Month: February 2024

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police cleared a suspected Chinese spy pigeon after eight months’ detention and released it into the wild Tuesday, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The pigeon’s ordeal began in May when it was captured near a port in Mumbai with two rings tied to its legs, carrying words that

LONDON (AP) — Oil giant Shell saw profits tumble by nearly a third in 2023 as a result of lower oil and gas prices, which had surged the year before in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a statement Thursday, Shell said its post-tax earnings fell 29%, to $28.3 billion from the previous

LONDON (AP) — A woman and her two young daughters are in a hospital with serious injuries after a man threw a corrosive substance at them in south London. Police said a manhunt is underway to find the suspect, who they believe is known to the 31-year-old woman. The Metropolitan Police said officers received reports

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Sports Writer Years of fighting losing battles have left the NCAA almost helpless to defend itself. The legal pile-on against the largest governing body for college sports in the Unites States continued when attorneys general from Tennessee and Virginia filed an antitrust lawsuit that seeks to throw out the

By JOSEPH WILSON and EMILIO MORENATTI The Associated Press GUALBA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s northeast Catalonia is preparing to declare a drought emergency for the area of some six million people including the city of Barcelona. But thousands of people who live in villages and towns in the Catalan countryside have already been in full-blown

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Julius Baer says its CEO is resigning and the Swiss bank is quitting the private debt business as well as setting aside more than a half-billion dollars reportedly over its exposure to bankrupt Austrian asset manager Signa. CEO Philipp Rickenbacher said in a statement Thursday that he

By The Associated Press Elon Musk wants Tesla investors to decide on moving the company’s corporate listing to Texas after a Delaware court decided he shouldn’t get a multibillion-dollar pay package. The electric car company’s CEO said early Thursday that Tesla would get shareholders to vote on whether to switch its corporate registration to Texas,

ZENEL ZHINIPOTOKU and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The European Union on Thursday called on Kosovo to postpone an effort to force ethnic Serbian-dominated areas to adopt the same currency as the rest of the country, as rules that would block use of the Serbian dinar went into effect. Most of Kosovo

LONDON (AP) — A judge in London on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by former U.S. President Donald Trump accusing a former British spy of making “shocking and scandalous claims” that were false and harmed his reputation. Judge Karen Steyn said the case Trump filed against Orbis Business Intelligence should not go to trial. The

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — When the army overthrew Myanmar’s elected government in 2021, it looked like a walkover that could entrench the military in power indefinitely. Three years later, a poorly armed grassroots resistance movement has shaken the military’s grip. Overshadowed by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Myanmar’s civil war

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation is headed down in Europe. The official figure came in at 2.8% on Thursday. That’s more relief for consumers whose paychecks didn’t go as far after inflation peaked at record-high double digits in 2022. The decline also is fueling speculation that it might soon

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas pastor is the new head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition civil rights group, stepping into the role that has been held for decades by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III is set to be formally installed as president and CEO of

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — President Joe Biden is planning to celebrate his recent endorsement by the United Auto Workers union during a visit to Michigan. But his visit on Thursday to the critical battleground state with the nation’s highest density of Arab Americans threatens to be overshadowed by

SYDNEY (AP) — New Zealand’s government says it will contemplate sharing advanced military technologies with the United States and Britain as part of closer defense ties with Australia. The defense and foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand met in Melbourne on Thursday. Talks centered on deepening security ties between the neighboring nations amid worries

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer A new report says Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used in Jordan to hack the cellphones of nearly three dozen people including journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. The digital rights group Access Now said the hacking with spyware made by the NSO Group occurred from early 2020 until November.

BERLIN (AP) — Official figures show that German beer sales dropped 4.5% last year, resuming a long-term downward trend. The Federal Statistical Office said Thursday that German-based breweries and distributors sold about 8.4 billion liters (2.2 billion gallons) of beer last year. In 2022, beer sales increased 2.7% thanks to a recovery in demand at

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s finance minister has unveiled a short-term budget to meet government expenditures until national elections are held by May, saying it will boost spending on infrastructure projects, build homes for poor villagers and cut the fiscal deficit by reducing subsidies. Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to raise

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Residents of central Norway have awoken to scenes of havoc and homes without power following the country’s most powerful storm in more than three decades. Hurricane-force winds hit parts of the Scandinavian country, with gusts of up 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour). In a small, picturesque town northeast

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is expected to keep its main interest rate at near 16-year highs and indicate that lower borrowing costs aren’t imminent because inflation is stuck too high for comfort. Like the U.S. Federal Reserve, the U.K. central bank on Thursday is not expected to

By MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A dissident Russian rock band angered by Moscow’s war in Ukraine has arrived in Israel after being deported from Thailand under suspected pressure from the Kremlin. Speaking Thursday in the arrival hall of Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, guitarist and singer Aleksandr

By LORNE COOK and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are gathering on Thursday to shore up financial support for Ukraine. The overwhelming majority of them — from 26 countries — agree that Europe’s security is at stake, and that time is of the essence. Only one, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A member of Taiwan’s pro-unification Nationalists has been elected speaker of the island’s legislature. The election of Han Kuo-Yu on Thursday is sort of consolation prize for China after the candidate of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13. The Nationalists,

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street fell to its worst loss since September as the Federal Reserve indicated cuts to interest rates are not imminent. U.S. futures rose while oil prices declined. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced, but ceded much of its early

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A new report says automakers including Tesla, General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota are failing to ensure they are not using forced labor as part of their China supply chains. Human Rights Watch says it linked some of the world’s largest car manufacturers to aluminum allegedly produced

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The first of two back-to-back atmospheric rivers is drenching Northern California. Heavy rain and gusty winds began hitting the north on Wednesday and much of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast are under flood watch. The storm triggered statewide emergency preparations. The storm

BERLIN (AP) — Most of Germany’s major airports canceled scores of flights after security workers launched a one-day strike to step up pressure in a pay disput. The ver.di union called on workers to strike at 11 airports on Thursday: Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Hannover, Dresden, Bremen and Erfurt. All departures for

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean judge has convicted a man of murder for an unprovoked car-and-stabbing rampage that killed two people and injured 12 others in a city near Seoul last year. Prosecutors had sought a death penalty for 23-year-old Choi Won-jong, but Judge Kang Hyun-koo of the Suwon District Court’s Seongnam

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors are advancing toward European Union headquarters where leaders are meeting at a summit Thursday. The farmers are bent on getting their complaints about excessive costs, rules and bureaucracy heard in a culmination of weeks of protests around the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo’s fish market has opened a long-awaited outer section with Japanese-style seafood restaurants and a spa for relaxation, as the wholesale venue that has struggled since relocating from the beloved Tsukiji market seeks to lure more visitors. Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai on Thursday opened a food court resembling