Month: January 2023

By The Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — A trial in absentia has opened for Belarus’ top opposition leader who denounced the proceedings as a farce and urged the West to bolster support for the country’s beleaguered opposition. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the main challenger in the August 2020 presidential election that extended President Alexander Lukashenko’s

By LORNE COOK Associated Press STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Senior members of the European Union’s parliament say a corruption scandal ravaging the assembly could have happened to any political group, not just the main center-left bloc. Their remarks came as Belgian prosecutors focus on lawmakers and an assistant from the Socialists and Democrats. The leader

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Norwegian police unit that investigates war crimes wants to talk to a Russian asylum-seeker man who reportedly is a former high-ranking member of the private Russian military contractor Wagner Group. Andrey Medvedev fled to Norway last week where he’s seeking asylum. Medvedev said in

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A nine-person jury was seated Tuesday to hear a trial that will determine whether Tesla CEO Elon Musk cheated investors by asserting in 2018 tweets that he had lined up financing to take the electric automaker private. The five-hour process set the stage for opening

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer Fidelity Investments will commit $250 million to a new education initiative to support up to 50,000 underserved minority students with scholarships and mentorship programs in the next five years. The Invest in My Education program, announced Tuesday, plans to increase graduation rates and students’ ability to complete their education

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic has returned to the Australian Open with a straight-set victory in the first round over Roberto Carballes Baena. Djokovic did not play at Melbourne Park in 2022 because his visa was revoked and he was deported from the country for not having been

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has sent his condolences to the victims of a bombing on a Pentecostal church in eastern Congo. Islamic militants claimed the attack, which came two weeks before the pontiff is due to arrive in the country. Authorities say Sunday’s bombing in Kasindi, a town in North Kivu province, killed at

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away Tuesday from the edge of an open coal pit mine where they demonstrated against the ongoing destruction of a village to make way for the mine’s expansion, German news agency dpa reported. Thunberg

By ELIZABETH AYOOLA of NerdWallet As we kick-start 2023, many parents are rebalancing their budgets and looking for ways to save money amid inflation. Parents who often look forward to getting sizable tax refunds may end up with a noticeable reduction. This could be due in part to reductions in the child and dependent care

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian health officials say Israeli military fire killed a 40-year-old Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank. A militant group claimed the man as a fighter. His death on Tuesday was the latest in a monthslong round of surging violence. The Israeli military said troops were fired

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Vietnam’s president has resigned, becoming the most senior member of the government to step down after a series of high-profile corruption scandals for which he was held responsible. The state Vietnam News Agency reported that Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned at a session of the ruling Communist Party’s

By SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Airplane passenger Sonu Jaiswal’s 90-second smartphone video began with the aircraft approaching the runway by flying over buildings and green fields over Pokhara, a Nepalese city in the foothills of the Himalayas. Everything looked normal as Jaiswal’s livestream on Facebook shifted from the picturesque views seen

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech coalition government is facing a parliamentary no-confidence vote over opposition claims of incompetence. The main opposition centrist ANO (YES) movement led by populist billionaire Andrej Babis has accused the government of not doing enough to help people cope with soaring inflation driven by high energy prices and solving other current

SYDNEY (AP) — An Australian cardinal who spent more than a year in prison before his child abuse convictions were quashed on appeal will be interred next month after a requiem Mass at Sydney’s St. Mary’s Cathedral. Cardinal George Pell died on Jan. 10 after undergoing hip surgery in a Rome hospital. Pell’s funeral was held

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Archaeologists in Norway said Tuesday that have found a runestone which they claim is the world’s oldest, saying the inscriptions are up to 2,000 years old and date back to the earliest days of the enigmatic history of runic writing. The flat, square block of

PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor’s office says French soccer federation president Noël Le Graët is under investigation for sexual harassment and “moral harassment.” The Paris prosecutor’s office says in a message to The Associated Press that the investigation was opened Monday following a report by the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research. The

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift’s acoustic guitar, Eminem’s signed tennis shoes and an ensemble worn by a BTS member are among the items to be auctioned for charity next month. Julien’s Auctions said Tuesday the memorabilia from some of the most popular music performers will be auctioned at the MusiCares Charity Relief Auction on

By TOM DAVIES Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana has launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat being given up by fellow Republican Mike Braun. Banks is the first candidate to formally enter the Senate race since Braun announced in December he’d forgo a 2024 reelection bid and instead run

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is pushing forward with a major clean tech industrial plan that not only should keep the continent in the vanguard of plotting a greener future but also guarantee its economic survival as it faces challenges from China and the United States. European Commission President

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A provincial official in Afghanistan says nine men were lashed in public as punishment for different crimes. Tuesday’s lashings were the latest example of harsh policies imposed by the Taliban since they seized power in the country in August 2021, reflecting their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia. A Taliban-appointed spokesman for

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a weekend Russian missile strike on an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine has climbed to 45. The victims of the deadliest attack on civilians since the spring included six children. In Moscow, a makeshift memorial to the Dnipro attack’s victims appeared. It’s

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he is appointing a regional official as Germany’s new defense minister following the resignation of the much-criticized Christine Lambrecht. The defense minister-designate, Boris Pistorius, is a member of Scholz’ Social Democrats, and has served as interior minister of Lower Saxony state since 2013. He is set to take

By SUZAN FRASER and ANDREW WILKS Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey and the United States will aim to smooth out a series of disagreements between the NATO allies when Turkey’s foreign minister visits this week. But expectations that outstanding issues can be resolved are low. Mevlut Cavusoglu departs for Washington on Tuesday for

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukraine’s first lady on Tuesday pressed world leaders and corporate executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering to do more to help her country at a time when Russia’s invasion is leaving children dying and the world struggling with food insecurity. As the anniversary of

By HANNA ARHIROVA and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Alina Kapatsyna often dreams about getting a phone call from her mother. In those visions, her mother tells her that she’s coming home. Men in military uniforms took 45-year-old Vita Hannych away from her house in eastern Ukraine in April. She never returned.

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Human rights groups are urging Sri Lanka’s government to release a prominent student activist who was arrested five months ago during anti-government protests triggered by the country’s economic crisis. He has been held without charges under harsh anti-terrorism laws. A court on Tuesday ordered him

By WANJOHI KABUKURU Associated Press MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Climate activists in Africa are expressing anger toward the United Nations climate agency, accusing it of allowing corporations and individuals with dubious climate credentials to greenwash their polluting activities by participating in its annual climate conference. The criticism follows Thursday’s announcement that oil executive Sultan al-Jaber

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A defense attorney says a man charged with threatening to kill a Kansas congressman is harmless. A public defender told jurors Tuesday during a federal criminal trial that 32-year-old Chase Neill believes he has a special relationship with God and his weapons are “meteors and plagues,”