AP National News

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Exchange rate distortions in war-torn Syria have allowed the government of Bashar Assad to divert at least $100 million of international aid to its coffers. That’s according to new research published this week by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The currency manipulation deprives

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Key European Union leaders are unconvinced by Polish arguments that fundamental judicial changes the country has made would not undermine the bloc and said that the withholding of billions in EU recovery funds would likely continue unless Warsaw falls back into line. At the end of a

By ANDREW SELSKY and MANUEL VALDES Associated Press THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) — Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of a small Oregon town represent an emerging 21st century concern. Now a critical part of modern computing, data centers help people stream movies

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has announced a cross-government effort to investigate and prosecute redlining, the practice of banks discriminating against racial minorities or certain neighborhoods. It is the first major expansion of redlining investigations since the Obama administration. As part of the effort, the Justice Department as

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing the Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in place for now, but has agreed to hear arguments in the case on Nov. 1. The justices said Friday they will decide whether the federal government has the right to sue over

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government has ordered that all citizens who paid fines during a nearly 3-month state of emergency declared last year to slow the spread of the coronavirus be remunerated. The move follows a ruling by Spain’s top court earlier this year declaring as unconstitutional the country’s first state of emergency which

By BABAR DOGAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s police say violent clashes have erupted between security forces and Islamists in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least two policemen and wounding several demonstrators. Friday’s incident happened shortly after thousands of Islamists launched their “long march” from the city toward

by SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations envoy for Syria says the first round of talks between the government and the opposition to draft constitutional reforms in Geneva ended in disappointment and no new date has been set for the next meeting. The talks started Monday following a nine-month hiatus

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press One of the world’s largest bourbon producers has announced a tentative contract agreement with a union representing striking workers in Kentucky. About 420 striking workers will vote on the five-year contract offer Saturday. The walkout began about six weeks ago after they rejected a previous contract offer. The breakthrough comes

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government’s scientific advisers have urged the government to ensure coronavirus restrictions can be introduced rapidly, as the rate of new infections continues to grow. Britain has recorded an average of 47,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day in the past week, up 18% from the

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have pledged to “keep up the pressure” on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to halt the flow of migrants entering the 27 member-nation bloc from his country. The leaders also raised the prospect on Friday of imposing new sanctions on Lukashenko amid calls from some

By PETER SMITH Associated Press The spiritual leader of the world’s 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians brings an agenda spanning religious, political and environmental concerns to a 12-day U.S. visit beginning Saturday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden and participate in various ceremonial and interfaith gatherings. He’s expected to raise

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Coronavirus infections and deaths in Russia have climbed to another pandemic record high, putting additional strain on the country’s health care system. The government coronavirus task force on Friday reported 37,141 new infections and 1,064 deaths in the past 24 hours. That brought Russia’s death toll to

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations says it has resumed humanitarian evacuation flights for migrants stranded in Libya. The announcement comes after a massive crackdown on migrants inside the country and the suspension of the flights for several months. The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement that it had evacuated 127 people

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a 58-year-old Florida man is accused of killing his neighbor in a dispute over a cat that wandered into his yard. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office says Clifford Anthony Bliss Jr. became angry when the cat went into his yard Wednesday. He went to his neighbor’s home in Umatilla

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The cinematographer who was fatally shot with a prop gun by Alec Baldwin on a movie set grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle and worked as an investigative reporter in Europe before studying film in Los Angeles. Halyna Hutchins was

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A highly anticipated nonpartisan audit of the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin did not identify any widespread fraud in the battleground state, which a key Republican legislative leader says shows that the state’s elections are “safe and secure.” The report released Friday by the nonpartisan Legislative

PARIS (AP) — France on Friday urged Iran to curb nuclear activities of “unprecedented gravity” as U.S. and European envoys met to discuss efforts to revive the troubled 2015 Iran nuclear deal. U.S. envoy Robert Malley joined counterparts from France, Britain and Germany at Friday’s meetings in Paris. The French Foreign Ministry called it a

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Major stock indexes on Wall Street are mostly lower in afternoon trading Friday as losses for several large technology and communications companies weigh on the market. The S&P 500, which notched a record high a day earlier, slipped less than 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial