Month: August 2023

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — DonorsChoose has seen a banner year for donations in 2023, setting records by collecting nearly $10 million during Teacher Appreciation Week in May. Earlier this month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $2 million to match 50% of all DonorsChoose pledges for one day

By BELA SZANDELSZKY Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary has signed an agreement to manufacture combat drones in cooperation with Israeli and German companies as part of an effort to grow and modernize its military and defense industry. Speaking at the opening ceremony of a new combat vehicle factory on Friday, Prime Minister Viktor

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian courts have ordered the liquidation of a human rights organization that preserved the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and have ordered the detention of a prominent election monitor. The moves are the latest in a widespread crackdown on dissent. The organization founded

By TERRY TANG Associated Press As Tony Award winner Lea Salonga prepares to depart the first ever all-Filipino cast Broadway cast this week, her role will become a revolving door to showcase other well-known talent from the Philippines. The production says actor and singer Vina Morales, also beloved in the Philippines, will take over as

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say 90 migrants have been rescued from a stranded sailboat in the Aegean Sea, amid an increase in arrivals in recent weeks. The migrants were detained for identification and processing after patrol boats and three civilian vessels were involved in the rescue. Greek officials have blamed the increase in

By PAN PYLAS and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A neonatal nurse in a British hospital was found guilty Friday of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others during a yearlong campaign of deception that saw her prey on the vulnerabilities of sick newborns and their anxious parents. Following 22 days

By BELA SZANDELSZKY Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will hold bilateral meetings in the coming days with the leaders of Turkey, Serbia, Qatar and a host of Central Asian nations, a sign of the European country’s continuing drift toward the Eastern sphere of influence. The meetings come as the

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say a second suspect has been arrested following the shooting of a Harris County deputy sheriff and later shooting and wounding of three other law enforcement officers. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during an early Friday news conference that 34-year-old Terran Green was taken into custody following a standoff that included gunfire.

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister has met with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his visit to the kingdom, a sign of how the two countries are trying to ease tensions after years of turmoil. Saudi state television aired images of Prince

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says it has decided to suspend all of its services in Lebanon’s largest refugee camp for a day in protest against the presence of gunmen in its facilities. UNRWA’s decision went into effect shortly before noon Friday at the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Angry Turkish Cypriots have punched and kicked a group of international peacekeepers who obstructed crews working on a road that would encroach on a U.N.-controlled buffer zone in ethnically divided Cyprus. The U.N. said Friday’s assault happened as its peacekeepers stood in the way of work

MILAN (AP) — Italian police have arrested a 21-year-old Dutch man suspected in the stabbing death of his father and a family friend in the countryside near the French border. An official from the Carabinieri paramilitary police force confirmed the arrest. Italian media said the suspect was found hiding in the woods near where the

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Prosecutors say Austria’s former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been charged with making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in his first government, which collapsed in a scandal in 2019. An indictment against Kurz, his former chief of staff and a third person was filed

BEIJING (AP) — China is blasting this weekend’s summit among the leaders of the U.S., Japan and South Korea, saying no country should “seek its own security at the expense of the security interests of others and of regional peace and stability.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing that “the

By ARTURO RODRÍGUEZ and DAVID BRUNAT Associated Press SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) — Firefighters in Spain’s Canary Islands are battling dense smoke and high temperatures to try to control the worst wildfire in decades on the main tourist island of Tenerife, officials said Friday. The fire started late Tuesday in the north

By AAMER MADHANI, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) — President Joe Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea agreed Friday to expand security and economic ties at a historic summit at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, cementing a new agreement with the allies that are

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A panel of experts that investigated harassment cases in Japan’s military and Defense Ministry says it found widespread coverups and reluctance among supervisors to deal with cases, and recommended fundamental improvements. The investigation was commissioned by the ministry after a high-profile sexual assault case was brought by

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian-born U.S. citizen in prison on a bribery conviction now faces charges of espionage, according to Russian news agencies. The reports said a Moscow court on Thursday authorized holding Gene Spector on the charges, but did not give details of the case against him. Spector, formerly an executive at a medical

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — An official of the West African bloc of nations says 11 countries in the region have agreed to commit troops to a military deployment aimed at restoring Niger’s democratically elected president following last month’s coup. The ECOWAS bloc previously announced its intention to deploy a force

By IGNACIO MARTINEZ and JULIE WATSON Associated Press CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Hilary churned off Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday as a powerful Category 4 storm threatening to unleash torrential rains on the mudslide-prone border city of Tijuana before heading into Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years. Forecasters

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that President Xi Jinping will attend next week’s summit of the BRICS nations in Johannesburg, to be followed by a state visit to South Africa. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson also said that during the visit, Xi will co-chair the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue with his South African counterpart,

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street limped to the finish line of its third losing week in a row on Friday. The S&P 500 barely budged as it ended the week with a loss of more than 2%, like other U.S. indexes. It edged down by 0.65, or less

By SAMYA KULLAB, MIKE CORDER and JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Officials say the United States has given its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver F-16s to Ukraine. The defense ministers of those two NATO countries announced the decision Friday. It is a major gain for Kyiv even

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Last month, after the biggest Israeli military raid on a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in years, Palestinians turned their wrath on their own security forces. They unleashed gunfire, firebombs and pipe bombs at Palestinian security buildings in an outpouring of rage

By TAMMY WEBBER and JIM MORRIS Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Residents heeded warnings to evacuate the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories as a large wildfire burned just outside the city of 20,000 Friday, while firefighters battled a growing fire that set homes ablaze in a city in British Columbia. Thousands of people

By ADRIAN SAINZ, JONATHAN MATTISE and BEN FINLEY Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — In 2004, when Michael Oher was a coveted college football recruit, the 18-year-old high schooler agreed in court to allow the Memphis couple he lived with to make decisions for him about signing contracts and any medical issues. Sean and Leigh

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN, JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Friday that what’s rebuilt from the ashes of the devastating wildfires on Maui will be determined by the people. “Lahaina will rise again,” Green said during a livestreamed evening address from Honolulu. The seaside

By DYLAN LOVAN and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Despite some snags, Kentucky’s largest school district finished its bus drop-offs much earlier on Friday than it did a week earlier when a busing debacle on the first day of school delayed some students by hours. Friday marked the first day back for

By LESLIE AMBRIZ Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a normal summer, Friday’s arrival of “Blue Beetle,” the first DC superhero movie to feature a Latino lead, would be a splashy, triumphant moment for its filmmakers and stars. But with actors and screenwriters on strike, the film’s promotional campaign has been without its lead

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for measures to mitigate the effects of this year’s disastrous flooding which has left scores dead and inflicted massive damage on crops, homes and infrastructure, including in and around Beijing. At least 90 rivers have risen above warning levels and 24 have already overflowed their banks,

By MUHAMMAD HATTA Associated Press PALEMBANG, Indonesia (AP) — Firefighters are trying to put out a peatland fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island that was growing in size near a dense residential area. The effort is made difficult by the limited firefighting equipment and distant water source, a one-hour trip to the fire’s location in the

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Migos rapper Quavo has released his second solo album, “Rocket Power,” a lively and powerful tribute to his late bandmate and nephew Takeoff. It is Quavo’s first full-length release since Takeoff was fatally shot outside a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley in

By ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Testimony has ended at a unique sentencing hearing for a Michigan teenager who killed four students at his school in 2021. The prosecutor is asking for a life term for 17-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism at Oxford High School. Karen McDonald

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY and JENNIFER MCDERMOTT Associated Press Kim Cuevas-Reyes, a 38-year-old cellphone store owner, snuck into Lahaina last Friday to see the remnants of her home with her own eyes. She took backroads and walked. What she saw stunned her. “When you step into the house, it’s like an inch or two of ash.

By EDDIE PELLS and PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writers BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Tori Bowie’s autopsy included an easy-to-overlook notation beneath the heading “Medical History:” Bipolar disorder. In track circles, the champion sprinter’s mental health struggles were more than an afterthought. They were a stark reality that came to light during training