AP World News

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. immigration officials are asking the public and federal agencies to comment on a proposal to collect social media handles from people applying for benefits such as green cards or citizenship, to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump. The March 5 notice

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar has been plagued by wars and natural disasters since it became independent from Britain in 1948, when it was still called Burma. Relief efforts from Friday’s devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake will be especially complicated with the country in embroiled in civil

PARIS (AP) — A French minister on Sunday accused U.S. diplomats of interfering in the operations of French companies by sending them a letter reportedly telling them that U.S. President Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives could also apply outside of the United States. French media said that the letter received by

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Wednesday will be “Liberation Day” — a moment when he plans to roll out a set of tariffs that he promises will free the United States from foreign goods. The details of Trump’s next round of import taxes are still sketchy. Most economic

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The chairperson of an African charity co-founded by Prince Harry accused the royal on Sunday of orchestrating a bullying and harassment campaign to try to force her out as she pushed back following his abrupt resignation from the organization. Sophie Chandauka, the Sentebale chair, took several shots

BANGKOK (AP) — Friday’s deadly earthquake rattled most of Myanmar and Thailand but certain areas sustained the heaviest damage, including flattened buildings and many lost lives. The death toll of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday rose quickly in Myanmar and was at 1,644 victims by Sunday. There were a further 3,408 people injured and

By THEIN ZAW, DAVID RISING and GRANT PECK Associated Press MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — The smell of decaying bodies permeated the streets of Myanmar’s second-largest city on Sunday as people worked frantically by hand to clear rubble in the hope of finding someone still alive, two days after a massive earthquake struck that killed more

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out at both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, expressing frustration with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders as he struggles to forge a truce to end the war. Although Trump insisted to reporters that “we’re making a lot of progress,” he acknowledged

By WAFAA SHURAFA, MOHAMMAD JAHJOUH and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza marked the normally festive Eid al-Fitr on Sunday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and mourning for several children killed in Israel’s latest airstrikes. There was anger as the bodies of 14 emergency responders were recovered in

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish authorities said Sunday they arrested a Swedish journalist dispatched to cover ongoing nationwide protests on charges of terrorism and insulting the president. Joakim Medin of the daily Dagens ETC was detained as he arrived at Istanbul airport on Thursday and placed under arrest on Friday on charges of “membership in a

By BRIAN P. D. HANNON Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Emergency aid has streamed into Southeast Asia in the two days since a massive earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand. Relief efforts are focused on Myanmar, where the estimated death toll rose to 1,644 by Sunday afternoon. The number of dead from Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ frailty was on full view as he left Rome’s Gemelli hospital last Sunday after five weeks battling pneumonia that nearly killed him. He could barely lift his arms to bless the crowd. His eyes were sunken, face bloated. And he visibly gasped for breath as

By GHAITH ALSAYED and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s new transitional government was sworn in Saturday nearly four months after the Assad family was removed from power and as the new authorities in Damascus work to bring back stability to the war-torn country. The 23-member Cabinet, which is religiously and ethnically

By SAMY MAGDY and JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — The Hamas militant group said Saturday it has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, but Israel said it has made a counter-proposal in “full coordination” with the third mediator, the United States. Egypt early in the week made a

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A government-sponsored junk food ban in schools across Mexico took effect on Saturday, officials said, as the country tries to tackle one of the world’s worst obesity and diabetes epidemics. The health guidelines, first published last fall, take a direct shot at salty and sweet processed products that have become a

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Thousands of people rallied outside a pro-government television station in Serbia on Saturday accused of a propaganda campaign against university students behind months of anti-corruption protests rattling populist President Aleksandar Vucic. Informer TV is among mainstream media outlets in Serbia loyal to Vucic and his right-wing

By COLLEEN BARRY and TRISHA THOMAS Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has shown ‘’a truly surprising improvement’’ since returning to the Vatican to convalesce after surviving a life-threatening bout with double-pneumonia, the doctor who coordinated the pontiff’s five-week hospitalization said Saturday. “I find him very lively,’’ Dr. Sergio Alfieri said, after visiting the

ISTANBUL (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of protesters again congregated in Istanbul Saturday to how their support for the city’s imprisoned mayor and demand his release. Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) organized the demonstration, the latest in a series of protests that resulted in hundreds of detentions and have turned up

By MELINA WALLING and RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city. It’s a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into

By PHILIP CROWTHER, KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press NUUK, Greenland (AP) — The Danish foreign minister on Saturday scolded the Trump administration for its “tone” in criticizing Denmark and Greenland, saying his country is already investing more into Arctic security and remains open to more cooperation with the U.S. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from Myanmar’s powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake keeps climbing amid rescue efforts. The military government said Saturday that 1,644 people have been killed, with thousands of others injured and dozens missing. Myanmar’s main resistance movement, meanwhile, announced a partial ceasefire to facilitate relief efforts. The earthquake struck midday Friday, followed

By JEAN-FERNAND KOENA Associated Press BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The United Nations on Saturday condemned the killing of a Kenyan peacekeeper in an ambush of a patrol in the east of the Central African Republic. Florence Marchal, the spokesperson for MINUSCA, the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, said the soldier was

By MARIAM FAM Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Muslims around the world are bidding farewell to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and will soon start celebrating the holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Eid is typically greeted with joy and excitement and is marked with congregational prayers and festivities that usually include family visits, gatherings, outings

By GRANT PECK and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A unilateral partial ceasefire to facilitate earthquake relief efforts was announced on Saturday by Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which coordinates the popular struggle against the ruling military. The country’s death toll from the disaster soared to 1,644. The figure was a sharp rise

By MARIAM FAM Associated Press DARAYA, Syria (AP) — When Mariam Aabour learned of the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, she shed tears of joy. But as the time came to return to her homeland from Lebanon – where she fled years earlier – Aabour felt torn. She was happy about the homecoming, but

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Suspected U.S. airstrikes pounded Yemen overnight into Saturday, reportedly killing at least one person as the American military acknowledged earlier bombing a major military site in the heart of Sanaa controlled by the Houthi rebels. The full extent of the damage and possible casualties

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — After mounting criticism following its initial response to the violent attack on Oscar-winning “No Other Land” co-director Hamdan Ballal, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences apologized Friday for not acknowledging Ballal by name. In a letter to academy members, academy CEO Bill Kramer

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that his first call with new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was “extremely productive” and Carney said Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty both in private and public but added that the relationship has changed. The call came as Trump has declared a

By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press In North Carolina, wildfires stoked by unusually dry air and debris from last year’s Hurricane Helene are burning out of control. In Florida, there are dozens of blazes, including one that scorched about 42 square miles in Miami-Dade County. And they continue to burn in Oklahoma, where four people have

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Over a dozen Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the southern Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, beating residents with sticks and rocks, in an incident captured with rare clarity by security cameras. The video obtained by AP and testimonies from Palestinian witnesses appeared to conflict with