News

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — Reports in Japan are saying vehicle manufacturer Toyota will end its massive sponsorship deal with the International Olympic Committee after this year’s Paris Olympics. Toyota has a contract through the 2024 Paris Games, which was reported to be valued at $835 million when it was announced

By KEMO CHAM Associated Press FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — In Sierra Leone, a cheap, synthetic drug is ravaging youth. Trash-strewn alleys are lined with boys and young men slumped in addiction. Healthcare services are severely limited. One frustrated community has set up what it calls a treatment center, run by volunteers. But harsh measures

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s election will determine how weary the country has become of the ruling African National Congress party, which has been in power since the end of apartheid 30 years ago. President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC are struggling to keep their parliamentary majority

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africans will vote Wednesday to decide whether their country takes its most significant political step since it brought down apartheid and achieved democracy 30 years ago. This national election will not be as momentous as the one South Africa held in 1994. Then,

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — Generations of American families have grown up not knowing exactly what happened to their loved ones who died while serving their country in World War II and other conflicts. But a federal lab tucked away above the bowling alley at Offutt Air Force

By SEAN MURPHY and JULIO CORTEZ Associated Press VALLEY VIEW, Texas (AP) — Powerful storms killed at least 18 people, injured hundreds and left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a truck stop where dozens sought shelter during the latest deadly weather to strike the central

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Some 2.5 million Mexicans — mostly women — are domestic workers, a profession that has come to encapsulate gender and class divisions long permeating Mexico. These women play a fundamental role in Mexican society, picking up the burden of domestic labor as a growing number of

By DIDI TANG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Business is good at “the firm.” The eight-person team at the State Department is leading Washington’s efforts to ease the economic blowback for countries targeted by China. It emerged in the scramble to help Lithuania during a spat with China over Taiwan two years ago. Today, “the

By DANICA COTO Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — For 12-year-old Juliana St. Vil, life begins every afternoon. She bounds out of the crowded shelter where she’s been sleeping on the concrete floor for 10 months, a smile on her face despite harsh surroundings. Not yet a teenager, Juliana must navigate a Haiti oppressed by

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Concepción Alejo is used to being invisible. Alejo, 43, touches her face up with makeup on a Tuesday morning, and steps out of her tiny apartment on the fringes of Mexico City. She walks until the cracked gravel outside her home turns into cobblestones, and the

By LORI HINNANT and VASILISA STEPANENKO Associated Press FAR WESTERN UKRAINE (AP) — Precious few choices are available to Alexander, a 26-year-old Russian soldier, since his capture: Clothes, meals and the hours of his day are rigidly accounted for in the camp for prisoners of war. But Ukraine allows Alexander to call home to his

By The Associated Press This week’s new streaming entertainment releases include a new album from Willie Nelson, Benedict Cumberbatch playing a curmudgeon puppeteer in “Eric” on Netflix and home improvement gurus Chip and Joanna Gaines fix up a mid-century modern lake house on HGTV. There’s also a documentary about Muppet creator Jim Henson, George Clooney’s

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Asian shares were mostly higher on Monday after U.S. stocks bounced back from Wall Street’s worst day since April to finish higher for the week. U.S. futures slipped while oil prices advanced. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.7% to 38,900.02 and the Kospi in Seoul jumped 1.2% to 2,717.71. Australia’s