Month: January 2024

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Private and public companies in the Dominican Republic are preparing for a voluntary six-month pilot program aimed at creating a four-day workweek in the first move of its kind for the Caribbean country. The Dominican government said Monday that the project will launch in February and employees will earn

By KEN SWEET and CORA LEWIS The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to propose rules this week that further rein in banks’ ability to charge customers a fee when they overdraw their bank account. Opponents of the fees often cite the example of a $3 cup of

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Rapper and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs has withdrawn his lawsuit against Diageo as part of a settlement with the London-based spirits giant. Combs and Diageo “have now agreed to resolve all disputes between them,” the two parties said in a statement released Tuesday. Diageo is now the sole owner

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Judicial officials say a judge at Lebanon’s highest court has suspended an arrest warrant against a former cabinet minister in the case of the massive 2020 Beirut port blast. The Court of Cassation’s judge lifted the warrant Tuesday against former public works minister, Youssef Fenianos. In 2021,

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney is hoping a recent decision bolstering a Florida prosecutor’s First Amendment case against Gov. Ron DeSantis helps its own free speech lawsuit against the governor. The company said Thursday in a court filing that last week’s decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S.

Iran has launched attacks in Pakistan targeting what it described as bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl. The state-run IRNA news agency says missiles and drones were used in the attack, which has not immediately been acknowledged by Pakistan. Jaish al-Adl is a Sunni militant group which largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press KIBBUTZ NIR OZ, Israel (AP) — Standing in the ruins of her home in the Nir Oz farming village on the Gaza border, Sharon Alony Cunio gazed at the distant skyline of Khan Younis, the Palestinian city where Hamas militants dragged her more than three months ago. Her husband, David,

By TAIWO ADEBAYO ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Shell has reached an agreement with a consortium of companies to sell its onshore business in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in a deal worth $2.4 billion. It is the latest move by the London-based energy major to limit its presence in the challenging Niger Delta environment, where it has

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s president has vowed to widen military operations against groups linked to Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria, days after nine soldiers were killed in an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq. Turkey has been carrying out airstrikes on targets in Syria and Iraq believed to be affiliated

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO and SUMMER BALLENTINE The Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Reproductive rights activists in Missouri agree they want to get a ballot measure before voters this fall to roll back one of the strictest abortion bans in the country and ensure access. The sticking point is how far they should go.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An American art dealer who co-owned a prominent Manhattan gallery has been found dead in a Rio de Janeiro apartment. Homicide investigators for the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro State are looking into the death of 75-year-old Brent Sikkema, who co-owned the contemporary art gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The defense minister of Belarus says the country closely allied with Russia will put forth a new military doctrine that for the first time provides for the use of nuclear weapons. Russia last year sent tactical nuclear weapons to be stationed in Belarus, although there are no details about how many.

By IGNATIUS SSUUNA Associated Press KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda’s military says it has killed a Congolese soldier who crossed the border and allegedly fired at Rwandan army patrols. It’s latest incident in cross-border tensions between the neighbors. The Rwanda Defense Force says it also arrested two Congolese soldiers who had been with the one

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Police in the Bahamas say a 10-year-old boy from Maryland was attacked by a shark at a local resort. Authorities said in a statement that the unidentified boy was hospitalized Monday after a shark attacked his right leg while he participated in what authorities said was a “shark tank”

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination after finishing sixth in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses. Hutchinson said Tuesday his poor performance in Iowa showed him he has no path to the GOP nomination. Hutchinson’s exit comes after

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Federal Reserve official said he’s increasingly confident that inflation will continue falling this year back to the Fed’s 2% target level, after two years of accelerating price spikes that hurt millions of American households. The official, Christopher Waller, an influential member of the Fed’s

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan authorities will allow cargo flights from Tanzania after its neighbor threatened to ban Kenya Airways passenger flights to Tanzania’s commercial capital. The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority says its Kenyan counterpart has given approval to operate cargo flights between the East African countries. Kenya’s foreign affairs minister says the matter is

By GERALD IMRAY and LEWIS JOLY Associated Press SAINT-PAUL, Reunion (AP) — Mauritius has lifted its highest storm alert and eased a nationwide curfew after a cyclone battered the Indian Ocean island. It caused heavy flooding and extensive damage in the capital city and in other parts of the country. The nearby French island of

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck remember the feeling of being the new kids at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, they’d come to Park City, Utah, armed with a short film “Gowanus, Brooklyn,” some homemade promotional postcards and dreams of breaking through. Their short not only won a prize

By NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants have battled Israeli forces in devastated northern Gaza and launched a barrage of rockets from further south. Tuesday’s show of force comes more that 100 days into Israel’s massive air and ground campaign in the tiny coastal enclave.

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nikki Haley says she won’t participate in the next Republican presidential debate unless former President Donald Trump takes part in it, leaving Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the only candidate committed to Thursday’s event. Her comment on Tuesday came a day after the all-important Iowa

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to spend $2.4 billion to care for the massive influx of migrants who have overwhelmed New York City’s homeless shelters. The migrant spending plan, which would include shelter services, legal assistance and more, came as part of a $233 billion

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court has indicted imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife on a charge that their 2018 marriage violated the Islamic law requirement that a woman wait three months before remarriage. Khan denies the charge. His lawyer, Intisar Panjutha, says the case is part

By CORA LEWIS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Student and legal advocacy groups are petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lift the interview requirement for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applicants to receive food aid. The groups argue the interview requirement is burdensome and prevents those who qualify for food aid from receiving it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has passed up a chance to intervene in the debate over bathrooms for transgender students, rejecting an appeal from an Indiana public school district. Federal appeals courts are divided over whether school policies enforcing restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can use violate federal law or the Constitution. In

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Fujitsu, the company whose faulty computer accounting system resulted in the wrongful conviction of hundreds of Post Office branch managers across the U.K., has apologized to the victims for its role in the country’s biggest ever miscarriage of justice and said it was long aware that the

By BRIAN INGANGA and GERALD IMRAY Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya has embarked on its biggest rhino relocation project and began the difficult work Tuesday of tracking, darting and moving 21 of the critically endangered beasts, which can each weigh over a ton, to a new home. A previous attempt at moving rhinos

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple’s grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, and potentially affect billions of dollars in revenue a year. The justices rejected Apple’s appeal of lower-court rulings that found some of Apple’s app store rules for apps purchased on