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

GOP lacks votes to block trial witnesses, McConnell concedes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans lack the votes to block witnesses at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded late Tuesday, a potentially major hurdle for Trump’s hopes to end the trial with a quick acquittal. Earlier, Trump’s lawyers concluded his defence with a plea to move on.

Even after sitting through days and late nights of argument, several Republicans apparently are ready to join Democrats in considering in-person testimony from former National Security Adviser John Bolton and perhaps others.

Trump’s lawyers made their closing case for a speedy acquittal Tuesday, but to no avail.

McConnell told colleagues in a private meeting that he did not yet have the votes to block Democrats from summoning witnesses. That outcome would prolong an election-year trial that Trump and his legal team had hoped was on track, as one lawyer said, to “end now, as soon as possible.”

McConnnell’s statement, in a closed-door meeting of senators, was an acknowledgment of the extent to which revelations from Bolton have scrambled the trial’s schedule and the desire for testimony. Bolton writes in a forthcoming book that Trump told him he wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until it helped with investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden. That assertion, if true, would undercut a key defence argument and go to the heart of one major article of impeachment against the president.

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Trial highlights: Trump defence urges end to impeachment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s legal team on Tuesday concluded its three-day presentation as they started it — arguing that the Democrats’ case amounted to partisan politics that would undo the results of the 2016 presidential election and drive Trump from office.

Trump’s lawyers argued forcefully against calling former national security adviser John Bolton as a witness, saying his yet-to-be-published manuscript contains unproven allegations that would be “inadmissible” during a typical trial.

As the defence used less than half its allotted 24 hours of argument, White House counsel Pat Cipollone said the impeachment trial “should end now, as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, Democrats and some moderate Republicans pressed to call Bolton and other witnesses as the case headed to the phase of questions and answers.

Highlights of Tuesday’s session and what’s ahead as senators conduct just the third impeachment trial of a president:

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Trump peace plan delights Israelis, enrages Palestinians

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Mideast peace plan Tuesday alongside a beaming Benjamin Netanyahu, presenting a vision that matched the Israeli leader’s hard-line, nationalist views while falling far short of Palestinian ambitions.

Trump’s plan envisions a disjointed Palestinian state that turns over key parts of the West Bank to Israel. It sides with Israel on key contentious issues that have bedeviled past peace efforts, including borders and the status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements, and attaches nearly impossible conditions for granting the Palestinians their hoped-for state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the plan as “nonsense” and vowed to resist it. Netanyahu called it a “historic breakthrough” equal in significance to the country’s declaration of independence in 1948.

“It’s a great plan for Israel. It’s a great plan for peace,” he said.

He vowed to immediately press forward with his plans to annex the strategic Jordan Valley and all the Israeli settlements in occupied lands. Netanyahu said he’d ask his Cabinet to approve the annexation plans in their next meeting on Sunday, an explosive move that could trigger harsh international reaction and renewed violence with the Palestinians.

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4 Japanese evacuees from Wuhan taken to hospital with fevers

BEIJING (AP) — Japanese officials say four evacuees on a flight from the Chinese city of Wuhan have a cough and fever.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed their condition after the flight of 206 evacuees arrived Wednesday morning to a Tokyo airport. Passengers on the flight were wearing masks and underwent temperature checks before boarding and on the plane. Plans were made for all ofthe evacuees to be treated and quarantined depending on their test results.

The four are a woman in her 50s and three men whose ages are from their 30s to 50s. They were taken to a Tokyo hospital on separate ambulances for treatment and further medical checks.

The new type of coronavirus that has infected thousands of people, mainly in China, causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath and pneumonia.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is below:

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Kobe Bryant helicopter lacked recommended safety device

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant didn’t have a recommended warning system to alert the pilot he was too close to land but it’s not clear it would have averted the crash that killed nine because the pilot may have lost control as the aircraft plunged into a fog-shrouded mountain, federal investigators said Tuesday.

Pilot Ara Zobayan had been climbing out of the clouds when the aircraft banked left and began a sudden and terrifying 1,200-foot (366-meter) descent that lasted nearly a minute.

“This is a pretty steep descent at high speed,” said Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board. “We know that this was a high-energy impact crash.”

The aircraft was intact when it hit the ground, but the impact spread debris over more than 500 feet (150 metres). Remains of the final victims were recovered Tuesday and so far the remains of Bryant, Zobayan and two other passengers have been identified using fingerprints.

Determining what caused the crash will take months, but investigators may again recommend that to avoid future crashes helicopters carrying six or more passenger seats be equipped with a Terrain Awareness and Warning System that would have sounded an alarm if the aircraft was in danger of crashing.

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Trump shores up support for newest GOP congressman in Jersey

WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Moving on several fronts toward shoring up support for his reelection bid, President Donald Trump capped off a busy Tuesday by heaping praise on the newest Republican member of Congress and savaging Democrats he said are engaged in “demented hoaxes” like his impeachment trial.

On the day his legal team wrapped up its opening arguments on the Senate floor, Trump spoke to an enthusiastic audience in New Jersey in support of Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who recently switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP after breaking ranks over impeachment.

“While we are creating jobs and killing terrorists, the congressional Democrats are obsessed with demented hoaxes, crazy witch hunts and deranged partisan crusades. That’s all they know how to do,” Trump said.

Trump’s visit to Democratic-leaning New Jersey generated a boisterous audience that lined the streets to greet him during a critical moment in his presidency. He called Van Drew on stage, saying, “Jeff had the guts to defy the left-wing fanatics in his own party.”

Trump highlighted the economy during much of his speech, noting that 7 million jobs have been created since his election. He also continued to boast of the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani, on Jan. 3. He cited the strike while attacking his political rivals with language that was incendiary even for a Trump rally.

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Mag 7.7 quake hits between Cuba and Jamaica, but no injuries

HAVANA (AP) — A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and eastern Cuba on Tuesday, shaking a vast area from Mexico to Florida and beyond, but there were no reports of casualties or heavy damage.

The quake was centred 139 kilometres (86 miles) northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and 140 kilometres (87 miles) west-southwest of Niquero, Cuba, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It hit at 2:10 p.m. (1910 GMT) and the epicenter was a relatively shallow 10 kilometres (6 miles) beneath the surface.

Dr. Enrique Arango Arias, head of Cuba’s National Seismological Service, told state media that there had been no serious damage or injuries reported on the island.

The Cayman Islands were rocked by several of the strong aftershocks that followed in the area, including one measured at magnitude 6.1. Water was cut off to much of Grand Cayman Island, and public schools were cancelled for Wednesday

Gov. Carlos Joaquín González of Mexico’s Quintana Roo state, which is home to Cancun, Tulum and other popular beach resorts, said the earthquake was felt in multiple parts of the low-lying Caribbean state but there were no reports of damage or injuries.

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Man accused of killing missing wife is in critical condition

FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man charged with murdering his estranged wife was hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday after being found unresponsive in a vehicle inside his garage, authorities said.

Fotis Dulos was found when officers went to his house in Farmington because he was late for a bond hearing in the murder case. He is being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Farmington Police Lt. Tim McKenzie, who would not confirm if it was a suicide attempt.

Dulos and his wife, Jennifer Dulos, were going through bitter divorce and child custody proceedings when she vanished months ago. He has denied any role in the disappearance of his wife, who hasn’t been seen since she dropped their five children off at their New Canaan school in May. The children, who ranged in age from 8 to 13 when their mother vanished, have been staying with their maternal grandmother in New York City.

Officers and emergency medical responders converged on Dulos’ stately home in the wealthy Hartford suburb around noon Tuesday, and confusion ensued because Dulos’ attorney, Norm Pattis, and others initially said that he was dead. Pattis later said he was told his client had a pulse and was being taken to a hospital.

“Typically, CPR will be performed for a period of time,” McKenzie said. “If there is any type of life present, the patient will be transported to a hospital, and that’s what happened today.”

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Historians: Sobibor death camp photos may feature Demjanjuk

BERLIN (AP) — Historians have presented a collection of photos kept by the deputy commander of the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp that they say appears to include images of John Demjanjuk, the retired Ohio auto worker who was tried in Germany for his alleged time as a Sobibor guard.

The collection unveiled Tuesday at Berlin’s Topography of Terror museum comprises 361 photos as well as written documents illustrating Johann Niemann’s career. Niemann was the deputy commander of Sobibor from September 1942 until he was killed on Oct. 14, 1943, in an uprising by Jewish inmates.

Unlike in many other cases, the photos were not destroyed after World War II in fear of legal proceedings, and they remained in the possession of Niemann’s family. The collection is being handed over to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Experts say the collection enhances historians’ knowledge of what Sobibor looked like. So far, they knew of only two photos taken of the camp while it existed. The Niemann collection adds another 49.

Anne Lepper, whose grandparents were murdered on arrival at Sobibor from the Netherlands in 1943, said it was “very courageous” of Niemann’s descendants to release the photos. She said it was “a breathtaking experience” to see the images after frequently having seen the site.

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AP analysis: NFL teams lost over $500M to injuries in 2019

NFL teams paid more than a half-billion dollars to Week 1 starters who missed games because of injuries this season and players who ended the year on injured reserve, according to an Associated Press study.

And the players sidelined the most in a league devoted more and more to speed: the fastest guys on the field, wide receivers.

While much of the recent focus has been on protecting high-priced quarterbacks and limiting head injuries — concussions were up slightly over last year — keeping wideouts and the defenders who try to stop them healthy has occupied most of the NFL’s medical personnel. Cornerbacks and safeties were second and third on the list.

Kansas City Chiefs star Tyreek Hill missed four of the 567 games that 74 receivers were sidelined for in 2019, costing teams a position-high $72 million, according to the AP’s analysis of players on injured reserve at the end of the NFL’s regular season along with time missed by opening-game starters. The estimated $521 million spent on players checked by the AP doesn’t include players who became starters after Week 1 and later missed games with injuries.

Patrick Mahomes’ top target, Hill hurt his collarbone in the season opener, just days after signing a three-year, $54 million contract extension. Fortunately for the Chiefs, he returned to form and helped lead them to the Super Bowl against San Francisco on Sunday. Asked about injuries for receivers, Hill said he’s been hurt but never hit that hard by a defender.