Month: April 2024

By The Associated Press The Biden administration is setting new rules on airline fees and refunds. The Transportation Department said Wednesday that the final rules will spell out exactly when consumers are owed a refund for a delayed flight. That used to be up to the airlines. Now the government says it’ll be for delays

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Officials say Nepal’s president asked the emir of Qatar, who is on a two-day visit to the South Asian country, to help release a Nepali student held hostage by Palestinian militant group Hamas. President Ram Chandra Poudel met with Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Wednesday

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — The hugely popular Chinese app TikTok may be forced out of the U.S., where a measure to outlaw the video-sharing app has won congressional approval and is on its way to President Biden for his signature. India ended up banning the app nearly four years ago

By ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials are expressing thanks for a fresh batch of U.S. military aid that threw Kyiv’s armed forces a lifeline in their war with Russia, even though the vital new supplies aren’t expected to have an immediate impact on the battlefield. Ukrainian troops have faced acute

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer SHANGHAI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a critical trip to China armed with a strengthened diplomatic hand following Senate approval of a foreign aid package that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as force TikTok’s China-based

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has reached the end of a long, painful battle with Republicans to secure urgently needed replenishment of aid for Ukraine. The president on Wednesday will sign into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also includes assistance for Israel,

BERLIN (AP) — A prominent German far-right lawmaker says he will dismiss an assistant who was arrested on suspicion of spying for China, but will remain the Alternative for Germany party’s top candidate in the upcoming European Parliament elections. Maximilian Krah’s assistant was arrested Monday. Prosecutors accuse the assistant of working for a Chinese intelligence

By The Associated Press A top Russian military official arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe has been sent to pre-trial detention after appearing before a court in central Moscow. Timur Ivanov, 48, is one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers. He was arrested Tuesday evening, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement. They gave

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s first moon lander has survived a third freezing lunar night, Japan’s space agency said after receiving an image from the device three months after it landed on the moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Wednesday that the lunar probe had responded to a signal from

BEIJING (AP) — China blasted the latest package of U.S. military assistance to Taiwan, saying such funding was pushing the self-governing island republic into a “dangerous situation.” The U.S. Senate late Tuesday passed $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United

By ANDY WONG and SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press JIUQUAN SATELLITE LAUNCH CENTER, China (AP) — China’s space agency is making final preparations to send the Shenzhou-18 crew into low-Earth orbit on Thursday as part of its ambitious space program that aims to put people on the moon by 2030. In a press conference on Wednesday,

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares have tracked Wall Street’s rally, led by a 2.4% advance for Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index powered by strong gains for semiconductor makers. U.S. futures rose while oil prices edged higher. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained more than 900 points to close at 38,460.08,

LONDON (AP) — Novels that tell complex and surprising stories of migration are among six finalists for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction. U.S.-French writer Aube Rey Lescure’s “River East, River West” looks at Americans in China, while British author Isabella Hammad’s “Enter Ghost” charts a woman’s return to her Palestinian homeland. The shortlist was announced

By The Associated Press Germany said Wednesday that it plans to follow several other countries in resuming cooperation with the U.N. relief agency for Palestinians in Gaza after the publication of an independent review of its neutrality. The previous day, a Palestinian health official said that a tent camp in Khan Younis, seen under construction

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has arrived in Sri Lanka to inaugurate a hydropower and irrigation project that was long delayed due to international sanctions on his government and other issues. The project, valued at $514 million, was started in 2010 by an Iranian engineering group and Iran initially provided $50

By NINIEK KARMINI and FADLAN SYAM Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s electoral commission has formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in a ceremony on after the country’s highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory lodged by two losing presidential candidates. Subianto, who is currently defense minister, won the election with 58.6% of the

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A high-level North Korean economic delegation was on its way to Iran for what would be the two countries’ first known talks since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Embracing the idea of a “new Cold War,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing

By JILL LAWLESS and SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A big, new package of U.S. military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning will still be a long slog. The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian

By NICK PERRY and KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press Dozens of protestors have barricaded themselves inside two buildings on a Northern California campus in protest of Israel’s war with Hamas. It’s one of many demonstrations as students across the nation have set up encampments, occupied buildings and ignored demands to leave. Protests against Israel’s war with

SYDNEY (AP) — Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church have executed search warrants in the city as part of a major operation. The searches were conducted on Wednesday by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which incorporates federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence

By COLLIN BINKLEY, STEVE LeBLANC and BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS Associated Press Students at a growing number of U.S. colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel — or any companies that empower its ongoing war in Gaza. The demand has its roots in a decades-old

By JOHN RABY and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Former West Virginia coal executive Don Blankenship is making another attempt to win a U.S. Senate seat, this time as a Democrat. Blankenship finished third out of six candidates in the 2018 Republican primary for Democrat Joe Manchin’s Senate seat. Manchin decided last

By ARMANDO SOLÍS Associated Press VILLA MADERO, Mexico (AP) — As a drought in Mexico drags on, angry subsistence farmers have begun taking direct action on thirsty avocado orchards and berry fields of commercial farms that are drying up streams in the mountains west of Mexico City. Rivers and even whole lakes are disappearing in

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court hears arguments Thursday over whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. It’s a historic day for the court, with the justices having an opportunity to decide once and

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is gaining momentum in state capitals and college governing boards, with officials in about one-third of the states now taking some sort of action against it. Tennessee became the latest when the Republican governor this week signed legislation that

For a third straight week, Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are attempting to repeal the state’s near-total ban on abortions after a court concluded the state can enforce the long-dormant law that permits the procedure only to save a patient’s life. Republicans have used procedural votes to block earlier repeal efforts after the court revived

By WILL WEISSERT, MICHELLE L. PRICE and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Student protests over the war in Gaza have created a new and unpredictable challenge for President Joe Biden as he resists calls to cut off U.S. support for Israel while trying to hold together a coalition of supporters he’ll need

By TERRY TANG Associated Press Like many little girls, a young Kristi Yamaguchi loved playing with Barbie. So, it’s surreal for the decorated Olympian figure skater to now be a Barbie girl herself. Mattel announced Wednesday that there will be a Yamaguchi doll as part of Barbie’s “Inspiring Women Series.” Yamaguchi was the first Asian

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will consider Wednesday when doctors can provide abortions during medical emergencies in states with bans enacted after the high court’s sweeping decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The case comes from Idaho, which is one of 14 states that now ban abortion at all stages

The Associated Press After years of attempts to ban the Chinese-owned app, including by former President Donald Trump, a measure to outlaw the popular video-sharing app has won congressional approval and is on its way to President Biden for his signature. The measure gives Beijing-based parent company ByteDance nine months to sell the company, with

By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — New Jersey is incentivizing taxpayers who work from home for New York based employers to sue New York in court for taxing their wages. Connecticut is now considering it as well. There’s hundreds of millions of dollars on the line for both states. New Jersey Gov.

By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES Associated Press SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Presidential elections are being held in North Macedonia. The small Balkan country has orbited the European Union for nearly two decades with little to show for its efforts to join the bloc. A second round of voting is almost certain to follow on May 8,

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Sen. Mike Braun has missed the final GOP debate in the race to become Indiana’s next governor, instead attending a vote in Washington on a foreign aid package. The five remaining candidates didn’t focus on the front-runner’s absence Tuesday. Instead they pushed their own platforms ahead of

By The Associated Press The $95 billion foreign aid package approved by the U.S. Congress provides military aid to Ukraine and Israel, replenishes U.S. weapons systems and gives humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. After Senate approval Tuesday, it heads to President Joe Biden’s desk. He has promised to sign the measure Wednesday. About $61

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In her primary victory Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Summer Lee not only far outperformed her lone challenger across the District, but she was also on track to far surpass her own win in the primary two years ago. The Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas grand jury has indicted more than 140 migrants on misdemeanor rioting charges over an alleged mass attempt to breach the U.S.-Mexico border. The indictments Tuesday came a day after a judge threw out the cases and ordered them to be released from jail. No one was reported hurt

By GABE STERN Associated Press/Report for America LAS VEGAS (AP) — The USPS announced on Tuesday it will continue with its plan to reroute Reno-area mail processing to Sacramento, a move that drew bipartisan ire from Nevada lawmakers while raising questions about the rate at which mail ballots can be processed in a populous part

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that’s expected to face legal challenges and disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on

By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer U.S. health officials say samples of pasteurized milk have tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows. The Food and Drug Administration stressed Tuesday that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Amnesty International says the world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar. The human rights organization’s annual report, released Wednesday, said the most

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In a frequently tense relationship often defined by a shared border, the United States sent two officials with a different perspective to Mexico this week for a bit of space diplomacy. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy – both former astronauts — spent two hours chatting with President

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 29-year-old suspect in a break-in at the home of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been charged with burglary and vandalism. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón says Ephraim Matthew Hunter, a Los Angeles resident, is charged with a felony count of first-degree residential burglary and a felony count of