Month: August 2023

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has approved the release of the “Barbie” movie after a delay of over a month over possible content issues. UAE officials didn’t explain the screening delay, which has also occurred in other Arab nations. The movie’s inclusion of a transgender actress as Barbie could be

By NICOLE WINFIELD, BARRY HATTON and PIETRO DE CRISTOFARO Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis visited a once-troubled and crime-plagued neighborhood in Portugal’s capital on Friday to draw attention to the charitable side of the Catholic Church and to press his case for a church that goes to the peripheries and welcomes everyone.

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press SPATA, Greece (AP) — At first sight, Tiembe studies his frozen breakfast with hesitation: Chunks of red meat and bone packed in a foot-long block of ice. The 15-year-old Angolan lion eventually licks the ice before gnawing free pieces of meat. Animals at the Attica Zoological Park outside the Greek

By STEPHEN MCGRATH and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Andrew Tate, the divisive internet influencer who is charged in Romania with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, won an appeal on Friday to be released from house arrest, his spokesperson said. Tate won’t be able to

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian health officials say that two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank Friday — an 18-year-old by Israeli fire during a military raid into the northern West Bank and a 19-year old by Israeli settlers elsewhere in the territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Friday that

MELEKHOVO, Russia (AP) — A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison on Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated. The new charges are related to the activities of Navalny’s

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ veterinarians association on Friday lauded a government decision to allow its stock of human coronavirus medication to be used on cats to fight a local mutation of a feline virus that has killed thousands of animals on the Mediterranean island but can’t be transmitted to

By ALI ZERDIN Associated Press LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Heavy rains have caused flash floods and landslides in parts of Slovenia, killing at least three people. The deluge that started late Thursday and continued overnight blocked roads and bridges, surged into buildings and forced evacuations. Slovenia’s environmental agency raised the weather alert to the highest

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court on Friday temporarily halted the criminal defamation conviction of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi for mocking the prime minister’s surname. His party said it would now seek to have Gandhi reinstated as a member of parliament. A fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers is declaring a state of emergency in the country’s Amhara region after authorities pleaded for help as clashes intensify between regional forces and the military. The prime minister’s office announced the decision after the region’s leader said regular law enforcement was no longer able to contain the

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Central Bank announced a new hike in interest rates as the cash-strapped North African country battles surging inflation and a depreciating currency. The bank said Thursday that its monetary policy committee agreed to increase its most basic lending rate from 18.25% to 19.75%. Egyptian, particularly working class households, are struggling to

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — When Clarisse Agbégnénou won her sixth world judo title, confirming the reigning Olympic champion as one of the athletes to watch at next year’s Paris Games, the French star’s smallest but greatest fan was less wild about her mother’s newest gold medal than she was about her

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s leader is proposing to enshrine in the country’s constitution a right to use cash, which remains more popular in the Alpine nation than in many other places. Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a statement on Friday that “more and more people are concerned that cash could be restricted as a means

By HANNA ARHIROVA and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said its sea drones struck a major Russian port Friday and damaged a warship in an attack that underlined Kyiv’s growing naval capabilities as the Black Sea becomes an increasingly important battleground in the war. The strike on Novorossiysk halted maritime traffic

By SAM MEDNICK and CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Defense chiefs from West African nations finalized an intervention plan Friday and urged militaries to ready resources after negotiations deadlocked with Niger’s military junta, which says it is severing military agreements with France, its former colonial ruler. With two days remaining before a

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — China is lifting a stifling 3-year-old tariff on Australian barley in a sign of an improving bilateral trade relationship since Australia’s government changed. China effectively closed its door to Australian barley in May 2020 by imposing an 80.5% tariff after the previous Australian government angered Beijing

By YUCHENG TANG Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Eight people were killed when a freight train struck a pickup truck crossing the tracks in an eastern province of Thailand. The State Railway of Thailand says the accident at 2:20 a.m. Friday also injured four people in the Muang district of Chachoengsao province. The railway agency

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell Friday to close out a rare losing week for Wall Street following mixed reports on the U.S. job market and two of the market’s most influential stocks. The S&P 500 sank 23.86, or 0.5%, to 4,478.03. It was the fourth straight drop for

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of violating the law and tearing apart independent institutions to cling to power. In an interview with The Associated Press, Nelson Chamisa also warned that any evidence of tampering by Mnangagwa’s ruling party in upcoming elections could lead

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police detained a man suspected of stabbing a high school teacher with a knife Friday in the city of Daejeon. The stabbing follows a separate, apparently random attack on Thursday in which 14 people were wounded near a busy subway station in Seongnam.

BEIJING (AP) — Heavy rain and high water levels in China’s northeastern rivers are threatening cities downstream, prompting the evacuation of thousands. Hebei province, which surrounds the capital Beijing on three sides, issued alerts for several of its cities. The province of Heilongjiang to the north was evacuating entire villages in anticipation of life-threatening deluges.

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A vanload of church volunteers drove along a main street in north Seattle one night last month with sandwiches, water bottles and blankets for homeless people. They didn’t find any — but they did see dozens of barely clothed women walking along the road or leaning into

By ABBY SEWELL and SALAR SALIM Associated Press IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — A feud between two prominent Christian leaders has divided believers of the faith in Iraq. The dispute involves a Vatican-appointed cardinal and a militia leader, with land and influence at the core of the drama. Cardinal Louis Sako withdrew last month from his

By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — Capital punishment could emerge as a major campaign issue in the U.S. presidential race for the first time in 30 years, with top GOP candidates already one-upping each other by touting tougher, more far-reaching death penalty laws. And death penalty foes are poised to draw

By BASSEM MROUE and LUJAIN JO Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Three years after Beirut’s massive port explosion, attempts to prosecute those responsible are mired in political intrigue and the death toll remains disputed. Many Lebanese have less faith than ever in their disintegrating state institutions. As the country marks the anniversary Friday, relatives of

By The Associated Press Another Mega Millions drawing, another night without a jackpot winner. The numbers drawn Friday night were: 11, 30, 45, 52, 56 and the gold ball 20. Because no one matched all six numbers and won the estimated $1.35 billion jackpot, the top prize increased to $1.55 billion for the next drawing

By ED KOMENDA Associated Press In the wheelhouse of a crab boat named Heidi Sue, Mike Pettis watched the gray whale surface and shoot water through its blowhole. Tangled around its tail was a polypropylene rope used to pull up crab traps. It took two men with serrated knives 40 minutes to free the whale,

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities are sharply expanding the reach of curfews for the heads of asylum-seeking families while they wait for initial screenings after crossing the border. The curfews from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. began in May in four cities and are being extended Friday to 13

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Residents of Japan’s southwestern islands are bracing for high winds and rain from Typhoon Khanun. The storm has been nearly stationary but made a U-turn and is heading back east on Friday. The forecasted change of direction will bring Khanun across Okinawa and nearby islands that were

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, SAM MEDNICK and CARA ANNA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten days into a coup in Niger, life has become more challenging for U.S. forces at a counterterrorism base in a region of West Africa known as the world’s epicenter of terrorism. Flights in and out of the country have been curtailed

By TERRY SPENCER and FREIDA FRISARO Associated Press PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire erupted again at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday as part of a reenactment by ballistics experts of the 2018 massacre that left 14 students and three staff members dead. Two shots were heard by reporters sitting about 200 yards

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a routine part of a federal court hearing: The defendant was told not to discuss the case with any witnesses without lawyers present. But there’s nothing routine about this case. The defendant is Donald Trump, accused of orchestrating a conspiracy to overturn the results of

By RIAZAT BUTT, MARTHA MENDOZA, CLAIRE GALOFARO and JULIET LINDERMAN Associated Press The Afghan villager was afraid the American soldiers might come. And one cool night in fall, as his children lay asleep, helicopters roared overhead. At the first sound of gunshots, he yelled for his wife and 10 children to take cover. His young

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer SHARON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Biologist Ashley Wilson carefully disentangled a bat from netting above a tree-lined river and examined the wriggling, furry mammal in her headlamp’s glow. “Another big brown,” she said with a sigh. It was a common type, one of many Wilson and colleagues had snagged

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has his zingers (“This is not your father’s Republican Party”). He’s got patriotism (“This is the United States of America, dammit”). He’s got a geometry-based explanation on how to grow the economy (“from the middle out and the bottom up”). Move over, Beyonce and

By EVENS SANON and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (AP) — Haitians are expressing skepticism over an offer by Kenya to lead an international police force aimed at combatting the gang violence that has wracked the Caribbean nation. They say the sexual abuse and a devastating cholera outbreak that have accompanied foreign forces in

By PAUL WISEMAN and RODRIQUE NGOWI AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The job market has cooled over the summer. But it’s still strong enough to defy predictions that higher interest rates would tip the United States into recession. U.S. employers added 187,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected. But the unemployment rate dipped to

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Diana Taurasi received a pass and in an instant, the shot was off her fingertips. It was a 3-pointer that splashed through the net, just like so many others. Taurasi became the first WNBA player to reach 10,000 points, hitting the mark with 8:23 remaining in

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Former New Mexico State University basketball coach Greg Heiar says he was made the scapegoat for hazing and other problems within the program that administrators chose to ignore. He outlined the claims in a document related to an arbitration case in which he claims the university wrongfully fired him. The

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro has acknowledged that his father’s 2022 election campaign received money of dubious origin, according prosecutors investigating Nicolás Petro for alleged illicit enrichment and money laundering. Nicolas Petro agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the probe after being charged on Tuesday. Prosecutor Mario Andrés Burgos,

The managers of the Panama Canal say they expect income from the waterway to drop, after authorities were forced to limit the number of ships passing through each to 32 due to a lack of rainfall. The canal’s administrator said Thursday income in 2024 could drop by as much as $200 million because of the

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year was on a long drive by himself around the time of the deaths, his defense attorneys wrote in new court documents filed this week. Bryan Kohberger is charged with four counts

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand plans to boost its defense capabilities as tensions rise in the Pacific, due in part to a military buildup by China. Defense Minister Andrew Little said Friday that current defense spending amount to about 1% of the nation’s economy, a proportion he expects

REBECCA SANTANA WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court Thursday allowed a rule restricting asylum at the southern border to temporarily stay in place. The decision is a major win for the Biden administration, which had argued that the rule was integral to its efforts to maintain order along the U.S.-Mexico border. The new rule makes