World Briefly: 3-31-17

BC-World Briefly/2067

AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

Russian experts paint sinister picture of Russian meddling

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian experts painted a sinister picture of Russian meddling in the 2016 election Thursday, telling the Senate intelligence committee about fake news, cyber trolls, smear campaigns and even slayings they say could have ties to the Kremlin.

The hearing focused on tactics Moscow is thought to employ in spreading disinformation to influence the opinions of Americans and U.S. policy. There were a few unexpected revelations in the more than four hours of testimony from historians, cyber experts and former intelligence officials.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told his colleagues on the committee that during the previous 24 hours, his former presidential campaign team was unsuccessfully targeted — for the second time — by hackers at an unknown internet address in Russia. House Speaker Paul Ryan also was targeted by internet hackers recently, said Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

All the witnesses stressed the magnitude of the Russian disinformation campaign not only in the U.S. but Europe as well. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called it Russian propaganda “on steroids.” Committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr said the problem is going to require a global response.

“We’re within 30 days of what is a primary election in France. It could be that the Russians have done enough to make sure that a candidate that went to Russia recently, a socialist, made the runoff. We could end up with a pro-Russian government in France,” said Burr, R-N.C. “We don’t know what the effects are going to be in Germany. But we’ve actually seen them (Russia) build up a party in Germany.”

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White House tells Russia probers: Come see intel yourselves

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House refused to say on Thursday whether it secretly fed intelligence reports to a top Republican investigating possible coordination between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. Fending off growing criticism, the administration invited lawmakers from both parties to view classified material it said relates to surveillance of the president’s associates.

The White House’s invitation letter came amid a quickly rising storm over Rep. Devin Nunes, who heads the House intelligence committee. The New York Times reported that two White House officials — including an aide whose job was recently saved by President Donald Trump — secretly helped Nunes examine intelligence information last week.

The House panel’s work has been deeply, and perhaps irreparably, undermined by Nunes’ apparent coordination with the White House. He told reporters last week that he had seen troubling information about the improper distribution of Trump associates’ intercepted communications, and he briefed the president on the material, all before informing Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat.

Speaking on Capitol Hill Thursday, Schiff said he was “more than willing” to accept the White House offer to view new information. But he raised concerns that Trump officials may have used Nunes to “launder information to our committee to avoid the true source.”

“The White House has a lot of questions to answer,” he declared.

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North Carolina rolls back ‘bathroom bill’ despite criticism

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina rolled back its “bathroom bill” Thursday in a bid to end the yearlong backlash over transgender rights that has cost the state dearly in business projects, conventions and basketball tournaments.

The compromise plan , announced Wednesday night by the Democratic governor and leaders of the Republican-controlled legislature, was worked out under mounting pressure from the NCAA, which threatened to take away more sporting events from the basketball-obsessed state as long as the law, also known as House Bill 2, remained on the books.

The new measure cleared the House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Roy Cooper in a matter of hours.

Among other things, it repeals the best-known section of HB2: a requirement that transgender people use the public restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.

“For over a year now, House Bill 2 has been a dark cloud hanging over our great state,” the governor said in announcing the signing. “It has stained our reputation, it has discriminated against our people, and it has caused great economic harm in many of our communities.”

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Israeli cabinet approves new settlement, first in 2 decades

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet has approved Israel’s first new settlement in two decades to compensate for the court-ordered demolition of a settler outpost.

Netanyahu said late Thursday the decision passed unanimously to replace Amona, honoring a promise he made after it was destroyed earlier this year.

He said it will be built near Shiloh, close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

For the past two decades, the international community has backed a two-state solution to the conflict where a Palestinian state would be established alongside Israel in territory it captured in the 1967 war.

The international community mostly views settlements in that territory illegal and an obstacle to peace.

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S. Korean ex-president jailed over corruption allegations

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s disgraced former President Park Geun-hye was arrested and jailed Friday over high-profile corruption allegations that already ended her tumultuous four-year rule and prompted an election to find her successor.

A convoy of vehicles, including a black sedan carrying Park, entered a detention facility near Seoul after the Seoul Central District Court granted prosecutors’ request to arrest her.

Many Park supporters waved national flags and shouted “president” as Park’s car entered the facility.

Prosecutors can detain her for up to 20 days before formally charging her, meaning she will likely be in jail while her case is heard. A district court normally issues a ruling within six months of an indictment.

The Seoul court’s decision is yet another humiliating fall for Park, South Korea’s first female president who was elected in 2012 amid overwhelming support from conservatives who recall her dictator father as a hero who lifted the country from poverty in the 1960-70s despite a record of severe human rights abuses.

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Crews investigate head-on crash that killed 13 in Texas

CONCAN, Texas (AP) — Federal officials on Thursday began an investigation into a head-on collision between a pickup truck and small church bus in southwest Texas that killed 13 senior adults returning from a church retreat.

The Texas Department of Public Safety refused to speculate on the cause of the Wednesday afternoon crash outside Garner State Park, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of San Antonio, although one spokesman said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the center line.

The fronts of both vehicles were heavily damaged in the collision and the bus was backed up onto a guardrail, with glass and debris scattered around.

Twelve bus passengers and driver Murray William Barrett, 67, died at the scene, DPS Lt. Johnny Hernandez said. Another bus passenger died at a San Antonio hospital. The pickup driver, Jack Dillon Young, 20, of Leakey, Texas, was in stable condition and the lone survivor from the bus remained hospitalized in critical condition late Wednesday, DPS said.

“These are individuals we’ve sat next to and had dinner with and laughed with and cried with and worshipped with,” Brad McLean, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of New Braunfels, Texas, told reporters Thursday. “They were part of our church family.”

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AP-NORC Poll: Most disapprove of Trump, except on economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s overall performance two months into his presidency. But they’re more upbeat about at least one critical area: his handling of the economy.

Nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s overall performance, and about the same percentage say the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It was conducted amid the collapse of the GOP’s health care overhaul.

But the poll also found a brighter spot for the businessman-politician on the economy, often a major driver of presidential success or failure. There, Americans split about evenly, with 50 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving of Trump’s efforts.

“He’s driving the car off the cliff in every other kind of policy and executive action he’s trying to push through, but (not) the economy,” said Ryan Mills, a 27-year-old tobacco company chemist from Greensboro, North Carolina.

Overall, just 42 percent of Americans approve and 58 percent disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president. That’s an unusually poor rating by historical standards for a still-young administration.

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Republican foes of health care bill win praise in districts

BUCKNER, Kentucky (AP) — One of the House Republican rebels, Kentucky Rep. Tom Massie, wasn’t just “no” on the GOP health care bill to replace Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Massie was “hell no.”

That won over Mary Broecker, president of the Oldham County Republican Women’s Club and a strong proponent of a full-blown repeal of the 2010 law.

“When he came out against this bill, I thought, ‘I trust him so this must be the right way,’” the 76-year-old retired teacher said of Massie this week as she sat at a coffee shop near her LaGrange home.

Defying President Donald Trump on the seven-year Republican Party promise to repeal and replace “Obamacare” sounds like political suicide, especially in the congressional districts Trump won handily. Yet in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Iowa in the bitter aftermath of the GOP’s epic failure, Republicans who blocked the legislation have won praise from constituents for stopping what many saw as a flawed plan, either in the legislation’s substance or strategy.

Trump initially faulted Democrats for rejecting the bill, but on several occasions since then, including Thursday morning, he lashed out at the hardline conservatives of the House Freedom Caucus.

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Malaysia says Kim Jong Nam’s body released to North Korea

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The body of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader, was released to the North on Thursday, more than a month after his murder at Kuala Lumpur’s airport unleashed a fierce diplomatic battle between the two countries.

Following negotiations that he described as “very sensitive,” Prime Minister Najib Razak said Malaysia agreed to release the body in exchange for the return of nine Malaysians held in North Korea’s capital. There were no details on what led to the breakthrough, but North Korea appeared to win some important concessions: custody of the body and the release of at least two suspects who had been holed up in its embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Oh Ei Sun, an adjunct senior fellow with Singapore’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said it was not a surprise that North Korea came out well in the negotiations.

“North Korea has been performing despicable deeds around the world such as kidnapping and assassinations throughout the decades with impunity,” Oh said.

The public poisoning of Kim, which took place amid crowds of travelers in the budget terminal at Kuala Lumpur’s airport on Feb. 13, has prompted speculation that North Korea dispatched a hit squad to assassinate its leader’s estranged older brother. Although Kim was not an obvious political threat, he may have been seen as a potential rival in the country’s dynastic dictatorship.

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Christie office rejects judge’s comments on venomous culture

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie’s administration defended itself Thursday against comments made by a federal judge who partly blamed a venomous climate inside state government on the orchestration of lane closures by two former aides at the George Washington Bridge for political revenge.

Former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly “got caught up in a culture and an environment that lost its way,” Judge Susan Wigenton said Wednesday before sentencing her to 18 months in prison. Co-defendant Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director at the bistate agency that controls the bridge, was sentenced to two years in prison.

“It’s very clear the culture in Trenton was ‘you’re either with us or you’re not,’” Wigenton said.

Brian Murray, a spokesman for the Republican governor, called Wigenton’s remarks “ill-advised” and said they were based on lies from the testimony of Baroni, Kelly and self-described mastermind David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in the case.

“The work of the people who have been employed by the Governor’s Office has been honest, honorable, bi-partisan and effective,” Murray said. “The actions of the felons was the sad and unacceptable exception to the way the office has conducted itself for seven years.”