Month: November 2023

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Shane Macgowan, the singer-songwriter and frontman of The Pogues, best known for the Christmas ballad “Fairytale of New York,” has died. He was 65. His family said in a statement that “it is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis says he is suffering from acute and infectious bronchitis. He told an audience  on Thursday that doctors recommended he cancel his planned visit to Dubai this weekend to avoid the quick changes in temperature that would be involved. Despite the illness, Francis had nine audiences on Thursday, suggesting he was

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says a six-week strike by the United Auto Workers union cut sales by about 100,000 vehicles and cost the company $1.7 billion in lost profits this year. Additional labor costs from the four-year and eight-month deal will total $8.8 billion by the end of the contract. That translates to

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Researchers in South Africa say they have rediscovered a mole species that has an iridescent golden coat and the ability to “swim” through sand dunes after it hadn’t been seen for more than 80 years and was thought to be extinct. The De Winton’s

By CIARÁN GILES and HERNÁN MUÑOZ Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Four migrants have died yards from shore in southern Spain after being forced out of the boat they were traveling in. The Spanish government press office in the southern province of Cádiz said Thursday that 31 other people also were forced off the boat

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese defense ministry’s top spokesperson has said that the U.S. should stop interfering in both Taiwan and the South China Sea. Senior Col. Wu Qian said that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are turning the island into a powder keg and making the situation more dangerous. Wu also criticized the U.S.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A vehicle wanted in connection with a homicide in Chicago smashed into a school bus while fleeing police in Milwaukee, sending multiple people to area hospitals. Milwaukee police say they began chasing the vehicle Wednesday morning. The vehicle collided with the school bus, which crashed into several other vehicles. The driver of

By ABDUL SATTAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in a Pakistani province are setting targets for police to arrest and deport hundreds of thousands of Afghans who are in the country illegally. Baluchistan province’s new measure asks authorities to deport 10,000 Afghans a day. It’s part of a nationwide crackdown

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have arrested a French woman who allegedly committed war crimes in Syria after joining the Islamic State extremist group. Germany’s federal prosecutor said Thursday the woman, who was only identified as Samra N. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Tuesday in the western city of Trier.

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed the strongest overhaul of lead in drinking water rules in more than three decades. If finalized, it would force most utilities to replace lead water pipes within 10 years. There are more than 9 million lead pipes still in the ground in the

BERLIN (AP) — Prosecutors say a 15-year-old boy and an alleged accomplice are accused of plotting to blow up a small truck at a Christmas market in western Germany in an attack modeled on the methods of the Islamic State group. The teenager was detained Tuesday and a court on Wednesday ordered him kept in

By JAMEY KEATEN and BASSAM HATOUM Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.N. weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, forest fires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say Russian missiles tore through apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region during the night. The strikes killed at least one person and buried families under rubble. The officials say the Kremlin’s forces continue to pound the fiercely contested area with long-range weapons. Ukraine’s

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Korean dog farmers have scuffled with police during a rally near the presidential office to protest a recent push by authorities to outlaw dog meat consumption. About 200 farmers, restaurant owners and others involved in the dog meat industry participated in Thursday’s

By COURTNEY BONNELL AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Europeans are again seeing some relief as inflation dropped to 2.4% in November, the lowest in more than two years. Plummeting energy costs have eased a cost-of-living crisis but higher interest rates are squeezing the economy’s ability to grow. The European Union’s statistics agency said Thursday

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In the depths of captivity, they formed an unlikely but prized friendship. And reunited in a video call this week, the bond between a recently freed Israeli mother and daughter and a Thai woman who had been held hostage alongside them filled an Israeli hospital

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Elton John has urged British lawmakers to do more to fight HIV and AIDS. He says the U.K. can be the first country in the world “to defeat this awful virus.” The British star spoke to dozens of lawmakers and campaigners in the grand Speaker’s House of

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday ahead of an update on U.S. consumer inflation and a meeting of oil producers in Vienna. U.S. futures rose and oil prices also advanced. Later Thursday, the U.S. government is due to release its October data on the Federal Reserve’s

By EMMANUEL IGUNZA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Somalia’s maritime police force has intensified patrols in the Red Sea following a failed pirate hijacking of a ship in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week. The commander of the maritime force in the semiautonomous region of Puntland told The Associated Press that patrols in

By NAJIB JOBAIN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed to extend their cease-fire by another day, just minutes before it was set to expire. The truce in Gaza appeared increasingly tenuous as the number of women and children held by the militants as bargaining chips

By ZEN SOO AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — An official survey of Chinese manufacturers shows that factory activity contracted for a second straight month in November. That indicates demand remains weak despite various stimulus measures aimed at supporting the economy. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.4 in November, down slightly

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis are squaring off in a nationally televised event that will feature two young, high-profile leaders with presidential aspirations who may have to wait for future cycles to realize them. Newsom has talked openly about eventually running

By STEVE PEOPLES, THOMAS BEAUMONT and HOLLY RAMER Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are increasingly outsourcing central parts of their campaigns. They’re drawing on the growing urgency of Donald Trump opponents to find an alternative to the former president. DeSantis this week

By GARY D. ROBERTSON and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Full Medicaid coverage starts this week for hundreds of thousands of uninsured adults in North Carolina. More than 600,000 people ultimately are expected to qualify, and roughly half will be automatically enrolled starting Friday. North Carolina elected officials agreed this year to

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Middle East plays host to its second straight U.N. climate conference over the next two weeks, with countries hoping to agree on new ways to keep the planet from heating too much by the end of the century. Distractions abound, most notably war

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The United States is ill-prepared to ensure housing and care for the growing ranks of America’s older people. That’s the conclusion of a new report being released Thursday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Without enough government assistance many older adults will have to forgo

By NANCY BENAC Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Until the bitter end, Henry Kissinger was one of the trusted few in the tight circle of a distrusting President Richard Nixon. That trust, combined with Kissinger’s intellectual heft and deft manipulation of power, made him a pivotal player in a tense period in history. The giant

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man for a double slaying in 2001 despite his claims that he acted in self-defense. Phillip Hancock is scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The 59-year-old has long

By NANCY BENAC Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Until the bitter end, Henry Kissinger was one of the trusted few in the tight circle of a distrusting President Richard Nixon. That trust, combined with Kissinger’s intellectual heft and deft manipulation of power, made him a pivotal player in a tense period in history. The giant

By COURTNEY BONNELL and JOSH BOAK Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The OPEC oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and allied producers including Russia are trying to agree on cuts to the amount of crude they send to the world. Prices have tumbled recently despite their efforts to prop them up. That’s been a good

By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — World leaders and other people offered a polarized reaction to the death of the lionized and vilified former diplomat Henry Kissinger, who managed to hold global attention decades after his service as U.S. secretary of state. Former President George W. Bush struck a tone that many high-level

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities say suspected drug cartel gunmen abducted seven Mexican immigration agents in Cancun at gunpoint and beat and threatened them before there were freed. The brazen mass kidnapping occurred near Cancun’s bustling airport, and appeared to illustrate the degree to which Mexico’s cartels and criminal gangs have become involved in migrant

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Two suspects in the kidnapping of the parents of Liverpool soccer player Luis Díaz were ordered sent to prison by a judge, according to Colombia’s Prosecutor’s Office, which accused one of the men of being the link to a person close to the family who provided information about the victims. Andrés

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and TARA COPP Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. Tokyo has also asked the U.S. military to stop all Ospreys operating in

By NANCY BENAC Associated Press Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100. With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes

By HALLIE GOLDEN and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. government is willing to help build enough new clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by four controversial dams on the Snake River, according to a leaked Biden administration document that is giving hope to conservationists who

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Republican Gov.-elect Jeff Landry has announced steps that he says are aimed at fulfilling a promise to prioritize fighting crime in the state. On Wednesday, he named a new state police chief and other statewide safety and security leadership positions. Landry also said that

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — The U.S. Navy says underwater footage shows two points where a large plane is touching coral in a Hawaii bay. It’s been more than a week since the Navy plane overshot a runway and landed in shallow water just offshore of Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. The Navy

By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press CHEORWON, South Korea (AP) — The alliance with the United States has allowed South Korea to build a strong democracy with citizens confident Washington would protect them if North Korea ever acted on its dream of unifying the peninsula under its own rule. But that certainty is fading. North Korea’s

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed U.S. calls for a return to diplomacy and lambasted condemnations of the North’s recent spy satellite launch, vowing more launches in violation of U.N. bans. During a U.N. Security Council meeting earlier this

By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press CHEORWON, South Korea (AP) — To the steady rat-tat-tat of machine guns and exploding bursts of smoke, amphibious tanks slice across a lake not far from the big green mountains that stand along the world’s most heavily armed border. Dozens of South Korean and U.S. combat engineers build a pontoon

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The nonprofit organization GivingTuesday estimates that donors gave $3.1 billion this year on what has become one of the most important fundraising dates for U.S. nonprofits, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Donations on GivingTuesday this year were up $20 million more than what was donated last year,

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui officials are on standby to prevent ash from August’s deadly wildfire in Lahaina from flowing into storm drains. Forecasters say a winter storm could bring heavy rain and strong winds to the island. The National Weather Service says rain could trigger localized flooding over burn scars in Lahaina and Kula.

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Safety officials are releasing details of their investigation into a close call between a FedEx plane and a Southwest Airlines jet earlier this year in Austin, Texas. The National Transportation Safety Board made the details public on Wednesday. The board will likely determine a probable cause

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — An Iowa teen who is believed to be one of the earliest victims of a notorious California serial killer has been identified after 49 years. Long known simply as “John Doe,” the teen was identified Tuesday as Michael Ray Schlicht of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and HAVEN DALEY Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man protesting against the Chinese government during the recent Asia-Pacific economic summit in San Francisco says he was attacked by supporters of the Chinese ruling party and is urging local police to take action. Kaiyu Zhang shared details of the incidentWednesday

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Daryl Hall has accused his longtime music partner John Oates of committing the “ultimate partnership betrayal” by planning to sell his share of the Hall & Oates duo’s joint venture without the other’s permission, Hall said in a court declaration supporting his lawsuit to keep the