Month: February 2023

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Many Mainers know Democratic Gov. Janet Mills as a level-headed leader, a pragmatic politician or even a former tough-minded prosecutor. But there’s another side to the governor — she’s a poet. “If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer The Walt Disney Co. is planning to add an Avatar experience to Disneyland and explore other opportunities at its theme parks as it looks for more ways to appeal to its guests. CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call that the success of the latest Avatar

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer MERIBEL, France (AP) — When Paula Moltzan finished second behind Mikaela Shiffrin for the U.S. ski team’s first 1-2 finish in a women’s World Cup slalom in more than half a century, it was easy to assume that her more successful teammate was her main inspiration. Actually, it’s another

BERLIN (AP) — A German newspaper critic had animal feces smeared on her face by a ballet director in the city of Hannover after he apparently took offense at a review she wrote. The Hannover state opera house apologized for the incident and said Monday that it was suspending ballet director Marco Goecke with immediate

BY RAFAL NIEDZIELSKI Associated Press SWIETOSZOW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s president and defense minister have met with Polish and foreign instructors intensively training Ukrainian troops to operate the German-made Leopard 2 tanks that some European countries have offered Kyiv to help fight the Russian invasion. President Andrzej Duda and minister Mariusz Blaszczak also watched Leopard

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — Czech Republic midfielder Jakub Jankto posted a video on social media on Monday saying he is gay, making him one of the most high-profile male soccer players to come out. Jankto posted a video on Twitter saying: “I’m homosexual. And I no longer want to hide myself.” The 27-year-old Jankto

By MEGAN JANETSKY and FERNANDA PESCE Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Nadia hushes the crying 3-month-old baby swaddled in her arms, gently planting kisses on her forehead. She was 19, not ready to be a mother. But the young Haitian’s life changed when she was walking home from class on the dusty streets of

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s main opposition party is celebrating its victory in a Berlin state election re-run made necessary by serious voting glitches in 2021. The party said Monday the result shows it can appeal to voters in urban areas with center-right policies that include tough talk on immigration. The

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s main opposition party has launched an effort to expel from its ranks a former head of the country’s intelligence agency, weeks after he complained of what he said was a move toward “eliminatory racism against whites.” The center-right Christian Democratic Union two weeks ago gave Hans-Georg Maassen an ultimatum to leave

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Arne Treholt, the former Norwegian Foreign Ministry official who was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in what became Norway’s biggest Cold War espionage scandal has died in his Moscow home. In 1985, Treholt was sentenced to 20 years for giving Norwegian and NATO defense plans along with sensitive political

By The Associated Press More than four in ten Jews in the United States feel their status in America is less secure than it was a year earlier, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee. The survey, conducted in the fall of 2022, was released Monday by the AJC, a prominent Jewish

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s intelligence serivce says Russia is the main security threat for Norway and Europe. The domestic security agency said Monday burnings of Islam’s holy book that occurred twice in Scandinavia in recent weeks, could possibly lead to terror attacks in the country. The deputy head of the foreign Norwegian Intelligence Service

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — On Colorado’s northeastern plains, where the pencil-straight horizon divides golden fields and blue sky, a farmer named Danny Wood scrambles to plant and harvest proso millet, dryland corn and winter wheat in short, seasonal windows. That is until his high-tech Steiger 370 tractor conks out.

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi has once again put himself at odds with Premier Giorgia Meloni by openly criticizing her for meeting with Ukraine’s leader, whom he blamed for the year-old Russian invasion.   Berlusconi, whose party supports Meloni’s coalition government, is a long-time friend and ally Russian

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City police officer was hit by gunfire and wounded at the department’s headquarters shortly after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Police Department said Monday the officer’s injuries are not life-threatening. Police said detectives are investigating whether the shooting Sunday night was connected to several

LONDON (AP) — “Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer has been named best actor at London’s WhatsOnStage awards. Female performers dominated the acting categories at Sunday’s awards, which were gender neutral for the first time.  Comer won for her performance as a lawyer dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault in one-person show “Prima Facie.”

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has offered a monologue of praise for the United Arab Emirates, seeking to repair a rift between Cairo and the Gulf Arab states that have supplied billions of dollars in aid to his nation. Gulf nations now say they

SAMYA KULLAB and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fierce battles raged outside Bakhmut as Russian forces pushed their advance on the eastern city with heavy shelling and infantry attacks, Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday, with at least five civilians killed and as many wounded in action across the war-torn country in the

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A leading rights group has urged the U.S. and Libya to clarify the legality of a surprise extradition of a suspect in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. U.S. authorities announced in December that they had arrested Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is defending the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days even as it acknowledges that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace earlier this month.  White

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — Overall World Cup winners Mikaela Shiffrin, Federica Brignone and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are among nearly 200 athletes from multiple disciplines who have signed a letter addressed to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation demanding action over climate change. The letter was delivered during the skiing

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain has announced a security review after several unidentified objects were shot down in the skies over North America. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said “the U.K. and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security.” The announcement came after U.S. fighter jets shot

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — For years, some New Jersey lawmakers have introduced bills that would ban smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos. But those measures went nowhere. However, on Monday a state Senate committee will hold the first discussion on a bill that would close a loophole in New Jersey’s indoor

By BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A committee looking into historic child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church says 512 alleged victims have come forward, but a report by the expert panel warned that the true number is likely higher than 4,800. Portuguese church officials had previously claimed that only a

SYDNEY (AP) — A retired Australian judge investigating the convictions of a mother in the deaths of her four children has been told there is a “reasonable hypothesis” that could cast doubt on her guilt. The inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions in 2003 resumed on Monday after a two-day hearing in November. It is the

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis protested outside the parliament building in Jerusalem in a show of force against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his government formally launched a contentious plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary. The protest Monday took place as Netanyahu’s allies pushed the plan through

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s economic prospects are looking up, at least a little. The European Union’s executive Commission on Monday raised its economic growth forecast for the year. It’s now up to 0.8% for the 20 countries using the euro currency. That means the commission expects the eurozone

SYDNEY (AP) — The wife of a former U.S. military pilot accused by the United States of illegally training Chinese aviators says her husband is being held in inhumane conditions as he fights extradition from Australia. Saffrine Duggan said in a statement on Monday her husband Daniel Duggan had already been kept 115 days in

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Koji Sato, appointed the next president at Japan’s top automaker Toyota, has outlined a management team that he says will lead an aggressive push on electric vehicles. Sato said Toyota will develop a next-generation Lexus brand electric vehicle by 2026. Toyota also plans to beef up

By BABAR DOGAR Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say Pakistan’s police have arrested at least 50 suspects in a mob lynching of a man already detained on charges of blasphemy. The announcment Monday came after hundreds of enraged Muslims descended on the police station in the Nankana district of Punjab province over the