Month: August 2021

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s government watchdog has released a report criticizing the former government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. Its report Tuesday points to shortcomings in decision making by the Netanyahu administration and its implementation of regulations and restrictions. The State Comptroller’s report leveled a stern reproach of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s attorney general was ticketed for going 57 in a 35 mph zone just days just days before he pleaded no contest to traffic charges for a car crash that killed a pedestrian last year. Jason Ravnsborg, the state’s top law enforcement officer, received

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — A large U.S. survey of new-vehicle owners found that automobile quality rose last year, but glitches in pairing smartphones with infotainment systems frustrated owners more than anything. The annual survey by J.D. Power found that the Ram truck brand had the fewest problems per 100 vehicles.

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It took Larry Kirwan nearly 20 years to feel he truly nailed a story of how a working-class family dealt with the death of a police officer at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Larry Kirwan, novelist and former leader of the rock

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It has been 20 years since Taliban-led Afghanistan fell to a U.S.-led coalition in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. For Afghans, that means 20 years of change. That’s an arc that ran from early hope to despair in recent weeks as the U.S. pullout

By ARITZ PARRA Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Authorities say that at least 11 people are feared dead after another boat traveling from North Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands became a trap for migrants trying to reach European territory. The Spanish government’s delegation in the archipelago said rescuers retrieved 32 survivors and one body overnight

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is promising up to $60 million in military aid to Ukraine in advance of a White House meeting this week between President Joe Biden and his counterpart in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Biden administration said in a notification to Congress that the aid package

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It has been 20 years since Taliban-led Afghanistan fell to a U.S.-led coalition in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. For Afghans, that means 20 years of change. That’s an arc that ran from early hope to despair in recent weeks as the U.S. pullout

SLIDELL, La. (AP) — A Louisiana sheriff says a man was attacked by a large alligator while walking through floodwaters from Hurricane Ida and is now missing. Authorities say the 71-year-old man’s wife told sheriff’s deputies that she heard a commotion around noon on Monday, then walked outside to see the gator attacking her husband

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Supreme Court of Virginia has upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the reinstatement of a northern Virginia gym teacher who said he won’t refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. Loudoun County Public Schools appealed to the state Supreme Court after a judge ruled that the school

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Authorities are dropping a murder conviction against a man who is serving a life sentence for a fire that killed five children in suburban Detroit in 2000. The Oakland County prosecutor announced the development Tuesday. Karen McDonald says the case against Juwan Deering was spoiled by the

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is taking an initial step to assess how climate change could harm financial markets. It’s planning to launch on Tuesday a 75-day comment period on how the impacts could reshape the insurance sector. Insurers face payouts from wildfires and flooding risks that could

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — American high jumper Sam Grewe has won a gold medal at the Paralympics. His next stop is medical school at the University of Michigan. Grewe had his right leg amputated when he was 13 after being diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer. He’s now 23 and

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A coalition of animal rights groups has filed a lawsuit to stop Wisconsin’s wolf hunt this fall. Animal Wellness Action, the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance and Protect Coyote filed the action Tuesday. The lawsuit comes after the state Department of Natural Resources board this month set

By SYLEJMAN KLLOKOQI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo has postponed the beginning of the school year for students up through high school by two weeks following a surge of infections due to the delta variant. New precautions have also been taken in other Western Balkan countries like Albania and Serbia. All Western Balkan

By KATIE WORKMAN Associated Press Looking to kick back with something non-alcoholic this Labor Day? There’s been a real transformation going on in the world of booze-free drinks. Craftspeople, mixologists and scientists have moved well beyond sweet “fake wines” and watery no-alcohol beers. AP food writer Katie Workman says there’s now a huge selection of

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The foreign ministers of North Macedonia and Greece agree that bilateral ties have improved steadily since the two countries reached a deal that changed the name of Greece’s small Balkan neighbor. North Macedonia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that trade and economic relations, in particular, have “deepened” since the 2019 agreement

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Ask anyone old enough to remember travel before Sept. 11, 2001, and you’re likely to get a gauzy recollection of what flying was like. There was security screening, but it wasn’t intrusive. There were no long checkpoint lines. Passengers and their families could walk right to

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s economy grew by 20.1% in the April-June quarter from the same period a year earlier, when it suffered a record contraction, raising hopes of an economic recovery. It was India’s fastest pace of growth since it began publishing quarterly gross domestic product figures in 1996. It was also far higher

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s National Assembly has approved legislation that bans app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing developers to use their in-app payment systems. South Korea is reportedly the first country in the world to pass such a bill, which becomes law when it is signed by the

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Friends and fellow lifeguards sat on a Jersey Shore beach and sobbed Tuesday at the spot where a 19-year-old lifeguard was killed by lightning a day earlier. It was the second on-duty death of a teenage lifeguard in New Jersey in less than two weeks

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Federal officials say the snail darter population has recovered. They say the tiny fish notorious for blocking a dam project in Tennessee decades ago should no longer be on the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began the process to remove the snail

By The Associated Press Johnson & Johnson says its potential HIV vaccine did not provide protection against the virus in a study of young women in sub-Saharan Africa. J&J plans to end that study. But researchers will continue a separate, late-stage trial involving a different composition of the vaccine in men and transgender people. The

LYONS, Ill. (AP) — Two brothers who told police they buried their mother and sister’s bodies in their suburban Chicago home’s backyard years ago after they died have been released from custody as authorities continue investigating two bodies found buried there. The brothers, ages 41 and 45, were released on their own recognizance Monday following

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices jumped by a record amount in June as homebuyers competed for a limited supply of available houses, the latest evidence that the housing market remains red-hot. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 19.1% in June compared with a year earlier,

MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Ida isn’t quite done with the United States, dumping bands of rain from the Gulf Coast into New England. The National Weather Service says an area of central Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and western Maryland could get the most rainfall Tuesday, with 6-10 inches and flash-flooding predicted. Wind gusts of more

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek coast guard authorities say they have intercepted a yacht carrying 124 people believed to be migrants just off the coast of the Cycladic island of Milos, nearly three days after intercepting nearly three dozen others in a sailboat on the coast of the southern Greek island of Kythira. The coast