June 21, 2026 7:34 am
(AP) – U.S. and Iranian negotiators are in Switzerland for talks to work on key details of their interim agreement to end the Iran war. A team led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance will meet Iranian negotiators, including Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, on Sunday. Officials from Pakistan and Qatar are serving as mediators. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon. The interim deal between the U.S. and Iran is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tolls in the strait if a final deal isn’t reached in 60 days.
June 21, 2026 7:36 am
(AP) – Officials in Russia-occupied Crimea have suspended civilian gasoline sales as Ukraine increases attacks on fuel supplies. The Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea said Ukrainian strikes killed four people and wounded 28 others overnight. He said local gas stations will now only sell fuel to government agencies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attacks as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Russia’s energy infrastructure. The Crimean peninsula is facing its worst energy crisis since its 2014 annexation by Russia. Social networks are filled with requests for fuel, and some speculators are selling gas at double the market price.
June 21, 2026 7:37 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump claims the problems with the Reflecting Pool in Washington are due to vandalism. He offered no details to back that up in social media posts Friday night and Saturday, except to say there have been multiple arrests. David Hearn, a 67-year-old Bethesda, Maryland, man, said he stopped by the pool during a bike ride, touched a partially detached strip of paint in the water, and was arrested. He told The Associated Press he did not peel off paint. The president ordered the pool redone to get rid of algae that’s plagued it for more than 100 years. But the algae came back.
June 20, 2026 9:34 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s joint military command says the Strait of Hormuz has been closed again, citing Israeli attacks in Lebanon and U.S. “bad faith” and “its clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war. The statement on state television on Saturday also warned that “if the aggression continues, subsequent steps have been planned.” Ships had begun transiting the strait after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed earlier in the week. Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 16 people, including two children, hours after reports emerged of a ceasefire agreement
June 20, 2026 8:14 am
TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese state media say the latest Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 16 people, including two children, hours after reports emerged of a ceasefire agreement. The persistent fighting threatens an interim deal between the United States and Iran to end their war. Lebanon’s National News Agency said the strikes on Saturday hit the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages. The reports say at least seven people are trapped under the rubble. Mediators are scrambling to halt the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, after a heavy exchange killed at least 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers on Friday.
June 21, 2026 7:00 am
A division of a German manufacturing company is moving its domestic corporate headquarters to Fallowfield Township just west of Charleroi in the Monongahela Valley. Spaleck USA LLC, an American subsidiary of Spaleck GmbH & Co. KG debuted its new 15,000-square-foot facility in Alta Vista Business Park during a Wednesday morning ribbon cutting, promising a “commitment” to sustained investment in the region. Spaleck USA specializes in both stationary and mobile conveying and separation systems for use in recycling plants, metals reclamation and other industries. The new facility, which cost just under $4 million, will house the company’s domestic headquarters and maintenance division. The new facility has created seven full-time jobs so far, with three additional positions waiting for qualified applicants. Washington County Commissioner Chair Nick Sherman said investments like this are crucial to the overall economic development of a region, saying that “this is a shining example of partnerships between the alliance, local elected officials and a German company that could have gone anywhere in the world, but they chose to put its flag down in Washington County.”
June 21, 2026 7:00 am
Nicole Lane, a Canonsburg native, is suing the Washington County jail and its healthcare contractor claiming she was denied proper medical care when she was incarcerated while pregnant two years ago, and was later shackled to a hospital bed while going through labor. Attorneys for Nicole Lane filed the federal lawsuit in Pittsburgh on Wednesday accusing the Washington County Correctional Facility, healthcare provider PrimeCare and several jail workers and county sheriff’s deputies of alleged neglect that nearly caused her to lose the baby and her life. Lane is seeking damages for allegedly depriving her of her Eighth and 14th amendment rights, along with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, Pennsylvania’s Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act and Pennsylvania tort law. According to the lawsuit, the state’s Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act restricts the use of restraints on pregnant women and has been in effect since 2010, and it was expanded in 2023. Washington County solicitor Gary Sweat said Thursday that he was unaware of the lawsuit and could not comment. Representatives with Harrisburg-based PrimeCare Inc. could not be reached for comment Friday.
June 20, 2026 4:28 am
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A large fire has almost completely destroyed a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic, forcing the evacuation of almost 1,700 tourists. Local media reported an Italian tourist died in the fire and several other tourists required medical assistance. The Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham resort is located in Bayahibe, a popular destination for U.S. and international tourists on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic. Authorities reported about 1,690 tourists had to be evacuated from the resort to other hotels and nearby housing facilities because of the massive blaze.
June 20, 2026 4:26 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group agreed to halt the heavy fighting in southern Lebanon that had threatened to unravel an interim peace agreement between the United States and Iran. That’s according to officials who spoke Friday to The Associated Press. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah immediately confirmed the truce. It came after a heavy exchange of fire killed 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah and Israel went to war shortly after the outbreak of the wider conflict, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.
June 20, 2026 8:18 am
ROME (AP) — The head of Latin America’s top development bank has made a case to Pope Leo XIV about the potential of rare earth mining. Ilan Goldfajn, head of the Inter-American Development Bank, argues it could benefit Latin America if done responsibly. Goldfajn met with the pope on Friday, acknowledging the Vatican’s opposition to multinational mining corporations. The Vatican has long supported Indigenous peoples affected by mining. Goldfajn believes the region can benefit from mining if proper standards and conditions are met. The Inter-American Development Bank has a $4 billion pipeline of mineral projects, mostly in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.
