AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Impeachment now a threat like no other Trump has faced

WASHINGTON (AP) — From the moment Donald Trump became a national political figure, he has been shadowed by investigations and controversy.

They have been layered, lengthy and often inconclusive, leaving many Americans scandal-weary and numb to his behaviour. And with each charge against him, Trump has perfected the art of deflection, seemingly gaining strength by bullying and belittling those who have dared to take him on.

Now Trump is facing a high-velocity threat like none he’s confronted before.

It has rapidly evolved from a process fight over a whistleblower complaint to an impeachment inquiry within two weeks. Much of the evidence is already in public view. A rough transcript of a phone call in which Trump asks Ukraine’s president to help investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden. The whistleblower’s detailed letter alleging the White House tried to cover up the call, and possibly others.

Unlike special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation, which circled an array of people in Trump’s orbit but not always the president himself, Trump doesn’t have the benefit of distance. His words and his actions are at the centre of this investigation.

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Trump blurs lines between personal lawyer, attorney general

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Washington plunges into impeachment, Attorney General William Barr finds himself engulfed in the political firestorm, facing questions about his role in President Donald Trump’s outreach to Ukraine and the administration’s attempts to keep a whistleblower complaint from Congress.

Trump repeatedly told Ukraine’s president in a telephone call that Barr and Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani could help investigate Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript of that summertime conversation. Justice Department officials insist Barr was unaware of Trump’s comments at the time of the July 25 call.

When Barr did learn of that call a few weeks later, he was “surprised and angry” to discover he had been lumped in with Giuliani, a person familiar with Barr’s thinking told The Associated Press. This person was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, often appears in rambling television interviews as a vocal defender of the president. Giuliani represents Trump’s personal interests and holds no position in the U.S. government, raising questions about why he would be conducting outreach to Ukrainian officials.

Barr is the nation’s top law enforcement officer and leads a Cabinet department that traditionally has a modicum of independence from the White House.

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At UN, a world stage for disputes often out of the spotlight

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Middle East. Trade tensions. Iran’s nuclear program. Venezuela’s power struggle. Civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Familiar flash points such as these got plenty of airtime at the U.N. General Assembly’s big annual gathering this week.

But some leaders used their time on the world stage to highlight international conflicts and disputes that don’t usually command the same global attention.

A look at some of the less-discussed controversies trying to be heard:

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NAGORNO-KARABAKH

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Chinese parade a glimpse into military ambitions

BEIJING (AP) — A parade Tuesday by China’s secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.

The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power. Others include a supersonic drone and a robot submarine.

The parade will highlight Beijing’s ambition to enforce claims to Taiwan, the South China Sea and other disputed territories — and to challenge Washington as the region’s dominant force.

The People’s Liberation Army, the world’s biggest military with 2 million men and women in uniform and the second-highest annual spending after the United States, also is working on fighter planes, the first Chinese-built aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarines.

“There are quite a lot of observers, including the U.S. military, who say, ‘This is getting close to what we do,’ and they are starting to worry,” said Siemon Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

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Murder trial of former Dallas officer pauses until Monday

DALLAS (AP) — The jury deciding the fate of a former Dallas police officer who shot and killed her unarmed black neighbour heard around five minutes of testimony on day six of the trial before being sent home.

Amber Guyger, 31, who is white, is on trial for murder after she fatally shot 26-year-old Botham Jean, an accountant who was alone in his apartment when she came through his front door thinking it was her own.

On Saturday, before the jury was seated, former Dallas police chief Craig Miller was called by the defence as an expert witness to testify about temporary condition called “inattentional blindness,” which he said is not universally accepted in the scientific community.

He said he thought Guyger was justified in shooting Jean, based on “the totality of the evidence.” The judge ordered that he wouldn’t be allowed to say that in front of a jury, but will allow him to testify to a narrow range of issues related to officer distraction.

On Friday, Guyger testified that she mistook Jean’s fourth-floor apartment for her own, which is one floor below. She said she parked on the wrong level of the apartment complex, and walked into the unlocked door thinking it was her own. She says she killed Jean in self-defence, mistakenly thinking he was a burglar in her apartment who would harm her.

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Felix, other top stars, fight track’s pregnancy penalty

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — For decades, the message to women in track and field was crystal clear: get pregnant, lose sponsorship money.

A rebellion led by some of the sport’s top runners, Allyson Felix, Kara Goucher and Alysia Montano, is helping to change that.

Two months after the U.S. women’s soccer players stated their case for equal pay, women in track and field come to their major event, the world championships in Doha, having found their footing on another important crusade — retaining full pay from their sponsorship deals after they get pregnant.

“It’s the power of the collective,” Felix said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Alysia speaking, Kara speaking, the women’s soccer team. It’s just such a pivotal time right now in women’s sports, and we’re seeing change happen.”

The six-time Olympic and 11-time world champion had a baby girl in November and will compete on the women’s relay team next week at the worlds in Doha, where she will have a new apparel sponsor, Athleta, after spending years with Nike.

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Student journalist scores big scoop in Trump-Ukraine story

PHOENIX (AP) — A 20-year-old student at Arizona State University broke the news that a key State Department official who was involved in talks between President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian government had stepped down from his post.

Andrew Howard, a managing editor of The State Press student newspaper, reported Friday evening that Kurt D. Volker stepped down from his role as the State Department’s special envoy for Ukraine.

“I’m not sure any of us thought it would just be this big scoop,” Howard told The Associated Press. “It’s just incredible.”

Usually, the State Press competes with Arizona media outlets, he said.

“It turned out we were competing with the world,” Howard said. “I was never thinking we have to beat the Times and the AP and the Washington Post.”

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Coleman easily found: At the front of the pack at worlds

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Everyone knew exactly where to find Christian Coleman this time.

The sprinter who faced a suspension because he couldn’t be located for drug testing burst out of the blocks Saturday night and powered to the early lead in track’s marquee event.

He got stronger from there, blowing away the seven other entrants in the 100-meter world-championship title race and leaving little doubt about who will be chased, and who will do the chasing, in a reworked track landscape without the retired Usain Bolt.

Coleman’s time, 9.76 seconds, might not have turned many heads, but this should: He beat Justin Gatlin to the line by .13 seconds — an entire body length. That marked the biggest blowout in a 100-meter race at worlds or the Olympics since 2011.

“This is something I’ll never take for granted,” Coleman said. “The opportunity to come out here and compete. And then to be crowned world champion?”

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Legendary Mexican crooner José José dies from cancer

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican crooner José José, the elegant dresser who moved audiences to tears with melancholic love ballads and was known as the “Prince of Song,” has died at the age of 71.

Mexican artists’ association ANDI confirmed the death in a Twitter post on Saturday. Multiple media outlets said the singer had died of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in South Florida.

José José, whose real name is José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz, climbed to the top of the Latin charts in the 1970s with slow songs such as “El Triste” or “The Sad Man,” and “Amar y querer” or “Love and want.” The power of his voice and ability to sing technically difficult tunes in a wide register made him a treasured cultural icon in Latin America.

José José’s music also became popular in countries including Japan and Russia.

The artist’s voice, a combination of baritone and lyric tenor, captivated audiences while his dress style of suits accented with bow ties, pocket handkerchiefs and silk scarves was copied at nightlife spots across Latin America.

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Researchers question Census Bureau’s new approach to privacy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — In an age of rapidly advancing computer power, the U.S. Census Bureau recently undertook an experiment to see if census answers could threaten the privacy of the people who fill out the questionnaires.

The agency went back to the last national headcount, in 2010, and reconstructed individual profiles from thousands of publicly available tables. It then matched those records against other public population data. The result: Officials were able to infer the identities of 52 million Americans.

Confronted with that discovery, the bureau announced that it would add statistical “noise” to the 2020 data, essentially tinkering with its own numbers to preserve privacy. But that idea creates its own problems, and social scientists, redistricting experts and others worry that it will make next year’s census less accurate. They say the bureau’s response is overkill.

“This is a brand new, radically more conservative definition of privacy,” University of Minnesota demographer Steven Ruggles said.

Federal law bars census officials from disclosing any individual’s responses. But data-crunching computers can tease out likely identities from the broader census results when combined with other personal information.