USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats have released a trove of documents they obtained from Lev Parnas, a close associate of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, including a handwritten note that mentions asking Ukraine’s president to investigate “the Biden case.”

MILWAUKEE (AP) — As President Donald Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night by defending his decision to kill a top Iranian general, the Democrats vying to replace him used their final debate before primary voting begins to argue that doing so made the country less safe.

With Trump firing up thousands in the battleground state of Wisconsin and the Democratic candidates squaring off in Iowa ahead of its Feb. 3 caucuses, the political events were expected to offer very different visions for the country’s future. But the contrast on Iran in nearly real time was especially stark.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to vote to send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for a landmark trial on whether the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are grounds for removal.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the next steps Tuesday after meeting privately with House Democrats at the Capitol, ending her blockade a month after they voted to impeach Trump. After the midday Wednesday vote, House managers named to prosecute the case will walk the articles across the Capitol in a dramatic procession that evening.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn filed court papers Tuesday to withdraw his guilty plea, saying federal prosecutors had acted in “bad faith” and broken their end of the bargain when they sought prison time for him.

The request came one week after the Justice Department changed its position on Flynn’s punishment by recommending he serve up to six months behind bars for lying to the FBI during its investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

CUDAHY, Calif. (AP) — Federal authorities will investigate why an airliner with engine trouble dumped jet fuel over a densely populated area of Southern California while making an emergency return to the airport, dousing dozens of schoolchildren in a smelly vapor.

Delta Air Lines Flight 89 to Shanghai, with 181 passengers and crew on board, turned back to Los Angeles International Airport only minutes after taking off Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump don’t move to the Senate by themselves.

They are escorted by specific political stars along a tightly choreographed path from the House through the Capitol rotunda to the Senate for trial. There waits more history, pageantry and tradition of a type that’s only been seen on television once, and not since the 1999 trial of President Bill Clinton.

DES MOINES (AP) — Some key takeaways from Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, the final forum before the Iowa caucuses:

CIVILITY AND SUBSTANCE OVER FIGHTING AND FRICTION

After the United States’ killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Democrats were bracing for fights over foreign policy. Instead, a whole lot of substance broke out.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Elizabeth Warren made a forceful case for a female president and stood behind her accusation suggesting sexism by progressive rival Bernie Sanders Tuesday night in a Democratic debate that raised gender as a key issue in the sprint to Iowa’s presidential caucuses.

Sanders vehemently denied Warren’s accusation, which threatened to split the Democratic Party’s left flank -- as well as the senators’ longtime liberal alliance -- at a critical moment less than three weeks before voting begins.

14 Jan 2019; MEMO: The United States on Monday confirmed the death of Egyptian-American Moustafa Kassem in a prison in Egypt where he has been in custody since 2013, and vowed to continue raising Washington’s concerns over Cairo’s poor human rights record, Reuters reports.

“I am deeply saddened to learn today the death of US citizen Moustafa Kassem who’d been imprisoned in Egypt,” Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker told a State Department briefing.

Washington, Jan 14 (PTI) The US Senate is likely to begin the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump on January 21 after the House of Representatives last month impeached him for pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival, a top Republican Senator has said.

The 435-member House of Representatives, where Democrats enjoy a majority, last month charged Trump with high crimes and misdemeanours" and impeached in vote that was based on bitter political divide.