Month: January 2024

By JULIE WATSON Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — Convicted Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis who led a daring escape weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in 2022 is seeking new defense attorneys now that he is back in U.S. custody after the Venezuelan prisoner swap last month. Nicknamed “Fat Leonard,” Francis appeared

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A member of the Proud Boys extremist group has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Christopher Worrell, who was sentenced in federal court on Thursday, had previously went on the run after he

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a South Florida man threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and his children in a series of voicemails left at the California Democrat’s Washington office last month. Court records show that 72-year-old Michael Shapiro was arrested Wednesday morning on a charge of transmitting a threatening

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Glynis Johns, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie “Mary Poppins” and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim, has died. She was 100. Mitch Clem, her

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A petition filed by five voters on Thursday seeks to bar former President Donald Trump from the Illinois Republican primary election ballot in March, claiming he is ineligible to hold office because he encouraged and did little to stop the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The petition, similar

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Pregnant people in New York would have 40 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments under a new proposal by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The Democrat’s plan to expand the state’s paid family leave policy was announced Thursday. It would need to be

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. labor agency has accused SpaceX of unlawfully firing employees who penned an open letter critical of CEO Elon Musk and creating an impression that worker activities were under surveillance by the rocket ship company. A Los Angeles-based regional director for the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday filed a

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — China and India scored moon landings, while Russia, Japan and Israel ended up in the lunar trash heap. Now two private companies are hustling to get the U.S. back in the game, more than five decades after the Apollo program ended. It’s part of

By COLLEEN LONG and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran as Moscow struggles to replenish arms for its war with Ukraine. White House National Security Council spokesman John

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Nikki Haley’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination are ratcheting up their attacks on her as Iowa’s first-in-the-nation voting draws closer. The barbed news releases, attack ads and amped up back-and-forth come as the former South Carolina governor and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis battle for a distant

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A new batch of unsealed documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls was released Thursday, adding several hundred pages to a trove of information detailing how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press JACKSON, Miss (AP) — Government buildings in several states were evacuated following bomb threats, causing brief disruptions for the second day in a row in some places. The Mississippi Capitol and courthouses in Arkansas, Hawaii, Maine, Montana and New Hampshire were evacuated or searched Thursday. No explosives were immediately found,

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Tennis Association has retained two lawyers at a Washington-based firm to review its safeguarding policies and procedures to protect players from sexual misconduct and other abuse. The head of the organization that runs the U.S. Open and oversees the sport in the United States revealed the review in an

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A judge in Oregon has rejected a U.S. Department of Justice request to dismiss a 2015 lawsuit brought by young people that alleges the federal government knew the dangers posed by carbon pollution but that it has continued through policies and subsidies to support the fossil fuel industry. An attorney representing

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree that speeds up a path to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the country’s military amid the 22-month-old war in Ukraine. The move comes as Moscow is trying to replenish its troops in Ukraine by various methods,

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $100,000 on Thursday, marking the first time a team was sanctioned for violating the league’s player participation policy that went into effect this season. The Nets held out four rotation players — starters Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, along with key

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Biden administration grapples with an increasingly tense and unstable situation in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the region this weekend for the fourth time in three months on a tour expected to focus largely on easing resurgent fears

By RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — MetLife Stadium officials plan to remove 1,740 seats to widen the field for World Cup matches as they hope to host the 2026 final but will retain a narrower surface for this year’s Copa América. The stadium in suburban East Rutherford, New Jersey, is among

By FREIDA FRISARO and ALANIS THAMES Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Fire officials say a child playing with a cigarette lighter started a fire at the $6.9 million home owned by Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill. Davie Fire Marshal Robert Taylor tells The Associated Press that the fire was accidental. He did not