SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Cayman Islands plans to hold a referendum on whether to make the possession of small amounts of marijuana a minor crime. Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan says there is widespread support among legislators to hold a public vote. Bryan says if voters approve the measure, possession would be treated
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal authorities say a rare whale found dead off Massachusetts earlier this year died as a result of entanglement in Maine lobster fishing gear. The North Atlantic right whale was found dead off Martha’s Vineyard in January. The whales are declining in population and are at the center of
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MILAN (AP) — An Italian family hopes to prove definitively that a painting discarded from a villa on Capri more than 60 years ago is a Picasso. They have been gathering scientific data to persuade Picasso’s estate administration in Paris to make the definitive call. The rolled-up canvas of a female figure was
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down this week when the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for the first time since 1977. Workers began walking picket lines early Tuesday near ports all along the East and Gulf coasts. A shutdown lasting more than a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. authorities and Microsoft say hackers linked to Russian intelligence targeted dozens of former military and intelligence officials, journalists and civil society groups with a sophisticated campaign designed to steal information. The group is known as Star Blizzard, and officials say it sent emails to victims that appeared to come
Continue ReadingEVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted of child neglect for a rat attack that left his 6-month-old son with disfiguring injuries has been sentenced to the maximum 16 years in prison. A judge sentenced 32-year-old David Schonabaum on Wednesday after a jury convicted the Evansville man in September on charges of neglecting a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Rescuers are searching for dozens of migrants from Africa still missing after smugglers apparently forced them out of two boats in the Red Sea off the coast of Djibouti earlier this week. At least 48 people were earlier reported to have drowned. The boats had departed from Yemen —
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A TikTok personality known as Mr. Prada is charged in the bludgeoning death of a Louisiana therapist whose body was discovered over the weekend in a rolled up tarp near a state highway, authorities said Thursday. The body of Nicholas Abraham, 69, of Baton Rouge, was found Sunday in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Thursday said 224 political prisoners in Belarus must be urgently released. More than 65,000 people have been detained since Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent. It followed mass protests that broke out after an
Continue ReadingAP Sports Writer FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi’s first MLS Cup playoff match with Inter Miami will be on Oct. 25. And it’ll be aired live on a massive screen spanning an entire block of New York’s Times Square. Major League Soccer announced Thursday that Inter Miami’s opener will be the lone playoff
Continue ReadingAP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is pumping more artificial intelligence into its search engine. New features will enable people to voice questions about images and rely on the still-faulty technology to organize the presentation of an entire results page. The latest changes announced Thursday herald the next step in an AI-driven makeover
Continue ReadingMADISON, Wis. (AP) — One of eight guards charged in the deaths of two inmates at a troubled maximum security prison in Wisconsin has pleaded no contest to a reduced charge. The Wisconsin State Journal reports former Waupun Correctional Institution guard Sarah Ransbottom pleaded no contest last week to a charge of violating a law
Continue ReadingAP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A new documentary captures the horror of the Hamas attack on a music festival in Israel, in time for the first anniversary of the event. It’s a harrowing experience, but also a political hot potato, according to its distributor. It is available on Paramount+ and Showtime in the
Continue ReadingAP Golf Writer Masters chairman Fred Ridley says Augusta National sustained a lot of damage from Hurricane Helene, just like the rest of the area. Ridley is in Japan for the Asia-Pacific Amateur. He says he’s confident the Masters will go on as scheduled the second full week in April. He says the focus now
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three former Memphis police officers were convicted Thursday in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, but were acquitted of the harshest charges they faced for a death that sparked national protests and calls for broad changes in policing. Jurors deliberated for about six hours before coming back with
Continue ReadingAP National Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — Gymnastics star Simone Biles is giving the men’s side of the sport a welcome boost. Several members of the U.S. men’s Olympic team that captured bronze in Paris have joined Biles for her post-Olympic tour. Biles says the decision to include men was designed to show fans of the
Continue ReadingAP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — For years, the Grammy Awards have been criticized over a lack of diversity — artists of color and women left out of top prizes; rap and contemporary R&B stars ignored — a reflection of the Recording Academy’s electorate. An evolving voting body, 66% of whom have joined in
Continue ReadingPARIS (AP) — French Union of Auschwitz Deportees president and Holocaust survivor Victor Perahia has died. He was 91. Perahia was deported as a child to the Nazi death camp of Bergen-Belsen. The Union of Auschwitz Deportees said in a statement that he died on Monday in the eastern Paris suburb of Saint-Mande. The union
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian woman who worked as a maid in Malaysia has been arrested and deported to her homeland for comments she posted on social media criticizing Cambodian government leaders. Cambodia’s prison department confirmed reports that Nuon Toeun was arrested last week by Malaysian authorities following a request from
Continue ReadingQUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say a speeding bus carrying wedding guests has plunged into a ravine in southwestern Balochistan province, killing at least seven people. They also say that 17 were injured in Thursday’s accident near Quetta, the provincial capital. A spokesman for the health department said the victims were brought to a
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