Blood pressure of 130 is new ‘high,’ updated guidelines say; NEWS BRIEFING; Tribune Newspapers and news services; Judge tells deadlocked jury in Menendez case to keep going; North Korea says U.S. carrier groups raise nuclear war threat; U.S. fossil fuels, nuclear energy event disrupted at climate talks; Another woman says G.H.W. Bush groped her; Puerto Rico seeks $94B in U.S. aid amid storm damage

WASHINGTON - The nation's heart experts tightened the guidelines for high blood pressure Monday, a change that will sharply increase the number of U.S. adults considered hypertensive in the hope that they, and their doctors, will address the deadly condition sooner.

Acting for the first time in 14 years, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology redefined high blood pressure as a reading of 130 over 80, down from 140 over 90. The change means that 46 percent of U.S. adults, many of them under the age of 45, now will be considered hypertensive. Under the previous guideline, 32 percent of U.S. adults had high blood pressure.

Normal blood pressure still will be considered 120 over 80.

"We're recognizing that blood pressures that we in the past thought were normal or so-called 'pre-hypertensive' actually placed the patient at significant risk for heart disease and death and disability," said Robert Carey, co-chairman of the group that produced the new report.

But the report's authors predicted that relatively few of those who fall into the new hypertensive category will need medication. Rather, they hope, that many found with the early stages of the condition will be able to address it through lifestyle changes such as improving their diet, getting more exercise, consuming less alcohol and sodium and lowering stress.

In 2010, high blood pressure was the leading cause of death worldwide and the second-leading cause of preventable death in the United States, after cigarette smoking.

Hypertension leads to cardiovascular disease, strokes, severe kidney disease and other maladies that kill millions of Americans every year.

Judge tells deadlocked jury in Menendez case to keep going

NEWARK, N.J. - The jury in the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and a donor and friend told the judge it couldn't reach a verdict on Monday on any of the 18 counts against them, prompting the judge to order it to resume deliberations on Tuesday.

The day began with defense attorneys arguing with U.S. District Judge William Walls over a different issue: public comments made last week by a juror who had been excused for a scheduled vacation.

The juror told reporters she and others were in favor of acquittal but she anticipated a hung jury. Defense attorneys pressed the judge to question jurors on whether any had heard the comments.

Four jurors and three alternates had, but after questioning, the judge told them to deliberate with an alternate replacing the excused juror.

North Korea says U.S. carrier groups raise nuclear war threat

UNITED NATIONS - North Korea warned Monday that the unprecedented deployment of three U.S. aircraft carrier groups "taking up a strike posture" around the Korean Peninsula is making it impossible to predict when nuclear war will break out.

North Korean U.N. Ambassador Ja Song Nam said in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres Monday that the joint military exercises with South Korea are creating "the worst ever situation prevailing in and around the Korean Peninsula."

The Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas saw an unusual amount of action Monday, with an American man unsuccessfully attempting to cross into the North and a North Korean soldier successfully defecting to the South.

U.S. fossil fuels, nuclear energy event disrupted at climate talks

BONN, Germany - Protesters drowned out speeches by White House advisers and business representatives Monday at an event the U.S. government sponsored at the U.N. climate talks in Germany promoting the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

About 200 protesters stood up 10 minutes into the event and began singing an anti-coal song.

After protesters were ushered out of the room without further incident, the panel faced largely hostile questions from the audience about the facts and figures presented to support the continued use of fossil fuels.

The American delegates are being closely watched by diplomats from the other 194 nations at the conference because of President Donald Trump's announcement that he wants to quit the 2015 Paris climate accord

Another woman says G.H.W. Bush groped her

HOUSTON - Another woman has stepped forward to accuse former President George H.W. Bush of inappropriately touching her.

Roslyn Corrigan tells Time magazine that she posed for a photo with Bush in 2003 at a gathering of CIA officers. She was 16 at the time and attended the event with her mother and father, who was an intelligence analyst.

Corrigan says as the photo was being taken, Bush dropped his hand to her buttocks and squeezed.

Time spoke with seven people who said they had been told by Corrigan about the encounter in the years afterward.

A spokesman for the former president, Jim McGrath, says Bush has apologized "to anyone he may have offended during a photo op."

Corrigan is at least the fifth woman to claim Bush groped her.

Puerto Rico seeks $94B in U.S. aid amid storm damage

WASHINGTON - Puerto Rico's governor on Monday asked the federal government for $94.4 billion as the island struggles to recover from the damage inflicted by Hurricane Maria, with much of the U.S. territory without power and thousands still homeless.

Ricardo Rossello also urged Congress to adopt a tax overhaul plan that addresses Puerto Rico's specific needs to avoid an exodus of the companies that currently generate 42 percent of the island's gross domestic product.

The governor said during a news conference that he will formally make his request to the White House and Congress, along with a report with a detailed assessment of damage.

So far, Congress has approved nearly $5 billion in aid for Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20.

Business leaders across Europe urged Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday to accelerate talks on Britain's exit from the European Union as uncertainty about future trade relations threatens jobs and investment. Britain was asked to make concrete proposals on the so-called divorce issues so negotiations can advance.

Polish President Andrzej Duda sharply condemned expressions of xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism at a weekend march by nationalists, saying such sentiments had no place in the nation.

Some 60,000 people took part in a march organized on the Independence Day holiday Saturday in Warsaw.

Caption: Coast guardsmen in Karachi, Pakistan, crush thousands of bottles of illegal liquor Monday that were confiscated by authorities. Illegal drugs were also destroyed.

SHAHZAIB AKBER/EPA-EFE