Month: August 2021

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general says humanitarian conditions in Ethiopia are “hellish” as the nine-month Tigray conflict spreads in Africa’s second most populous country. Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday that the spread of the fighting “has ensnared even more people in its horror.” Thousands of people have

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina have found two people dead and about 20 remain missing in Haywood County in floods caused by Tropical Storm Fred. Now as a post-tropical cyclone, Fred is drenching New York and New England. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Henri is sending dangerous

By ALEX SANZ and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press The U.S. military and its allies have rescued a high-profile Afghan national police officer who was being hunted by the Taliban because of his years working with the American military. Mohammad Khalid Wardak and his family were airlifted Wednesday to safety in an undisclosed location. The officer

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is directing the federal prison system implement new procedures to monitor government-run prison deposit accounts that have at times been used by inmates to shield themselves from paying debts and for suspicious or illegal activity. The directive was issued this week by Deputy Attorney

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer Just as school doors are reopening across the U.S., children are filling hospital beds instead of classrooms in record numbers, sick with COVID-19. The surging virus is spreading anxiety and causing turmoil and infighting among parents, administrators and politicians around the U.S., especially in states like Florida and Texas,

By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Academy of Country Music Awards is making the streaming switch, moving from a TV network to Amazon Prime Video and marking the first time the streaming service will exclusively air an awards show. In the announcement on Thursday, the ACMs move from CBS,

LONDON (AP) — A 13-day hunger strike by former Nepalese Gurkha soldiers has ended after the British government agreed to enter talks with the Nepalese Embassy over veterans’ pensions. The agreement came a day after a 60-year-old Gurkha veteran was admitted to the hospital with heart problems. Gurkha soldiers, have served the British Army for

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Workers at a General Motors plant in Mexico have voted to end a collective bargaining contract negotiated by an old guard union accused of intimidation tactics in earlier votes. It was an early display of the effectiveness of labor mechanisms negotiated under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. Nearly 6,000 workers at the

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer “Candyman” was always more than a surface level horror film. The 1992 film dealt with class, race and trauma. But almost 30 years later, a new version, in theaters Aug. 27, reclaims and recenters the narrative around the Black experience. The original drew some criticisms at the time but

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation. His communications director, Phillip Waller, says Wicker tested positive Thursday morning. Wicker sought a test because of mild symptoms. Waller says the 70-year-old is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, is in good health and is being

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A new lawsuit contends the office of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is illegally delaying the release of public records related to its $26 million, no-bid coronavirus testing contract. Reynolds and her office’s public records custodian are the latest officials to be accused of violating

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has announced an agreement with Qatar to resume aid payments to thousands of families in the Gaza Strip. The step is aimed at easing tensions with the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory in the wake of an 11-day war in May. Qatar has provided hundreds of millions of

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Officials say two doctors at hospitals treating earthquake victims in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince have been kidnapped, forcing one of the institutions to declare a two-day shutdown in protest. The abductions Tuesday and Wednesday dealt a major blow to attempts to control

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A member of the family that owns Purdue Pharma has once again stopped short of offering an apology or acknowledgment of responsibility in the opioid crisis. Mortimer D.A. Sackler testified in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Thursday and was the third member of the wealthy family to testify in the confirmation

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The number of U.S. tourists who came to Florida in the second quarter of this year has returned to pre-pandemic levels, though the international market is still lagging. Figures released Thursday show 30.6 million domestic visitors came to Florida from April through June of this year. That’s a 6% increase over

By DAVID PORTER Associated Press A former women’s basketball player at Seton Hall has been added to a lawsuit filed against the school by former men’s player Myles Powell. Both Powell and Jasmine Smith claim their knee injuries were misdiagnosed. In an amended complaint filed Tuesday, Smith alleges team staff told her she’d suffered a

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago police officer who was fatally shot this month has been remembered for her compassion with stories of kindnesses, big and small. At a 90-minute funeral service on Thursday, speakers told of how Officer Ella French rushed a one-year-old gunshot victim to the hospital, and ferried

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators have sharpened their antitrust attack against Facebook. They are alleging in a revised complaint that the social network giant pursued a laser-focused strategy to “buy or bury” innovative rivals to suppress competition. It is the second try by the Federal Trade Commission. A federal

HENRICO, Va. (AP) — Hundreds of workers at a Mondelez International bakery in Virginia are on strike, seeking to block the company’s contract negotiation concession demands and end what the union calls the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that about 400 workers from the Henrico plant started striking Monday. The plant

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A key accuser at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial has resumed testimony, weeping when she was asked to read from a journal entry describing how he allegedly beat and choked her the last time they were together. Jerhonda Pace is the first government witness. She told

By HILARY FOX AP Entertainment Writer LONDON (AP) — Sandra Oh has been dancing with death on “Killing Eve” since 2018, so she could do with a laugh. That’s one of the reasons the Canadian-American actor took on the role of Ji-Yoon Kim in the Netflix comedy drama series, “The Chair.” Oh plays the new

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italian police say one of Italy’s most wanted men has been arrested in Dubai. They said on Thursday that the alleged cocaine trafficker suspected of having bought two stolen Van Gogh paintings on the black market was arrested on Aug. 4. Raffaele Imperiale is being held in

By DIARLEI RODRIGUES and MARCELO SILVA DE SOUSA SAO JOAO DA BARRA, Brazil (AP) — Over the past half century, the Atlantic Ocean has been slowly and relentlessly consuming Atafona, part of the Sao Joao da Barra municipality that is 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Rio de Janeiro’s capital and home to 36,000 people. The