Roberts, senators to be sworn in Thursday for impeachment trial

Chief Justice John Roberts and every senator will be sworn in as soon as Thursday for the soon-to-begin impeachment trial.

A Senate GOP leadership aide said on Wednesday that the House managers are expected to come to the chamber on Thursday to read the articles of impeachment against President Trump.

After that Roberts is expected to be sworn in. He will then swear in all 100 senators, according to the aide.

The new details on what the first few days of the impeachment trial will look like come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the seven House impeachment managers on Wednesday. The House is expected to vote later Wednesday to formally name the managers and transmit the two impeachment articles to the Senate.

The move will shift the impeachment fight to the Senate after a weeks-long delay amid a standoff between Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McConnell and Schumer circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter to senators and staff on Wednesday detailing what they can expect during the trial.

"Following past practice, the upcoming impeachment trial necessitates some access modifications to the Senate Wing of the Capitol, the Senate floor and the galleries," they wrote in a three-page letter.

Senators are also circulating rules for senators during the impeachment trial, including banning lawmakers from bringing electronics on the floor. That rule, in particular, has earned public grumbling from lawmakers, who will be required to sit silently in their chairs during the trial.

"We will not have our electronic devices. I just saw a piece of cabinetry in the cloakroom where we will be required to turn over our iPads and our iPhones," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said this week.

The document sent to senators does not detail what restrictions will be put on reporters in the Capitol to cover the trial, though Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told reporters on Tuesday that it was discussed during the closed-door caucus lunch.

Reports of a planned crackdown on media access drew swift backlash on Tuesday.

The restrictions, according to the Standing Committee of Correspondents, include confining reporters to a single press pen on the second floor of the Senate. If implemented, it would curtail reporters' access to senators during a historic impeachment trial.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/478384-roberts-senators-to-be-sworn-in-thursday-for-impeachment-trial

Israel about to kill more kids

4 mortar shells fired from Gaza at Israeli towns; no injuries

Two incoming projectiles shot down by Iron Dome, others apparently strike open fields; attack sends hundreds of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired four mortar shells toward southern Israel on Wednesday afternoon, causing neither injury nor damage, the military said.

Two of the incoming projectiles were intercepted by the military’s Iron Dome air defense system. The other two appeared to strike open fields in Israel’s Sha’ar Hanegev region, east of northern Gaza.

The mortar attack shattered a period of relative calm along the border.

“Four launches were detected from the territory of the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory. Aerial defense soldiers intercepted two of the launches,” the military said in a statement.

The attack triggered sirens in the Israeli communities of Sa’ad, Kfar Aza and Nahal Oz, sending hundreds of residents rushing to bomb shelters.

The round of mortar fire came three days since alarms last sounded in Nahal Oz, apparently due to heavy machine gun fire from the coastal enclave.

Israel has reportedly warned the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups against any attempted response to the US targeted killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani earlier this month.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, expressed its “sincere condolences” to Iran’s leadership after Soleimani was killed in Baghdad on January 3 and hailed his support for the “Palestinian resistance,” but did not issue any overt threat.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rocket-sirens-sound-in-israeli-towns-outside-gaza/

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Hit With Protests In India As Government Starts Antitrust Probe

Bezos has pledged $1 billion to help small Indian businesses sell products online

Indian trade associations claim 100,000 Indian traders have been forced out of business over the past four months due to Amazon, Flipkart

India’s e-commerce market is expected to grow to $150 billion by 2022

Jeff Bezos of Amazon (AMZN) has pledged to invest $1 billion over the next five years to help millions of small businesses in India sell their products online around the globe. Amazon said it hopes to export $10 billion worth of Indian goods around the world by 2025 .

“We’re going to use our global footprint to export outside of India,” Bezos said at an event in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Wearing traditional Indian attire, Bezos declared: “I predict that the 21st century is going to be the Indian century. The dynamism, the energy, this country has something special. The most important alliance is going to be the alliance between India and the United States, the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy.”

Bezos reportedly has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will later visit Mumbai to hobnob with Bollywood stars.

Amazon has already spent at least $5 billion in India as the nascent ecommerce industry has gained a strong foothold. Last September Amazon opened a massive office complex in the southern city of Hyderabad.

However, Amazon’s aggressive expansion in India has outraged millions of small retail business owners who allege that the giant online retailer has harmed their livelihoods by heavily discounting their products.

Amazon has also been accused of violating India’s foreign investment laws which stipulate that foreign e-commerce can only sell items listed and offered by local independent sellers – rather than selling directly to customers. Indian retailers further allege that companies like Amazon and Flipkart – owned by Walmart (WMT) – skirt these laws by owning majority interests in third-party entities and then selling their own products through these vehicles.

https://www.ibtimes.com/amazons-jeff-bezos-hit-protests-india-government-starts-antitrust-probe-2903108