U.S./World category, Page 304
Sweeping gun legislation approved by Maine lawmakers after deadliest shooting in state history
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people before adjourning Thursday morning, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and the...
Sluggish start for spring homebuying season as home sales fall in March with mortgage rates rising
LOS ANGELES — The spring homebuying season is off to a sluggish start as home shoppers contend with elevated mortgage rates and rising prices. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell 4.3% in March from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million, the National Association...
Israelis grapple with how to celebrate Passover, a holiday about freedom, while many remain captive
JERUSALEM — Every year, Alon Gat’s mother led the family’s Passover celebration of the liberation of the ancient Israelites from Egypt thousands of years ago. But this year, Gat is struggling with how to reconcile a holiday commemorating freedom after his mother was slain and other family members abducted when...
United Arab Emirates struggles to recover after heaviest recorded rainfall ever hits desert nation
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates struggled Thursday to recover from the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit the desert nation, as its main airport worked to restore normal operations even as floodwater still covered portions of major highways and roads. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest...
Justice Department ramps up efforts to reduce violent crime with gun intel center, carjacking forces
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is ramping up its efforts to reduce violent crime in the U.S., launching a specialized gun intelligence center in Chicago and expanding task forces to curb carjackings. In an interview with The Associated Press, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said there is “absolutely much more...
O.J. Simpson has been cremated, estate attorney in Las Vegas says. No public memorial is planned
LAS VEGAS — Former football star and celebrity criminal defendant O.J. Simpson was cremated Wednesday, the lawyer handling his estate said following his death last week at home in Las Vegas at age 76. Attorney Malcolm LaVergne told The Associated Press he was present, along with unspecified other people, for...
Lawyers for Nassar assault survivors have reached $100M deal with Justice Department, AP source says
The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to pay approximately $100 million to settle claims with about 100 people who say they were sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The deal has not been finalized and...
Columbia University’s president rebuts claims she has allowed school to become a hotbed of hatred
WASHINGTON — The president of Columbia University took a firm stand against antisemitism Wednesday as she parried accusations from Republicans who see the New York campus as a hotbed of bias, but she hedged on whether certain phrases invoked by some supporters of Palestinians rise to harassment. Nemat Shafik had...
Chicago woman pleads guilty, gets 50 years for cutting child from victim’s womb
CHICAGO — A Chicago woman accused of luring a pregnant teenager to her home and cutting her baby from her womb with a butcher knife nearly five years ago pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Clarisa Figueroa, 51, seated in a wheelchair and wearing...
Boeing put under Senate scrutiny during back-to-back hearings on aircraft maker’s safety culture
An engineer at Boeing said Wednesday that the aircraft company, in rushing to produce as many planes as possible, is taking manufacturing shortcuts that could lead to jetliners breaking apart. “They are putting out defective airplanes,” the engineer, Sam Salehpour, told members of a Senate subcommittee. Salehpour was testifying about...
9 are facing charges in what police in Canada say is the biggest gold theft in the country’s history
TORONTO — Police said nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago. Peel Regional Police said Wednesday that 6,600 gold bars worth more than 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.5 million), and CA$2.5 million...
Trump complains jury selection moving too fast in Manhattan hush money trial
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump complained Wednesday about jury selection in his Manhattan hush money case as the trial moves faster than expected toward opening statements. After prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed on a surprisingly robust total of seven jurors in one day, Trump sought to tap the...
Biden announces help for federal employees who are military spouses and want to telework from abroad
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday announced new steps to improve a program that lets federal employees who also are military spouses telework from overseas. The steps are part of Jill Biden’s Joining Forces initiative to support military and veteran families. The first lady was hosting a White...
Swedish Parliament votes to make it easier for people to legally change their gender
The Swedish parliament passed a law Wednesday lowering the age required for people to legally change their gender from 18 to 16. Young people under 18 will still need approval from a guardian, a doctor, and the National Board of Health and Welfare. However, a gender dysphoria diagnosis — defined...
FDA announces recall of heart pumps linked to deaths and injuries
A pair of heart devices linked to hundreds of injuries and at least 14 deaths has received the FDA’s most serious recall, the agency announced Monday. The recall comes years after surgeons say they first noticed problems with the HeartMate II and HeartMate 3, manufactured by Thoratec Corp., a subsidiary...
Storm dumps record rain across desert nation of UAE, floods Dubai’s airport
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The desert nation of the United Arab Emirates attempted to dry out Wednesday from the heaviest rain ever recorded there after a deluge flooded out Dubai International Airport, disrupting flights through the world’s busiest airfield for international travel. The state-run WAM news agency called the...
UN report points to yawning gap of inequality in sexual and reproductive health worldwide
GENEVA — A new study says an African woman is roughly 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth complications than a woman in Europe or North America, the U.N. population fund reported Wednesday as it decried widening inequality in sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. UNFPA’s...
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in U.S. more likely to believe in climate change: AP-NORC poll
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are more likely than the overall adult population to believe in human-caused climate change, according to a new poll. It also suggests that partisanship may not have as much of an impact on this group’s environmental views, compared to...
Heavy rain lashes UAE, surrounding nations as the death toll in Oman flooding rises to 18Video
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Heavy rain lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, flooding out portions of major highways and leaving vehicles abandoned on roadways across Dubai. Meanwhile, the death toll in separate heavy flooding in neighboring Oman rose to 18 with others still missing as the sultanate prepared...
Executor of O.J. Simpson’s estate plans to fight payout to the Brown, Goldman families
LAS VEGAS — The executor of O.J. Simpson’s estate says he will work to prevent a payout of a $33.5 million judgment awarded by a California civil jury nearly three decades ago in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend...
A painting of Winston Churchill by an artist whose work he hated is up for auction
LONDON — A portrait of Winston Churchill by an artist whose work the British leader loathed went on display Tuesday at Churchill’s birthplace ahead of an auction in June. The painting by modernist artist Graham Sutherland was made in preparation for a larger portrait that Churchill hated and which was...
Salman Rushdie’s ‘Knife’ is unflinching about his brutal stabbing and uncanny in its vital spirit
NEW YORK — In Salman Rushdie’s first book since the 2022 stabbing that hospitalized him and left him blind in one eye, the author wastes no time reliving the day he thought might be his last. “At a quarter to eleven on August 12, 2022, on a sunny Friday morning...
Supreme Court questions obstruction charges brought against Jan. 6 rioters and Trump
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether federal prosecutors went too far in bringing obstruction charges against hundreds of participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. But it wasn’t clear how the justices would rule in a case that also could affect the prosecution of former President...
U.K. lawmakers will vote on a landmark bill to gradually phase out smoking
LONDON — The British government’s plan for a landmark smoking ban that aims to stop young people from ever smoking was expected to clear its first hurdle Tuesday despite vocal opposition from within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party. The bill, a key policy announced by Sunak last year, would...
Supreme Court won’t hear election denier Mike Lindell’s challenge over FBI seizure of cellphone
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition by MyPillow founder and election denier Mike Lindell to consider his challenge to the legality of the FBI’s seizure of his cellphone at a restaurant drive-through. The high court, without comment Monday, declined to reconsider three lower court...
