AP National News

By JON GAMBRELL and NASSER KARIMI Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president is saying that a cyberattack that shut down gas stations across the nation aimed to get “people angry by creating disorder and disruption.” Ebrahim Raisi’s comments, the first since Tuesday’s attack, did not blame anyone specifically for the incident.

BEIJING (AP) — China says participants in next year’s Winter Olympics will be strictly isolated from the general population and could face expulsion for violating COVID-19 restrictions. Beijing 2022 organizing committee official Zhang Jiandong says those taking part in the Winter Games beginning Feb. 4 must remain in a “closed loop” for accommodation, training, competing,

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan says that Saudi Arabia will deposit $3 billion into its central bank to help bolster the cash-strapped fellow Islamic nation’s shrinking foreign reserves. Shaukat Tarin, Pakistan’s top finance ministry official, also said on Twitter Wednesday that Saudi Arabia will additionally supply 1.2 billion worth of oil to Pakistan on credit. The

By HASSAN BARISE Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Among the once-taboo professions emerging from Somalia’s decades of conflict and Islamic extremism is the world of arts, and a 21-year-old female painter has faced more opposition than most. A rare woman artist in the highly conservative Horn of Africa nation, Sana Ashraf Sharif Muhsin lives

BRUSSELS (AP) — A study commissioned by the environmental group Greenpeace shows that over one-third of the busiest short-haul flights in Europe have viable train alternatives which are far less polluting. The group called on European governments Wednesday to boost train travel so fewer polluting planes are flying over the continent. The study by OBC

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court has established a committee of experts to probe accusations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government used Israeli military-grade spyware to monitor political opponents, journalists and activists. The Supreme Court order came in response to petitions filed by a group of Indian journalists, rights

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese activists say security forces have detained three prominent pro-democracy activists. The arrests have come hours after the military allowed deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and his wife to return home. International pressure is mounting on the generals, after they seized power in a coup Monday, some

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing who made opposing nuclear weapons the message of his life, including in a meeting with President Barack Obama in 2016, has died. He was 96. Tsuboi died Oct. 24 in a hospital in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan. When

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — A Group of 20 summit scheduled for this weekend in Rome is the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world’s biggest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic started. But the event isn’t business as usual. The leaders of Russia and China aren’t attending in person. There could

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A cyberattack in Iran affected all of the Islamic Republic’s 4,300 gas stations. That’s according to a senior official, who made the comment as some still faced problems Wednesday. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack that began Tuesday. However, it bore similarities to another months earlier that

BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations is summoning an unusual “witness” to testify to the dangers of burning fossil fuels that stoke global warming. In a video released on social media ahead of this year’s U.N. climate change summit, a computer-generated dinosaur bursts into the U.N.’s famous General Assembly hall in New York to tell

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The global energy transition is perhaps nowhere more perplexing than in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies are caught between two daunting climate change scenarios that each threaten their livelihood. In one, the world stops burning oil and gas to cut down

By HAU DINH Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has started to vaccinate children as part of an effort to reopen schools after more than half a year of closures due to COVID-19. About 1,500 teenagers between 16 and 17 years old in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam are among the first

By EILEEN NG and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — President Joe Biden and China’s Premier Li Keqiang are joining an annual summit of 18 Asia-Pacific nations by video, as some regional leaders voice concern about the sharpening of competition between major powers over trade, Taiwan, democracy and Beijing’s assertive actions. Russian

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press Students in Rhode Island are asking a federal appeals court to affirm that public school students have a constitutional right to a civics education. They’re asking the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston to reverse a lower court’s dismissal and declare there is such a right. Oral arguments

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — The defense for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly has argued there is no evidence or motives linking him to alleged under-reporting of his ex-boss Carlos Ghosn’s compensation. Kelly’s chief defense lawyer, Yoichi Kitamura, said in wrapping up the defense’s arguments that Kelly is innocent, and he

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic control of Virginia state government over the past two years has allowed lawmakers to dramatically reshape public policy with legislation reforming the criminal justice system, loosening abortion restrictions and expanding voting access. Now voters are weighing in at the ballot box on whether that turn

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer Soccer player Josh Cavallo has come out as gay in a public statement ahead of the A-League season. The 21-year-old Adelaide United midfielder says he’s the first player to openly come out while playing in Australia’s top-flight soccer league. Cavallo says “I want to inspire and show people that

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Many progressives have started lining up behind an emerging social and environment bill that’s neither as big nor as bold as they’d wanted. They’re faced with that decision because an outnumbered but potent band of party moderates have enjoyed a disproportionate say in shaping the measure. Democrats