Month: January 2024

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s weather agency has confirmed a reading of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Sicily two years ago as the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe. The World Meteorological Organization says the Sicilian scorcher was picked up on Aug. 11, 2021. Temperatures were soaring across much of Europe at the

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Despite the disqualification of Kamila Valieva in a doping case, her Russia figure skating team will still get bronze medals from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the sport’s governing body said on Tuesday. The United States is the new Olympic champion and Japan gets upgraded to silver from bronze but the demoted

PARIS (AP) — France’s government is preparing more concessions to calm the anger of protesting farmers camped out around Paris. Attention is focusing on an address that new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is to give on Tuesday afternoon to France’s lower house of parliament, laying out his government’s priorities. The farmers’ campaign for better pay,

By AREF TUFAHA and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Israeli undercover forces dressed as women and medical workers have stormed a hospital in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants. The raid underscored the spillover of deadly violence to the territory during the war in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations have decided to approve an outline deal that would keep in reserve the profits from hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian central bank assets that have been frozen in retaliation for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The tentative agreement still needs formal approval but

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of his party deputies to 10 years in prison each, after finding them guilty of revealing official secrets. The verdict was another blow to Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, who was ousted through a no-confidence vote

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday, with Hong Kong and Shanghai leading declines, ahead of a decision by the Federal Reserve this week on interest rates. U.S. futures slipped and oil prices edged higher. Shares in property developer China Evergrande Group, the world’s most heavily indebted

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Saudi Aramco says it will not try to increase its maximum daily oil production to 13 million barrels a day after receiving an order from the country’s Energy Ministry. The firm, known formally as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., said it would maintain its maximum

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Japanese transport officials have raided the plant of a Toyota group company to investigate cheating on engine testing, as the company reported it kept its status as the world’s top automaker in 2023, selling 11.2 million vehicles. Hours after the probe began at Toyota Industries Corp.’s

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s naval forces have rescued an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates and freed its 19 crew members off the east coast of Somalia. A navy statement on Tuesday said the ship intercepted the vessel late Monday and forced the pirates to release the crew and boat, which 11 Somali

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland’s largest British unionist party has agreed to end a boycott that left the region’s people without a power-sharing administration for two years, it said Tuesday. After a late-night meeting, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson said the party’s executive has backed proposals to return to

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police say they have arrested three Mexicans for alleged robbery on the resort island of Bali that left a tourist from Turkey badly wounded. The arrests were made Saturday at a villa where the Mexican men had been staying since Dec. 7 as tourists. Police said four men armed with

By ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Rockets fired by separatist insurgents killed a police officer and wounded a dozen other people overnight in southwestern Pakistan, officials said Tuesday, in apparent retaliation for Pakistani strikes on what it said were insurgent hideouts in Iran earlier in January. The government said that six insurgents

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The Philippines and Vietnam have signed an agreement on preventing and managing incidents in the disputed South China Sea during Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s visit to Hanoi. Several countries — including the Philippines and Vietnam — are locked in maritime disputes with China over its

HONG KONG (AP) — Nicole Kidman’s latest project is set in Hong Kong, but people living there are blocked from seeing it. That’s prompting speculation about censorship in a city where civil liberties are shrinking fast. The first two episodes of “Expats,” a six-episode drama about expat women, were released on Amazon Prime on Jan.

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The latest annual Corruption Perceptions Index says efforts to fight public sector corruption are faltering and blames in part a “global decline in justice and the rule of law since 2016.” Transparency International compiles the index. It found 23 countries at their worst level since the global

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The retired NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour is being carefully hoisted at a Los Angeles science museum where it will be displayed as if it is about to blast off. A massive crane delicately began the process of mating Endeavor to a huge external fuel tank and its two solid rocket boosters

PARIS (AP) — France’s National Assembly is considering a bill meant to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the French Constitution. The vote scheduled for Tuesday is a key step in a legislative process that also requires a Senate’s vote. The measure has been promised by President Emmanuel Macron following a rollback of

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois’ election board on Tuesday is scheduled to consider whether to keep Donald Trump on the state’s primary ballot after a recommendation that he be removed over the Constitution’s insurrection provision. The meeting of the Illinois State Board of Elections, which is split evenly between Democrats and

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and TERRY SPENCER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will spend Tuesday raising money in Florida, a onetime swing state that has since become a Republican stronghold and the home turf of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. One fundraiser is scheduled to take place in Jupiter, about a half hour north

By DIDI TANG and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — As the U.S. presidential campaign moves closer to a Donald Trump-Joe Biden rematch, China is watching uneasily. First, there are concerns about the campaign itself, where candidates are likely to talk tough on China. That could threaten the fragile improvements in U.S.-China relations seen

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press The Republican National Committee is meeting behind closed doors this week as some allies of Donald Trump had hoped to put the group’s stamp on the former president early in the 2024 GOP presidential nominating campaign. But a proposed resolution to declare Trump the presumptive nominee has been removed from

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Even by Alaska standards, there’s a lot of snow this winter. So much snow has fallen — so far, more than 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) — that roofs on commercial buildings are collapsing around Anchorage and officials are urging residents to break out their shovels to

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s top law enforcer appears ready to open discussions about how to jump start executions that have been on hold in the state for years. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday. On Monday, he posted on the social media

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two Michigan House districts will hold special election primaries to fill seats that were held by Democrats whose departures have left the legislative chamber in an even split since November. Six candidates are running in each of the Detroit-area districts on Tuesday. Both the 13th and

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press The New York City Council is expected to override a mayoral veto of a bill that would require police officers to document basic information whenever they question someone. The issue was thrust into the national spotlight when NYPD officers pulled over a Black lawmaker without giving him a reason. Mayor

By The Associated Press The wail of air raid sirens is commonplace in Belgorod, a Russian border city whose residents are on edge following a Ukrainian missile attack on a New Year’s holiday weekend that left dozens of people dead and injured. A spectacular explosion rocked a huge fuel export terminal on the Baltic Sea

By ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The executive manager for institutional relations at a Brazilian state bank took the microphone before roughly 150 people at a forum on slavery’s legacy in his country, which kidnapped more Africans for forced labor than any other nation. “Today’s Bank of Brazil asks Black people

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed he was determined to make a clear break from money politics as he renewed an apology for the latest major corruption scandal in the governing party, which has eclipsed his key policies such as strengthening the military and Japan’s alliance with

By KANIS LEUNG and ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong has begun public consultation on enacting its own national security law, beginning a process to implement the once-unpopular legislation. China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 and it has been used to suppress dissent and arrest many

By EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press PORT-AU=PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A Haitian judge investigating the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse issued an arrest warrant for his wife late last year for failing to meet with him so he could interrogate her about the case, according to a legal document that The Associated

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing says it is withdrawing a request for a safety exemption needed to certify a new model of its 737 Max airliner. The turnabout announced Monday follows severe criticism after a door plug blew out on a different 737 Max model over Oregon this month. Boeing asked

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — First there were cafés that allowed pets. Then came cat cafés, where lattes took second place to feline interaction. The latest craze in Japan: The pig café. “It was wonderful. Very relaxing and enjoyable,” said Brad Loomis, a software engineer from Pullman, Washington, after visiting Tokyo’s Mipig

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Thirty-nine years ago, the biggest pop stars in the world crammed into a recording studio in Los Angeles to record the song “We Are the World.” Fans get a chance to almost step into that recording session with the Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military says it detected North Korea firing multiple cruise missiles into the sea off its western coast in its third round of tests of such weapons this month. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were analyzing the launches. It

By MARK VANCLEAVE Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge has ruled that a Minnesota state trooper accused in the fatal shooting of motorist Ricky Cobb II can remain free without bail. The judge on Monday ordered Trooper Ryan Londregan to surrender his passport and avoid contact with witnesses and Cobb’s relatives. The hearing was

SYDNEY (AP) — A woman has suffered serious leg injuries after being attacked by a suspected bull shark in Sydney Harbor. The victim, a woman reported to be in her late 20s, was bitten on the right leg as she swam at Elizabeth Bay in Sydney’s east at about 8pm on Monday. New South Wales

By DAVID KOENIG and TOM KRISHER Associated Press Federal investigators are providing new details about a close call last year at JFK Airport in New York. An American Airlines jet that was taxiing into position for takeoff crossed the wrong runway, in front of a Delta plane that was starting to take off. Fortunately, an

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Steel has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the Pittsburgh-based steel producer of violating federal clean air laws by operating plants without its desulfurization controls for more than three months, emitting clouds of sulfurous gas into surrounding towns. Environmental groups Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment said the settlement was

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will again extend its 60-day limit on shelter stays for asylum seekers. The announcement Monday comes days ahead of a deadline that could have evicted nearly 2,000 migrants. Johnson says the idea was to give people more time to resettle and find work.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina has joined an emerging nationwide effort to improve outcomes for more prisoners who return to society through an approach focused on education, health care and housing. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Monday that seeks to reduce recidivism through formal training

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — The controversial intelligence chief of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has pleaded guilty to charges in the 1992 massacre of six farmers who were accused of being members of a rebel group, taken from their homes by soldiers and executed in the town of Pativilca. The

By ERIC OLSON AP Sports Writer Defense attorneys for three Iowa State athletes caught in a gambling sting last year say their clients face criminal charges and lost NCAA eligibility as a result of improper searches into their online wagering activities. Attorneys for former ISU football players Isaiah Lee and Jirehl Brock and wrestler Paniro

By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The National Rifle Association’s outgoing CEO acknowledged at a civil trial in New York that he wrongly expensed gifts, travel, and other benefits to his organization. Wayne LaPierre testified for a second day Monday before the jury in Manhattan, which will decide if he violated the

By MANUEL RUEDA BOGOTA, Colombia The Colombian government and the nation’s largest remaining rebel group have announced that they will extend their current ceasefire by one week, while delegates from both sides who are meeting in Cuba continue to discuss policies that could secure a longer lasting truce. In a joint statement the government and

By SUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press A Minnesota man has been charged in a triple homicide after allegedly dressing as a package delivery driver to break into a home. Alonzo Pierre Mingo is charged with three counts of second-degree murder for the Friday killings in a suburban Minneapolis home. He’s jailed on a $5 million bond.

PALM BAY, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say four people are dead in Florida’s Space Coast, including a retired priest and a man accused of shooting and wounding two police officers. Police say 24-year-old Brandon Kapas got into a confrontation with Palm Bay officers Sunday afternoon following a disturbance at his family’s home. Kapas shot and