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
Continue ReadingBy TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a “couple of miles” of U.S. Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating on Thursday, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a “final warning” to the
Continue ReadingBy Oren Liebermann, CNN (CNN) — The Houthis launched an unmanned surface drone against commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea early Thursday morning as the US Navy commander in the region said he sees no sign of the attacks abating. The attack with the unmanned surface vessel (USV) marks the first time the Houthis
Continue ReadingBy ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged higher this week, ending a nine-week slide that gave prospective homebuyers some breathing room after home loan borrowing soared to the highest level in more than two decades. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage inched up to
Continue ReadingCNN, KCCI By Andy Rose, Dakin Andone, Evan Perez and Christina Maxouris, CNN (CNN) — A 17-year-old gunman killed a sixth grade student and wounded five other people Thursday morning at Perry High School near Des Moines, Iowa, authorities said. The five people wounded include four students and one school administrator, officials said. The school’s
Continue ReadingBy NAJIB JOBAIN and JACK JEFFFERY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike flattened a home Thursday in an area of southern Gaza that the military had declared a safe zone, killing at least 12 people, almost all of them children, Palestinian hospital officials said as Israeli troops pressed their assault in
Continue ReadingBy NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press PERRY, Iowa (AP) — The suspect in a shooting at an Iowa high school has died of what investigators believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Police say multiple people were shot Thursday at the high school in Perry, Iowa, and the official
Continue ReadingORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A customer has filed a negligence lawsuit against Dunkin’, claiming he was injured by an exploding toilet at one of the coffee chain’s locations in central Florida. Paul Kerouac is seeking more than $100,000 in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court in Orlando, claiming he suffered “severe and long term
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