Blog with slideshow

TOKYO (AP) — A group of Japanese doctors has filed a civil lawsuit against U.S. search giant Google, demanding damages for what they claim are unpoliced derogatory and often false comments. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Tokyo District Court, demands 1.4 million yen ($9,400) in damages for 63 medical professionals. Google said in an emailed statement Friday that it is working “24 hours a day” to reduce misleading or false […]

The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under rules finalized Friday by the Biden administration. The new provisions are part of a revised Title IX regulation issued by the Education Department, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Joe Biden. He had promised to dismantle rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who added new protections […]

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm. The decision — part of an ongoing, yearslong fight over whether and how to develop the vast oil resources in the state — […]

BEIRUT (AP) — An attack on pro-government fighters by suspected members of the Islamic State group in central Syria killed 22 pro-government fighters, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media reported Friday. Gunmen attacked a bus carrying members of the Quds Brigade, a government and Russian-backed faction of mostly Palestinian fighters in Syria, near the town of Sukhna late Thursday night. Sukhna was once an IS stronghold. There was no […]

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Two people have been detained in Poland on suspicion of attacking Russian opposition activist Leonid Volkov, an ally of the late activist Alexei Navalny, the Lithuanian president announced on Friday. Volkov was attacked in March outside his home in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, where he lives in exile. The attacker smashed one of his car’s windows, sprayed tear gas into his eyes and hit him with […]

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A pair of nude feet — dirty, wounded and vulnerable — are painted on the façade of the Venice women’s prison chapel, the work of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and part of the Vatican’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale contemporary art show in an innovative collaboration between inmates and artists. That Cattelan is the lead artist is striking, given that his provocative life-size was figure of […]

BEIJING (AP) — San Francisco is the latest U.S. city preparing to receive a pair of pandas from China, in a continuation of Beijing’s famed “panda diplomacy.” San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the panda loan in Beijing on Friday, alongside officials from China Wildlife Conservation Association, or CWCA. It will be San Francisco’s first time hosting the beloved animals long-term — the result of a yearlong advocacy campaign, Breed […]

SYDNEY (AP) — Shoppers and workers returned to a “really quiet” Sydney mall Friday, where six days earlier an assailant stabbed six people to death and wounded more than a dozen others in an attack that police believe targeted women. Westfield Bondi Junction mall near world-famous Bondi Beach had opened Thursday, although shops inside were closed, for a “community reflection day.” New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns described it […]

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 2.4% on heavy selling of semiconductor-related shares and other market heavyweights. Tensions in the Middle East were weighing on sentiment across the region, and U.S. futures were sharply lower. Oil prices jumped as the state-run IRNA news agency reported that Iran fired air defense batteries early Friday morning after reports of explosions near the city of Isfahan. Japan’s […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Three Russians set a world record for parachuting from the Earth’s stratosphere to the North Pole last week in a mission that also served as a test of a new prototype communications system for use in the Arctic, an organiser of the venture told Reuters. Mikhail Korniyenko, Alexander Lynnik and Denis Yefremov hurled themselves from an Ilyushin-76 plane at a height of 10,500 metres (34,450 feet) and […]