AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

UK voters decide who they want to resolve Brexit impasse

LONDON (AP) — U.K. voters were deciding Thursday who they want to resolve the stalemate over Brexit in a parliamentary election seen as one of the most important since the end of World War II.

Voting was underway across the country in a contest that pits Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says he will take Britain out of the European Union by Jan. 31, against opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who promises another referendum on Brexit.

Johnson voted at Methodist Central Hall in London, accompanied by his dog, Dilyn. Corbyn was greeted by supporters as arrived to cast his vote in his north London constituency.

With so much at stake, political parties have pushed the boundaries of truth, transparency and reality during five weeks of campaigning.

Johnson’s Conservative Party was criticized for using misleading tactics on social media, while Corbyn’s Labour Party sought to win votes by promising to tax the rich, boost government spending and nationalize industries such as railroads and water companies. One of the focal points of the ugly campaign was the National Health Service, a deeply respected institution that has struggled to meet rising demand after nine years of austerity under Conservative-led governments.

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Judiciary panel takes its 1st steps toward impeachment vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Judiciary Committee has taken the first steps toward voting on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, beginning a marathon two-day session to consider the historic charges with a lively prime-time hearing at the Capitol.

Democrats and Republicans used the otherwise procedural meeting Wednesday evening to deliver sharp, poignant and, at times, personal arguments for and against impeachment. Both sides appealed to Americans’ sense of history — Democrats describing a strong sense of duty to stop what one called the president’s “constitutional crime spree” and Republicans decrying the “hot garbage’’ impeachment and what it means for the future of the country.

Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island asked Republicans standing by Trump to “wake up” and honour their oath of office. Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana responded with his own request to “put your country over party.” Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., shared his views in English and Spanish.

One Democrat, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, told the panel that, as a descendant of slaves and now a member of Congress, she has faith in America because it is “government of the people” and in this country “nobody is above the law.” Freshman Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia emotionally talked about losing her son to gun violence and said that while impeachment was not why she came to Washington, she wants to “fight for an America that my son Jordan would be proud of.”

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said Democrats are impeaching because “they don’t like us” and read out a long list of Trump’s accomplishments.

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New Zealand planning retrieval of bodies on volcanic island

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — A team of eight New Zealand military specialists will land on a small volcanic island just after first light Friday to attempt to retrieve the bodies of eight victims of an eruption that claimed eight other lives.

New Zealand police said late Thursday the recovery attempt will go ahead even though scientists believe another eruption is possible on White Island. Steam and mud are emitting from its active vents and volcanic tremors are rising, volcanologists said.

Police, military, volcano experts and others will monitor the recovery attempt from the HMNZS Wellington, which will be stationed nearby, authorities said.

Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement told reporters the recovery operation is “not without risk.

“They will go onto the island and they will make every effort to recover all of the bodies,” Clement said at a news conference.

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Sold to China as a bride, she came home on brink of death

MAZAIKEWALE, Pakistan (AP) — Sold by her family as a bride to a Chinese man, Samiya David spent only two months in China. When she returned to Pakistan, the once robust woman was nearly unrecognizable: malnourished, too weak to walk, her speech confused and disjointed.

“Don’t ask me about what happened to me there” was her only reply to her family’s questions, her cousin Pervaiz Masih said.

Within just a few weeks, she was dead.

David’s mysterious death adds to a growing body of evidence of mistreatment and abuses against Pakistani women and girls, mainly Christians, who have been trafficked to China as brides.

AP investigations have found that traffickers have increasingly targeted Pakistan’s impoverished Christian population over the past two years, paying desperate families to give their daughters and sisters, some of them teenagers, into marriage with Chinese men. Once in China, the women are often isolated, neglected, abused and sold into prostitution, frequently contacting home to plead to be brought back. Some women have told The Associated Press and activists that their husbands at times refused to feed them.

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Fears mount that New Jersey shooting was anti-Semitic attack

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Fears that a deadly shooting at a Jewish market in Jersey City was an anti-Semitic attack mounted on Wednesday as authorities recounted how a man and woman deliberately pulled up to the place in a stolen rental van with at least one rifle and got out firing.

A day after the gunbattle and standoff that left six people dead — the two killers, a police officer and three people who had been inside the store — state and federal law enforcement officials warned they have not established the motive for the attack.

“The why and the ideology and the motivation — that’s what we’re investigating,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said, adding that authorities are also trying to determine if anyone else was involved.

But Mayor Steve Fulop said surveillance video of the attackers made it clear they targeted the kosher market, and he pronounced the bloodshed a hate crime against Jews, as did New York’s mayor and governor.

Also, investigators believe the two dead attackers — who were thought to be a couple — identified themselves in the past as Black Hebrew Israelites, a movement whose members have been known to rail against whites and Jews, according to a law enforcement official who was briefed on the matter but was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Beyond the hearings: What to watch on Trump impeachment

WASHINGTON (AP) — Impeachment is moving beyond the hearing room.

House committee members are debating and voting on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Thursday. But the political battle over Trump’s fate is sweeping across the Capitol, the White House and Washington on the cusp of the 2020 election year.

At issue are two articles of impeachment charging Trump with obstructing Congress and abusing power, stemming from his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s family. Meanwhile, millions of dollars in military aid that Congress had approved wasn’t being delivered to the U.S. ally.

All around these facts, political combatants are standing up staffs and strategies to deal with an expected House vote next week. Trump has devised a list of witnesses in a Senate trial, but it’s become clear that Republicans have other ideas.

Here’s what to watch:

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Detroit tops list of hard-to-count cities ahead of census

DETROIT (AP) — When the U.S. Census Bureau starts counting people next year in Detroit, obstacles are bound to arise: The city has tens of thousands of vacant houses, sparse internet access and high poverty — factors that will make it the toughest community to tally.

Other Rust Belt towns that have lost population and cities in the Sun Belt with large numbers of immigrants and transplants will pose similar challenges in the coast-to-coast headcount, an Associated Press analysis of government data found. Nationwide, about a quarter of the population lives in hard-to-count neighbourhoods, including a majority of people in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Memphis, Tennessee, and Fresno, California.

Obtaining an accurate count is critical because the census determines the allocation of $1.5 trillion in federal spending and decides which states gain or lose congressional seats.

“There is nothing more important, no higher priority, than reaching the hard to count,” Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham told lawmakers last summer.

Detroit’s recent resurgence has led to refurbished downtown buildings, new boutique hotels and an invigorated arts community. But the renaissance has done little for some residents who live in persistent poverty and harbour lingering mistrust after decades of racial upheaval. The many empty homes are relics of the mass exodus that began in the 1950s and sent Detroit’s population plummeting from about 1.8 million to 670,000.

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Israelis gird for unprecedented third election in a year

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis grappled Thursday with the confounding reality of unprecedented third national elections in less than a year, after Parliament was dissolved and the date for the next vote was set — further extending months of political paralysis that has gripped the country.

Legislators passed a motion earlier to hold elections on March 2, hours after the deadline to form a coalition government expired. The motion passed with a 94-0 vote in the house.

That now triggers a nearly three-month-long campaign ahead of the vote that most polls predict will not produce dramatically different results than those that led to the current logjam.

“This nightmare, in which we’re heading into elections once again, the third within the space of a single year, is neither a parable nor a dream. It is completely real,” wrote Sima Kadmon in the leading Yediot Ahronot daily. “There aren’t words left that can express the public’s disgust with and mistrust towards its elected representatives.

As in each previous round, the largest parties, Likud and Blue and White, blamed each other for the impasse and tried setting the narrative for what is likely to be a grueling and caustic campaign.

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Outdated, dangerous childbirth practices persist in Europe

BARCELONA (AP) — When Clara Massons was in labour with her son, a midwife climbed onto her bed and pushed down on Massons’ belly, explaining that she was helping to deliver her baby. For the next few hours, the midwife and a doctor took turns pressing down during contractions, using an old, now controversial technique for troubled deliveries.

Masson said her pleas to stop were ignored at the Barcelona hospital where she delivered two years ago, and she later complained to authorities. The hospital said doctors took “appropriate measures” during her delivery.

“I thought I was going to die,” she said. “For one month after, my belly was blue and purple.”

The technique is known as the Kristeller manoeuvr and was first described in an 1867 German textbook. It is sometimes used during the second stage of labour to assist delivery and avoid a cesarean section when complications arise. But many doctors in developed countries say they have stopped using it because of the potential for broken bones, organ damage, and other complications. The World Health Organization does not recommend the technique.

Yet the procedure is still commonly performed in many European countries, highlighting how once-accepted practices can persist even long after they’re considered to be unnecessary or even dangerous.

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AP Source: Angels, Anthony Rendon reach $245M, 7-year deal

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Third baseman Anthony Rendon and the Los Angeles Angels agreed to a $245 million, seven-year contract Wednesday, a person with direct knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced and was subject to a successful physical.

Rendon gets a $4 million signing bonus payable by Dec. 31 and salaries of $25.5 million next season, $27.5 million in 2021, $36 million in 2022 and $38 million each year from 2023-26. He would receive a $250,000 bonus for World Series MVP, $150,000 for League Championship Series MVP, $125,000 for election as an All-Star starter and $100,000 for selection as a reserve.

Rendon is the third prized free agent to strike a big-money deal at this week’s baseball winter meetings. He’ll join three-time MVPs Mike Trout and Albert Pujols on a team that’s made just one post-season appearance in the past decade.

The Angels had missed out on free agent right-hander Gerrit Cole, who agreed to a record $324 million, nine-year contract with the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, a person familiar with the deal told the AP.