By KIM COOK Associated Press Daily lives are noisier than ever, and many travelers are seeking relief in silence. Or as close as they can get to it. Quiet travel is a trend, from serene nature retreats to silent walking, or maybe just the soothing soundtracks of nature on your headphones. For many people, quiet
Continue ReadingBy DAVE COLLINS Associated Press An early spring nor’easter is hammering the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds, with some northern areas expected to get up to two feet of snow. More than 680,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday morning from West Virginia to Maine. Police say a falling tree in
Continue ReadingALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s surprise decision to schedule elections earlier than expected in Algeria is prompting suspicion and appears to be awakening discouraged political parties from a deep lethargy. Since he announced last month that the oil-rich North African country would hold elections on September 7, Algerians have questioned his intentions and
Continue ReadingCOEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Police investigating racist incidents directed toward the Utah women’s basketball team when they were near their Idaho hotel while in town for the NCAA Tournament say they’ve found an audio recording in which the use of a racial slur was clearly audible. The Coeur d’Alene Police Department says it’s working
Continue ReadingBy OMAR FARUK Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia has ordered Ethiopia’s ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours, and the closing of Ethiopia’s consulates in the breakaway region of Somaliland and the semiautonomous region of Puntland. Diplomats and personnel stationed at the consulates must vacate Somalia within a week, according to a
Continue ReadingBy Melissa Alonso and Josh Campbell, CNN (CNN) — The FBI and Los Angeles Police Department are investigating one of the largest cash heists in the city’s history after as much as $30 million was stolen from a San Fernando Valley money storage facility, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN Thursday. The
Continue ReadingBy SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man convicted of shooting and killing two people in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago. Michael Dewayne Smith, 41, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday after his conviction and death sentence for the slayings of Janet Moore,
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of a drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease that recently failed in a large study said Thursday it will pull the medicine from the market, acknowledging it didn’t help patients with the deadly neurological condition. Amylyx Pharmaceuticals announced it will voluntarily halt sales and marketing
Continue ReadingBy ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Dozens of construction workers from India have left for Israel this week to take up jobs there as the nearly six-month war between Israel and Hamas continues to rage in Gaza. Israel is facing a labor shortage after barring tens of thousands of Palestinian workers following
Continue ReadingBy KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — When you’re doing your taxes, it can sometimes be hard to know whether to itemize or take the standard deduction. Tax pros say itemizing generally only makes sense if your itemized deductions together add up to more than the current standard deduction. The three biggest potential
Continue ReadingBy CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian authorities has asked in court for cryptocurrency exchange Binance and two of its executives to be tried for alleged money laundering and tax evasion, the first legal step following weeks of a criminal investigation into the trading platform. Only Tigran Gambaryan, an American citizen and
Continue ReadingBy SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Police in Italy, Austria, Romania and Slovakia have arrested 22 people as part of an investigation into the suspected theft of hundreds millions of euros in post-pandemic relief funds from the European Union. The 600 million euros ($650 million) in post-pandemic money was meant for Italy, the
Continue ReadingBy STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Thursday and climbing back toward record heights, as Wall Street makes its final moves ahead of a jobs report that could shake the market on Friday. The S&P 500 was up 0.8% in afternoon trading and sitting just below its all-time
Continue ReadingBIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — As more storms approach California, officials have closed a scenic stretch of iconic Highway 1 where a giant section collapsed into the ocean following heavy weekend rains. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office had warned residents of parts of the coastal community of Big Sur to evacuate Wednesday before the road
Continue ReadingBIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — As more storms approach California, officials have closed a scenic stretch of iconic Highway 1 where a giant section collapsed into the ocean following heavy weekend rains. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office had warned residents of parts of the coastal community of Big Sur to evacuate Wednesday before the road
Continue ReadingPHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court upheld a lower court judge’s ruling putting a temporary halt on New Jersey’s primary ballot design, widely seen as helping those with party establishment support. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia denied an appeal by county clerks seeking to halt U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi’s recent
Continue ReadingBy JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Finland says it will extend the closure of its border crossing points with Russia beyond the current April 14 deadline “until further notice” due to a high risk of organized migration orchestrated by Moscow. The Finnish Interior Ministry said national security and public order would come under
Continue ReadingMOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that prospective negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine could be successful only if they take Moscow’s interests in the account. Lavrov on Tuesday dismissed a planned round of peace talks in Switzerland as a Western ruse to rally broader international support for Kyiv. He
Continue ReadingBy Natasha Bertrand, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration recently authorized the transfer of over 1,000 500-pound bombs and over 1,000 small-diameter bombs to Israel, according to three people familiar with the matter, adding to its arsenal despite US concerns over the country’s conduct in the war in Gaza. The transfer authorization of the MK82 bombs and small-diameter
Continue ReadingBy GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s defense minister has announced a plan to streamline and reorganize the country’s military command as part of efforts to make the armed forces of NATO’s most populous European member “war-capable.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz set in motion a big increase in military spending shortly after Russia’s full-scale
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