By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government is stepping up security for lawmakers after politicians reported threats and intimidation connected to the Israel-Hamas war. The Home Office said Wednesday that a 31 million-pound ($40 million) fund will give every lawmaker a “dedicated named police contact.” It also will provide money for
Continue ReadingBy Rosa Rahimi and Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN (CNN) — Polls have closed for legislative elections in Iran that analysts say could see a record low turnout as Iranians grapple with an ailing economy, growing political distrust and a quashed protest movement. Voting ended at midnight Saturday local time after the polls opened at 8 a.m.
Continue ReadingBy JIWON SONG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has discussed cooperation on extended reality devices with LG Electronics executives. He was on a visit to South Korea on Wednesday as part of a three-nation Asian tour. He already visited Japan and will travel to India after
Continue ReadingBy TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Price increases for cars and trucks in the United States, which helped fuel inflation for nearly three years, are slowing and in some cases falling, helping cool overall inflation and giving frustrated Americans more hope of finding an affordable vehicle. Behind the price slowdown is a
Continue ReadingVATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis appeared Wednesday at his weekly audience after canceling all appointments earlier in the week due to a mild flu, remembering the victims of land mines and calling for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere. The pope was pushed in a wheelchair into into the audience hall at
Continue ReadingBy HYUNG-JIN KIM and JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of junior doctors in South Korea are a week into a labor boycott in protest of the government’s push to recruit more medical students to cope with the country’s fast-aging population. The strikes have already led to a number of operations
Continue ReadingBy LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Ukraine’s president co-hosted a summit with Albania’s government on Wednesday that is meant to encourage further support for Kyiv by southeastern European countries, as signs of fatigue grow two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived before midnight Tuesday on the latest stop
Continue ReadingBy BABACAR DIONE Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A national dialogue panel in Senegal proposed holding elections in early June, the first proposed new date offered since the president attempted to push elections back to the end of the year. President Macky Sall who faces term limits at the end of his second terms,
Continue ReadingBy The Associated Press The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place on Friday in Moscow after several locations declined to host the service, his spokesperson said. His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow’s southeast Maryino district on
Continue ReadingBy COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing to offer $85 million in funding to improve job opportunities for youth in communities affected by gun violence and crime. It’s part of an overall administration effort to address not just the immediate needs of a community following violence, but also to
Continue ReadingBy WILL WEISSERT and BARBARA ORTUTAY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday is signing an executive order aimed at better protecting Americans’ personal data on everything from biometrics and health records to finances and geolocation from foreign adversaries like China and Russia. The attorney general and other federal agencies are to
Continue ReadingBy Sean Lyngaas, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden will issue an executive order on Wednesday aimed at curbing foreign governments’ ability to buy Americans’ sensitive personal information such as heath and geolocation data, according to senior US officials. The move marks a rare policy effort to address a longstanding US national security concern: the
Continue ReadingBy Jeremy Herb and Annie Grayer, CNN Hunter Biden has been the focus of Republicans in Congress since they won the majority over a year ago. Now, they finally get their chance to interrogate President Joe Biden’s son about his foreign business dealings. Hunter Biden is appearing behind closed doors before the House Oversight and
Continue ReadingBy John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — For Michael Cargill, the thorny dispute over bump stocks is only partly about the controversial devices themselves. It’s also about what Cargill views as government overreach. “It’s the principle of it,” said the 54-year-old Texas gun store owner who six years ago sued over a federal ban on the
Continue ReadingPARIS (AP) — France’s Senate is voting on a bill meant to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the French Constitution. The measure was promised by President Emmanuel Macron following a rollback on rulings in the United States. Wednesday’s vote comes after the lower house, the National Assembly overwhelmingly approved the proposal in
Continue ReadingBy LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official is calling for a new defense industry strategy to respond to security challenges posed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that “Europe must spend more, spend better, spend European.” Russia’s invasion has exposed weaknesses
Continue ReadingMOSCOW (AP) — The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place on Friday in Moscow, his spokesperson said. His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow’s southeast Maryino district on Friday afternoon, Kira Yarmysh said Tuesday. The burial is
Continue ReadingBy ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Global markets were mixed on Wednesday after U.S. stocks held near their record levels in a quiet day of trading. France’s CAC 40 edged 0.1% higher in early trading to 7,952.76. Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% to 17,589.14. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.2% to 7,665.96. The futures
Continue ReadingBy ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Organizers of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have agreed to relax their ban on police marching in their annual parade with a compromise condition that officers do not wear uniforms. The decision comes a day after Australian police found the bodies of a couple shot
Continue ReadingBy KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — As Hong Kong moves toward enacting a new national security law, more than three years after Beijing imposed a similar law that all but wiped out dissent and vocal pro-democracy media in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, concerns are spreading among the city’s international business and media
Continue Reading