Month: December 2023

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Authorities in Seychelles have declared a state of emergency after a blast at an explosives store caused “massive damage” in an industrial area also facing flooding amid heavy rainfall. The blast happened on Wednesday night in the Providence area of Mahe, the largest and most populous island of the Seychelles. “Everyone

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Olympic committee is pushing to send hundreds of athletes to a navy training center to enhance their mental toughness ahead of the Paris Olympics. The move has prompted criticism that it’s outdated and regressive. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee says it recently

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A court in the Netherlands says it will rule in two weeks on the sentence for a man convicted in Canada in a notorious cyberbullying case. Judges at the Amsterdam District Court have to convert the 13-year sentence a Canadian court gave to Aydin Coban. He was convicted last year of crimes

LONDON (AP) — Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is returning for a second day of testimony before a COVID-19 public inquiry, facing further grilling over how he dealt with the latter stages of the pandemic. Johnson is testifying under oath. He has admitted he made mistakes in grasping the extent of the crisis and that his

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Chinese naval vessels have become the first ships to dock at a new pier at a Cambodian naval base that the United States and some international security experts say is destined to serve as a strategic outpost for Beijing’s navy. The docking of the two

By The Associated Press President Ilham Aliyev has ordered Azerbaijan’s Central Election Commission to prepare for an early presidential election on Feb. 7, shortly ahead of Russia’s presidential election on March 17. The order was published on the presidential website but did not explain why Aliyev had called an early vote. The next presidential election

By NAJIB JOBAIN and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces struck the southern Gaza town of Rafah twice overnight, residents said Thursday, sowing fear in one of the last places where civilians could seek refuge after Israel widened its offensive against Hamas to areas already packed with displaced people. United

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is struggling to avert a leadership crisis. It erupted after his plan to revive a blocked asylum deal with Rwanda triggered turmoil in his party and the resignation of his immigration minister. Robert Jenrick quit the government late Wednesday, saying a bill

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian state news agencies and authorities say a Russian schoolgirl has shot several of her classmates with a gun before killing herself. Initial reports said five people were injured and two were killed, including the shooter, in the incident on Thursday. The school is in Bryansk, in a region that borders Ukraine.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting Greece in an effort to mend strained relations and reset ties with Western allies. Despite deep-rooted differences between the two neighboring NATO members, Erdogan promised a “win-win” approach that could lay the foundation for broader cooperation. The Turkish president is to hold talks with

BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of China and the European Union are holding wide-ranging talks that include their disputes over trade and a deep divide on the war in Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping was meeting Thursday in Beijing with the two European presidents, Ursula von der Leyen from the EU Commission and Charles Michel

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Lech Walesa, Poland’s 80-year-old former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, says he is improving after being hospitalized with COVID-19. A post on Walesa’s Facebook page Thursday shows him lying on a hospital bed with his thumbs raised and a brief caption saying he believes he is going to pull through

By TIAN MACLEOD JI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow says she feels she’s still under the watch of the Chinese territory’s police even after moving to Toronto. Chow was arrested in 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law but wasn’t charged. She said this week she won’t return to

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian lawmakers on Thursday set the date of the 2024 presidential election for March 17, moving Vladimir Putin closer to a fifth term in office. Putin, 71, hasn’t yet announced his intention to run again, but he is widely expected to do so in the coming days now that the date has

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Twitch, a popular video service, will shut down its struggling business in South Korea, a decision its chief executive blamed on allegedly “prohibitively expensive” costs for operating in the country. In a blog post announcing the company’s plan this week, Dan Clancy said the network

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — An internal Amazon memo has provided a stark look at the company’s carefully laid out plans to grow its influence and advance its interest in Southern California. The memo was leaked to the nonprofit labor organization Warehouse Worker Resource Center and its authenticity was verified

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government has signed a security pact with its nearest neighbor Papua New Guinea that strengthens Australia’s place as the preferred security partner in a region where China’s influence is growing. The two countries’ prime ministers signed the agreement in Australia on Thursday six months

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — When Notre Dame went up in flames in 2019, people who worked in the cathedral felt orphaned. With the reopening of the world-famous Paris landmark drawing closer by the day, they’re now beginning to picture their return to the place they call home. They are impatient to

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares fell Thursday in Asia after a retreat on Wall Street as crude oil prices slipped on expectations that supply might outpace demand. Benchmarks fell more than 1% in Tokyo and Hong Kong. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% in its third straight loss though

By ERIN HOOLEY Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A northern sea otter who was found alone and malnourished in the remote Alaska town of Seldovia in October has a new home in Chicago. The pup was initially taken to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium is one of only a few facilities

By DAVE COLLINS and PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press WILLIMANTIC, Conn. (AP) — The killing of a visiting nurse in Connecticut is sparking renewed calls to better protect health care workers from what has been a rise in violence across the country. Joyce Grayson was slain Oct. 28 when she went to a halfway house for

By KEN RITTER and RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Three people are dead and a fourth in critical but stable condition after a gunman opened fire at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas before police killed him in a shootout. Wednesday’s attack had terrified students and professors cowering in classrooms. A law

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Norman Lear, who died this week at age 101, changed American life with the candor and comedy of his creations. Television, still in its early days as the 1970s began, used its entertainment to escape from reality before Lear’s “All in the Family” burst onto

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An unprecedented test of Texas’ strict abortion ban is headed before a court in Austin. A judge on Thursday is set to consider a pregnant woman’s request to be allowed to have an abortion despite the state’s ban. Kate Cox says her fetus has a

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Off and on for over a decade, Wyoming leaders have threatened to auction off large chunks of pristine, state-owned parcels of land within Grand Teton National Park to the highest-bidding developer to prod the U.S. government to step in and pay millions to conserve the properties.

By EDNA TARIGAN and DITA ALANGKARA Associated Press MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) — A pair of tall birds with black feathers and pinkish breasts crossed a noisy road to reach a quiet part of a sandy tourist beach in the outskirts of Mamuju, a small town at the westernmost part of Indonesia’s Sulawesi island. There the

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press Some of the words tied to this year’s hottest topics were also among the most mangled when it came to saying them aloud, with stumpers ranging from the first name of “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy to the singer SZA to the name of a sacred slab of sandstone used in

By AUDREY McAVOY and CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Ira “Ike” Schab had just showered, put on a clean sailor’s uniform and closed his locker aboard the USS Dobbin when he heard a call for a fire rescue party. He went topside to see the USS Utah capsizing and Japanese planes

By SETH BORENSTEIN, DAVID KEYTON, JOSHUA A. BICKEL and SIBI ARASU Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The mood is about to shift, the hours grow longer and the already high sense of urgency somehow amp up even more as United Nations climate talks head into its final week. Every sentence, every word

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is getting slightly more support among Democrats for his handling of the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It shows 59% of Democrats approve of Biden’s

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — J Balvin has released his latest single, “Amigos.” He calls it a “romantic reggaeton” track that takes him back to his roots. One thing that it isn’t? Balvin tells The Associated Press it’s not a response to Bad Bunny’s “Thunder Y Lightning,” which used Balvin’s

By RONALD BLUM AND BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writers NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The New York Yankees have acquired All-Star slugger Juan Soto in a trade with the cost-cutting San Diego Padres, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday night because

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. officials say intensifying Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities are worsening humanitarian conditions across the country, where heavy snow and freezing temperatures have already arrived. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the U.N. Security Council Wednesday that Russia’s daily attacks on Ukraine’s critical civilian infrastructure

HONG KONG (AP) — Customs data show that China’s exports rose in November, indicating that demand may be picking up following months of decline. China’s exports rose 0.5% from a year earlier to $291.9 billion. It was the first positive reading since April. Imports fell 0.6% to $223.5 billion after a 3% climb in October.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan will meet in Seoul this week to discuss North Korea’s military threat and other issues as they continue to promote trilateral cooperation in Asia. South Korea’s presidential office said its national security office director, Cho Tae-yong, will host

By BERT WILKINSON Associated Press GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A military helicopter carrying seven people has vanished near Guyana’s border with Venezuela. Authorities note there was bad weather in the area and stressing there was no indication it might have been hit by hostile fire amid an ongoing diplomatic spat between both countries. Army Chief

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has used a rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to demand an immediate cease-fire. His letter to the council said Gaza’s humanitarian system was at risk of collapse

By STEVE PEOPLES and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press With the Iowa caucuses rapidly approaching, a shrinking field of Republican White House hopefuls gathered Wednesday in Alabama for the fourth presidential debate. As usual, former President Donald Trump, who is dominating the GOP primary, didn’t appear. Instead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities have suspended the search for the 12-year-old boy still missing following a deadly landslide in the southeast Alaska community of Wrangell. Five people have been confirmed killed in the landslide and their bodies recovered: Otto Florschutz, Timothy and Beth Heller and two of the couple’s children, Kara Heller and Mara

MAYWOOD, Ill. (AP) — Former NFL Player Sergio Brown pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of first-degree murder and concealing a homicide in the September death of his mother. The body of 73-year-old Myrtle Brown was discovered Sept. 16 near a creek in Maywood, about 12 miles west of Chicago. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press The U.S. Marshals say a deputy was detained in the United Kingdom on suspicion of acting inappropriately while intoxicated on a flight from New York. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press Wednesday the federal agent was flying to London to bring back a person suspected of a crime

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) — Law enforcement officials say a driver in a suburb of Boston crashed into at least two individuals and a police officer before stealing a police car, fleeing the scene and then crashing the cruiser. Police say they arrested the suspect after a foot pursuit. Officials have not released the name of

By MARDI ROSA TANJUNG Associated Press BATU PALANO, Indonesia (AP) — The seacrh has ended for any more victims among climbers who were caught by a weekend eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano that killed 23 people and injured several others, officials said Thursday. About 75 climbers started up the nearly 2,900-meter (9,480-foot) mountain in