US Vice President Pence to Pope Francis: You made me a hero

VATICAN CITY (AP) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, discussing the anti-abortion march in Washington and telling the pontiff, "You made me a hero" back home by granting him a private audience. The pope and the vice president had a private hour-long...

Pentagon: 34 US troops had brain injuries from Iran's strike

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Friday that 34 U.S. troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries suffered in this month's Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi air base, and that half of the troops have returned to their military duties. Seventeen of the 34 are still under medical observation,...

Pompeo heads to Ukraine next week as impeachment winds down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine next week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of President Donald Trump's impeachment. As Trump's Senate trial on impeachment charges continues, the State Department announced Friday that Pompeo would travel to Kiev as part...

Pentagon: 34 US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries from Iranian missile strike Jan. 8 on Iraqi air base

China expands lockdown against virus, fast-tracks hospital

BEIJING (AP) — China expanded its lockdown against the deadly new virus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushed to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims Friday as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the country's biggest, most festive holiday. The number of confirmed...

Iraqis rally against US troops, demanding they leave

BAGHDAD (AP) — Waving national flags and banners denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump, tens of thousands of Iraqis marched peacefully through Baghdad on Friday to demand the ouster of U.S. troops from their country in a protest organized by a populist Shiite cleric. Later Friday night, two...

Democrats argue Trump's blocking of probe rates removal, too

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic House prosecutors are launching their final arguments Friday at Donald Trump's impeachment trial after an impassioned plea to senators to convict him because in the U.S. “right matters.” As Democrats press their case before skeptical Republican senators for the...

Stocks fall as fears about deadly virus grow; Dow drops 125

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell in midday trading Friday over increased fears that a deadly virus could continue spreading globally. A Chicago woman has become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new virus from China, health officials said. Health authorities worldwide have been taking measures to...

Normalcy returns to Guatemala-Mexico border after caravan

FRONTERA HIDALGO, Mexico (AP) — From the roadside stand where his family sells mole, barbecue and chicken stew, Miguel Ángel Vázquez has seen all the caravans of Central American migrants and asylum seekers stream past his front door in recent years, throngs of people driven to flee poverty and...

Federer tops Australia's Millman in 5 sets at Melbourne Park

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — This was the sort of match, riveting and rollicking, that keeps Roger Federer in tennis — even with all of those Grand Slam titles and other accomplishments, even at age 38, even with two sets of twins to raise. Two points from defeat at the Australian Open, in a packed...