Associated Press stories, Page 1579
Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over ‘Black Widow’ releaseVideo
Scarlett Johansson is suing the Walt Disney Co. over its streaming release of “Black Widow,” which she said breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings. In a lawsuit filed Thursday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court, the “Black Widow” star and executive producer said her contract guaranteed an...
Biden urging state, local governments to offer the unvaccinated $100Video
WASHINGTON — The nation’s millions of federal workers will be required to verify they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else face mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing and other new rules, the Biden administration announced Thursday. The newly strict guidelines are aimed at boosting sluggish vaccination rates among the huge...
Woman convicted of swapping pebbles for gems in London heist
A woman who secretly swapped seven pebbles for $5.7 million worth of diamonds has been sent to prison for her role in the audacious heist at a luxury jewelry store in London’s tony Mayfair district. Lulu Lakatos, 60, was sentenced Wednesday to 5 1/2 years in prison after a jury...
German federal court sides with Lindt in gold bunny battle
A German federal court ruled Thursday that the golden shade of the foil wrap on Lindt & Spruengli’s Gold Bunny, a popular chocolate Easter bunny, enjoys protected status. The Federal Court of Justice delivered its verdict in a battle between Switzerland’s Lindt and a German company, Heilemann, which in 2018...
Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick charged with sexually assaulting teen
BOSTON — Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked after a Vatican investigation confirmed he had sexually molested adults as well as children, has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974, court records show. McCarrick is the first cardinal in the...
Robinhood makes Wall Street debut, stumbles at start
Robinhood made its own leap into the stock market Thursday, the one it helped reshape by bringing millions of new investors to Wall Street, and its shares were falling in their first day of trading. Robinhood Markets’ stock was at $36.16, as of 1 p.m. Eastern time, down 4.7% from...
Police seek clues after woman and dog killed in Atlanta park
ATLANTA — Investigators sought video from homes and businesses near a popular Atlanta park as divers searched a pond in their quest to solve the stabbing death of a parkgoer who was walking her dog. Katherine Janness, 40, was found dead in Piedmont Park around 1 a.m. Wednesday. Police say...
Transportation panel to issue plan on Pa. gas tax elimination
HARRISBURG — A transportation funding commission set up by Gov. Tom Wolf to find ways to end Pennsylvania’s reliance on its gas tax will issue a $15.6 billion package of recommendations, which lean heavily on shifting to a vehicle-miles-traveled fee that numerous states are exploring. The Transportation Revenue Options Commission...
Once fading, mask sales starting to rebound
NEW YORK — Masks, which had started to disappear from store shelves, may be front and center again. A spot check of businesses and other data sources are showing that mask sales have been rising in recent weeks as Americans worry about the surging cases of the delta variant of...
AstraZeneca to seek U.S. approval of covid vaccine later this year
LONDON — AstraZeneca said Thursday that it intends to seek U.S. approval for its covid-19 vaccine later this year, further delaying the application even as the company announced it had already delivered more than 1 billion doses to other countries. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said the application has been delayed because...
Biden to allow eviction moratorium to expire Saturday
BOSTON — The Biden administration will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire Saturday, arguing that its hands are tied after the Supreme Court ruled it could only be extended until the end of the month. In a statement Thursday, the White House said President Joe Biden would have...
Spanish ex-king’s former lover accuses him of harassment
MADRID — The former lover of Spain’s King Emeritus Juan Carlos has filed a lawsuit with a British court accusing him of spying on her, the latest twist in a financial scandal plaguing the ex-monarch. The London-based High Court said Wednesday that Corinna Larsen, a Danish-German businesswoman long linked to...
NHL teams overcome flat cap to make splashes in free agency
NHL teams combined for a series of splashes in free agency, managing to make major moves despite the salary cap staying flat for a third straight year. Over the first 12 hours of the signing period Wednesday, teams in the league signed 160-plus players to contracts worth more than $783...
American Sunisa Lee wins all-around gold in women’s gymnastics
TOKYO — Sunisa Lee wanted to quit during quarantine. It all had become too much. The lingering pain from a broken foot. The deaths of two family members from covid-19. Her father’s slow recovery from an accident that left him paralyzed. The urge eventually passed. It always does. Still, less...
U.S. trio puts NBA Finals behind, turns focus to Olympic gold
SAITAMA, Japan — There was plenty of time to talk about it, had they wanted to. Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton were together on a plane to Tokyo, just days after they had played in the hard-fought NBA Finals. They had roughly nine hours in the air to...
Cargo ship ordered to leave U.S. waters after insects found
Federal agents near New Orleans ordered a cargo ship to leave the U.S. after an inspection found wood infested with a type of Asian beetle that has been destroying trees in the U.S. for about 25 years. They discovered the beetle in wood onboard the Pan Jasmine on July 17,...
U.S. economy accelerated at a solid 6.5% rate last quarter
WASHINGTON — Fueled by vaccinations and government aid, the U.S. economy grew at a solid 6.5% annual rate last quarter in another sign that the nation has achieved a sustained recovery from the pandemic recession. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department estimated that the nation’s gross domestic product — its...
GDP roars past pre-pandemic levels. Where does the economy go from here?
WASHINGTON — Even with production glitches, transportation bottlenecks and labor shortages, the U.S. economy grew in the second quarter at one of the fastest rates in decades, lifting the nation’s total output above where it was before covid-19 hit, according to government data released Thursday. “That we were able to...
Ron Popeil, inventor and king of TV pitchmen, dies at 86
LOS ANGELES — Ron Popeil, the quintessential TV pitchman and inventor known to generations of viewers for hawking products including the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ, has died, his family said. Popeil died “suddenly and peacefully” Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in...
Alaska quake produces prolonged shaking, small tsunami
PERRYVILLE, Alaska — A powerful earthquake which struck just off Alaska’s southern coast caused prolonged shaking and prompted tsunami warnings that sent people scrambling for shelters. Residents reported only minor damage, but officials said that could change after sunrise and people get a better look. The National Tsunami Warning Center...
U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel lives up to hype, wins 1st individual gold medalVideo
TOKYO — In an Olympics where many of the favorites have faltered, Caeleb Dressel lived up to the hype. Dressel claimed the first individual Olympic gold medal of his career with two furious laps of the pool Thursday morning, winning the 100-meter freestyle over defending champion Kyle Chalmers. As is...
Jalen Hurts shrugs off chatter about Eagles pursuing Deshaun WatsonVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Nick Sirianni kicked off Camp Competition with quarterback Jalen Hurts taking first-team snaps for the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s no surprise, though the team continues to be linked to Deshaun Watson. “Have we done homework on quarterbacks that might be available? I mean, we have a short list,” general...
Cowboys’ Dak Prescott leaves camp practice with shoulder strainVideo
OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is day-to-day because of a right shoulder strain after leaving training camp practice early Wednesday with a sore throwing arm. Prescott had an MRI that revealed the muscle strain but said he “didn’t see this as any kind of serious setback.” The...
Talent undeniable as Browns open training campVideo
BEREA, Ohio — As Baker Mayfield rifled passes wide receivers to Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry on one field, star defensive ends Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney worked on their pass-rushing techniques on the other. There was plenty of other action on Cleveland’s opening day of training camp as...
FDA allows automatic ‘generic’ swap for brand-name insulin
U.S. regulators took action Wednesday that will make it easier to get a cheaper, near-copy of a brand-name insulin at the drugstore. Doctors now have to specifically prescribe what’s called a biosimilar or OK substituting it for a more expensive brand-name insulin. Wednesday’s move by the Food and Drug Administration...
