Month: December 2023

BEIRUT (AP) — Jordanian troops have clashed with dozens of drug smugglers along the country’s northern border with Syria, leaving several dead including one soldier while another was wounded. The Jordanian Armed Forces said Tuesday the smugglers were trying to bring into Jordan “large amounts of drugs” while taking advantage of fog and low visibility.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament is remembering a young woman who died in Iranian police custody during a ceremony at which she and a Iranian human rights group were officially awarded the EU’s top human rights prize. Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini was 22 when she died last year, three days after she was arrested by

By KATE ASHFORD of NerdWallet Floods, fires, historic storms — severe weather events are on the rise. If your home was hit by high water or a fire emergency, would your important papers be safe? Items like insurance information, birth and marriage certificates, passports, Social Security cards and estate planning paperwork should all be protected

Choice Hotels is launching a hostile takeover offer for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts after attempts to reach a deal with the hotel chain were rebuffed. Choice Hotels said Tuesday that its exchange offer remains the same as its last bid, which was $49.50 in cash and 0.324 shares of Choice common stock per Wyndham share.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s culture minister has announced that Tricia Tuttle, a former director of the London Film Festival, will become the new director of the Berlin International Film Festival next year. Tuttle, who is American, will take over in April from the outgoing leadership duo of executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Thousands of protesters have gathered in the capital of the European Union, calling for better public services, salaries and living conditions. The protest in downtown Brussels takes place during EU negotiations over the new Stability and Growth Pact, which aims to limit debt and deficits for member

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The White House says Congo’s security forces and rebel groups have agreed on a 72-hour cease-fire to de-escalate tensions in the country’s eastern region near the border with Rwanda. It comes days before Congo’s presidential election. The region has struggled with violent conflict for decades and

By GAURAV SAINI, Press Trust of India and SIBI ARASU, Associated Press Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — When United Nations climate talks wrap up at some point this week in Dubai, big promises will likely be made about how the world is going to combat climate change, caused by the burning of

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is trying to cajole recalcitrant lawmakers into supporting his signature immigration policy in a key vote in Parliament. Defeat would leave his authority shredded and his government teetering. The House of Commons is due to vote on whether to approve in principle

BRISBANE, Australia: (AP) — Residents have begun evacuating and battening down homes and businesses as the first tropical cyclone of Australia’s season is forecast to cross the northeast coast on Wednesday, bringing destructive winds and flooding rain. Tropical Cyclone Jasper was tracking west on Tuesday across the Pacific Ocean and was expected the cross the

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s newly elected prime minister, Donald Tusk, is set to deliver his inaugural speech to parliament and present a Cabinet that will then face a confidence vote. Tusk, a centrist leader who was previously prime minister from 2007-2014, returns as the head of a broad alliance that spans the ideological spectrum

By NAJIB JOBAIN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and the United States were increasingly isolated as they faced global calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, including a non-binding vote expected to pass at the United Nations later on Tuesday. Israel has pressed ahead with an offensive against Gaza’s Hamas

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African court has overturned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to recognize Misuzulu kaZwelithini as the king of the country’s 15 million-strong Zulu nation in what may spark a lengthy battle for the throne. In a judgment delivered by Judge Norman Davis in the Pretoria High Court

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court has convicted three former servicemen in a sexual assault case that authorities had dropped until the victim, a former servicemember, came forward demanding an investigation, prompting a military-wide harassment probe. The Fukushima District Court on Tuesday ordered the former Japanese army soldiers to two

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A major, long-shot effort is gearing up to mobilize money to save Planet Earth by helping poorer countries go greener. Climate experts say trillions of dollars are needed to roll out forestry projects and renewable energies like solar and wind in the developing world,

Asian markets advanced Tuesday following a positive close on Wall Street. Investors are eagerly awaiting a crucial U.S. inflation report later in the day, which will likely set the tone for the Federal Reserve’s final meeting of the year on Wednesday. U.S. futures and oil prices also were higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.1% to

ANKARA, Turkey The Turkish Football Federation has suspended all league games in the country after a club president punched the referee in the face at the end of a top-flight match. MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca attacked Halil Umut Meler on the pitch late Monday after the final whistle, following a 1-1 draw in a

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press Commissioners in a Montana county are expected to vote on whether to remove the election oversight duties from a clerk and recorder who expressed doubts about the integrity of the election process when she ran for office last year. Cascade County Commissioner Joe Briggs proposed the resolution, which commissioners

HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese C919 commercial passenger jet has arrived in Hong Kong in the Chinese-made aircraft’s first foray outside of mainland China. A C919 plane and another Chinese-made aircraft, an ARJ21, landed Tuesday and will be on display at Hong Kong’s international airport until Sunday. The C919 is due to perform a

By UZMI ATHAR, Press Trust of India DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As this year’s global climate talks reach a conclusion, activists are hoping that negotiators will listen to their stories as they weigh what to do about the fossil fuels that are warming the planet. One of those is Joseph Kenson Sakala, who

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia says China has lifted import bans on three Australian meat suppliers in another sign of improving trade relations between the two countries. Australian officials said Tuesday that China’s customs agency had announced overnight the removal of the bans on beef and sheep meat exports from

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has appointed a technocrat as second finance minister in a Cabinet shuffle aimed at strengthening his administration and winning public trust a year after taking power. The shuffle was widely expected and expanded the number of portfolios with the appointment of five new ministers. Anwar,

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say a suicide bomber has detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station’s main gate in northwest Pakistan, killing at least three policemen and wounding 16 others. A local police officer says a shootout is still ongoing between militants and security forces. Tuesday’s attack happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a

By LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to a darker mood than when he swooped in last winter for a hero’s welcome, as the Russian invasion is grinding into a third year and U.S. funding hangs in balance. Zelenskyy’s visit Tuesday comes

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The university presidents called before a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions. In that sense, they represented

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The constitutional right of equal treatment under the law is at the center of a monthslong legal fight over a state-run court in part of Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city of Jackson. A federal judge is set to hear arguments Dec. 19 over the Capitol Complex

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader John Lee on Tuesday praised the 27.5% voter turnout in the city’s weekend election, a record low since the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Sunday’s district council election was the first held under new rules introduced under Beijing’s direction that effectively

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school board is scheduled to consider whether to seek the resignation of a co-founder of the conservative Moms for Liberty group, who is embroiled in the fallout of a sexual assault investigation into her husband, the Republican Party state chairman. The Sarasota County School

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has renewed his oath of office in a ceremony at the state Capitol. The Democrat starts his second term after a convincing reelection victory in November. It could offer a roadmap for his party’s broader efforts to make inroads in Republican strongholds.

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — No votes have been cast in the 2024 presidential race yet. But journalists have recently shifted their attention to Jan. 20, 2025. There has been a flurry of stories recently about what might happen if Donald Trump is elected to a second term as president,

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation this week that repealed a law requiring women to purchase a separate insurance rider if they intended to receive an abortion in the future. The law had been passed by Michigan’s Republican-controlled Legislature exactly 10 years ago. Whitmer was a

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Donald Trump have signaled their desire to invoke the 2016 election in the former president’s trial on charges of scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. His lawyers say foreign interference in the 2016 election helps explain why Trump

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s steady slowdown in U.S. inflation likely continued in November, though the latest data may also point to sharply higher prices in some areas of the economy. Tuesday’s data is expected to show that businesses kept overall prices unchanged for a second straight month. Falling

By JON GAMBRELL, JAMEY KEATEN, SIBI ARASU and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Hopes for finishing a critical climate summit on time were fading early Tuesday as countries were still far apart on key issues, including an agreement on what to do about the fossil fuels that are causing dangerous

By GABRIELA SELSER Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The director of the Miss Nicaragua pageant, Karen Celebertti, has announced her retirement from the organization, nine days after the Nicaraguan police accused her of “conspiracy” and other crimes along with her husband and son, who are detained. “The time has come for my retirement,” Celebertti

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar, already wracked by a brutal civil war, has regained the unenviable title of world’s biggest opium producer. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report released Tuesday that Myanmar’s output has topped that of Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban imposed a ban

By LINDSEY WASSON and AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The heart of the historic town of Lahaina that burned in a deadly wildfire that killed at least 100 people on the Hawaiian island of Maui is reopening to residents and business owners holding day passes. The renewed access marks an important emotional

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — NBA star Ja Morant testified in court Monday that a teenager hit him in the face with a one-handed basketball pass at close range during a pickup game last year and that the Memphis Grizzlies guard punched the teen once in the face. Morant said on

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinians are hoping that a vote in the U.N. General Assembly on a nonbinding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire will demonstrate widespread global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war. After the United States vetoed a resolution in the Security Council on Friday demanding

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press FORT CALHOUN, Neb. (AP) — The fatal weekend stabbing of a Catholic priest inside the church rectory where he lived is the second killing this year in the one-stoplight town in eastern Nebraska. The Rev. Stephen Gutgsell died at an Omaha hospital Sunday after he was attacked during a break-in

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Private intelligence firms say a ship off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea has been attacked. The attack on the vessel comes as threats have increased from Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial shipping in the area over the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis

By ANDREW DeMILLO and AYANNA ALEXANDER Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Progressive advocacy groups in Arkansas are asking a full federal appeals court to revisit a three-judge panel’s ruling that private groups can’t sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act. The Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Arkansas State

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A new federal charge has been filed against a man accused of firing a shotgun into the air outside a synagogue in upstate New York. Mufid Alkhader was arrested Thursday after shots were fired outside Temple Israel of Albany. Federal prosecutors initially charged the 28-year-old with possession of a firearm by