AP News in Brief at 6:09 a.m. EDT
AP sources: Former CIA chief Brennan to brief Dems on Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats will hear from former CIA director John Brennan about the situation in Iran, inviting him to speak next week amid heightened concerns over the Trump administration's sudden moves in the region.
Brennan, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, is scheduled to talk to House Democrats at a private weekly caucus meeting Tuesday, according to a Democratic aide and another person familiar with the private meeting. Both were granted anonymity to discuss the meeting.
The invitation to Brennan and Wendy Sherman, the former State Department official and top negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal, offers counterprogramming to the Trump administration's closed-door briefing for lawmakers also planned for Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Democratic lawmakers are likely to attend both sessions.
The Trump administration recently sent an aircraft carrier and other military resources to the Persian Gulf region, and withdrew nonessential personnel from Iraq, raising alarm among Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill over the possibility of a confrontation with Iran.
Trump in recent days downplayed any potential for conflict. But questions remain about what prompted the actions and many lawmakers have demanded more information.
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Biden rejects Democrats' anger in call for national unity
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - His party may be enraged by Donald Trump's presidency, but Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden insisted Saturday that Democrats will not defeat the Republican president if they pick an angry nominee.
Facing thousands of voters in his native Pennsylvania for the second time as a 2020 contender, the former vice president offered a call for bipartisan unity that seemed far more aimed at a general election audience than the fiery Democratic activists most active in the presidential primary process. He acknowledged, however, that some believe Democrats should nominate a candidate who can tap into their party's anti-Trump anger.
"That's what they are saying you have to do to win the Democratic nomination. Well, I don't believe it," Biden declared. "I believe Democrats want to unify this nation. That's what the party's always been about. That's what it's always been about. Unity."
Biden's moderate message highlights his chief advantage and chief liability in the early days of the nascent presidential contest, which has so far been defined by fierce resistance to Trump on the left and equally aggressive vitriol on the right. Biden's centrist approach may help him win over independents, but it threatens to alienate liberals who favor a more aggressive approach in policy and personality to counter Trump's turbulent presidency.
"I want aggressive change. I'm not hearing that from him yet," said 45-year-old Jennifer Moyer of Blandon, Pennsylvania, who attended Biden's rally and said she's 90% sold on his candidacy. "I don't want middle of the road."
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Female lawmakers speak about rapes as abortion bills advance
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - For more than two decades, Nancy Mace did not speak publicly about her rape. In April, when she finally broke her silence, she chose the most public of forums - before her colleagues in South Carolina's legislature.
A bill was being debated that would ban all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected; Mace, a Republican lawmaker, wanted to add an exception for rape and incest. When some of her colleagues in the House dismissed her amendment - some women invent rapes to justify seeking an abortion, they claimed - she could not restrain herself.
"For some of us who have been raped, it can take 25 years to get up the courage and talk about being a victim of rape," Mace said, gripping the lectern so hard she thought she might pull it up from the floor. "My mother and my best friend in high school were the only two people who knew."
As one Republican legislature after another has pressed ahead with restrictive abortion bills in recent months, they have been confronted with raw and emotional testimony about the consequences of such laws. Female lawmakers and other women have stepped forward to tell searing, personal stories - in some cases speaking about attacks for the first time to anyone but a loved one or their closest friend.
Mace is against abortion in most cases and supported the fetal heartbeat bill as long as it contained the exception for rape and incest. She said her decision to reveal an attack that has haunted her for so long was intended to help male lawmakers understand the experience of those victims.
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Illinois not alerted to early clues in womb-cutting case
CHICAGO (AP) - Police and Illinois' child welfare agency say staff at a Chicago-area hospital didn't alert them after determining that a bloodied woman who arrived with a gravely ill newborn had not just given birth to the baby boy, as she claimed.
The woman, Clarisa Figueroa, was charged more than three weeks later with killing the baby's mother , Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, after police found her body outside Figueoa's home. Chicago police say she cut Ochoa-Lopez's baby out of her womb on April 23, then called 911 to report she had given birth to a baby who wasn't breathing. Paramedics took Figueroa and the baby to Advocate Christ Medical Center in suburban Oak Lawn.
Ochoa-Lopez's family spent those weeks searching for her and holding press conferences pleading for help finding her, unaware the child was in a neonatal intensive care unit on life support.
The baby remained hospitalized on life support on Saturday, according to authorities.
Prosecutors say that when Figueroa was brought with the baby to the hospital, she had blood on her upper body and her face, which a hospital employee cleaned off. They also say Figueroa, 46, was examined at the hospital and showed no physical signs of childbirth.
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Jimmy Carter finds a renaissance in 2020 Democratic scramble
ATLANTA (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter carved an unlikely path to the White House in 1976 and endured humbling defeat after one term. Now, six administrations later, the longest-living chief executive in American history is re-emerging from political obscurity at age 94 to win over his fellow Democrats once again.
A peanut farmer turned politician then worldwide humanitarian, Carter is carving out a unique role as several Democratic candidates look to his family-run campaign after the Watergate scandal as the roadmap for toppling President Donald Trump in 2020.
"Jimmy Carter is a decent, well-meaning person, someone who people are talking about again given the time that we are in," Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an interview. "He won because he worked so hard, and he had a message of truth and honesty. I think about him all the time."
Klobuchar is one of at least three presidential hopefuls who've ventured to the tiny town of Plains, Georgia, to meet with Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who is 91. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, also have visited with the Carters, including attending the former president's Sunday School lesson in Plains.
Carter had planned to teach at Maranatha Baptist Church again Sunday, but he is still recuperating at home days after being discharged from a Georgia hospital where he had hip replacement surgery following a fall as he was preparing for a turkey hunt.
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Tornadoes rake Southern Plains; more severe weather expected
DALLAS (AP) - A spate of tornadoes raked across the Southern Plains, leaving damage and causing few injuries, and parts of the region were bracing for more severe thunderstorms and possible flooding.
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF2 twister Saturday morning with winds up to 130 mph (209 kph) that destroyed at least two homes and left one person with minor injuries in southwestern Oklahoma.
A suspected tornado caused roof damage to "numerous" homes in northwestern Arkansas, a state official said, and severe winds downed trees and power lines across a highway, blocking all lanes.
Energy companies in Oklahoma and Arkansas reported tens of thousands of customers were without power Saturday afternoon.
Tornadoes touched down Friday in Kansas and rural parts of Nebraska, tearing up trees and powerlines, and damaging some homes and farm buildings, according to the National Weather Service.
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For Iranians, economic crisis looms larger than US tensions
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Across Iran's capital, the talk always seems to come back to how things may get worse.
Battered by U.S. sanctions and its depreciating rial currency, Iran's 80 million people struggle to buy meat, medicine and other staples of daily life. Now they wonder aloud about America's intentions as it rushes an aircraft carrier and other forces to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceives from Iran.
The Associated Press spoke to a variety of people on Tehran's streets recently, ranging from young and old, women wearing the all-encompassing black chador to those loosely covering their hair.
Most say they believe a war will not come to the region, though they remain willing to defend their country. They think Iran should try to talk to the U.S. to help its anemic economy, even as they see President Donald Trump as an erratic and untrustworthy adversary.
"Trump is not predictable at all and one doesn't know how to react to him and what is the right thing to do against him," said Afra Hamedzadeh, a 20-year-old civil servant and university student. "Since he controls the global economy we are somehow left with few options."
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France's Macron forced to curb his ambitions for Europe
PARIS (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron sees himself as Europe's savior and this week's European Parliament elections as a make-or-break moment for the beleaguered European Union.
But Macron is no longer the fresh-faced force who marched into a surprising presidential victory to the rousing EU anthem two years ago. His pro-Europe vision has collided with populists and national interests across the continent. And at home, his political vision has given rise to France's raucous yellow vest uprising over his government's pro-business policies .
Macron wanted the May 23-26 European Parliament elections to be the key moment that he could push his ambitions for a stronger Europe - but instead, nationalists and populists who criticized the 28-nation bloc could achieve unprecedented success.
They argue that EU leaders have failed to manage migration into the continent and remain out of touch with ordinary workers' concerns.
"We have a crisis of the European Union. This is a matter of fact. Everywhere in Europe, when you look at the past five to six years, in our country but in a lot of countries, all the extremes, extreme-rights, are increasing," Macron said Thursday, making an unexpected appeal for European unity on the sidelines of a technology trade show.
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Australia's leader vows to get back to work after shock win
SYDNEY (AP) - A jubilant Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowed Sunday to get straight back to work afterˆ aˆ shock election victory by his conservative government that has left bewildered voters wondering how they were taken by surprise.
The opposition Labor Party, meanwhile, began another bout of post-election soul searching while starting the task of finding a new leader, after Bill Shorten stepped down following an emphatic defeat Saturday in a poll many had seen as unlosable for his party.
Center-left Labor, which has governed Australia for only 38 of its 118 years as a federation, was rated an overwhelming favorite, both in opinion polls and with odds-makers, to topple the conservative Liberal-National coalition government after its six years in power.
Instead, Morrison - who became prime minister only last August when a contentious internal party vote dumped Malcolm Turnbull as its leader - swept the coalition to victory with what is likely to be an increased representation in Parliament.
The result is much the same as the last election, which delivered the government a single-seat majority in 2016. Since then, public expectations have taken a roller coaster ride based on the media's reporting of polls.
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Blame it on Bieber: Iceland canyon too popular with visitors
FJADRÃRGLJÚFUR, Iceland (AP) - A large sign warns motorists that Iceland's Fjadrárgljúfur canyon is closed to visitors but drivers keep on coming down the narrow gravel road. A ranger at a roadblock has to explain why no one can pass: The vulnerable landscape cannot sustain more visitors.
Blame Justin Bieber, the Canadian pop star with a worldwide reach.
Bieber's magical music video "I'll Show You" was filmed at the canyon and seen by millions, creating overwhelming demand for the once-pristine spot. For a chance to follow in Bieber's footsteps, his fans are not letting a few fences, signs or park rangers keep them away.
Eager visitors try to sweet-talk ranger Hanna Jóhannsdóttir into opening the gate. Some offer bribes. They should know in advance it's not going to work.
"Food from people's home country is the most common bribery," said Jóhannsdóttir, who recently turned down a free trip to Dubai in exchange for looking the other way at trespassers.