Month: April 2023

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — The scent of the Mississippi Delta’s soil took hold of Charlie Weissinger’s psyche at an early age, and he has chased it ever since. Weissinger, 37, works at a bank to support his farming addiction in Rolling Fork, where his family has grown

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and EMILY WANG FUJIYAMA Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — The trip by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Beijing has made clear he is counting on China to help reinvigorate the South American nation’s ailing industrial sector — particularly by picking up the slack of exiting U.S. companies. After Lula

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, COLLEEN LONG, CHRIS MEGERIAN and DAVID KEYTON Associated Press BALLINA, Ireland (AP) — President Joe Biden ended his trip to Ireland on Friday with a speech to thousands at the foot of St. Muredach’s Cathedral, constructed in part with bricks made by his great-great-great grandfather. He quoted Irish poetry and declared that

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Andre Blount has been serving food to dignitaries at World Bank headquarters for nearly 10 years and says he has gotten exactly one raise — for 50 cents. This week, as leaders from around the world are in D.C for the spring meeting of the poverty-fighting organization,

By WILL WEISSERT and TOM DAVIES Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Top Republican hopefuls for the 2024 presidential race vowed Friday at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention to defend the Second Amendment at all costs, suggesting that new firearms restrictions in the wake of mass shootings around the country would only hurt law-abiding gun

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Makoto Shinkai doesn’t yet know the story he will tell in his next film, only that it will be about what he knows best. It will be set in Japan and will star someone with a heart of gold who fearlessly makes a coming-of-age journey. His current

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — On a breezy spring day, scientists and conservationists methodically conducted experiments near 15 North Atlantic right whales that occasionally spouted and surfaced in a bay south of Boston. The pod of adults and calves is about 4% of the worldwide population of a marine mammal that

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China sanctioned a United States lawmaker Thursday for his visit to Taiwan, saying he violated the “One China” principle that says Beijing has sovereignty over the island. Beijing says Taipei has no right to conduct foreign relations. The sanctions against Rep. Michael McCaul include freezing his

By LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — They’re the biggest of brands. But with no logos. And that’s the whole point. Call it stealth wealth, or quiet luxury. For the rich and those who aspire, logo-free fashion with outsized price tags is having a moment — at least among people who can spend

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL AP Science Writer SURGUJA, India (AP) — Poonam Gond is learning to describe her pain by numbers. Zero means no pain and 10 is agony. Gond was at seven late last month. “I have never known zero pain,” she said, sitting in the plastic chair where she spends most of her days.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A bus carrying Israeli tourists fell on its side on a road in southern South Korea, killing one woman and injuring 34 other people. The tour bus with 33 Israelis and two South Koreans — the bus driver and a tour guide — crashed Thursday on a slope in the

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press SAINT-LOUIS, Senegal (AP) — When the gas rig arrived off the coast of Saint-Louis, residents of this seaside Senegalese town found reason to hope. Fishing has long been the community’s lifeblood, but the industry was struggling with climate change and COVID-19. Officials promised the drilling would soon bring thousands of

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors accuse two former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies of violating the civil rights of a skateboarder in 2020 and perpetrating a coverup. A grand jury handed down the indictment last month and both ex-deputies surrendered to authorities Thursday when it was unsealed. Miguel Vega

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press The son of a man killed in a 2021 mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility and two survivors have filed a federal lawsuit against the distributor of the 60-round magazine used by the gunman. The lawsuit alleges reckless marketing tactics were used by the distributor in targeting young

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Two U.N. groups said Thursday that the number of migrants crossing the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama could soar to as many as 400,000 this year. That would represent a huge increase from the 250,000 migrants estimated to have crossed the roadless, jungle-clad route in 2022. The U.N. agencies

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill approved by the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The governor’s office said in a statement late Thursday that he had signed the legislation. The ban gives DeSantis a key political victory

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative mega-donor Harlan Crow purchased three properties belonging to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family, in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica. The 2014 real estate deal shines a new light on Thomas’s

By JAMIE STENGLE Leaders in a rural Texas county held a special meeting Thursday to consider the drastic option of shutting their public library system down rather than heed a federal judge’s order to return books to the shelves ranging from teen sexuality and gender to bigotry and race. After public comments for and against

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida will soon no longer require unanimous jury recommendations for judges to impose death- penalty sentences. The legislation passed Thursday is a reaction to the life sentence handed to the man who massacred 17 people at a Parkland high school. It will allow the death penalty

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press DAISETTA, Texas (AP) — When the massive sinkhole first appeared in Daisetta in May 2008, some residents had feared it might engulf their small Southeast Texas town. But after growing close to 600 feet (183 m) across and 75 feet (23 m) deep, it stabilized, swallowing up some oil

By MATT O’BRIEN and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The chatting app Discord is one of the most popular ways gamers communicate online. Now it finds itself at the center of an investigation into the leak of classified documents about the war in Ukraine. The investigation is unfolding as Discord makes an

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian judge has convicted retired army general and conservative politician Daniel Urresti to 12 years in prison for his role in the 1988 murder of a journalist who covered abuses during Peru’s civil war. Urresti was a military intelligence officer in November 1988 when journalist

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it successfully test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile powered by solid propellants. If confirmed, that development could provide the country with a harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States. The report Friday came a day after North Korea’s neighbors

By NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In trying to identify who was behind a major breach of classified U.S. documents, federal agents and journalists had access to online clues that led to a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman with interests in gaming, guns and religion. Jack Teixeira, an airman from Massachusetts, was arrested Thursday

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A rapid spring snowmelt after an unusually wet winter is unleashing flooding from the Southwest to the Rockies, causing residents there and in the Upper Midwest to evacuate or stock up on sandbags amid surging creeks and rivers. In New Mexico, emergency crews rescued people from at least two vehicles from

By JOHN RABY Associated Press Funerals are set for most of the five bank employees who were fatally shot by a co-worker this week in Louisville, Kentucky.  Services will be held Friday for Tommy Elliott in Louisville and for Deana Eckert in New Albany, Indiana. Other services are set on Saturday for bank employee Joshua

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The judge who oversaw the sentencing of the Parkland massacre gunman won’t be able to oversee proceedings in another murder case involving the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Judge Elizabeth Scherer showed inappropriate sympathy for victims’ families and prosecutors. She hugged them after being left no

By MARIA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican prosecutors say the head of the country’s immigration agency is scheduled to make an initial appearance in court as part of their investigation of a fire at a detention center last month that killed 40 migrants. The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Thursday

By JAVIER COLÓN DÁVILA Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Two cousins of Puerto Rico’s Gov. Pedro Pierluisi have pleaded guilty for embezzling millions of dollars in federal funds earmarked for the management of public housing on the island. Walter Pierluisi, 58, and Eduardo Pierluisi, 52, entered their pleas Thursday on charges of

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most powerful tropical cyclone in eight years lashed its northwest coast with winds gusting to an apparent record of 289 kilometers (180 miles) per hour Friday but skirted larger population centers and resulted in no immediate reports of injuries. Cyclone Ilsa crossed the Pilbara coast