News

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Opera returned to its home after an 18-month absence caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Before a masked crowd of 3,600, music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin led a performance of the Verdi Requiem in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The Met had

VIENNA (AP) — Ethiopia’s Derara Hurisa has been disqualified for wearing the wrong shoes after winning the Vienna Marathon. The 24-year-old Hurisa crossed the line first by three seconds but was later told he had been disqualified. That was because the soles of his shoes were 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) thicker than the maximum 4

By ALBERT AJI Associated Press DARAA, Syria (AP) — The badly damaged old section of the southern Syrian city of Daraa, which until recently was held by opposition gunmen, appears to have slowly returned to some sense of normalcy. The capture of Daraa al-Balad marked another victory for President Bashar Assad, whose forces now control

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Northern Idaho has a long and deep streak of antigovernment activism that is confounding attempts to battle a COVID-19 outbreak. The surge has overwhelmed hospitals in the deeply conservative region. A deadly 1992 standoff with federal agents near the Canadian border helped spark an

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister says his country is working with the U.N.’s refugee agency to repatriate Syrians to their home country. The comments are at odds, however, with the U.N. agency’s overall policy towards returning migrants to Syria, which it still considers too dangerous. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday that “we

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Nicholas is expected to strengthen as it heads for the Gulf Coast. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say coastal areas of Texas, Mexico and Louisiana could see heavy rain and floods. Tropical storm warnings have been issued for coastal Texas. Nicholas is expected to produce storm total

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is again choosing whether to recall a governor. But the electorate deciding Gov. Gavin Newsom’s fate looks very different from that one that ousted fellow Democrat Gray Davis in 2003. The state today has 7 million more voters but fewer registered Republicans. And the electorate

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press Officials in some urban areas are raising concerns about a federal rule limiting how federal coronavirus relief money can be spent on high-speed internet. The American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden lists broadband infrastructure as one of the uses for $350 billion of flexible aid to states,

By SARAH RANKIN and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — When an enormous statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee was hoisted off a pedestal in the former capital of the Confederacy and carted off to storage, many civil rights activists saw it as a step toward a more inclusive Virginia, if only a

By BERNAT ARMANGUE Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A small flag shop, tucked away in the courtyard of a Kabul market, has documented Afghanistan’s turbulent history over the decades with its ever-changing merchandise. The owner says that until the Taliban takeover last month, he used to produce flags from all nations that had diplomatic

ROME (AP) — Italian police are investigating a Somali man for attempted murder after he allegedly slashed two bus ticket controllers in the beach resort town of Rimini, then wounded three pedestrians as he fled. State radio said investigators have ruled out terrorism and think the 26-year-old asylum-seeker was under the influence of drugs during

BY COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised to “break and smash” the human trafficking networks that smuggle migrants across the border from Turkey. Mitsotakis, in a news conference Sunday following his Saturday keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair, also said, in response to a question

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ZEINA KARAM Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Not long after 9/11, the Bush administration shifted its attention to Iraq, saying it was part of an “axis of evil” that pursued anti-American policies. In subsequent months, the U.S. asserted that brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was armed with weapons of mass destruction