Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. CHINA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH WANES TO 25-YEAR LOW IN 2015
The world’s second-largest economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, the government says, down from 7.3 percent in the previous year.
2. WHY U.S. CONGRESSMEN ARE IN GERMANY
They have traveled to the military medical center where three Americans, released by Iran as part of a prisoner swap, are being treated.
3. WHAT CASTS CLOUD ON UPCOMING SYRIA TALKS
The negotiations due next week are looking moot as recent battlefield victories by government troops bolster Assad’s hand and plunge the rebels into disarray.
4. FROM PARIS SUBURB TO BLOODY ATTACK, PORTRAIT OF ISLAMIC STATE JIHADIS
Court documents and transcripts of investigator interviews seen by The AP trace the path of Samy Amimour and two of his friends from France to Syria’s war zone.
5. WHO JOINED GUN RIGHTS FIGHT AS POLITICAL FORTUNES ROSE
Ted Cruz’s passion for issue emerged relatively recently, coinciding with his ascent in Republican circles in Texas.
6. PROLIFIC SINGER-SONGWRITER-BANDLEADER GLENN FREY DIES AT 67
As the Eagles co-founder, he mastered the mix of rock ‘n’ roll and country music, and the band’s hits helped define the 1970s.
7. DEEP IN COLOMBIAN JUNGLE, PEACE LOOMS AT REBEL HIDEOUT
The AP visits a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to examine how guerrillas are preparing for the transition to electoral politics in a conservative country hostile to the armed fighters.
8. 26 YEARS LATER, SCARS OF WORKPLACE MASSACRE REMAIN
In 1989, a disgruntled worker wracked with mental illness stormed a Louisville, Kentucky, printing plant with an AK-47 and killed 8 people. Victims’ families have watched it become almost routine since then.
9. DUBAI TOWER BLAZE SHOWS RISKS IN COMMON BUILDING MATERIAL
A review by The AP finds similar cases across the world, with experts blaming flammable exterior panels that were not designed to meet strict safety standards.
10. COLLEGE HOOPS SEASON FILLED WITH SURPRISES SO FAR
Among them is some impressive wins scored by the Hawks, including UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, Notre Dame and Rutgers.
