AP National News

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — A United Nations official says more than 160 migrants drowned in two separate shipwrecks off Libya over the past week. The fatalities were the latest disasters in the Mediterranean Sea involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe. The deaths have brought the tally in the central

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant says it has applied for approval from safety authorities to construct an undersea tunnel and other facilities needed for the planned release of large amounts of treated radioactive water into the sea. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings,

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s military has tested a home-grown Babur cruise missile that has a range of more than 900 kilometers (560 miles), twice the distance of an earlier missile of the same model . The missile’s extended range further enhances nuclear-armed Pakistan’s military capability. Pakistan and neighbor India, which is also nuclear armed, have

PARIS (AP) — The French army says it has “neutralized” a regional Islamic State group leader wanted in connection with the killing of seven aid workers, mostly French citizens, and a leading guide in a Niger giraffe park in August 2020. France’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that, in cooperation with Nigerien authorities, operatives from France’s

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — World shares have bounced back from selloff spurred by worries about how badly the omicron variant, inflation and other forces will hit the global economy. Shares in Europe and Asia rose and U.S. futures were higher. Oil prices also advanced. On Monday, the S&P 500 fell

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s former military intelligence chief says that Israel was involved in the American airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. Maj. Gen. Tamir Heyman, the now-retired general who headed military intelligence until October, appears to be the first official to confirm Israel’s involvement in an interview published in the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan has hanged three death-row inmates amid growing criticism from human rights groups of its use of the death penalty. Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa says the three were convicted of “extremely ghastly” murders and the punishment was appropriate. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries

BEIJING (AP) — China has announced sanctions on four members of the U.S. government’s Commission on International Religious Freedom in retaliation for penalties imposed on Chinese officials over complaints of abuses in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang region. The tit-for-tat sanctions add to spiraling tension over Xinjiang. Activists are calling for a boycott of February’s Winter

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has fired cruise missiles during a major military exercise across the country’s south. Tuesday’s report by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the Guard, did not specify the range of the missiles. It said five cruise missiles were fired from onshore and offshore

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish lira was making significant gains Tuesday after the country’s president announced new measures to safeguard deposits in the national currency against currency fluctuations. The lira hit an all-time low of 18.36 against the U.S. dollar Monday but rebounded to a high of 11.09 Tuesday morning.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hundreds of protesters have marched through the streets of the Afghan capital toward the shuttered U.S. Embassy, calling for the release of Afghanistan’s frozen assets. The protesters Tuesday marched down a central avenue holding banners reading, “Let us eat” and “Give us our frozen money.” The Taliban provided the protesters with

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran is reporting that its top diplomat to Yemen has died after contracting the coronavirus. The death of Ambassador Hassan Irloo on Tuesday came after he was recalled from war-torn Yemen for what Iran described as medical treatment. State-run media in Iran said he

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The high-profile trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes boils down to a single question: Did she cover up defects in her startup’s blood-testing technology to rip off investors while potentially endangering the lives of unwitting patients? Federal prosecutors charged Holmes, 37, with 11

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s leaders are set to decide on new restrictions, likely to come in after Christmas, aimed at slowing the spread of the new omicron variant of COVID-19. But plans so far fall short of a full lockdown. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany’s 16 state governors plan to consult later Tuesday after the

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press MONTGENEVRE, France (AP) — As Europe erects ever more fearsome barriers against migration, volunteers along the Italy-France border are working to keep migrants from being killed or maimed by cold and mountain mishaps as they cross the high Alps. Networks of hundreds of volunteers run migrant shelters, clothe those in

By FRANCISCO UBILLA Associated Press PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — When the Polish Olympic athlete Jolanta Ogar-Hill and her wife decided to have a baby, it was obvious to them both that Poland would not be the place to bring up their child. In recent years, right-wing ruling politicians and church leaders in the

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand will shorten the gap between second COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters and push back the phased reopening of its borders in measures to keep the omicron variant at bay. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkin told reporters the government has agreed to a “suite of precautionary measures” in light

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The suspect in a deadly fire at a mental health clinic in Osaka last week might have studied a fatal 2019 Kyoto Animation studio arson while preparing his own attack that killed 25 people, police say. Police said Tuesday they found a months-old newspaper containing an article

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran is reporting that its top diplomat to Yemen has died after reportedly contracting the coronavirus. The death of Ambassador Hassan Irloo on Tuesday came after he was recalled from war-torn Yemen for what Iran described as medical treatment. State-run media in Iran said