Month: June 2023

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New figures show that New Zealand’s economy has dipped into recession as higher interest rates take their toll. Statistics New Zealand said Thursday that gross domestic product fell by 0.1% in the March quarter, following a revised 0.7% fall in the previous quarter. That fulfils

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers are weighing future relations with Ukraine as Russia’s war on the country thwarts its hopes of joining the world’s biggest security alliance soon. NATO agreed in 2008 that Ukraine would join the organization one day, but did not set a date for it to start membership talks. During the

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares logged moderate gains on Friday after Wall Street benchmarks swept higher, extending their longest rally in a year and a half. The Bank of Japan wrapped up a policy meeting by keeping its ultra-lax monetary stance unchanged, as expected. It is a standout among

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS Associated Press KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — Nine survivors of a migrant boating sinking were arrested on suspicion of smuggling as hope faded for hundreds of other passengers who were missing and attention turned to Greece’s failure to act before the overcrowded ship capsized. The overloaded trawler may have carried

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The union for thousands of West Coast dockworkers has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract after more than a year of negotiations and several work disruptions that snarled shipping traffic at some of the largest ports. On Wednesday the dockworkers union announced a tentative deal for a new six-year

By AJIT SOLANKI, SIBI ARASU and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press MANDVI, India (AP) — Wind-driven rain pelted the shores of western India and southern Pakistan as Cyclone Biparjoy pushed into the coast with the potential for a significant storm surge and flash floods from heavy rain. The two nations had moved 173,000 people to shelters

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Sunlight filters through shattered windows, casting a glow upon the dusty furniture and fragments of glass strewn across the floor of the office belonging to Oleksandr Vinkovskyi, director of a Kyiv business where visually impaired people worked. Vinkovskyi is blind, and can’t see the scale of

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis says that Germany has agreed to extend another $1.4 billion overall for Holocaust survivors around the globe for the coming year. The compensation was negotiated with Germany’s Finance Ministry and includes $888.9 million

By FARES AKRAM, NINIEK KARMINI, ABBY SEWELL, MARIAM FAM and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press This year’s Hajj is a landmark: the first full pilgrimage after a daunting three-year period when the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced the scale of one of Islam’s holiest and most beloved rites. Millions of Muslims from around the world will start

By JIM MUSTIAN and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man Thursday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest death in a spike of violence that has rocked the region. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20-year-old Khalil Yahya Anis was shot in the head in the city of Nablus, a frequent flashpoint for

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang is meeting with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a drive by Beijing to elevate relations and increase its overall presence in the Middle East. Li, who took office this spring with little foreign policy experience, called Abbas “an old friend of the Chinese people” who has made