Month: July 2022

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch farmers are protesting government plans to reduce nitrogen emissions. The farmers dumped manure and garbage on highways Wednesday and set fires alongside roads, creating traffic chaos on some roads in the central and eastern Netherlands. Fire services rushed to clear the debris as traffic

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say the government has scrapped a deal to purchase 16 Russian military transport helicopters due to fears of possible U.S. sanctions. Former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told The Associated Press Tuesday night that he canceled the 12.7-billion-peso ($227 million) deal to acquire the Mi-17

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — More than 1,000 Lufthansa flights have been canceled because of a one-day strike by the airline’s German ground staff. The strike is affecting tens of thousands of passengers in the latest travel turmoil to hit Europe. About 134,000 passengers had to change or cancel their travel plans

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — The lives of Afghan women and girls are being destroyed by a “suffocating” crackdown by the Taliban since they took power nearly a year ago, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday. After they captured the capital, Kabul, in August 2021 and ousted the internationally backed

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Wednesday as traders prepared for a possible sharp interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve to cool inflation. Shanghai, Hong Kong and South Korea declined. Tokyo and Sydney advanced. Oil prices were little changed, staying below $100 per barrel.

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Jackie Robinson Museum has opened in Manhattan with a gala ceremony attended by the 100-year-old widow of the barrier-breaking ballplayer and two of his children. Rachel Robinson watched the half-hour outdoor ceremony from a wheelchair in the 80-degree heat, then cut a ribbon to

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ashley Bloomfield, the mild-mannered doctor who became an unlikely hero to many New Zealanders during the coronavirus pandemic, has held his final media conference after resigning as director-general of health. Perhaps fittingly, Bloomfield, 57, ended up answering as many questions about the topic of the

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer CHAUVIN, La. (AP) — Sliding off the side of her small boat, seabird biologist Bonnie Slaton wades through waist-high water, brown pelicans soaring overhead, until she reaches the shores of Raccoon Island. During seabird breeding season, the place is a raucous symphony of noise and motion — and one

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional candidate in Washington state whose compelling personal story of military valor and unfathomable loss helped him win former President Donald Trump’s support is connected to right-wing extremists. Republican Joe Kent has openly displayed ties to far-right and extremist organizations since announcing his primary challenge to

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press SYDNEY (AP) — Nancy Pelosi hasn’t said if she’s going to Taiwan, but if she does she’d be entering one of the world’s hottest and most contentious spots. U.S. officials say they have little fear China would attack Pelosi’s plane. But the Pentagon is developing plans

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press/Report for America PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The scorching heat spell in the Pacific Northwest is now expected to last longer than forecasters had initially predicted, setting parts of the normally temperate region on course to break heat wave duration records. “We warmed up the forecast for the latter part of

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The week before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Missouri’s Josh Hawley became the first Republican senator to announce he would object to the certification of the 2020 election. Texas’ Ted Cruz came next, dashing off his own plan on a

By DANIEL POLITI Associated Press BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentines have gathered to mourn iconic Argentine leader María Eva Duarte de Perón, 70 years after her death. The late leader commonly known as Evita continues to awaken passions in Argentina as some of her followers believe her legacy is more relevant than ever at a

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian inflation is rising farther, according to new data that increases the likelihood of the central bank next week hiking interest rates for a fourth consecutive month. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday inflation in the year through June was 6.1%, up from 5.1%

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday to make the city a sanctuary for abortion providers and patients, meaning Seattle police will not cooperate in arrests or investigations related to abortion bans in other states. The bill, which Councilmember Kshama Sawant introduced at a news conference the day the U.S. Supreme Court repealed

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced two former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights to lighter terms than recommended in sentencing guidelines, calling one “truly a rookie officer” and describing the other as “a good police officer, father and

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A dispute between Iraq and Turkey over a recent deadly attack in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region escalated at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Iraq’s foreign minister demanded the withdrawal of all Turkish forces from his country and Turkey’s deputy ambassador said his

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press SYDNEY (AP) — Defense chiefs from across the Indo-Pacific gathered this week to bolster their connections against a backdrop of China’s ongoing campaign to expand its influence and military presence in the region. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday the military leaders are

By AAMER MADHANI and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will speak Thursday, according to a U.S. official, their first conversation in four months coming amid new tension between Washington and Beijing over China’s claims on Taiwan. The planned talks between the two leaders — the fifth in

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press A grass fire spread to at least nine homes in a rural North Texas subdivision in the second such fire in as many days to strike the drought-ravaged region. Crews from multiple fire departments worked in temperatures above 100 degrees to contain and extinguish the Tuesday afternoon fire in the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and FOSTER KLUG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s minister for gender equality and children’s issues called the country’s record low births and plunging population a national crisis and blamed “indifference and ignorance” in the male-dominated Japanese parliament. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Seiko Noda said the steadily dwindling

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game topped last week’s TV ratings. An audience of 7.5 million watched the American League post a 3-2 victory over the National League in Los Angeles. But that represents a record low in the game’s viewership for the fifth time since 2015. The second evening hearing into

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Drugmaker Teva has announced an agreement to settle lawsuits over the allegations that it helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. The deal calls for the Israel-based company to pay more than $4.3 billion to state and local governments and Native American tribes over 13 years. The total includes settlements the

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Luis Suárez says he wants to return to his soccer roots in Uruguay. The 35-year-old striker announced Tuesday that he is looking to rejoin Nacional de Montevideo, the club where he began a glittering career in 2005. In a video posted on social media, Suárez said that he reached a preliminary

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico was outraged when a woman who had reported threats from her neighbors because of her autistic son’s loudness was set afire with alcohol and suffered fatal burns this month. But on Tuesday, prosecutors in the western state of Jalisco suggested the woman had bought medicinal alcohol and a lighter, then

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — With just days left in his tenure, the embattled director of the federal prison system faced a bipartisan onslaught Tuesday as he refused to accept responsibility for a culture of corruption and misconduct that has plagued his agency for years. Bureau of Prisons

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts lawmakers have approved a sweeping abortion bill. It aims in part to build a firewall protecting access to the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month. The bill approved Tuesday would protect abortion providers and people seeking abortions from actions taken

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific will spend more than $1 billion to upgrade 600 of its old diesel locomotives over the next three years and make them more efficient. The move will accelerate the pace of upgrades UP already planned to make and help the railroad cut roughly