Month: December 2024

Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Thousands of giant panda sculptures will greet residents and tourists starting Saturday in Hong Kong, where enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs were born in a local theme park. The 2,500 exhibits were showcased in a launch ceremony of PANDA GO! FEST HK, the city’s largest

GENEVA (AP) — For the first time in Switzerland, a multinational company faces a criminal trial on charges of bribing a foreign public official, with alleged payments totaling about $5 million, to win lucrative oil industry contracts in Angola. Commodities trader Trafigura Group said it intended to defend itself against allegations that its former parent

Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It is the world’s rarest whale, with only seven of its kind ever spotted. Almost nothing is known about the enigmatic species. But on Monday a small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand clustered around a near-perfectly preserved spade-toothed whale hoping to decode decades of

Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are set to consider a bill that would require the state’s public universities to give admission priority to the descendants of slaves. The bill being introduced Monday by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents parts of Los Angeles, comes as conservative officials throughout the country try to

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court has taken up the largest case in its history, hearing the plight of several small island nations helpless in combating the devastating impact of climate change. They demand that major polluting nations be held to account. After years of lobbying by island nations

Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine for the first time in more than two years Monday and vowed to keep supporting Kyiv in the war, just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rebuked him for having a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The conflict is approaching a

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say authorities with help from community leaders brokered a second ceasefire between warring minority Shiites and Sunni Muslims in a troubled northwestern region bordering Afghanistan following a deadly sectarian violence that left dozens of people dead. The violence in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, erupted after gunmen

Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Positioned along the seismically active Ring of Fire, Indonesia and the Philippines have the second and third highest installed geothermal energy capacity in the world, after the United States. Both Southeast Asian island nations are tapping into only a small fraction of their geothermal potential, however, due to financial

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Chaos erupted at a soccer game in Guinea after fans protested a referee’s call and thousands of panicked spectators tried to flee the stadium, leaving at least 56 people dead in the West African nation, officials and witnesses said Monday. Amid the confusion, security forces used tear gas, local news website

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks pulled Wall Street to another record amid a mixed Monday of trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% from its all-time high set on Friday to post a record for the 54th time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 128 points, or 0.3%, while the

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Supreme Court justices didn’t seem convinced Monday that federal regulators misled companies before refusing to allow them to sell sweet-flavored vaping products following a surge in teen e-cigarette use. The conservative-majority court did raise questions about the Food and Drug Administration crackdown that included denials of more

Associated Press SAINT-MALO, France (AP) — Had he continued working aboard fuel-powered cargo ships, Yann Jourdan reckons he’d be earning perhaps four times what he now gets as captain of a sailboat that instead uses the wind’s clean energy to transport goods across the Atlantic. But the hit to Jourdan’s pay is buying him peace

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The issue of transgender rights animated the presidential campaign. Now it has made its way to the Supreme Court, and in more ways than one. On Wednesday, the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the nation’s highest court steps up to the lectern. Chase Strangio is representing three families

Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a white ex-police detective in Kansas accused of sexually assaulting Black women has died in an apparent suicide at his home. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said 71-year-old Roger Golubski died of a gunshot wound and there are no indications of foul play. He died as his

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The president of the International Criminal Court lashed out on Monday at Russia for targeting its prosecutors and judges over the panel’s investigation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and slammed comments by a U.S. senator threatening the court. Judge Tomoko Akane said in her address to the annual

Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Indianapolis police officers are set to stand trial in the death of Black man after being shocked with a Taser and restrained during a mental health crisis in his parents’ home. Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez were indicted by a grand jury in 2023 in Herman Whitfield III’s

Associated Press LUANDA, Angola (AP) — President Joe Biden has arrived in Angola for his long-awaited first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa. Biden is using the three-day trip to counter China’s growing influence on the African continent by highlighting the U.S.-backed Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment in Zambia, Congo and Angola. The project aims to advance

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Closing arguments are set to wrap up Tuesday in the trial of a Marine veteran charged with recklessly choking to death an irate homeless man on a New York subway train. Prosecutor Dafna Yoran told jurors at the start of summations Monday that Daniel Penny used too much force

Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched his campaign to safeguard liberal values ahead of another Donald Trump presidency. State lawmakers convened Monday to swear in new members for the 2025 legislative session. At Newsom’s prompting, they are kickstarting a special session to give the state attorney general more funding