By EUGENE HOSHIKO, HARUKA NUGA and MARI YAMAGUCHI , Associated Press SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors. At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister…
By ZEKE MILLER, CATHERINE LUCEY and JONATHAN LEMIRE , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pushing back against explosive reports his own administration is conspiring against him, President Donald Trump lashed out against the anonymous senior official who wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times claiming to be part of a “resistance” working “from…
(AP) A South Korean presidential official says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told him he still had faith in U.S. President Donald Trump despite ongoing difficulties in the nuclear negotiations. Chung Eui-yong said Kim emphasized he has not once talked negatively about Trump to anyone including his closest advisers. Chung says Kim said that…
By MARK SHERMAN and LISA MASCARO , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressured by Democrats with Donald Trump on their minds, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh rejected repeated efforts at Wednesday’s Senate confirmation hearing to reveal his views about a president pardoning himself or being forced to testify in a criminal case. For a second…
REDMOND, OR (AP) — One of the largest U.S. congressional districts voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016, yet an Oregon Democrat campaigning against a Republican incumbent doesn’t see it as hostile territory. Buoyed by electoral wins by a couple of Democrats elsewhere in Trump territory, candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner is undaunted, traveling a district that’s…
PROVIDENCE, RI (AP) — Author and actor Christopher Kennedy Lawford, who was born into political and Hollywood royalty, sank into substance abuse and addiction and rose to become a well-known advocate for sobriety and recovery, has died. Lawford died of a heart attack Tuesday in Vancouver, Canada, his cousin, former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy,…
By MARK SHERMAN and LISA MASCARO , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh touted the importance of an independent judiciary as his confirmation hearings began with strident Democratic criticism that he would be President Donald Trump’s man on the high court. On Wednesday, Kavanaugh can expect to spend most of the…
By STACEY PLAISANCE and KEVIN McGILL , Associated Press GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Tropical Storm Gordon never became a hurricane but it was deadly all the same, killing a child by blowing a tree onto a mobile home as it made landfall late Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border. The National Hurricane Center said…
By MARK SHERMAN and LISA MASCARO , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh declared fervently at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday the court “must never, never be viewed as a partisan institution.” But that was at the end of a marathon day marked by rancorous exchanges between Democrats and Republicans, including dire…
By STACEY PLAISANCE and KEVIN McGILL , Associated Press GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Residents along the Gulf Coast prepared Tuesday for a sudden increase in heavy rain and winds from quick moving Tropical Storm Gordon, which forecasters said could strengthen and become the second hurricane to hit the region in less than a year. The…