IMPEACHED TRUMP FACES TRIAL IN SENATE The impeachment of President Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress sets the stage for a historic trial next month in the Republican-controlled Senate on whether he should be removed from office. But it was unclear on Thursday how or when that trial would play out after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she might delay sending over the articles of impeachment to the Senate in order to pressure that chamber to conduct what she viewed as a fair trial. Mr. Trump said the ball was now in the Senate's court. "Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate, but its Senates call!" Mr. Trump said on Twitter. "If the Do Nothing Democrats decide, in their great wisdom, not to show up, they would lose by Default!" Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said on MSNBC that Democrats would like the Senate to first approve a $1.4 trillion spending plan and a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico before turning to impeachment. He said Democrats were also concerned that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell may not allow a full trial. Mr. McConnell has predicted there is "no chance" his chamber will convict Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump is certain to face more friendly terrain during a trial in the 100-member Senate, where a vote to remove him would require a two-thirds majority. Ms. Pelosi said after the vote she would wait to name the House managers, who will prosecute the case, until she knew more about the Senate trial procedures. She did not specify when she would send the impeachment articles to the Senate. DRAG, HANG MUSHARRAF'S BODY FOR 3 DAYS IF HE DIES EARLY: COURT Pakistan's special court which sentenced former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death in its detailed judgment on Thursday said his body should be dragged to the central square in Islamabad and hanged for three days if he dies before his execution. The 167-page detailed judgment was authored by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who headed the three-member court that sentenced Musharraf to death on Tuesday for subverting the Constitution. "As a necessary corollary to what has been observed we find the accused guilty as per charge. The convict be hanged by his neck till he dies on each count as per charge," the verdict said. Justice Seth wrote that Musharraf should be hanged even if he dies before his execution. "We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for 3 days," he wrote. SRI LANKA, NOT INDIA, WILL DEVELOP MATTALA AIRPORT: GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA Sri Lanka's civil aviation authority will develop the southern airport in Mattala, near the strategically located Hambantota port, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Thursday, ruling out earlier proposals of a joint venture with India. However, he invited Indian companies, especially in the IT sector, to invest in Sri Lanka. New Delhi - with known strategic interests in the airport adjoining the Chinese-run Hambantota port - has in the past discussed a possible joint development plan with Colombo, to upgrade the loss-making facility in Mattala built by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, the project did not take off despite multiple rounds of negotiations. "There is no discussion with India on this project," President Rajapaksa said, indicating that the project was now off the table. On the other hand, a small country like Sri Lanka welcomed foreign investment focusing on training Sri Lanka's human resources, he said. "There is a lot of worry about Chinese involvement in this region... the best thing is for other countries like India, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and ASEAN countries to invest here... that is how you can counter, just complaining won't do," he said, addressing Colombo-based foreign journalists. Responding to a range of questions in his first interaction with foreign media since assuming office, President Rajapaksa said his government is focussing on rationalising the taxation system in order to improve the economy and restructuring the security apparatus to ensure enhanced national security. Mr. Rajapaksa said he would dissolve Parliament early March, signalling the likely conduct of general elections in late April. RUSSIA PLANS TO FILE APPEAL AGAINST OLYMPIC BAN Russia has signalled it will file an appeal against its four-year Olympic ban due to World Anti-Doping Agency sanctions which President Vladimir Putin on Thursday branded "unfair." The Russian anti-doping agency's supervisory board voted Thursday to file an arbitration case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland. WADA last week ruled Russia had manipulated doping laboratory data to cover up past offenses. Putin said it was not fair to threaten Russia with more doping-related punishment, and that any sanctions should be on an individual basis. "I think it is not just unfair but not corresponding to common sense and law," Mr. Putin said. The case will likely be referred to CAS within the next 10-15 days, supervisory board chairman Alexander Ivlev said. After a panel of three CAS arbitrators is chosen, a verdict will be issued within three months. "The ball will be in WADA's court and the issue will be discussed in a legal context," Mr. Ivlev said. "We consider the argumentation to be fairly strong and we will see how the issue develops." Thursday's decision must be approved by another panel of Russian sports and anti-doping figures, but that seems a formality. Senior political figures including Mr. Putin had also signaled they wanted an appeal filed. U.S. PROBE OF SAUDI OIL ATTACK SHOWS IT CAME FROM NORTH The United States said new evidence and analysis of weapons debris recovered from an attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14 indicates the strike likely came from the north, reinforcing its earlier assessment that Iran was behind the offensive. In an interim report of its investigation - seen by Reuters ahead of a presentation on Thursday to the United Nations Security Council - Washington assessed that before hitting its targets, one of the drones traversed a location approximately 200 km to the northwest of the attack site. "This, in combination with the assessed 900 km maximum range of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), indicates with high likelihood that the attack originated north of Abqaiq," the interim report said, referring to the location of one of the Saudi oil facilities that were hit. It added that the United States had identified several similarities between the drones used in the raid and an Iranian designed and produced unmanned aircraft known as the IRN-05 UAV. However, the report noted that the analysis of the weapons debris did not definitely reveal the origin of the strike that initially knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production. "At this time, the U.S. Intelligence Community has not identified any information from the recovered weapon systems used in the 14 September attacks on Saudi Arabia that definitively reveals an attack origin," it said. The new findings include freshly declassified information, a State Department official told Reuters. AUSTRALIA BUSHFIRES: PM MORRISON APOLOGISES FOR US HOLIDAY AMID CRISIS Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised for going on holiday in Hawaii this week while the nation's bushfire crisis worsened. Crews are battling over 100 fires amid a heatwave which has produced the nation's two hottest days on record. Two volunteer firefighters died in a road accident on Thursday while deployed to a huge blaze near Sydney. Mr Morrison said he would end his leave early. His absence this week 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. Mr Morrison was widely criticised after reports emerged that he was away on unannounced leave and rumoured to be in Hawaii. Phrases such as #WhereisScoMo, #WhereTheBloodyHellAreYou - a reference to a famous tourism campaign he once oversaw - and #FireMorrison quickly trended online. Criticism grew as a heatwave broke records across the country and exacerbated mammoth blazes, making the task even harder for exhausted firefighters - many of them volunteers. Government ministers defended Mr Morrison's break as "appropriate", but refused to confirm his whereabouts. His office told the BBC and others that reports he was in Hawaii were "incorrect". RUSSIA'S VLADIMIR PUTIN DOUBTS MAN-MADE CLIMATE CHANGE, BACKS TRUMP Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held his annual end-of-year news conference during which he answered questions posed by journalists, including on subjects such as the impeachment of US President Donald Trump and peace talks with Ukraine. 'Nobody knows the origins of global climate change' Putin cast doubt on the man-made origins of global warming, saying "nobody knows the origins of global climate change." "We know that in the history of our Earth there have been periods of warming and cooling and it could depend on processes in the universe," Putin said. "A small angle in the axis in the rotation of the Earth or its orbit around the Sun could push the planet into serious climate changes." 'Nothing to curb an arms race' When asked whether Russia would consider extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Putin said he was prepared to do so but had not heard back from the US on the matter. "Now if we were to receive a letter tomorrow - we are ready to sign it and send it back to Washington," Putin said. "But thus far there has been no answer to any of our suggestions. Without a new START treaty, there is nothing to curb an arms race. And that, in my opinion, is bad." 'Fabricated reasons' for Trump's impeachment Putin also weighed in on the impeachment of President Donald Trump, who is accused of abuse of power for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democrat political opponents in the US on his behalf. The process "still needs to go through the Senate where Republicans as far as I know have a majority," Putin said. "It's unlikely they will want to remove from power a representative of their party based on what are, in my opinion, completely fabricated reasons." Ukraine talks 'could enter a complete dead end' When asked whether there were other ways to achieve peace in eastern Ukraine besides the Minsk Agreements, the Russian was categorical. "There is nothing other than the Minks Agreements," Putin said. "If a revision of the Minsk Agreements starts, then the situation could enter a complete dead end." The conflict in eastern Ukraine is heading towards its sixth year. Pro-Russian separatist forces have fought a bitter insurgency against government forces and allied militias in the region, leaving thousands dead and many more wounded.