Bannon and Lewandowski to testify in House’s Russia probe; NEWS BRIEFING; Staff and news services; Earthquake in Peru destroys dozens of homes, kills 1 person; Iran: Hundreds of protesters released from detention; 10 people are slain in Mexico’s eastern Veracruz state; NATO chief: U.N. treaty won’t rid world of nukes; Tunisia, shaken by protests, plans aid for needy

WASHINGTON - Steve Bannon and Corey Lewandowski are scheduled to testify this week in the House intelligence committee's investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Bannon, President Donald Trump's former chief strategist, and Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, are part of a schedule that Democrats fear is being engineered by Republicans eager to end the investigation as soon as possible. Their appearances are voluntary, and they'll meet with the committee in private, said officials from both parties familiar with the committee's schedule.

Congressional interviews also were being sought for next week with FBI officials and a former top Department of Justice official. Some of those are expected to occur before the intelligence committee, while others as part of a separate House investigation into FBI handling of the Hillary Clinton email case in 2016.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, said Thursday that he fears Republicans are hustling to wrap up the Kremlin election interference investigation after 10 months - in his opinion, prematurely.

"Republicans want to conduct just enough interviews to give the impression of a serious investigation," Schiff said.

Committee Chairman Devin Nunes of California and Rep. Michael Conaway of Texas, whom Nunes has assigned to lead the panel's Russia investigation, haven't said when the investigation might be finished. But Conaway has indicated that they don't want to prolong the investigation much deeper into the midterm election year.

Bannon hasn't testified to any of the three congressional panels looking into Russia election meddling.

Earthquake in Peru destroys dozens of homes, kills 1 person

LIMA, Peru - A powerful earthquake struck off Peru's coast early Sunday, tumbling adobe homes in small, rural towns, killing at least one person and leaving dozens injured, officials said.

The earthquake destroyed 63 homes, displacing about 130 people, and it injured 65 people, Peru Chief of Civil Defense Jorge Chavez said.

The sole fatality was man killed when he was crushed by a falling rock, said officials, adding that many of those injured were in Chala district, a coastal area dependent on fishing and mining that is popular with tourists.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the early morning quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and was centered 25 miles from Acari in southwestern Peru.

The quake jolted people awake as far away as the capital city of Lima, some 350 miles from Acari.

Iran: Hundreds of protesters released from detention

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian officials said Sunday that hundreds of people detained in recent weeks during anti-government protests have been released and acknowledged that at least 25 people were killed during the unrest.

The demonstrations that erupted in a number of towns and cities were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, but authorities say the unrest has waned in recent days, and the security forces insist they have restored order.

The semi-official Fars news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejehi as saying that just 55 people remain in detention in the capital in connection with the protests.

It was not clear how many Iranians are still detained elsewhere.

10 people are slain in Mexico's eastern Veracruz state

XALAPA, Mexico - A state governor in eastern Mexico is confirming the deaths of 10 people in apparent clashes between criminal gangs, saying nine of the dead were dismembered.

Veracruz Gov. Miguel Angel Yunes also announced Sunday that a new federal effort would be launched to reinforce security in the state capital, Xalapa.

The dismembered bodies were found Saturday in a residential neighborhood about 500 yards from the city's main bus terminal. Yunes said most have been identified.

The picturesque, oil-rich state has long been plagued by drug gang violence, and the new year had already gotten off to a grim start, with the discovery of five heads atop a taxi in a tourist town and four others found in another city.

NATO chief: U.N. treaty won't rid world of nukes

STOCKHOLM - NATO supports the idea of a world without nuclear weapons but doesn't believe it can be achieved by imposing a ban through the United Nations convention on nuclear weapons, the military alliance's top official said Sunday.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a speech at a security conference in Sweden that ridding the world of nuclear weapons requires a period of "painful disarmament" that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons cannot guarantee.

Stoltenberg stressed that NATO's military deterrence strategy relies on a combination of conventional weapons and nuclear weapons.

If NATO members scrapped their nuclear arsenals but countries such as China and Russia kept theirs, the world would not be made safer, he said.

Tunisia, shaken by protests, plans aid for needy

TUNIS, Tunisia - Tunisian authorities announced plans to boost aid to the needy in a bid to placate protesters whose demonstrations over price hikes arising from a new finance law degenerated into days of unrest across the North African nation, which is marking seven years on Sunday since its long-time autocratic ruler was driven into exile.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed decided to allocate about $40 million to help 200,000 of the neediest families plus free health care for the jobless. An aid fund for poor families to acquire housing also was created.

The Popular Front, a coalition of leftist parties, called the measures "laughable" and in a statement released Sunday called for protests "until suspension of the measures in the finance law that affect citizens' buying power."

Lisa Rae Bryan, 32, of Emmet County, Mich., has been charged with murder in the death of an infant for the second time. Her daughter Isabella Powrozek died in November 2016. Police said Bryan was convicted in 2011 in Oklahoma and served 15 months for the death of another infant she gave birth to.

Alberto Fujimori, Peru's recently pardoned ex-president, was taken Sunday from his home in the capital to a hospital for observation. His family doctor told the newspaper El Comercio that the 79-year-old Fujimori has an irregular heartbeat. A cardiologist examined Fujimori and recommended hospital care.

Caption: Precarious perch: A Pegasus Airlines jet clings to a hillside just above the Black Sea on Sunday after it skidded off the runway at the airport in Trabzon, Turkey. All 168 people on board evacuated safely, officials said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

DHA-Depo Photos