Month: April 2023

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer The Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Murphy vs. NCAA ushered in a new era of legalized sports betting in the U.S., allowing states to establish their own sports wagering laws and operations. The high court overturned the federal Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act that had barred betting on football,

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president has asked its parliament to approve a four-year International Monetary Fund program to restructure the country’s $17 billion in foreign debt. Lawmakers began a three-day debate Wednesday on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal to accept the IMF program. If approved, it would dictate

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian court has issued a $312.9 million judgement against the United States over a 2017 Islamic State-claimed attack on Tehran. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, in reporting Wednesday on the decision, offered no direct evidence to support the court’s allegation that American officials

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior Shiite cleric in Iran has been shot and killed in an attack in a northern province along the Caspian Sea. An attacker shot to death Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani in Babolsar in Iran’s Mazandaran province on Wednesday. That’s according to a state television report. State TV said police later

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudanese in the capital of Khartoum and the neighboring city of Omdurman reported sporadic clashes early Wednesday between the military and a rival paramilitary force but said the intensity of fighting had dwindled on the second day of a three-day truce. Many residents of the capital

By JUSTIN SPIKE and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The spiritual priorities of Pope Francis will be on display during a trip this week to Hungary, where the populist government will seek to downplay its diverging views on matters like immigration and minority rights while focusing instead on points where it aligns

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN BRUSSELS (AP) — New rules requiring airlines to use more sustainable fuels across the European Union have been agreed in a bid to help decarbonize the sector. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, says the deal reached by negotiators from member states and the European Parliament demands that fuel suppliers blend

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — With her homeland now a conflict zone, rest does not come easily for Dr. Sara Abdelgalil. She is anxious about family still in Sudan that she can’t reach. Her sleepless mother paces the floor above her with worry. And her phone buzzes at all hours with text

By JIM GOMEZ AND AARON FAVILA Associated Press SAN ANTONIO, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino forces pummeled a ship with a barrage of high-precision rockets, airstrikes and artillery fire in their largest war drills on Wednesday in Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea that would likely antagonize China. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government is launching an initiative to streamline and promote innovation in the development of drones and other technologies that have been critical during Russia’s war in Ukraine. The government hopes to bring state, military, and private sector developers working on defense issues together into

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China has warned against continued U.S.-Taiwan cooperation, responding to reports that the U.S. military is sending officers to help train Taiwan’s counterparts and that a delegation of defense contractors would visiting the self-ruled island next week. The spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that China

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s public safety chief has come under fire for his remark that he enjoyed eel rice so much that he kept eating after his agency informed him of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s narrow escape from a pipe bomb attack two weeks ago. Koichi Tani, chair of the

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has planted a native totara tree in Parliament’s grounds to mark the upcoming coronation of Britain’s King Charles III. The ceremony Wednesday was an early start to a campaign to plant 100,000 native trees around New Zealand. The government

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — For Ruslan, an engineer in the Belarus capital of Minsk, Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine suddenly seemed closer than ever when a conscription office recently sent him a summons for military training. It’s part of an effort that will see thousands of men in Belarus attend

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrians living on opposite sides of the largely frozen battle lines dividing their country are watching the accelerating normalization of ties between the government of Bashar Assad and Syria’s neighbors through starkly different lenses. In government-held Syria, residents struggling with ballooning inflation, fuel and electricity shortages hope