AP World News

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Authorities in Cambodia continued their stepped-up campaign against online scam centers, arresting at least 500 suspects in two provinces on Thursday and Friday, the country’s information minister said. The arrests in Kandal province on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh, and in the northeastern

By MICHELLE GUMEDE Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Dozens of South African chefs, community cooks, caterers, and culinary students joined forces Friday in Johannesburg to make 67,000 liters (17,700 gallons) of soup to feed the hungry, in celebration of Nelson Mandela Day. First officially recognized by the United Nations in 2009, International Nelson Mandela Day

By WAFAA SHURAFA, JULIA FRANKEL and FATMA KHALED Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Top church leaders visited Gaza on Friday after its only Catholic church was struck by an Israeli shell the day before, an attack that killed three people and wounded 10, including a priest who had developed a close friendship

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Libyan accused by the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity and war crimes was arrested in Germany on a sealed arrest warrant, the court announced Friday. Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri was allegedly one of the most senior officials at Miriga Prison in

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Britain on Friday ramped up pressure on Russia over its war on Ukraine, targeting Moscow’s energy sector, shadow fleet of aging oil tankers and military intelligence service with new sanctions. “The message is clear: Europe will not back down in its support for

By MONIKA PRONCZUK Associated Press MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — It was a perfect pitch. The ball sped straight across home plate, where it was met with an equally powerful kick. Perryline Jimmie sprinted toward first base after her kick as her teammates erupted in cheers on the sidelines. Jimmie, 23, is a professional player of

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Education Ministry issued a safety warning for Chinese students in the Philippines after what it said were a series of criminal incidents targeting them. The brief warning Friday did not identify any specific incidents but told students to increase their safety awareness should they choose to study in the Philippines. The

By ABDELRAHMAN SHAHEEN and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press JARAMANA, Syria (AP) — A Syrian Druze woman living in the United Arab Emirates frantically tried to keep in touch with her family in her hometown in southern Syria as clashes raged there over the past days. Her mother, father and sister sent videos of their neighbors

By JUWON PARK Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — With two out of five of its members North Korean defectors, the K-pop group 1VERSE is breaking new ground as it debuts its single album Friday. The band represents an unusual convergence of backgrounds: North Korea-born rapper Hyuk and singer Seok join Nathan from Arkansas,

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A snappy tune by a blogger that mockingly laments his poor internet connection in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has gotten over a half-million views on Instagram in two weeks. “How to say you’re from Rostov without saying a word? Show one bar of cellphone

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong tightened prison rules, allowing authorities to restrict visits, including those by certain lawyers and religious personnel, on national security grounds, in the latest expansion of its stringent control. Under the new rules, effective Friday, magistrates can issue warrants on application by correctional service officers

By COLLEEN BARRY and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound during a 24-mile leap through the stratosphere more than a decade ago, died in a crash Thursday along the eastern coast of Italy. He was 56. Italian firefighters who

By FU TING Associated Press A Chinese university announced the expulsion of a female student for “damaging national dignity” after she was accused of “improper interactions” with a foreign man, generating heated discussions across Chinese social media about whether the university had gone too far. Over the last several days, the expulsion has drawn thousands

By REBECCA SANTANA and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — When limits on liquids were introduced at TSA checkpoints across the country in 2006, bins overflowed with bottled water, toothpaste, shaving cream and so much more. Nearly two decades later, travelers are much more accustomed to the “3-1-1” regulations” governing the size of

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is pulling back from commenting on or criticizing elections overseas unless there is a clear and compelling U.S. foreign policy interest in doing so. In new guidance issued Thursday to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, the department said that those outposts should

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says its destruction of 500 metric tons of emergency food aid that was stored in a warehouse in the Middle East was required because it had expired and that the move will not affect the distribution of similar assistance moving forward. The high

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Five immigrants deported by the United States to the small southern African nation of Eswatini under the Trump administration’s third-country program are being held in solitary confinement in various prisons for an undetermined time, a government spokesperson said. Thabile Mdluli, the Eswatini government spokesperson,

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes that shook southern Syria this week killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drew in an array of local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country’s yearslong civil war. The violence underscored the difficulties facing the Syrian new government struggling to consolidate

By JILL LAWLESS and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A data leak that led thousands of Afghans to be resettled in the U.K. after their safety was jeopardized because they assisted forces against the Taliban also exposed the identities of British spies and special forces, news organizations reported Thursday. U.K. media reported that

By DORANY PINEDA, TY O’NEIL and JOHN LOCHER Associated Press DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — When the running gets hard in this desert dubbed “hell on Earth,” Danny Westergaard tells himself: “Slow and steady” or “smooth as butter.” For 18 years, Westergaard, 66, has braved the scorching summer heat of California’s Death Valley

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ALI ABDUL-HASSAN Associated Press KUT, Iraq (AP) — A fire engulfed a newly opened shopping center in eastern Iraq, killing more than 60 people, including children, Iraqi officials said Thursday. Civil defense teams rescued more than 45 people who became trapped when the fire broke out late Wednesday in the city

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fresh off securing a plan to receive more U.S. weaponry, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed a new prime minister – the key negotiator of his country’s deal with the U.S. to partner on the development of minerals. By naming Yulia Svyrydenko, the former economy minister,

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and GHAITH ALSAYED Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the southern province of Sweida on Thursday after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority that threatened to unravel the country’s post-war transition. The conflict had drawn airstrikes against Syrian forces by

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli shell slammed into the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest, according to church officials. The late Pope Francis, who died in April,

By VOLODYMYR YURCHUK and EMMA BURROWS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A new Ukrainian government approved Thursday will race to expand domestic arms production to meet half the country’s weapons needs within six months as it tries to push back Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Meanwhile, Switzerland said Thursday that the U.S.

By KEN MORITSUGU and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has toured a panda breeding facility in the final stages of an extended state visit that has cast China as a fellow champion of a global fair trade system under threat from the United States. The panda diplomacy stop

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladeshi security forces on Wednesday clashed with supporters of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leaving at least four people dead and scores injured, a hospital official and local media said. The violence erupted in the morning and spread as a new political party formed by students

By JILL LAWLESS and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signed a landmark treaty on Thursday that pledges to tighten defense ties, as European nations try to protect Ukraine, and themselves, from an aggressive Russia in the face of wavering support from President Donald

By EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The massive crowd that would gather once a year at a revered waterfall in central Haiti where the faithful would splash in its sacred waters and rub their bodies with aromatic leaves was not there on Wednesday. Powerful gangs in March attacked the

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Prince Harry followed in his late mother’s footsteps on Wednesday by wearing a flak jacket and walking down a path in an active land mine field in Angola to raise awareness for a charity’s work clearing explosives from old warzones. The Duke of Sussex is in the southern African