Month: March 2023

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — For her 100th book club pick, Oprah Winfrey relied on the same instincts she has drawn upon from the start: Does the story move her? Does she think about it for days after? In a work of fiction, do the characters seem real to her?

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch voters are going to the polls Wednesday in local elections with a national impact. Campaign themes range from local bugbears like dwindling public transport in remote villages to global issues such as migration and the environment. It is also a test of strength for

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — FIFA president Gianni Infantino will be re-elected this week to lead a richer-than-ever soccer body with an ambition to add new and bigger competitions despite growing wariness of him in Europe. FIFA has $4 billion in reserves after the World Cup in Qatar. It plans to

By BABAR DOGAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Clashes between Pakistan’s police and supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan persisted outside his home in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday, a day after officers went to arrest him for failing to appear in court on graft charges. The police

By AVET DEMOURIAN Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s prime minister has accused a Moscow-dominated security alliance of leaving his country in the cold in the face of a threat of renewed hostilities with neighboring Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been repeatedly critical of what he described as the failure of the Collective

By RODRIQUE NGOWI and KATHY MCCORMACK Associated Press PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A winter storm is dumping heavy, wet snow in parts of the Northeast, causing power outages to tens of thousands, widespread closures of schools and government offices, dangerous driving conditions and a plane to slide off a taxiway. The storm’s path Tuesday included

HELSINKI (AP) — Sweden’s prime minister has acknowledged that it is likely that neighbor Finland will join NATO before his country does, due to Turkey’s opposition to the Swedish bid. Ulf Kristersson said during a news conference in Stockholm on Tuesday that it has been clear since last year that Finland’s road into membership has

By ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The City of Light is losing its luster with tons of garbage piling up on Paris sidewalks as sanitation workers strike for a ninth day Tuesday. The creeping squalor is the most visible sign of widespread anger over a bill to raise the French retirement age by

By KARL RITTER Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday in a “brazen violation of international law,” causing American forces to bring down the unmanned aerial vehicle, the U.S. said. But Russia insisted its warplanes didn’t hit the

NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — A man who racially abused Brentford striker Ivan Toney on social media has been banned from every soccer stadium in Britain for three years in what police described as a “landmark ruling.” Antonio Neill sent a racist message to Toney on Instagram after the striker scored two goals against Brighton in

BEIJING (AP) — China says the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are traveling “further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest.” China’s Foreign Ministry was responding Tuesday to an agreement under which Australia will purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the U.S. to modernize its fleet. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said

By ZEKE MILLER and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday aiming at increasing background checks to buy guns, promoting more secure firearms storage and ensuring U.S. law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer. The Democratic

BEIJING (AP) — Reports say Jiang Yanyong, a Chinese military doctor who revealed the full extent of the 2003 SARS outbreak and was later placed under house arrest for his political outspokenness, has died. Long-time acquaintance Hu Jia and a Hong Kong newspaper say Jiang was 91 when he died of pneumonia Saturday in Beijing.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — South Korean and Japanese leaders will meet in Tokyo this week, hoping to resume regular visits after a gap of over a decade and overcome resentments that date back more than 100 years. The two major Asian economies and United States allies face increasing

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets rebounded Wednesday after Wall Street stabilized following sharp declines for bank stocks and U.S. inflation eased but stayed high. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Oil prices regained some of the previous day’s sharp losses. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer Jimmy Garoppolo is finally out of San Francisco, ready to start the next phase of his career wearing the Raiders’ silver and black. Sam Darnold is heading out West, where he’ll replace Garoppolo and join Trey Lance and Brock Purdy with the 49ers. Mike White, Case Keenum and Jarrett

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — China will reopen its borders to tourists and resume issuing all visas Wednesday as it tries to revive tourism and its economy following a three-year halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. China is one of the last major countries to reopen its borders to tourists. The announcement