COLU @ CONCEPTS

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state is set to study the use of a device known as the “textalyzer” that would allow police to determine whether a motorist involved in a serious crash was texting while driving. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that he would direct the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee to examine the technology, as well as the privacy and constitutional questions it could raise. “Despite laws to ban cellphone use while driving, some motorists still continue to insist on texting behind the wheel — placing themselves and others at substantial risk,” Cuomo said in a statement provided exclusively to The Associated Press. “This review will examine the effectiveness of using this new emerging technology to crack down on this reckless behavior and thoroughly evaluate its implications to ensure we protect the safety and privacy of New Yorkers.” The device is called the “textalyzer” because of its similarity to the Breathalyzer, which is used to identi...

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Muslims say they have experienced widespread suspicion about their faith in the first months of Donald Trump’s presidency, but also have received more support from individual Americans, and remain hopeful they can eventually be fully accepted in American society, a new survey finds. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. Muslims view Trump as unfriendly to them, according to a Pew Research Center report released Wednesday. Sixty-two percent say Americans do not view Islam as part of the mainstream after a presidential election that saw a surge in hostility toward Muslims and immigrants. At the same time, nearly half of Muslims said they had received expressions of encouragement from non-Muslims in the past year, an increase over past polls. And Muslims remain optimistic about their future. Seventy percent believe hard work can bring success in America, a figure largely unchanged for a decade. “There’s a sense among the American Muslim population that others are begi...

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Silent but defiant, Cardinal George Pell made his first court appearance in Australia on Wednesday on charges of sexual abuse, vowing through his lawyer to fight the allegations that have rocked Rome and threatened the pope’s image as a crusader against abusive clergy. Pell, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic and Pope Francis’ top financial adviser, is accused of sexually abusing multiple people years ago in his Australian home state of Victoria, making him the most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis. Details of the charges have yet to be released to the public, though police have described them as “historical” sexual assault offenses — meaning crimes that occurred years ago. Pell has not yet entered a plea. But on Wednesday, his lawyer told the court that the 76-year-old cardinal plans to formally plead not guilty at a future court date. “For the avoidance of doubt and because of the interest, I might i...

BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS, France (AP) — Authorities ordered the evacuation of 10,000 people as fires hopscotched around the Riviera for a third day Wednesday, tearing through the forest of La Londe-les-Maures. A violent fire took off in the dry Mediterranean forests around La Londe just before 11 p.m. the night before, and 540 firefighters were sent into the region, the prefect of the Var region, the top state official, said in a statement. About 3,000 campers were among the 10,000 evacuated from La Londe and nearby Bormes-les-Mimosas and La Lavandou, the statement said. La Londe is under 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the city of Toulon. Tourists from France and elsewhere flock each summer to the coast. Four tracker planes and a fire-fighting aircraft were sent in. About 800 hectares of back-country forest had burned by morning. Fires began raging along the coast on Monday, forcing smaller, scattered evacuations with flames reaching a corner of Saint-Tropez. Since noon Tuesday, ...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A former Marine believed so strongly in the war against the Islamic State group that he secretly traveled to Syria, where he was killed this month while fighting for a Kurdish militia group. David Taylor, a 25-year-old former Florida resident, had kept his plans to join the Kurdish group a secret from his family and only told a high school friend, whom he swore to secrecy. Taylor’s father said Tuesday that he didn’t even know of his son’s plans until after he had arrived in Syria last spring and was training with the group known as YPG. “I got an email and he said, ‘Pops, don’t worry. I’m with the YPG,’” David Taylor Sr. told The Associated Press from his West Virginia home. “He said, ‘I’m doing the right thing. It’s for their freedom.’” Taylor Sr. said when his son set his mind on something, he did it. “There was no middle ground. He wasn’t wishy-washy,” the father said. A Kurdish militia group released a video saying Taylor was “martyred fighting I...

JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior Muslim official in Jerusalem said Wednesday that worshippers would not return to a contested shrine until Israel removes the new railings and cameras it installed after a deadly attack there. Ikrema Sabri, the head of the Supreme Islamic Committee, said that even after Israel removed metal detectors at the site more steps were required. He said mass prayer protests would continue until the gates of the compound were opened, metal railings and an iron bridge removed and newly installed cameras taken down. He said a lawyer working on behalf of the Muslim administration of the holy site will be in touch with Israeli police to make the demands. “We will not enter the mosque until these things are implemented,” he told The Associated Press. “Now we are awaiting the response of the police.” The demand sets off the prospect of a renewed showdown ahead of Friday prayers at the site, when a large number of worshippers arrive for the centerpiece of the Muslim...

× AP Top News   Sports   Entertainment   Explore   You are following AP Top News Sports Entertainment Oddities Travel Technology Lifestyle Business U.S. News Health Science International News Politics Add more topics  Trending Donald Trump Fires European Union MLB baseball Ohio Wildfires Dave Dombrowski Building collapses Barack Obama Nebraska https://www.apnews.com/6535edb290f04e85bace1bc6aa955342 Link copi Ohio execution of condemned man set; 1st in over 3 years LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio is preparing to put a condemned child killer to death in the state’s first execution in more than three years. Forty-three-year-old Ronald Phillips is scheduled to die Wednesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was convicted for the 1993 rape and killing of Sheila Marie Evans, his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. Phillips and other death row inmates hav...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman will not be testifying Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as originally scheduled, after the committee rescinded its subpoena. The committee withdrew its subpoena for Paul Manafort late Tuesday after Manafort agreed to turn over documents and to continue negotiating about setting up an interview with the panel, according to Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee chairman. The committee also removed Donald Trump Jr. from the list of witnesses scheduled for Wednesday’s public hearing. The panel has sought to talk with Manafort about a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, among other issues including his foreign political work on behalf of Ukrainian interests. On Tuesday Manafort met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff, providing his recollection of the Veselnitskaya meeting and agreeing to turn over contemporan...