AP World News

By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The disappearance of a New Zealand father with his children in a forest for several years before he was discovered and shot dead by the police has prompted the government to launch a major inquiry into how officials handled the case. The public inquiry —

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader announced Wednesday that he has authorized the U.S. government to operate inside restricted areas in the Caribbean country to help in its fight against drug trafficking. For a limited time, the U.S. can refuel aircraft and transport equipment and

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The leaders of a pro-Russia group in France behind a poster campaign declaring “Russia is not my enemy” have been taken into custody and are being held on suspicion of intelligence-gathering for a foreign power. The SOS Donbass group confirmed the arrest of its founder, Anna Novikova,

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian court on Wednesday sentenced former President Martín Vizcarra to 14 years in prison after finding him guilty of taking bribes while serving as governor of a southern state. Vizcarra was sentenced to immediate imprisonment and a nine-year ban from public office. He is expected to appeal the decision. “This

By YUNUSA UMAR and OPE ADETAYO Associated Press PAPIRI, Nigeria (AP) — Several parents of the over 300 schoolchildren seized by armed men in the latest mass abduction in Nigeria tell The Associated Press the government has told them nothing about rescue efforts and the stress has been so high that one parent has died

By LAURIE KELLMAN, SAM McNEIL and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war closely mirrors the tactics he used to end two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas: bold terms that favor one side, deadlines for the combatants and vague outlines for

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government said young children will be banned from social media next month as scheduled despite a rights advocacy group on Wednesday challenging the world-first legislation in court. The Sydney-based Digital Freedom Project said it had filed a constitutional challenge in the High Court on

By ILLIA NOVIKOV and SAM MCNEIL Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts pick up speed to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine. But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President

By CHAN HO-HIM and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades burned through the night, leaving at least 44 people dead and 279 reported missing with rescuers still pulling residents from blazing high-rise apartment buildings into the morning. Police had arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter in

By WAFAA SHURAFA, JULIA FRANKEL and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Wednesday, a day after Hamas returned the remains of an Israeli hostage. This is the latest exchange as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached last month, whose first phase is

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon that would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history’s first American pope on the road. Leo

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press NORTH SEA, Denmark (AP) — Appearing first as a dot on the horizon, the remote Nini oil field on Europe’s rugged North Sea slowly comes into view from a helicopter. Used to extract fossil fuels, the field is now getting a second lease on life as a means of permanently

By TAIJING WU and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te on Wednesday announced a special $40 billion budget for arms purchases, including to build an air defense system with high-level detection and interception capabilities called Taiwan Dome, as the U.S. pressures the island to increase its defense spending. The

By PAN PYLAS and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s unpopular center-left Labour government sought to seize the political narrative Wednesday with a tax-raising budget that it hopes will boost economic growth by fostering a stable debt outlook, reduce child poverty and ease cost-of-living pressures. But the entire contents of the budget were

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hundreds of women marched through Mexico City’s streets Tuesday to protest violence against women in a country where gender violence remains pervasive. Among the hundreds of marchers clad in purple or with green bandanas, some beat drums and others carried signs. One read: “Today I am the voice of those who

By SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Hours after police in Indian-controlled Kashmir released shopkeeper Bilal Ahmed Wani but kept his son in custody in this month’s deadly New Delhi blast investigation, Wani set himself on fire, members of his family said. The 55-year-old dry fruit seller was treated at three hospitals but

By COREY WILLIAMS, MIKE CATALINI and REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press The Trump administration’s plan to review all refugees admitted to the United States under the Biden administration is weighing heavily on people who could be affected by the evaluation, fueling uncertainty and worry among people who believed their status was secured. The review was laid

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press Belarusian politician Mikola Statkevich has been returned to prison after being freed in a U.S.-brokered deal but refusing to leave his native country, activists said Tuesday. The former presidential candidate has been missing since Sept. 11, when a group of political prisoners were pardoned by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko at

By PAOLA FLORES Associated Press LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — President Rodrigo Paz of Bolivia said Tuesday he planned to scrap a ream of taxes, in one of his first moves since becoming the nation’s first conservative leader in nearly two decades in a bid to rescue a crisis-stricken economy. Just over two weeks since

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday started his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, to the surprise of many in the South American nation who doubted he would ever end up behind bars. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.S. military officials are meeting leaders of Caribbean nations this week as the Trump administration has escalated its firepower in the region as part of what it calls a campaign against drug trafficking. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will travel to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and meet

By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A U.S. climber was among two people killed in a fall on Aoraki, New Zealand’s tallest peak, authorities said Wednesday. The men were part of a four-person group climbing near the summit of Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook, on Monday. Two members were rescued

By KATIE MARIE DAVIES Associated Press Kirill Dmitriev is not a professional diplomat. But the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund has emerged as a key player in drafting a new proposal to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine. That is perhaps no surprise: A former investment banker, Dmitriev has increasingly served as a back-channel communicator

By AMANUEL GEBREMEDHIN BIRHANE and RAJESH ROY Associated Press ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Volcanic activity in northern Ethiopia’s long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano subsided Tuesday, days after an eruption that left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths. Villages in the district of Afdera

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Children and families in Gaza scooped muddy water from their tents on Tuesday, trying to protect the few belongings that remain after two years of war. Winter’s heavy rains have left displaced Palestinians splashing in water that reaches their ankles, and