AP-National

By TAIWO ADEBAYO Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — What seemed like an aberration a decade ago when militants kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria’s Chibok community has become a recurring horror in the country. Since then, the number of students abducted has risen to more than 1,400. The kidnapping of more than 300 students in

By The Associated Press Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who turns 93 next week, has been married four times — and is engaged again, his representative said Saturday. He plans to marry Elena Zhukova, 67, a Russian-born retired scientist he met last year. Her ex-husband Alexander Zhukov is a billionaire energy investor and Russian politician. Their

By NICK PERRY Associated Press MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — Interest in the late scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer has extended beyond the Oscars this weekend to a historic signed report and letter. RR Auction in Boston is taking bids on the rare 1945 report, as well as a letter signed by “Opie” that describes the nuclear

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s Central Electoral Commission has decided to hold a vote on April 21 to oust four ethnic Albanian mayors whose elections last year raised tensions between Serbia and Kosovo. The Commission on Saturday confirmed results of the petition held in January asking for an early vote in four municipalities in northern

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said in an interview that Ukraine, facing a possible defeat, should have the courage to negotiate an end to the war with Russia and not be ashamed to sit at the same table to carry out peace talks. The pope made his appeal during an interview recorded last month with

ASHTABULA, Ohio (AP) — Two Ohio women have been accused of driving the body of a deceased 80-year-old man to a bank to withdraw money from his account before dropping his body off at a hospital. Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, were charged Tuesday in Ashtabula with gross abuse of a corpse

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the Boeing jetliner blowout that left a gaping hole on an Alaska Airlines plane this January, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Citing documents and people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said investigators have contacted

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Another top donor to the U.N. agency aiding Palestinians said Saturday that it would resume funding, weeks after more than a dozen countries halted hundreds of millions of dollars of support in response to Israeli allegations against the organization. Sweden’s reversal came as a ship bearing

BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Spain’s prime minister says he will propose that parliament recognizes a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday that his position on the conflict in the Gaza Strip is much like his country’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Sánchez joins other European leaders and government officials who have

By FERNANDA PESCE and ALEXIS TRIBOULARD Associated Press TULTEPEC, Mexico (AP) — Every year, in the first week of March, hundreds of giant papier-mâché bulls stuffed with fireworks are erected in the front yards of the Mexican town of Tultepec. Thousands of restless fingers carefully cut, pasted and painted the colorful patterns that brought the

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Armed men broke into a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria early Saturday and seized 15 children as they slept, police told The Associated Press, about 48 hours after nearly 300 students were taken hostage in the conflict-hit region. School abductions are common in Nigeria’s northern region,

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s lawmakers have granted a request by President Nayib Bukele for the 24th consecutive one-month extension of an anti-gang emergency decree. The vote in congress means that the country will have spent a full two years under the decree by March 27. The measure suspends some rights. Bukele

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a $460 billion package of spending bills approved by the Senate in time to avoid a shutdown of many key federal agencies. The legislation’s success gets lawmakers about halfway home in wrapping up their appropriations work for the 2024 budget year.

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A Sudanese paramilitary group battling the country’s military in a nearly yearlong ruinous conflict has endorsed a resolution by the U.N. Security Council calling for a cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Rapid Support Forces said Saturday that it hopes the resolution will help

MADRID (AP) — An official at Spanish soccer club Sporting Gijón has apologized for a video meant to commemorate International Women’s Day that sparked widespread criticism. The short video featured a young girl painting a woman symbol on its field. But the opening sequence showed the girl on her hands and knees removing the original

BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) — A new plea hearing has been set for an Alabama woman accused of falsely telling police she was abducted last summer after stopping her car to check on a toddler wandering near a highway. Carlee Russell’s two-day disappearance, and her story of being abducted, captivated the nation before police called her

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) — Crime scene tape surrounds the Skowhegan Indian, a local landmark in Maine, after an assault by Mother Nature. The towering wooden sculpture is missing part of its face and arm, as well as a spear. The damage is believed to have been caused by wild weather and a windstorm. The 62-foot

By MICHAEL KEALY and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press DUBLIN (AP) — Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar conceded defeat Saturday as two constitutional amendments he supported that would have broadened the definition of family and removed language about a woman’s role in the home were headed toward rejection. Varadkar, who pushed the vote to enshrine gender

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Police and palace guards worked Saturday to retake some streets in Haiti’s capital after gangs launched massive attacks on at least three police stations. Guards from the National Palace accompanied by an armored truck tried to set up a security perimeter around one of the three

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — On the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Jerusalem’s Old City bears few of its usual hallmarks of festivity. Nearly half of the grotto-shaped gift shops are sealed behind metal shutters. The narrow streets that run toward Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, are eerily empty.