Month: February 2024

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Even seniors like virtual reality, whether it is flying in a plane, soaring over mountains or playing with puppies. That is the finding of a newly published Stanford University study that surveyed residents of 17 senior communities around the country after they experienced VR, usually

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The U.N. secretary-general says the Taliban set unacceptable conditions for attending a meeting about Afghanistan. Antonio Guterres says Taliban demands included the exclusion of Afghan civil society members from the talks in Doha, Qatar, and treatment that amounted to official recognition of the Taliban as the country’s legitimate rulers. The Taliban

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press It was the winter of 2021 when Philbert Shorty’s family found his abandoned car stuck in the mud outside the small community of Tsaile near the Arizona-New Mexico state line. “We knew something happened from the get-go,” said his uncle, Ben Shorty. “We couldn’t find any answers.” Family members reported

BANGKOK (AP) — Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former prime minister of Thailand, made a dramatic return home after more than a a decade of self-imposed exile. He was detained in a hospital for six months and on Sunday, Thaksin was released on parole for corruption-related offenses. He was twice elected prime minister, only to see

LONDON (AP) — An asylum-seeker who piloted an inflatable dingy that ripped apart while crossing the English Channel to the U.K., killing four passengers, has been found guilty of manslaughter. Ibrahima Bah, from Senegal, was at the helm of an unseaworthy boat carrying at least 43 migrants from France to the U.K. on December 14,

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A tribal clash in Papua New Guinea’s remote highlands in which at least 26 people were killed has put a growing internal security problem under the microscope in the strategically vital South Pacific island nation that has garnered closer military attention from the United States and

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Early every morning, just as she reaches her workplace at a labor union in Buenos Aires, Ángeles Celerier heads to the chapel and prays to Saint Cajetan, Saint Teresa and Eva Perón. Perón — unlike the others — has not been canonized by the

By ADRIANA MORGA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — For many students, the excitement of being accepted into their first-choice college is being tempered this year by a troublesome uncertainty over whether they’ll get the financial aid they need to attend. The financial aid decisions that usually go out with acceptance letters are being delayed

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — An anarchist group has claimed responsibility for an attempted bomb attack against a senior judge in Greece last week, raising fears of a resurgence of violence by radical militants. Explosives experts defused the bomb, placed at a courthouse in the northern city of Thessaloniki and addressed to the judge. The claim

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has launched a naval mission to help protect cargo ships in the Red Sea. Attacks on civilian maritime traffic by Houthi rebels in Yemen are hampering trade and driving up prices. The mission has been dubbed Aspides, Greek for “shield,” and will be run out of Larissa in Greece

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press At about 2 a.m. last Tuesday, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin stood on the Senate floor and explained why he opposed sending more aid to help Ukraine fend off the invasion launched in 2022 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I don’t like this reality,” Johnson said. “Vladimir Putin is

By KATE ASHFORD of NerdWallet Retirement spending isn’t always linear. Financial planners talk about three phases in retirement: the go-go years, the slow-go years and the no-go years. Expenses tend to be highest at the beginning and end of retirement — as people spend on experiences in early retirement and on long-term care at the

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen will seek a second term as head of the European Union’s powerful Commission. The move could make her the most significant politician representing the bloc’s 450 million citizens in a over a generation. She led the 27-nation bloc through multiple crises like

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A passenger jet with 106 people on board had to return to the Belgrade airport after it hit runway equipment and sustained severe damage shortly after takeoff from the Serbian capital. Reports on Monday said there were no injuries. The Embraer E-195 was on route to Dusseldorf in Germany on Sunday

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway says it will transfer tax funds to the Palestinian Authority that have been frozen for months because of a dispute with Israel. Under interim peace agreements dating back to the early 1990s, Israel collects taxes and customs on behalf of the PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank

BEIJING (AP) — The former chairman of the Bank of China has been indicted on bribery charges, prosecutors said Monday, adding to a long list of business and government officials who have been brought down by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s yearslong anticorruption drive. Liu Liange is accused of taking advantage of his positions at the

PRAGUE (AP) — Hundreds of tractors have blocked a lane in downtown Prague in a farmers protest over European Union agriculture policies and what they say are unfair practises. Major organizations representing Czech farmers didn’t participate and distanced themselves from the rally Monday after it turned out some organizers were behind recent pro-Russian demonstrations. Traffic

BERLIN (AP) — An American man is on trial Kempten, Southern Germany for murder and other offenses after he allegedly pushed two women from the U.S. into a ravine near Neuschwanstein castle in June last year, fatally injuring one of them. The German news agency dpa reported Monday that the 31-year-old defendant admitted to the

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer If you are battling a video game goblin who speaks with a Cockney accent, or asking a gruff Scottish blacksmith to forge a virtual sword, you might be hearing the voice of actor Andy Magee. Except it’s not quite Magee’s voice. It’s a synthetic voice clone generated by artificial

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The Associated Press has won the best documentary prize at the British Academy Film Awards for Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.” The film was produced with PBS’ “Frontline.” Filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov said the accolade made him feel conflicted. The Ukrainian journalist said it’s “a huge honor” and

By OLEG CETINIC Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Visitors to the Eiffel Tower were turned away on Monday because of a strike over poor financial management at one of the world’s most-visited sites. A sign was posted at the entrance in English, saying: “Due to a strike, the Eiffel Tower is closed. We apologize.” The

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says that the government would provide $1.5 billion to the computer chip company GlobalFoundries to expand its domestic production in New York and Vermont. The announcement is the third award of financial support for a semiconductor company under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.

By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s assault in Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, the territory’s Health Ministry said Monday, marking another grim milestone in one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has

By SAM METZ Associated Press RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The Moroccan navy has intercepted 141 people attempting to traverse the Atlantic Ocean as migration from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands spikes. Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces said in a statement Sunday it was able to rescue all passengers on a boat off the coast of