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

Kobe Bryant left deep legacy in LA sports, basketball world

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant inspired a generation of basketball players worldwide with sublime skills and an unquenchable competitive fire.

He earned Los Angeles’ eternal adoration during his two decades as the fierce soul of the beloved Lakers, and he was respected by basketball fans from every place with a hoop and a dream, including his native Philadelphia and in Italy, his other childhood home.

Less than four years into his retirement, Bryant was seizing new challenges and working to inspire his daughters’ generation through sports and storytelling when his next chapter ended shockingly early.

Bryant, the 18-time All-Star who won five NBA championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career all with the Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday. He was 41.

The crash occurred in the foggy hills above Calabasas, California, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bryant was killed, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, and a different person familiar with the case confirmed Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna also died.

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Kobe Bryant, daughter killed in copter crash, 7 others dead

CALABASAS, Calif. (AP) — NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were killed Sunday when their helicopter plunged into a steep hillside in dense morning fog in Southern California, his sudden death at age 41 touching off an outpouring of grief for a star whose celebrity transcended basketball.

The chopper went down in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 kilometres) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said nine people were aboard and presumed dead. Bryant, an all-time basketball great who spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, was among the victims, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, also was killed, a different person familiar with the case said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva would not confirm the identities of the victims Sunday pending official word from the coroner.

“God bless their souls,” Villanueva said at a news conference.

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AP source: Bolton says Trump tied Ukraine funds to probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he wanted to maintain a freeze on military assistance to Ukraine until it aided political investigations into his Democratic rivals, former national security adviser John Bolton recounts in a draft of his forthcoming book.

The revelation challenges the defence offered up by Trump and his attorneys in his Senate impeachment trial and raises the stakes as the chamber decides this week whether to seek sworn testimony from Bolton and other witnesses.

Bolton’s account was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the manuscript on the condition of anonymity to discuss the book, “The Room Where It Happened; A White House Memoir,” ahead of its release March 17.

Bolton, who acrimoniously left the White House a day before Trump ultimately released the Ukraine aid on Sept. 11, has already told lawmakers that he is willing to testify, despite the president’s order barring aides from co-operating in the probe.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has played a prominent role in the Ukraine affair, replied to a request for comment with a text: “I used to like and respect John and tell people they were wrong about how irresponsible he was. I was wrong.”

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Grammy Awards honour LA icons Nipsey Hussle, Kobe Bryant

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 2020 Grammy Awards was filled with tributes to Los Angeles icons as the night honoured and celebrated the lives and legacies of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and rapper Nipsey Hussle, who won his first Grammy posthumously Sunday.

The Grammys kicked off with a performance in honour of Bryant, who died hours before the awards began. And later in the show Hussle’s collaborators and friends, including DJ Khaled, John Legend, Meek Mill, Kirk Franklin, Roddy Ricch and YG, gave an all-star tribute to the man who died last year.

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay introduced the performance, which featured band players, background dancers and Legend wearing traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean clothing in honour of Hussle’s African roots. Mill performed a new song called “Letter to Nipsey” while others joined together for “Higher,” which is nominated for best rap/sung performance.

“Rest in peace Nipsey Hussle. Rest in peace Kobe Bryant,” DJ Khaled said as photos of the entertainers appeared onscreen.

During the pre-ceremony, Hussle’s “Racks in the Middle” picked up best rap performance.

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China extends Lunar New Year holiday as new virus toll rises

BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday expanded sweeping efforts to contain a viral disease by postponing the end of this week’s Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home and avoid spreading infection as the death toll rose to 80.

Travel agencies were ordered to cancel group tours nationwide following a warning the virus’s ability to spread was increasing. Hong Kong announced it would bar entry to visitors from the mainland province at the centre of the outbreak.

Increasingly drastic anti-disease efforts began with the Jan. 22 suspension of plane, train and bus links to Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China where the virus was first detected last month. That lockdown has expanded to a total of 17 cities with more than 50 million people in the most far-reaching disease-control measures ever imposed.

The end of the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s busiest travel season, was pushed back to Sunday from Friday to “effectively reduce mass gatherings” and “block the spread of the epidemic,” a Cabinet statement said.

That will at least temporarily postpone a surge in travel by tens of millions of people returning to work after visiting their hometowns or tourist sites, which might raise the risk of spreading infection.

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Defence resumes in key impeachment week; Dems seek witnesses

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial enters a pivotal week as his defence team resumes its case and senators face a critical vote on whether to hear witnesses or proceed directly to a vote that is widely expected to end in his acquittal. The articles of impeachment charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The debate over witnesses received a jolt Sunday night when The New York Times reported that Trump told his national security adviser he wanted to maintain a freeze on military assistance to Ukraine until it launched political investigations into his Democratic rivals. The newspaper said John Bolton’s description of his exchange with Trump appears in drafts of his forthcoming book.

Not only did the revelation challenge the defence offered up by Trump and his attorneys, it sparked a fresh wave of demands by Democrats that Senate Republicans allow Bolton and others to testify at the trial.

The Capitol Hill manoeuvring will be complemented by high-stakes efforts on both sides of the aisle to claim political advantage from the proceedings as the presidential nominating season kicks off in Iowa on Feb. 3.

What to watch as the Senate impeachment trial resumes Monday at 1 p.m. EST:

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Who can topple Trump? Dems’ electability fight rages in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The urgent fight for the Democratic presidential nomination raged across Iowa on Sunday as the party’s leading candidates scrambled to deliver closing arguments centred on the defining question of the 2020 primary: Who can beat President Donald Trump?

Former Vice-President Joe Biden demonstrated the breadth of his appeal by appearing at separate events with Catholics, union members and African Americans. He told black voters with a smile that “I’ve gone to more black churches than you have, probably, because I’m older.”

At the same time, the fight for the heart of the progressive movement pitted Elizabeth Warren against Bernie Sanders with dueling rallies hundreds of miles apart as they raced to reach voters before being forced back to Washington when Trump’s impeachment trial resumed Monday. With Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses just eight days away, it was unclear when the senators would be able to return to the state.

“We gotta win,” Warren told several hundred people in Davenport, on the eastern edge of the state. “And also, can we just address it right here? Women win. The world changed when Donald Trump got elected.”

At a subsequent rally in Cedar Rapids, a voter asked why people should caucus for Warren instead of Sanders. She replied: “I know how to fight and I know how to win.”

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In divided America, some voters tuning out impeachment trial

HAMBURG, Pa. (AP) — For all the gravity of a presidential impeachment trial, Americans don’t seem to be giving it much weight.

As House impeachment managers make their case to remove President Donald Trump from office, voters in several states said in interviews with The Associated Press that they’re only casually following the Senate trial, or avoiding it altogether — too busy to pay close attention, bored of the legal arguments, convinced the outcome is preordained or just plain tired of the whole partisan saga.

Web traffic and TV ratings tell a similar story, with public interest seeming to flag after the House voted last month to impeach a president for only the third time in U.S. history.

“I’ve been watching some really odd stuff just to avoid it,” said Kim Ashford, 50, a court-appointed advocate for foster children from Gilbert, Arizona. “In my circle, everybody’s tired of hearing about it. There’s nobody budging. Let’s just agree to disagree.”

Monica DeMarco, who voted for Trump in 2016 but doesn’t plan to do so again, said she hasn’t watched a single second of the trial, though she’s read a little about it in The New York Times.

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The Latest: Mavericks pay tribute to Bryant by retiring 24

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on the death of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant (all times local):

6 p.m.

The Dallas Mavericks are paying tribute to Kobe Bryant by permanently retiring his number 24.

“Kobe’s legacy transcends basketball, and our organization has decided that the number 24 will never again be worn by a Dallas Maverick,” Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban said.

Cuban’s tribute was one of several around the NBA as players, coaches and fans were stunned by the news of Bryant’s death.

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AP PHOTOS: Kobe Bryant, NBA legend, dies at 41

By any measure, Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest players in NBA history.

The retired Los Angeles Lakers star, who died Sunday in a helicopter crash at age 41, was proudest of his five championship rings, the most recent in 2010. Only four NBA players who weren’t on the Boston Celtics’ 1960s dynasty teams have won more titles. Bryant reached seven NBA Finals.

His career was remarkable for its longevity and because he played all 20 seasons with the Lakers — the most ever for one team. Bryant was the fifth player to last two full decades.

Bryant scored 33,643 career points, third-most in league history, and averaged 25.0 points per game, including a 60-point performance in his final game on April 13, 2016. His 81-point game in on Jan. 22, 2006, against the Toronto Raptors was the second-highest scoring performance in the NBA and arguably the most dazzling single-game offensive performance in hoops history.

He was an 18-time All-Star, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and the 2008 NBA MVP.