Man charged with killing 8 people at Georgia massage parlours

ATLANTA (AP) — A white gunman was charged Wednesday with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlours in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community, which has increasingly been targeted during the coronavirus pandemic.

A day after the shootings, investigators were trying to unravel what might have compelled 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long to commit the worst mass killing in the U.S. in almost two years.

Long told police that Tuesday’s attack was not racially motivated. He claimed to have a “sex addiction,” and authorities said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation. But those statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism given the locations and that six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent.

The shootings appear to be at the “intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia,” said state Rep. Bee Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Georgia House and a frequent advocate for women and communities of colour.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said that regardless of the shooter’s motivation, “it is unacceptable, it is hateful and it has to stop.”

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EXPLAINER: Why Georgia attack spurs fears in Asian Americans

CHICAGO (AP) — The shootings at three Georgia massage parlours and spas that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, come on the heels of a recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans since the coronavirus entered the United States.

As details emerge, many members of the Asian American community see the Georgia killings as a haunting reminder of harassment and assaults that have been occurring from coast to coast.

WHAT HAPPENED IN ATLANTA?

Five people were shot Tuesday at a massage parlour about 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of Atlanta, four of whom died. Police found three women shot to death at Gold Spa in Atlanta, and another woman dead at Aromatherapy Spa across the street.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that its diplomats have confirmed that four of the victims who died were women of Korean descent.

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Experts: Virus surge in Europe a cautionary tale for US

Optimism is spreading in the U.S. as COVID-19 deaths plummet and states ease restrictions and open vaccinations to younger adults. But across Europe, dread is setting in with another wave of infections that is closing schools and cafes and bringing new lockdowns.

The pandemic's diverging paths on the two continents can be linked in part to the much more successful vaccine rollout in the U.S. and the spread of more contagious variants in Europe.

Health experts in the U.S., though, say what’s happening in Europe should serve as a warning against ignoring social distancing or dropping other safeguards too early.

“Each of these countries has had nadirs like we are having now, and each took an upward trend after they disregarded known mitigation strategies,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "They simply took their eye off the ball.”

The result has been a sharp spike in new infections and hospitalizations in several European countries over the past few weeks.

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EXPLAINER: Role of alternate jurors in ex-officer's trial

Attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death are wrangling over not just the 12 jurors who will decide the verdict but also two alternates.

Derek Chauvin's trial is moving forward amid national attention around Floyd's death, plus a pandemic that could potentially disrupt proceedings expected to last several weeks. That's why the two alternates will play an important role, ready to sub in for other jurors who are unable to continue with the trial.

Here’s a look at how alternate jurors will work in the trial of the former officer charged with murder and manslaughter:

WHAT ARE ALTERNATE JURORS?

During the criminal trial, alternate jurors will be indistinguishable from their peers. In fact, they won't even know they are alternates. The judge won't reveal who the alternative jurors are until attorneys have finished making their cases. That's so that the alternates don't yawn off during proceedings and are ready to step in if another juror is unable to continue.

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Republicans seize on immigration as border crossings surge

WASHINGTON (AP) — Delegation trips to the border. Apocalyptic warnings. A flurry of press conferences.

Republicans still divided over former President Donald Trump's legacy are seizing on his signature campaign issue, turning their focus to immigration as they try to regain the political upper hand.

Faced with President Joe Biden’s early popularity, good news about vaccinations, and Americans' embrace of the COVID relief bill Washington Republicans opposed, the GOP is leaning in on the highly charged issue amid a spike in border crossings. They hope immigration can unite the party heading into next year's elections, when control of Congress is at stake.

“Heading into the midterms, I think that Republicans are increasingly realizing that this can be one of the most potent issues, both to motivate our voters, but equally as important, to appeal to" swing voters — especially in suburban swing districts — who voted for Democrats in 2020, said former Trump aide Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration policies. He said the issue has been a subject of discussion in his recent conversations with lawmakers as child border crossings have surged, straining U.S. facilities.

The situation at the Southern border is complex. Since Biden's inauguration, the country has seen a dramatic spike in the number of people encountered by border officials, with 18,945 family members and 9,297 unaccompanied children encountered in February — an increase of 168% and 63% from the month before, according to the Pew Research Center. That creates an enormous logistical challenge, since children, in particular, require higher standards of care and co-ordination across agencies.

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Tanzania's populist President John Magufuli has died at 61

NAKURU, Kenya (AP) — President John Magufuli of Tanzania, a prominent COVID-19 skeptic in Africa whose populist rule often cast his East African country in a harsh international spotlight, has died. He was 61 years old.

Magufuli's death was announced on Wednesday by Vice-President Samia Suluhu, who said the president died of heart failure.

“Our beloved president passed on at 6 p.m. this evening," said Suluhu on national television. “All flags will be flown at half-mast for 14 days. It is sad news. The president has had this illness for the past 10 years.”

The vice-president said that Magufuli died at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, the Indian Ocean port that is Tanzania's largest city.

Although the vice-president said the cause of Magufuli’s death was heart failure, opposition politicians had earlier alleged that he was sick from COVID-19.

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Treasury says state tax cuts OK if separated from virus aid

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Responding to concerns from state officials, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that states can cut taxes without penalty under a new federal pandemic relief law — so long as they use their own funds to offset those cuts.

Republican governors, lawmakers and attorneys general have expressed apprehension about a provision in the wide-ranging relief act signed by President Joe Biden that prohibits states from using $195 billion of federal aid “to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction” in net tax revenue. The restriction could apply through 2024.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, on Wednesday asked a federal judge to block the tax-cut provision. Republican attorneys general from 21 other states wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen seeking clarification on the prohibition, which they said could be construed “to deny states the ability to cut taxes in any manner whatsoever.”

A treasury spokesperson told The Associated Press that the provision isn't meant as a blanket prohibition on tax cuts. States can still offset tax reductions through other means.

"In other words, states are free to make policy decisions to cut taxes – they just cannot use the pandemic relief funds to pay for those tax cuts,” the Treasury Department said.

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EXPLAINER: What's the Senate filibuster and why change it?

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's not that different from the movies. President Joe Biden said the Senate should operate like it did in the “old days,” with senators forced to stand up and speak all day and night if they plan to object to his legislative agenda with a filibuster.

Changing the filibuster rules is an idea backed by some Senate Democrats eager to advance Biden's agenda in the evenly split 50-50 Senate. But Republicans are warning Democrats off any changes.

Here's a look at how the filibuster works in the Senate.

WHAT'S A FILIBUSTER?

The filibuster is among the Senate’s “most distinctive procedural features,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

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No cigar: Interstellar object is cookie-shaped planet shard

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor is neither a comet nor asteroid as first suspected and looks nothing like a cigar. A new study says the mystery object is likely a remnant of a Pluto-like world and shaped like a cookie.

Arizona State University astronomers reported this week that the strange 148-foot (45-meter) object that appears to be made of frozen nitrogen, just like the surface of Pluto and Neptune's largest moon Triton.

The study's authors, Alan Jackson and Steven Desch, think an impact knocked a chunk off an icy nitrogen-covered planet 500 million years ago and sent the piece tumbling out of its own star system, toward ours. The reddish remnant is believed to be a sliver of its original self, its outer layers evaporated by cosmic radiation and, more recently, the sun.

It's named Oumuamua, Hawaiian for scout, in honour of the observatory in Hawaii that discovered it in 2017.

Visible only as a pinpoint of light millions of miles away at its closest approach, it was determined to have originated beyond our solar system because its speed and path suggested it wasn't orbiting the sun or anything else.

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NCAA teams hit by COVID pauses take hope from antibodies

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Baylor coach Scott Drew could sympathize with Kansas counterpart Bill Self when the Jayhawks had a positive COVID-19 test during the Big 12 Tournament, forcing them to withdraw and putting their NCAA Tournament hopes in limbo.

After all, the Bears went through their own pause this season. Twice.

They struggled mightily coming out of it, too, barely squeaking by Iowa State before Kansas dealt them their only regular-season loss. They still have not looked like the national title contender they were before the pauses.

“ My heart went out to them,” Drew said of the Jayhawks, “because I know how the players feel about that, and how tough it is on them, and I know the concerns the coaching staff will have to have with safety going forward.”

Then again, maybe coaches won't be quite as concerned.

News from © The Associated Press, 2021