AP-National

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan has detained an army officer and several collaborators on suspicion of handing military secrets to China. The defense ministry said Wednesday that a lieutenant colonel surnamed Hsieh and other defendants were suspected of having been recruited by China to leak national defense secrets and other

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Egypt and other lower-income Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Pakistan are worried about what comes next after Russia pulled out of a crucial wartime grain deal. They’re already struggling with economic woes that have driven more people into poverty and fear rising food prices will create

By EMMA BURROWS Associated Press The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district dominate the skyline of the Russian capital. The sleek glass-and-steel buildings — designed to attract investment amid an economic boom in the early 2000s – are a dramatic, modern contrast to the rest of the more than 800-year-old city. Now they

By TY O’NEIL, STEFANIE DAZIO and RIO YAMAT Associated Press MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters aided by rain have made progress fighting a massive blaze that swept through the California desert into Nevada and is threatening the region’s famous spiky Joshua trees. Fire officials say a brief, heavy downpour Tuesday afternoon helped limit

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday hurled misogynistic insults at a newly confirmed United States special envoy to monitor the country’s human rights issues and warned of unspecified security consequences if Washington continues to criticize its human rights conditions. The statement published by North Korea’s official Korean

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Not everyone is hostile to the coups in Niger and other African nations in the past few years that have worried the West. In the “family photo” for last week’s Russia-Africa Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood next to Ibrahim Traore, the young military officer who

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Union leaders told have told striking Hollywood writers that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations. The Writers Guild of America told its members in an email Tuesday night that a representative from the employers’ side requested a meeting on

By ANDY WONG and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press ZHUOZHOU, China (AP) — China’s capital recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days as remnants of Typhoon Doksuri deluged the region, turning streets into canals where emergency crews used rubber boats to rescue stranded residents. The city recorded 744.8 millimeters

By COLLEEN BARRY and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press MILAN (AP) — During Europe’s heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store had to close for a week. A truck of rented generators blocked her door as they fed power to the central Roman neighborhood hit by a blackout as temperatures surged. The main culprit:

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A small plane carrying a Filipino trainer pilot and an Indian student is missing in the northeastern Philippines and the search is being hampered by bad weather. The Cessna 152 left northern Ilocos Norte province around noon Tuesday but failed to land three hours later as expected in Cagayan province. The

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Rhonda Hicks could have kept working into her 60s. She loved teaching and loved her students in Philadelphia’s public schools. As a Black woman, she took pride in being a role model for many children of color. But other aspects of the job deteriorated, such as

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The role fake electors played in Donald Trump’s desperate effort to cling to power after his 2020 election loss is at the center of a four-count indictment against the ex-president. The indictment detailed Tuesday that when Trump could not persuade state officials to illegally swing the election

VILLE PLATTE, La. (AP) — Authorities say a deputy marshal and another man have died and a woman has been critically wounded in a shooting during a drug investigation in southern Louisiana. Ville Platte Deputy Marshal Barry Giglio died at the scene at about 8:30 p.m. Monday as he helped the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office

By BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis is beginning a five-day trip to Portugal for World Youth Day. The international Catholic jamboree is expected to attract around 1 million people. Francis is in Portugal from Wednesday. The pontiff will visit the place from where 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese explorers set sail

By NICOLE WINFIELD, HELENA ALVES and BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Prosecutors say a banker and media owner has filed a legal complaint against Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, alleging that his administration interfered in his child custody dispute. The animosity between Chaves and the complainant Leonel Baruch, who owns online news site CR Hoy, is well known. Baruch’s complaint

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez was determined to improve this month after a subpar July where he posted a 7.29 ERA. On the first day of August he certainly did that. Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Houston Astros history in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s lieutenant governor and other elected officials are urging Taylor Swift to postpone her Los Angeles concerts as a way to stand in solidarity with striking hotel workers. The politicians signed an open letter Tuesday telling Swift that her tour makes the region’s hotels a lot of money. Meanwhile, the letter