AP World News

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV called Wednesday for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people, as he presided over his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square. The Vatican said that around 40,000 people were on hand

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top U.N. official for Syria warned Wednesday of the “real dangers of renewed conflict and deeper confrontation” in the war-battered country but also hoped for a better life for its people following decisions by the U.S. and European Union to lift sanctions. Geir Pedersen

By CARA ANNA Associated Press The United States is being asked to explain why it appears to be deporting migrants from as far away as Vietnam and Cuba to South Sudan, a chaotic country that’s once again in danger of collapsing into civil war. A U.S. judge ordered Trump administration officials to appear at an

By JILL LAWLESS and JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Three allies of Israel used words like “abhorrent” and “monstrous” this week to describe the country’s actions in Gaza. The leaders of Britain, France and Canada — consistent defenders of Israel’s right to strike back at Hamas after its October 2023 attack — now

By GERALD IMRAY and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing his country of failing to address the killing of white farmers. “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety,” said Trump, who at one point dimmed the

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Not quite a flying cow, but almost: Swiss authorities added livestock to the list of evacuees along with about 300 people moved out of a village threatened by a possible landslide from an Alpine mountainside overhead. One puzzled bovine got a lift down by helicopter. Mayor Matthias

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM, JOSEPH WILSON and ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press POZUELO DE ALARCON, Spain (AP) — An adviser to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was shot to death Wednesday outside the American School of Madrid, where at least one of his children was enrolled, Spanish authorities and witnesses said. Andrii Portnov, 51, was shot at

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese and Palestinian presidents agreed Wednesday that Palestinian factions won’t use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren’t under the authority of the Lebanese state. The announcement was made during a meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian

By MARIAM FAM Associated Press SAYYIDA ZEINAB, Syria (AP) — At the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, rituals of faith unfold: worshippers kneel in prayer, visitors raise their palms skyward or fervently murmur invocations as they press their faces against an ornate structure enclosing where they believe the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad is entombed. But it’s more

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown was released on 5 million-pound ($6.7 million) bail Wednesday while facing allegations he beat and seriously injured a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub in 2023. The decision by a London judge to grant bail will allow Brown to launch

By AMIR VAHDAT Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat insisted Wednesday that Tehran will never stop enriching uranium, reinforcing the Islamic Republic’s hard line ahead of a new round of indirect talks with the United States over its fast-advancing nuclear program. Iran’s foreign ministry later confirmed it has agreed to take part

By The Associated Press President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin. Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the U.K. spiked to its highest level for more than a year in April amid a raft of higher domestic bills, such as energy and water, official figures showed Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics said that its key measure of inflation, as measured by

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German police on Wednesday arrested five teenagers accused of involvement with a right-wing extremist group calling itself “Last Defense Wave” that allegedly aimed to destabilize the country’s democratic system by carrying out attacks on migrants and political opponents. The early-morning arrests in various parts of Germany were

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. said Wednesday it was trying to get the desperately needed aid that has entered Gaza this week into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions. Israeli strikes pounded the

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The driver’s joints are so painful from rheumatoid arthritis that she can’t manage a stick shift. And the co-pilot who is helping to guide her through France as the navigator is blind, her sight snatched away by a brain tumor five years ago that stole her career

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press Two of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals have been encircled by Israeli troops, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week, as Israel pursued its renewed offensive into the devastated Palestinian territory. The Indonesian hospital and al-Awda hospital are among the

By The Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” to protect the United States from long-range missiles was at least partly inspired by Israel’s multitiered missile defenses. Trump announced the $175 billion concept in the Oval Office on Tuesday, saying it would put U.S. weapons in space for

LONDON (AP) — A third suspect has been charged with arson over a series of fires targeting property linked to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, police said Wednesday. Petro Pochynok, 34, has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. The Ukrainian national is scheduled to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump will host South Africa’s leader at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting that might be tense after Trump accused the country’s government of allowing a “genocide” to take place against minority white farmers. South Africa has strongly rejected the allegation and

By ABDUL SATTAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province. The province has been the scene of a long-running

By MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The United Nations human rights office in Colombia warned Tuesday that five Indigenous groups in a storied mountain range face “physical and cultural” extinction, a critical threat that stems from armed groups fighting over their territory and insufficient state protection. Scott Campbell, Colombia’s representative for the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s agriculture minister was forced to resign Wednesday because of political fallout over recent comments that he “never had to buy rice” because he got it from supporters as gifts. The resignation comes as the public struggles with record high prices of the country’s traditional staple food.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union agreed Tuesday to provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet, accusing it of promoting a news agenda with a liberal bias. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasting during the Cold War. Its programs are aired

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Eunju Kim, who escaped starvation in North Korea in 1999, was sent back from China and fled a second time, told the United Nations on Tuesday that the country’s leader must be held accountable for gross human rights violations. Gyuri Kang, whose family faced persecution

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The personal secretary and an adviser to Mexico City’s mayor were shot dead Tuesday, authorities said, in the worst attack against public officials in the capital in recent years. Mayor Clara Brugada — who holds the second most powerful political post in the country to President Claudia Sheinbaum — said in

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi won the International Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday for “Heart Lamp,” a collection of 12 short stories written over a period of more than 30 years and which chronicle the everyday lives and struggles of women in southern India.

By MEGAN JANETSKY and FÉLIX MÁRQUEZ Associated Press CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — A pack of veterinarians clambered over hefty metal crates on Tuesday morning, loading them one by one onto a fleet of semi-trucks. Among the cargo: tigers, monkeys, jaguars, elephants and lions – all fleeing the latest wave of cartel violence eclipsing the northern

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press Israel has begun allowing a trickle of food and medicine into the Gaza Strip after sealing the territory’s 2 million Palestinians off from all imports for more than 2 1/2 months. The humanitarian crisis is the worst it’s been in 19 months of war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he

By SAM McNEIL Associated Press BARCELONA (AP) — The European Union will lift sanctions on Syria’s economy but keep those in place targeting the former Assad regime, the EU’s top diplomat announced Tuesday. Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke after chairing a meeting of foreign ministers from the 27-member bloc. She said the decision was