Month: May 2024

By Associated Press JOHANNESBURG | South Africans voted Wednesday at schools, community centers, and in large white tents set up in open fields in an election seen as their country’s most important since apartheid ended 30 years ago. It could put the young democracy into unknown territory. At stake is the three-decade dominance of the

By Associated Press In the world of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide gets most of the blame. But tiny organisms that flourish in the world’s farm fields emit a far more potent gas, nitrous oxide, and scientists have long sought a way to address it. Now some researchers think they’ve found a bacteria that can

By Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden renewed his election-year pitch to Black voters on Wednesday, lashing out at Donald Trump’s “MAGA lies” and saying the winner of this year’s White House race will make crucial decisions, including on nominees for the Supreme Court, that could affect the country for decades. Biden and Vice

By Associated Press NEW YORK — The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ended its first day of deliberations without a verdict Wednesday but asked to rehear testimony from key witnesses about the alleged hush money scheme at the heart of the history-making case. The 12-person jury was sent home around 4 p.m. after

By Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Wednesday it seized control of a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt to cut off smuggling tunnels as it tries to destroy the militant Hamas group in a war now in its eighth month. The capture of the Philadelphi Corridor could complicate Israel’s relations with Egypt,

By Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — The man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for bludgeoning Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer inside their San Francisco home returned to a courtroom Wednesday to face state charges, including attempted murder. A federal jury found David DePape, 44, guilty of attempting to hold Pelosi hostage and

By Associated Press BOISE, Idaho — Jury deliberations began Wednesday in the case of an Idaho man charged with murdering his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children in what prosecutors said was a callous scheme for money, power and sex. “Three dead bodies … and for what?” prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors in the

By Associated Press As the school year drew to a close, Daken Kramer worried about children who owed money for meals at his school. So the enterprising fifth grader decided to do something about it. Daken, 11, posted a video last month challenging friends, family, and even strangers and businesses to pay off the meal

By Associated Press NEW YORK — U.S. stocks sank under the weight of higher yields in the bond market on Wednesday. The S&P 500 dipped 39.09 points, or 0.7%, to 5,266.95 and fell further from its record set last week. It trimmed its gain for May, which had been on track to be its best

By Associated Press BALTIMORE — Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are assessing the country’s bridges to determine the likelihood of another disaster like the one that collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The team includes students and faculty members and will focus on large bridges near major ports of entry, officials said in

By Associated Press It’s one of those strange but immutable truths of the movies that a song like Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” can play in roughly a thousand films before a movie about a dog and a robot comes along and blows them all out of the water. The animated “Robot Dreams” is wordless,

By Associated Press ConocoPhillips is buying Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $17.1 billion as energy prices rise and big oil companies reap massive profits. The deal is valued at $22.5 billion when including $5.4 billion in debt. Crude prices have jumped more than 12% this year and the cost for a

By Associated Press NEW YORK — You don’t initially see a full elephant at the Broadway musical “Water for Elephants.” It’s more like a tease. First come a pair of enormous ears. Then a trunk. And then the legs. The execution is by director Jessica Stone, who wanted to make it extra special for the

By Associated Press Both the Beach Boys and “The Beach Boys” the new documentary dropping Friday on Disney+ are all about blending a range of voices. The three Wilson brothers — Brian, Carl and Dennis — along with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, brought a harmonic revolution to group vocals with their Southern

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Hopes for interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve are steadily fading, with a stream of recent remarks by Fed officials underscoring their intention to keep borrowing costs high as long as needed to curb persistently elevated inflation. A key reason for the delay in rate cuts is

By Deborah Carr | Boston University The Conversation via AP A deadly heat wave gripped large regions of Asia for weeks in spring 2024, sending temperatures in India’s capital region over 120 degrees Fahrenheit in late May. Officials in Delhi warned residents that they could face power outages and water shortages. Earlier in the month,

By Associated Press Willie Nelson’s 152nd album and Benedict Cumberbatch playing a curmudgeon puppeteer in “Eric” on Netflix are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: George Clooney’s sports drama “The

By Associated Press CINCINNATI — Matt Carpenter hit a go-ahead home in the third inning, Nolan Gorman also went deep and the St. Louis Cardinals reached .500 for the first time in six weeks with a 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. Carpenter hit his first home run for the Cardinals since April

By Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dismissed, ending a legal saga that began with images of the world’s top golfer being arrested and handcuffed in Louisville during the PGA Championship. Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell asked a judge Wednesday afternoon to drop the four charges against Scheffler, who

By Associated Press NEW YORK — Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, when Negro Leagues records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated Tuesday after a three-year research project. Gibson’s .466 average for the 1943 Homestead Grays became the season standard, followed by Charlie