Month: August 2023

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press DOMBOSHAVA, Zimbabwe (AP) — Ahead of national elections next week, some people in Zimbabwe’s rural areas say they are facing intimidation from supporters of the long-ruling ZANU-PF party and a biased state-run media that restricts their options. To combat that, one group of grandmothers is using the WhatsApp messaging app

By DAVID SHARP, JIM MORRIS and MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Firefighters battling wildfires in western Canada received help from reinforcements and milder weather Saturday, after the nation’s worst fire season on record destroyed structures, fouled the air with thick smoke and prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents.

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Public health advocates say Georgia appears to be doing little to promote its new Medicaid plan or enroll people in it. The program expanded Medicaid coverage to people making up to 100% of the poverty line, but only if they document they are working, volunteering, studying or

By CHINEDU ASADU, GERALD IMRAY, FARAI MUTSAKA and PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Business has vanished at Kingsley Odafe’s clothing shop in Nigeria’s capital, forcing him to lay off three employees. One culprit for his troubles stands out: The U.S. dollar’s strength against the Nigerian currency, the naira, has pushed the price

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he will visit the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on Sunday before setting a release date for its treated radioactive wastewater, as his government continues working to promote understanding over the controversial plan at home and abroad. It is time to make

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hours before a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio and erupted in fire in February, a judge ruled a former railroad employee could proceed with a lawsuit claiming he had been harassed for years by managers who said he reported too many flaws in rail

By DAVID A. LIEB and KAVISH HARJAI Associated Press Joplin officials say they have big plans for $13.8 million of pandemic relief funds the tornado-ravaged southwestern Missouri city received under a two-year-old federal law. Yet the latest federal records show none of the money has been spent — or even budgeted. In fact, about 6,300

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The loop Donald Trump’s private jet made above the Iowa State Fair before his visit last weekend was more than just a gesture to the hundreds of supporters — and a few rival candidates — on the ground. It was a reminder

By SONIA PÉREZ D. Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Supreme Court of Justice has granted a permanent injunction to the party of progressive presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo. The ruling blocking a lower court’s order last month to suspend the party’s legal status came Friday, just two days before the presidential runoff election. Court

By CARLA BRIDI Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Then Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ordered an aide to sell undeclared luxury jewelry received as a gift and funnel the money to him, a lawyer for the aide charged Friday. Cezar Bittencourt, who represents Bolsonaro’s former right-hand man, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, said his client had

PAGE, Ariz. (AP) — The National Park Service will renew efforts to rid an area of the Colorado River in northern Arizona of invasive fish by killing them with a chemical treatment, the agency said Friday. A substance lethal to fish but approved by federal environmental regulators called rotenone will be disseminated starting Aug. 26.

DENVER (AP) — A United Airlines pilot has been charged with criminal mischief for allegedly using an ax to destroy a barrier gate at an employee parking lot at Denver’s airport, telling authorities he was trying to help several drivers exit and “he just hit his breaking point.” Kenneth Henderson Jones, 63, is accused of

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Prosecutors say a Connecticut man has been convicted of killing his roommate with a samurai-style sword after a dispute over rent. Jurors delivered their verdict Friday. They found 45-year-old Jerry David Thompson guilty of murder in the 2020 stabbing death of Victor King. The Hartford state’s attorney’s office says Thompson owed

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Fast-moving wildfires raced through Washington state on Friday, burning some homes and prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people in small rural communities. One of the largest blazes, the so-called Gray Fire near Spokane in eastern Washington, began around noon and a few hours later had surged through 4.7 square miles

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, KATE BRUMBACK and ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Federal judges in Georgia and Texas have ruled against key provisions of two controversial election laws passed two years ago as the Republican Party sought to tighten voting rules after former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential contest. U.S.

PHOENIX (AP) — An Internal Revenue Service agent who was shot and killed during a routine training exercise in Phoenix was identified by the agency Friday. Special agent Patrick Bauer, 47, was fatally wounded Thursday at a firing range in north Phoenix, the IRS said in a news release. Bauer was a retired master sergeant

Associated Press CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) — President Joe Biden is keeping mum about Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to name a special counsel in the investigation of his son Hunter Biden. Speaking at a news conference at the conclusion of his Camp David summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors say they will not seek the death penalty against a Utah mother who’s accused of killing her husband, then writing a children’s book about coping with grief. Prosecutors accuse 33-year-old Kouri Richins of poisoning 39-year-old Eric Richins by slipping five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a cocktail.

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court on Friday revived lawsuits from two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were boys. A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the lawsuits of Wade Robson and James Safechuck should