Month: February 2023

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS, says it has completed its acquisition of a 14.8% stake in rival SM Entertainment, making it SM’s largest single shareholder. The purchase was finalized even as SM Entertainment has accused Hybe of staging a hostile takeover to control the firm

BERLIN (AP) — Germany says it is expelling two Iranian diplomats over the death sentence imposed in Iran against one of its citizens. Authorities in Iran announced Tuesday that Jamshid Sharmahd, a 67-year-old Iranian-German national and U.S. resident, was sentenced to death after being convicted of terrorist activities. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Wednesdau

By RENATA BRITO Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Nearly one million people applied for international protection in the European Union in 2022, the most since the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. The EU agency for asylum said Wednesday that 966,000 asylum applications were made, up 50% from 2021. The figure doesn’t include more than 4

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Nearly a year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “turning point” that would trigger a massive increase in Germany’s military spending, the turnaround for his country’s armed forces still has a long way to go. Germany has become one of the leading arms

By AMANCAI BIRABEN and JIM SALTER Associated Press PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A brutal winter storm closed interstate highways from Arizona to Wyoming Wednesday, trapped drivers in cars, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the first blizzard warning in Southern California in decades — and the worst won’t be over

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Thursday following Wall Street’s biggest one-day decline in two months after notes from a Federal Reserve meeting showed officials expect to keep U.S. interest rates high to fight stubborn inflation. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Japanese markets were closed for a

BEIJING (AP) — China has sharply criticized a visit to Taiwan by a senior Pentagon official and reaffirmed sanctions against Lockheed Martin and a unit of Raytheon for supplying military equipment to the self-governing island. The comments from the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday underscore the dramatic deterioration in relations between Beijing and Washington

By OMAR FARUK Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Security forces in Somalia have ended a siege by al-Shabab extremists that killed 10 people and wounded three others at a home in the capital, Mogadishu. The Information Ministry late Tuesday said the al-Qaida-linked fighters launched the rare attack on a private home with a suicide

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge on Wednesday sentenced the man convicted of gunning down Nipsey Hussle to 60 years to life in prison after hearing testaments to the immense cost of the killing of the hip-hop star and neighborhood leader, and of the lifetime of mental

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The 22-year-old accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs in November ran a neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs while gaming online, a police detective testified Wednesday. Anderson Lee Aldrich also posted an image of

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — One month into the invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden declared that sanctions against Russia had rendered the ruble almost immediately “to rubble.” U.S. officials say Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world. But as the war nears its one-year mark, it’s clear the

By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Joe Biden closed out his wartime visit to Europe on Wednesday, working to shore up partnerships with allies on NATO’s perilous eastern flank — even as Russia’s Vladimir Putin was drawing closer to China for help as his invasion of Ukraine neared

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police officials say a search is underway for two motorcycle-riding men who shot and killed a New Zealand man in a brazen street robbery that officials fear could scare foreign tourists away. Police Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo said the 34-year-old tourist, Nicholas Peter Stacey, was fatally shot once in the

By SIBI ARASU and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press BENGALURU, India (AP) — Top financial leaders from the Group of 20 leading economies are gathering in the south Indian technology hub of Bengaluru to tackle challenges to global growth and stability. India is hosting the G-20 financial conclave for the first time in 20 years. Later

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Authorities have announced an additional charge against the gunman who they say killed six people in a tiny rural community in northern Mississippi on Friday. Police say 52-year-old Richard Dale Crum carried out a rampage at multiple locations that claimed the lives of six

By NICK PERRY Associated Press CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate by a half-point to 4.75% as it continues trying to wrestle down inflation. The increase, which can raise the borrowing costs for consumers on everything from credit cards to mortgages, comes despite the economic pain

By BABA AHMED Associated Press BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The United Nations says three of its peacekeepers were killed and five others wounded by a roadside bomb in Mali. The peacekeeping mission said the bomb struck a supply convoy near the village of Songobia on Tuesday. The head of the U.N. stability mission in Mali

By GISELA SALOMON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Constant fear. Threats. Screams. Darkness. Cells measuring 6 feet by 9, with a hole in the floor for a toilet. Nicaraguan opposition prisoners have recounted the months, and sometimes years, they spent in the notorious prisons run by the regime of President Daniel Ortega. Water was in

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists are seeking an emergency court order to block construction of a lithium mine near the Nevada-Oregon line. The new request filed Tuesday in federal court in Reno comes after a judge there directed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to revisit part of its approval

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A man with alleged ties to a California prison gang has pleaded not guilty to killing six people, including a teenage mother and her baby, last month at a central California home connected to a rival gang. Rural Goshen, a community of about 3,000 people in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley,

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana State University football player faces a misdemeanor weapons charge following his arrest on Bourbon Street as New Orleans celebrated the Mardi Gras season. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports 19-year-old Malik Nabers, of Youngsville, Louisiana, was arrested Monday on one count of illegal carrying of a weapon. New Orleans

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Police say Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller brought a teammate the gun that was used in a fatal shooting near campus. Tuscaloosa Police investigator Brandon Culpepper testified Tuesday that Miller brought Darius Miles’ gun to him on the night of the shooting after Miles texted him and asked him to do

By AMY BETH HANSON and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Investigators probing a fatal 2021 Amtrak train derailment in Montana say the track had been bent along a curve near the accident site and the problem had been getting worse as freight trains traveled over it before the derailment. Details on the

NEW YORK (AP) — The family of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X marked on Tuesday the anniversary of his 1965 assassination by announcing plans to sue agencies including the CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others for $100 million, accusing them of playing a role in his death. Two of his daughters,