Month: January 2024

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The longest planned strike in the history of Britain’s state-funded National Health Service has entered its second day of six with doctors in England at loggerheads with hospitals over requests for some to return to work to cover urgent needs during one of busiest times of the

BERLIN (AP) — There’s a bit of post-Christmas cheer on the menu for elephants and other tenants at the Berlin Zoo: they can chomp on Christmas trees that didn’t find a home. The tree treats were unwrapped Thursday in what has become an annual event. Elephants tore off branches with their trunks and either gobbled

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s military wants to reintroduce obligatory military service as tensions continue to rise in the Balkans. The army command said in a statement Thursday that the proposal for compulsory service of up to four months is made “to increase the defense capabilities of the Serbian Armed

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press HSINCHU, Taiwan (AP) — With Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections less than two weeks away, the island’s alternative party candidate and chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party, Ko Wen-je, is promoting a policy of patience toward China, which has been upping its threat to annex the island by force. Ko,

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The swift and safe evacuation of a Japan Airlines jet that caught fire after hitting a Coast Guard aircraft while it was landing Tuesday at Tokyo’s Haneda airport reflects the carrier’s dogged dedication to safety, born of hard experience. The Aug. 12, 1985, crash

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban spokesman says authorities have arrested women in the Afghan capital Kabul for wearing “bad hijab.” It’s the first official confirmation of a crackdown on women who don’t follow the dress code imposed by the Taliban since they returned to power in 2021. Thursday’s development is the latest blow to

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer The teams at Tennessee State in a three-season span from 1956 through 1959 were nearly unbeatable. They had a coach in John McLendon who would be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and contributor. They had five players who would play in the NBA, one

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ALI JABAR Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say an airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad has killed a high-ranking militia commander. Thursday’s strike comes amid mounting regional tensions fueled by Israel-Hamas war and fears that it could spill over into surrounding countries. The

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A study shows that carbon dioxide emissions in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, dropped to their lowest level in seven decades. The use of coal declined unexpectedly sharply in 2023 and economic pressures weighed down production by energy-intensive industry. The Agora Energiewende think tank said Thursday its preliminary

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Extremely cold temperatures compounded by strong winds and snow are wreaking havoc across the Nordic region, leaving thousands without power while others braved the cold for hours stuck in their cars along clogged highways. Serious problems with rail services has been reported as a result of the deep freeze. In Arctic

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is providing $162 million to Microchip Technology to support the domestic production of computer chips. It’s the second funding announcement tied to a 2022 law designed to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. The incentives include $90 million to improve a plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado,

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — A French report says the United Kingdom is not sufficiently coordinating with France in efforts to reduce the number of migrants illegally crossing the English Channel in small boats. The report from the Court of Account released Thursday also points to the “uncertain effectiveness” of illegal migration

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s intelligence service says it views the young daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as her father’s likely heir apparent. The assessment by the National Intelligence Service is its first such assessment on the girl, who is reportedly age

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Queen Margrethe rode through Denmark’s capital in a gilded, horse-drawn coach as she concluded her last New Year celebrations before her Jan. 14 abdication after 52 years on the throne. Thousands braved the biting cold Thursday to cheer the popular queen in what is to be

SYDNEY (AP) — The largest male specimen of the world’s most poisonous spider that boasts fangs powerful enough to pierce a human fingernail has found a new home after being discovered north of Sydney, Australia. The Sydney funnel-web spider found only in Australia has been donated to the Australian Reptile Park help save lives by

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer Pressing a button will be one way to summon an artificial intelligence agent as Microsoft wields its computer industry influence to reshape the next generation of keyboards. Starting this month, some new personal computers that run Microsoft’s Windows operating system will have a special “Copilot key” that launches the

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A father and son in Texas have been charged in the killings of an 18-year-old pregnant woman who disappeared before Christmas and her boyfriend, who San Antonio police say were fatally shot before their bodies were moved and later found in a car. The arrests announced Wednesday night by San Antonio

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say two men have been charged with murder in the death of an Oakland police officer who was shot while answering a burglary report at a marijuana dispensary. Charges were filed Wednesday against Mark Sanders of Tracy and Allen Starr Brown of Chico. They’re scheduled for arraignment Thursday. The two

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has pardoned nearly 10,000 prisoners to mark the 76th anniversary of gaining independence from Britain, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any of those released included the thousands of political detainees jailed for opposing army rule. State-run MRTV reported that the head of Myanmar’s military council, Senior Gen. Min

By MARCOS ALEMAN Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele has taken his presidential reelection campaign beyond the tiny Central American country’s borders to capitalize on his rising profile across Latin America. During a two-hour forum Wednesday on the platform X, Bukele accused critics of his controversial policies of trying

By HIRO KOMAE, AYAKA MCGILL and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press SUZU, Japan (AP) — His face hidden under a humble straw hat, the man stood silent, watching several helmeted rescue workers carefully lift his wife’s body from the rubble, wrapped in blue plastic on a stretcher. He wiped his weary face with a rag. His

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian stocks slipped on Thursday, tracking a weak start to 2024 on Wall Street as Japan’s markets reopened. The mood was somber in Tokyo as the market reopened from the New Year holidays with a moment of silence instead of a celebratory New Year’s ring of

By TERRY TANG Associated Press FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A Thai restaurant in Fresno, California, is back in operation after being wrongfully accused of abusing a dog to turn it into meat. It may be astonishing to some that a claim rooted in a racist stereotype took down a restaurant three years after “Stop Asian

By NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — For Iranians backing the country’s theocracy, whose icons since the Islamic Revolution have been stern-faced clergymen, Gen. Qassem Soleimani represented a popular figure of national resilience in the face of four decades of U.S. pressure. For the U.S. and Israel, he was a

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean hospital says the country’s main opposition leader is recovering well from surgery after being stabbed in the neck earlier this week. Lee Jae-myung was stabbed by a knife-wielding man who approached him asking for his autograph on Tuesday. Doctor

NEW YORK (AP) — A winter weather system moving through the U.S. is expected to wallop the East Coast this weekend with a mix of snow and freezing rain from the southern Appalachians to the Northeast — although it’s too early to say exactly which areas will get what kind of precipitation and how much.

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A pilot accused of threatening to shoot a commercial airline captain who wanted to divert a flight to get medical attention for a passenger was set to make his first federal court appearance Thursday. Former Delta Air Lines pilot Jonathan J. Dunn was indicted by

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is spending the third anniversary of a mob of his supporters overrunning the U.S. Capitol by campaigning to win back the White House. He has two events in Iowa and repeats lies that seek to reframe how the country remembers the deadly insurrection.

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — A less flashy Chinese electric vehicle maker is fast closing the gap with Tesla, the longtime, market-leading pioneer. BYD Co., based in the southern China tech hub of Shenzhen, dethroned Texas-based Tesla Inc. as the top seller of electric cars in the last three months of 2023,

By JULHAS ALAM and AL-EMRUN GARJON Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — For decades, political battles in Bangladesh have been fought on the streets by parties led by two powerful women. But there are signs of a generational change as the country of 169 million heads into another general election on Sunday. While an opposition

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Court records show the subject of an island-wide manhunt New Year’s Day in Hawaii was a felon barred from owning the high-powered rifle he used to open fire on Honolulu police in a shootout that left two officers wounded and the suspect dead. Sidney Tafokitau was

By CLAIRE RUSH The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the theft of medication prescribed to patients at a southern Oregon hospital, police and state medical officials confirmed Wednesday, following a local news report that two people died and others were sickened after a nurse replaced fentanyl intravenous drips with tap water.

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, REBECCA BOONE and DAVID B. CARUSO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Amid great hype, a court began to release a new batch of previously secret court documents late Wednesday related to Jeffrey Epstein, the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Social media has

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — An Idaho man was arrested after stealing a plane from the North Las Vegas airport, flying it over 100 miles into a southern California airport and eventually running into a desert area after officers inquired about the aircraft. The man, who is currently in custody in San Bernardino County,

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States is calling on the U.N. Security Council to take urgent action against Yemen’s Houthi rebels for attacking ships in the key Red Sea trade route, and is warning their longtime financier and weapons supplier Iran that it has a choice. U.S. deputy

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Regulators have rejected an effort by New Mexico’s largest electric utility to recoup from customers millions of dollars of investments made in a coal-fired power plant in the northwestern corner of the state. The Public Regulation Commission issued its decision Wednesday. It means Public Service

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has reached across the partisan divide to urge a cohesive effort with Republican lawmakers to uplift Kentucky’s economy, education and health care. He says the state has an opportunity to assert itself as an “economic and a moral leader.” Beshear’s comments came

By DAVID HAMILTON AP Technology Reporter SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The falling-block video game Tetris has met its match in 13-year-old Willis Gibson. In late December, he became the first player to officially beat the original Nintendo version of the game — by breaking it. Technically, Willis — aka “blue scuti” in the gaming world

By KEN RITTER and RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge was attacked in court by a defendant who vaulted the bench and sparked a bloody brawl with court officials and attorneys as he was about to sentenced to prison in a felony battery case. The violent scene was captured Wednesday

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A bill to ban oil and gas production within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of schools and day care centers across New Mexico is among the first published proposals as the state legislature prepares for a 30-day session that could bring an overhaul to fundamental oil and gas regulations. Regulators in