Month: January 2023

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in more than three months last week, reflecting a still-robust job market despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and bring down decades-high inflation. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — New Hampshire Democrats are asking the national party not to “punish” them while overhauling its 2024 presidential primary calendar. In a Thursday letter to the Democratic National Committee’s rulemaking arm, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley argued that the proposed shakeup may amount to a “poison

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s network regulator says a gas shortage is “increasingly unlikely” this winter, but is cautioning that it remains important to use the fuel sparingly. The Federal Network Agency said in its daily report on Thursday that it views the situation as “less tight than at the beginning of the winter.” It had

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard says one of its patrol boats has fired warning shots at a Turkish coast guard vessel that was trying to ram it in the eastern Aegean Sea, as tensions between the two neighbors remain high. A Greek coast guard statement said that “the crew fired warning shots in

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say attackers armed with guns and hand grenades ambushed a police van assigned to guard polio workers in the country’s northwest, wounding five officers. Police say they returned fire after coming under attack near a bridge on Thursday in Dera Ismail Khan, a district

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Belarusian court has opened the trial of jailed human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. Bialiatski and two other top figures of the Viasna human rights center he founded face up to 12 years in prison if convicted of financing anti-government protests.

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Philadelphia election official who has told of enduring death threats whipped up by Donald Trump for defending the city’s 2020 vote-counting against the former president’s lies will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania by the incoming governor, Josh Shapiro. The

DETROIT (AP) — Mercedes is recalling nearly 324,000 vehicles in the U.S. because the engines can stall while they’re being driven. The recall covers a range of models from the 2012 to 2020 model years including the ML550, ML350, AMG ML63, ML250, ML400, GLE450, GLE300, GLE350, GLE550, GLE400, AMG GLE43, and AMG GLE63. The National

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s highest court has ordered a temporary freeze on the funds of the country’s pro-Kurdish party as it mulls whether to disband it over accusations of links to Kurdish militants. Thursday’s decision comes weeks after a top prosecutor asked Turkey’s Constitutional Court to withhold the Treasury’s disbursement of funds to the

HOUSTON (AP) — The man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Migos rapper Takeoff in Houston has been released on $1 million bond. Court records show 33-year-old Patrick Xavier Clark was released from the Harris County jail Tuesday. Born Kirsnick Khari Ball, Takeoff was the youngest member of Migos, the Grammy-nominated rap trio

BY HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is working on a memoir. Jackson, the first Black woman appointed to the court, is calling the book “Lovely One.” Jackson says in a statement released Thursday by Random House that “Mine has been an unlikely journey.” No release

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press CHAMBERY, France (AP) — A French court has ordered the release from custody of a Ukrainian billionaire and former lawmaker suspected of embezzling on $1 million bail. The court freed Kostiantyn Zhevago on Thursday. Zhevago faces accusations of embezzling $100 million from a Ukrainian bank, which he

By SYLVIE CORBET The Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The French Defense Ministry says it will hold talks “very quickly” with its Ukrainian counterpart about the number of armored combat vehicles it will deliver to help the country in its fight against Russian forces. The ministry said Thursday discussions will include the delivery’s timetable as

By MARTHA MENDOZA and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press CAPITOLA, Calif. (AP) — Hurricane-force winds, surging surf and heavy rains from a powerful “atmospheric river” pounded California on Thursday, knocking out power to tens of thousands, causing flooding, and contributing to the deaths of at least two people, including a toddler whose home was crushed by

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s disclosure of his daughter in recent public events was likely an attempt to show his people that one of his children would one day inherit his power in what would be the country’s third hereditary power transfer, South Korea’s

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his armed forces to observe a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, the first such sweeping truce move in the nearly 11-month-old war. Putin did not appear to make his cease-fire order conditional

By SIBI ARASU Associated Press BENGALURU, India (AP) — Marking its biggest effort yet to make India a global hub for production, use and export of hydrogen, the Indian federal government approved $2.3 billion funding with an aim to grow various segments of the green hydrogen sector in India. Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain had its warmest year on record in 2022, the latest evidence that climate change is transforming Europe’s weather. The Met Office weather agency said the provisional annual average temperature in the U.K. was 10.03 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit), the highest since comparable records began in 1884.

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say Pakistan is expected to seek $16.3 billion in aid from the international community for reconstruction for millions of victims of last summer’s climate-induced devastation floods. The request is the centerpiece of Monday’s summit the poverty-stricken nation is hosting with the United Nations in Geneva. Pakistan’s

By OMAR FARUK Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A doctor says the death toll in a pair of suicide car bombings in Somalia early Wednesday has risen to at least 20, including nine members of the same family. The doctor with the hospital in Mahaas district told The Associated Press that more than 50

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry says his brother William physically attacked him during a ferocious argument — one of many startling allegations in a new memoir that includes revelations about the estranged royal’s drug-taking, first sexual encounter and role in killing people during his military service in Afghanistan. In the

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine national police chief says he has tendered his resignation to encourage nearly a thousand other police officials to heed an official appeal for them to resign en masse to regain public trust after some enforcers were implicated in drug trafficking. Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Afghan Taliban have killed eight Islamic State group fighters and arrested nine others in raids against the militants’ hideouts in Afghanistan. A senior Taliban spokesman said Thursday in a tweet that the IS members had a key role in the attack on a Chinese hotel and

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will start to reopen its border with mainland China on Sunday and allow tens of thousands of people to cross from each side every day without quarantine, the city’s leader said. The city’s land and sea border checkpoints with the mainland have been largely

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For a long and frustrating third day, divided Republicans kept the speaker’s chair of the U.S. House empty Thursday, as party leader Kevin McCarthy failed again and again in an excruciating string of ballots to win enough GOP votes to seize the chamber’s gavel.

By VASILISA STEPANENKO Associated Press KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Sitting on comfy armchairs in a low-lit room smelling of lavender and pine trees, the men take deep breaths as they close their eyes and listen to meditation music. But this is not a spa. Uniformed Ukrainian soldiers are taking a break at this rehabilitation center

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs pledged in her inaugural address Thursday to work with her political rivals as she ushers in a period of divided government and Democratic ascendance in a state long dominated by Republicans. She also called on elected officials to reject conspiracy theories that

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic legislators want to link the statewide minimum wage to an inflation index to provide potentially automatic annual increases. Draft bills from state Reps. Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque and Christine Chandler of Los Alamos would provide an automatic adjustment to the state’s minimum wage based on the consumer price index

By SAM METZ Associated Press ENOCH, Utah (AP) — A Utah man fatally shot his five children, his mother-in-law and his wife and then killed himself two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, according to authorities and public records. Police also revealed during a Thursday news conference that officers investigated the 42-year-old man

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry says that a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. It said that Amer Abu Zeitoun died from a gunshot wound to the head after he was shot by Israeli soldiers on Thursday. The police said

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday after Wall Street benchmarks fell on worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates. Markets rose in Japan, Australia, South Korea and China in muted trading. Oil prices gained $1 a barrel. Hot readings on the U.S.

By REBECCA BOONE, MANUEL VALDES and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — Idaho police pieced together DNA evidence, cellphone data and surveillance video to charge a criminology graduate student with the November slaying of four University of Idaho undergraduates, according to an affidavit unsealed Thursday. The affidavit says DNA matching that of 28-year-old

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s economy has hit its lowest point since the start of its civil war nearly 12 years ago, with spiraling inflation, a currency plunge and severe fuel shortages in both government-run and rebel-held areas. Life in Damascus has come to a near standstill. Streets are almost empty

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — Opponents of the largest lithium mine planned in the U.S. urged a federal judge in Nevada on Thursday to vacate the U.S. government’s approval of the project until it completes additional environmental reviews and complies with all state and federal laws. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s highest court will hear arguments on whether a newly organized firing squad or the old electric chair are legal ways to execute inmates in the state. The South Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday for and against a lower court ruling that determined executions

By NICOLE WINFIELD, GIADA ZAMPANO and FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis joined tens of thousands of faithful in bidding farewell to Benedict XVI at a rare requiem Mass Thursday for a dead pope presided over by a living one, ending an unprecedented decade for the Catholic Church that was sparked

By ANDY WONG and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Mostly older men and women wearing masks rested on cots in hallways, while others slept upright in crowded waiting rooms with numbered chairs. Many received fluids intravenously, while others were given oxygen. The sound of people coughing — and of new patients arriving on