American allies worry the US is growing less dependable, whether Trump or Biden wins (apnews.com)
Judge blocks Omaha's ban on guns in public places while lawsuit challenging it moves forward (apnews.com)
Nebraska’s largest city won’t be able to enforce its ban on guns on all public property, including parks and sidewalks, while a lawsuit challenging that restriction moves forward....
Israel unveils tunnels underneath Gaza City headquarters of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (apnews.com)
The Israeli military says it has discovered tunnels underneath the main headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City, alleging that Hamas militants used the space as an electrical supply room....
Senegal’s president defends delaying elections in exclusive interview as protests erupt nationwide (apnews.com)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegalese President Macky Sall defended his decision to postpone elections as violent protests erupted across the country on Friday....
Israeli strikes kill 44 Palestinians in Rafah after Netanyahu says ground invasion is coming there (apnews.com)
including more than a dozen children
Proposed mine outside Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp nears approval despite environment damage concerns (apnews.com)
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division said it will take public comments on the draft permits for 30 days before working up final versions to send to the agency’s director for approval....
Investigators will try to find out why a private jet crashed onto a Florida interstate and killed 2 (apnews.com)
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Bombardier Challenger 600 jet had five people were aboard when the crash happened around 3:15 p.m. Friday near Naples, just north of where the interstate heads east toward Fort Lauderdale along what is known as Alligator Alley....
Ocean system that moves heat gets closer to collapse, which could cause weather chaos, study says (apnews.com)
An abrupt shutdown of Atlantic Ocean currents that could put large parts of Europe in a deep freeze is looking a bit more likely and closer than before as a new complex computer simulation finds a “cliff-like” tipping point looming in the future....
One state has a shortage of marijuana and its neighbor had too much. Here’s why (apnews.com)
Marijuana retailers in Connecticut say a dearth of licensed growers in the state’s fledgling legal pot industry has left them with a shortage of product to sell....
Schools are trying to get more students therapy. Not all parents are on board (apnews.com)
Derry Oliver was in fifth grade when she first talked to her mom about seeing a therapist....
Nearly 200 abused corpses were found at a funeral home. Why did it take authorities years to act? (apnews.com)
A county coroner reported suspicions about bodies being poorly treated by a Colorado funeral home more than three years before nearly 200 decomposing bodies were discovered inside a decrepit building in October, according to newly unsealed court documents that raise questions about how the mistreatment of corpses was able to...
Ukraine needs more troops fighting Russia. Hardened professionals from Colombia are helping (apnews.com)
CIA terminates whistleblower who prompted flood of sexual misconduct complaints (apnews.com)
Kansas' AG is telling schools they must out trans kids to parents, even with no specific law (apnews.com)
Torturing children to score political points. Rot in hell.
Summer-like conditions with record temperatures lead to first Wisconsin tornadoes in February (apnews.com)
EVANSVILLE, Wis. (AP) — The first tornadoes ever recorded in Wisconsin in the usually frigid month of February tore through mostly rural areas on a day that broke records for warmth, setting up the perfect scenario for the type of severe weather normally seen in the late spring and summer....
Ghana artifacts that were looted 150 years ago by British forces have been returned by a US museum (apnews.com)
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Seven royal artifacts looted 150 years ago by British colonial forces from Ghana’s ancient Asante kingdom and kept by a United States museum have been returned and presented to the kingdom on Thursday, the latest of a series of stolen treasured items being repatriated to several African countries....
Indonesian presidential vote highlights tradeoffs between fast growth and a healthy environment (apnews.com)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A presidential election in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, is highlighting choices to be made as the country seeks to profit from its rich reserves of nickel and other resources that are vital to the global transition away from fossil fuels....
Malaysia’s top court invalidates state’s Islam-based laws on incest, sodomy and other offenses (apnews.com)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s top court on Friday struck down Shariah-based criminal laws in an opposition-run state, saying they encroached on federal authority. Islamists denounced the decision and said it could undermine religious courts across the Muslim-majority nation....
Pakistan’s ex-PM Sharif says he will seek a coalition government after trailing jailed rival Khan (apnews.com)
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The former prime minister of Pakistan expected his party would claim an easy victory in the country’s parliamentary elections, sending him to the top job for a fourth time. Instead, Nawaz Sharif faces a difficult path to power....
Sweden has thwarted Iranian attack plots, counterintelligence police say (apnews.com)
Ukraine’s new army chief says his immediate goals are better troop rotation and high-tech weapons (apnews.com)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s new military chief said Friday that his immediate goals are to improve the rotation of troops at the front lines and harness the power of new technology, at a time when Kyiv’s forces are largely on the defensive in the war with Russia....
Finnish carrier Finnair is asking passengers to voluntarily weigh themselves before boarding flights (apnews.com)
Almost everything that gets onto a commercial plane — fuel, checked-in baggage, cargo and meals — is weighed. For passengers and their cabin bags, most airlines use average data....
The president seized 1% of El Salvador's population. Their children pay the consequences (apnews.com)
Tears welled in Alex’s eyes and he pressed his head into his hands as he thought about more than a year of birthdays and holidays without his mother, who was swept up by El Salvador’s police as she walked to work in a clothing factory....
They opened a Haitian food truck. Then they were told, 'Go back to your own country,' lawsuit says (apnews.com)
A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community....
Pressure mounts on Hungary's president to resign over pardon in child sexual abuse case (apnews.com)
The lawmaker, Olga Kálmán, said the pardon had expunged the criminal record of the children’s home’s former deputy director and allowed him to work among children again....
