MEXICO CITY (AP) — Rafael has weakened to a tropical storm and was expected to dissolve over the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days after barreling across Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane. Rafael was located 2,490 miles (470 km) north-northwest of Progreso, Mexico on Saturday. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph
Continue Reading Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have returned to their country since Israel launched a massive aerial bombardment on wide swathes of Lebanon in September. Many who fled to Lebanon after the war in Syria started in 2011 did not want to go back. But for officials in Lebanon, the
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Associated Press QUITO (AP) — Ecuador’s Vice President Veronica Abad has been suspended for 150 days accused of “unjustified abandonment” of her duties. It comes during a public rift between Abad and President Daniel Noboa that could have implications for Ecuador’s February elections. Abad’s suspension without pay came at midnight, her lawyer Dominique Dávila told
Continue Reading By Becky Anderson and Tamar Michaelis, CNN (CNN) — Qatar is suspending its role as a mediator in talks between Israel and Hamas after concluding that the two sides are no longer negotiating in good faith, its foreign ministry said Saturday. Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’ political office in Doha since 2012, has alongside Egypt
Continue Reading Associated Press Actor Tony Todd, known for his haunting portrayal of a killer in the horror film “Candyman” and roles in many other films and television shows, has died, his longtime manager confirmed. He was 69. Todd died Wednesday at his home in the Los Angeles area, his manager Jeffrey Goldberg said in a statement
Continue Reading By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN (CNN) — Rod Ashby was desperate to find his wife Kim Ashby after their newly built home in Elk Park, North Carolina, was swept away by Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters in late September and she went missing. His daughter, Ansley Ashby, told CNN her father needed a four-wheel drive pickup to
Continue Reading CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Another man charged with carrying a flaming torch with the intent to intimidate during a 2017 rally at the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville has agreed to a plea deal. The Daily Progress reported that 32-year-old Dallas Medina of Ravenna, Ohio, was originally indicted on a felony intimidation charge, but
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department will appeal a military judge’s ruling that plea agreements struck by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and two of his co-defendants are valid, a defense official said Saturday. The ruling this past week voided Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s order to
Continue Reading AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Election officials say a ranked-choice voting tabulation aimed at determining the winner of a key congressional race in Maine starts in the coming week. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden claims he won the election but the secretary of state said neither Golden nor Republican Austin Theriault surpassed 50% of first-place votes.
Continue Reading Associated Press PRAGUE (AP) — Lithuania’s defense minister says European nations should not repeat the same mistake of creating a barrier between them and President-elect Donald Trump but instead cooperate on issues of common interest. Assuming that Trump will again apply what Laurynas Kasčiūnas called “his contract approach to our relations,” Kasčiūnas outlined areas where
Continue Reading Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Arizona legislator Justin Heap has been elected to oversee elections in the state’s most populous county. The Maricopa County recorder-elect has criticized how elections are administered in the jurisdiction of some 4.5 million, calling them insecure. Heap’s victorious path started with his Republican primary win in July over Recorder
Continue Reading Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian police say a 31-year-old American tourist has been killed while on vacation in the capital. The suspect is a 37-year-old Irish man who was arrested. The victim is Mackenzie Michalski from Oregon. She was reported missing on Nov. 5 after she was last seen at a nightclub in
Continue Reading SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Russia has opened the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in the city of Sochi, seeking to deepen ties with African nations and dispel a notion that it’s isolated by Western sanctions. The conference is billed as building on last summer’s Russia-Africa summit, where Russian President Vladimir Putin courted
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump for a traditional postelection meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said Saturday. Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of
Continue Reading GENEVA (AP) — Authorities in eastern Switzerland on Saturday ordered residents of a tiny village to prepare to evacuate as an Alpine rockslide looming overhead threatened to break loose and spill down on their homes. It was the second time that residents of Brienz received evacuation orders after a similar threat last summer. Local officials
Continue Reading Associated Press TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — A resident of the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre says an Israeli airstrike has left at least seven dead, among them five siblings, three of whom were deaf and mute. Elsewhere in Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes killed 31 people. Israel meanwhile carried out airstrikes on different parts of southern
Continue Reading Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A prominent Iranian American human rights activist has expressed shock but also defiance about Iranian murder-for-hire plots to kill her and Donald Trump that were disclosed by the U.S. Justice Department. Masih Alinejad was in Berlin on Saturday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
Continue Reading NEW YORK (AP) — The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrived in New York City on Saturday, signaling the start of the holiday season in the Big Apple. The 74-foot Norway spruce was driven into Manhattan’s Center Plaza, where it was hoisted in place by a crane. It will take 5 miles (about 8 kilometers) of
Continue Reading AP Health Writer The majority of strokes could be prevented, according to new guidelines aimed at helping people and their doctors do just that. Stroke was the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than half a million Americans have a
Continue Reading Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Tens of thousands have celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall 35 years ago in Germany’s capital. There were open-air concerts, art installations and official events on Saturday commemorating one of the country’s most historic days on Nov. 9, 1989. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that it was “a lucky
Continue Reading ROME (AP) — Tourists in Rome won’t be allowed to toss coins over their shoulders into the Trevi Fountain, following tradition, though an elevated walkway now gives limited access to the monument during maintenance work. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri inaugurated the steel walkway on Saturday, saying it will provide tourists with a close-up view of
Continue Reading Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Stefanos Kasselakis, a businessman who burst into Greek politics over a year ago, says he’s leaving left-wing Syriza, the country’s main opposition party he had led, and forming his own. Kasselakis announced he was leaving Syriza Friday after a two-day party congress refused to consider his leadership candidacy in
Continue Reading By Victoria Butenko and Sophie Tanno, CNN (CNN) — Ukraine launched a drone attack on a Russian chemical plant in the western city of Tula overnight on Friday into Saturday, according to the country’s security service. Russian authorities have not acknowledged the attack. According to the SBU, Aleksinsky chemical plant was hit by at least
Continue Reading By Graham Hurley, CNN (CNN) — A day before Morgan Perigo’s 83rd birthday last month, an unexpected package showed up on his doorstep. In it was the 1965 McMaster University graduation ring he lost in 1977. The package was from Alex Davis, a professional free diver and spear fisherman who runs a tourism business in
Continue Reading By Zoe Sottile, Jean Casarez and Dalia Faheid, CNN (CNN) — A jury on Saturday wrapped up a third day of deliberations in the highly publicized double murder trial of Richard Allen, who is accused of killing two teenage girls and leaving their bodies near a hiking path in the small town of Delphi, Indiana,
Continue Reading Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has canceled his planned trip to United Nations climate talks in Azerbaijan so he can stay in the Netherlands to deal with the fallout from assaults on fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in Amsterdam that authorities condemned as antisemitic. Schoof said
Continue Reading LONDON (AP) — Queen Camilla will miss Britain’s annual remembrance weekend events to honor fallen service personnel while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said Saturday. The wife of King Charles III, was due to join the royal family at a “Festival of Remembrance” at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night. The
Continue Reading Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — From Pennsylvania to Florida to Texas, areas with high numbers of Hispanics often had little in common on Election Day other than backing Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Trump, the president-elect, made inroads in heavily Puerto Rican areas of eastern Pennsylvania where the vice president spent
Continue Reading By Tim Lister, Ibrahim Dahman and Tamar Michaelis, CNN (CNN) — Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations. In a detailed report verifying fatalities in Gaza in the first
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — While inflation and immigration emerged as the dominant themes in this year’s presidential race, another issue was prominent in the minds of voters for both major candidates: the stakes for democracy. Half of voters identified democracy as the single most important motivating factor for their vote. That was higher than
Continue Reading Associated Press ROME (AP) — One of the eight migrants brought for processing in an Albanian center after being intercepted in international waters has returned to Italy after being deemed “vulnerable.” That’s according to delegation of Italian activists and lawmakers visiting the center Saturday. An acrtivist said that the Egyptian man was diagnosed with “psychic
Continue Reading Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — With virtually no food allowed into the northernmost part of Gaza for the past month, tens of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli siege are rationing their last lentils and flour to survive. As bombardment pounds around them, some say they risk their lives by venturing out in search of cans
Continue Reading Associated Press AGUA CLARA, Brazil (AP) — Two years of record-breaking drought have dealt a heavy blow to what is arguably the Amazon’s most successful sustainable economy: the managed fishery for the giant pirarucu, also known as arapaima. In Brazil´s Amazonas state, almost 6,000 riverine dwellers who are authorized to fish have reported a sharp
Continue Reading Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s police watchdog is assessing complaints from two women over how the Metropolitan Police handled sex crime allegations they made against the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Police have been reviewing multiple allegations of rape or sexual assault against the billionaire owner of the famed London department store. Al
Continue Reading AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Fed up with high prices and unimpressed with an economy that by just about any measure is a healthy one, Americans demanded change when they voted for president. They could get it. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to topple many of the Biden administration’s economic policies. Trump campaigned on
Continue Reading KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s deputy foreign minister says Moscow is open to hearing President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals on ending the war in Ukraine. Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow and Washington were “exchanging signals” on Ukraine via “closed channels.” He did not specify whether the communication was with the current administration or Trump and members of
Continue Reading Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Qatar has suspended its key mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, it said Saturday, after growing frustration with the lack of progress on a cease-fire deal for Gaza. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the remaining Hamas leadership hosted by Qatar must leave, or where it would go.
Continue Reading Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to maintain close ties with China during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, his first overseas stop since he took office three weeks ago. Subianto is seeking to strengthen relations with China, Indonesia’s largest trading partner. Saturday’s visit to Beijing is
Continue Reading By Harmeet Kaur, CNN (CNN) — In the hours and days since it became clear that Donald Trump would be re-elected president of the United States, there’s been a surge of interest in the US for 4B. Young liberal women across TikTok and Instagram are discussing and sharing information about the South Korean feminist movement,
Continue Reading Associated Press The spotlight is on Azerbaijan as the small petrostate in the South Caucasus hosts the U.N.’s biggest climate conference. Diplomats from across the world will descend on the capital Baku for the annual climate summit, known as COP29, to discuss how to avoid increasing threats from climate change in a place that was
Continue Reading By Dalia Faheid, Ashley R. Williams, Jack Forrest, Jillian Sykes and Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — Federal and state authorities are working to find the origins of racist text messages sent to Black people across the country referencing slavery and telling them they were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” Children, college students
Continue Reading By Chris Lau, CNN (CNN) — A seaman who fell off a cargo ship survived almost 20 hours at sea before being rescued off Australia’s southeastern coast on Friday, according to emergency services. The man in his 30s drifted several kilometers in the open sea before he was pulled from the water by a recreational
Continue Reading Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Bribery and conspiracy charges against the mayor are the latest shock to Mississippi’s capital, where a federally appointed official is running the water system after it nearly collapsed and state police are patrolling parts of the majority-Black city because of white legislators’ concerns about crime. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar
Continue Reading By Sophia Saifi and Asim Khan, CNN (CNN) — A suicide bombing at a train station in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday killed at least 25 people, as a separatist militant group in the region said it carried out the attack. Another 53 people were injured in the attack in the city of Quetta, Commissioner Hamza
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen won reelection early Saturday morning after The Associated Press declared she had beat Republican Sam Brown in a race that turned on Rosen’s strong performance in the state’s two largest counties — Clark and Washoe. With nearly all of the vote counted, the AP called
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has won his sixth battleground state of the 2024 election, beating Vice President Kamala Harris in Nevada. The Associated Press declared Trump the winner early Saturday after concluding there were not enough uncounted ballots in the state’s strongest Democratic areas to overcome the former president’s 46,000-vote lead
Continue Reading Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically, officials said. The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel
Continue Reading Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada has won reelection. The Democrat won her second term over Republican challenger Sam Brown, who was endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump. Rosen positioned herself as a nonpartisan advocate for her state while hammering Brown for his opposition to abortion rights. Brown tried to
Continue Reading Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has renewed a pledge to build up his country’s military and deepen its alliance with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump. Ishiba, who made the comments at an annual troop review held at Camp Asaka in the Tokyo suburbs, said the security environment surrounding
Continue Reading Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen won reelection to a U.S. Senate seat in Nevada on Saturday, fending off a fierce challenge from Republican Sam Brown. A first-term moderate in a presidential battleground state, Rosen was among the GOP’s top targets. She campaigned on lowering costs for the middle class, defending abortion rights and tackling the climate
Continue Reading Former President Donald Trump won Nevada on Saturday, returning the state and its six electoral votes to Republicans for the first time since President George W. Bush carried it in 2004. Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris made multiple campaign stops in the state this year. Most of Nevada’s counties are rural and voted heavily for
Continue Reading Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Michael Woods has visited his wife, Mary, every day since she moved into a nursing home two years ago. But on Sunday, the 100-year-old Royal Air Force veteran will skip the daily get-together so he can fulfill another duty — honoring the men he served with during World War II.
Continue Reading Associated Press/Report for America BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana lawmakers have advanced bills to flatten the state’s income tax rate and repeal the corporate franchise tax in a special legislative session focused on passing Gov. Jeff Landry’s sweeping tax reform package. House committees have overwhelmingly voted to support the two bills, which are slated
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The election of Donald Trump returns an ally of school choice to the White House, this time with a Republican-controlled Senate — and potentially House — that could be more supportive of proposals that fizzled during his first term. Although proposals to expand private schooling suffered high-profile defeats in several
Continue Reading Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Works from the Boy Scouts of America’s art collection, including some paintings by Norman Rockwell, will go up for auction to help compensate tens of thousands of people, mainly men, who were sexually abused while in scouting. Heritage Auctions in Dallas will offer up more than two dozen works on
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Party faces existential questions after Donald Trump’s resounding victory. One of the first: Who will lead it? Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison is not expected to seek a second term, opening a job that must be filled by March 1, according to the party’s bylaws. Who takes
Continue Reading Associated Press The election of Republican Kelly Ayotte as New Hampshire’s governor means 13 women will serve as a state’s chief executive next year, breaking the record of 12 set after the 2022 elections. Governors hold powerful sway in American politics, shaping state policy and often using the experience and profile gained to launch campaigns
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-abortion advocates say there is still work to be done to further restrict access to abortion when Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House next year. They point to the federal guidance that the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden released around emergency abortions, requiring that hospitals provide them
Continue Reading AP Entertainment Writer The first “Saturday Night Live” since Donald Trump’s election victory began with the most somber of tones as a group of plainly dressed cast members, primarily women and minorities, described their new reality. “To many people, including many people watching right now, the results were shocking and even horrifying,” Ego Nwodim soberly
Continue Reading Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on two generals in Sudan’s paramilitary force for their key roles in the war against the country’s military. The war has seen ethnically motivated attacks and atrocities. Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary
Continue Reading Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military says North Korea has disrupted GPS signals from border areas for a second-straight day on Saturday. The interference is affecting an unspecified number of flights and vessel operations. Tensions between the rival Koreas are escalating as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un flaunts his advancing
Continue Reading Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who was sworn in as the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday, will draw one of the highest police chief salaries in the U.S. for a major city. Before the ceremony, the city council approved McDonnell’s base salary of
Continue Reading By Emma Tucker, CNN (CNN) — Investigators in Wisconsin used genetic genealogy to solve a 50-year-old cold case this week, charging an 84-year-old Minnesota man with killing a woman who was found dead in 1974, authorities said. Mary K. Schlais, 25, was found dead at an intersection in the township of Spring Brook, Wisconsin on
Continue Reading Associated Press BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama (AP) — Jesús Chávez, a 34-year-old pastry chef from Venezuela, arrived to a village at Panama’s edge of the Darien jungle. He was traveling with five others, a mix of friends and family. They had all left Venezuela last Saturday with the goal of reaching the United States. He said
Continue Reading PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas has won reelection in Oregon’s 6th Congressional District. The freshman incumbent beat Republican Mike Erickson for a second term in Congress after outraising him by millions of dollars. Erickson was running for Congress for the fourth time and previously lost to Salinas in the district in
Continue Reading Associated Press/Report for America RESERVE, La. (AP) — A southeast Louisiana school board voted to shut down a predominantly Black elementary school next to a petrochemical facility embroiled in multiple lawsuits over its high levels of toxic emissions. Denka Performance Elastomer LLC produces a synthetic rubber used for wetsuits and laptop sleeves and has exposed
Continue Reading Democratic Rep. Andrea Salinas won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Oregon on Friday. Salinas, a first-term congresswoman, defeated Republican Mike Erickson, who also ran against her unsuccessfully in 2022. Democrat Joe Biden would have comfortably carried the Salem-based district in the 2020 presidential election. The Associated Press declared Salinas the winner at 8:31
Continue Reading Democrat Lateefah Simon won election to a U.S. House seat representing California on Friday. The district in northern California is the most Democratic district in the entire country, according to the Cook Partisan Voter Index. Simon, born legally blind, has served on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors since 2016 and was elected
Continue Reading Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Cherokee Nation Entertainment has filed a lawsuit challenging a measure Arkansas voters approved this week that revokes its license for a planned casino in the state. The lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday claims the measure violates its constitutional rights. The lawsuit seeks to have the constitutional
Continue Reading MEXICO CITY (AP) — Gunmen have killed a navy rear admiral in Mexico, one of the highest-ranking officers slain in the country in the last decade. The navy said Friday that a rear admiral _ which is just below full admiral, the Navy’s highest rank _ had been shot to death in the Pacific coast
Continue Reading PHOENIX (AP) — A natural gas utility that serves more than 2 million customers in Arizona, Nevada and parts of California is being fined $2 million by regulators in Arizona. The Arizona Corporation Commission on Friday announced it reached a consent agreement with Southwest Gas that includes the civil penalty and requires more inspections. At
Continue Reading JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former sheriff in Mississippi’s largest county has been convicted on federal charges of soliciting bribes and providing ammunition to a convicted felon. Marshand Crisler of Jackson was acting Hinds County sheriff for part of 2021 after the death of the elected sheriff, Lee Vance. Crisler was convicted Friday and faces
Continue Reading NEW YORK (AP) — A parked vehicle containing gas cylinders and other flammable materials has exploded on a residential street in New York City, damaging homes, other vehicles and overhead power lines. Deputy Fire Chief George Healy says no injuries were reported, but five homes and five vehicles were destroyed in the Friday morning blast.
Continue Reading By Julia Vargas Jones, CNN (CNN) — A businessman was killed in an apparently targeted shooting at São Paulo’s international airport on Friday, CNN Brasil reports. Three others were also injured in the incident, which saw around five assailants exit a black vehicle and open fire on businessman Antônio Vinicius Gritzbach, CNN Brasil said citing
Continue Reading Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has ruled that New York City can’t use a two-century-old “anti-pauper” law to block the state of Texas from offering migrants free bus rides to the city. The court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from Mayor Eric Adams targeting charter bus companies paid by the southern border
Continue Reading Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Army has awarded a $435 million contract to build a TNT production plant in western Kentucky. Officials said Friday it will become the first domestic source for the explosive material in decades. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was a key player in securing the funding. He says
Continue Reading Associated Press The rhesus macaque monkeys that escaped a South Carolina medical lab this week are among the most studied animals on the planet. For more than a century, they’ve held a mirror to humanity through research on their behaviors, organ systems and genetic code. These bare-faced primates with expressive eyes have been launched into
Continue Reading Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Don Bacon has been elected to a fifth House term representing Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd District, nearly three days after the polls closed. Bacon held a news conference Wednesday morning declaring victory. But his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Tony Vargas, declined to concede the tight race, with around 15,000
Continue Reading SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency in 23 counties swamped by flooding rainstorms. Kemp’s order Friday covers a wide section of southern Georgia that was inundated Wednesday and Thursday by heavy rains. The National Weather Service says more than 12 inches of rainfall caused flooding in Valdosta
Continue Reading Associated Press INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A woman and a child are dead after an officer fired a weapon while responding to a domestic disturbance at an apartment in the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri. “Heartbreaking” is how Police Chief Adam Dustman described it at a news conference. He says the woman was armed
Continue Reading Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Board of Corrections has approved an 815-acre site where it plans to build a new prison, despite objections from some residents. The board on Friday voted to accept the land the state had purchased for nearly $3 million to build a planned 3,000-inmate prison. Gov. Sarah
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Several federal and state agencies are investigating how racist mass texts were sent to Black people across the country in the wake of the presidential election this week. The text messages invoking slavery were sent to Black men, women and children, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other law enforcement
Continue Reading Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons, leaning on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that strictly interpret the Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms. U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn said his Friday decision applied universally, not just to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. The Protect
Continue Reading NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police have apprehended a man who they say shot and wounded another man on a Manhattan street and then fled into the city’s vast subway system. The shooting led to delays during the Thursday morning commute. Police say Eduardo Diaz was apprehended at his home in Queens on
Continue Reading WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy; radio host Charlamagne tha God. ___ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. ___ CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sanders; Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. ___ CBS’ “Face the Nation” — National security adviser Jake Sullivan;
Continue Reading Republican Rep. Don Bacon won a fifth term representing the Omaha-centered U.S. House district for Nebraska on Friday. In yet another hard-fought bid, Bacon defeated Democrat Tony Vargas, a state lawmaker, in a rematch of their 2022 race. Unlike other GOP candidates in the solidly Republican state, Bacon emphasized his bipartisan credentials and highlighted his
Continue Reading Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Police say they have arrested a man in a spate of random stabbings over two days in Seattle in which nine people were injured. Police say five people were stabbed on Friday and one person was taken into custody in Seattle. The Seattle Police Department says the stabbings happened in
Continue Reading Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Hunger experts are warning that there’s “a strong likelihood” famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza where Israeli forces are conducting a major offensive. An alert issued Friday by the four experts called the humanitarian situation throughout the Gaza Strip “extremely grave and rapidly deteriorating” and worst in
Continue Reading Associated Press EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz has vowed make Minnesota a safe haven for the values that drove the Democratic presidential ticket he helped lead. Walz also promised to work harder to understand the concerns of President-elect Donald Trump’s voters. Walz addressed a crowd of supporters Friday inside a Minnesota high school
Continue Reading Associated Press LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Hundreds of Bolivian devotees have arrived at the municipal cemetery of La Paz carrying human skulls adorned with flowers for the Ñatitas festival. It is a custom rooted in the Andean region, but not recognized by the Catholic church. According to Bolivian belief, devotees ask Ñatitas for health,
Continue Reading WASHINGTON (AP) — Spain’s largest telecommunications operator will pay more than $85 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into a scheme to bribe Venezuelan officials with a lavish Caribbean vacation and expensive watches. The agreement with Telefónica S.A. announced Friday is the second time that the telco giant has faced bribery accusations in
Continue Reading Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie says he will make streets safer, help small businesses and squash the open-air drug markets that have tarnished San Francisco’s image in recent years. Lurie spoke Friday at a park in Chinatown, making his first public remarks since San Francisco Mayor London Breed called
Continue Reading Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to launch a mass deportation of millions of undocumented people is a top focus for Canada s the country plans to deal with a possible influx north. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau re-established a special Cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations this week to address his administration’s concerns
Continue Reading Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A jury has awarded more than $12 million to a woman who lost her job at a Michigan insurance company after declining to get a COVID-19 vaccination. Much of the award is for punitive damages against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Lisa Domski worked at Blue Cross for more
Continue Reading MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has extended avocado import permissions to Guatemala, but don’t expect that to result in cheaper guacamole anytime soon. For nearly 30 years, Mexico has been practically the only source of imported avocados — along with small amounts from South America — because of concerns that plant diseases and
Continue Reading Associated Presss WASHINGTON (AP) — A good-governance group is warning of severe consequences if President-elect Donald Trump continues to steer clear of formal transition planning with the Biden administration — inaction that it says is already limiting the federal government’s ability to provide security clearances and briefings to the incoming administration. Without it, says Max
Continue Reading WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is expected to try next week to pass a Social Security-related bill to ensure benefits for workers who are also eligible for other pensions. The effort comes despite a surprise move by hard-right Freedom Caucus leaders to derail the bill. The legislation, if approved, would repeal the provisions that reduce
Continue Reading SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police said that unidentified gunmen in a black car killed at least one person and wounded another three Friday afternoon at Sao Paulo’s international airport in Guarulhos. Police said the fatal victim is Antônio Vinícius Lopes Gritzbach, who had previously received death threats from the First Command of the Capital,
Continue Reading HAVANA (AP) — Hurricane Rafael has weakened into a tropical storm as it swirls through the Gulf of Mexico where it is expected to break apart after plowing through Cuba, knocking out the country’s power grid and collapsing hundreds of houses. On Friday night, the tropical storm was located 240 miles (390 kms) north of
Continue Reading AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s highway safety agency says Tesla is telling drivers in public statements that its vehicles can drive themselves. That conflicts with owners manuals that say the vehicles need human supervision. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking the company to make sure its messages are consistent
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