Month: August 2021

By NINIEK KARMINI and TATAN SYUFLANA Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Hundreds of Afghan refugees living in Indonesia held a rally decrying the Taliban’s takeover of their country and calling for resettlement outside Indonesia. Most are members of Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic minority, and they say they’re extremely worried about their families back home. Tuesday’s

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government has adopted an interim plan that it hopes will win support from fishermen and other concerned groups for a planned release into the sea of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The government decided in April to start discharging the

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed after Wall Street hit a new high as investors looked ahead to a Federal Reserve gathering for an update on U.S. stimulus. Shanghai and Sydney advanced while Hong Kong and South Korea declined. Tokyo was unchanged. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The head of Iran’s prison system has acknowledged that videos purportedly obtained by a self-described hacker group that show abuses at the Islamic Republic’s notorious Evin prison were real. The official, Mohammad Mehdi Hajmohammadi, wrote on Twitter that he takes responsibility for the “unacceptable

By SAMYA KULLAB and ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press Employees of the collapsed Afghan government, civil society activists and women are among the at-risk Afghans who have gone into hiding or are staying off the streets since the Taliban takeover of the country. They fear a massive rollback of women’s rights and are deeply mistrustful of

By MATTHEW LEE, JILL LAWLESS and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Sharply divided leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies have clashed over U.S. President Joe Biden’s insistence on withdrawing from Afghanistan by August 31 in the face of the Taliban takeover. In a partial show of unity, G-7 leaders agreed on

By DAVID RISING Associated Press Bangkok (AP) — The former longtime military ruler of Myanmar, Than Shwe, and his wife have been released from a capital city hospital after both being successfully treated for COVID-19, a hospital official said. The 88-year-old and his wife were discharged from a military hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday. That’s

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The speedy Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has revived alarms about a resurgent al-Qaida and new terrorism threats against the U.S.  The group’s danger to the United States had been eclipsed in the past two decades by other threats, but experts are concerned that al-Qaida could again be

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Ginkgo trees have survived as a species virtually unchanged for 200 million years, and patterns on their leaves may help scientists decipher ancient climates. Pores essential for photosynthesis multiply based on the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So Smithsonian scientists are growing ginkgos today

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leaders have compromised with moderates and muscled President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint over a key hurdle. Biden praised Tuesday’s 220-to-212 vote as a step toward “truly investing in the American people.” A band of moderate lawmakers had been threatening to withhold

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is beginning her term in office with plenty of challenges. But she also is starting with an historic opportunity as the first woman to hold one of the most prominent governorships in the U.S. When Hochul took over Tuesday for resigned Gov. Andrew Cuomo,

By JONATHAN LEMIRE, ROBERT BURNS and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An administration official says President Joe Biden has decided to stick with his Aug. 31 deadline for completing a U.S.-led evacuation of Americans and at-risk Afghans from the Kabul airport and for withdrawing the remaining U.S. forces. The source spoke on condition

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has been given the Food and Drug Administration’s full approval, meaning it has now undergone the same rigorous regulatory review as dozens of other established vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. were initially rolled out under emergency use authorization, which lets the FDA speed the availability

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Governor David Ige is asking people not to visit the islands. He said it’s not a good time to travel to the islands and that he wants visitors and residents to limit travel to essential purposes. He is making this request while the state struggles to control COVID-19 as the highly

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who helped Rudy Giuliani try to unearth damaging information about President Joe Biden in Ukraine is expected to plead guilty in a case alleging illegal campaign contributions to U.S. politicians. Igor Fruman was charged in 2019 with arranging illegal donations while trying to get Americans interested in investigating Biden’s

By MIKE SILVERMAN Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As opera houses around the country warily resume indoor performances, two of the biggest are ushering in new leadership — along with a heightened commitment to building new audiences. In San Francisco, Korean-born Eun Sun Kim becomes the company’s first female music director and first Asian.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — One of the notorious Arellano Felix brothers has been deported from the United States back to Mexico after serving most of a 15-year prison sentence. But he was promptly re-arrested when he arrived in his homeland Monday. He is being held on organized crime charges in Mexico. He was one of

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press HANOI (AP) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has delivered a sharp rebuke to China for its incursions in the South China Sea, warning its actions there amount to “coercion” and “intimidation” and affirming that the U.S. will support its allies in the region against Beijing’s advances. The Biden administration

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador is warning against swimming off that country’s Pacific coast beaches, citing a high number of deaths. The embassy said Monday that “in 2021, an elevated number of U.S. citizens (and persons of other nationalities) have lost their lives due to rip currents and

Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — A Haitian Justice official has appointed a new judge to oversee the investigation into the killing of President Jovenel Moïse. The move revealed Monday comes more than a week after his predecessor withdrew from the case and as the country struggles with recovering from an earthquake that killed

The Associated Press New York (AP) — The former president of El Salvador’s soccer federation has pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to a corruption charge in the long-running FIFA bribery scandal. In remote proceedings, Reynaldo Vasquez pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering conspiracy for accepting bribes in exchange for awarding media and marketing rights for

LEWISBURG, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice won’t be moonlighting as the coach of a boys high school basketball team where he already is the girls coach. The Greenbrier County Board of Education on Monday rejected a motion to hire Justice as the boys coach at Greenbrier East High School. News outlets report

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican politician who was one of several unsuccessful aspirants for the presidency in the 2018 elections has fled the country, claiming that charges against him are politically motivated. Ricardo Anaya was the candidate for the conservative National Action Party and he said in a social media video that he was