AP-National

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The government of the Bahamas has unveiled several bills aimed at legalizing marijuana for medical and religious purposes and decriminalizing possession of small amounts. Officials say licenses for cultivation, retail, transport and religious use would only be granted to companies that are entirely Bahamian owned. Licenses for research, testing

LAKE TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) — Police performing a welfare check at an Ohio home found five family members dead inside. Authorities say the family died from gunshot wounds, including three children. The bodies were found Thursday evening and were identified as 46-year-old Jason Dunham, his 42-year-old wife Melissa Dunham, their two daughters and their son.

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Niger’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the French ambassador has been asked to leave the country. The move further escalates the international crisis in the West African nation stemming from a coup that ousted the West African nation’s democratically elected president. French Ambassador Sylvain Itte was

By YOUCEF BOUNAB Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Paris booksellers who work on the banks of the River Seine for decades are refusing to leave during the Paris Olympics next year. The opening ceremony will be held on the Seine, taking place outside of a sports venue for the first time in the Games’ history.

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Two-time Grammy winner Jason Mraz released his latest album “Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride” in June, a pop record that’s a turn from his balladeering, acoustic persona. Conceived during the pandemic, the 46-year-old says his fans helped navigate its musical direction. But Mraz, who is

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press Open Society Foundations plan to significantly curtail their work in Europe and lay off much of their staff there. That’s according to an internal email and several current employees, who say the decision is painful and perplexing. The planned European cuts would represent a historic break with the roots of

By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press POTTER, Neb. (AP) — When Reed Cammack hears the first meadowlark of spring, he knows his family has made it through another cold, snowy winter on the western South Dakota prairie. Nothing’s better, he says, than getting up at sunrise as the birds light up the area with song. “It’s

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says the foreign minister of the Netherlands is “the right man” to to fill a European Commission vacancy after Frans Timmermans quit this week to lead a center-left bloc into the country’s November general election. Rutte’s ruling coalition proposed Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra as the

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A Texas prosecutor says he won’t seek the death penalty for a man convicted of killing two elderly women and suspected of killing nearly two dozen total. Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said in a statement Thursday that he believes 50-year-old Billy Chemirmir deserves the death penalty, but noted he

Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spanish customs agents and National Police said they confiscated the country’s biggest cocaine haul to date of 9.5 tons hidden in a banana freight container originating from Ecuador. The drug was found in a refrigerated container hidden among a cargo of more than a thousand boxes of bananas in the

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that West Virginia can restrict the sale of the abortion pill. That’s despite federal regulators’ approval of it as a safe and effective medication. U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Chambers determined Thursday that the near-total abortion ban signed by Republican

By COREY WILLIAMS and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — At least seven tornadoes touched down in Michigan as part of severe storms powered by strong winds that killed five people, while downing trees, tearing roofs off buildings and leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power, officials said. The National Weather

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s internal security officers are searching for the source of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which has killed seven people and infected more than 100 in a strategic city near the border with Ukraine. The region around Rzeszow, in Poland’s southeast, is a key transit hub for international military support for

By KEN MILLER and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press An official says a fire at a Texas state prison did not affect the chamber where condemned inmates are executed. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice says Friday morning’s fire at the prison in Huntsville is also not expected to affect the execution

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The prime ministers of India and Greece have pledged to boost their countries’ trade, business and defense ties during a visit to Athens by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two sides agreed Friday to reinforce bilateral relations in the defense and security sectors, as well as in infrastructure, agriculture, education

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s far-right national security minister lashed out at supermodel Bella Hadid on Friday for criticizing his recent fiery televised remarks about Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In an interview earlier this week with Israel’s Channel 12 following two deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are accusing big tax preparation firms including Intuit and H&R Block of undermining the federal government’s upcoming electronic free file tax return system. Letters obtained by The Associated Press show the lawmakers accuse the tax prep companies of lobbying against the new program, hiring former

By REBECCA BOONE, BEATRICE DUPUY, GENE JOHNSON and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Within a day of Maui County releasing 388 names of people unaccounted for following the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, more than 100 of them or their relatives came forward to say they’re safe, the FBI

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge is questioning whether living in poverty would be enough to qualify someone for a key immigration policy from President Joe Biden. It allows a limited number of people from four countries in the Americas to enter on humanitarian grounds. The judge heard closing arguments on

PARIS (AP) — French investigative magistrates have ordered former president Nicolas Sarkozy and 12 others to go on trial on charges that his 2007 presidential campaign received millions in illegal financing from the government of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The national financial prosecutor announced that the decade-long investigation has been formally closed. The trial’s