Month: April 2023

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer Elon Musk’s SpaceX is about to take its most daring leap yet with a round-the-world test flight of its mammoth Starship. It’s the biggest and mightiest rocket ever built, with the lofty goals of ferrying people to the moon and Mars. Jutting almost 400 feet (120 meters) into the

By KOSTYA MANENKOV and SERGEI GRITS Associated Press IMATRA, Finland (AP) — The construction of barbed-wired fence along Finland’s long border with Russia – primarily meant to curb illegal migration – has broken ground near the southeastern town of Imatra less than two weeks after the Nordic country joined NATO as the 31st member of

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni acknowledged “anomalies” in the handling of a Russian businessman who escaped from house arrest in Italy to avoid extradition to the United States and said Saturday she would speak with the justice minister to understand what happened. During a visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Meloni termed the case

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from Russian missile strikes on eastern Ukraine’s city of Sloviansk rose to 11 Saturday as rescue crews tried to reach people trapped in the rubble of an apartment building, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine’s air force said the country would soon have weapons with which to try to prevent

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — When Rep. Kevin McCarthy emerged from a messy 15-ballot election and ascended to House speaker, he was emboldened rather than chastened by the fight, declaring that his father taught him early on in life: “It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.” But as the

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Takeshi Kitano’s new film, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival next month, is a samurai story without heroes, mercilessly portraying human greed, betrayal and cruelty. Kitano, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his “Hana-Bi” in 1997, wanted to make a different kind of

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer The Grand National, one of the world’s most famous horse races, was delayed Saturday after animal rights activists scaled fences around the perimeter of Aintree racecourse and got onto the track. A total of 118 people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and public nuisance offenses in a

BERLIN (AP) — A panel mediating between German public sector employers and labor unions has put forward a compromise proposal to avert further strikes over pay. Mediators on Saturday proposed a raise of 5.5% on top of a fixed 200-euro monthly increase for the millions of people that work in the public sector. The panel

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Christian worshippers thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on Saturday to celebrate the ceremony of the “Holy Fire,” an ancient ritual that sparked tensions this year with the Israeli police. In the annual ceremony that has been observed for over a millennium, a flame

LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s president has led tributes to Mark Sheehan, guitarist with Irish rock band The Script, after his death at the age of 46. The band said Sheehan died in a hospital on Friday after a brief illness. In a statement, The Script called him a “much loved husband, father, brother, band mate

NEW DELHI (AP) — A passenger bus carrying dozens of members of a music troupe slid off a highway and fell into a gorge in western India on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, police said. The bus was on its way to Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in Maharashtra state, from Pune city,

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — “Nuclear power, no thanks!” What was once a slogan found on the bumper of many a German car became a reality Saturday, as the country shut down its three remaining nuclear power plants in line with a long-planned transition toward renewable energy. The shutdown of Emsland, Neckarwestheim

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s first earth observation satellite has been launched into space after two aborted attempts earlier in the week. The African country’s Taifa-1 was among the satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday. The rocket’s launch

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A civil society organization in eastern Congo says a rebel group in Ituri province killed at least 42 people. The organization’s president says three towns in Djugu territory were attacked by the CODECO militia group on Friday. The army confirmed the attack and said it was

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary force battled fiercely in the capital and other areas, dealing a new blow to hopes for a transition to democracy and raising fears of a wider conflict. A doctors’ syndicate said Sunday the death toll rose to 56, with at least 595 people wounded. The

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A self-portrait shows Nothando Chiwanga covering her face with a yellow miner’s helmet while money spills over the edge of a traditional African reed basket she holds in her lap. The artwork, a collage called “Immortal,” challenges age-old gender roles in a strongly patriarchal country like

By THIBAULT CAMUS Associated Press A week ago, I traveled with a group of journalists assigned to cover French President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to China. It was my first trip to the country, and I was excited. I have covered many state trips in my career as a photojournalist with The Associated Press. Often, photographers

By JENNIFER O’MAHONY Associated Press PUERTOLLANO, Spain (AP) — In Spain, the dream of an emissions-free future for heavy industry starts with a rugged Castilian hillside covered in solar panels, and ends with an ice-cold beer. When the beer will be available, and how much it will cost, depends on an intervening rollout of green

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese basketball authorities have ordered an investigation into a championship-round game that ended with a last-minute, come-from-behind win following a series of turnovers. The investigation points to continuing suspicions about wide-spread corruption in Chinese sports, with the nation’s top-flight professional soccer league particularly hard-hit. In Friday’s Game 3 of the first round

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — With a bagpiper playing “The Bells of Dunblane” and a few runners looking on, families of those killed in the Boston Marathon bombing marked the 10th anniversary of the tragedy early Saturday by slowly walking together to the memorial sites near the finish line and laying wreaths.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and FOSTER KLUG Associated Press WAKAYAMA, Japan (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated unharmed Saturday after someone threw an explosive device in his direction while he was campaigning at a fishing port in western Japan, officials said. Police wrestled a suspect to the ground as screaming bystanders scrambled to

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer HANOI (AP) — Fifty years after the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, Secretary of State Antony Blinken looked Saturday to strengthen America’s ties with its old foes in Hanoi as it seeks to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Blinken and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — Energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy nations met Saturday in northern Japan, seeking to reconcile the world’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels with the urgency of ending carbon emissions to stave off the worst consequences of climate change. The

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities in northwestern New Mexico on Friday released body camera footage of police officers opening fire and killing a homeowner after they showed up at the wrong address in response to domestic violence call. The video released by the Farmington Police Department — just over

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence ramped up his criticism of fellow Republicans at a GOP donor summit Friday night, trying to paint his would-be rivals as straying from party principles as he inches closer to an expected presidential run. Speaking at a Republican National Committee donor