Month: October 2021

By DÁNICA COTO and PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Efforts to win the return of 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group and a local driver have stretched into a fourth day, with a violent gang demanding $1 million ransom per person. The group seized includes five children aged from 8 months

TOKYO (AP) — A volcano in southern Japan is erupting with a massive column of gray smoke billowing into the sky. The Japan Meteorological Agency raised the warning level for Mount Aso to three on a scale of five, warning hikers and residents to avoid the mountain. NHK national television aired footage of a massive

By IRIS SAMUELS Associated Press/Report for America CASCADE, Mont. (AP) — For the first time in 30 years, the Census has awarded Montana a second seat in Congress. On paper, that leaves the state’s redistricting commission with the easiest task of all its counterparts across the country: Divide the expansive state in half. But nothing

By DÉBORA ÁLVARES and DIANE JEANTET Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A Brazilian Senate report has recommended pursuing crimes against humanity and other charges against President Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly bungling Brazil’s response to COVID-19. Senator Renan Calheiros presented the proposal on Wednesday to a committee of colleagues that investigated the Brazilian government’s management

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has voted unanimously to hold former White House aide Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. The longtime ally of former President Donald Trump defied a subpoena for documents and testimony. Trump is still defending

By ZEINA KARAM and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A boast by the leader of Hezbollah that he commands 100,000 fighters has come as a surprise to many Lebanese. That’s not least because it was addressed to a domestic audience rather than the group’s archenemy Israel. That figure would exceed the size of

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man has been arrested on suspicion of killing his wife nine months ago, and her family is pleading for help in finding her body. Larry Millete was arrested Tuesday at his home in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, a day after prosecutors charged him with

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer Scientists have temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work. The feat is a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Surgeons in New York attached the pig kidney to blood vessels outside

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The case against a rural Alaska man who federal authorities say threatened to kill the state’s two U.S. senators will go to a grand jury. A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday decided there was probable cause for the case against Jay Allen Johnson to continue. Because

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific and its labor unions are suing each other to determine whether the railroad has the authority to require its employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The unions argue that the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad should have negotiated with them before announcing it would

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An emergency call made by a 4-year-old New Zealand boy asking for police to come over and check out his toys prompted a real-life callout and confirmation from an officer that the toys were, indeed, pretty cool. Police shared audio of the call on social

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police say a man who fell to his death from the upper level of a basketball arena is believed to have “leapt from an elevated area of the arena,” causing his death. Officer Grace Gatpandan said in a statement Tuesday that the 47-year-old man did not appear to come

By DÉBORA ÁLVARES and DIANE JEANTET Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian senators are discussing details of an investigative committee’s final report that will call for President Jair Bolsonaro to be indicted on criminal charges for bungling the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and producing the world’s second-highest death toll. The latest draft of

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s governor says COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations have declined to the point where the islands are ready to welcome travelers once again. Gov. David Ige’s announcement comes nearly two months after he he asked travelers to avoid Hawaii because case counts were surging with the spread

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines is backing away from a plan to put unvaccinated workers on unpaid leave. A Southwest spokeswoman said Tuesday that employees must submit proof of vaccination against COVID-19 — or request an exemption from the shots — by Nov. 24. But she says employees whose

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Texas congressmen are complaining about the Mexican government’s attempts to limit competition in the electrical power sector. A letter to U.S. Ambassador Ken Salzar criticizes changes proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to restrict the market share of private power generators and favor Mexico’s state-owned utility company. The letter circulated

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A judge refused to reduce the 30-year prison sentence for an Arizona man convicted of helping to plot a 2015 attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in suburban Dallas, even though one of his convictions was dismissed after it was discovered the FBI withheld surveillance video

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Former soldiers who are demanding a war-time bonus  for serving in Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war have burst onto the grounds of the country’s congress building and set several vehicles afire. The protesters broke down gates leading into the building’s parking lot Tuesday and torched at least three vehicles. Some of the

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Thirty top business leaders are seeking to encourage private investment to help the U.N. achieve development goals for 2030, including tackling climate change, preserving the environment, ending poverty, promoting economic growth, and improving health care and education. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that he

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto tested positive for COVID-19, which he says is surprising but made him grateful that he was vaccinated. Cavuto learned of the test results after Monday’s episode of “Your World with Neil Cavuto.” He wasn’t on the air Tuesday. In a statement, Cavuto said he is “somewhat

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — No bull: Tucson police had to respond Tuesday morning to reports of a bull roaming a neighborhood near an elementary school. The animal somehow got loose in the city’s Rita Ranch community, and police found the animal casually grazing on some scrub grass among the gravel along a home’s front lawn.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The Biden administration is threatening to revoke the authority for three Republican-controlled states to handle their own workplace safety regulations because they have refused to adopt rules to protect health care workers from COVID-19. The threats were sent to Arizona, South Carolina and Utah as the

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A group of Oklahoma students and educators are challenging the constitutionality of a law that bans the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism and prevents colleges and universities from requiring students to undergo gender or sexual diversity training. The American Civil Liberties Union and

By SOPHIA TAREEN and DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown says that 21 officers have been placed on “no pay status” for refusing to comply with the city’s order to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status and that the refusals have not affected staffing at the department. The officers’ union

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Entertainer Flavor Flav’s attorneys say he will fight a misdemeanor domestic battery charge stemming from a scuffle with his girlfriend at home in suburban Las Vegas. Police and court documents say the 62-year-old former hip-hop and reality TV star whose legal name is William Drayton Jr.,

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump wants to countersue a former “Apprentice” contestant who accused him of defaming her when he denied her sexual assault allegations. Trump lawyer Alina Habba asked a court’s permission Monday to pursue a counterclaim against Summer Zervos. Habba writes that Trump is being