LONDON — Australian rugby player Harry Potter has already heard all the puns. He better brace himself for a few more after being picked Friday to play for his country for the first time — fittingly in the city where the famous books about his fantasy namesake were written. Potter,...
Listeria Outbreak Tied to Yu Shang Food Leaves California Infant Dead and 10 People Sick
A California infant has died and at least 10 other people have been sickened in an outbreak of listeria food poisoning tied to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products that include chicken feet, duck neck, beef shank and pork hock, federal health officials reported Friday. Yu Shang Food, Inc., of Spartanburg,...
UN Expert: Myanmar’s Desperate Military Ramps Up Attacks Including Beheadings, Rapes and Torture
UNITED NATIONS — Myanmar's desperate military junta is ramping up attacks on villages that have fallen to opposition groups, carrying out beheadings, gang rapes and torture, with women, children and the elderly among the victims, the U.N. independent human rights investigator for Myanmar said in a new report. Thomas Andrews,...
NBA Memo to Players Warns About Organized Home Break-Ins
MIAMI — The NBA is urging its players to take additional precautions to secure their homes following reports of recent high-profile burglaries of dwellings owned by Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr. and Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. In a memo...
Conor McGregor Must Pay Woman $250K in Sexual Assault Case, Civil Jury Rules
LONDON — A woman who claimed mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor "brutally raped and battered" her in a Dublin hotel penthouse was awarded nearly 250,000 Euros ($257,000) on Friday by a civil court jury in Ireland. The woman said the Dec. 9, 2018, assault after a night of partying...
Judge Delays Trump Hush Money Sentencing in Order to Decide Where Case Should Go Now
NEW YORK — A judge confirmed Friday that President-elect Donald Trump won't be sentenced this month in his hush money case, instead setting a schedule for prosecutors and his lawyers to expand on their ideas about what to do next. Amid a flurry of filings in the case since Trump's...
Trump Gave Interior Nominee One Directive for a Half-Billion Acres of US Land: ‘Drill’
BISMARCK, N.D. — Donald Trump assigned Doug Burgum a singular mission in nominating the governor of oil-rich North Dakota to lead an agency that oversees a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore: "Drill baby drill." That dictate from the president-elect's announcement of Burgum for Secretary of Interior...
NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks After Russia’s Attack With New Hypersonic Missile
KYIV, Ukraine — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is "entering a decisive phase," Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and "taking on very dramatic dimensions." Ukraine's...
Many in Gaza Are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads Amid Aid Issues
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Yasmin Eid coughs and covers her face, cooking a small pot of lentils over a fire fed with twigs and scrap paper in the tent she shares with her husband and four young daughters in the Gaza Strip. It was their only meal Wednesday —...
Norwegian Student Arrested on Charges of Spying on US for Russia
OSLO, Norway — A Norwegian student in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and Iran while working as a guard at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, authorities in Norway have said. The man, who has not been identified, was ordered to be held in custody for...