Month: January 2024

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A union representing many of Germany’s train drivers has started a nearly three-day strike in a rancorous dispute with the country’s state-owned main railway operator over working hours and pay. Train travel across the country and in many cities came to a near standstill early Wednesday, with

By MATTHEW LEE, WAFAA SHURAFA and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to seek governance reforms. It’s part of a plan to rally the region behind a postwar vision for Gaza that includes concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares advanced Thursday on the back of Wall Street’s climb to a near-record high, as Tokyo’s benchmark surged to its highest level since 1990. The yen has weakened against the U.S. dollar, boosting export-related shares in a New Year rally that took the benchmark Nikkei

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a minivan explosion in the Afghan capital that killed at least three people. The militant group says it detonated an explosive late Tuesday hidden on a vehicle belonging to employees of Afghanistan’s main prison in Kabul, killing and wounding about 10 people. That’s according

By KATHY McCORMACK and SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Drenching rains, flooding and fierce winds stranded vehicles, shuttered schools and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in the Northeast, the swan song of a bout of violent weather that battered most of the United States. Forecasters warned Wednesday that more misery

By LEAH WILLINGHAM and JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is bringing a close to one avenue for his quirky speeches with his final State of the State address. He delivered the speech Wednesday night. The popular two-term Republican governor is running for Democrat Joe Manchin’s U.S. Senate

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN and JOHNSON LAI Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Using military threats, diplomatic pressure, fake news and financial inducements for politicians, China is being accused of deploying a broad strategy to influence voters in Taiwan’s elections to pick candidates who favor unification. China’s ultimate goal is to take control of the self-governing

BEIJING (AP) — China’s space agency says its latest lunar explorer has arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year. Wednesday’s announcement came a day after a U.S. company abandoned a lunar landing planned for Feb. 23 because of a fuel leak that

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday, stirring a political frenzy as Republicans were taking the first step toward holding President Joe Biden’s son in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena. The arrival of the president’s son at the Oversight

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press BEIT RIMA, West Bank (AP) — Security camera video from a West Bank village shows a young man standing in a central square when he is suddenly shot and drops to the ground. Two others rushing to his aid are also hit, leaving a 17-year-old dead, moments before Israeli military

By SEUNG MIN KIM and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration pledged from Day One to restore truth and transparency to the federal government — but now it’s facing a maelstrom of criticism and credibility questions after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization was kept secret for days, even from the

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the western coast of Japan on New Year’s has killed 213 people as of Thursday. Eight of those deaths were at evacuation centers, where rescued people died from injuries and sickness. Such deaths weren’t directly caused by the damage from the

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say militants attacked a police checkpoint on a highway in the country’s northwest, killing three police officers and a civilian. A police official says the pre-dawn attack on Wednesday took place in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No one immediately claimed responsibility

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Snow was still piling on top of the 8 inches that had already accumulated when Kadee Miller trekked out to see Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Waukee. “There were moments on the drive up here, I was like, ‘What are we doing?’” Miller said about

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Just two Republican presidential candidates, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will meet on the debate stage Wednesday night. The seventh official debate of the 2024 campaign comes just five days before the Iowa caucus. The big front-runner,

By MEG KINNARD, STEVE PEOPLES and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In their most hostile encounter yet, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis attacked each other early and often in Wednesday’s Republican primary debate rather than focus on Donald Trump, the absent front-runner, as both tried to demonstrate they were the

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the world’s highest rates. More than half of babies born in the territory are now delivered via surgery compared with only 32% on the U.S. mainland. That’s according to a

By MATT BROWN and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans of various racial backgrounds largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views among racial groups diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. About 7 in 10 U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former first lady Melania Trump’s mother has died. Trump announced the death of Amalija Knavs late Tuesday without disclosing the cause. Former President Donald Trump said at a New Year’s Eve celebration in Palm Beach, Florida, that his mother-in-law was “very ill” and his wife was with her at a hospital in

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United

By ALLEN PANCHANA and GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — Schools and stores are shuttered, many people stayed home and soldiers are roaming the streets of Ecuador’s biggest cities after armed gang members invaded a television station during a live broadcast. Much of Ecuador simmered with tension following Tuesday’s attack at public channel

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — More than 50 countries that are home to half the planet’s population are due to hold national elections in 2024, but the number of citizens exercising the right to vote is not unalloyed good news. The year looks set to test even the most robust democracies and