AP-National

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Dubai-based British hedge fund trader sought by Danish authorities for allegedly orchestrating a $1.7 billion tax fraud, considered one of the largest in the Scandinavian country, has been extradited from the United Arab Emirates. Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in May in Dubai of masterminding a scheme that ran from

STOCKHOLM (AP) — On the brink of joining NATO, Sweden has signed a defense cooperation agreement with Washington that will allow the United States access to all of the military bases across the Scandinavian country, saying the deal would bolster regional security. The deal was signed at the Pentagon Tuesday by Swedish Defense Minister Pål

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will fly to Greece on Thursday on a visit designed to set the historically uneasy neighbors on a more constructive path and help repair his country’s strained relationship with the European Union. Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will oversee

BEIJING (AP) — An audit commissioned by Volkswagen has found no indication of forced labor at its plant in China’s Xinjiang region, where Western governments have accused the Chinese government of human rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority. The German automaker has come under fire for operating in Xinjiang, a remote western region that

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian media say authorities have arrested a popular singer who had criticized the government after he was handed over by police in Turkey. Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, better known as Tataloo, has been critical of Iran’s leaders since he had moved to Turkey. It wasn’t clear why he was arrested by

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged that his government was too slow to grasp the scale of the COVID-19 crisis. But he defended his handling of the pandemic and skirted questions about whether any of his decisions had contributed to the country’s high coronavirus death toll.

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — The generative AI boom has sent governments worldwide scrambling to regulate the emerging technology, but it also has raised the risk of upending a European Union push to approve the world’s first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules. The 27-nation bloc’s Artificial Intelligence Act has been hailed as

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Rescuers say a man has been pulled alive out of a Zambian mine nearly a week after dozens of informal miners were trapped under landslides caused by heavy rain. Zambia’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit said in a statement Wednesday the 49-year-old survivor was rescued the night before. It said he

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis says he’s “much better” after a two-week bout of bronchitis but says speaking still makes him tired. Francis asked an aide to read his remarks at his weekly general audience Wednesday. Francis turns 87 on Dec. 17 and had part of one lung removed as

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran says it sent a capsule into orbit capable of carrying animals as it prepares for human missions in coming years. A report by the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday quoted Telecommunications Minister Isa Zarepour as saying the capsule was launched 80 miles into orbit. Zarepour said the launch of

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Marking his first anniversary of coming to power, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahm admitted he was still struggling to win over ethnic Malay votes and acknowledged frustration over the slow pace of reforms. But he defended his unity government, saying it is now politically stable and able to fully focus

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street ticked lower Wednesday after another sharp slide for the price of crude dragged down oil-and-gas stocks. The S&P 500 slipped 17.84, or 0.4%, to 4,549.34 for its third straight loss, locking in its longest losing streak since October. Each of those drops was

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A U.S. citizen has been charged in Arizona with making threatening online comments that followed what police describe as a “religiously motivated terrorist attack” in Australia a year ago in which six people died. Two Queensland state police officers and an innocent bystander were fatally shot

By NAJIB JOIBAIN, JACK JEFFERY and LEE KEATH Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops say they are battling Hamas militants in the center of the Gaza Strip’s second-largest city, Khan Younis. The fighting has sent tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing to the territory’s southernmost edge, where shelters are overflowing. Aid groups

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, the outside world viewed those Russians known as “oligarchs” as men who whose vast wealth, ruthlessly amassed, made them almost shadow rulers. A “government of the few,” in the word’s etymology. The term has persisted well into Putin’s

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The white-bearded Christian saint whose acts of generosity inspired America’s secular Santa Claus figure is known worldwide — but Saint Nicholas’ origin story is not. The legends surrounding jolly old St. Nicholas — celebrated annually on Dec. 6 — go way beyond delivering candy and

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press NABI SALEH, West Bank (AP) — For all Palestinian parents, Marwan Tamimi said, there comes a moment they realize they’re powerless to protect their children. For the 48-year-old father of three, it came in June, when Israeli forces fired a large rubber bullet that struck the head of his eldest

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say at least 16 people have been killed and 12 others injured when a passenger bus lost control while negotiating a downhill road curve in a central mountain village and plunged into a deep ravine. Eight of the wounded in the accident, which happened Tuesday afternoon in the province

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press NABI SALEH, West Bank (AP) — For all Palestinian parents, Marwan Tamimi said, there comes a moment they realize they’re powerless to protect their children. For the 48-year-old father of three, it came in June, when Israeli forces fired a large rubber bullet that struck the head of his eldest