Month: January 2024

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s prime minister and his cabinet have formally submitted their resignations to parliament, paving the way for a caretaker government to prepare for general elections planned this May. The country’s main political parties agreed last month for general elections to be held on May 8, two months early and

By TARA COPP and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Iraq will soon begin formal talks soon to transition the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State in Iraq. Iraq’s foreign ministry in a statement said that Baghdad aims to “formulate a specific and clear

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say the girlfriend of a man suspected of fatally shooting seven relatives and an eighth person last weekend in a Chicago suburb has been charged with obstruction for allegedly trying to prevent her boyfriend’s apprehension. Joliet police say 21-year-old Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton was charged with one count of obstructing justice by

By ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A group of more than 4,700 auto dealers in the United States have sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging the president to halt regulators’ efforts to require cars to emit less pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to finalize its proposed greenhouse gas

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China has accused the U.S. of abusing international law with its military maneuvers in the western Pacific, one day after an American naval destroyer sailed through the politically sensitive Taiwan Strait. Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said Thursday that U.S. warplane and warship activity “on China’s doorstep”

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated press BERLIN (AP) — At least 1,259 people working for the Protestant Church of Germany have committed sexual abuse, claiming at least 2,225 victims. That’s according to an independent study of decades of church documents and files from regional churches and the Lutherans’ diaconal relief and social welfare organization, the Diakonie.

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish report says that adoptions of children from South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s to Denmark was “characterized by systematic illegal behavior” in the Asian country. The report on Thursday says these violations made it “possible to change information about a child’s background

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-controlled Myanmar has ordered the family home of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, where she spent 15 years under house arrest, be put on auction in March following a decades-long legal dispute between her and her brother. The decision by a district court

BEIJING (AP) — The bodies of the remaining victims of a landslide in southwestern China have been recovered, bringing the death toll to 44 after four days of searching through the rubble of dirt and crumbled homes. State broadcaster said the final body was found on Thursday evening. The landslide slammed into houses at the

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish media say Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has agreed to meet with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán, who invited Kristersson to Budapest to discuss Sweden’s accession into NATO. Kristersson said in a letter to Orbán he agrees more dialogue between the countries would be beneficial. Orbán’s invitation comes as Hungary and Turkey

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Several thousand university students and their supporters took part in a protest in central Athens Thursday to oppose plans by Greece‘s conservative government to allow privately run universities. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right government is pushing through several key pieces of legislation early in the new year, taking advantage of a

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer More Americans filed jobless benefits last week but layoffs remain at historically low levels despite elevated interest rates and a flurry of job cuts in the media and technology sectors. Applications for unemployment benefits rose to 214,000 for the week ending Jan. 20, an increase of 25,000 from the

By RAJESH KUMAR SINGH and BISWAJEET BANERJEE Associated Press LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Thousands of Indians have flocked to a recruitment center in India for jobs as construction workers in Israel, willing to take the risk of going to a country embroiled in a devastating war with Hamas militants in Gaza. Jobs are hard to

By SEUNG MIN KIM and SCOTT BAUER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is returning to the critical swing state of Wisconsin to announce nearly $5 billion in federal funding for upgrading the Blatnik Bridge and for dozens of similar infrastructure projects nationwide. It’s part of the Democratic president’s election year push to

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — The American founder of an orphanage in Haiti who had charges of sexual abuse against him dropped in the island nation was set to appear in federal court on new charges brought by U.S. authorities. A grand jury indictment issued in Florida earlier this month accuses Michael

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press NURPUR NOON, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani prime ministerial hopeful says the country must invest in climate resilience for its survival. Unprecedented downpours in 2022 washed away homes and schools while also displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari revealed Wednesday he had been ready to quit the government

Six nuns kidnapped in Haiti last week along with two other people have been released, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince told The Associated Press on Thursday. The group was released late Wednesday, and everyone is in good condition, said Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor. “Thanks to God for helping us,” he said. He declined to say whether

LONDON (AP) — A 32-year-old man who fatally stabbed two college students and a man months from retirement in the England city of Nottingham has been told he would “most probably” spend the rest of his life in a high-security medical facility. The judge told Valdo Calocane that he committed “a series of atrocities” in

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer Melanie, the singer-songwriter who rose through the New York folk scene, performed at Woodstock and had a series of 1970s hits including the enduring cultural phenomenon “Brand New Key,” has died. Her publicist Billy James told The Associated Press that Melanie died Tuesday. She was 76 and lived in

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Two British museums are returning gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement — 150 years after the items were looted from the Asante people during Britain’s colonial battles in West Africa. The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, together

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A man has been charged with 76 counts of murder and 86 counts of attempted murder for allegedly causing a fire at an apartment building in South Africa last year that was one of the country’s worst disasters. The suspect was also charged on Thursday with arson

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billy Idol normally takes advantage of riding his motorcycle on Super Bowl Sunday knowing there’s hardly any traffic because millions are glued to their televisions. But this year, Idol’s bike won’t be leaving his garage on game day. Instead, the legendary British rocker will

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s new pro-European Union government and conservative opposition disagree on whether two opposition politicians pardoned this week can still serve as lawmakers. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government has moved to reverse policies of his predecessors that led to conflicts with the EU. The previously ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, frustrated

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank has raised its key interest rate by another 2.5 percentage points. The move was the latest in a series of rate increases aimed at combating inflation that reached nearly 65% in December. The bank on Thursday brought its benchmark rate to 45%. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has

PARIS Protests by French farmers are snowballing and creeping closer to Paris, ratcheting up pressure for government measures to protect the influential agricultural sector from foreign competition, red tape, rising costs and poverty-levels of pay. Traffic-snarling drive-slows, barricades of straw bales, stinky dumps of agricultural waste and other expressions of anger have rapidly blown up

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The Moscow City Court has convicted a former Ukraine rebel leader who called President Vladimir Putin cowardly of extremism and sentenced him to four years in prison. Igor Girkin was the most prominent leader of Russian-backed separatist fighters in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in 2014, when rebellion arose after the ouster of

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s top diplomat says his country has asked Russia to send back hundreds of Nepali nationals who were recruited to fight in Ukraine and repatriate the bodies of those who were killed in the conflict. Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud said Thursday in an interview with

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban have pledged not to attack election rallies, saying their targets are limited to the military and security forces, as political parties and independent candidates ramp up their campaigns ahead of the Feb. 8 vote. Other militant groups have not made similar pledges, and some

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — The French president arrived in India on Thursday, where he is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will be the chief guest at the country’s national day celebrations. Emmanuel Macron began his visit with some sightseeing in the western city of Jaipur, a

PARIS (AP) — French police and protesters are preparing for a decision Thursday by France’s Constitutional Council on whether to approve a divisive new immigration law. The legislation makes it easier to deport foreigners and restricts their access to social welfare. A ruling is expected Thursday afternoon on whether the law conforms to the constitution.

HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia has reported a double-digit decline in sales and a fall in profit in the last three months of 2023. The wireless and fixed-network equipment maker said Thursday that operators are cutting back on investments into 5G and other technology because of economic uncertainty. The Finnish company reported net profit in the

BRUSSELS (AP) — Antisemitism is on the rise in Belgium since the Hamas attack against Israel that triggered a war in Gaza. According to the latest figures released Thursday by an independent body fighting discrimination, 91 reports related to the Israel-Hamas conflict were received between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7 last year, compared to 57

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency said Thursday that its first lunar mission hit the tiny patch of the moon’s surface it was aiming for in a successful demonstration of its pinpoint landing system — although it appears to be sitting upside-down. Japan became the fifth country in history to

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech lawmakers have voted against ratifying an international treaty on women’s rights. Only 34 of the 71 Senators present in the upper house of the Czech Parliament late Wednesday voted in favor of the treaty known as the Istanbul Convention. The result was two votes short of the majority needed to pass.

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Apple has rolled out an update to its operating system this week with a feature called Stolen Device Protection. It makes it a lot harder for phone thieves to access key functions and settings, and users are being urged to turn it on immediately. The software

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona are bringing together school principals at the White House to launch a gun safety initiative. Thursday’s event will promote the safe storage of firearms to keep the weapons out of children’s hands. The majority of guns used in

BERLIN (AP) — An Austrian man who had kept his daughter captive for 24 years and raped her thousands of times, fathering seven children with her, can be moved from psychiatric detention to a regular prison. A court ruled on Thursday that 88-year-old Josef Fritzl will have to attend regular psychotherapy and undergo psychiatric evaluations

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police say a governing party lawmaker is being treated at a Seoul hospital after being attacked by an unidentified man who struck her head with a rock-like object. A police official says a suspect was arrested at the scene after the attack Thursday

By The Associated Press Investigators searching the site where a Russian military transport plane crashed in a border region near Ukraine reportedly have found the plane’s flight recorders, a day after Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting down the aircraft and Ukraine’s president demanded an international investigation. The Il-76 fell from the sky and crashed in

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — An official says one of the five children who were hospitalized in Cyprus after being rescued from a rickety boat along with 55 other Syrian migrants has died. The migrants, who were rescued by Cyprus police on Wednesday, apparently ran out of food and water after sailing on the boat from

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press U.S. Biathlon national champion Joanne Reid was sexually harassed and abused for years by a ski-wax technician while racing on the elite World Cup circuit, a watchdog group that oversees sex-abuse allegations in Olympic sports found. When the two-time Olympian complained, she says she was told his behavior was just

By KEIRAN SMITH Associated Press SYDNEY (AP) — On Friday, the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu heads to the polls in an election that’s being watched from Beijing to Canberra. Voters will choose the members of its 16-seat parliament, setting up negotiations to choose a prime minister. Elections in Tuvalu typically garner limited international