Associated Press stories, Page 1549
Russia’s covid deaths hit new high in July
A new report from Russia’s state statistics agency shows the country recorded a record number of deaths in July of people infected with coronavirus. The report from the Rosstat agency said 50,421 people suffering from covid-19 died during the month, sharply higher than the previous record of 44,435 in December....
Iraq brings together Mideast rivals in bid to ease tensions
Arab heads of state and senior officials from the region including archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia held a rare meeting Saturday at a conference hosted by Iraq. The meeting is aimed at easing Mideast tensions and underscored the Arab country’s new role as mediator. French President Emmanuel Macron also attended...
U.S. intelligence still divided on origins of coronavirus
U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided on the origins of the coronavirus but believe China’s leaders did not know about the virus before the start of the global pandemic, according to results released Friday of a review ordered by President Joe Biden. According to an unclassified summary, four members of the...
U.S. drone strike kills 2 Islamic State members in Afghanistan
Acting swiftly on President Joe Biden’s promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the U.S. military said it killed two members of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate with a drone strike in the group’s eastern stronghold. The attack Saturday local time came amid what the...
Police investigation of Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer handed to prosecutorsVideo
LOS ANGELES — Police on Friday presented to prosecutors their investigation of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer in the case of a woman who said he choked her into unconsciousness, punched her repeatedly and had anal sex with her without her consent during two sexual encounters. The Pasadena Police...
Ravens going for preseason record for longest win streak
John Harbaugh cared enough about his Baltimore Ravens tying the mark for the most consecutive preseason victories that he told players about it in the locker room after their 19th in a row. “I believe everything in life has meaning,” Harbaugh said. “It’s something only one other team has done.”...
Browns’ Baker Mayfield playing in preseason finale
CLEVELAND — Baker Mayfield will get a summer tune-up, after all. Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski surprisingly said Friday that Mayfield and some “select” Cleveland starters will play in Sunday night’s nationally televised exhibition finale against the Atlanta Falcons. Not wanting to risk injuries, Stefanski kept his starting quarterback and...
All eyes on Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka at U.S. OpenVideo
NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic is well aware that his two-track pursuit of men’s tennis history at the U.S. Open — the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a half-century and a record 21st major title — means all eyes will be on him when he is on the...
Eventual departures of Oklahoma, Texas make for awkward Big 12 seasonVideo
Things quickly have gotten awkward for the Big 12 Conference. Whether eight will be enough for the Big 12 moving forward, there still are 10 teams this season. Second-ranked Oklahoma and No. 21 Texas, the only Big 12 teams to win national championships in the league’s first 25 seasons, aren’t...
Louisville suspends coach Chris Mack for 6 games
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville said Friday that it is suspending basketball coach Chris Mack for six games for failing to follow procedures in handling an extortion attempt by one of his assistants. Mack “failed to follow university guidelines, policies, and procedures in handling the matter,” Louisville athletics director Vince Tyra...
AP source: Saints name Jameis Winston starting QB
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints selected Jameis Winston to succeed Drew Brees as starting quarterback for their regular-season opener against Green Bay on Sept. 12, said a person familiar with the decision. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the club has...
RFK assassin moves closer to freedom with help of 2 Kennedys
California’s parole board voted Friday to free Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin after two of RFK’s sons said they supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars. But the governor ultimately will decide if Sirhan Sirhan leaves prison. Douglas Kennedy was a toddler when his...
NASCAR to present Wendell Scott’s family with 1963 trophyVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The family of Wendell Scott, the only Black driver to win a race at NASCAR’s top level, will receive a trophy commemorating the historic 1963 victory before Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway. Scott passed Richard Petty with 25 laps remaining at Speedway Park in...
Column: Another earthquake leaves college football teetering
The Southeastern Conference is getting bigger and, somehow, even stronger. Three other major conferences have formed an alliance, whatever that means. And the Big 12 is dead man walking. After a period of relative stability, college football heads into a new season wobbling from the aftershocks of another major earthquake....
Judge blocks Florida governor’s order banning mask mandates
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida school districts can legally require their students to wear masks to prevent the spread of covid-19, a judge ruled Friday, saying Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his authority when he issued an executive order banning such mandates. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed with...
Cristiano Ronaldo heading back to Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo is headed back to Manchester United. The English club said Friday it has reached an agreement with Juventus for the transfer of the 36-year-old Portugal forward, subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and a medical examination. Ronaldo, a five-time world player of the year, told Juventus on...
Explainer: How dangerous is Afghanistan’s Islamic State?
The Islamic State offshoot that Americans blame for a deadly suicide attack outside the Kabul airport coalesced in eastern Afghanistan six years ago, and rapidly grew into one of the more dangerous terror threats globally. Despite years of military targeting by the U.S.-led coalition, the group known as Islamic State...
Hurricane Ida strengthens, Louisiana braces for severe blow
Forecasters warned residents along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast to rush preparations Saturday ahead of an intensifying Hurricane Ida, which is expected to bring winds as high as 130 mph, life-threatening storm surge and flooding rain when it slams ashore in Louisiana on Sunday. The National Hurricane Center warned...
T-Mobile CEO ‘truly sorry’ for hack of 50M users’ data
BELLEVUE, Wash. — T-Mobile says it has notified nearly all of the millions of customers whose personal data was stolen and that it is “truly sorry” for the breach. CEO Mike Sievert said in a written statement Friday that the company spends lots of effort to try to stay ahead...
Police: Illinois brothers say mother, sister buried in yard
LYONS, Ill. — Authorities are planning to excavate a suburban Chicago backyard Friday after two adult brothers found living in what police called a “hoarder home” said they had buried the bodies of their mother and sister there. Excavation equipment was expected to arrive Friday at the house in Lyons...
U.K. lawyer accused of injecting blood into supermarket foods
LONDON — A 37-year-old man accused of injecting food items in three London supermarkets with syringes of blood appeared in court Friday and was ordered into custody until his next hearing. Leoaai Elghareeb, a lawyer, was arrested after a man entered a Waitrose store in west London’s Hammersmith area on...
Paralympic Classes: A confusing maze in search of fairness
TOKYO — There are 4,403 Paralympic athletes competing in Tokyo, each with unique differences that have to be classified. Lines have to be drawn — in the quest for fairness — to group similar impairments, or impairments that yield similar results. It’s a confusing maze. And make no mistake, the...
A dream road trip to see the whole AP Top 25
What does your dream college football road trip look like? Would you travel the whole country or stick to one region? Do you want to see the traditional powers, or explore some of the sport’s lesser-known venues? A couple years ago, we mapped out our version of the college football’s...
New urgency to airlift after Kabul blasts kill more than 100
KABUL, Afghanistan — Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed with new urgency Friday, a day after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of desperate people fleeing the Taliban takeover and killed more than 100. The U.S. warned more attacks could come ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave,...
Fire at chemical factory kills 10 in southern Pakistan
KARACHI, Pakistan — A massive fire broke out at a chemical factory in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Friday, killing at least 10 workers and injuring several others, police and a government spokesman said. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire in the congested Mehran Town...
