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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military could pull back from the key eastern stronghold of Bakhmut, an adviser to the Ukrainian president said Wednesday, amid a relentless Russian offensive that has sought for months to capture the city. “Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. So far, they’ve held the city, but if need be, they will strategically pull back,” Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to […]

TOKYO (AP) — A new Haruki Murakami novel will be published in April and the publisher is saying little about it except that the Japanese manuscript is around 1,200 pages and the plot involves “a story that had long been sealed.” “The City and Its Uncertain Walls” will be released on April 13 in both print and digital formats, Shinchosha Publishing Co. said in a statement on Wednesday. The availability […]

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Jeremy Roach scored 20 points and helped Duke hold off North Carolina State in a 71-67 victory on Tuesday night to win its fifth straight game and complete a 16-0 home schedule. Tyrese Proctor added 12 points, going 8 of 9 at the line, including four in the final 18 seconds to put the game away for Duke (22-8, 13-6). Kyle Filipowski scored 11 points and […]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tim Southee’s New Zealand team earned two places in international cricket history with its dramatic, one-run comeback win over England in the second test. It was only the fourth team after England (in 1894 and 1981) and India (in 2001) to win a test match after being forced to follow-on and only the second after the West Indies to win by a margin of one […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19’s origins remain hazy. Three years after the start of the pandemic, it’s still unclear whether the coronavirus that causes the disease leaked from a lab or spread to humans from an animal. This much is known: When it comes to COVID-19 misinformation, any new report on the virus’ origin quickly triggers a relapse and a return of misleading claims about the virus, vaccines and masks that […]

PARIS (AP) — Just Fontaine, the French soccer great who scored a record 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup, has died. He was 89. Fontaine’s former club Reims announced his death on Wednesday. Fontaine took six games to achieve his feat at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, when he was a last-minute inclusion on the French squad. Entering the tournament, the Moroccan-born Fontaine was a little-known forward outside […]

BEIJING (AP) — China says a ban on the use of TikTok by official European Union institutions will harm business confidence in Europe. In the latest salvo in the battle over the Chinese-owned video sharing app, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council have banned TikTok from being installed on official devices That follows similar actions taken by the U.S. federal government, Congress and more than half […]

BEIJING (AP) — For the second day in a row, China on Wednesday dismissed U.S. suggestions that the COVID-19 pandemic may have been triggered by a virus that leaked from a Chinese laboratory. Responding to comments by FBI Director Christopher Wray, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the involvement of the U.S. intelligence community was evidence enough of the “politicization of origin tracing.” “By rehashing the lab-leak theory, the U.S. […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Wednesday it has expelled two German diplomats over Berlin’s alleged interference in its internal affairs. The move comes a week after Germany expelled two Iranian diplomats over a death sentence handed down to an Iranian-German opposition figure accused of masterminding deadly attacks. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had also summoned the German ambassador over “excessive” demands, without elaborating. Iran has repeatedly summoned […]