Month: January 2024

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors have made their first arrest in connection with a major political slush fund scandal that has rocked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s already unpopular government. Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sunday apprehended former vice-education minister Yoshitaka Ikeda on suspicion of failing to report fundraising proceeds

By MARK LEWIS Associated Press STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Anders Behring Breivik, who slayed 77 people in an anti-Islamic bomb and gun rampage in 2011, is trying to sue the Norwegian state for breaching his human rights. Norway’s worst peacetime killer says his solitary confinement since being jailed in 2012 amounts to inhumane treatment under

By VALERIE GONZALEZ AND ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Daniel Bermudez’s family had fled Venezuela and was headed to the U.S. to seek asylum when the freight train they were riding through Mexico was stopped by immigration officials. His wife tried to explain that her family had permission to go to

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The first person to spot it was a shovel operator working the overnight shift, eyeing a glint of white as he scooped up a giant mound of dirt and dropped it into a dump truck. Later, after the truck driver dumped the load, a dozer driver

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry has been inaugurated. The inauguration Sunday marks a political shift of leadership in a state that has had a Democratic governor for the last eight years. The Republican is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and is known for his conservative

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ State of the State address on Tuesday is supposed to be about Florida’s future. Iowa, though, is more likely at the front of his mind. The speech kicking off Florida’s annual legislative session comes exactly a week before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses,

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thamsanqa Mothobi was going about his life in Johannesburg when he was carjacked and taken to an informal settlement where robbers accessed his mobile banking apps. “They had guns and demanded the PIN codes for my apps. They increased the withdrawal limits in my accounts and emptied

By SHARON JOHNSON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A core mission of Florida A&M University from its founding over a century ago has been to educate African Americans. It was written into the law that established the school along with another college, in Gainesville, reserved for white students. At Florida’s only public historically Black

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic “Oppenheimer” dominated the 81st Golden Globes, winning five awards including best drama, while Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein riff “Poor Things” pulled off an upset victory over “Barbie” to triumph in the best comedy or musical category. If awards season has been building toward a second match-up

By HIRO KOMAE, AYAKA MCGILL and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — Rescue teams are working through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets after a powerful earthquake hit western Japan, killing at least 161 people. Heavy snowfall falling in Ishikawa Prefecture over the weekend and through the new week is adding to