AP National News

By The Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow’s action in Ukraine was intended to stop a “war” that has raged in eastern Ukraine since 2014. Putin said Moscow had long sought to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas region but was “just duped and cheated.”

By LORNE COOK Associated Press STRASBOURG, France (AP) — European Union lawmakers have voted to replace a disgraced former parliament vice president suspected of involvement in a major corruption scandal. Former European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili was removed from her post after she was taken into custody early last month facing charges of corruption,

By MALAK HARB Associated Press BROVARY, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s interior minister died Wednesday in a helicopter crash near the capital that killed more than a dozen other people, including children, authorities said. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, who oversaw Ukraine’s police and emergency services, is the most senior official to die since Russia invaded nearly

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — A suspect wanted in connection with a fatal shooting at the Mall of America in December was arrested in Georgia on Tuesday. Bloomington, Minnesota, Police Chief Booker Hodges says the 17-year-old suspect was taken into custody in Decatur, Georgia, by federal and state law enforcement officials. The suspect faces charges of

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government says it will begin a targeted crackdown on nursing homes’ abuse of antipsychotic drugs and misdiagnoses of schizophrenia in patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is launching investigations this month into select nursing homes. The agency says evidence has mounted over decades

BERLIN (AP) — Germany-based chemicals maker BASF says it is taking some 7.3 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in write-downs related to the exit from Russia of its Wintershall Dea gas and oil subsidiary. Wintershall Dea said late Tuesday that it “intends to fully exit Russia in an orderly manner complying with all applicable laws and

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world is in a “sorry state” because of myriad interlinked challenges including climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine that are “piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash,” the U.N. chief said at the World Economic Forum’s meeting Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — For seven decades, China’s Communist Party has ruled the world’s most populous country. As the country’s population crests and begins to shrink, experts say, it will face challenges ranging from supporting the elderly to filling the ranks of its military. Population growth has been slowing for years,

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a case that could make it more difficult for students with disabilities to resolve problems quickly when they’re not getting needed assistance in public schools. The question for the justices involves a federal law that guarantees disabled students an education

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top diplomat says his country will achieve its objectives in Ukraine despite a “hybrid war” waged by the West against Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that the goals of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine are “determined by Russia’s core legitimate interests” and

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of nurses in Britain walked out Wednesday in a new protest over pay, with no end in sight to a wave of strikes that has piled pressure on the U.K.‘s overburdened public health system. Two 12-hour strikes on Wednesday and Thursday affect about a quarter of hospitals and clinics in England.

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Rafael Nadal bowed his head during changeovers and rested his elbows on his knees, the very picture of resignation. What already was a poor start to 2023, following a year marred by all manner of health issues, reached a low point at the Australian Open

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Pess KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday killed 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children, Ukrainian authorities said. There was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or a result of the war with Russia. No fighting has been reported

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The party of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has dissolved a provincial assembly in the country’s northwest, where it held majority seats. Its rival, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League criticized Wednesday’s move, saying it meant to deepen the political crisis and force early parliamentary elections.

By LORNE COOK Associated Press STRASBOURG, France (AP) — European Union lawmakers are to vote on a candidate to replace a disgraced former parliament vice president suspected of involvement in a major corruption scandal. Former parliament vice president Eva Kaili was removed from her post after she was taken into custody early last month facing

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press ZURICH (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met Wednesday with her Chinese counterpart and pledged an effort to manage differences and “prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict” as the two nations try to thaw relations. Yellen’s first face-to-face meeting with Vice Premier Liu He was the highest-ranking

PARIS (AP) — A French nun who was believed to be the world’s oldest person has died a few weeks before her 119th birthday, the spokesperson for her nursing home in southern France said Wednesday. Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904. She

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The new head of Taiwan’s ruling party who described himself as pro-independence has vowed to uphold the self-ruled island’s democracy in face of China’s authoritarianism. Lai Ching-te, who currently serves as Taiwan’s vice president, on Wednesday assumed the new role of the Democratic Progress Party chair.

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A tiger that escaped from a private farm in South Africa and attacked a man and killed two dogs and a pig while on the loose for days was euthanized on Wednesday. Sheba, an 8-year-old female tiger, was shot in the early hours of the morning after