Month: February 2023

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares have fallen after Wall Street retreated for a second day as market watchers considered earnings reports and various indicators about whether inflation is waning in the U.S. and elsewhere. Investors are also scrutinizing an array of earnings reports coming from top companies around the

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — American forces and their allies in Asia are ready for battle after years of joint combat exercises, a United States general said Wednesday, adding that Russia’s setbacks in Ukraine should serve as a warning to potential Asian aggressors like China and North Korea. U.S. treaty allies

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Toyota has reported an 8.1% drop in its net profit in the last quarter as a global shortage of computer chips and soaring raw material costs battering the auto industry hit Japan’s top automaker. Toyota’s October-December profit totaled 727.9 billion yen, or $5.6 billion, down from

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The fiery derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals — sending a huge plume of smoke in the air and forcing residents of a small Ohio town to evacuate — has highlighted the potentially disastrous consequences of train accidents and raised questions about railroad safety. The

By JUSTIN SPIKE, GHAITH ALSAYED and ZEYNEP BILGINSOY Associated Press KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey (AP) — Rescue workers made a final push Thursday to find survivors of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria that rendered many communities unrecognizable to their inhabitants and led the Turkish president to declare it “the disaster of the century.” The death toll

By SEUNG MIN KIM, JOSH BOAK and STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press TAMPA, Florida (AP) — President Joe Biden is taking direct aim at Republicans who have floated cuts to Social Security and Medicare. He told an audience in Florida on Thursday that he would create a “nightmare” for anyone who tried them. It’s a state

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden sparked a firestorm in energy circles when he said in Tuesday’s State of the Union address that the United States will need oil “for at least another decade.″ Republicans in the House chamber laughed in derision at Biden’s off-the-cuff remark, which was not in

By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS and SHARON LURYE Associated Press She’d be a senior right now, preparing for graduation in a few months, probably leading her school’s modern dance troupe and taking art classes. Instead, Kailani Taylor-Cribb hasn’t taken a single class in what used to be her high school since the height of the coronavirus

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press Police have charged a bus driver with first-degree murder after he drove his vehicle at a high speed into a day care center north of Montreal, killing two children, injuring six and leaving authorities searching for a motive. Witnesses say that after Wednesday’s crash, the 51-year-old driver, identified as Pierre

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Children are stuck in orphanages across Haiti, unable to leave the increasingly volatile country and start new lives with adoptive parents. The problem is a Washington policy change that is allowing some Haitians to more easily gain entry to the U.S. That has set

By FARAI MUTSAKA and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press RUSHINGA, Zimbabwe (AP) — While others in her Zimbabwean village agonize over a maize crop seemingly headed for failure, Jestina Nyamukunguvengu picks up a hoe and slices through the soil of her fields that are lush green with a pearl millet crop in the African country’s arid

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Sheryl Lee Ralph is living a career dream: The “Abbott Elementary” star won her first Emmy last year and will lend her powerful vocals as a Super Bowl pregame performer this weekend. With all her success, the veteran actor-singer only wishes her late parents were

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his young daughter have taken center stage at a huge military parade, fueling speculation she’s being primed as a future leader as her father showed off his latest, largest nuclear missiles. The parade featured the newest hardware in

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A five-year experiment aimed at improving care for some of California’s most at-risk Medicaid patients reduced hospitalizations and saved taxpayers money. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research on Wednesday said California’s Whole Person Care pilot projects saved an estimated $383 per patient per year. The

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A tiny California mouse now has a big title after winning a Guinness World Records title for longevity. A Pacific pocket mouse named Pat — after “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart received the Guinness title on Wednesday for being the oldest living mouse in human care at the ripe age of

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Defense Department will remove surveillance cameras made by Chinese Communist Party-linked companies from its buildings. The Australian newspaper says at least 913 cameras, intercoms, electronic entry systems and video recorders developed and made by the Hikvision and Dahua companies are in Australian government and agency

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A U.S. judge has upheld Washington’s residency requirement for involvement in the state’s legal cannabis industry — a decision at odds with a federal appeals court ruling concerning a similar requirement in Maine. A man who co-owns a chain of Washington cannabis stores called Zips, Scott Atkinson,

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — An estimated 27.3 million people watched President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on television Tuesday night. The Nielsen company says that was the second smallest audience for the annual event in at least 30 years. Biden’s audience was down nearly 28% from 2022.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A jury has convicted a Minnesota woman accused of shooting her 6-year-old son nine times and hiding his body in her car trunk. The Hennepin County jury deliberated less than two hours before convictin 29-year-old Julissa Thaler of first-degree murder on Wednesday in the killing of Eli Hart, just 10 days after

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is now the latest state where a judge has found the public school funding system to be unconstitutional. But the experience of other states suggests there’s no guarantee of swift, significant or longstanding change for poorer school districts. Scholars who have studied school funding litigation

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A co-host of “Ear Hustle,” the Pulitzer Prize-nominated podcast produced behind bars, was released from San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday, a year after California Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted his sentence. Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, 52, left the lockup near San Francisco and was greeted by his fellow podcast co-hosts Walter

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. will cut about 7,000 jobs as part of an ambitious companywide cost-savings plan and “strategic reorganization” announced Wednesday by CEO Bob Iger. The job cuts amount to about 3% of the entertainment giant’s global workforce and were unveiled after Disney reported

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say a shooting outside a Brooklyn high school has injured two students and a school security guard. Authorities say a gunman opened fire outside Williamsburg Charter High School at about 2 p.m. Wednesday around dismissal time during a large fight. Police say the three victims’ injuries were

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Pope Francis special envoy says the pontiff hopes Cuban authorities will release and grant amnesty to people arrested and sentenced following the historic protests that took place in 2021. Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who traveled to the island, said during an act at the University of Havana to

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — More than two dozen Republican Montana lawmakers are co-sponsoring a bill that would allow students to misgender and dead-name their transgender peers without punishment. LGBTQ supporters contend the bill would allow the bullying of a population of kids already struggling for acceptance. The sponsor argued

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A bill backed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration would provide protections to the western Joshua tree, a native desert plant known for its distinct appearance. The bill’s proposal comes as the state’s Fish and Game Commission continues to weigh whether to list the