COLU @ CONCEPTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will testify before a House panel as momentum builds on Capitol Hill for a package of new Russia sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Tillerson is scheduled to appear Wednesday before the Foreign Affairs Committee, just hours ahead of a vote in the Senate on the sanctions. Tillerson has warned lawmakers the U.S. relationship with Russia is at an all-time low and deteriorating further. And he’s also cautioned against taking steps that might close off promising avenues of communication between the two former Cold War foes. Tillerson was noncommittal about a package of new Russia sanctions during testimony Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said he’s still reviewing the proposed penalties that Senate Republicans and Democrats agreed upon after lengthy negotiations. But it’s important, he stressed, that President Donald Trump have the flexibility “to turn the he...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller used to be off limits. No more. Some of President Donald Trump’s closest allies — including one of his sons — have begun questioning whether Mueller’s wide-ranging probe is becoming too political, as the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election intensifies. The White House finally said Tuesday evening that Trump has “no intention” of firing Mueller, amid speculation and concern that he was weighing that option. Deputy AG Rosenstein says he’s seen no basis to fire special counsel probing contacts between Trump campaign and Russia. (June 13) The effort to muddy the waters surrounding the investigation is coming amid growing White House concern that the probe could detract from the president’s agenda for months or years to come. Senators on Tuesday questioned both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on how the inquiry is being handled. Until now, Mueller h...

BIDI BIDI, Uganda (AP) — At this kindergarten on the edge of the world’s largest refugee camp, there are no notebooks. When it’s time to practice writing skills, children sit under a tree to doodle in the dirt while teachers use a blackboard. “Maybe this term we will provide the books,” said Kevin Afura, who teaches at the school for 500 children operated by the aid group Save the Children. “They write on the ground.” Schooling is the latest challenge in this overcrowded refugee settlement where basic facilities like toilets are in short supply. This school’s only classroom is a tent in which dozens of kids swarm an overwhelmed teacher. She soon releases them to the playground, where they either swing and slide or simply go home. One recent morning, parent Reida Yeno pointed dismissively and said the children like her 4-year-old son are falling behind in their studies: “They are just only playing.” The sprawling Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in northern Uganda is home to ov...

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — As Bill Cosby awaits a verdict in his sexual assault case in Pennsylvania, the comedian’s civil lawyers are fighting civil lawsuits against him by 10 women around the country. Currently, seven women have defamation suits pending in Massachusetts, while three more have defamation or sexual battery suits pending in California. Cosby has denied any wrongdoing. The criminal case against Cosby partly stems from the accuser’s related civil lawsuit. Prosecutors reopened a criminal investigation and filed charges in 2015 after Cosby’s deposition in the woman’s 2005 lawsuit was unsealed, and they realized the 12-year statute of limitations for felony sexual assault had not yet expired. The jury in Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial wants to know what “without her knowledge” means in one of the three counts they’re weighing against the comedian. This comes as Cosby’s spokesman told reporters about a witness who could not testify. (June 13) A recap of the pen...

Two Georgia inmates serving long prison sentences and “dangerous beyond description” overpowered and killed two guards on a prison bus before fleeing in a stolen car, authorities said. The deadly escape happened about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday as the guards drove 33 inmates between prisons, and it set off a massive manhunt involving local, state and federal officers, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said. Sills was emotional as he described the scene. “I saw two brutally murdered corrections officers, that’s what I saw,” he said. “I have their blood on my shoes.” A manhunt is under way for two inmates accused of killing two guards on a prison bus Tuesday. A Putnam County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman says the escape and slayings happened on Highway 16 as inmates were being transported between facilities. (June 13) Donnie Russell Rowe, serving life without parole, and Ricky Dubose, who has prominent tattoos on his face and neck, overpowered, disarmed and killed Sgt. Christ...

CINCINNATI (AP) — An American college student who was released from a North Korean prison is finally home but in a coma and undergoing treatment at an Ohio hospital where he was taken shortly after arriving on U.S. soil. An airplane carrying Otto Warmbier, who is from Ohio, landed in Cincinnati late Tuesday night. The 22-year-old was then taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Warmbier was serving a 15-year prison term with hard labor in North Korea for alleged anti-state acts. US student Otto Warmbier is hospitalized in Cincinnati after he was returned from North Korea. His family says he’s in a coma. North Korea sentenced Warmbier to prison after he admitted trying to steal a propaganda banner during a trip there. (June 14) In Warmbier’s hometown of Wyoming, just outside of Cincinnati, residents helped tie blue and white ribbons, Wyoming High School’s colors, to trees and said news of his release had sent waves of shock and joy through t...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a close adviser to President Donald Trump during his battle for the presidency, heatedly defended himself before his former Senate colleagues as he denied having an undisclosed meeting with Russia’s ambassador to the United States and rejected any misconduct in the ouster of FBI Director James Comey. In a dramatic and packed Senate hearing, Sessions vowed to defend his honor “against scurrilous and false allegations” and declared it a “detestable and appalling lie” to suggest he was aware of or took part in any collusion between Russia and the election campaign that sent Trump to the White House. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he did not have a third meeting with the Russian ambassador to the United States. (June 13) He also contradicted a contention made by Comey at a hearing before the same panel last week. Comey told the intelligence committee that, after an encounter with President Trump in which he said T...

LONDON (AP) — A deadly night-time fire raced through a 24-story apartment tower in London early Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more. Some desperate residents threw their children from high windows, hoping someone on the ground would catch them. Police commander Stuart Cundy said there were six confirmed fatalities, adding that the figure was likely to rise “during what will be a complex recovery operation over a number of days.” People in the apartments cornered by the quickly advancing flames and thick smoke banged on windows and screamed for help to those watching down below, witnesses and survivors said. Fire swept through a high-rise apartment building in west London early Wednesday, killing an unknown number of people and sending dozens to hospitals. More than 200 firefighters battled the flames, which engulfed the 24-story building. (June 14) Flames from the inferno lit up the night and smoke spewed from the windows of the Grenfell T...