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‘Rust’ armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on movie set
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A jury convicted a movie weapons supervisor of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm. Gutierrez-Reed also had faced a second charge of tampering with evidence, stemming from accusations that she handed a small bag of possible narcotics to another crew member after the shooting to avoid detection.
Alabama governor signs legislation protecting IVF providers from legal liability into law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation into law Wednesday shielding in vitro fertilization providers from potential legal liability raised by a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children. The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court last month raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics and prompted an outcry from patients and other groups. Three major IVF providers paused services. The new law protects providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services. Republicans in the state Legislature proposed the lawsuit immunity as a way to get clinics reopened.
Third-party group No Labels is expected to move forward with a 2024 campaign, AP sources say
WASHINGTON (AP) — The third-party presidential movement No Labels is planning to move toward fielding a presidential candidate in the November election, even as high-profile contenders for the ticket have decided not to run, two people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. After months of leaving open whether the group would offer a ticket, No Labels delegates are expected to vote Friday in favor of launching a presidential campaign for this fall’s election, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the group’s internal deliberations. No Labels will not name its presidential and vice presidential picks on Friday, when roughly 800 delegates meet virtually in a private meeting.
Pressure grows on Israel to open more aid routes into Gaza by land and sea as hunger worsens
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Efforts to get desperately needed humanitarian aid to war-wracked northern Gaza gained momentum Wednesday with the European Union increasing pressure for the creation of a sea route from Cyprus to Gaza and British Foreign Minister David Cameron saying that Israel’s allies were losing patience. While aid groups say all of Gaza is mired in a humanitarian crisis, the situation in the largely isolated north stands out. Many of the estimated 300,000 people still living there have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive. The U.N. says that one in six children younger than 2 in the north suffers from acute malnutrition.
Houthi missile attack kills 3 crew members in Yemen rebels’ first fatal assault on shipping
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday killed three of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel, the U.S. military said. It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The attack on the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping. The Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the U.S.
Frozen in time: Families of those on missing Flight 370 cannot shake off their grief without answers
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Over the past decade, Grace Subathirai Nathan graduated from law school, got married, opened a law firm and had two babies. But part of her is frozen in time, still in denial over the loss of her mother on a missing Malaysia Airlines plane in 2014. There has been no funeral service, and Grace, 35, still speaks of her mother in the present tense. When she got married in 2020, she walked down the aisle with a picture of her mother tucked in a bouquet of daisies — chosen because of her mother’s name, Anne Catherine Daisy.
Ex-Honduran president defends himself at New York drug trafficking trial
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took the witness stand in his defense at his New York trial on Tuesday, denying that he teamed up with drug dealers to protect them in return for millions of dollars in bribes. His testimony in Manhattan federal court came after several days of testimony by drug cartel traffickers who are hoping to earn leniency from long prison sentences in exchange for their cooperation against him. They claimed he protected the drug trade in return for millions of dollars that helped fuel his rise to power. But Hernández said the opposite, testifying that he worked against the interest of drug traffickers because they “did a lot of damage to my country.” Prosecutors say Hernández, who served as president from 2014 to 2022, used his Central American nation’s military and police to help drug dealers move cocaine through the country on its way to America.
Politicians seek new alliances to lead Haiti as gangs take over and premier tries to return home
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian politicians started pursuing new alliances Wednesday, seeking a coalition that could lead the country out of the gang violence that has fueled lawlessness, closed the main airport and prevented embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning home. Haiti remained largely paralyzed, with schools and businesses still closed amid heavy gunfire blamed on the gangs that control an estimated 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where several bodies lay on empty streets. The country’s two biggest prisons were also raided, resulting in the release of more than 4,000 inmates over the weekend. Henry faces increasing pressure to resign, which would likely trigger a U.S.-supported transition to a new government.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign donor says his Panera Bread restaurants will follow minimum wage law
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A wealthy campaign donor of California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the Panera Bread restaurants he owns will start paying workers at least $20 an hour on April 1 after controversy over whether a new state minimum wage law for fast food workers applies to his businesses. California’s statewide minimum wage is $16 per hour. Newsom signed a law last year that says fast food restaurants that are part of a chain with at least 60 locations nationally must pay their workers at least $20 per hour beginning April 1. But the law does not apply to restaurants that have their own bakeries to make and sell bread as a stand-alone menu item.
Haley’s exit from the GOP race pushes off — again — the day Americans could elect a woman president
WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman ascends toward the heights of American politics, with the nation’s top elected office — the presidency — looming far out of reach. A man at the bottom predicts, unhelpfully: “You’ll never make it, sister!” Asked the Chicago Daily Tribune, in a 1922 editorial cartoon published two years after women won the right to vote: “How high will she go?” More than a century later, that question remains stubbornly unanswered. Nikki Haley’s suspension Wednesday of her campaign for the GOP presidential nomination makes her the latest in a long line of women with presidential hopes to crash against the monolith of a man — in this case, Republican Donald Trump — in a nation founded on the concepts of equality and opportunity for all.