AP-National

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Amnesty International says the number of executions recorded worldwide last year jumped to the highest level since 2015. The rights group said in a report released Wednesday that it recorded a total of 1,153 executions in 2023 — a 30% increase from 2022. Amnesty says the figure

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A onetime attorney for former President Donald Trump is agreeing to a ban from practicing in Colorado for three years. The ban comes after Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to a felony charge for trying to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in Georgia. Ellis had already been censured by

Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Californians won’t be voting this November on a policy that would have required schools to notify parents if their child asks to change their gender identification. Proponents of a ballot measure to create such a statewide policy announced Tuesday they failed to collect enough signatures to put the measure

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States says a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and halt to Israel’s military operation in the southern city of Rafah “is not going to be helpful.” Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, circulated the draft resolution

By MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s congress has voted to ban bullfights in the South American nation, delivering a serious blow to a centuries-old tradition that has inspired songs and novels but has become increasingly controversial in the countries where it is still practiced. The bill approved by Colombia’s congress calls

By GERALD IMRAY, MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans voted Wednesday at schools, community centers, and in large white tents set up in open fields in an election seen as their country’s most important since apartheid ended 30 years ago. It could put the young democracy into unknown territory.

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, when Negro Leagues records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated Tuesday after a three-year research project. Gibson’s .466 average for the 1943 Homestead Grays became the season

By MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian insurance company Sura has announced that it will withdraw from the nation’s health system because the resources it receives from Colombia’s government to manage more than 5 million patients, are not enough to cover its growing costs. Opposition leaders in Colombia regretted the company’s decision

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Rapper and singer Sean Kingston on Tuesday waived his right to fight extradition in a California court and agreed to be turned over to authorities in Florida, where he and his mother are charged with committing more than a million dollars worth of fraud.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Officials say a staff member with an Oregon medical care nonprofit was killed when the team he was traveling with was fired upon in Ethiopia. Medical Teams International spokesperson Karen Kartes Piatt said in a news release Monday that Mustefa Alkisim was a Medical Teams driver traveling in what she described

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JILL COLVIN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers and Manhattan prosecutors made their final pitches Tuesday to jurors who will decide whether the Republican will be the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime, squaring off over the strength of the

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A European-Japanese climate research satellite designed to study Earth’s temperature balance has been launched into orbit from California. The EarthCARE satellite lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday. The name EarthCARE is short for Earth Cloud Aerosol

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.N. development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti’s new prime minister Tuesday evening, nearly a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council sought to choose someone else for the position. The long-awaited move comes as gangs continue to terrorize the capital of

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s electoral authorities have revoked an invitation to a European Union mission to observe the upcoming presidential election in July. Elvis Amoroso, the head of the National Electoral Council, on Tuesday cited economic sanctions imposed by the bloc as the reason for withdrawing the invitation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm, the state announced Tuesday. Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A former California water official has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal water under a deal with federal prosecutors in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that 78-year-old Dennis Falaschi entered the plea in federal court in Fresno. The former head of the Panoche Water District

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Stewart-Haas Racing, a two-time NASCAR championship team with 69 Cup Series victories since its 2009 formation, will close its organization at the end of this season. Co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas announced the decision after nearly a year of rumors that their four-car

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are presenting their bribery case against New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez drip-by-drip, showing jurors a steady stream of documents, emails and phone records that they’ll explain more thoroughly later in the trial. The evidence was being shown Tuesday to Manhattan federal court jurors through the

Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A military fighter jet has crashed near the international airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Authorities say the pilot was able to escape and was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin says the aircraft was an F-35 from Fort Worth, Texas. It was headed to

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of Oregon wineries and vineyards have sued PacifiCorp over the deadly 2020 wildfires. They allege that the utility’s decision to not turn off power during the Labor Day windstorm contributed to fires whose smoke and soot damaged their grapes and negatively impacted their harvest and