Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge has ruled that four people can’t be denied their voting rights because their specific felony offenses bar them from having a gun, even under a state directive that added gun rights as a prerequisite to casting a ballot again. But the four people aren’t guaranteed the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — As wildfires raging in the mountains cast an orange glow behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, Southern California residents were jolted awake Thursday by another reminder of Mother Nature’s might. It was an all-too-familiar feeling for locals when a 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area, unleashing boulders
Continue ReadingNEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man whose pickup truck got trapped in rushing floodwaters unleashed by rains from Hurricane Francine was saved by a Good Samaritan who also happened to be an emergency room nurse. Miles Crawford waded through waist-high water in New Orleans on Wednesday night to smash through the truck’s back window and
Continue ReadingAssociated Press GENEVA (AP) — The Palestinian economy is “in free fall,” with production in Gaza plunging to one-sixth of its level before Israeli forces began a blistering military response to the Oct. 7 attacks in the territory, the United Nations says. The report from UN Trade and Development also warned of “rapid and alarming
Continue ReadingAssociated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Servicemen, veterans and others have gathered in Kyiv to remember the adopted son of Ukraine’s chief rabbi, Moshe Azman, who was killed in battle. The funeral service was seen to underline unity among Ukraine’s diverse communities in the fight against Russia’s invasion. Anton Samborskyi, 32, was reported missing in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) — Police say a woman has been fatally shot and a man has been arrested in a shooting at an apartment building in the Denver suburb of Broomfield. A police spokesperson says officers negotiated with the suspect for 3 1/2 hours on Thursday before using force to enter an apartment.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has responded to Venezuela’s disputed July presidential election by imposing sanctions against 16 allies of President Nicolás Maduro. Washington is accusing them of obstructing the vote and carrying out human rights abuses. Those targeted Thursday by the Treasury Department include the head of the country’s high
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino man suspected of victimizing more than 100 children in the Philippines with his gang by selling their nude pictures online, including some while being raped by his cohorts, has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates and flown back to Manila. Philippine Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and
Continue ReadingASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Top officials of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan have witnessed the start of construction of the Afghanistan section of the pipeline that will supply Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with natural gas from Turkmenistan’s vast reserves. The Afghanistan section was to have been completed in 2018, but construction was repeatedly postponed because of security
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MESCH, Netherlands (AP) — Walking arm-in-arm with the Dutch queen, American World War II veteran Kenneth Thayer has returned to the tiny village that he and others in the 30th Infantry Division liberated from Nazi occupation exactly 80 years ago. Thayer, now 99, visited Mesch on Thursday. He was greeted by King Willem-Alexander
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge has declined to vacate the conviction and death sentence of Missouri inmate Marcellus Williams, who is facing execution for killing of a woman in her home in 1998. A St. Louis County circuit judge presided over an August evidentiary hearing challenging Marcellus Williams’ guilt in the stabbing
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial in his landmark #MeToo case, Manhattan prosecutors said at a court hearing Thursday. The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges, which could
Continue ReadingSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Managers of a state-owned fuel trading company in Trinidad and Tobago are facing 15 charges linked to the 2022 deaths of four divers who became trapped in a pipeline while repairing it. Local media reported that two top managers of Paria Fuel Trading Co., a subsidiary of Trinidad Petroleum
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ROME (AP) — The World Food Program director has intensified her calls for a cease-fire in Gaza after staff came under fire in two incidents last month, one previously undisclosed. WFP director Cindy McCain called the situation in Gaza “impossibly dangerous,” and that the U.N. agency “is right on the edge as to
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is calling the Violence Against Women Act his proudest legislative achievement. Biden wrote and championed the law when he was a U.S. senator. It was signed into law in 1994 and turns 30 years old on Friday. At a White House event on Thursday to mark the
Continue ReadingMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has been sentenced to a 30-year prison term for killing a transgender woman in Minneapolis last year. Damarean Bible was found guilty of second-degree murder in August. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that he was sentenced Wednesday. Bible admitted fatally shooting 38-year-old Savannah Ryan Williams on Nov. 29. LGBTQ+
Continue ReadingAssociated Press APIWTXA VILLAGE, Brazil (AP) — It was just before dawn when the Ashaninka people, wearing long, tunic-like dresses, began singing traditional songs while playing drums and other instruments. The music drifted through Apiwtxa village, which had welcomed guests from Indigenous communities in Brazil and neighboring Peru, some having traveled three days. As the
Continue ReadingBOSTON (AP) — Karen Read’s lawyers have filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court challenging a judge’s decision not to dismiss two of three charges against her. The 44-year-old Read is accused of hitting her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her SUV during a snowstorm in January 2022 and leaving him for dead. Her
Continue ReadingTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s government has summoned the envoys of Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands over their accusations that Tehran supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine. State-run IRNA news agency reported that the country’s foreign ministry summoned the envoys separately on Thursday to strongly condemn the accusations. IRNA said
Continue ReadingAssociated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Three Red Cross staff members have been killed by artillery strikes in eastern Ukraine. The deadly strikes, which left two others wounded, hit a Red Cross truck that was delivering firewood in the war-divided Donetsk region Thursday. The news came as the World Health Organization issued a warning about
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