Thai gunman who killed 21 in rampage shot dead in mall

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — Thai officials said a soldier who went on a shooting rampage and killed at least 21 people and injured 42 others has been shot dead inside a mall in northeastern Thailand.

Officials said the soldier angry over a financial dispute first killed two people and then went on a far bloodier rampage Saturday, shooting as he drove to a busy mall where shoppers fled in terror.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich said Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma was behind the attack in Nakhon Ratchasima, a hub for Thailand’s relatively poorer and rural northeastern region. Much of the shooting took place at Terminal 21 Korat, an airport-themed mall filled with colorful Lego sculptures, a merry-go-round and huge replicas of landmarks from around the world.

Video taken outside the mall showed people diving for cover as shots rang out mid-afternoon Saturday. Many were killed outside the mall, some in cars, others while walking.

Nattaya Nganiem and her family had just finished eating and were driving away when she heard gunfire.

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China’s virus death toll surpasses SARS but new cases fall

BEIJING (AP) — China’s virus death toll rose by 89 on Sunday to 811, passing the number of fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic, but fewer new cases were reported in a possible sign its spread might be slowing as other nations stepped up efforts to block the disease.

Also Sunday, South Korea reported a new case in a 73-year-old woman whose relatives visited Guangdong province in southern China. That raised South Korea’s total to 25.

In China, some 2,656 new virus cases were reported in the 24 hours ending at midnight Saturday, most of them in the central province of Hubei, where the first patients fell sick in December. That was down by about 20% from the 3,399 new cases reported in the previous 24-hour period.

Outside China and Hong Kong, 288 confirmed cases have been reported in 24 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

Experts say the declining daily toll of new cases suggests the virus’s spread might be slowing. They say, however, the total will rise further once Chinese laboratories test a backlog of thousands of samples from possible cases.

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Afghan official: Multiple US deaths after insider attack

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Multiple U.S. military deaths were reported in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province after an insider attack by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform, an Afghan provincial council member said early Sunday.

U.S. military officials confirmed multiple casualties but did not confirm the number wounded or killed or the nature of the attack that took place Saturday.

Nangarhar Provincial Council member Ajmal Omer told The Associated Press the gunman was killed. It wasn’t immediately clear if the gunman was an insurgent infiltrator or rogue Afghan military personnel. There have been numerous attacks by Afghan national army soldiers on their allied partners over the 18 years of Afghanistan’s protracted war.

Omer is a member of the provincial council and from Nangarhar province’s Sherzad district, where he said the incident took place. An Afghan soldier was wounded, Omer said, without saying whether the wounded soldier had been involved in the shootings.

The U.S. military said American and Afghan military personnel were fired on while conducting an operation in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. One official said there had been U.S. casualties, but no numbers were given.

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Democrats on edge after 2020 election season’s ragged launch

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — For Democrats, this was supposed be a moment to begin easing three years of built-up of anxieties. Instead, the launch of the 2020 presidential primary has left the party deeply unsettled and President Donald Trump gleeful about the chaos.

Party leaders are on edge over embarrassing technical issues that marred this past week’s Iowa caucuses, as well as lower than expected turnout in the leadoff state. Front-runners Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg face questions about their long-term political viability, while some supporters of the two leading women left in the race — Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — are raising alarms about what they view as persistent sexism.

“It’s a hard start,” said Laura Keeler, a 35-year-old from Concord, New Hampshire.

Indeed, it’s far from the 2020 launchpad most Democrats envisioned as they eagerly anticipated their opportunity to take on Trump. The turbulent start to this election year has also crystallized the challenges confronting Democrats in trying to mount a formidable challenge to an incumbent backed by an energized and united Republican Party and fortified by a soaring economy.

“We’re capable of shooting ourselves in the foot,” warned Jim Hodges, an ex-South Carolina governor who supports former Vice-President Joe Biden in the 2020 race. Hodges is among those who predict that Sanders, a Vermont senator who is a self-described democratic socialist, would be a weak general election candidate.

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Biden tells NH Democrats that Buttigieg ‘not a Barack Obama’

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg’s experience as a small city mayor and cutting down the comparisons Buttigieg has drawn to the last Democratic president, declaring: “This guy’s not a Barack Obama.”

Biden’s biting attacks on Buttigieg’s relatively thin resume mark a new, more aggressive attempt to slow the momentum of the youngest candidate in the Democratic field. The 38-year-old emerged from Iowa in an effective tie with Sen. Bernie Sanders, but faces questions about whether his eight years as mayor of South Bend, Indiana — a city of about 100,000 people — prepared him for the presidency.

“I do not believe we’re a party at risk if I’m the nominee,” Biden told voters in Manchester. “I do believe we’re a party at risk if we nominate someone who has never held a higher office than the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.”

Buttigieg also faced criticism from Sanders, who said he had billionaires “by the dozens” contributing to his campaign.

“If you’re serious about political change in America, change is not going to be coming from somebody who gets a lot of money from the CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry,” Sanders said.

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From Pitt to ‘1917,’ what to anticipate at Sunday’s Oscars

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Oscars are here, already.

After the shortest awards season in decades, the 92nd annual Academy Awards will get underway Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The red carpet is being rolled out two to three weeks earlier than usual in a bid to freshen up a ceremony and potentially boost ratings.

The truncated time table has put the normally bloated Oscars season on a diet (Sunday’s show will also for the second straight year be hostless) and sent film academy members scrambling to finish their movie-watching — no small task in a year featuring a few three-hour epics like “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”

Fittingly for a fast race, a movie about a mad dash has risen to the top of the heap. After winning nearly every major precursor award, Sam Mendes’ “1917,” about a pair of British soldiers sent with an urgent message to deliver through recently-held enemy territory, is the favourite for best picture. Thanks to its technical dazzle, the seemingly one-continuous-shot “1917” is also likely to come away with the most awards Sunday, even without any acting nominations.

Although Joaquin Phoenix, Renée Zellweger, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern all appear to be all-but-certain locks in the acting categories, there’s still the potential for a history-making upset. Momentum has swung behind Bong Joon Ho’s South Korean thriller “Parasite,” and some believe it has a chance to become the first non-English language film to win best picture.

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Top 3 parties in dead heat after Irish parliament elections

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland’s three biggest political parties are likely to face a difficult process of forming a new government, with an exit poll suggesting they finished in a virtual dead heat in parliamentary elections Saturday.

The survey conducted for national broadcaster RTE, the Irish Times, TG4 television and University College Dublin by pollster Ipsos MRBI said the Fine Gael party of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein all got about 22% of first preference votes.

The exit poll was based on 5,376 interviews conducted immediately after people voted at 250 polling stations. It has a margin of error of plus or minus one percentage point.

Vote counting starts Sunday, and it could be Monday before the election’s results are determined.

With none of the three main parties likely to gain enough seats to govern alone, a coalition of some kind was almost inevitable.

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Robert Conrad, star of “The Wild, Wild West,” dies at 84

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Conrad, the rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series “Hawaiian Eye” and “The Wild, Wild West,” died Saturday. He was 84.

The actor died of heart failure in Malibu, California, family spokesperson Jeff Ballard said. A small private service is planned for March 1, which would have been his 85th birthday.

“He lived a wonderfully long life and while the family is saddened by his passing, he will live forever in their hearts,” Ballard said.

With his good looks and strong physique, Conrad was a rising young actor when he was chosen for the lead in “Hawaiian Eye.” He became an overnight star after the show debuted in 1959.

Conrad played Tom Lopaka, a daring private investigator whose partner was Tracy Steele, played by Anthony Eisley. They operated out of a fancy office overlooking the pool at a popular Waikiki hotel.

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CBS News head calls threats against Gayle King reprehensible

NEW YORK (AP) — The CBS News chief called threats against journalist Gayle King “reprehensible” Saturday as backlash grew against rapper Snoop Dogg and others critical of King for an interview where she asked about a sexual assault charge against the late Kobe Bryant.

Snoop Dogg had threatened King online this week following her interview with WNBA player Lisa Leslie about Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers star killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.

“We fully support Gayle King and her integrity as a journalist,” CBS News President Susan Zirinsky told the Associated Press. “We find the threats against her or any journalist doing their job reprehensible.”

CBS would not discuss the nature of any private threats against King. Her friend, Oprah Winfrey, said in an NBC interview that King had received death threats and was travelling with security.

The rapper had joined with others, including 50 Cent and Bill Cosby, in criticizing King for asking Leslie whether Bryant’s legacy had been complicated by the accusation that he raped a woman at a Colorado resort in 2003. Bryant said the two had consensual sex, but he later apologized for his behaviour and settled a civil suit against him.

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In the Pink: Border collie wins Westminster agility contest

NEW YORK (AP) — She might have looked like a black-and-blur, but this dog is pretty in Pink.

Pink the border collie streaked to the Westminster Kennel Club’s agility title Saturday night with determination, dazzle and a steady stream of barks.

No wonder the vocals: She’s named after the singer of such pop hits as “Get the Party Started” and “Trouble.”

And no wonder the win: “She is 110% all the time,” says h andler Jennifer Crank, a dog agility trainer from Pickerington, Ohio.

Meanwhile, a 10-year-old border collie-Labrador retriever — probably — mix named Moses won a special award for the top mixed-breed dog. Bounding with gusto , he outdid some purebred rivals.