News

By JIM GOMEZ, JOEAL CALUPITAN AND AARON FAVILA Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A massive crowd of mostly barefoot Catholic worshippers has marched in an annual procession in the Philippines’ capital, parading a centuries-old black statue of Jesus. Many worshippers at the event said they were praying for peace in the Middle East, where

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s leading presidential candidate William Lai says he hopes for a reopening of dialogue with China following almost eight years of Beijing’s near-complete refusal to communicate with leaders of the self-governing island it considers its own territory. But Lai told reporters Tuesday he would seek to

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday passed a landmark ban on production and sales of dog meat, as public calls for a prohibition have grown sharply over concerns about animal rights and the country’s international image. Some angry dog farmers said they plan to challenge the

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s defense ministry has issued an alert saying China has launched a satellite and urging caution days before the island’s elections. Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections Saturday that China has described as a choice between war and peace. In English, the presidential alert sent to residents’ mobile phones cautioned there

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — An officer wounded in a bombing that targeted police assigned to protect polio vaccination workers has died in a hospital in northwestern Pakistan. His death brings to seven the number of officers killed in the bombing on Monday in the district of Mamund in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The Pakistani Taliban have

By EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has temporarily grounded three Boeing 737-9 Max jetliners, following an incident last week in which an Alaska Airlines plane suffered a blowout that left a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage. The three aircraft, grounded since Saturday, belong to the Indonesian budget carrier

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday endorsed landmark legislation outlawing the country’s dwindling dog meat industry, as public calls for the ban have grown sharply amid animal rights campaigns and worries about the country’s international image. Some angry dog farmers said they plan to file a

By DAVID KOENIG, CLAIRE RUSH and TOM KRISHER Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal investigators say a door panel slid up before flying off an Alaska Airlines jetliner last week, and they are looking at whether four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place might have been missing when the

By ANUPAM NATH and WASBIR HUSSAIN Associated Press THIMPHU, Bhutan (AP) — Voters in Bhutan, a landlocked country in the eastern Himalayan mountain range with a population of around 800,000 people, are casting ballots to elect a new Parliament. Bhutan lies sandwiched between China and India, with both neighbors vying for influence in the country.

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Attorneys for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop music legend Tupac Shakur in 1996 say prosecutors are wrong — that their client is facing danger, not witnesses — and he should be released from jail to house arrest ahead

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Baseball Writer OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Two council members from the City of Oakland have mailed a letter to Oakland Athletics President Dave Kaval expressing their concerns with his club’s decision to block a minor league game by the expansion Oakland Ballers that had been scheduled for the Coliseum on June

By NATACHA PISARENKO and ALMUDENA CALATRAVA Associated Press MERCEDES, Argentina (AP) — Thousands of faithful Argentines flock every year to the northern city of Mercedes to ask folk cowboy saint Gauchito Gil for protection and to thank him for past favors. But this year, a deepening economic crisis and drastic political shifts seem to dominate