Month: August 2023

By BARAA ANWER Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi state-run oil giant Aramco has made $30 billion in profit in the second quarter, a nearly 40% decline from the same period the previous year. It attributed the decline to lower crude oil prices. The company said on Monday that total sales were

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. and GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs do. While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists to recall their first rap song experience and

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. and GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs do. While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists – including Killer Mike, JT of City Girls,

By SAM MEDNICK and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat said coup leaders in Niger refused to allow her to meet Monday with the West African country’s democratically elected president, whom she described as under “virtual house arrest.” Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland also described the mutinous

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is preparing to evacuate tens of thousands of scouts from a coastal jamboree site as Tropical Storm Khanun looms, scouting officials said Monday. The World Organization of the Scout Movement said it received confirmation from South Korea’s government of the early departure for

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has been reinstated as a lawmaker in Parliament three days after the country’s top court halted his criminal defamation conviction for mocking the prime minister’s surname. Gandhi’s status as a lawmaker was restored by Parliament on Monday. His reinduction is likely to strengthen the opposition’s

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media says Israeli airstrikes have hit areas around Damascus, killing at least four Syrian soldiers. Citing a military source, state television said that four other soldiers were also wounded while the strikes early Monday caused “some material damage.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor,

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s king has appointed army chief Hun Manet to succeed his father and long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen as the nation’s leader later this month. The royal decree signed Monday means Hun Manet will take office on Aug. 22 when the new National Assembly adopts

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has begun registering candidates for parliamentary elections in March, which will be the first since nationwide protests rocked the country last year. Iran has held regular presidential and parliamentary elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But a clerical body vets candidates for the 290-seat parliament, disqualifying any seen

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Megan Thee Stallion said she has suffered daily since rapper Tory Lanezshot her in the feet three years ago in a written statement read during Lanez’s sentencing, which will stretch into Tuesday. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a

By RIAZAT BUTT and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan’s popular opposition leader, is now an inmate at a high-security prison after being convicted of corruption and sentenced to three years. It’s the most dramatic twist yet in months of political and legal wrangling between Khan and his

CABAZON, Calif. (AP) — Two firefighting helicopters collided while responding to a blaze in Southern California, sending one to the ground in a crash that killed all three people on board. The crash late Sunday afternoon in the desert about 85 miles (137 kilometers) east of Los Angeles involved a huge Sikorsky S-64E and a

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government has summoned China’s ambassador to convey a strongly worded diplomatic protest over the Chinese coast guard’s use of water cannons against Philippine vessels in a confrontation in the disputed South China Sea. The tense standoff occurred Saturday near Second Thomas Shoal, which is

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, did not show any repentance or admit any wrongdoing as he was sentenced Monday to 4 years and 9 months. Thao had previously testified that he

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press Word spread through an Oregon hospital last month that a visitor was causing trouble in the maternity ward, and nurses were warned the man might try to abduct his partner’s newborn. Hours later, the visitor opened fire, killing a security guard and sending patients, nurses and doctors scrambling for cover.

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — His social media accounts suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is launching high-speed trains and rubbing shoulders with foreign leaders as a powerhouse on the global stage and the face of an ascendant India. But that carefully crafted image, followed by millions, sits uncomfortably at odds

By ALI SWENSON and SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Supporters of a ballot question in Ohio that would make it harder to change the state constitution and could determine the fate of abortion rights there say a yes vote will provide a “defense against out-of-state meddling.” Opponents argue that a yes vote

By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge has heard arguments on a father’s request to dismiss charges accusing him of committing a crime by helping his son obtain a gun license three years before the son fatally shot seven people at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in suburban

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington has never been a particularly friendly place for Donald Trump. And after pleading not guilty to federal charges he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Trump was quick to show the feeling was mutual. Trump told reporters he was “very sad” to see “the filth

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include Gal Gadot in the international espionage thriller “Heart of Stone,” the return of the comedy “Only Murders in the Building” on Hulu and “Painkiller,” a new Netflix limited series detailing the rise of opioid use in the United States from various perspectives. CBS has the

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed in early trading Tuesday after Wall Street rallied and Japanese wages rose ahead of a United States inflation update that might influence Federal Reserve plans for more possible interest rate hikes. Tokyo advanced while Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Oil prices gained.

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Few even mentioned his name, and the new federal indictment he faces was completely ignored, as Republican candidates for president tried in Iowa Sunday to present themselves as Donald Trump alternatives. Over the course of two hours, seven GOP hopefuls took their turn on stage

By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The rest of the world has finally caught up to the United States. The once-dominant Americans crashed out of the Women’s World Cup on penalties after a scoreless draw with Sweden in the Round of 16 on Sunday. It was the earliest exit ever

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game franchise says it won’t allow artists to use artificial intelligence technology to draw its cast of sorcerers, druids and other characters and scenery. D&D art is supposed to be fanciful. But at least one ax-wielding giant seemed too weird for some fans, leading

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — California authorities have captured four suspects in multiple break-ins at homes around South Lake Tahoe: a mama bear and three of her cubs. DNA has confirmed the large female black bear and her three little accomplices were responsible for at least 21 instances of property damage since 2022, the

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Sunday his recovery from his latest abdominal surgery is going well and stressed that he ditched speeches during his five-day trip to Portugal and spoke off-the-cuff not because he was tired or feeling unwell, but to better communicate with young people.

By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — So much for the Pittsburgh Penguins trying to walk the fine line between protecting the future while also making the most out of the present. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and company — new president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas in particular — are all in

By WILL GRAVES AP National Writer HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) — Simone Biles is well aware of how the drill goes. She’s lived it. Multiple times at this point. Whenever the gymnastics star goes to work, the questions about the Olympics come, no matter where the Games fall on the calendar. “It’s just like when

By The Associated Press Daimler Truck says its chief financial officer Jochen Goetz has died. He worked more than three decades at the Daimler Group, the German automotive giant known as the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars. Daimler Truck said he was “decisively responsible” for the spinoff in 2021 of Daimler’s truck division from the

By ZANE IRWIN Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who has been on a hunger strike in prison to protest criminal charges against him, has been hospitalized. Sonko was imprisoned last week in advance of criminal proceedings against him on charges of calling for insurrection, conspiracy against the state

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — A coroner has determined that a man whose naked body was found inside a barrel in Malibu, California, last week was shot in the head. The man was identified Wednesday by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office as 32-year-old Javonnta Marshann Murphy but no cause of death was given at the

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Authorities say two people in their 90s are dead and a third person has been injured in a fire and reported explosion that destroyed a home in Indiana. Crawfordsville Fire Chief Scott Busenbark says crews dispatched to the fire Saturday morning found one person on the home’s front lawn. That person

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN Associated Press VIENNA (AP) — Torrential rains and heavy floods have ravaged southern Austria for the past three days, killing one person who was swept away by a quickly swelling river on Sunday. After the person fell into the river, firefighters, divers and water rescuers immediately began rescue operations, according to the

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers. In a lawsuit filed Friday in Michigan, the groups argue that the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July,

PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say an Oregon woman missing on a hike in north Phoenix has been found dead and it appears to be heat-related. Phoenix Fire Department officials say 34-year-old Jessica Christine Lindstrom went hiking around 8:30 a.m. Friday and was declared missing around nine hours later by Phoenix police. Her body was found

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s defense attorney says the former president never asked Mike Pence to overturn the will of the voters in the 2020 election, but only wanted the former vice president to “pause” the certification of votes to allow states to investigate his claims of election fraud. Those

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — At least 24 people died in a bus crash Sunday in the central Azilal province of Morocco, marking one of the deadliest such accidents in recent years in the country. According to local authorities, cited by Morocco’s official news agency MAP, the accident happened when a minibus carrying passengers overturned at

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The towering Mother Ukraine statue in Kyiv — one of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks — lost its hammer-and-sickle symbol on Sunday as officials replaced the Soviet-era emblem with the country’s trident coat of arms. The move is part of a wider shift to reclaim Ukraine’s cultural identity from the Communist