Datasets:

nthngdy

/

ccnews_split

like 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci says if it were up to him, top adviser Steve Bannon would be gone from President Donald Trump’s administration. But, he notes, “it’s not up to me.” “The Mooch,” a few weeks removed from his spectacular flameout following an expletive-laden conversation with a reporter, appeared Monday on CBS’ “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. Colbert has seen his ratings soar since Trump’s inauguration with his relentless comedic attacks. Colbert showed a picture of Scaramucci former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus glaring at each other. Scaramucci said there was “no love lost” between the two. He said he and Priebus got along well when he was writing checks to the Republican National Committee, which Priebus once led.

Asian shares rose Thursday after U.S. stocks recovered most of their sharp losses from a day earlier as jitters over Italy’s political situation subsided. KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.9 percent to 22,220.69 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 0.8 percent to 30,282.91. The Shanghai Composite index rebounded 1.4 percent to 3,083.49 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 climbed 0.5 percent to 6,014.00. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.5 percent to 2,421.18. Shares rose in Taiwan and were mostly higher in Southeast Asia. WALL STREET: Banks and energy companies surged Wednesday as investors reversed course on hopes that Italy will be able to avoid a new round of elections. Stocks had plunged the previous day as investors expected the Italian gridlock would be resolved with new elections that could have turned into a yes-or-no referendum deciding whether Italy would continue to use the euro. The S&P 500 index jumped 1.3 percent to 2,724.01 and the Dow Jones industrial average also climbed 1.3 percent to 24,667.78. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.9 percent to 7,462.45. The Russell 2000 index surged 1.5 percent, closing at a record high of 1,647.99. Italy’s FTSE MIB stock index climbed 2.1 percent after a 2.7 percent drop a day earlier. Prices for Italian government bonds also rose, sending yields down following a huge surge the day before. CHINA MANUFACTURING: Chinese factory activity grew at its fastest rate in eight months on stronger demand, a survey showed Thursday, in a positive sign for the world’s No. 2 economy despite trade tensions with the U.S. The official purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, rose to 51.9 in May from 51.4 the previous month. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while lower numbers indicate contraction on the index’s 100-point scale. ANALYST’S VIEWPOINT: “Today’s strong set of official PMIs tell a reassuring story about current growth momentum. However, we will have to wait for more reliable indicators to be published in order to get a clearer picture of the health of China’s economy,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary. CHINA TRADE: Beijing criticized the U.S. for renewing a threat to raise duties on some imports from China. At the same time, officials from the U.S. and European Union held talks on tariffs the Trump administration has proposed on European steel and aluminum. European Union negotiators seemed pessimistic and said they expected the U.S. to announce a final decision Thursday. China and the EU have both said they will react to new tariffs imposed by the U.S. with duties of their own, which has raised the prospect of greater tensions and the possibility of trade wars. CURRENCIES: The euro rose to $1.1666 from $1.1664. The dollar fell to 108.78 yen from 108.89 yen. ENERGY: U.S. crude oil slipped 11 cents to $68.10 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 2.2 percent on Wednesday to $68.21 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 21 cents to $77.51 per barrel. It added 2.8 percent to $77.50 a barrel in London. Oil prices fell 7.6 percent in five days following reports OPEC countries and Russia might start producing more oil soon. ___ AP Markets Writer Marley Jay contributed to this report. He can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers cranked out more steel, machinery and electronics last month as factories appear to be rebounding after two years of stagnation. The Federal Reserve says factory output rose 0.2 percent in January, its second straight increase. While modest, the gain is equal to the industry’s growth in all of 2016. Oil and gas drillers cut back on building new rigs after energy prices plunged two years ago. That caused orders for steel pipe and other drilling equipment to plummet. Weak overseas economies in Europe and China also cut into exports. Yet those trends have largely reversed. Mining production rose 2.8 percent last month, pushed higher by a big gain in oil and gas drilling. A broader measure of industrial production, which includes manufacturing, mining and utilities, dropped 0.3 percent.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A court in Panama has sentenced American William Dathan Holbert to 47 years in prison for robbing and killing five other Americans in a Caribbean tourist destination. Holbert’s ex-wife Laura Reese was sentenced to 26 years for her role. Authorities say Holbert admitted killing five people between 2007 and 2010 in Bocas del Toro province in order to steal their property. Holbert and Reese were arrested trying to enter Nicaragua from Costa Rica in 2010. The bodies of four adults and one child were found buried on the property of a hostel Holbert owned. Holbert and Reese had fled North Carolina where he had sold his landscaping business and filed for bankruptcy.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The co-owner of a Colorado crane company where the suspect in a deadly weekend shooting at a Nashville restaurant once worked said she had urged federal officials to keep him in custody after he was arrested at the White House last year. Travis Reinking, 29, is accused of opening fire Sunday outside a Waffle House with an AR-15 rifle and then storming the restaurant, wearing only a green jacket. Four people were killed and four others were wounded in the shooting. But Reinking had exhibited erratic behavior for years before the shooting. Darlene Sustrich, who co-owns a Colorado crane company where Reinking once worked, said they got a call from the FBI after he allegedly tried to jump the White House fence last July. “We told them, ‘Hang onto him if you can. Help him if you can,'” Sustrich said. Federal officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reinking has been charged with four counts of criminal homicide. And a tweet from the Metro Nashville Police Department said he also faces four counts of attempted murder and one count of unlawful possession in the commission of a violent felony. Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Tuesday that Reinking has been “compliant” and “cooperative” since he was transferred to the jail late Monday after he was captured near the apartment where he lived. Reinking is wearing a vest known informally as a “suicide smock” and will remain under close observation at a maximum-security facility in Nashville. An attorney listed as Reinking’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Meanwhile, the man who snatched the rifle away from the gunman during the shooting told Tennessee lawmakers Tuesday he faced “the true test of a man,” drawing a standing ovation during his brief address. As the state House hailed him as a hero, James Shaw Jr. said he acted to save his own life early Sunday and saved others in the process. “I never thought I’d be in a room with all the eyes on me, but you know, I’m very grateful to be here,” Shaw told House members. Shaw said he has gone to see some of the shooting victims in the hospital and they all remembered him. He apologized to the people whose loved ones died in the attack. The state Senate also honored Shaw on Tuesday. After the shooting, authorities say Reinking escaped on foot from the restaurant and shed his only item of clothing. By the time he was captured in the woods nearby, police had searched his apartment and found the key fob to a stolen BMW they had recovered in the parking lot days earlier. The BMW theft had not initially been tied to Reinking. Police seized multiple items from his apartment including: a Remington rifle with a magazine, cartridges for different calibers of guns, two rifle scopes and gun cleaning equipment. Police also found three books on patents in the apartment, along with a sketchbook, two iPhones and a number of pieces of computer equipment, court records show. Nashville Police Department Lt. Carlos Lara told reporters Reinking was arrested Monday after detectives were tipped to the suspect’s presence by some construction workers. He carried a black backpack with a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-caliber ammunition. The arrest ended a 24-hour manhunt involving more than 160 law enforcement officers, but it left troubling unanswered questions about official responses to months of bizarre behavior before the restaurant attack, including encounters with police in Illinois and Colorado and an arrest at the White House that raised red flags. Sustrich, Reinking’s former boss, described him as appearing paranoid and delusional at times. A former co-worker told a Salida, Colorado, police detective Reinking was infatuated with singer Taylor Swift and claimed to be a sovereign citizen. Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he entered a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald Trump. The suspect told Washington, D.C., police he was a sovereign citizen and had a right to inspect the grounds, according to an incident report. Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBI’s request, Illinois police revoked his state firearms card. Four guns, including the AR-15 used in the shootings, were transferred to his father, a procedure allowed under Illinois law. Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said Jeffrey Reinking pledged he would “keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.” Don Aaron, a Nashville Police spokesman, said Reinking’s father “has now acknowledged giving them back” to his son. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special Agent Marcus Watson said Monday that his father’s action is “potentially a violation of federal law.” Phone calls to a number listed for the father went unanswered. ___ Associated Press writers John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Ed White in Detroit; Michael Kunzelman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Kathleen Foody in Denver, Colorado; and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Senator is criticizing the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an apparent financial conflict of interest that the senator says may prevent the director from doing her job. Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald became director of the Atlanta-based CDC in July, and was required to sell a range of stocks she owned, including beer and soda companies, the tobacco company Philip Morris International, and a number of health care companies such as vaccine manufacturers and health-care companies. “I’ve done everything that they’ve requested, in a timely manner as they’ve requested,” Fitzgerald said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. “My financial people tell me we have now sold all the stocks.” But last week, Sen. Patty Murray wrote Fitzgerald saying she’s concerned about unresolved financial holdings noted in Fitzgerald’s ethics agreement with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is part of HHS. The agreement notes Fitzgerald is unable to divest from certain investments that could prevent her from talking about cancer and prescription drug monitoring programs, wrote Murray, a Democrat from Washington. “I am concerned that you cannot perform the role of CDC Director while being largely recused from matters pertaining to cancer and opioids, two of the most pervasive and urgent health challenges we face as a country,” wrote Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which oversees the CDC. She called on Fitzgerald to release more information and to meet with the committee about the issue. Public health leaders have noted Fitzgerald has kept an unusually low profile since becoming CDC director. Fitzgerald says she’s simply wanted time to learn about the agency, but also said she bowed out of an Oct. 5 Congressional hearing on opioids due to a financial conflict of interest. Fitzgerald said her stock purchases had been handled by two financial management companies and that she hadn’t been aware of particular holdings until they were raised to her by ethics compliance officials at HHS. She said her stock sales have been completed since the October hearing. HHS and CDC officials did not provide a copy of Fitzgerald’s ethics agreement to the AP, and did not respond to questions about Murray’s concerns. CDC, the nation’s top public health agency, is the only federal agency headquartered outside of Washington, D.C. It has nearly 12,000 employees, and about three-quarters of them are based in the Atlanta area. Fitzgerald, 71, was a long-time obstetrician-gynecologist in the Atlanta area, a former major in the U.S. Air Force, and campaigned twice, unsuccessfully, as a Republican candidate for Congress in the 1990s. She led Georgia’s state health department for six years before being tapped for the CDC job. People who’ve met with her say that in small groups or personal meetings she can be gregarious, and she was a prominent spokesperson on health issues in the past. But since Fitzgerald took office, she has skipped important public health meetings and bowed out of at least one Congressional hearing. For months, she declined nearly all media interviews, and was absent from the kind of flu vaccination promotions that traditionally star CDC directors. Fitzgerald said she was traveling or had other scheduling conflicts during many of those events.

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Researchers are urging Albanian authorities to build a museum to display hundreds of Roman and Greek artifacts and ancient shipwrecks that are sitting under the country’s barely explored coastline. Archaeologists at the Albanian Underwater Archaeology conference warned Tuesday that the wealth of underwater artifacts in the country’s southwestern seabed, near its border with Greece, could easily fall prey to looters or treasure hunters. James Goold, chairman of the Florida-based RPM Nautical Foundation, said the objects — dating from the 8th century B.C. through to World War II — would be a great tourist attraction if properly displayed. Goold’s RPM has mapped out the Ionian seabed from the Greek border all along to the Vlora Bay, finding at least 22 shipwrecks from the ancient times to World War II and hundreds of ancient amphorae. Those long, narrow terracotta vessels carried olive oil and wine along trade routes between North Africa and the Roman Empire, where Albania, then Illyria, was a crossroad. “The time has come to build a museum for Albanian and foreign tourists,” said Albanian archaeologist Neritan Ceka. Some amphorae may have already been looted — they are not infrequently seen decorating restaurants along the Albanian coastline. Albania is trying to protect and capitalize on its rich underwater heritage, long neglected by its former communist regime, but preservation still receives scarce funding from the government in one of Europe’s poorest nations. The arrival of RPM’s Hercules research vessel 11 years ago was “a real revolution,” Ceka said, praising its professional divers, high-tech sonar and remotely operated underwater vehicle. RPM and a joint Albanian-Italian expedition are the only scientific underwater efforts in Albania so far, both with the government’s approval. Now RPM believes it’s time for the not-for-profit Institute of Nautical Archaeology research organization, which is based in Texas, U.S., to explore the possibilities of excavating shipwrecks, a financially expensive and scientifically delicate process. “There’s a special environment in Albania, because the coast has been so protected for so many years,” said INA’s David Ruff, a former commander of a nuclear-powered submarine. Ruff said “one of the real gems of Albania is the Butrint site” — a UNESCO-protected ancient Greek and Roman site in southernmost Albania close to the Greek border. He said INA’s Virazon II research vessel will stay for a month in Albanian waters “to understand the coast of Albania and if we can run a large-scale excavation here.” ___ Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter https://twitter.com/lsemini

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (AP) — A distraught father seething over sexual abuse suffered by three daughters tried to attack former sports doctor Larry Nassar in a Michigan courtroom after a judge rejected his request to confront the “demon” in a locked room, a stunning rush that reflected the anguish felt by parents who trusted him with their children. Randall Margraves was blocked by an attorney, tackled by sheriff’s deputies and hauled out of court Friday. He later apologized, saying he had lost control. Eaton County Judge Janice Cunningham said there was “no way” she would fine him or send him to jail under her contempt-of-court powers. “I don’t know what it would be like to stand there as a father and know that three of your girls were injured physically and emotionally by somebody sitting in a courtroom. I can’t imagine that,” the judge said. Nonetheless, she added, it is “not acceptable that we combat assault with assault.” The incident occurred during the third and final sentencing hearing for Nassar, who has admitted to sexually assaulting girls under the guise of medical treatment. This case focuses on his work at Twistars, an elite gymnastics club southwest of Lansing. Nassar, 54, already will spend the rest of his life in prison. He was sentenced last week to 40 to 175 years in prison for assaults at Michigan State University and his home and was ordered in December to spend 60 years in a federal prison for child pornography crimes. Nassar pleaded guilty to molesting nine victims in Eaton and Ingham counties, but the courts have been open to anyone who says she was assaulted during his decades of work at Michigan State, Twistars and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. More than 200 accusers so far have spoken or submitted statements in the two counties, and at least 80 percent have agreed to be publicly identified. Margraves’ dramatic move occurred after he listened to two of his daughters speak in court for 10 minutes. Lauren Margraves, a college student, said her parents were “filled with regret” because they took three daughters to see Nassar for sports injuries. “I see the look in their faces and I know they want to be able to do something but they can’t,” she told Nassar. “The guilt they have will never go away. All this is because of you.” Her father then stepped up and asked the judge if she would grant him “five minutes in a locked room with this demon.” Cunningham declined and also turned down his request for “one minute.” That is when Randall Margraves rushed toward Nassar. There were gasps and tears in the courtroom. Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis turned to the gallery and told families to “use your words,” not violence. “This is letting him have this power over us,” she said. “We cannot behave like this.” During a return to court, Margraves told the judge that he just snapped. He said he had not known what exactly his daughters were going to say about their abuse. “I look over here and Larry Nassar’s shaking his head, no, like it didn’t happen. … I’m embarrassed,” Margraves said of his conduct. “I’m not here to upstage my daughters. I’m here to help them heal.” About 30 more people spoke in person, by video or had statements read after the incident. The case will end Monday with final remarks from the prosecutor, defense and Nassar, followed by the judge’s sentence. Nassar faces a minimum of 25 to 40 years in prison. At a news conference, Margraves repeated his apology and insisted he’s “no hero.” “My daughters are the heroes, and all the victims and the survivors of this terrible atrocity,” he said. Melissa Alexander Vigogne, who traveled from France to speak, said she was surprised that an attack had not been attempted earlier. “It’s not that that’s how we should respond. But it’s truly understandable — the amount of pain that we’ve all gone through,” Vigogne said outside court. Sheriff Tom Reich said his officers will investigate what happened in court and send a report to the local prosecutor. The judge started the day by addressing comments made by a Nassar lawyer who said she had doubts about the large number of women and girls who say they were assaulted by Nassar. Cunningham called Shannon Smith’s remarks “unfortunate” and said Nassar did not authorize them. Smith told Detroit radio station WWJ that it is “really unfortunate” if some people stepped forward only because of all the recent attention. Nassar released a statement saying Smith’s comments were a distraction and that his accusers’ remarks “have pierced my soul.” Many of Nassar’s accusers have blamed Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee for not doing more earlier to stop him. The USOC announced Friday that it hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation. And the coordinator of the women’s national team for USA Gymnastics, Valeri Liukin, said he was stepping down. ___ AP reporter Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.

PARIS (AP) — A judicial source says former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed in custody as part of an investigation that he received millions of euros in illegal financing from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. A person with direct knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Sarkozy was quizzed by police at the Nanterre police station, west of Paris. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. An investigation has been underway since 2013 into the case, involving funding for his winning 2007 presidential campaign.

BRUSSELS (AP) — For Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the next few days will be a reassurance tour with a twist. As much he’ll tell allies the U.S. is committed to NATO, he also is expected to visit Europe with a hand out, hoping to secure bigger defense spending commitments and greater assistance in military campaigns in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Mattis also will field questions on national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation over his pre-inauguration discussions with Russia, and what the change means for U.S. policy on Moscow. Speaking to reporters on the way to a NATO defense ministers’ meeting, Mattis said Flynn’s departure “has no effect at all” on him. “Frankly, this has no impact,” he said. “I haven’t changed what I’m heading there for. It doesn’t change my message at all. Who is on the president’s staff is who I will work with. And so, you know, it’s full speed ahead.” Mattis also reinforced earlier comments he’s made on NATO’s importance. Calling it “the most successful military alliance in history,” he told reporters on the plane that “our commitment remains to NATO.” But he said allies need to discuss increasing their military funding to the benchmark goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product. After spending his first official trip telling America’s Asian allies they wouldn’t be abandoned, Mattis is on a similar journey in Brussels and Munich this week, where he will have to address the mixed messages from President Donald Trump on the value of NATO before and after he took office. “I think there will be a lot of reassuring words spoken over the next week,” said Derek Chollet, a former senior defense official who is now senior adviser at the German Marshall Fund. Nations want Mattis to maintain the U.S. commitment to providing military support and troops to bolster Poland and the Baltics, who feel threatened by Russia, he said. While Mattis’ words may provide some comfort, Chollet said: “It will leave the question: What does the president think? If anything, the sum total of all of this will just perpetuate the confusion.” Wednesday marks Mattis’ first NATO meeting as defense secretary. During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, the retired Marine general said he wanted the U.S. to “maintain the strongest possible relationship with NATO.” With remarks such as those, Mattis has distanced himself from Trump’s criticism of the military alliance and threats that the U.S. might not defend allies that don’t fulfill their financial obligations as NATO members. Mattis, however, is aligned with Trump’s call for the 27 NATO members to meet the defense spending requirement. Only a few are currently hitting the 2 percent mark, while the U.S. spends more on its armed forces than all the others combined. Washington also foots more than 22 percent of NATO’s commonly funded budget. The U.S. also would like to see an increased NATO commitment in Afghanistan, where forces have been fighting the Taliban for more than 15 years, since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Washington wants more trainers in Afghanistan, where about 8,400 American troops are still deployed. There also will be discussions about how to accelerate the newer, U.S.-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Europe’s leaders will first be looking for clarity from Mattis. They’re still rattled by Trump’s declarations that NATO is “obsolete” and his repeated praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Such comments have triggered fears Trump will ease sanctions imposed on Moscow after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and supported an insurgency in eastern Ukraine. Another concern: lessened U.S. military support for eastern European allies near Russia’s border who worry about being the next target. During his confirmation hearing, Mattis told senators that he has discussed NATO with the president and that Trump was “open” to changing his position. Among Mattis’ first calls after Trump’s inauguration was one to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. In recent weeks, Trump’s public statements on NATO have softened somewhat. After meeting Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters that he assured her he was “100 percent” behind NATO. A joint statement issued after Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone said the two agreed on the “fundamental importance that the NATO alliance has for trans-Atlantic relations” and the need for all members to pay their fair share. Trump made similar comments in a call with French President Francois Hollande. Only four countries other than the U.S. — Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland — are meeting NATO’s spending target. Many are increasing their budgets in response to Russia’s actions.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday criticized proposed U.S. investment controls as a violation of global trade rules and says it reserves the right to retaliate if they take effect. The Commerce Ministry’s comment came as the two sides prepared for weekend talks in Beijing on American complaints about China’s trade surplus and Beijing’s promise to buy more American goods. A ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said the White House proposal to restrict Chinese investment in the United States violates the “rules and basic spirit” of the World Trade Organization. Gao said, “The Chinese side will carefully evaluate the U.S. measures and reserves the right to take corresponding measures.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The polarizing politics of abortion have burst into the congressional budget debate, overwhelming bipartisan efforts to help millions of consumers who buy their own health insurance policies get relief from soaring premiums. On Monday, Senate and House Republicans released their latest plan to stabilize the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets. It calls for new federal money to offset the cost of treating the sickest patients and restores insurer subsidies that President Donald Trump terminated last year. That’s clearly a shift from when repealing “Obamacare” was the GOP’s demand. But the fine print of the GOP offer includes restrictions on abortion funding that Democrats have already rejected, a “poison pill” to abortion rights supporters. They say the proposal could block abortion coverage by some health insurance plans consumers purchase with their own money. Lawmakers of both parties have been negotiating over a health insurance stabilization bill for months, but chances it will be added to the budget deal appear to be dwindling. Some experts estimate such legislation could reduce premiums by 20 percent to 40 percent, after two years of relentless increases. The office of one of the leading Democratic negotiators, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, on Monday called the Republican offer “partisan,” saying in a statement it came as a surprise. In an interview last Friday, Murray said her GOP counterparts have only recently started raising the issue of abortion restrictions. “To me that is just unacceptable,” Murray said. “Why would they add it on at the last minute?” She complained that some Republicans were taking the stabilization bill “hostage.” Republicans say their longstanding support for restrictions on abortion funding is well-known. Abortion is just one of several divisive social issues complicating prospects for a $1.3 trillion spending bill that would keep the government open and provide funding increases for military and domestic programs. Others include a Republican demand for stronger “conscience” protections for clinicians, and a Democratic maneuver to protect family planning money for Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide birth control for many low-income women. Federal funding for abortion has long been restricted by a series of laws known as the Hyde amendment, which prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, expect in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is endangered. Abortion remains a legal medical procedure in the United States, covered by many employer plans. However, the abortion rate has dropped significantly, from about 29 per 1,000 women of reproductive age in 1980 to about 15 in 2014. Better contraception, fewer unintended pregnancies and state restrictions may have played a role, according to a recent scientific report. Former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act attempted a compromise over abortion coverage. Passed with only Democratic votes, the health law allowed plans sold through HealthCare.gov to cover abortion, provided they didn’t tap taxpayer subsidies that help consumers pay premiums. Instead the plans must collect a separate premium for abortions, and keep the accounts strictly separate. The ACA also allowed states to prohibit abortion coverage in their insurance markets, and about half have done so. But abortion opponents decried Obama’s compromise as a bookkeeping exercise. They wanted the Hyde amendment applied to plans sold through HealthCare.gov and state insurance markets. The new GOP bill would apply Hyde restrictions to two streams of federal money. One is restored subsidies that compensate insurers for required discounts on copays and deductibles for low-income people. The second funding stream would stabilize insurance markets by helping cover costs for the sickest patients. Abortion rights supporters say that the second prohibition could result in abortion restrictions for health insurance that consumers buy with their own money outside of HealthCare.gov. That’s because a fund to help with the costs of the sickest patients would help reduce premiums across all plans in a given state. Sen. Murray is hoping Republicans will change their minds. But Republicans say they’ve already come a long way, by signing onto legislation that would address some of the problems with “Obamacare.” “I’m willing to ensure payments are there to bring premiums down,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. “But we don’t want to be complicit in taking the lives of unborn children.”

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s governor on Monday directed the state’s attorney general to review the 2015 decision by the Manhattan district attorney’s office to not prosecute a sex abuse case against Harvey Weinstein. “It is critical not only that these cases are given the utmost attention but also that there is public confidence in the handling of these cases,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. The Democratic governor asked that the review be conducted “in a way that does not interfere with the current investigation,” which he said the Manhattan district attorney believes will be completed within approximately 45 days. The directive comes on the same day that Time’s Up, an initiative started by a powerhouse group of Hollywood industry women to fight systemic sexual harassment, called for Cuomo to investigate the district attorney’s office. In a statement, the group says a report in New York magazine is disturbing because it suggests the district attorney’s office may have been improperly influenced by Weinstein and sought to intimidate an Italian model who accused the disgraced media mogul of groping her. “An independent investigation into the full decision-making process in this case, including a full review of the correspondence within the office and with any representatives for Mr. Weinstein, must be undertaken immediately to ensure that prosecutorial integrity was maintained and to restore faith in the DA’s office,” the statement says. The article centers on the case of Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. In 2015, police conducted a sting after she accused Weinstein of groping her, secretly recording Weinstein apologizing for this conduct. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. ultimately decided there wasn’t enough proof and didn’t bring a case. Following criticism over the decision last year, prosecutors said police arranged the sting without their knowledge and there were other proof issues, but police pushed back saying they’d presented enough evidence. Danny Frost, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said the allegations in the magazine had “little resemblance to the facts. The office has an “unwavering” commitment to justice in such case and great admiration “for the courageous women and men who have brought about a long-overdue reckoning with decades of intolerable sexual abuse,” he said. Police and prosecutors play different roles, Frost said. Disagreements happen, but they don’t undermine justice, he said. “Police evaluate arrests based on probable cause, whereas prosecutors must make sure they can prove to a jury that every element of a criminal statute was violated beyond a reasonable doubt — a much higher standard,” he said. Weinstein’s attorneys have said he denies any non-consensual sexual contact. Since scores of new allegations against Weinstein surfaced, both the New York Police Department and the district attorney’s office have said they are working together, but no grand jury has been convened despite police officials saying publicly they have enough evidence for a case. Less than two weeks ago, the police department’s chief of detectives said witnesses were ready for the grand jury — but it was up to the district attorney to decide when to convene it. Frost said the case is still under active investigation. The Time’s Up statement says a prosecution of the 2015 case could have prevented other alleged sexual assaults. “There will only be real consequences for abusive behavior when our public officials, sworn to uphold the law, care as much about the rights of the victim as concerns for the accused.” The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they speak publicly, as Battilana Gutierrez has done. Time’s Up was created by about 300 women and includes the producer Shonda Rhimes and actresses Reese Witherspoon and America Ferrera.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. case against a British cybersecurity researcher accused of creating a malware program (all times local): 10:15 a.m. A British cybersecurity researcher credited with helping curb a recent worldwide ransomware attack has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of creating malicious software to steal banking information in 2014. Marcus Hutchins entered the plea Monday during a hearing in Wisconsin federal court. He and an unnamed co-defendant face charges of conspiring to commit computer fraud in the state and elsewhere. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old man Aug. 2 in the Las Vegas airport on his way home to Ilfracombe, England, after a cybersecurity convention. The legal troubles Hutchins faces are a dramatic turnaround from the status of cybercrime-fighting hero he enjoyed four months ago when he found a “kill switch” that slowed the outbreak of WannaCry virus. The indictment says the crimes happened from July 2014 to July 2015. ___ 6:25 a.m. A British cybersecurity researcher credited with helping curb a recent worldwide ransomware attack is expected in court to hear federal charges accusing him of creating malicious software to steal banking information in 2014. Marcus Hutchins could enter a plea during Monday’s hearing in Wisconsin federal court. Prosecutors have charged him and an unnamed co-defendant with conspiring to commit computer fraud in the state and elsewhere. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old man on Aug. 2 in the Las Vegas airport on his way home to Ilfracombe, England, after a cybersecurity convention. The legal troubles Hutchins faces are a dramatic turnaround from the status of cybercrime-fighting hero he enjoyed four months ago when he found a “kill switch” that slowed the outbreak of WannaCry virus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump promised to make health care more affordable but a government report finds that out-of-pocket costs — deductibles and copayments — would average 61 percent higher under the House Republican bill. And even though the sticker price for premiums would be lower than under the Obama-era law, what consumers actually pay would edge up on average because government financial assistance would be curtailed. The report from the Office of the Actuary, a nonpartisan economic unit at the Health and Human Services Department, was released earlier this week with little fanfare. “It’s fascinating,” said Chris Sloan, a policy expert with the Avalere Health consulting firm. “They actually think that on average people will be paying more even though the underlying premium is less.” The estimates are for the year 2026, and apply to people who buy their own health insurance policies. That group was a major focus of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Individually-purchased coverage is also key to the GOP’s American Health Care Act, which would roll back much of “Obamacare.” The report tracks with findings by the Congressional Budget Office, which said millions more would be uninsured under the Republican legislation, in particular due to Medicaid cuts affecting low-income people. But at first blush the impact appears to be less dramatic. The budget office estimate of 23 million more uninsured in 2026 compares with 13 million projected by the experts at HHS. However, Sloan said much of the contrast appears due to a fairly technical issue: the two groups of experts make different assumptions about the number of people covered as a result of Obama’s law. The HHS report also finds that the Republican bill would shorten the life of the Medicare hospital trust fund by two years, partly because it repeals a tax on upper-income earners. In a statement, the Trump administration said the new HHS estimate doesn’t take into account other changes proposed by the president, including relief from burdensome regulations and additional health care legislation. While Trump celebrated passage of the House bill with a Rose Garden ceremony, lately he’s told senators it’s too “mean,” and he’s urged lawmakers to spend more money on health care. Republican senators are trying to find a compromise that will let them advance their own version. The HHS experts projected forward nearly a decade, estimating that sticker-price premiums would average $801 a month in 2026 if the Obama law stays in place. Under the GOP bill, that gross monthly premium would drop to $695, or about 13 percent less. Yet financial assistance would also be reduced under House bill, which provides government tax credits based on age, not income. After taking that and other changes into account, net premiums would average $380 under the GOP bill, a little bit more than the $360 a month consumers would pay under current law. The GOP bill also would eliminate current subsidies that help reduce deductibles and copayments for people of modest incomes. And it would allow insurers to offer plans that cover fewer benefits, among other changes. Both those shifts lead to higher deductibles and copayments. When all that is factored in, the HHS estimate found that cost-sharing would average $380 a month, 61 percent more than the estimate of $236 under current law. In a Washington Post interview shortly before taking office, Trump promised “much lower deductibles.” “You can see promise of the lower premiums holding up,” said Sloan. “But there is nothing in this proposal that is going to lead to lower deductibles or lower cost-sharing. There is just nothing there.” The HHS report cautioned that averages don’t tell the whole story. The impacts would vary widely by age, income, and where a consumer lives. And the cost-sharing average includes people who use their insurance a lot, and people who don’t go to the doctor. ___ HHS Office of the Actuary report: https://tinyurl.com/ycc9cmvt

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Pekka Rinne stopped 35 shots for his eighth shutout of the season and the Nashville Predators set a franchise record by earning a point in their 15th consecutive game with a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored goals 4:34 apart in the second period, and Filip Forsberg and Ryan Hartman sealed the victory by scoring in the final four minutes. The NHL-leading Predators improved to 14-0-1 in their past 15, and also extended their team-best road winning streak to nine straight. Rinne won his 11th straight to match his personal best in a stretch in which he’s allowed just 18 goals. The shutout was the 51st of his 12-year career and third in nine games. And Rinne also improved to 40-9-4 in becoming the NHL’s seventh goalie to win 40 games in a season three or more times. The Predators haven’t lost in regulation since a 3-1 defeat to Detroit at home on Feb. 17. And they improved to 12-0-3 in their past 15 road games since a 3-0 loss at Vegas on Jan. 2. The Sabres were unable to build off a 5-3 win over Chicago on Saturday and lost in rookie coach Phil Housley’s first meeting against his former team. The Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman spent the previous four seasons as a Predators assistant coach. Buffalo ranks last in the Eastern Conference and had its NHL-worst home record drop to 11-21-5. Minor-league call-up Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots, starting in place of Robin Lehner, who was sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Ullmark had little chance on Fisher’s goal that opened the scoring 12:29 into the second period. Fisher and teammate Scott Hartnell were both parked in front when Fisher deflected in Mikka Salomaki’s shot from the blue line. The Sabres challenged the goal by arguing Fisher interfered with Ullmark. The goal was allowed to stand despite a replay showing Fisher nudged the back of Ullmark’s skate in the crease and also got a hand on the goalie’s glove. There was no disputing Johansen’s goal. Ullmark stopped Viktor Arvidsson’s initial shot from the right circle. The rebound fell at Ullmark’s his feet where Forsberg chipped the puck to Johansen, who snapped it in the open left side. The first period was lively with both teams putting their speed on display. Arvidsson nearly scored 7 seconds in on a breakaway off the opening faceoff. Buffalo’s Jack Eichel burst up the left side and behind the Predators defense to drive across the crease only to have his shot stopped by Rinne’s left pad. Rinne also got an assist from Kevin Fiala who got his stick out to stop Justin Bailey’s attempt to tap in a bouncing puck in the crease. NOTES: Rinne joined a list of three-time 40-game winners led by former New Jersey goalie Martin Broduer, who reached the milestone eight times. Washington’s Braden Holtby is the only other active goalie to win 40 games three times. The other three-time 40-game-winners were Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante, Mikka Kiprusoff and Evgeni Nabokov. … Sabres RW Kyle Okposo returned after missing three games with a concussion. … With 10 games left, the Predators inched closer to matching franchise records for most wins (51) and points (110) set in 2006-07. UP NEXT Predators: Host Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Sabres: Host Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday in matchup of NHL’s two worst teams. ___ More NHL hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

DENVER (AP) — Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments Monday in a trial concerning allegations that a former radio host groped Taylor Swift backstage before a concert in Denver, and competing allegations the singer’s mother and her radio liaison set out to destroy the DJ’s career after the photo op took place. A federal judge on Friday determined that former DJ David Mueller didn’t prove that Swift personally tried to end his career, but identical allegations against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell are expected to go to jurors. Mueller sued the three after Swift’s team reported the 2013 encounter to his bosses. He’s seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job. Swift countersued for a symbolic $1. The jury will also consider her assault claim. She called the encounter with Mueller despicable.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Democrats see Tuesday’s special Senate election as a chance to renounce a history littered with politicians whose race-baiting, bombast and other baggage have long soiled the state’s reputation beyond its borders. Many Republicans see the vote as chance to ratify their conservative values and protect President Donald Trump’s agenda ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. At the center are Republican Roy Moore, a former jurist twice removed as state chief justice and now accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls decades ago, and Democrat Doug Jones, an erstwhile federal prosecutor best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for killing four black girls in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. The winner will take the seat held previously by Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Republicans control the Senate with 52 seats. In truth, the matchup mixes both Alabama’s tortured history and the nation’s current divisive, bitterly partisan politics, and it has made a spectacle of a Deep South state well acquainted with national scrutiny but not accustomed to competitive general elections. “This is an election to tell the whole world what we stand for,” Jones told supporters at one stop Sunday, adding that his campaign “is on the right side of history.” At an earlier appearance, he declared Alabama is “at a crossroads” and that Moore, an unapologetic evangelical populist, tries only to “create conflict and division.” Jones, 63, stops short of explicitly comparing Moore to the four-term Gov. George Wallace, whose populism was rooted in segregation. But Jones alluded Sunday to that era of Alabama politics. “Elect a responsible man to a responsible office,” Jones said, repeating the campaign slogan of another Alabama governor, Albert Brewer, who nearly defeated Wallace in 1970 in a contest Alabama liberals and many moderates still lament as a lost opportunity. Some of Jones’ supporters put it even more bluntly. “I thought Alabama’s image was pretty much at the bottom,” said Pat Lawrence, a retired software engineer in Huntsville. A Moore win, Lawrence added, “will be a whole new bottom.” Those concerns extend even to some GOP quarters. Alabama’s senior senator, Richard Shelby, confirmed Sunday that he did not vote for Moore, saying he wrote in another “distinguished” party figure he declined to name. Yet for many Republicans, Moore is a paragon of traditional values. They reject accusations that he molested two teenage girls and pursued relationships with others decades ago. Moore denies the charges. “Everyone has to vote their convictions,” said Kevin Mims of Montgomery, as he held his Bible outside his Baptist church Sunday in Montgomery. “My conviction is he’s the right man for the job.” Where Moore’s critics see a state judge who defied federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage, Mims see a stalwart who stands “on the word of God.” Other conservatives see an anti-establishment firebrand in the mold of Trump, who won Alabama by 28 percentage points. Moore encourages that view with fundraising emails that urge backers to help him “defeat the elite,” a swipe at both Democrats and the establishment Republicans who tried to deny him the GOP nomination earlier this year. Ultimately, Republicans from Moore to Trump himself are betting on a simple bottom line: Most Alabama conservatives simply won’t defect to a Democrat. “If Alabama elects liberal Democrat Doug Jones, all of our progress will be stopped cold,” Trump says in a robocall the Moore campaign plans to push out Monday. The president also invokes a common fear among Republicans, calling Jones “a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” the Democratic House and Senate leaders in Washington, both of them reviled by conservative voters. “Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass our Make American Great Again agenda,” the president insists. Moore’s baggage could make it difficult to draw conclusions about what the results might mean beyond Alabama, but both parties are watching closely. Democrats need to flip 24 GOP-held seats to reclaim a House majority, and they’re trying to dent the slim Republican advantage in the Senate and its dominance of statehouses around the country. In many of those races, they’ll need the same thing Jones must get to win in Alabama: strong turnout among young and non-white voters, along with improved performance among suburban moderates. A Jones victory would be hailed as a potential precursor, and Democrats have indicated they have a post-Alabama strategy even if Jones loses: They’ll take Alabama’s brand national, hammering Republicans as “the party of Donald Trump and Roy Moore.” —– Barrow reported from Mobile, Alabama. Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP and Chandler at https://twitter.com/StatehouseKim.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog on Monday urged the Education Department to resume the process of forgiving student loans for tens of thousands Americans who were defrauded by for-profit colleges. The Office of Inspector General, an independent body within the education agency, recommended in a report that the department restart “review, approval, and discharge process” for defrauded studs. The group also recommended that the department establish timeframes for considering the claims and “develop controls to ensure timeframes are met.” The report also noted that the department has significantly shrunk the staff of its unit the processes these claims, from 19 contracted staff, on top of attorneys, in November 2016, to just six contracted staff in September 2017. A spokeswoman for the department did not immediately return a request for comment. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has come under criticism for stalling the review of over 95,000 claims for loan cancellations. The agency has not approved a single claim during her time in office and DeVos’ critics charge that she is looking out for the interests of the for-profit industry, rather than colleges. DeVos says she needs time to put together new rules for how loans are forgiven that would be fair to students, but also prevent any potential abuse of the system. The AP reported in October that the department is considering abandoning the Obama-era practice of full loan forgiveness in favor of partial relief. The department has halted Obama-era revisions to the process of loan forgiveness that boosted protections for students, citing pending litigation. The agency is now in the process or rewriting those rules with input from educators and experts. Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate committee overseeing education, said the report confirms that DeVos “tried to shirk her responsibility to these students and shut down the borrower defense program, leaving them with nowhere to turn.” “Secretary DeVos needs to stop listening to the for-profit executives she hired and start following the recommendations of the Department’s independent watchdog by providing much needed, and legally required, relief to students who were cheated out of their education and savings,” Murray said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that peace between the Israelis and Palestinians may not come in the form of a two-state solution — a dramatic shift from former President Barack Obama, who said he saw no alternative. Speaking to reporters ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior White House official said Trump is eager to begin facilitating a peace deal between the two side and hoping to bring them together soon. But the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preview the visit, said it will be up to the Israelis and Palestinians to determine what peace will entail. The official said peace is the goal, regardless of whether it comes in the form of a two-state solution. He says the administration will work as a facilitator, but is not going to dictate what the terms of peace are going to be. During his final White House news conference, Obama warned that the moment for a two-state solution “may be passing” and said the “status quo is unsustainable.” Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House Wednesday, after which he’ll head to Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trump takes pride in his deal-making skills and said during his campaign that he’d love the challenge of negotiating a Mideast agreement. At one point Trump pointed to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as the best man for the job. The official said the Trump and Netanyahu are likely to discuss peace as well as expanded Israeli settlements, Iran and Trump’s campaign pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Rep. Steve Scalise, a member of the House Republican leadership, is known for his love of baseball and the late-night meals he often serves his colleagues in his office near the Capitol’s ornate Statuary Hall. Scalise, the No. 3 House Republican, was shot Wednesday along with several others during a GOP baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He was in critical condition following surgery, the hospital said, and will require several more operations. An avid sports fan, Scalise distributed commemorative baseball bats to fellow House members when he ran for the leadership post in 2014. The Louisiana conservative was elected majority whip, the job of chief Republican vote counter. His campaign for the whip job had a Louisiana flair that included distribution of “Geaux Scalise” T-shirts and a Cajun dinner with sausage, oysters and gumbo. A major supporter of the oil industry, Scalise also is known for hosting lawmakers on tours of offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. One of his major legislative accomplishments was ensuring that penalties paid after the BP oil spill go to areas affected by the spill. Scalise, 51, was first elected to the House in 2008 and served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservatives, before becoming whip in the leadership shuffle that followed the surprise defeat of then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary. In his whip campaign, he boasted about his conservative credentials and pointed out that he’d be the only GOP leader from the South, which had a major role in giving Republicans their largest House majority in decades. At the time of the shooting, the lawmakers were preparing for an annual congressional game scheduled for Thursday night. Scalise, who was shot in the hip, was transported to MedStar Washington and underwent surgery. “Prior to entering surgery, the whip was in good spirits and spoke to his wife by phone. He is grateful for the brave actions of U.S. Capitol Police, first responders and colleagues,” his office said in a statement. Scalise has forged a close relationship with President Donald Trump, working together on the House health care bill and a pending effort to overhaul the tax code. Trump, in remarks from the White House, called Scalise “a very good friend” and said, “He’s a patriot, and he’s a fighter. He will recover from this assault.” As the No. 3 House Republican, Scalise has a security detail assigned to him at all times. Lawmakers who were at the practice said the shootings could have been much worse if the security detail had not been there. Scalise represents a district that includes some New Orleans suburbs and bayou parishes. Before entering Congress, he was a lawmaker in Louisiana for 12 years. His signature legislation included a film industry tax credit program aimed at helping Louisiana become “Hollywood South” and a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage. As a state lawmaker, Scalise built relationships with people of diverse views, even as he maintained a rock-solid conservative voting record. One of his closest friends remains Rep. Cedric Richmond, a New Orleans Democrat who leads the Congressional Black Caucus and befriended Scalise when the two were both in the state House. Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., described Scalise as a great leader who is the go-to person for the state’s congressional delegation. “Any time we need anything, we go to Steve and he makes it happen,” Abraham said. Scalise has faced questions about some of his Louisiana ties. Six months after his election as whip, it came to light that he had spoken in 2002 to a white supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise apologized for the speech and said he was unaware of the group’s racial philosophy when he agreed to speak as a state legislator. “I reject bigotry of all forms,” Scalise said then. A fun-loving, unabashed champion for Louisiana’s culture and food, Scalise is known as someone who likes to have a good time just as much as he likes rough-and-tumble politics. He returns to the Louisiana legislature every year during session to revisit the House and Senate chambers where he once worked and mingle with his former colleagues, quick with hugs and handshakes. Scalise is so unassuming and low-key that Louisiana politicians have often joked about his security detail. “I’ve seen him a couple of times like in the Superdome and I often wondered, ‘Well, why in the hell did he have all those security people with him?” Louisiana Senate President John Alario said. “I see why now,” Alario added. “It was an abundance of caution. I’m glad they did it.” Matt Rudiger, a 45-year-old salesman who was at a Metairie, Louisiana, coffee shop near Scalise’s district office, said the shooting “really hit close to home” because he and Scalise both graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie. “We’re all brothers. I feel like it happened to one of us,” Rudiger said. Scalise and his wife, Jennifer, have two children. ___ Daly reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Kevin McGill in Metairie, Louisiana, contributed to this story.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — It looks like a perfectly staged assassination, straight out of the pages of a spy novel: North Korean royalty Kim Jong Nam, the estranged, exiled half-brother of leader Kim Jong Un, falls ill at a Malaysian airport, complains of being sprayed with some sort of chemical, and drops dead. But, as with many things about the alleged motives of cloistered North Korea, the unknowns currently far outweigh the certainties. A look at what officials are trying to piece together as they work to reconstruct one of the most audacious, mysterious assassinations in recent Asian history: ___ WHY NOW? This is the big one: Motive. Kim Jong Nam, a jovial, overweight gambler and playboy, had embarrassed Pyongyang before — he tried to sneak into Tokyo Disney; he criticized his half-brother — but he’s been generally seen more as an annoyance than an existential threat to North Korea’s stability. Why would Kim Jong Un go through the massive logistical trouble — and potential embarrassment — of staging the risky assassination of a blood relation on foreign soil? Without elaborating, South Korea’s spy service told lawmakers Wednesday that the North had been trying to kill Kim Jong Nam for five years. Spy officials offered a single, shaky motive for the death: Kim Jong Un’s “paranoia” over his estranged brother. But the South’s National Intelligence Service has a long history of botching intelligence on North Korea and has long sought to portray the North’s leadership as mentally unstable. Some in Seoul wonder if Kim Jong Un might have become enraged when a South Korean newspaper reported last week that Kim Jong Nam tried to defect to the South in 2012. South Korea’s spy service denied this, but it’s still an open question: Could public speculation that a member of the exalted Kim dynasty wanted to flee to the hated South have pushed Kim Jong Un to order his brother’s assassination? ___ WHY THE AIRPORT IN MALAYSIA? There would seem to be easier, less public places to kill such a high-profile target. A possible explanation might be found in another nugget provided by South Korea’s spy agency: China had long protected Kim Jong Nam and his family in their home base of Macau. Analysts have seen Beijing as looking to Kim Jong Nam as a potential leader should North Korea’s regime collapse. With security, presumably overseen by China, tight in Macau, could there have been a security gap in Malaysia that offered North Korean assassins an opportunity they couldn’t have gotten elsewhere? ___ WHO ARE THE MYSTERY WOMEN? The details of the attack itself are a tangled mess as of now. Kim told medical workers that he’d been sprayed with a chemical, which brings to mind past attacks with poison-tipped pens linked to North Korean assassins. South Korea’s spy agency says two women believed to be North Korean agents attacked Kim. They then reportedly fled. Japanese media quoted the government in Tokyo as saying those women may now be dead. None of this has been confirmed yet. Still, finding out who these women are and who hired them could go a long way to unlocking the mystery. ___ WHAT NEXT? North Korea has said nothing officially about the death, but that’s not unusual. The country’s propaganda specialists are masters at reporting only details that lionize the Kim family as paragons of virtue. This clearly doesn’t do that. China may be angry at the killing of a close North Korean contact, so there could be some sort of reaction, possibly back-channel, from Beijing. But a more concrete punishment could come from Washington. Cheong Seong-Chang, a South Korean analyst, said the assassination might convince the U.S. Congress to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, further isolating the already widely shunned country. ___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — An Ohio man accused of ramming his car into a crowd of protesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia will remain in jail – at least until he has an attorney. Judge Robert Downer declined to set bond at a hearing Monday for James Alex Fields Jr., who faces second-degree murder and other charges, until he has legal representation. The judge says the public defenders’ office informed him it could not represent Fields because a relative of someone in the office was injured in Saturday’s protest. Downer said Charles Weber, a local attorney, will be appointed to represent the 20-year-old Fields. The next scheduled court hearing is Aug. 25, though Fields’ attorney could request a bond hearing before then. Fields was not physically present in the courtroom but appeared via a video monitor. He was seated and wearing a black and white striped uniform. He answered questions from the judge with simple responses of “Yes, sir” when asked if he understood the judge. He told the judge, “No, sir” when asked if he had ties to the community of Charlottesville. Fields is charged in the death of Heather Heyer, 32, of Charlottesville. She died when Fields allegedly slammed his car amid a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally Saturday. Fields was arrested shortly after and has been in custody ever since. A high school teacher said Fields was fascinated with Nazism, idolized Adolf Hitler and had been singled out by school officials in the 9th grade for his “deeply held, radical” convictions on race.

NEW YORK (AP) — Target announced moves Monday aimed at helping it shore up two key areas: groceries and delivery. To boost its grocery business, the company said it hired executives from rival Walmart and from Cheerios maker General Mills. Target’s grocery section hasn’t been as big a draw for shoppers as the department has been for Walmart. Mark Kenny, who will join Target from Walmart later this month, will oversee Target’s meat, seafood and deli sections. Former General Mills executive Liz Nordlie will run Target’s privately owned food and beverage brands. The Minneapolis-based retailer said earlier Monday that it would buy delivery logistics company Grand Junction to help it offer same-day delivery service to in-store shoppers. Software made by the San Francisco-based company connects retailers with about 700 delivery companies around the country that pick up items from stores or distribution centers and take them to customers. Expanding delivery and making it faster have been key areas for retailers trying to attract convenience-seeking shoppers. Target and Walmart have adjusted their shipping programs as they try to lure online shoppers away from Amazon. Target’s move is aimed not at online shoppers, but at making buying an easier decision for in-store shoppers. The company has been working with Grand Junction to test same-day delivery at a New York store. Shoppers there can ask to have heavy bags, a sofa or anything else delivered that day for a fee, that’s calculated based on time and location. Target plans to expand the service to other New York locations this year, and then bring it to other major cities next year. The company said it eventually plans to use the software to offer faster deliveries for online orders. Target Corp. did not say how much it will pay for Grand Junction. It said the company will become a part of the company’s technology unit and said Grand Junction will stop working with other retailers when those contracts end.

BEIJING (AP) — China has criticized proposed U.S. investment controls as a violation of global trade rules and says it reserves the right to retaliate if they take effect. The Commerce Ministry’s comment Thursday came as the two sides prepared for weekend talks in Beijing on American complaints about China’s trade surplus and Beijing’s promise to buy more American goods. A ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said the White House proposal to restrict Chinese investment in the United States violates the “rules and basic spirit” of the World Trade Organization. Gao said, “The Chinese side will carefully evaluate the U.S. measures and reserves the right to take corresponding measures.”

HIGASHISHIRAKAWA, Japan (AP) — Tatsuya Yasue buried his face into the flag and smelled it. Then he held the 93-year-old hands that brought this treasure home, and kissed them. Marvin Strombo, who had taken the calligraphy-covered Japanese flag from a dead soldier at World War II island battlefield 73 years ago, returned it Tuesday to the family of Sadao Yasue. They had never gotten his body or — until that moment — anything else of his. Yasue and Tatsuya’s sister Sayoko Furuta, 93, sitting in her wheelchair, covered her face with both hands and wept silently as Tatsuya placed the flag on her lap. Strombo reached out and gently rubbed her shoulder. “I was so happy that I returned the flag,” Strombo said. “I can see how much the flag meant to her. That almost made me cry … It meant everything in the world to her.” The flag’s white background is filled with signatures of 180 friends and neighbors in this tea-growing mountain village of Higashishirakawa, wishing Yasue’s safe return. The signatures helped Strombo find its rightful owners. “Good luck forever at the battlefield,” a message on it reads. Looking at the names and their handwriting, Tatsuya Yasue clearly recalls their faces and friendship with his brother. The smell of the flag immediately brought back childhood memories. “It smelled like my good old big brother, and it smelled like our mother’s home cooking we ate together,” Tatsuya Yasue said. “The flag will be our treasure.” The return of the flag brings closure, the 89-year-old farmer and younger brother of Sadeo Yasue told The Associated Press at his 400-year-old house on Monday. “It’s like the war has finally ended and my brother can come out of limbo.” Tatsuya Yasue last saw his older brother alive the day before he left for the South Pacific in 1943. He and two siblings had a small send-off picnic for the oldest brother outside his military unit over sushi and Japanese sweet mochi. At the end of the meeting, his brother whispered to Tatsuya, asking him to take good care of their parents, as he would be sent to the Pacific islands, harsh battlegrounds where chances of survival were low. A year later, Japanese authorities sent the family a wooden box with a few stones at the bottom — a substitute for his body. They knew no details of Sadeo’s death until months after the war ended, when they were told he died somewhere in the Mariana Islands presumably on July 18, 1944, the day Saipan fell, at age 25. “That’s all we were told about my brother. We never knew exactly when, where or how he died,” he said. The family had wondered whether he might have died at sea. About 20 years ago, Tatsuya Yasue visited Saipan with his younger brother, trying to imagine what their older brother might have gone through. So Strombo was able to give Yasue’s family not just a flag, but also some answers. He said he found Sadeo Yasue’s body on the outskirts of Garapan, a village in Saipan, when he got lost and ended up near the Japanese frontline. He told Yasue’s siblings their brother likely died of a concussion from a mortar round. He told them that Sadao was lying on the ground on his left side, looking peacefully as if he was sleeping and without severe wounds. And there is one more thing Strombo delivered: a little hope that Yasue’s remains might one day be recovered, given the details about where he found the body. The remains of nearly half of the 2.4 million Japanese war dead overseas have yet to be found. It’s a pressing issue as the bereaved families reach old age and memories fade. Allied troops frequently took the flags from the bodies of their enemies as souvenirs, as Japanese flags were quite popular and fetched good prices when auctioned, Strombo said. But to the Japanese bereaved families, they have a much deeper meaning, especially those, like Yasue, who never learned how their loved ones died and never received remains. Japanese government has requested auction sites to stop trading wartime signed flags. Strombo said Tuesday that he originally wanted the flag as a souvenir from the war, but he felt guilty taking it, so he never sold it and vowed to one day return it. He had the flag hung in a glass-fronted gun cabinet in his home in Montana for years, a topic of conversation for visitors. He was in the battles of Saipan, Tarawa and Tinian, which chipped away at Japan’s control of islands in the Pacific and paved the way for U.S. victory. In 2012, he was connected to the Obon Society, an Oregon-based nonprofit that helps U.S. veterans and their descendants return Japanese flags to the families of fallen soldiers. The group’s research traced it to the village of 2,300 people in central Japan by analyzing family names. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Her work can be found at APNews at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Authorities in Guatemala have raised by more than 130 the number of people officially missing from last month’s deadly eruption of the Volcano of Fire. The country’s disaster agency says in a statement that the new figure is 332, up from 197 previously. It said Wednesday that the revision followed a review of nearly 200,000 records and verifying lists of people living in shelters. The Volcano of Fire is one of the region’s most active, located to the southwest of Guatemala City. Authorities have confirmed at least 113 deaths from the June 3 eruption, which sent superheated flows raging through small villages. Eighty-five of those bodies have been identified.

South Korean leader: Nuclear crisis must “absolutely be solved peacefully;” US military action requires Seoul’s consent

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. WHO UNITED AGAINST WHITE NATIONALISTS Opponents of the Virginia event that descended into chaos included clergy, students, Black Lives Matter activists, armed militia members and protesters with an anti-fascist movement. 2. WHAT TRUMP IS BEING CALLED TO DO Bipartisan pressure is mounting for the Republican to explicitly condemn white supremacists and hate groups involved in deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville. 3. ARCTIC VOYAGE DETAILS CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT An AP team takes a monthlong, 6,200-mile journey through the Northwest Passage to document global warming on the environment, people and animals. 4. ‘NO LOST GENERATION’ PLEDGE RINGS HOLLOW More than half a million Syrian refugee children of school age are not enrolled in school or informal education in host countries Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. 5. MIXED REVIEWS OF TILLERSON AS TOP DIPLOMAT The U.S. secretary of state earns praise for his temperament, yet he’s also stoked doubts about his leadership among many U.S. diplomats and the foreign policy establishment. 6. TRUMP EXPECTED TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER IN DC The president is poised to seek a trade investigation of China for the alleged theft of American technology and intellectual property. 7. VIOLENCE HITS BURKINA FASO AGAIN Suspected Islamic extremists open fire at a Turkish restaurant popular with foreigners in the capital of Ouagadougou, killing at least 18 people. 8. A SOLAR ECLIPSE, A CENTURY IN THE MAKING NASA and others will monitor next week’s eclipse with an armada of satellites, airplanes, balloons and citizen-scientists looking up from the ground. 9. HOW AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT WORKPLACE Nearly one in five workers find it grueling, stressful and surprisingly hostile, an in-depth survey finds. 10. FROM A GOLFING FAMILY RISES A MAJOR CHAMPION The son and grandson of golf professionals, Justin Thomas couldn’t think of a better major to win than the PGA Championship.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday with a buyout offer in hand from a private equity firm, the latest twist in its efforts to survive the sexual misconduct scandal that brought down co-founder Harvey Weinstein, shook Hollywood and triggered a movement that spread out to convulse other industries. The company also announced it was releasing any victims of or witnesses to Weinstein’s alleged misconduct from non-disclosure agreements preventing them from speaking out. That step had long been sought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who filed a lawsuit against the company last month on behalf of its employees. “Since October, it has been reported that Harvey Weinstein used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers. Effective immediately, those ‘agreements’ end,” the company said in a statement. “No one should be afraid to speak out or coerced to stay quiet.” In a statement, Schneiderman praised the decision as “a watershed moment for efforts to address the corrosive effects of sexual misconduct in the workplace.” The movie and TV studio becomes the first high-profile company to be forced into bankruptcy in the nationwide outcry over workplace sexual misconduct. Dozens of prominent men in entertainment, media, finance, politics and other realms have seen their careers derailed, but no other company has seen its very survival as tightly intertwined with the fate of one man as the Weinstein Co. Some 80 women, including prominent actresses, have accused Harvey Weinstein of misconduct ranging from rape to harassment. Weinstein, who was fired as his company’s CEO in October, has denied any allegations of non-consensual sex. The Weinstein Co. said it has entered into a “stalking horse” agreement with an affiliate of Dallas-based Lantern Capital Partners, meaning the equity firm has agreed to buy the company, subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Lantern was among a group of investors that had been in talks for months to buy the company outside of bankruptcy. That deal was complicated when Schneiderman filed his lawsuit, citing concerns that the sale would benefit executives accused of enabling Weinstein’s alleged misconduct and provide insufficient guarantees of compensation for his accusers. Talks to revive the sale finally fell apart two weeks ago when the group of buyers said they had discovered undisclosed liabilities. The Weinstein Co. said it chose Lantern as a potential buyer because the firm was committed to keeping on the studio’s employees as a going concern. “While we had hoped to reach a sale out of court, the Board is pleased to have a plan for maximizing the value of its assets, preserving as many jobs as possible and pursuing justice for any victims,” said Bob Weinstein, who co-founded the company with his brother Harvey in 2005 and remains chairman of the board of directors. Lantern co-founders Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic said they were committed to “following through on our promise to reposition the business as a pre-eminent content provider, while cultivating a positive presence in the industry.” Under bankruptcy protection, civil lawsuits filed by Weinstein’s accusers will be halted and no new legal claims can be brought against the company. Secured creditors will get priority for payment over the women suing the company. Schneiderman’s lawsuit will not be halted by the bankruptcy filing because it was filed by a law enforcement agency. Schneiderman said his investigation would continue and that his office would engage with the Weinstein Co. and Lantern to ensure “that victims are compensated, employees are protected moving forward, and perpetrators and enablers of abuse are not unjustly enriched.” Other bidders also could emerge during the bankruptcy process, particularly those interested in the company’s lucrative 277-film library, which includes award-winning films from big-name directors like Quentin Tarantino and horror releases from its Dimension label. Free of liabilities, the company’s assets could increase in value in a bankruptcy. In more fallout over the scandal, New York’s governor directed the state attorney general to review a decision by the Manhattan district attorney’s office not to prosecute a 2015 case involving an Italian model who said Weinstein groped her. The bankruptcy process will bring the company’s finances into public view, including the extent of its debt. The buyers who pulled out of the sale earlier this month said they discovered up to $64 million in undisclosed liabilities, including $27 million in residuals and profit participation. Those liabilities came on top of $225 million in debt, which the buyers had said they would be prepared to take on as part of a $500 million acquisition deal. The Weinstein Co. already had been struggling financially before the scandal erupted in October with a news stories in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Harvey and Bob Weinstein started the company after leaving Miramax, the company they founded in 1979 and which became a powerhouse in ’90s indie film with hits like “Pulp Fiction.” After finding success with Oscar winners “The Artist” and “The King’s Speech,” the Weinstein Co.’s output and relevance diminished in recent years. The company let go 50 employees in 2016 and continuously shuffled release dates while short of cash. Last year, the studio sold distribution rights for the movie “Paddington 2” to Warner Bros. for more than $30 million.

Police: 1 girl dead, at least 5 people injured after driver rams into patrons at pizza restaurant east of Paris

Weeknights at 6:30, we play a brand new song! Call, text or vote here! If you love it, tell us to CRANK IT! If you don’t love it, tell us it STANKS!

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers are investigating whether team president Bryan Colangelo used Twitter accounts to anonymously trash some of his own players and fellow executives and to defend himself against criticism from fans and the sports media. The five accounts took aim at Philadelphia players Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie, Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri and former Sixers players Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, according to a report by The Ringer website. Colangelo acknowledged using one of the accounts to monitor the NBA industry and other current events, but said he wasn’t familiar with the other four and didn’t know who was behind them. “The allegations are serious and we have commenced an independent investigation into the matter,” the Sixers said Wednesday in a statement. “We will report the results of that investigation as soon as it is concluded.” Embiid, the 24-year-old All-Star center, tweeted that he didn’t believe the report. “I don’t believe the story. That would just be insane,” he wrote. The Ringer said in its report that it has been monitoring the accounts since February, when it received an anonymous tip about the accounts. The site said it does not know the source of the tip, but archived and monitored the tweets themselves and found connections between the accounts. The Ringer said it initially asked the Sixers about just two of the five accounts to see if anything would change with the other three after its query, and the same day the other three accounts were made private. Colangelo was hired as president of basketball operations for Philadelphia in April 2016. He served as Toronto’s general manager from 2006-2013. Colangelo, the son of longtime sports executive Jerry Colangelo, stepped in with the Sixers after Hinkie resigned. He lost his GM job in Toronto after the Raptors missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season, and Ujiri took over basketball operations. According to The Ringer, one of the Twitter accounts it connected to Colangelo downplayed Hinkie’s role in the franchise’s turnaround. It also lamented in another post that Ujiri hadn’t done anything to make the Raptors better. Another account accused Embiid of “playing like a toddler having tantrums,” and one criticized Fultz for his work with his “so called mentor/father figure.” ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

LONDON (AP) — Supporters of a proposed footbridge and public garden in London spanning the River Thames have abandoned the project after support from the city withered away. The trust established to build the Garden Bridge, which would have linked Temple with South Bank, shut down Monday after failing to secure guarantees for annual maintenance costs. London Mayor Sadiq Khan had refused to allocate more public money to the idea, despite the support of predecessor Boris Johnson. Khan’s refusal followed an independent report critical of the project. The report concluded there was too much uncertainty about the final cost. The project was set to cost 60 million pounds ($77.8 million), but the report said it would end up costing more than 200 million pounds. The trust described it as “sad day” for London.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The White House late Saturday confirmed plans to withdraw the nomination of a climate change skeptic with ties to the fossil fuel industry to serve as President Donald Trump’s top environmental adviser. Kathleen Hartnett White was announced last October as Trump’s choice to chair the Council on Environmental Quality. She had served under former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trump’s energy secretary, for six years on a commission overseeing the state environmental agency. But White’s nomination languished in the Senate, and was among a batch of nominations the Senate sent back to the White House at the end of 2017 when Congress closed up for the year. Trump resubmitted White’s nomination in January. White, who is not a scientist, has compared the work of mainstream climate scientists to “the dogmatic claims of ideologues and clerics.” In a contentious Senate hearing last November, she defended past statements that particulate pollution released by burning fuels is not harmful unless one were to suck on a car’s tailpipe. Critics of White’s nomination to head the council pointed to her praise of fossil fuels as having improved living conditions around the world and helping to end slavery. She has called carbon dioxide not a pollutant but “a necessary nutrient for plant life.” During Perry’s tenure as governor of Texas, White often was critical of what she called the Obama administration’s “imperial EPA,” the Environmental Protection Agency, and she opposed stricter limits on air and water pollution. White was a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that received funding from Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Chevron and other fossil-fuels companies. White could not immediately be reached late Saturday for comment. The Washington Post first reported late Saturday on plans by the White House to pull White’s nomination, citing two administration officials who had been briefed on the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House has not formally announced its decision. A White House official later confirmed the Post report. The official was not authorized to discuss personnel decisions by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Trump himself has called climate change a hoax and has laid the groundwork for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accords. Other top Trump administration officials who question the scientific consensus that carbon released in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of global warming include Perry, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. U.S. Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said it was “abundantly clear very early on” that heading the Council on Environmental Quality wasn’t the right job for White. Carper called withdrawing White’s nomination “the right thing to do” and urged the Trump administration to nominate a “thoughtful environmental and public health champion to lead this critical office in the federal government.” ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — The Latest on the attack in Burkina Faso (all times local): 7 a.m. Turkey says a Turkish national was killed and another was wounded in the attack by suspected Islamic extremists at a Turkish restaurant in the capital of Burkina Faso. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a statement Monday condemning “in the strongest way” the attack on the upscale Aziz Istanbul restaurant which killed at least 18 people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which continued into the early hours Monday. The ministry statement said Turkey would maintain its support and solidarity with Burkina Faso, which it said had become the target of international terror over the past years. ___ Suspected Islamic extremists opened fire at a Turkish restaurant in the capital of Burkina Faso late Sunday, killing at least 18 people in the second such attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in the last two years. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which continued into the early hours Monday. Gunfire could be heard almost seven hours after the attack began. Communication Minister Remi Dandjinou told journalists that at least 18 people were dead and eight others wounded, according to a provisional toll. He said two of the attackers were also killed. The victims came from several different nationalities, he said. At least one of the dead was French. Security forces arrived at the scene with armored vehicles after reports of shots fired near Aziz Istanbul, an upscale restaurant in Ouagadougou. The attack brought back painful memories of the January 2016 attack at another cafe that left 30 people dead. Police Capt. Guy Ye said three or four assailants had arrived at the Aziz Istanbul restaurant on motorcycles, and then began shooting randomly at the crowds dining Sunday evening. Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It shares a northern border with Mali, which has long battled Islamic extremists. The three attackers in the 2016 massacre were of foreign origin, according to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which claimed responsibility in the aftermath along with the jihadist group known as Al Mourabitoun. But the terror threat in Burkina Faso is increasingly homegrown, experts say. The northern border region is now the home of a local preacher, Ibrahim Malam Dicko, who radicalized and has claimed recent deadly attacks against troops and civilians. His association, Ansarul Islam, is now considered a terrorist group by Burkina Faso’s government.

JERUSALEM (AP) — With the prime minister facing a slew of corruption allegations, the peace process at a standstill and the government moving to stifle critics, it is no secret that Israel is a deeply polarized nation. But a new survey released on Tuesday shows just how divided the country has become. The annual Israeli Democracy Index found that 45 percent, or just under half of Israelis, believe the country’s democratic system of government is in serious danger. But the survey found very different sentiment among different parts of the population. Just 23 percent of Jewish right-wing and religious voters, the base of support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, fear that Israel’s democracy is in danger. Yet among Jewish left-wing voters found in the opposition that number jumps to 72 percent, even higher than the 65 percent of Arab citizens of Israel who feel that way. Netanyahu’s government, which took office in 2015, is dominated by religious and nationalist parties, many of whom have taken an increasingly hard line against perceived critics of the government. His culture minister, for example, has moved to block funding to theaters that produce plays critical of the government or that refuse to perform in West Bank settlements. In recent months, Netanyahu and his supporters have responded to various corruption investigations by attacking Israel’s media, law enforcement, judiciary and other so-called “elites” he believes are bent on his removal. Netanyahu’s tactics have drawn comparisons to his friend, U.S. President Donald Trump, whose own war against the media and liberal critics propelled him to victory in last year’s election. According to Tuesday’s survey, nearly three-quarters of Jewish right-wing voters believe “the leftist judiciary, media and academia interfere with the elected right wing’s ability to rule.” On the other hand, 79 percent of secular Jews believe “the religious population is gradually taking control of the state.” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a respected think tank that sponsors the survey, said the country is riven by “fundamental differences of opinion,” not only between Arabs and Jews and not only on questions of security. “Within the Jewish Israeli public, deep and ongoing disagreements exist regarding the proper balance between Jewish and democratic values of the state,” he said. The survey found widespread dissatisfaction with the country’s politicians. It found 68 percent of all respondents felt that parliament members do not perform their duties properly, and 80 percent believe politicians are more concerned with their personal interests than those of their constituents. Tamar Hermann, an Israeli professor who led the research, said that while the dissatisfaction levels were similar to last year’s survey, this year there was a marked increase in people who believe the country’s overall situation is good, to 48 percent from 36.5 percent last year. Nearly three-quarters of Israelis are satisfied with their personal situations. Hermann, academic director of the institute’s Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, said this contrast was striking. “You see the politicians as if they live on another planet, whereas the public lives on this planet,” she said. “In a way, it is possible to live a quite good life on the public planet, whereas on the politicians’ planet the situation is quite dismal.” The study interviewed 1,024 people and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The margin increased to 3.4 points for Jewish respondents and 7.9 points for the smaller Arab sample size. The research was conducted in May, but took months to analyze and publish. Hermann said, however, that public opinion on such issues is “pretty stable.”

HONOLULU (AP) — A former Hawaii state worker who sent a false missile alert last month said Friday he’s devastated about causing panic but was “100 percent sure” at the time that the attack was real. The man in his 50s spoke to reporters on the condition that he not be identified because he fears for his safety after receiving threats. He says an on-duty call that came in on Jan. 13 didn’t sound like a drill. However, state officials say other workers clearly heard the word “exercise” repeated several times. “Immediately afterward, we find out it was a drill and I was devastated. I still feel very badly about it,” he said. “I felt sick afterward. It was like a body blow.” He’s had difficulty eating and sleeping since, he said: “It’s been hell for me the last couple weeks.” The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency fired him after the incident. The man’s superiors said they knew for years that he had problems performing his job. The worker had mistakenly believed drills for tsunami and fire warnings were actual events, and colleagues were not comfortable working with him, the state said. His supervisors counseled him but kept him for a decade in a position that had to be renewed each year. The ex-worker disputed that, saying he wasn’t aware of any performance problems. While starting a Saturday shift at the emergency operations center in a former bunker in Honolulu’s Diamond Head crater on Jan. 13, the man said, a co-worker took a phone call over the U.S. Pacific Command secure line that sounded like a real warning, he said. “When the phone call came in, someone picked up the receiver instead of hitting speaker phone so that everyone could hear the message,” he said. The man said he didn’t hear the beginning of the message that said, “exercise, exercise, exercise.” “I heard the part, ‘this is not a drill,'” he said. “I didn’t hear exercise at all in the message or from my co-workers.” Federal and state reports say the agency had a vague checklist for missile alerts, allowing workers to interpret the steps they should follow differently. Managers didn’t require a second person to sign off on alerts before they were sent, and the agency lacked any preparation on how to correct a false warning. Those details emerged Tuesday in reports on investigations about how the agency mistakenly blasted cellphones and broadcast stations with the missile warning. It took nearly 40 minutes for the agency to figure out a way to retract the false alert on the same platforms it was sent to. “The protocols were not in place. It was a sense of urgency to put it in place as soon as possible. But those protocols were not developed to the point they should have,” retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who wrote the report on Hawaii’s internal investigation, said at a news conference. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi resigned as the reports were released. Officials revealed that the employee who sent the alert was fired Jan. 26. The state did not name him. The agency’s executive officer, Toby Clairmont, said Wednesday that he stepped down because it was clear action would be taken against agency leaders after the alert. Another employee was being suspended without pay, officials said. The incident “shines a light” on the state’s system failures, the man who sent the alert said, adding that he believes the federal government should handle such alerts. Testing of the alert system began in November and protocols were constantly changing, he said. “As far as our level of training was concerned, I think it was inadequate,” he said. Hawaii state Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Col. Charles Anthony declined to comment on what the former worker said. Officials said the man refused to cooperate with state or federal investigations beyond providing a written statement. He wasn’t trying to impede any investigations, he said: “There really wasn’t anything else to say.” ___ This story has been corrected to say a co-worker took the call, not the man who sent the alert.

LONDON (AP) — London fire investigators are painstakingly searching for more victims of an inferno that engulfed a high-rise apartment building and killed at least 12 residents. Authorities say the death toll is expected to rise as emergency workers sift through more of the wreckage on Thursday. The fire early Wednesday in the 24-story building in west London’s North Kensington district also injured dozens, 18 of them critically, and left an unknown number missing. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, but a tenants’ group had complained for years about the risk of a fire. More than 1 million pounds ($1.27 million) has been raised to help victims of the tragedy as volunteers and charities worked through the night to find shelter and food for people who lost their homes.

DETROIT (AP) — The mother of a G League player who died in March after collapsing on the court during a game has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the NBA and the Detroit Pistons of negligence. Zeke Upshaw played for the Grand Rapids Drive, a G League affiliate of the Pistons. He collapsed during a game at Grand Rapids on March 24 and died two days later . The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The NBA and Pistons are named as defendants, along with SSJ Group and The DeltaPlex Arena. Jewel Upshaw, the player’s mother, is the plaintiff, both individually and on behalf of Zeke Upshaw’s estate. The lawsuit alleges medical personnel at the game failed to attempt lifesaving measures in a timely fashion. “Remarkably, for much longer than four full minutes, no cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was initiated, no chest compressions were started, no oxygen mask was placed on his nose and mouth, no airway was cleared and secured, and no defibrillator sensors and electric delivery patches were attached and secured to Zeke’s chest,” the suit says. The suit also says the defendants failed to provide the G League team “the resources, policies, and procedures reasonably necessary” to prevent or handle Upshaw’s collapse. “The NBA family continues to mourn the tragic passing of Zeke Upshaw,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “We received a copy of the complaint and are reviewing it.” Upshaw started his college basketball career at Illinois State. He graduated with a degree in apparel, merchandising and design. The Chicago native then transferred to Hofstra, where he played in 2013-14. Upshaw was undrafted and played internationally in Slovenia and Luxembourg. He spent most of the last two seasons with the Drive. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball ___ Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Islamic State group is claiming its fighters have captured Osama bin Laden’s infamous Tora Bora mountain hideout in eastern Afghanistan. IS released an audio recording saying its signature black flag is flying over the hulking mountain range. The message was broadcast on the militants’ Radio Khilafat station in the Pashto language late on Wednesday. It also says IS has taken over several districts and urged villagers who fled the fighting to return to their homes and stay indoors. The Tora Bora mountains hide a warren of caves in which al-Qaeda militants led by bin Laden hid from U.S. coalition forces in 2001, after the Taliban fled Kabul. Afghan officials earlier said fighting between IS and the Taliban, who controlled Tora Bora, began on Tuesday but couldn’t confirm its capture.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Former NBA star Dennis Rodman, on low-key return to Pyongyang, has given the North Korean sports minister a copy of President Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.” It wasn’t signed by Trump, who was Rodman’s boss for two seasons of the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality TV show. Rodman’s arrival on Tuesday came just hours after the North decided to release Otto Warmbier, an American university student who had been imprisoned for 15 years with hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda banner. Warmbier, who had been confined for 17 months, has apparently fallen into a coma not long after his confinement began. Pyongyang said Thursday saying it decided to let him go for “humanitarian reasons.” Officials in Washington and Pyongyang said Rodman played no role in the release.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — California is aiming to quash the growth of immigration detention in the state in a proposed budget measure to push back against the Trump administration’s plans to boost deportations. The state’s $125 billion budget — which is set to be approved Thursday — has a related measure to prevent local governments from signing contracts with federal authorities for immigration detention facilities or expanding existing contracts. It would also have the state attorney general review conditions at immigration detention facilities in California. “I think we send a very clear message in this budget that California is going in the opposite direction of Trump’s administration,” said Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens. The budget was negotiated by Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on pending legislation. The proposal is the latest in a series of moves by California lawmakers aimed at protecting immigrants in the country illegally from President Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. State lawmakers are also weighing proposals to provide lawyers to immigrants in deportation proceedings and limit communication between local police and federal immigration agents. There are currently nine immigration detention facilities in California. All but one of them — the Otay Mesa Detention Center near the U.S.-Mexico border — contract through local government agencies. ___ Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Sacramento contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — So much for inexperience. Red Sox rookies Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi can simply swing the bat. Devers hit a stunning homer off Aroldis Chapman to tie the game in the ninth inning, and Benintendi singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th as Boston beat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Sunday night. “No pressure at all,” veteran teammate Hanley Ramirez said. “I think they know what the big leagues are about.” Chris Sale struck out 12 in his latest dominant performance, but Boston trailed 2-1 before the 20-year-old Devers connected on a 103 mph fastball and became the second left-handed hitter to homer off Chapman in his eight-year career. “An incredible swing,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “He doesn’t fear the moment. He’s jumped feet first into this rivalry. It couldn’t have come at a better time.” By winning a battle of hard-throwing bullpens, the Red Sox upped their AL East lead to a season-high 5 1/2 games over rival New York. Boston (67-50) took two of three in the series and is a season-best 17 games over .500 after winning 10 of its past 11. “This is what we live for,” Sale said. “A little bit more fun being at Yankee Stadium, where it’s enemy territory.” The teams meet again next weekend at Fenway Park. But first, the scuffling Yankees face the crosstown-rival New York Mets in the Subway Series beginning Monday night. With one out in the 10th, Chapman (4-2) plunked Jackie Bradley Jr. with a 101 mph pitch and walked Eduardo Nunez. Tommy Kahnle walked Mookie Betts before the 23-year-old Benintendi, who had a pair of three-run homers in Saturday’s victory, singled to right field. Todd Frazier gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the eighth with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Matt Barnes. Chapman entered throwing smoke in the ninth, but couldn’t close it out. Devers, playing his 15th major league game after entering as a pinch hitter in the sixth, drove a 1-2 fastball the other way into the Red Sox bullpen in left-center. He clapped his hands as he rounded first on his fourth home run, which handed Chapman his fourth blown save in 19 chances. “It was a good pitch,” Chapman said through a translator, acknowledging he was a little surprised to see Devers take him deep. The left-hander was lifted in the 10th and walked off the mound to boos. “I treat every pitcher the same,” Devers said through a translator. “I felt more emotion rounding the bases knowing that I had tied the game.” The only other left-handed hitter to homer off Chapman in his eight-year career was Luke Scott for Baltimore in 2011 against Cincinnati. “It’s not easy to stay in there with a guy throwing 103. So, it just kind of shows you the player that he is,” Benintendi said about Devers. Craig Kimbrel (4-0) struck out Brett Gardner with a runner on third to end the ninth and then tossed a perfect 10th. Sale went seven innings and increased his major league-leading strikeout total to 241. He allowed four hits and one run — which could have been prevented by better defense. The AL ERA leader has 16 double-digit strikeout games this season, three versus New York. Each No. 9 batter had a two-out RBI in the fifth. Bradley put Boston ahead with a single before Austin Romine answered with his first career triple, a drive that glanced off the mitt of Betts, a 2016 Gold Glove winner, as he backed into the right-field wall. “It’s a frustrating loss, there’s no doubt about it,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. HEAD GAMES Cool and clear-headed, New York rookie Jordan Montgomery matched Sale for 5 1/3 innings and left to a warm hand from a sellout crowd of 46,610 that included actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who was wearing a Yankees cap. The day before, Montgomery was hit on the head by a fly ball while signing autographs as the Red Sox took batting practice. He bled from a cut on his ear, but was OK to pitch Sunday. TRAINER’S ROOM Red Sox: LHP David Price (elbow inflammation) threw from 90 feet. He is scheduled for a day off Monday before resuming his throwing program Tuesday. … RHP Carson Smith (elbow) tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts Saturday in his third rehab outing, second for Triple-A Pawtucket. Farrell said the “early phase” of Smith’s rehab assignment has been encouraging, but the reliever is expected to remain in the minors for several weeks. Smith is recovering from Tommy John surgery in May 2016. Yankees: 1B Greg Bird (right ankle surgery) is scheduled to work out with the team Tuesday and begin a minor league rehab assignment Wednesday. … All-Star 2B Starlin Castro (strained right hamstring) plans to work out with the club Thursday and start a rehab assignment Friday. … DH Matt Holliday (back) was slated to take batting practice. UP NEXT Red Sox: RHP Doug Fister (2-5, 5.03 ERA) faces AL Central-leading Cleveland at Fenway Park on Monday night in the makeup of an Aug. 2 rainout. Trevor Bauer (10-8, 4.79 ERA) pitches for former Red Sox manager Terry Francona and the Indians. Yankees: Host the depleted Mets (53-62) in the first of two games in the Bronx, followed by a pair at Citi Field. Ex-Mets farmhand Luis Cessa (0-3) will be recalled from the minors to start the opener in place of injured Masahiro Tanaka. Rafael Montero (1-8) pitches for the Mets. ___ More AP baseball coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

NEW YORK (AP) — A would-be suicide bomber’s rush-hour blast in the heart of the New York City subway system failed to cause the bloodshed he intended, authorities said, but it gave new fuel to President Donald Trump’s push to limit immigration. Hours after Monday’s explosion in an underground passageway connecting two of Manhattan’s busiest stations, Trump cited the background of the alleged bomber in renewing his call for closer scrutiny of foreigners who come to the country and less immigration based on family ties. The man arrested in the bombing, Akayed Ullah — who told investigators he wanted to retaliate for American action against Islamic State extremists — came to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 2011 on a visa available to certain relatives of U.S. citizens. “Today’s terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security,” Trump said in a statement that called for various changes to the immigration system. Earlier, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump’s proposed policies “could have prevented this.” In a scenario New York had dreaded for years, Ullah strapped on a crude pipe bomb with Velcro and plastic ties, slipped unnoticed into the nation’s busiest subway system and set off the device, authorities said. The device didn’t work as intended; authorities said Ullah, 27, was the only person seriously wounded. But the attack sent frightened commuters fleeing through a smoky passageway, and three people suffered headaches and ringing ears from the first bomb blast in the subway in more than two decades. “This is one of my nightmares … a terrorist attack in the subway system,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo told cable channel NY1. “The good news is: We were on top of it.” Ullah was being treated for burns to his hands and abdomen but spoke to investigators from his hospital bed, law enforcement officials said. He was “all over the place” about his motive but indicated he wanted to avenge what he portrayed as U.S. aggression against the Islamic State group, a law enforcement official said. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the blast. Ullah’s low-tech bomb used explosive powder, a nine-volt battery, a Christmas light and matches, the officials said. Investigators said the suspect was seen on surveillance footage igniting the bomb. In the end, it wasn’t powerful enough to turn the pipe into deadly shrapnel, the officials said. Law enforcement officials said Ullah looked at IS propaganda online but is not known to have any direct contact with the militants and probably acted alone. Cuomo said there was no evidence, so far, of other bombs or a larger plot. The Democrat said officials were exploring whether Ullah had been on authorities’ radar, but there was no indication yet that he was. The attack came less than two months after eight people died near the World Trade Center in a truck attack that, authorities said, was carried out by an Uzbek immigrant who admired the Islamic State group. Since 1965, America’s immigration policy has centered on giving preference to people with advanced education or skills, or people with family ties to U.S. citizens and, in some cases, legal permanent residents. Citizens have been able to apply for spouses, parents, children, siblings and the siblings’ spouses and minor children; the would-be immigrants are then screened by U.S. officials to determine whether they can come. Trump’s administration has called for a “merit-based” immigration system that would limit family-based green cards to spouses and minor children. Ullah lived with his father, mother and brother in a Brooklyn neighborhood with a large Bangladeshi community, residents said. He was licensed to drive a livery cab between 2012 and 2015, but the license was allowed to lapse, according to law enforcement officials and New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. His family was “deeply saddened” by the attack but also “outraged by the way we have been targeted by law enforcement,” the family said in a statement sent by the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. A teenage relative was pulled out of class and questioned in school without a parent, guardian or lawyer, the statement said. Security cameras captured the attacker walking casually through a crowded passageway when the bomb went off around 7:20 a.m. A plume of white smoke cleared to show the man sprawled on the ground and commuters scattering. Port Authority police said officers found the man injured on the ground, with wires protruding from his jacket and the device strapped to his torso. They said he was reaching for a cellphone and they grabbed his hands. The last bomb blast in the subway system was believed to be in December 1994, when an explosive made from mayonnaise jars and batteries wounded 48 people in a car in lower Manhattan. Prosecutors said unemployed computer programmer Edward Leary set off the explosion to try to extort $2 million from the city’s transit agency; he claimed insanity. He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 94 years in prison. ___ Associated Press writers Tom Hays, Jake Pearson, Kiley Armstrong, Larry Neumeister and David James Jeans in New York, Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles, Matt Pennington in Washington, D.C., and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is claiming complete vindication from a congressional memo that alleges the FBI abused its surveillance powers during the investigation into his campaign’s possible Russia ties. But the memo also includes revelations that might complicate efforts by Trump and his allies to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry. The memo released Friday contends that the FBI, when it applied for a surveillance warrant on a onetime Trump campaign associate, relied excessively on an ex-British spy whose opposition research was funded by Democrats. At the same time, the memo confirms that the investigation into potential Trump links to Russia actually began several months earlier, and was “triggered” by information involving a different campaign aide.

LONDON (AP) — Ryanair is calling on British airports to curb alcohol sales following sharp increases in the number of incidents involving disruptive passengers. The budget airline issued a statement Monday calling for a ban on alcohol sales before 10 a.m. and for limiting the number of drinks in bars and restaurants to a maximum of two. The airline cited Civil Aviation Authority statistics showing a 600 percent increase in disruptive incidents between 2012-2016 and said most involved alcohol. Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs says it’s unfair “that airports can profit from the unlimited sale of alcohol to passengers and leave the airlines to deal with the safety consequences.” The airline says it has taken steps to prevent disruptive behavior on its flights, including preventing consumption of duty-free alcohol purchases on board.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Alabama votes to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the choice between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones has taken on outsized significance. Moore has faced allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers, dividing the GOP and giving Democrats hope of picking up a seat in a reliably red state. Here is what to look for in Tuesday night’s results: WHAT IS THE TRUMP DRAW? Alabama has once already proven the bounds of President Donald Trump’s political influence. He endorsed Moore’s GOP rival, Sen. Luther Strange, in the September primary, campaigning for him in Alabama hours before he was trounced by the state’s conservative voters. Now Trump has wagered a greater sum on Moore’s candidacy. The president resisted calls from his party’s senior leadership to abandon Moore after the sexual misconduct allegations surfaced. He directed the Republican National Committee to re-enter the race on Moore’s behalf, repeatedly attacked Jones, and recorded last-minute robo-calls on the Republican’s behalf. A GOP defeat in the deep-red state would speak to the limits of Trump’s ability to sway and motivate Republican voters. WILL DEMOCRATIC TURNOUT EFFORTS PAY OFF? In recent days, Democrats have pulled out the stops for Jones, including recorded calls from former President Barack Obama and visits from high-profile surrogates. They’re trying to boost turnout among those most likely to be aggravated by Moore’s controversial past, including black voters, and make inroads with suburban women_who proved to be pivotal to Democratic victories last month. Strong turnout and Democratic gains on both those fronts could point to trouble for Moore, and for the GOP going into next year. WILL DEMOCRATS END THEIR SPECIAL ELECTION BAD LUCK? Despite a ripe political climate, high-profile coverage, and huge injections of cash, Democrats are winless in five contests for vacant Republican congressional seats this year. All have been held in reliably Republican strongholds, but the defeats have still taken their toll on a party in a struggle for its identity. Wins in Virginia, New Jersey, and Maine in the November off-year election have provided some sorely-needed optimism for the 2018 midterms, and a Senate seat pick-up in Alabama would add pep to the party’s step. HOW WILL IT AFFECT RETIREMENTS? Sensing a difficult midterm election looming, 16 Republican members of the House and two in the Senate have already announced they will not run again next year. The retirement gap_only six Democrats in the House and one in the Senate have said they won’t run_can be an early indicator of what’s to come in a midterm election. (A more even split of retirements exists for lawmakers retiring from Congress to seek other office.) Republican leaders are anticipating more retirements on their side from lawmakers in competitive seats where members are facing challenging and expensive contests. A Democratic victory statewide in Alabama could foretell a dire year ahead for Republicans, which could send more Republicans to announce their departures on their own terms. WAS MOORE WORTH IT? The Republican Party’s decision to maintain support for Roy Moore stands to be a defining choice for years to come. The party chose to embrace a one-time pariah for reasons of political expediency, and then doubled-down in the face of troubling allegations of sexual assault and harassment. For the president, it’s a matter of practicality_a loss would narrow the GOP’s thin majority in the Senate even further at a time when his agenda faces critical tests. But other Republicans worry it’s a short-term ploy that has sacrificed their moral authority and that may come back to haunt them in the coming year. Republican lawmakers have spent the past months struggling to answer questions about Moore and his long history of divisive comments, and should he win, his presence will loom large in the Capitol and on the campaign trail. If Moore keeps the Senate seat in Republican hands, it may justify the backlash for some GOP officials. If he loses, the GOP has stuck by a candidate despite accusations of sexual impropriety, and who has alienated vast swaths of the electorate, with nothing to show for it.

CORSICA, France (AP) — Corsica’s nationalist leaders are demonstrating along with unions and students ahead of a visit next week by French President Emmanuel Macron. The newly elected leaders on the French Mediterranean island hope that Saturday’s march will spur on fresh talks with the French government about demands including equal status for the Corsican language and the release of Corsican prisoners held in mainland prisons. In December, Corsican nationalists swept the election for a new regional assembly, crushing Macron’s young centrist movement and traditional parties. The nationalists want more autonomy from Paris but unlike some in Spain’s nearby Catalonia, they aren’t seeking full independence — yet. They also want protections for locals buying real estate on the destination that the French refer to as the “Island of Beauty,” which is famed as Napoleon’s birthplace.

LONDON (AP) — Five versions of a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece are being reunited for the first time Monday in a “virtual exhibition.” Van Gogh painted his “Sunflowers” series in the south of France in 1888 and 1889. Five versions of the work reside in five different museums on three continents. On Monday, they all will be streamed to a global audience in a Facebook Live broadcast. The 1 hour and 35 minute broadcast begins in London’s National Gallery at 1650GMT (12:50 p.m. EDT.) It then continues at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Tokyo’s Seiji Togo Memorial Museum of Art. A curator from each museum will describe, in 15-minute segments, what makes their version unique. The museums launched a virtual-reality experience last week that shows viewers all five “Sunflowers” in one room. The paintings are so treasured and such big draws it would be difficult to bring them together in real life. “We’re at a moment in time where new kinds of experience are becoming possible for art galleries and museums all around the world,” Chris Michaels, the National Gallery’s digital director, said. London’s version of “Sunflowers” is one of the museum’s most popular paintings. It’s famous for its blue and yellow swirls, textured surface and rare glimpse into the happy times of Van Gogh’s life in Arles, France. More than 50,000 viewers watched a preview for Monday’s event online. Michaels is hopeful his team will bring more of the National Gallery’s famous pieces to online audiences. It’s an added attraction and a way to connect with other galleries. “But it’s not a replacement,” he said. “It’s another type of thing that art museums can do and an amazing one for us to explore in the future, in partnership with amazing museums around the world.”

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. PUTIN MAKES SURPRISE STOP IN SYRIA EN ROUTE TO CAIRO The Russian president visits a Russian military air base in Latakia and announces a partial pullout of his forces from the country. 2. DIVERGENT VIEWS ON WHAT ALABAMA SENATE VOTE MEANS The matchup between Roy Moore and Doug Jones mixes both the Deep South state’s tortured history and the nation’s current divisive, bitterly partisan politics. 3. MYANMAR MILITARY’S RAPE OF ROHINGYA MUSLIMS SWEEPING, METHODICAL In interviews with the AP, more than two dozen women and girls bolster the U.N.’s contention that the Myanmar armed forces are systematically using rape as a “calculated tool of terror” to exterminate the Rohingya people. 4. FOR TRUMP, GOP A MOMENTOUS 2 WEEKS Republicans are determined to deliver the first revamp of the nation’s tax code in three decades and agree on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown over the holidays. 5. WHAT ARE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF WORKPLACE SCANDALS Some women, and men, worry the same climate that’s emboldening women to speak up about sexual misconduct could backfire by making some men wary of female colleagues. 6. FIREFIGHTERS BRACE FOR 2ND WEEK OF CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES Southern California fire officials anticipate more growth and danger due to continued strong wind gusts, no rain and decades-old dry vegetation. 7. DEADLINE WEEK CRUNCH FOR HEALTH LAW SIGN-UPS Friday is the last day for millions of people still eligible to enroll in subsidized private coverage in 39 states served by the federal HealthCare.gov website. 8. BITCOIN FUTURES RISE AS VIRTUAL CURRENCY HITS MAJOR EXCHANGE The futures contract that expires in January surges more than $3,000 to $18,580 eight hours after trading for the popular virtual currency launched on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. 9. WHO ARE FAVORITES FOR POST-WEINSTEIN GOLDEN GLOBES Steven Spielberg’s Pentagon Papers drama “The Post” and Christopher Nolan’s World War II tale “Dunkirk” are expected to lead the film categories, while Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and HBO’s “Big Little Lies” could be in for a big day on the TV side. 10. STEELERS CLINCH AFC NORTH Ben Roethlisberger throws for 506 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to top 500 yards passing three times, as Pittsburgh (11-2) rallies past Baltimore 39-38.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has deployed a cruise missile in violation of a Cold War-era arms control treaty, a Trump administration official said Tuesday, a development that complicates the outlook for U.S.-Russia relations amid turmoil on the White House national security team. The Obama administration three years ago accused the Russians of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by developing and testing the prohibited cruise missile, and officials had anticipated that Moscow eventually would deploy it. Russia denies that it has violated the INF treaty. U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the missile became operational late last year, said an administration official, who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter and demanded anonymity. The deployment may not immediately change the security picture in Europe, but the alleged treaty violation may arise when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attends his first NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. It also has stirred concern on Capitol Hill, where Sen. John McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, called on the Trump administration to ensure U.S. nuclear forces in Europe are ready. “Russia’s deployment of nuclear-tipped ground-launched cruise missiles in violation of the INF treaty is a significant military threat to U.S. forces in Europe and our NATO allies,” McCain, R-Ariz., said in a statement Tuesday. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “testing” Trump. Trump’s White House is in a difficult moment, with no national security adviser following the forced resignation Monday night of Michael Flynn. He is accused of misleading Vice President Mike Pence about contacts with a Russian diplomat while President Barack Obama was still in office. Meanwhile, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday that a Russian intelligence-collection ship has been operating off the U.S. east coast, in international waters. The official was not authorized to discuss an intelligence matter and so spoke on condition of anonymity. The ship had made a port call in Cuba prior to moving north, where it has been monitored off the coast of Delaware, the official said. The New York Times, which was first to report the missile deployment, said the Russians have two battalions of the prohibited cruise missile. One is at a missile test site at Kapustin Yar and one was moved in December from the test site to an operational base elsewhere in the country. The State Department wouldn’t confirm the report. It noted that last year it reported Russia was in violation of its treaty obligations not to possess, produce or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, or to possess or produce launchers for such missiles. “The administration is undertaking an extensive review of Russia’s ongoing INF treaty violation in order to assess the potential security implications for the United States and its allies and partners,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. John Tierney, executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said strategic stability on the European continent is at stake. “If true, Russia’s deployment of an illegal ground-launched cruise missile represents a very troubling development and should be roundly condemned,” Tierney said. Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, sees little reason for the U.S. to continue adhering to the INF treaty, in light of Russia’s violations. He has recommended building up U.S. nuclear forces in Europe, which currently include about 200 bombs that can be delivered by aircraft. The U.S. withdrew land-based nuclear-armed missiles from Europe as part of the INF deal. The treaty has special significance in the recent history of arms control agreements. Signed in December 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, it has been credited with helping accelerate an end to the Cold War and lessening the danger of nuclear confrontation. It stands as the only arms treaty to eliminate an entire class of U.S. and Russian weapons — nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles of intermediate range. The Obama administration had argued for maintaining U.S. compliance with the treaty while urging the Russians to halt violations. At the same time, the Pentagon developed options to counter Russian cruise missile moves, some of which would have involved bold military action. At his Senate confirmation hearing in February 2014, Ash Carter, who headed the Pentagon until last month, said disregard for treaty limitations was a “two-way street,” opening the way for the U.S. to respond in kind. He called Russia’s violations consistent with its “strategy of relying on nuclear weapons to offset U.S. and NATO conventional superiority.”

AMESBURY, England (AP) — The Latest on the major incident near Salisbury, England, in which two people have been left in a critical condition (all times local): 12:20 p.m. British police say counterterrorism officers are working with local detectives after two people were sickened by an unknown substance in southwest England. The Metropolitan Police says “officers from the counter terrorism network are working jointly with colleagues from Wiltshire Police” on the incident in Amesbury. Police say a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury. The town is eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent on March 4. Police say they are keeping an open mind and do not yet know whether a crime has been committed. ___ 6 a.m. British police declared a “major incident” Wednesday after two people were left in critical condition from exposure to an unknown substance a few miles from where a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent. The Wiltshire Police force said a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury, eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned on March 4. Police cordoned off the building and other places the two people visited before falling ill, but health officials said there was not believed to be a wider risk. The man and woman were hospitalized Saturday at Salisbury District Hospital, where authorities initially believed they might have taken a contaminated batch of heroin or crack cocaine. “However, further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding this incident,” police said. “At this stage, it is not yet clear if a crime has been committed.”

A person familiar with the situation says Memphis will announce Penny Hardaway as its men’s basketball coach Tuesday. The person spoke to The Associated Press Monday on condition of anonymity because Memphis hasn’t publicly announced the hire. Memphis has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday to introduce its next coach. The 46-year-old Hardaway replaces Tubby Smith, who was fired after going 40-26 in two seasons with Memphis. Hardaway is a four-time NBA All-Star and three-time All-NBA player who will be making his college coaching debut with the Tigers. He has been coaching for years with his own AAU program, Team Penny, and won his third straight Tennessee high school championship at Memphis East last weekend. ___ AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report. ___ More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org ; https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 and https://www.podcastone.com/ap-sports-special-events

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The 8-year-old niece of pop star Britney Spears, who was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident, still isn’t well enough to return to school but was able to take Valentine’s Day treats to her class in Louisiana Tuesday. Eight-year-old Maddie Spears-Aldridge is the daughter of Spears’ sister, actress and singer Jamie Lynn Spears. According to a post on Jamie Lynn Spears’ Instagram account, the girl was happy to see her friends again. Jamie Lynn Spears wrote that her daughter still isn’t ready to go back to school but doctors cleared her for the Valentine’s Day visit. The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office says Maddie was submerged in a pond inside the all-terrain vehicle Feb. 5 and nearby family members couldn’t free her. An ambulance service arrived and pulled her out. She was released from the hospital last Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — With fireworks thundering across night skies and backyard barbecues, Americans are celebrating Independence Day by participating in time-honored traditions that express pride in their country’s 242nd birthday. But this quintessential American holiday will also be marked with a sense of a United States divided for some — evidenced by competing televised events in the nation’s capital. From New York to California, July Fourth festivities will be at times lively and lighthearted, with Macy’s July Fourth fireworks and Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest. The day’s events will also be stately and traditional, with parades lining streets across the country and the world’s oldest commissioned warship firing a 21-gun salute to mark the 242 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For some Western states, however, the holiday will be a bit more muted as high wildfire danger forces communities to cancel fireworks displays. Here are highlights of Wednesday’s festivities so far: ___ A HISTORIC PARADE Crowds are lining the streets in a Rhode Island town to see what’s billed as the nation’s oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration. Begun in 1785, the Bristol parade typically attracts about 100,000 people to the seaside town. This year’s will be a scorcher. When the parade kicked off at 10:30 a.m., the temperature was hovering near 90 degrees. The Providence Journal reports there will be water stations along the 2.5-mile route and medical personnel will watch the marchers for signs of heat illnesses. The fire chief told the newspaper it has been a few years since it has been this hot during the parade. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. David Cicilline and other officials plan to march. ___ The USS Constitution will sail in Boston Harbor and fire her guns again to mark Independence Day. The plan was for the world’s oldest commissioned warship to leave its berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard on Wednesday and glide through the harbor to mark 242 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The ship nicknamed “Old Ironsides” was to travel to Fort Independence on Castle Island and fire a 21-gun salute. The 101st Field Artillery from the Massachusetts National Guard was to return the salute. An additional 17-gun salute will fire as the Constitution passes the U.S. Coast Guard Station, the former site of the shipyard where the vessel was built in 1797. ___ DUELING CELEBRATIONS The country’s longest-running live national July Fourth TV tradition — PBS’ broadcast of music and fireworks from the U.S. Capitol’s West Lawn — is facing new counterprogramming from the White House, which is hosting its own concert and view of the National Park Service’s fireworks show. Both shows feature different “American Idol” alums. First lady Melania Trump said in a statement that the White House show would allow Americans to “tune in from their homes and be part of the festivities.” PBS declined to comment. ___ LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT SKIES In New York, the Macy’s fireworks show over the East River promises 25 minutes of sparkle and “ahhhh,” plus the West Point Band and entertainers including Kelly Clarkson, Ricky Martin and Keith Urban on NBC’s broadcast. But some places in the West have canceled their planned July Fourth fireworks because of high wildfire danger and others are doing drone light displays instead of pyrotechnics. In Colorado, the wildfire danger forced some communities to cancel their fireworks. However, other shows will still go as planned in Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. The small mountain town of Silverton, in southwestern Colorado, called off the fireworks part of its annual Independence Day party, but the rest of Wednesday’s celebration is still on, including live music and a parade that ends with a water fight with firefighters. Aspen will have a fire-proof drone light display above town.

Weeknights at 6:30, we play a brand new song! Call, text or vote here! If you love it, tell us to CRANK IT! If you don’t love it, tell us it STANKS!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lightning — once one of nature’s biggest killers —is claiming far fewer lives in the United States, mostly because we’ve learned to get out of the way. In the 1940s, when there were fewer people, lightning killed more than 300 people annually. So far this year, 13 people have died after being struck, on pace for a record low of 17 deaths. Taking the growing population into account, the lightning death rate has shrunk more than forty-fold since record-keeping began in 1940. People seem to be capturing the phenomenon more on camera than before, making it seem like something new and sizzling is going on in the air. Separate videos last month of a Florida lifeguard and an airport worker being hit by lightning went viral. Both survived. Lightning strikes have not changed — they hit about the same amount as they used to, said Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor Paul Markowski. A big difference: Fewer of us are outside during bad weather. If we’re not huddled indoors, we’re often in cars. Vehicles with metal roofs — not convertibles — are safe from lightning, experts say. “As a society we spend less time outside,” said Harold Brooks, a scientist at the National Weather Service’s National Severe Storms Laboratory. “Especially farmers. There aren’t just many farmers around.” Decades ago, farmers would be in fields and were the tallest object, making them most likely to get hit, said National Weather Service lightning safety specialist John Jensenius Jr. That helps explain the drop in yearly lightning deaths from about 329 in the 1940s to about 98 in the 1970s. The numbers have kept plunging since. From 2007-2016, average yearly deaths dropped to 31. Improved medical care also has played a key role, including wider use of defibrillators and more CPR-trained bystanders. When Dr. Mary Ann Cooper started out in the emergency room in the 1970s, there was nothing in textbooks about how to treat lightning victims. Now instead of treating lightning patients the same way as people who touch high-voltage wires and are burned, doctors focus more on the neurological damage, said Cooper, professor emerita of emergency medicine at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Perhaps the biggest reason deaths are down is because of efforts to teach people not to get hit in the first place. “We’ve equipped the public by saying, ‘When thunder roars, go indoors.’ Three-year-olds can remember that,” Cooper said. Men are four times more likely to be killed by lightning in the U.S. than women, statistics show. Men do riskier things that get them in trouble in storms, Cooper and Jensenius said. “Our victims are at the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrong place is anywhere outside. The wrong time is anywhere that you can hear thunder,” said Jensenius. In July — the deadliest month for lightning in the U.S. — vacationers Andre Bauldock and Lamar Rayfield were on a beach in Florida when a thunderstorm rolled in. “We ignored it. We were just thinking it was going to pass over soon,” recalled Bauldock. “We could see the sun in the distance. I was admiring the lightning out in the ocean and I thought it was far away.” The next thing Bauldock remembers is waking up in a parking lot surrounded by people. He was told the lightning struck his friend’s stomach and then hit him. They both fell over. Rayfield eventually died. An analysis of 352 U.S. lightning deaths from 2006 to 2016 found people were most often doing something near water — fishing, camping and beach activities— when they were hit. Golf doesn’t even crack the top dozen activities, but soccer does, said Jensensius. James Church was hit earlier this year in Florida as his first cast of the day flew through the air. “I woke up. I couldn’t move. It was like an elephant sitting on me, not a single muscle would work,” Church recalled. “My eyes were working, my brain was working … I couldn’t feel anything.” ___ Video journalist Joshua Replogle contributed to this report. Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears. His work can be found here. ___ This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former Oklahoma City mayor and member of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents was rebuked Monday for comparing gay people to pedophiles and politicians who’ve recently resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Kirk Humphreys made the comments during a local TV public affairs show that aired over the weekend on KFOR-TV. An alumni group has called for his resignation, and the student body president encouraged the campus to voice its opinion on Humphreys’ “ignorant” words. Humphreys and others were discussing allegations against Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who has announced he’ll resign, and President Donald Trump when Humphreys began to ramble about other subjects. He said he was “going to make a lot of people mad today.” “Is homosexuality right or wrong? It’s not relative, there’s a right and wrong,” Humphreys said. “If it’s OK, then it’s OK for everybody and, quite frankly, it’s OK for men to sleep with little boys.” LGBTQ advocacy groups Freedom Oklahoma called for Humphreys’ removal from the Board of Regents if he didn’t apologize. Executive Director Troy Stevenson said Humphreys’ comments were disheartening and dangerous for LGBTQ youth who are already harassed and bullied. A staffer at Humphreys’ office said Humphreys was out of town Monday and unavailable to comment. Humphreys did not immediately reply to a voicemail left on his cellphone or an email seeking comment. University of Oklahoma President David Boren released a statement saying Humphreys was not speaking on behalf of the university. Boren said the school was committed to diversity and inclusiveness, adding: “I do not share his views on this matter.” OU board of regents chair Clay Bennett, who also is chairman of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, said in statement Monday the rest of the panel disagrees with Humphreys’ views. Bennett said the board values students’ diverse perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Student government President J.D. Baker, in an open letter Sunday, called Humphreys’ comments “outright disrespectful, out of line and ignorant.” Baker said Monday that it wasn’t up to him to say whether Humphreys should step down. “I hope that he’s a mature enough individual to understand the impact of his words and that he’ll make the decision for himself,” Baker said. The president of the school’s LGBTQ Alumni Society called for Humphreys to resign. A state lawmaker who appeared with Humphreys pushed back at him on the show, saying it was wrong to compare sexual misconduct and crimes to the legal behavior of consenting adults. “Mr. Humphreys’ comments were disgusting, offensive, and just plain wrong,” Rep. Emily Virgin, a Democrat from Oklahoma City, later said on her Facebook page. “I unequivocally stand with the LGBT community. Stevenson said his group planned to protest an Oklahoma City real estate project that belongs to Humphreys’ family business if he doesn’t apologize. Humphreys, 67, was mayor of Oklahoma City from 1998 to 2003.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mitt Romney is running for re-election to Marriott International’s board of directors, but his campaign said Monday that he’ll resign from that post if elected in November to the U.S. Senate, which bars senators from serving as an officer or board member of any publicly-held company. The Utah Senate candidate and former Republican presidential candidate is one of 14 members of Marriott’s board running for another yearlong term, according to the hotel chain’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The board members will be up for re-election at the corporation’s annual stockholder meeting on May 4. The Republican, who is well-known and popular in Utah, is expected to win the race to replace retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch. Romney’s spokeswoman MJ Henshaw said Monday that Romney would comply with U.S. Senate rules and resign from the Marriott board if elected in November. Marriott spokeswoman Connie Kim declined to comment. Romney, who has longstanding ties to the Marriott family, has served on Marriott’s board off-and-on since 1993. He resigned from the board in 2002 to campaign for Massachusetts governor. He later rejoined the board in 2009 but left again in 2011 to start his campaign for U.S. president. Romney, whose full name is Willard Mitt Romney, was named after Marriott founder J.W. Marriott, a close friend of Romney’s father. Marriott’s full name was John Willard Marriott. If Romney stayed on the board, the now 71-year-old would run up next year against the company’s mandatory retirement for board members at age 72. The company’s SEC filings show Romney was paid $247,299 in 2016 in cash, stocks and other compensation. The filings were first reported by Bloomberg on Friday.

A look at what’s happening around baseball today: TEST OF THE CHAMPION After wrapping up a series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night, Jose Altuve and the World Series champion Astros return home to face another 2017 playoff opponent in Boston. Including a four-game series at Cleveland last weekend, that makes three straight foes for Houston that participated in last year’s postseason. Lance McCullers Jr. (6-3, 3.98 ERA) starts the opener of a four-game set against Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz (1-2, 6.75 ERA). BACK ON THE MOUND Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to return to the rotation at home against the Philadelphia Phillies. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner has been on the disabled list for nearly a month with left biceps tendinitis. He is 1-4 with a 2.86 ERA this season. Aaron Nola (6-2, 2.27 ERA) pitches for the Phillies. BEASTS OF THE NL EAST The Nationals and Braves, in a tight race with the Phillies for the top spot in the NL East, begin a four-game series in Atlanta. Tanner Roark (2-4, 3.17 ERA) starts for Washington against Atlanta’s Sean Newcomb (5-1, 2.75 ERA). ‘ROCK BOTTOM’ IN QUEENS Entering Wednesday night, the New York Mets have been reeling, and first-year manager Mickey Callaway is looking for a way out. Almost nothing has gone right since New York won its fourth straight game on May 21. The Mets are 16-25 since starting the season 11-1. Though the Mets did earn a split of their series in Atlanta with a 4-1 win on Wednesday. “We’ve hit rock bottom the last few days and we have to come out of it,” Callaway said before the game. New York has 11 players on the disabled list, including sluggers Yoenis Cespedes and Todd Frazier, reliever Anthony Swarzak and catcher Travis d’Arnaud. STILL NOT MILLER TIME Andrew Miller has been cleared to start a throwing program as the Indians’ All-Star reliever battles inflammation in his right knee. Miller, who is on the disabled list for the third time in the past year because of soreness in his knee, visited a specialist in New York on Tuesday. The club said Dr. David Altchek confirmed a previous diagnosis and the left-hander can “begin a gradual progression back to mound activity.” While there is no timetable for Miller to return, the fact that he doesn’t need surgery and can resume throwing is good news for the Indians. ___ More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis insisted Wednesday that indigenous groups must give prior consent to any economic activity affecting their ancestral lands, a view that conflicts with the Trump administration, which is pushing to build a $3.8 billion oil pipeline over opposition from American Indians. Francis met with representatives of indigenous peoples attending a U.N. agricultural meeting and said the key issue facing them is how to reconcile the right to economic development with protecting their cultures and territories. “In this regard, the right to prior and informed consent should always prevail,” he said. “Only then is it possible to guarantee peaceful cooperation between governing authorities and indigenous peoples, overcoming confrontation and conflict.” The Cheyenne River and the Standing Rock Sioux tribes have sued to stop construction on the final stretch of the Dakota Access pipeline, which would bring oil from North Dakota’s rich Bakken fields across four states to a shipping point in Illinois. The tribes say the pipeline threatens their drinking water, cultural sites and ability to practice their religion, which depends on pure water. The last piece of the pipeline is to pass under a reservoir on the Missouri River, which marks the eastern border of both tribes’ reservations. The company building the pipeline, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, has insisted the water supply will be safe. Francis didn’t cite the Dakota pipeline dispute by name and the Vatican press office said he was not making a direct reference to it. But history’s first Latin American pope has been a consistent backer of indigenous rights and has frequently spoken out about the plight of Indians in resisting economic development that threatens their lands. “For governments, this means recognizing that indigenous communities are a part of the population to be appreciated and consulted, and whose full participation should be promoted at the local and national level,” Francis told the indigenous leaders Wednesday. In the waning days of the Obama administration, amid protests over construction that led to some 700 arrests, federal agencies that have authority over the reservoir said they would not give permission for pipe to be laid until an environmental study was done. U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course and last month instructed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with building the pipeline. Francis’ reference to prior consent is enshrined in the U.N. Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2007 over the opposition of the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Francis’ strong backing for indigenous groups and refugees, his climate change concerns and criticism of the global economy’s profit-at-all-cost mentality highlight the policy differences with the Trump administration that may come out if the U.S. president meets with Francis while in Italy for a G-7 summit in May. There has been no confirmation of any meeting to date, however. ___ AP writer Daniela Petroff contributed.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Phil Kessel scored twice and picked up assist, Evgeni Malkin added two goals and two assists, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Friday night. Bryan Rust, Carl Hagelin and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who won their fourth straight to pull within four points of first-place Washington in the crowded Metropolitan Division. Sidney Crosby had two assists to push his scoring streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the NHL. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for Pittsburgh, which won its seventh consecutive home game by jumping on the Capitals early then pulling away late. Alex Ovechkin scored twice to push his season total to an NHL-best 32 and Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetzov also scored for the Capitals, but Washington couldn’t keep pace with the Penguins. Braden Holtby finished with 27 saves but gave up three goals in the opening 8 minutes of the third period before being pulled in favor of Phillpp Grubauer as Pittsburgh broke open a tight game. The Penguins came in rolling, ripping off an NHL-high nine wins in January to climb from 10th in the Eastern Conference to within striking distance of the division-leading Capitals with still two months to go before the postseason. The prospect of another potential playoff showdown looms for the longtime rivals, even if the rivalry tends to be one-sided when they meet in the spring, when the series usually ends with the Penguins skating on to the next round and Washington left to wonder how it let it get away once again. Pittsburgh never trailed and never wavered after the Capitals erased 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 deficits. Kuznetzov tied it at 3 when he flipped a bouncing puck in the slot by Murray 11:57 into the second to give Washington a shot at picking up its seventh victory this season in a game in which it trailed by at least two goals. Not this time. Malkin put in his own rebound 1:01 into the third to put the Penguins back in front. Ovechkin evened it just 49 seconds later after a slick cross-ice feed from Kuznetzov, but Pittsburgh simply kept on coming. Rust picked up his third goal in his last two games to put the Penguins ahead to stay, Kessel followed with his second of the night and 23rd of the season to chase Holtby. Malkin finished the outburst with his team-leading 28th of the season, 14 of which have come since Jan. 1. NOTES: Pittsburgh F Carter Rowney played 9:05 in his return after missing a month with an upper-body injury. … The Penguins scratched D Chad Ruhwedel, D Matt Hunwick and injured F Conor Sheary (lower-body). … Washington scratched D Taylor Chorney and F Jakub Vrana. … Pittsburgh went 3 for 4 on the power play. The Capitals were 0 for 3 with the man advantage. UP NEXT Capitals: Host Las Vegas on Sunday. Penguins: Play at New Jersey on Saturday. ___ More AP hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

HIGASHISHIRAKAWA, Japan (AP) — The former U.S. Marine knew the calligraphy-covered flag he took from a fallen Japanese soldier 73 years ago was more than a keepsake of World War II. When Marvin Strombo finally handed the flag back to Sadao Yasue’s younger brother and sisters Tuesday, he understood what it really meant to them. Tatsuya Yasue buried his face into the flag and smelled it, then he held Strombo’s hands and kissed them. His elder sister Sayoko Furuta, 93, sitting in her wheelchair, covered her face with both hands and wept silently as Tatsuya placed the flag on her lap. Strombo said their reaction struck him. He reached out to Yasue’s elder sister and gently rubbed her shoulder. “I was so happy that I returned the flag,” Strombo said. “I can see how much the flag meant to her. That almost made me cry … It meant everything in the world to her.” The flag is a treasure that will fill a deep void for Yasue’s family. It is the first trace of their brother. The Japanese authorities only gave them a wooden box containing a few rocks, a substitution for the remains that have never been found. The flag’s white background is filled with signatures of 180 friends and neighbors in this tea-growing mountain village of Higashishirakawa, wishing Yasue’s safe return. “Good luck forever at the battlefield,” a message on it reads. Looking at the names and their handwriting, Tatsuya Yasue clearly recalls their faces and friendship with his brother. The smell of the flag immediately brought back childhood memories to the soldier’s younger brother. “It smelled like my good old big brother, and it smelled like our mother’s home cooking we ate together,” Tatsuya Yasue said. “The flag will be our treasure.” The return of the flag brings closure, the 89-year-old farmer and a younger brother of the fallen soldier, told The Associated Press at his 400-year-old house on Monday. “It’s like the war has finally ended and my brother can come out of the limbo.” Yasue last saw his older brother alive the day before he left for the South Pacific in 1943. Tatsuya and two siblings had a small send-off picnic for the oldest brother outside his military unit over sushi and Japanese sweet mochi, which became their last meal together. At the end of the meeting, his brother whispered to Tatsuya, asking him to take good care of their parents, as he would be sent to the Pacific islands, harsh battlegrounds where chances of survival were low. A year later, the wooden box containing the stones arrived. Months after the war ended, the authorities told Yasue that his brother died somewhere in the Marianas presumably on July 18, 1944, the day Saipan fell, at age 25. “That’s all we were told about my brother. We never knew exactly when, where or how he died,” he said. Yasue and his relatives wondered Sadao might have died at sea off Saipan. About 20 years ago, Yasue visited Saipan with his younger brother, imagining what their older brother might have gone through. The only person who can provide some of those answers, Strombo said he found Yasue’s body on the outskirts of Garapan when he got lost and ended up near the Japanese frontline. He told Yasue’s siblings their brother likely died of a concussion from a mortar round. He told them that Sadao was lying on the ground, his leftside down, looking peacefully as if he was sleeping and without severe wounds. At least the flag and his story suggest Yasue died on the ground, which also raises hopes of retrieving his remains. The remains of nearly half of 2.4 million Japanese war-dead overseas have yet to be found 72 years after the World War II ended. It’s a pressing issue as the bereaved families reach old age and memories fade. Allied troops frequently took the flags from the bodies of their enemies as souvenirs, as Japanese flags were quite popular and fetched good price when auctioned, Strombo said. But to the Japanese bereaved families, they have a much deeper meaning, especially those, like Yasue, who never learned how their loved ones died and never received remains. Japanese government has requested auction sites to stop trading wartime signed flags. Strombo said Tuesday that he originally wanted the flag as a souvenir from the war, but felt guilty just taking it, and that’s why he never sold it and committed himself to a lifelong journey to return the flag to its real home. He had the flag hung in a glass-fronted gun cabinet in his home in Montana for years, a topic of conversation for visitors. He was in the battles of Saipan, Tarawa and Tinian, which chipped away at Japan’s control of islands in the Pacific and paved the way for U.S. victory. In 2012, he was connected to an Oregon-based nonprofit Obon Society that helps U.S. veterans and their descendants return Japanese flags to the families of fallen soldiers. The group’s research traced it to the tea-growing village of 2,300 people in central Japan by analyzing family names. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Her work can be found at APNews at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Attorneys for embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn say in court documents that he brokered a settlement with a second woman who accused him of sexual misconduct more than a decade ago. The documents received earlier this month in state court in Las Vegas say Wynn recently went to the FBI to accuse the woman of trying to extort him by threatening to go public with details from the 2006 settlement. Lawyer Lisa Bloom, who represents the woman, says her client denies the extortion allegations. The Associated Press generally doesn’t name people who say they are victims of sexual misconduct. Wynn resigned as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts last month amid allegations from several women that he denied. The FBI declined to confirm Monday whether it has investigated.

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia (AP) — First, it was his hand. Then, his teeth. Luis Suarez’s feet and football ability are yet to take center stage for Uruguay at a World Cup. Maybe this time, now that his head is right. Like Barcelona teammate and close friend Lionel Messi, Suarez could be playing for his World Cup legacy in Russia. At best he has three games left, starting with Friday’s quarterfinal against France. Messi’s failures at the World Cup have been well documented. Suarez’s experiences have been far rawer. At both his previous tournaments, the Uruguay striker hasn’t just left disappointed, he’s left in disgrace, labeled a cheat in one and the world’s dirtiest player in the other. “You mature, you learn things and you live in the present,” Suarez said at Uruguay’s team base in Russia in the buildup to the France game. In South Africa in 2010, Suarez’s defining act was to block a goal-bound header from Ghana with his hand in the dying seconds of extra time in their quarterfinal. Suarez was sent off for the intentional handball but Ghana missed the resulting penalty. Suarez’s clear cheating and wild celebrations on the side of the field incensed a continent as it helped Uruguay reach the semifinals at the expense of Africa’s last hope. Four years ago in Brazil, there was an even more shocking exit: Suarez bit Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in a group game — leaving visible teeth marks in Chiellini’s left shoulder — and FIFA banned him for nine matches and four months, ending his tournament. It was the third time Suarez had been banned for biting an opponent. Suarez, now 31, is back for another go at the World Cup, maybe his last. At Uruguay’s base he appeared unaffected by his ignominious history at the tournament, answering questions from journalists about previous disciplinary breakdowns with no outward signs of discomfort. There seemed to be no attempts to hide anything, either. Suarez has taken steps to address his on-field behavior for Uruguay, he said, with the help of Oscar Tabarez, the coach and former teacher who has been in charge for Suarez’s entire international career. “Tabarez helps a lot. He’s one of the best coaches in the world because of his personality, the way he helps players,” Suarez said. “Personally, he has helped me a lot. Before games, he always talks to me about what goes on in my head. That’s important to me. That talk I have with him is important.” For over a decade, Tabarez has worked to develop a specific team mantra in the Uruguay squad, putting emphasis on humility, work ethic and respect for others. That has manifested itself at the team’s World Cup base in Russia, a sports center on the outskirts of Nizhny Novgorod where the players’ accommodation is more like school dormitories than five-star luxury. From the camp, stories emerge of Uruguay’s best players and biggest stars being asked to clear away their own plates and cutlery after meals, wash their own boots, carry training equipment to and from the field, and, in a nod to plain good manners, start press conferences by greeting journalists with a “good morning” or “good afternoon.” Suarez also spoke about the “serenity” Tabarez brought to the squad and referred to himself, once the troublemaker, as now a veteran and a role model. “Now I’m one of the oldest, an example … the younger ones look up to us,” Suarez said. “You get nervous (in games), but at the same time you are one of the ones who has to remain calm. You have to set a good example to the younger ones. You have learned how to handle these situations.” ___ More AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/WorldCup

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island company is going to build a wind farm that will be 10 times the size of the nation’s first offshore wind farm. Deepwater Wind says the new 400-megawatt wind farm will also create more than 800 jobs in Rhode Island. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo and other officials visited the Port of Providence on Wednesday for the announcement. Massachusetts and Rhode Island announced offshore wind projects last week aimed at delivering 1,200 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 600,000 homes. The company also built the nation’s first offshore wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island. It has five turbines. This latest project will have up to 50 turbines south of Martha’s Vineyard. Deepwater Wind’s CEO says it will be “an enormous clean energy machine.”

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Police Department says it is responding to report of explosion near Times Square. Share this: Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Pinterest

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration’s decision to end a program protecting some young immigrants from deportation. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington says the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “was unlawful and must be set aside.” Bates is giving DHS 90 days to “better explain its view” that DACA is unlawful. After that, he says, DHS “must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications.” DACA temporarily shielded from deportation so-called Dreamers — immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. President Donald Trump announced last year that he would end the program. Bates’ ruling Tuesday night comes in a pair of cases whose lead plaintiffs are the NAACP and Princeton University.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast this month, he underscored his vow to defend the religious rights of the conservative Christians who helped propel him to power. Now, they expect the Justice Department under new Attorney General Jeff Sessions will reposition itself as a champion of what they see as that religious freedom. It would be a welcome change for conservative Christians who say their concerns were marginalized under the Obama administration in favor of First Amendment and LGBT issues. Exactly how Sessions will approach the issue remains to be seen, but he has given them plenty of reasons to be hopeful. As a Republican senator from Alabama, Sessions, a devout Methodist, argued that the separation of church and state is unconstitutional, and that the First Amendment’s bar on an establishment of religion has been interpreted too strictly, while its right to free exercise of religion has been diminished. Asked at his confirmation hearing whether a “secular person” has “just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is religious,” Sessions replied, “Well. I’m not sure.” That backdrop suggests Sessions’ Justice Department could more eagerly insert itself into religion-oriented cases such as that of the bakery fined for refusing to make a gay wedding cake, or the high-school football coach fired for praying on the field after games, who Trump repeatedly mentioned during his campaign. “Religious conservatives have sort of been the forgotten people,” said Hiram Sasser, deputy chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, a law firm that specializes in issues of religious liberty. “Now, we have a refreshing sort of reboot to be able to have at least a voice, and to be able to once again have a seat at the table.” Sessions could bring major changes throughout the Justice Department. But the department’s civil rights division traditionally is subject to the most radical shift in agendas with each change in presidential administration. Where the Obama Justice Department wanted to leave its mark on reforming troubled police departments, Sessions will likely use its resources differently. On his first full day on the job, Sessions signaled a shift away from Obama priorities when the Justice Department changed its legal position in a case involving transgender rights. The department is no longer asking a judge to limit an injunction restricting the federal government from telling schools that students should be able to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity. Transgender rights were a focus of the department under former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who sued the state of North Carolina over a bathroom bill that the government said discriminated against transgender people. Such a move would be improbable in an administration like Trump’s, which has already signaled its deference to states’ rights. It’s unclear exactly what priorities Sessions will pursue when it comes to the civil rights division. The Justice Department declined to comment on his plans for enforcement of religious freedom. He has faced intense criticism of his record on civil rights with regard to race. A renewed focus on religious causes would be “especially troubling in light of the fact that increasing numbers of Americans are not religious,” said Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University legal expert on religious liberty. “This landscape is radically different.” But it would help satisfy Trump’s campaign promise to his Christian political base. While the appointment of Sessions is a promise fulfilled, some religious conservatives remain concerned that Trump won’t deliver. When he was Indiana’s governor, Vice President Mike Pence signed a religious freedom law but softened it after criticism that it was discriminatory, a move that disappointed some conservatives. Trump still has not signed an executive order to boost protections for those with religious objections to gay marriage and create a working group within the Justice Department to protect “the religious freedom of persons and religious organizations.” Groups ranging from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to Sasser’s First Liberty Institute have launched campaigns urging Trump to enact broad protections for religious objectors to laws such as gay marriage and abortion. His civil rights division could bear a close resemblance to that of the Bush administration, which took a keen interest in matters of religious freedom. It touted its work on human trafficking, an issue of importance to religious conservatives, as a counter to claims that it was weak on civil rights enforcement. Such trafficking cases could again dominate the civil rights division’s criminal caseload, while prosecutions of police officers for rights violations, for example, might move to the back burner, said William Yeomans, who spent 24 years as a lawyer in the civil rights division during Democratic and Republican administrations. The department could insert itself in federal lawsuits on behalf of faith-based groups, among other actions. It could aggressively enforce the provision of the Civil Rights Act that bans workplace bias based on religion, and also a law designed to let churches and other religious institutions skirt zoning restrictions, which the Obama administration used to sued several cities that refused to allow the construction of mosques. Said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel: “You’re going to see a big effort to protect religious freedom. It’s a welcome change.”

KAZAN, Russia (AP) — Four years after Brazil’s humiliation at its home World Cup, Thiago Silva is back to his best in Russia, a country where his then-burgeoning career was almost tragically cut short years ago. The 33-year-old Brazil center back — who is nicknamed “O Monstro” for his exceptional physical abilities — is probably playing in his final World Cup, and he has been enjoying a perfect tournament so far. While forward Neymar attracted negative comments for his antics on the field, Silva has been irreproachable. The captain arguably has been the best center back of the tournament, alongside Uruguay captain Diego Godin. Like Uruguay, Brazil has conceded only one goal in Russia so far, from a set piece in its opening 1-1 draw with Switzerland . And the Selecao’s rivals have managed only five shots on target in their four matches against the five-time champions. Silva has been playing a key role in helping Brazil achieve those impressive statistics, anchoring the defense with authority and class. During the 2-0 win against Mexico that guaranteed Brazil advanced to the quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive time, Silva was decisive both in the air and on the ground, blocked several shots and made two clearances. “It’s a huge joy to be doing an excellent cup and to be growing with every game,” Silva said. “I’m happy about my performance, and the performance of the team.” Happiness and joy have been hard to come by during some stretches of Silva’s career. The native of Rio de Janeiro went through hard times after Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany at the last World Cup. Silva did not play in that game because he was suspended, but he was harshly criticized and branded a cry baby for his emotional outbursts as he was pictured in tears before a penalty shootout against Chile in the round of 16. After the tournament, he was stripped of the team’s captaincy by new coach Dunga, then left off the regular roster after the 2015 Copa America. He returned from exile in September 2016 for World Cup qualifiers after being called up by Dunga’s successor, Tite. Those professional ups and downs are nothing compared to the ordeal Silva went through back in 2005, when he spent about six months in a Moscow hospital after he contracted tuberculosis. Regarded at the time as one of the world’s most promising defenders, Silva had been sent on loan from Porto to Dynamo Moscow alongside several teammates. “It was probably the worst episode of my life,” Silva said. It was during a training camp in Portugal that doctor Yuri Vassilkov, who had traveled along with the team, noticed that Silva had a persistent cough. “He had temperature and we thought it was a simple cold,” Vassilkov said in an interview with L’Equipe newspaper this week. “I gave him some medication but he did not improve. I was a bit worried and I sent him for exams at the British hospital in Lisbon. The diagnosis was terrible: tuberculosis. It was a shock.” Vassilkov believes that the diagnosis was so late that Silva was weeks away from dying. Silva was brought back to Moscow, where he was hospitalized in a center specializing in tuberculosis treatment. At the time, Silva did not speak English or Russian and went through a bout of depression. “The cold, the lack of natural light, the fact that I could not speak to anybody … All this was very difficult to handle,” Silva remembered in an interview with Belgian Sport/Foot magazine. After Russian doctors at one point considered removing part of his lungs, Silva survived and fully recovered. He never played a game for Dynamo, and these painful events are just bad memories now. “That would have ended my career. I needed guardian angels to take me away,” Silva said. “I was a bit overwhelmed in a friendly we played against Russia this year. It is different for me to play there. I hope I can erase that by lifting the World Cup trophy.” ___ Associated Press writer Luis Andres Henao in Samara contributed to this report. ___ More AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/WorldCup

The Ethiopian marathoner crouched down low in the hallway at the Miami airport as he carried a bouquet of red roses. Feyisa Lilesa’s daughter spotted him first and ran in for a hug. Then, his young son and lastly his wife. On Valentine’s Day, the Olympic silver medalist who became an international figure when he crossed his wrists in protest at the finish line in Rio de Janeiro finally reunited with his family. He was a little late (traffic), but what’s a few extra minutes when he’s already waited six long months to see them. As he made his way out of the airport, his son perched on his shoulders and his daughter rode on the luggage, carrying the flowers he brought as a gift. “The biggest gift is us seeing each other again — and me seeing them again,” Lilesa said through a translator in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s all been very tough.” The 27-year-old eventually settled in Flagstaff, Arizona, after making an anti-government gesture during the Olympic marathon that drew global attention to the deadly protests in his home region of Oromia. He never returned home after Brazil out of fear of what might happen to him. He’s constantly been worrying about the family he left behind in Ethiopia. His nearly 6-year-old daughter, Soko, and 3 ½-year-old son, Sora, always asked when they will see him again. Finally, he was able to answer. Lilesa remains in the U.S. on a special skills visa. His family arrived on visas as well, secured through his attorney. The plan now is this: A few days of beach time and then it’s off to Flagstaff where the family will settle into everyday life in their rental house. One weight off his mind. Still, he can’t forget what his country is going through, with the Oromia region experiencing anti-government protests over recent months. Violent anti-government protests spread to other parts of Ethiopia and led to a state of emergency that was declared in October. Since his gesture, many have described Lilesa as a national hero. “My mind is pretty much occupied by what is happening back home,” Lilesa said. “Whether I’m running or I’m sleeping or I’m laying back, my family and what is happening in Ethiopia — and what is happening to my people — that’s constantly on my mind.” Most days since his arrival in America have been spent training. It was his best cure for loneliness. “I come from a very big family, and I’ve never lived alone,” Lilesa said. “I’ve always been surrounded by people I know. This has been the complete opposite. Here, I’m removed from all of that.” Still, he would protest all over again. “I think me taking the risk and putting family in that position and putting them potentially in harm’s way, it was a good lesson for a lot of people that you need to sacrifice in order for you to win some concessions and change your situation,” Lilesa said. “In that sense, it inspires people to fight for their rights and resist the government in Ethiopia. It also led to greater awareness about the situation in Ethiopia. “Now, you see more coverage of the human rights violations. I speak with people wherever I go. Even outside the media limelight, people are interested in knowing. They heard the story because of my protest.” Someday, he would like to go back to Ethiopia. “But as long as this current government is in power, I don’t have hope of going back to Ethiopia,” he explained. “I do know change is inevitable.” He also wants to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Whether that’s wearing the colors of Ethiopia, he doesn’t know. “I’m not too hopeful the system will be changed in the next three years and I will be in a position to run for Ethiopia. We will have to wait and see,” said Lilesa, who plans to run in the London Marathon in two months. For now, Lilesa’s priority is getting his family settled. “I knew that we would meet somehow, but I didn’t expect it would happen under these circumstances over here,” Lilesa said. “When I think about my family, it takes me back to why I did this and why I’m here. I missed my family, but this was a big bother to me — the plight of my people.” ___ AP Photographer Wilfredo Lee in Miami contributed to this report.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The Latest on violent protests connected to a white nationalist rally in Virginia (all times local): 9:45 p.m. Student leaders at dozens of U.S. universities are decrying the weekend violence in Virginia in a statement that says campuses should be safe for students, not “places of violence, hate and racism.” The statement signed by the undergraduate student body president at Ohio State University and his counterparts at more than 120 schools in 34 states and Washington, D.C., stretching from California to Florida and New Jersey. It expresses support for University of Virginia students in Charlottesville, where a driver is accused of slamming into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally. One woman died. The student leaders’ statement expresses support for “marginalized students” and advocates for what it describes as “peaceful resistance to violence, racism, white supremacy, bigotry and acts of terrorism.” ___ 8:05 p.m. Protesters in North Carolina have toppled a long-standing statue of a Confederate soldier. Activists on Monday evening used a rope to pull down the monument outside a Durham courthouse. Video footage posted online shows protesters — some white, some black — kicking the crumpled bronze statue as dozens of people in the crowd cheered and chanted. The Durham protest was in response to a white nationalist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. Authorities say one woman was killed Saturday after one of the white nationalists drove his car into a group of peaceful counterprotesters. A United Daughters of the Confederacy website says the Confederate Soldiers Monument was erected in 1924. ___ Several hundred people are marching through the streets of an Ohio city where the man accused of running down protesters in Virginia had been living. The anti-white supremacists rally Monday in Maumee (maw-MEE) is happening just a few miles from where James Alex Fields Jr. lived the past year. Fields is in jail in Virginia, where he’s accused of ramming his car into counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally Saturday, killing one person and injuring 19. At the Monday march in Ohio, Chris Thomas of Sylvania says residents need to stand up and say that Fields doesn’t represent their community. She says we need to stand up and say we’re all Americans and that the nation was built on diversity. ___ 6:45 p.m. A Texas lawmaker says Texas A&M University won’t host a “white lives matter” rally on the campus next month. Republican state Rep. John Raney said Monday that university chancellor John Sharp told him the event had been canceled due to “hate messages” on social media and police concerns of violence. The event had been scheduled for Sept. 11. Raney made the announcement on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives just hours after lawmakers said they were working to stop the rally from taking place. Texas A&M officials confirmed the event had been canceled. The event was organized by a former A&M student who said he was inspired by a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. That event erupted in violence as protesters and counter protesters clashed. Police say a 20-year-old man rammed in his car into a group of the counter protesters, killing a woman and injuring at least 19. A former teacher of the man says he idolized Adolf Hitler and was fascinated with Nazism. ___ 6 p.m. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is directing his administration to conduct an “extensive review” of how police prepare and respond to rallies like the one that ended with deadly violence in Charlottesville. The Democratic governor has adamantly supported how police handled Saturday’s protests. His office said Monday in a statement that he wants his administration to review how permits for such rallies are granted. McAuliffe also said he had directed his administration to form a commission focused on racial reconciliation. The governor said he wants “actionable recommendations” on what the state can do to promote unity and public safety. ___ 6 p.m. The driver charged with killing a woman at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville worked as a security officer in Ohio. Securitas Security Services USA, Inc. said in a statement on Monday that James Alex Fields Jr. worked for the company for two months starting in May 2016 and again from November to the present. The company says the state of Ohio issued Fields a security officer license and that the man “performed his duties satisfactorily.” Securitas says Fields was on previously requested vacation leave when police say he rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters on Saturday, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. The company says Fields’ employment has been terminated. Fields has been charged with second-degree murder and other offenses. ___ 6 p.m. Accident investigators say there was no distress signal from a Virginia state police helicopter that crashed over the weekend near Charlottesville, where neo-Nazi and so-called alt-right demonstrators clashed with counter-protesters. The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that the helicopter was providing video to police of activities in downtown Charlottesville before it broke off to lend support to a motorcade for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Within two minutes there was a 911 call reporting the crash, which happened 7 miles (10 kilometers) southwest of the Charlottesville airport. Both state troopers on board were killed. The board said the helicopter’s vertical flight path was about 45 degrees when it descended into trees. The tail boom separated from the main wreckage and became lodged in a tree. The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports that a National Transportation Safety Board report says the helicopter sustained “substantial damage” in a 2010 rough landing after losing power. ___ 6 p.m. The mother of a University of Virginia student injured when a car rammed through counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally says she hopes her daughter can be returned to Houston for medical treatment and recovery. Ericka Chaves said Monday that her 20-year-old daughter, Natalie Romero, suffered a skull fracture and other injuries on Saturday in Charlottesville, which is home to the university. Chaves says it’s “really hard” for her daughter to talk, but she’s tough. Chaves says she hopes her daughter doesn’t return to the university after she heals. Romero is attending the school on a scholarship. She was a leader at Houston’s Bellaire High School’s Junior ROTC program and was named outstanding ROTC cadet in 2016. ___ 4:45 p.m. Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas told a news conference Monday that a hotline was being set up to enable people to report assaults and other criminal activity that may have occurred at a weekend rally of white nationalists. He also said “alt-right” rally attendees had failed to follow an agreed-upon plan on entering Emancipation Park. The attendees were gathering to protest plans to remove a Confederate statue. The event also drew counter-protesters – and Thomas said the crowds became more aggressive and “mutually engaged combatants” became more violent. When asked whether he had any regrets, he said: “Absolutely I have regrets. We lost three lives this weekend.” He was referring to 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who died after a car police say was driven by James Alex Fields Jr. rammed into a crowd of counter-protesters. Two Virginia State Police officers also died when their helicopter, which was dispatched to the area, crashed just outside of Charlottesville. ___ 3:30 p.m. Google says it’s canceling the registration of neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer for violating its terms of service, after it posted an article mocking the woman who was run over and killed at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. The site was briefly down Monday — following a move by registration company GoDaddy to also cancel the site’s domain name. But after a short time it was back up, including a post from the website’s publisher, Andrew Anglin, saying he had retaken control of the site. The site claimed it was briefly controlled by a member of the “Anonymous” group of hackers. The article about Heather Heyer criticizes her appearance, that she had no children, and that she couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the charging car. The 32-year-old Heyer died after a car police say was driven by James Alex Fields Jr. rammed into a crowd of counter-protesters. The group was demonstrating against white nationalists who had gathered to oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a park in Charlottesville. ___ 3 p.m. Records from 911 calls show the driver charged with killing a woman at a white nationalist rally was previously accused of beating his mother and threatening her with a knife. Authorities say 20-year-old James Fields drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters on Saturday in Charlottesville. At least two dozen were wounded in addition to the woman killed. The records the Florence Police Department in Kentucky show the man’s mother had called police in 2011. Records show Fields’ mother, Samantha Bloom, told police he stood behind her wielding a 12-inch knife. Bloom is disabled and uses a wheelchair. In another incident in 2010, Bloom said that Fields smacked her in the head and locked her in the bathroom after she told him to stop playing video games. Bloom told officers Fields was on medication to control his temper. ___ 3 p.m. A spokeswoman for a hospital in Virginia says 10 patients treated there after a car ran into counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally have been released. Nine others are in good condition. UVA Health System spokeswoman Angela Taylor gave the update Monday. Twenty people were taken to UVA Medical Center after the car ran into the crowd Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia. One, Heather Heyer, died. Five were initially in critical condition. The hospital has said it treated additional patients related to Saturday’s events beyond those 20, but that it can’t give an exact number. ___ 1:30 p.m. A former classmate of the man accused of plowing his car into counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally says the suspect once said he went on a school trip to Germany so he could “get to the Fatherland.” Keegan McGrath told The Associated Press on Monday that he was roommates with James Alex Fields Jr. on that trip in 2015. McGrath says he challenged Fields on his beliefs and went home early because he couldn’t handle being in a room with Fields. He says Fields seemed fairly normal before that at their school in Union, Kentucky. Fields is charged with second-degree murder after authorities say he drove into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, fatally injuring one woman and hurting 19 others. A judge said Monday he’ll appoint an attorney to represent Fields. ___ 10:40 a.m. A judge has denied bond for an Ohio man accused of plowing his car into a crowd at a white nationalist rally. Judge Robert Downer said during a bond hearing Monday he would appoint a lawyer for James Alex Fields Jr. Fields is charged with second-degree murder and other counts after authorities say he drove into the crowd, fatally injuring one woman and hurting 19 others. The rally was held by white nationalists and others who oppose a plan to remove from a Charlottesville park of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Fields has been in custody since Saturday. A high school teacher said Fields was fascinated with Nazism, idolized Adolf Hitler and had been singled out by school officials in the 9th grade for his “deeply held, radical” convictions on race. ___ 9:45 a.m. A group that hosts a ceremony every year to re-dedicate an Atlanta monument depicting a Confederate soldier vows that it will be repaired after protesters spray-painted it and broke a chunk from it. John Green, past commandant of the Old Guard of the Gate City Guard, said Monday it appears his group must now raise money to repair the 105-year-old statue damaged during a Sunday protest after the deadly weekend violence in Virginia. City officials haven’t commented on any plans for repairs or whether city funds would be used for that. Green said removing the statue from Piedmont Park, a city park, is not an option. He said the angel standing over the soldier represents peace, and it was created to help bring the nation back together after the Civil War. ___ 7:40 a.m. A prominent white nationalist website that promoted a Virginia rally that ended in deadly violence Saturday is losing its internet domain host. GoDaddy tweeted late Sunday night that it has given the Daily Stormer 24 hours to move its domain to another provider because the site has violated GoDaddy’s terms of service. GoDaddy spokesman Dan Race tells the New York Daily News that the Daily Stormer violated its terms of service by labeling a woman killed in an attack at the event in Charlottesville “fat” and “childless.” Heather Heyer was killed Saturday when police say a man plowed his car into a group of demonstrators protesting the white nationalist rally. Shortly after GoDaddy tweeted its decision, the site posted an article claiming it had been hacked and would be shut down. ___ 7:30 a.m. Protesters spray-painted and broke a chunk off a statue depicting a Confederate soldier at an Atlanta park after they marched through the city to protest the weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a lone policeman at Piedmont Park on Sunday night was surrounded by black-clad protesters shouting “pig” as demonstrators used chains to try and destroy the Peace Monument. The statue depicts a winged angel standing over a Confederate soldier. Video from local news outlets showed red spray paint covering much of the monument following the demonstration. The Atlanta protest was among several around the nation over the weekend that were organized after a chaotic white supremacist rally in Virginia ended with deadly violence. ___ 7:30 a.m. The German government is condemning the white nationalist rally in Virginia that turned violent Saturday, expressing solidarity with peaceful counter-protesters. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Monday that it was an “absolutely repulsive scene at this extreme-right march.” He said “there was outrageous racism, anti-Semitism and hate in its most despicable form to be seen, and whenever it comes to such speech or such images it is repugnant.” He added that it’s “completely contrary to what the chancellor and the German government works for politically, and we are in solidarity with those who stand peacefully against such aggressive extreme-right opinions.” Seibert says Merkel also regrets the death of a counter-protester and sent her sympathies to those injured. ___ 3 a.m. An Ohio man accused of plowing his car into counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia is set to make his first court appearance. Col. Martin Kumer, superintendent at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, says 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. has a bond hearing Monday morning. Fields is charged with second-degree murder and other counts after authorities say he drove into the crowd, fatally injuring one woman and hurting 19 others. Fields has been in custody since Saturday. Jail officials told The Associated Press they don’t know if he’s obtained an attorney. A high school teacher said Fields was fascinated with Nazism, idolized Adolf Hitler and had been singled out by school officials in the 9th grade for his “deeply held, radical” convictions on race.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the special counsel’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia (all times local): 3:55 p.m. A senior House Republican briefed on the FBI’s Russia probe is disputing President Donald Trump’s allegation that the agency spied on his 2016 campaign for political purposes. Rep. Trey Gowdy told “CBS This Morning” and Fox News that there is no evidence of FBI misconduct or that the agency planted a “spy” in Trump’s campaign. Gowdy’s statements contradict the president, who has said the FBI planted a “spy for political reasons and to help Crooked Hillary win.” Trump, meanwhile, noted Gowdy’s comment that the president could have picked someone other than Jef Sessions to lead the Justice Department. Trump tweeted, “And I wish I did!” __ 9:25 a.m. President Donald Trump, still nursing resentment against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, says he wishes he’d picked a different leader of the Justice Department. Trump on Wednesday tweeted a quote from Republican congressman Trey Gowdy, who said Sessions should have told Trump before accepting the job that he planned to recuse himself from the investigation. It comes amid fresh news reports that Trump had asked Sessions to rescind his recusal. Sessions recused himself for possible conflict of interest, leading to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Gowdy told “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday that “there are lots of really good lawyers in the country. He could have picked somebody else.” Trump added at the end of his tweet, “And I wish I did!” ___ 9 a.m. A senior House Republican briefed by the FBI on its Russia probe is disputing President Donald Trump’s allegation that the agency spied on his 2016 campaign for political purposes. Rep. Trey Gowdy told “CBS This Morning” and Fox News there is no evidence of FBI misconduct or that the agency planted a “spy” in Trump’s campaign. His statements appeared to contradict the president, who has said the FBI planted a “spy for political reasons and to help Crooked Hillary win.” Gowdy told Fox on Tuesday that after receiving classified briefing on the subject “I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do” in acting on information. Lawmakers demanded the briefing following reports a government informant approached Trump campaign officials.

NEW YORK (AP) — Mary J. Blige is dancing into the Golden Globe Awards as a double nominee — for her acting and songwriting — while Mariah Carey, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Nick Jonas are some of the other popular musicians also nominated. Blige earned nominations Monday for her work in the Dee Rees’ period film “Mudbound.” She’s up for best supporting actress in a motion picture and best original song for “Mighty River,” which she co-wrote. “I feel so good. I’ve been thanking God all morning long. I’ve been up since my phone has been ringing,” the 46-year-old singer said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “Mudbound,” released on Netflix last month, follows two neighboring families — one black, one white — on a hardscrabble farm in 1940s Mississippi. Blige plays the role of Florence Jackson, a mother and sharecropper’s wife. They filmed last summer in New Orleans, around the time Blige announced she was divorcing from her husband and former manager. She said she took all of the emotion from her personal life and put it into the film. “I would come over to (my acting coach’s) house and I would be going through it. And she would say, ‘Take all of that mess and give it to Florence. Give everything to Florence.’ And I just gave Florence everything that was good, bad, vulnerable, that was strong, that was sad, that was disappointing,” she said. Blige detailed the very public breakup and infidelity claims on her album, “Strength of a Woman,” released in April. “2016 was the year that I didn’t know what the heck was going on. As women we have intuition, we don’t know exactly what’s happening, we just feel everything. I know I feel everything. And I just gave … everything I was feeling to Florence,” she added. Blige, who grew up in New York, said trips to the South to visit her family also helped her connect to the character: “I would see my grandmother and my aunts and they were this woman Florence, so I saw this woman a lot. I think I probably have her in my DNA.” She also said it was tough transforming from Mary J. Blige, the 9-time Grammy-winning R&B superstar, to Mary J. Blige, the actress. “I wear a lot of wigs and weaves and things like that, but for this I had to wear my own textured hair, which I was never really wanting to do, especially without a perm,” Blige said. “And (Dee Rees) was like, ‘No, I want nappy edges. I want Florence to look like she’s a sharecropper’s wife, and it was a little hard disconnecting from Mary J. Blige because she’s been around for a minute. So it was hard to get rid of her, but once I got rid of her Florence actually liberated Mary. So it was sad but beautiful at the same time.” Blige’s two nominations are the only ones “Mudbound” earned Monday. The singer shares her best original song nomination with Taura Stinson and Raphael Saadiq, the singer-songwriter-producer who has worked on hits for Solange, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu and himself. Blige’s competition includes Carey, who is nominated for the Christmas tune “The Star,” from the animated movie of the same name. Carey co-wrote the song with Marc Shaiman. “Listen, I’ve been a fan of Mariah Carey since Mariah Carey came out. It’s a beautiful thing to see all of your peers at the same time being blessed and nominated and recognized for our work,” Blige said. Jonas is also up for best original song for “Home” from the animated film “Ferdinand.” “For me songwriting is my outlet, the way that I express myself and the way that I share my stories. It’s been the through line of my life since I was about seven years old,” said Jonas, who shares his nomination with Justin Tranter and Nick Monson. “To be recognized for … a song about my family and my loved ones makes it that much sweeter.” Jonas and Carey are first-time Globe nominees; Blige was up for an award at the 2012 show for “The Living Proof” from the film, “The Help.” Other best original song nominees include Oscar-winning composers. Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the husband-and-wife songwriting duo behind “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” are nominated for “Remember Me” from the film “Coco,” while Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — who earned an Oscar this year for “City of Stars” from “La La Land,” are up for “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.” Greenwood earned a nomination for best original score for “Phantom Thread.” Other nominees include Hans Zimmer for “Dunkirk,” Alexandre Desplat for “The Shape of Water,” Carter Burwell for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and John Williams for “The Post.” The 75th annual Golden Globes will air live on January 7, 2018.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Like squabbling siblings, New Zealand and Australia have close ties but also a rivalry that can sometimes turn ugly. That tension spilled into politics on Tuesday, when Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop accused New Zealand’s opposition Labour Party of conspiring to undermine her government, a claim New Zealand lawmakers say is “false” and “utter nonsense.” The unlikely dispute involves Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s deputy prime minister. Joyce said Monday he’d been advised he was a New Zealand citizen and an Australian court was being asked to determine if he should be kicked out of parliament because Australia’s constitution bans lawmakers from being dual citizens. Bishop says Australia’s opposition Labor Party used their New Zealand counterparts to raise questions about Joyce in the New Zealand parliament.

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks will not face any suspensions for the melee that broke out at the conclusion of Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville. The league is still reviewing the fracas that broke out in the closing moments of Jacksonville’s 30-24 victory for potential discipline, but no suspensions will be coming. Michael Bennett, Sheldon Richardson and Quinton Jefferson were all flagged for personal fouls. Jefferson and Richardson were both ejected, and all three should face hefty fines for their involvement in the ugly conclusion. Jefferson attempted to climb into the stands after fans threw what appeared to be bottles at him as he was leaving the field. He was pulled back by team staff. The Jaguars issued a statement Monday they were reviewing video and were conducting interviews with spectators and security staff in the area to identify those involved. The Jaguars said those involved may lose the right to purchase future tickets or have their season tickets revoked. ___ For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia says it will allow movie theaters to open in the conservative kingdom next year, for the first time in more than 35 years. It’s the latest move as part of the young crown prince’s efforts to socially reform the country. The kingdom says a resolution was passed on Monday paving way for licenses to be granted to commercial movie theaters. Movie theaters were shut down in the 1980’s during a wave of ultraconservatism in the country. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed for greater social openings, including lifting a ban on women driving next year and bringing back concerts and other forms of entertainment to satiate the desires of the country’s majority young population. The government says the first cinemas are expected to open in March 2018.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the situation in Syria (all times local): 5:45 p.m. The Turkish military says two of its soldiers have been killed in Syria and a third was killed on the Turkish side of the border in an attack by Syrian Kurdish militiamen. The military says Saturday’s deaths were related to Turkey’s operation against the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin, codenamed Olive Branch. One of the soldiers was killed when a Turkish tank was hit in Afrin. A total of eight Turkish soldiers and at least 24 allied Syrian opposition fighters have died so far in Ankara’s offensive, which started on Jan. 20. The Turkish operation aims to clear Afrin of the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia, known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG, which Turkey considers to be a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdish insurgency within its borders. Ankara also says it is fighting the Islamic State group in the area. ___ 4:50 p.m. Syrian opposition activists say rebels have shot down a warplane in the country’s northwest where government forces and their allies are advancing under the cover of intense airstrikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the warplane was downed on Saturday afternoon near the rebel-held town of Sarqeb, which Syrian troops have been trying to reach under the cover of Russian airstrikes. The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman says it’s possible the warplane could be Russian. He added that the pilot ejected and landed alive on the ground. The opposition’s Aleppo Media Center says it was a Russian-made SU25 but did not say whether it was Russian. There was no immediate word from Moscow. ___ 4:30 p.m. Turkish presidential spokesman says Turkey will not tolerate the presence of a Syrian Kurdish militia “anywhere” along its southern border, hinting that Ankara might expand its military operation underway in the Syrian enclave of Afrin eastward. The spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Saturday that Turkey’s first demand is to see the Syrian Kurdish militia — the People’s Protection Units or YPG — move east of the Euphrates River and leave the town of Manbij, where American troops backing the Syrian Kurdish fighters are stationed. Turkey launched an incursion into Syria on Jan. 20 and is currently fighting the YPG in the northwestern enclave of Afrin. It considers the YPG a “terrorist group” and an extension of Kurdish rebels inside Turkey. Kalin called on the United States to “disengage” from the YPG and said Turkey will continue communications with “our American allies to avoid any confrontation.” Turkey shares a 911-kilometer border with Syria. The YPG controls much of the territory along the border and an uninterrupted strip from Manbij to the Iraqi border. ___ 2:20 p.m. A Syrian monitoring group and the media arm of al-Qaida-linked militants are reporting intense airstrikes on a rebel-held stronghold in Syria’s northwest. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported more than 35 airstrikes on Saraqeb since late Friday, adding that many of its residents are fleeing. The Ibaa News Agency of the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, said Russian and Syrian warplanes and helicopter gunships have been pounding Saraqeb and Tel Mardeekh village in Idlib province since the early hours of Saturday. Syrian government forces and their allies pushed into Idlib, an opposition stronghold, inching closer to a key highway that connects Syria’s two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. The U.N. says more than 270,000 have been displaced in Idlib because of the government onslaught since Dec. 15.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 foreign nano satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket. The Indian Space Research Organization said the nano satellites — those weighing less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) — were sent into orbit on board its polar satellite launch vehicle in southern India. The agency said the launching of the 104 satellites was a record, overtaking Russia’s feat of sending 37 satellites in a single launch in 2014. The nano satellites belong to various companies in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan, according to the ISRO. “All 104 satellites were successfully placed in orbit,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar as saying. They included an Indian earth observation satellite. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the “remarkable feat by ISRO is yet another proud moment for our space scientific community and the nation.” India has been striving to become a player in the multibillion-dollar space launch market, and has successfully placed light satellites into orbit in recent years. It hopes to eventually send astronauts into space. In September 2014, India successfully guided a spacecraft into orbit around Mars. Only the United States, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency had been able to previously do that.

DENVER (AP) — Immediately after a jury determined that Taylor Swift had been groped by a radio station host before a concert in Denver, the singer-songwriter turned to one of her closest allies — her mother — and later said she hoped the verdict would inspire other victims of sexual assault. Swift hugged her crying mother after the six-woman, two-man jury said in U.S. District Court on Monday that former Denver DJ David Mueller had groped the pop star during a photo op four years ago. Per Swift’s request, jurors awarded her $1 in damages — a sum her attorney, Douglas Baldridge, called “a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation.” Swift released a statement thanking her attorneys “for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault.” “My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard,” she said, promising to make unspecified donations to groups that help victims of sexual assault. Nancy Leong, a law professor at the University of Denver, said the verdict is important because “we are getting to the point in society that women are believed in court. For many decades and centuries, that was not the case.” Leong, who also teaches in the university’s gender studies program, said the verdict will inspire more victims of sexual assault to come forward. “The fact that she was believed will allow women to understand that they will not automatically be disbelieved, and I think that’s a good thing,” Leong said. Swift and her mother initially tried to keep the accusation quiet by reporting the incident to Mueller’s bosses and not the police. But it inevitably became public when Mueller sued Swift for up to $3 million, claiming the allegation cost him his $150,000-a-year job at country station KYGO-FM, where he was a morning host. “I’ve been trying to clear my name for four years,” he said after the verdict in explaining why he took Swift to court. “Civil court is the only option I had. This is the only way that I could be heard.” Swift countersued for assault and battery, and during an hour of testimony blasted a low-key characterization by Mueller’s attorney, Gabriel McFarland, of what happened. While Mueller testified he never grabbed Swift, she insisted she was groped. “He stayed attached to my bare ass-cheek as I lurched away from him,” Swift testified. “It was a definite grab. A very long grab,” she added. Mueller emphatically denied reaching under the pop star’s skirt or otherwise touching her inappropriately, insisting he touched only her ribs and may have brushed the outside of her skirt as they awkwardly posed for the picture. That photo was virtually the only evidence besides the testimony. In the image shown to jurors during opening statements but not publicly released, Mueller’s hand is behind Swift, just below her waist. Both are smiling. Mueller’s then-girlfriend is standing on the other side of Swift. Swift testified that after she was groped, she numbly told Mueller and his girlfriend, “Thank you for coming,” and moved on to photos with others waiting in line because she did not want to disappoint them. But she said she immediately went to her photographer after the meet-and-greet ended and found the photo of her with Mueller, telling the photographer what happened. Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, testified that she asked radio liaison Frank Bell to call Mueller’s employers. They did not call the police to avoid further traumatizing her daughter, she said. “We absolutely wanted to keep it private. But we didn’t want him to get away with it,” Andrea Swift testified. Bell said he emailed the photo to Robert Call, KYGO’s general manager, for use in Call’s investigation of Mueller. He said he didn’t ask that Mueller be fired but that “appropriate action be taken.” Jurors rejected Mueller’s claims that Andrea Swift and Bell cost him his job. On Friday, U.S. District Judge William Martinez dismissed similar claims against Taylor Swift, ruling Mueller’s team failed to offer evidence that the then-23-year-old superstar did anything more than report the incident to her team, including her mother. ___ Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert contributed to this report.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Inbee Park’s 12th U.S. Women’s Open already stands out for a gloomy reason: the rain-soaked course at Shoal Creek. The picturesque course in suburban Birmingham had been drenched by nearly five inches of rain this week as of Wednesday afternoon, with the effects of Subtropical Storm Alberto adding onto earlier rains. “This is probably the wettest conditions I have ever seen in a U.S. Women’s Open,” said Park, a Korean who won in 2008 and 2013. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen. “Coming into the U.S. Women’s Open, I always try to play the ball with the mud or try to play with like a wet ground condition because we’ve never played lift, clean and place. We just play from wherever it is and however the condition is.” Practice rounds were canceled Tuesday and the course closed, other than some late-afternoon trips to the driving range. More rain followed overnight and into Wednesday on the eve of the major championship , when the course finally reopened by early afternoon in time for some of the 156 players to get in practice. The field will be cut to the low 60 scorers and ties after two rounds. John Bodenhamer, USGA’s senior managing director, said officials didn’t plan to use lift, clean and place for the first time in one of the organization’s championships. “It remains our intention to play 72 holes and play the ball as it lies,” Bodenhamer said Wednesday. The LPGA Tour’s Kingsmill Championship two weeks ago was shortened to 54 holes because of rain. The field, which includes 10 past Open champions, arrived in Alabama hoping to avoid a similar fate. Pernilla Lindberg won the year’s first major at the ANA Inspiration, the 11th consecutive women’s major with a different winner. The LPGA Tour has not had a multiple winner through 13 tournaments this season. Korean Sung Hyun Park won last year at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, by two strokes over amateur Hye-Jin Choi. Some players, including Inbee Park, Karrie Webb and No. 3-ranked Lexi Thompson, got a full 18 holes in Monday. Thompson said some parts of fairways were “a little muddy and a little patchy.” After that experience, she was hoping to play under lift, clean and place rules. “I think it will be a little unfair if they don’t, but you never know,” she said. “I mean if they don’t, everybody has to play it down and it is what it is, but it’s their choice. The rain has not helped that situation, so I guess come Thursday we’ll see, though.” This will be the third USGA championship at Shoal Creek but the first Women’s Open. Buddy Alexander won the 1986 U.S. Amateur and Cameron Peck won the 2008 U.S. Junior. Shoal Creek also hosted the PGA Championship in 1984 and 1990, when the club drew criticism for not having black members. That led the PGA Tour to change its policy on going to courses that didn’t allow minority members. The Regions Tradition, a PGA Tour Champions major, was held at Shoal Creek from 2011-2015. This time the primary concern is the weather and course conditions. Webb, who won back-to-back championships in 2000 and 2001, is playing in her 23rd consecutive Women’s Open. She got a special exemption from the USGA. “It’ll be the softest U.S. Open course I’ve played,” Webb said. The conditions could potentially help long hitters like Thompson and Sung Hyun Park. But distance, of course, isn’t the only important factor. “I think it could set up for anyone that’s just hitting lots of fairways and greens,” Webb said. Some players were fine with the unscheduled downtime of canceled practice rounds. Two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Danielle Kang played only the back nine on Monday and her scheduled practice round for Wednesday was pushed back too late to get it in, barring an earlier slot opening. A friend, PGA Tour player and Birmingham native Trey Mullinax, gave her a rundown of the course over the phone. Otherwise, Kang took advantage of the free time by seeing the movie “Solo,” then sleeping until 10 a.m. Wednesday, enjoying brunch and not sweating the minimal practice time at Shoal Creek. “I feel more prepared than ever,” Kang said. “That’s why I think I’m so kind of relaxed about it.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid advised Vice President Mike Pence on health care issues while he was Indiana’s governor, a post she maintained amid a web of business arrangements — including one that ethics experts say conflicted with her public duties. A review by The Associated Press found Seema Verma and her small Indianapolis-based firm made millions through consulting agreements with at least nine states while also working under contract for Hewlett Packard. The company holds a financial stake in the health care policies Verma’s consulting work helped shape in Indiana and elsewhere. Her firm, SVC Inc., collected more than $6.6 million in consulting fees from the state of Indiana since 2011, records show. At the same time, records indicate she also received more than $1 million through a contract with Hewlett, the nation’s largest operator of state Medicaid claims processing systems. Last year, her firm collected an additional $316,000 for work done for the state of Kentucky as a subcontractor for HP Enterprises, according to documents obtained by AP through public records requests. In financial disclosures posted this week, Verma reported she has an agreement to sell SVC Inc. to Health Management Associates of Lansing, Michigan, within 90 days of her confirmation. In a statement, a spokesman for Verma said there was no conflict of interest and added that she has the support of former officials who served with her under Pence. Her firm was “completely transparent in regards to its relationship with HP and that there was never a conflict of interest,” spokesman Marcus Barlow said in a statement. A spokesman for Pence did not respond to a request for comment. Verma faces a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday. Democrats in Washington are aware of many of her consulting arrangements, and have broader concerns about her philosophy about government entitlement programs, lack of background in Medicare and inexperience leading a large organization. As a trusted adviser to Pence, she had an office in the state government center and took on duties usually reserved for state administrators. Verma was also widely respected for her grasp on policy and designed a federal Medicaid waiver that allowed Pence to undertake his own conservative expansion of the program while still accepting money made available through the Affordable Care Act. Verma did not specifically address how she would handle decisions related to HP in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services that was released this week. The letter outlined her plan for managing potential conflicts of interest should she be confirmed by the Senate to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Her relationship with HP was first reported by the Indianapolis Star in 2014. Legal and ethics experts contacted by AP say Verma’s work for Hewlett, and offshoot HP Enterprises, raised questions about where her loyalties lay — to the company, or to state taxpayers. Richard Painter, former President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer, called Verma’s arrangement a “conflict of interest” that “clearly should not happen and is definitely improper.” Such arrangements are typically prohibited for rank-and-file state employees under Indiana’s ethics rules and laws, but they’re murkier when it comes to consulting work. Contractors have often replaced state employees in a GOP bid to drive down the number of public employees, distinctions between the two can be hard to discern. “She was cloaked with so much responsibility and so much authority, people thought she was a state employee,” said Debra Minot, a former head of Indiana’s Family and Social Services Agency under Pence who worked with Verma. Indiana University law professor David Orentlicher compared Verma’s dual employment to an attorney who represents both the plaintiff and the defense in a lawsuit. It’s also similar to federal contract negotiator with a side job for a company they regularly negotiate with, he said. “If you have one person on both sides of the negotiating, they can’t negotiate hard for both sides,” said Orentlicher, a former Indiana Democratic state lawmaker. There was at least one instance where Verma crossed the line in Indiana when she was dispatched by HP to help smooth over a billing dispute, said Minot. “It was never clear to me until that moment that she, in essence, was representing both the agency and one of our very key contractors,” said Minot, who was removed as head of the agency by Pence over her disagreements with Verma. “It was just shocking to me that she could play both sides.” State contracts show Verma’s duties to Indiana and Hewlett have overlapped at times. One agreement she held with the state’s social services agency required her to “provide technical assistance” to state contractors, as well as the governor’s office. Another duty was “contract development and negotiation” with vendors, which included HP and HP Enterprises Verma reported her salary with SVC is $480,000 and her business income from the company as nearly $2.2 million. ___ Johnson reported from Chicago.

NEW YORK (AP) — On a night when Matt Harvey fizzled and so much went wrong for the New York Mets, they still rallied late for a rousing win. Curtis Granderson opened a five-run eighth inning with his 300th homer, a tiebreaking shot that helped the Mets bail out an ailing Harvey in a 9-4 victory Wednesday over the Chicago Cubs. Harvey lost the zip on his fastball and gave up three homers in four innings — including Anthony Rizzo’s latest leadoff shot and a titanic drive by Kyle Schwarber . After the game, the former ace said he’s at a pretty low point physically and plans to see a doctor Thursday. “My arm was just not working at all,” said Harvey, who had a rib removed last year during surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. “I think the last time I threw 87 (mph) with a fastball was probably freshman year of high school.” “It’s been very difficult. A very difficult year,” he added. “A lot of ups and downs. A lot of discomfort and trying to battle through weaknesses and strengthening areas that I’m not used to. It’s been rough. I have one less rib. I had pretty major surgery. There’s going to be discomfort with that.” New York also lost second baseman Neil Walker to a left leg injury , the latest issue to befall a team hampered by a long list of health problems the past two seasons. But replacement Lucas Duda hit a three-run homer off Hector Rondon in the eighth, and T.J. Rivera capped the outburst with an RBI single for his third hit. With sluggers Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto on the bench to begin the game, the resurgent Mets came back from a 4-1 deficit and took two of three from the World Series champions heading into a pivotal four-game series against NL East-leading Washington. New York (30-34) has won five of six overall. “This is a big win for us, especially going into tomorrow night,” manager Terry Collins said. Granderson received a standing ovation and came out for a curtain call after connecting in the eighth off Carl Edwards Jr. (2-1). The veteran outfielder had the souvenir ball from home run No. 300 in his locker after the game. Jerry Blevins (4-0) struck out three of his four batters, and Addison Reed retired Rizzo with the bases loaded for the final out. Juan Lagares hit a tying triple on an 0-2 pitch from Pedro Strop with two outs in the sixth, the start of a meltdown by Chicago’s bullpen. The Cubs (32-33) hit back-to-back homers to begin the game but played some sloppy defense and lost for the eighth time in their past nine visits to Citi Field, including the 2015 NL Championship Series. “There’s a certain unpredictability about us. That’s why we’re a .500 ballclub right now,” manager Joe Maddon said. “I believe in our group, but we have to prove it on the field. Very simple.” Chicago has dropped six of eight following a five-game winning streak. “We developed guys last year and won the World Series. No team has ever done that, I don’t think,” Rizzo said. “So, you’ve got to take your lumps.” Cubs rookie Ian Happ, who hit a grand slam Tuesday night, followed Rizzo’s leadoff shot with his seventh home run and Chicago had a 2-0 lead after seven pitches. Schwarber’s 467-foot shot over the Shea Bridge, a walkway for Citi Field fans above and beyond the bullpens in right-center, made it 4-1 in the fourth. LEADING MAN Batting leadoff Tuesday for the first time in his career, Rizzo homered on Zack Wheeler’s second pitch to spark a 14-3 rout by the Cubs. The 240-pound slugger did himself one better this time, connecting on the first pitch from Harvey and prompting excited high-fives from giddy teammates in the dugout. “I am statistically the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time,” Rizzo said. “I would like to retire there just to talk smack to everyone that tries to do it.” BIG STICK With the bases loaded in the fourth and the Mets short on the bench, Collins sent up pitcher Steven Matz to pinch hit for Harvey. Matz legged out an RBI infield single off starter Mike Montgomery, and Lagares trimmed it to 4-3 with a sacrifice fly. TRAINER’S ROOM Cubs: 2B-OF Ben Zobrist (left wrist) was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game but available to pinch hit, Maddon said. After a day off Thursday, the team hopes Zobrist can start Friday night in Pittsburgh. If not, the disabled list could become a consideration. … RHP Kyle Hendricks (hand tendinitis) was scheduled to have a second MRI. Mets: Walker pulled up lame trying to beat out a bunt in the third inning and will have an MRI on Thursday. Duda entered in the fourth at first base, with Rivera shifting from first to second. And it appears the Mets once again will hold off on calling up hot-hitting shortstop prospect Amed Rosario from Triple-A Las Vegas: Second baseman Gavin Cecchini was scratched from the 51s lineup after Walker got hurt. UP NEXT Cubs: Begin a three-game series Friday night in Pittsburgh with RHP Eddie Butler (3-2, 4.03 ERA) on the mound against Pirates rookie RHP Trevor Williams (3-3, 5.13). Mets: With the Mets using a six-man rotation during a long stretch between days off, rookie RHP Robert Gsellman (5-3, 4.95 ERA) gets another start Thursday night in the series opener against Washington. Gsellman threw 6 2/3 shutout innings Saturday in Atlanta and has won a career-best three straight outings. He faces Nationals LHP Gio Gonzalez (5-1, 2.91), who is 9-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 14 starts at Citi Field — including a 3-1 win over Jacob deGrom on April 22 during Washington’s three-game sweep. ___ More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

YORK, Pa. (AP) — When she walks onto a golf course as one of the few black women on the links, Sandra Harrison fills with pride and hopes her play will dispel stereotypes and disarm her fellow players — who are often white and male. What she felt playing at the Grandview Golf Club as a new member in her community could not have been more opposite, Harrison said. The 59-year-old retiree said she was traumatized, rattled and hurt after she said she and the group of black women she was playing with were run off the course before police were called when a white man claimed the women were playing too slowly. “It was like we were playing with targets on our backs,” Harrison said. “What other reason could there be other than we were guilty of being black while golfing?” No charges were filed, but the confrontation Saturday touched a raw nerve after two other somewhat similar incidents. Two black men in Philadelphia were handcuffed and arrested on April 12 after a Starbucks employee called police because they hadn’t bought anything in the store. And employees of an LA Fitness in New Jersey wrongly accused a black member and his guest of not paying to work out and called police, prompting an apology from the company. Harrison and Sandra Thompson said they were at the second hole when representatives of the Grandview Golf Club told the group they were playing too slowly. “We knew we snapped those balls and moved right ahead,” Thompson said in an interview with The Associated Press. According to Thompson, one of the other women said she was confronted by a man with a posturing, aggressive demeanor who said, “You need to move forward! I’m the owner!” Not wanting to lose the day, the group attempted to power through the front nine, Harrison said, but the confrontations made them increasingly upset and unable to concentrate on the game. After the ninth hole, three of the women dropped out and headed home. “I said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,'” Harrison said. “I was traumatized.” Down to two players, Thompson figured she and her partner could continue without being bothered. Again, they were approached. The message this time: “Get off our property.” The women were informed the police had been called. After they were questioned, police declined to proceed further. Thompson said she was offered a check refunding her membership, but refused. On Sunday, club co-owner JJ Chronister told the York Daily Record she called the women personally to “sincerely apologize.” On Monday, she issued a second statement to the newspaper saying players who are slow typically leave the course when asked by club personnel. “In this instance, the members refused to leave so we called police to ensure an amicable result,” the statement reads. It says the women skipped holes and took an extended break. “During the second conversation we asked members to leave as per our policy noted on the scorecard, voices escalated, and police were called to ensure an amicable resolution,” it reads. It’s part of golf etiquette that slow-moving players let groups behind them play through if they are holding things up, and often golf courses have employees who monitor the pace of play, letting golfers know when they are taking too long. The five are part of a larger group of local women known as Sisters in the Fairway. The group has been around for at least a decade, and all of its members are experienced players who have golfed all over the country and world. They’re very familiar with golf etiquette. “Our name implies that we want to live life in a fair way,” Harrison said. We want to be sisters in the fairway, in golf and in life.” Normally, clubs don’t allow groups larger than four. Sandra Thompson was the last member to arrive, and checked with a clerk to see if it was OK to join the four others, knowing a fifth member might be an issue. The clerk said it was fine, said Thompson, an attorney and president of the York branch of the NAACP. Thompson posted a video on her Facebook page showing the interaction with club co-owner Jordan Chronister, his father, former York County Commissioner Steve Chronister, and several other white, male employees. In it, Jordan Chronister tells the women he’s been timing them and that they must leave the premises. The women respond that they took an appropriate break and that the men behind them were still on their beer break and not ready to tee off. The women are then told that the police have been called. And so they wait. Northern York County Regional Police arrived, conducted interviews and left without charging anyone. “We were called there for an issue, the issue did not warrant any charges,” Northern York County Regional Police Chief Mark Bentzel told the York Daily Record. JJ Chronister, who owns the club with her husband Jordan Chronister, told the newspaper Sunday that she called the women personally to apologize. She said she hopes to meet with them to discuss how the club can use what happened as a learning experience and do better in the future. ___ AP writer Alexandra Villarreal contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police are set to announce charges against a dozen Turkish security agents who were involved in a violent altercation when Turkey’s president visited Washington last month, a U.S. official said Wednesday. The DC police are expected to say that seven men are being charged for felonies, and another five for misdemeanors. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and spoke only on condition of anonymity ahead of a Thursday news conference that includes Washington’s mayor and police chief. The action is likely to exacerbate what has become a major irritant in U.S.-Turkish ties. Relations were severely strained even before the May 16 clash, which happened as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived at the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington after a White House meeting with President Donald Trump. The NATO allies are still at odds over a U.S. decision to arm Syrian Kurdish rebels fighting the Islamic State group in Syria. Turkey considers the fighters to be an extension the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey known as the PKK, and claims without evidence that protesters who showed up during Erdogan’s visit to Washington last week were themselves associated with the group. U.S. officials have said law-abiding Americans were affected. Erdogan’s security detail returned with him to Turkey after his visit, so it is unclear if any will face legal repercussions in the United States. However, they could end up being threatened with arrest if they return to the U.S. If any are still in the country, they could be expelled if Turkey refuses to waive diplomatic immunity. Video of the protest showed security guards and some Erdogan supporters attacking a small group of protesters with their fists and feet. Men in dark suits and others were recorded repeatedly kicking one woman as she lay curled on a sidewalk. Another wrenched a woman’s neck and threw her to the ground. A man with a bullhorn was repeatedly kicked in the face. After police officers struggled to protect the protesters and ordered the men in suits to retreat, several of the men dodged the officers and ran into the park to continue the attacks. In all, nine people were hurt. Earlier Wednesday, police said two men were arrested for their role in the fracas. The Metropolitan Police Department said in a brief statement that Sinan Narin had been arrested in Virginia on an aggravated assault charge. It said Eyup Yildirim had been arrested in New Jersey on charges of assault with significant bodily injury and aggravated assault. Yildirim made his first appearance before Federal Magistrate James Clarke in Newark, N.J., who ordered him held without bail pending his next court date in Washington. Public defender David Holman sought home confinement, arguing that Yildirim wasn’t a flight risk and had never been convicted of anything before. Clarke said he was less concerned with him being a possible flight risk and more concerned about the nature of the crime. Holman told the judge that Yildirim has received death threats because of the case. He said Yildirim is a business owner with three kids and ties to the local community. Prosecutors told the judge Yildirim had been arrested twice in the late 90s on simple assault charges, but the charges were later dismissed. Narin and Yildirim were both participants in the protests, according to a U.S. official familiar with the case. On the day of the violence, police detained two members of Erdogan’s security detail but released them shortly afterward. Two other men were arrested at the scene — one for aggravated assault and the other for assaulting a police officer. The U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly to the matter and demanded anonymity, said DC police had identified 34 of 42 people who were involved in the fight, and are seeking their arrests. Police are expected to release photos of the other eight possible suspects and appeal to the public for information on their identities, the official said. American officials strongly criticized Turkey’s government and Erdogan’s security forces for the violence; the State Department summoned Turkey’s U.S. ambassador to complain. The Turkish Foreign Ministry then summoned America’s ambassador to address about the treatment of the detained security guards. Turkey’s U.S. embassy alleged the demonstrators were associated with the PKK, which has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against Turkey and is considered a terrorist group by the United States. Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said they chanted anti-Erdogan slogans, and that the Turkish president’s team moved in to disperse them because “police did not heed to Turkish demands to intervene.” The Turkish Embassy claimed the demonstrators were “aggressively provoking Turkish-American citizens who had peacefully assembled to greet the president. The Turkish-Americans responded in self-defense and one of them was seriously injured.” ___ David Porter in Newark contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New Yorker magazine says it has cut ties with its well-known political reporter Ryan Lizza for alleged sexual misconduct. A New Yorker spokeswoman said Monday that the magazine recently learned Lizza had “engaged in what we believe was improper sexual conduct.” A CNN spokeswoman says Lizza will not appear on the cable news network, where he is a contributor, while it looks into the matter. Lizza says in an emailed statement that the magazine’s decision was a “terrible mistake” and that he is “dismayed” that it was characterizing a “respectful relationship with a woman I dated as somehow inappropriate.” Lizza is known for a memorable interview with Anthony Scaramucci , in which the former White House communications director bashed colleagues in vulgar language. Scaramucci was ousted shortly afterward.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The Latest on xxxxxxx (all times local): Relatives dug through the mud in search of their loved ones and a morgue overflowed with bodies Monday after heavy rains and flooding early in the day killed at least 200 people in Sierra Leone’s capital. Bodies were spread out on the floor of a morgue, Sinneh Kamara, a coroner technician at the Connaught Hospital mortuary, told the national broadcaster. “The capacity at the mortuary is too small for the corpses,” he told the Sierra Leone National Broadcasting Corp. Kamara urged the health department to deploy more ambulances, saying his mortuary only has four. Sierra Leone’s national television broadcaster interrupted its regular programming to show scenes of people trying to retrieve their loved ones’ bodies. Others were seen carting relatives’ remains in rice sacks to the morgue. Military personnel have been deployed to help in the rescue operation currently ongoing, officials said. Many of the impoverished areas of Sierra Leone’s capital are close to sea level and have poor drainage systems, exacerbating flooding during the West African country’s rainy season.

It was a rough day for the already-roiled U.S. health insurance market: One giant merger was abandoned, another is threatened by infighting, and a major insurer announced it will stop selling coverage on public exchanges in 11 states. Both merger deals had already been rejected by federal regulators and judges, but the companies were considering appeals to those decisions. Now they both appear to be off. Aetna said it was abandoning its planned $34 billion purchase of Medicare Advantage provider Humana early Tuesday. Then, later in the day, Cigna said it is suing Anthem to kill a $48 billion acquisition bid. The deals were conceived as a way to help the insurers increase their enrollment and cut down on expenses in part so they could operate profitably in the public insurance exchanges established as part of the Affordable Care Act. Big insurers have been hit with substantial losses from the exchanges, even though they represent a relatively small part of their overall business. Many have already cut back their offerings, and that has slashed customer choices in many markets around the country. The collapse of one deal and the uncertain future of the other could hurt shoppers on the exchanges next year by leaving them with even fewer options and potentially higher prices. Humana told investors late Tuesday that it was abandoning it exchanges in all 11 of its states as of the beginning of next year. Humana, based in Louisville, Kentucky, was the only insurer on exchanges in 16 Tennessee counties, according to data compiled at the start of the 2017 open enrollment period by the Associated Press and health care consulting firm Avalere. That means customers in those counties may have no way to buy coverage with help from government tax credits next year unless another insurer decides to enter those markets. Every exchange in the U.S. had at least one insurer selling coverage on it for 2017, according to Larry Levitt of the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies health care issues. Morningstar insurance analyst Vishnu Lekraj said it’s possible all the four insurers involved in the deals could leave the exchanges. Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini raised that possibility months ago. He said that if his company’s planned, was blocked, “we believe it is very likely that we would need to leave the public exchange business entirely,” according to court documents filed in that case. Aetna, based in Hartford, Connecticut, says it lost $450 million last year on ACA-compliant coverage, while the company booked an overall profit of $2.27 billion. Its loss on ACA-compliant business was $100 million more than it expected. Bertolini said recently that his company would announce by April 1 whether it will remain in any of its exchanges. “We’re looking at everything,” he said. Government and industry officials have said President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans are weighing measures to stabilize the wobbly exchanges. Insurers have been pushing them to act soon. “The clock is definitely ticking for the Trump admin to provide some clarity around what the rules will be,” Levitt said. In suing to end its tie-up, Cigna, based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, it wants more than $13 billion in damages from its onetime-companion Anthem, the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer, which is based in Indianapolis. Cigna says it is seeking a $1.85 billion termination fee from Anthem and billions more in damages for what it says were Anthem’s breaches of the merger agreement. The insurer says the damages include the amount Cigna shareholders would have received if the merger had not failed. It noted that Anthem assumed full responsibility for litigation strategy and getting the necessary regulatory approvals, suggesting that it was Anthem’s responsibility to push the deal through. “Cigna fulfilled all of its contractual obligations and fully cooperated with Anthem throughout the approval process,” the insurer said in a statement. An Anthem spokeswoman says Cigna has no right to end the deal, and it remains committed to closing the transaction. The insurer had just filed on Monday paperwork to appeal the federal court ruling. Anthem and Aetna put their acquisition bids together in 2015 and touted them as a way to grow enrollment and reap savings that they would then pass on to consumers. The deal would have given Aetna the opportunity to significantly expand its presence in Medicare Advantage coverage, which involves privately run versions of the federal Medicare program for people who are over 65 or disabled. But the Department of Justice had sued last summer to stop the deals, due to concerns about how they may affect prices and consumer choices. Federal judges then rejected the acquisitions in separate rulings filed earlier this year. The deals would have combined four of the nations’ five largest insurers. UnitedHealth Group is the largest. ___ AP Data Journalist Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

PARIS (AP) — The Latest from the French Open (all times local): ___ 3:50 p.m. Jeremy Chardy first wasted a two-set lead and then bounced back to beat 17th-seeded Tomas Berdych to reach the second round of the French Open. Chardy led by two sets when their match was stopped by darkness on Tuesday, but Berdych mounted a comeback when they returned. Chardy played well in the decider and broke Berdych twice to advance with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), 1-6, 5-7, 6-2 win. “At two sets all, it was difficult in my head, and physically, too,” said Chardy, who had never beaten Berdych in five previous matches. “I fought hard, all my body was shaking.” ___ 3:25 p.m. Former French Open champion Novak Djokovic posted another straight-set win to reach the third round of the clay-court tournament. Facing Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar, the Serb delivered a solid display to prevail 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 and move into the third round for the 13th time. Djokovic, who underwent right elbow surgery earlier this year, is the 20th-seeded player in Paris, his lowest Grand Slam seeding since the 2006 U.S. Open. ___ 3:10 p.m. The Williams sisters are back in Grand Slam doubles action for the first time in nearly two years. A day after Serena Williams made her return to singles play at a major following a 16-month absence, winning her first-round match at the French Open, she is out on Court 3 at Roland Garros alongside her older sister, Venus. They are facing the 14th-seeded pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato of Japan. The American siblings, owners of 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, received a wild-card entry. They haven’t played doubles together at a major since winning Wimbledon in 2016. Serena Williams hadn’t competed at any Grand Slam tournament since the Australian Open in January 2017. She gave birth to a daughter last September. ___ 1:20 p.m. Marco Trungelliti’s long, strange trip as a French Open “lucky loser” has come to an end with a second-round exit. Trungelliti is the 190th-ranked Argentine who headed home to Barcelona after losing in qualifying at Roland Garros, then drew headlines for making the 10-hour, 650-mile (1,000-kilometer) drive back to Paris in a rental car with his 88-year-old grandmother, mother and brother once he found out he could get into the main draw. He then won his first-round match. But Trungelliti was beaten Wednesday by 72nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-1 in a match that lasted just under 2 hours. Still, Trungelliti leaves with 79,000 euros (about $90,000) in prize money — and a great story to tell. ___ 12:50 p.m. Top-ranked Simona Halep put aside a terrible start and came back to claim 12 of the last 14 games, beating 83rd-ranked Alison Riske of the United States 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the second round of the French Open. It was the last match of the tournament’s opening round. Halep, the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2014 and a year ago, played poorly in the first set, with only four winners and 16 unforced errors. But she had 16 winners and 12 unforced errors the rest of the way, while Riske made more and more mistakes. ___ 12:30 p.m. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is through to the third round of the French Open, making light work of 91st-ranked Lara Arruabarrena of Spain in a 6-0, 6-4 win on Court 1. The eighth-seeded Kvitova lost in the second round last year when she was coming back to the tour after a knife attack in her home in 2016 that left her needing surgery on her left hand, her playing hand. The Czech player made the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2012. ___ 12:20 p.m. Simona Halep has turned things around in her first-round match at the French Open and is headed to a third set against 83rd-ranked Alison Riske of the United States. After dropping the first set 6-2 at Court Philippe Chatrier, Halep grabbed 19 of the first 22 points en route to a 5-0 lead in the second, which she eventually took 6-1. Halep, the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2014 and a year ago, cleaned up her game in the second set, with only five unforced errors after making 16 in the opener. Riske, meanwhile, had only two winners and 12 unforced errors in the second set. ___ 12 p.m. Top-seeded Simona Halep is in trouble in her weather-delayed first-round match at the French Open, losing the first set 6-2 to 83rd-ranked Alison Riske of the United States. Riske raced to a 5-0 lead and then broke Halep again in the eighth game to take the set. In their only previous meeting on clay, in Rome in 2015, Halep dropped only three games in a 6-3, 6-0 victory. But Riske is giving the Romanian a far tougher test this time. ___ 11:20 a.m. Play is underway on Day 4 of the French Open, with top-seeded Simona Halep facing 83rd-ranked Alison Riske of the United States in the last remaining match of the women’s first round. The encounter on Court Philippe-Chatrier was postponed from Tuesday amid gathering evening storms. Halep, a two-time finalist at Roland Garros, needs to reach the semifinals or better this year to have a chance of holding onto her No. 1 ranking. She won both of her previous matches against Riske. On the men’s side, 2016 champion Novak Djokovic will face qualifier Jaume Munar of Spain in the second round. The second-seeded players in both the men’s and women’s draws, Alexander Zverev and Caroline Wozniacki, will also be in action. ___ More AP tennis coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis

MIAMI (AP) — The families of six Americans kidnapped and killed in Colombia during the 1990s by the terrorist organization known as FARC are seeking potentially tens of millions of dollars in damages from banana giant Chiquita Brands International because of payments the company made to the group. Trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection Monday in West Palm Beach federal court in lawsuits that accuse Chiquita of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act. Chiquita has admitted paying FARC — the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — about $220,000 but insists it did so only to protect its employees and interests from violence. One $10,000 payment to the guerrillas was hidden in a spare tire on the back of a Jeep, according to court documents. The families claim Chiquita’s financial support of FARC, as a known terrorist group, means it should be held responsible for the Americans’ deaths and pay damages. The families must prove that Chiquita executives knew FARC was engaged in violent terror acts that could affect Americans and that the deaths of their loved ones were foreseeable when the payments were made, said plaintiffs’ attorney Gary Osen. “These are folks who have been through an enormous amount in their lives. They’ve waited 10 years for their day in court,” Osen said. In a statement issued in January, Switzerland-based Chiquita said its only motivation in paying FARC was protecting its own employees from violence. “We have been clear that, at all times, the company prioritized the safety of its employees and their families, and acted accordingly,” the statement said. FARC and other paramilitary groups were engaged in a decades-long civil war in Colombia that took thousands of lives. The bloodshed finally ended in 2016 when a peace accord was signed. Chiquita also admitted paying $1.7 million to a right-wing group opposed to FARC, eventually pleading guilty in 2007 to a U.S. crime and paying a $25 million fine. It was only after that case became public that family members of the six Americans slain by FARC learned that Chiquita had also paid FARC, leading to the lawsuits. Five of the Americans killed by FARC were members of a missionary group based in Sanford, Florida, called New Tribes Mission: David Mankins, Rich Tenenoff, Mark Rich, Stephen Welsh and Timothy Van Dyke. The sixth, Frank Pescatore Jr., was a geologist for an Alabama company working on a project in Colombia who was shot trying to escape his kidnappers, according to court documents. Tania Julin of Winter Springs, Florida, was married to Rich the night he was kidnapped on Jan. 31, 1993 in the village of Pucuro, Panama, about 15 miles from the Colombian border. She said armed men burst into their home — where their two young daughters were sleeping — tied Rich up and ordered he, Mankins and Tenenoff to march into the jungle. She never saw her husband again. “It was so terrifying. I just never imagined. It was so out of the blue and unexpected. I was only 23 years old, with two little kids,” said Julin, who now teaches kindergarten. “I was just terrified of what might happen and so confused about why anyone would do this to us. We were only there to help people.” “I have never been so afraid in all of my life.” Later, FARC demanded a $5 million ransom for the three, but it soon became apparent the men had likely been killed, Julin said. It took years for the families to find out for sure, and they never received any remains. “The years of not knowing were so difficult. Christmases would go by and the one thing the girls wanted for Christmas was for their dad to come home. It was lots of years of disappointing heartaches and hard to watch to girls grow up without their dad,” she said. Well before their deaths in the 1990s, Chiquita had established about 35 banana farms in the Uraba region of Colombia that employed about 3,000 people. It was well known that FARC was active in the area and routinely used extortion and threats to obtain payments from people and businesses — a practice called “vacuna,” which is Spanish for “vaccine.” FARC’s initial payment demand from Chiquita came in 1989, when the group sought $10,000. Court papers show Chiquita executives decided to make the payment, the first of 57 it would give to FARC over the next decade. A consulting company called Control Risks that worked with Chiquita outlined the dire nature of the issue in a memo at the time, court documents show: “You have to pay. These people are serious. The military is not able to control them,” the memo said. “You can’t just turn them in, give their names to someone. Because they will take retribution for that, and you can expect violence.” Ultimately, a Chiquita executive traveled to Colombia with $10,000 in cash, exchanged it for Colombian pesos and arranged to deliver the money hidden in the Jeep spare tire to a FARC guerrilla, court documents show. Despite their insistence the money was paid to protect employees, Chiquita executives at the time discussed it in terms of a cost of doing business — and the company had no intention then of ending its banana operations in Colombia, the documents show. “We’re not going to stop doing business in Colombia because, you know, we’re going to have to spend an extra $25,000. That’s not realistic. Right?” one executive was quoted as saying. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, who will preside over the estimated four-week trial, ruled in January that Chiquita cannot use a defense that the payments were made solely under duress. “There is no evidence of a specific ultimatum or threat from a FARC commander at any time during the nine-year continuum in which it paid money to the FARC,” Marra wrote. “Chiquita had reasonable, legal alternatives to maintaining and expanding its fruit operations in Colombia. It could have withdrawn and could have sought government intervention in Colombia or the United States.” Although the lawsuit asks for no specific damages, plaintiffs’ attorney Osen says other similar cases have resulted in verdicts in the tens of millions of dollars — in part because any damages awarded are automatically tripled. “Family members of terror victims suffer uniquely because of the shocking and unexpected nature and the malice and cruelty involved,” Osen said. Julin said after all this time she is anxious but also optimistic now that the case is heading for trial. “I finally am going to get my day in court,” she said. “There’s a sense of a little bit of nerves but a sense of some wrongs being made amends for.” _____ Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — In chilling cellphone videos released Wednesday, the suspect in February’s massacre at a Florida high school announcing his intention to become the next school shooter, aiming to kill at least 20 people and saying “you’re all going to die.” The three videos released by prosecutors were found on the cellphone of suspect Nikolas Cruz after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people and injured 17 others. Cruz, wearing a ball cap, introduces himself in the first video and says he is “going to be the next school shooter of 2018.” He goes on to say that he wants to use an AR-15 to kill at least 20 people and specifies the high school in Parkland. The videos are undated, but on one he says, “Today is the day. Today it all begins. The day of my massacre shall begin.” “When you see me on the news, you’ll all know who I am,” he says in another and then laughs. “You’re all going to die. … Can’t wait.” In a second video, Cruz briefly discusses logistics, including that he will take Uber to campus about 2:40. He then says he’ll walk onto campus, go up some stairs, open his bag to take out his weapon and start firing. School surveillance video shows that was almost exactly what he did —the only difference being that he arrived at the school at 2:19 p.m. In the third video, the camera apparently pointed at pavement, he talks about his loneliness, anger and hatred, and announces that the “day of my massacre shall begin.” “I live a lone life. I live in seclusion and solitude. I hate everyone and everything. But the power of my AR you will all know who I am. I had enough of being told what to do and when to do,” he says. “I had enough of being told what to do and when to do. I had enough of being told that I’m an idiot and a dumbass. You’re all stupid and brainwashed by the political and government programs.” He also referenced a former girlfriend, saying “I hope to see you in the afterlife.” Cruz, 19, is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the attack. His lawyers have repeatedly said Cruz would plead guilty if guaranteed a sentence of life without parole, but prosecutors refuse to waive the death penalty. Cruz is a former Stoneman Douglas student. The Broward State Attorney’s Office released the video because under Florida law, with few exceptions, evidence becomes a public record when it is turned over to the defendant’s attorneys as part of the pretrial discovery process. Cruz’s attorneys say they did not request evidence such as video from inside the building where the massacre happened and autopsy reports so they would not become public and “further hurt and inflame the victims’ families and the community.” “This is an awful case and today is more of that awfulness and further shows how severely broken a human being the defendant is,” Broward County Public Defender Howard Finklestein, whose office is representing Cruz, said in a statement. Cruz spent several years at a school for children with emotional disabilities before being allowed to transfer into Stoneman Douglas. He spent several months there before being kicked out. His late mother also called 911 on him almost 20 times over the years and he had a history of killing animals then posting images on the internet and taking body parts as souvenirs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicaid, a 1960s Great Society pillar long reviled by conservatives, seems to have emerged even stronger after the Republican failure to pass health overhaul legislation. The federal-state health insurance program for low-income Americans hasn’t achieved the status of Social Security and Medicare, considered practically untouchable by politicians, like an electrified “third rail.” But it has grown to cover about 1 in 5 U.S. residents, ranging from newborns to Alzheimer’s patients in nursing homes, and even young adults trying to shake addiction. Middle-class working people are now more likely to personally know someone who’s covered. Increased participation — and acceptance — means any new GOP attempt to address problems with the Affordable Care Act would be unlikely to achieve deep Medicaid cuts. “This was an important moment to show that people do understand and appreciate what Medicaid does,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, a nonpartisan group that represents state officials. “The more people understand what Medicaid is and what it does for them, the less interested they are in seeing it undermined.” With Republicans in control of the White House, both chambers of Congress, and 34 out of 50 governorships, it would have been hard to imagine a more politically advantageous alignment for a conservative overhaul of Medicaid. President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover more low-income adults, many of them working jobs without health insurance. Thirty-one states have accepted the ACA’s expansion, covering about 11 million people. The GOP bills would have phased out funding for the Obama expansion, but they also placed a limit on future federal spending for the entire program — a step now seen as overreach. The per-beneficiary spending caps in the House and Senate bills translated to deep cuts that divided Republicans. Also, GOP governors who had expanded the program couldn’t swallow the idea of denying coverage to hundreds of thousands of constituents. Some Republican governors went public with their opposition, while others quietly warned their congressional delegations about dire consequences. “I think there is a recognition among many that Medicaid is not just a welfare program but an underpinning of our social system,” said Diane Rowland of the Kaiser Family Foundation. An AP-NORC poll taken last month found the public overwhelmingly opposed to GOP Medicaid cuts, by 62-22. “You just can’t do this to people who are in situations that they didn’t put themselves in,” said Sara Hayden of Half Moon Bay, California. Unable to work as a data journalist due to complications of rheumatoid arthritis, she was able to get health insurance when her state expanded Medicaid. Hayden estimates that one of the medications she takes for the disease would cost about $16,000 a month if she were uninsured. She pays nothing with Medi-Cal, as the Medicaid program is known in California. “If they are going to repeal and replace, then I am dead in the water,” she said. Brian Kline of Quakertown, Pennsylvania, works as a customer service representative, and got coverage after his state expanded Medicaid in 2015. Early last year he was diagnosed with colon cancer following a colonoscopy. After treatment that Medicaid paid for, his last CT scan was clear. “You just wonder if the Republican bill had passed…what would have happened to me?” said Kline. “Would I have had access to my doctors and the tests to make sure my cancer didn’t come back? I’m not sure what the answer to that question would have been.” Many Republicans view Obama’s Medicaid expansion as promoting wasteful spending, because the federal government pays no less than 90 percent of the cost of care, a higher matching rate than Washington provides for the rest of the program. “That is not a good recipe for encouraging states to implement better, lower-cost models of care,” said Mark McClellan, who oversaw Medicare and Medicaid under former President George W. Bush. Nonetheless, the debate showed Congress can’t just elbow its way to a Medicaid overhaul. ‘You are going to have to be gentle and thoughtful, working in a bipartisan way to see what ideas will reach across the aisle,” said Republican economist Gail Wilensky, also a former Medicare and Medicaid administrator. The push for Medicaid changes will now shift to the states. Some on the political right are seeking federal approval for work requirements and drug testing. But activists in the 19 states that have not yet expanded their programs are contemplating revived campaigns. An area that could find bipartisan support is health promotion, since Medicaid beneficiaries tend to have higher rates of smoking and other harmful lifestyle factors. Katherine Hempstead, who directs health insurance research for the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says Medicaid has come out a “winner” in the debate. “Medicaid has shown itself to be very much appreciated by a broader constituency than we might have originally thought,” she said. “And that is an important takeaway.”

Syrian TV: President Bashar Assad met with Vladimir Putin at Hmeimeem base in Syria this morning

MIAMI (AP) — James Johnson scored a career-high 31 points, Kelly Olynyk added 30 off the bench and the Miami Heat set a franchise single-game scoring record by beating the Denver Nuggets 149-141 in double overtime Monday night. Miami’s total was also an NBA season-high and helped the Heat get back to the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Houston and Oklahoma City each scored 148 in games earlier this season. Wayne Ellington scored 29 points for the Heat. Nikola Jokic had 34 for Denver, while Wilson Chandler added 26 for the Nuggets. “That was as playoffs as it comes right there,” Olynyk said. The NBA’s stat system crashed late in the first overtime, and crews were scrambling to determine the final numbers long after the buzzer. All that ultimately mattered was the score — one that moved the Heat closer to a playoff berth and left the Nuggets two games back in the Western Conference race. Neither team was at full strength. For Miami, Dwyane Wade (left hamstring strain) missed his fourth consecutive game, and Hassan Whiteside (left hip pain) sat out his fifth straight contest. Denver was without leading scorer Gary Harris, sidelined again by a strained right knee that could keep him out several more days. Denver led 16-5 after 3 1/2 minutes, and that was the only double-digit lead by either side for about the next three hours. It was airtight until the very final moments, almost to an absurd degree. After one quarter, Denver led by one. Halftime, Miami led by one. After three, Miami still by one. After regulation, tied. After one overtime, still tied. Back and forth they went all night, two teams who played a one-point game at Denver back in November — that one not being decided until Dion Waiters’ missed jumper as time expired sealed the Nuggets’ win — and now are fighting with playoffs in mind. The Heat are essentially playing for a seed; the Nuggets are playing for a berth. Denver led by six midway through the fourth before Miami used a 10-2 run to reclaim the lead. Nikola Jokic tied it for Denver with 10 seconds left in regulation, Josh Richardson missed for Miami at the end and to overtime they went tied at 118. The Heat thought they merited a trip to the line when Johnson missed at the end of the first overtime, but no whistle came. So in the second overtime, they seized control and outscored the Nuggets 18-10 in the final five minutes. Wayne Ellington rattled in a 3-pointer to start the second extra session, and the Heat didn’t trail again. TIP-INS Nuggets: Including the franchise’s ABA days, all 28 previous Nuggets teams to finish .500 or better made the playoffs. … Denver fell to 19-5 in games where it scores at least 115 points. The Nuggets are now 17-30 when allowing more than 105. Heat: It was the highest-scoring first four quarters of an overtime game in Heat history. The previous before-OT high was 115 at Golden State on Dec. 1, 2008. … A pregame moment of silence was held for the six victims of last week’s bridge collapse near Florida International University. … The previous scoring record was 141 points, done twice. NEVER FORGET The Heat continue paying tributes to the 17 victims of the shooting last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and several players spent their day off Sunday at the Parkland Rec League Basketball Championship, honoring the lives of victims Joaquin Oliver, Luke Hoyer and Alex Schacter by announcing scholarships in their names — as well as a $500,000 donation. ROAD TRIP This seven-game trip for the Nuggets is their longest since a seven-gamer in the 2011-12 season. As if a late-season two-week trip wasn’t tough enough, Denver’s remaining schedule is brutal; after visiting Chicago on Wednesday, the Nuggets will have 10 games left — all against teams currently in the playoff mix. TOURNEY TIME There’s serious NCAA talk in the Heat locker room, with many players seeing their schools in the Sweet 16. The Heat-backed teams — Kentucky (Bam Adebayo), Duke (Justise Winslow), Nevada (Luke Babbitt), Kansas State (Rodney McGruder), Gonzaga (Kelly Olynyk), Syracuse (Dion Waiters) and Michigan (Derrick Walton Jr.). UP NEXT Nuggets: Visit Chicago on Wednesday. Heat: Host New York on Wednesday. ___ More AP basketball: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

A look at what’s happening all around the majors Thursday: ___ SURGING SALE Red Sox ace Chris Sale goes for his eighth straight win and ninth of the season in the finale of a three-game series at Philadelphia. It would tie Sale, 7-0 in his last eight starts, with Houston’s Dallas Keuchel (9-0), Kansas City’s Jason Vargas (9-3) and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw (9-2) for the major league lead in wins. STAYING UNBEATEN Colorado rookie Jeff Hoffman will look for his fifth straight win when the Rockies host San Francisco in the opener of a seven-game homestand. Hoffman is 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA in four starts. SIXTH MAN With the New York Mets using a six-man rotation during a long stretch between days off, Robert Gsellman gets another start in the opener of a four-game series against NL East-leading Washington. After making two relief appearances, the rookie right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in four starts. He faces Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez, who is 9-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 14 starts at Citi Field. FIRST START Matt Strahm makes his first career start in the opener of Kansas City’s four-game series at the Los Angeles Angels. The left-hander was 1-3 with a 4.05 ERA in 20 appearances out of the bullpen this season. ___ More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies and Congress will continue to investigate Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election, even after President Donald Trump fired his national security adviser for providing inaccurate accounts of his contacts with the Russian ambassador last year. Democrats said an independent investigation was the best way to answer questions about the Trump administration’s ties to Russia. But Republican leaders continue to refuse to consider that option and said three congressional investigations underway were enough. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired late Monday. The White House said he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. This isn’t the first time Trump has distanced himself from an adviser in light of relationships with Moscow. In late August, Paul Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign chairman after disclosures by The Associated Press about his firm’s covert lobbying on behalf of Ukraine’s former pro-Russia governing political party. Trump has long held a friendly posture toward the long-time U.S. adversary and has been reluctant to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin, even for Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014. “This isn’t simply about a change in policy toward Russia, as the administration would like to portray. It’s what’s behind that change in policy,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, one of the congressional bodies investigating. Under the Obama administration, U.S. intelligence agencies said Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the goal of electing Trump. Trump has acknowledged that Russia hacked Democratic emails but denies it was to help him win. The New York Times reported late Tuesday that members of Trump’s campaign, including Manafort, had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence officials during the year before the election. The U.S. knew about these contacts through phone records and intercepted calls, the Times said. Reached late Tuesday, Manafort told The Associated Press he has not been interviewed by the FBI about these alleged contacts. “I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today,” Manafort said. Officials who spoke with the Times anonymously said they had not yet seen any evidence of the Trump campaign cooperating with the Russians on hacking or other attempts to influence the election. The investigations and the unusual firing of the national security adviser just 24 days into his job have put Republicans in the awkward position of investigating the leader of their party. The congressional probes are ultimately in the hands of the Republican committee chairmen, and the executive branch’s investigation is now overseen by Trump appointees. Republican leaders focused on the idea that Flynn misled Pence about the nature of his contacts with the Russian ambassador — not on any questioning of the relationship between Flynn and the ambassador. Democrats said a key issue is whether Flynn broke diplomatic protocol and potentially the law by discussing U.S. sanctions with Moscow before Trump’s inauguration. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said the committee had not yet seen the transcripts of Flynn’s calls. The Justice Department had warned the White House late last month that Flynn could be at risk for blackmail because of contradictions between his public depictions of the calls with the Russian ambassador and what intelligence officials knew about the conversations. “You cannot have a national security adviser misleading the vice president and others,” said Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. California Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee, said he was concerned Flynn’s rights were violated in the interception of his conversations with the Russian ambassador. “I’m just shocked that nobody’s covering the real crime here,” Nunes said. “You have an American citizen who had his phone call recorded and then leaked to the media.” The FBI has wide legal authority to eavesdrop on the conversations of foreign intelligence targets, including diplomats, inside the U.S. Flynn did not concede any wrongdoing in his resignation letter, saying merely that he “inadvertently briefed the vice president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador.” While North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said much of the panel’s investigation will occur behind closed doors, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said he planned to push to make the findings and hearings public. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump did not direct Flynn to discuss U.S. sanctions with the Russians. “No, absolutely not,” Spicer said. ___ Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Erica Werner, Richard Lardner, Chad Day and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad is threatening to attack a region held by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria if talks fail to bring the area back under Damascus’ authority. Assad said in an interview with Russia Today television which aired on Thursday that the U.S. troops, who operate air bases and outposts in the Kurdish-administered region, will have to leave country. He says he has opened the door to negotiations with the Kurdish-run administration while also preparing to “liberate by force.” Forces loyal to Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran, and the Syrian Kurds have clashed sporadically over the eastern oil province of Deir el-Zour. They led rival fronts against Islamic State militants last year, and they maintain a protracted front against each other along the Euphrates River.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A judge has refused to overturn a decision to banish two sisters from their Roman Catholic school in New Jersey after a dispute over one of them wanting to play on the boys basketball team. Superior Court Judge Donald Kessler on Monday lashed out at the girls’ parents for making the dispute public and said the family didn’t cite any law that would allow the court to interfere with the religious school’s decision. Cardinal Joseph Tobin testified that he decided not to allow 13-year-old Sydney Phillips and her younger sister, Kaitlyn, to re-enroll because their parents’ behavior was not in the best interest of St. Theresa School in Kenilworth. The dispute began when Sydney Phillips wasn’t allowed to play on the boys’ team. The girls’ father said it was a “sad day to be a Catholic.”

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a breach of peace charge filed against conservative commentator Lucian Wintrich after a confrontation with protesters last month during an appearance at the University of Connecticut. Wintrich, the White House correspondent for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit, was charged after grabbing a woman who took his notes from the lectern as he prepared to give a speech titled “It’s OK To Be White.” That woman, 35-year-old Catherine Gregory, of Willimantic, turned herself in Sunday to face charges of attempted larceny and disorderly conduct. Gregory, who is free on a $1,000 bond, is due in court on Wednesday. Wintrich, who had argued that he had every right to retrieve his property, tweeted on Monday that justice was finally being served.