Trump set to defy FBI, allow release of classified memo

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the strong objections of his own Justice Department, President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a classified memo on the Russia investigation that Republicans say shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI, White House officials said.

The memo, prepared by Republicans on the House intelligence committee, is said to allege FBI misconduct in the initial stages of its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump's Justice Department and Democrats furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public.

A White House official said Congress would probably be informed of the decision Friday, adding Trump was "OK" with its release. A second White House official said Trump was likely to declassify the congressional memo but the precise method for making it public was still being figured out. The officials were not authorized to be quoted about private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The FBI's stance means Trump, by allowing the memo's release, would be openly defying his own FBI director. It also suggests a clear willingness by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who in the early stretch of his tenure has been notably low-key, to challenge a president who just months ago fired his predecessor, James Comey.

The House intelligence panel voted along party lines Monday to put the memo out, giving Trump five days to reject the release under committee rules. But Trump also has the power to declassify the document himself and either release it or hand it to Congress to release. One of the White House officials said the memo would be in "Congress' hands" after Trump declassified it and there were unlikely to be any redactions to the document.

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Comey: Defends FBI, takes aim at 'weasels and liars'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey has defended the agency on Twitter, writing, "All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would."

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have been attacking the FBI for its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump is expected to clear the way soon for the publication of a classified memo that Republicans say shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI in the initial stages of the investigation.

The Justice Department and Democrats have lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public.

On Twitter, Comey urged his former colleagues to "take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up."

He concluded, "Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy" — a reference to the senator who, in the 1950s, conducted hearings aimed at rooting out Communists in the U.S. government.

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Q&A: How a secret GOP memo became a bitter point of conflict

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the two weeks since the #Releasethememo hashtag first sprouted on Twitter, a secret congressional report on the Russia investigation has gone from an obscure, classified document to a bitter point of conflict between not only Democrats and Republicans but also the White House and the FBI.

The fierce debate has threatened the relationship between the president and his hand-picked FBI director and diverted public attention from a special counsel's investigation into potential ties between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign.

Democrats call the memo a cherry-picked set of Republican talking points, riddled with inaccuracies and assertions stripped of context. But Republicans involved in producing it say it will show surveillance run amok, and the White House — perhaps sensing an opportunity to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation — has endorsed the release over the fierce objections of Justice Department and FBI leaders.

A look at how we got here and why it all matters:

WHAT IS THE MEMO EXACTLY, AND WHAT DOES IT SAY?

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Van carrying gas canisters injures 18 in Shanghai crash

SHANGHAI (AP) — A minivan hauling gas canisters whose driver ignited his vehicle while smoking plowed into pedestrians near a prominent park and burst into flames in downtown Shanghai on Friday, injuring 18 people in the heart of the Chinese financial hub, local authorities reported.

Police appeared to dismiss fears that the crash was a deliberate attack, describing it as an accident caused when the driver lost control and veered onto the sidewalk.

The 40-year-old driver, whom police identified only by his surname Chen, and two other people suffered serious injuries. Chen works for a Shanghai metals company and had no criminal record but is now under suspicion for transporting dangerous materials, police said.

"It couldn't stop, crashed into the corner and caught fire," said a cleaner who works in a building across the street from the crash site. Like many Chinese, she asked only to be identified by her surname, Xu.

She told The Associated Press she saw smoke coming out of the van as it drove down the street before careening out of control.

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Still a trickle, but refugees sick of exile return to Syria

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — Desperate to escape Syria's terrors, Ammar Maarawi bolted. In early 2016, he paid smugglers and endured a dangerous sea crossing to Greece and an exhausting journey by train, bus and foot through Europe.

Two years later, the 36-year-old is back home in Aleppo. He returned last summer — depressed, homesick and dreading another winter, he couldn't bear life in the German city of Suhl.

Germany, he said, "was boring, boring, boring."

Maarawi is among a small number of refugees who have come back to Syria from among the more than 5.4 million who fled their homeland since the civil war erupted in 2011. So far, they are just a trickle, numbering in the tens of thousands. The United Nations and host governments in Europe are not encouraging returns, saying the country is not safe.

But the stream of returnees may grow over the coming year as stability returns to Syria and as hostility grows to refugees in host nations. The Russia- and Iran-backed military of President Bashar Assad has retaken almost all major cities, and the Islamic State group has been driven out of almost all the territory it once held.

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UN: 90 migrants feared drowned after boat capsizes off Libya

GENEVA (AP) — About 90 people were feared drowned after a smuggler's boat mostly carrying Pakistani migrants capsized off Libya's coast early Friday, the U.N.'s migration agency said.

Ten bodies have washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara following the tragedy in the early morning, said International Organization for Migration spokeswoman Olivia Headon, citing information from its partner agencies. Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyans.

"We are told that two survivors swam to shore, and one person was rescued by a fishing boat," Headon said by phone from Tunisia's capital to reporters at the U.N. in Geneva. "We are working to get more details on the (capsizing) and where the survivors are so that we can assist them better."

She said Pakistani nationals have been taking an increasing share among the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and Europe via Libya. By nationality, Pakistanis made up the 13th largest nationality represented among migrants making the crossing, while they grew to the third-largest national contingent in January.

IOM says 6,624 people crossed the Mediterranean in January — about two-thirds of them to Italy alone — about a 10-percent increase from a year earlier in January. About 250 people died in the crossing in January, six fewer than a year ago in the same month.

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Party animal Arizona lawmaker expelled after #MeToo movement

PHOENIX (AP) — Known for booze-fueled partying and good-ol' boy, clownish behavior, Rep. Don Shooter spent the past seven years as a hard-to-miss fixture who wielded considerable power at the Arizona state Capitol.

But on Thursday, he was kicked out of the Arizona Legislature for a lengthy pattern of sexual misconduct.

The whispered rumors about the retired and married Yuma farmer were brushed off as the actions of a country bumpkin jokester until October when the #MeToo movement prompted millions of women to share their experiences with sexual harassment or assault on social media.

Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita then publicly accused Shooter, fellow Republican, of propositioning her for sex years ago and repeatedly commenting on her breasts.

Spurred by the movement that erupted after a New York Times expose about movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, other women came forward against Shooter at a dizzying pace — lobbyists, a newspaper publisher and other female lawmakers.

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Hot heads or cold feet? North Korea's mixed Olympic messages

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Despite all the attention North Korea is getting for its conciliatory gestures ahead of the South Korean Winter Olympics, it is stepping up some unusually pointed verbal attacks on Donald Trump's administration and conservatives in the South Korean government and media.

The U.S. president, its state media claim, is waging a cynical campaign to keep the rival Koreas apart and speeding up preparations for a nuclear war. And those conservatives in South Korea, it says, need to show more respect, or North Korea may just have to rethink its proposed participation altogether.

North Korea is certainly no stranger to the art of the bluff. Diatribes against enemies perceived and real are a staple of its messages to the outside world and a complete withdrawal from the Olympics would seem unlikely at this late stage. But its tone has been particularly schizophrenic since leader Kim Jong Un suggested sending a delegation to the games in his New Year's Day address.

Could more surprises lie ahead?

Here's a look at the hand North Korea is trying to play as the Olympics near.

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12-year-old girl booked after accidental LA school shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jordan Valenzuela was in class when he heard the bang, and then the screaming.

In a classroom next door, a 15-year-old boy had been shot in the head, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the wrist and several others were struck by broken glass.

Jordan tells The Associated Press that his 12-year-old classmate at Salvador B. Castro Middle School told him it was an accident.

The sobbing girl told him: "I didn't mean to. I had the gun in my backpack and I didn't know it was loaded and my backpack fell and the gun went off,'" the seventh-grader said.

The shooting was reported just before 9 a.m. at the school, which has about 365 students in grades 6-8.

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Method vs. Message: How sports can start a movement

Colin Kaepernick's first two "protests" drew scant attention. He sat on the bench, out of uniform, virtually unnoticed. His third got some buzz after a reporter tweeted a picture of the 49ers bench that had nothing to do with the quarterback but caught him in the frame, sitting during the national anthem.

Meanwhile, the killing of a 12-year-old boy by police and the light it shined on the Black Lives Matter movement helped draw a reluctant LeBron James into the world of using sports as a vehicle for social change. But once he got there, James stayed disciplined both about the message he sends and the way he sends it.

Despite their vastly divergent methods, Kaepernick and James helped set a stake in the ground, declaring to athletes across all sports that their platforms could be — should be — used for more than fun and games in the 21st century.

Kaepernick's message — "organic" to some, "disorganized" to others — started a movement that has essentially linked the NFL with kneeling in a dramatic string of events that will play out for a final time this season, Sunday at the Super Bowl. James has also made an imprint thanks to the power of his own brand. Whose method worked better? The answer to that question figures to guide the direction of sports protests for the foreseeable future.

"Kaepernick didn't go into it knowing what was going to happen. He was doing what he thought was right but this was not something he expected," said professor Danielle Coombs of Kent State, who specializes in the politics of sports. "On the other hand, you have athletes, like LeBron James, who make sure they do it in a way that lets the message rise to the top."