BATON ROGUE, La. – Louisiana’s infamous electric chair — dubbed by death row inmates as “Gruesome Gertie” — was last used for an execution in 1991, when the state moved to lethal injections as the sole method to carry out capital punishment. However, like other reliably red states that have seen executions stall, … Read more
TOKYO – Japan has slipped to the world’s fourth-largest economy as government data released Thursday showed it fell behind the size of Germany’s in 2023. The numbers highlight how the Japanese economy has gradually lost its competitiveness and productivity while the population shrinks as Japanese people age and have fewer children, analysts say. … Read more
Caracas, Venezuela – A United Nations-backed expert on food security on Wednesday urged Venezuela’s government to develop a robust plan to address hunger and malnutrition affecting its population, and called for an end to the crippling economic sanctions imposed on the South American country. Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to … Read more
WASHINGTON – Special counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to let former U.S. president Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case proceed to trial without further delay. Prosecutors were responding to a Trump team request from earlier in the week asking for a continued pause in the case as the … Read more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday approved the first treatment for severe frostbite to reduce the risk of finger or toe amputation in adults. Iloprost injection, marketed under the brand name Aurlumyn, is a vasodilator, a drug that opens blood vessels and prevents blood clotting. “Having this new option … Read more
DANA POINT, Calif. – A massive landslide on a coastal bluff has left a Southern California mansion on the edge of a cliff, but authorities have determined that the ocean-view home and neighboring residences are not in immediate danger. The slide occurred last week in the city of Dana Point after back-to-back drenching … Read more
The federal government says cyber security and privacy experts are “in constant contact” with public benefits providers to address a recent “cyber incident” impacting MSH International (MSH), and to protect the personal information of government employees. MSH, a federal sub-contractor, assists Canada Life in connecting members of the Public Service Health Care Plan … Read more
Extreme wind and rain may lead to bigger and worse desert locust outbreaks, with human-caused climate change likely to intensify the weather patterns and cause higher outbreak risks, a new study has found. The desert locust — a short-horned species found in some dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East, … Read more
WINNIPEG – A Manitoba man who was switched at birth and raised without being aware of his Indigenous heritage for more than 60 years says he feels a sense of belonging after receiving his Metis citizenship. “My identity is something I lost a long time ago,” Edward Ambrose said in a news release. … Read more
PARIS – An appeals court in Paris on Wednesday upheld a guilty verdict against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid. Sarkozy was convicted in a lower court in September 2021 and sentenced to a year of house arrest for illegal campaign financing. The court … Read more
