Month: January 2024

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a tour of four African countries, meeting with the leaders of Cape Verde and Ivory Coast and touting America as the continent’s key economic and security ally at times of regional and international crises. Blinken is visiting Nigeria

ATLANTA (AP) — Dexter Scott King, the younger son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has died after battling prostate cancer. The King Center in Atlanta says the 62-year-old son of the civil rights leader died Monday at his California home after battling prostate cancer. Dexter King was named for the Dexter

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A proposal to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Maine Constitution is moving forward. Gov. Janet Mills and other leading Democrats are pressing to end future legislative debate by amending the state constitution. But Republican Sen. Lisa Keim calls it “political theater” and says

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince is pleading for the release of six nuns kidnapped last week and demanding that Haiti’s government crack down on gang violence. The Archdiocese, along with the Haitian Conference of the Religious, said in a strongly worded letter released Monday that Haitians are tired of the “terror of

By ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police in Rio de Janeiro have say that a purported leader of an organized crime group has been slain at a beachfront restaurant. Police say that 44-year-old Sérgio Rodrigues da Costa Silva was found dead at the scene when Rio’s military police arrived and cordoned

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has imposed sanctions on six companies it says are responsible for trying to undermine stability in conflict-ravaged Sudan, largely targeting firms linked to weapons procurement and manufacturing. Sudan’s armed forces and the rival Rapid Support Forces have been fighting for control of the northeast African nation since April. Long-standing tensions

By KATE BRUMBACK and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered court records to be made public in the divorce involving a special prosecutor hired in the election case against Donald Trump and others and accused of having an affair with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The

By STEVE PEOPLES, HOLLY RAMER, and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — As the last major challenger in Donald Trump’s way, Nikki Haley is hoping New Hampshire voters feel so strongly about keeping the former president away from the White House that they turn out to support her in large numbers. “America

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Dozens of Missouri Department of Corrections staff members are urging Gov. Mike Parson to grant clemency to a man scheduled to die in April for killing his cousin and her husband, with a former warden calling him a “model inmate.” The Kansas City Star reports that 60 corrections officers and

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says the city intends to wipe out more than $2 billion in medical debt for up to 500,000 residents. The city is working with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys medical debt in bulk from hospitals and debt collectors for pennies on the dollar.

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The 600,000 residents of Memphis, Tennessee, are on their fourth day of living under a boil water notice. On Monday, repair crews were working to fix broken pipes that caused low water pressure throughout the system and left some residents with no water. The winter storms

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More than 30,000 professors, librarians, plumbers, electricians and other workers in the California State University system have launched a weeklong strike. They’re demanding higher wages, more manageable workloads and increased parental leave. The strike comes on the first day of the spring semester for most

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are recommending that airlines inspect the door plugs on more Boeing 737s after one of the panel blew off a Boeing jet in midflight. The Federal Aviation Administration says airlines should also inspect the panels on an older model, the 737-900ER. Those planes have door plugs that are identical in

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Five children have died and a sixth is being treated for burns after fire tore through a house in northern Indiana. The South Bend Fire Department said Monday that people including children were trapped by flames on the second floor Sunday evening. Five children were pronounced dead. The sixth was

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that Spanish authorities acted illegally when they sent unaccompanied child migrants back to Morocco in 2021. Hundreds of unaccompanied minors were among a surge of around 10,000 people who tried to enter Ceuta by scaling a border fence or swimming around the Spanish enclave in North Africa.

By MARK N. MENGONFIA AND CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia’s new President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has been sworn into office after a narrow win in the November elections to become the country’s oldest-ever president. The 79-year-old Boakai has promised to unite and rescue Africa’s oldest republic from its economic woes, ranging

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and ABBY SEWELL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has hit Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad and its CEO with sanctions for allegedly providing assistance to Iran’s military wing — and in addition has imposed a fifth round of sanctions on the militant group Hamas for its abuse of cryptocurrency since the

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s parliament has paid tribute to Wolfgang Schaeuble. The former finance minister and the country’s longest-serving lawmaker who helped negotiate German reunification died in December at age 81. French President Emmanuel Macron, Bundestag president Baerbel Bas and Christian Democrats leader Friedrich Merz were in attendance at Monday’s

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A government inquiry into the deaths of four divers in Trinidad who became trapped in a pipe while doing maintenance for a state-owned fuel supplier recommends that prosecutors consider filing corporate manslaughter charges against the company. The report says the company made “little or no attempt to rescue” them.

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Dave Eggers’ “The Eyes & the Impossible,” the great adventure of a very fast dog, has received the John Newbery Medal for the year’s best children’s book. Eggers is otherwise known for such acclaimed adult books as “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” “What Is

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum says he will not seek a third term as governor. Monday’s announcement comes more than a month after he ended his bid for the GOP presidential nomination. His recent endorsement of former President Donald Trump, and Trump’s praise of the

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a former business partner of presidential son Hunter Biden who was seeking to overturn his criminal conviction for securities fraud. The justices did not comment Monday in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that reinstated the fraud conviction of Devon Archer. A

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted a former high-ranking member of a pro-Syrian government militia of illegal detention and complicity in torture, sentencing him to 12 years in prison. The defendant was found guilty Monday in the 2013 arrest and inhumane treatment of a civilian while

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer BOSTON (AP) — A little-known federal agency, The National Institute of Standards and Technology, was tapped by the Biden administration to set testing parameters for ensuring generative AI systems are safe, secure, trustworthy and socially responsible. The agency official leading those efforts, Iranian-born Elham Tabassi, has a small team

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence and averted multiple attempts by the state to execute him. Glossip was sentenced in a 1997 murder-for-hire of the owner of the motel where he worked. The

TINLEY PARK, Ill. (AP) — Authorities have identified a woman and her three adult daughters who were found slain inside their suburban Chicago home in what police are calling a domestic-related shooting. The victims have been identified by a medical examiner as 53-year-old Majeda Kassem; Halema and Zahia Kassem, whon were both 25; and 24-year-old

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair are the cover stars for WWE 2K24 video games. Rhodes is this year’s cover star on the WWE 2K24 game. WWE women’s Royal Rumble winners Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley share the deluxe edition cover. It

LONDON (AP) — U.K. health officials are urging millions of parents to book their children in for missed measles, mumps and rubella shots amid a sharp increase in the number of measles cases and the lowest vaccination rates in a decade. The National Health Service is launching a publicity campaign after figures showed there have

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Authorities in Turkey are investigating eight bodies that washed up in the Mediterranean province of Antalya. They include two found on a beach in the vacation resort of Serik. The Antalya governor’s office says one body is believed to be a Turkish citizen who was reported missing. Authorities believe the seven

By THOMAS ADAMSON AP Fashion Writer PARIS (AP) — Schiaparelli, piloted by the inventive Daniel Roseberry, inaugurated with a celebration of glamour, surrealism, and historical reverence. The collection was a vivid tableau of the house’s 1930s glory days under the late, great Elsa Schiaparelli, fused with a provocative twist that electrified the VIP audience. Opening

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan says Iran’s foreign minister will visit the country next week. The trip follows unprecedented attacks on either side of the border that appeared to target Baluch militant groups with similar separatist goals. Pakistan said in a statement Monday that Hossein Amirabdollahian will visit the country on Jan. 29. The statement added

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jamaica has adopted stronger domestic violence laws as the government aims to better protect victims on the island where people are reluctant to report such cases to authorities. Protection orders now include harassment and property damage, and the penalty for violating a protection order has increased from $65 to

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump has picked up another endorsement from Nikki Haley’s home state of South Carolina, with Rep. Nancy Mace backing the former president in this year’s GOP presidential primary. Mace had stayed out of the 2024 Republican primary as fellow South Carolinians Haley and Sen. Tim

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran is “very directly involved” in ship attacks that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel’s war against Hamas, the U.S. Navy’s top Mideast commander told The Associated Press on Monday. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying

By EILEEN NG Associated Press PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad attacked a graft probe into his associates as politically motivated, a week after his eldest son was ordered to hand over information to investigators. Mahathir, a two-time prime minister who’s been a fixture in Malaysian politics for decades, said Prime Minister

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The Guinea soccer team has appealed to fans to “celebrate carefully” after several supporters were killed in traffic accidents back home following the team’s win over Gambia at the Africa Cup of Nations. The Guinea soccer federation says “we are deeply saddened by the loss of some of our supporters