Tag Archives: associated press

The school year in Afghanistan started Wednesday but without girls whom the Taliban barred from attending classes beyond the sixth grade, making it the only country with restrictions on female education. The U.N. children’s agency says more than 1 million girls are affected by the ban. It also estimates 5 million were out of school before the Taliban takeover due …

U.N. agencies have warned that waste from electronics is piling up worldwide while recycling rates remain low and are likely to fall even further. The agencies were referring to “e-waste,” which is defined as discarded devices with a plug or battery, including cellphones, electronic toys, TVs, microwave ovens, e-cigarettes, laptop computers and solar panels. It does not include waste from …

Maine environmental regulators are set to decide whether the state will join a growing number of states adopting new standards designed to grow the use of electric vehicles. The rules, which originated in California, would require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles every year. The new standards would start with 51% in 2028 and …

French bulldogs. U.S. dog owners. C’est l’amour. Frenchies remained the United States’ most commonly registered purebred dogs last year, according to American Kennel Club rankings released Wednesday. The club calls the Frenchie the most popular breed, though other canine constituencies may beg to differ. Is it a coup to be celebrated? Au contraire, say longtime fans who rue what popularity …

Sentencing continues Wednesday for white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi who pleaded guilty last year to breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two Black men with a stun gun, a sex toy and other objects. Daniel Opdyke, 28, and Christian Dedmon, 29, are set to appear separately before U.S. District Judge Tom Lee. They face lengthy …

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan sought to reassure Ukrainians during an unannounced visit to Kyiv Wednesday that the U.S. will continue to support their efforts to fend off Russia’s two-year-old invasion. The national security adviser expressed optimism that lawmakers in Washington will break a monthlong logjam and approve tens of billions of …

Pakistani security forces Wednesday killed at least eight insurgents as they repulsed an attack by a separatist group on a sprawling government building outside the Chinese-funded Gwadar port in the volatile southwest, officials said. Three security forces were also killed in the ensuing shootout. All the Chinese nationals working at the port in Baluchistan province were safe, the officials said. …

A bus crashed into a tunnel wall on an expressway in northern China killing 14 people, state media said Wednesday. Thirty-seven other people were injured in the Tuesday afternoon crash, state broadcaster CCTV said. The bus was carrying 51 passengers when it hit the wall on the Hohhot-Beihai Expressway in the city of Linfen in Shanxi province. HONG KONG LAWMAKERS …

An interactive exhibit opening Wednesday at the National WWII Museum will use artificial intelligence to let visitors hold virtual conversations with images of veterans, including a Medal of Honor winner who died in 2022. Voices From the Front will also enable visitors to the New Orleans museum to ask questions of war-era home front heroes and supporters of the U.S. …

Jamie Roberts and her husband felt lucky when they found an A-frame cabin on forest-draped Wrangell Island in southeast Alaska, where they could settle on a few acres and have some chickens. A stretch of highway a few miles north, the only road into town, did make her nervous; there, waterfalls cascaded and rocks tumbled from towering bluffs on stormy …