Month: February 2024

By CARA ANNA Associated Press The head of the main United Nations agency supporting people in Gaza alleged that Israel is intent on “destroying” the organization along with the idea that Palestinians are refugees and have a right to return home one day. Philippe Lazzarini accused Israel in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger

By OMAR AKOUR Associated Press AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The interior ministers of four Arab countries have held talks in Jordan to discuss ways of combatting the illegal drug trade in the region. The ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon agreed Saturday to set up a joint telecommunication cell to exchange information. The drug

By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — The Hall of Fame basketball coach Lefty Driesell has died. His family says Driesell died Saturday at his home in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Driesell’s folksy drawl belied a fiery on-court demeanor. He rebuilt struggling programs and won 786 games over parts of five decades.

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Protestors took the streets in Senegal’s capital Saturday to keep the pressure on President Mack Sall to hold elections quickly. Hundreds of people walked and biked through downtown Dakar chanting “Macky dictator” while others called for the liberation of opposition prisoners in jail. After the country’s

STERLING, Va. (AP) — Authorities in Virginia are investigating the cause of a house explosion and fire that killed one firefighter, injured 10 others and leveled a home in a Washington, D.C., suburb. Firefighters were called to the home in Sterling, Virginia, by a report of a gas smell at about 7:30 p.m. Friday. They

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sought to contain the political fallout of a presidential pardon scandal during an annual state of the nation address on Saturday, his first public appearance since Hungary’s president, his ally, resigned a week ago. The nationalist Orbán is under intense pressure

By GARY FIELDS Associated Press BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — As President Joe Biden campaigns for reelection, he’s warning that Donald Trump will be a grave threat to American democracy if he’s in the White House. That message is a key part of Biden’s strategy. But interviews with the kinds of voters Biden will need to

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Thousands of South Africans have gathered in the capital to show support for the country’s biggest opposition party as it prepares for a much-anticipated national election. Many of the Democratic Alliance backers assembled in Pretoria on Saturday expressed faith the party would deliver better basic

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City was at its highest moment of community pride, celebrating a Super Bowl win, when it experienced one of 21st-century American culture’s most traumatic events — a public mass shooting. By the time it was over, one woman was dead and nearly two dozen

By GARY FIELDS Associated Press BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Just blocks from the shuttered Bethlehem Steel plant, the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley was bustling on a recent day with scores of older people eating lunch. Downstairs, out of sight, a constant stream of visitors was shopping in its massive food pantry. Over the past seven

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — It’s not just you. A lot people think Google searches are getting worse. And the rise of generative AI chatbots is giving people new and different ways to look up information. While Google has been the one-stop shop for decades — after all, we commonly call

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press Katrina Cornish spends her days raising dandelions and desert shrubs. She harvests the stretchy rubber substances they produce and uses special machines to dip them into condoms, medical gloves and parts for trachea tubes. And she thinks those products could forever alter the landscape of agriculture in the United States.

By The Associated Press Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has accused Ethiopia of trying to annex part of his country’s territory by signing a sea access deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland. Mohamud said on Saturday that the agreement Ethiopia and Somaliland signed on Jan. 1 “is nothing more than annexing part of Somalia

By PETER SMITH Associated Press Many Americans believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and the idea is energizing some conservative and Republican activists. But the concept means different things to different people, and historians say that while the issue is complex, the founding documents prioritize religious freedom and do not create

By BALINT SZLANKO Associated Press LONDON (AP) — As Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks flounder, Israel is vowing to press ahead with its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip despite warnings from the U.S. to work harder to protect civilians. Violence spiked across the volatile Israel-Lebanon border. This is what happened in the Middle East this week.

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press Federal authorities said the second critically endangered North Atlantic right whale found dead in the last month showed injuries consistent with a collision with a ship. The whales number less than 360 and they have experienced decline in recent years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was notified

By PETER SMITH Associated Press The U.S. Constitution doesn’t mention Christianity or any specific religion. The Declaration of Independence famously proclaims that people’s rights come from a “Creator” and “Nature’s God” — but doesn’t specify who that is. Yet large numbers of Americans believe the founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation, and

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Leaders at an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza and called for its immediate end. Moussa Faki, the chair of the African Union Commission, said Israel’s offensive was the “most flagrant” violation of international humanitarian law and accused Israel of

MUNICH (AP) — China’s foreign minister has told a gathering of international security policy officials that shutting China out of trade in the name of avoiding dependency would be a historic mistake. Wang Yi spoke Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. Host Germany wants to avoid over-reliance on trade with an increasingly assertive China and

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prepare for Poppenheimer. “Poor Things” and “Oppenheimer” are the leading contenders for the British Academy Film Awards, which will be handed out Sunday in front of an audience of filmmakers, movie stars and the heir to the British throne. Yorgos Lanthimos’ gothic fantasia is up for 11

By GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italian officials have confirmed the death of a fifth worker after a concrete beam and layers of slabs collapsed at a supermarket construction site in the city of Florence a day earlier. The Tuscany region’s president said Saturday that rescuers were trying to reach the body.  A

By DARKO BANDIC Associated Press ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Thousands of people have joined an anti-government rally in Croatia accusing the ruling center-right party of corruption and demanding that this year’s parliamentary election be held as soon as possible. The rally on Saturday in the capital Zagreb was organized by 11 center and left-leaning opposition