Month: October 2021

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — Authorities in suburban Philadelphia say a woman was raped by a stranger on a commuter train in the presence of other riders who a police official says “should have done something.” Upper Darby police were called to the 69th Street terminal late Wednesday after the assault. A police official says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man who was 13 years old when he killed a 4-year-old boy with a rock has been granted parole. State corrections officials said Saturday that Eric Smith appeared for the 11th time before the parole board earlier this month and was granted release as early as Nov. 17.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Protester have erupted for a second day in Bangladesh’s capital, amid a wave of violence against local Hindus following a viral social media image perceived as insulting to the country’s Muslim majority. Some 10,000 protesters — many of them carrying banners of Islamist political parties — took to the streets Saturday

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The families of the victims of last year’s massive Beirut port blast have reaffirmed their support for the judge leading the investigation into the explosion. The support comes despite increasing calls for the judge’s ouster by the militant Hezbollah group and its allies. The families issued a

By ANDREW WILKS Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — Two of Europe’s longest serving leaders have paid tribute to one another as Turkishh President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s final visit to Turkey for farewell talks overlooking the Bosporus. At a news conference on Saturday, Erdogan said “I hope that our successful work

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A vendor at a major motorcycle rally in Florida briefly sold hats emblazoned with Nazi symbols, saying she considered them a tribute to World War II veterans who helped defeat the Germans. The vendor was selling the hats embroidered with swastikas and a skull-and-bones logo used by the Nazi SS

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Republicans in New Hampshire are struggling to contain a party wing that’s promoting conspiracy views about the COVID-19 vaccine and pushing back against federal vaccine mandates. The latest dust-up involves one of the Republican-controlled legislature’s most powerful members. The lawmaker distributed a report to his colleagues that

ROME (AP) — Tens of thousands of union members and other Italians gathered in Rome to stand up against rising fascism Saturday, a week after right-wing extremists forced their way into the headquarters of Italy’s most powerful labor confederation while protesting a COVID-19 certification requirement for workplaces. The head of the CGIL union confederation, Maurizio

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press/Report for America AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers are on the brink of finishing redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs. The maps approved by the Texas House on Saturday night will now go

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press A bitcoin operation in central New York has taken over a power plant to find cheap energy for currency mining in a move that has alarmed environmentalists. Greenidge Generation now produces about 44 megawatts to run 15,300 computer servers, plus additional electricity it sends into the state’s power grid. Environmentalists

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Judges around the country are increasingly being asked to weigh in on the deworming drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. At least two dozen lawsuits have been filed around the U.S., many in recent weeks, by people seeking to force hospitals to give their COVID-stricken loved

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A lawyer says an Iranian appeals court has upheld a verdict sentencing an Iranian-British woman long held in Tehran to another year in prison. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has already served a five-year sentence in the Islamic Republic. Her lawyer told The Associated Press on Saturday that the appeals court upheld a verdict

By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — One of the world’s largest elevator towers will soon be opened to test elevators of the future as well as current ones high above the Atlanta suburbs. TK Elevator says its 420-foot tower is set to become fully operational early next year. General contractor Brasfield & Gorrie

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Frustrated with persistently low prices, ranchers and others in the beef industry are moving to reverse a long trend of consolidation and planning to open new slaughterhouses. The new plants typically cost more than $300 million, but they still will be much smaller than those

By HOPE YEN and TOM KRISHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As pandemic-era traffic fatalities spike, the U.S. agency in charge of auto safety is struggling with a backlog of safety rules ordered by Congress that are years overdue. It’s estimated the unfinished rules would save thousands of lives. An Associated Press review of the

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ energy minister says an undersea cable linking the electricity grids of Cyprus and Egypt could be key to helping both countries transition to a green economy. Minister Natasa Pilides said a memorandum of understanding she signed with Egypt’s electricity minister on Saturday supports the project’s planning, development and implementation. Pilides

By HOPE YEN and TOM KRISHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As pandemic-era traffic fatalities spike, the U.S. agency in charge of auto safety is struggling with a backlog of safety rules ordered by Congress that are years overdue. It’s estimated the unfinished rules would save thousands of lives. An Associated Press review of the

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Norway has announced it will hold an independent investigation into the actions of police and security agencies following a bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people and injured three others. Police have been criticized for reacting too slowly to contain the massacre. Police have acknowledged that the five

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say a man with an AR-15-style rifle ambushed three constable deputies outside of a Houston bar, killing one and wounded two others. The Houston Police Department says one person was detained, but he’s not believed to be the shooter. Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman says the deputies were working

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press A Maine law banning obscene license plates goes into effect Monday, but getting the foul language off the roads and highways won’t happen overnight. Rule-making is getting underway to ensure the law protects First Amendment rights while getting rid of profane language. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says the process

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Africa’s largest film festival is kicking off in Burkina Faso for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The week-long  Pan-African Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou is also being held amid both the pandemic and a growing jihadi insurgency that’s killed thousands of

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A judiciary spokesperson says a court has sentenced the former governor of Iran’s central bank to 10 years in prison for violating the country’s currency system. The spokesperson says the former central bank chief also had a role in smuggling foreign currency. A former deputy to the bank chief was sentenced

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s daily death toll from COVID-19 has exceeded 1000 for the first time as the country faces a sustained wave of rising infections. The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 1,002 deaths, up from 999 on Friday, along with 33,208 new confirmed cases. The government said

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president has paid her respects at a morgue to the dozens of people killed in a deadly inferno that ripped through an aging tower block earlier in the week. Authorities say the fire in the southern city of Kaohsiung killed at least 46 people, after it broke out early Thursday

BERLIN (AP) — The leader of outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party has urged supporters to emulate the unity and discipline of their victorious opponents. Armin Laschet declared Saturday that the center-right Union bloc can only start winning again if its members learn to stand together. Laschet has indicated his readiness to step down as

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft named Lucy has rocketed into the sky with diamonds on a 12-year quest to explore a record-setting eight asteroids. Lucy blasted off before dawn Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket is sending Lucy on a roundabout journey to the Trojan

By MAYUKO ONO and PAN PYLAS Associated Press LEIGH-ON-SEA, England (AP) — Leaders from across Britain’s political spectrum have come together to pay tribute to a long-serving British lawmaker who was stabbed to death in what police have described as a terrorist attack. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the leader of the opposition Labour Party and

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Police say four Russian tourists were found dead at a beach resort in western Albania. Albanian police issued a statement Saturday saying the four were found asphyxiated in a hotel sauna in the village of Qerret late Friday. Police did not give more details about the circumstances of the deaths, citing

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese astronauts have begun their six-month mission on China’s first permanent space station, after successfully docking aboard their spacecraft. The astronauts, two men and a woman, were seen floating around the module before speaking via a live-streamed video Saturday. They are the second crew to move into the new space station, which

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers have agreed to downgrade Myanmar’s participation in an upcoming summit in their sharpest rebuke yet of its leaders following a Feb. 1 military takeover. Myanmar objected to the decision. Brunei, chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said Saturday that

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, a year of war and months of government-enforced deprivation have left the city of a half-million people with a rapidly dwindling stock of food, fuel, medicine and cash. The Associated Press drew on a dozen interviews with residents for

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Islamic State group says its members are responsible for a deadly suicide bombing on a Shiite mosque in southern Afghanistan. Relatives laid the bodies of the victims to rest Saturday and called on the Taliban to protect them. The group says in a statement posted on social media that two