Month: August 2023

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas is suing Shell, alleging a fire at the oil giant’s Houston-area petrochemical plant damaged the environment. The lawsuit filed Aug. 7 in Travis County seeks more than $1 million in damages. A Shell spokesperson says the company is aware of the lawsuit but does not comment on pending litigation. The

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — There are so many dots on the maps they blur into blobs — each one reflecting trillions of public and private dollars flowing in the U.S. this past year to build thousands of roads, bridges and manufacturing projects in communities large and small, in states red

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian ex-priest convicted of sexually abusing children has had another 12 months added to his 39-year prison sentence for molesting a 72nd victim. Gerald Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994 for for abusing children between 1961 and 1988 while he worked as a Roman Catholic priest in churches and

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Medical authorities say clashes between rival militias in Libya’s capital have killed at least 27 people and left residents trapped in their homes. The fighting late Monday and Tuesday appeared to be the most intense to shake Tripoli this year. Libya’s Emergency Medicine and Support Center said

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO member Poland displayed its state-of-the-art weapons and defense systems at a massive military parade as war rages in neighboring Ukraine and ahead of parliamentary elections in two months. President Andrzej Duda said the protection of Poland’s eastern border is a key element of state policy.

BEIJING (AP) — A vast swath of northeastern China is threatened by flooding as at least 90 rivers have risen above warning levels and 24 have already overflowed their banks. State media say crews are standing by to defend homes and farmland across the Songliao Basin north of Beijing which includes parts of four provinces

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A parliamentary committee in Kenya has launched an inquiry into alleged human rights violations and ethical breaches by a British army training unit that’s been active for decades in the East African country. Some Kenyans have raised concerns about the way British forces treat local residents

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Baseball Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco Giants star Joc Pederson is scared to fly. Outfielder Seth Brown of the Oakland Athletics, too. They are hardly the only ones. Longtime manager Dusty Baker would bet that anxiety in the air has shortened more than a few careers. He recalls watching

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Pro Football Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee running back Derrick Henry is delighted that his Titans teammate Ryan Tannehill enjoys flying and earned his pilot’s license this summer. Just don’t expect him to join his quarterback in a small plane anytime soon. “Oh, no! I am not going up

By EDDIE PELLS and PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writers BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A country spends millions to deliver a major international sports event to the world. That money buys a chance to project strength at home and abroad and maybe even glosses over that country’s oft-dissected shortcomings. That pattern has played out in China,

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Finland’s former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb says he will run as a candidate in the presidential election early next year, in a race that also includes a popular former Finnish foreign minister who was a negotiator of the country’s recent membership in NATO. Stubb, who headed the Finnish government in 2014-2015

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Human rights activists in Niger say they have been unable to gain access to top political officials who were detained after mutinous soldiers ousted the African nation’s democratically elected president. The executive secretary of a Nigerien human rights groups says the military officers who carried out

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister has abandoned a trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji after a problem with her government plane twice forced it to return to Abu Dhabi, delaying her by more than a day. Annalena Baerbock set off from Berlin Sunday on what was supposed to

By DASHA LITVINOVA and DAVID McHUGH Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russia’s central bank made a big interest rate hike Tuesday, an emergency move designed to fight inflation and strengthen the ruble after the country’s currency reached its lowest value since early in the war with Ukraine. The ruble has lost more than a

By ILLIA NOVIKOV and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces unleashed missiles across Ukraine early on Tuesday, killing and wounding civilians and damaging infrastructure. The barrage came just hours before top Russian military officials and their counterparts from allied countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa gathered outside Moscow for

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Victor Tsvyk harvested 4,800 tons of wheat this month, but after Russia exited a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to ship grain to the world, he has no idea where his produce will go. Or how his beloved farm will survive. Tsvyk, who normally exported up

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been acquitted by the high court of four corruption charges, days after his opposition bloc expanded its influence in local elections. Muhyiddin says the high court struck down four charges of abusing his power to obtain $50 million

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press TEL MEGIDDO, Israel (AP) — An ancient Christian mosaic bearing an early reference to Jesus as God is at the center of a controversy that has riled archaeologists: Should the centuries-old decorated floor, which is near what’s believed to be the site of the prophesied Armageddon, be uprooted and

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India’s economy will be among the top three in the world within five years. He made the claim on Tuesday as he marked 76 years of independence from British rule. Wearing a flowing, multi-colored turban, Modi addressed the country from New

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has renewed a peace pledge as Japan observed the 78th anniversary of its World War II defeat. He did not mention the country’s wartime aggression in Asia, while three of his former and current Cabinet ministers visited a shrine seen by neighboring

MOSCOW (AP) — A massive explosion at a gas station in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan killed 35 people and injured scores more, Russian officials said Tuesday. Russia’s Health Ministry said 115 people were injured in the blast and subsequent fire, and 35 of them died, including three children. A total of 65 of those

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Palestinian health officials say Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, in a raid in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said troops came under fire during an operation and shot back. Also Tuesday, an Israeli court released to house arrest

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and MEG KINNARD Associated Press The fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump may be the most sweeping yet. The sprawling, 98-page case unveiled late Monday night opens up fresh legal ground and exposes more than a dozen of Trump’s allies to new jeopardy. But it also raises familiar legal issues of

By STEFANIE DAZIO and TOM KRISHER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A criminal prosecution against a Tesla driver in Los Angeles County whose car crashed while operating on Autopilot could end next month. The 2019 crash prompted what is believed to be the first time in the U.S. prosecutors brought felony charges against a

By EDNA TARIGAN and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Four Australian tourists and two Indonesians have been rescued after being missing for two days in the waters off Indonesia’s Aceh province. Peter Foote, the father of Elliot Foote, who had traveled to Indonesia to celebrate his 30th birthday with friends, said on

By CLAIRE RUSH, JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to help Hawaii officials working painstakingly to identify the remains of people killed in wildfires that ravaged Maui, as the death rose above 100 and teams intensified the search for more dead in neighborhoods

By JEFF McMILLAN and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press States that declared themselves refuges for transgender people have essentially issued an invitation: Get your gender-affirming health care here without fearing prosecution at home. Now that bans on such care for minors are taking effect around the country — Texas could be next, depending on the outcome

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas wants Planned Parenthood to return millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements and pay far more in fines. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo held a hearing on the case Tuesday but did not issue a ruling. It appears to be the first lawsuit

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Outdoor dining was a part of the pandemic that many people actually liked — made possible by streetside dining sheds that popped up around New York City and allowed many restaurants to stay in business when they couldn’t have diners inside. Some sheds were simple —

By CURT ANDERSON and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to scheming with Donald Trump to try to delete security footage sought by investigators probing the former president’s hoarding of classified documents. An attorney for De Oliveira entered the plea on his

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and JOSH BOAK Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — President Joe Biden stopped in the battleground state of Wisconsin to discuss how economic policies he calls “Bidenomics” are boosting the economy. The Tuesday trip is timed one day before the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, a major economic bill Biden signed

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president has called for deeper security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan to address North Korea’s nuclear threat, saying his upcoming summit with the U.S. and Japanese leaders at Camp David will “set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation.” President Yoon Suk Yeol