Laughter, tears as former first lady Barbara Bush remembered

HOUSTON (AP) — Barbara Bush was remembered as the "first lady of the Greatest Generation" during a funeral Saturday attended by four former U.S. presidents and hundreds of other people who filled a Houston church with laughter as much as tears, with many recalling her quick wit and devotion to family.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joked that his mother called her style of raising him and his siblings "'a benevolent dictatorship' — but honestly, it wasn't always benevolent." She was widely admired for her plainspoken style during her husband George H.W. Bush's presidency and was known as "The Enforcer" in her high-powered family.

Jeb Bush said he could feel her presence Saturday inside the nation's largest Episcopal church and that she would likely have given him advice: "Jeb, keep it short. Don't drag this out," he said to chuckles. He met her expectations with a speech lasting about seven minutes.

He choked up at one point while addressing the roughly 1,500 people seated inside St. Martin's Episcopal Church, where his parents regularly worshipped, when saying his mother — known for her self-deprecating remarks about her wrinkles and white-grey hair — was "beautiful" until the very end.

His father, a prolific writer of love letters to his wife, laughed when his son read a letter from their wedding anniversary in 1994. It began: "Will you marry me? Oops! I forgot we did that, 49 years ago." But when his son continued reading, about how his father grew happier each year spent with his wife, his father closed his eyes and cried. Jeb Bush later hugged his father and kissed him on the cheek.

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After air accidents, survivors grapple with flying again

Hundreds of hands grappling with oxygen masks. Flight attendants warning passengers to brace for impact. The plane hurtling toward the unforgiving ground.

Survivors of air accidents often proclaim that their survival was a miracle. But what follows is another kind of miracle: Many survivors manage to get past the horror and onto planes again.

How do they do it?

It's a question facing survivors of this week's Southwest Airlines accident, which killed one woman who was sucked partway out of the plane after the engine exploded and shattered a window.

Authorities said 148 passengers walked away, underscoring an important point: Plane crashes are rare, but when they happen, people often survive them. Between 1983 and 2000, 95.7 per cent of people involved in commercial airline accidents survived, according to government data. In 2013, 304 of the 307 passengers survived an Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco. And the horrific 1989 crash of a United Airlines flight in Sioux City, Iowa, had 185 survivors.

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Trump says he doesn't think personal lawyer will 'flip'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he doesn't expect Michael Cohen, his longtime personal lawyer and fixer, to "flip" as the government investigates Cohen's business dealings.

Trump, in a series of tweets fired off from Florida on the morning of former first lady Barbara Bush's funeral, accused The New York Times and one of its reporters of "going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will 'flip'" — a term that can mean co-operating with the government in exchange for leniency.

"Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble," even if "it means lying or making up stories," Trump said, before adding: "Sorry, I don't see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!"

The FBI raided Cohen's home, office and hotel room earlier this month looking for evidence of fraud as they conduct a criminal investigation. That included records related to payments Cohen made in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom allege having had sexual encounters with Trump, people familiar with the raid have told The Associated Press.

Prosecutors have said they're investigating Cohen's personal business dealings but haven't said what crime they believe he may have committed. Cohen's lawyers have called the raid an assault on attorney-client privilege and Trump has said it was "an attack on our country.

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Romney must compete in primary for Senate seat

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — Mitt Romney was forced Saturday into a Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Utah as he looks to restart his political career by replacing long-serving Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Romney remains the heavy favourite overall to win the Senate seat in November. But if he had won the votes of a majority of the far-right leaning party delegates at the state GOP convention Saturday, he would have bypassed a primary altogether.

Instead, he was edged out by state lawmaker Mike Kennedy, who got 51 per cent of the vote to Romney's 49 per cent.

Voters will decide between the two in a June 26 primary. Romney previously secured his spot on the ballot by gathering signatures.

Romney went up against 11 other candidates at the convention, mostly political newcomers who questioned Romney's criticism of President Donald Trump and the depth of his ties to Utah.

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Road to N. Korea's denuclearization is littered with failure

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Bill Clinton offered oil and reactors. George W. Bush mixed threats and aid. Barack Obama stopped trying after a rocket launch.

While Seoul and Washington welcomed Pyongyang's declaration on Saturday to suspend further intercontinental ballistic missile tests and shut down its nuclear test site, the past is littered with failure.

A decades-long cycle of crises, stalemates and broken promises gave North Korea the room to build up a legitimate arsenal that now includes purported thermonuclear warheads and developmental ICBMs. The North's latest announcement stopped well short of suggesting it has any intention of giving that up.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday to kick off a new round of high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang. The inter-Korean summit could set up more substantial discussions between Kim and President Donald Trump, who said he plans to meet the despot he previously called "Little Rocket Man" in May or June.

A look at previous negotiations with North Korea and how the currently planned talks between Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington took shape:

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Verne Troyer, Mini-Me from 'Austin Powers' films, has died

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Verne Troyer, who played Dr. Evil's small, silent sidekick "Mini-Me" in the "Austin Powers" movie franchise, has died. He was 49.

A statement provided by Troyer's representatives that was also posted to his Instagram and Facebook accounts said the actor died Saturday.

No cause of death was given, but the statement describes Troyer as a "fighter" who was unable to overcome a recent bout of adversity then goes on to discuss depression and suicide.

"Over the years he's struggled and won, struggled and won, struggled and fought some more, but unfortunately this time was too much," the statement said. "Depression and suicide are very serious issues. You never know what kind of battle someone is going through inside. Be kind to one another. And always know, it's never too late to reach out to someone for help."

Troyer became a celebrity and pop-culture phenomenon after starring alongside Mike Myers as "Mini-Me," the tiny, hairless clone of villain Dr. Evil in two of the three "Austin Powers" films.

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AP Analysis: Kim Jong Un tests Trump with latest nuke offer

TOKYO (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has finally broken his silence on what he plans to bring to the table during his summits with the South Korean and U.S. presidents, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with tossing out his hard-won nuclear arsenal.

Instead, Kim appears to be manoeuvring toward his own big "get" — the chance to sit down with President Donald Trump on an essentially equal basis as the head of a nuclear-armed nation. The end of North Korea's nuclear program, meanwhile, isn't looking any closer than it was before.

Ending weeks of ominous silence from Pyongyang, Kim laid out the new strategy at a meeting Friday of his ruling party's Central Committee that suspends underground nuclear tests and test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. He also said the country's nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, already believed to be essentially inoperable, will be closed and "dismantled."

North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to keep pursuing nuclear development unless Washington offers ironclad guarantees of its security and removes its nearly 30,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula.

This time around, Kim seems to be more flexible than he had been previously regarding the troops. His latest statement also echoed Pyongyang's hope for security assurances and for the day when the world will have no nuclear weapons.

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After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook has taken the lion's share of scrutiny from Congress and the media about data-handling practices that allow savvy marketers and political agents to target specific audiences, but it's far from alone. YouTube, Google and Twitter also have giant platforms awash in more videos, posts and pages than any set of human eyes could ever check. Their methods of serving ads against this sea of content may come under the microscope next.

Advertising and privacy experts say a backlash is inevitable against a "Wild West" internet that has escaped scrutiny before. There continues to be a steady barrage of new examples where unsuspecting advertisers had their brands associated with extremist content on major platforms.

In the latest discovery, CNN reported that it found more than 300 retail brands, government agencies and technology companies had their ads run on YouTube channels that promoted white nationalists, Nazis, conspiracy theories and North Korean propaganda.

Child advocates have also raised alarms about the ease with which smartphone-equipped children are exposed to inappropriate videos and deceptive advertising.

"I absolutely think that Google is next and long overdue," said Josh Golin, director of the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google-owned YouTube's advertising and data collection practices earlier this month.

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World's oldest person dies in Japan at age of 117

TOKYO (AP) — The world's oldest person, a 117-year-old Japanese woman, has died.

Nabi Tajima died of old age in a hospital Saturday evening in the town of Kikai in southern Japan, town official Susumu Yoshiyuki confirmed. She had been hospitalized since January.

Tajima, born on Aug. 4, 1900, was the last known person born in the 19th century. She reportedly had more than 160 descendants, including great-great-great grandchildren. Her town of Kikai is in Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands.

She became the world's oldest person seven months ago after the death in September of Violet Brown in Jamaica, also at the age of 117. Video shown on Japanese television showed Tajima moving her hands to the beat of music played on traditional Japanese instruments at a ceremony to mark the achievement.

The U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group says that another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, is now the world's oldest person in its records. Miyako lives south of Tokyo in Kanagawa prefecture, and is due to turn 117 in 10 days.

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Nicaragua's Ortega agrees to talk as deadly protests rage on

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Saturday that his government is willing to enter into talks over social security reforms that have sparked four days of protests and clashes in which, rights monitors say, at least 25 people have died. A journalist covering the unrest was also killed.

In a nationally televised address, his first public appearance since the demonstrations began Wednesday, Ortega said he is open to negotiations so that there is "no more terror for Nicaraguan families."

But he said the dialogue would be just with business leaders and not with other sectors of society. He also seemed to try to justify what has been a heavy-handed response by the government and allied groups, accusing demonstrators, most of them university students, of being manipulated by unspecified "minority" political interests and of being infiltrated by gangsters.

"What is happening in our country has no name. The kids do not even know the party that is manipulating them. ... Gang members are being brought into the kids' protests and are criminalizing the protests. That is why they are put at risk," Ortega said.

Those remarks appeared to fan the flames, as soon afterward thousands of people spilled back into the streets in seven cities including the capital, Managua, after tensions had calmed somewhat Friday night.

News from © The Associated Press, 2018