Month: July 2022

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — The World Health Organization has declared Ghana’s first outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus disease after labs confirmed the infections in two cases announced earlier this month. WHO says the disease, a very infectious hemorrhagic fever in the same family as Ebola, is spread to people by fruit bats

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer The tech industry’s latest artificial intelligence constructs can be pretty convincing if you ask them what it feels like to be a sentient computer, or maybe just a dinosaur or squirrel. But they’re not so good — and sometimes dangerously bad — at handling other seemingly straightforward tasks. Take,

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were wed Saturday in a late-night Las Vegas drive-through chapel, culminating a relationship that stretched over two decades in two separate romances and headlined countless tabloid covers. Lopez announced their marriage Sunday in her newsletter for fans with the heading “We did

By HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee’s prime-time hearing Thursday will offer the most compelling evidence yet of then-President Donald Trump’s “dereliction of duty” on the day of the Jan. 6 insurrection, with new witnesses detailing his failure to stem an angry mob storming the Capitol, committee members said Sunday. “This

HONG KONG (AP) — Action-packed police thriller “Raging Fire” won best film and three other awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards Sunday, beating out a crowd favorite film about late Cantopop singer Anita Mui. The awards took place Sunday, after it was postponed thrice from April following the city’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak. It was

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — The stage at St. Andrews was all set for Rory McIlroy. The show belonged to Cameron Smith, and so did that silver claret jug he won in a Sunday stunner at the British Open with the best closing round the Old Course had ever

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to the long-serving deputy secretary-general of his ruling African National Congress party Jessie Duarte, who died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. Duarte, 68, was elected to the leading position in the ANC in 2012 and had been

HOUSTON (AP) — Officials say four people were killed when gunfire erupted during an argument at an apartment complex in Houston. The Harris County sheriff’s office said that when deputies arrived, they found four males who had been shot late Saturday night. Three of them were confirmed dead at the scene and the fourth was

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man says in a class-action lawsuit against Bass Pro that the outdoor outfitter is refusing to honor its lifetime warranty on its socks. Kent Slaughter of Springfield said that after years of exchanging his “Redhead Lifetime Guarantee All-Purpose Wool Socks” every time they wore out, the Springfield-based company changed

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say four people have been killed in a crash of a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office helicopter that was headed back to Albuquerque after assisting firefighters in another New Mexico city. Sheriff’s officials say three people from the sheriff’s office and a county firefighter were aboard the helicopter when it

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police say a man fired a gun inside a comedy club in North Carolina before actor and comedian Craig Robinson was set to perform. The shot was fired Saturday night at The Comedy Zone in Charlotte. No one was injured. Club employees told WSOC-TV that a man waved a gun around

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Marvel sequel “Thor: Love & Thunder” dropped a hefty 68% in its second weekend of release but still held the top spot at the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday, while the bestseller adaptation “Where the Crawdads Sing” debuted with a better-than-expected $17

ROME (AP) — Several hundred flights were canceled in Italy on a peak vacation travel day because of a four-hour strikes involving low-cost airlines and air traffic controllers. A union official said about 500 flights were scrapped Sunday when pilots, cabin and ground crew walked off the job to press for better pay and working

By JAKE BLEIBERG and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Nearly 400 law enforcement officials rushed to a mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school, but “egregiously poor decision-making” resulted in more than an hour of chaos before the gunman who took 21 lives was finally confronted and killed, according to a

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The smiling face of Kristin Smart still looks out from a billboard in front of attorney James Murphy Jr.’s law office more than 25 years after the college freshman vanished from a campus on California’s picturesque central coast. It once offered a $75,000 reward to help

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pleas were piling up Sunday in Italy aimed at persuading Premier Mario Draghi to stay in office instead of resigning as he tried to do last week after being let down by a populist coalition partner. Hundreds of mayors have signed an open letter. Union leaders and

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press SANTIAGO, Mexico (AP) — Restaurant owner Leticia Rodríguez celebrated the construction late last year of a new lakeside boulevard in this northern Mexico town that she hoped would draw more people to her business. But now with La Boca reservoir nearly empty, tourists have stopped coming to boat, water ski

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots during the 2020 election did not lead to any widespread problems, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. that revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Orlando amusement park where a teenager fell from a ride and died earlier this year has paused a new sniper-like laser shooting game amid criticism following a recent spate of mass shootings. The Bullseye Blast game let riders of the 400-foot (122-meter) Wheel at ICON Park pay an extra $5.95

By DEEPA BHARATH and LUIS ANDRES HENAO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Rev. Steven Marsh never thought he would see the day his church in Laguna Woods, California — a town of 16,500 populated largely by retirees — would be spending $20,000 a month for security. Then a gunman opened fire on May

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The foreign ministers of Bulgaria and North Macedonia have met in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to discuss the next steps of North Macedonia’s path to EU membership talks. The talks Sunday came a day after the parliament in Skopje voted in support of a French proposal that should lift Bulgari’s

By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer Researcher Dhruv Sareen’s own stem cells are now orbiting the Earth. The mission? To test whether they’ll grow better in zero gravity. Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles are trying to find new ways to produce huge batches of a type of stem cell that can generate

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A senior Sudanese official says the death toll from days of tribal clashes in a southern province has climbed to at least 65 people. Gamal Nasser al-Sayed, the health minister of the Blue Nile province, says fighting between the Hausa and Birta ethnic groups also injured around

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Beautiful and serene in a crown of white flowers, 4-year-old Liza Dmytrieva, who was killed by a Russian missile strike, was buried Sunday in central Ukraine as an Orthodox priest burst into tears and told weeping relatives that “evil cannot win.” Liza, who had Down syndrome,

By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — One of the best opportunities for Democrats to regain a governor’s office this year is in Maryland, and the race to succeed term-limited Republican Larry Hogan has drawn a crowd of candidates. Winning back the seat shouldn’t seem so tough for Democrats in a state where

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Diplomatic tensions have soared between Balkan rivals Serbia and Croatia after Croatia refused to allow a private visit by Serbia’s populist president to the site of a World War II concentration camp where tens of thousands of Serbs were killed by pro-Nazi authorities in Croatia. Croatia’n

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday asked for prayers to accompany him on what he called his “penitential” pilgrimage to Canada to apologize to Indigenous groups for abuses inflicted by the Catholic church. Greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, Francis noted that on July 24, “God willing,”

By SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — On restoring access to abortion, President Joe Biden says his hands are tied without more Democratic senators. Declaring a public health emergency on the matter has downsides, his aides say. And as for gun violence, Biden has been clear about the limits of what he can

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — To promote the recently signed Virginia budget and its array of tax cuts, Gov. Glenn Youngkin hosted two high-energy campaign-style celebrations, complete with bright lighting, throngs of supporters and a booming playlist that harkened back to his winning run last year. Other bill signings and news

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots during the 2020 election did not lead to any widespread problems, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. that revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that

LONDON (AP) — The candidates to become the next British prime minister are appealing to their right-wing base as they seek to replace Boris Johnson. Many of the five remaining hopefuls are highlighting Brexit and immigration as they attempt to woo fellow Conservative lawmakers and party members ahead of a third round of voting on

CAIRO (AP) — The U.N. and an aid group say flash floods triggered by seasonal torrential rains in Sudan’s western Darfur region have killed at least 12 people, including children. The rains, which started late Friday, inundated more than 100 houses in the Kass locality in South Darfur province. The General Coordination for Refugees and

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has sentenced an American citizen and the former lawyer of Jamal Khashoggi — the dissident Saudi journalist who was killed at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018 — to three years in prison on charges of money laundering and tax evasion. The lawyer, U.S.

By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Pressure is mounting on a French government minister to quit over comments stigmatizing homosexuality and LGBTQ people, in the latest challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership. Caroline Cayeux’ remarks have hurt and angered many – including her colleagues — and prompted broader discussion around persistent discriminatory attitudes

By ANGELA CHARLTON and JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Firefighters battled wildfires raging out of control in Spain and France, including one whose flames reached two popular Atlantic beaches on Sunday, as Europe wilted under an unusually extreme heat wave. So far, there have been no fire-related deaths in France or Spain, but