AP National News

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, one of Iraq’s most senior and influential Muslim Shiite clerics, has died of a heart attack, members of his family said. He was 85. A relative, Mohsen al-Hakim, told The Associated Press that al-Hakim died at the Al Hayat hospital in

By ROXANA HEGEMAN and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Civil rights advocates and federal public defenders have urged the White House to intervene to ensure that a privately run federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, shuts down when its contract expires at the end of this year. The letter emailed Thursday to

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 Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week. — The upcoming 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 has brought with it a flood of documentaries and specials looking back on the tragedy. Some of what will be streaming,

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

JIYEH, Lebanon (AP) — Dozens of worshippers knelt in prayer Friday at the center of hundreds of cars and unruly motorists surrounding a gas station south of Beirut. Sheikh Ali al-Hussein led the session to highlight the hardship suffered by people who could not leave their spots in line for gas during the worst economic

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian army says nearly 6,000 Islamic extremists have surrendered in the country’s northeast in recent weeks, marking one of the largest defections since the 12-year insurgency began. The announcement Thursday by military spokesman Bernard Onyeuko comes several weeks after Nigeria’s army had announced that some

By MARÍA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has faced immigration pressures from the north, south and within its own borders in recent weeks, putting it in an increasingly difficult position. Thousands of migrants continue to cross its southern border, the United States sends thousands more back from the north and there’s the

By MARLON GONZÁLEZ Associated Press SAN MARCOS DE COLON, Honduras (AP) — Row after row of gleaming new greenhouses are rising on fields just a short walk from the land where the family of Zonia Amparo Vásquez has grown corn and beans for four decades. Construction began in January, but it wasn’t until June when

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VENICE, Italy (AP) — Kristen Stewart says there’s a “huge, vast” difference between her loss of privacy as a teenage movie star and that of Princess Diana. Stewart gained that perspective filming Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” the latest cinematic look at the late Princess of Wales, which premiered Friday at the

Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — After a pandemic-related absence of almost two years, Universal Orlando Resort’s celebration of all things scary opened for screams on Friday. Halloween Horror Nights kicked off at the Florida theme park resort for a 30th year of disturbing haunted houses, live entertainment and celebrations of pop-culture scares. Each haunted

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writers BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Apple is indefinitely delaying plans to scan iPhones in the U.S. for images of child sexual abuse following an outcry from security and privacy experts who warned the technology could be exploited for other surveillance purposes by hackers and intrusive governments. The

LONDON (AP) — Hollywood stars are paying tribute to voice coach Joan Washington, whose death was announced on Friday. Washington’s death was disclosed by her husband, actor Richard E. Grant. He posted a video on Twitter of the couple dancing together to a song by the Platters, along with the words: “ONLY YOU! Joan –

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The new Imagine Dragons album cover depicts a man falling through space, gravity gently pulling him down. Inside is the sound of a man grappling with his own fall. Lead singer, songwriter and lyricist Dan Reynolds has poured heartache, tragedy and his struggles with sobriety

By DAVID CRARY and HOLLY MEYER Associated Press As customary, there will be celebrations and somber reflections as American Jews observe the upcoming High Holy Days — their faith’s most important period. There also will be deep disappointment, as rabbis once again cancel or limit in-person worship due to the persisting COVID-19 pandemic. The chief