Month: March 2024

By FÉLIX MÁRQUEZ Associated Press NOGALES, Mexico (AP) — Forest fires were burning in nearly half of Mexico’s drought-stricken states fueled by strong winds. The National Forestry Commission reported 58 active fires in 15 states, including in protected nature reserves in Morelos, Veracruz and Mexico states. A preliminary estimate of the affected area reached more

By MEG KINNARD and THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Now that Nikki Haley has shuttered her presidential campaign, one person who voted for her refuses to back former President Donald Trump and plans to reluctantly vote for President Joe Biden. Another Haley primary supporter acknowledges that he was probably always a “closet

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. warning to Russia couldn’t have been plainer: Two weeks before the deadliest attack in Russia in years, Americans had publicly and privately advised President Vladimir Putin’s government that “extremists” had “imminent plans” for just such slaughter. The United States shared those advance intelligence indications under

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce his running mate as he races to secure a place on the ballot for his independent campaign for president. He’s holding an event Tuesday in Oakland to name his vice presidential pick. Kennedy is picking a running mate

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — She has crisscrossed the country saying she’s an Irish heiress, a psychic and good friends with a movie star in order to run scores of scams, her victims say. But now Marianne Smyth is in a Maine jail awaiting a hearing next month that will decide whether

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the first nine months of 2023, Sean “Diddy” Combs triumphantly performed at the MTV VMAs, released an R&B album that garnered a Grammy nomination and was a suitor to buy the BET network. But several lawsuits filed late last year raised allegations of

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with Israel’s minister of defense on Tuesday and discuss ways to defeat Hamas other than conducting a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Pentagon said, at a time of rising tensions between the two countries. Maj.

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s returns to court over felony securities fraud charges he’s been facing for nearly a decade, it will put him the closest he’s ever been to standing trial in the case. But it’s unclear if the trial set to begin April

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine needs any edge it can get to repel Russia from its territory. One emerging bright spot is its small but fast-growing defense industry, which the government is flooding with money in hopes that a surge of homemade weapons and ammunition can help turn the tide.

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in its first abortion case since conservative justices overturned the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. At stake in Tuesday’s arguments is the ease of access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — For years, pinning down the source of a bill in the Kansas Legislature could be a chore for lawmakers’ constituents. Committees sponsor almost 85% of the proposals, so finding the group or lobbyist responsible could require questioning multiple lawmakers or, in recent years, reviewing YouTube

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A London court is due to rule whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can challenge extradition to the United States on espionage charges. Two High Court judges will decide on Tuesday whether Assange gets a final appeal in England. His legal team fears he could be quickly sent to

By The Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The numbers have been drawn for an estimated $800 million Powerball jackpot that has grown so large thanks to nearly three dozen consecutive drawings without a winner of the top prize. The numbers drawn Monday night were: 7, 11, 19, 53 68 and red ball: 23

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Hackers linked to the Chinese government launched a state-sponsored operation that targeted New Zealand’s Parliament in 2021, the country’s security minister said. New Zealand’s allegation comes a day after American and British authorities announced a set of criminal charges and sanctions against seven hackers, who targeted U.S. officials, journalists, corporations,

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer was shot and killed Monday during a traffic stop, the city’s mayor said. Mayor Eric Adams announced the slaying to reporters at a hospital in Queens. Police said the shooting happened just before 5:50 p.m. in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. The officer was

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Cabinet OK’d a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets to other countries on Tuesday, its latest step away from the pacifist principles the country adopted at the end of World War II. The controversial decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal court has rejected an appeal from former coal executive Don Blankenship, who argued that Donald Trump Jr. defamed him by calling him a “felon.” The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left in place a lower court’s ruling in West Virginia against Blankenship. The former coal CEO served a

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Cabinet has approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it’s developing with Britain and Italy to other countries. Tuesday’s announcement was the latest move away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland Senate panel has voted to support a Republican nominee to the state elections board to replace a previous board member who resigned when he was charged with participating in the January 2021 rioting at the U.S. Capitol. The Senate Executive Nominations Committee voted Monday night to send Diane Butler’s

By WILL GRAVES AP National Writer The NCAA Tournament could be heading toward expansion. The tournament field is currently set at 68. That number could bump up to 72 or 76 schools in the coming years. There are several factors at play, including how to divide up the increased number of at-large bids in an

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A high school teacher and two students are suing Arkansas over the state’s ban on critical race theory in public schools. The lawsuit was filed Monday by the teacher and students from Little Rock Central High School. That’s the site of the historic 1957 racial

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City plans to intensify a crackdown on subway fare-beating by sending at least 800 police officers specifically to keep watch on turnstiles. Officials announced the initiative Monday. It’s the latest in a string of recent moves to address concerns about safety and unruliness in the nation’s busiest subway system.

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Republican-controlled Senate has tweaked a proposal initially designed to keep the state’s tourism records hidden from public scrutiny. The move on Monday marked an effort to add more sunshine into how the state secures high-profile events. Last month, the GOP-dominant House approved legislation that would

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Two men charged in a brazen prison escape and ambush at an Idaho hospital that left three correctional officers with gunshot injuries were arraigned in Boise on Monday. Skylar Meade, the escaped inmate, and Nicholas Umphenour, a former inmate who used to live in the same

By MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey has a well-earned reputation as a home to backroom political dealing, but some advocates see that as changing. A lawsuit brought by Rep. Andy Kim aims at breaking the boss-dominated culture in this Democratic stronghold. That and first lady Tammy Murphy’s departure from the

NEW YORK (AP) — An early morning dispute over smoking on a New York subway train has led to one man being stabbed multiple times and another man being arrested. Monday morning’s incident happened on a Brooklyn train bound for Manhattan. Police received a 911 call for a person in distress and discovered a 52-year-old

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police on Monday launched an investigation into former President Jair Bolsonaro’s two-night stay at the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia, amid widespread speculation from his opponents that he may have been attempting to evade arrest. A Federal Police source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press New York City’s celebrity owl Flaco was suffering from a pigeon-borne illness and high levels of rat poison when he crashed into a building and died last month. The Eurasian eagle-owl was found dead in a Manhattan courtyard on Feb. 23. A little over a year ago, he escaped a

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic following a spike in dengue cases. The U.S. territory of 3.2 million people has reported at least 549 cases so far this year, compared with a total of 1,293 cases for all of last year. The island’s health department says more than 340

By MIKE STOBBE and JONEL ALECCIA Associated Press Federal officials say that milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu. The virus has also been detected in New Mexico. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the milk supply remains safe. Dairies are required to only allow milk from healthy

By BERT WILKINSON Associated Press GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Fresh turmoil involving a transitional presidential council that will be responsible for choosing Haiti’s new leader has triggered a flurry of meetings with Caribbean leaders and officials from the U.S., Canada and France. A regional official who was not authorized to talk to the media told

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A bill that ultimately would have let voters decide whether or not abortions should be legal in Louisiana, a state with a near-total ban, has failed after a Republican-controlled committee rejected it. The legislation proposed an amendment to Louisiana’s constitution that would enshrine reproductive rights

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Two properties belonging to rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs’ in Los Angeles and Miami were searched Monday by federal Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law enforcement as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York, two law enforcement

By KATHRYN POST Religion News Service (RNS) — Sarah Bowen says she’s been doing the work of an animal chaplain since she was 6 years old. Raised in the Midwest as a Presbyterian preacher’s kid, she was often hauled to hospice facilities and funeral homes but noticed that the chipmunks and other animals crumpled by

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Imprisoned ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has been indicted on 10 new felony counts, including one that would ban him from ever holding public office in the state again. The indictments extend action in what was already the largest corruption case in Ohio’s history. The

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of Southern California hospitality workers have ratified a new contract with 34 hotels after repeated strikes since the summer. Their union says they will keep fighting for deals with more than two dozen others. Unite Here Local 11 announced Monday that workers won higher pay

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Immediately after the Friday evening attack in Moscow that killed at least 137 people, Russian officials were suggesting, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine was responsible. The accusations became one of the first salvos in a disinformation war that has clouded the hearts and minds of people

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are threatening to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress if he does not turn over unredacted materials related to the special counsel probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. That is according to a letter obtained Monday by The Associated

BERLIN (AP) — A union representing many of Germany’s train drivers says it and the country’s main railway operator have reached a deal in a long dispute over working hours and pay that was marked by a string of strikes. Neither the GDL union nor state-owned railway operator Deutsche Bahn gave details of their agreement

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press Former President Donald Trump says he would have responded the same way as Israel did after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas but urged the country to “finish up” its offensive and “get this over with,” warning about international support fading. The comments were made during an interview with

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press Former NBA guard Ben Gordon could see criminal charges against him in Connecticut erased from his record next year if he completes a probation program. Gordon was arrested on weapons and threatening charges last year after a disturbance at a Stamford juice shop. He appeared in court Monday in Stamford,

MIAMI (AP) — Two graduate students from China whose studies were put on hold, and a professor who says he is unable to recruit research assistants, are suing Florida education officials. They are trying to stop enforcement of a new state law which limits research exchanges between state universities and academics from seven prohibited countries.

LONDON (AP) — The newest endangered baby gorilla at the London Zoo is more than six weeks old but doesn’t yet have a name. Zookeepers aren’t even sure if it’s a male or female because they haven’t been able to get close enough to examine it. A photo taken Monday by The Associated Press shows

FRANKLINVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Firefighters in southern New Jersey came to the rescue of a dog who got stuck in a spare tire. The Franklinville Volunteer Fire Company crew found Daisy when they responded to a Franklin Township home last Thursday. The 11-month-old yellow Labrador’s neck was deep in the middle of the tire rim.

GEORGETOWN, Calif. (AP) — Authorities have identified the brothers who were attacked, one fatally, by a mountain lion in Northern California during the weekend. Taylen Robert Claude Brooks was killed in a remote area northeast of Sacramento in the first fatal encounter with a cougar in the state in two decades. His 18-year-old brother survived

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The interim report from the commission investigating Maine’s deadliest mass shooting focused mostly on whether authorities should have taken shooter Robert Card into custody and seized his guns under the state’s so-called yellow flag law. The commission said the sheriff’s office should have initiated that process.

By ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say Pakistani security forces have killed four insurgents as they foiled an attack on a naval facility in the volatile southwestern Baluchistan province. No damage was caused to the Siddiqui air station in the attack that was claimed by the outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army. The

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press An Ohio man who acknowledged making death threats in voicemails left for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs during the 2022 election season has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio, had previously pleaded guilty in Phoenix to a federal charge of making an

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A state parole board member has resigned after recommending the release of a man who authorities said then attacked a pregnant Chicago woman with a knife and fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son. IThe Illinois Prisoner Review Board’s handling of the case has prompted Gov. J.B.

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The daughter of MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley has been reunited with her son as she awaits trial on reckless conduct and other charges after she gave birth in a tent in subfreezing temperatures. Twenty-seven-year-old  Alexandra Eckersley showed up last week for a court

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina court official under investigation amid allegations of tampering with the jury in the Alex Murdaugh trial has announced her resignation. Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill said Monday that her resignation would take effect immediately. Serving as clerk was an honor, she said, citing the office’s work

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — The Colorado university where a student is charged with killing his suitemate and another person in a dorm room last month has hired two former U.S. attorneys to review of what led to the shooting and whether any campus policies and procedures can be improved. The University

JOSHUA GOODMAN CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Throng of supporters of President Nicolas Maduro rallied Monday at a giant stage outside the downtown electoral council headquarters where he is expected to make official his candidacy for a third term. Meanwhile, his would-be rival Corina Yonis struggled against a ticking deadline to register her candidacy _ and