AP News:特朗普总统致电国际空间站

This is AP News Minute.

The United States has issued sanctions on 271 people linked to the Syrian government agency responsible for developing and producing non-conventional weapons. The crackdown is in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons earlier this month.

Former president Barack Obama made his first official appearance since leaving office. He told University of Chicago students that his focus now will be civic engagement with young people.

New Orleans has joined the movement to take down symbols of the Confederacy and the Jim Crow South. In the cover of darkness, workers removed the Liberty Place monument. The city will also remove three statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard and Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

And President Donald Trump phoned the International Space Station Monday. He congratulated astronaut Peggy Whitson on her new record as the American who has spent the most time in space.

I'm Matt Friedman, Associated Press with AP News Minute.