AP National News

By HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA director says U.S. intelligence shows that China’s President Xi Jinping has instructed his country’s military to “be ready by 2027” to invade Taiwan. But CIA Director William Burns also says Xi may be currently harboring doubts about his ability to make a move against Taiwan,

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The gonzo R-rated horror comedy “Cocaine Bear” sniffed up $23.1 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, while Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” shrank unusually quickly in its second weekend. “Quantumania” was still No. 1 with an estimated $32.2 million in

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A rights group says at least 22 Syrian migrants detained for more than five months in Libya have begun a hunger strike to demand their release. Libyan rights group Belaady said Sunday the group of migrants included three minors and has been held in a prison in

NEW YORK (AP) — Police say at least 21 people in New York City have had their fancy Apple headphones stolen right off their heads by a roving team of moped-riding bandits. The thefts started on Jan. 28 and have typically involved four people on two mopeds riding up to victims from behind, snatching their

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hundreds of Afghan refugees facing extreme delays in the approval of U.S. visas are protesting in Pakistan’s capital on, as an American program to help relocate at-risk Afghans fleeing Taliban rule stalls. The U.S. government’s Priority 1 and Priority 2, known as P1 and P2 refugee programs

By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) — When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut for three months in 2020, its owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, had to reckon with decades of relying heavily on gambling as the tribe’s main source of revenue. “The fact that the casino revenues went

By GABRIELA SELSER Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Each month, Antón Martínez, 38, sets aside $200 from his wages as a dishwasher in the United States to send home to his mother in Nicaragua. Martínez wishes it could be more, but he’s still trying to find his footing in the new country and pay

By KANIS LEUNG and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Police in Hong Kong filed murder charges against the former father-in-law and brother-in-law of a model and influencer whose body parts were found in a refrigerator and a skull believed to be hers in a pot at a rural house. Authorities also arrested

By MEGAN JANETSKY and FERNANDA PESCE Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — When machine gun fire erupts outside the barbed-wire fences surrounding Fontaine Hospital Center, the noise washes over a cafeteria full of tired, scrub-clad medical staff. And no one bats an eye. Gunfire is part of daily life here in Cité Soleil – the

BEIJING (AP) — China says Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus and a close ally of the Russian leader, will visit Beijing this week. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Lukashenko is due to visit Tuesday through Thursday, but gave no details about his agenda. The visit comes as top U.S. officials warn China against providing

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Jordanian government on Sunday announced that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to de-escalate tensions, shortly after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis in a shooting in the occupied West Bank. Sunday’s shooting marked the latest violence in a wave of fighting that has killed dozens

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Foreign Ministry says a 24-year-old Spanish citizen has been released from prison in Iran after almost four months. The ministry says Ana Baneira was released Saturday. It explained it waited to make the announcement until her plane took off from Iran on Sunday morning. The reasons for her arrest and detention

By OMAR FARUK Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The crash of a helicopter belonging to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia has killed three people and injured eight others. The mission reported that the helicopter was carrying Somali National Army officers on a joint training mission for casualty evacuation drills when it crashed

By ANDREW KATELL Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated in an interview set to be broadcast Sunday that Russia suspended its participation in the New START treaty not only because of U.S. nuclear capabilities but those of other NATO countries. As he has done repeatedly during the Ukraine war, also Putin claimed in excerpts

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Police in Sri Lanka have fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters angry over a decision to postpone local elections after the government said it cannot finance them because of the country’s crippling economic crisis. According to Colombo National Hospital, about 15 people

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says his government wants to make it easier for information technology experts from India to obtain work visas in Germany as the country struggles with a shortage of skilled labor. Scholz said Sunday that improving the legal framework so Germany becomes more attractive for software developers and those

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — At least 45 migrants died when their wooden boat smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart off southern Italy before dawn Sunday, the Italian coast guard and U.N. agencies said. Survivors indicated that dozens more could be missing from the boat that had set out from Turkey.