Month: June 2024

By MONIKA PRONCZUK Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — As Muslims worldwide prepare to celebrate Eid Al-Adha, Senegal’s locally bred star sheep have their moment to shine. The animals that can fetch tens of thousands of dollars live a life of luxury in special parlors where they are massaged, groomed and fed syringes full of

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca for the Hajj, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale. Saudi officials say more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in Mecca so far. More are expected, and hundreds of

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Defense attorneys for a woman accused of leaving her Boston police officer boyfriend for dead in a snowbank grilled the lead investigator Wednesday about a series of offensive and inappropriate texts he wrote about the suspect during the investigation. Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor also acknowledged that

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Survivors and relatives of the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Florida had hoped by now to have a permanent memorial place at the site. But scaled-back plans for a memorial to the 49 people killed and 53 wounded in the attack on the gay-friendly club in Orlando are

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to back out of a deal he made last year to pay doctors more money to treat Medicaid patients. It’s part of his plan to cover an estimated $45 billion budget deficit this year. But Newsom might not have a choice.

By TERESA CRAWFORD and JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press WAUBEKA, Wis. (AP) — Each June, Waubeka, Wisconsin, venerates one of the nation’s more enduring symbols with a holiday that escapes the notice of many Americans. Flag Day commemorates June 14, 1777, when Congress decreed the flag’s design. Waubeka, in north suburban Milwaukee, lays claim to the

By VIVIANNE WANDERA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her kitchen made of iron sheets. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew on the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was engulfed in smoke. “I’ve used firewood all my life,” she said. “Sometimes

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — An extreme weather phenomenon known as the dzud has killed more than 7.1 million animals in Mongolia this year, more than a tenth of the country’s entire livestock holdings, endangering herders’ livelihoods and way of life. Dzuds are a combination of perennial droughts and severe, snowy

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted three men of murder for their roles in the 2021 shooting of investigative reporter Peter R. de Vries, a brazen attack in downtown Amsterdam that sent a shockwave through the Netherlands. The shooter, getaway driver and organizer of the attack were convicted

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When disinformation researcher Wen-Ping Liu looked into China’s efforts to influence Taiwan’s recent election using fake social media accounts, something unusual stood out about the most successful profiles. They were female, or at least that’s what they appeared to be. Fake profiles that claimed to be women

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Just before 2 a.m. on a chilly April night in Seattle, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup stopped at an electric vehicle charging station on the edge of a shopping center parking lot. Two men, one with a light strapped to his head, got out. A security camera

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States eased in May for a second straight month, a hopeful sign that an acceleration of prices that occurred early this year may have passed. The trend, if it holds, could move the Federal Reserve closer to cutting its benchmark interest rate

By MARK SHERMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has a lot of work left to do and one week left to do it. The court has about a quarter of the cases heard this year undecided, including ones that could reshape the law on everything from abortion to social

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Apollo Theater is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The bastion of Black music and culture is one of New York City’s most storied venues. It held its annual spring benefit on Tuesday with a star-studded event featuring Usher, Babyface and performances by Jordin

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — The Hong Kong government has canceled the passports of six overseas-based activists under the new national security law, stepping up its crackdown on dissidents who moved abroad. Former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law and five others are accused of endangering Hong Kong national security. The government said

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Party Bus, a 3-year-old bull bred for bucking, has performed in his first and last rodeo. Party Bus — named after his father, Short Bus — made national headlines last weekend at his first rodeo when he jumped the fence of a crowded arena in central

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Only six to eight critically endangered vaquita marina porpoises were sighted this year in the Gulf of California. But researchers suggested Tuesday that some of the few remaining vaquitas — the world’s most endangered marine mammal — may have moved elsewhere in the Gulf, the only place in the world where

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s Republican primary victory in South Carolina on Tuesday was powered by a strong performance in vote-rich Charleston County, as well as in two key counties she lost in her 2022 primary bid, according to an Associated Press analysis of initial vote results. Mace’s

SYDNEY (AP) — Former Australian rugby league international Jarryd Hayne has had his rape conviction overturned on appeal. The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday ruled that a judge erred in not allowing the complainant to be further cross-examined during Hayne’s trial. Hayne was released on bail several hours later. The appeal

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has asked the state Supreme Court to authorize another execution using nitrogen gas. The request comes months after the state became the first to put a person to death with the previously untested method. The attorney general’s office asked the court to authorize an execution date for Carey Dale Grayson,

By KEN MILLER Associated Press The family of a Texas man who died after an altercation with jailers, including one who pinned his knee to the inmate’s back, on Tuesday called for a federal investigation into the practices at the jail. Anthony Johnson Jr., 31, a former Marine, died April 21 after the altercation, which

By ERIC TUCKER and REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight people from Tajikistan with suspected ties to the Islamic State group have been arrested in the United States in recent days, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and the individuals,

NEW YORK (AP) — National Amusements, which owns a majority voting stake in the embattled entertainment giant Paramount Global, says it has ended talks on a possible merger of Paramount with movie production company Skydance Media. The potential deal had drawn attention for weeks amid speculation about Paramount’s future. One recent media report even stated