AP World News

By AAMER MADHANI, CHINEDU ASADU and RUTH ALONGA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed onto a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the

By JAMEY KEATEN and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest, the feel-good pop music gala that draws more than 100 million viewers every year, are meeting Thursday to tackle a bitter and divisive issue: Whether Israel should be allowed to participate in the 2026 competition. The European Broadcasting

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — More than a decade ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished without a trace, sparking one of aviation’s most baffling mysteries. Despite years of multinational searches, investigators still do not know exactly what happened to the plane or its 239 passengers and crew. On Wednesday, Malaysia’s government said American marine robotics

By HUIZHONG WU and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China and France pledged deeper cooperation on global issues like the war in Ukraine and trade, as France prepares to take on the presidency of the Group of Seven next year. French President Emmanuel Macron met with China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday morning as

By AUDREY HOROWITZ, SAMY MAGDY and TOQA EZZIDIN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel were those of Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, Israeli and Thai officials said Thursday. The confirmation brought the first phase of Gaza’s tenuous 8-week-old ceasefire a step closer to completion, with one more hostage’s

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — For 35 years, American zoologist Laurie Marker has been collecting and storing specimens in a cheetah sperm bank in Namibia, hoping conservationists never have to use them. But she worries that the world’s fastest land animal might be on the brink of extinction one

By MARLON GONZÁLEZ Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday for pardoning him in his first communication since being released from a U.S. prison. Hernández was one year into a 45-year prison sentence for helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Wednesday released 11 mariners held since a July attack on the ship Eternity C in the Red Sea, an assault that killed four on board and sank the vessel. The Iranian-backed Houthis, who have been targeting ships during the Israel-Hamas

By ELÉONORE HUGHES and LUCAS DUMPHREYS Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Towering talipot palms in a Rio de Janeiro park are flowering for the first and only time in their lives, decades after famed Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx introduced them in the 1960s. Towards the end of its life — which

By LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon knew there were survivors after a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea and the U.S. military still carried out a follow-up strike, according to two people familiar with the matter. The rationale for the second strike was that it was

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A man alleged to be the founder and leader of a Haitian gang was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison for orchestrating the kidnapping of 17 people, including five children, who were on a missionary trip to the Caribbean country. Joly Germine declined to say anything

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 900 people remained missing and the scope of economic damage became clearer. Over 1,400 were killed: at least 780

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