Month: May 2024

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — The betting public is throwing money on Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever as the WNBA prepares to open one of the more-anticipated seasons in league history. A Fever championship would have bookmakers sweating. They are the biggest liability at BetMGM Sportsbook. Nearly half the

MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Acts from more than two dozen countries will take the stage in Malmo, Sweden, to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The action kicks off Saturday at 9 p.m. Central European Summer Time, which is 8 p.m. in Britain and 3 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. and Canada.

By JOHN HANNA and TOM MURPHY Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A cyberattack on the Ascension health system operating in 19 states across the U.S. forced some of its 140 hospitals to divert ambulances, caused patients to postpone medical tests and blocked online access to patient records. A spokesperson for Ascension says it detected

BY ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi government has requested the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the country that Iraq has sought to wind down.

By JAY COHEN AP Sports Writer Flavor Flav believes the hype on the three-time defending Olympic champion U.S. women’s water polo team, and now he’s stepping in to help their quest for another gold medal. The clock-wearing rap icon is sponsoring the team and will be its official hype man at the Paris Games. Team

LAS VEGAS (AP) — About 700 workers have walked off the job at a hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Strip in what union organizers say will be a 48-hour strike after spending months trying to reach a deal for new five-year contract with Virgin Hotels. Culinary Union Local 226 said Friday’s action marks their first

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — Rosemary Ketchum became West Virginia’s first openly transgender lawmaker when she was elected to the Wheeling City Council in 2020. Now, she’s running for mayor of the city of around 26,000 in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Ketchum says her time in local politics has

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Powerful storms left thousands without electricity Friday in Florida and other Southeastern states, where damaging winds toppled trees onto homes and power lines following days of deadly severe weather that produced tornadoes in Michigan, Tennessee and other states. The National Weather Service said wind gusts of 71 mph (114 kph), just

BY STEPHEN McGRATH and NICOLAE DUMITRACHE Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court in Romania’s capital has extended geographical restrictions against online influencer Andrew Tate. He’s awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest Tribunal extended by 60 days the restrictions stipulating that Tate,

ROME (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a $500 million fundraising campaign Friday to ensure long-term, global support for its Oscar prizes, museum, educational programming and screenings in view of its 100th anniversary in 2028. Academy officials announced the campaign at a press conference in Rome alongside the leadership of

By JONEL ALECCIA and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press U.S. health and agriculture officials pledged new spending and other efforts Friday to help track and contain an outbreak of bird flu in the nation’s dairy cows that has spread to more than 40 herds in nine states. The new funds include $101 million to continue work

By PATRICK ORSAGOS Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Bidders will fight with their dollars next week for personal relics and a sword used by Civil War Union General William Tecumseh Sherman at an auction house in Columbus, Ohio. The president of Fleischer’s Auctions said a conservative estimated sales price for the saber is between

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian authorities have arrested President Dina Boluarte’s brother and her lawyer over influence-peddling accusations. Their detentions on Friday come a day after the South American country’s government disbanded a police unit that assisted prosecutors in investigating the president’s inner circle. A judge signed off on the

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Authorities in Argentina say at least 60 people were injured in Buenos Aires when a passenger train struck an empty box car on the tracks and derailed. It was a rare collision that has fueled questions about basic safety.  The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction and life sentence of a 30-year-old woman in the 2017 death and dismemberment of a Nebraska hardware store clerk. Bailey Boswell was convicted in 2020 in the death of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe. Boswell’s co-defendant and

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Malta’s deputy prime minister has resigned and ended his European Commission bid. The resignation of Chris Fearne came after he was charged with fraud in a hospital scandal roiling the Mediterranean island nation. In his resignation letter, Fearne denied wrongdoing but said he must put Malta before everything else. He resigned

By BELA SZANDELSZKY Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Hungary, concluding a tour of three European nations meant to reinforce China’s growing influence on the continent. Xi’s plane took off from Budapest airport on Friday evening. Earlier, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on the social platform X that

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad have prevented a pro-Palestinian rally by a radical Islamist party from moving toward the U.S. Embassy, where demonstrators wanted to stage a sit-in against Israel’s strikes in Gaza. Police on Friday used batons on the demonstrators, angering hundreds of rallygoers who briefly blocked a key road

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Friday upheld the criminal conviction of Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

WOODSTOCK, Va. (AP) — A Virginia school board voted Friday to restore the names of Confederate military leaders to a high school and an elementary school, four years after the names had been removed. Shenandoah County’s school board voted 5-1 to rename Mountain View High School as Stonewall Jackson High School, and Honey Run Elementary

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Liam and Olivia have for a fifth year together topped the list of baby names for brand new boys and girls born in the U.S. in 2023. And Mateo joins the top 10 baby names list for the first time. The Social Security Administration annually tracks the

NORTH CANAAN, Conn. (AP) — It was the barking that saved Rippy, a mutt that fell deep into a working rock quarry. Rescue workers rappelled off a cliff at the Specialty Minerals quarry in Connecticut to rescue the 30-pound terrier mix. Rippy’s owner reported him missing in North Canaan on May 4. Days later, an

By AMY BETH HANSON and RICK BOWMER Associated Press SANDY, Utah (AP) — Search crews on Friday uncovered the bodies of two backcountry skiers who were swept away and buried by an avalanche in the mountains outside Salt Lake City a day earlier and were preparing to bring them off the mountain via helicopter, Salt

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer In her first Eras Tour concert since the release of “The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift shook up her setlist. At Thursday night’s show at the La Défense Arena in Paris, fans were treated to the inclusion of new songs from the record-breaking album released in April. According to

MILAN (AP) — Mock coffins have filled one of Milan’s most famous squares in a protest organized by Italy’s second-largest union to raise awareness over workplace deaths. Protesters lined up 172 cardboard coffins in Piazza La Scala on Friday to symbolize the exact number of workers who died on the job last year in the

CLINTON, Maine (AP) — Officials say a tractor-trailer hauling about 15 million bees to be used to pollinate blueberry fields crashed and overturned on Interstate 95 in Maine. A state police spokesperson said the bees were mostly contained and that the “goal was to save them” after the Thursday night crash. Bees are routinely trucked

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen have abducted at least nine students from a school in northern Nigeria’s Kogi State. Authorities said Friday that the gunmen attacked the school late Thursday night and whisked away the students from their classrooms. The Kogi State Commissioner for Information said the state has “activated

By LIUDAS DAPKUS Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania is holding a presidential election on Sunday at a time when Russian gains on the battlefield in Ukraine are fueling greater fears across all of Europe about Moscow’s intentions. But the anxieties are particularly high in the strategically important Baltic region. The popular incumbent Gitanas

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A 75-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a British police officer who was shot dead during an armed robbery of a travel agency in northern England nearly two decades ago. Piran Ditta Khan, who was convicted last month, was believed

TORONTO (AP) — The WNBA is reportedly heading to Toronto. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that the women’s professional basketball league has awarded a franchise to the Kilmer Group. The reported deal would have Toronto’s WNBA team start playing in May 2026. The WNBA did not confirm the report. The league says “we continue to

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials says the Biden administration is expected to announce a new $400 million package of military aid for Ukraine. The aid comes as Kyiv struggles to hold off advances by Russian troops in the northeast Kharkiv region. This is the third tranche

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge has found that 63-year-old death row inmate Wade Greely Lay is incompetent to be executed. District Judge Tim Mills on Thursday wrote that psychologists found that the prisoner has no “rational understanding” of why he is to be put to death. Defense attorney

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A lot can happen in two years. Just ask Grupo Frontera, who released their highly anticipated sophomore album, “Jugando Que No Pasa Nada,” Friday. The sextet began their career playing quinceañeras in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Viral fame arrived when their spirited cover of “No

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer sentiment fell sharply in May to the lowest level in six months as Americans cited concerns about stubbornly high inflation and interest rates and fears that unemployment could rise. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, released Friday in a preliminary version, dropped to 67.4

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A strong solar storm headed toward Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S. and potentially disrupt communications this weekend. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare geometric storm watch — the first in nearly 20 years. The watch starts Friday and

By BASSEM MROUE and ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force has handed over to Baghdad two Islamic State militants suspected of involvement in the 2014 massacre of Iraqi soldiers. A Syrian war monitor said on Friday that the handover came a day after Iraq’s intelligence service said it had

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by Democrats that challenged Wisconsin’s witness requirements for absentee voting, a ruling that keeps the law in place with the presidential election six months away. The rules for voting in Wisconsin are of heightened interest given its

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Authorities in Russia say that at least three people have been killed and six others injured when a bus veered off a bridge in the country’s second-largest city St. Petersburg. The Emergencies Ministry said that rescuers removed nine people from the water, and three of them died. It said four

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A campaign video for South Africa’s opposition party showing the country’s flag in flames has stoked tensions and led to accusations of treason. The video was released three weeks ahead of what could be the most pivotal national election since the end of the