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Ecuador president invites more unrest by dismissing legislature QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The president of Ecuador dismissed the legislature Wednesday in a move that promised more turmoil around a conservative leader unable to enact his agenda aimed at widening business opportunities and attracting more investment. As the constitution requires, heavily armed soldiers surrounded the National Assembly after the move by President Guillermo Lasso, who has been locked in showdown with legislators’ who want to impeach him. Lawmakers have accused Lasso of deliberately allowing a corrupt deal ...

National

Supreme Court lets Illinois keep ban on sale of some semiautomatic guns for now WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Illinois can, for now, keep in place a new law that bars the sale of certain semiautomatic guns and large-capacity magazines. The high court denied an emergency request from people challenging the law, which bans so-called assault weapons. The law’s opponents had asked the court to put the law on hold while a court challenge continues. The court did not comment and no justice publicly dissented. 2nd escaped inmate captured after breaking out of ...

People in the News

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota prosecutors have dropped sex abuse charges against disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly that alleged he invited a 17-year-old girl to his hotel room in 2001 and paid her $200 to dance naked with him. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday that it believes her and that Kelly would likely be convicted if tried, but prosecuting him on charges that had been dormant since being filed in 2019 wouldn’t make a difference now that Kelly’s federal convictions could keep him in prison for the rest of his life. “The overwhelming ...

Spread of abortion restrictions in South puts pressure on Virginia

As more Southern states pass new restrictions on abortion, Virginia is poised to become an outlier in the region for its relatively permissive laws, setting up the state as a destination for women seeking abortions and raising questions about providers’ capacity to meet demand. South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy — often before women know they’re pregnant — under a bill expected to come up for a vote in the House on ...

‘Biden declares ‘America will not default’

WASHINGTON — An optimistic President Joe Biden declared Wednesday he is confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive. He left for a G-7 summit in Japan but planned to return by the weekend in hopes of approving a solid agreement. Biden’s upbeat remarks came as a select group of negotiators began meeting to try and hammer out the final contours of a budget spending deal to unlock a path for raising the debt limit as soon June 1. That is when the Treasury Department says ...

Horoscopes

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Your reward for doing a stellar job? Now you’re expected to do it faster, cheaper and in greater quantities. This hardly seems fair or logical, but you’ll be rewarded when you go forward anyway. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). When you get tired, should you push through or ease up? The latter idea is what you most need; it will be productive to let the pressure off and rest a while. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). The new you is waiting in the future, thinking, “Where are you? When will you get here?” A friend or coach will provide the right push to speed along ...