Month: January 2023

By STAN CHOE and DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — A strong week for Wall Street closed out with modest gains Friday, sending the stock market to its highest level since early December. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to clinch its third winning week in the last four and was near

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A man armed with a Kalashnikov-style rifle has attacked the Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran’s capital, killing the head of security at the diplomatic post and wounding two guards. That’s according to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Friday. Iran blamed a personal dispute over

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors and other mourners commemorated the 78th anniversary Friday of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp, some expressing horror that war has again shattered peace in Europe and the lesson of Never Again is being forgotten. The former concentration and extermination camp is

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A senior EU official says that Russia has taken its war against Ukraine to “a different stage” by making indiscriminate attacks on civilians and non-military targets, while criticizing Moscow for triggering recent moves by Germany and the United States to send advanced tanks to Ukraine. Stefano Sannino,

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tennis Australia says Novak Djokovic’s father decided to stay away from the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s semifinal after getting embroiled in a flap involving spectators who brought banned Russian flags to Melbourne Park. Djokovic wound up beating unseeded American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — They are now among the most powerful women in Congress. But when they were first elected in the 1990s, they were often overlooked, or even talked down to. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, remembers that men would avoid asking her questions, addressing other

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A University of Michigan student is one of the world’s foremost “speedcubers,” a person capable of quickly solving a Rubik’s Cube. He also is an accomplished violinist. Stanley Chapel says the two fields go hand in hand. Not only does Chapel say he has equal

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel won her bid Friday to lead the GOP for two more years, prevailing in an election that highlighted fierce internal divisions that threaten to plague the party into the next presidential season. McDaniel, whom Donald Trump tapped

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A judge says a man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket nearly two years ago remains mentally incompetent to stand trial. The assessment came during a brief court hearing Friday and means proceedings against 23-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa will continue to remain

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s chief medical examiner has positively identified the body of a child found earlier this month as 4-year-old Athena Brownfield. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation made the announcement on social media Thursday. The girl was reported missing Jan. 10 when a postal carrier found her 5-year-old sister alone outside the

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will ban CBD starting Wednesday, categorizing it as a “dangerous drug” and mandating harsh penalties for its smuggling, production and possession, customs authorities announced Friday. Supporters say CBD can treat a range of ailments including anxiety and that, unlike its more famous cousin THC — which is already illegal

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time this month, House Republicans have advanced a measure to restrict presidential use of the nation’s emergency oil stockpile — a proposal that has already drawn a White House veto threat. A GOP bill approved Friday would require the government to offset any non-emergency

By ED DAVEY The manufacture of “green steel” moved a step closer Friday as Massachusetts-based Boston Metal announced a $120 million investment to help it produce steel that is far less damaging to the climate than traditional steel. Producing the metal is one of the world’s dirtiest heavy industries, with three-quarters of world production using

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican immigration authorities say they have found 57 Guatemalan adolescents packed into a trailer on a highway near the U.S. border. The National Immigration Institute says that during an inspection Thursday officers discovered the 43 boys and 14 girls were crammed into the truck’s trailer, along with eight men and a

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Billy Packer, an Emmy award-winning college basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died Thursday. He was 82. Packer’s son, Mark, told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past three weeks and had several

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says it will continue to restrict the entry of short-term travelers from China through the end of February over concerns that the spread of COVID-19 in that country may worsen following the Lunar New Year’s holidays. South Korea had stopped issuing most short-term

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A mid-Michigan man says he’s innocent of the charges brought against him in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot in Washington. Isaac Thomas of Genesee County appeared in U.S. District Court in Flint on Thursday. The 10 federal charges Thomas faces include entering or remaining in a restricted building;

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Powerful Santa Ana winds across Southern California were clocked as high as 112 mph, toppling trees, prompting the closure of San Diego’s iconic Balboa Park after a woman was briefly pinned by a eucalyptus, and blowing over big rigs on several highways. The National Weather Service says top gusts Thursday hit

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed off on a two-year extension of a program that protects Hong Kong residents in the U.S. from deportation. Biden first authorized the program in August 2021 for 18 months. It was set to expire on Feb. 5 and is now extended until

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer who purchased gasoline that another lawyer used in firebombing an unoccupied New York City police car during protests over George Floyd’s death in 2020 has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Colinford Mattis appeared in federal court Thursday. He was also ordered to pay just

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor has asked a judge not to dismiss a second-degree murder charge against a former Grand Rapids police officer accused of shooting a Black motorist in the back of the head during a struggle over a Taser. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker filed court papers this week opposing a

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A newly released report from the Mississippi State Department of Health finds that an increasing number of mothers in the state have died in recent years due to pregnancy complications. Racial disparities in health outcomes have also widened. The report shows that between 2017

NEW YORK (AP) — A Jamaican cleric accused of recruiting support for the Islamic State group has been convicted in New York. Abdullah el-Faisal’s conviction Thursday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan is for counts including soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism. El-Faisal was arrested in his native Jamaica in 2017 and

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the nation’s prayers are with two California cities where 18 people were killed in separate mass shootings over the last week. Biden says the people of both communities will forever be affected by the shootings and the nation has to “be there” for

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — In less than 48 hours, two gunmen went on shooting rampages at both ends of California that left 18 dead and 10 wounded. The unrelated massacres at a dance hall in a Los Angeles suburb on Saturday night and a pair of mushroom farms south of

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal lawsuit in Nevada is seeking class-action damages for countless hotel patrons who booked rooms in Las Vegas since 2019, alleging that most hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip have used a third-party vendor to illegally fix prices. The complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District

By RIO YAMAT and ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Police in southern Oregon were searching Thursday for a man accused of torturing a woman he held captive, less than two years after he was convicted in Nevada of keeping another woman in captivity for weeks before the victim managed to escape. Grants

MIAMI (AP) — Federal authorities have charged 25 people accused of participating in a wire fraud scheme in Florida that they say created an illegal shortcut for aspiring nurses to get licensed and find employment. Recently unsealed federal grand jury indictments allege the defendants took part in a scam that sold more than 7,600 fraudulent

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Democratic-led Virginia Senate panel has defeated several bills that would have restricted abortion access in the state. Among them was a measure that was a priority for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The Senate Committee on Education and Health voted the measures down without debate Thursday

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Conservative attorney John Eastman, a lead architect of some of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election, was slapped Thursday with a series of disciplinary charges in California that could lead to his disbarment. The State Bar of California’s chief trial counsel, George Cardona, said

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A group of Texas death row inmates have filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s prison system over its policy of mandatory and indefinite solitary confinement for all prisoners who are awaiting execution. They say the policy causes severe physical and psychological harm and restricts their

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh says the public shouldn’t read anything into the high court’s historically slow start to releasing opinions. Every year the justices begin hearing cases in October and generally finish their work by the end of June before going on a summer break. This

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new attorney general is appointing an independent counsel to conduct a comprehensive review of death row inmate Richard Glossip’s murder conviction and death sentence. Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the appointment Thursday of former District Attorney Rex Duncan. The 59-year-old Glossip has long maintained his

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Nazis tried to rob millions of Jews of their names before killing them during World War II. But at Thursday’s inauguration of a huge U.N. installation with the names of 4.8 million Holocaust victims, he said the Nazis failed

By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican state lawmakers are filing an appeal that seeks to overturn a lower court’s decision on whether articles of impeachment filed November 2022 against a progressive Philadelphia prosecutor met legal standards. The Thursday appeal asks the state’s highest court to review the decision on