Month: July 2023

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press The planned execution of a 45-year-old Missouri man with schizophrenia is back on after an appellate court reversed course Saturday. Johnny Johnson is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre for killing 6-year-old Casey Williamson after trying to sexually assault her in 2002.

By the Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday appeared to downplay not attending an economic summit in Johannesburg next month amid a controversy over an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court. The Russian leader said he doesn’t think his presence there is “more important than my presence here, in

NEW YORK (AP) — Online records show the man known as New York City’s “Preppy Killer” is again out of prison, after spending 15 years in custody on drug and assault charges. Robert Chambers was arrested on those charges about five years after being released from prison in 2003 for killing Jennifer Levin in Central

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday. U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process

By JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say at least eight dogs died of heat-related injuries after being transported in the back of an uncooled cargo van through northern Indiana. Lake Station, Indiana police said Thursday the dogs were among 18 shepherds traveling from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to a K-9

By ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Power was cut off in large swaths of southern and central Iraq during scorching summer heat and observances of the Shiite holy day of Ashoura after a fire broke out at a power station in the southern city of Basra. The fire Saturday at the Al-Bkir substation

C0LUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A staff sergeant who oversaw Marine training at South Carolina’s Parris Island has been cleared of criminal responsibility for the death of a 19-year-old recruit during a 2021 training exercise. The Hilton Head Island Packet reports that a military jury found Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley not guilty of negligent homicide and

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Hoping to stave off inflationary pressures on a diet staple, the Indian government is banning exports of non-Basmati white rice varieties. It’s triggering worry among the Indian diaspora in the United States that access to a food staple from home might soon be cut off.

HAMPTON BEACH, N.H. (AP) — Authorities and visitors at a New Hampshire beach say a small plane towing a banner landed in the ocean nearby. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18, landed about noon Saturday. Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno tells WMUR-TV that the pilot, who was the only person

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press BATH, Maine (AP) — Marine 1st Lt. Harvey “Barney” Barnum jumped to the ground when he came under fire during an ambush in Vietnam that killed his radio operator and commander. Collecting himself, Barnum realized he was now the highest-ranking officer of a rifle company he’d just joined. He called

By LEAH WILLINGHAM and KEN MILLER Associated Press Nearly two years after 10 people were crushed to death during the deadly 2021 Astroworld festival in Houston, no charges have been filed despite at least some people, including workers, expressing safety concerns about the event. Harris County prosecutors have said the circumstances of the deaths eliminate

By ZANE IRWIN and BABACAR DIONE Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s public prosecutor said the opposition leader has been charged with conspiracy against the state and calls for insurrections, among other offenses. This comes weeks after Ousmane Sonko was convicted on separate charges of corrupting youth and sentenced to two years in prison,

By FELIPE DANA and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7, the day when the Russian Orthodox Church observes it. The explanatory note attached to the law said its goal is to “abandon

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bronny James plays piano in a video posted by his father, LeBron James, on Saturday, five days after the teenager went into cardiac arrest during a basketball workout at the University of Southern California. The 18-year-old plays a brief melody in front of his family, smiles and gets up without speaking

By The Associated Press Police say at least eight dogs died after air conditioning stopped cooling the back of a van that they were being transported in on their way to a training facility in Indiana as temperatures soared amid an intense heat wave that continued its grip on the country. In New York City,

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish prime minister says that over 100 mercenaries belonging to the Russian-linked Wagner group in Belarus have moved close to the border with Poland. Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference Saturday that the mercenaries had moved close to the Suwalki Gap, a strategic stretch of Polish territory situated between

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer COLFAX, Iowa (AP) — It’s become easy to say that “small-town America” is slowly dying. That opportunities for young people have dried up, just like businesses and main streets, and that the only way of life involves life in a big city. But the reality is many small towns

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Pres PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Not long ago, Marine Col. Jennifer Nash, a combat engineer with war deployments under her belt, made a vow to fellow officers as they headed to a dinner in Atlanta: She would get two new recruiting contacts by the end of the evening. She

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The oldest historically Black collegiate fraternity in the U.S. says it is relocating a planned convention in two years from Florida because of what it described as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration’s “harmful, racist and insensitive” policies towards African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity said this week

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man whose 2-year-old daughter died after going days without food while he was passed out drunk has been sentenced to nearly 57 years in prison. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the sentence ordered Friday was the maximum that could be imposed after Jeffrey Exon was convicted in April of

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels’ effort to lay the groundwork for a centrist third-party presidential ticket in 2024. Nixon gives the bipartisan organization another prominent ally amid concerns from Democrats that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help

DHAKA,Bangladesh (AP) — Police in Bangladesh’s capital have clashed with supporters of the country’s main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The violence broke out Saturday as the opposition party organized sit-in protests at all the entry points to Dhaka. They demand that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down and

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday pushed back against Australian demands for an end to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s prosecution, saying the Australian citizen was accused of “very serious criminal conduct” in publishing a trove of classified documents more than a decade ago. Australia’s

BY SAM MEDNICK and CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The African Union has asked the junta that overthrew the democratically elected government of Niger to return to barracks within 15 days just as the soldiers, facing growing international pressure, met with senior civil servants to discuss how to run the West African

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Port workers in the province of British Columbia have voted to reject a mediated contract offer meant to end a labor dispute that stopped goods moving in and out of harbors, including at Canada’s busiest port in Vancouver. International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada President Rob Ashton said late Friday

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pamela Smith’s voice soared and quivered like a preacher in midsermon as she recalled her troubled childhood and how it helped prepare her for the challenges she faces as the new police chief in the nation’s capital. “I stand before you as a child who had no

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A 9-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother have been called as witnesses in a criminal case against their mother who is accused of “discrediting” the Russian army. Lidia Prudovskaya and her two children were summoned by investigators in the northern Russian region of Arkhangelsk to give testimony in the case, Russian

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian police arrested the president’s son Saturday as part of a high-profile money laundering probe into funds he allegedly collected from convicted drug traffickers during last year’s presidential campaign. President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel who rose through Colombia’s political ranks as an anti-corruption crusader, said he wouldn’t interfere with the

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: a pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon. Catch the first show Tuesday evening as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal. That’s because it

By R.J. RICO Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — “Excuse me, are you a city of Atlanta voter? Do you know about ‘Cop City?’” Clipboards in hand, canvassers Sienna Giraldi and Gabriel Sanchez approached shopper after shopper at a Kroger supermarket lot on a recent evening collecting signatures for a referendum over whether to cancel the

BANGKOK (AP) — A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand has killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens. The local Public Relations Department said that at least 118 people were hurt in the blast on Saturday and that residents of more than 200 households have been affected. About 100 residences in

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press Compared with the devil, angels carry more credence in America. Angels even get more credence than, well, hell. More than astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that physical things can have spiritual energies. In fact, about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi says that Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean makes it a key partner in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific. The minister is in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where he met with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and his

NEW DELHI (AP) — A group of Indian opposition lawmakers on Saturday visited a remote northeastern state where deadly ethnic clashes have killed at least 130 people, in a bid to pressure the government to take action against the violence, which began in May. The delegation of 20 MPs, who are part of a new

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September. The announcement on Saturday adds more travel to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will be making in the coming weeks. Francis had said that he would go to the