News

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Court of Appeal has ruled that doctors can prescribe puberty-blocking drugs to children under 16. That overturns a lower court’s decision that a judge’s approval should be needed because children considering gender reassignment are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to the treatment. The appeals court disagreed, ruling Friday

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A new prime minister will soon lead the Bahamas as the archipelago struggles with a spike in COVID-19 cases, a crumbling economy and the devastation of Hurricane Dorian. Philip Davis of the Progressive Liberal Party beat current Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, who conceded defeated late Thursday. Minnis, of the

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The head of the United Nations says a new report shows the world is on a “catastrophic pathway” toward a hotter future unless governments make more ambitious pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The U.N. report, reviewing all the national commitments submitted until July 30 by signatories

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota regulators have ordered Enbridge to pay more than $3 million for allegedly violating state environmental law by piercing a groundwater aquifer during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. The Department of Natural Resources says Enbridge, while working near Clearbrook in January, dug too deeply into the ground and

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO Associated Press Jacobo Rendon knows dozens of birds by name and grew up drawing them. During the coronavirus pandemic, the 14-year-old from the Antioquia region of Colombia turned that passion into a conservation project and a labor of love. He has been working on a photographic and illustrated bird guide that

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is trying to hammer out the world’s next steps against rapidly worsening climate change in a private, virtual session with a small group of other global leaders. Friday’s session at the White House opened with Biden announcing a new U.S.-European pledge

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister says he will visit Bahrain later this month, the first such visit by an Israeli minister to the Gulf Arab country following a diplomatic agreement reached last year. Yair Lapid announced the visit in a conference call on Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and officials from

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Doerr, Richard Powers and Lauren Groff are among this years nominees on the National Book Awards’ fiction longlist, which also includes Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ debut novel “The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois,” already an Oprah Winfrey selection and finalist for the

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch defense minister has resigned, a day after parliament passed a motion of censure against her for her handling of chaotic evacuations from Kabul of translators who worked for Dutch forces in Afghanistan. Ank Bijleveld is the second minister in the Netherlands’ caretaker coalition government to resign over the

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The World Health Organization’s director general is deeply concerned about the impact of Lebanon’s economic meltdown and multiple crises on the people’s wellbeing. He says the migration of health care workers is particularly worrisome. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been in Lebanon over the past two days,

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press LA PINE, Ore. (AP) — From dusty towns to forests in the West, illegal marijuana growers are taking water in uncontrolled amounts when there often isn’t enough to go around for even licensed users. Conflicts about water have long existed but amid a severe drought, illegal marijuana farms add additional

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia will start mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for all government employees, further tightening anti-virus measures that sparked a major riot in the small Alpine state earlier this week. The measure adopted on Friday compels all government employees to receive one shot by Oct. 1 a second by Nov. 1, unless they get