Taliban cancels higher education for girls despite pledges

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have decided against reopening schools to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on a promise and opting to appease their hard-line base, at the expense of further alienating the international community. The surprise decision is bound to disrupt Taliban efforts to win recognition from potential donors abroad at…

Greitens investigator pleads guilty to evidence tampering

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The investigator who played a key role in former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ resignation in 2018 has pleaded guilty to evidence tampering. Private investigator William Tisaby entered the plea Wedesday on the misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors dropped seven felony counts including perjury. Jury selection was set to start Thursday. Tisaby was indicted…

Hearing opens for Jackson with pointed comments from GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee has kicked off Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated for the nation’s highest court. At Monday’s hearing, Democrats sought to preemptively rebut Republican criticism of her record on criminal matters as a judge and before that, as a federal public…

Missouri could make it harder to get out-of-state abortions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Legislation under consideration in Missouri shows that anti-abortion lawmakers in Republican-led states aren’t likely to stop at banning most abortions within their borders. They’re also trying to make getting out-of-state abortions harder. St. Louis-area Republican and state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman wants to make it illegal to “aid or abet”…