Month: July 2022

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday presented the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles, the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican whom Biden served with in the Senate, and gun-control advocate Gabby Giffords. “Today, she adds to her

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who was convicted of murder in connection with a 2019 robbery in New York City that led to a police officer’s shooting and death has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. Jagger Freeman was sentenced Thursday in the Feb. 12, 2019, cellphone store holdup that resulted

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan regulatory panel wants more information on Enbridge Energy’s plan to drill an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. The state Public Service Commission delayed a decision Thursday on the Canadian company’s request for a permit to

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Co-stars and admirers are reacting to the death of “Godfather” star James Caan. Billy Dee Williams starred opposite Caan in the TV football movie “Brian’s Song.” Williams tweeted that he and and Cann will be teammates and friends “till the end.” Adam Sandler says he always wanted to be like Caan

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit’s police chief says a city oficer fatally shot Wednesday as he responded to reports of a man firing a weapon was “ambushed” as he arrived at the scene by a 19-year-old man armed with a semiautomatic pistol. Detroit police Chief James White on Thursday identified the slain officer as 40-year-old Officer

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer LEAD, S.D. (AP) — In a former gold mine a mile underground, inside a titanium tank filled with a rare liquified gas, scientists have begun the search for what so far has been unfindable: dark matter. Scientists are pretty sure the invisible stuff makes up most of the universe’s

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press The former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has withdrawn from the police force of a Pennsylvania town amid backlash and media coverage. Timothy Loehmann was sworn in this week as the lone police officer in Tioga. The community of about 600 people is in

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters have held a peaceful protest in the capital Tirana, urging the center-left government to resign because of the cost-of-living crisis and alleged corruption. Albania has seen a hike in the prices of basic food products and fuel linked to the war in Ukraine and the lasting

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Once-unthinkable coordination between Israeli and Arab militaries is in the spotlight as Joe Biden makes his first Middle East trip as president, heightening debates over whether the U.S.-backed initiative between former enemies strengthens defenses against Iran or makes a regional war more likely. Israeli-Arab

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A rights watchdog says former officials in Poland have been identified among the victims of attempted phone hacking with the use of the powerful Pegasus spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group. Amnesty International says it confirmed the new victims of spying in collaboration with Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily. The daily identified

ROME (AP) — Rescue crews in northern Italy have recovered a tenth body following a deadly avalanche sparked by the collapse of a chunk of melting glacier. Alpine rescue crews used dogs and drones to find the remains on the Marmolada glacier east of Bolzano. To date only six of the 10 bodies have been

TORONTO (AP) — A report by the Royal Bank of Canada says the country is headed towards a recession in 2023, but it will be short-lived and not as severe as prior downturns. RBC economists say that soaring food and energy prices, rising interest rates and ongoing labor shortages will push the economy into a

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s debut feature “Murina,” about a 17-year-old girl with a domineering father living in a sun-soaked paradise on the Adriatic, has been likened to a Patricia Highsmith thriller. Kusijanović says “Misogyny and disrespect of women is the same everywhere. It just has different names.”  The film, produced

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Reporter SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A jury on Thursday convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of collaborating with disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a massive fraud involving the blood-testing company that once enthralled Silicon Valley. The 12 jurors found Balwani guilty on all 12 felony counts of

By FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A NATO senior official says Western Balkan countries don’t face an “imminent threat” from the war in Ukraine, and are of strategic interest to the alliance. NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana was in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, to meet with local officials and

By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has signed a massive expansion of Arizona’s private school voucher system. The governor’s action on Thursday came despite a promised effort by public school advocates to put the bill on hold until voters can block it in November’s election. Arizona has the most

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. prosecutors have announced charges against a government agent and private investigator in a widening probe of an alleged scheme to stalk and harass Chinese dissidents in the United States. Department of Homeland Security Deportation Officer Craig Miller and former DHS worker Derrick Taylor were named

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS commissioner has asked the Treasury Department’s internal watchdog to immediately review the circumstances surrounding intensive tax audits that targeted ex-FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, frequent targets of Donald Trump’s ire during his presidency. IRS spokesperson Jodie Reynolds said Thursday the

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS and DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for Mississippi’s only abortion clinic filed papers Thursday asking the state Supreme Court to block a new law that bans most abortions and to let the clinic reopen next week. The clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is at the center of

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of “The Godfather” and to television audiences as both the dying football player in the classic weeper “Brian’s Song” and the casino boss in “Las Vegas,” has died. He was 82. His manager Matt

By OUMAR ZOMBRE and SAM MEDNICK Associated Press OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s former President Blaise Compaore returned to the West African country Thursday, the first time since being ousted in a popular uprising eight years ago. Compaore, who’s been in exile in neighboring Ivory Coast since 2014, came back to be part

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Until last week when he swore in Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, his successor on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer had a rigorous, intellectually challenging job with the highest of stakes. Now the 83-year-old retiree has no briefs to read and no opinions to write. As a

MOSCOW (AP) — With Russia’s military action in Ukraine in its fifth month, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned Kyiv that it should quickly accept Moscow’s terms or brace for the worst, adding ominously that Russia has barely started its action. Speaking at a meeting with leaders of the Kremlin-controlled parliament, Putin accused Western

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Invasive giant African land snails that can eat building plaster and stucco, consume hundreds of varieties of plants and carry diseases that affect humans have been detected once again in Florida, where officials said Thursday work has begun to eradicate the pests. The snails, which

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in Atlanta on Thursday denied bond for rapper Gunna, who’s charged with racketeering along with fellow rapper Young Thug and more than two dozen other people. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville had previously denied bond for Gunna, whose given name is Sergio Kitchens,

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer Brittney Griner’s guilty plea has not lessened the support the Olympic gold medalist continues to receive from her WNBA peers. The Phoenix Mercury All-Star pleaded guilty to drug possession charges on the second day of her trial in a Russian court in a case that could see her sentenced

BERLIN (AP) — German parliament has elected as the government’s new anti-discrimination commissioner a journalist whose nomination last month had sparked controversy. 42-year-old Ferda Ataman had written an op-ed defending calling Germans without immigrant roots “potatoes,” which can be derogatory. She was elected on Thursday. Members of the Free Democrats, who are part of the

REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — Fielding a call from a woman seeking an abortion, the director of Hope Medical Group for Women tried to answer as best she could. Yes, federal protections for abortion had been overturned, she said. The clinic was still open — but there’s a waiting list and a