National News

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Syrians have gathered outside the headquarters for the U.S.-led coalition in northern Syria to protest Turkish threats of an imminent offensive. The protesters congregating in Jalabiya southeast of Kobani city are demanding a clear stance from the coalition on threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to strike at U.S.-backed…

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, SUSANNAH GEORGE and CATHERINE LUCEY , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will soon withdraw all of the approximately 2,000 American troops from Syria, a U.S. official said Wednesday as President Donald Trump declared victory in the mission to defeat Islamic State militants there. Planning for the pullout has…

By ALAN FRAM ,  Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan is bemoaning America's "broken politics" in a farewell speech in which he calls Washington's failure to overhaul costly federal benefit programs "our greatest unfinished business." "Our complex problems are solvable," Ryan says in excerpts of remarks he plans to deliver Wednesday at…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he'll be introducing a stopgap measure to continue funding the government until Feb. 8 to avert a government shutdown. McConnell says the Senate will vote on the bill Wednesday. He calls it "a simple measure" to show that Republicans are governing. Congress faces a Friday deadline…

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and TERRY TANG , Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona's governor on Tuesday appointed U.S. Rep. Martha McSally to replace Sen. Jon Kyl in the seat that belonged to the late John McCain, sending the GOP congresswoman back to Washington just a month after she lost a tight race for the state's…