AP

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s government said Tuesday it is withdrawing a controversial budget proposal after protests against it drew tens of thousands of people and saw clashes between police and protesters. Opposition and business groups have warned that plans for higher taxes, increased social security contributions and spending increases could hurt investment and expand

By The Associated Press U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, taking to the Kremlin an embryonic peace plan that Washington hopes can bring about an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Coinciding with Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to

By CHAN HO-HIM AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Uncomfortable questions are being raised over who is to blame for Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. As the territory mourns over the high-rise apartment fire that killed at least 156 people, anger and frustration are mounting over building safety lapses, suspected construction corruption and

By NICOLE WINFIELD, KAREEM CHEHAYEB and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Pope Leo XIV prayed Tuesday at the site of a deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion that has become a symbol of dysfunction and official impunity and called for justice to prevail, as he offered words of consolation to Lebanon’s people on the

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces on Tuesday killed a journalist and a man near a refugee camp in Gaza, health workers said, and shot dead two suspected Palestinian assailants in the West Bank wanted in a pair of attacks that wounded three

By BINSAR BAKKARA and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press BATANG TORU, Indonesia (AP) — Emergency crews raced to reach survivors and recover more bodies Tuesday as the death toll from last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides surged past 1,300 in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with more than 800 people missing. Days of heavy monsoon rains

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press TURMUS AYYA, West Bank (AP) — The fear is palpable in this Palestinian village. It’s clear in how farmers gather their harvests quickly, how they scan the valley for movement, how they dare not stray past certain roads. At any time, they say, armed Israeli settlers could descend. “In a

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Behind the hoopla over the promise of artificial intelligence lay difficult realities, including how such technology might affect people already disadvantaged in a data-driven world. A new report by the United Nations Development Program notes most of the gains from AI are likely to be reaped

By CHAN HO-HIM and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will set up an independent committee headed by a judge to determine the cause of a deadly apartment block fire that shocked the city, and to make recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again, its leader said Tuesday. John