Top General News
Former Trump adviser undercuts GOP impeachment defenses
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House official said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s top European envoy was sent on a “domestic political errand" seeking investigations of Democrats, stunning testimony that dismantled a main line of the president’s defense in the impeachment...
Impeachment hearing takeaways: A ‘domestic political errand’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The final testimony of an extraordinary week of impeachment hearings came from a former White House national security adviser who wrote the book on Vladimir Putin — literally — and a political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine who overheard a pivotal conversation...
AP FACT CHECK: Trump, GOP claims on Ukraine corruption
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his GOP allies pressed a defense Thursday that he acted appropriately in withholding military aid to Ukraine out of concern over the country’s corruption and claimed the House impeachment hearings amounted to a rogue process. The claims don’t match...
Israel’s Netanyahu indicted on corruption charges
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted Thursday in a series of corruption cases, throwing Israel’s paralyzed political system into further disarray and threatening his 10-year grip on power. He rejected calls to resign, angrily accusing prosecutors of staging “an...
AP: Catholic boards hailed as fix for sex abuse often fail
Facing thousands of cases of clergy sex abuse, U.S. Catholic leaders addressed their greatest crisis in the modern era with a promised reform: Mandatory review boards. These independent panels with lay people in each diocese would review allegations fairly and kindly. And they would help bishops ensure that no...
Lawsuit: Church pressured victims into unfair settlements
NEW YORK (AP) — Two impoverished Mississippi men who say they were sexually assaulted by Franciscan missionaries filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming that Catholic officials pressured them into signing settlements that paid them little money and required them to remain silent about the alleged abuse....
Teen used ‘ghost gun’ in California high school shooting
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 16-year-old boy who fatally shot two fellow students and wounded three others last week at a Southern California high school used an unregistered, untraceable “ghost gun,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Thursday. Villanueva told media outlets that...
AP Exclusive: DOJ would take halted executions to high court
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press on Thursday that he would take the Trump administration’s bid to restart federal executions after a 16-year hiatus to the Supreme Court if necessary. Barr’s comments came hours after a district court judge temporarily...
1st Honduran returned to Guatemala under US asylum accord
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The United States has begun carrying out a landmark policy shift on asylum that’s a top priority of President Donald Trump, returning a Honduran immigrant to Guatemala to pursue his asylum case. Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the Honduran man had reached...
Garrett’s suspension for helmet attack upheld after appeal
CLEVELAND (AP) — Myles Garrett’s goal was to be NFL’s top defensive player this season. He won’t finish it. Garrett’s indefinite suspension for smashing Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph over the head with a helmet was upheld Thursday by an appeals officer who...
Latest General News
Jet with flaming engine returns safely to LA airport
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Philippine Airlines jet with flames spurting from one engine returned safely to Los Angeles International Airport just after takeoff Thursday. Flight 113, a Boeing 777 bound for Manila, reported a problem with the right engine after takeoff. It turned around and landed at about noon,...
NY man gets prison for messages to 2 GOP Congress members
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A western New York man convicted of leaving menacing phone messages for two prominent Republican members of Congress was sentenced to five years in prison, prosecutors said Thursday. Bayon last year left voicemails that authorities said crossed the line into threats against Reps. Steve...
The Latest: Atty: Man says messages weren’t meant as threats
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of a New York man convicted of leaving menacing phone messages for two Republican members of Congress (all times local): 9:40 p.m. A lawyer assisting a western New York man sentenced to five years in prison for voicemails he left for two Republican members...
The Latest: Official: Alaska recognizes same-sex spouses
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Latest on a lawsuit over a denied oil-wealth check in Alaska (all times local): 5:30 p.m. A Department of Law spokeswoman says the state agency that determines eligibility for payment of checks to Alaska residents from the oil-wealth fund recognizes same-sex spouses. Cori Mills...
Pope turns attention to needs of Thai church, young people
BANGKOK (AP) — Pope Francis is tending to the needs of the small Catholic flock in Thailand, meeting with priests, nuns and bishops from across Asia to encourage them to spread the faith as their missionary predecessors did. Francis on Friday heads first to a sanctuary dedicated to Thailand’s first...
Protesters trickle from Hong Kong site surrounded by police
HONG KONG (AP) — Six masked protesters have surrendered in Hong Kong, bringing to about 30 the number that have come out in the past day from a university campus surrounded by police. The group held hands as they walked toward a checkpoint before dawn Friday. Police are arresting all the adults. Those...
Monsanto pleads guilty to illegal pesticide use in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — Agrochemicals company Monsanto on Thursday pleaded guilty to spraying a banned pesticide on research crops on the Hawaii island of Maui in 2014, prosecutors said. Monsanto, now owned by the pharmaceutical company Bayer of Germany, has also agreed to pay $10 million for charges it unlawfully...
Somali official: 2020 could see first election in 50 years
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of Somalia’s electoral commission told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that 2020 is “a pivotal year” for the country whose citizens have been denied the right to political participation for 50 years and are hoping for an election with universal...
Man pleads guilty in NYC punch that led to a fall and death
NEW YORK (AP) — An Irish man has pleaded guilty to assault for punching another man who fell and died outside a New York City bar. Court records show Steven O’Brien pleaded guilty Thursday in the encounter that led to John McGee’s death last Thanksgiving. The 21-year-old McGee went by Danny...
Federal prosecutors weighing new charges against Trump donor
NEW YORK (AP) — A new court filing says federal prosecutors in New York have told a major donor to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee they intend to charge him with obstruction of justice and failing to register as a foreign agent. Imaad Zuberi’s attorneys filed court papers late...
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