U.S./World category, Page 202
Thai LGBTQ+ couples register marriages as law gives them equal status
BANGKOK — LGBTQ+ couples in Thailand made Thursday a life-changing occasion, registering their marriages legally on the first day a law took effect granting them the same rights as heterosexual couples. The enactment of the Marriage Equality Act makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia and the third place...
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde says she’ll continue to pray for Trump, who lashed out at her over viral sermon
WASHINGTON — The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Diocese of Washington, said Wednesday that she will continue to pray for President Donald Trump, hours after he lashed out at her over a sermon. “I don’t consider him an enemy,” Budde told The Associated Press. “I believe we...
A blooming plant that reeks of gym socks and rotting garbage has thousands lining up for a whiff
SYDNEY — The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney on Thursday where they joined three-hour lines to experience a momentous bloom —- and a fragrance evoking gym socks and rotting garbage. Tall, pointed...
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship
SEATTLE — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour repeatedly interrupted a Justice Department lawyer to ask how he could consider the...
Aerial attack helps firefighters maintain the upper hand on a huge fire north of Los Angeles
CASTAIC, Calif. — Overnight water drops helped stop the spread of a huge wildfire churning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and firefighters battled to increase containment as dangerous winds whipped up again Thursday. The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had...
Immigrant detention beds may be maxed out as Trump moves to deport ‘millions and millions’
SANTA FE, N.M. — President Donald Trump’s inauguration-day executive orders and promises of mass deportations of “millions and millions” of people will hinge on securing money for detention centers. The Trump administration has not publicly said how many immigration detention beds it needs to achieve its goals, or what the...
7 police officers wounded in San Antonio shootingVideo
SAN ANTONIO — Seven San Antonio police officers were shot while responding to a “suicide in progress” call and the suspect was later found dead inside an apartment after a standoff, the city’s police chief said. The officers were shot Wednesday night and a SWAT team was called to the...
Law enforcement groups criticize Trump pardons for Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — The Capitol Police union and other law enforcement groups sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s pardons for his supporters who attacked the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, a move that cut against years of pro-police messaging from Republican members of Congress. The union wrote in a statement Tuesday...
Former Arkansas officer arrested, charged with assault in beating of handcuffed inmateVideo
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former Arkansas police officer who was caught on video beating a handcuffed inmate in the back of his patrol car last year has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault. Former Jonesboro Police Officer Joseph Tucker Harris, 29, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of...
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes visits Capitol Hill after Trump clemencyVideo
WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group founder convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday after he was released from prison as part of the President Donald Trump’s sweeping clemency order for the more than 1,500 people charged in...
Over 50,000 under evacuation orders or warnings as wildfire imperils homes north of Los AngelesVideo
LOS ANGELES — More than 50,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings Wednesday as a huge and fast-moving wildfire swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, as parched Southern California endured another round of dangerous wind and two major previous blazes continued to smolder. The Hughes Fire broke...
Pentagon sending 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Wednesday it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration. Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the troops...
Afghans who fled Taliban rule urge Trump to lift refugee program suspensionVideo
ISLAMABAD — Afghans who fled after the Taliban seized power appealed Wednesday to U.S. President Donald Trump to exempt them from an order suspending the relocation of refugees to the United States, some saying they risked their lives to support U.S. troops. An estimated 15,000 Afghans are waiting in Pakistan...
Teen fatally shoots female student and himself at high school in Nashville, police sayVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A female student was killed and another student was wounded Wednesday in shooting in a Nashville high school cafeteria, police said. The 17-year-old shooter, who was also a student at Antioch High School, later shot and killed himself with a handgun, Metro Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron...
White House sidelines staffers detailed to National Security Council, aligning team to Trump agenda
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has sidelined about 160 National Security Council staffers, telling them to work from home while the administration reviews staffing and tries to align it with Trump’s agenda, Trump administration officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The career government employees, commonly referred...
Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts
TOKYO — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fish tank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and...
EU needs to end its military dependency on the U.S. and arm itself ‘to survive,’ says Polish PM
BRUSSELS — The European Union cannot rely on the United States to defend it and must increase military spending and security preparedness to help Ukraine and deter Russia from targeting any more of its neighbors, top EU officials warned on Wednesday. “Ask not of America what it can do for...
Trump demands an apology from bishop who asked him to ‘have mercy’ on LGBTQ+ people and migrantsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she made a direct appeal to him during a prayer service marking his inauguration to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers who are in the United States illegally. Referencing Trump’s...
A 2,000-year-old statue is found abandoned in a garbage bag in Greece
THESSALONIKI, Greece — A marble statue of a woman believed to be more than 2,000 years old was found abandoned in a garbage bag near the Greek city of Thessaloniki, police said Wednesday. A resident discovered the 31-inch headless statue beside a trash bin in Neoi Epivates, outside Greece’s second-largest...
Why is Israel launching a crackdown in the West Bank after the Gaza ceasefire?
In the days since a fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and suspected Jewish settlers have rampaged through two Palestinian towns. The violence comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces domestic pressure from his far-right...
Justice Department orders prosecutors to probe local efforts to obstruct immigration enforcement
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who they believe are interfering with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, saying they could face criminal charges, in an apparent warning to the dozens of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across America. The memo, from acting...
2 people killed in knife attack in Germany; suspect detained, police say
BERLIN — Two people, including a child, were killed and two others were severely injured in a stabbing attack in Bavaria on Wednesday, German police said. Police said a suspect was detained in the knife attack, which occurred in a park in the southern German town of Aschaffenburg. Police said...
Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes who lived in exile in Nicaragua dies at 65
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes, who spent the final years of his life in Nicaragua to avoid various criminal sentences, died late Tuesday. He was 65. Nicaragua’s Health Ministry said in a statement that Funes had died of a serious chronic illness. Funes governed...
Witnesses at a Turkish ski resort stood helpless as people leaped out of a burning hotel
KARTALKAYA, Turkey — As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin stood helpless, paralyzed by the horror unfolding before them: people leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help and others making the harrowing decision to leap...
Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids apologize to Prince Harry, admit intruding on the late Princess Diana
LONDON — Prince Harry claimed a “monumental” victory Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids made an unprecedented apology for intruding in his life for years, and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit. News Group Newspapers acknowledged its private investigators and journalists targeted Harry with phone...
