AP National News

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister is asking for international help for the impoverished nation’s flood victims. Friday’s appeal from Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif came amid exceptionally heavy monsoon rains, which have been lashing the country since mid-June. The downpours have caused flash floods and killed 937 people. Although floodwater

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Abel Ferrara is perhaps best known for his gritty New York exploitation films of the 1980s and 1990s that delved into the soulless evils of drug addiction, corruption and sexual violence. His latest film is paying homage to one of Italy’s best-known and most revered saints, “Padre

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Pro Football Writer CLEVELAND (AP) — Michelle Krause grapples with the challenge of telling people she is a massage therapist. It’s just easier to say she works in finance or nutrition. She’s among the hundreds of massage therapists attending the American Massage Therapy Association’s three-day national convention in Cleveland, which

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press BORDEAUX, France (AP) — The landscape in the prestigious vineyards of Bordeaux looks the same as ever, with healthy, ripe grapes hanging heavy off rows of green vines. But this year something is starkly different in one of France’s most celebrated wine regions and other parts of Europe. The harvest

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s leader on Friday said China and Russia are “disrupting and threatening the world order” through Beijing’s recent large-scale military exercises near the island and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. President Tsai Ing-wen was speaking during a meeting in Taipei with U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is on the second visit by

By FARES AKRAM and SAM McNEIL Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Ibrahim Slaieh can point to three great moments of joy in his life in the Gaza Strip: his graduation from university, his wedding, and the day last year when he got a six-month permit to work inside Israel. The permit —

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — They’re your run-of-the-mill Japanese “salarymen,” hard-working, pot-bellied, friendly and, well, rather regular. But the chief executive and general manager at a tiny Japanese security company are among the nation’s biggest TikTok stars, drawing 2.7 million followers and 54 million likes, and honored with awards as a trend-setter

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Friday ahead of a speech by the Federal Reserve chair that investors hoped would shed light on plans for more interest rate hikes. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Shanghai was little-changed. Oil prices rose. Investors focused on

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A Vietnamese court has rejected an appeal by prominent journalist and democracy activist Pham Doan Trang, who had been sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the state,” state media said. The Hanoi Supreme Court upheld the sentence that was handed down to the 44-year-old in December,

By BILL BARROW Associated Press KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker has plenty to say about how his Democratic rival, Sen. Raphael Warnock, does his job in Washington. But Walker is considerably less revealing about what he’d do with the role himself. Walker tags Warnock as a yes-man for President Joe

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is set to release Friday a heavily blacked out document explaining the justification for an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate earlier this month, when agents removed top secret government records and other classified documents. The document, expected by noon, is

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer Elton John and Britney Spears have collaborated for the first time, creating the slinky, club-ready single “Hold Me Closer” that sees the pop icons take old sounds and fashion something new. The funky, piano-driven single uses John’s 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer” as the skeleton and adds elements from his

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — When Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivers what will be his most closely scrutinized speech of the year Friday, investors and economists will be turning over his remarks for any clues about how fast the Fed may continue to raise its key interest rate

SYDNEY (AP) — Authorities have found 1.8 metric tons (2 U.S. tons) of methamphetamine hidden in marble tiles shipped from the Middle East to Sydney in what police describe as the largest-ever seizure of the illicit drug in Australia. Three men were arrested after 748 kilograms (1,649 pounds) of the drug were found early this

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A U.S. senator has met with Taiwan’s president in Taipei, in the second visit by members of Congress since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip earlier this month sharply raised tensions with China. U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn reaffirmed U.S. support for the self-governing island democracy in her

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pledging to renegotiate household debts if he wins October’s election. His promise during a prime-time TV interview Thursday night is his latest enticing pledge seeking to win the support of tens of millions of Brazilians experiencing hardship at a time when

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — Four people were killed, including a local law enforcement official, in a shooting Thursday at an apartment complex in southern Arizona, officials said. Police in Tucson identified one of the victims as Pima County Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay and another as a employee of the apartment complex, KVOA-TV reported. Martinez-Garibay was serving

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado woman has denied accusations that she plotted with QAnon supporters to kidnap her son from his foster home denies there was ever a planned raid. Cynthia Abcug testified Thursday on the last day of her trial. She said she met backers of the

CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities say a person was detained after jumping a  fence outside the FBI’s Chicago field office and throwing rocks at the building. Federal officials say the incident happened about 11 a.m. Thursday. They say nobody was injured and there is no threat to the public. They say the person was turned over