COLU @ CONCEPTS

  AP Exclusive: China lawyer’s family says US helped them flee BEIJING (AP) — Stuck in a Bangkok jail with a deportation order against her, Chen Guiqiu waited with dread over what seemed certain to come next. A Thai immigration official showed her surveillance video of the jail entrance, where more than a dozen Chinese security agents were waiting. Within minutes, Chen feared, she and her two daughters would be escorted back to China, where her husband, the prominent rights lawyer Xie Yang, was held on a charge of inciting subversion — and where punishment for attempting to flee surely awaited her. After weeks on the run, Chen was exhausted, and so was her luck. A Christian, she prayed: “Don’t desert us now, not like this.” Help arrived, from America. U.S. Embassy officials managed to enter the facility just in time to whisk Chen and her daughters out a back door. The Chinese agents outside soon realized what had happened and pursued them, finally meeting in a stand...

Texas stokes immigration debate with ‘sanctuary cities’ ban AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas charged to the forefront of the national debate over immigration as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a so-called “sanctuary cities” ban that lets police ask during routine stops whether someone is in the U.S. legally and threatens sheriffs with jail if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents. The new Texas law was blasted by opponents as the nation’s toughest on immigrants since Arizona’s crackdown in 2010. Opponents vowed to challenge it in court. Abbott signed the measure on Facebook Live Sunday evening without advance notice, which critics said was to avoid protesters. Abbott spokesman John Wittman said they chose to sign the bill on social media because that’s “where most people are getting their news nowadays.” The law allows police to inquire about the immigration status of anyone they detain, a situation that can range from arrest for a crime to being stopped...

Appeals court to weigh challenge to revised Trump travel ban RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — After a series of stinging legal defeats, President Donald Trump’s administration hopes to convince a federal appeals court that his travel ban targeting six-Muslim majority countries is motivated by national security, not religion. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday will examine a ruling that blocks the administration from temporarily barring new visas for citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It’s the first time an appeals court will hear arguments on the revised travel ban, which is likely destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. Pointing to the Republican’s promises on the campaign trail to bar Muslims from entering the country, a federal judge in Maryland found in March that the policy appeared to be driven primarily by religious animus. Attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department say the court shouldn’t rely on Trump’s statements, but on the text of the policy, ...

Ousted Obama official to speak on Trump aide’s Russia talks WASHINGTON (AP) — An Obama administration official who warned the Trump White House about contacts between one of its key advisers and Russia is set to speak publicly for the first time about the concerns she raised. Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates is testifying Monday before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The highly anticipated hearing — it is Yates’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since her firing in January — is expected to fill in key details in the chain of events that led to the ouster of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, in the early weeks of the administration. The February resignation followed media reports that Flynn had discussed U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period, which was contrary to the public representations...

   French president-elect gears for transition _ as do rivals PARIS (AP) — French president-elect Emmanuel Macron is laying the groundwork for his transition to power, with plans for a visit to Germany, a name change for his political movement and an appearance Monday with the man whose job he assumes. Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen handily in Sunday’s presidential vote, and now must pull together a majority for his year-old political movement by mid-June legislative elections. His party, En Marche (Forward) is tweaking its name as it prepares a list of candidates. Macron has promised that half of those candidates will be new to elected politics, as he was before Sunday. The far-right National Front party is also gearing up for a name change — if not a makeover of its ideas — after Marine Le Pen’s decisive loss. In interviews Monday, her campaign director, David Rachline, said the party founded by her father would get a new name as bait...

   Clash over middle-school sex assaults: Did they happen? ESTILL, S.C. (AP) — The numbers are horrific: At least four students, ages 11 to 14, victimized by as many as 30 kids in one of the largest single cases of sexual assault reported on U.S. school grounds. And yet four years later, it’s as if nothing happened. The sheriff’s office investigated and filed an incident report, but eventually stopped asking questions after multiple fruitless attempts to discuss the case with a prosecutor. Estill Middle School said it couldn’t determine what, if anything, happened in the gym bathroom. The former school principal couldn’t even recall the incident when asked about it. But to the grandmother of two girls who claimed they were forced by classmates to perform oral sex, there is no doubt that something terrible happened. She filed a lawsuit against the school district for failing to keep kids safe from harm. “They were at a schoolhouse, where they were supposed to ...