Month: October 2023

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Texas’ top criminal appeals court has stopped Thursday evening’s scheduled execution of a Texas inmate who had been condemned for killing another prisoner more than 26 years ago. William Speer, 49, had been set to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The

By CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press Muslim and Jewish civil rights groups say they’ve seen large increases in reports of harassment, bias and sometimes physical assaults against members of their communities since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations saw increases in reported instances, many involving violence or threats

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Economic crises are rippling through the countries bordering Israel, raising the possibility of a chain reaction from the war with Hamas that further worsens the financial health and political stability of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and creates problems well beyond. Each of the three

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and CHRISTINE FERNANDO Associated Press DEARBORN, Michigan (AP) — Many of Michigan’s top Democrats, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, took part in a huge pro-Israel rally at a suburban Detroit synagogue days after Hamas’ deadly attack on the country earlier this month, with some of them dancing and joining in chants of “Am

By LISA MASCARO, SEUNG MIN KIM and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has met with new House Speaker Mike Johnson at the White House. Johnson was joined by Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries as they discussed Biden’s request for nearly $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine and other national security needs. Johnson

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The American Museum of Natural History says it is pulling all human remains from public display and will revamp how it maintains its collection of body parts with the aim of eventually repatriating as much as it can and respectfully holding what it can’t. The museum

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press UPPER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A giant smokestack that was part of the landscape for millions of tourists heading to beaches on the southern New Jersey shore came down Thursday. The 463-foot stack at the B.L. England power plant was imploded to make way for the site’s new use as

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press The new leader of one of the chambers of Congress that will certify the winner of next year’s presidential election helped spearhead the attempt to overturn the last one, raising alarms that Republicans could try to subvert the will of the voters if they remain in power despite safeguards enacted

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy expanded at a robust 4.9% annual rate from July through September as Americans defied higher prices, rising interest rates and widespread forecasts of a recession to spend at a brisk pace. The Commerce Department said the economy expanded last quarter at the fastest

By SAMY MAGDY and WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Mahmoud Shalabi did not evacuate his home in northern Gaza despite the frightful Israeli warnings of a looming, far more brutal assault to come as it presses ahead with its war against the Hamas militant group. The Palestinian aid worker

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An Australia-based company plans to build a campus in New Mexico to expand its research into hydrogen fuel as a heat source for industry, touting a proprietary chemical process without greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen-technology research and developer Star Scientific Limited, which has around 20 employees,

By ANDY WONG Associated Press JIUQUAN SATELLITE LAUNCH CENTER, China (AP) — China has launched its youngest-ever crew for its orbiting space station as it seeks to put astronauts on the moon before 2030. The Shenzhou 17 spacecraft lifted off from the launch center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China atop

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Thousands of hotel workers fighting for new union contracts rallied on the Las Vegas Strip where at least 58 who were blocking rush-hour traffic have been arrested. Union leaders said that Wednesday night’s demonstration was a stepped-up effort to bring attention to the labor union’s negotiations

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are urging a judge to reinstate a gag order on Donald Trump, citing recent social media posts about the former president’s chief of staff that they said represented an attempt to influence and intimidate a foreseeable witness in the case. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan,

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Mexican megachurch who is serving more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young followers has been charged with two federal crimes involving a 16-year-old girl. The U.S. attorney’s office says a federal grand jury on Wednesday charged Naasón Joaquín García with possessing and

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama judge has dismissed Birmingham-Southern College’s lawsuit against the state treasurer over a loan denial. Birmingham-Southern College filed a lawsuit last week against state Treasurer Young Boozer. The college said Boozer wrongly denied a $30 million loan from a program created by lawmakers to provide

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting his wife and a bystander and injuring a third person at a southern Indiana gas station has been sentenced to 240 years in prison. The sentencing came Wednesday. A jury found Cherok Ameer Douglass guilty in August of two counts of murder and one

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison in the the murders of her two youngest children and another woman could soon be taken to Arizona to face similar charges. Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted in Idaho earlier this year of killing her two kids

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The World Bank has approved a $1 billion loan for South Africa to help it address an energy crisis that has peaked this year with the country’s worst electricity blackouts. It has forced South Africa to lean more heavily on its highly polluting coal-fired

By DAVID SHARP, ROBERT BUMSTED, HOLLY RAMER and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Shocked and fearful Maine residents kept to their homes for a second night Thursday as hundreds of heavily armed police and FBI agents searched intensely for Robert Card, an Army reservist authorities say fatally shot 18 people at a