TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The United States’ new top envoy to Taiwan promised Wednesday that Washington will help the self-ruled island defend itself as China ramps up its military threats. Raymond Greene, who assumed his new role as director of the American Institute in Taiwan on Monday, met with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te . “First
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics declared an indefinite strike Wednesday to pressure South Korea’s biggest company to accept their calls for higher pays and other benefits. Thousands of members of the National Samsung Electronics Union launched a temporary, three-day strike on Monday. But the union said Wednesday that it was
PALU, Indonesia (AP) — Search efforts for those trapped in a deadly landslide intensified Wednesday, with more rescuers deployed to search an unauthorized gold mine on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island that saw 23 deaths over the weekend. More than 100 villagers were digging for grains of gold Sunday in the remote and hilly village of Bone
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Used to shrugging off the heat, Las Vegas residents are now eyeing the thermometer as the desert city is on track Wednesday to set a record for the most consecutive days over 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 Celsius) amid a lingering hot spell that will continue scorching much of the U.S. into
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawrence Cheng, whose family owns seven Wendy’s locations south of Los Angeles, took orders at the register on a recent day and emptied steaming hot baskets of French fries and chicken nuggets, salting them with a flourish. Cheng used to have nearly a dozen employees on the afternoon shift at his
WENZHOU, China (AP) — At a factory in Zhejiang province on China’s eastern coast, two mounds of discarded cotton clothing and bed linens, loosely separated into dark and light colors, pile up on a workroom floor. Jacket sleeves, collars and brand labels protrude from the stacks as workers feed the garments into shredding machines. It’s the first stage
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was formally charged on Tuesday by prosecutors in the Dominican Republic with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. The prosecutors decided to press charges four days after the initial deadline expired on July 5, six months after a judge ordered that Franco be investigated
EDIRNE, Turkey (AP) — After nearly an hour of grappling with his opponent under the blazing sun, Turkey’s “Tireless Wrestler” was crowned the winner of the 663rd Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Championships. Yusuf Can Zeybek, from the Mediterranean province of Antalya, retained the title he won last year in a contest said to date back to
WENZHOU, China (AP) — China is the world’s largest textile producer and consumer, throwing away 26 million tons of clothes each year, mostly made of unrecyclable synthetics. A recycling factory in Zhejiang province on China’s east coast repurposes discarded cotton clothes to try to deal with the urgent waste problem. So, too, are young innovative
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The ballooning debt in East Africa’s economic hub of Kenya is expected to grow even more after deadly protests forced the rejection of a finance bill that President William Ruto said was needed to raise revenue. He now warns “it will have huge consequences.” Facing public calls to resign, Ruto has
