Top General News

Apparent Israeli attack in Iran draws anti-aircraft fire as tensions high between Mideast rivals

Apr. 19, 2024 11:50 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An apparent Israeli drone attack near a major air base and a nuclear site in central Iran activated Iranian air defenses early Friday, just days after Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel. No Iranian official directly...

The Latest | Iran says air defense batteries fire after explosions reported near major air base

Apr. 19, 2024 00:19 AM EDT

Iran fired air defense batteries Friday reports of explosions near a major air base at the city of Isfahan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It remained unclear if the country was under attack, but tensions remain high after Iran’s unprecedented missile-and-drone attack on Israel. The...

Jury selection could be nearing a close in Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York

Apr. 19, 2024 11:40 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers worked Friday to round out the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear Donald Trump's hush money trial, as the former president railed against a gag order that has prosecutors seeking to hold him in contempt of court. After a jury of 12 New...

The Latest | Jury selection in Trump's hush money trial shifts to picking alternates

Apr. 19, 2024 12:03 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers in former President Donald Trump 's hush money case shifted their attention Friday to picking alternates as jury selection resumed for a fourth day. The proceedings began again with the questionnaire phase of jury selection and 22 possible jurors were brought in. As many...

Ukraine, Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward

Apr. 19, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — With rare bipartisan momentum, the House pushed ahead Friday on a foreign aid package of $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian support as a robust coalition of lawmakers helped it clear a procedural hurdle to reach final votes this weekend. Friday’s vote...

Indians vote in the first phase of the world's largest election as Modi seeks a third term

Apr. 19, 2024 12:22 PM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting on Friday in a six-week election that's a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics and is seeking a rare third term as the country's leader. People...

Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom

Apr. 19, 2024 10:48 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — One woman miscarried in the lobby restroom of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a...

Chicago's response to migrant influx stirs longstanding frustrations among Black residents

Apr. 19, 2024 05:52 AM EDT

CHICAGO (AP) — The closure of Wadsworth Elementary School in 2013 was a blow to residents of the majority-Black neighborhood it served, symbolizing a city indifferent to their interests. So when the city reopened Wadsworth last year to shelter hundreds of migrants, without seeking...

4/20 grew from humble roots to marijuana's high holiday

Apr. 19, 2024 10:57 AM EDT

SEATTLE (AP) — Saturday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when college students gather — at 4:20 p.m. — in clouds of smoke on campus quads and pot shops in legal-weed states thank their customers with discounts. This year’s edition provides an occasion for...

The NBA playoffs are finally here. And as LeBron James says, 'it's a sprint now'

Apr. 19, 2024 10:44 AM EDT

There’s a 64-win team in Boston that ran away with the league’s best record. The defending champions in Denver, a group that won 57 games. A fearless young bunch in Oklahoma City, whose No. 1 seed was no fluke. A trio of Villanova alums in New York, who turned the Knicks into a real contender....

Latest General News

US sanctions fundraisers for extremist West Bank settlers who commit violence against Palestinians

Apr. 19, 2024 12:22 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday imposed sanctions on two entities accused of fundraising for extremist Israel settlers already sanctioned, as well as the founder of an organization whose members regularly assault Palestinians. The Treasury Department...

Indians vote in the first phase of the world's largest election as Modi seeks a third term

Apr. 19, 2024 12:22 PM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting on Friday in a six-week election that's a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics and is seeking a rare third term as the country's leader. People...

Has Salman Rushdie changed after his stabbing? Well, he feels about 25, the author tells AP

Apr. 19, 2024 12:22 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly two years after the knife attack that nearly killed him, Salman Rushdie appears both changed and very much the same. Interviewed this week at the Manhattan offices of his longtime publisher, Random House, he is thinner, paler, scarred and blind in his right...

Apparent Israeli attack in Iran draws anti-aircraft fire as tensions high between Mideast rivals

Apr. 19, 2024 11:50 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An apparent Israeli drone attack near a major air base and a nuclear site in central Iran activated Iranian air defenses early Friday, just days after Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel. No Iranian official directly...

The Latest | G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack

Apr. 19, 2024 12:15 PM EDT

Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict. Meanwhile, an apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defenses near the central...

Tennessee Volkswagen workers to vote on union membership in test of UAW's plan to expand its ranks

Apr. 19, 2024 12:14 PM EDT

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers’ ambitious drive to expand its reach to nonunion factories across the South and elsewhere faces a key test Friday night, when workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will finish voting on whether to join the union. The...

Hungary's Orbán launches EU election campaign with pledge to 'occupy Brussels'

Apr. 19, 2024 12:14 PM EDT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday painted a grim picture of a continent teetering on the edge of armed conflict in a speech opening his party's campaign for European Union elections. He called for a changing of the guard among the bloc's leaders. ...

Heart, the band that proved women could rock hard, reunite for a world tour and a new song

Apr. 19, 2024 12:12 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Heart — the pioneering band that melds Nancy Wilson’s shredding guitar with her sister Ann’s powerhouse vocals — is hitting the road this spring and fall for a world tour that Nancy Wilson describes as “the full-on rocker size.” “I’ve been...

Ukraine claims it shot down a Russian strategic bomber as Moscow's missiles kill 8 Ukrainians

Apr. 19, 2024 12:10 PM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s air force claimed Friday it shot down a Russian strategic bomber, but Moscow officials said the plane crashed in a sparsely populated area due to a malfunction after a combat mission. Neither claim could be independently verified. Previous Ukrainian...

Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing

Apr. 19, 2024 12:07 PM EDT

When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired to help clean up environmental devastation from the biggest offshore...