COLU @ CONCEPTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ decision to oppose the GOP push to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul leaves the effort all but dead, with even party leaders conceding that their prospects are dismal. “It’s going to be a heavy lift,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 3 GOP Senate leader, said Monday, after Collins joined a small but pivotal cluster of Republicans saying they’re against the measure. He called the prospects “bleak.” “We don’t have the support for it,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The collapse marks a replay of the embarrassing loss President Donald Trump and party leaders suffered in July, when the Senate rejected three attempts to pass legislation erasing Obama’s 2010 statute. The GOP has made promises to scrap the law a high-profile vow for years, and its failure to deliver despite controlling the White House and Congress has infuriated conservatives whose votes Republican candidates need. To resuscitate their pus...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Military analysts say North Korea doesn’t have either the capability or the intent to attack U.S. bombers and fighter jets, despite the country’s top diplomat saying it has every right do so. They view the remark by North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and a recent propaganda video simulating such an attack as tit-for-tat responses to fiery rhetoric by U.S. President Donald Trump and his hardening stance against the North’s nuclear weapons program. By highlighting the possibility of a potential military clash on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea may be trying to create a distraction as it works behind the scenes to advance its nuclear weapons development, said Du Hyeogn Cha, a visiting scholar at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Another possibility is that North Korea is trying to win space to save face as it contemplates whether to de-escalate its standoff with Washington, he said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters before leaving a U.N....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ decision to oppose the GOP push to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul leaves the effort all but dead, with even party leaders conceding that their prospects are dismal. “It’s going to be a heavy lift,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 3 GOP Senate leader, said Monday, after Collins joined a small but pivotal cluster of Republicans saying they’re against the measure. He called the prospects “bleak.” “We don’t have the support for it,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The collapse marks a replay of the embarrassing loss President Donald Trump and party leaders suffered in July, when the Senate rejected three attempts to pass legislation erasing Obama’s 2010 statute. The GOP has made promises to scrap the law a high-profile vow for years, and its failure to deliver despite controlling the White House and Congress has infuriated conservatives whose votes Republican candidates need. To resuscitate their pus...

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Mount Agung on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali is threatening to erupt after more than half a century of quiet. Here’s what you need to know. ___ IS BALI STILL SAFE FOR TOURISTS? Seismic activity from the volcano has escalated dramatically in the past two weeks but officials say there is no reason for tourists to panic and the island famous for its surfing, beaches and elegant Hindu culture is still safe to visit. Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport has been operating normally since the alert status for Mount Agung was raised to the highest level on Friday but a significant eruption would force its closure and strand thousands. Nearly 5 million tourists visited Bali last year. Videos circulating on social media that purport to show the mountain already violently erupting are hoaxes; they show previous eruptions from other volcanoes in Indonesia. Agung is in the north of the island about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the tourist hotspo...

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Mount Agung on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali is threatening to erupt after more than half a century of quiet. Here’s what you need to know. ___ IS BALI STILL SAFE FOR TOURISTS? Seismic activity from the volcano has escalated dramatically in the past two weeks but officials say there is no reason for tourists to panic and the island famous for its surfing, beaches and elegant Hindu culture is still safe to visit. Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport has been operating normally since the alert status for Mount Agung was raised to the highest level on Friday but a significant eruption would force its closure and strand thousands. Nearly 5 million tourists visited Bali last year. Videos circulating on social media that purport to show the mountain already violently erupting are hoaxes; they show previous eruptions from other volcanoes in Indonesia. Agung is in the north of the island about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the tourist hotspo...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Witnesses and police described a chaotic scene as a masked attacker armed with two guns shot seven people, killing one, in a Tennessee church before he was subdued. Burnette Chapel Church of Christ member Minerva Rosa said members were talking about the success of their yard sale the previous day when they heard gunshots outside. The church pastor, David Spann, 60, shouted, “Run, run, gunshots!” as congregants hid under pews or in bathrooms, according to a witness. A masked gunman carrying two guns entered the church from the back after fatally shooting a woman outside, police said. He then walked through the church silently, shooting six more people before he was subdued by an usher, police said. Police later recovered another pistol and a shotgun from the suspect’s vehicle. Rosa said the reading that day had been from Luke, Chapter 8, and she recalled the part about a woman who touched Jesus and was cured of bleeding. By the end of the shooting...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s baby panda now has a name: Xiang Xiang, or fragrance. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announced Monday that the 3-month-old giant panda is called Shan Shan in Japanese, or Xiang Xiang in Chinese. The name, whose Chinese characters mean fragrance, was chosen from more than 320,000 suggestions and was approved by Chinese authorities. The Ueno Zoo in Tokyo says the panda is healthy and growing rapidly. She now weighs 6 kilograms (13 pounds) and measures 65 centimeters (26 inches) long, nearly twice as big as she was a month ago, according to the latest measurement marking the 100th day since birth. Videos released last week showed the fluffy black-and-white cub crawling, and some teeth coming in. Xiang Xiang was born on June 12 to the zoo’s resident giant panda, Shin Shin. Source: www.apnews.com