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MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military sought Tuesday to allay Western fears about major war games set for next month, describing them as regular drills that will not threaten anyone. The Zapad (West) 2017 maneuvers organized jointly by Belarus and Russia have raised NATO concerns. Some alliance members, including the Baltic states and Poland, have criticized Moscow for a lack of transparency and questioned Moscow’s intentions. Russia-West relations have been badly strained over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and continuing fighting in eastern Ukraine. Amid spiraling tensions, Western worries about the planned maneuvers have ranged from allegations that Russia could use the maneuvers to permanently deploy its forces to Belarus to fears of a surprise attack on the Baltics. Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Lt. Gen. Alexander Fomin, rejected what he described as Western “myths about the so-called Russian threat.” “The most improbable scenarios have been float...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronting Harvey’s fury, President Donald Trump is making an all-out push to show the federal government’s responsiveness to the massive storm that has lashed the Texas coastwdc and caused catastrophic flooding. Trump will travel to Texas on Tuesday to observe the federal government’s work to help the state recover from Harvey’s devastation. The storm, bringing torrents of rain and all but paralyzing Houston, marks the first time Trump has been tested by a major natural disaster at the start of his administration. The president was scheduled to receive briefings on the relief efforts in Corpus Christi, Texas, and later meet with state officials at the emergency operations center in Austin. The president was joined by first lady Melania Trump and other officials. “Conditions haven’t cleared in Houston yet so probably not appropriate for him to go up there, probably not safe for him to go up there,” said Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. “But I do think h...

RUMBEK, South Sudan (AP) — “If I’d have refused, my father and brothers would have killed me,” Eliza says. Shifting uncomfortably in her plastic chair, the 17-year-old recoils when remembering her wedding day. In 2012, at the age of 13, Eliza was forced by her father to marry a 35-year-old man from their village in the South Sudan town of Rumbek. She was traded for 50 cattle. As her family slaughtered a cow in celebration and sent her away, the girl was unhappy. “I just cried,” Eliza said. The Associated Press is using only her first name to protect her identity. Fifty-two percent of girls in South Sudan are married before age 18, according to the United Nations. Seventeen percent marry before they turn 15. The world’s youngest nation is well into its fourth year of civil war, with mass displacement, alleged war crimes and starvation driving millions of people deeper into despair. Although child marriage is a long-standing practice, South Sudan’s government and aid agencie...

HOUSTON (AP) — Televangelist Joel Osteen says his Houston megachurch has “never” closed its doors to people seeking shelter as Harvey swamps the city. Osteen has faced criticism for not opening his massive Lakewood Church as a storm shelter. In a statement  to ABC News  , Osteen says the church “will continue to be a distribution center for those in need” and is “prepared to house people once shelters reach capacity.” The 16,000-seat former arena served as the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets from 1975 to 2003. Osteen’s comment stands in contrast to a  church Facebook post  and a since-deleted Instagram remark by Lakewood associate pastor John Gray, who said flooded highways had made the church inaccessible. A spokeswoman for Osteen didn’t immediately return a request for comment Tuesday. Source: www.apnews.com 

TOKYO (AP) — Conventional wisdom says that if North Korea were ever to use its nuclear weapons, it would be an act of suicide. But brace yourself for what deterrence experts call the “theory of victory.” To many who have studied how nuclear strategies actually work, it’s conceivable North Korea could escalate to a nuclear war and still survive. Tuesday’s missile test suggests once again it may be racing to prepare itself to do just that — but only if forced into a corner. Every missile North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launches comes at a high cost. North Korea doesn’t have an unlimited supply, and they aren’t easy or cheap to build. So when Kim orders his strategic forces to launch, it’s safe to assume it’s a move calculated to achieve maximum political, technical and training value. Tuesday’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan and into the open Pacific Ocean, once again blowing past warnings from the United States and its allies, is a prime example. There is a s...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over Japan and splashed into the northern Pacific Ocean, officials said. The aggressive missile launch — likely the longest ever from North Korea — over the territory of a close U.S. ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers (341 miles) as it traveled over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The distance and type of missile tested seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target the U.S. territory of Guam, if it chooses to do so, while also establishing a potentially dangerous precedent that could see future missiles flying over Japan. Any new test worries Washington and its allies because it presumably puts North ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — George W. Bush never recovered from his flyover of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. Barack Obama got a bipartisan boost late in his re-election campaign for his handling of Superstorm Sandy. Now, President Donald Trump confronts the political risks and potential gains that come with leading the federal government’s response to a deadly and destructive natural disaster. Hurricane Harvey, the massive storm that has dumped torrents of rain across Texas — flooding Houston and other cities — is the first major natural disaster of Trump’s presidency, and the yet-to-be-determined scope of the damage appears likely to require a years-long federal project. Trump, who is suffering through a long stretch of low approval ratings, has been particularly eager to seize the moment. He will visit Texas Tuesday — and may return to the region again on Saturday. The White House announced the first visit even before Harvey made landfall. On Monday, Trump promised Texans will “hav...

HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on Tropical Storm Harvey (all times local): 8:20 a.m. A fire official says 11 people were rescued from fast-moving floodwaters in northwest Houston after a private rescue boat capsized. Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department spokesman David Padovan said Tuesday that the people who fell from the boat clung to trees to avoid being carried away by the current. A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter provided a floodlight early Tuesday to guide rescuers to the people in the water. Padovan says it appears the people were being evacuated from their homes in a flooded Houston subdivision and were being taken to dry ground when the boat capsized. It’s not clear what caused the craft to roll. The rescued people were treated for cuts, abrasions and mild hypothermia. Harvey has been dumping torrential rain on Texas since Sunday, causing catastrophic flooding across the state and in particular on Houston and the surrounding area. Houston auth...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan. In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior.” “Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said. “All options are on the table.” Trump later told reporters, “We’ll see, we’ll see” when asked what he would do about North Korea. Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, was departing the White House for a trip to survey storm damage in southeast Texas. In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over U.S. ally Japan and splashed into the northe...

HOUSTON (AP) — Crews overwhelmed by thousands of rescue calls during one of the heaviest downpours in U.S. history have had little time to search for other potential victims, but officials acknowledge the grim reality that fatalities linked to Harvey could soar once the devastating floodwaters recede from one of America’s most sprawling metropolitan centers. More than three days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, authorities had confirmed only three deaths — including a woman killed Monday when heavy rains dislodged a large oak tree onto her trailer home in the small town of Porter. But unconfirmed reports of others missing or presumed dead were growing. “We know in these kind of events that, sadly, the death toll goes up historically,” Houston police Chief Art Acevedo told The Associated Press. “I’m really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.” One Houston woman said Monday that she presumes six members of a family, inclu...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile from its capital Pyongyang that flew over Japan before plunging into the northern Pacific Ocean, officials said Tuesday, an aggressive test-flight over the territory of a close U.S. ally that sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers (341 miles) as it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The launch appeared to be the first of a North Korean missile to cross over Japan, though some rockets it said were used to put satellites into space have done so. It also appeared to be the North’s longest-ever missile test, but South Korean officials couldn’t immediately confirm. Each new test puts the North a step closer toward its goal of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can reliably target the United States. The North has launc...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision to pardon Joe Arpaio, calling the former Arizona sheriff a “patriot” who loves his country. Asked about his controversial pardon during a joint press conference with the president of Finland on Monday, Trump insisted that “a lot of people” believe he made the right call. He said Arpaio had done a “great job for the people of Arizona” and argued that he’d been treated “unbelievable unfairly” by the Obama administration. “He’s done a great job for the people of Arizona. He is very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration. He is loved in Arizona,” Trump said. Trump’s decision drew criticism from both sides of the aisle, and renewed allegations that he has little respect for an independent judiciary. Arpaio shot to national fame by aggressively targeting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally using tactics that Latino and immigrants’ rights advocates likened to racial profiling. He faced a ...