AP-National

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government says enough rice is available despite recent panic-buying of locally produced rice that led to empty shelves in supermarkets and grocery stores nationwide. Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu says the government will increase distribution to rural areas to address a supply issue sparked by a hike

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — For a while, Sam Bankman-Fried tried to convince politicians and the public that he was the next J.P. Morgan. Now, he has to convince a jury that he wasn’t, in reality, the next Bernie Madoff. The trial of Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency brokerage

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The new head of the U.N.’s migration agency says the private sector is “desperate” for their countries to take in migrants to mop up labor shortages, especially in the West. It’s part of an effort to steer a narrative away from reticence and suspicion about migrants in

By LIZ WESTON of NerdWallet Assisted living. Nursing home. Skilled nursing. There are lots of names for facilities that provide care to those who can no longer live safely at home, but these terms aren’t synonymous with one another. If you’re researching the right place for yourself or a loved one, make sure you understand

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Koinu has has strengthened while approaching Taiwan. Meteorologists on the island say the storm is expanding in size and is expected to make landfall in Taiwan by Thursday morning. The typhoon is packing winds of 89 mph and gusts of up to 112 mph. In the Philippines, which will avoid

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A political group linked to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is launching an ad campaign backing the Republican’s efforts to make it harder for people to file lawsuits and win big legal judgments. The group is called Hardworking Georgians. It said Monday that limits would cut insurance costs

By ALFIAN KARTONO Associated Press JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Police and rebels say that five Papuan independence fighters were killed in a clash between security forces and a rebel group in Indonesia’s restive Papua region. A joint military and police force killed five of the Papuan fighters from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has launched its second nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year Monday in an effort to inoculate 44 million children under the age of 5.  Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar launched the five-day vaccination campaign in the capital, Islamabad. He urged parents in a televised address to cooperate with the 350,000  health workers

By The Associated Press The last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh has left the region, completing a weeklong, grueling exodus in which more than 80% of its residents have fled after Azerbaijan reclaimed the area in a lightning military operation last month. Azerbaijan Interior Ministry spokesman Elshad Hajiyev says the country’s police have established

MADRID (AP) — King Felipe VI has begun a new round of talks with Spanish political party leaders with a view to choosing the person in the best position to gather enough support in Parliament to form a government. All signs indicate that king will call on acting Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to try

By MUHAMMAD HATTA and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press PALEMBANG, Indonesia (AP) — More than 300 forest and peatland fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island are causing hazy skies across the region, prompting government officials to ask people to work from home. The head of the South Sumatra Disaster Management Agency said Monday that the military, police

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese entertainment company that has acknowledged its founder sexually assaulted hundreds of boys over the span of five decades has taken a new name: Smile-Up. It’s vowing to focus on victims’ compensation. Johnny & Associates will eventually fold, but it said on Monday that its performers

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption group says Cyprus needs to hold those at the highest echelons of executive power and law enforcement more accountable to counter an overwhelming public perception of widespread corruption. The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) said in a report released Monday that Cyprus

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Monday led a delegation of top diplomats on an unannounced visit to Kyiv and dismissed concerns about political tension in the bloc over its long-term support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Though largely symbolic, the informal meeting between EU

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Britain’s Treasury chief has announced a hike in the national minimum wage. Jeremy Hunt said at the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference on Monday that the hourly rate for workers 23 and older will rise in April from 10.42 pounds, or $12.70, to at least 11

By DAVID KEYTON, MIKE CORDER and MADDIE BURAKOFF Associated Press STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that were critical in slowing the pandemic — technology that’s also being studied to fight cancer and other diseases. Hungarian-American Katalin

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Philippe has made landfall in the tiny island of Barbuda as it unleashes heavy rains and flash floods in the northeast Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Philippe was about 80 miles east-southeast of St. Martin on Monday night. Top sustained winds were at

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Emirati president-designate of the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks has called on oil and gas companies to be “central to the solution” to fighting climate change as the industry boosts its production to enjoy rising energy prices. His remarks on Monday

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has suggested there might be ways to bless same-sex unions. The Vatican on Monday published a letter Francis wrote to five cardinals on July 11 after receiving a list of five questions, or “dubia,” from them a day earlier. In the letter, Francis suggests