Month: January 2024

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares traded mixed Thursday as pessimism spread among investors about any imminent interest rate cut in the United States. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei added 0.5% in morning trading to 35,637.01. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.5% to 7,357.40. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6% to 2,450.00. Hong Kong’s

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA Associated Press BARI, Italy (AP) — The year has gotten off to a slow start for a rescue ship that typically plies the Mediterranean Sea looking for migrants and refugees in distress. The Ocean Viking has been impounded, its crew accused of having deviated from a designated course, as Italy targets charity

By ANNA FURMAN Associated Press Watermelons have emblazoned banners, T-shirts, balloons and social media over the past three months in global protests against the Israel-Hamas war. The colors of sliced watermelon — with its red pulp, green-white rind and black seeds — are the same as those in the Palestinian flag. So from New York

By DAVID McHUGH and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s hard-won economic stability is under threat again as the government faces a large budget hole and its two biggest allies and sponsors — the United States and the European Union — have so far failed to decide on extending more aid. Without

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel cannot achieve “genuine security” without a pathway to a Palestinian state, insisting such a move could help unify the Middle East and isolate Israel’s top rival: Iran. Speaking at World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss ski

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and BISWAJEET BANERJEE Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Frenzied preparations were underway Wednesday in India’s northern holy city of Ayodhya to mark the opening of a grand temple for Lord Ram, Hinduism’s most revered deity. The Ram Mandir’s opening Monday would fulfill a decadeslong Hindu nationalist pledge that is expected to

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Supreme Court justices have voiced support for weakening the power of federal regulators, but it’s unclear whether a majority would overturn a major 40-year-old decision. Billions of dollars are potentially at stake in front of a court that was remade during Donald Trump’s presidency by conservative

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has made a point of showing his leadership hasn’t faded in more than two hours of answering questions at a news conference in which he promised a stronger France to face with world’s challenges. “I still have three years and a half in

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire have increased in recent years, and some residents want to hear more from the presidential candidates about how they’d help. Much of the talk from the Republican presidential hopefuls has focused on the supply side. Former President Donald Trump, who

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, LARRY NEUMEISTER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was threatened with expulsion from his Manhattan civil trial Wednesday after he repeatedly ignored a warning to keep quiet while writer E. Jean Carroll testified that he shattered her reputation after she accused him of sexual abuse. Judge

By CLAIRE SAVAGE Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced an American woman to 26 years in prison for helping to kill her mother at a luxury resort in Bali then stuffing her body into a suitcase. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly sentenced Heather Mack on Wednesday for conspiring to kill Sheila

WELLINGTON (AP) — New Zealand’s first refugee lawmaker was charged by police a day after resigning amid allegations she had shoplifted several times at local high-end boutiques. New Zealand Police said Golriz Ghahraman, a former member of New Zealand’s Green Party, had been charged on Wednesday with two counts of shoplifting. Ghahraman, who was the party’s

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A lawsuit is accusing the deputy director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services of sexual harassment and retaliation against a senior employee while the agency did nothing to stop it. The suit, filed Tuesday, alleges that Kendra Bowyer faced a campaign of