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SPRING VALLEY – Whoever Sri Lanka's next president is, Muthuthevarkittan Manohari isn't expecting much to change in her daily struggle to feed the four children and elderly mother with whom she lives in a dilapidated room in a tea plantation. Both leading candidates in Saturday's presidential election are promising to give land to the country's hundreds of thousands of plantation workers, but Manohari says she's heard it all before. Sri Lanka's plantation workers are a long-marginalized group who frequently live […]

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reservedPeople wait in line ahead of a "Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song," concert at the Fox Theatre, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Atlanta. Former President Carter turns 100-years old on Oct. 1. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)ATLANTA – A range of stars from the stage, screen and sport paid tribute Tuesday to former President Jimmy Carter ahead of his 100th birthday, the eclectic lineup meant to highlight the 39th president’s emphasis on human […]

EntertainmentFILE - Anna Sorokin, who claimed to be a German heiress, returns to the courtroom during her trial on grand larceny and theft of services charges, April 25, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) (Mary Altaffer, Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)LOS ANGELES – Convicted con artist Anna Sorokin has hit the dancefloor on “Dancing With the Stars” with a featherweight — and very sparkly — ankle monitor.The so-called ‘fake heiress,' who was convicted of swindling […]

WorldCopyright 2024 The Associated Press All rights reservedIsraeli soldiers take up positions next to the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt, in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)TANZANIA – The U.N. General Assembly will vote Wednesday on a Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year, withdraw its military forces and evacuate all settlers.The resolution is being put to a vote in the […]

WASHINGTON – The House on Wednesday rejected Speaker Mike Johnson's proposal that would have linked temporary funding for the federal government with a mandate that states require proof of citizenship when people register to vote.Next steps on government funding are uncertain. Lawmakers are not close to completing work on the dozen annual appropriations bills that will fund federal agencies during the next fiscal year, so they’ll need to approve a stopgap measure to prevent a partial shutdown when that budget […]

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reservedMatt Capelouto and his wife, Christine, whose daughter, Alexandra, died from a fentanyl overdose, stand for a photo next to Alexandra's prom picture in Temecula, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)LOS ANGELES – In 2019, Brandon McDowell was contacted by a sophomore in college who asked to buy Percocet, a prescription painkiller.What the 20-year-old sold her instead were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be […]

GRENADA, Miss. – A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood on the courthouse square since 1910 — a figure that was tightly wrapped in tarps the past four years, symbolizing the community's enduring division over how to commemorate the past.Grenada’s first Black mayor in two decades seems determined to follow through on the city’s plans to relocate the monument to other public land. A concrete slab has already been poured behind a fire station about 3.5 […]

MITCHELL, S.D. – The gold-leafed ceilings and crystal chandeliers of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort are a long way from the small town of Murdo, South Dakota, where Sen. John Thune grew up. But that’s where the senator found himself this spring as he launched a bid to become the next Senate Republican leader.Even before Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he would end the longest leadership tenure in Senate history, Thune, 63, had approached the contest with the same quiet intensity […]

Local NewsORLANDO, Fla. – The Federal Reserve is expected to meet tomorrow, and all eyes are on what could be the first rate cut since 2020. With the current federal funds rate sitting at its highest point in 23 years—between 5.25% and 5.50%—consumers are left wondering how this decision will impact their wallets.Orlando housing experts weighed in on where and when consumers might see relief, especially in the housing market.“The question is, are they going to be cutting 25 basis […]

WELLINGTON – On the eve of New Zealand’s Māori language celebration week, the country’s right-wing political leaders ordered public agencies to stop affirmative action policies for Māori people, who are disadvantaged on almost every metric.The lawmakers then posted on social media about their enthusiasm for the Indigenous tongue. “In New Zealand we’re lucky to have this language and I’m glad to celebrate it,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of the center-right National party wrote on Facebook Monday.Māori was not solely “the […]