News

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A judge says a former student accused of murdering 17 people at a Florida high school cannot be called “animal” or “that thing” during his upcoming trial. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer ruled Friday that it’s impossible to create a complete list of words prosecutors and

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court has blocked an order that had allowed well over 50,000 felony offenders who aren’t serving prison or jail time to immediately register to vote and cast ballots. The state Court of Appeals agreed on Friday to halt last week’s decision

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An Emmett Till historical marker in Mississippi will be repaired after being knocked off the pole that supports it. That’s according to Allan Hammons, president of an advertising agency that made the sign. A previous version of this metal sign was vandalized and another Till

By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The battle over mask requirements in Florida schools is headed for a new legal phase following an appeal by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of a judge’s ruling that a blanket ban on mask mandates exceeds the state’s authority. The case heads next to

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s attorney general said a former Army major accused of killing three neighbors to eliminate a witness in a court-martial has been sentenced to life in prison. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Thursday in a statement that Christian Richard Martin will not be eligible for parole. Jurors convicted Martin after

BANGKOK (AP) — A 72-year-old British man has been found safe three days after disappearing in a thick jungle in northeastern Thailand while going to visit friends on a motorbike. A member of a local volunteer team that helped rescue him said a hunter came across Barry Leonard Weller in a remote forest in Khon

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include Mary Elizabeth Winstead starring in the brutal assassin thriller “Kate” on Netflix and a filmed version of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical “Come From Away.” Justin Bieber will hit the MTV Video Music Awards stage for the first time in six years on Sunday and the

By CLAUDIA TORRENS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An extraordinary number of Ecuadorians has been coming to the United States — often to New York. They surpassed El Salvadorans as the fourth-largest nationality encountered by U.S. authorities on the Mexican border, behind Mexicans, Guatemalans and Hondurans. That also has led to increasing numbers of

PARIS (AP) — Officials in the principality of Monaco say that Princess Charlene is in “reassuring” condition after being suddenly hospitalized with complications from a serious sinus infection. Princess Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer who has been on an extended stay in her home country of South Africa, suffered an unspecified “malaise” overnight Wednesday, the

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Prisoners in South Carolina attacked two officers inside a county jail on Friday. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says they destroyed much of a unit housing about 50 inmates before a special team of officers “used a show of force” to end the riot. Lott says the officers are hospitalized but

JIYEH, Lebanon (AP) — Dozens of Lebanese worshippers knelt for Friday prayers at a gas station south of Beirut amid severe fuel shortages that have paralyzed the nation for weeks. The prayer session in Jiyeh took place as a queue of vehicles waiting for gas stretched for more than five kilometers (three miles). The organizing

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian army says nearly 6,000 Boko Haram militants have surrendered in the country’s northeast in recent weeks, marking one of the largest surrenders since the insurgency began.  The army said the Islamist extremists laid down their arms because of the counter-insurgency efforts in the northeast,

By MARLON GONZÁLEZ Associated Press SAN MARCOS DE COLON, Honduras (AP) — Honduras’ push to form semi-autonomous development zones aimed at spurring investment are raising concerns among members of neighboring communities and experts. They fear the zones could operate as mini-states, with power to expropriate nearby property and impose their own laws. Those pushing the