AP National News

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press OSOGBO, Nigeria (AP) — Yeyerisa Abimbola has dedicated most of her 58 years on Earth to the Osun, a waterway in deeply religious Nigeria named for the river goddess of fertility. As the deity’s chief priestess, she leads other women known as servants of Osun in daily worship and sacrificial

By DAVID RISING Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — China’s response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was anything but subtle — dispatching warships and military aircraft to all sides of the self-governing island democracy, and firing ballistic missiles into the waters nearby. The dust has still not settled, with Taiwan this week

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man prosecutors called a serial killer has been convicted of raping and killing two women in the 1980s after investigators linked him to DNA evidence. Sixty-seven-year-old Horace Van Vaultz Jr. was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder with special circumstances and could face life in prison without the chance

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s leader says it’s upsetting that Indonesia has reduced the prison sentence of the bombmaker in the Bali attack that killed 202 people. Umar Patek could be freed within days if he’s granted parole. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the potential release would cause further distress to families of bombing

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out an $85 million lawsuit award over the death of a Southern California man who was beaten, hogtied and shocked with a stun gun by sheriff’s deputies in 2015. The judge said Wednesday that the March award by a jury in a civil rights lawsuit against

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said her country will never accept South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “foolish” offer of economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps, accusing Seoul of recycling proposals Pyongyang already rejected. In a commentary published by state

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A Republican candidate for Congress in western New York said in an interview that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “should be executed,” before later clarifying that he wasn’t being serious. Carl Paladino made the comment Aug. 13 in an interview with Breitbart News Saturday. Paladino was criticizing Garland for authorizing a

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The school board in North Dakota’s most populous city reversed course Thursday on its decision to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at its monthly meetings, following complaints from conservative lawmakers and an angry backlash from citizens around the country. Seven of the nine members of

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Three men, including a Mafia hitman, have been charged in the 2018 prison killing of notorious Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, the Justice Department said Thursday. Bulger’s death raised questions about why the known “snitch” was placed in the West Virginia prison’s general population instead

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man who opened fire on people at random in 2014, killing five people and wounding seven others, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Alexander Hernandez was sentenced Thursday to multiple consecutive life terms for the rampage, during which he opened fire on

NEW YORK (AP) — The newest meme stock on Wall Street, Bed Bath & Beyond, tumbled even further in after-hours trading Thursday after a high-profile activist investor confirmed that he’s bailed out of the stock. Ryan Cohen, the co-founder of Chewy who helped ignite a couple of meme stocks to jaw-dropping heights, confirmed in a

Associated Press WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Two planes collided in Northern California while trying to land at a local airport and at least two of the three occupants were killed. Officials say multiple fatalities were reported but it was not immediately clear whether anyone survived. The planes crashed at Watsonville Municipal Airport shortly before 3

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Police are trying to determine a motive in three seemingly random shootings along an interstate highway in Alabama and Georgia that left a motorist critically wounded. A suspect was arrested without incident with more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition and a large number of weapons in his white Cadillac Fleetwood. Thirty-nine-year-old

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A Republican candidate for Congress in western New York said in an interview that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “should be executed,” before later clarifying that he wasn’t being serious. Carl Paladino made the comment Aug. 13 in an interview with Breitbart News Saturday. Paladino was criticizing Garland for authorizing a

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro briefly grappled with a heckler and tried to snatch his phone — an incident that underscored possible challenges for the sometimes quick-tempered leader. Bolsonaro was speaking to supporters outside his residence in the capital city of Brasilia when social media influencer Wilker

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says her country will never accept South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “foolish” offer of economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps, accusing Seoul of recycling rejected proposals from the past. Kim Yo Jong also questioned

By MARÍA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Truth Commission established to clear up the 2014 disappearances of 43 students in southern Mexico said Thursday the army was responsible at least for not stopping the abductions because a soldier had infiltrated the student group and the army knew what was happening. On Sept.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Three men, including a Mafia hitman, have been charged in the 2018 killing of notorious Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, the Justice Department said Thursday. The charges against Fotios “Freddy” Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon come nearly four years after Bulger’s killing, which