Month: January 2024

By AMY TAXIN Associated Press SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A jury has convicted a California man of murder for shooting and killing a 6-year-old boy. The boy was riding in the back of his mother’s car in May 2021 on his way to kindergarten. Authorities say 26-year-old Marcus Eriz shot at the car driven

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Survivors say gunmen killed at least 50 villagers over two days in Nigeria’s north-central Plateau state. The attacks prompted a 24-hour curfew and calls for authorities to end violence between nomadic cattle herders and farming communities. No group took responsibility Thursday for the killings over a

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has published a measure approving Sweden’s membership in NATO in its official gazette. That finalizes the ratification, bringing the previously nonaligned country a step closer to joining the military alliance. Hungary now remains the only NATO ally not to have ratified Sweden’s accession. Turkey’s parliament endorsed Sweden’s accession in a

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Thousands of people have joined growing protests across Slovakia against a plan by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico to amend the penal code and eliminate a special prosecutors’ office. Earlier Thursday, the ruling coalition voted to fast-track approval of the changes. Final approval could come by the end of next week.

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A group of Senate Republicans is urging the Justice Department to release its investigative file on a key financial fixer for Venezuela’s socialist government pardoned by President Joe Biden ahead of trial on money laundering charges. Alex Saab was released from federal prison last month as part

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Lorrie Moore, Naomi Klein and the Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. Honorary prizes are going to Judy Blume and to a longtime ally of Blume’s in the fight against book bans, the American Library Association. On

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers in a show of support for Israel have given final passage to a bill to define antisemitism in state law, sending it to the governor for his expected signature. The Senate approved the measure by a 44-6 vote Thursday with Republicans united in support of

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is visiting Illinois and electoral battleground Wisconsin this week to make a case for the Biden administration’s economic agenda and offer a reminder of the Trump administration tax cuts, which she says added to the deficit and did little to promote investment. Yellen’s

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Bobbi Barrasso, a former U.S. Senate staffer and the wife of Republican Sen. John Barrasso, has died after a struggle with brain cancer. She was 70. Bobbi Barrasso was a friend of U.S. presidents and other world leaders, and a civic leader in Casper. She was chairperson of the Wyoming Symphony

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The United States is expressing concerns over Sri Lanka’s controversial online regulation bill a day after it was passed in Parliament over protests by the media, opposition and rights activists. The Online Safety bill would allow the government to set up a commission with a

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s government has issued a disaster declaration and requested help from the international community to combat raging wildfires affecting the South American country. Officials on Thursday said they expect the fires to grow in number and size in the following days due to decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures caused by the

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer Apple has unveiled a sweeping plan to tear down some of the competitive barriers that it has built around its lucrative iPhone franchise. But the new choices opening up to consumers and app developers will only be available within Europe to start. The announcement Thursday comes as Apple moves

By ERIC OLSON AP Sports Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Volleyball has been the No. 1 girls sport in the United States for a decade. More than 90,000 fans showed up for an outdoor match in Nebraska’s football stadium last summer and the NCAA final four set attendance and television viewership records. The next sign

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Time isn’t inverting: Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” is coming back to movie theaters for a week, including on IMAX 70mm and other large-format screens. Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday that the limited re-release of Nolan’s mind-bender starring John David Washington will begin on Feb. 23. The showings will also feature

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer U.S. antitrust enforcers are opening an inquiry into the relationships between leading artificial intelligence startups such as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic and the tech giants that have invested billions of dollars into them. Lina Khan, chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, in opening remarks at a Thursday AI

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A New York City woman died after eating a mislabeled cookie containing peanuts, part of a batch that has since been recalled. Stew Leonard’s announced Tuesday that Vanilla Florentine Cookies sold in its grocery stores in Danbury and Newington in Connecticut from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31 were being recalled in

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Three white men convicted of hate crimes for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood in 2020 will have their appeals heard by a federal court in March. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta is scheduled to hear oral arguments March

BOSTON (AP) — Andris Nelsons has agreed to a rolling contract as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The 45-year-old Latvian has been the BSO’s music director since the 2014-15 season, when he began a five-year contract. That was replaced by an eight-year deal through 2021-22 and in October 2020 a three-year extension through

NEW YORK (AP) — Colman Domingo, fresh off his Oscar nomination, has joined the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” to play the pop star’s domineering father, Joe Jackson. Lionsgate announced Thursday that Domingo has been cast in Antoine Fuqua’s currently-in-production film. On Tuesday, Domingo was nominated for best actor by the Academy Awards for his

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — In the aftermath of World War II and the murder by Nazi Germany of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, the world united around the pledge: Never again. A key part of that lofty aspiration was the drafting of a convention that codified and committed