WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it is n the United States, even as since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision by President Joe Biden, announced as the 2024 presidential election year kicks off, aligns the Democratic president with environmentalists who fear the huge increase in exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is locking in potentially catastrophic planet-warming emissions when Biden has .

Industry groups and Republicans condemned the pause as a “win for Russia,” while environmentalists cheered it

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The prospect of a free presidential election in Venezuela was dealt a heavy blow Friday when the country’s highest court upheld a ban on the candidacy of María Corina Machado, a longtime government foe and winner of the primary held by the opposition faction backed by the United States.

The ruling came months after aimed at leveling the playing field ahead of the election later this year. The deal led Washington to ease economic sanctions on Maduro’s government.

Machado, a former lawmaker

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Egyptian soccer officials have sacrificed a cow in a bid to bring the national team more luck at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Team spokesman Mohamed Morad told The Associated Press on Friday the Egyptian Football Association killed the cow and distributed the meat to needy people in Cairo the day before.

Egypt, which has yet to win a game, plays Congo in the last 16 in San Pedro on Sunday. The team’s flight from Abidjan to San Pedro was delayed by an hour

BERLIN (AP) — A person was taken hostage in a cafe in the southern German city of Ulm on Friday night but was later rescued unharmed, police said.

At about 6:45 p.m. local time, an armed man reportedly took an individual hostage inside a Starbucks in the city center, police said. At 8:20 p.m., the suspect left the building with the hostage and tried to flee.

Officers fired shots as the assailant sought to escape and were able to

QUEBEC — A senior leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec is stepping back from his functions as he fights allegations of sexual assault that emerged as part of a class-action lawsuit, the Quebec City archdiocese said Friday.

The archdiocese said in a news release that Cardinal Gérald Lacroix “categorically” denies the allegations against him, “which he considers unfounded.”

The diocese said Lacroix will withdraw from his duties as archbishop until the situation is clarified, adding that he plans to publish a message to church members

BALTIMORE (AP) — The last time Baltimore hosted an , the city was enjoying quite a sports renaissance.

The Orioles had won the World Series a few months earlier. Then the Colts followed with a Super Bowl title. Even the local basketball team made an appearance in the NBA Finals.

“It literally felt, at least to a 9-year-old, like the axis of the Earth ran through Baltimore,” said Gerry Sandusky, who is now the radio voice of the Baltimore Ravens. “You had

Utah is poised to become the next state to regulate bathroom access for transgender people after its Republican-controlled Legislature passed a measure Friday that requires people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and government-owned buildings that match their sex assigned at birth.

Transgender people can defend themselves against a complaint that they are in the wrong bathroom by proving they had gender-affirming surgery and changed the sex on their birth certificate, under the legislation. Opponents noted that not all states allow people to change their birth certificates and

The Wayne Train has made its final stop.

After 15 hard-nosed NHL seasons where he filled the net and threw plenty of fists, Wayne Simmonds has called time on his playing career.

The 35-year-old spoke to The Canadian Press on Friday ahead of the Hockey Diversity Alliance’s first-ever WinterFest event scheduled for Feb. 3 in Toronto.

With three kids under the age of five — his wife, Crystal, gave birth to the couple’s first son two months ago —

WASHINGTON (AP) — A military panel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, recommended 23 years in detention Friday for two Malaysian men in connection with in Bali, a spokesman for the military commission said.

However, under a previously secret provision of the plea agreement disclosed after the panel’s recommendation Friday, and a separate sentence reduction Friday by the presiding judge, both men may face a far shorter sentence: about five years.

Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep already have spent about 17 years awaiting