Month: August 2023

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A group that promotes the Cantonese language has shut down after Hong Kong authorities said a fictional essay depicting a decline in liberties in the city on the group’s website violated the national security law. It’s the latest example of the city’s erosion of freedom of

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden shook hands with middle schoolers on their way to lunch and dropped by an eighth grade math class Monday to welcome students back for the new school year. The Bidens went to Eliot-Hine Middle School, located

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities have reinforced firefighting forces in the northeastern part of the country where a massive deadly wildfire was burning for a 10th day with no signs of abating. The fire in the Alexandroupolis and Evros areas near the Turkish border has been blamed for 20

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result for incoming travelers, a milestone in its reopening to the rest of the world after an isolation that began with the country’s borders closing in 2020. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced the change on Monday. China

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Five people, including four children, have died and dozens have been rescued in two separate incidents involving migrant boats heading to Greek islands from nearby Turkish shores. Greek authorities say four children died and 18 people were rescued after a boat carrying migrants apparently sank off

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top domestic security agency says a detained former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok is accused of collecting information about Russian action in Ukraine and related issues on U.S. diplomats’ orders. Russia’s Federal Security Service, the country’s main domestic security agency, said Robert Shonov is suspected of “gathering information about

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday as markets shift their attention from the U.S. Federal Reserve to earnings and economic reports. Regional markets also got a perk from signs China-U.S. relations may be improving, as the nations agreed to work together to smooth out economic relations, including

By MARIA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the forest-covered mountains of Mexico City a brigade of farmers and forest rangers plant inches-high pine saplings in a recently cut stand of trees, even as the sound of chainsaws rings out nearby. Illegal logging has taken a huge toll in recent years in the

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The movie centers around a violinist from Belgium arriving to Kyiv to perform. It is February 2022, and his trip is upended as Russia starts bombing Ukraine. The artist survives a series of “inhuman crimes and bloody provocations by Ukrainian nationalists,” and he is ready to

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The movie centers around a renowned violinist from Belgium arriving in Kyiv to perform. The date is February 2022, and his trip is upended as Russia starts bombing Ukraine. The musician survives a series of “inhuman crimes and bloody provocations by Ukrainian nationalists,” and he wants

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A trial is beginning this week for the first of two teens charged with murder in a shooting at a Des Moines alternative school that left two students dead and the program’s founder injured. Jury selection will start Monday in the trial of 19-year-old Preston

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — The library at Houston’s Lockhart Elementary had been a refuge for 8-year-old Sydney, who has struggled because of dyslexia. The school’s librarian, Cheryl Hensley, curated a space that encouraged her to read. But now Texas has taken over Houston’s public school district, and her refuge has

By DAVID BRUNAT Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Climate activists have spraypainted a superyacht, blocked private jets from taking off and plugged holes in golf courses this summer as part of an intensifying campaign against the emissions-spewing lifestyles of the ultrawealthy. Climate activism has intensified in the past few years as the planet warms

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is calling for action to end the type of “hate-fueled violence” that authorities say motivated a white man to fatally shoot three Black people at a Florida store over the weekend. Biden said Monday people must speak out about injustice. Biden also spoke on

By NATHAN ELLGREN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — “Hola, Mama.” What seems like an unremarkable greeting between mother and son was in this case anything but. Forty-two years ago, hospital workers took Maria Angelica Gonzalez’ son from her arms right after birth and later told her he had died. Now, she was meeting him face-to-face

By JENNIFER PELTZ and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Christian Glass was a geology geek, a painter and a young man beset by a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help getting his car unstuck in a Colorado mountain town last year. Convinced that supernatural beings were after him,

By ERIC TUCKER, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s Monday decision denies a

By JENNIFER PELTZ and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Christian Glass was a geology geek, a painter and a young man beset by a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help getting his car unstuck in a Colorado mountain town last year. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, he refused to

By CALVIN WOODWARD and EMILY SWANSON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll finds rare agreement across partisan lines and in this case President Joe Biden is the unifying figure, though not the way he would prefer to be. A hefty 77% in the AP-NORC poll say Biden is too old to be effective

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Terry Gou, who founded Apple supplier Foxconn, said Monday he will run as an independent candidate in Taiwan’s presidential election, ending months of speculation. At a news conference, Gou criticized the governing Democratic Progressive Party, saying its policies have “brought Taiwan into the risk of war”