AP-National

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press The billionaire philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott announced Tuesday she would give $640 million to more than 360 organizations in response to an application process she launched last year. The award is more than double the amount that she initially promised in an open call for applications. The selected organizations

TWO RIVERS, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin police searching for a 3-year-old boy who vanished last month say they’ve confirmed that a blanket found during their ongoing search belongs to the missing youngster. Two Rivers police said Monday that the red and white plaid blanket confirmed to belong to Elijah Vue was found “earlier in this

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has ordered a ban on musical horns, after videos posted on social media showed people dancing on roads and roadsides as passing trucks blasted rhythmic little tunes. Hun Manet called on the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation and police to immediately take action against

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Souvenirs bearing the image of 70-year-old Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sell like T-shirts at a Taylor Swift concert. Just outside Mexico’s presidential palace, throngs of mostly Mexicans crowd around a booth selling plush talking dolls, earrings and plastic sandals plastered with the face of

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former Milwaukee elections official charged with fraudulently ordering three military absentee ballots under fake names and sending them to a Republican lawmaker who embraced election conspiracy theories told investigators she wanted to draw attention to real shortcomings in the elections system. Kimberly Zapata is on

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s biggest bank is reportedly attempting to recover more than $40 million after a technical glitch allowed customers to withdraw more than they had in their accounts. Local media said long lines formed at cash machines across Ethiopia on Saturday after the problem was discovered at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Garden centers enjoyed a pandemic boom, particularly with millennials, as people looked for outdoor activities during lockdowns. Now, as another crucial spring planting season kicks in the question is, will those wannabe green thumbs stick with the habit. Spending on lawn and gardening activities rose

By STEPHEN GRAHAM Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors say police have detained two Afghan citizens accused of planning to attack police near the Swedish parliament. The prosecutors say federal police detained the the pair on Tuesday in the eastern German city of Gera. The prosecutors allege that Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan

By MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA Associated Press DAJABON, Dominican Republic (AP) — Human rights activists are calling on the Dominican Republic’s government for a temporary reprieve in deportations as neighboring Haiti’s crisis spirals and people attempt to flee over the closed border from a surge in deadly gang violence. Small trucks with customized cages are ferrying

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Food writer and podcaster Dan Pashman made the unusual step a few years ago of creating an entirely new shape of pasta. The obvious next step? Writing a cookbook to highlight it. Pashman’s “Anything’s Pastable” features dishes using 34 different pasta shapes. But it especially

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomat says he’s pressing ahead with a plan to use the profits generated from billions of euros of Russian assets frozen in Europe to help provide weapons for Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday that he hopes the bloc’s leaders

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — England’s first convicted cyberflasher was sentenced Tuesday to 5 1/2 years in prison after sending unsolicited photos of his genitals to a teenage girl and a woman. Nicholas Hawkes, 39, a convicted sex offender, was the first person in England and Wales convicted of violating the Online

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is taking the independent electoral body and a rival political party fronted by the country’s former leader to court. It’s underscoring a fractious buildup to what could be the country’s most pivotal election in 30 years. The ANC

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press Six years ago, Illinois farmer John Ackerman didn’t hire any contract workers at all. Now he typically hires about 22 every year through a local coordinator that helps farmers hire crews of agriculturally skilled, often Latino workers. Those teams hand-weed the soybeans Ackerman grows alongside the pumpkin and corn crops

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Authorities say that Iraq’s former defense minister, who holds dual Iraqi-Swedish citizenship, has been arrested in Sweden. He is suspected of illegally receiving benefits in the Scandinavian country. Prosecutor Jens Nilsson told Swedish broadcasters on Tuesday that Najah al-Shammari was arrested the day before at the Stockholm airport upon arrival in

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was formally accused Tuesday of falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination status, marking the first indictment for the embattled far-right leader, with more allegations potentially in store. The federal police indictment released by the Supreme Court alleged that Bolsonaro and 16 others inserted

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press NOORDWIJKERHOUT, Netherlands (AP) — An artificial intelligence robot is a new high-tech weapon in the battle to root out disease from Dutch tulip fields as they erupt into a riot of springtime color. The robot trundled on Tuesday along rows of yellow and red blooms. It checks each plant and,

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Moldova said Tuesday it has expelled a Russian diplomat after Moscow opened polling stations for its presidential election in Moldova’s pro-Russia breakaway region of Transnistria. The sight of Moldova’s citizens voting for the president of another country was the latest in the increasingly fraught relations between Russia and Moldova, whose pro-Western

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer Tracking the changes upending college sports can be as frenetic as keeping up during the first week of March Madness. Ultimately, those changes could impact what America’s favorite basketball tournament looks like in the future. News about athlete compensation, player unions and realignment dominate discussions. Everything in college sports