Month: June 2022

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mitt Romney isn’t up for reelection this year. But Trump-aligned Republicans hostile toward the Utah senator have made his name a recurring theme in this year’s primaries, using him as a foil and derisively branding their rivals “Mitt Romney Republicans.” Republicans have used the concept

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (AP) — One person has been killed and two others wounded in a shooting at an automotive interior products warehouse in suburban Chicago. Bolingbrook police Capt. Anthony Columbus tells WLS-TV that officers responded about 6:25 a.m. Saturday to reports of the shooting at the WeatherTech facility. Police said the suspected shooter fled the

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers hopes to translate anger over the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade into votes this fall as he vows to fight a 173-year-old state abortion ban in any way he can. Evers won election in the battleground state four

CHICAGO (AP) — A 5-month-old girl was shot to death while in the rear of a car in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. The infant, who was identified as Cecilia Thomas, was struck in the head Friday evening when shots were fired from another vehicle in the South Shore neighborhood, according to police and

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — The last victim of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, is being laid to rest. A funeral is being held Saturday for 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia at Immanuel Baptist Church in San Angelo, where he lived before moving to Uvalde about a year before the May 24 attack. In an

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma testified as part of a civil case into an alleged sexual assault at the Baptist church camp he oversaw that he believed a 13-year-old can consent to sex. The Associated Press obtained a copy of Lankford’s deposition from 2010, before

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The mayor of Ukraine’s capital has warned that an imposter is posing as him and communicating with other officials. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko told German daily newspaper Bild that “several mayors in Europe have been contacted by a fake mayor of Kyiv who has been saying absurd

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s sweeping rulings on guns and abortion sent an unmistakable message. Conservative justices hold the power and they are not afraid to use it to make transformative changes in the law, none more so than taking away a woman’s right to abortion

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The European Union and Iran say they have agreed to resume negotiations in Vienna in the coming days over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. The agreement on Saturday could help relieve tensions after the talks stalled for months, while Iran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels under

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer Pfizer announced Saturday that tweaking its COVID-19 vaccine to better target the omicron variant is safe and works — just days before regulators debate whether to offer Americans updated booster shots this fall. The vaccines currently used in the U.S. still offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 disease and

By ZEKE MILLER and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press MUNICH (AP) — President Joe Biden is out to sustain the global alliance punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine as he embarks on a five-day trip to Europe as the 4-month-old war shows no sign of abating and its aftershocks to global food and energy supplies

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey says religious schools seeking to take advantage of a state tuition program must abide by state law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. He says that could deter some of them from participation despite a Supreme Court decision

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school. “Time is of the essence. Lives

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writers The Supreme Court’s decision to end the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion has catapulted businesses of all types into the most divisive corner of politics. Some companies that stayed silent last month — when a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico —

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media are reporting that a magnitude 5.6 earthquake has struck a southern Iranian province, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30 others. The quake 22 kilometers (14 miles) northeast of Kish Island in Hormozgan province happened at 8:07 a.m. local time and struck at a depth of

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press Churches across the U.S. are tackling the big question of how to address homelessness in their communities with a small solution: tiny homes. On vacant plots near their parking lots and steepled sanctuaries, congregations are building everything from fixed and fully contained micro homes to petite, moveable cabins, and several

By ASHIFA KASSAM and TARIK EL-BARAKAH Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Moroccan state media are reporting that the number of people who were killed after they tried to scale a border fence between Morocco and a Spanish enclave in North Africa has risen to 23. Human rights organizations in Spain and Morocco called on both

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is resisting calls from his Conservative Party to change direction after two thumping special election defeats. Johnson dismissed the defeats as predictable mid-term blues, and said he was not going to have “some sort of psychological transformation.” Simmering concerns about Johnson’s ethics

By BOB CHRISTIE and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Police fired tear gas to disperse abortion rights backers demonstrating  from outside the Arizona Capitol Friday night, forcing lawmakers to huddle briefly in a basement inside the building as they rushed to complete their 2022 session. Thousands of protesters had gathered earlier on

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s office says he has arrived in Saudi Arabia on an official visit. An official had said earlier on Saturday that al-Kadhimi will be carrying a new initiative aimed at renewing Baghdad-mediated talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He spoke on condition

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 40,000 Army National Guard soldiers across the country — or about 13% of the force — have not yet gotten the mandated COVID-19 vaccine, and as the deadline for shots looms, at least 14,000 of them have flatly refused and could be forced out

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt was holding talks with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is vising Cairo for the first time in years. The Egyptian presidency says the talks Saturday are focusing on ties between the two nations and a set of

By DAVID KEYTON and JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces were seeking to swallow up the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region, pressing their momentum after taking full control Saturday of the charred ruins of Sievierodonetsk and the chemical plant where hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians had

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has celebrated the opening of the country’s longest bridge, which took eight years to build amid setbacks involving political conflict and corruption allegations. The 4-mile bridge spanning the Padma River cost an estimated $3.6 billion and was paid for with domestic

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe has opened a new museum that tells the story of the generations of refugees who have shaped Danish society. The story of the museum, which was inaugurated Saturday, starts with the Germans who fled the Soviet advance during World War II. “Flugt

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The heavily armed men appeared around the small farming village in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, frightening residents already on edge after recent clashes between government troops and rebels. “The militants assured us that they will not touch us. They said they are not after us,” resident Nur Hussein Abdi told The Associated

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian officials say a 16-year-old youth has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says soldiers opened fire after a group of Palestinians threw rocks along a main highway near the city of Ramallah. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa says the boy was wounded by

By EBRAHIM NOROOZI Associated Press GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s deadly earthquake this week struck one of the poorest corners of a country that has been hollowed out by increasing poverty. Even as more aid arrived Saturday, many residents have no idea how they will rebuild the thousands of homes destroyed in villages strung through

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press Rising food costs. Soaring fuel bills. Wages that are not keeping pace. Inflation is plundering people’s wallets, sparking a wave of protests and workers’ strikes around the world. This week alone saw protests by the political opposition in Pakistan, nurses in Zimbabwe, unionized workers in Belgium, railway workers in Britain,

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 40,000 Army National Guard soldiers across the country — or about 13% of the force — have not yet gotten the mandated COVID-19 vaccine, and as the deadline for shots looms, at least 14,000 of them have flatly refused and could be forced out

By STEVE PEOPLES and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press YARDLEY, Pa. (AP) — The shock quickly turned to sadness for Victoria Lowe. The 37-year-old lawyer, working outside a cafe in suburban Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said she couldn’t believe the Supreme Court stripped away the constitutional right to abortion that women have had her entire life. She

By MARIA SANMINIATELLI and KARL RITTER Associated Press OSLO, Norway (AP) — A gunman opened fire in Oslo’s nightlife district early Saturday, killing two people and leaving more than 20 wounded in what the Norwegian security service called an “Islamist terror act” during the capital’s annual LGBTQ Pride festival. Investigators said the suspect, identified as

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government says President Xi Jinping will participate in next week’s celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China. But it left unclear whether he will visit the former British colony for the highly symbolic event after a crackdown on a