June 22, 2026 5:05 am
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces he is stepping down as Labour Party leader. Starmer says he will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new leader is chosen. He made the announcement Monday after facing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can revive the government’s fortunes. Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in July 2024, but his popularity has since plummeted. His departure follows Andy Burnham’s victory in a special election last week. Burnham, a popular ex-mayor, planned to challenge Starmer for leadership. Starmer is the sixth prime minister in a decade to announce a premature departure.
June 21, 2026 5:08 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 22, 2026 3:26 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Clive Davis, who rose from a job as a record company lawyer to become one of the music industry’s most powerful figures, has died at the age of 94. Davis launched or resurrected the careers of countless superstars, including Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana and Alicia Keys. Unlike other record moguls whose influence waned as they got older, his might only seemed to grow over the decades in a career that spanned multiple genres and labels. Davis also signed up Billy Joel, Blood Sweat & Tears, Patti Smith, the Grateful Dead and “American Idol” winners Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.
June 22, 2026 5:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — “Toy Story” still has a friend in moviegoers. The fifth installment in the Pixar series debuted with $160 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That easily set a new franchise record and notches the biggest opening weekend of the year. Launching 31 years after the original “Toy Story” first landed in theaters, “Toy Story 5” far surpassed the previous series-best debut of $120 million for “Toy Story 4” in 2019. Internationally, it was just as successful, with $152 million in opening-weekend sales, for a worldwide haul of $312 million. Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” slipped to second place with $17 million in its second weekend.
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.”
