It is that time of year. Having fudged or forgotten our New Year’s Resolutions from the previous year, we open up our spiffy new planners and list the same idealistic goals all over again. It’s amazing how we Americans spend our lives making new goals each January (with the enthusiasm …

YANGON, Myanmar – The U.N.’s emergency relief organization says incessant monsoon rain in northwestern Myanmar has triggered flooding, leaving nine people dead and affecting 70,000 others. The report on Sagaing Region from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 12,000 houses have been damaged and schools forced …

ATLANTA – The latest on the autopsy of Bobbi Kristina Brown (all times local): 4 p.m. Medical examiners say the initial portion of their autopsy on Bobbi Kristina Brown has found no obvious cause of death or significant injuries. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office began its autopsy Monday on …

RABAT, Morocco – A member of the support committee for a dissident Moroccan journalist says he has been persuaded to end his month-long hunger strike in protest of the government and has been admitted to a hospital in Geneva. Ali Mrabet began a hunger strike outside the U.N. headquarters on …

NEW YORK – A New York appeals court says the public can’t see the testimony a grand jury heard before declining to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man. A state Supreme Court Appellate Division panel ruled Wednesday. A lower-court judge declined in …

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A Kentucky sheriff’s office has posted a flyer on its Facebook page asking drug dealers to turn in their rivals. Multiple media outlets report the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office posted the flyer Monday afternoon. It features an image of a marijuana leaf and says, “Is your drug …

EDISON, N.J. – A convicted leader of a New Jersey crime family long believed to be the model for “The Sopranos” has died. He was 90. Corsentino Home for Funerals says John M. Riggi died Monday at his home in Edison. A cause of death wasn’t disclosed. Riggi was the …

ADRIAN, Mich. – A southeastern Michigan man who brought a backpack stuffed with dirty socks to a couple looking to buy a pound of marijuana is facing prison. The Daily Telegram of Adrian reports (http://bit.ly/1NeBVMX ) the fraudulent July 8 marijuana sale in Lenawee County’s Raisin Township was described Wednesday …

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Seasonal rains have failed to materialize in some parts of Ethiopia, causing deaths of many cattle and other animals. Witnesses say hundreds of cattle are dying daily, especially in the Afar Region. Wondimu Filate, a spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry, told The Associated Press that: “The …

HONOLULU – Federal fisheries authorities want to more than double the small population of endangered Hawaiian monk seals in the state’s main islands. Authorities on Tuesday released a draft management plan for the endangered species, of which approximately 200 live in the main Hawaiian Islands. Among the goals of the …