5 mins read

Russia presses its barrages of Ukraine as Trump talks of possible peace and Kyiv is emboldened

KYIV, Ukraine | More than 100 Russian drones targeted areas of Ukraine on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, hours after another barrage of civilian areas killed at least eight people. “Russia continues its strikes and is doing so brazenly — deliberately targeting our railway infrastructure and civilian sites in our cities,” Zelenskyy said in a […]

4 mins read

US overdose deaths fell again in 2025, but some worry about policy and drug supply changes

NEW YORK | About 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year — about 14% fewer than the previous year, according to preliminary government data. It was the third straight annual drop, making it the longest decline in decades, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2025 total is about the same as the tally […]

6 mins read

Peter Jackson receives honorary Palme D’Or as Cannes flaunts star power despite Hollywood’s retreat

CANNES, France | The 79th Cannes Film Festival opened Tuesday with politics, artificial intelligence and the shifting priorities of Hollywood taking center stage at the film gathering on the French Riviera. The festival launched with a tribute to director Peter Jackson, handing the “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker an honorary Palme d’Or. He was introduced […]

6 mins read

20 years after a 22-minute ovation, Guillermo del Toro and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ return to Cannes

CANNES, France | Twenty years ago, Guillermo del Toro premiered “Pan’s Labyrinth” at the Cannes Film Festival. He went in anxious. It was toward the end of the festival and many journalists had left. The movie’s production had been a nightmare. Then the audience gave it a 22-minute standing ovation, the longest in Cannes history. […]

6 mins read

Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are in a HBO doc on being Asian American, Pacific Islander

Director Eugene Yi has always been interested in the term Asian American and Pacific Islander and which ethnicities it includes. “When we’re talking about Asian Americans or Asian people in the U.S., oftentimes it’s people who might look like you and me, and maybe not people who look like (New York City Mayor) Zohran Mamdani,” […]

2 mins read

Conan O’Brien to return as Oscars host in 2027

Conan O’Brien’s era as Oscars host is becoming a trilogy. The Emmy-winner and comedian will be back to host the 99th Academy Awards in 2027, film academy leaders said Tuesday. O’Brien hosted the last two Oscar ceremonies to positive reviews. Earlier this year, in his opening monologue, he said he was “honored to be the […]

6 mins read

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera reunite on Day of the Dead in new Met Opera production

Racked by unrelenting pain, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo wrote in her diary shortly before she died: “I joyfully await the exit — and hope never to return.” Yet return she does — if only briefly — on the Day of the Dead in “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” (“The Last Dream of Frida […]

7 mins read

Operator of hantavirus-hit ship will say by week’s end when the vessel will resume cruises

The operator of the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak told The Associated Press Wednesday that it expects to know by the end of the week if the vessel will keep to its schedule for the coming months, as it previously indicated it would. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is listed on Oceanwide […]

2 mins read

Louisiana advances plan to eliminate majority-Black US House district after court ruling

BATON ROUGE, La. | Republican senators in Louisiana advanced a plan Wednesday to eliminate one of two majority-Black, Democratic-held congressional seats following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s U.S. House map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The early morning Senate committee vote came after hours of impassioned testimony from Black residents […]

6 mins read

Gunfire breaks out in Philippine Senate where authorities have tried to arrest a senator

MANILA, Philippines | A burst of gunfire rang out Wednesday night in the Philippine Senate, where authorities have tried to arrest a senator who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for a charge of crime against humanity, an Associated Press journalist and other witnesses said. It wasn’t immediately clear what set off the gunfire […]