AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
GOP health care divisions multiply as Trump pressures Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican divisions over health care multiplied Monday as President Donald Trump pressured GOP senators to act quickly, and Vice President Mike Pence suggested they might have to revert to a straightforward "Obamacare" repeal if they can't agree on an alternative.
Consensus on a replacement seemed more remote than ever as senators returned to the Capitol from a Fourth of July recess. Some lawmakers spent the break facing critics of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's bill, or voicing criticism of their own. But Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, told reporters that a revised bill would be unveiled this week, and "the goal continues to be to" vote next week.
McConnell abruptly postponed a vote last month, lacking GOP support for legislation he wrote largely in secret.
To succeed, the new legislation will have to address the concerns of conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, who want a more full-blown repeal, and moderates like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who want essentially the opposite, a more generous bill.
McConnell has little room for error as he tries to pass a bill with 50 GOP votes, and Pence as the tie-breaker, in a Senate split 52-48 between Republicans and Democrats. Some GOP senators are questioning McConnell's partisan approach, and the majority leader himself acknowledged to a home-state audience in Kentucky last week that if he can't get the job done with Republicans alone, he'll have to turn to Democrats to shore up the market for individual insurance buyers.
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Iraqi declares 'total victory' over Islamic State in Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Iraq on Monday declared "total victory" over the Islamic State in Mosul, retaking full control of the country's second-largest city three years after it was seized by extremists bent on building a global caliphate.
"This great feast day crowned the victories of the fighters and the Iraqis for the past three years," said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, flanked by his senior military leadership at a small base in western Mosul on the edge of the Old City. Iraqi forces had backed the last pockets of Islamic State militants against the banks of the Tigris River.
Al-Abadi alluded to the brutality of the battle for Mosul - Iraq's longest yet in the fight against IS - saying the triumph had been achieved "by the blood of our martyrs."
The nearly nine-month campaign, which was backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, left thousands dead, entire neighborhoods in ruins and nearly 900,000 displaced from their homes.
Shortly after al-Abadi's speech, the coalition congratulated him on the victory but noted that parts of the Old City still "must be back-cleared of explosive devices and possible ISIS fighters in hiding." ISIS, ISIL and Daesh are alternative acronyms for the Islamic State group.
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5 Things to know about Iraq's Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's prime minister declared victory over the Islamic State group in Mosul after more than eight months of some of the toughest fighting Iraqi forces have faced in the more than 3-year-old war against the extremists.
Iraqi and coalition forces acknowledged from the start that Mosul would be a challenge, but the Iraqi leadership's initial vows that it would be over by the end of 2016 underestimated the capacity and the resolve of the IS fighters left to fight to the death.
Here are five things to know now that the fight for Mosul is officially over.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MOSUL
Mosul held deep symbolic importance for IS. It was after the Islamic State group overran Mosul in June of 2014 that they declared a caliphate stretching from territory in northern Syria deep into Iraq's north and west. And it was from Mosul's al-Nuri mosque that the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made his only public appearance when he gave a Friday sermon calling on all Muslims to follow him as "caliph." He vowed that IS would conquer "Rome," and the entire world.
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Trump Jr: 'Had to listen' to Russian lawyer for Clinton info
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's eldest son acknowledged Monday that he met a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign to hear information about his father's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump Jr. tried to brush off the significance of meeting with a foreign lawyer who held out the possibility of dirt on an opponent in the U.S. election. He tweeted sarcastically, "Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent ... went nowhere but had to listen."
Trump Jr.'s acknowledgment came as a music publicist told The Associated Press that he set up the meeting on behalf of a client in Moscow named Emin Agalarov, the son of a Moscow-based developer who tried to partner with Trump in a hotel project.
On Monday, the publicist, Rob Goldstone, said in a statement that the Russian lawyer said she had information about purported illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee that she thought Trump Jr. might find helpful. Goldstone said Trump Jr. agreed to squeeze the meeting into a tight schedule.
Trump Jr.'s tweet is the latest addition to an explanation that has shifted since the meeting in June 2016 was first reported by The New York Times on Saturday.
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Hell and high water: Northern California is besieged again
OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Five months ago, it was fears over flooding. Now it's flames.
When Chuck Wilsey was ordered to flee over the weekend as a wildfire roared near his ranch home in Oroville, he was ready. He started keeping his truck and camper loaded with supplies back in February, when some of the heaviest winter rains on record in Northern California nearly led to catastrophic flooding below the nation's tallest dam.
"Fire and flood so close together," he marveled on Monday at a Red Cross shelter. "We just try to stay prepared,"
Wilsey, 53, and his family were among about 4,000 people evacuated as flames raced through grassy foothills in the Sierra Nevada, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Sacramento. Sheriff's deputies drove through neighborhoods announcing evacuation orders over loudspeakers.
Crews were making progress against that fire and dozens of others across California, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, and into Canada.
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Trump misses deadline without steel tariffs decision
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump pledged during the campaign to help U.S. factory workers by slapping tariffs on foreign steel. But his long-awaited decision on the issue is running behind schedule and administration officials are leaving plenty of wiggle room on what direction he'll take.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross initially hoped to finish a report on tariffs last month, but his department has been holding off as the Pentagon weighs in about impact of steel tariffs on national security. The delay is an example of the difficulty Trump faces in delivering on his ambitious policy agenda - on taxes, health insurance and more - as quickly as he told voters he could.
White House officials have hinted that tariffs still are coming. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" over the weekend if the president planned to impose sanctions on foreign steel, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus responded: "My guess is that he will because he promised he would."
There are trade-offs from taxing foreign steel that include higher prices for consumers and manufacturers that rely on steel, as well as strained relationships with trade partners. The possible risks became more apparent last week at the summit of the 20 leading rich and developing nations in Germany. The summit ended with a declaration that governments would develop "concrete policy solutions that reduce steel excess capacity" by November 2017, but the U.S. position was aggressive enough that there were concerns about a potential trade war.
Supporters of the tariffs say the move would help crack down on excess steelmaking by China. Opponents say it would raise prices for consumers and manufacturers that turn steel into cars, furniture and other products.
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UK court sets new hearing in case of terminally ill baby
LONDON (AP) - A British court on Monday gave the parents of 11-month-old Charlie Gard a chance to present fresh evidence that their terminally ill son should receive experimental treatment.
The decision came after an emotionally charged hearing in the wrenching case, during which Gard's mother wept in frustration and his father yelled at a lawyer.
Judge Nicholas Francis gave the couple until Wednesday afternoon to present the evidence and set a new hearing for Thursday in a case that has drawn international attention.
But the judge insisted there had to be "new and powerful" evidence to reverse earlier rulings that barred Charlie from traveling abroad for treatment and authorized London's Great Ormond Street Hospital to take him off life support.
"There is not a person alive who would not want to save Charlie," Francis said. "If there is new evidence I will hear it."
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A brief look at the medical issues in the Charlie Gard case
LONDON (AP) - Charlie Gard is a terminally ill British child whose parents are fighting for the right to take him to the United States for an experimental treatment. His case has gained international attention, including from Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The 11-month-old is being treated at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, which maintained the experimental treatment was "unjustified" and might cause Charlie more suffering without doing anything to help him. The hospital planned to take the boy off life support, but petitioned for a new court hearing based on evidence from researchers at the Vatican's children's hospital and another facility outside of Britain.
Below is some background on the medical and legal issues behind Charlie's case:
WHAT IS MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE?
Mitochondrial disease is the umbrella term for a number of rare conditions caused by genetic mutations that result in the failure of mitochondria, specialized compartments within most cells that supply the energy needed to sustain life and support organ function. When mitochondria fail, cells can be injured or die, causing organ systems to shut down. The brain, heart, muscles and lungs are most affected because they need the most energy.
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Soldier charged with killing NY trooper after shooting wife
A state police trooper responding to reports of gunfire was shot to death by a soldier who had just killed his wife at their home near his Army base in northern New York, authorities said Monday.
Trooper Joel Davis was approaching the couple's home in rural Theresa, near the Canadian border, when Staff Sgt. Justin Walters shot him in the torso with a rifle, leaving him in a roadside ditch, according to police and court documents. Another trooper arrived and found Davis, 36, who died about an hour later at a hospital.
Walters' wife, Nichole Walters, was found dead in the driveway, with multiple gunshot wounds. A female friend of hers, who was living on the property, also was shot, suffering non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Davis had been a state police trooper for four years, after 10 years as a county sheriff's deputy in the area.
"He truly did love being a law enforcement officer," family friend Chris Fletcher said. "One of his last texts to another one of his cousins was he couldn't believe he got paid to do what he does."
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2-time champ Nadal loses 15-13 in 5th set at Wimbledon
LONDON (AP) - Rafael Nadal kept getting pushed to the brink of defeat. He kept resisting.
He dropped the first two sets, then won the next two. He erased two match points in the riveting fifth set's 10th game, then another two in its 20th game. Only when his fourth-round match against 16th-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg stretched past 4½ hours, the sunlight fading, did Nadal blink.
After repeatedly digging himself out of difficult situations, Nadal finally succumbed, broken in the last game of a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 loss to Muller on Monday.
"I played with the right determination, right passion, right attitude," Nadal said, "to win the match."
But he could not pull through, extending his drought without a quarterfinal berth at the All England Club to six years.
