This is what Kobe Bryant said about basketball, his wife and his daughters

During the memorial, renowned cellist Ben Hong played at center court as a video of the basketball legend appeared on the scoreboard. Here's what Bryant said:

Once upon a time there was a young basketball player who had dreams of becoming one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.

He had the opportunity to go to the NBA and play against the greatest players in the world. If that doesn't get you going, I don't think anything will.

It's like a dream come true.

I couldn't even dream of this when I was a kid. You know. Just no way possible. It's just, you know, just a blessing from above.

The joy of the game comes from just being out there and just playing. The competitive side of me thinks we can win every game that we play.

What I've learned is to ... always keep going.

Do you love the process? That gets you to that. Those boring, agonizing moments. If you love that, then you know you found something that's really true to you.

You know, if you do the work, you work hard enough, dreams come true. Those times when you get up early and you work hard. Those times when you stay up late and you work hard. Those times when you don't feel like working, you're too tired, you don't want to push yourself , but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream.

If you're a fan of mine, you're a fan of winning. You're fan of the Lakers. That's never going to change.

Man, I gave my soul to this game. There was nothing more I could give.

I wanted to be one of the best basketball players to ever play and anything else that was outside of that lane, I didn't have time for.

It's not about my jerseys that are hanging up there for me. It's about the jerseys that were hanging up there before.

Growing up and watching all these great players play and learning so much from them. To now be a part of that wall, you know, means everything to me.

When you get older you start to understand that really it's about the next generation. That these championships do come and go. But the most important thing you can do is to pay everything that you've learned forward to the next generation to come. And that's truly how you create something that lasts forever.

I love storytelling. Can you imagine, like, winning an Oscar, how ridiculous that would be?

Unfortunately for us athletes, we've been pigeonholed into thinking that we can only be one thing.

I'm here to show people that we can do much more than that. Winning an Oscar, winning an Emmy and an Annie, those are things that are showing other athletes that come after, no, no, there's more to this thing.

The discipline, the commitment, the team, the community. How do I take those lessons and move those here? Having that sharp focus is something that I got from the game of basketball.

You have to dance beautifully in the box that you're comfortable dancing in. My box was to be extremely ambitious within the sport of basketball. Your box is different than mine. Everybody has their own. It's your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful of a canvas as you can make it. And if you have done that, then you have lived a successful life. You have lived with Mamba Mentality.

And being married to my wife, Vanessa, is, it's fun. We have a good time together. I love her tremendously. But we're best friends too. It's a blessing. And when we're raising our daughters one of the things we choose to do is you just got to try your best and you just got to give it your all. Give it everything you have.

As parents you've have to lead by example. If you want your kids to do whatever it is you want to accomplish in life, you have to show them. I have four girls, so my mission is to make sure women have opportunities. Our daughters will grow up understanding that they can be strong, they can be independent. They can be fierce.

I just love spending time with my family and just being a husband, being a father, being a goofball, just having a good time with my kids.

I grew up a diehard, I mean, a diehard Laker fan. And to spend 20 years here, I mean you can't, you can't write something better than this. Appreciating all this, you know the journey we've been on. We've been through our ups and we've been though our downs. I think the most important part is that we all stayed together throughout. You guys will always be in my heart. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart . God, I love you guys. What can I say? Mamba out.

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This party gives a new meaning to the word 'sportsmanship'

Our favorites this week

Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week

A super soul

Speaking of the big game, social media personality Meir Kalmanson has taken the traditional Super Bowl party to a whole new level. Three years ago, a chance encounter led Kalmanson, also known as Meir Kay, to host a Super Bowl get-together for a group of homeless people in New York City. He shared his experience online, and messages started pouring in from people interested in pitching in or hosting their own. This year, Kalmanson and a group of volunteers and donors will throw 20 such parties around the country. These Super Soul Parties, as he calls them, are a chance for people to get together, get to know each other and celebrate. In past years, Kalmanson has paired some parties with other opportunities for homeless attendees, like clothing drives, free hygiene kits, haircuts, manicures and on-site therapists. The most important part, he says, is making sure people know they're not alone.

Slick new kicks

Of all of the "surprise" video sub-genres (you know what I'm talking about; surprise gifts, surprise arrivals, etc.), "students surprising teachers" has to be one of the best (Surprise military homecomings are way up there, too). Two weeks ago, middle school teacher Trey Payne's basketball shoes were stolen from his classroom in Bellevue, Nebraska. His students felt so bad about the unfortunate incident that they pitched in money and surprised him with a new pair of shoes. The video is just wonderful. A whole classroom of young people showing such empathy, care and generosity, well, it's enough to make anyone tear up. And how often do students make teachers cry, in a good way? "It's more than a pair of shoes, it's about doing things to build everyone up around you," Payne said.

Inspired by a legend

People around the world are sharing the joys of fatherhood in honor of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who passed away last week in a helicopter crash. Bryant had four daughters, and constantly talked about how proud he was of their accomplishments and how excited he was to help them realize their potential. "I would have five more girls if I could," Bryant once said. "I'm a girl dad." Men started using the hashtag #girldad to share all of the precious moments, the silly moments, the triumphant, quiet, everyday, once-in-a-lifetime moments that make them proud to be fathers. It's a beautiful tribute, not only to Bryant and Gianna, but to the special bond between dads and daughters that endures through everything.

Raise a glass to...

The Salam Stars, an all-Muslim girls varsity basketball team from an Islamic high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The whole squad wears hijabs and modest sportswear, which they say sometimes inspires snide comments from onlookers. But any haters can take it up with the Stars' record: Last year, the team went 14-4. To motivate themselves, the girls have adopted a team motto—more than the score. "It's how you work together, the hard work you put in, the commitment you give to the team and the way you play on the court," the team's captain, senior Jumana Badwan says. "No matter how good, or bad the team is, you play your hardest." Learn more about this remarkable group from our friends at Great Big Story.

A bright idea

Mattel has expanded their Barbie Fashionista line to include a doll with vitiligo and another with no hair, so more little girls and boys can look at them and say, "Hey, it's me!" The line already includes dolls with various body types, and others with prosthetics and mobility devices. But wait, there's more! Mattel has worked with the meditation app Headspace to create a line of dolls that celebrate self care. While some of the playsets do contain fun things like pedicure chairs and yoga mats, each set also contains useful tips for how to use self care to improve mental and physical well-being.

You gotta see this

It's OK to do a double take! Former Roma football (aka soccer) star Daniele de Rossi wanted to enjoy the Rome derby, a match between Roma and its archrival Lazio, without being mobbed by fans. So, he employed a makeup artist to give him a disguise. According to Rossi's wife, watching the derby with the ultras, or hardcore fans, was one of Rossi's dreams, so if it meant doing so in a long gray wig and a prosthetic nose, so be it!

Wanna get away?

The year is young, but CNN Travel has already started compiling the very best travel photos of 2020. Drink in the ochre mists floating around a railway viaduct across the Ruhr Valley in northern Germany. It certainly gives a new meaning to the golden hour.

Rabbit rabbit! It's the first of the month, and saying this simple, silly phrase is supposed to bring good luck for the days to come. Experts think the practice probably started in the UK, where it's still common to say "white rabbit" on the first of the month. All you rabbit rabbiters are in good company: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a fan of the practice and was known to carry a rabbit's foot.

Impact your world

Though bumblebees be but little, they are fierce. It's no secret they're important to the environment, too. Researchers have actually figured out which plant species bumble bees prefer to include in their diets, which can serve as a good cheat sheet for those wishing to help with bee conservation efforts. The top choice among bumblebees tested in the study? A. urticifolia, a flowering plant in the mint family. (Cannabis was up there too, just FYI.)

Shameless animal video

There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.

Fiona, Cincinnati Zoo's most famous hippo, just turned 3! Here's a look at her young, yet incredibly influential life so far. (Click here to view)

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Tourism industry hit hard as Chinese tourists stay home

Hong Kong (CNN) — At 6 p.m. on Saturday, Bill Egerton received an alarming email.

"All tours inbound from China that have been booked with me were all canceled -- I lost 15 tours for February," 77-year-old Egerton, who has been running Koala Blue Tours in Queensland, Australia for the past 25 years, tells CNN Travel.

"The Chinese is about 10-20% of my business ... I think the federal government doesn't really understand the loss of income and the impact on businesses. The theme parks will suffer, the hotels will suffer...those big groups can be anywhere from 20 to 500 people. China is our biggest market for overseas tourism by far."

On the Gold Coast, which is the leading tourist destination in Australia, Chinese travelers are the largest and most valuable inbound visitor market, spending $1.6 billion in 2019.

Egerton in Australia is far from the only tourism operator who has seen a dramatic drop off in business this month following China's recent ban on group tours and hotel-and-flight packages, which went into effect on Monday.

In the 2020s, this number is expected to double again, as passport ownership in China increases from the current 10% of the population to an expected 20%.

The country is also the world's largest spender, accounting for $277 billion or 16% of the world's total $1.7 trillion international tourism spending, according to the UNWTO.

Following the recent ban on group trips and package-bookings, the absence of Chinese travelers will be felt most dramatically across the Asia-Pacific region, which depends heavily on Chinese tourism, while parts of Europe and the Americas are also feeling the pressure.

A global health emergency

Flights to many Chinese cities have been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Getty Images

On Thursday, The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global health emergency, adding to the cacophony of alarm bells ringing around the world. The US State Department elevated its travel advice, warning Americans not to travel to China, as has the UK and Canada.

Airlines like United, American, Delta, British Airways, KLM, Air Canada and Lufthansa have suspended service to and from many Chinese cities while others such as Cathay Pacific have reduced flights.

On Friday, the US announced it's temporarily banning entry to foreign nationals who have visited China in the last 14 days. Singapore's Ministry of Health also announced all new visitors who have traveled to mainland China within the last 14 days will not be allowed entry into Singapore, or to transit through Singapore.

Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea and Russia have partially -- or totally -- closed their borders with China to prevent the spread of the disease.

As a result of these dramatic travel restrictions, typically busy tourist destinations like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Golden Palace in Bangkok or the Imperial Palace in Tokyo have been noticeably emptier than usual.

According to a report by ForwardKeys, a travel analytics company that monitors 17 million booking transactions a day, the impact is particularly notable as we're in the middle of the Chinese New Year period -- typically one of the busiest travel seasons of the year.

The company analyzed outbound travel during the first part of the Chinese New Year holiday period, from January 19 to 26, and found that bookings were up 7.3% in the run-up to the Lunar New Year, compared with 2019 figures.

However, after the travel ban came into effect, the company tracked a 6.8% decrease in bookings.

Asia Pacific, which usually welcomes 75% of Chinese Lunar New Year travelers, has been hit the hardest. Bookings were already down 1.3% before the ban, then they dipped to 15.1% behind a week later.

"Asia Pacific is taking the biggest hit of all because it is the biggest destination for Chinese travelers," Olivier Ponti, vice president of insights at ForwardKeys, tells CNN Travel.

"Europe is doing comparatively better, while North America was already not looking positive before [the travel bans]. After, it has dropped to 22.5%. What that means for the industry is that there is basically no winner in this whole situation."

Impact around the world

Chinese travelers account for about 30% of Thailand's international arrivals.

MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images

Destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan -- where Chinese travelers make up a large portion of inbound traffic and tourism spending -- have been hit particularly hard by the travel ban.

China alone contributed 51% of the travel and tourism GDP in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

In Thailand, where Chinese travelers account for 30% of arrivals, the fallout from the coronavirus has already been substantial.

According to Vichit Prakobgosol, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, roughly 1.2 to 1.3 million Chinese travelers have canceled visits to Thailand for February and March.

"The effect can last up until April. It is difficult to estimate at the moment," Prakobgosol adds. "[But] since the orders from China came in late January, I don't see much effect in January."

As a result, many tourism businesses in major tourism destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Pattaya have felt immediate ramifications, with some shutting down completely.

In Pattaya, at least two dinner cruise companies -- All Star Cruise Pattaya and Oriental Sky -- have announced that they will suspend operations indefinitely starting on February 1.

Mainly catering to Chinese tourists, All Star Cruise typically serves around 300 guests a day, and Oriental Sky around 5,000-6,000.

"We have to suspend our service indefinitely, or until we see that situation has improved. It is our own initiative to prevent the spreading of the disease among our guests or our own employees," Suthasinee Srimala, director of sales and marketing of All Star Cruise Pattaya, tells CNN Travel.

Yuttasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, says the country will experience an estimated loss of about $3 billion due to the virus.

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Srimala says the company will fully refund to customers who are affected by this decision.

According to Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, around 80% of flights booked out of China to Thailand have been canceled between February and April.

"This results in an estimated loss of about $3 billion (93.6 billion baht)," Supasorn tells CNN Travel. "It would take at least about four to five months to recover if we're basing it on the SARS outbreak experience. We have reassured travelers that Thailand is not an outbreak area and we have good measures in place."

In Japan, where Chinese travelers account for roughly 27% of inbound visitors, a flurry of cancellations of Chinese group tours have overwhelmed agencies such as Kamome, based in Tokyo.

According to the company, more than 20,000 Chinese package tour customers pulled the plug on all trips to Japan up to February 10.

With Japan receiving approximately 9.6 million visitors from China in 2018, accounting for a third of foreign tourist expenditure in the country, many agencies are keeping a close eye on the ramifications of the coronavirus.

"We are concerned about the decrease in Chinese tourists, but we cannot foresee the outcome as it depends on how long the (Chinese) policy lasts," Japan National Tourist Organization spokeswoman Shiho Himuro told CNN.

Chinese are the top international tourism source market in Japan. They spent $15.6 billion (1.7 trillion yen) in 2019, which accounts for 36.8% of all foreign tourist spending.

The Macau Government Tourism Office reported a 75.1% decrease in mainland tourists for the first four days of Lunar New Year compared with 2019.

LAURENT FIEVET/AFP/Getty Images

Smaller destinations have also felt the pressure. Macau, a special administrative region of China with a population of roughly 622,000, has also started 2020 on its back foot.

The city canceled its Lunar New Year parade, closed its border with China and Macau's Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng, said on Thursday that the government would not rule out closing casinos.

"Macau has been affected. No one wants to go out because everyone is afraid of the virus," Filipe Ferreira, managing director of Restaurante Litoral in Taipa, tells CNN Travel.

"There are lines to buy masks, supermarkets are crowded with people stocking up on food, but the normal tourist streets are really empty. I still see some tourists in the streets, but it's not as crowded as before."

Meanwhile, island destinations such as the Maldives, Micronesia and the Northern Mariana Islands are also bracing for significant impact.

Northern Mariana Islands, which recently implemented a ban on travel from mainland China, normally receives 700 visitors a day from China -- a relatively high number considering it has a population of roughly 51,000 -- and tourism is the largest industry.

"It is clear that for many countries where they have China as a main source of visitors, this is a very big problem," Wolfgang Georg Arlt, director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) tells CNN Travel.

"So certainly, it will be (a catalyst) for some destinations to say, 'Hey, this is dangerous to rely only on the Chinese.' We may see these destinations investing a lot more marketing in alternative markets. If you take a case like Northern Mariana, they increase their efforts to develop other markets like Australia and Japan."

While Europe, the Americas and the UK are less dependent on Chinese travelers, they may still feel the effects.

In France, which sees 2 million visitors from China every year, the Chinese Association of Travel Agents in France (ACAV) has suspended its activities and is expecting "enormous losses," according to a report by French public radio station RFI.

According to ACAV figures, sales are down by at least 33% for the association's agencies so far in the first quarter of the year.

Post-virus rebound

Though it is too early to calculate economic damage, the global impact on the tourism industry will largely depend on how long it takes to contain the virus.

By comparison, the SARS outbreak cost the global economy between $30-$50 billion. It took 16 months for China to return to pre-crisis international arrival levels, a spokesperson from the WTTC tells CNN Travel.

But this time, the Chinese government was better prepared for the outbreak. The country not only acted faster than it did during SARS, but it has also been more transparent with the international community, says Arlt.

"Of course, it's too early to say how long it will last right now. All of this should be taken with a grain of salt. But if it's somewhat similar to SARS, then things could go back to normal around early or mid-April," he adds.

"If we look at what happened in 2003, during SARS, actually most of these trips were just postponed. After the SARS crisis ended, the numbers jumped again. Of course, for a few months, it was really rough for smaller companies but, in the long run, it was okay globally."

Experts are optimistic that tourism will rebound quickly.

Getty Images

Trip.com Group -- China's largest online travel agency, formerly known as Ctrip -- also shared an optimistic prediction for a quick rebound.

"During the SARs quarter, demand came down but when SARs came under control, we saw double to triple demand," Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, tells CNN Travel.

"Our belief is that as long as medical personnel can develop prevention methods and we can control this virus, the demand and buying power will be there. We are confident that for the Chinese economy and travel industry, it will come back strong."

Another thing to consider, says Arlt, is that Chinese tourists make up the top 10% of society and traveling is an important status symbol.

"Travel is closely linked with your social status in China," says Arlt. "So if your friends talk about New York City, Sydney or Munich and you can say you have also been there -- this is part of your setup as somebody important in China. That desire to travel will not stop."

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Here's what we've learned from Trump's impeachment trial

A version of this story appeared in CNN's Impeachment Watch newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

That means the Republican majority in the Senate will acquit Trump on a mostly party line vote. Following some negotiation among Senate leaders on Friday, that vote has been set for 4 p.m. ET next Wednesday, which is after both the Iowa caucuses -- where Trump will be on the ballot -- and after the State of the Union, where Trump will deliver his annual address to Congress with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presiding.

But what we do know is that the Senate will never hear from John Bolton, whose book, if it is published, will allege that Trump directed him to help with the pressure campaign on Ukraine back in May.

We also know that the government that emerges from this has changed. Here's what we've learned so far from the impeachment by Democrats and presumptive acquittal by Republicans of Donald John Trump.

Trump has changed the balance of power in the United States

New separation of powers - Every American kid learns about the three co-equal branches of government envisioned and enacted by the framers of the Constitution, an ingenious invention to ward against the abuse of power and keep any one person from gaining too much control.

Trump did not act perfectly - People are welcome to debate whether Trump has too much power and whether he abused power by using tax dollars to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden over unfounded and false claims of corruption. Republican senators like Alexander, Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey admit that Trump didn't act perfectly, although they elected to stick with him rather than remove him from office.

A newly empowered Presidency - But what's absolutely clear from this impeachment is that the presidency has risen far above the other branches of government, freeing the occupant of the White House from the system of checks and balances designed to constrain him.

The Senate ceded power by declining to call witnesses or hear evidence against Trump. His attorney Alan Dershowitz claimed new and expansive power for the President by arguing the President's personal interest in reelection can be synonymous with the national interest. The Senate granted that power to the President by acquitting him.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, called this "a descent into constitutional madness."

More power - But Schiff's warnings didn't matter, since Republicans frustrated by Trump's behavior decided not to act against him.

The President now has new power until a President, in the future, is checked. If you don't think Bernie Sanders, were he elected, would use executive authority seized by Trump, you should give it some thought. Also read this story about his campaign assembling a list of things he could do via executive action -- just as Trump did in his first 100 days back in 2017.

There are new rules for US politics

New precedent set -- There's a second way this impeachment, and Trump's ability to stay in office afterward, has changed the country. It is now presumably OK, in the eyes of the Senate, for a President to use his office and US foreign policy to do political harm to his rivals. Trump has argued it was absolutely above board for him to seek political help from Ukraine. And he's asked China for the same kind of help. Democrats continue to howl about it and some few Republicans complained in statements on their way to acquit him. But there is, as Mitch McConnell would say, now precedent for it.

A pattern of asking foreign governments for help -- You might argue the precedent came in 2016, when Trump publicly asked Russians to hack Democrats. Plenty of Democrats wanted to impeach him after the Mueller report was released. But it wasn't until he more actively sought help from Ukraine and used taxpayer dollars to do it, that impeachment reached a tipping point. That impeachment failed could mean he will feel no compunction about asking foreign governments for more help in the future.

Trump tainted Biden

When Donald Trump picked up the phone to call the Ukrainian President, his goal was to push in the American public the idea that there wasn't something quite right about Biden's son being hired by a foreign natural gas company. That call caused his own impeachment. But it also unleashed the Biden/Burisma conspiracy theory more effectively than Trump could ever have imagined. His attorneys dedicated a good portion of his impeachment trial defense to it. Democrats would ignore at their own peril Trump's ability to politically slime his opponents.

Donald Trump will stop at nothing

Trump has now faced and survived impeachment. The man who once said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose political support now knows that no matter what he does in office, his party will rally behind him. That's not an overstatement. Trump sees nothing wrong with pushing a foreign government to help him politically. So he'll do it. Trump has tested the Constitution and survived. The only way to end his presidency is at the ballot box.

Trump owns the GOP

Some few Republicans have criticized Trump's behavior -- Lamar Alexander called it inappropriate in the statement where he announced he'd vote to acquit Trump and let Americans decide who should be President in November.

"The question then is not whether the President did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did," Alexander said. "I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday."

Of course, the Constitution doesn't give that duty to the people, exactly, but instead to the Electoral College, which favors red states.

Two choices: acquit or remove -- Marco Rubio said in a mind-bending statement that he assumed all the allegations were true and still decided to acquit Trump because, in part, it would further divide the nation.

"For me, the question would not just be whether the President's actions were wrong, but ultimately whether what he did was removable," Rubio said. "The two are not the same. Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office."

He didn't need to hear witnesses confirming the story because he was assuming it was true. And he said there are other ways for Congress to contain the President, rejecting the binary choice offered by the impeachment trial.

Those are nuanced arguments from thoughtful lawmakers. But they're likely to be lost as Americans, either groaning in despair or whooping in triumph, look to the bottom line: Trump's party protected him from the ultimate accountability for his conduct.

Democrats are in a state of denial

Asked about Trump's likely acquittal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quibbled with language.

"Well, he will not be acquitted," she told reporters. "You cannot be acquitted if you don't have a trial. And you don't have a trial if you don't have witnesses and documentation."

In other words, what we just watched wasn't a trial, so Trump wasn't acquitted in the meaningful sense of being found not guilty.

The coverup argument -- Democrats will try to argue Senate Republicans and the White House covered up Trump's wrongdoing. That may be correct and it may be a winning political argument in November.

CNN's John King explained, I think very well, what Pelosi is up to.

"She's trying to speak to the Democratic base, which ultimately actually pushed her to do this," he said on CNN. "Remember, if we rewind the tape a few months, Nancy Pelosi did not want to do impeachment because she was worried it would be partisan, and she was worried if it was all partisan, it would backfire in the Democratic party. Now she's trying to tell the base, we impeached him, the Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell, sham trial. That will be the democratic argument."

Trump will also have an argument.

"He's going to say I was acquitted by the US Senate," King said. "And if a couple of Democrats vote for that, even on one count, he's going to say I was acquitted on a bipartisan basis by the United States Senate. That will be the blaring conversation for the next week or so. It's actually an interesting question, will it be the blaring question all the way through November?"

Democrats are unsure how to stop Trump

You might not have been paying much attention if you've been all-in on watching this impeachment trial, but there is a Democratic primary going on. While every Democratic candidate agrees that defeating Trump is their number one priority, there are many miles that separate them in how to go about it.

There's a middle lane, embodied by Joe Biden, offering a relic of the Obama era to undo what Trump has wrought.

But there's also a left lane, embodied by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, that would serve up a nearly socialist agenda of government programs as the antidote to Trump's nationalist populism.

If their organizing principle as a party is to defeat a President who they say is threatening the fiber that holds the country together, they have not yet done a very good job agreeing how to go about it.

Trump has generated a political gravity that leaves no room for dissent against him in the GOP. Democrats are still trying to find their feet.

Democrats had to impeach Trump

Even as Trump is it was always pretty clear Trump would be acquitted, it should be equally obvious that Democrats had to impeach him. If they are to argue that he is a danger to the Constitution and to the Republic and prove that the GOP will do anything he asks, they had to reveal that fact.

It's now up to American voters and the Electoral College to use that information in November.

Trump's paranoia about a deep state is only going to grow

Trump survived impeachment, but he's not likely to be more comfortable with the government he leads as a result of the ordeal. He was convinced, after talking to business-seeking GOP donors and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, that his ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was out to get him. So he recalled her.

His political appointees all followed his lead and refused to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. But career civil servants at the Pentagon, the State Department and on the National Security Council all did, providing testimony that backed up the allegations of the whistleblower, the bureaucrat who raised a flag to Congress about Trump's behavior.

Republicans and supporters of Trump have continued to vilify the whistleblower, who should be protected by law. Roberts refused to read the name of a person thought by some to be the whistleblower during the Senate trial, but it's clear from the repeated efforts to unmask the whistleblower that Trump's allies will not let this go.

We will learn the truth about all of this

Arguing they had to act before the election, Democrats didn't wait for the courts to force cooperation by the White House. They just impeached Trump for what they knew at the time -- in December -- and took the case to the Senate, where the Republican majority voted its political interest and acquitted him.

But John Bolton's book will ultimately come out, despite this latest attempt by the White House to stop it. All of the documents that likely confirm the storyline still exist. They will ultimately come out. All the people who refused to testify will ultimately answer questions. And then we'll be left to figure out what to do with whatever else we learn.

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Cases of Wuhan coronavirus continue to rise rapidly as US bans travel from China

According to Chinese health authorities, the number of confirmed cases grew by 2,102 on Friday, bringing the total to 11,791 nationwide. An additional 45 people died in Hubei -- the province at the epicenter of the outbreak -- and one person died in the megacity of Chongqing on Friday, as the number of fatalities reached 259.

The pronounced increase in cases and deaths show the virus is not slowing, even after over a week of much of Hubei being under partial quarantine and an extended Lunar New Year holiday. With most of China due to return to work on Monday, the concern will be how far the virus will now spread, and whether the country's economy can bear the type of further quarantines and travel restrictions that may be necessary to rein it in.

Worldwide the total number of cases now stands at 11,940, with 149 confirmed cases outside of China, including seven in the United States, two in the United Kingdom, four in Canada, nine in Australia and 13 in Singapore.

Washington announced Friday that it will impose a 14-day travel ban on all visitors from China, regardless of their nationality. US citizens arriving from Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, will have to undergo 14-days mandatory quarantine on arrival, while those traveling any other part of China will face screening and monitoring.

The mandatory quarantine is the first time the US has issued such an order in 50 years. The move came as the seventh case of the virus was confirmed in the US, an adult male in California who recently traveled to Wuhan.

China criticized the move, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying it went against World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations not to impose travel bans.

"A friend in need is a friend indeed. Many countries have offered China support in various means," she said. "In sharp contrast, certain US officials' words and actions are neither factual nor appropriate."

It may be part of a growing trend, however. The US ban comes after Singapore banned all visitors from mainland China, saying anyone who had been in the country in the past 14 days will not be able to visit or transit through the city state. Taiwan has also suspended visa applications for Chinese nationals, and banned entry to any from Hubei province.

Other countries have seen a wave of ugly xenophobia and racism directed at Chinese travelers and those of Chinese heritage. In a statement last week, health authorities in Toronto warned concerns about the virus and misinformation were creating "unnecessary stigma against members of our community."

How long will it go on?

China has allocated almost $4 billion to the fight against the virus, and sent thousands of doctors, nurses and military medics to Hubei to help out with relief in the epicenter of the outbreak.

Two purpose-built hospitals in Wuhan, constructed in under a week, are due to start accepting patients on Monday and Thursday respectively. They have 2,500 beds between them, and will be focused purely on dealing with confirmed and suspected cases of the coronavirus, providing some relief to Wuhan's stretched health system.

On Friday, the country's National Health Commission (NHC) said it was "confident in and capable of effectively containing the novel coronavirus epidemic, and eventually defeating it," following the WHO's classification of the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The Lunar New Year holiday will be extended in Hubei to an "appropriate extent," the Communist Party group in charge of the virus response said Friday. People in Hubei who work elsewhere in the country were also "granted an extended holiday and were asked to stay put," according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

It remains unclear, however, how long parts of the country can continue to remain under lockdown, both from the perspective of making sure they are supplied with food and other necessary items, and from an economic point -- both the national finances and people's personal pocketbooks will be taking a massive hit from next week.

Worst of all, this sacrifice could be for nothing, with cases now reported in every province and region of China.

Researchers in Hong Kong on Friday estimated there could be more than 75,000 people in Wuhan alone infected with the virus. They warned that their model suggested that "epidemics are already growing exponentially in multiple major cities of China with a lag time behind the Wuhan outbreak of about 1-2 weeks."

Study author Gabriel Leung, chair of public health medicine at University of Hong Kong, said in a statement that their predicted number could be much higher than confirmed cases because "not everyone who is infected with (the virus) would require or seek medical attention," thus many may go uncounted. It may also be impacted by the delay between when someone gets infected, when they show symptoms, and when a lab is able to confirm.

Leung and his colleagues' findings come as researchers in the US and Germany confirmed previous suspicions that the virus could be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.

"There's no doubt after reading this paper that asymptomatic transmission is occurring," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, after the research was published Friday. "This study lays the question to rest."

Foreigners flee

With much of Hubei under effective quarantine for the foreseeable future, countries have begun airlifting their citizens from the stricken province. Two dozens countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and South Korea, have chartered planes to carry diplomats and citizens out of Wuhan.

Air traffic in the opposite direction is becoming increasingly sparse. More than 15 international carriers, including British Airways, Air Canada and American Airlines, have suspended some or all flights to and from mainland China.

Markets have dropped across the world on news of the virus' spread, and the expected hit to China's economy that it will result in.

The economic impact of the virus is still impossible to determine, but one state media outlet and some economists have said that China's growth rate could drop two percentage points this quarter because of the outbreak, which has brought large parts of the country to a standstill. A decline on that scale could mean $62 billion in lost growth.

China can ill afford that kind of hit. Growth last year was already the country's weakest in nearly three decades, as China contended with rising debt and the fallout from its trade war with the US.

Major banks have cut interest rates for small businesses and individuals in the worst-hit areas. And the Bank of China said it would allow people in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province to delay their loan payments for several months if they lose their source of income because of the disruption.

Both tourism and China's film industry are taking a major hit already, with box office receipts at almost nothing since the outbreak. The spread of the coronavirus also threatens to cause job losses and push consumer prices higher, compounding economic woes that already exist.

CNN's David Culver, Yong Xiong, Natalie Thomas and Steven Jiang in Beijing; and Laura He, Helen Regan, Pauline Lockwood, Carly Walsh, Eric Cheung, Yuli Yang, Chermaine Lee, Alexandra Lin, Isaac Yee, Angus Watson and Sophie Jeong in Hong Kong contributed reporting.

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Biden burns through cash ahead of early 2020 contests

That puts him in a potentially precarious financial position.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of Biden's leading rivals for the Democratic nomination, entered January with double the cash available: $18.2 million, according to reports Sanders' campaigns filed Friday night with the Federal Election Commission.

Another contender, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, had $13.7 million remaining in her campaign account at the start of the new year, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg had $14.5 million banked.

Biden's late-night filing showed his year-end fundraising had picked up during the final months of the year after a summer slump. He raised $23.2 million during the last fundraising quarter, but he spent virtually all of it.

The news comes just days before Monday's first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa, a state Biden has barnstormed this week in the hopes of a strong result that could boost donor enthusiasm and fuel his momentum through the early contests.

South Carolina, considered one of Biden's strongest early-voting states, does not hold its primary until February 29. Days later, candidates face 14 Super Tuesday contests.

Biden and Sanders are at the front of the field for the Democratic national primary, a new CNN Poll of Polls shows. But Biden -- unlike Sanders and Warren -- does not have a vast base of small-dollar donors to fuel his campaign.

Biden received just 38% of his fourth-quarter donations in amounts of $200 or less, the new filings show. By contrast, more than half of Sanders' money came in small amounts, giving him access to supporters who can donate repeatedly before hitting contribution limits.

One sign of financial strain in Biden's camp emerged in recent weeks as it canceled some of the advertising he had planned in New Hampshire and South Carolina and shifted the money to Iowa.

A super PAC run by his allies, called Unite the Country, has scrambled to boost Biden's prospects in the Hawkeye State, running about $4.8 million in ads, according to Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group.

New campaign finance reports show the group raised nearly $3.8 million in 2019, with about one-quarter of its haul, $1 million, coming from a single individual: George Marcus, a real estate billionaire from Palo Alto, California. Other donors included Roger Altman, a former Clinton administration official and founder of investment bank Evercore; and Dick Harpootlian, a South Carolina lawyer and Biden loyalist.

On Friday, the group announced that new January fundraising had brought the total raised to date to $7.6 million.

CNN's David Wright contributed to this report.

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Jennifer Lopez played the long game to the Super Bowl

At her house in the Bronx, her mother's musical preferences reigned supreme, and young Lopez wasn't too happy about it at the time.

"We hated it," Lopez said in an interview with People in 2017. "We wanted to hear what was cool at the time."

It's an experience had by many, whether you are one or five generations removed from your immigrant roots. If the mission as a kid is to assimilate to the culture around you, you will try to do just that even if the cost is turning a surly eye to the music or sound of your people.

What changes, as adults, if you're lucky, is that your past and your culture come into focus, as it eventually did for Lopez.

"I remember coming out to Hollywood and starting and everybody seeing me being Latina as something that was going to be a hindrance in a way," she recalled in the 2015 documentary "The Latin Explosion: A New America."

She decided, instead: "That's going to be my strength."

'Jenny from the Block' to the Super Bowl

More than 20 years after she released her first album, Lopez is going to take the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show in a milestone moment that will see two powerhouse Latina artists co-headline for the first time, showing, as she has many times during her wide-ranging career, that existing between cultures is as American as the game being played on Sunday.

"This is such a moment for us to celebrate as a community and, you know, it's a big deal," said Ivette Rodriguez, co-founder of LA Collab, an organization whose goal is to double Latino representation in Hollywood by 2030. "America is going to see three Latinas on the most important American pastime."

Lopez is co-headlining the show with Colombian-born global superstar Shakira. Demi Lovato will be singing the National Anthem.

"It's just really unbelievable and what an incredible moment in our history [and] in our country — because everything is a little messy right now," Rodriguez added.

For Lopez, the road to the Super Bowl halftime stage has been an exercise in balance, discipline and hard work.

Before she came onto the music scene in 1999 with "On the 6," Lopez already had a burgeoning film career, having starred in the musical biopic "Selena," "Anaconda," and "Out of Sight."

Though the films were successful and led to mainstream work, in retrospect, Hollywood was far from a perfect in how it made room for Lopez's cultural identity on screen in her early years.

Take, for instance, "The Wedding Planner," in which Lopez's character, Mary Fiore, is Italian.

In DVD commentary, noted by the Los Angeles Times, filmmakers claimed the decision was a compromise. In the original script, they said, the main character was Armenian, but film buyers in other countries "weren't interested in a movie about an Armenian wedding planner but would accept an Italian," according to the publication. (Director Adam Shankman couldn't be reached for confirmation or further comment regarding this issue.)

Even her selection to play Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla caused a stir among fans who saw Puerto Rican Lopez's casting as a slight. (Yes, people, all Latinos are not the same. Down with the monolith myth.)

In some ways, it mirrors some of the issues once described by Rita Moreno in a speech to graduates of the American Film Institute Conservatory.

"I was cast to play every ethnic part the studios needed," the actress said, recalling that she'd played Indian, Native American and Arabian characters, per an account from The Hollywood Reporter. "With them came what I had to call the 'Universal Ethnic Accent' because I had no idea what an Indian princess should sound like."

Sure, what Lopez faced was not that bad. But instead of waiting for the system to change -- and it has, kinda -- Lopez created her own system, dipping into producing her own film and television content.

Case in point: "Shades of Blue," a series she executive produced for NBC. The main character, played by Lopez? Harlee Santos.

Her journey to musical success was a slightly smoother ride, culturally speaking. She entered the scene in the late '90s, just as music was seeing the aforementioned deluge of Latin artists, with Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and others preparing the ears of American listeners for the heart-pounding, dance-ready beats they wanted to serve up.

"It was new to see pop stars of Latin descent at that level," Lopez recalled in the documentary. "That was the beginning of things changing and people just going, 'Oh, they're just making good music and I like it. It doesn't matter where they're from.'"

Just two years after making her first album, Lopez became the first woman to have a No. 1 movie and album in the same week, thanks to the simultaneous release of "The Wedding Planner" and her album "J. Lo."

A 'triple-threat' talent

In both fields, Leila Cobo, vice president and Latin industry lead for Billboard, thinks present-day Latina artists like Selena Gomez or Camilla Cabello stand on the shoulders of many, saying "there are no overnight shifts." But Lopez "has most definitely been a force" and "a shining example of how it is possible to be multicultural."

"Lopez is born and raised in the US and speaks both English and Spanish and that allows her to navigate two cultures with ease," she says. "She also happens to be a great dancer and a great actress in addition to a singer, which in itself is unusual, in any language. She is a triple threat and that sets her apart, whether she is Latin or not."

Her performance at the Super Bowl comes after what was a disappointing January in the land of Lopez admirers, particularly those who thought this was going to be the year that Jenny from the block would walk the Oscar stage.

If she had, Lopez, in contention for her role in "Hustlers," a film about a group of exotic dancers-turned-expert-schemers, would have been the first American Latina actress to be nominated for an Academy Award since 1994, when Rosie Perez was nominated for "Fearless," as noted by The New York Times.

When it became clear a nomination wasn't meant to be, the snub prompted think pieces aplenty.

"J.Lo Was Robbed," declared the Times. "Will I Ever Get Over J.Lo's Oscar Snub?" asked the Daily Beast.

The nomination hopes were never about getting Lopez another piece of hardware to add to the "rocks that she got." Lopez was a beacon of hope for those tired of seeing artists of Latin origin, especially women, excluded and seemingly less valued.

To the latter, the decision by halftime show producers to have two Latina performers -- each hugely successful in their own right -- share a headlining spot, drew criticism. (Here, a kind reminder that we don't tolerate pitting women against each other.)

Cobo, however, didn't see it that way.

"[I] don't know why the decision was made but I think it's fantastic to showcase two spectacular yet very different performers," she said. "While either could have done it alone, why not have two? I find it a show of power and I actually appreciate that more than one stellar Latin star is performing."

The message of the moment

On the Super Bowl stage, Lopez and Shakira will kindly remind all who need it that Latina artists don't just belong on the world's biggest stages, they can command them.

Her co-headliner, Shakira, in fact, said it well in a press conference on Thursday.

"I think Latinos are going through a difficult time in the US right now and I think it's very important for us to convey a message of unity and also to show what a relevant force the Latino community is in this country, how much we have to offer, our idiosyncracies, our culture that is so diverse," she said. "I think that J.Lo and I are here redefining paradigms about age, about race, about background. It doesn't really matter where you are from, how old you are or where you come from. What matters is the message, what you have to say. We're here, and we have a lot to say."

Lopez, too, said she hopes the performance carries a message that hard work pays off.

"The two of us could have never imagined we would be playing at the Super Bowl one day," she said. "I'm very, very proud to be here and to be able to have this moment."

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Author Mary Higgins Clark, bestselling 'Queen of Suspense,' has died

Her publisher, Simon & Schuster, confirmed Clark's death in a tweet on Friday night.

"She passed away peacefully this evening at the age of 92 surrounded by family and friends," the publisher said.

The tweet included a quote from the author: "Approach your lives as if they were novels, with their own heroes, villains, red herrings, and triumphs."

Clark's writing career spanned decades, and included bestselling suspense titles such as "Loves Music, Loves to Dance" and "A Stranger Is Watching." Some of her books have been turned into television films, including the mystery movie "The Cradle Will Fall."

The mother of five started her career by writing short stories before becoming a prolific novelist.

"Trust me, you do not make a living selling short stories and bringing up five kids," Clark told CNN in 2002. "So I started writing radio scripts for a living, and it actually taught me a great deal about writing. And I was always glad I had the kids. I mean, they were great kids. I always wanted six. I got five."

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Lakers honor Kobe Bryant with pregame ceremony, honorary seats and LeBron speech

Part of the ceremony was a video showing the highlights not only of Bryant's basketball career, but of his life, including his happiness at being a father and his glee in winning an Academy Award. As the images played on the screen, Bryant's voice was used to narrate the video while a cellist in the arena played softly.

Afterward, the team had a 24.2 second moment of silence.

And then Lakers forward LeBron James, who came to the team as a free agent in 2018, gave a speech, starting with reading the names of the nine victims.

James told the fans he had prepared remarks to read, but then said, "Laker nation, man, I will be selling you short if I read off this s***, so I'm going to go straight from the heart."

James said that he looked at the ceremony as a celebration.

"This is a celebration of the blood, the sweat, the tears, the broken down body, the gettin' up, everything, the countless hours," he said. "The determination to be a great as he could be."

He said they were celebrating the career of a kid who came to Los Angeles and retired as a 38-year-old longtime veteran who became "the best daddy we've seen over the last three years."

Reserved seats for Kobe and Gianna

Before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers, there were two floor seats adorned with roses and jerseys honoring Bryant and daughter Gianna, who was an emerging basketball sensation before her death. They likely were the only two of the 19,000-plus seats to be empty Friday night.

Other photos of the Staples Center showed seats draped with a yellow T-shirt with either a purple and white No. 8 or No. 24. Bryant wore both numbers playing for the team and the Lakers retired both at the end of his career.

Emotions were overwhelming for fan Deni Lopez and her boyfriend, Dennis.

"I have no words," she said from her seats. "It's a lot."

For Dennis it was his first game at Staples Center. He said they came to "share a special moment."

Fans sign tribute boards

Before the game opened, hundreds of fans were gathering outside the arena, many stopping to sign big white boards with tributes to the five-time NBA champion. A few days ago, there were three; now there are at least 10 boards.

Others paused to drop off mementos at a massive memorial for the nine victims of last Sunday's crash near Calabasas.

The Lakers tweeted an image of a logo — a circle with the initials KB inside — on the court, just outside the playing area. The circle and letters are in black and the KB is outlined in gold. There is a white star on the K.

On the tweet, the Lakers wrote: "The House That Kobe Built."

In another tweet, the Lakers posted a photo of a No. 28 jersey, currently worn by point guard Quinn Cook, with the logo on the right shoulder.

The photo was captioned: "2 (forever) 8."

Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Thursday that his team was focusing on getting ready for game ahead of what is likely to be an emotional evening.

"We're concentrating on the work," he said. "There's therapy in the work. Our whole belief since I got here is that we're just going to put our heads down, roll our sleeves up and grind, and do the job."

CNN's Sara Sidner and Kevin Dotson contributed to this report.

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