Top General News

Iran fires air defense batteries at Isfahan air base and nuclear site after drones spotted

Apr. 19, 2024 02:40 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones early Friday morning, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the...

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 00:06 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A third panel of potential jurors will be questioned Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money case, drawing jury selection a step closer to completion in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. After a jury of 12 New Yorkers was seated Thursday, lawyers...

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

Apr. 19, 2024 01:42 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting 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. The voters...

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

Apr. 19, 2024 00:06 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — One woman miscarried in the restroom lobby 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 00:21 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...

Soldiers who lost limbs in Gaza war are finding healing on Israel's amputee soccer team

Apr. 19, 2024 00:23 AM EDT

RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — When Ben Binyamin was left for dead, his right leg blown off during the Hamas attack on the Tribe of Nova music festival, the Israeli professional soccer player thought he would never again play the game he loved. “When I woke up,” the 29-year-old said,...

12 students and teacher killed at Columbine to be remembered at 25th anniversary vigil

Apr. 19, 2024 00:04 AM EDT

DENVER (AP) — The 12 students and one teacher killed in the Columbine High School shooting will be remembered Friday in a vigil on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. The gathering, set up by gun safety and other organizations, is the main public event marking the...

House leaders toil to advance Ukraine and Israel aid. But threats to oust speaker grow

Apr. 18, 2024 23:46 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House congressional leaders were toiling Thursday on a delicate, bipartisan push toward weekend votes to approve a $95 billion package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as several other national security policies at a critical moment at home and abroad. ...

Music Review: Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' is great sad pop, meditative theater

Apr. 19, 2024 00:06 AM EDT

Who knew what Taylor Swift's latest era would bring? Or even what it would sound like? Would it build off the moodiness of “Midnights” or the folk of “evermore”? The country or the '80s pop of her latest re-records? Or its two predecessors in black-and-white covers: the revenge-pop of...

Latest General News

Maurizio Cattalan, Zoe Soldana collaborate in iconoclastic Vatican exhibition inside women’s prison

Apr. 19, 2024 03:27 AM EDT

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A pair of nude feet — dirty, wounded and vulnerable — are painted on the façade of the Venice women’s prison chapel, the work of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and part of the Vatican’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale contemporary art show in an innovative...

Staff and shoppers return to 'somber' Sydney shopping mall 6 days after mass stabbings

Apr. 19, 2024 03:21 AM EDT

SYDNEY (AP) — Shoppers and workers returned to a “really quiet” Sydney mall Friday, where six days earlier an assailant stabbed six people to death and wounded more than a dozen others in an attack that police believe targeted women. Westfield Bondi Junction mall near...

The Latest | Israel targets air defense system in Syria, state news agency says

Apr. 19, 2024 03:07 AM EDT

Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in its south and causing material damage, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement as saying Friday. The warplanes were seen around the time loud noises and drones were reported near a major...

Stock market today: Japan’s Nikkei leads Asian market retreat as Middle East tensions flare

Apr. 19, 2024 02:56 AM EDT

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 2.4% on heavy selling of semiconductor-related shares and other market heavyweights. Tensions in the Middle East were weighing on sentiment across the region, and U.S. futures were sharply lower. ...

Iran fires air defense batteries at Isfahan air base and nuclear site after drones spotted

Apr. 19, 2024 02:40 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones early Friday morning, raising fears of a possible Israeli strike in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the...

Indonesians leave homes near erupting volcano and airport closes due to ash danger

Apr. 19, 2024 02:26 AM EDT

MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities closed an airport and residents left homes near an erupting volcano Thursday due to the dangers of spreading ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami. Mount Ruang on the northern side of Sulawesi Island...

5 Japanese workers narrowly escape suicide bombing that targeted their vehicle in Pakistan

Apr. 19, 2024 02:11 AM EDT

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near a van carrying Japanese autoworkers, who narrowly escaped the attack Friday that wounded three bystanders in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, police said. The van had been heading to an industrial...

Laborers and street vendors in Mali find no respite as deadly heat wave surges through West Africa

Apr. 19, 2024 02:08 AM EDT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Street vendors in Mali's capital of Bamako peddle water sachets, ubiquitous for this part of West Africa during the hottest months. This year, an unprecedented heat wave has led to a surge in deaths, experts say, warning of more scorching weather ahead as effects of climate...

Long-haul carrier Emirates again halts local flight check-in as UAE recovers from record rains

Apr. 19, 2024 01:58 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates said Friday it would again halt local check-in for passengers traveling on its flights as the wider United Arab Emirates tries to recover from record-setting rains this week. Emirates said the order would go through the...

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

Apr. 19, 2024 01:42 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting 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. The voters...