Month: February 2024

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Customs and Border Protection says one of its dogs sniffed out something unusual in a traveler’s luggage in Boston — dead monkeys. Agents say the passenger returning from a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that the luggage contained dried fish, but an inspection at Boston Logan Airport

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from a massive landslide that hit a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines has risen to 54 with 63 people still missing, authorities said Sunday. The landslide hit the mountain village of Masara in Davao de Oro province on Tuesday night after weeks of torrential rains. Davao de

By DEMETRIS NELLAS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say they have found 84 people who were trying to enter the country by boat, in two separate incidents on the islands of Crete and Rhodes. Four people have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. In the first incident, a Greek Navy frigate

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The two Dartmouth players working to unionize their basketball team say other athletes have been reaching out to see if they can join the effort. Romeo Myrthil and Cade Haskins say they were bombarded with messages on social media since a National Labor Relations Board

By MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s finance minister on Sunday slammed the decision by financial ratings agency Moody’s to downgrade Israel’s credit rating, saying the announcement is a “political manifesto” that “did not include serious economic claims.” Moody’s dropped the rating on Israel’s debt on Friday, warning that the ongoing

By THOMAS ADAMSON and OLEG CETINIC Associated Press PARIS (AP) — In a significant stride in its preparations for the 2024 Olympics, Paris has inaugurated the Adidas Arena at Porte de la Chapelle. It is the sole purpose-built site in the French capital for the upcoming Games. Situated in one of Paris’ poorest neighborhoods, the

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It’s a beloved Carnival season tradition in New Orleans — masked riders on lavish floats fling strings of beads or other trinkets to parade watchers. But environmentalists are worried about the huge amount of nonbiodegradable plastic beads that wind up mixed in all the other Mardi

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Christopher Nolan was awarded the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards for “Oppenheimer” Saturday in Los Angeles, solidifying his frontrunner status for next month’s Oscars. Other winners included Celine Song, for first time directorial achievement for her romantic drama “Past Lives,” and Mstyslav Chernov for the documentary “20

By SARAH TETAUD Associated Press ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Madagascar’s Parliament has passed a law allowing for the chemical and in some cases surgical castration of those found guilty of the rape of a minor. That has prompted criticism from international rights groups but has also found support from activists in the country who say

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s election body says independent candidates have secured the biggest number of parliamentary seats following last week’s polls. That means allies of former premier Imran Khan won more seats than the political parties who ousted him from power nearly two years ago. Last Thursday’s vote to choose

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Nineteen priests kicked out of the country, dozens of incidents of harassment and church desecrations, rural areas lacking worship and social services: the situation for Catholic clergy and faithful in Nicaragua is only worsening in 2024, according to exiled priests, laypeople in the Central American country and

By NAJIB JOBAIN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A series of Israeli strikes early Monday hit Rafah, the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the four-month Israel-Hamas war. Israel has been signaling its ground offensive in

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s interior minister says authorities have detained 17 people in connection with an attack at an Istanbul campaign event for upcoming municipal elections. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Sunday provided no details on the assailants’ affiliation or motive for the attack a day earlier that critically injured a woman. Turkish President Recep

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces launched 45 drones over Ukraine in a five-and-a-half-hour barrage Sunday, officials said, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued the reshuffle of his war cabinet as the war enters its third year. In a statement, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 40 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — King Charles III cheerfully waved to well-wishers on Sunday as he left church services near his country estate in eastern England, making his first public appearance since his cancer diagnosis was announced last week. Wearing a tan overcoat against the February chill and carrying a rolled-up umbrella,

By NICOLE WINFIELD, ALESSANDRA TARANTINO and GIANFRANCO STARA Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Argentina’s faith and politics have come together at the Vatican. Pope Francis on Sunday canonized the country’s first female saint with Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, sitting in the front row of St. Peter’s Basilica. The two embraced at the end

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb won Finland’s election runoff Sunday against ex-Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in a close race for the presidency and the task of steering the Nordic country’s foreign and security policy now that it is a member of NATO, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

SEATTLE (AP) — Jeff Bezos has filed a statement with federal regulators indicating his sale of nearly 12 million shares of Amazon stock worth more than $2 billion. The Amazon executive chairman notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of the sale of 11,997,698 shares of common stock on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8. The

By AMIR VAHDAT Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran marked Sunday the 45th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid tensions gripping the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Iranians marched through major streets and squares decorated with flags, balloons and banners with revolutionary and

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Joko Widodo’s phenomenal rise from a riverside slum, where he grew up, to the presidency of Indonesia shows how far the world’s third-largest democracy has veered from a brutal authoritarian era decades ago. With his second and final five-year term ending in October, Widodo — regarded