Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Thousands of giant panda sculptures will greet residents and tourists starting Saturday in Hong Kong, where enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs were born in a local theme park. The 2,500 exhibits were showcased in a launch ceremony of PANDA GO! FEST HK, the city’s largest
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By Junko Ogura and Chris Lau, CNN Tokyo (CNN) — A bear that ran amok in a supermarket in northern Japan has been caught two days after it attacked a worker, the latest in a surge of encounters between bears and people in the country. The bear wandered into the store in Akita City on
Continue ReadingGENEVA (AP) — For the first time in Switzerland, a multinational company faces a criminal trial on charges of bribing a foreign public official, with alleged payments totaling about $5 million, to win lucrative oil industry contracts in Angola. Commodities trader Trafigura Group said it intended to defend itself against allegations that its former parent
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It is the world’s rarest whale, with only seven of its kind ever spotted. Almost nothing is known about the enigmatic species. But on Monday a small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand clustered around a near-perfectly preserved spade-toothed whale hoping to decode decades of
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By Juliana Liu, CNN (CNN) — A major Australian restaurant group known for its pubs has backtracked on plans to ban celebrations during the country’s national day following public criticism and calls for a boycott, in yet another sign of how controversial the anniversary has become. Debate continues to swirl over whether to commemorate January
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are set to consider a bill that would require the state’s public universities to give admission priority to the descendants of slaves. The bill introduced Monday by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents parts of Los Angeles, comes as conservative officials throughout the country try to impose
Continue ReadingAssociated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court has taken up the largest case in its history, hearing the plight of several small island nations helpless in combating the devastating impact of climate change. They demand that major polluting nations be held to account. After years of lobbying by island nations
Continue ReadingAssociated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine for the first time in more than two years Monday and vowed to keep supporting Kyiv in the war, just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rebuked him for having a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The conflict is approaching a
Continue Reading By Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — Days of protests have rocked Georgia following the government’s controversial decision to delay the former Soviet country’s bid to join the European Union. Tensions have been brewing for months in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, where critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of following increasingly
Continue Reading By Kathleen Magramo, CNN (CNN) — Australian police seized the country’s largest haul of cocaine aboard a fishing boat that had broken down near the coast of Queensland, arresting 13 people alleged to be part of a drug-smuggling syndicate. Authorities tracked a recreational fishing boat as it traveled out to sea where it allegedly met
Continue ReadingPESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say authorities with help from community leaders brokered a second ceasefire between warring minority Shiites and Sunni Muslims in a troubled northwestern region bordering Afghanistan following a deadly sectarian violence that left dozens of people dead. The violence in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, erupted after gunmen
Continue ReadingAssociated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Positioned along the seismically active Ring of Fire, Indonesia and the Philippines have the second and third highest installed geothermal energy capacity in the world, after the United States. Both Southeast Asian island nations are tapping into only a small fraction of their geothermal potential, however, due to financial
Continue ReadingCONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Chaos erupted at a soccer game in Guinea after fans protested a referee’s call and thousands of panicked spectators tried to flee the stadium, leaving at least 56 people dead in the West African nation, officials and witnesses said Monday. Amid the confusion, security forces used tear gas, local news website
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HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. (KMIZ) Four people were arrested for allegedly committing various sex crimes in Holts Summit, according to a Sunday release from the city. According to the release, the arrests were made in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, including out of state agencies. The release states the department has been following up on
Continue ReadingAnalysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter deepened an entanglement of politics and the rule of law that has tarnished faith in American justice and is almost certain to worsen in Donald Trump’s second term. The Sunday evening move was a stunning development since Biden came to
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks pulled Wall Street to another record amid mixed trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Monday after closing November at an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. Super Micro Computer, a stock that’s been on an AI-driven roller
Continue ReadingBy Karina Tsui and Robert Shackelford, CNN (CNN) — Five people have been reported missing from a fishing boat that capsized in rough waters off the coast of southeastern Alaska, officials said. The US Coast Guard received a mayday call at 12:10 a.m. Sunday from the crew aboard the 50-foot-long vessel, saying it was overturning,
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Supreme Court justices didn’t seem convinced Monday that federal regulators misled companies before refusing to allow them to sell sweet flavored vaping products following a surge in teen e-cigarette use. The court did raise questions about an FDA crackdown that included denials on sales of more than
Continue Reading By Kathleen Magramo, Kareem El Damanhoury and Isaac Yee, CNN (CNN) — A crowd crush at a soccer match in the west African country of Guinea has left at least 56 people dead and many others injured, authorities said Monday. Information minister Fana Soumah said in a statement that investigations were underway into the cause
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAINT-MALO, France (AP) — Had he continued working aboard fuel-powered cargo ships, Yann Jourdan reckons he’d be earning perhaps four times what he now gets as captain of a sailboat that instead uses the wind’s clean energy to transport goods across the Atlantic. But the hit to Jourdan’s pay is buying him peace
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