By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan lawmakers have begun debating a controversial internet safety bill that has been criticized by opposition politicians, journalists and rights groups as a move by the government to stifle freedom of speech. Public Security Minister Tiran Alles introduced the bill in Parliament on Tuesday,
Continue ReadingBy Dakin Andone, CNN (CNN) — Alabama intends to carry out the first known execution by nitrogen gas this week, when it’s scheduled to put to death Kenneth Smith some 14 months after failing to carry out his capital punishment by lethal injection. But little is known about how the method, nitrogen hypoxia, will be
Continue ReadingBEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say 31 people are confirmed dead while several remain missing after a landslide in a remote, mountainous part of the southwestern province of Yunnan. The disaster struck just before 6 a.m. on Monday in the village of Liangshui in the northeastern part of Yunnan. Authorities resumed search and rescue
Continue ReadingBy KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press AKSU, China (AP) — A magnitude 7.1 earthquake has struck a sparsely populated part of China’s western Xinjiang region, killing three people and damaging or collapsing more than 120 homes in freezing cold weather. The quake rocked a mountainous county in Aksu prefecture shortly after 2 a.m. on Tuesday. Although
Continue ReadingBy MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer It is a name that has become almost synonymous with professional wrestling but its bearer, Dwayne Johnson, has never legally owned “The Rock.” That will change under a new agreement with the WWE under which Johnson will also join the board of TKO Group, the sports and entertainment company
Continue ReadingBy JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino fishing boat captain has protested the Chinese coast guard’s aggression in the disputed South China Sea where he says Chinese officers forcibly drove him and his men away from a disputed shoal and ordered them to dump their catch back in the sea. Filipino
Continue ReadingBy ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s two biggest cities early Tuesday, damaging apartment buildings and killing at least five people after Moscow shunned any deal backed by Kyiv and its Western allies to end the almost two-year war. The Russian barrage included more than 40 ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft
Continue ReadingBy Dan Berman, Paula Reid, Jason Morris, Nick Valencia and Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — The allegations of an improper relationship between the Fulton County district attorney and a prosecutor she hired has roiled one of the major cases against former President Donald Trump. The situation is another twist in the multiyear effort to punish
Continue ReadingBy IGNATIUS SSUUNA Associated Press KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwandan authorities accused Burundi’s leader of making “incendiary allegations aimed at inciting division among Rwandans,” raising tensions that persist after Burundi closed all border crossings with Rwanda earlier this month. Relations between Rwanda and Burundi have deteriorated in recent weeks after Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye renewed
Continue ReadingBy JOSEF FEDERMAN, SAMY MAGDY and NAJIB JOBAIN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday — a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire. Hours
Continue ReadingTALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Thousands of artworks have been destroyed in a fire that swept through the main art gallery in Abkhazia in a severe blow to the cultural heritage of the separatist Georgian region. The blaze swept through the Central Exhibition Hall on Sunday in the city of Sukhumi, where the gallery was located
Continue ReadingBy JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Western countries have used a regular U.N.-backed review of China’s human rights record to press Beijing to do more to allow freedom of expression, protect the rights of ethnic minorities and repeal a security law in Hong Kong that is derided by independent activists, among other things.
Continue ReadingBy MJ Lee, Kevin Liptak and Arlette Saenz, CNN Washington (CNN) — The unofficial start of the general election for President Joe Biden’s campaign could commence late Tuesday evening – but that all hinges on what kind of a night Nikki Haley has. Following Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suspension of his presidential campaign over the
Continue ReadingBy MIKE CORDER Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — Suspects accused of involvement in the fatal 2021 shooting in Amsterdam of prominent Dutch investigative reporter Peter R. de Vries have repeatedly refused to answer questions from judges and lawyers as their trial opened. The nine suspects who went on trial Tuesday are accused of gunning down
Continue ReadingBy JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Spreading demonstrations by French farmers against low wages and other grievances were hit by tragedy when a woman was killed and her husband and their 14-year-old daughter seriously injured in a traffic collision at a protest barricade. A prosecutor told public radio France Bleu Occitanie that the
Continue ReadingBy JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has sent a letter to his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to discuss Sweden’s accession into the NATO military alliance. The invitation comes as Hungary and Turkey remain the only NATO members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid
Continue ReadingBy GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A study issued Tuesday by researchers collecting evidence of war crimes in Myanmar supported reports that air strikes by the military government damaged churches in the Buddhist-dominated country’s sole Christian-majority state. The 10 reported attacks on churches in the western state of Chin examined by the researchers
Continue ReadingBRUSSELS (AP) — NATO has signed a $1.2-billion contract to make tens of thousands of artillery rounds to replenish the dwindling stocks of its member countries. Those stocks are being drained as allies supply shells to Ukraine to help it defeat invading Russian forces. NATO hopes the contract will allow for the purchase of 220,000
Continue ReadingBy Eric Bradner and Gregory Krieg, CNN (CNN) — It’s now a two-person race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — and if former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley doesn’t defeat former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday, the fight may be over. With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exiting the race Sunday, Haley now has the
Continue ReadingCNN By Amir Tal and Richard Allen Greene, CNN Jerusalem (CNN) — Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in Gaza on Monday, the military said, in the deadliest day for its troops inside the battered enclave since the war with Hamas began. Most of the soldiers – 21 – were killed in an attack
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