Month: February 2024

By LOUISE DIXON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The jury at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival has pushed back on political questions as the festival kicked off, seeking instead to shift the focus to the tough selection of the best movie, with 20 titles from around the globe competing for the top prize, the Golden

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller announced her campaign for governor on Thursday. Gov. Doug Burgum is not seeking a third term. Miller joins U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota’s lone congressman, in the Republican race for governor. Republicans have held the governor’s office since 1992.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans pulled back their spending in January after splurging during the holiday season. Retail sales fell 0.8% from the strong pace in December when retail sales were up a revised 0.4%, according to the Commerce Department. The decline was bigger than the 0.10% drop that

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — People in two districts of England are voting in special elections that could spell bad news for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The Conservatives won the House of Commons seats of Kingswood and Wellingborough by large margins at the last national election. But after the sudden departure of

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer Fewer Americans filed for jobless claims last week as the labor market continues to show resilience in the face of elevated interest rates. Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 8,000 to 212,000 for the week ending Feb. 10, the Labor Department reported Thursday. In total, 1.9 million Americans were

BANGKOK (AP) — City employees in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, have been ordered to work from home for two days as air pollution soars to unhealthy levels. Those in the private sector have been encouraged to stay home as well. Air pollution has been a problem for many years in Thailand’s north, where the burning of

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One of the men charged in a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory celebration shooting that killed one person and injured two dozen others made a first appearance in court. Lyndell Mays, of Raytown, told a judge on Wednesday that he understood the charges against

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert’s next book will be light on politics, if not always light on the palate. Celadon Books announced Thursday that “The Late Show” host and his wife, Evie McGee Colbert, have collaborated on a cookbook. “Does the Taste Funny: Recipes Our Family Loves,” is to be published on Sept. 17.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish authorities say they will not reopen an investigation into a 1994 ferry sinking in the Baltic Sea that killed 852 people in one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime sea disasters. A TV documentary aired in 2020 showed a hole in the hull of the wreckage of the M/S Estonia, leading to calls

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visited Albania to reaffirm relations with a key partner in the region and assure Western Balkan countries of Washington’s support for their integration into the European Union. Blinken met with top officials Thursday and focused on the future of

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz has welcomed an announcement by Microsoft that it would invest almost 3.3 billion euros, or about $3.5 billion, in Germany over the next two years to massively expand its data center capacities for applications in the field of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Scholz said on Thursday it’s “a

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — London’s iconic underground train map is getting a major update. The city’s mayor has announced a plan to rename the suburban rail network into six new lines. They will all have new colors too. The hope is that the rebranding of the London Overground, which currently is

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The foreign ministers of Britain and Poland have appealed to the U.S. Congress and personally to the speaker of the House of Representatives to take an “epoch-making” decision and approve $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. They say it’s a matter of U.S. credibility among its

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of South Korean doctors have rallied in the capital Seoul and other cities against a government plan to boost the number of medical students. Doctors’ groups say increasing the number of medical students by 2,000 starting in 2025 is too steep. They want officials

MOSCOW (AP) — A liberal Russian politician has lost an appeal contesting the decision by election official barring him from running in next month’s vote that President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win. Boris Nadezhdin had made calling for halting the conflict in Ukraine his chief campaign slogan and his removal from the

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Lawmakers in Norway have slammed a decision this week by a southern city to only take in Ukrainian refugees and not others, claiming they’ll integrate easier into the society. The government and the opposition also said they consider the decision by the council in Drammen to be in violation of Norwegian

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s government plans to boost its defense spending by up to 19% over the next four years. It cites rising global instability, including wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The Swiss defense minister says cost-cutting over the last 30 years has weakened the army. The extra funding is to be used

By ERIC OLSON AP Sports Writer IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Caitlin Clark wasted no time becoming the NCAA women’s career scoring leader Thursday night, taking less than three minutes to score the eight points she needed to break Kelsey Plum’s record. The Iowa star who has brought unprecedented attention to women’s basketball surpassed the

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday it is providing $970 million for improvements at 114 airports around the country, with work ranging from wider concourses and new baggage-handling systems to new terminals at some small airfields. Administration officials said the money comes from a $5 billion grant program to modernize airport terminals. The

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegrin state television says a fire killed two children and two women in a makeshift Roma settlement. The report on RTCG TV says that the fire erupted around 4.30a.m. on Thursday in the southern Adriatic Sea town of Bar. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire and the age

By LORNE COOK and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO’s chief is warning member countries not to allow a wedge to be driven between the United States and Europe. Concern is growing in Europe about the future U.S. commitment to NATO should Donald Trump return to office. With a war in Ukraine weighing

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s presidential office claims that the country’s move to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba would deal a “political and psychological blow” to its war-divided rival North Korea, whose diplomatic footing is largely dependent on a small number of Cold War allies.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Officials say a search and rescue mission is underway after a cargo ship with six crew members on board sank in the Turkish inland Sea of Marmara, off Istanbul, amid high waves. The Turkish cargo ship, Batuhan A, was carrying dolomite used to manufacture cement, to the Turkish port of Gemlik

By ILLIA NOVIKOV and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A missile strike on the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border on Thursday killed six people, including a child, and injured 18 others, a Russian official said. It was the latest in exchanges of long-range missile and rocket fire in Russia’s

ROME (AP) — Israel has formally complained after a senior Vatican official spoke of “carnage” in Gaza. The Israeli Embassy to the Holy See called the comments by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, “regrettable.” Speaking Monday at a reception, Parolin condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israel and all forms of antisemitism. But

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Two South African soldiers were killed and three injured when a mortar landed in their base in eastern Congo amid increased unrest in the region. The South African National Defence Force, which oversees all of its armed forces, said it believes the mortar explosion