Nation & World Watch
vWashington: Trump OKs family planning cuts
President Donald Trump signed legislation Thursday that lets states deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
Trump’s action erases a rule, finalized shortly before President Barack Obama left office in January, that said states could not block the money. It’s the latest regulation that Trump has overturned.
Undoing the prohibition also gives Republicans and anti-abortion groups a victory after House Republicans failed to agree last month on a bill to overhaul the health care system.
vCentral Islip, N.Y.: 4 dead in park; gang suspected
Four young men found dead in a park were killed in a way that is consistent with the methods of the MS-13 street gang, according to police, who declared war against gang violence in the suburbs of Long Island.
The victims, ranging in age from 16 to 20, were found in a wooded area near a soccer field in Central Islip, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said Thursday. He said the bodies had “significant trauma” wounds, and he believes all the victims were killed there.
He did not definitively say the killings were the work of the MS-13 gang but said the tactics — using sharp instruments and extreme violence — were consistent with the gang, which has been gaining a foothold on Long Island for years.
vWilmington, Del.: Girl convicted in school slaying
A 17-year-old girl was convicted Thursday of criminally negligent homicide in a school bathroom attack in Delaware that left a 16-year-old classmate dead.
The ruling came in a nonjury trial for three girls charged in the death of Amy Joyner-Francis. All three were 16 when the fight happened last year and were tried as juveniles. The girl convicted of homicide also was found guilty of misdemeanor conspiracy.
One of the other girls also was convicted of conspiracy. Family Court Judge Robert Coonin acquitted the third girl, saying there was no evidence she threatened Joyner-Francis.
vSyria: Mistaken US strike kills 18 allied fighters
A misdirected airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition earlier this week killed 18 allied fighters battling the Islamic State group in northern Syria, the U.S. military said Thursday.
U.S. Central Command said coalition aircraft were given the wrong coordinates by their partner forces, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, for a strike intended to target IS militants south of their Tabqa stronghold, near the extremists’ de facto capital, Raqqa.
The strike on Tuesday hit an SDF position instead, killing 18, Central Command said. Several nations provide air power to the U.S.-led coalition against IS.
Scores of migrants missing after boat sinks
At least 97 African migrants are missing and believed drowned after their Europe-bound boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, the Libyan coast guard said.
Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said 23 migrants were rescued around 6 miles off the Libyan coast after authorities received a distress call. Fifteen women and five children are among those still missing.
He said the boat, which was packed with African nationals seeking a better life in Europe, “completely collapsed.”
Libya has become a major avenue of migration, with thousands braving the dangerous sea crossing to Europe. More than 4,500 migrants perished on the crossing in 2016.