AP World News

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Germany’s president laid a wreath Friday at Coventry Cathedral in central England, symbolically atoning for the atrocities of World War II as his country and the United Kingdom seek to bolster an alliance to combat the new war raging in Europe. Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s pilgrimage commemorates the Nazi

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration set forth a new national security strategy that paints European allies as weak and aims to reassert America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The document released Friday by the White House is sure to roil long-standing U.S. allies in Europe for its

By COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Riot police fired tear gas Friday at farmers attempting to block the main access road to the international airport in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, as protests escalated over delays in the payment of European Union-backed agricultural subsidies. Irate farmers have deployed thousands of tractors and other

By The Associated Press Ukraine has condemned two-time Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun’s switch to represent Russia amid the ongoing war and will try to strip her of awards. The 23-year-old Lyskun told the Russian newspaper Izvestia this week that “coaches’ incompetence” was a factor in her decision. “Most of our coaches are gymnasts or trampoline

By BERNARD McGHEE Associated Press The death of Pope Francis brought change to the Catholic Church, which counts 1.4 billion adherents and is now led — for the first time — by an American pope. The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he spoke before a crowd horrified many and prompted somber conversations

By NICOLAS GARRIGA Associated Press CHENGDU, China (AP) — French first lady Brigitte Macron caught up with an old friend — a giant panda born in France — at the tail end Friday of a visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron. At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home,

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers on Friday approved the government’s plan to attract more military recruits as the country tries to boost the ranks of its armed forces in the face of rising concern about the threat posed by Russia. The plan also foresees mandatory medical checks for young men.

ROME (AP) — A preliminary cauldron was lit by the Olympic flame at Italy’s presidential palace on Friday as the countdown to the Milan Cortina Winter Games approached the two-months-to-go mark. International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry and Italy President Sergio Mattarella were in attendance for the ceremony. “The Olympic flame is arriving to a

By ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery as U.S. peace efforts continued out of public view. U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has taken his biggest step yet to correct one of Pope Francis’ more problematic financial moves, canceling a special Holy See fundraising commission that was announced under questionable circumstances while Francis was hospitalized. Leo on Thursday formally suppressed the fundraising commission, abrogated its statutes

ISTANBUL (AP) — Prosecutors in Istanbul on Friday issued arrest warrants for dozens of soccer players and officials in relation to a betting scandal that has shaken Turkey. Among those detained in early morning police raids were players from Turkey’s leading clubs: Mert Hakan Yandas of Fenerbahce and Metehan Baltaci of national champions Galatasaray. The

By RAJESH ROY Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s aviation watchdog temporarily rolled back restrictions on airline crew duty hours, days after the previous order disrupted operations at major Indian airports as the country’s biggest airline, IndiGo, scrambled to restore normal services. The new regulations mandated longer rest periods and limited night flying hours

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — The deadliest fire in Hong Kong in decades is piling pressure on Beijing’s “patriots-only” governance system, casting a shadow on elections widely seen as a further step to tighten control over the city’s legislature. Sunday’s vote to elect new lawmakers to Hong Kong’s 90-member Legislative Council

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press JATUN RUMI, Ecuador (AP) — High in the mountains of the Ecuadorian Andes, a group of young Otavalo Indigenous people is using anime to inspire pride in their ancient culture and language, especially among Otavalo children. They produced an animated short film titled “We’re Aya” that follows the adventures of

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — There were hundreds, then dozens, and then just a few. Now there’s one Israeli hostage left in Gaza: Ran Gvili. Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known affectionately as “Rani,” was killed while fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. After a

By MATTHEW LEE and GERALD IMRAY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has signed the first in what are expected to be dozens of “America First” global health funding agreements that will prioritize combating infectious diseases in countries deemed to be aligned with the president’s broader foreign policy goals and positions. The five-year,

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press Russian authorities said Thursday they have imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service FaceTime, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet and communications online. State internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged in a statement that the service is being “used to organize and conduct terrorist activities on

By RAJESH ROY Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in India Thursday on a state visit aimed at bolstering bilateral and economic ties between the two countries. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the Russian leader at an airport in New Delhi, giving a bear hug and a tight handshake

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain sanctioned Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency and summoned Moscow’s ambassador on Thursday after an inquiry concluded that President Vladimir Putin was responsible for a nerve agent attack on British soil in 2018. The government said that the GRU was being sanctioned in its entirely for “reckless”

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A Lithuanian court on Thursday convicted the leader of one of the parties in the country’s coalition government for making antisemitic comments and fined him 5,000 euros (about $5,800). The district court in the capital, Vilnius, found that Remigijus Žemaitaitis incited hatred against Jews, grossly downplayed Nazi Germany’s crimes and grossly

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin says some proposals in a U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine are unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating in comments published Thursday that any deal is still some ways off. U.S. President Donald Trump has set in motion the most intense diplomatic push to stop

LONDON (AP) — Britain and Norway will mount joint naval patrols to protect undersea cables from Russia, the U.K. said Thursday, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Støre held talks on defense. The U.K. government says a combined fleet of at least 13 warships will “hunt Russian submarines and protect critical

By AAMER MADHANI, CHINEDU ASADU and RUTH ALONGA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed onto a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the

By JAMEY KEATEN and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest, the feel-good pop music gala that draws more than 100 million viewers every year, are meeting Thursday to tackle a bitter and divisive issue: Whether Israel should be allowed to participate in the 2026 competition. The European Broadcasting

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — More than a decade ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished without a trace, sparking one of aviation’s most baffling mysteries. Despite years of multinational searches, investigators still do not know exactly what happened to the plane or its 239 passengers and crew. On Wednesday, Malaysia’s government said American marine robotics

By HUIZHONG WU and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China and France pledged deeper cooperation on global issues like the war in Ukraine and trade, as France prepares to take on the presidency of the Group of Seven next year. French President Emmanuel Macron met with China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday morning as

By AUDREY HOROWITZ, SAMY MAGDY and TOQA EZZIDIN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel were those of Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, Israeli and Thai officials said Thursday. The confirmation brought the first phase of Gaza’s tenuous 8-week-old ceasefire a step closer to completion, with one more hostage’s