AP National News

CAIRO (AP) — Officials say that a Hong Kong-flagged ship briefly blocked Egypt’s vital Suez Canal, the latest such incident in the busy waterway. According to Leth Agencies, a canal services company that oversees the waterway, the Xin Hai Tong 23 ran aground before dawn on Thursday at the southern entrance to the canal, blocking

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Three people including two police officers have been killed in central Japan and a suspect with a rifle and knife is holed up inside a building. A witness told NHK public television that a woman fell while being chased by the suspect, who then stabbed her with

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer U.S. applications for jobless claims rose slightly last week but remain at healthy levels as companies seem reticent to let go of employees in a tight labor market. The number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the week ending May 20 rose by 4,000 to 229,000 from 225,000

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he hopes that training for Ukrainian pilots on American-made F-16 fighter jets will begin in the coming weeks. That’ll bolster Ukraine in the long run but not necessarily as part of an anticipated spring counteroffensive against Russia. Austin

BEIJING (AP) — China’s commerce minister will hold talks with officials in the U.S. this week amid sharpening disputes over tariffs and technology. Wang Wentao will meet with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Katherine Tai while in the U.S. to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum trade minister meetings in Detroit. In

By KATE ASHFORD of NerdWallet The COVID-19 public health emergency that started in January 2020 ended on May 11, 2023. When that happened, several Medicare rules and waivers that went into effect during the pandemic came to an end — and it may catch Medicare patients by surprise. Many of the changes were made to

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russia and Belarus have signed a deal formalizing the procedure for deploying Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus. Control of the weapons will remain with Moscow. Officials framed Thursday’s step as driven by hostility from the West. No detail was announced regarding when the weapons would be

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has launched a commercial-grade satellite for the first time as part of its growing space development program, as rival North Korea is pushing to place its first military spy satellite into orbit. The domestically built three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from a launch

Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A masked man carrying a rifle and a knife is holed up in a building in central Japan after four people were injured, one of whom later died. Police said the injured included two police officers but could not confirm if they were shot by the suspect. Officers had rushed

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus authorities say they’re taking extra efforts to ensure flight safety isn’t compromised from Turkish warplanes and military drones flying inside Cypriot-monitored airspace without filing either flight plans or communicating with air traffic control. The issue over unregulated Turkish military flights again came to the fore earlier this month when Cypriot

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s energy regulator says the typical household energy bill will come down by around $495 a year starting in July as global wholesale energy prices decline. The drop announced Thursday brings some relief to millions of people and businesses that have struggled to cope with sharply higher

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries have conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep. South Korea says the drills involved fighter jets, attack helicopters, multiple

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Official figures show the number of people moving to Britain reached a record high of 606,000 in 2022. The Office for National Statistics gave the figure for net migration – the difference between the number of people arriving and those leaving. The figure is up from just

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer World shares declined Thursday as investors watched for signs of progress on a deal to avert a default on U.S. government debt. U.S. futures were mixed and oil declined. Germany slipped into recession as its economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of the year. The data from the

By SUSIE BLANN and ELISE MORTON Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner claimed Thursday that his forces have started pulling out of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and handing over control to the Russian military, days after he said Wagner troops had captured the ruined city. Yevgeny

BERLIN (AP) — The German economy has shrunk unexpectedly in the first three months of this year, marking the second quarter of contraction that is one definition of recession. Data released Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office has Germany’s gross domestic product down by 0.3% in the period from January to March. That follows a

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s top opposition party has been barred from participating in elections set for July after the Constitutional Council refused to overturn a decision not to register the party over a paperwork issue. The council said in a brief statement Thursday that the Candlelight Party, the