Month: January 2024

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition activists say an airstrike that was likely carried out by Jordan’s air force on southern Syria has killed at least nine people in the latest of strikes in recent months. There was no immediate confirmation from Jordan on Thursday’s strike that hit the province of

PARIS (AP) — French soccer club Bastia has been handed a one-point deduction after its second-tier game was disrupted when a fan racially abused an assistant referee. The French league says its disciplinary panel judged the case based on racial abuse of the match official, plus fans lighting fireworks and throwing one on the field.

By KELVIN CHAN and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Artificial intelligence is easily the biggest buzzword for world leaders and corporate bosses diving into big ideas at the World Economic Forum’s glitzy annual meeting in Davos. Advances in generative AI stunned the world last year, and the elite crowd is angling to

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — China and the Philippines said they have agreed to work on lowering tensions after a year of tense confrontations in the South China Sea between their ships that have raised concerns of armed engagement in the region. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday in a

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s government will not change policies the European Union believes infringe on LGBTQ+ rights and those of asylum seekers, even if doing so would unfreeze billions in funding the bloc has withheld from Budapest. The EU has frozen funds to Hungary over concerns that its right-wing

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France has announced more deliveries of its Caesar artillery system to Ukraine and is accelerating weapons production to avoid depleting its own military stocks while continuing to support the war effort against Russia’s invasion. France announced a drive on Thursday to fund the delivery of 78 Caesar

By JOSEF FEDERMAN, NAJIB JOBAIN and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected calls from the United States to scale back Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip or take steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state after the war, drawing an immediate scolding from the White

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Lawmakers in the United States and the United Kingdom are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission not to allow JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Getting listed would give the company access to more capital and enhance

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Palestinians are dying every day in Gaza’s overwhelmed remaining hospitals which can’t deal with the estimated 60,000 injured people and daily arrival of hundreds more hurt in Israeli’s military offensive, a U.N. health emergency expert said Wednesday, while a doctor with the International Rescue Committee

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas have passed a broad package of tax cuts promoted as widespread relief. But Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is likely to veto the measure approved Thursday because she says it favors the wealthy and threatens the state’s budget in the future. The

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singaporean Transport Minister S. Iswaran was charged Thursday in the first ministerial corruption case ever seen in the Asian financial hub known for squeaky clean government. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement Thursday that Iswaran, 61, faced a total of 27 charges.

By ZIMO ZHONG AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Asia markets mostly advanced Friday after Wall Street recouped most of the week’s earlier losses and Japan reported slowing inflation, which may keep its ultra-low interest rates steady. U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices fell. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.4% to 35,946.50. Japan’s

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press MUEANG SUPHAN BURI, Thailand (AP) — Rescue workers are carrying out the grim task of recovering the remains of the 23 apparent victims of a fireworks factory explosion in central Thailand. Only part of the building frame stood at the site of the devastated factory in an otherwise-empty rice field

By MUNIR AHMED and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan launches airstrikes against alleged militant hideouts inside Iran, killing at least nine people as it retaliates for a similar attack by Iran two days earlier and raises tensions between the neighbors at a time of escalating conflict in the region. The strikes Thursday

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday remembered her mother as “a ray of light in the darkest of days” during a funeral service at a church not far from the family’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The former first lady said she always found peace in the

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — On the first business day of the new year, Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek began accepting applications for about $120 million of state-subsidized, low-interest loans to small businesses, farmers and affordable housing developers. Within six hours, Malek had so many requests for the money that

By JAMEY KEATEN and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Israel’s president says normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be a key element of ending the war with Hamas and a game-changer for the entire Middle East. Isaac Herzog said Thursday at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland,

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Five Republican candidates in Indiana are trying to stand out before an unusually crowded gubernatorial primary in May. Campaign finance reports filed Wednesday show the race could be the most expensive in the office’s history, with millions raised and spent over in the past year. The candidates

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s been nearly two years since the United States and its allies froze hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian foreign holdings in retaliation for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. That roughly $300 billion in Russian Central Bank money has been sitting untapped as the war grinds on,