Month: February 2024

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Waterston, who has played the spiky, no-nonsense district attorney on “Law & Order” since the mid-1990s, is stepping down. NBC says Friday that the last episode for Waterston’s Jack McCoy will be Feb. 22. He has been in more than 400 episodes of the

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — The U.N. food agency says it has received reports of people dying from starvation in Sudan, where raging fighting between rival generals is hampering the distribution of aid and food supplies to those most hungry. The 10 months of clashes between the Sudanese military, led by Gen.

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A court filing Friday disclosed that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is involved in a “personal relationship” with a special prosecutor she hired for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, but she argues there are no grounds to dismiss the case or

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer Kansas is poised to expand an income tax credit for goods and services purchased from companies and nonprofits employing disabled workers. Legislative action this week came a year after a debate over how much the state should buck a national trend against paying those workers below the minimum wage.

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a proposal to overhaul the asylum system at the U.S. border with Mexico. It clears the way for Democratic and Republican Senate leaders to begin the difficult task of convincing Congress to pass a national security package that will include

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans’ annual Carnival celebration entered its high-intensity home stretch Friday with a beefed-up police presence and a weather forecast that threatened to disrupt the first of two weekends of elaborate parades. Three parades were scheduled to roll Friday night with no weather complications expected. But

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The names of three Idaho men killed when an airport hangar under construction in Boise collapsed were released by the Ada County Coroner on Friday. Mariano Coc Och, 24 and Mario Sontay Tzi, 32, both of Nampa, were pronounced dead at the scene along with Craig Durrant, 59, of Boise. Nine

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A defense lawyer says a man charged with killing Young Dolph cannot get a fair trial in Memphis due to the intense media attention and outrage over the slaying of the beloved rapper in his hometown. Justin Johnson’s attorney asked a judge to bring in a

By ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Prosecutors in Michigan have tried to attack the credibility of a school shooter’s mother. Their cross-examination on Friday came a day after Jennifer Crumbley denied knowing her son had mental health struggles. She also rejected claims that she should be responsible for the deaths of four

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A new exhibit at the UK National Archives in London uses the 80th anniversary of the so-called Great Escape by allied airmen from a German prisoner of war camp to explore escapes by captives of all kinds during World War II. The exhibit that opened Friday and

By MIKE CATALINI and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania prosecutor says the man accused of shooting and decapitating his father in their home northeast of Philadelphia and posting a video of the severed head purchased a gun the previous day. Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said Friday that 32-year-old

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities in Minnesota are investigating a suspected arson fire that heavily damaged the offices of three conservative groups. The groups are calling the blaze an act of political terrorism. The fire happened early Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley at the offices of the

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge in North Dakota has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a county election official challenging the state’s mail ballot counting law. Burleigh County Auditor Mark Splonskowski alleged a conflict between state and federal law in the lawsuit backed by the conservative, Trump-aligned Public Interest

By EDUARDO VERDUGO Associated Press OCUMICHO, Mexico (AP) — Guided by their ancestral lunar calendar, members of Mexico’s Purepecha Indigenous group celebrated their own New Year’s Eve. It was a little different than the West’s traditional New Year. The Purepechas, who live in the western state of Michoacan, preserve the pre-Hispanic belief in the “New

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Victoria Monét and Coco Jones brought smooth R&B and studied choreography, Noah Kahan and Gracie Abrams — friends up for the same Grammy — dueted their introspective folk, and Jelly Roll brought out Lainey Wilson. That was the scene Thursday night at Spotify’s annual pre-Grammy

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say 3-year-old twins are dead after they were found unresponsive in a car parked along a Miami highway. Miami-Dade County Police say that when they responded to the scene on Interstate 95 early Friday, the female driver jumped off an overpass, suffering critical injuries. The relationship between the woman and the

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has completed a major privatization, selling its 30% stake in the biggest airport operator in the tourism-reliant country during an initial public offering. Athens International Airport says shares are expected to begin trading on the Athens stock exchange starting Wednesday. Greece’s finance minister says the listing of a new blue

LONDON (AP) — London police say a woman remains hospitalized with life-changing injuries after she was attacked with a corrosive substance earlier this week. Authorities have launched a nationwide manhunt for the suspect who is still at large two days after the attack, which also injured the woman’s two young daughters. Metropolitan Police Commander Jon

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Martin Lawrence has kept busy: The actor-comedian readies for his new “Bad Boys” film with Will Smith this summer, recently joined his “ Martin ” cast members during the Emmys and stars alongside Hall of Fame football player Shannon Sharpe in a new Super

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A judge has acquitted climate activist Greta Thunberg of a charge that she had refused follow a police order to leave a protest that blocked the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year. Thunberg was acquitted along with four other defendants.

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis called his new home the Death Star in 2020 and the name stuck. Allegiant Stadium with its black facade indeed resembles the ominous space station in the “Star Wars” movie series that was capable of destroying planets. That’s where

ISABELLA O’MALLEY Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Scrutiny over Taylor Swift’s travel in private jets has been bubbling up online, with people pointing out the planet-warming emissions that are let off with each flight. The chatter heated up in the last few days after the Kansas City Chiefs, the team that Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A group of residents of towns near Japanese nuclear plants has submitted a petition asking regulators to halt safety screening for the restart of idled reactors until damage to a plant that partially lost external power and spilled radioactive water during a recent powerful earthquake is fully

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA and SAM METZ Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The head of Tunisia’s largest opposition party has been sentenced to three years in prison. It’s the latest display of the North African country’s crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied. Rached Ghannouchi, the 82-year-old president of the Islamist party Ennahdha, was

By GABE STERN and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press/Report for America RENO, Nev. (AP) — A new state law requires Nevada to hold a primary election next week, but the Nevada GOP voted to hold their own caucuses, or party-run meetings open to Republicans only. The state GOP will only award delegates needed to win

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin describes Moscow’s military action in Ukraine as a battle for Russia’s survival as he campaigned for reelection next month in balloting that he’s all but certain to win. Speaking at a meeting with arms industries workers Friday in the city of Tula south of Moscow, Putin declared that the

By TARA COPP and ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has bolstered the defenses in place to protect 350 troops at a base in Jordan that was attacked by Iran-backed militants as it prepares to retaliate for a drone attack that killed three service members. The Tower 22 outpost in Jordan was

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president says the country’s government will seek an urgent session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the escalation of tensions with its former province of Kosovo after its government decided to ban the use of the Serbian dinar and introduce the euro in areas

By The Associated Press An aid memo seen by The Associated Press says that Eritrean troops are abducting farmers and stealing hundreds of livestock in border regions of Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The memo prepared on Jan. 31 by the Ethiopia Health Cluster comes 15 months after a cease-fire ended a civil war there and called

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a pre-Grammy event, singer Mariah Carey used the Recording Academy stage to speak about fighting against conforming to certain music industry standards in an effort to create her music that would eventually appeal to the masses. Carey was honored Thursday night at the

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will resume a long-suspended Peace Corps program in the North Pacific island of Palau as the Biden administration continues moves to counter growing Chinese influence in the region. The Peace Corps said Friday it will start sending volunteers back to the island in

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Patrons aboard a floating sauna in a Norwegian fjord rescued two people whose car had plunged into the water. The car appeared to have driven off the quay on Thursday at the Akershusstranda, an area where ships dock at the foot of the Norwegian capital Oslo’s picturesque medieval fortress and castle.

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer The United Nations’ climate chief says to keep Earth from overheating too much, the nations of the world need to put fewer loopholes in climate agreements and far more money — trillions of dollars a year — into financial help for poor nations. In an unusual and blunt Friday

By CIARÁN GILES Associated Press MADRID (AP) — A poster in the southern Spanish city of Seville that depicts a young, handsome Jesus wearing only a loincloth has unleashed a storm on social media, with some calling it an affront to the figure of Christ and others posting lewd remarks and memes poking fun at

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ president has obligated all government ministers to sign a declaration affirming a “zero-tolerance” policy on all sexist attitudes and behavior. It also covers any form of sexual harassment among employees and anyone visiting a government office. Cyprus already has stringent legislation against sexual harassment and sexism in the workplace. But