Iran fires on 3 ships in the Strait of Hormuz as US maintains blockade and diplomacy stalls<\/p>\n
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway. The attacks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n
The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait \u2014 where 20% of the world\u2019s traded oil passes in peacetime \u2014 with no end in sight. Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was bringing the two ships to Iran, marking a further escalation, though the White House said the seizures didn’t violate ceasefire terms.<\/p>\n
The conflict has already sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, nosed over $100 per barrel, marking a 35% increase from prewar levels, but stock markets still appear to be shrugging it off.<\/p>\n
The European Union energy commissioner, Dan J\u00f8rgensen, warned of lasting impact for consumers and businesses, likening it to other major energy crises over the last half-century. He said the disruption is costing Europe around 500 million euros ($600 million) each day.<\/p>\n
Iranian media said the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas were being escorted to Iran. The U.S. had earlier seized two Iranian vessels as the ceasefire talks were due to take place in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
The Iran war could drive up costs for petroleum-derived products like clothes and crayons<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 It might be hard to imagine the Iran war weighing on stuffed toys with names like Snuggle Glove, Bizzikins and Wobblies, but even plush playthings are not immune when oil shipments from the Middle East are constrained.<\/p>\n
Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are made with polyester and acrylic, synthetic fibers derived from petroleum. Three weeks after the war started, suppliers in China notified Aleni Brands that getting the materials already was costing them 10% to 15% more, CEO Ricardo Venegas said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think this situation demonstrates how much oil permeates throughout our system, and we can\u2019t get away from it,\u201d said Venegas, who founded Aleni Brands last year and is in the process of adding product lines. \u201cWho would have thought that the price of a toy would have a direct relationship with oil?\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s not just toys. Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas go into making more than 6,000 consumer products, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Computer keyboards, lipstick, tennis rackets, pajamas, soft contact lenses, detergent, chewing gum, shoes, crayons, shaving cream, pillows, aspirin, dentures, tape, umbrellas and nylon guitar strings are just a few of them.<\/p>\n
So far, the war’s most tangible and immediate effect for many people outside the conflict zone has been spiking gasoline prices. Travelers also are seeing higher airfares and flight fees as airlines respond to the rising cost of jet fuel. Consumers may find themselves paying more for food, furniture or any of the myriad of goods transported by trucks that run on diesel. <\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Celeste Rivas Hernandez, girl who singer D4vd is charged with killing, died from penetrating wounds<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old girl singer D4vd is charged with killing, died from penetrating wounds to her upper body, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Her death was ruled a homicide in the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office that had been blocked from release for months.<\/p>\n
The autopsy was limited by \u201cextensive postmortem changes\u201d to the body that was dismembered and decomposing when it was found in two bags in the trunk of a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills in September.<\/p>\n
The examination revealed \u201ctwo penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries.\u201d One wound on the upper abdomen penetrated the liver. Another, on the left chest, damaged her ribs. A tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places.<\/p>\n
A judge had ordered the report sealed late last year at the request of law enforcement, but prosecutors agreed this week to allow its release.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving in latest departure of a top defense leader<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving his job, the Pentagon abruptly announced Wednesday, the first head of a military service to depart during President Donald Trump\u2019s second term but just the latest top defense leader to step down or be ousted.<\/p>\n
No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy\u2019s top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war. Another Trump loyalist is taking over as acting head of the Navy: Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy combat veteran who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate and House in Virginia.<\/p>\n
Phelan\u2019s departure is the latest in a series of shakeups of top leadership at the Pentagon, coming just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army\u2019s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth also has fired several other top generals, admirals and defense leaders since taking office last year. <\/p>\n
The firings began in February 2025, when Hegseth removed military leaders, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy\u2019s top uniformed officer, and Gen. Jim Slife, the No. 2 leader at the Air Force. Trump also fired Gen. Charles \u201cCQ\u201d Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.<\/p>\n
Showing how sudden the latest move was, Phelan had addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals on Tuesday at the Navy\u2019s annual conference in Washington and spoke with reporters about his agenda. He also hosted the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee to discuss the Navy\u2019s budget request and efforts to build more ships, according to a social media post from his office.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat seeking his 13th term in Congress, dies at age 80<\/p>\n
ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat and the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has died. He was 80.<\/p>\n
Scott, who was seeking his 13th term in Congress despite challenges from within his party, was once a leading voice for Democrats on issues related to farm aid policy and food aid for consumers and a prominent Black member of the party\u2019s moderate Blue Dog caucus. But he faced criticism and concerns in recent years because of declining health, enduring a primary challenge in 2024 and facing another one at the time of his death.<\/p>\n
Democrats on Capitol Hill praised the longtime lawmaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe news of Congressman Scott\u2019s passing is deeply sad,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Scott was a trailblazer who served the district that he represented admirably, rose up from humble beginnings to become the first African American ever to chair the House Ag Committee,\u201d Jeffries said. \u201cHe cared about the people that he represented. He was fiercely committed to getting things done for the people of the great state of Georgia, and he\u2019ll be deeply missed.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Vaccines, budget cuts and affordability: Takeaways from RFK Jr.\u2019s gauntlet of congressional hearings<\/p>\n
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday concluded a marathon series of hearings with federal lawmakers, during which he deflected blame for measles outbreaks and dwindling vaccination rates across the country and touted several initiatives he says are making health care more affordable.<\/p>\n
In his testimony to various committees in both the Senate and the House over multiple days this week and last, Kennedy was tasked with defending President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed 2027 budget, which would boost defense spending while cutting more than 12% of funding from Kennedy\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services. <\/p>\n
With lawmakers of both parties raising concerns about programs and research funding being reduced or eliminated, Kennedy acknowledged the cuts were \u201cpainful\u201d but said they were necessary to address the federal government\u2019s record $39 trillion deficit.<\/p>\n
When Democrats came out swinging, Kennedy became more defiant, even at times screaming his rebuttals \u2014 though some of them didn\u2019t align with the facts. He accused multiple Democratic lawmakers of grandstanding, making things up and seeking sound bites over meaningful responses.<\/p>\n
Here are takeaways from Kennedy\u2019s gauntlet of budget hearings:<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Chemical leak at a West Virginia plant kills 2 people and sends 30 more to hospitals, officials say<\/p>\n
INSTITUTE, W.Va. (AP) \u2014 A chemical leak at a West Virginia silver recovery business on Wednesday killed two people and sent about 30 others to hospitals, including one in serious condition, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility, Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said.<\/p>\n
A chemical gas reaction occurred at the plant involving nitric acid and another substance, Sigman said at a news briefing. He added that there was “a violent reaction of the chemicals and it instantaneously overreacted.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cStarting or ending a chemical reaction are the most dangerous times,\u201d Sigman said.<\/p>\n
The chemical reaction that was believed to have occurred during a cleaning process produced toxic hydrogen sulfide, Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango said.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Democrats win in Virginia but it won’t be the final say in a national redistricting competition<\/p>\n
Democrats on Wednesday celebrated an election win in Virginia that could put them slightly ahead in the national redistricting competition that President Donald Trump triggered in an attempt to preserve his party’s House majority in this year’s midterms, but it will not be the final round.<\/p>\n
Now that it’s been approved by voters, the new Virginia map will have to clear additional legal hurdles. On Wednesday, the state attorney general\u2019s office said it would immediately appeal a ruling earlier in the day from a judge in rural southern Virginia who ordered that the results of Tuesday\u2019s vote not be certified.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Virginia Supreme Court will decide whether Democratic lawmakers violated procedural rules when they referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot authorizing the new U.S. House districts that could help Democrats win as many as four additional seats in the state. If so, that could invalidate the map voters narrowly approved Tuesday.<\/p>\n
What happens next in Florida also will matter.<\/p>\n
The state’s Republican-controlled Legislature is to meet in a special session next week that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis called in part to draw a new map to expand the party’s congressional majority there. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to issue an opinion by the end of June in a Louisiana case that could overturn a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and lead to redrawn political maps across the South, though almost all of those could not happen until 2028.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Wildfires across Georgia and Florida destroy more than 50 homes and force evacuations<\/p>\n
NAHUNTA, Ga. (AP) \u2014 Huge plumes of smoke blanketed swaths of the Southeast on Wednesday as crews battled rapidly growing wildfires that destroyed more than 50 homes in Georgia and forced hundreds to flee the drought- and wind-fueled flames.<\/p>\n
Some of the biggest blazes were near Georgia\u2019s coast, while others were popping up in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades.<\/p>\n
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia is perilously dry and the conditions prompted the state’s forestry commission to issue a burn ban for the first time in its history. Southeastern Georgia has seen just 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain since the beginning of September \u2014 almost 15 inches (38 centimeters) below normal, the National Weather Service said.<\/p>\n
The fires spread so quickly in that area that residents received no warnings or alerts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that I had knew something more,\u201d said Brianna Elliott, who left home Tuesday only to find her route back blocked by the fires 90 minutes later. \u201cI would have turned around in that moment and gone home and got my animals before anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
New study finds ‘alarming’ high flood risk for 17 million Americans on Atlantic and Gulf coasts<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 More than 17 million people along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at the highest risk of being affected by flooding, with New York and New Orleans standing out, according to one of the most comprehensive studies ever of flood risk.<\/p>\n
Researchers at the University of Alabama used 16 different factors including the geographic hazards, the population and infrastructure exposed and the vulnerability of people living there. They then brought in past damages from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s database and applied three different artificial intelligence tools to figure out flood risks from Texas to Maine, calculating that 17.5 million people were at \u201cvery high\u201d risk and an additional 17 million were at \u201chigh” risk, the next level.<\/p>\n
The authors looked at all sizes of flooding and examined separately what FEMA considers the most extreme, which are the top 1% of events. The study found 4.3 million people along the coasts to be at the highest level of risk of extreme flooding, but 20.5 million to be at high risk, the second highest level.<\/p>\n
They found a lot of vulnerability, highlighting eight different cities from Houston, which flooded in 2017\u2019s Hurricane Harvey, to New York, which was inundated in 2012\u2019s Superstorm Sandy.<\/p>\n
Wednesday’s study in the journal Science Advances found that New York City has 4.75 million people at the two highest risk levels for all flooding, with more than 200,000 buildings likely to be damaged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran fires on 3 ships in the Strait of Hormuz as US maintains blockade and diplomacy stalls DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway. The attacks came a day after U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"fa991ab0-6257-4dac-9c0f-19d0b1920da5","source":"The Associated Press","byline":"","published":"2026-04-21 21:05:35","updated":"2026-04-22 20:04:43","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1303,1304],"tags":[],"region":[1301],"class_list":["post-5561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-world","region-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/5561\/ap-news-in-brief-at-1104-pm-edt-297\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/5561\/ap-news-in-brief-at-1104-pm-edt-297\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/5561\/ap-news-in-brief-at-1104-pm-edt-297\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"International","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Associated Press"}],"creator":["The Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-04-22T04:05:35Z","datePublished":"2026-04-22T04:05:35Z","dateModified":"2026-04-23T03:15:06Z"},"rendered":"