Month: March 2023

By KAREL JANICEK Associated Press PRAGUE (AP) — Over the past 10 years, Czech President Milos Zeman has courted controversy. He sought a referendum on whether his country should leave the European Union, targeted migrants and joked about killing journalists. Many Czechs cheered the departure of their outgoing head of state Wednesday — with one

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former executive utility who gave rosy projections on the progress of two nuclear power plants in South Carolina while they were hopelessly behind will spend 15 months in prison for the doomed project. Ex-SCANA Corp. Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne apologized in court Wednesday, saying

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state lawmaker is quitting the Legislature, a week after a union lobbyist accused him by name of having sexually harassed her four years ago. Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel of Delaware County said in the letter sent Wednesday to Democratic Speaker Joanna McClinton that his

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — When four Americans were kidnapped in the border city of Matamoros, authorities rescued the survivors after three days. But thousands of Mexicans remain missing in a border state long associated with cartel violence. Authorities in Tamaulipas state quickly blamed the local Gulf cartel for shooting up

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s center-right Reform Party has started talks with two smaller parties about forming a new liberal-minded coalition government. The party of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas won the Baltic nation’s general election with 31.2% of the vote. On Wednesday, Kallas hosted a meeting of delegates from the Reform

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The first meeting of the new board of Walt Disney World’s government — overhauled by sweeping legislation signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as an apparent punishment for Disney publicly challenging Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill — dealt with the rote affairs any

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian security forces have fired tear gas canisters and flash grenades at angry Palestinian protesters during a funeral for a militant in the occupied West Bank. Wednesday’s rare encounter highlighted deep public dissatisfaction with the Palestinian self-rule government. Palestinians gathered in the northern West Bank city of Nablus for the

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Airport police say federal agents confiscated a loaded gun found in the hand luggage of actor and comedian Mike Epps, who was trying to board a flight at Indianapolis International Airport. Transportation Security Administration officers discovered the Smith & Wesson .38-caliber pistol Sunday morning inside Epps’ backpack. The 52-year-old Epps told TSA

By JESSICA DAMIANO Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nine-day Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, billed as the world’s oldest and largest indoor garden show, typically draws some 250,000 attendees from around the globe. This year, the show’s display gardens are arranged in a winding promenade that allows for leisurely, self-guided meandering. The

By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization has fired its top official in the Western Pacific. The Associated Press reported in January 2022 that dozens of staff members had accused Dr. Takeshi Kasai of racist, abusive and unethical behavior that may have compromised the U.N. health agency’s response to

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed Wednesday that the central bank’s policymakers have yet to decide how large an interest rate hike to impose at its next meeting in two weeks in its drive to defeat high inflation. Powell had made a similar comment on Tuesday

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s upcoming budget proposal aims to cut deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade, the White House said Wednesday. That deficit reduction goal is significantly higher than the $2 trillion that Biden had promised in his State of the Union address last month.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is adding more sanctions on Iranian state officials who are accused of violating women’s rights, amid nationwide anti-government protests over the treatment of young women and girls.Included in the sanctions are two prison officials, several firms that manufacture equipment for Iranian law enforcement, the commander-in-chief

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — A Tesla that crashed into a firetruck in California last month was operating on one of the company’s automated driving systems, U.S. safety regulators said Wednesday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has sent a special crash investigation team to look into the Feb.

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities said Wednesday they are dropping all investigations into Puerto Rico’s lone zoo where various species have died, saying the decision came after reaching an agreement with local officials to transfer the animals to sanctuaries on the U.S. mainland. The announcement angered many

By TERRY TANG The Associated Press Almost every working Asian actor in Hollywood can trace their path back to Bruce Lee and Anna May Wong. The Chinese American screen legends are typically talked about the way one talks about revered ancestors. One was a martial arts icon, the other an actor who stood out during

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted 10.8 million job openings in January, indicating the American job market continues to run too hot for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve. Job openings fell from 11.2 million in December but remained high by historical standards, the Labor Department reported Wednesday,

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press A top United Nations official has called for renewed attempts to reach a political solution to the country’s nearly 12-year-old civil conflict in the wake of last month’s devastating earthquake. Geir Pedersen, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, told reporters Wednesday that the deadly 7.8 magnitude quake that struck Turkey