Police: Pilot of ill-fated hot air balloon was arrested for DWI...Blast rocks Kabul... Pope says it's not right to identify Islam with violence

LOCKHART, Texas (AP) — A Missouri police officer says the man who piloted the hot air balloon that crashed in Texas on Saturday was arrested in 2000 on a felony driving while intoxicated charge and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DWI in 2002. Officers arrested Alfred Nichols in Missouri where he lived before moving to Texas. Investigators say some part of the balloon made contact with high-tension power lines before the fiery crash that killed 16 people.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Details are sketchy after a strong explosion rocked the Afghan capital early Monday. Kabul's deputy chief of police says the blast happened east of the city's international airport and near a guesthouse for foreigners. An email message to media outlets from a Taliban spokesman says the insurgents attacked the hotel with a truck bomb. Foreign guesthouses have been a regular target of insurgent attacks.

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis says he won't describe Islam as "terrorist" since that's "not fair and not true." On Sunday, reporters asked the pope why he never uses the word "Islam" when denouncing extremists' killings like that of an elderly priest in France last week. Francis said he thinks "it's not right to identify Islam with violence." He added that every religion has its "little group of fundamentalists."

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan says Muslim Americans who serve in the U.S. military should be honored — "period" — and that he would reject any proposal that would require a religious test for entry into the U.S. Ryan also praised Army captain Humayun Khan who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Khan's parents have come under criticism from Donald Trump for speaking out against his candidacy during the Democratic National Convention.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Jason Bourne" still has it even after a nearly 10-year hiatus. The Matt Damon-led sequel has taken the top spot at the box office, raking in a healthy $60 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates. The raunchy R-rated comedy "Bad Moms" blew past its $20 million budget, earning $23.4 million in its first days in theaters. That was good enough for a third-place finish, just behind "Star Trek Beyond."

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