Associated Press stories, Page 2204
Israelis vote in 3rd election in a year focused on NetanyahuVideo
JERUSALEM — Israelis voted Monday in an unprecedented third election in less than a year to decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power despite his upcoming trial on corruption charges. Netanyahu, the longest-serving leader in Israeli history, has been a caretaker prime minister for more than a...
Public Enemy kicks out Flavor Flav after campaign dispute
NEW YORK — Public Enemy has abruptly fired founding member Flavor Flav following a public spat over the rap group’s plan to perform at a Bernie Sanders campaign event. Public Enemy “will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” the band said in a brief statement Sunday. “We thank him for...
Trump to make first visit of 2020 to Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump is making his first visit this year to the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, in a town hall-style event hosted by Fox News in Scranton on Thursday. The one-hour event will be at the Scranton Cultural Center. The location is important for this year’s presidential...
Coronavirus ravaging Iran kills confidant of its supreme leader
TEHRAN, Iran — A member of a council that advises Iran’s supreme leader died Monday from the new coronavirus, becoming the highest-ranking official within the Islamic Republic’s Shiite theocracy to be killed by the illness ravaging the country. The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi came as Iran announced...
Esper: U.S. to start initial troop pullback from Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he has given the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan the go-ahead to begin the initial withdrawal of U.S. troops. Speaking at a Pentagon news conference Monday, Esper said he was not sure whether the drawdown had begun, but said it is required to...
American Jewish History Museum seeks bankruptcy protection
PHILADELPHIA — The National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, seeking relief from debt brought by construction efforts. Phil Darivoff, chair of the museum’s board, told The Philadelphia Inquirer the museum has been carrying millions of dollars in debt since it opened its 100,000-square-foot...
AT&T launches new online TV service as video customers fall
NEW YORK — AT&T is launching a new internet-delivered TV service Monday as it struggles with a shrinking DirecTV satellite business. The new service, AT&T TV, will have most of the same channels offered on DirecTV, but it’ll come over the internet rather than a satellite dish. AT&T has been...
Milwaukee brewery employees return to work after shooting
MILWAUKEE — Molson Coors employees returned to work Monday amid heightened security at the Milwaukee brewery where a worker last week fatally shot five co-workers and then himself. Additional guards, both armed and unarmed, were patrolling the grounds, according to a company email. Several Milwaukee police vehicles were stationed around...
U.S. construction spending up 1.8% in January to record level
WASHINGTON — Spending on U.S. construction projects rose to an all-time high in January, helped by strong gains for home construction and government building projects. The Commerce Department said Monday that construction spending increased 1.8% in January, the strongest monthly rise in nearly two years, pushing totally spending to a...
Supreme Court justices reject appeal over bump stock ban
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal of the federal ban on bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic firearms to fire rapidly like machine guns. The justices did not comment in declining to review a lower court-ruling that upheld the ban, which took effect nearly a year...
Supreme Court to decide fate of Obama health care lawVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, a case that will keep health care squarely in front of voters even though a decision won’t come until after the 2020 election. The court said it would hear an appeal by...
Jack Welch, the GE chief who became a superstar, has died
BOSTON — Jack Welch, who transformed General Electric Co. into a highly profitable multinational conglomerate and parlayed his legendary business acumen into a retirement career as a corporate leadership guru, has died. He was 84. His death was confirmed Monday by GE. The cause of death was renal failure, his...
Ex-guard frees dozens of hostages in Manila mall, is subdued
MANILA, Philippines — A recently dismissed security guard freed his hostages and walked out of a shopping mall in the Philippine capital on Monday, ending a daylong hostage crisis in an upscale commercial district near the police and military headquarters, officials said. The former guard at the commercial complex, identified...
‘The Invisible Man’ tops box office with $29 million
The Elisabeth Moss-led thriller “The Invisible Man” rode a wave of good reviews to a very visible spot atop the box office this weekend. Universal Pictures on Sunday estimated that the film from writer-director Leigh Whannell earned $29 million from North American theaters. Internationally, the Blumhouse production picked up an...
Authorities announce 2nd coronavirus death in U.S.
SEATTLE — Health officials in Washington state said Sunday night that a second person had died from the coronavirus — a man in his 70s from a nursing facility near Seattle where dozens of people were sick and had been tested for the virus. Researchers said earlier the virus may...
Louisiana clinic prepares for Supreme Court abortion fight
SHREVEPORT, La. — The Hope Medical Group for Women in northern Louisiana fields phone calls every day from anxious pregnant women who ask if abortion is still legal and if the clinic, one of only three that provides abortions in the state, is still open. Despite the protesters who sometimes...
Coronavirus deaths top 3,000 as warnings sound for global economyVideo
SEOUL, South Korea — The number of new virus infections rose worldwide along with fears of a weakening global economy, even as cases in China dropped to their lowest level in six weeks on Monday and hundreds of patients at the outbreak’s epicenter were released from hospitals. The number of...
Crafts can help refugees find community, and maybe a living
When Bahija Karim arrived in Idaho as an Afghan refugee in 2005, she knew little about American culture. She didn’t speak English. A volunteer directed her to Artisans for Hope, a local crafts initiative for refugees. There, she was taught crafting skills and English. Artisans for Hope took Karim on...
South Korean military: North Korea fires unidentified projectiles
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles from a coastal area Monday as it resumed weapons demonstrations following a monthslong hiatus. The launches came two days after North Korea’s state media said leader Kim Jong Un supervised an artillery drill aimed at testing the combat readiness of...
Judge rules head of immigration agency Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully named
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge has ruled that Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully appointed to lead the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency and, as a result, lacked authority to give asylum seekers less time to prepare for initial screening interviews. Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general and an immigration...
David Beckham’s Inter Miami loses MLS debut to Los Angeles FCVideo
LOS ANGELES — Carlos Vela scored on a beautiful chip shot shortly before halftime, and Los Angeles FC beat Inter Miami, 1-0, on Sunday in the inaugural game for owner David Beckham’s MLS expansion team. Vela controlled the ball with his chest and eluded four defenders before chipping a perfect...
Joe Biden warmly welcomed in Selma as Dems court black votersVideo
SELMA, Ala. — Joe Biden received a warm reception Sunday in this crucible of the civil rights movement as he and other Democratic presidential hopefuls appealed for black support in a town where demonstrators were once beaten for marching for the right to vote. Themes of fighting voter suppression, providing...
DA: Bucks County man shot, wounded by police during standoff dies
DOYLESTOWN — A man shot and wounded by police during a standoff near Philadelphia last month has died, authorities said. The Bucks County district attorney’s office said Thomas Edward Zeller, 61, was pronounced dead Sunday afternoon at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health. The Montgomery County coroner’s office was scheduled to do an...
New York confirms 1st positive test of new coronavirus
NEW YORK — New York confirmed Sunday the state’s first positive test of the new virus that has sickened tens of thousands of people across the globe. A woman in her late 30s contracted the virus while traveling in Iran, according to a statement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. She...
Emergency goalie protocol talk on tap for NHL GMs meetingVideo
When a 42-year-old Zamboni driver entered as an emergency goaltender and won an NHL game, it became one of the best stories in sports. But David Ayres going from practicing with the Toronto Maple Leafs to playing against them in the thick of a playoff race also generated debate about...
