NEW YORK (AP) — , the Chinese artist and dissident who believes it his job to be “incorrect,” was hard at work Tuesday night during an appearance at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

“I really like to make trouble,” Ai said during a 50-minute conversation-sparring match with author-interviewer Mira Jacob, during which he was as likely to question the question as he was to answer it. The event was presented by PEN America, part of the literary and free expression organization

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Inflation in New Zealand has slowed to its lowest rate in two and a half years, the country’s official statistics agency announced on Wednesday.

Stats NZ revealed the latest consumers price index (CPI) data had slowed to 4.7% across 2023, a significant drop from the 5.6% result in the year to September 2023.

The agency said falling food and transport prices were the main drivers of the slowdown in the inflation rate

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge is standing by her decision to block portions of a from New Mexico’s governor that would suspend the right to carry firearms in many public parks in the Albuquerque area, with appeals pending before a higher court.

The Monday order from Albuquerque-based Judge Kea Riggs denied a request from the governor to leave in place a temporary ban on firearms in some public places in greater Albuquerque, including most public parks.

Riggs earlier

MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi showed off a new jersey, then helped christen a new ship.

Inter Miami celebrated its partnership with cruise line Royal Caribbean International on Tuesday by sending Messi and his teammates to the Port of Miami, where they took part in the traditional naming of a new ship — the Icon of the Seas, in this case. The ship, which formally sets sail for the first time this weekend, is the longest in the world at 1,198 feet.

Messi was the headliner

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The co-chairs of the U.S. Congressional Taiwan Caucus on Wednesday opened the first trip by U.S. lawmakers to the island where the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won a third straight term this month.

U.S. Reps. Ami Bera, a Democrat from California, and Florida Republican Mario Díaz-Balart plan to “engage with senior officials and business leaders,” Bera’s office said in a statement, without naming those with whom

ILWACO, Wash. (AP) — A fire at a port building along the coast in Washington state destroyed more than 1,000 crab pots just ahead of the state’s commercial Dungeness crab season, which opens Feb. 1.

The blaze began around noon on Monday at the Port of Ilwaco, which is near the mouth of the Columbia River and north of Astoria, Oregon, .

The remote area of the fire made it difficult to get enough water supply to fight the blaze, the Ilwaco Fire

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

Jan. 21

The Washington Post on SCOTUS, “Chevron deference”

To hear some describe the stakes, argued on Wednesday could create a watershed moment in American government. Business lobbies and conservative activists see an opportunity to restrain an out-of-control “administrative state.” Progressives fear the court will render the federal government incapable of responding to modern challenges from climate change to artificial intelligence.

At issue is a deceptively arcane matter: who gets to interpret the

The latest mass killing in the U.S. happened where authorities say a 39-year-old woman intentionally set a fire at home to kill herself and her four children.

The children were 9-year-old twins, a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Police announced late Wednesday that a preliminary investigation determined it was a murder-suicide. Investigators believe the mother set fire to a mattress, and a note was left stating her intentions to kill herself and her children

ATLANTA (AP) — An attempt to state that Georgia’s appointed State Election Board has the legal power to investigate Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s handling of elections blossomed into a constitutional showdown Tuesday, with a lawyer for Raffensperger saying board members can’t legally oversee him.

“There is no precedent for an unelected board of political appointees to have oversight over members of the executive branch,” wrote Charlene McGowan, Raffensperger’s general counsel. “Giving a board of unelected bureaucrats unchecked power over the