Associated Press PARIS (AP) — “Is it the Eiffel Tower?” asks a puzzled American tourist queued in front of the Paris 2024 Megastore. To international visitors, the triangular Olympic Phryge mascot might resemble the iconic monument, a “poop emoji” — that’s according to another shopper, a tongue or even, well, female anatomy. However, it rings
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PARIS (AP) — The head of Ukraine’s Olympic delegation touted the limited numbers of Russian athletes at the Paris Olympics — who must compete as neutrals — as war between the two countries grinds on for a third year. In an interview with The Associated Press, Vadym Guttsait told The Associated Press in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MILAN (AP) — Despite protests by animal rights activists, an alpine Italian province has confirmed the killing of a mother bear believed to be responsible for an attack on a French hiker earlier this month. Activists say the killing leaves her three cubs in “serious difficulty to survive.” The International Organization for Animal
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TOKYO (AP) — One person died and nearly 150 others were sickened after eating grilled eel prepared by a restaurant chain and sold at a department store near Tokyo, officials said. Among those sickened, two required hospitalization. Keikyu Department Store said 147 customers as of Monday had reported symptoms such as vomiting and
Continue ReadingDERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say a bulletproof vehicle carrying local staff working for a U.N. development agency came under gun attack in Pakistan’s volatile northwest but no one was harmed. The attackers ambushed the vehicle of the United Nations Office for Project Services in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in the Khyber
Continue ReadingAP National Writer PARIS (AP) — American pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik helped deliver the U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s first Olympic team medal since 2008. Nedoroscik went up last for the Americans in the final event. His score of 14.866 secured bronze for the U.S. Nedoroscik says he wanted to validated the decision to include
Continue ReadingAP Health Writer With the Paris Games underway, officials are keeping a close eye on the water quality of the Seine River. Swimming has been off-limits in the long-polluted river for more than a century. But the city spent a lot of money trying to clean it up for swimming events during the Olympics. A
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — U.K.-based oil giant BP PLC said it will reward shareholders to the tune of $7 billion this year through the purchase of its own stock, even as it reported a near 30% decline in profits in the first half of 2024. In a statement Tuesday, BP said its underlying replacement cost profit
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer Tesla is recalling more than 1.8 million vehicles because of a hood issue that could increase the risk of a crash. Billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla is recalling some 2021-2024 Model 3, Model S, Model X, and 2020-2024 Model Y vehicles because the hood latch assembly may fail to detect an unlatched hood
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has chosen not to testify before a judge who went to Madrid’s presidential complex for a scheduled interview as part of an investigation into corruption allegations against his wife. The government’s legal officers later filed a complaint against the judge “in defense of the institution
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s highest court has upheld the central part of an electoral reform designed to downsize the country’s increasingly bloated parliament. But in a ruling Tuesday, it overturned a planned change that two opposition parties feared could cost them their chance to send lawmakers to Berlin. The country’s last national election
Continue ReadingPARIS (AP) — Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez has revealed that she fought at the Paris Olympics while seven months pregnant. Hafez posted on Instagram that she was “carrying a little Olympian one” hours after she had reached the round of 16 in women’s saber Monday. The 26-year-old fencer from Cairo upset Elizabeth Tartakovsky of the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PARIS (AP) — A storm of outrage about the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony — including angry comments from Donald Trump — took a legal turn Tuesday, with French prosecutors ordering police to investigate complaints of online abuse from a DJ and LGBTQ+ icon who performed. DJ Barbara Butch said she suffered a torrent
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Air New Zealand has scrapped its 2030 carbon emissions reduction targets, citing lags in producing new planes, a lack of alternative fuel and “challenging” regulatory and policy settings. The move by the national carrier highlighted the hurdles vexing carriers and policymakers in confronting aviation emissions. The airline said
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — China’s powerful Politburo has endorsed the ruling Communist Party’s strategy for growing the economy by encouraging more consumer spending and weeding out unproductive companies to promote “survival of the fittest.” A statement issued Tuesday after the meeting of the 24 highest leaders of the party warned that coming months
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PARIS (AP) — Most parts of France are enduring a heat wave mere days after the 2024 Olympics launched with a rain-soaked opening ceremony. The national weather agency says temperatures in Paris and surrounding areas hit 97 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday. Air conditioning is far less common in France than in places like
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s economy enjoyed only modest growth in the April-June quarter even as the U.S. outperformed expectations, highlighting a persistent transatlantic growth gap. Germany, the leading European economy, remained in the dumps while hesitant consumers saved more rather than spending on new houses or cars. Gross domestic product, the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A police officer has testified that he did not know where bullets were coming from as two colleagues were shot in an ambush by three Christian extremists on a rural Australian property two years ago. Constable Randall Kirk told a coroner’s inquest on Tuesday he was also shot as
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LONDON (AP) — Far-right protesters fueled by anger and false online rumors hurled bottles and stones at police, wounding more than 20 officers Tuesday outside a northwest England mosque near where three girls were fatally stabbed a day earlier. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “thuggery” and said the crowd had hijacked what
Continue ReadingLYON, France (AP) — Interpol says more than 200 people have been arrested and some $1.6 billion worth of illegal drugs and precursor chemicals seized as part of a two-month operation against narcotics trafficking across Europe, North America and Africa. The international police organization, based in Lyon, France, said Operation Lionfish Hurricane in April and
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