AP World News

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister is a heavy metal music fan. She loves motorcycles and playing the drums, including with visiting dignitaries. She thrilled a nation that often fetishizes company loyalty by declaring that her secret for success as leader would be “ work, work, work, work, work. ”

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — After a day spent selling books, Solanda Oña typically boards a bus from a wealthy seaside district in Havana to her home in the city’s working-class center. But on Thursday night, the bus never came. The 64-year-old bookseller spent the night sleeping in a nearby restaurant instead,

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press ALTO ILA, Ecuador (AP) — On a recent journey into the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle, Ramón Pucha realized he was being trailed. Fresh puma tracks now lined the path alongside his own footprints. Unfazed, he continued his trek, focused entirely on the precious cargo he carried — seeds from some of

By ABBY SEWELL, JOHN LEICESTER and EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. peacekeepers patrolling southern Lebanon have faced a dramatic surge of “aggressive behavior” by Israeli forces over the last year, including drone-dropped grenades and machine-gun fire, according to an internal report seen by The Associated Press. The report by one of

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Vice President JD Vance met Friday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — one of the Trump administration’s closer allies in Europe — during his trip to Italy for the Olympic Games. Vance is on a weeklong visit that combines sports and diplomacy,

By ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An alleged participant in the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, has been taken into custody to face prosecution for the rampage that killed four Americans and emerged as a divisive political issue, the Justice Department said Friday. Zubayar Al-Bakoush,

By KAMILA HRABCHUK Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday described the performance of the air force in parts of the country as “unsatisfactory,” and said that steps are being taken to improve the response to large-scale Russian drone barrages of civilian areas. The repeated Russian aerial assaults have in

By PELUMI SALAKO and OPE ADETAYO Associated Press WORO, Nigeria (AP) — Weeks after residents of two Nigerian villages ignored a letter from militants announcing they would come to spread their extreme form of Islam, gunmen arrived on motorbikes and embarked on a 10-hour frenzy of killing. The attackers went from door to door, shooting

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian and U.S. negotiators discussed the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between the two countries and agreed on the need to quickly launch new arms control talks, the Kremlin said Friday. At the same time, the U.S. emphasized the need for

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber targeted a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers, killing 31 people and wounding at least 169 others, officials said, a rare bombing in Pakistan’s capital as its Western-allied government struggles to rein in a surge in militant attacks across the

MOSCOW (AP) — A deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence agency was shot and wounded in Moscow on Friday in an attack that follows a series of assassinations of senior military officers that Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalized after being shot several times by an unidentified assailant at an

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Canada and France opened diplomatic consulates on Friday in the capital of Greenland, showing support for NATO ally Denmark and the Arctic island in the wake of U.S. efforts to secure control of the semiautonomous Danish territory. Canada’s maple-leaf flag went up and dozens of people sang “O Canada” as Foreign

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina and the United States agreed Thursday to ease restrictions on each other’s goods in an expansive trade deal that boosts a drive by President Javier Milei to open up Argentina’s protectionist economy and a push by the Trump administration to reduce food prices for

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman on Friday, negotiations that appeared to return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program. But for the first time, America brought its top military commander in the Middle East to

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. government on Thursday announced an additional $6 million in aid for Cuba as the island’s crisis deepens and tensions escalate between the two countries, with Cuba’s president accusing the U.S. of an “energy blockade.” The aid is largely meant for those living

By FERNANDO LLANO and FERNANDA PESCE Associated Press ZAPOPAN, Mexico (AP) — The Mexican state of Jalisco on Thursday issued a health alert and mandated the use of face masks in schools as a measles outbreak hit the state capital, a key host city for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. The measures come on

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch military has got a new high-profile volunteer as it seeks to boost recruitment to counter growing fears about peace and security in Europe. Queen Máxima, the 54-year-old Argentinean-born wife of King Willem-Alexander, started training this week to become a reserve member of her

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Andrés Velásquez didn’t stick around to become one more government critic jailed after Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election. A former governor who had crisscrossed Venezuela stumping for then-President Nicolás Maduro’s opponent in the disputed race, he grew a thick beard, sent his children

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SANTA CRUZ DEL NORTE, Cuba (AP) — The smell of sulfur hits hard in this coastal town that produces petroleum and is home to one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric plants. Yet, even as the plant cranks back to life, residents remain in the dark, surrounded by energy sources they cannot

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Keir Starmer never met Jeffrey Epstein. But the British prime minister’s job is under threat because of the fallout from the late sex offender’s global web of relationships. Friendship with Epstein has already brought down a British royal – Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew –

By OPE ADETAYO Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian government has announced a military operation to tackle Islamic militants following the killing of scores of people, likely all Muslims. Meanwhile, about 180 Christians who were abducted elsewhere last month have been released. Local officials said 162 people were killed during a Tuesday attack

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief said Thursday that his office is in “survival mode” as he presented an appeal for $400 million to meet its estimated needs this year, after funding cuts last year hurt its work in 17 countries including Colombia, Myanmar and Chad. Volker Türk

By KAMILA HRABCHUK and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. and Russia agreed Thursday to reestablish high-level military dialogue for the first time in more than four years in another sign of warming relations between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to office and sought to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Indian teacher and activist known for creating hundreds of learning centers and painting educational murals across the walls of slums won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize on Thursday. Rouble Nagi accepted the award at the World Governments Summit in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, an annual

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin said Thursday it regretted the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States, while U.S. President Donald Trump declared he was against keeping its limits and wants a better deal. The pact’s termination left no caps on the two

By SAM METZ Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — As the bodies of two dozen Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes arrived at hospitals in Gaza on Wednesday, the director of one asked a question that has echoed across the war-ravaged territory for months. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?” Shifa Hospital’s Mohamed Abu Selmiya