COLU @ CONCEPTS

   Nigeria leader meets Chibok girls, leaves for medical trip ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari expressed joy Sunday night at meeting with the 82 Chibok schoolgirls newly freed from Boko Haram extremists — then jolted the country by announcing he was leaving for London immediately for medical checkups as fears for his health continue. “We’ve always made it clear that we will do everything in our power to ensure the freedom & safe return of our daughters” and all captives of Boko Haram, Buhari said on his Twitter account. Minutes later, the 74-year-old president startled Africa’s most populous nation with the news of his departure. Buhari, who has missed three straight weekly Cabinet meetings, spent a month and a half in London on medical leave earlier this year and said he’d never been as sick in his life. The exact nature of his illness remained unclear. “There is no cause for worry” about this latest medical leave, a statement from ...

Some pastors praise Trump order, others worry over integrity MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s order to ease limits on political activity by religious organizations is being met with both enthusiasm and dread from religious leaders, with some rejoicing in the freedom to preach their views and endorse candidates and others fearing the change will erode the integrity of houses of worship. Trump signed the executive order Thursday, saying it would give churches their “voices back.” It directs the Treasury Department not to take action against religious organizations that engage in political speech. “It’s never good for the church or the state when the two get in bed with each other,” said the Rev. Gregory Boyd, senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church, a nondenominational church in suburban St. Paul. For pastors to use the pulpit “to get others to buy into their particular way of voting is, I think, a real abuse of authority,” he added. The Rev. Charlie Muller, pa...

‘Oh, the humanity!’ Hindenburg anniversary, broadcast marked TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — “Oh, the humanity!” It was 80 years ago Saturday that a radio announcer from Chicago stood at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey and uttered those words into a microphone as the German airship burst into flames, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and one on the ground. Word went out as Robert Okin of The Associated Press telegraphed the news one minute later, according to AP Archives. But Herb Morrison’s words were not heard live that day in 1937, nor were they linked to the film shot by four newsreel crews on the scene. Yet the Hindenburg became the first multimedia air disaster of the 20th century, and Morrison made broadcast history. Highlights of this day in history: The hydrogen-filled airship Hindenburg explodes and crashes; Psychologist Sigmund Freud and actor-director Orson Welles born; Roger Bannister is the first athlete to run a mile in fewer than four minutes. (May 6...

In Mosul, hunger grows amid slow advances against IS MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Aliyah Hussein and the 25 family members sheltering with her in Mosul’s western Mahatta neighborhood are surviving by picking wild greens growing in a park near their home. Hussein mixes the vegetables with small amounts of rice and tomato paste to make a thin soup that is often her family’s only meal. Her cousin Zuhair Abdul Karim said on a recent day that even with the wild greens, the food ran out. “I swear to God, we are hungry. (The Islamic State group) made us hungry. They didn’t leave anything for us, they even stole our food,” Hussein said. Her home sits just a few hundred yards (meters) from the front line in the battle for western Mosul. As Iraqi forces continue to make slow progress in the fight against IS in the city, clawing back territory house by house and block by block, food supplies are running dangerously low for civilians trapped inside militant-held territory and those inside recen...

Texas police officer faces murder charge in teen’s death DALLAS (AP) — A white Texas police officer faces a murder charge in the shooting of a black teenager after being fired earlier in the week, authorities said Friday. Roy Oliver turned himself in Friday night, just hours after the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest in the April 29 death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver, a former officer in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs, was later released after posting bail at the Parker County Jail in Weatherford, about 95 miles west of Dallas. His bond had been set at $300,000. The sheriff’s office said in a statement the warrant was issued based on evidence that suggested Oliver “intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death.” Oliver fired a rifle at a car full of teenagers leaving a party, fatally shooting Edwards who was a passenger in the vehicle. The teen’s death led to pr...

In long-feared twist, online leak rattles French campaign PARIS (AP) — Many feared this was coming. For months pundits and journalists worried over the possibility that a strategically timed leak could destabilize France’s election, a replay of the obsessively covered disclosures that some Americans blame for scuppering Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and many others fear are sapping popular faith in Western democracy. Late Friday, with only minutes left before France’s presidential campaign duel was due to cease fire for the weekend, it came. Well, maybe it did. Or not. It’s hard to tell with so little time to evaluate the mass of material suddenly leaked online. And that might be the point. All that can be said with much certainty is that shortly before midnight French time, someone on 4chan — a message board known for, among other things, elaborate hoaxes and political extremism — posted links to a large set of data purportedly taken fr...

French campaign watchdog examines election-eve Macron leak PARIS (AP) — France's election campaign watchdog is investigating a hacking attack and document leak targeting presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron that his political movement calls a last-ditch bid to disrupt Sunday's tense runoff vote. Fears of hacking and campaign interference have simmered throughout France's high-stakes, closely watched campaign — and boiled over Friday night as Macron's team said it had been the victim of a "massive and coordinated" hack. His political movement said the unidentified hackers accessed staffers' personal and professional emails and leaked campaign finance material and contracts — as well as fake decoy documents — online. The perpetrators remain unknown. While the hack is shaking up the already head spinning campaign, it's unclear whether the document dump would dent Macron's large poll lead over far-right Marine Le Pen going into the vote. ...