Month: August 2023

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats in Pennsylvania are talking up abortion rights as they try to protect their state Supreme Court majority in the presidential battleground. Pennsylvania Democratic Party chair Sharif Street says Republicans made it an issue when they chose to strip away a woman’s right to choose. The

LONDON (AP) — Staff at London Zoo got the measure of giant gorillas, plump penguins and skinny stick insects at the zoo’s annual animal weigh-in on Thursday. Zookeepers tempted squirrel monkeys onto scales with treats, totted up tarantulas and used a curry-scented measuring stick to coax Sumatran tigers to stretch out. Staff at the zoo,

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The eight Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage were asked to raise their hands if they believed human behavior is causing climate change. Not a single hand went up. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shut down the question and attacked the “corporate media.” Echoing

By SUDHIN THANAWALA and KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Roads between the Atlanta airport and the Fulton County Jail were blocked off as former President Donald Trump arrived in a motorcade to turn himself in on charges related to his efforts to remain in power after his 2020 election loss. This gave the

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists say the loss of ice around Antarctica is hurting the survival of emperor penguin chicks. Emperor penguins hatch their eggs and raise their chicks on the ice that forms around the continent each winter and melts in the summer months. The researchers reported Thursday that

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed further above 7% this week to its highest level since 2001, another blow to prospective homebuyers grappling with rising home prices and a stubbornly low supply of properties on the market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that

By The Associated Press When Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his armed rebellion that challenged the Kremlin, Western officials predicted Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek vengeance against the mercenary leader. Two months to the day after the action that Putin labeled a “stab in the back” and “treason,” those forecasts seem to have come true, in

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time” is a two-part documentary on MGM+ that concludes Sunday. It explores the rise and fall of that city’s progressive cultural experiment, including a soundtrack by Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone and Steve

By HARM VENHUIZEN Associated Press/Report for America MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s top elections official says she won’t testify at a Senate committee hearing on her reappointment next week. Meagan Wolfe’s decision relies on a letter from Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul saying that lawmakers don’t have the authority to force a vote on firing

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is marking its second Independence Day since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Officials are vowing to keep up their fight to drive out the Kremlin’s forces, and local people have been remembering their fallen loved ones. The national holiday Thursday coincided with the war’s 18-month milestone, giving

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) — Heavy rains across the United States have flooded an Ohio highway where people were rescued from their cars, closed a busy airport terminal outside Detroit for a few hours and covered the Las Vegas Strip with water. Officials say parts of southeast Michigan

By JIM MUSTIAN and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — In a secluded stairwell at CIA headquarters last year, officer trainee Ashkan Bayatpour came up behind a colleague, wrapped a scarf around her neck and plainly spoke as he tried to kiss her on the mouth. “There are many uses for this,” the

LONDON (AP) — A London judge says life support treatment can be stopped for a brain-damaged English pastor in a coma. Justice Anthony Hayden says it would be “burdensome and futile” to continue kidney dialysis. The Pentecostal minister’s family had appealed a decision by a Manchester area health authority to end his care, arguing that

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News reached an estimated 12.8 million viewers on two television channels and its streaming network for the first GOP presidential primary debate of the 2024 season, even though former President Donald Trump skipped it. Eight other candidates showed up in Milwaukee to spar on

By YVES LAURENT GOMA Associated Press LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Gabon’s president is seeking a third term in elections this weekend that could extend his family’s 55-year political dynasty. The capital of Libreville, meanwhile, is bracing for a repeat of the violence that has marred balloting in the past. The central African nation’s 800,000-plus eligible

NEW YORK (AP) — Fast fashion retailers Shein and Forever 21 are going into business together. Under a partnership agreement announced Thursday, the Chinese-founded Shein will acquire about one-third interest in Sparc Group, Forever 21’s operator. Sparc will also become a minority shareholder in Shein. The deal is expected to expand Forever 21’s distribution on

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — “That’s where I got shot,” said Rashaad Woods, nodding toward a convenience store in Knoxville’s “gun zone.” There were bullet holes in a church’s walls. Nearby was a shuttered nightclub where some people were killed. “There was a point in time I wasn’t comfortable standing

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway is rebuilding a dilapidated reindeer fence along its border with Russia in the Arctic to stop the animals from wandering into the neighboring country — costly strolls for which Oslo has to compensate Moscow over loss of grassland. Norwegian officials said Thursday that so

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III and Queen Camilla will visit France in September, after their planned state visit in March was postponed amid widespread demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s retirement age reforms. The couple had planned to tour Paris and Bordeaux in March as part of their international debut. But the trip was shelved

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is vowing to make key economic, immigration and education reforms. That vow comes despite France’s divisions and political challenges that have included months of protests against pension changes and recent rioting over a teen killed by police. Macron says in a wide-ranging interview with Le Point magazine published

By DAVID BILLER Associated Press BELEM, Brazil (AP) — The Brazilian Amazon has long been home to small and mid-sized sustainable businesses that use forest nuts, fruits and other products, and it’s an incubator for new ones. Now there is a push to scale these up, and a new term, “bioeconomy,” was a buzzword at

By The Associated Press The passenger manifest of the plane that went down in Russia is essentially a who’s who of Wagner mercenaries: Its second-in-command, who baptized the group with his nom de guerre. The logistics chief. A fighter wounded by U.S. airstrikes in Syria. At least one possible bodyguard. And, of course, Yevgeny Prigozhin

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Uber raised the minimum age requirement for most of its new drivers in California to 25 on Thursday under rules the company said are necessary because of the rising costs of commercial auto insurance in the state. The new rule applies only to drivers signing up to transport passengers with Uber’s