COLU @ CONCEPTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s threat to stop billions of dollars in government payments to insurers and force the collapse of “Obamacare” could put the government in a tricky legal situation. Legal experts say he’d be handing insurers a solid court case, while undermining his own leverage to compel Democrats to negotiate, especially if premiums jump by 20 percent as expected after such a move. “Trump thinks he’s holding all the cards. But Democrats know what’s in his hand, and he’s got a pair of twos,” said University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley. Democrats “aren’t about to agree to dismantle the Affordable Care Act just because Trump makes a reckless bet.” For months, the president has been threatening to stop payments that reimburse insurers for providing required financial assistance to low-income consumers, reducing their copays and deductibles. Administration officials say the decision could come any day. The “cost-sharing” subsidies are un...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Security remained heightened in airports around Australia with more intense screening of luggage after law enforcement officials thwarted what a police chief described on Monday as a “credible attempt to attack an aircraft.” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton declined to comment on newspaper reports that Islamist extremists planned to kill the occupants of a plane with poison gas and that a homemade bomb was to be disguised as a kitchen mincer. “Police will allege they had the intent and were developing the capability,” Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Turnbull announced on Sunday that “a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane” had been disrupted, but revealed few details. Four men arrested in raids in Sydney late Saturday — two Lebanese-Australian fathers and their sons — had yet to be charged. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said a court ruled Monday that the four coul...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s latest leader took office at an uneasy moment in his country’s history, inheriting the wreckage left by an ousted and excoriated predecessor. Among his lesser-noticed promises was a vow to improve quality of life in a society of long hours and hard work — to help break the chains to people’s desks, to let them take a breath and relax a bit. And what Moon Jae-in preaches, it seems, he also practices. Even if, in the aftermath of North Korea launching its second ICBM, that means telling the leader of the free world: I’ll get back to you. I’m going on vacation for a week. So while U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had an emergency phone call Monday, the South Korean leader’s office said Moon and Trump will likely talk after Moon enjoys some previously scheduled R&R, which ends this weekend. It might seem an odd decision by a relatively new president in the midst of arguably the world’s biggest crisis, ...

In the past decade or so, the U.S. Supreme Court and state legislatures have taken steps to scale back the most extreme punishments for juvenile criminals. Here’s how the laws have changed and some reasons why teens who were sentenced to life without parole are now getting a second chance: ___ WHY ARE JUVENILE LIFERS BEING RESENTENCED? Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions paved the way. In 2012, the court said mandatory life-without-parole sentences are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual for juvenile homicide offenders. Last year, the court weighed in again and said the ban applied to the more than 2,000 inmates already serving such sentences and that all but the rare irredeemable offender should have a chance at parole. The court didn’t eliminate all life-without-parole sentences for juveniles but said they should be rare and imposed only after a judge or jury considers factors including an offender’s age and development, potential for rehabilitation and level of involve...

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — “Pudge” Rodriguez stared out at his father, wiping away tears as he spoke. “I love you with all of my heart,” Rodriguez said. “If I’m a Hall of Famer, you’re a Hall of Famer — double.” Those words punctuated Rodriguez’s speech as he was inducted Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines, along with former commissioner Bud Selig and front-office guru John Schuerholz also were enshrined on a picture-perfect summer day in front of over 27,000 fans. “It’s always emotional when you see the fans cheering for you, and my whole family in front of me,” Bagwell said. “I’m an emotional person. It’s a dream just to be part of this beautiful group. Now I have that plaque forever. It’s unbelievable.” Before he started, Rodriguez received a standing ovation from hundreds of fans, many wearing red-and-white jerseys with Puerto Rico emblazoned on the front, and proceeded to give half his speech in Spanish. “This is such an incredible hono...

JASPER, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Alabama say a manhunt is underway after 12 inmates escaped from a jail, including two who were incarcerated on charges of attempted murder. Eleven of those inmates were later recaptured, leaving one still at large. The Walker County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook that the 12 inmates escaped from the Walker County Jail on Sunday. It’s unclear how the inmates were able to escape from the jail. The inmates are between 18 to 30 years old and were imprisoned on charges ranging from attempted murder to disorderly conduct. Source: www.apnews.com 

Figures” was the 14th highest grossing film of the year, but popular Hollywood films remained as white and male-dominated as ever. A new report from the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism finds that the representation of women, minorities, LGBT people, disabled characters in films remains largely unchanged from the previous year, despite the heightened and attention to diversity in Hollywood. At the bottom of the wrung and most egregiously disproportionate to their U.S. demographics are women, Hispanics and disabled characters. Exclusion, the report says, is the norm in Hollywood, not the exception. For nine years since 2007, USC has analyzed the demographic makeup of every speaking or named character from each year’s 100 highest-grossing films at the domestic box office (with the exception of 2011), as well as behind-the-camera employment for those films including directors...