Month: July 2022

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president to take charge of a nation bitterly angry he was chosen amid an unprecedented economic crisis. Wickremesinghe took his oath Thursday a day after lawmakers chose him to finish the term of

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics survived the COVID-19 postponement, soaring expenses and some public opposition. A year later, the costs and benefits remain as difficult to untangle as the Games were to pull off. In his speech at the closing ceremony, IOC President Thomas Bach said a major

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Natural gas started flowing through a major pipeline from Russia to Europe on Thursday after a 10-day shutdown for maintenance — but the gas flow remained well short of full capacity and the outlook was uncertain, which leaves Europe still facing the prospect of a hard winter.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The pop culture extravaganza that is Comic-Con International is back to its old extravagance. Stars, cosplayers and hordes of fans are filling the San Diego Convention Center in full force for the first time since 2019. Here’s a look at this year’s version of the four day festival. COMIC-CROWDS The pandemic

By VICTORIA MILKO AP Science Writer JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Thousands of cattle are covered in blisters from highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia, sounding the alarm for the country, its Southeast Asian neighbors and Australia. The virus found in two provinces in May has now infected several hundred-thousand animals across multiple provinces, including the

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — The oldest-ever male giant panda in captivity has died at age 35 after his health deteriorated. An An lived most of his life at a Hong Kong theme park after he and a female panda were gifted to Hong Kong by China in 1999. Jia Jia

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Matthew Pottinger was a journalist in China, concerned about the country’s drift toward authoritarianism, when he decided — at age 31 — to enlist in the U.S. Marines after the invasion of Iraq. “Our form of government is not inevitable,” Pottinger recalled thinking during

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee is headed back to prime time for its eighth hearing — potentially the final time this summer that lawmakers will lay out evidence about the U.S. Capitol insurrection and President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Thursday’s hearing

By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, a Republican congressional leader and even his family, Donald Trump refused to call off the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol, instead “pouring gasoline on the fire” by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide, according to a new poll that finds over half say they feel at least somewhat “sad” or “angry” about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The high court’s

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The right to use contraceptives would be enshrined in law under a measure that Democrats pushed through the House on Thursday, their latest campaign-season response to concerns a conservative Supreme Court that already erased federal abortion rights could go further. The House’s 228-195 roll call was largely

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Baidu, a Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence firm, has unveiled its latest electric autonomous driving vehicle. The company says the Apollo RT6 will be soon be part of its robotaxi fleet, as China pushes forward with its autonomous driving ambitions. It is a fully electric

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal judge sentenced former Minneapolis police Officer Thomas Lane to 2 1/2 years in prison Thursday for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, calling Lane’s role in the restraint that killed Floyd “a very serious offense in which a life was lost” but handing down

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Soccer player Megan Rapinoe admonished her fellow athletes for not doing enough to speak out and encouraged them to support detained WNBA star Brittney Griner at The ESPYS on Wednesday night. Griner was arrested in Russia in February after customs officials said they found vape

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Truckers protesting a state labor law have effectively shut down cargo operations at the Port of Oakland, one of then ten-busiest container ports in the country. The port made the announcement Wednesday as independent truckers blocked terminal gates for a third day. Port officials urged them to end the protest, saying

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the U.N. body promoting development is warning that the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine have led to “an unprecedented reversal” of decades of progress in combatting global poverty and hunger and ensuring education for children everywhere. Collen Kelapile,

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press Two men were indicted Wednesday in the case of a hot, airless tractor-trailer rig found last month with 53 dead or dying migrants in San Antonio, officials said. A federal grand jury in San Antonio indicted Homero Zamorano Jr., 46, and Christian Martinez, 28, both of Pasadena, Texas, on counts

By MARÍA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — It was a dramatic moment at the end of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s daily news briefing, when a reporter stood up and said he was afraid for his life. Reporter Rodolfo Montes said with his voice trembling Wednesday that he was afraid the government

NEW YORK (AP) — William “Poogie” Hart, a founder of the Grammy-winning trio the Delfonics who helped write and sang a soft lead tenor on such classic “Sound of Philadelphia” ballads as “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” has died at age 77. His son told The New

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say an American Airlines flight headed with 56 people for Nashville, Tennessee, from Florida had to be diverted to Alabama after hitting severe turbulence. At least eight minor injuries were reported by the airline Wednesday. A Birmingham fire and rescue spokesman in Alabama told news outlets the Embraer E175 aircraft

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — The family of a 9-year-old Houston girl who died after she was shot by a man who had opened fire when he was robbed at an ATM say they remain angered by a grand jury’s decision to not indict the man. Tony Earls had been charged

BELLA VISTA, Ark. (AP) — A $6.3 million settlement has been reached in a lawsuit over an underground fire at a dumping site in northwest Arkansas. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday reported an attorney in the case confirmed the settlement. It involves 85 households with 150 people. A jury trial had been set to

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Federal regulators have canceled a policy that weakened their authority to designate places where animals and plants could receive government protection. It’s the latest move by the Biden administration to undo changes to the Endangered Species Act that were made under former President Donald

By SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says that U.S. military officials believe it’s “not a good idea” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Taiwan at the moment. Biden’s comments came in an exchange with reporters on Wednesday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said it would take “resolute and

By GABE STERN Associated Press/Report for America Officials say a fire at the Hoover Dam was isolated to the single area in an exceedingly rare case of a transformer catching on fire. Officials say equipment failure caused a transformer to explode Tuesday at the dam about 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon’s lawyers are trying to establish at his criminal contempt trial that the deadline for the onetime strategist for Donald Trump to appear before the House committee investigating the Capitol riot was flexible as long as the two sides were negotiating terms. But the committee’s chief

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two U.S. tourists have been injured by a crocodile at Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta resort when one went swimming in the ocean at night and the second American went in the water to help the other. The civil defense office in the western state of Jalisco said the first man suffered bites

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota attorney general’s office says a motion seeking to block enforcement of a so-called trigger law that would shut down the state’s lone abortion clinic should be denied. The state says the law was administered property by Attorney General Drew Wrigley. He certified a

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union moved closer to imposing more sanctions on Russia after its 27 ambassadors backed a series of measures to ban gold imports and tighten export controls on some high-technology goods. The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, said “the new measures will align the EU with G7 partners, reinforce

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Video shows a Southern California police officer shoot and kill a Black man who was running away while allegedly holding a gun. The family of 23-year-old Rob Adams, however, says he was likely holding his cellphone instead of a gun because he had been talking to

Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Less than three months before Brazil’s presidential election, Brazilian politician Ciro Gomes has made his candidacy official at an event in capital Brasilia. Gomes’ chances of winning the election appear slim, with just 8% of respondents saying they plan to vote for him in October, according to a

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police have released body-camera video from a six-hour standoff that ended with officers fatally shooting a Black Minneapolis man, but the images did not show whether he was holding a gun or threatening officers. The recordings were made public Wednesday. Authorities had said previously that two police