-
Trump faces jail threat over gag order as prosecutors zero in on transactions at heart of the caseNEW YORK -- Donald Trump returns to his hush money trial Tuesday facing a threat of jail time for additional gag order violations as prosecutors gear up to summon big-name witnesses in the final weeks of the case. Stormy Daniels, the porn actor who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump, and Michael Cohen, the former Trump lawyer and personal fixer who prosecutors say paid her to keep silent in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, are among those who have yet to take the stand but are expected to in the coming weeks.. ...
-
Pro-Palestinian protesters retake MIT encampment, occupy building at Rhode Island School of DesignNEW YORK -- A Monday deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave an encampment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology cleared many demonstrators only to have the site retaken while protesters at the Rhode Island School of Design began occupying a building in the ongoing protest movement connected to the Israel-Hamas war...
-
Powerful storms bring tornadoes to Oklahoma, large hail to Kansas. Forecasts warn more is to comeOKLAHOMA CITY -- Powerful storms have erupted in the central United States, bringing tornadoes to rural Oklahoma and large hail in parts of Kansas, with forecasters warning that the dangerous weather could stretch into the early hours of Tuesday amid a rare high-risk weather warning for the two states...
-
Boeing calls off its first astronaut launch because of valve issue on rocketCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on the rocket Monday night. The two NASA test pilots had just strapped into Boeing's Starliner capsule for a flight to the International Space Station when the countdown was halted, just two hours before the planned liftoff...
-
Lawsuit alleges decades of child sex abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers statewideCHICAGO -- Child sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers was pervasive and systemic for decades, according to disturbing accounts in a lawsuit filed Monday by 95 men and women housed at the youth centers as children. The lawsuit details alleged incidents of abuse from 1996 to 2017, including gang rape, forced oral sex, beatings and groping of children by corrections officers, sergeants, nurses, therapists, a chaplain and others at nine youth centers. ...
-
The yearly memorial march at the former death camp at Auschwitz overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas warOSWIECIM, Poland -- Holocaust survivors and survivors of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel were among thousands who took part Monday in the March of the Living, a yearly memorial march at the site of Auschwitz that honors the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and celebrates the state of Israel...
-
Hamas accepts Gaza cease-fire; Israel says it will continue talks but presses on with Rafah attacksJERUSALEM -- Hamas said Monday it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations...
-
Macron puts trade and Ukraine as top priorities as China's Xi opens European visit in FrancePARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday that focused on trade disputes -- including lifting immediate tariff threats on Cognac exports -- and Ukraine-related diplomatic efforts. Xi was in France for a two-day state visit to open his European tour...
-
China's Xi begins Serbia visit on the 25th anniversary of NATO's bombing of the Chinese EmbassyBELGRADE, Serbia -- Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to European ally Serbia on Tuesday falls on a symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO's air war over Kosovo. U.S. jets dropped five bombs on the Chinese Embassy compound in the Serbian capital on May 7, 1999, setting it ablaze and killing three Chinese nationals. Twenty other people were injured in the incident, which has burdened relations between the two powers ever since...
-
The FAA investigates after Boeing says workers in South Carolina falsified 787 inspection recordsSEATTLE -- The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the beleaguered company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers have determined that misconduct did not create "an immediate safety of flight issue."...
-
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout starsNEW YORK -- The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage. Lopez went for silver leaves in a second-skin goddess gown and Zendaya was all vamp and fantasy in a rare double appearance on the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art...
-
Pulitzer Prizes in journalism awarded to The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP and othersNEW YORK -- The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S...
-
As storms move across Texas, 1 child dies after being swept away in floodwaters (5/6/24)HOUSTON -- Storms in Texas brought additional rain Sunday to the already saturated Houston area where hundreds of people have been rescued from flooded homes and roads, while to the north in the Fort Worth area, a child died after being swept away when the car he was traveling in got stuck in floodwaters...
-
Denial, uncertainty looming over Biden-Trump rematch 6 months out from Election Day (5/6/24)WILMINGTON, N.C. -- This North Carolina voter is nervous. Will Rikard, a 49-year-old father of two, was among several hundred Democrats who stood and cheered for Joe Biden as the first-term president delivered a fiery speech recently about the billions of dollars he has delivered to protect the state's drinking water...
-
Anti-war protesters leave USC after police arrive, while Northeastern ceremony proceeds calmly (5/6/24)Students protesting the war in Gaza abandoned their camp at the University of Southern California early Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest, while Northeastern University's commencement ended peacefully at Boston's Fenway Park...
-
Warren Buffett says AI may be better for scammers than society -- and he's seen how (5/6/24)OMAHA, Neb. -- Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for his annual meeting that artificial intelligence scams could become "the growth industry of all time." Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffett told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. ...
-
Hamas says latest cease-fire talks have ended. Israel vows military operation in 'very near future' (5/6/24)JERUSALEM -- The latest round of Gaza cease-fire talks ended in Cairo after "in-depth and serious discussions," the Hamas militant group said Sunday, reiterating key demands that Israel again rejected. After earlier signs of progress, the outlook appeared to dim as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to resist international pressure to halt the war...
-
Ukraine marks third Easter at war as it comes under fire from Russian drones, troops (5/6/24)KYIV, Ukraine -- As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine's east, wounding more than a dozen people, and claimed its troops took control of a village they had been targeting. Ukraine's air force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones overnight, of which 23 were shot down...
-
NerdWallet: Taking these financial steps could help post-divorce recovery (5/6/24)Jamie Lima remembers his divorce six years ago as one of the most emotionally draining and financially challenging experiences of his life. As a result, he resolved to use his professional background as a certified financial planner to help other people going through similar situations...
-
China sends a probe to get samples from the less-explored far side of the moon (5/3/24)TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China on Friday launched a lunar probe to land on the far side of the moon and return with samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. It is the latest advance in China’s increasingly sophisticated space exploration program, which is now competing with the U.S., still the leader in space...
-
Hope Hicks, ex-Trump adviser, recounts political firestorm in 2016 over 'Access Hollywood' tape (5/3/24)NEW YORK (AP) — Former White House official and Donald Trump adviser Hope Hicks took the stand Friday at the former president's hush money trial and recounted how his 2016 campaign became embroiled in a political firestorm over a recording in which he boasted about grabbing women without their permission...
-
House passes bill to expand definition of antisemitism amid growing campus protests over Gaza war (5/3/24)WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Wednesday that would establish a broader definition of antisemitism for the Department of Education to enforce anti-discrimination laws, the latest response from lawmakers to a nationwide student protest movement over the Israel-Hamas war...
-
More than 2,100 people have been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses (5/3/24)LOS ANGELES -- Police have arrested more than 2,100 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks, sometimes using riot gear, tactical vehicles and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings. One officer fired his gun inside a Columbia University administration building while clearing out protesters camped inside, a prosecutor's office confirmed...
-
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story (5/3/24)NEW YORK -- Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president...
-
Biden: 'order must prevail' during campus protests over war in Gaza (5/3/24)WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden on Thursday rejected calls from student protesters to change his approach to the war in Gaza while insisting that "order must prevail" as college campuses across the country face a wave of violence, outrage and fear...
-
United Methodists remove anti-gay language from official teachings on societal issues (5/3/24)CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- United Methodist delegates on Thursday removed a 52-year-old declaration from their official social teachings that deemed "the practice of homosexuality ... incompatible with Christian teaching" -- part of a wider series of historic reversals of the denomination's longstanding disapproval of LGBTQ activity...
-
Maryland officials release timeline, cost estimate, for rebuilding bridge (5/3/24)ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Maryland plans to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in just over four years at an estimated cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, a state transportation official said Thursday. The state plans to build a new span by fall of 2028, said David Broughton, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation. He said the cost estimate is preliminary, and detailed engineering specifics have not been confirmed...
-
Senators want limits on government's use of facial recognition technology for airport screening (5/3/24)WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology by the Transportation Security Administration, saying they are concerned about travelers' privacy and civil liberties. In a letter on Thursday, the group of 14 lawmakers called on Senate leaders to use the upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration as a vehicle to limit TSA's use of the technology so Congress can put in place some oversight...
-
Arizona's Democratic governor signs bill to repeal 1864 ban on most abortions (5/3/24)PHOENIX -- Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has relegated a Civil War-era ban on most abortions to the past by signing a bill Thursday to repeal it. Hobbs says the move is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. The repeal of the 1864 law that the state Supreme Court recently reinstated won't take effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, which typically happens in June or July...
-
Hamas sending delegation to Egypt for further cease-fire talks in latest sign of progress (5/3/24)BEIRUT -- Hamas said Thursday that it was sending a delegation to Egypt for further cease-fire talks, in a new sign of progress in attempts by international mediators to hammer out an agreement between Israel and the militant group to end the war in Gaza...
-
Trump calls judge 'crooked' after facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order (5/2/24)FREELAND, Mich. -- Donald Trump returned briefly to the campaign trail Wednesday and called the judge presiding over his hush money trial "crooked" a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order...
-
Tension grows on UCLA campus as police order dispersal of large pro-Palestinian gathering (5/2/24)LOS ANGELES -- Law enforcement on the UCLA campus donned riot gear Wednesday evening as they ordered the dispersal of over a thousand people who had gathered in support of a pro-Palestinian student encampment, warning over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave could face arrest...
-
Police killed student outside Wisconsin school after reports of someone with a weapon, official says (5/2/24)MOUNT HOREB, Wis. -- Police shot and killed a student outside a Wisconsin middle school Wednesday after receiving a report of someone with a weapon, the state's attorney general said in the first law enforcement briefing on gunshots that sent children fleeing and prompted an hourslong lockdown of local schools...
-
Federal Reserve says interest rates will stay at two-decade high until inflation further cools (5/2/24)WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high in recent months and said it doesn't plan to cut interest rates until it has "greater confidence" that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target...
-
Experts fear 'catastrophic' college declines thanks to botched FAFSA rollout (5/2/24)WASHINGTON -- The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form -- a financial aid application that's supposed to help students go to college, but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through...
-
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene vows to force a vote next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson (5/2/24)WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Wednesday she would call a vote next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson, forcing her colleagues to choose sides in a difficult showdown after Democratic leaders announced they would provide the votes to save the Republican speaker's job...
-
Appeals court rejects climate change lawsuit by young Oregon activists against US government (5/2/24)SEATTLE -- A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday rejected a long-running lawsuit brought by young Oregon-based climate activists who argued that the U.S. government's role in climate change violated their constitutional rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously ordered the case dismissed in 2020, saying that the job of determining the nation's climate policies should fall to politicians, not judges. ...
-
Arizona lawmakers vote to undo near-total abortion ban from 1864, with Gov. Hobbs expected to sign (5/2/24)PHOENIX -- The Arizona Legislature approved a repeal of a long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions Wednesday, sending the bill to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who is expected to sign it. Two Republicans joined with Democrats in the Senate on the 16-14 vote in favor of repealing a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. ...
-
Columbia University student journalists had an up-close view for days of drama (5/2/24)Student journalists on the Columbia University campus knew what was coming long before police with riot shields arrived to begin arresting the pro-Palestinian protesters. They had watched the situation spiral as the protesters stood their ground, refusing to abandon Hamilton Hall and using a pulley system to bring supplies into the building they had occupied...
-
Florida's 6-week abortion ban takes effect as doctors worry women will lose access to health care (5/2/24)BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Florida's ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant, went into effect Wednesday, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care...
-
United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy (5/2/24)CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- United Methodist delegates repealed their church's longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference -- the first such legislative gathering in five years. ...
-
Biden to travel to North Carolina to meet with families of officers killed in deadly shooting (5/2/24)CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- President Joe Biden is expected to travel to North Carolina on Thursday to meet with the family members of four officers killed earlier this week in the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since 2016. The president is scheduled to visit Wilmington across the state that day and is planning to add a stop in Charlotte to meet with local officials and the families of officers shot Monday while serving a warrant, according to a person familiar with the matter...
-
Drone footage shows devastation in Ukraine's strategic eastern city of Chasiv Yar as Russians near (5/2/24)KYIV, Ukraine -- Months of relentless Russian artillery pounding have devastated a strategic city in eastern Ukraine, new drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows, with barely a building left intact, homes and municipal offices charred and a town that once had a population of 12,000 now all but deserted...
-
Blinken presses Hamas to seal cease-fire with Israel, says 'the time is now' for a deal (5/2/24)JERUSALEM -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hiked up pressure on Hamas on Wednesday to accept the latest proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, saying the "time is now" for an agreement that would free hostages and pause the nearly seven months of war in Gaza...
-
Highway collapse in southern China kills at least 36 people (5/2/24)BEIJING -- A section of a highway collapsed after heavy rains in a mountainous area in southern China, sending cars tumbling down a slope and leaving at least 36 people dead, authorities said Thursday. The Meizhou city government said that 23 vehicles have been found after a 58.7-foot long section of the highway gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Thirty other people had injuries, none of them life-threatening, a government statement said...
-
US poised to ease restrictions on marijuana in historic shift, but it'll remain controlled substance (5/1/24)WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country...
-
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus (5/1/24)NEW YORK -- Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus. Shortly before officers entered the campus, the New York Police Department received a notice from Columbia authorizing officers to take action, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity...
-
Hush money trial judge raises threat of jail as he finds Trump violated gag order, fines him $9K (5/1/24)NEW YORK -- Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. If he does it again, the judge warned, he could be jailed...
-
Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah 'with or without a deal' as cease-fire talks with Hamas continue (5/1/24)TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering from the almost 7-month-long war, just as cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to be gaining steam...
-
Democrats say they will save Speaker Mike Johnson's job if Republicans try to oust him (5/1/24)WASHINGTON -- House Democrats will vote to save Republican Speaker Mike Johnson's job should some of his fellow Republican lawmakers seek to remove him from the position, Democratic leaders said Tuesday, likely assuring for now that Johnson will avoid being ousted from office like his predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy...