AP World News

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions Wednesday on alleged affiliates of the Tren de Aragua gang and increased the reward to as much as $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of one of the leaders of the criminal group that the Trump administration has designated

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister said Wednesday that his country was “far from” diplomatic normalization or economic relations with Israel, despite a move toward direct negotiations between the two countries aimed at defusing tensions. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s comments to a small group of journalists in Beirut came in

By ISOBEL KOSHIW Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Exclusive drone footage obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday shows a devastated Ukrainian town nearly encircled by Russian forces near the city that Moscow this week claimed to now control. Barely a street appears to be untouched in Myrnohrad in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, 12

HONG KONG (AP) — The death toll of Hong Kong’s high-rise apartment blaze rose to 159 on Wednesday, as authorities arrested six people on suspicion of deactivating some fire alarms during maintenance work at the housing complex. The youngest person who died in the fire was a 1-year-old, police said. The oldest was 97. Police

BANGKOK (AP) — An election candidate in the strife-torn nation of Myanmar has been detained by a resistance group opposed to army rule, state media reported Wednesday, the first known such action before the polls scheduled for later this month. The detention of Wai Lin Htet, 37, a candidate of the Shan and Nationalities Democratic

By LORNE COOK and ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine and its European allies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with U.S. envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough. The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and

By LORNE COOK and SAM MCNEIL Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday revealed details of its plan to use billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s needs over the next two years, but Belgium rejected the scheme and insisted that it poses major financial and legal risks. European

By BINSAR BAKKARA and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press BATANG TORU, Indonesia (AP) — Rescue teams raced Wednesday to reach communities isolated by last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand as over 800 people remained missing and economic damage became more clear. Over 1,400 were killed: at least 770 in Indonesia,

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and ANTON L. DELGADO Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Southeast Asia is being pummeled by unusually severe floods this year, as late-arriving storms and relentless rains wreak havoc that has caught many places off guard. Deaths have topped 1,400 across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, with more than 1,000 still missing

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — An international rights group on Wednesday accused the paramilitary group fighting against Sudan’s military of committing war crimes during its attack earlier this year on the country’s largest displacement camp in the Darfur region. The Rapid Support Forces, which is at war with the Sudanese military, rampaged

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s royals welcomed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the U.K. on Wednesday for a state visit that will celebrate the close ties between the countries while also remembering the scars of the past. Britain rolled out the red carpet of pageantry led by two of its most

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is pausing all immigration applications such as requests for green cards for people from 19 countries banned from travel earlier this year, as part of sweeping immigration changes in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops. The changes were outlined in

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s transport ministry said Wednesday that a private firm will resume a deep-sea hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 later this month, more than a decade after the jet vanished without a trace. The search will be carried out by Texas-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity, which signed a new

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Emmanuel Macron heads to China on Wednesday for a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomatic talks as the French president seeks to enlist Beijing in pressuring Russia toward a ceasefire with Ukraine. Macron will advocate for an agenda of cooperation in economic and trade matters

By NAYARA BATSCHKE and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the darkest spots on Earth, a crown jewel for astronomers who flock to study the origins of the universe in this inhospitable desert along the Pacific coast. A rare confluence of factors makes the Atacama an ideal

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he did not want Somali immigrants in the U.S., saying residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country are too reliant on U.S. social safety net and add little to the United States. Trump’s contemptuous description of the entire immigrant community is

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Eman Hassan Lawwa was dressed in traditional Palestinian prints and Hikmat Lawwa wore a suit as they walked hand-in-hand past the crumbled buildings of southern Gaza in a line of other couples dressed in exactly the same way. The 27-year-old Palestinians

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S.-operated flights returning deported migrants to Venezuela will continue despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that the airspace of the South American country should be considered closed. The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Tuesday that the twice-weekly flights will go on following a request

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte brushed off fresh concern Tuesday about the United States’ commitment to the military organization on the eve of a meeting of allied foreign ministers focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to miss Wednesday’s meeting, which

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Eugene Hasenfus, who played a key role in unraveling the Iran-Contra affair after his CIA-backed supply plane was shot down over Nicaragua in 1986, has died. Hasenfus died on Nov. 26 in Menominee, Michigan, after a nine-year battle with cancer, according to his obituary from the

By The Associated Press U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, taking a draft peace plan that Washington hopes can bring about an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Putin, however, ahead of the talks accused Ukraine’s European allies of sabotaging U.S.-led efforts to

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday shared for the first time what he was thinking when the votes started going his way during the conclave that elected him, saying he resigned himself to the inevitable and put the rest in God’s hands. “I took a

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s transitional presidential council has backed an electoral law in the latest step toward holding a general election for the first time in nearly a decade. The approval late Monday means that the government can finally publish an official and long-awaited electoral calendar, after fears that the council would

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s government said Tuesday it is withdrawing a controversial budget proposal after an evening demonstration drew tens of thousands of peaceful participants that was later marred by clashes between a much smaller group of masked men and police. Opposition and business groups have warned that plans

By The Associated Press Talks between Russia and the U.S. on ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were constructive, but much work remains, Yuri Ushakov, a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Wednesday. Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin in talks