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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to go on the offensive against Republicans, saying in effect that their policies would add $3 trillion to the national debt. Ahead of Biden’s remarks to union workers Wednesday in Lanham, Maryland, the White House issued a fact sheet that questions the GOP’s sincerity on deficit reduction. The White House is charging the GOP with hypocrisy for favoring tax policies that could push […]

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are still trying to punch through Ukraine’s defenses in eastern areas of the country, the Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday, as Moscow’s invasion struggles to gain momentum almost a year after it began. Russian artillery, drones and missiles have been relentlessly pounding Ukrainian-held eastern areas for months, indiscriminately hitting civilian targets and wreaking destruction, as the war largely slowed to a grinding stalemate in […]

BERLIN (AP) — A German labor union has called on workers at seven of the country’s airports to go on strike Friday to press demands for inflation-busting pay increases. Verdi said Wednesday that the one-day walkout by civil aviation security and ground staff would affect the airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hannover and Bremen. Frankfurt is Germany’s biggest airport and a major hub for intercontinental travel. The strike […]

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s humanitarian aid and refugee agencies said Wednesday they are seeking $5.6 billion to help millions of people in Ukraine and countries that have taken in fleeing Ukrainians in the wake of Russia’s invasion of their country nearly a year ago. The bulk of the joint appeal — $3.9 billion — is for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which aims to help more […]

AKERNI, Albania (AP) — A new, multimillion-euro international airport near Albania’s coastal city of Vlora will mean hundreds of jobs for area residents. But environmentalists warn it could cause irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystems of protected lagoons that host flamingos, pelicans and millions of other migratory birds. Albania’s new, 104 million-euro ($125 million) international airport — the country’s third — is currently being constructed at the Narta lagoon some […]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Wednesday acquitted the parents of an exiled female human rights activist, a defense lawyer said, three years after the couple was arrested on charges of terror financing and sedition. The 2019 arrests of Gulalai Ismail’s parents, Mohammad and Uzlifat Ismail, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, had drawn widespread condemnation. The U.S. State Department also expressed concern over the arrests. On Wednesday, […]

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s tax officials searched BBC offices in India for a second straight day on Wednesday questioning staff about the organization’s business operations in the country, some staff members said. BBC management told editorial and other staff members to work from home after they were able to leave the office on Tuesday night, said staff who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to […]

MERIBEL, France (AP) — American skier Mikaeala Shiffrin has decided to split from her longtime head coach, Mike Day, during the middle of the world championships. “After working with Mike Day for seven seasons, I’ve decided to move forward with new leadership on my team for the next phase of my career,” Shiffrin said in a statement released by the U.S. ski team Wednesday. “I want to thank Mike and […]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck near the New Zealand capital Wellington on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage. The quake struck under the Cook Strait that separates the North and South Islands at a depth of 74 kilometers (50 miles), USGS reported. Wellington is on the southern end of the North Island, which is responding to a cyclone […]