AP

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday defended his Treasury chief against opposition claims that she misled the public and the markets about the state of the public finances before last week’s budget, a tax-raising economic plan that was preceded by contradictory leaks to the media and

By CHAN HO-HIM and DAVID RISING Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong officials said Monday that their investigation into a deadly blaze that killed at least 151 has revealed some of the netting that covered scaffolding used in renovations was not up to fire-safety codes, as a wave of public sympathy and support

By NICOLE WINFIELD, KAREEM CHEHAYEB and ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Pope Leo XIV celebrated Lebanon’s tradition of interfaith coexistence Monday as a beacon of hope for a conflict-torn region, as he asked for “the divine gift of peace” alongside the country’s Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Leo received a raucous, ululating

By JULHAS ALAM Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in Bangladesh’s capital sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and her niece, British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to two years in prison on Monday for corruption involving a government land project. Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands of Christians have left parts of the Middle East for good, driven by wars and the rise of Muslim extremists. In Lebanon, it has been different. Despite the many crises that have battered the small nation, Christians continue to

By DASHA LITVINOVA and ISOBEL KOSHIW Associated Press Diplomats face an uphill battle to reconcile Russian and Ukrainian “red lines” as a renewed U.S.-led push to end the war gathers steam, with Ukrainian officials attending talks in the U.S. over the weekend and Washington officials expected in Moscow early this week. U.S. President Donald Trump’s