Associated Press stories, Page 1676
AP source: NFL teams cannot cut players because they are unvaccinated
An NFL team can’t release a player simply because he is not vaccinated for covid-19, a person with direct knowledge of the league’s directive told The Associated Press on Friday. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane hypothetically suggested this week that he’d do so if it would provide more freedom...
19 charged in ride-hailing fake driver account scheme
BOSTON — Federal prosecutors charged 19 people Friday for their alleged roles in a nationwide scheme that used stolen identities to cheat ride-hailing and delivery service companies. The suspects, all Brazilian citizens, set up fraudulent driver accounts with multiple ride-hailing and delivery companies using about 2,000 stolen identities, federal prosecutors...
China discounts possibility of harm from falling rocket
China says the upper stage of its Long March 5B rocket that launched the core module of its space station will mostly burn up on re-entry, posing little threat to people and property on the ground. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbing said Chinese authorities will release information about the -re-entry...
NASA Mars helicopter heard humming through thin Martian air
First came the amazing pictures, then the video. Now NASA is sharing sounds of its little helicopter humming through the thin Martian air. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California released this first-ever audio Friday, just before Ingenuity was set to soar on its fifth test flight. The low hum from...
Flock of giant California condors trashes woman’s home
TEHACHAPI, Calif. — Giant California condors are rare — but not at Cinda Mickols’ home. About 15 to 20 of the giant endangered birds have recently taken a liking to the house in the city of Tehachapi and made quite a mess. Mickols’ daughter, Seana Quintero of San Francisco, began...
Sherpa guide scales Mount Everest for record 25th time
A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak. Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides reached the summit at about 6 p.m., Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said. They are the first...
NYC still storing covid-19 victims in refrigerated trucks
New York City is still using refrigerated trucks to store bodies of coronavirus victims, more than a year after they were first set up as temporary morgues as deaths surged at at the height of the pandemic. The city’s medical examiner’s office said Friday that 750 bodies are being kept...
Capitals’ Tom Wilson good to go after injury, eager to move on from dustup
ARLINGTON, Va. — Tom Wilson reached out to Artemi Panarin in the aftermath of the most talked about incident in hockey this week, and now he’s ready to move on from his latest controversy. In his first interview since a scrum against New York that left Panarin injured, led to...
Georgia judge sets October trial in slaying of Ahmaud Arbery
SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Georgia judge Friday scheduled an October trial for three white men charged with murder in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased and shot while running in the defendants’ neighborhood. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley issued a notice stating that jury...
Alexander Zverev beats Rafael Nadal in straight sets in Madrid Open quarters
MADRID — Alexander Zverev ended his winless streak on clay against Rafael Nadal on Friday, keeping the Spaniard from winning a sixth Madrid Open. Zverev defeated Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, picking up his third consecutive win over the 20-time grand slam champion — but first on clay. His...
Former Bradford County DA drops ‘vicious lies’ defense, pleads guilty in sex case
A Pennsylvania district attorney who had cast the sex case against him as a pack of “vicious lies” pleaded guilty Friday to pressuring clients for sex when he was a defense attorney and then coercing them to keep quiet about it. Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman admitted guilt and...
UEFA deal with 9 Super League clubs; 3 rebels face sanctions
MANCHESTER, England — Nine of the 12 Super League clubs have formally renounced the breakaway and committed to the existing European competitions but they will have to give up 5% of UEFA revenue for one season as a punishment for the rebellion that briefly split football. But Barcelona, Real Madrid...
Former MLB manager Bobby Valentine running for mayor of hometown
STAMFORD, Conn. — Former Major League Baseball player and manager Bobby Valentine is taking a swing at politics, announcing Friday that he’s running for mayor of his Connecticut hometown. Valentine, 70, who currently serves as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, posted a video on social media and said...
Ohio becomes latest state to propose transgender sports ban
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transgender girls would be banned from participating in female sports teams in high school or college in two bills introduced by Republican lawmakers in Ohio, which became the latest state to take up the contentious debate. The proposals, titled the Save Women’s Sports Act, would require schools...
WHO panel OKs emergency use of China’s Sinopharm vaccine
GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Friday gave its authorization for emergency use of a covid-19 vaccine manufactured by China’s Sinopharm, potentially paving the way for millions of the doses to reach needy countries through a U.N.-backed program rolling out coronavirus vaccines. The decision by a WHO technical advisory...
Ohio GOP censures 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — The Ohio Republican Party censured U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez and nine other GOP representatives Friday for voting in February to impeach former President Donald Trump, in a nearly unanimous vote of the powerful central committee. The vote made the Cleveland congressman the eighth of the 10...
Brazil’s Amazon deforestation surged in April after pledges
RIO DE JANEIRO — Preliminary data released Friday signaled deforestation of Brazil’s Amazon in April was the highest for that month in at least five years, a report that comes two weeks after Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said his government would dedicate more energy and resources toward curbing deforestation. Deforestation...
TripAdvisor removes insensitive review of Auschwitz Museum
NEEDHAM, Mass. — Travel website TripAdvisor has removed an insensitive review of the Auschwitz Museum after initially saying it complied with its submission guidelines. The museum at the site of the Nazi concentration camp in Poland on Thursday tweeted that it had asked the Massachusetts-based travel website to take down...
Tokyo Olympic head says IOC President Thomas Bach visit to Japan could be ‘tough’
TOKYO — The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee said Friday that a visit to Japan this month by IOC President Thomas Bach seemed unlikely with a state of emergency order being extended by the government to Tokyo and other areas until May 31. Canceling the trip could be...
EU leaders attend summit in person for 1st time this year
PORTO, Portugal — European Union leaders and their large following of diplomats and advisers met Friday in Portugal for two days of in-person talks, signaling their belief that the threat from covid-19 on the continent is waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. The pandemic was a constant presence, however. Meeting...
4 ex-cops indicted on U.S. civil rights charges in George Floyd death
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of violating the Black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air, according to indictments unsealed Friday. The three-count indictment...
Stocks rally to records after grim jobs data undercuts rates
NEW YORK — Stocks are rallying to records on Wall Street Friday despite a stunningly disappointing report on the nation’s job market, as investors see it helping to keep interest rates low. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% in morning trading, above the 4,232 level. If it stays there, it would...
U.S. employers added just 266K jobs in April as hiring slows
WASHINGTON — America’s employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers as the economic recovery strengthens. With viral cases declining and states and localities easing restrictions, businesses have added jobs for four straight months,...
High-level talks resume on returning U.S. to Iran nuclear deal
VIENNA — World powers began a fourth round of high-level talks in Austria aimed at bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran, with major stumbling blocks remaining Friday but both sides suggesting a resolution was possible. The U.S. pulled out of the landmark 2015 deal in...
Carbon emissions from energy dropped 10% in the EU last year
BRUSSELS — Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion dropped 10% in the European Union last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to estimates from the EU’s statistical office. Eurostat said in a statement Friday that emissions fell in all of the EU’s 27 member nations compared to 2019 as...
