Month: January 2024

By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan hopes to make the world’s first “pinpoint landing” on the moon, joining a modern push for lunar contact with roots in the Cold War-era competition between the United States and Soviet Union. Japan’s attempt early Saturday to bring down its lander at a precise location follows

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Empress Masako has expressed her yearning for peace as a mother’s love in her poem, read at an annual celebration of poetry at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Various works written in the traditional “tanka” style were presented Friday, including those by her husband, Emperor Naruhito.

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press WHEATLAND, Wyo. (AP) — Oliver Baez spent two months rehearsing a scene for a school play in which his character confronts another student about bullying a gay student who takes his own life. After much preparation, the 12-year-old’s small scene turned into a big problem among school officials in Wheatland,

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asia markets mostly advanced Friday after Wall Street recouped most of the week’s earlier losses and Japan reported slowing inflation, which may keep its ultra-low interest rates steady. U.S. futures and oil prices were mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.3% to 35,940.50. Japan’s inflation slowed

By GABE STERN Associated Press/Report for America RENO, Nev. (AP) — Seven Republicans vying for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Nevada circled the familiar talking points of GOP politics at a debate, while also taking shots at the front runner who made an apparently strategic decision not to attend. The debate in a Reno

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Forecasters say a second storm is expected to sock New York with snow after causing chaos farther south, while the Pacific Northwest could see another round of deadly ice. Friday’s forecasts come as storms in the past two weeks have blasted much of the country with

By ACACIA CORONADO and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Families of the children and teachers killed in the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre are renewing demands for criminal charges after a scathing Justice Department report again laid bare numerous failures by police during one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history. In

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A small airplane that crashed into the ocean off the California coast has been identified as one of tens of thousands of home-built aircraft that are part of a high-flying hobby taking off across the country. Federal investigators said initial reports indicate four people were aboard

DAVAO, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine official says at least seven people, including five children, have been killed when a landslide set off by days of pounding rains buried a house where they were holding Christian prayers in the southern Philippines. Two other people were seriously injured and between 5 to 10 people remain unaccounted

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it had tested a purported underwater nuclear attack drone in response to a combined naval exercise between South Korea and the United States and Japan this week, as it continues to blame its rivals for raising tensions in the region. The alleged

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican marines have detained one of the top leaders of the Gulf drug cartel, the gang that kidnapped four Americans and killed two of them in March 2023. The public safety department of the border state of Tamaulipas said the suspect was arrested in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, and

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A man who served 14 years in prison for a deadly 1990s shooting in New York has been exonerated. Brooklyn prosecutors said Thursday they now believe the killer was an acquaintance the man has implicated for decades. Steven Ruffin was paroled in 2010 and has since

By CLAIRE RUSH and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Majiah Washington noticed a flash outside her home this week in Portland, where a dangerous storm had coated the city with ice. Opening her blinds, she saw a red SUV with a downed power line on it. Her neighbor’s pregnant, 21-year-old daughter was

NEW YORK (AP) — The world might see its first trillionaire sooner than you think. And that puts a spotlight on today’s richest 1%. In an annual assessment of global inequalities published earlier this week, Oxfam International said the first trillionaire could emerge within the next decade — as the anti-poverty organization pointed to the

By DIDI TANG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Taiwan’s top diplomat in Washington has a message for both the island’s Chinese adversaries and its American friends: Don’t worry that Taiwan’s new president-elect will worsen relations with Beijing and possibly draw the U.S. into a conflict. President-elect Lai Ching-te plans to keep the status quo in

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — South Korea is calling on the divided U.N. Security Council “to break the silence” over North Korea’s escalating missile tests and threats. The council has imposed 10 sanctions in total that have sought unsuccessfully to curb North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But Russia

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — The family of a California college student who vanished nearly three decades ago has sued the school, alleging it caused Kristin Smart’s murder through negligence. The suit filed Thursday contends that California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo could have prevented Smart’s death if it had properly dealt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jackson County Executive Frank White has vetoed an ordinance that would have put a 3/8th-cent sales tax renewal on the April ballot. The sales tax renewal would fund sports stadiums for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals. White says the proposed sales tax would take about $2

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced an Iowa man to 65 years in prison for killing two students at a Des Moines alternative school and injuring the program’s founder. A judge on Thursday sentenced 19-year-old Preston Walls to consecutive terms. A jury convicted Walls in September of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and

By The Associated Press Federal health officials are expanding a warning about salmonella poisoning tied to charcuterie meat snack trays sold at Sam’s Club and Costco stores. At least 47 people in 22 states have been sickened in the outbreak linked to Busseto brand and Fratelli Berreta brand meat trays. Ten people have been hospitalized,

By ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian prosecutors say three people have been jailed in the kidnapping and killing of a Hmong American comedian and activist who was found dead near Medellín after going out to meet a woman he reportedly met on social media. The Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The remains of a Long Island man killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11 have been identified more than two decades later. New York City’s medical examiner announced Thursday that John Ballantine Niven is the 1,650th victim whose remains have been identified from the deadliest

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The family of a church deacon who died after struggling with an Atlanta police officer following a minor car crash has sued the city, the officer and the police chief. The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court alleges that Officer Kiran Kimbrough used excessive force while

By TOM ODULA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The African Union, European Union, United Nations and United States are calling for an immediate cease-fire and constructive dialogue between warring factions in Sudan. They’re also calling for an end to tension between Somalia and Ethiopia over an agreement signed with Somalia’s breakaway region Somaliland. The

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are urging the Supreme Court “to put a swift and decisive end” to efforts to kick him off the 2024 presidential ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. In a written filing Thursday, Trump’s lawyers called on the