Month: May 2023

CAIRO (AP) — A Libyan court has sentenced 23 suspected Islamic State group militants to death for launching deadly attacks that killed dozens of people, including Egyptian Coptic Christians. The appeals court in the western city of Misrata also sentenced 14 other militants to life in prison who were convicted on the same charges, which

By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — As the final pre-competition meeting of the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s word selection panel stretches into its seventh hour, the pronouncers no longer seem to care. Before panelists can debate the words picked for the bee, they need to hear each word and its language

By ZENEL ZHINIPOTOKU and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci, who is on trial in The Hague on 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, is in Kosovo to visit his sick mother, the court says. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Monday said he was granted

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — The French general manager of Milan’s famed Teatro alla Scala is facing the threat of a tenure cut short, even as he unveiled a star-studded 2023-24 season on Monday. A decree adopted by the far-right-led government would require any general manager of a lyric opera theatre to

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem’s iconic citadel has opened its revamped museum after a three-year, $50 million makeover that included a restoration of its signature minaret. The museum launched its overhaul in the midst of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, when foreign tourists could not enter Israel and visitor numbers plummeted.

By CARLA BRIDI Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — South America’s leaders will gather in Brazil’s capital on Tuesday as part of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s attempt to reinvigorate regional integration efforts that have in the past floundered amid the continent’s political swings and polarization. Analysts say Lula senses an opportunity for integration

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Shootings and arson are continuing in India’s northeastern state of Manipur, where clashes between security forces and tribal insurgents on Sunday killed five people. The state, which borders Myanmar, has been roiled by violence for weeks after members of mostly Christian tribal groups clashed with the Hindu majority over its demands

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a judge to oversee an inquiry into allegations that the country supplied arms to Russia on a ship that docked secretly at a naval base in December. The allegations were made this month by the United States’

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have flared anew this week after Kosovo’s police raided Serb-dominated areas in the region’s north and seized local municipality buildings. There have been violent clashes between Kosovo’s police and local Serbs that have left dozens of people injured on both sides.

By DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press FRESNO, California (AP) — For decades, worshipping in temples, Ram Asra has sung spiritual songs known as kirtans. He did so on a recent Sunday at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha in Fresno, California, seated cross-legged on a dais in the temple’s prayer hall playing a harmonium. Devotees closed their

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Seven men have appeared in court on charges of attempted murder related to the February attack on a senior Northern Ireland police officer who was shot after his son’s soccer practice. The suspects range in age from 28 to 72. They appeared by video link on Monday

By LIZ WESTON of NerdWallet Streamline how you manage your money to save yourself time and reduce stress. Prioritize addressing and simplifying your money clutter so you can better manage your financial life now, which also will make it easier for your loved ones to step in when you need them to down the line.

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The shtick that’s gone viral features a soccer player, a Spice Girl, James Bond, you name it, appearing to be naked. Except they’re not really naked at all. The disarming sight gag by Japanese comic Tonikaku Akarui Yasumura is simple and rather silly. But its bare-all message

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Explosions have rattled Kyiv during daylight as Russian ballistic missiles fell on the Ukrainian capital. The barrage came hours after a more common nighttime attack on the city by drones and cruise missiles. Debris from missiles intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses Monday fell in Kyiv’s central

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Interior Ministry on Monday issued an arrest warrant for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham following his comments related to the fighting in Ukraine. In an edited video of his meeting on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that was released by Zelenskyy’s office, Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, noted that “the

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader says he’d “welcome” the restoration of full diplomatic ties between Egypt and the Islamic Republic. The comments Monday raise the prospect of Cairo and Tehran normalizing relations after decades of strain. Iranian state television quoted Khamenei’s comments as coming from a

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Law enforcement officials in Thailand say they seized more than a ton of crystal methamphetamine in a southern province last week that they believed was bound for Australia. Officials from police and the Narcotics Control Board announced that the 1.2 metric tons of the drug likely came

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s president has signed into law anti-gay legislation supported by many in this East African country but widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad. The version of the bill signed by President Yoweri Museveni doesn’t criminalize those who identify as LGBTQ+, a key concern for

By CIARÁN GILES and JENNIFER O’MAHONY Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early general election for July 23 in a surprise move after his Socialist party took a serious battering in local and regional elections. Sánchez had previously insisted that he would ride out his four-year term with

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court has rejected a jailed publisher’s request to terminate his national security trial, pressing ahead with a landmark case seen as part of Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement. Jimmy Lai, the 75-year-old founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, faces up

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — An International Atomic Energy Agency team has arrived in Tokyo for a final review before Japan begins releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, a plan that has been strongly opposed by local fishing communities and neighboring countries.

ROME (AP) — Two U.N. agencies are warning of rising food emergencies including starvation in Sudan due to the outbreak of war and in Haiti, Burkina Faso and Mali due to restricted movements of people and goods. The four countries join Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen at the highest alert levels, with communities

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s maritime agency says it has detained a Chinese-registered vessel on suspicion of looting two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea. It says it found a World War II-era cannon shell aboard the barge carrier. Malaysian media reported that illegal salvage operators were believed to have targeted the