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Environment

Grinder, a massive grizzly bear shown in this undated handout photo, who fascinated locals and tourists alike on North Vancouver's Grouse Mountain, has died. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Grouse Mountain, Devin Manky (Mandatory Credit)

Grinder, one of two beloved grizzly bears on Grouse Mountain, dies

The Canadian Press 2 minute read 12:47 PM CDT

NORTH VANCOUVER - Grinder, a massive grizzly bear who fascinated locals and tourists alike on Grouse Mountain, has died.

He was adopted as a cub after being orphaned and became a longtime companion for Coola, another orphan who arrived around the same time in 2001.

The bears have lived in an enclosure at the ski resort since then, hibernating in the winter together and emerging in the spring.

A statement from Grouse Mountain says Grinder experienced a rapid decline in mobility and a veterinary examination revealed a spinal condition that paralyzed his hind legs, leaving no realistic path to recovery or quality of life.

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Environment

FILE - A firefighter moves beehives away from flames while battling a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

UN, scientists warn that strong El Nino will add fuel to ‘a planet already on fire’

Seth Borenstein And Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

UN, scientists warn that strong El Nino will add fuel to ‘a planet already on fire’

Seth Borenstein And Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 12:00 PM CDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A strengthening El Nino has already broken records for intensity at its early stages, and it likely will spark even more wild weather worldwide as it grows, “adding fuel to a planet already on fire,” United Nations officials warned Friday.

A key area of the Pacific Ocean used to measure the strength of El Nino this week reached its warmest and most intense level ever recorded for the 15th week since it formed, which is early in its lifetime, scientists at Columbia University reported.

El Nino — a natural warming of the Pacific near the equator that warps weather patterns worldwide — won't peak for several months and should last through spring 2027. The World Meteorological Organization, a U.N. agency, cautioned on Friday that it will likely trigger extreme heat, drought and rainfall well into next year.

“Two months ago, I warned that El Nino was arriving on our doorstep. Now it is inside the house — and turning up the heat,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Friday. “We have already endured a summer of extremes — record-shattering heat domes; apocalyptic wildfires raging in Spain, France and far beyond; thousands of lives lost in the scorching conditions.”

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Updated: 12:00 PM CDT

Health

The former home of Lindsay Clancy is seen in Duxbury, Mass., on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

Jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s trial visit the home where she killed her children

By Leah Willingham, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s trial visit the home where she killed her children

By Leah Willingham, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 10:56 AM CDT

DUXBURY, Mass. (AP) — Jurors walked through the Massachusetts home where Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children, a rare visit Friday that let them see firsthand the place where an outwardly ordinary family life unraveled into tragedy.

After being driven past two businesses relevant to the narrative of the January 2023 killings, jurors were escorted in groups of six to view the inside of the house, including the basement where the children died. During the roughly 40-minute visit, the jury also saw the yard where Clancy was found after jumping from a second-story window.

Journalists were kept away by a police barricade, but court officers could be seen through the trees escorting jurors to and from the bus along the site of the Clancy family’s former driveway. The home now has a new owner.

Clancy herself did not attend the visit to the home, which she hasn't seen since the day of the killings. Her lawyers argue she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

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Updated: 10:56 AM CDT

Health

Under Taliban, barring Afghan girls from school takes an emotional toll – and a community one, too

Riazat Butt And Bram Janssen, The Associated Press 10 minute read Preview

Under Taliban, barring Afghan girls from school takes an emotional toll – and a community one, too

Riazat Butt And Bram Janssen, The Associated Press 10 minute read 10:06 AM CDT

Every day, even after the Taliban barred Afghan girls from education, Fariba went to school. The teenager left the house with her head held high, smiling, saying she would ask her teachers when she could wear her uniform again. Every evening, a crestfallen Fariba returned home.

“She looked so devastated that we couldn’t recognize her,” says her mother, who asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal. “Months passed like this.”

One night, the family went to bed unaware of what was to come. “We didn’t think she could reach such a breaking point,” her mother says. At just 16, Fariba died by suicide. In a note, she wrote that it was too hard to be a girl in Afghanistan.

That is not new. Being a girl or a woman in war-scarred Afghanistan has been difficult for decades — and, for many rural women, for centuries. It grew far worse under the Taliban's first repressive rule, from 1996 to 2001, and has eroded again significantly since the religious movement's acolytes retook power in 2021 when the United States pulled out.

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10:06 AM CDT

Environment

FILE - A formerly floating buoy now sits high and dry above Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, July 15, 2026, near Page, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Arizona, California and Nevada would share cuts under federal proposal to manage the Colorado River

The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Arizona, California and Nevada would share cuts under federal proposal to manage the Colorado River

The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 1:05 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Arizona, California and Nevada would take less water from the Colorado River under a proposal announced Friday by the federal government to stave off crisis in the beleaguered waterway.

The proposal from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spares Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming from facing mandatory cuts for now. But it’s a temporary fix as the states that rely on the river still fight over a long-term management plan for the dwindling resource that powers huge swaths of the Western U.S.

Under the plan, the Lower Basin states could face collective cuts up to 3 million acre-feet (130 billion cubic feet) through 2036, “subject to hydrology,” according to a press release by the Department of the Interior. That’s about enough water to serve more than 25 million people a year.

The plan would also allow annual releases between 5 million and 12 million acre-feet from Lake Powell, the basin’s second-largest reservoir. Under the 10-year federal framework, water management decisions will be made every two years.

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Updated: 1:05 PM CDT

Faith

A giddy Patti Smith meets fellow Chicago legend, Pope Leo XIV, and says “Hi”

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

A giddy Patti Smith meets fellow Chicago legend, Pope Leo XIV, and says “Hi”

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 11:42 AM CDT

ROME (AP) — Rock legend Patti Smith was giddy and almost at a loss for words when she met Friday with Pope Leo XIV.

“Hi,” she said softly as she sat down across from Leo at his desk in the Apostolic Palace.

Wearing a crucifix necklace and hair in her trademark braids, Smith has become an increasingly visible presence at the Vatican thanks to her friendship with the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary in the Vatican’s culture ministry.

She has said that while she is not Catholic, she was drawn in particular to Pope Francis and his “gentle, open, and steadfast sense of humanity.”

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Updated: 11:42 AM CDT

Science & Technology

FILE - This combination of 2017-2022 photos shows the logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on mobile devices. On Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, Seattle Public Schools filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, suing the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth. (AP Photo, File)

Social media companies sued over deaths of four teens as pressure, lawsuits over child safety mount

Kaitlyn Huamani And Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Social media companies sued over deaths of four teens as pressure, lawsuits over child safety mount

Kaitlyn Huamani And Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 12:17 PM CDT

The families of four teenagers who died by suicide are suing Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube over what they describe as “years of escalating harms” from using their platforms that eventually resulted in their deaths.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Superior Court of Delaware, is the latest in a flurry of suits filed against the social media giants that alleges their platforms are addictive and dangerous.

The complaint was filed on behalf of four families from Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee whose children died over a 14-month period starting in July 2024 through September 2025.

The Social Media Victims Law Center is bringing the suit on behalf of the families, and its founding attorney, Matthew Bergman, said it's “particularly salient” that the children in this case died “long after” similar suits had been filed.

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Updated: 12:17 PM CDT

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Environment

A firefighter creates a controlled burn area to contain a fire near Lege-Cap-Ferret, during wildfires in southwestern France, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

France’s forest management may need to change to prevent more wildfires in Les Landes

Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

France’s forest management may need to change to prevent more wildfires in Les Landes

Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 10:26 AM CDT

PARIS (AP) — History keeps repeating itself in the smoldering forests of southwest France, now ash-covered and charred.

Devastated by previous blazes in 2022 and 1949, when 82 people died, the largest human-made woodland in Western Europe has again been ravaged by wildfires which burned an area four times the size of Paris.

The forests of Les Landes — covering 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles) — were created in the 19th century for timber and resin production. They comprise endless rows of pines in neat, close lines, which works against them in a wildfire, with flames jumping easily from one tree to another.

Blazes loom as a growing danger for the timberland because Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent. But climate change isn't its sole vulnerability, experts say. They also point to the very nature of such industrial plantation, whose origins date back to the Second French Empire.

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Updated: 10:26 AM CDT

Science & Technology

FILE - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A with a payload of a pair of lunar landers at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

A discarded SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

A discarded SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 8:34 AM CDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A drifting SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after launching a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago.

The rocket's upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists — and skygazers — are eager to observe.

Space tracking expert Bill Gray predicts an impact of 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) — seven times the speed of sound — near Einstein Crater on the moon’s sunlit western limb. With the action unfolding in the wee hours, the eastern portions of the U.S. and Canada, and much of South America should have the best views.

While scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit.

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Updated: 8:34 AM CDT

Faith

Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed addresses the crowd during a campaign rally, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

As progressives seek to take on inequality, some cite religion as a motivating factor

Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

As progressives seek to take on inequality, some cite religion as a motivating factor

Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press 7 minute read 6:25 AM CDT

DETROIT (AP) — The jokes practically wrote themselves as an eclectic group of progressive pastors, imams and a rabbi walked into a room, finding their seats around a table to talk about religion and politics.

Though there was no shortage of levity, a sense of urgency filled the Detroit meeting room as Abdul El-Sayed, a former gubernatorial candidate who is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, began speaking about how his Muslim faith informs his progressive views.

The public health researcher asked the group of faith leaders ahead of Tuesday’s primary, “What does the inspiration of holding yourself accountable to something bigger than you mean for what you do for the people around you?”

El-Sayed added, “If you can’t eat food and I have something to do about it, I better do it.”

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6:25 AM CDT

Health

Immigration crackdown threatens Haitian caregivers and the seniors who rely on them

Matt Sedensky And Gisela Salomon, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Immigration crackdown threatens Haitian caregivers and the seniors who rely on them

Matt Sedensky And Gisela Salomon, The Associated Press 7 minute read Updated: 12:41 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Who will be there each morning with Solange French’s eggs at breakfast, and who will be ready with soup or fish at lunch? When the 91-year-old needs help in the shower, who will rush to her side, and when it’s time for a doctor’s appointment, who will take her? Who will do the laundry or buy the groceries or clean the house?

Until now, the answer has been a doting home health aide from Haiti named Martha Nelson. But with the Supreme Court sanctioning a White House immigration crackdown, Nelson’s permission to stay in the country appears likely to be yanked within days, leaving French worried.

“She’s with me all the time,” says French. “Life would be impossible.”

As the Trump administration unwinds years of protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, twin populations of vulnerable people find themselves in the crosshairs: caregivers in jobs to which those immigrants have flocked, and the older adults and disabled people who rely on them.

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Updated: 12:41 PM CDT

Science & Technology

FILE -A data centre is pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

EU to crack down on AI deepfakes, illicit imagery and hacking with new team in Brussels

Sam Mcneil, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

EU to crack down on AI deepfakes, illicit imagery and hacking with new team in Brussels

Sam Mcneil, The Associated Press 4 minute read 4:47 AM CDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union rolled out a new team on Friday to rein in AI companies across the world, in one of the most aggressive regulations the high-tech sector has so far faced as fears rise over the risks the rapidly advancing technology poses to people, politics and prosperity.

Brussels aims to track the use of AI models for violations of its new regulations, like the publishing of sexually explicit material, fake photos and videos, and cyber threats to public infrastructure. When the bloc's AI Act comes into force on Sunday, AI companies will be required to make clear to consumers with labels or digital watermarks that chatbots or imagery are generated with AI.

“As enforcement begins, we are taking an important step towards AI that people and businesses can understand and trust, and whose benefits are shared widely across our society,” said Henna Virkkunen, the EU chief for tech sovereignty, on Friday.

The European Commission said in a statement that new regulations also include “systemic risks” posed by AI like “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents, loss of control, cyber offense, harmful manipulation and threats to fundamental rights."

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4:47 AM CDT

Environment

FILE - A firefighter walks in front of burning trees as a wildfire rages near Marcheprime, outside, Bordeaux, France, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva, File)

As heat and dry conditions fan wildfires in France, volunteers fan out to help

Mark Carlson And Masha Macpherson, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

As heat and dry conditions fan wildfires in France, volunteers fan out to help

Mark Carlson And Masha Macpherson, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 11:21 AM CDT

LANTON, France (AP) — With his watering can and bucket, Jean-François Pauner meanders from one small fire to the next along a forest floor, dousing small flareups of wildfires that have swept through woodlands four times the size of Paris in southwestern France.

“This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious," said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting."

“It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered.

Pauner is among the untold numbers of volunteers who have mobilized to support firefighters battling the biggest wildfires in years in France.

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Updated: 11:21 AM CDT

Health

Mike Lake and his son Jaden, pictured in this undated photo. Lake says that left on their own, a child with autism can find themselves in serious danger within minutes. — THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Mike Lake (Mandatory Credit)

Death of Calgary boy with autism hits home for Conservative MP and party leader

Rob Drinkwater, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Death of Calgary boy with autism hits home for Conservative MP and party leader

Rob Drinkwater, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: 11:24 AM CDT

Whenever Mike Lake hears news that a child with autism is missing, he knows how vulnerable they are.

"There's a need to catch my breath a little bit because it hits close to home right away," the Conservative MP from Alberta said in a phone interview on Thursday.

Lake and his party's leader, Pierre Poilievre, are both fathers of children with autism. They are calling for a Canada-wide framework for public alerts when vulnerable children go missing, even when abduction or foul play is not suspected.

Lake's son, Jaden, is now 30, but he said a child with autism on their own can be in serious danger within minutes.

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Updated: 11:24 AM CDT

Environment

Alberta's conservation canines, left to right, Winnie, Hilo and Jane, part of the province's aquatic invasive species program, are shown in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Government of Alberta (Mandatory Credit)

Alberta lets the dogs out, recruits more canine muscle in fight against mussels

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Alberta lets the dogs out, recruits more canine muscle in fight against mussels

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read 3:00 AM CDT

CALGARY - Hilo, Jane and Winnie are a part of Alberta's muscle against invasive mussels that have spread throughout the Great Lakes and Canadian waterways since the 1980s.

So far, species of invasive mussels haven't made their way into Alberta, and the canines work among human teams that scan boats entering the province to maintain that streak.

But the threat is nearing, with golden mussels just recently established in California, said Cindy Sawchuk, the lead for the province's Aquatic Invasive Species Operations and Conservation Canine Program.

"These mussels really like to hide in damp, dark places (and) a lot of them are hard to see," said Sawchuk, emphasizing their small size.

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3:00 AM CDT

A man sits at a restaurant displaying a banner reading

‘The Malvinas are Argentine’: A World Cup banner makes the Falkland Islands a cultural obsession

Isabel Debre, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

‘The Malvinas are Argentine’: A World Cup banner makes the Falkland Islands a cultural obsession

Isabel Debre, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: 12:29 PM CDT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — It took a World Cup to transform a remote cluster of islands that’s home to more sheep than people into a cultural juggernaut.

A decision by Argentina’s players to unfurl a banner about the disputed Falkland Islands after defeating England in the World Cup semifinals carried a historical cause onto the T-shirts, bedroom walls and Instagram feeds of a new generation. In the weeks since, the image that has endured from the tournament in soccer-crazed Argentina hasn't been of Lionel Messi. It’s been the crudely painted sign reading: “The Malvinas are Argentine.”

The South Atlantic archipelago, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, is claimed by both Argentina and Britain, which fought a 10-week war over the territory in 1982.

The banner spawned a marketing bonanza in Argentina, appearing on stickers, tote bags, sneakers, artwork and soccer jerseys. It was draped over bars, painted onto subway walls and tattooed onto calves and forearms. Thousands of Argentines downloaded “Malvinas Sans,” a typeface modeled on the banner’s hand-painted lettering. Colorful murals of the islands and of war veterans popped up across the country.

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Updated: 12:29 PM CDT

July 31, 2026

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