Month: June 2023

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia voters will select candidates in a primary election Tuesday in which redistricting has forced a record number of retirements and created several high-profile contests between incumbents of the same party. The winners will face off in a November general election that will decide control of the

By GISELA SALOMON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — The separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border has always caused Isabel Allende pain: When she saw it during the Trump administration, her first impulse was to help reunify children and parents through her foundation. Then, the legendary Chilean author thought, she had to write a

By LIZZIE KNIGHT Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The Sheffield strippers of “The Full Monty” return 25 years on, in a new TV series that wears its politics on its sleeve. In the much-loved original movie, a group of unemployed men from the north of England decide to form a striptease act in a desperate

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany has handed over to Colombia two masks made by the Indigenous Kogi people that had been in a Berlin museum’s collection for more than a century. It is another step in the country’s restitution of cultural artifacts as European nations reappraise their colonial-era past. The wooden

By DAVID ERICKSON, SARAH BRUMFIELD and BEATRICE DUPUY Associated Press PERRYTON, Texas (AP) — As Sabrina Devers watched what would turn out to be a deadly storm approach her ranch just north of the Texas Panhandle town Perryton, she first spotted golf ball-sized and then softball-sized hail. Then, Devers said, across the high plains toward

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — There is now one fewer place to access abortion in Utah after Planned Parenthood closed its only clinic outside the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah said on Thursday that the Logan clinic has long been staffed with one provider,

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeding agricultural producers and food businesses with millions of dollars in investments designed to improve markets, create and strengthen jobs, control food prices and improve nutrition. Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a visit to the Fresh Start Market in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday that

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The smell of pineapple bread fills the kitchen of “Vida Libre,” or “free life,” a gang rehabilitation program founded in El Salvador by American pastor Kenton Moody in 2021. The trust that Moody puts in former gang members is not widely shared. Thousands

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The smell of pineapple bread fills the kitchen of “Vida Libre,” or “free life,” a gang rehabilitation program founded in El Salvador by American pastor Kenton Moody in 2021. The trust that Moody puts in former gang members is not widely shared. Thousands

PRAGUE (AP) — Lawmakers in the lower house of the Czech Parliament have agreed to tighten the country’s conflict of interest legislation to ban politicians from owning media, in a direct snub to former populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis. Lawmakers in the 200-seat house voted to amend the current law to prohibit media ownership for

LONDON (AP) — Two-time Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer has proposed to his partner onstage in London, prompting raucous applause from the audience. As his performance at the O2 arena was drawing to a close Thursday night, the 65-year-old German composer asked his partner to join him on stage and then proceeded to declare his

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The French presidency said the talks on Friday would focus on bilateral relations between the two countries and on regional stability issues, especially after long-time rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government has rejected as “far-fetched and unprofessional” a report by a U.S. security firm that blamed Chinese-linked hackers for attacks on hundreds of public agencies, schools and other targets around the world. A foreign ministry spokesperson repeated accusations Friday that Washington carries out hacking attacks and complained the cybersecurity industry rarely

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder died Friday, one day after crashing and falling down a ravine during a descent at the Tour de Suisse. The 26-year-old Mäder crashed after a left-hand turn on a fast downhill road approaching the end of the mountainous fifth stage into La

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines have held their first joint talks and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Washington is reinforcing its alliances to adapt to growing tensions over North Korea, China

LONDON (AP) — British antitrust regulators cleared Amazon’s purchase of robot vacuum maker iRobot on Friday, but the $1.7 billion deal still faces scrutiny in the United States and Europe. The Competition and Markets Authority said it decided not to escalate its initial investigation because it concluded that the deal would not result in a

BEIJING (AP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has wrapped up a trip to China, after seeking economic aid and voicing support for Beijing’s repressive policies toward its Muslim minorities. During his four-day visit, Abbas met with Chinese President and head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping. The sides then issued a joint statement endorsing

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund has praised the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rate for the eighth time in a row. Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also endorsed the accompanying pledge by ECB head Christine Lagarde to keep tightening credit for as

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer Devout baseball fans might view their teams’ performance as heavenly or hellish, depending on the quality of play. Currently, it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers’ handling of their annual Pride Night — not the team’s record — that has provoked emotional reactions from religious people, including prominent faith leaders, Catholic

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside above a Swiss village that was evacuated last month, stopping just short of the settlement, which remained unscathed, relieved local officials said Friday. Some 1.9 million cubic meters (67 million cubic feet) of rock had been deemed at

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — President Joe Biden has called for new gun-buying restrictions at a summit in Connecticut to mark the first anniversary of a gun safety law signed after the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre. The Democratic president wants to highlight the bipartisan legislative win and how the sweeping

BERLIN (AP) — Police in southern Germany are appealing for photos and videos taken by witnesses of an attack near Neuschwanstein castle in which an American man allegedly pushed two women down a steep slope, killing one of them. A suspect was arrested following the attack. German news agency dpa quoted police as saying Friday

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries” in a meeting Friday with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates. Their meeting came ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a time of strained relations. The state broadcaster CCTV showed

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS Associated Press give ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Greek coast guard on Friday defended its response to a ship that went down off the country’s south coast and left more than 500 migrants presumed drowned. Criticism mounted over Europe’s yearslong failure to prevent such tragedies. Patrol boats and a

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — UNICEF says Sudan’s warring factions should better protect vulnerable children in the conflict zone, where hundreds of children have been killed and millions of young people “are trapped in an unrelenting nightmare.” The call from the United Nations children’s agency came after it announced that 330 children

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to a group of African leaders to ask his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to free political prisoners from Crimea and beyond — saying it would be an “important step” in their trip to Russia. Seven African leaders — presidents of

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has dismissed the country’s chief prosecutor amid public anger over his failure to tackle high-level corruption. The presidential press office said Friday that Radev signed a decree to remove Ivan Geshev from his post after the Supreme Judicial Council earlier this week voted to oust him for

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Survivors and local authorities in Nigeria say most of the 108 people who drowned after a boat broke apart were women and their children. Search opperations ended Thursday in the boat accident on the Niger River in Kwara state. Survivors say the wooden boat was carrying

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party says four parties have agreed to form a government. Petteri Orpo, who is expected to become the Nordic nation’s next prime minister, is expected Friday to present a government program for a center-right coalition that includes a

By AJIT SOLANKI, SIBI ARASU and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press MANDVI, India (AP) — Cyclone Biporjoy is weakening as it churns past coastal India toward Pakistan with lashing rains and gusts of up to 105 kph (65 mph). A man and his son died as they tried to save their livestock in Gujarat state, where

By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer A small but growing group of young teens are turning to drastic treatments to lose large amounts of weight, things like body-altering surgery and new drugs that rewire metabolism. Recent guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics call for early and intensive treatment of kids as young as 12,

MONROE TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his three young sons admitted to planning the killings and lined them up before executing them with a rifle, prosecutors said Friday. Chad Doerman, 32, who is also accused of wounding the boys’ mother at the family’s home, has been charged with aggravated

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Friday was discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring, with his surgeon saying the pontiff is now “better than before” the hospitalization. Francis, 86, left through Gemelli Polyclinic’s main exit