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WASHINGTON (AP) — A North Korean citizen was taken into U.S. custody on Saturday after being extradited from Malaysia to face money laundering charges, making him the first North Korean extradited to the U.S. to face trial. Mun Chol Myong…

As migrants surge at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Joe Biden’s administration has been caught on its heels and is now scrambling to manage a humanitarian and political challenge that threatens to overshadow its ambitious agenda. The White House dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to four Sunday news shows in an effort to stress that it was working to get things under control. Administration officials say Biden inherited an untenable situation that resulted from what they saw was President Donald Trump’s undermining and weakening of the immigration system. Images and stories from the border have begun to dominate the headlines, distracting from the White House’s efforts to promote the recently passed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. 

Lawmakers and advocates say if the suspect in the  deadly Atlanta-area shootings had been forced to wait before getting a gun, he might not have acted on his impulse. Police say the suspect legally bought a 9 mm handgun not long before the attack, which spread fear and anger through Asian American communities nationwide. Within hours, authorities say, he had killed eight people, seven of them women and six of Asian descent, in a rampage targeting massage businesses. Georgia and some other states are looking to create or expand waiting periods. But gun rights groups are opposed, and the legislation may face an uphill battle.

Local bars and halls run by Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts have fallen on hard times during the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers say many risk permanent closure after states ordered them, like other bars and halls, to shutter last spring. Local veterans groups argue that their facilities aren’t simply private watering holes and should have been allowed to reopen sooner. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, VFW Post 3260 dissolved and sold off its hall during the pandemic. Post leaders say the group fell victim to years of declining membership and a facility it simply couldn’t maintain with no revenue coming in.

Iran has made threats against an Army base in the nation's capital and against the Army’s vice chief of staff. That's according to two senior U.S. intelligence officials who weren't authorized to publicly discuss national security matters and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The threats are one reason the Army has pushed for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington's bustling Waterfront District. City leaders are fighting the Army’s plan to add a wide buffer zone from the shore of the Washington Channel. That plan would cut off access to as much as half the width of the busy waterway. 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry began administering the first doses of coronavirus vaccines it received from the global COVAX initiative to health care workers and older residents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on…

Despite the clamor to speed up the U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19, the first three months of the rollout suggest faster is not necessarily better. A surprising new analysis found that states such as South Carolina, Florida and Missouri that raced to offer the vaccine to ever-larger groups of people have vaccinated smaller shares of their population than those that moved more slowly and methodically, such as Hawaii and Connecticut. The explanation, as experts see it: The rapid expansion of eligibility caused a surge in demand too big for some states to handle. The result was serious disarray, confusion and frustration. The analysis may hold an important lesson for states as they rush to meet President Joe Biden's goal of making all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1.

Manuel Feller won the season-ending World Cup slalom on Sunday by rising from sixth place after the first run. First-run leader Marco Schwarz lost speed in a difficult section of gates and dropped to sixth place. Schwarz already took the season-long slalom title. Feller benefited from his Austrian teammate’s error and finished 0.08 seconds ahead of Clément Noël of France. Alexis Pinturault placed third, 0.11 behind Feller. It ended Pinturault's season in style one day after winning a giant slalom to secure his first overall World Cup title.

The coronavirus pandemic that forced the cancellation of last year's NCAA Tournament returned with a vengeance. Virginia Commonwealth was informed that multiple players had tested positive for COVID-19 during their pregame meal, forcing the Rams to miss their first-round game against Oregon and go straight into quarantine. VCU coach Mike Rhoades says, “It just stinks.” There were a few surprises on Saturday: Tiny Abilene Christian, a 14 seed, took down Texas when Joe Pleasant — a 58.8% free-throw shooter — canned two from the line with 1.2 seconds left. And defending champion and fourth-seeded Virginia got clipped by No. 13 Ohio.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish police on Sunday detained a prominent pro-Kurdish party politician who was staging a days-long protest in parliament. He was released after questioning several hours later. Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, from the Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, refused…

A Florida couple who spent decades as missionaries and ministers died 15 minutes apart of COVID-19. Bill and Esther Ilnisky were married almost 67 years when they died recently at a Palm Beach County hospice. Their daughter says while she misses them, she is consoled by the fact that they died together. The Ilniskys spent 10 years in Jamaica and seven in Lebanon as Christian missionaries. They then moved to West Palm Beach in the 1970s and spent four decades running an Assemblies of God church there. He was 88 and she was 92 when they died March 1. 

A trade bottleneck born of the COVID-19 outbreak has U.S. businesses waiting for shipments from Asia _ while off the coast of California, dozens of container ships have been anchored, unable to unload their cargo.  The problems began when Americans stayed home and dramatically changed their buying habits _ instead of clothes, they bought electronics, fitness equipment and home improvement products. U.S. companies flooded Asian factories with orders. And that led to a chain reaction of congestion and snags at ports and freight hubs across the country as the goods arrived. Shipments that once took weeks now can take several months.

An aggressive second run lifted teenager Alice Robinson ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin to win a giant slalom that ended the women’s World Cup ski season. Robinson had been fourth-fastest in the opening run trailing Shiffrin by 0.77 seconds. Robinson turned it into a victory by 0.28 seconds at Lenzerheide. It was the 19-year-old New Zealander’s third win in giant slalom on the World Cup circuit. Petra Vlhova ended her tiring season with an 11th-place finish one day after being crowned the overall World Cup champion.

In China, the problem doesn’t seem to be a shortage of vaccine. Rather, with the COVID-19 outbreak largely under control at home, not enough people want to get the shot. Chinese health officials appealed to the public Sunday to get inoculated. China has a much lower rate of vaccination than many other countries. Chinese officials want to get enough people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. Health officials also said that with vaccination not a guarantee against infection they will still require anyone arriving in China to quarantine for 14 days, even if they have received a vaccine. 

North Korean diplomats have vacated their embassy in Malaysia and are preparing to leave the country after the two nations cut diplomatic ties in a spat over the extradition of a North Korean suspect to the U.S. Ties between North Korea and Malaysia have been virtually frozen since the 2017 assassination of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur airport. North Korea on Friday terminated ties with Malaysia, two days after Kuala Lumpur extradited a North Korean man to the U.S. for money laundering charges. Malaysia in response gave North Korean diplomats 48 hours to leave. On Sunday, the North Korean flag and embassy signage have been removed from the premise in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. 

Several Myanmar police officers who fled to India after they said they defied army orders to shoot opponents of last month’s coup are urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to not repatriate them and provide them asylum on humanitarian grounds. Indian villagers in Mizoram state have given shelter to 34 police personnel and one firefighter. Estimates say hundreds from Myanmar have entered India, but officials haven’t disclosed any official figures. Myanmar wants India to return the police officers. India’s Home Ministry has told four of its border states to prevent refugees from entering India except on humanitarian grounds.

Shaka Smart pulled off one of the most memorable Cinderella runs in NCAA Tournament history, taking VCU from the First Four to the Final Four in 2011. But as Texas coach, Smart is 1-3 in three tournament appearances during his six seasons. Twice his Longhorns have been knocked out in the first round by mid-majors with improbable last-second finishes. Texas was bounced from the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed Saturday night, 53-52 by Abilene Christian, in a turnover-filled performance that left the Longhorns stunned. A lot of Texas fans think Smart has been a disappointment in Austin, and wonder if he’s worth the $3.2 million salary. Longhorns guard Matt Coleman defended his coach after the painful loss.

PARIS (AP) — A bookshop owner has found a way to keep people in Paris feeling plush during the depressing days of the coronavirus pandemic: giant teddy bears. Philippe Labourel has been lending out oversized stuffed animals since October 2018.…

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's most populous state of New South Wales on Sunday issued more evacuation orders following the worst flooding in decades. The New South Wales State Emergency Services responded to 640 calls for help on Saturday night, including…

Abilene Christian and its frantic, havoc-causing defense bounced coach Shaka Smart and Texas out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round yet again, as the 14th-seeded Wildcats stunned the third-seeded Longhorns 53-52. Joe Pleasant, a 58.8% foul shooter on the season, made a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left, and the Wildcats took down their in-state rivals in the first meeting between the schools. The Wildcats caused all kinds of headaches for the bigger, more talented Longhorns and got just enough offense to pull off their first NCAA Tournament victory in their second appearance. Abilene Christian will face No. 11 seed UCLA in the second round Monday. Andrew Jones scored 13 points for Texas.

Giancarlo Stanton is picking up where he ended the postseason last year. That's means healthy and hard hitting for the New York Yankees. The slugger homered in each of his first five playoff games in 2020, a stretch that brought flashbacks of his spectacular 2017 NL MVP season and hopes that several injury-impacted years were behind him. Stanton is 7 for 21 during spring training with two doubles and a homer that had an exit velocity of 115 mph. The Yankees open the regular season April 1 at home against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Johnny Juzang scored 27 points in his second big game of the NCAA Tournament, helping No. 11 seed UCLA beat sixth-seeded BYU 73-62 to advance in the East Region. Jules Bernard added 16 points and Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 13 for the Bruins. They'll face No. 14 seed Abilene Christian for a spot in the Sweet 16. Alex Barcello led the Cougars with 20 points while Brandon Averette finished with 15. UCLA got its first win in regulation since handling Utah on Feb. 25. The Bruins survived a scare from Michigan State in the First Four.

BANGKOK (AP) — Scores of people were injured and arrested in the Thai capital after police used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday night to break up a rally by pro-democracy protesters calling for the release of detained…