ISLAMABAD (AP) — Thousands of mourners have attended a funeral for a Pakistani Sunni Muslim cleric gunned down in broad daylight on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad. The funeral of Masoodur Rehman Usmani was held on Saturday, a day after unidentified gunmen shot and killed him and wounded his driver in the neighborhood of Ghauri
Continue ReadingBy HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea conducted a new round of artillery drills near the disputed sea boundary with South Korea on Saturday, officials in Seoul said, a day after the North’s similar exercises prompted South Korea to respond with its own firing drills in the same area. The
Continue ReadingBy FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a solemn ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis has presided over Epiphany Mass, the last major Christmas season holiday. In his homily on Saturday, Francis warned against “mere outward appearance” in practicing one’s faith. He also cautioned against what he called “basking in some
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer ISTANBUL (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicked off his latest urgent Middle East diplomatic mission in Turkey on Saturday, as fears mount that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza may explode into a broader conflict. Blinken’s fourth visit in three months comes amid worrying developments outside
Continue ReadingBy Eric Bradner and Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump’s rivals have sharpened their attacks on the former president as they blanket Iowa just over a week before the state’s caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating race. But in the shadow of the third anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol,
Continue ReadingBy HIRO KOMAE, AYAKA MCGILL and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — Aftershocks are threatening to bury more homes and block roads crucial for relief shipments as the death toll from the earthquakes that rattled Japan’s western coastline this week rose to 126. Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy who had been
Continue ReadingTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian officials say the death toll from an Islamic State group-claimed suicide bombing has risen to at least 91. State TV on Saturday quoted a spokesman for the country’s emergency services as saying an 8-year boy and a 67-year-old man who were wounded in Wednesday’s attack have now died. He said
Continue ReadingBy GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has acknowledged that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the northeastern border with China after it was taken over by an alliance of ethnic armed groups it has been battling for months. The fall of Laukkaing late Thursday is the biggest
Continue ReadingSOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers have plunged into the wintry waters of rivers and lakes across Bulgaria to retrieve crucifixes cast by priests in Epiphany ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ. The legend goes that the person who retrieves the wooden cross will be freed from evil spirits and will
Continue ReadingBy JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s main opposition party has started a 48-hour general strike on the eve on a general election, calling on people to boycott the vote because it says the government of incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina can’t guarantee its fairness. Hasina is seeking to return to power
Continue ReadingBy JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has acknowledged it is conducting a mass trial of 84 inmates previously reported by dissidents as it hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks last month. That trial likely includes a prominent activist lauded by rights group abroad. The state-run
Continue ReadingBy BASSEM MROUE, SAMY MAGDY and NAJIB JOBAIN Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top Hamas leader in Lebanon’s capital earlier this week. The rocket attack came
Continue ReadingBy AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 aircraft late Friday, hours after a window and piece of fuselage on one such plane blew out in midair and forced an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon. No one was seriously hurt. The incident occurred shortly after takeoff and the gaping hole
Continue ReadingCNN Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden commemorated January 6 as a day of American infamy, marking the third anniversary of the 2021 insurrection with a call for Americans to join him in defending US democracy from former President Donald Trump, who by comparison has promised to pardon the insurrectionists.
Continue ReadingBy AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press An Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Oregon after a window and chunk of its fuselage blew out in midair. A passenger sent KATU-TV a photo showing a gaping hole in the side of the airplane next to passenger seats on Friday. It was not immediately clear if
Continue ReadingBy GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has acknowledged that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the northeastern border with China after it was taken over by an alliance of ethnic armed groups it has been battling for months. The Three Brotherhood Alliance took control of Laukkaing late
Continue ReadingBy Heather Chen and Eve Brennan, CNN (CNN) — Famine is “around the corner” as people in Gaza face the “highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded,” according to UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths. Citing a death toll in the tens of thousands, attacks on medical facilities and a lack of functioning hospitals, Griffiths
Continue ReadingBy GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James didn’t sugarcoat his increasingly sour feelings after the Los Angeles Lakers spiraled to their 10th loss in 13 games Friday night, falling 127-113 to the Memphis Grizzlies. “We just suck right now,” a visibly perturbed James said after he scored 32 points in
Continue ReadingBy Gregory Wallace, CNN (CNN) — Passengers in a plane crash find themselves elbow-to-elbow with strangers in the dark encountering a life-or-death challenge: Squeeze between seats and debris to find an exit. Even before nearly 400 people escaped from those circumstances aboard Japan Airlines flight 516 on Tuesday and fled down inflatable slides to safety, pressure was
Continue ReadingBy Danny Freeman and Samantha Beech, CNN (CNN) — A man who escaped a Pennsylvania county jail last year using tied-up bedsheets has been sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison after convictions on charges relating to the escape and a kidnapping, the state attorney general announced on Friday. Michael Burham, who pleaded guilty
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