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  • World/Nation

    Supreme Court ruling imperils abortion laws in many states

    NEW YORK (AP) — By striking down tough abortion restrictions in Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court has emboldened abortion-rights activists nationwide and imperiled a range of anti-abortion laws in numerous states.

    Many anti-abortion leaders were openly disappointed, bracing for the demise of restrictions that they had worked vigorously to enact over the past few years.

    The Supreme Court has decided "the abortion industry will continue to reign unchecked as mothers are subjected to subpar conditions," said Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life.

    On the other side of the debate, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards hailed the ruling as "an enormous victory for women," and joined her abortion-rights allies in vowing to quickly seek gains beyond Texas.

    "Far too many women still face insurmountable barriers, which is why we are taking this fight state by state," she said. "It's time to pass state laws to protect a woman's constitutional right to abortion, and repeal ones that block it."

    EU pressures UK to trigger exit talks

    BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union ratcheted up pressure Tuesday on the U.K. to trigger negotiations to leave the bloc and end the uncertainty that has rattled stock markets.

    In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will use "all her strength" to prevent the EU from drifting apart in the wake of Britain's decision.

    At an emergency session in the European Parliament hours ahead of a summit of EU leaders, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on Britain to clarify its future, after Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that exit talks might not be launched before October.

    "I want the U.K. to clarify its position. Not today, not tomorrow at 9 a.m., but soon. We cannot allow ourselves to remain in a prolonged period of uncertainty," Juncker told EU lawmakers.

    Juncker said that he had banned policy commissioners under his command from holding any secret talks with Britain on its future until London triggers the exit clause known as Article 50 that launches negotiations on Britain's departure.

    UK business in limbo in face of years of Brexit uncertainty

    LONDON (AP) — The impact of Britain's vote to leave the European Union was swift and painful for Ed Bussey's small tech firm in London.

    The founder and CEO of Quill, an online content company, had been looking to fill a software development job paying 70,000 pounds ($95,000) a year that's been open for six months. He had a job interview set up with a promising candidate from EU member Italy on Friday — the day after the vote.

    "Because of what had happened on Thursday, he was not prepared to up sticks and move to London," Bussey said with chagrin. "He was saying: 'Look, I'm not sure I'm not going to get booted out in two years.'"

    Businesses in Britain already are seeing the impact of the seismic vote to have the country leave the other 27-nations in the trading bloc and strike out on its own. Companies large and small are feeling the shockwave which left Britain in uncharted waters, unclear of what the future will hold.

    Being part of the EU guarantees no tariffs on trade on goods and services and the free movement of workers, without the hassle of visas or work permits. Now that it is leaving, Britain will have to first negotiate its exit, which could take years, and then renegotiate new relations with Europe, which could take even longer.

    Trump's Muslim ban: From simple clarity to plain confusion

    NEW YORK (AP) — From the moment he first declared it, the plan has been a signature of his campaign for president: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."

    Yet from that first moment, the Republican White House candidate has evaded questions when pressed for details. Now that he's a presumptive nominee with sliding poll numbers, his spokeswoman says he's no longer seeking the ban at all.

    In its place, he's offering an approach based on a standard of terrorism that he and his campaign refuse to define.

    The ban idea originated with 28 direct and forceful words, issued immediately after the December shootings in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people. The blanket nature of the proposal, which appeared to stretch beyond immigration to include any member of the Muslim faith seeking to cross the U.S. border, provoked a flurry of questions.

    Would it apply to U.S. citizens traveling or living abroad? Members of the armed forces? What about foreign leaders seeking to visit the U.S., such as Jordan's King Abdullah II — a staunch American ally? Or Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai?

    How Clinton's and Trump's economic prescriptions clash

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Donald Trump will deliver a speech outlining his trade policies on Tuesday — a talk that is sure to underscore the stark differences between his approach and that of likely Democratic rival Hillary Clinton when it comes to handling the economy.

    Trump favors big tax cuts that mainly would help the rich. Clinton wants to boost taxes on high earners.

    Clinton wants to raise the minimum wage nationwide. Trump favors leaving it to the states.

    Trump sees a middle class crushed by trade deals, globalization and shameless corporations moving jobs overseas.

    Clinton argues that rebuilding the middle class requires government aid for higher education and job training. She wants to push corporations to share profits and raise pay.

    Volkswagen reaches $14.7B emissions settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Volkswagen diesel owners can choose to either sell their car back to the company or get a repair that could diminish the vehicle's performance under a settlement of claims tied to the German automaker's emissions-cheating scandal.

    The settlement will cost VW $14.7 billion, a person briefed on the settlement talks said Monday, but does not resolve all the legal issues stemming from its admission that nearly a half million vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines were programmed to turn on emissions controls during government lab tests and turn them off while on the road.

    The figure represents the largest auto scandal settlement in U.S. history. The deal sets aside $10 billion to repair or buy back roughly 475,000 polluting Volkswagen vehicles. Whether they choose to have BW buy back their vehicle or repair it, they will receive a payment of $5,100 to $10,000, the person said. The person asked not to be identified because the deal will not be filed in court until Tuesday, and a judge has ordered attorneys not to talk about it before then.

    How VW would repair the vehicles to bring them into compliance with clean air laws has not yet been finalized, the person said.

    Owners who choose to have VW buy back their cars would get the clean trade-in value from before the scandal became public on Sept. 18, 2015. The average value of a VW diesel has dropped 19 percent since just before the scandal began. In August of 2015, the average was $13,196, and this May it was $10,674, according to Kelley Blue Book.

    Airport security fix: better training – for humans and dogs

    GLYNCO, Ga. (AP) — Covering their ears, 192 future airport security officers watched from a grandstand as Larry Colburn detonates a plastic-explosives device like the one carried by the underwear bomber in a failed attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas Day 2009.

    A tremendous boom was accompanied by a plume of black and gray smoke. A wave of blast pressure ripples through the air, hitting the spectators.

    Colburn, a former Memphis police bomb squad commander, tells his audience that a very small amount of the explosive, PTEN, can do tremendous damage.

    "That is an eye-opener," says Betsy Bueno. "That makes you want to do the job."

    Bueno is joining the Transportation Security Administration, the agency responsible for protecting the traveling public from terrorists. Many travelers associate the TSA with long lines and uncomfortable pat-downs. Critics say the agency gives the appearance of airport security without doing much to make air travel safe.

    US medical schools expand training to curb painkiller abuse

    WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — At first, the woman tried to hide her painkiller problem. She told the doctor that she still had pain from her past pregnancy, and that she just wanted a refill on her pain medication.

    After a few questions, though, she admitted that a friend had sold her some OxyContin, and that she'd stolen pills from another friend.

    The interaction was all staged, with the patient played by an actor and the doctor played by a medical student last month. The exercise was part of a daylong boot camp at the University of Massachusetts Medical School designed to help physicians in training identify and fight opioid abuse.

    "There's a lot at stake here. We have a public health epidemic, and it's not getting better, and the health care profession is part of the problem," said Michele Pugnaire, the medical school's senior associate dean for educational affairs.

    Medical schools nationwide are rethinking their training on opioids amid rising overdose deaths. Schools are taking action after critics said they had inadvertently contributed to addiction problems. Federal health experts say that physicians have been prescribing addictive opioid painkillers too often, and that poor training is frequently to blame.

    Palestinians say Israel caused their summer water shortage

    SALEM, West Bank (AP) — As Palestinians in the West Bank fast from dawn to dusk in scorching heat during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, tens of thousands of people have been affected by a drought that has greatly reduced the flow to their taps.

    Israel admits it's been forced to cut water supplies to the parched area, saying that nearby Jewish settlements have also been affected. But Palestinian areas appear to have been hit much harder, and both sides are blaming each other for the painful situation.

    The water shortage has harmed farmers, forced people to bathe less and created a booming business for tanker trucks that travel from house to house delivering water.

    Israel blames it on the unusually early summer heat and the Palestinians' refusal to cooperate with Israel on renovating their leaky pipe system. Palestinians say the shortage is evidence of the uneven distribution of the water that runs beneath their feet in an underground aquifer — a distribution that was enshrined in an outdated peace agreement.

    Ironically, the shortages come as Israel has made great strides toward water independence through a fast-growing desalinization program. Today, desalinated water provides about 30 percent of Israel's water and has reduced the semi-arid country's dependency on meek rivers and sparse rainfall.

  • Warsaw Woman Arrested For Unlawful Sale, Shipment Of Wildlife

    A Warsaw woman was arrested Thursday for the unlawful sale and shipment of wildlife to other states and countries.

  • World/Nation

    Report: US-led strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, Syria have killed at least 459 civilians
    BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria have likely killed at least 459 civilians over the past year, a report by an independent monitoring group said Monday.
    The report by Airwars, a project aimed at tracking the international airstrikes targeting the extremists, said it believed 57 specific strikes killed civilians and caused 48 suspected ‘‘friendly fire’’ deaths. It said the strikes have killed more than 15,000 Islamic State militants.
    While Airwars noted the difficulty of verifying information in territory held by the IS group, which has kidnapped and killed journalists and activists, other groups have reported similar casualties from the U.S.-led airstrikes.
    ‘‘Almost all claims of noncombatant deaths from alleged coalition strikes emerge within 24 hours — with graphic images of reported victims often widely disseminated,’’ the report said.
    ‘‘In this context, the present coalition policy of downplaying or denying all claims of noncombatant fatalities makes little sense, and risks handing (the) Islamic State (group) and other forces a powerful propaganda tool.’’
    ———
    Republican White House hopefuls lash out at illegal immigration in 2016 debate preview
    MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Republican Party’s presidential class demanded aggressive steps to curb illegal immigration, seizing on a delicate political issue while facing off in New Hampshire on Monday night during a crowded and pointed preview of the 2016 primary season’s first full-fledged debate.
    All but three of the 17 major Republican candidates for president participated in what was essentially a debate lite, which — unlike Thursday’s nationally televised debate in Cleveland — didn’t have a cut-off for participation.
    Without exception, the candidates aimed their criticism at Democrats instead of each other in a two-hour meeting where they had more in common than not. Not mentioned was the candidate making the most news headed into Thursday’s debate: Donald Trump. The billionaire businessman declined to participate in Monday’s gathering, but is poised to take center stage later in the week.
    Monday’s meeting offered a prime-time practice round for the GOP’s most ambitious, appearing on stage one at a time, who addressed several contentious issues, immigration topping a list that also included abortion and climate change.
    Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who may not qualify for the upcoming debate as one of the GOP’s top 10 candidates in national polling, called the flow of immigrants crossing the border illegally ‘‘a serious wound.’’
    ———
    Senate blocks GOP bill to cut Planned Parenthood aid, setting up intense fall battle
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate blocked a Republican drive Monday to terminate federal funds for Planned Parenthood, setting the stage for the GOP to try again this fall amid higher stakes — a potential government shutdown that could echo into next year’s presidential and congressional elections.
    The derailed legislation was the Republican response to videos, recorded secretly by anti-abortion activists, showing Planned Parenthood officials dispassionately discussing how they sometimes provide medical researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses. Those videos have led conservatives to accuse the group of illegally selling the organs for profit — strongly denied by Planned Parenthood — and inserted abortion and women’s health into the mix of issues to be argued in the 2016 campaign.
    Monday’s mostly party-line vote was 53-46 to halt Democratic delays aimed at derailing the bill, seven short of the 60 votes Republicans needed. Even so, the GOP is hoping to reap political gains because the videos have ignited the party’s core conservative, anti-abortion voters.
    The fight is already creating heated talking points for Republican presidential candidates, who convene Thursday for their first debate of the 2016 campaign. Several of them, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, are calling for Congress to end Planned Parenthood’s federal payments.
    Longer term, GOP leaders are hoping that three congressional committees’ investigations, plus several state probes and the expected release of additional videos, will produce evidence of Planned Parenthood wrongdoing and make it harder for Democrats to defend the organization. Planned Parenthood provides contraception, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and abortions in clinics from coast to coast.
    ———
    With final plan, Obama’s pollution limits for power plants shifts to states, court challenges
    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sought to clamp down Monday on power plant emissions with a federal plan that — if successful — would attempt to slow global warming by dramatically shifting the way Americans get and use electricity.
    Touting the plan at a White House ceremony, Obama described his unprecedented carbon dioxide limits as the biggest step ever taken by the U.S. on climate change. On that point, at least, his opponents agreed. They denounced his proposal as egregious federal overreach that would send power prices surging, and vowed lawsuits and legislation to try to stop it.
    ‘‘We’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and we’re the last generation that can do something about it,’’ Obama said. He added, ‘‘We only get one planet. There’s no Plan B.’’
    Obama’s announcement sets off a years-long process for states to figure out how to comply.
    Sixteen states — including energy-producing states like Kentucky, Wyoming and North Dakota — will face stricter emissions limits than they did under Obama’s previous proposal. Montana’s requirement more than doubled, from a 21 percent cut in the earlier plan to a 47 percent cut in the final version.
    ———
    Jury in Colorado theater shooting declines to rule out death penalty as sentencing advances
    CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Jurors on Monday moved one step closer toward sentencing James Holmes to death for his Colorado movie theater attack, taking less than three hours to reject arguments that the former neuroscience student’s mental illness means he should not die.
    The decision clears the way for one last attempt from both sides to sway the jury, with gripping testimony from victims about their suffering and more appeals for mercy for the man convicted of murdering 12 people and trying to kill 70 more during the 2012 assault at a Batman movie.
    Holmes, his reactions dulled by anti-psychotic drugs, stood as ordered and appeared emotionless as Judge Carlos Samour, Jr. read the decisions.
    Robert and Arlene Homes held hands, their fingers interlaced, and directed their eyes at the floor. With each unanimous ‘‘yes,’’ it became ever more clear that jurors believe their son’s crimes outweighed their testimony. She began to cry, and her husband held out a box of tissues.
    More tears flowed in the gallery. Rena Medek began silently sobbing when the judge read the name of her 23-year-old daughter Micayla. Ian Sullivan, the father of Holmes’ youngest victim, 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, closed his eyes when her name was read. Veronica’s grandfather, Robert Sullivan, glared at Holmes and nodded his head softly.
    ———
    House GOP says it has the votes to disapprove of Iran deal; Dems stepping up to support it
    WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans said Monday that they have the GOP votes to disapprove of the Iran nuclear deal as Democrats stepped up their support of the agreement the Obama administration and other world powers negotiated with Tehran.
    Since Republicans hold a commanding 246 seats in the House, it was widely expected that the GOP would come up with 218 votes to support a resolution of disapproval, which has been introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill.
    ‘‘Time is not the friend of this deal,’’ Roskam said in a statement. ‘‘The more time members spend evaluating this agreement, the more they realize it’s an historic mistake.’’
    It’s unclear, however, if there would be enough votes in the House to override President Barack Obama’s expected veto of the legislation. The president is counting on Democrats to sustain his veto, and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi has said they will.
    Obama would need 34 members of the Senate or 146 members of the House to stand with him.
    ———
    Prosecutor says investigators considering revenge as motive in Mississippi courthouse shooting
    CANTON, Miss. (AP) — William A. Wells was a former firefighter who had never been in any more serious legal trouble than some traffic tickets— until his mother was shot.
    Kendrick Armond Brown was facing up to life in prison for felony drug charges under Mississippi’s three-strikes habitual offender law.
    But it was Wells who Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker said parked at the Madison County Courthouse Monday around 9 a.m., got out of his maroon Toyota Tundra pickup truck, walked up to the 37-year-old Brown, and shot him once in the chest with a semi-automatic handgun.
    Brown, who was supposed to appear in court Monday, died there in a courtyard where crepe myrtles provided only a little shade against the merciless sun. Sheriff’s deputies witnessed the whole thing from a security checkpoint inside the glass-walled, courthouse lobby, and Wells laid down his gun and surrendered as soon as they came out, Tucker said.
    Why did the 24-year-old Wells shoot Brown? Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest said Monday that authorities are investigating whether Wells was seeking revenge for the Saturday night shooting of his mother, Sherry Wells.
    ———
    Cooler weather helps crews battling explosive California wildfire; 13,000 are urged to flee
    LOWER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Cooler weather helped crews build a buffer Monday between a raging Northern California wildfire and some of the thousands of homes it threatened as it tore through drought-withered brush that hadn’t burned in years.
    At least two dozen homes were destroyed over the past few days, and more than 13,000 people were urged to flee.
    The fire — the largest blaze in drought-stricken California — roughly tripled in size over the weekend to 93 square miles, generating its own winds that fanned the flames and reduced thousands of acres of manzanita shrubs and other brush to barren land in hours.
    ‘‘There’s a lot of old growth-type vegetation and four years of drought to dry it all out,’’ said Lynne Tolmachoff, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. ‘‘It was ready to go.’’
    The fire was burning in the Lower Lake area, about 100 miles north of San Francisco and 10 miles from Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake entirely within California and a popular spot for boaters and campers. Fire officials said no homes around the lake were threatened.
    ———
    Former President Carter undergoes liver operation; spokeswoman says full recovery is expected
    ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter is expected to make a full recovery after having an operation Monday to remove a small mass in his liver, according to a spokeswoman.
    Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo called the procedure ‘‘elective’’ in a statement released Monday afternoon. She says the operation was completed without any issues and Carter’s ‘‘prognosis is excellent for a full recovery.’’
    In response to an email from The Associated Press asking how the mass was detected, what symptoms Carter had displayed, what follow-up care he will receive and what is known about the mass, Congileo said no further details would be provided.
    Carter, 90, was the nation’s 39th president. After leaving the White House, he founded the center in Atlanta in 1982 to promote health care, democracy and other issues globally.
    He has remained active for the center in recent years by making public appearances and traveling overseas, including a May election observation visit to Guyana cut short because Carter developed a bad cold.

  • News From Around The World by Associated Press

    Theories of piracy or pilot suicide gain more credence as search for missing plane expands
    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Piracy and pilot suicide are among the scenarios under study as investigators grow increasingly certain the missing Malaysia Airlines jet changed course and headed west after its last radio contact with air traffic controllers.
    The latest evidence suggests the plane didn’t experience a catastrophic incident over the South China Sea as was initially suspected. Some experts theorize that one of the pilots, or someone else with flying experience, hijacked the plane or committed suicide by plunging the jet into the sea.
    Adding to the speculation that someone was flying the jet, The New York Times on Friday quoted sources familiar with the investigation as saying that the plane experienced significant changes in altitude after it lost contact with ground control, and altered its course more than once.
    A U.S. official told The Associated Press earlier that investigators are examining the possibility of ‘‘human intervention’’ in the plane’s disappearance, adding it may have been ‘‘an act of piracy.’’ The official, who wasn’t authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was possible the plane may have landed somewhere. The official later said there was no solid information on who might have been involved.
    While other theories are still being examined, the official said key evidence suggesting human intervention is that contact with the Boeing 777’s transponder stopped about a dozen minutes before a messaging system on the jet quit. Such a gap would be unlikely in the case of an in-flight catastrophe.
    ———
    Electronic trail, difficulty of hiding plane would make it hard to steal a big airliner
    To steal Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 out of midair would require a pilot who knew how to elude detection by both civilian and military radar. It would take a runway at least a mile long to land the wide-body jet, possibly in the dark, and a hangar big enough to hide it. All without being seen.
    Improbable but not impossible, experts say.
    With the search for the missing airliner entering its eighth day, scenarios involving piracy or hijacking are increasingly being talked about as possible explanations for the disappearance of the Boeing 777 with 239 people on board.
    Authorities say they’re not ruling out other theories, which include a catastrophic structural failure causing the plane to break up, engine failure, or pilot suicide. But a U.S. official gave an intriguing twist to the story Friday by saying that investigators are considering whether the plane’s disappearance was due to ‘‘an act of piracy’’ and whether the big jet might have landed somewhere without being detected.
    A takeover of the plane seemed to be ruled out a few days ago, when officials discounted any link between terrorism and two passengers who were traveling on fake passports. The piracy theory, however, gained new life when it was reported that the plane’s transponders had been turned off, making it more stealthy; and that signals from the plane indicated that it kept flying for several hours after the last radio contact, possibly turning west toward the Indian Ocean.
    ———
    US urges Moscow to reject Sunday’s vote in Crimea to join Russia and secede from Ukraine
    LONDON (AP) — The West braced Friday for a vote by the Crimean Peninsula to secede from Ukraine — and likely be annexed by Russia — as the last attempt for diplomacy broke down despite threats of costly international sanctions and other imminent penalties against Moscow for forcibly challenging a pro-European government in Kiev.
    Russia’s top diplomat said Moscow will make no decisions about Crimea’s future, including whether to embrace it as a new territory, until after a local referendum Sunday to decide whether it should remain part of Ukraine.
    But U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the vote’s results are all but a foregone conclusion, and urged Russia’s parliament against accepting any offer to claim Crimea as its own.
    ‘‘We believe that a decision to move forward by Russia to ratify that vote officially within the Duma would, in fact, be a backdoor annexation of Crimea,’’ Kerry told reporters in London after six hours of talks Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
    Kerry instead called on Moscow to support broad autonomy for Crimea — still as part of Ukraine — instead of a move by the strategic peninsula to secede. And he predicted the probability of ‘‘if the people of Crimea vote overwhelmingly, as one suspects they will, to affiliate or be associated with Russia.’’
    ———
    Killer who escaped from Army prison in 1977 recaptured in Fla. via face-recognition software
    DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (AP) — In the nearly 40 years after he escaped from the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, convicted killer James Robert Jones carved out a new life for himself in Florida, living under an assumed name, getting married and working for an air conditioning company.
    It all came to an end this week when Jones — or Bruce Walter Keith, as the former Army private was known in Florida — was recaptured with the help of technology that was more sci-fi than reality when he broke out during the disco era: facial-recognition software.
    ‘‘The first words out of his mouth were, ‘I knew this would catch up with me someday,’’’ Barry Golden, a senior inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service, said Friday.
    Jones, 59, was one of the Army’s 15 most-wanted fugitives after his 1977 escape from the Kansas prison dubbed ‘‘The Castle’’ for its large walls and tower keeps.
    He was convicted of murder and assault in the 1974 killing of a fellow soldier at Fort Dix in New Jersey.
    ———
    Malnutrition grows among Syrian children as poverty, lack of heath care take toll
    KAB ELIAS, Lebanon (AP) — Trapped in her northern Syrian village by fighting, Mervat watched her newborn baby progressively shrink. Her daughter’s dark eyes seemed to grow bigger as her face grew more skeletal. Finally, Mervat escaped to neighboring Lebanon, and a nurse told her the girl was starving.
    The news devastated her. ‘‘They had to hold me when they told me. I wept,’’ the 31-year-old mother said, speaking in the rickety, informal tent camp where she now lives with her husband in the eastern Lebanese town of Kab Elias.
    Her daughter Shurouk has been undergoing treatment the past three months and remains a wispy thing. The 9-month-old weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kilos) — though she’s become more smiley and gregarious. Mervat spoke on condition she be identified only by her first name, fearing problems for her family in Syria.
    Her case underscored how dramatically Syrian society has unraveled from a conflict that this weekend enters its fourth year. Such stark starvation was once rare in Syria, where President Bashar Assad’s autocratic state ran a health system that provided nearly free care.
    That system, along with most other state institutions, has been shattered in many parts of the country where the fighting between Assad’s forces and the rebels trying to overthrow him is raging hardest. The war has killed more than 140,000 people and has driven nearly a third of the population of 23 million from their homes — including 4.2 million who remain inside Syria and 2.5 million who have fled into neighboring countries. Nearly half those displaced by the war are children.
    ———
    Records opened: Clinton feared 1994 losses; team later gave conflicting advice on response
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Sensing a Republican tidal wave, President Bill Clinton worried in the summer of 1994 that Republicans were energized heading into the midterm elections while his Democratic base was deflated. ‘‘There’s no organization, there’s no energy, there’s no anything out there,’’ Clinton said of his own party.
    ‘‘They’re organized and they’re working,’’ the president observed of conservative activists, according to an August, 1994 transcript. ‘‘And our cultural base. ... They walked off.’’
    Clinton’s concerns turned out to be justified: Republicans swept to power in the fall elections, wresting control of the House and Senate from the president’s party. The transcript was among 4,000 documents released Friday by the National Archives.
    They’re just part of the roughly 30,000 pages expected to be released in coming weeks. The documents, which cover Clinton’s two presidential terms, are much anticipated in the political world, partly because then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is considering her own bid for the presidency in 2016.
    The documents shed ample light on her husband’s administration, highlighting the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of aides, the stroking of allies and erstwhile opponents and the sting of the first Republican takeover of Congress in 40 years.
    ———
    Ex-librarian, mechanic convicted in NYC of kidnap-rape-killing plot they claimed was fantasy
    NEW YORK (AP) — A retired New York high school librarian and a New Jersey auto mechanic were convicted Friday of scheming to carry out gruesome fantasies of kidnapping, raping, torturing and killing women and girls.
    The verdicts in Christopher Asch and Michael Van Hise’s conspiracy trial came a year after a conviction in a headline-grabbing case of a police officer accused of plotting abductions and cannibalism. A fourth man, a former hospital police chief, pleaded guilty in January.
    Together, the cases plumbed an online underground where people share macabre fetishes, and the prosecutions hinged on the boundaries between imagining and actually intending to bring fantasies to life.
    Lawyers for both said they would appeal. No sentencing date was set.
    ‘‘Today, a unanimous jury found that the twisted conspiracies of Michael Van Hise and Robert Christopher Asch were not mere fantasy, but steps within very real plans to kidnap real victims,’’ Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, using Asch’s full name; he goes by Christopher.
    ———
    Chris Brown jailed without bail after R&B singer discharged for violating rehab rules
    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Brown was arrested Friday and will be held without bail on a warrant issued by probation officials in the latest legal entanglement for the R&B singer who has struggled to put his 2009 attack on Rihanna behind him.
    The warrant was issued by the judge overseeing Brown’s case after he was informed Friday morning that the singer had been discharged from rehab ‘‘for failure to comply with rules and regulations of the program.’’ No further details were released, but more information will be presented to Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin when Brown appears in his courtroom on Monday afternoon.
    Sheriff’s officials said Brown was cooperative when he was arrested at a Malibu treatment facility where he had been staying and transported to a jail facility in downtown Los Angeles.
    Brown had been ordered to remain in rehab for anger management treatment. A January letter from the facility stated that the singer was also being treated for bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and past substance abuse.
    An email sent to Brown’s attorney Mark Geragos was not immediately returned. A probation spokeswoman declined to comment on what prompted Brown’s arrest.
    ———
    Donald Trump says he’s not running for New York governor, calls state GOP ’dysfunctional’
    NEW YORK (AP) — Real estate mogul Donald Trump said Friday he will not run for governor and criticized the state’s Republican Party for failing to unify behind him.
    ‘‘While I won’t be running for Governor of New York State, a race I would have won,’’ he posted on Twitter, ‘‘I have much bigger plans in mind- stay tuned, will happen!’’
    The executive vice president of the Trump Organization and special counsel to Trump, Michael Cohen, confirmed that Trump will not run but said he could not elaborate on Trump’s bigger plans.
    Trump had been flirting with challenging Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a few months, but he had said he would run only if he faced no rival for the Republican nomination.
    Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced this month that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor.
    ———
    Person familiar with negotiations tells AP: Phil Jackson to be introduced Tuesday by Knicks
    Phil Jackson won NBA titles as a player and a coach. He’ll now try winning as an executive.
    And this quest will take him back to where his career began.
    Jackson has agreed to run the New York Knicks’ front office and will be formally introduced by the team at a news conference at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday morning, a person familiar with the negotiations between the 11-time champion coach and the franchise told The Associated Press on Friday.
    The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Knicks would only confirm that a ‘‘major announcement’’ involving team executives was scheduled. Jackson also did not make any immediate public comment, but the move had been expected for several days — and was practically confirmed earlier this week by Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, who said he had heard the Hall of Fame coach was ‘‘coming on board.’’
    Jackson had been courted by clubs before, and fans in Los Angeles clamored for him to return to coaching not long after he left the Lakers after the 2010-11 season. He’s largely shunned limelight during this three-year break from work, during which he did things such as working on his health — arthritis pain hampered him toward the end of his coaching career — and released a book chronicling his basketball life.

  • World/Nation Briefs 3.7.2013

    Ahead of UN sanctions vote, NKorea vows preemptive nuke strikes against US
    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

  • World/Nation Briefs

    Obama still betting on a big fiscal deal as automatic cuts kick in, but odds weigh against him
    WASHINGTON (AP) — A fiscal deadline all but blown, President Barack Obama says he once again wants to seek a big fiscal deal that would raise taxes and trim billions from expensive and ever growing entitlement programs

  • World/Nation Briefs 2.28.2013

    Benedict’s legacy: A teacher pope who sought to bring church back to conservative roots
    VATICAN CITY (AP) — On Monday, April 4, 2005, a priest walked up to the Renaissance palazzo housing the Vatican’s doctrine department and asked the doorman to call the official in charge: It was the first day of business after Pope John Paul II had died, and the cleric wanted to get back to work.

  • World/Nation Briefs 2.27.2013

    Pope greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for final time; thousands on hand to bid farewell
    VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is greeting pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the final time before retiring, waving to tens of thousands of people who have gathered to bid him farewell.

  • World/Nation Briefs 2.25.2013

    ‘Argo’ wins best picture, ‘Life of Pi’ leads with 4 awards on scattered Oscar night
    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films.

  • World/Nation Briefs 2.22.2013

    Prosecution to wrap up arguments as Oscar Pistorius bail hearing nears decision
    PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius’ bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend.

  • World/Nation briefs 2.21.2013

    South African police say lead investigator in Pistorius case faces attempted murder charges
    PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The lead investigator in the murder case against Oscar Pistorius faces attempted murder charges himself over a 2011 shooting, police said Thursday in another potentially damaging blow to the prosecution.

  • World/Nation Briefs 2.13.2013

    California manhunt leads to cabin, fire believed to have claimed ex-officer wanted in rampage
    BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) — The manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a killing spree converged Tuesday on a mountain cabin where authorities believe he barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shootout that killed a deputy and then never emerged as the home went up in flames.

  • World/Nation briefs 2.11.2013

    Paternos challenge Freeh report on scandal, asserting ’rush to injustice’ in accusing coach
    STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Joe Paterno’s family released its response to Penn State’s report on the Jerry Sandusky scandal Sunday, attacking Louis Freeh’s conclusion that the coach hid sex abuse allegations against his longtime assistant.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.24.2013

    Now that women can serve in combat roles, military chiefs will have to defend any exceptions
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s decision to lift the ban on women serving in combat presents a daunting challenge to top military leaders who now will have to decide which, if any, jobs they believe should be open only to men.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.18.2013

    Oprah Winfrey quickly gets to the point in Armstrong interview
    NEW YORK (AP) — The most effective part of Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Lance Armstrong came right at the beginning: Five questions, five one-word answers — each of them the same.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.14.2013

    French bomb training camps, supply lines of Malian jihadists in north; battle for Diabaly
    BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A Malian intelligence agent posted near the central Malian town of Diabaly confirmed that French pilots launched a raid on Monday morning close to the town.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.10.2013

    Lew’s selection as treasury chief puts emphasis on fiscal challenges, opens a new chapter
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Jack Lew, President Barack Obama’s likely nominee for treasury secretary, is a premier federal budget expert who would take the helm of the government’s main agency for economic and fiscal policy just as the administration girds itself for a new confrontation with congressional Republicans over the nation’s debt and deficits.

  • World/Nation Briefs

    Biden to meet Wednesday with gun-safety, victims groups as deadline for proposals looms
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to spur fresh action on gun legislation, Vice President Joe Biden is meeting at the White House with victims groups and gun-safety organizations.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.7.2013

    Obama picks Chuck Hagel as next defense secretary, setting up likely confirmation fight
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Defying congressional opposition, President Barack Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary, setting up a potentially contentious confirmation fight over the former Republican senator’s views on Israel and Iran.

  • World/Nation briefs 1.4.2013

    Congress to vote on $9.7 billion flood insurance package for Superstorm Sandy victims
    WASHINGTON (AP) — A $9.7 billion measure to pay flood insurance claims is set for a vote in Congress, boosting prospects for relief for the many home and business owners flooded out by Superstorm Sandy.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.3.2013

    Congress ushering in new members Thursday with the old, deeply divided government
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is ushering in the new and the old — dozens of eager freshmen determined to change Washington and the harsh reality of another stretch of bitterly divided government.

  • World/Nation Briefs 1.2.2013

    Congress’ OK of fiscal cliff deal gives Obama a win, prevents GOP blame for tax boosts
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress’ excruciating, extraordinary New Year’s Day approval of a compromise averting a prolonged tumble off the fiscal cliff hands President Barack Obama most of the tax boosts on the rich that he campaigned on.

  • World/Nation briefs 12.27.2012

    Powerful storm begins lashing Northeast a day after sweeping through nation’s midsection
    CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A powerful winter storm was expected to drop one to two feet of snow on parts of the Northeast just a day after it swept through the nation’s middle, dumping a record snowfall in Arkansas and ruining holiday travel plans for thousands.

  • World/Nation briefs 12.21.2012

    Tiny dollar gap between Boehner, Obama on ’fiscal cliff’ belies GOP’s huge political headache
    WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to resolving their ‘‘fiscal cliff’’ impasse, the dollar gap between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner is tiny in federal terms. That masks a monumental political ravine the two men must try to bridge, with most of the burden on the now beleaguered Boehner.

  • World/Nation Briefs 12.20.2012

    AP IMPACT: College football players bulk up as steroids testing, punishments vary among teams
    WASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.

  • World/Nation briefs 12.10.2012

    Fear of financial markets’ reaction lends uncertainty to fiscal cliff talks as deadline nears
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress and the White House can significantly soften the initial impact of the ‘‘fiscal cliff’’ even if they fail to reach a compromise by Dec. 31. One thing they cannot control, however, is the financial markets’ reaction, which possibly could be a panicky sell-off that triggers economic reversals worldwide.

  • World/Nation Briefs 12.07.2012

    Fiscal cliff tax fight all about who, what gets hurt from higher rates or fewer tax breaks
    WASHINGTON (AP) — In the fiscal cliff wars, a pivotal battle is raging between Democrats demanding to raise revenue by boosting tax rates on the nation’s highest earners and Republicans insisting on eliminating deductions and other tax breaks instead. Which is better for the economy? Analysts say it depends.

  • World/Nation Briefs 12.06.2012

    Procrastinators’ guide to the fiscal cliff: Obama, Congress could delay past Dec. 31 deadline
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The dealmakers who warn that a year-end plunge off the ‘‘fiscal cliff’’ would be disastrous don’t seem to be rushing to stop it. Why aren’t they panicking?

  • World/Nation Briefs 12.04.2012

    AP IMPACT: Anatomy of insider attack: US troops dropped their guard, Afghans took advantage
    WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a sneak attack, but not by the enemy they feared.

  • World/Nation Briefs 12.3.2012

    Administration debate on pace of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan hinges on risk assessments
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The debate over how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 comes down to risky business.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.30.2012

    Obama takes his fiscal plan to Pennsylvania, pressuring GOP as both sides bristle
    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is taking his case for avoiding a potentially unsettling ‘‘fiscal cliff’’ to the Philadelphia suburbs, employing campaign-style tactics in hopes of mobilizing public support. The trip comes amid signs of impatience in the negotiations between Republican leaders and the White House.

  • World/Nation briefs 11.29.2012

    White House, Congress to talk as fears increase that government heading toward ’fiscal cliff’
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid increasing anxiety that the White House and top Republicans are wasting time as the government slides toward an economy-rattling ‘‘fiscal cliff,’’ administration officials are heading to Capitol Hill for talks with congressional leaders.

  • World/Nation briefs 11.28.2012

    AP Exclusive: Accounts, clothing show Disney, Wal-Mart, Sears used Bangladesh factory in fire
    DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Amid the ash, broken glass and melted sewing machines at what is left of the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory, there are piles of blue, red and off-white children’s shorts bearing Wal-Mart’s Faded Glory brand. Shorts from hip-hop star Sean Combs’ ENYCE label lay on the floor and are stacked in cartons.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.27.2012

    Egypt president stands by edicts giving him sweeping powers, says he acted within his rights
    CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi struck an uncompromising stand Monday over his seizure of near absolute powers, refusing in a meeting with top judicial authorities to rescind a package of constitutional amendments that placed his edicts above oversight by the courts.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.26.2012

    Bangladesh garment workers hold protests, block streets, a day after a fire killed 112
    DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of Bangladeshi workers blocked the streets of a Dhaka suburb Monday, throwing stones at factories and smashing vehicles, as they demanded justice for 112 people killed in a garment-factory fire that highlighted unsafe conditions in an industry rushing to produce for major retailers around the world.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.21.2012

    With team on brink of Champions League elimination, Chelsea fires coach Roberto Di Matteo
    LONDON (AP) — Chelsea fired coach Roberto Di Matteo on Wednesday, one day after another loss in the Champions League left the defending champions on the brink of elimination.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.16.2012

    Obama on tricky path in fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders
    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is kicking off budget dealings with congressional leaders with new leverage from last week’s big win, but he confronts a decidedly tricky path to avoiding a market-rattling ‘‘fiscal cliff’’ that could imperil a still-fragile economy.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.15.2012

    Xi Jinping takes helm of rising power China, but must work with 6 fellow technocrats to rule
    BEIJING (AP) — Xi Jinping succeeded Hu Jintao as China’s leader Thursday, assuming the top posts in the Communist Party and the powerful military in a once-a-decade political transition unbowed by scandals, a slower economy and public demands for reforms.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.13.2012

    FBI prepares timeline of Petraeus investigation as Congress questions timing of notification
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is preparing a timeline of its criminal investigation that brought to light CIA Director David Petraeus’ extramarital affair so the bureau can respond to members of Congress asking why they and the White House weren’t notified of the probe months ago.

  • World/Nation briefs 11.12.2012

    Info emerges about Florida woman who received emails from Petraeus’ paramour
    WASHINGTON (AP) — As questions swirl about the extramarital affair that led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, the retired general and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, have been quiet about details of their relationship.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.9.2012

    APNewsBreak: Senators working on tougher Iran sanctions as Obama seeks another diplomatic push
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are working on a set of new and unprecedented Iran sanctions that could prevent the Islamic republic from doing business with most of the world until it agrees to international constraints on its nuclear program, officials say.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.8.2012

    More weather misery for Sandy’s victims as new storm bears down on New York City, NJ, NE
    NEW YORK (AP) — The nor’easter, as promised, brought gusting winds, rain, snow and the threat of flooding. It menaced travelers with icy roads, snarled the Long Island Rail Road and knocked out power to people who had only recently gotten it back after Superstorm Sandy.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.7.2012

    Obama’s lease renewed in trying economic times; 44th president still faces divided Congress
    WASHINGTON (AP) — His lease renewed in trying economic times, President Barack Obama claimed a second term from an incredibly divided electorate and immediately braced for daunting challenges and progress that comes only in fits and starts.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.6.2012

    Suspense to the finish, Obama and Romney now cede stage to voters for Election Day decision
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Two fierce competitors who’ve given their all, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney now yield center stage to voters for an Election Day choice that will frame the contours of government and the nation for years to come.

  • World/Nation Briefs

    On the final lap of an exhausting race, Romney, Obama narrow the field to key states

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney storm into the final day of their long presidential contest, mounting one last effort to protect their flanks while engaging in the toughest battleground of all — Ohio.

  • World/Nation Briefs 11.1.2012

    As region suffers under Sandy, NYC sputters back to life with subways, traffic
    NEW YORK (AP) — The cleanup of miles of New Jersey shorefront ripped apart by Superstorm Sandy has just begun, but New York City moved closer to resuming its normal frenetic pace by getting back its vital subways.

  • World/News Briefs 10.31.2012

    Northeast residents try to rebound after Sandy’s punch, but challenge of rebuilding remains
    NEW YORK (AP) — People in the coastal corridor battered by superstorm Sandy took the first cautious steps to reclaim routines upended by the disaster, even as rescuers combed neighborhoods strewn with debris and scarred by floods and fire.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.30.2012

    Megastorm Sandy plunges NYC into darkness, floods waterfront, leaves crane hanging
    NEW YORK (AP) — Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city’s historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.29.2012

    Superstorm bears down on East Coast, which grinds to a halt as residents hunker down or flee
    NEW YORK (AP) — Hurricane Sandy bore down on the Eastern Seaboard’s largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds, soaking rain and a surging wall of water up to 11 feet tall.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.26.2012

    Romney faces questions about abortion, divorce case as he tries to keep focus on economy
    DEFIANCE, Ohio (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney is renewing his focus on the nation’s economy while facing continued pressure to break his silence on a GOP Senate candidate’s statement that any pregnancy resulting from rape is ‘‘something God intended.’’

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.25.2012

    AP-GkK poll: Romney erases Obama advantage among women while Obama gains ground with men
    WASHINGTON (AP) — What gender gap?
    Less than two weeks out from Election Day, Republican Mitt Romney has erased President Barack Obama’s 16-point advantage among women, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. And the president, in turn, has largely eliminated Romney’s edge among men.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.24.2012

    Brothers, 15 and 17, charged with strangling death of NJ girl missing since weekend
    CLAYTON, N.J. (AP) — Two teenage brothers were charged Tuesday with murdering a 12-year-old girl who had been missing since the weekend, prompting a frantic search by her small hometown until her body was found stuffed into a home recycling bin.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.23.2012

    Done debating: Obama, Romney now dash to the finish, flush with cash, adrenaline and resolve
    BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Their debates now history, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday open a two-week sprint to Election Day powered by adrenaline, a boatload of campaign cash and a determination to reach Nov. 6 with no would-have, should-have regrets in their neck-and-neck fight to the finish.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.22.2012

    Neck-and-neck at the end, Obama and Romney seek foreign policy edge in final campaign debate
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Still neck-and-neck after all these months, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney head into their third and final debate with each man eager to project an aura of personal strength and leadership while raising doubts about the steadiness and foreign policy credentials of the other guy.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.18.2012

    Feds: NYC terror sting suspect, after considering Stock Exchange, picks harder target: The Fed
    NEW YORK (AP) — A Bangladeshi man snared in an FBI terror sting considered targeting a high-ranking government official and the New York Stock Exchange before authorities say he raised the further bar by picking one New York City’s most fortified sites: The Federal Reserve.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.17.2012

    With 1 debate left, Obama, Romney circle back to bedrock question of who’s best on economy
    HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — Two alphas in the fight of their lives, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney sparred with passion and grit in a debate that previewed the closing arguments of a campaign that keeps circling back to bedrock questions about which candidate can do more to strengthen the fragile economy.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.16.2012

    Pressure on Obama to find right balance in next debate — come on strong but not overdo it
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The pressure is on President Barack Obama to deliver a Goldilocks performance in the second debate: Not too cool, as he was in his first, listless encounter with Mitt Romney. And not too hot, as some critics styled Vice President Joe Biden in his faceoff with Paul Ryan.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.15.2012

    Judge in Sept. 11 trial at Guantanamo asked for rules that would shield torture testimony
    GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A U.S. military judge is considering broad security rules for the war crimes tribunal of five Guantanamo prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks, including measures to prevent the accused from publicly revealing what happened to them in the CIA’s secret network of overseas prisons.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.12.2012

    With spirited veep debate, Biden, Ryan tee up issues that Obama, Romney will fight to finish
    DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — In a spirited debate that laid out stark choices, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan teed up pointed arguments on the economy, social policy and America’s place in the world that President Barack Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney now will drive forward into the campaign’s final stretch.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.11.2012

    Analysis: For vice presidential debate, higher stakes in an unpredictable political contest
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Time running short, Vice President Joe Biden faces the greater burden in his debate with Republican Paul Ryan as he seeks to use the election’s only encounter between presidential running mates to slow Mitt Romney’s momentum and reset the campaign storyline in time for the next Obama-Romney debate.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.10.12

    State Dept. now in sync with GOP, says it never concluded Libya attack was a protest gone awry
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says it never concluded that an attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya was simply a protest gone awry, a statement that places the Obama administration’s own foreign policy arm in sync with Republicans.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.9.2012

    France’s Serge Haroche, David Wineland of US win Nobel Prize in physics
    STOCKHOLM (AP) — Frenchman Serge Haroche and American David Wineland have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.8.2012

    Obama enlists celebrity pals to raise campaign cash in California with 1 month left in race
    LOS ANGELES (AP) — On a last dash for cash in the celebrity scene of California, President Barack Obama on Sunday took a good-natured shot as his own underwhelming debate performance, marveling at how his friends in the entertainment business could turn in flawless showings every time.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.5.2012

    US unemployment rate likely rose last month as employers post sixth month of weak hiring
    WASHINGTON (AP) — With a month to go until the presidential election, the government on Friday issues its September jobs report, expected to show an uptick in the U.S. unemployment rate after employers added only a modest number of jobs.

  • World/Nation Briefs

    Romney barrels out of first debate on offense; Obama hammers at gaps in GOP rival’s plans
    DENVER (AP) — Little more than a month from Election Day, Republican Mitt Romney is barreling out of the first presidential debate energized by a solid performance that telegraphed his determination to take it to President Barack Obama with gusto.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.3.2012

    White House widens covert war in North Africa, but task force too new to save US ambassador
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Small teams of special operations forces arrived at American embassies throughout North Africa in the months before militants launched the fiery attack that killed the U.S. ambassador in Libya. The soldiers’ mission: Set up a network that could quickly strike a terrorist target or rescue a hostage.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.2.2012

    From Albania to Zambia, one nation was on the minds of all others at UN assembly: Syria
    UNITED NATIONS (AP) — After countless speeches, meetings and behind-the-scenes discussions, the unending war in Syria remained the unsolved problem that loomed over this year’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

  • World/Nation Briefs 10.1.2012

    Race, gay marriage, voting rights on tap in new Supreme Court term starting Monday

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is starting a new term that is shaping up to be as important as the last one, with the prospect of major rulings about affirmative action, gay marriage and voting rights.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.28.2012

    Amid deadlock at the UN, world powers to urge Syria’s opposition to unite to end conflict
    UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Western nations and allies in the Middle East meet Friday to urge Syria’s fractured opposition to unite, seeking a new path for ending the country’s conflict amid deadlock between major powers on the U.N. Security Council.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.27.2012

    Netanyahu brings fears about Iran nuclear ambitions to UN, believes sanctions have failed
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make his case against Iran before the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, arguing that time is quickly running out to stop the Islamic Republic from becoming a nuclear power and the threat of force must be seriously considered.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.26.2012

    AP Interview: Iran’s Ahmadinejad pushes new world order, end to American ’bullying’
    NEW YORK (AP) — After an hour of fielding questions about Syria, sanctions and nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had enough. Now, he said, it was his turn to choose the topic — his ‘‘new order’’ which will inevitably replace the current era of what he called U.S. bullying.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.24.2012

    Obama launches new offensive against Romney, linking personal taxes to remarks about untaxed
    CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama’s campaign is launching a new offensive Monday against Republican Mitt Romney, blasting the GOP nominee for criticizing Americans who don’t pay income taxes without having ‘‘come clean’’ about his own.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.21.2012

    Pakistanis mark state holiday by holding violent protests against anti-Islam film, 1 killed
    PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police opened fire on rioters who were torching a cinema during a protest against an anti-Islam film Friday, killing one man on a holiday declared by the government so that people could demonstrate against the video.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.20.2012

    Controversy around Romney fundraising remarks shines light on power of viral videos
    NEW YORK (AP) — After this, politicians everywhere should surely get the message. Mitt Romney’s secretly recorded remarks at a Florida fundraiser — and the uproar that has followed — reinforce a key reality of the digital media era: the power of viral video to disrupt and potentially alter a high-stakes political contest.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.19.2012

    Chicago students returning to classrooms after teachers union ends first walkout in 25 years
    CHICAGO (AP) — Students prepared to return to class Wednesday after Chicago teachers voted to suspend their first strike in a quarter century, shutting 350,000 children out of school, disrupting the daily routines of thousands of families and making the city’s schoolyards a flashpoint for union rights and public school reforms across the country.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.18.2012

    Romney says remark that Americans believe they are ’victims’ was ’not elegantly stated’
    COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney is trying to head off a new distraction for his campaign after a video surfaced showing him telling wealthy donors that 47 percent of all Americans ‘‘believe they are victims’’ entitled to help from the government that permeates their lives.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.17.2012

    Pakistanis protesting anti-Islam video clash with police, 1 person killed
    TIMERGARAH, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of people protesting an anti-Islam video have set fire to a press club and a government office in northwest Pakistan, sparking clashes with police that killed one demonstrator.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.14.2012

    Egyptian president says Muslims must protect embassies; protesters, police clash anew in Cairo
    CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s president says it’s up to Muslims as part of their Islamic duty to protect embassies and foreign diplomats who are guests in the country.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.13.2012

    Protesters angered by an anti-Islam film storm US Embassy in Yemen
    SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Chanting ‘‘death to America,’’ hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital and burned the American flag on Thursday, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.12.2012

    Anti-Islam film sparks protests at US missions in Libya, Egypt; 1 American killed
    CAIRO (AP) — Protesters angered over a film that ridiculed Islam’s Prophet Muhammad fired gunshots and burned down the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing one American, witnesses and the State Department said.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.11.2012

    As ceremonies mark Sept. 11 anniversary, will they mark the passage of a turning point?
    NEW YORK (AP) — Is it time for a different kind of Sept. 11?

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.10.2012

    Chicago teachers to hit picket lines; mayor vows to keep kids safe, get them back in classroom
    CHICAGO (AP) — City officials vowed to keep hundreds of thousands of students safe when striking teachers hit the picket lines Monday and school district and teachers union leaders resumed negotiations on a contract that appeared close to being resolved over the weekend before the union announced both sides were too far apart to prevent the district’s first strike in 25 years.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.7.2012

    Entering fall campaign, Obama tries to make nation choose him again
    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — President Barack Obama’s fall mission: Remind voters why they chose him in the first place, hope the economy doesn’t get worse — and paint Mitt Romney as an unacceptable alternative.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.6.2012

    A star turn from Bill Clinton fires up Democrats as Obama readies his big speech to convention
    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — God is back in the Democratic platform and people rooting for President Barack Obama hope the dazzle is back in him.

  • World/Nation Briefs 9.4.2012

    Trial to determine value of some Michael Jackson copyrights that businessman improperly used
    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s estate will begin making its case to a jury that a businessman working with the singer’s mother should be forced to pay millions of dollars for infringing on several copyrights.

  • World/Nation Briefs

    Romney plunges into campaign’s high season appealing to voters to ’turn the page’ on Obama
    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Lifted by a show of Republican unity that once seemed so distant, Mitt Romney plunged into the presidential campaign’s final 67 days focused more than ever on jobs and the economy, and depicting President Barack Obama as a well-meaning but inept man who must be replaced.

  • World/Nation Briefs 8.30.2012

    Romney’s big night is at hand, after a barnburner by his running mate at GOP convention
    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mitt Romney is stepping up for the most important speech of his Republican presidential campaign, to an audience of millions, after a rousing warm-up from a running mate who vowed the days of dodging painful budget choices will end if voters toss President Barack Obama from office.

  • World/Nation Briefs 8.29.2012

    Isaac heads for New Orleans on Katrina anniversary after landfall in southeast Louisiana
    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Isaac was beginning to move inland in southeast Louisiana before dawn Wednesday on a slow, drenching slog toward New Orleans seven years to the day after the much stronger Katrina hit the city.

  • World/Nation Briefs 8.28.2012

    In bayou country and city alike, people batten down as Isaac takes aim at low-lying Louisiana
    CHAUVIN, La. (AP) — Isaac was on the verge of becoming a full-blown hurricane Tuesday as it rolled over the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana, where residents of the low-lying coast left boarded-up homes for inland shelter while people in New Orleans waited behind levees fortified after Katrina.

  • World/Nation Briefs 8.27.2012

    All eyes on big storm as Republicans open their showcase for Romney at compressed convention
    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mitt Romney’s Republican National Convention sputters to life with the lonely banging of a gavel in a mostly empty hall, hardly the opening splash intended for the nation. With a sprawling and strengthening storm bearing down on the region, the party hastily rewrote the convention script to present the extravaganza’s prime rituals and headline speakers later in the week — Tropical Storm Isaac willing.