USA

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - China and the United States could end up in a military conflict if the United States encourages Taiwan's independence, Beijing's ambassador to Washington said in a U.S. radio interview broadcast on Friday.

China considers the neighboring, democratically ruled island of Taiwan its "sacred" territory and has never renounced the use of force to ensure eventual unification.

"Let me emphasize this. The Taiwan issue is the biggest tinder-box between China and the United States," Qin Gang told National Public Radio.

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is set to deny $130 million of military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, three sources familiar with the decision told Reuters.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in September that the aid would be withheld if Egypt did not address specific human-rights related conditions.

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - If Russia unleashes the forces it has amassed near Ukraine's border to invade its neighbor, the outcome would be "horrific" and result in significant casualties, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday, comparing this moment to the Cold War.

Army General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the comments amid fragile Russia-U.S. diplomacy in a broader East-West standoff over Ukraine. Moscow has demanded NATO pull back troops and weapons from Eastern Europe and bar Ukraine from ever joining the military alliance. 

CHAMPLAIN, N.Y. (AP) — Whenever a bus arrives at the Greyhound station in Plattsburgh, New York, a small band of taxi drivers waits to drive passengers on a half-hour trip to a snowy, dead-end road that turns to dirt near the Canadian border.

There, at the border, refugees pile out of taxis or vans several times a day, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers warn that they will be arrested for illegal entry if they cross, which they do. Most are soon released to pursue asylum, living and working freely while awaiting a decision.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — When hundreds of potential jurors gather at a Louisville courthouse on Friday, they’ll find out for the first time that they could be chosen to preside over the only criminal trial to arise from the botched police raid that left Breonna Taylor dead.

The former Louisville officer facing trial, Brett Hankison, was not charged in Taylor’s shooting death. Instead, he is standing trial on three lower-level felony charges for allegedly firing his service weapon wildly into Taylor’s neighbor’s apartments during the March 13, 2020, raid.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A 50-year-old bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh early Friday, requiring rescuers to rappel nearly 150 feet (46 meters) and form a human chain to reach occupants of a bus that had plummeted with the span into a park ravine.

The collapse came hours before President Joe Biden was to visit the city to promote his $1 trillion infrastructure law, which has earmarked about $1.6 billion for Pennsylvania bridge maintenance.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge was set to hear arguments Friday on whether prosecutors should return to Kyle Rittenhouse the assault-style rifle he used to shoot three people during a street protest.

Rittenhouse shot the men during the protest in Kenosha in 2020. He killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz in the arm. Rittenhouse argued he fired in self-defense after each of the men attacked him. A jury last year acquitted him of multiple charges, including homicide.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat in a deep-red state, was immersed in a difficult reelection campaign when he received a text message from the head of the state police: Troopers had engaged in “a violent, lengthy struggle” with a Black motorist, ending with the man’s death.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a break from the past, the U.S. and its allies are increasingly revealing their intelligence findings as they confront Russian preparations for a possible invasion of Ukraine, looking to undercut Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans by exposing them and deflecting his efforts to shape world opinion.

Mumbai, Jan 28 (PTI) Global gold demand rose 10 per cent to 4,021.3 tonnes in 2021 on account of a massive 50 per cent surge in year-on-year demand -- a 10-quarter high -- during the December quarter, a report by the World Gold Council (WGC) said.

The overall gold demand during 2020, which was impacted following Covid-19 related disruptions, stood at 3,658.8 tonnes, the WGC said in its 'Gold Demand Trends 2021' Report.