By COLLEEN LONG and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran as Moscow struggles to replenish arms for its war with Ukraine. White House National Security Council spokesman John
Continue ReadingBy The Associated Press Russia’s Defense Ministry says air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian air-launched missiles over the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and 10 over the Russian city of Belgorod. The report Thursday comes as both sides in the war continue long-range strikes while their front-line forces remain largely deadlocked. On Wednesday night, officials said Russia
Continue ReadingBy Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The US soldier who was critically injured in a drone attack on Christmas Day will be transferred to the US for further treatment, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Garrett Illerbrunn from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade was transferred to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center after he
Continue ReadingBy MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Nikki Haley’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination are ratcheting up their attacks on her as Iowa’s first-in-the-nation voting draws closer. The barbed news releases, attack ads and amped up back-and-forth come as the former South Carolina governor and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis battle for a distant
Continue ReadingBy CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Officials in St. Petersburg, Florida, want to make it clear that their city is the current and future home of the Tampa Bay Rays as negotiations continue on a proposed new $1.3 billion ballpark. The Rays oppose changing the team name to the St. Petersburg
Continue ReadingARLINGTON, Mass. (AP) — Rayner Pike, a retired reporter for The Associated Press for over four decades, has died. He was 90. Surrounded by family at the end, his Dec. 26 death at home in Arlington, Massachusetts, set off a wave of tributes from former co-workers. He spent most of his career in the AP’s
Continue ReadingBy LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Newly released court documents describing Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls provide a reminder of how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes. The more than 40 documents released late Wednesday — the
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If you couldn’t snag a ticket to the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala, not to worry. You can watch it all on the livestream. But what audiences don’t get to see is the fabulous afterparty, which has taken place at the Parker Palm Springs for nearly 20 years now. The charmingly bold and
Continue ReadingBy JON GAMBRELL and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday for two suicide bombings targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike, the worst militant attack to strike Iran in decades as the wider Middle East remains on
Continue ReadingBy GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius is due to be released from prison Friday to live under strict conditions at a family home having served nearly nine years of a murder sentence for the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The double-amputee Olympic runner from South Africa is
Continue ReadingBy NICHOLAS RICCARDI and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press PERRY, Iowa (AP) — Multiple people were shot inside a small-town Iowa high school early Thursday, as students preparing for their first classes after winter break were forced to duck into classrooms, barricade themselves in offices or run for an exit, before the suspected shooter was found
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Tennis Association has retained two lawyers at a Washington-based firm to review its safeguarding policies and procedures to protect players from sexual misconduct and other abuse. The head of the organization that runs the U.S. Open and oversees the sport in the United States revealed the review in an
Continue ReadingBy DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree that speeds up a path to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the country’s military amid the 22-month-old war in Ukraine. The move comes as Moscow is trying to replenish its troops in Ukraine by various methods,
Continue ReadingBy TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $100,000 on Thursday, marking the first time a team was sanctioned for violating the league’s player participation policy that went into effect this season. The Nets held four rotation players — starters Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, along with key reserve
Continue ReadingLANETT, Ala. (AP) — A Georgia sheriff’s deputy was fatally injured when he was stuck by another law enforcement vehicle during a police chase. The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office said Deputy Sheriff Eric Minix was killed in the Thursday morning crash. Georgia law enforcement were chasing a stolen vehicle, and the pursuit continued into Alabama
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Biden administration grapples with an increasingly tense and unstable situation in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the region this weekend for the fourth time in three months on a tour expected to focus largely on easing resurgent fears
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. labor agency has accused SpaceX of unlawfully firing employees who penned an open letter critical of CEO Elon Musk and creating an impression that worker activities were under surveillance by the rocket ship company. A Los Angeles-based regional director for the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday filed a
Continue ReadingBy YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has signed a new law that gives him lifelong immunity from criminal prosecution and prevents opposition leaders living abroad from running in future presidential elections. The law theoretically applies to any former president and members of his or her family. In
Continue ReadingBy Manu Raju and Lauren Fox, CNN House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are moving closer to an agreement to set overall funding levels for the federal government, according to congressional sources. But that doesn’t mean a government shutdown will be averted later this month. Agreeing on an overall spending level
Continue ReadingBy FREIDA FRISARO and ALANIS THAMES Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Fire officials say a child playing with a cigarette lighter started a fire at the $6.9 million home owned by Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill. Davie Fire Marshal Robert Taylor tells The Associated Press that the fire was accidental. He did not
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