Month: February 2024

By CIARÁN GILES Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they suspect the bullet-riddled body of a man found in an eastern town is that of Russian defector Maksim Kuzminov, who flew a Russian army helicopter on his escape across the Ukrainian front lines last year. Andrii Yusov, a representative of Ukrainian military intelligence,

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Scores of tractors have been parked outside Greece’s parliament as thousands of farmers angry at high production costs shifted their protests to Athens. One banner says that “Without us, you don’t eat.” The farmers’ demands are similar to those at farmer protests elsewhere in Europe. The center-right government has expressed sympathy

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Hirotake Yano, who founded the 100-yen retail chain Daiso, Japan’s equivalent of the dollar store, has died. He was 80. The company said Yano died Feb. 12 of heart failure in Hiroshima. Yano founded his business as Yano Shoten in 1972. It took on the name Daiso

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are launching attacks despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes. This week they seriously damaged a ship in a strategically important strait and downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. Their assaults on shipping through the crucial Red

By BOUBACAR DIALLO Associated Press CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea’s military rulers say they have dissolved the government and will appoint a new one. In a video address Monday night, Gen. Amara Camara said that daily business would continue as usual under the deputy secretary generals until a new government was formed. The West African

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A vote in Hungary’s parliament on ratifying Sweden’s bid to join NATO could come as early as Monday. That’s according to a senior member of the country’s governing Fidesz party. It would bring an end to more than 18 months of delays by the nationalist government

By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The World Food Program said Tuesday it has paused deliveries of food to isolated northern Gaza because of increasing chaos across the territory, hiking fears of potential starvation. A study by the U.N. children’s agency warned that one in six children in

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday after technology stocks led Wall Street broadly lower on Tuesday, with investors waiting for chipmaker Nvidia’s quarter earning report. The report, which will come out later in the day, will put stock markets in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan on alert

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country needs long-range missiles and other ammunition to end Russia’s invasion, and said he expects a U.S. aid package that’s stalled in Congress to come through, at a new conference in Tokyo a day after a conference on rebuilding Ukraine.

By JIWON SONG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean trainee doctors have collectively walked off their jobs to protest a government medical policy, triggering cancellations of surgeries and other medical treatments at hospitals. The Health Ministry on Tuesday urged them to return to work immediately, saying they must not

ROME (AP) — Four high-level Egyptian security officials have gone on trial in absentia the 2016 abduction, torture and slaying of an Italian doctoral student in Cairo. Tuesday’s opening hearing marks the second time the four Egyptians have been prosecuted in an Italian court in absentia. In 2021, a Rome judge halted the trial on

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Julian Assange’s lawyers opened a final U.K. legal challenge Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges, arguing that American authorities are seeking to punish him for exposing serious criminal acts by the U.S. government. Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is protesting China’s boarding of a tourist boat as tensions rise around the Kinmen archipelago, which lies just off the Chinese coast but is controlled by Taiwan. Taiwanese media reported the King Xia, carrying 11 crew and 23 passengers, was boarded by the Chinese coast

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Five years ago this week, Pope Francis convened an unprecedented summit of bishops from around the world to impress on them that clergy sexual abuse was a global problem and that they needed to do something about it. Over four days, these bishops heard harrowing tales

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — One afternoon in mid-December, Pope Francis had a meeting that wasn’t on his official agenda or otherwise recorded, that underscored the utter dysfunction of the Catholic Church’s response to the global clergy sex abuse scandal. In the main reception room of the Vatican hotel where he

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — In the mid-1970s, the Eagles were working on a spooky, cryptic new song. On a lined yellow pad, Don Henley, with input from band co-founder Glenn Frey, jotted thoughts about “a dark desert highway” and “a lovely place” with a luxurious surface and ominous undertones. And

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States on Tuesday vetoed an Arab-backed and widely supported U.N. resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in the embattled Gaza Strip, saying it would interfere with negotiations on a deal to free hostages abducted in Israel. The vote in

By The Associated Press When the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, some analysts predicted it might take as few as three days for Russian forces to capture the capital of Kyiv. With the war now entering its third year, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be trying to turn that initial failure to

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — China’s central bank has cut its five-year loan prime rate while leaving its one-year rate unchanged. It was the first time the five-year rate, which is a benchmark for mortgage rates, was cut since May. The five year rate was lowered by 0.25 basis points to

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity began Tuesday in South Carolina, where a man faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman and then fled to New York. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in August

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and RAFAL NIEDZIELSKI Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Once banned by rulers dispatched from Moscow, Poland’s stately polonaise dance that nurtured the country’s spirit even through the dark years of its partition is now honored by UNESCO. This 18th century dance has been performed from aristocratic balls to village celebrations, inspiring

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Since he became a force in Republican politics, Donald Trump has figured prominently in U.S. Senate races, shaping which GOP contenders get nominated. But that’s not happening in Pennsylvania. There, the likely Republican nominee, David McCormick, and Trump seem to be ignoring each other. McCormick —

By DANIEL COLE Associated Press TEAHUPO’O, French Polynesia (AP) — Peva Levy said he felt a powerful, natural energy known as “mana” when he surfed Teahupo’o’s waves on a piece of plywood for the first time, rushing down a crumbling white surf in front of an untouched volcanic beach several years before the steady streams

TORONTO (AP) — A flight heading from Toronto to New York City earlier this month had to turn around because of a “burnt electrical smell” in the cockpit. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says Endeavor Air Flight 4826 left Toronto’s Pearson International Airport the morning of Feb. 3 and was headed to JFK airport

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian farmers who have been protesting for a week to demand guaranteed crop prices have rejected a proposal from the government, and say they will continue their march to the capital New Delhi. The protesting farmers began their march last week, but their efforts to reach the city have been blocked

By ZEN SOO AP Business Writer SINGAPORE (AP) — The Singapore Airshow – Asia’s largest – kicks off Tuesday with an array of aerial displays including some by China’s COMAC C919 narrow-body airliner. The event, which runs from Feb. 20 to 25, is expected to draw more than 50,000 visitors and over 1,000 participating companies.