AP World News

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Saturday freed 123 prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figures Maria Kolesnikova and Viktar Babaryka, as part of a deal with Washington that lifted U.S. sanctions on the country’s vital fertilizer exports. A close ally of Russia, Belarus’

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Saturday said it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza after an explosive device detonated and wounded two soldiers in the territory’s south. Hamas in a statement did not confirm the death of Raed Saad. It said a civilian vehicle had been struck outside Gaza City and asserted it was

By SAMAR KASSABALI, BASSEM MROUE and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group. “This was

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarus freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and dozens of other political prisoners on Saturday, capping two days of talks with Washington aimed at improving ties and getting crippling U.S. sanctions lifted on a key Belarusian agricultural export. President Alexander

By The Associated Press Moscow pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure with drone and missile strikes on Saturday and Kyiv launched a deadly strike of its own on southwestern Russia, a day before talks involving senior European and U.S. officials aimed at ending the war were set to resume. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian, U.S. and

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI and GRANT PECK Associated Press SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire. Thai officials said they did not agree to a

By NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran introduced a new pricing tier Saturday for its nationally subsidized gasoline, attempting to rein in spiraling costs for the first time since a price hike in 2019 that sparked nationwide protests and a crackdown that reportedly killed over 300 people. Cheap gasoline

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Fighting that has flared along the Thai-Cambodian border has sent hundreds of thousands of Thai villagers fleeing from their homes close to the frontier since Monday. Their once-bustling communities have fallen largely silent except for the distant rumble of firing across the fields. Yet in several

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended vice president is further eroding a 2018 peace agreement he signed with President Salva Kiir, U.N. experts warned in a new report. As Riek Machar’s trial is taking place in the capital, Juba, the experts said forces from

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. removed Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from its sanctions list on Friday after initially adding him over his role in leading the trial against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. De Moraes’ wife and the Lex Institute, which she leads, were

By AAMER MADHANI and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that Thai and Cambodian leaders had agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes, even as Thai and Cambodian officials suggested there is still work to do to get the ceasefire that the U.S. administration had helped

By PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press PETIT GOÂVE, Haiti (AP) — Amizia Renotte sat on a broken piece of concrete and pointed to a large pile of dirt where her house once stood before the outer bands of Hurricane Melissa crumpled it as the storm lashed Haiti’s southern region. The Atlantic hurricane season

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer The queen of downhill skiing is well and truly back. At age 41, Lindsey Vonn is still faster than the rest and on Friday became the oldest winner of a World Cup race since the circuit started in 1967. Vonn raced to a stunningly fast win in a downhill

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has recommended that former Iraqi President Barham Salih become the next head of the U.N. refugee agency, and the first from the Middle East in a half-century, according to a letter from the U.N. chief. Salih, 65, is set to succeed longtime UNHCR

By MEHMET GUZEL and ANDREW WILKS Associated Press IZNIK, Turkey (AP) — Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered one of the most important finds from Anatolia’s early Christian era: a fresco of a Roman-looking Jesus as the “Good Shepherd.” The painting was discovered in August in an underground tomb near Iznik, a town in northwestern Turkey

By DASHA LITVINOVA and ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior Kremlin official said Friday that Russian police and National Guard will stay on in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas and oversee the industry-rich region, even if a peace settlement ends Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine. The remarks by Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has arrested Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, her supporters said Friday. A foundation in her name said she was detained in Mashhad, some 680 kilometers (420 miles) northeast of the capital, Tehran, while attending a memorial for a human rights lawyer recently

By PIETRO DE CRISTOFARO and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany summoned Russia’s ambassador Friday following accusations of sabotage, cyberattacks and election interference, an official said. The German government has also accused Moscow of perpetrating disinformation campaigns. “The goal of these Russian cyber and disinformation attacks is clear: It is to divide society,

By YURAS KARMANAU Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday hosted a U.S. envoy for talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk, the latest step in the isolated leader’s effort to improve ties with the West. Lukashenko met with President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, according to state news agency Belta and the

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press TEL AVIV (AP) — New footage of six Israeli hostages shows them celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah while being held captive in a tunnel in Gaza, several months before they were killed. Israel said all six were killed last August by Hamas, shortly before Israeli troops arrived. The videos

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Friday indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine. Using a special procedure meant for economic emergencies, the EU blocked the assets until

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian accident investigators on Thursday released dramatic images of a skydiver’s parachute becoming entangled on an airplane’s tail, leaving him dangling at 4,500 meters (15,000 feet.) The skydiver, Adrian Ferguson, used a hook knife to cut himself free and sustained minor leg injuries during the incident

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Ask many Chileans how their country fared in the past several years and they’ll describe a descent into disaster: Venezuelan gangs surged across porous borders, bringing unprecedented kidnappings and contract killings to one of the region’s safest nations. A social uprising unleashed violent chaos on once-sleepy

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are trying to live and work under the same U.S. financial and travel restrictions brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden. Nine staff members, including six judges and the ICC’s chief prosecutor, have been

By GIADA ZAMPANO and SALVATORE LAPORTA Associated Press NAPLES, Italy (AP) — At long last, vindication is at hand for an Oscar-winning composer who sought to prove he was just as capable of breathing life into Italy’s grand theaters as gritty Hollywood films. On Friday night, Naples’ Teatro San Carlo will stage Ennio Morricone’s only

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — For over 30 years, Javier Gámez and María Barahona worked, scrimped and studied to push their family ahead. Gámez filled bags with sand from the Choluteca River winding through the Honduran capital and shined shoes in a downtown park; Barahona sold bananas and oranges from a

TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian man who died in 2019 has been identified as the perpetrator of three cold case homicides in Toronto, and investigators believe there could be more victims. Toronto police said Thursday recent forensic testing and genetic genealogy has conclusively identified Kenneth Smith, 72, of Windsor, Ontario, as the person who killed

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s governing Liberals were one seat short of a simple majority in Parliament after a Conservative lawmaker defected and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party Thursday. Michael Ma was the second Canadian Conservative opposition lawmaker to join the Liberals in just over a month. Ma, who represents