News

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court will rule Wednesday whether a law forcing transgender people to have their reproductive organs removed in order to officially change their gender is constitutional. Currently, transgender people who want to have their biologically assigned gender changed on family registries and other official documents must

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Snow has started falling in the northern Cascades and Rockies in the first major snowstorm of the season, prompting people to search out their winter coats, gloves, boots and ice scrapers after a warm fall in many places. The National Weather Service warned of hazardous

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A teacher who died after a struggle in which he was repeatedly shocked with a Taser by Los Angeles police didn’t pose a deadly threat, and two officers who subdued him violated departmental policy on the use of lethal force, the police chief said in a report made public Tuesday. The

By NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMY MAGDY and RAVI NESSMAN Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel escalated airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, crushing families in the rubble of residential buildings, as health officials said hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the past day and medical facilities were shut down because of bomb damage

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu officials on Tuesday introduced a new interpretive plaque for four large boulders in the center of Waikiki that honor Tahitian healers of dual male and female spirit who visited Oahu some 500 years ago. The centuries-old boulders — one for each of the four visiting healers

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A Palestinian American woman whose 6-year-old son was killed in what police are calling a hate crime in a Chicago suburb has asked the public to “pray for peace” as she recuperates from her injuries. Hanaan Shahin issued a statement Tuesday through the Chicago chapter of the

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Roundtree, the trailblazing Black actor who starred as the ultra-smooth private detective “Shaft” in several films beginning in the early 1970s, has died. He was 81. Roundtree’s longtime manager, Patrick McMinn, said the actor had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died at

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press LUDLOW, Vt. (AP) — As winter approaches, a Vermont ski town that was hit by severe flooding this summer wants to get the word out that its very much open, with only a handful of businesses still rebuilding. Ludlow, home to the Okemo ski resort, was one of the hardest

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares advanced Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street after Verizon and other big companies reported fatter profits for the summer than expected. Benchmarks rose in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai but fell in Seoul and Sydney. U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices declined. As

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Steve Rowland peered beneath the brim of his baseball cap and admonished the roughly 500 people at Rising Sun Church of Christ in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona. It had been three days since Hamas attacked Israel and killed hundreds of civilians. In Iowa, where

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — A decade after they were envisioned in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy’s destruction, two of the largest flood control projects designed to protect densely populated cities in New Jersey just outside New York City are getting underway. A project in Hoboken and one in the densely

By LISA MASCARO, STEPHEN GROVES, FARNOUSH AMIRI and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker desperate to unite their fractious majority and end the chaos, just hours after an earlier pick abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from Donald Trump. Johnson of

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — “We love battery EVs.” Takero Kato, the executive in charge of electric vehicles at Toyota, said that not once, but twice, to emphasize what he considers the message at this year’s Tokyo auto show. It’s a message ringing clear at the Tokyo Mobility Show, which will