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North Korea offers the first official confirmation that it has detained US soldier Travis King

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Wednesday offered its first official confirmation that it had detained a U.S. soldier who bolted into its country last month, releasing a statement through its propaganda outlet attributing unverified statements to the Army private that criticized the United States. One expert called the announcement "100% North Korean propaganda." There was no immediate verification that Pvt. Travis King actually made any of the

Moral Monday Movement: Cease & Desist Delivery

By Tyria Bourda (Staff Writer) "North Carolina is a State in Emergency and it's time for a moral indictment of the NC General Assembly's" said Reverend William L. Barber. In an invitation-only meeting. Members of the Moral Monday movement joined Bishop Barber in delivering a cease and desist letter to the North Carolina General Assembly.  This past Sunday marked the 58th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act.

Pig kidney works in a donated body for over a month, a step toward animal-human transplants

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD NEW YORK (AP) - Surgeons transplanted a pig's kidney into a brain-dead man and for over a month it's worked normally - a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients. Scientists around the country are racing to learn how to use animal organs to save human lives, and bodies donated for research offer a remarkable rehearsal. The latest experiment

Americans are divided along party lines over Trump’s actions in election cases, AP-NORC poll shows

BY LINLEY SANDERS AND JONATHAN J. COOPER WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are deeply divided along party lines in their views of President Donald Trump's actions in the most recent criminal cases brought against him, a new poll shows, with about half saying his alleged attempt to interfere in Georgia's 2020 vote count was illegal. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before Monday's charges

US universities launch partnership to elevate free speech to counter threats to democracy

BY THALIA BEATY The presidents of a wide-ranging group of 13 universities are elevating free speech on their campuses this academic year, as part of a new nonprofit initiative announced Tuesday to combat what organizers call dire threats to U.S. democracy. The Campus Call for Free Expression will take different forms on different campuses. The campaign, created by The Institute for Citizens & Scholars with funding from the Knight Foundation is

Clarence Avant, ‘Black Godfather’ of entertainment, and benefactor of athletes and politicians, dies

BY HILLEL ITALIE NEW YORK (AP) - Clarence Avant, the judicious manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers, and many others and came to be known as the "Black Godfather" of music and beyond, has died. He was 92. Avant, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, according to

Rights group urges rapid international intervention to end spiraling gang violence in Haiti

BY DÁNICA COTO SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A human rights group urged the international community on Monday to intervene quickly to end spiraling violence by gangs in Haiti as it detailed the brutal rapes and killings committed in the troubled nation's capital. The call by Human Rights Watch comes as Haiti awaits a response from the U.N. Security Council to its request in October for the immediate deployment of

How a law associated with mobsters could be central in possible charges against Trump

BY KATE BRUMBACK ATLANTA (AP) - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened her investigation into Donald Trump after the release of a recording of a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. Trump suggested during the call that Raffensperger, a Republican and the state's top elections official, could help "find" the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden. More than two

Georgia jail fails to let out inmates who are due for release and met bail, citing crashed database

JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) - The jail in a suburban Atlanta county held inmates for days who were due for release because a state database had crashed, preventing jailers from being able to check whether a person was wanted in another jurisdiction. Officials in Clayton County said they stopped releasing inmates, including those who had been bailed out, because they didn't want to release someone who might be wanted elsewhere for

Legal experts question judge’s order telling Southwest lawyers to get religious-liberty training

BY DAVID KOENIG A federal judge has set off a debate among legal scholars by ordering lawyers for Southwest Airlines to undergo "religious-liberty training" by a conservative Christian legal group. Critics say that if the judge believes such training is necessary, he should have found a less polarizing group to conduct it. U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr made the decision after ruling that Southwest was in contempt of court for defying