The leading Republican presidential candidates used their first face-to-face encounter to accuse celebrity candidate Donald Trump — and one another — of diverging from conservative principles as they tried to reverse the surprising dominance of the billionaire and gain a foothold in the crowded race.
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It all started with a simple question we asked readers: “Who gets you in the best shape, Baltimore?”
We immediately realized it wasn’t as simple as we thought. Response — via Twitter, email, Facebook — was immediate and staggering. We received close to 600 nominations for your favorite workout leaders in just a matter of days, from big-name fitness centers and boutique gyms to yoga instructors and personal trainers.
And these people were much more than just someone telling you to get down and give them 20. Your responses were heartfelt and passionate — the nominees helped you lose 40 pounds, became personal friends who visited you in the hospital when you were ill. They inspire you, brighten your mood, make you feel like you can accomplish anything. And they make you sweat — a lot.
It was a difficult task narrowing down the men and women, your fitness heroes, we chose to profile. But it wasn’t difficult to see a clear answer to our original question. Who gets you in the best shape, Baltimore? It’s these devoted and passionate people. Read more about the fitness heroes.
MAFRAQ, Jordan (AP) — Gathered on the desert floor, the Askar family chants prayers for their 1-year-old daughter Jawahir, who died of malnutrition and is buried beneath the sands of their informal refugee camp far from their Syrian hometown.
“She was born in a camp and buried near the camp,” her father Mohammed Askar recounts, still in anguish over her Feb. 24 death. “I wish the circumstances were different and I could have saved my daughter, but we are poor and powerless and we have only God with us.”
Of the 4 million refugees who fled Syria’s grinding civil war, it is the conflict’s youngest exiles, like Jawahir, who often bear the brunt of its woes.
Sometimes, the best photos don’t come from photo stories, but are just slices of every day life found by photographers or taken on daily assignments.
BEIJING (AP) The scene could be from any U.S. suburb: two teams of youngsters in football helmets, cleats and pads; referees in pinstripes; parents snapping photos and cheering from the sidelines. But the clipboard-toting coaches call out plays in Chinese and the field is at a park in Beijing.
China’s capital might seem an unlikely place to find American football, but interest among China’s youth is growing, according to Shen Yu, marketing director for Great Stone Gridiron. The private football club was Beijing’s first when it was founded three years ago. Around 500 children participate, including about 150 in tackle football programs.
Part of the game’s appeal is its outsider status and its association with American culture. Also, it’s popular with kids who are big for their age, or who haven’t excelled in the Olympic sports that China’s sports programs focus on.
“Because it’s not part of that system, it gives the chance for ordinary people to play,” said Wes de Kirby, 25, an American coach with Great Stone Gridiron.
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Historic Harpers Ferry, W.Va. has been a popular tourist destination for Civil War enthusiasts and nature-lovers alike for decades.
On Thursday, July 22, 2015, an early morning fire ripped through several early-1800s buildings in this beloved historic town early Thursday, damaging several businesses and threatening the national park that commemorates a pivotal moment in U.S. history.
“This is devastating for Harpers Ferry,” said Gregory Vaughan, mayor of the town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia all come together.
The buildings “have been standing there for almost 200 years,” Vaughn said, “and they withstood the test of time — until 2015, unfortunately.”
Read more about the fire
Little League baseball has been a summer offshoot of “America’s pastime” for children since June, 6, 1939 – the date of the first ever Little League game. Little League Baseball has become the world’s largest organized youth sports program. In the space of just six decades, Little League grew from three teams to nearly 200,000 teams, in all 50 U.S. states and more than 80 countries.
The United States and Cuba formally resumed diplomatic relations Monday, as Cuba’s blue, red, and white-starred flag was hoisted at the country’s embassy in Washington in a symbolic move signaling the start of a new post-Cold War era in U.S.-Cuba relations.
With more than 350,000 drawn to the streets of Baltimore for one weekend, Artscape is almost like Baltimore’s Mardi Gras. America’s largest free arts festival returned this past weekend for its 34th year for three days of concerts, with performers like Michael Franti & Spearhead, visual art exhibitions, the Artists Market and more.
HRABOVE, Ukraine – All 298 people onboard Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 were killed when the plane was downed on July 17, 2014, over rebel-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, where government forces and the Russia-backed separatists had been fighting for months. Ukrainian and Western officials said the plane was shot down by a rebel missile, most likely by mistake, and that Russia supplied the weapon or trained rebels to use it. Both the rebels and Moscow denied that.
A preliminary report released in the Netherlands last year said the plane had no technical problems in the seconds before it broke up in the sky after being struck by multiple “high-energy objects from outside the aircraft,” which could have been a missile.
A year after the crash, the families of the victims are still waiting for the results of the investigation, while residents of Hrabove keep finding personal belongings and parts of plane in the area.
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