National & International

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Mass shootings at two mosques full of worshippers attending Friday prayers killed 40 people on what the prime minister called "one of New Zealand's darkest days," as authorities detained four people and defused explosive devices in what appeared to be a carefully planned attack.

In a stunning rebuke, a dozen defecting Republicans joined Senate Democrats to block the national emergency that President Donald Trump declared so he could build his border wall with Mexico.

PHOENIX — Two years after New Mexico's largest county barred local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration authorities, its leaders learned that the policy was being subverted from within.

SUZANO, Brazil — Two young men who stormed their former school in southern Brazil armed with a gun, crossbows and axes, killing seven people, were trying to emulate the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and had been planning the assault for months, police said Thursday.

LONDON — In a stalemate over Brexit, British politicians have chosen to delay it.

BURLINGTON, Iowa — Democrat Beto O'Rourke jumped into the 2020 presidential race Thursday, shaking up the already packed field and pledging to win over voters from across the political spectrum as he tries to translate his sudden celebrity into a formidable White House bid.

NEW YORK — In an era of unprecedented airline safety, Boeing's newest version of its best-selling airliner has crashed twice in less than six months, killing 346 people and delivering a massive blow to the company's reputation.

SAN FRANCISCO — In one of the first lawsuits to come out of the college bribery scandal, several students are suing Yale, Georgetown, Stanford and other schools involved in the case, saying they and others were denied a fair shot at admission.

NEW YORK (AP) — The reputed boss of New York's Gambino crime family was shot to death in front of his home by a gunman who may have staged a car accident to lure him outside, dying a virtual unknown compared with his swaggering 1980s-era predecessor, John Gotti.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a stunning rebuke, a dozen defecting Republicans joined Senate Democrats Thursday to block the national emergency that President Donald Trump declared so he could build his border wall with Mexico.

Boeing's newest version of its best-selling airliner ever was supposed to boost its fortunes for years to come.

U.S. health regulators are moving ahead with a plan designed to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers by restricting sales of most flavored products in convenience stores and online.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to make it harder for Republicans to avoid an embarrassing Senate rebuff of President Donald Trump's effort to steer billions of extra federal dollars to building barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border by declaring a national emergency.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to an additional three and one-half years of prison, questioning his remorse and rebuking him for his crimes and years of lies.

A fast-moving college admissions scandal moved from bombshell indictments to guilty pleas in a matter of hours, yet the full fallout from the federal case against the rich and famous could take months or more to unfold.

Somewhere in the Midwest, a restaurant is frying foods with oil made from gene-edited soybeans.

LONDON — With just 17 days to go, Britain's departure from the European Union was thrown into chaos and doubt Tuesday as Parliament delivered a crushing double blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit divorce deal and to her authority as leader.

The LGBT rights movement's top legislative priority, a comprehensive nondiscrimination bill, will be introduced in Congress on Wednesday, but the excitement will be tempered by political reality: The bill could well be doomed for lack of Republican support.

New York's attorney general has opened a civil investigation into President Donald Trump's business dealings, taking action after his former lawyer told Congress he exaggerated his wealth to obtain loans.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina city removed a Confederate statue Tuesday from the grounds of an old courthouse, a rare move in a state where such monuments are largely protected by law.

BOSTON — Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were charged along with at least 40 other people Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents bribed college coaches and insiders at testing centers to help get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON — "Medicare for All" has become catnip for Democratic presidential candidates and many lawmakers, yet Republicans prepping for next year's congressional races are also flocking to it — for entirely different reasons.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans on Monday converged on a polluted river in Caracas to fill water bottles and held scattered protests in several cities as a growing sense of chaos took hold in a country where people have had little power, water and communications for days.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May refused to admit defeat for her European Union divorce deal Monday, despite deadlocked talks with the bloc a day before Parliament is scheduled to vote on the plan.

It's a tip that has been passed onto convicts for years: On your way to federal prison, say you have a substance abuse problem, and you could qualify for a treatment program that knocks up to a year off your sentence.