AP National News

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Central Bank has set a new exchange rate that effectively devalues the country’s currency by 90% but did little to bridge the gap with the soaring black market rate. Wednesday’s dramatic measure is meant to stabilize the free-falling Lebanese pound and eliminate the multiple exchange rates

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is mustering its military might in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, local officials said Wednesday, in what Kyiv suspects is preparation for an offensive in the eastern area in coming weeks as the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion approaches. The Kremlin’s forces are expelling local residents

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Nearly four years ago, Austria’s populist far-right Freedom Party was ousted from the national coalition government over a major corruption scandal, and voters punished it at the ballot box. But the party’s nearly double-digit gains in Sunday’s regional election in the province of Lower Austria confirmed that

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and HARUKA NUGA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says China’s growing assertiveness and collaboration with Russia poses a challenge not only to Asia but also to Europe. Stoltenberg made the remarks Wednesday as he sought stronger cooperation and more “friends” for NATO in the Indo-Pacific region. Stoltenberg said

BERLIN (AP) — Official figures show that German beer sales rose in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions weighed on brewers in the previous two years. But the long-term trend remains downward and the World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar didn’t get the taps flowing. The Federal Statistical Office said Wednesday that German-based breweries and distributors sold

DETROIT (AP) — Police say three aspiring rappers who met in prison have been missing for 10 days after a Detroit gig suddenly was canceled because of an equipment problem. Commander Michael McGinnis says their disappearance is “very alarming.” The men, who live in Michigan, were identified as Armani Kelly, Montoya Givens and Dante Wicker.

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Authorities in Western Australia on Wednesday recovered a tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule that fell off a truck while being transported along a 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) Outback highway last month in what an official said was like finding the needle in the haystack. Officials said the capsule the size of a pea

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court has ruled that a 14th century Korean Buddhist statue should be sent back to a Japanese temple from where it was stolen in 2012.  The statue’s return has been put on hold for years after a South Korean temple claimed ownership

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — It used to be that visitors would browse through Bakhmut’s late 19th century buildings, enjoy their walks in its rose-lined lakeside park and revel in the sparkling wines produced in historic underground caves. This city of salt and gypsum mines located around 100 kilometers (60 miles)

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks rose Wednesday while Wall Street futures declined ahead of what traders hope will be the last Federal Reserve interest rate hike for some time. London and Frankfurt opened hire. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices gained. Traders expect the Fed to raise

By NICOLE WINFIELD, CHRISTINA MALKIA and JEAN-YVES KAMALE Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An estimated 1 million joyous Congolese poured into the capital’s main airport Wednesday for Pope Francis’ first big Mass in Africa, on a day dedicated to his call for peace and forgiveness in a country wracked by decades of violence. Many

Hard rock legend Ozzy Osbourne announced the cancellation of his 2023 tour dates in the U.K. and continental Europe. Osbourne issued a statement early Wednesday saying damage to his spine suffered in an accident four years ago will prevent him from touring. “I am honestly humbled by the way you’ve all patiently held onto your

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Mourners paid their respects to Cardinal George Pell in a Sydney cathedral Wednesday a day before the funeral and interment of a polarizing church leader who was once the most senior Catholic convicted of sex abuse. Pell, who died last month at age 81, spent more

By GRANT PECK and JERRY HARMER Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The prospects for peace in Myanmar, much less a return to democracy, seem dimmer than ever two years after the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, experts say. On Wednesday, legions of opponents of military rule heeded a

By RIAZ KHAN and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s Peshawar was once known as “the city of flowers,” surrounded by orchards of pear, quince and pomegranate trees. It was a trading city, situated at the gates of a key mountain valley connecting South and Central Asia. But for the past four

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan has scrambled fighter jets and and put navy ships and missile systems on alert in response to nearby operations of 34 Chinese military aircraft and nine warships. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says 20 Chinese aircraft crossed the central line in the Taiwan Strait that has long been an unofficial buffer zone

By ROD McGUIRK Asspociated Press Australia has announced targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against “individuals responsible for egregious human rights abuses” in Myanmar two years after a military junta seized power in the Southeast Asian country. Australia also announced in a statement on Wednesday additional sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities over “abhorrent abuses

By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Decades before the infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, Alse Young was killed at the gallows in Connecticut, becoming the first person on record to be executed in the American colonies for witchcraft. The Windsor town clerk registered the death on May 26, 1647, in a

By ISABEL DEBRE and SAM McNEIL Associated Press KHAN AL-AHMAR, West Bank (AP) — Protesters streaming up the windswept hills east of Jerusalem interrupted Maha Ali’s breakfast. Palestinian chants of support for her West Bank Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, at risk of demolition by the Israeli army since it lost its legal protection over