Month: June 2022

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Police in Portugal have found just over 8 metric tons (8.8 short tons) of cocaine concealed inside banana shipments from Colombia. Police said Thursday the cocaine was hidden in the hold of three cargo ships that docked in Setubal in a port about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the Portuguese

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is launching a partnership with 11 East Coast governors to boost the growing offshore wind industry, a key element of President Joe Biden’s climate change plan. Biden administration officials will meet with governors and labor leaders Thursday to announce commitments to expand important parts

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military has confirmed that ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to a prison where she will have quarters separate from other detainees. Suu Kyi was arrested on Feb. 1, 2021, when the army seized power from her elected government. She has been held

By KRISHAN FRANCIS and BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMB0, Sri Lanka (AP) — Senior Indian officials are in Sri Lanka for talks on how to help the island nation weather an unprecedented economic crisis. The Indian delegation’s visit Thursday followed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s declaration that Sri Lanka’s economy had “collapsed.” Sri Lankans have endured months

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will meet President Emmanuel Macron in France next week to reset a bilateral relationship that was damaged when the previous Australian government canceled a submarine contract. Albanese said Thursday that Macron had invited him to visit France while he

PERRYVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A man being booked into a central Arkansas jail on drug charges pulled out a gun and fatally shot a guard before someone disarmed him, authorities said Thursday. Jeremiah Story, a 21-year-old detention officer at the Perry County jail in Perryville, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, died

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Andrea Fuentes prevented a tragedy at the swimming world championships with her quick reaction. The United States coach knew something was wrong when she saw artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez sink motionless to the bottom of the pool during a solo free routine on Wednesday. The fully clothed Fuentes dived in. She

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — An American executive who resigned from Toyota after being arrested in Japan in 2015 on suspicion of drug law violations has returned to the Japanese automaker. Toyota said Thursday that Julie Hamp has been hired by its North American operations to support its chief executive, Akio Toyoda,

PARIS (AP) — The chief of airline alliance Air France-KLM says it will take weeks or months to get new security staff in place to lighten pressure on the Amsterdam airport. The Schiphol Airport has seen flight cancellations, huge delays and big travel headaches as global air travel rebounds. Other European and U.S. airports are

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese High Court has rejected an appeal by a former brokerage manager alleging on-the-job harassment and unlawful dismissal after he took parental leave at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley. The case of Glen Wood, a Canadian who has lived in Japan for three decades, has become a

By JOHN LEICESTER and DAVID KEYTON Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine says Russia’s military has captured two villages in eastern Ukraine and is vying for control of a key highway as it seeks to cut supply lines and encircle frontline Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian military hopes to gain an advantage with the arrival

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s central bank has raised its key policy interest rate from 0.75%  to 1.25%. In a statement on Thursday, Norges Bank cited a bigger than expected decline in unemployment and higher than anticipated inflation as factors in its decision. Inflation in Norway is at 5.7%, while unemployment came in at 3.2%

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Polls are open for two special elections in England that could deliver a new blow to scandal-tainted Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Wakefield in northern England and the southwestern constituency of Tiverton and Honiton are both electing replacements for Conservative lawmakers who resigned in disgrace over sexual

By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization convenes its emergency committee Thursday to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency. But some experts say the WHO’s decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president has begun consultations with members of parliamentary blocs to name a new prime minister following last month’s parliamentary elections. Outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati is widely expected to get the largest support from legislators on Thursday to form a new Cabinet that will be in power until the end of

By KRISHAN FRANCIS and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s prime minister says the island nation’s debt-laden economy has “collapsed” as it runs out of money to pay for food and fuel. The country is seeking help from neighboring India and China and from the International Monetary Fund. Prime Minister

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN and MIKE CORDER Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union agreed Thursday to put Ukraine on a path toward EU membership, acting with uncharacteristic speed and unity to pull the embattled country further away from Russia’s influence and bind it more closely to the West. Meeting at a summit in Brussels,

By KELVIN CHAN and MIKE CORDER Associated Press LONDON (AP) — After two years of pandemic restrictions, travel demand is back, but airlines and airports that slashed jobs during the depths of the COVID-19 crisis are struggling to keep up. With the busy summer tourism season underway in Europe, passengers are encountering chaotic scenes at

By IGNATIUS SSUUNA and WANJOHI KABUKURU Associated Press KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Leaders of Commonwealth nations are calling for increased climate action at a meeting in Rwanda this week, ahead of the United Nations climate change summit in the seaside resort of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt later this year. Climate change is a major

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Firefighting crews were battling a wind-driven wildfire that has blackened swaths of pine forest near a popular resort in southwestern Turkey and driven dozens of people from their homes. More than 2,500 firefighters, aided by water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed on Thursday. The blaze erupted late on Tuesday in the

By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A court in Iran has ordered the United States government to pay over $4 billion to the families of Iranian nuclear scientists who have been killed in targeted attacks in recent years. The largely symbolic ruling on Thursday underscores the escalating tensions between Iran and the

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Parliament has sworn in new lawmakers, replacing 73 legislators who resigned collectively earlier this month amid a prolonged political impasse over the formation of the country’s next government. The walkout by followers of Iraq’s most influential Shiite politician, Muqtada al-Sadr, threw Iraq into further uncertainty, reshuffling

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A U.N. expert says military-ruled Myanmar’s promise of free and fair elections next year is “preposterous.” Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said Thursday the military has been working hard to “create an impression of legitimacy” after ousting the government of civilian

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer Anson Carter remembers watching in high school as some of his friends abandoned hockey for being “too white” as he forged ahead, eyes set on a pro career. By the time he reached the National Hockey League, dreadlocks were flowing out from underneath his helmet as he skated. “It

By DASHA LITVINOVA and HARRIET MORRIS Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has told The Associated Press that the West shouldn’t underestimate Russia’s military capabilities in Ukraine and that President Vladimir Putin’s forces are in it for the long haul. She also said Wednesday that Europe should ensure that officials

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Okinawa is marking the 77th anniversary of the end of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Its Governor Denny Tamaki is calling for further reduction of the U.S. military presence there amid growing fear of the southern Japanese islands will become embroiled in regional