Month: May 2024

By ED DAVEY Associated Press Liberia, West Africa’s most forested country, has a long history of illegal logging, which the country’s regulator, the Forestry Development Authority, has repeatedly struggled to confront. So it raised eyebrows when Rudolph Merab, whose companies were twice found to have engaged in illegal logging, was recently appointed to lead the

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on the rocket Monday night. The two NASA test pilots had just strapped into Boeing’s Starliner capsule for a flight to the International Space Station when the countdown was halted, just two

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque. The move came four years after Erdogan’s government had designated it a Muslim house of prayer. The Church of St. Saviour in Chora is known as Kariye in Turkey. The formal opening comes after

By JOSHUA A. BICKEL Associated Press SABINA, Ohio (AP) — As climate change drives an increase in spring rains across the Midwest, it can mean more anxiety for farmers eager to carry out the ritual of spring planting. In Ohio, for example, farmers have lost about five days of field work in the month of

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer BERLIN (AP) — Some 155 police officers were injured in fighting involving Dynamo Berlin and Energie Cottbus fans over the weekend. Berlin police say most of the injuries are from tear-gas use. The police say 116 officers suffered injuries from tear-gas use, 28 from assaults and 11 after being

By KAREN MATTHEWS and STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Pro-Palestinian protesters that had been blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday broke through fencing, linked arms and encircled tents that remained there, as Columbia University canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of demonstrations.

By TRISHA AHMED Associated Press/Report for America ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota lawmakers have launched their debate on far-reaching legislation that would amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion and LGBTQ rights. If approved by lawmakers this session and then by voters on the 2026 ballot, it would be much harder for future lawmakers

By JIM GOMEZ and AARON FAVILA Associated Press ITBAYAT, Philippines (AP) — U.S. Marines and their Filipino counterparts have staged joint combat drills on the Philippines’ northernmost island along the strategic Bashi Channel off southern Taiwan, a flashpoint in the Washington-Beijing military rivalry. The maneuvers are part of annual military exercises that started last month,

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian journalist’s arrest last week has triggered criticism of worsening press freedoms in the West African country. Daniel Ojukwu with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism went missing last Wednesday in the economic hub of Lagos. His family and employer found out on Friday that he

By The Associated Press Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that the military would hold drills involving tactical nuclear weapons — the first time such an exercise has been publicly announced by Moscow. A look at tactical nuclear weapons and the part they play in the Kremlin’s political messaging. WHAT ARE TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS? Unlike nuclear-tipped

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A former head of the Scottish National Party is expected to be Scotland’s next leader. John Swinney was confirmed Monday as leader of the SNP after no other candidate came forward. He’s expected to become Scotland’s first minister this week. The 60-year-old Swinney would be Scotland’s third

By JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” is the Costume Institute exhibit that debuts at Monday’s Met Gala. It’s

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A report into a building fire that killed 76 people in South Africa last year has concluded that city authorities should be held responsible because they were aware of serious safety issues at the apartment block at least four years before the blaze. The

By CIARÁN GILES Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Prado Museum has confirmed that a painting that was due to be auctioned in Madrid in 2021 is in fact a work by Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio that was considered lost. It will be unveiled to the public for the first time in

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Rita Moreno says it was always in her nature to be generous – to hold doors for people and help lighten a mother’s load if she was struggling with shopping bags and children. But Moreno, still the only Latina EGOT — winner of Emmy, Grammy,

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany has recalled its ambassador to Russia for a week of consultations in Berlin following an alleged hacker attack on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party. Germany last week accused Russian military agents of hacking into the top echelons of Scholz’s Social Democrats’ party and other sensitive government and

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive has decided to end its 6-year dispute with member state Poland. It says Prime Minister Donald Tusk has initiated the necessary changes to reverse what the bloc called the previous government’s backsliding on democratic principles. The EU’s decision to withdraw its case over rule of law complaints follows

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are returning to a strategy they hope could neutralize their Democratic rivals’ financial edge: Find rich people to run. But wealthy candidates running in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin present a fresh set of challenges. One is hoping to recoup his own

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are hearing for the first time how and why Michael Cohen’s reimbursement for the Stormy Daniels’ payment was entered as a legal expense. Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney took the stand Monday morning and detailed conversations around said reimbursement. Before witness testimony began,

By EDOUARD TAKADJI and MOUTA ALI Associated Press N’DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — Voters in Chad have headed to the polls to cast their ballots in a long delayed presidential election that is set to end three years of military rule under the interim president. Mahamat Deby Itno seized power after his father who ran the

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer Brittney Griner continues her efforts to settle into a normal routine following her release from a Russian prison 17 months ago. Life isn’t what it once was for the perennial WNBA All-Star. The 6-foot-8 center looks different and has different priorities. Gone are her familiar dreadlocks that couldn’t be