Month: April 2024

By BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Davante Jennings cast his first vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race and then walked away from politics after Republican Donald Trump’s election that year. Jennings sat out two historic election cycles in Georgia before realizing his cynicism was self-defeating. He’s now 27 years

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and GABRIELA MOLINA Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — International leaders have condemned Ecuador after police in the country’s capital broke into the Mexican Embassy on Friday to arrest a former vice president who had been granted political asylum. The raid prompted Mexico’s president to break off diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer The CMT Music Awards are set to return live from Austin, Texas, with host Kelsea Ballerini. This year’s awards show on Sunday night will feature a tribute to the late Toby Keith performed by Brooks & Dunn, Lainey Wilson and Sammy Hagar and backed by Keith’s longtime band. Other

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court is hearing a case on Monday that seeks an end of German military and other aid to Israel. Nicaragua claims that Berlin is “facilitating” acts of genocide and breaches of international law in Gaza, where Israel’s offensive has left more

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s government has declared flood-hit areas in the Orenburg region a federal emergency, state media reported. The floods, caused by rising water levels in the Ural River, forced over 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate, the regional government said. State news agency Tass said that a further 2,000 homes were flooded,

BEIJING (AP) — China’s military says it has conducted air and sea patrols and that all activities that “disrupt the South China Sea” are under control. The brief announcement on Sunday is an apparent response to joint U.S. naval exercises with its allies. The United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines announced Saturday that they

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and IGNATIUS SSUUNA Associated Press KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwandans are commemorating 30 years since the genocide i n which an estimated 800,000 people were killed by government-backed extremists, shattering the small East African country that continues to grapple with the horrific legacy of the massacres. Rwanda has shown strong economic growth

By ALFIAN KARTONO Associated Press JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Police say two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region. Clashes ensued Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police

By TAIWO ADEBAYO Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A raft of agreements between African countries and Dubai-based company Blue Carbon could give the company control over large swaths of land for conservation projects. In Liberia, 10% of the country’s land area is to be signed away, and 20% in Zimbabwe. Activists say that previous

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Powerball drew the numbers early Sunday morning for an estimated $1.3 billion jackpot after a delay of more than three hours. The numbers drawn were: 22, 27, 44, 52, 69 and the red Powerball 9. The latest drawing was the 41st since the last time someone won the jackpot on

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A bespoke globe in the age of Google Earth? London globemaker Peter Bellerby says plenty of people are shelling out big money for orbs as large as 50 inches across. He says his company sells about 600 a year, the work of two dozen artists and cartographers.

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Voters across Poland are casting ballots in local elections in what is the first electoral test for the coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, nearly four months after taking power. Voters will elect mayors as well as members of municipal councils and provincial assemblies.

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — They prowl through palace gardens stalking pigeons and make cameos on televised press briefings. Some greet tourists at the doors, while others take a sneaky lick of ice cream from staff. Nineteen feral cats have free rein of Mexico’s National Palace, long roaming the lush gardens

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia United Students’ Union is the leading oppositional force against cuts at the state’s flagship university. The union has organized protests, circulated petitions and helped save a handful of teaching positions before 143 faculty and 28 majors were ultimately cut. West Virginia University in

By JULIA FRANKEL and WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press NUSEIRAT, Gaza Strip (AP) — Rockets streaked through the morning sky in Gaza on Oct. 7 as Amal Al-Taweel hurried to the hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, already in labor. After a difficult birth, she and her husband, Mustafa, finally got to hold Ali, the

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press LIBBY, Mont. (AP) — Paul Resch remembers playing baseball as a kid on a field constructed from asbestos-tainted vermiculite, mere yards from railroad tracks where trains kicked up clouds of dust as they hauled the contaminated material from a mountaintop mine through the northwestern Montana town

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers are meeting at the Capitol for a session that will focus on Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ $6.3 billion proposed budget for the coming year. The budget is the top agenda item for the session that kicks off Wednesday with Sanders addressing the Legislature.

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — As he nears his 100th birthday, the oldest-ever president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created a mixed legacy that some churchgoers say has made its global membership feel more included but has left LGBTQ+ and other minority members feeling unsupported.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and sent a message of mutual cooperation despite the nations’ differences. Yellen came to China top of mind with trade practices that put American companies and workers at an unfair competitive disadvantage. In the ornate

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball lottery drawing has been delayed to complete procedures required before the numbers are announced. The organizers say the Saturday night drawing for the game, including an estimated $1.3 billion jackpot, has been delayed to enable one of the organizers to complete required procedures. The drawing was scheduled to

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Basketball Writer GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — UConn kept its bid to repeat as national champion intact by surviving its first true test of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies got 21 points from freshman Stephon Castle while clamping down defensively in the second half of an 86-72 win over Alabama in the

By SHAWN SEBASTIAN and SIBI ARASU Associated Press GUNTUR, India (AP) — India’s southern Andhra Pradesh state has become a positive example of the benefits of natural farming, a process of using organic matter as fertilizers and pesticides that makes crops more resilient to bad weather, and advocates say active government support is the primary

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Purdue kept its March Madness dream alive while snuffing out North Carolina State’s, getting 20 points and 12 rebounds from Zach Edey in a 63-50 victory that placed the Boilermakers a win from their first NCAA title. N.C. State poked and jabbed at the 7-foot-4

Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — An influential pastor and civil rights leader in Los Angeles has died. The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray died Friday, according to an announcement from the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Murray spent 27 years as pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Iowa’s 71-69 victory over UConn at the women’s Final Four on Friday night averaged 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-viewed women’s basketball game on record and the largest audience for an ESPN basketball broadcast. The previous women’s hoops mark was 12.3 million for last Monday’s Iowa-LSU game in

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Democrat Joseph E. Brennan, whose hardscrabble childhood shaped his working-class views in a political career that included two terms as Maine’s governor and two terms in the U.S. House, died Friday evening at his home in Portland. He was 89. Brennan died with his wife at

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — On Friday night, diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ecuador dramatically imploded after Ecuadorian police burst into Mexico’s embassy in Quito and arrested Jorge Glas, Ecuador’s former vice president. What has provoked such fierce outrage? International law experts and leaders across the region have said that the

CLEVELAND (AP) — South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said she believes transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Staley was asked at the news conference the day before her unbeaten Gamecocks faced Iowa for the national championship for her opinion on the issue. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was later asked the same

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and GABRIELA MOLINA Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadorian authorities have taken the extraordinarily unusual step of breaking into a foreign embassy to arrest a former vice president facing corruption charges. It’s a move that earned the administration of President Daniel Noboa swift condemnation from fellow leaders as well as

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer WAXAHACHIE, Texas (AP) — Small town businesses are embracing the eclipse crowds, as weekend festivities heat up before Monday’s big event. Overcast skies are forecast for Monday’s cosmic wonder across Texas, already packing in eclipse chasers. Daytime darkness will follow a narrow corridor from Mexico’s Pacific coast to Texas

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Eleven people were injured when a bus carrying University of South Carolina students blew a tire and hit a concrete barrier in Mississippi. State troopers say the driver and a student were critically injured and taken by helicopter to hospitals after the crash Friday. Nine other students were taken

ISFAHAN, Iran (AP) — A top military commander Saturday renewed Iran’s promise to retaliate after an airstrike earlier this week widely blamed on Israel destroyed Iran’s consulate in Syria, killing 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s joint chief of staff, told mourners gathered for the funeral of Gen. Mohammad Reza