Lebanese officials targeted in the investigation of the massive blast that tore through Beirut sought to shift blame for the presence of explosives at the city’s port, and the visiting French president warned Thursday that without serious reforms the country would "continue to sink ..read more

WASHINGTON (AP) " Nearly 1.2 million laid-off Americans applied for state unemployment benefits last week, evidence that the coronavirus keeps forcing companies to slash jobs just as a critical $600 weekly federal jobless payment has expired.The government's report Thursday did offer a smidgen of hopeful news: The number of jobless claims declined by 249,000 from the previous week, after rising for two straight weeks, and it was the lowest total since mid-March.Still, the pace ..read more

LONDON (AP) " Turkey's currency dropped to an all-time low against the dollar on Thursday as the global recession created by the pandemic brings to the fore weaknesses in the country's economy.The Turkish lira fell to 7.2775 against the dollar before recovering slightly to around 7.24, compared with the previous record low of 7.26 in May.The drop is in part fueled by high inflation, a wide current account deficit and the government's push for cheap credit to drive the economy ..read more

Since the day Trump took office, the ACLU — according to a breakdown it provided to The Associated Press — has filed 237 lawsuits against the administration and about 160 other legal actions, including Freedom of Information Act requests, ethics complaints and administrative complaints ..read more

BEIRUT (AP) " Lebanese officials targeted in the investigation of the massive blast that tore through Beirut sought to shift blame for the presence of explosives at the city's port, and the visiting French president warned Thursday that without serious reforms the country would 'continue to sink.'The blast Tuesday, which appeared to have been caused by an accidental fire that ignited a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate at the city's port, rippled across the Lebanese capital, killing ..read more

COPENHAGEN, Denmark " A northern Norway university hospital says two more crewmembers who worked on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, bring the total to 55.Following the outbreak on the MS Roald Amundsen, the ship's owner halted all cruises on Monday and Norway closed its ports to cruise ships for two weeks.The University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsoe, north of the Arctic Circle, where the ship currently is docked, said the two were ..read more

MIAMI (AP) " Until recently, Robert Lewis had never heard of Karen Bass, the California congresswoman in contention to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's running mate. But the recent college graduate had long heard stories from his grandfather recounting the days of oppression in Cuba under Fidel Castro.When he learned that Bass had called Castro's death 'a great loss,' the 22-year-old considered it a disregard for the plight of those who suffered at the hands of ..read more

DETROIT (AP) " Joe Biden's Democratic presidential campaign has launched a new national ad focused on Black Americans, urging them to stand up to President Donald Trump the way their ancestors stood up to "violent racists of a generation ago."The one-minute ad, which was shared exclusively with The Associated Press before its digital and television release on Thursday, is meant to drum up support among Black Americans, a key constituency for Biden, ahead of November's general election ..read more

NEW YORK (AP) " The day after Donald Trump's election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: 'See you in court.'As president, Trump hasn't personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories ..read more

BERLIN (AP) " Germany will require people arriving from countries deemed high risk, such as the United States, to take coronavirus tests starting this weekend, the health minister said Thursday, as the country recorded its highest daily tally of new infections in three months.German officials have voiced alarm over a steady upward creep in the number of new infections over recent weeks. The national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said 1,045 cases were recorded on ..read more