Month: July 2023

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Federal land managers have scrapped plans to spray pesticides near the Rio Chama in northern New Mexico as part of an effort to kill invasive grasshoppers. Concerned residents worried that dispersing 670 gallons of the poison would also kill bees, monarch butterflies and other insects vital to the area’s ecosystem.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Beatriz has dissipated after brushing Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast as a hurricane, dumping heavy rain across coastal areas. Hurricane Adrian, meanwhile, also weakened into a tropical storm out in the Pacific Saturday while continuing to move farther out into the ocean far away from land. Beatriz weakened into a

By KEMO CHAM Associated Press FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone’s main opposition party is demanding a re-run of last weekend’s presidential election even though incumbent President Julius Maada Bio already has been sworn into office for his second term. A statement from the opposition All People’s Congress, or APC, party on Saturday accused

By The Associated Press The summer movie season goes into high-gear in July, with the arrival of the seventh “Mission: Impossible” movie followed by the “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” showdown on July 21. Not that you have to choose one or the other — as Tom Cruise said on Twitter, “I love a double feature, and

By The Associated Press The Russian media watchdog has blacklisted at least five media outlets affiliated with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and blocked their websites in Russia. The move came a week after Wagner fighters took control of a Russian military headquarters and advanced on Moscow in what appears to have been an attempted

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Smokey Bear said it best: “Only you can prevent wildfires.” Following in the footsteps of their famous mascot, U.S. Forest Service managers in the drought-stricken Southwest are urging people to swap their fireworks this Fourth of July for glow sticks, noisemakers and cans of red,

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A European space telescope blasted off Saturday on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe. SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory toward its ultimate destination 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, the Webb Space

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The top international official in Bosnia says he’s revoking a Bosnian Serb law that suspended any decisions by the country’s top court. He said Saturday that the law violates the 1995 peace agreement that ended a devastating 1992-95 war in the Balkan nation. As the high representative for Bosnia, German diplomat

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Overturning Roe v. Wade and affirmative action in higher education had been leading goals of the conservative legal movement for decades. Over a span of 370 days, a Supreme Court reshaped by three justices nominated by President Donald Trump made both of those goals a reality. Last

By The Associated Press Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press on Saturday showed what appeared to be a newly built military-style camp in Belarus, with statements from a Belarusian guerrilla group and officials suggesting it may be used to house fighters from the Wagner mercenary group. The images provided by Planet Labs PLC suggest

BERLIN (AP) — A new cable car that allows visitors without skis to cross between Switzerland and Italy near the Matterhorn, one of the most famous Alpine peaks, has gone into service. The operator says the new service that started operating Saturday enables the highest-altitude border crossing in the Alps. It links the Klein Matterhorn

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Sweden’s prime minister at the White House on Wednesday in a show of solidarity as the United States presses for the Nordic nation’s entry into NATO. Sweden’s bid has been stalled by objections from two members of the Western military alliance, Turkey

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Legal officials in Myanmar say its Supreme Court has scheduled hearings for this month to consider appeals from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi against conviction in cases that saw her receive a total of 33 years in prison, legal officials said Saturday. The cases against her

By MADDIE BURAKOFF AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, new research shows. Humans and animals naturally pick up static charges as they go about their days. And those charges are enough

By FRANCES D’EMILIO and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has chosen a bishop from his Argentine homeland for one of the Vatican’s most powerful positions. Francis named Monsignor Victor Manuel Fernández, the archbishop of La Plata, Argentina, as the prefect, or chief, of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials have reported three people killed and 17 others wounded from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south. A visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began in Kyiv on Saturday as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the European Union for

By AHMAD SEIR and MIKE CORDER Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has apologized for his country’s role in slavery and asked forgiveness on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Dutch colonies. During an emotional address on Saturday, the king said he commissioned a study into the role of

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Authorities in Tajikistan say a man who fatally shot two security officers at Moldova’s main international airport is wanted in his native country in relation to the kidnapping of a local bank official. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan alleged the assailant, Rustam Ashurov, was a member of an “organized criminal

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A truck rammed into several other vehicles and market traders in western Kenya killing at least 51 people, police said. The Friday evening accident occurred at a location known for vehicle crashes near the Rift Valley town of Londiani, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles)

By HALELUYA HADERO The Associated Press Social media companies are once again under scrutiny, this time in France as the country’s president blames TikTok, Snapchat and other platforms for helping fuel widespread riots over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused social media of playing a “considerable role”

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s military says security forces have raided two militant hideouts in regions near the border with Afghanistan. The raids triggered intense shootouts that left six insurgents dead during the Eid holidays. A military statement said late Friday that the raids were conducted earlier that day in Tank and North Waziristan districts

By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Campaigning for Cambodia’s general election has officially begun. It’s an exercise that serves more as an affirmation of a nominally democratic process than a prelude to a genuine contest. Eighteen parties are contesting this year’s polls in which around 9.7 million people

By SETH BORENSTEIN and MELINA WALLING Associated Press It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world. Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three