AP National News

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court sentenced a pro-democracy media tycoon to five years and nine months in prison on Saturday over two fraud charges linked to lease violations, the latest of a series of cases against prominent activists that critics say are aimed at crushing dissent in

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — Another winter storm packing heavy snow and powerful winds was moving into the northern Sierra Nevada late Friday where as much as 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow is forecast in the upper elevations around Lake Tahoe over the weekend. The National Weather Service issued a

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A pro-democracy media tycoon was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison over two fraud charges linked to lease violations in Hong Kong on Saturday, the latest of a series of cases against prominent activists that critics say are aimed at snuffing out dissidents

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, the Republican defeated in Arizona governor’s race, is formally challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs, asking a court to throw out certified election results from the state’s most populous county and either declare her the winner or rerun the governor’s election in that county.

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge won’t sanction the city’s top prosecutor after Missouri’s attorney general accused her of concealing evidence in her effort to overturn the conviction of Lamar Johnson, who has spent nearly three decades in prison for a murder contends he didn’t commit. Judge David

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Grant Wahl, one of the most well-known soccer writers in the United States, died early Saturday while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands. He was 48. U.S. media seated near him said Wahl fell back in his seat in a section of Lusail Stadium reserved for journalists

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Through stifled sobs, Nina Fernandez described on Friday a vastly different version of events than those shared by Nevada prison officials as to why her son and dozens of others have been on hunger strike at a maximum-security prison for more than a week. The Nevada

By JOHN HANNA, RYAN J. FOLEY and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A ruptured pipe dumped enough oil this week into a northeastern Kansas creek to nearly fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, becoming the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years and surpassing all the previous ones on the same pipeline

By BRIAN MELLEY, COLLEEN SLEVIN and BERNARD CONDON Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A California woman who warned a judge last year about the danger posed by the suspect in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting said Friday that the deaths could have been prevented if earlier charges against the suspect weren’t dismissed. Jeanie Streltzoff

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Retired Air Force Col. Joseph Kittinger, whose 1960 parachute jump from almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the Earth stood as a world record for more than 50 years, died Friday in Florida. He was 94. His death was announced by former U.S. Rep. John

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Embattled Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de León has attended his first City Council meeting in nearly two months since a scandal broke over racist remarks by elected officials. Three other council members walked out after De Leon showed up. After a chaotic few minutes, a 45-minute recess was called. De Leon

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press A home that was a fixture of Bobby Fouther’s childhood is now a parking lot, the two-story, shingle-sided house having been demolished in the 1970s along with many other properties in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. “Growing up there was just all about love,” Fouther said. Fouther and

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — A vice president of the European Union’s parliament was suspended by her party group after Belgian police carried out several raids linked to an investigation into suspected influence peddling by a Gulf state. The Socialists and Democrats in the EU assembly say they suspended Eva Kaili’s membership

By REBECCA SANTANA and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Taliban drug lord convicted in a vast heroin trafficking conspiracy. A Russian pilot imprisoned for a scheme to distribute cocaine across the world. And a Russian arms dealer so infamous that he earned the nickname “Merchant of Death.” Those are just some of

PARIS (AP) — France will make condoms free in pharmacies for anyone up to age 25 in the new year, President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday. The move comes as the government says sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise among young people, and as this year’s exceptional inflation is cutting especially deeply into the budgets

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. (AP) — A 76-year-old Minnesota man is facing criminal charges because he was shooting at a squirrel and a bullet went through a child’s bedroom window in a neighboring home. East Grand Forks police say they arrested the man Sunday after his neighbor reported some bullet holes in the siding of

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — Pulled from a sunken trunk at an 1857 shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina, work pants that auction officials describe as the oldest known pair of jeans in the world have sold for $114,000. The white, heavy-duty miner’s pants with a five-button fly were among

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer AL RAYYAN, Qatar (AP) — Neymar is again going home without a World Cup title. Luka Modric’s quest continues unabated. Modric converted one of the penalties as Croatia knocked Brazil out of the World Cup on Friday, beating the five-time champions 4-2 in a shootout to reach the semifinals