Cyprus is sending Syrian migrants back to Lebanon. The UN is concerned but Cypriots say it’s lawful
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency said Friday it was “extremely concerned” over the return of more than 100 Syrian nationals from Cyprus to Lebanon without being screened to determine whether they need legal protection and who may be deported back to their war-wracked homeland.
The UNHCR office in Cyprus said deportations and transfers between states “without legal and procedural safeguards for persons who may be in need of international protection” are against international and European law.
Lucas Glover is handling the mud and slop one day and oppressive heat the next. Glover shot a 64 and has a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Spieth had four bogeys in his round of 68. There are 16 players within four shots of the lead. That includes the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. Glover is coming off a win last week in the Wyndham Championship. He's riding momentum while trying to keep it simple and not overthink anything. Glover made three putts of 25 feet or longer.
Texas Tech track and field coach Wes Kittley has agreed to a new $3.8 million, seven-year contract. Kittley is heading into his 25th season, which will make him the longest-tenured head coach in any sport at the Big 12 school. The 64-year-old Kittley has been at Texas Tech since 1999. His men’s team won the outdoor national championship in 2019. The men’s and women’s track and field programs have won 11 Big 12 team titles and 31 individual NCAA titles. There have been 200 Big 12 individual champions and 19 Olympians.
A U.S. judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the state of Utah challenging President Joe Biden’s restoration of two sprawling national monuments that were downsized by former President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge David Nuffer said Friday that Biden acted within his authority when he issued proclamations restoring Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments 2021. The monuments in southern Utah are on land sacred to many Native Americans. Nuffer said Biden could issue such proclamations creating monuments “as he sees fit” and those actions were not reviewable by the court.
MADRID (AP) - Results from Spanish football:
A Michigan police department says a white officer handcuffed a Black child who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Lansing Police Department says Friday that the officer detained the child outside his home while searching for a suspect in a string of car thefts. The department says on its Facebook page that it was an “unfortunate case of ‘wrong place, wrong time.’” A cellphone video had been circulating on social media showing the child being detained Thursday afternoon. The video, apparently recorded by neighbors, shows the officer leading him with hands are cuffed behind his back through the parking lot of an apartment complex. He was released several minutes later.
Will the devastating fires on Maui serve as a wake-up call for Americans and our foot-dragging political leaders about the climate emergency?
Nestor Cortes’ season with the New York Yankees could be over after he went back on the injured list with a strained left rotator cuff, one start into his return from a two-month layoff. The 28-year-old left-hander was put on the 15-day IL, six days after pitching four innings against Houston in his first big league appearance since May 30. Cortes is 5-2 with a 4.97 ERA in 12 starts, allowing 11 home runs in 63 1/3 innings. He went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA last year, earning his first All-Star selection. He was unable to throw his bullpen session Thursday.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is appointing the interim secretary of the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism will be taking on the job permanently. Sanders on Friday named Shea Lewis permanently to the job he had been working on an interim basis after Secretary Mike Mills stepped down. Mills resigned after serving less than six months in the position. Lewis became director of state parks in 2022. He had previously served in multiple roles at state parks over the years, including as deputy director and park superintendent.
Three former Republican political operatives have agreed to pay over $50,000 in restitution and penalties for their roles in operating a fake charity tied to the East Palestine train derailment. Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced the settlement with Michael Peppel, Isaiah Wartman and Luke Mahoney. His investigation found Peppel co-founded and Wartman and Mahoney solicited for the Ohio Clean Water Fund. The probe found the scammers raised $149,000 for a local food bank, then kept all but $10,000. Peppel, Wartman and Mahoney have done political work for U.S. Reps. Bill Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik, respectively.
A federal judge in Atlanta is deciding whether to block a Georgia law that bans hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18. Judge Sarah Geraghty says Friday there are “significant interests” on both sides and after nearly two full days of hearings with conflicting testimony from witnesses she says she needs more time to make a decision. She did not indicate when she would make a decision about the safety and benefits of hormone therapy for some teenagers.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is appointing the interim secretary of the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism will be taking on the job permanently. Sanders on Friday named Shea Lewis permanently to the job he had been working on an interim basis after Secretary Mike Mills stepped down. Mills resigned after serving less than six months in the position. Lewis became director of state parks in 2022. He had previously served in multiple roles at state parks over the years, including as deputy director and park superintendent.
Three former Republican political operatives have agreed to pay over $50,000 in restitution and penalties for their roles in operating a fake charity tied to the East Palestine train derailment. Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced the settlement with Michael Peppel, Isaiah Wartman and Luke Mahoney. His investigation found Peppel co-founded and Wartman and Mahoney solicited for the Ohio Clean Water Fund. The probe found the scammers raised $149,000 for a local food bank, then kept all but $10,000. Peppel, Wartman and Mahoney have done political work for U.S. Reps. Bill Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik, respectively.
A federal judge in Atlanta is deciding whether to block a Georgia law that bans hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18. Judge Sarah Geraghty says Friday there are “significant interests” on both sides and after nearly two full days of hearings with conflicting testimony from witnesses she says she needs more time to make a decision. She did not indicate when she would make a decision about the safety and benefits of hormone therapy for some teenagers.
The chief legal officer at Fox Corp. who oversaw a $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over defamation allegations against Fox News is leaving the company. Fox said Friday that Viet Dinh will leave the post effective Dec. 31. The company said Dinh will remain a “special advisor” to Fox Corp. Fox agreed to the settlement with the voting-machine producer in mid-April following weeks of pretrial disclosures that revealed Fox had aired false claims about the 2020 U.S. presidential election, even though many within the company knew they were not true.
IndyCar championship leader Alex Palou has changed his mind again and informed McLaren Racing he will not be joining the team at the end of this season. In a letter sent to the Arrow McLaren Racing employees by boss Zak Brown, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, Brown wrote that Palou “has no intention of honoring his contract with our Arrow McLaren IndyCar team for the 2024 season and beyond.” The letter was sent to McLaren employees shortly after Friday’s final IndyCar Series on-track session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
CAIRO — Five United Nations employees have been released after they were kidnapped in Yemen 18 months ago, a U.N. spokesman said in a statement on Friday.
The Seattle Mariners have placed shortstop J.P. Crawford on the 7-day concussion injured list. The move is a blow to the playoff-contending club as it opens a weekend series against AL-best Baltimore. Crawford collided with third baseman Eugenio Suárez as both went for a ground ball in the fourth inning of Seattle’s victory on San Diego on Wednesday. The move to the IL was retroactive to Thursday. Crawford is enjoying the best season of his career at the plate, batting .266 with 10 homers and 38 RBIs while hitting in the leadoff spot for most of the year.
The Native American Journalists Association has voted to change its name to the Indigenous Journalists Association in an effort to become more inclusive and strengthen ties with Indigenous journalists worldwide. The decision was announced Friday during its annual conference in Winnipeg, Canada. The vote was 89-55 in favor of the name change. The group was founded in 1983 and now has more than 950 members. Today, most of its members are in the United States. Practical reasons for the change involve more inclusion with journalists in Canada and conformity with United Nations terminology.
Amazon.com Inc. is cracking down on U.S. workers who have ignored its return-to-office guidelines, in the latest example of companies attempting to reduce the amount of time employees work remotely.
Four-time race winner William Byron will be forced to start from the back of the field in Sunday's Brickyard 200 after failing pre-race inspection three times. NASCAR officials barred the No. 24 Chevrolet from Saturday's qualifying session. Byron's car chief also was ejected for the rest of this weekend and Byron must serve a pass thru penalty after taking the green flag. Byron has the most wins of any Cup driver this season and ranks third in the point standings with three races left in the regular season.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will miss the world track and field championships in Budapest, Hungary. McLaughlin-Levrone said Friday on her Instagram stories that she has a minor knee injury. She is the world record holder in the 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin-Levrone said she was making the decision so she can be fully healthy for the Paris Games next summer. She was set to run the 400 in Budapest after electing to skip the hurdles. The loss of McLaughlin-Levrone is a blow to an American team coming off a 33-medal performance last summer at worlds in Eugene, Oregon.
LOS ANGELES — It turns out, after all this fuss, the Dodgers actually did acquire an ace starting pitcher at the trade deadline.
Business Highlights: A summary of the day’s top stories in the business world.
LOS ANGELES — It turns out, after all this fuss, the Dodgers actually did acquire an ace starting pitcher at the trade deadline.
Business Highlights: A summary of the day’s top stories in the business world.
The Cincinnati Reds have optioned infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel, the second overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft, to Triple-A Louisville. Senzel had been in the major leagues continuously since 2019, except for rehab assignments. The 28-year-old was hitting .219 in 80 games with nine home runs and five stolen bases. The Reds selected the contract of outfielder Henry Ramos from Louisville. The rookie played in 18 games for Cincinnati earlier this season and had a .242 batting average. The Reds entered Friday tied for second with the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, 2 1/2 games behind Milwaukee.
The first round of the Premier League continues with Arsenal hosting Nottingham Forest in one of six games. A late collapse saw Arsenal fall short of the title last season and the London club has signed Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber in a bid to further close the gap to champion Manchester City. Bayern Munich plays Leipzig in the German Super Cup amid the frenzy over Harry Kane’s looming transfer to Bayern from Tottenham. Real Madrid kicks off its season by visiting Athletic Bilbao with doubts regarding both its striker and goalkeeper positions. Paris Saint-Germain begins its title defense at home to Lorient and is expected to be without star striker Kylian Mbappé amid an ongoing transfer standoff, while Neymar is also doubtful.
Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz will be Florida’s starting quarterback when the Gators open the season at Utah later this month. Coach Billy Napier made the announcement a day after the team’s first scrimmage of training camp. Napier says “we've seen enough.” Napier’s decision was hardly a surprise considering Mertz transferred to Florida under the guise that he would be the starter after the Gators lost Anthony Richardson (NFL draft), incoming freshman Jaden Rashada (failed NIL deal) and Jalen Kitna (arrested). Mertz is a fourth-year junior who started 32 games across four seasons with the Badgers. He officially beat out Ohio State transfer Jack Miller for the high-profile job in Gainesville.
President Joe Biden plans to make a visit to Milwaukee on Tuesday, just a week before Republican presidential hopefuls will be in the city for the first debate of the 2024 cycle. The White House announced on Friday that Biden will “deliver remarks on how Bidenomics is Investing in America to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.” The visit comes a week after Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to southeast Wisconsin for a public event, and then went to Milwaukee for a fundraiser. The trip will be Biden’s sixth as president to Wisconsin, one of a handful of swing states.
LOS ANGELES — When the world track and field championships begin next week in Budapest, Hungary, one of the sport's biggest stars will not be competing.
Central defender Bafodé Diakité headed in an stoppage-time equalizer as Lille grabed a 1-1 draw at Nice in the French league’s season opener. Diakité met a free kick from midfielder Angel Gomes at the back post in the 94th minute. Nice took an early first-half lead when when striker Gaëtan Laborde clipped the ball over goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier after being set up by strike partner Terem Moffi. PSG begins its title defense at home against Lorient on Saturday and is expected to be without star striker Kylian Mbappé amid an ongoing transfer standoff.
Kirk Ferentz says it's a deal-breaker if it's proven some of his Iowa football players made wagers on their own games. The 25th-year Hawkeyes coach said at media day that the integrity of the game must be protected. Former players Arland Bruce IV and Reggie Bracy and current player Jack Johnson have been charged on suspicion of tampering with records to disguise that they were college athletes and under 21 at the time they placed wagers. Kicker Aaron Blom was charged last week. Bruce, Bracy and Blom are suspected of betting on Iowa football games in which they played.
