Month: April 2023

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from a fire at a Beijing hospital rose to 29, including 26 patients, authorities said Wednesday, and a dozen people had been detained including the hospital’s head and her deputy. The fire broke out at the private Changfeng Hospital on Tuesday afternoon and forced dozens of people to evacuate.

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Police in Hawaii have vowed to step up illegal gambling enforcement after one of the most serious shootings in state history called attention to the dangers that come with cockfighting, which has deep roots in the islands and remains popular despite being illegal. The shooting early

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — As spring starts to blossom in New England, some Vermont communities come to life with the sites and sounds of written verse. “These are the honey makers The maple sap tappers The pollen gatherers The elixirs healing the future from the spirits of the past,” a

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police and marines in Mexico’s capital have arrested an alleged senior leader of the Mara Salvatrucha gang who is wanted in the United States for extortion, drug distribution and terrorism-related charges. Mexico City’s Secretariat of Citizen Security said Salvadoran José Wilfredo Ayala-Alcántara, alias El Indio de Hollywood, was arrested in the

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Black teen Ralph Yarl was shot twice, in the head and arm, after going to the wrong home in Kansas City, Missouri, to pick up his younger brothers. Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, told police he fired at honors student Yarl, 16, out of fear last week. But whether

By SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press AYODHYA, India (AP) — Syed Mohammad Munir Abidi says India is a changed country, one he doesn’t recognize anymore. It’s a country, the 68-year-old says, where Muslims are ignored, where rising attacks against them are encouraged, and where an emboldened Hindu majoritarian government is seizing its chance to put the

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans for months have railed against the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, holding hearings, visiting border communities and promising to advance legislation to clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. But so far, they have failed to unify behind a plan,

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly classified military documents has made a brief court appearance. But a hearing to determine whether he should remain jailed while awaiting trial has been delayed to give the defense more time to prepare. Jack

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Eight Indonesian fishermen are feared drowned and another 11 have been rescued after spending six days without food or water on an island off the Australian coast after a tropical cyclone. Two fishing boats were caught in the path of Cyclone Ilsa last week. Authorities said

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — One Southern California teenager was killed and three others injured when a stabbing suspect crashed his vehicle into the group as they were walking near their high school. That’s according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators are looking into whether the driver, who had allegedly stabbed a Walmart employee

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Police Department should “offer a sincere, public apology” for its violent response to people demonstrating after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a panel of officers, citizens and accountability experts concluded in a report released Tuesday. In its fourth and final review of the Seattle police response to the

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — For the last three days, Howeida al-Hassan and her family have been hunkered down in the first floor of her home in the Sudanese capital, sleeping on the floor as sounds of airstrikes and gunfire surround them. This is the life of millions of Sudanese trapped in

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Some 155,000 federal workers, including 35,000 from Canada’s tax agency, have gone on strike in what their union is calling one of the largest strikes in the country’s history. The Public Service Alliance of Canada said the strike, which began after midnight EDT, was called after talks with the government failed

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has built its first-ever military spy satellite and that he planned to launch it on an undisclosed date, state media reported Wednesday. Previous missile and rocket tests have demonstrated that North Korea can

ATLANTA (AP) — Charles Stanley, a prominent televangelist who once led the Southern Baptist Convention, died Tuesday at his home in Atlanta at age 90. Stanley’s In Touch Ministries announced the death, but it stated no cause. Stanley was senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta for 50 years. The church grew rapidly after

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Forecasters with the National Weather Service are delivering good news for cities and farmers who depend on two major rivers in the southwestern U.S. The headwaters of the Rio Grande and the Pecos River recorded some of the best snowfall in years. The resulting spring

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In the wake of a deadly school shooting last month, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee awarded final passage Tuesday to a proposal that would further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits. The Senate’s 19-9 vote sends the bill to Republican Gov. Bill Lee,

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey residents looking to buy or lease an electric vehicle won’t be able to get a government rebate — at least temporarily. That’s because the state program is so popular that it’s already running out of money. The Charge Up New Jersey Program gives state

By TERRY TANG Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The parents of two transgender girls in Arizona have filed a lawsuit challenging a year-old state law banning their daughters from participating in school sports. Attorneys for the families, whose names are not used in court documents out of fear for their children’s safety, filed a complaint

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press When Kaylin Gillis and her friends took a wrong turn into an upstate New York driveway last weekend, they couldn’t have known the property was owned by a man who, according to a neighbor, had grown increasingly bitter over the years at people driving onto his land by mistake. This

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Russia and Venezuela have reviewed some of their hundreds of bilateral agreements covering the financial, energy, agricultural and several other sectors during discussions between their top diplomats. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to Venezuela Tuesday as part of a Latin America tour. Lavrov and

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon must undergo up to two days of questioning by lawyers handling lawsuits over whether the bank can be held liable in financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls and women. Judge Jed Rakoff on Tuesday ordered Dimon to

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s Senate confirmed Rowan Wilson as the state’s first Black chief judge. The vote Tuesday comes two months after lawmakers dealt Gov. Kathy Hochul a political defeat by rejecting her initial nominee for the top court post. Wilson has been an associate judge of the

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The only surviving child of a woman charged in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival confronted his mother about his siblings’ deaths in an emotional phone call played for jurors on Tuesday in a trial that has touched on claims of

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer and rapper Aaron Carter accidentally drowned in his bathtub as a result of sedatives he’d taken and gas used in spray cleaners he had inhaled, a coroner’s report said Tuesday. Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, was found submerged and

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press Lawyers for a Colorado man once charged with murder and still considered a suspect in the presumed death of his missing wife are asking for prosecutors to be disciplined, saying they intentionally withheld evidence in the case. Barry Morphew’s lawyers alleged at a news conference Tuesday that District Attorney Linda

By PATRICK ORSAGOS and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Social justice activists are calling for police reforms and marching through the streets of Akron, Ohio, a day after a grand jury declined to indict eight police officers in the shooting of Jayland Walker. The 25-year-old Black man was shot 46 times in

By TED SHAFFREY, BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A parking garage collapsed Tuesday in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, killing one worker, injuring five and crushing cars as concrete floors fell on top of each other like a stack of pancakes, officials said. Vehicles tumbled into what looked like

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana nurse facing a criminal charge for allegedly removing a nursing home resident’s oxygen mask hours before his death from COVID-19 will avoid jail time under a plea bargain. Fifty-four-year-old Connie Sneed pleaded guilty Thursday in Clark Circuit Court to a felony charge of knowingly or intentionally acting as

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader has ruled out the holding of popular referendums on state policies. Iran faced calls for a referendum on the Islamic Republic itself during anti-government protests last year. A moderate former president recently suggested such votes should be held to decide major policies as a way of

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The recent data breach of personal information for thousands of users of Washington, D.C.’s health insurance exchange, including members of Congress, was caused by basic human error, according to a top administrator. The revelation comes from prepared statements submitted in advance of Wednesday’s congressional hearing to investigate

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s pioneering experiment with legalized magic mushrooms took a step closer to reality as the first “facilitators” who will accompany clients as they experience the drug received their state licenses, authorities said Tuesday. Voters approved the regulated use of psilocybin in a 2020 ballot measure, and

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Tennessee man and his mother have been convicted of charges that they stormed the Capitol and brought plastic handcuffs into the Senate gallery during a mob’s attack. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth convicted Eric Munchel and his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, on all 10 counts in their

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee budget writers say they will funnel $20 million of taxpayer dollars to help fund anti-abortion centers. The move marks a dramatic reduction from the original $100 million proposed by Gov. Bill Lee several months prior. In January, Lee, a Republican, announced during his annual address