Month: February 2023

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer The National Enquirer, the scandal-plagued tabloid that engaged in “catch-and-kill” practices to bury stories about Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, has been sold. VVIP is buying the National Examiner and another tabloid, the Globe, from magazine publisher a360 Media in an all-cash deal, though exact financial terms were

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops tied down with attacks in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional combat power there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said Monday. Intense fighting that has been raging for weeks continued around the city

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Defense Ministry says Patriot missile batteries acquired from the U.S. last year have been deployed to the capital city Warsaw as part of military exercise. Poland is taking steps to further strengthen its defensive capabilities as Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine enters its second year later this month. At least

PARIS (AP) — Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders along with 14 French media outlets and production companies are calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to release a journalist imprisoned for a month in Kabul. In a joint statement issued Monday, RSF and French media said Mortaza Behboudi, a journalist with dual French and Afghan citizenship, was

By LIZ WESTON of NerdWallet Delaying the start of Social Security retirement benefits can dramatically increase your monthly benefit and your lifetime income. But how do you pay the bills in the meantime? Using your 401(k) or other retirement savings as a “bridge” may be the best option, even if it means spending down your

By GHAITH ALSAYED and ABBY SEWELL Associated Press DARKUSH, Syria (AP) — The deadly 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey near the Syrian border has hit hard in areas that house millions of war-displaced Syrians. In Syria’s Idlib province, the last remaining rebel-held stronghold, many of the displaced live in dire conditions in makeshift camps. In

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say European investigators have shut down an encrypted communication service that was used as a secure channel for organized crime particularly in the drug trade and arrested 48 people. Police said more than 70 properties were searched in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland on Friday when the arrests were

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The government of oil-rich Norway is looking to donate 75 billion kroner ($7.3 billion) in a multi-year support package to Ukraine. The money would make the Scandinavian country one of the world’s top donors to war-torn Ukraine. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Monday the money would be used for military

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer Manchester City was accused by the Premier League on Monday of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period when the club was attempting to establish itself as a force in English and European soccer following its takeover by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. The explosive development came

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — The hate attacks against Vinícius Júnior continued in Spain over the weekend. The Brazil forward was again targeted by racist insults in a league match. The Spanish league says it will investigate the latest attacks after television images showed someone calling him a monkey during Real

MERIBEL, France (AP) — Italian skier Federica Brignone won the women’s combined race Monday on the opening day of the world championships after defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin skied out near the end of her slalom run. Shiffrin seemed to be on her way to beating Brignone but the American straddled the third-to-last gate. She trailed

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Concerns about the medical condition of two hunger strikers seeking political and judicial reforms in Thailand have heightened as the hospital where the young women are being kept urgently summoned their parents. Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon and Orawan “Bam” Phuphon have been refusing food since Jan. 18. They

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When the pandemic threat eased, Maureen Holohan was eager to scale back her online shopping and return to physical stores so she could more easily compare prices and scour ingredients on beauty and health care products for herself and her three children. But that experience

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A judge in Kenya has ruled that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, can be sued in the East African country. Meta tried to have the case dropped, arguing that Kenyan courts do not have jurisdiction over their operations, but the labor court judge dismissed that in a

By CALVIN WOODWARD and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A president’s State of the Union address has a predictable formula. But what if a computer program were to write it? The Associated Press asked the ChatGPT bot to do just that. AP told the app to produce the speech as some of history’s

By CALVIN WOODWARD and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — If you’ve heard it once in a president’s State of the Union speech, you’ve heard it 100 times: There is nothing the American people can’t do when they pull together. But you haven’t heard that thought in a State of Union address from William

By ZEN SOO and KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s top court has ruled that full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to have their gender changed on their official identity cards. The decision is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the transgender community. Two

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance staff walked off the job in the U.K. on Monday in what unions called the biggest strike in the history of the country’s public health system. The walkout is the latest in a wave of strikes that has disrupted Britons’

By ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say a bombing killed a soldier and wounded 11 others, mostly civilians, in southwestern Pakistan. The blast went off on Sunday near a checkpoint in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. That’s according to a local police official. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators from India’s main opposition party turned out Monday in India’s capital New Delhi and other cities demanding an investigation into allegations of fraud and stock price manipulation by India’s second-biggest business group, headed by coal mining tycoon Gautam Adani. The Adani Group said

By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) — A confidential U.N. report into the alleged missteps by senior World Health Organization staffers in how they handled a sexual misconduct case during an Ebola outbreak in Congo has found their response didn’t violate the agency’s policies because of what some officials described as a “loophole.”

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — High winds and a cold snap in Greece have halted ferry services and highway traffic and dusted the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens with snowy. The inclement weather prompted authorities in greater Athens to close schools and courthouses and suspend debates in parliament on Monday. Cellphone push alerts urged

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti has called on Western powers not to pressure his tiny Balkan country into accepting a contentious association of five Serb-majority municipalities that is ramping up tensions between Kosovo and Serbia. Kurti told The Associated Press that the focus instead should be

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian singer who faces possible prison time for his song that’s become an anthem to the ongoing protests shaking the Islamic Republic wept early after seeing he’d won a Grammy. Shervin Hajipour appeared stunned early on Monday in Iran after hearing Jill Biden,

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian and Chinese trade ministers are holding their first bilateral meeting since 2019 as Australia urges China to lift barriers that are costing exporters $14 billion a year. Trade Minister Don Farrell held a teleconference from Australia’s Parliament House with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Some of Hong Kong’s best-known pro-democracy activists have gone on trial in the biggest prosecution yet under a law imposed by China’s ruling Communist Party to crush dissent. The 18 defendants face up to life in prison if convicted under the national security law critics say

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A spokesperson for Pakistan’s media regulator says it has blocked Wikipedia for hurting Muslim sentiment by not removing allegedly blasphemous content. The action was taken because a 48-hour deadline given to Wikipedia was ignored and some of the blasphemous content is still available on the site. That’s

By JOHNSON LAI Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A group of Swiss lawmakers has met with Taiwan’s president and said their government wants to deepen political relations. That adds to shows of support by foreign politicians for the self-ruled island democracy in the face of Chinese intimidation. U.S. legislators including then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets have rebounded after Wall Street sank under pressure from worries about higher interest rates and after Japan reported stronger wage gains than expected. Tokyo gained after the government reported wages rose in December at close to their fastest pace in three decades. Shanghai,

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — On Islamabad’s outskirts, burly men bind together in a scrum on a rugby pitch that has seen better days. The sign bearing the club’s name is worn. The floodlights are too costly to use, given high electricity prices and the paltry $135 total that the club earns

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — A former “Dances With Wolves” actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous girls and women for two decades in multiple states has been charged in Nevada for crimes that prosecutors said occurred in the Las Vegas-area starting in 2012. Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, was formally

By ASHOK SHARMA and DAVID RISING Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India is preparing to relaunch its INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier after a major refit, a critical step toward fulfilling its plan to deploy two carrier battle groups as it seeks to strengthen its regional maritime power to counter China’s increasing assertiveness. The former

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia: (AP) — An Indigenous senator in Australia has quit the minor Greens party in a disagreement over a referendum to be held this year that would create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Sen. Lidia Thorpe’s resignation on Monday illustrates deep divisions among Indigenous Australians on the referendum. The Greens

By JOSH BOAK and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for President Joe Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows just 37%

By BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wants his state to become an early presidential primary host — just not in 2024, as President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are pushing. The Republican election chief tells The Associated Press he’d back an early primary in 2028. Raffensperger

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Kyrsten Sinema won Democrats a U.S. Senate seat from Arizona for the first time in a generation thanks in no small part to unity in her party and division among Republicans. That Democratic unity of 2018 was on display again in the next two election cycles

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has scheduled a major political conference to discuss the “urgent task” of improving its agricultural sector. The meeting is a possible sign of worsening food insecurity as the country’s economic isolation deepens amid a defiant nuclear weapons push. State media said Monday the