Year: 2024

By JIWON SONG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has discussed cooperation on extended reality devices with LG Electronics executives. He was on a visit to South Korea on Wednesday as part of a three-nation Asian tour. He already visited Japan and will travel to India after

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Price increases for cars and trucks in the United States, which helped fuel inflation for nearly three years, are slowing and in some cases falling, helping cool overall inflation and giving frustrated Americans more hope of finding an affordable vehicle. Behind the price slowdown is a

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis, who recently had the flu, was brought to a hospital in Rome for diagnostic testing after the papal audience Wednesday, the Vatican said, without giving further details. The pope arrived at the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island in a small white Fiat 500, leaving again under

By BABACAR DIONE Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A group of Senegalese civic and religious leaders have proposed holding elections in early June, the first new date offered since the president attempted to push elections back to the end of the year. President Macky Sall who faces term limits at the end of his

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is working to show how federal dollars are both helping cities and police departments manage crime, and providing for job opportunities for youth in communities affected by that violence. Biden is expected to speak Wednesday afternoon about how his American Rescue plan has helped

By WILL WEISSERT and BARBARA ORTUTAY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is signing an executive order aiming to better protect Americans’ personal data on everything from biometrics and health records to finances and geolocation from foreign adversaries like China and Russia. Wednesday’s action seeks to authorize the attorney general and other federal

PARIS (AP) — France’s Senate on Wednesday adopted a bill to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the constitution, clearing a key hurdle for legislation promised by President Emmanuel Macron in response to a rollback in abortion rights in the United States. Wednesday’s vote came after the lower house, the National Assembly, overwhelmingly

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official is calling for a new defense industry strategy to respond to security challenges posed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that “Europe must spend more, spend better, spend European.” Russia’s invasion has exposed weaknesses

By The Associated Press The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place Friday in Moscow after several locations declined to host the service, his spokesperson said. His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow’s southeast Maryino district on Friday

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Organizers of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have agreed to relax their ban on police marching in their annual parade with a compromise condition that officers do not wear uniforms. The decision comes a day after Australian police found the bodies of a couple shot

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — As Hong Kong moves toward enacting a new national security law, more than three years after Beijing imposed a similar law that all but wiped out dissent and vocal pro-democracy media in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, concerns are spreading among the city’s international business and media

GENEVA (AP) — Telecoms operator Swisscom has confirmed it’s in talks with Vodafone Group toward a possible purchase of its Italian subsidiary for 8 billion euros ($8.65 billion). The Swiss company said in a statement Wednesday it’s in “advanced exclusive negotiations” to buy all of Vodafone Italia and merge it with Swisscom’s Italian subsidiary, Fastweb.

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Widespread strikes in Greece halted trains, ferries and much of the capital’s public transport in protests timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the country’s deadliest rail crash, which killed 57 people. Many of the victims were university students. Wednesday’s strike disrupted

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed in Asia on Thursday after a lackluster day on Wall Street, where selling of technology stocks pulled benchmarks lower. U.S. futures were flat and oil prices fell. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7% to 38,953.49 after data showed factory output falling in January

By ZEN SOO AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s government is lifting some curbs on property deals after home prices fell to a seven-year low. Finance minister Paul Chan announced the move in a speech Wednesday presenting the territory’s budget, which also raised spending on tourism promotion. Chan said all curbs imposed

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press KUNA, Idaho (AP) — Idaho halted the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech on Wednesday after medical team members repeatedly failed to find a vein where they could establish an intravenous line to carry out the lethal injection. Creech, 73, has been in prison half a century, convicted of

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Rather than trying to keep their seats in Congress, two of North Carolina’s U.S. representatives are vying for a role closer to home: state attorney general. It’s one of the most closely watched attorney general races across the U.S. this year. While the role has long been a springboard to

By ASTRID SUÁREZ and MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian warlord Salvatore Mancuso has been returned to his native country after serving a drug trafficking sentence in the United States. He has been denied several requests to be sent to Italy, where he also has citizenship. Mancuso arrived in Bogota’s El Dorado

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of law enforcement officers, firefighters and paramedics packed a Minnesota church to hail as fallen heroes three first responders who were gunned down in the line of duty. They were killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville earlier this month while responding to a report of

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The parents of hundreds of thousands of U.S. children with physical or intellectual disabilities are waiting for state-covered services designed to foster independence and job skills for adulthood. While parents struggle to find services for toddlers, they also must think years ahead while their families are

By JUAN A. LOZANO and MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who had long claimed his conviction more than 20 years ago was based on false testimony and questionable evidence was executed Wednesday for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin. Ivan Cantu received a lethal injection and was pronounced

By EDNA TARIGAN and ACHMAD IBRAHIM Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo has awarded an honorary four-star general rank to Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former high-ranking army officer who is linked to human rights abuses and who emerged as the apparent winner of the Feb. 14 presidential election. The alleged

ROME (AP) — Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was on hand Tuesday for the arrival in Rome of an Italian family of three just hours after their release from two years of captivity in the African nation of Mali. The family, identified as Rocco Langone, his wife Maria Caivano and their adult son Giovanni Langone