AP National News

Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says a top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon Monday was one of its employees but had been suspended since allegations of his ties to the militant group emerged in March. Fatah Sharif’s connection to Hamas appeared set to ratchet up pressure on UNRWA, already

AP Business Writer The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle division will pay a $1.5 million penalty as part of a consent order after the unit failed to fully report a crash involving a pedestrian. The NHTSA said on Monday that as part of the consent order Cruise will

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for shooting and wounding two Jewish men outside Los Angeles synagogues last year. Federal prosecutors announced the sentence on Monday. Thirty-year-old Jaime Tran pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A judge in Alaska has set aside a federal agency’s action designating an area the size of Texas as critical habitat for two species of threatened Arctic Alaska seals. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason last week ruled the National Marine Fisheries Service did not explain why the entire 174-million-acre area

Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Nearly 6,000 people in Haiti are starving, with nearly half the country’s population of more than 11 million people experiencing crisis levels of hunger or worse as gang violence smothers life in the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond, according to a new report released Monday. The number of Haitians

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is sending a “few thousand” troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to defend Israel if necessary, the Pentagon said Monday. The announcement follows word that Israel has already launched limited raids across the border into Lebanon. The additional forces would raise the total number of

Associated Press A Black man alleges in a lawsuit that an Iowa trucking company fired him as a driver because he wouldn’t cut off his dreadlocks, the latest in a series of incidents across the country over an issue activists have dubbed hair discrimination. Drew Harvey, 26, of Crete, Illinois, accused Des Moines-based TMC Transportation

Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Lawyers for three former Memphis officers have rested their cases without calling them to testify in their defense against charges that they violated Tyre Nichols’ civil rights when he was fatally beaten after a 2023 traffic stop. Attorneys for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith told jurors Monday

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A criminal justice reform advocate featured in the movie “Sing Sing” has been exonerated in the 1998 killing of a retired New York City police officer. Jon-Adrian Velazquez served nearly 24 years in prison. A Manhattan judge on Monday vacated his conviction in the killing of Albert Ward during

Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian human rights activists have accused the authorities of pressuring political prisoners pardoned by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. During the past three months, Lukashenko has pardoned 115 activists who were convicted for taking part in the protest against his rule. Those pardoned were a small fraction of more than

Associated Press Settlement checks related to Norfolk Southern’s disastrous 2023 derailment could be delayed up to two years now because an appeal of a federal judge’s decision last week to approve the $600 million deal has been filed. Many residents of East Palestine, Ohio, expressed outrage online over the weekend about the appeal because it

Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force trying to tackle gang violence in Haiti, after brushing off a call from Haiti’s government to start talks on transforming it into a U.N. peacekeeping mission. According to the final draft obtained by

NEW YORK (AP) — Reaction to the death of Kris Kristofferson. The singer-songwriter and actor died Saturday at his home in Hawaii surrounded by family at age 88. ___ “The first time I saw Kris performing at the Troubadour club in L.A. I knew he was something special.” — Barbra Streisand, Kristofferson’s co-star in “A

Reaction to the death of Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who died Monday from brain cancer. He was 58. ___ “I am deeply saddened to hear about Dikembe’s passing. He was a defensive force on the court who changed the way the game of basketball is played. But more importantly, Dikembe truly changed the

AP Basketball Writer Dikembe Mutombo, a Basketball Hall of Famer who was one of the best defensive players in NBA history and a longtime global ambassador for the game, died Monday from brain cancer, the league announced. He was 58. His family revealed two years ago that he was undergoing treatment in Atlanta for a

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An 81-year-old South Korean fashion model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant. She competed Monday in the country’s national pageant against much younger rivals. Dressed in a white gown, the silver-haired Choi Soon-hwa strutted across the stage and performed in a singing contest at

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Another top aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams has resigned. Timothy Pearson, one of the mayor’s closest advisers, submitted his resignation Monday evening. The resignation comes weeks after his attorney says federal agents seized cellphones, documents and cash from his Long Island home. The retired police inspector