COLU @ CONCEPTS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Several dozen tradition-minded Roman Catholic theologians, priests and academics have formally accused Pope Francis of spreading heresy with his 2016 opening to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. In a 25-page letter delivered to Francis last month and provided Saturday to The Associated Press, the 62 signatories issued a “filial correction” to the pope — a measure they said hadn’t been employed since the 14th century. The letter accused Francis of propagating seven heretical positions concerning marriage, moral life and the sacraments with his 2016 document “The Joy of Love” and subsequent “acts, words and omissions.” The initiative follows another formal act by four tradition-minded cardinals who wrote Francis last year asking him to clarify a series of questions, or “dubbia,” they had about his 2016 text. Francis hasn’t responded to either initiative. The Vatican spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment late Saturday...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Latest on earthquakes in Mexico (all times local): 6:20 p.m. The Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City has spewed a cloud of vapor with some ash about a mile (2 kilometers) into the air, but experts said it was not related to the quakes. The 17,797-foot (5,426-meter) volcano has been periodically erupting since 1994. Saturday’s emissions come shortly after three powerful quakes that together have killed more than 400 people. ___ 12:05 p.m. Officials say the death toll from this week’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake in central Mexico has climbed to 305. Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente sent out a tweet on Saturday saying 167 of those deaths were in Mexico City. Morelos state accounted for 73, Puebla for 45, Mexico State for 13, Guerrero for six and Oaxaca for one. Rescue work is continuing four days after the quake struck. Search and rescue teams in Mexico City on Friday continued to look for people buried in the rubble from colla...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Syria’s foreign minister told world leaders Saturday that victory against terrorists in his war-ravaged nation “is now within reach” while North Korea’s foreign minister said U.S. President Donald Trump’s insult to his country makes an attack against the U.S. mainland inevitable. Global conflicts, threats and challenges dominated the fifth day of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting, including an impassioned appeal for help from the prime minister of Dominica who said his hurricane-ravaged Caribbean island nation is in “the front line of the war on climate change.” Syria’s Walid al-Moualem said his country is “marching steadily” toward the goal of rooting out terrorism. He pointed to “the liberation of Aleppo and Palmyra,” the end of the Islamic State extremist group’s siege of Deir el-Zour, “and the eradication of terrorism from many parts of Syria” by the Syrian army and its supporters and allies, including Russia and Iran. Russia’...

TORONTO (AP) — U.S. first lady Melania Trump on Saturday encouraged the American team participating in an Olympic-style competition for wounded service members and veterans to take their “fighting spirit” and “bring home the gold.” Mrs. Trump also applauded the team members for their contributions, calling them “our heroes.” “On behalf of my husband and our entire country, I want to thank you and your families for all you have sacrificed to keep us safe,” she said at a reception at a downtown Toronto hotel for the nearly 100 U.S. athletes competing in the Invictus Games, a creation of Britain’s Prince Harry. “I also want to wish you good luck, though I know you won’t need it in these games,” Mrs. Trump said. “Take that fighting spirit that I know you have and bring home the gold.” During the opening ceremonies Saturday night, Mrs. Trump joined Prince Harry in a VIP box and stood and applauded when Team USA was introduced. She also stood for Canada’s team. Earlier, the ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unwilling to concede defeat on a bedrock GOP promise, President Donald Trump on Saturday tried to sway two Republican holdouts on the party’s last-ditch health care hope while clawing at his nemesis who again has brought the “Obamacare” repeal-and-replace effort to the brink of failure. Trump appealed to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a possible “no” vote, to swing around for the sake of Alaskans up in arms over high insurance costs, and suggested that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul might reverse his stated opposition “for the good of the Party!” Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose announcement Friday that he would not vote for the proposal seemingly scuttled efforts to revive the repeal, came under renewed criticism from the White House. It was the second time in three months that McCain, at 81 in the twilight of a remarkable career and battling brain cancer, had emerged as the destroyer of his party’s signature and yearslong pledge to voters on health care. “He campaigned on ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain faced a choice that balanced friendship, party loyalty and his convictions. He made the decision some of his closest advisers expected. Looking at the twilight of his career and a grim cancer diagnosis, the Republican senator from Arizona who prides himself on an independent streak could not be moved to go along with a last-ditch GOP push to overhaul the nation’s health care system. Those close to him say he wrestled with the choice — the legislation was championed by his best friend in the Senate — but rarely strayed from his intention to send a message to the institution where he’s spent three decades. That message was bipartisanship and what he cast as the integrity of the Senate process that insists on debate and often yields compromise. The call for “regular order” isn’t the stuff of campaign bumper stickers, but it has become McCain’s mission since he’s returned to Washington, to keep up his work and treatment for an often fatal brain tu...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he wants to lure Democratic lawmakers to sign on to a Republican-crafted tax overhaul plan but negotiators must deal with the reality that any handouts to Democrats could quickly turn into turnoffs for the GOP. The White House and tax-writing Republican leaders are expected to begin filling in some of the details this coming week on Trump’s plan to simplify the tax system, a legislative priority for the president. The White House views this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to simplify taxes and cut rates, while giving Trump a much-needed victory as the Republicans struggle to overturn the Obama health care law. The specifics are taking shape. Trump’s efforts to draw in a few Democrats could mean “you’re going to lose a few Republicans,” said Mark Weinberger, CEO of the accounting firm EY. But he added: “He wants to get 51 votes period in the Senate ... so it is possible you might lose a few Republicans and pick up a few Demo...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered 517 containers of “unidentified, potentially hazardous material” from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during Hurricane Harvey. The agency has not provided details about which Superfund sites the material came from, why the contaminants at issue have not been identified and whether there’s a threat to human health. The one-sentence disclosure about the 517 containers was made Friday night deep within a media release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency summarizing the government’s response to the devastating storm. At least a dozen Superfund sites in and around Houston were flooded in the days after Harvey’s record-shattering rains stopped. Associated Press journalists surveyed seven of the flooded sites by boat, vehicle and on foot. The EPA said at the time that its personnel had been unable to reach the sites, though they surveyed the locations using ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on U.S.-North Korean tensions (all times local): 5:30 p.m. The U.S. is putting on display its military might for North Korea. American bombers and fighter escorts have flown to the farthest point north of the border between North and South Korea by any such U.S. aircraft this century. The Pentagon says the mission in international airspace shows how seriously President Donald Trump takes what’s being called North Korea’s “reckless behavior.” Officials also say the mission sends a message that Trump has “many military options to defeat any threat.” North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has said Trump would “pay dearly” for threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its allies against a North Korean attack. Kim’s foreign minister told reporters this past week that the North’s response to Trump “could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific.” President Trump announced Thursda...

SOMERSET, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump denounced protests by NFL players and rescinded a White House invitation for NBA champion Stephen Curry in a two-day rant that targeted top professional athletes and brought swift condemnation Saturday from league executives and star players alike. Wading into thorny issues of race and politics, Trump’s comments in a Friday night speech and a series of Saturday tweets drew sharp responses from some of the nation’s top athletes, with LeBron James calling the president a “bum.” Hours later, Major League Baseball saw its first player take a knee during the national anthem. Trump started by announcing that Curry, the popular two-time MVP for the Golden State Warriors, would not be welcome at the White House for the commemorative visit traditionally made by championship teams: “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!” Later, Trump reit...

TORONTO (AP) — Prince Harry’s girlfriend, American actress Meghan Markle, sat in the stands for Saturday’s opening ceremony of his Invictus Games for wounded veterans in her first appearance at a public event with him. They were not sitting together at the Air Canada Centre. They were about four rows apart but Harry looked over at her when the Canadian anthem played. A security guard blocked at least one fan from taking pictures of Markle, who sat with friend Markus Anderson, a party consultant. Markle lives in Toronto, but hadn’t appeared with Harry since he arrived in the city. She recently told Vanity Fair they’re in love. The 36-year-old actress was wearing a burgundy leather jacket over a dark dress. She is known for her portrayal of a paralegal in the television show “Suits.” The Invictus Games are the creation of Prince Harry, who got the inspiration to help wounded and sick military personnel and their families after his two tours of duty in Afghanistan. This is the ...

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea has held a large anti-U.S. rally in its capital city, backing its leader Kim Jong Un as he exchanges insult-laden threats with President Donald Trump. A huge crowd gathered Saturday in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, named for the current leader’s grandfather and founder of North Korea. They listened to speeches from senior officials excoriating the United States and its president. A parade of marchers carried signs with slogans such as “decisive revenge” and “death to the American imperialists.” They shouted phrases such as “total destruction,” according to the Korean Central News Agency, the state news service. The crowd included workers, officials and students, KCNA said. The rally capped two days of response to Trump’s combative speech at the United Nations earlier in the week. The U.S. president mocked Kim as a “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission,” and said that the U.S. “will have no choice but to totally destroy North Kor...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A strong new earthquake shook Mexico on Saturday, killing at least two people, toppling already damaged homes and a highway bridge, and causing new alarm in a country reeling from two even more powerful quakes that together have killed more than 400 people. The U.S. Geological Survey said the new, magnitude 6.1 temblor was centered about 11 miles (18 kilometers) south-southeast of Matias Romero in the state of Oaxaca, which was the region most battered by a magnitude 8.1 quake on Sept. 7. It was among thousands of aftershocks recorded in the wake of that earlier quake, which was the most powerful to hit Mexico in 32 years and killed at least 96 people. The government of Oaxaca state reported that some homes collapsed. A woman died when a wall of her home fell on her in the town of Asuncion Ixtaltepec, and a man died after a wall fell on him in San Blas Atempa. Four people were injured in Juchitan and three in Tlacotepec, but none of their lives were ...