Stage set for impeachment trial

Trump will release formal written defense [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( Happy MLK Day! US President Donald Trump has a deadline today to release his written defense. The release of the document comes before the Senate’s impeachment trial gets underway. And, the coronavirus outbreak in China is spreading, and there was confirmation today that a third person has died. Also, two people in New Zealand and Spain have made an Earth sandwich. Delicious. --------------------------------------------------------------- In the news today Trump will release formal written defense [US President Donald Trump puts his hand to his ear while speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and Trade Show in Austin, Texas, Jan. 19, 2020.]( Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Trump will release formal written defense After a strategy of [blocking testimony from top officials and rejecting demands]( for documents during the impeachment inquiry in the US House of Representatives, President Donald Trump has to meet a [noon deadline today]( to submit his written defense. Senior administration officials said the document will offer a more detailed defense arguing Trump is innocent of the charges of abusing the powers of his office by asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, as well as innocent of obstructing a congressional inquiry into his conduct. Also: [Trump wants Senate trial over before State of the Union address]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a smart speaker? Listen to The World's new show called [The Number in the News](! We produce The Number in the News daily from our studio in Boston. Host Bianca Hillier will tell you one number you won’t forget and why it’s the news today. Add The Number in the News to your Amazon or Google news briefing. A third person has died in China in virus outbreak Authorities in China said today that an outbreak of a new coronavirus has [spread to more cities and a third person has died](. Health authorities have confirmed more than 200 cases, mostly in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province. Officials have also reported the respiratory illness has been detected in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, along with cases in Japan, Thailand and South Korea. There are concerns about containment of the virus as hundreds of millions of Chinese tourists travel domestically and abroad for the Lunar New Year holiday that starts later this week. Also: [What we know about China’s new coronavirus]( Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearings begins Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the company’s billionaire founder, [will appear in a Vancouver courtroom today]( for the first day of her extradition trial. The US has charged her with bank fraud and accused her of misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business in Iran. The first phase of the trial is expected to last four days, but it could be years before a decision on Meng's extradition is made because of the potential for appeals in Canada's justice system. Also: [Meet the consultant who can help your business go zero waste]( US immigration politics make their mark on Grammy-nominated J.S. Ondara [When Kenyan musician J.S. Ondara won the US visa lottery five years ago, he swapped Nairobi for Minneapolis because of his love for Bob Dylan.]( Credit: Courtesy of J.S. Ondara Kenyan native J.S. Ondara won the green card lottery in 2013 for permanent residency in the United States. Now, Ondara's album "Tales of America (The Second Coming)" has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Americana Album category. The opening track on his album is "American Dream," and the final track is "God Bless America," which has the line, "Will you let me in or are you at capacity?" [Ondara told The World]( that the shift in American immigration policy during the Trump administration have shaped his sound. “I think that the times we are in, definitely, were a big part of my headspace, of just being an immigrant in America, you know, being here and seeing the growing intolerance towards immigration and knowing relatives and family and other people in my circles who perhaps haven't been as fortunate as I have been to have this green card,” Ondara said. “And so, a lot of those issues are quite present in my mind.” --------------------------------------------------------------- Morning meme How do you make an Earth sandwich? A man in New Zealand and another man in Spain did it by placing slices of bread on precise points on either side of the planet. Yes, it’s a thing … [and it took years to plan](. [Earth sandwich photographs.]( Credit: BBC Reuters contributed to this newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it on The World - [J.S. Ondara and his good fortune]( - [Plastic-free stores]( - [Xi Jinping in Myanmar]( - [China’s birth rate falls to lowest in over half a century]( - [The Petersfield Bookshop]( - [Bosnian migrants]( - [Australian climate hoax spreads like wildfire]( - [The US census]( - [Iran’s supreme leader leads Friday prayers]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX](, [WGBH](, and the [BBC](.