Month: August 2022

By SALLY FRENCH of NerdWallet Car rental costs are up nearly 50% since 2019, compared to just a 7% increase in hotel prices and a 16% increase in flight prices over the same period. High demand, a global semiconductor shortage and labor industry shortages contributed to the low supply of rental cars. Prices have actually

By JOHNSON LAI Associated Press HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is staging military exercises to show its ability to resist Chinese pressure to accept Beijing’s political control over the island. The drills Wednesday off the southeastern county of Hualien follow days of Chinese missile firings and incursions into Taiwan’s sea and airspace by ships and

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s central bank governor resigned as the country has struggled to address its economic woes. That’s according to a statement Wednesday from President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s office. El-Sissi accepted the resignation of Tarek Amer and named him a presidential adviser. The brief statement offered no reason for Amer’s resignation. No replacement was

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Wartime rivals Serbia and Kosovo will hold high-level crisis talks which the European Union mediators hope will de-escalate growing tensions in the Balkans. Russia has been trying to further increase its influence in the region amid the war in Ukraine. Hopes that the rare face-to-face meeting

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Officials in Zimbabwe say a  measles outbreak has killed 157 children, most of whom were unvaccinated due to their family’s religious beliefs. The measles outbreak was first reported in the eastern Manicaland province in April and has since spread to all parts of the country. Information

LEH, India (AP) — The remains of an Indian army soldier have been found more than 38 years after he went missing on a glacier at the highest point along the heavily militarized contested border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, officials said Wednesday. The soldier and 17 other colleagues were occupying a ridge on

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The chief executive of Dubai International Airport says the hub saw a surge in passengers over the first half of 2022 as pandemic restrictions eased. Paul Griffiths, who oversees the world’s busiest airport for international travel, told The Associated Press Wednesday that he expects

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — The world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases are sparring on Twitter over climate policy, with China questioning whether the U.S. can deliver on the landmark climate legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden this week. “You can bet America will meet our commitments,” U.S. Ambassador

LONDON (AP) — The British government says thousands of people who contracted HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood in the 1970s and 1980s will receive 100,000 pounds, about $120,000, in compensation. Thousands of hemophiliacs and other hospital patients in Britain were infected with HIV or Hepatitis C through tainted blood products, largely imported

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s leading abortion rights advocacy organization, Planned Parenthood, plans to spend a record $50 million ahead of November’s midterm elections. It’s pouring money into contests where access to abortion will be on the ballot. The effort comes about two months after the Supreme Court overturned the

By JOCELYN GECKER and DYLAN LOVAN CECILIA, Ky. (AP) — This year’s back-to-school season will restore a degree of pre-pandemic normalcy. But many of COVID-19’s lasting impacts remain a troubling reality for schools. Among them: student mental health reached crisis levels last year. The pressure on schools to figure out solutions has never been greater.

By PAUL BYRNE Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A spate of explosions and fires has turned Russian-occupied Crimea from a secure rear base into a new battleground in the war, demonstrating both the Russians’ vulnerability and the Ukrainians’ capacity to strike deep behind enemy lines. Nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed at an air

By ILAN BEN ZION and KIRSTEN GRIESHABER BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s chancellor says that he was “disgusted by the outrageous remarks” made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin, accusing Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” against Palestinians over the years. Olaf Scholz on Wednesday said that “for us Germans in particular, any relativization of the

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s inflation rate has risen to a new 40-year high of 10.1% in July as climbing food prices tightened a cost-of-living squeeze fueled by soaring energy prices. The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that the double-digit surge in consumer prices over a year earlier marked a

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Thursday after the Federal Reserve said U.S. inflation is too high, suggesting support for more aggressive interest rate hikes. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Oil prices edged higher. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.7% on

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee board member and three people from a clothing company that was a surprise sponsor of the 2020 Games have been arrested on bribery suspicions. Prosecutors say Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive at advertising company Dentsu, is suspected of receiving bribes from

NEW DELHI (AP) — A court in India has appointed a committee to take over the running of the national Olympic committee and hold fresh elections within four months in a move that could have further implications for the country in international sport. The Press Trust of India says the Delhi High Court asked three

By CIARÁN GILES and ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press MADRID (AP) — While vacationers might enjoy the Mediterranean Sea’s summer warmth, climate scientists are warning of dire consequences for its marine life as it burns up in a series of severe heat waves. From Barcelona to Tel Aviv, scientists say they are witnessing exceptional temperature

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Residents who have fled the Russian-occupied city of Kherson say conditions in the Black Sea port just north of the Crimean Peninsula have become increasingly grim. The southern city was the first to fall to Russia’s invasion. But Kherson remains at the heart of the conflict

By ISABEL DEBRE and MAGGIE HYDE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — To Enas Taleb, the headline felt like a spiteful punch line. “Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world,” it read in bold, above a photograph of the Iraqi actress waving onstage at an arts festival. The Economist article

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Factories in China’s southwest have shut down and a city imposed rolling blackouts after reservoirs to generate hydropower ran low in a worsening drought, adding to economic strains at a time when President Xi Jinping is trying to extend his hold on power. Companies in Sichuan

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press CODY, Wyo. (AP) — The rush to build wind farms to combat climate change is colliding with preservation of one of the U.S. West’s most spectacular predators — the golden eagle — as the species teeters on the edge of decline. Ground zero in the conflict is Wyoming, a stronghold

SYDNEY (AP) — Olympic sprinter Kimia Yousofi has arrived in Australia to start afresh just over a year after carrying the Afghan flag into the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games and then having to watch from afar as the Taliban regained control of her country. The Australian Olympic Committee says Yousofi and Asian Games

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press Scientists and students embarking on a census of Georgia lake sturgeon have found three females with mature eggs — an indication the armored “living fossils” may be reproducing in that state for the first time in a half-century. “It’s exciting because it’s confirmation that they are becoming mature and trying

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president said Wednesday his government has no plans to pursue its own nuclear deterrent and called instead for more diplomacy in the face of growing North Korean nuclear weapons capabilities, even as the North test-fired two suspected cruise missiles. The launches were detected

SYDNEY (AP) — Scott Morrison said Wednesday that giving himself extra powers when he was Australia’s prime minister was necessary during the coronavirus crisis, as criticism rose the moves were deceptive and undemocratic. Current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seeking an opinion from the solicitor-general on the legality of some of Morrison’s moves. Many of

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Arizona and Nevada residents won’t face bans on watering their lawns or washing their cars despite more Colorado River water shortages. But U.S. officials announced Tuesday there will be less water available next year for them from the river that serves 40 million people in the West

By KATE BRUMBACK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he had “satisfied his obligation” after facing hours of questioning Wednesday before a special grand jury in Atlanta as a target of an investigation into attempts by former President Donald Trump and others to overturn his 2020 election defeat

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after America’s tumultuous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, assessments of its impact are divided — and largely along partisan lines. Critics slam the August 2021 evacuation of more than 120,000 American citizens, Afghans and others as poorly planned and badly executed. They say the