CHARLESTON, S.C. For years, South Carolina lawmakers refused to revisit the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds, saying the law that took it off the dome was a bipartisan compromise, and renewing the debate would unnecessarily expose divisive wounds. But opinions changed within five days of the massacre of nine people at a historic black church […]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Someone painted the words “Black Lives Matter” on a statue honoring Confederate soldiers in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun reports the words in yellow paint covered an etched message Monday on the statue that was erected by the Maryland Daughters of the Confederacy in February 1903. Those who live, work and study in […]

NEW YORK (AP) —The husband of a prison employee accused of helping two convicted killers escape a New York prison says the inmates told her they would kill her husband if she didn’t follow through with plans to help them make their getaway. Lyle Mitchell tells NBC’s “Today” show in an interview aired today that […]

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — A plane registered to Oscarwinning “Titanic” composer James Horner has crashed in Southern California, but the identity of the one person who died has not been released. Jay Cooper, an attorney for Horner, said the plane was one of several owned by the 61-year-old composer, and that no one has heard […]

KARACHI, Pakistan A scorching heat wave across southern Pakistan’s city of Karachi has killed more than 400 people, authorities said today, as morgues overflowed with the dead and overwhelmed hospitals struggled to aid those clinging to life. Temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) began scorching Pakistan’s port city of Karachi over the weekend. […]

TIKRIT, Iraq Abdel Mowgood Hassan climbs over toppled bricks and a torn-away front door to enter his uncle’s house in Tikrit, the first of his relatives to make a cautious return home since Islamic State militants were driven out. “It’s safe,” Hassan calmly says. “I checked for booby traps.” He is one in a trickle […]

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Ships from Norway and Denmark have picked up nearly 1,000 migrants from small boats off the coast of Libya in the past 24 hours. Svein Kvalavaag, the captain of the Norwegian Siem Pilot vessel, said on Monday he picked up 671 from two wooden boats north of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Late Monday […]