TRUMP CELEBRATES IMPEACHMENT ACQUITTAL AND BLASTS RIVALSUS President Donald Trump has taken a victory lap one day after hisimpeachment acquittal, in a White House tirade against his politicalenemies."I've done things wrong in my life, I will admit... but this is what the endresult is," he said as he held up a newspaper headlined "Trump acquitted"."We went through hell, unfairly. We did nothing wrong," he said at the WhiteHouse. "It was evil, it was corrupt."He earlier criticised impeachment foes who invoked their religious faith."Now we have that gorgeous word. I never thought it would sound so good," MrTrump said from the East Room, which was crammed with supporters and cabinetofficials."It's called 'total acquittal'."DOUBT OVER CHINA'S OFFICIAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERSIn what could be a serious cover-up regarding the actual death figures inthe Novel Coronavirus outbreak, Chinese multinational conglomerate holdingcompany Tencent allegedly published "real" data on the novel coronavirusdeaths, with briefly listing death toll as 24,589 -- way too higher than 563deaths China officially announced on Thursday.According to a Taiwan News report, "Tencent... seems to have inadvertentlyreleased what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths,which were astronomically higher than official figures".Once people noticed this, Tencent allegedly updated the numbers to reflectthe government's "official" numbers, according to the report."Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions postedextremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approvedstatistics," said the report.Some people speculated a coding problem may be behind the real "internal"data but others believe that someone is actually trying to reveal the realnumbers.There have been multiple reports of Wuhan officials cremating deceasedcoronavirus victims before they could be added to the official death toll.The Wall Street Journal reported that the coronavirus numbers coming out ofChina are "fishy".If the numbers from the alleged Tencent leak are accurate, it would putcoronavirus' mortality rate at almost 16 per cent. By comparison, SARS'mortality rate was 9.6 per cent, reports CCN.As of Thursday, the official death toll in China rose to 563, with 28,018confirmed cases.A Chinese doctor, Li Wenliang, 34, who was detained by police for issuingthe first warning about the coronavirus outbreak in late December, died ofthe disease early on Friday, triggering a wave of anger and grief.CHINA TO CUT TARIFFS ON $75 BILLION IN US IMPORTS: OFFICIALChina on Thursday said it will halve punitive tariffs on USD 75 billion inU.S. imports from February 14, a month after Beijing and Washington signed atruce in their long-running trade war.The reduction will apply to levies of 5% and 10% that were imposed on morethan 1,700 items in September, according to the State Council TariffCommission.Products that had been hit by the 10% tariffs included fresh seafood,poultry and soybeans.Tariffs also applied to items such as tungsten lamps for scientific andmedical purposes, as well as some types of aircraft.The move is aimed at "promoting the healthy and stable development ofChina-U.S. economic and trade relations", the Commission said in astatement.It added that the reduction will kick in at 0501 GMT on February 14 - thesame day Washington is expected to halve tariffs on USD 120 billion worth ofChinese products.The Commission added it "hopes that both parties will be able to abide bytheir agreement, strive to implement its relevant content, (and) boostmarket confidence".Other retaliatory tariffs, however, remain in place.U.S. ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ALLIANCEThe United States on Wednesday announced the launch of a 27-nationInternational Religious Freedom Alliance, which will try to adopt acollective approach in protecting and preserving religious freedom acrossthe world.It is an Alliance of "like-minded partners who treasure, and fight for,international religious freedom for every human being", U.S. Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo said in his address during the formal launch.Among the prominent countries to join the alliance are Australia, Brazil,the United Kingdom, Israel, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Greece."Defending the right of all people to live their lives according to theirconscience is one of this administration's top priorities," Mr. Pompeo saidin his address."Indeed, we must affirm, and fight for, that truth now more than ever. Morethan eight in 10 people in the world today live where they cannot practicetheir faith freely," he said."We condemn terrorists and violent extremists who target religiousminorities, whether they are Yezidis in Iraq, Hindus in Pakistan, Christiansin northeast Nigeria, or Muslims in Burma," Mr. Pompeo said."We condemn blasphemy and apostasy laws that criminalize matters of thesoul. We condemn the Chinese Communist Party's hostility to all faiths. Weknow several of you courageously pushed back against Chinese pressure byagreeing to be part of this Alliance, and we thank you for that," Mr. Pompeosaid."Finally, our Alliance is off on the right foot as countries do their partsto advance this mission," the top American diplomat said.During the launch meeting, according to a senior State Department official,participating countries are to discuss kind of areas that they are going towork and focus on.GERMAN STATE PREMIER QUITS, CALLS FOR POLLThe premier of Germany's Thuringia state stepped down and called for snapelections on Thursday, barely 24 hours after he was elected with the help offar-right AfD in a vote Chancellor Angela Merkel called "unforgivable".Thomas Kemmerich, from the liberal Free Democrats, said he would apply forthe regional Parliament to be dissolved in response to the outrage over hisappointment, which drew comparisons with the rise of Nazis in the 1930s. "Wewant elections to remove the stain of the AfD's support from the office ofthe premiership," he said.Mr. Kemmerich's election on Wednesday marked the first time in Germanpost-war history that a state premier was helped into office by acceptingfar-right votes, crossing a red line in a nation haunted by its Nazi past.He became the surprise winner of a run-off vote after AfD lawmakers ditchedtheir own candidate to back him, in what Mr. Kemmerich called "a perfidioustrick" by the far right.Chancellor Merkel called the vote "unforgivable" and said the result "mustbe reversed".She reiterated that her centre-right CDU would never work with theanti-Islam, anti-immigrant AfD, on a regional or national level.Thousands took to the streets in cities across Germany late Wednesday tovent their dismay at the vote outcome, including in Berlin, Frankfurt andThuringia's capital Erfurt.Ms. Merkel's coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democratic (SPD),reacted furiously to the debacle, calling for her conservative party toclearly distance itself from the AfD if the national government is tosurvive.CHINA FUMES AS INT'L AIRLINES HALT FLIGHTSChina said on Thursday that it had lodged diplomatic protests with countrieswhose airlines had cancelled flights to Chinese cities alleging that theywere spreading panic in the wake of deadly coronavirus.The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak went up to 563 as 73people died on Wednesday, the highest single day fatalities so far, whiletotal confirmed cases rose sharply to 28,018, Chinese health officials saidon Thursday.Several international airlines, including Air India and IndiGo, havecancelled flights to China over fears of the virus spreading across theworld, a move which Beijing described against the WHO guidelines. Severalcountries have also announced travel bans.Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told the media briefing online onThursday that the Chinese government was acting with openness, transparencyand a high sense of responsibility in sharing information enhancinginternational cooperation in dealing with the virus."The WHO lauded China's strong measures and stressed many times that it doesnot recommend and even opposes imposing restrictions on travel. As somecountries have taken such excessive steps as suspending flights, ICAO(International Civil Aviation Organisation) has also issued bulletins andencouraged all countries to follow WHO recommendations," she said.SAUDI COLD TO PAK ATTEMPT AT ANTI-INDIA MEETPakistan's bid to call an immediate meeting on Kashmir by Saudi-ledOrganisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) seems to have failed after Riyadhshowed reluctance to the move, according to a Pakistani media report onThursday. In December, there were plans to convene a meeting of the foreignministers of the OIC on Kashmir by Saudi Arabia, in an apparent move by thekingdom to please Pakistan which skipped a recent summit of Muslim nationsin Malaysia seen by Riyadh as an attempt to create a new bloc to replace the57-member grouping led by it.Prime Minister Imran Khan had confirmed Pakistan's participation in thesummit hosted by Malaysia, but skipped the event at the eleventh hour due topressure exerted by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - keyfinancial backers of the cash-strapped country.The report by Dawn News came ahead of the bloc's senior officials' meetingin Jeddah on February 9 to make preparations for the Council of ForeignMinisters (CFM).Islamabad's feeling of unease with the OIC over its failure to get the CFM'smeeting appears to be growing, as Riyadh has been showing reluctance toconvene the meeting on Kashmir.