Month: August 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — Drivers entering the heart of New York City would pay $9 to $23 under a plan aimed at reducing gridlock in the country’s most congested city. Details of the plan, known as congestion pricing, are contained in an environmental assessment released Wednesday. The plan likely won’t be put into effect until

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African prosecutors have charged seven self-employed miners with the rapes of eight women nearly two weeks ago in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg. Officials said seven more men are to be charged with the rapes Thursday. The rapes of the women — who were part of a

By DAVID BILLER Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police in Rio de Janeiro are seeking the arrest of six people accused of involvement in stealing 16 artworks together valued at more than 700 million reais ($139 million), some of which were recovered. Police said in a statement that the group stole the works

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — One of two Wisconsin women who were sent to a state mental health facility after a 2014 stabbing attack on a sixth-grade classmate that they claimed was to appease the horror character Slender Man has withdrawn her petition for release. In June, 20-year-old Morgan Geyser asked a Waukesha County judge to

By FARES AKRAM Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — When Israeli bombs began falling last week, 22-year-old Duniana al-Amour ran into her room and tried to escape into her art and drawing, just as she had during Gaza’s past wars. But this time around, her pencil never met the paper. An Israeli shell

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press Research that analyzed social media posts finds that hateful references to gays, lesbians and other LGBTQ people surged online after Florida passed a law that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. References to pedophiles and “grooming” rose by more than 400 percent in

By JAKE BLEIBERG, DAVE COLLINS and MICHAEL TARM Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — The nearly $50 million defamation verdict against Alex Jones for his years of lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre is far from a final reckoning. Jones’ attorneys plan to appeal and try to lower the price tag a Texas jury

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — A deadly fire that consumed at least half of a large oil storage facility in western Cuba and threatened to bring more power failures to the island’s already fragile electricity system was largely controlled Wednesday after nearly five days, authorities said. Flames that recently consumed the fourth

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities made a series of arrests of drug cartel figures in western Mexico that set off destruction of vehicles and businesses in two states in apparent reaction. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not identify those arrested Tuesday in Jalisco state, but said soldiers had confronted criminals, including “bosses,” at a

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — An influential Shiite cleric in Iraq whose supporters earlier this month stormed the parliament in Baghdad and are holding a sit-in outside the building, has stepped up his demands and issued a veiled threat of violence. The cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, said on Twitter on Wednesday that the

By MARÍA VERZA Associated Press POXINDEJE, Mexico (AP) — A painter in orange overalls touches up the image of a hand holding a rifle while an artist perched on scaffolding painstakingly places bits of colorful ceramic in a mosaic of a guerrilla fighter. The artists aren’t just decorating a wall: Together, they are helping to

BOSTON (AP) — A former Boston high school dean already in prison for shooting a student he recruited to deal drugs has pleaded guilty to a federal gang-related charge. Shaun Harrison pleaded guilty in Boston federal court on Tuesday to a count of racketeering conspiracy more than two years after he was indicted alongside dozens

By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY Associated Press FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone’s vice president says there have been fatalities amid clashes between anti-government protesters and police in the capital. Demonstrators on Wednesday called for President Julius Maada Bio to step down. Tensions have been rising in the West African country over the rising cost of

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump showed up Wednesday for questioning under oath in New York’s civil investigation into his business practices. But he quickly made clear he wouldn’t be answering. The ex-president issued a statement saying he had done nothing wrong but was invoking the Fifth Amendment’s

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Emirati judicial department and a lawyer say the United Arab Emirates has overturned a three-year prison sentence for an American citizen who had represented the slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, killed at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The lawyer said on

By AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIRO Associated Press BENI, Congo (AP) — Officials in eastern Congo say that at least five people, including two policemen, were killed in an attack on a prison in which about 750 inmates escaped in Butembo town. Capt. Anthony Mwalushay, spokesman for the Congolese army in Beni, said that rebels of the

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says an Iranian operative has been charged in a plot to murder former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton. Shahram Poursafi is identified by U.S. officials as a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He’s wanted by the FBI on charges related to the

LONDON (AP) — The number of coronavirus deaths fell by 9% in the last week while new cases remained relatively stable, according to the latest weekly pandemic report released by the World Health Organization Wednesday. The U.N. health agency said there were more than 14,000 COVID-19 deaths in the last week and nearly 7 million

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press The New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is denouncing comments by Gov. Chris Sununu and his attorney general after a jury acquitted a truck driver in the death of seven motorcyclists, but both men are standing by their statements. Jurors on Tuesday found 26-year-old Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, innocent of manslaughter,

PARIS (AP) — Firefighters were battling a wildfire in southwestern France on Wednesday in a region known for its pine forests that was ravaged by flames last month. The blaze forced the evacuation of about 8,000 people and destroyed at least sixteen houses. A major highway near the city of Bordeaux was closed on Wednesday

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission says it’s winding up years of surveillance of Greek government spending. The move, on Aug. 20, will mark a formal end to a major crisis that threatened to see Greece ejected from the euro single currency group. It also imposed severe hardship imposed on Greek citizens and created a

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court has rejected an appeal  from a woman seeking an apology and damages in a high-profile case from the country’s short-lived #MeToo movement. The court ruled after a closed-door hearing that evidence submitted by Zhou Xiaoxuan was insufficient to prove sexual harassment, upholding the initial judgment last September. The former

By AMIR VAHDAT Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Houshang Ebtehaj, a distinguished Iranian poet whose small but influential body of work made him a major figure in his own country and in world literature, has died in Cologne, Germany. He was 94. His death on Wednesday was confirmed by his daughter on Instagram. He