AP National News

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed Wednesday in Asia ahead of a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates. In Japan, higher inflation and falling wages raised questions about how the central bank can navigate away from near-zero interest rates. The Bank of Japan will issue a policy

GENEVA (AP) — U.N.-backed human rights experts say in a report issued Wednesday that Israeli forces and Palestinian militants engaged in sexual and gender-based violence during the first months of the Israel-Hamas war. The independent experts, in a detailed chronicling of events that have mostly been reported in the media, said Israeli forces and Palestinian

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday will likely make official what’s been clear for many weeks: With inflation sticking at a level above their 2% target, they are downgrading their outlook for interest rate cuts. In a set of quarterly economic forecasts they will issue after their

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s top trade official is predicting China will lift a ban on Australian lobster imports after Chinese Premier Li Qiang visits the country. That would end the final obstacle for exports to China since it imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in 2020.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City’s historic Chapultepec Castle has been depicted flying the Targaryen flag, and officials in Mexico aren’t amused. The producers of the HBO series “House of the Dragon” posted a video this week showing the black Targaryen flag hanging over the battlements of the 19th-century landmark in Mexico City. Mexico’s National

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed the country’s expanding relationship with Russia on Wednesday, as reports suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon visit the country for his third meeting with Kim. Military, economic and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia have

By OMAR ALBAM and ABBY SEWELL Associated Press IDLIB, Syria (AP) — For more than a decade, a steady flow of Syrians have crossed the border from their war-torn country into Lebanon. But anti-refugee sentiment is rising there, and in the past two months, hundreds of Syrian refugees have gone the other way. They’re taking

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government says a Chinese man who sailed a small boat into a strategic river mouth in Taiwan was acting on his own and would be punished after his return to China. Taiwan’s official news agency says the man has been identified as a 60-year-old former Chinese naval officer. His reported

By MONIKA PRONCZUK Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — As Muslims worldwide prepare to celebrate Eid Al-Adha, Senegal’s locally bred star sheep have their moment to shine. The animals that can fetch tens of thousands of dollars live a life of luxury in special parlors where they are massaged, groomed and fed syringes full of

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca ahead of the start of the Hajj later this week, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale. Saudi officials say more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in the country

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower Wednesday in Asia ahead of a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates. In Japan, higher inflation and falling wages raised questions about how the central bank can navigate away from near-zero interest rates. The Bank of Japan will issue a

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Defense attorneys for a woman accused of leaving her Boston police officer boyfriend for dead in a snowbank grilled the lead investigator Wednesday about a series of offensive and inappropriate texts he wrote about the suspect during the investigation. Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor also acknowledged that

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Survivors and relatives of the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Florida had hoped by now to have a permanent memorial place at the site. But scaled-back plans for a memorial to the 49 people killed and 53 wounded in the attack on the gay-friendly club in Orlando are

By TERESA CRAWFORD and JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press WAUBEKA, Wis. (AP) — Each June, the people of Waubeka venerate perhaps the nation’s most enduring symbol, celebrating Flag Day, a holiday that escapes the notice of many Americans. But this unincorporated Wisconsin town about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Milwaukee takes the day seriously. After

By VIVIANNE WANDERA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her kitchen made of iron sheets. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew on the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was engulfed in smoke. “I’ve used firewood all my life,” she said. “Sometimes

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — An extreme weather phenomenon known as the dzud has killed more than 7.1 million animals in Mongolia this year, more than a tenth of the country’s entire livestock holdings, endangering herders’ livelihoods and way of life. Dzuds are a combination of perennial droughts and severe, snowy

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch court is delivering verdicts in the trial of nine men suspected of involvement in the assassination of popular campaigning journalist Peter R. de Vries on a downtown Amsterdam street three years ago. Prosecutors have sought convictions and life sentences for the man charged with gunning

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When disinformation researcher Wen-Ping Liu looked into China’s efforts to influence Taiwan’s recent election using fake social media accounts, something unusual stood out about the most successful profiles. They were female, or at least that’s what they appeared to be. Fake profiles that claimed to be women

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Just before 2 a.m. on a chilly April night in Seattle, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup stopped at an electric vehicle charging station on the edge of a shopping center parking lot. Two men, one with a light strapped to his head, got out. A security camera