North Korea fires ballistic missile

North Korea fires ballistic missile

SEOUL, South Korea

South Korea says North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the waters off its east coast.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says in a statement that the missile fired from the North’s eastern coastal town of Sinpo this morning flew about 37 miles. It gave no further details.

The firing was made as South Korean and U.S. troops were conducting annual military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

At least 58 dead in chemical-weapons attack in Syria

BEIRUT

A chemical-weapons attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria killed dozens of people Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals. The Trump administration blamed the Syrian government for the attack, one of the deadliest in years, and said Syria’s patrons, Russia and Iran, bore “great moral responsibility” for the deaths.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims’ bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country’s ruinous six-year civil war.

Court: Civil Rights law prohibits LGBT discrimination

CHICAGO

A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Tuesday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination, setting up a likely battle before the Supreme Court as gay rights advocates push to broaden the scope of the 53-year-old law.

The decision by the full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago comes just three weeks after a three-judge panel in Atlanta ruled the opposite, saying employers aren’t prohibited from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation.

It also comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has begun setting its own policies on LGBT rights. Late in January, the White House declared Trump would enforce an Obama administration order barring companies that do federal work from workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual identity.

White House effort seeks to revive health care bill

WASHINGTON

A White House offensive to resurrect the moribund House Republican health care bill got an uneven reception Tuesday from GOP moderates and conservatives, leaving prospects shaky for the party’s operation to salvage one of its leading priorities.

Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials were offering to let states request federal exemptions from insurance coverage requirements imposed by President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Pence said he and President Donald Trump “remain confident that working with the Congress we will repeal and replace Obamacare,” while White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump “would like to see this done,” if possible.

Associated Press