Month: July 2022

By ERIC RISBERG and ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The mayor of San Francisco announced a state of emergency Thursday over the growing number of monkeypox cases. The declaration allows officials to mobilize personnel and cut through red tape to get ahead of a public health crisis reminiscent of the AIDS epidemic

By DANIEL POLITI Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government has announced the appointment of an economic “super minister,” its third economy minister in less than a month as the country struggles with high inflation and a slumping currency. President Alberto Fernández’s government said Thursday that Sergio Massa will head a new ministry

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A producer for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s media company tried to paint a sympathetic portrait of him as a jury decides how much in financial damages he should pay for his past claims that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school was a hoax. The

By COURTNEY WALSH Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley protested intolerance toward the LGBTQ+ community at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. The British diver played a key role as one of the last bearers in the Queen’s Baton Relay. Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Katie Sadleir says the

ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday authorized completion of the Trump-funded U.S.-Mexico border wall in an open area of southern Arizona near Yuma, where four wide gaps make it among the busiest corridors for illegal crossings. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the work to

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Meta Platforms says it will no longer pay U.S. news organizations to have their material appear in Facebook’s News Tab as it reallocates resources in the economic downturn. The company said Thursday that most of its users do not come to Facebook for news. It said it does not

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Human-caused climate change made last week’s deadly heat wave in England and Wales at least 10 times more likely and added a few degrees to how brutally hot it got, a study said. A team of international scientists found that the heat wave that set a new national record

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court says the state’s anti-discrimination law covers sexual orientation, a victory for LGBTQ residents. The court says the word “sex” in Michigan’s key civil rights law applies to sexual orientation and not just gender. In 2019, Rouch World, an event center in Sturgis, declined

By JOSH BOAK and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and his administration went all out Thursday to play down a troubling new economic report that added to the evidence of a recession, trying to pull focus instead to major legislative progress on measures to tame inflation, reduce debt and preserve

By TOM DAVIES and ARLEIGH RODGERS Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s Republican-dominated Senate rejected a push by conservative lawmakers to strip exceptions for rape and incest victims in a proposal that would ban most abortions in the state. The Senate vote 28-18 Thursday night against the amendment following a debate that was delayed for

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press Arizona’s largest county is facing a repeat of #SharpieGate, the social media uproar that erupted after the 2020 election based on the false claim that Sharpie pens provided at the polls would ruin ballots. For Tuesday’s primary election, Maricopa County will give Election Day voters Pentel brand felt-tip pens because

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County has dropped a plan to impose a universal indoor mask mandate this week as COVID-19 infections and rates of hospitalizations have stabilized. Health director Barbara Ferrer announced two weeks ago that the nation’s most populous county could again require face coverings if trends

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Apple’s profit slipped during the past quarter, but the world’s largest technology company fared better than many of its peers. Despite manufacturing headaches and inflation pressures that have vexed a wide range of businesses, Apple profit declined by 10% while revenue edged up 2%. But

By MATT SEDENSKY and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press A deal on Capitol Hill that could cut prescription drug costs for millions of Medicare beneficiaries was cautiously cheered by older Americans and their advocates Thursday even as many worried it might never come to fruition. The health care and climate agreement struck by Senate Majority

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Israel, the United States and Britain have criticized an expert commissioned by the U.N. human rights body to examine the situation in the Middle East, accusing him of antisemitic remarks. Miloon Kothari was quoted in the media as questioning Israel’s right to be a U.N. member state

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama’s presidential portrait will be unveiled at the White House in a September ceremony hosted by his former No. 2, President Joe Biden. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that portraits of the former president and Michelle Obama will be presented in the East

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Secret Service Director James Murray is delaying his retirement as the agency deals with an inspector general’s investigation and congressional inquiries related to missing text messages around the time of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Murray will remain in

RIO VISTA, Calif. (AP) — California officials say four people have been killed and six were injured in a head-on crash between a sedan and an SUV carrying a Mexican family of seven on vacation in California. The crash on a two-lane highway notorious for collisions happened Wednesday night in the small city of Rio

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia county has filed a lawsuit that seeks to force a company to sell it 4,000 acres on which the county has long planned to build a launch pad for commercial rockets. Coastal Camden County took legal action just days after Union Carbide Corp. said

By MARK PRATT Associated Press Employees at a Trader Joe’s supermarket in Massachusetts on Thursday became the latest workers at a major company to approve a labor union. The store in Hadley, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of Boston, is the first Trader Joe’s with an employees union, although workers at two other company

ATLANTA (AP) — A group of voters on Thursday took their quest to get U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green removed from the ballot to Georgia’s highest court. The voters say she played a big role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and was therefore ineligible because she engaged in insurrection or

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a $280 billion package to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research in a bid to create more high-tech jobs in the United States and help it better compete with international rivals, namely China. The House approved the bill by a solid margin

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian cargo ship carrying what Ukraine says is grain stolen by Russia has docked in Lebanon. The Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut said on Thursday that the Laodicea docked in the port of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city. The embassy alleges the ship is carrying barley from Ukraine, illegally taken by Russia. The

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign ministry says two Israeli tourists were killed and five were injured in a car accident in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The Israeli emergency services says the injured were transported to hospitals in Israel and that none suffered life-threatening injuries. The Sinai Peninsula, particular its southern part, has for years been popular