Month: April 2023

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior Shiite cleric in Iran has been shot and killed in an attack in a northern province along the Caspian Sea. An attacker shot to death Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani in Babolsar in Iran’s Mazandaran province on Wednesday. That’s according to a state television report. State TV said police later

By JUSTIN SPIKE and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The spiritual priorities of Pope Francis will be on display during a trip this week to Hungary, where the populist government will seek to downplay its diverging views on matters like immigration and minority rights while focusing instead on points where it aligns

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly fell Thursday, echoing the drop on Wall Street, as worries about the U.S. banking sector and inflationary pressures weighed on investor sentiment. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 0.2% in morning trading to 28,349.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 7,288.70. South Korea’s Kospi

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — I won’t forget the first time I took a ride in a car without anyone sitting in the driver’s seat. It happened one night last September when a Chevy Bolt named Peaches picked me up outside a San Francisco bar. Our ensuing half-hour ride together

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — With her homeland now a conflict zone, rest does not come easily for Dr. Sara Abdelgalil. She is anxious about family still in Sudan that she can’t reach. Her sleepless mother paces the floor above her with worry. And her phone buzzes at all hours with text

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government has launched an initiative to streamline and promote innovation in the development of drones and other technologies that have been critical during Russia’s war in Ukraine. The government hopes to bring state, military, and private sector developers working on defense issues together into

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s public safety chief has come under fire for his remark that he enjoyed eel rice so much that he kept eating after his agency informed him of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s narrow escape from a pipe bomb attack two weeks ago. Koichi Tani, chair of the

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrians living on opposite sides of the largely frozen battle lines dividing their country are watching the accelerating normalization of ties between the government of Bashar Assad and Syria’s neighbors through starkly different lenses. In government-held Syria, residents struggling with ballooning inflation, fuel and electricity shortages hope

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has held trade talks with South Korean officials in Seoul, on the second leg of his four-nation trip, as the possible rival to Donald Trump seeks to build his diplomatic profile ahead of a widely anticipated presidential campaign launch. Leading a trade mission from Florida, DeSantis

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press/Report for America PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For most of her life in New Mexico, Christina Wood felt like she had to hide her identity as a transgender woman. So six years ago she moved to Oregon, where she had readier access to the gender-affirming health care she needed to live

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua region have released a video appearing to show the New Zealand pilot they took hostage in February saying that recent Indonesian military attacks threatened his safety. In the video sent to media by the spokesperson of the West Papua Liberation

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s state parole board voted Wednesday not to recommend clemency for death row inmate Richard Glossip, even though the state attorney general said he doesn’t think the condemned man whose case has drawn celebrity interest received a fair trial. The Pardon and Parole Board deadlocked 2-2,

BEIIJING (AP) — Travelers entering China will no longer need to provide a negative PCR test result starting Saturday. A Foreign Ministry official says that travelers can instead show a negative antigen test result taken within 48 hours before boarding. It’s another easing of China’s “zero COVID” policies that sharply curbed travel. Beijing resumed issuing

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide the case of a woman who lost her one-bedroom condo in Minneapolis over $2,300 in unpaid taxes, plus interest and penalties. Hennepin County sold Geraldine Tyler’s apartment for $40,000 and kept every penny. Lawyers for the now 94-year-old Tyler say the county

By WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — No honking geese are likely to interrupt his speeches this time. As President Joe Biden seeks a second term, he won’t have to depend on glitchy Zoom connections, or deliver remarks in largely vacant theaters with attendees in chairs ringed by circle markings on

By FARNOUSH AMIRI, MATTHEW LEE, AAMER MADHANI and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A ground assault by the Taliban killed the Islamic State militant who spearheaded the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that left 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan,

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and SHONAL GANGULY Associated Press MURKATA, India (AP) — Krishna Biswas is scared. Unable to prove his Indian citizenship, he is at risk of being sent to a detention center, far away from his modest hut built of bamboo wood that looks down on fields lush with corn. Biswas says he was

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks are still alive in the playoffs and that will force fans planning to attend Janet Jackson’s concert in the city this week to wait a day to see the music star. The Hawks rallied to beat the Boston Celtics 119-117 in Game 5 of their playoff matchup on Tuesday

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Bud Light may have fumbled its attempt to broaden its customer base by partnering with a transgender influencer. But experts say inclusive marketing is simply good business — and it’s here to stay. “A few years from now, we will look back on this ‘controversy’ with the same embarrassment

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Honda is gearing up for an electrification shift in North America with two models developed with General Motors going on sale next year, and a bigger EV with a new platform in 2025, a year earlier than initially announced. President Toshihiro Mibe outlined a sprawling set

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Singapore on Wednesday executed a man accused of coordinating a cannabis delivery, despite pleas for clemency from his family and protests from activists that he was convicted on weak evidence. Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was sentenced to death in 2018 for abetting the trafficking of 1 kilogram

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — The words “impressive” and “awesome” were common refrains from a group of entertainment reporters who were among the first to see the upcoming DC superhero movie “The Flash.” Warner Bros. screened the film for the first time at CinemaCon Tuesday for theater owners, exhibitors and

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A trial has begun in connection with a $1.6 billion class action lawsuit against utility PacifiCorp over the catastrophic Labor Day 2020 wildfires in Oregon. The fires killed nine people, burned more than 1,875 square miles in Oregon and destroyed upward of 5,000 homes and structures. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports PacifiCorp is

By JEMIMA RAMAN, Press Trust of India KOCHI, India (AP) — On a tiny sliver land in southern India, the future of an ancient grain that helps combat climate change is in doubt. An ongoing tussle in Chellanam village, a suburb of the bustling city of Kochi, which has the Arabian Sea on one side

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó says he is not seeking political asylum in the United States and has not ruled out the posibility of running in a presidential primary planned for October. Guaidó on Tuesday spoke to The Associated Press by phone from Miami, where

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will host President Joe Biden and the leaders of India and Japan for a security summit next month. The meeting at the Sydney Opera House on May 24 will be Australia’s first time hosting the Quad Leaders’ Summit. It

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts has declined a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a hearing next week on ethical standards at the court, instead providing the panel with a statement of ethics reaffirmed by the court’s nine justices. Senate Judiciary

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Sheeran took the witness stand in a New York courtroom Tuesday to deny allegations that his hit song “Thinking Out Loud” ripped off Marvin Gaye’s soul classic “Let’s Get It On.” Sheeran, 32, was called to testify in the civil trial by the heirs of

By MARÍA VERZA Associated Press CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — The head of Mexico’s immigration agency was arraigned on charges Tuesday that he failed in his responsibility to protect those in his custody when 40 migrants died in a fire at a border detention center last month. Federal prosecutors said that there are video recordings

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The mother of a 10-year-old California boy who died after being tortured has been sentenced to life in prison, along with her boyfriend. Heather Barron and Kareem Leiva were sentenced on Tuesday. They were convicted last month of first-degree murder and of child abuse against two other children. The couple were

By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off the state visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol with a tour of a NASA facility as the Biden administration looks to deepen ties with a close ally that it sees as only growing in importance in

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A rural Arizona county where leaders have embraced voting machine conspiracies has hired an elections director who has promoted the false claims that voter fraud cost former President Donald Trump reelection in 2020. The two Republicans on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A series of moderately strong earthquakes has rattled New Zealand’s North Island but there are no immediate reports of major damage or injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey says a preliminary magnitude 5.4 quake hit the rural Hawke’s Bay region near the town of Dannevirke on

By LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are pushing their debt ceiling package to a vote. The roll call could come as soon as Wednesday. Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team huddled with key holdouts late into Tuesday evening. He declined to say whether he had the majority votes needed for

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas schools could offer up to $25,000 stipends to teachers and staff who accept the dual role of being armed campus “sentinels” with specialized mental health training under a proposal that state lawmakers advanced Tuesday in response to the Uvalde classroom shooting. A similar proposal, which

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina grand jury Tuesday charged convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh with two counts of tax evasion after prosecutors reviewed his final years of tax returns before he headed behind bars. The former attorney is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press U.S. prosecutors who introduced Russian spy intrigue into a case of a couple accused of living for decades in Hawaii under stolen identities are now saying they don’t want jurors to hear about the foreign uniforms the couple was photographed in. A U.S. judge granted the request, ruling that

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are facing rising pressure from European authorities as London and Brussels advanced new rules Tuesday to curb the power of digital companies. They’re among those on a list of the 19 biggest online platforms and search engines that the European