Associated Press stories, Page 2319

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia say a man who tried to steal a police cruiser while handcuffed has been charged. Criminal complaints filed in Charleston say Blake King is facing two misdemeanors and a felony after the incident Thursday. The filings say an officer first arrested King and...

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan faces a presidential election next month but few believe the vote will take place as the United States and the Taliban inch closer to a deal that could end the nearly 18-year war but bring uncertainty about almost everything else. Few candidates — 18 are running...

TOLEDO, Ohio — A man accused of plotting with his girlfriend to obtain guns and explosives for a foiled domestic terror attack pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. Prosecutors said the pair had talked extensively about taking part in violent attacks on public places, visited the site of the...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A former North Carolina police officer has pleaded guilty to beating a black pedestrian in a case that sparked outrage after graphic video of the encounter surfaced. Christopher Hickman pleaded guilty Friday in Asheville to assault by strangulation, assault inflicting serious injury and communicating threats. Buncombe County...

DELTONA, Fla. — A Florida homeowner says someone stole a 9 mm Glock handgun from his bedroom during a weekend sex party. But Volusia County Sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Smith tells The Daytona Beach News-Journal the homeowner couldn’t give detectives the names of possible suspects because the 20 or so people...

Entertainer Wayne Newton is being sued by a Las Vegas woman who claims the veteran crooner’s pet monkey bit and injured her daughter during an invited visit to Newton’s showpiece mansion nearly two years ago. Jocelyne Urena seeks at least $15,000 in damages on behalf of her daughter, Genevieve, in...

BEIRUT — A Canadian citizen, freed after being imprisoned in Syria since last year, has appeared before reporters in Lebanon. Kristian Lee Baxter dissolved into tears at the press conference in Beirut on Friday, saying he thought he “would be there forever.” He then got off the podium. Lebanon’s General...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Police in Springfield, Missouri, said they arrested a man who showed up at a Walmart store carrying a rifle and wearing body armor, terrifying shoppers who fled from the store. Springfield police posted on Facebook that “an armed individual” was arrested Thursday. No shots were fired. The...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Officials in western Massachusetts are embracing a controversial tactic amid a dramatic spike in fatal overdoses: sending men to jail for court-ordered addiction treatment. Hampden County Sheriff Thomas Cocchi has designated a jail wing for the treatment of men civilly committed for substance abuse reasons. Cocchi and...

LONDON — The British economy shrank in the second quarter for the first time since 2012 as Brexit uncertainties weighed on business investment and firms reduced their stockpiling after Britain was granted an extension to its departure from the European Union, official figures showed Friday. The decline is set to...

TOKYO — Japanese palace officials say former Empress Michiko will have an operation for breast cancer. The Imperial Household Agency said Friday that doctors found Michiko had an early stage of breast cancer in a health check in July. Michiko, 84, received the title of empress emerita after her husband,...

BRUGELETTE, Belgium — A Belgian wildlife park is proudly announcing the birth of twin baby giant pandas. Pairi Daiza said in a tweet Friday that Hao Hao, a panda loaned to the park by China in 2014, has given birth to “two little ‘pink shrimps’ that are in good health...

PARIS — The International Energy Agency says the U.S.-China trade war and a decline in world economic growth are weakening the demand for oil. The Paris-based agency, which advises many developed countries on energy policies, cut its forecast for oil demand growth this year and next by 0.1 million barrels...

If mosquitoes, gnats, black flies and no-see-ums are driving you buggy, then consider cozying up to some lavender, marigolds or basil. Scientists question their overall effectiveness, but many fragrant ornamental flowers and herbs grown around the home have properties that can repel insects. Insect repellents are divided into two primary...

Topiary is the art of growing trees and shrubs as living sculptures — cubes, spheres, obelisks, animal shapes or combinations of these. The tradition has flourished in various places at different times, but in modern gardens, topiary is rare, unless you count our foundation plantings of clipped yews and junipers...

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday named Joseph Maguire, the nation’s top counterterrorism official, as acting national intelligence director, part of a leadership shake-up at the agency that oversees 17 U.S. spy agencies. Maguire will become acting director on Aug. 15, the same day that National Intelligence Director Dan Coats’...

WASHINGTON — Shifting the gun violence debate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he now wants to consider background checks and other bills, setting up a potentially pivotal moment when lawmakers return in the fall. The Republican leader won’t be calling senators back to work early, as some are...

BOSTON — Rosie Ruiz, the Boston Marathon course-cutter who was stripped of her victory in the 1980 race and went on to become an enduring symbol of cheating in sports, has died. She was 66. Ruiz, who was also known as Rosie Vivas, died in Florida of cancer on July...

Technology companies powered stocks broadly higher on Wall Street on Thursday, driving the S&P 500 to its best day in more than two months and erasing its losses for the week. The rally, which pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by more than 370 points, followed an early rise...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — It is the year of the veteran quarterback in the SEC. Tua Tagovailoa and Jake Fromm are the headliners, but the league is loaded with experienced passers with double-digit starts under their belts at their current school or elsewhere. The SEC has eight returning starters at quarterback...

CLEVELAND — Duke Johnson got his wish, and the Browns got more than expected for him. Cleveland traded the disgruntled running back to the Houston Texans on Thursday for an undisclosed 2020 draft pick. A person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press that the Browns are getting a...

BARCELONA, Spain — A Spanish nature conservation center says that the first baby lynx has been born in the Pyrenees in nearly a century. The Eurasian lynx is considered extinct in the Spanish and French Pyrenees, and the last time it was witnessed in these mountains was in the 1930s....

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Mourners used colored markers to write messages on Keyla Salazar’s white casket before a funeral Tuesday for the middle-school teenager killed in a mass shooting at a California food festival. “Keyla, you’re an angel. We will never forget you!” read one. Another said, “Keyla, I love...

FERGUSON, Mo. — Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a white Missouri police officer stands as a seismic moment in American race relations. The fledgling Black Lives Matter movement found its voice, police departments fell under intense scrutiny, progressive prosecutors were elected and court policies revised. Yet five years...