COLU @ CONCEPTS

HONOLULU (AP) — At least three people died and 12 were injured Friday in a fire at a Honolulu high-rise that was not equipped with sprinklers, authorities said, and hundreds fled the giant condominium complex as smoke billowed from the upper floors. The dead were found on the 26th floor, where the fire broke out around 2:15 p.m. and then spread to the 28th floor of the Marco Polo residences, Fire Chief Manuel Neves said. Firefighters went door-to-door searching for people who might be trapped. The 36-floor building was built in 1971, before sprinklers were required. More than 60 firefighters are battling a three-alarm fire in a Honolulu high-rise apartment building Friday. Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. David Jenkin’s said the fire started on the 26th floor and spread to at least the 27th floor. (July 14) “Without a doubt if there were sprinklers in this apartment, the fire would be contained to the unit of origin,” he said. Resident Teresa Sommerville ...

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — When it comes to Disney, they like to keep it in the family, whether it’s getting a football team’s worth of original Disney princesses to cameo in “Wreck-It Ralph 2,” reuniting “The Incredibles” fourteen years after the original film hit theaters, or securing a new director for “Toy Story 4.” John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, led a confetti, joke and song-filled presentation of the upcoming animation slate for the studio Friday at the star-studded biannual fan convention D23 in Anaheim, just steps from Disneyland with appearances of people from Kristen Bell to Samuel L. Jackson. Sporting his signature Disney-themed Hawaiian shirt (this time with “Inside Out” characters) Lasseter, who was also identified as a “former Jungle Cruise Skipper,” announced that he would no longer be directing “Toy Story 4.” The job is going to “Inside Out” screenwriter Josh Cooley, who was previously going to co-direct with...

MIAMI (AP) — A sinkhole that started out the size of a small swimming pool and continued to grow in Florida swallowed a boat, destroyed two homes and prompted officials to evacuate residents from about a dozen homes Friday. Dramatic video showed the home in Land O’ Lakes, north of Tampa in Pasco County, collapsing into the hole Friday morning. It quickly engulfed one home and a boat and then consumed about 80 percent of another home, said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County’s assistant county administrator for public safety. By Friday afternoon, the hole stretched up to 250 feet (76 meters) wide and 50 feet (15 meters) deep, and threatened to damage a third home, Guthrie said. Pasco County Fire Chief Shawn Whited told reporters that no one was home when crews responded to a call about a “depression” under a boat in the backyard of a house in Lake Padgett Estates in Land O’Lakes. Within minutes, he said, “the hole opened up” and the boat fell in. Firefighters were able to get tw...

DENVER (AP) — Every day, tens of thousands of U.S. airline passengers settle into their seats, lower the window shades and reach up to twist the air vents without the benefit of something that might do even more to keep them cool: a rule setting temperature limits inside the cabin. Airlines have their own guidelines — some allowing the mercury to hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) — and federal regulations cover air flow and, more generally, passenger safety and comfort. A Colorado woman says her infant son overheated and became unresponsive on a United Airlines flight after the plane waited for more than an hour on the runway with no air conditioning. (July 14) But nowhere do authorities say how hot is too hot when a plane is sitting on the ground — a fact illustrated this summer when a mother holding her beet-red infant had to plead to be let off a broiling regional jet stuck on the tarmac at Denver International Airport. Emily France said she and her 4-mont...

SHENYANG, China (AP) — China cremated the body of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died this week after a battle with liver cancer amid international criticism of Beijing for not letting him travel abroad as he had wished. The government of the city of Shenyang in northeastern China, where Liu had been treated for advanced liver cancer, said in a briefing that the cremation took place Saturday morning in a ceremony attended by family and friends. The wife and other family members of China’s best-known political prisoner have been closely guarded by Chinese authorities and largely out of contact with the outside world. News of the death of Lui Xiaobo quickly reached the Tiananmen Square generation of Chinese students now living in the United States. For them Liu’s work to bring democracy to China is not forgotten. (July 13) Liu died Thursday from multiple organ failure that followed a battle with liver cancer while serving an 11-year sentence fo...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans’ latest health care plan would create winners and losers among Americans up and down the income ladder, and across age groups. It would give consumers more responsibility for their insurance choices, a goal long held by conservatives who argue that’s key to a true health care market. Younger adults and healthy people in the solid middle class may find more agreeable options. But low-income people may not be able to afford coverage, along with older and sicker adults. And there are potential unintended consequences for people with employer-provided insurance, currently about 170 million Americans. Allowing individuals to pay premiums from tax-sheltered accounts may create incentives for employers to stop offering coverage, say some independent analysts. The legislation would put limits on federal spending for Medicaid, a partnership program with states to cover low-income people, the disabled and nursing home residents. The drawback is that sta...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Russian-American lobbyist who attended a meeting at Trump Tower last year is a former military officer who has attracted congressional scrutiny over his political activities and has been shadowed by allegations of connections to Russian intelligence that he denies. Rinat Akhmetshin confirmed his participation in the meeting to The Associated Press on Friday, providing new details of a June 2016 sit-down that included a Russian lawyer and President Donald Trump’s oldest son, son-in-law and campaign chairman. His attendance at the meeting and his lobbying background created a new wrinkle to a story that has hounded the White House for days and added to questions about potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Akhmetshin is well-known in Washington for his advocacy efforts. He’s been outspoken in recent years about a U.S. law levying sanctions on Russians and has worked to undermine the public narrative used to justify the bill. And h...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet military officer attended a meeting with President Donald Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign chairman last year, the lobbyist said Friday, adding a new wrinkle to the Trump team’s evolving explanations about the June 2016 session. Rinat Akhmetshin confirmed  his involvement to The Associated Press in an interview. He had not been previously identified as a participant in the meeting at Trump Tower in New York, which was billed as part of a Russian government effort to help the Republican’s White House campaign. A Russian-American lobbyist says he attended a June 2016 meeting with President Donald Trump’s son, marking another shift in the account of a discussion that was billed as part of a Russian government effort to help Trump’s campaign. (July 14) The meeting has heightened questions about whether Trump’s associates coordinated with Russia to meddle in the presidential election — to he...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A court decision on President Donald Trump’s travel ban has reopened a window for tens of thousands of refugees to enter the United States, and the government is looking to quickly close it. The administration late Friday appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal judge in Hawaii ordered it to allow in refugees formally working with a resettlement agency in the United States. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson on also vastly expanded the list of U.S. family relationships that refugees and visitors from six Muslim-majority countries can use to get into the country, including grandparents and grandchildren. In its appeal, the U.S. Justice Department said Watson’s interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling on what family relationships qualify refugees and visitors from the six Muslim-majority countries to enter the U.S. “empties the court’s decision of meaning, as it encompasses not just ‘close’ family members, but virtually all family mem...

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A marijuana dealer gave police a grisly account of killing four men on his family’s farm, saying he crushed one of them with a backhoe after shooting him and tried to set three of the bodies on fire in a metal bin with the help of his cousin, according to court papers filed Friday. Cosmo DiNardo, who graduated from a Catholic prep school two years ago, said he killed a former schoolmate when he arrived with $800 to buy $8,000 worth of pot. DiNardo, who’s charged along with his cousin, said he shot another man in the back as he tried to run away. Authorities say they have identified the remains of four young men who were killed on a Pennsylvania farm and found buried there in two separate pits. Two men are charged in their killings. (July 14) DiNardo, 20, pinned one of the deaths on his cousin, who was charged Friday, although the cousin told police that DiNardo shot all four of the victims. The only motive disclosed by investigators was that ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the investigation into his campaign’s potential ties to Russia (all times local): 5:40 p.m. The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee says the panel has requested documents from Donald Trump Jr. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said the committee requested the documents “as recently as this week,” after President Donald Trump’s son released emails in which he appeared eager to accept Russian government information that could damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Warner has said he wants Trump Jr. to testify. The president’s son tweeted Monday that he would work with the panel. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also expected to testify in closed session. Warner said they are still waiting to receive some documents from Kushner. Warner said the panel “is just now starting to interview those individuals who are affiliated with the Trump campaign who may or may not have had contacts with Russians.” ___ 5 ...