Month: October 2021

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration is again urging courts to step in and suspend a new Texas law that has banned most abortions in the state since early September. The latest request came Monday night from the Justice Department as clinics in Oklahoma, Louisiana and other states

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — A rare two-headed diamondback terrapin turtle is alive and kicking — with all six of its legs — at the Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center in Massachusetts. A threatened species in the state, the tutle hatched two weeks ago. Staff say it is feeding well on blood worms and food pellets. They’ve

By JIM SALTER Associated Press The St. Louis-based natural gas company Spire Inc. is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to keep operating a pipeline through Illinois and Missouri, warning that a winter shutdown could be devastating to St. Louis-area customers. In a filing last week, Spire requested a stay that would allow

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s government says the German renewable energy company WPD will build a 500 million euro ($580 million) wind farm in the northeastern part of the small Balkan country. The prime minister said the planned 415 megawatt project is the largest German investment in the country and the biggest in

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seems inclined to allow Kentucky’s Republican attorney general to continue defending a restriction on abortion rights that had been struck down by lower courts. The underlying issue in the case argued at the high court Tuesday is a blocked Kentucky law that abortion rights

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission says it has issued its inaugural green bonds, raising 12 billion euros ($13.8 billion) from a sale that attracted strong demand from investors. The European Union’s executive branch is planning to issue up to 250 billion euros in green bonds by the end of

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Rising inflation is expected to lead to a sizeable increase in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for the year 2022. Exactly how much will be revealed Wednesday morning. Over the last 10 years, the COLA averaged about 1.7% annually as inflation remained low. But the

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president says his country will continue arming itself with Russian, Chinese and other weapons despite fears that the Balkan country’s recent military buildup could lead to more tensions in the region. President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia was a “free and independent nation” that would not seek outside opinions about where

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge says the Maryland couple charged in a plot to sell sensitive U.S. submarine secrets to a foreign government will remain behind bars for now. Jonathan and Diana Toebbe each made brief appearances in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble ordered them to remain

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has been selected for the trial of Lev Parnas, a onetime associate of Rudy Giuliani who is accused along with a co-defendant of making illegal campaign contributions. Opening statements were set for Wednesday morning. U.S. prosecutors say Parnas ingratiated himself with influential Republicans through

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A man who admitted beating his wife while their three children hid in a closet has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. A news release from the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office says the oldest child, then 10 years old, called 911 — and the beating was still going on

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Author Sally Rooney is holding off on allowing her current book to be translated into Hebrew, citing Israel’s “system of racial domination and segregation against Palestinians.” In a statement issued Tuesday through her literary representatives, the Wylie Agency, the Irish novelist said she hoped to

PARIS (AP) — Hubert Germain, the last of an elite group of French fighters who helped liberate France from Nazi control in World War II, has died at 101. The French president’s office announced the death in a statement Tuesday. The statement said Germain “embodied a century of freedom.” It didn’t divulge details of his

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Classes have resumed at a Texas high school for the first time since a classroom shooting that wounded a teacher and student. The shooting happened Oct. 6 at Timberview High School in Arlington. Police say 18-year-old Timothy George Simpkins opened fire in a classroom after a fight with another student. Simpkins

By MATT O’BRIEN and MARCY GORDON AP Business Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — The family of a slain journalist is asking the Federal Trade Commission to take action against Facebook for failing to remove online footage of her shooting death. Andy Parker says the company is violating its own terms of service in hosting videos on

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer Older adults without heart disease shouldn’t take daily aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke. That’s according to preliminary updated advice from an influential health guidelines group. The draft guidance was posted online Tuesday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. It backtracks a bit from previous

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has offered the U.S. to roll back several rounds of sanctions that have hampered the activities of their diplomatic missions, but reaffirmed its strong opposition to any U.S. military presence in Central Asia. The Russian proposal was made during Tuesday’s talks between Under Secretary of State

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says his country’s president told him he was ready to give Babis a chance to form another government even though Babis’ party placed second in a parliamentary election last week. Babis and President Milos Zeman met near Prague on Sunday shortly before Zeman was rushed to the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — One reason America’s employers are having trouble filling jobs was starkly illustrated in a report Tuesday: Americans are quitting in droves. The Labor Department said that quits jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, and up from 4

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — The Group of 20 nations have warned about a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan as the European Union pledged 1 billion euros ($1.15 billion) in support for Afghan people. G-20 leaders demanded at a virtual summit Tuesday hosted by Italy that Taliban leaders allow humanitarian access across the

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar’s diplomatic point man for talks with the Taliban says countries should engage Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers, warning that isolation could lead to a wide-reaching security threat, as happened when al-Qaida used the country as a base to plot the 9/11 attacks. Qatar’s special

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian police and school officials say that gunmen seized three student priests from a Catholic seminary in Nigeria’s northwest Kaduna state. The Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said the assailants stormed the Christ The King Major

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A coroner in Wyoming says slain cross-country traveler Gabby Petito was strangled. The 22-year-old woman’s body was found last month near an undeveloped camping area in remote northern Wyoming along the border of Grand Teton National Park. Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said in a

By CARA ANNA and HASSAN BARISE Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The International Court of Justice has sided with Somalia in its dispute with neighboring Kenya over a maritime boundary in a case affecting territory potentially rich in oil and gas. The United Nations’ highest court rejected Kenya’s claimed maritime boundary, saying the country

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a federal law that bars cockfighting in Puerto Rico. The high court on Tuesday turned away a challenge to the law. As is typical, the high court did not explain why it declined to take the case. Congress in 2018 changed a federal law that

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Lawyers for Myanmar’s former President Win Myint say he has testified that he defied a demand from the military to resign when the army seized power eight months ago. Win Myint was giving testimony at his trial for incitement in which the country’s ousted top leader, Aung

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is coming to Richmond this month to campaign with fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the final stretch of the competitive race for Virginia governor. McAuliffe is running against GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin as he seeks a second, nonconsecutive term in office. Youngkin

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunger and food insecurity across the United States have dropped measurably over the past six months, but the need remains far above pre-pandemic levels. Specialists in hunger issues warn the situation for millions of families remains extremely fragile. An Associated Press review of bulk distribution numbers from

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg will step down as head of a three-party, minority center-right government after the left-leaning bloc won last month’s parliament election. The leader of Norway’s Labor Party, Jonas Gahr Stoere, is expected to take over at the head of a two-party, center-left coalition this week. The