CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Thursday credited improved relations with China for the return home this week of an Australian journalist whose three-year detention in China in a murky espionage case had strained ties.A teary-eyed Wong had greeted Cheng Lei with a hug at the airport Wednesday in Melbourne, where
RAVENA, N.Y. (AP) — New York officials launched legal recreational marijuana sales by promising many of the first retail licenses to people with past drug convictions, hoping to give people harmed by the war on drugs a chance to succeed before competitors crowded in.But more than nine months after sales started, only about two dozen
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government is convening a religious affairs council on Thursday to ask experts to decide whether to seek a court order to revoke the legal status of the Unification Church. The church’s fundraising tactics and cozy ties with the governing party have triggered public outrage.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government has taken tough
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — José Abreu homered for the third time in two games, a two-run rocket in the fourth inning that launched the Houston Astros to their seventh straight AL Championship Series appearance with a 3-2 win that eliminated the Minnesota Twins in Game 4 of their Division Series on Wednesday night.José Urquidy gave the
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Thursday in a demonstration of strength against North Korea, as the North’s leader reaffirmed his push to bolster ties with Russia.The USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group came to the southeastern South Korean port of Busan after participating in
NEW YORK (AP) — Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said their opponent from Israel still wants to play an exhibition game Thursday night in Brooklyn, days after the country was attacked by Hamas militants.Maccabi Ra’anana will be opening a three-game tour against NBA teams. Nets center Nic Claxton questioned Wednesday whether the game should be played
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A former Mexican defense secretary whose arrest in the United States in 2020 on drug charges strained relations between the two countries was celebrated Wednesday with an honorary military decoration. In October 2020, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos was arrested in Los Angeles and accused of ties to an international drug trafficking ring
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge cleared the way Wednesday for enforcement of a public health order that suspends the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in New Mexico’s largest metro area.The order from U.S. District Judge David Urias rejects a request from gun rights advocates to block temporary firearms
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Religious institutions and nonprofit colleges in California will be allowed to turn their parking lots and other properties into low-income housing under a new law aimed at combating the ongoing homeless crisis.The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday, rezones land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious institutions, such as churches
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hallways filled with screaming voices. A terrible stench in the air. Wounded people streaming through the doors. Lifeless bodies and bags of body parts arriving in bedsheets. The scene at Shifa Hospital was a grisly reflection of the chaos around it. Even as workers mopped up blood and relatives
