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By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ALI ABDUL-HASSAN Associated Press KUT, Iraq (AP) — A fire engulfed a newly opened shopping center in eastern Iraq, killing more than 60 people, including children, Iraqi officials said Thursday. Civil defense teams rescued more than 45 people who became trapped when the fire broke out late Wednesday in the city

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fresh off securing a plan to receive more U.S. weaponry, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed a new prime minister – the key negotiator of his country’s deal with the U.S. to partner on the development of minerals. By naming Yulia Svyrydenko, the former economy minister,

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and GHAITH ALSAYED Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the southern province of Sweida on Thursday after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority that threatened to unravel the country’s post-war transition. The conflict had drawn airstrikes against Syrian forces by

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli shell slammed into the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest, according to church officials. The late Pope Francis, who died in April,

By VOLODYMYR YURCHUK and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A new Ukrainian government approved Thursday will race to expand domestic arms production to meet half the country’s weapons needs within six months as it tries to push back Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Meanwhile, Switzerland said Thursday that the U.S.

By KEN MORITSUGU and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has toured a panda breeding facility in the final stages of an extended state visit that has cast China as a fellow champion of a global fair trade system under threat from the United States. The panda diplomacy stop

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladeshi security forces on Wednesday clashed with supporters of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leaving at least four people dead and scores injured, a hospital official and local media said. The violence erupted in the morning and spread as a new political party formed by students

By JILL LAWLESS and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signed a landmark treaty on Thursday that pledges to tighten defense ties, as European nations try to protect Ukraine, and themselves, from an aggressive Russia in the face of wavering support from President Donald

By EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The massive crowd that would gather once a year at a revered waterfall in central Haiti where the faithful would splash in its sacred waters and rub their bodies with aromatic leaves was not there on Wednesday. Powerful gangs in March attacked the