Month: June 2023

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — You know you’ve made a cultural impact when Henry Kissinger quotes your own joke back to you. That’s what happened to Billy Crystal, one of five iconic artists selected for this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. The others selected for the lifetime artistic achievement award are rapper and

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Texas congressman Will Hurd says he’s running for president and calls Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump a “failed politician” who lost the House, the Senate and the White House. Hurd hopes to build momentum as a more moderate alternative to Trump. Hurd served three terms in

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The German government has announced draft plans to boost domestic research into development of nuclear fusion but left open how those efforts will be funded. Some hope the technology will provide abundant clean energy in the future. The science minister said Thursday that under the proposal, Germany

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits remained elevated last week, a possible sign that the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes are beginning to cool a still-strong labor market. U.S. applications for jobless claims were 264,000 for the week ending June 17, the same as the previous week, the

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says it’s “critical” the U.S. and China maintain a relationship so they can “work together” on global challenges. It comes after President Joe Biden’s remarks calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator” drew condemnation from Beijing. Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Yellen said

By KEN MILLER and SARAH BRUMFIELD Associated Press A line of severe storms produced what a meteorologist calls a rare combination of multiple tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and softball-sized hail in northwest Texas, killing at least four people and causing significant damage around the town of Matador. A supercell developed about 8 p.m. Wednesday near Amarillo

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian ex-priest convicted of child sex abuse has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 72nd victim. Gerald Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994. The 89-year-old is bedridden and serving a 39-year sentence for a series of convictions for abusing children between 1961 and 1988 while he worked as a

By SUZAN FRASER and AYSE WIETING Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish central bank has delivered a large interest rate increase, signaling a shift toward more conventional economic policies to counter sky-high inflation. The bank on Thursday raised its key rate by 6.5 percentage points, boosting it to 15%. The increase — a

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit by imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny contesting prison regulations that allow prison officials to deprive him of stationery and pens. Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court in a maximum security penal colony in Melekhovo 250 kilometers (150 miles)

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — China’s president ordered a national safety campaign on Thursday after a massive cooking gas explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the northwest killed 31 people and injured seven others on the eve of a long holiday weekend. The blast tore through the restaurant at around 8:40

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Just a dot on the horizon at first, the bug-like and surprisingly quiet electrically-powered craft buzzes over Paris and its traffic snarls, treating its doubtless awestruck passenger to privileged vistas of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s signature zinc-grey rooftops before landing him or her

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is rolling out endorsements from 15 South Carolina lawmakers. The list was shared first on Thursday with The Associated Press ahead of DeSantis’ town hall in North Augusta. The endorsements come from 11 state House members and four state senators. It’s a

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — European Union officials say there is a growing risk of mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue and chikungunya in Europe due to climate change. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Thursday that because heat waves and flooding are becoming more frequent and

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s central bank says it has raised its key interest rate by half a percentage point in an effort to “bring inflation down to target.” Norges Bank said Thursday that higher wage growth and a weaker-than-projected krone will boost inflation and “international interest rates have risen more than anticipated.” The Scandinavian

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops have demolished the home of a Palestinian who is suspected of killing an Israeli soldier last year, in the latest military operation in the increasingly volatile occupied West Bank, which has been gripped by surging violence. Thursday’s demolition came during a week of

MOSCOW (AP) — A Wall Street Journal reporter detained on espionage charges in Russia is appearing in court to appeal his extended detention. U.S. citizen Evan Gershkovich was arrested in late March while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court agreed last month to keep him in custody until late August. Defense lawyers challenged the