TRUMP LAUDS US ECONOMY IN DAVOS, SAYS LITTLE ON CLIMATE WOESPresident Donald Trump boasted Tuesday that he's led a "spectacular"turnaround of the U.S. economy and urged the world to invest in America, buthad little to say about climate change issues that are a focus of thisyear's gathering of top business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.Trump addressed the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, hoursbefore his historic impeachment trial was to reconvene in the U.S. Senate inWashington. The two-day visit will test Trump's ability to balance his angerover being impeached with a desire to project leadership on the world stage.He reminded the audience that when he spoke here two years ago, early in hispresidency, "I told you that we had launched the great American comeback.""Today I'm proud to declare the United States is in the midst of an economicboom, the likes of which the world has never seen before," the presidentsaid.Trump's speech was received in virtual silence from the audience apart froma brief flurry of applause when Trump said the U.S. would join a WorldEconomic Forum initiative to plant 1 trillion trees worldwide.Trump spent nearly all of his approximately 30-minute speech talking abouthow the U.S. economy has performed under his leadership.Trump's speech was criticized by the Nobel prize-winning economist JosephStiglitz for failing to address the climate emergency beyond a commitmentthat the U.S. will join the initiative to plant a trillion trees worldwide."He managed to say absolutely zero on climate change," Stiglitz said."Meanwhile we're going to roast."Trump's appearance at the forum ends Wednesday when he travels back to aWashington, which is consumed by the impeachment trial.IN DOCUMENTARY, HILLARY CLINTON SAYS 'NOBODY LIKES SANDERS'Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton has launched a scathingattack on presidential hopeful and 2016 Democratic rival Bernie Sanders,telling in a documentary that "nobody likes him."Ms. Clinton also refused to say whether she would endorse and campaign forMr. Sanders if he becomes the Democrats' choice to take on President DonaldTrump in November's election. "He was in Congress for years. He had onesenator support him," Ms. Clinton, 72, says in a four-part series due to airon streaming site Hulu in March."Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. Hewas a career politician.""It's all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it,"she adds.Mr. Sanders, a leftist Senator from Vermont, is among the leaders in therace for the 2020 Democratic nomination.He sits second in national polls behind Joe Biden and ahead of Massachusettssenator Elizabeth Warren, two weeks before the first nomination vote inIowa.Mr. Sanders, 78, pushed Ms. Clinton to the wire four years ago in anacrimonious, months-long battle for the party's nomination. Ms. Clinton wonthat race but lost to Mr. Trump in November.Asked whether she would back Mr. Sanders if he won the nomination this timearound, Ms. Clinton said: "I'm not going to go there yet. We're still in avery vigorous primary season."CHINA'S CORONAVIRUS DEATH TOLL JUMPS TO 9, NUMBER OF CASES TOP 400China has warned that a SARS-like virus that has killed nine people,infected hundreds and spread to other countries could mutate, as authoritiesscrambled to contain the disease during the Lunar New Year travel season.The new coronavirus has caused alarm for its similarity to SARS (SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainlandChina and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.The World Health Organization (WHO) was to hold an emergency meetingWednesday to determine whether to declare a rare global public healthemergency over the disease, which has also been detected in the UnitedStates, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.The Chinese government has classified the outbreak in the same category asthe SARS epidemic, meaning compulsory isolation for those diagnosed with theillness and the potential to implement quarantine measures on travel.But they still have not been able to confirm the exact source of the virus,which has infected 440 people in 13 provinces and municipalities.LORDS AMEND BREXIT BILL, SETBACK FOR UK PMThe Boris Johnson-led UK government has lost three votes in the House ofLords over its Brexit legislation, its first defeats since it was re-electedby a majority in the December 2019 general election.The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, which paves the way for theUK to leave the EU with a deal on January 31, was approved by MPs earlierthis month without any changes.But despite their emphatic victory in the December 12, 2019, generalelection, the Conservatives do not have a majority in the Lords and havesuffered a series of defeats during the Bill's passage through the House.Meanwhile, on Monday, the first defeat for the Bill was over the rights ofEU citizens lawfully residing in the UK after Brexit. Peers backed across-party amendment allowing EU citizens physical proof of their status.The vote, by 270 to 229, majority 41, means the Bill will have to go back tothe Commons, where Johnson will be able to use his big majority to overturnit.In the second defeat, peers voted by 241 to 205, majority 36, to remove thepower of ministers to decide which courts should have the power to departfrom judgments of the European Court of Justice and by reference to whattest.A third defeat followed, as peers backed a move to allow cases to bereferred to the Supreme Court to decide whether to depart from EU case law.IRAN CONFIRMS TWO MISSILES FIRED AT UKRAINE AIRLINERIran's civil aviation authority confirmed two missiles were fired at aUkrainian airliner that was brought down earlier this month, in apreliminary report posted on its website."Investigators... discovered that two Tor-M1 missiles... were fired at theaircraft," it said late on Monday, adding an investigation was ongoing toassess the bearing their impact had on the accident.The statement confirms a report in The New York Times, which included videofootage appearing to show two projectiles being fired at the airliner.The Tor-M1 is a short-range surface-to-air missile developed by the formerSoviet Union that are designed to target aircraft or cruise missiles.Iran had for days denied Western claims based on US intelligence reportsthat the Boeing 737 operating Flight PS752 had been shot down, beforeeventually coming clean.The Revolutionary Guards' aerospace commander Brigadier General AmiraliHajizadeh accepted full responsibility, but said the missile operator whoopened fire had been acting independently.The country's civil aviation authority said it has yet to receive a positiveresponse after requesting technical assistance from France and the UnitedStates to decode black boxes from the downed airliner.'A LOT HAS HAPPENED, BUT NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE': GRETA THUNBERG AT WEFSwedish teen activist Greta Thunberg Tuesday said a lot has happened sinceher campaign caught the eyes of the world but "nothing has been done"actually to save the planet. Speaking at the World Economic Forum annualmeeting in Davos, Thunberg said mass mobilisation of young people around theworld has put climate at the top of the agenda."In one aspect, lots has happened since last year. The mass mobilisation ofyoung people around the world has put climate at the top of the agenda"."People are more generally aware now. The climate and the environment is ahot topic. But - and it's a big but: From another perspective, pretty muchnothing has been done," she said.Stressing that every fraction of degree matters, Thunberg said, ". why is itso important to stay below 1.5 degrees celsius? Because even at 1 degreepeople are dying from climate change because that is what the united sciencecalls for, to avoid destabilising the climate so that we have the bestpossible chance to avoid setting off irreversible chain reactions."LEBANON FORMS GOVERNMENT WITH BACKING OF HEZBOLLAH AND ALLIESLebanon formed a new government on January 21 under Prime Minister HassanDiab after the Shi'ite group Hezbollah and its allies agreed on a cabinetthat must urgently address an economic crisis.The heavily indebted state has been without effective government since Saadal-Hariri quit as premier in October, prompted by protests againstpoliticians who have collectively led Lebanon into the worst crisis sincethe 1975-90 war.New Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said Lebanon needed foreign aid to save itfrom an unprecedented situation that had forced people to "beg for dollars"at the banks and fear for their deposits. He also described forthcomingforeign currency sovereign debt maturities as "a fireball".The Iranian-backed Hezbollah and allies including President Michel Aounnominated Diab as premier last month after efforts failed to strike a dealwith Hariri, Lebanon's main Sunni leader and a traditional ally of the Westand Gulf Arab states.Weeks of wrangling over portfolios among Hezbollah's allies held up anagreement until Tuesday, when the heavily armed group delivered an ultimatumto its allies to make a deal or suffer the consequences, sources familiarwith the talks said.The cabinet is made up of 20 specialist ministers backed by parties. Wazni,an economist who had served as an adviser to parliament's finance and budgetcommittee, was nominated with the backing of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.Nassif Hitti, a former ambassador to the Arab League, was named foreignminister with the backing of Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement.But analysts said Hezbollah's role meant Diab might have trouble winningforeign support.BANGLADESH: FIVE EX-COPS GET DEATH FOR SHOOTING 24 PEOPLE AT PM HASINA RALLYIN 1988A Bangladesh court sentenced to death five former police officials on Mondayfor shooting dead 24 people in an anti-government protest, led bythen-opposition leader and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 31 yearsago.A special court in Bangladesh's southeastern city of Chattogram sentencedthe punishment to the officers for their involvement in the 1988 Chattogrammassacre, officials confirmed Monday.Bangladesh's Criminal Investigations Department had charged eight policemenwith murder but three of the defendants died during the trial.Judge Mohammed Ismail Hossain announced the verdict with four of thedefendants present, prosecution lawyer Shibu Prakash Biswas said. Onedefendant was on the run, he added. The court cross-examined a total of 56witnesses.1988 massacreHasina's Awami League party organized a rally on January 24, 1988, againstthen-military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad. She had been touringChattogram to mobilize support against Ershad.From her truck, Hasina led a procession surrounded by her supporters.According to the prosecution, the target was to assassinate Hasina, but shewas saved by her supporters' "human shield" when the shooting began.At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 others injured as policeopened fired at the rally.After the shootings, the bodies were cremated at a local crematoriumregardless of their religious identities. The families of the dead were notpermitted to see them.Hasina survived the attack unharmed.