Four more wrestlers have signed multi-year extensions with WWE.

On last night’s WWE Backstage, it was announced that Big E, Xavier Woods, and The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) have signed new multi-year deals with WWE. WWE noted that all three members of The New Day “solidified a pact of identical length and compensation on their contracts to maintain equal status among the team.”

Kofi Kingston had revealed on this week’s episode of The New Day’s Feel the Power podcast that he recently signed a new five-year contract with WWE.

Kingston & Big E are the current SmackDown Tag Team Champions. They retained their titles against The Revival in a ladder match at Sunday’s TLC pay-per-view.

Woods is out of action after suffering a torn Achilles tendon at a WWE house show in October.

Former NXT Tag Team Champions Dawkins & Ford lost to The Viking Raiders after answering their open challenge on Raw’s go-home show for TLC last week. Dawkins & Ford also hosted a “Monday after Weekend Update” segment where they parodied Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update and looked ahead to TLC.

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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

A 30 minute iron man match will take place on the go-home edition of Dynamite prior to AEW Revolution.

PAC will get his long awaited match against Kenny Omega in three weeks, which would be on the February 26 edition of Dynamite in Kansas City, Missouri.

Omega and PAC have been feuding off and on since August, when PAC beat Omega at All Out. Omega later beat PAC in a rematch a couple of months later. In recent weeks, PAC has been calling out Omega, including attacking his friend Michael Nakazawa.

Their feud continued this week when PAC confronted Omega while he was backstage and Omega was in the ring. PAC was near Riho, and said while he’s a bastard, not a beast, and said he wouldn’t attack a woman. Nyla Rose, who is the number one contender for the AEW Women’s title, then emerged, attacked Riho and put her through a table.

Another match set for this edition of Dynamite is a steel cage match between Cody and MJF’s associate Wardlow. This would fulfill another of MJF’s stipulations prior to he and Cody’s match at Revolution on February 29.

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PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

The White House is dusting off its playbook from the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

Caught off guard by the speed at which a whistleblower’s claims have morphed into an impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump and his team are scrambling to respond.

They’re turning, at least for now, to some of the same strategies they used to counter special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The basic tactics deployed by the short-staffed White House: Attempt to discredit government officials at the heart of the story.

Dispatch Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other allies to muddy the picture.

Lean on Republicans in Congress to provide cover.

And, most of all, presidential counterattacks.

Just as the president considers himself to be his own best adviser, he often acts as his own most vocal defender.

"It’s a disgrace to our country. It’s another witch-hunt. Here we go again," an agitated Trump said Thursday as he returned to Washington after four days at the United Nations in New York. "They’re frozen – the Democrats.

They’re going to lose the election; they know it. That’s why they’re doing it. And it should never be allowed, what’s happened to this president."

The velocity at which the whistleblower story enveloped Washington was remarkable.

In just a few days’ time, a whistleblower’s complaint that Trump encouraged the president of Ukraine to help investigate political rival Joe Biden led to congressional hearings, allegations of a White House cover-up and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing the start of an impeachment inquiry.

The White House was not ready.

While Trump’s strategists have long believed an impeachment push could backfire against Democrats, the president has also voiced concern that impeachment could become the first line of his political obituary.

He lashed out after Pelosi announced the inquiry, firing off tweets from his Manhattan penthouse and winding down his U.N. stay with a press conference where he seemed aggrieved and subdued.

The next morning, at what was meant to be a salute to the workers from the US Mission to the United Nations, Trump let loose with a threatening tone on Thursday.

Process of impeachment

"I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy," Trump said, according to audio released by The Los Angeles Times. "You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now."

At the same time, Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, appeared before Congress and acknowledged that the complaint filed by the whistleblower alleged serious wrongdoing by the president.

Aligning themselves with the White House, most Republican legislators at the hearing wasted few chances to try to undermine the unidentified whistleblower’s credibility.

They tried shifting the focus to Democrats and unproven theories, much like those the GOP used to attack special counsel Robert Mueller when he testified about his Russia investigation over the summer.

Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut called it a "kaleidoscope of fantabulistic conspiracy theories."

With his trademark scattershot style, Giuliani played a key role in muddying the facts and trying to undermine the credibility of the Mueller investigation.

In this case, Giuliani’s outreach to the new Ukraine government to investigate Joe Biden made up a major piece of the whistleblower’s complaint, and the former New York City mayor went on offense again as scrutiny of his actions intensified.

"The complaint is questionable and the whistleblower is a pure partisan," Giuliani said, without supplying evidence for either assertion.

He then tried to shift the focus onto Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He claimed the Californian had been trying "frame" Trump for years and "should be investigated for lying, enabling perjury, and trampling on constitutional rights."

A weary West Wing, after being shadowed for two years by the Mueller probe, lacks the organization required to sustain a serious impeachment fight.

During the Clinton impeachment, the White House had a muscular team of veteran lawyers and aggressive press aides to try to shape news coverage in their favor. The Trump White House has no equivalent.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham asserts that "nothing has changed" with the whistleblower’s complaint. But the White House has largely ignored substantive questions about the allegations. And its strategy appears hinged on hopes that the partisan frenzy stoked both by both the progressive left and Trump himself will cloud out substantive concerns raised by the whistleblower.

The White House strategy, in close coordination with Trump’s reelection campaign, is aimed at motivating the president’s base supporters to stick with him in 2020.

But allies suggest there is a risk that the Trump’s team is focusing too much on the campaign at the expense of the perilous Capitol Hill proceedings that lie ahead.

A teenager who was shot by the Hong Kong police on Tuesday has been charged with rioting and assault as the city reels from this week’s heightened aggression. 

The city is also expected to ban face masks under a colonial-era emergency law that has not been used in half a century, media reported. Many people taking part in the protests wear face masks to hide their identities and shield themselves from tear gas, meaning the ban on masks could have a deterring effect on demonstrations.

It came as the city loosened guidelines on the use of force by police as it struggles to stamp out anti-government protests that have rocked the Asian financial hub for nearly four months, according to documents seen by Reuters.  

The loosening of restrictions on the use of force came into effect shortly before some of the most violent turmoil seen in the protests on Tuesday, with police firing about 1,400 rounds of tear gas, 900 rubber bullets and six live rounds, as protesters threw petrol bombs and wielded sticks.

The charges against the 18-year-old protester are likely to inflame tensions further in a city already reeling that an officer from the once publicly feted Hong Kong police force fired a live shot at close range. 

The protester was armed only with a makeshift shield made from what appeared to be a boogie board, and a white pole.  Rioting is considered a serious offence in Hong Kong, punishable by up to ten years in prison. 

The case was immediately heard in the Sha Tin court on Thursday afternoon where Mr Tsang, 18, who is still critical in hospital, was represented by his lawyer. Hundreds of students gathered outside in a show of support. 

The teenager took a bullet to the upper left-hand side of his body after a violent confrontation between protesters and riot officers in the Tsuen Wan district during the widespread chaos that broke out on China’s National Day. 

Stephen Lo, the Hong Kong police commissioner, was quick to defend the officer’s actions, saying that he feared for his life. 

"The police officers had given warnings but to no avail. The police officers’ lives were seriously endangered and were forced to use a firearm to stop the violent attacks," he told a press conference. "The approach was reasonable and lawful."

Viral footage which was filmed at multiple angles by journalists at the scene shows a group of demonstrators with bars and umbrellas fighting with outnumbered police officers. An officer runs in to back up his colleagues with his handgun already drawn. 

As Mr Tsang swings his pole a shot rings out and he slowly staggers backwards to the ground. A friend who rushes to help is tackled by another officer and a group of protesters throw a petrol bomb, landing at the feet of the riot police. 

The teenager, who later underwent surgery, suffered the first injury from live ammunition in four months of escalating political unrest. It is not clear from the footage why the officer did not reach for non-lethal protection, including pepper spray.

According to police, 1,400 rounds of tear gas were fired on Tuesday, along with 900 rubber bullets and six live rounds.

But it is the single gunshot injury which has stunned a city now increasingly used to clouds of teargas on in its main shopping and residential districts, and the incident threatens to further widen the gulf of mistrust that already exists between large sectors of the public and the police. 

The pro-democracy camp has insisted that this shooting, and the firing of a non-lethal projectile at an Indonesian journalist which blinded her right eye, are egregious examples of the excessive force increasingly being deployed by the police. 

Some protesters have begun to add a sixth entry to their list of demands – disband the police force.

The police, who have been deployed to tackle the crisis in the absence of a political solution, have in turn urged the government to issue curfew orders or adopt measures under a tough colonial-era emergency law to empower their thinly stretched force. 

At least 30 officers were injured during Tuesday’s street violence.

The Junior Police Officers’ Association (JPOA) complained this week that Carrie Lam, the city’s embattled leader, had left them alone, with no concrete solutions, reported the South China Morning Post. 

Lam Chi-wai, the JPOA chairman, said the government had failed to do its part while police were fighting a “war” on the streets and enduring attacks, bullying and a smear campaign.

“We are only an enforcement agency with limited power under the law. In the face of such a massive series of rioting incidents, we cannot work alone without appropriate measures and support from the top level,” he said in the statement.

The authorities may decide at a special meeting on Friday to use their emergency ordinance powers for the first time in more than a half a century in order to ban face masks at public gatherings, local news channel TVB reported. 

The use of a law first passed by the British government in 1922 to quell a seamen’s strike in Hong Kong harbour, would mark a dramatic escalation by Ms Lam’s government, and risks a fresh wave of international condemnation and pushback from demonstrators. 

Protest leaders have previously denounced invoking of the Emergency Regulations Ordinance as a form of martial law which would give the government greater leeway to arrest citizens, censor publications, shut off communications and conduct searches without warrants.  

A British volunteer with the Kurds in Syria has described chaotic scenes on the border of Turkey on Wednesday as civilians fled a Turkish military offensive launch.

Lizzie Irvine, from south-east Scotland, spoke to the Telegraph from the town of Ras al-Ayn, which has become the focus of the Turkish assault on Kurdish-held northern Syria.

"Since 4pm, artillery shells have been falling on the city of Hasakah. There’s smoke, columns of smoke rising above the city," the 30-year-old, who is a part of Women Defend Rojava campaign, said by phone. Rojava is the name Kurds have given to their autonomous territory in north-east Syria.

At least five civilians and three Kurdish fighters were reportedly killed…

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The Wongs had always been a close-knit family.

But a brooding disagreement over Hong Kong’s worst political crisis in decades erupted in a bitter argument at a relative’s funeral in August saw father and son angrily throw tea at each other. 

Brian, a 37-year-old teacher and the family’s eldest son, was among the shocked onlookers as a table was overturned when the two men could no longer contain their emotions over the city’s fractured politics. “I’ve never seen my father so angry,” he said. 

The pro-democracy movement, now entering its fifth month, has taken a heavy toll on Hong Kong families as the middle ground between the city’s polarised political camps narrows, causing personal rifts that…

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