Month: March 2024

By TAIWO ADEBAYO Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The kidnapping of 287 grade school students by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria this week was only the latest in a slew of such raids since the infamous Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram a decade ago. Around 1500 students have been kidnapped

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon study released Friday that examined reported sightings of UFOs over nearly the last century found no evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence, a conclusion consistent with past U.S. government efforts to assess the accuracy of claims that have captivated public attention for decades. The study

By MEGAN JANETSKY and DÉBORA REY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Women across Latin America are bathing their city streets in purple in commemoration of International Women’s Day at a time when gender rights advocates in the region face both historic steps forward and setbacks. Following decades of activism and campaigning by feminist groups,

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The third-party presidential movement No Labels has decided to field a presidential candidate in the 2024 election. Friday’s decision comes after months of weighing the launch of a so-called “unity ticket” and discussions with several prospects. The group says delegates voted in favor of moving

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man on Friday pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of negligent driving with death resulting in the June crash that killed actor Treat Williams. Ryan Koss, 35, who knew Williams, was given a one-year deferred sentence and as part of his probation will have

By ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Testimony has ended for the week in the trial of the father of a Michigan school shooter. James Crumbley is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four students at Oxford High School in 2021. Prosecutors say his gross negligence was a cause of the

BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey court has denied an appeal from a high school that lost a state basketball tournament game when referees wrongly overturned a buzzer-beating basket. The state appellate division ruled late Friday that it would not grant Manasquan school officials’ petition stemming from this week’s loss to Camden.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press The Justice Department says a former Oklahoma police officer convicted in the sexual assault of a woman during a traffic stop will become the first to face a heftier penalty under the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Thirty-five-year-old Jeffrey Scott Smith Jr. is facing up to 40

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis appears to be in good form as he made his first parish visit outside the Vatican this year. He delivered his homily and heard confessions on Friday after a lingering bout of the flu sent him to the hospital for tests and forced him to cancel some appointments. Francis read

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is going all-in on calling out “shrinkflation.” The term applies to a seemingly covert way for companies to raise prices by ever so slightly reducing the size of their products. There’s suddenly fewer pretzels in the bag, less toothpaste in the tube and shorter

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A judge has indefinitely postponed the state court trial of four former Memphis officers charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols until after the conclusion of a federal court trial on civil rights violations. Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. made the

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A student from a rural Mexican teachers’ college where 43 youths disappeared in 2014 has died in a confrontation with police. Prosecutors in the southern state of Guerrero said Friday that the confrontation occurred late Thursday on a roadway near the teachers’ college. The college said the dead student, and another

HOUSTON (AP) — Passengers had to be evacuated from a United Airlines plane after it rolled off a runway and got stuck in the grass in Houston Friday morning. No injuries were reported among the 160 passengers and six crew members, United Airlines said in a statement. Video taken after the landing showed the plane