World News

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said Wednesday

The defense in the second trial of Karen Read rested its case on Wednesday and said Read was framed for the killing of her Boston police officer boyfriend.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has climbed past 55,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 49 people were confirmed dead Wednesday as floods devastated one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, and officials said the toll was expected to rise as more bodies are recovered in the search for missing people.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma appeals court on Wednesday ordered a stay of execution to be lifted for a man on death row, clearing the way for him to receive a lethal injection for killing a Tulsa woman in 1999.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and the U.K.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government survived a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday, shoring up its mandate after the nationalist opposition’s victory in Poland’s presidential election deepened political gridlock and r

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan was struck by an earthquake about 71 kilometers (44.1 miles) south of Hualien City, monitoring agencies said. The quake hit seconds after cell phone alarms went off at 7:01 p.m. Wednesday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military has shut down loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda along the inter-Korean border, marking the new liberal government’s first concrete step toward easing tensions between the war-divid