Month: March 2023

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Governments gave their blessing on Sunday to a major new U.N. report on climate change, after approval was held up by a battle between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations. The report by hundreds of the world’s top scientists was

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis offered prayers Sunday for the victims of an earthquake that shook vast swaths of territory in Ecuador and parts of Peru. During his weekly Sunday noon blessing, Francis recalled that the 6.8-magnitude temblor caused “death, injuries and heavy damage.” “I’m close to the Ecuadorean people and assure them of

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad has arrived in the United Arab Emirates Sunday, his first visit to the wealthy Gulf country since the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last month. Assad, who arrived with his wife, Asma, and a delegation of Syrian officials, was received by

By SARA BURNETT Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Before they were rivals to be Chicago’s next mayor, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson both worked in education, though their career paths — like their views on the city’s future — were very different. Vallas was CEO of Chicago Public Schools, appointed by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley

PARIS (AP) — Protesters have vandalized the Nice office of the president of the Republican party in an apparent threat to get his right-wing party to vote to block President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. Eric Ciotti tweeted a photo of his office in the French Riviera city with shattered windows, after a paving stone was

BERLIN (AP) — Officials have shut down a large funfair in western Germany after a man was stabbed to death on a carousel Saturday night. Police said the 31-year-old victim and another unknown man got into a fight while riding a carousel at the fair in Münster, a city of around 300,000. During the fight,

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the military’s chief of staff to contain a wave of protest from within the ranks over a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary. Netanyahu’s remarks Sunday come as Israel is embroiled in a major crisis that has

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A speeding bus has fallen into a roadside ditch in central Bangladesh, leaving at least 19 people dead and more than 20 others injured. Police say 14 people died at the scene on Sunday in the district of Madaripur. News reports say another three people died later. The bus was travelling

By ALBERT AJI Associated Press DAMASCUS (AP) — The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says one of its commanders has been killed in Syria in what it described as an assassination by Israeli agents. Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group, says that Ali Ramzi al-Aswad, 31, was killed Sunday morning in

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Kuwaiti court has annulled the results of a parliamentary election held last year, saying it would reinstate the previous slate of lawmakers elected in 2020. The decision Sunday by Kuwait’s Constitutional Court, reported by the state-run KUNA news agency, threw more chaos into the politics of this small,

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Rights activists in the Serb-run part of Bosnia have been assaulted, hours after police banned an LGBT event planned there over the weekend, citing security concerns. The attack took place as the activists were leaving a meeting at the offices of the Bosnian branch of the global anti-corruption group Transparency International

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s rainy season brings a bonanza of wild mushrooms, which many rural families feast upon and sell to boost their incomes. But the bounty also comes with danger as each year there are reports of people dying after eating poisonous fungi. Discerning between safe and toxic

By KARL RITTER Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the occupied port city of Mariupol, his first trip to Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September and a show of defiance after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges. Putin arrived in

By PREDRAG MILIC Associated Press PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Early projections after Sunday’s presidential election in Montenegro suggest that the long-serving Montenegrin incumbent will face a political newcomer in a runoff presidential election next month. None of the contenders garnered enough support in the first round of voting on Sunday for an outright victory. The

By KAT STAFFORD and CLAIRE SAVAGE Associated Press In the hours after some of Silicon Valley Bank’s biggest customers started pulling out their money, a WhatsApp group of startup founders who are immigrants of color ballooned to more than 1,000 members. Questions flowed as the bank’s financial status worsened. Some desperately sought advice: Could they

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan police say up to 100 vehicles were involved in a massive pileup on Interstate 96 during white-out conditions. State police wrote on Twitter that early reports said 50 to 100 vehicles were in the Saturday crash near the city of Portland, over 100 miles northwest of Detroit. Officials posted photos

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is holding a massive rally in Mexico City’s main plaza with tens of thousands of people. Many of those attending the Saturday rally agreed that it was the de-facto opening salvo to the 2024 elections that will choose the president’s successor. It may be one

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press DOWNEY, Calif. (AP) — The state of California and a generic drug manufacturer have entered a 10-year partnership to produce affordable, state-branded insulin that they hope will rival longtime producers and push down prices. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom says the intent is to disrupt the insulin marketplace, where prices

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Taylor Swift opened her U.S. concert series with a three-hour tour of her career. Swift kicked off the first concert of the 52-date Eras Tour with a six-song set from her album “Lover” on Friday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the Super Bowl was played a month

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press Mysterious streaks of light were seen in the sky in the Sacramento area Friday night, shocking St. Patrick’s Day revelers who then posted videos on social media of the surprising sight. Jaime Hernandez was at the King Cong Brewing Company in Sacramento for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration when some

HILL CITY, Kan. (AP) — Military officials say a Kansas man who died in Germany during World War II has been identified and his remains will be returned to his native state for burial. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Friday that it had identified the remains of 22-year-old Army Sgt. Gregory Knoll, of Hill

By JILL COLVIN and MEG KINNARD Associated Press NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Top Republicans, including some of Donald Trump’s potential rivals for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, rushed to his defense Saturday after Trump said he is bracing for possible arrest. “The idea of indicting a former president of the United States is deeply

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — After much public outcry, state officials now say they will let a Louisiana couple keep a 22-pound nutria — a beady-eyed, orange-toothed, rat-tailed rodent commonly considered a wetlands-damaging pest — as a pet that frolics with their dog, snuggles in their arms and swims in the family pool. The Louisiana

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket toward its southern territories. The rocket fell and exploded in an open area Saturday evening, triggering warning sirens in a community to the east of Gaza City. There were no reports of casualties or damage. The Israeli military usually responds to

LONDON (AP) — BBC presenter Gary Lineker has made a low-key return to live TV as he led the broadcaster’s coverage of FA Cup soccer. But he opted not to directly address his recent suspension over a tweet that criticized the U.K. government’s migration policy. Lineker was reinstated by the BBC on Monday after the

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — The head of Italy’s opposition Democratic Party has blasted a bureaucratic crackdown on LGBTQ families as ideological, cruel and discriminatory. Party leader Elly Schlein joined thousands of people at a demonstration in Milan to protest a move by the far-right-led Italian government to restrict the rights of

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning about dangerous counterfeit pills being sold at pharmacies in Mexico that often contain fentanyl. The travel alert posted Friday says Americans should “exercise caution when purchasing medication in Mexico.” Small pharmacies in tourist areas and border regions sometimes sell medications advertised as

By GIANFRANCO STARA Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis met Saturday with thousands of refugees and charity groups hosting them in Italy as he sought to promote legal migration routes to Europe as an alternative to smuggling operations that he said have turned the Mediterranean Sea into a “cemetery.” Francis said “humanitarian corridors,”

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines. The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina school district said a ninth grader walking in a hallway was stopped during a moment of silence and not the Pledge of Allegiance, as the student had said in a lawsuit filed last month. Marissa Barnwell said she was pushed against the wall

By KEN MILLER Associated Press A federal judge is giving Oklahoma and nearly a dozen poultry companies, including the world’s largest poultry producer, Tyson Foods, an additional 90 days to reach an agreement on plans to clean a watershed polluted by chicken litter. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell on Friday scheduled a June 16 status