Month: August 2023

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A powerful typhoon slammed Okinawa and other islands in southwestern Japan Wednesday with high winds injuring more than 30 people as it moved west making its way toward mainland China. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the typhoon is heading to the East China Sea, but may change

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The progressive political party that won the most seats in Thailand’s general election has been excluded from a coalition to form the next government. Conservative lawmakers strongly oppose the party over its proposed reform of a law banning criticism of the country’s monarchy. Thailand has struggled for

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s new military ruler lashed out at neighboring countries and the international community in a nationally televised speech Wednesday night, and he called on the population to be ready to defend the nation. In one of few addresses to the West African country since seizing power

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish employee of the Swedish Consulate in Izmir in western Turkey is recovering in a hospital after being injured in a gun attack at the office in the port city. The lone gunman, a Turkish citizen from the eastern province of Agri, was arrested shortly after the attack on Tuesday, according

By NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has launched a surprise military drill on disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, just as the U.S. military increase its presence in the region over recent ship seizures by Tehran. The drill Wednesday focused primarily on Abu Musa Island,

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Thursday after Fitch Ratings cut the United States government’s credit rating. Tokyo’s market benchmark fell almost 1.5%. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Oil prices edged higher. Wall Street turned in its biggest one-day decline in months after

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and AIJAZ HUSSAIN Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court is hearing petitions challenging the constitutionality of the legislation passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2019 that stripped disputed Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, scrapped its separate constitution and removed inherited protections on land and jobs. The five-judge constitutional

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones on Wednesday hit a Ukrainian port city along the border with Romania, causing significant damage and a huge fire at facilities that are key to Ukrainian grain exports. The attacks followed the end of a deal with Russia that had allowed Ukrainian shipments to

By ZANE IRWIN and BABA AHMED Associated Press BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The pending pullout of U.N. peacekeepers from Mali is creating worries about what the withdrawal will mean for thousands of citizens who built livelihoods at and around the mission’s bases. In June, the West African nation’s military junta ordered the U.N. mission in

By EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has bought 12 surveillance and reconnaissance drones worth $300 million from Turkish Aerospace to be used by its military to strengthen the nation’s defenses, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The purchase aims to increase the variety, quantity and quality of Indonesia’s military defense equipment. The

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan has detained an army officer and several collaborators on suspicion of handing military secrets to China. The defense ministry said Wednesday that a lieutenant colonel surnamed Hsieh and other defendants were suspected of having been recruited by China to leak national defense secrets and other

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Egypt and other lower-income Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Pakistan are worried about what comes next after Russia pulled out of a crucial wartime grain deal. They’re already struggling with economic woes that have driven more people into poverty and fear rising food prices will create

By EMMA BURROWS Associated Press The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district dominate the skyline of the Russian capital. The sleek glass-and-steel buildings — designed to attract investment amid an economic boom in the early 2000s – are a dramatic, modern contrast to the rest of the more than 800-year-old city. Now they

By TY O’NEIL, STEFANIE DAZIO and RIO YAMAT Associated Press MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters aided by rain have made progress fighting a massive blaze that swept through the California desert into Nevada and is threatening the region’s famous spiky Joshua trees. Fire officials say a brief, heavy downpour Tuesday afternoon helped limit

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday hurled misogynistic insults at a newly confirmed United States special envoy to monitor the country’s human rights issues and warned of unspecified security consequences if Washington continues to criticize its human rights conditions. The statement published by North Korea’s official Korean

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Not everyone is hostile to the coups in Niger and other African nations in the past few years that have worried the West. In the “family photo” for last week’s Russia-Africa Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood next to Ibrahim Traore, the young military officer who

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Union leaders told have told striking Hollywood writers that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations. The Writers Guild of America told its members in an email Tuesday night that a representative from the employers’ side requested a meeting on

By ANDY WONG and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press ZHUOZHOU, China (AP) — China’s capital recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days as remnants of Typhoon Doksuri deluged the region, turning streets into canals where emergency crews used rubber boats to rescue stranded residents. The city recorded 744.8 millimeters

By COLLEEN BARRY and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press MILAN (AP) — During Europe’s heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store had to close for a week. A truck of rented generators blocked her door as they fed power to the central Roman neighborhood hit by a blackout as temperatures surged. The main culprit:

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian Senate committee has recommended a ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from federal government devices be extended to China’s most popular social media platform, WeChat.  The Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media also recommended in a report late Tuesday that social media

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Rhonda Hicks could have kept working into her 60s. She loved teaching and loved her students in Philadelphia’s public schools. As a Black woman, she took pride in being a role model for many children of color. But other aspects of the job deteriorated, such as

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The role that fake slates of electors played in Donald Trump’s desperate effort to cling to power after his defeat in the 2020 election is at the center of a four-count indictment released against the former president Tuesday. The third criminal case into Trump details, among other

By NICOLE WINFIELD, HELENA ALVES and BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Prosecutors say a banker and media owner has filed a legal complaint against Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, alleging that his administration interfered in his child custody dispute. The animosity between Chaves and the complainant Leonel Baruch, who owns online news site CR Hoy, is well known. Baruch’s complaint

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried say prosecutors are wrong to seek his detention prior to trial because their arguments are based on “innuendo, speculation, and scant facts.” The written submission Tuesday in Manhattan federal court was a response to the prosecution’s claim that no bail

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez was determined to improve this month after a subpar July where he posted a 7.29 ERA. On the first day of August he certainly did that. Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Houston Astros history in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s lieutenant governor and other elected officials are urging Taylor Swift to postpone her Los Angeles concerts as a way to stand in solidarity with striking hotel workers. The politicians signed an open letter Tuesday telling Swift that her tour makes the region’s hotels a lot of money. Meanwhile, the letter

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say a man driving a stolen SUV struck a group of pedestrians on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk near Grand Central Terminal and injured 10 people. Police say none of Tuesday afternoon’s injuries are life-threatening. Witnesses at the scene detained the SUV’s driver until officers arrived and arrested

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, BRIAN SLODYSKO and MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal indictment of Donald Trump on Tuesday marks the first time that the former president has been formally held accountable for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. And it adds new details to what was already known about

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah law requiring adult websites to verify the age of their users will remain in effect after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from an industry group challenging its constitutionality. The dismissal poses a setback for digital privacy advocates and the Free Speech Coalition,

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — The death toll from a raid in Sao Paulo state has climbed to 14, as the law enforcement sought to strike at those who killed an elite squad officer last week, and raising questions about their use of lethal force. Sao Paulo Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas,

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The new president of the United Auto Workers says the union will present a long list to General Motors, Ford and Stellantis when it delivers economic demands to the companies this week. And the message from newly elected chief Shawn Fain is that the companies are

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump stands out as one of the toughest punishers of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. Judge Tanya Chutkan often has handed down prison sentences in Jan. 6, 2021, riot cases that are harsher

GRAND CANYON WEST, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say one person has died in a tour bus rollover involving over 50 people in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon West Skywalk. Tribal police on the Hualapai Indian Reservation say the bus rolled over just before 10 a.m. Tuesday at Grand Canyon West, which is tribal-run with

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden took a break from their beach vacation to see summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer.” After a quick dinner at Matt’s Fish Camp in nearby Lewes, the Bidens went to an early evening showing of the three-hour movie about the

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press Donald Trump for years has promoted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. In truth, Trump was the one who tried to steal the election, federal prosecutors said Tuesday in a sprawling indictment that paints the former president as desperate to cling to power he knew

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A Texas police department is apologizing after a typo made while checking a license plate resulted in officers pulling over what they wrongly suspected was a stolen car and then holding an innocent Black family at gunpoint. Frisco police acknowledged the traffic stop was caused by an officer misreading the car’s