Month: January 2022

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and other federal government agencies are increasingly looking to counter cyber threats through tools other than criminal indictments. That’s according to the bureau’s top cyber official. Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran says in an interview with The Associated Press that arrests and indictments are something the

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The white Chicago police officer convicted in the 2014 shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald is days away from walking out of prison after just over three years behind bars. An Illinois Prisoner Review Board official says Jason Van Dyke will be released on Feb. 3.

By CLAUDIA LAUER The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Three police officers have been charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment after firing their weapons in the direction of a crowd of people exiting a high school football game outside of Philadelphia, injuring three people and killing an 8-year-old girl. A grand jury recommended the charges

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s chief auditor says he plans to audit the state’s supervision of the secret services following revelations of illegal surveillance of government critics with powerful spyware. Marian Banas, president of the Supreme Audit Office, an independent institution charged with ensuring public funds are spent properly, spoke

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Authorities say a man who was lying on a road in a Denver suburb has died after he was run over by a police vehicle. The Colorado State Patrol says the 37-year-old man from Salt Lake City was run over Monday night by an Aurora Police Department police officer driving a

LONDON (AP) — A man in northwest England has pleaded guilty to conspiring to exploit a vulnerable victim who was found living in a garden shed that had been his home for 40 years. The victim was rescued in October 2018 when officers from the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority searched a trailer park in

By ROXANA HEGEMAN and JOHN HANNA Associated Press WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prosecutor says he won’t file charges over the death of a Black 17-year-old who became unresponsive while being restrained after an altercation with staff at a Wichita juvenile center in September. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett made the announcement in

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer HONOLULU (AP) — Formula One racing got a huge boost in interest in North America through the Netflix series “Drive to Survive.” Next up for Netflix is golf, with access to the PGA Tour and the four major championships. But golf will have some competition from other sports. Netflix

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press Two men who say they were sexually assaulted by a former sports doctor at the University of Michigan are hoping that a change in leadership with the weekend firing of President Mark Schlissel will allow the school be more accountable toward abuse victims. Keith Moree and Robert Stone told reporters

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press WINTHROP, Wash. (AP) — When COVID-19 hit in the winter of 2020, many escaped cabin fever by hitting cross country ski trails. Nordic skis quickly became the new toilet paper – they were hard to find and sold out in stores. But the future of Nordic skiing is uncertain as

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press WINTHROP, Wash. (AP) — When COVID-19 hit in the winter of 2020, many escaped cabin fever by hitting cross country ski trails. Nordic skis quickly became the new toilet paper – they were hard to find and sold out in stores. But the future of Nordic skiing is uncertain as

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press Jonathan M. Katz’s lively, deeply researched “Gangsters of Capitalism” tracks the blood-soaked transformation of Smedley Butler, a Quaker from Philadelphia’s Main Line suburbs and congressman’s son, from his role as spearhead of U.S. imperialism beginning in 1898 as a swashbuckling Marine officer to repentant antiwar activist. The author, a former

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Netflix could be a dominant force at next month’s 53rd NAACP Image Awards. The streaming giant on Tuesday emerged with a leading 52 nominations including a best picture nod for the film “The Harder They Fall.” The movie pulled in 12 nominations for Netflix,

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. competition regulators have mounted an effort to tighten enforcement against illegal mergers, in line with President Joe Biden’s mandate for greater scrutiny to big business combinations. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission announced they are seeking public comment on how current merger guidelines

By ZEKE MILLER and MATT O’BRIEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially launch. The website, COVIDTests.gov, now includes a link for “every home in the U.S.” to order four tests, to

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Harvard Law School clinic has sued federal immigration officials for failing to release records about the use of solitary confinement in detention facilities. The lawsuit filed by the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program in Boston federal court asserts that it submitted records requests to federal agencies but they haven’t

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge has heard arguments on whether an elite public high school in northern Virginia discriminated against Asian American families when it overhauled its admissions policies amid a push to increase Black and Hispanic representation there. The hearing Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria debated the

By MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was held as a hostage for six years by Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, says she will be running for her country’s presidency. The announcement comes almost two decades after Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia while also

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A coalition of media groups says restrictions on access to the federal civil rights trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death amount to an unconstitutional closing of the courtroom. Citing the risks of the pandemic,  Judge Paul Magnuson has restricted the number

BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency has narrowed the candidate list for its next generation of astronauts, including dozens who have a physical disability. The agency announced last year that it had received a record number of 22,589 applications from people hoping to become the continent’s next generation of space travelers. It has reduced

By TOM KRISHER and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — California prosecutors have filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against the driver of a Tesla on Autopilot who ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019. The defendant appears to be the first person to be charged with

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer The fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, yet COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are climbing. Modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the omicron wave subsides this spring. The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has extended the detention of a Palestinian teenager with a rare neuromuscular disorder. Amal Nakhleh, who turned 18 this week, has been held without charge for a year in what authorities refer to as administrative detention. He had a tumor removed from his lung in 2020 and suffers from a nerve

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s president has raised the minimum monthly wage to about $172, a move meant to ease the burdens of Egyptians hurt by painful austerity measures in recent years. He said the minimum monthly wage in the country would be 2,700 Egyptian pounds, or about $171.5. That’s a 12.5% increase from the current

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — A leading World Health Organization official says the worst of the coronavirus pandemic — including deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns — could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly. Dr. Michael Ryan, speaking Tuesday on a vaccine inequity panel hosted by

By SAM COWIE Associated Press RAPOSA SERRA DO SOL INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil (AP) — Relentless pressure from the rapid growth of illegal gold mining in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is stoking long-standing divisions in local Indigenous communities about the best path forward for their collective well-being.  Some local leaders see gold mining as a potential boon

BALTIMORE (AP) — A lawyer for Baltimore’s top prosecutor has outlined her defense against federal criminal charges stemming from her purchase of two Florida vacation homes. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is charged with lying about meeting qualifications for coronavirus-related distributions from a city retirement plan. Her attorney told reporters on Monday that Mosby’s fledgling

BEIRUT (AP) — An investigating judge in Lebanon has ordered the freezing of some assets belonging to the country’s central bank governor. Tuesday’s move is the latest against the governor, Riad Salameh, as he faces allegations of corruption and dereliction of duty during Lebanon’s ongoing economic meltdown. A judge says she ordered the asset freeze

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is capping off a controversial first year in office, creating history as the first woman and first Black and Indian American person in her position while fending off criticism and complaints over her focus and agenda. While she’s sought to make the office

By MATTHEW BROWN and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration says it will significantly expand efforts to stave off catastrophic wildfires that have been torching areas of the U.S. West by more aggressively thinning forests around “hot spots” where nature and neighborhoods collide. Officials have crafted a $50 billion