By SIMINA MISTREANU and HAN GUAN NG Associated Press SHANGHAI, China (AP) — American Ballet Theatre has returned to China for the first time in a decade, the latest sign that strained U.S.-China relations are beginning to improve. The New York-based company’s 85 dancers prepared for opening night at the Shanghai Grand Theater on Thursday.
Continue ReadingBy CHRISTOPHER BODEEN and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press HEFEI, China (AP) — Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people have gathered near a state funeral home in Beijing as China’s former second-ranking leader, Li Keqiang, was put to rest. Crowds also gathered in Li’s hometown in the central city of Hefei, laying a mound of bouquets in
Continue ReadingBy Priscilla Alvarez and Camila DeChalus, CNN (CNN) — The mayors of Denver and Chicago met with senior White House officials on Thursday to discuss the influx of migrant arrivals in their cities, according to a White House spokesperson. Over the last year, the White House has come under increasing criticism from local officials across
Continue ReadingMILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office has expressed “regret” that she fell prey to a prank call that induced her to acknowledge “fatigue” over the war in Ukraine. Meloni believed she was speaking with officials of the African Union. She told a pair of Russian pranksters that “there is a lot of fatigue,
Continue ReadingBy KELVIN CHAN and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press BLETCHLEY PARK, England (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and senior politicians from around the world agreed Thursday at a U.K. summit on the importance — if not the details — of containing risks from rapid advances in cutting-edge artificial intelligence.
Continue ReadingBy ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The host of a weekend family lunch at her Australian country home was charged Thursday with murdering her ex-husband’s parents and aunt with poisonous mushrooms and attempting to murder a fourth guest, police said. Police arrested Erin Patterson, 49, at her home in the Victoria state
Continue ReadingBy STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is piling more gains onto its rally from the day before on hopes the Federal Reserve may finally be done with its market-crunching hikes to interest rates. The S&P 500 was 1.6% higher in midday trading Thursday and on track for a fourth
Continue ReadingBy Leah Asmelash, CNN (CNN) — Jenny Nguyen-Don was craving some chicken. It was earlier this year, and Nguyen-Don, who was living in London at the time, had also been talking to this guy on Hinge, a dating app, for about a month. So, she thought: Two birds, one stone. She shot him a text
Continue ReadingBy DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy says it will disburse $440 million to install solar panels on low-income homes in Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory struggles with ongoing power outages and a crumbling electric grid. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday that the department
Continue ReadingBy JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s highest court apparently isn’t ready to allow the state to restart executions after more than 12 years until they hear more arguments about newly obtained lethal injection drugs as well as the firing squad and electric chair. The state Supreme Court set a Feb.
Continue ReadingBy TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Autoworkers at the first Ford factory to go on strike have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a tentative contract agreement reached with the company. Members of Local 900 at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, west of Detroit voted 81% in favor of the four
Continue ReadingBy FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Thursday imposed a new round of sanctions on 130 firms and people from Turkey, China and the United Arab Emirates in an effort to choke off Russia’s access to tools and equipment that support its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions imposed by the
Continue ReadingBy Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith’s office have accused former President Donald Trump’s legal team of seeking to manipulate the courts in their bid to delay his trials past the 2024 presidential election. Fresh off a Florida hearing where Trump appeared to gain traction in his effort to delay one of
Continue ReadingBy MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press The state of Pennsylvania will work with a major natural gas producer to collect in-depth data on air emissions and water quality at well sites, enhance public disclosure of drilling chemicals and expand buffer zones. CNX Resources Corp. will partner with the state Department of Environmental Protection on environmental monitoring
Continue ReadingBy TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press A growing list of Israeli officials have accepted responsibility for failing to prevent Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli communities during the Oct. 7 incursion that triggered the current Israel-Hamas war. Conspicuously absent from that roll call is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Following the horrific assault, which saw the deadliest day
Continue ReadingBy Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The heads of most animals are easily identifiable, but scientists haven’t been able to say the same for sea stars until now. A starfish has five identical arms with a layer of “tube feet” beneath them that can help the marine creature move along the seafloor, causing naturalists to
Continue ReadingSTOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s coast guard says a ferry that ran aground last month off southeastern Sweden and started leaking oil into the Baltic Sea has arrived at a Swedish harbor where its tanks will be emptied. The Marco Polo had been sailing between the cities of Trelleborg and Karlshamn when it ran aground Oct.
Continue ReadingBy CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Rights groups say in new reports that security forces and armed groups are committing alleged war crimes against civilians in Africa’s Sahel region where extremists and rebels are increasingly fighting to exert dominance and control resources in communities. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say that
Continue ReadingBy MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The final Beatles recording is here. Titled “Now and Then,” the almost impossible-to-believe track is four minutes and eight seconds of the first and only original Beatles recording of the 21st century. There’s a countdown, then acoustic guitar strumming and piano bleed into the unmistakable
Continue ReadingBy SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Called cover crops, they top the list of tasks U.S. farmers are told will build healthy soil, help the environment and fight climate change. Yet after years of incentives and encouragement, Midwest farmers planted cover crops on only about 7% of their land in 2021.
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