AP National News

The Latest: UN: Afghanistan on brink of “universal poverty”

By The Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

The United Nations development agency says Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of “universal poverty” which could become a reality in the middle of next year unless urgent efforts are made to bolster local communities and their economies. It said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has put 20 years of steady economic gains at risk. The U.N. Development Program outlined four scenarios for Afghanistan following the Taliban’s Aug. 15 assumption of power that predict the country’s GDP will decline between 3.6% and 13.2% in the next fiscal year starting in June 2022, depending on the intensity of the crisis and how much the world engages with the Taliban.

The Latest: Arizona gov: Biden ‘overreaching’ with new rule

By The Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey says President Joe Biden is overreaching with his new requirement for employees of large businesses to be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19. The Republican governor said the Biden rule “requires pushback and response” but declined to say how the state would respond. Ducey has encouraged people to get vaccinated but has worked aggressively…

FACT FOCUS: AZ canvass report draws nonsensical conclusions

By ALI SWENSON - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

A report released this week in Arizona’s largest county falsely claims to have uncovered some 173,000 “lost” votes and 96,000 “ghost votes” in a private door-to-door canvassing effort, supposedly rendering the 2020 election in Maricopa County “uncertifiable.” But its conclusions aren’t supported by any evidence, according to county election officials and outside election experts, who called the report’s methods “quasi-science”…

The Latest: Taliban decrees end to unapproved demonstrations

By The Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

The interior ministry of the new Taliban government is seeking to end protests in Afghanistan after days of demonstrations that have brought heavy-handed assaults on protesters. The minister has issued an order to end all protests in the country — unless demonstrators get prior permission, including approval of slogans and banners. It’s unlikely the women who have been leading near daily protest demanding their rights from the country’s hardline Islamic rulers will be allowed to protest under the new rules. In the words of the ministry’s statement: “It is announced to all citizens not to attempt at the present time to hold any demonstrations under any name whatsoever.”

The Latest: Australia state to begin easing out of lockdown

By The Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

SYDNEY — Parts of Australia’s New South Wales state will come out of lockdown Saturday and the government plans to ease restrictions in Sydney once 70% of its residents aged 16 and older are fully vaccinated. The government on Thursday outlined plans to ease restrictions in Sydney, which has been locked down since June, but it also warned that COVID-19…

AP FACT CHECK: Biden overstates UAW support of electric cars

By HOPE YEN and TOM KRISHER - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

DETROIT (AP) — President Joe Biden glossed over important details and oversimplified the facts in his boast about support from the United Auto Workers union for his effort to dramatically increase sales of electric vehicles by decade’s end. In his remarks Wednesday, Biden failed to say that UAW did not endorse the EV targets he set in an executive order…