Month: January 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation’s largest public utility has appointed an independent panel to look into power failures that spurred the decision to implement rolling blackouts during dangerously cold conditions late last year. The Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday the panel will include American Public Power Association President Joy Ditto and former U.S. Sen.

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Colombia has extradited to the U.S. on narcotics charges the brother of a powerful leftist senator who has been a trusted intermediary for armed rebel groups and Venezuela’s socialist government. Álvaro Córdoba was handed over early Thursday to agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for a

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Every year, the night sky grows brighter, and the stars look dimmer. A new study that analyzes data from more than 50,000 amateur stargazers finds that artificial lighting is making the night sky about 10% brighter each year. That’s a much faster rate of change than

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press The Biden administration’s big push to engage more with Africa is underway as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen begins a 10-day visit aimed at promoting all the economic possibilities that lie between the U.S. and the world’s second-largest continent. Yellen is starting her visit in Senegal and also will travel to

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press Prosecutors in northeastern Nebraska are seeking the death penalty for a man charged in the killings of four people last summer in the small town of Laurel. Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey O’Brien filed notice on Tuesday of aggravating circumstances that would justify a death sentence for 42-year-old Jason

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — The European Union’s digital policy chief has warned TikTok’s boss that the social media app will have to fall in line with tough new rules for online platforms set to take effect later this year. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton held a video call Thursday with TikTok’s

By MARLON GONZÁLEZ Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The family of one of two environmental activists killed in a rural part of northern Honduras say authorities are not properly investigating the slayings of the pair who had faced threats for their work. Aly Domínguez and Jairo Bonilla were riding a motorcycle between La Concepción

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A judge heard arguments Thursday over control of a 1888 painting by Vincent van Gogh and said he hoped the dispute could be settled without entangling a Detroit museum. There was no immediate decision about the future of the painting, “The Novel Reader,” which is on loan

MIAMI (AP) — In a story published Jan. 19, 2023, about the boat crash that killed Anton Walkes, The Associated Press erroneously reported based on information from authorities that Walkes was operating one of the boats. Authorities now say that Walkes was a passenger, not an operator.

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Charges against a New York City police officer accused of spying on behalf of China have been formally dropped after U.S. prosecutors said they uncovered new information that warranted the dismissal. Federal authorities had earlier accused Baimadajie Angwang of spying on independence-minded Tibetans on behalf

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An official in northwestern Congo says at least 145 passengers are missing and feared dead after their motorized boat capsized on a river at night. The president of civil society groups in the area where the tragedy took place blamed overloading for the boat’s demise. Authorities

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani man named by the United Nations as a global terrorist in connection to the Mumbai attacks has released a video denying any al-Qaida or Islamic State group links. He did not, however, make any mention of the 2008 terrorist attacks in India that killed 166

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden notches two years in office on Friday. That represents 730 days since his inauguration — and a whole lot of other numbers as well. The story of the first half of Biden’s term, at least by the numbers, is a mixed bag. It includes

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The warming of the waters off the East Coast has brought the loss of microscopic organisms that make up the base of the ocean’s food chain. Maine-based scientists who recently reported the results of a years-long, NASA-funded study about the subject say the increasing warmth and

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer A new study says drenchings like those California has been getting since Christmas will only get wetter and nastier with climate change. Already more than 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow have fallen on California. But Thursday’s new study says in a worst-case climate change scenario that could

LONDON (AP) — The father of a British woman who has been missing for two weeks with her partner and newborn baby appealed Thursday for her to contact police. Police say they are “increasingly concerned for the welfare” of Constance Marten, Mark Gordon and the infant. Detectives say Marten, 35, gave birth a day or

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says he still believes it is possible to resolve his country’s differences with Turkey by speaking with Turkey’s president, and stressed that the two neighbors will not go to war. Relations between the two NATO allies have been particularly strained over nearly three

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A jury has convicted a Navy reservist from Virginia accused of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 on separate charges that he illegally possessed silencers disguised to look like cleaning supplies. The conviction Wednesday night against Hatchet Speed in federal court in Alexandria came a month

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The Colombian navy rescued a man from Dominica who says he was adrift for 24 days in the Caribbean Sea aboard a sailboat. Elvis Francois, 47, had scrawled the word “help” in English on the boat’s hull, which officials said was key to his rescue. The sailboat in which Francois was

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set, prosecutors announced Thursday, citing a “criminal disregard for safety.” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies issued a statement announcing

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. is directing $930 million toward reducing wildfire dangers in 10 western states by clearing trees and underbrush from national forests, the Biden administration announced Thursday, as officials struggle to protect communities from destructive infernos being made worse by climate change. Under a strategy now

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state troopers arrested a 13-year-old driver from Colorado after a chase that topped 100 mph along an interstate highway earlier this week. A state trooper spotted an SUV driving about 35 mph on Interstate 80 near the city of Kearney on Monday night, but the driver sped up and fled

BRUSSELS (AP) — Lawyers for a former European Parliament Vice President at the heart of the corruption scandal rocking the EU assembly are worried by her detention conditions. They asked for her release during a hearing at a Brussels courthouse Thursday. Eva Kaili, a Greek European lawmaker, was removed from her VP post after she