Month: January 2024

Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Medics say an Israeli man has been fatally shot at a busy intersection in the West Bank. Sunday’s drive-by shooting came hours after a violent confrontation elsewhere in the Israeli-occupied territory left six Palestinians and a member of Israel’s paramilitary border police dead. The events over the weekend followed a

More than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area further from the Ukrainian border, local officials said. Ukrainian attacks on Dec. 30 in Belgorod killed 25 people. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that military priests led prayer services on the front line to mark Orthodox Christmas both on

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has baptized 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel. The ceremony, under the ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo, has become an annual tradition near the end of the Christmas holiday period at the Vatican. In Sunday’s ceremony, the pope baptized 16 babies, including a boy and girl who are twins. Francis

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Australian Open with an injury after playing just one tournament in his comeback from 12 months in the sidelines. Nadal said he had concerns over his surgically repaired hip after needing  a medical timeout in the third set of his Brisbane International quarterfinal loss to

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has mocked South Korea’s ability to detect weapons launches by the North. Kim Yo Jong’s statement Sunday came as she denied Seoul’s claim that North Korea fired artillery shells into the sea the previous day.

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Jordan’s king and foreign minister and visited a World Food Program warehouse in Amman as he pressed ahead with an urgent Middle East diplomatic mission to prevent Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza from spreading. On his

By JULIA FRANKEL, SAMY MAGDY and NAJIB JOBAINh Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military signaled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has completed dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure there, as the war against the militant group entered its fourth month Sunday. Its spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A devastating fire has raced through a crammed refugee camp in Bangladesh’s southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. It destroyed more than 1,000 shelters and left thousands of Rohingya refugees homeless. A fire official says the fire broke out around midnight on Saturday at Kutupalong camp in Ukhiya and spread

By OMID HAQJO ZINDA JAN, Afghanistan (AP) — Survivors of a massive earthquake that struck Afghanistan’s west on Oct. 7 say they’re struggling to rebuild their lives, three months after the disaster. The 6.3-magnitude quake was the country’s deadliest in decades, killing and injuring thousands of people. It flattened every home in Zinda Jan district,

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a minibus explosion in the Afghan capital late Saturday that killed at least 2 people. The Sunni militant group said its members detonated an explosive device on the bus carrying Shiite Muslims. Police spokesperson Khalid Zadran says 14 others were wounded in the attack

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press Japanese prosecutors have made their first arrest in connection with a major political slush funds scandal that has rocked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s already unpopular government. Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office apprehended Sunday former vice-education minister Yoshitaka Ikeda on suspicion of failing to report fundraising proceeds of $276,500 he received

By MARK LEWIS Associated Press STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Anders Behring Breivik, who slayed 77 people in an anti-Islamic bomb and gun rampage in 2011, is trying to sue the Norwegian state for breaching his human rights. Norway’s worst peacetime killer says his solitary confinement since being jailed in 2012 amounts to inhumane treatment under

By VALERIE GONZALEZ AND ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Daniel Bermudez’s family had fled Venezuela and was headed to the U.S. to seek asylum when the freight train they were riding through Mexico was stopped by immigration officials. His wife tried to explain that her family had permission to go to

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Fossil hunters are celebrating the discovery of a mammoth tusk and other bones unearthed at a coal mine in North Dakota. A shovel operator was the first person to spot the collection of bones while shoveling a giant mound of dirt into a dump truck. More

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, a Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump and known for his conservative positions on issues such as abortion, is set to be inaugurated on the steps of the state Capitol. The inauguration, originally scheduled for Monday, was pushed up a

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ upcoming State of the State address is supposed to be about Florida’s future. Iowa, though, is more likely at the front of his mind. The speech kicking off Florida’s annual legislative session Tuesday comes exactly a week before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thamsanqa Mothobi was going about his life in Johannesburg when he was carjacked and taken to an informal settlement where robbers accessed his mobile banking apps. “They had guns and demanded the PIN codes for my apps. They increased the withdrawal limits in my accounts and emptied

By SHARON JOHNSON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A core mission of Florida A&M University from its founding over a century ago has been to educate African Americans. It was written into the law that established the school along with another college, in Gainesville, reserved for white students. At Florida’s only public historically Black

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer The Golden Globes are back from the dead, and ready to party. The long-running award show will again have the champagne flowing Sunday night when the 81st Globes begin at 8 p.m. EST. Much will look the same as always when well-attired celebrities gather at the Beverly Hilton International

By HIRO KOMAE, AYAKA MCGILL and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — Rescue teams worked through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets Sunday, six days after a powerful earthquake hit western Japan, killing at least 126 people. Heavy snowfall expected in Ishikawa Prefecture later Sunday and through the night added to the

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new California law that bans people from carrying firearms in most public places has once again been blocked from taking effect as a court challenge continues. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Saturday dissolved a temporary hold on a lower court injunction blocking the law. The hold was

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A human rights group in southern Mexico says an attack in a remote community in Guerrero state caused an undetermined number of deaths and wounded at least six people. The director of the Minerva Bello Center said Saturday that the attack with drones and gunmen Thursday in Buenavista de los Hurtado

DHAKA (AP) — Polls have opened in Bangladesh as voters began casting their ballots in an election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party. At least 18 arson attacks have been reported across the country since Friday, with 10 of them targeting polling places. Campaigning in the South Asian nation of

BEIJING (AP) — China has announced sanctions on five American defense-related companies in response to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals. A Foreign Ministry statement issued Sunday says the sanctions will freeze any property the companies have in China and prohibit organizations and individuals in China from doing

SEATTLE (AP) — Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 5 in Seattle on Saturday. The Seattle Times reports that additional demonstrators on a nearby overpass cheered in support of the blockade, which began around 1:15 p.m. The state transportation department on X says traffic at one point

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, currently the lone Democratic governor in the Deep South, has reached his final two days in office after eight years. His tenure has been marked by successes — expanding Medicaid, joining climate change initiatives, climbing out of a budget deficit

By The Associated Press Orthodox Christians packed churches on Saturday night for Christmas Eve services, a holiday overshadowed for many believers by conflict. Patriarch Kirill is the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the world’s largest Orthodox denomination. He led services at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. A Kremlin spokesman said Russian President Vladimir Putin

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The number of children who died as a result of a fire in their St. Paul home has risen to three. At a news conference Saturday, Pa Cheng Vang, the children’s father, said he was grateful for the community’s support since the fire broke out early Wednesday. The deceased children

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press A small town in Iowa is stunned but pulling together after a school shooting in which a a 17-year-old killed a sixth-grader and wounded seven other people before police say he died by suicide. Authorities and school officials say the shooting happened Thursday, shortly before classes were set to begin

NEW YORK (AP) — For nearly two decades, journalists, police detectives, FBI agents, lawyers and amateur sleuths have pried into the depraved world of Jeffrey Epstein. Yet even after the release of thousands of pages of court records in recent days, some questions about the millionaire pedophile remain unanswered. The documents have gotten a lot

By LEE KEATH Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A cumbersome process of Israeli inspections and other hurdles are slowing the entry of aid into Gaza. That’s according to two U.S. senators after a visit to Egypt’s Rafah crossing into the besieged territory. Hundreds of trucks are lined up at Rafah, sometimes waiting weeks to go

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s Greek Orthodox community has celebrated the Epiphany with their annual cross dive near the Gulf of Mexico. Sixteen-year-old John Hittos bested 64 other teenage boys in Tarpon Springs on Saturday and retrieved the cross from chilly water. The winner is believed to have a year of blessings ahead. The

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s state news agency is reporting that Polish farmers who had blockaded a border crossing to Ukraine have ended their protest after reaching an agreement with the government. The farmers’ frustration was one of the challenges facing the new Polish government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which seeks to support Ukraine

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, JILL COLVIN and ANDREW HARNIK Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is courting young conservative activists  in Des Moines as he kicked off another day of campaigning in Iowa that will launch the race for the White House in just over a week. He spoke to

AMMAN (AP) — The Jordanian army says it has killed five drug and weapon smugglers and arrested 15 in a day of clashes with armed groups of smugglers attempting to cross into Jordan from Syria. The army statement says the clashes broke out before dawn between Jordanian border guards and “armed organizations that practice smuggling

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress and Pentagon leaders were unaware for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized since Monday, U.S. officials said Saturday, as questions swirled about his condition and the secrecy surrounding it. And it remained unclear when the White House and other key

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The emergency landing of a Boeing 737 Max jetliner with a gaping hole in its side is renewing safety concerns about the planes and creating new headaches for Boeing. And now the Federal Aviation Administration is ordering similar planes to be grounded for emergency inspections. A window panel blew

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The mother of an 11-year-old who was killed in a school shooting in Iowa this week remembers the boy as a friendly child who exuded happiness. Ahmir Jolliff’s family called him “Smiley.” He was killed on Thursday when a teenager opened fire in the cafeteria

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three Florida residents are in FBI custody on charges that they assaulted officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the nation’s Capitol. The FBI said it arrested 24-year-old Jonathan D. Pollock, his 33-year-old sister, Olivia M. Pollock and 27-year-old Joseph D. Hutchinson at a

By DARREN SANDS Associated Press Over its 215-year history, the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City has earned a reputation as the flagship of the Black church in America. Based in Harlem, it became a famous megachurch with the political rise of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. perhaps the most influential of the

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Eleven people were killed Saturday in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk province, according to regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Five children were among the dead and eight further people were wounded in the attack on the Pokrovsk district, he said. Ukraine’s military claimed Saturday it successfully attacked the Saki military

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The rivalry between GOP presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley has become a leading storyline before the leadoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. The two candidates are in an increasingly testy contest to emerge in Iowa as the preferred alternative to former President Donald Trump

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A minibus exploded in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, killing at least two civilians and wounding 14 others,  a Taliban official said Saturday. First attack in 2024. Police spokesman, Khalid Zadran, said the explosion took place in the western part of the city. The cause remains unknown, but

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Residents across the eastern U.S. — particularly in New England — are gassing up their snow blowers and dusting off their shovels as they gear up for a storm expected to bring snow, freezing rain and ice to the region. The system was expected to track along