Month: January 2023

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A judge has ordered the Canadian government to help bring home four Canadian men being held in Syrian camps. Federal Court Justice Henry Brown directed Ottawa to request repatriation of the men as soon as reasonably possible and provide them with passports or emergency travel documents.  The Canadians are among the

By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press Supporters of taxes on the very rich contend that people are emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic with a bigger appetite for what they’re calling “tax justice.” Bills announced Thursday in California, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington and Connecticut vary in their approaches to hiking taxes, but all revolve

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Taiwan has learned important lessons from Ukraine’s war that would help it deter any attack by China or defend itself if invaded, the self-ruled island’s top envoy to the U.S. said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. Among the lessons: Do more to prepare military

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has certified the design for what will be the United States’ first small modular nuclear reactor. The rule that certifies the design was published Thursday in the Federal Register. It means that companies seeking to build and operate a nuclear power plant can pick the

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake has shaken northern Argentina but there are no immediate reports of damages. The quake struck at 8:09 p.m. Friday local time with its epicenter about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of the town of Campo Gallo in Santiago del Estero province. Its depth was 610

CHICAGO (AP) — A man considered one of the chief aides to convicted drug boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman has pleaded guilty in Chicago federal court to distributing more than 150 kilograms of cocaine and more than 30 kilograms of heroin. Fifty-one-year-old Felipe Cabrera Sarabia, known as “The Engineer,” faces a minimum of 10 years

By TERRY TANG The Associated Press LAVEEN VILLAGE, Ariz. (AP) — During seventh grade at Phoenix Indian School, Pershlie Ami signed up to go on what the school called an “outing” — promoted as opportunities for Native American students to earn spending money off campus. They were opportunities — for cheap labor. Ami said most

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A coal company owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has agreed to reclaim three large surface mines in southwestern Virginia to settle a lawsuit with environmental groups. Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club announced the settlement Thursday with

By KATHLEEN FOODY Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that two years into President Joe Biden’s administration, the United States is “in a better place in the world” and better positioned to address global issues including climate change, COVID-19 and dangerous opioids. Blinken’s comments came during a visit to Chicago

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A jury has rejected a woman’s allegations that a former police chief in Virginia and three other officers protected a prostitution ring that she said trafficked her. In its verdict Friday, the civil jury found that the woman was not a victim of trafficking but instead

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Brooke Shields reveals that she was the victim of a sexual assault in a new documentary about her life that premiered Friday afternoon at the Sundance Film Festival. She doesn’t name the man who she said raped her, but she described the circumstances: It

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Alec Baldwin faces two types of manslaughter charges in a reckoning on gun safety and the film industry, with two potential standards for proof and possible sanctions of up to five years in prison. Prosecutors have vowed to file those charges before February against the

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit over control of an 1888 painting by Vincent van Gogh, saying federal law bars him from stepping into a dispute between a Brazilian collector and a Detroit museum. The painting of a woman with a book, titled “The Novel Reader,”

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia university leaders are urging lawmakers to reconsider a bill advancing in the state legislature that would allow for the concealed carry of firearms on college campuses. A letter sent to lawmakers Friday by the presidents of West Virginia State University, Concord University and Shepherd

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Documents show that top Tennessee health officials attempted to oust Planned Parenthood from a program designed to prevent and treat HIV before deciding to forgo federal funding for it. According to a letter from Planned Parenthood, Tennessee’s Department of Health in November alerted the organization that

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Education Minister Chris Hipkins is set to become New Zealand’s next prime minister after he was the only candidate to enter the contest Saturday to replace Jacinda Ardern. Hipkins, 44, must still garner an endorsement Sunday from his Labour Party colleagues, but that is just

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says two businessmen have been charged with trying to conceal a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s ownership of a luxury yacht seized in Spain last year by the U.S. government. An arrest warrant has been issued for Vladislav Osipov, a dual Russian and Swiss national. The Justice Department says he was

BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a subsidiary of health care company Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle allegations that it violated federal and state law by providing free products to a surgeon. Under the settlement with DePuy Synthes announced Friday, the company accepts responsibility for giving the surgeon

SANICH, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian police say twin brothers who died in a hail of gunfire last summer outside a British Columbia bank had been planning their attack for years, with a goal to kill as many officers as possible. An investigation by the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit says 22-year-old Isaac Auchterlonie

By MATTHEW BARAKAT AP Business Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin says the state has reached a deal with Amazon Web Services for the company to invest $35 billion in new data centers.  A spokeswoman for Youngkin called it the largest capital investment in Virginia history. Millions of dollars in incentives to

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk took the witness stand Friday to defend a 2018 tweet claiming he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private in a deal that never came close to happening. The tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators. It also

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press A former U.S. Navy SEAL was killed Wednesday in Ukraine. That’s according to American officials who say he was not fighting in an official capacity. Daniel W. Swift, who was a 1st class petty officer, was injured in Dnipro and died of his wounds, said one of the officials,

CUMBERLAND, R.I. (AP) — A young Rhode Island girl has finally figured out how to determine if Santa Claus is real — DNA. Cumberland police Chief Matthew Benson said Friday that the local girl sent a partially eaten cookie as well as a couple of gnawed-on carrot sticks to the police department to ask if

By LEA SKENE BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s new top prosecutor, Ivan Bates, announced Friday that he’ll personally prosecute a defendant who was jailed on murder charges last year when he allegedly strangled his deaf cellmate. The victim was found dead inside his cell in October. Weeks later, authorities announced charges against 34-year-old Gordon Staron, who

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Twenty-two regional and national news organizations have formed a coalition to ask a judge to narrow a gag order in the case against a man accused of killing four University of Idaho students. The coalition, which includes The Associated Press, contends that press access to law

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police are investigating after gunfire erupted at a Kansas City funeral home, leaving three people with gunshot injuries and another with minor injuries. The shooting was reported about 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Elite Funeral Chapel in south Kansas City. Police spokeswoman Leslie Foreman says one shooting victim was inside

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A delegation led by the highest-ranking woman at the United Nations has urged the Taliban during a four-day visit to Afghanistan to reverse their crackdown on women and girls. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said on Friday that the delegation found some Taliban officials more