USA

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Iowa caucuses are more than a week away, but millions of Americans are already free to vote.

Early voting in the crush of Super Tuesday states that hold primaries on March 3 amounts to a parallel campaign for the Democratic nomination. While much of the focus is on who will come out on top in the traditional first four voting states, early voting will allow a much broader swath of voters to play a key role in picking the nominee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic House prosecutors made an expansive case Thursday at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial that he abused power like no other president in history, swept up by a “completely bogus” Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani.

On Friday, the Democrats will press their final day of arguments before skeptical Republican senators, focusing on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress’ investigation.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada woman who said she shot a gun at spirits who attacked her roommate was sentenced to prison for the man’s fatal shooting.

Kiahna Hawkins, 30, was sentenced to 11 to 28 years in a Nevada prison, KVVU-TV reported Wednesday.

Hawkins was evaluated and found competent to stand trial in June before she pleaded guilty to a charge of murder and entered a plea agreement.

Andre D. Smith, 49, was found dead May 3 in the North Las Vegas apartment he shared with Hawkins.

MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump will hold a signing ceremony for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement on Wednesday, according to the White House.

The deal to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement passed on bipartisan votes in Congress, scoring the president a significant political victory amid his Senate impeachment trial.

Mexico has already ratified the agreement. Canada must act next for it to fully enter into force.

SEATTLE (AP) — A shootout in downtown Seattle that left a woman dead and a 9-year-old boy injured was the third violent incident this week in a part of the city long known for rampant drug use and street unrest.

Business groups implored officials to improve public safety. And while crime rates in Seattle are low compared to other big cities, critics say mayhem downtown – from shootings, to drug dealing and the effects of the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis – makes locals and tourists feel unsafe.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — State lawmakers across the U.S. have reached a troubling milestone for allegations of sexual misconduct, even as they have taken significant steps to try to prevent and investigate such behavior.

Recent complaints filed against Michigan state Sen. Peter Lucido mean at least 101 state legislators now have been publicly accused of sexual harassment or misconduct since the start of 2017, according to an Associated Press review.

NEW YORK (AP) — They are circling each other like wary boxers, with taunts on Twitter, snarky asides and belittling descriptions. They rose to prominence in Manhattan on parallel tracks, amassed wealth real and perceived and displayed a penchant for putting their names on things.

That’s where the similarities end. President Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg could hardly be more different as people, but now they both want the same job: Trump’s.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic House prosecutors made an expansive case Thursday at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial that he abused power like no other president in history, swept up by a “completely bogus” Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani.

On Friday, the Democrats will press their final day of arguments before skeptical Republican senators, focusing on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress’ investigation.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23 (APP): Emphasizing the need for building United Nations’ capacity to deal with the threats to peace, a Pakistani delegate has called on the Security Council to resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute by implementing its own resolutions that pledged the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people to decide their destiny.

23 Jan 2019; MEMO: The White House is opposing any Israeli move to annex parts of the occupied West Bank “before declaring its [US] prospective plan to settle the Israel-Palestinian conflict, known as Deal of the Century,” a US official announced yesterday.