PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South African prosecutors said Monday they intend to charge the Parliament speaker with corruption, alleging she took $135,000 and a wig in bribes over a three-year period while she was defense minister. Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has not been arrested or charged. The prosecutors spoke at a court hearing over her […]

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators opened investigations into Apple, Google and Meta on Monday, the first cases under a sweeping new law designed to stop Big Tech companies from cornering digital markets.  The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said it was investigating the companies for “non-compliance” with the Digital Markets Act.  The […]

LONDON (AP) — The U.S. and British governments on Monday announced sanctions against a company and two people linked to the Chinese government over a string of malicious cyberactivity targeting the U.K.’s election watchdog and lawmakers in both countries.  Officials said those sanctioned are responsible for a hack that may have gained access to information […]

PHOENIX (AP) — The room sits behind a chain-link fence, then black iron gates. Guards block the entrance, which requires a security badge to access. The glass surrounding it is shatterproof. What merits all these layers of protection is somewhat surprising: tabulating machines that count the votes during elections in Arizona’s Maricopa County. The security […]

ATLANTA (AP) — A former Georgia insurance commissioner who made a failed Republican run for governor has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. John W. Oxendine of Johns Creek entered the guilty plea Friday in federal court in Atlanta. The 61-year-old had been indicted in May 2022 on charges of conspiracy to […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials said Thursday they will review how airlines protect personal information about their passengers and whether they are making money by sharing that information with other parties. The U.S. Department of Transportation said its review will focus on the 10 biggest U.S. airlines and cover their collection, handling and use of […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors, stifles innovation and keeps prices artificially high. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House Thursday would require the identification and labeling of online images, videos and audio generated using artificial intelligence, the latest effort to rein in rapidly developing technologies that, if misused, could easily deceive and mislead. So-called deepfakes created by artificial intelligence can be hard or even impossible […]

It’s “extremely appropriate” that two scientists who lost their jobs due to dealings with China remain under investigation, Health Minister Mark Holland said Wednesday. The National Microbiology Laboratory researchers were fired in early 2021 after their security clearances were revoked over questions about their loyalty and the potential for coercion by China. Records tabled in […]

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Top legislators in the Virginia House of Delegates are disputing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s claim that an independent consultant they hired gave a clean bill of health to his proposal to lure two Washington sports teams to the city of Alexandria.  Youngkin, a Republican, has hosted a series of campaign-style events in […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A prosecutor urged jurors Wednesday to find a former Milwaukee elections official who requested fake absentee ballots guilty of misconduct and fraud, rejecting her argument that she was only trying to expose flaws in Wisconsin’s election system. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal said during his closing arguments in Kimberly Zapata’s trial […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Monday to side with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security in a case that could set standards for free speech in the digital […]