Month: February 2023

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Belarusian court has sentenced a journalist and prominent member of the country’s Polish minority to eight years in prison, amid an ongoing crackdown on government critics. Andrzej Poczobut, 49, was found guilty Wednesday of harming Belarus’ national security and “inciting discord” in a closed trial

By FRANCESCO SPORTELLI Associated Press FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Visitors to one of Florence’s most iconic monuments — the Baptistry of San Giovanni, opposite the city’s Duomo — are getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see its ceiling mosaics up close thanks to an innovative approach to a planned restoration effort. Rather than limit the public’s

BRUSSELS (AP) — Authorities in Belgium seized about 1.5 million euros in cash during raids targeting an alleged criminal organization suspected of sending Chinese women to Europe and forcing them into prostitution. The federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that investigators also took hold of four tons of coins with an unspecified value. After a

HELSINKI (AP) — Firefighters are working for a second day to fully extinguish a blaze at a U.S. company’s drone plant in Latvia. Local police said Wednesday they have found nothing so far to indicate sabotage. Latvia’s State Fire and Rescue Service was alerted Tuesday afternoon that a fire had broken out at Edge Autonomy’s

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer Brittney Griner texted her good friend Diana Taurasi on Tuesday morning asking how the USA Basketball training camp was going. Griner was back in Arizona, choosing to skip the camp in Minnesota so she can be with her wife and recover from her time in a Russian jail. She

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Microsoft’s stalled $68.7 billion deal to buy video game company Activision Blizzard has hit a fresh hurdle in the United Kingdom, where the antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it will stifle competition and hurt gamers. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said its in-depth investigation found that

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The world’s biggest shipper, Denmark’s A.P. Moeller-Maersk, says 2022 was its most profitable year but warned that a plunge in container volumes and freight rates would lead to a drop in earnings this year. In its full year report Wednesday, Maersk said its full-year revenue increased by 32%, to $81.5 billion

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The extraordinary scene of U.S. fighter jets getting ready to strike a Chinese balloon had many people along the Carolina coast straining their necks and pointing their smartphones to the sky to capture the moment of impact. But a group of aviation enthusiasts was, instead, intently scanning

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A jury sat solemnly in a gilded hall in central London on Tuesday, presided over by a bewigged representative of the crown in flowing black robes, but there were no criminals in the dock. Britain’s coinage was on trial. In a ceremony that dates back to the

By MATTHEW BROWN and SAM METZ Associated Press HARLOWTON, Mont. (AP) — Near the banks of Montana’s Musselshell River, cattle rancher Michael Miller saw a large, white orb above the town of Harlowton last week, a day before U.S. officials revealed they were tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the state. The balloon caused

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have requested a lengthy prison term for a former regional governor who is standing trial on murder charges and whose arrest two years ago prompted weeks-long mass protests. The prosecutor has asked a court in the Moscow region to sentence Sergei Furgal, former governor of Russia’s far eastern Khabarovsk region,

By ANNIE MILLERBERND of NerdWallet The Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits and rebates for homeowners who make energy-saving updates to their homes. Tax credits are available now for updates like new windows, doors, air conditioners, insulation and solar panels, while larger rebates for energy-saving and electrification updates are expected to become available later this

By RONALD MONTOYA Edmunds Shopping for a new or used car over the last few years has become a frustrating and expensive undertaking. For those who haven’t been in the market recently, car shoppers have had to deal with vehicle shortages, high prices, dwindling incentives and rising interest rates. Will 2023 bring any relief? Yes

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer Big money is pouring into primary care clinics as the nation’s health care giants hunt for ways to cut costs by keeping people healthy. CVS Health said Wednesday that it will spend about $10.6 billion to buy Oak Street Health, which runs clinics that specialize in treating Medicare Advantage

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of farmers have driven their tractors to Paris to amplify their demand to be allowed to use banned pesticides on sugar beets to help ensure “food sovereignty” for France. Entering the French capital through a southern gateway, the farmers’ convoy rolled on Wednesday to the gold-domed Invalides monument, site of Napoleon’s

By ALFIAN KARTONO and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian security forces searched Wednesday for a pilot from New Zealand who was taken hostage by separatist rebels in restive Papua province. The joint team of soldiers and police searching for the pilot, Philip Mark Mehrtens, also managed Wednesday to rescue 15 construction

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s domestic security agency says the threat of attacks in the Scandinavian country has increased since a far-right activist burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. The agency said Tuesday that “the assessment is that the security situation has deteriorated.” However, the SAPO security service didn’t increase Sweden’s terror threat

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan authorities say they will not renew the mandate of the United Nations human rights office in the East African country, effectively blocking the group’s operations at a time of heightened concerns over rights abuses. In a Feb. 3 notice to the Office of the U.N.

By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer MILAN (AP) — The only Black designer belonging to Italy’s fashion chamber withdrew Wednesday from this month’s Milan Fashion Week, alleging a lack of support for diversity and inclusion after the chamber “abandoned” a project to promote young designers of color working in Italy. Stella Jean interrupted a press

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press DeFOREST, Wis. (AP) — President Joe Biden has made Wisconsin his first stop after his State of the Union address, visiting a training center run by a union near Madison, the state capital. He’s pressing the economic message and other themes he promoted in Tuesday’s nationally televised

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International investigators found “strong indications” Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the supply of heavy anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainian separatists who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with a Russian missile in 2014. But the Joint Investigation Team said they had insufficient evidence to start new

BEIJING (AP) — China says it was smeared in U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address that repeatedly mentioned competition between the two countries. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson says China does not fear competing with the U.S. but is “opposed to defining the entire China-U.S. relationship in terms of competition.” She says a

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press SUBIC BAY, Philippines (AP) — The United States is rebuilding its military might in the Philippines more than 30 years after it closed its bases there. Washington has been reinforcing an arc of military alliances in Asia in a starkly different post-Cold War era in which the perceived new threat

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president has appealed for patience amid the country’s worst economic crisis but promised brighter times ahead. President Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a policy speech on Wednesday after inaugurating a new parliamentary session that he had been forced to make unpopular decisions to salvage

By JILL LAWLESS and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought Western support for his country in surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the U.K. Parliament, and then flying to Paris to meet the French

By FIRDIA LISNAWATI Associated Press DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Police on the Indonesian resort island of Bali have detained an Australian who is wanted by Italy since 2016 on drug trafficking charges. Antonio Strangio, who holds dual Italian and Australian citizenship, was detained at Bali International Airport after arriving from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last Thursday.

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares have fallen in Asia after Wall Street gave back some of its recent gains on persisting uncertainty over interest rates and inflation. Benchmarks declined in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney but rose in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Wall Street retreated following a set of mixed earnings

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Ratib Matar’s family was growing. They needed more space. Before his granddaughters, now 4 and 5, were born, he built three apartments on an eastern slope overlooking Jerusalem’s ancient landscape. The 50-year-old construction contractor moved in with his brother, son, divorced daughter and their young kids —