ROME (AP) — Pope Francis turned 88 on Tuesday and marked the occasion with revelations that he almost didn’t make it. According to excerpts of his upcoming autobiography, suicide bombers had planned to attack him during his 2021 visit to Iraq, but were killed before striking. Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Tuesday ran excerpts
Continue ReadingAssociated Press GIANYAR, Indonesia (AP) — An elephant that lived at the zoo on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali was found dead on Tuesday after being swept away by a strong river current. Molly, a 45-year-old female Sumatran elephant was one of two being guided by a mahout to a holding area outside of the
Continue ReadingTAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The China-friendly mayor of Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, has called for less confrontation between the sides even as Beijing continues to send warships and fighter jets near the self governing island democracy. Chiang Wan-an was speaking Tuesday at the 15th Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum, which is not sanctioned by Taiwan’s government. China considers
Continue ReadingIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future. Israel’s recent capture of the buffer zone has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land grab. Netanyahu entered the buffer zone on
Continue ReadingA senior Russian general was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service leveled criminal charges against him. A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection
Continue ReadingAssociated Press/Report for America NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department and the city of New Orleans are pushing to end more than a decade of federal oversight of the police department. But most members of the public urged a federal judge on Tuesday to maintain the oversight. Activists point to lackluster police efforts
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s acting leader vowed Tuesday to convey to the world that things are back to normal following parliament’s impeachment of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, as rival parties squabble the appointments of court justices who will determine whether to unseat or reinstate Yoon. The country’s liberal opposition-controlled
Continue ReadingPESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say militants on a motorcycle opened fire at a police post in the country’s restive northwest, killing at least two officers and wounding three others before fleeing the scene. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Shangla, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan. A local
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — After two costly delays, the Pinellas County Commission approved its share of financing for a new $1.3 billion Tampa Bay Rays ballpark. The overall plan was approved by the county commission and city of St. Petersburg officials this summer, but votes on the funding for the deal have
Continue ReadingWINONA. Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his girlfriend, whose disappearance after she dropped off their kids at day care drew national attention and prompted thousands of volunteers to join a 69-day search for her. A jury found 30-year-old Adam Fravel
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The motive for a shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded others at a Wisconsin school appears to be a “combination of factors,” a police chief said Tuesday as he appealed to the public to share what they might know about the 15-year-old girl who attacked
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 1997 killings of his brother and three other men was set to receive a lethal injection by early Wednesday in the state’s first execution in 15 years, without any independent witness present under the state’s laws shielding information about the death penalty.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It’s about as American an idea as it gets -the hunger to make your own path, to find your own way, make your voice heard. A look at social media and pop culture shows plenty of young Asian Americans doing just that these days — in business, in politics, in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It’s about as American an idea as it gets -the hunger to make your own path, to find your own way, make your voice heard. A look at social media and pop culture shows plenty of young Asian Americans doing just that these days — in business, in politics, in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Advertisements pasted along the sidewalk in Kyiv ask for donations to help fill financial gaps across Ukraine’s military. By scanning a QR code people can help buy anything from body warmers, to drones and armored cars for soldiers defending the nearly 1,000-kilometer or 620-mile front line. Grassroots funding for
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — At a time of heightened political division, Americans’ confidence in their country’s judicial system and courts dropped to a record low of 35% this year, according to a new Gallup poll. The United States saw a sharp drop of 24 percentage points over the last four years, setting the country
Continue ReadingAP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Crime writer John D. MacDonald, a master of the genre, was so prolific that sometimes he couldn’t keep up with what he was doing. He might have dozens of stories in submission at once and would leave some unfinished or unpublished as he moved to a new idea.
Continue ReadingAP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Over the four years he’s spent working on “Mufasa: The Lion King,” Barry Jenkins estimates that he’s been asked why he wanted to make it at least 400 times. The question of why Jenkins, the filmmaker of “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “The Underground Railroad,”
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Political turmoil is erupting within one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S. as the top attorney for the Navajo Nation announced that an investigation has cleared the Navajo president of sexual harassment allegations by the vice president. Even as results of the investigation were announced
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes pulled back on Tuesday to trim some of their stellar gains for the year. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, though it’s still near its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 267 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gave
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