Month: February 2024

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Chinese state media say former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has been missing from public view since last June, has resigned from the national legislature. Qin was dismissed from office in July, in one of China’s biggest political surprises in years. The National People’s Congress Standing

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, says $1.7 billion in commitments from more than 140 health systems, insurers and others to help President Joe Biden meet his goal of ending hunger by 2030 will make a real difference in people’s lives. Emhoff announced the

By LORNE COOK and KAREL JANICEK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European heavyweights Germany and Poland insist that they will not send troops to Ukraine. That’s after reports said some Western countries may be considering sending ground troops. NATO’s chief also says the U.S.-led military alliance has no plans to send troops to Ukraine. The Kremlin,

By ELISE MORTON Associated Press A veteran human rights campaigner who criticized the war in Ukraine was convicted Tuesday by a Moscow court of discrediting the Russian military and sentenced to 2½ years in prison. Oleg Orlov, the 70-year-old co-chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, said the case against him was

By JEFF AMY and JEFF MARTIN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia House Republicans are pushing to require every eligible police and sheriff’s department to help identify undocumented immigrants, arrest them and detain them for deportation. The proposal advanced through a committee on Tuesday after police charged a Venezuelan man with beating a nursing student

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets were mostly lower on Wednesday after U.S. stocks held near their record levels in a quiet day of trading. U.S. futures and oil prices fell. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% lower to 39,230.50. Chinese markets fluctuated, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 0.2%

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, SUMMER BALLENTINE and JIM SALTER Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Court documents say the man accused of firing the first shots at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally told authorities he felt threatened, while a second man said he pulled the trigger because someone was shooting at him. Experts

By TIA GOLDENBERG, WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Hamas played down chances of an imminent breakthrough in talks for a cease-fire in Gaza. Their comments followed remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden, who said Israel has agreed to pause its offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan if a

By JOCELYN GECKER AP Education Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In California, a high school teacher complains that students watch Netflix on their phones during class. In Maryland, a chemistry teacher says students use gambling apps to place bets during the school day. Around the country, educators say students routinely send Snapchat messages in class,

By ANDREW DeMILLO and JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Efforts in Republican-led states to write definitions of male and female into law are leading to outcry that the measures deny transgender people legal recognition. At least 13 states have proposed bills this year that seek to narrowly define sex or gender as

By COLLEEN LONG, KEVIN FREKING and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders emerged from an “intense” Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden on Tuesday speaking optimistically about the prospects for avoiding a partial government shutdown, but with new uncertainty about aid for Ukraine and Israel as the president and others urgently

By JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Supervisors in San Francisco formally apologized Tuesday to African Americans and their descendants for the city’s role in perpetuating racism and discrimination, with several stating that this was just the start of reparations for Black residents and not the end. The vote was unanimous with all

By SEUNG MIN KIM and COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won the Michigan primaries on Tuesday, further solidifying the all-but-certain rematch between the two men — yet early results from the state were highlighting some of their biggest political vulnerabilities ahead of the November

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Vladimir Kara-Murza could only laugh when officials in Penal Colony No. 6 inexplicably put a small cabinet in his already-cramped concrete cell, next to a fold-up cot, stool, sink and latrine. That moment of dark humor came because the only things he had to store in

By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press The mayor of Connecticut’s most populous city has won a do-over election, months after a judge threw out the result of the last one because of allegations of absentee ballot box stuffing. Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim on Tuesday defeated fellow Democrat John Gomes, the city’s former acting chief administrative officer.

By JAMES BROOKS and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The century-old Geneva motor show is back in action for the first time in five years, and organizers are desperately trying to rev up its fortunes. The show skidded off track in 2020 — canceled at the last-minute because of the coronavirus outbreak —

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say a senior officer and two wanted Taliban members were killed in an intense shootout when officers raided a militant hideout in the northwest. Two other police officers were wounded in the shootout early Tuesday in Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A local police official identified the

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A photographer told police he was punched in the face by Taylor Swift’s father on the Sydney waterfront on Tuesday, hours after the pop star’s Australian tour ended. Ben McDonald said he provided police with a statement alleging that Scott Swift assaulted him at the Neutral