Top General News

Inside Russia's penal colonies: A look at life for political prisoners caught in Putin's crackdowns

Jun. 03, 2023 09:12 AM EDT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he'll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light. He won't be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a...

India train crash kills over 280, injures 900 in one of nation's worst rail disasters

Jun. 03, 2023 14:18 PM EDT

BALASORE, India (AP) — Rescuers found no more survivors in the overturned and mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that derailed in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country's deadliest rail crashes in decades, officials said Saturday. ...

Biden signs debt ceiling bill that pulls US back from brink of unprecedented default

Jun. 03, 2023 16:06 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — With just two days to spare, President Joe Biden signed legislation on Saturday that lifts the nation’s debt ceiling, averting an unprecedented default on the federal government’s debt. It was a decidedly low-key denouement to a monthslong drama that unnerved...

Debt deal imposes new work requirements for food aid and that frustrates many Democrats

Jun. 03, 2023 14:08 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are deeply conflicted about the food aid requirements that President Joe Biden negotiated as part of the debt ceiling deal, fearing damage has been done to safety net programs that will be difficult to unravel in the years ahead as Republicans demand further cuts. ...

Trump-appointed judge rejects Tennessee's anti-drag law as too broad, too vague

Jun. 03, 2023 12:14 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional, a federal judge says. The law is both “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad” and encouraged “discriminatory enforcement,”...

Tragedy that left 5 dead or missing puts spotlight on safety in Alaska charter fishing industry

Jun. 03, 2023 00:23 AM EDT

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Morgan Robidou posed next to the bright aluminum hull of his prized new vessel, a 30-foot (9-meter) fishing boat that he could use to take friends, family or tourists out after salmon or halibut in the bountiful waters of southeast Alaska. “Official boat...

DeSantis signs Bible, Pence hops on motorcycle at 'Roast and Ride' rally in Iowa

Jun. 03, 2023 16:27 PM EDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Amid plates of sliced pork, statement-making leather ensembles and piles of political T-shirts, eight Republican presidential hopefuls descended on Iowa to pitch themselves to voters and, in Mike Pence's case, hop on a motorcycle. The former vice president...

Fears rise for civilian safety as Ukraine investigates locked air-raid shelters

Jun. 03, 2023 11:11 AM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country’s air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter...

Twitter executive responsible for content safety resigns after Elon Musk criticism

Jun. 03, 2023 13:11 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A top Twitter executive responsible for safety and content moderation has left the company, her departure coming soon after owner Elon Musk publicly complained about the platform’s handling of posts about transgender topics. The departure pointed to a fresh...

Utah district bans Bible in elementary and middle schools 'due to vulgarity or violence'

Jun. 02, 2023 18:26 PM EDT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Good Book is being treated like a bad book in Utah after a parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools convinced a suburban district that some Bible verses were too vulgar or violent for younger children. And the Book of Mormon could be...

Latest General News

2 killed in small plane crash at airport in Tupelo, Mississippi

Jun. 03, 2023 16:33 PM EDT

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — Two people were killed when their small twin-engine aircraft crashed Saturday near hangars at Tupelo Regional Airport in northeastern Mississippi, authorities said. The plane banked sharply after takeoff, witnesses told WCBI-TV, and came down beside the...

Fire crews battle New Jersey blaze that threatened 40 homes

Jun. 03, 2023 16:31 PM EDT

MEDFORD, N.J. (AP) — Fire crews in New Jersey have almost completely contained one major fire and are reporting good progress in battling another blaze that for a time threatened several dozen homes. New Jersey Forest Fire Service officials said Saturday that the Flatiron wildfire...

Rain brings much-needed relief to firefighters battling Halifax-area wildfires

Jun. 03, 2023 16:27 PM EDT

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — Officials in Canada's Atlantic Coast province of Nova Scotia said Saturday a wildfire that forced thousands of residents from their homes over the past week is now largely contained because of rain. David Steeves, a technician of forest resources with...

Hong Kong detains 8 people on eve of Tiananmen Square anniversary

Jun. 03, 2023 16:25 PM EDT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police detained eight people, including activists and artists, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, a move that signals the city’s shrinking freedom of expression. Police said in a statement late Saturday that four...

Week after Iowa building collapse, Minnesota condo evacuated over stability concerns

Jun. 03, 2023 16:07 PM EDT

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — Less than a week after an apartment building partially collapsed in Iowa, more than 140 people were evacuated from a condominium in Minnesota after a structural engineer expressed concerns about its stability. Officials in Rochester, Minnesota, ordered...

Biden signs debt ceiling bill that pulls US back from brink of unprecedented default

Jun. 03, 2023 16:06 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — With just two days to spare, President Joe Biden signed legislation on Saturday that lifts the nation’s debt ceiling, averting an unprecedented default on the federal government’s debt. It was a decidedly low-key denouement to a monthslong drama that unnerved...

Turkey's Erdogan takes oath of office, ushering in his third presidential term

Jun. 03, 2023 16:03 PM EDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was sworn into his third presidential term on Saturday, reappointed an internationally respected former banker as finance minister in a sign that his new government might pursue more conventional economic policies. Erdogan,...

Five Greek police officers in custody pending trial for assisting illegal migrant crossings

Jun. 03, 2023 15:52 PM EDT

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Five police officers accused of cooperating with human traffickers to facilitate the entry of at least 100 migrants into Greece are being held in custody pending trial. The five officers had been testifying before an examining magistrate since Saturday...

Protesters back on the streets of Belgrade as president ignores calls to stand down

Jun. 03, 2023 15:35 PM EDT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands of people rallied in Serbia’s capital on Saturday for a fifth time in a month, following two mass shootings that shook the nation, even as the country’s populist president rejected any responsibility for the crisis and ignored the protesters' demands...

Death toll from Senegal protests rises to 15 as opposition supporters clash with police

Jun. 03, 2023 15:18 PM EDT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The number of people killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has now risen to 15, including two security officers, the government said on Saturday. While Dakar was calmer on Saturday, clashes...