AP National News

By KEN MILLER Associated Press Authorities say a wildfire in a central Texas state park is no longer growing and no injuries were reported after the blaze burned 1.2 square miles in the city of Bastrop. Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Kari Hines said Wednesday that no homes have been reported destroyed, some families have

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press Developers say construction will soon begin on the second commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project to gain approval in the United States. The Interior Department approved it in November. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued its approval letter for the constructions and operations plan Tuesday. That’s a major step in

By AYA BATRAWY and MALAK HARB Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A United Arab Emirates ambassador says Yemen’s Houthi rebels used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones in an attack on Abu Dhabi this week that killed three people and set off fires at a fuel depot and an international airport. The

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been denied bail and will be detained in Toronto as he awaits trial. Nygard is charged with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement, which Toronto police have said relate to alleged incidents in the late 1980s and mid-2000s. He has denied

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Tourism-reliant Cyprus will lift a requirement for all inbound travelers to either show a negative COVID-19 test or to self-isolate or quarantine themselves as of Mar. 1 as long as they have a valid vaccination certificate. Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said on Wednesday that all travelers 18 and over will need

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of pushing a woman to her death in a New York City subway station has been arraigned on a murder charge and ordered held without bail. Martial Simon was charged Wednesday in the death of Michelle Alyssa Go. She was pushed in front of a train Saturday in

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks turned mixed in late morning trading on Wall Street as investors review the latest corporate earnings and prepare for higher interest rates. The S&P 500 fell 0.1%, the Nasdaq fell 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly. Investors are busy reviewing the latest round of

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press The sweeping elections bill in the Senate deals with much more than voting changes. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would create national automatic voter registration, allow all voters to cast ballots by mail and weaken voter ID laws. It also would ban partisan gerrymandering and force “dark

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have held their first economic conference, five months since taking over the country that is now teetering on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe and economic collapse. The U.N. head of mission for Afghanistan said at the gathering on Wednesday that there have

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian, talk show host and political influencer Jon Stewart has been named the 23rd recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Award for lifetime achievement in comedy. The 59-year-old Stewart, whose real name is Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, rose to prominence as a standup comic and host of

DENVER (AP) — Authorities say investigators are working to determine whether some small bone fragments found during the search for a 91-year-old woman who tried to save her dogs from a wildfire in suburban Denver could belong to her. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that scientific testing is underway to determine if the

By MATTHEW PERRONE and KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, all Americans can log on to a government website and order free, at-home COVID-19 tests. But the White House push may do little to ease the omicron surge, and experts say Washington will have to do a lot more to

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A former Detroit City Council member who quit after pleading guilty to a bribery scheme has been sentenced to two years in prison. Andre Spivey acknowledged “very poor choices” in accepting $36,000 but still had hoped to get probation. His prison sentence is far below the 40

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has hosted his Iranian counterpart, hailing their the two countries’ cooperation on international issues, including the Syrian crisis. Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held talks Wednesday in the Kremlin. Putin noted that shared efforts by Moscow and Tehran have played a key

By KAREL JANICEK Associated Press PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s new government has dismissed the previous government’s plan to require older adults and people in some professions to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The previous government released an order in early December making vaccination mandatory for people age 60 and over as well as

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit’s claims that police on Maryland’s Eastern Shore used excessive force on a 19-year-old Black man who died in 2018 during a struggle with officers who handcuffed him and shackled his legs. Relatives of Anton Black

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has raised 3 billion euros in a 10-year bond auction that helps boost its budget following its yearslong economic bailout program. The finance minister said the cost of Wednesday’s bone issue was “satisfactory,” given global trends like the coronavirus pandemic. Greece is planning to raise more than 10 billion euros

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida is on pace to produce the smallest crop of oranges in more than 75 years. A forecast released last week says the Sunshine State is on pace to produce 44.5 million 90-pound boxes of oranges during the current season. That’s a 1.5 million box reduction from the previous forecast in

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch talent show “The Voice of Holland” has been taken off air in the Netherlands amid a sexual misconduct scandal. The furor is one of the most serious #MeToo reckonings to hit the Dutch entertainment world and focuses on a show created in the Netherlands but broadcast

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A court in Ukraine has rejected a motion by the prosecutors to remand former President Petro Poroshenko in custody pending investigation and trial on the charges of treason, allowing the politician to walk out with a few restrictions. The ruling barred Poroshenko from leaving the capital,