Month: December 2022

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The founder of a California-based porn empire that coerced young women into filming adult videos has been arrested in Spain, three years after he fled while facing federal sex-trafficking charges. The FBI says Michael Pratt, who was on its Ten Most Wanted list, was arrested Wednesday in Madrid. Pratt founded the

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SAO PAULO (AP) — Family members of Brazilian soccer great Pelé are gathering at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo where the 82-year-old global icon has been since the end of November. Doctors said earlier this week that Pelé’s cancer had advanced, adding the three-time World Cup winner

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily banned San Francisco from clearing homeless encampments, saying the city is violating its own policies. The judge granted an emergency order Friday night. The move came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of homeless plaintiffs that seeks to stop San Francisco from dismantling homeless encampments until

The Associated Press A blizzard warning was in effect until the middle of Christmas Day in western Montana along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. The National Weather Service warned Saturday that the eastern slope of Glacier National Park and the adjacent foothills and plains could see up to 8 inches of snow and

EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s President William Ruto has expressed concern over the fighting in neighboring South Sudan and shipped a donation of food stuffs to those affected. South Sudan’s northern Upper Nile and Jonglei states are experiencing renewed fighting between rival armed militias. The fighting has threatened the implementation of

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Trumpets and snares will play Brazil’s national anthem at Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s swearing-in on Jan. 1. Then, one will hear a different song on the streets, its lyrics taking a shot at outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro. “It is time for Jair, it is time

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A third case of a defendant who was arrested by an elections police unit created by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a Republican-controlled Florida Legislature has been thrown out. Terry Hubbard was among 20 people arrested last August on criminal charges of illegal voting in 2020 in what was the

By TERRY CHEA Associated Press The U.S. military agency known for tracking Santa Claus as he delivers presents on Christmas Eve doesn’t expect COVID-19 or the “ bomb cyclone ” hitting North America to affect Saint Nick’s global travels. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is responsible for monitoring and defending the skies above

By MORGAN LEE and GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — After fleeing violence in their Guatemalan town, but with their way to relatives in California blocked by continuing U.S. asylum restrictions, a family of 15 joined an Advent candlelight ceremony organized by their shelter just south of the border. The evening service

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Federal proposals that would have significantly boosted security funding for election offices and heightened penalties for threatening their staff failed to advance this year, leaving state officials looking to their legislatures for support. The massive budget bill that passed Congress on Friday will send $75 million

By PETER SMITH Associated Press PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Shapiro will be taking office as Pennsylvania’s next governor in January after running a campaign in which he spoke early and often about his Jewish religious heritage. At a time of rising concern about overt expressions of antisemitism, some observers are seeing a bright spot in

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — For Miguel Zadquiel, the secret to staying in step as he dances at the front of the annual Christmastime procession through his neighborhood is in the bass drum. “For every sound it makes, I move one foot, then another one, then I jump around, then

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban government on Saturday ordered all foreign and domestic non-governmental groups in Afghanistan to suspend employing women, allegedly because some female employees didn’t wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. They also separately banned women from attending religious classes at the mosques in the capital of Kabul.

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A truck carrying liquified petroleum gas has exploded in the South African town of Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, killing at least 8 people and injuring 50 others on Saturday. Emergency services officials said that the top of the truck scraped a low-lying bridge, sparking flames that caused

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shells pummeled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 in the city that Moscow’s troops were forced to abandon last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just back from his quick trip to Washington, posted photos of the wreckage on his social

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader says China has agreed to a reopening of the city’s border with the mainland, which has been largely closed by pandemic restrictions. Chief Executive John Lee told reporters at the Hong Kong airport on Saturday that the two sides would develop a plan to reopen the border in

By MAYA ALLERUZZO, JALAL BWAITEL and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The biblical town of Bethlehem marked a merry Christmas on Saturday, with thousands of visitors descending upon the traditional birthplace of Jesus as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism is the economic lifeblood of this town in the occupied

By JEFFREY SCHAEFFER and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Members of France’s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together in mourning and anger on Saturday in Paris after three people were killed at a Kurdish cultural center in an attack that prosecutors say was racially motivated. The shooting in a bustling neighborhood of

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani president’s office has announced that the country’s criminal law has been amended to repeal a colonial-era legislation against suicide. The development came in the form of an amendment, signed late Friday by President Arif Alvi and announced by his office on Twitter. The amendment was initially approved by the parliament’s

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ Orthodox Church has elected Paphos Bishop Georgios as its new leader. The 73-year-old cleric on Saturday received nine votes from the 16-member Holy Synod, the church’s highest decision-making body, against four for runner-up Limassol Bishop Athanasios. The Holy Synod’s decision followed a Dec. 18 lay

By BARBARA SURK Associated Press NICE, France (AP) — Tunisia’s increasingly authoritarian president appears determined to upend the country’s political system. The strategy is not only threatening a democracy once seen as a model for the Arab world, experts say it is also sending the economy toward a tailspin. The International Monetary Fund has frozen

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and AIJAZ HUSSAIN Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Members of India’s main opposition Congress party and thousands of supporters have walked into New Delhi as part of a cross-country “unity march” seeking to challenge what they say is a “hate-filled” version of the country under the Hindu nationalist government. The march

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Just a year ago, Sophia Square in Kyiv was all about the big Christmas tree and thousands of lights spreading over the plaza. These final days of 2022, in the middle of a war that has ravaged the country for 10 months, a more modest tree

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials say 22 people died in a fire at a private shelter in the Siberian city of Kemerovo that was operating illegally. Initial reports Saturday described the wooden building in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow as a nursing home, but the country’s Investigative Committee, which probes major

By SEBABATSO MOSAMO and ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Christmas lights twinkle, holiday music plays and Johannesburg’s popular Rosebank mall bustles with shoppers. Then the lights go out. The shops are pitch dark. “Hold on to your wallets,” calls out a customer to rueful chuckles. A long minute later the distant hum of

By NICOLAS GARRIGA and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Confessed serial killer Charles Sobhraj has arrived in France after being released from a life sentence in a Nepal prison. Sobhraj is a 78-year-old French citizen. He had been serving time for the deaths of American and Canadian backpackers in the 1970s. He has

BEIJING (AP) — China has blasted an annual U.S. defense spending bill for hyping up the “China threat” while Taiwan welcomed the legislation, saying it shows U.S. support for the self-governing island that China says must come under its rule. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday that “China deplores and firmly opposes

By CAROLYN THOMPSON and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A frigid winter storm killed at least 18 people as it swept across the country, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses and leaving millions of people on edge about the possibility of Christmas Eve blackouts. The storm unleashed