Month: July 2022

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press The Congressional Budget Office says the end of pandemic-era spending, fast economic growth and higher tax revenues have caused the federal debt this year to be lower than forecast. But the non-partisan office also includes a warning in its 30-year outlook. Debt will soon spiral upward to new highs that

By MEAD GRUVER and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Abortion bans set to take effect this week in Wyoming and North Dakota were temporarily blocked Wednesday by judges in those states amid lawsuits arguing that the bans violate their state constitutions. A judge in Wyoming sided with a firebombed women’s health clinic

By VIRGILE AHISSOU Associated Press COTONOU, Benin (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged security cooperation and support to Benin as it fights rising threats of extremism. France will also invest in education and a cultural center for the West African nation. Macron made the pledges after meeting Wednesday with Benin President Patrice Talon

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A new plan to reroute how water moves from wetter Northern California to drier Southern California would ferry some of it through a single, 45-mile (72-kilometer) underground tunnel, wrapping around the state’s existing water delivery system and dumping it into the main aqueduct that flows south

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill designed to encourage more semiconductor companies to build chip plants in the United States passed the Senate on Wednesday as lawmakers raced to finish work on a key priority of the Biden administration. The $280 billion measure, which awaits a House vote, includes federal grants

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The last rider in a group of Marine motorcycle club members testified Wednesday that he saw a “ball of flame” and then a truck “plowing through motorcycles like a bowling ball” in a 2019 crash in New Hampshire that killed seven bikers. Michael McEachern testified in

By WANJOHI KABUKURU Associated Press MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — African nations opened climate talks in the Mozambican capital Maputo on Wednesday to identify their priorities and come up with a common position ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Egypt in November, known as COP27. The talks come as the continent grapples with devastating

By DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits against five media companies brought by a Kentucky student. Nicholas Sandmann was a 16-year-old high school student when was involved in a 2019 viral encounter at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The lawsuits sought tens of millions

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida jail guard says school shooter Nikolas Cruz attacked him with little warning. Broward County sheriff’s Sgt. Raymond Beltran testified Wednesday that Cruz charged him, threw him to the floor and tried to grab his stun gun. The brawl happened in November 2018, nine

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Health regulators say nearly 800,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine will soon be available for U.S. distribution. The Wednesday announcement follows weeks of delays and growing criticism that authorities have been too slow in deploying the shots. The Food and Drug Administration needed to inspect and certify

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization is advising men at risk of catching monkeypox to consider reducing their sexual partners “for the moment.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 98% of the monkeypox cases detected since outbreaks emerged in May have been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex

By ALI ABDUL-HASSAN and SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have breached Baghdad’s parliament, chanting anti-Iran curses in a demonstration against a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties. Most protesters were followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a display Wednesday that raised the stakes in the political struggle

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has emerged as the clear favorite in what had been a crowded Democratic field seeking to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, as his nearest rival dropped out and threw his support behind Barnes. Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry dropped out

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — The head of the U.S. government aid agency has called on China to help Sri Lanka and other nations that had borrowed heavily from Beijing with debt restructuring, not just with lines of credit and emergency loans. Samantha Power, the administrator for the U.S. Agency for

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Cash-strapped Lebanon plans to build two new grain silos to fight its food security crisis for millions living in poverty. Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam told The Associated Press on Wednesday that several countries, including the United States, France, Germany and the United Arab Emirates have shown

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A Pennsylvania mortgage company owned by billionaire businessman Warren Buffett’s company discriminated against potential Black and Latino homebuyers in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware, the Department of Justice said Wednesday, in what is being called the second-largest redlining settlement in history. Trident Mortgage Co., a

By The Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — One of Viktor Orban’s closest associates has resigned in protest over what she called a “pure Nazi” speech given by the Hungarian prime minister in which he railed against Europe becoming a “mixed race” society. It was a rare rebuke from within the governing ranks of the

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Gun manufacturers have made more than $1 billion from selling AR-15-style guns over the past decade, and for two companies those revenues have tripled over the past three years, according to a House investigation unveiled Wednesday. Those profits have come as the weapons have been used in

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is caught in an awkward, painful place. A confusing one, too. Growth appears to be sputtering, home sales are tumbling and economists warn of a potential recession ahead. But consumers keep spending, businesses keep posting profits and the economy keeps adding hundreds of

BERLIN (AP) — Western European powers are pressing Iran to agree to a revival of its 2015 nuclear deal after a months-long standstill in negotiations, warning that what’s on the table now is “the best possible deal.” The foreign policy chief of the European Union, which has chaired long-running talks in Vienna, tweeted Wednesday that

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ended his COVID-19 isolation on Wednesday, telling Americans they can “live without fear” of the pandemic if they take advantage of booster shots and treatments, the protections he credited with his swift recovery. “You don’t need to be president to get

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press QUEBEC CITY (AP) — Pope Francis arrived in Quebec on Wednesday at a time when many French Canadians in the province are not only moving away from religion but explicitly rejecting it, embracing secularization long after their forebears built their identity on the rock of the Catholic Church. Pews these

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a point for a second straight time in its most aggressive drive in more than three decades to tame high inflation. The Fed’s move will raise its key rate, which affects

LONDON (AP) — U.K.-born environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who has been jailed in Iran for more than four years, has been released on furlough. Britain’s oreign Office said Tahbaz has been allowed to leave Evin Prison was at his family’s home in Tehran. The 66-year-old wildlife conservationist is one of several people with both Iranian and

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — The Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan says if you’re trying to smuggle its prized native dog breed out of the country, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The government is now requiring that its celebrated Alabay dogs receive a passport before they can leave the country. A law that took effect