Year: 2021

CHICAGO (AP) — Five alleged gang members have been indicted on murder charges in last year’s shooting death of a Chicago rapper that prosecutors say was part of an ongoing violent effort to protect gang territories on the city’s South Side. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago said in a news release Wednesday that the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials agreed at their last meeting that if the economy continued to improve, they could start reducing their monthly bond purchases as soon as next month and bring them to an end by the middle of 2022. The discussion was revealed in the minutes

By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have detained eight people, including two alleged Iranian agents, who attempted to abduct a former Iranian soldier and smuggle him back to Iran. The Anadolu Agency said the eight were caught in the eastern province of Van, which borders Iran,

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former Idaho state lawmaker charged with rape has made his first appearance in the case in court. Aaron von Ehlinger was a Republican state representative from Lewiston when a 19-year-old legislative intern reported that he brought her to his apartment under false pretenses and raped

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The chief of the World Health Organization has honored the late Henrietta Lacks, an American woman whose cancer cells ended up providing the foundation for vast scientific breakthroughs, including research about the coronavirus. The recognition from WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday came more than a

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Israel say they are exploring a “Plan B” for dealing with Iran if the Islamic Republic does not return in good faith to negotiations to salvage the languishing landmark 2015 nuclear deal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair

ROME (AP) — Italy’s highest court has annulled an arrest warrant for a key suspect in the Vatican’s fraud and extortion trial. The court’s action puts into question whether and when Gianluigi Torzi might be extradited from Britain. In a decision Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation sent the case back to a Rome court which

By STEPHEN McGRATH Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Doctors in Romania’s capital has issued an open letter titled “a cry of despair” as the country’s overwhelmed health care system copes with record coronavirus infections and deaths. The College of Physicians of Bucharest said Wednesday in a letter addressed to Romanians that the medical system

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MARIAM FAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The nomination of a Pakistani-born businessman who’d be the highest-ranking Muslim in the U.S. government is in jeopardy because Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked his confirmation. The stalemate has led to Democratic charges of anti-Muslim bias and galvanized some Muslim and Jewish organizations

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Four people have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, nearly eight years after the death of a man who was pinned to the floor by security guards at a Detroit-area shopping mall. The Michigan attorney general’s office reopened the case in 2020. McKenzie Cochran struggled with security guards and was hit with