Month: January 2023

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities have reopened Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in an attempt to ease traffic jams in the capital. The heavily fortified area was closed and opened several times over the past years. Starting in the early hours of Sunday, Iraqi authorities removed checkpoints and opened major roads and tunnels that cut

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Climate activists are pledging to defend a tiny village in western Germany from being bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby coal mine. The site has become a battleground between the government and environmental campaigners. Hundreds of people from across Germany gathered for protest training and a

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a weeklong trip to strengthen military ties with Europe and Britain and bring into focus the Japan-U.S. alliance at a summit in Washington. It comes as Japan breaks from its postwar restraint to take on more offensive roles with an eye

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president says NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo have rejected its demand for Serbian security forces be allowed to return to the breakaway province amid ongoing tensions. President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that KFOR peacekeepers said in their response that there is no need for the

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California was hit with more turbulent weather Sunday as thunderstorms, snow and damaging winds swept into the northern part the state, preceding another series of incoming storms and raising the potential for road flooding, rising rivers and mudslides on soils already saturated after days of rain. The National Weather Service warned

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian foreign minister says Israel has revoked his travel permit, part of a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians that Israel’s new hard-line government announced days ago. Riad Malki said in a statement Sunday that he was returning from the Brazilian president’s inauguration when he

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — The public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI in the grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica. The pontiff was buried on Jan. 5 immediately following a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies in the grottoes under the basilica’s main floor. The Vatican

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party on Sunday marks its 111th anniversary with celebratory events in Mangaung, Free State province, where the organization was founded in 1912. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was re-elected as the ANC party leader at a national conference in December last year,

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Two Iranian men have been detained in Germany following a tip from U.S. security officials that at least one of them could be planning an attack with deadly chemicals, officials said Sunday. Police and prosecutors said the brothers, aged 32 and 25, were detained overnight in the

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. lawyer Alan Dershowitz says he cannot defend sweeping judicial reforms planned by Israel’s new government. Dershowitz, long a staunch defender of Israel’s policies on the international stage, says Sunday the reforms pose a threat to civil liberties and minority rights in Israel. The proposals

By JIM GOMEZ and AARON FAVILA Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Thousands of Catholic devotees have joined a night procession through downtown Manila to venerate a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ, which was not paraded to discourage an even larger crowd amid lingering fears of COVID-19. The more than 80,000 devotees who church

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police have arrested an unruly airline passenger following a complaint by a woman aboard an Air India flight from New York that he urinated on her in business class. Police spokesperson Suman Nalva said Sunday the passenger, Shankar Mishra, was picked up by police in

BEIJING (AP) — A traffic accident in southern China killed 19 people and injured 20 others early Sunday as the annual Lunar New Year holiday travel rush got underway, authorities said. The accident occurred outside the city of Nanchang in Jiangxi province, according to the local traffic management brigade. The cause was under investigation, the

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The public school district in Seattle is suing the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth. Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 90-page complaint says the social

BEIJING (AP) — After years of separation from his wife in mainland China, Hong Kong resident Cheung Seng-bun made sure to be among the first in line following the reopening Sunday of border crossing points. The ability of residents of the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city to cross over is one of the most visible signs

By ANDRES LEIGHTON and ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Several hundred people marched through the streets of El Paso on Saturday afternoon, and when they arrived at a group of migrants huddling outside a church, they sang to them “no estan solos” — “you are not alone.” Around 300 migrants have

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former U.S. defense intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Cuba more than 20 years ago has been released from a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. Ana Belen Montes, 65, was released Friday, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Taylor said Saturday. Montes, an analyst for the

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada authorities say an SUV clipped the wing of a small plane after the aircraft made an emergency landing on a highway north of Las Vegas. State police say the two-seater plane was having mechanical issues and had to land Saturday morning on U.S. 95. The SUV’s windshield was shattered when

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk has urged a federal judge to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco because he says negative local media coverage has biased potential jurors against him. Instead, in a filing submitted late Friday — less than two weeks before the

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies acquired All-Star reliever Gregory Soto and utility player Kody Clemens, son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for infielder Nick Maton, outfielder Matt Vierling and catcher Donny Sands. The teams announced the trade Saturday. Soto was an AL All-Star the last

By JOHN WAWROW AP Sports Writer ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Doctors described Damar Hamlin’s neurological function as “excellent” Saturday, as the Buffalo Bills safety continued making progress in his recovery after having to be resuscitated on the field in a game at Cincinnati on Monday. In providing their daily update on Hamlin, the Bills

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Utility officials say no natural gas leaks were found around an explosion that left three homes destroyed in a northeast Philadelphia neighborhood and sent five people to hospitals a few hours into the new year. A Philadelphia Gas Works official told more than 100 people at a meeting Wednesday night that gas

SHLOMO MOR TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Thousands of Israelis are protesting plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that opponents say threaten democracy and freedoms. The protesters gathered in the central city of Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, days after the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s 74-year history was sworn

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the United Nations human rights office has called Saturday for a prompt and transparent investigation into the deaths of at least 28 people whose bodies were found in northwest Burkina Faso last month. The U.N. official said Saturday that it was encouraging that authorities had announced an investigation into

NEW YORK (AP) — The union representing a group of nurses at a New York City hospital has reached a tentative contract agreement with its management. But close to 9,000 nurses at several other major hospitals are still preparing to go on strike. The New York State Nurses Association and BronxCare Health System say a

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California braced for more stormy weather with rain beginning to sweep into the northern part the state on Saturday. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for a large swath of Northern and Central California and the potential for road flooding and mudslides. Rain was affecting the Bay Area Saturday

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Critics are attacking the Diocese of Des Moines’ new gender-identity policies, calling them hateful and discriminatory. The Des Moines Register reports that that the policies will go into effect Jan. 16. The policies ban the use of preferred pronouns during ministry, require people to use bathrooms or locker rooms that

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading Chinese financial technology provider Ant Group has announced that its founder, e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma, will give up control of the company. In a statement posted Friday, Ant Group said that “no shareholder, alone or with other parties” will have “control over Ant Group.” The

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two subway trains collided between two stations Saturday in Mexico City, killing at least one person and injuring 41, authorities said. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on her Twitter account that the accident happened on Line 3 of the capital’s Metro system, without specifying the cause of the crash between the Potrero