News

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Germany’s lame-duck chancellor, Angela Merkel, is in Israel for a final visit before leaving office. The visit caps Merkel’s 16-year term in office, which was characterized by near unwavering support for Israel. Germany held an inconclusive election last month, and Merkel remains in office until a new

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Family members say Abdul Qadeer Khan, a controversial figure known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, has died of COVID-19 following a lengthy illness. He was 85. Khan, who launched Pakistan on the path to becoming a nuclear weapons power in the early 1970s, died in

By DAKE KANG The Associated Press Four years after Beijing launched a brutal crackdown that swept up to a million or more Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities into detention camps and prisons, its control of China’s far west Xinjiang region has entered a new era. Chinese authorities have scaled back many of most visible

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president is calling for the maintenance of the political status quo in a forthright speech which acknowledged rising pressure from China. Tsai Ing-wen also firmly rejected Chinese military coercion, a stance driven home with a rare demonstration of Taiwan’s defense capabilities in a parade on

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqis are heading to the polls to elect a new parliament that many hope will deliver much needed reforms after decades of conflict and mismanagement. The vote was brought forward by six months in response to a popular uprising in the capital Baghdad and southern provinces in

By KATHLEEN FOODY and WILSON RING Associated Press Monday’s federal holiday dedicated to Christopher Columbus is highlighting the ongoing divide between those who view the explorer as a representative of Italian Americans’ history and those horrified by an annual tribute that ignores the native people whose lives and culture were forever changed by colonialism. Communities

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Seth Small made a 28-yard field goal as time expired and Texas A&M stunned top-ranked Alabama 41-38 to end the Crimson Tide’s winning streak at 19 games. Defending national champion Alabama had scored 21 straight points — capped by a TD reception and 2-point

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqis are electing a new parliament that many hope will deliver much needed reforms after decades of conflict and mismanagement. The vote was brought forward by six months in response to a popular uprising in the capital Baghdad and southern provinces in late 2019. Polls opened Sunday

By LEANNE ITALIE AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Kim Kardashian West, sporting a hot pink catsuit, skewered everyone from her mom’s boyfriend to her famous sex tape and estranged husband Kanye during her first turn hosting “Saturday Night Live.” She joked Saturday night that she was as surprised as anyone when she was

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and Gov. Kim Reynolds have embraced Donald Trump’s return to Iowa. They stood by the former president at a rally in Des Moines as he repeated his false claims of voter fraud and a stolen election to a crowd of thousands.

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Martin J. Sherwin, a leading scholar of atomic weapons who challenged support for the U.S. bombing of Japan, has died at age 84. Sherwin was best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the pioneering physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Entitled “American Prometheus,” the book was