By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are taking the first step toward holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena, an extraordinary step from a bitterly contested oversight process that seems likely to result in the U.S. House recommending criminal charges against a member of President Joe
Continue ReadingBy SEUNG MIN KIM and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration pledged from Day One to restore truth and transparency to the federal government — but now it’s facing a maelstrom of criticism and credibility questions after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization was kept secret for days, even from the
Continue ReadingBy YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — As of Wednesday, 203 deaths were reported following the 7.6 magnitude quake that slammed the western coastline of Japan on New Year’s. Seven of them were at evacuation centers, where rescued people died from injuries and sickness. Such deaths weren’t directly caused by the damage from the
Continue ReadingBy RIAZ KHAN Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say militants attacked a police checkpoint on a highway in the country’s northwest, killing three police officers and a civilian. A police official says the pre-dawn attack on Wednesday took place in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No one immediately claimed responsibility
Continue ReadingBy HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Snow was still piling on top of the 8 inches that had already accumulated when Kadee Miller trekked out to see Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Waukee. “There were moments on the drive up here, I was like, ‘What are we doing?’” Miller said about
Continue ReadingBy STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Just two Republican presidential candidates, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will meet on the debate stage Wednesday night. The seventh official debate of the 2024 campaign comes just five days before the Iowa caucus. The big front-runner,
Continue ReadingBy JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press BEIT RIMA, West Bank (AP) — Security camera video from a West Bank village shows a young man standing in a central square when he is suddenly shot and drops to the ground. Two others rushing to his aid are also hit, leaving a 17-year-old dead, moments before Israeli military
Continue ReadingBy MEG KINNARD Associated Press WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — After spending much of the Republican presidential primary flanked by lower-polling rivals, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will be alone on the debate stage Wednesday for the first time as they wage an increasingly contentious push to become the primary alternative to Donald Trump. The stakes
Continue ReadingBy DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the world’s highest rates. More than half of babies born in the territory are now delivered via surgery compared with only 32% on the U.S. mainland. That’s according to a
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON (AP) — Amalija Knavs, the mother of former first lady Melania Trump, has died. Trump announced the death late Tuesday without disclosing the cause. Melania Trump sponsored her parents’ immigration to the United States, and they took the oath of office to become citizens at a New York City courthouse in 2018. The Slovenian
Continue ReadingBy WAYNE PARRY Associated Press UNION, N.J. (AP) — Federal investigators are set to open several days of hearings starting Wednesday into a dockside cargo ship fire that killed two New Jersey firefighters last summer at Port Newark. The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the July 5
Continue ReadingBy MATT BROWN and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans of various racial backgrounds largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views among racial groups diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. About 7 in 10 U.S.
Continue ReadingBy ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers will debate on Wednesday whether to ban tackle football for children under 12, a move pushed by advocates seeking to protect kids from brain damage but opposed by coaches who warn it would cut off youths from an important source of physical activity. The
Continue ReadingBy ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday will reveal his plan to cover a staggering budget deficit as the nation’s most populous state weathers a revenue downturn that could have major consequences for 5.8 million public school children. Just two years ago, California had a budget surplus
Continue ReadingBy TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United
Continue ReadingBy Kathleen Magramo, CNN (CNN) — Millions of Catholic devotees flooded the streets of the Philippine capital Tuesday to honor the Black Nazarene, a centuries-old religious tradition that has returned after a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. At least 6 million people jostled along the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) route as the black wooden statue
Continue ReadingBy Lauren Izso, Tim Lister, Ido Soen and Jessie Yeung, CNN (CNN) — A top Israeli actor, best known for his role as a special forces soldier in hit Netflix series “Fauda,” has been badly wounded in Gaza while fighting for Israel’s military against Hamas, according to his family and the hospital where he is being
Continue ReadingBy GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from
Continue ReadingBy ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares retreated Wednesday after a lackluster session on Wall Street, though Tokyo broke ranks, gaining more than 2% as a weaker yen lifted stock prices for export manufacturers. U.S. futures declined while oil prices gained. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 is trading near a 34-year high, gaining
Continue ReadingBy EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote Wednesday on a resolution that would condemn and demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea area. The U.S. draft resolution, obtained late Tuesday by The
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