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Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named

Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s nuclear watchdog has formally disqualified a reactor in the country’s north-central region from starting. It’s the first rejection under safety standards that were reinforced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a setback as Japan seeks to accelerate reactor restarts to maximize nuclear power. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said Wednesday

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration intends to bolster its military support to Ukraine. Blinken was at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday for planned meetings with allied envoys and Ukrainian officials. He said that the U.S. will “continue to shore up everything we’re doing for Ukraine to

Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration is determined in its final months to help Ukraine keep fighting its war with Russia next year. Blinken said Wednesday in Brussels that the U.S. is sending Ukraine as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian

Associated Press DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Several international airlines have canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali because of an ongoing volcanic eruption. Travelers were left stranded at airports on Wednesday. Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has spewed hot ash high into

AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Donald Trump’s election win is clouding the outlook for mortgage rates even before he gets back to the White House. The president-elect campaigned on a promise to make homeownership more affordable by lowering mortgage rates through policies aimed at knocking out inflation. But his proposed economic agenda could

BEIJING (AP) — China has held sea and air combat drills at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea. China on Sunday published new baselines for the shoal including geographic coordinates. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s state media say authorities have executed in public a man convicted of raping dozens of women over two decades. Wednesday’s report by the state-owned IRAN newspaper said Mohammad Ali Salamat was hanged after the country’s Supreme Court confirmed his death sentence. The execution took place on Tuesday at dawn at

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Paris prosecutors have requested a 2-year prison sentence against France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen and an additional 5-year period of ineligibility to run for office. The request came at a high-profile trial over the suspected embezzlement of European Parliament funds where Le Pen’s ability to participate in the presidential

Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Voting is underway in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland in a key presidential election that was delayed for two years. Local media on Wednesday showed voters waiting in line to cast their ballots, with many saying they want a stronger economy and more jobs, among other local priorities. More

Associated Press SITUBONDO, Indonesia (AP) — The Indonesian and Australian militaries are holding joint combat drills off Indonesia’s main island of Java with about 2,000 troops training in air, maritime, amphibious and land operations. They’ll participate in a live-fire exercise near Banongan beach of East Java’s Situbondo district with tanks, artillery, infantry and attack helicopters,

AP Education Writers Transgender youth in the United States have been flooding crisis hotlines since the election of Donald Trump, who made anti-transgender themes central to his campaign. Many teens worry about how their lives could change once he takes office. During his presidential bid, Trump pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions and roll back civil

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s election victory created a conundrum for the judge overseeing his criminal case in New York. Can he go ahead and sentence the president-elect, or would doing so potentially get in the way of Trump’s constitutional responsibility to lead the nation? Court documents made public Tuesday revealed that

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary. Trump has picked someone who’s largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military. The news Tuesday was

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson won the House Republican nomination Wednesday to stay on the job, on track to keep the gavel after a morning endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump ahead of a full House vote in the new year. While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces dissent within his