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PHILIPPINES-CHURCH ATTACK-THE LATEST

The Latest: Police lower death toll in Philippine bombing

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Police say a bombing of a cathedral on a southern Philippine island has killed 20 people, lowering an earlier announced toll that police say was incorrect due to double counting.

Police say another 81 people have been wounded in the blast. The fatalities include 15 civilians and five troops. Among the wounded are 14 troops, two police and 65 civilians.

Security officials say the first bomb went off in or near the Jolo cathedral during Sunday Mass, followed by a second blast outside the compound as government forces were responding to the attack.

Jolo Island has long been troubled by the presence of Abu Sayyaf militants, who are blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization because of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.

LOUISIANA SHOOTING-THE LATEST

The Latest: Sheriff: No red flags ahead of deadly shooting

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A neighbor who lives near the house where three people were killed Saturday morning in Louisiana says two young children from the house ran to her home to ask for help after the shooting.

Charlenne Bordelon tells The Advocate newspaper that the children were at home at the time of the shooting that took place in Livingston Parish but were not injured. She says they are both under the age of 8.

Authorities in Louisiana say separate but related shootings Saturday in Livingston and Ascension parishes have left five people dead. They’ve identified 21-year-old Dakota Theriot as the suspect and are actively searching for him.

Bordelon says Theriot was the older daughter’s boyfriend and that he’d recently moved in with the family but she did not know him.

VENEZUELA-POLITICAL CRISIS

Venezuela allows US diplomats to stay, defusing standoff

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela defused a potential showdown with the United States, suspending a demand that U.S. diplomats leave the country as Washington called on the world to “pick a side” in the nation’s fast-moving crisis.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro broke relations with the United States Wednesday after the Trump administration and many other nations recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, a move that Maduro called a coup attempt.

Maduro gave U.S. diplomats three days to leave the country, but the Trump administration said it wouldn’t obey, arguing that Maduro is no longer Venezuela’s legitimate president. That set the stage for a showdown at the U.S. Embassy compound Saturday night, when the deadline was to expire.

But as the sun set, the Foreign Ministry said Venezuela was suspending the expulsion.

BRAZIL-DAM COLLAPSE

Hope turns to anguish after Brazil dam collapse; 40 dead

BRUMADINHO, Brazil (AP) — Hope that loved ones had survived a tsunami of iron ore mine waste from a dam collapse in Brazil was turning to anguish and anger over the increasing likelihood that many of the hundreds of people missing had died.

By Saturday night, when authorities called off rescue efforts until day break, the death toll stood at 40 dead with up to 300 people estimated to be missing. Throughout the day, helicopters flew low over areas buried by mud and firefighters worked to get to structures by digging.

“I’m angry. There is no way I can stay calm,” said Sonia Fatima da Silva, as she tried to get information about her son, who had worked at Vale mining company for 20 years.

TRUMP-CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH

Conservatives say Trump caved, but confident he’ll get wall

WASHINGTON (AP) — No retreat, no surrender is how President Donald Trump frames his decision to temporarily reopen the government while still pursuing a border wall deal.

Some of his conservative backers have a different take, using words like “pathetic” and “wimp.”

Other Trump supporters seem willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, while insisting that any ultimate government funding deal the president signs must include money for a wall.

Trump defended himself Saturday from the conservative backlash to his decision to end the 35-day partial government shutdown without money for his promised border wall.

He says if he doesn’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will shut down again on Feb. 15 or he will use his executive authority to address problems on the southern U.S. border.

PANAMA-POPE

Pope seeks to end stigma of AIDS with visit to church home

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is wrapping up his first trip to Central America with a final World Youth Day Mass and a visit to a church-run home for people living with AIDS.

Francis’ meeting Sunday with HIV-positive residents of the Casa Hogar El Buen Samaritano is likely to send a strong message in Panama, where the virus carries a stigma.

“Many of the people we help here have been rejected by their families, by people in the street,” said the Rev. Domingo Escobar, the home director. “But here they receive Christian help, as the church wants.”

Francis was heading to the home after celebrating a morning Mass for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at Panama City’s Metropark area — scheduled early so the pilgrims can escape the searing heat.

RUSSIA-LENINGRAD SIEGE

Russian parade marks 75 years since WWII siege of Leningrad

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — The Russian city of St. Petersburg is marking the end of the World War II siege by Nazi forces with a large military parade in sprawling Palace Square.

The siege of the city, then called Leningrad, lasted nearly 2½ years until the Soviet Army drove the Nazis away on Jan. 27, 1944.

Estimates of the death toll vary, but historians agree that more than 1 million Leningrad residents died from hunger or air and artillery bombardments during the siege.

On Sunday, more than 2,500 soldiers and 80 units of military equipment were parading even as snow fell and temperatures hovered around minus-18 degrees Celsius (0 Fahrenheit).

The vehicles included a T-34 tank; such tanks played a key role in defeating the Nazis and became a widely revered symbol of the nation’s wartime valor and suffering.

WARRIORS-CELTICS

Warriors win 10th straight, beat Celtics 115-111

BOSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant had 33 points and nine rebounds, Stephen Curry scored 24 points and Klay Thompson had 21, including two key free throws for Golden State on Saturday night to beat the Boston Celtics 115-111 and give the Warriors their 10th win in a row.

Kyrie Irving scored 32 points with 10 assists and Al Horford had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, which had won five straight and 10 in a row at home.

In a game that featured 21 lead changes, the Warriors took a 113-111 lead with 47 seconds left on Thompson’s only free throws of the game and held on as Boston had three chances to tie it or take the lead. Marcus Smart rimmed out on a 3-pointer, Irving airballed a fadeaway from the baseline and Marcus Morris was short on a 3.

Draymond Green missed two free throws, but he got his own rebound and then Curry made a pair of foul shots with 6.2 seconds left to ice it.

The matchup of the defending NBA champions and one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference had a sold-out TD Garden standing for the final two minutes. The crowd included several New England Patriots on the eve of their departure for the Super Bowl, including owner Bob Kraft and defensive backs Jason and Devin McCourty.

Golden State opened a 56-47 lead in the last five minutes of in the second quarter, but the Celtics scored the next 10 points to erase it. The Warriors hit the first basket of the fourth to open a 92-84 lead, but Boston scored seven in a row and, after a basket by Thompson, another five straight to take a 96-94 lead.

TIP-INS

Warriors: Durant dribbled out the clock at the end of the first quarter and then, after the buzzer, sank a half-court shot that didn’t count. … The last team to have five reigning all-stars on the floor at the same time was the 1975-76 Boston Celtics of Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas and Charlie Scott, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. … It’s the third time in five seasons the Warriors have ended an opponent’s 10-game home winning streak. They snapped San Antonio’s 48-game streak in 2016 and a 13-game streak for Cleveland in 2018…. DeMarcus Cousins picked up his fourth foul early in the third and his fifth about three minutes into the second half. He played just 24 minutes but had 15 points and eight rebounds.

Celtics: Irving had his 11th double-double with points and assists. The last Celtic with 11 of that kind of double-double was Larry Bird in 1986-87.

HOME-COURT EDGE

The Celtics brought a 10-game home winning streak into the game, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr was prepared for the struggle of playing at the TD Garden on a Saturday night.

“It’s a tough place to play, and an 8:30 start, which means an extra hour of beer time for the local Bostonians,” Kerr, whose team was playing the fourth of five straight road games, said before the start. “So probably going to be a little loud in there tonight.”

UP NEXT

Warriors: Visit Indiana on Monday.

Celtics: Host Brooklyn on Monday.

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More AP NBA: www.apnews.com/NBA and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Sports

AP-US-TRUMP-RUSSIA-PROBE-MUELLER’S-TACTICS

In Trump ally Stone’s case, Mueller finds crime in cover-up

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone may be accused of lying and tampering with witnesses, but it’s equally notable what he’s not charged with: colluding with the Kremlin in a grand conspiracy to help Trump win the presidency in 2016.

Stone’s case is the latest in a series brought by special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL’-ur) to focus on cover-ups but lay out no underlying crime. One by one, Trump aides have been accused of lying to investigators or encouraging others to do about Russia-related contacts during the campaign and transition period.

Mueller may well have evidence of criminal coordination between Trump associates and Russia that he has yet to reveal. But so far, he’s focused repeatedly on those he believes have tried to throw investigators off the trail.

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

Auschwitz survivors pay homage as world remembers Holocaust

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Former prisoners of Auschwitz have placed flowers at an execution wall at the former Nazi German death camp on the 74th anniversary of the camp’s liberation and what is now International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The survivors wore striped scarves that recalled their uniforms, some with the red letter “P,” the symbol the Germans used to mark them as Poles.

Early in World War II, most prisoners were Poles, rounded up by the occupying German forces. Later, Auschwitz was transformed into a mass killing site for Jews, Roma and others.

A ceremony is planned later Sunday near the ruins of the gas chambers to honor the 1.1 million people killed there and all Holocaust victims, one of several worldwide observances.

The camp was liberated by Soviet forces on Jan. 27, 1945.

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