Month: June 2023

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press A coalition of activist groups and researchers has released a report it hopes will increase pressure on agribusiness giant Cargill to do more to fight deforestation and human rights abuse. The document released Wednesday accuses the family-owned company of not following through on commitments to help end such practices. It

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Kosovo police have reported that three officers patrolling a northern area bordering Serbia are missing and may likely be kidnapped by Serbs. Serbian authorities said Wednesday that they arrested them on inside Serbia near the border. The latest incident further raises tensions between

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Gray wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park five years after authorities began a last-ditch attempt to prevent the species from dying out on the Lake Superior island chain, scientists said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the park’s moose population continues a sharp but needed decline.

BOSTON (AP) — A woman who’s accused a New Jersey man of raping her 16 years ago in Boston says she felt that her freedom had been taken away from her that night, and she wants to face him in court. Lori Pinkham spoke with ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview broadcast Wednesday. Thirty-five-year-old

STOCKOLM (AP) — Two women have been detained in Stockholm after they threw “some kind of paint” at a painting by French artist Claude Monet and then glued themselves to the frame,. Sweden’s National Museum said “The Artist’s Garden at Giverny,” was on display as part of an exhibition at the museum on Wednesday. A

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press Roger Payne, the scientist who spurred a worldwide environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing, has died. He was 88. Payne made the discovery in 1967 during a research trip to Bermuda in which a Navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented

By PETER SMITH and DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Southern Baptist Convention has refused to welcome Saddleback Church back into its fold, rejecting an appeal by the California megachurch over its February ouster for having women pastors. Southern Baptist church representatives at their annual meeting here also rejected a similar appeal

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Executives at Britain’s ITV have defended the broadcaster’s working culture as a committee of lawmakers grilled them about the way the network handled staff complaints and allegations of a “toxic,” bullying work environment. ITV is best known for shows like “Downton Abbey,” “Coronation Street” and “The X

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — There will be no more rides to Hel on bus 666. The bus to the town of Hel on Poland’s Baltic coast has long been popular with tourists. But some Christian conservatives have protested what they see as Satanic overtones of a bus using the number symbolizing the devil leading to

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Two of the U.K.’s biggest mobile phone operators have agreed to merge their businesses to capitalize on the rollout of next-generation 5G wireless technology in the country. The merger of Vodafone U.K. and Three U.K., which is owned by Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison, will create Britain’s biggest

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Police in Bosnia say a 13-year-old boy has been arrested after allegedly shooting and wounding a teacher inside an elementary school building. Police said the teacher sustained serious wounds and was undergoing surgery after the shooting Wednesday in which no students were injured. The incident in the northeastern town of Lukavac

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his economic policies haven’t changed but his finance minister will have leeway to move away from an unconventional approach that many have blamed for a worsening cost-of-living crisis. Erdogan was reelected to a third term last month. He appointed an internationally respected banker who served in

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press A former National Security Agency employee has been sentenced to 14 days of imprisonment for storming the U.S. Capitol along with associates described by authorities as fellow followers of a white nationalist movement. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly also has sentenced Paul Lovley to three years of probation. Lovley was

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States dropped 0.3% from April to May, another sign that inflationary pressures continue to ease in the face of repeated interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Labor Department’s producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers

By KATE ASHFORD of NerdWallet As many as 8 in 10 older Americans couldn’t afford more than four years in an assisted living facility or two years in a nursing home, according to a recent analysis. This is particularly hard for people in the monetary middle; they don’t have enough to cover the costs of

By NICK EL HAJJ Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait says it has struck an agreement worth $367 million with Turkish drone giant Baykar to procure its TB2 drones. The successful deployment of the relatively cheap but lethal drones in conflict zones like Libya, Syria, and particularly Ukraine, have sparked a worldwide

By CORA LEWIS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates alone for the first time in 11 meetings raises hopes that it may be at least nearing the end of its rate-hiking campaign to cool inflation. That said, the Fed’s policymakers indicated that they envision potentially two more

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this weekend as part of the Biden administration’s push to repair deteriorating ties between Washington and Beijing and keep lines of communication open. Wednesday’s State Department announcement followed a phone call Tuesday between Blinken and China’s foreign

By CORA LEWIS and ADRIANA MORGA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — After three years, the pandemic-era freeze on federal student loan payments will end this fall and more than 40 million Americans will have to start making payments again under the terms of a debt ceiling deal approved by Congress. Student loan interest will

By ED DAVEY Associated Press A landmark ruling that an Indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon could reclaim ancestral rainforests has been set aside by an appeals court in a move some legal experts called irregular. Kichwa tribes lived in the area of Cordillera Azul National Park for centuries before the park was founded in

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — The Vatican spokesman says Pope Francis is expected to be released from the hospital “in the coming days.” He reported that Francis is recovering well, on schedule and without complications. In his daily medical update Wednesday, he added that Francis was at work during the day and

By KELVIN CHAN and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union antitrust regulators took aim at Google’s lucrative digital advertising business in an unprecedented decision, saying Wednesday that the tech giant must sell off some of its ad business to address competition concerns. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A late-life masterpiece by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt could become the most expensive painting ever sold in Europe when it is auctioned later this month. Auctioneer Sotheby’s said on Wednesday that “Dame mit Fächer” (Lady with a Fan) will go up for sale on June 27 in

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Russia has convicted an associate of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on extremism charges and sentenced her to 7 1/2 years in prison, the latest step in a yearslong crackdown by the Kremlin on opposition activists. Lilia Chanysheva, who used to head Navalny’s

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it hopes to weed out false or misleading animal-welfare claims on meat and poultry packaging with new guidance and testing. The claims __ such as “pasture-raised,” “humanely raised,” and “raised without antibiotics” __ are increasingly popular with consumers. But critics say the USDA

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousands of people have demonstrated across Poland against the country’s restrictive abortion law after a woman who was five months pregnant died of sepsis. It was the latest such death since a tightening of the law. The protesters vented their fury on Wednesday against the governing

MADRID (AP) — Scottish charity group Mary’s Meals has won a prestigious Spanish prize for its work feeding schoolchildren facing extreme poverty across the globe. The jury that decides the Princess of Asturias Awards gave Mary’s Meals its Concord Prize for “its exemplary dedication to helping resolve some of the world’s most pressing problems.” The

By JIM GOMEZ AND JOEAL CALUPITAN Associated Press LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) — A gentle eruption of the Philippines’ most active volcano that has forced nearly 18,000 people to flee to emergency shelters could last for months and create a protracted crisis, officials said Wednesday. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew to northeastern Albay province to reassure

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans on the right and the left have a lot more in common than they might think — including their strong distrust of each other. A survey published on Wednesday finds that when asked about core values including fairness, compassion and personal responsibility, about nine in 10

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer Images of players are being used in sportsbook advertisements. Sportsbook branding has prominent placement in stadiums and arenas, including some with on-site betting. Major League Baseball — long the most gambling-averse of the U.S. leagues — now permits its players to be ambassadors for gambling companies. It’s the backdrop

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Silvio Berlusconi is being honored with a state funeral in Milan’s Duomo cathedral and a day of national mourning, as his legacy — positive or negative — is hotly debated among Italians. Tens of thousands of people outside and inside the Duomo erupted in applause as a

By BASSEM MROUE and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese lawmakers have failed in yet another attempt to elect a president and break a seven-month power vacuum roiling the country. Wednesday’s session came after 11 previous sessions by the parliament — the last of which was held in January — failed to choose