-s-officials-say-idUSKBN1Z80I3

Ukrainian jet crash kills 176, sets off mourning in Canada The crash of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people in Iran touched off mourning Wednesday in both Ukraine and Canada — where many of the victims were from or were headed — and raised a host of questions about what went wrong. But U.S. intelligence officials said there was no immediate evidence it was shot down. https://apnews.com/2a253e68d45381f16b89edc5cc45bba1