Month: January 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amalija Knavs, the mother of former first lady Melania Trump, has died. Trump announced the death late Tuesday without disclosing the cause. Melania Trump sponsored her parents’ immigration to the United States, and they took the oath of office to become citizens at a New York City courthouse in 2018. The Slovenian

By MATT BROWN and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans of various racial backgrounds largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views among racial groups diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. About 7 in 10 U.S.

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United

By ALLEN PANCHANA and GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — It was a day like any other at the TC Television studio in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with its mid-afternoon newscast underway, when the masked gunmen burst in unleashing at least 15 minutes of threats and fear – all broadcast live First a man with

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — More than 50 countries that are home to half the planet’s population are due to hold national elections in 2024, but the number of citizens exercising the right to vote is not unalloyed good news. The year looks set to test even the most robust democracies and

By YOLANDA MAGAÑA and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press SAN SALVADOR (AP) — A record-breaking 51,226 Salvadorans living abroad voted in El Salvador’s upcoming presidential election in the first three days after the country opened overseas electronic voting for the first time, two electoral officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday. The overseas vote is

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote Wednesday on a resolution that would condemn and demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea area. The U.S. draft resolution, obtained late Tuesday by The

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s main opposition leader says he hopes for a return to mutual respect in politics a week after he was stabbed in the neck. Lee Jae-myung spoke in front of the hospital where he released Tuesday. The shocking assault happened as political strife deepened

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The national champion Michigan Wolverines have returned home to their Ann Arbor campus. They were met with thunderous applause and screaming fans Tuesday night. The Wolverines beat the Washington Huskies 34-13 in the national championship game Monday. Coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive tackle Kris Jenkins showed their appreciation and thanked

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds focused on education and health care in an expansive agenda laid out for legislators Tuesday evening, calling for substantial revisions to how special education is provided in schools and how mental health and substance use are treated across the state. The

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO LAS VEGAS (AP) — Walmart has unveiled plans to dive further into the world of artificial intelligence — and drones — to improve its customers’ shopping experiences. In a Tuesday keynote at trade show CES in Las Vegas, the nation’s largest retailer announced  it would be expanding its drone

By SHAWN CHEN and WYATTE GRANTHAM PHILIPS LAS VEGAS (AP) — While electric vehicles are gaining the lion’s share of the attention for carbon-neutral technology at CES 2024, hydrogen energy has snuck its way back into the conversation thanks to two automotive giants. Hyundai signaled that it could work towards aiding a “hydrogen society” by

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Faculty at California State University could stage a systemwide strike later this month after school officials ended contract negotiations with a unilateral offer of a 5% pay raise, far below what the union is demanding. Professors, librarians, coaches and other members of the California Faculty Association are seeking higher pay, more

NEW YORK (AP) — The final documents released among thousands of newly unsealed pages pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls contained transcripts of key depositions that were already largely public. The release Tuesday included depositions of the lawsuit’s plaintiff, Virginia Giuffre, and the defendant, Ghislaine Maxwell. Although the lawsuit was settled before

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is rejecting the idea that ending his presidential bid would help rival Nikki Haley defeat Donald Trump, questioning both her desire and ability to do so. While other candidates were in Iowa ahead of next week’s caucuses, Christie was in

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis says that nominating Donald Trump would make the 2024 election about his legal troubles rather than the nation’s ills under President Joe Biden. The Florida governor made a case against Trump in a Fox News town hall on Tuesday,

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ aircraft has been forced to divert to a Washington-area airport after encountering stormy weather as she returned from a trip to Georgia. Press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement Tuesday night that “Air Force 2 was diverted from Joint Base Andrews to

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, though no damage was initially apparent. That’s according to a private intelligence firm and the British military. The assault late Tuesday happened off the Yemeni port cities

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — One of three defendants has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque after the 2022 election. Court documents published Tuesday show that Jose Louise Trujillo pleaded guilty Monday to

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea “our principal enemy” and threatened to annihilate it if provoked. He is escalating inflammatory, belligerent rhetoric ahead of South Korean and U.S. elections this year, and experts anticipate he will conduct weapons tests to try

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in her annual State of the City address Tuesday pledged to make it easier for Boston homeowners to create smaller, independent living units inside their homes or yards. She said the proposal — a modest effort to address the city’s affordable housing shortage

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States defendied its veto of a call for the immediate suspension of hostilities in Gaza at a U.N. meeting and again faced demands by the Palestinians and many other countries for a cease-fire now in the Israel-Hamas war – as well as by

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press Donald Trump is warning that other ex-presidents could be prosecuted if criminal charges against him aren’t dropped. Trump has for months promised to prosecute President Joe Biden if Trump wins the November election and regains his old job. On Tuesday, he upped the stakes and suggested that anyone who left

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Appeals court judges are signaling they will likely reject Donald Trump’s claims that he is immune from prosecution in his election interference case. That outcome seemed clear Tuesday during arguments that touched on a range of political and legal considerations. The Republican presidential

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say a fourth child has died of injuries suffered in a fire at a home in St. Paul, Minnesta. The Star Tribune reports that police Sgt. Mike Ernster said 1-year-old Mauj CagTxuj Vaj died at Regions Hospital over the weekend. Ker Lor and her six children were found on

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge says the notorious 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking disparagingly about women over a decade before he became president can be shown to jurors deciding what he owes a columnist he defamed. Judge Lewis

By JENNIFER PELTZ and JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump plans to deliver his own closing argument Thursday in his New York civil business fraud trial, in addition to the ones made by his legal team. That’s according to two people familiar with the plan who spoke to The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — A county commissioner in suburban Atlanta says she will challenge U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath in the Democratic primary in May. Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson affirmed her challenge Tuesday. The women will be running in a new 6th Congressional District in Fulton, Cobb, Douglas and Fayette counties that doesn’t have an incumbent.

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adan Canto, the Mexican singer and actor best known for his roles in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Agent Game” as well as the TV series “The Cleaning Lady,” has died. He was 42. Publicist Jennifer Allen, told The Associated Press Canto died of

By TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had prostate cancer surgery and was later hospitalized in intensive care due to complications from that operation without President Joe Biden, Cabinet members or even his deputy knowing. That revelation has put an intense spotlight on what staff knew

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Lawyers for a man wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 44 years say he’s reached a $25 million combined settlement with a central North Carolina city and the state of North Carolina. The settlement was announced Tuesday by attorneys for Ronnie Long and the city of Concord. It will end a wrongful

By DAVID KOENIG and TOM KRISHER AP Business Writers The extended grounding of some Boeing 737 Max jetliners is adding to pressure on Boeing and the subcontractor that made the fuselage and installed a panel that blew out leaving a gaping hole in an Alaska Airlines plane last week. Investigators know the sequence of events

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Meta said Tuesday it will start hiding inappropriate content from teenagers’ accounts on Instagram and Facebook, including posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The social media giant based in Menlo Park, California, said in a blog post that while it already aims not to

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Chinese military officers have resumed talks that were frozen after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022. It’s a development U.S. officials have said is key to keeping the growing competition between the two great powers from turning into direct conflict. The agreement

CAMBRIDGE, Vt. (AP) — State police say no criminal charges will be filed in the death of a 3-year-old boy who fell into an underground cistern and was seriously injured in July while attending a day care program at a Vermont resort. The boy who was injured at Smugglers’ Notch Resort died days later at

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that a post on X announcing that the securities regulator had approved the trading of exchange-traded funds holding bitcoin was “unauthorized,” and that the agency’s account had been “compromised.” The confusion came as crypto fans anxiously await the

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Memphis City Council committee has voted to recommend that police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis be replaced, a year after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by five officers generated intense criticism of her department and led to a federal investigation into how it fights crime.

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The South African government says former U.K. opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn will join its delegation for this week’s hearings at the United Nations’ top court as it accuses Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza. South Africa brought the case against

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Migrant families are leaving New York City’s shelter system under an eviction notice imposed by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. The homeless families were limited to 60 days in city housing under an order Adams issued in October to relieve a shelter system overwhelmed by asylum-seekers crossing

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The family of a University of Arizona professor who was fatally shot on campus in October 2022 says it has reached a multimillion-dollar agreement with the school. A statement by the law firm representing the wife and sons of professor Thomas Meixner says the family agreed not to sue the university

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Mourners had gathered in Dallas to remember a longtime Texas congresswoman. The funeral for former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson was held Tuesday at Concord Church in Dallas. Johnson served in Congress for 30 years. She died at the age of 89 on Dec. 31. People on