Month: April 2023

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government says it is seeking to make contact with three British nationals detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The three men include a charity worker, a thrill-seeking tourist and a third person whose family has asked that he not be identified, according to the Presidium

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press SPRING VALLEY, New York (AP) — Kléver Ortega and Cristina Lema had a good life until COVID-19 crippled Ecuador’s economy. Ortega was a house-painting contractor and there was work until demand dried up in the pandemic. The entrepreneurial couple launched a pair of food stands. “Then the

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Christian pilgrims have participated in Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem at the start of the Holy Week. Worshipers carried palm fronds and olive branches and marched from the top of the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem’s historic Old City, home to holy sites to the three Abrahamic monotheistic faiths. Latin

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press City leaders in Grand Rapids insist policing reforms and outreach to the Black community ensured protests following the killing of a Black motorist by a white police officer last April did not devolve into violence and destruction. But nearly a year after the young Congolese man, Patrick Lyoya, was shot

By ABBY SEWELL and YASMINE MOSIMANN BEIRUT (AP) — Authorities in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern region say they have reached a deal with the central government in Baghdad that will allow oil exports from the Kurdish region by way of Turkey to resume. The agreement announced on Sunday comes after an arbitration process by the International

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press/Report for America PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — In the wake of an elementary school shooting in Tennessee earlier this week that left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead, state legislatures across the country are moving forward with bills aiming to improve school safety. The bills have been introduced in blue and

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Companies from toothpaste makers to even discounters are adding more premium items like designer body creams and services as they reach out to wealthier shoppers who are still spending freely even in the face of higher inflation and a volatile economic environment. Think $10 toothpastes

By ADRIAN SAINZ, ANDREW DeMILLO and BEN FINLEY Associated Press WYNNE, Ark. (AP) — Residents across a wide swath of the U.S. raced Sunday to assess the destruction from fierce storms that spawned possibly dozens of tornadoes from the South and the Midwest into the Northeast, killing at least 32 people. The storms tore a

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan says there is no trade with Israel after a Jewish businessman in the southern city of Karachi went viral for tweeting about his first kosher food export. Fishel Benkhald, a Jewish Pakistani, exported food products to two cities in Israel, Haifa and Jerusalem. But Pakistan on Sunday denied having any trade

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris may have traveled halfway around the world to reach this corner of Africa, but she was welcomed as a “daughter of our own country” when she sat down with Zambia’s leader. The visit, President Hakainde Hichilema said, was “like a homecoming.” It

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ Associated Press CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (AP) — Marcela Castro’s office in Chihuahua is more than 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the distance doesn’t prevent her from assisting women in the United States in circumventing recently imposed bans on abortion. From the headquarters of Marea Verde Chihuahua, an organization that has

By AYANNA ALEXANDER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Patti Chang walked into her polling place in Chicago earlier this year, anxious about how poll workers would treat her, especially as a voter who is blind. Even though she was accompanied by her husband, she said she was ignored until a poll worker grabbed her cane

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Christie, one of the only 2016 presidential candidates to seriously consider taking on Donald Trump again, says he and his fellow Republican rivals made a strategic error in that race. Instead of going after Trump directly, Christie said, each hoped to winnow the GOP

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s foreign minister has protested in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart the detention of a Japanese national in Beijing and raised “strong concern” about China’s escalating military activity near Taiwan and around Japan. Yoshimasa Hayashi is on a two-day visit to China, becoming

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has made history so many times. The first president without government or military experience. The first to be impeached twice. The first to aggressively challenge the certification of his successor. Now, he adds another: Even as he hopes to return to the White

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An official in Burundi says the bodies of 13 gold miners have been recovered from two pits in which they were trapped by flood water. A district administrator in the northwestern province of Cibitoke said the miners couldn’t be saved after the pits collapsed Friday night amid torrential rainfall there. He

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — His name has been plastered on this city’s tabloids, bolted to its buildings and cemented to a special breed of brash New York confidence. Now, with Donald Trump due to return to the place that put him on the map, the city he loved is

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press The days after the shooting at a Nashville Christian school that killed six people have been marked by anti-transgender rhetoric and disinformation. Authorities haven’t shared any information linking the shooter’s gender identity to the crime. But right-wing figures have cited the shooting to falsely claim there’s been a rise in

By KARL RITTER Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A top Ukrainian official on Sunday outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security

By TOM GOULD Associated Press QUELIMANE, Mozambique (AP) — Weeks after massive Cyclone Freddy hit Mozambique for a second time, the still-flooded country is facing a spiraling cholera outbreak that threatens to add to the devastation. There were over 19,000 confirmed cases of cholera across eight of Mozambique’s provinces as of March 27, according to

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Finland’s main conservative party claimed victory in parliamentary elections Sunday in a tight three-way race that saw right-wing populists take second place, leaving Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party in third, dashing her hopes for reelection. The center-right National Coalition Party (NCP) claimed victory with all

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin raises the prospect of the man whose country invaded Ukraine facing justice, but it complicates efforts to end that war in peace talks. Both justice and peace appear to be only remote possibilities today, and the conflicting

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Police say three people were killed and three others were wounded in a weekend shooting involving biker gangs in an Oklahoma City bar. Lt. Jeff Cooper with the Oklahoma City Police Department says one person is in critical condition after the shooting Saturday night and two others have non-life-threatening injuries. The

By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — “Son of a Sinner” singer Jelly Roll was the big winner at the CMT Music Awards, as the rapper-turned-country singer took home three awards on Sunday as an outsider who won over fans with his confessional songs. The tattooed singer got emotional during the

By PREDRAG MILIC Associated Press PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Economy expert and political novice Jakov Milatovic has declared victory in Montenegro’s presidential election, defeating long-serving pro-Western incumbent Milo Djukanovic. Predictions released by the usually reliable Centre for Monitoring and Research show that Milatovic won around 60% of the ballots while Djukanovic won around 40%. Analysts

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police in Los Angeles say one person is dead and three others were injured in a shooting during a drug deal outside a shopping center Saturday. Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton says multiple suspects shot at each other during what investigators believe was a dispute during a narcotics

VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A reformist coalition led by former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov is the likely winner of Bulgaria’s parliamentary election after exit poll results showed it placing first on Sunday. The exit poll conducted by the Gallup International pollster showed the coalition between the We Continue the Change party

By ERIC TUCKER and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone call between the diplomats since the Ukraine war, to immediately release a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained last week as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, the State

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two people died and a girl was injured after the hot air balloon they were riding in caught fire near Mexico City. Officials in the state of Mexico, which borders the capital, said Saturday that the girl suffered burns and a broken arm. According to a video of the incident posted

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The wheels may be about to come off Paris’ ubiquitous for-hire electric scooters. Zipping around the City of Light on one of them, wind in the hair, or romantically but naughtily e-scooting à deux on one machine when the gendarmes aren’t looking could soon be over if

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Basketball Writer HOUSTON (AP) — San Diego State’s vaunted defense staggered well into the second half as free-flowing Florida Atlantic breezed to a 14-point lead. The Aztecs found their teeth again to get back into the game. Then Lamont Butler delivered at the very end. Butler hit a buzzer-beating jumper for

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media says Israeli airstrikes have hit several sites in Syria’s Homs province, wounding five soldiers. The early Sunday attack marks the ninth time Israel has struck targets in Syria since the beginning of the year. Later Sunday, the Israeli military said it shot down an

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Arizona man was found guilty of killing four people in Minnesota and leaving their bodies in an SUV in Wisconsin. A jury on Friday convicted Antoine Suggs of four counts of second-degree murder. Police believe Suggs killed the victims in St. Paul and then drove to Wisconsin, where their bodies were

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs must appear in court Thursday in her effort to halt pending executions. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge says Hobbs and the state’s prison director must show up to explain why the court shouldn’t issue an order against them on the grounds they are violating the constitutional rights

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei toured the archaeological site of Tikal on Saturday during a trip by Tsai that aims to shore up the self-governing island’s ties with its remaining allies in Central America. The Taiwanese leader will visit Guatemala and Belize, the island’s only two

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Basketball Writer Shaka Smart was voted the AP men’s basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular-season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston,

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting a controversial plan to revamp the country’s legal system, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suspension of the changes earlier in the week. The protesters gathered Saturday in Tel Aviv for the 13th weekly demonstration, raising Israeli flags and banners against plans to weaken

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kaley Cuoco is flying high after giving birth to her first child. The star of “ The Flight Attendant ” and “ The Big Bang Theory ” said on Instagram Saturday that she and fellow actor Tom Pelphrey now have a daughter named Matilda Carmine Richie Pelphrey. “The new light of