Month: February 2023

HONG KONG (AP) — Walt Disney Co. has removed an episode from cartoon series The Simpsons that included a reference to “forced labor camps” in China from its streaming service in Hong Kong. The company declined to comment on why the episode, “One Angry Lisa” from The Simpsons’ 34th season, was not available to stream

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The International Energy Agency says Asia will for the first time use half of the world’s electricity by 2025. In a forecast released Wednesday, the agency said China’s share of global electricity consumption will rise from a quarter in 2015 to a third by the middle of

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s military says security forces acting on intelligence raided a Pakistani Taliban hideout near the border of Afghanistan, triggering a shootout that left 12 militants dead. The military’s statement Wednesday said the pre-dawn raid in Lakki Marwat, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was the first

By BRITTANY PETERSON and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press Days after crews released and burned toxic chemicals transported by a wrecked train in Ohio, residents remain concerned about the toxic substances that could be lingering in their evacuated neighborhoods. About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash Friday in East Palestine,

BEIJING (AP) — The vice chair of Beijing-friendly opposition Nationalist Party from Taiwan is visiting China for meetings with officials and the local business community. Andrew Hsia’s nine-day trip starting Wednesday comes as China renews attacks on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party over its refusal to recognize Taiwan as a part of China. The spokesperson

By MORGAN LEE and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas man has pleaded guilty to federal charges accusing him of killing nearly two dozen people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart. Patrick Crusius changed his plea Wednesday, weeks after federal prosecutors said they wouldn’t seek the

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand police said Wednesday they found more than 3 tons of cocaine floating in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean after it was dropped there by an international drug-smuggling syndicate. While they had yet to make any arrests, police said they had dealt

By LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. George Santos positioned himself in a prime location for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address — an uncomfortably prominent place for the embattled new lawmaker who faces multiple investigations and has acknowledged embellishing and even lying about his life

By MEHMET GUZEL, GHAITH ALSAYED, SUZAN FRASER and ZEYNEP BILGINSOY Associated Press GAZIANTEP, Turkey (AP) — The president of Turkey acknowledged “shortcomings” in his country’s response to the world’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the comment Wednesday as hope dwindled that more survivors would emerge from the rubble

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says he is axing or delaying many of his government’s more contentious policy plans as he looks to refocus on priorities like the rising cost of living. Hipkins, who was sworn-in two weeks ago after the shock resignation

By JOHN FLESHER and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Biden administration plans changes in federal regulations to encourage voluntary conservation projects on private land, partly by shielding owners from punishment if their actions kill or harm small numbers of imperiled species. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal released Wednesday

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bronny James stepped over to his dad’s locker and played the phone video he had taken of Tuesday night’s biggest moment. The NBA’s new scoring king tipped his head back in a rich, full-throated laugh when the audio revealed Bronny had anticipated that the historic

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada has ordered the government to revisit part of its environmental review of a proposed lithium mine. But the judge’s ruling late Monday denied opponents’ effort to block the project. The mine developer says the ruling clears the way for construction at

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A fire on board a New Jersey-bound United Airlines plane prompted it to return to San Diego International Airport on Tuesday morning and four people were taken to a hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, authorities said. Flight 2664 was heading to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when a

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A prosecutor has told a jury that a former principal of a ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls school in the Australian city of Melbourne molested three sisters. Malka Leifer has pleaded not guilty in the Victoria state County Court to 29 sexual offenses that were allegedly committed at

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — A 24-year-old man now linked to an unusual string of crimes that kept the Dallas Zoo on the lookout for missing animals told police that after he swiped two monkeys from their enclosure, he took them onto the city’s light rail system to make his getaway, court

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-led government, working with Russia’s state atomic energy company, has inaugurated a nuclear power information center as a step toward developing atomic power to fill energy shortages in the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation. Myanmar state media say the leader of the military government, Min Aung Hlaing, met with the head of

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — The U.S. Space Force says a power surge during a lightning storm likely caused a mechanical issue that allowed diesel fuel to spill last week at the environmentally sensitive and culturally important summit of Haleakala mountain in Hawaii. The Maui News reports U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir says

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The toll of police brutality in America was on painful display Tuesday night as family members of Black men and women killed in custody joined lawmakers in the Capitol to hear President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Seated near first lady Jill Biden were the

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A Canadian Armed Forces surveillance plane is returning home after two intelligence-collecting flights over Haiti. The federal government had announced Saturday that the CP-140 Aurora was being deployed to collect intelligence on gang activity in Haiti. A military spokesman said Tuesday that the long-range surveillance plane was originally assigned to a

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Canadian police confirmed Tuesday they are pursuing a criminal case against a former “Dances With Wolves” actor who was arrested last week and charged in Nevada with sexually abusing and trafficking Indigenous women and girls. Nathan Chasing Horse, who also goes by Nathan Lee Chasing His

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A magazine and website that has served Bruce Springsteen’s fans for 43 years is shutting down, with its publisher writing that he’s been disillusioned by the debate over ticket prices for their hero’s current tour. Backstreets had been an unusually robust publication that imposed journalistic

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country’s army as he lauded the “irresistible might” of his nuclear-armed military, state media said Wednesday. The visit preceded a massive military parade

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada’s health care system isn’t living up to its promise, and he plans to add billions more in funding. Trudeau says wait times in emergency departments have become dangerously long, people are waiting too long for essential surgeries and millions of

By ADRIAN SAINZ, TRAVIS LOLLER and JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — More than 170 pastors and other faith leaders have urged Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to authorize an independent review of death penalty procedures, as other states have done following problems with executions. The group applauded Ivey Tuesday for taking the “bold and necessary step” of ordering

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — An alleged gang member has pleaded not guilty to killing six people, including a teen mother and her baby, last month at a central California home associated with a rival gang. The Jan. 16 massacre shocked rural Goshen, a community of about 3,000 people in the San Joaquin Valley. 25-year-old Noah

By MARK SCOLFORO, MARC LEVY and MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge says the state’s funding of public education falls woefully short and violates students’ constitutional rights. The decision issued Tuesday in a long-running case sides with poorer districts that are seeking billions of dollars in additional annual support. Commonwealth

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is fusing ChatGPT-like technology into its search engine Bing, transforming an internet service that now trails far behind Google into a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence. The revamping of Microsoft’s second-place search engine could give the software giant a head start against

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Defense attorneys for actor Alec Baldwin are seeking to disqualify the special prosecutor in the case against him stemming from the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set. In a motion filed Tuesday in Santa Fe-based district court, Baldwin’s legal team said Andrea Reeb’s position as