Month: October 2023

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The Chinese owner of an unauthorized California lab that fueled conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and bio-weapons was arrested on charges of manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical tests and making false statements. Federal prosecutors say 62-year-old Jia Bei Zhu was arrested Thursday after an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian government has rejected any notion that it has violated international law in asking Canada to recall diplomats so that both governments have roughly the same number stationed in each country. Canada said Thursday it was recalling 41 of its 62 diplomats in India after what it said was New

By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Documents show the office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has settled a former employee’s claim she was sexually harassed by a senior aide earlier this year by agreeing to pay her and her lawyers $295,000. The details of the settlement were released Friday through

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is keeping a Missouri law on hold that bars police from enforcing federal gun laws, rejecting an emergency appeal from the state. The 2019 law was ruled unconstitutional by a district judge but allowed to remain in effect. A federal appeals court then blocked enforcement while the state appeals

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis has suspended a youth football team whose coach was shot allegedly by an upset parent in front of players. The city’s Recreation Division said in a a statement Friday that the team is suspended from the city league. Police say a father who was upset about his son’s playing

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida lawmakers will return for a special session to impose additional sanctions against Iran, express support for Israel and provide additional security to protect Jewish institutions in Florida. Presidential candidate and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis supports Friday’s call for the special session that will begin Nov. 6.  The special session

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press The U.S. is warning other democracies that Russia appears to be opening up a new front in its covert campaign against democracy by sowing doubts about the reliability of elections in general. Encouraged by its success amplifying doubts about election procedures like mail balloting used in the 2020 U.S. presidential

BOSTON (AP) — A Florida man has been convicted in federal court of stealing tuition and other monies from hundreds of families and spending the money on plastic surgery, vacations and gambling. Fifty-three-year-old Mehdi Belhassan, of Tampa, Florida, was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud Thursday and will be sentenced Jan. 11. Belhassan

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s justice minister resigned on Friday over what he described as a “monumental error” after it was discovered that Tunisia was seeking the extradition last year of an Islamic extremist who shot dead two Swedes and wounded a third this week. Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Spirit Airlines canceled about 100 flights on Friday after pulling some planes out of service for inspections, and the airline expects the disruptions to last several days. Spirit did not describe the nature of the inspections and did not respond when asked for further information, but the Federal Aviation

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. district judge has unsealed a plea agreement for one of the key defendants in a terrorism and kidnapping case that stemmed from a cross-country search for a missing toddler that ended with a 2018 raid on a squalid compound in northern New Mexico.

By ÁLVARO BARRIENTOS and CIARÁN GILES Associated Press OVIEDO, Spain (AP) — Spain’s royal family have presided over the presentation of this year’s Princess of Asturias awards that are among the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Among the winners honored were U.S. actor Meryl Streep, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and Kenyan marathon legend Eliud

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With three months to go before the Iowa caucuses that he has staked his campaign on, former Vice President Mike Pence faces mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are forcing questions about not only whether he will qualify for the next debate, but whether it

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the music video for “Por La Familia,” a new track from Carín León and BorderKid, León is whisked away into a surrealist landscape inspired by Mexico. His taxi driver? Formula One’s Sergio “Checo” Pérez. It might seem like an unusual pairing, but bringing León

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A valet to former President Donald Trump and a co-defendant in the federal classified documents case against him has told a judge that he wants to keep his lawyer despite a potential conflict of interest. Prosecutors maintain lawyer Stanley Woodward, who

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A major Midwestern carbon dioxide pipeline project has been canceled. Navigator CO2 Ventures announced the cancellation of its proposed 1,300-mile Heartland Greenway project on Friday. The pipeline would have carried planet-warming CO2 emissions from more than 20 industrial plans across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the board of Walt Disney World’s governing district are asking a state judge to dismiss Disney’s counterclaims in a lawsuit. The governing district made the request in court papers Wednesday. The counterclaims seek a court declaration that agreements Disney made with supporters on the

By MOSHE EDRI Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — There’s a saying among us video journalists: May the news stay far from your home. But on Saturday Oct. 7, it came terrifyingly close to my hometown. While I live in Jerusalem, where I work as a cameraman for The Associated Press, I was raised in Ofakim,

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts prosecutor says Thursday that two juveniles have been charged after several slides at a park were doused with acid this summer and four children were injured. The juveniles, whose identities cannot be released due to their ages, have been charged with four counts of assault and battery on a

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Federal law that prohibits insurers from denying healthcare based on preexisting conditions, or kicking dependents off their parent’s coverage until age 26 is now codified separately into Michigan law. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Thursday, essentially codifying the Affordable Care Act into state law. Like

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press/Report for America Three men who each spent 36 years in prison for a high-profile killing they did not commit are going to get $48 million from Baltimore. It’s the largest settlement in Maryland history. The Baltimore Board of Estimates’ approval of the payout brings an end to a federal lawsuit