Former DC mayor Marion Barry, who staged comeback after 1990 crack cocaine arrest, dead at 78

WASHINGTON (AP) — Divisive and flamboyant, maddening and beloved, Marion Barry outshone every politician in the 40-year history of District of Columbia self-rule. But for many, his legacy was not defined by the accomplishments and failures of his four terms as mayor and long service on the D.C. Council.

Instead, Barry will be remembered for a single night in a downtown Washington hotel room and the grainy video that showed him lighting a crack pipe in the company of a much-younger woman. When FBI agents burst in, he referred to her with an expletive. She “set me up,” Barry said.

Barry died Sunday at 78. His family said in statement that Barry died shortly after midnight at the United Medical Center, after having been released from Howard University Hospital on Saturday. No cause of death was given, but his spokeswoman LaToya Foster said he collapsed outside his home.

Speaking at a 4 a.m. press conference at United Medical Center, the city’s mayor-elect Muriel Bowser called Barry an “inspiration to so many people and a fighter for people.”

“Mr. Barry, I can say this, lived up until the minute the way he wanted to live,” said Bowser, who had served with Barry on the D.C. Council.

Colorado Republicans show how party can combat Obama immigration gambit: Say ‘No’ nicely

DENVER (AP) — Republicans in search of a way to oppose President Barack Obama’s moves on immigration without alienating the nation’s fast-growing population of Hispanic voters may find a playbook in Colorado.

GOP Rep. Cory Gardner won election to the Senate in the midterms in a state where 14 percent of voters are Hispanic. His GOP colleague, Rep. Mike Coffman, won re-election in a district where 14 percent of residents were born in foreign countries.

Both opposed last year’s failed bipartisan effort in the Senate to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. But both also spoke warmly of the contributions made by immigrants and shifted to the center on other immigration issues. Coffman even learned Spanish.

Coffman went on to win his race by 9 points. Gardner tied Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in two heavily Hispanic counties that normally vote overwhelmingly Democratic on his way to a narrow victory. Democrats acknowledge the two Republicans benefited from a change in how they talk about immigration, departing from a bombastic approach that emphasizes border security and deportations.

Colorado’s Hispanic voters had helped Democrats win every race for Senate, governor and president since 2004. Earlier this year, some Colorado Republicans feared they were in for a repeat when Ken Buck, who as a county district attorney took aggressive action against immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, started the race for the GOP Senate nomination as the favorite.

Afghan parliament approves agreements with US, NATO on troop presence after end of 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s parliament approved agreements Sunday with the U.S. and NATO allowing international troops to remain in the country past the end of this year amid a renewed offensive by Taliban militants.

The international combat mission in Afghanistan, begun after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, was to conclude at the end of this year. The new agreements ratified by parliament allow the U.S. and NATO to keep a total of 12,000 troops in Afghanistan next year to support local forces.

However, the agreements come after U.S. officials said President Barack Obama had approved new guidelines allowing American troops to engage Taliban fighters, not just al-Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan. Obama’s decision also means the U.S. can conduct air support when needed.

In approving the agreements in a 152-5 vote Sunday, Afghan lawmakers made no mention of Obama’s expansion of the U.S. role in fighting militants in the country. In a statement, presidential spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai said the foreign troops will “train, advise and assist Afghan security forces.”

“Afghan forces are responsible for the security and defense of the Afghan people, and in the fight against international terrorism and training of our national security forces we count on the support and assistance of our international partners,” Salarzai said.

Iraqi premier orders air cover, weapons for Islamic State group battle in Anbar province

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered more aerial support and weapons for fighters battling the Islamic State militant group in Anbar province as a curfew took effect Sunday in the provincial capital, Ramadi, amid intense clashes.

Al-Abadi called for the additional support after a meeting late Saturday with delegates from the Anbar Provincial Council. The air power and weapons are intended both for Iraq’s embattled armed forces and Sunni tribes supporting the anti-Islamic State fight in Anbar, a statement released by his office said.

The Islamic State group has seized a number of cities and towns across Anbar province, including Fallujah. Iraqi soldiers backed by Sunni tribal fighters engaged in intense clashes Sunday to retake Ramadi’s eastern Sijariya neighborhood, which the extremist group said it captured Friday. Authorities in the city implemented a 24-hour curfew Sunday, restricting civilian movement as Iraqi armed forces and tribesmen fought to regain territory there.

The U.S. and Iraqi governments have been working to woo Sunni tribesmen to support the fight against the Islamic State group, proposing the establishment of a national guard program that will include arming and paying loyal tribesmen. But militants with the Sunni extremist group are looking to thwart those efforts, targeting tribesmen who try to challenge their authority.

On Friday, the militants lined up and shot several men from the al-Bu Fahd tribe, which is taking part in the fight against them. They also have killed more than 200 men, women and children from Anbar’s Sunni Al Bu Nimr tribe in recent weeks, apparently in revenge for the tribe’s siding with Iraqi security forces and, in the past, with U.S. forces.

As barricades go up, Ferguson awaits grand jury decision; group says no decision reached

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Crews erected barricades around the building where a grand jury has been considering whether to indict the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, even as a grand jury decision seemed unlikely this weekend.

Tension has been mounting in Ferguson and elsewhere in the St. Louis area in recent days, with many speculating that the grand jury’s decision would be announced on Sunday. That seemed increasingly unlikely by late Saturday, although there was a noticeable uptick in the preparations being made.

Downtown STL Inc., a St. Louis civic group that promotes downtown businesses, told members in an email Saturday that the grand jury will reconvene Monday to continue deliberating whether charges are warranted against Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of Brown.

The email did not explain how the group knew the information, and a spokeswoman declined comment. Ed Magee, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, didn’t respond to several messages Saturday.

The Brown family’s attorney, Ben Crump, said Saturday that he hadn’t heard a decision had been reached and that prosecutors had promised to tell him when that happened.

Strong earthquake strikes central Japan, destroying 37 homes and injuring at least 39 people

TOKYO (AP) — Helicopter surveys on Sunday showed more extensive damage than earlier thought from an overnight earthquake in the mountainous area of central Japan that hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics.

At least 37 homes were destroyed in two villages, and 39 people were injured across the region, including seven seriously, mostly with broken bones, officials said.

The magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday west of Nagano city at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The agency revised the magnitude from a preliminary 6.8 while the U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 6.2. Since the quake occurred inland, there was no possibility of a tsunami.

Ryo Nishino, a restaurant owner in Hakuba, a ski resort village west of Nagano, told Japanese broadcaster NHK that he had “never experienced a quake that shook so hard. The sideways shaking was enormous.” He said he was in the restaurant’s wine cellar when the quake struck, and that nothing broke there.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were reported at three nuclear power plants in the affected areas. All of Japan’s nuclear plants are offline following a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami in 2011 that sent three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant into meltdown. Fukushima is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of where Saturday’s earthquake occurred.

5 years after Philippine massacre, justice still elusive, witnesses are killed, trial drags on

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Five years after gunmen flagged down a convoy of cars in a southern Philippine province and massacred all 58 occupants, including scores of journalists, the body count continues to rise.

Just days before the Philippines marked Sunday’s anniversary of the carnage with prayers and calls to end impunity, another potential witness in the ongoing trial against the politically powerful suspects was gunned down.

Here are some questions and answers about this case — the largest criminal trial in the Philippines since World War II and a litmus test for President Benigno Aquino III, a reformist who has vowed to punish the perpetrators.

Q: WHY IS THE CASE TAKING SO LONG?

Why now? Assault victim advocates point to shifting cultural attitudes in Cosby allegations

Tamra Wade struggled mightily over whether to go to the police more than a decade ago, when, she says, a trusted professor forced himself on her in an empty classroom. Ultimately she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

But if it happened now, she says, she’d be a lot bolder — not just because she’s older, but because she feels there’s less of a stigma connected to being a victim of sexual assault.

And this, say advocates for sexual assault victims, may be one reason why the allegations against Bill Cosby have exploded into public consciousness now so much more than they did when they emerged a decade ago: an evolving cultural understanding of the crime of sexual assault, and increased empathy toward those claiming to be victims.

“I think our society really has changed,” says Wade, a data analyst who now mentors young assault victims. “Ten years ago, it was much harder for a victim to get an audience listening to her. Now there’s less of a stigma, and that gives people more confidence to come forward.”

A key element in the cultural shift, say some advocates, have been a series of high-profile cases like the Penn State molestation scandal, stories of abuse in the military or the Catholic Church, and cases of date rape at university campuses. Particularly when a number of people come forward, it’s harder for the public to ignore, they say.

Pacquiao knocks Algieri down 6 times in lopsided win to set up more Mayweather talk

MACAU (AP) — Manny Pacquiao couldn’t resist having a little fun after getting the signature win he desperately needed for the fight boxing fans desperately want to see.

No reason not to enjoy himself after sending Chris Algieri to the canvas six times Sunday night in a performance that will once again heat up talk of a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“He’s going to fight me? Yes! Yes!,” Pacquiao said, jumping up and down in the ring Sunday after tearing apart a reluctant Algieri on his way to a lopsided decision win. “I am ready to fight him next year.”

Pacquiao was playing off a new commercial where he celebrates after thinking Mayweather has agreed to the match. But he might have boosted his stock enough to entice Mayweather into the ring finally.

“I really want that fight,” Pacquiao said. “The fans deserve that fight.”

Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels kill 28 non-Muslims on bus in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — One gunman shot from the right, one from the left, each killing the non-Muslims lying in a line on the ground, growing closer and closer to Douglas Ochwodho, who was in the middle.

And then the shooting stopped. Apparently each gunman thought the other shot Ochwodho. He lay perfectly still until the 20 Islamic extremists left, and he appears to be the only survivor of those who had been selected for death.

Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, attacked a bus in northern Kenya at dawn Saturday, singling out and killing 28 passengers who could not recite an Islamic creed and were assumed to be non-Muslims, Kenyan police said.

Those who could not say the Shahada, a tenet of the Muslim faith, were shot at close range, Ochwodho told The Associated Press.

Nineteen men and nine women were killed in the bus attack, said Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo.

First Published: November 23, 2014, 11:01 a.m.