AP World News

By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY and MARK BAKER Associated Press PORT STEPHENS, Australia (AP) — The ferry was late, but not because of the usual traffic. Sydney commuters watched from an idling boat this month as humpback whales the size of buses surfaced nearby, halting the vessel’s passage across the harbor. The curious mammals seemed to be

By SAM McNEIL Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders on Thursday called for even greater efforts to help meet Ukraine’s pressing military needs, and expressed support for the country’s quest to join their ranks, but they made little headway with new sanctions against Russia. At a summit in Brussels, the leaders said it

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Denis Villeneuve is going from “Dune” to Bond. Amazon MGM Studios announced Wednesday that Villeneuve will direct the next James Bond movie. The untitled film will be the first since the studio took creative reins of the storied film franchise after decades of control by

By GONZALO SOLANO and GABRIELA MOLINA Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A fugitive drug trafficker wanted by authorities in Ecuador and the United States was recaptured more than a year after he escaped from prison in the Andean nation, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced Wednesday. José Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” who led a gang

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A former Venezuelan spymaster who was close to the country’s late President Hugo Chávez pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug trafficking charges a week before his trial was set to begin in a Manhattan federal court. Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal was extradited from Spain in 2023 after

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of job cuts, leadership turnover and other turmoil at the Social Security Administration, the agency’s newly minted commissioner faced pointed questions from lawmakers about the future of the agency and its ability to pay Americans their benefits and protect their privacy. Frank Bisignano, who was

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer President Donald Trump is repeatedly condemning CNN and The New York Times for reports that call into question the damage caused by last weekend’s U.S. strikes of Iran — and downplaying his own intelligence analysts in the process. Trump on Wednesday called on CNN to throw out “like a

By LORNE COOK Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO’s summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday has been described as “transformational” and “historic.” “We’re witnessing the birth of a new NATO,” Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said. The 32 members of the world’s biggest security organization endorsed a plan to massively ramp up defense spending,

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer The Trump administration’s choice to oversee government-run news outlets like Voice of America told a congressional committee on Wednesday that “it’s best to just scrap the whole thing and start over.” Kari Lake, the former Arizona newscaster turned Republican politician, testified that the U.S. Agency for Global Media is

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump will control the so-called “golden share” that’s part of the national security agreement under which he allowed Japan-based Nippon Steel to buy out iconic American steelmaker U.S. Steel, according to disclosures with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The provision gives the president

By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Now comes a new chapter in U.S.-Iran relations, whether for the better or the even worse. For nearly a half century, the world has witnessed an enmity for the ages — the threats, the plotting, the poisonous rhetoric between the “Great Satan” of Iranian lore and the

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — For many Iranians it was a lightning sequence of events: A 12-day war with Israel and a sudden, U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Now, as they return to their neighborhoods deeply shaken by Israeli air assaults, fears mount over what the country’s theocracy may do next. Human

By JON GAMBRELL and LEE KEATH Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The bombing has quieted in Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel. Now its battered theocracy and 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must regroup and rebuild in a changed landscape. Israeli airstrikes decimated the upper ranks of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and

By AVET DEMOURIAN Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s security services arrested one of the country’s top religious leaders on terrorism charges Wednesday and accused him of plotting to overthrow the government, the second arrest in a week of a prominent political opponent. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a major figure in the influential Apostolic Church,

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There’s little to celebrate. Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and

By MARIAM DAGGA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Seham Fawzy Khodeir watches as her son lies inside a dilapidated incubator and listens to his faint cry, mixed with the muted sound of the equipment. The mother of six is increasingly concerned about the survival of Hisham al-Lahham, who was

DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — A sunken 18th-century boat has been discovered by chance near the majestic stone walls of Croatia’s medieval city of Dubrovnik. Ivan Bukelic was working on a water pipeline in Dubrovnik’s old port back in April when he found a wooden structure buried in the seabed. “I can now say I discovered

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Kingdom will buy 12 U.S.-made F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs and will join NATO’s shared airborne nuclear mission, in a major expansion of its nuclear deterrent, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday. The government called it “the biggest strengthening of the U.K.’s nuclear posture in

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV affirmed Wednesday that priests must be celibate and insisted that bishops take “firm and decisive” action to deal with sex abusers, as he gave marching orders Wednesday to the world’s Catholic hierarchs. Leo met in St. Peter’s Basilica with about 400 bishops and cardinals

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally approved plans Wednesday to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The special tribunal will be created through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe, the continent’s top

By The Associated Press Seven Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when their armored vehicle was struck by an explosive, an Israeli military official said Wednesday. The announcement comes a day after witnesses and hospitals in Gaza said Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of Palestinians

By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and Iran seemed to honor the fragile ceasefire between them for a second day Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that American and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace.

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO leaders met Wednesday to agree a significant boost in defense spending, spurred by Russia’s military buildup and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine could only look on from the sidelines. His country, at war with Russia since the Kremlin’s invasion in

By The Associated Press NATO member leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, gathered Wednesday for a summit in the Netherlands. They are expected to agree upon a new defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product. But Spain announced that it wouldn’t be able to reach the target by the new 2035 deadline, calling

By MIKE CORDER, SYLVIE CORBET, MOLLY QUELL and LORNE COOK Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO leaders agreed on a massive hike in defense spending Wednesday after pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, and expressed their “ironclad commitment” to come to each other’s aid if attacked. The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — At least eight Kenyans died and more than 80 others were receiving specialized treatment Wednesday, with some sustaining gunshot wounds, during countrywide protests against police brutality and poor governance, human rights groups said. The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported monitoring countrywide demonstrations, leading

By JULIA FRANKEL and FATMA KHALED Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Wednesday reported one of its deadliest days in Gaza in months as its military said seven soldiers were killed when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle, while health officials in the battered enclave said Israeli attacks killed 79

By EMMA BURROWS AP Europe Security Correspondent Last week, Ukrainian drone hunters picking up the debris from Russia’s nightly assault on their cities found a weapon that stood out from the rest. It had an advanced camera, a computing platform powered by artificial intelligence and a radio link, allowing an operator to pilot it remotely

By SEUNG MIN KIM and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday wrapped up participation in the annual NATO summit facing an alliance that had largely bent to his will. Far from the tense meetings of Trump’s first term, much of the annual summit in The Hague

By MAURICIO SAVARESE, ELÉONORE HUGHES and GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — When Lt. Col. Mauro Cid arrived at Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday to testify against his onetime ally, former Defense Minister Gen. Walter Braga Netto, he did not salute the senior officer. It was a departure from military protocol that