Month: August 2023

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Soldiers from the U.S., Indonesia and five other nations are participating in a combat exercise on Indonesia’s main island of Java amid concerns about China’s aggression. The annual live-fire drill that American and Indonesian soldiers held since 2009 was expanded last year with Australia, Japan and

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Friday as investors looked toward a United States jobs report being released later in the day. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% in morning trading to 32,820.80. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 7,278.30. South Korea’s Kospi was virtually unchanged, inching

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS has announced plans to save $10 billion in costs, including through 3,000 staff reductions in Switzerland as it moves ahead with “full integration” of longtime rival Credit Suisse’s domestic operations following a takeover. The announcement on Thursday came as the Zurich-based bank reported

By REBECCA BLACKWELL and LAURA BARGFELD Associated Press HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida and Georgia residents living along Hurricane Idalia’s path of destruction on Thursday picked through piles of rubble where homes once stood, threw tarps over ripped-apart roofs and gingerly navigated streets left underwater or clogged with fallen trees and dangerous electric wires.

By JOCELYN NOVECK and MATT O’BRIEN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Kelly McKernan’s acrylic and watercolor paintings are bold and vibrant, often featuring feminine figures rendered in bright greens, blues, pinks and purples. The style, in the artist’s words, is “surreal, ethereal … dealing with discomfort in the human journey.” The word “human” has

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media report at least 121 passenger trains are suspending service in anticipation of the arrival of Typhoon Saola, while several cities in coastal areas of southern China have suspended the start of the school year. State broadcaster CCTV reported the suspensions on key lines running from north to south and

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence firm Baidu has made its ChatGPT-equivalent language model, Ernie Bot, fully available to the public. The company’s stock price rose by over 3% following the announcement. Beijing has taken steps recently to regulate the AI industry. Baidu’s CEO said Thursday

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s defense ministry is requesting a nearly 12% budget increase that includes two warships with advanced radar and long-range cruise missiles. The record $52.5 billion request for the next fiscal year comes as Japan further fortifies its military in the face of North Korean threats and Chinese

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Diego Fonseca looked at the computer and took a breath. It was his final attempt at the math placement test for his first year of college. His first three tries put him in pre-calculus, a blow for a student who aced honors physics and computer

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday its latest missile launches simulated “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korea and that it’s also been rehearsing an occupation of its rival’s territory in the event of conflict. Pyongyang has previously tested nuclear-capable missiles and described how it would use

By JAKE BLEIBERG and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Unexplained Caribbean and European trips that cost taxpayers more than $90,000. A $600 sports coat paid for by an event organizer. A $45 office Christmas cake taken as his own. These are among the perks that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s

By SONIA PÉREZ D. Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Congress, which is controlled by the currently governing party, on Wednesday refused to recognize the seven lawmakers from the Seed Movement party of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo, following the suspension of his party earlier this week. Lawmakers declared their Seed Movement colleagues independents in the

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Last year it was Hurricane Ian that drew a bead on Tampa Bay before abruptly shifting east to strike southwest Florida more than 130 miles away. This time it was Hurricane Idalia, which caused some serious flooding as it sideswiped the bay area but packed much more punch at landfall

By TRÂN NGUYỄN Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s planned transformation of San Quentin State Prison into a rehabilitation facility after decades as the home for death row inmates is being shaped by a hand-picked advisory council that is allowed to meet in secret. The Democratic governor wants to develop California’s

By JAKE BLEIBERG and JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began Tuesday with the embattled Republican facing accusations of corruption and bribery that have shadowed him for years. In May, the state House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Paxton on articles including bribery

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press As former President Donald Trump dominates the Republican presidential primary, some liberal groups and legal experts contend that a rarely used clause of the Constitution prevents him from being president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The 14th Amendment bars from office anyone who once took

By ROBERT JABLON and JULIE WATSON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — California regulators have approved a proposal to vastly increase natural gas storage at the site of the nation’s largest known methane leak. The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted Thursday to permit Southern California Gas to store nearly 70 billion cubic feet of

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY AP Education Writer The white supremacist shooter who killed three Black residents over the weekend at a dollar store in Jacksonville, Florida, stopped beforehand at the state’s first historically Black college. A campus police officer at Edward Waters University approached the man before he fled, potentially thwarting an attack. The incident comes

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has visited a city in Fukushima, where he ate a seafood lunch with the mayor, talked to fishermen and stocked up on local produce to show they are safe after the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — By some measures, air travelers have enjoyed a less stressful summer than last year, but canceled flights remain elevated as airlines face their last big test of the prime vacation season: Labor Day weekend. The Federal Aviation Administration predicts that this will be the third busiest

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — More than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates are urging Bangladesh to suspend legal proceedings against Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people. The leaders, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.N. Secretary-General