With the final countdown to the Iowa caucuses, the Democratic candidates are making their closing pitches in earnest around the state. Public opinion polls show a close race among the top of the 11 contenders vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November. VOA's Kane Farabaugh is in Iowa.

Plus for months now thousands of people in Hong Kong have been marching in protest and in many cases fought against their local government and its relationship with the Chinese government in Beijing. Much of that has apparently changed over the past few weeks as the Coronavirus has taken hold of the headlines. Ren Seen a correspo0ndent for VOA's Mandarin Service has more.

And official negotiations have not yet begun over their future relationship - but tensions are building between Britain and the European Union following the U.K.’s official exit from the bloc Friday. Brussels says Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal, but London has insisted it will not do so. As Henry Ridgwell reports, official talks are not due to get underway for at least another month, leaving precious little time to negotiate a new deal.

Those stories and more are all on today’s International Edition.