Stock market today: Asian shares are mostly higher in thin post-Christmas holiday trading

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday in thin post-Christmas holiday trading, while oil prices rose. Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 1.1% to 39,568.06, on strong gains in retailers and tourism-related stocks after Japan agreed to ease visa conditions for Chinese...

Rising butter prices give European consumers and bakers a bad taste

PARIS (AP) — Pastry chef Arnaud Delmontel rolls out dough for croissants and pain au chocolat that later emerge golden and fragrant from the oven in his Paris patisserie. The price for the butter so essential to the pastries has shot up in recent months, by 25% since September...

14 dead and hundreds injured in magnitude 7.3 quake in Vanuatu. Some people are trapped in rubble

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck off Vanuatu killed at least 14 people, injured hundreds more and caused widespread damage across the South Pacific island nation, officials said early Wednesday. Frantic rescue efforts got underway after the...

New Zealand scientists suspect specimen of world's rarest whale died from head injuries

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Scientists suspect the first complete specimen ever recorded of the world’s rarest whale died from head injuries, an expert said Friday. The first dissection of a spade-toothed whale, a type of beaked whale, was completed last week after a painstaking...

2 Vietnamese police officials sexually attacked young women on visit to New Zealand, authorities say

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand authorities have “no doubt” that two Vietnamese officials sexually attacked two young female servers at a restaurant during a visit to the country, but were unable to charge the men before they returned to Vietnam, police said Thursday. ...

New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand immigration official has overturned a ban on the U.S. conservative political commentator Candace Owens entering the country, citing “the importance of free speech," a spokesperson for the official said Thursday. Owens is scheduled to...

A New Zealander studied for a year to win the Spanish world Scrabble title. He doesn’t speak Spanish

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand man playing his first-ever competitive Scrabble game in Spanish, a language he doesn’t speak, has won the board game’s Spanish-language world title. Nigel Richards, a professional player who holds five English-language world titles,...

Greyhound racing is increasingly rare worldwide. New Zealand now plans to outlaw the practice

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand plans to outlaw greyhound racing because too many dogs are hurt or killed, the government said Tuesday, spelling an end to the practice in one of the few countries where it still operates. The racing of greyhounds as a betting sport was...

3 climbers from the US and Canada are believed to have died in a fall on New Zealand's highest peak

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Three mountain climbers — two from the U.S. and one from Canada — missing for five days on Aoraki, New Zealand's tallest peak, are believed to have died in a fall, the authorities said Friday. The men's bodies were not found. But based on...

Police believe 3 US and Canadian climbers who went missing on New Zealand's highest mountain are dead