TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ highest court appeared receptive Thursday to declaring for the first time that the state constitution recognizes abortion rights, with a majority of the justices skeptical of the state’s argument against the idea as it defended a ban on a common second-trimester procedure.

The state Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by Kansas City-area father-daughter physicians against a 2015 first-in-the-nation law that has become a model for abortion opponents in other states. The key issue is whether the Kansas Constitution protects abortion rights independently of the U.S. Constitution, which would allow state courts to invalidate restrictions that have been upheld by the federal courts.

Abortion opponents fear that such a decision by state courts could block new laws — or invalidate existing ones.

Abortion-rights supporters contend language in the state constitution protects a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. Its Bill of Rights says residents’ “natural rights” include “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and that “free governments” were created for their “equal protection and benefit.”

Yet the justices appeared to struggle with what standard the state courts would use in reviewing abortion restrictions.

The Kansas law at issue bars physicians from using forceps or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces. Such instruments are commonly used in a procedure that the Center for Reproductive Rights has described as the safest abortion procedure in the second trimester.

White House picks Boeing executive as Pentagon’s No. 2

WASHINGTON — The White House announced nominees for six senior Pentagon jobs on Thursday, including a longtime Boeing Co. executive for deputy secretary of defense, moving to fill out Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ new team.

President Donald Trump has struggled to fill top Defense Department positions. Mattis is the only administration nominee to be confirmed at the Pentagon. Until Thursday, the administration had only announced four other nominees; two of those later withdrew. Trump’s pick for deputy secretary is Patrick Shanahan.

The latest manifestation of Mattis’ struggle came earlier this week when he abandoned an effort to get White House approval for his choice of policy chief, Anne Patterson, a career diplomat who was opposed by some Senate Republicans.

Pakistan wants social media sites to help it fight blasphemy

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Thursday it has asked Facebook and Twitter to help it identify Pakistanis suspected of blasphemy so that it can prosecute them or pursue their extradition.

Under Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws, anyone found to have insulted Islam or the Prophet Muhammad can be sentenced to death.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said an official in Pakistan’s embassy in Washington has approached the two social media companies in an effort to identify Pakistanis, either within the country or abroad, who recently shared material deemed offensive to Islam.

He said Pakistani authorities have identified 11 people for questioning over alleged blasphemy and would seek to extradite anyone living abroad.

U.K. authorities seek owner of gold trove stashed inside piano

LONDON — British officials are trying to trace the owner of a trove of gold coins they described as worth a “life-changing” amount of money found stashed inside a piano.

A coroner investigating the find on Thursday urged anyone with information to come forward by April 20.

When the piano’s owners took it to be tuned last year in Shropshire, it was found to contain a hoard of gold sovereigns minted between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.

Investigators have determined that the piano was built in London in 1906 and sold to two piano teachers in Saffron Walden, eastern England.

If the gold’s owner or heirs cannot be traced, it will be declared treasure, and the piano’s owners will reap the reward. Officials have not said how much the coins are worth.

Debt limit goes back into effect at level near $20T

WASHINGTON — The debt limit came back into force Thursday at a level near $20 trillion, prompting the Trump administration to alert Congress about measures it will take to stay under the new limit.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a letter to lawmakers that that he has started employing various bookkeeping measures to avoid breaching the new limit, a process that will provide possibly five months or more for Congress to raise the limit.

The borrowing limit had been suspended since November 2015, allowing the government to borrow as much as needed to meet obligations. However, the 2015 legislation set March 16 as the date that the debt limit would go back into effect at whatever debt level existed on March 15.

The Treasury Department reported the debt was $19.8 trillion at the close of business Wednesday.

Syria activists say airstrike on mosque kills at least 35

BEIRUT — An airstrike on a mosque in a rebel-held area of northern Syria on Thursday killed at least 35 people, first responders and activists said.

The Syrian Civil Defense, volunteer paramedics known as the White Helmets, said first responders were racing to the scene after the airstrike in the Jeeneh area, near the rebel-held province of Idlib.

Jeeneh is in the western Aleppo countryside, which along with Idlib is home to hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced by fighting in other areas.

Russian and Syrian aircraft are known to operate in the opposition-held region. The U.S. has also struck dozens of locations in northwestern Syria, targeting al-Qaida-linked militants.

The six-year civil war in Syria has killed some 400,000 people.

Pirates relent: A Somalia official said Thursday that pirates who seized a Comoros-flagged oil tanker this week have released the ship without conditions.

The pirates disembarked the ship after negotiations with local officials, authorities said. Naval forces and the pirates clashed earlier Thursday.

Huge diamond found: A pastor in Sierra Leone has discovered the largest uncut diamond found in more than four decades in the country and has turned it over to the government, saying he hopes it helps boost development. The 706-carat alluvial diamond was found in Sierra Leone’s diamond-rich east.