COLU @ CONCEPTS

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Will North Korea’s next nuclear test involve a thermonuclear missile screaming over Japan? That’s a question being asked after North Korea’s foreign minister said his country may test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. The world hasn’t seen an above-ground, atmospheric nuclear test since an inland detonation by China in 1980 and North Korea upending that could push the region dangerously close to war. The room for error would be minimal and any mistake could be disastrous. Even if successful, such a test could endanger air and sea traffic in the region. Because of that many experts don’t think North Korea would take such a risk. But they’re also not ruling it out given the North’s increasing number of nuclear and missile tests. The main reason for North Korea to take that risk would be to quiet outside doubts about whether it really has a thermonuclear weapon small enough to fit on a missile, said Jeffrey Lewis, a U.S. arms control expert at th...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain declared his opposition Friday to the GOP’s last-ditch effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare,” dealing a likely death blow to the legislation and, perhaps, to the Republican Party’s years of vows to kill the program. It was the second time in three months the 81-year-old McCain emerged as the destroyer of his party’s signature promise to voters. “I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried,” McCain said of the bill, co-written by Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, his best friend in the Senate, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. “Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.” McCain, who is battling brain cancer in the twilight of a remarkable career, said he could not “in good conscience” vote for the legislation. That all but ensured a major setback for President Donald Trump and...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who pointed a gun at employees inside the Kardashian-owned DASH boutique in West Hollywood while screaming about Cuba and then returned hours later to wave a machete at reporters has been arrested, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said Friday. Maricia Medrano, 35, was arrested on suspicion of assault and making criminal threats, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Medrano walked into the DASH boutique late Thursday morning, pointed a handgun at two employees and shouted “stay away from Cuba,” the statement said. She then knocked several items off a counter and left. About two hours later, Medrano returned with a 14-inch (36-centimeter) machete and swung it at reporters and photographers who had gathered outside the shop after the robbery, threatening to stab them, the statement said. The woman was captured on video saying, “The Kardashians will be executed if they step on communist territory.” Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A 19-year-old man who spent 60 hours locked alone inside a gated southern Indiana cave says he feels lucky to be alive. Indiana University freshman Lukas Cavar was on a spelunking trip to Sullivan Cave about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Bloomington when he became separated Sunday afternoon from 12 other members of the university’s Caving Club. When he eventually reached the cave entrance, Cavar found club members had padlocked its gate, unaware that he remained inside. He couldn’t get a cellphone signal and screamed for hours, hoping motorists passing on a nearby road might hear him. “It took me a little while to wrangle my emotions and sort of approach things analytically, sensibly, to come up with a game plan to survive,” Cavar said Thursday, two days after his rescue. The Bloomington man, whose parents are Indiana University linguistics professors, tried picking the padlock with a paper clip to no avail. Dressed in light clothes, hik...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s asteroid-chasing spacecraft is swinging by Earth on Friday on its way to a space rock. Launched a year ago, Osiris-Rex was on track to pass within about 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers) of the home planet Friday afternoon — above Antarctica. It needs Earth’s gravity as a slingshot to put it on a path toward the asteroid Bennu. Osiris-Rex should reach the small, roundish asteroid next year and, in 2020, collect some of its gravel for return to Earth. If all goes well, scientists should get the samples in 2023. Friday’s flyby is a quick hello: The spacecraft will zoom by at about 19,000 mph (31,000 kph). NASA has taken precautions to ensure Osiris-Rex — about the size of an SUV — does not slam into any satellites. “Everything looks great! Thanks for the well wishes,” the University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta, chief scientist for Osiris-Rex, said late Thursday via Twitter. Ground telescopes have been trying to observe the spacecraft...

A South Carolina city sought the federal government’s help in rebuilding community trust after the 2015 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white officer. Civil rights advocates hoped the resulting comprehensive review of police interactions would be a first step toward meaningful change. But North Charleston’s review and similar efforts in several other cities effectively ended last week when the U.S. Justice Department announced it was rolling back an Obama-era program aimed at improving relations between residents and police. Instead, the program will now focus on tackling such issues as violent crime and gangs — moving away from federal scrutiny of law enforcement and more closely reflecting the Trump administration’s law-and-order agenda. Civil rights advocates called the move appalling, saying it will hurt minority communities and may keep police from facing consequences for bad behavior. “I don’t know how we are going to handle this going forward,” said ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday scrapped Obama-era guidance on investigating campus sexual assault, replacing it with new instructions that allow universities to require higher standards of evidence when handling complaints. DeVos has said that Obama’s policy had been unfairly skewed against those accused of assault and had “weaponized” the Education Department to “work against schools and against students.” The change is the latest in Trump’s broader effort to roll back Obama policies. Women’s rights groups slammed Friday’s decision, saying it will discourage students from reporting assault. The guidance released in 2011 and then updated in 2014 instructed universities to use a “preponderance of the evidence” standard when assessing and investigating a claim of sexual assault. DeVos’ new interim guidelines let colleges choose between that standard and a “clear and convincing evidence” standard, which is harder to meet. Those rules will be in place t...