Last campus protesters hold out as Hong Kong schools reopen

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong schools reopened Wednesday after a six-day shutdown, but students and commuters faced transit disruptions as the last anti-government protesters remained holed up on a university campus, surrounded by police. City officials tried to restore a sense of normalcy as primary and...

Ex-Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh faces fraud, tax charges

BALTIMORE (AP) — The disgraced former mayor of Baltimore has been charged with fraud and tax evasion involving sales of her self-published children's books. An 11-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Catherine Pugh of using her “Healthy Holly” children’s books to enrich...

Ex-Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh charged with fraud and tax evasion involving sales of self-published children’s books

BALTIMORE (AP) — Ex-Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh charged with fraud and tax evasion involving sales of self-published children’s books.

Amnesty: At least 106 dead in protests, which Iran disputes

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Days of protests over rising fuel prices and a subsequent government crackdown have killed at least 106 people across Iran, Amnesty International said Tuesday, adding that the real figure may be much higher. Iran’s government has not released a toll of those...

Shooting deaths rattle small, tight-knit US Hmong community

Fresno has been the heart of California’s Hmong community for decades, drawing refugees from war-torn Southeast Asia who built a tight-knit population in the farm town. Now, they’re reeling from the shooting deaths of four Hmong American men at a weekend party. The central California city has the...

Feds: Florida officials bilked FEMA out of hurricane money

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two former officials of a Florida city are charged with conspiring with two businesses to bilk the federal government out of $5 million in Hurricane Michael cleanup money, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Tuesday. U.S. Attorney Lawrence Keefe said the two former Lynn...

Police surround last holdouts at Hong Kong campus protest

HONG KONG (AP) — A small band of anti-government protesters, their numbers diminished by surrenders and failed escape attempts, remained holed up at a Hong Kong university early Wednesday as they braced for the endgame in a police siege of the campus. Police were waiting them out after 10 days of some of...

Mexico City debates allowing children legal gender change

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A couple of hundred demonstrators have protested against a proposed Mexico City law that would allow children and adolescents to change the gender listed on their birth certificates. They would have to be accompanied by at least one guardian to do so. Mexico City law already allows...

Iraqi protesters block commercial ports, split capital

BAGHDAD (AP) — Anti-government protesters blocked access to a second major commercial port in southern Iraq on Tuesday, as bridge closures effectively split the capital in half, causing citizens to rely on boats for transport to reach the other side of the city. Since anti-government protests began Oct. 1,...

Flood-hit Venice’s dwindling population faces mounting woes

VENICE, Italy (AP) — One of only four oar makers for Venice’s famed gondoliers, Paolo Brandolisio wades through his ground-floor workshop for the third time in a week of record-breaking floods, despairing of any help from national or local institutions. “If these phenomena continue to repeat...