Month: May 2023

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets slid Wednesday as the U.S. government crept closer to a potentially disruptive default on its debt. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong declined. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1.1% on Tuesday after Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the House of Representatives said, “We’re

By GRACE GARCES BORDALLO and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Typhoon Mawar aimed its fury at the tiny U.S. territory of Guam on Wednesday as residents with nowhere to go hunkered down to face the devastating winds and torrential rains from what was expected to be the worst storm to hit

BEIJING (AP) — China’s new ambassador to the U.S. is taking office amid disputes over trade, access to computer chips and Washington’s support for self-governing Taiwan. Chinese state media said Xie Feng arrived in New York on Tuesday and told reporters that relations between the world’s two largest economies face “serious difficulties and challenges.” Exchanges

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda. The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is about to conduct its first commercial-grade satellite launch as rival North Korea is pushing to place its first military spy satellite into orbit. The South Korean satellite will be launched by a domestically made rocket on Wednesday under the country’s space development

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate to 5.5% but signaled its next move would be a cut, sparking a sell-off in the currency. Wednesday’s quarter-point rate rise was the 12th straight hike imposed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Before he left the West African nation of his birth, Mohamed read that New York was a place of “open arms.” Now that he’s here seeking political asylum, he isn’t feeling as welcomed as he hoped. The 19-year-old and others like him have become pawns in

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s National Electoral Council has announced that early presidential elections would be held on Aug. 20 after President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree last week and brought forward the vote scheduled for 2025. Lasso’s decision to dissolve the opposition-led legislature came as lawmakers tried to impeach him for

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court has extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months. The decision came in a closed-door hearing emblematic of the secrecy that has marked the case against the first United States correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges. Gershkovich,

By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s Interior Ministry says three land rights activists who were arrested on charges of plotting against the government planned to provoke a peasant revolution by teaching farmers about class divisions between rich and poor. The activists were arrested last week after hosting

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer MIAMI (AP) — Down nine early in the third quarter, down 3-0 in the series, the Boston Celtics knew their season was completely on the brink. Three minutes later, everything looked different. Jayson Tatum had 33 points and 11 rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 17 points and the Celtics staved

By RICK RYCROFT and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press SYDNEY (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has struck new agreements with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on migration and green hydrogen. During his visit to Australia, Modi also raised concerns about attacks on Hindu temples in Sydney. Modi was welcomed Tuesday by around 20,000 cheering

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Phoenix retiree Saundra Cole has been watching the news about the debt limit negotiations in Washington with dismay — and limiting her air conditioning use to save money just in case her monthly Social Security check is delayed due to a default. For her,

By STEVE PEOPLES, ADRIANA GOMEZ and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an outspoken cultural conservative long seen as Donald Trump’s leading rival for the Republican nomination, is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign Wednesday evening. The 44-year-old Republican governor planned to announce his decision in an online conversation

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has dismissed three cabin crew members after a passenger accused them of discriminating against non-English speakers, in a case that drew criticism from Chinese state media. Airline CEO Ronald Lam expressed his apologies to the passenger and the community over the

By LISA MASCARO, STEPHEN GROVES, FARNOUSH AMIRI and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt ceiling talks showed few signs of outward progress as negotiators for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are trading more budget-cutting ideas. Republicans warn there’s a “lack of urgency” at the White House to resolve the

Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two former Alabama governors, from opposite sides of the political aisle, wrote in an opinion piece that they are now troubled by the state’s death penalty system and would commute the sentences of inmates sentenced by judicial override or divided juries. Former Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, and former