AP-National

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A Kurdish official and a Syrian opposition war monitor say Turkish drone strikes in northeastern Syria have killed at least three members of a local Christian force and wounded others including civilians. Reported Israeli airstrikes hit Damascus on Wednesday. Security forces in the southern

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and Nikki Haley lead the field of candidates competing in the District of Columbia’s Republican presidential primary, which will be held Friday through Sunday. The event takes place in the run-up to Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states will hold Republican presidential contests,

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tuvalu’s new government has committed the tiny South Pacific island nation to continued diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but said it plans to renegotiate a security pact recently struck with Australia in response to China’s growing regional influence. Prime Minister Feleti Teo was sworn into office on

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Idaho Republicans will gather in presidential caucuses on Saturday to help pick their party’s presidential standard-bearer. At stake are 32 Republican delegates as Donald Trump and Nikki Haley compete for the nomination. Trump so far has dominated the race. Idaho’s conservative voting history presents a considerable obstacle

By DENG MACHOL Associated Press JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan’s government is blaming the country’s economic crisis in part on fighting in neighboring Sudan and the instability in the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking international shipping. Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters on Tuesday that these factors are

By SALLY FRENCH of NerdWallet U.S. airfares are, on average, 15% lower now than they were a decade ago, and 6% lower than this time last year. The same cannot be said for many other purchasing categories where prices are increasing due to inflation. Some experts believe airfare could continue to drop, especially for international

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A London judge has ruled that Prince Harry was not improperly stripped of his publicly funded security detail during visits to Britain after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the U.S. Justice Peter Lane said Wednesday in

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government is stepping up security for lawmakers after politicians reported threats and intimidation connected to the Israel-Hamas war. The Home Office said Wednesday that a 31 million-pound ($40 million) fund will give every lawmaker a “dedicated named police contact.” It also will provide money for

By JIWON SONG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has discussed cooperation on extended reality devices with LG Electronics executives as part of his visit to South Korea that highlights Meta’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. Zuckerberg has already visited Japan and will travel to India after South

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Price increases for cars and trucks in the United States, which helped fuel inflation for nearly three years, are slowing and in some cases falling, helping cool overall inflation and giving frustrated Americans more hope of finding an affordable vehicle. Behind the price slowdown is a

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis, who recently had the flu, was brought to a hospital in Rome for diagnostic testing after the papal audience Wednesday, the Vatican said, without giving further details. The pope arrived at the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island in a small white Fiat 500, leaving again under

By BABACAR DIONE Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A group of Senegalese civic and religious leaders have proposed holding elections in early June, the first new date offered since the president attempted to push elections back to the end of the year. President Macky Sall who faces term limits at the end of his

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is trying to spotlight how federal dollars are both helping cities and police departments manage crime, and providing job opportunities for youth in communities affected by that violence. Biden used a meeting with police chiefs from seven major police departments on Wednesday to highlight

By WILL WEISSERT and BARBARA ORTUTAY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is signing an executive order aiming to better protect Americans’ personal data on everything from biometrics and health records to finances and geolocation from foreign adversaries like China and Russia. Wednesday’s action seeks to authorize the attorney general and other federal

PARIS (AP) — France’s Senate has adopted a bill meant to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the French Constitution, clearing a major hurdle. The measure was promised by President Emmanuel Macron following a rollback of abortion rights in court rulings in the United States.  Wednesday’s vote came after the lower house, the

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official is calling for a new defense industry strategy to respond to security challenges posed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that “Europe must spend more, spend better, spend European.” Russia’s invasion has exposed weaknesses

By The Associated Press The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place Friday in Moscow after several locations declined to host the service, his spokesperson said. His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow’s southeast Maryino district on Friday

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Organizers of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have agreed to relax their ban on police marching in their annual parade with a compromise condition that officers do not wear uniforms. The decision comes a day after Australian police found the bodies of a couple shot

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — As Hong Kong moves toward enacting a new national security law, more than three years after Beijing imposed a similar law that all but wiped out dissent and vocal pro-democracy media in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, concerns are spreading among the city’s international business and media

GENEVA (AP) — Telecoms operator Swisscom has confirmed it’s in talks with Vodafone Group toward a possible purchase of its Italian subsidiary for 8 billion euros ($8.65 billion). The Swiss company said in a statement Wednesday it’s in “advanced exclusive negotiations” to buy all of Vodafone Italia and merge it with Swisscom’s Italian subsidiary, Fastweb.