Month: May 2023

By JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer Jared Leto was looking for a place to hang his hat. Er, actually his head. Leto was walking around the cocktail reception at the Met Gala, not long after his big entrance on the carpet as Choupette, designer Karl Lagerfeld’s famous cat, in a full-on white fur suit with

LONDON (AP) — British energy giant BP has posted strong quarterly profit numbers even as energy prices that soared after Russia’s war in Ukraine last year have eased off. London-based BP said Tuesday that it earned $5 billion in underlying replacement cost profit in the first three months of the year, up from $4.8 billion

By JIM GOMEZ, AARON FAVILA and JOEAL CALUPITAN Associated Press ABOARD BRP MALABRIGO (AP) — When two Philippine coast guard vessels set out to patrol the volatile South China Sea recently, they had to face more than China’s growing territorial ambitions. The patrols are a constant battle against sun, sea, stress and gnawing isolation. The

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to a dozen cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic. About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s painful inflation inched higher last month, extending the squeeze on households and keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to unleash another large interest rate increase. The European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday that consumer prices jumped 7% in April from a year

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Exhausted Sudanese and foreigners are joining growing crowds at Sudan’s main seaport. They are waiting to be evacuated from the chaos-stricken nation after more than two weeks of fighting that has turned the capital into a ghost town. Others have packed buses and trucks heading to Sudan’s

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader has unveiled plans to eliminate most directly elected seats on local district councils, the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public. The planned electoral changes are widely seen as part of Beijing’s increasing control over the former British colony, which was

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya have clashed with anti-government protesters in the capital, Nairobi. The leader of the political opposition called a fresh round of demonstrations for Tuesday. Opposition lawmakers marched to the president’s office, in the central business district, to present a petition. Police dispersed them with

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s tobacco tax will be increased by billions of dollars over the next four years as the government cracks down on smoking and vaping. Health Minister Mark Butler said Tuesday that recreational vaping will be banned as the government seeks to prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to nicotine. Butler says

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian law enforcement authorities have charged an Albanian man with supporting terror attacks in Western Europe on social media. A statement from the special prosecutor’s office against corruption and organized crime on Tuesday accused Bledar Zeneli of promoting and urging terror attacks, falsifying documents and weapon possession. Using a false profile

By FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo met in Brussels on Tuesday only to agree on joint work in finding the missing persons in their talks on the implementation of a European Union-backed plan to normalize ties between the former war foes. EU foreign

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister has called for stability along the country’s border with Myanmar and a crackdown on cross-border criminal activity during a rare visit to the volatile region. Qin Gang said local Communist Party and government departments, the People’s Liberation Army, police and civilian bodies should join in strengthening the border defense

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany has called for governments around the world to work on setting an ambitious target for renewable energy that would “ring in the end of the fossil fuel age” and help prevent dangerous global warming. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told delegates at the start of a

By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The main challenger trying to unseat Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in this month’s presidential election cuts a starkly different figure than the incumbent who has led the country for two decades. Where Erdogan is a mesmerizing orator, the unassuming Kemal Kilicdaroglu is soft spoken. Erdogan

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Rabbi Nicky Liss won’t be watching King Charles III’s coronation. He’ll be doing something he considers more important: praying for the monarch on the Jewish sabbath. On Saturday, he will join rabbis across Britain in reading a prayer in English and Hebrew that gives thanks for the

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank has surprised markets by increasing its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.85% despite pausing its climb last month and new evidence that inflation is slowing. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s meeting on April 4 was the first in a

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Asian shares declined Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street as shares of beleaguered banks tumbled again and worries about the U.S. economy deepened. U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices were little changed. Investors are waiting for the Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rates. Wrapping up a two-day

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he is arranging a trip to South Korea for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol in return for his March visit to Tokyo. The May 7-8 visit aims to deepen ties before the upcoming summit of the Group of Seven industrialized

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials are suing a local government for not approving an apartment complex for people experiencing homelessness. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration say state law requires the city of Elk Grove to approve the project. But Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen says the

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Tennis star Nick Kyrgios helped police catch a man who allegedly stole his Tesla at gunpoint from a home in Australia’s capital city, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday. The ABC said court documents showed the 2022 Wimbledon finalist used the Tesla app to track and slow down the vehicle as

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “Some Like It Hot,” a Broadway musical adaptation of the cross-dressing movie comedy that starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, waltzed away Tuesday with a leading 13 Tony Award nominations, putting the spotlight on a show that is a sweet, full-hearted embrace of trans rights.

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — No president wants to give up the power and prestige that comes with the office after only one term, and Joe Biden is no exception. He’s pushing forward even though polls show a majority of Americans don’t want to see him run again. We went back to

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming era prompted unionized TV and film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios, a work stoppage that is leading most late-night shows to air reruns. The labor

By ISABEL DEBRE and ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says that Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired a barrage of rockets following the death of a high-profile Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody after a nearly three-month hunger strike. Israeli airstrikes followed the rocket fire and a cease-fire has been

By TOM CANAVAN AP Sports Writer NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Akira Schmid rebounded from his only bad game and made 31 saves in Game 7 to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers Monday night in an entertaining first-round playoff series. Michael McLeod and Tomas Tatar scored second-period

SYDNEY (AP) — Qantas says Chief Financial Officer Vanessa Hudson will become its next chief executive. Hudson has been with the Australian airline in various roles for 28 years and will replace Alan Joyce in November. Joyce has been its CEO since 2008. He noted that there weren’t many female CEOs in the aviation industry

NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast subscribers will still get the NFL Network. The cable company says there’s a new carriage agreement after the old one expired Monday. The NFL is expected to announce its regular-season schedule on May 11.

TORONTO (AP) — Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” and for songs that told tales of Canadian identity, died Monday. He was 84. Representative Victoria Lord said the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His cause of death was not immediately available. One of the most

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service said Monday it blocked a Muslim mayor from Prospect Park, New Jersey, from attending a White House celebration with President Joe Biden to belatedly mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Shortly before he was set to arrive at the

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma on Monday became the latest state to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors as Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill that makes it a felony for health care workers to provide children with treatments that can include puberty-blocking drugs and hormones. Oklahoma joins at