COLU @ CONCEPTS

BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s return to Lebanon (all times local): 12:50 p.m. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he is putting his resignation on hold following a request from the Lebanese president to reconsider. In surprise conciliatory comments from the presidential palace Wednesday, Hariri says he is putting Lebanon’s interest first and is looking forward to a “real partnership” with Lebanese President Michel Aoun. He says he presented his resignation to Aoun at the presidential palace, but then responded to Aoun’s request to give him more time for consultations, “hoping it will constitute a serious introduction for (national) dialogue.” Hariri announced his resignation in a televised address from Saudi Arabia on November 4, stunning the nation and plunging the country in turmoil. Top Lebanese officials accused Hariri’s patron, Saudi Arabia, of forcing his resignation and detaining him in the kingdom for days. ___ 11:55 a.m. ...

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s notoriously fragmented opposition gathered Wednesday in the Saudi capital for a meeting intended to close ranks and come up with a unified vision ahead of a new round of peace talks in Geneva. At a time when Syria’s President Bashar Assad is the most secure in his post since the war began, the opposition remains rife with disagreements and weakened by its allies ’distraction with other conflicts. Hours before the Riyadh meeting, a dozen opposition figures, including the head of the Riyadh-formed High Negotiations Committee Riad Hijab, resigned in protest, accusing others of being too willing to accept the continue rule of a man they view as a discredited tyrant. Syria’s opposition has long struggled to prove its relevance under a leadership mix made up of academics and exiled politicians, or Islamist clerics and ultraconservative jihadists. Despite a wide array of international allies— western countries, wealthy Gulf countries, and neighboring Turkey_th...

BEIRUT (AP) — Hours after returning to the country following a nearly three week puzzling absence, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri participated in Independence Day celebrations Wednesday, his first official appearance since he suddenly announced his resignation from abroad, stunning the country. Hariri’s resignation on Nov. 4 was not accepted by President Michel Aoun, who said he wanted to hear from Hariri in person first. It was not clear whether Hariri will insist on his resignation, re-negotiate the terms for his re-appointment or withdraw his resignation as many hope. Hariri’s televised resignation from Saudi Arabia had sparked a political and diplomatic crisis as Lebanese officials accused the Gulf kingdom, which is feuding with Iran for influence in the region, of forcing the Sunni, Saudi-aligned politician to resign and detaining him for days. The premier cited Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah’s meddling in the region as a reason for his decision to step dow...

NEW YORK (AP) — David Cassidy, the teen and pre-teen idol who starred in the 1970s sitcom “The Partridge Family” and sold millions of records as the musical group’s lead singer, died Tuesday at age 67. Cassidy, who announced earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with dementia, died surrounded by his family, a family statement released by publicist JoAnn Geffen said. No further details were immediately available, but Geffen said on Saturday that Cassidy was in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hospital suffering from organ failure. “David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long,” the statement said. Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years.” “The Partridge Family” aired from 1970-74 and was a fictional variation of the ’60s performers the Cowsills, intended at first as a vehicle for Shirley Jones, the Oscar winning actress and Cassidy’s stepmother. Jones played Shirley Pa...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Uber is coming clean about its cover-up of a year-old hacking attack that stole personal information about more than 57 million of the beleaguered ride-hailing service’s customers and drivers. So far, there’s no evidence that the data taken has been misused, according to a Tuesday blog post by Uber’s recently hired CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. Part of the reason nothing malicious has happened is because Uber acknowledges paying the hackers $100,000 to destroy the stolen information. The revelation marks the latest stain on Uber’s reputation. The San Francisco company ousted Travis Kalanick as CEO in June after an internal investigation concluded he had built a culture that allowed female workers to be sexually harassed and encouraged employees to push legal limits. It’s also the latest major breach involving a prominent company that didn’t notify the people that could be potentially harmed for months or even years after the break-in occurred. Yahoo didn’t...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Latest on the judgment on former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic (all times local): 10:55 a.m. The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has confirmed that genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, but has yet to rule on whether Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic was responsible. Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said the court found that “genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica” in 1995. Previous judgments have that the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica was genocide. The court said Wednesday however it is “not convinced” of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments. The court will rule later on whether Mladic is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. He insists he is innocent. ___ 10:20 a.m. A skirmish broke out out...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — It’s 3:11 p.m. on a cold, gray day on the North Korean side of the most heavily armed border in the world, and a lone soldier is racing toward freedom. His dark olive-green jeep speeds down a straight, tree-lined road, past drab, barren fields and, headlights shining, across the replacement for the Bridge of No Return, which was used for prisoner exchanges during the Korean War. The shock of soldiers watching the jeep rush by is palpable from the video released Wednesday, and no wonder: They’re beginning to realize that one of their comrades is defecting to the South. They sprint after him. The jeep slows and turns at a monument to North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, the staging point for North Korean tours of the area. The border is near, South Korea just beyond it. ___ Four North Korean soldiers, weapons in their hands, race by the blue huts that straddle the line and are familiar to anyone who has toured the only spot on the border where Nort...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Silent for more than a week, President Donald Trump all but endorsed embattled Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, discounting the sexual assault allegations against him and insisting repeatedly that voters must not support Moore’s “liberal” rival. The president said he would announce next week whether he will campaign for Moore, who faces Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump, who won election despite facing more than a dozen accusations of sexual misconduct himself, dismissed questions from reporters about backing a Republican accused of sexual assault over a man who is a Democrat. Trump pointed to Moore’s assertions that he did nothing wrong. “Roy Moore denies it, that’s all I can say,” Trump said Tuesday. In fact, he repeated 10 times in a 5-minute session outside the White House that the GOP candidate has denied any wrongdoing. Two Alabama women have accuse...

TOKYO (AP) — A plane carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday while on the way to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, the Navy said. Eight of the people on board have been found, Japan’s defense minister told reporters, but it was unclear whether they were alive. The Defense Ministry said it had no information on their condition. The Navy’s Japan-based 7th Fleet said in a statement that a search and rescue operation was launched from the carrier. “Personnel recovery is underway and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff,” the statement said. The C-2 “Greyhound” aircraft crashed into the Pacific about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Okinotorishima, a Japanese atoll, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said, according to a ministry spokesman. The Navy said the ship was operating in the Philippine Sea, which is east of the Philippines, when the crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. Japan time. The names of ...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s recently fired vice president was set to return on Wednesday to be sworn in as the country’s new leader, after Robert Mugabe announced his stunning resignation during impeachment proceedings against him. The state-run broadcaster reported that Emmerson Mnangagwa would arrive at a military air base in the capital, Harare, at 6 p.m. and would be sworn in Friday. Zimbabweans erupted in response to Mugabe’s resignation Tuesday, cheering and dancing in the streets late into the night, thrilled to be rid of a leader whose early promise after the end of white minority rule in 1980 was overtaken by economic collapse, government dysfunction and human rights violations. Now the focus turns to Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s longtime deputy who was pushed aside earlier this month as unpopular first lady Grace Mugabe positioned herself to replace him and succeed her husband. Mnangagwa fled the country, claiming threats against his life. That led the military...