Month: February 2024

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A landslide triggered by heavy rain and snowfall has buried more than two dozen houses in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least five people and leaving more than 20 missing. A local official said Monday that the landslide on Sunday night destroyed or damaged more than two dozen houses in a remote village

By The Associated Press The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny vowed on Monday to continue his fight against the Kremlin, while authorities denied his mother access to a morgue where his body is believed to be held after his death last week in an Arctic penal colony. With her voice cracking at times

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Authorities in Rwanda have rejected U.S. calls for the withdrawal of troops and missile systems from eastern Congo, saying they are defending Rwandan territory as Congo carries out a “dramatic military build-up” near the border. Rwanda’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Monday spoke of threats to

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have completed their takeover of Avdiivka by eliminating the last pocket of resistance at the eastern Ukraine city’s huge coke plant, the Russian military said Monday, after the sheer weight of its troop numbers and greater air and artillery firepower drove out Kyiv’s forces.

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has been trying for years to debunk the idea that its vaunted secret archives are all that secret: It has opened up the files of controversial World War II-era Pope Pius XII to scholars and changed the official name to remove the word “Secret”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain says she has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and again called for his release. Maryam al-Khawaja urged Denmark, where both al-Khawajas have citizenship, to do more to free her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. She also asked Denmark to end arms

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — One woman was killed and five other people were wounded when an argument escalated to gunfire at a Waffle House restaurant in Indianapolis early Monday, police said. Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the restaurant around 12:30 a.m., the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Thai prosecutors say that further investigation is needed to decide whether to bring former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to trial for defaming the monarchy, just a day after he was freed from a prison sentence on other charges he was serving in a hospital. Thaksin was released

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (AP) — Philippine troops have clashed with Muslim militants in a gunbattle that has left at least six soldiers and two rebels dead in a fog-shrouded hinterland in the south. Military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said Monday that four other soldiers were wounded in the army offensive a day earlier

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Palestinian foreign minister on Monday accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations’ top court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally for any hope for a two-state future to

By BRIAN P. D. HANNON Associated Press The funeral of a renowned transgender activist in a New York cathedral elicited a denunciation of the event by a senior church official, who called the Mass a scandal within one of the preeminent houses of worship in U.S. Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York condemned

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Trainee doctors in South Korea have begun resigning en masse in protest of a government plan to increase the number of medical students. Their action Monday reportedly caused delays in surgeries and other treatments at hospitals, but no major disruptions have occured. Health authorities say

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Tuesday a day after Chinese markets reopened from a long Lunar New Year holiday. Wall Street trading was closed Monday in the United States for President’s Day. Investors were generally turning less optimistic because of expectations that higher interest rates would

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press The sudden death of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable antagonist has left an open wound in Russia’s political opposition. Alexei Navalny, 47, was the Kremlin’s best-known critic at home and abroad. Before he died in a penal colony Friday, the anti-corruption crusader, protest organizer and politician with an arch

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — It started out as a 911 call about a domestic incident in a Minneapolis suburb. It ended with two police officers, a firefighter and the suspect dead and a third officer wounded. A medical examiner says Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, and Firefighter Adam Finseth died

By EMMA BURROWS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Alexei Navalny was asked four years ago what he’d tell Russians if he were killed for challenging President Vladimir Putin. “You’re not allowed to give up,” he told a documentary maker. “If they decide to kill me, it means we are incredibly strong and we need to

By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Republicans hoping to pick up an open U.S. Senate seat in deep blue Maryland have the most competitive candidate they’ve had in decades. But former Gov. Larry Hogan will need more than GOP support at a time when Democrats’ outrage remains high about the Supreme Court’s

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Another wet winter storm swamped California with heavy rainfall on Monday, flooding the runways at a regional airport and leading to several rescues on swollen rivers and creeks. The Santa Barbara airport, on the state’s central coast, closed Monday after as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain had fallen

By DIDI TANG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers are raising alarms about what they see as America’s failure to compete with China in biotechnology, warning of the risks to U.S. national security and commercial interests. But as the two countries’ rivalry expands into the biotech industry, some say that shutting out Chinese companies

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing what could be his final court hearing in England over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. The High Court will hear two days of arguments starting Tuesday over whether Assange can make his pitch

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Debate over school funding is dominating the Alaska Legislature as districts faces teacher shortages and in some cases multimillion-dollar deficits. Schools have cut programs, increased class sizes or had teachers and administrators take on extra roles. Teacher turnover is nothing new, and Alaska isn’t alone in

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan is hosting a conference for Japanese and Ukrainian officials to discuss reconstruction of Ukraine just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, while the U.S. and other Western countries are still focusing on military aid for the battlefield. Hundreds of senior officials and executives are

By The Associated Press This week’s new streaming entertainment releases include albums from MGMT and Allie X, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” gets the live-action treatment from Netflix and the seventh and final season begins of the hospital drama “The Good Doctor.” If you already miss the “Puppy Bowl,” Dolly Parton has you covered: The country

By ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press SAINT-BREVIN-LES-PINS, France (AP) — The mayor of a small resort town on the Atlantic coast of France resigned, closed his medical practice and moved away after his house and two cars were set on fire. The arson followed months of death threats over plans to relocate a refugee center near

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The number of passengers flying through Dubai International Airport has surged in the last year beyond its total for 2019 — just before the coronavirus pandemic grounded global aviation. The airport is the world’s busiest for international travel, and its passenger numbers are a

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NBA wanted more competition. It got more points instead — more than ever before. And once again, the All-Star Game was all offense. All-Star MVP Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks scored 39 points and the Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 211-186 on Sunday

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday on an Arab-backed resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, which the United States announced it will veto. Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, put the draft resolution in a final form that can

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels damaged a Belize-flagged ship traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, forcing the crew to abandon the ship. The ship targeted in the Houthi attack on Sunday reported