Taiwan fires rockets in China's direction from US-supplied mobile launching system

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (AP) – Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack. The latest live-fire exercise was the first time its rockets were fired into the waters of the narrow Taiwan Strait.

1 killed in crackdown on protests against the arrest of women in Afghanistan

A violent crackdown on a protest in western Afghanistan against the arrests of women for allegedly violating dress code regulations has left at least one person dead, the United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

Amnesty accuses Israel's government of 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians from the West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) – Amnesty International accused Israel on Wednesday of carrying out a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank with the intention to annex the Palestinian territory.

Editorials from The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and others

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

FISA spy program at risk over Trump's pick of Pulte for director of national intelligence

WASHINGTON (AP) – A rare lapse in a law that allows the U.S. to gather intelligence abroad is growing more likely after President Donald Trump resisted calls from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to immediately name a permanent head of the nation’s intelligence agencies.

The 'King of the North' seeks a path to becoming Britain's next leader in a special election

ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, England (AP) – About 75,000 voters in a pocket of northwest England are about to make a momentous decision. They will cast ballots in a contest that may well pick the U.K.’s next prime minister, or plunge Britain’s febrile politics into even more turmoil. Possibly both.

Man accused of killing a top Minnesota lawmaker to change plea

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The man charged in the political assassinations of the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, as well as the attempted murders of a state senator and his wife, is due to appear in federal court Thursday to change his not-guilty plea, after federal prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty against him.

Solar power hits new milestones in US as Trump boosts coal over clean energy

Even as President Donald Trump boosts coal over clean energy, solar power is hitting new milestones in the U.S. and remains the leading source of new power.

Stabbing suspect appears in court after anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) – A 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court Wednesday charged with attempted murder over a stabbing attack that left a man seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence in several parts of Northern Ireland.