Ingested Articles

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife have recovered from COVID-19 and returned to their regular duties on Tuesday, three weeks after they had tested positive for the coronavirus, the president's office said. According to the statement,…

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The European Union’s home affairs commissioner was meeting Tuesday with Greece’s prime minister and foreign minister, a day after touring two of the eastern islands in the Aegean Sea most heavily affected by migration into Europe.…

Former President Donald Trump recently rattled off the names of those he viewed as future leaders of the Republican Party, including Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Conspicuously absent from the list: Mike Pence. The former vice president is steadily reentering public life as he eyes a potential run for the White House in 2024. He’s writing op-eds, delivering speeches, preparing trips to key primary states and launching an advocacy group that will likely focus on promoting the Trump administration’s accomplishments. But Trump’s neglect in mentioning Pence during a podcast interview earlier this month signals the former vice president’s unique challenge. 

Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor, congressman and one-time presidential candidate, is going to work for a lobbying firm. Shumaker Advisors announced Tuesday that Sanford would be joining the firm, working from Charleston. The government relations arm of a law firm founded in 1925, Shumaker Advisors operates seven offices in Ohio, Florida, Michigan and the Carolinas. It wasn’t immediately clear if Sanford, technically an advisor at the firm, would register as a lobbyist. Sanford has been working to find a foothold since end of the most recent iteration of his political career. He served two stints in the U.S. House, was elected twice as governor and mounted a short-lived 2020 GOP challenge to Donald Trump.

Thailand’s prime minister is denying that his country’s security forces are sending villagers back to Myanmar who fled from military airstrikes and says his government is ready to shelter anyone who is escaping fighting. His comments came a day after humanitarian groups said the Thai military had begun sending back some of the thousands of people who have fled a series of airstrikes by Myanmar’s military. The weekend strikes were another escalation in the violent crackdown by Myanmar’s junta on protests against its Feb. 1 takeover. At least 510 protesters have been killed since the coup, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Protests continued Tuesday despite the deaths of more than 100 people on Saturday alone.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — K-pop superstar group BTS has condemned racism against Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in a statement saying they've experienced it themselves. “We stand against racial discrimination,” BTS tweeted Tuesday in English and Korean. The…

Baylor more than lived up to its top-seeded billing, pulling away from No. 3 Arkansas early and then again the second the game got uncomfortably close. The Bears booked a spot in the Final Four come Saturday against No. 2 Houston, which had a much tougher time shaking free from 11th-seeded Oregon State. The Bears' win was more commanding than it looked; even opposing coach Eric Musselman conceded “they played phenomenal tonight.” The other side of the bracket is in action Tuesday, with overall top seed Gonzaga facing No 6 USC, and the final No. 1, Michigan, taking on 11th seeded UCLA.

Baylor reached the Final Four for the first time in 71 years, getting 22 points from MaCio Teague and a dominating defensive performance from Davion Mitchell to beat Arkansas 81-72. The South Region final was a reunion of former Southwest Conference programs aiming to join another (Houston) in the Final Four. The top-seeded Bears had not been able to get over the Elite Eight hump in two previous tries under Scott Drew and appeared to be barreling toward a blowout. The Razorbacks trimmed an 18-point lead down to four. The Bears ran away from there, right into next weekend’s Final Four against the Cougars.

China has sharply reduced the number of directly elected seats in Hong Kong's legislature in a setback for the democracy movement. The changes were announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of China's top legislature. In the new make-up, the legislature will be expanded to 90 seats, and only 20 will be elected by the public. Currently, 35 seats or half of the 70-seat legislature are elected. Of the other seats, 40 will be chosen by an election committee that currently selects Hong Kong’s leader. The remaining 30 will be picked by groups representing various professions and interests. 

New Mexico lawmakers are responding to the call of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to try and forge an agreement on legalizing recreational marijuana in a special legislative session that convenes at noon on Tuesday. Legalization has won state House approval for three consecutive years but failed to gain full approval, despite support from an array of proponents. Lujan Grisham has hailed the industry’s potential to create jobs and a stable new source of revenue for the state. Lawmakers are likely to bring forward two bills that provide a regulatory framework for the industry and focus secondly on social justice concerns.

Aari McDonald scored 33 points and No. 3 seed Arizona beat fourth-seeded Indiana 66-53 to earn its first trip to the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament. McDonald did everything for the Wildcats, from slashing drives to a banked-in 3-pointer. She briefly left the game with a twisted ankle with 2:35 left, but limped back on and scored six more points. Arizona advanced to Friday’s national semifinal against top-seeded UConn. Mackenzie Holmes scored 20 points for Indiana, which was playing its first Elite Eight game.

Houston overcame a blown 17-point lead to hold off Oregon State 67-61 in the NCAA Tournament and reach the Final Four for the first time in 37 years. Quentin Grimes hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:21 left and Marcus Sasser finished with a game-high 20 points. Maurice Calloo scored 13 points to lead the 12th-seeded Beavers, who were trying to become the lowest-seeded team ever to make the Final Four. Houston built its big lead behind a dominant defense but poor shooting after halftime allowed Oregon State to rally.

Migrant workers are getting a bird's eye view of Singapore, with the public's help. The ItsRainingRaincoats initiative asked Singaporeans to donate tourism vouchers they've received from the government to the workers. They did, by the thousands. Migrant workers in dormitories accounted for many of Singapore's coronavirus cases, and their movements are still restricted. So riding a Ferris wheel and seeing other attractions was a welcome diversion. Ganesan Thivagar and his dormitory mates didn't mind the rain when they got their chance to ride the Singapore Flyer. Thivagar marveled at how the skyline had changed over the years and snapped photos to send home to India. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Monday suspended a trade deal with Myanmar until a democratic government is restored in the Southeast Asian country after a Feb. 1 coup followed by a violent crackdown on protests. The military overthrew…

Ash Barty seems to enjoy getting pushed to a deciding set. The top seed from Australia moved into the quarterfinals of the Miami Open on Monday, holding off 14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 in a matchup of past Miami champions. Barty improved to 17-3 in her last 20 matches that have gone the distance. Another winner Monday was world No. 2 Naomi Osaka, who ran her winning streak to 23 matches.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed in listless trading Tuesday after U.S. stocks finished mostly lower as cause for optimism, such as the Suez Canal reopening, mixed with caution about the vaccine rollout. Japan's benchmark slipped 0.1% in morning…

Baylor women's coach Kim Mulkey thinks the NCAA should do away with COVID-19 testing during the Final Four for both women and men. Mulkey said after Baylor’s loss to UConn that it would be a “shame” if a player tested positive and couldn’t participate in the Final Four or national title game. She suggested that the NCAA “dump the COVID testing” and let those teams “battle it out.” Players and coaches at both tournaments have been tested daily and have been wearing devices that help assist with contact tracing. Through Saturday, there had been two confirmed positive tests at the women's tournament.

For San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, the biggest risk wasn’t trading three first-round picks for the No. 3 selection where he could take a shot on the franchise quarterback of the future. The chance he didn’t want to take going forward anymore was going into a season without an elite quarterback who he believes can consistently carry a team to a Super Bowl. The Niners traded the No. 12 overall pick, plus additional first-rounders in 2022 and ’23 and a third-round pick in 2023 to Miami for the No. 3 selection in a quarterback-rich draft.

An estimated 20 million people around the world help keep cities clean by scavenging through landfills and dumps. Experts say these trash pickers, who sometimes toil alongside paid municipal sanitation workers, provide a vital service, yet they usually are not on a priority list for vaccines against the coronavirus. The pandemic has amplified the health risks they face and few have their own protective gear or even clean water to wash their hands. The trash pickers often find it hard to get vaccines because they are not considered by the government to be essential workers or cannot afford to wait at overburdened public hospitals for free shots. 

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Outrage grew in Mexico and El Salvador as Mexican authorities said Monday that an autopsy of a Salvadoran woman who died in police custody confirmed that police broke her neck. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador flatly…

Federal investigators say a helicopter carrying five passengers on a heli-skiing trip in Alaska crashed into a mountain and then rolled downhill nearly 900 feet. The pilot and four of the five passengers on board died in the crash, including billionaire Petr Kellner, the richest man in the Czech Republic. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash just north of Anchorage on Saturday night. The bodies have been recovered, but an approaching snowstorm may stall efforts to remove the wreckage from the mountain near Knik Glacier. The crash site is only accessible by helicopter because of the rugged terrain and snowy conditions.