AP-National

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — An FBI agent has testified that two Colorado funeral home owners accused of abandoning nearly 200 bodies used payments from families to purchase vehicles, cryptocurrency, a $1,500 dinner in Las Vegas and other personal items. FBI Agent Andrew Cohen said Thursday the purchases included two vehicles for

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Nissan has reported its profit sank in October-December to about half of what it earned in the same period the year before. Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, said Thursday that its profit in the last quarter was 29 billion yen ($195 million). Quarterly

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares have risen in China after Beijing ousted its top stock market regulator and announced more funding for hard-strapped property developers. Investors appeared to give a warm welcome to Wu Qing. The industry veteran has a reputation for being tough on market misbehavior. He was named

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a dozen sports leagues and players associations have promised the White House that they will provide more opportunities for people to exercise and learn about nutrition and healthy lifestyles. The White House announced Thursday that the leagues and associations representing football, hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer

By SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior officials for President Joe Biden’s reelection effort met with House Democrats to outline in detail post-Super Tuesday campaign plans. Thursday’s strategy session is a big step in the campaign’s efforts to coordinate with lawmakers to organize and communicate with voters nationwide. The campaign aides plan

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Antiwar politician Boris Nadezhdin was rejected Thursday as a candidate in next month’s presidential balloting by Russian election authorities, a strong signal from the Kremlin that it won’t tolerate any public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. The move by the Central Election Commission provides an

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — An Olympic medal inlaid with a piece of the Eiffel Tower. How’s that for a monumental prize? A hexagonal, polished chunk of iron taken from the iconic landmark is being embedded in each gold, silver and bronze medal that will be hung around athletes’ necks at the

BERLIN (AP) — The Berlin Zoo is mourning Ingo the flamingo, its oldest resident, who died at what is believed to be at least 75 years of age and had lived there since the mid-1950s. The zoo announced Ingo’s Feb. 3 death at an “imposing” age in social media posts on Wednesday, adding that he

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A senior member of the Swedish security police says that Iran “has been preparing and conducted activities aimed at carrying out a so-called physical attack against someone or something in Sweden.” The head of the counterespionage at Sweden domestic security agency, told Swedish radio Thursday that “we have worked on a number

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East on Thursday with public divisions between the United States and Israel at perhaps their worst level since Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began in October. Wrapping up a four-nation Mideast trip — his

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda’s profit rose 3.5% in the October-December quarter from a year earlier on the back of solid demand in the U.S. and Europe and a recovery in its home market, the company said Thursday. Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co.’s profit in the last quarter was

By MARCO DI MARCO Associated Press GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AP) — A volcano in southwestern Iceland has erupted for the third time since December and sent jets of lava into the sky. The eruption on Thursday morning triggered the evacuation the Blue Lagoon spa which is one of the island nation’s biggest tourist attractions. Several communities

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday as Tokyo’s benchmark momentarily touched a 34-year high, while many regional markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to 37,029.91, slipping back from earlier gains. Investors were encouraged by remarks by Bank

By DÁNICA COTO and PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Prime Minister Ariel Henry urged calm in a public address following three days of violent protests that have paralyzed Haiti as thousands of demonstrators demand his resignation. The brief speech that aired early Thursday did little to appease people who are angry and

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Highly radioactive water leaked from a treatment machine at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but no one was injured and radiation monitoring shows no impact to the outside environment, the utility operator said Thursday. The cause of the leak is still under investigation. The filtering

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s newest climate satellite has blasted off to survey the world’s oceans and atmosphere in unprecedented detail. SpaceX launched the Pace satellite before dawn Thursday. The Falcon rocket headed south over the Atlantic from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to achieve a rare polar orbit. Pace

SYDNEY (AP) — Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has become the first Pacific leader to address Australia’s parliament. He vowed “nothing will come in between our two countries.” The nations later announced that Australia will spend more than $65.3 million on Papua New Guinea’s internal security, including a police barracks and training facility.

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is set to nearly double state legislators’ pay at the start of next year. That will make their compensation better than it is for their counterparts in a majority of states. The increase is nearly $28,000 a year for rank-and-file legislators. That boosts their

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer A total solar eclipse is coming to North America. On April 8, the sun will pull another disappearing act across parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada, turning day into night for as much as 4 minutes, 28 seconds. That’s twice as long as the total solar eclipse

By JULIE WATSON Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — The military says efforts are underway to recover the remains of five U.S. Marines who were killed when their helicopter went down during stormy weather in the mountains outside of San Diego. The military confirmed the five deaths Thursday. Authorities say the CH-53E Super Stallion vanished