Month: February 2024

By ZEN SOO AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s government is lifting some curbs on property deals after home prices fell to a seven-year low. Finance minister Paul Chan announced the move in a speech Wednesday presenting the territory’s budget, which also raised spending on tourism promotion. Chan said all curbs imposed

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The hour of Thomas Eugene Creech’s death has been set, and it is rapidly approaching. On Wednesday morning Idaho prison officials will ask the 73-year-old if he would like a mild sedative to help calm him before his execution at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Rather than trying to keep their seats in Congress, two of North Carolina’s U.S. representatives are vying for a role closer to home: state attorney general. It’s one of the most closely watched attorney general races across the U.S. this year. While the role has long been a springboard to

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Thousands of law enforcement officers, firefighters and paramedics are expected to pack a Minnesota church Wednesday for a memorial service for three first responders who were gunned down in the line of duty. They were killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville earlier this month

By ASTRID SUÁREZ and MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian warlord Salvatore Mancuso has been returned to his native country after serving a drug trafficking sentence in the United States. He has been denied several requests to be sent to Italy, where he also has citizenship. Mancuso arrived in Bogota’s El Dorado

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The parents of hundreds of thousands of U.S. children with physical or intellectual disabilities are waiting for state-covered services designed to foster independence and job skills for adulthood. While parents struggle to find services for toddlers, they also must think years ahead while their families are

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas inmate who has long said he’s innocent and claims that his conviction more than 20 years ago was based on false testimony and questionable evidence is facing execution for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin. Ivan Cantu is scheduled to receive a lethal

By EDNA TARIGAN and ACHMAD IBRAHIM Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo has awarded an honorary four-star general rank to Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former high-ranking army officer who is linked to human rights abuses and who emerged as the apparent winner of the Feb. 14 presidential election. The alleged

ROME (AP) — Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was on hand Tuesday for the arrival in Rome of an Italian family of three just hours after their release from two years of captivity in the African nation of Mali. The family, identified as Rocco Langone, his wife Maria Caivano and their adult son Giovanni Langone

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyer says a recommended sentence of 100 years in prison for the FTX founder is “grotesque” and “barbaric” for cryptocurrency crimes. Bankman-Fried lawyer Marc Mukasey filed presentence arguments late Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, seeking leniency. He wrote that the long sentence recommended by

By The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran is holding parliamentary elections this Friday, yet the real question may not be who gets elected but how many people actually turn out to vote. Widespread discontent over the cratering economy, years of mass protests rocking the country, and tensions with the West over

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Court documents show that the star trial witness in the killing of a 20-year-old nursing student in Tennessee is recanting his testimony. Holly Bobo disappeared from her rural Tennessee home in 2011. Jason Autry provided detailed and graphic testimony against Zachary Adams at the 2017 trial.

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — U.S. asylum officers were instructed nearly a year ago to apply a higher screening standard on people who cross the border illegally to claim asylum after passing though another country. But they are too understaffed to have much impact. The Biden administration hails the higher standard

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Ukraine’s president will co-host a summit with Albania’s government on Wednesday that’s meant to encourage further support for Kyiv by southeastern European countries as signs of fatigue grow two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion. It is not immediately clear what the summit is expected to achieve

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A drone small enough to fit in one’s hand flew inside one of the damaged reactors at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Wednesday in hopes it can examine some of the molten fuel debris in areas where earlier robots failed to reach. Tokyo Electric Power

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear a challenge Wednesday to a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a gun accessory used in a Las Vegas massacre that was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. A Texas gun shop owner argues the Trump administration didn’t follow federal law

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden is set to appear Wednesday on Capitol Hill for a closed-door deposition with lawmakers, a critical moment for Republicans as their impeachment inquiry into his father and their family’s business affairs teeters on the brink of collapse. The deposition will mark a decisive point for

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries will begin large-scale annual military drills next week in response to North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats. The Freedom Shield exercise is command post training involving computer simulation, and it will coincide with separate field exercises held jointly by the

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) — One person was injured when a tour helicopter crashed on a remote beach on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The Kauai Fire Department said Tuesday an aircraft operated by Jack Harter Helicopters crashed at Honopu Beach on the Napali Coast, which is a rugged stretch of Kauai that is only accessible

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — At least one quarter of Gaza’s population – 576,000 people – are one step away from famine and virtually the entire population desperately needs food resulting in some aid trucks being shot at, looted and overwhelmed by hungry people, top U.N. officials say. The officials

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Courtroom testimony by an independent gun expert Tuesday cast new doubt on Alec Baldwin’s account that his gun went off without pulling the trigger in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer during a 2021 rehearsal on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” Baldwin has

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. State Department has hosted a screening of the award-winning Associated Press-PBS “Frontline” Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.” Tuesday’s screening was held days after Ukraine marked the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Under Secretary of State Elizabeth Allen said the film not only documented the reality of the

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have won their party’s primaries in Michigan. However, Tuesday’s results showed that both candidates have cause for concern in their bid to to win the swing state in November. An “uncommitted” vote in Michigan’s Democratic primary was the first indication

By ROBERT YOON and MAYA SWEEDLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press declared former President Donald Trump the winner of Michigan’s Republican primary based on an analysis of initial vote returns from a cross-section of the state. With the victory, Trump is now a perfect five-for-five in presidential contests in which he appeared

By MAYA SWEEDLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press declared President Joe Biden the winner of Michigan’s Democratic primary based on an analysis of initial vote returns as the incumbent continues to roll toward renomination. The AP declared Biden the winner at 9:00 p.m. ET with results showing him with an overwhelming lead

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is being allowed to take effect by a federal appeals court in Chicago. The order was issued Tuesday by a panel of justices on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. It removes a preliminary injunction against the ban that a

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana, a state grappling with one of the highest rates of incarceration and violent crime in the country, is on the cusp of overhauling parts of its criminal justice system as the state’s GOP-dominated legislature barrels ahead with a package of bills — ranging from

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A rocket has exploded off the side of a ship traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. It’s the latest suspected attack to be carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The attack Tuesday night comes as the Houthis continue a series

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is one step closer to what would be a landmark shift in health care policy. The Republican-led House is preparing to debate expanding Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands more residents in one of the poorest states in the U.S. The House Medicaid

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The estate of Donna Summer is suing rappers Ye and Ty Dolla $ign alleging they illegally used her 1977 song “I Feel Love” in their most recent collaboration. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court says that when representatives of Ye, formerly Kanye West, asked

By LEA SKENE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Trial began Tuesday for a man accused in the deadly shooting ambush of Baltimore police officer Keona Holley who was sitting in her patrol car when she was killed in 2021. But the case remains shrouded in mystery more than two years later as prosecutors have said

By BABA AHMED Associated Press BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure says at least 31 people were killed and 10 others injured when a driver lost control of a passenger bus in southern Mali.  The bus carrying Malians and nationals from the West African subregion was en route to Burkina Faso

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal court has dismissed a legal challenge to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ policy prohibiting schools from instituting mask requirements. Families of students with disabilities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic brought the legal challenge. The ruling Tuesday marks the conclusion of the yearslong

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green says a $175 million fund to compensate families of people killed in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century will begin accepting applications at the end of the week. The fund for Lahaina wildfire victims will also pay those who were

WEST OLIVE, Mich. (AP) — An embattled public health officer in Michigan will get to keep her job. Adeline Hambley’s lengthy legal fight with county commissioners over pandemic-era mask mandates concluded Tuesday with the board bowing to the will of a court-ordered arbitrator. The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners voted 11-0 Monday to retain Hambley

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press First year student Samuel Woo had been considering a career in cardiology so he would be able to pay off his medical school debt until the announcement this week of a generous donation that will remove tuition fees at his New York City school. Now, without the fear of crippling

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge says Kristina Karamo was properly removed as chair of the Michigan Republican Party back in January. It’s a major decision that came on the same day as Michigan’s presidential primary election. The state GOP has been in turmoil over its finances and other issues. Members of the party

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — The first lawsuit brought amid reports that a nurse at a southern Oregon hospital replaced intravenous fentanyl drips with tap water seeks up to $11.5 million on behalf of the estate of a 65-year-old man who died. The wrongful death suit was filed Monday against Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in

DENVER (AP) — Authorities say bronze artworks stolen from a Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in City Park in Denver, along with seven bronze pieces taken from a nearby fountain, have been recovered. Police say the pieces were sold to a scrap metal business. Denver police said Tuesday that because two memorials were vandalized