US journalist kidnapped in Baghdad and security forces hunt captors, Iraqi officials say
This is a locator map for Iraq with its capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo)
BAGHDAD (AP) — An American journalist was kidnapped Tuesday in Baghdad and Iraqi security forces are pursuing her captors, Iraqi officials said.
The Iraqi interior ministry said in a statement that a foreign journalist had been kidnapped, without giving more details about the journalist.
Two Iraqi security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the kidnapped journalist was a woman with U.S. citizenship.
They said that two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed and was apprehended while being pursued by authorities near the town of Al-Haswa in Babil province southwest of Baghdad, and the journalist was transferred to a second car that fled the scene.
Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ kids
The Supreme Court in Washington, Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.
An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
NASA begins the countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years
This photo provided by NASA shows NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, from left, Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, right, in a group photograph as they visit NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, Monday, March 30, 2026, at Launch Complex 39B of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
By: MARCIA DUNN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA began the countdown Monday for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years.
The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with four astronauts. After a day in orbit around Earth, their Orion capsule will propel them to the moon and back. There are no stops — just a quick U-turn around the moon. The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific.
“Our team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “Certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent, excellent shape.”
Managers said the rocket is doing well following the latest round of repairs. Forecasters said the weather should cooperate.
