AP National News

BERLIN (AP) — Two German government ministers are calling for authorities to relax the application of rules enabling the prosecution of people who take food that is still fit for consumption from supermarket garbage bins. The practice known in Germany as “containering” counts as theft. The agriculture and justice ministers said Tuesday that they wrote

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy has seized over 2,100 assault rifles from a ship in the Gulf of Oman it believes came from Iran and were bound for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The seizure happened last Friday after a team from the USS Chinook, a Cyclone-class

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian media say a Vienna court has acquitted former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache of trying to change laws to favor a private hospital in exchange for donations to his political party. The trial at the Vienna Criminal Court was a repeat, after a higher court last year overturned the initial conviction,

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has made her first official visit to see Pope Francis, fulfilling what she has said is a hoped-for opportunity to better understand the Argentine pontiff. Meloni spent 35 minutes with Francis alone before she met with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro

By COLLEEN LONG and CHRIS SHERMAN Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are meeting for a series of talks on migration, trade and climate change on Tuesday as the three leaders try to mend tensions that have divided the continent.

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer The 2023 Australian Open will be the first Grand Slam tournament to be held since Serena Williams walked away from tennis with a farewell at the U.S. Open shortly before her 41st birthday. And so the sport will will get a real taste of what a post-Serena world looks

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press HYATTSVILLE, Md. (AP) — The 988 mental health and suicide prevention helpline has quickly expanded its reach in the six months since it launched. It has received just over 2 million calls, texts and chat messages since July. The number of centers answering calls from Spanish grew from three to

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is moving forward with a proposal that would lower student debt payments for millions of Americans now and in the future, offering a new route to repay federal loans under far more generous terms. President Joe Biden announced the repayment plan in August,

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has condemned the cartoons published recently by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that mocked Iran’s ruling clerics. It also urged France to punish the publication. The Iran-backed Hezbollah said the offensive caricatures were an “ugly act by the magazine” that targeted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

LONDON (AP) — British officials and space scientists said Tuesday they were disappointed but not deterred after the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from the U.K. ended in failure. U.S.-based Virgin Orbit attempted its first international launch late Monday, using a modified jumbo jet to carry one if its rockets from Cornwall in

LUETZERATH, Germany (AP) — A court in Germany has rejected a last-ditch attempt by climate activists to stay in an abandoned village which is due to be cleared for the expansion of a coal mine that’s become a battleground between the government and environmentalists. The regional administrative court in Muenster late Monday confirmed a lower

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are escalating their onslaught against Ukrainian positions around the wrecked city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian officials said, bringing new levels of death and devastation in the grinding, monthslong battle for control of eastern Ukraine that is part of Moscow’s wider war. “Everything is completely destroyed.

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A lawyer for a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher says her team has asked for an urgent meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Jimmy Lai, the 75-year-old founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, was arrested in 2020 during a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The divisive social media personality Andrew Tate arrived at a court in Romania in handcuffs on Tuesday morning to appeal against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest period from 24 hours to 30 days on charges of being part of an organized crime group, human trafficking and rape. Tate,

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed and European markets opened lower Tuesday ahead of a U.S. inflation update that traders hope will encourage the Federal Reserve to ease off plans for more interest rate hikes. London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong fell. Shanghai and Tokyo rose. Oil prices declined.

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s statistics bureau says the nation is continuing to battle surging inflation amid a dramatic slide of its currency as many Egyptians struggle with price hikes. The Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics released figures on Tuesday showing that the annual inflation was at 21.9% last month,

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest in a relentless string of storms slammed California on Monday, swamping roads, battering coastlines with high surf, turning rivers into gushing flood zones and forcing the evacuation of thousands in towns with histories of deadly mudslides. The National Weather Service said

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The divisive social media personality Andrew Tate is expected at a court in Romania on Tuesday to appeal against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest period from 24 hours to 30 days on charges of being part of an organized crime group, human trafficking and rape. Tate, a 36-year-old

By DAVID BILLER and FELIPE MELLO Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — “No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!” The chant reverberated off the walls of the jam-packed hall at the University of Sao Paulo’s law college on Monday afternoon. Within hours, it was the rallying cry for thousands of Brazilians who streamed into the

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Lithuanian lawmakers on a visit to Taiwan have taken aim at China, saying the world’s second largest economy tried to use all sorts of measures to change Lithuania’s decision to break diplomatic norms in warming up relations with the self-ruled island. Taiwan is hosting German and