Month: August 2023

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Now that last month’s sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organization made it official: July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin. July’s global average temperature of 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.51 degrees Fahrenheit) was a third of a degree Celsius (six tenths

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s opposition accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of choosing silence while a northeastern state governed by his party convulsed in ethnic violence. Parliament began debate Tuesday on a no-confidence motion against his government that’s certain to be defeated. Modi has been largely silent on the bloodshed

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Tuesday accused the Kremlin’s forces of targeting rescue workers by hitting residential buildings with two consecutive missiles — the first one to draw crews to the scene and the second one to wound or kill them. The strikes Monday evening in the downtown

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s military junta has refused the latest diplomatic attempt to get the ousted president freed and reinstalled. A letter seen by The Associated Press says the junta rejected a proposed visit by representatives of the West African regional bloc, the African Union and United Nations on

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Divers have recovered the flight data recorder from an Australia army helicopter that crashed at sea during a military exercise with the United States last month. Four crewmembers died in the crash July 28 in the Whitsunday Islands off the northeast Australian coast. Recovering the black box was a priority to

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli security forces say they demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian man accused of carrying out a deadly shooting attack earlier this year. Tuesday’s operation was the latest military incursion to fuel tensions in the occupied territory. Israel’s decades-old tactic of leveling the

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A senior Japanese politician is advocating for increasing his country’s deterrence ability to ensure peace in the region, and called for that message to be clearly conveyed globally — particularly in China. The vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Taro Aso, spoke Tuesday in

By BECKY BOHRER and MARK THIESSEN Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The gray, two-story home with white trim toppled and slid, crashing into the river below as rushing waters carried off a bobbing chunk of its roof. Next door, a condo building teetered on the edge of the bank, its foundation already having fallen

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly fell Wednesday after worries about the U.S. banking system set off a decline on Wall Street and amid concerns closer to home about Chinese economic growth. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% to 32,323.31 in morning trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was virtually unchanged,

By JOHN HANNA and SAM METZ Associated Press OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — State courts have become hot spots in the national abortion debate, with Utah’s top court and a Kansas judge considering Tuesday whether their state constitutions require them to block or invalidate laws regulating the procedure more than a year after Roe v. Wade

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A Colombian man once seen as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords has been sentenced to 45 years in prison in the U.S. Dairo Antonio Úsuga — known as Otoniel — was sentenced Tuesday in a federal court in New York. He pleaded guilty

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has defeated state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the state’s bitter Republican primary for lieutenant governor. The results are the culmination of a contest that divided conservatives and turned increasingly nasty in its final weeks. Hosemann is seeking a

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — China’s exports plunged by 14.5% in July compared with a year earlier, adding to pressure on the ruling Communist Party to reverse an economic slump. Imports tumbled 12.4%, customs data showed Tuesday, in a blow to global exporters that look to China as one of the

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge sentenced rapper Tory Lanez to 10 years in prison Tuesday for shooting and wounding hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion in the feet, bringing a conclusion to a three-year legal and cultural saga that saw two careers, and lives, thrown into turmoil. Los Angeles

By MELINA WALLING Associated Press Even in Antarctica — one of the most remote and desolate places on Earth — scientists say they are finding shattered temperature records and an increase in the size and number of wacky weather events. The southernmost continent is not isolated from the extreme weather associated with human-caused climate change,

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and TERRY TANG Associated Press GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Declaring it good “not only for Arizona but for the planet,” President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, turning the decades-long visions of Native American tribes and environmentalists into reality. Coming as

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP Political Writer SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — Republicans are energizing GOP voters with ongoing U.S. House probes on Hunter Biden and the threat of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’s family finances. But those steps represent a political gamble in Democratic-leaning swing districts the GOP almost certainly needs to

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could join other states requiring children to have their parents’ explicit permission to create social media accounts. Two top Republicans in the Georgia state Senate — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas — said in a Monday news conference they will seek

By MARK LONG, JULIE WALKER and FREIDA FRISARO Associated Press NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A single ticket sold in Florida is good for a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot, ending weeks of anticipation over who would win the eye-popping top prize. A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to

By JULIE CARR SMYTH and SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In a scathing ruling last month, a judge said the FBI had used a ”villain” of an informant to manipulate a group of Muslim men into going along with a fictitious plot to destroy military planes and synagogues in New York City’s suburbs. She ordered three

By BELA SZANDELSZKY Associated Press TISZAROFF, Hungary (AP) — Thousands of muddy plastic bottles, chunks of Styrofoam and other waterlogged pieces of rubbish are piled onto a flatbed trailer on the banks of the Tisza River in Hungary — a metric ton of waste that was removed by hand from the waterway and its floodplain

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Police have charged 19 men in Australia with child sex abuse offenses and rescued 13 children from further harm following FBI tips last year about an international online criminal network. Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider said Tuesday two of the men had already been convicted and sentenced to long prison

By DAVID BILLER and FABIANO MAISONNAVE Associated Press BELEM, Brazil (AP) — The diminutive woman with a white feather headdress stood on the stage of the majestic colonial theater in Brazil’s Amazon on Monday and addressed the crowd. The woman, Minister of Indigenous People Sonia Guajajara, declared the day “the milestone of Indigenous participation,” then

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Carrying huge backpacks and water bottles, tens of thousands of Scouts began arriving at university dormitories, government and corporate training centers, and hotels around Seoul and other inland cities on Tuesday as the South Korean government evacuated the World Scout Jamboree ahead of a tropical

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles indicated that broadcaster Kevin Brown would be back on the air soon after reports that his recent absence was because he mentioned that the team had already won as many games at Tampa Bay this year as it did over the previous three seasons. Announcers such as Michael Kay

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. independent investigator on human rights says Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers report that during compulsory national service they experienced torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labor and abusive conditions. Mohamed Babiker says Eritrea has a policy of indefinite national service

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government says it will partner with U.S. investment giant BlackRock as it aims to become one of the first nations in the world to have its electricity grid run entirely from renewable energy. The government said it was helping BlackRock launch a $1.2

By TERRY TANG Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — President Joe Biden will announce a new national monument to preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park and limit it from mining. White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirmed during a press gaggle Monday aboard Air Force One that Biden will call for the designation during his

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Following his debut solo tour earlier this year, Suga, the K-pop superstar rapper/singer/songwriter, has become the third member of BTS to begin South Korea’s compulsory military service. “We would like to inform our fans that SUGA has initiated the military enlistment process by applying for

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force has detected unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen at underground launch control centers at a Montana nuclear missile base where a striking number of men and women have reported cancer diagnoses. A new cleanup effort has been ordered. The discovery “is the first from

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Nearly all of the teenagers aboard an Idaho YMCA camp bus that rolled on a winding highway late last week have been released to their families, police said Monday. Troopers are continuing to investigate the cause of Friday’s crash, which sent all those on the bus to local hospitals, Idaho State

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge has dismissed a murder charge against a babysitter who served 15 years in prison over the death of a toddler who died while in her care. State District Judge Karen Sage granted a request on Monday to dismiss the original charges. Rosa Jimenez has been out of prison

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court has put on hold a rule from President Joe Biden’s administration that makes it easier to obtain student loan debt relief for some borrowers. The rule covers borrowers who say they were victims of fraud or misleading information when they were recruited

By MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro took office laying out ambitious goals for the nation’s first leftist government. He said his agenda would provide Colombians with a “second opportunity” to end decades of internal violence and promised that his “government of change” would tackle  inequalities by increasing spending