Month: September 2023

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday tweeted a pirate-style picture of himself with a black eye patch and dark-red bruises on the right side of his face — the result of a jogging accident on the weekend. “Am excited to see the memes,” the chancellor wrote in the caption. To deflect any

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN AP Sports Writer France’s preparations for the Rugby World Cup have been disrupted by calls to remove one of its players because of a historic racism charge. The controversy started over the weekend after Bastien Chalureau was included in France’s squad. The call-up was immediately questioned by several left-wing French lawmakers. Chalureau

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A military veteran who served with the Dutch army in Afghanistan has been appointed as the Netherlands’ new foreign minister. Hanke Bruins Slot replaces Wopke Hoekstra, who is in line to become a European Union commissioner. Bruins Slot had been interior minister in the caretaker administration of outgoing Prime Minister

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A group of men who say they were sexually abused by a Japanese boy band producer have expressed hope the company will provide financial compensation and introduce measures to prevent a recurrence. They say producer Johnny Kitagawa sexually preyed on young dancers and singers for decades, having

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN Associated Press VIENNA (AP) — Iran has slowed the pace at which it is enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, according to a report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog seen by The Associated Press on Monday. That could be a sign Tehran is trying to ease tensions after years of strain

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court has dismissed Okinawa’s rejection of a central government plan to build U.S. Marine Corps runways on the island and ordered the prefecture to approve it despite protests by locals who oppose the American troops’ presence. Monday’s ruling upheld a high court ruling in March

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Long-standing tensions between Morocco and Algeria have moved up a notch with a deadly confrontation at sea last week between the Algerian Coast Guard and several men on water scooters. Algeria’s Defense Ministry has acknowledged that its forces fired on a group of people on water scooters who strayed into Algerian

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The trial has opened in Stockholm of a Russia-born Swedish citizen charged with collecting information for the Russian military intelligence service GRU for almost a decade. Sergey Skvortsov is accused of “gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and against a foreign power,” according to prosecutor Henrik Olin. He identified the foreign power

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — A 46% pay raise. A 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay. A restoration of traditional pensions. The demands that a more combative United Auto Workers union has pressed on General Motors, Stellantis and Ford — demands that even the UAW’s own president calls “audacious” —

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Police in Sweden say clashes have erupted in an immigrant neighborhood in the third largest city after an anti-Muslim protester set fire to a copy of the Quran. Police in Malmo say they were pelted with rocks and dozens of cars were set on fire, including in an underground garage. They described

By ASIM TANVEER Associated Press MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Police say last month’s mob attacks on churches and homes of Christians in eastern Pakistan erupted after three Christians falsely implicated two others in a blasphemy case due to a personal dispute. Police said Monday the breakthrough in the investigation came after police arrested the three