IRAN CAN TAKE FIGHT BEYOND ITS BORDERS, SAYS KHAMENEIThe Revolutionary Guards can take their fight beyond Iran's borders, SupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday, responding to the US killingof a top general and to unrest at home over the accidental downing of anairliner.In his first Friday prayers sermon in eight years, he also told thousands ofIranians who chanted "Death to America" that European states could not betrusted after they launched a nuclear agreement dispute mechanism.The measure could lead to UN sanctions being reimposed. “Resistance mustcontinue until the region is completely freed from the enemy’s tyranny,"Khamenei said, in a reference to the United States that renewed his call forU.S. troops to leave neighbouring Iraq and the wider Middle East.He said Iran’s its missile attack on US troops in Iraq earlier this monthwas a "blow to America's image" as a superpower, as he led prayers in Tehranfor the first time since 2012.He called the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner a “bitter” tragedyFriday but said it should not overshadow the “sacrifice” of top commanderQasem Soleimani killed in a US drone strike.‘Trump a clown who will betray Iranians’Tehran: Iran's supreme leader said President Donald Trump is a “clown” whoonly pretends to support the Iranian people but will “push a poisonousdagger” into their backs, as he struck a defiant tone in his first Fridaysermon in Tehran in eight years.‘Ready to hand over passengers’ remains’Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said that Tehran was ready to handover the remains of the Ukrainian passengers who were killed in the January8 downing of an airliner. Zarif made the remarks during a phone call withhis Ukrainian counterpart Vadym Prystaiko on Thursday, the state-run IRNAnews agency said in a report. On his part, Prystaiko appreciated Iran forthe speedy declaration of responsibility for the incident and itscooperation in all stages.U.S. SUPREME COURT TAKES UP PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL COLLEGE DISPUTEAs the 2020 presidential race heats up, the Supreme Court agreed on January17 to hear a dispute involving the complex U.S. presidential election systemfocusing on whether Electoral College electors are free to break theirpledges to back the candidate who wins their state's popular vote, an actthat could upend an election.The Supreme Court will take up appeals in two cases - from Washington stateand Colorado - involving electors who decided to vote in the ElectoralCollege process for someone other than Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 eventhough she won the popular vote in their States.The justices will determine if such so-called faithless electors have thediscretion to cast Electoral College votes as they see fit or whether statescan impose restrictions including with penalties. The case is expected to beargued in April and decided by the end of June.President Donald Trump is seeking re-election on Nov. 3, with a field ofDemocrats seeking their party's nomination to challenge him. Hisadministration did not take a side in either case.“We are glad the Supreme Court has recognized the paramount importance ofclearly determining the rules of the road for presidential electors for theupcoming election and all future elections,” said Lawrence Lessig, a lawyerfor the faithless electors sanctioned in Washington and Colorado.Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said she hopes thejustices will let states enforce their laws.“Unelected and unaccountable presidential electors should not be allowed todecide the presidential election without regard to voters' choices and statelaw,” Griswold said.FLOODS, ROAD CLOSURES IN AUSTRALIA AS STORMS LASH SOME BUSHFIRE-HIT REGIONSThunderstorms lashed parts of Australia’s east coast early on Saturday,causing road closures and lash flooding, but the country was still battlingnearly 100 bushfires and some of the affected areas remained dry.Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, states hit badly by the bushfiresthat have so far killed 29 people, destroyed more than 2,500 homes andscorched millions of acres of land, are now dealing with rain bucketingdown.Major highways were closed in Queensland early on Saturday, with the stategetting some of the heaviest rain Australia has seen for months, while powerwas cut in parts of New South Wales after a stormy night.“Heavy, intense rainfall has eased, but showers and thunderstorms stillpossible through the weekend,” the Bureau of Meteorology in Queensland saidon Twitter on Saturday.“Take care on the roads – if it’s flooded, forget it.”Parts of Queensland’s south saw triple the monthly rainfall overnight. Nomajor damage has been reported, although some residential areas were floodedand many of the state’s parks and tourist attractions were closed.New South Wales fire services welcomed the rain, which they said on Twitterwould help to control the 75 fires burning in the state, of which 25 are yetto be contained. But, they also said that some firegrounds have not seen anyrain yet.More benign storms were forecast for Victoria, which has been hit this weekalready by severe storms and unhealthy smoke from the bushfires.Fears the smoke would return on Saturday for the final round of theAustralian Open qualifying matches eased after environmental officials saidair quality forecast in the Melbourne area would be “moderate” rather than“very poor”.NEW CHINESE VIRUS 'WILL HAVE INFECTED HUNDREDS'The number of people already infected by the mystery virus emerging in Chinais far greater than official figures suggest, scientists have told the BBC.There have been 41 laboratory-confirmed cases of the new virus, but UKexperts estimate the figure is closer to 1,700.Two people are known to have died from the virus, which appeared in Wuhancity in December."I am substantially more concerned than I was a week ago," disease outbreakscientist, Prof Neil Ferguson, said.The work was conducted by the MRC Centre for Global Infectious DiseaseAnalysis at Imperial College London, which advises bodies including the UKgovernment and the World Health Organization.Singapore and Hong Kong have been screening air passengers from Wuhan and USauthorities announced similar measures starting on Friday at three majorairports in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.UKRAINE PM OFFERS TO QUIT OVER LEAKS DENIGRATING PREZUkraine's Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk on Friday tendered hisresignation after a leaked audio recording apparently revealed himcriticising President Volodymyr Zelensky.A voice sounding like Honcharuk's, but not officially confirmed as his, saysPresident Zelensky, a TV comedian and businessman who was elected lastApril, only has a "primitive" understanding of economics, reports the BBC."To remove any doubts in our respect for and trust in the President, I havewritten a resignation letter and submitted it to the president with theright to hand it to the Parliament," Honcharuk, 35, made the announcement onhis official Facebook page."He is a man in whom Ukrainians have expressed unprecedented confidence. Andhe has every right to evaluate the effectiveness of every member of histeam." The presidential office said Zelensky had received the resignationand would consider it, reports Xinhua news agency.The controversial audiotape was uploaded to an anonymous YouTube channel onWednesday evening.Honcharuk was apparently discussing the national budget with some othergovernment ministers and finance chiefs.86 PAK ISLAMISTS GET 55-YR JAIL OVER BLASPHEMY PROTESTSA Pakistani court has sentenced brother and nephew of a radical Islamistparty chief along with 84 others to 55-year prison terms each for takingpart in protests in 2018 over the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, a Christian womanin a controversial blasphemy case, according to a media report.The anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi was hearing a case against theTehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) workers who held violent protests andclashed with the police over the arrest of party chief Khadim Hussain Rizviin 2018, Dawn news reported.Those convicted include TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi's brother AmeerHussain Rizvi and nephew Mohammad Ali, the report said. The court handed 86workers and supporters of the TLP with a prison sentence of 55 years each ina case pertaining to rioting and resisting against the police, the reportsaid.COUNTDOWN CLOCK TO ILLUMINATE DOWNING STREET ON BREXIT DAYA clock counting down to the moment the UK leaves the EU on 31 January willbe projected on to Downing Street as part of government plans to mark BrexitDay.The clock will tick down to 23:00 GMT, while Prime Minister Boris Johnsonwill give a "special" address to the nation in the evening, the governmentsaid.A special 50p coin will also enter circulation to mark the occasion.Meanwhile, a campaign to find £500,000 to make Big Ben ring when the UKleaves the EU has raised more than £200,000.Millionaire businessman Arron Banks and the Leave Means Leave group havedonated £50,000 to the campaign.Downing Street has said the prime minister will chair a cabinet meeting inthe north of England during the day, to discuss spreading "prosperity andopportunity".He will then make a special address to the nation in the evening.Mr Johnson is expected to be one of the first people to receive one of thenewly-minted 50p coins, which will bear the motto "peace, prosperity andfriendship with all nations".CHINA’S BIRTHRATE AT ITS LOWEST SINCE 1949, POPULATION CROSSES 1.4 BNChina saw 14.6 million births in the year 2019, the lowest in the countrysince its founding year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics,the number of babies born in China dropped by 580,000. China had such a dropin birth rates only in the year 1961 amidst a famine.A lower death rate despite the current birth rate crisis in China meant itspopulation was still 1.4 billion in 2019. Birth rates in China have beenfalling for the last three years.This rate had showed a slight upward trend after China’s government endedtheir one-child policy law. However, it did not impact the country’s overallbirth rate. The one-child policy was introduced in the year 1979 to controlthe country’s population boom.The BBC reported that China’s birth rate has become now lower than thebirthrate of the US which, according to recent data available, stood at 12per thousand people in the year 2017.With 10.48 live births per thousand people China falls behind the lowestbirth rate since 1938 in England and Wales which stands at 11.1 live births.The one-child policy has been blamed for this trend along with creating agender imbalance in the Chinese population with 30 million males outnumberfemales as estimated by the 2019 figures.Apart from the gender disparity, China faces an increasingly elderpopulation that poses a social and an economic challenge to the world’ssecond largest economy.According to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’spopulation is said to further shrink in the coming years and people over theage of 60 years would constitute one-third of the total population by 2050.