By MATT OTT AP Business Writer The number of Americans filing for jobless claims fell last week despite more layoff announcements from high-profile companies recently. Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to 218,000 for the week ending Feb. 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Weekly unemployment claims are seen as a proxy for the
Continue ReadingBy MATT BROWN and JAMES POLLARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — To hear some conservatives on cable news or on social media tell it, Taylor Swift is part of an elaborate plot to help Democrats win the November election. “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” wrote former Republican presidential candidate
Continue ReadingBy JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Pressure is mounting on Hungary’s head of state to resign after it was revealed she issued a presidential pardon to a man convicted as an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case. Hungary’s opposition parties say President Katalin Novák is no longer fit to hold office
Continue ReadingMANILA, Philippines (AP) — Rescuers dug out more bodies from a landslide-hit southern Philippine village on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 11 as the number of missing rose to 110, officials said. At least 31 residents survived with injuries when the landslide hit the gold-mining mountain village of Masara in Davao de Oro province
Continue ReadingBy ELAINE KURTENBACH and MATT OTT AP Business Writers Wall Street edged lower before the bell Thursday, but 5,000 remains within reach for the S&P 500. Futures for the S&P 500 inched back 0.2% before the bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is effectively unchanged. The focus this week is on corporate earnings with
Continue ReadingBy MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley is launching a bus tour before South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary on Feb. 24. The former governor is hoping the two-week push will show her commitment to her home state heading into the first-in-the-South vote. It’s a tall order in a state where support
Continue ReadingBy ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces are claiming they shot down a Russian attack helicopter in eastern Ukraine near the city of Avdiivka. That’s where Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are fighting from street to street as the Kremlin’s forces step up their four-month campaign to surround Kyiv’s defending troops. An
Continue ReadingBy ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India says it will replace its military personnel in Maldives with civilian technical staff who will operate three aircraft from India that provide humanitarian services. The decision comes after new Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu demanded that the Indian military personnel be withdrawn by March 15. At
Continue ReadingBy LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union lawmakers are calling for an independent investigation into allegations of vote-rigging in Serbia. They demanded that EU funds be cut off if the authorities in Belgrade fail to cooperate with the inquiry or are found to be implicated in election irregularities. A monitoring mission by
Continue ReadingBy JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — A panel of U.N.-backed experts that focuses on children’s human rights is calling on Russia to prevent efforts to rewrite school curricula and textbooks to reflect the government’s “political and military agenda,” including in Ukraine. The Committee on the Rights of the Child held hearings in Geneva
Continue ReadingBy DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Antiwar politician Boris Nadezhdin was rejected Thursday as a candidate in next month’s presidential balloting by Russian election authorities, a strong signal from the Kremlin that it won’t tolerate any public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. The move by the Central Election Commission provides an
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By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear former President Donald Trump’s appeal to remain on the 2024 ballot, the justices’ most consequential election case since Bush v. Gore in 2000. The court will be weighing arguments over whether Trump is disqualified from reclaiming the White House because
Continue ReadingPITTSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say 10 cars of a cargo train carrying plastic pellets and cooking oil derailed in upstate New York, with two ending up in a river. Authorities say the cars were part of a 94-car train that derailed about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday in Rensselear County, in the village of Valley Falls.
Continue ReadingBERLIN (AP) — A German Navy frigate has set sail toward the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in an EU mission to defend cargo ships against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that are hampering trade. The Hessen set off on Thursday from the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven with about
Continue ReadingBy ROSALIE MURPHY of NerdWallet People who make money on the side usually declare self-employment income. They’re running businesses, even if they’re very small ones — and by treating them as such, people with side gigs may be able to optimize their time spent working to reach their personal financial goals more efficiently. Those steps
Continue ReadingBy DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a dozen sports leagues and players associations have promised the White House that they will provide more opportunities for people to exercise and learn about nutrition and healthy lifestyles. The White House announced Thursday that the leagues and associations representing football, hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer
Continue ReadingBy CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Warships from the U.S., Australia and Japan have held joint drills in the South China Sea in defiance of Beijing, which claims sovereignty over virtually the entire strategic waterway. The U.S. 7th Fleet says a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and combat ship carried out operations with navy
Continue ReadingBy RIAZAT BUTT and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed confidence his party would win national elections on Thursday, a vote that has been marred by violence, deep political tensions and the imprisonment of a popular contender. A day before the election, at least 30 were
Continue ReadingBy AYSE WIETING Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s new central bank chief says the work to tame inflation — namely through interest rate hikes — will continue “with determination.” The comments Thursday by Fatih Karahan offer some certainty about efforts to right the battered economy following his precedessor’s surprise resignation. Speaking for the
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East on Thursday with public divisions between the United States and Israel at perhaps their worst level since Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began in October. Wrapping up a four-nation Mideast trip — his
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