Month: March 2023

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar’s top diplomat has been sworn in as prime minister, replacing another member of the ruling family who had held the post since 2020. The state-run Qatar News Agency says Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was sworn in Tuesday as the new head of government, without providing further

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — South Korean technology firm Kakao has launched a tender offer to buy up to 35% of K-pop agency SM Entertainment and become its largest shareholder, escalating a battle with entertainment firm Hybe for control of the company. Kakao offered a tender price of 150,000 won ($115)

By WANJOHI KABUKURU Associated Press MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Still recovering from the effects of the first battering, the southeastern African nation of Mozambique is bracing for a rare second hit by long-living Tropical Cyclone Freddy late on Friday night, a regional weather center said Tuesday. The United Nations’ monitoring station on the Indian Ocean

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made an unannounced visit to Baghdad just days before the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Austin was greeted on touchdown in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday by Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, the U.S.

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has failed to appear before a court in Islamabad to answer charges in a graft case against him, apparently a maneuver by his legal team to avoid the ex-premier’s arrest. Tuesday’s hearing was set by Judge Zafar Iqbal and Khan

By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Derek Carr has proved repeatedly that he can produce as a passer. What the former Raiders quarterback hasn’t done is win in the playoffs, something he aims to change in New Orleans, where he’ll be reunited with Dennis Allen — his first NFL coach. Carr

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president says China has given crucial debt restructuring assurances that mean the bankrupt nation could get its bailout package approved soon. President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament on Tuesday that he has sent a letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund, which he

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Wednesday as investors fretted that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates faster if pressure stays high on inflation. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2% in morning trading to 28,370.92. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 1.0% to 7,291.90. South Korea’s

By SYLVIE CORBET, NICOLAS GARRIGA and JADE LE DELEY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Demonstrators were marching across France on Tuesday in a new round of protests and strikes against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64, in what unions hope to be their biggest show of force against the proposal. Garbage

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Shraga Tichover is hanging up his fatigues. After more than three decades as a reservist in the Israeli military, the paratrooper says he will no longer put his life on the line for a country slipping toward autocracy. Tichover is part of a wave of

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister has warned that Beijing and Washington are headed for “conflict and confrontation” if the U.S. doesn’t change course. Qin Gang struck a combative tone Tuesday at a moment when relations between the rivals are at a historic low. Qin’s harsh language appeared to defy predictions that China might abandon

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis positioned himself as the architect of a new conservative vision for the nation during a State of the State address on Tuesday that championed his aggressive stances through the pandemic and culture wars as a blueprint for Republican leadership.

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — A sharp drop in illegal border crossings since December could blunt a Republican point of attack against President Joe Biden as the Democratic leader moves to reshape a broken asylum system that has dogged him and his predecessors. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center

By NOMAAN MERCHANT and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — China has long been seen by the U.S. as a prolific source of anti-American propaganda but less aggressive in its influence operations than Russia, which has used cyberattacks and covert operations to disrupt U.S. elections and denigrate rivals. But many in Washington now think

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A helicopter pilot who was coming into land at an Australian theme park has told investigators he didn’t hear the pilot on the ground announce he was taking off before the fatal collision between their aircraft. The investigators said in their preliminary report Tuesday that

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma voters on Tuesday rejected the legalization of recreational marijuana, following a late blitz of opposition from faith leaders, law enforcement and prosecutors. Oklahoma would have become the 22nd state to legalize adult use of cannabis and join conservative states like Montana and Missouri that have

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve could increase the size of its interest rate hikes and raise borrowing costs to higher levels than previously projected if evidence continues to point to a robust economy and persistently high inflation, Chair Jerome Powell told a Senate panel Tuesday. “The latest economic

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police have found the body of a young woman trapped in a car that was swept away by rushing waters, the fifth death of seasonal floods that have also forced more than 43,000 people to flee their homes. Police said in a statement Monday that a 23-year-old woman reported

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate by another quarter-point to 3.6% as it continues trying to tame inflation. It was the 10th rate rise in a row by the Reserve Bank of Australia and brings interest rates to their highest point in 11 years. The increase will put

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency intentionally destroyed a new H3 rocket minutes after its launch Tuesday because the ignition failed for the second stage of the country’s first new rocket series in more than two decades. Coming three weeks after an aborted launch due to a separate glitch, the

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is defending his government’s contentious plan to use local funds to compensate Koreans enslaved by Japanese companies before the end of World War II. He says the plan is crucial for Seoul to build future-oriented ties with Tokyo after

By THOMAS ADAMSON AP Fashion Writer PARIS (AP) — Earthy scents pricked guests’ noses as they entered the venue for Stella McCartney: A manege. Shivers from the cold were quickly succeeded by gasps, when seven horses suddenly galloped in from a side door followed by an exuberant handler. The show Monday that incorporated equestrian themes

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers in remote Indonesian islands are searching for 47 people who are believed to be buried in their houses by landslides that tore through villages after torrential rains. Eleven people are confirmed dead. Officials said Tuesday eight others were pulled alive with injuries, three of whom in critical condition. The two

NEW YORK (AP) — Two men have been convicted of helping Somali pirates who kidnapped a U.S. journalist for ransom and held him for 2 1/2 years, prosecutors said. Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed and Abdi Yusuf Hassan were convicted by a federal court jury in New York on Feb. 24 of hostage-taking, conspiracy, providing material support

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii officials on Monday cited a Maui man seen on video snorkeling for allegedly harassing a humpback whale and pod of dolphins. The man actively pursued the adolescent whale inside Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park off the Big Island, according to a Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources statement. The agency

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Police detained a man on suspicion of killing an 11-year-old boy and neighbors wrecked his home Monday amid anger over escalating drug violence in the Argentine city of Rosario, where a threat was directed at soccer superstar Lionel Messi last week. Máximo Jerez was killed early Sunday when at least

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A district attorney in Santa Fe fought back Monday against efforts to disqualify the special prosecutor pursuing manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set. Baldwin’s legal team in February sought to disqualify special

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tribal leaders, scientists and conservation advocates buried Southern California’s most famous mountain lion Saturday in the mountains where the big cat once roamed. After making his home in the urban Griffith Park — home of the Hollywood Sign — for the past decade, P-22 became a

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A nuclear power plant in Georgia has begun splitting atoms in one of its two new reactors, Georgia Power said Monday, a key step toward reaching commercial operation at the first new nuclear reactors built from scratch in decades in the United States. The unit of Atlanta-based

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Military officials in Peru say six soldiers drowned while trying to swim across a river in the Andes to reach a town where violent protesters are demanding the resignation of Peru’s president. The Defense Ministry says five soldiers are suffering hypothermia following attempts to cross the Ilave River on Sunday. The

By ALBERT AJI Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian state media say an Israeli airstrike has hit the airport in the city of Aleppo and put it out of service. The state news agency SANA cites a military official as saying that Israel “carried out an air attack from the direction of the Mediterranean

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A private bank is trying to force the Biden administration to end its pause on federal student loan payments, arguing the moratorium has no legal basis and has cost the bank, known for its refinancing business, millions of dollars in profits. In a federal lawsuit filed