Month: October 2023

By ISSAM ADWAN Associated Press GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Collapsed buildings, mangled infrastructure, streets turned into fields of rubble. Scenes of violence and destruction in the long-blockaded Gaza Strip have filled the world’s airwaves throughout four wars and countless rounds of hostilities between Israel and Hamas militants. But this conflict, Palestinians say, is

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will designate Juneteenth as a state holiday, joining 28 other states and the District of Columbia. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said in a news release Tuesday that establishing the state holiday “provides Kansans an opportunity to celebrate our state’s diversity and honor the ongoing struggles for racial equality.”

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta’s police chief on Tuesday fired an officer who shocked a 62-year-old Black church deacon with a stun gun during a dispute over a traffic ticket, leading to the man’s death. Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Officer Kiran Kimbrough didn’t follow department procedures Aug. 10 when he

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press CASTLETON, Vt. (AP) — Students and residents in a small Vermont university town were being told to lock their doors and stick together as police searched Tuesday for a killer who shot a retired dean on her favorite walking trail last week. Honoree Fleming, a retired dean and professor of

By SAM MEDNICK and TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has officially declared the ouster of Niger’s democratically-elected president a coup d’etat. This comes more than two months after mutinous soldiers seized power. Officials say the U.S. was taking action after exhausting all avenues to preserve constitutional order in the West African

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press Federal prosecutors are urging the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Washington to take steps to protect the privacy and identity of prospective jurors. The prosecutors are citing the former president’s “continued use of social media as a weapon of intimidation in court proceedings.” Special counsel Jack

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian police have arrested 12 people accused of illegally exporting dual-use goods to Russia that can be used by military personnel in the war in Ukraine. The Interior Ministry chief secretary, Zhivko Kotsev, says the suspects include citizens of Bulgaria, Russia and Belarus. The head of the State Agency for National

By SONIA PÉREZ D. Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Riot police have begun efforts to clear roadblocks by protesters that have paralyzed parts of Guatemala for more than a week. The effort came hours after President Alejandro Giammattei vowed to clear the country’s roadways. More than 120 roadblocks have snarled traffic and disrupted commerce

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a new book titled “Goth: A History,” The Cure co-founder Lol Tolhurst traces a misunderstood subculture. Tolhurst labels goth “the last true alternative outsider subculture.” Published by Hachette, “Goth: A History” weaves in first-person accounts while exploring goth music’s origins from punk’s anarchy. From

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer Tens of millions in the Americas will have front-row seats for Saturday’s rare “ring of fire” eclipse of the sun. What’s called an annular solar eclipse — better known as a ring of fire — will briefly dim the skies over parts of the western U.S. and Central and

By ZENEL ZHINIPOTOKU and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Adm. Stuart B. Munsch of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Italy says that the alliance equipped its peacekeeping force in Kosovo with weapons of “combat power” following a recent shootout between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police sent tensions soaring in the

By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Four of Pennsylvania’s universities are plugging budget gaps while they await hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that has been snarled in a partisan dispute among lawmakers in a state that has one of the nation’s most abysmal record for funding higher education.

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Loved ones are remembering a late North Dakota lawmaker and his wife and two children who died last week in a plane crash in Utah. Funeral services were set for Tuesday in Bismarck for state Sen. Doug Larsen, his wife Amy and their sons, 11-year-old Christian

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is heading into one of its biggest sales events of the year — Prime Day — with a lawsuit hanging over its head that accuses it of preventing sellers from hawking their merchandise at lower prices on other sites. The Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government says four Britons who were detained in Afghanistan on allegations that they broke the laws of the country have been released by the Taliban. The Foreign Office said in a brief statement Tuesday that it welcomed the release of the four Britons and expressed apologies on behalf of their

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press It’s been nearly 30 years but Rena Sofer still remembers her line from a classic scene on ABC’s “General Hospital” in 1994 when her character jumped out of a cake to surprise her husband and his other wife. “She said, ‘Happy birthday, Mrs. Ned Ashton, from me, the other Mrs.

BEIJING (AP) — A group of U.S. senators visiting Beijing are expressing hope that they had opened the door ever so slightly to government talks with China on its role in the fentanyl crisis ravaging America. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated he would consider Schumer’s request

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Damage to an undersea gas pipeline and telecommunications cable connecting Finland and Estonia appears to have been caused by “external activity,” Finnish officials said Tuesday, adding that authorities were investigating. Finnish and Estonian gas system operators on Sunday said they noted an unusual drop in pressure in

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from former coal company executive Don Blankenship, who argued that major news outlets defamed him by calling him a “felon.” The justices on Tuesday left in place an appellate ruling against Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy. He served a year in prison on