COLU @ CONCEPTS

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — All of the U.S. military’s special operations fighters sent off to warzones and raids now have an essential addition to their first-aid kits: freeze-dried blood plasma. Last month, the Marines Corps’ special ops units became the last of the military branches to begin carrying freeze-dried plasma. The plasma helps clot blood and can prevent badly wounded troops from bleeding to death on the battlefield. It saved Army Cpl. Josh Hargis’ life. He lost parts of both legs in 2013 when he stepped on a land mine during a midnight raid in Afghanistan. The medic in his Ranger unit used the freeze-dried plasma to keep him alive on the battlefield for more than 90 minutes until he could be evacuated by helicopter. The medic, Sgt. Bryan Anderson, said having plasma ready made the difference in helping stanch internal bleeding after the blast shattered Hargis’ pelvis. “Wherever blood is oozing out, it’s helping to clot that blood up,” Anderson said. “It blows my min...

COLTON, Calif. (AP) — As the eldest son among 15 children, Senegalese tailor Saliou Ndiaye was his family’s greatest hope for a better life in a city rife with unemployment where many still travel by horse-drawn cart. He learned to sew as a child, and for years sent money to his parents - first, from his country’s capital and later from a factory job in Brazil. But after Ndiaye embarked on a lengthy journey to the United States, their dreams were dashed. A U.S. immigration judge denied Ndiaye’s asylum application in July, and after a year locked up in California, Ndiaye reportedly tried to kill himself. Now, the 33-year-old lies in an American hospital bed, hooked up to tubes keeping him alive. Immigration authorities recently stopped efforts to deport Ndiaye and released him from custody in a decision that under normal circumstances would be cause for celebration but in this case has drawn criticism from his supporters. Ndiaye’s story is tragic and exceptionally rare ...

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Pope Francis arrived Thursday in Bangladesh for the second leg of his six-day trip to Asia with the Rohingya crisis looming large. Francis arrived in the capital amid tight airport security and much anticipation. Huge banners with pictures of the pope and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were put up around Dhaka, and St. Mary’s Cathedral was decorated with lights in preparation for his three-day trip to the Muslim majority nation. Security was a concern after a Christian priest went missing in northern Bangladesh on Tuesday, and his family reported they got calls demanding money. Police said they were looking for the man but would not confirm if it was a kidnapping. Francis arrived from Myanmar, where he refrained from speaking out about the Rohingya Muslim crisis out of diplomatic deference to his hosts, who consider the Rohingya as having illegally migrated from Bangladesh and don’t recognize them as their own ethnic group. More than 620,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like much other propaganda, the anti-Muslim videos spread around by President Donald Trump mix grains of truth, fakery and shades in between, overlaid with a message meant to be a blunt hammer blow for a cause. Trump’s penchant for sharing doctored images and making false statements on Twitter means that content tweeted or retweeted by the president should be viewed skeptically. His spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, suggested the veracity of the videos wasn’t a high priority amid concern over national security and strong borders, saying: “Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about.” Here’s a look at known facts behind the videos tweeted by a far-right British fringe group and retweeted by President Trump: FALSE One video shows a young man attacking another who is on crutches, near a river bank. It was originally posted to a Dutch viral video site in May and picked up by Dutch media. In her tweet, Jayd...

LONDON (AP) — The mayor of London on Thursday added his voice to calls for President Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain to be canceled over his retweets of a British far-right group. Sadiq Khan said Trump has promoted “a vile, extremist group” and an official visit by him to Britain “would not be welcomed.” Trump’s retweeting of anti-Muslim videos from far-right group Britain First has been widely condemned in Britain. Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesman said the president was wrong to have done it. In response, Trump urged May to focus on “the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom,” rather than on him. Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Thursday repeated the government’s view that Trump had been “wrong” to retweet the videos. “I hope the prime minister’s comments will have some impact on the president,” she said. Rudd told lawmakers that “British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far rig...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators about former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a person familiar with the investigation confirmed to The Associated Press. The person said Wednesday that the questioning of Kushner earlier this month took about 90 minutes or less and was aimed in part at establishing whether Kushner had any information on Flynn that might be exculpatory. The person said multiple White House witnesses have been asked about their knowledge of Flynn, who was forced to resign from his national security adviser job at the White House in February after officials concluded he had misled them about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. The confirmation of Kushner’s interview came as prosecutors working for Mueller postponed grand jury testimony related to Flynn’s private business dealings. The reason for the postponement was not immediately clea...

NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Lauer’s firing as host of NBC’s “Today” makes him the biggest media figure brought down by sexual misconduct allegations since Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes lost their lofty positions at Fox News Channel. In the wave of accusations sweeping through the media, Hollywood and politics, the stature and wealth that once served as protection have turned into flimsy shields. Lauer has long been a valuable and highly visible part of NBC News and one of the highest-paid figures in the industry, and his downfall shook the network and rippled out across the roughly 4 million “Today” viewers who started their day with him. His firing Wednesday for what NBC called “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a colleague was quickly followed by a published report accusing him of crude and habitual misconduct with other women around the office. Network news chief Andrew Lack said in a memo to the staff that NBC received a complaint about Lauer’s behavior on Monday and...