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Doctor accused of sex harassment kills 1 at NYC hospital

NEW YORK (AP) - A doctor forced from a New York hospital because of sexual harassment accusations returned Friday with an assault rifle hidden under a lab coat and shot seven people, killing one woman and leaving several doctors fighting for their lives, authorities said.

The gunman, Dr. Henry Bello, fatally shot himself after trying to set himself on fire at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, they said. He staggered, bleeding, into a hallway where he collapsed and died with the rifle at his side, officials said.

People in the hospital described a chaotic scene as gunfire erupted. Employees locked themselves inside rooms and patients feared for their lives after an announcement that an armed intruder was loose in the building.

"I thought I was going to die," said Renaldo Del Villar, a patient who was in the third-floor emergency room getting treatment for a lower back injury.

Law enforcement officials identified the shooter as the 45-year-old Bello, who was described on the hospital website as a family medicine physician. Officials said Bello used an AR-15 in the attack on the 16th and 17th floors.

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Chinese scholar believed dead; man charged with kidnapping

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - A central Illinois man was charged Friday with kidnapping in the disappearance of a visiting Chinese scholar who authorities believe to be dead after last being seen three weeks ago.

Yingying Zhang, the daughter of a working-class factory driver from China, disappeared on June 9, just weeks after arriving at the University of Illinois where she was pursuing studies in agriculture sciences.

Federal authorities say Brendt Christensen, 27, of Champaign, Illinois, is charged in a criminal complaint with abducting Zhang shortly after she stepped off a bus near the university campus. Video show her getting into the front seat of a black Saturn Astra.

According to the affidavit filed in federal court by FBI Special Agent Anthony Manganaro, Christensen was under surveillance Thursday when agents overheard him explaining he kidnapped Zhang. Authorities say based on that and other facts uncovered during the investigation, agents believe Zhang is no longer alive.

Asked Friday night if authorities had any leads on where Zhang's body might be located, the spokesman for the FBI Springfield office, Bradley Ware, declined comment.

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Trump suggests just repeal Obamacare, then try to replace it

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump barged into Senate Republicans' delicate health care negotiations Friday, declaring that if lawmakers can't reach a deal they should simply repeal "Obamacare" right away and then replace it later on.

Trump's tweet revives an approach that GOP leaders and the president himself considered but dismissed months ago as impractical and politically unwise. And it's likely to further complicate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's task as he struggles to bridge the divide between GOP moderates and conservatives as senators leave Washington for the Fourth of July break without having voted on a health care bill as planned.

"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!" Trump wrote.

The president sent his early-morning tweet shortly after Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse appeared on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" to talk about a letter he had sent to Trump making that exact suggestion: a vote on repealing former President Barack Obama's health law followed by a new effort at a working out a replacement.

Trump is a known "Fox & Friends" viewer, but Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky also claimed credit for recommending the tactic to the president in a conversation earlier in the week.

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Pentagon OKs 6-month delay in transgender enlistments

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is giving the military chiefs another six months to conduct a review to determine if allowing transgender individuals to enlist in the armed services will affect the "readiness or lethality" of the force.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said Mattis made the decision Friday. The delay in allowing the enlistment of new recruits does not affect transgender troops who are already serving openly in the military.

"After consulting with the service chiefs and secretaries, I have determined that it is necessary to defer the start of accessions for six months," Mattis said in a memo that was sent Friday to the service chiefs and secretaries and was obtained by The Associated Press. "We will use this additional time to evaluate more carefully the impact of such accessions on readiness and lethality."

In the memo, Mattis said he believes the department must measure "each policy decision against one standard" - whether it affects the ability of the military to defend the nation.

Mattis' decision formally endorses an agreement hammered out last week by the leaders of the four military services, which rejected Army and Air Force requests for a two-year wait. And it reflects the broader worry that a longer delay would trigger criticism on Capitol Hill, officials familiar with the talks told The AP.

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Trump voting commission will get limited state voter data

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A request for detailed information about every voter in the U.S. from President Donald Trump's voting commission is getting a rocky reception in the states.

Some of the nation's most populous states, including California and New York, are refusing to comply. But even some conservative states that voted for Trump, such as Texas, mua dem dreamland say they can provide only partial responses based on what is legally allowed under state law.

Given the mishmash of information Trump's commission will receive, it's dia chi mua chăn ga gối everon ruot goi dunlopillo chinh hang unclear how useful it will be or what the commission will do with it. Trump established the commission to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 elections, but Democrats have blasted it as a biased panel that is merely looking for ways to suppress the vote.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, a Democrat who is a member of Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, defended the request Friday. He said the commission expected that many states would only partially comply because open records laws differ from state to state.

"If only half the states agree, we'll have to talk about that. I think, whatever they do, we'll work with that," said Gardner, adding that the commission will discuss the survey at its July 19 meeting.

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Trump ups trade tensions with SKorea in welcoming new leader

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump and South Korea's new leader showed joint resolve on North Korea on Friday despite their divergent philosophies for addressing the nuclear threat, yet the U.S. opened up a new front of discord by demanding a renegotiation of a landmark 2012 trade pact between the two countries.

Concluding two days of meetings at the White House, Trump and President Moon Jae-in each delivered tough talk opposing North Korea's development of atomic weapons that could soon threaten both allies.

The "reckless and brutal regime" requires a determined reply, Trump said. And Moon, who has long advocated outreach to Pyongyang, vowed a "stern response" to provocation, promising to coordinate closely with Trump as he looks to intensify economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea.

While they avoided a potential conflict on the most burning national security crisis facing each country, they showed little harmony on trade.

Summoning the economic nationalism that has marked much of his international agenda, Trump highlighted America's trade imbalance with South Korea. Two-way trade in goods and services was $144 billion last year, with the U.S. running a $17 billion deficit.

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GOP bill would let churches endorse political candidates

WASHINGTON (AP) - Churches should have the right to endorse political candidates and still keep their tax-free status, say House Republicans targeting a law that prohibits such outright politicking from the pulpit.

Republicans repeatedly have failed to scrap the law preventing churches and other nonprofits from backing candidates, so now they are trying to starve it. With little fanfare, a House Appropriations subcommittee added a provision that would deny money to the IRS to enforce the 63-year-old law to a bill to fund the Treasury Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies.

The subcommittee passed the bill Thursday.

Republicans say the law is enforced unevenly, leaving religious leaders uncertain about what they are allowed to say and do.

"I believe that churches have a right of free speech and an opportunity to talk about positions and issues that are relevant to their faith," said Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio.

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Carrie Lam sworn in as new Hong Kong chief executive

HONG KONG (AP) - Carrie Lam was sworn in Saturday as Hong Kong's new leader on the city's 20th anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese rule, in a ceremony presided over by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Lam's inauguration as the semi-autonomous Chinese region's fifth chief executive was partly overshadowed by harsh remarks from Xi in his address to the assembly, in which he pledged zero -tolerance for any acts seen as jeopardizing Hong Kong and China's stability and security.

Lam and her Cabinet swore to serve China and Hong Kong and to uphold the Basic Law, the territory's mini-constitution. In a short speech, she reviewed the dynamic financial center's achievements and challenges, pledged to support central government initiatives and declared that "the future is bright."

The life-long bureaucrat was selected through a process decried by critics as fundamentally undemocratic, involving just a sliver of a percent of Hong Kong's more than 3 million voters.

Ahead of an earlier flag raising ceremony, a small group of activists linked to the pro-democracy opposition sought to march on the venue carrying a replica coffin symbolizing the death of the territory's civil liberties. They were swiftly stopped by police and Chinese flag-waving counter protesters, with the action ending about an hour later.

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Texas officer shot while investigating vehicle break-in dies

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A police officer in San Antonio died Friday of wounds suffered when he and his partner were shot by a man they intended to question about a vehicle break-in, police said.

Officer Miguel Moreno, a nine-year veteran of the police force, was shot in the head during the encounter Thursday. The gunman fired on Moreno and his partner, Officer Julio Cavazos, as they stepped out of their patrol car. Cavazos also was shot but returned fire and attempted to pull Moreno out of the line of fire.

Cavazos underwent surgery and is expected to recover, police Chief William McManus said during a news conference earlier Friday. The gunman died in the shootout.

The officers were patrolling north of downtown when they decided to question two men because they were near the vehicle that had been broken into, McManus said. He said the officers didn't consider the men suspects.

"I'm at a loss to describe what a tragedy this is," McManus said.

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Science Says: Hot dogs minus added nitrites may be no better

NEW YORK (AP) - Backyard cooks looking to grill this summer have another option: hot dogs without "added nitrites."

Are they any healthier?

Oscar Mayer is touting its new hot dog recipe that uses nitrite derived from celery juice instead of artificial sodium nitrite, which is used to preserve the pinkish colors of processed meats and prevents botulism. Kraft Heinz, which owns Oscar Mayer, says sodium nitrite is among the artificial ingredients it has removed from the product to reflect changing consumer preferences. The change comes amid a broader trend of big food makers purging ingredients that people may feel are not natural.

But nitrites are nitrites - and the change makes little difference - according to those who advise limiting processed meat and those who defend it.

Kana Wu, a research scientist at Harvard's school of public health, said in an email that it is best to think of processed meat made with natural ingredients the same as those made with artificial nitrites.