Politics

HONG KONG (AP) — Lawyers for a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher have asked for an urgent meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a leading member of his international legal team said Tuesday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has sentenced a Belgian aid worker to a lengthy prison term and 74 lashes after convicting him of espionage in a closed-door trial, state media reported Tuesday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy seized over 2,100 assault rifles from a ship in the Gulf of Oman it believes came from Iran and were bound for Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese embassies stopped issuing new visas for South Koreans and Japanese on Tuesday in apparent retaliation for COVID-19 measures recently imposed by those countries on travelers from China.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has again extended government protection to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and one of his top Iran aides due to persistent threats against them from Iran.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb urged skeptical state legislators Tuesday to support funding for several big-ticket spending plans , arguing that the state needed to take action on multiple fronts.

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz.

Gov. Kristi Noem called Tuesday for using the state’s surplus to eliminate the tax charged on groceries and lower other taxes in a State of the State address that steered clear of the hot-button topic of abortion.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Blake Hounshell, a well-known journalist who edited The New York Times’ “On Politics” newsletter and formerly held several leadership positions at Politico, died Tuesday of an apparent suicide. He was 44.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon formally dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate Tuesday, but a new memo signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated.