Year: 2024

By JOSH DUBOW AP Sports Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Long after “The Catch” and his 660 home runs, and the daring sprints around the bases with his hat falling off, Willie Mays could still command a room like no other. Mays was a frequent visitor to the downtown ballpark in San Francisco at 24

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer LISLE, Illinois (AP) — With their bulging red eyes and their alien-like mating sound, periodical cicadas can seem scary and weird enough. But some of them really are sex-crazed zombies on speed, hijacked by a super-sized fungus. West Virginia University mycology professor Matt Kasson, his 9-year-old son Oliver, and

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer She heard her No. 10 being called, tapped hands with a teammate who was leaving the field, and ran into position for Brazil, a smile on her face. She made a quick sign of the cross, rubbed her hands and held them up with fingers splayed to receive the

By DARREN SANDS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It was the middle of the night in the summer of 2021 when I finally found the missing piece of my family history. My great-great-great-great grandfather Hewlett Sands, born into slavery in Oyster Bay, New York in 1820, was one of the more than 200,000 names listed

By NICOLAS GARRIGA and ELISE MORTON Associated Press VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — The far-right leader angling to become France’s prime minister after the country’s upcoming parliamentary election has backtracked on the party’s previous promise to pull out of NATO’s strategic military command. National Rally President Jordan Bardella said Wednesday that “France mustn’t leave NATO’s military

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN AP Science Writer DALLAS (AP) — Summer kicks off in the Northern Hemisphere with the summer solstice on Thursday. The Earth spins on a tilt as it revolves around the sun. A summer solstice occurs for Earth’s upper half when the Northern Hemisphere is angled most closely toward the sun. The summer

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Hundreds of people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones’ bodies. Saudi Arabia has not commented on

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Abortion rights have found an unlikely champion in swing state Pennsylvania. Sen. Bob Casey will appear on November’s ballot and is attacking Republican challenger David McCormick over opposing abortion rights. That’s quite a reframing for Casey, who once called himself a “pro-life Democrat.” Casey’s father was

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior prosecutor in Ukraine says authorities have created a national registry to document cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces. Viktoriia Litvinova, the country’s deputy prosecutor general, told The Associated Press that the registry was created out of a pilot project that has

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Scores of Greek firefighters and water-bombing aircraft have tamed a large wildfire on the fringes of Athens that forced authorities to evacuate two nearby settlements. Summer wildfires also plagued Greece’s Mediterranean neighbor Turkey, where two villages were evacuated but no injuries were reported. The Greek fire service said the blaze near

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s government says it has tightened controls over adoptions from abroad but will allow the practice to continue as it conducts an investigation into the legality and ethics of past adoptions. The move on Tuesday to keep allowing international adoptions for now contradicted Norway’s top

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military chief has demanded China return several rifles and equipment seized by the Chinese coast guard in a disputed shoal and pay for damage in an assault he likened to an act of piracy in the South China Sea. Chinese personnel on more than

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for a second term as South Africa’s president in a ceremony in the administrative capital, Pretoria. Ramaphosa is now set to appoint a Cabinet in a new coalition government after his African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in an

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press ABOARD THE USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IN THE RED SEA (AP) — The combat markings emblazoned on the F/A-18 fighter jet tell the story: 15 missiles and six drones, painted in black just below the cockpit windshield. As the jet sits on the deck of the

PARIS (AP) — French police say an officer in the northern suburbs of Paris has opened fire and killed an attacker who assaulted a cleaning worker with a screwdriver and also injured another police officer. Police said the cleaning worker suffered “several blows” in the attack Wednesday morning with the screwdriver but the extent of

By The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Narges Mohammadi, has been sentenced to another year in prison over her activism. Mostafa Nili, Mohammadi’s lawyer, says his client was convicted on a charge of making propaganda against the system. Nili said Wednesday that the sentence came after

By ALANIS THAMES AP Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Gerald Watkins watched Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and other New York Yankees wade through stalks of corn onto an Iowa field in 2021, near the filming site for the 1989 baseball movie “Field of Dreams.” Watkins thought about Rickwood Field, the 114-year-old ballpark in his

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm is criticizing France for running up excessive debt, a stinging rebuke at the height of the election campaign where President Emmanuel Macron is fighting off challenges of the extreme right and the left. France was among seven nations that were warranted by

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The father of a Malaysian man who attacked a police station and killed two police officers last month has been charged with inciting terrorism. His Singaporean wife and three other children were also brought to court to face charges. Radin Imran Radin Mohd Yassin, 62, faces four charges including promoting

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Most politicians try to avoid slips, stumbles and undignified photos. Not Ed Davey. The leader of Britain’s centrist Liberal Democrats has turned the country’s general election campaign into a showreel of self-deprecating fun. Davey has tumbled off a paddleboard into England’s biggest lake, screamed atop a rollercoaster,

PARIS (AP) — Police in the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia have rounded up 11 people, including an independence leader. They have been detained on suspicion of having a role in deadly violence that wracked the archipelago where Indigenous Kanak people have long sought to break free from France. New Caledonia’s prosecutor said