COLU @ CONCEPTS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stevie Ryan, an actress and comedian who gained fame with impersonations of celebrities on YouTube, has died. She was 33. Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter says Ryan died Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. He says her death has been ruled a suicide after the agency performed an autopsy. Ryan had gained fame on YouTube with impersonations of celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Amy Winehouse. She also had a sketch comedy show on VH1, “Stevie TV,” and co-hosted a relationship talk show with Brody Jenner. Source: www.apnews.com 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Tears and hugs after North and South Korean women won the 1991 team table tennis world championships. A standing ovation when athletes from the two Koreas marched together to open the 2000 Sydney Olympics. A selfie taken by a South Korean gymnast with her North Korean opponent that went viral at last year’s Rio de Janeiro Games. Seven months ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics, South Korea’s new liberal President Moon Jae-in hopes the first Winter Games on Korean soil could produce more of these feel-good sparks of seeming reconciliation and pave the wave for deep engagement to ease the rivals’ 72-year standoff. In a good development for Moon, IOC President Thomas Bach on Monday expressed his support for Moon’s overture while North Korea recently allowed its taekwondo demonstration team to perform in the South in the Koreas’ first sports exchanges since Moon’s May 10 inauguration. But there is also plenty of skepticism about Moon’s efforts because of ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are celebrating their country’s birthday Tuesday with big-time fireworks, small-town parades and the quirky spectacle of competitive hot dog eating, marking a day of shared traditions in a nation that has grappled with divides this past year. In New York, throngs are expected to watch the annual Macy’s fireworks blowout and the Nathan’s Famous frankfurter-chomping contest on Coney Island on July Fourth. In Washington, President Donald Trump is observing his first Independence Day in office by hosting a White House picnic for military families, followed by a fireworks viewing event for military families and staffers. Contestants weighed in ahead of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest held annually in Coney Island. Joey Chestnut is the reigning male champion, eating 70 hot dogs and buns last year. (July 3) In Boston, one of 14 original copies of the Declaration of Independence will be displayed at a museum, and hundreds of thou...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie, by his own admission, entered lame-duck territory on Tuesday, signing his final budget after a bruising three-day state government shutdown that included a viral photo of him lounging on a state beach that was closed to the public because of a budget impasse. The two-term Republican governor signed the $34.7 billion budget early Tuesday and sounded an unapologetic tone over the aerial photos snapped by NJ.com that showed him at the state governor’s residence at Island Beach State Park. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he would sign a budget deal right away. The standoff shut down New Jersey beaches and parks. Christie was widely criticized for visiting a state beach that was closed to the public. (July 4) The pictures sparked a global reaction: countless memes featuring a Photoshopped cutout of Christie in a beach chair, headlines on international news sites and a full-scale media blitz from Christie’s spokesman. “If t...

BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-backed Syrian forces have breached the wall around Raqqa’s Old City, the U.S. military said Tuesday, marking a major advance in the weeks-old battle to drive Islamic State militants out of their self-declared capital. The U.S. Central Command said the coalition conducted targeted strikes on two “small portions” of the Rafiqah Wall, allowing the fighters “to advance into the most heavily fortified portion” of the city. It said the strikes allowed SDF fighters to bypass booby traps and snipers, and left most of the 2,500-meter (yard) wall intact. The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the breaching of the wall was the most important development to date in the battle for Raqqa. He said three SDF units advanced toward the wall under air cover, breaking through the IS defenses, and that heavy clashes were underway. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launched a multi-pronged assault on Raqqa last month aft...

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — The man had almost made it to safety, with Iraqi forces waiting at the far end of a rubble-strewn alley — but first he had to take off his clothes. An AP photograph taken Monday shows him standing in an alley in his underwear, his arms spread wide, proving that he isn’t strapped with explosives. Others gather behind him, waiting to do the same thing. The Iraqi soldiers fighting to drive the Islamic State group from its last foothold in the city were taking every precaution. Hours earlier, two female suicide bombers hiding among fleeing civilians had struck Iraqi forces, killing at least one soldier and wounding five. In their months-long battle for the country’s second largest city, Iraqi soldiers have had to contend with booby traps, snipers and suicide car bombs, all while trying to spare the lives of the tens of thousands of civilians who remain in the city. The man in the alley, terrified and nearly naked, made it out safely. Untold others remain ins...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week will be brimming with global intrigue, but the White House says there’s “no specific agenda.” So in the absence of a set list of topics, what are two of the world’s most famously unpredictable leaders to discuss? Trump, who prefers to have neatly packaged achievements to pair with high-profile meetings, may be looking for some concessions from Russia to show he’s delivering progress and helping restore a productive relationship between the two powers. Putin would almost surely want something in return, and there’s a long list of “irritants” between the two countries that they could potentially resolve. Ahead of the meeting, White House National Security Council and State Department officials have been reviewing possible gestures the U.S. could offer Russia as part of the meeting, a current and a former administration official said. They weren’t authorized to co...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has thrown a cloak of secrecy over assessments of the safety and security of its nuclear weapons operations, a part of the military with a history of periodic inspection failures and bouts of low morale. Overall results of routine inspections at nuclear weapons bases, such as a “pass-fail” grade, had previously been publicly available. They are now off-limits. The change goes beyond the standard practice of withholding detailed information on the inspections. The stated reason for the change is to prevent adversaries from learning too much about U.S. nuclear weapons vulnerabilities. Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the added layer of secrecy was deemed necessary. “We are comfortable with the secrecy,” Hicks said Monday, adding that it helps ensure that “as long as nuclear weapons exist, the U.S. will maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear stockpile.” Critics question the lockdown of information. “...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after that country’s latest missile launch, asking, “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?” Trump wrote on Twitter late Monday that it’s “Hard to believe that South Korea ... and Japan will put up with this much longer.” And he urged North Korea’s biggest ally, China, to “put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!” South Korean officials said early Tuesday that North Korea had launched another ballistic missile toward Japan, part of a string of recent test-firings as the North works to build a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the United States. For its part, North Korea claimed to have tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile. But its declaration conflicted with South Korean and U.S. assessments earlier. The U.S. Defense Department said U.S. Pacific Command detected and tracked the launch of a land-based, intermediate range ...