AP National News

CATHY BUSSEWITZ AP Energy Writer NEW YORK (AP) — As serious as the methane escaping from ruptured pipelines on the floor of the Baltic Sea may be, there are alarming incidents of massive methane releases around the world frequently. Climate scientists have found that methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are far worse

By SYLVAIN PLAZY Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — While European Union nations are still mulling a cap on gas prices, some businesses are more in a hurry for solutions to the continent’s energy crisis. In Brussels, the epicenter of the EU, restaurant owners have imagined how a future without gas and electricity would look like

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Deep under water, the pipes and cables that carry the modern world’s lifeblood — energy and information — are out of sight and largely out of mind. Until, that is, something goes catastrophically wrong. The suspected sabotage this week of gas pipelines that tied Russia and Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens, an official said Friday, just hours before Moscow planned to annex more of Ukraine in an escalation of the seven-month war. Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh made the announcement in an online statement Friday.

IDYLLWILD, Calif. (AP) — Two rock climbers, including a former NFL player, were found dead near a Southern California peak after rescue crews responded to reports of injuries, authorities said. The climbers were identified Thursday as Chelsea Walsh, 33, and Gavin Escobar, 31. Rescuers were called around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday to Tahquitz Rock near Idyllwild

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The politician tapped to help Japan keep pace with the digital age has his work cut out for him. The nation known for Nintendo games and tech gadgetry galore also loves traditional “hanko” seals that work as analog signatures. Digital Minister Taro Kono has a reputation for

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press HARF BEIT HASNA, Lebanon (AP) — Farmers in a small town perched on a northern Lebanese mountain have long refused to accept defeat even as the government abandoned them to a life off the grid. Harf Beit Hasna receives almost no basic services. No water or sewage system, no streetlight

By EBRAHIM NOROOZI and RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber struck an education center in a Shiite area of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing 19 people and wounding 27, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief said. The explosion inside the center in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan said it is providing a major U.S. chipmaker a subsidy of up to $322 million to back its plan to produce advanced memory chips at a Hiroshima factory. The two countries are stepping up cooperation on expanding manufacturing and supply chains for critical materials. Japan’s Economy

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s central bank has raised its key interest rate to 5.90% and said developing economy were facing slowing growth, elevated food and energy prices, debt distress and currency depreciation. The bank’s governor projected inflation at 6.7% in the current fiscal year. The bank slashed the real economic growth forecast to 7%

By MEG KINNARD and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A revived Hurricane Ian threatened coastal South Carolina and the historic city of Charleston with severe flooding Friday after the deadly storm caused catastrophic damage in Florida and trapped thousands in their homes. Sheets of rain whipped trees and power lines and

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The mayor of Mississippi’s capital was 5 years old when his parents moved their family from New York to Jackson in 1988 so that his father, who had been involved in a Black nationalist movement in the 1970s, could return to the unfinished business of

By TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press Hurricane Ian was over southwest Florida for only a few hours. It will take months to clean up all the damage. Maybe longer. And some of the destruction can’t be cleaned up at all. From trees getting ripped out of the ground to signs being ripped apart, traffic lights crashing

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON The Associated Press NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — When Ian’s winds swept into this Gulf coast trailer park, they howled with such force that residents felt they would be lifted off the ground, even blown away. Now many homes in this community in North Fort Myers are crumpled and splintered.

ISALAMABAD (AP) — A Taliban official has confirmed an explosion in a Shiite area of Kabul, but was unable to provide details of casualties. Local media are reporting that Friday’s blast was inside an education center in the neighborhood of Dashti Barchi. Abdul Nafi Takor, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the blast

By JEFF AMY and BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Stacey Abrams was on stage for an hour with radio and television host Charlamagne tha God and rapper 21 Savage when she faced a question from a skeptical audience member. “A lot of politicians speak about their plan and what they plan to

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Newly formed Tropical Storm Orlene is strengthening in the eastern Pacific, and forecasters expect it to become a hurricane by Friday evening while heading for a projected landfall on the Mexican coast early next week. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Orlene had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph)

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and DAVID BILLER Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Tens of millions of Brazilians were glued to their TVs late Thursday for the final presidential debate before Sunday’s elections. Far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro needed a strong performance to ensure a runoff against leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the front-runner

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — The widespread power outage in Cuba caused by Hurricane Ian prompted several hundred people to protest in Havana. And a monitoring group says the island’s internet service shut down again Friday, saying it appears to be an attempt to curb information about the demonstrations from spreading. An