US Open: Varvara Lepchenko advances in her first Grand Slam event after a doping suspension Former top-20 tennis player Varvara Lepchenko has played in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in more than three years — and for the first time since she served a doping ban. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day]
Polio has been eliminated in most parts of the world, but the infectious disease is still spreading in a small number of countries. The recent polio infection in an unvaccinated baby in Gaza is the first time the disease has been reported in the territory in more than 25 years. Polio has been eliminated in
Haitian forces have teamed up with police sent from Kenya to oust criminal gangs from one of the roughest neighborhoods of Haiti’s capital. The operation was announced by Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille on Wednesday at a hospital in Port-au-Prince, where three Haitian policemen were recuperating after being injured in a shootout in the impoverished
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Smoke from wildfires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest Wednesday was causing people in the region to cough, burning their throats and reddening their eyes. Large swaths of the country have been draped in smoke in recent days, resulting from fires raging across the Amazon, Cerrado savannah, Pantanal wetland and the state of
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to assist a Greek-flagged oil tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” Iran’s U.N. Mission said late Wednesday. The Pentagon said Tuesday that attempts by an unidentified “third party” to send two
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 rattled El Salvador on Wednesday afternoon with no initial damage reported, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake, which took place 37 miles (60 kilometers) off the coast of the western region of La Libertad, shook much of
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization’s office for Europe on Thursday decried a decline in condom use by adolescents in recent years, warning of risks of infection and unplanned pregnancies in countries from Canada to central Asia. The findings come in the latest report by WHO Europe on health behavior in school-age children and
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro — already notorious for street muggings, corrupt politicians, ruthless militias and Kalashnikov-toting drug traffickers — has a new public enemy: plushies. Or, more specifically, the joystick-controlled claw machines that dispense them. On Wednesday, Rio police were carrying out 16 search warrants targeting the machines that elicit exhilaration
PHOENIX (AP) — Michael Lacey, a founder of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison and fined $3 million for a single money laundering count in a sprawling case involving allegations of a yearslong scheme to promote and profit from prostitution through classified ads. A jury convicted Lacey, 76
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Executives with military shipbuilder Austal said settling an accounting fraud investigation, which included an agreement to pay a $24 million penalty, is the best outcome for the company and that new controls are in place. Austal USA, a subsidiary of Australia-based Austal Limited, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud
