Month: April 2023

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s navy has seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman amid wider tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program. Thursday’s seizure represents the latest-such capture in a waterway crucial for global energy supplies. The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel

By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Country superstar and newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Dolly Parton will give fans a glimpse of her upcoming rock album during the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards. Parton, who was voted into the Hall of Fame last year, will close

PARIS Protesters have loudly banged pots and pans near a castle where French President Emmanuel Macron was to make a speech. Saucepan protests have become a popular way to voice anger at a resented new law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Similar actions were staged in several parts of France Thursday where

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Donald Trump is again threatening to skip a presidential debate. The Republican former president has privately said that a debate in August would be too early and he would not participate, according to two people familiar with his concerns who insisted on anonymity to detail

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell last week as the labor market continues to show strength despite some weakness in other parts of the economy. The number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the week ending April 22 fell by 16,000 to 230,000, the Labor Department

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A court in Norway has sentenced a former contractor of Russian military company the Wagner Group to 14 days in jail for disorderly conduct and for carrying an air gun in a public place. A defense lawyer says the Oslo court acquitted Andrey Medvedev on Thursday of committing violence against police

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says the number of reported sexual assaults across the military inched up about 1% last year, as a sharp decline in Army numbers offset increases in the other three services. The small overall uptick is significantly less than the 13% jump the Pentagon saw

BERLIN (AP) — Prosecutors say a man arrested over last week’s stabbing attack at a gym in western Germany in which four people were wounded is now also a suspect in a fatal stabbing earlier this month. The 26-year-old Syrian was arrested at his apartment in Duisburg on Sunday in connection with the April 18

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A museum to Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin reopens in Warsaw this week after months of renovations. The museum, which houses Chopin’s last piano and manuscripts of his music, will also display new exhibits including letters he wrote to his companion, the writer George Sand, and her satirical drawing of

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s report Thursday that the economy grew at a 1.1% annual rate last quarter signaled that one of the most-anticipated recessions in recent U.S. history has yet to arrive. Many economists, though, still expect a recession to hit as soon as the current April-June quarter

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s plan to send an envoy to Ukraine allows his government to deflect criticism of its support for Moscow and pursue a bigger role as a diplomatic force, but Xi faces daunting obstacles if he is serious about trying to help end the 14-month-old

By PETER DEJONG Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Netherlands is celebrating the 56th birthday of King Willem-Alexander with street markets, parties and orange-glazed pastries, even as an annual poll shows support for the monarchy continuing to decline. An annual poll conducted for national broadcaster NOS by Ipsos ahead of the King’s Day national holiday

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Ukraine’s prime minister said he asked Pope Francis during a private Vatican audience Thursday to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, briefing reporters on his half-hour audience with the pontiff, said he also invited Francis to

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran wants Lebanon’s rivals to reach an agreement to elect a new president in the crisis-hit country that has been without a head of state October. Hossein Amirabdollahian made his comments Tuesday during his first visit to Lebanon since Iran and Saudi Arabia

LONDON (AP) — Traveling to the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London just got much harder for fans of the two Manchester clubs. The British trade union representing train drivers has announced three days of strike action by its members. That includes the day of the first meeting between Manchester City and Manchester

By ROSALIE MURPHY of NerdWallet Starting a business is, famously, very difficult. If you long for entrepreneurship, consider buying an existing business instead. They come with intellectual capital, existing customers, supplier relationships and cash flow. Business buyers may be able to get bank or SBA loans, which usually aren’t available to startups — and financing

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Ya Ya the giant panda landed Thursday afternoon in Shanghai after departing from the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, where she spent the past 20 years on loan. The popular panda’s trip was closely followed online. People shared screenshots tracking Ya Ya’s flight path into Shanghai. “Finally

By MOSHE EDRI and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday shrugged off Disney’s lawsuit against him as politically motivated, and that it was time for the iconic company to stop enjoying favorable treatment in his state. Disney sued DeSantis on Wednesday over the Republican’s appointment of a board

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Human rights organizations are urging Thailand to improve conditions in its immigration detention facilities after a second asylum seeker from China’s Muslim Uyghur minority died in custody within two months. Human Rights Watch called for an end to Thailand’s “inhumane and counterproductive” policy of indefinitely detaining people

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press ABOARD BRP MALABRIGO (AP) — A Chinese coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel steaming into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a frightening near-collision in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway. The high seas face-off between the larger Chinese ship and

By SUZAN FRASER and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated a nuclear power plant via video Thursday in his first public appearance since falling ill on live TV and canceling campaign stops, as he sought to dispel concerns about his health weeks before a crucial election. The

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s national weather service said temperatures would “reach values typical of summer” across most of the country, with a high of 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) forecast Thursday for the southern Guadalquivir Valley. As people sweltered in a country experiencing a severe drought, Spanish media reported that the Health Ministry would

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Armed fighters have rampaged through a main city in Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur, battling each other and looting shops and homes. Thursday’s violence came despite the extension of a fragile truce between Sudan’s two rival generals, whose power struggle has killed hundreds. The mayhem in the

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California approved Thursday a first-in-the-nation, ambitious rule limiting rail pollution to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state’s latest move to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change. The rule will ban locomotive engines more than 23 years

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, MATTHEW LEE and TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Warring factions trying to seize control of the east African nation of Sudan have plunged the country into chaos, and thousands are fleeing the capital of Khartoum and nearby battle zones. Some countries, including the U.S., have shuttered their embassies and

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Shares advanced in Asia on Friday after Wall Street rallied to its best day since January. Gains in Asian markets were more modest as traders waited to see what the Bank of Japan would do in its first policy meeting since Kazuo Ueda took the helm. The central bank