Associated Press stories, Page 1996

An Australian court on Thursday rejected a newspaper publisher’s appeal against Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush’s $2.9 million Australian dollars ($2 million) payout for defamation. Three Federal Court judges ruled that articles published by Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper in 2017 conveyed the imputation that Rush was a pervert and that...

BOSTON — The Massachusetts attorney general is demanding that a fireworks retailer with stores in New Hampshire stop targeting its advertising to residents of Massachusetts, where fireworks are illegal. Attorney General Maura Healey in a cease-and-desist letter sent Wednesday to Phantom Fireworks alleges the company is violating state consumer protection...

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a substantial 4.8 million jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1%, as the job market improved for a second straight month yet still remained far short of regaining the colossal losses it suffered this spring. The nation has now recovered roughly one-third...

Authorities are closing bars, honky tonks and other drinking establishments in some parts of the country to stem the surge of covid-19 infections — a move backed by sound science about risk factors that go beyond wearing or not wearing masks. In the words of one study, it comes down...

BOSTON — When Mahdi Hashemian was looking for a bicycle for his 7-year-old daughter Zeynab last week, the Cambridge, Mass., resident decided to skip his local cycle shops in favor of a Black-owned one a few miles away in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. At Spokehouse, a bike shop with “Black Lives...

TEHRAN, Iran — An “incident” damaged an under-construction building Thursday near Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, though it did not affect its centrifuge operations or cause any release of radiation, a spokesman said. The affected building, described as an “industrial shed,” was above ground and not part of the...

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley will remain on staff but take a pay cut and must undergo diversity training after being suspended for using a racial slur in a 2013 text message. Utah announced Wednesday that Scalley will participate in diversity and inclusion education and have...

WASHINGTON — Criticized for inaction, President Donald Trump and top officials on Wednesday stepped up their defense of the administration’s response to intelligence assessments that Russia offered bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Trump’s national security adviser said he had prepared a list of retaliatory options if the intelligence...

The 2020 NBA champion, if one is crowned, will have emerged as the ultimate winner from a season that lasted more than a full year from start to finish. A season that saw political unrest between the NBA and China, the deaths of David Stern and Kobe Bryant, racial issues...

DETROIT — Webb Simpson is competing on the PGA Tour again after his family had a coronavirus scare. One of Simpson’s daughters tested positive for covid-19, leading to him withdraw from last week’s tournament as a precaution. “The first test was positive, but (she) got tested again by the more...

The NFL will cut its preseason in half and push back the start of exhibition play so teams have more time to train following an all-virtual offseason made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic, a person with knowledge of the decision told the Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of...

KILLEEN, Texas — The family of a soldier who has been missing since April believes partial remains that were found in Central Texas are her remains, the lawyer for her family said Wednesday, and the Army said it has identified two suspects in her disappearance. Pfc. Vanessa Guillen was last...

AUSTIN, Texas — As confirmed coronavirus case levels in Texas continue surging to record highs, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says the nation’s top infectious disease expert “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” as Patrick defends the state’s handling of the pandemic. Patrick also claimed without offering evidence that Dr....

RICHMOND — The mayor of Richmond, Va., on Wednesday ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues on city land, saying he was using his emergency powers to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice....

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered bars and indoor dining at restaurants to close in most areas of the state for the next three weeks amid a troubling surge of new coronavirus cases throughout the state. The revised stay-at-home order affects 19 counties where nearly three-quarters of...