National News

Today is Sunday, June 16, the 167th day of 2019. There are 198 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 16, 1858, accepting the Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."...

CHICAGO -- An infant boy who was cut from a Chicago woman's womb with a butcher knife died Friday at a hospital where he had been in grave condition since the April attack that killed his mother, family spokeswomen said. Yovanny Jadiel Lopez died at Christ Medical Center in suburban Oak Lawn from a severe brain injury, according to a statement posted on Facebook by family spokeswoman Julie Contreras, who expressed "great sadness" in announcing the baby's death. ...

WASHINGTON -- A holiday spreading across the U.S. and beyond, Juneteenth is considered the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. It was originally celebrated June 19, the day Union soldiers in 1865 told enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, the Civil War had ended and they were free...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A helicopter pilot who heads a military command in Guam will be the first female leader of the U.S. Naval War College, the Navy announced Friday, days after removing the college president who came under investigation over questionable behavior...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but he also held out hope implicit U.S. threats to use force will yield talks with the Islamic Republic as the Pentagon considers beefing up defenses in the Persian Gulf area...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said he won't fire White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after a federal watchdog agency recommended her removal for repeatedly violating a law limiting political activity by government workers. Trump told "Fox & Friends" he was briefed on the Office of Special Counsel investigation Thursday and said "it looks to me like they're trying to take away her right of free speech and that's just not fair."...

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudan's ruling military acknowledged security forces committed violations when they moved in to disperse a protest sit-in camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum last week. The spokesman for the ruling military council, Gen. Shams Eddin Kabashi, told reporters at a news conference late Thursday an investigation was underway and several military officers were already in custody for alleged "deviation" from the action plan set by military leaders...

PARIS -- The billionaire French donors who publicly proclaimed they would give hundreds of millions to rebuild Notre Dame have not yet paid a penny toward the restoration of the French national monument, according to church and business officials. Instead, it's mainly American and French individuals, via Notre Dame charitable foundations, behind the first donations paying the bills and salaries for up to 150 workers employed by the cathedral since the April 15 fire that devastated its roof and caused its masterpiece spire to collapse. ...

VATICAN CITY -- Some of the world's major oil producers committed Friday to supporting "economically meaningful" carbon pricing regimes after a Vatican climate summit and a personal appeal from Pope Francis to avoid "perpetrating a brutal act of injustice" against the poor and future generations...

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam faced calls from both outside and within her government Friday to delay extradition legislation spurring massive protests. Some members of the Executive Council, Hong Kong's Cabinet, said she should perhaps rethink plans to rush the bills' passage. ...

KARAMBI, Uganda -- At last the pickup truck carrying the Ebola victim's coffin arrived. The woman's relatives were relieved. But a small group of young people hissed in anger. They watched the burial team carefully put on protective suits and gloves, itching for a fight. They grabbed the rope meant to lower the coffin into the grave and used it to block the truck's path. One brandished a stick...

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Kansas' highest court declared Friday the state finally is spending enough money on its public schools under a new education funding law but refused to end a lawsuit filed nearly a decade ago because it wants to monitor future funding by the Legislature...

NEW YORK -- NBC set the lineup for its two-night debate of 2020 presidential contenders later this month, with a top-heavy second session pitting former Vice President Joe Biden onstage against 2016 Democratic runner-up Bernie Sanders, the youthful Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris...

BEAUFORT, S.C. -- Beto O'Rourke took a path somewhat less traveled Friday, meeting with a small group representing a community of slave descendants in South Carolina as he strives to make connections with the black voters who will play a dominant role in next year's Southern presidential primaries...

The teenage girl with pigtail braids was hunched over in a wheelchair and holding a bunched sweatshirt when an immigrant advocate met her at a crowded Border Patrol facility in Texas. She opened the sweatshirt and the advocate gasped. It was a tiny baby, born premature and held in detention instead of where the advocate believes the baby should have been -- at a hospital neonatal unit...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday said he was bringing a longtime lawman and enthusiastic supporter out of retirement to serve as "border czar" as his administration struggles with a worsening crisis his hard-line immigration policies have failed to stem...

WASHINGTON -- Once a skeptic about climate change, Jim Bridenstine came around to the prevailing view of scientists before he took over as NASA administrator. That evolution did not sit well with a Trump environmental adviser, nor a think-tank analyst he was consulting, according to newly disclosed emails illustrating how skepticism of global warming has found a beachhead in the Trump White House...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Friday "of course" he would go to the FBI or the attorney general if a foreign power offered him dirt about an opponent. It was an apparent walkback from his earlier comments he might not contact law enforcement in such a situation...

Today is Saturday, June 15, the 166th day of 2019. There are 199 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 15, 1944, American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II. B-29 Superfortresses carried out their first raids on Japan...

MOORPARK, Calif. -- A big-rig truck driver has been arrested after authorities spotted a phony license plate on his rig. How could they tell? Well, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department says the 1960s-style yellow-on-black plate had wobbly letters and numbers. ...

WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Sarah Hucakbee Sanders, whose tenure was marked by a breakdown in regular press briefings and questions about the administration's credibility, as well as her own, will leave her post at the end of the month, President Donald Trump announced Thursday...

The U.S. Education Department has opened investigations into foreign funding at Georgetown University and Texas A&M University as part of a broader push to monitor international money flowing to American colleges. Both universities are being ordered to disclose years of financial records amid concerns they have not fully reported their foreign gifts and contracts to the federal government, according to letters sent to the schools Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's assertion he would be open to accepting a foreign power's help in his 2020 campaign ricocheted through Washington on Thursday, with Democrats condemning it as a call for further election interference and Republicans struggling to defend his comments...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The U.S. blamed Iran for suspected attacks on two oil tankers Thursday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, denouncing what it called a campaign of "escalating tensions" in a region crucial to global energy supplies. The U.S. ...

LONDON -- The flamboyant, divisive Boris Johnson took a commanding lead Thursday in the contest to become Britain's next prime minister, winning by far the largest share of support in the first round of voting by Conservative Party lawmakers. Johnson, a former foreign secretary and leading Brexit campaigner, secured 114 of the 313 votes cast by Conservatives in the House of Commons, a ballot reducing the field of candidates from 10 to seven. ...

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday his country won't bow to "ultimatums" after the United States warned Turkey it was excluding it from the F-35 fighter jet program over its deal with Russia to purchase its S-400 missile defense system...

KAMPALA, Uganda -- A second person infected with the Ebola virus has died in Uganda, the health ministry said Thursday, after a family exposed to the disease quietly crossed the border from Congo. The first cross-border cases in this Ebola outbreak -- the second-deadliest in history -- have prompted a World Health Organization expert committee to meet today to discuss whether to declare a global health emergency. Such declarations almost always boost attention and donor funding...

WASHINGTON -- "Deepfake" videos pose a clear and growing threat to America's national security, lawmakers and experts say. The question is what to do about it, and that's not easily answered. A House Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday served up a public warning about the deceptive powers of artificial intelligence software and offered a sobering assessment of how fast the technology is outpacing efforts to stop it...

LONDON -- Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into Washington's political scene. The 30-something redhead boasted a job at a top think tank and a who's-who network of pundits and experts, from the centrist Brookings Institution to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. She was connected to a deputy assistant secretary of state, a senior aide to a senator and the economist Paul Winfree, who is being considered for a seat on the Federal Reserve...

Today is Friday, June 14, the 165th day of 2019. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag Day. Today's Highlight in History: On June 14, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure adding the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Tehran on Wednesday to warn an "accidental conflict" could be sparked amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S., a message coming hours after Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi airport, wounding 26 people...

WASHINGTON -- A House committee voted Wednesday to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to a decision adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House Oversight Committee voted 24-15 to advance contempt measures against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. ...

WASHINGTON -- Former White House communications director Hope Hicks has agreed to a closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee, the panel announced Wednesday, a breakthrough for Democrats who have been frustrated by President Donald Trump's broad stonewalling of their investigations...

Today is Thursday, June 13, the 164th day of 2019. There are 201 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional right to consult with an attorney and to remain silent...

MOSCOW -- In a stunning turnaround, Russian authorities Tuesday abruptly dropped all charges against a prominent investigative reporter after a public and media outcry over his arrest, and they promised to go after the police who allegedly tried to frame him as a drug dealer...

LONDON -- Boris Johnson solidified his front-runner status in the race to become Britain's next prime minister Tuesday, gaining backing from leading pro-Brexit lawmakers. But he faced calls from his rivals to abandon his low-profile campaign strategy and start answering questions from journalists and the public...

WASHINGTON -- The meeting between acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and his Chinese counterpart began with all the hallmarks of a routine staged and scripted session between two uneasy rivals. First came the posed photo, as the two men shook hands with broad smiles in front of their nations' flags, and then they moved quickly into the hotel conference room, surrounded by staff. There, Shanahan presented Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe with a gift...

KAMPALA, Uganda -- A child in Uganda has tested positive for Ebola in what is the first cross-border case of the deadly virus since an outbreak started in neighboring Congo last year, Uganda's health ministry said late Tuesday, in a blow to efforts by health workers who for months sought to prevent contamination across the heavily traveled border...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's top election official Tuesday rejected a third petition for a public vote on a new law banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's action came as opponents of the law are fighting in court to force the Republican to approve two similar petitions for a referendum he rejected last week...

WASHINGTON -- Members of both parties Tuesday suggested legislation may be necessary for the financially-struggling U.S. news industry as lawmakers began a bipartisan investigation into the market dominance of Silicon Valley companies. At a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, news media associations accused the tech companies of jeopardizing the industry's economic survival by putting news content on their platforms without fairly compensating them...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trip to Tehran represents the highest-level effort yet to de-escalate tensions between the U.S. and Iran as the country appears poised to break the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers America earlier abandoned...

Today is Wednesday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2019. There are 202 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 12, 2016, an American-born Muslim opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, a gay establishment in Orlando, Florida, leaving 49 people dead and 53 wounded before being shot dead by police...

WASHINGTON -- The daughter of Yale Law School professor and "tiger mom" Amy Chua, who praised Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a mentor to women after his nomination to the Supreme Court, is going to work for Kavanaugh this summer. Yale Law graduate Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld will serve as a law clerk to Kavanaugh for a year, beginning this summer, the court confirmed Monday. ...

WASHINGTON -- Stung by criticism his deal to avert threatened Mexican tariffs mostly ramps up existing border efforts, President Donald Trump is insisting there's more to it than meets the eye. In a pair of tweets Monday morning, Trump claimed that Mexico had agreed to action beyond what was outlined in the Friday announcement, teasing that more would be revealed soon...

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump complained Monday that President Xi Jinping enjoys a major advantage in the U.S.-China trade war in that he controls China's central bank while Trump must deal with a Federal Reserve "very destructive to us." Trump made clear in an interview with CNBC his frustration with a system providing political independence for America's central bank -- something most economists see as vital to its credibility. ...

NEW YORK -- A helicopter crashed on the roof of a rain-shrouded midtown Manhattan skyscraper Monday, killing the pilot and briefly triggering memories of 9/11, though it appeared to be an accident. The crash near Times Square and Trump Tower shook the 750-foot AXA Equitable building, sparked a fire and forced office workers to flee on elevators and down stairs, witnesses and officials said...

CHICAGO -- Seniors in major metropolitan areas, especially in the Northeast and around Washington, D.C., are more likely to continue working past age 65 than those in other areas around the country, according to an analysis of Census data by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research...

JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- The Islamic State group has lost its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, but in the forbidding mountains of northeastern Afghanistan the group is expanding its footprint, recruiting new fighters and plotting attacks on the United States and other Western countries, according to U.S. and Afghan security officials...

SAN MARCOS, Guatemala -- A near-death experience in the Arizona desert a year ago won't deter Francisco Perez from another attempt to migrate to the U.S., nor will an increased police presence in southern Mexico. The 23-year-old Guatemalan teacher and auto mechanic hopes to set out again soon to repay the $7,000 he owes from his first trip, when he and two other young men got lost for a week in the desert before being rescued by the U.S. border patrol...

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's foreign minister warned the U.S. on Monday it "cannot expect to stay safe" after launching what he described as an economic war against Tehran, taking a hard-line stance amid a visit by Germany's top diplomat seeking to defuse tensions...