Month: June 2022

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine security officials say two long-wanted Abu Sayyaf militant commanders accused of beheading two kidnapped Canadian tourists and a German have surrendered. They say the suspects gave themselves up to military officials in the southern Philippines and surrendered their assault rifles. They are accused of beheading

By CIARÁN GILES Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Politicians and experts are meeting in Madrid to mark World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. The half-day meeting will be attended by United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification chief Ibrahim Thiaw and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres is also to address

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s new foreign minister has visited the Solomon Islands to assure the South Pacific island nation it does not need a security pact with China. The Solomons is the fifth Pacific nation that Foreign Minister Penny Wong has visited since her center-left Labor Party came to

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Angry bank customers who traveled to a city in central China to retrieve their savings from troubled rural banks have been stopped by a health app on their cellphone. Chinese residents are required to have the health app, which displays a code indicating their health status,

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong is preparing to introduce new middle school textbooks that will deny the Chinese territory was ever a British colony. China’s Communist rulers say the semi-autonomous city and the nearby former Portuguese colony of Macao were merely occupied by foreign powers and that China never relinquished

By DAVID KEYTON, JOHN LEICESTER and EFREM LUKATSKY Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm recommended putting Ukraine on a path to membership Friday, a symbolic boost for a country fending off a Russian onslaught that is killing civilians, flattening cities and threatening its very survival. In another show of Western

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that the government is not liable for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, dismissing thousands of evacuees’ demands that the state, not just the utility, pay compensation for damage to their lives. The ruling is the first by the top court on government

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa could face criminal charges and is already facing calls to step down over claims that he tried to cover up the theft of millions of dollars in U.S. currency that was hidden inside furniture at his game farm. The

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Hundreds of Malaysian lawyers have staged a protest to condemn the anti-graft agency’s probe of a senior judge who convicted former Prime Minister Najib Razak of corruption. They slammed the agency for openly announcing the probe and naming the judge. The lawyers said the move was against constitutional procedures and

By OMER FAROOQ and ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — At least one person has been killed as angry young people in parts of India burned train coaches, blocked highways and attacked police with rocks in a second day of violent demonstrations against a new short-term government recruitment policy for the military. Police

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A blanket of hot air stretching from the Mediterranean to the North Sea is bringing much of Western Europe its first heat wave of the summer, with temperatures Friday exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) from London to Paris. Meteorologists say the unusually early heat wave

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand is lifting a pre-arrival registration requirement for foreign visitors that was seen as onerous and a drag on the recovery for a tourism industry battered by the coronavirus pandemic. An outdoor mask mandate also will be dropped as of July 1 except in crowded venues. The mask mandate was not controversial

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese low-cost carrier Zipair is changing the design on its tail from the letter “Z,” which resembles the symbol on Russian tanks. Zipair President Shingo Nishida made the announcement this week at Narita Airport near Tokyo. He acknowledged the resemblance and the confusion it might invite, noting the “invasion of Ukraine.” For

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Al Jazeera news network has published an image of the bullet that it says killed its veteran reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. She was shot dead while covering an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank last month. Al Jazeera identified the bullet as a U.S.-made 5.56mm round fired from an

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA Associated Press BORETTO, Italy (AP) — Water is so low in large stretches of Italy’s largest river that local residents are walking through the middle of the expanse of sand and shipwrecks are resurfacing. Authorities fear that if it doesn’t rain soon, there’ll be a serious shortage of water for drinking and

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and STAN CHOE AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended another bumpy day mostly higher on Wall Street but still wound up with their biggest weekly losses since March 2020, when markets went into freefall at the onset of coronavirus lockdowns. The S&P 500, the benchmark for many index

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — World Trade Organization members have reached a string of deals and commitments aimed to limit overfishing, broaden production of COVID-19 vaccines in the developing world, improve food security and reform a 27-year-old trade body that has been back on its heels in recent years. WTO Director-General Nzogi

By JAY REEVES and KIM CHANDLER Associated Press VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. (AP) — The 70-year-old visitor had previously attended some services at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church before police say he showed up for a potluck dinner, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot three of the elderly participants, one of whom died in his wife’s

By DAVID RISING and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Beijing launched a new-generation aircraft carrier Friday, the first such ship to be both designed and built in China, in a milestone as it seeks to extend the range and power of its navy. The Type 003 carrier christened Fujian left its drydock at

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press RED LODGE, Mont. (AP) — As punishing floods tore through Yellowstone National Park and neighboring Montana communities, the state’s governor was nowhere to be seen. In the immediate aftermath, the state issued a disaster declaration attributed to the Republican governor, but for some reason it carried

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A Russian-owned superyacht seized by the United States has arrived in Honolulu Harbor flying an American flag. The U.S. last week won a legal battle in Fiji to take the $325 million vessel and immediately sailed it to Hawaii. The FBI has linked the Amadea to the

By ALAN SUDERMAN and BEN FOX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Teachers unable to get paychecks. Tax and customs systems paralyzed. Health officials unable to access medical records or track the spread of COVID-19. A country’s president declaring war against foreign hackers saying they want to overthrow the government. For two months now, Costa Rica

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will take advice on whether to accept President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to visit Ukraine during an upcoming European trip. Albanese will attend a NATO meeting in Spain at the end of this month. Albanese said on Friday there

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A Panamanian judge has acquited 39 people charged in the Panama Papers case, including the key figures,  Jurgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca. Judge Baloísa Marquínez Morán ruled Thursday that the prosecution did not prove that the law firm Mossack Fonseca handled funds from Brazil. The Panama Papers include a collection of

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — The Golden State Warriors are NBA champions once again, topping the Boston Celtics 103-90 on Thursday night for their fourth title in the last eight seasons. Stephen Curry scored 34 points and was named the NBA Finals MVP as the Warriors claimed the franchise’s seventh championship

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has won former President Donald’s Trump’s endorsement in his 2023 bid for governor. Cameron tweeted the endorsement Thursday evening. Trump’s support offers a momentum boost given the ex-president’s enduring popularity among Republican voters in the state. Trump says he has known

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The chairman of a special state House committee taking testimony on the Uvalde school shooting says it’s uncertain whether city police officials would testify voluntarily to the committee. Committee Chairman Dustin Burrows said Uvalde school district officials, including district police, were forthcoming and transparent in their testimony as the committee held

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces have shot dead three Palestinians and wounded at least eight others during a military operation in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin. Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Friday confirmed that three “terrorists” had been killed. The Israeli military has been carrying out near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former North Texas police officer has been indicted on a murder count in the fatal shooting of a suspect after a slow-speed vehicle chase. The Tarrant County grand jury indicted former Arlington police officer Robert Phillips in the Oct. 20 fatal shooting of Jesse Fischer of Addison. Phillips was

By ZEKE MILLER and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In an abrupt change of course, the White House is now declining to comment on the frequency of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 testing regimen. The White House does say it would inform the public if Biden were ever to test positive for the coronavirus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed a bill that will give around-the-clock security protection to the families of Supreme Court justices. The new law, which passed the House this week and the Senate last month, comes one day after a federal grand jury indicted a Simi Valley, California, man on one count of