June 12, 2021 11:29 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Authorities say someone opened fire in a busy entertainment district in downtown Austin, wounding 13 people before getting away. Police Chief Joseph Chacon said at news conference that investigators are looking into what sparked the shooting, which occurred at around 1:30 a.m. along a popular stretch of 6th Street with many bars and restaurants. He says investigators weren’t able to get a detailed description of the shooter, but they believe it was a man. Chacon says officers reached the scene quickly and managed to apply tourniquets and take other life-saving steps. Some even drove patients to hospitals because it was hard for ambulances to reach the scene. Two of the wounded are in critical condition.
June 12, 2021 9:38 am
CARBIS BAY, England (AP) – The United States plans to push democratic allies to publicly call out China for forced labor practices as the Group of Seven leaders gather for day two of their summit in England. Leaders will also unveil an infrastructure plan meant to compete with Beijing’s efforts in the developing world. President Joe Biden is trying to get fellow democratic leaders attending the seaside summit to present a more unified front to compete economically with China in the century ahead. The White House says Biden wants G-7 leaders to speak out in a single voice against forced labor practices targeting Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities.
June 12, 2021 9:34 am
Hundreds of environmental protesters took to the Cornish seaside to draw the attention of world leaders and the international media outlets that have descended on southwest England for the Group of Seven summit. A crowd of surfers, kayakers and swimmers gathered Saturday on a beach in Falmouth for a mass “paddle out protest” organized by a group campaigning for more action to protect oceans. Earlier, activists from Oxfam assembled on the beach to protest climate change and put on masks depicting the leaders attending the G-7 summit. The leaders from seven wealthy democracies are meeting near the town of St. Ives for talks focusing on the pandemic and climate change.
June 12, 2021 9:30 am
FALMOUTH, England (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a G-7 summit, as post-Brexit turbulence strains relations between Britain and the EU. After Britain’s top diplomat accused the EU of taking a “bloody-minded” approach to relations, Johnson also met the bloc’s leaders, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. The two sides are locked in an escalating diplomatic feud over Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that has a land border with the bloc. The spat has drawn in U.S. President Joe Biden, who is concerned about the potential threat to Northern Ireland’s peace accord.
June 12, 2021 9:28 am
BEIJING (AP) – Top U.S. and Chinese diplomats appear to have had another sharply worded exchange, with Beijing saying it told the U.S. to cease interfering in its internal affairs and accusing it of politicizing the search for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi and Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call Friday that revealed wide divisions in a number of contentious areas including the curtailing of freedoms in Hong Kong and the mass detention of Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region. Yang said China was “gravely concerned” over what he called “absurd” stories that the virus escaped from a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where cases were first discovered.
June 12, 2021 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The shooting of a 6-year-old Pittsburgh girl sparked a fight between two sides of her family at the hospital where she was being treated, spurring another shooting that left two men wounded and a third facing charges. Authorities say the brawl in front of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Thursday night involved at least 30 people. It occurred about four hours after the girl was shot in the abdomen and critically injured. Some people in the crowd were arguing when the dispute turned physical. Gunfire soon erupted and one man was shot several times, causing critical injuries. The second victim didn’t realize he had been wounded until he had returned home.
June 12, 2021 3:46 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Federal prosecutors say a Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, man has been arrested on assault, robbery and other charges for his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Robert Morss was arrested Friday and was scheduled for a first appearance in federal court in the Western District of Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon. According to court documents, Morss was identified by witnesses who told investigators he was a Penn State University graduate and a veteran who may have mental health issues from his military service. Federal investigators say Morss rallied, directed and made multiple attempts to organize members of the crowd to push past Capitol guards, as well as trying to take a flagpole, shields, a baton and fencing from guards.
June 12, 2021 3:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf is extending hundreds of waivers of regulations that his administration approved over the last 15 months under the authority of his pandemic disaster emergency declaration that lawmakers voted to end. The bill Wolf signed Friday allows the waivers to last through Sept. 30, unless Wolf’s administration ends them sooner. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the bill unanimously, at Wolf’s urging, as a companion to the resolution to end the disaster emergency declaration that passed nearly along partisan lines. The resolution won’t take effect until next week, at least, according to Wolf’s administration. The suspended regulations cover a wide swath of government requirements, including licensing, inspections and training.
June 11, 2021 1:22 pm
UNDATED (AP) – McDonald’s is the latest company to be hit by a data breach after unauthorized activity on its network exposed the personal data of some customers in South Korea and Taiwan. McDonald’s said Friday that it quickly identified and contained the incident and that a thorough investigation was done. McDonald’s said its investigation determined that only South Korea and Taiwan had customer personal data accessed, and that they would be taking steps to notify regulators and also the customers who may be impacted. No customer payment information was exposed. Businesses across various sectors are being targeted by cybercriminals, including some very high profile cases in recent weeks.
June 11, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Johnson & Johnson says U.S. health officials have extended the expiration date for its COVID-19 vaccine by six weeks. The drugmaker said Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration approved a shelf life of 4 1/2 months for the one-dose shots. State officials recently warned that millions of doses would reach their original three-month expiration by the end of June. The extension comes as the number of U.S. vaccinations continues to slip. Vaccine expiration dates are based on information from drugmakers on how long the shots stay at the right strength. Regulators are reviewing those dates as companies have continued to test batches.
