Jul 20, 2023 By Ap 6 min read

Protesters storm Swedish Embassy in Baghdad after man threatens to burn Quran in Stockholm

BAGHDAD (AP) — Protesters angered by an Iraqi man in Sweden who threatened to burn a copy of the Quran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. They overran the diplomatic compound early Thursday and started a fire. Hours later, Iraq’s prime minister cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Islamic holy book. Protesters occupied the diplomatic post for several hours. They waved flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr. The embassy staff was evacuated a day earlier.

Commanders’ Dan Snyder fined $60 million for sexually harassing employee, financial improprieties

The NFL says Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder sexually harassed a team employee and oversaw team executives who deliberately withheld millions of dollars in revenue from other clubs. The league says Snyder has agreed to pay a $60 million fine. The NFL released a 23-page report detailing an investigation into Snyder’s conduct just minutes after league owners unanimously approved the sale of the Commanders to Josh Harris. The independent investigation was conducted by former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White and her law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton. Investigators concluded that Snyder sexually harassed former team employee Tiffani Johnston.

Grassley releases full FBI memo with unverified claims about Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley has released an unclassified document that Republicans claim is significant in their investigation of Hunter Biden. Republicans say the information is significant as they probe the financial affairs of the President Joe Biden’s family, reviving previously debunked claims of financial wrongdoing. House Oversight Chairman James Comer had issued a subpoena to the FBI for the document. It was made public for the first time Thursday. It involves claims a confidential informant made in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s alleged business dealings when he served on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The White House rejected the information as having been “debunked for years.”

Senate committee approves legislation to impose stronger ethics standards on Supreme Court justices

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court would have to abide by stronger ethics standards under legislation approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It comes in response to recent revelations about donor-funded trips by justices. The bill faced united opposition from Republicans and has little chance to make it through the full Senate. The legislation would set ethics rules for the court and a process to enforce them, including new standards for transparency around recusals, gifts and potential conflicts of interest. Democrats first pushed the legislation after reports earlier this year that Justice Clarence Thomas participated in luxury vacations and a real estate deal with a top GOP donor.

Police seized laptops, memoir from Vegas-area home of witness to Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas-area home searched by police investigating the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996 is tied to Duane “Keffe D” Davis. He’s an author and the uncle of a long-dead suspect. He says he’s one of the only surviving witnesses to the shooting. No arrest has ever been made. Davis has said he and his nephew were in a car from which fatal shots were fired. The nephew died in 1998. Davis wrote in a 2019 memoir that he told authorities what he knew many years ago, in exchange for ending a federal conspiracy case against him and his gang. A source tells The Associated Press that the Shakur case is being presented to a grand jury in Las Vegas.

CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Here’s what you need to see and know today

Climate-stoked extreme weather events are tumbling one upon another around the globe. A landslide triggered by torrential rains in India’s western Maharashtra state killed at least 10 people, with many others feared trapped under debris. In Greece, a huge fire was contained west of Athens, but authorities braced Thursday for a new round of extreme weather this weekend. Searing heat across Europe’s Mediterranean south has maintained a high risk of fires in Spain, Italy and Greece. And in the Balkans, a storm that followed an intense heat wave left a firefighter and five others dead.

As temperatures rise, mosquitoes are also on the move. Scientists worry that could mean more malaria

As global warming pushes temperatures up, the elevation range where malaria-carrying mosquitoes thrive is rising. Researchers have found evidence of the phenomenon from the tropical highlands of South America to the mountainous, populous regions of eastern Africa. Scientists now worry that people living in areas once inhospitable to the insects, including the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the mountains of eastern Ethiopia, could be newly exposed to the disease.

Solar panels on water canals seem like a no-brainer. So why aren’t they widespread?

DENVER (AP) — The idea of putting solar panels on top of the world’s thousands of miles of irrigation canals has long seemed like a good one. In arid locations, besides the clean electricity, there is the added benefit of reducing evaporation. But the technology has been slow to take off. Pilot projects in India were never broadened. A study measuring the potential of covering canals in California has given the idea new legs. Now a startup company is trying to learn from India’s challenges and will install panels on canals in California’s Central Valley. And environmental groups are pressing for even greater adoption.

Russia bombards Odesa and other southern Ukraine port cities for third night since end of grain deal

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded Ukraine’s southern cities with drones and missiles for a third consecutive night, keeping Odesa in its crosshairs after a bitter dispute over the end of a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to send grain through the key Black Sea port. Ukrainian officials said Thursday that the strikes killed at least two people in Odesa. At least 19 people, including a child, were injured in the nearby city of Mykolaiv. Russia has targeted Ukrainian critical grain export infrastructure since it vowed “retribution” this week for an attack that damaged a crucial bridge between Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula. The strikes have helped drive up food prices in countries facing hunger.

Australian castaway recounts comfort he felt adrift at sea, thanks to meditation, swimming and dog

MANZANILLO, Mexico (AP) — He quit his corporate job and moved to Mexico to pursue his dream of sailing solo across the ocean. Australian Timothy Shaddock bought his 30-foot catamaran two years ago in the Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta. He needed a place to live and he liked the isolation. “Of course, living on a boat and sailing on a boat is two different things and that was more of a challenge,” Shaddock told The Associated Press a day after stepping onto land for the first time in months. He had started his journey under a full moon and strong winds that made it easy to keep sailing. But a storm changed things in an instant and turned each day into a battle to survive.