AP National News

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Wednesday as traders prepared for a possible sharp interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve to cool inflation. Shanghai, Hong Kong and South Korea declined. Tokyo advanced. Oil prices were little changed, staying below $100 per barrel. Wall Street

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake shook the northern Philippines on Wednesday, injuring at least one person, damaging buildings and prompting many people in the capital to run outdoors. The 7 magnitude quake was centered around Abra province in a mountainous area, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press It was a stunning image: Pope Francis briefly wearing a full Indigenous headdress, its rows of soft white feathers fastened in place by a colorful, beaded headband after he apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s “disastrous” residential school system for Indigenous children. Chief Wilton Littlechild, a residential school

By AAMER MADHANI and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will speak Thursday, according to a U.S. official, their first conversation in four months coming amid new tension between Washington and Beijing over China’s claims on Taiwan. The planned talks between the two leaders — the fifth in

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake has shaken the northern Philippines, causing some damage and prompting people to flee buildings in the capital. Officials said no casualties were immediately reported. Philippine scientists say the 7.3 magnitude quake was centered around Abra province in a mountainous area and had several aftershocks. The quake was set

By NICOLE WINFIELD, PETER SMITH and ROB GILLIES Associated Press LAC SAINTE ANNE, Alberta (AP) — Pope Francis prayed for healing Tuesday from the “terrible effects of colonization” as he led a pilgrimage to a Canadian lake that has been known to Native peoples for centuries as a sacred place of healing. The prayer service

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A respected Polish scientific institute has classified domestic cats as an “invasive alien species,” citing the damage they cause to birds and other wildlife. Some cat lovers have reacted emotionally to this month’s decision and put the key scientist behind it on the defensive. Wojciech Solarz,

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s only abortion clinic is preparing for what could be its final day of performing procedures, with a trigger ban due to take effect Thursday that will likely force patients to travel hundreds of miles to receive care pending the clinic’s relocation across the border

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and FOSTER KLUG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s minister for gender equality and children’s issues called the country’s record low births and plunging population a national crisis and blamed “indifference and ignorance” in the male-dominated Japanese parliament. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Seiko Noda said the steadily dwindling

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press/Report for America PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Under the sweltering heat, Matthew Carr spent his lunch break in a fountain in downtown Portland, Oregon. The 57-year-old works outside picking up trash for the city and had to find a way to cool off. “This is pretty hot,” Carr said. “I can

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game topped last week’s TV ratings. An audience of 7.5 million watched the American League post a 3-2 victory over the National League in Los Angeles. But that represents a record low in the game’s viewership for the fifth time since 2015. The second evening hearing into

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Officials say more than 15 people have been killed and dozens injured during two days of demonstrations in Congo’s east against the United Nations mission in the country. The U.N. says one peacekeeper and two international policemen were killed Tuesday at the U.N. base in Butembo

By PETER SMITH Associated Press EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — As Pope Francis pays a historic visit to Canada, he is encountering a country that is less Catholic, more secular and more religiously diverse than the last time it hosted a pontiff two decades ago. And the city where he landed on Sunday — Edmonton —

By FRANCESCA EBEL Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Official preliminary results in Tunisia indicate 94.6% of voters cast in a  referendum favor the new constitution proposed by Tunisian President Kais Saied. Monday’s referendum was marked by low turnout, with under a third of eligible voters participating. Critics warn that the constitution could entrench an

Officials in Mexico City say police made one of the biggest drug busts in recent memory in the capital when they stopped two freight trucks carrying about 1.6 tons of cocaine. City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch said Tuesday that the cocaine was worth about $20 million on the street in Mexico. But he said

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico was outraged when a woman who had reported threats from her neighbors because of her autistic son’s loudness was set afire with alcohol and suffered fatal burns this month. But on Tuesday, prosecutors in the western state of Jalisco suggested the woman had bought medicinal alcohol and a lighter, then