Month: August 2023

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to ease rules for obtaining its citizenship under legislation approved by the Cabinet. The government contends that the project will bolster the integration of immigrants and help an economy that is struggling with a shortage of skilled workers. The legislation passed on Wednesday still requires

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and 184 of its content moderators who were based in Kenya agreed on a mediation attempt to settle out of court. Last year, the moderators — from several African countries — filed a lawsuit against the social media giant and its outsourcing

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has promoted Natalie Hudson to chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. When she assumes the post this fall, Hudson will be the first Black person to lead the state’s highest court. Hudson was appointed associate justice in 2015 after serving on the

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The chairman of a group that has offered scholarships to female Afghan students to study abroad says the Taliban have prevented scores of women from traveling to the United Arab Emirates for education. Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, chairman of the Al Habtoor group, says he is unable to express the disappointment he

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Five high school students from Florida to Utah have been selected as this year’s National Student Poets. Each winner represents a different region in the country and brings their own distinctive background and perspective. The student poets each receive $5,000 and will help oversee workshops,

By SYLEJMAN KLLOKOQI and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — In Kosovo, a statue bearing the names of 23 Albanians who rescued Jews during World War II, has been inaugurated in the capital, Pristina. The “Wall of Honor” statue was placed in a park in the presence of some of the rescuers’ descendants,

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Cabinet has approved a plan to ease legal changes of name and gender for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people. The justice minister said Wednesday that the legislation aims to make life easier for “a small group for which it has great significance” and addresses possible concerns.

BERLIN (AP) — Police say a teenager armed with a knife has wounded an eight-year-old boy at a school in eastern Germany and then set himself alight. Police say the incident happened in Bischofswerda, east of the city of Dresden, on Wednesday morning. The boy was taken to a hospital by helicopter and is in

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The importance of a good night’s rest is not lost on American sprinter Gabby Thomas. She recently wrote a paper on the epidemiology of sleep for her master’s degree at the University of Texas. The 26-year-old who also majored in neuroscience at Harvard says she

By The Associated Press Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a former commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine who was linked to the leader of a brief armed rebellion, has been dismissed as chief of the air force, Russian state media reported Wednesday after weeks of uncertainty about his fate. Surovikin has not been seen in public since

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Angry protesters have raided the local offices of the ruling Baath party in a southern Syrian province. The raid comes as protests intensify against the government during a severe economic and financial crisis that has battered the war-torn country. Opposition activists said Wednesday that protesters also partially

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian prosecutors have dropped a potential criminal case against American actor Amber Heard over allegations that she lied to a court about how her Yorkshire terriers came to be smuggled into Australia eight years ago. Heard and her then-husband Johnny Depp became embroiled in a high-profile

By ELENA BECATOROS and COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Advancing flames are devouring forests and homes in Greece as wildfires that have killed 20 people are raging. Blazes are also burning in neighboring Turkey and in Spain’s Canary Islands. Greece’s largest forest fire was burning out of control for the fifth day

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A year ago, Chair Jerome Powell delivered a stark warning: To fight persistently high inflation, the Federal Reserve would continue to sharply raise interest rates, bringing “some pain” in the form of job losses and weaker economic growth. Since Powell spoke at last summer’s annual conference

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities say two tankers have collided in a single-lane stretch of the Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic through the global waterway. The Suez Canal authority says the BW Lesmes, a Singapore-flagged tanker that carries liquefied natural gas, suffered a mechanical malfunction and ran aground while transiting